D&D General Cthulhu by Torchlight Brings Mythos To D&D

Dungeons & Dragons 5E lead designer Mike Mearls' latest project combines his current and former employers--on D&D Beyond you can now access a digital exclusive product from Chaosium which brings the Cthulhu Mythos to D&D 5th Edition.

The supplement is called Cthulhu by Torchlight and includes subclasses, feats, and spells designed for 5E.

Cthulhu by Torchlight adds a new subclass to each of the character classes in the new Player’s Handbook, along with over two dozen Mythos-themed spells, a new background, and new Origin feats. For DMs, it holds over 20 horrid monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos. Rules for Passions and Dreadful Insights amplify roleplaying by putting mechanics behind your characters’ personality, while the skill challenge rules provide a framework for investigation, interaction, and other non-combat encounters.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It is Chaosium publication, is it not? Would it not be up to them? Unless they made an exclusive deal

Cthulhu by Torchlight is a D&D BEYOND exclusive and playable with the new Core Rules.

So they'd need to renegotiate the deal and likely pony up enough cash for WotC to feel like they weren't losing out financially.

 

[Distracted DM]

This being a DDB exclusive is a letdown... I use mythos-inspired stuff in my games frequently, even using whole short adventures for it, but when I consider a campaign focused on it I always have that little thought in the back of my head saying "a genuine Cthulhu campaign wouldn't end with the heroes winning and being happy." Someone's gonna be insane, the threat is only temporarily neutralized, and most everyone else is left shattered.

So I'm interested in this, but not on getting it through DDB (which means I'm out of luck). I'm sure the boosted sales of it being on DDB will make up for the few folk like me that soured on the platform over the years.

Someone recommending the old d20 Cthulhu books adventures being solid... I should look those up. I might even have the book kicking around somewhere. I bought 3.Xe stuff like it was going out of style, back in the day

 

[Bolongo]

Until I see some good content in it or a good thing backing it up, I'm gonna stick to the amazing and (effectively-)official "Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for 5e".

Good for you, but since it's OOP and apparently not coming back, it's not gonna help anyone else.

 

[mamba]

Good for you, but since it's OOP and apparently not coming back, it's not gonna help anyone else.

I assume the PDF is still for sale

 

[Bolongo]

I assume the PDF is still for sale

Nope. Nothing from that line is on Petersen Games' website or DTRPG.
I know you could still get the PDFs a couple of years ago, but now they've been scrubbed from the net.

 

[mamba]

Nope. Nothing from that line is on Petersen Games' website or DTRPG.

yeah, looks like Petersen Games was swallowed by the void / Covid shipping prices, oops. Bought a bunch of their Mythos 5e PDFs maybe two years ago, did not expect them to disappear

 

[mamba]

How many pages is Cthulhu by Torchlight (approximately)? The description mentions a dozen subclasses, 20 monsters, and some other stuff that should not need a lot of room. I would guess somewhere between 64 and 80 pages as a PDF, but ultimately I have no real idea. Is there anything included that is not mentioned in the description, like a short adventure or so?

 

[Sulicius]

So they'd need to renegotiate the deal and likely pony up enough cash for WotC to feel like they weren't losing out financially.

In terms of digital only, when I joined Chaosium I had pitched a CoC/D&D crossover book. The biggest risk was that it would be confusing to BRP players, since they might think it was a fantasy supplement to CoC. From my understanding, when CoC d20 released all those years ago retailers and distributors had trouble keeping the lines straight.

Partnering with D&D Beyond solved that challenge for us.

For those who don't read the full thread, this is the reason it is DNDBeyond only. It wasn't WotC's decision.

 

[Nikosandros]

Nope. Nothing from that line is on Petersen Games' website or DTRPG.
I know you could still get the PDFs a couple of years ago, but now they've been scrubbed from the net.

I'm glad I bought a PDF copy for in in 2020. And I'm especially glad that it was a PDF, that is safely backed up and that I can still access and use...

 

[Tonguez]

No Ghoul-pact or Dreamlands Warlocks?

I suppose Conan battled Mythos monsters but yeah ...