Running a Taint/Elder Evil Game

[Dusk Raven]

So, it all started with me wanting to run a horror campaign, based on Heroes of Horror, with heavy emphases on supernatural, psychological horror, particularly the type where you must decide what's real and what's not. After bouncing around ideas for a horror campaign setting, someone Elder Evils came up, and now I've got an idea for a custom Elder Evil, complete with Taint mechanics and lots of Lovecraftian horror. In Pathfinder, of course, because I prefer it to 3.5.

So, anyone had experience with Heroes of Horror or Elder Evils? Any advice for a DM seeking to run a game with those?

[Starbuck_II]

So, it all started with me wanting to run a horror campaign, based on Heroes of Horror, with heavy emphases on supernatural, psychological horror, particularly the type where you must decide what's real and what's not. After bouncing around ideas for a horror campaign setting, someone Elder Evils came up, and now I've got an idea for a custom Elder Evil, complete with Taint mechanics and lots of Lovecraftian horror. In Pathfinder, of course, because I prefer it to 3.5.

So, anyone had experience with Heroes of Horror or Elder Evils? Any advice for a DM seeking to run a game with those?

I was prepping for something like that.

Mine was Tar Baphon as the "Elder Evil" effect. There are rumors he escaped(if you know your lore he killed the god Aroden, was imprisoned with powerful wardstone, is being guarded by Crusaders to this day, and is pretty much an epic caster [Mythic in Pathfinder]).
Like an Elder Evil, whatever escaped, seems to messing with the very fabric of certain magic (positive/negative energy magic like healing/resurrection/necromancy). Also zombie apocalypse is occurring near PCs. Also Sandpoint has been nuked by a Negative energy bomb to summarize. The PCs are returning from an adventure, they've seen refuges who escaped/survived, and they are likely motivated to see if friends they know live.
I mentally stat blast as a Will Negate (those that survive lose a lot of Sanity, but still alive (though sanity lose makes most crazy like Dead Rising NPCs).
It would start as a survival (supernatural) horror, but it might graduate to psycological.




I have played with UA Sanity rules, but never tried the Taint rules (UA's are similar to Heroes of Horror when I review them).
Would you be doing Corruption rules too?

[Dusk Raven]

I have played with UA Sanity rules, but never tried the Taint rules (UA's are similar to Heroes of Horror when I review them).
Would you be doing Corruption rules too?

Interesting idea.

I haven't looked at UA's sanity rules in a while, but as I understand it it's basically the same as the sanity rules from the d20 adaptation of Call of Cthulhu. I probably won't be using those exact rules - witnessing monsters alone won't be enough to scare this party.

As for Corruption... that's a subset of HoH's Taint rules, right? HoH's Taint rules themselves ultimately stemming from the 3.0 Oriental Adventures book, with improvements.

Anyway, I should probably elaborate a bit on my initial plans. I tried doing something like this a few years ago, unfortunately my notes and memories alike of that time are spotty. I recall posting something on the WotC forum at the time... and today I tried to look it up only to find out said forums were shut down, like, a week ago.

ANYWAY. All right, a basic overview of what I have planned:

The ultimate cause of the Taint is the Elder Evil, which is leaking its influence onto the world, seeking to remake all life in its image. Thankfully, this effect is somewhat localized, but devastating all the same. Their Corruption score represents the amount of mutation taking place within a character, while Depravity/Sanity is the extent to which their minds are being warped by the alien presence. Taint scores will not be made known to the players. Although from the fact they've signed up for the campaign in the first place they'll know Taint is taking place, the only way for them (or their characters) to measure its effect on them is by the physical symptoms that start erupting. In the case of Corruption, these mutations are not always completely detrimental, but they are not something the characters will want to keep in the long term. Meanwhile, Depravity has no overt symptoms - as the character's mind becomes halfway between mortal and alien, their grip on reality loosens, and I will be passing the players increasing amounts of notecards which may offer insanity, insight, or insane insight.

The net result? Corruption can give you strength. Depravity can give you knowledge. But either trait is deadly in high amounts. The players will realize that they're ticking time bombs, and they won't know how short the fuse is.

That being said, I plan to make some modifications to how much Taint causes what, as well as make it easier to remove it - Taint is very easy to get in Heroes of Horror, and absurdly hard to remove for good once you've gotten it. I may make it possible to get down to 0 relatively easily, or if I decide I want the experience to leave a lasting mark on the characters, I'll simply give them symptoms at an amount higher than 1, ensuring a grace period between becoming Tainted and actually manifesting mutations.

Thoughts?

[BWR]

Like I always do when the Taint is brought up, I suggest looking at the source - Legend of the 5 Rings. Track down "The Book of the Shadowlands - The Writings of Kuni Mokuna" and especially "Bearers of Jade - the Second Book of the Shadowlands". While obviously setting specific they both (especially Bearers) do an excellent job of portraying the effects of the Taint on the land and people and the horror of insidious, somewhat unpredictable and almost unstoppable spiritual poison.

[Dusk Raven]

Like I always do when the Taint is brought up, I suggest looking at the source - Legend of the 5 Rings. Track down "The Book of the Shadowlands - The Writings of Kuni Mokuna" and especially "Bearers of Jade - the Second Book of the Shadowlands". While obviously setting specific they both (especially Bearers) do an excellent job of portraying the effects of the Taint on the land and people and the horror of insidious, somewhat unpredictable and almost unstoppable spiritual poison.

I'll take a look at them... though largely out of interest in L5R itself. My version of Taint is actually rather different than that of the Shadowlands, in that it's not caused by evil itself per se, and it's also not... completely harmful. After all, the Elder Evil itself isn't completely malevolent.

Her herald? Now he really is evil...