OSR Thoughts on Shub-Niggurath From Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition's Dieties & Demigod By Robert J. Kuntz & James M. Ward

 This blog post picks right up from the other day & what does does 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons  Dieties & Demigods have to do with it?! Well a bit of everything. 


"This fountain of uncleanliness is a huge pool of gray matter, 100 feet across, in the caverns beneath Mount Voormithadreth. It is constantly bubbling and putting forth mouths, limbs, pseudopods and whole creatures. 1-100 small monsters are created from the pool each round, and they go crowling, flopping, or flying away into the caverns above. Some fall bock into the pool, which then grows mouths and devours them." 
Kuntz & Ward's Dieties & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition 

So over the last couple of weeks there's been several pieces of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition material that has sparked our DM's & player's imaginations. Tonight's the Kuntz & Ward's Dieties & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition tonight for the upcoming Hyperborea rpg campaign. This avitar of Shub-Niggurath is incredibly dangerous & could be the source of any Lovecraftian monsters in thier area of Hyperborea especially around the Mount Voormithadreth. 
"SHUB·NIGGURATH (black goat of the woods with a thousand young) Lesser god ARMOR CLASS: 4 MOVE: None HIT POINTS: 400 NO. OF An Attacks : DAMAGE/AnACK: See below SPECIAL ATTACKS: Monster creation SPECIAL DEFENSES: + 2 or better weapon to hit MAGIC RESISTANCE: 95% SIZE: L (100' in diameter) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: Chaotic evil SYMBOL: Black goat PLANE: Prime Material Plane CLERIC/DRUID: Nil FIGHTER: As 16+ HD monster MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil MONK/BARD: Nil PSIONIC ABILITY: I S:24(+6, +12) 1:25 W:20 D: 19 C:25 CH:--4"

This version of Shub Niggurth is the source all many of the horrors of Hyperborea (or at least in our home campaign it might be) & this is answered in the second part of the entry; 

"This fountain of uncleanliness is a huge pool of gray matter, 100 feet across, in the caverns beneath Mount Voormithadreth. It is constantly bubbling and putting forth mouths, limbs, pseudopods and whole creatures. 1-100 small monsters are created from the pool each round, and they go crowling, flopping, or flying away into the caverns above. Some fall bock into the pool, which then grows mouths and devours them. ShubNiggurath is intelligent and telepathically sensitive. When it senses the approach of enemies (range 1,000') it will begin creating monsters to defend itself, one per melee round. These will be random according to the following table (d6): 1. Byakhee; 2. Deep One; 3. Great Race; 4. Mi-Go; 5. Primordial One; 6. Shoggoth.
 If any enemy is so foolish as to approach to within 30' of the being, the pool will lash out with a huge powerful tentacle; if it hits, it will pull the unfortunate victim into the pool, where he or she will immediately become part of the evil swirling protoplasm. Any creature struck has a percentage chance of not being pulled into the pool equal to his or her strength. Shub-Niggurath strikes only once per turn in this way and can simultaneously create monsters. Though its body is trapped deep in the caverns, Shub-Niggurath travels the Prime Material Plane in astral form, using its psionic powers to do evil and aid its worshipers" Let's pick this up from the H.P. Lovecraft wiki's Shub Niggurath entry on the diety's cults; "Of all the mythos deities, Shub-Niggurath is probably the most extensively worshipped. Her worshippers include the Hyperboreans, the Muvians, T'yog of K'naa, and the people of Sarnath, as well as any number of druidic and barbaric cults. She is also worshipped by the non-human species of the mythos, such as the "Fungi from Yuggoth" (the Mi-Go) and the Nug-Soth of Yaddith. (EXP: The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana)" 

 So this ShubNiggurath avitar is psionic active & I believe the Outer god is actually spread through out planes. And this is also true of our own home version of Hyperborea.