OK, this is a subject I like to go back to often, like an ongoing conversation with friends, that is regularly interrupted, and starts again as soon as possible. Today it’s sparked by friend and estimated fellow TTRPG designer David Blandy’s tweet about the joy of cosmic horror.

I get what David says, sort of, but I must confess that somehow I don’t know what Cosmic Horror is. Or what is it about? And this kind of freaks me out, I’m writing a modern horror game, The Lost Bay, see UNIT DH-17 early adventure for the game, and I’m worried the game won’t hit the right horror chords. I mean, in TTRPGs, and geek culture, Cosmic Horror is one of the main (horror) genres, what happens if I don’t understand it, if the stuff I write is totally devoid of it? (But is it anyway?)

Why is Cosmic Horror like a foreign language to me? A language I am fascinated about, but can’t understand? Is it because of my personal or cultural background? Probably.

I grew up in quite an archaic place, and The Lost Bay is sort of an adaptation/transposition into TTRPG of that place.

By archaic I mean three things

1.the proximity with an untamed nature. Because of the lack of modern infrastructures, it was quite common to feel the indifferent power of nature weigh on one’s life: your house is destroyed by a sudden landslide, you live on top of a volcano that might blow up any moment, there is no hospital around and you could die easily from a wound or bug.

2.social structure: from how to greet, to how to die and be buried, to how you must retaliate when offended, the unspoken archaic laws of the Bay are actually more important than the written laws and codes. I remember an old dude telling a visitor: “written law ends and the mouth of the Bay, the Bay has its own codes, you must abide by them as soon as you set foot here”. I’m kind of romanticizing here, of course, but still, as an example: it’s illegal to bury your dead yourself, but I know a lot of folks who buried close ones in a cave, underwater, in a communal grave, because that’s the Way. And the Way is better/stronger than the Law.

3.archaic beliefs: a few years ago I came back from a party at around 3am, the party was boring, and I didn’t like some of the folks there. I drove probably 40km to get back home, in the darkest of nights, and just as I was entering the suburb of the town I noticed a pale elongated shade on the side of the road. The view of it froze my heart, I was shit scared. The next day I told my friends what happened: they all got alarmed instantly. I could have died in a gory car accident, alone, cursed. Something was probably after me: a supernatural force ambushing me, a dead ancestor trying to collect a debt of some sort, or some living person hating me and projecting their hate in the shape of that ectoplasm. Anyway, that specific spot was too dangerous for me, so I shouldn’t take that street again. Big deal, but no big deal. All those conversations were happening while we were swiping on our smartphones at the karaoke bar. Archaic beliefs, in a sort of modern world. Archaic beliefs where there is no clear distinction between the visible and invisible worlds, the living and the dead, natural and supernatural forces.

And horror? Oh there is horror in the Bay: people disappearing, murders, stuff way worse than murders, violent nature, beasts, stuff coming back from the dead, or from even weirder places. But like all things, horror is part of the world you live in. You have to deal with it. You might be a victim of that horror, sometimes you might even cause it. Horror, even in its most violent expression, is small, not epic. And in a way, this is precisely what makes it horrifying. It’s not an ancient deity, a gigantic corp, or a wandering asteroid, it’s your neighbor. Could be a real person, a curse, a demon, but it’s close to you. If it’s a beast from hell, it probably eats in your trash bin, and you have to clean after it every morning.

The Lost Bay is a place of violent UnCosmic Horror.

As the Bay is getting more modern every year (some back there would say colonized) this belief structure is slowly fading away, or maybe just adapting to new sets of values, and rules.

I’d love to say much more about this, and the game I’m writing is the way I’ve found to do so, but I’d love to hear your thoughts too, and keep this convo going. Is Cosmic Horror a part of your culture? What is it really? What space is there for horror in games? Is UnCosmic Horror a thing?

Photo from https://www.jadorechambery.com/2434/legende-de-la-dame-blanche-de-chapareillan/