"Lovecraft creature as sci-fi alien race/miniature" Topic

Taking inspiration from the master of all things unseen and creepy…which creature type cries out to be a 15/28mm themed miniature army/unit for science fiction based gaming?

No direct IP name issue here, just the general idea of the creepy description…

Some already exist in the monster form, only need add weapons right? Sadly most are too big, but the idea is sound link link link link great great stuff there.

I had a miniature, hate myself but it is gone, that was a great Mi-Go…flying fungus, but it had no wings and was more of a squat lobster in humanish stance and a fungus mass for a head…good miniature, no picture, sigh.

There are lots to consider; front runners for me:

Mi-go picture en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi-go who can you go wrong with a large, pinkish, fungoid, crustacean-like entities the size of a man with a "convoluted ellipsoid" composed of pyramided, fleshy rings and covered in antennae where a head would normally be? Non-humanoid heaven right? As for weapons…something Lovecraftian would fit…spheres with rods jutting out that focus dark energies to open up at distance, micro gates that let the darkness spill in for a millisecond…so an energy grenade of sorts, with odd/random effects…stun damage + blindness/deafness, internal damage due partial teleportation, terror, knock back/down, unconscious, etc…so not your everyday bang boom smash…but does something bad and unpredictable. Takes time to reset and reload, with incantations or other such, so a slow rate of fire and random damage/effects.

and

Elder Things (many interesting versions exist) link picture picture picture but details remain fairly true with each link

"Six feet end to end, three and five-tenths feet central diameter, tapering to one foot at each end. Like a barrel with five bulging ridges in place of staves. Lateral breakages, as of thinnish stalks, are at equator in middle of these ridges. In furrows between ridges are curious growths – combs or wings that fold up and spread out like fans. . . which gives almost seven-foot wing spread"

The choice of weapons could/should follow a science beyond our understanding, so it would be magic…perhaps simple rod, staff, wand sort of arrangement with molecular rearranging at range…disintegration. A tight beam, so a direct hit, with repeated hits to allow for the frequencies or other such to do the deed…so more of a sniper type weapon, good range, requires several hits in succession, serious damage if staged hits succeed.

Anyone else got some Lovecraftian thoughts?

In the end it is pretty much a matter of mixing two or more unrelated sea creatures together and shazam…Lovecraft monster/alien :)

Thinking mid range miniature, say 20mm so a big 15mm alien race or a smaller 28mm alien race…one miniature to meet both?

For a war game, it's probably sufficient to have their weapons just take out whatever they hit, ignoring armor and such. They should be vulnerable to their own weapons and maybe energy weapons, but kinetic weapons just aren't going to hurt something that can fly unprotected through the void of space, dodging micrometeors and such.

That is, if you still want the critters to be Super. Another alternative is to make them on-par with high-tech humanity, who have finally caught up with their advanced sciences and technologies.

If your system allows psionics, you could make a good case for using those, but in Lovecraft's stories, I got the impression that most of the Horror was existential in nature. SF humans have already gazed into the abyss; Mi-Go just aren't going to scare them.

Great Race of Yith. Freaky looking but not wholly implausible, and more comprehensible than most Mythos critters – and as time travellers of sorts, they could show up anywhere/when, not always just in spirit. I've got a partially-completed conversion sitting in the Lapsed Projects box of a Rafm GRoY with their signature lightning projector clutched in its nippers – ought to finish that someday.

A tongue in cheek but still kinda appropriate and funny weapon or unit affect could be sound…a bizarre sound that causes physical discomfort and potential incapacitation…the brown note (safe links!) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note YouTube link

A sound that penetrates armor, shielding, etc…would count as a fear/stunning attack…perhaps as mentioned a psi attack.

Hope no one is offended, I am moving on :)

Perhaps the fear would not be in seeing the Lovecraftian alien but rather what happens if they lose, get captured, or die and are used for (insert your choice of fertilizer, larval hosts, baby food, semi-frozen dinners, etc.)?

I'd go with the MiGo… they've got all sorts of advanced technology and can end up just about anywhere. They're not entirely anti-human and so could end up on either side of a potential conflict.
Plus, they look cool!… flying insect/crab things with tendriled brains for heads.

The MiGo seem more overtly technological… meaning they'd have cool looking weapons… vs. the Elder things which seem more magical, and inclined to use Shoggoths (with the potential to go out of control and turn on their masters).

pardon my 'slishing'…but weren't some of the 'Cthullu' mythos creatures/beings really ALIENS from other planets anyway…(like Fungi/Mi-go from Yuggoth/Pluto??) and more?

I know several folks have done 'Lovecraftian' critters…(Black Cat Bases has some NEW 'Mi-go-ish things, even one with weapons and Shoggoths for land and water??)

So it's not really a stretch to use them 'as aliens'…it just depends how big you want the figures…etc.

I don't think you'll find them wanting to joing the UFP….or Klingon Empire…but for space pulp and 'life, not as we know it' or even 'Whovian' adversaries…they should be fine.

I believe the 'old ones' were featured in a Barlow's Guide to Extra-terrestirals…as using wings to 'fly' thru space and originally came from Betelguese or Procyon???

Heck, even Cthullu could take a 'direct hit' from a 20Meg nuke and it would 'only' dispell him for a mere hundred years! (supposedly) and boy would he be SLISHED about it when he got back!

Besides…I think it only fair after the IAU downgraded Pluto from a PLANET to a plutoid/plutino, etc…that the critters come from there and just HAPPEN to show up at the next IAU meeting as their initial landing/invasion/'probing' point….

Bwah-hah-hah!!!!

Sgt DWW-btod…(bring on the Fungi and tentacles!)

Hmm… Cthulhutech anyone? (-;)
cthulhutech.com

Anyway.

The Elder Things, the Fungi from Yuggoth and the Great Race of Yith would all work. The problem with the 1st and the 3rd is that they are "ancient aliens" and as such some purists may find fielding them against modern/near-future/far-future humanity an affront to their precarious sanity…

All are mentioned to have a considerable amount of high technology, tho nothing is described in massive detail. I don't think they any of these are meant to employ "magic" as such, any more than humans anyway. The Elder Things might be seen using Soggoth hordes and possibly other "biomechanical" constructs as cannon fodder @ Defiance: Vital Ground Vobians.

"God-tech" in the form of FTL travel and such are definite possibilities tho, albeit all of these species seem to circumvent more obvious manifestation thereof by having "geneered" themselves to personal interplanetary travel capability. And anyhow, "science beyond our understanding" is not magic, no matter what Mr. Clarke said.

In the case of the Yithians some form of psionics would most likely be in the arsenal tho and that's were the line between "god-tech" and sheer magic truly becomes blurred.

Looking at Black Cat Bases, did you mean these? link link link link

Good call, I had not seen those. Quite nice.

And yes most of the Cthulhu creatures are universal aliens and those who are not are extra-dimensional beings. I mentioned it as a classic alien foe rather than a creature of mythos…aliens with vehicles, armor, and weapons…in some form or fashion.

I will take the challenge of the Mi-go…try and follow the description to a point, ignoring prior art if I can. The wings will be a trick…Black Cat Bases took a nice approach. A brass etch piece maybe…do it right or not at all…

Just because I think it fits I will put a few touches that have not been used but make sense to me:

asymmetry…fiddler crab arrangement with odd number of limbs and possibly offset head cluster…few degrees either way

as far as 'Mythos magic' vs 'future high-tech', I remind you of one of Clarke's Laws-Any sufficently advanced technology is INDISTINGUISHABLE from 'magic'…BUT especially if it happens to be 'built-into' the being/person…(possibly nano-tech, the Next Generation) or bio-tech taken further into Psionics…Even Magnus: Robot fighter had a couple of episodes where 'etheric-energy' from human/machines was used in a 'magical' sense to combat giant robot planet…(anybody remember the movie where some sort of indian/native 'spirit' was born out of a woman's back??? somehow transported a floor of a hospital inbetween worlds and the woman later incorporated the 'spirits' of the electrical equipment to 'fight it' when the regular indian shaman couldn't get 'spirit of water, spirit of stone' to work??? The Manitou? or something like that…can't remember the name…but native shaman played by same actor that played Kang? on TOS episode Day of the dove?

Mi-go have been illustrated and created in so many different variations, that basically you could use figures from 100 Kingdoms 'insectoids' to 'Vespids?' or whatever or put a mushroom cap on a honey-bee!

Maybe they use 'bio-tech' of an advanced nature where they 'connect'…(like leggos), off the shelf BIOLOGIC components…depending on 'mission' or need…or grow/breed them…or they 'transform' (if cars can do it, why not fungi from Pluto?)…

I think Mi-Go are a good choice, *especially* since they've already been done by RAFM ( link ), Black Cat Bases ( link link ), Grenadier/Mirliton ( link ), Metal Magic/eM-4 ( link ), and even Horrorclix ( auction ). Did I miss any? Did Citadel ever do a Mi-Go?

I like a lot of variety in the shapes, sizes, and details of my aliens, just like in my human forces.

28mmMan, your "squat lobster" sounds like one of the Grenadier Mi-Go.

jpattern2! You are the man! Thank you for finding the Mi-go I was thinking of! "I had a miniature, hate myself but it is gone, that was a great Mi-Go…flying fungus, but it had no wings and was more of a squat lobster in humanish stance and a fungus mass for a head…good miniature, no picture, sigh." link

The Horror Clix one is awful…not even close IMO. Yikes.

The Grenadier one is the one I had in hand before I read the books or saw any other art…always liked that one.

Made my day :)

My current vision quest points of interest

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I agree with tnjrp. But the Elder Things were suffering from atrophied physical and possibly mental traits. This could be a way of not making them too powerful, just extremely dangerous. I've portrayed Shoggoths as bio-borg mutable vehicles.

I saw a drawing somewhere of a Illithid using a Beholder as a cavalry mount-that looked just as terrifying as anything cthulhu-esque.

"a Illithid using a Beholder as a cavalry mount" picture

That is quite odd…I do not think I would have put those two things together…like pickled herring and peanut butter…cool though

Origami version of same pic picture mad paper folding skills!

Beholders are an odd sort of a duck right? Weird and creepy this is one of my favorite versions, seems to work picture

Yes, 28mmMan that's the one. Thanks. Mi-Go, Elder things, Shoggoths, Kryomek and Tyranids with these could be quite formidable depending how you stat them out. The appearance alone should freak out the players/characters. You could make the vulnerable to 'stasis-compacted green slime grenades':).

I like the Grenadier MiGo best… there are wings there but they're closed up and not particularly insectoid (the Black Cat MiGo wings don't do it for me at all).

When I said the Elder things seem 'magical' I just meant that they're tech seems stranger, almost mystical… less overtly mechanical than the MiGo stuff… Shoggoths being an example of that.

I really love these "Lycals":

TMP link

I wonder if you could have 15mm figures mounted on them.

Dan

I'd love to see an army of Elder Things! My alltime fave Lovecraft beastie!

Deep Ones aren't too much of a stretch really… Evil fishmen. There's even Black Tree's Doctor Who sea devils.

Yith and MiGo too. I'm just covering ground that's been covered before here though.

I agree that the Horrorclix Mi-Go is pretty pathetic. Bat wings? Really? And what's going on with that head, or lack thereof? I just included it for completeness' sake.

My second choice would be Elder Things. Again, there are about half a dozen different ones out there already.

Half a dozen? Really?
I only know of the Rafm and Grenadier sculpts… who else makes Elder Things?

Actually I think the headless bat winged creature is another Lovecraftian thing all together, do not remember which, but seems familiar…

Elder Things are also among my all time favourites – ATMOM is awesome.

I know of no other than those two sculpts, Rafm's being the better one, IMO.

Elder Things

Rafm link
Grenadier/Mirliton link

Could find no others…maybe is there are they use different names?

My mistake. I could have sworn there were more of them out there. The Elder Things themselves must have clouded my mind!

I found another artist with Mi-go on the brain, several versions:

link
link
link
link

And while all good, loads of potential for aliens in that lot, none quite fit Mi-go for me…but recently Mi-going insane :)

Heyyyy I found these at the last minute

picture I likey!
picture I likey!
picture how is that for weird right? :)
picture cool
picture different with a D

text from Whisperer in the Dark "They were pinkish things about five feet long; with crustaceous bodies bearing vast pairs of dorsal fins or membranous wings and several sets of articulated limbs, and with a sort of convoluted ellipsoid, covered with multitudes of very short antennae, where a head would ordinarily be"

Mi-go to bed now…later all.

Ok, found a muse image for my Mi-go head picture meets the description and is ultra cool with natural fractal patterns and a completely alien look to it.

The flesh of the neck and other exposed areas with be ropey strands with porous surface like a sponge…taking in account of the fungus nature picture I will use an interesting technique to create the surface…I have tried it on flat pieces so I am looking forward to trying it on rounded sections.

28mmMan 12 Jun 2010 8:45 p.m. PST:

how is that for weird right? :)

I think it's actually one of the most faithfull-to-the-text adaptations (of the ones shown anyway), tho the fins/wings are a little over the top.

28mmMan 13 Jun 2010 5:19 p.m. PST:

Ok, found a muse image for my Mi-go head

That is very much on the mark. Any idea what it really is?

Well surely I do…it is a quite primitive species of sea urchin, Cidaroida or pencil sea urchin picture this image is one of the living creature and the image from the earlier is one of the shell.

They are very cool…in life and in death.

Cool idea. I'm heading to the beach soon, they have lots of shell shacks scattered around. I'll see if I can find some of those in something close to 15mm-28mm scale.

Forget Lovecraft . . .

This would be awesome, as a 10-12mm kangaroo-baboon mutant/alien:

link

Two or three variants would be even better.

Dan
TMP link

jpattern2…it is unlikely as these shells can be delicate and most urchins are between golf ball and grapefruit in size.

But you should still look, there is always a chance and who knows you may find other things that are just as interesting.

Dan…no. Your sculpting is up to the challenge…I will work on Mi-go and you can work on a kangaroo-baboon goat blood sucking mutant alien :)

"kangaroo-baboon goat blood sucking mutant alien :)"

kbgbsma

Man, I thought I could make a cool acronym out of that phrase. It just sounds too cool.

Dan
link

Cacique Caribe 14 Jun 2010 10:43 a.m. PST:

Forget Lovecraft . . .

Burn, heretic!

He is trying to forget…but they are scratching at the walls, trying to find the right corner, the perfect angle, and then they will find him again…forget Lovecraft indeed!

Forget your sanity is more like it!

(Dan makes a desperate sanity check, GM smashes Dan's dice hand with a four pound sledge hammer…sanity check failed…again)

…forget indeed…don't make me hit you again…