Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Ghouls

Ghouls are feral, "vaguely canine" humanoids that dwell in tunnel systems beneath many cities, often centered on graveyards and ancient catacombs, where they feast on the dead. Some of these tunnels even lead to the Dreamlands, in which Ghouls are regular denizens.



In the RPG...

Because of their human-like form and stats, Ghouls are another very common enemy in Call of Cthulhu. Really, the only unique trait of Ghouls is that if they successfully bite their victim, they latch on and can only be dislodged with an opposed STR roll—that an average Investigator only has a 23% chance of winning.
    The only change the 7e Malleus Monstrorum has made to Ghouls is that their 30% attack chance is now 40%. As I've mentioned before, this is a pretty common change across all the entries and is most likely due to the change in fight mechanics.

In a video game...

I feel it would be heresy to not include Ghouls in any Call of Cthulhu video game. Even if the game had nothing to do with them, I would personally include one as at least an easter egg. Though typically seen as enemies, Ghouls have also been known to ally themselves with humans—as in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath—so there is a lot that could be done with them.

In a film...

There have been many adaptations of Lovecraft's Pickman's Model which features a Ghoul, so I'm not in any rush to see more of them myself. Having said that, I'm still waiting for a Dream-Quest film.

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