Call of Cthulhu Reviewed at d20Gurus.com
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Henry
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With regard to the description of Shub-Niggurath - first of all, I would submit that S.N. is worshipped as a fertility god (goddess) by said cults - It is the perfect description for a Chaotic Evil Fertility god, if you ask me. I don't see it so much childish as graphic - so to each their own.
Besides, how do we know it doesn't impregnate male cultists, too?
Second, as to the pedigree of the Necronomicon - GEEK ALERT - It was, respectively, Written in original by Abdul al Hazred (Abd al'Azrad - "The servant of the Ravager"), then translated sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries to Greek by Philetas(sp?), then to Latin in the 13th century by Olaus Wormius, then to English Twice by Dr. John Dee (court wizard for Queen Elizabeth I), and another Englishman whose name I can't remember, then expurgated into the Sussex Manuscript in approximately the 17th Century. This acccording to the CoC version 5.5 game from Chaosium.
Finally, as for Lovecraft's vision for his stories - Lovecraft had no "continuity" vision. As was common for authors of "weird tales," he swapped story ideas and elements with friends and other authors regularly.
If Lovecraft had one "vision" it was this: That the universe is a very scarey place, and beneath our facades of comfort and sustenance, there is a harsh, cold, unfathomable place waiting to strip us of all we hold dear. This actually figured in very heavily from Lovecraft's life-lessons - his father left(died? abandoned?) he and his mother at a young age, and he stayed until his early teens at his grandfather's almost Victorian/Palatial style house in Providence, RI. His grandfather made some bad business deals, and he had to move, losing "his" beautiful study and library loaded with old books, and it was his sanctuary where he could lock out the world. He spent the rest of his life being a poor gentleman writer, living from feast to famine (more famine than feast) on his stories. Is it any wonder than unfathomable horrors that considered humanity beneath notice played a huge part in his stories?
He tied this in with the idea that Science was a very cold thing, that unchecked would devour all that was artistic, thoughtful, and beautiful in human beings. He was (I think) a life-long atheist, but his ideas had almost the trappings of humanism. I just can't bring myself, unlike Gary, to call him a humanist, though.
Now, about the price of Tea in China...
Besides, how do we know it doesn't impregnate male cultists, too?
Second, as to the pedigree of the Necronomicon - GEEK ALERT - It was, respectively, Written in original by Abdul al Hazred (Abd al'Azrad - "The servant of the Ravager"), then translated sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries to Greek by Philetas(sp?), then to Latin in the 13th century by Olaus Wormius, then to English Twice by Dr. John Dee (court wizard for Queen Elizabeth I), and another Englishman whose name I can't remember, then expurgated into the Sussex Manuscript in approximately the 17th Century. This acccording to the CoC version 5.5 game from Chaosium.
Finally, as for Lovecraft's vision for his stories - Lovecraft had no "continuity" vision. As was common for authors of "weird tales," he swapped story ideas and elements with friends and other authors regularly.
If Lovecraft had one "vision" it was this: That the universe is a very scarey place, and beneath our facades of comfort and sustenance, there is a harsh, cold, unfathomable place waiting to strip us of all we hold dear. This actually figured in very heavily from Lovecraft's life-lessons - his father left(died? abandoned?) he and his mother at a young age, and he stayed until his early teens at his grandfather's almost Victorian/Palatial style house in Providence, RI. His grandfather made some bad business deals, and he had to move, losing "his" beautiful study and library loaded with old books, and it was his sanctuary where he could lock out the world. He spent the rest of his life being a poor gentleman writer, living from feast to famine (more famine than feast) on his stories. Is it any wonder than unfathomable horrors that considered humanity beneath notice played a huge part in his stories?
He tied this in with the idea that Science was a very cold thing, that unchecked would devour all that was artistic, thoughtful, and beautiful in human beings. He was (I think) a life-long atheist, but his ideas had almost the trappings of humanism. I just can't bring myself, unlike Gary, to call him a humanist, though.
Now, about the price of Tea in China...
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Henry
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Tsyr said:
Noah Whately, who forcibly had his wife implanted with the "seed" of Yog-Sothoth. The two children were Wilbur Whately, who looked just darned WEIRD, and the other, with no name, but was just "The Son of Yog-Sothoth."
Dunwich horror is a great story, and along with Call of Cthulhu, abosultely sets the tone for anyone wanting to run an Investigator campaign CoC.
frankthedm
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In the Original deities and demigods [1st print with cthulhu & crew} they depicted a manefistation of Yog sothoth wrapping a rather phalic tenticle around the wrist of a frieghtened princess.
PenguinKing
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Depends on your point of view.kenjib said:
Besides, it's not without real-world mythological precedent - I once read about an historical cult out there that worshipped an aspect of Vishnu that does appear as a creature completely covered with vaginas. They even had statues.- Sir Bob.
gregweller
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I remember the first time that my wife and I ever saw a piece of tentacle-porn. It was volume 1 of La BLue Girl. About 5 minutes into the movie we simultaneously blurted out (a la the scene of alien coupling in Galaxy Quest) 'well that's just *wrong*. Of course we went out and got the next 5 episodes as soon as the video store opened the next day. Of course there's something to be said for cosmic horror so deep that it is indescribable. On the other hand, it can be great fun to see an approximation. In Clive Barker's Hellraiser, the head Cenobite says something like 'We have such sights to show you'. He doesn't say 'We have thought about some things in a literary fashion and are going to suggest them to you, because, quite frankly, we think it's a better literary device to suggest rather than show. We shall now describe to you several interesting things that can be done with hooks'. You have to remember that HPL coudn't have done an explicit description if he had wanted to. The censorous practices of the day wouldn't have permitted it. I'm thinking of doing a module based on the movie '8MM' in which the snuff film features shuggoths. Now you can think that that is immature, but I can guarentee that it will get the investigator's attention.
d20Gurus.com
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Hrmm.... I've been thinking about your 8mm campaign concept, and I must say... thats a rather interesting twist...
Old widow finds her husbands stash of secret tapes shortly after his death... but it turns out that this old man's perversions lean towards the arcane. If the act of copulation (it *was* a snuff film in 8mm) is still a part of your concept, would Shub-Niggarauth be a part of this plot as well?
Also, good point on the Clive Barker's Hellraiser thing.
Old widow finds her husbands stash of secret tapes shortly after his death... but it turns out that this old man's perversions lean towards the arcane. If the act of copulation (it *was* a snuff film in 8mm) is still a part of your concept, would Shub-Niggarauth be a part of this plot as well?
Also, good point on the Clive Barker's Hellraiser thing.
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