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[Xantalos]

I think that Zalgo may be partly  based on Y'golonac; in particular the "...he who waits behind the wall..." angle.


EDIT:
Speaking of things being based on other things, has anyone else heard the theory that The Dunwich Horror is a heavily veiled satire of the gospel?

Thinly veiled? A virgin gets impregnated by God the Father (Yog-Sothoth) and gives birth to God the Son (Wilbur or whichever one was the humanoid one) and the Holy Ghost (the monstrous brother). Doesn't get more unveiled than that.

[wierd]

In Lovecraft's "Dream cycle" stories, he refers to the earth's "Earth gods" as being "Weak"--

Also, in magical practice, replication and or modification of prior magical feats provides a kind of ... Hrm.. "synergy".
It is the basis behind a whole branch of magical practice called "Sympathetic Magic"-- The whole "Like above, so below" type thing.


So, the crazed wizard in Dunwitch Horror who uses his own daughter to sire the sons of Yog Sothoth could well have been leveraging the christ mythos simply for the added boost it would give his magic, in conjunction with the "Greater power" that is Yog Sothoth.

[hops]

Maybe he thought that Yog-Sothoth is God?

[Xantalos]

Yeah, Nyarlathotep fucks around with them in Dream-Quest by stealing them away from the city Randolph Carter dreamed up at the end of it, apparently purely for the hell of it.

Maybe he thought that Yog-Sothoth is God?

Wouldn't be too far off.

[Bohandas]

Haven't heard that before, but it sounds kind of revisionist. Then again, this is what Lovecraft had to say on religion:

All I say is that I think it is damned unlikely that anything like a central cosmic will, a spirit world, or an eternal survival of personality exist. They are the most preposterous and unjustified of all the guesses which can be made about the universe, and I am not enough of a hairsplitter to pretend that I don't regard them as arrant and negligible moonshine. In theory I am an agnostic, but pending the appearance of radical evidence I must be classed, practically and provisionally, as an atheist."[51]

So it's not out of the realm of possibility it was intended as satire. Really....gross satire.

I think the argument is that both Jesus and the Horror are sons of gods who died on top of a hill calling for said god. Plus the name "Yog-Sothoth" is somewhat reminiscent of the phrase "YHWH-Saboath"

[Lord_lemonpie]

Just finished reading The Rats In The Walls. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading more of his stories.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Where the skeletons they found in the "basement" Human, Ape-Man/Neanderthal, or not even human at all? It was kind of confusing, especially when they started mentioning quadrupeds or something.

[nogoodnames]

Just finished reading The Rats In The Walls. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading more of his stories.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Where the skeletons they found in the "basement" Human, Ape-Man/Neanderthal, or not even human at all? It was kind of confusing, especially when they started mentioning quadrupeds or something.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I took it as them being humans that were bred for sacrifice/eating to the point that they became horrific animal-like abominations.

[hops]

IIRC they're all humans. They're just really, really inbred.

[Neonivek]

Other things Lovecraft did
-Witches
-Vampires
-Warlocks
-Goatboys

I am being really mean. I actually don't think those elements are bad.

Though it always makes me laugh whenever someone says "Not lovecraft" when it is like "Uhhhh... no Lovecraft did some cheesy things"

Heck I made that mistake too... I didn't know Lovecraft had a book where some guy just decides to wipe out the aliens with a shotgun.

[hops]

I wonder what a Lovecraftian cyberpunk would look like.

[StupidElves]

I wonder what a Lovecraftian cyberpunk would look like.

That would be CthulhuPunk, which is an expansion for the tabletop rpg entitled Cyberpunk. It's really cool, especially when you get things like the megacorps getting their hands on some of the horrors and then they start experimenting with their DNA, and then they add in cybernetics. It is awesome.

[hops]

If a megacorp can experiment with eldritch horrors, then I think that makes it a Lovecraft lite.

[StupidElves]

If a megacorp can experiment with eldritch horrors, then I think that makes it a Lovecraft lite.

Which is why it's all at the discretion of the DM. If he wants to have his players fight a shoggoth with cybernetics installed on them, he does. If he wants to have them deal with cultists but with lazerguns instead of revolvers and keep it as close to a true cosmic horror level, then he can.

[scrdest]

If a megacorp can experiment with eldritch horrors, then I think that makes it a Lovecraft lite.

If he wants to have them deal with cultists but with lazerguns instead of revolvers and keep it as close to a true cosmic horror level, then he can.

I wonder... did someone ever do Diesel-Cyberpunk?

[Xantalos]

If a megacorp can experiment with eldritch horrors, then I think that makes it a Lovecraft lite.

No, it's if they can win in a reasonable sense against the bigger eldritch horrors it's Lovecraft lite. Conan the Barbarian is an example.