Monday, January 26, 2009
Modern-Day Folklore and Fantasy
One of the dangers of staying up too late playing and writing games 'n stuff is that I get into this weird free-association mode that results in bizarre blog posts. Like this one.
Having recently finished Persona 3 (and I now have Fallout 3 in a box, taunting me), I have decided that I really want more modern-ish era cRPGs. Not that post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 is modern era. But escaping the fantasy world for stuff a bit closer to home. Of course, as a not-so-closet fan of the urban fantasy genre, I wouldn't mind seeing some modern-era fantasy RPGs, either.
This got me thinking (free association, remember?) about modern folklore - considering how ripe it is for the plucking in an RPG. I have a friend who took a class in folklore at college, and the grad student teaching the class was somehow of the belief that folklore was only a product of our quaint ancestors, and there was no such thing in the modern world. Apparently, we modern folks are just too smart to have superstitious beliefs in magical or make-believe crap, right?
Yeah. Just go to Snopes.com and tell me that. Or watch MythBusters. Or X-Files re-runs. Or Supernatural. Or read the National Enquirer. While we don't tend to immediately attribute magical effects and influences to things, we do live a life full of folklore and... yes, superstition. I'd love to see an RPG take advantage of this some day. Well, okay, MORE RPGs that take advantage of that.
Roswell. A conspiracy to assassinate JFK. A chain email that brings good or bad luck. Waking up in a tub of ice after hooking up with a stranger, with an explanation that your your kidneys were removed for black-market sale, and that you need to call 911 immediately. Computer viruses that do the impossible? Subliminal messages in websites. Bigfoot. Aliens. Secret oil cartel conspiracies. Government conspiracies to fake the moon landings and control our brains. A truck that followed that one girl home, using the high beams, to keep the murderer in her back seat down. Bloody Mary said three times in a bathroom mirror. Elvis faking his death. Psychic phenomena. Monstrous mutants created by pollution and / or nuclear waste. Cell-phone radiation popping popcorn.
I actually do have a design that I put a lot of effort into that does embrace some aspects of modern(esque) folklore and ghost stories - which I actually fiddled with prototyping some time ago, but it has alas been backburnered for now. Someday...
Alas, we did have one indie RPG that embraced modern folklore (specifically, the UFO Conspiracy stories) head-on - The Omega Syndrome - but alas, it has been pulled from sale. I would love to see more.
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:51 AM (Permalink)
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Persona 3 got me interested in looking at the other Megami Tensi games. And most of them are set in either the modern world or a not-too distant postapocalypic world.
The only problem with having an RPG set in the modern day is you need something to fight - The MegaTen solves this problem of course with needing to do battles with demons.
The only problem with having an RPG set in the modern day is you need something to fight - The MegaTen solves this problem of course with needing to do battles with demons.
The only problem with having an RPG set in the modern day is you need something to fight
ALIENS!
Or, yeah, ghosts. Fatal Frame? I don't know how much that resembles an RPG, if at all, since I don't do console games. But it certainly sounded like a cool idea.
ALIENS!
Or, yeah, ghosts. Fatal Frame? I don't know how much that resembles an RPG, if at all, since I don't do console games. But it certainly sounded like a cool idea.
With my design (and prototype - I did get beyond design phase, but I backed off because I realized I was biting off more than I could chew right then), I ran into that same issue. Running around killing folks in town - even if they are EVIL - isn't gonna fly too well in a modern-era game.
But - hey, Buffy the Vampire Slayer managed to kill plenty of supernatural evils...
Or you could be battling terrorists, I guess.
Or Nazis.
Robots?
Personal demons?
Street thugs?
What about nonlethal combat against other people? Does combat always have to end with people pushing up daisies?
For that matter, does combat REALLY need to be that big of an aspect of an RPG? Traditionally, of course, it is huge. But I am pretty certain it doesn't have to be. Conflict, yes. Combat - not necessarily.
But - hey, Buffy the Vampire Slayer managed to kill plenty of supernatural evils...
Or you could be battling terrorists, I guess.
Or Nazis.
Robots?
Personal demons?
Street thugs?
What about nonlethal combat against other people? Does combat always have to end with people pushing up daisies?
For that matter, does combat REALLY need to be that big of an aspect of an RPG? Traditionally, of course, it is huge. But I am pretty certain it doesn't have to be. Conflict, yes. Combat - not necessarily.
What about nonlethal combat against other people? Does combat always have to end with people pushing up daisies?
See: Bully.
Of course, I went to an all-girls private school, and have my own ideas of how to implement a realistic non-lethal roaming 3d school game. At least at my school, girls are less likely to get into fistfights, but more likely to try and get each other in trouble, horrifically embarass each other (yanking down pants! it happens!), and generally destroy each other's reputation. SOCIAL combat.
Grabbing other students and shoving them into lockers or trash cans is still just the same, though. Same for theft, property damage, and sneaking into places you're not supposed to be...
(However, I will never have the budget to make this.)
See: Bully.
Of course, I went to an all-girls private school, and have my own ideas of how to implement a realistic non-lethal roaming 3d school game. At least at my school, girls are less likely to get into fistfights, but more likely to try and get each other in trouble, horrifically embarass each other (yanking down pants! it happens!), and generally destroy each other's reputation. SOCIAL combat.
Grabbing other students and shoving them into lockers or trash cans is still just the same, though. Same for theft, property damage, and sneaking into places you're not supposed to be...
(However, I will never have the budget to make this.)
Finding something to fight isn't that much of a problem as long as you have elements of fantasy. The monsters are still there, hiding in the dark corners of the city or even in plain sight, passing themselves off as humans. It's something that's pretty common in TV shows too, and not only japanese ones.
There's also the option of superheroes and supervillains. a Team of superheroes seems the perfect option for a RPG party.
A pretty good "urban" RPG I can think of is "the world ends with you", on the Nintendo DS. Well, it's actually more of an action-RPG, with real-time combat using the stylus, but if you're not averse to games that are really weird it's worth having a look at.
The game itself is as unusual as the setting, which is modern-day Tokyo. You're stuck in a slightly different plane of existence than normal, fighting strange graffiti monsters with psychic powers, and normal clothes and accessories have an influence on your powers in that reality. So you run around killing giant supernatural grizzly bears in the midst of unsuspecting muggles in-between two shopping sprees, while trying to figure out how your world got this messed up in the first place, with giant ads on skyscrapers telling you how many days to live you've got left.
It sorta accumulates unusual gameplay ideas, with shop vendors that level up as you buy from them, freely selectable difficulty which, combined with a voluntary handicap system, basically allows you to bet your can survive harder fights in exchange for better items, and attacks than can level up and evolve a la SMT demons.
It's about as far removed from "normal" fantasy as you can get, and it works, in its own weird way.
There's also the option of superheroes and supervillains. a Team of superheroes seems the perfect option for a RPG party.
A pretty good "urban" RPG I can think of is "the world ends with you", on the Nintendo DS. Well, it's actually more of an action-RPG, with real-time combat using the stylus, but if you're not averse to games that are really weird it's worth having a look at.
The game itself is as unusual as the setting, which is modern-day Tokyo. You're stuck in a slightly different plane of existence than normal, fighting strange graffiti monsters with psychic powers, and normal clothes and accessories have an influence on your powers in that reality. So you run around killing giant supernatural grizzly bears in the midst of unsuspecting muggles in-between two shopping sprees, while trying to figure out how your world got this messed up in the first place, with giant ads on skyscrapers telling you how many days to live you've got left.
It sorta accumulates unusual gameplay ideas, with shop vendors that level up as you buy from them, freely selectable difficulty which, combined with a voluntary handicap system, basically allows you to bet your can survive harder fights in exchange for better items, and attacks than can level up and evolve a la SMT demons.
It's about as far removed from "normal" fantasy as you can get, and it works, in its own weird way.
# posted by 
: January 26, 2009 2:35 PM
: January 26, 2009 2:35 PM
Check out Unknown Armies, it's a tabletop RPG that is entirely based around urban fantasy. Absolutely brilliant magic setup too.
As for videogames, the only thing that comes to mind right now is Bloodlines. And that's more supernatural than fantasy?
As for videogames, the only thing that comes to mind right now is Bloodlines. And that's more supernatural than fantasy?
# posted by : January 26, 2009 6:36 PM
: January 26, 2009 6:36 PM
I instantly thought of the Pandora Directive when I saw that question. Though that's not an RPG -- it's more of an adventure game.
One of the reasons I loved "X-COM: UFO Defense" was because of its clever use of UFO mythology. Yes, that includes the little gray big-headed aliens, but even better, the widespread cattle mutilations, too. (No anal probes, though.)
Still one of the top two computer games of all time, as far as I'm concerned.
Still one of the top two computer games of all time, as far as I'm concerned.
X-Com came to my mind as I was reading this. It wasn't an RPG, but it came close! And yeah - the first one, at least, was spot-on. I cracked up when I saw my first cattle mutilation.
Pandora Directive - woah, there's the wayback machine. :)
Bloodlines definitely counts - its less recent, but it is a modern-era game. A fantasy modern world with vampures 'n werewolves 'n stuff, but that one definitely counts. I'd love to see more games like that.
Pandora Directive - woah, there's the wayback machine. :)
Bloodlines definitely counts - its less recent, but it is a modern-era game. A fantasy modern world with vampures 'n werewolves 'n stuff, but that one definitely counts. I'd love to see more games like that.
The first games to come to mind for me are Deus Ex and The Indigo Prophecy. They both had Roswell/UFO stuff, plus all kinds of conspiracy theory madness. Plus some ghosts, AI, and so on.
A lot of survival horror also plays on this stuff: the silent Hill games, for instance, use this kind of spooky "the call was coming from inside the house!"-style junk.
A lot of survival horror also plays on this stuff: the silent Hill games, for instance, use this kind of spooky "the call was coming from inside the house!"-style junk.
Yeah, it's a little more common outside of RPGs. There seems to be quite a bit more of "modern folklore"-ish stuff in Japanese games, in particular.
I never played the Indigo Prophecy - it sounds like a game you either love or hate. I'd probably dig it, based on what I've heard.
I never played the Indigo Prophecy - it sounds like a game you either love or hate. I'd probably dig it, based on what I've heard.
In a lot of ways, comic books and the superhero genre are a modern day mythology. You've got the epic tales of beings with superhuman and near-superhuman abilities in conflict. Their stories also often draw parallels with current world affairs and situations. Admittedly, there are probably even fewer superhero RPGs (Freedom Force and its sequel are about the only things that come to mind), but its another genre that sort of fits in with the theme.
# posted by : January 27, 2009 3:09 PM
: January 27, 2009 3:09 PM
What about Earthbound for the Super Nintendo? That took place in modern times, and you were a kid armed with a baseball bat and psychic powers, who has to save the world from some cosmic horror because a bee from ten years into the future told you to do so. Oh, and you get to fight hippies as well. :p
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# posted by : February 01, 2009 7:34 PM
: February 01, 2009 7:34 PMLinks to this post:
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