[Eberron] Mask of Nyarlathotep - sort of

[Psion]

Maybe the mask acts as a conduit to a daelkyr, who begins making...changes...to the wearer.

Magical spyware!

 

[Desdichado]

Dude, your campaign sounds really cool!

Although, I have to admit when I saw the thread title, I thought you were asking about converting the classic CoC "superadventure" of the same name into Eberron. Now that's an intriguing idea!

By the way, I've added a Will Save before making Sanity checks, which will reduce the sanity loss down the chart if successful. Makes it a little more heroic.

Yeah, I've discovered you need to do something. In my game, which is a fantasy game with Sanity (although not Eberron), I've ruled that you can also burn an Action Point to snap out of a Sanity crisis (losing 20%) which seems like a logical interpolation of being able to use an Action Point to stabilize when in negative hit points. I've also significantly bumped up Sanity Recovery upon levelling so that Sanity is really more of a short-term worry than a long-term worry. I don't mind characters freaking out when something really weird happens, but I'm not sure I want characters institutionalized on a regular basis.

Then again, the only character in my group who was interested in using magic (I use CoC magic, which is painful to cast and learn) has a Sanity score in the 20s, so I also worked with him to find a way for him to buffer against the Sanity loss a bit. As it was, he was risking flipping out literally every time he cast a spell.

 

[Mark Causey]

Dude, your campaign sounds really cool!

Thanks, I do work pretty hard at it.

I've also significantly bumped up Sanity Recovery upon levelling so that Sanity is really more of a short-term worry than a long-term worry.

I don't remember what it's supposed to be; I've made it like ability damage recovery. Restoration spells help too.

Then again, the only character in my group who was interested in using magic (I use CoC magic, which is painful to cast and learn) has a Sanity score in the 20s, so I also worked with him to find a way for him to buffer against the Sanity loss a bit. As it was, he was risking flipping out literally every time he cast a spell.

I'm planning on allowing some incantations and some nasty spells in with Sanity costs (and meta costs, like Things Taking Notice).

AtR

 

[Desdichado]

I had looked at the pseudonatural template, and am running a game where cthulu like things are pretty much the big theme. HOWEVER, I don't want this to be a reward, per se.

There are other changes that are not rewarding, of course. The Book of Fiends (or Armies of the Abyss) by Green Ronin (required material in my campaign) has a number of corruptions, some of them arguably "rewards" but many of them not. Some of them might be appropriate; in fact, I'm thinking of slapping a few of them on my magic-using character as the campaign advances, mixing the good and the bad into a "neutral" net effect.

Did I mention that one of the party members is already a covert undead? You're definitely thinking along the same lines as I am, which is reassuring. I just don't want to steal the other player's thunder.

No, but why undead for the mask? I think making him fiendish, or even just unnatural, makes more sense anyway. Gradually turning him into a twisted and daemonic parody of his former self appeals to my nature as a GM.

I'm planning on allowing some incantations and some nasty spells in with Sanity costs (and meta costs, like Things Taking Notice).

I do like a randomized chance of having some kind of demon literally manifest here and there as unintended side effect of spellcasting, and I even wrote up a little chart once for it (heavily influenced by Warhammer 40k 2^nd edition, no doubt) although I've never used it.

 

[Mark Causey]

The Book of Fiends (or Armies of the Abyss) by Green Ronin (required material in my campaign) has a number of corruptions, some of them arguably "rewards" but many of them not.

I'll take a look ... that may have what I'm looking for.

a twisted and daemonic parody of

a dromite sounds fun ... they're already pretty shunned as is (IMC).

AtR

 

[Mark Causey]

I've loved this tabletop game so much that I've decided to try and see what happens in a PbP ... here's the link for those interested in watching or participating.

 

[Mark Causey]

The mask is working out well. I've developed a method to 'speak' to the player that everyone recognizes as direct to the character (I cup my mouth and whisper). I've 'encouraged' the character by granting Action Points for actions taken during its deranged instructions (like escaping people when burning a church down). Just thought I'd keep everyone updated.