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Hi folks,
Despite it's apparent merits, I'll be replacing Wake of the Watcher with a bit of homebrew and the module the Harrowing. As the players have a long-standing feud with a group of Varisian circus performers, it will fit in nicely.
Are there any critical elements to the ongoing pursuit of the Whispering Way that I need to work in, or can I just put in clues in Feldgrau that lead to Caliphas to lead into Ashes at Dawn?
Most of the modules seem relatively unrelated in Carrion Crown, so I suspect it will work ok to replace it, but wanted to check for important stuff I might be missing.
Thanks for any help.
whats wrong with wake of the watcher?, its my favorite module in the series (and i've never read a word of lovecraft)
No doubt, best of the series.
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There's nothing wrong with it, per se, I just prefer to keep the Lovecraft stuff in a game of Call of Cthulhu. If I were to DM the mythos in Pathfinder, I would want it to be the focus of the campaign, and not just an aside in one of six parts.
Hmm... if it's that good, maybe I'll buy it an re-skin the baddies as Demonic in nature.
Thanks, Vrock. If I do skip it, I'll find a way to get Raven's Head into their hands. I'm already planning a few more leads pointing our noble friend AA.
at least read it before you discard it (even if you borrow it from a friend)
Yeah I'm not a fan either. I will replace it by "The Harrowing" this fits nicely in, as one player is a Harrower Oracle.
My reasons are the insanity and the other the setting. I like it up to the point where the ex-planetar stuff starts coming in. The worst is the "Lab under the sea"...
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Yeah, I found a copy to read before I bought it, and I think I have to give it a miss.
For one, directly transplanting Innsmouth to a fantasy world just seems...wrong. I mean, influence is one thing, this seems pretty much like just changing the name and calling it fantasy.
Then there also appears to be the same problem that plagued a lot of the Call of Cthulhu campaigns back in the day; the "Mythos Hoe-down" syndrome where you've got a Cult of Dagon, Mi-Go, and the Spawn of Shub-nigguruth all in the same mix. It's a little crowded, especially in the space of a single adventure.
I think it will also be really nice to take a break from horror a little bit and do the Harrowing - creepy and weird, but more surreal than gothic.
Cheers for the suggestions, folks.
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It's not that odd really... the entire County of Versex was once a hotbed of Kellid worship of the Old Gods and a weak spot in the fabric between dimensions. Standing stones, menhirs, etc. etc... there's been forshadowing of this throughout the AP. The Spiral Cromlich & the Seasage effigy in Lepidstadt, the inclusion of Carrion Hill as a side quest, a Leng Spider in Shadows of Gallowspire.
The whole point of the AP is a smorgasbord of gothic horror of which Lovecraft is absolutely a part of. The Madness mechanic is awesome! I have 4 of 7 PCs contract an insanity!
My players are insane as they are...no need to push it to new levels...
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It's not that odd really...
The whole point of the AP is a smorgasbord of gothic horror of which Lovecraft is absolutely a part of. The Madness mechanic is awesome! I have 4 of 7 PCs contract an insanity!
Congratulations! That's excellent.
I dunno, the gothic horror of Stoker and Shelley feels very different to me from the cosmic horror of HPL. After all, The Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolfman, and Dracula all met up at some point in a Universal Monster Movie, but they never made Dagon meets Dracula. :D
Also, the module really moves the atmosphere too far towards the 19th centure - we've got a submarine and top hats, for crying out loud. It's a little too anachronistic to have that in the same module as folks running around in chainmail with broadswords.
Pathfinder already feels more like late Rennaisance to me, no need to jump the atmosphere even further away from the psuedo-medieval in my personal tastes.
Creative Director
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I understand that putting Lovecraftian elements into adventures isn't for everyone... which is why we don't do this more often, frankly. Even if when we do, it seems to bolster that book's sell-through (which seems to have been the case, from what I've heard, for this volume of Carrion Crown).
Folks who find the inclusion of Lovecraftian stuff in fantasy settings might be interested (or might not be...) in checking out the following:
1) Lovecraft's dreamlands tales, particularly "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath." These stories are set in a fantasy world where creatures like Nyarlathotep and moon beasts and nightgaunts and denizens of Leng and what not ARE the inhabitants of the realm, rather than elves and orcs and dragons.
2) Robert E. Howard's stories: A lot of these, including some of his Conan stories, include Lovecraftian elements in them. Theyr'e great examples of how a big slimy monster can fit into a pulpy fantasy story.
3) Clark Ashton Smith's stories: Many of these stories are set in fantasy worlds like Hyperborea, Zothique, or Atlantis, and many of them use names of creatures and monsters that fans of mythos fiction will quickly recognize. Whereas Robert Howard's stories are a lot more action packed, Clark Ashton Smith's stories are a lot more like Lovecraft's—they're very moody and spooky and lyrical.
Top hats and submarines ARE probably a bit too modern for my tastes as well... but we do try to mix things up with Golarion now and then, and in this case those elements seemed like good ideas at the time.
As always, of course, being able to adjust and change and fix things to match your style of play is recommended. I just wanted folks to keep in mind that Lovecraftian elements are more at home in fantasy settings than you might think.
Then there also appears to be the same problem that plagued a lot of the Call of Cthulhu campaigns back in the day; the "Mythos Hoe-down" syndrome where you've got a Cult of Dagon, Mi-Go, and the Spawn of Shub-nigguruth all in the same mix. It's a little crowded, especially in the space of a single adventure.
Yeah I had much the same reaction when I first read through it. I was rather skeptical until
The part where the Dagon priest's head explodes after you defeat him
then I realized that the adventure works more as a Stuart Gordon approach to the mythos. Which frankly is more fun for a game of D&D. If you haven't watch the Re-animator, From Beyond and especially for the Innsmouth connection, the Dagon movie and you'll get it. I know some Lovecraft purists might frown on this sort of thing but I bet it would make for some memorable sessions. Additionally, I feel it fits with the AP flavour I've ran the first two adventures of the campaign and there is certainly a Hammer Horror vibe you can play up. And to be honest, Call of Cthulhu RPG had a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe too it at times (especially Masks of Nyarlathotep). Just because its horror doesn't mean you can't have a sense of humour about it too.
Actually, the submarines* & top-hats fit perfectly with the way we've been running CC. When I first started planning for it, I read ahead and one thing that struck me was the Victorian-esque feel to it. The Lepidstadt University, the abandoned asylums/prisons, the inclusion of creepy alchemical stuff in TotB. Even Kendra Lorrimor's artwork in HoH; she looks far more 1850s than 1450s.
What I ended up doing was imagining it as a Victorian-esque setting, but without steam engines and gunpowder (which aren't necessary 'cos of magic, y'know? :). The ultimate expression of this was Alpon Caromarc's laboratory (complete with sound effects for our game! :) ) with the archetypal bubbling beakers and snaking electrical arcs along Jacob's Ladders and the like.
So far it's worked tremendously.
* Bear in mind it's actually a fancy diving bell, not an actual submarine. :)
I read wake the watcher planning for my upcoming campaign, I enjoyed it so much I purchased carrion hill and am going to add it into the adventure