Tharizdun and the Great Old Ones

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

admrvonbek

Apr 24, 2006 2:53:14
Is it just me, or does anyone else think Tharizdun is a lot like Nyralathotep? I'm starting a campaign that involves a nice trek around Greyhawk to stop his followers from opening up a gate for the great Old Ones to come into Greyhawk and figured I'd ask around and get some other ideas from you guys.
#2

Mortepierre

Apr 24, 2006 4:20:35
Well, the Lords of Madness accessory clearly associates him with deity-level entities from the Far Realm and since that's the closest thing we have to Lovecraft's mythos, it seems fitting.

If you're preparing a Us vs Abominations from Outer Space campaign, that book will offer a lot.
#3

zombiegleemax

Apr 24, 2006 5:50:14
There's a long tradition of CthulhuHawk among GHers - and why not, as it combines two great RPG ideas.
#4

pauln6

Apr 24, 2006 6:17:24
I actually worked in the Gates of Firestorm Peak and blamed the Elder Elves for bringing Tharizdun's attention to Oerth. It's quite a fun mod with lots of Far Realm nasties and with a bit of tweaking, you could probably make it even more sinister and Cthulu-esque.
#5

varthalon

Apr 24, 2006 9:10:22
There's a long tradition of CthulhuHawk among GHers - and why not, as it combines two great RPG ideas.

I think it also comes from the very first printing of Dieties and Demigods, which contained the Cthulhu pantheon and information on the old ones and stuff. The only campaign around at the time was Greyhawk (1st edition!). TSR had to recall them because of the copyright violation (oops!), and rereleased it without the Cthulhu or Melnibone stuff, but many of us old timers still have the copy we got before they disappeared of the shelves. :P

I think they make great flavor for dark and lost lore predating the current gods. They link well with Tharizdun and the elder elelemental gods.
#6

ripvanwormer

Apr 24, 2006 12:30:37
TSR had to recall them because of the copyright violation (oops!), and rereleased it without the Cthulhu or Melnibone stuff, but many of us old timers still have the copy we got before they disappeared of the shelves.

First of all, there was never a copyright violation, as Lovecraft's mythos is public domain, and they got permission from Moorcock to do the Melnibonean mythos (TSR learned its lesson after the Tolkien estate and Burroughs estate threatened legal action against them earlier for their inclusion of Hobbits, Balrogs, Ents, and Barsoom in the original White Box. By 1980, they weren't going to make that mistake twice)

The books were never recalled, either. What happened is that the printing was stopped because Chaosium claimed they had an exclusive license for Lovecraft-based and Moorcock-based RPG materials. The people from both companies discussed the matter and agreed that, rather than waste resources with a court battle, the printing could go on if TSR placed a notice thanking Chaosium for permission to use the two mythoi. It was agreed and the printing continued. The books were distributed and sold and there was never a recall.

For the second printing, the Blooms decided they'd rather not mention what they considered to be a rival company in one of their books, so they cut the two contended mythoi out. Gary Gygax offered to design two new pantheons to replace them, but the Blooms declined, deciding they'd make a bigger profit with a lesser page count.

From what I understand, however, Chaosium's "licenses" are both actually worthless, or imaginary. Moorcock isn't getting any royalties for the Elric stuff, he's just either too benign or too busy to bother suing a small RPG company. And Lovecraft's gods and monsters are all public domain.
#7

admrvonbek

Apr 24, 2006 23:51:46
About time someone esle pointed the whole Copyright issue with the Lovecraft stuff. In the case of Moorcock i think he just got tired of suing people over using or abusing his work. That being said however, I had a long running Strombringer campain that was a lot of fun. With my previous Black razor/ Stormbringer comment. That would then make me change around a bit of the history behind Karakis and his origins from White Plum Mountian. Instead of him being an Ur Flan mystic, perhaps he was a rnegeade Suel Wizard who, after snatching a few artifacts, left the Suel lands. Or maybe the weapons in the Mountain were just average magic items for the Old seul? Ok I'm off on atangent now. I'll stop. LOL
#8

zombiegleemax

Apr 27, 2006 6:26:10
In Dungeon #134 (I bought it yesterday... Things like those have an hard time arriving in Italy... :D) there's a "generic" adventure (meaning it can be seen as a Greyhawk adventure) in which the King in Yellow (both the play and the god) and the Lost City of Carcosa are the main feature... As center of the Far Plane!

I'd say more, but I don't think people here might like spoilers. ;)