Possibly the eeriest of all my homebrew, the Bodysnatcher is another nonprofessional background in the vein of my earlier cyborg. And it's another science fiction background, though this time in the cosmic horror genre of H.P. Lovecraft.* I created the Bodysnatcher in response to a friend's prompt-based homebrewing challenge event: anything inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos or Lovecraftian cosmic horror.
I have relatively limited experience with the Cthulhu Mythos. I've never read Call of Cthulhu, and I've never played the tabletop game. The short stories "Pickman's Model" and "The Music of Eric Zahn" and the excellent text adventure Anchorhead form my primary experience with the Mythos, and I enjoyed all of those (especially Anchorhead; that's a solid game and a great sendup to the text adventure medium). But to be completely honest my first introduction to Lovecraftian fiction was the Tale of Old Man Henderson! So sometimes I feel unqualified to talk about cosmic horror.
And yet, the homebrewing prompt was very compelling. This would not be the first time I dabbled in cosmic horror as an element of Fifth Edition design—a long time ago I made a Circle of Nightmares, though in retrospect I don't think it really works as a druid—but it would be the first time in a long time.
The challenge prompt had suggested monsters, species homebrew based on the Yith, or subclasses influenced by outer beings. Yet I felt an urge to make something unexpected. I'd seen many subclasses and spells in the vein of cosmic horror, but never a background. And that mention of the Yith got my mind going.
I haven't read "The Shadow Out of Time," but I was already familiar with the fundamentals and with the Yith. To make a long story short, they are non-human psychic time travelers—in other words, the inspiration for the Bodysnatcher background. Since a Yith could mind-hop to any body, a background seemed appropriate: it would be applicable to any class, subclass, or species. Anyone could be a Bodysnatcher.
Now, I've said more than once on this blog that my style leans "wholesome." I usually work with pleasant themes and soft edges. So this was a bit out of my comfort zone. In some ways, I think it shows—some of the bonds and ideals are pretty soft-edged for an unknowably alien psychic possession. But I think it can be good to get outside one's comfort zone as a creator, and so this was a good exercise. Plus, I think the Bodysnatcher turned out really well.
Enjoy! For a given definition of enjoy that involves the creeping dread of cosmic horror, anyway.
*There's always an elephant in the room when it comes to H.P. Lovecraft. There's no way for me to do the subject justice, but I want to mention that I am aware of his startling racial animus (even for his day and age) and how that influenced his writing. Speaking as someone who is half-Japanese (which would have given Lovecraft a heart attack in life, or something), liking someone's stories and ideas while knowing about the dreadful origins of their inspiration is a strange position to be in. There is no perfect answer to how to feel about this. I would encourage all those who read Lovecraft's stories to learn more about this through your own research and reading; many authors and content creators have treated, far better than I could, the subject of what Lovecraft's animus was and how fans of his writings might react to this. I feel like I can say this much at least: I think there is a certain value to, as readers, responsibly reclaiming the text as ours and using it for better purposes.
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