Shrine of Cthulhu

Eleven pages (plus 5 pages of instructions and the 8-page Intro to Card Modeling PDFs) for five bucks is a steal. In truth, I only played CoC once, over twenty years ago, but still eagerly seek out anything HPL related. Even went so far as to crank up Darkest of the Hillside Thickets’ Cthulhu Strikes Back while printing, cutting, and folding last night. If you play CoC, this is a great set. If you don’t play CoC this is a great set for keeping people away from your desk at work. Let’s take a look at those components….

Base
The irregularly-shaped base portrays a rock-strewn area in tall grasses with a big fricken standing stone hewn into the shape of Himself, with five attendant standing stones, each carved with a mysterious sigil. Great for placing atop something big from Cliffs and Mountains overlooking a beach. With a little modification, it can be made into a rectangle measuring an even 10”by 14.” Print off an extra page, and cut it apart to cover the spaces set aside for the statue, circle, and altar stones, and have a nice field of tall grasses with occasional rocks.

Statue
Coming in at 6.5” long, 2” thick, and 5.75” tall, this monolithic centerpiece works great even by itself. The colors match the Egyptian floor tiles from FDG0009 Mummy’s Tomb, where the cut stone of the floor and statue contrast nicely with the natural stone of the rest of the statue. Glue some kind of weight inside to the base for added stability if you’re going to use it by itself. Print one off in grayscale for look of basaltic rock. Print one sheet on glossy photo paper, and cut out the Cthulhu part, and glue it to the cardstock to give it an eerie sheen. Resize the pages, and have one for your figures to put on their desks too.


Figures
There are eight paper miniatures included, four cultists, two female investigators, one male investigator, and one male adventurer. Two cultists have daggers drawn, and appear ready to get to the point in any disagreement. One holds a book. Which book? You probably don’t want to know. It’s better if you don’t know. YOU MUSTN’T KNOW! The last cultist holds…nothing. Why is it that leaders just stand there? They never do anything. Male investigator holds what appears to be a .45 auto, and is dressed in a nice suit. One female carries a book (see above), the other carries a .45, and the male adventurer has a machete drawn. Shame about the investigators – they seemed like nice people. I’m gonna miss them. If memory serves, these are the first paper standees that Fat Dragon’s done. They are on hex bases that match the other ground tiles.

Magic Circle
Included as part of the base is a pentacle with optional tentacle. I’d also use some scrap base grass to cover that also for the Big Reveal , and finally whip out the one with the tentacle on it for pure pants-browning terror.

All in all, a versatile and functional set, and all pieces are easily constructed. There are no tiny fiddly bits, and the folds are well inside the ink line, so even if you mis-fold or misglue, it’ll still look great.

IA! IA!

I’d give it five out of five victims.

Word is that the next set will be Egyptian themed, so expect some Nyarlathotep nastiness!