The Drunk and the Ugly > Tabletops and You
A superhero game with a mystical setting?
crazon:
--- Quote from: Nayt on September 08, 2016, 07:16:17 AM ---
--- Quote from: crazon on September 07, 2016, 09:51:33 PM ---I've actually been running a similarly themed game off and on like Hellboy in Monster of the Week. Though I've used creepypasta monsters as the baddies and threats.
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Aw man, how is Monster of the Week? It looks real fun.
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Monster of the Week is going pretty good for us so far. My group were avid d20 players but have really fallen for PbtA system of playbooks and lighter rules base. I basically double-fisted campaigns (one a silly, more cathartic setup about hunting down and slaying creepypastas monsters as mentioned and a slightly more "serious" game about people lost on a nightmarish continent where the ecosystem is zombies, Italian movie zombies as the focus of this particular arc... and that's the more serious game...) and leapt in to the deep end first to learn the systems and I can say that it's enjoyable though also a learning experience.
Some playbooks are better together than others. We had a Mad Scientist and an Action Scientist from the expanded playbooks list in the same game and after a session or 2 we realized they were "roughly" the same characters for moves. But a simple playbook change after a level up fixed the issue.
I'm also loving how easy it is to "stat"/create a monster or antagonist or backdrops and such in the system. The only thing is breaking the habit of GM rolling dice, after so many years, just administering harm and narrating without the roll seems...weird? I'm getting better though (I hope).
crazon:
"Rise, rise from your grave, oh ancient thread!"
Thought I'd toss another thing or two into this with a post.
I actually recently discover a "sort of" lovecraftian superheroes comic, at the very least it draws on the aesthetic appeal and themes of those beasties from beyond the veil of reality most tentacular and sanity rending and the group vigilant in protecting humanity from them and their servitors. I give you "Death Vigil"
https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/death-vigil
Created by Croatian comic aritst Stjepan Seijic or "Nebezial" on Deviant Art (He's also done work for Top Cow's Witch Blade, the Darkness and Rat Queens. And this comic started off as a pet project.)
Basically, a group comprised of people raised from death by the Reaper, fights lovecraftian horrors and the cultist necromancers that summon them.
Also on the subject of why would you use horror themes (in any of it's sub-genres) for a supers narrative when they seemingly conflict. My opinion on the matter is that in this genre (I think more so than others) there are two circles that sometimes cross over: Substance and Style. much like Cthulhu games that are "purist" or "Pulp", Horror Substance is the type of media that is trying to scare and unnerve you. The movies or stories that are more seriously about the subject of fear. It's what horror fiction started with because at the beginning that was the purpose. Horror Style is just that, the styling of horror media and fiction but isn't necessarily scary. It's about the themes and look, because we have had generations of content in the genre that have cult followings and fandoms. it's also that meta-commentary and deconstruction you see in spoofs and parodies. Often this isn't black and white but a crossing of the two circles or a scale that has grey areas.
So with the question of Why have superheroes with horror overtones, the answer for me is, Style. Styling the superhero narrative with dark, occult or horror coat of paint because, hey, horror is cool and you want to invoke some element of that into a different narrative to spice it somewhat.
That's how I see it anyway.
Hemmins:
--- Quote from: Nayet on September 07, 2016, 07:18:10 PM ---So, after reading the Death Defying Dr. Mirage and binging on Justice League Dark, I realize that a superhero campaign that focuses on the occult would be kind of rad. Some of the bingo views stuff I've read seems to have the philosophy of "what if Call of Cthulhu characters were actually competent magicians?,".
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Hellboy for sure.
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