I’ve spoken about my problems with Lovecraft and how I’d reconcile it with the trying to make games inspired and the Mythos.  Last time I talked about making the man himself part of the fiction.  My second idea is something I jokingly refer to as “The Indigenous Man’s Burden”. It was inspired by discussion with Chris Chinn, who is always into some smart stuff.

It’s typical in pulp fiction of all sorts that the intrepid Western Adventurers come to show some indigenous culture how their beliefs and ignorance are causing them some problems.  Inevitably the “natives” are educated by force or through persuasion how to do the “right” thing.  This is pretty prominent in HPL’s work as well. I feel his treatment of other cultures is where his xenophobia is most prominently on display. The theme seems to be that evil is associated with older, “primitive” cultures.

What if they were right though?  What if these older beliefs were ways that “primitive” cultures kept the Elder Gods at bay? As places around the world became colonized however, the artifacts and knowledge that kept them at bay became lost as well.  Under the influence of colonialism and the post-colonial corporatist era, the Elder Gods have broken their seals and are able to make their present more strongly felt.

The goal with this framework is not to advocate a “go back in time” mindset –what’s done is done — but rather to present a more nuanced view of the this preternatural evil.  The players not only investigate the phenomena, but to solve problems they need to understand the story of what happened or is happening in some place.  It has a bit of a social concious, but tries to get there implicitly.

Imagine that the statues that Western explorers thought were simple trinkets depicting Elder Gods were actually wards!  And now they are sitting in some rich collector’s cabinet somewhere.  Can you get them back or will you have to improvise  another solution?

This approach is something I would like to run with, as I think it is both broad and deep and capable of delivering some really strong adventure premises.

What adventure would you make based on this premise?

So I gave my point of view last time.  From there I’m establishing frames that I can use to build different adventures and games. I could do a pulp 1920s investigation, but I can’t build something attractive to me in that world without breaking the reality of the times.  There was a great amount of segregation and racism in the times a lot of pulp fiction is set.  It’s ok to ignore that if you want, but that’s not something I feel comfortable doing. I don’t even want that in the back of my head.

My “mythos” is going to veer towards the modern age.  I’m not saying everything is perfect in the now, but there’s no denying I have more opportunity today than there would be in the typical Lovecraftian setting.  Building in a modern setting lets me use history but not be oppressed or limited by living it.  It might be realistic to drink from separate fountains, but that’s not my idea of a good time.

The  next decision to make regards my relationship with the material.  I’m by no means a H.P. Lovecraft scholar, for reasons we’ve discussed. But let’s get into it.  The first frame is what I think of as “Mythopoeic Mythos”, and it’s meta as hell.  Lovecraft is problematic, right?  Lots of weird isms and resultant problems, right? So, let’s make him the center of the our game.

The monsters that Lovecraft describes are actually real things in our modern setting, but…they are not exactly as he described. But he’s the only reference point that serious investigators of the Mythos have.  H.P. tapped into something real, but in expressing it, it got all tangled up in his poor expressions.  Some of the info we can use, some we have to change, some of it is just incredibly misguided and wrong. And let’s say that H.P. Lovecraft himself is available, trapped away in some spirit realm, to occasionally be “consulted”.  What till he sees who will be asking him questions!

In this frrame, we keep H.P. Lovecraft’s work as a focal point, but we take it out of it’s times and we put the problematic elements into the context of a metafictional reference.  We can use this work or not, but we can also confront some of H.P. Lovecraft’s nastiness head-on if we choose.

The downside of course is that it means reading more of his work then you might want if you have problems with him.  Could be less of a problem if you have a person who is already a mythos buff in your crew. This frame could be a short mini-campaign, a really awesome 1-shot, or a neat diversion in another horror-based game.

Appreciation of 13th Age’s features comes in waves.  Icons smack in you the face.  They’re brilliant.  They make your setting more about characters and less about a wall of setting elements. Icons make the game personal as well as epic.

Next, you get to groove on the class design, a gridless, 4e/3.5 mashup that retains only some of the negatives (I still hate to-hit rolls but that’s another post).

Let me tell you what I think the underappreciated superstar in 13th Age is: Backgrounds. What’s so great about backgrounds?  Well, backgrounds “thingify” experience, replacing the big skill list of other games with a mapping of  your character’s experience to what they do now.

I know it doesn’t seem all that special or all that great, but to me Backgrounds tell you so much.  having intimidate at +4 tells you something but not that much.  It’s a measure of effectiveness, but it doesn’t describe mannerism or development.  Red Sea Pirate +4 on the other hand, can tell you quite a bit when you use it for intimidation.  In fact, it has to tell you something to even be used. What about being a Red Sea Pirate allows you to intimidate someone effectively.  Is it a general skill, or do you know this person in particular will be  terrified by your affiliation?  Mapping your Background to your skill check in this way reinforces your fiction.  In essence it makes each skill check a mini-flashback to show what you’ve learned. If you’re ever confused with how to use Backgrounds, just ask yourself (or better yet, share out loud): when did I do this before in my Background?

A Background sits somewhere between a skill and an Aspect (for you FATE junkies ) and/or a distinction (for the Cortex+ faithful).  Because of what Backgrounds describe and do, I started contemplating how a Background can describe negative experience.

Say you anger a powerful sorceror. Before you leave, he places a curse on you for your insolence, a spell that makes you talk with snake like speech. You’re intelligible but you sound pretty weird to anyone listening. There are a few ways to express such a curse, but I really like just making it a Background.  ”Simon’s Slithering Speech -2″ just fits.  Now, rather than describing the list of ways and circumstances in which the spell operates, whenever the curse would affect you, the GM (por you, be honest!) can bring that into the roll.  Negative Backgrounds should always be used on top of normal Backgrounds because there is a conflict of experience potentially that exists.  Having the Slithering Speech would be counteracted by Entrovian Diplomat, so just combine the two and take the net bonus or minus to the check.

You can also use negative backgrounds for injuries. A few different ways to implement this (if you want something more in-depth, holler and I’ll write it up!), but I’ll go with one.

Before making your first death save, you can accept a minor or major injury for a bonus to your death save rolls.  If you accept a minor injury you get a +2 to your roll and if you accept a major injury you get a +4 to the roll.  If you make your death save, you take an injury background, chosen by the GM, as a -2 (minor injury) or -4 (major injury).  The GM can put on something like Concussion -2 or Lame leg -4.  Injuries can be recovered by making an injury save, which is a hard save.  A minor injury can be made at the first rest, but a major injury can only make saves after at least two rest periods have passed.

This is just a start to how to use negative Backgrounds in your game.  Tell us what you think! Have you already tried using negative Backgrounds in your 13th Age games?