Necropolitans, episode 090: Poring through the big book of necromancy

The party sits around a campfire and chats about what the hell they're doing, in Episode 090: Poring through the big book of necromancy.

Necropolitans, episode 089: Bobbing for apples is not something I’m used to

Teenaged Iris continues her first ever mission, in Episode 089: Bobbing for apples is not something I’m used to.

Necropolitans, episode 088: I don’t want to try and explain why I’m covered in grease

We flash back in time to a teenaged Iris undertaking her first real mission, in Episode 088: I don’t want to try and explain why I’m covered in grease.

Necropolitans, episode 087: Jaal just always had it inside him

The Necropolitans do business and are faced with questions over the reality of space-time, in Episode 087: Jaal just always had it inside him.

Necropolitans, episode 086: Important document - deal with devil

The Necropolitans finally find somebody prepared to act professionally, in Episode 086: Important document - deal with devil.

Necropolitans, episode 085: Well that makes one of us

The battle in the apocalypse bunker continues, in Episode 085: Well that makes one of us.

Once and Future Tech

Everyone knows that old sci-fi tech is much more fun.

Brief musing on supernatural underpinnings for adventures

Weird fiction has inspired a lot of roleplaying; some of it leans into the Undisentanglable Weird, while others skew to one or other of the genres that branched out: flavours of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and arguably even superheroes.

I love a good weird story, and enjoy playing and writing scenarios for things like the various Lovecraft-derived strands of gaming. While I like different flavours of weird, I'm starting to notice that the scenarios I write have a tendency to be broadly scientific, and frequently end up querying why I'm having to write about physics again when I am canonically Bad At Physics.

Even the scenarios I write that are more magical tend to skew occult: there are some fairly definable things happening, there are principles at play. The Perishing of Sir Ashby Phipps is an exception, being fundamentally supernatural, and I don't think it's a coincidence that it was directly inspired by someone else's short story.

On reflection, I think a lot of this comes down to first causes.

When you write a story or scenario that revolves around science (no matter how mad or pseudo-), you're drawing on the existing rules of the world. Sure, you're probably bending it or entirely making things up: this mineral is antigravitic, this combination of sounds induces weird visions, you can cross over into higher-dimensional space, these plants are mobile and sentient and hunger for human flesh. You might need inventors and trails of evidence, but you only rarely need to make up a reason for the thing to be true at all. Even alien technology boils down to "somebody else invented it".

But when you're writing about supernatural problems, you have to, at some point however deep down in the background, accept that something is happening which can only be explained by "just because".

The victim was murdered, because the inhabitant of the Evil House killed him, because the residents keep turning into vengeful monsters, because they suffered hideous visions, because the old governess' malevolence lingered in the house and tormented its occupants, because her anger at being betrayed had uncanny power, because she was a witch, because magic works.

At a certain point you have to decide that the rules of reality are not in fact how we think they are, and some specific arbitrary set of things can happen which contravene them.

If those hew closely to folklore and superstition, it's easier to accept, and easier for players to navigate: "dead people can become ghosts and haunt the living in various ways" or "you can bestow ill-fortune on somebody through sympathetic ritual" feels accessible in a way that "looking at a cat in a mirror leads to personalities from the Collective Unconsciousness taking over your body" doesn't. In historical games, you can treat some of these as science, because they're widely believed to be true. Even if not, their grounding in common belief makes it easy to justify the PCs thinking of and accepting them.

I think for me, I have difficulty accepting the magical first cause in an otherwise realistic setting. I don't have a problem with it when I'm reading or watching media, or playing games - but my type of inspiration doesn't often seem to land on it as a concept for my own games. My brain always seems to be seeking a further explanation: why does this work? I don't naturally gravitate towards the "just because", even though I'm perfectly happy to accept it. It's odd because my creativity is apparently fine with clearly made-up science as a justification.

There's also the aspect of establishing the bounds of the broken rules. Once magic is real, how do the PCs (and the players) learn that? How do they reasonably come to that conclusion (I assume a gaming group who is willing to lean into genre, but you want some kind of in-character justification)? What kind of magic is possible? If wronged governesses can lay curses on entire houses, are ghosts also real? Might we need to discover a complicated occult ritual which somebody has conveniently written down and perform it, or is this a sympathetic magic thing where you need to find the governess' old engagement ring and put it in her grave? Do occultists, mediums, self-proclaimed cunning folk have actual magical power that we should seek out? Is it worth studying the names of angels and trying to summon one? Can the priest PC banish her by the power of faith?

That isn't a direct influence on my writing, but it is something that comes into play which isn't really true for scientific scenarios. Science might alter the boundaries of what's possible, but it doesn't tend to open the floodgates for potentially hundreds of entirely new sets of rules to suddenly be true.

Necropolitans, episode 084: I'm permanently insane now, by the way

Hundreds of crazed survivors of an ancient civilization mob the Necropolitans, in Episode 084: I'm permanently insane now, by the way.

Necropolitans, episode 83: Only if you have sufficient hair gel

The Necropolitans begin to worry about the inhabitants of the bunker, with good reason, in Episode 083: Only if you have sufficient hair gel.

Necropolitans, episode 82: He's got schizophrenia, now

An angel’s metaphysical compulsion to destroy undead proves an obstacle to negotiations, in Episode 082: He's got schizophrenia, now.

Necropolitans, episode 81: Powerful friends from other elemental planes

After defeating the shaitan Bound of Earth, the Necropolitans explore the strange magical binding of the Jistkan bunker, and cast the in-no-way-ominously-named mad sultan's melody, in Episode 081: Powerful magic friends from other elemental planes.

Necropolitans, episode 80: Never bargain with an ifrit

Jaal's sanity continues to erode, and the Necropolitans encounter the guardians of the bunker, in Episode 080: Never bargain with an ifrit.

Necropolitans, episode 79: I don't want to be the wizard king

The Necropolitans find evidence that someone’s been mapping the area, and argue about their weight, in Episode 079: I don't want to be the wizard king.

Necropolitans, episode 78: Can you teach me everything you know?

The Necropolitans reconvene, to be eaten by dust creatures, in Episode 078: Can you teach me everything you know?

Necropolitans, episode 77: We do have a great working relationship

Jaal and Iris apply the left- or right-hand rule, whichever they remember at the time, in Episode 077: We do have a great working relationship. I'm sure consistency isn't important.

Necropolitans, episode 76: In his teeth

Jaal and Iris dispute the semantics of spell-targeting, in Episode 076: In his teeth.

Review: Randalls Round

I recently finished up this collection of out-of-copyright short strange stories. It's part of the British Library Tales of the Weird collection which has been gradually building, releasing a steady trickle of mostly little-known stories in a convenient format. I've read quite a few now and they're a mixed bag, but a pretty good mixed bag, particularly if you're comfortable with the rather dated writing style. It really shows how standard writing styles have shifted over time.

This collection is... interesting, intriguing, I can't honestly say it's particularly good. Most of the stories have obvious weaknesses, not around supernatural events, but around the basic plausibility of human behaviour. In some cases the supernatural events seem wildly disjointed from the foreshadowing.

I enjoy a good bit of ambiguity about what's going on, but sometimes it just feels muddled. There's probably something here one could harvest for roleplaying. Some have a nice Jamesian vibe; a couple felt closer to Robert Chambers. The descriptions and atmosphere are generally solid, but let down by aspects of the plot.

What follows is a set of quick reflections on these stories, at least, the ones I made notes about or remember well. The level of detail therefore varies enormously.

Necropolitans, episode 75: Necromancer grabby hands

Makoa and Quintella continue exploring Rachikan by themselves, finding a variety of... remains, in Episode 075: Necromancer grabby hands.

Necropolitans, episode 74: Give me a butter knife and about three days

Makoa and Quintella explore the depths of Rachikan, encountering a squid-like being and a sword. The shoe is on the other foot for this grapple-inclined cephalopod! Or would be, if it wore shoes. Presumably quite a lot of shoes, in Episode 074: Give me a butter knife and about three days.