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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SheWantstheD&amp;D" data-source="post: 7094255" data-attributes="member: 6874715">You touched on it, OP, that lovecraftian elements are difficult to incorporate in a D&D campaign.  Hopelessness and the fear of the unknown are the core tenants of CoC (or at least Lovecraft's body of work) and that doesn't jiibe easily in a game where you're expected to overcome obstacles on a regular basis, rather than simply survive as unscathed as possible. Plus for experienced players there's usually nothing new under the sun so that really strains the fear of the unknown. D&D just isn't geared to have a lot of permanent consequences for what you run into.That said, it's really irresistible to lean there sometimes, isn't it?? I'm wanting to introduce them as well.  In each adventure I'm highlighting common themes, such as the limitations of the gods, the instability of magic, magical healing as being painful and imperfect.  The big bad is essentially Nihilism embodied, and the "boss" of each adventure is the victim/product of their own loss of faith or hopelessness. The deeper they go the more the players will learn the fallibility and vulnerability of their perceived highest beings.  My thinking with the last part is if the gods are human-like (in our campaign they're the Olympians) then taking away their omnipotence will enforce anti-anthropocentrism.  If you could work it in, maybe have the cleric discover that there is no god, that they're pulling power from themselves rather than from something external and benevolent to them.That and lots and lots of visceral descriptions.  I LOVED introducing the gibbering mouther, describing it: "A powerful wave of odor hits you, like ammonia poured over excrement.  Then you spot it. A shapeless, wet amalgamation of gore and viscous ooze.  Eyes of different shapes, sizes, and colors bubble up to the surface and disappear again.  Mouths form temporarily in bubbles, bursting across its surface. Each moan and chatter and whimper before falling back into its mass.  Several spots burst, sending a stream of jelly-like material down onto the floor, thickening into psuedopods to pull itself in your direction."</blockquote>

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