OSR Thoughts on YOG·SOTHOTH (the key and guardian of the gate) From Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition's Dieties & Demigod By Robert J. Kuntz & James M. Ward

 "Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread."

The Dunwich Horror  By H.P. Lovecraft 


The other night we DM's got together for a beer & to discuss another leg of our upcoming campaign. And Kuntz & Ward's Dieties & Demigods especially the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition's version of YOG·SOTHOTH (the key and guardian of the gate) avitar. This blog entry picks right up from here. 

Hyperborea has it's own version of the children of YOG·SOTHOTH. We went back and looked at the old AD&D classic version. That version of the Outer God is nasty; "Greater god ARMOR CLASS: -2 MOVE: 18" HIT POINTS: 400 NO. OF ATTACKS: 12 DAMAGE/AnACK: 1-8 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to charm MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50% SIZE: L ( 50' diameter) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: Chaotic evil SYMBOL: Y rune PLANE: Astral Plane CLERIC/DRUID: Nil FIGHTER: As 16+ HD monster MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 15th level magic-user THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil MONK/BARD: Nil PSIONIC ABILITY: S:25(+7,+14) 1:25 W:23 D:20 C:25 CH:-7" 

Classic Erol Otis artwork of a child of Yog Shoggoth
  from Dieties & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 

The description of the Greater God Yog Shoggoth is mind bending; "Yog-Sothoth exists on the astral plane. He has the ability to enter the universe at any point in space and any point in time. His astral shape appear  as a congeries of iridescent globes like giant soap bubbles. When he takes shape on the Prime Material Plane he is partly material and partly astral and appears as a gigantic mass of feelers, legs, and stalked organs. In this shape he will mate with human beings, producing the Spawn of YogSothoth (see "The Dunwich Horror", by H. P. Lovecraft). He is highly intelligent and extremely chaotic and unpredictable. He can gate in and out of time and space any of the Spawn or subject races of the Old Ones, one per melee round. Yog-Sothoth is not subject to the laws of space and time and can, for example, appear at vorious parts of the universe simultaneously" 

According to various sources including the  The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana Yog Shoggoth is one of the main Greater Gods of the Mythos. Which means that he has diminion over the Lovecraftian entities & greater races then at first it appears. It also means that it ( the greater god) could theoritically be encountered anywhere. Talk about a random encounter. 

According to our discussions there are very few if anyplaces within the planes where you could theoritically get away from this version of YOG·SOTHOTH (the key and guardian of the gate) From Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition's Dieties & Demigod By Robert J. Kuntz & James M. Ward! 
Digging in deeper according to the H.P. Lovecraft wiki all of those irdescient globes have names & perhaps meaning; "He is composed of iridescent globes (HPL: "The Horror in the Museum", AWD: "The Lurker at the Threshold") of which there are thirteen (EXP: Hay Necronomicon):

1. Gomory
2. Zagan
3. Sytry
4. Eligor
5. Durson
6. Vual
7. Scor
8. Algor
9. Sefon
10. Partas
11. Gamor
12. Umbra
13. Anaboth

Deeper that one peers into the madness & occult insanity  of YOG·SOTHOTH the more one sees why dark wizards would entreat with such an entity. Please bare in mind that all of this is fiction created by a writer from Providence, Rhode Island. 

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.