Thinking about Conspiracy-Horror gaming
Jan. 15th, 2008 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeregenestOne of the issues I’ve been ruminating a bunch about is what makes a good conspiracy horror game and how has it changed in the post-9/11 world. I do think it has changed, certainly the conspiracy believers have changed and the genre should change as well.
There's certainly nothing original here, I'm just putting it in one place for ease of thought.
First, lets talk some terminology.
Horror is usually defined as that intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Usually, but not always, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of an evil —- or, occasionally, misunderstood —- supernatural element into everyday human experience.
The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a subgenre of the thriller. A common theme in such works is that characters discovering a secretive conspiracy may be unable to tell what is true about the conspiracy, or even what is real: rumors, lies, propaganda, and counter-propaganda build upon one another until what is conspiracy and what is coincidence becomes an undecidable question. The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves (often inadvertently) pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes "all the way to the top".
I personally like to look at conspiracy as a lense to other genres. This lens is most often applied to the thriller or to the horror genres but there are many successful examples of the fantasy conspiracy and the others. Heck, there are probably romantic conspiracies out there, and if there isn’t someone should probably be writing them.
Horror gaming, and really a lot of horror boils down to the idea that the greatest fear of all is the fear of the Unknown. That’s doubly so when you add conspiracy, because most of conspiracy is about the stuff that might exist that gives credence to your greatest fears.
For that reason much of the horror/conspiracy gaming out there is dated, as its mostly pre-millennial and that horror is either no longer unknown or is no longer horrific having mutated into something else as a result of the changing world. Games like Conspiracy X, Delta Green, or Unknown Armies or just about any other ones I can think that were written in the ‘90s or earlier 2000’s fit here. Even more out of date are games written even earlier, there are still a few 80s derived conspiracy/horror games out there that really fail without a serious facelift (which is rather easy to do in a small group).
Taking a look at the tropes of the games mentioned above we see:
All of these things are still horrifying. They are all too unfortunately horrifying that I see daily on the news (okay not the exact case, but alien abdusctions seem like black CIA prisons to me). We no longer need the horrors of conspiracy theory to tell us that we do these things to ourselves. It's not the fear of the unknown any more. And fear of the unknown seems quite important. One can draw tons from the current news but you have to apply the lens of conspiracy and horror to them to make them different.
So the old tropes aren't going to work so well in summoning terror. Which is why I think most people who run this genre inevitably fall back on some form of the traditional Call of Cthulu cult-busting, with all easy, clichéd and blunt formula. And that can be quite fun, but I want to reach for something more.
Looking over the prominent themes that assault me when I look at current conspiracy thinking, and thinking about the horror stories that resonate the most with me (as well as my own bad dreams) I find a few themes lurking there for me to work with.
The unknown in our midst. Whether it’s the idea of "home-grown terrorists" that shades into the idea that the kids down the road might suddenly pick up a gun and shoot their classmates or put together a bomb and blow up the local subway, or that the kids might be kidnapped and molested then put on the internet by some normal-seeming neighbor. This trope seems to mutate over time but always be a big important one. To really get the unknown-in-our-midst vibe, your enemy must be similar to you. Which means this is a wonderful theme to join with that of abuse of power.
Religious hysteria always seems ripe for horror. Everyone is worried about the other person’s fanaticism. Whether fear of Moslems, or radical Christians or even atheists.
And as mentioned above there is the fear coming from abuse of power. This exists on the left, the right and the loony. Fear of the way the current White House has centralized power in the name of "national security". Fear of a North American system of common laws that erodes American Sovereignty. Tie this into the idea that now it's not "we don't trust the government" but "we have no option but to trust the government", because who else is going to keep us safe from terror? If they abuse their power again, what can we do?
Play with the attitude, that’s pretty common that we are being hung separately rather than hanging together. Most people realize that the world is facing genuine global threats.. Our society has developed into something so complex, with methods of coercion so all-pervasive, that despite the fact that many people are deeply frustrated and upset they feel that they cannot make any sort of impact whatsoever. There's a sense of social determinism that lends an air of inevitability. And that strikes me as pure horror.
I want to write more about this, especially as it relates to the LARP i'm running at the end of February.
There's certainly nothing original here, I'm just putting it in one place for ease of thought.
First, lets talk some terminology.
Horror is usually defined as that intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Usually, but not always, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of an evil —- or, occasionally, misunderstood —- supernatural element into everyday human experience.
The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a subgenre of the thriller. A common theme in such works is that characters discovering a secretive conspiracy may be unable to tell what is true about the conspiracy, or even what is real: rumors, lies, propaganda, and counter-propaganda build upon one another until what is conspiracy and what is coincidence becomes an undecidable question. The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves (often inadvertently) pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes "all the way to the top".
I personally like to look at conspiracy as a lense to other genres. This lens is most often applied to the thriller or to the horror genres but there are many successful examples of the fantasy conspiracy and the others. Heck, there are probably romantic conspiracies out there, and if there isn’t someone should probably be writing them.
Horror gaming, and really a lot of horror boils down to the idea that the greatest fear of all is the fear of the Unknown. That’s doubly so when you add conspiracy, because most of conspiracy is about the stuff that might exist that gives credence to your greatest fears.
For that reason much of the horror/conspiracy gaming out there is dated, as its mostly pre-millennial and that horror is either no longer unknown or is no longer horrific having mutated into something else as a result of the changing world. Games like Conspiracy X, Delta Green, or Unknown Armies or just about any other ones I can think that were written in the ‘90s or earlier 2000’s fit here. Even more out of date are games written even earlier, there are still a few 80s derived conspiracy/horror games out there that really fail without a serious facelift (which is rather easy to do in a small group).
Taking a look at the tropes of the games mentioned above we see:
- Secret quasi-military, quasi-private organizations taking the law into their own hands
- Mysterious alien abductions involving strange surgical procedures
- Mysterious collaborations between the high levels of government and those who are supposedly our enemies
- Strange, secret cults lurking just down the road, trying to kill us all by summoning horrible monsters.
All of these things are still horrifying. They are all too unfortunately horrifying that I see daily on the news (okay not the exact case, but alien abdusctions seem like black CIA prisons to me). We no longer need the horrors of conspiracy theory to tell us that we do these things to ourselves. It's not the fear of the unknown any more. And fear of the unknown seems quite important. One can draw tons from the current news but you have to apply the lens of conspiracy and horror to them to make them different.
So the old tropes aren't going to work so well in summoning terror. Which is why I think most people who run this genre inevitably fall back on some form of the traditional Call of Cthulu cult-busting, with all easy, clichéd and blunt formula. And that can be quite fun, but I want to reach for something more.
Looking over the prominent themes that assault me when I look at current conspiracy thinking, and thinking about the horror stories that resonate the most with me (as well as my own bad dreams) I find a few themes lurking there for me to work with.
The unknown in our midst. Whether it’s the idea of "home-grown terrorists" that shades into the idea that the kids down the road might suddenly pick up a gun and shoot their classmates or put together a bomb and blow up the local subway, or that the kids might be kidnapped and molested then put on the internet by some normal-seeming neighbor. This trope seems to mutate over time but always be a big important one. To really get the unknown-in-our-midst vibe, your enemy must be similar to you. Which means this is a wonderful theme to join with that of abuse of power.
Religious hysteria always seems ripe for horror. Everyone is worried about the other person’s fanaticism. Whether fear of Moslems, or radical Christians or even atheists.
And as mentioned above there is the fear coming from abuse of power. This exists on the left, the right and the loony. Fear of the way the current White House has centralized power in the name of "national security". Fear of a North American system of common laws that erodes American Sovereignty. Tie this into the idea that now it's not "we don't trust the government" but "we have no option but to trust the government", because who else is going to keep us safe from terror? If they abuse their power again, what can we do?
Play with the attitude, that’s pretty common that we are being hung separately rather than hanging together. Most people realize that the world is facing genuine global threats.. Our society has developed into something so complex, with methods of coercion so all-pervasive, that despite the fact that many people are deeply frustrated and upset they feel that they cannot make any sort of impact whatsoever. There's a sense of social determinism that lends an air of inevitability. And that strikes me as pure horror.
I want to write more about this, especially as it relates to the LARP i'm running at the end of February.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 03:35 pm (UTC)The Invisibles? But I'm always quick to shoehorn in Morrison.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 06:18 pm (UTC)ooh! I've totally got it:
"Barbara always thought men just weren't interested in her. Her love for Todd would always go unreturned. Then her investigations into an obscure Senate sub-committee revealed a world of lies and deceptions -- a far-reaching cabal that required Barbara's loneliness. Friends, family, strangers, everyone she met on the street were all part of a vast plan to keep her isolated and unloved. Could Barbara fight the shadowed power and win the heart of Todd?"
heh
Tom
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 04:03 pm (UTC)More about this another time. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 04:41 pm (UTC)The horror that the "other side" may be right?
What if you're faced with a global conspiracy that directly or indirectly causes the deaths of thousands, millions. Their basic tenets are repulsive to the investigators. And yet, as the investigators unravel things, they realize that the alternatives are much, much worse. If there was no conspiracy, millions upon millions would die or civilization would collapse.
It could be a freakish cabal of radical Greens or a soulless band of powerful white guys. But whatever the group, you can't stand them, but they happen to be right and your cherished beliefs that stand in opposition to them is wrong.
In this day and age? Terrifying.
later
Tom
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 07:06 pm (UTC)Corn is scary
Date: 2008-01-15 08:23 pm (UTC)And the crucial thing is, unlike other sugars, high fructose corn syrup isn't really natural. Its like bad alchemy.
Introduce wrathful Aztec deities and big faceless corporate monoliths you don't even know the real name to and theres all sorts of possibilities for horror.
Re: Corn is scary
Date: 2008-01-15 09:58 pm (UTC)/snicker
Hoping to have my say
Date: 2011-04-13 07:56 pm (UTC)