08-05-2018, 10:39 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Elder Things
One of my players has a cleric who has "Hidden Lore: Elder Things" and would like to speak and read/write the Elder Tongue. Basically, just some fun plot hooks.
I've realized, however, that I don't have a firm idea of what role I want Elder Things to play in the campaign. I've looked over the five Elder Things listed in Monsters and read the few snippets relating to them in the other books. I'm mulling a number of ideas but thought I would mine the collective intelligence for additional inspiration. How do you use Elder Things in your games? Are they a common feature? Just monsters to be defeated or a significant component of your campaign backstory? How do Elder Things relate to gods, angels, and demons? (Do Elder Things have gods?) Last edited by Dalin; 08-05-2018 at 10:49 AM. |
08-05-2018, 01:21 PM | #3 | |||
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Elder Things
My 'Elder things' is a broad category that runs from Joe Squidface right up to Primordial Outsider (so from 'adventurer type' to 'deity').
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Mostly this boils down to 'motivations'. Are they personal (Joe Squidface), impersonal (Elder Deity), or externally motivated ('demon' servitor)? Quote:
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So, the five in Monsters would fit in like so: Demon From Beyond the Stars is roughly 'demon' level. It might serve a more powerful Elder Thing. Might not. Eyes of Death are just monsters. Mindwarpers are powerful Joe Squidfaces. These guys are basically potent adventurers and probably worship some dark, dread, dead Elder Thing 'god'. They usually have personal motivations. Spheres of Madness are just monsters. Watchers at the Edge of Time. These guys a re 'demon level'. They probably serve some other Elder Thing 'deity' or maybe not. |
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08-05-2018, 04:08 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Central Texas, north of Austin
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Re: Elder Things
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What really surprised me about the Elder Thing, Demon from Between the Stars, in Monsters was their low IQ (6). This is reinforced in the description where they are "about as intelligent as apes." Furthermore, on a quick check, other Elder things such as the Eyes of Death and Watchers on the Edge of Time show them to have average IQ of 10. I had always assumed that part of the terror of such alien beings came from their advanced intelligence that was perceived to humans as incomprehensible and mind-warping. That being said, I am not that well-versed in the Cthulhu mythos. Maybe the intention in the DFRPG is that the Elder entities are so alien that any translation in terms of human intelligence is irrelevant. Therefore, we would witness their behavior as inexplicable even though they had terrifying abilities that quite affected us. In any event, this lack of IQ made it more difficult for me to relate to the real nature and role of the Elder Thing in the DFRPG universe. |
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08-05-2018, 07:09 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Elder Things
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08-05-2018, 10:24 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Elder Things
My concept is that Elder Things are part of the original chaos that the Creation was made from. The chaos has existed even before the gods. The gods are spiritual and thus live outside of creation and they are divided into good and evil. Creation was created by the Divine but there were still pockets of chaos within this Creation which defy the laws of reality. Elder Things seek to destroy Creation because they are chaotic and creation is ordered by the Divine. Elder Things are a threat to all that exist mortal, Divine and Infernal because they wish to destroy both the spiritual and material world, both Heaven and Earth. Luckily, Elder Things are so chaotic that they do not mount organized wars on reality often. The Elder Things are served by aliens that were not created by the gods.
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08-06-2018, 08:16 AM | #7 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Elder Things
This is true of the Elder Things that fill a role outside Creation analogous to that filled by dwarves, elves, humans, etc. within Creation. That's why even Joe Boring Mindwarper starts at IQ 18. But most of the Elder Things met within Creation fill a role outside Creation analogous to that filled by sharks, fungus, rabid dogs, etc. within Creation: They're a menace or an all-consuming blight or a disease leaking in from Outside. The smarter Elder Things don't particularly like visiting Creation because it's dimensionally constrained and has linear time, and there are deities with the power to affect them there. When they want cultists eaten, they send their IQ 6-10 hounds.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
08-07-2018, 09:01 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Elder Things
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08-07-2018, 09:19 AM | #9 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Elder Things
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The laws of physics clearly aren't the same as ours in dungeon-fantasy worlds, as magic routinely violates conservation laws, laws of motion, quantum principles, etc. In a universe where things can be conjured out of nothing, disintegrated, teleported, changed in nature, and be spookily acted upon at a distance – and the future divined, and probability altered – there's no reason to believe that there would be astronomical objects tracing orbits through the vacuum of space. Beliefs about stars sitting on the dome of the sky and the sun being pulled by a chariot are probably true, as the gods associated with those beliefs exist, grant magic to clerics, and sometimes even intervene directly. The most likely result of flying too high isn't suffocating in a vacuum but being cooked by the sun or struck down by the gods. So to give Elder Things a place to live, the DFRPG puts them Beyond Time And Space.
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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08-07-2018, 09:35 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Elder Things
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