Animated Cthulhu token

I've seen some pretty good animated eldritch horror tokens on the marketplace and elsewhere on the internet.  But nobody has made an actual animated Cthulhu token. At least not a decent one.  Isn't that worth money to somebody?

Well, I've heard that some people tried, but they all went mad in the process.

AAAAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh...... <runs across the screen, arms above head waving madly> Animated tokens sounds cool... Deep Ones, Ghouls, Mi-go's....a Shantak...yeah, maybe. As for an animated Cthulhu token... sounds interesting, but again... Gods, maybe especially Lovecraftian Gods...are really story elements.  They are a means to an end...for the GM...the players should never really see one (lets face it, there's a size aspect to this whole equation too) and if they do...as Rick A. eluded to....madness ensues.  Players should not kill or destroy one.  Banish...maybe... While we're on the topic how often is someone going to realistically thawp down the Big C in game... not very.  He's the big baddie and most CoC or other game systems that reference him directly...only have him appear seldom in person.  He's off stage directing his minions and cults.  Again, he's a story-element.  Once he's on the field...all bets are off.  All options are off...the players cannot and should not be able to effect him without strong arcane support--in the form of artifacts or rituals.  So again, he's not likely to enter the game. He's the off-stage hand that manipulates events. I'm not trying to convince you one way or another...and an animated Cthulhu sounds fun...just not useful...for whatever amount you would feel you needed to charge for your time and effort. I suggest we let the Sleeper of R'lyeh continue to dream away in the South Pacific....

Pandarian said: AAAAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh...... <runs across the screen, arms above head waving madly> Animated tokens sounds cool... Deep Ones, Ghouls, Mi-go's....a Shantak...yeah, maybe. As for an animated Cthulhu token... sounds interesting, but again... Gods, maybe especially Lovecraftian Gods...are really story elements.  They are a means to an end...for the GM...the players should never really see one (lets face it, there's a size aspect to this whole equation too) and if they do...as Rick A. eluded to....madness ensues.  Players should not kill or destroy one.  Banish...maybe... While we're on the topic how often is someone going to realistically thawp down the Big C in game... not very.  He's the big baddie and most CoC or other game systems that reference him directly...only have him appear seldom in person.  He's off stage directing his minions and cults.  Again, he's a story-element.  Once he's on the field...all bets are off.  All options are off...the players cannot and should not be able to effect him without strong arcane support--in the form of artifacts or rituals.  So again, he's not likely to enter the game. He's the off-stage hand that manipulates events. I'm not trying to convince you one way or another...and an animated Cthulhu sounds fun...just not useful...for whatever amount you would feel you needed to charge for your time and effort. I suggest we let the Sleeper of R'lyeh continue to dream away in the South Pacific.... To say an encounter with Cthulhu in a Call of Cthulhu game isn’t intended is bonkers to me. I’ve found stat blocks for Cthulhu in multiple TTRPGs. And if you play one long enough, I think it’s eventually going to be an option on the table to run an encounter with him. Whether or not the characters survive is irrelevant.

Gargamond said: To say an encounter with Cthulhu in a Call of Cthulhu game isn’t intended is bonkers to me. I’ve found stat blocks for Cthulhu in multiple TTRPGs. And if you play one long enough, I think it’s eventually going to be an option on the table to run an encounter with him. Whether or not the characters survive is irrelevant. My apologies friend... I thought you were asking for opinions.  And, I think we might be looking at this from two different angles. I'm not denying that stat blocks exist, you can find stats for Cthulhu and plenty of other Lovecraftian entities across various TTRPGs. Heck, you can find stats for the characters of the Scooby-doo gang online.  Doesn't mean they're going in the majority of games.   My point is less about whether it's technically   possible   to put him on the board, and more about how he actually functions as a storytelling element versus a traditional gaming encounter .  newsflash--he's not a gaming encounter. When you look at the mechanics, having Cthulhu physically on the table top breaks the scope of the story.  Like is he going to roll—Library Use or Stealth?  If he rolls a fumble or a critical success, it just breaks the narrative gravity of a cosmic deity.  On top of that, there’s a massive sense of scale to consider.  Cthulhu is roughly 100 meters tall.  If you’re playing on a standard map, a realistic Cthulhu token wouldn't even fit on the VTT, and if you scaled the map to fit him, the Investigator tokens would be too small to actually be useful. But bringing it back to the original topic, my feedback was specifically through the lens of   whether this project is a good investment of your time and effort.   Again, I though you were seeking others opinions.  I gave you mine. Even if a group eventually reaches that one-in-a-million session where the Big C is summoned, it would happen so rarely that the token just wouldn't get the table time to justify the immense work you'd put into animating it.  My personal opinion is that I don't see the value or pay off of you pouring hours of hard work into a project that people may not purchase in scale for your effort or will rarely get to use, especially when you need to charge a fair price for your labor.  However, if it's a passion project...go for it!  I would be curious to see what you bring forth. it’s a cool concept, absolutely!  I just think from a practical project standpoint, your talents might be better spent on assets players will get to drop on the table every single week.  Which is also something they'd much more likely purchase. Again...you asked for an opinion.  I gave one.  I'm sorry it struck a discordant note with your passion for this idea. Either way, I wish you the best with it.  Cheers.

Pandarian said: Gargamond said: To say an encounter with Cthulhu in a Call of Cthulhu game isn’t intended is bonkers to me. I’ve found stat blocks for Cthulhu in multiple TTRPGs. And if you play one long enough, I think it’s eventually going to be an option on the table to run an encounter with him. Whether or not the characters survive is irrelevant. My apologies friend... I thought you were asking for opinions.  And, I think we might be looking at this from two different angles. I'm not denying that stat blocks exist, you can find stats for Cthulhu and plenty of other Lovecraftian entities across various TTRPGs. Heck, you can find stats for the characters of the Scooby-doo gang online.  Doesn't mean they're going in the majority of games.   My point is less about whether it's technically   possible   to put him on the board, and more about how he actually functions as a storytelling element versus a traditional gaming encounter .  newsflash--he's not a gaming encounter. When you look at the mechanics, having Cthulhu physically on the table top breaks the scope of the story.  Like is he going to roll—Library Use or Stealth?  If he rolls a fumble or a critical success, it just breaks the narrative gravity of a cosmic deity.  On top of that, there’s a massive sense of scale to consider.  Cthulhu is roughly 100 meters tall.  If you’re playing on a standard map, a realistic Cthulhu token wouldn't even fit on the VTT, and if you scaled the map to fit him, the Investigator tokens would be too small to actually be useful. But bringing it back to the original topic, my feedback was specifically through the lens of   whether this project is a good investment of your time and effort.   Again, I though you were seeking others opinions.  I gave you mine. Even if a group eventually reaches that one-in-a-million session where the Big C is summoned, it would happen so rarely that the token just wouldn't get the table time to justify the immense work you'd put into animating it.  My personal opinion is that I don't see the value or pay off of you pouring hours of hard work into a project that people may not purchase in scale for your effort or will rarely get to use, especially when you need to charge a fair price for your labor.  However, if it's a passion project...go for it!  I would be curious to see what you bring forth. it’s a cool concept, absolutely!  I just think from a practical project standpoint, your talents might be better spent on assets players will get to drop on the table every single week.  Which is also something they'd much more likely purchase. Again...you asked for an opinion.  I gave one.  I'm sorry it struck a discordant note with your passion for this idea. Either way, I wish you the best with it.  Cheers. Ok, I'm just going to disregard anything you say from here on out.  You are making major assumptions that are completely baseless.