Cthulhu in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cthulhu in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Snipers_Promise
04-30-07, 10:05 PM My players and I are big fans of Cthulhu and I thought that i could incorporate this into my game some how. I was think that there was an island in the sea of lost souls I could use as R'lyeh but I wanted some opinions.
TheAnthroDM
04-30-07, 10:39 PM In all honesty I think having Cthulhu in Eberron is a horrible horrible idea.
mahavira
04-30-07, 11:10 PM Obviously Cthulhu would have to be a creature of Xoriat, and R'lyeh would most likely be an area of ocean that's a manifest zone of Xoriat which, when 'the stars are right' (aka rarely) manifests an island with its monstrous inhabitants and Cthulhu, a lord of xoriat seperate from the Daelkir. Cthulhu's form is insufficiently compatible with prime material reality to venture far from R'lyeh, and its lunatic cults seek to arrange matters to broaden his reach (twisted monoliths, tainting areas with so much insanity that they become manifest zones which serve as anchor points of a web of madness within which Cthulhu and his spawn can survive for extended periods). Many sahuagin believe (incorrectly) that Cthulhu is the Devourer, and serve Illithid 'priests' who direct them in inscrutable plans.
InfinityStar8
04-30-07, 11:21 PM Cthulhu is already in Eberron. He's is bound in Kyber by the Silver Flame. He is a Rajah, one of the older ones!
Nived
05-01-07, 01:59 AM Don't worry all you gotta do is ram a Lyrander Wind Galleon into him and the world will be safe.
Rauric
05-01-07, 02:14 AM In all honesty I think having Cthulhu in Eberron is a horrible horrible idea.

Lol. Much of Eberron fits what Cthulhu Is about at times. Things from the Far Realm can be used used in place of the Mythos. Kuoa Toa are like the fish men found in the RPG. Aboleths, Kraken and Illithid fit the alien horror aspect ofthe Mythos I feel.
Nevarre
05-01-07, 06:56 AM There is already evidence IMO that the writers of Eberron are HPL fans so incorporating the Mythos into your game should be easy (not that I personally would choose to do it).

For example:
Xoriat - Everything about it!
Cults of the Dragon Below - read: Cult of Cthulhu
Dimensional Seals - wanna bet they are 5 pointed stars with a flaming eye in the centre? ;)
Xoriat Coterminous - "The Stars are right!"
Trapped Daelkyr - 'Sleeping' Old Ones.

I'm sure there are loads more.
Bluebrush
05-01-07, 08:15 AM Yep. The Daelkyr are essentially Cthulu-esque in nature.
That CR20 guy in the back of the Eberron Campaign Setting? He's relatively small-fry compared to the Daelkyr lords.

Plus the empire of the Daelkyr now spans across the world in Khyber, and when some fool looses them on the world, we're all so very screwed.
And that's if Xoriat doesn't come back into alignment first.
Edymnion
05-01-07, 08:30 AM Cthulhu is already in Eberron. He's is bound in Kyber by the Silver Flame. He is a Rajah, one of the older ones!Yup. We already know that Keith considers that some of the bound Rajahs to have divine rank they are so powerful, and that each Rajah is unique and has a differant animal theme, so having a squid themed Rajah that was sealed away right next to a Daelkyr and boom, crazy squid faced Cthulhu Rajah with the powers of a god.
DarkWarriorKarg
05-01-07, 09:41 AM Divine Calamari for All!

In Eberron, fried Calamari eats YOU!
Meloncov
05-01-07, 02:25 PM Much of Eberron is so Lovecraftian that inserting Cuthulu by name seems rather pointless.
The_Robot
05-01-07, 09:38 PM Much of Eberron is so Lovecraftian that inserting Cuthulu by name seems rather pointless.

Beat me to it.

Further, to shove Cthulhu at your players by name might be over doing it honestly. I constantly worry about inserting pop culture refferences into games as coming of cheesy. You've got the flavor of Lovecratian horror already set like others have said. If your players are such big fans, they'll pick up the blatant refferencing without you ever having to utter the name Cthulhu once. And it will be more fun, because they'll feel like they are helping create their own reality instead of playing inside the already established Cthulhu mythos.
Snipers_Promise
05-01-07, 09:48 PM I mean in a way to create a plot.
Edymnion
05-01-07, 10:01 PM I mean in a way to create a plot.Well, just use the good old fashioned Cthulu standby.
The Cult of Cthulu is working to wake the sleeping god and allow him to come to earth to destroy everything in his awesome glory.

So, you've got the Cult of the Dragon Below in place of the standard Cthulu cult. Instead of waking Cthulu, you've got them trying to free a bound Rajah. I mean, you can pretty much lift anything and everything from Cthulu myth and just change the names and you'd be good to go.
Nevarre
05-02-07, 07:00 PM I mean in a way to create a plot.

Ah. ok. Well in CoC 'tradition' you would have:
Dead inquisitives that keep journals full of exposition
Ancient tomes at the Miska, er..I mean, Morgrave University that are driving the provosts batty.
Ancient cities that are exposed by shifting sands in Valenar
Gnomes breeding with Kuo Toa *shudder* in an isolated village in Zilargo

;)
Romulus LoneWolf
05-02-07, 07:46 PM Ah. ok. Well in CoC 'tradition' you would have:
Dead inquisitives that keep journals full of exposition
Ancient tomes at the Miska, er..I mean, Morgrave University that are driving the provosts batty.
Ancient cities that are exposed by shifting sands in Valenar
Gnomes breeding with Kuo Toa *shudder* in an isolated village in Zilargo

;)

Green Ronin's "Bastards and Bloodlines" half-breed sourcebook has a Half-Kuo-Toa race that's actually made of Dwarf/Kuo-Toa halfbreeds.
Just another user
05-03-07, 07:25 AM Yup. We already know that Keith considers that some of the bound Rajahs to have divine rank they are so powerful, and that each Rajah is unique and has a differant animal theme, so having a squid themed Rajah that was sealed away right next to a Daelkyr and boom, crazy squid faced Cthulhu Rajah with the powers of a god.

And because "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming" you probably can fit the quori and Dreaming Dark in there, too. ;)
Vharuck
05-04-07, 04:08 PM And because "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming" you probably can fit the quori and Dreaming Dark in there, too. ;)

Yeah! Maybe part of the campaign would be to find the dreams of the Old Ones in Dal Quor. I mean, in reality they're frightening enough physically to drive men mad with a glance. What are their dreams like? I bet I can guess.

If you enter an Old One's dream in Dal Quor, you find yourself in Xoriat.
Just another user
05-04-07, 04:50 PM Yeah! Maybe part of the campaign would be to find the dreams of the Old Ones in Dal Quor. I mean, in reality they're frightening enough physically to drive men mad with a glance. What are their dreams like? I bet I can guess.

If you enter an Old One's dream in Dal Quor, you find yourself in Xoriat.

Or maybe Cthulhu's dream is actually the Dreaming Dark itself. :)
Yadot
05-04-07, 06:25 PM Or maybe Cthulhu's dream is actually the Dreaming Dark itself. :)
Fie I say! That honour belongs to the Deamon Sulton, the Idiot God, the glibering mad being of the nuclear centre, Azaroth!
Nevarre
05-04-07, 07:04 PM Fie I say! That honour belongs to the Deamon Sulton, the Idiot God, the glibering mad being of the nuclear centre, Azaroth!

Maybe one of the factions successfully summoned Azathoth in Cyre about 4 years back..

..that would explain a lot ;)
taski
05-04-07, 09:57 PM Ah. ok. Well in CoC 'tradition' you would have:
Dead inquisitives that keep journals full of exposition
Ancient tomes at the Miska, er..I mean, Morgrave University that are driving the provosts batty.
Ancient cities that are exposed by shifting sands in Valenar
Gnomes breeding with Kuo Toa *shudder* in an isolated village in Zilargo

;)

Don't forget!

Ancient inscriptions and pictographs of weird goings-on
Dead bodies of sickeningly unnatural creatures floating down rivers or up from the ocean
Unidentifiable footprints
Artists and poets from all over Khorvaire going crazy on the same day
Discovery of an uncharted island in well-charted seas
Frenzied debauchery among the natives
They're still human, but you wish they weren't

:)
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer
05-06-07, 12:48 PM The Traveler is an aspect of Nyarlathotep.

Sithalar are very close to the swarm incarnation of the Great race of Yith.

Yuanti become Lovecrafts Serpentfolk.

A debauched tribe of Tarenta halflings worship Lloigor.

And of corse its very easy to start Pulp and low key investegating thefts and murders before slowly rising to a nightmarish peak fighting things of wich sane minds are not meant to know, saving a worldthat never knew it was in danger.
ChaoticGood
05-11-07, 01:09 AM I'm basically doing this right now. My party was comprised of Adventuring majors at Morgrave University. While investigating the murder of a Professor, they broke up a goblin cult in sewers beneath Dura. There they witnessed the cult summon dolgrims and a dolgaunt through a stone slab studded with Khybershards and scribed with malicious etchings. (From experience: the dolgrim is NOT a CR 1, no matter what the book says!)

Then they followed the trail of an ancient explorer in Xen'drik, where they faced a competing party on the slopes of a volcano... (OK, didn't actually work out that way, but that was the plan.)

Now they're home in Sharn, investigating the competing party's now-deceased leader, a mad professor whom they have determined held rituals to the Dragon Below in her basement. Another scholar, investigating the link between the deceased professor's extracurricular activities and the weakening of a planar seal deep within Sharn, has informed them of the presence of three great locks which hold the seal in place: the one they previously discovered in the sewers under Dura, another in the necropolis to the north, and the last beneath the Dagger River.

While the party doesn't know it yet, each of these locks is home to a different cult, and each one contains one or more powerful aberrations that is just aching to be released on the world.

The scholar believes that some unseen force is working to open the three locks and break the seal: "And if that happens, no mortal magic or Syranian manifest zone will keep this city's towers from falling."
Luis_Dragunov
05-11-07, 01:25 PM *reads thread*
...
*re-reads ECS*
...

Omg... I hadn't realized it till now! I mean, I read the part about the continent of secrets and I thought "Wow, this looks like that part on R'lyeh when they walk on those strange-angled buildings.." but I didn't really look into it! xD
Ront Iron-Roar
05-12-07, 06:15 PM The Traveler is an aspect of Nyarlathotep.

The PCs are going up against a free Daelkyr based after Nyarlathotep. Right now he's posing as a House Lyrander Weapon Dealer. Who at the moment has them going about collecting bits and pieces of this magic item for him. I've already incorporated the Crimson Ship and its Captain as a pawn of this Daelkyr. He also has Merrix D'Cannieth wrapped around his finger and he's influencing the Blades of Liberty in an attempt to restart the Last War so he can incorporate some his special inventions and test them out.

In the end I'm thinking of making Nyarly similar to a Daelkyr but with more of technological/magic bent then a fleshwarping thing.

It's one of the reasons why he's capable of using an Airship.
Vharuck
05-12-07, 06:26 PM In the end I'm thinking of making Nyarly similar to a Daelkyr but with more of technological/magic bent then a fleshwarping thing.

It's one of the reasons why he's capable of using an Airship.

I thought of it a little, and came up with Nyarlathotep being the outsider Illithid variant from the ECS with levels in Psion (seer). But this posed the problem of him being inhuman and not really free to present his demonstrations.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Snipers_Promise 04-30-07, 10:05 PM	My players and I are big fans of Cthulhu and I thought that i could incorporate this into my game some how. I was think that there was an island in the sea of lost souls I could use as R'lyeh but I wanted some opinions.
TheAnthroDM 04-30-07, 10:39 PM	In all honesty I think having Cthulhu in Eberron is a horrible horrible idea.
mahavira 04-30-07, 11:10 PM	Obviously Cthulhu would have to be a creature of Xoriat, and R'lyeh would most likely be an area of ocean that's a manifest zone of Xoriat which, when 'the stars are right' (aka rarely) manifests an island with its monstrous inhabitants and Cthulhu, a lord of xoriat seperate from the Daelkir. Cthulhu's form is insufficiently compatible with prime material reality to venture far from R'lyeh, and its lunatic cults seek to arrange matters to broaden his reach (twisted monoliths, tainting areas with so much insanity that they become manifest zones which serve as anchor points of a web of madness within which Cthulhu and his spawn can survive for extended periods). Many sahuagin believe (incorrectly) that Cthulhu is the Devourer, and serve Illithid 'priests' who direct them in inscrutable plans.
InfinityStar8 04-30-07, 11:21 PM	Cthulhu is already in Eberron. He's is bound in Kyber by the Silver Flame. He is a Rajah, one of the older ones!
Nived 05-01-07, 01:59 AM	Don't worry all you gotta do is ram a Lyrander Wind Galleon into him and the world will be safe.
Rauric 05-01-07, 02:14 AM	In all honesty I think having Cthulhu in Eberron is a horrible horrible idea. Lol. Much of Eberron fits what Cthulhu Is about at times. Things from the Far Realm can be used used in place of the Mythos. Kuoa Toa are like the fish men found in the RPG. Aboleths, Kraken and Illithid fit the alien horror aspect ofthe Mythos I feel.
Nevarre 05-01-07, 06:56 AM	There is already evidence IMO that the writers of Eberron are HPL fans so incorporating the Mythos into your game should be easy (not that I personally would choose to do it). For example: Xoriat - Everything about it! Cults of the Dragon Below - read: Cult of Cthulhu Dimensional Seals - wanna bet they are 5 pointed stars with a flaming eye in the centre? ;) Xoriat Coterminous - "The Stars are right!" Trapped Daelkyr - 'Sleeping' Old Ones. I'm sure there are loads more.
Bluebrush 05-01-07, 08:15 AM	Yep. The Daelkyr are essentially Cthulu-esque in nature. That CR20 guy in the back of the Eberron Campaign Setting? He's relatively small-fry compared to the Daelkyr lords. Plus the empire of the Daelkyr now spans across the world in Khyber, and when some fool looses them on the world, we're all so very screwed. And that's if Xoriat doesn't come back into alignment first.
Edymnion 05-01-07, 08:30 AM	Cthulhu is already in Eberron. He's is bound in Kyber by the Silver Flame. He is a Rajah, one of the older ones!Yup. We already know that Keith considers that some of the bound Rajahs to have divine rank they are so powerful, and that each Rajah is unique and has a differant animal theme, so having a squid themed Rajah that was sealed away right next to a Daelkyr and boom, crazy squid faced Cthulhu Rajah with the powers of a god.
DarkWarriorKarg 05-01-07, 09:41 AM	Divine Calamari for All! In Eberron, fried Calamari eats YOU!
Meloncov 05-01-07, 02:25 PM	Much of Eberron is so Lovecraftian that inserting Cuthulu by name seems rather pointless.
The_Robot 05-01-07, 09:38 PM	Much of Eberron is so Lovecraftian that inserting Cuthulu by name seems rather pointless. Beat me to it. Further, to shove Cthulhu at your players by name might be over doing it honestly. I constantly worry about inserting pop culture refferences into games as coming of cheesy. You've got the flavor of Lovecratian horror already set like others have said. If your players are such big fans, they'll pick up the blatant refferencing without you ever having to utter the name Cthulhu once. And it will be more fun, because they'll feel like they are helping create their own reality instead of playing inside the already established Cthulhu mythos.
Snipers_Promise 05-01-07, 09:48 PM	I mean in a way to create a plot.
Edymnion 05-01-07, 10:01 PM	I mean in a way to create a plot.Well, just use the good old fashioned Cthulu standby. The Cult of Cthulu is working to wake the sleeping god and allow him to come to earth to destroy everything in his awesome glory. So, you've got the Cult of the Dragon Below in place of the standard Cthulu cult. Instead of waking Cthulu, you've got them trying to free a bound Rajah. I mean, you can pretty much lift anything and everything from Cthulu myth and just change the names and you'd be good to go.
Nevarre 05-02-07, 07:00 PM	I mean in a way to create a plot. Ah. ok. Well in CoC 'tradition' you would have: Dead inquisitives that keep journals full of exposition Ancient tomes at the Miska, er..I mean, Morgrave University that are driving the provosts batty. Ancient cities that are exposed by shifting sands in Valenar Gnomes breeding with Kuo Toa shudder in an isolated village in Zilargo ;)
Romulus LoneWolf 05-02-07, 07:46 PM	Ah. ok. Well in CoC 'tradition' you would have: Dead inquisitives that keep journals full of exposition Ancient tomes at the Miska, er..I mean, Morgrave University that are driving the provosts batty. Ancient cities that are exposed by shifting sands in Valenar Gnomes breeding with Kuo Toa shudder in an isolated village in Zilargo ;) Green Ronin's "Bastards and Bloodlines" half-breed sourcebook has a Half-Kuo-Toa race that's actually made of Dwarf/Kuo-Toa halfbreeds.
Just another user 05-03-07, 07:25 AM	Yup. We already know that Keith considers that some of the bound Rajahs to have divine rank they are so powerful, and that each Rajah is unique and has a differant animal theme, so having a squid themed Rajah that was sealed away right next to a Daelkyr and boom, crazy squid faced Cthulhu Rajah with the powers of a god. And because "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming" you probably can fit the quori and Dreaming Dark in there, too. ;)
Vharuck 05-04-07, 04:08 PM	And because "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming" you probably can fit the quori and Dreaming Dark in there, too. ;) Yeah! Maybe part of the campaign would be to find the dreams of the Old Ones in Dal Quor. I mean, in reality they're frightening enough physically to drive men mad with a glance. What are their dreams like? I bet I can guess. If you enter an Old One's dream in Dal Quor, you find yourself in Xoriat.
Just another user 05-04-07, 04:50 PM	Yeah! Maybe part of the campaign would be to find the dreams of the Old Ones in Dal Quor. I mean, in reality they're frightening enough physically to drive men mad with a glance. What are their dreams like? I bet I can guess. If you enter an Old One's dream in Dal Quor, you find yourself in Xoriat. Or maybe Cthulhu's dream is actually the Dreaming Dark itself. :)
Yadot 05-04-07, 06:25 PM	Or maybe Cthulhu's dream is actually the Dreaming Dark itself. :) Fie I say! That honour belongs to the Deamon Sulton, the Idiot God, the glibering mad being of the nuclear centre, Azaroth!
Nevarre 05-04-07, 07:04 PM	Fie I say! That honour belongs to the Deamon Sulton, the Idiot God, the glibering mad being of the nuclear centre, Azaroth! Maybe one of the factions successfully summoned Azathoth in Cyre about 4 years back.. ..that would explain a lot ;)
taski 05-04-07, 09:57 PM	Ah. ok. Well in CoC 'tradition' you would have: Dead inquisitives that keep journals full of exposition Ancient tomes at the Miska, er..I mean, Morgrave University that are driving the provosts batty. Ancient cities that are exposed by shifting sands in Valenar Gnomes breeding with Kuo Toa shudder in an isolated village in Zilargo ;) Don't forget! Ancient inscriptions and pictographs of weird goings-on Dead bodies of sickeningly unnatural creatures floating down rivers or up from the ocean Unidentifiable footprints Artists and poets from all over Khorvaire going crazy on the same day Discovery of an uncharted island in well-charted seas Frenzied debauchery among the natives They're still human, but you wish they weren't :)
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 05-06-07, 12:48 PM	The Traveler is an aspect of Nyarlathotep. Sithalar are very close to the swarm incarnation of the Great race of Yith. Yuanti become Lovecrafts Serpentfolk. A debauched tribe of Tarenta halflings worship Lloigor. And of corse its very easy to start Pulp and low key investegating thefts and murders before slowly rising to a nightmarish peak fighting things of wich sane minds are not meant to know, saving a worldthat never knew it was in danger.
ChaoticGood 05-11-07, 01:09 AM	I'm basically doing this right now. My party was comprised of Adventuring majors at Morgrave University. While investigating the murder of a Professor, they broke up a goblin cult in sewers beneath Dura. There they witnessed the cult summon dolgrims and a dolgaunt through a stone slab studded with Khybershards and scribed with malicious etchings. (From experience: the dolgrim is NOT a CR 1, no matter what the book says!) Then they followed the trail of an ancient explorer in Xen'drik, where they faced a competing party on the slopes of a volcano... (OK, didn't actually work out that way, but that was the plan.) Now they're home in Sharn, investigating the competing party's now-deceased leader, a mad professor whom they have determined held rituals to the Dragon Below in her basement. Another scholar, investigating the link between the deceased professor's extracurricular activities and the weakening of a planar seal deep within Sharn, has informed them of the presence of three great locks which hold the seal in place: the one they previously discovered in the sewers under Dura, another in the necropolis to the north, and the last beneath the Dagger River. While the party doesn't know it yet, each of these locks is home to a different cult, and each one contains one or more powerful aberrations that is just aching to be released on the world. The scholar believes that some unseen force is working to open the three locks and break the seal: "And if that happens, no mortal magic or Syranian manifest zone will keep this city's towers from falling."
Luis_Dragunov 05-11-07, 01:25 PM	reads thread ... re-reads ECS ... Omg... I hadn't realized it till now! I mean, I read the part about the continent of secrets and I thought "Wow, this looks like that part on R'lyeh when they walk on those strange-angled buildings.." but I didn't really look into it! xD
Ront Iron-Roar 05-12-07, 06:15 PM	The Traveler is an aspect of Nyarlathotep. The PCs are going up against a free Daelkyr based after Nyarlathotep. Right now he's posing as a House Lyrander Weapon Dealer. Who at the moment has them going about collecting bits and pieces of this magic item for him. I've already incorporated the Crimson Ship and its Captain as a pawn of this Daelkyr. He also has Merrix D'Cannieth wrapped around his finger and he's influencing the Blades of Liberty in an attempt to restart the Last War so he can incorporate some his special inventions and test them out. In the end I'm thinking of making Nyarly similar to a Daelkyr but with more of technological/magic bent then a fleshwarping thing. It's one of the reasons why he's capable of using an Airship.
Vharuck 05-12-07, 06:26 PM	In the end I'm thinking of making Nyarly similar to a Daelkyr but with more of technological/magic bent then a fleshwarping thing. It's one of the reasons why he's capable of using an Airship. I thought of it a little, and came up with Nyarlathotep being the outsider Illithid variant from the ECS with levels in Psion (seer). But this posed the problem of him being inhuman and not really free to present his demonstrations.