H.P Lovecraft was undoubtedly the master of cosmic horror, creating creatures and nightmare vistas that resonate well with nerds like me, who aren't necessarily afraid of ghosts and demons, but shudder at the tentacled shadows that gibber in the heart of the night. But the question remains, out of all of his stories, which is the best?
While many of his tales seem fairly similar on the surface, when you peer deeper into their dark souls you will notice a plethora of differences. There are the big 'blockbusters' like At the Mountains of Madness, Shadow over Innsmouth, The Call of Cthulhu and The Dunwich Horror, which are all fantastic stories, but on the other hand you also have the subtle understated yarns like Dagon and The Festival, which are horrifying on a different level.
Personally, At the Mountains of Madness is my perfect Lovecraft story. It has everything that is quintessentially Lovecraft and leaves you wondering what could possibly lurk beyond those mountains. However, maybe you're more of a Terrible Old Man or Pickman's Model fan?
Let me know what you think the master's greatest story is.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Sorry, I can't hear you for all the awesome
Ever since I cracked open Lamentations of the Flame Princess I was in love. The gory, explicit artwork blew me away and the unique approach to the OGL rules made for a very slick game. Around the corner lies a behemoth of a project called The Grand Adventure Campaigns, a crowdfunded series of 18 adventures written by different authors, including Monte Cook. Baby, this looks juicy.
The funding will begin in July, promising a multitude of pricing tiers for us discerning gamers. I'm going to want them all, aren't I?
In other news, I'm about to grab the Carcosa PDF. I feel that this will make me happy.
The funding will begin in July, promising a multitude of pricing tiers for us discerning gamers. I'm going to want them all, aren't I?
In other news, I'm about to grab the Carcosa PDF. I feel that this will make me happy.
ACKS has me feeling all left out
I don't know why, but Adventurer Conqueror King System seems more and more attractive every day. It might be all of Tenkar's hootin' and hollerin' about his campaign or it might just be that sweet cover design that gives me the vapours, but I know that I want that thing in my pants. Although not really.
I think I like the scope of the game. It plays on handing the players the opportunity for a legacy, with rules to that bent. Castle management sounds pretty good, I like the thought of mico-managing my guards and servants, controlling what goes on my Wednesday night menu (tacos, please). I'd also create a new day in my honour. That would be an awesome day. There would be cake.
Other than that, reports seem to say that it's like a streamlined OSR title but sort of not at the same time. Can I be bothered to invest in that? I have LoTFP, LL, OSRIC and S&W and I can strip D&D Next down to size if I so wish. Guys, do I want this game? I think I do. Maybe.
I think I like the scope of the game. It plays on handing the players the opportunity for a legacy, with rules to that bent. Castle management sounds pretty good, I like the thought of mico-managing my guards and servants, controlling what goes on my Wednesday night menu (tacos, please). I'd also create a new day in my honour. That would be an awesome day. There would be cake.
Other than that, reports seem to say that it's like a streamlined OSR title but sort of not at the same time. Can I be bothered to invest in that? I have LoTFP, LL, OSRIC and S&W and I can strip D&D Next down to size if I so wish. Guys, do I want this game? I think I do. Maybe.
Dungeon Theatre: Wizard One-upmanship
Cast:
Dolamar, 1st level 4th edition Mage Evoker
Elrith, 1st level AD&D Wizard
Elrith: No man, I've got that Vancian shiz going on. It's pure y'know.
Dolamar: But you're essentially useless until tomorrow now. You've magicked out all your missiles and for what? A d4? Watch. Kaboom! Just nailed three goblins and still got room for more.
Elrith: Must get boring.
Dolamar: Are you kidding? I have Arc Lightning and Freezing Burst too. Infinite. Not to mention Sleep, Burning Hands, Mage Hand and Phantom Chasm, and that's scratching the surface.
Elrith: Doesn't that take the challenge away? You're like 17 and you're already a god.
Dolamar: Look at my sparkling magic items, man. Shimmering. You can't beat new school. Who needs challenge?
Elrith: Fine, you're better than me. Now let's take the left tunnel.
Dolamar: Whatever, I'll go ahead with my 24hp against your 2. Oh man, is this a magic item?
Elrith: Dude, don't touch th-
Dolamar: Aaargh!
Elrith: Sphere of Annihilation. Moron.
Meatshields are back in business
Fourth edition had no time for henchmen. Not a minute. What does Superman need a sidekick for? In the name of balance, the noble meatshield was kicked to the curb. Taverns throughout infinite campaign worlds were filling up with nondescript proto-adventurers while the real deals were off firing face lasers at dragons and whatnot. Face lasers.
Our second session of D&D Next saw the return of the hireling, because goddammit them there Caves of Chaos are a ball-ache. In this instance, we were missing the player who uses the wizard, who was against hiring help for reasons meta-gamey, so were went ahead and bought out a pub full of the scrag ends. They became numbers.
Like any good, clear-headed players, we decided to sweeten them up with ALL the money. We figured that they're going to die fairly soon anyway, so we could just loot their fresh corpses like vultures with a need for monetary gain. We flung them into marching order and made our way into the goblin caves. Stats for our flesh cushions were made up on the fly, with +1 attacks and 6 hit points. They fared relatively well until the [redacted] slaughtered the majority of them and the others tried to flee until we gave them a good talking to, the defiant bastards.
Put it this way, we would have been in dire straits without them. HP may be relatively beefy, but characters aren't amazeballs in an sense. Sure, combat dragged out a bit more, but they were getting like, what, two seconds per turn? That's small potatoes. Characters still probably need some HP reduction along with monsters, but it's nice to know that the meatshield industry is back open for business.
P.S. Incidentally, this is something that is good.
Our second session of D&D Next saw the return of the hireling, because goddammit them there Caves of Chaos are a ball-ache. In this instance, we were missing the player who uses the wizard, who was against hiring help for reasons meta-gamey, so were went ahead and bought out a pub full of the scrag ends. They became numbers.
Like any good, clear-headed players, we decided to sweeten them up with ALL the money. We figured that they're going to die fairly soon anyway, so we could just loot their fresh corpses like vultures with a need for monetary gain. We flung them into marching order and made our way into the goblin caves. Stats for our flesh cushions were made up on the fly, with +1 attacks and 6 hit points. They fared relatively well until the [redacted] slaughtered the majority of them and the others tried to flee until we gave them a good talking to, the defiant bastards.
Put it this way, we would have been in dire straits without them. HP may be relatively beefy, but characters aren't amazeballs in an sense. Sure, combat dragged out a bit more, but they were getting like, what, two seconds per turn? That's small potatoes. Characters still probably need some HP reduction along with monsters, but it's nice to know that the meatshield industry is back open for business.
P.S. Incidentally, this is something that is good.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
5 reasons why Prometheus is At The Mountains of Madness in space SPOILERS
A number of months ago, Guillermo del Toro announced that he may not be taking H.P. Lovecraft's opus At the Mountains of Madness to the big scree after all, citing Ridley Scott's latest effort as the reason. According to del Toro, Prometheus is essentially the same story and that would pretty much take away from an ATMOM movie.
Well, I've seen Prometheus and, let me tell you, he's not wrong - the similarities are many (SPOILER ALERT!)
A scientific expedition to the unknown
Just like Lovecraft's epic, Prometheus tells the story of a team of scientists who travel to a distant, inhospitable location after evidence of an ancient civilisation is hinted at. Both tales deal with the slow unravelling of the history of an alien civilisation, delving into parts of the world (or galaxy) that have never been visited before by humans. The protagonists aren't gun-toting beefcakes; they're studious academics who have an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
They find a dead civilisation...or so they think
Both stories have the protagonists find the dead, decapitated bodies of the ancient beings that originally lived in that location, both having been dead for many thousands of years. However, the more they explore, the more they find out that this civilisation may not be as dead as it seems.
Both aliens created human life
In Prometheus, the protagonist is dead set on finding evidence that humans were created by a seeding race and ATMOM reveals that the Elder Things were the ones who originally created life on Earth. Both are essentially our gods, although the reasoning for the aliens (or engineers) seeding Earth isn't quite clear.
Both aliens engineered species that got out of control
In ATMOM the Elder Things created Shoggoths to serve them, acting as a slave race. However, the Shoggoths eventually became independent and rebelled against their masters, killing many. Although the Elder Things managed to subdue the Shoggoths while the engineers in Prometheus were almost all destroyed by their own alien creations which they were to use as weapons, rather than slaves.
Both stories leave us wanting more answers
In Prometheus, we're left wanting to know more about the engineers and why they chose to seed on Earth, while in ATMOM we're left wondering what exactly is beyond those mountains that the Elder Things are so afraid of. Both leave us in a state of unease - there are powerful things out there that we cannot yet explain, but it's very possible that they may one day destroy us all.
Well, I've seen Prometheus and, let me tell you, he's not wrong - the similarities are many (SPOILER ALERT!)
A scientific expedition to the unknown
Just like Lovecraft's epic, Prometheus tells the story of a team of scientists who travel to a distant, inhospitable location after evidence of an ancient civilisation is hinted at. Both tales deal with the slow unravelling of the history of an alien civilisation, delving into parts of the world (or galaxy) that have never been visited before by humans. The protagonists aren't gun-toting beefcakes; they're studious academics who have an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
They find a dead civilisation...or so they thinkBoth stories have the protagonists find the dead, decapitated bodies of the ancient beings that originally lived in that location, both having been dead for many thousands of years. However, the more they explore, the more they find out that this civilisation may not be as dead as it seems.
Both aliens created human life
In Prometheus, the protagonist is dead set on finding evidence that humans were created by a seeding race and ATMOM reveals that the Elder Things were the ones who originally created life on Earth. Both are essentially our gods, although the reasoning for the aliens (or engineers) seeding Earth isn't quite clear.
Both aliens engineered species that got out of control
In ATMOM the Elder Things created Shoggoths to serve them, acting as a slave race. However, the Shoggoths eventually became independent and rebelled against their masters, killing many. Although the Elder Things managed to subdue the Shoggoths while the engineers in Prometheus were almost all destroyed by their own alien creations which they were to use as weapons, rather than slaves.
Both stories leave us wanting more answers
In Prometheus, we're left wanting to know more about the engineers and why they chose to seed on Earth, while in ATMOM we're left wondering what exactly is beyond those mountains that the Elder Things are so afraid of. Both leave us in a state of unease - there are powerful things out there that we cannot yet explain, but it's very possible that they may one day destroy us all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)