Rip It & Run: All Things Mummified...

What with all the mummy hoo-hah going on at the moment, I thought I’d take a look at the concept and see what possibilities it has for generating roleplaying action. After all, if Tom Cruise and Universal can make so complete a hash of it, it behoves we gamers to see if we can salvage the wreckage.

First things first – why are these stories appropriate for Call of Cthulhu game generation? Straight off, there are canon stories which focus particularly upon Ancient Egypt so the bedrock is there to build upon. Secondly, the Ancient Egyptian civilisation is just that – ancient – and most Mythos material involves the eruption from a distant past of some menace which not only threatens the planet, but which throws understood knowledge of Reality into a tailspin. Thirdly, fascination for the ancient culture among the “present-day” types kicked off in Europe in the early 1800s and then erupted in England after the discovery of Tutankhamen in the 1920s, so at least two of the canon gaming periods – Gaslight and Classic – are directly covered. Therefore, with the blessing of the Lovecraft Circle, we can proceed.

Literary Sources:

Of course, the roots of “Mummy Literature” well pre-date HPL and his friends. Concepts concerning the Ancient Egyptians and their magical activities were hitting print well before, in fact pretty much straight after Napoleon shot the nose off the Sphinx to prove his dominance over the Kingdom of the Nile. Here, therefore, are the chief, non-Mythos, literary sources.

ANONYMOUS (LOUDON-WEBB, Jane), The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century, Henry Colburn Publishers Ltd., London, 1827

Directly inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this is the story of Cheops, resurrected in the future by electrical energy. It dwells somewhat ponderously upon the social and technological changes of the future, seen through the bizarre “everyman” character of the revived Pharaoh. Throughout the story, Cheops fervently disbelieves in the power of technology to revive the dead and declares that he is reborn only through the will of the gods.

There’s not much to pillage in this offering, but as the first ever ‘mummy novel’, it deserves its place at the head of the list. For enterprising Keepers, the central conceit – that of a human being resurrected after thousands of years – might be an interesting way of establishing a campaign, or of injecting a villain/ally into one.

HAGGARD, H.Rider, She, Longmans Green & Co., London, 1886

One of Haggard’s best-known and more lurid works, She involves the machinations of an entity named Ayesha, “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed”, a goddess made flesh, ruling the lost kingdom of Kôr in the heart of Africa. By virtue of a pillar of “living flame” she has been made immortal and awaits the reincarnation of her lover, Kallikrates, in order that they may rule over the world together. Of course, the object of her affection is re-born as a diabolically-handsome and physically perfect Englishman, Leo Vincey, who, along with his physically-capable but terribly ugly guardian, Horace Holly, travels to Africa in response to clues discovered on an ancient pottery sherd. Much of the tale involves the natives over whom She rules and the miscommunications and misadventures that surround the interactions of the tribes with the strange white men.

This book is an artefact of British colonialism and evokes all of the negative ideas that such roots generate, along with Victorian notions of idealised love. That being said, it is the source and wellspring of the “love never dies” themes that have informed Mummy literature ever since. This is a romance in every sense of the word. At the heart of the tale is the notion of power, and the uses to which it is put: Ayesha wields great authority, not only over her tribespeople, but in the form of Ancient Spells and psychic talents, as well as the fact that no man can look upon her without falling to their knees in love and awe. That she uses these talents selfishly to get her boyfriend back (whom she killed in a tantrum 2,000 years ago) says a lot about her maturity and capability for altruism. A Mythos spin on this construct could see someone like Nitocris in the place of Ayesha, bent upon unleashing the savagery of the Old Ones...

MARSH, Richard, The Beetle, Arthur Skeffington Publishers Ltd., London, 1897

In this story, the youthful misadventures of a British parliamentary representative, Paul Lessingham, come back to bite him savagely on the backside. An evil creature of nebulous form arrives in London with schemes of vengeance and starts to terrorise the populace. It transpires that while holidaying in Egypt, Lessingham was kidnapped by an Isis cult (some things never change) and forced to become the plaything of its savage leader. After watching many kidnapped white women desecrated and burned alive in an horrific furnace, he makes a break for freedom, stabbing the high-priestess en route. Cut forward some years and the eponymous creature arrives in London and kidnaps Lessingham’s girlfriend as part of a revenge plot.

Here we see the romantic sub-plot, introduced by Haggard, dragged into prominence again. In this version however, it’s a little more straightforward: the “kidnap the girlfriend” trope is one which transcends all genres, from Westerns to Sci-Fi. The mystery at the core of this tale is the Beetle itself: what are its powers? What can it do? How can it be protected against? How do we kill it? In taking this tale into roleplaying territory, the Keeper needs to pin these issues down firmly, no matter how strange and inexplicable they may look to the players.

BOOTHBY, Guy, Pharos the Egyptian, Ward Lock & Co. Ltd., London, 1899

An escape for Boothby from his Dr. Nikola novels which follows a young man, Cyril Forester, who encounters a beautiful young violinist named Valerie and her aged guardian. Bewitched by her beauty and vaguely concerned about the morality of her protector, Cyril follows them across the Continent, slowly learning the deep secrets which they hide... All of the tropes are here: violated tombs; ancient curses; bandaged mummies; endangered and mesmerised damsels. It’s said that this novel was by far the greatest influence on Universal’s 1932 film.

Here we see the arrival of the über-mummy, empowered by strange magicks, able to pass as a living person, and intent upon the destruction of those who disturbed its ancient rest. Unlike the Beetle, the abilities of this creature are more clearly defined and its purpose openly stated. This is no bandaged shambler and we’ll talk more about such beasties below...

STOKER, Bram, The Jewel of Seven Stars, William Heinemann & Co., London, 1903

In this novel, the spirit of Egyptian Princess Tera emerges within the body of her distant ancestor, an English woman named Margaret Trelawney. With the help of her archaeologist father and his associates (some of whom are romantically linked to Margaret), they struggle to remove the baneful Egyptian influence and prevent Princess Tera trying to reclaim her old kingdom.

There isn’t a concrete bandage-wrapped form dominating this tale; rather, the spirit of the Ancient Princess – randomly grabbing control of Margaret’s corpus – is the threat. This equates nicely in a roleplaying situation as a straight POW vs. POW contest in the afflicted character, with the encroaching intelligence anchored to some arcane artefact which needs to be destroyed. The exact plans and schemes of the evil personality are what drives the narrative forward.

HAGGARD, H.Rider, Ayesha – The Return of She, Ward Lock Ltd, London, 1903

The first sequel to She changes location from Africa to Tibet. It sees Leo and Holly trekking through the Himalayas to a remote lamasery seeking word of Ayesha’s survival. Leo is convinced that She is not dead (perhaps because her final words to him in the previous book were “I’ll be back” - duh!). Wintering in the lamasery, its Abbot warns them about continued involvement with Ayesha, fearing that contact with her will only strengthen their links to the Wheel of Karma rather than liberating them. The rest of the book is a power struggle between Atene, the wife of the Khan of a remote kingdom, and the reincarnated Ayesha who commands subservience of the Khanate from her temple high in a volcanic mountain shaped like an ankh. Both of them fall in love with Leo and battle to control him. Both women prove morally stunted and Leo finally dies from Ayesha’s kiss; she orders the death of a priest to go before her into the Land of the Dead to prepare for her arrival.

There’s not a lot to borrow from this instalment that we haven’t seen before (and certainly no more to be gained from the next two sequels, Wisdom’s Daughter and Allan and She). Of major interest is the switching from Ancient Egyptian notions of reincarnation to Tibetan ones, demonstrating that the concept is translatable across many platforms. Ankh-shaped mountains are pretty cool, too!

“ROHMER, Sax” (WARD, Arthur Henry "Sarstedt"), The Green Eyes of Bast (1920); Bat Wing (1921); Brood of the Witch Queen (1924); She Who Sleeps (1928); The Bat Flies Low (1935); Salute to Bazarada (1939); Seven Sins (1943), McBride Ltd.; Doubleday Ltd.; London

Sax Rohmer’s wholesale pillaging of other cultures was not restricted to China and its immediate environs; when he wasn’t inflicting the Devil Doctor, Fu Manchu, upon the world, he would take wild flights of fancy into other territories. The titles listed above comprise many of his Egypto-maniacal fare and puddle about with mummies, ancient curses, reincarnated lovers and all the usual suspects. Rohmer was obviously riding the wave of interest created by the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922, so there was an eager market for his pulp. In fact, the Egyptian influence even affected his ongoing Fu Manchu series with the introduction of Kâramanèh, a female Egyptian agent who later abandons the Devil Doctor and marries Dr. Petrie.

Along with Rohmer many other writers churned out pulpy novels following similar themes; however, Rohmer sets the tone and after these there’s really no more to be said. By this time, mummies had made the jump to the silver screen and that would become their more familiar home. There’s really only one more print version that we need to look at:

RICE, Anne, The Mummy – Ramses the Damned, Ballantine Books, New York NY, 1989.

Rice moved away from her vampire novels with this release – after all, Lestat and crew had pretty much gotten as far as they were going to get and topping the excessive gore-fest that was The Queen of the Damned was probably even too much for Rice herself to contemplate. This work begins in the 20s after the opening of a mysterious Egyptian tomb which houses an anachronistic mummy: all the labels say that it’s Ramses the Great, but the tomb dates from a dynasty that is too late for that Pharaoh to have been alive. Mysteriously, the mummy awakens and emerges as a handsome and erudite man of noble bearing. It transpires that he has an elixir of immortality that transforms the imbiber into an eternal being, dependent only upon the Sun’s rays for survival. Thereafter, it’s all intrigue among the archaeologists and their family, with one of the daughters falling for the revived Egyptian King. There was a sequel wherein Ramses tries to find Cleopatra’s mummy and revive both her and their once-tempestuous love affair but... well you get the idea.

Of interest here are both the immortality elixir and the mummy creatures which it creates. Described cynically as “anti-Vampires”, they wither and fade if deprived of sunlight, not dying but becoming torpid. They are super-strong, have heightened senses, are difficult to stop and full of an overwhelming lust for life. Sound familiar? Still, in the context of Call of Cthulhu and the later movies, it’s definitely a workable concept.

Screen Adaptations...

Like the novels, there are a literal plethora of versions to choose from; also like the novels, they are pretty awful, and few break any new ground or add anything to the accepted body of material. Most interpretations of the Egyptian undead tend to be humorous and not really inspirational for someone trying to tell a Mythos version of the genre. Here’s a selection that might be of use:

FREUND, Karl (Dir.), “The Mummy”, Universal Pictures, 1932

The first and, to my mind, the best. Archaeologists break open a tomb in Egypt and fall victim to the curse of the one buried within: Imhotep’s mummy reanimates and shuffles off into the darkness, driving mad the one set to watch over him in the process. Rather than having a mummy that springs about and leaps all over the place, the director focuses upon the incredible fact that something so ancient is moving at all. Boris Karloff’s work here is riveting to watch: when he first begins to move it’s almost imperceptible, as if he is, indeed, throwing off the rigor of the ages. Later shots of his desiccated face as he uses his hypnotic powers reinforce this aged perspective while contrasting his luminous eyes. This mummy is baleful and determined, obsessed with claiming the woman he believes to be his beloved reincarnated.

Things to take away from this source are the madness-inducing shock of seeing something dead struggle to life. The famous awakening scene in this film has sometimes been referred-to as silly nowadays, but persevere with it: how would you react to a mummified person returning to life? Decades of revivifying corpses have perhaps inured us to the shock of such an event, but this is the first time it was tried and it deserves credit for what it achieves.

FISHER, Terence (Dir.), “The Mummy”, Hammer Films, 1959

Suddenly, it’s colour, and the director who went on to make some of the worst Bond films ever. Given the possibilities of throwing large amounts of red paint around the place, Fisher delved deep into his copy of Wallis Budge’s The Mummy and tried to depict all of the gruesome details of mummification. In this version the mummified Kharis (dodging copyright issues from Universal) returns to life after his tomb is invaded and goes on a rampage to destroy the defilers. As well, there’s a girl who resembles his lost love – the one he committed heresy to be with – and he tries to shuffle off into the night with her.

Apart from the grand guignol of mummification, what this film brings to the table is an idea that mummies are super-strong due to the bituminous resins which bond to their desiccated flesh; of course, such stuff being flammable, it also signals the doom of the creature.

SOMMERS, Stephen (Dir.), “The Mummy”, Universal Films/Alphaville Films, 1999

The perfect storm. Before this, Stephen Sommers was known only for directing cheesey action/comedies of a fairly low-grade sort. Universal was looking around for someone to re-boot the franchise before they lost the rights to the Universal Monsters, and so they decided to take a gamble with this guy. Add action-capable actors with comedy and drama chops, and some inspired notions about what mummies are all about, and the rest was gold.

The story runs the usual gamut of curses, Egyptian ruins and secret cabals sworn to keep the Evil One entombed and adds a heady mix of action and good humour to leaven the horror. For Mythos fans there’s the intriguing Book of the Dead (which brings things to life) and the resurrected über-mummy with its cultish followers set upon dominating the planet (and getting the girl).

SOMMERS, Stephen (Dir.), “The Mummy Returns”, Universal Films/Alphaville Films/Imhotep Films, 2001

Round two of this unexpected success was a little bloated but still well worth the price of admission. The sequel grabs a handful of things from earlier sources – most notably Stoker’s Jewel of the Seven Stars – and adds a dose of Haggard to the mix. Things get a little silly in places, what with mummified pygmies and Brendan Fraser outrunning the Sun, but it’s all good-natured enough to not impinge too much on credibility. Mythos fans can rejoice in the Book of the Living (which makes unliving things dead) and the way the film engineers the Scorpion King backstory to build its action upon.

COHEN, Rob (Dir.), “The Mummy – Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”, Universal Films/Relativity Media/Alphaville Films/Beijing Happy Pictures, 2008

A burned-out Sommers relinquished directorial control of the franchise at this point and Rob Cohen took the opportunity to re-locate the action to China. With Rachel Weisz deciding not to reprise her leading-lady role, the fate of the film hung in the balance for some time. For the most part, the film does what it sets out to do, despite unleashing dragons and Fu creatures and dubious Yetis, and the charisma of the cast helps keep things on track.

Personally, I have a soft spot for this flick, mainly because it’s set in China. There are some debatable moments but I can let them slide. The main thing to take from this if you’re looking for inspiration, is that mummies are a worldwide phenomenon and you can tweak the concept in any direction you like. Peru, anyone?

KURTZMAN, Alex (Dir.), “The Mummy”, Universal Pictures/Dark Universe/Perfect World Pictures, 2017,

I’ve already posted a review of this so I won’t waste too much (more) space on it. Copyright maintenance has forced Universal to revive the Universal Monsters franchise once more and so they’ve decided to duplicate Marvel’s superhero success and create an integrated “Dark Universe” of monsters. Not doing a good job so far.

In that the movie references all sorts of material from past iterations of their monster movies, it’s no surprise that the pre-credit sequence is an extended plot exposition telling us all there is to know about the eponymous mummy (as happens in the Stephen Sommers movies). It’s this stuff that is the best the film has to offer, so I would suggest leaving the cinema once it’s done. There’s a great bit where Ahmenet summons Set to aid her in her vengeance and he appears as a crumbling mummified being, while all the (formerly dead) birds hanging from the rafters begin flapping frantically as they come back to life. It’s very evocative and spooky; as I said though, best to avoid the rest.

Mythos Concepts

This is a standard Call of Cthulhu Mummy:

The Bog-Standard Mummy

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	3D6x2	POW	1D6+12	Move	6
CON	3D6x1.5	DEX	2D6	HP	14-15
SIZ	2D6+6	APP	n/a	Magic Points	=POW
INT	3D6	EDU	n/a	SAN	0

Damage Bonus: +1d4

Weapon: Fist 70%, 1d+db; Grapple 25%, special

Armour: 2-point skin; Impaling weapons are useless unless severing a limb, head, etc.

Skills: Move Quietly 50%; Stalk 40%

SAN Loss: It costs 1/1d8 SAN to see a Mummy

From what we’ve seen above in the source material, there would appear to be a case for mummies of a greater capability than these shuffling minions. In the early Karloff and Christopher Lee mummy films, the above stats would work very well to depict the monsters: the mummies really do little more than shamble about and beat people up (especially in the Hammer flick). In a low-powered encounter along those lines, these figures work fairly well. However, if we want to enact a mummy scenario more along the lines of Stephen Sommers’ films, or if we’re riffing off Haggard or Anne Rice, then we need to design a bigger, better, mummy: the Über-Mummy.

From the source material, we know that the über-mummy is more dynamic, more powerful, and more attractive than the standard variety. That being said, it’s not true to the canon to have them jump right out of the sarcophagus looking like a Hollywood heartthrob: even Karloff’s mummy spent some time shambling about in bandages until he found a way to fit in. To this end, I’d suggest starting an über-mummy by using the above stats and then adding a few tweaks:

First, keep in mind that mummies, being undead, don’t regenerate Magic Points the way that living creatures do. Normal mummies have only the MPs that they start off with and, when they’re gone, that’s it. Cultists like to use mummies as MP batteries that double as watchdogs, making them slightly more useful than zombies. However, as far as our über-mummies are concerned, they have access to dark magical knowledge that allows them to get around this barrier: these guys are able to drain POW and MPs from their victims, killing them in the process. In order to do this the über-mummy must Grapple their victim and then Drain them the following round; the victim is allowed to compare their STR against the mummy’s on the Resistance Table, winning free if successful. If not, their POW and their Magic Points transfer over to the über-mummy at a rate of 5 points of each per round. Once the victim’s POW hits zero, they die. In return, the mummy gains 1 POW for every full 2 points of POW absorbed, and all MPs on a one point per one point basis. The POW points that don’t get added to the creature’s own POW get distributed evenly between the mummy’s STR, CON and DEX. Thus, over time, the über-mummy puts itself back together by feeding on those around it.

And what does it do with this abundance of POW and Magic Points? Firstly, with all of that POW, the mummy can attract followers, using its personal magnetism and promise of great power to build a cult-like organisation around it. This is extremely useful for protection and to enable the creature to acclimatise to its new surroundings and time period. As for the Magic Points, the Keeper should assign mystical powers to the über-mummy, 1D6-1 or so, that the monster can use at will, once per round. These should replicate the effects of standard spells with the following limitations: 1) no Call/Dismiss or Summon/Bind spells; 2) no spells which have physical components (Elder Sign, for example); 3) no Enchant spells; 4) no spells which are the province of specialised sects or faiths – Brothers of the Skin or Voodoo, for instance. The MP costs of these spells remain the same as the listed spell, however casting times are waived in favour of instantaneous effects. Obviously, the SAN costs are meaningless to a mummy.

Another useful ability exclusive to the über-mummy is the ability to shrug off damage on a one Hit Point per Magic Point basis. In the face of concerted opposition, this is an expensive way to burn through all of those Magic Points which they’ve absorbed but it can mean the difference between death and continuing undeath. If it chooses to take the damage rather than absorb it in this fashion, the mummy is perfectly capable of doing so.

And note, again, that the mummy must reload its MPs by devouring more hapless passers-by; no matter how much POW they have, they’re still undead and can’t regenerate these points.

There’s another power which these über-mummies have that isn’t often mentioned, although it is always implicit – telegnosis. This is the ability to know things from a great distance. In these instances, it should be limited to objects and situations with which the mummy is intimately connected – its tomb; an artefact which contains its soul; the reincarnated soul of its ancient lover. The Keeper should be wary about this ability and try to use it within consistent restraints, otherwise it becomes a license to know everything that the players are doing in order to thwart the mummy’s plans. It might be useful to allow the monster an Idea Roll each time it gets prompted to try and get a sense of what its enemies are up to rather than assume that it always knows what’s going on all the time. And remember that a sense of hubris guides most über-mummies: in their arrogance, they assume their opposition couldn’t effect a useful scheme against them, so why keep tabs?

Now the über-mummy is a more imposing threat and, arguably, something more resembling the mummies of our source material.

Now to bring the Mythos!

The following is a quick list of short stories and novels all of which are considered Mythos canon:

BELKNAP LONG, Frank, “A Visitor from Egypt”

BLOCH, Robert, “The Secret of Sebek”; “The Eyes of the Mummy”; “The Brood of Bubastis”; “Fane of the Black Pharaoh”

CARTER, Lin, Curse of the Black Pharaoh; “The Thing Under Memphis”

CULP, Robert C., “The Papyrus of Nephren-Ka”

LOVECRAFT, H.P., “Under the Pyramids”

LUMLEY, Brian, “The Mirror of Nitocris”

TIERNEY, Richard, “The Ring of Set”, “The Scroll of Thoth”, “The Soul of Khephri”, “The Treasure of Horemkhu”

This is just a quick snapshot; there are certain to be more than this lurking around.

Apart from stories that are based in Ancient Egypt or which have features redolent of mummies and ancient Egyptian curses, it’s worthwhile remembering that there are creatures, Mythos tomes and entities that have connexions to Ancient Egypt, for example: Nyarlathotep in his Black Pharaoh avatar and also those of Set, Thoth, the Faceless God and Nyarlathoptis; the Elder Gods Bast (Bubastis) and Isis; The Serpent People; The Great Old One Sebek; Children of the Sphinx; and Yog-Sothoth in its avatar of the Aten. The Dreamlands of Earth also has connexions to Ancient Egypt, especially when we consider the pshent-crowned guardians of the Caverns of Sleep, Nasht and Kaman-Thah.

Taken all-in-all, if mummies are your thing, then there is plenty of scope for working Mythos mayhem. Grab the bandages and get shambling!