It's probably a year away, but I like to plan ahead.
I actually enjoy the mythic rules. While I don't think they're appropriate everywhere, or in most games, I'm very much a believer in having a large toolkit as a DM to make games as fun as they can be.
So, I'm toying with the idea of adding mythic templates to a smattering of creatures throughout the AP, specifically for the rules-expectation-breaking. The things like "goes twice every round" should fit in very well to leave the players (who are aware of, but mostly have not played with mythic) in shock.
In return, I'm thinking of maybe giving them a mythic tier occasionally, perhaps as much as once per book.
I'm more than comfortable adjusting challenges, so balance isn't a concern for me. I recognize the upsides and downsides of mythic, so that too isn't a concern.
I'm posting this for input as to thoughts others might have regarding places and moments where mythic content might be especially appropriate, or perhaps inappropriate. Bottom line, I'm looking for input specific to the AP, not an argument about mythic in principle.
As an alternative option to mythic:
I quite like the idea of running this and giving the PCs only 10 pt buy, but offering avenues of power creep via things like corruption from Horror Adventures, to make them more tempting. Playing up the risk/reward factor.
Gives the PCs avenues for super powers without going too nuts, and adds a lot of flavour, RP options and ways to develop the characters as they learn more of their pasts.
Also accentuates the feeling of vulnerability for the PCs, but gives them a (risky) means of controlling that.
If anything, the corruption rules flavour variations might serve as an interesting starting point for the characters to develop mythic powers in ways that are thematically appropriate for the campaign.
On the mythic front:
From what I've heard of mythic, the rules sound fun, but also with potential to break the game.
The wrath of the righteous forums are a good bet if you'd like to read up on the potential problems etc. There's a list of stablocks for some of the books that upgrade the module's encounters for people that find PCs aren't being challenged, so look into that if you'd like to experiment with upping encounter difficulty.
The AP itself might also serve as a good reference for how to distribute mythic content like monsters/loot.
...I quite like the idea of running this and giving the PCs only 10 pt buy...
Good stuff... but. As a rule, I run 25-point games. I have specific caveats, with the explicit statement that the intent is to allow flexible character creation, not optimized. I already know fighter PCs will put all their points into Strength, Dex, and Con. Fine. Here, have a few more points to put into Int and/or Cha, to buy some social skills. Yada, yada, yada.
On the mythic front:
From what I've heard of mythic, the rules sound fun, but also with potential to break the game.
The wrath of the righteous forums are a good bet if you'd like to read up on the potential problems etc. There's a list of stablocks for some of the books that upgrade the module's encounters for people that find PCs aren't being challenged, so look into that if you'd like to experiment with upping encounter difficulty.
The AP itself might also serve as a good reference for how to distribute mythic content like monsters/loot.
I actually played Wrath, start to finish, so I'm familiar with mythic and its details. I'm less familiar with Lovecraft, so I was hoping for folks who might be able to throw out things like "the Shoggoth on page 14 would be great if its tentacle attacks also delivered planeshift!" Not that that's a real mythic ability, but the idea remains.
Oh, and I think there isn't a Shoggoth on page 14, at least of the first book. 'Cuz if there is, it's all over.
Mythic in the hands of players is a broken campaign. Mythic in the hands of DM's are a great set of tools if used judiciously.
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In my humble opinion, if might be a good idea to add mythic to the GM side, specially since you like 25-point-buy games but giving it to players in a Lovecraft themed game would be a mistake.
To be honest, even if I'm really happy about this AP and eager to play it, I don't think pathfinder is the best system to represent Lovecraft simply because of the power level that a high level pathfinder character achieves.
A Lovecraft themed AP should be run in a way to really challenge the players, but not in a combat-wise way, more in a psychological way... the fear of the unknown and the feeling that the next door or enemy might be too strong for you is what gives the player the feel of dread and mystery, and giving them too many weapons or powers goes completely against it! The mythical rules fitted really well in the Wrath of the Righteous game and even if this AP would eventually reach 'mythical' proportions, I'm pretty sure this should happen solely on the GM side.
This is just my two cents about it and I hope you are not offended by this. I have nothing against the Mythic rules but I just think this specifically AP isn't the place for it (in the player's side).
...I quite like the idea of running this and giving the PCs only 10 pt buy...Good stuff... but. As a rule, I run 25-point games. I have specific caveats, with the explicit statement that the intent is to allow flexible character creation, not optimized. I already know fighter PCs will put all their points into Strength, Dex, and Con. Fine. Here, have a few more points to put into Int and/or Cha, to buy some social skills. Yada, yada, yada.
On the mythic front:
From what I've heard of mythic, the rules sound fun, but also with potential to break the game.
The wrath of the righteous forums are a good bet if you'd like to read up on the potential problems etc. There's a list of stablocks for some of the books that upgrade the module's encounters for people that find PCs aren't being challenged, so look into that if you'd like to experiment with upping encounter difficulty.
The AP itself might also serve as a good reference for how to distribute mythic content like monsters/loot.
I actually played Wrath, start to finish, so I'm familiar with mythic and its details. I'm less familiar with Lovecraft, so I was hoping for folks who might be able to throw out things like "the Shoggoth on page 14 would be great if its tentacle attacks also delivered planeshift!" Not that that's a real mythic ability, but the idea remains.
Oh, and I think there isn't a Shoggoth on page 14, at least of the first book. 'Cuz if there is, it's all over.
Depending on whether you want to read lovecraft:
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Mythic use on specific creatures would probably be fine: If your players are really good at tactics and crafting effective murder machines than the monsters might need a boost anyways
I would probably not let players gain mythic tiers, at least not until the final volume (Carcosa strikes me as a kind of mythic place). Mythic potentially can lead to characters steamrolling encounters, which won't help the general vibe of the AP.
In my humble opinion, if might be a good idea to add mythic to the GM side, specially since you like 25-point-buy games but giving it to players in a Lovecraft themed game would be a mistake.
To be honest, even if I'm really happy about this AP and eager to play it, I don't think pathfinder is the best system to represent Lovecraft simply because of the power level that a high level pathfinder character achieves.
A Lovecraft themed AP should be run in a way to really challenge the players, but not in a combat-wise way, more in a psychological way... the fear of the unknown and the feeling that the next door or enemy might be too strong for you is what gives the player the feel of dread and mystery, and giving them too many weapons or powers goes completely against it! The mythical rules fitted really well in the Wrath of the Righteous game and even if this AP would eventually reach 'mythical' proportions, I'm pretty sure this should happen solely on the GM side.
This is just my two cents about it and I hope you are not offended by this. I have nothing against the Mythic rules but I just think this specifically AP isn't the place for it (in the player's side).
Not offended, and actually, that's helpful input. You're saying "mythic + Lovecraft" isn't synergistic, which is useful, as opposed to "mythic rules are broken", which I've already said I can handle.
This is a point in favor of "mythic monsters only".
Depending on whether you want to read lovecraft:
Audiobooks of lovecraft are cheap also
Board Games like eldritch horror are a fun way to delve the genre
Elder sign on Steam is a reasonably good board game adaptation.
Thanks for the input. To be totally honest, I don't. The genre has never pushed mental buttons for me. I hear "the creature is so strange that just looking at it drives you insane!" and my reflexive response is "why?" Lovecraft proponents tend to say "because it's a creature that doesn't belong, it's from out of nightmares, and is totally mind-blowing." I fall back on "why"? The conversation goes nowhere, because there is zero real-world metaphor for me to latch onto. There is nothing in human experience that represents this.
I'm confident I can DM the material, and do it well. I'm confident I can absorb and represent the adventure (I've already been reading it), but I have no interest in the genre personally, which is why I'm DMing, not playing.
Think of it like say... Carrion Crown. A DM who doesn't personally find gothic horror a fun environment to play in can still present a very enjoyable game because the presentation is fun. I'll still be able to say the pro-Lovecraftian phrases, and melt their pathetic moral minds with psyche-shattering strangeness, without believing in it myself.
But again, thanks.
EDIT: addendum, I'm a backer of Richard Pett's Blight materials, and I intend to purloin useful stuff from there. It's pretty close to the Lovecraft style in content. So let it be known that I am reaching out into other resources, not turtling.
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The whole "horror of Lovecraft" vs. Fantasy Role Playing has been discussed in several threads and I believe in some of the rulebooks. The general gist of it is that the reason Lovecraftian horror is so horrific in the "real world" is that it is so far outside of what is accepted that people go insane rather than accept and admit it. Humans don't like thinking that they are powerless and doomed to failure (though given a steamship to the head sent Cthulhu reeling, a direct hit with a nuke would probably put him to sleep for a couple weeks). Indeed, Cthulhu in the modern 21st century world would probably play out more like the film Pacific Rim. Only without giant robots.
Humans in fantasy RPGs are used to not being the big boys. Humans in Pathfinder, D&D, and the like have to deal with dragons, orc hordes, ghouls in graveyards, necromancers raising up armies of zombies and skeletons, and other non-human races who can be allies or enemies. So Cthulhu pops up? It is horrifying... it twists the mind... but it is not the deal-breaker that it is in the "real world" because humans are used to not only feeling powerless... but also for select humans to rise above and fight these monsters... and win.
Horror can and does exist in FRPGs. But it takes a slightly different path than in Call of Cthulhu. The mere sight of horror doesn't unhinge fantasy humans, or elves, or other races. The presentation of that horror can. Strange Aeons takes several monsters, and uses them in ways to make the players (and thus the characters) question things... and look at where they are trapped in a way that under a good GM who uses mood and atmosphere and language effectively to be as horrifying as any CoC game.
Oh, and under an ineffective GM? Call of Cthulhu can become a munchkinesque game where people go around killing elder creatures and weaseling out of insanity and the like. The horror depends on the GM and the presentation. Never forget that.