Recent content by Paul Farquhar

Coming back to Innsmouth

So far they haven’t made major changes to non-core species, so I suspect it will still boil down to “you know change self and Hex, and can spy on people with an old fingernail”.

I thought it was just the whole of New England. I mean, this new Domain is Rhode Island isn't it?

Whist I have lots of opinions, 2nd edition Ravenloft not being the original is an easily verifiable fact.

The only “tool” you need in a GM toolbox is being a good storyteller. The original rules about mental illness were replaced because they stigmatised mental illness - something Lovecraft reasonably feared, given that he, like so many others, struggled with mental illness himself. As do many...

Good movie. Actually based on Shadows over Innsmouth. I mean, it might happen in my game, but may seem a bit silly for many players. Were- anything other than than wolf tends to be taken as a joke, and pirates tend not to be taken seriously either. I've never read that one, but the summary...

It's true for koi so it's not a huge stretch. I think sahuagin are like this. Which begs the question "which of D&D's many Deep One copies is swimming towards Innsmouth in the picture?" Kua Toa, Locathah, Skum? Edit: The art is inconsistent for all of these, but the large dorsal fin seems to...

The main theme of Lovecraft is “everything you think you know is wrong”!

Lovecraft is not the narrator. His PTSD protagonist is. There is no 3rd person “voice of God” narrator in anything by Lovecraft, everything is unreliable. All the narrator in Dagon sees is a huge fish man. One of many, judging by the carvings he sees. He later tries to explain it to himself...

I don't think San Francisco counts as a real place.

Dagon is a real world Mesopotamian god though, not a Lovecraft invention. NB, this is an interesting snippet from Wikipedia: To summarise, the deity worshipped in Innsmouth is falsely identified with the real world deity Dagon (who was not actually a fish god) by Obed Marsh and is actually...

I mention 1st edition Ravenloft because it's the one I encountered first. The 2nd edition Ravenloft boxed set I read when it came out. I thought it was bad then and it's even worse now. Nostalgia is a lie. Things were not better in the past, you just tend to be emotionally attached to whatever...

2nd edition wasn't the original Ravenloft. 1st edition Ravenloft had no dumb fear checks.

An interesting question. I would say it certainly needs an early 20th century Americana feel to it. As I suggested earlier, I think they may try and make it Stephen King-land as well as Lovecraft-land. Lovecraft can be fun, but it isn't really scary for a modern audience, whereas King is. And...

You don’t miss out on the voice acting, but you do miss out on content by having non-origin characters in the party.