[freeroleplay] Re: Lovecraft
- From: Samuel Penn <sam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: freeroleplay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 15:53:16 +0000
On Tuesday 01 March 2005 13:16, Edward Terry wrote:
> > The idea I had is that the madness caused by coming to understand the
> > Mythos is actually a sort of psychic infection spread by the various Old
> > Ones.
>
> I was reading through the archives and I came across the Lovecraft
> discussion, which looked pretty interesting. My impression is that the
> madness is caused by the fact that both the Old Ones and the system of
> magic they developed are completely alien to the human mind.
My problem with the CoC insanity system isn't that you go insane
from using magic and summoning strange things, but with the more
mundane aspects of it. It doesn't make logical sense.
If I pick a book off the shelf in some dusty library, and read about
the ancient civilisation of the Deep Ones I go insane.
If I pick a book off the shelf in some dusty library, and read about
the ancient civilisation of the Jelly Babies I don't.
It doesn't matter how strange, alien and horrific the Jelly Baby
culture was, there's no chance of gaining insanity. I could read
some James Herbet or Stephen King horror novel (possibly rewritten
to make it appear like a factual account), and I don't go insane.
Why not? What is so special about the Mythos that even reading about
it makes you go insane? In reality, I would read it and discount it
as a work of fiction. Only if I became obsessed in finding out the
truth do I see it as plausible that I may go insane, and that's a
purely roleplaying choice, regardless of whether it's the Deep Ones
or the Jelly Babies.
And what if someone has written a non-factual account of the Deep
Ones? How can I, as a reader, tell the difference between a true
account and the fake one? Does one drive me mad and the other not?
> I think that the madness caused by increasing your understanding of
> magic and the Old Ones is the same phenomenon on a larger scale. After
> all, the Old Ones are far, far more alien than any human culture, or
> even most alien cultures that are described in science fiction.
Alies such as the Qax, the Jart or the Tines (Baxter, Bear and
Vinge respectively) are much more alien than anything Lovecraft
ever dreamt up, and yet I don't go mad reading about them.
If I used magic to summon a Great Old One, then I'm happy for
insanity to kick in, since it can be explained by a supernatural
change caused by the spell. But for reading a history book?
> To see the Old Ones is to gain some degree of understanding of them.
> Some people go mad from seeing the Old Ones not because their appearance
> is so horrible (although it is), but because they begin to understand
> them.
Should I go insane if I saw Godzilla? How about a Tyranosaur?
Terror I can understand, and possibly insanity leading on from
that, but no more so than from terror of any other thing.
To me, it doesn't make sense for there to be something special
about the Mythos in this regard.
--
Be seeing you, http://www.glendale.org.uk/
Sam. jabber: samuel.penn@xxxxxxxxxx
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