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Using "elder-god" cults

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« on: <01-25-18/1625:16> »
Spoiler warning:  This thread will (likely) contain spoilers both from the Dark Terrors book and the "Counting Coup" adventure.  Stop reading if you don't want to see those!

There was one whole section of the Terrors book that was full of teasers of elder-god cults with strange powers, ancient corrupting artifacts, the activities of Gaf and co.  But it is pretty short on specifics and game stats.

What I'm specifically looking to do is modify the last part of the Counting Coup adventure.  It featured a cell of Sioux intelligence service who had become toxic shamans -- the Runners first encounter them in an abandoned military base then race to foil their plot to release material already extracted from that base.   It happens that I not long ago ran a port of the adventure from NAN vol 2, which features a toxic maged led group -- the Runners first encounter them in an abandoned military base then race to foil their plot to release material already extracted from that base.  I'd like to think that there is more to adventures in the NAN than the lingering corruption from the US military, you know?

So I'm looking to Dark Terrors to supply a different mode of corruption of the intelligence cell.  I was thinking that they could have gotten their hands on a corrupting artifact or a (partial) copy of the book of Gaf, or something like that.  Things I need to decide, and would appreciate any ideas on, are:
- Interesting corruption
- What unusual magic/powers to give them that makes them distinctive and tough, but not too crazy lethal.
- What the big threat is that the Runners will feel a need to do something about (since presumably they will not setting off dirty bombs to poison broad swathes of land as in the written adventure).

I'm working on ideas, but sometimes input from other people helps keep the ideas fresh (in a long game one's ideas tend to fall into certain ruts or patterns sometimes, which is part of why I like to make some use of printed adventures since they add some variety in style).

ShadowcatX

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« Reply #1 on: <01-26-18/1011:16> »
I don't think the mechanics are so important as the theme. I mean you can easily steal and reskin mechanics. (Echolocation for a bat person, elemental body for someone squirting puss out of their body, etc.) You could even bring in a bit of HMHVV and have the cultists using the infected as priests and I don't mean pretty infected. I mean imagine a bunch of corrupted, inbred, and mutated rednecks who use a Wendigo as their priest to commune with the elder god and offer up sacrifices of their own flesh to keep it fed. (And of course, it is the most mutated of them all, heck it could even be a corrupted version of HMHVV or an advanced version of whatever is causing HMHVV to grow worse.)

Spooky

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« Reply #2 on: <01-26-18/1510:42> »
What about changing from toxic shaman to insect shaman? Whole different flavor there.
Spooky, what do you do this pass? Shoot him with my thunderstruck gauss rifle. (Rolls)  8 hits. Does that blow his head off?

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« Reply #3 on: <01-26-18/1541:04> »
ShadowcatX:  I guess I was thinking about the teleportation (?) and mental influence angles.  I guess the latter I can model with existing rules, the former I can just make my own guidelines about.


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What about changing from toxic shaman to insect shaman? Whole different flavor there.

That would  be easier than dark god... although high levels of asensing tend to pick up on spirit possession I think?  But locusts about to swarm would make an interesting  "oh drek we need to go do something,  no time to wait on authorities" sort of situation.