This is a new kind of drug for you Cthulhupunk players.

The YOUGOTMAD drug.

  Conceived by the Deep Ones, this drug is certainly one of the most
addictive and lethal in the One-and-twenty.

History :
  After the destruction of Innsmouth in 1928, the survivors were forced to
flee to save their lives.  Because the great majority of them were alone,
they went into the world and married normal men and women.  So, after a
couple of generations has passed, the gene pool of the Deep One were so
diminished that the Innsmouth look disappeared and the transformation into
a Deep One ceased to take place.  The genes went "dormant".
  Seriously affected by Tolliver's Disease (3 out of 4 were killed by it),
the population of Deep Ones shrinked to such a low level that they are
now forced to "recruit" new members to avoid extinction.   So, they created
the YouGotMad drug (the name itself is a joke, 'cause it's a contraption
of the original name, Yuggoth Madness). This drug basically tries to
reactivate the Deep Ones genes present in a human being and provide for
the ones that are missing.  All in the goal of provoking a rapid mutation
into a Deep One. Once started, this mutation takes about a week to
accomplish, after which the person becomes a full-fledged Deep-One.  It is
irreversible.
  The catch is, only a very small portion of the population has this kind
of genes, because, like for the Deep Ones, Tolliver's Disease was
extremely murderous on them.  To date, only 0.001% of the entire population
of the US of A has the Deep Ones genes (about 2,500 people).  And for
those who try this drug without having Deep Ones genes, the result is
desastrous.  Death is assured within a month, if the person does not go
mad before that.  When she dies, her body will turn a sickish green, and
will have some horrible mutations (semi-developped gills, prominent
shoulder blades, webs between fingers and toes, etc).

  The drug comes in green powder form.  When not in a sealed package, the 
drug emits a strange, attractive odor that rapidly overwhelmes all senses.
Only someone with no sense of smell/taste, or someone with a cyberwear who
blocks odors, is immune to this effect.  If a person do smell the odor, she
must immediately make a HT roll with Will modifiers, MINUS Acute Taste/Smell
and Alertness.  If she misses the roll, she is overwhelm and will do
whatever is necessary to consumate the drug.
  During the first use, the person will have flashes of green rocks, of the
ocean, and of a lurking terror building slowly.  The effect will last 3D6
minutes.  After the first one, and at each two minutes after that, she must
make a Fright Check, with a cumulative of -2 after the first one.  Only
permanent effects are relevent here.   On a natural roll of 17, the user
will be mad for 3D6 days.  After that, he will not remember anything of
his experience, but will acquire a severe phobia and is automatically
addicted.  On a natural roll of 18, the user becomes hopelessly mad.
  When (and if) the bad trip stops, the user must immediately roll against
HT-7 with Will modifiers to know if he become addicted.  Immunity to disease
and to poisons give a +2 each on this roll.  If it is made, the user
takes immediately 5 points of fatigue and has the Epilectic disadvantage
for 4 weeks (he can resist epilectic attacks as usual, with a cumulative
+1 each week after the first).  If the roll is missed, all is lost.  The
user will lost one point of HT permanently, and will lost one HP per day
until he can have another dose.
  If the user can find another dose, the whole process starts anew, but
without the addictive roll.  The circle will stop the moment his HP or
his HT reaches 0.  When one does, the mutation process is started and
the user dies a horrible death.  There is no cure.

  The distribution of the YouGotMad is very limited.  And to assure that
nobody could analyse the drug, the Deep One have made her so as to dissolve
a couple of minutes after ingestion.  Each dose costs $2,000. 

(c) Copyright 1995   Stephane Theriault
e-mail : stethe@larc.info.uqam.ca