Cthulhu Nation

Cthulhu Nation is a flexible, fun, entertaining and challenging game that you can play at your own pace. It may be slightly different to what you are used to, and it is a web-based game.

The concept of the game is simple. Loosely based upon H.P. Lovecraft's stories of Cthulhu and other Mythos creatures, the game is set in the 1920's against a backdrop of Earth recovering from the First World War. However, there is a strange atmosphere looming, a sense of foreboding, as if something was amiss for a better and more hopeful future for mankind.

As a new player, you will find yourself starting out your epic journey on a remote island. Whilst inhabited with some familiar features, you have no idea where this place is, or what part it plays in your long journey ahead. You quickly realise, however, that there are great forces at work in the world. An organization, known simply as 'The Group', have emerged to stop this threat to humanity, and are always looking for new recruits to help their cause. This elite, secret society has been formed to defend Earth from the mighty onslaught of the mighty Cthulhu and his followers. Earth is one of the few inhabited planets in our universe as yet unconquered by Cthulhu, and a struggle for the very existence of mankind is taking place!

Two basic types of character

There are two basic types of character to choose from - Profession, and Cultist.

Professions are generally defined as normal, everyday folk who have a particular skill set based on their jobs. Cultists are slightly different in that are seen more as an alternative group of people who have particular skills. Whether you wish to play your Cultist as a dark force to be reckoned with, or as a 'helper' to the Professions is entirely up to you and how you want to develop your character. There are 5 Profession types to choose from, and 5 Cultist types to choose from. This is an important decision to make at this stage, as each of their particular skills and strengths will help define you, as a character in the game. It is, however, possible to increase and extend any of the skills in the game as you progress. For example, a traditional Professional may well develop good spell skills, and a Cultist may prefer to have a high skill in weapons.

First Steps

Once you have selected your character type, you will be transported to Remote Island. This island is an introduction map and will lead you on to the main global map later. It will give you a flavour of what you can expect from the game, and 'eases' you into many of the basic controls such as movement and location of many of your personal categories that come into play as the game progresses. Much of the game board operations may look daunting to you now, but there are only a few simple ones you need to know of at this stage. The rest will become apparent later.

Take a look at the main play area in the middle of your screen. The central hex is always your current location on the play area. Looking at the tiles on the play area, you will see that they represent your surroundings. You will notice that one of the tiles has a yellow 'blip' on it. We call these 'squircles'. A yellow squircle denotes that a quest is available for you to start. By clicking on this tile with the your pointer, your character will move to that tile. Sometimes you cannot move onto a particular tile. This is because your path is blocked for some reason, perhaps a building, wall or rock. Look around at the other tiles to see if there is an alternative route. A dialogue box will now appear that tells you about this new adventure. If you haven't done so yet, try this. Read the text carefully, as it will explain what you need to do next. Follow the basic clues for this first quest, and you will complete it shortly. This will give you some valuable points...