Since games published under Hogshead's "New Style
imprint" have such a strong style of their own it is
tempting to copy that style when doing the review.
Baron Munchausen demands a conversational air of
wonder and hyperbole, Violence suggests a world-weary
malaise and this new product, partly based as it is
on the letter writing of H.P. Lovecraft's literary
circle, seduces the reviewer into adopting the
narrative style of his stories.
I must resist, no matter how strong the lure, the
longing to imitate.
Oops, almost got me there.
This is the game of recording one's discoveries and
experiences as one finds oneself drawn into the
repellent yet fascinating world of the Cthulhu Mythos.
However, rather than the character sheets and dice
rolls of games like Chill, GURPS Horror or, of course,
Call of Cthulhu, one's progress towards the abyss is
documented, not by numbers, but by letters and
diaries. Instead of role-playing a character you are
becoming an actor, acting out the story as you invent
it. Your discoveries are shared with your diary or
with correspondents as you aim for both unlocking the
mystery and, perhaps, avoiding the chilling
immortality of being remembered as the one who left
that incredible, but starkly plausible, final letter.
"De Profundis", in common with all of the "New Style"
products, has a challenge of its own to make. Like
"The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen" it
is a story telling game, and there will be those that
argue that it is not a "true role-playing game at
all". However it is closer to the origins of the term
role-playing, as a psychological exercise, than most
of the games that co-opted the term from the
publication of D&D onwards and it confirms this with
an enclosed essay, the inspiration is partly the
technique of Psychodrama and also a novel of that name
by Poul Anderson. Psychodrama is a form of therapy
that allows people to explore their personalities, the
personalities and perspectives of those close to them
and alternative behaviour patterns by acting out
situations, in other words, role-playing.
This appears to have had some effect in the author's
homeland, Poland, as the first few returns on a
web-search of "Poul Anderson psychodrama" are not for
English language pages but for Polish ones, and Mr.
Oracz has created this game as a pastime based on this
technique, but without the therapeutic aims and
methods. In fact, as players can argue that the
contribution of another is illusory and that that
character is therefore mad, not the sort of thing any
reputable therapist would get up to. The use of the
term then is to describe a game that is basically
free-form role-playing of the sort performed as LARPS
at conventions.
The result is a Gamesmasterless "shared delusion",
almost a paper and pen version of what the online
"Multi-User Shared Hallucinations" claim to do. The
players contribute their own imaginings of what is
happening as the thoughts and experiences of their
game persona, amassing to a collective whole, by means
of correspondence and diaries. In fact the book is
written as a series of letters, almost a journal,
where the author addresses the reader as the letter's
recipient. In fact this makes the "rules" of the game
a little impenetrable and, whilst nice stylistically,
it is annoying in practice and would have benefited
from a starker, more prosaic rules summation
somewhere.
Considering that this is a free-form mass
hallucination there are in fact some rules. For
example, the players should, as far as possible not
just say that they are researching, if at all possible
they should go to the local library and damn well do
some. Much as in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum any
likely thing, person or event can be transformed into
a clue about whatever conspiracy or horror the players
are pursuing. Other players should not just be
brought in willy-nilly, they should be introduced as
another contact who can further the studies of the
group and if the game's author could get away with it
everyone would be writing with fountain pens, and
blotting paper to soak any excess ink, but whatever
method is used it is clear that these are to be
letters, email is not to be countenanced. This is a
shame because in its crude and technological way email
or a web forum is a perfect way to enjoy this form for
those who, like me, have handwriting an arthritic
spider would be ashamed of but who have a reasonable
typing speed. I disagree with Mr. Oracz when he says
that email can have no thought to it, email is merely
a form of communication like any other, used with care
it should not detract from the experience other than
the missing the physical joy and wonderment of
writer's cramp.
Like all co-operative storytelling the game can seem
pretentious to the outsider, and this image is not
helped any by the use of language in the book, which
is more intricate than that commonly used today but
remember that this is a game of writing in the style
of Lovecraft's characters and friends, that letter
writing was an art and that language that may seem
complex to the l33t doodz of the Internet was
commonplace to people who had grown up on Dickens and
Poe and to be honest the author and his translator
have done a fair job of evoking the atmosphere of some
collection of documents that reveal, piecemeal, some
horrible truth.
Reservations about the rules forbidding email apart,
this is an excellent addition to the "New Style"
stable as an outlet for literary impulses that normal
role-playing rarely satisfies. Moreover, for the
simple price of a SAE or international reply coupon,
Hogshead will provide you with a list of like minded
loonies and access to an area on the Hogshead server
devoted to the game. Whilst I could not see this being
satisfactory as being the sole-outlet for any
role-player other than the most time constrained it is
well worth getting if you have a little extra time to
devote, are a fan of Lovecraftian literature and have
dreams of being a writer.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)