Miskatonic Mysteries is a Game Mod for Minecraft that focuses on bringing numerous elements of the Cthulhu Mythos to Minecraft, including eldritch magic and the summoning of the Great Old Ones (or fragments of them, at any rate). The mod also features some more "weird science" themed content from Lovecraft's non-mythos work, such as the Re-Agent and the Resonator.
The mod is currently very early in development, and as such only contains a handful of rituals and one of the Great Old Ones. The mod can be downloaded here
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Miskatonic Mysteries contains examples of the following tropes:
- Animal Motifs: Shub-Niggurath and her cultists have an obvious Gruesome Goat motif.
- Anti-Magic: The Warding Mark, which weakens magic cast in its vicinity and keeps any occult creatures from getting too close.
- Art-Style Dissonance: Even moreso than the vanilla game. The mod has all the cute, blocky aesthetics of Minecraft while being centered around eldritch magic and cosmic horror.
- Chemically-Induced Insanity: Blotters can be used on yourself or Villagers to induce temporary Mania, and will reduce a player's Sanity Meter.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Great Old Ones, of course.
- Geometric Magic: The mod's Ritual Magic requires the use of an octogram (eight-pointed star) with the necessary reagents placed at the star's points and the symbol of a Great Old One in the center.
- The Ghost: Cthulhu, Shub-Niggurath, and their worshipers are not currently implemented into the mod, though their shrines can be found and they have entries in the Necronomicon.
- Horror Hunger: One of the possible negative side-effects of low sanity is Strange Cravings, which causes your hunger meter to rapidly drop unless you eat rotten flesh.
- Infectious Insanity: The Mania spell, Hysteria Rite, or a Yellow Sign can all induce temporary insanity in players and decrease sanity.
- Interface Screw: The Mania effect causes a player's view to wobble and red afterimages to appear on their screen every time they move the camera.
- In the Hood: Most cultists wear hooded cloaks, though some of the cultists of the Black Goat just have masks.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: The ascended variants of the normal cultist mobs are cultists who have undergone the proper ceremonies to being themselves closer to their gods, and often possess both powerful magic and strange physical mutations. Following one of the mod's ascension paths allows players to join them.
- Lovecraft Lite: While the mod does feature the unknowable alien gods and maddening horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, it is still a mod for Minecraft, so there's only so dark and hopeless it can possibly be. It's totally possible to summon the avatar of a Great Old One and master dark magic without terribly endangering yourself as long as you're careful to maintain your Sanity Meter.
- Pineal Weirdness: The player can find and use the Resonator from From Beyond, which is said to work by stimulating the player's pineal gland just like it does in the story. In-game, this gives buffs to players at low sanity but will start to spawn dangerous and otherworldly enemies if left on too long.
- Power Born of Madness: Some of the effects of low sanity can be beneficial, such as a temporary Strength buff.
- Resurrection Sickness: A player who uses the Re-Agent to avoid dying will be afflicted with several temporary debuffs, including one that prevents the use of another dose of Re-Agent.
- Ritual Magic: The source of much of the magic in the mod, used for traps, summoning, and crafting certain supernaturally-significant items. Rituals require an octogram and the symbol of a Great Old One to be drawn on the ground, with the necessary reagents placed at the octogram's points. Some of the rituals have special requirements, such as the presence or sacrifice of certain creatures.
- Sanity Meter: Doing things like looking directly at a Yellow Sign, eating the flesh of one of the Faceless Lambs, or using a Blotter can reduce your sanity, which can cause a variety of effects that increase in frequency and power as your sanity decreases. These include a sudden craving for rotten flesh, auditory hallucinations, and temporary bursts of strength. Sanity can be restored by taking sedatives and then going to sleep.
- Summoning Ritual: A few of the rituals allow a player to summon mobs. The Eldritch Trap and Hellfire Trap rites summon overworld and Nether mobs, respectively, and there are rites for summoning servants and fragments of the Great Old Ones.
- Technicolor Magic: The mod's magic is generally represented by a pale gold color, and being in the radius of a Resonator tints the player's view a vibrant magenta.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Necronomicon of course makes an appearance in the mod, where it serves as a guidebook to most of the mod's creatures, rituals, and mechanics.
- The Unfought: The mod's developers have stated that the player will not be able to fight any of the Great Old Ones, since having them as "big monsters for the player to kill" would be somewhat antithetical to the very concept of them.
