Manual — Cthulhu Wars: Azathoth Expansion

Copyright © Sandy Petersen 2014 1

The Daemon Sultan Expansion
I. Components
• 4 Monster Loyalty Cards
• 1 Azathoth Loyalty Card
• 1 Azathoth Spellbook
• 6 Neutral Spellbooks
• 1 Azathoth marker
• Rulebook
• 13 figures (5 different types, all grey)
o 3 Dimensional Shamblers
o 3 Elder Things
o 3 Servitors of the Outer Gods
o 3 Star Vampires
o 1 Azathoth
II. Introduction
Everything you've ever been told about the nature of the universe is a lie. There was never any sort of intent behind the formation of the constellations, and placing Earth among them. Neither are the cold physics of the “big bang” theory accurate. The truth is somewhere between, yet having nothing to do with either.
When the well-meaning physicists begin talking about cycles of expansion and contraction, they near the truth. Theologists have a nugget of understanding when they discuss the all-knowing, all-caring “god” (or “gods”) responsible for the formation of matter. But both are yet far off the mark.
At the center of the universe, there is indeed a consciousness; an impossibly vast, monstrously cruel force that at once creates, and yet does not understand creation. It sloughs off galaxies to fend for themselves. It shudders and suns dim. When it dreams, worlds die in holocausts of madness and terror. It is the center of all things, it is the creator and destroyer of reality.
It is Azathoth.
Madmen and sorcerers call out its name in reverential fear. They reach out to the Blind Idiot God, hoping for secrets of power, immortality, wealth. What they receive is petulance, rage, and nightmares made real. They listen to the piping of the cavorting demons, hoping to hear a whisper of Azathoth’s truth, and come away mind-blasted shells.
Still Azathoth plays on. Unknowingly it creates universes, and moments later destroys them. Moments of its own unquenchable insanity have no corresponding measure in our own time.
Then there’s the real secret. The universe we inhabit, the reality we think we know… it’s not even the first one. Countless times have we been created and resorbed by Azathoth. Countless times have we

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warred, battled, loved, died. Has it been the same universe, created and destroyed over and over? Have
you lived this same life a million times? Made the same mistakes throughout eternity? Nobody knows.
Except Azathoth, who cares not.
- Ben Monroe
III. Summary
The Daemon Sultan is not a “real” Faction. Instead, it has neutral units and spellbooks, available to any
player. Players can individually access Azathoth itself, its Monsters, and its spellbooks. One player may
have one Spellbook, while another has a different one. They are mix-and-match. Similarly, two players
may each control a different Monster type.
IV. Azathoth Itself
A. Awakening Azathoth
Azathoth is an Independent Great Old One. The first player to fulfill the Awakening requirements on
Azathoth’s Loyalty Card Awakens this Great Old One. That player takes Azathoth’s Loyalty Card, the
Azathoth marker, and the special Azathoth spellbook (titled Nuclear Chaos), after finishing Azathoth’s
Awakening routine.
Azathoth’s spellbook is placed in the owner’s Pool, until he fulfills its requirement. At that time, the
owner places the spellbook on the Azathoth Loyalty Card, and he can now make use of it. Azathoth’s
spellbook may not be placed on the player’s Faction Card; likewise, a Faction Spellbook may not be
placed on Azathoth’s Loyalty Card.
B. Losing Azathoth
If Azathoth is killed, its Loyalty card returns to the general pool, and the Spellbook “falls off” the card
and must be re-earned (once Azathoth is again in play). The next player to fulfill Azathoth’s Awakening
requirements takes control of Azathoth and his Loyalty Card.
V. Neutral Monsters
Players gain Neutral Monsters during the Doom phase. To do so, when it is your turn to perform (or to
choose NOT to perform) a Ritual of Annihilation, simply lower your track by 2 Doom points. You can still
perform a Ritual if you wish, either before or after you have gained a Neutral Monster. When you spend
the 2 Doom points, choose any Neutral Monster Loyalty card from among those available and place it by
your faction card. (Exception: Servitor of the Outer Gods).
Bonus – when you take the Loyalty card, you usually get one (1) free Monster of that type.
Once you earn a Loyalty card, you keep it the rest of the game, even when all the associated
Neutral Monsters are currently not in play. Only you may Summon and control the associated Monsters.
The card contains the monsters’ Cost, Combat, and Special Ability (all neutral Monsters have inherent
special abilities which do not have to be earned, but are in play when that Monster is in play).

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Example: It is the Doom phase, and Angela decides to spend 2 Doom points and take the Shambler loyalty card. For the rest of the game, Dimensional Shamblers are one of her monster types. Angela also gets a free Shambler, as described on the Loyalty Card.
You can only gain one neutral Monster Loyalty card per Doom phase.

VI. Neutral Spellbooks
These Spellbooks are available to every Faction. To earn one, simply take it instead of your normal Faction Spellbook when you achieve a Faction Spellbook requirement. Example: Black Goat Awakens Shub-Niggurath for the first time, which fulfills one of her spellbook requirements. Instead of one of her own spellbooks, she picks one of the Neutral spellbooks (in this case, the Mao Ceremony).
Once one player takes a neutral Spellbook, no one else can learn it. You retain that Spellbook throughout the game (exception: Recriminations). This DOES mean that you will NOT have access to one of your normal Spellbooks in this game, so choose wisely.
Remember, Azathoth’s own Spellbook, Nuclear Chaos, is NOT one of the neutral Spellbooks – it can only be placed on Azathoth’s Loyalty Card by the player who controls Azathoth. It is never placed on a player’s Faction Card.

VII. FAQ
A. Azathoth
Q. Can Azathoth absorb more than one Kill result in a single Battle?
A. No.

Q. How much Power can Nyarlathotep get when he Pains or Kills Azathoth in Battle (under Harbinger)?
A. Zero. Technically, Azathoth costs 0 Power to Awaken. The 1d6+2 Power you pay to Awaken him is a “loss”, not a “cost”. So all Nyarlathotep can get when fighting Azathoth is 2 Elder Signs.

Q. What happens when Azathoth is surrounded by enemy units he just Battled, and he receives a Pain?
A. Treat it as if he received a Kill and roll a d6.

Q. What happens when Azathoth is chosen to receive a Kill as a result of Dread Curse of Azathoth (since no Battle abilities apply)?
A. Azathoth’s special ability is ongoing, so it still applies – reduce his Combat by one die in this situation (Yog-Sothoth can’t use Azathoth’s own curse against him, you fool! But because Azathoth is the Blind Idiot God, Yog-Sothoth can still do some damage).

B. Neutral Monsters
Q. Can Black Goat summon Neutral Monsters at the same time as her Faction Monsters?
A. Yes. She may Summon any number of Monsters at once, so long as they are hers to Summon.

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Q. How exactly does Mind Control (the Elder Thing’s ability) work?
A. Just like it says. In an Elder Thing’s Area, Cthulhu can’t Devour. He can still use Submerge and Y’Ha Nthlei, as those are spellbooks, not Special Abilities/Actions. The exact use of an Elder Thing is, obviously, different for each Great Old One. And yes, it also works on Independent Great Old Ones (but not on their Spellbooks, only Special Abilities). For other examples, Nyarlathotep can’t use Harbinger, Azathoth can be killed with one kill result, and so forth. Shub-Niggurath can’t Avatar out of an Area containing an Elder Thing. However, she could use Avatar to enter an Area containing an Elder Thing, because she is not in the Area at the moment she uses her Avatar ability. Sometimes spellbooks are affected, even though they are not directly negated by an Elder Thing; for example, The King in Yellow can’t Desecrate, which means that his Third Eye spellbook can’t be used either (and a similar effect happens to Cthugha and Ghatanothoa when they have their Firestorm or Execration of Mu spellbooks, respectively). In some cases, Mind Control cancels a Great Old One’s ability over the whole map. For example – if Tsathoggua is in an Elder Thing’s Area, then he can’t use Lethargy. If Ithaqua is in an Elder Thing’s Area, then Ferox is not in effect for any of his Cultists (of course, if an Elder Thing is merely in the same Area as one of Windwalker’s cultists, but NOT in Ithaqua’s Area, Ferox would still be in effect). Likewise, Abhoth could put a Filth Token where an Elder Thing is, so long as Abhoth himself does not share an Area with an Elder Thing.

Q. Is there any way to get rid of the Servitor of the Outer God Loyalty Card once it has been given to you?
A. No.

Q. If I have been given Servitors of the Outer Gods, can I still gain non-Servitor Monsters by means other than Summoning?
A. Yes. For example, Windwalker can use Cannibalism to place Wendigos, Opener of the Way can promote units via Million Favored Ones, and Yellow Sign can recruit via Desecration attempts. The Servitor of the Outer God ability only works on normal Summons.

Q. Can I use Black Goat’s Fertility Cult ability to simultaneously Summon all of the remaining Servitors in my pool, as well as other Monsters?
A. Yes, you can Summon other Monsters in conjunction, so long as no Servitors remain in your pool afterwards.

Q. If the presence of Servitors of the Outer Gods reduces my combat total to less than 0, what happens?
A. Just leave it at 0. That’s bad enough.

Q. If I have both a Star Vampire and Servitors of the Outer Gods in the same Area, reducing my overall Combat dice to 0, how do I roll my Star Vampire dice “separately”?
A. Just go ahead and roll your Star Vampires’ Combat dice. In this case, you will actually get to roll Combat dice, even though your total is theoretically 0. However, because your “total dice” is 0, you

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cannot Declare Battle yourself. Weird, I know. But you’re dealing with multiple realities and alternate dimensions already, if Elder Things and Servitors are in play.

Q. When a Star Vampire rolls a Kill or a Pain, in addition to the Doom point or Power that is drained from the target, is the Kill or Pain inflicted on the enemy?
A. Yes, you always add the Star Vampire’s Combat results to the Battle. However, if the enemy has no Power (or no Doom points), the Star Vampire’s drain does nothing.

Q. What if my Star Vampires roll more Kill and/or Pain results than there are enemy Units in the Battle?
A. You still get to take the Doom and/or Power from your enemy, even if some of the Battle results are not applied to enemy Units (unless, of course, your enemy doesn’t have enough Doom or Power to take). This also means, for example, that if Rhan Tegoth uses his Eternal ability when fighting your Star Vampire, you still get to take the Doom or Power if a Kill or Pain was initially assigned to Rhan Tegoth!

Q. If Yellow Sign recruits a Dimensional Shambler while attempting a Desecration, where does the Shambler appear?
A. Sadly, in the Area, as the Desecrate ability says. This also applies to Moonbeasts (Dreamlands Surface Monster Expansion.)

C. Neutral Spellbooks
Q. How does Undimensioned interact with unusual locations, such as Cthulhu’s units that are currently Submerged, or Sleeper’s Gate with a Cultist that is in Cursed Slumber?
A. Undimensioned specifies that you may only rearrange units among your Areas. So, you could not swap out Cultists on Cursed Slumber, or change which units are currently Submerged with Cthulhu (when Cthulhu is submerged he uses incalculable geometry such that even temporarily undimensioned beings cannot reach him).

Q. Do units from my Faction need to be involved in a Battle in order to use Shriveling?
A. Yes, and you can use Shriveling either on one of your own units, or your opponent’s, your choice.

Q. If Shriveling is used on one of Black Goat’s Monsters, and Black Goat has the Spellbook Thousand Young, how much Power does Black Goat receive?
A. The Thousand Young Spellbook changes the cost of each of Black Goat’s Faction Monsters, so Shriveling would grant Black Goat the reduced cost to Summon (for example, Black Goat would receive 0 Power when a Ghoul is Shriveled).

Q. Why is The Mao Ceremony worded cumbersomely, reading “after Power has been added (i.e., before Determine First Player)”?
A. Because it is always the very last Power to be added – even after the half Power rule. This is the only ability in the game which must take place at that moment. To be clear, when Mao Ceremony is in play, first all players tally up their Power simultaneously (or, beginning with the current First Player if order matters), then the half Power rule occurs, and finally Mao Ceremony can be used LAST. (By the way, High Priests can still be sacrificed for 2 Power at any moment, Mao Ceremony notwithstanding).

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Q. What does Recriminations mean when it says you may replace a spellbook with any “available” spellbook?
A. You may replace the selected spellbook with one of your own Faction spellbooks or another Azathoth spellbook from the Pool. You may NOT use Recriminations in conjunction with any Independent Great Old One Spellbooks – only with Spellbooks which can be placed on your Faction Card.

Q. If I am playing Opener of the Way, and use Recriminations to swap out Dragon Ascending or Dragon Descending after I have flipped them face-down, do they flip face-up again? Could I take those spellbooks again (using Recriminations) and re-use them?
A. No. The spellbook states “flip it face down to indicate that it cannot be used again”. This is categorical. It also works this way with Crawling Chaos’ Thousand Forms, which won’t unflip until the following Gather Power phase.

------- Neutral Monster FAQ -----------
Q. If I have all 6 spellbooks, but a Moonbeast is on one of them, can I still do Battle as an Unlimited Action?
A. Yes. You still have that Spellbook, you just currently cannot make use of it.

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