Viewpoint Why can't RPs seem to get Eldritch Horror/Cosmic Horror/Lovecraftian Horror right

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Often times I see them boil it down to fight the weird tentacle hentai monster or it's Cthulhu, who happens to be just Dagon's bitch in the lore. It's like they never read any of Lovecraft's short stories.

Cosmic Horror is more than just blood and guts. It's about the all-consuming dread that we are so small and insignificant in the universe that there are beings out there in the farthest reaches of the cosmos that could destroy us without even realizing it as we are nothing more than specs of dust to them.

Also what's with them trying to make them actually malevolent? The only purely evil being in the Lovecraft mythos is Nyarlathotep. The rest of them are really indifferent.

Maybe Lovecraft could work as a Dice RP... I mean it worked for the Tabletop Call of Cthulhu games... Just minus actually stating the old ones, outer gods, ect.

PS. Never EVER have Azathoth in your RP as an antagonist if you want to go full Lovecraft.

 

[ElectronicSnow]

I think it's genuinely hard to write lovecraftian horror. You're trying to put things into words that humans have never (can never) encounter. Lovecraft had such a rich vocabulary that most people can't access.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

I think it's genuinely hard to write lovecraftian horror. You're trying to put things into words that humans have never (can never) encounter. Lovecraft had such a rich vocabulary that most people can't access.

Oh yeah, that helps a lot. I just get tired of "Hey guys, Tentacles! Cthulhu! Also some blood and gore but not that much because of TOS!" Tho Junji Ito's good at capturing the spirit of Lovecraft's work... Maybe being a cat owner helps? But don't name them like how Lovecraft named his cat.

 

[Crow]

Oh yeah, that helps a lot. I just get tired of "Hey guys, Tentacles! Cthulhu! Also some blood and gore but not that much because of TOS!" Tho Junji Ito's good at capturing the spirit of Lovecraft's work... Maybe being a cat owner helps? But don't name them like how Lovecraft named his cat.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

I'm just gonna say there's a reason why they renamed the cat in "The Rats in the Walls" to Black Tom.

 

[tuxedo-fish]

Like ElectronicSnow said, it's a complex mythos with a lot going on.

But (and probably because of that) it's also been Flanderized by repeated adaptations, to the point that most people's exposure to Lovecraft is going to be through those same adaptations, to the point that any media you're apt to encounter is probably several times removed from actual ftaghn. It always felt a little bit like the Captain Kirk Problem, where the idea of who Captain Kirk is has come to dominate the cultural consciousness, rather than the reality of Kirk's... Kirkness?

The Idea of Lovecraft is a stronger cultural presence than The Reality of Lovecraft.

(But, on a sidenote, considering how... uh... overtly racist a lot of the overall themes are, there certainly some upsides to modern creatives leaving parts of the past firmly in the past.)

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

(But, on a sidenote, considering how... uh... overtly racist a lot of the overall themes are, there certainly some upsides to modern creatives leaving parts of the past firmly in the past.)

My friend did joked that Alex Jones should write a horror story and boom we get a new Lovecraft.

 

[tuxedo-fish]

My friend did joked that Alex Jones should write a horror story and boom we get a new Lovecraft.

Don't give them ideas. :V

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

Don't give them ideas. :V

Deep Ones are unironically that one meme... "Mixed Race Couple? CRINGE!"

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

For several reasons, true Lovecraftian styles are a tall ask in RP. Most people wouldn't know how to, or be comfortable playing a Lovecraftian character. The sense of powerlessness, the vulnerability and frailty of mind, never really knowing exactly what is going on, never having the answers you really need, never really being able to say you fixed whatever was wrong, I mean do I have to go on?

A true Lovecraftian character would rub most players the wrong way, in every way. They would be miserable playing it and probably ghost out. But furthermore, I don't think the majority would even understand cosmic horror enough to play a true Lovecraftian OC.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

For several reasons, true Lovecraftian styles are a tall ask in RP. Most people wouldn't know how to, or be comfortable playing a Lovecraftian character. The sense of powerlessness, the vulnerability and frailty of mind, never really knowing exactly what is going on, never having the answers you really need, never really being able to say you fixed whatever was wrong, I mean do I have to go on?

A true Lovecraftian character would rub most players the wrong way, in every way. They would be miserable playing it and probably ghost out. But furthermore, I don't think the majority would even understand cosmic horror enough to play a true Lovecraftian OC.

Pretty sure I said as much in the Op but okay.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

Cosmic Horror is more than just blood and guts. It's about the all-consuming dread that we are so small and insignificant in the universe that there are beings out there in the farthest reaches of the cosmos that could destroy us without even realizing it as we are nothing more than specs of dust to them.

We didn't really say much of the same things, but I see what you mean. We both said it doesn't work for obvious reasons, I guess. I was just saying, over and above plots and vibes and all that, few players will be able/willing to do true Lovecratian OCs, so it's a futile endeavor imo.

 

[Crenando]

We didn't really say much of the same things, but I see what you mean. We both said it doesn't work for obvious reasons, I guess. I was just saying, over and above plots and vibes and all that, few players will be able/willing to do true Lovecratian OCs, so it's a futile endeavor imo.

The times I've seen people try it, it really didn't do it for me. Maybe it's because it implemented genre elements that didn't really mesh with Lovecraft's style.
You can really have any mundane protagonist in a Lovecraft story, but if the handling of the abomination makes or breaks the story.

 

[Murdergurl]

I think most people only know Lovecraft from Cthulhu.
And out of those, maybe only a fraction have even read anything of his. I'd surmise it to say that most people know Lovecraft by meme and little else.

I dunno how many jokes I've made to people citing some lovecraft memery with a mention of Azathoth or R'lyeh or the Necronomicon, etc. and it goes right over their head.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

The times I've seen people try it, it really didn't do it for me. Maybe it's because it implemented genre elements that didn't really mesh with Lovecraft's style.
You can really have any mundane protagonist in a Lovecraft story, but if the handling of the abomination makes or breaks the story.

I mean we saw "Color Out of Space" and it was set up like a fun family romp with Alpacas... Then things went magenta.

 

[Murdergurl]

I mean we saw "Color Out of Space" and it was set up like a fun family romp with Alpacas... Then things went magenta.

the problem with trying to visually portray mind-melting horror, is that you are pretty much always going to disappoint

 

[ElectronicSnow]

The Idea of Lovecraft is a stronger cultural presence than The Reality of Lovecraft.

(But, on a sidenote, considering how... uh... overtly racist a lot of the overall themes are, there certainly some upsides to modern creatives leaving parts of the past firmly in the past.)

(Shameless plug for HBO's new series Lovecraft Country. HP's racism adds a whole level in the context of the show.)

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

the problem with trying to visually portray mind-melting horror, is that you are pretty much always going to disappoint

Junji Ito did it well with Uzumaki.

(Shameless plug for HBO's new series Lovecraft Country. HP's racism adds a whole level in the context of the show.)

I did learn that he was racist on a level that it was WTF even back then.

 

[Crenando]

I mean we saw "Color Out of Space" and it was set up like a fun family romp with Alpacas... Then things went magenta.

They sure did.
Slam dunk. Slam dunk.

I think most people only know Lovecraft from Cthulhu.
And out of those, maybe only a fraction have even read anything of his. I'd surmise it to say that most people know Lovecraft by meme and little else.

I dunno how many jokes I've made to people citing some lovecraft memery with a mention of Azathoth or R'lyeh or the Necronomicon, etc. and it goes right over their head.

You think they'd at least know the Necronomicon, right? It's not that obscure. It showed up in one of the most popular cult horror series of all time.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

They sure did.
Slam dunk. Slam dunk.

It sure did!

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

The times I've seen people try it, it really didn't do it for me. Maybe it's because it implemented genre elements that didn't really mesh with Lovecraft's style.
You can really have any mundane protagonist in a Lovecraft story, but if the handling of the abomination makes or breaks the story.

Certain protags really don't work in Lovecraft stories. Not if you want it to be Lovecraftian by design and intent, vs having influences or flavors of it. If you're a hero in a Lovercraft tale, you're not a confident hotshot who is tough as nails, smart as a whip, and is ready to rise above, impress, win over, and save the day...that's not what Lovecraft did, and what he did was highly specific, bordering on the repetitive. It's not that he always did the same things, but he had an approach to characters in story telling that defines them all. They are not heroes. They aren't born to succeed, nor do they usually have a great deal of control over or power in their circumstance. Lovecraftian characters are tools, pawns to be used up and destroyed by the grinding gears of cosmic horror. When a Lovecraftian character doesn't go insane, we are all a little disappointed inside.

So to say you can use any old protag in a Loveccraft story, I strongly disagree, if we're talking "Lovecraftian" vs "Has Lovecraftian elements".

 

[Murdergurl]

You think they'd at least know the Necronomicon, right? It's not that obscure. It showed up in one of the most popular cult horror series of all time.

not a lot of people know it was a Lovecraft thing, apparently.

Junji Ito did it well with Uzumaki.

um... sure. I'll take your word for it cause I have literally no idea what that is.

 

[calypso]

Maybe this is a random take, but a lot of people have moved away from Lovecraft in modern age due to his...very racist view-points. It has come more to light, I personally know a lot of people who like work of a similar genre but aren't comfortable in particular with his work as they feel his morals have bled into the writing as metaphors.

Junji Ito on the other hand is also great.

 

[Phantom Thief of Hearts]

um... sure. I'll take your word for it cause I have literally no idea what that is.

I'm just going to say people started fearing the idea of spiral patterns after reading that... Can't post it here because TOS.

Maybe this is a random take, but a lot of people have moved away from Lovecraft in modern age due to his...very racist view-points. It has come more to light, I personally know a lot of people who like work of a similar genre but aren't comfortable in particular with his work as they feel his morals have bled into the writing as metaphors.

I'm pretty sure it was obvious from his cat's name alone.

 

[Murdergurl]

H.G Wells had a lot of racist views. But is still a huge influence. j/s