Question on Cthulhu

[Calinero]

Er. I think the Dark Goat of the Woods With a Thousand Young is more likely to do the healing route than the others. Hastur is usually connected to artists and creative entropic tropes than anything else. Shubby is more likely to heal you in an overcharge capacity - warping your system and throwing it out of balance, including mentally, just because that is how Shubby rolls.

I think you could probably work out something using Elder Things, Ythian, or Shan technology/spells for this too. A Ythian device could probably easily transfer life between two people and is sufficiently advanced to be magic to us. The Elder Things would mostly likely have some kind of organic monster that does the same, but more sadistically. And I'm almost certain the Shan can do it, but they are utter sadistic bastards and mad cultists to a bug so the question is more likely why would they bother.

Are all of these creatures/people in the main Cthulhu book? Or are they in supplements?

[Tsotha-lanti]

Are all of these creatures/people in the main Cthulhu book? Or are they in supplements?

Elder Things, Yithians (Great Race of Yith), Shan (Insects from Shaggai), Shub-Niggurath, and Hastur all are, yes.

Working on Doomsy's idea, I'd probably use a piece of bizarre Elder Thing/Yithian technology instead. Some sort of device that drains and transfers life, "behind the scenes", as it were.

[Calinero]

Well, as fun as alien technology is, I'm a bigger fan of scary monsters that can rip people up into tiny pieces. Better for scaring my players. Technology is inherently less scary, because if it's science, that implies that it can be understood.

[Doomsy]

I almost always drop the 'i' out of Yithians when typing it, and I have no idea why.

The corebook has a few pieces of Yithian technology in it too, if I remember right, but all of the species mentioned have their own entry. The Elder Things tend to use biotech for the most part so their technology might actually be somewhat alive and would probably have had to have been in stasis or hibernating since the Elder Things bowed out. Yithian technology is built to last forever and their mastery over time can make it show up almost anywhere.

About the only issues you might have with them is that the Elder Things seem to show up very rarely in most modules or books so getting a lot of fluff on them can be hard, and the Yithians are probably the closest thing CoC has to 'benevolent' mythos creatures in that they are not particularly hostile to mankind and usually leave their subjects alive.

And as for how scary technology can be?

Shoggoths are Elder Thing technology.

[Lycan 01]

Aren't humans too?

[WalkingTarget]

Aren't humans too?

Science experiment that got a bit out of control is all. Like a genetically modified mold that got out of the lab by accident and set up shop under the nearest rock.

[Calinero]

Aren't humans too?

Aren't humans too what? What are we talking about?

[Tsotha-lanti]

Well, as fun as alien technology is, I'm a bigger fan of scary monsters that can rip people up into tiny pieces. Better for scaring my players. Technology is inherently less scary, because if it's science, that implies that it can be understood.

But the whole point of Lovecraftian horror is that science is scary, because it pushes boundaries that ought not to be pushed; and that human science is futile, because it cannot explain things in the depths of space and in other dimensions. The "magic" of Call of Cthulhu is applied science that human minds cannot understand (sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, indeed!) - dimensional travel uses bizarre mathematics, etc.

If you look at the various devices in the CoC 5/5.5 rulebook, they're all so incomprehensible and powerful as to appear magical to humans who come across them - that's the point.

Aren't humans too?

The origins of humans in the Mythos are pretty muddled. I can't recall if there's any definite origin for them, but there's a relation - in some direction - with deep ones, for instance. The Elder Things were probably involved, yes.

[Lycan 01]

In a nutshell, humans are a science experiment that was thrown out and forgotten. Lo and behold, we grew into the "dominant" species on the planet Earth.

Spoiler

Show

I say forgotten because in At the Mountains of Madness, the revived Elder Things dissect a human to see how he works. If they created him, they wouldn't have needed to do so. Thus, I have concluded that when they made humans, they weren't as advanced or developed as what the awoke to find aeons later... So in essence, we were forgotten, perhaps in exchange for more... useful... experiments. IE: Shoggoths.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Just because the Elder Things may have been involved doesn't make a case for special creation. Their decline began (by the CoC timeline) 250 million years ago. They were long since gone when Homo Sapiens evolved; the revived Elder Things would never have seen a modern human being. Even dinosaurs appeared after the Elder Things were already on their way out or gone.

If the Elder Things are responsible for humanity, it's because they are responsible for all life as we know it, in a very indirect way. Evolution still happened - they were just the guys who spat a loogie in the primordial soup, so to say. (A gross oversimplification, but it gets the job done.)

[Ralfarius]

If the Elder Things are responsible for humanity, it's because they are responsible for all life as we know it, in a very indirect way. Evolution still happened - they were just the guys who spat a loogie in the primordial soup, so to say. (A gross oversimplification, but it gets the job done.)

You may be on to something...

[Calinero]

Heh. Very nice.

Another question I had, for my larger, more long term campaign that I might eventually link this one into. I want a BBEG who is essentially fed up with a universe that doesn't care about us, and wants to ascend to godhood and establish himself as a relatively benevolent God of the universe. Unfortunately, this would involve various dark magics and considerable loss of human life. My plan is actually for one of the PC's to be the BBEG. As they go on various quests to prevent cultists/monsters from hurting people, he will go along too. Sure, he'll help them save people--but he's also gathering the components he needs for his ritual.

Sound interesting?

[Doomsy]

Heh. Very nice.

Another question I had, for my larger, more long term campaign that I might eventually link this one into. I want a BBEG who is essentially fed up with a universe that doesn't care about us, and wants to ascend to godhood and establish himself as a relatively benevolent God of the universe. Unfortunately, this would involve various dark magics and considerable loss of human life. My plan is actually for one of the PC's to be the BBEG. As they go on various quests to prevent cultists/monsters from hurting people, he will go along too. Sure, he'll help them save people--but he's also gathering the components he needs for his ritual.

Sound interesting?

Well. For CoC? It is important to remember that of the horribly alien gods that rule the universe only one has what we could really consider a personality. And Narly is pretty much a world class A-hole and acts as their 'face'.

Generally the issue is that the more power you get the crazier and more detached from reality you go. The other issue is that if you use the Mythos to gain power you are trapped between investigators who want to kill you, and powers that want to kill you that you keep meddling with. Loyalty is a human concept, and worshiping mad alien gods has a high turnover rate. It depends on how you want to run it and how close to the rules you go. You could probably plot armor the guy you want to be the BBEG, but that can create..difficulties.

[Calinero]

Well. For CoC? It is important to remember that of the horribly alien gods that rule the universe only one has what we could really consider a personality. And Narly is pretty much a world class A-hole and acts as their 'face'.

Generally the issue is that the more power you get the crazier and more detached from reality you go. The other issue is that if you use the Mythos to gain power you are trapped between investigators who want to kill you, and powers that want to kill you that you keep meddling with. Loyalty is a human concept, and worshiping mad alien gods has a high turnover rate. It depends on how you want to run it and how close to the rules you go. You could probably plot armor the guy you want to be the BBEG, but that can create..difficulties.

Yeah, if he managed to ascend to godhood without being killed, it would probably drive him insane and he would become one of the apathetic/monstrous gods that he hated so much. However, he's off balance enough to not realize that. Or, to realize it on some level, and not care.

And yes, I know that many people will be trying to kill him. However, in theory, for most of the game the players will have no idea that he's bad. As for monsters trying to kill him....well, the player I have in mind to play him has promised to play cautiously, so I shouldn't have to fudge too much. I don't want it to be obvious that I'm helping him. In fact, it would be better if I didn't have to help him. I'm still planning, though. Other ideas may occur to help that along. If I don't think the idea will work, I can make him an NPC. The player I had in mind to be traitor promises not to metagame, and I trust him.

[Lycan 01]

Or, after he does all that, and performs the ritual, he ascends to godhood... only to discover that it was all just a cleverly orchestrated trick. He's now the eternal servant of one of the EGs, and has no free will to speak of. All that power he craved... is worthless.

Thats a Lovecraftian ending for ya.

[Calinero]

Well, if he somehow manages to succeed, then that means all of the other PC's have horribly, horribly lost. But yeah, I'll find some way to twist it against him. Like, the presence of a new god will disturb the balance of power and lead to a universe destroying war, or the backlash from his ritual (which he is expecting) will not kill a few thousand or so people, but rather the entire planet. So, he's a god, ready to be benevolent towards humans...but he's kill them all.

[Cuddly]

Of course, why would any player trust anything Captain McLiesalot, aka The Wuss, aka that one guy out of one of Lovecraft's freakier dreams has to say?

Because the truth causes more SAN damage?

Frankly, though, Call of Cthulhu is not just about the Mythos. It's about intellectual, terrifying, alien horror. You don't have to shoehorn it into Lovecraft's world, just make something up and use it. I've seen some awesome Cthulhu games wherein the monotheistic ideas of demons and angels existed, so instead of the Mythos the antagonists were Satanic. Likewise, in the CoCverse, given that it's not only Lovecraft's creations, there exist vampires, werewolves, ghosts and ghasts. Look it up in the rulebook.

So yeah, do as Lycan01 (the ever-wise) said, homebrew it up, and if you like, add a bit of a mythos tinge.

Sounds boring.
Like, say, the past 4,000 years of human mythology.
Way overdone, imo.

Well, as fun as alien technology is, I'm a bigger fan of scary monsters that can rip people up into tiny pieces. Better for scaring my players. Technology is inherently less scary, because if it's science, that implies that it can be understood.

As the guy with the unpronounceable name pointed out, the mythos is all about science. That's why it's so depressing. There's nothing cuddly to wrap yourself in like "souls" or crap like that. Just the cold, bleak reality that you are nothing.