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So I had a great idea for a side trek for my Rise of the Runelords game. They've only just begun delving into the Catacombs of Wrath, so it'll be awhile before I get there, but I wanted to start making plans early. I know this isn't the RotRL board, but give it a moment - I think this is generic enough that Homebrew is the right place for it.
At the moment, I've got a bard in the party. That pretty much guarantees that the Theater will become much more important than if there wasn't one in the game. So I started thinking about what would be an interesting story to tell there, and suddenly a truly evil thought comes to my head.
"The King in Yellow is a play, isn't it?"
So, yeah. The Sandpoint Theater will be looking to put on a production of The King in Yellow, and it will be up to the party to stop it from getting to the second act and causing it from summoning Hastur or something.
My problem? I'm not especially familiar with the stories. That's why I've come here. What sorts of creatures will have seen the Yellow Sign? What sorts of alien horrors would be waiting in the thin spaces between worlds that the completed play calls?
Fortunately, I don't think my players are especially well-versed in Lovecraft either, so while most will recognize the reference, if I tell them that shantaks are a traditional servitor race, they'd pretty much accept it. Still, I like internal consistency. Can anyone enlighten me as to what beasties would be attracted to the performance?
Ah, geeze. I wish I'd thought of this! My group has a character who's an actor - and he's a sorcerer with the aberrant bloodline! Too bad we're at the end of the Skinsaw Murders…
The King in Yellow is actually Robert W. Chambers, not Lovecraft. It's mentioned in "The Yellow Sign," one of the stories that scared the pants off Lovecraft and inspired him to create the Lovecraft mythos (also borrowing Hastur from Ambrose Bierce and saying he was one and the same with the King in Yellow). It's a good read, so no spoilers, but once you read to the end, you'll know the sort of monsters needed.