Hi, welcome back to Narrative Control. This episode starts with a response to an interview with Kenneth Hite and continues with Fattig and I describing games and stories that scare us, and our attraction to them.
Hosts: Sean Nittner and Eric Fattig
Length: 48:38
Show Notes
[00:27] Intro to the show. Our response to Canon Puncture #57, an interview with Kenneth Hite.
[01:19] A clip from the Canon Puncture show. “What is it about Cthulhu that is so grabby to gamers?”
[02:14] Ever get the feeling that nothing you do matters? Why we’re drawn to this subject.
[03:04] Do things that are meaningful and exciting to you and your life will have meaning… or it won’t.
[04:13] Referencing the Canon Puncture show. Horror techniques in the latter half of the episode. http://www.canonpuncture.com/?p=57
[04:48] Why do we come to horror in the first place?
[05:36] We tell ourselves stories to marginalize our own fears and separate them.
[08:00] A common sense of insignificance.
[09:11] An apathy we experience knowing we’ll never stop the universe from falling apart.
[10:28] Horror lets us try to punch inevitability in the face.
[11:26] Agent Smith from the Matrix: The symbol of inevitability.
[14:08] The “One Ring”: A symbol of corruption.
[17:38] To fight the evil, you need to pick up the sword: The man apart.
[19:21] The protagonists of RPGs a usually outside of the society they protect.
[20:16] Showing PCs in relationships they can’t maintain because they are different: Gaming Gold.
[20:34] L5R Example: Samurai who cannot maintain families.
[24:32] Dresden Files example: Balancing mundane and supernatural worlds.
[29:08] A powerful and moving evil must stand for something. The evil exist as a theme of the setting.
[34:59] The bad guy is a good thing. Getting all the evil in one place so it can be punched in the face.
[37:24] Example of the bad guy having a lot of meaning: Buffy, the hyena episode: The Pack
[39:21] “It is not enough to succeed, others must fail” – Gore Vidal
[42:27] The bad guy you know is right, ala Watchmen.
Direct download: NC_Episode_048.mp3