Antarctic Horror

I've recently started to GM a Pulp Cthulhu campaign set in Antarctica. It unabashedly draws heavily from John Carpenter's The Thing (and by extension the John Campbell story "Who Goes There?", and to a lesser extent "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft). I've done a good deal of research about Antarctic exploration up front, and I figured I might as well post the results on my blog. The following is a mix of general information that could be useful to anyone running a game (or even writing fiction) set in Antarctica, and mechanics for representing that information in Call of Cthulhu/Pulp Cthulhu.

 

Section 1: Antarctic Exploration Primer

This is all non-mechanistic information which I supplied to players whose character had either a rating of at least 40% in Natural World or Library Use, or 25% in Survival (Antarctic). It was intended as a general overview of what to expect so they could better roleplay their character's knowledge. 

 If anyone had at least 90% in Natural World/Library Use or 75% in Survival (Antarctic), I would also have given the player free reign to google relevant subject matter anytime, including mid-session, since their character would be experts on the subject at that skill level.

 

Seasons

• Antarctic summer is November through February.

• Antarctic winter is March through October.

• There is very little daylight in winter and almost constant daylight in summer.

Temperature

• The average temperature in February is between -45 and -36 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Coastal areas tend to be warmer.

• Temperatures are colder in the winter, rarely rising above 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Wind chill can effectively reduce temperature significantly.

Snow

• Visibility can get very poor, even down to nothing in a whiteout.

• It sometimes snows so much overnight you need a shovel to dig yourself out of your tent.

Wind

• Windstorms are common. In the winter they are severe enough to prevent plane flights.

Storms

• Weather can change completely in the span of twenty minutes.

• Whiteouts and blizzards can cause very poor to no visibility.

• Blizzards are also very cold and involve high amounts of snowfall and wind.

• Magnetic storms can interfere with radio communication, compasses, and more.

• The aurora australis (southern lights) have a similar effect to magnetic storms and are present all the time.

Other Phenomena

• Mirages are common, like in any other desert.

• Glowing lights like St. Elmo’s fire can happen due to reflections of light, electricity being affected by the extreme cold, and so on.

High Altitudes

• Higher altitudes are colder and have thinner air.

• Altitude sickness can be a risk and must be gradually adjusted to.

• Breathing apparatuses are needed to get enough oxygen at high altitudes.

• Failing to get enough oxygen causes hypoxia, which can be fatal.

Crevasses

• There are fields of crevasses across Antarctica, often hidden by snow.

• If you fall in one, especially if no one is around to help, you are likely to die.

Wildlife

• Penguins, seals, and orcas (killer whales) are among the only native animals that might be encountered in Antarctica; even penguins are migratory, not actually native. 

• These animals are found mostly in coastal areas.

• Seals and orcas can be dangerous.

• There are no polar bears in Antarctica.

Dehydration

• The air in Antarctica is very dry; people need to drink 2 liters of water a day.

Frostbite

• Frostbite is a risk below 23 degrees Fahrenheit (including windchill). 

• You can heal from the lesser degrees if you get the exposed parts of your body warmed up in time.

• The worse degrees eat to the bone and cause gangrene.

Hypothermia

• Hypothermia (core body temperature dropping to dangerous extents) is a risk from exposure to especially low temperatures. 

• It should be treated with a slow and steady warming.

• A mild case is known in explorers’ circles as “the Umbles”

Sunburn and Snow Blindness

• In daylight, the glare of the sun on the snow and ice causes sunburn; sunglasses and sunscreen is required.

• Your eyes can get sunburned. This is called snow blindness.

Diet

• Because of the cold and strenuous activity, you will need about 5,000 calories of food per day. Very high amounts of fat and protein are required as well.

• Vitamin B and C deficiency can be a risk, leading to beriberi and scurvy respectively.

Clothing 

• You should wear 3+ layers of clothing, with an outer layer that will help reduce wind chill.

• Inner layers need to be changed regularly because sweating can lead to conditions like trench foot if left alone too long.

Other Equipment

• GPS - proprietary technology of the U.S. military, still in an experimental state in 1982. Helps with navigation using a satellite.
• Earplugs - helpful for sleeping through the wind.
• Altimeter - a device that tells you the altitude of your current location.
• “Bivy sacks” - bivouac sacks; used for sheltering when you sleep in a sleeping bag.
• Avalanche probes - long poles used to find things after an avalanche, or to check for crevasses.
• Crampons - spiked pads attached to the soles of boots, for gripping on ice.
• Balaclava - face mask with holes for eyes and mouth.
• Sewing kits, machine repair kits, first aid kits, and so on are important to have handy.
• Snowmobiles are used for shorter distance travel, while ATVs like the Bv 206 are for longer journeys. 

Here's what the Bv 206, the ATV the characters in my campaign have, looks like:

You can gather from all this that Antarctica is a truly miserable place to be. 

 

Section 2: Dangers of Antarctica

This section includes all the Call of Cthulhu mechanics I have compiled that pertain to the hazards listed above. I pulled from three existing game resources: "Beyond the Mountains of Madness", an official Call of Cthulhu full-length campaign, was the most useful, but I also drew from "Cinematic Environs: Arctic Lands" and the Golden Goblin Press scenario "Cold Warning". 

Cold Warning was really only relevant when I was figuring out what frostbite rules I wanted to use; frostbite can be done very granularly, but I wanted something that wouldn't be horrendously cumbersome in the midst of a session.

Both Cold Warning and Cinematic Environs have some iffy/appropriative elements concerning wendigo (for all I know BtMoM does too, but that campaign separates all the mechanics I used to their own chapter, so I don't know what the campaign is actually about, aside from elder things, presumably). 

I can't really recommend the Cinematic Environs product for that reason, combined with the fact that they clearly wrote a D&D 5e version of the product first and left large chunks of those mechanics in unedited in a way that makes no sense with Call of Cthulhu.

I will say the BtMoM chapter was extensive and seemed quite well-researched. There were places where they describe certain things (like frostbite) in great detail without actually giving clear guidance on how to run such circumstances in your game. Useful for sure, but it left work for the GM, which isn't ideal.

As a result, like I said, I drew heavily from BtMoM's material, not just lifting chunks of mechanics but using it as a research source in itself. I don't fully remember which of the following mechanics were taken directly from the campaign, which were influenced or modified, and which I came up with more or less on my own. Regardless, here's what I have (in my own shorthand; I expect it could still be useful):

Altitude Sickness
    • Easily adjusted to given enough time
    • Becomes a factor at about 12,000 ft
    • Manifests as headaches, nausea, etc.
    • CON roll if exposed suddenly
        ○ Success: penalty die on all rolls until acclimated or below 12,000 ft
        ○ Failure: incapacitated in 1d10 rounds

Hypoxia
CON roll every 15 minutes resting without oxygen or 1 minute of exertion without oxygen while at high elevations.
    • While suffering any of the below symptoms, an Idea roll is needed to think of even basic concepts like getting oxygen
    • Cumulative effects of failed CON rolls:
        ○ Increased respiration & pulse rate (-5 INT)
        ○ Headache (-10 INT)
        ○ Nausea (-15 CON)
        ○ Slight dizziness, reduced reaction time, impaired coordination (-15 DEX)
        ○ Tingling in arms and legs
        ○ Purple or bluish tinge to fingers, toes, ears, and lips
        ○ Fatigue, sleepiness, intermittent fainting (-15 STR and CON)
        ○ Dimming of vision (-20% Spot Hidden)
        ○ Confused thinking, impaired judgment, feelings of giddiness resembling intoxication or apathy and depression (-15 INT, -30% Spot Hidden and Listen)
        ○ Unconsciousness or convulsions and death

Crevasses
Roll per ice field. Penalty die if the PCs lack skis/snowshoes, bonus die if they have poles to probe the ground. Fall damage is d10 per 10 ft.
D100    Result
01-50    Field crossed; no difficulty encountered
51-80    Crevasse discovered; the party must backtrack or go around.
81-95    Crevasse discovered by accident; someone falls 1d10' and gets  stuck or falls on a ledge. A Climb roll is needed to get out (-20% if not helped from above). Falling damage may apply.
96-99    Crevasse catches a PC or roped-together group of PCs. They all fall 1d20 feet before the fall is stopped. A Climb roll is required for the PCs to get out (-20% if not helped from above). Sleds and other equipment are not retrievable without help from the surface. Falling damage may apply.
00    Large, deep crevasse catches a sled and team. PCs fall 3d20 feet and must be rescued from above. Falling damage applies.

Chinstrap Penguins
STR 15 (1d6 x 5)
CON 50 (3d6 x 5)
SIZ 35 (2d6 x 5)
DEX 85 (5d6 x 5)
POW 35 (2d6 x 5)
HP 8
Damage bonus -2
Attacks/round 1
Fighting 35% (17/7), damage 1d4
Dodge 47% (23/9)
Armor -
Skills: Spot Hidden 85%, Listen 70%

Seals
STR 80 (4d6 x 5)
CON 50 (3d6 x 5)
SIZ 95 (5d6 x 5)
DEX 35 (2d6 x 5)
POW 50 (3d6 x 5)
HP 14
Damage bonus +1d6
Attacks/round 1
Fighting 40% (20/8) 1d6 + DB
Dodge 22% (11/4)
Armor 5 pts (blubber)

Orcas
STR 115 ((5d6 + 6) x 5)
CON 115 ((5d6 + 6) x 5)
SIZ 255 ((6d6 + 30) x 5)
DEX 80 (4d6 x 5)
POW 50 (3d6 x 5)
HP 37
Damage bonus +4d6
Attacks/round 2 (can only bite & hold one victim)
Bite & Hold (maneuver): inflicts damage automatically on subsequent rounds until broken by opposed STR roll
Fighting 85% (42/17) damage 2d4 + half DB
Bite & Hold (maneuver) damage 2d8 + DB per round held
Dodge 40%
Armor 5 pts (tough skin)
Skills: sense life 95%

Dehydration
2 liters of water needed per person per day. 1 liter of water moves you back 1 stage.
    • Stage 1 (1 hour without water): sluggishness, increased heart rate
    • Stage 2 (3 hours without water): prone to fainting (CON roll during exertion)
    • Stage 3 (8 hours without water): organ damage - 1d8 HP
    • Stage 4 (11 hours without water): death (likely by kidney failure)

Frostbite
Frequency of CON roll depends on the temperature after factoring in wind chill (table below assumes part or all of a character is unprotected):

Temp (F)    Roll every…
-120 to -90    1 minute
-80 to -50    10 minutes
-40 to -10    1 hour
0 to 30    10 hours

Each failed CON roll increases the degree of the frostbite suffered:
Degree    Effects    Time to heal
1    1d3 damage, -5 CON, -5 DEX    1d4 days
2    1d3 damage,    1d4 weeks
3    1d4 damage,    4d4 weeks
4    1d4 damage, loss of body part    -

Body part loss table (for 4th degree):
D8    Body part lost
1    1d4 toes (right foot)
2    1d4 toes (left foot)
3    1d4 fingers (right hand)
4    1d4 fingers (left hand)
5    Part of right ear
6    Part of left ear
7    Tip of nose
8    Part of chin

Healing from the non-damage aspects of frostbite requires a First Aid roll ASAP after it happens.

Hypothermia
When internal body temperatures between 90-95 degrees F, a character suffers -25 to DEX, CON, and INT. Below 90 degrees, they lose another 10 from each of those stats at regular intervals (dependent on their circumstances; eg. every 30 min out in regular Antarctic weather) until they die.

Snow Blindness
Every day a character spends out and about with no snow goggles, a character must make a CON roll or be blinded for 1d4 days.

Starvation
CON roll every week without food, losing 5 CON on a success and 10 CON on a failure.

Beriberi
Caused by lack of vitamin B1. Per week of deprivation, characters suffer -5 DEX and STR. At 0 STR, they must make a CON roll every day to survive.

Scurvy
Caused by lack of vitamin C. Scar tissue deteriorates, causing old wounds to reopen. After 3 months without vitamin C (which is when bodily reserves are depleted) characters take -15 to CON and DEX and their natural healing rate is reduced by 1 HP per day.

Making/Breaking Camp
While away from the Refuge, one character must make a survival (Antarctic) roll to make camp. On a failure, characters must make a CON roll to regain any HP during their rest, as everyone is pitching in fixing the botched camp.

Climbing
See hypoxia.

If characters fail a Climb roll while using proper climbing equipment, they must make a Jump roll to belay. If successful, they take only 1d6 for falling damage regardless of distance.

Tech Malfunctions from Cold
    • Luck roll for ATV to start when temperature below -55 degrees Fahrenheit
Penalty die on above Luck roll when temperature below -70 degrees F

Section 3: Weather

This section covers the weather tables, which I spent a fair amount of time tweaking (although it was hard to find accurate weather data from the 80s).

Temperature (Fahrenheit) - February/March
2d6    Coastal    Inland
2    0    -90
3    5    -70
4    10    -50
5    15    -30
6    20    -20
7    25    -10
8    30    -10
9    35    0
10    40    5
11    45    10
12    50    10

Weather
2d6    Weather
2    ICME (and roll again)
3    Magnetic storm (and roll again)
4    No snowfall, 10mph winds
5    Light snowfall, 10mph winds
6    Light snowfall, 30mph winds
7    Moderate snowfall, 30mph winds
8    Light snowfall, 50mph winds
9    Moderate snowfall, 50mph winds
10    Fog and 1d6 x 10mph wind
11    Whiteout and 1d6 x 10mph wind
12    Blizzard (whiteout and 90-120mph winds), and reduce temperature by 1d6 x 5 F

For calculating wind chill, which is quite important in establishing actual conditions, I'm using this site.

 "ICME" on the weather table refers to an interplanetary coronal mass ejection; that is, a discharge from the sun that can disrupt radio transmissions severely. The sun figures significantly into my campaign in a supernatural context (I will avoid explaining that too much in case any of my players read this), and that's one potential manifestation.

 

Section 4: Equipment & Emergency Landing

This last part is less likely to be useful to others, but I might as well tack it on at the end here. My players flight to Antarctica was disrupted by sudden and severe windstorms, which is natural for a pulp campaign, and also not unreasonable for the area, especially at the time of year where the campaign is taking place (late February).

I created a simple system for determining how well the pilot (which I made sure would be one of the PCs, so they wouldn't feel cheated by an NPC botching rolls) managed a  harrowing landing. Here's the gist:

Flight to Antarctica
    • Pre-flight checks - automatic for Pilot/Mech Repair 25%+
    • Storm comes on suddenly when the plane is at 20,000 ft and 350 miles off the shore of Elephant Island; no time to avoid it
    • 5 Pilot rolls required
        ○ Lost supplies: 1 roll on below table per failure
        ○ Damage to PCs
            § On 1-2 failures, PCs take 1d10 damage each upon landing
            § On 3-4 failures, PCs take 2d10 damage each upon landing
            § On 5 failures, PCs take 3d10 damage each upon landing
        ○ Landing site is improved based on # of Hard/Extreme successes:
            § 0: site A
            § 1: site B
            § 2: site C
            § 3: site D
            § 4: site E
            § 5: original, intended site (marked in green)

Crash landing lost supplies table:
D100    Equipment Lost
01-11    Clothing
12-22    Medical supplies
23-33    Climbing equipment
34-44    Weapons and ammunition
45-55    Tents and/or sleeping bags, bivy sacs, etc.
56-67    Provisions
68-75    Fuel for stove, snowmobiles, ATV, etc.
76-80    GPS
81-87    Skis
88-95    1d3 of the 3 snowmobiles
96-99    The ATV
00    The plane itself (major repairs needed to get it airborne again, if it's even possible)

The pre-flight checks weren't especially important; I mainly had them there to establish the pilot's expertise (this is a Pulp campaign, and it's one of the character's primary skills, so she has a 91% rating in the skill). Obviously, there could have been casualties if she'd failed 3 or 4 checks, and a fifth failure could have been a TPK. But with that skill level plus the ability to fix rolls with Luck spending, I figured it was a very remote possibility, and I was right. 

 We ended up with 3 regular successes and 2 hard or extreme successes. This meant the PCs and all their equipment was unharmed, but the winds forced the pilot to land most of the way across Elephant Island (which, to be clear, was their actual destination). 

This map marks the PCs' planned landing area (Refuge Aziz Ab'Saber, a fictitious Brazilian research station) and where they actually came down, about 12 miles away if I remember correctly. I have a version of the map which shows all the possible landing sites, but it also has spoilery information which I don't want to post, as I said above. The sites were all pretty much in a line, with the furthest one being just south of The Comet mountain and the closest being less than 2 miles from the Refuge.

Closing

Anyway, that's what I wanted to post. I figured it could be helpful for someone else running a campaign in Antarctica, especially if they use Call of Cthulhu or Pulp Cthulhu for it. Also, when I put a lot of time into game prep like I did with all this, it feels good to show it to people, not so much to brag but as a kind of validation, maybe? I dunno. I also felt it had been too long since I last posted here, and this is the main RPG project I've been working on for the last couple weeks.

In other news, I've been applying to some actual play shows, so we'll see where that leads. Maybe I'll update the blog about this campaign again, too. We shall see.