The player characters in Amazing Adventures are heroes living at the end of the 1930s and facing off against the cultists and monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos with fists and guns. Amazing Adventures is a d20 game using the same system as Castles & Crusades but in a modern setting. This month covers the basic history of a 1930s setting of supernatural adventure and some house rules to go with it.
Yog-Sothothery Setting

Yog-Sothothery is the Cthulhu Mythos but instead of the PCs going mad and getting eaten, they fight back with fists and guns. They could still go insane or get eaten, but they are heroes, and the odds are stacked more in their favor.
The PCs live in the late 1930s of a world much like our own. The decade has been rough for many and things are going to get much worse soon, not better.
In addition to all the terrible things happening that we know from our world, the world also has gadgets and the supernatural. Psionics and magic are hinted at as well. The PCs are extraordinary people. Rules-wise, they have fate points to help direct their destinies, and they get maximum hit points at 1st level to reflect a greater presence in the world. PCs might be anything from a WWI vet to a spy in the early precursors to the CIA and M6; they could be a movie star or a globetrotting adventurer and explorer.
The Books
The Amazing Adventures Bundle includes the Amazing Adventure Players Handbook, Amazing Adventures Chronicle Keepers Guide, Amazing Adventures Screen, and the adventure Shadows of the Red God. The Amazing Adventures Manual of Monsters PDF is free as an updated version is being written. These books contain all the needed rules, and the adventure trilogy can be used to kick off a new campaign.
While this campaign kicks off at the end of the 1930s, the rules are multi-genre and also blend perfectly with Castles & Crusades. The adventures even have a connection between the settings for both rulesets.
Mentor and Current Events
Martin Seymour is a friend of the PCs: he’s an explorer and a code breaker with ties to both the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Special Operations Executive (SOE). He is one of the world’s first special operators, working for British Army Captain Thomas Edward Lawrence in the Middle East in 1917 to train Arabs to revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Martin had worked with Lawrence in archaeology and followed him into special warfare fighting. He took part in training Arab military operations which directly led to the taking of the Ottoman port of Aqaba (in present-day Jordan) in an attack from the desert on July 6, 1917.
Germany, led by Hitler and the Nazi party, adopted an aggressive foreign policy and remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. On March 14, 1936, Hitler stated, “Neither threats nor warnings will prevent me from going my way. I follow the path assigned to me by Providence with the instinctive sureness of a sleepwalker”.
Martin has warned the PCs of the Nazi Thule Society and the threat they pose in stealing supernatural items and stirring up otherworldly beings to sow chaos and kill their enemies. He believes the Thule Society helped cow Britain and France to stop them from intervening in German aggression, which directly contravened the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. Martin wants the PCs to be introduced to the Brotherhood of William St. John, a society directly opposed to the Thule Society that strives to keep the supernatural in check. He hopes to involve them in some daring do in early 1938.
Martin wants to introduce the PCs to Marie Laveau, the daughter of the Voudou Queen of New Orleans to get a feel for the more mystical side of the world. He also would like them to meet Arad Hassani of the Ormazd Society. The Ormazd Society protects the Middle East and by extension the world from incursions by Yog-Sothoth (a horrible alien god), its alien servants and cultists, and anyone trying to find the cursed Black City and bring alien evil into the world.
Martin’s wife, Amanda, is a new member of the nouveau-riche set. The PCs don’t know her well, but they do know she is business savvy, smart, and beautiful and that Martin is truly smitten with her. The PCs have all been invited to a New Year’s Eve party with her in New York City at the end of 1937.
House Rules
Some nice optional rules from the books include getting rid of attribute scores and just recording the modifiers, and using zones for movement. To that, I added cards for initiative (numbered 1 to 10 and any PC with an initiative bonus picks two and keeps the best card).
Pulp armor rules get a tweak: 10 plus Dex mod, or if you are in adventuring gear (formal, gi, safari, etc.): half your level rounded up plus 2 plus Dex mod. The pugilist adds half their level rounded up to this total through level 10.
And the Socialite receives a boost: gets Embolden as the Soldier ability at 1st level. Can cast Bless with Charisma once a day per level. Can cast Aid with Charisma once a day per 2 levels.
These minor changes speed up combat, address the pulp armor temptation to max out AC, and bump up the Socialite a bit, a class whose class abilities are limited per day and less powerful than a similar ability the Soldier has.
Next Steps
Put together the background for the PCs with the first adventure from Shadows of the Red God. See what the PCs do when confronted with cultists and eldritch horrors from the darkness between the stars. Next month is a deep dive into that adventure and some suggested tweaks along with a bit of fleshing out of the unfolding events.
Amazing Adventures Is a real breath of fresh air. It uses familiar old school rules but keeps the roll high vision of later editions. The setting we picked takes place in a time my players haven’t adventured in before. And there is plenty of support to get started. More to follow in worldbuilding using Amazing Adventures.
Picture credit: Pixabay