Inspiration

[Kandarim]

in your "journeyman belt"

[Nictos]

in your "journeyman belt"

[Potjeh]

But seriously, Mark Twain. We're severely lacking in rivers big enough for an epic journey.

[Ukhata]

But seriously, Mark Twain. We're severely lacking in rivers big enough for an epic journey.

i think we are also severly lacking in steam driven paddlewheel boats....

[Potjeh]

A raft would do.

[jesi]

More references to 60's rock would be nice.

[Dallane]

More references to 60's rock would be nice.

Plz don't shipost

[agentlemanloser]

I was under the assumption that Providence was picked as the server name as it represented the two main driving forces behind the tone/feel of this game; Lovecraft and Colonial New England. So yes, more Lovecraft but do it subtle. I like the Cthulul Mask, but at the same time I don't want to have to fight Lovecraftian horrors. If that distiction makes sense to anyone. I think a lot of empasis gets placed on the epicness of some of Lovecrafts stuff, sure that's important, but its much more about feel, the internal realities as opposed to external.

I agree partially with pistolshrimp. The allure of Lovecraft's fiction draws from his incorporation of amoral, genuinely cosmic horrors, which are of course completely out of sync with even a fanciful version of New England/Colonial America. However, Lovecraft's stories also build on the awe of deep antiquity as much as cosmic vastness, and it is that sense of deep antiquity and the mystery/horror of it that would be tonally appropriate here.

New England literature tended to build around a very specific binary: inside/outside, or in-group/out-group. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, etc. - all of these writers built stories around a very specific trope: the town was a place of safety and "good" puritan values, while the woods were a place of danger, savageness, and "bad" virtues. Moreover, the woods contained deep history antithetical to the puritan worldview ("savages," devil worshipers and cultists, witches, etc.), which was itself "terrifying" to devout types. Of course, these writers often used this trope to illustrate the lack of virtue in the townsfolk themselves, but that really doesn't matter here. What matters is that the references used/creatures created fit this framework. Something cosmic in scale violates the inside/outside dynamic. By contrast, the two works I mentioned previously with the walking worms fit fairly well in this framework, provided no overarching cthulhu mythos is incorporate. The game has no need of multi-tentacled, mountain-sized starfish or beachcombing shoggoths. Cultist npcs worshiping various things would be another matter.

Of course, my degrees are in folklore and literature while pistolshrimp's seem to be in history, so he/she may find this interpretation too flexible. Still, the tension mentioned above seems core to the folklore of the period, so it seems best to make it work for the game rather than fight against it.

[KruskDaMangled]

[/quote]

I agree partially with pistolshrimp. The allure of Lovecraft's fiction draws from his incorporation of amoral, genuinely cosmic horrors, which are of course completely out of sync with even a fanciful version of New England/Colonial America. However, Lovecraft's stories also build on the awe of deep antiquity as much as cosmic vastness, and it is that sense of deep antiquity and the mystery/horror of it that would be tonally appropriate here.

New England literature tended to build around a very specific binary: inside/outside, or in-group/out-group. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, etc. - all of these writers built stories around a very specific trope: the town was a place of safety and "good" puritan values, while the woods were a place of danger, savageness, and "bad" virtues. Moreover, the woods contained deep history antithetical to the puritan worldview ("savages," devil worshipers and cultists, witches, etc.), which was itself "terrifying" to devout types. Of course, these writers often used this trope to illustrate the lack of virtue in the townsfolk themselves, but that really doesn't matter here. What matters is that the references used/creatures created fit this framework. Something cosmic in scale violates the inside/outside dynamic. By contrast, the two works I mentioned previously with the walking worms fit fairly well in this framework, provided no overarching cthulhu mythos is incorporate. The game has no need of multi-tentacled, mountain-sized starfish or beachcombing shoggoths. Cultist npcs worshiping various things would be another matter.

Of course, my degrees are in folklore and literature while pistolshrimp's seem to be in history, so he/she may find this interpretation too flexible. Still, the tension mentioned above seems core to the folklore of the period, so it seems best to make it work for the game rather than fight against it.[/quote]

We could always dog rob Lovecraftian stuff and use it in a way that is thematically appropriate to our purposes while blithely ignoring it's own original themes and "rules". We could also cherry pick stuff. Cultists and cannibals and ungodly people live in the backwoods, wallowing in moral degeneracy and decadence, doing business with powers that are either actually demonic, seem that way, (but aren't the way Puritans would understand it) or the exact nature is unknown, but the difference is academic to Goodly people, and doesn't really matter a lot. That was kind of a Lovecraft thing we could use, actually. He didn't have a whole lot that was good to say about "the woods" and the people who lived there.

(He also clearly didn't like the ocean a whole lot, but hell, the guy didn't like much of anything except literature, cats, and certain types of architecture. And maybe ice cream but that ones less definite.)

And again, we could always reserve any number of things for self contained expedition things. "The Stars are Right, or soon will be. battle the Cultists who will end this world by opening the Gate. Or not. You can totally help them if you think that sounds fun."

[pistolshrimp]

I agree partially with pistolshrimp. The allure of Lovecraft's fiction draws from his incorporation of amoral, genuinely cosmic horrors, which are of course completely out of sync with even a fanciful version of New England/Colonial America. However, Lovecraft's stories also build on the awe of deep antiquity as much as cosmic vastness, and it is that sense of deep antiquity and the mystery/horror of it that would be tonally appropriate here.

New England literature tended to build around a very specific binary: inside/outside, or in-group/out-group. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, etc. - all of these writers built stories around a very specific trope: the town was a place of safety and "good" puritan values, while the woods were a place of danger, savageness, and "bad" virtues. Moreover, the woods contained deep history antithetical to the puritan worldview ("savages," devil worshipers and cultists, witches, etc.), which was itself "terrifying" to devout types. Of course, these writers often used this trope to illustrate the lack of virtue in the townsfolk themselves, but that really doesn't matter here. What matters is that the references used/creatures created fit this framework. Something cosmic in scale violates the inside/outside dynamic. By contrast, the two works I mentioned previously with the walking worms fit fairly well in this framework, provided no overarching cthulhu mythos is incorporate. The game has no need of multi-tentacled, mountain-sized starfish or beachcombing shoggoths. Cultist npcs worshiping various things would be another matter.

Of course, my degrees are in folklore and literature while pistolshrimp's seem to be in history, so he/she may find this interpretation too flexible. Still, the tension mentioned above seems core to the folklore of the period, so it seems best to make it work for the game rather than fight against it.

I am coming from a more historical slant but I agree about the importance of folklore, it is probably more important than the history for the tone of the game but obviously it was a reflection of the times. In group/out group is a huge theme that I think translates wonderfully to Salem. The thing I might disagree with is New England folklore being about the town being a safe place. Witches and vampires were in-town phenomena. Rather I see it being about townsfolk MAKING it a safe place, while the forces of the dark and mysterious woods infiltrate it.

I don't think anything found in the Darkness should resemble people. In fact I personally can't think of any specific horrors from Lovecraft I would want in the game. But the artifacts however, the props that's another story.

We could always dog rob Lovecraftian stuff and use it in a way that is thematically appropriate to our purposes while blithely ignoring it's own original themes and "rules". We could also cherry pick stuff. Cultists and cannibals and ungodly people live in the backwoods, wallowing in moral degeneracy and decadence, doing business with powers that are either actually demonic, seem that way, (but aren't the way Puritans would understand it) or the exact nature is unknown, but the difference is academic to Goodly people, and doesn't really matter a lot. That was kind of a Lovecraft thing we could use, actually. He didn't have a whole lot that was good to say about "the woods" and the people who lived there.

(He also clearly didn't like the ocean a whole lot, but hell, the guy didn't like much of anything except literature, cats, and certain types of architecture. And maybe ice cream but that ones less definite.)

And again, we could always reserve any number of things for self contained expedition things. "The Stars are Right, or soon will be. battle the Cultists who will end this world by opening the Gate. Or not. You can totally help them if you think that sounds fun."

Yes for mining Lovecraft and yes to creating a Darkness of the ocean. I really don't see this whole battling cultists thing. HOWEVER, I could imagine a interesting combination of the upcoming archeology system with finding evidence of cultists and the reason why we only find "evidence of the lost colony".