Investigators
These are the ones who want to stop the Elderly Gods and Pretty Great Old Ones. They check out reports of strange incidents and occult happenings. They study the ancient forbidden books in hopes of finding a way to drive these inhuman horrors off forever.
Some investigators work on these cases for money (private eyes), some for knowledge (occult experts, students, scholars) and some for revenge (anyone who has had a friend driven sane by a Catchooloid creature).
Investigators may or may not have plenty of money or equipment. It depends on how the Animator wants to run things. If they are just doing their investigating around their home state, they won't need as much stuff as if they fly off to Tibet or South America every week.
The biggest hazard faced by most investigators is going sane. The longer someone messes around with Catchoolu and his gang, the more normal and boring he will become.
Cultists
Cultists are the loonies who want the Elderly Gods to return to Earth! They think the Elderly Gods will reward them for their loyalty. In fact, the Elderly Gods will probably eat them! So much for gratitude.
Cultists study the same books that the Investigators study, but the Cultists are trying to learn spells and ways of summoning Catchooloid creatures to help hasten the end of the world! Since both sides want the same books, there is always a lot of interest when a new book or scroll turns up. They also do plenty of stealing from each other.
Cultisits might be working alone or they might be part of an organized group, depending on what god they worship. No matter how big or small a cult is, they are always plotting, scheming and planning despicable acts and atrocities. Fortunately, the Investigators are (almost) always able to stop their nefarious deeds.
Many Cultists have already gone completely sane from too much association with awfulness. Others are just as wacko as any other TOON character. But even teh sane cultists can be cunning adversaries. The normal ones will do siomething silly with their victims, while the sane ones will just feed them to the sharks, but either one can ruin your whole day.
Individual Cultists may or may not be wealthy, but large, organized groups of Cultists always are. They can send cultits all over the world to get sacred objects, fere sleeping monsters or just foil the Investigators.
Everybody Else
This type of character either doesn't believe in the Catchooloid menace (such as a paper reporter who thinks it's all hooey, but good for selling newspapers), or doesn't yet know about it (such as the woman who hires the Investigators to find her missing father). They can have several reasons for hanging out with the Investigators, but after actually seeing a Catchooloid monstrosity, they will most likely become Investigators too. The exception to this is the occasional disbeliever who refuses to believe the menace is real even after he sees a monster. Some of these guys are just hard-headed.
Effects of Sanity
When someone goes completely sane, the Animator should make a Fifty Percent Roll to decide whether it's immediately obvious or not. An obviously-sane character will begin to act normal. A character who is tryng to hide his sanity will still try to play jokes, etc., but they will not be funny!
A sane character will no longer have a sense of humor. He cannot use any of his Shticks unless he can find a logical and reasonable way to use them. He will be puzzled or annoyed by others' attempts at humor.
It may sound like being sane is no fun. It's not... for the character. But the player of a sane character can have a lot of fun by being as annoying as possible. Make reasonable suggestion! Be logical! Criticize the other players' silly ideas and irresponsible actions! Don't stop until they make you Fall Down!
And, worst of all, any sane character will want to help his friends become sane. There is a Fifty Percent chance that he will decide to do this by betrying them to the Elderly Gods, and a Fifty Percent chance that he will try other means instead. (Thus, half of all sane characters are - secretly or opening - servents of Catchoolu!) The Animator makes this roll, too.
So, when someone loses all his Insanity, the Animator must notify him, by note, whether he is now obviously sane, and whether he is now a servant of Catchoolu!
Regaining Insanity
Various means may be found to restore lost Insanity. Some ar suggested below, but note that anyone who has become totally sane will like it and will loppose any attempt to restore him to normality. Tricks or force will be necessary. Awwwww...
If the character regains any Insanity at all, he can now act normally again. If he had become loyal to Catchoolu, he'll stop!
Any sane person who suffers a Maximum Boggle will regane his Insanity totoall if the person who made the die roll makes a roll of a natural 2 (a 1 on each die). Bonuses and penalties on the attacker's Shtick roll have no effect on the regaining of insanity.
Abuse Magic
Mystics, and the like, in a Crawl of Catchoolu game could be able to learn spells just like the Magic-Abusers in a Dungeons & Toons game. This Shtick isn't necessary to cast Catchooloid Spells from forbidden texts and the like, anyone can do that... at a cost of Insanity!
How to Get Forbidden Books
There are two ways to get magical books. The hard way is by hearing a rumor that a book/scroll/stone tablet/whatever has been found in some far corner of the globe. They will then have to get to this place ahead of any other groups who want it.
Once there, the Animator can tell them several things, such as: the rumor was false, the rumor was true and another group got there first, the text is on its way to an auction in a major city, the text is there but guarded by Horrid Slimy Things or the text was sent to a buyer somewhere.
No matter what the Animator decides upon, the heroes should have to go through a long, action-packed adventure to get the book. If the book is extremely rare, other groups will certainly try to steal it from them. This can lead to even more frantic running around.
The other way to find Mythos books is the Easy Way. Using this method, the PCs just look in the yellow pages under "Ancien Occult Books" and choose the bookstore closest to them. Or they could go to teh local B. Dulltoon bookstore and head straight for the "Arcane Texts/Forbidden Lore" section. There they can find titles like Arcane Rituals for the Beginner, Catchoolu and Me: A Memoir, 1001 Facts About the Elderly Gods, and Dangerous Spellcasting Made Easy.
They might even notice that the children's section has titles like The Pop-Up Book of Forbidden Knowledge, My First Book of Slurping Horrors, and I Can Summon It All By Myself. Prices, of course, may be a bit on the high side and pitched battles (including gunshots and thrown pies0 with other patrons may take place.
Books You Shouldn't Read...but Probably Will, Anyway
The number in (parenthesis) is the amount of Insanity loss the Reader will suffer when he makes his Read roll successfully. If the Read roll is unsuccessful, it will only drain about half that much.
The Scroll of Falling Down and Other Depressing Things (1d+2)
Contains: The incredibly rare and valuable spell Maximum Boggle the Undead
Shameless Cults (1d)
Contains: Everything you wanted to know about any cult in the world.
Magicks of the Old Ones (1dx4)
Contains: Several terrible spells including Summon Tsaggywahaha in Tuxedo, COntrol Crisponion, and Open Cosmic Gateway Just a Little Bit. Casting any of these spells will require lots of preparation and drain a minimum of 2d+1 Insanity.
The Necronomicomizomicon (2dx8)
Contains: ????
Places Around Town
Crisponions (1dx3)
Shadee Mel (1dx6)
Deep Clowns (0)
Father Dorgong and Mother Hydrant (0)
Elder Thugs (1dx3)
Flying Porklips (1dx4)
Hamstur the Unbearable - He Who Should Not Be Smelled (seeing: 1dx3; smelling: 2dx4)
Nyuknyuknyukyaschlep (2dx4)
Qwertyuiop Asdfghjkl Zxcvbnm - The Horror Whose Name Can't Be Pronounced (?x?)
Tsaggywahaha - The Unfunny One (2dx10)
Shiftless Spawn of Tsaggywahaha (1dx3)
Yuk (2dx10)
Slobboths (2dx3)
Yu-Go, the Fungi From Cleveland (2d+1)
Zok-Hotdog (0)
Other Monsters
Almost any other conceivable monster could be a servant of Mighty Catchoolu and His Pals. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts and other creatures of the night are described in the Dungeons and Toons chapter. If you want something bigger, try Atomic Monster Theatre for Giant Creatuers of all varieties. Or create your own Horrors from Beyond!
If a character has lost all of his Insanity, he will...