seneschal

A life outside of creating best-selling BRP products? For shame! But having stats for prehistoric megafauna makes sense. As long as much of the territory remains unexplored, at least by white men, PCs really don't know what to expect. Thomas Jefferson thought Lewis and Clarke might encounter mastodons as they explored the Louisiana Purchase. The Sea of Grass, isolated valleys in the Rocky Mountains, mysterious craters and canyons in the Badlands could hold all sorts of improbable things. The real West had boulders that crawled across the salt flats (I forget the scientific explanation), flowers and critters that hibernated for years waiting for the next good rain, vast caverns packed with clouds of bats, elusive cities of gold and lost mines, a genuine lost civilization (the Anasazi), bison herds that took days to pass by, just to name a few things. So maybe the Indians didn't manage to gobble up all the big mammals and 9-foot-tall flightless birds in the world of Aces High.

To do BRP Mutant Future you'd need the BRP super powers section as well as the mutations. Many of the "mutations" include powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal ... er, irradiated things that were once men.

In Mutant Future, normal ("pure") humans not only are comparatively tough, but they have a better shot at understanding and using ancient technology.

Starhunter, not to be confused with its sequel Starhunter 2300 Starhunter (TV Series 2000) - IMDb Another thing that makes it not just another Doctor Who Meets Han Solo rip-off is the nature of the crew's charges. These aren't your regular gangsters, murderers and thieves. Oh, no. Dante Montana and his two female associates are transporting to jail criminally insane fiends who would be perfectly at home in a Batman comic. So when the bad guy flexes the evil genius that enabled him or her to threaten an entire planet or space station, it's up to two squabbling adults and a headstrong teenie-bopper to catch him again.

My wife picked up a Canadian sci-fi TV series on DVD that might provide some inspiration. The jury is still out on whether the show is any good, but it features a trio of scruffy bounty hunters who tool around the galaxy in a former cruise ship. Cheap BBC-style sets and effects, but what strikes me as atmospheric is the concept of huge ship, tiny crew. Now, the ship isn't the cheery place you'd expect a former Love Boat to be. It is dark and cavernous in some places, tight and claustrophobic in others, with dim florescent lighting even in the better lit areas. Plenty of places for prisoners to hide if (when they inevitably) escape. It takes a long time to walk to the important parts of the vessel, and with only three people to operate it, chances are you're going there alone, in the dark. If something goes wrong with the equipment or someone (or something) is stalking you through the shadowy corridors, help is a long way away, even if you have an intercom or walkie-talkie available. Sorry, no handy golf carts for the disabled on this voyage. The crew composition is against type, too. The male captain is a tired Sam Spade type, using the bounty missions to search for his missing little boy. He's taken in his orphaned niece, crewman No. 2, who has grown into a horny teenager without a peer group to socialize with. Crewman No. 3 is your typical macho woman with a blaster, a no-nonsense Company woman.

But it isn't just the powers or power levels themselves. It is the basic assumptions about how damage works. In BRP, attacks -- fist, H-bomb, sharpened wax crayon -- do lethal damage, period. And unless a character has some sort of armor, he'll take eventually fatal damage from those attacks. Theoretically, a character could kill an opponent with a fresh ream of paper, one paper cut at a time (ouch!) -- unless the opponent's clothes gave him at least AP 1. Hero System, on the other hand, assumes that attacks mostly do stun (fatigue in BRP terms) damage unless specifically designed to kill (guns, knives, laser pistols, etc.). So an attack by fist or club has a chance to do some killing damage, but it will tend to do much more stun damage. Another Hero System assumption is that characters have some basic resistance to damage, based on STR and CON. So not only do normal attacks do less killing damage (the kind that affects hit points), a character has a bit of "armor" by default. Another Hero convention that affects the superhero genre is how energy defense is handled. Just as characters have a basic resistance to physical attacks, they also have a basic resistance to energy attacks. And all energy is considered the same mechanically. So if a character has 8 points of armor vs. energy attacks, it protects regardless of what type of energy he's being blasted with. In BRP, a character has to buy separate defenses against multiple types of energy, making a well-protected character much more expensive.

Dunno, I never had trouble running super hero games with Champions (Hero System). Narrative? Not so much. My players only wanted to bash stuff (and people). It was hard to get a good soap opera plot going or launch a mystery. Give 'em goons to pummel? They were golden. But Hero's effects-based powers enabled them to build any character they could imagine. BRP (and Superworld) took the opposite approach, trying to anticipate and list every possible power.. You can build a lot of the same characters in both systems (see my Aurochs example upthread). But with Hero's flexibility, you could make almost any goofball character concept work. In BRP it would be tougher. A big difference, of course, is that Hero began as a cinematic supers system, while BRP began as a gritty fantasy system. Both can be tweaked, but their default assumptions are different. Champions superheroes rarely die and can engage in lengthy battles without suffering serious harm. Even your basic masked detective is more durable than most people and will tend to be more agile and have a better movement rate as well. In BRP, superheros are normal folks who happen to have powers. They might be faster than a speeding bullet or be able to crush a bus with their minds, but their ability to take damage is not much better than that of a typical human PC with good armor. A kid with a slingshot (or a thug with a blackjack -- see other thread) could take them out, especially since all damage is lethal damage. Now, if you're modeling Batman or Gatchaman, where the heroes are expected to have armored costumes to protect themselves, that's OK. If you're wanting Captain Marvel or Superman, things are more difficult. You'll have to spend an inordinate amount of build points to get that high strength. The points left over will enable you to be about as tough as a knight in full plate armor without the encumbrance problems. So your hero will be more durable than the average Joe but not Superman "I laugh because those bazooka rounds are tickling me" tough.

Game mechanics aside, the blackjack is a staple of detective fiction, particularly the hard-boiled type. Nosy, strong-jawed, but not-too-observant heroes are forever being bashed over the head as they step into dark alleys or unlighted rooms or when they lean over an open car hood to help a "stranded motorist" who is actually lying in wait for them. Sometimes it happens multiple times in the same short story or novel. In the real world, of course, the victim would be dead or hospitalized. In the iron-tough world of pulp mysteries, however, the hero shakes it off with an ice pack and a cup of strong coffee and keeps on plugging away. When we come back to game mechanics, the problem is the same one we encounter in attempting to simulate the superhero genre: BRP's default is that weapons, no matter how small or short, do lethal damage. There are optional knock-out rules, but you could still accidentally kill the victim (which, in Gollum's example above, does fit the crime/mystery genre well). So, all well and good if you're aiming for a realistic noir or gangster game, troublesome if you're attempting to model Michael Shayne, where the bone-headed shamus gets clobbered every other scene. In more cinematic games, such as Hero System, it is easier to just knock someone out since the rules assume a separation between knock-out and lethal damage. You could still kill someone with that sap, but you'd really have to work at it or just be unlucky.

To see what is possible with the BGB as it stands, check out this thread: http://basicroleplaying.com/showthread.php/2626-The-Investigators-vs.-Eternia!/page2 I also would like the powers to have more variety and flexibility, but by raiding all five of Basic Roleplaying's powers systems I've been able to create reasonable facsimiles of certain Eighties TV super villains. Lethality is an issue. In general, the characters I've built can dish out lots of damage but can't necessarily take it any better than an ordinary human PC in good fantasy or science fiction armor. Whoever hits first will tend to win. That's quite unlike the source cartoons, where opponents can pummel each another endlessly without doing much lasting harm. Of course, in the midst of a campaign, we'd expect the PCs and villains to exchange as many taunts as blows and to do a lot of sneaking around instead of just standing ten yards away from each other at high noon and blasting away.

Here's Mer-Man's Cthulhu makeover: Aquaticus Conscripted by The Hooded One for his Napoleon-like mastery of strategy, Aquaticus remains monarch of his own undersea empire. The player-characters might regard him as a ruthless dictator; his own people view his iron-clawed rule as an indicator of strength and security, and he genuinely cares about protecting them and their interests. Because his political duties and his amphibian physiology require him to return home so often, the Sea King is less openly resentful of his master’s arrogant domination than some of the other minions. That doesn’t mean he likes it, however, and Aquaticus is cunning enough to have a few irons in the fire himself. Of all The Hooded One’s servitors, he is the most likely to sneak off by himself and start his own projects: quests for Earth’s mystical artifacts, schemes of conquest, or simple piracy. He occasionally has minions of his own available, either subjects from his home dimension or local recruits. As a creature of the depths, Aquaticus can breathe underwater and withstand high pressures and intense cold. He can “see” beneath the dark waves via sonar. Thick scales protect his body. The Sea King can also manipulate the very element of water itself: stalling boats and ships by creating air pockets around their screws, blasting foes with jets of water or sending them tumbling like corks, surrounding victims with suffocating liquid bubbles. Physically, Aquaticus is a B-movie horror, seven and a half feet of teeth, muscle, scales, and fins, his fishy face framed by wide, frilly gills. He isn’t the bestial monster he appears, however, always maintaining his cold dignity and acting with well-planned military precision. Used to commanding others, he is fully capable of defending himself with sword, net, or trident. Aquaticus will prefer to handle annoying PC heroes on his own rather than turning them over to the Big Boss. He might even be willing to cut deals with them if it furthers his ends. How he will react to Earth’s underwater denizens – Deep Ones, Atlantians, etc. – is up to the Game Master, but his first instinct would be to make them vassals. The resulting wrangling among the briny set could both stir up more trouble for the adventures and give them the break they need. STR 18 CON 17 SIZ 22 INT 18 POW 12 DEX 14 APP 7 Move: 8/10 swimming Hit Points: 20 (CON + SIZ = 39) Damage Bonus: +1D6 Armor: 6 (kinetic, cold, thick scales) Attacks: Brawl 35%, 1D3+1D6; Grapple 35%, 1D3+1D6; Net 45%, Entangle; Short Sword 50%, 1D6+1+1D6; Trident 55%, 1D6+1+1D6 Skills: Bargain 35%, Climb 40%, Command 45%, Dodge 33%, Insight 35%, Jump 25%, Knowledge (Law) 45%, Knowledge (Military History) 45%, Knowledge (Politics) 35%, Language (Eternian) 90%, Language (English) 50%, Listen 55%, Navigate 35%, Parry 35%, Perform (Oratory) 35%, Persuade 35%, Status 96%, Strategy 60%, Swim 55%, Throw 40% Powers: Adaption (3 levels, can breathe underwater, withstand high pressures and extreme cold, 9 pts., takes 22 power points to activate then 1 to maintain per turn), Armor 6 (kinetic, cold, 12 pts.), Energy Control (water, 20 levels, 2D6 or 20 SIZ, 60 pts., 40 power points to activate and maintain each combat round); Extra Energy (20 pts. = 200 power pts.); Super Sense (sonar, 15 meters, 3 pts.) Failings: B-movie horror (+5), Sea King (+3) Notes: Aquaticus’ stats were rolled up using the Deep One template at http://wstryder.org/coccg/. I opted for brains over brawn. Skill points were 500 base plus 180 for INT. Super power points were 96 based on unmodified characteristics plus 8 for Failings, total 104. Although his Adaption power was being able to breathe water, the sea is his natural environment. He actually pays power points to remain on land and must return to the water when his power points run out or he will “drown” in air. Aquaticus got extra build points for being so ugly (he resembles a certain Fifties B-movie monster) and for the demands that his finny subjects place upon him. Although he is a ruthless despot, he isn’t a nut case like The Hooded One.

I had the same problem as galafrone. I "bought" the free adventure 3-5 times and it never did appear in my list of purchased downloads. The Yule cat is hiding under the sofa, apparently.

Perhaps instead of "Pulp Cthulhu" then, someone needs to write "BRP: Pulped!"

I'm always eager to see another pulp adventure game. But while BRP's gritty mechanics are great for pulp horror (Lovecraft) and pulp fantasy (Conan), are they a good fit for the outrageous antics of the pulp adventure heroes? Secret Agent X-1. Tarzan. The Phantom. The Shadow. The Green Hornet and Kato. Chandu the Magician. The Green Lama. Nalan Smith and Dr. Petrie battling the ever-insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. The fiendish Fantomas. John Carter of Mars. Carson Napier of Venus. The Saint. Nero Wolf. Ellery Queen. Red Ryder, The Cisco Kid, and Tom Mix. Gene Autry vs. The Phantom Empire or Crash Corrigan vs. The Undersea Kingdom. Buck Rogers, Brick Bradford, and Flash Gordon. Heaven protect us from the Crimson Ghost and the Purple Death. We'd need to at least use CON+SIZ for hit points, the mook rules various of you GMs have concocted over the years. We'd need guidelines for weird science gadgets, dinosaurs, genius talking apes with global ambitions, totalitarian zombies on snowboards, gee-whiz vehicles.

Childe Feral Childe Feral, a hulking fanged humanoid covered in reddish-brown fur, has never forgotten that he was once lord of his own forest realm before The Hooded One forced him into servitude. Although cowed by the arch-villain’s imperious manner and mysterious powers, the man-brute would cheerfully turn upon his master if he thought he could get away with it. Perhaps following the dictum to keep one’s friends close and one’s enemies closer, The Hooded One has made Childe Feral his chief minion. Feral has the bulky strength of a gorilla and the heightened senses and agility of a jungle cat. Although he is capable of using an energy pistol and flying a hover sled, he is most comfortable in a rural, outdoor setting, doing what comes naturally. Childe Feral is an excellent stalker and tracker. He tends to react emotionally rather than thinking things through, a creature of strong, simple passions: rage, hunger, lust, curiosity. In the heat of battle, he may ignore sword and pistol to attack with teeth and claws. One reason The Hooded One recruited Childe Feral, in addition to his great strength, is the man-brute’s innate ability to control animals. Feral emits pheromones that inspire the parental protective instinct of the wild creatures around him, causing them to fight on his behalf as long as he remains nearby. In his own dimension, Childe Feral has seduced animals as large as a dragon. Other than scabbard and holster, Childe Feral usually wears only a breechcloth necessary to protect his modesty. When he is expecting trouble, he dons boiled leather shoulder pads, elbow pads, and kneepads. Although these accessories are too ridiculously small to offer him much protection, he thinks they make him more impressive. STR 36 CON 15 SIZ 32 INT 11 POW 11 DEX 21 APP 10 Move: 12 Hit Points: 24 (CON + SIZ = 47) Damage Bonus: +3D6 Armor: 3 (thick fur and hide) Attacks: Brawl 70%, 1D3+1D6+3D6; Grapple 60%, 1D3+3D6; Sword 45%, 1D8+1+3D6; Blaster Pistol 35%, 1D8+2 Skills: Climb 80%, Dodge 60%, Hide 60%, Jump 70%, Language (Eternian) 55%, Language (English) 45%, Listen 70%, Parry (Sword) 34%, Pilot (Hover Sled) 36%, Sense 70%, Stealth 70%, Track 75% Mutations: Hardy (1/2 damage from falls); Keen Senses (+20% Listen, +20% Sense of Smell), Natural Armor, Natural Weapon (teeth and claws, +1D6 to Brawl), Pheromones (4D6, parental protection) Notes: Childe Feral was rolled up using the gorilla template from the Big Gold Book except for his DEX and Move, which are based on those of a lion or tiger. Mutations seemed to fit his ability set better than super powers. He had 500 base skill points plus 110 personal skill points based on his INT.

Thanks for the kind words and the suggestions. I'm working on a Cthulhu-ized Beast Man next. One question for you experienced Call of Cthulhu GM's: How would you assign Sanity penalties to the creatures described so far? They're not exactly folks you'd see on the street (except, perhaps, in Hollywood) but they aren't utterly alien, either. Also, how effective are they as opponents and monsters? Too powerful? Too weak? Just right?

Maybe all those crackpot '70s theories about ancient astronauts are true, and a semi-abandoned alien starport lurks beneath that vine-entangled Mesoamerican ruin. The air base was put on standby mode, systems and personnel dormant until they were needed. The PCs' mucking around has triggered the wake-up signal. Sigma-Rigel IV says, "Hi!"

Isn't this sort of thing exactly what the Status skill is for? Plus Perform (Oratory), of course.

Robot “Knights” The Hooded One stole the design for his shock troops from some technologically advanced dimension and has since managed to manufacture his own. Since he has to build them by hand instead of mass producing them, no two are exactly alike. Squat off-white cylinders equipped with sinister glowing eyes, grasping arms and integral laser projectors, these mechanical guards are about the size of a standard metal trash can but hover with their “heads” six feet off the ground. They aren’t heavily armored because the weight would interfere with their movement but their metal coverings provide some protection. While their alien design might prove instructive to technically inclined PCs or the campaign’s resident mad scientist, the robots would be difficult to reproduce with 1920s technology. Although the general populace of The Hooded One’s dimension regarded the knights with fear, the heroes of his world treated them as mere mooks. Will the player-characters do so? STR (3D6+6) 16-17 CON (2D6+12) 19-20 SIZ (3D6) 10-11 INT 10 DEX (3D6) 10-11 Move: 10 Hit Points: 16 Damage Bonus: +1D6 Armor: 3 (metal skin) Attacks: Brawl 35%, 1D6+1D6; Grapple 46%, 1D6; Heat Ray 55%, 2D8 Skills: Language (Eternian) 65%, Listen 30%, Sense 60%, Spot 30%, Stealth 40%, Strategy 25%, Track 55% Notes: Since they hover about a yard off the ground, knight robots can’t stumble or trip. However, damage to the lower portion of their torsos might impair their movement or cause them to fall. As electromechanical constructs, they cannot heal damage but must be repaired by a knowledgeable technician.

The whole DEX ranks/Strike Ranks thing reminds me of Hero System's Speed Chart, where higher DEX characters usually act first and (frequently) get more opportunities to act during a 12-phase turn. And in Hero System, a character can move up to half his movement rate and still attack -- unless he's using a full move to do a special maneuver.

Here's the audio version, in case you don't have time to read or hunt down hard-to-find films: http://librivox.org/the-jewel-of-seven-stars-by-bram-stoker/ Also, The Mysterious Mummy by Sax Rohmer: http://librivox.org/short-mystery-story-collection-002/

Apollyon (The Hooded One’s ride) When he needs to travel long distances rather than make a quick getaway via Teleport, The Hooded One employs his mount, Apollyon, a massive dagger-toothed cat so black he appears purple in some lights. Similar species died off on Earth tens of thousands of years ago. Apollyon has equivalent training to a war horse and will not flee in panic at loud noises or become distracted by the smell of blood during battle. Off-duty, the great cat is only too happy to finish off victims or stalk the PCs. Although he’s protective of and faithful to The Hooded One, Apollyon isn’t a familiar as such. He can’t talk, and the sorcerer can’t see or hear through his eyes and ears. STR 23 CON 18 SIZ 18 INT 8 POW 13 DEX 23 Move: 12 Hit Points: 18 (SIZ + CON option = 36) Damage Bonus: +2D6 Armor: 7 (2 skin, 5 barding) Attacks: Bite 50%, 1D10+1D6; Claw 60%, 1D6+2D6; Ripping 80%, 2D6+2D6 Skills: Climb 55%, Dodge 50%, Hide 70%, Jump 60%, Listen 50%, Sense 50%, Spot 55%, Stealth 75%, Track 35% Notes: Apollyon's stats were generated using the Mountain Lion template at http://wstryder.org/coccg/. His skills are based on those of a lion in the Big Gold Book. I beefed up his INT a bit and gave him protective barding, as befits a war mount.

OK, here's a completed initial write-up for Skeletor (aka The Hooded One for Call of Cthulhu purposes). Let me know what you think. Competent enough to be dangerous but not so competent as to run roughshod over the PCs? The Hooded One The sinister schemer known as The Hooded One is a power-hungry would-be conqueror seeking to enslave whatever worlds and beings he encounters. A master of arcane knowledge, he employs both weird science and sorcery to achieve his ends. He’s equally comfortable turning foes into frogs or sending robotic soldiers against them. Despite the fantastic abilities he has accrued during his long quest for universal dominance, The Hooded One is at heart a bully and a coward. He blithely threatens his minions but hesitates to strike a competent opponent until he can be sure of having an unquestionable advantage. Not content with gathering power a little at a time, The Hooded One is forever in search of the ultimate gadget or magic item which will enable him to seize his target in one fell swoop. He’ll opt for a grand, convoluted master plan when simpler, slower, or quieter methods might serve him better. The Hooded One rarely tackles opponents one-on-one. He almost always is accompanied by up to five subservient minions, each of whom has powers and ambitions of his (or her) own. This goon squad is occasionally augmented by The Hooded One’s robotic “knights,” squat hovering cylinders equipped with grasping mechanical arms and laser projectors. The Hooded One usually has his minions attack first, stepping in once he’s assessed the situation. Although he displays numerous abilities, The Hooded One most commonly fires magical blasts from his hands. These can damage or immobilize a foe, or control the victim’s mind. He also can teleport and isn’t ashamed to abandon minions and allies when the tide of battle turns against him. The Hooded One proudly brandishes a staff as long as he is tall and topped by a ram’s skull, which he is loathe to part with. However, his magic powers seem to function perfectly well whether he has it in his possession or not. He also carries a sword. The arch-villain inevitably has some sort of hold-out weapon or device hidden upon his person which he can pull out when defeat seems certain. Since he’s normally almost naked, the ability to conceal these items is apparently yet another evidence of his mystic prowess. A tall, muscular humanoid, The Hooded One possesses the blue skin and clawed fingers and toes of a Hindu divinity. His face is a yellowed skull, which sits within a voluminous hood without visible neck, although his head movements are normal. His Stygian eye sockets glow red when he is excited or angry. In addition to the hood, kept in place by a chest harness, he wears a matching breechcloth. He occasionally complements these with knee-length boots and/or a flowing cloak. Despite his impressive appearance, The Hooded One’s voice is high-pitched and rather squeaky, possibly as a result of the injuries that destroyed his face. He has a tendency to throw back his head and cackle maniacally when he’s sure he has the upper hand. STR 17 CON 16 SIZ 15 INT 16 POW 21 DEX 15 APP 9 Move: 10 Hit Points: 16 (or SIZ + CON = 31) Damage Bonus: +1D4 Armor: 8 (kinetic, heat, radiation); he’s just that tough! Attacks: Brawl 46%, 1D3+1D6+1D4; Grapple 46%, 1D3+1D4; Energy Projection 51%, 6D6; Staff of Chaos 45%, 1D8+1D4 as staff, 31%, 2D8+3 as blaster rifle; Sword 36%, 1D8+1+1D4 Skills: Appraise 36%, Command 26%, Craft (Electronic Gear) 26%, Dodge 51%, Fast Talk 26%, Fine Manipulation 26%, Heavy Machine 22%, Insight 26%, Jump 46%, Knowledge (The Occult) 26%, Knowledge (Other Dimensions) 26%, Knowledge (Legendary Magical Artifacts) 26%, Language (Etermian) 80%, Language (English) 21%, Listen 46%, Parry 36%, Perform (Rituals) 26%, Persuade 36%, Repair 36%, Research 46%, Ride (Great Cat) 26%, Science (Physics) 22%, Spot 46%, Stealth 31%, Technical (Electronics) 22%, Technical (Robotics) 22% Powers: Mutations -- Natural Weapon (Claws), +1D6 to Brawl Psychic Abilities – Clairvoyance 21%, Divination 21%, Intuition 21%, Mind Control 30%, Telepathy 21% Sorcery -- Curse of Sorcery (4), Liken Shape (4), Make Whole (3), Unspeakable Bonds (3), Undo Sorcery (4) Super Powers – Armor 8 (kinetic, heat, radiation, 24 pts.), Energy Projection level 6 (kinetic, 60 pts.), Extra Energy +60 power points (6 pts.), Teleport level 30 (30 pts.) Failings: Full-time villain identity (+5), megalomaniac (+3), must keep a constant eye on his ambitious, unreliable minions (+3) Notes: Skill points were 500 base plus 160 for INT, total 660. These were fairly evenly divided among his skills. Super power points were 109 based on total of unmodified characteristics plus 11 for failings, total 120. The Hooded One can fire a 6D6 kinetic blast up to 90 meters. He can teleport himself 1,000 meters twice, or 2,000 meters once, or himself and a friend of the same SIZ 1,000 meters. Because he has only 81 POW points to fuel his super powers and his sorcery, he uses these abilities sparingly. It explains why he isn’t a walking arsenal and depends so heavily on his minions.

The good news is that many of these BRP variations are free and available for download from this very site. You can get the Mongoose RuneQuest (1) SRD, GORE, BRP Quick-Start Edition, and the Renaissance SRD either in the download section or from discussion thread links. Variations among them include things like whether they use a total Hits pool or break it up by body part, whether they use Strike Ranks during combat, whether they use EDU and SAN.

You neglected to mention the subtitle, A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century. Mrs. Loudon's novel was a science fiction story as well as a monster story, featuring advanced technology and a changed society. It would be like Buck Rogers arriving in the 25th Century as a 500-year-old man instead of retaining his youth. I'll have to see if I can hunt that one down. Reading an earlier generation's take on the future is always intriguing, with or without mummies. It costs about $25 on Amazon.com; didn't see a Project Gutenburg version. Also, Bram Stoker, The Jewel of the Seven Stars (1903) An archeologist attempts to revive an ancient queen's mummy with disastrous results. The novel's ending was considered so gruesome that Stoker was required by the publishers to change it for the 1912 second edition. http://www.bramstoker.org/novels/08stars.html

I don't know how often Egyptian mummies appear in a typical Call of Cthulhu game but here are a couple of inspirations from authors other than Lovecraft. Both are set in England and involve British university students behaving badly with the aid of ancient magic: Arthur Conan Doyle, Lot No. 249 (1892) This may be the great-grandaddy of all mummy tales. It clearly influenced Boris Karloff's debut in the 1932 movie The Mummy as well as Christopher Lee's athletic performance as the titular monster in the 1959 version. A medical student begins to suspect that his artifact-obsessed dorm neighbor is behind a series of attempted murders on campus. No shambling, slow-as-Christmas 1940s-style monster here. This baby could win Olympic gold medals. Sax Rohmer, Brood of the Witch-Queen (1918) Again, weird happenings, strange deaths, and "accidents" on campus, centering around a famed archeologist's son. It develops that Junior is the reincarnation of a sorcerer-king whose mummy the archeologist dug up some 20 years ago. Oh, and he remembers or has re-learned all his old magic tricks. No child left behind, indeed! If you've got a good mummy yarn to add, chime in.