Golarion Aboleths have always been a hot topic for me. So finally, I got my hands on Lords of Madness with the chapter written by none other than our own Doctor Jacobs.
:) Okay, so I'm a suck up...
The Aboleths and Cthulhu
Readers will notice a thematic resemblance between the aboleths,
the Elder Evils, and various creatures or beings found
in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft. This is, of course, completely
intentional. Of all the major aberration races in the DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS game, the aboleths best personify the sense of
cosmic horror and the ultimate insignifi cance of humankind
expressed in Lovecraft’s writings. In fact, it’s quite easy to treat
the aboleths themselves as a Lovecraftian race akin to the elder
things featured in “At the Mountains of Madness” and “The
Dreams in the Witch House.”By extension, the various monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos
fit nicely into encounters with aboleths or adventures set in an
aboleth city. Aboleth allies or servitors might include mi-go,
deep ones, dholes, gugs, shoggoths, or serpent people. Enemies
might include the elder things, flying polyps, or the Great Race
of Yith.Likewise, the five Elder Evils commonly honored by the
aboleths could be previously unknown Great Old Ones or
Outer Gods, or perhaps they are just alternate names for more
familiar entities:
Bolothamogg: Yog-Sothoth.
Holashner: Shudde M’ell or Tsathoggua.
Piscaethces: Cthulhu or Shub-Niggurath.
Shothotugg: Azathoth.
Y’chak: Nyarlathotep or Hastur.
While this was written for WOTC, the Cthulhu Mythos have already been established as part of Golarion. Though, of course, Cthulhu is imprisoned on Earth, so he specifically won't apply.
I'm curious how much this might still remain as true in a slightly different context?
Creative Director
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The aboleth chapter in Lords of Madness remains some of my favorite writing for D&D to this day. I really REALLY enjoyed writing about them, and the fact that they're Lovecraftian won't be changing in Golarion. Our aboleths won't be exactly the same as the ones in LoM, but they'll be pretty similar. And while they won't be tied to the Elder Evils listed in that book... we can go one better in Golarion and actually tie them to Great Old Ones and Outer Gods like Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, and Azathoth. So in a way... Golarion's aboleths are going to be even MORE saturated with the Cthulhu Mythos.
Of course... the Mythos are STRONG SPICE. A little bit goes a long way. Don't expect us to go OVERboard on the Lovecraft elements, but what we've been tinkering with so far has been met with pretty positive reactions.
And in the meantime... anyone interested in Lovecrafty Cthulhu game material should ABSOLUTELY go check out Chaosium and their Call of Cthulhu RPG, if you haven't done so already. In particular, their Dreamlands stuff is a near perfect fit for fantasy RPG stuff. They've been doing the Call of Cthulhu RPG for nearly 30 years, and there's a HUGE amount of awesome books they've done to look through.
Our aboleths won't be exactly the same as the ones in LoM, but they'll be pretty similar. And while they won't be tied to the Elder Evils listed in that book... we can go one better in Golarion and actually tie them to Great Old Ones and Outer Gods like Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, and Azathoth. So in a way... Golarion's aboleths are going to be even MORE saturated with the Cthulhu Mythos.
w00t! That's just made my day!
Just when you think you couldn't possibly be more excited about Pathfinder.... You guys are the best! *hug*
Peace,
tfad
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And in the meantime... anyone interested in Lovecrafty Cthulhu game material should ABSOLUTELY go check out Chaosium and their Call of Cthulhu RPG, if you haven't done so already. In particular, their Dreamlands stuff is a near perfect fit for fantasy RPG stuff. They've been doing the Call of Cthulhu RPG for nearly 30 years, and there's a HUGE amount of awesome books they've done to look through.
I used to demo the Mythos CCG for Chaosium. Those are some absolutely stellar guys working there and I love them all to bits. I never got a chance to meet any of them while Mythos was going strong, but the one previous GenCon I went to I drifted by their booth and was treated like a long-lost relative, given some goodies, and had a great time.
Golarion Aboleths have always been a hot topic for me. So finally, I got my hands on Lords of Madness with the chapter written by none other than our own Doctor Jacobs...
Definite coolness. I thought Lords of Madness was the best of the creature series, in that it sparked the most ideas I wanted to add to our game. Before that, I didn't think of aboleths as anything more than big stinky fish, but LoM opened my eyes - good job James. I also liked seeing the grell - sort of. I had a character who developed a real phobia about the original from the Fiend Folio. They just freaked him/me right out. Just the suggestion that one might come floating down a shaft in a dungeon was enough to get this otherwise bad-ass character to run screaming.
While this was written for WOTC, the Cthulhu Mythos have already been established as part of Golarion. Though, of course, Cthulhu is imprisoned on Earth, so he specifically won't apply...
Can we really be sure? O_o
Can we really be sure? O_o
Who knows?
Except in a meta-game sense James Jacobs has pretty much flatly said that they're not using Cthulhu himself. But not so with the pan-dimensional travellers like Yog-Sothoth.
But hey.. they can change their mind of they wish.
I very much hope that if they mythos makes its way into pathfinder...it will be mostly in a use of the themes.
I am a long term fan of call of cthulhu, and after the unearthly banality that was D20CoC i would rather not see any named Lovecraftian creatures simply transplanted into pathfinder. However, i would love to see the flavour of the Mythos find its way into the game... i can just see Lamashtu cultist gathering in woodland groves and chanting to the stars amidst a wild orgy of lust and cannibalism while a swirling avataric mass of writhing doom forms on the alter stone and offers its blessings on the chorus.
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As far as Cthulhu goes, I'm a partial fan. I enjoy certain elements of the strange and alien creepiness, but not so much for the horror and "humans as insignificant" portions. I thought the write-up of the angle-hopping hounds was excellent, for example, but I wouldn't look forward to an adventure to an Elder God's doorstep or similar adventure saturated with paranoia and fear. That's someone else's cup of tea, but not mine.
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I very much hope that if they mythos makes its way into pathfinder...it will be mostly in a use of the themes.
I am a long term fan of call of cthulhu, and after the unearthly banality that was D20CoC i would rather not see any named Lovecraftian creatures simply transplanted into pathfinder. However, i would love to see the flavour of the Mythos find its way into the game... i can just see Lamashtu cultist gathering in woodland groves and chanting to the stars amidst a wild orgy of lust and cannibalism while a swirling avataric mass of writhing doom forms on the alter stone and offers its blessings on the chorus.
That sounds like a project for the one and only Nick Logue.
I ran a five year campaign in 2e using the underrated "Night Below" boxed set by Carl Sargent, which ends up in the Sunless Sea with aboleth and kuo-toa and whatnot. I gave the entire thing a strong Lovecraftian theme to the point where it was just about a CoC/D&D crossover. Dreamlands, the whole nine yards. It totally rocked.
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Creative Director
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As far as Cthulhu goes, I'm a partial fan. I enjoy certain elements of the strange and alien creepiness, but not so much for the horror and "humans as insignificant" portions. I thought the write-up of the angle-hopping hounds was excellent, for example, but I wouldn't look forward to an adventure to an Elder God's doorstep or similar adventure saturated with paranoia and fear. That's someone else's cup of tea, but not mine.
While to many extents that's MY cup of tea... it's not really the game's cup of tea. It's certainly not Golarion's cup. There are LOTS of elements and themes to the mythos and Lovecraft's writing, but the "insignificance of humanity" is not one that fits well into the game, since it's all about people (be they humanity or demihumanity or whatever) being heroic and saving worlds and all that. You can have the Cthulhu Mythos in stories that are high fantasy and still be scary; Lovecraft did it himself several times, in fact (most notably in "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath").
It's no fun to play a campaign filled with depressing scenes and despair only to get to the end and realize nothing you did mattered. I doubt it's even fun in the Call of Cthulhu game, really (though TPKs in that game ARE a bit more fun, to me, than they are in other games). It's certainly not fun for Pathfinder.
Does anyone remember a comic from the late 70's, maybe '80-'81, featuring a band of modern-day adventurers battling a human enemy corruptedby a Lovecraftian invasion? The Challengers or something like that? Picture an innocent little boy given a pile of Archie, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich comics, coming across a comic where the main protagonist battles a giant slimy, pustule-ridden, tentacled horror and is only able to banish the creature after he himself begins dripping flesh like goo as he turns into what he fights. Could warp a little kid for life. ;)
I never found another issue of the comic, I'd like to read the whole arc. I'll have to check if the one issue is packed away at my parents house somewhere.
Found it online. Ain't the internet grand.
[quote=]Challengers of the Unknown No. 83
October-November 1977
Cover: Ace, Rocky, Red, June Robbins, and Swamp Thing vs. M’nagaleh //Rich Buckler / Joe Rubinstein (signed)
Story: “Seven Doorways To Destiny” (chapter 1; 2 pages)
Chapter 2: “Savior From the Swamp?” (3 pages)
Chapter 3: “The Gods Crawl Closer” (5 pages)
Chapter 4: “All Monsters Good and Evil” (7 pages)
Editor: Jack C. Harris
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciller: Keith Giffen
Inker: John Celardo
Colorist: Jerry Serpe
Feature Characters: Challengers of the Unknown (including June Robbins)
GS: Swamp Thing (last appearance, as Alec Holland, in SWAMP THING (first series) #24; reverts to Swamp Thing form in this story)
Supporting Characters: F. Gaylord Clayburn III, Ruth Monroe (last appearance in SWAMP THING (first series) #24; last appearance)
Villains: M’nagaleh, M’nagaleh cultists, Heathcliff Monroe (last appearance for all)
Comment: Story continues in next issue.
Synopsis: Gaylord Clayburn enlists the help of Dr. Alec Holland as Heathcliff Monroe, holding Prof’s life at stake, blackmails the other Challengers into casting a spell that will enable M’nagaleh to manifest on Earth.
Something I didn't know before was that Julius Schwartz, founder and longtime head of DC was once Lovecraft's agent. Kinda makes sense that DC included Cthulhu mythos sprinkled throughout various comics lines.
Of course... the Mythos are STRONG SPICE. A little bit goes a long way. Don't expect us to go OVERboard on the Lovecraft elements, but what we've been tinkering with so far has been met with pretty positive reactions.
Oh, please don't hold back on my account :)
Those are some absolutely stellar guys working there and I love them all to bits.
Hmmm. When talking about Chaosium, one wonders which stars, how those stars were aligned, and how small were the resulting bits.
It's no fun to play a campaign filled with depressing scenes and despair only to get to the end and realize nothing you did mattered.
Why did I suddenly remember playing Soul Reaver 2 when I read that?