Modern Mythos - ep.37

In this episode, Seth and Jon talk about werewolves and lycanthropes in your Call of Cthulhu game.

 

Episode Sponsor: Northern Lights & Darkness

Northern Lights and Darkness is a collection of six modern-day Call of Cthulhu scenarios written by Scandinavian authors and taking place in each of the author’s home countries. The settings include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, offering players and game masters fresh backdrops for investigating the Cthulhu Mythos.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/463221/Northern-Lights-and-Darkness-BUNDLE

 

Werewolves (pp182 of Malleus Monstrorum)

• Movies - The Howling, Silver Bullet, Dog Soldiers, Wolf, Wolfen, Brotherhood of the Wolf, The Wolfman,
• Traditional werewolves are governed by the phases of the moon – What else could compel a lycanthrope?
• Seasons
• Other celestial bodies
• Other planets
• Comets
• Constellations
• Emotional states (ie: Hulk’s anger)
• Adorning an animal hide/skin (magic item)
• Magic Spell they cast
• Innate ability to do at will
• Seth’s Valducan series - demonic possession
• Drug-induced, scientific concoction (pills, potion, or intravenous)
• Other types of lycanthropes
• Lots of examples from fantasy gaming:
• Wererats
• Weresharks
• Weretiger
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (wereneanderthal?)
• Hulk (wereroids???)
• Rakshasa (Hindu shapeshifting demon)

Are they an animal or a wolf-man?

• What hurts them?
• The lore of silver originated in 1760’s France with Beast of Gévaudan (Brotherhood of the Wolf) But not a universal folklore.
• Wolfsbane
• Do other herbs/minerals work for yours? PCs might have to discover it. Instead of having players pretend they don’t know the lore of silver, maybe their characters do know it, but it’s simply folklore and not true. Lovecraft’s “Fear of the Unknown” quote. Have the fear of a werewolf be not knowing who it is or how to hurt it/
• Maybe regular bullets can (like American Werewolf in London)

CoC Modules with Werewolves

• The Rescue (From Cthulhu Companion)
• The Swarming (Blood Brothers)
• Chateau of Blood (Blood Brothers 2)

 

We can’t do this show alone. We want to thank our amazing editors Max Mahaffa and Edwin Nagy for their hard work and keen skills at making us sound awesome!

 

We also want to thank John Sumrow, for our badass logo. He’s a very talented artist, so please follow him on Facebook, check out his official website, and please consider joining his Patreon account. Links in the show notes.

https://www.facebook.com/johnsumrow

http://www.johnsumrow.com

https://www.patreon.com/JohnSumrow

 

And finally, we want to thank The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets for generously allowing us to use their song, Gluttony, as our intro and outro music. If you are a fan of Lovecraft’s writing and the Call of Cthulhu RPG, then you need to check out The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Please check out their BandCamp site and their official band site. Links in the show notes.

https://thedarkestofthehillsidethickets.bandcamp.com/

http://thickets.net/