world war cthulhu: cold war

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As a player you will take on the role of a person caught up

in the horrifying events of World War Cthulhu. Though your

character may be an intelligence officer, an agent, an assassin,

a bureaucrat or otherwise, all characters in Call of Cthulhu

and World War Cthulhu: Cold Warare called investigators.

Your investigator is part of the Western intelligence services,

but also part of something else. After an encounter with

something inexplicable and chilling, they have been

approached and pressed into working for Section 46 by N,

a mysterious spymaster dedicated to eradicating the horrors

of the Cthulhu Mythos, or by one of his associates. All steps

within this character creation chapter should aid you in

creating an agent in Ns battle against this alien, eldritch evil.

The steps within this character creation chapter should aid

you in creating an interesting and rounded character, ready

for play.

CREATING YOUR INVESTIGATORCopy a character sheet from the back of this book or download

and print it from Cubicle 7s website (www.cubicle7.co.uk).

Now, get a pencil and some dice handy. You may need to do

some erasing or changing things around, so its a good idea toinitially write faintly on your character sheet, or else to make

notes on another piece of paper and transfer the information

to the character sheet when you are finished.

This character creation system replaces the one from the

Call of Cthulhurulebook. You can use a traditional Call of

Cthulhucharacter in World War Cthulhu: Cold War, though

be advised that such investigators will have fewer skill points.

Pg. 41 contains suggestions for bringing existing Call of

Cthulhuand World War Cthulhu: The Darkest Hour characters

into the Cold War setting.

The process of creating your investigator is presented in

eight steps. The process is thorough, and should produce

an interesting and rounded character ready for play. If you

prefer a speedier method, you may wish to use the Quick-

Fire Method (see pg. 37); it lacks the depth and detail of

the full version, but will get you up and running with the

bare-bones of a character, which can be further developed

during play.

The ten steps of character generation are:

STEP ONE: Generate Characteristics (page 28)

Begin by determining your investigators key attr ibutes, rating

features such as strength and intelligence.

STEP TWO: Investigators Age(page 28)

Your investigator can start play at any age, and the age you

choose can affect their attributes.

STEP THREE: Other Attributes (page 28)

Those characteristics that were rolled in Step One, in

combination with age, determine other factors, such as how

quick your investigator can move and how resilient they are.

STEP FOUR: Identity and Name (page 29)

A name and where your investigator is from.

STEP FIVE: Occupation, Skills and Trust (page 29)

Choose an occupation. Decide whether your investigator is a

career intelligence officer or if they had a previous occupation.

Assign skill points and determine Trust.

STEP SIX: Intelligence Agency Training (page 30)

This is where your investigator receives the training they willneed to be an effective intelligence officer.

STEP SEVEN: Create a Backstory (page 32)

By now you should be getting a feel for who your investigator

is. This is where you can go into more detail about various

aspects of their background.

STEP EIGHT: Brush with the Mythos (page 35)

An encounter with something strange led to your investigators

recruitment into Section 46. This is where you define what

the nature of that encounter was.

STEP NINE: Recruitment (page 36)Your investigator has been recruited into Section 46 by the

shadowy N. This is where they receive the conditioning that

will help them battle the agents of the Mythos.

STEP TEN: Equipping your Investigator (page 38)

Determine what gear your investigator possesses.

O F F I C E R S , A G E N T S A N D O T H E R S P I E S



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CHARACTER SHEET SUMMARY

1. CharacteristicsThe investigators key attributes, typically rated

between 15 and 90.

2. Investigators AgeThe investigators age can affect their attributes.

3. Other AttributesThe invest igators Move, Sanity, Hit Points, Luck

and Magic Points are determined by a their

characteristics and age.

4. Identity and NameKey details about the investigator.

5. Occupation, Skills and TrustThe investigators occupation determines the skills

they are trained in. Their Trust measures the faith

other agencies put in them and v ice versa.

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6. SpecialismAfter recruitment, the investigators agency will

train them in a specialist field of intelligence work.

7. Backstory

Various detail s about the investigatorsbackground.

8. Encounters with Strange EntitiesPrior to recruitment into Section 46, the

investigator had a brush with the Mythos the

first of many, no doubt.

9. Injuries, Phobias and SpellsDuring their conflict with the Mythos, an

investigator will be changed in some way. During

play, record these changes here.

10. Gear and PossessionsEquipment and other belongings the investigator

possesses.

11. Fellow InvestigatorsRecord the names of your fellow investigators here.

You may need to cal l out for help during a mission!


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INTELLIGENCE ANDTHE COLD WARSecret intelligence, espionage and covert operations were

intertwined with the Cold War like a thread through a

tapestr y. Just as the role of secret agents is critical to World

War Cthulhu: Cold War, so too were real-life spies crucial

to the conduct of international affair s from 1945 to 1991.

This chapter outl ines intelligence in the Cold War, discussing

the different forms of intelligence gathering, intelligence

agencies around the world and offering insights into some

of the ways in which intelligence agencies function in the

1970s.

FORMSOFINTELLIGENCEThe popular conception of intelligence gathering and

espionage is the trilby-hatted agent loitering in an alley

in Berlin, awaiting the arrival of a shady contact carrying

microdot s and codewords. Most Cold War espionage is not

like that.

However, the popular image does have some basis in trut h.

Spies, agents, turncoats and moles all come under the

heading of Human Intelligence (HUMINT). When we readabou t Jim Prideaux travelling to Czechoslovakia in order to

get information from a defecting general in John Le Carrs

classic espionage novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, thatsHUMINT. The true tale of notorious British double agent

Kim Philby feeding top-secret information back to the

Soviet Union? Thats HUMINT too.

But as the Cold War progresses, serious money is devoted

to more technical forms of espionage. The big gun in

all of this is Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). SIGINT can

be broken down into two main disciplines: monitoring

communications (COMINT) and monitoring electronic

emissions, such as radar (ELINT). For the Western powers,

SIGINT became hugely important because of the Soviet

and Eastern European agencies (particularly the Soviet

KGB and the East German Stasi) skill at rooting out spies

and double agents (with a few notable exceptions, such as

Oleg Penkovsky who was eventually executed and Oleg

Gordievsky, who had to be smuggled out of the USSR in

the boot of a car). Huge, well-financed, se cret organisations

such as the British General Communications Headquarters

(GCHQ, based in Cheltenham, England) and the American

National Security Agency (NSA, based in Fort Meade,

Maryland) were created to handle SIGINT.

As technology advanced, so too does the use of space

as an arena for spying. Several countries especially the

United States invested heavily in Imagery Intelligence(IMINT). From the 1960s onwards, satellites of increasing

power and sophistication were lofted into orbit in order to

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observe both ally and enemy alike. By the 1970s, the giant

American KH-11 satellites can photograph individuals f rom

hundreds of miles up in orbit.

The use of technology went both ways. Both the Soviet

Union and the Western allies seek to gain by hook orby crook examples of the latest enemy technology to

take apart and study, a process known as TECHINT. A

prime example of this is the defection of Soviet fighter

pilot Viktor Belenko in 1976. Disillusioned with his life, he

flew to Japan in t he very latest MiG-25 interceptor aircraft.

This gave Japanese and American analysts the ideal

opportunity to examine a supposedly fearsome weapon,

that turned out to be a lot less formidable than other forms

of intelligence had indicated.

Finally, there is a form of intelligence that does not rely

on satellites or defecting pilots. Throughout the Cold War

and up to the present day, states rely heavily on Open

Source Intelligence (OSINT). By reading newspapers

and monitoring TV and radio broadcasts, a considerable

amount of information can be collected.

For example, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

monitoring station at Caversham Park in Berkshire,

England, had a dual funct ion. On the surface, it allowed the

BBC to keep track of news happening all over the world.

Underneath, it also served an OSINT function too, passing

information back to the British Secret Intelligence Services

(SIS).

INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITYAGENCIES AROUND THE WORLDThis section discusses and outlines some of the major

domest ic and foreign intelligence and security organisations.

This is by no means an exhaustive list ing, and the selection

tends to privilege the groups that investigators in World

War Cthulhu: Cold Warare most likely to come into contact

with. There were and are many, many intelligence and

security agencies out there, and covering them all would

require a book many times the size of this one. If you are

interested in the wider world of intelligence in the ColdWar, the bibliography on pg. 232 is a good place to star t.

THEWESTERNALLIESFor Western intelligence, the 1970s are a period of crisis

and change. This is especially true of the American

Central I ntelligence Agency (CIA), an organis ation that was

suddenly thrust into the limelight. In Britain too, formerly

clandestine agencies have found themselves exposed in

the full glare of the media. The walls of the secret state

are crumbling, and a new generation of journalists many

inspired by the Watergate Affair that brings down US

president Richard Nixon seek to make the secret world

accountable to the public that it supposedly serves.

In the 1970s, Western intelligence gathering is dominated by

the United States of America. Most famous (and infamous)

of the US intelligence organisations is the CIA. The CIA

has wide-ranging responsibilities, from running spies andcovert operations, to orchestrating spy plane missions. But

it is an agency in crisis.

Accusations of abuse of power, infiltration of domestic

organisations (such as the anti-Vietnam War movement),

the actions of James Jesus Angleton (its paranoid head

of counterintelligence see opposite) and attempts to

assassinate heads of state (such as the persistent attempts

to do away with Cubas Fidel Castro) are investigated by

Congressional committees. This results in CIAs dirty

laundry being very publicly aired. The agency is also

responsible for serious lapses, most notably the failure to

predict the coup in Iran that ousts the autocratic Shah (animportant US ally) f rom power in 1979.

The CIA is not, however, the only major US agency active

during the decade. The Defense Intelligence Agency

(DIA) handles military intelligence; the National Security

Agency (NSA) is responsible for SIGINT; and the National

Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has responsibility for

satellite IMINT. All of these agencies and many more,


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From that day on my life has been a nightmare of brooding

and apprehension, nor do I know how much is hideous truth

and how much madness.

H P Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth

Experienced spies know the Moscow rules, shared wisdom

about operating in hostile environments (see pg. 51). They

hold the keys to success and survival. Rule Three states

Everyone is potentially under opposition control. This is a

terrifying enough thought when dealing with an opponent

who plays by rules you can understand. When you are

fighting a secret war on two fronts, and your other enemy

is ancient, inhuman and impossible to second-guess Well,

there is a good reason that most investigators die horribly or

succumb to madness.

GETTING STARTEDWhen starting a new World War Cthulhu: Cold Wargame,

players may select one of the archetypical investigators

presented on the Cubicle 7 website, or else create their own

using the rules in the Officers, Agents and Other Spies

chapter (see pg. 25). Investigators may come from many

walks of life. They may already have been part of SIS or anallied agency before joining Section 46, or they may have

been willingly or forcibly recruited from the police, military

or civilian life. Though they have all had a brush with the

Mythos, their depth of knowledge will vary hugely, and they

might be walking relatively blindly into the horror. Whatever

their background, they have something in common: they are

all brave, determined, resourceful individuals who are willing

(or, at least, appropriately motivated) to carry out Ns orders.

The investigators do not necessarily know each other well

before the operation begins, but may have crossed paths

professionally.

Players should glance at the Tradecraft (pg. 50), CovertActions (pg. 132) and Intelligence Agencies (pg. 15)

chapters to give themselves a working understanding of the

espionage environment. We assume a basic level of familiarity

with the Call of Cthulhurules and style of play.

The Keeper should familiarise themselves with this chapter,

the overview of Intelligence Agencies andSection 46(pgs. 15

and 22), the relevant material from theIntelligence Theatres

chapter (pg. 76) and the Beyond Top Secretchapter (pg.

114), as well as the scenario to be played, if using a pre-

written scenario. The other chapters of this book can be

consulted as needed.

For your first game, we recommend a scenario that gets the

players right into the thick of the action early. Begin with a

dangerous situation, then let the investigators regroup in a

safe house for a slower build-up to occult intrigue.

PRECEPTS OF PLAY

KEEPITREALISTICEspionage is a grim, dangerous business even before you

introduce the horrors of the Mythos. For all their training

and experience, the investigators are only human. They will

make mistakes, get injured, lose their grips on reality and,

on occasion, die. Their investigations will take them to dark

places, force them to deal with unpleasant people and take

risks, but there are limits.

The investigators are not James Bond: there are no

monologuing villains with comic-book schemes, no secret

bases with conveniently placed self-destruct mechanismsand no laser beams hidden in watches that will cut through

restraints in the knick of time. This is an unglamorous, secret

world where letting your opponents know who you are will

most likely get you killed. The Keeper should make the world

feel absolutely real, reinforcing the sense of danger wherever

possible and never sparing the investigators the horrors of the

shadowy world in which they operate.

KEEPTHEMPARANOIDWhen on missions, the investigators should live in a state of

heightened awareness, never sure who to trust and who may

betray them. Double agents, informers, counter-intelligenceofficers, trigger-happy mercenaries, ideological terrorists and

nosey policemen pose constant threats to life and liberty.

Investigations should be full of lies, half-truths and unwanted

revelations.

Assets may not be who they seem, allies may manipulate

investigators in pursuit of their own agendas, and even friends

will betray one another if the right pressure is applied.

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MUDDYTHEWATERSWhile the two missions that make up most scenarios are

usually different, they take place in similar worlds. An

informant selling secrets about the locations of Stasi safe

houses may also be on the payroll of the Black Brotherhood,

or vice versa. The investigators may discover that the terroristgroup in the crosshairs have also been carrying out attacks

against the Esoteric Order of Dagon, mistaking them for

ideological enemies. Unleashing the ancient horror the

investigators have been sent to destroy may prove the only

distraction available to stop their capture by the KGB.

The Keeper should always look out for opportunities to

present moral conflicts, offer expedient alliances with terrible

people or confound expectations about where the loyalties of

an NPC lie. If the investigators ever decide they know exactly

whats going on, they should be frightened that this means

they have overlooked something horrible.

DRAWFROMH ISTORYThe material in this book takes place over the course of

a decade of turmoil and change. During the course of

campaigns, regimes will rise and fall, intelligence services

will orchestrate coups, armed conflicts will start and end and

political ideologies will shift, and the roles of and trust in

intelligence services will change. By dipping into the history

of the different theatres of the Cold War, Keepers can help

bring them to life for the players, presenting the investigators

with a complex world in flux, where todays ally may be

tomorrows enemy, and a safe haven can turn into a war zonewith little warning.

Thats not to say that you should get hung up on or be

constrained by historical accuracy. This is a game, not a

textbook. The best spy fiction takes liberties with the real

world, inventing new factions and conspiracies to create

memorable drama. And sometimes even the best Keepers

make mistakes! When that happens, either move on and

accept it, or retroactively change the offending details, but

try not to let your games pace suffer for the sake of accuracy.

BETOUGHBUTFAIRWorld War Cthulhu: Cold Waris designed to be a grim andgritty game, in the purist mode of Lovecraftian gaming. The

odds are stacked against the investigators, and while they will

rarely be involved in open combat with their more human

enemies, assassination, disappearances and unexplained

accidents are all very real risks. These risks are even greater

when facing the forces of the Mythos, which have none of the

restraint or professional courtesies of the world of espionage.

Many of these threats cannot be fought by normal means,

or are so dangerous that attempting to do so is suicide. This

does not mean that the investigators will not or should not try,

simply that they will not always live to tell of it.

The Keeper should play fair, which also means being impartial.Roll dice openly, with consequences clearly spelt out. Resist

the temptation to fudge results to spare the investigators.

They operate in a dangerous world and they know the stakes.

If they survive, or better, succeed, this will be a hard-won

victory, and all the sweeter for it.

SECTION 46Section 46 is the ghost of the wartime Network N, one

mans quixotic crusade against the Mythos. From his club in

St Jamess, N continues to draw on collaborators to monitor

the activities of Western intelligence, secretly using their

operations as the means to carry out covert investigations

and attacks against occult threats.

In the game, Section 46 serves several purposes.

Gathering the investigators.

Missions against the Mythos.

Dispensing occult lore and clues.

GATHERINGTHEINVESTIGATORSInvestigators in World War Cthulhu: Cold War are all part

of Ns secret conspiracy. Section 46 draws the initial groupof investigators together, and provides a way to introduce

replacements in the event of an investigator dying.

MISSIONSAGAINSTTHEMYTHOSWhile N no longer commands the same resources he had

during World War Two, he still has enough informants around

the world to keep him apprised of the machinations of the

Mythos. He knows the bars in West Berlin where dangerous

artefacts are traded alongside state secrets. He knows the

Polish mathematicians whose researches risk opening the

human mind to horrors it was never meant to understand.

He knows the location of the hidden lake near the NizhnyayaTunguska River where pale abominations rise by moonlight.

He knows the pirates of the South China Sea who trade

captured sailors to Deep Ones in exchange for safe passage.

He knows the secret places hidden even from those whose

business is secrets.

N uses his dwindling contacts in the intelligence services to

find operations, agents or other assets that can be co-opted

K E E P E R O F A R C A N E B R I E F I N G S

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