About this project
Achtung! Cthulhu - The WW2 Keeper's & Investigator's Guides
£177,557
1,972
Please come and join us at MODIPHIUS.COM to discover the world of Achtung! Cthulhu and our other forthcoming games including the new Mutant Chronicles RPG!
We hope you enjoyed our introductory briefing, now here's some more vital information from RAF Modiphius!
Discover the secret history of World War Two - stories of the amazing heroism in which stalwart men and women struggled to overthrow a nightmare alliance of science and the occult, of frightening inhuman conspiracies from the depths of time, and the unbelievable war machines which were the product of Nazi scientific genius - and how close we all came to a slithering end! The Secret War has begun!
- In all cases please use our ONLINE PLEDGE CALCULATOR to confirm the correct Pledge total with Add Ons and shipping.
- CHECK OUT MY VIDEO OVERVIEW OF WHAT WE'VE ACHIEVED!
Check your total with our Online Pledge Calculator or download it HERE
You have unlocked a major foundation for the future of Modiphius
YOUR Community. YOUR World. At £140k we are putting in place the foundations to serve you better, a store, community and much more. We are creating a community where ANYONE can submit content for the Achtung! Cthulhu universe and other worlds we'll be releasing. Imagine stories, character's, plots, creatures, villains, locations, adventures and fiction - it's YOUR world so help bring it to life YOUR way. Backers at the £35 PDF Master Bonus Pledge Level and above will automatically get free Lifetime Membership (it will be a one off fee to join otherwise). YOU will vote on content to be released each month in a special Dossier, the creators of the content will get paid and you will get free copies and other great bonuses as well as the fun of voting up, or down, cool ideas, discussing their merits with other members and knowing you are part of our world.
Our £148,000 Stretch Goal just unlocked yet more 28mm Villains and Cthulhu creatures - here's a sneak preview of some concept art by Dim Martin. Left is a Cthonian, on its right a Servant of Nyarlathotep, bottom left is a Mi-Go Nazi hybrid and on the right a Hound of Tindalos.
Inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos of HP Lovecraft, Modiphius Entertainment wants to bring you the Keepers and the Investigator's Guides to the Secret War, for use in the terrifying World War Two roleplaying game setting, Achtung! Cthulhu. Both books are compatible with the Call of Cthulhu and Savage Worlds roleplaying games.
With this Kickstarter and your contributions Modiphius raised the money needed to pay for the development, artwork and production of a full print run of both books in full colour hard back. The first stretch goal added Savage Worlds rules and stats to both books plus some extra content for everyone; the next upgraded the Keeper's Guide to a full colour hardcover print run; the next upgraded the Investigator's Guide to a full colour hardcover print run; while further stretch goals have unlocked a string of additional supplements and campaigns, miniatures, and so on - see 'Stretch Goals' below for more details.
Achtung! Cthulhu - The Keeper's Guide to the Secret War features a fantastic cover by Dim Martin, already well known to Achtung! Cthulhu fans for his inspiring cover and interior art for the Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point campaign.
The Keeper’s Guide is a full blown tome of dark knowledge that will detail Allied & Nazi special forces & intelligence agencies, mythical organisations, mystical missions and tomes, wonder weapon development, important equipment, campaign and plot ideas, key characters, vile creatures, and new rules for World War Two combat – in fact, a whole shoggoth's worth of Cthulhu villainy, enough for any Keeper to have his investigators dead, insane, or running for their lives in no time! The Keeper’s Guide to the Secret War will be the essential wartime reference for any Keeper or fan of the Cthulhu Mythos. Watch our updates for more features!
Writers: Lynne Hardy, Dave Blewer, Alex Bund, Chris Birch, Bill Bodden & Adam Crossingham. Expected page count: 248 pages.
Achtung! Cthulhu - The Investigator's Guide to the Secret War features a stunning cover by the legendary Spanish artist Pinturero which will be accompanied by amazing interior illustrations by Dim Martin.
The Investigator's Guide is the definitive guide to the late 1930s and ’40s for use by players and Keepers alike. Inside you'll find a whole kit bag stuffed with cool new occupations, skills, equipment, and backgrounds from all over Europe and the British Commonwealth. Find out how you can keep the homefires burning, and become part of the Allied war effort, or risk everything by joining either the partisans or the German forces fighting to heroically bring down the Reich from within! Watch our updates for more features!
Through the Guides, you'll discover what life was like serving with the different military forces and on the Homefront, and to help you create both player characters and NPCs, you will find an array of both historically correct and fictional material – alternatively, you can run through the background generator to find out what dark secrets your past contains.
As we meet our stretch goals, you will discover the further danger, terror and insanity awaiting you on the shores of Europe, across the steppes of Mother Russia and the sands of North Africa, down the backstreets and highways of America, and deep in the jungles of Asia. Our setting briefing will tell you about how people thought, acted and lived during the war - information that you can use to bring your characters and NPCs to life.
The Achtung! Cthulhu Guides also want to highlight the lives of the real heroes who fought and died, and so at the end of both books there will be a short section on the World War Two memorials and museums you can visit across the battlefields of Europe to learn more about this period.
Writers: Lynne Hardy, Dave Blewer, Alex Bund, Chris Birch, Bill Bodden & Adam Crossingham. Expected page count 128 pages
Here's a video overview by me telling you what we've unlocked, and what's coming next!
We also announced our official Expansion for the amazing Heroes of Normandy board game! (see more in Add On's further down)
Here's some more info on the books we've unlocked so far or let me talk you through it in my video overview!
Full colour Hardcover copies of the Investigator's & Keeper's Guides to the Secret War - Plus bonus content and full side by side stats and rules for Savage Worlds as well as Call of Cthulhu
Shadows of Atlantis - A huge 248 page campaign involving ancient civilisations as the Investigator's must stop a mysterious new Nazi force from recovering powerful relics of Atlantis.
Assault on the Mountains of Madness in Hard Cover Full Colour - Following a trail of strange events, and clues to an ill-fate earlier expedition, the Allies will discover an Antarctic infested with Nazis. They must launch themselves into the frozen continent where they’ll be faced with the power of the elements, unbelievable ancient mysteries and a stunning climax that could change the face of the world forever. Artwork by Korungn and cartography by Michal. E. Cross. “Join us for this dangerous expedition, some of you will not return, but I know every one of you will give your lives before letting the Third Reich raise the Swastika over this accursed ultimate abyss.” Captain Brandon Carter, Assault on the Mountains of Madness
The North African & Middle East Guide, Eastern Front Guide, Pacific War Guide - 128 page dossiers on 3 other major fronts in the Secret War. In essence mini versions of the Keeper's Guide with a focus on the regional Mythos and plots, secret organisations, equipment and vehicles, key characters, creatures, adventure seeds, maps and much more.
28mm Pewter Allied Investigator's & Cthulhu Creatures - We've brought to life six of the heroes from the core Achtung! Cthulhu storyline and re-imagined six iconic Lovecraftian creatures to terrorise your tabletop!
Floor Plan Tiles - Awesome geomorphic tiles by the godfather of boardgame tiles Henning Ludvigsen, covering a Nazi underground base, snow covered outpost, Elder City ruins and more.
Achtung! Cthulhu Interface 19.40 - A cross over with the cyberpunk themed setting Interface Zero 2.0. A 60 page guide to super soldier experimentation on both sides during the war as a backstory to Interface Zero 2.0 and a 60 page adventure covering what happens when the Mythos is involved!
Secret War Documents Pack - Bring your game to life with authentic looking PDF wartime documents including telegrams, secret orders and ID documents.
Terrors of the Secret War - A guide to the vast terror's awaiting the Investigator's from giant Mythos beings to massive Nazi war machines. Not just a bestiary, rules are included for how to out think, investigate and defeat them with brute force or the power of the mind! Plots are offered for each entry to give the Keeper's ideas for how to introduce them into the campaign
Paolo Parente's DUST Mashup: Achtung! Cthulhu - Secrets of the Dust - Two universe's collide when heroes from Achtung! Cthulhu and Paolo Parente's DUST are stranded together and must use the technology of DUST and the the power of the Achtung! Cthulhu Mythos to return home. Featuring DUST Tactics missions, stats for heroes from both universe's in DUST Tactics, Savage Worlds & Call of Cthulhu.
GODLIKE Mashup: Achtung! Cthulhu - The Power of the Gods. This 128-page book written by Greg Stolze and Allan Goodall will unveil the mysterious 'Talent' powers of 'Godlike: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire, 1936-1946' and how they can be used within the world of 'Achtung! Cthulhu'. With 'Godlike' powers, you are larger than life -- but Cthulhu is larger than you!
Work out your total Pledge with our current or 97-2004 Excel Pledge Calculator - click to download or our online version which is even easier!
Here is a breakdown of what the more complicated Pledges include - you can see a much bigger version of this at the bottom of our Kickstarter page on Modiphius.com . Note that the Shadows of Atlantis campaign is now a full colour hardcover not black and white softcover :-)
Our first £8,000 goal provided the funds to produce full black and white print runs of both books in softback with colour covers and all the amazing artwork that you have to come to expect from Achtung! Cthulhu. We have since smashed a string of Stretch Goals below...
We just unlocked the amazing Modiphians Community for all backers at £35 PDF Master Bonus level and above
We estimate delivering the Investigator's and Keeper's Guides in PDF in August 2013 and the print copies late 2013 to allow for overseas production and shipping. We do believe that we can deliver both the PDF's and the books sooner than these dates, but it is best to be realistic! Additional Stretch Goals - The campaigns and regional Guides will be later in 2013 or early 2014 to ensure you get the best quality product.
Here are the Add Ons you can include with your Pledge. Simply pick the ones you want and add the total cost to your £ total Pledge amount (with the appropriate shipping). We send a survey out after the Kickstarter closes to work out what you added on. We have two different tiers of shipping - one for Print and one for Accessories, both of which have an extra shipping cost for the first item and second item and then additional items are free. We also have a cost for special items covering heavy packages which replaces your first Print Shipping Add On.
Please check our online calculator to confirm correct amounts
LATEST ADD ON'S!
Heroes of Normandie Board Game & Achtung! Cthulhu Expansion Box 'Shadows Over Normandie'. We've now announced our licensing deal with Devil Pig Games who will be producing an awesome official expansion for their Heroes of Normandie boardgame based on Achtung! Cthulhu called 'Shadows Over Normandie'. The expansion comes with 66 new cards, 6 new themed terrain tiles, 4 punchboards of counters and units, 2 special dice and a 32 page booklet of new rules and scenarios. Features Heroes & Villains, Spells & Artefacts, Creatures & Investigators from the Achtung! Cthulhu universe. We are VERY excited!
Heroes of Normandie & Shadows Over Normandy Expansion - £75 / $116. This is not part of the Shipping Add Ons. Please Add £10 Shipping for the UK, £20 for Europe. £40 for the USA and £60 for the Rest of the World (it's two boxes!)
For just the Expansion: £30 / $46. Not part of the Shipping Add On's. Please Add £10 Shipping for the UK, £20 for Europe, £30 for the USA, £40 for the Rest of the World
Limited Edition Investigator's Kit Add On - £150 / $232 plus separate shipping cost £10 UK, £25 USA & Europe, £40 Rest of World but this DOES count as your first Print Shipping Add On. Ships - September 2013. An awesome set of collectibles for the Secret War - full descriptions below...
YOU CAN ALSO GET THE CONTENTS SEPARATELY
Kickstarter Only Investigator's Bag - £60 / $90 - This limited edition Kickstarter Only Investigator's Bag is a must for any Secret War agent! Finished in high quality canvas and cow hide leather with the Secret War symbol stencilled on the canvas and the Achtung! Cthulhu logo on the leather flap. The bag measures 38cm x 30cm x 9cm and the interior has plenty of pockets for your books, accessories and secret plans! Separate Shipping cost - £10 UK, £25 USA & Europe, £40 Rest of World but this DOES count as your first Print Shipping Add On. Ships September 2013.
Inside the bag (the version shown is a different colour this is just to show what it looks like inside - lots of pockets for all your shiny!
Secret War Edition of Investigator's & Keeper's Guide - £100 / $150 - Combine all the terror in one in this leather effect finish, gold edged Secret War Edition. Savage Worlds & Call of Cthulhu Version only. Full colour interior. US Paper size - Separate Shipping - £10 UK, £15 USA & Europe, £25 Rest of World but DOES count as your first Print Shipping Add On.
Secret War Edition of Investigator's & Keeper's Guide - £60 / $90 Upgrade and replace your exiting two volumes to this one Limited Edition volume. Print Shipping Add On (due to extra weight).
Secret War Poster Set £20 / $30. Three high quality A1(33.1in x 23.4in) posters shipped separately in rolls. Includes the Secret War Propaganda poster by Alberto Tavira Espinar, Dim Martin's cover of the Keeper's Guide and Michal E Cross's Secret War Map (final version will have loads of detail!). Accessory Shipping Add On - sent separately in tubes.
28mm Allied Investigator's, Cthulhu Creatures & Nazi Zombies
Here's the previews for the set of 6 Allied Investigator's, 6 Cthulhu Creatures and 10 Nazi Zombies we have unlocked in pewter lead free metal. The Cthulhu Creatures are from left to right, top then bottom row: Cultist, Deep One, Nightgaunt, Cold One, Servant of Nyarlathotep, Mi-Go. They've been designed by Clockwork Goblin Miniatures based on concept art by Dim Martin. They are £25 a set (£15 for the 10 Zombies) and count as an Accessory Add on. We could only finish sculpts for some of the figures prior to the end of the Kickstarter and so some of the figures only show Dim's initial concepts (not always in the cool action poses you can expect for the figures). Our pledge to you, if you takes these as a Pledge or Add On, is that if you are unsatisifed with the final sculpts when completed, we will refund the miniatures element of your Pledge or Add On.
Squad Unit Option - You can choose to have 6 of the same figure in the Cthulhu Creatures pack instead of all 6 different figures. There will be 3 variant poses for each of the creatures in each pack of 6 figures. We confirm which you choose in the post Kickstarter Survey.
Cthulhu Villainy Bundle! - £65 / $100 - Get all 18 Cthulhu creatures in the different poses or YOUR choice of 18 creatures. Accessory Shipping Add On
Embroidered Patch Mock Ups
Here's a glimpse of what's to come with the Embroidered Secret War Patches - there are 5 in a pack (Achtung! Cthulhu Secret War Symbol, Section D, Section M, Nachtwolfe, Black Sun), for £20 and Accessories Shipping Add On.
KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE 'SQUID BUSTERS' T-SHIRT! £18 / $28
This t-shirt will also be available to Modiphians as backers of the project after the event so don't feel you need to spend more money right now! This awesome Squid Busters t-shirt is based on a design by Steve Foote, art by Dim Martin and Michal E Cross! Just add another t-shirt Add On in the Pledge Calculator (we'll work out which one you wanted afterwards in the survey) - counts as an Accessory Shipping Add on.
HOW DO I CHOOSE ADD ONS? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT I CHOSE?
Simply change your Pledge amount using the 'Manage Your Pledge' blue button on the top right of the page. Add to the actual £'s amount the total for any Add On's and shipping. After the Kickstarter finishes we send out a survey to find out what you Added. Simple!
ADD ON Shipping Costs: We have defined Add On's now as PRINT or ACCESSORIES which each have their own tiers of shipping charges since they ship from difference locations. You need to add a Print OR Shipping Add On for each Add on. Your second Add on in each tier is slightly cheaper, and your third and above is free.
Print products are being shipped separately from the US and UK, Accessories (patches, miniatures, dice, t-shirts) are being shipped from the UK to all destinations. To keep things simple follow these rules when working out what shipping you should pay. You need to add shipping for BOTH types of products if you are ordering both. This assumes one shipment when everything is ready (unless you're ordering all the books).
Certain items - the Investigator's Bag, Investigator's Kit, the £90 Books Add On and the Heroes of Normandie boardgame Add On's have special shipping rules which count as your 'First Print Shipping Add On.
Please check OUR ONLINE CALCULATOR to work out the full cost of of your Pledge including Add On's and Shipping. The Pledge Calculator overrides all costs shown on this home page.
Discover the secret history of World War Two - stories of the amazing heroism in which stalwart men and women struggled to overthrow a nightmare alliance of science and the occult, of frightening inhuman conspiracies from the depths of time, and the unbelievable war machines which were the product of Nazi scientific genius - and how close we all came to a slithering end!
You will be able to play a huge range of classic wartime characters such as Russian political officers, German U-Boat commanders, British commandoes, RAF pilots, US Rangers, Washington investigators, London journalists, Hollywood starlets, and resistance fighters from all across Europe, who must all unite in the battle against the darker side of World War Two. Through your support for Achtung! Cthulhu, Modiphius' campaigns will now take you in to Occupied Europe even before the opening shots of the War have been fired in 1939 and then through intrigue and adventure across a continent under the Nazi jackboot that sees Hitler's forces driven back to the siege of Berlin in 1945, and then finally the cold wastes of Antarctica and the Nazis' last redoubt in 1946!
You can discover more about the world of Achtung! Cthulhu here or check out the video above for sample art for the books by Dim Martin.
Modiphius Entertainment is a new British games publisher, established by Chris Birch in 2012 after writing two Ennie Award nominated roleplaying games Starblazer Adventures and Legends of Anglerre (co-authored with Sarah Newton). Its first project was Achtung! Cthulhu, the terrifying HP Lovecraft-inspired World War Two roleplaying setting, written for use with Call of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, and the PDQ roleplaying systems. The first two releases, each an epic adventure in the Zero Point campaign by Sarah Newton have been so popular that three huge campaigns are currently being written for release later this year. Check out our website www.modiphius.com to see free previews for the Achtung! Cthulhu line and the high standards that Modiphius sets itself for all of its releases.
We are working with Angus Abranson and Chronicle City to handle the distribution of the Achtung! Cthulhu line into stores across the world. They are currently distributing our first releases for the Achtung! Zero Point Campaign in print.
Modiphius Entertainment is supporting the 'Kicking It Forward' Campaign. This means we will be spending 5% of our profits on supporting other Kickstarters
Check out our interviews and features to find out more about Achtung! Cthulhu and this Kickstarter! I want to thank all of those who have taken the time to support us with news, features and interviews and help us all make this a success.
Check out the Weekender show over on Beasts of War for a whole show about Achtung! Cthulhu! http://www.beastsofwar.com/the-weekender/weekender-achtung-cthulhu/
Another quite extensive interview about Achtung! Cthulhu http://www.dmfiat.com/interviews/interview-with-chris-birch-achtung-cthulhu
Featured in 'On The Table' http://www.beastsofwar.com/on-the-table/s5-ep8/
io9 mentioned Achtung! Cthulhu in 'Crowdfund This' http://io9.com/5986542/crowdfund-a-batman-documentary-3d-printing-pens-and-a-wwii-setting-for-lovecraftian-rpgs
Thanks to the guys at Wee Gamers for a podcast interview about Achtung! Cthulhu http://bit.ly/YyIAGn
SFX, the UK's biggest sci-fi news site interviewed us last week http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/02/22/blog-achtung-cthulhu/
Brazil's Channel 2 Podcast with host Marcelo - http://podcast.marcelodior.com/achtung-cthulhu-with-chris-birch/
The Gamer Nation talk in depth about us here http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2013/02/19/cthulhu-is-even-the-nazis-enemy/
Bring Your A Game interview http://agamemag.com/archives/4979
Travelling Man spotlights Achtung! Cthulhu http://travellingman.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/kickstarter-spotlight-achtung-cthulhu/
Tabletop Gaming News covered us this week - thanks guys! http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/index.php?s=achtung
Miskatonic feature on Achtung! Cthulhu
http://www.miskatonic.co.uk/wordpress/?p=962
Nuketown cover us
http://www.nuketown.com/games/news/achtung-cthulhu-kickstarter
SharboneGames interview with us http://sharkbonegames.com/sharkbonecast/2013/02/chum16/
Obskures.de interview with us
http://obskures.de/2013/achtung-cthulhu-mutant-chronicles-rpg-an-interview-with-chris-birch/
Massive big thumbs up from the lads at Pinnacle Entertainment, makers of Savage Worlds! http://www.peginc.com/achtung-cthulhu-to-arise-from-kickstarter-as-a-full-fledged-setting/
Goblinbeat interview about our Kickstarter and the future of Achtung! Cthulhu http://goblinbeat.com/2013/02/067-chris-birch-talks-achtung-cthulhu/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DepthsOfInsanity+%28Crimson+Bastards+»+Depths+of+Insanity%29
I really appreciate you taking your time to read through this and hope that not only will you support our first Kickstarter, but that you will tell your friends and help us reach our goals. If you have any questions please contact us or add a comment and we will answer you as soon as possible.
If you would like to support this Kickstarter and help promote it, please download some banners or forum Avatars from our Kickstarter Supporters webpage here and link to this page - remember to let us know, THANK YOU!
All artwork shown is by Dim Martin or Korungn, except the Investigator's Guide cover by Pinturero. Banner design and soundtrack to intro video by Michal.E.Cross Monster sounds by Warlordkoffe1andonly. Achtung! Cthulhu is copyright Modiphius Entertainment Ltd. 2012
Risks and challenges
As with all books writers can be delayed when producing content, artists can be late submitting artwork, shipping costs can go up, printing costs can change.
To ensure we are not solely reliant on the work (and related life problems) of just one person, we have a number of qualified writers with solid gaming credits working on the books, and have assigned sections to those most suited to the work. As a result it would be relatively easy to transfer the work of one writer to another. Our artist has always been on schedule but there are many other artists we could use if forced to and at the same rates. We are making an allowance for possible increases in shipping and printing costs to ensure we are not caught out. With projects like this there is nearly always something that costs more so it is good business sense to have some contingency for this, which we have built in to our costs. I have solid business experience in the production of merchandising and running large projects over the last few years and am confident that this will see me through any foreseeable problems. No matter what happens we will keep our backers and supporters informed of all issues so that you are aware of the situation and how we are dealing with it.
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Funding period
- (49 days)