Innsmouth added as new Ravenloft Domain of Dread, bringing Lovecraft to D&D

GarrettKP · Monday at 8:02 PM

occam said:
But Cthulhu as a Darklord? I wouldn't get that. Aren't Darklords supposed to be tragic figures, trapped in their roles by their natures and ill-fated decisions? There is nothing tragic about Cthulhu. He doesn't wish he were or had done anything different. (Presumably, to the extent one can claim to understand anything about such a being's thoughts.)

This is addressed in the book. He is not a Darklord in the traditional sense. Instead, Ravenloft is like a prison. He slumbers there, and the domain is shaped by his dreams, but the Dark Powers know they cannot actually contain him so they keep him asleep.

abazaba · Monday at 8:03 PM

Olgar Shiverstone said:
I like Innsmouth, Cthulhu, Ravenloft, and D&D.

However, I'd prefer they not be mixed. I detest crossover products.

I totally get what you are saying. But for me personally, I think the Cthulhu-mythos would be a perfect fit fir D&D. I would totally love to play in such a campaign. Oh, well.

tetrasodium · Monday at 8:04 PM

Mark Craddock said:
Is Innsmouth in the public domain or is this part of an agreement with Chaosium?

Totally public domain
"The Shadow over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft is in the public domain in the United States. First published in 1936, its copyright was not renewed, allowing the text to be freely used, adapted, and reprinted without permission. It is widely available on platforms like Project Gutenberg and Wikisource.
Wotc might need to be careful about stuff from later books but I doubt this goes into that level of depth

occam · Monday at 8:05 PM

occam said:
Reskinned versions of Innsmouth have been done before; I don't see the setting as difficult to adapt to the pre-20th-century assumed setting of D&D. (Especially not in Ravenloft, which already incorporates 19th-century locales.)

Following up on this for anyone interested, and potentially looking for adventures to adapt for the Innsmouth domain in Ravenloft, here are some pointers:

The most direct analog, and the only WotC-produced version that I know of prior to the upcoming book, is "The Last Breaths of Ashenport", an 8th-level 4e adventure from Dungeon #156 by Ari Marmell involving "fish-men" and a cult of Dagon.
There's "Shadows of the Deep", a 12th-level 4e adventure from Level Up #2 (a short-lived Dragon-style magazine published by Goodman Games during the 4e era). It's set on an island just off the shore of "Ensmoth", and features deep ones, star spawn, a shoggoth, and a cult of Great Cthulhu.
"Tides of Doom" is from In Search of Adventure, an anthology of 1st-level 4e adventures also published by Goodman Games. It's set in a town called Crafthaven and features a cult of "Dagiy'tha".
Then there's "Night of the Brine", a 3rd-level 5e adventure digitally published to support Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos. It's set in a town called Resante on the night that the townsfolk are being transformed into deep ones.

Soon we'll see what the new books offers!

Tonguez · Monday at 8:08 PM

Christian Hoffer said:
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Assumably, its Darklord will be Cthulhu, who was previously confirmed to be in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, complete with a statblock.

I'd make Obed Marsh the Darklord and actally run the town in the 1840s when Obed has established the Cult but before the Deep Ones invade - so essentially a prequel to Shadows Over Innsmouth. Maybe when Obed was to be arrested, he chants a ritual but instead of the Deep Ones rising the Dark Powers intervened.

You get the Innsmouth horror of the Cult of Dagon, 'Kidnappings', Human hybrids, Obeds tyranny and Deep Ones beyond the reef without ever having to have Cthulhu show up.

jayoungr · Monday at 8:08 PM

These days, it's harder to find a fantasy IP that doesn't borrow from Lovecraft.

Von Ether · Monday at 8:11 PM

Christian Hoffer said:
Of course, Innsmouth (at least in Lovecraft's work) is supposed to be a turn of the century New England coastal town, which doesn't exactly jive with the high fantasy trappings of Dungeons & Dragons.

D&D's "high fantasy" has long evolved something closer to the Renaissance/Colonial period where essentially magical and planar research replaced the development of firearms and science.

"The future has arrived, it's just not evenly distributed."
And at the turn of the century, a lot of remote places where poverty was strong were mostly unchanged for a 100 years once, again, you remove the guns and probably baking soda. Also don't dismiss the power of culture to keep things at a stand still.
Two anecdotal examples:

I just watched a video about moving to Maine and the video warned people that Mainers liked their communities as is and to be self-reliant. Don't expect your town to change and grow much after you move up there.
My dad is a Boomer, yet because he lived on a poor, remote farm, he didn't see a TV until he went away for college.

On another note, I don't get why this is not a Halloween release.

Olgar Shiverstone · Monday at 8:34 PM

abazaba said:
I totally get what you are saying. But for me personally, I think the Cthulhu-mythos would be a perfect fit fir D&D. I would totally love to play in such a campaign. Oh, well.

You do you. I already have Kuo-toa and Blibdoolpoolp.

Bayushi_seikuro · Monday at 8:40 PM

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
Literal, actual Innsmouth feels like a cop-out to me, since unless they also put in a ton of 20th century tech -- which I can't imagine they will -- it's going to be a D&D late-Renaissance/early modern era version of the setting.

It might be because I haven't read it in a long time, but I don't recall Shadows over Innsmouth having too much in the way of 20th century tech unless you count the grocery store or the bus the narrator rides in on. Now, the after-effects with the navy attacking the reef clearly do.

As an aside for those who haven't checked it out - let me again recommend the BBC podcast series where they took Lovecraft stories and modernized them and connected them. The connected Charles Dexter Ward to Whisperer in the Dark to Shadows over Innsmouth to Haunter of the Dark, while working in Pleasant Green, all under the premise of being a small investigative podcast.

abazaba · Monday at 8:42 PM

Olgar Shiverstone said:
You do you. I already have Kuo-toa and Blibdoolpoolp.

Ah. I was unaware of those. Had to google and take a quick look. I can see how these would cover a similar area. Still, I guess I was influenced by Lovecraft and not Kuo-toa/Blibdoolpoolp at a young enough age to want to play that in a D&D campaign currently. Thanks for the references though.