Q&A From Hell

by Gareth-Michael Skarka
January 16, 2001

Column forums are a helluva thing. They give a writer instant feedback from his readers, allowing the writer to see things that maybe they had not, or to consider points of view that had not yet been considered.

Over on the forums for this column (check them out by clicking the button below), there have been some interesting comments made regarding a couple of things: One, the similarity between the "beast points" that I mentioned last week and the Rage mechanic in White Wolf's "Werewolf: The Apocalypse". The other comment regarded the dark-fantasy vs horror dichotomy that I talked about in the early columns.

I'd like to pre-empt what I was going to cover this week, and take the time to address those comments in more detail. (See? If you post in the forum, you too can influence the direction of not only this column, but the game as well!)

First, the similarities to W:TA – I'm afraid that this is a simple matter of two games coming from the same legendary source material. Basically, it's just a fact that if you base a game on the werewolf legends, there are going to be areas of confluence. There is no getting around that. I happen to think that the Arcana are closer to the actual legends than the White Wolf variety, which were, as confirmed by Skotos Seven designer Sam Witt (who was one of the core group who worked on that game) intended to a large extent to be "superheroes with fur".

Apart from those areas of legendary confluence, I think you'll find that the two games are fairly dissimilar. There are no ecological trappings, for one thing.

Next, the point was raised that the materials that I have shared so far seem to indicate a leaning more toward the dark fantasy genre, rather than the horror, which had appeared to be my original intention.

Given the materials that you've got in front of you, it appears that what we have here is a game of heroic werewolves fighting against the forces of Hell. Not very horrific. In fact, that is basically a game of heroic epic, with horror trappings.

That's because I haven't shared the whole picture yet.

There are more columns to come. Trust me, you'll have the whole picture before the game launches. In the meantime, however, I would like to direct you to some additional source material that illustrates my point.

Pick up any of the HELLBOY collections published by Dark Horse Comics. HELLBOY is a comic series written and drawn by Mike Mignola, which has been collected into four trade paperback collections (so far), as well as a novel (by Christopher Golden, titled "The Lost Army") and a collection of short stories. The series tells stories of Hellboy, a demon, who was summoned to earth as a child during World War Two, and now operates as the premiere occult investigator for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. It is, without a doubt, a heroic tale... .and yet at the same time remains firmly in the horror genre. That is perhaps the best illustration out there for the sort of balance that I'm trying to achieve with Arcana.

You can be a hero, and still be scared stiff. In fact, some might argue that heroism is simply continuing to act despite ones fear.

Something to think about, anyway.

I'll see you in the forums.