Tahaneira Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 (edited) I'm running a game with a group new to CoC. (And it'll be my second time running it! Great decisions, I am full of them.) One of the players wants to be an ecologist with significant backstory ties to Angkor Wat and I'm struggling to come up with ways to corrupt that one. Are there any campaigns or stories that deal in Mythos activity in Cambodia? All I get when I google it are vague references to Delta Green and shipping options for rulebooks in Asia. Unrelated: is there any more... impressive art of Raw Head and Black Bones from the None More Black module than the one of it leaking through a wall at a bunch of investigators? Edited March 25, 2021 by Tahaneira Forgot something, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klecser Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 The Kickstarter Journal d'Indochine is close to the printing stage and focuses on southeast Asia. A majority of it focuses on Vietnam. A search for Cambodia in both books reveals sporadic references and one scenario that seems to take place on the Vietnam/Cambodia border, but certainly not featuring Angkor Wat. It honestly would surprise me if someone hadn't leveraged Angkor Wat as one of the wonders of human civilization for a CoC scenario. Yet, I agree, I'm not finding anything. Decades-long veterans have any thoughts? This makes me want to research and write a scenario related to Angkor Wat, but I would be wary of cultural respect in publishing something like that. Can't help with your second question. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psullie Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 A quick skim through Wikipedia suggests that it almost abandoned after the C16th, and that it's discovery led the French to occupy Cambodia and annex the territory from Siam. And you have the Khmer Rouge in the 70's & 80's. Depending on when you set your game, these are strong leads on potential cultist activity reaching the highest levels of the French government... You also have: 'António da Madalena, a Portuguese friar who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."' What did he really see! MiGo perhaps... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tahaneira Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 Mi-Go... now there's an idea. Another player has already (unknowingly) angered a Shub-Niggurath cult by destroying one of her idols, so perhaps this cult also has contact with the fungi from Pluto. It could be that the Mi-Go periodically visit the temple looking for significant minds to kidnap and stuff into cylinders; the player has a boyfriend who disappeared in the area, he could have been one of the ones taken. The PC could learn that his boyfriend is still alive (in some capacity) from the cult that's going to be hunting the group. Thanks for the inspiration! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius West Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 On 3/25/2021 at 4:11 PM, Tahaneira said: I'm running a game with a group new to CoC. (And it'll be my second time running it! Great decisions, I am full of them.) One of the players wants to be an ecologist with significant backstory ties to Angkor Wat and I'm struggling to come up with ways to corrupt that one. Are there any campaigns or stories that deal in Mythos activity in Cambodia? All I get when I google it are vague references to Delta Green and shipping options for rulebooks in Asia. Unrelated: is there any more... impressive art of Raw Head and Black Bones from the None More Black module than the one of it leaking through a wall at a bunch of investigators? Idk about written source material, but the logical enemies are Tcho-tchos imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Absentia Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 16 minutes ago, Darius West said: Idk about written source material, but the logical enemies are Tcho-tchos imo. See Delta Green: Countdown for Pagan Publishing's take on the Tcho-tchos and a problematic take on Southeast Asian-American communities. Actually, it kind of underscores the fundamental problem of viewing the world through the xenophobic lens of H.P. Lovecraft. !i! Quote ...developer of White Rabbit Green Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Bhuddhism has a rich tradition of pacifying or appeasing demons. Angkor Wat was a royal tomb dedicated to Vishnu, but very quickly became a Buddhist temple. Quote Demons and the Demonic in Buddhism Gail Hinich Sutherland LAST MODIFIED: 22 APRIL 2013 DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0171 Introduction It may come as a surprise to those who equate Buddhism solely with its intellectual and mystical traditions to learn that demons are a central aspect of its history. In contrast to Western representations of the demonic, the “demons” of Asia are primarily the powerful, ancient spirits of nature, who require recognition and appeasement. Buddhism was more successful than any of the other missionary religions in making peace with the indigenous spirits it confronted in its progress through Asia. Monastics either turned a blind eye to existent demon-deity cults (as in Southeast Asia), allowing them to flourish in tandem with Buddhism, or (as in Tibet) Buddhist miracle workers like Padmasambhava forcefully tamed the demons and turned them into dharma protectors and fierce guardians of the new faith of Buddhism. In fact, we might say that in Buddhist understanding, there really are no such things as “demons.” There are only powers, energies, and deities to be worked with; the skillfulness, compassion, and attainment of the practitioner determine the outcome of the encounter. Those who are found lacking in these attributes have far more to fear from demons than those who, like the Buddha in his triumph over the ultimate demon Māra, have pacified their own inner demons of greed, aversion, and ignorance. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0171.xml However much of the Angkor Wat site has fallen into disrepair. I think you could have a lot of fun with this. Which demons where the priests attempting to propitiate or subdue? Is their mission slowly failing? I love HP Lovecraft's concept of thin spots (brilliantly portrayed in Stephen King's Crouch End) - places where the fabric of reality is weak. Maybe all the temples were built to prevent something from entering our world through a thin spot. There was a science fiction story Cats Eye, about a displaced person in a future SciFi world who found he could communicate with animals. One of the places visited in the story was an ancient alien ruin. The scientists had a machine which could weaken the walls of time, creating a shadow show of the distant past, but when they switched it on in the alien ruin they got more than a shadow show. HP Lovecraft also had a machine which weakened the barriers in his story From Beyond. Who knows what wickedness or foolishness might be attempted in such a place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.