Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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A collection of people and places for the role-playing game Kult (1st American edition)
by Johnstone Metzger
This document is not intended as an official release of any kind, nor an infringement upon the legal rights and ownership of Kult: Beyond the Veil. This document has been developed for non-commercial use and free dispersal over the internet for the benefit of Kult fans everywhere, and especially members of The Last Cycle. Come visit us at: www.kult-rpg.com Kult and related terms are trademarks of Paradox Entertainment under license to the 7th Circle Publishing company. Kult written by Gunilla Johnsson and Michael Petersn. Swedish edition copyright 1991 Target Games AB. American edition copyright 1993 Metropolis, Ltd.
INTRODUCTION
This document contains three scenarios revolving around terrible locations. A haunted house, a tropical resort that hides a hideous secret, and an ordinary courtroom that leads to any one of several dark fates. These adventures do not require anything specific from player characters, in terms of histories or abilities, although combat training may be detrimental to the shock and tension of some situations. All three scenarios have been designed to begin longer campaigns that the individual GM designs based on the initial adventure and the (surviving?) player characters.
time advocate of lucid dreaming, and liked how remote the house was. He lived there for a couple weeks, then moved back to Paris and hung himself. Jenette never went to the house herself, she was in Africa during the whole episode, but she does know who Ttreault sold it to Tymoteusz Masiakowski. Rumors and Dares Word on the street is that the old Elijah House house is haunted. Nobody who moves in can stand to live there for more than a few months, and just ends up moving out and selling it. Various people have broken in to spend a night there, usually as the result of drunken dares and bets. Some people claim to have done this, but there are also stories about people who were injured, went crazy, or never even came back from a night in that house. Perhaps the PCs are brave enough? They sure keep hearing about the damn place... Family History One (or more!) of the PCs discover that they are a descendant of Elijah House. Doing some routine research, perhaps not even related to their family tree, they uncover some documents that show they are related to somebody who was related to Elijah House, who built his famous house in Massachusetts. If they look into the "famous" Elijah House house, they find it easily enough.
TYMOTEUSZ J. MASIAKOWSKI
Polish assassin, 33 years old. AGL 16 CON 14 EGO 13 PER 14 STR 15 COM 11 CHA 7 EDU 11 Actions: 3 Initiative Bonus: +4 Damage Bonus: +3 Endurance: 100 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -10
Advantages: Endure Pain (15), Influential Friends (15). Disadvantages: Death Wish (10), Debt (10), Greed (10), Vain (5), Wanted by the police (5). Dark Secret: Guilty of crimes. Skills: Automatic Weapons 15, Bugging 10, Burglary 14, Climb 12, Computers 5, Demolition 10, Dodge 13, Drive 12, Estimate Value 10, Gambling 8, Garrote 14, Handgun 12, Hide 16, Knife 15, Man of the World 12, Motor Mechanics 10, Net of Contacts: Russian Mafia 15, Poisons & Drugs 10, Polish Literature 10, Radio Communications 10, Rifle 16, Seamanship 10, Search 10, Seduction 8, Sneak 14, Unarmed Combat 12. Languages: Polish, German, Russian; poor English and Swedish; some Czech and Serbo-Croatian. Tymoteusz Masiakowski is normally quiet and collected, especially on the job, but he likes to drink socially. And when he drinks he gets loud and boisterous. He has been a criminal most of his life, though, and knows when to keep his mouth shut. He speaks with a thick Polish accent, especially when he speaks Polish. He keeps his tough-guy attitude low key in the company of women he could kill you if he had to, but it's no big deal. Masiakowski will be happy to take prospective buyers out to see the Elijah House house, even at odd hours of the night, but he will not sleep inside. He would rather sleep in his car, or drive all the way back to Boston alone. He believes in haunted houses, and stays well clear. "You Americans think maybe is no such thing, but in Poland, we know haunting is real." Even though he paid next to nothing for it, Masiakowski wants fair market value for the House on House Hill. The longer a prospective buyer waits, though, the lower the price gets. When he has to leave the States, he will settle for anything, and certain "set-backs" (legal or criminal in nature) may cause him to lower the price so he can raise cash quickly. It's a rough-and-tumble life, being a hit man.
BATHROOMS
Instead of leading to the dingy bathroom of the Elijah House house, with decades-old plumbing, that door now leads to what looks like sparkling clean, Roman-era baths, straight from an Alma-Tadema painting. There is room after room after room of pools and baths, the occasional modern jacuzzi room, and balconies showing the strangest city any human has ever seen. It stretches out into the horizon, farther than is possible on Earth. The view is sometimes blocked by overgrown gardens, sometimes the gardens below have been burned and trampled.
SERVANT'S QUARTERS
This room is smaller than most rooms in The House on The Hill, but still larger than most rooms in the Elijah House house. It is decorated in a pseudo-Middle Eastern style, the floor covered in several layers of Persian carpets. The room is inhabited by two Azghouls (Kult, p. 200), named Mirosanganus and YaghutJhaheed. Their names are written above their beds, where they lie, waiting for their old masters to return, and command them again.
LIBRARY
Oak-paneled walls give way to bookshelves, where hundreds of thousands, no millions!, of books reside. It seems like the shelves stretch on forever, for several stories, and contain any book a PC might ever want to read, and some he might not...
GREENHOUSE
What used to be a beautiful, lush display of greenery under glass is now overgrown with riotous nature. The glass panes are smashed, and the great double doors leading out of the house have long ago been ripped off their hinges. This is where the Wolvens (Kult, p. 202) have dragged the bodies left by Masiakowski. All that is left is bones and a few scraps of flesh. The Wolvens return on a regular basis, and will attack the PCs if encountered. Outside the greenhouse is the remnants of the Sacred Garden, where humankind celebrated the sculpture of nature, where the forces of Gaia were tamed and domesticated. With the abandonment of Metropolis, the Garden has grown wild and dangerous. Gateways to Gaia itself are common, and numerous dangerous predators hunt through this wild land.
GARAGE
It seems there are now back doors that lead to a garage or warehouse of some sort (there is no garage attached to the Elijah House house). The size is gargantuan, and it is almost completely empty, except for occasional, incomprehensible machinery. These spaces could even house aircraft. This is one of the most run-down areas of The House on The Hill. Broken windows show barren fields outside, bordered by strange woods in the distance. At night, the Wolven and Ferocci (Kult, p. 202) stalk these fields and haunt the woods. At all times, these warehouses are haunted by the ghostly shade of a woman, perhaps the wife of the House's god, or perhaps his daughter, or perhaps just one of the unlucky residents who could not leave The House, but also could not stay, and live.
SAN CRISTOBAL
Deep in some secluded corner of Latin America lies a very special vacation resort, known as San Cristobal. It is not normally open to the public, and has a very select clientele. Neighboring residents, especially the Indians, know to keep their distance from the resort property. Security can be heavy-handed in keeping unwanted visitors away, and some people even whisper about disappearances connected to the tourists who frequent San Cristobal Resort. The GM should feel free to locate the San Cristobal Resort in whichever Latin American country would be appropriate for the story, except perhaps Brazil, as this material has been written with Spanish in mind as the local language.
CLUB FED
The main source of funds for El Ordo de las Hydras is cannibal tourism. The corpses tend to pile up in the wake of cult practices, so Dr. Quesnel has opted to dispose of them in a way that generates revenue. Wealthy cannibals from all over the world come to San Cristobal to witness torture and murder and feed on the flesh of other humans. Most of the tourists partake of the rare luncheon San Cristobal provides, though some are only interested in performing, or watching, the torture. All of them affectionately refer to San Cristobal as "Club Fed."
CLUB DEAD
A few of the local Indians have growing suspicions about the resort and it's owners. In the early days of San Cristobal, El Ordo would commonly kidnap the natives to use in their experiments, though nowadays the network of kidnappers they use casts a wide net when looking for suitable candidates. One bold journalist, Alberto Morales, managed to get a story about San Cristobal published. He had to go to foreign (English-language) newspapers to achieve this, though, as he couldn't find any Latin American media outlets willing to touch the story. He had interviewed local Indians about the resort, and used the nickname "Club Dead" in his article. Although he disappeared soon after he went public, several cannibal tourists have actually found their way to San Cristobal through his article. Kidnappings of Indians have stopped, though they can see that travelers in the area, especially young and poor travelers, and even the occasional local, still go missing. They have no doubt where these missing people end up, but no one will listen to them.
GUSTAVO BAUER
San Cristobal Resort Manager, 49 years old. AGL 12 CON 16 EGO 13 PER 12 STR 13 COM 10 CHA 14 EDU 16 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: 0 Damage Bonus: 0 Endurance: 110 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -10 Advantages: Influential Friends (15). Disadvantages: Mental Constriction: Forgets what he sees (10), Rationalist (15). Dark Secret: Minion of evil. Skills: Accounting 12, Administration 15, Automatic Weapons 12, Bugging 10, Bureaucracy 15, Climb 15, Computers 5, Diplomacy 10, Dodge 12, Drive 16, Estimate Value 10, First Aid 10, Handgun 15, Information Retrieval 12, Interrogation 10, Jungle Survival 12, Motor Mechanics 12, Net of Contacts: Military 8, Parachuting 12, Pilot Boat 10, Search 16, Security Systems 15, Shadow 10, Sneak 15, Swim 12, Unarmed Combat 15, Written Report 10. Languages: Spanish, English, some fluency in Portuguese, German, and Japanese. Gustavo Bauer left the military to pursue a career in the private sector more money, less risk. And the private sector has not disappointed him. He finds it very relaxing to run a resort, even a resort with so much secrecy and VIP security. He doesn't like to think about all the things that go on at San Cristobal, it's just not his place to ask questions or rock the boat. He doesn't care about a few Indians or backpackers, anyway. They are just the "little people," and it's really one the wealthy, cultured elite who are worth his time, care and effort.
TORBEN RYGG
Norwegian Sales Analyst, 30 years old. AGL 11 CON 13 EGO 15 PER 13 STR 10 COM 12 CHA 12 EDU 16 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: 0 Damage Bonus: 0 Endurance: 95 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -10
Advantages: Motherliness (5). Disadvantages: Mental Compulsion: Cannibalism (15). Dark Secret: Cannibal. Skills: Bureaucracy 10, Computers 15, Cooking 12, Information Retrieval 10, Law 10, Mathematics 10, Net of Contacts: Cannibals 15, Net of Contacts: Corporate Culture 10, Net of Contacts: Travel Industry 8, Research Policy 10, Sociology 15, Statistics 10, Wine Tasting 10, Written Report 15. Languages: Norwegian, Swedish, German, English, Spanish. No one would suspect a vegetarian of being a cannibal, especially Torben Rygg no one who knows Torb would suspect him of anything at all. Cheerful, generous and well-traveled, Torb is seen as a mother hen by all his friends and co-workers. In fact, he acts the same way amongst his fellow cannibals, which has led to him organizing all cannibal tourist bookings for San Cristobal Resort. Torb is the go-to guy for picky eaters all over the world who know of San Cristobal. He has almost total control over access to the eatery it provides. His job sees him traveling quite a bit throughout Europe and Latin America, so it is hardly surprising that he knows a vast array of people. He is always extremely careful about his use of language, and he never refers to cannibalism except by innocuous metaphor. Torb never uses threatening or abusive language. Nor does he participate in any torture, though he has been a voyeur in the past. His primary interest is eating other humans. He does not view prospective meals as human in any way, and almost behaves like their death and culinary preparation is inevitable and not a conscious choice made by anyone.
TIKU MACHI
Indian Headman, 36 years old. AGL 15 CON 16 EGO 14 PER 14 STR 12 COM 13 CHA 16 EDU 3 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: +3 Damage Bonus: +2 Endurance: 110 Damage Capacity: 5 scratches = 1 light, 4 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: +10 Advantages: Endure Hunger/Thirst (10), Honesty (5), Status (5). Disadvantages: Persecuted (10). Dark Secret: None. Skills: Climb 10, Club 10, Diplomacy 15, Dodge 10, Fishing 15, Herbalism 12, Hunting 15, Jungle Survival 15, Net of Contacts: Native Indians 15, Sneak 12, Swim 10, Throwing 13, Unarmed Combat 10. Languages: Local Indian dialects, Spanish, a few English words. Tiku Machi is the most respected headman in the area. He is known for his sharp eyes and calming words. He will give help to any person he thinks will be able to rid the area of the San Cristobal Resort, including showing them how to infiltrate the resort, and where to find ample evidence of wrongdoing. The Indians spy on San Cristobal, despite its fearsome security measures.
There are two buildings devoted to these private rooms. The larger of the two is entirely devoted to private experiments and is off-limits to everyone except members of El Ordo. The smaller, newer building holds the rooms where tourists can watch people being tortured, either by cultists or other tourists.
FIGHT CLUB
There is also an area designated for arena fighting, where the physicians can study the effects of fighting on the human mind and body. This area also caters to spectators, and has both open seats and box seats behind mirrored glass. In some cases, the physicians promise the fighters they will be released if they kill their opponents. In this case, they require all visible observers to cover their faces. Fighters in the arena are usually equipped with various medical monitoring devices, so the physicians may record physiological results while a fight is occurring. Fights are usually broken up numerous times before one party is declared the winner, to give the physicians a chance to tweak their equipment and re-monitor the subject. This arena is indoors, not open to the outside, and is entirely devoted to illegal fighting and larger cannibal festivities when it is not feasible to hold those outdoors.
CAFETERIA
Special kitchens, attached to the arena, prepare all of the human meat at San Cristobal, as none of the physicians, security personnel or support staff are cannibals. Prisoners are unlikely to arrive here alive, much less escape, unless perhaps security in the arena is very lax. All the meat from corpses is used here, so that only the bones need be disposed of in the graveyard pits. The local Indians have collected a few human bones from these burial pits as evidence to support their claims. The cafeteria used by the cannibals (in the same building as the arena and kitchens, of course) can support more than two hundred people, the arena less than one hundred. Peak numbers for "special guests" is just over one hundred. This number does not include members of El Ordo de las Hydras.
PROMISES, PROMISES
There is one exceedingly cruel activity that has fast become a favorite amongst Ordo members and "special guest" tourists. A group of living prisoners is separated into pairs, one to be tortured and one to do the torturing. The are told that whoever comes up with the most inventive form of torture will be released from the resort. There might be several rounds, where the least popular torturers then become victims, and
victims with less severe injuries become torturers. Usually, it is just the least-inspired half of the torturers who become the victims for the next round, until a winner has been decided from a small handful. El Ordo de las Hydras actually keep their word in this case. Sometimes. The winner may be released into the slums of a nearby city and left to fend for himself. Cultists are then free to observe the subject's behavior in an unfamiliar environment, post-trauma.
RESORT SECURITY
Despite what the Indians may say, most observers will see a distinct lack of security around San Cristobal. Although there are some heavily armed guards, it does not seem like there is nearly enough of them to keep outsiders away from the resort. In fact, most of the human security is just there to frighten away intruders who scare easily. The real security duties are performed by Excrucies (Legions of Darkness, p. 27), provided by Dr. Mortimer Blanco. Most patrons of the resort do not notice them, and even Dr. Quesnel does not really believe in them. Other cult members have Mental Balance ratings extreme enough to notice them, but believe them to be a much-warranted addition to resort security. None of them pay attention to relations between Dr. Quesnel and Dr. Blanco. None of them realize that Golab will soon take possession of their souls. The Indians have found certain plants and animal toxins that can repulse or disorient the Excrucies, and use these when spying on the resort. These plants will not actually harm the Excrucies, just keep them busy long enough for the Indians to escape or slip by without notice. The Excrucies have not faced any significant challenge since arriving at San Cristobal.
LAST WORD
San Cristobal is an exceedingly dangerous place for player characters to find themselves. It is worth remembering that the physicians are not hell-bent on killing per se they are studying the effects of torture, and will desire to keep a subject alive for as long as he is providing useful data. Also, the PCs do not need to be highly trained combat machines to negotiate this scenario successfully. The only really formidable opponents at San Cristobal are the Excrucies the physicians and cannibals are mostly regular people (aside from their bizarre hobbies), and the security personnel are not soldiers. With a little help from the Indians, it should be possible for even puny characters to escape, with life and limb more or less (but preferably less) intact.
JUDGE O'MALLEY
Judge, 63 years old. Lictor in the service of Geburah. AGL 31 CON 37 EGO 30 PER 38 STR 46 COM 8 in human form CHA 20 EDU 48 Actions: 5 Initiative Bonus: +19 Damage Bonus: +9 Endurance: 215 Damage Capacity: 9 scratches = 1 light, 8 light = 1 serious, 6 serious = 1 fatal, takes 2 fatal wounds to die. Skills: Acting 15, Administration 25, Diplomacy 10, Drive 20, Forgery 20, Information Retrieval 20, Interrogation 20, Law 25, Net of Contacts: Courts 25, Net of Contacts: Law Enforcement 15, Net of Contacts: Lawyers 20, Net of Contacts: Politicians 20, Occultism 15, Political Science 15, Psychology 15, Rhetoric 25, Search 15, Sociology 15, Unarmed Combat 12, Written Report 20. Magic: Lore of Dreams 50, Lore of Madness 30, Lore of Time and Space 20. Spells: All Lore of Dreams spells at 30, all other spells up to the limit of his Lores at 20. O'Malley's entire history has been fabricated to create the impression that the judicial system is not an oldboy's club, that struggling minorities can be successful, that the will of the people still leads this country. He appears to have succeeded in life through hard work, diligent study, and his own natural abilities, not through the privilege of knowing the right people. But this is all a lie. In Judge O'Malley's courtroom, the jury is irrelevant. They will always decide on his predetermined verdict, and that verdict will support the Illusion, the imprisonment of humankind, and most important of all, the will of his master, the Archon Geburah, the very essence of merciless judgment (Legions of Darkness, p. 53).
ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE
If the PC escapes at any point after his first hearing, Judge O'Malley will send one or more Ushers (Legions of Darkness, p. 56) to bring him back. These heartless creatures will hunt him to the ends of the earth and beyond, if necessary.
throwing things at the character. They will quickly produce heavy objects, like rocks and paperweights, chairs and garbage cans. They will not stop until the PC has been beaten to a bloody pulp, though they may stop before he is dead. As long as he has taken enough wounds and does not fight back, they will leave him in the courtroom and forget all about this episode. While Binah may have gained control of O'Malley's loyalty, Geburah's influence does not fade quickly.
Fen Park has weathered several torture scandals and class action lawsuits. All attempts to alleviate the suffering of prisoners have been completely unsuccessful. So far, Geburah has been able to maintain his plans for the prison. Soon enough, it will become part of his Citadel, and all the prisoners inside will come with it.
Powers: Increased Abilities, Infrared Vision, Regeneration. Disadvantages: Animal Enmity, Bad Reputation, Death Wish, Domineering, Fanaticism, Mania, Persecuted, Rage, Sexual Neurosis: Rapist, Wanted. Limitations: Blood Thirst (any blood), Hunting Instinct, Sensitive to Sunlight. Skills: Acrobatics 15, Automatic Weapons 10, Burglary 14, Climb 20, Dodge 15, Drive 10, Falling Technique 15, Handgun 10, Hide 20, Knife/shiv 15, Motor Mechanics 8, Night Combat 15, Poisons & Drugs 10, Scrounging 8, Search 10, Shadow 10, Sneak 20, Streetwise 15, Swim 20, Throw 20, Tracking 10, Unarmed Combat 15. Magic: The Lore of Madness 20, the Lore of Time and Space 20. Spells: Unshroud Illusion 20, Manipulate Senses 15, Madness Walk 15, See Through Time & Space 20, Manipulate Time & Space 20, Time & Space Walk 15, True Vision 15. Steve Macpherson is serving multiple life sentences for rape and murder. His mental balance is much lower than -75, but he has magical abilities to escape the notice of the Lictors. He uses the Lore of Time and Space to warp time so that when he exists in the prison it is when he first got there, and he appears to be a new prisoner with a mental balance of -20 or so. He uses the Lore of Madness to travel between the prison and Metropolis. His goal is to help other promising inmates escape the clutches of Geburah. He brings them to Metropolis to experience the thrill of the hunt, and helps drive their Mental Balance low enough that they begin to experience physical changes. His version of the Lore of Madness can only bring him to Geburah's Citadel or Hod's Citadel. He cannot see or travel to other places in Metropolis via magic.
EPILOGUE
These three scenarios are designed to act as springboards for longer campaigns designed by the GM. Even Our Last Resort has been kept wide open for continuing adventures in San Cristobal Resort. The Hanging Judge, especially, provides numerous pathways to other worlds, and greater horrors. The forces of terror set forth in Architects of Fear can be quite formidable, and the GM should be aware of this before running any of these scenarios. Hopefully, at least one of them will be the start, or the continuation, of a great campaign.