BROTHERS OF THE YELLOW SIGN

IN HONOR OF THE RETARDED PROTESTANT CARTOONS OF

JACK CHICK

a horror fiction role-playing game based on the story of the same name, written by H.P. Lovecraft, and on the so-called Cthulhu Mythos the story inspired. The setting of Call of Cthulhu is a darker version of our world, based on H.P. Lovecraft's observation (from his short essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature) that, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." There are three primary eras of the original (BRP) game: the 1920s, the setting of many of Lovecraft's stories; the 1890s Gaslight supplements, a blend of occult and Holmesian mystery and mostly set in England; and modern conspiracy (Cthulhu Now). Recent additions include 1000 AD (Cthulhu: Dark Ages), 23rd Century (Cthulhu Rising) and Roman times (Cthulhu Invictus). The protagonists may also travel to places that are not of this earth, represented in the Dreamlands (which can be accessed through dreams as well as being physically connected to the earth), as well as travel to other planets or the voids of space.

The setting is very intense and gloomy: In Kult, the world as we see it is nothing but a simple illusion, built as a prison for humanity, cast there by the Demiurge. According to the game, the world as we see it is as real as a movie set: All smoke and mirrors. In reality, humanity lives in the ruins of its former greatness. Around us in the darkness are the guardians, the Archons, put there by the Demiurge to keep humanity in ignorance. The Archons have various creatures do their bidding, and these are our jailers. Death is merely a ploy to reset the consciousness of the soul and make impossible the acquisition of enough knowledge to escape the prison.

Metropolis is the eternal city that is True Reality and as the Illusion disintegrates, Metropolis is slowly revealed to us as evidenced in the urbanization of the world. "Death is only the beginning" references the reality that all the suffering of a soul on Earth is nothing compared to horrors that await in the afterlife in Metropolis. Metropolis also intersects with us and appears in our reality wherever there are torture chambers, death camps, battlefields and other scenes of human agony and distress. The Citadel, a towering fortress at the center of Metropolis, was the Demiurge's throne before his disappearance and at the opposite side of the world is an anti-Citadel where Astaroth (or Lucifer or Satan) rules.

Below Metropolis is the Abyss where She-Who-Waits-Below dwells as an unknown entity of immense power. Mortals achieve levels of awareness of their true potential of Godhood through a series of transformations including destroying a polar opposite angel/demon of yourself, transcending your corporeal body and finally achieving the Awakening, although this rarly, if ever, happens to player characters in the game.

The game universe is strongly influenced by Gnosticism. Influences of Clive Barker and H. R. Giger are also obvious. The imagery of Kult is powerful and the first edition included a warning in the front that the book would be disturbing to some.

"Ludicrous Adventure in a Universe Whose Natural Laws Are Out To Lunch." The game takes a comedic approach to the genre, encouraging the gamemaster to begin each adventure in an outer space bar called The Floating Vagabond. Players choose from races such as humans, elves, Cute Fuzzy Things, and dogmen[4], learn skills like "Look Good at All Times" and "Projectile Vomiting", and consume dangerous beverages containing toxic substances such as a singularity.

One of the more memorable aspects of the game was a system of shticks that players could choose from, including:

The Rambo Effect allows you to dodge automatic gunfire at close range (and only at close range).

The Trenchcoat Effect gives you a chance to pull any mundane item out of your trenchcoat, but only if a different party member has already brought up the need for that item.

Theme Music gives you a personal soundtrack that can warn you of danger or other upcoming events. Alternately, it can give everyone on your side a bonus to morale.

The Roy Rogers Effect allows you to make any trick shot you can imagine, eliminating all cover your target may be behind. Of course, you can't actually kill anyone...

The Doctor Doolittle Effect allows you to communicate with animals, all of which start out being friendly to you. Of course, since they're all friendly, they follow you everywhere...

The Errol Flynn Effect allows you to swing across on a chandelier, vine or bullwhip without worrying about it breaking... or needing an attachment point at the upper end. Or needing to find one, for that matter.

The Valentino Effect is... well, about what it sounds like. Everyone of the appropriate gender is crazy about you.

The Schwarzenegger Effect allows you to operate without wound penalties... as long as nobody ever sees you receive first aid.

set in a dystopian future similar to 1984, Brazil, Brave New World, the "downunder" civilization of A Boy and His Dog, and especially Logan's Run; however, the tone of the game is rife with black humor, frequently tongue-in-cheek rather than dark and heavy. The game is set in Alpha Complex, an immense and futuristic domed or underground city (GM's decision) controlled by The Computer, a schizophrenic civil service AI. The Computer has made happiness mandatory. Failure to be happy is punishable by summary execution.

The Computer fears a number of threats to its 'perfect' society, such as The Outdoors, mutants, and secret societies (especially communists). Ironically, all of the people who inhabit Alpha Complex are mutants and members of a variety of secret societies including communists. To deal with these threats, The Computer employs Troubleshooters, whose job is to solve problems (they go out, find trouble and shoot it). Frequently the solution involves identifying and terminating mutants and secret society members. Player characters (PCs) are usually Troubleshooters, although later game supplements offered other roles for player characters. The PCs are invariably traitors of the very sort feared by The Computer.

The PCs are usually given incomprehensible or self-contradicting mission goals, dangerous, faulty or experimental futuristic gizmos as equipment, as well as contradictory missions from their secret societies. Paranoia missions are typically fatal for the troubleshooters. The Troubleshooter's credo is,

Sometime in Earth's future, after an age of peace and technological advancement, global war plunged the world into fire and madness.

Billions of people died, sending immeasurable amounts of psychic energy into the world's mystic ley lines ? lines of invisible supernatural energy that crisscross the planet. The ley lines flared to life with unstoppable waves of energy creating storms, earthquakes, and dimensional anomalies. Where two ley lines crossed, the very fabric of space and time were torn asunder creating dimensional Rifts to other worlds. All manner of creatures and magic spilled forth from the Rifts onto the dying Earth, inadvertently transforming it into an alien landscape!

It is approximately 300 years later (nobody knows for sure). Human beings are emerging out of a dark age to reclaim the planet. A strange and alien Earth inhabited by unimaginable, and sometimes terrible, creatures.

Thus, the Earth has become a place of contradiction and infinite possibilities. Alien and supernatural beings trod the planet. Ancient gods, creatures of legend, vampires, faeries, dragons and alien monstrosities co-exist with human cyborgs, androids, giant robots, high-tech mercenaries and dimensional raiders. Creatures of legend, demons, and faeries use technology to bolster there already formidable powers, while humans augment themselves with implants, bionics, power armor, chemicals, magic and alien technologies.

Beyond Rifts Earth is the entire Megaverse? ? infinite worlds accessible through the dimensional Rifts!

Rifts? is a multi-genre role-playing game that captures the elements of magic and the supernatural along with science fiction and high technology. It spans countless dimensions making anything and everything possible. Players are limited only by their imaginations!