By John Houlihan
One of our main aims in developing Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 was to give players more… more of everything that made the setting so great. That meant more arcane lore, more sanity-sapping monsters, more secret bases, more terrifying Nazi occultists and more soul-shrinking magic.
It also meant more weapons. We wanted to arm the brave personnel of Section M and Majestic with the rights tools of the trade to meet Black Sun and Nachtwölfe on their own terms, and even give them a fighting chance against the more terrifying manifestations of the Mythos itself.
Enter Chapter Three of the Gamemaster’s Guide, Secret Weapons of the Secret War. Its title was inspired by the classic LucasArts game Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, and its contents are a veritable treasure trove of wunderwaffe, constructed by the ingenious minds of Section M’s boffins and Majestic’s most skilled lab-rats.
As well as a full compliment drawn from the Allied arsenal, we’ve also got sections on Black Sun’s hideously arcane armaments and Nachtwölfe's Blauer Kristall tech and bio-augmentations. There’s even a selection of Deep One and Mi-Go munitions, for those brave or foolish enough to try out these weird weapons for themselves.
We’ve enclosed a small selection of weapons to give you a taste of what awaits below, including Section M’s mighty Green Knight and Majestic's handy Ibn-Ghazi grenade and don’t forget we’ve got a raft of Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 missions which you can play right now with just the free Quickstart rules, including today’s new release Operation Falling Crystal.
We’re just finalising and firming up launch plans this week and we aim to have an announcement on full deployments imminently, so keep watching this space, agents, the Secret War is coming …and soon!
GREEN KNIGHT DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON
“The gem has a history almost as dark as my own amulet. Or the Koh-I-Noor… wars have been fought for less.”
— Cpl. Akhee “The Eye” Singh
Restriction Rating: 5
An uncut emerald the size of a closed fist, the stone itself is worthy of inclusion in even the most opulent of treasuries. The apparatus that houses it resembles a large shuttered storm lantern, surrounded by a lattice of brass piping and glass lenses. The Western history of the Green Knight gem dates from the time of the early British Raj, where it was the property of a Thuggee cult of Kali. Captured by a British General in a purge of the cult, it disappeared into a private collection before coming into the hands of the War Ministry after the Ellesmere Incident.
When exposed to direct sunlight, the gem emits a green glare, irritating to the eye and capable of producing nausea in those who glimpse it. When focused upon an individual through the various pipes and lenses, it bestows them with the ability to regenerate from wounds. A character who has the light of this gem focussed on them may heal any number of injuries, but they generate 2 Threat for each injury they heal in this way, as the light blights the land and foliage nearby.
Alternatively, the device can be used as a destructive weapon, the green light functions as a highly effective corrosive beam. It is this particular application that led to Prof. Deadman drawing parallels between the Green Knight and the fabled Project Starfish. Perhaps, Deadman has speculated, the gem is some larval form of a Colour out of space (p.222).
The gemstone counts as a Minor item.
IBN-GHAZI GRENADE
Restriction Rating: 5
Rarely deployed in the field but highly useful, Ibn-Ghazi grenades are used in situations where dangerous invisible entities are likely to be encountered. As well as a standard fragmentation charge, these grenades also feature a small amount of an occult powder, first formulated by Ibn-Ghazi. This powder has the ability to reveal unseen entities, as well as damage them. Incorporeal or Unliving creatures hit by the dust grenade suffer 3 damage with the Piercing 1 effect, plus the “revealed” truth.
3 of these Grenades are a Minor item.