So we all saw the mighty one in the kickstarter but how would you like to see it in game? I thought about it and I would like to see it as a cult minigame. The premise is that some of your citizens start to worship him and so a minigame takes place consisting of the following:
The cultists do little actions around your town to tip you off that they are active.
You can accuse them, if you do so and they are cultists you have foiled there plot, they will turn hostile but nothing bad happens. If they are’nt cultists and you accuse them, your happiness goes down.
If you don’t stop them they will gain power and cause the great one to appear and so it begins.
Of course if you want to minimize this part of the game, you can recruit the inquisitor, a class that will do nothing else but will actively hunt the cultists for you. They still might succeed but you didn’t have to pay any attention to it.
I believe the bigger question is how to handle mega-monsters, or just differing wildlife sizes in general.
Will they be able to smash through houses/terrain/individual blocks?
Will they land with a colossal, house-crushing THUD when finally slain?
Will they leave behind harvestable resources and generally be in the way until the corpse is taken care of, or will they simply vanish like Goblins currently do?
As long as there is an alternate form of Cthulu that Flies and resurrects the villagers it kills as the walking dead to aid in its conquest… I’m happy.
Hmm. It really depends on if it’s going to be the Cthulhu, or whether it’s just a mini-winged, tentacle-faced titan. As the game stands now, I’m not really sure that the cultist side of things fits the character of the game (compare Stonehearth to another similar game, Clockwork Empires, which is all about Eldritch Things and the like)… if nothing else, the fact that you’ve got your would-be cultist’s thoughts appearing in the bottom right corner of the screen… hmm .
To be honest, I think that big monsters are really best used as a kind of outside invader. Lovecraftian horror often works best (IMHO at least) when it’s all in the mind and such - ie when there is no giant rampaging monster. If I were adding Cthulhu in, the discovery of some evil artefact would drive your hearthlings mad, maybe by making them think a monster was rampaging, or that their neighbours were cultists, or whatever. Internal strife, chaos and such, rather than a giant attacking from outside.
So in fact, adding Cthulhu to the game could be a big problem, because the appearance would be the end of the game. A giant creature which destroys your city without any chance of victory or survival…
I like the cultist idea. This could be a really nice fight against the clock, where you need to stop them before they can evoke Cthulhu. But this option should be switchable at the start menu of the game…
I personally feel the whole feel of stonehearth could not have an optimal Cthulhu experience without actually completely changing game mechanics. I think Cthulhu stonehearth style will probably end up being a giant boss of great power… but beatable. I like the idea of implementing an authentic Cthulhu experience into a game, I just don’t feel this is the game to do it.
Whether or not it ends up being the Cthulhu, I feel that the Stonehearth Titan in question really shouldn’t be added until later. Yes, it was the first Titan revealed at the beginning of the project, but right now, it honestly just doesn’t fit yet for me. I would preferably wait until we start getting into settings like the inter-dimensional planes or oceans in the overworld, which to me, seem like the best possible settings for this sort of creature (not including just summoning the thing, which seems a little generic for me).
I just wanted to point out that I could not relate much to a true Cthulhu experience within Stonehearth.
And its not really necessary too as you can reference things with tongue in cheek - you know Cthulhu begins with a “C” just like “Cuddly” and that is what SH is all about, so I am fine with getting a cuddly Cthulhu!
wouldn’t that be a sight, to see this massive creature come stumbling toward your settlement, scare the beegeezus out of your citizens… only to walk up to your stockpile, plop down on his keister and munch on some berries…
I kind of like the artifact idea. It seems very mummyish. Like one of your villagers finds it in some creepy looking box, brings it home not knowing of a curse on it. Gets all obsessed with it, opens the box and then good old cthulhu comes stomping through. Sounds like a new winter blockbuster
Which is the problem - he really shouldn’t, because that’s not Cthulhu’s thing. Lovecraftian horror is big on things like the insignificance of mankind, and the futility of any actions you take against it, etc. A big monster stomping through the town is less about horror and more like voxel-ised Godzilla .
Now, making the hearthlings believe Cthulhu is stomping around the town is another matter. Psychological horror is just the kind of thing he can get behind .
Why is it when people Invoke the need to use Cthulhu they are completely out of touch with what he stands for. Any REAL Follower Good or Bad knows Cthulhu as a REAL Boss means a NO WIN Solution Period and more of like a urban legend. If you are going to jump into this as a need for some kind of Boss or something I would suggest you start with something like a Hoarde or Group(Cult) of Cthulhu followers that do his bidding. That is actually how the Fantasy Myth was kind of written. Such as Deep Ones, Shoggoth… things like that first… Gods just simply don’t appear first and they never have. There is always someone else out their doing the work for them.
Well, there are four ways to use him (and similar beings) IMHO:
Accurately. Cthulhu comes, everyone goes mad and dies, the end. See: HP Lovecraft.
For manifest destiny moments. Cthulhu comes, but humans are so badass they defeat him with the power of human traits and awesome tech, proving that we’re bigger than the vast uncaring universe out there. See: Lensman series.
For WTF moments. Cthulhu comes, but he’s adorably cute and has tea with the vicar. See: Cthulhu plushies .
Badly. Cthulhu comes, but he has hit points and telegraphs his attacks so you can dodge them, has an enrage timer, and… let’s be honest, you were just too lazy to do custom concept art for your RPG boss, weren’t you…
My thoughts are it’s just easier and best to not bring Lovecraft Lore into a non lovecraft scenario. Think of it as “Cthulu” And not CTHULU. Basically a Titan that pays very small Homage to the real Cthulu
Spot on! Still I view this type of situation as a No Win. I recall a D&D event were some guy Insisted on calling up his God Hastur… It didn’t end well for Everyone. Including the DM… Which he added a Twist about so much wraith that the DM’s Story Also imploded on itself and he lost everything. Very Amusing…
I could kinda see combining these kind of ideas. Also maybe having a “mini” Cthulhu that will come that might foreshadow that your actions may cause Cthulhu to massacre your town.
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