On the Twelfth Day of Christmas
My GM gave to me,

Twelve Deep Ones swimming,
Eleven cultists plotting,
Ten goblins singing,
Nine monstrous shoggoths,
Eight ghosts a-haunting,
Seven mi-go’s buzzing,
Six vampires drinking,
Five meepin’ ghouls!
Four terror birds,
Three planetvores,
Two orks choppin’,
And dread Cthulhu dreaming ‘neath the sea.

 

I’ve put Deep Ones in pretty much every set of adventurers I’ve put together myself. The fishy humanoids emerge from the sea, and breed with the humans in Innsmouth, their offspring have that Innsmouth look. But they’re not limited to just Massachusetts, I think they’re a great creature to pull from anytime you’re near the sea. Plus you have the built in power levels, from hybrids to full on Deep Ones to Father Dagon to Mother Hydra, you can build a solid set of adventures around encountering them. 

Deep Ones and their ilk have appeared in Mysteries of the Ninth World, Fishy Business, and Robinson Gruesome.

Among TRF’s ranks are representatives of many faiths, people who believe in a range of different things or nothing, or something more complicated. Aser and Megan simply and dearly wish you and them good times in the company of loved ones and the hope of brighter things in the new year.

TRF’s Twelve Days of Christmas

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas
My GM gave to me,

Eleven cultists plotting,
Ten goblins singing,
Nine monstrous shoggoths,
Eight ghosts a-haunting,
Seven mi-go’s buzzing,
Six vampires drinking,
Five meepin’ ghouls!
Four terror birds,
Three planetvores,
Two orks choppin’,
And dread Cthulhu dreaming ‘neath the sea.

Oh cultists, where would be without you: probably at home in bed I expect. But what fun would that be? And I’m sure if we weren’t off ruining your plans for world domination and/or annihilation, I’m sure there’d be something less fun on the agenda like going to a University of Phoenix graduation.

As it is, cultists have generally been the TRF stand-in for stormtroopers. They crop up in Cthulhu games all the time of course, as well as in any fantasy game that goes on for more than a few sessions. Because let’s face it, sometimes there’s nothing more fun than finding someone who disagrees with you, is objectively wrong, and has no legal, moral, or even practical defense to your slings and arrows, much less slaughter accelerators and hand flamers.

Want to encounter them on TRF? You can find them in A Rune Awakening, Scary on the Choo-Choo, and The Wickerman

TRF’s Twelve Days of Christmas

On the Tenth Day of Christmas
My GM gave to me,

Ten goblins singing,
Nine monstrous shoggoths,
Eight ghosts a-haunting,
Seven mi-go’s buzzing,
Six vampires drinking,
Five meepin’ ghouls!
Four terror birds,
Three planetvores,
Two orks choppin’,
And dread Cthulhu dreaming ‘neath the sea.

 

A few goblins aren’t much of a risk to an adventuring party, but damn if they aren’t great at creating chaos in numbers. I love their cruel, mischievous behavior and their tendency towards violence. Even if your party could wipe them out quickly, you can still use them to create moral quandaries (do you kill a baby goblin?) or lead your party to find some heartbreaking tragedies in a small town they’ve raided. Since they don’t write anything down, it makes sense that they sing their threats as they attack, which makes things either funny or more terrifying.

Goblins, of course, show up in A Rune Awakening.

TRF’s Twelve Days of Christmas

On the Ninth Day of Christmas
My GM gave to me,

Nine monstrous shoggoths,
Eight ghosts a-haunting,
Seven mi-go’s buzzing,
Six vampires drinking,
Five meepin’ ghouls!
Four terror birds,
Three planetvores,
Two orks choppin’,
And dread Cthulhu dreaming ‘neath the sea.

 

I don’t know why I love shoggoths so much, but they’re one of my favorite things to come out of the Cthulhu mythos. It’s an amoebic-like, more terrifying version of a gelatinous cube. While it hasn’t always proven true in our games, a shoggoth can be an unstoppable force, mindlessly pursuing your party wanting only to devour them in it’s many mouths. It’s not something you can reason with, you can only fight or flee.

Shoggoths have shown up in Final Girl and Numenera. Expect them to continue to appear, especially in anything I put together.

TRF’s Twelve Days of Christmas