Conan and Cthulhu

[Bjorn the Barbarian]

bolen,

I did not have any trouble using the monsters from the d20 CoC in my Conan game as written. But I only used a few of them here and there. I will probably use some more of them (sparingly) in the future after my players quit being so paranoid about what I have planned for them.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

and what about the bite of the Deep One?
Personnaly I would give them more stength and dexterity when underwater.

From what I remember of "Shadows Over Innsmouth", Deep Ones were described as 'frog-like' and no mention was given to toothy jaws capable of given bite damage. The original Call of Cthulhu book entry on Deep Ones does not give them a bite attack either.

As for 'more strength and dexterity' underwater, I penalize the swimming land mammals instead. I say that in a water environment all land dwellers are considered 'flat-footed', which gives Deep Ones and their shark friends an incredible advantage.

Also note that Deep Ones described above are the 'commoner' version. The 'royal guard' they are dealing with right now have a couple of levels of Barbarian to beef them up and are weilding amphibous armor and polearms. Their leader has four levels of Scholar and a shark Animal Ally......

Raven, cruel and kind

 

[Raven Blackwell]

I currently have the party trapped in an air pocket amid the submerged wreck of an old ship, exhausted wounded and besieged by Deep Ones boiling out of the water.

That sounds awesome! How'd they end up there?

To make a long story long, they were ship wrecked on an small desert island. Discovering a recently abandoned tower, they explored it. What they didn't know was that it belong to a Sorcerer who having been partially corrupted by the Deep Ones 'gifts' of magical knowledge, was magically drawn to present himself behore the Ancient Evil that ruled to colony to be consumed body and soul. The players discovered some of the knowledge, including a 'Breath of Water' spell allowing them to breath water for a short time.

Seeing signs of the tower being reoocupied again, a lone Deep One scout snuck into the tower through the well in the cellar that night. Although one of the characters noticed it and wounded it through an closed door, it escaped withotu him seeing it. Following up on the now departed scholars notes about a shipwreck with lots of gold, they used the spell and followed the Deep One's trail. They bypassed the Deep One colony by luck more than anythign else and found the galleon, now hounted by the original pirate crew's ghosts and a wereshark searching for the treasure itself. They disposed of the wereshark and have managed not to piss off the ghosts, but the Deep Ones have found trace of them and are searching the ship. Though the Deep Ones were not initally hostile [after all, they can always use the new breeding stock] the party went commando on the first 'frog-man' [as they put it] they spotted. The Deep One boarding party is now storming the ship and their leader is likely to break open the hull soon. The party's water breathing spells are running low and if they are flooded, will lose what little advantage they have now. So, uintil Sunday, that is where conditions stand.

Raven, who should put more work into non-imaginary things.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

bolen,

I did not have any trouble using the monsters from the d20 CoC in my Conan game as written. But I only used a few of them here and there. I will probably use some more of them (sparingly) in the future after my players quit being so paranoid about what I have planned for them.

Don't have it- translated Deep Ones over from the original Chaosium Call of Cthluhu sourecbook.

Raven, who's bored easily

 

[The King]

and what about the bite of the Deep One?
Personnaly I would give them more stength and dexterity when underwater.

From what I remember of "Shadows Over Innsmouth", Deep Ones were described as 'frog-like' and no mention was given to toothy jaws capable of given bite damage. The original Call of Cthulhu book entry on Deep Ones does not give them a bite attack either.

As for 'more strength and dexterity' underwater, I penalize the swimming land mammals instead. I say that in a water environment all land dwellers are considered 'flat-footed', which gives Deep Ones and their shark friends an incredible advantage.

Also note that Deep Ones described above are the 'commoner' version. The 'royal guard' they are dealing with right now have a couple of levels of Barbarian to beef them up and are weilding amphibous armor and polearms. Their leader has four levels of Scholar and a shark Animal Ally......

Raven, cruel and kind

I could have imagined their diet is carnivore or at least omnivore because most Deep Ones have human appearance at first (what a great idea for a conspiration-like game in a Conan setting) and I don't recall them loosing their teeth.
Flat-footed human in water environment is an excellent solution and better IMO than giving more characteristics to Deep Ones.

Would you adapt the great "escape from Innsmouth" adventure (the govermental attack on Innsmouth) for a Hyborian setting, replacing the US Army by the Argossean navy?

 

[Raven Blackwell]

I could have imagined their diet is carnivore or at least omnivore because most Deep Ones have human appearance at first (what a great idea for a conspiration-like game in a Conan setting) and I don't recall them loosing their teeth.

Only hybrids start as human. Pure blooded Deep Ones are the vast majority. Also, it never says that they don't lose their teeth either. Deep Ones likely do hace teeth, but they aren't large or sharp enough to make an effective weapon.

The primary reason I didn't include a bite though is that one isn't listed fro them in the Chaosium Call of Cthulhu sourcebook.

Also, I have considered rules about a unknowing human coverting to a Deep One. What a horrible thing to do to a PC....8)

Flat-footed human in water environment is an excellent solution and better IMO than giving more characteristics to Deep Ones.

Thanks!

Would you adapt the great "escape from Innsmouth" adventure (the govermental attack on Innsmouth) for a Hyborian setting, replacing the US Army by the Argossean navy?

Hmmm....I never read the advnture, so I don't know. The Deep One adventure was to be a 'side trek' to my ongoing campaign, so I never had plans to expand it. Since the party would have no way to destroy the Ancient Evil (tm), they are going to have to run at some point no matter how many 'frog-men' they put down. So I was planning on having a CoC style ending with them fleeing for their lives and barely making it to a passing ship with a story too horrible to tell......

I syppose though that if they were to seize the throne of Argos they might decide a little payback is in order...8)

Raven, whose players keep surprising her

 

[Raven Blackwell]

Flat-footed human in water environment is an excellent solution and better IMO than giving more characteristics to Deep Ones.

Thanks!

Of course, the very worst about doing it this way os that all sharks can now use thier Sneak Attack special ability at all times. As one player said after watching sharks devour a pair of NPCs in a single combat round- 'sharks are broken!'

Makes the party think twice anytime they have to go swimming.

dum.dum....dum.dum...dum.dum.dum.dum- "Get out of the water!"

Raven, laughing

 

[The King]

Do you also apply minus when fighting in water? I mean I can't imagine anyone fighting with anything more than a dagger. Here comes the possibility of human bite when he doesn't have anything else at his disposal.
... just remembering what Conan did to the vulture while he was attached to the tree of pain.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

Do you also apply minus when fighting in water? I mean I can't imagine anyone fighting with anything more than a dagger. Here comes the possibility of human bite when he doesn't have anything else at his disposal.
... just remembering what Conan did to the vulture while he was attached to the tree of pain.

In fact I rule all slashing and peircing weapons of Light [dagger, hatchet] fight with no penaly. Only dedicated one-handed piercing weapons like spears also fight with no penalty. One handed weapons that both piercing and slashing damage [like arming swords and broadswords] fight with a -1 panalty. Dedicated one armed slashing weapons [like axes] have a -2 penalty. All two handed weapons and bludgeoning weapons have a -4 penalty, except for a Trident, which I imported into the game...into the hands of the Deep Ones, as well as a unique polearm for their 'royal guard'. :twisted:

Unarmed combat [such as biting] is unaffected save for the loss of STR bonus below. Note that Dafari gain an odd advantage here, being able to do lethal damage with their teeth. Note also that the DR 2 scales of a Deep One make it almost impossible to harm by unarmed attack though. Strangling works though- but you have to aim for the gills, not the throat.

I also remove Dex bonus to Initative [can't be fast on your feet in water], Str bonus to AP and attack damage [nothing to push against] and what ever cruelty I can I think is possible.

Note though in responce, the Feat Water Snake in Pirate Isles now removes most of these penalties as it meant to represent an almost total familarity with a water environemt. One of my players has taken the Endurance Feat and is already accumilating the ranks in swim......

Raven, who if she sees these rules published by someone who doesn't consult her, will death curse them. My version of copyright protection.

 

[The King]

That's great. How tyranised your players must look!

BTW I think of another CoC adventure/campaign that could easily be adapted to Conan: the Masks of Nyarlathotep, because it can be developped in as many countries of the Conan area. With some will, it could even be extendend in others countries.
Just remember an excellent story of de Camp with the sons of Yezm as a secret society. Now transform it into a cult trying to bring Nyarlathotep back.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

And I just remembered the book that started this all: Chaosium's Dark Age Cthulhu. Though it is designed for use in the less magical Dark Ages of 950, not only does it introduce another Mythos Diety [Lilith, a personal favourite], but also captures that dark feel that Hyboria at its best can produce. It also has plenty of information about how a feudal system does and doesn't work, a lot of backgroud information on what life is like in primitive times- short, brutal and often fearful. One of my favourite parts- a list of a diseases common to the time period and their effects. More people died of disease than warfare to this day.....and plagues scare more players than a demon invasion. After all, its harder to fight. :twisted:

Also has a brief recap of non-Occidental cultures [for example the Arabic world for example is the flower of civilization in 950 AF] which can be incorporated into the Hyborian cultures as well. Also shows how a primitivce people's fear of the supernatural can be cultivated to produce an absolute religous tyranny. [i.e the Catholic Church in C: Dark Ages or Mitra in Conan]

Raven, who would like to note the Mitran are an enemy to her party considering the number of sorcerers in the group...

 

[JoeGKushner]

Read through the first two pages so pardon me if someone mentioned it latter, but Chaosium publishes Nameless Cults, which collects a lot of Cthulhu style fiction written by Robert Howard so it has some great ideas ready for plunder.

 

[The King]

Read through the first two pages so pardon me if someone mentioned it latter, but Chaosium publishes Nameless Cults, which collects a lot of Cthulhu style fiction written by Robert Howard so it has some great ideas ready for plunder.

Even better: look at the Baen Books printing of 1995 with 7 books featuring exclusively short stories by Howard, among other Cormac Mc Art, Kull, Bran Mac Morn, Solomon Kane and 3 other books of horror stories.
Truly excellent.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

Well, in case anyone is interested here's how the Deep One adventure panned out. The party managed to repel the inital Deep One invasion [no shoggoths on the Deep One side] and used the power points gained from the scarifice of a captive Deep One to power their Breath of Water spell. However, they didn't have enough to power it for more than 40 minutes and as they were 1200' below the surface, they just made it as the spell ended and were down to 7 or so rounds of air when they hit the surface. there they discovered a small boat that the island's previous inhabitant had hidden in an sea cave. However flush with inital victory, rather than doing the sane thing and leaving they decided to go back and try and loot the former sorcerer's tower.

At the tower, they ran into a large group of Deep Ones searching the isle and defeated them though not without losing some serious hp. Then however, the Ancient Spawn [a cross between a Spawn of Cthulhu and an oil slick] below the island began to waken, sensing the blood being shed on the isle. Without the Deep One priest [he had been killed earlier] to pacify it, it reached up and started devouring the the entire island. The party, in a scene much like the end of story "The Call of Cthluhu"- they flee desperately in a boat while an amphorous mass filled with the screaming souls of all its previous victims scoured the isle of all life before settling back to sleep.

However that wasn't the end of the Mythos connection. The next adventure created the link for my upcoming summer Call of Cthulhu game, but that's the next post.....8)

Raven, destroyer and creator

 

[The King]

...
Without the Deep One priest [he had been killed earlier] to pacify it, it reached up and started devouring the the entire island. The party, in a scene much like the end of story "The Call of Cthluhu"- them flee desperately in a boat while an amphorous mass filled with the screaming souls of all its previous victims devoured the isle of all life before setttling back to sleep.

Raven, destroyer and creator

Great! An apocalyptic Howardian conclusion. 8)

 

[JoeGKushner]

Read through the first two pages so pardon me if someone mentioned it latter, but Chaosium publishes Nameless Cults, which collects a lot of Cthulhu style fiction written by Robert Howard so it has some great ideas ready for plunder.

Even better: look at the Baen Books printing of 1995 with 7 books featuring exclusively short stories by Howard, among other Cormac Mc Art, Kull, Bran Mac Morn, Solomon Kane and 3 other books of horror stories.
Truly excellent.

Have 'em. Some great stuff in there. One of my favorites is the bit where a couple crash lands on an island with giant alienly intelligent crabs and decides to go out in a blaze of glory.

Sadly, I believe they are out of print but I think that Namelesss Cults, since I recetnly picked it up, is still in print.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

If you know any good used book stores, keep your eyes peeled. A lot of good stuff comes through there- you might find the above books. And last I checked, Chaosium was still in business and Nameless Cults still in print.

Raven, reader and writer

 

[Thoth Aw C'mon]

I like the idea of infusing more HPL's Cthulu mythos into the the world of Conan. But then I like the infusion of HPL into most things, being a big fan and all. Gee, I wonder what the mythos would be like in a Star Wars setting... How would the Empire react to the rise of Great Cthulu, except with some poorly aimed blaster fire from Stormtroopers...One would expect even clones can hit ol' tentacle head, being so big and all.. But i digress..

Certainly one aspect of this infusion, having played both games, (more of CoC than Conan) is that players would have to quickly learn about the benefits of running from an opponent. In CoC running is often an investigators best tactic. Often in sword and sorcery / fantasy games and worlds there is a reluctance to do this- choosing instead to be, well, heroic. Instead of running the warriors hack on against the giant beast, or what have you. When fighting the creatures of the Mythos, you take out the lesser baddies and their human cohorts and high tail it before the big baddies get their tentacles wrapped around you. But like everything this fusion can be done well and be a lot of fun, or done poorly and be a mess.

 

[Trodax]

Gee, I wonder what the mythos would be like in a Star Wars setting... How would the Empire react to the rise of Great Cthulu, except with some poorly aimed blaster fire from Stormtroopers...One would expect even clones can hit ol' tentacle head, being so big and all..

Star Wars/Cthulhu crossover? Hmmm, I'm not so sure. To me, the Star Wars setting seems a bit to glossy and light.
But other SF mixed with Cthulhu, I'm totally with you on. Something like Fading Suns (if you know that game) and Mythos horrors, yeah baby!

Certainly one aspect of this infusion, having played both games, (more of CoC than Conan) is that players would have to quickly learn about the benefits of running from an opponent. In CoC running is often an investigators best tactic. Often in sword and sorcery / fantasy games and worlds there is a reluctance to do this- choosing instead to be, well, heroic. Instead of running the warriors hack on against the giant beast, or what have you. When fighting the creatures of the Mythos, you take out the lesser baddies and their human cohorts and high tail it before the big baddies get their tentacles wrapped around you. But like everything this fusion can be done well and be a lot of fun, or done poorly and be a mess.

Actually, in Howards stories Conan wasn't at all reluctant to run like crazy from some supernatural horrors.

However, I've sort of had this problem with players who have played a lot of D&D, and relate all things d20 to that. The risk is that they expect all encounters to be fairly balanced, and decide to take their chances and slug it out. I'm guessing it would be easier to get old CoC players to run...

BTW, cute Avatar.

 

[The King]

....Certainly one aspect of this infusion, having played both games, (more of CoC than Conan) is that players would have to quickly learn about the benefits of running from an opponent. In CoC running is often an investigators best tactic. Often in sword and sorcery / fantasy games and worlds there is a reluctance to do this- choosing instead to be, well, heroic. Instead of running the warriors hack on against the giant beast, or what have you. When fighting the creatures of the Mythos, you take out the lesser baddies and their human cohorts and high tail it before the big baddies get their tentacles wrapped around you. But like everything this fusion can be done well and be a lot of fun, or done poorly and be a mess.

It should be noted that the critters which were slain by Conan are rarely bigger than twice it's size. It is not unheroic to flee from a creature like Cthulhu which is much bigger than a ship.
Even the greatest snakes that Conan fought had the size of its thigh for the body and the size of the head of an horse for its head.
Still it's a great idea.

Mixing Star wars and Cthulhu could also have its fun 8)