Game Masters, There's Nothing New Under The Sun (So Don't Stress About It)

There is a fear I have seen among a lot of writers out there. In short, it's a desire to make something genuinely new and different the no one has seen before, which is driven by a fear that someone will accuse their work of being derivative, or of simply being too similar to other stories that have been told before. And, for some reason, this fear seems to affect Game Masters (particularly newer Game Masters) to an even greater extent. They worry their players will guess their twists, figure out their inspirations, or that once they get a bit of insight they'll be completely uninterested in the game because it won't be new or fresh anymore.

Now, I don't often turn to the bible in situations like this. Not my faith, not my book. With that said, though, I'd recommend Ecclesiates 1:9 for advice. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

I'll be damned... it's right in the book.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

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Seriously, Just Embrace It!

There are a lot of Game Masters who likely laughed, shook their heads, or rolled their eyes at the introductory paragraphs. I've lost count of the number of people who are all too happy to list the books, movies, and even other RPG settings they've stolen their ideas from, talking about the various NPCs, locales, and plot arcs they've snagged from other places to make their own Frankenstein creatures to serve up to their players.

And in some cases the GM had wider, deeper, or older tastes than the players, so nobody realized the campaign, world, etc. wasn't spun entirely out of whole cloth. However, most of the time realizing that a Game Master took inspiration from a particular property (or even an entire part of history, for those who know that Game of Thrones is based on the War of The Roses) doesn't ruin the experience for the players... because it's not about being utterly and completely unique in a way that no one has ever done things before. It's about providing your players an experience that's unique to them and which has your signature style on it.

Put another way, think of your campaign as a grilled cheese. Everyone knows what a grilled cheese is, and everyone has probably had them dozens of different ways over their lifetime. Now, you might make yours in a slightly different way that some people (maybe your cheese is spicy, maybe you use mayo instead of butter to ensure the bread is toasty, perhaps you like to put bacon bits in it, whatever it is you do), but others are going to take one bite and it will be instantly familiar to them. That doesn't mean they stop eating the sandwich, especially if you prepared something they like in a way that is fresh, delicious, and which is served up on a platter to them.

Case in point...

I've got plenty of examples in my own catalog where I embraced the inspirations for a particular project. My elevator pitch for The Curse of Sapphire Lake is, "The love child of Beowulf and Friday the 13th," after all. And fans of classic action movies will quickly recognize the inspiration behind my Army Men mission module Assault on Outpost 13, since even the title is an homage to the film Assault on Precinct 13. My Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy RPG setting completely does away with the convoluted multiplanar structure used in Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons, opting for a simpler, more streamlined system of the material world and the Prim, which I explained in Gods of Sundara... and it's going to look very familiar to any fans of the Warp in Warhammer 40K as far as structure goes.

Hell, even my World of Darkness supplement Evil Incorporated just looked at historical atrocities (and modern ones) committed by corporations and billionaires. The introductory fiction even has a veiled call-out to the owners of Hobby Lobby who (at least allegedly) paid a ridiculous amount of money to terrorists in the Middle East to purchase stolen relics which they kept in their own homes.

Now, I'm far from unique in this aspect. Zon-Kuthon, from Pathfinder is clearly heavily inspired by the cenobites of Hellraiser, but not only that, the nation that worships him is steeped in winks and nods to Melnibone, the nation from the Elric novels by Moorcock. The same can be said of the supposedly cursed kingdom of Valyria from Game of Thrones, for the record. There are references all over our games to works by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, to say nothing of Tolkien. And that's before we get into the copious use of world mythology, and great works of fiction like Arthur and his knights of the round table.

So while a particular game might have a different flavor, or a unique twist on things (such as a medieval fantasy game where you have to investigate the Cthulhu Mythos, or recreating the Trojan War as a starfaring space battle using mech combat), the inspirations are going to be present. There is always going to be a story that came before you, or a character someone else has seen, that bears some similarity to what you're doing at your table. More importantly, if you spend all your time focusing on what you don't want your game to be, then you're going to define it by what it isn't, rather than what it is.

I'm not saying you should shamelessly copy someone else's homework and just change a couple of the names around (I'm looking at you, Games Workshop). However, if you're tying yourself into knots worried that your players are going to figure out that your particular order of cavaliers is based on Lancelot, or that they're going to guess the plot twist for the traitorous noble because he's basically Count Dooku with a bastard sword, don't sweat those kinds of things. Instead, focus on the presentation and preparation for your game.

Everyone has had a grilled cheese before. Just make sure the one you serve them is perfectly crispy, melty, and delicious, and everyone will probably enjoy it!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

The Transformative Properties of Pain (Delving Into Zon-Kuthon, Slaanesh, and Others)

There are things that exist in our favorite fictional universes that can leave our skin crawling, and our minds rebelling. Things with mutilated flesh, who are seemingly unbound by moral precepts, and who are a dark mirror to many things we hold dear. They are not just monstrous, and not just evil, wicked, or blasphemous... they are alien. They are so removed from our experiences that the only way we can categorize them is to say they are insane... that only the mad would see logic in what these things are, and the actions they take.

Despite that, though, many of us feel drawn to them. We want to see more, to understand more, to experience more... and this is both the power of these things, and a cornerstone of what makes them what they are in many ways.

Because to desire, to want, is the gateway. And even if what lies beyond that threshold is pain, we will endure it precisely because of the want that made us open the door in the first place.

Come... I have such sights to show you...

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Pain and Transformation

Zon-Kuthon. Slaanesh. The Cenobites. The Godhand. Even my own god Tensa found in Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder as well as DND 5E). Our fiction, and our games, are full of creatures shaped by alien forces and impossible desires... things that corrupt you, twist you, and which bring their followers to the other end of madness.

And while that works well enough for antagonists in a story, things and people we want to see as cold, alien, and unknowable, it doesn't work as well for our characters. Because we need to understand them, and we need those around us to understand them. Which is why it's important to think of desire, pain, and the transformative nature of the experience that comes with these things.

Consider for a moment seeing someone in middle school or high school who is in their first official relationship. You've never seen anyone that happy, riding high on a fresh emotion that has them walking on air. And then when they have their first break up, it is devastating for them. They bawl, they kick, they scream, and they might even break things. To adults looking on, it seems so petty, and unimportant, because most of us have gone through this process many, many times before. We might remember what it was like when we went through this when we were children, but it's so far removed from who we are now that it often feels like it happened to someone else.

Going through that pain, and recovering from it, changed us. We shifted something in ourselves. Some of us heal, and some of us limp, but we continued on.

Alternatively, think of the original Little Mermaid. She was given legs, but every step was agony, akin to walking on razors for the rest of her life. A bargain she made with her eyes open because she wanted that so badly. She knew that to be changed would bring agony, but the change was worth the pain.

These are two halves of the same coin. On the one hand we have pain that transforms us, and on the other side we have transformations that hurt us. In either case, we will become a different person than who we were... and in some cases we may no longer even recognize what we've become. Or who we used to be.

This is a philosophical basis that can act as a starting point with characters attached to a philosophy of pain, darkness, or even depravity. However, it's important to remember that even in the case of a penitent being remade by the cenobites, or someone rising to become a member of Berserk's Godhand, the transformation doesn't begin with the dramatic final step... the transformation began down a long and winding road that led to where they wound up.

A Thousand Resurrections On The Path of Corruption

Even if you are not a drug user, you're familiar with the idea of building up a tolerance. The first time you take even the smallest dose, the drug hits your system like a freight train, and you feel it pretty intensely. And if you only indulge every now and again, that level of intensity will be your normal experience... but if you use a drug regularly, your body and mind will get used to it. You'll have to take more, and more, just to move the needle. It's why a child being allowed to have a normal caffeinated soft drink might be bouncing off the walls, while their aunt or uncle can drink 2 cans of Monster before they start to shake off feeling like they need a nap.

Alternatively, think of how muscles grow. When you exercise, you create a small tear, and when your body fills that small tear back in the muscle grows in size and power. This allows you to easily lift something that would have been far beyond your capacity even a few years ago, because you have slowly transformed yourself through regular rituals of suffering and self-inflicted pain.

And when we take these relatively mundane things, and apply them to a darker path, we begin to see how characters might walk into the shadows deliberately and with great purpose.

No one comes to sit where I do by an accident of fate...

Through a steady diet of pain, bloodshed, suffering, or even torturous rites, a character might become something new... something different than they were before. Perhaps they were seduced, as we see with hedonists who had exhausted earthly pleasures who pursued the Lament Configuration to experience the next level of sensation. Or they were told there was a way they could overcome an earthly weakness, but only if they followed the path of the Black Spiral, and reached the end.

If these characters simply swallowed a mouthful of this poison, it would kill them, or cripple them. But if they swallow a little at a time, over and over again, year after year, soon they would build up a functional immunity. This is how they might accept the early rites or requirements of these dark gods or strange philosophies, building up the tolerance, determination, and iron will that will see them through as they pass over the threshing blades that will tear them apart, and allow them to reborn anew.

Others may stare at them in horror. They may see what they're doing as an abomination, a desecration of morality, or a grievous sin. But they have not seen what the one on the left-hand path has seen. The naysayers have not walked where they've walked, and done what they've done. And while the dark pilgrim might try to explain these truths, there are certain experiences that words fail to properly convey. It is only through first-hand knowledge that one can truly understand what lurks beyond pain, and beyond the transformations it heralds.

And on a final note, those who haven't seen this article should check out my Pathfinder character conversion for the cenobite Pinhead!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

A Guide To Swearing In Your Fantasy RPG

You know how in fantasy novels from the 80s and 90s authors would make up curse words for that particular setting, allowing them to bring across that characters were vulgar without putting words in their books that would keep them out of younger readers' hands? Have you ever been wrist deep in RP about to say "shit" and wished you had an alternative that felt more organic for your world? Or perhaps something you could say that wouldn't get you in trouble if the younger players either at the table or in the house started repeating it?

Well here are some ways you can do just that, and surprise the hell out of everyone else with your thundering creativity.

Method #1: Invoke The Divine

Aside from our favorite four-letter friends one of the most common swears you've probably heard is the name Jesus Christ. While it might not offend anyone but the truly religious (taking the savior's name in vain and all that), the idea of invoking divine powers is one of the oldest forms of swearing. Given that most fantasy RPGs have their own pantheon you've got all of the ammunition you need.

Asmodeus worshipers get the best swear words.

You can invoke the name of your character's god(s), or just the regional divinities where he or she grew up. You can also invoke aspects of the divine, referring to divine tools or areas of influence. An example is the word gadzooks, which we sort of associate with Saturday-morning-cartoons and Shakespeare plays. The term is a shortened word that means god's hooks. That's some serious-sounding-shit, and not to be invoked lightly. Especially if you happen to be a follower of a god of pain, agony, and torture like Zon-Kuthon.

This kind of logic extends to all gods and their accouterments. Followers of Cayden Cailean might use a phrase like busted cup to refer to bad luck coming their way (insinuating that the god's trusty tankard had been smashed, and the ale of victory spilled forever). Those who worship the nature god Gozreh might invoke the more damaging elements of nature with phrases like thunder and flood or beasts and blood. Even those who pray to Desna the goddess of dreams might say something like dark dreams or sleepless nights when something goes wrong.

Method #2: Stream-of-Nonsense Swearing

Popularized by characters like Yosemite Sam the stream of nonsense might sound like little more than gobbledy-gook at first, but it actually has a long and storied tradition. Phrases like by the double-barreled jumping jimminity are more likely to produce laughter than fright, but the formula is easy enough to apply if you want to alter the words for something a little more serious.

By the nocked arrows of the 52 fletchers, what do you want?

Whether these phrases refer to actual things and people, or they're just made up combinations of words is up to you as the player. The formula tends to start out with by the as most good swearing does, and then moves onto words that come in pairs. Alliteration is good if you can manage it, and it will make the phrases easier to remember.

The interesting part comes when you want to work something into your character's life that makes these phrases make sense. Do they swear by weapons because warriors hold those close (by the bastard blades of the seven sons), or do they instead invoke features of their geography (by the burning hills of Hartford), or of their ancestors (by the gray bearded chin of Harold the Mad). You can get pretty creative with these, but you should save them for special occasions when possible if you want them to have a bigger impact.

Method #3: Swearing By Body Parts (And Other Things)

Holy... ugh...

This is the type of swearing we're all most familiar with, though we aren't really all that creative with it. After all a four-letter word for copulation is our big swear word, and the runner-up is another four-letter word for excrement.

We can do better than that.

Look at the proud British tradition of swearing. Bollocks might not seem like a very insulting word, but try grabbing your crotch while you sneer derisively at someone and see just how quickly it escalates. The same goes for the word bloody; it probably sounds quaint to American ears but if you change the phrase and add to it something like blood and ashes has a certain vehemence that's got a lovely ring to it. You can swear by anything that's important to your character or the culture he or she comes from. Virgin's teats, devil's hands, or even something like child o' mine might represent things that a culture values, or which it finds troublesome.

In short there's a whole slew of great ways to swear-without-swearing at your table. For some more great information on old-timey cussing and where our modern profanity comes from check out this article on the subject.

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