lovecraft intros

8/13/2019 Lovecraft Intros

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COMMONPLACE BOOKLPC EN CTHULHU | MARZO 15, 2007This book consists of ideas, images, & quotations hastily jotted down for possible future use in weird fiction. Very few are actually developed plotsfor the mostpart they are merely suggestions or random impressions designed to set the memory or imagination working. Their sources are variousdreams, things read, casual incidents, idle conceptions, & so on.H. P. Lovecraft

Presented to R. H. Barlow, Esq., on May 7, 1934in exchange for an admirably neattyped copy from his skilled hand.

1 Demophon shivered when the sun shone upon him. (Lover of darkness = ignorance.)

2 Inhabitants of Zinge, over whom the star Canopus rises every night, arealways gay and without sorrow. [x]

3 The shores of Attica respond in song to the waves of the Aegean. [x]

4 Horror StoryMan dreams of fallingfound on floor mangled as thofrom falling from a vast height. [x]

5 Narrator walks along unfamiliar country road,comes to strange region ofthe unreal.

6 In Ld Dunsanys Idle Days on the YannThe inhabitants of the antient Astahan, on the Yann, do all things according toantient ceremony. Nothing new is found.

Here we have fetterd and manacled Time, who woud otherwise slay the Gods.[x]

7 Horror StoryThe sculptured handor other artificial handwhich strangles its creator. [x]

8 Hor. Sto.Man makes appt. with old enemy. Diesbody keeps appt.

9 Dr. Eben Spencer plot. [x]

10 Dream of flying over city. [Celephas]

11 Odd nocturnal ritual. Beasts dance and march to musick. [x]

12 Happenings in interval between preliminary sound and striking of clockending

it was the tones of the clock striking three. [x]

13 House and gardenoldassociations. Scene takes on strange aspect.

14 Hideous sound in the dark.

15 Bridge and slimy black waters. [FungiThe Canal]

16 The walking deadseemingly alive, but. [x]

17 Doors found mysteriously open and shut etc.excite terror.


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18 Calamander-wooda very valuable cabinet wood of Ceylon and S. India, resembling rosewood.

19 Revise 1907 talepainting of ultimate horror.

20 Man journeys into the pastor imaginative realmleaving bodily shell behind.

21 A very ancient colossus in a very ancient desert. Face goneno man hath seen it.

22 Mermaid LegendEncyc. Britt. XVI40.

23 The man who would not sleepdares not sleeptakes drugs to keep himself awake. Finally falls asleepand something happens. Motto from Baudelaire p. 214. [Hypnos]

24 DunsanyGo-By StreetMan stumbles on dream worldreturns to earthseeks to go backsucceeds, but finds dream world ancient and decayed as though by thousands of years.

1919

25 Man visits museum of antiquitiesasks that it accept a bas-relief he hasjust madeold and learned curator laughs and says he cannot accept anything so modern. Man says that

dreams are older than brooding Egypt or the contemplative Sphinx or garden-girdled Babylonia

and that he had fashioned the sculpture in his dreams. Curator bids him shew hisproduct, and when he does so curator shews horror. Asks who the man may be. Hetells modern name. Nobefore thatsays curator. Man does not remember except in dreams. Then curator offers high price, but man fears he means to destroy sculpture.Asks fabulous pricecurator will consult directors.

Add good development and describe nature of bas-relief. [Cthulhu]

26 Dream of ancient castle stairssleeping guardsnarrow windowbattle on plainbetween men of England and men of yellow tabards with red dragons. Leader of English challenges leader of foe to single combat. They fight. Foe unhelmeted, butthere is no head revealed. Whole army of foe fades into mist, and watcher findshimself to be the English knight on the plain, mounted. Looks at castle, and sees a peculiar concentration of fantastic clouds over the highest battlements.

27 Life and DeathDeathits desolation and horrorbleak spacessea-bottomdead cities. But Lifethe greathorror! Vast unheard-of reptiles and leviathanshideous beasts of prehistoric jung

lerank slimy vegetationevil instincts of primal manLife is more horrible than death.

28 The Cats of UltharThe cat is the soul of antique gyptus and bearer of tales from forgotten cities of Mero and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungles lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language;but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.


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29 Dream of Seekonkebbing tidebolt from skyexodus from Providencefall of Congegational dome.

30 Strange visit to a place at nightmoonlightcastle of great magnificence etc. Daylight shews either abandonment or unrecognisable ruinsperhaps of vast antiquity.

31 Prehistoric man preserved in Siberian ice. (See WinchellWalks and Talksin the Geological fieldp. 156 et seq.)

32 As dinosaurs were once surpassed by mammals, so will man-mammal be surpassed by insect or birdfall of man before the new race. [x]

33 Determinism and prophecy. [x]

34 Moving away from earth more swiftly than lightpast gradually unfoldedhorrible revelation.

35 Special beings with special senses from remote universes. Advent of anexternal universe to view.

36 Disintegration of all matter to electrons and finally empty space assured, just as devolution of energy to radiant heat is known. Case of accelerationman passes into space.

37 Peculiar odour of a book of childhood induces repetition of childhood fancy.

38 Drowning sensationsunderseacitiesshipssouls of the dead. Drowning is a horible death.

39 Soundspossibly musicalheard in the night from other worlds or realms of being.

40 Warning that certain ground is sacred or accursed; that a house or citymust not be built upon itor must be abandoned or destroyed if built, under penalty of catastrophe.

41 The Italians call Fear La figlia della Mortethe daughter of Death. [x]

42 Fear of mirrorsmemory of dream in which scene is altered and climax is hideous surprise at seeing oneself in the water or a mirror. (Identity?) [Outsider?]

43 Monsters born livingburrow underground and multiply, forming race of unsuspected daemons.

44 Castle by pool or riverreflection fixed throcenturiescastle destroyed, reflection lives to avenge destroyers weirdly.

45 Race of immortal Pharaohs dwelling beneath pyramids in vast subterranean halls down black staircases.

46 Hawthorneunwritten plot

Visitor from tombstranger at some publick concourse followed at midnight to graveyard where he descends into the earth.

47 From Arabia Encyc. Britan. II255


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Prehistoric fabulous tribes of Ad in the south, Thamood in the north, and Tasm and Jadis in the centre of the peninsula. Very gorgeous are the descriptions givenof Irem, the City of Pillars (as the Koran styles it) supposed to have been erected by Shedad, the latest despot of Ad, in the regions of Hadramaut, and whichyet, after the annihilation of its tenants, remains entire, so Arabs say, invisible to ordinary eyes, but occasionally and at rare intervals, revealed to some heaven-favoured traveller.// Rock excavations in N.W. Hejaz ascribed to Thamood tribe.

48 Cities wiped out by supernatural wrath.

49 AZATHOTHhideous name. [x]

50 Phleg'-e-thon

a river of liquid fire in Hades. [x]

51 Enchanted garden where moon casts shadow of object or ghost invisible to the human eye.

52 Calling on the deadvoice or familiar sound in adjacent room.

53 Hand of dead man writes.

54 Transposition of identity.

55 Man followed by invisible thing.

56 Book or MS. too horrible to readwarned against reading itsomeone reads and is found dead. Haverhill incident.

57 Sailing or rowing on lake in moonlightsailing into invisibility.

58 A queer villagein a valley, reached by a long road and visible from thecrest of the hill from which that road descendsor close to a dense and antique forest.

59 Man in strange subterranean chamberseeks to force door of bronzeoverwhelmed by influx of waters.

60 Fisherman casts his net into the sea by moonlightwhat he finds.

61 A terrible pilgrimage to seek the nighted throne of the far daemon-sultan Azathoth.

62 Live man buried in bridge masonry according to superstitionor black cat.

63 Sinister namesNashtKaman-Thah. [x]

64 Identityreconstruction of personalityman makes duplicate of himself. [x]

65 Rileys fear of undertakersdoor locked on inside after death.

66 Catacombs discovered beneath a city (in America?).

67 An impressioncity in perildead cityequestrian statuemen in closed roomclaring of hooves heard from outsidemarvel disclosed on looking outdoubtful ending.

68 Murder discoveredbody locatedby psychological detective who pretends he has made walls of room transparent. Works on fear of murderer.


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69 Man with unnatural faceoddity of speakingfound to be a maskRevelation.

70 Tone of extreme phantasyMan transformed to island or mountain. [x]

71 Man has sold his soul to devilreturns to family from triplife afterwardfearculminating horrornovel length.

72 Halloween incidentmirror in cellarface seen thereindeath (claw-mark?).

73 Rats multiply and exterminate first a single city and then all mankind.Increased size and intelligence.

74 Italian revengekilling self in cell with enemyunder castle. [used by FBL,Jr.]

75 Black Mass under antique church.

76 Ancient cathedralhideous gargoyleman seeks to robfound deadgargoyles jaw ody.

77 Unspeakable dance of the gargoylesin morning several gargoyles on old cathedral found transposed.

78 Wandering throlabyrinth of narrow slum streetscome on distant lightunheard-of rites of swarming beggarslike Court of Miracles in Notre Dame de Paris.

79 Horrible secret in crypt of ancient castlediscovered by dweller.

80 Shapeless living thing forming nucleus of ancient building.

81 Marbleheaddreamburying hilleveningunreality. [x] [Festival?]

82 Power of wizard to influence dreams of others.

1920

83 Quotation. . . a defunct nightmare, which had perished in the midst of its wickedness, andleft its flabby corpse on the breast of the tormented one, to be gotten rid ofas it might.Hawthorne

84 Hideous cracked discords of bass musick from (ruind) organ in (abandond)abbey or cathedral. [Red Hook]

85 For has not Nature, too, her grotesquesthe rent rock, the distorting lights of evening on lonely roads, the unveiled structure of man in the embryo, or the skeleton?

PaterRenaissance (da Vinci).

86 To find something horrible in a (perhaps familiar) book, and not to beable to find it again.

87 Borellus says, that the Essential Salts of animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious man may have the whole ark of Noah in his own Study, and raise the fine shape of an animal out of its ashes at his pleasure; andthat by the like method from the Essential Salts of humane dust, a Philosopher m


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ay, without any criminal necromancy, call up the shape of any dead ancestor fromthe dust whereinto his body has been incinerated.[Charles Dexter Ward]

88 Lonely philosopher fond of cat. Hypnotises itas it wereby repeatedly talking to it and looking at it. After his death the cat evinces signs of possessinghis personality. N.B. He has trained cat, and leaves it to a friend, with instructions as to fitting a pen to its right fore paw by means of a harness. Later writes with deceaseds own handwriting.

89 Lone lagoons and swamps of Louisianadeath daemonancient house and gardensmoss-grown treesfestoons of Spanish moss.

1922?

90 Anencephalous or brainless monster who survives and attains prodigioussize.

91 Lost winter dayslept over20 yrs. later. Sleep in chair on summer nightfalse dawnold scenery and sensationscoldold persons now deadhorrorfrozen?

1922?

92 Mans body diesbut corpse retains life. Stalks abouttries to conceal odourof decaydetained somewherehideous climax. [Cool Air]

93 A place one has beena beautiful view of a village or farm-dotted valleyin the sunsetwhich one cannot find again or locate in memory.

94 Change comes over the sunshews objects in strange form, perhaps restoring landscape of the past.

95 Horrible Colonial farmhouse and overgrown garden on city hillsideovertaken by growth. Verse The Houseas basis of story. [Shunned House]

96 Unknown fires seen across the hills at night.

97 Blind fear of a certain woodland hollow where streams writhe among crooked roots, and where on a buried altar terrible sacrifices have occurdPhosphorescence of dead trees. Ground bubbles.

98 Hideous old house on steep city hillsideBowen St.beckons in the nightblackwindowshorror unnamdcold touch and voicethe welcome of the dead.

1923

99 Salem storythe cottage of an aged witchwherein after her death are foundsundry terrible things.

100 Subterranean region beneath placid New England village, inhabited by (living or extinct) creatures of prehistoric antiquity and strangeness.

101 Hideous secret societywidespreadhorrible rites in caverns under familiarscenesones own neighbour may belong. [x]

102 Corpse in room performs some actprompted by discussion in its presence.Tears up or hides will, etc.


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103 Sealed roomor at least no lamp allowed there. Shadow on wall. [x]

104 Old sea tavern now far inland from made land. Strange occurrencessound of lapping of waves

105 Vampire visits man in ancestral abodeis his own father.

106 A thing that sat on a sleepers chest. Gone in morning, but something left behind.

1923

107 Wall paper cracks off in sinister shapeman dies of fright. [x] [Rats inWalls]

108 Educated mulatto seeks to displace personality of white man and occupyhis body.

109 Ancient negro voodoo wizard in cabin in swamppossesses white man.

110 AntediluvianCyclopean ruins on lonely Pacific island. Centre of earthwide subterranean witch cult.

111 Ancient ruin in Alabama swampvoodoo.

112 Man lives near graveyardhow does he live? Eats no food. [x]

113 Biological-hereditary memories of other worlds and universes. ButlerGodKnown and Unk. p. 59. [Belknap]

114 Death lights dancing over a salt marsh.

115 Ancient castle within sound of weird waterfallsound ceases for a time under strange conditions.

116 Prowling at night around an unlighted castle amidst strange scenery.

117 A secret living thing kept and fed in an old house.

1924

118 Something seen at oriel window of forbidden room in ancient manor house.

119 Art notefantastick daemons of Salvator Rosa or Fuseli (trunk-proboscis).

120 Talking bird of great longevitytells secret long afterward.

121 Photius tells of a (lost) writer named Damascius, who wrote

Incredible FictionsTales of DaemonsMarvellous Stories of Appearances from the Dead.

122 Horrible things whispered in the lines of Gauthier de Metz (13th cen.) Image du Monde.

123 Dried-up man living for centuries in cataleptic state in ancient tomb.


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124 Hideous secret assemblage at night in antique alleydisperse furtively one by oneone seen to drop somethinga human hand

125 Man abandond by shipswimming in seapickt up hours later with strange storyof undersea region he has visitedmad??

126 Castaways on island eat unknown vegetation and become strangely transformed.

127 Ancient and unknown ruinsstrange and immortal bird who speaks in a language horrifying and revelatory to the explorers.

128 Individual, by some strange process, retraces the path of evolution andbecomes amphibious.

? Dr. insists that the particular amphibian from which man descends is not likeany known to palaeontology. To prove it, indulges in (or relates) strange experiment.

1925

129 Marble Faun p. 346strange and prehistorick Italian city of stone.

130 N.E. region calld WitchesHollowalong course of a river. Rumours of witchabbaths and Indian powwows on a broad mound rising out of the level where some old hemlocks and beeches formed a dark grove or daemon-temple. Legends hard to account for. HolmesGuardian Angel.

131 Phosphorescence of decaying woodcalled in New England fox-fire.

132 Mad artist in ancient sinister house draws things. What were his models? Glimpse. [Pickmans Model]

133 Man has miniature shapeless Siamese twinexhib. in circustwin surgically detacheddisappearsdoes hideous things with malign life of his own. [HSWCassius]

134 WitchesHollow novel? Man hired as teacher in private school misses roadon first tripencounters dark hollow with unnaturally swollen trees and small cottage (light in window?). Reaches school and hears that boys are forbidden to visit hollow. One boy is strangeteacher sees him visit hollowodd doingsmysterious disappearance or hideous fate.

135 Hideous world superimposed on visible worldgate throughpower guides narrator to ancient and forbidden book with directions for access.

136 A secret language spoken by a very few old men in a wild country leadsto hidden marvels and terrors still surviving.

137 Strange man seen in lonely mountain place talking with great winged thing which flies away as others approach.

138 Someone or something cries in fright at sight of the rising moon, as ifit were something strange. [x]

139 DELRIO asks An sint unquam daemones incubi et succubae, et an ex tali congressu proles nasci queat?[Red Hook]

140 Explorer enters strange land where some atmospheric quality darkens the


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sky to virtual blacknessmarvels therein.

1926

141 Footnote by Haggard or Lang in The Worlds Desire

Probably the mysterious and indecipherable ancient books, which were occasionallyexcavated in old Egypt, were written in this dead language of a more ancient and now forgotten people. Such was the book discovered at Coptos, in the ancient sanctuary there, by a priest of the Goddess. The whole earth was dark, but the moon shone all about the Book.A scribe of the period of the Ramessids mentions another in indecipherable ancient writing. Thou tellest me thou understandest no wordof it, good or bad. There is, as it were, a wall about it that none may climb.Thou art instructed, yet thou knowest it not; this makes me afraid.

Birch Zeitschrift 1871 pp. 6164 Papyrus Anastasi I pl. X, l.8, pl. X l.4. Maspero,Hist. Anc. pp. 6667.

142 Members of witch-cult were buried face downward. Man investigates ancestor in family tomb and finds disquieting condition.

143 Strange well in Arkham countrywater gives out (or was never struck hole kept tightly covered by a stone ever since dug)no bottomshunned and fearedwhat lay b

eneath (either unholy temple or other very ancient thing, or great cave-world).[FungiThe Well]

144 Hideous book glimpsed in ancient shopnever seen again.

145 Horrible boarding houseclosed door never opened.

146 Ancient lamp found in tombwhen filled and used, its light reveals strange world. [Fungi]

147 Any very ancient, unknown, or prehistoric objectits power of suggestionforbidden memories.

148 Vampire dog.

149 Evil alley or enclosed court in ancient cityUnion or Milligan St. [Fungi]

150 Visit to someone in wild and remote houseride from station through the nightinto the haunted hillshouse by forest or waterterrible things live there.

151 Man forced to take shelter in strange house. Host has thick beard and dark glasses. Retires. In night guest rises and sees hosts clothes aboutalso mask which was the apparent face of whatever the host was. Flight.

152 Autonomic nervous system and subconscious mind do not reside in the hea

d. Have mad physician decapitate a man but keep him alive and subconsciously controlled. Avoid copying tale by W. C. Morrow.

1928

153 Black cat on hill near dark gulf of ancient inn yard. Mew hoarselyinvites artist to nighted mysteries beyond. Finally dies at advanced age. Haunts dreams of artistlures him to followstrange outcome (never wakes up? or makes bizarre discovery of an elder world outside 3-dimensioned space?) [Used by Dwyer]


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154 Trophoniuscave of. Vide Class. Dict. and Atlantic article.

155 Steepled town seen from afar at sunsetdoes not light up at night. Sail has been seen putting out to sea. [Fungi]

156 Adventures of a disembodied spiritthrodim, half-familiar cities and overstrange moorsthrospace and timeother planets and universes in the end.

157 Vague lights, geometrical figures, etc., seen on retina when eyes are closed. Causd by rays from other dimensions acting on optick nerve? From other planets? Connected with a life or phase of being in which person could live if he only knew how to get there? Man afraid to shut eyeshe has been somewhere on a terrible pilgrimage and this fearsome seeing faculty remains.

158 Man has terrible wizard friend who gains influence over him. Kills himin defence of his soulwalls body up in ancient cellarBUTthe dead wizard (who has said strange things about soul lingering in body) changes bodies with him . . . leaving him a conscious corpse in cellar. [Thing on Doorstep]

159 Certain kind of deep-toned stately music of the style of the 1870s or 1880s recalls certain visions of that periodgas-litten parlours of the dead, moonlight on old floors, decaying business streets with gas lamps, etc.under terrible circumstances.

160 Book which induces sleep on readingcannot be readdetermined man reads itgoes madprecautions taken by aged initiate who knowsprotection (as of author and translator) by incantation.

161 Time and spacepast event150 yrs agounexplained. Modern periodperson intensly homesick for past says or does something which is psychically transmitted back and actually causes the past event.

162 Ultimate horrorgrandfather returns from strange tripmystery in housewind and darknessgrandf. and mother engulfedquestions forbiddensomnolenceinvestigationcalysmscreams overheard

163 Man whose money was obscurely made loses it. Tells his family he must go again to THE PLACE (horrible and sinister and extra-dimensional) where he gothis gold. Hints of possible pursuersor of his possible non-return. He goesrecord of what happens to himor what happens at his home when he returns. Perhaps connectwith preceding topic. Give fantastic, quasi-Dunsanian treatment.

164 Man observed in a publick place with features (or ring or jewel) identified with those of man long (perhaps generations) buried.

165 Terrible trip to an ancient and forgotten tomb.

166 Hideous family living in shadow in ancient castle by edge of wood nearblack cliffs and monstrous waterfall.

167 Boy reard in atmosphere of considerable mystery. Believes father dead. Suddenly is told that father is about to return. Strange preparationsconsequences.

168 Lonely bleak islands off N.E. coast. Horrors they harbouroutpost of cosmic influences.

169 What hatches from primordial egg.

170 Strange man in shadowy quarter of ancient city possesses something of i


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mmemorial archaic horror.

171 Hideous old book discovereddirections for shocking evocation.

1930

172 Pre-human idol found in desert.

173 Idol in museum moves in a certain way.

174 Migration of LemmingsAtlantis.

175 Little green Celtic figures dug up in an ancient Irish bog.

176 Man blindfolded and taken in closed cab or car to some very ancient andsecret place.

177 The dreams of one man actually create a strange half-mad world of quasi-material substance in another dimension. Another man, also a dreamer, blundersinto this world in a dream. What he finds. Intelligence of denizens. Their dependence on the first dreamer. What happens at his death.

178 A very ancient tomb in the deep woods near where a 17th century Virgini

a manor-house used to be. The undecayed, bloated thing found within.

179 Appearance of an ancient god in a lonely and archaic placeprob. temple ruin. Atmosphere of beauty rather than horror. Subtle handlingpresence revealed byfaint sound or shadow. Landscape changes? Seen by child? Impossible to reach oridentify locale again?

180 A general house of horrornameless crimesoundslater tenants(Flammarion) (noel length?).

181 Inhabitant of another worldface masked, perhaps with human skin or surgically alterd human shape, but body alien beneath robes. Having reached earth, tries to mix with mankind. Hideous revelation. [Suggested by CAS.]

182 In ancient buried city a man finds a mouldering prehistoric document inEnglish and in his own handwriting, telling an incredible tale. Voyage from present into past implied. Possible actualisation of this.

183 Reference in Egyptian papyrus to a secret of secrets under tomb of high-priest Ka-Nefer. Tomb finally found and identifiedtrap door in stone floorstaircase, and the illimitable black abyss. [x]

184 Expedition lost in Antarctic or other weird place. Skeletons and effects found years later. Camera films used but undeveloped. Finders developand find strange horror.

185 Scene of an urban horrorSous le Cap or Champlain Sts.Quebecrugged cliff-facemoss, mildew, dampnesshouses half-burrowing into cliff.

186 Thing from seain dark house, man finds doorknobs etc. wet as from touchof something. He has been a sea-captain, and once found a strange temple on a volcanically risen island.

1931


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187 Dream of awaking in vast hall of strange architecture, with sheet-covered forms on slabsin positions similar to ones own. Suggestions of disturbingly non-human outlines under sheets. One of the objects moves and throws off sheetnon-terrestrial being revealed. Sugg. that oneself is also such a beingmind has becometransferred to body on other planet.

188 Desert of rockprehistoric door in cliff, in the valley around which liethe bones of uncounted billions of animals both modern and prehistoricsome of them puzzlingly gnawed.

189 Ancient necropolisbronze door in hillside which opens as the moonlight strikes itfocussed by ancient lens in pylon opposite?

1932

190 Primal mummy in museumawakes and changes place with visitor.

191 An odd wound appears on a mans hand suddenly and without apparent cause.Spreads. Consequences.

1933

192 Thibetan ROLANGSorcerer (or NGAGSPA) reanimates a corpse by holding it in a dark roomlying on it mouth to mouth and repeating a magic formula with all else banished from his mind. Corpse slowly comes to life and stands up. Tries to escapeleaps, bounds, and strugglesbut sorcerer holds it. Continues with magic formula. Corpse sticks out tongue and sorcerer bites it off. Corpse then collapses. Tongue become a valuable magic talisman. If corpse escapeshideous results and death to sorcerer.

193 Strange book of horror discovered in ancient library. Paragraphs of terrible significance copies. Later unable to find and verify text. Perhaps discover body or image or charm under floor, in secret cupboard, or elsewhere. Idea that book was merely hypnotic delusion induced by dead brain or ancient magic.

194 Man enters (supposedly) own house in pitch dark. Feels way to room andshuts door behind him. Strange horrorsor turns on lights and finds alien place orpresence. Or finds past restored or future indicated.

195 Pane of peculiar-looking glass from a ruined monastery reputed to haveharboured devil-worship set up in modern house at edge of wild country. Landscape looks vaguely and unplaceably wrong through it. It has some unknown time-distorting quality, and comes from a primal, lost civilisation. Finally, hideous things in other world seen through it.

196 Daemons, when desiring an human form for evil purposes, take to themselves the bodies of hanged men.

197 Loss of memory and entry into a cloudy world of strange sights and experiences after shock, accident, reading of strange book, participation in strangerite, draught of strange brew, etc. Things seen have vague and disquieting familiarity. Emergence. Inability to retrace course.

1934

198 Distant tower visible from hillside window. Bats cluster thickly aroundit at night. Observer fascinated. One night wakes to find self on unknown black


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circular staircase. In tower? Hideous goal.

199 Black winged thing flies into ones house at night. Cannot be found or identifiedbut subtle developments ensue.

200 Invisible Thing feltor seen to make printson mountain top or other height, inaccessible place.

201 Planets formd of invisible matter.

202 A monstrous derelictfound and boarded by a castaway or shipwreck survivor.

203 A return to a place under dreamlike, horrible, and only dimly comprehended circumstances. Death and decay reigningtown fails to light up at nightRevelation.

204 Disturbing conviction that all life is only a deceptive dream with somedismal or sinister horror lurking behind.

205 Person gazes out window and finds city and world dark and dead (or oddl

y changed) outside.

206 Trying to identify and visit the distant scenes dimly seen from ones windowbizarre consequences.

207 Something snatched away from one in the darkin a lonely, ancient, and generally shunned place.

208 (Dream of) some vehiclerailway train, coach, etc.which is boarded in a stupor or fever, and which is a fragment of some past or ultra-dimensional worldtaking the passenger out of realityinto vague, age-crumbled regions or unbelievablegulfs of marvel.

1935

209 Special Correspondence of NY TimesMarch 3, 1935

Halifax, N.S.Etched deeply into the face of an island which rises from the Atlantic surges off the S. coast of Nova Scotia 20 m. from Halifax is the strangest rock phenomenon which Canada boasts. Storm, sea, and frost have graven into the solid cliff of what has come to be known as Virgins Island an almost perfect outlineof the Madonna with the Christ Child in her arms.

The island has sheer and wave-bound sides, is a danger to ships, and is absolutely uninhabited. So far as is known, no human being has ever set foot on its shor

es.

210 An ancient house with blackened pictures on the wallsso obscured that their subjects cannot be deciphered. Cleaningand revelation. Cf. HawthorneEdw. Rand.Port.

211 Begin story with presence of narratorinexplicable to himselfin utterly alien and terrifying scenes (dream?).

212 Strange human being (or beings) living in some ancient house or ruins f


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ar from populous district (either old N.E. or far exotic land). Suspicion (basedon shape and habits) that it is not all human.

213 Ancient winter woodsmossgreat bolestwisted branchesdarkribbed rootsalwaypping. . . .

214 Talking rock of Africaimmemorially ancient oracle in desolate jungle ruins that speaks with a voice out of the aeons.

215 Man with lost memory in strange, imperfectly comprehended environment.Fears to regain memorya glimpse. . . .

216 Man idly shapes a queer imagesome power impels him to make it queerer than he understands. Throws it away in disgustbut something is abroad in the night.

217 Ancient (Roman? prehistoric?) stone bridge washed away by a (sudden andcurious?) storm. Something liberated which had been sealed up in the masonry ofyears ago. Things happen.

218 Mirage in timeimage of long-vanishd pre-human city.

219 Fog or smokeassumes shaped under incantations.

220 Bell of some ancient church or castle rung by some unknown handa thing .

. . or an invisible Presence.

221 Insects or other entities from space attack and penetrate a mans head and cause him to remember alien and exotic thingspossible displacement of personality.

The Dungeons and Dragons Critical Fumble Chart.

1. Your weapon, bored of the routine, decides to stop existing.

1.5. Your weapon decides to exist again, claiming that non-existence is muchmore boring than existence.

2. Your personal gravity reverses. You now fall up, rather than down, for1d8 minutes, or until gravity notices, turns its big ugly head your way and asks What the #$%@ is going on over here?!?

3. You hit normally. After the battle, a meteor strikes your characters head. If the character is not wearing a helmet, instant death. If your character iswearing a helmet, they are struck unconscious for 1d4 days. If they are indoors, they take 1 sub-dual damage. If the character is underground, the meteor patiently waits until the character steps outside before striking.

4. A Succubus begins to follow your character around, under the impression that your characters first-born male child will become a nexus of power so great, that hell rule the world, and she wants to mother him for a seat of power. Ifthe Succubus is successful, then exactly 1 year later, she tracks down the character. The child was born female, and the Succubus is mad as hell.

5. You cut yourself for 1 point of damage, and blood falls to the ground.A local cave of Land-sharks catch the scent on the wind.

6. Suddenly, every sentient creature within 200 miles of you is aware of


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who you are, what you look like, and what your surface thoughts are for the next4d6 minutes.

7. The area around you changes itself to a zone of truth.

8. Your worst enemy gains a level.

9. Your nightmare manifests itself inside your home. It becomes bored ofwaiting for you. It becomes a master of all the board games you own.

10. A pirate ship crashes into your character. Regardless of where your character is.

11. You gain one level in Paladin, and the appropriate alignment. If you are already a Paladin, gain one level in Barbarian.

12. Your face melts off, but you dont notice or take damage.

13. Your weapon turns into a flower-shaped baton. Every time you strike an enemy, it grows a flower on its head instantly, and takes 1 damage per round X thenumber of times its been hit with the flower baton. The weapon changes back afterthe battle.

14. Your enemies pity your failure, and walk away. No one gets any experience,

or any treasure. Wounds and used items, still remain however.

15. You hit the enemy so hard, it knocks him into the 4th dimension. He abusesthe powers of time. (cast time stop on the enemy, and remove the no damage rule)

16. Your characters hair catches fire. Your character doesnt notice why hes taking 1d6 damage.

17. Everyone in the battle is abducted by an alien race, probed, and set backdown on Earth with their memories erased. An awkward silence falls over the field. . .

18. Commercial break. All real life players are required to stand up, and do something else for 2d4 minutes.

19. Everyone in the battle, including yourself and your party members, makes an Attack of Opportunity against you. No matter where they are. No matter what condition they are in.

20. Rocks rise up from the ground, everyone within the area takes damage.

21. You cut a hole in the space-time continuum. Peering into the hole, you cansee your character 20 years from now, and he can see you. However, as soon as he sees you, his features melt away until theres nothing left but skin and bone. The hole disappears, and your opponent strikes you with a critical hit

22. Your character can no longer perceive any and all cake. He will not recognize the word, and he will not be able to sense the cake at all, even through touch.

23. The character slowly starts to realize a conspiracy involving the number 23. Any time anyone rolls a 23 after mods on anything ever, the character becomes insane (as if effected by the insanity spell), and constantly adds random numbers up to a total of 23.


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24. The opponent smacks you. No damage, except for your pride.

25. The DM smacks the player. No damage, except for your pride.

26. Your pride smacks the DM. You are now the DM.

27. You switch bodies with a woman halfway across the world.

28. Your characters heart grows three sizes. Your characters heart bursts out of his chest.

29. Your characters weapon turns into a beehive. A very angry beehive.

30. You cut yourself. Funny, I dont remember coating this sword with pois. . .

31. All librarians now hate you, and will attack you on sight.

32. Your character shouts I just lost the game.However, he doesnt know why, norwill he ever know.

33. Your character is now deathly allergic to fish.

34. Your weapon becomes sovereign-glued to your hand.

35. Wanted posters of your character are put up everywhere. Except your character is naked in every single poster.

36. You trip. Halfway across the world from you, a hurricane utterly destroysa town.

37. A third group of monsters who hate both your party and the current monsters ambushes the fight.

38. All your rations are turned into Lemon Custard Pies.

39. You are teleported to the nearest tavern. The bartender doesnt say anything and just hands you a drink. On the house.

40. Your weapon transforms into a dire bee. A very angry, dire bee.

41. Your character becomes addicted to opium.

42. Your opponent becomes mad with power, thinking that you missed because you were afraid of his grand presence. He immediately leaves the battle and attempts to take over the world.

43. The McGuffin suddenly teleports in the middle of the room. The battle comes to a halt as both sides suddenly realize what has come into their midst.

44. Your character suddenly realizes that he doesnt really exist. He is now et

hereal until he thinks that he does exist. Then he becomes material again.

45. You and your entire party suddenly realize that you guys arent really thechosen ones fated to save destiny. You have no idea who they really are. You andyour group were just in the right place at the right time. The party suddenly feels less confident.

46. You critical hit the planet you are standing on. Roll again. If you get a20, the planet explodes.


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47. A miniature gelatinous cube materializes inside your backpack. All Tiny objects inside are thus devoured.

48. Your shadow gains a life of its own. Finally free of your character, yourshadow does what it has always wanted to do. Destroy the sun.

49. The legendary 5th dentist, the one that never agrees with the other 4 dentists, suddenly agrees with them. Chaos ensues.

50. Exactly 800 miles away, a merchant finds a gold piece on the ground. Thegold piece is actually a phylactery of the Lich that is secretly targeting yourparty. The Lich reveals his cunning plan during the first encounter, but then suddenly becomes extremely paranoid as the sudden realization that someone may have melted that gold piece down dawns on him.

51. Your weapon turns into a Bear. A very angry bear.

52. Your character now has access to a Manlinessskill, and gains 5 points in it. Your character can not gain anymore points in this skill. The manliness skillcan be used as an added bonus for anything that may be deemed badassor manly. Or he character can use this skill to instantaneously grow a beard or moustache ofthe Players choosing. Note, that this skill is still usable by female characters.

53. Your character is mistaken for an animal and placed inside of a zoo. Anyo

ne who hears your pleas for help ignore you, but are very impressed that such asavage beast can speak.

54. Your character wakes up at his nine-to-five job, with his boss yelling athim. It was all just a strange dream.

55. Your character misses and mutters a curse word so foul, that the demon lord of hell takes personal offense at it.

56. Your character now speaks a foreign language, but forgets how to speak his old one.

57. Your weapon turns into a Dire Bear. A very angry Dire Bear.

58. Your weapon turns into a can of spinach. If you eat the spinach, you gain+8 strength. Now if only you could open the can. . .

59. You become magnetized for 2d8 minutes. All metal objects within 15 fly atyou and stick to your body and can not be removed.

60. You are now, by some inexplicable means, fully aware of whenever your characters best friend picks his nose. Even if you arent in the same planet as he is, you know. Your characters best friend picks his nose once per every charismahours. I.E., if he has 13 Charisma, than he picks his nose once every 13 hours.

61. A wizard in a place far from the battle field casts time stop. However, f

or an inexplicable reason, your character is aware of every painstaking second of it.

62. Your opponent becomes explosive to contact, but you dont know this.

63. Your opponent becomes explosive to contact, and you and he both know it.

64. Your opponent becomes explosive to contact, and you know it, but he doesnt.


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65. 8 maids suddenly desire to milk you, in any way possible. Even if it means polymorphing you.

66. The enemy drives a cutting taunt into you that haunts you until your verydeath. You fight like a dairy farmer.

67. Your character has a bards curse placed onto him. The player using him must now speak in rhyme, or else anything he says is to be ignored by the DM, untilthe curse is lifted.

68. Your weapon turns into a bear eating a beehive. Hes very friendly and teaches you the bearnecessities of life. Gain a level in Ranger.

69. Someone in a distant land curses your name for giving them bad directionsto your house. You sneeze and provoke an Attack of Opportunity.

70. The character suddenly realizes that he could have been in the FATAL universe rather than the one he is in now. The character is frightened of this thought and takes a second look at his current life.

71. Your character does the Tango de la Muerte with a dance partner. The female partner becomes pregnant. Because it is the mystery of the dance. . .

72. The McGuffin turns into a muffin. Will save DC 15 once every 10 minutes t

o not eat the McGuffin muffin. Add +5 to the DC for every 2 hours the characterhasnt eaten.

73. A troll appears from nowhere and hands your character a handful of Sage.You sink slightly into the ground until your next turn.

74. Count every word you wrote down in your character sheet. Your character takes that much damage.

75. Your character now hates librarians, and will attack them on sight.

76. Your character becomes a loose-cannon cop on the edge who doesnt play by the rules. Gain one level in Paladin, except this Paladin is Chaotic Good, and st

ill retains his abilities.

77. Your new, personal arch-rival appears. He looks exactly like you, has allyour abilities and items, except he is exactly 1/8th your size. And hates you.

78. Your characters alimony officer catches up with you.

79. ALL of your characters alimony officers catch up with you.

80. All of your characters alimony officers and wives catch up with you.

81. Your character is now an atheist. He will now actively deny and antagonize every and all God, Clerics, Paladins, and Bards with divine spells, and polar

bears. Hes not quite sure why polar bears, but he doesnt believe in them.

82. The nearest Wizard PC now as the ability Nerd Rage. If anyone offends or upsets them, they can now Rage like a Barbarian, and will immediately attack thattarget, friend or foe.

83. Your character is now deathly afraid of the color yellow.

83.5. Your weapon turns into a dire yellow jacket. A sentient, friendly, and very clingy, yellow jacket.


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84. Your party, in embarrassment, walks away, wanting to do nothing with youanymore for the remainder of the battle.

85. Close your eyes, and open up a random page of the monster manual, and point somewhere within there. That species is now completely extinct because of your great incompetence, and every single Druid on Earth is aware of it.

86. You, and everyone around you, friend and foe, break out into a dance, complete with 50's jukebox music. However, youre still fighting. Think Westside Story.

87. Eighty-eight men wearing bandit masks and suits, wielding Masterwork Bastard Swords, attacks your character.

88. Your target and you are both charmed as per the spell by the other one. You two become lifelong buddies.

89. Your hand starts glowing with an awesome power. The next thing you touchwith your burning grip is destroyed.

90. The love of your life transforms into a cherry pie and a tall glass of water. Your DM is now obligated to tell you that this is a sweet surprise.

91. You sacrifice yourself to destroy the enemy. The world sheds a manly tear

. Your character ascends to the halls of Valhalla.

92. The Legendary 5th dentist hunts you down. Apparently, you had an appointment for yesterday that you forgot about. The Legendary 5th dentist is not happyabout being stood up.

93. Your weapon becomes sentient, and you, and only you, are able to detect its thoughts. However, every time your weapon strikes something or blocks something, it screams in a chilling, high-pitched, blood-curdling scream of agony. And after every battle, when you sheath the weapon, you can hear it softly crying andbegging to be destroyed.

94. Your character trips so hard it flattens the world. Anyone above the equa

tor doesnt notice, but anyone below it falls of the earth into space.

95. Your party member suddenly decides that now would be the best time to reveal to you that theyve slept with your significant other. Twice. On your birthday.

96. The next door you come across and its key both become sentient. However, the Key refuses to enter the door, under the context that theyre divorced and he wants nothing to do with that bitch. God help you if you force them together.

97. Roll again. Your character is under the impression that the new criticalfailure just happened and is fully aware of it, but your character is just beingdelusional.

98. Pun-Pun takes pity on your plight. He suddenly appears at your side andwill fight beside you for the remainder of the battle. Any attempts to look Pun-Pun directly in the eye, speak with, or otherwise treat Pun-Pun as an equal will immediately bring Pun-Puns wrath on yourself and everyone you know.

99. You strike a passing butterfly. Immediately, a corpulent time traveler from the future appears before you and informs you that the death of that butterfly causes a chain reaction that it to rain apple pies every day in the place where you currently stand. Your name is forever associated with fat, pudgy overind


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ulgent pie-eaters. Suffer a -4 to all Intimidate checks.

100. All of the above. At the same time. No saves. Final Destination.

gain, thanks to my bud Pat for finding this on 4chan's gaming forum. We only hadone fumble in my Encounter Critical game Saturday, but we got result #7, so I was quite pleased.

Doctor Aquatic's Fumble Chart

1. You crush your own trachea. Your voice is now two octaves lower.

2. You amputate your own arm. It writhes for a while before falling still. 2 days later, it reanimates as a zombie arm and relentlessly attempts to strangle you.

3. You trip and fall off the nearest cliff, no matter how far away it is.

4. You spontaneously combust.

5. You flail wildly, inadvertently giving yourself a sexy new haircut.

6. You miss so hard that your future self comes back through time to bitchslap you.

7. Your weapon gets completely stuck in the ground. You cannot remove it no matter how hard you try. 5 years later, it has grown into a thriving weapon tree. Centuries from now, the weapon forest will be a natural wonder. And then treants will animate them and destroy us all.

8. You whiff and split an atom.

9. You lose your grip on your weapon. It flies through the air and hits a tree.

This frightens a beautiful bird, which soars out of the tree, majestically twisting through the air. As you gaze upon it, you get momentarily philosophical, until your intended target renovates your skull.

10. You lop off your own head. You eventually fall into a rewarding career as aheadless horseman, but always wonder what could have been.

11. You miss so hard that your attack travels through time and assassinates Lincoln.

12. You accidentally slash your own wrists. At least, you tell us it was an accident.

13. With a flurry of precision strikes, you somehow give yourself a flawless sexchange operation.

14. You put out your own eye. You embrace the disfigurement, beocoming a notorious pirate. For years you terrorize the seas, hording treasure, pillaging ports and murdering innocents. One day, for just a moment, you seem to recognize one ofthe nameless civilians you are about to kill, as though you knew them, long ago. As soon as it came, the feeling, like their heartbeat, ceases.

15. It turns out you are not holding your weapon, but rather, an angry crab.


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16. You give yourself a black eye. Everyone assumes your significant other is beating you. Your significant other starts frequently beating you, because hey, might as well.

17. Your weapon gets lodged in your pancreas.

18. Your pancreas gets lodged in your weapon.

19. Your weapon spontaneously animates. It does nothing but constantly sing catchy songs. At first it is enjoyable and quirky. Soon, it begins to grate. Eventually, in a fit of rage, you shout at your weapon to be quiet. It never sings again. It only sulks quietly, letting out the occasional sigh of pure sadness. Yourguilty heart shrivels to the size of a cashew, and you become a lifeless, sullenentity, never again feeling the true touch of joy.

20. You miss. Probably because you didn't believe in yourself. Ass.

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