>>13183002
Sweet, new thread. So about the Outsiders powers, how are they going to work? It's been said that they are like anti-mages, so would their powers be like Mages? If so, would they use the same spheres? Or would they use spheres alien to the universe?

Oh man.... This ideas really cool! I always wondered why Aliens weren't part of the World of Darkness!

Good job you guys! :-)

I think their powers should work like a cross between Changelings and Vampires. You get your MP, maybe it can be called Plasm, from mortal beings. Spells like Changelings can be totally batshit

>>13183051
Probably not the kind of alien you're thinking of. These are alien like Lovecraft stuff.

>>13183101
We've already worked out what two of the major stats are. Madness/Mythos is thier power stat, and morality/mortality is thier limiting stat.

>>13183127
So... They're not extra terrestrials? If they're extra dimensional then CtL already did that.

>>13183051
There were aliens in world of darkness.

Most Technocracy: Void Engineers games were about dealing with aliens.

>>13183174
No, Fae may be "alien" but they are still part of our universe. These are things from outside the ENTIRE Universe that we know.

>>13183194
>Technocracy

This is n not o.

What about the different outsider factions? To what Outer Gods would they be alighned? And what differing abilities would they outsiders of different gods have?

>>13183452
Well, each faction could have members who are aligned with different Gods.

>>13183452
I think Azathoth/Nylathotep would be more about destroying reality, with a highly deadly (to foes) madness ability.

rolled 6, 6, 4, 5, 1, 1, 1, 6, 5, 2, 4, 2, 2, 4, 1, 2, 2, 6 = 60

well, if you're going with the standard five/five setup...

Azathoth
Shub-Niggurath
Nyarlahotep
Yog-Sothoth

hrm. Trying to think of a fifth lovecraft deity. Cthulhu dosen't count, he was only a high priest... perhaps Father Dagon?

>>13183487
Pretty sure Nyarlathotep's job is to keep the pipers piping; aside from just being the crawling chaos. Evolution, disease, madness, these are his toys- all he wants is to keep playing with his toys and Azathoth waking up ends him. That's no fun.

Admittedly, he's by no means a "good" guy, but is one of the few elder gods with a vested interest in keeping everyone else out (given that he can manifest a physical avatar in the universe; where other significantly more powerful outer gods cannot)

>>13183634
With that in mind, maybe he used to BE something like the PCs? Could have been a last gasp by the other elder gods to create something that could perform in the world for them, making him the first Alien, or Abomination, or whatever.

>>13183590
I think that maybe it might be best to take Nyarlathotep out of that line up. Like >>13183634 said, he's the only one that would be trying to placate the other Outsiders while also trying to keep them out (for the lulz!), which would prolly put him in an 'antagionist' kind of slot for the more traditional 'help/be tricked to help/OMGGONNADIE' Outsiders.

If you need two more, I say that, yes, it might be good to have Father Dagon and Mother Hydra (as one of course) as one of the five 'main' families. To fill out the last one, Hastur would prolly also be the best, considering its popularity with the /tg/ hivemind (mainly for being the suicidal RFED scenario dick!end move) as well as it being just better known than the others.

Of course, those are just my thoughts, so do with them as you will (TL;DR Nyarly is a dick and a troll to everyone, don't include him as a main option. Use Dagon/Hyrdra and Hastur as main 5 choices instead)

>>13183590
How about Hastur for the fifth? Cthulhu would work as a sixth one, even though he is of a lower order of outside being. After all, he IS actually physically located on Earth.

>>13183714
>>13183728
Why not Cuthulhu/Dagon/Hydra all as one? They ARE worshipped as a trinity after all. Also, the idea of Narylothotep being the first Outsider is a damn good idea.

From the old thread:

Children of R'lyeh - Those spawned or overtaken by Cthulhu.

Grand Deep Ones - Those who hold the seed of Father Dagon and Mother Hydra in their bodies.

Holders of the Key/Guardians of the Gate - Those who gazed at the nothingness and completeness that is Yog-Sothoth.

Blind Madmen - Those who have been infected by the power of Azathoth.

Yellow Nobles - Those who have heard the wretched words of Hastur.

Chaos Crawlers - The several bastard spawn and infected victims Nyarlathotep left behind in his ravagings of the world.

and

Bearers of the Book: You know that the greatest power of the Elder Ones is their unknowability. By learning of them, in ancient tomes and dark rites, you may one day restrain them eternally.

Sunken Scions: Your Elder has touched you, and you know he has done so for a purpose. You pursue the plans of your Elder in the mortal realm.

The Singers: The song of Madness sings to the Great Ones. When enough of the world sings together, they shall awaken.

The Starborne: You have been blessed by the touch of greatness, and it has called to you. No servant are you, but a one-day equal.

The Lunatics: They are coming, and you have seen them. Your body and mind bear the weight of their presence, but you shall spare this world their touch. Death is the only freedom

Link to the previous thread is dead, and I don't see an archive link, so pardon my ignorance...

I assume this has the player taking the role of some Cthulhu-esque entity. How exactly is someone supposed to RP a being whose motives and very existence are contrary to human understanding. It's like asking the color brown to be a cucumber.

rolled 4, 3, 1, 6, 1, 4, 5, 6, 5, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 3, 1, 5 = 64

>>13183786

aww, no shub-niggurath? ol' shubby's one of my favorites.

>>13183776
An Oceanic family? I suppose that could work...

Also, wouldn't Nyarly being the first AND being elevated to pretty much a Godly state AND him being about to pop around like a normal person pretty much make him the UberOutsider and the/a goal of all the Outsiders? To be an Outsider capable of such influence over man without being universal logic bombed out of existience/being rejected by man?

And, if that is the case, wouldn't he WANT it to be only that? A goal that is unreachable? Because he worked to get to where he is today and by Azathoth's greasy pseudopods, he's not going to share/let anyone take his power, perceived or otherwise, away from him!

CtL had a tiny sidebar teasing about extraterrestrials.

the Wizened are known to include changelings (and True Fae) that are tall and thin, with big black eyes and no nose...Grays, basically, and their abuctions and Durances match the classic stories of alien abduction

so there's a little sidebar saying "SO ARE ALL ALIEN ABDUCTIONS REALLY THE FAE, OR ARE THERE REAL BEINGS LIVING ON OTHER PLANETS TOO? WHO KNOWS :)"

>>13183822
The thing about that is you dont actually BECOME a cuthulhu type thing until your humanity/morality reaches zero. This is bad (in game) due to the fact that you are now a TOTAL outsider, and as such are shunted outside of the universe (and thusly, the game). And Mythos/Madness is like your general power level stat.

>>13183873

So instead of a member of the terrible unknown, you're a cultist/fish person?

That seems much more reasonable.

>>13183835
That is a good explanation for his actions, but only at the beginning. Later on when Madness is higher and morality is lower other, more non-eucludian truths arise about his actions come about.

tl;dr it is only one possible explanation and there is no way of knowing for sure if right

>>13183907
Yeah. You start off that way and get worse, leading to the choice between Humanity and Cthulhu-iness.

>>13183950
Which in turn decides the kinds of powers you will use. Will you hold back or go all out?

Speaking of going all out, what would be a good name for the Outsider version of Paradox? Seeing as how they are literally abominations to the universe there should be some backlash to the powers they use, like the is Universe striking back at them.

Honestly, I don't think it makes much sense to have both Cthulhu AND Dagon as separate deities and to leave out Shub-Niggurath entirely. It disrupts the Subb-Yog-Azathoth trio of Outer Gods and splits two very related beings into different camps meaninglessly. You might want to think about merging Cthulhu and Dagon-Hydra, as others have said, and adding Shub-Niggurath.

Just my two cents.

>>13183996

Rejection/Warp?

>>13184062
I support this suggestion with all of my Lovecraftian might.

>>13184062
Also seconded. Don't Dagon and Hydra worship Cthulhu in canon? Doesn't make sense to have them as a separate faction.

>>13184062
I agree, if only because I like Shubbie.

>>13184188

other way around, but yeah. Cthulhu is the High Priest of Mother Hydra and Father Dagon. I... am pretty sure, anyway. Been awhile since I did anything with the mythos.

>>13184201
I think he's the High Priest of Azathoth.

>>13184216

He's the high priest of SOMETHING, at least.

>>13184216
Cthulhu is the High Priest of Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth, and Shub-Niggurath, the Outer (Elder?) Gods, and is a powerful being in his own right. Dagon and Hydra are primal beings native to Earth who were Cthulhu's first worshippers.

>>13184252
Those things are native? My tentacle wielding Jesus... either way, gotcha; Cthulhu is the biggest little fish in the pond.

>>13184115
Counter.

Reality hits back.

>>13184252
Dagon and Hydra are former PCs.

OK, let's do this.

Birthings-

Cthulhu
Shub-Niggurath
Azathoth
Yog-Sothoth
Hastur

with Nyarlathotep as the antagonist faction (think Centimani/Sabbat/Technocrazy/etc)

Dagon and Hydra will be added in the expansion, Madness of the Deep Ones.

I fucking love you guys for this.

The nWoD follows a clear pattern of Supernatural PCs being some sort of hybrid of humans and a supernatural force. Experience lets you grow further and further infused with the supernatural side of yourself, but almost always at increasing risk to your sanity or whatever measures your stability or humanity.

So starting as a cultist or halfbreed, with a full starspawnish type thing as an "end goal" that you want to get as close to without actually reaching, is the closest way to do it. Usually, completely maxing out your supernatural power is either just as bad as hitting 0 on your sanity/morality/stability stat, or at least makes you suffer degradation to it very very rapidly, almost guaranteeing you flip out and lose control of your PC soon.

>>13184526
This maybe you get fused with minor powers and the ultimate goal is to become a minor deity.

Cthulu - You are touched by the madness of Rylei. In dreams you hear the Call, and you have been borne to answer it. The starspawn, half of this world and half of one beyond, tearing reality by their very presence, are awakening.

Yog-Sothoth - The truth of humanity is we are each a fraction of a greater cosmic being. Will you tap into the truth of your other selves?

Shub-Niggurath - Life is potent, a crawling contagion. It must be maintained, but proper course requires purging as well. Do the bidding of the black goat with a thousand young. Build the future or organic life.

Hastur - Truth as we know it is but a fraction of reality. To know and look upon it is to shatter the mind. Only those who have left the thought patterns of the mortal world behind can embrace the greater truth of reality.

Azathoth - The world is but a dream of the sleeping god. And you are a part of this god. Knowing what you do, you may bend the dreamscape to your fitting, but beware, lest the dreamer awaken and all shall end.

Dagon/Hydra - This world was ours before man ever walked the earth. And so it shall be ours again. Slowly, steadily, we encroach upon the land. Infiltrate, take power from the old gods, and spread the will of the trinity.

>>13184441

They definitely need other names as well, like in >>13183786

And we now need to decide what makes each one different than the other and what the various physical effects are.

Just out of curiosity, why AREN'T we using Nyarly?

>>13184699
Because we need an antagonist and Nyarly fits the best.

>>13184646
How about:

Cthulhu - Wakeners
Shub-Niggurath - Vivifiers
Azathoth - Dreamwalkers
Yog-Sothoth - Encompassers
Hastur - Maddeners

>>13184711
Ach, forgot:

Dagon and Hydra: Delvers

>>13184603
well look at Changeling for a good example.

Changelings are Humans that have been abducted by the True Fae. Their time spent in the otherworldly realm of Arcadia as servants transforms them, but they retain just enough humanity to escape back into the real world.

Changelings have Wyrd, the magical force of the Fae. They start with 1 Wyrd unless more is purchased at creation, and more can be bought with XP. The higher their Wyrd, the stronger their magic is, the more Glamour (mana/resources) they have to cast spells, and the greater their resistence is to other supernatural abilities.

Clarity is their "Morality" stat. It measures how clearly separated they keep the real world, the human world, from their life as Lost and the world of magic and the fae. You start with 7 Clarity, and it can be raised as high as 10. Low Clarity is dangerous as you begin to be unable to tell what's real, and what's the fae, and what's just a crazy hallucination. You go mad except some of it's not made up, just seeing what's beyond and not caring where it ends and begins. Hit Clarity 0 and you lose your character, they go crazy and return to Arcadia. High Clarity is hard to maintain, even though you get bonuses; as Clarity increases, the actions that will count as a "sin" and cause you to make a check for losing it get smaller and more common and minor until pretty much using any of your powers forces a check.

In Equinox Road, the endgame book, there's new rules saying that as your Wyrd rises, your appearance gets more and more inhuman. And at Wyrd 10 (max) you basically start forcing Clarity checks every single day until you nearly inevitably hit 0 Clarity and go run off to the Hedge to become a True Fae yourself.

>>13184792
also Changeling (and Geist, dunno about the other books) basically say that when your power stat starts getting above 5 you have to spend a certain amount of time in your supernatural realm for a while every so often. The higher the stat gets, the more frequent the requirement, until at max you have to spend as much time in the other world as you do in this world within each given period.

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.

>>13184820
Well so far we're calling the the power stat Mythos and the Morality stat Quiescence. As your personal Mythos grows, so does your power, perhaps requiring more devotion to the alien side of things. As Quiescence falls, the sleeping monster in you starts to wake up and you become less human. At Quiescence 0, reality rejects you utterly and you're incapable of remaining here.

>>13184869
Also.

Mythos 10, Quiescence 0?

You turn into a Great Old One yourself.

And then reality was a swiss cheese.

>>13184869
Nice.

So we need the following:

Social Factions (Covenants, Courts, etc)
Resource (Vitae, Glamour, Plasm)
Powers (Contracts etc)

>>13184932
Factions - Sects
Resource - Madness
Powers - Rejections

>>13184932
Oh, and a method of obtaining the Resource stat. Feeding, Harvesting, etc....how's energy replenished for the Outsiders?

>>13184955
Dreams.

>>13184964
Changeling turf war inc.

Long ago, before the age of man, before the Old Ones walked the earth, before the Migo descended from the stars, Nyarlathotep ascended to a plane of existance far beyond our own. What he was is no consequence now. Only what he has become. He is the Crawling Chaos, that wields and focuses the powers of all the outer gods for purposes unknown. His true form is long forgotten, as only his countless thousands of masks remain manifested in this world and those beyond it. He sews chaos among those that seek to learn too much, strikes down those that would interfere in his unknown works, purges those who would unwittingly bring the end of all times by waking the great Azathoth, and conscripts those just mad enough to serve his purposes. He has existed and continues to exist in every conceivable form from man to beast to things not of this world in many times and places all at once. His servants are witches, sorcerers, those that seek dark bargains for power, and those who would take on the form of chaos itself. His actions and goals appear as nothing but madness to the casual observer, but there is method to it though his purpose is nearly impossible to determine. Only one with a mind such as his own could even begin to grasp his desire, and only one with power rivaling his could even begin to thwart it. But the Outer Gods do not care for the machinations of those within the spheres of existence. And the Elder Beings of the Earth are far too busy with their own nefarious machinations. And so his progress continues, slowly, calculated, and methodically.

>>13184932

Social Factions as follows, maybe?

True Followers: You revel in the power of your origin, using it as intended--it is You, and You are It.

Cognates: You are uniquely suited to understanding the beyond. Squandering such a gift would be a waste of your prodigious talents. Ergo, you study.

Keepers of the Way: Though your origin is, of course, superior, you can't say that you, that is, DISLIKE earth. And all those others keep trying to, or accidently, screwing it up. Can't have that, perhaps because of your Plans or you just plain like it here.

I'm drawing a blank after those two for flavor, but it basically boils down to 'Serve it, Study it, Use it, Abuse it, and Try Not To Die'.

>>13184991

after those three, sorry.

2 = 3? oh god.

TWO LEGS! TWO LEGS!

>>13184955
It would probably be by using a minor power common to all Outsiders to mess with people's minds. Each type would to it differently. For example, a Starspawned Servant could give people dreams of the sinking of R'lyeh, while a Shepherd of the Silver Key could give people glimpses of their other selves. Whatever you do, you drive the victim a little bit crazy, and you feed off that to replenish your Madness.

>>13184991
Bring your god to this plane
Become a god yourself
Dick around with your planets on this world.
Stop the eldritch bastards
DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL!

Also needs a special flavor name for your group or party of these freaks. Every type of supernatural in nWoD has its own collective noun.

A Motley of Changelings, a Krewe of Sin-Eaters, a Pack of Werewolves, a Throng of Prometheans.

NICE THUMBNAIL, FAGGOTRON

>>13185037
Ooh. Inflicting Morality damage on others to fuel your own resource gain.

That plays really interestingly with the other spheres of supernaturals...

>>13185056

maybe a coven? Or a... hrm.

... A Class (as in a class of students)

Also, are we going to include Miskatonic University at all?

Okay so
Powerstat: "Mythos"
Energy: "Madness"
Morality: "Quiescence"
Powers: "Rejections"

>>13185056
A Calling of Outsiders?

A Pact? A Manifestation? A Host? A Conclave?

>>13185139
Manifestation is used for a type of Geist/Sin Eater ability.

I think mages use Cabal, too, so that should be ruled out

Would this be same canon as the other games?
This could be the end game makes the vampire quack the werewolves piss themselves the giest run to death the changling flee to the hedge.

>>13185215
So far every official game interfaces with the others, that's why it's the World of Darkness

The new system is really really good at keeping things universal. Since every stat has an equivalent in the other supernaturals, you always know what to roll (Defenses against a Changeling that call for adding you Wyrd to the roll will add Blood Potency instead for a Vamp, etc).

Also they've been including shit for every sphere in the extra sourcebooks they put out. Book of the Dead detailed the Underworld, which is a realm mostly used for Geist characters, but included a ton of stuff for supernaturals of every other sphere. even Prometheans and nobody likes them

>>13185139
Covenant? Sect?

>>13185112
Miskatonic University is a power group in the setting. They've known about the Elder Ones for as long as anyone can remember, and while at the turn of the last century it was mainly limited to the professors of folklore and the like, it's since become the entire university's dark secret. It's everywhere if you know what to look for. The school arms incorporate an Elder Sign, the science department still has a lab labelled "Etheric Studies," the library's rarest books are kept under armed guard. Every professor is in on it, and they bring every student in on it. If you have the mental fortitude, you stay. If not, you're encouraged to seek your education elsewhere.

For the most part, the students and faculty are content to learn. They seek to catalogue the ways and powers of the Elder Gods and their servants, to understand the physical principles upon which they function. But sometimes, a horror is just so sinister that allowing it to exist would do more harm than studying it could ever repair. Then they go Hunting, and where those from Outside are concerned, they are exceedingly efficient at it. Between a group of them, they know almost all the baser secrets; how to pin a Flying Polyp to a single atom of air, how to neutralize the acid from a Deep One's maw, and how to tell the piping of an Old One from the mocking fluting of a Shoggoth. Some of them might even know some magic or hypergeometry. The good news is, any individual will have just one area of expertise, and a lone scholar of metapsychology will be utterly lost trying to deal with the geometry-fucking that a Starspawned can pull off.

>>13185313
Covenants are the organizations for Vampire

Sects were used as organizations in the old Vampire, but might be okay. But someone was saying to use Sect for the organizations for this, not as the Party name

Calling fits. I think we should go with that.

>>13185334
so uh what if you're down with the old ones but you still just want to get your bachelor's in comparative english

>>13185372
If you go to the school with any loyalty to the Elder Gods, you take your life in your hands. It's like a Christian trying to play Muslim in Mecca; eventually somebody will catch on. When the staff or students catch you, you get one chance to renounce your patron's goals. If you do, then you're on the fast track to academic greatness, and a hell of a Hunting career besides. If you don't, then hopefully you don't have any friends on the medical track, because their next disection will come with a nasty surprise.

Short version, try Harvard, they're still in the dark.

>>13185482
...hell, we should turn Miskatonic U fully into a Hunter Conspiracy focused on Outsiders and their patrons.

>>13185372
Why, you infiltrate of course. Miskatonic university is pretty lousy at spotting outsiders before they make themselves known.

Their accolades include the documentation of a Migo encounter, a navigational chart of Rylei and surveying the Mountains of Madness, excavation of the Yithian Cities, research into Reanimation through unnatural means, analyzing a fragment of the color out of space, hunting down undead and spawn of Yog-Sothoth and well as deep ones, and countless texts on the dark gods of the outer spheres.

>>13185482
I misread that actually, I meant what if you just wanted to be a normal student and not involved in hunting or worshipping the outside forces at all either way

Like "Dude I'm just here for my CISCO certification okay"

>>13185528
Sure, you get your degree. But if you want to get in on research projects, or other involvements for undergrads prepare for things to get a little surreal.

It's not like Miskatonic U is trying to keep all this a secret. They are trying to convince the world the threat is real. the world just won't listen.

>>13184893

Old One, not Great Old One.

Possible BBEGs:

A powerful student of Azathoth, convinced that this dream is boring to his master, and so is organizing a grand debacle, creating so much disorder that the confusion will cause Azathoth to awaken and wonder what the hell he was smoking, before going back to sleep and creating a new, different world. Everybody and their brother is out to stop this guy, but he somehow keeps one step ahead. How is he outwitting them all?

Minion of Yog-Sothoth: He seeks to permanently unite all his various selves. To do this, he needs the Silver Key (or if there's multiple, lots of them). If he succeeds, he'll become a Great Old One in his own right, having pieced together all of his power that was spread throughout the dream.

I do have a question: The world is Azathoth's dream, and the Outer Gods are presumably called that because they are outside the dream, in some other world. What is that world like? Is it the dream of another, even greater, being? Is all existence a series of dreams inside one another?

Do you even want to know?

>>13185825
>Do you even want to know?
I'm guessing no.

This should really get fleshed out.

Someone save this. If the WoD forums have Princess: The Hopeful listed in their glob of fan-made content, this should be fully realized, god dammit

SO how are the Rejections going to work mechanically? Will you have to spend madness to use them, or do you invest it ahead of time?

>>13188601
This is from the previous thread.
>t would be interesting if we made the mechanic one where Madness is invested rather than expended. The powers would be akin to Sin-Eater keys, where they're just purchased without a level. Rather, the level of a key is based on how much of the outsider's pretty little madness is invested in it. Once invested, it provides either a constant benefit or an at-will ability that either have some kind of physical tell in the case of constant buffs or makes them have to roll to avoid having reality punch them in the dick in the case of at-will abilities.

That said, there would also be a shit ton of rituals that could be purchased on a one-by-one basis. Each ritual would have a ranking, and only outsiders with a power stat of that ranking or higher could lead it. Anyone who has learned it could participate, though, and most of the good rituals will require so many successes that, even though it's an extended roll, any single person trying to do it will probably starve before it ends. This method of breaking reality would actually require the expenditure of madness.

Madness itself would be hard to acquire, given how little you would regularly need to spend. I'm thinking that being within sensory range of someone who loses a point of morality would give 1 madness, being within sensory range of someone who gains a mild derangement would give 2, when someone gains a severe it would be 3, when you lose Quintessence it would be 4, when you get a mild derangement it would be 5, and when you get a severe derangement it would be 6. It could also probably be restored with ritual worship or sacrifice

Of course, it still needs alot of hammering out.

>>13185825
Everything in creation, both the world we know and the far outer realms, lie within the chaotic mind of azathoth. All of these many worlds and realities are connected by a "hub" of sorts where those who understand the proper reality altering equations may pass through it, though approaching azathoth himself in this realm is a maddening and lethal experience. The only realm not connected by the infinite chaos is the dream realm through the gate of Yog Sothoth which exists outside of time and space, though still within the mind of the great sleeper. Yog Sothoth is the guardian of the realm of the mind and shepards the fragments of an metasoul into the various iterations therin. You could be one person, but also be another person a thousand years ago, and another two hundred from now, you could be an alien from another world in one life, and a being of a maddeningly twisted form in the next. All of these forms are connected within your metasoul, and remaining in the dream world will slowly awaken your memories of all of your lives.

>>13188699
Hmmm... No way to know if that's balanced until we actual come up with some investitures, abilities, and rituals.

Bump.

Alright, how about this.

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).

Has anyone seen the madness system in Mirrors? It's a kind of alternate morality. It might fit here.

>>13189151
That sounds like a good way to categorize the Outsiders abilities somewhat.
>>13189596
Describe it. How does it work?

Thought I'd knock together some of those fluff blocks WW likes so much. Feel free to tear into it if it feels off.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.”

-The Necronomicon

In his house in R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming. He is the high priest of Azathoth, of Yog-Sothoth and of Shub-Niggurath. Mother Hydra and Father Dagon are his apostles, and the Deep Ones and Starspawn are his servants. Though he is a lower order of being than the Elder Gods, his power and influence over the people of Earth rivals even their vast potency. His is a realm of peril, where even such basic concepts as gravity and the behavior of angles can no longer be relied upon. The Starspawned Savants have not only looked upon this realm and lived, but now they serve its master.
The chosen of Cthulhu are unified by an event which they know as the Calling. Dead Cthulhu whispers into the dreams of the Called, telling them stories of the time before the Earth was a plaything of humanity. He tells them of the finding of the Third Planet, of the war with the Old Ones, of the sinking of the great city of R’lyeh, and of the secrets of time and space. Above all, his chosen feel a pull, as of something tugging at their innards, telling them to take ship to the one spot in the sea which is furthest from any land. Those who make this pilgrimage come upon strange islands of worked stone, once the most commanding pinnacles of R’lyeh. At their center is a ziggurat surmounted by a single enormous door which seems simultaneously horizontal and vertical. None speak of what lies beyond that door, but those who open it come fully into their own as Starspawned Savants.

>>13190018
The Wakeners, as they are sometimes called, are a motley lot. Most often they hail from less “advanced” places, whose people are more connected to the primal roots of humanity than the decadent thing it is today. Still, any human is potentially susceptible, and a few corporate presidents and prominent politicians wear pendants in the shape of a squid-like head behind their ties. Those who hear the Call tend to be mentally sensitive in some way; artists, scholars and story tellers are common, as are minor psychics or even psychologists. Despite their disparity, they all share two unifying features; the Calling, and their compulsion to see Cthulhu awaken and R’lyeh rise from the depths.

In terms of personality, the Starspawned tend to be charismatic and vigorous. They are in more ways than one the priests of an ancient religion, and they comport themselves accordingly. Not for them a sandwich board and a soapbox, they seek positions of power and use them to turn hearts and minds to their advantage, whether that position be captaincy of a school football team or the respect paid to a wandering Voodoo houngan. They are also intelligent, and an intuitive grasp of geometry or physics is not uncommon among them.

The powers of the Starspawned are strange, and by the standards of Outsiders rather subtle. Having been to a place where the laws of three petty dimensions do not apply, they gain an understanding of how to alter the “shape” of things using certain formulae which describe imperceptible but quite real facets of existence. With a sketched symbol or a graven mark they can bend time and stretch or compress space. Though to onlookers they may seem to dodge a bullet, it is only because they are standing five feet left of where their image says they should be. Though they seem to throw fire in the faces of their enemies, they are only rubbing out the little smudge in space that keeps their opponent distant from a furnace.

>>13190033
The truly terrifying thing about them, however, is that the Calling never stops. In fact, as a Starspawned Savant becomes more potent, their dreams become more and more terrible, riddled with prophecy and dread secrets that even they can scarcely hope to comprehend. Some break under the pressure and commit suicide or are shunted out of reality, while others take the Oaths of Dagon and accept the loss of their powers in exchange for a repellent new immortal form. Those who hold up guide others who hear the Call, but are perhaps not strong enough to witness the glory of R’lyeh firsthand. With the aid of these beings they work their schemes, hoping to bring the stars into alignment so that their patron may render unto them their due reward.

Concepts: Obsessive Mathematician, Cunning Evangelist, Twisted Sculptor, Mad Sailor

Stereotypes:

Chaos Prophets – “There’s insanity, and then there’s absolute nihilism. I’m hard pressed to say which side of the line they’re on.”

Scions of the Yellow Sign – “Madness for its own sake is all well and good, but they take it to an unnecessary level.”

Shepherds of the Silver Key – “Some of them would have us believe that our master is a facet of theirs. Perhaps they require a refresher in hypergeometry.”

Young of the Thousand – “While they do have their strengths, their master and ours are at cross purposes. Only one of us can rule this world.”

Vampires – “Charismatic and deadly, much like us. If they weren’t so wrapped up in pretending to be alive, they might make useful servants.”

Werewolves – “Though they’re bestial and annoying, they at least keep the incorporeals at bay. That anti-phasing sigil is a real pain to redraw every time a ghost gets in.”

Mages – “I wish I knew how they pulled off some of those tricks. Not that they’ll tell me without a bit of a nudge. Maybe putting one in two places at once will do it.”

>>13190018
That sounds rather fitting.

I remember from the last thread about the Outsiders themselves perhaps having an altered appearance, masked by their madness in the same way a changeling masks it's appearance with it's glamor. If we go with this, a good mutation/appearance look for the Starspawned Savants/Children of the Deep (outsiders of Cthulhu/Dagon/Hydra) would be the classic "Innsmouth look".

Classic Innsmouth look meaning part-deep one right?

>>13190092
Starts out as regular Innsmouth look, then branches out.

Outsiders of Dagon and Hydra transform fully into Deep Ones when they either get shunted out of reality or take Oath.

Outsiders of Cthulhu turn less fishy and more octopus-like. Also, their basic madness ability makes people of their choosing see their head distort and turn into Cthulhu's face.

>>13190092
That sounds like a capital idea. Perhaps it worsens as Quiessence decreases? For example, at Quiessence 10 you're a normal-looking human, if a bit inexplicably unsettling. At 5 your eyes are bulging, your skin is going scaly in places, and you have a bit of trouble breathing above water. At 1, assuming you haven't been bitchslapped to death by reality yet, you've got the full set of Davy Jones facial accessories with some lovely claws and scales to match, and you probably go around on land by dimension-raping seawater straight into your lungs.

>>13190158
Yeah, pretty much that.

>>13190092

Whatabout Old Nyarly's followers? Gaunt, pale humanoids with jetblack eyes?

>>13190269
They turn more Egyptian until they turn into black masses of flesh with eyes where they shouldn't be.

The stages of Nyarlathopic progression.

Young of the Thousand at Quiessence 0

op from the original thread here. Great stuff so far, drawing as we speak. keep it up /tg/!

Hm. If the universe is merely Azathoth's dream, how does that jibe with reality hating outsiders? Does the universe itself, on some primal level, wish to keep Azathoth asleep?

...this idea just made Hunter good.


Delat Green AND WoD? BEST IDEA.

So our "heroes" (oh gods why) are either with Cthulhu/Dagon/Hydra, Shub-Niggurath, Azathoth, Hastur, or Yog-Sothoth, with Nyarlahotep being both antogonist and eventual PC goal?

At its deepest level, Lovecraft's books were about the horror that comes from an uncaring and impersonal universe, with no singular will guiding it. Ironically, this is not so for Outsiders. The universe does take personal notice of you. And it -hates- you. The more powerful you become, the more it notices you. And eventually, you are banished from creation to dwell in the outside and in-between.

>>13193295
The mention of the "in-between" is espescially fitting if anyone here has read Neil Gaiman's Interworld.

>>13193223
> If the universe is merely Azathoth's dream...
That can be safely disregarded as faction propaganda (or is it? dun dun dunnn).
Much like most such explanations of how the universe works in other WoD splats.

>>13193223
>>13193417
Your feeble minds cannot even begin to hope to comprehend how the universe works, or what is the will of the Gods.

Hey guys? If we can get some rudimentary shit worked out, I've got a group of willing playtesters for tomorrow.

>>13193522
We need a list of what needs to be done.

Question for Hastur characters:


Would they just be batshit? Mad artists? Think the universe is all one big stage performance?

>>13193223

Of course it does. Imagine Azathoth is a coma patient. His subconscious, personified by Nyarlathotep, wants to maintain the Staus Quo. Azathoth waking up would mean the end of the universe as we know it. Everything strains against that.

On another note, I d like to have people touched by Ygolonac in that special way as a potential grouping of either antagonists or allies of the PCs.

I am loving this though. Reverse Call of Cthulhu is fine by me.

>>13193638
Yeah, but, we need a way to distinguish them from Malks.

>>13193658
Just got a copy of Eyes Only as an early gift. Book was pretty dildos, but Glaaki seems like a neat sub-group for the Cthulhu/Dagon/Hydra party.


Also, infinite time-travel loops.

This from the old thread:

>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"

>>13193680
Why? Can't a Malk be a Hasturian?

>>13193766
>Can't a Malk be a Hasturian?
Lazy writing and it's best not to encroach directly on an other splat's territory. That way leads only to confusion and buthurtness.

>>13193877
Alzo, vampirethulhu.


OVERPOWERED EVERYWHERE

>>13193716

I dunno. Actually, now that I think about it...

Glaaki and Ygolonac seem similar to me in that their corruption is something that's forced on victims, whether through Glaaki's spines or through reading the 13th Volume of the Revelations of Glaaki. It might be best to keep these guys as separate from the player characters, who are practically half-aliens.

>>13193931
Glaaki's dudes were drawn to the lake by dreams to be empowered by getting impaled.


I can see them as being a sub-group of the Cthulhu guys. Maybe not PCs, but definately in there.

>>13193716

Fucking Artifact Zero. If there's one scenario I don't think I'll ever run for my group it's that. It's a very neat idea, but it's a goddamn deathtrap.

I quite liked Eyes Only over all really. The chapter on the Mi-Go is really handy. The Fate are fun, and I liked having them a lot more fleshed out (though I disagreed with them giving a solid answer to the Alzis question). And I really quite liked how they tied together the Philadelphia Experiment and the Tillinghast Resonator. Artifact Zero is definitely the weakest scenario, Holy War is cool, even though it kinda delegates the Agents into being observers, and A Night On Owlshead Mountain is fucking great.

Eyes Only is definitely the weakest DG book, but it's still damn fine. It only looks bad when you compare it to the other Delta Green books, which are universally excellent.

>>13193996

I'd be inclined to keep them separate. Glaaki, as far as I'm concerned has no link to Cthulhu. Yes, those people were drawn to the lake by their dreams, but that was based purely on their proximity to the lake, nothing to do with them being particularly "Chosen" or special in any way.

>>13193999
You know something is awesome when the weakest book still has a fucking awesome module, a decent one, and enoug awesome fluff to write a few novels with.


Fucking love Delta Green.

Bumpan for appearance of each "race" discussion.

>>13194168
Hasturians (Hasturites?) would have waxy, melty faces. No eyes, probably even no nose. Just a mouth under a hood saying what should not be said.

The more I draw the less gets to stay. This is maddening!

Wow, you guys have done a lot since last I read this thread. What still needs to be worked out?

Also, bump.

>>13195537
apart from dozens of powers/disciplines and skills specific to A:tO, any fluff would do fine. I'd love some kind of introduction to either a specific 'race', or the setting in general, should you be of the writefag variety. (drawOP here)

bump for the night

An Idea for a basic ritual:

[Initiation]
Cost: 1+X Madness
Requirements: An abandoned place of worship , 5 aspiring cultists (+2 per extra point of Madness used)

The Outsider enacts a corrupted version of a familiar religious ceremony, granting the celebrants a glimpse of it's true nature. The Celebrants must make a Composure+Resolve roll vs your Mythos+Presence. Failed rolls gain a Mild Derangement (Severe in the case of a botched roll). You gain a +3 bonus for any rolls made to influence/control them in the future.
If any people not included in the ritual happen to witness it, they must make the same rolls, but you don't gain the bonus.

Thoughts?

>>13194232
We should describe them at various stages of Quiescence.
10:Mostly normal, maybe one minor distinguishing feature
05:Heavy mutation, concealable only with great effort or Rejections
00:You have stared into the abyss for way way WAY too long .

bump
this thing needs feedback

A sample Rejection.

Dreaming Dead God
Req: Starspawned Savant
Cost: None
Target: 1 or more sleeping sentient, corporeal beings.
Effect: Enter the target(s)' dreams and flood them with visions of R'lyeh. The targets make a Composure+Resolve VS your Mythos+Manipulation.
If they fail the roll, they lose Willpower equal to the degrees of failure as they wake up horrified. If they botch, they suffer a random Derangement (major if there was more than 1 botched roll, minor otherwise).
If you succeed, you gain 1 Madness per target. An exceptional success doubles the Madness gained. If you botch, the link between the dreamer and you is forcibly severed, and the person wakes up. In addition, that person can now see through your Veil.

Modifiers: Target(s) have a Major Derangement (+3), target(s) have a Minor Derangement (+1), target is a vampire/changeling/werewolf (-1), target is a promethean/mage (-2), target is a sin-eater (-4), more than 1 target (-1 per extra target), target(s) have 6 Willpower or more (-1 per willpower after the 6th)

An other Rejection:

The Name of the Beast
Cost: 1M
Req: none
Target: one sentient

You speak you true name in an tongue alien to creation. Target is stunned for a number of round equal to your Mythos rating. Target can roll Composure+Resolve and reduce the duration by the number of successes or it can use a point of will to negate. Targets with a willpower rating of 4 or less automatically suffer the full effects.

>>13201413
>Starspawn
10: Completely normal
05: Enlarged head, grayish green skin, tentacle like protrusions on the face, wing stumps on the back.
00: Mini Cthulhu

>Shepard of the Silver Key
10: Silver Eyes
05: The skin is just an envelope, no hair, strange light emanates from eye holes and mouth if opened
00: A glowing sphere of a color unknown on this planet

>Young of the Thousand
10: Prominent canines, arms somewhat longer in proportion to the body.
05: Arms are now tentacles, additional mouths appear
at random places on the body. Goat like legs.
00: see >>13192664

>Chaos Prophet
I'm stumped

>Scion of the Yellow Sign
10:Blind
05: >>13194232 waxy, melty faces. No eyes, probably even no nose. Just a mouth under a hood/mask
00:Pic related

>Courtier of the Black Pharaoh
>>13190320 seems appropriate enough
optionally the final stage could be one of many other avatars of Nyarly