#34: The Power of the Medium -- Individualized Output

[GJLohman]

I completely agree with your assertion that the skotos format might be the best format for portraying personal horror. In fact, I might go so far as to say it is the only way, outside of short stories, of course, to effectively portray Lovecraftian horror. Table top call of cthulhu drifted too far from the master's vision. LARP cthulhu, imho, just doesnt work, cause who can portray Yog-sothoth by a costume?

Anyway, thats why, once I get my act together, I hope to join the LCC team...


greg

[Fatalis]

I am new to the board here, and to skotos in general, but i have read avidly all the articles on game design shanon has put up on the site. They are all very impressive, and have given me some ideas to toss around in my brain as well. I am currently putting the finishing touches o an idea i was planning to use for te storybuilder application, and reading these articles has helped me on some design points as well. The most intriging for me was the different interpretations of one character's actions by different player characters present in the same room. The conceptof language I have encountered in a text based game i was beta testing called crossroads, but unfortunately, the concept was not really put to much use as the player base was small, and hence did not really encourage this. Well, I will stay tuned to this and other threads, and saymy bit when I feel I can contribute.

[Ra'Dorcha]

We plan to start exploring this more in Galactic Emperor: Succession. Suppose the Grune express happiness by preening their shoulder scales. Most people would see "Joe Grune bites his shoulder." However other Gune might see "Joe Grune preens his shoulder scales, denoting happiness" or "Joe Grune is happy" or maybe even "Joe Grune smiles".

This is such a great idea. I remember reading the series of books by David Eddings (sorry, don't remember the name) and one society had a series of hand gestures for a secret language. I have thought many a time how nice it would be to play a game which had a similar system. And that is exactly what you are talking about here. Everyone in the room sees "John Doe wiggles his fingers." But those who know the language see "John Doe secretly tells you 'Don't drink the punch.'"

And especially as you said, with different cultures you can get big differences. The fact that humans smile when they are happy is the easist one to have fun with. Another race might see that as a hostile show of teeth and think the human is about to attack.