World of Lovecraft?

[Dustman]

This is an idea that I've been kicking around in my head for a few days. It started when I wondered whether there was an RP system designed to allow you to play as a "cosmic horror." And I don't mean a simple half-breed, deep one, or Chaos Space Marine (hey, they're pretty close to the Lovecraft 'verse, ne?). I mean full-on playing as an Elder God. I admit, I am not a huge Lovecraft reader--At the Mountains of Madness is the only book of his I've read, give or take a short story or three--so, I might be getting my terminology wrong. At any rate, you get the idea--but if there exists such a game, I didn't find it, although I didn't look very long, and anyway that's not what the idea evolved into or what this thread's about (although if you know of such a system--sweetness. Pass it along, please).

The idea is this: a massively multiplayer online survival horror game (yay new genre) set in the world of the Cthulhu Mythos. The overarching story would be that "intrusions of weirdness," so to speak, are becoming more common on Earth, although the vast majority of humans are still unaware of it. The reasoning might be that the cosmic horrors are taking more of an interest in us, or that with scientific advancements and whatnot people are opening their minds to the possibilities that lie "behind the veil." These intrusions would be your quests--investigate strange noises that have been disturbing the neighborhood to discover that some minor alien monstrosity has been abducting stray dogs and conducting experiments on them in the nearby woods, for instance. While we're at it, I would imagine that most of the character classes would be in the "investigative" vein: private eyes, news reporters, scholars, and maybe scientists. None of them would be especially combat-heavy, because that wouldn't make much of a difference in the face of a cosmic enemy anyway--in point of fact, nothing would; I imagine the overall tone of the game would be significantly more nihilistic and depressing than most MMOs.

For the "evil" side, if there was one, the game could include a cultist class. Different cults could be kind of like guilds; they band together to make a temple, and perform research or gather eldritch artifacts to increase their overall occult knowledge, with the goal of eventually summoning a great cosmic horror into our world. The entrance into their temple (or secret research lab) would be a secret that only cult members would know, but information about it would be leaked about it into the dialog of nearby NPCs, with the amount of information scaling with how powerful the cult becomes. "Good" side characters would therefore be able to interrogate NPCs to learn about the existence of local cults (perhaps interrogation could be a skill, as there would be a need for RPG elements in the game). Ergo, if the cult is fresh and weak, they could have their temple wrecked with a fair amount of ease, but they would also be hard to find. Conversely, larger cults would be easier to find but harder to take down.

And the last gubbin I thought up were about the servers. I'm not sure how exactly PvP would work--cultists by nature would be in disguise outside of their temple, so just going around "orc-whacking" wouldn't work very well--if at all. However, I did think of an equivalent for a "hardcore" server setup. On normal servers, the player has to actively seek out weird things to investigate--listening to NPC dialog, noting strange markings in the ground, maybe a minor sort of sixth sense could be a character skill. On "hardcore" servers, however, these things would be a random encounter--there you are, minding your own business in Innsmouth (because strangers know to mind their own business in Innsmouth), and you get abducted by NPC cultists or wander through a tear in reality or something. And you have to fight/think your way back out, instead of just dropping the quest. I think that there would be different zones in the game representing places in the real world also, and certain zones would always be considered hardcore regardless of which server you're on (Innsmouth would, I think, be one of these examples. And maybe Egypt.)

So... Thoughts? Mechanics ideas, opinions on viability?

[Thunderhowl]

You could base it off Cthulhu Live maybe? Or the Arkham Horror boardgame. It might be feasible. I don't think I'd want to see the monsters though.

I don't think anyone could play an Elder God though, as that might be kind of boring.

Player: I roll over in my sleep.
Storyteller: You destroy the South-East section of the City.
Player: Sweet! Good game! See you next week!

[Dustman]

Oh yeah, I was thinking that in the event that a cult managed to summon an Elder God, since it would be designed to be such a rare thing anyway, it could be controlled by a GM rather than by straight AI. That would make each major intrusion into a unique event, and would alleviate "moronic mega-boss syndrome." Although I'm not sure how one would convince Azathoth to please put down the Eiffel Tower and go back to the lands beyond if he would be so kind thank you and please don't kill me.

And yeah, I don't know of any reasonable way to RP as a cosmic horror either. The closest thing might be playing as an Exrucian in the Nobilis rules, but those guys have at least semi-human motivation to begin with.

[Tom the Fanboy]

I don't think a horror game will ever make it as a Mass-Mog because most horror, especially Lovecraft, put emphasis on how alone you are. Most of the game would be you poking through creepy locations by yourself and very rarely rallying the troops (3 other old brainy guys) to quell an intrusion. There are several of Lovecraft's stories where a group does actually get together to put down some Outer Nasty, but over all they are very very alone.

I don't read horror much, but I know that Stephen King is much more likely to write a group of characters in a way that would reflect a group of players. Unfortunately in most cases the characters are more like normal people than RPG characters.

[Narf the Mouse]

MMORPG-speak and lovecraftian horror?

Iii...Do not think that would work.

[Dustman]

Some would argue that they are one and the same.
(haha, take that, defenseless and uneducated twelve-year-olds!)

But yeah, I see the salient points. The atmosphere--which is the most important part of a horror game--would be pretty well ruined by an online setting. That does set off a quick string of thought that makes me want to make a Lovecraft mod for Morrowind, though--or maybe I should wait until I get back stateside and do an Oblivion mod. (I love how casually I talk about things I've never done before)

[Narf the Mouse]

Morrowind. Oblivion is blah.