The Yellow King is some sort of Lovecraftian RPG published by Pelgrane Press, wherein players pass between four different timelines/parallel realities (Belle Époque Paris, the front of WWII, a post-revolutionary America (different American revolution), and the modern day with Lovecraftiana seeping in through the cracks) in an attempt to thwart the reality-melting incursion of the Carcosa guy... and his daughters? It seems to use cards in some capacity.
This stood out to me among the mass of Lovecraftian RPG bestiaries because most of those have the same goddamn dross of deep ones and dholes and migos and elder things, the very thought of which now nauseate me. That is my cosmic horror - a cosmos once numinous and ground-breaking, now congealed into sickening scum - Look! cry the scum-feeders, scooping it up in their hands, I've left out everything that was problematic in the source material! The real Cthulhu was racism all along! Pay me money for this!
However the monsters in Legions of Carcosa are pretty much all original. For this, John Harness, Kira Magrann, Sarah Saltiel, Monica Valentinelli, and Daniel Kwan, may God bless you.
All the art in the book save the cover is from Stable Diffusion (remember Stable Diffusion? How far we've come) and boy can you tell. It's a pity, as art can be a strong selling point of bestiaries to me, to the point that I've been hesitant to post much from the books I've reviewed on the basis that it's what pushes them over the finish line into being worth purchasing. Here is Robin D. Laws' post about it: https://pelgranepress.com/2023/03/07/legions-of-carcosa-ai-art/.
Given that it was published in 2023 - I don't think the technology was there yet - and because they were upfront about using AI art, I don't believe they used AI writing in this book. If I'm wrong about that I will be annoyed.
Allons-ythaqua:
The Belle Époque Section
Bonepiles
It's an undead flood of bones. Seen the concept before, but here it's elevated by the particularity of place and history, being specifically in the Paris Catacombs and created from the bones displaced by Georges-Eugène Haussmann's renovations of the Paris sewer system and graveyards, reanimated by occultists.
The confusing tunnels of the Catacombs are a good place to put impassable floods of killer bones, and I like that they're not permanently killable until you track down the occultists who created them and either learn their ritual to undo it or force them to undo it.
Every monster entry in this bestiary is for a particular timeline in the setting, but has notes to adapt them to the other settings. The bonepile's are nothing to write home about, but they're nice to have.
Three Tsathogguas.
Creeping Beast
I'm not usually fazed by AI stuff but man, this is Stable Diffusion we're talking about here, a lot of the images in this are bad enough to take me out of it, they're distractingly terrible. It's like that Cyberpunk (or was it Shadowrun?) edition where the art was all pictures of posed dolls. But oh! you may object, at least those were made by a human being! - not to me they're not. You forfeit your humanity when you subject me to things I don't like.
Anyways, the creeping beast is a leopard hidden in a painting in the Musée du Luxembourg. If you notice the leopard, then it notices you back and begins hunting you outside the painting - and only the person it's hunting can see it. I think it's a solid basis for a mystery monster, but would have liked to see more, uh, play and counterplay for it, like as it exists it's pretty passive, just waiting around for people to spot it, and - and this may be just me being unfamiliar with the system - it's not clear how you might resist or combat something so abstract.
The adaptions lack the painting, so it's unclear why the beast would start hunting someone and how it could be defeated, which seem like odd bits to leave out.
Two and a half Shub-NnnnnI'mnotgonnasayitraths.
Dark Dwellers
Oh no, look out guys, it's a dark dweller, a dark dweller's gonna get us... I don't ask for a lot from names, but they can't be this limp.
They're people who got lost in the darkness of the Catacombs and got transformed into C.H.U.D.s. I like the bit how they're hurt by light, so if you encounter them on the surface it indicates that there's something a lot worse in the Catacombs beneath there driving them out.
I really like the modern day version of the dark dwellerr, much more so than the base version. In the modern day they're not created by exposure to literal darkness, but by exposure to certain sites on the dark web - and furthermore they're not physically transformed, but become capable of projecting dark dweller proxy-bodies through the internet like Hikari-Man.
Including the modern version, I give dark dwellers four Eihorts.
The Dollmaker
Less of an issue with more horror-leaning bestiaries, but I think fantasy bestiaries should do this more, is leaning more into singular monsters rather than species. Especially once you get past the basic, archetypal stuff, it lends them more oomph.
Dolls... not a fan of dolls. Sex dolls least of all - I've seen a lot of shit on the internet, but sex dolls can still spook me.
I guess in the Belle Époque you're supposed to be playing art students? That's neat. This is a lady who makes dolls but she's got a secret room where she makes dolls that steal people's souls. Like the creeping beast, I wish there was more thought put into counterplay here. The Dollmaker doesn't need much sympathetic material to craft a soul-sucking doll on someone, there's no, like, omens someone gets to warn them that she's in the process of making a doll on them, there's no sign on the soulless bodies left behind that might lead an investigation to her, and there's no note that she only sucks the souls out of people she's got a real grudge against so her victims could all be completely random and untraceable. For example, maybe it's like that Junji Ito story and you increasingly resemble a doll as she works.
One an a half Glaakis.
The Doombringers
A secret society within the Parisian gendarmes who serve the will of the King in Yellow, as they understand it. They try to cover up incidents of Carcosan magic and monsters, and do black magic shit in their clubhouse. I like regular-ass dudes being in bestiaries (not in a "humans are the real monsters" way however), and I like that these guys aren't really in the know and can be misled by anyone who dangles occult knowledge in front of them. Mundane authority + incompetence.
Three Nyarlathoteps.
The Dressmaker
Traditionally feminine crafts? Yeah, you're on watch.
The Dressmaker practices the art of the dress, and in her dreams she can control those who wear her dresses like puppets. She uses this for personal benefit and revenge. This is what the Dollmaker should have been. If the Dollmaker was BETTER, one could imagine a scenario wherein the two are rival occultists.
Three Hasturs.
Gawkers
Uncanny valley guys who appear in crowds of rubberneckers, disappear people, and can be commanded by sorcerers (though again can only appear in crowds).
One and a half Cthughas.
Green Fairies
Energy vampires that appear as normal people unless you're drunk on absinthe, in which case you perceive their monstrous true form. Not great usually, but become especially dangerous when they're harvesting the energy they need to reproduce or trade to another entity. Kind of a... meme monster, you know?
Two Dagons.
Inkblots
Parasites that lay their eggs in art materials, and induce feverish inspiration in their hosts (to create more art pieces for their young to inhabit). As previously mentioned the player characters are apparently meant to be art students, so this presents a good basis for an epidemic mystery. Also like the blurb about art and artistic scenes being ideal habitats for Carcosans.
The modern day version of inkblots is literally Stable Diffusion...
Three Atlach-Nachas.
Inspirs
Carcosan muses... I don't know, I feel like these could have been folded into the inkblots.
One Mother Hydra.
Liberty Vintners
A winery that makes wine with Carcosan grapes that causes you to lose your inhibitions. Pretty meh, as it stands.
One Chaugnar Faugit'snotthesamewordit'spronouncedtotallydifferentlyn.
Living Portraits
Living paintings - already-tread ground with the creeping beast, but I like that these are all the products of a single artist with a mysterious patron. I also like that you have the choice of either destroying the painting externally, which also kills all its captured victims, or entering the painting's pocket dimension to try and defeat it and free its victims... unclear what would reveal this choice however.
Two Rhan-Tegoths.
The Marble Dancer
An animate statue that goes to parties covered in a life-like illusion to dance and get someone to fall in love with it. While someone's in love with the statue it becomes a real human, but their lover ages unnaturally quickly. Not really hostile, but wants to be loved and alive above all else. Sympathetic, would make a nice problematic ally.
Three Eibons.
Marie Rowdon
A woman who hosts hallucinatory murder-orgies. You'd think that even in France she'd have trouble finding guests after the first murder-orgy.
Half a Cthulhu.
Micars
Gargoyle-looking fellas with venom that crystallizes you and makes you easily shatterable. The cure is made from their blood. You can use their skin as a mirror to scry into the past.
Two Ghatanothoas.
Nokk
It's a siren, a siren with an ugly, ugly image. Unforgivable.
Zero Gloons.
Our Lady of Bones
A memetic entity that poses as a saint and acts through the dead, and undead, causing the faithful to believe that she's actually a real historical saint who did all this cool stuff and can raise the dead. Master of illusions, and therefore Clark Ashton Smithy.
Two Shuma-Goraths.
Pan
The entry that comes with a content warning... it doesn't really need it, it's pretty tame. It's the actual Pan and Syrinx, brought to life by Carcosa. Syrinx is a living flute that plays at a nightclub, and Pan is cursed to not be able to perceive her.
Half a Dormammu.
Picture Perfects
An eidolon of a dead artist that seeks to spread their fandom among the living and find new bodies to possess.
Two Mordiggians.
Pigment
Oil paint manufacturers who infuse Carcosan stuff into their paint that can manipulate emotions to bring down the Parisian elite. Seems like a missed opportunity to not connect these guys to the living portrait painter.
One Cthylla.
Silver Sirens
Sirens, again. These ones are fish during the day and women at night, and they want to kill both fishermen and men who've murdered women.
One Ptmak.
Unknown of the Seine
The real-life story behind this is crazy, the past is a different country.
This one's a hivemind of masks that can hypnotize and possess people who wear them. I like that destroying the original destroys the hivemind with it.
Two and a half, uh, Russian Sleep Experiments.
Madame Cleo Verlaque
Of course, women have as much of a right to be evil as anyone else, but it's weird that all four of the human individual entries have been women.
Almost identical to Marie Rowdon, but with séances instead of soirées.
Zero Yigs.
Wanderers
Skull-faced flaneurs that try to lure you into walking with them into the Parisian Backrooms. Ok.
One and a half I Mock You Foolish Kings.
Widowmaker
He's an aristocrat who's "I could fix him" but also subconsciously Bluebeard. He doesn't really have anything to do with Carcosa. I guess the silver sirens could be after him.
Half a Mother Horse Eyes.
Winter Worms
Big worms that psychically pose as priests or other such healers to gain access to the poor and sick, who they relieve the suffering of while they feed off and lay their young in them.
Two and a half Clive Barker's Jerichos.
Yellow Carnation
A parasitic Carcosan flower supplied only by a particular Parisian flower-shop, of which it is currently a fashion to wear in your buttonhole. It makes its wearer more debaucherous while draining their lifeforce, and eventually turns them into a flowerman.
One and a half Voorquals.
The Belle Époque Section in Review
My comment here dovetails with one that friend of the blog Dan made about Mothership's Unconfirmed Contact Reports - design the monsters to the game. If you're making monsters for an investigative game like The Yellow King, you generally want monsters that facilitate that investigation. Sure, throw in some servitors for villains and such, but most should have distinct modus operandi, clues left behind, motives, habits, bases of operations, and suchlike in some combination.
Secondarily, they should have "the sauce", which I am still in the process of defining. In character design, as I understand it, a lot of emphasis is put on the character's silhouette, in making it immediately distinguishing and recognizable. Some useful parallel can be drawn here - good monsters have striking imagery, tap into some underlying fears, anxieties, disgusts, etc. (without being too blatant and shallow a metaphor - we're not doing an A24 production here!), and stand out from the rest of the bestiary - e.g. how many stationary killer plants that are only really different from each other in the way they kill you do you need?
Oh yeah, and organization - the monsters in this book come with "tags" which may or may not have some mechanical effect, but are handy for sorting monsters into sometimes-helpful-sometimes-not categories like "human" and "Carcosan", but also "invasive" and "alt". Having sub-categories in each era, or else an index at the front, organizing the monsters into human antagonists, magical servitors, wildlife, Carcosans, etc. would make the book easier to reference.
The War Section
Angels of Mons
Again, something I like about this book is how it uses and recontextualizes real historical stuff, helps create that unique flavour and sense of place/time.
In The Yellow King they're mobile gothic mortars equipped with hypnotic projectors that make people see them as angels, their explosions as divine wrath. I guess you're fighting for the French in this era? The crossover of war & investigative game seems like it could be very cool.
Porno idea: The Angels of Mons Pubis, and it's set during WWI, and thematically it's about how only love can end war, it'd be very Blakean.
Two and a half Zothiques.
Blood Field
Sauceful monster - a patch of land infused by Carcosan-tainted blood, swarming with red wildlife that can infect you with a rage virus that can potentially cause you to hemorrhage out a new blood field.
Their weakness is dumping salt on them, which one how would you figure that out, two it's unintuitive because blood is salty, three I get that's probably the intended difficulty but how are you gonna get that much salt sourced on a WWII battlefield. Are field rations salty enough to do it?
Three Towers of the Elephant.
Blood Sanctum
I don't believe in "spoilers". I believe we're all adults who can appreciate works of art beyond their novelty factor. Therefore, like in the Borderlands/the Last Prayer, I like when buildings are also monsters.
These guys pose as chapels, and if you go inside them they can brainwash you into being a blood cultist.
Two lloigors.
Caged Horrors
These are guys who are so scared all of the time that they make you scared just for being near them. Apparently this era of the game has "fear-seeking" technology instead of heat-seeking stuff, which sounds like something from a Goosebumps book.
Again, the modern interpretation is good for these guys - they're "caged" in VR headsets subjecting them to hyper-realistic scary simulations.
Two Fear Itselfs.
Cyt
Waterborne parasites that replace one of your eyes and makes you see horrifying hallucinations. I like throat leeches, I like these guys - securing safe water supplies should be a less-handwaved part of wilderness adventuring. Name sucks though.
In the Belle Époque era, cultists sell pills containing their eggs as a drug, which is neat.
Two and a half Cymothoa Exiguas.
Paul Daste
He's Tony Stark but instead of Iron Man stuff he makes crazy Carcosan weaponry.
Three Parallaxes.
Drought Lord
They're elemental Carcosan guys who cause droughts. I like that they can dry people out too, that'd be a nasty way to go.
One and a half K'n-yani.
Commandant Dupuis
A cheeky little bugger who's publicly a war hero, but in secret forges letters to get people killed in the hope that this will get him promoted to Carcosan nobility.
One and a half B'gnu-Thuns.
Ear Worms
Bears repeating how much of a slog the Stable Diffusion images make reading the book into. Like... shrink them, at least. The writing's serviceable, let the writing be, don't crowd it out with these big ol' pieces of shit.
Another hallucinatory parasite. They even re-use the drug plot. Recall what I said about "silhouettes".
Zero Bokrugs.
Forget-Me-Nots
Subterranean predators that lure a guy out from a squad, bury him, and slowly consume him after wiping him from the memories of his comrades. Neat.
Three The Silences.
Furious Banes
The war crime punishers that then become the war crimers. Kill them with fire.
One The One Below All.
The Gut Gobbler
Ghoul-hag type that eat entrails and protect small communities with talismans and oracles and suchlike in return for service. Nice little folkloricism. Hags are so fun.
Three and a half Mloks.
Leatherlegs
Am I supposed to know what a boîtenoire is? Or a stalker? Seem to be game-specific terms. Seem important to knowing what the fuck a leatherleg is. Robots wearing human skin is a great image, like Terminator or those flayerbots from Warhammer 40K.
One and a half Necrons.
Little Ones
I don't like that phrase, "little ones", so it makes a good monster name. These guys are essentially Type 3 screamers from Screamers. Predictable enough that they'd be tricky to use... like maybe you don't come across one personally, but you find a safe spot where people are sheltering one, and you have to convince them of the danger posed by evil children before it ruins the haven.
One and a half Davids.
Pestipoxes
Rat-mans what spread old diseases people aren't vaccinated against. Extorts communities for ever-increasing amounts of food in return for not plaguing them.
The alt-setting ones involve ANTI-VAXXERS AAAAAHH!!!
Three Brown Jenkins.
Red Eyes
A pair of floating intangible eyes that give you nightmares and are apparently actually Carcosan suns. The secret to defeating it (not specified) is encoded in its victims' nightmares, which is a nice touch but would've been nicer if they specified it. Don't be coy in bestiaries. If you're getting paid money to do something you don't leave work unfinished for the customer to do.
Two Gobogegs.
The Rot
It's a shambling mound.
One Nith.
Silent Doctors
Plague doctor mask guys who are also cyborgs who also make you paranoid to isolate you so they can eat you. I feel like I should dislike it but I don't, or that I should like it but I don't... the heart, encased as it is in the ribs, is often opaque to the mind in its skull.
Two Glorious Echrrs.
Soft Machines
Clockwork Frankensteins led by officers with phonograph-heads that blast out recordings of the King in Yellow. Take out the officer to render the soldiers disordered and manipulable. The key to defeating the King in Yellow is kind of a the Emperor Wears No Clothes thing, his robes are yellow because he peed in them.
I like the Belle Époque era take on them as animatronic wax cabaret dancers, that's a great image. In the modern era they're Five Nights at Freddies.
Two and a half Bgnghaa-Ythu-Yaddits.
Spirit Hosts
Haunted house ghost guys that try to get you to marry them so they can take your place. Seems niche.
Half a Zlykariob.
Talismans
Shapeshifters that pose as like... medals or monocles or whatever, and feed off their wearer's fear, making them fearless thrill-seekers in the process, until they get enough energy to hatch into a doppelganger of their wearer and then just go eat more fear. Okay.
One Viscous Vortex of Sillhaa.
Translated Soldiers
Soldiers magically brought to WWII from other eras - not necessarily the game's other eras - and coerced to fight in return for the promise of returning them to their own time.
Two Dark Young.
The Washer Woman
Carcosan entity who tends to the unburied dead, eating their eyes to make them undead servitors. Can turn into a raven... a little too folkloric, more so than the gut-gobbler. In the future she uses her army to wage war on Carcosa.
One Gol-gorath.
Wood-wives
Ents.
One Y'golonac.
The War Section in Review
Reiterations: Unique monsters should be flesh-out characters. They should have hooks and levers. Don't overlap monsters too much in the same bestiary. Don't leave blanks for the reader to fill in, if they don't like an answer you come up with they'll change it themself.
Investigative monsters are a story - beginning-middle-end, signs-trail-confrontation/escape.
The Aftermath Section
Black-Eyed Kids
Whatever happened to the Black Eyed Peas? No activity since 2022 apparently.
Black-eyed kids are a real urban legend. I like seeing twists on those. These ones are Carcosan orphans who infiltrate families and, when those families can't provide the alien care the kids are seeking, psychically torment them. Remind me of that movie Stephanie.
In this era you play as victorious rebels against The Regime. Another neat frame, they did good on the framing in this game.
Three Idh-yaas.
Crouch
The living shadow of The Regime's deposed dictator. Lives in liminal times and thresholds like that incarnation of Vishnu who killed that demon. Unclear how to combat this guy.
One and a half Yog-Sothoths.
Devourers
Robin, Rob, Robby, baby, honey, pussycat, sugar-doll, why must you thrust these awful images into my eyeballs, what boomerite brain-calcification convinced you this was a good idea?
Here, suffer with me, I promise you this is the one and only time I'll do this:
They're snake-men that vore you.
Half a Yig. I'm re-using Yig.
Doppelgangers
How many doppelganger-types has this been now?
These guys are superhumanly strong, kill and replace the person they're identical to, then form sleeper cells bent on restoring The Regime. There Are Monsters... pretty good movie. Free on youtube.
One Vorvadoss.
Ectoflies
Julia Wolf rules. Listening to Julia Wolf right now.
Floating balls of rainbow-light that feed off warmth and can be killed by exposure to cold. Liquid nitrogen... liquid nitrogen feels in the same genre as quicksand. If you know, you know. They're also the vengeful ghosts of Carcosans who died on Earth. Surrounded by rumours that obscure their true nature.
Two Vorlons.
Fliptops
Man-eating supersoldiers of The Regime with bigly bites.
One Vortigaunt.
Fluffies
Hybrid fluffballs that share the caged horrors' gimmick of only feeling fear. Can be crafted and commanded by occultists. Seen in-setting as an urban legend. There's a 4chan board called /yel/ in the modern era apparently.
One Worm That Gnaws In The Night.
Glo-Glutton
A slug that's also an arm. That's not what this is, but that's kind of an interesting image, right? Or a snail, and the torso's crustified into the shell with a screaming human face on it, and the other limbs are its tails? That's gotta be something.
These guys are giant worms that use their glowing children to distract you while they burrow up from below to swallow you whole.
Half a Ghroth.
Golden Sigil Parties
Another content warning...
Rich decadent cultists. Again unclear why this entry has a content warning, it's not notably more extreme than the rest of the book.
One Gug.
Granitites
Rock-people that make their technology out of human bodies for some reason.
Two Taken For Granites.
Insonics
Energy-draining parasites that are intangible black fog during the day. When attached to a host they physically manifest at night to drain them, and if disturbed can meld with the host to create a humanoid abomination... unless the host is on sleep medication.
One and a half Baoht Z'uqqa-Moggs.
Kids Club Sleeper Agents
Another content warning!
Suicide bombers dressed as clowns who were brainwashed as kids by a TV show. They're noted to be adults when they do the suicide bombings... if they were still children I could understand the content warning.
I think a punched-up version of this entry would have the TV show still airing as like a pirate broadcast thing, and dispense with the suicide bombing in favour of more covert, unnerving stuff like have the kids who watch it programmed to snitch on their parents to regime loyalists, let monsters into their homes, spy, do unheimlich stuff, and suchlike. Gives you something to do too - track down the broadcast, take down the clown.
One and a half Ut'Ulls-Hr'Hers.
Namesake
The Regime's former chief wizard, who messed up a spell and lost their face and name, becoming utterly forgettable. Steals people's names seeking the perfect one that will restore them an identity, causing those people to become unrecognizable and fade out of reality in the process.
Three and a half Hnarqus.
Nemesis Spirits
And another content warning, this section is swimming with 'em. This one's pretty fair.
These are the ghosts of guys who died of AIDS or being murdered for having AIDS, which was handled in an even more exterminationy way by the Regime than by the real American government. Want vengeance on surviving ex-Regime people, can become allies if you convince them you helped bring down the Regime.
If I give this one a low rating will someone accuse me of being homophobic? Shan't bother.
The Ooze
Sentient ooze used as an anti-protest/torture weapon by the Regime. Eats you slower than most The Blobs, first encasing you.
Too many of the modern era interpretations do the "what if monster, but phone?" take.
One Whateley.
Parageometric Savants
Wizard-psychics. Like psykers if they lose control all hell breaks loose.
Two Conqueror Worms.
Rouge Berets
Painter ghosts, ghosts of painters. Wear red hats. Paint a portrait of someone who worked with the Regime, no matter how coerced or distantly, and kills them, then uses their blood to paint the portrait of their next target. Destroy the portrait to delay their attack. The modern hook is that they're now mad about an AI filter that imitates their style.
I feel like if there was one rouge beret, the ghost of a particular anti-Regime or "degenerate art" painter it'd be a stronger concept. And you can put them to rest by finding or restoring their surviving works and getting a gallery to do a show about them... or redirect them to another target by modifying their portrait-in-progress with blood-paint.
Two and a half Erich Zanns.
Sersingers
Intelligent wolfigators who live in sewers and swamps and are also sirens. What is that, three sirens now? I already have the only three sirens I'll ever need.
Zero Xalafus.
Unholy Tears
An angel statue that weeps blood and gets you possessed by a demon that burns you out in three days. In the WWII era it's a pin-up girl, which is funny.
One... and a half... Tomb Herds.
Vibrats
Human-looking fellas with wings of light, an ancient species which feeds on music. A few were once kept in the Bronx Zoo. Compel musicians to play until they die.
Two and a half Xel'nagas.
The Aftermath Section in Review
Come on let's keep it going keep it moving.
The Modern Day Section
Blue
A technomantic entity that hunts down and kills people with certain shared or lacked traits with electrical shocks, destroying their devices in the process. A bit more "personality", like that it creates fake social media profiles in online groups to suss out victims would help.
One and a half Nightgaunts.
Botanihive
Mutant trees that absorb selfie-takers lured in by its picturesque appearance... and then uses their phones to fake their continued social media presence and lure in new victims. I like the Belle Époque interpretation bit where they can absorb the talents of their victims - e.g. if it eats a musician, it can then emit enticing music.
One Reanimator.
Catfishes
Fish-man Carcosans that lure in prey through dating apps. Unclear how they do this, as they are not noted to have any illusory, technomantic, or shapeshifting ability. Maybe they only target The Way of Water-loving freaks. Very reminiscent of the Sisterites from the Book of Unremitting Horror.
Half a Yithian.
Chirpers
Pose as an old friend looking to catch up through texts, then gradually isolate their target and drain them of emotion or life-force or whatever. I feel like all of these social media predator monsters would be better off lumped into one sort of monster, with each individual having their own hunting strategy.
Half a Ghoul.
Copycat Killers
They're pretty much just regular copycat killers, but it's noted that mementos left behind by murderers can become infused with Carcosan energy and supernaturally inspire copycat killers, which is an interesting scenario seed. When shit really hits the fan in the modern era, this can swell into whole communities of copycat killers doing murders as, like, social media challenges.
Three Y'ha-nthleis.
Deadshift
A wacky shapeshifter who's also a Dr. Manhattan.
One Lake Hali.
Disintegrators
A band or extreme music subculture that serves the King in Yellow. I like the King's ties to art, I know the standard cosmic horror line is "Nooo!! Nooo the great old ones are so far beyond human existence we're like motes of dust to us!!! They can't care about anything!" but in this Dane age I think it hits better if this perceived core of human essence doesn't actually belong to us. What else could be used like that... love?
Three Ghasts.
Dry-Leaves
Bees? Carcosan bees, which resemble wooden objects like desks and bookshelves for some reason? And they pollinate people with nightmares so that Carcosan honey drips out of their ears? Honestly I respect the audacity. Is there like a factory making these things? Who or what comes to collect the honey?
Three Hounds of Tindalos.
Euphoriums
Yet. Another. Doppelganger.
These guys look like people, they make a drug out of their own tissues, and they can assume the form of anyone who's taken their drug. They've got a limited "memory" of forms, so they're not even like... drug dealers. Too many customers is bad for them.
One Zvilpogghua.
Flatfeet
A flat guy, a shadow guy, a razor-sharp guy who eats Carcosans and anything touched by Carcosan energy. Its entry is too insistent that teaming up with it is a bad idea.
Two Mi-gos.
Flickers
Illusory buildings that appear as casinos or bars or suchlike, luring people within and absorbing them into itself if they remain inside it long enough. Good archetype, think that new Unknown Armies edition has something like it. Each one's got a heart hidden in its own imaginary basement.
Three Byakhees.
The Fontaines
No content warning on this one? I'm going iNsAaAaNe!
Familial cult that's doing the thing from the not-so-good Ari Aster movie, Hereditary. The elderly matriarch is grooming her grandkids into ideal hosts for powerful Carcosan entities. Stealing is far better than repetition.
Two and a half Flying Polyps.
Footlickers
Eel-frogs, can be trained to hunt targets by scent, have a paralytic poison so potent it affects even Carcosans, which is a nice touch. Animals with no particular loyalty to Carcosa, could see PCs capturing and training/harvesting one.
Two Cats of Ulthar.
Glitches
Spiny orb-guys that feed on electricity, can blast you with electricity, and if deprived of electricity from wires and such will feed off the electricity in human nervous systems.
One and a half Zoogs.
Lost Waters
I think there was a Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service story like this.
They're remnants of murder victims disposed of in water bodies. They make you sad because they feed on sadness. It's an addictive kind of sadness, so victims will wallow in the water for hours or guzzle it until their stomachs distend. Nice image. Dispose of the body they spawned from properly to dissipate them.
Two and a half Dholes.
Midnight Mares
Flowering plants that feed on stress and can gallop like a horse. Their pollen can connect the minds of dreamers with the court of the King in Yellow. They are repelled, even killed, by prayer and religious symbols.
One and a half Serpent Men.
Oothecoids
Parasites that take over a host's body, then uses them to kidnap people and encase them in goop to serve as food for their hatchlings. They can spray an enzyme that gets you high. Feels generic.
One Moon-Beast.
The Order of Baphomet
Wealthy artistic demon-worshipers. Lotta overlap with the Golden Sigil guys, and their "think they're Satanists but actually it's Carcosa" bit is shared with the, uh, the Doombringers.
Zero Lengs.
Sadbois
Edgy internet trolls who drain victims of emotions until they turn to stone. Unwitting energy-collectors for a Carcosan "patron" who will eventually harvest them. A little too... you know.
Two Necronomicons.
The Swayed
Generic cultists.
Zero Azathoths.
Talking Heads
Carcosan critters that take over the identities of media personalities and use them to spread MISINFORMATION.
Two Shantaks.
Tesseract
A living AR game that guides the activities of its players to draw sigils in physical reality to increase its power. The three teams of players each echo one of the previous eras, which is neat.
Three Shoggoths.
Wiresnakes
A soul-sucking Carcosan worm that resembles a wire, summoned by occultists and planted among their target's electronic possessions. Kind of stupid, but I like occultists being kind of stupid sometimes.
Half an Insect from Shaggai.
The Modern Section in Review
A weakness of this section is that it lacks the ties to a particular place that the previous ones had (though weaker than the War and Belle Époque eras, the Aftermath one is still set in New York City).
I feel like coming up with decent modern monsters is a difficult, and thus perhaps the best, exercise for coming up with monsters in general. Real make-or-break stuff.
