Shameless bump.

Shameful bump.

So, where does Nodens fit into all of this?

Been watching these threads. I would love to help out but I'm not so familiar with the WoD system. What kind of things are you trying to work out still?

>>13195770
Oh god, forgot him... I guess you could be one of his night gaunts.

Not sure if that's really PC material though.

3 nWoD lovecraftian thread. About 4 Cthulhutech. threads. One Children of an Elder God inspired AdEva. About 3 traditional CoC threads. Various Lovecraftian references in other threads.

>My face when the stars are right again.

It's just been a good week for the mythos. One of my favorite flavors to add to things to be sure.

Anyways, I'll see if I can come up with a few Abilities for our new guys.

Okay, coming in new, but I'd love to help.

Summarize your game for me quickly while I type up some of the stuff you'll need to figure out for nWoD crunch.

Powerstat: "Mythos"
Energy: "Madness"
Morality: "Quiescence"
Powers: "Rejections"
Factions: "Sects"
Groups: "Callings"
Azathoth - As a Chaos Prophet, you serve to maintain the sleep of the blind idiot god. You know all of reality is but a dream, and so can step outside the dream and project yourself into a physical form, or, 'mask'. This mask can have a number of different abilities limited by your tie to nuclear chaos.

Cthulhu - As a Starspawned Savant you have an existance half within this world and half beyond. In sleep you converse with the elders of rylei, gaining valuble insight. While awake, you can ever so slightly phase in and out of this world to avoid and inflict harm.

Yog- Sothoth - As Shepard of the Silver Key you can travel short distances by stepping into and out of the dream world of The Threshold where the gatekeeper watches. You can also call upon the wisdom and forms of your other-selves, fractions of your oversoul in other lives in other times.

Shub-Niggurath - You are a Young of the Thousand, carrying the line of a god whose only desire is procreation. You manifest the occasional mutation whether in the form of a pair of tentacles or distended jaws or otherwise and gain minor servants born of the black goat himself.

Hastur - As a Scion of the Yellow Sign you have glimpsed the unknowable and returned with your mind intact, albeit barely so. With a mere thought, you can warp the minds of those around you, twisting madness into their minds and weaving minor control over their actions. Things that drive others mad invoke no response from you, for you know that madness is the truth of the world.

>>13195770

An antagonist group. Him and his nightgaunts act as something of a reality police, fighting against the player characters.

My problem is that crunch is a really hard thing to come up with in this sort of format. Especially in one day. I'll be the first to admit myself that I'm terrible when it comes to the crunch. Take a look at Second Sight and the chapter on Things That Should Not Be for some ideas on the sort of powers they might have and how they'd work in nWoD.

Shub-Niggurath's spawn would probably have lots of powers based around altering and controlling their bodies, warping and mutating themselves in order to better serve the Mother.

Yog-Sothoth's spawn can utilise their progenitor's powers over time and space, looking into the future and the past, stepping through the curves of time and so on.

Hastur's spawn might specialise in both causing madness, and in causing the gradual degradation of reality around them. Where Hastur goes, reality slowly dies and Carcosa reigns.

Cthulhu's spawn have powers over dreams as well as mental powers.

Azathoth's spawn have raw, destructive power. The will of Azathoth made manifest tears reality apart. There's nothing subtle about them.

Nyarlathotep's spawn are generalists. They're ultimately unpredictable. They can do a bit of everything.

Good luck though. This is an awesome idea.

Archetypes:
Obedient Children - Dad/Mom/Master is over there and can't make it home. Where did we put the keys?

Visionaries - I see! I have become something more than human! What can I make of that?

Transients - I have ceased to be merely human. But that's not enough. I need to trascend.

Rebels - I am what? And if they get here everything what? Fuck your shit, they're not getting here as long as I live.

Nihilists - DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL!

Methods of gaining Madness:
>Starspawn- The madness spreads. The madness corrupts.
Gain Madness by surrounding yourself with it.
(An Asylum would be perfect). As priests of the outer gods they revel in their masters work.

>Shepard of the Silver Key- Madness opens all gates.
Gain Madness by acquiring knowledge of the Outer Gods
(arguably the most dangerous route to gain it)

>Young of the Thousand - The madness bears young.
Gain Madness by causing it in others.

>Chaos Prophet - Madness clouds the senses.
Gain Madness through deception (cause others to do something horrible without their knowledge)

>Scion of the Yellow Sign - Madness speaks. Madness tells me to do things.
Gain Madness by indulging it.

>Courtier of the Black Pharaoh- Chaos. Chaos crawls. Chaos spreads. Chaos infects. Chaos swarms.
Gain Madness by "Just as planned"

>>13195975

The player characters are people touched in some way by various Lovecraftian deities. This connection makes them more than human. As they grow to embrace their power, so reality starts to reject them, as well it should. They're abominations, not meant for this universe. Eventually, they might be removed from existence altogether.

>Madness isn't the direct source of power. It simply a sign that you are succeeding in perverting reality to your designs and this new reality is the source, the more 'like you' you make reality the more power you can exert. Calling it Madness is just cooler than calling it Altered Reality State.

>Madness is invested, not spent. It is level independent.

Outsiders have two kinds of powers.

Rejections and Rituals.

Rejections are the ways Outsiders slap reality in the face, doing stuff like reversing gravity, sublimating solids instantly and such.

They are at-will/mantained abilities, and work like a vampire's Disciplines. These are learned either by reading forbidden lore or meditating on your eldritch, alien nature. They may or may not require spending Madness.

Rituals are ceremonies related to the Outsiders, but not exclusive to them. Anyone with enough Madness and the knowledge of the eldritch lore can perform a ritual. Rituals are extended actions, often requiring up to hundreds of successes to be performed. Succeeding in these rituals gives the participants permanent benefits, either changing them somehow, or providing them with pieces of the great beyond (that beyond being either R'lyeh, the Infinite Chaos, or the world outside Azathoth's dream).

Do you guys have schools or general theme groupings for your rejections and rituals yet?

>>13196056
But Nodens actively opposes Nyarlathotep, and Nyarly has already been deemed an antagonist. Are they just going to be two evils that don't particularly get along well? Maybe they are even conducting a secret war that keeps them preoccupied from the world at large within the dream world of Unknown Kaddath.

>>13196167
You can't really make any one of them evil, ways about I see it. They should both be completely amoral, just in different ways.

>>13196128
Nope, that's right about where the last thread ended. Need to draw up some basic schools for these rejections to fall within. Here are some ideas:

Will Break (Mind altering and controlling)
Form Twist (Transformations)
Mindcast (Time travel and Scrying/Telepathy)
Manifestation (Summoning or energy creation)
Rift Breach (Teleportation and phasing from reality)

>>13196167

This 6 issue comic did a pretty good job dealing with Nyarlathotep, Nodens, and Cthulhu.

>>13196241

Make a few for each of Azy, 'Thul, Yog, Shuby and H-Man. Then give their worshippers easier access to those, in addition to having a bunch of general ones that all outsiders get.

>>13196195
Narly is about as evil as it gets in CoC... by which I mean he is actively, occasionally violently malevolent and essentially 'trolls' lesser species for the lulz.

also, the King in Yellow, as well as Yog Sothoth have been known to oppose him. (the first becasue he has a mask or two that imitates him and trolls his followers) the later helps the protagonist fight and eventually murder the Narthlyhotep empowered witch in "Dream of the Witch house"

>>13196359
Yes, but they should all be completely unknowable is what I'm getting at. Beyond the realm of mortal understanding. Their motivations are so beyond out concept of morality it hurts.

>>13196069

For the archetypes, I was the guy in the first thread who proposed some slightly more fluffy names. However, since they've been fleshed out, I can try again.

Sects

>Obedient Children
The Sect of Key-Seekers
Nick names:"Pets"(derogatory),"The Brethren", "Cousin"
Your Great Mother or Father calls to you, from far away. You know what they want: The Door must be opened, they must be allowed to return. You convene occasionally with others who share your goal, though sometimes they are the children of other Great Mothers and Fathers.
Of all the sects, The Brethren are the most supportive of other Outsiders. They see all those touched by the Great Parents as being blessed, and wish they would all unite to free their Mothers and Fathers.

Views on other Sects:
>Visionaries
The Sect of the Fluid Man: They understand that they are great, but never turn their eyes to the glory of their Sires.

>Transients
Sect of The Foul Seedling: It warms our hearts to see how much they try to grow up. Maybe one day, they shall be the ones to open the Door

>Rebels
The Sect of Sealed Portal: There will always be some rotten eggs, and if they persist in disobedience, they shall be punished in the name of The Sires.

>Nihilists
Sect of The Barren Garden: Their beliefs worry us. Surely, The Sires shall reward us when we find the Key.

That's what I've made off the top of my head.

>>13196406
erh... not really... he's prettymuch in it for the lulz. Of all the horrible gribblys from places man should not visit... he's just the Devil. A tempter and a manyfaced troll. Looks like a man, but then he's looked like a lot of other things too.

Humans touched or connected to the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods already exist in much of the mythos. This sort of renders some of the stuff in this thread redundant:

The Brotherhood of the Beast is dedicated to preserving the bloodline of Nephren-Ka the Black Pharaoh.

The Innominada are those whose minds have been emptied by the song of Hastur and may have undertaken the Unspeakable Promise which could result in them becoming Unspeakable Possessors.

The gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath is the name given to the favored, once-human worshipers of Shub-Niggurath. When the deity deems a worshiper to be most worthy, a special ceremony is held in which the Black Goat of the Woods swallows the initiate and then regurgitates the cultist as a transformed satyr-like being. A changed worshiper is also endowed with immortal life.

Wilbur Whateley was a spawn of YOG-SOTHOTH that interacted with human society.

Deep One Hybrids are closely connected to Cthulhu

Many dreamers and sensitives are linked to Cthulhu as well. Many of these people become very interested in mystic astrology.

.

>>13196459
Well, yeah, a troll is basically how we percieve him because his true motivations etc are beyond us. He's the living soul of Azethoth, It would be anti-thematic to presume to know him.

Uhg. I hate how Cthulhu gets ascended up with the old gods. Dude was a priest, nothing more, a cleric of the old gods. Sure, he was the leader of all those spawn, and sure, by mortal reckoning he was very powerful, but he's a lvl 1 cleric compared to divine rank 20 Azathoth and the like.

I mean really. He died in a boating accident.

>>13196241

Those schools could do with some more fluffy/cool names, though they serve as adequate descriptions.

Hmmm, how about this as a suggestion- each "School" owes its heritage to a Cult or Lost City, a progenitor of that "strain" of magic, if you will, which may include R'yleh and Y'hannethlei and Carcosa.
Although, we should probably make it flexible enough that even those who aren't generalist followers of Nyarly, for example, can diversify their abilities if they wish.

>>13196720
This is good. I like the background.

>>13196720
Got any more, anon?

>>13196795
The boat didn't kill him, the boat was him hitting the snooze button before mumbling something that would drive an entire city insane and going back to sleep.

I think playing on Outer God rivalries would make for really interesting games. How far could a Shepard of the Silver Key manipulate the local police to remove a dangerous Chaos Prophet? Will he be able to gain the trust of the people enough to fight the starspawn directly with their support, or will he have to direct from the shadows?

>>13196720
Pretty good. Except the right page is the same text as the left.

>>13197752
Writer-anon here. Can't claim credit for the typesetting and the like, but I did the little fluff bit for the Starspawned. I'm not exactly a Mythos scholar, but I could churn out one or two more if anon approves.

>>13195275
not too familiar with the cthulhu mythos bet for crunch remember this:

the five archetypes tend to reflect five different roles: Fighter, Sneak, Social, Spiritualist, and outdoors/animalist.

>>13198195
I would like some for Yog-Sothoth. Out of all of them, he seems the least likely to rape your face into oblivion and back.

>>13198241
Coincidentally, he's the one I know the most about after Cthulhu. On it.

You'd do well to read the short story "The Crawling Chaos". Wikipedia has a summary of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crawling_Chaos

It's a pretty good symbolic description of what Nyarlathotep (also known as The Crawling Chaos among its many names and faces) is. Nyarlathotep is entropy. Not just symbolically or ideologically, but also in the literal, 2nd Law of Thermodynamics sense. Nyarlathotep is the tendency of all things to end personified.

While this is bad for humanity, and in fact the awakening of the GOO may be one of its many schemes, ultimately what Nyarlathotep wants is bad for EVERYTHING.

>>13198786
If he is the end of all things personified, why would he try to keep Azathoth asleep? Waking him would end everything at once.

>>13198269
“You would not flee like a child from a scene disliked to a dream beloved, but would plunge like a man into that last and inmost of secrets which lies behind all secrets and dreams.

What you wish, I have found good.”

-Yog-Sothoth to Randolph Carter, sixth human Shepherd of the Silver Key

There are worlds behind worlds behind worlds in the roiling chaos which we know as the universe. Some claim to have seen their truest depths; the peril and majesty of the Dreamlands, the twisting madness of Dread Carcosa. Yet these are not the truest depths of reality. Beyond and behind all things lie beings of such incomprehensible properties that their intersections with each other and with the dimensions of “reality” create everything we know or believe to exist. Chief among these beings is Yog-Sathoth, and on Earth the facets of his being are known as the Shepherds of the Silver Key.

Those who are part of the whole that is Yog-Sathoth tend to share certain traits in common. Most often they are avid pursuers of knowledge. Where another might balk at opening a haunted tomb, a Shepherd will pry it open two-handed and what’s more bring a video camera. Where another might stay awake all night attempting to work around a difficult equation, an Encompasser will find a novel way to devour it in an hour and sit down with a good book for desert. Their minds are expansive, slippery, and more than anything else, hungry.

>>13198833
Because Gnarly is a bit of a dick. He enjoys fucking with us. He's also the closest thing humanity has to an ally (ignoring that Nodens bullshit) because he wants our species to endure. It is fun to watch humans squirm.

Any particular individual human? A toy for him to play with. And Gnarly doesn't play nice.

>>13198950
It is this mental hunger which leads them to unlocking the secrets of their being. Some of them make mathematical breakthroughs which lead them to surmise the existence of places beyond places, others visit places so very unlike Earth in dreams and wake clutching evidence of their travels, while still others paint or write of vistas so clear in their minds that they cannot but be real. Shortly after such experiences, they will come into possession of a Silver Key. No two have ever had exactly the same story; some were family heirlooms while others were simply found. Whatever the case, the visionary instinctively bears the key to a place of power where the planes of reality intersect, and unlock a Gate to the very presence and being of their patron, master and self, Yog-Sothoth.

When they arrive, the newly-minted Shepherds are granted pieces of wisdom that would blast lesser minds. They hear the tales of the gods of their world, of the intertwining of magic and physics, and most importantly, of their other selves. The greatest revelation granted by Yog-Sothoth is the realization that all beings in the universe of three dimensions are fractions of a greater whole which exists beyond it. Yog-Sothoth is one such being, and where the planes of time and space intersect with he and his kin, they create lines and polygons which in our reality are beings and worlds. What’s more, as all parts of the super-being are equally real, so are all its facets equally real throughout time and space. And with the proper symbols, these beings can be seen, spoken to…even summoned.

>>13198968
The powers of the Shepherds allow them to pull themselves through time and space along the trajectories between themselves and the other facets of their being. They can hop forward and back short distances in time or any direction in space, and moving back and forth between familiar intersections is as natural to them as breathing. Arguably more potent, however, is their access to the minds of other beings. Yog-Sothoth is the chief of the super-beings, and his fragments are invariably creatures of great mental fortitude. Thus through communion with his other selves, an Encompasser has access to virtually any knowledge. Those who achieve sufficient levels of potency can project their minds into the bodies of their other selves from across the gulfs of time and space, or even call their soul-brothers bodily into being on Earth (This can be particularly devastating if the caller is a student of prehistory. The most learned and cunning tyrannosaurus is still a tyrannosaurus.). Mysteriously, though, the Silver Key which led them to their powers deserts them after they come into their own. Theories abound on this phenomenon; some say the Silver Key is a parallel super-being which serves Yog-Sathoth, others that each is unique and is consumed by the effort of sending a mortal bodily beyond the bounds of existence. In the end, it matters little.

Of all the Elder Gods, Yog-Sathoth is unique in that he holds what could almost be classified as a certain paternal pride in humanity. Of all the species which have sprung from his being, humans have furnished the most Shepherds. Consequently his agents attempt to bring greater knowledge to their fellow humans that they may one day fully join all of Earth with the whole of Yog-Sathoth. Of course, some take issue with the idea of joining a single massive oversoul, while others simply cannot hold under the mental strain of the knowledge required. Regardless, the Shepherds press on, for their flock must be led.

>>13198981
Sterotypes:

Chaos Prophets – “They are the greatest threat to our work on this world. Grant them nothing but a merciful termination of their scrambled pattern.”

Scions of the Yellow Sign – “Knowledge they may bring, but it is twisted and corrupted. Lend them not your ear.”

Starspawned Savants – “Some of them grasp the edges of the truth that is Yog-Sothoth. They have their uses, as will their master if he ever awakens.”

Young of the Thousand – “Enemies of knowledge and advancement who must be undone. Fortunately, many of know a trick or two for them.”

Vampires – “What their existence implies for the super-beings as we know them is unknown, but it is known that they are a force of stagnation worthy of undoing.”

Werewolves – “Little better than the Young in their bestiality. Let them perish together.”

Mages – “That beings so potent should not be facets of Yog-Sathoth is puzzling. They merit much further investigation.”

>>13198833
What if it wants the end of Azathoth and itself as well?

Gnarly wants to end the universe because that's the only thing that'll kill him?

Nah, that's gay.

I assume that the Outer Gods come from the Lower Depths?

>Lower Depths
>Cthulhu Mythos
>The Bound

As a guy who lives a stone's throw away from WW, I can say that YOU ARE ON THE MONEY!

Maybe we should change it to Outsider:the Bound. Since the character are Outsiders and it revolves entirely around sealed evils.

>>13197000
thanks
>>13197752
not yet, though if enough rules gets produced I suppose I'd be tempted to do a little booklet (5-8 page spreads?)
>>13198095
yeah, I figured it'd be better to copypaste something actually interestin into it rather than go the lorem ipsum route.

>>13198950
>>13198968
>>13198981
>>13198988

This is pretty good. I'm really enjoying the implementation of the fluff of this so far.

Also, bumping for more shi/t g/ets done

This is a thread that will not die
And with strange aeons it may even be bumped

My thoughts coming from a lazy, snowbound day at work. Firstly, in response to >>13196795. Sure, in cosmic terms, Cthulhu isn't important or even powerful, but in terms of the "relationship" with humanity, he's way up there. His dreams reach out and touch all of us, some more than others. Besides Nyarly, he probably has the biggest and most organised cult amongst humans.

Secondly, in terms of threats, there's plenty to choose from. Other supernaturals are obvious. Hunters wouldn't blink before hunting down an Outsider. Mages would be either curious or horrified, neither reaction being healthy for the Outsider. Vampires would probably see them as a threat to the status quo. Changelings would be interesting, especially if we go with the idea that the True Fae are opposed to the Mythos somehow. Changelings, depending on their loyalties, may seek out Outsiders as allies.

Cults of the Mythos could either be a threat or an ally, depending on whether the Outsider wants to embrace his power or deny it. Servants of the other gods may oppose them. I think we should include other gods too, along with their human servants. Being an Outsider tied to Ygolonac could be either awful or wonderful depending on your point of view. Then there's Glaaki and Nodens and Ghroth and Eihort and on and on.

And then of course, there's the fact that reality itself abhors them.

Thinking about the Fae for a moment though. Would it be possible to make a connection between Arcadia and the Dreamlands? I mean, they seem vaguely similar. Maybe powerful Dreamers are people touched by Hypnos. Or maybe it's just an ability any Outsider can develop.

Shit people, at least look if the old thread is till up >>13183002
I kept posting stuff there in the hope for some feedback, while you started a new one.

>>13195275

While the Idea is awesome, I kind of think that "sects" and origins should be a different thing.

Like instead of being a "spawn of cthulhu", you have these and these looks and innate talents, your skin begins to grow amorphous and you start sprouting tentacles, etc.
While another origin would give you these and these innate talents and you begin to exist in multiple dimensions and leave glowing purple light where you touch.

and you can align yourself with a deity or cult afterwards.

So you have the "race" and "ideology" seperatly

>>13202802
Repostan

>>13202893

Several times we've said that reality hates them and will bitchshslapp them if they are not careful.
How will this work?
Do we use the same mechanic as Mage or do we handle it differently?

>>13203151
There's several different ways it could be handled. Innsmouth was slapped down by a combined force of the FBI and the Navy. Pickman was drug off by the things he painted to the dreamlands and became a ghoul. Ab'd Al Hazred was slaughtered by an invisible demon. Wilbur Whateley was mauled by dogs. Delapore went bonkers, ate a bunch of people, and was committed for the rest of his life. Randolph Carter became stuck in the body of an alien whom he could only control by drugging and ended up lost in space and time.

Quiescence 0 could result in quite literally anything.

>Haven't been on /tg/ in weeks
>What's this thread?
>Inverted CoC
Oh, cool.

>>13196056
>mfw it's the original Mythos vs. everything Derleth made.

>>13203597

>implying Nightgaunts and Nodens weren't written by Lovecraft
>implying Hastur was

Cmon man, let's not get into a Mythos-canon shitstorm. Not here.

>>13203597
>that picture
I was so sad when I saw the rest of that set.

Need a better name.

>>13203546

It really should be left up to the GM. Becuase having the universe go crazy might fit some games whereas other people might desire for a CoC style attack on you by investigators. Ending with elder sign based ejection from reality.

>>13203648
There was a set? Holy shit any info you can provide would be most welcome.

>>13203651

Outsiders works for me. It's generic enough that it doesn't start ruling out origins. It sums up what the players are, that is people who are fundamentally Outside of humanity. And it ties in with The Outsider, that Lovecraft story about a monster who doesn't realise what it is until it goes to a party, horrifies the guests and then sees itself in a mirror.

OP here. I started this thread, bumped, got no replies, and went to bed.
Wake up to this. I love you guys.

Major Ritual

The Infernal Play
Cost: 5M per rehearsal + 15M on performance night
Req: Ritual must be lead by a Scion of the Yellow Sign, theater and actors, 150 successes +20 successes on performance night.

You enact a performance of the 'King in Yellow'. If successful the area within a 1 mile radius around the event experiences a dimensional shift as Hastur's presence brushes against this reality. Full consequences of this are left to the Storyteller. The first 150 successes must be gathered by the actors during rehearsals with a Expression+Manipulation roll.
Be warned that if the actors are mortals they will experience a Morality degeneration per each rehearsal and at Morality 0 they are unable to perform. The bigger and more lavish the presentation the easier it is to balance this, but it's also more noticeable to antagonists. The last 20 successes must be achieved by the main celebrants lead by the Scion of the Yellow Sign. For every 5 extra successes the effect is extended by an other mile.

>>13204280
Forgot the roll for the celebrants:

Intelligence+Occult

>>13204280
>Full consequences of this are left to the Storyteller

bump
common we need content

>>13204440
I know that is seaweed, but hell if it isn't creepy.

original op/drawfag. how about another page spread, maybe one with rituals, since there are some done already? Preferably one with rituals only related to one of the groups, with a bit of flavor text for each? When we've got 6-10 of them I can make a rough outline of what the page should/could look like and we'll go from there.

Sounds good?

Thought I'd write up some defensive abilities. Here's what I got so far:

Angular Realignment
Cost: 2M/activation (continuous)
Req.: Starspawned Savant
Effect: By carrying a certain symbol on your person, you alter the flow of space in your immediate vicinity. The symbol costs 2M to engage, and is considered active until removed or destroyed. Whenever you are attacked, you may make a Mythos+Reaction roll vs the number of successes on the attack. If you succeed, the attack suddenly shifts trajectory and misses you entirely. If not you are struck, and there is a chance that the symbol is destroyed (25% for Bashing damange, 50% for Lethal damage, 75% for Aggravated damage. Note that the durability of the material from which the symbol is made is irrelevant, so a pewter pendant has as much chance of shattering as a charcoal sketch.

Visual Disjunction
Cost: 1M/minute (upkeep)
Req.: Shepherd of the Silver Key
Effect: You give the cosmic planes a gentle nudge, separating yourself ever so slightly from your own image. As long as you continue to expend Madness on this Rejection, any attack which would hit you does not do so unless it has an area of effect. On a missed attack, however, roll 1d10. If the result is greater than the number of misses the attacker rolled, you are unharmed. However, if the attacker rolls more misses, the attack hits. A sufficiently cogent attacker may also make a Wits+Perception roll vs. your Mythos+Manipulation to figure out where you really are relative to your image, negating the effects, but this in turn can be negated by simply disengaging and reengaging the Rejection (note that doing so does cost Madness).

>>13204548
Don't know, rituals & rejections are going to change a lot as they are being balanced.

>>13204568
that's not a problem really, the text is on a separate layer, making it so that when we get new content, I can save the page without the text and put it into an editing program (adobe indesign or something similar). thus, the text part will easily be changed along the way.

If you guys manage to scrounge up enough of something else, maybe A:tO-specific backgrounds/merits/flaws those could easily work just as well as a base to a page.

Bumping for most awesome idea currently on /tg/.

I like the original name but if you want to change it how about:
>Outsider: The Calling
>Forgotten: The Old Ones
>Aberrant: The Exiled
>Eldritch: The Return
Or any combination therein.

Also, we can have Major and Minor Sects, with the aforementioned five being the major sects the PCs can choose from and other creatures being of the minor sects.

Rejection
The Unnamed Color
Requirement: Yog-Sothoth heritage
Cost: 2M + 1M per week
Target: Area
A seed of corruption is called from the realms beyond and impacts the ground. Within a week the strange rock dissolves into the earth completely. A forbidden zone is created in a 1 mile radius in which life cannot grow. Currently surviving life loses its color slowly and then takes on the unnamed color before crumbling to dust one week later. After the first week the source is impossible to determine. For every human being that perishes within the zone the caster gains 1 point of Madness up to his Mythos level. Any victims claimed beyond that point cause the radius of the zone to increase. When the zone is no longer sustained the zone collapses and a minor Minion is created.

>>13204634

I'm cool with the current title, but Outsider: The Calling is cool too.

So I assume you guys have heard that Lovecraft is going to become a lot more popular again soon. A new At The Mountains of Madness movie is in production.

>Director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Matthew Robbins wrote a screenplay based on Lovecraft's story, but in 2006 had trouble getting Warner Bros. to finance the project. Del Toro wrote, "The studio is very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending, but it's impossible to do either in the Lovecraft universe." In July 2010 it was announced that the project would be made in 3D with James Cameron as producer.

>>13204687
that's us, ahead of the curve!

>>13204559

Recursion
Cost: 7M(continuous)
Req.: Chaos Prophet, Mythos 3
Effect: Exploiting a nice little loophole in reality, you project yourself into a Mask of yourself. This Mask is for all intents and purposes you, and retains all of your abilities, stats, and skills. It can use Rejections and perform Rituals, can gain or lose Quiessence, can spend gain xp and spend them on upgrades (and has the same xp pool as you when you engaged the Rejection) and is in all other respects a player character. If you are killed while occupying this Mask, you are shunted back into your original body, unharmed, with exactly the profile you had when you first engaged the Rejection (though you retain any unspent xp from when you occupied the Mask). Chaos Prophets generally engage this Rejection when they expect to be in immediate peril, or to give themselves a “save point” in case of unforeseen disaster.

Vivacious Inversion
Cost: 3M/use
Req.: Young of the Thousand, Mythos 2
Effect: You consume the energy and substance of an incoming attack to bolster your own form. Whenever you are attacked, rather than attempting to Dodge or Parry, you may instead make a Mythos+Stamina roll. If you roll under the number of successes on the attack, it hits as normal. If you roll over, you devour the incoming weapon or projectile and metabolize it instantly, taking no damage. If the attack normally deals Bashing damage, you may heal a number of Bashing wounds equal to the attack’s base damage. If the attack normally deals Lethal damage, you may either heal a number of Lethal wounds equal to the attack’s base damage or twice that number of Bashing wounds. Attacks which deal Aggravated damage cannot be prevented. Any weapons which are blocked in this way are destroyed, unless they are in some way supernatural (holy weapons, for instance). And for you powergaming smartasses out there, that does not mean that eating a bullet destroys the gun.

Explain to me how this is not CoC from the cultists' PoV.

>>13204687
>HP Lovecraft
>Director Guillermo del Toro
I just came a little bit.

Also, this project is awesome and I'm an idiot for not being able to contribute.
Only thing I'm good at is shooping, and even then I'm no exact master.

Rejection

Regal Presence
Cost: 1M/minute
Req.: Scion of the Yellow Sign or Courtier of the Black Pharaoh

No matter how grotesque your body, you gain an effective Presence of 5. If seen through with a Wits + Investigation roll or if willingly dispelled everyone who beholds you must flee in terror for a number of rounds equal to your Mythos. Resolve+Composure or using a will point negates this secondary effect.

>>13204747
That is exactly what this is. No one is pretending otherwise. Just using a different system then CoC.

>>13204747
>>13204813
Well, it's more about Mythos creatures than cultists, but it's not far off.

>>13204725

Glare of Carcosa
Cost: 1M/use OR 2M/use
Req.: Scion of the Yellow Sign
Effect: You turn your eyeless face upon an enemy and fill their sight with the barest hint of the madness of Hastur. You may engage this Rejection in response to an enemy declaring an attack against you. If you do so, you may spend 1M to reduce the attacker’s dice pool by a number equal to your Mythos, OR you may spend 2M to reduce their successes by the same number after they have rolled. If you engaged the first option, you may still Parry or Dodge as normal. If you engaged the second, your reaction is expended for that attack.

Why are masks a Yog Sothoth thing and not a Nyarlathotep thing?

Or would it be a shared ability?

>>13200192
WAIT WHAT THE FUCK

Did anyone notice this?

Is this guy implying WW's already making a Lovecraftian sphere?

>>13204725
>Req.: Chaos Prophet, Mythos 3
Hmm, this reminds me, all the other Rituals and Rejections need a Mythos level requirement

>>13204725
>And for you powergaming smartasses out there, that does not mean that eating a bullet destroys the gun.
Rephrase that to:
>Any weapons (or projectiles from projectile weapons) which are blocked in this way are destroyed, unless...

>>13204854
Masks are an Azathoth thing and, indirectly, Nyarlathotep too.

>>13204860
If they are, that's fucking awesome, but either way this thread/project is still diamonds.

>>13204877
Admittedly that would be better phrasing. Lost a bit of composure there. All the Madness floating around, you know.

>>13204897
I'm generally pretty well spoken, and I think I might be able to help by rephrasing weird descriptions, especially in regards to crunch, since that has to be 100% clear or it'll end up with a bunch of misinterpretable loopholes for, as you mentioned, powergamers.

Would it be possible to have the True Fae serve as the enemies of the Outer Gods? Like the Fae realize on some level that if the Outer Gods are allowed to roam free, that's game over, no more fun, nothing but boring tentacles and tedious insanity (not even the fun kind of insanity either).
The Elder Sign is the result of the most powerful pact the True Fae has ever made, a pact made with the universe itself. Bluntly it means "we're allowed to stay, if we help keep -them- out."

>>13204998
It's actually funny, because reality rejecting the old ones and their spawn makes about no sense in the context of everything being a dream of a blind idiot god. That, or our puny minds cannot comprehend what the fuck is really going on.

>>13204998
We were discussing it in the other thread as I recall, but you must also explain the second elder sign and the whole shtick of Nyarly being immune to them untill the real one is found.

>>13205051
Azathoth's sleeping dream is not designed or maintained for the purposes of the Outsiders, or anyone at all for that matter. It is a chaotic thing, driven by entropy, and the Elder Gods are ancient forces trying to impose their own order on a world that does not like to be bound by such methods. Each seeks some way to alter the very fabric of the universe in minute ways that suit their desires, but to what end can only be guessed at. The awakening of azathoth would cause all of this to end, both for the outsiders and those who live within.

They are called "Outsiders" because they originate from a parallel universe, not our own, that is also within the dream of Azathoth but connected only by the Infinite Chaos of his mind. Deep Ones and the Old Ones are not truly outsiders, though they have the most experience with them and posses contracts and pacts with them.

>>13205073
Nyarlathotep's immunity is easy to explain. Why would he be affected by something he helped create? Hell, perhaps he was the one the True Fae made a pact with, instead of the universe.
He's even kind of similar to the True Fae, if you think about it.

>>13205051
Well obviously. While on some level, everything that exists is the dream of Azathoth, the true shape of reality is even more complicated than that.

>>13205140
Nah, most of the Outsiders don't get their own Universe, they're just banished to the Outside and In-Between, in the vast emptiness containing banished abominations, waiting for the stars to be right so they are allowed back entry into reality.

>>13204998
This This This

Hmm, out of the basic fluff for the various Sects we have:
Starspawn (in the second thread)
Shepherds of the Silver Key (in this thread)

We still need:
Young of the Thousand
Chaos Prophet
Scion of the Yellow Sign
Courtier of the Black Pharaoh (if we want to count them as playable)

I'd one myself, but I'm not confident enough my knowledge of the Mythos is good enough for these.

>>13205502
Could we change Scions of the Yellow Sign to something about being Actors?

>>13205533
Thespians of the Yellow Sign

So the True Fey have existed as long as the Outer Gods. But they have reserved their own little corner of space for their fun. So they made a bargain with Nodens, a True Fey of the outer realm beyond this one, in order to bar the Outer Gods from this realm. However, the Outer Gods have much to achieve here in this realm, and so their servants travel forth, to and fro, seeking what it is their enigmatic masters require.

Sound about right?

>>13205579
Eh. I wouldn't be surprised if the True Fae are only as old as humanity is, or at least sentient life.

>>13205579
It rings a little hollow.

True Fae are also known as "Old Gods", but remember:
Equinox Road says that if a True Fae gains more than 5 titles, they achieve Wyrd Transcendence, and vanish from this reality entirely. What do they become?

Speaking of Nodens.
Whatever we decide to do about the Fey he surely has a connection to them on some level, being the King of the Wild Hunt and all that.

>>13205606
True Fae are basically made of myths and legends, so it'd be appropriate if they had to be spoken into being by the first humans.

Unless you want the chicken to come before the egg instead, and say that the True Fae gave legends to the humans

>>13205659
>>13205654
>>13205624
I don't know if we should really make a judgment call on the origins of the True Fae, but we can certainly say that they came after the Outer Gods had been in existence for eons. Also, Nodens must be connected to the Fae somehow, I agree.

>>13205624
I guess they become Elder Gods like Nodens and company, and get to play with the entire Universe in a vast war to keep the Outer Gods out and the Great Olds Ones asleep.
...Or they're just shunted outside the universe too.

I don't think you should put actual tie-ins to the true fae in this at all.
And not just because of people playing this without also saying that Changeling is in.
It's also just plain bad form to cling to the other games like that.

>>13205766 here
Which isn't to say that you can't hint at it.
Sure, you can. But don't state such things like definite facts.

>>13205773
True, we shouldn't be so explicit, but as previously stated Nodens has a pretty strong connection to the same legends that inspired Changeling also the Dreamlands sound awfully like Fairy, tho it could be just an other metaphysical realm.

White Wolf is careful about the intersphere shit, it usually just tosses in a sidebar going "Hey, this is a lot like that thing from our other game! Is it the same? Maybe! :) :) :)" and basically says it's up to the Storyteller to make the final call.

So usually at the most it'd be like "Nodens may be related to the True Fae or even one himself! Or he may be this other thing instead. Here's two more theories. Your plots are now DIAMONDS."

>>13205873
Probably the best idea. Same I dea with the dream realm of Yog Sothoth. Maybe the Fey are just squaters in a realm mainatained by a greater being. Maybe they're unrelated entirely. Up to the GM.

>>13205873
True. Though if this is a game about Cosmic Horrors, it could have a lot of sidebars, to tie in to the various other Lovecraftian things in the NWoD... I mean there's the True Fae, the Qashmallim, the Exarchs, the Acamoth, the Chthonians, the Idegam, etc.

It's important to remember that, generally, any WW supernatural can use any or almost any of the powers available to his kind.

So while you might be a spawn of Shubbie, you can still use the powers that are the purview of Azathoth. It just takes you longer to learn them.

I think another one of the major themes of the game is that the PCs just don't know. They often do what they believe the Outer Gods would want. An Obedient Child of Cthulhu does whatever he can to open the door, so to speak, and let Cthulhu back into reality.

But he has no way of truly knowing if that's what his patron really wants. The parents do not speak to the children, not really.

>>13205971
This. At the very most they just lock out one specific school if you're in direct opposition to it thematically.

Now I'm wondering what the Minor Template for Outsides would be. Guess we don't have to worry about that til the splatbooks though

I love what little I know of the Mythos, but my knowledge is limited to:

-the Lovecraft short story The Call of Cthulhu
-the Lovecraft short story The Shadow Over Innsmouth
-Nyarlothotep (the short-story/poem)
-the Gaiman short-story A Study in Emerald
-the Arkham Horror Boardgame

But I do have some experience story-telling nWoD, so I'll help however I can. Just so you all know, you're awesome and this thread is diamonds.

Will we also be including the various extraterrestrial Lovecraftian races? Like the Elder Things, the Great Race of Yith etc?

>>13205986
>Now I'm wondering what the Minor Template for Outsides would be.

Ordinary Cultists?

>>13205873
>>13205934
Speaking of Nodens a quick overview for the antagonists page (wiki saves):


>Nodens is one of the Elder Gods and appears as an elderly, human male with white hair—gray-bearded and hoary yet still vital and strong. He often rides in a chariot formed from a huge seashell pulled by some great beasts of legend.
Nodens is the god of the hunt and prides himself on hunting only the most dangerous and elusive pray, as such other gods are his preferred targets. While none but the most powerful of the Outsiders need worry about a personal encounter, he won't hesitate to use them as bait to attract bigger prey or as exercise for his Nightgaunts.

>>13206079
I think they shouls all be present in the world but the only ones we're really accounting for are those directly connected to one of the major entities and those that can pass as human or mortal. I guess Mi-Go might count since they are known to disguise themselves as human.

about time for a bump

last bump of the night
I expect to see glorious things here when I wake up.

Alright, I see this thread has died out so let's see if I can get it up and running again. Going to try to work up some fluff for our remaining three sects here, starting with the Young of the Thousand and then either the Scions of the Yellow Sign or the Chaos Prophets.

The thread may be dead, but I'm still very interested

Rituals

Gates Torn Asunder
Req: Mythos 10
Cost: 15 Madness (leader), 1 Willpower (followers) and 1 human sacrifice per day of ritual. Lavish temple dedicated to leader's patron god, 100 or more participants (not counting sacrifices).

You call upon the great powers of your patron god, in order to rouse it and coerce it into attacking reality actively. Each participant rolls Mythos+Occult if an Outsider, or Composure+Occult otherwise. At the end of each ritual, a human being must be sacrificed in a way that appeases the god (i.e. drowning for Cthulu, devoured by animals for Shub-Niggurath, etc. Turning the victim insane and having it kill itself is valid for all gods). Once 1500 successes have been accumulated, the god punches through reality and asserts itself on the body of the leading Outsider. Reality stops existing.

>>13208482
...Yeah that checks out I suppose. But what's the point? By the time you're halfway through literally everyone will be trying to kill you (including the other Outsiders if they want their patron to win)

>>13208523
Also I'd like to see how someone sacrificing over a thousand people for the express purposes of destroying reality as we know it can do so without reaching Quiescence Zero.

>>13208548
That's the point.

It's like Neutronium golems.

It can't be done.

>>13208548
I think it stands to reason that it doesn't matter if your Quiescence goes to zero during the ritual on the grounds that if it succeeds you won't be needing it anyways.

>>13208548
All participants roll.

Every success all participants get counts toward the total.

So the ritual could be finished in 1 day under the best conditions.

"Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!"
-Necronomicon
Life is transient in nature, but life is also tenacious. Once the seed of life has sprout it is nearly impossible to completely and permanently eradicate it. A catastrophe may serve as nothing but a pruning before the spreading wave of biological wonders and horrors that engulf a world. And every seed of a world spread from another world where life has blossomed. But the first seed was sewn from the womb of the being known only as Shub-Niggurath.
What precisely the nature of this ancient god is may never be truly known, but in the past he has been idolized by mortal and immortal alike under the name of the Black Goat, the lord of the woods. A fertility god, his sons and daughters have risen from rituals involving sacrifice and rebirth, twisting fragile mortal beings into brutal and feral creatures not known on this earth. These beings, a cacophony of horns, tendrils, jaws, and hooves were the first born of the unholy union of man and being of the Outer Realms. From these first thousands, birthed at the dark beginnings of humanity, more have been born generation to generation; each slowly in turn coming aware his or her true nature and the terror or power that comes with it.

>>13208700
These beings are the Young of the Thousand, carrying the blood of an Outer God, sharing a heritage barely reconcilable with their mortal forms. Many never even learn their true nature, spreading on their bloodline to a new generation and swelling the number of carriers. Those that do come aware may not be able to come to terms with their inhuman nature and what it means for mankind, but a rare few embrace their ancient father and are showered in his blessings.

The Young of the Thousand are poised in a very interesting position in the cosmos, for they are numerous and their numbers are ever growing, but the will of their progenitor is as foreign to them as to any other observer. Shub-Niggurath does not make his presence well known in this realm, though the marks of his passage are numerous. The most common interpretation by his young is that he seeks life as its own end, continuously seeking to spread and grow and develop, consuming worlds in raw biological evolution.

Sterotypes:

Chaos Prophets – "They can sustain the world and bend it any way they please, but we shall never be purged."

Scions of the Yellow Sign – “Madness is but another challenge that leads to progress. And we shall always rise to the challenge.”

Starspawned Savants – “Their nature is foreign to this realm. Our distant cousins, they will learn to respect their forefather or perish.”

Shepards of the Silver Key - "Let them quarrel over dreams and time. They do not concern matters of the flesh."

Vampires – “They are death and anathema to life. Their existence we can not abide.”

Werewolves – “A wondrous show of the might of nature and the chosen of the all-father. They are as brothers.”

Mages – “A few tricks cannot stall progress. They will be consumed and assimilated as any other mortals.”

>>13208893
Hastur next!


He's the most interesting of the five IMHO. Perhaps the Thespian of the Yellow Sign would be the face of the group?

Bump.

"There is a whole secret cult of evil men (a man of your mystical erudition will understand me when I link them with Hastur and the Yellow Sign) devoted to the purpose of tracking [the servants of the outer gods] down and injuring them on behalf of the monstrous powers from other dimensions."
-The Whisperer in the Dark

Long ago there was an ancient kingdom of Carcosa. The people lived in a magnificent age of decadence and frivolity and wanted for nothing. But such ordered lives without torment and toil cannot last, and here the first avatar of The Unspeakable One walked among man. He is known as the king in yellow, and in his wake madness and insanity spread without end. In his masked but unmasked form he made known to the denizens of Carcosa a great truth that no mortal mind can comprehend. The entire city was consumed in the ensuing calamity, utterly destroyed by its own residents, and was never heard from again, stricken from all the history books but for a few dark tomes kept in forbidden collections in guarded libraries.

Such is the legacy of the entity known as Hastur. He is also called He Who Is Not To Be Named, for his presence arises seemingly at random, sparked often merely from recalling his existence. Tales abound of plays remembering forgotten Carcosa causing riots and murders, or of merely speaking his name with reckless abandon leading to minor outbreaks of delirium. His powers are not of the physical world, but of the mind, but are no less dangerous than any tangible threat. As such, he is whispered in hushed tones as being a god of madness and insanity, though this is not his true nature.

A very rare few, who are not utterly destroyed by the revelations of the Elder God realize that he is in fact a god of truths far beyond the comprehension of man. However, to know these truths is to lose your very ties to the human race, for they are short sighted and cannot understand the true workings of the universe at large. These rare learned Scions are often scholars of the occult who have sought such dark and terrible secrets for years, for only men such as these would not have their resolve shattered upon learning of His existence. They often adorn themselves in the traditional robes of yellow, reminiscent of the first avatar of their patron, and his works of spreading the great truths of the many realms.

Sterotypes:

Chaos Prophets – "They glimpse but a fragment of the true nature of the world. Let them cling to their misguided notions."

Young of the Thousand - "They are but pawns in a cosmological game of which they do not even know the rules. Sad, really."

Starspawned Savants – “They herald a message that mankind is not ready to receive. But we shall help to prepare them.”

Shepards of the Silver Key - "The realm of the mind is the where all true power lies. We must respect those who protect its sacred gates."

Vampires – “They carry a part of the great truth in themselves, making use of powers they do not understand. Impotent fools is what they are.”

Werewolves – “A verdant force, they are no concern to those who care not for matter of the physical world.”

Mages – “They disrespect the truth, twisting its nature and bending it. They know of it but forsake, choosing to abuse it.”

Does that leave Azathoth, then?

Oi... I'm a little tired. If the thread is still up I'll do Azathoth later. Until then, best of luck to whoever picks up this thread next.

>>13209419
Saving all of these in a Word doc. Shit looks good in Industria,

All this stuff is being compiled, right?

>>13209713
I'm saving all the relevant shit.

>>13209713
It's also being archived along with the first two threads:

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13195275/

Bump.

>>13208700
>>13209353
Reading this I wandered why they fell somewhat short of the length of the first Sects, than I noticed that they lack a description of the powers most associated with them and who could likely become one. I'll try to remedy this:

Young of the Thousand

While none of the creatures associated with the Outer Gods can be said to have a stable corporeal form, few take to change as readily as one of the thousand. Their complex genetic sequence contains a billion billion adaptations from thousands of evolutionary paths from just as many alien worlds. Where as other Outsiders might be able to support one or two greater mutations without fear of loosing their identity a Young of the Thousand can do so indefinitely. In fact the most powerful representatives of this Sect will appear to be an alien, but 'oh, so frighteningly' natural mass of disparate body parts. But if you were to take a scalpel to one of them, you would find at it's core a very human form, or whatever the Outsider's original form was.

While literally anyone has the potential to ascend to the ranks of the Young, the most likely aren't those with we consider to have deep connection to nature, but hose who take an immense joy in being alive or from those who indulge their baser instincts. Most Young will arise from adrenaline junkies, survivors, serial rapists/murderers.


Not much, but it's something, I'll suplement Hastur later if I have the time.

>Talking about The Bound from Mage.
>Implying The Old Ones were Bound by Mages
Does this mean that Outsiders oppose the Abyss?

How would the cultists of the Yellow Sign react to those of the Red Word:Cannibal English Majors trying to eat people out of history in order to bring about a blasphemous anti-timeline where the only god is a mobius loop of suffering and the only miracles that occur serve solely to allow people to breed so that the suffering never ends?

I know who our Iconic Shepard is.

Kendall Hart from the Mysterium book.

>Abyss
>Lovecraft

>The Place Between
>Carcosa

So is Hastur the so-called "Lonely Exarvch", or did 'she'(if she existf) call hin?

Fuck. He just wants her to be hapoy, coult we reallu demhhkodklnn''↓£

bump

bumping for more glorious homebrewing

Right, so another easy, snowbound day at work led me to another bunch of thinking about this. I love it.

Firstly (appropriately), I think we need to consider how Outsiders come about. I think it should be left as open as possible and not really have a set in-game effect. Whether you were born this way (and then whether as a purpose-bred vessel for the Gods' power, or as a result of a Cosmic Accident, being born at the wrong place at the wrong time) or whether it came upon you later in life (and then whether you sought it out or whether you just happened to read the wrong book) shouldn't really have an effect, beyond the sort of stats and merits you choose.

Skimming through the rest of the thread, I'm not entirely sure I like the focus on Nodens. Sure, include him, but don't make him the big bad hero fightan the Mythos. Him and the other "Elder Gods", as well as other, less important deities of the Mythos should be included as either antagonists, or the source of other Outsiders. Once we've got the big five or six out of the way, we can start coming up with rejections for Cthuuga and Tsathogua and the rest.

Secondly, this might be heresy, considering how far it's gone, but the more I think about it, the more I think we should remove Azathoth and replace him in the fabulous five with Nyarlathotep, at least to start with. I really struggled to think about what an Outsider linked to Azathoth would do (that wouldn't be better done linked to Nyarly). Sure, keep Azathoth in, but I don't think there's enough mileage there to make him a main player.

Thirdly, I think we should have a list of general rituals and rejections open to everyone at the same cost. Initiation rituals would serve pretty much the same purpose for an Outsider of Yog-Sothoth as for an Outsider of Hastur: damage the sanity of the cultists watching and bring them under your sway. I don't think we need specifics for each Outsider.

>>13216241

I also think being an Outsider should give bonuses to certain skills, or at least specialisations. It doesn't matter whether you embrace your heritage or not, you'll still know far more than you'd want to. Hastur might give Crafts and Expression; Shub-Niggurath gives Survival and Animal Ken; Yog-Sothoth gives Science and Acadamics; Nyarlathotep gives Politics and Persuasion; Cthulhu gives Occult and something else.

Personally, I'd be wary of making the links with other nWoD splats too concrete. The strength of the Mythos as a device is that the truth isn't set in stone. Give a variety of options. Are the True Fae ancient opponents of the Mythos, and is the Elder Sign the symbol of their pact with reality? How much do Mages know (and how much are they responsible for)? Keep everything murky.

And then I came up with the outlines of a few Rejections and Rituals. I'll just type them up shortly.

Mother's Milk

Young of the Thousand Rejection

From somewhere on your person, you lactate a milky substance similar to the milk of Shub-Niggurath. Imbibing it yourself has no effect, but should anyone else drink it, they need to roll Stamina + Resolve. On a failure, they take a -2 penalty to all Mental rolls, but a +2 bonus on all Physical rolls, as the Milk strengthens and warps their being, but reverts them to a more primal, animalistic state of mind. On a success, they still suffer a -1 penalty to Mental rolls, and a +1 bonus to Physical rolls.

>>13216241
>>13216288
>the more I think we should remove Azathoth and replace him in the fabulous five with Nyarlathotep

Agreed, Azathoth could easily be left alone and replaced with Nyarly. I was thinking that since reality is supposed to be Aza's dream we could link the reality backlash against the Outsiders. Something like:
"In your recklessness you have attracted the attention of the blind idiot god, the very fiber of your being quakes as he swats you like an annoying fly."


>Personally, I'd be wary of making the links with other nWoD splats too concrete.

We discussed this, I thought that general consensus was to handle that in a sidebar.

>>13216406
Probably for the best. Azathoth is just too impartial and not directly linked to anyone but other elder gods.

>>13216406
>>13216423

He's not just impartial. There's a reason why he's called a mindless idiot: he's more of a force of reality itself than an actually conscious entity capable of reason, emotions, or formulating opinions, no matter how alien they would be to us.

Of all the supernatural beings in the Mythos, Azathoth is one of the only ones who ISN'T worshipped, and that's for a pretty fucking damn good reason.

So now we have:

Cthulu - Starspawned Savant
Yog-Sothoth - Shepard of the Silver Key
Shub-Niggurath - Young of the Thousand
Hastur - Scion of the Yellow Sign
Nyarlathotep - Courtier of the Black Pharaoh

With Azathoth as the beginning of all outsiders and the omni-god. All of our general abilities can be linked to him, which would work out thematically.

>>13216450
How about we rename the Reality Backlash to simply Azathoth. It could be used by Outsiders as both a name for the whole of creation and the backlash effect.

>>13216450
This is true, Azathoth is usually thought of as the nuclear chaos. A thing at the center of the infinite chaos that everything fears but more as an inevitable force of nature than as a sentient entity. Nothing can control it, only make use of it at great risk to life and limb.

"The mindless entity Azathoth, which rules all time and space from a curiously environed black throne at the centre of Chaos."
-The Dreams in the Witch House

>>13216453
Just coming into this as an outsider (hurrdurr), Young of the Thousand doesn't sound like a good name, although it's obvious why you chose that. I find the Nyarlathotep name a bit suspect too, and the Hastur and Yog-Sothoth ones are passable but I think this could be better. This is a bit of a trivial criticism, I know.

I'm going to go read through this thread now. My favourite out of those you have selected is Nyarlathotep, as the prose poem of the same name has one of my favourite sentences from Lovecraft, or perhaps anywhere: "And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare." The same prose poem seems to imply he has mastery over the dreams of men and over arcane science. Madness would be another obvious domain.

>>13216510
That said, if Azathoth isn't a player option neither should Nyarlathotep be. He is the agent of all Azathoth's desires, and his relative humanity compared to the other Mythos creatures may not be what you want in your player fluff and abilities. Even in the Mythos, he conflicts with Hastur, so that's another possible downside of including him.

>>13216541
Hastur is about madness.
Nyarlathotep is about chaos.

>>13216551
Debatable. Nyarlathotep actively delights in causing madness, to the extent of staying his hand purely to allow those spared to live on in madness. It's arguable he only appreciates this in the vein that madness is mental chaos, but at the same time that still produces a greater or lesser focus on madness.

I'd also direct you to Hastur's modus operandi of thinning the walls of reality as a place or person draws its interest. This is associated with madness, but 'irreality' is much more focused on the general concept of chaos than on madness in particular. Not that I'm debating Hastur's particular portfolio of interests, I'm simply pointing out how the two conflict and overrun into each other.

>>13216510
Let me see if I can concoct a few alternative titles:
Starspawned Savant seems like a pretty strong name. It's simple and expresses the right feeling.

Young of the Thousand -> Sculptor of Flesh, Dark Ramchild, Progenitor Prophet, Bearer of The Black Blood

Coutier of the Black Pharoh -> Servant of the Masks, Entropic Warder, Chaos Caller

Scion of the Yellow Sign -> Playwright of Epochs, Grand Masquerader, Servitor of the Unnamed

>>13216728
Bearer of the Black Blood I like, a lot. That sounds really sinister and it conveys the dynasty theme you seem to be going with instantly. I think 'Courtier' is the weak part in the Nyarlathotep name, 'of the Black Pharaoh' is solidly Lovecraftian.

>>13212656
The supplemental text for Hastur:


Scions of the Yellow Sign

Scions have the uncanny ability to twist and bend truth to their own ends. Who but those who know the the whole story can use it to their own advantage? They are masters at just what needs to be said to calm an enraged temper or to fan the flames into a self destructive homicidal rage that could live entire communities scarred for the remainder of written history. Not even the fabric of reality is safe from their touch and they delight in reshaping it to their whim. For after all truth is in the eye of the beholder.

While Scions are most often associated with actors, anyone who makes a living by expressing his own truth could just as easily be one. Journalists witnessing the depths oh human depravity, politicians swindling the masses, the artists depicting infernal landscapes all could attract the attention of the King in Yellow.
Not sure I'm satisfied with this, but here it is non the less. Corrections and improvements welcome.

>>13216754
>Courtier - a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.

Seems appropriate.

>>13216728
>Playwright of Epochs
This sounds pretty cool, tho I'm fine with Scion of the Yellow Sign

>>13216728
>>13216510

Young of the Thousand seemed fine to me, but I wholeheartedly agree about Nyarlathotep. The Black Pharaoh is one Mask amongst Millions. Most Outsiders linked to Nyarlathotep would never have even heard of the Black Pharaoh, they'd feel the embrace of the Bloated Woman, or worship the Bloody Tongue, or fear the Black Wind, or venerate the Haunter in the Dark with its three-lobed burning eye.

The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that we shouldn't assign names to the Outsiders like they're part of some overarching group. The way I see it, Outsiders should be the rarest of supernaturals, since they're so potentially powerful. Most won't have any real connection to any others.

>>13216785
Maybe just 'Mask Bearer', then.

>>13216785
That's what Nyarlathotep does, though. Not what the players do.

>Shepard of the Silver Key
Oh Commander, what have you done!

>>13216840
Eh, could just make it Keeper. Of the Silver Key sounds fine, though.

What is Nyarlathotep's proposed focus? My understanding so far:

Yog Sothoth - Space/Time phenomenon, probably summoning and mythos magic as well?
Cthulhu - Dreams and mental dominion, probably some level of unnatural charisma?
Shub Niggurath - Form manipulation, physical prowess
Hastur - Madness, disintegration of reality

>>13216829
This is a WoD stile game, every faction is known by a thousand different names this are just the suggested names used for clarity so everyone knows what it's being talked about when reading the book otherwise you are going nowhere.

>>13216876
The Crawling Chaos is the most iconic of the names for me.

>>13216876
By the way, we should save ALL the proposed names, to be listed in the "Also known as:..." section.

>>13216864
>What is Nyarlathotep's proposed focus?
Trolling..errr... Discord!

I like this. Keep of the Key sounds much better.

Although yog-sothoth is also worshipped by the Yuggothians, or the Mi-go. Are we going to incorporate them into this as well?

>>13216934
In due time.
Sects now, Allies & Antagonists later.
(Mainly because we ain't sure how to stat PCs yet, let alone NPCs)

Heralding Carcosa

Scion of the Yellow Sign Ritual

The doom of Ythill is to be repeated on Earth. The King's Heralds pave the way for Him to step down on to the Earth. This expensive and powerful ritual transforms the area around the ritual site (based on the caster's Mythos and bounded by specially prepared stone monoliths) into Carcosa. The area around Carcosa is patrolled by the Spawn of Hastur and swarms of Byakhee flutter back and forth from the dream-city to the surrounding area, and a powerful blizzard hampers efforts to get into the city.

Once in the city, the bizarre, dream-like nature of the place makes it nigh-impossible to leave. The geography of the place changes when not observed. It is the night of the masked ball at the Palace and the Stranger is about to unmask. The city is trapped at the moment of Carcosa.

Mechanically, within the city, Rituals and Rejections inspired by Hastur gain a +2 bonus. Simply being present in this insane place causes Madness.

>>13216922
But what does that mean, exactly? I think it would be a reasonable point to decide now upon some core skills that will be available to the different sects. Discord is a very general idea, and it's hard to see how it differs to some of the other specialties.

>>13216864

Nyarlathotep does a bit of everything, but with more focus on aeon-spanning schemes and conspiracies. I think its harder to pin down Nyarly's focus because he doesn't really have one. Perhaps the best way to approach it would be to have Outsiders linked to him be able to buy any Ritual or Rejection for an average cost, instead of having some cheaper and some more expensive.

Though that may be a little broken.

>>13216994
Mental manipulation, mostly.
Bonus points if done to the willing. Said willing can be procured by way of enhanced charisma and rhetorics.

I'd see it starting with a power that increases your social skills, progressing to planting suggestions by telepathy, then mind control, then mass mind control, then body switching.

>>13217033
But that seems to be similar to Cthulhu?

>>13217010
I really wouldn't advise including a generalist and four specialists. The generalist will seem lacking in comparison, especially if he doesn't have any unique ability.

Nyarlathotep is the only one we don't have a splat page written out for yet (excluding azathoth of course), but I would imagine we should make his focus conscription of allies bound to his will, collecting the souls of the unwary through pacts, and increasing the ranks of his innumerable legions of those who worship out of both adoration and fear. All with the express purpose of maintaining the "pipers" that ensure the sleeping of Azathoth and the continuation of the universe. Perhaps he should have a focus on pacts with some mind and body altering abilities. Maybe summoning of minor masks of Nyarlathotep.

>>13217081
Nyarlathotep is quoted in at least one Lovecraft story was being the "soul" of Azathoth, though. The two seem to exist almost symbiotically. Nyarlathotep is the interpreter and immediate agent of Azathoth's every wish.

>>13216864

>probably summoning and mythos magic as well?

I don't think it's a good idea to limit this to Yoggie. On the magic front, every Outsider is going to have "magical" abilities. On the summoning side, I think it'd be best to let each type of Outsider summon creatures that also worship their God, for instance the Young of the Thousand could call out to the Dark Young.

Hell, maybe that could be a common ability: Each Outsider has the ability to act as the centre of a ritual that summons entities favourable to their cause, including humans. The Dark Young come at Shub-Niggurath's call, the Deep Ones and Star Spawn answer Cthulhu's psychic pull and so on.

But then you'd have to be careful not to make it a game of summoning monsters and using them to fight for you.

>>13216934

The Mi-Go are the definition of neutral operators. They worship the "Gods" because they're practical. Shub-Niggurath worship increases fertility, so she is worshipped. Not doing what Nyarlathotep tells you to results in unpleasantness, so you do what he tells you.

They can definitely wait, since we aren't just making Inverse Call of Cthulhu in nWoD. Inverse Call of Cthulhu is the players being cultists, like the small chapter in Delta Green Eyes Only suggests. This is very much a Lovecraftian themed World of Darkness, which isn't the same thing.

>>13217063
Cthulhu is more 'ohgodohgodhereitcomespleaserapemefirst', though. Dreams, too. Nyarlathotep would work within the bounds of sanity at first, by being really, really convincing. Recruiting allies and co-conspirators instead of murderous loonie cultists.

One route you could play off is that Cthulhu, and indeed all other Great Old Ones, are bound by the Elder Gods, while the much more powerful Outer Ones, like Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, Yog-Sothoth and kin, are not bound in the way GOOs are. Hell, some GOOs (like Ithaqua) cannot even leave certain boundaries of space.

From this thread, I gather that all but the craziest Outsiders are generally okay with the status quo. The Star-spawned may try to do something against that.

>>13217145
The Outer Gods are intentionally far more powerful than the Great Old Ones. This doesn't really matter from the perspective of players playing as some facet of one of the other, but maybe we should aim for a clear dichotomy between them. We have three Outer Gods and two Great Old Ones as it stands at the moment.

>>13217116

Nyarlathotep's got a good thing going here. He doesn't want Azathoth waking up because that means the end of everything. Nyarlathotep only has power because Azathoth sleeps.

Of course, this is all idle human speculation on something we could never truly understand.

As regards to Nyarlathotep's abilities, I think this is a common problem. In the Call of Cthulhu card game, the Mythos side has factions for Cthulhu, Shub-Niggurath, Hastur and Yog-Sothoth. It's hard to say what sort of abilities define Nyarlathotep, beyond acting like a giant dick and enabling the other Gods.

For Hastur's sects, perhaps their names should play off of one of Hastur's - The King in Rags and Tatters. Unfortunately the furthest I've gotten with this idea is The Knights in Shards and Slivers, but the general idea is that each of the sects is named after someone who would be in a king's court (jesters would be a good one for the nihilist group, but again I'm lacking names, best I can think of is The Jesters in Foolishness and Madness).

>>13217145

>bound by the Elder Gods

Man, I really dislike that particular bit of fluff. The idea that all of the "Great Old Ones" are somehow sealed away by other poorly defined race of entities. The Great Old Ones have nothing in common with each other beyond being less powerful than the Outer Gods and more powerful than the "Elder Gods", which I prefer to think of as the gods of the Dreamlands.

>>13217173
What I think is a key implied attribute of Nyarlathotep is that he understands perfectly not just the world we know and the world of the Outer Gods, but the relation between the two. When it talks about his feats of science in 'Nyarlathotep' for instance - is that him simply showing us more advanced scientific principles or is that him successfully invoking mythos physics through the medium of our own technology. Nyarlathotep seems defined to possess unresistable intelligence and charisma, as well as an understanding of his victims/subjects/whatever on a minute scale. He doesn't seek oblivion, but madness and chaos and suffering. In some ways, he really comes across as the devil in the details. Impossible to avoid, impossible to outwit, impossible to resist - and unravelling everything thread by tiny thread.

>>13217215
Just as a note on considering this in relation to the game: it would be fitting if Nyarlathotep's Outsiders had incredible resistance to being noticed by Azathoth. They can invoke the mythos a lot more, even in 'plain sight' so to speak.

>>13217215

Actually, that got me thinking...

Nyarlathotep is the only one of our five that really gets involved. Perhaps the special abilities of His Outsiders could be related to the fact that He is far more willing to actually get involved and issue orders. Everyone else has to rely on hearsay and interpretation, whereas He's far more easy to contact and will give out advice and knowledge (though not necessarily to the advantage of the Outsider).

Powers should be more like mummy the resurescton, with paths with lists of spells to pick from.

>>13217284
>He's far more easy to contact and will give out advice and knowledge (though not necessarily to the advantage of the Outsider)

I can just imagine Nyarly handing out random information to piss off people who ask him for advice when it's inconvenient for him. You ask him how best to spread madness and despair, and sometimes he comes back with information about beaches, or quantum mechanics.

>>13217284
Knowing Nyarlathotep, I'm pretty sure he'd be a complete dick about it, like a cosmic horror version of Eldrad who can communicate with you via any medium, including some that don't exist yet. Imagine fapping to some elves after a hard day of accidentally breaking reality and getting chased around by Hounds of Tindalos, except when you're at the brink of climax, the image you're beating off to comes to life, starts vomiting black ichor and tells you your next task, leaving you completely blueballed. Thanks a lot, Nyarlathotep!

>>13217302

Unless I misundestand you, this is pretty much what we're going for.

Each type of Outsider will have a list of Rituals and Rejections to spend xp on. They can buy rituals and rejections from other types' lists, but it costs more.

And, like in Changeling, I think there should be a common list that's cheaper for everyone to buy from.

Rejection

Gift of carrion
Cost: 1M (continuous)
Req: Any animal/human part

Attach any body part you happen to have obtained from an other living being to your own body. It functions as if it a normal part of your body and is affected by other Rejections that reshape it.

Shark jaws on your belly? Yes please.

Wasn't Nyarly fucking around with radioactivity and then explaining the basic concept to some intellectuals in the Black Pharaoh?

>>13217571
Nyarly as I recall was inspired by Tesla and represents Lovecraft fear of science, so I could see it.

>>13217588

Did Lovecraft read The World Set Free, or did he inspire it himself?

Hmm.

I think we should ignore the Elder Gods. They were a later introduction, not even by Lovecraft, and giving some kind of hope to mankind by introducing opposition to the GOO and the OG detracts from the theme of the game.

>>13195939
You ever notice, although he's not really smiling, he does seem rather smug?

le bump

>>13217571
Narly caused Chernobyl? STALKER in my CoC? Yes please!

>>13217808
Chernobyl could easily be any successful major ritual, really. Nobody knows who actually did it, but all would like to claim responsibility.

>>13217851
Tunguska, too.

Do we have IRC?

>>13217908
Not that I know of, but we could make one.

>>13217908
>>13217926
So, what server and channel?

I'm wondering if we should break up the Rejections into broad categories, sort of like Hunter Endowments. Every dot you take in a given category gets you X number of known Rejections, and each category of Outsider starts with two categories. A rough set of categories might be:

Communion: Access to knowledge from outside the mortal realm. Known to Keepers of the Silver Key and Scions of the Yellow Sign.

Duress: Power over the minds of others. Known to Starspawned Savants and Courtiers of the Black Pharaoh.

Hypergeometry: The warping of space and time through symbols and spells. Known to Starspawned Savants and Keepers of the Silver Key.

Polymorphism: Control over one's physical form and that of others. Known to Young of the Thousand and Courtiers of the Black Pharaoh.

Summoning: The calling of creatures beloved of your patron. Known to Young of the Thousand and Scions of the Yellow Sign.

>>13218032
Disagree, but I disagree with the way WW does shit like that anyway so whatever.

>>13217982
sup/tg/ would probably be the best option

>>13218119
k, interested parties join #AlienTheOutsider on sup/tg/

>>13218252
bump for IRC

>>13217705
But... Nodens was made by Lovecraft.
However, I do agree with you that most of the Elder Gods shouldn't be statted, or even directly mentioned. All they know is that Nodens is an Elder God, and the Elder Gods are presumably responsible for the Elder Sign. Who/what the Elder Gods were, their intentions, and even if there are any of them left alive should be kept ambiguous.

>>13218032
I would recommend staying away from the Hunter system. Something like Promethean's transmutions would be best.

>>13218032

I kinda like this actually. It makes sense. My only problem with it is that it risks making all of the abilities rather generic, when having a specialised list for each God would keep them special. Each God would kinda lose its flavour.

>>13217705

Well, Nodens was Lovecraft. The Strange High House in the Mist? I certainly agree that we shouldn't paint the Elder Gods as utterly benevolent heroes fighting against the Evul Mythos, keep them weak and morally ambivalent. Hell, maybe connect them to the True Fae.

Personally, my take on the Elder Gods is that they're different facets of the gods of the Dreamlands. They're human gods and, as such, have very little real power outside of the Dreamlands, or places where the veil between the real world and the Dreamlands is thin. My own theory is that they're essentially Dreamers gifted power by Nyarlathotep and gone mad with it. Nodens rocks around in his clam, pretending to be important. Bast just lazes about and rapes people who are mean to cats. Hypnos just acts like a jerk. And so on. They're still powerful, especially in the Dreamlands and compared to normal humans or Dreamers, but they still live and die on the whims of the stars and Nyarlathotep.

>>13217571

That's a matter of taste really. I don't like the idea of Nyarlathotep leading us down the path to nuclear devastation. It's far more interesting when we do it to ourselves. And anyway, nuclear physics is no doubt entirely wrong when it comes to True Science. Plus, it explains why the Mi-Go are interested in us.

>>13218328

>the Elder Gods are presumably responsible for the Elder Sign

Or the Elder Things. We're never really sure.

>>13218393
>>13218393
We have two elder signs so one to each? :P

>>13218400

It's shaped like a star with a little flame inside it!

>>13218430
I thought it looked like a tree branch

>>13218430
>>13218450
As was mentioned earlier, there are two Elder Signs. One looks like this

>>13218469
The other like this.>>13204998

>>13218376
Hm.. Putting what you said in the context of the World of Darkness... it sounds like the Elder Gods, or at least the Dreamland Gods are the True Fae, which to me at least would be pretty damn funny, to have humanity's best/only defense be a bunch of semi-solipsistic sociopaths.

>>13218450
>>13218469
>>13218491

You people are no fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaJckcCZtBQ

Around the 5.50 mark.

>>13218514
The truth is that the Elder Gods are no defense at all, since Nyarlathotep herds them around as it pleases. The only thing humanity can hope for is to somehow achieve apotheosis, and become someone else's Cthulhu.

>>13218514
There are also gods like Yig, who aren't so much Dreamlands gods.

>>13218539

Following the old adage; If you can't beat them, become someone else's nightmare fodder.

>>13218514

I'm kinda heading into Exalted territory here, but it makes sense. If the True Fae knew about the Mythos and, considering how old they are, it'd be strange if they didn't, they're going to want to protect their toyshop full of delicious treats and playthings. And who knows the impact that the Mythos would have on Arcadia (or the Dreamlands if they're one and the same).

It's like humanity's abusive boyfriend pulling a knife on the guy who threatens to rape her. And then the rapist has tentacles and the walls start breaking and the starless void in its eyes oh god

>>13218539
Nah, humanity's (and indeed, all sentient life's) only hope is that Nyarlathotep thinks that they're more fun alive than dead.

>>13218557

I think we're keeping the more minor Mythos deities and their respective Outsiders to one side for the moment. Yig and Glaaki and Eihort and Chaugnr Faugn will all get their turn eventually, and their own Rejections or whatever, but I think it'd best to consider them expansion-fodder so we can focus on the core mechanics and the Big Five.

>>13218581
The connection with Fae should be kept optional.

>>13218615
Agreed

>>13218596
Which he does, that's one of his distinctive traits.

>>13218646

Certainly. Just putting it out there as an option.

>>13218646
Well yeah, it would essentially be a sidebar with "Maybe the True Fae are the Elder Gods! Why not ask one and find out?"
Though speaking of sidebars, anyone have ideas of possible ways to handle they guys mentioned in >>13205961? I'm only really familiar with Changeling and Hunter, so I don't really know the specifics of what those dudes are, other than most of them are inhuman, inscrutable, and vaguely Lovecraftian.

>>13219347

From rough memory, Qashmallim are weird things that fuck around with Prometheans. The Exarchs are the Mages that won the battle for reality last time around and now run the show. The Acamoth are horrendously powerful spirits that make horrible deals with Mages. The Cthonians are the Death God-things that run the Underworld. No idea what the last one is. It'll be up to someone who knows the settings more to work out any connections there.

>>13219437
If the Exarchs are said to be running reality, they too are probably invested in keeping reality more or less the same, which means any Outer Gods entering our reality or Great Old Ones waking up would be considered 'bad'.
Perhaps a sidebar could implicate them to be the 'Elder Gods' as well.

>>13219658

In the end it turns out that the real Elder Gods were...

Man.

>>13219783
>No human, you are the outsider!

Yeah, probably not... Anyways, we need to come up with more levels of Rejections and Rituals. We have several higher-end ones but we need some more of the weaker and more accessible ones. Also, we should probably start formating them so they require a certain origin and Mythos or just a higher Mythos score.

Also, as someone pointed out a while back, we should try to have each "class" fill one of the common roles:

Fighter, Sneak, Social, Spiritualist, and Outdoors/Animalist.

Starspawned Savant - Subtlety and Stealth and Scrying
Keeper of the Silver Key - Mentalist Magics and Teleportation
Courtier of the Black Pharaoh - Socialization and Bargaining
Young of the Thousand - Physical Combat and Transformation
Scion of the Yellow Sign - Reality Altering

>243 posts and 43 image replies omitted. Click Reply to view.

Also, I think we're getting close to auto-sage so it may be time for a new thread soon.

>>13218252
Anything going on in the IRC still?

>>13220038
Come on in.

>>13220038
we are still a ways away from auto sage.
>Anything going on in the IRC
Discussed a few potential mechanics, will post later.

Bumping from the far reaches of the outer realms.

So, I'm not all that knowledgeable about Nyarlathotep. Any one else willing to write a splat page for this one? We have the other four complete already.

Bumping for one last hope. Probably have to start a new thread tomorrow. Until then, stay cool /tg/.

So I'm doing my best to write up a little Nyarlathotep fluff, and he's named as Father of the Million Favoured Ones.

The Favoured Ones seems, to me, a better choice for the general term for Nyarlathotep's Outsiders.

>>13221926

So, any chance of that fluff being posted?

Also, Bump

A little rough, no doubt, but I blame that on very little sleep.

"To Nyarlathotep, Mighty Messenger, must all things be told. And He shall put on the semblance of men, the waxen mask and the robe that hides, and come down from the world of Seven Suns to mock... (Nyarl)athotep, Great Messenger, bringer of strange joy to Yuggoth through the void, Father of the Million Favoured Ones, Stalker among... "
Extracts from a Mi-Go/Human ritual
From the frozen surface of Yuggoth to the Pyramids of Ancient Khem, from the financial heart of the United States of America to the Mountain of Kadath in the Cold Wastes, there is nowhere that Nyarlathotep has not walked. He is the Voice and Soul of Azathoth, the mindless Demon Sultan that bubbles and festers in nuclear ignorance. He is the only one of the Outer Gods who apparently takes a real interest in mankind, though it is not a benevolent one. Nyarlathotep finds great joy in toying with mankind, encouraging the degredation and decay of humanity and leading us in an endless and incomprehensible game.

Nyarlathotep has no one form, existing at any one time as any one of innumerable Masks. In China, an ancient cult follows the Bloated Woman, a horrendous mass of flesh disguised behind a fan. In Kenya, the Bloody Tongue, a titanic horror, rules over a group of outcast tribes and the Black Wind blows down yearly to devastate the landscape. In New York, an occult criminal syndicate is run by an apparently immortal sorceror working towards some unknown aim. In Sweden, at the heart of an international conspiracy, a book of terrible lore provides exactly what its readers need, at terrible cost. And from ancient Khem to modern day Egypt, the Black Pharoah looms like a shadow out of time.

>>13222478

Nyarlathotep's schemes and plans necessitate the use of innumerable actors and puppets; His servants are almost as numerous as his Masks. Foremost among his agents on Earth are Outsiders born into or fallen into his service. Human sorcerors, hungry for power, trade away their humanity for just a hint of Nyarlathotep's knowledge and wisdom. A child born at exactly the right time in exactly the right place grew up oddly, with eyes that speak of experience far beyond his years. An eccentric, though genius, mathematician unlocks a medieval riddle which reveals a formula; a formula which, when solved opens his mind to secrets greater than he could ever have possibly comprehended. These Outsiders are generally great leaders and politicians, best placed to carry out their manipulations.

The Favoured Ones' greatest strength is in their often close connection they have with their Father. They have the ability to call upon Him to ask for his wisdom and advice. Where the Outsiders of other Gods have to rely on the vague interpretations of cultists of prophecy and dreams, the Favoured Ones will often recieve direct orders. Because of this connection, Outsiders of Nyarlathotep are less likely to turn against their master and Father. The fact that He is more likely to punish failure than the other, uncaring Gods. Nyarlathotep also grants his chldren powers to lie and persuade others, even outside of their cults.

>>13222505

Stereotypes:
Scions of the Yellow Sign - "They serve an idea they can barely comprehend, let alone understand the consequences of"

Starspawned Savants - "Their devotion to the hibernating priest of an alien race is quaint, though misguided. Led along the right paths, they could prove useful."

Shepherds of the Silver Key - "They certainly have knowledge and undeniable power, but for all their visions of the future, they have no appreciation of the depths of what it truly holds".

Young of the Thousand - "Primitives driven mostly by animalistic urges and lusts. Useful tools. Nothing more".

Vampires - "Pitiful wretches. So desperate for control and so afraid of what comes after that they spend eternity playing politics in a city or two while the world spins towards destruction",

Werewolves - "They have some knowledge of their spirits at least, but they can mostly be dismissed".

Mages - "Interesting. They think themselves the masters because even they cannot see their own strings. We all dance to Nyarlathotep's tune, they simply dance a little higher and faster".

There was a fourth thread a few hours ago. It died IIRC. Do we need a new one?

Well, one last bump for the night. Hope this is still here in the morning.

Nyarlathotep's outsiders, in RPG party dynamics, should definitely act as the 'face' of a group, and probably be the most team-oriented of the available outsiders. Just because Nyarlathotep is a chaotic dick doesn't mean he can't be charismatic or manipulative, and thus so are his followers.

>>13220067
Ok, what was dissed on IRC.
We came up with a way to integrate Mythos, Quiescence and the cosmic backlash. Here is the tl;dr:

Mythos is your connection to your alien nature.
Quiescence is your connection to your human nature/reality.

Both go from 0-10 and as long as your Quiescence is equal to your Mythos score there is no adverse effect.
This is where a third value comes in, the Azathoth.
It's equal to Mythos minus Quiescence and as long as it's negative or zero the Outsider suffers no ill effects. At 1 there is a general air of wrongness that impairs your social interactions, at 2 animals and people are prone to attack you, etc. and it grows exponentially worse from there with the higher values left to the ST to decide. For example 8 is the sinking of R'lyeh, 9 you get banished to the dreamlans 10 you are out altogether.

An other proposal were Anchors; items, places, situations that ground you in reality, helping you withstand Quiescence degeneration.

This thread has a few more posts in it. Let's ride it out

Rejection

Minor Spatial Distortion (better name needed)
Cost: 2m
Req.: Mythos 1

Change a small part of the environment to suit your needs. Where there was once a narrow oppening in a cliff leading to your lair there is now nothing but soothe rock. A group of hunters pursuing you through an abandoned building is suddenly confronted by a brick wall that shouldn't be there. A charging apeman impales himself on a stone spike that just wasn't there a second ago.

Merit

Cthonic Muse
Ranks: 1-5
Prerequisites: Two ranks of Mythos per dot purchased

You instill in a mortal a moment of divine inspiration pertinent to his trade/craft, whatever actions result from this feed you Madness at a rate of 2 per dot of the merit. Rank 1 could be a clockmaker constructing little mechanical golems that go around stealing women's underwear. Rank 3 you have a Reanimator. At rank 5 you have your very own madman writing blasphemous books of forbidden knowledge.

bamp

I shall sing you the song of my people.

Also, bump

Ritual

Lesser Gathering
Cost: 5M
Req.: Sacrificial victims/cultists

You call forth the lesser servants of your patrons, that will perform a task for you in exchange for the right offering. The ritual site must be in close proximity to their natural habitat (Ex.: a beach for Deep Ones). The ritual leader needs 10 successes on an extended roll of Mythos+Occult, an hour passes per roll.

So, how are derangements even going to fit into this? Can a mortal-turned-outsider NOT be deranged? Would not being deranged enough lead to trying to kill yourself to rid the world of a threat to its very existence? What would even be a derangement for a born outsider, let alone cause one? And how will morality even fit into this for beings who have an unknowable morality?

Do they have a unique moral base some like:
Virtues: Obedience, Corruption, Rejection, Worship, Conscription, Awakening, and Manifesting
Vices: Treason, Mercy, Mortality, Betrayal,

>>13226990
Well, any Outsider could have a number of derangement, since they no longer operate on the human concept of sanity. It would be more of a cosmetic/RP thing, but have no direct influence on rolls.
Quiescence pretty much replaces Morality.

Tho I like the alternative Virtues & Vices.

bump

bump

Anyone feel like making a new thread?

>>13228504
Only if someone has new content.

>>13225658
I still feel dicey about calling it Quiescence, but 'the Azathoth' definately needs to be renamed.
Something like Integrity, Stability, or similar.

>>13229421
Stability is not what I'd use. That value indicates just how much your very existence strains against the fabric of reality and just how much reality pushes back.

>>13229462
Hm. Manifestation might fit, though I think that's better employed with regards to a specific kind of Rejection.
Transcendence, possibly?

>>13229538
Transcendence actually sounds good, I'd prefer a more forceful term, but it gets the point across.

Potential alternates:

Quiescence -> Dormancy, Humanity, Temporality
Mythos -> Presence, Efficacy, Idolatry
"The Azathoth" -> Awakening, Rejection, Displacement, Binding, Manifestation, Transience

>>13230288
Quiescence & Mythos are fine.

Transience, Transcendence, Displacement, are good alternatives for the Azathoth, as would be Rejection if we weren't using it as a term for abilities. Abortion?

>>13230386

I like Displacement. You're not entirely in reality, so you're somewhat displaced.

>>13226990
>>13227082

The way I see it, most Outsiders aren't exactly alien. Yet. They're halfway between humanity and Them, and they can fight to keep themselves as human as they can. Derangements are an inevitable side-effect of this transition, since madness is just another of humanity's little lies breaking down.

And I think we can assume that a considerable proportion of new Outsiders do kill themselves. Even if you sought out great cosmic power, when you come to realise the potential costs, it looks less and less appealing.

I call you back from the abyss!

That is not dead with can eternal be bumped.