New Cryptworld Unsettling Power: Automatic Writing

One of my favorite things about CRYPTWORLD are the unsettling powers, little supernatural abilities for things designed not necessarily to harm the PCs but add flavor, mood, and atmosphere to encounters and trigger fear checks. They are also a lot of fun to design, and I have a few in the recently released MONSTERS MACABRE supplement for CRYPTWORLD and here on my blog that came about from my horror movie viewing. I have to admit to watching horror movies lately through a CRYPTWORLD lens and actively looking for moments that would make great unsettling powers.

Here is a new unsettling power for your CRYPTWORLD games expanded on from the Ghost entry in Chapter 7: Things.

Spirit Writing

Automatic Writing: This power allows an undead thing (typically a ghost) to communicate with the living by temporarily taking control of a character’s hand to deliver a written message or warning. This usually requires the presence of paper and a writing implement such as a pen, but a planchette and spirit board (commonly called a ouija board) may be used instead. This costs 10 WPR per minute. In extreme cases, a knife or other sharp object might be used to carve a message on a surface like a wooden table or a wall at a cost of 10 WPR per round. All written communications resulting from this power will appear to be in the handwriting of the thing using the power. The hand of the character chosen (left or right) will be the same dominant hand the undead thing had in life.

I've got to say "hello" to an old friend...

New Cryptworld Unsettling Power: Slam

I was recently reading through the old Pacesetter THINGS supplement and rediscovered an Evil Way discipline called Slam that I thought would make a nice addition to CRYPTWORLD. I've rewritten and reworked it as an unsettling power and added a little something extra - your CRYPTWORLD investigator might not be playing the piano for awhile!

Get out. GET OUT!!!!

Slam: This power allows a thing to forcefully slam shut any single portal (door, window, or gate) within a range of 100’ that it has previously shut normally. No amount of human effort can reopen the portal while the slam remains in effect, although the portal can be destroyed by extraordinary means (e.g. using explosives on a door or throwing a heavy object through a glass window). If a character is unfortunate enough to have their fingers caught within the slammed portal, they remain trapped until the thing relinquishes control of the portal and suffer a -20 penalty to DEX for 24 hours afterward. Use of this power costs 5 WPR per round of use.

New Cryptworld Unsettling Power: Apport

Apported Objects

In the CRYPTWORLD horror roleplaying game, things (i.e. monsters) can possess certain abilities called Unsettling Powers designed to invoke an atmosphere of fear without necessarily causing physical harm to the PCs. The core rulebook contains ten Unsettling Powers (Bloody Message, Chill/Warm, Extinguish, Minor Telekinesis, Silence, Swirling Mist, Touch of the Grave, Vermin, Voice Projection, and Warp Wood), and the upcoming MONSTERS MACABRE sourcebook will contain ten more including five contributed by yours truly (Haunted Portrait, Mirror Scare, Phantom Wind, Rotting Decay, and Stench of the Grave). Below is an all new Unsettling Power I came up with recently to add a little more chill to my incorporeal undead.

Apport: A thing possessing this power is able to instantly transfer an object from one place to another in a 100’ range. Unlike minor telekinesis where objects are seen to move and levitate, apport causes an object to materialize out of thin air in solid form from an unknown source. Such objects are typically small (no larger than a book and weighing no more than a brick) and of some personal significance to the thing. The apported object is usually meant to serve as a sign or warning to those witnessing the transference. Apport is frequently associated with incorporeal undead such as ghosts and poltergeists. Use of this power costs 20 WPR for each apported object transferred.

Did the Ghost of Elvis just apport that guitar?!?