"Conan meets Cthulu" [Archive] - Wizards Community

"Conan meets Cthulu" [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Rev_Frank
12-06-06, 10:29 AM So my old GM send me this e-mail:
Quote:
I am thinking of running a one shot DnD adventure for the crew back in Chicago when I get back and was wondering if you had access to two books: The Lords of Madness and The Unapproachable East. I'm thinking of doing a Conan meets Cthulhu adventure. Any thoughts?

The books are far too recent for me to own, but it did make me curious as to if there was something like this available, in terms of adventure modules and whatnot (I will unfortunately not be participating in the game itself since I live in NY).

Any ideas?
Rev_Frank
12-06-06, 11:18 AM Some other thoughts so that there is a better feel for what he is looking for:I want the players to have a sense of normality and then totally break it with corrupted NPCs and tentacles monsters. I figured an evil transmuter wizard that is focused on turning everyone into aberrations and an 'enlightened' monk enforcer (with tentacles).
So I figured they would have been sent or 'volunteered' to check something out. They have to check in on a mountain abbey that hasn't been heard of in a year. Of course, they get there to find the abbey desolate and overgrown with mold and fungi. They make their way in and find that there still are brothers there tending the 'garden', worshipping at the 'chapel', etc. If they investigate and sleep over, they'll be assaulted at night to be 'converted' or sacrificed.

I figure throwing in a lost love angle is good too. The transmuter merged with the 'other' to be able to live/survive to get his love back - who just happens to be an important figure.

I've also heard that "Caverns of the Ooze Lord" from Dungeon #132 and "And Madness Followed" from Dungeon #134 were modules sort of along these lines - is that the case?
CharlieRock
12-06-06, 11:24 AM This idea must be getting popular, dude. It's everywhere! ;)
PiedmonSama
12-06-06, 11:30 AM I have Lords of Madness. There's some pretty good stuff in the book, PrCs like Foe Hunter (I think is the name?) that make fighing aberrations your character's focus, good choices if they're the longterm villains of a campaign.

It might interest you and your friend to know (if you didn't already) that the original Conan stories were actually set in the larger continuity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Conan's foes often made reference to "vile deities" like Hastur and Shub-Niggurath, while H.P Lovecraft had his anthropologist heroes specifically mention "the Hyborean Age." Of course, if you already knew that, disreguard. =p

The Unapproachable East I don't have. However, there is a Conan RPG out now that I think is D20. You could try for a conversion to D&D ruleset while using Unearthed Arcana (if you have that) to create a more "Conan-like" combat system (less heavy armor, more instant death type of things...)

Just some suggestions off the top of my head.... Good luck to your friends, that sounds like just the sort of cooked-out campaign I'd love to play in. =D
Grand Theft Otto
12-06-06, 11:34 AM How is that much different from normal Conan? The only perceivable divine influence was evil, and typically of the otherworldly unknowable sort. Magic game from terrifying alien beings. Howard was a contemporary of Lovecraft, and many of the ideas cross over well.

Caverns of the Ooze Lord works well. And Madness Folllowed might work, b ut the theatre seems too artsy for Conan style adventures. Were it an evil punch and judy style show...

Another thing, I cant recommend Iron Heroes enough for this style of play.
Darkwolf71
12-06-06, 12:16 PM Iron Heroes is great but the Conan d20 setting is available as well. And it has the definate gritty feel of a howard novel. And as was already pointed out Howard and Lovecraft comunicated quite alot so many of the supernatural elements of the Conan stories have a definate Cthulhu feel. Very doable. I'd like to play something laike that myself.
Anung_Un_Rama
12-06-06, 12:21 PM I've been tooling around with the idea ever since I found out Lovecraft and Howard were pen-pals. I do love them so.
Bruunwald
12-06-06, 12:42 PM I love them both, too.

I don't know that somebody would necessarily need any "official" sourcebooks, if one is familiar with either man's writings.

For the Conan feel, you simply limit weapons and armor to those that seem and feel more "primitive," more Sword-and-Sorcery versus High Fantasy. The focus is on different races of man, instead of demi-humans. You look for Middle East elements: chariots, lots of cavalry, archers and big curved swords like falchions and scimitars. You want chains and stonework and you want to pay attention to the weather (it's usually either very hot or very cold). Lots of fire. Magic is rare, and usually involves charms and summonings (which falls right into the Cthulhu theme). No big blasting spells, but plenty of area-effect curses and occasional creatures (primitive men, golems, ghosts) under control of some mad wizard or tied to a cursed location. Skimpy clothing. High action. Hot babes who need saving and want to submit to a rippling-muscled man.

For the Cthulhu thing, you make sure you have mad sorcerers bent on summoning things they ought'nt. You can just pluck tentacled things from the Monster Manual: gricks, grell, mind flayers. Don't forget amorphous things like chaos beasts and gibbering mouthers. Insanity needn't have to be a game mechanic. It can just be a story point for your NPCs' personalities. Lots of warding spells and charms and possessions. Very rare healing magic. Curses and magic sometimes taking its time to manifest are a plus. Lots of story points about ancient books, forbidden knowledge, and legends of things that shouldn't be awakened. Egyptian and Assyrian-sounding names a plus. Very important here are things that a game mechanic can't help you with, such as visions, nightmares, clues, strange comets and stars, and the like.

My best advice is to read up on their writings. Atmosphere and setting are key with both of these fellows.
caeruleus
12-06-06, 02:05 PM I could be mistaken, but I think I've seen an adventure module based on "Tower of the Elephant" for the d20 Conan game. That's got some Cthulu-esque elements.
Otto the Bugbear
12-06-06, 07:11 PM I was reading through the Conan d20 this past weekend and it's really all you'd need for this type of game. It's really just a matter of adding a few tentacled, insanity inspiring monsters and making the entire game feel very dark and forboding through storytelling rather than "a demon attacks".

Cheers

Otto :)
Armoured Priest
12-06-06, 07:39 PM I was reading through the Conan d20 this past weekend and it's really all you'd need for this type of game. It's really just a matter of adding a few tentacled, insanity inspiring monsters and making the entire game feel very dark and forboding through storytelling rather than "a demon attacks".

Cheers

Otto :)

Basically yes.

Robert Howard (Conan's creator), and H P Lovecraft were contemporaries, and peers, having a measure of correspondence with each other. Both authors shared ideas and concepts with each other. Many of the supernatural monsters Conan faced would feel right at home in Lovecraft's mythos...and sometimes even showed up for a cameo. I am aware of a story (I'm far more familiar with Howard then with Lovecraft) of Lovecraft's that has some "modern investigators" finding Thoth-Amon's ring of the Black Circle. Conan (in the Tower of the Elephant) meets a Yagite, an alien from the planet Yag. Plus many of the "demons" in Howard's Conan stories (as opposed to stories written by other, later authors) could arguably be better classified as extraterrestrials.

At any rate, for flavor the d20 Conan game should do well for you, and I believe many of the problems from the first edition were fixed in the reprinting.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rev_Frank 12-06-06, 10:29 AM	So my old GM send me this e-mail: Quote: I am thinking of running a one shot DnD adventure for the crew back in Chicago when I get back and was wondering if you had access to two books: The Lords of Madness and The Unapproachable East. I'm thinking of doing a Conan meets Cthulhu adventure. Any thoughts? The books are far too recent for me to own, but it did make me curious as to if there was something like this available, in terms of adventure modules and whatnot (I will unfortunately not be participating in the game itself since I live in NY). Any ideas?
Rev_Frank 12-06-06, 11:18 AM	Some other thoughts so that there is a better feel for what he is looking for:I want the players to have a sense of normality and then totally break it with corrupted NPCs and tentacles monsters. I figured an evil transmuter wizard that is focused on turning everyone into aberrations and an 'enlightened' monk enforcer (with tentacles). So I figured they would have been sent or 'volunteered' to check something out. They have to check in on a mountain abbey that hasn't been heard of in a year. Of course, they get there to find the abbey desolate and overgrown with mold and fungi. They make their way in and find that there still are brothers there tending the 'garden', worshipping at the 'chapel', etc. If they investigate and sleep over, they'll be assaulted at night to be 'converted' or sacrificed. I figure throwing in a lost love angle is good too. The transmuter merged with the 'other' to be able to live/survive to get his love back - who just happens to be an important figure. I've also heard that "Caverns of the Ooze Lord" from Dungeon #132 and "And Madness Followed" from Dungeon #134 were modules sort of along these lines - is that the case?
CharlieRock 12-06-06, 11:24 AM	This idea must be getting popular, dude. It's everywhere! ;)
PiedmonSama 12-06-06, 11:30 AM	I have Lords of Madness. There's some pretty good stuff in the book, PrCs like Foe Hunter (I think is the name?) that make fighing aberrations your character's focus, good choices if they're the longterm villains of a campaign. It might interest you and your friend to know (if you didn't already) that the original Conan stories were actually set in the larger continuity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Conan's foes often made reference to "vile deities" like Hastur and Shub-Niggurath, while H.P Lovecraft had his anthropologist heroes specifically mention "the Hyborean Age." Of course, if you already knew that, disreguard. =p The Unapproachable East I don't have. However, there is a Conan RPG out now that I think is D20. You could try for a conversion to D&D ruleset while using Unearthed Arcana (if you have that) to create a more "Conan-like" combat system (less heavy armor, more instant death type of things...) Just some suggestions off the top of my head.... Good luck to your friends, that sounds like just the sort of cooked-out campaign I'd love to play in. =D
Grand Theft Otto 12-06-06, 11:34 AM	How is that much different from normal Conan? The only perceivable divine influence was evil, and typically of the otherworldly unknowable sort. Magic game from terrifying alien beings. Howard was a contemporary of Lovecraft, and many of the ideas cross over well. Caverns of the Ooze Lord works well. And Madness Folllowed might work, b ut the theatre seems too artsy for Conan style adventures. Were it an evil punch and judy style show... Another thing, I cant recommend Iron Heroes enough for this style of play.
Darkwolf71 12-06-06, 12:16 PM	Iron Heroes is great but the Conan d20 setting is available as well. And it has the definate gritty feel of a howard novel. And as was already pointed out Howard and Lovecraft comunicated quite alot so many of the supernatural elements of the Conan stories have a definate Cthulhu feel. Very doable. I'd like to play something laike that myself.
Anung_Un_Rama 12-06-06, 12:21 PM	I've been tooling around with the idea ever since I found out Lovecraft and Howard were pen-pals. I do love them so.
Bruunwald 12-06-06, 12:42 PM	I love them both, too. I don't know that somebody would necessarily need any "official" sourcebooks, if one is familiar with either man's writings. For the Conan feel, you simply limit weapons and armor to those that seem and feel more "primitive," more Sword-and-Sorcery versus High Fantasy. The focus is on different races of man, instead of demi-humans. You look for Middle East elements: chariots, lots of cavalry, archers and big curved swords like falchions and scimitars. You want chains and stonework and you want to pay attention to the weather (it's usually either very hot or very cold). Lots of fire. Magic is rare, and usually involves charms and summonings (which falls right into the Cthulhu theme). No big blasting spells, but plenty of area-effect curses and occasional creatures (primitive men, golems, ghosts) under control of some mad wizard or tied to a cursed location. Skimpy clothing. High action. Hot babes who need saving and want to submit to a rippling-muscled man. For the Cthulhu thing, you make sure you have mad sorcerers bent on summoning things they ought'nt. You can just pluck tentacled things from the Monster Manual: gricks, grell, mind flayers. Don't forget amorphous things like chaos beasts and gibbering mouthers. Insanity needn't have to be a game mechanic. It can just be a story point for your NPCs' personalities. Lots of warding spells and charms and possessions. Very rare healing magic. Curses and magic sometimes taking its time to manifest are a plus. Lots of story points about ancient books, forbidden knowledge, and legends of things that shouldn't be awakened. Egyptian and Assyrian-sounding names a plus. Very important here are things that a game mechanic can't help you with, such as visions, nightmares, clues, strange comets and stars, and the like. My best advice is to read up on their writings. Atmosphere and setting are key with both of these fellows.
caeruleus 12-06-06, 02:05 PM	I could be mistaken, but I think I've seen an adventure module based on "Tower of the Elephant" for the d20 Conan game. That's got some Cthulu-esque elements.
Otto the Bugbear 12-06-06, 07:11 PM	I was reading through the Conan d20 this past weekend and it's really all you'd need for this type of game. It's really just a matter of adding a few tentacled, insanity inspiring monsters and making the entire game feel very dark and forboding through storytelling rather than "a demon attacks". Cheers Otto :)
Armoured Priest 12-06-06, 07:39 PM	I was reading through the Conan d20 this past weekend and it's really all you'd need for this type of game. It's really just a matter of adding a few tentacled, insanity inspiring monsters and making the entire game feel very dark and forboding through storytelling rather than "a demon attacks". Cheers Otto :) Basically yes. Robert Howard (Conan's creator), and H P Lovecraft were contemporaries, and peers, having a measure of correspondence with each other. Both authors shared ideas and concepts with each other. Many of the supernatural monsters Conan faced would feel right at home in Lovecraft's mythos...and sometimes even showed up for a cameo. I am aware of a story (I'm far more familiar with Howard then with Lovecraft) of Lovecraft's that has some "modern investigators" finding Thoth-Amon's ring of the Black Circle. Conan (in the Tower of the Elephant) meets a Yagite, an alien from the planet Yag. Plus many of the "demons" in Howard's Conan stories (as opposed to stories written by other, later authors) could arguably be better classified as extraterrestrials. At any rate, for flavor the d20 Conan game should do well for you, and I believe many of the problems from the first edition were fixed in the reprinting.