Howard Phillips Lovecraft, one of the greatest cosmic horror writers of all time, has many stories that can be used in Pathfinder.
This brings me to the current discussion. How do you think that Lovecraft's influences should be used in the game?
Depends on what kind (genre) of game you are playing. Pathfinder is mostly designed around a specific heroic style of gameplay and the Lovecraftian style fits more into a survival horror genre, where the characters are not as capable or superhuman as typical Pathfinder characters. That can be offset by manipulating the powers and levels of the enemies, of course, but you've got to design the adventure around it carefully. Restricting classes to remove immunities to fear or other such immersion breaking abilities is fairly important.
Strange Aeons adventure paths leans kind of heavily in this direction. I've played it up to the 4th book and that was around the point where I could feel the rules straining to keep the adventure path in that particular genre.
Cosmic horror is a type of horror that should not be directly challengeable. It should be a mysterious and terrifying force that you have no desire to become face to face with as it ought to completely obliterate you like a vengeful deity. Instead, it should hang over your shoulders like an ever present threat that you want to avoid at all costs while you try to work under its notice to stop or delay.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, one of the greatest cosmic horror writers of all time, has many stories that can be used in Pathfinder.
This brings me to the current discussion. How do you think that Lovecraft's influences should be used in the game?
Well, at least in 1E practically every monster and deity created by Lovecraft and his circle of writers were added to the game, and most of them continue to exist into 2E. Plus a lot of original entities have been added to the game that take inspiration from Mythos and Cosmic Horror.
If you are simply talking about a Mythos style story, some types of story are probably better for Call of Cthulhu. Although some Lovecraft adjacent fiction, like Robert Howard's stuff, could be emulated pretty well with Pathfinder.
Thanks, this is all really good advice.
I have been a fan of Lovecraft for a while, and I think his best, and most adaptable, Story is "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"
Not everyone within Lovecraft’s stories are completely incapacitated by cosmic horrors. Randolph Carter was able to survive encounters with Mythos creatures and occasionally able to defeat them. In the short story Pickman’s Model the artist was not only able to witness cosmic horrors but able to draw them so accurately that they unhinged regular folk.
As the PCs become more powerful and less affected by Mythos creatures they themselves should become more horrific to ordinary folks. Dogs flee yelping within their presence, shopkeepers refuse to serve them etc.
Exactly! That is the true insidiousness of the whole idea. That insane monstrous occultist blaspheming on yonder lonely hill was once human. Be afraid, be very afraid…
Be sure that the players will appreciate that kind of setting and know what you want to do before starting a Lovecraftian campaign.
Like Ravenloft, a campaign where you are essentially the powerless bystander can be very frustrating for some players.
I assumed that the PCs would be the protagonists in the story, not the helpless bystanders. Many of Lovecraft’s stories were written in the first person, so the narrator-protagonist must at the very least survive the encounter, and very often they win some small victory. I’m thinking stories like The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Dunwich Horror as good examples.
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I assumed that the PCs would be the protagonists in the story, not the helpless bystanders. Many of Lovecraft’s stories were written in the first person, so the narrator-protagonist must at the very least survive the encounter, and very often they win some small victory. I’m thinking stories like The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Dunwich Horror as good examples.Be sure that the players will appreciate that kind of setting and know what you want to do before starting a Lovecraftian campaign.
Like Ravenloft, a campaign where you are essentially the powerless bystander can be very frustrating for some players.
Relatively recently I have played a game of Call of Cthulhu. We were some rich passengers on the Titanic, we discovered that it was meant to be sunk as a sacrifice to Dagon. To thwart that we had to call another god so that he would sink the Titanic and avoid worse things.
That sum up to:- either way, the characters die;
- most of the people on the Titanic die;
- one god or the other gets more power on Earth.
We were bystanders that could choose the flavor of their death.
Some people will like that, others will hate it. I can appreciate it in very little doses, but greatly prefer games where I have the illusion to be able to shape or at least affect my destiny.
Not everyone within Lovecraft’s stories are completely incapacitated by cosmic horrors. Randolph Carter was able to survive encounters with Mythos creatures and occasionally able to defeat them. In the short story Pickman’s Model the artist was not only able to witness cosmic horrors but able to draw them so accurately that they unhinged regular folk.
As the PCs become more powerful and less affected by Mythos creatures they themselves should become more horrific to ordinary folks. Dogs flee yelping within their presence, shopkeepers refuse to serve them etc.
Great Idea!
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There is a ton of great advice for you in this thread. While I don't have any actual advice, the following is a terrific product that would help you a lot, I think.
Sandy Petersen, one of the creators the Call of Cthulhu game, put together a massive tome for Pathfinder, which I think has been updated for PF2e and D&D5e. He's done an excellent job of making the monsters fit into a Pathfinder type game, and included a fear mechanic and a sanity system. I love this book and highly recommend it.
Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos
And if you want to just use the resource online for free, here's a link to it. It's on the Spheres of Power website, but this link is to the PF1e version:
Pickman became a mythos ghoul by CHOICE and gained access to the Dreamlands. In PF1 terms he became an NPC.
I was not aware that was a rule in PF1. Which book is it in? Without knowing the rule I would have allowed the player to continue to play as a Mythos ghoul if I were GM. I don’t see any good reason to insist they become an NPC.
@Azothath,
Cool! Thanks for the links!
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What are you all talking about? Becoming a ghoul is easy.
Just apply the ghoul template and adjust the CR and levels accordingly.
For leng ghoul version, just add/change the ghoul template to fit the leng ghoul.
CR matters only for NPCs. Becoming an NPC ghoul is easy. A PC ghoul is another matter.
Sandy Petersen took into account the Knowledge checks by introducing Profession (Yog-Sothothery Philosopher).