Little Shop of Cthulhu

[seneschal]

"Your temperament's wrong for the priesthood, and teaching would suit you still less; So be a dentist.  You'll be a success!"

We've had CoC adaptations of Clue, RUR, even Murder On the Orient Express.  Has anyone tried to adapt "Little Shop of Horrors"?  It's got a setting similar to "The Horror At Red Hook," a cast of  disreputable characters/suspects, and an unusual (and ravenous) monster.  I'm not so much a fan of the original 1960 black-and-white movie, which I found boring, but I absolutely love the musical and the 1986 film.  Why throw mere cultists at your players when you can confront them with all-singing, all-dancing critters of ultimate destruction?  I can envision a buzzing Mi-Go chorus line accompanied by kazoos in addition to whatever main monster you want to include.

Edited December 23, 2019 by seneschal

[Dethstrok9]

I was going to name my facebook page Cthulhu's little shop of horrors, but there were copywrite issues. 

Anyway, I would love to see that as a scenario! A whole session which was RPG mixed with Musical...

[Baron]

I get the Oriental Express reference, but I'm unaware of Cthulhoid versions of RUR and Clue..?

[Dethstrok9]

2 minutes ago, Baron said:

I get the Oriental Express reference, but I'm unaware of Cthulhoid versions of RUR and Clue..?

@Baron,They are being talked about in the forums, they are (currently) not actual products. As for as I know...

Edited December 23, 2019 by Dethstrok9

[seneschal]

Although the discussion has wandered ... a bit.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by seneschal

[seneschal]

Similar theme, different execution:  Womaneater (1958), a British film about an exotic plant that devours, well, you know.  Pretty victims but no songs.  Too bad!

[Old Man Henerson]

On 12/23/2019 at 11:11 AM, seneschal said:

"Your temperament's wrong for the priesthood, and teaching would suit you still less; So be a dentist.  You'll be a success!"

We've had CoC adaptations of Clue, RUR, even Murder On the Orient Express.  Has anyone tried to adapt "Little Shop of Horrors"?  It's got a setting similar to "The Horror At Red Hook," a cast of  disreputable characters/suspects, and an unusual (and ravenous) monster.  I'm not so much a fan of the original 1960 black-and-white movie, which I found boring, but I absolutely love the musical and the 1986 film.  Why throw mere cultists at your players when you can confront them with all-singing, all-dancing critters of ultimate destruction?  I can envision a buzzing Mi-Go chorus line accompanied by kazoos in addition to whatever main monster you want to include.

Call of Cthulhu, The Musical, I love that Idea. You could even have "music war" thing where the PCs must come up with better songs and comebacks to battle the forces of evil. Bonus points if they can somehow convince Hugh Jackman to join their side. 

[Ali the Helering]

2 hours ago, Old Man Henerson said:

Call of Cthulhu, The Musical, I love that Idea. You could even have "music war" thing where the PCs must come up with better songs and comebacks to battle the forces of evil. Bonus points if they can somehow convince Hugh Jackman to join their side. 

Just Google 'shoggoth on the roof'. 

[seneschal]

As I poke around I find more and more old movies featuring plant monsters -- vampiric trees, animated tiki idols, strangler vines, Venus mantraps, etc.  "The Thing From Another World" (1951) is probably the best known, featuring a super-intelligent vampiric carrot (which looked and acted more like the Frankenstein monster than a space alien).  However, the Japanese "Matango" (1963) based on William Hope Hodgson's "A Voice in the Night" is pretty creepy and true to the spirit of original tale.  Are you sure you want the mushroom burger?

Songs aside, have you used plant monsters in your games?  What types?  There are plenty of inspirations to steal from.

[Ali the Helering]

Only those my triffid masters permit me to use🥦

[Old Man Henerson]

I have a modified yellow mold from AD&D in the game I am working on. In universe, it is a fungus that was warped by cosmic forces so that it now develops giant fungus brains that use psychic powers like mind control to lure prey in were it can brain blast them and smother them in a cloud of spores. It is a minor wilderness monster though, not exactly a major villain.

Edited January 2, 2020 by Old Man Henerson

[seneschal]

1 hour ago, Old Man Henerson said:

I have a modified yellow mold from AD&D in the game I am working on. In universe, it is a fungus that was warped by cosmic forces so that it now develops giant fungus brains that use psychic powers like mind control to lure prey in were it can brain blast them and smother them in a cloud of spores. It is a minor wilderness monster though, not exactly a major villain.

Matango meets Donovan's Brain meets Beast With One Million Eyes.  I like!  But you consider it a minor threat???  It's like three or more B movies in one!

[Old Man Henerson]

30 minutes ago, seneschal said:

Matango meets Donovan's Brain meets Beast With One Million Eyes.  I like!  But you consider it a minor threat???  It's like three or more B movies in one!

Well, I have not play tested it yet, so it might be more deadly than I think, but it will probably only be a threat for the first few adventures before the PCs find their mecha suits, then they will have bigger, more eldritch, fish to fry.

Perhaps though it will appear more often in the big city sewers or dungeons where mecha cant go and only psychic powers will help my PCs.

I have also not heard of any of those movies before. I take it they are very similar to my fungus brains?

[seneschal]

Well, Matango involves spore infection and the other two long distance mind control.  If your creature can psychically lure victims to it and/or give them orders, it doesn't need to roam around and hunt.  Or it can ride its prey as it consumes them, exercising its powers on the hoof to infect as many people as possible.  It can spore-blast would-be rescuers even if they aren't under its domination -- and they'll still turn into a fungus brain even if they retain their personalities to the last.  Transformation could be as slow and horrible as you want to make it.  Or a proto-fungus could go on a murderous rampage before collapsing into a mycelium heap, with each corpse supporting a new brain growth.

Your fungus brains are not mindless zombies.  They can read a target's thoughts, call to him or her with the images or voices of loved ones, lie in wait where they know the potential victim is going to hole up.  They don't even have to be violent.  Perhaps contact with a victim's skin or breathing/swallowing passages is enough.  They explode in a cloud of choking spores or a sticky tangle of mycelium as soon as prey gets within range.  Yuck!  No combat occurs, and the host is toast unless he is encased in a hazmat suit.  Its only a matter of time.

[Old Man Henerson]

13 hours ago, seneschal said:

Well, Matango involves spore infection and the other two long distance mind control.  If your creature can psychically lure victims to it and/or give them orders, it doesn't need to roam around and hunt.  Or it can ride its prey as it consumes them, exercising its powers on the hoof to infect as many people as possible.  It can spore-blast would-be rescuers even if they aren't under its domination -- and they'll still turn into a fungus brain even if they retain their personalities to the last.  Transformation could be as slow and horrible as you want to make it.  Or a proto-fungus could go on a murderous rampage before collapsing into a mycelium heap, with each corpse supporting a new brain growth.

Your fungus brains are not mindless zombies.  They can read a target's thoughts, call to him or her with the images or voices of loved ones, lie in wait where they know the potential victim is going to hole up.  They don't even have to be violent.  Perhaps contact with a victim's skin or breathing/swallowing passages is enough.  They explode in a cloud of choking spores or a sticky tangle of mycelium as soon as prey gets within range.  Yuck!  No combat occurs, and the host is toast unless he is encased in a hazmat suit.  Its only a matter of time.

I love your ideas. I think I will have to implement a few of them into my game now. I should make the fungus more prevalent in the wilds, it would actually give a reason why most of humanity on Earth is crammed into three great cities in the story.

I also though, to avoid the problem of combatting this thing and getting spores all over, that the PCs could try and engage the fungus brains in psychic combat and destroy them that way potentially.