Hi there!
I am preparing to be a GM for the fist time in my life, and am going to run te RotRL adventure path with a rater large (6 or 7) but inexperienced party.
I would like advice on adding lovecraftian elements.
I will probably not deviate too much from the basic RotRL, but i wanted to add some stuff about cultists, the outer gods, etc. Late in the adventure, there is the Mhar-creature, which is basicly a sleeping great old one, and the whole Leng thing. So I wanted to add some old cult influences a bit earlier in the campaign. Erin Habe's sanatorium looks like the perfect spot for this: there might be a patient who is an insane cultist, or (perhaps better :p) Erin Habe might have done some studying in that direction, and some while after he escapes, might come back to haunt the PC's with nasty summoned creatures... there might even be a magic tome dealing with Azatoth or Shub-Niggurath, allowing the PC's to prepare improved summoning spells (but a cost, of course...)
The alienist PrC from 3.5 Complete Arcane seems nice too (for NPC... Erin Habe?)
So far, I have a lot of inarticulated ideas... has anyone done something like this before? Does anyone have good ideas how best to develop/implement these ideas?
(the hidden beast has a lovecraftian feel as well... the mages who summoned him probably dabbled in dark tapestry stuff)
I always felt like the sanatorium was a bit out of place in that AP - it felt a little forced. Anything you can do to make the place more interesting or relevant would be good in my book :)
The sanatorium is more of an atmosphere element and a possible red herring. It exists to provide another message to the Fixation PC. It's not meant to be a major encounter (and to be honest the necromancer isn't even that needed and could have been played as a less "malevolent" character).
That said, creating more of a Lovecraftian feel is definitely in character with Paizo, so go for it! :)
lots of awesome stuff
That is entirely true, I guess what I mean is that I'd have preferred it if there was a bit of foreshadowing in the AP before they spring the sanatorium on the party - like I said, the sanatorium (and especially Caizarlu) can feel a little out of place.
I'm taking some steps to rectify that on my second GM'ing of the same AP - For instance, I decided that Bruthazmus traded some captives for the Robe of Bones from Caizarlu, and it still has his Maker's Mark on it. After some research the party have found out that there's a nefarious necromancer in the area who bought a wand of Gentle Repose a few months back.
At the moment it's a red herring (they think the necromancer is responsible for the goblin raid because of the skeletons in the crypt and the theft of the cleric's remains), but I find it helps build the setting somewhat. When the party encounters the necromancer down the line it's more of a "so this is where he was hiding all along" instead of a "so why is there a random necromancer in the asylum"-moment.