"Where is this place?" Liu Xing's vision suddenly blurred. When he came to his senses, he found himself in a closed room, sitting with three strangers around a wooden table. A single white candle burned silently on the table.
"Welcome, old Chinese doctor, to the newbie room of the Cthulhu RPG game hall. I will now explain the basic rules of this hall to you. Please listen carefully." A voice suddenly rang in Liu Xing's ears. It was the same electronic synthesized voice of the young woman, but this time the mocking tone was more pronounced, making Liu Xing realize that it was not an illusion.
"First, since you've decided to participate in the Cthulhu RPG, you naturally have a basic understanding of the rules. I'll mercifully explain them to you again. First, the beginner's room game you're currently playing isn't a true Cthulhu RPG. However, the system will determine your stats based on your performance in this game, allowing you to complete your first character card. So please perform well."
"Second, every Cthulhu RPG has a main objective and side objectives. Beyond these, there are also various hidden side quests, even hidden main quests. Please decide whether to explore them or not. These hidden quests will grant you incredible rewards. Of course, your mortality rate while exploring hidden quests will be several, even dozens, of times higher than in the main quests. After all, fortune and wealth are forged in danger."
"Third, in every Cthulhu game set in a similar era, players will use the same character card. Players can have multiple character cards at once. If a player dies or drops out of a Cthulhu game (in Cthulhu, if a player's character is unable to proceed due to injury or other reasons, this is considered dropping out and is equivalent to character death), they will lose the character card used in that game. When a player loses all of their character cards, they will be eliminated."
"Fourth, the items, spells, relationships, and skill point gains obtained in each Cthulhu game will be automatically recorded on the character card and will be calculated after the Cthulhu game ends."
"Fifth, during the game, players may not reveal any information about the game lobby to NPCs, nor may they engage in actions or words that are outside the context of the game. Otherwise, they will be considered over-playing. Over-playing can only occur twice in a single game. The first over-play will result in the player losing all points and a random attribute point. Over-playing a second time will result in the player losing their character card for the game."
"Sixth, the difficulty of the Cthulhu role-playing game will be determined by the number of players. The maximum number of players varies depending on the zone. Players may discuss the game in a relatively closed space, but NPCs must not be allowed to access the content. Otherwise, they will be considered over-playing."
"Seventh, if you wish to uninstall this game, you must pay 10,000 points."
"Finally, a piece of advice: the less you know, the longer you live. Good luck."
Years of online novel reading experience allowed Liu Xing to quickly realize that he had likely entered a place similar to the main god's space, where he would be forced to complete various tasks. Moreover, this was a main god's space based on the Cthulhu mythology.
"Damn it! I shouldn't have done that! Looks like I'm going to die in this hellhole." Liu Xing was filled with regret. He didn't think he had the aura of a protagonist, and this was a Cthulhu role-playing game!
The defining characteristic of Cthulhu role-playing games is that ordinary human players explore various supernatural events and encounter all sorts of mythical creatures. The results are predictable: team wipes are commonplace. After all, there are no weapons, armor, or bloodlines to aid players in facing mythical creatures head-on. Furthermore, while players can acquire various spells like magic books, spells, and old seals for self-defense, their use depends on their sanity. Losing too much sanity at once can drive them insane, and death is nigh.
Thus, a key difference between Cthulhu role-playing games and other games is their extremely high chance of team wipes. Every game isn't complete without at least a few casualties.
But since he was already here, he had to make the best of it. Liu Xing knew there was no way he could escape now, so he had to face reality and perform well in this novice room game to get his first character card.
As a role-playing game, Cthulhu RPG naturally requires a character card to determine the character's attributes before playing, just like other RPGs. Liu Xing wasn't sure yet whether the character cards used in the Cthulhu RPG lobby would be from the sixth or seventh edition. (Like other games, Cthulhu RPG constantly releases new manuals, and both the sixth and seventh editions are currently used in the community. The attributes of these two versions differ. Please search Baidu for the specific differences, as explaining them would be tedious and would require more words.) However, it seemed that this newbie's room game replaced the "car card" process (car cards use the random number obtained by rolling the dice as attribute points for a certain attribute. Certain special actions in Cthulhu RPG require a check, and the key to success or failure is whether the random number rolled on the dice is greater than a certain attribute point). Therefore, Liu Xing had to complete this newbie's room task as perfectly as possible to make his character card attributes look good. After all, the character card was like Liu Xing's life.
"Now transmitting game information to the player." The electronic synthesized voice paused for a moment before resounding in Liu Xing's ears.
Cthulhu RPG Starter Room Template — Haunted House Terror.
Difficulty: Easy.
Quest Background: The player is currently in a century-old house. Many years ago, a family of three living there was murdered. Since then, rumors of a haunting have spread, with many claiming to have seen ghostly figures wandering the house.
Today, you and three online friends agreed to spend the night together in this old house. However, after you all entered the room, the doors and windows were tightly sealed, and a candle on the table suddenly lit.
Your Role: Ordinary office worker
Quest: Protect the candle from going out before the game time expires.
Quest Tip: The candle can only be blown out by the player, but the player must blow continuously for five seconds for it to go out. If the candle goes out, the mission will fail.
Game Time: One hour.
It was obvious that the key to this mission was the candle in front of him, but Liu Xing didn't see much Cthulhu reference in any of the hints.
However, Liu Xing felt that this was most likely a beginner's room mission, used to determine the stat points of his first character card. So, if it actually involved some Cthulhu elements, he'd probably go crazy if not dead...
"But according to the mission instructions, if my mission is to prevent the candle from going out, then it's very likely that one of the three remaining players will be tasked with blowing out the candle," Liu Xing pondered. After all, in Cthulhu role-playing games, there's a class called Zealot. Zealots are members of cults dedicated to Cthulhu and other evil gods, and they're in opposition to the players who play as ordinary people. So, it seemed likely that the premise of this game was that the Zealots had lured online users here, intending to sacrifice them to the evil deity.
So, who among these three people could be the Zealot?
Liu Xing looked at the three people sitting around the table: two men and one woman.
Sitting to Liu Xing's left was a affable middle-aged man, probably in his forties. He wore a black shirt, the corner of a handkerchief peeking out from under it, though the handkerchief was faintly yellowed in the candlelight.
To Liu Xing's right was a young man in his twenties, of average appearance, wearing a baseball cap, though his hair was highlighted red.
Across from Liu Xing sat a rather attractive girl, but she kept her head slightly lowered, as if lost in thought. She was also wearing a school uniform with the words "Modu No. 7 Middle School" emblazoned on it.
Of course, Liu Xing didn't forget to check his own attire; it was a standard office-class outfit: a black suit and tie.
"This game is excellent. I didn't forget to change my clothes," Liu Xing said self-deprecatingly.
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