Just Announced: The Strange Aeons Adventure Path!

JonGarrett wrote:

Is this going to feel like typical Paizo paths, where stomping through the game and decorating the walls with the heads of the slain is pretty much par the course but with the Mythos Monsters instead of the normal cast of sacrificial lambs, or is this going to more Mythos-style where the enemies might well stomp your face in and your soul, sanity and life are at risk from simply cracking open a book?

'Cos we all know which one I vote for...

It's more of the former. This is not going to be a Call of Cthulhu adventure with Pathfinder rules. It's a Pathfinder adventure with Lovecraftian themes. We've done a LOT of adventures with similar themes already; check out Feast of Ravenmoor, Carrion Hill, Wake of the Watcher, and Valley of the Brain Collectors for examples of how we tend to involve the mythos. There WILL be some encounters that your PCs won't be able to defeat with sword and spell, though... but just how those will play out, you'll need to be patient to see.

Eh, not entirely what I wanted to hear. I've played Carrion Hill and Wake of the Watcher and neither was really what I wanted to see here. It seems to waste the whole point of Mythos Monsters to my mind, the fact that the only thing you really ever learn about them being you aren't going to get out in one piece. There are quite a few tough, creepy Pathfinder monsters that seem like that they'd fill the roll just as well...and if that's true, why make it a Mythos campaign?

The last part gives me some hope, but not enough to buy this one, I suspect. We'll see how it progresses.

EDIT: But thank you for the reply, and not trying to sugar coat or BS this.

What kind of lovecraftian Campaign Setting and Player Companion support can we expect to see for this?

So long as elements of this project can dovetail well with the six new occult classes, I'll be all for it.

Cults and mysteries are welcome, as are relics and tomes.

Axial wrote:

What kind of lovecraftian Campaign Setting and Player Companion support can we expect to see for this?

** spoiler omitted **

I'm sure James will be the final authority on that.

Dragon78 wrote:

Will this book talk about any new old ones and/or elder gods?

Perhaps. And it depends on your definition of "new."

Also, will this AP be prominently featuring any deities who are NOT Outer Gods or Great Old Ones?

Samy wrote:

Why chance 'could', when I have a sure bet in what *would* be fun?

Because that is an argument for never trying anything new.

*There* you go, *now* you're starting to get it. ;)

Zombieneighbours wrote:

Samy wrote:

Why chance 'could', when I have a sure bet in what *would* be fun?

Because that is an argument for never trying anything new.

*There* you go, *now* you're starting to get it. ;)

I am guessing your one of those people who has only ever played variations of DnD, and only ever played them one way.

*This* looks *fun* what are we *doing*?

I am guessing your one of those people who has only ever played variations of DnD, and only ever played them one way.

Wrong. ;)

You tried something new at some point? Heresy!

I know, I swear to god, I am never ever trying chocolate ice cream again as long as I live.

I had fun once.

It was awful. Never again.

I had fun once.

It was awful. Never again.

That explains a lot.

At long last, I can pull out all my lovecraftian concepts and do weird stuff without it being all that weird.

@Kalindlara has almost assuredly seen this by now... but I'm still throwing the tag out there.

Misroi wrote:

Will we be headed to Carcosa at some point in this adventure? Or, more accurately, is Carcosa coming for us?

** spoiler omitted **

Hee. :D

Well at least this AP will have some worthwhile monsters in it's bestiary.

Epic Meepo wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

No. No aeons. They don't really fit into the themes of a Lovecraftian adventure path...

Whaaaat?

The "faceless caretakers of reality" who "exist beyond the understanding of most mortals" while "endlessly striving towards goals unfathomable even to many of the planes' eldest inhabitants" aren't Lovecraftian? They have multilateral body symmetry, flesh whose properties aren't exhibited by normal matter, and a mode of communication that relies upon telepathic fever dreams. If you kill one, it's parting 'words' might be a vision of its hivemind race at work across all of space and time, guiding the future of the multiverse on scales so vast, your victory and your life are stripped of all significance in the face of the aeons' cosmic endeavor, the smallest fraction of which is beyond your power to effect in any meaningful way.

Aeons are more Lovecraftian than half of the actual Lovecraftian monsters in the Pathfinder bestiaries.

I'm not so sure I agree, but that's beside the point.

In any event, the aeons themselves aren't involved in this AP, any more than Monte Cook's game "The Strange" is.

As a side note, having a crossover with "The Strange" would be pretty cool.

What kind of lovecraftian Campaign Setting and Player Companion support can we expect to see for this?

We're still quite a ways out from making any announcements in those lines for next Summer.

James Jacobs wrote:

JonGarrett wrote:

Is this going to feel like typical Paizo paths, where stomping through the game and decorating the walls with the heads of the slain is pretty much par the course but with the Mythos Monsters instead of the normal cast of sacrificial lambs, or is this going to more Mythos-style where the enemies might well stomp your face in and your soul, sanity and life are at risk from simply cracking open a book?

'Cos we all know which one I vote for...

It's more of the former. This is not going to be a Call of Cthulhu adventure with Pathfinder rules. It's a Pathfinder adventure with Lovecraftian themes. We've done a LOT of adventures with similar themes already; check out Feast of Ravenmoor, Carrion Hill, Wake of the Watcher, and Valley of the Brain Collectors for examples of how we tend to involve the mythos. There WILL be some encounters that your PCs won't be able to defeat with sword and spell, though... but just how those will play out, you'll need to be patient to see.

Eh, not entirely what I wanted to hear. I've played Carrion Hill and Wake of the Watcher and neither was really what I wanted to see here. It seems to waste the whole point of Mythos Monsters to my mind, the fact that the only thing you really ever learn about them being you aren't going to get out in one piece. There are quite a few tough, creepy Pathfinder monsters that seem like that they'd fill the roll just as well...and if that's true, why make it a Mythos campaign?

The last part gives me some hope, but not enough to buy this one, I suspect. We'll see how it progresses.

EDIT: But thank you for the reply, and not trying to sugar coat or BS this.

I still hope you check it out, but yeah... keep in mind we publish adventures for Pathfinder, not Call of Cthulhu. That game does what it does better than our game could, and our game does what it does better than that game could. The Strange Aeons AP wouldn't work well at all under Call of Cthulhu's rules, because it's a Pathfinder game.

As for a "waste of mythos monsters," I obviously disagree. Not only does our using them in an Adventure Path not diminish them being used in any other game (It's not a limited resource that CAN be wasted), but that said, we've got a LOT more room in an AP than we do in a single adventure. You'll have plenty of opportunities to "learn about them" in this AP. But that said, I also feel that you have chances to "learn about them" in Carrion Hill and Wake as well... different play styles, I guess.

As for why make it a mythos campaign? Because the type of story we'll be telling here works best with certain elements of the mythos being front and foremost. I'm not gonna say too much more about the plot and all that now though... but again, I hope you do check it out when it comes out next year.

James Jacobs wrote:

Dragon78 wrote:

Will this book talk about any new old ones and/or elder gods?

Perhaps. And it depends on your definition of "new."

Also, will this AP be prominently featuring any deities who are NOT Outer Gods or Great Old Ones?

Not prominently, no. But as with any AP, there'll be elements of other deities and faiths and the like on the periphery, be it something robust like Lamashtu's role in Rise of the Runelords or Zon-Kuthon's lesser role in Curse of the Crimson Throne or even down to "cameos" like Groetus's role in Shattered Star.

Well at least this AP will have some worthwhile monsters in it's bestiary.

Really?

Getting tired, dude.

Remember there are all sorts of tastes out there, and not every monster will be to every single person's taste every single time.

It'd be better to phrase what you said like this:

"Well, at least this AP will have some monsters I'm interested in in its bestiary."

Antagonistic posts that imply we've been wasting our bestiary pages on monsters worthless for everyone for the last AP rubs me the wrong way. It certainly makes me less excited or interested in answering questions here...

As a side note, having a crossover with "The Strange" would be pretty cool.

Heh... perhaps... but that's kinda what The Strange is all about, isn't it? Crossing over into other worlds?

Dominion of the Black Dominion of the Black DOMINION OF THE BLACK

Yeah I know they're H.R. Giger and not Lovecraftian :(

This sentiment always confuses me. While I like and respect Giger, he was an artist and special effects guy. He did some awesome and warped art, yes, but he didn't create the world of Alien. That was someone else. Lovecraft, on the other hand, created his Mythos whole-cloth.

Comparing Lovecraft and Giger is really apples and oranges.

The Dominion of the Black as an intergalactic empire of malevolent, nihilistic aliens hellbent on wiping out/merging with lesser lifeforms seems much closer to Lovecraft's work - elder things and mi-go in particular. It certainly can't just be described as "funky, mindbending art."

That said, a Dominion of the Black AP would have a much different flavor than one involving Lovecraft's Dreamlands. The former is cosmic horror, while the latter has a more fantasy feel. I'm disappointed that Strange Aeons won't deal with the Dominion as well (I don't think?), but not surprised. It wouldn't fit the theme.

As for a "waste of mythos monsters," I obviously disagree. Not only does our using them in an Adventure Path not diminish them being used in any other game (It's not a limited resource that CAN be wasted)

Your right that it cannot be deminished, but their effectiveness can be further diluted, in much the same way that some argue that stuff like Cthulhu plushies dilute the mythos.

James Jacobs wrote:

As for a "waste of mythos monsters," I obviously disagree. Not only does our using them in an Adventure Path not diminish them being used in any other game (It's not a limited resource that CAN be wasted)

Your right that it cannot be deminished, but their effectiveness can be further diluted, in much the same way that some argue that stuff like Cthulhu plushies dilute the mythos.

That comment came up in the Cthulhu All Stars seminar I was on, and the response still applies.

It's a testament to the fact that Lovecraft's vision and ideas endure WITHOUT the benefit of a best-selling novel or a blockbuster movie to an extent that things like Cthulhu plushies exist. I'd be more worried about Lovecraft's staying power if those things didn't exist, but their existence doesn't for me diminish the power of his stories.

Any chance that new Lovecraftian stuff will be CN instead of CE?

(That's just a personal preference of mine. XD I figure that being CN, as Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth are, better fits the "great entities that don't care about humanity" thing that Lovecraftian stories often have.)

So will the player characters have amnesia at the start of the AP or will it be something that happens during the adventure?

I for one am very excited about this adventure path. There's plenty of room for multiple styles of Lovecraftian play. If you want the kind where you're mostly just roleplaying and investigating and any combat will inevitably end in rolling up a new character, there's already a game for that. Actually, there are probably a dozen for that. I'm looking forward to a more Robert Howard approach.

What I will say, as I always do, is that when the Paizo team is stoked about something weird, it comes out amazing. So, if you want to talk about diluting things and whatnot, think about how you're "diluting" Team Paizo with negativity. That's not nice, to them or to the rest of us. So you're not excited? Get over it. You don't see me whining about an AP that's all about giants this, giants that, giants all the time. The old adage about giving constructive criticism or none at all is a good life lesson to learn.

Mr Jacobs, I have one question: will we be getting some of Lovecraft's dreamlands? I thoroughly enjoyed our mission to Leng several years ago, so I don't expect a return there, but to me the dreams element is critical to Lovecraft's oeuvre. Thanks! I'm thoroughly excited about this!

Rynjin wrote:

I had fun once.

It was awful. Never again.

That explains a lot.

*sniggles

Any chance that new Lovecraftian stuff will be CN instead of CE?

(That's just a personal preference of mine. XD I figure that being CN, as Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth are, better fits the "great entities that don't care about humanity" thing that Lovecraftian stories often have.)

We've already had several chaotic neutral elements from Lovecraft, and even some lawful neutral ones. So, yeah. We've already established that, and won't be changing that.

So will the player characters have amnesia at the start of the AP or will it be something that happens during the adventure?

They'll start with it and over the course of the AP will start to piece things back together.

Mr Jacobs, I have one question: will we be getting some of Lovecraft's dreamlands? I thoroughly enjoyed our mission to Leng several years ago, so I don't expect a return there, but to me the dreams element is critical to Lovecraft's oeuvre. Thanks! I'm thoroughly excited about this!

The third adventure has the word "Dreams" in its title ("Dreams of the Yellow King").

I'm not gonna say much about that adventure's plot... but make of that what you will. ;-)

Actually... I'll point out that not only did we just do a lot of dream stuff with Occult Adventures, but check out the great old one stats in Bestiary 4; all of them have specific dream-related powers. That's not a coincidence or an accident.

Dreams are an integral part of Lovecraft's mythos and stories. They'll be an integral part of the Strange Aeons AP.

But, in this adventure path-- will Time be a flat circle?

On a more serious note, will this AP and its corresponding material introduce the Lovecraft stuff in a way that those of us who have never read Lovecraft will not be lost hopelessly?

But, in this adventure path-- will Time be a flat circle?

On a more serious note, will this AP and its corresponding material introduce the Lovecraft stuff in a way that those of us who have never read Lovecraft will not be lost hopelessly?

There will be a lot of easter eggs and references and the like in the AP for the Lovecraft fan (and the Chambers fan as well), but you won't need to be a Lovecraft scholar to enjoy the campaign any more than you needed to be a student of Russian folklore to enjoy Reign of Winter. It'll be self-contained, and if it does its job right, will inspire newcomers to the Lovecraft mythos to dig further and read the stories and check out Chaosium's adventures and games as well.

and check out Chaosium's adventures and games as well.

And that's what called being an officer and a gentleman. Stopping to help the other guy in the race. Atmosphere like this is why I'm a Paizo supporter.

The Dominion of the Black as an intergalactic empire of malevolent, nihilistic aliens hellbent on wiping out/merging with lesser lifeforms seems much closer to Lovecraft's work - elder things and mi-go in particular. It certainly can't just be described as "funky, mindbending art."

Err, sorry, but this is pet peevee of mine... Could people please stop using "nihilism" incorrectly? ^^; I'm pretty sure Dominion of the Black isn't about philosophical notion that 1) Life doesn't have inherent meaning, purpose or value, 2) Morality doesn't inherently exist or 3) (insert something here) doesn't have inherent objective value. They clearly see value in stealing brains, though I suppose that doesn't mean anything about their philosophical stance :p

I mean, even if you use it to refer despair at meaningless of life, I'm still not sure how that applies to Dominion of the Black or any other thing, they don't really seem to be motivated by despair

Will this AP use the corruption rules in the Horror Adventure book?

Are the Madness rules different from the insanity rules?

Will this AP have any Elder Things, Yithian, or Flumph in this AP?

Will this AP use the corruption rules in the Horror Adventure book?

Are the Madness rules different from the insanity rules?

Will this AP have any Elder Things, Yithian, or Flumph in this AP?

Horror Adventures is very much going to support and be supported by the Strange Aeons AP... but since both are still in the early stages of being produced, I can't yet say what rules will be used.

There'll likely be a new set of robust rules for insanity and madness in Horror Adventures... I'm not sure if we'll call those "Madness Rules" or "Insanity Rules" or "Lunacy Rules" or what yet though. Exact names are still very much up in the air. Whatever they are, dangers to the mind will be a significant element of Strange Aeons.

I'm not gonna say what creatures the AP will or won't have in it yet, mostly because the adventures aren't yet written or developed. I highly doubt there'll be a flumph in the adventure... and if there is, it'll be because Adam Daigle managed a near-miraculous bit of diplomacy and debate to convince me to allow one of my least favorite creatures into the AP.

(and the Chambers fan as well)

I appreciate the inclusion.

I'm not gonna say what creatures the AP will or won't have in it yet, mostly because the adventures aren't yet written or developed. I highly doubt there'll be a flumph in the adventure... and if there is, it'll be because Adam Daigle managed a near-miraculous bit of diplomacy and debate to convince me to allow one of my least favorite creatures into the AP.

C'mon, if anything will inspire insanity by looking upon it it's a a flumph. It's positively Lovecraftian in it's description: A floating spheriod body, with eyeballs raised on stalks looking above a gaping maw, with a mass of writhing tentacles dangling underneath it's repulsive form.

It's scarier than a Yithian when you think about it.

C'mon, if anything will inspire insanity by looking upon it it's a a flumph. It's positively Lovecraftian in it's description: A floating spheriod body, with eyeballs raised on stalks looking above a gaping maw, with a mass of writhing tentacles dangling underneath it's repulsive form.

It's scarier than a Yithian when you think about it.

Flumph: Ewoks by way of H.P. Lovecraft.

In all fairness Ewoks would eat people;)

So I skimmed through the thread, and saw one reference, and realized no one took it further than a single throwaway line.

Therefore, in memory of the anticipated idea of Aeons going insane (or sane?) and embarking on a grand crusade to restore balance to all things, with the Elder Gods being the unexpected protagonists for the fight against a static neutrality of balance instead of the dynamic chaos that is the current state of affairs, an absence of spirals and a madness of inspiration and whatnot...ahem.

Screw the impossible
Eff the ineffable;
Row! Row!
Fight the Power!

What you gonna do is what you wanna do
Just break the rule, then you see the truth
This is the theme of "EGs" coming through baby!
Row! Row!
Fight the Power!

you are now envisioning Jamesasaurus piloting an Inevitable kaiju made of a multitude of miniature mecha Jamesasauruses with the Sunglasses of Doom, manually.

Dragon78 wrote:

Will this AP use the corruption rules in the Horror Adventure book?

Are the Madness rules different from the insanity rules?

Will this AP have any Elder Things, Yithian, or Flumph in this AP?

Horror Adventures is very much going to support and be supported by the Strange Aeons AP... but since both are still in the early stages of being produced, I can't yet say what rules will be used.

There'll likely be a new set of robust rules for insanity and madness in Horror Adventures... I'm not sure if we'll call those "Madness Rules" or "Insanity Rules" or "Lunacy Rules" or what yet though. Exact names are still very much up in the air. Whatever they are, dangers to the mind will be a significant element of Strange Aeons.

I'm not gonna say what creatures the AP will or won't have in it yet, mostly because the adventures aren't yet written or developed. I highly doubt there'll be a flumph in the adventure... and if there is, it'll be because Adam Daigle managed a near-miraculous bit of diplomacy and debate to convince me to allow one of my least favorite creatures into the AP.

While I have feelings of indifference towards flumps, I gotta say I like the idea of them. Things with a bunch of tentacles and horrible, gaping maws and half a dozen white, unblinking eyes should immediately scream "evil monster from between the stars!", when it is in fact a friendly emissary to warn the heroes of a great threat. Maybe not have the comedic or silly connotations that flumps usually come with, but this is still a creature that I totally think would be cool.

Friendly Dark Tapestry entities shouldn't always have to be servants of Desna or any other deity!

Strange Aeons sounds great after spending a year in Cheliax. I'm really excited about it and hope that Jacobs and Paizo do a smash up awesome job with it!

Just had a thought about the amnesiac start: This lends itself to playing a new Outsider. Outsiders usually do not have memories of who they were as mortals, and do not necessarily even correspond to mortal souls one-to-one, what with the potential for souls to be split up and mooshed together.. The most obvious example is the Devil-shaping ability that Pit Fiends use to make other Devils, but this is not the only example, although I have to say that for someone who didn't get tired of the year of Hell, being a Devil whose memory got hosed in the course of their formation in the end previous 2 APS might be just the right thing.

* * * * * * * *

With respect to Flumphs being Lovecraftian, I suddenly had the thought that they actually seem . . . Pastafarian. Of course, this is not mutually exclusive with Lovecraftian . . . .

With respect to Flumphs being Lovecraftian, I suddenly had the thought that they actually seem . . . Pastafarian. Of course, this is not mutually exclusive with Lovecraftian . . . .

Maybe this AP will debut the flumph racial archetype, the oolong cavalier: "Against the ravening hordes of the Dark Tapestry, these valiant flumphs charge into the fray astride their giant space hamster bunny steeds..."

I still hope you check it out, but yeah... keep in mind we publish adventures for Pathfinder, not Call of Cthulhu. That game does what it does better than our game could, and our game does what it does better than that game could. The Strange Aeons AP wouldn't work well at all under Call of Cthulhu's rules, because it's a Pathfinder game.

As for a "waste of mythos monsters," I obviously disagree. Not only does our using them in an Adventure Path not diminish them being used in any other game (It's not a limited resource that CAN be wasted), but that said, we've got a LOT more room in an AP than we do in a single adventure. You'll have plenty of opportunities to "learn about them" in this AP. But that said, I also feel that you have chances to "learn about them" in Carrion Hill and Wake as well... different play styles, I guess.

As for why make it a mythos campaign? Because the type of story we'll be telling here works best with certain elements of the mythos being front and foremost. I'm not gonna say too much more about the plot and all that now though... but again, I hope you do check it out when it comes out next year.

Thank you for the invite, and I might well eventually. I've enjoyed, at least partial the AP's I've gathered. Obviously, since I want to play some I've only glanced through several, but what I've read has been fun.

I understand that this is Pathfinder rather than Call of Cthulhu, although I personally feel that it could actually make for a more terrifying and oppressive campaign - it's one thing for characters that are just regular people to get mauled. It's another for characters knowing they can wipe the floor with dragons and ogres are being driven insane and having body parts eaten by cosmic horrors they can't stop feels very Mythos to me.

I suspect a lot of it will depend on the eventual outcome. Obviously, you can't speak as to that, but a happy ending like most AP's isn't a desirable outcome to my mind. Carnival of Fear's ending would be more suited, I think - it's not a question of can you save everyone, but how many you can save. And how much of them. I feel it should be bittersweet, at least for the heroes, as the best ending. At worst souls should be used as delicious snackrifices.

I'll keep an eye on things, but unless something changes, I'll probably wait for the final book be published before making a choice. I am, however, most looking forward to the two Hell campaigns, Way of the Wicked having given my group a taste for all things Asmodean.

I disagree, a horror story can have a happy ending, besides I am oppressed enough in the real world so I would like to kick but. If any campaign shouldn't have a happy ending it would be the evil campaign.

If any campaign shouldn't have a happy ending it would be the evil campaign.

An excellent point. And having two sad ending APs in a row would be a little lame, IMO. But then, I already think that of two Cheliax APs in a row anyway, so.