Page 24 - World of Darkness

While each story has its own central theme, the loom- The advantage to playing a game of contemporary
ing theme behind them all explores the dramatic ramifi- horror is that it can take place in your own backyard, lit-
cations of a world of supernatural secrets. Storytellers and erally. You can populate your hometown with all manner
players alike should be mindful of this theme when they of secret terrors, imagining how the local convenience-
feel the need to return to the roots of the game. store clerk might really be the thrall of a supernatural crea-
ture. Perhaps he helps his master to feed by collecting the
Mood — Dread corpses of the homeless people who sleep in the bushes
People fear what they don’t know or understand. On out back. Or your blowhard mayor might be a member of
some level, most people suspect that things aren’t right, a secret society dedicated to keeping the spoils of power
that they’re being lied to. Rather than confront this ter- within a small clique, preventing others from awakening
rible truth (“Who’s lying to me? Where are they?”), they to their true potential.
choose to repress it. People pretend nothing is out of or- Characters in the World of Darkness can blur the line
der and go about lives as usual. Whether this behavior between reality and the occult. Indeed, that’s what it’s all
can be traced back to the ancient depredations of super- about. Exploring a world of mystery that tries to keep it-
natural creatures or to fear of the occult, people refuse to self hidden. A world that punishes those who look too
recognize it. They are asleep to the realities around them deep. But those who refuse to look suffer even worse.
and refuse to open their eyes. They’re rocked on seas of conspiracies of which they go
Even those who do confront the shadows do so with unaware. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. There
a sense of dread. Exploring the unknown promises rewards, are no easy answers, and knowing is not half the battle.
but also risks unforeseen consequences. Are the potential It’s only the first shot in a long, grinding war against the
rewards worth the risks? Every step into mystery is onto shadows.
unsafe ground, and few march boldly into the night.
Roads Less Traveled
Atmosphere — Threatening Symbolism
From the first lecture planned for a new course, “Edge
Combine theme and mood in the fog-bound streets, Zoology” by Professor Malcolm Yee, instructor, Penn State
rave clubs, towering penthouses, midnight woods and University, Department of Zoology. Cancelled following Dr.
cloistered sanctums of the World of Darkness. Add a hint Yee’s presumed death.
of the otherworldly bleeding through the walls of reality
Some people think of me as some kind of Indiana Jones.
now and then, and you’ve got the perfect atmosphere for (Pause for laughter.) They imagine I spend my time pushing
chilling horror Storytelling.
through cobweb-infested catacombs or hacking through the
Everything in the World of Darkness has foreboding jungle with native guides at my heels. I’ve been to both
significance. Nothing is necessarily what it seems. A dead places and found them to be fascinating, but devoid of the
tree might secretly harbor a bitter spirit. A car might be a kinds of things I search for.
reservoir for magical energies that could kill the unwary. Most of you are familiar with the concept of a “cryptid,” an
Everything is a cipher for something else, lending myste- unknown or hidden type of animal. For all our knowledge and
rious significance to otherwise coincidental events. Is it technology, we’re still discovering new species of fauna, from
just chance that you receive a letter from a schoolmate the coelacanth, an ancient fish unchanged since the Devonian
you haven’t seen or heard from in years, and you read the era (slide #1), to the pitohui, the world’s only poisonous
next day about his horrifying death by exsanguination? bird, first identified in 1981 (slide #2). We continue to
Dare you open the letter? search for cryptids, whose existence is hinted at by folklore,
cultural tradition and physical evidence. The gigantic
The World of Darkness rarely communicates its se- thunderbird of the American southwest, the dinosaur-like
crets directly. Instead, mysteries can be read in places and mokele-mbembe of central Africa, the bunyip of Australia’s
things all around — symbols of deeper, unsettling truths. lakes and rivers. These animals and others draw the attention
It’s easier to ignore these signs than to face them. Many of thousands of cryptozoologists every year, many of whom
people are willfully blind to these messages, fearing what are credible scientists.
they reveal. “It’s just coincidence. Meaningless happen- But I propose the existence of a special category of cryptids.
stance.” Just keep telling yourself that…. I call them “anthrocryptids.” That is, cryptids that are similar
in appearance and intelligence to human beings. These sorts
Setting — A Sense of Place of beings turn up in our history and folklore time and time
again. In modern times, the idea that other intelligent life
The World of Darkness is not about someplace long forms might secretly dwell amongst us seems so improbable
ago and far away. It’s our world today, but different. Looked that it doesn’t bear discussion. But consider this: It’s a widely
at from a global perspective, it seems the same. Looking held secret among zookeepers that every year, hundreds of
closer, though, the details differ. That house down the animals escape from zoo enclosures around the world. And
street isn’t just abandoned, it’s haunted. Nobody goes to about half the time, the escapees are never recovered. That
the old quarry anymore. Some teenagers didn’t come back. includes larger beasts like monkeys, ungulates and big cats.
There’s every reason to believe that at least some of these
That new nightclub is so cool, but creepy. Did you see animals manage to find a niche and survive unseen in the
that guy who kept staring last night? local urban, suburban or rural environment. If these creatures,

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ELEMENTS OF STYLISH HORROR-ROADS LESS TRAVELED