Sode #25: Horror Tropes

[Meg]

http://brilliantgameologists.com/blog/56

[X-Codes]

First reply.

I concur, shut up about the sex dolls. 

No, really... Great episode, I may make use of some of this knowledge at a later date.  Well, I should say the episode was great until the topic turned to sex dolls. :rolleyes

[Wordman]

[Dan2]

Where did Douchebag of the Week go?

Or did I miss it?

There were a lot of interesting ideas in here, but it's still really hard to actually get your players creeped out to begin with.
Getting the players uncomfortable when they simply refuse to play along isn't possible...  At least I don't think so...

[Meg]

Hey Meg, want to join our Blue Planet campaign? It's called "Huge sea creatures that slink up out of nowhere".

In Blue Planet, the whales hunt you...

  

:couch

[Meg]

Where did Douchebag of the Week go?

Or did I miss it?

I'll probably update this post with an important reply later.

We didn't have one.  Or an intro.  There was so much content we just jumped right in.  No commercial break either.  We will make sure future episodes have these things, but this one we felt like the flow was good and didn't want to disrupt it.

[Cam_Banks]

Using "suck" to describe The Happening just diminishes and dilutes the power of the word "suck." The Happening didn't suck. It wasn't a terribly good movie, but it wasn't terrible. Manos: The Hands of Fate sucks. The Happening is up there with Daredevil or X-Men: The Last Stand or Young Guns II. None of those movies suck, but they're hardly stellar.

Cheers,
Cam

[Meg]

Oh no, I firmly believe The Happening sucked.  As in it is in the bottom 3 movies I've ever seen.  As in I think it was one of the worst movies ever.  As in I thought it was worse than Star Wars 3, and that was terrible. 

Everything about it was just plain idiotic and terribly done.  The acting was painful to watch, the plot was laughable and the overall story was just horrendous. 

And I've loved everything else M. Night has done.  Everything. 

[Wordman]

[Cam_Banks]

Huh. I liked Episode 3 a lot more than Episode 1.

But at least we agree that Lady in the Water was awesome.

Cheers,
Cam

[Talen Lee]

I kinda wish you guys approached the topic of what scares people a little more clearly.

[X-Codes]

Huh. I liked Episode 3 a lot more than Episode 1.

Honestly, I think Episode 3 was the best of the "prequel trilogy," even though it suffered a bit from the slow framerate of modern movies.  A lot of the movements in the final fights looked choppy they were going so fast.

Also, I can't imagine that you could think Episode 3 was bad and somehow not mention how horrible Episode 2 was.  Even Episode 1 was better than Episode 2 (and despite Jar-Jar I liked that movie; one un-funny "comic relief" character isn't enough to call a movie bad).

Back to the 'sode.  I think a little more fleshing out of the line between good horror campaigning and Douche-Ming could have been done.  Lets say there's a supermonster (Predator, Godzilla, whatever) that the party can't possibly beat at their given level.  If they run from the monster and complete tasks to gain levels and gear to finally stand up to the monster in the end then where's the line between Douche-Ming and playing on the Primal Fear trope?

[Josh]

I kinda wish you guys approached the topic of what scares people a little more clearly.

Horror is hard to teach.  Or more precisely it is hard to teach in the medium of podcasting. 

This episode was to give people ideas about what to work with.  Kind of a cop out. 

[bhu]

I'm about 10 minutes in.  You have mentioned Cthulhu.  Most excellent.  Hugs for the Gameologists 


Hey Meg!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgXt8lEKK2g
heheheheheheheheehehe 


EDIT: There's a couple of killer pig movies, but Razorback is the only giant piggie.  It's a fun popcorn movie. 

MEG LIKES THE VILLAGE 
Despair has now found me.  It was a blind woman running through the woods.  A blind woman.  It was just...


EDIT: Most monsters from Inuit myth are freaky (Women with legs growing from their vagina, cannibal babies, village devouring caterpillars, etc.)  If you like Wendigo or Chenoo type stories there's a direct to video horror film called the Last Winter thats okay.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY_BXNvbr8E

EDIT: There are actually many sex zombie exploitation films.  So the "hunger for vagina" think has a bit of a point.  Hell there's zombie porn films.

EDIT: There's a couple of evil sex doll movies.  Dead Doll is one, but I can't remember the other.  Generally bad films but they have a few genuinely creepy scenes.  In one you hear the dolls voice, and never see her move, so the main character may be totally insane, but if she isn't haunted there's scenes that can't be explained so well.  Dead Doll is much more straightforward. Definitely a Siren.



It's too bad you guys are on the coast.  I have a couple hundred horror movies in my collection.  I always try to do a lil movie night for Halloween.  I could make my Orange Death Chili.

[X-Codes]

I hope that means you put pumpkin in it, because the only orange I've ever seen in Chili is definitely not very tasty...

[Talen Lee]

I kinda wish you guys approached the topic of what scares people a little more clearly.

Horror is hard to teach.  Or more precisely it is hard to teach in the medium of podcasting. 

This episode was to give people ideas about what to work with.  Kind of a cop out. 

Actually, after giving the show another listen, I find myself compelled to write another big response. One thing that occurred to me is that if more people had to podcast their responses to you, you'd wind up with people a bit less inclined to be critical of the podcasting method.

Anyway. kinda-watch-this-space. I don't know how ambitious I'm going to be about this response.

[Wordman]

[bingomanzero]

You know what I hate? Those "too-deep-for-sunlight-fish". Example: the deep sea angler.  Woo, that thing gives me the creeps. Actually, the ocean(or nearly every natural body of water, for htat matter) just creeps me out as a rule. Yeah, I saw Jaws, and some stupid Pirhana movie, but it's the not-knowing that gets me. Ugh.

I was swimming off the beach on Caye Cauker, Belize once. The water is so incredibly clear, you wouldn't believe it. A bunch of friends and I were having a great time, and on a lark I borrowed a swimmer's mask from a buddy and took a look around underwater.  To my horror, I saw the long, serpent-like form of a barricuda just hanging out in the distance, near the muddier waters of the nearby channel. I got out of that water faster than you can say antidisestablishmentarianism, or rather, spell it correctly. Ok, so nothing happened, it minded its business and we our own, and no one got hurt, but hte point is, "what if?"  I wouldn't have even known what it was that swam up behind me and dragged me under to the unknown depths of the Carribean to be violated, eaten, drowned and who-knows what else (and not necessarily inthat order) if I hadn't spotted the bugger.

That's not all, I live in Michigan. Ever hear of the Great Lakes? Ever try and see three feet in front of you in either of them that you care to freeze yourself with by swimming in? I hear Loch Ness has a visibility of four feet, and nobody really knows what's living in that fetid pool of evil. I resist the notion to go swimming in our local bodies of water, for this very reason. Also, anything fed by a natural spring- who knows what actually resides beneath the surface there?

Is this fear rational? No, but I experience it. Am I exaggerating? Slightly, I suppose. Am I rambling? Technicly, no. I'm typing this, not speaking. What's my point? Oh yes: Meg, I totally identify with your very understandable fear of giant whales sneaking up on you from the depths of Cthulhuoid Oceanography; and there's more where that came from.

I guess I should get some help...

...Love the show! Woo!

[bhu]

I hope that means you put pumpkin in it, because the only orange I've ever seen in Chili is definitely not very tasty...

Nope.  Habaneros.  14 as a minimum.  The chili itself isn't orange until I add cheese, but you won't really notice...

[hasturhasturhastur]

That oarfish you posted on the main page reminds me of the mothership from Homeworld.

Great.  Now I'm creeped out by a space RTS.  THANKS A FUCKING LOT.


Oh. Great show, by the way.