[UA] All Humans are Liars

[Royal Minister of Stuff]

--- Matthew Rowan Norwood <matt at intermute.com> wrote:
> When we ask "What is the
> meaning of
> Cthulhu?", we get back nothing except, perhaps, some
> pseudo-gothic
> surrealist undertones. Cthulhu is meaningless, and
> that's why it is so
> terrifying. The same goes for Kleptomancy: it has
> psychological
> associations, but not cultural associations. Its
> practicioners have to
> invent the cultural context for their magic. And
> that makes their power
> completely Other and completely personal at the same
> time.
> 
> Okay, I'm not sure what that rant was about. But I
> think I'm getting at
> something important about this game.
> 
> -Matt Norwood
> 
Boy, this is good, but there's still some bit to it
that isn't sliding into place.  It's hit a nerve with
me, anyway.  I'm trying to put a new campaign together
and something's been nagging at me.  Bear with me, as
usual.

I went to see Tomb Raider with my wife, the other
night.  She is an enormous Lara Croft fan and me, I've
got a soft spot for Chris "H" Barrie and a few of the
other English actors in the film.  I kept getting
disgusted and angry as I watched the film, even though
I was trying to have a "I'm doing this for fun, screw
the plot, screw the inconsistencies, screw the editing
and constant "Deliverance" wisecracks temptations"
attitude.)

It occurred to me what it was that pissed me off when
I read this post and I sure hope it relates to UA. 
The character Lara Croft is perfect, in the movie. 
She can do no wrong, what-so-ever.  She can fall in a
booby-trap, sure, but only as part of a ritual.  She
can not make a mis-step or fail to fluster a man.  She
never says something which makes her look foolish or
fails to be morally correct.  You just want to kill
her.  Sure, other action movie starts get the same
treatment in their own universes, but I don't like
those other action movies either.  And, yes, it's nice
to see a female get a share of this so-called glory,
but, you know what, those action movie heroes are
monsters.  The worst kind of monsters: Pretty
monsters.
A close derivation for Lara Croft, Indiana Jones, does
screw up.  Over-all, of course, the character is
heroic and comes out on top.  We expect that.  But it
isn't so bad because Indiana Jones CAN make a mistake.
 He can miscalculate the amount of sand needed to
remove the idol, he can drop his hat, he can
accidentally piss off the female he's putting moves on
and he can, certainly, be affable.  Lara Croft is only
cold, machine-like precision.  I mean, the movie would
have been tollerable if she fell down or failed to
grab a big stone block once -even once- like the pixel
version does in the game.  Instead, she gets a
half-important key-dealy stolen by overwhelming odds
(which she all but decimates.)  I mean, come on.
Jackie Chan doesn't do that -he sits on bicycle seats
which have come off, expresses panic and gets slapped.

So, here's the thing, this is what I'm afraid of:   UA
has spoiled me, it really has.  Not only are
characters required to have negative and hurtful sides
(Rage, Fear, Obsessions simuli), they are given
benefits for acting on these things.  They are not
PUNISHED for failing to act, but rewarded for acting
human. In addition, there are a whole range of just
normal human problems which still bug people
(Violence, the Unnatural, Self, etc.) When a character
reaches operational perfection (i.e., they get
Callous), it's a BAD thing, a reflection of almost
total loss of their human sides.

Man, this made more sense when I started, but I got
too distracted by being pissed over spending full
price for a film.  Except for "Oh Brother, Where Art
Thou" and "Momento," I haven't got my money's worth
all year.  I had more fun watching Peter Jackson's
"Bad Taste" last night than "Tomb Raider" and Bad
Taste has monsters in it.

Wait! That's it!  I was talking about monsters and
elves and stuff!  The temptation is always there to
say "These are monsters" "these are the things that
are different," but nothing, to me, is worse than a
completely perfect human ideal and I just can't convey
to my players that's why I think the Invisible College
are so damn scary.

=====
-- Rp Bowman, Royal Minister of Stuff
The Electronic Nation of Yokeltania:
http://www.geocities.com/yokeltania/

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