ARCHINT: The Mi-Go Gravity Weapon

The Gravity Cone is an unassuming device, two irregular slabs of black metallic stone that just barely fit into a man's outstretched palm. Carefully tracing one's fingers over the surface or shining a light at an angle reveals a tapestry of razor thin squiggles carved into the material. Delicate hinges surround the edges, making it seem impossible to open.

Taking a rubbing of the etchings is difficult, but possible. Occult likens them to a specific crop circle design made by hovering spacecraft. Supposedly they're the impression left behind by an 'antigravity drive.' Archeology notes the similarity between one of the patterns and the seal of Antaeus. In one version of The Twelve Labors, he first challenged Herakles to lift his halteres, which were impossible for any mortal man to separate from the earth. History compares the alien symbols instead to a series of runes employed by Merlin in one version of the King Arthur legend. Rather than pulling a sword from an anvil (the stone was a later addition), he just picked it up. No one else could lift it because the runes on the anvil increased the sword's weight tenfold for the unworthy.

ARCHINT: The Abacus

From PLUNGE #3; art by Stuart Immonen, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Deron Bennett

In my previous post, I mentioned a necromantic abacus as a possible artifact. Here's a writeup for it, more in line with mellonbread's game design philosophy.

Artifacts and Devices

The Watcher, from Brian Poor

Introduction

I don’t really like how Delta Green handles artifacts. The Handler’s Guide says that they allow characters to use rituals without having to make a Ritual Activation roll. You just pay the costs and apply the effects. It’s elegant in its simplicity and it’s not bad, but you end up with the odd situation where unnatural entities and 0 SAN NPCs have no reason to use artifacts. The former have a 99% chance to succeed on any given Ritual Activation roll, and the latter can just automatically activate them in the first place.

¹

Another issue is that sometimes "you automatically activate a ritual" doesn’t make sense for a specific artifact. Maybe it’s an alien weapon that you still have to aim in the right direction where we would normally call for an attack roll, or maybe it’s some inscrutable device that you can roughly puzzle out how to use with your human brain, something more suited to a skill check. Artifacts and rituals aren’t interchangeable in the fiction and they should be meaningfully distinct in the game too. 

The following framework isn’t intended as a complete replacement for the one in the Handler’s Guide. It’s meant as a tool for Handlers to use situationally. Sometimes using an artifact can be as simple as “pronounce the words carved into the amulet and pay the costs to activate the effect,” but sometimes it isn’t.

Whispers of the Dead (Shub-Niggurath)

 

Shub-Niggurath by Albert Che

The Ritual 

The operator must enter the wilderness and make a blood sacrifice on an altar. Stereotypically, this occurs in a dark, dense forest. However, those with skill in Anthropology or Archeology (or a high Occult rating) know that lush islands, bogs, and even grasslands are suitable. The only thing that matters is that the operator must not be able to see the sprawl of civilization. As such, more modern versions of this ritual suggest that the operator walk until they can't see whatever vehicle they traveled in anymore.

Whispers of the Dead (Yig)

 

Original Weird Tales illustration by Hugh Rankin

The Ritual 

The ritual must be performed in an area suited to snakes and reptiles, such as a swamp, jungle, or desert. The operator drapes one or more snakes over their body and traces curves and spirals into the muck, dirt, or sand with a staff carved or painted to look like a snake. They hum or hiss along to an odd melody played on the flute and drums. Those with Anthropology know that a digital recording will be sufficient. It's the sounds and the effect they have on the operator's mind that is important rather than the instruments or act of playing them.

Whispers of the Dead (Tsathoggua)

Tsathoggua (Artist Proof) by Liv Rainey-Smith

The Ritual 

The operator must first descend underground. In a subterranean chamber, they light candles, oil lamps, and bundles of incense until the air is thick with fumes. As the operator murmurs prayers to Saint Toad, they present their sacrifice and slit its throat. Then the gasses congeal into a hideous form. In a croaking voice, she introduces herself.

I am Tsathoggua, the god-bat of the Pnakotic Manuscripts and sleeping lord of black lightless N’kai. I brokered the secrets of the universe to wizard Eibon and have watched this world since before its veins of rock and fire were born.
My appetite is almost as boundless as my power, why have you awoken me from my slumber?

[Agent’s Name Here]–Reanimator

This made picking the tags tricky

INVESTIGATING HERBERT WEST

A basic look into Dr. West uncovers the tale of a man obsessed with defeating death. Instead of any explanation of his research, Agents only find reports of strange deaths and crimes like arson and grave-robbing that seem to follow West like a cloud of flies. Bureaucracy or Criminology 60% or a sucessful INT test suggests that there have been repeated attempts throughout history to suppress knowledge of his work. Books that mention him are checked out and never returned. His papers are damaged by mold and humidity in poorly kept archives, rarely digitized, lost in mysterious fires, and locked behind defunct security clearances that have yet to be declassified.

Whispers of the Dead (Glaaki)

Gla'aki by Davide L Marescotti

The Ritual 

The operator must stand at the edge of a natural body of freshwater, chest bared to the elements, after the sun has gone down. The operator thrusts a dagger into their chest and kneels in prostration to their new god. The surface of the water ripples as if disturbed by something large underwater before becoming eerily still. When the waters return to normal, the operator rises and removes the dagger from their chest, revealing a small bloodless hole.