Lonely Tylenol
First Post
Is there a human creation myth inherent in the mythos to which you are referring? I'm curious to know.Nifft said:
What are the top 10 elements of a Lovecraft adventure?
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
- Start date
Lonely Tylenol
First Post
Exactly! You see? Exactly.Cheiromancer said:
trancejeremy
Adventurer
I think a lot of things describe more Call of Cthulhu designer's attitudes, not necessarily HPL's actual stories.
For instance, guns being worthless. The only story where I really remember that was stated was The Dunwich Horror, and that probably had to do with the size of the Horror more than anything else. Wilbur was killed by a dog. If a dog could kill him, a gun likely could have. I mean sheesh, dogs can kill people, but I've never heard of one tearing up a person like Wilbur got torn up. He must have been pretty wimpy, despite his great size.
Similarly, in The Whisperer in the Darkness, the Mi-Go are held at bay in part by the guy's gun (and dogs).
Also, about mankind being insignificant, that might have been HPL's beliefs (since he apparently was some sort of nihilist), but at the same time, the various Mythos critters (and gods) seems to be obsessed with humanity and the Earth. I mean, if Cthulhu is sleeping, why does he care when he wakes up? Seriously, I would prefer to sleep in if I had a chance, but he makes great efforts to manipulate humanity. Yog-Sothoth is supposed to be some sort of mindless blob thing from beyond, but he apparently likes to sleep with human women. And Nyarlthotep himself seems almost human at times. If humanity is so unimportant, why are so many of his forms human (or human like)? The Mythos most certainly does seem to care about humanity. Yeah, it wants to manipulate it for its own purposes (another example - Hastur apparently has a cult of humans who fight the Mi-Go), but that's still caring.
I also don't quite think he was without hope - just that hope was to be found in science. I think the Great Race of Yith of his was almost his version of a Utopian society. They conquered everything through science, basically, even time. He seemed to be sort of anti-emotion, though.
I think probably the most common theme of his stories was evolution, and how "mixing" races (or the opposite, inbreeding) can cause "degeneracy". This was actually pretty common for the time, as Eugenics was insanely popular back then, sort of like Reality TV and iPods combineds.
For instance, guns being worthless. The only story where I really remember that was stated was The Dunwich Horror, and that probably had to do with the size of the Horror more than anything else. Wilbur was killed by a dog. If a dog could kill him, a gun likely could have. I mean sheesh, dogs can kill people, but I've never heard of one tearing up a person like Wilbur got torn up. He must have been pretty wimpy, despite his great size.
Similarly, in The Whisperer in the Darkness, the Mi-Go are held at bay in part by the guy's gun (and dogs).
Also, about mankind being insignificant, that might have been HPL's beliefs (since he apparently was some sort of nihilist), but at the same time, the various Mythos critters (and gods) seems to be obsessed with humanity and the Earth. I mean, if Cthulhu is sleeping, why does he care when he wakes up? Seriously, I would prefer to sleep in if I had a chance, but he makes great efforts to manipulate humanity. Yog-Sothoth is supposed to be some sort of mindless blob thing from beyond, but he apparently likes to sleep with human women. And Nyarlthotep himself seems almost human at times. If humanity is so unimportant, why are so many of his forms human (or human like)? The Mythos most certainly does seem to care about humanity. Yeah, it wants to manipulate it for its own purposes (another example - Hastur apparently has a cult of humans who fight the Mi-Go), but that's still caring.
I also don't quite think he was without hope - just that hope was to be found in science. I think the Great Race of Yith of his was almost his version of a Utopian society. They conquered everything through science, basically, even time. He seemed to be sort of anti-emotion, though.
I think probably the most common theme of his stories was evolution, and how "mixing" races (or the opposite, inbreeding) can cause "degeneracy". This was actually pretty common for the time, as Eugenics was insanely popular back then, sort of like Reality TV and iPods combineds.
James Jacobs
Adventurer
Another theme that was common in Lovecraft's stories (and thus should show up in Lovecraftian adventures, I guess) is finding horror in the ordinary. As in, something mundane and otherwise insigificant that, by nature of the circumstances in which it's occuring, indicate something horrificly bad or wrong is afoot. Some great examples from his stories:
1: The tiny sound of a lock being tried with key in "Shadow Over Innsmouth."
2: The discovery of the narrator's handwriting in an unexpected location in "The Shadow Out of Time."
3: The nature of the illustration that the book in "The Picture in the House" just happens to fall open to.
4: The fact that the cosmic horror that takes place in "The Shunned House" occurs in an unremarkable building in the middle of town.
In an adventure, these might be something like discovering a child's toy in a jar in a lich's laboratory, or making the leader of the brain-eating cult be a mild-mannered cooper, and so on.
1: The tiny sound of a lock being tried with key in "Shadow Over Innsmouth."
2: The discovery of the narrator's handwriting in an unexpected location in "The Shadow Out of Time."
3: The nature of the illustration that the book in "The Picture in the House" just happens to fall open to.
4: The fact that the cosmic horror that takes place in "The Shunned House" occurs in an unremarkable building in the middle of town.
In an adventure, these might be something like discovering a child's toy in a jar in a lich's laboratory, or making the leader of the brain-eating cult be a mild-mannered cooper, and so on.
Prince of Happiness
First Post
EditorBFG said:
Rugrose!
Aaron L
Hero
1. Gradual revelation of hidden cosmic evil, as if the entire universe were opposed to the very morality of humanity, provoking madness (or at least severe unease) in the discoverer(s.)
2. Blasphemous, noisome, eldritch beastes with difficult to pronounce names which are difficult (if not impossible) to harm without a hidden spell or item, which must be discovered through research.
3. Cults of madmen devoted to alien (possibly insane) gods
4. Locations which seem mundane and bucolic on the surface, but have a twisted, sinister aspect that gnaws at the subconscious.
5. Decaying ancient civilizations, possibly long lost, that have fallen into decadence, and are now devoted to elder evils.
6. Tentacles and cold blooded water monsters, especially fish-men
7. Implicit and profound statement of how insignificant humanity (humanoids in general) is (are) compared to the rest of the universe.
8. Ancient tomes of lost knowledge of elder evils from before the birth of humanity (and humanoids in general.)
9. Alien architecture with non-Euclidean geometry and gigantic, cyclopean buildings.
10. Elements of space travel, either creatures from space, locations on other planets, or knowledge of alien civilizations.
11. Naughty Tentacles.
My homebrew setting is heavily influenced (almost based) on Lovecraftian principles, and most of these elements are present in almost all of my adventures (well, except for Naughty Tentacles.) I absolutely love Lovecraft, if not his actual writing, then the ideas behind it. His has been the biggest influence on my DMing style, more than any other writer.
I would recommend Lords of Madness, especially the section on the aboleth, which actually spells out that the Elder Evils the aboleth revere are Outer Gods and Great Old Ones, comparing them to Mythos beings, even going so far as to say which Elder Evil is which Outer God/GOO by a different name.
PS I wrote this before reading what the others wrote, now I'm going to go see what ideas they had, and what I missed!
2. Blasphemous, noisome, eldritch beastes with difficult to pronounce names which are difficult (if not impossible) to harm without a hidden spell or item, which must be discovered through research.
3. Cults of madmen devoted to alien (possibly insane) gods
4. Locations which seem mundane and bucolic on the surface, but have a twisted, sinister aspect that gnaws at the subconscious.
5. Decaying ancient civilizations, possibly long lost, that have fallen into decadence, and are now devoted to elder evils.
6. Tentacles and cold blooded water monsters, especially fish-men
7. Implicit and profound statement of how insignificant humanity (humanoids in general) is (are) compared to the rest of the universe.
8. Ancient tomes of lost knowledge of elder evils from before the birth of humanity (and humanoids in general.)
9. Alien architecture with non-Euclidean geometry and gigantic, cyclopean buildings.
10. Elements of space travel, either creatures from space, locations on other planets, or knowledge of alien civilizations.
11. Naughty Tentacles.
My homebrew setting is heavily influenced (almost based) on Lovecraftian principles, and most of these elements are present in almost all of my adventures (well, except for Naughty Tentacles.) I absolutely love Lovecraft, if not his actual writing, then the ideas behind it. His has been the biggest influence on my DMing style, more than any other writer.
I would recommend Lords of Madness, especially the section on the aboleth, which actually spells out that the Elder Evils the aboleth revere are Outer Gods and Great Old Ones, comparing them to Mythos beings, even going so far as to say which Elder Evil is which Outer God/GOO by a different name.
PS I wrote this before reading what the others wrote, now I'm going to go see what ideas they had, and what I missed!
Last edited:
JRRNeiklot
First Post
There are only 3.
Death.
Death.
More death.
Death.
Death.
More death.
