Some of m players want me to run an eldritch horror campaign, Lovecraft style. I need info on this style of play. I also need some eldritch monsters, in or out of the Monster Manual.
For monsters just about any aberration and many monstrosities and undead. I recommend having them roll an insanity stat, separate from the other 6 ability scores. Can't help much on setting or story.
I don't have much advice, but I've been interested in making something similar. Hopefully it will turn out well for both of us!
That being said, I do have a few ideas that may be helpful. I don't have much experience, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
If you haven't already, the game Darkest Dungeon has a lot of good ideas. Basic plot is trying to "clean out" tunnels under a manor that houses a gate to a dimension of Lovecraft-ian horror. The manor owner killed himself after his interactions and experimentation with "the other". The gameplay is similar to pokemon, with various adventurer types. Damage can be physical or in "stress" which is usually worse, leading to insanity.
I really like DxJxC's suggestion of an insanity stat for monsters. Maybe have more insane monsters have powers connected to an Cosmic source of alien strength: regenerating health, eldritch energy projection, whatever. Or have the stress mechanic from darkest dungeon incorporated with high insanity monsters damaging characters charisma somehow, or adding a player stat? Not sure how game breaking that would be tho..
I feel like the players asking for this style are wanting more of a mood than anything else. So, descriptions and encounters should cater to that. Make the whole place creepy, rich with descriptions of moldering bones, distant screaming, and the barely restrained panic felt by players and/or NPCs. I think that a wide menagerie of monsters isn't totally essential, just having the ones they run into be... well, horrible. Wrong, twisted somehow. Still working on how to make that work myself tho
And lovecraft's world in Call of Cthulhu really condenses into several core ideas in my opinion. The idea of things beyond human understanding and things that would break one's mind to see. The idea of entities to whom we and the whole human race are just ants, insignificant and easily or cruelly dispatched. The slow gathering of clues by character(s) leading to dawning realization of just how bad things really are. And the mood is all about panic, despair, insanity, and desperation. Ideally, the campaign could reflect the dire consequences of this brush with something so toxic and awful.
Well that's kind of a rant, but maybe something will help. And I'll be following along as I try to build my own story!
There is a sourcebook published by Petersen Games that brings the Cthulhu Mythos into 5e, if you're willing to dump money on it. It has statblocks for all the monsters (even Great Old Ones like Cthulhu and Outer Gods like Azathoth, though it's a bit non-traditional (gods, after all)
As for overall advice, use the madness rules (or homebrew something that feels appropriate). Even if the players make it out unscathed, NPCs should never do that. Finally, I reccomend running it like a mystery. The Eldritch influence shouldn't be immediately obvious. The Innistrad storyline from MTG is a good example, with the story starting out by small mysterious stuff happening (mutated monsters, strange magic afoot), then moving on to something devastating (Avacyn the archangel/goddess going insane) and finally Emrakul herself arriving on the plane.
You could also get an official module and mix it up a bit to add an eldritch note. Maybe the Death Curse from Tomb of Annihilation attracted the attention of Atropus? Or the entities in the Amber Temple of Barovia are far more eldritch than at first thought? Maybe Tiamat invaded the mortal realms because something is happening in Avernus?
i'm currently making an eldritch horror d&d 5e campaign. do you guys have any pointers i should know about?
here is th edescription for my campaign:
In the bustling 1930's town of Oakshire, Ny something is afoot. People have gone missing from the cast and crew of one of the many movies being shot there by the independent film company Silver Screen pictures. The town seems to be on no fault lines and have no infrastructural problems, but is constantly shaking. Now, a ragtag team of adventurers will delve into places to man has ever fathomed and see horrors in which the mind has no chance of withstanding, at the cost of their very own sanity. An eldritch horror campaign for up to 6 6th level players.
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Some of m players want me to run an eldritch horror campaign, Lovecraft style. I need info on this style of play. I also need some eldritch monsters, in or out of the Monster Manual.
Thanks in advance!
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For monsters just about any aberration and many monstrosities and undead. I recommend having them roll an insanity stat, separate from the other 6 ability scores. Can't help much on setting or story.
Thanks!
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I don't have much advice, but I've been interested in making something similar. Hopefully it will turn out well for both of us!
That being said, I do have a few ideas that may be helpful. I don't have much experience, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
If you haven't already, the game Darkest Dungeon has a lot of good ideas. Basic plot is trying to "clean out" tunnels under a manor that houses a gate to a dimension of Lovecraft-ian horror. The manor owner killed himself after his interactions and experimentation with "the other". The gameplay is similar to pokemon, with various adventurer types. Damage can be physical or in "stress" which is usually worse, leading to insanity.
I really like DxJxC's suggestion of an insanity stat for monsters. Maybe have more insane monsters have powers connected to an Cosmic source of alien strength: regenerating health, eldritch energy projection, whatever. Or have the stress mechanic from darkest dungeon incorporated with high insanity monsters damaging characters charisma somehow, or adding a player stat? Not sure how game breaking that would be tho..
I feel like the players asking for this style are wanting more of a mood than anything else. So, descriptions and encounters should cater to that. Make the whole place creepy, rich with descriptions of moldering bones, distant screaming, and the barely restrained panic felt by players and/or NPCs. I think that a wide menagerie of monsters isn't totally essential, just having the ones they run into be... well, horrible. Wrong, twisted somehow. Still working on how to make that work myself tho
And lovecraft's world in Call of Cthulhu really condenses into several core ideas in my opinion. The idea of things beyond human understanding and things that would break one's mind to see. The idea of entities to whom we and the whole human race are just ants, insignificant and easily or cruelly dispatched. The slow gathering of clues by character(s) leading to dawning realization of just how bad things really are. And the mood is all about panic, despair, insanity, and desperation. Ideally, the campaign could reflect the dire consequences of this brush with something so toxic and awful.
Well that's kind of a rant, but maybe something will help. And I'll be following along as I try to build my own story!
I apparently wasnt clear in my original post. I meant PCs should have a sanity ability score.
In addition, I remembered that the DMG has some rupes and tables for madness and insanity. https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/running-the-game#Madness
thats waht i'm doing too with my eldritch cmpaign
There is a sourcebook published by Petersen Games that brings the Cthulhu Mythos into 5e, if you're willing to dump money on it. It has statblocks for all the monsters (even Great Old Ones like Cthulhu and Outer Gods like Azathoth, though it's a bit non-traditional (gods, after all)
As for overall advice, use the madness rules (or homebrew something that feels appropriate). Even if the players make it out unscathed, NPCs should never do that. Finally, I reccomend running it like a mystery. The Eldritch influence shouldn't be immediately obvious. The Innistrad storyline from MTG is a good example, with the story starting out by small mysterious stuff happening (mutated monsters, strange magic afoot), then moving on to something devastating (Avacyn the archangel/goddess going insane) and finally Emrakul herself arriving on the plane.
You could also get an official module and mix it up a bit to add an eldritch note. Maybe the Death Curse from Tomb of Annihilation attracted the attention of Atropus? Or the entities in the Amber Temple of Barovia are far more eldritch than at first thought? Maybe Tiamat invaded the mortal realms because something is happening in Avernus?
i'm currently making an eldritch horror d&d 5e campaign. do you guys have any pointers i should know about?
here is th edescription for my campaign:
In the bustling 1930's town of Oakshire, Ny something is afoot. People have gone missing from the cast and crew of one of the many movies being shot there by the independent film company Silver Screen pictures. The town seems to be on no fault lines and have no infrastructural problems, but is constantly shaking. Now, a ragtag team of adventurers will delve into places to man has ever fathomed and see horrors in which the mind has no chance of withstanding, at the cost of their very own sanity. An eldritch horror campaign for up to 6 6th level players.