btw, I think cool monsters are one of the (many) best things about D&D.
This made me a TERRIBLE Call of Cthulhu GM as a kid; I figured CoC was about cool monsters rather than fear of the unknown, so I went light on SAN rolls/SAN loss to ensure players could see more cool monsters.
@Leucrotta "Hey, Sam'u'll'o'th'ogh."
"Oh. Hey, Ralph."
"How's the Elder game?"
"Same old. How's the PI scene?"
"Meh. Took out one of your minions yesterday, sorry about that."
"It's OK, Ralph."
"Thanks, Sam, you're a peach."
"OK. Have a good one. Watch your corners on the way out. *dodecatuple guns gesture* MY HOUNDS GONNA GETCHA!"
"Haha, I'll be sure and get my wards up, Sam." "Huh. What a decent Ur-guy."
@zebratron2084 it *would* be cool to play CoC where the characters were cultists; that they weren’t going in cold, that they had some knowledge of what was going on to expand/prove wrong and, as part of it, got into weird underground feuds with other cultists and cults.
@zebratron2084 sorta like OWoD, or DnD but more weird monstery. Like if characters worked for the ghouls, who are pretty close to a good guy faction in Lovecraft; working to earn (underground, cannibalistic) immortality sounds like a solid PC goal. Or the Deep Ones, thinking you’re serving the ocean in return for the ability to explore anywhere undersea sounds great! What happens when the PC finds out they’re helping work to extinct humanity, are they even more gung-ho?