The future is here!
It’s a brave new world in 1971, a world of pocket calculators, digital watches, and floppy disks. A dozen eggs go for a quarter, a gallon of gas is 40 cents, and you can see a movie for a buck-and-a-half. Polyester, bold prints and platform shoes are all the rage. Ursula Le Guin makes dreams real in The Lathe of Heaven, while Charles Bukowski works in the Post Office, and Abbie Hoffman advises you to Steal This Book. Family rooms and basements are awash in the glow of The Partridge Family, Mary Tyler Moore, and The Mod Squad. Archie Bunker makes his first appearance. Rod Stewart and James Taylor rule the airwaves. Janis Joplin sings of a desperate freedom in “Me and Bobby McGee,” Three Dog Night brings “Joy to the World,” and everyone gets down when Isaac Hayes does the theme from Shaft.
JFK, RFK, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King are all dead, killed at the hands vicious players in the power game. The stakes are high, sky-high and beyond. Astronauts drive dune buggies on the Moon; the Space Race is the popular face of a cold war going hot in proxy conflicts throughout the globe. East versus West, ideology battles ideology for supremacy. The USA and the USSR are in a Mexican Standoff with nuclear ICBMs instead of sixguns.
The 60’s consciousness raising and social movements become a grotesque parody of themselves. Dissent at home has become culture. Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, mask a nation of violence, and fear. Americans huddle together in the dark and watch The Andromeda Strain and Dirty Harry while waiting for The Bomb to drop. Children are on the forefront of politics when public school buses carry out racial desegregation. Vietnam War protesters battle in the streets, and the TV nightly news bemoans hippies, peaceniks, and commies as 150,000 more young men are drafted. Nixon invokes the Silent Majority and invades Cambodia before yet another domino falls.
Unknown to most there is an even darker stain growing in this shadow play. The invisible history of the 20th century is rife with unguessed horrors. Ancient entities stir in the deeps of the earth, and in the icy depths of space. After WWII, Nazi wizards escaped to rekindle the Reich’s unholy sciences. Russia routinely breaks the Geneva Convention’s whispered sister, the White Pact, by deploying “unconventional” munitions. News of chemical weapon attacks are used as cover for less terrestrial terrors. Conspiracy theorists say Area 51 contains America’s true military deterrents, deep underground in it’s unplumbed bunkers. Is it all true? Could any of it be true?
Vast powers move inexorably closer to the fruition of their subtle, cosmic schemes. Will human life be snuffed like a candle in the turbulent ocean of eternal night? Who will believe the unbelievable? Who will fathom the unfathomable? Who, I ask you, will stand against the inevitable, enfolding darkness, and fight that which was not meant to be known?
Showing posts with label Cthulhu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cthulhu. Show all posts
2016-02-04
Some Thoughts on Cosmic Horror Campaigns
My Outer Presence adventure is coming along nicely. I'm calling the campaign world Mothership Earth. This should give you some idea of the flavor.
The adventure is told in three chapters. The first, called "The City of Sound," takes place in New York City, early in the year 1971. It's a city of tension and contrast. Racial and economic division are seared into the skyline. Sleaze and scandal ran rampant. The Bowery was Skid Row. The subway was a decrepit, malfunctioning hellhole. The City was going bankrupt. The first OTB parlor opens, soon the sidewalks are littered with losing bets. Disco and it's polar opposite, punk, had yet to break, but they were coming on fast.
I'm folding in the atmosphere of NYC during the period, and the global situation as well. There are big events occurring, but in the tradition of Lovecraftian horror, much of these doings are veiled in mystery. To the sensitive they are merely unexplained coincidences, nearly all going totally unnoticed by the oblivious masses. The players will slowly gather clues to the true scope of the danger, and (hopefully) act before it is too late.
The scenario is pretty heavily scripted at points, this is not a sandbox game. I feel structure is vital to the horror genera. So many great movies would be ruined if the protagonists simply stuck together, or left the woods, or didn't go down to the basement. This is what my old roommate Dr. W., an ex-Lit. professor, calls the "Trapped in the Scary House" effect. The tension and dread come precisely from the limited number of options available. In the horror movie scenario, characters confront situations with no good choices. All paths are uncertain and lead to potential doom. The only thing you can do is shout at the screen and await the inevitable.
However, that's not to say the die is cast (so to speak, ha). There is a lot of opportunity for the players to approach these points from different angles, to gain or lose advantage. Cascading situations lead into one-another, a success will better their chances later on. The climax will occur no matter what, it's up to the players how to prepare. But they must act or humanity will end up another bug splatter on Cthulhu's cosmic windshield.
The adventure is told in three chapters. The first, called "The City of Sound," takes place in New York City, early in the year 1971. It's a city of tension and contrast. Racial and economic division are seared into the skyline. Sleaze and scandal ran rampant. The Bowery was Skid Row. The subway was a decrepit, malfunctioning hellhole. The City was going bankrupt. The first OTB parlor opens, soon the sidewalks are littered with losing bets. Disco and it's polar opposite, punk, had yet to break, but they were coming on fast.
I'm folding in the atmosphere of NYC during the period, and the global situation as well. There are big events occurring, but in the tradition of Lovecraftian horror, much of these doings are veiled in mystery. To the sensitive they are merely unexplained coincidences, nearly all going totally unnoticed by the oblivious masses. The players will slowly gather clues to the true scope of the danger, and (hopefully) act before it is too late.
The scenario is pretty heavily scripted at points, this is not a sandbox game. I feel structure is vital to the horror genera. So many great movies would be ruined if the protagonists simply stuck together, or left the woods, or didn't go down to the basement. This is what my old roommate Dr. W., an ex-Lit. professor, calls the "Trapped in the Scary House" effect. The tension and dread come precisely from the limited number of options available. In the horror movie scenario, characters confront situations with no good choices. All paths are uncertain and lead to potential doom. The only thing you can do is shout at the screen and await the inevitable.
However, that's not to say the die is cast (so to speak, ha). There is a lot of opportunity for the players to approach these points from different angles, to gain or lose advantage. Cascading situations lead into one-another, a success will better their chances later on. The climax will occur no matter what, it's up to the players how to prepare. But they must act or humanity will end up another bug splatter on Cthulhu's cosmic windshield.
2016-02-01
Review of "The Outer Presence"
A few months back the Escapist Magazine website had a short blurb on a new, rules-lite, Lovecraftian horror table-top RPG. It peaked my interest, I had been asked to run a new game, and I was looking for something besides Labyrinth Lord. I liked a lot about LL, and it has a ton of room for atmosphere, but the weakness of low level characters makes it a slog.
I bought a printed version of The Outer Presence (it comes with a PDF as well) which contains a rules system and scenario by Venger As'Nas Satanis. The book is nicely produced and has some very appropriate art. I am quite happy with the purchase. So when I say it's relatively short, I'm not complaining. The minimal approach to game mechanics is almost brutal. There are no weapon stats, no skills, no ability scores even. I salute the bravery to eliminate the core features of almost all other RPGs.
There are "professions" that act as character classes, and several tables of emotional and social traits to flesh out the character. Particularly psychological flaws which play an important part in the game. There are also rules for combat and of course insanity, which is central to cosmic horror. However they are so simple all roles are performed with a dice pool, which grows or shrinks based on difficulty. I especially like the odds used, because of the dice pool doesn't punish the player. There is always a 50% - 87% chance to succeed on any task that can be accomplished. Most other Old School Revival games take the "probably can't" approach to player chances. That's not hard core, it's boring.
The scenario is also interesting, a suitably globe spanning adventure set in the 1970s. I think that's an especially good milieu since it makes use of a very recognizable world, but removes many of the technological conveniences (like mobile phones, and internet research). This preserves an isolation that is realistic to the setting.
There are some rather "adult" situations described, but if the game were revised it would be perfect for a younger audience. I can easily see using a campfire tale, or Scooby Doo story line to good effect since the rules are so simple. It does make me think that Lovecraftian pastiche games could easily use a diceless system like Erick Wujcik's Amber (based on the Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber), or Lords of Gossamer and Shadow by Jason Durall.
In general, I like the approach and will definitely make use of the book as well as looking at Kort'thalis Publishing's other RPG, Crimson Dragon Slayer. I think that a heavily house-ruled version of The Outer Presence will be a good fit. Probably re-introducing some of the elements that have been left out to give a more classic feel without losing the minimalist element and focus on character psychology and interaction.
There are "professions" that act as character classes, and several tables of emotional and social traits to flesh out the character. Particularly psychological flaws which play an important part in the game. There are also rules for combat and of course insanity, which is central to cosmic horror. However they are so simple all roles are performed with a dice pool, which grows or shrinks based on difficulty. I especially like the odds used, because of the dice pool doesn't punish the player. There is always a 50% - 87% chance to succeed on any task that can be accomplished. Most other Old School Revival games take the "probably can't" approach to player chances. That's not hard core, it's boring.
The scenario is also interesting, a suitably globe spanning adventure set in the 1970s. I think that's an especially good milieu since it makes use of a very recognizable world, but removes many of the technological conveniences (like mobile phones, and internet research). This preserves an isolation that is realistic to the setting.
There are some rather "adult" situations described, but if the game were revised it would be perfect for a younger audience. I can easily see using a campfire tale, or Scooby Doo story line to good effect since the rules are so simple. It does make me think that Lovecraftian pastiche games could easily use a diceless system like Erick Wujcik's Amber (based on the Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber), or Lords of Gossamer and Shadow by Jason Durall.
In general, I like the approach and will definitely make use of the book as well as looking at Kort'thalis Publishing's other RPG, Crimson Dragon Slayer. I think that a heavily house-ruled version of The Outer Presence will be a good fit. Probably re-introducing some of the elements that have been left out to give a more classic feel without losing the minimalist element and focus on character psychology and interaction.
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