The Horror Genre

[chronovore]

Checking out the trailer for Blood & Chocolate, a werewolf tale from the makers of Underworld. B&C seems slightly less White Wolf derivative than Underworld. Oh, wait -no- there's actual mention of "loup-garou" in the clips at Yahoo Movies. Though the etymology is inarguably valid, its choice as a primary vocabulary word in the film is worrisome. Or maybe its just carried over from Underworld? What were the doggies called there? Ah... "Lycans."

A-ny-way, it struck me that there are two kinds of horror movie: movies where the monster is scary, and movies where the monsters are intended to be sympathetic. Essentially: monster-as-monster or monster-as-superhero.

Not coincidently there are lots of tie-ins with roleplaying on either side of that fence. Call of Cthulhu and its ilk are largely human-centered dramas surrounding the most unimaginable monsters. The recent Esoterrorists as well mirrors this. Clearly White Wolf's venerable World of Darkness setting falls on the other side, casting players (originally at least) as vampires and werewolves, comingled but socially separate and entirely secret from humanity.

There's plenty of brouhaha (geek, social, legal, &c) regarding the originality of Underworld's pedigree, and its similarities to the vampires and werewolves found in WoD. But even that world unquestionably has its roots in Anne Rice's clan-ruled vampires, who suffer from various degrees of humanity retention and posturing. To me, the Vampire the Masquerade crowd always appear to be roleplaying the cover of a romance novel, writ large and in filigree.

But where does the attraction lie? I was (am) interested in the human-oriented Mage: The Ascension, but have never been interested in playing a vampire or werewolf. It may have something to do with their roots in fiction; while I adored Interview with the Vampire, and its main character's heartbroken angst over his lost humanity (and its ironically continued existence, despite his assumption that it was lost), but couldn't stand The Vampire Lestat, and gave up 100 pp. into Queen of the Damned.

So is this simply a question of what motivates us as roleplayers?

(xposted to gameblather - please comment there!)

Comments

[c3fyn.livejournal.com]

I think it is definitively a question of what motivates us as roleplayers. It's funny, because I ended up in a discussion over good vs. evil characters with my players a few sessions back. As a GM, I prefer not to run a game with truly evil player-characters. While exporing the dark side is certainly of some kind of psychic merit, I find it disturbing to preside over a game where the players simulate the kinds of horrific acts that we read about every day (torture, genocide, murder, etc).

I figure that, in fact, there is plenty of horror to go 'round in the real world, and we can all benefit by a little exploration of heroism. I understand the fun in playing the occasional bit of mayhem but all in all I know that the monster thing runs out of appeal pretty quickly for me. I also notice that the folks who have the most interest in playing vampires and werewolves are frequently the same folks who make disparaging comments about humanity in the first place, and prone to imagining themselves as somehow "superior" to humanity (despite readily provable biological facts to the contrary), which I get tired of quickly. I dunno.

I made it through all of Rice's novels, mainly out of a combo of boredom, curiosity, and procrastination (rather than do my college school work) in my early/mid twenties. I found most of it sort of painful and sad, and really funny, particularly the whole rock-star vampire thing. And of course, that is the mystique which rules the vampire/werewolf ouvre currently. Me, I'm old school--they're monsters, and represent the worst possibly tendencies in the human being taken to the nth degree. Hence, we destroy them. But, then again, I don't idolize serial killers, either.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

But, then again, I don't idolize serial killers, either.

Conclusion sentence, FTW.

HEY, long time no see! How've you been?

Any interest in re-posting your well-considered comment in gameblather? That's where sdemory and I are trying to encourage a close knit community of theoretical roleplayers (gamers who love tabletop RPGs but somehow rarely-or-never find the time to play anymore).