TEXT: AGENDA 
   
  Make the world fantastic 
   
  Fill the characters’ lives with adventure 
   
  Play to find out what happens 
  QUESTIONS 
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  How were you trapped in this hell dimension? 
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  What do you know about Carcosa and the King in 
  Yellow? 
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  Have you ever seen the Yellow Sign? 
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  What are your nightmares? 
  IMPRESSIONS 
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  The sweep of unnatural flyers and alien moons in the 
  skies above 
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  The alien beauty of the spires of the ancient city 
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  Ancient engraved marble beneath your feet 
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  Rich tapestries showing horrors 
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  The strange tentacles  emerging from the fog shrouded 
  waters of Lake Hali 
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  The whispers of unseen inhabitants 
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  The overwhelming feeling of ennui 
   
   
  “In many ways, Hastur seems to be a very abstract 
  manifestation of something we cannot understand. 
  Its existence raises many questions —One possibility 
  worth considering is that Hali did not exist until the 
  unknown writer created it, making the city, the 
  palace, and the lake into a sort of projected reality, 
  brought into being by the madness of the play’s 
  readers. Which came first, the play or the King? 
  Perhaps Hastur knows, but It is not telling.” 
   
   
   
                           -John Tynes 
   
  Within the palace’s shifting nightmare a figure 
  stands, a strange whisperer in saffron mottled rags. 
  This being will tell you of the palace’s secrets, it will 
  share its madness with any who will turn an 
  appreciative ear. It will never tell the same story 
  twice. –Zenopus of Portown 
   
   
  LOST IN CARCOSA1C 
  A Dungeon Starter by Mark Tygart 
  For Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel’s 
  Dungeon World 
  www.Dungeon-World.com 
  GOA LS 
   
  Establish details, describe 
   
  Use what they give you 
   
  Ask questions 
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  Leave blanks 
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  Look for interesting facts 
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  Help the players understand the moves 
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  Give each character a chance to shine 
   
  Introduce NPC’s 
   
  Fill out your worksheet 
  DU NG EON M OVES 
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  Change the environment 
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  Point to a looming threat 
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  Introduce a new faction or type of creature 
   
  Use a threat from an existing faction or type 
  of creature 
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  Make them backtrack 
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  Present riches at a price 
   
  Present a challenge to one of the characters 
   
   
  CASSILDA: Indeed it’s time. We all have laid aside 
  disguise but you. 
   
  STRANGER: I wear no mask. 
   
  CAMILLA (terrified, aside to Cassilda): NO mask, No 
  mask! 
  - 1.2, The King In Yellow 
   
   
   
  LORE 
  The lore of Hastur the Unspeakable One largely revolves 
  around this being’s avatar the King in Yellow and the play 
  by the same name. Reading the play brings madness, 
  performing it will transport the actors and audience to the 
  being’s nightmare realm of Carcosa. Hastur is an extremely 
  powerful and mysterious entity whose exact nature is 
  much debated by Mythos Scholars. Just speaking his name 
  can be dangerous and the Yellow Sign is a potent arcane 
  sigil of madness. Scholars speak fearfully of “The 
  Unspeakable Oath” that his followers are said to pledge to 
  the being and wonder about what such a terrible bargain 
  means. 
  Worshipers often are solitary madmen, artists, and poets, 
  driven mad by reading the haunting play The King in 
  Yellow, and inspired by its cruel beauty to create art that 
  renders human experience meaningless. A special symbol, 
  the Yellow Sign, is often stamped on surreptitious editions 
  of the evil book. The sign is a subliminal focus for madness 
  and evil, helping to warp the dreams of those who see it. 
  Custom Moves                                                                              
  Roll whenever a player has an ephiany realizes that 
  Carcosca is a place of nightmares generated by the players 
  themselves: 
  Roll + Wisdom:  
  On a 10+ You may awaken and return with your comrades 
  to your home dimension. 
  7-9: You alone may awaken and return to your home 
  dimension. 
  6 or less: The realization fades from your player’s mind. 
   
  Inspired by the Hastur Mythos, John Tynes’ Unspeakable 
  Oath Magazine Number One and HBO’s True Detective  
  Visit the Cats of Tindalos 
  (http://catsoftindalos.blogspot.com/) 
  For more free Dungeon World material 
  
  Items of Power 
   
  Camilla’s Shears  
  An ornately decorated pair of scissors, marked with the 
  Yellow Sign. To be used, they must be operated in the air, 
  as if cutting all around a sleeping or immobile victim. 
  When the scissors have “cut” all around the victim and the 
  victim will be gone, transported to Carcosa. 
   
  Mottled Clay from Lake Hali 
  The user of the Clay covers the target completely with it. If 
  a person is the target, they must be immobile or a 
  volunteer for all of the clay to be applied. Of course, the 
  target may also be a book or item, which will take no 
  damage from the Clay’s application. As it is smoothed on, 
  the Clay hardens quickly into a tough shell. When the 
  target is completely covered, this shell may be shattered 
  with a quick blow, and will be found to now be hollow. The 
  target has been transported to Carcosa. 
   
  Pallid Mask 
  If worn Roll + Wisdom:  
  On a 10+ You may awaken and return with your comrades 
  to your home dimension. 
  7-9: You alone may awaken and return to your home 
  dimension. 
  6 or less: The player is transformed into The King in 
  Yellow. 
   
  The King in Yellow (play) 
  A cursed evil artifact that drives a player insane if read. If 
  the play is performed the players and audience will be 
  transported to Hastur’s hell dimension of Carcosa. 
   
  Space Mead  
   A drug which places its users into a state of suspended 
  animation while protecting the taker from the perils of the 
  void. Used for interstellar flight on the backs of byakhee. 
   
   
  Rituals 
  Summon and Bind Byakhee for a Journey (Wizard)  
  Used for interstellar flight on the back of byakhee (with 
  space mead) 
   
  Roll + Wisdom:  
  On a 10+ You arrive safely at your destination 
  7-9: You arrive near your destination 
  6 or less: You arrive at a location of the Byakhee's choice. 
  You're in trouble. 
   
  Swirl of the Pallid Dancers: This evil ritual will enchant 
  several dancers, all of whom must be willing participants. 
  The dancers require special tattered robes and scarves, all 
  of a mottled yellow. When cast, the dancers begin an 
  elaborate and hurried dance, circling the targets that are 
  to be transported to Carcosa. The dancers whirl around 
  them, moving faster and faster, as their unraveling 
  costumes form a solid blur. When completed, the dancers 
  will collapse and the targets will be gone. 
   
  Monsters 
  Byakhee  
   
   
            Group, Planar 
  Claws (d10+2 damage 1 piercing)    
  Close, Far                                                             10 HP, 1 Armor 
  Byakhee are interstellar predators that travel the vacuum 
  of space by means of an organ called a "hune". This organ, 
  located in the thorax of the creature, allows the creature 
  to greatly surpass the speed of light by unknown means. 
  The creature can also survive the interstellar vacuum 
  unaided. If one had the means by which to survive the 
  myriad threats space presents, than one could ride a 
  Byakhee to anywhere in the cosmos. When travelling 
  beyond the speed of light, the creature's metabolism is 
  greatly increased. When descending to the surface of any 
  given planet, it is usually to feed; it is best avoided. While 
  on the earth's surface, Byakhee can fly at speeds up to 70 
  kph. The "hune" also allows them to hover on a planet's 
  surface, using their wings for movement. Often serves 
  Hastur. 
   
  Evil Carnival Masked Courtier                  Solitary, Intelligent  
  Dagger (d8 damage) 
  Close 
   
                             8 HP 
  Special Qualities: Assume form of its victim   
   It lures unwary people to slay them. The creature then 
  eats the victim and takes the form of the person that it has 
  most recently consumed. Its true shape is hideous. 
   
  Ythill Gibbering Mouther        Solitary, Large, Terrifying, 
  Amorphous 
  Countless jaws (d10+2 damage 1 piercing) 
  Close, Reach, Messy 
   
   
         12 HP 
  Special Qualities: Gibbering causes -1 on all rolls   
  A Gibbering Mouther is a horrible creature seemingly 
  drawn from a lunatic’s nightmares. It resembles a writhing 
  mass of ooze covered with dozens of randomly placed 
  eyes and gibbering mouths, of different sizes and shapes. 
  If its gibbering is somehow understood it is saying “The 
  dreamer must awaken!” 
   
  The Yellow King               Solitary, Divine, Planar, Terrifying 
  Tattered robes (b [2d12+9] damage 4 piercing) 
  Reach, Forceful, Near, Far                   33 HP           6 Armor 
  Special Qualities: Tendrils 
  "At the farther end was a high stone dais reached by five 
  steps; and there on a golden throne sat a lumpish figure 
  robed in yellow silk figured with red and having a yellow 
  silken mask over its face. To this being the slant-eyed man 
  made certain signs with his hands, and the lurker in the 
  dark replied by raising a disgustingly carven flute of ivory 
  in silk-covered paws and blowing certain loathsome 
  sounds from beneath its flowing yellow mask." 
   
   
   
  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 
  Attribution 4.0 International License. 
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeon World (PbtA) [multi]/Other Contents/Adventures & Monster Manuals/Dungeon Starters - Tygart/Lost in Carcosa.pdf