These are some of the most famous, and infamous, creations of the legendary H.P. Lovecraft. Here, you will find the Great Old Ones in all of their hideous and eldritch splendor... Atlach-Nacha, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha, Great Cthulhu, Dagon, Eihort, Glaaki, Hastur, Ithaqua, Nyogtha, Tsathoggua, Y'golonac, Yig, and Zvilpogghua. Here, you will also find the mysterious Outer Gods such as:
Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Shub N'Grath, and Yog-Sothoth. Gathered from the very farthest, darkest corners of the Web, I've collected their portraits and made them useable in Neverwinter Nights as NPCs, Boss Monsters, or whatever you like. And, there's even more terrors of the outer darkness to marvel at... Deep One, Elder Thing, Flying Polyp, Mi-Go, Night-Gaunt, Pickman's Model, Shoggoth, and Yith as well. A fan of Lovecraft, or of unusual creatures in general?
Then this portrait pack is definately sure to please you for aeons to come!
The Cthulhu Mythos Portrait Pack comes in two flavors: CEPv2.0 version and Nwn v1.68 version. Use whichever you need.
None of these unique portraits has been assigned a specific gender, due to the truly ambiguous nature of the creatures depicted. All of the portraits are set up to appear in the toolset under plot portraits, so they will be easy to find and make use of for module builders. ;)
Note: I've kept the exact same .2da row numbers for both the CEP and non-CEP versions of this pack. The numbers are 3671 to 3696. That way, folks who later decide to switch versions won't have to redo creatures given these portraits. :D
Update: There are now two new versions of this pack: one for Nwn v1.69 and one for CEPv2.1... for these new versions, the .2da row numbers are 5000 to 5025, and they are the same in both of these versions of this portrait pack. - Enjoy!
Saduj... Awesome sounding R'lyeh you have there! If I happen to see even a single texture that could help, I'll let you know, although I don't come by new textures all that often of late.
Izk... I've been experimenting with 1.69 a lot since I got it the other night. Wow! What a work of art it is, especially when combined with CEPv2.1; I'm using it in my latest project, and speaking of said project... here are a few details I can mention about it:
1.
It's going to be the city of Londra, from the Hawkmoon novels by Michael Moorcock. I found a French module that was based on Hawkmoon, and it had some sections of Londra in it that I have translated into English and decided to use as the base for my Londra prefab.
2.
As you may expect, a lot of things had to be changed and/or fixed early on...
one of the changes I have made, was to Huon, the ruler of Londra. They used the Ilithid Brain for him... which I erased. Instead I created a pale, bald human and I used the flying animation combined with a permanent globe of invunerability to simulate him as he's floating in his "Throne Globe" and the result appears very much as Moorcock described in his novels... as well as they way that Huon was depicted in the Hawkmoon comics and the graphic novel version. Naturally... I also made him immobile, so he doesn't float away. ;)
To complete the effect, I have bubbles that float up into the globe from it's base, making it truly look like it is filled with the liquid that keeps Huon immortal. The effect is actually more impressive in-game than it sounds, too.
3.
One difference between this prefab and most of my older ones is that this one will have several NPCs, merchants, and guards already made in it, since I do believe the inhabitants of Londra are as important to the character of it as the architecture is. (The NPCs won't have any dialog, though. That way, a builder who uses this Londra in their module will be able to have them say whatever they want or need them to.)
All of the knightly Beast Orders are represented, which caused me to have to make another change: they had this made-up order, the "Mutant" order, and it wasn't in the Hawkmoon novels. So I changed the helmet and so made it into the "Order of the Boar" which is what Moorcock described. (Finally, I found some good uses for all of those animal shaped helmet appearances Nwn has!) :D
All in all, I like the way the city is shaping up and I think Moorcock fans will appreciate the finished product.
Posted by Saduj at 2008-07-11 20:26:11 Voted 10.00 on 07/08/08
Posted by Saduj at 2008-07-11 02:50:44 Voted 10.00 on 07/08/08
R'lyeh
Well, ive gotten a really good menzobranzen/Underdark base combo picked for the base "Underworld tileset", and am in the process of retexturing it using hieroglyphs, tentacles, and other appropriately bizarre textures.
Posted by Izk The Mad at 2008-07-10 17:15:26 Voted 10.00 on 07/07/08
WOW! Some pretty sharp looking stuff! I like the Biblical ideas. I see some similar ideas in some of these, but then I saw the Sunken Palace of Dagon! That's pretty wild. I also see we have a similar taste in placeables. I'm betting you play with tile-fade off, too. :)
That CODI content is great for these themes. And you gotta love the versatile gray stone arch. Check out Arkham Watchtower in my album. I've used it in quite a few spots throughout my module, including some tileset specific ones you'd appreciate. In the C/R BB for example, when a raised stone bridge meets raised grass with the city facade, there's no tile to match up at the end of the bridge. So I sink an arch there, and it's also the right width to meet up with the castle/city tiles. I had to share that one. I get frustrated when different tiles won't go together, so I improvise.
I had to stop looking at these prefabs, chaos, but that's a compliment. I already have a head full of unfinished ideas for my module, and more keep creeping in. I want all my areas and ideas to be my own, despite some of the themes I'm using. I confess I haven't really even played any user modules because of it. I tried a couple of the more popular ones though, but never made it very far. Something to do with artistic integrity and my brain being like a sponge, lol, but I think that's a lost cause with a module full of Lovecraft and many other influences. Someday I'll finish it, then I'll be free! *laughs* I'll don't think I'd do any prefabs until then. I want to be the first to unleash my Shub on the unsuspecting masses! *evil laugh*
Ah! I actually own that very Dreaming City Graphic Novel. I bought mine in a comic store that was selling a lot of old Marvel graphic novels. I also have graphic novels of Elric of Melnibone, Stormbringer, and Michael Moorcock's Multiverse, as well as Hawkmoon: The Jewel in the Skull. And, I have comic versions of Elric: Sailor on the Seas of Fate, too. An interesting thing to know... is that way back in the early Marvel Conan comics, they did a story arc where Elric and Conan teamed up to fight Gaynor the Damned and Xiombarg.
I have the "Essential Conan" graphic novel and it actually reprints that storyline as well as all the others of the old classic Conan tales. I'd have to say I'm a huge fan of all Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" stories (of which Elric and Hawkmoon are part).
My screen name, "Chaos_Theocrat", was inspired by the High Theocrat of Chaos in Stormbringer... Jagreen Lern. Plus, on the Bioware official Nwn forums, I go by this name: "Yrkoon_of_Melnibone" based on a similar Moorcock character.
My Moorcock-related "Young Kingdoms" project culminated in the release of the following prefabs for Nwn1:
Dragon Isle of Melnibone, which I co-built along with Remir Arnom, and the Demon Isle of Pan Tang, which I built totally myself. The look of Imrryr in my Melnibone prefab was based on maps in an official D20 Elric sourcebook as well as the overall look of it in the Dreaming City graphic novel by Marvel.
I featured a few more minor areas of the Young Kingdoms in some of my other prefabs, also, such as The Dead God's Castle. Nothing nearly on the scale of both Melnibone and Pan Tang, though.
As for H.P. Lovecraft-related prefabs, my best one was The Drowned Palace of Dagon. Also, I had R'lyeh in mind when I made my prefab of The City of Seven Gates, from Sumerian mythology. (Home of the goddess of death, Ereshkigal.) In some myths, the Dragon of Kur is equated with Kutulu, or Cthulhu, as a god of the dead in the Sumerian idea of the Underworld, along with Nergal and Ereshkigal. According to legends, Kutulu had entrapped Ereshkigal in the land of the dead and made her queen in the identical way that Hades had with Persephone in the Greek myths, but at some point he was no longer mentioned at all and Nergal became the chief god of the Underworld in Kutulu's place. So, it just made sense, from a mythic standpoint, to so equate Ereshkigal's kingdom with R'lyeh when I was early on in designing my take on it for Nwn.
Posted by Izk The Mad at 2008-07-09 22:15:47 Voted 10.00 on 07/07/08
Some pretty amazing R'lyeh images on that Haunter of The Dark site. A must see! In downloadable wallpaper form, no less.
A R�lyeh Tileset would be one of the most useful tilesets! It could be used for not only R'lyeh, but some of the cities in the Moorcock Elric tales, as similar architectural styles were used (especially for Imrryr, the Dreaming City, the name of which even bears a resemblence to Dreaming R'lyeh). When I did my Melnibone prefab, I used the Underdark tileset for Imrryr. So, I do have to agree with Izk: a full R'lyeh tileset, should indeed be built using the Underdark tileset as it's base. In a Hyborean Age module for Nwn that I'd played a good while back... the author even used the Underdark for R'lyeh, so probably most folks would already find the look fitting. With the additons as Izk suggested, it would be perfect! If you build it, the fans will definately download it... myself, included. :D
Posted by Saduj at 2008-07-09 09:46:32 Voted 10.00 on 07/08/08
Izk... Wow! Yes indeed, my copy of the Necronomicon is *also* the one by Avon books. That is the one that they call the "Simon" Necronomicon amongst most occult circles. Talk about great minds thinking alike! ;) And, sure, if you want to do some color portraits that could be added to this collection, I'm all for it. More are always welcome. I like your Lovecraft creatures that you designed, by the way! I think we were thinking along very similar lines when it came to Shub, with the red glow and the waving tentacles. Definately... a good way to go for designing the "old goat" (just do not call Shub that to his/her face or faces :D). I too, am looking forward to 1.69's scaling.
It's one of many things I liked about Nwn2, and it will be perfect for Nwn1!
Saduj... that is a great resource page you have there for the old Deities and Demigods. I had a copy long ago, but I sold it when Legends and Lore came out only to discover how L&L didn't have a lot of what Deities and Demigods did. I made up for it over the years though by purchasing the Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu, and the Dragon Lords of Melnibone RPGs and D20 books whenever they came out, to replace in my games what they pulled from L&L. One thing I laugh at to this day, is how they re-used that picture of Theleb-Karna from Deities and Demigods in Legends and Lore, but in L&L they used it for the Celtic god Cuchulain (even though of course Cuchulain would look nothing like that). That picture entitled "Yog Sothoth Takes a Bride" reminds me of that scene in the movie Dagon where they went to throw the woman in the pit to get Dagon to take her for his bride, when up came Dagon and grabbed her with his tentacles (that was, of course, the end of her). I wonder if, given how popular D&D is in Japan, the imagery with giant beasts, tentacles, and helpless maidens, did not at least to some degree help influence certain aspects of Anime that feature various similar, shall we say, elements? Lol.
In closing, I have to agree with what Saduj said: if you do any prefabs of Lovecraft critters, Izk, I too would be among those who would be waiting to download them. However, perhaps it may be prudent to wait and see what 1.69 can add to the design of them first, since then you could choose the sizes that are appropriate for each beast (which is the real beauty of scaling).
Posted by Saduj at 2008-07-08 14:53:05 Voted 10.00 on 07/08/08
The Fact it came from Avon made it that much creepier, its like finding out Barbie and Ken have hidden 999's :)
Posted by Izk The Mad at 2008-07-08 14:35:42 Voted 10.00 on 07/07/08
Sorry, not to keep commenting here, but I meant to respond about the portraits. I'd have to make them color with texture, of course! You should know me better than that by now, I would've thought. ;) I wouldn't want to detract from what you've already done, just possibly add more options to it, especially considering the different "forms", and the methods we're talking about to create some of these. I have enough to do, so no worries. I just got excited looking at those pics and your portraits. I've needed these for a while, and I've been too lazy to make my own. Basically you beat me to it. :)
Izk... I think I'd be interested in new Cthulhu Mythos portraits if there were any color pics of some of the Mythos creatures that I don't have in this set already. But, if they are mostly black and white pics, or of the same creatures I've already got in my set, then I don't think I could really find a use for them without them just clashing with what is already there.
Saduj... I've read Stephen King's The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, and all of the Dark Tower novels. Flagg has to be his best, most well-developed villain! As an aspect of Nyarlathotep, I think that makes him all the more menacing.
As for the connection between Cthulhu Mythos and Babylonian mythology, there was something to that. I read a copy of the "fictional" Necronomicon by an author named Simon (no last name) and it explored some interesting territory where it was comprehensible. And where it was not, was due to the attempt the author made to replicate the Sumerian language, sometimes incorrectly. Some of the myths mentioned in that book were the Enuma Elish (Creation Story), Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld, and the Resurrection of Ishtar, which took place after her sister Ereshkigal had her killed for trying to usurp her throne in the underworld. Throughout those stories and others, mention was made of gods such as Tiamat, Marduk, Kutulu, Azag-Thoth, and countless of the others of which Lovecraft wrote. So, while it's hefty claim to be "the" Necronomicon may be dubious, since it was determined by many that this was a hoax claim on the part of the author, the book by Simon does still give one something of an accurate crash-course in Sumerian and Babylonian mythology, a subject I've researched thoroughly, and how it fits in with Lovecraft's stories. (It also had a creepy little account allegedy by the Mad Arab where crazy Abdul was *nervous* over having spilled the Old Ones' secrets and was worried they'd be coming after him any minute. A fiction most likely, but an interesting speculative peek into the Mad Arab's state of mind, if he was a real person, as many beleive he was.) All in all... it was a fun, and very interesting, read that I'd recommend to Lovecraft fans who may be curious to learn more about the actual myths behind the Mythos. I have also read a few "Online Necronomicons" that tried to expand the Simon version into what people believed the original "really" would have been like... but all in all the end result wasn't really too much different, just expanded to tell about a few more gods and myths, with some of the Sumerian language having better English translations than Simon made.
Posted by Izk The Mad at 2008-07-08 11:47:20 Voted 10.00 on 07/07/08
Thanks for sharing those links, Saduj. I hadn't seen some of those before. I think I may have to make that Shub pic into a wallpaper. Funny thing is, I hated his work back then. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I love it now. Wonder if Erol would mind if I doctored a few and made some NWN portaits of my own? Any intererst, chaos? After some more skyboxes, of course...
Some of Lovecraft's creations came from his writer friends as well, like Robert Bloch. They were trying to develop some continuity to their stories and mythos. I've read quite a bit about him, and most of his stories (repeatedly). And I've never played any CoC games, for some reason. He was quite prejudiced apparently, and a rather neurotic and paranoid chap. Crazy people make the best writers/artists/musicians. A goal I strive to achieve everday! :) _________________________ Silent Hill-ish Hak | Skybox Experiments | Creature/NPC Reskins Vol 1 | Works In Progress
Posted by Izk The Mad at 2008-07-08 05:42:19 Voted 10.00 on 07/07/08
Love those Erol Otus pics. I still have my copy of that Dieties and Demigods. It's what inspired my Shub.
I see chaos may have picked up my politically corrected name, N'Grath... Lovecraft did seem to be a bit of a racist SOB. I even think the Night-Gaunts might be a racial slur. Then there's a certain cat in "The Rats in The Walls"... _________________________ Silent Hill-ish Hak | Skybox Experiments | Creature/NPC Reskins Vol 1 | Works In Progress
Posted by Izk The Mad at 2008-07-08 05:35:01 Voted 10.00 on 07/07/08
We seem to think alike. I used the Air Grue for my Shoggoths, but with weird vfx on heartbeat (double weird- one on the ground, one on it, looks amazing in motion), and a cloud of darkness and tentacles for one of Nyarlathotep's forms. :)
My Shub, however, is a transparent Purple Worm with that weird vfx heartbeat, sitting in the middle of a large sunken pit with placeable water and floating mouths, which continually spawns flying eyes and some custom "partial" creatures until he's vanquished. I added the placeables to Shub's OnDeath so they disappear when he dies.
I have created a couple of excellent examples for Cthulhu and Shub N'Grath that match their portraits very well.
I uploaded both pics to this page, to show what my versions look like. Shub is, basically, a CEP Air Grue with red glow and entangle vfx placed upon it.
Posted by Saduj at 2008-07-07 23:42:51 Voted 10.00 on 07/08/08
Posted by Saduj at 2008-07-07 23:40:44 Voted 10.00 on 07/08/08
Or if you reskinned the "Giant Space Octopus" from Arcane Space :)
Cthulhu, Tiamat, Hastur, Shub-Niggurath and the other Old Ones banished to the Places Beyond Time and Space (aka The Dreamlands or The Far Realms) never appeared in thier true forms, but in manifestations, so a vfx based cloud of darkness and evards tentacles could indicate the Forbidden One's Presence...
As for models I must say the Lovecraft Mythos can be tricky to do right in a 3D game but it's not quite impossible, as Bethesda proved with it's Call of Cthulhu game. For Nwn, there are ways!
With a crafty combination of scripting using vfx and custom NPC design, there are more than a few of these monsters that could cause adventurers in Nwn to lose their minds if done the right way.
It would require CEPv2.0 or CEPv2.1 to make convincing Lovecraftian beasties, though, and certainly not vanilla Nwn.
Here are some tips I've come up with for those who are very interested in designing creatures for use with this portrait pack but who need some ideas:
First, find a base creature...
The best place to bein for an Ithaqua, for instance, is the CEP's Wendigo. As Ithaqua is essentially the Wendigo god such a base template would make sense, but any similar beast, like the CEP's Yeti, would equally do to make Ithaqua.
Second, some are already there...
Sahuagin are D&D's Deep Ones, so they could be said to already have a model.
Third, try mixing different looks...
For Cthulhu, I think the community is almost there with Dynamic Ilithids. An Ilithid model could be given wings and be colored green, and look like a very sinister Cthulhu. In theory, anyway.
But, without using any kind of Dynamic Ilithid, I tried an experiment once. I took a Half-Orc, I colored him green, gave him appropriate wings, then gave him the "Sauron" style Nwn Helmet... (helm_032 I believe). I colored it to match his skin, and he looked as much like a Cthulhu as one could hope for.
So, perhaps a Dynamic Ilithic wouldn't be needed to create Cthulhu after all!
Nobody ever said Cthulhu had to be the size of a Balrog to be properly nasty.
In closing... I have seen some valiant attempts, in modules, at the Mi-Go and Night-Gaunts so while some of the more amorphous horrors *would* be difficult to portray, there are always ways that are possible if one is imaginative and creative enough to discover them. ;)
Posted by Izk The Mad at 2008-07-07 19:50:37 Voted 10.00 on 07/07/08
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at 2008-07-12 01:59:40
