Being a long-time fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, I'm curious how many other GM's out there incorporate the monsters and dark lore concerning it into their own games and to what extent?
One of my players in Rise of the Runelords was originally lured by the mention of Lovecraftian elements. So of course, I have tried to up their presence a little. It isn't hard to do!
Since AD&D times. I homebrewed the shoggot.
Then, some times ago, I bought from amazon bestiary 2...
:D
I haven't lifted anything wholesale, but my campaign uses a lot of Lovecraft flavor. Squishy aberrations that drive you crazy, weird sci-fi/fantasy juxtapositions, worlds better left alone separated from the characters' world by tenuous membranes stretched to the breaking point, unearthed body parts from ancient gods falling into the wrong hands, mind flayers and their unfathomable gizmos, that sort of thing.
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I run some heavy HPL cosmology in my game. I have all the classic Demon Lords -Demogorgon, Juiblex, Orcus, et al, but I also have the Great Old Ones also incorporated into the demonology and myths in my game.
I run the GOO as proto-demons, sort of like the Qlippoths in B2. In some cases they live side by side with the demon lords as separate beings, in others they are the same as the demon lords.
Some of the demon lords serve as heralds of the Other Gods or as avatars of the GOO. So in my game Demogorgon - who is associated sea monsters, devil rays, abominations and birth defects - is tied to Cthulhu. In effect they are one and the same, just different faces in different locales. One is more refined face while the other is more primordial.
So
Demogorgon/Dagon - aspects/avatars of Cthulhu
Juiblex - hearld and avatar of Ubbo-Sathla (CAS not HPL)
Orcus - Nyarlathotep/The Black Man: Orcus being a more medieval quasi
goat headed devil associated with witch cults
Graz'zt - again Nyarlathotep
Pazuzu - hearald and aspect of Yog-Sothoth
Yeenoghu- aspect of Y'golonac (savagery, cannibalism, sadism)
Even with demons being aspects of the same powers they still fight each other, at least their servants do – many times not knowing the reason why.
Even with demons being aspects of same powers they still fight each other, at least their servants do – many times not knowing the reason why.
Good stuff.
I like what I see. Various levels of "it's there if you look hard enough". I personally prefer a mix of using published material with a hidden spin. I almost always try to keep it in the background when I run a game, but I'm currently running a RotRL campaign and I think I'll be increasing the Lovecraftian elements (which will add more mystery and menace, I hope). I don't just mean the cosmic-horror influence either - I personally love his depictions of the various antiquated and insular (and many times, degenerate) communities in rural New England.
Any GM's come up with interesting Lovecraftian twists or depraved cults which might pop their heads up Varisian?
Here Are a couple of rough sketches of some ideas I'm working on...
-Grubber's Hermitage: A group of insular varisian fishing families who don't like outsiders poking into their affairs. (screams "Shadow over Innsmouth" to me but I'm going with a slightly different approach) Named after the strange hermit who lives in isolation upon the southern spur of rock, the fishermen keep to the north edge, plying the waters and worshiping Gozreh at a small cliff-side shrine.
+Reality: The group of somewhat inbred varisians are a tribe that have been "awakened" to the worship of the great old ones (and who all bear the hideous scars of that awakening upon their skulls) by their ancient raunie, a seer who long ago fell under the psychic influence of creatures trapped beneath Kaer Maga (the Drowned Levels). Years ago she led her people to the sea, to the tip of a ruined Thassalonian complex and the deathless dreams of its prisoners. However, standing in her way is the mad barnacle grubber, the strange hermit who was driven to isolation by the voices of the dead (oracle of Pharasma - waves mystery) and who guards the underwater entrance to the ruins because the dead tell him that "the dead must stay dead."
-Windsong Abbey: Built upon the Lost Coast, this beautiful gothic sandstone structure is renowned for the strange and eerie tunes that sing through it's halls when the wind blows. Indeed, music seems to always fill the air here as the various faiths sing their praises at all hours. However, at night, when the mists from the coast begin to creep across the land and the deep reds, blues and greens of the stained glass are lit from within by the dozens of candles held by choristers singing their hymns, the beauty of the scene can only be be described as haunting. Under the watchful eyes of the charming yet stern Masked Abbess (a worshiper of Shelyn who hides her own features for the sake of others since she was not blessed with a pleasing appearance) the various cloisters of nuns and monks see to the local farmers needs when not engaging in spiritual and philosophical debate with each other.
+Reality: Built upon the ruins of a hellstorm flume, the minor runewell ensconced below flared to life with the awakening of Karzoug. This did not go unnoticed by the Abbess, who, as all abbots and abbesses of the past, knew of the secret chambers beneath the abbey and the hidden trove of forbidden lore stored their. However, her motives do not coincide with Shelyn, as she is a secret worshiper of the Peacock Spirit, long since converted to its worship after having uncovered blasphemous tomes locked away below. With a handful of willing converts (and a number of murders of those who were not willing), the Abbess has spent the past 5 years researching the mysteries and scrolls available to her in secret, gazing within the bubbling depths of the runewell and preparing her followers for what is to come. All the signs seem to indicate that something is awakening - something the Peacock Spirit wishes to come to pass. However, a fat monk of Cayden Cailean who tends the winery and fields surrounding the Abbey, has noted the changes in some of the nuns and after the first few disappearances, began to suspect that all is not right within the hallowed halls. More and more has he turned to his cups to wash away the worry that something evil has taken root here.
-The Peacock Spirit: A creature of such blinding beauty that shields its face from the gaze of creatures who would die of shame at their own unworthiness, the lore of the Peacock Spirit tells of how it came into the universe from elsewhere, cast out by beings jealous of it's beauty. When it fell through into this reality, the transition shattered its perfect form into a thousand fragments of unearthly beauty.
+Reality: Nothing more than another Mask of the Crawling Chaos.
More will come as the campaign progresses as the players are still only on Burnt Offerings.
i stared a thead named "Lovecraft and all its Cthulhu-ly goodness" it has most of my stuff
I'll never include any Mythos elements, except as an intentional joke. I suppose it is theoretically possible to take them seriously, just not anywhere close to my players. Ctulhu scoffed the parts of our brains capable of this long ago. And, well, then PCs will kill him deader than dead and take his stuff. And everyone knows it will end thusly.
I tend to use a fair amount of Mythos elements in my games, though they are intentionally slightly skewed as the mythos as exists on my planet in my universe is likely to not be 100% exactly like it exists on this planet in this universe in the minds of Lovecraft, Howard, Smith, Derleth, et al.
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If Lovecraftian elements turn up in my games, they're probably highly bastardized, and at most cleave towards Robert E Howard's take on it: Eldritch abominations coming into our reality can have their asses handed to them.
The thing is, I've never been that big on the way Lovecraft has been held over the greater gaming/fantasy culture these past few decades.
Lovecraft fans, don't take this personally, I'm not talking about all of you as a whole here:
The Lovecraft mythos has kind of chapped my ass of late(or past decade) in that so many insist on holding it over everything else in what could be compared to certain folk in the comic and anime fandom: People that go on at length in pissing contests about how Superman/Goku can beat anyone in anything you've read, and that that point should be respected. A lot of what gets done with the Mythos strikes me that way, except more verbose and with forgotten roots in some guy with an underbite's fear of interracial relationships.
You know. "Your setting has gods and fiends and beings of immense power? Whatever, Azathoth nullifies it all." Stuff like that. Too many settings that the mythos get plugged into just roll over to the notion that anything in the setting is insignificant in the face of whatever baggage the mythos brings with it. That whole nothing-you-accomplish-matters-in-the-end bit in particular.
I know some people like the notion of Despair Uber Alles, but generally, unless I'm playing Call of Cthulhu, all of those unholy eldritch abominations that make the game settings reality an insignificant mote fit only to be wiped out eventually are actually there for one purpose. To be punched in the face until they die or stop being dicks. Sure victory can come with a great price or whatever, but seriously, @#$% despair and nihilism.
I also hate the requisite xenophobia that tends to come with the package.
So, in my games?
In Golarion, all those Lovecraftian elements are there, albiet often toned down, particularly in the bigger picture. The entities from the Mythos are absolutely NOT the big dogs in that multiverse. (if any of them ever did attempt anything truly reality wrecking, The Lady of Pain would have Words with them)
In my homebrew: MY PLAYERS STAY OUT
The modern good gods that were born out of the struggle to end the disaster brought the familiar races onto this world from others partially as a defense mechanism, to protect the world from that same disaster and keep and its hidden, frozen native inhabitants safe. People by and large don't know about this, save for some misunderstood and misinterpreted legends.
There are vaults that can't be opened by modern magic, and clues that alien, inhuman ancients lie within. And the time of their opening is drawing near. PCs would tend to believe that disaster is coming, that this is a dire event that needs to be stopped. Truth is, those people inside the vaults are just people thrown out of time and out of their environment, woefully unprepared for the world awaiting them.
But disaster is in fact coming, except it's coming for those natives and their reborn god. And it's more than willing to tear through humans, dwarves, and the other "new" races to get to them.
Now all that said, I do quite enjoy some Lovecraft, and some Lovecraftian elements in other works(Eternal Darkness is a damn fine game). It's just when the mythos gets held up as fantasy royalty at the expense of everything else in other settings that bugs me.
Lovecraftian elements are okay to come into play, but they can certainly overstay their welcome and overstep their boundries, such as when those elements start overwhelming the setting-specific elements.
My ideal Lovecraft-heavy Golarion campaign experience would end with the CG cleric of Cayden Cailean delivering the killing blow to Yog-Sothoth at the same time that Cayden Cailean delivers the killing blow to Nyarlathotep at the same time that the Ghost Of Ihys delivers the killing blow to Azathoth(as Ihys' brother Asmodeus sheds a single manly tear), followed by reality readjusting, recalibrating, and going on with life.
Now that's the Gurren Lagann way.
The Lovecraft Mythos is something I use for inspiration. In one of my homebrew campaigns, the deities of the evil overlords are often described in very Lovecraftian terms, but they are never named.
I only use the monsters as monsters. The mythos is supposed to be bereft of hope, ultimately humanity is doomed. That's not how I see Golarion.
If I want to play a mythos game I will run Call of Cthulhu.
Well I think you can infuse a bit of it as part of an adventure hook without the hopelessness. The module Carrion Hill draws on the mythos and is basically a race for the party to prevent that doom from imposing itself on the world. In a Cthulhu game the doom is already there, in a pathfinder game it could just be edging it's way into the world, and it is up to the party to stop it.
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I only use the monsters as monsters. The mythos is supposed to be bereft of hope, ultimately humanity is doomed. That's not how I see Golarion.
If I want to play a mythos game I will run Call of Cthulhu.
I'm sort of +1 on this sentiment. In Pathfinder, the rational player response to evil abominations is "Charge!!!" which is NOT what Lovecraft-style horror is about. You can impose that kind of horror in Pathfinder, but unless you do it very carefully you're probably going to cause a TPK or two and end up making your players frustrated.
I'm sort of +1 on this sentiment. In Pathfinder, the rational player response to evil abominations is "Charge!!!" which is NOT what Lovecraft-style horror is about. You can impose that kind of horror in Pathfinder, but unless you do it very carefully you're probably going to cause a TPK or two and end up making your players frustrated.I only use the monsters as monsters. The mythos is supposed to be bereft of hope, ultimately humanity is doomed. That's not how I see Golarion.
If I want to play a mythos game I will run Call of Cthulhu.
I think it can easily go that way to be sure
But in the new game we are starting some of the polynesian inspired islands have a trade relationship with the Locathah (TY again beastiary 2) which is common and harmless but does add just a dash of that things from the deeps intermingling with isolated human populations.
To Mikaze I can respect where you are coming from, I would suggest perhaps a perusal of some of the indy comic book presses(Avatar comes to mind as Ennis and Moore both are writing for them) that are bringing out some nicely inspired Mythos works that are not as full of the ennui and no hope situations that Lovecraft often dealt with. Some are of course and that element does need to be toned back for the high hopes high heroics that many games have.
For a drastically different take on Mythos read Shoggoth's Old Peculiar by Neil Gaiman to introduce some serious humor into Lovecraft's world. There is no reason you cannot have both especxially if it is liminal or fringe dwelling in your world.
While I wouldn't be afraid to borrow certain elements from the Lovecraftian tradition, most of them are best off serving as the deep dark corners of the world that really only come into play once a millenium. As such, they can be very useful, and important in making the world feel fleshed out by providing a backdrop of what has happened in the past and what could happen again. At the same time, it usually doesn't take much to get that feeling across; a pinch of it is plenty to feed an entire campaign.
The problem with using this tradition as a focal point in a Pathfinder campaign is that Pathfinder and its predecessors are high fantasy, and mixing the expectations that come with each tradition is a delicate art that usually ends badly.
I'm sort of +1 on this sentiment. In Pathfinder, the rational player response to evil abominations is "Charge!!!" which is NOT what Lovecraft-style horror is about. You can impose that kind of horror in Pathfinder, but unless you do it very carefully you're probably going to cause a TPK or two and end up making your players frustrated.
Well, yeh. This and people are just too durable. Now, I had a system worked out for a while to make people more fragile for 3.5, here it is adapted for PF.
Everyone gains a set amount of HP, plus one-third of what they'd normally gain from Con:
d6 = 1
d8 = 2
d10 = 3
d12 = 4
Furthermore, all spells past third level are banned for players, except on a by-case basis.
Now, I've only used this system one time, so it may have more than a few kinks.
All in all, I'm a huge fan of Lovecraft. However, I've never been scared of dying or my fate in any RPG, so I just don't think the genre lends itself overly well to tabletop gaming.
YMMV, as always.
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You know. "Your setting has gods and fiends and beings of immense power? Whatever, Azathoth nullifies it all." Stuff like that. Too many settings that the mythos get plugged into just roll over to the notion that anything in the setting is insignificant in the face of whatever baggage the mythos brings with it. That whole nothing-you-accomplish-matters-in-the-end bit in particular.
Well, I think I can explain that. Since you didn't give an example, we'll use Zeus. Why do Mythos junkies like myself automatically assume that Azathoth can hand Zeus his arse? Zeus has been shown to not be all-powerful. He's been tricked, he barely defeated the Titans, etc. As for Azathoth, in Lovecraft's writings, nothing was ever put on par with his level of power. NOTHING. So it stands to reason that Azathoth > Zeus.