Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-3: Scalar Planar Collisions

Scale is the means by which things are measured whether it is a mile, or a millimetre, or a setting or plot. The scale of story elements in a horror story tend toward the small with a few notable exceptions. One of those exceptions is the zombie apocalypse story. The apocalypse portion of the requirement does not rule out the small scale though. The focus always narrows down to the key characters and their involvement with the crisis, and the antagonists, the zombies. This focus shift is true for all stories. If the intention of coming up with the setting is not for a single story then the scale needs to be examined even more thoroughly. Though they come in different flavours a predominant number of role-playing games fit in the fantasy mould.

Whether the intention is a horror fantasy role-playing game or a storyline with that cross-genre mix scale is an important factor. Zombies are no strangers to fantasy settings, nor are mummies and animated skeletons. They are common on a small scale. Armies of them appear occasionally, covering the middle ground, but usually not as a global level threat. Given the day-to-day level of horror inherent in most fantasy settings, even to some extent in medieval life, zombies don’t rate very high. Where swordsmen wander ceaselessly crushing evil, zombies are not a real threat without an edge greater than being similarly armed to the swordsmen. Something more powerful is usually pulling the strings and presents a greater level of menace bringing the scale, the focus, down again.

Another option is replacing the harbingers of the apocalypse with something more frightening. Defying demonic invasions from the outer planes are the fodder of prophecies to be fulfilled in many a fantasy. Certainly a horror fantasy could reverse things. The prophecy predicts the invasion, or better yet and somewhat its own horror to the protagonist(s) the prophecy fails to be fulfilled. Hell on Earth has a certain appeal for a storyline, or a state of the setting, a backdrop upon which to paint the rest of the story. This is about setting, not plot. This level is the foundation and some of the story structure. Like a house, with only a basement and some outer wall joists any number of frames is possible. Where the construction goes from here quickly becomes a matter of perspective.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-1: Dark Phantasy

There is one more enormous genre that hasn’t been corrupted by horror in this series, fantasy. The broadest category of fantasy generally refers to medieval high-magic settings. There are magical creatures of every stripe, races that interact and conflict with humans, and magic that is a powerful force wielded to far-reaching affect on the world and everything in it. Most of the stories take place in medieval Europe though often details like how feudal life worked, peasants lived, and their ability to do things within the hierarchical caste system sometimes falls to the wayside. To a large extent taking the time period forward to modern eras--anything 1900s or later--has already been covered. There are some settings in the industrial age but that will come later.

It is a common belief that it is nearly impossible to bring about real horror in the traditional fantasy setting, much like it is claimed to be in the super-hero genre seen in comics. The main point of contention is that which makes it fantasy in the first place, the in your face, capable of anything, game-changing, world-defining magic. Deities have influence and power in these settings if only through their priests and followers. There are rarely infernal beings without celestial counterparts. Then there are the heroic aspects aside from the magic. Knights and Paladins wander the lands performing monster-slaying deeds and facing off against impossible odds like battling fire breathing, arcane infused, dragons. These brave souls often face and defeat the masters of magic as well.

The answer as usual to tackling this problem is all about the setting. It starts with asking the right questions and choosing the answers that will aid the horror at all levels. Working within the constraints of the genre as it stands on its own is only one of two options. Changes can be made to the fantasy genre assumptions since the type of fantasy discussed thus far is the largest chunk, not the only chunk. Magic in a horror fantasy requires a different approach if not an alteration in power level. Scale is another important factor to consider and can make great differences in the quantity and quality of horror in the setting. Perspective is going to be another factor that is important in imparting horror to the settings and plots. These are the starting points upon which to proceed.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #20: Things Never Human

There are more things between Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. That is unless you're one of the ones to dream of such things. Or such a thing comes visiting. Once ghosts come up in the setting, especially the more spiritual kind, then another door is opened. The door is a question. What else is out there? Are there demons or devils? Are there things that are neither, or less definable and outside of more religious views? The choice can be to use none, one type of thing, or several things that aren't and never were human in addition to the more human parapsychological beings. Using more than one type immediately spawns a host of questions and decisions about the interaction between the potentially disparate groups.

The author of a setting has to define the inhuman supernatural forces first before getting to the connections and the tangled skein of relationships between entities. Biblical forces of evil are the easiest to make use of since so much information has been written already. Of course literature and Hollywood have their stamps all over the subject as well. There are different tacks to take in dealing with them as story elements. Do such infernal beings act independently or are they forced to work through proxies, including possessed victims? Within possession there are two apparent lines of thought that come to mind. Sometimes there is only one force involved in the possession. In others by default there has to be more than one entity involved in a possession.

The roles played by entities--sometimes identified as their own group--and beings from beyond the realm of human understanding can be the same as spirits, or the same as the psychics. They also can represent yet another layer, or complication to the setting. This new wrinkle has the potential to really make the setting diverge in a different direction, one that the setting's creator may wish to ignore. Some of these creatures may possess magic. Magic is differentiated from psychic ability past a certain level by being able to do just about anything. With the right kind of setting focus magic might also be something available to anyone. It can be an equaliser against the power of psychics. The addition of magic certainly changes the game and maybe in unwanted ways.

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Monsters!

What is horror without its monsters? Nothing! Nothing I tell you! They are the things that go bump in the night (poltergeists aside). They are the manifestation of the unknown. Teeth, claws, strange abilities, oftentimes stranger origins. While there is much focus on the one's that are animalistic and simple predators looking to feast on parts of us, those are just the tip of the horrific iceberg.

There comes a point where one has differentiate between what is a monster and what is a demon, for instance. Some might argue that if it goes beyond that primal predator that perhaps it isn't a monster but some kind of higher being, whether it is an inter-dimensional traveller, an alien, or a demon. Each of those is kind of their own thing. All of them can be simply called monsters anyway, except where certain overtones of the demonic would be concerned.

So what of the monsters that lurk in the shadows and do their evil things from there? This brings up it's own point, that pretty much a monster must be evil to be a monster. Certainly the Fantasy genre has "races" that are considered monsters because of their appearance. While this idea of a species of something being a monster does carry over to horror on the other hand as Disney and its ilk would have us believe what makes a monster is its intent. I have to concur.

I am all for the eating, and the cat and mouse games of the hungry monsters, but I definitely prefer the thinking man's monster. They can have plans, and there can be manipulation and seduction—in this case of a power or results kind, though certainly Incubi and Succubi represent the sexual kind aptly—and there can be head games. The possibilities are legion and their terror bone chilling. So bump on, monsters!

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