Elder Ones, Gods & Co as Detachment

When I first converted Cthulhu from DnDs Carcosa to Into the Odd some days ago, I got many comments from Into the Odd-enthusiasts, including Chris McDowell himself. The basic reception was quite kind. One thing stood out, though - the idea to represent big (as in BIG) monsters by using mass battle rules (which are in development). Chris has released his recent draft on mass battles on his blog.

So, let's take up the idea. Here's where we left last time:

Odd CTHULHU v2
STR 20, DEX 10, WIL 18. 30hp, Armour 3, Tentacles and Maws (1d20).
Sleeps and sits and waits and sleeps, waiting for the right constellation of stars...
CTHULHU uses the Old One template.*
The sight of CTHULHU kills characters on a failed WIL save.
CTHULHU regenerates 2 hp/round until reduced to 0 STR.
CTHULHU can summon 1d100 Deep Ones.

The "Old One" template reads:

• Attacks of Old Ones are never impaired
• Critical hits from Old Ones kill instantly
• Mundane physical attacks against Old Ones are always impaired
• Old Ones may use every psionic power at will.

Ok. Now let's have a look at detachments (copy pasted from the link above):

• Individual attacks cannot harm detachments unless they're something big like a cannon, bomb, or giant creature.
• Detachment attacks are Enhanced against individuals, causing d12 damage regardless of weapon. 
• When they would take Critical Damage, a Detachment is Broken and useless until rallied. 

And, with individuals among the detachment:

• The character is also protected from enemy attacks, other than individual challenges, while the detachment is protecting them. 

or

• The detachment and leader both make an attack roll as normal, but only the highest roll is taken. The attack is treated as coming from the detachment, even if it was the leader's roll. If the attack is against an Individual, only the Detachment's roll is Enhanced. 
• Until their next turn, the leader is subject to all attacks that target the detachment, with both leader and detachment taking damage. Remember here that Detachment attacks against individuals are Enhanced.

Pfff... ok. Some things could work (paraphrased):

• CTHULHU cannot be harmed by normal attacks

Well... that's about it. What will work, though: CTHULHU can summon a detachement of Deep Ones. Yup. And, even better: CTHULHU could be the individual leader of the Deep One detachement!

Ok, let's have a look at Deep Ones...

• STR 18 (yay, a stat mentioned in Carcosa!)
• 1+1 HD
• AC 16
• Move (blahblah)
• Chaotic alignement (surprise again)

In Into the Odd, this would be (for example):

• STR 18, DEX 10, WIL 10
• 1 or 2hp, depending how you read the conversion rules (though I think this would be a tad too low, 5hp sounds better)
• armour 1
• Damage by weapon (say d6)

As a detachment the damage would be amped to a whooping d12, damage would be ignored (except for "special attacks"). The "broken on critical damage" rule could be ignored, as long as CTHULHU leads them. This version would definitively be hassle-free to dm - at least compared to handle 1d100 Deep Ones individually.

Thoughts? Comments?

F

Advancement in Into the Odd

I really dig the "achievement"-style advancement of Into the Odd. You do what you're good in (expore) and get better along the way. The "apprentice"-condition is a nice twist on the otherwise a bit monotonous "go on more expeditions".

But during my thoughts-experiments with "Into Carcosa" I came to the conclusion that this way of advancing probably isn't the best. Of course, classic advancement (get more gold) isn't really "Carcosa" either.

So what to do? I hereby present the Way of the Sorcerer

NOVICE
You are ready to taint your soul (you must have achieved at least one ritual, for example during character cration).

PROFESSIONAL
You have gained knowledge of one additional ritual since Novice level.

EXPERT
You have gained knowledge of two additional rituals since Professional level.

VETERAN
You have gained knowledge of three rituals and completed at least one ritual since Expert level and obtained an apprentice.

MASTER
Your apprentice has obtained Expert level* and you've completed at least two rituals since Veteran level.
*The apprentice may not use your known rituals for advancement!


And, since sorcery is vile and evil and such...

Way of the Fighter

NOVCE
You are ready to get hurt.

PROFESSIONAL
You have battled at least one enemy stronger* then you one-on-one - and survived.
*more hp AND higher Strength

EXPERT
You have battled at least three dangerous combats* since Novice level - and left the battlefield victorious!
*outnumbered 2:1 or very dangerous opponent (dm has last word)

VETERAN
You have battled at least five dangerous combats since Expert level - and left the battlefield victorious! Further you must accept at least one sword-disciple you will train from now on.

MASTER
Your disciple needs to be at Expert level. You need to erect a fort/monastery/settlement and declare yourself leader (obviously in need of a weird name).



More ideas
Way of the Diplomat
Way of the Xenoartificer
Way of the Broken DNA
Way of the Dinosaur-wrangler...

Comments, please!

F

Thoughts on the d[Carcosa]

Mh, the d[Carcosa]. One of the really, really weird ideas from our beloved little Supplement VI. For all those who do not know what I'm talking about: Mr. McKinney takes the idea of randomisation ad absurdum by randomizing the die to roll the moment when it is to be rolled... so: CTHUGAH does 4 dice of damage to all creatures within 300' via heat radiation. Which kind of dice, you ask? Roll on the table on page 5 of Carcosa (or have a look here)!

This might be funny, but... nothing I want to port to "Into Carcosa", to be honest. But we have an idea of damage scaling, though: A simple attack will most often deal 1d[Carcosa] (1-20 damage) while some Great Old Ones will do as much as 20+d[Carcosa] (equaling some 20-400 damage)! I suggest porting this to Into the Odd the following way:

1d[Carcosa] = 1d6 damage
2-3d[Carcosa] = 1d8 damage
4-6d[Carcosa] = 1d10 damage
7-10d[Carcosa] = 1d12 damage
11+d[Carcosa] = 1d20 damage.

This is for monsters, only. Weapons deal damage as per ItO. If this method seems a bit too "granulated" - you have other ways to modify damage with ItO (without ruining anything, you know):

1. Attacks can't be impaired by xyz
2. damage is not reduced by armour
3. damage is dealt to ability scores, not to hit points
4. damage can't be healed the normal way!
5. when dealing critical damage, some effect occurs (tripping, pushing, swallowing)
6. and, if you use my house rules: attacks can't be parried or evaded.

As you see, there should be no shortage of rules mechanics to individualize your monsters attacks!

And - you really should consider playtesting my combat house rules - since I don't actually play ItO right now, I've had no good opportunity, yet! Right now they are only available in german, but Google translates them acceptable enough :-)

F

Into Carcosa - stating the Old Ones

One thing I find quite amusing is the existence of a stat block for the Great Old Ones in +Geoffrey McKinneys Carcosa. Not that it is that special, heck even Chaosium did it in their Call of Cthulhu supplements and though I don't know for sure, I'm guess the newer Incarnations of Lovecraftian gaming (Savage World-powered, for example) go the same way.

I never really understood why mundane human investigators should be even able to fight "gods" - and stats imply that! But with Carcosa it's another thing... first, all characters have some kind of combat ability; second, they will have access to some weird things, probably enhancing their combat abilities (like alien artifacts & such). Third, they might have allies - either mundane, as in henchmen, or supernatural, perhaps via some vile ritual. So, while unlikely, they could stand a chance in a fight against the old ones.

While I did not intend to do a full conversion of all the monsters in Carcosa and think many things could be done on-the-fly, I guess statting the Old Ones would be a nice test of flexibility for Into the Odd.

Luckily, +Chris McDowell did a short conversion guide (it's 5e to ItO... close enough).

Let's start with CTHULHU himself; not much information given, as usual:

• 57HD
• AC 13
• move 150' (land), 360' (water)
• Alignment: Chaotic (surprise!)
• Psionics: each 10/day
• regenerates 2HD/round
• can summon 1-100 Deep Ones
• save vs. paralyze or die on sight
• does 25 dice of damage each round.

Not bad, not bad! Many things can be ported without too much hassle: Psionics, which should go up to "at will" for simplicities sake, summon Deep Ones, WIL save or die.
Some things need more attention: HD 57 pretty much outbids ItOs scale, Chris McDowell suggests 1 hp/HD with a hard cap at 30hp; why not. Regeneration should be 2 hp/round then. STR, DEX, and WIL are not given in Carcosa, but STR and WIL should not be lower then 18-20. DEX is probably much lower, say 8.
Armor should be 3, as far as I understand. Multiattacks do not exist in ItO and as much as one would expect they would for tentac-ly monsters in Carcosa, only a single attack value is given - and it is ridiculously high! Since I did not find any monster entrances with more than d12 damage, I'd suggest d20 is totally fair. Attacks from Cthulhu should never be impaired, save for some weird ritual perhaps. Characters swinging their sword against Cthulhu are probably doomed, their mundane attacks are impaired. Lasers, alien-artifacts and shit do not count as mundane for that matter. Critical hits should devour characters without any saves (auto-kill), their fate to be horribly described by the dm.

Ok, now it looks like this:

Odd CTHULHU
STR 20, DEX 10, WIL 18. 30hp, Armour 3, Tentacles and Maws (1d20).
Sleeps and sits, waiting for the right constellation of stars...
Attacks by CTHULHU are never impaired.
Critical hits from CTHULHU kill instantly, characters dying an irreversible, horrible death.
Mundane physical attacks against CTHULHU are always impaired.
The sight of CTHULHU kills characters on a failed WIL save.
CTHULHU regenerates 2 hp/round until reduced to 0 STR.
CTHULHU may use every psionic power at will.
CTHULHU can summon 1d100 Deep Ones.

Phew, a bit long for my taste.

So, we need to define a "template", let's call it "Old One" for now.
Attacks of Old Ones are never impaired. Critical hits from Old Ones kill instantly. Mundane physical attacks against Old Ones are always impaired. Old Ones may use every psionic power at will.

Cool. Now let's have a look:

Odd CTHULHU v2
STR 20, DEX 10, WIL 18. 30hp, Armour 3, Tentacles and Maws (1d20).
Sleeps and sits and waits and sleeps, waiting for the right constellation of stars...
CTHULHU uses the Old One template.
The sight of CTHULHU kills characters on a failed WIL save.
CTHULHU regenerates 2 hp/round until reduced to 0 STR.
CTHULHU can summon 1d100 Deep Ones.

Still a bit long for ItO, but hey.

Ah, if you use my ItO combat options (german post), attacks from Old Ones can't be parried, though one may sacrifice his shield. Of course, Old Ones don't care to evade or parry attacks.

What do you think?

F

Into Carcosa - Charaktererschaffung/Startpakete

Für meinen kleinen Plan sind, wie erwähnt, nur wenig Änderungen nötig. Die Charaktererschaffung und Startpakete werde ich mir als erstes vornehmen.

Charaktere bei Into Carcosa sollten mit 1W6+4 TP anfangen, wie erwähnt.

Zufällige Bestimmung der Volksfarbe nach der Tabelle unter "Places of Men" von Ramanan S.

Die Startpakettabelle von ItO wird übernommen, ein Eintrag von X wird ersetzt durch Y:

Arkanum - Besonderheit (Tabelle)
Bombe/Rakete - Alienartefakt (Tabelle)
Chemikalien/Substanzen* (Äther, Gift, Säure...) - Lotuspulver  (Tabelle)
Donnerbüchse/Gewehr/Muskete - Alienartefakt (Tabelle)

Pistole - Schleuder

Tiere (Adler, Hund usw.) - Tiere aus Carcosa (Tabelle)
Übernatürliche Sinne - Psikraft (Tabelle)

*einige "Chemikalien" können ohne Probleme auch in Carcosa vorkommen - Klebe, Öl, Rum, Schmiermittel, Zigarren. Alle anderen sollten über Lotuspulver geregelt werden. Sind zwei Dosen angegeben, so verdopple das Ergebnis auf der Lotuspulvertabelle.

Tabelle "Lotuspulver"
2W6
2    Schwarzer Lotus
3-5  Blauer Lotus
6-8  Grüner Lotus
9-11 Jale Lotus
12   Weißer Lotus

Tabelle "Besonderheit"
W6
1   Kenntnis eines Rituals (zufällig bestimmt)
2-3 Alienartefakt (s. Carcosa S. 251)
4-5 Mutation (s. Carcosa S. 265)
6   Psikraft

Tabelle "Psikraft" (s. Carcosa S. 20-21)
W8
1 Hellhören
2 Hellsicht
3 Gedankenlesen
4 mentale Detonation
5 Gedankenkontrolle
6 Vorahnung
7 Telekinese
8 Telepathie

Tabelle "Tiere"
W8
1 Schleimhaustier (Farbe bestimme wie die Volksfarbe bei 
  Charaktererschaffung)
2 Compsognathus
3 Lesothosaurus
4 Micropachycephalosaurus
5 Riesenlibelle
6 Riesenmistkäfer
7 telepathisch kommunizierende Achatschnecke
8 parasitärer Wurm (doppelte Nahrungsaufnahme nötig, +1 auf alle Attribute)

Sicherlich müssen die einzelnen Punkte noch ausgearbeitet werden, aber die Regelkonversion sollte rasch gehen.

Mir fällt gerade auf, dass ich eine andere Übersetzung für "Jale" benötige - Ulfire mit Ulfeuer zu übersetzen klingt logisch, "Dolm" klingt schon nach einer Farbe, "Jale" allerdings... wenn man es wie "Jade" ausspricht, könnte es klappen. Hat jemand von euch "Die Reise zum Arcturus" von David Lindsay gelesen? Wie werden die Farben dort übersetzt?

F