Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4: Espers and the Psi-Cold War

The power of a single government with psychic agents would be destabilizing to the world's structure to say the least. By agents I mean spies, soldiers--not front line troops, that would be way outside the scope of a horror setting--and policing officers on up to currently non-existing branches of the courts and government itself. As to destabilisation, it would start with a mad scramble by other governments to try to somehow catch up--creating their own psychics, finding them within the general population, or stealing them--and if they couldn't do that then they would somehow do away with the espers of the government that had them. This in and of itself could be the form of a Psi-Cold War. Or it could just be the tip of the iceberg.

The Psi-Cold War would heat up very quickly if several powerful governments at odds with each other were to acquire psychic agents on the scale of which has been discussed. There is that necessity of groups at odds for any of these scenarios to work, though such odds might come about as a matter of the existence of the psychics in the first place. That it can be a conflict of groups is also important. It need not be governments at all; it can be smaller groups. The governmental scale is a nice choice because at that level there are the proper resources that can be put toward the effort, as well as resources needed to make up for any necessities not covered by the psychics' powers alone. This ties back to the types and degrees of powers that these psychics have at their disposal both individually and in groups.

A mix of groups with different amounts of finances and clout, and divergent and opposing agendas serves to make for a varied and textured landscape upon which to build plots. Parallel motives, cross-purposes, direct conflicts, consorting with the enemy, double-crosses, double and triple agents, manipulations, and conspiracies are all excellent elements in these kinds of stories. They are present in the regular non-psychic, non-horror undertakings of these types of narratives. They are just as much the bread and butter of the story lines when the additional elements are layered underneath, throughout, and on top. Next time will be the clash, and mash up of psychics and technology.

Mood: thrilled.
Music: I Love It Loud by Kiss and Louder Than Hell by Motley Crue.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2: Human Reactions

Just how would you feel if it were suddenly revealed that psychic powers were real, and they were potent, and used by just anybody who happened to have the capability? Would you first wonder how it had been kept hidden until now, or would you just assume that they were a new development? Would you be afraid of what some people might do with such abilities? Would you be jealous if you knew someone who could do something spectacular or just plain cool?

There would be reactions beyond those that individual people would have over the existence of psychic powers. What would the media do once they found out? Would they create mass hysteria—the traditional kind—or would there be a new class of celebrity quickly emerge? A whole new host of changes to the world would occur if the psychics were found within the ranks of the media. What stories would they print if a reporter could read a sources mind? What would they learn from politicians?

Politics could be a vastly different arena if physics discovered all of the secrets. It would be even further changed if there never were any secrets in the first place. However, let's say that these psychic powers were a new and so far limited phenomena. Just what would the politicians and military higher ups do about them? Find out some of the scenarios when Horror on Hump Day resumes the week following Halloween.

Starting October 19, 2007 look to this blog for our annual 13 Nights of Halloween. Each day there will be a new blog about a movie that is just perfect for the Halloween season. Check us out early, and hit your local video store or download service and watch along each night.

Mood: frisky.
Music: Satellite by Def Leppard and This House Is Haunted by Alice Cooper.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #1: Psychic Powers

In working on my psychic horror game there are several considerations I have had to make, and several more yet to be decided upon. In this first article of how many I do not know, I will start with my first point of necessity, and the considerations that it entailed. Later articles will take a look at these considerations as required.

The first requirement was that it was going to be a horror game. I of course set out to make a game with psychic powers so there was the second game priority. While I am discussing my game these ideas in no way need be relegated to role-playing games, they should work perfectly for any short story, novel, or movie setting within the genre. The limiting factor will be the inclusion of psychic phenomena though by no means will it be inclusive to humans for other people's setting purposes or any other settings I might pursue.

For a horror setting with psychics you first need to set out a list of the powers that you want to see. Next you need to look at how these powers will work. This requires looking at how the powers work in the following ways. First, what cost is there to using the powers? It can be none, it can be some kind of psychic points, it can be physical fatigue, and it can be mental fatigue. Next, are there any downsides to using the powers too much aside from any associated cost? The downsides of fatigue are obvious. Certainly sometime the use of such supernatural power has a negative impact, such as nosebleeds, and headaches if the powers come "naturally".

A psychic not need to be born with the powers or have them flourish on their own at the onset of puberty (a common time in fiction). The powers could be granted by a supernatural entity, or they could be the result of experimentation. These ideas alone open up a lot more vistas of possible exploration in your setting than just having the psychic abilities innately. They also express another important facet of a psychic horror setting, how does the rest of the world react to these phenomena and the people who wield such powers? Something for next time.

Mood: crisp.
Music: You Are all That I Need by Twisted Sister and You're All I Need by Motley Crue.

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Post-Climactic Hijinks

R.G. Male ©2007 Excerpted from "Unnamed Psychic Horror Game"

It's perhaps not universal, but there seems to be an interest in what happens after a novel is over, or the credits roll on a movie, and the characters go back to their real and supposedly normal lives. This begs the question, what if you were to run a game that takes place after all of the action, after the horror story is over and done? This isn't such an odd idea for a story or movie script but it may be fresh territory for gaming. Sure the result could be pretty dull depending on what goes on, what the characters are like, what kind of lives they lead and how they continue to interact or not interact. Here's where specific injections into the idea make for an excellent time.

During this game, all of the characters only have dim recollections of what happened. They remember bits and pieces... often in dreams and nightmares, sometimes unbidden when they are awake and a sight or a smell reminds them of one of the events that happened. When the memory comes back to them, one of two things can happen. 1) The GM tells them a little snippet of something that happened. Never a full "scene", just a touch of it, a taste like the acrid flavour of bile, and the burning in the back of your throat that comes with it. 2) The recollection is a flashback of the entire scene, with however many (or all) of the players involved, as needed, which you play out as normal.

R.G. Male ©2007 Excerpted from "Unnamed Psychic Horror Game"

In this way the story unfolds unlike any other, but yet the aftermath of things can be dealt with, and the taint upon the character's lives as these memories surface explored. One question that immediately comes to mind is to how to handle what happens if one of the players dies during a flashback. This opens up a couple avenues of mind-bending goodness, if you let it happen.

Maybe out of all of the flashbacks not everything is entirely true. There could be layers, where one flashback is actually is a dream and not a flashback. Depending on mood and setting demands maybe the death was not really a death but a really close miss. It wasn't as bad as it looked, or someone, something, some force healed them. Maybe the characters' lives after the big event are what are not true. This is certainly a tried and true twist. It shouldn't be over done though, and requires skill and finesse not to butcher it.

Then there is the idea that maybe the one killed is a ghost and nobody knows it. This means the person themself does not know they are dead. Imagine if the person is dead, and people all around him don't notice. As long as no one thoughtlessly walks through the ghost or vice versa then the illusion would remain complete as long as they can still pick things up. I would suggest them not having physical contact with other people and that mechanism being that which exposes the deception. Or what if they were the walking dead, animated flesh driven by untethered consciousness and telekinesis?

R.G. Male ©2007 Excerpted from "Unnamed Psychic Horror Game"

Mood: woollen.
Music: Keep Passing the Open Windows by Queen and Trouble Again by Quiet Riot.

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More Power and Shifting Responsibilities

I have been working on a little game related project using HTML. The game is Rifts®; the project is to make a more powerful character sheet for one specific character type in the main book of the game. That class is called the Shifter. It's a re-imagining of the classic Summoner from PFRPG®, which is a pretty easily imagined type of character just from the name and the fact it exists in a fantasy game.

Throughout the span of time that Rifts® has been out there the Shifter class has undergone some changes. The most important of these changes has been the addition of the Minion rules. From the outset the Shifter has always been able to, and meant to, summon up creatures and put them to use for whatever task the Shifter had in mind when deciding upon what to summon. However these helpers were fleeting and finding the time to summon things could be an issue, especially with some unhelpful GMs.

The Minion rules, and this is just a name I've given them to easily reference them, allow the Shifter to collect "permanent" helpers at select levels. I won't speculate on where the idea did or did not come from because I don't care. The importance is this addition gave the Shifter a leg up as the Rifts® world became tougher and more dangerous. As a matter of personal preference my first choice for a Shifter character's minions is entities. Two imp-like beings, or two entities count as one minion.

My project then was to include as much information about the Shifter's minions on the HTML character sheet as possible. To that end I built in an inline frame to contain the list of minions and linked to that IFRAME (for those knowledgeable about HTML) a second one where descriptions of the powers can be read. It's quite excellent. Of course this is a purely personal resource, because any distribution of that level of information would be a breach of Palladium Books®'s copyrights. However this is a good exercise in co-ordinating information and using higher level HTML and similar coding. Otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up.

Mood: exhausted.
Music: Wicker Man (1997) by Bruce Dickinson and Obsolete by Fear Factory.

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The Void

It’s no secret that I’m working on a couple of RPG projects. One is a fantasy-based game, though really this is a terrible misnomer given the way the definition cleaves. Modern Urban Fantasy might be a closer, but is still far off the mark. The fact is to say just Fantasy means specifically Tolkienesque medieval fantasy. If you step out of those bounds and retain the fantasy “name” you do nothing but draw ire, contempt, and book returns to the store. So, I feel I need a new name for this type of project. I will keep you all, gentle readers, apprised if I come up with something.

What I wanted to talk about today was an idea that I had. To give away some secrets, a big part of the setting I am working on involves the game’s world being an artificial construct. Nothing new there, except perhaps in which of the ways it is explained and what it means to characters, players, and the GM. It’s important I mention this condition because I want to talk about outer space. This idea I’ve had involves what if more than just the planet is artificial? What if it just hangs in “space” but not real outer space, as we know it, but a true nothing? Outside of the planet’s atmosphere there is absolutely nothing, or so this idea goes.

Now let’s further assume that these “fantasy” people have a way of getting up there. What sort of horror would they face upon this realisation? This is of course assuming they didn’t know and I have a very good reason for it, but it’s something I cannot divulge, something I believe to be fairly unique. So… when it comes to the time that the beings of this planet venture out of their atmosphere, they are presented with darkness and emptiness except for their planet’s own, lonely, star.

I’m reminded of an episode of Star Trek: Voyager when they travelled through a lightless expanse of space. Of course they were used to space being full of stars and nebulas and other things. Still I can only imagine what it would be like to go from a place of everything to a place of nothing. What would these fantasy beings think? How would it make them feel? Would they even care? I have to imagine it would be terrifying. Of course I have some additional ideas to truly bring the terror, but they’re secondary to just the conditions of space in this setting. You know I have to bring some horror to everything.

Mood: edgy.
Music: Accident of Birth by Bruce Dickinson and Cemetery Gates by Pantera.

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The Horror Application

Whilst working on mine RPG… err… wrong game. Working on my psychic horror game I have been focusing on the mood and the power levels. This is because it is the psychic powers that I am working on, as exclusively as I can. Occasionally, I have been sidetracked to work on other little bits, but that is necessary it seems no matter the project. I completed a power that is one of the immediately recognisable horrific powers. For the sake of discussion let’s call this power Phantom Voices. Essentially, the psychic can cause a victim to hear voices in their head.

Some people might have issue with the kind of commentary this power might have on the real world to them. As soon as you come to a point where fantasy and reality meet, and it is the bad kind of reality, then you have to tread lightly or pretend not to notice. Imagine this scenario… the real life “Son of Sam” killer said a neighbour’s dog told him to kill. Now, you have a power in the game that causes people to hear voices, and these fictional voices in this fictional character’s head cause them to do terrible things. It is very easy to see that some people might be touchy that you are trivialising mental illness, by laying blame on other people, etc, etc.

That is a tangent to what I set out to discuss, which was how to apply the horror. For the power I have a lengthy description of what these voices can do. If you heard voices telling you over and over to do something, eventually you have to figure that you would go insane and either do what they said or hurt yourself to make it stop, even permanently, i.e. suicide. Though this is a pretty horrific concept, it needs to be laid out in the right way to really work, to make it as horrifying as it possibly can be.

What needs to be done is to apply the horror to it. You have to crawl into the readers’ heads and try to make them see it. Certainly as this an RPG a lot of it can be left to the GM, except the GM has to get it, really get it, if they are going to make the best use of it. Some of the application requirement falls upon the players too since they might be the ones playing the role of the psychic(s) with this power. Either way, though the horror is there built-in, it still has to be applied, and that is going to take some work on either side of the page. We all have our role to play.

Mood: anxious.
Music: Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day and What It Takes by Aerosmith.

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No More Bumpy-Forehead Syndrome

Sometimes you read an RPG and it’s apparent that you are missing some of the information that might be useful in creating the character, and more importantly missing for playing that character. The one glaring example that I always pull out immediately is Elves in the fantasy games. You get a bit of info about them, but a lot of the best information is missing because the game expects, like every other fantasy game seemingly, that you have read all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books so thusly know a tonne about Elves. As freakish as it may be, I read the Hobbit in public school I think, but I don’t recall much about it and I haven’t read the Lord of the Rings, nor have I seen the movies. So all of these fantasy games are lacking some serious information.

Similarly, while reading the Call of Cthulhu 5th Edition RPG they refer to a tonne of different things with a wink and a nod, and generally act like you’ve read everything that H.P. Lovecraft had ever written. What is it with these initial people anyway? I need to know if I’m going to go by R.G. Male. ;) On its own the game seems practically useless to run because you’re not a part of the inner circle. Yeah, I haven’t read a tonne of Lovecraft, though I’ve read some, and I’m not particularly impressed, but that’s another topic altogether.

Cultural information about every different group there is in the game should be paramount to any game that isn’t set in the modern world where info is only a Google away. What’s worse, is some games they will even take an archetypal species like Elves, and do something non-Tolkien with them, and still do not give you the information required to play the character as anything other than a different looking human. Yes, you’ll note I said species. Race should really only apply to differences within the same species. That would include in humans the Caucasians, Negroes, Asians, etc.

It is just this sort of information, that I find missing in a lot of games, that I intend to include it in all of my game designs. It may be something that sets my games apart or it may not, but I believe its integral, and of great importance. Players and GMs should have as much material to work from as possible. It’s better to have and not use it, than be left filling in a tonne of blanks. Given the way people change up their games anyway, if they disagree with my ideas or have a better idea (more inline with their style) then I’m of the mind, “Game on.”

Mood: relaxed.
Music: Night Santa Went Crazy by Weird Al Yankovic and Live and Let Die by Guns N' Roses.

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A Thin Line Between Freedom and Constriction

Last time the conflict was between giving the game direction and not dictating the actions of the player’s characters. Today I am thinking more about the line between filling in detail, and setting dates and history, versus leaving it to the GM to tailor to his game as needed. Leaving things open is the best and most efficient way to let everyone run their own version of the game that is different from the next group and the next. Detailing a lot of material tends to generate in some circle much the same shouting, moaning, and general hatred generated by railroading. What is it with these circles?

Back when time was on my side and I could spend hours on end thinking, daydreaming, and writing my own game material like there was no tomorrow, the idea of a lot of material tightly defined in a game left me with mixed feelings. Reading the new Powers Unlimited from Palladium Booksâ I see a lot of powers that I would have found redundant several years ago because they are simple variations on the same idea, though some of them do have the occasional nice variance, or even better with a couple, a completely different application of the power possible.

That is one way in which I would have agreed that it was a waste of pages. However, now with more and varied responsibilities and demands on my time I think these additions will be helpful because I can’t just sit down and come up with them on my own in any reasonable amount of time. Thinking back to those days when the time was available I know that I was also aware that some things which were not detailed could have been and it left me with a feeling of lacking to the game depending on what it was that was missing. More about those missing things next time.

Mood: jumbled.
Music: It Sucks to Be You by Quiet Riot and Lightning Strikes Twice by Iron Maiden.

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