Who's Who In The CBU Update 2009

Who are... Park and Barb?

Barbara Lien-Cooper and Park Cooper, are the owners of Wicker Man Studios and of Gun Street Girl, its flagship project created by Barbara and artist Ryan Howe. Barbara has written for many websites, and served a one-year stint as Managing Editor of the multiple-Eisner-award-winning print magazine Comic Book Artist. Park is the Editor-in-Chief of indie comics company Septagon Studios, and of Comics Bulletin's sister-website MangaLife. Together, they also co-wrote the graphic novel Half Dead, published by Dabel Brothers Productions and Marvel Comics, and later picked up again by Desperado Publishing, and the New Media project The Hidden for manga publisher Tokyopop. They both also adapt manga and edit manga and comics for various companies.

Of Dice And Men: The Conclusion

By Park Cooper

Dr. Park Cooper here, co-writer of this column and husband to Barb Lien-Cooper. I’ve been busy for these last months and stuff being Editor-in-Chief over at http://www.mangalife.com (which continues to look for additional writers, let me know if you’re interested).

I’ve also been writing a monthly column for Septagon Studios, the other place I’m Editor-in-Chief, called The Septagon Briefing. http://news.septagonstudios.com/?p=228 Here’s one of them.

More vital news is that Gun Street Girl is being hosted over at Wicker Man Studios: http://www.wickermanstudios.com/comics/gsg/gsg-archives.html

I still do the stuff I’ve been doing, too, lately, like teach college, edit and adapt manga and so on.

Interesting bits of news there, actually:

1. First, a thing we edited for Del Rey, MINIMA! volume 2 is out. Imagine Toy Story meeting, I dunno, a sweet and innocent Kare Kano, and you'll be on the right track.

2. Even more Park-and-Barb-flavored, a manhwa (from Korea, you see) we adapted/rewrote from Day 1, volume 1 of FORGET ABOUT LOVE is currently on sale from TOKYOPOP. It's a high-school comedy.

3. We found out today that the most recent issue of the United States' version of SHONEN JUMP, brought to you by Viz and... well... Shonen Jump... has, as its first story (before Naruto even), NORA, a manga Barb and I adapted/rewrote which will be on sale soon. In the manga world, this is a big deal. If you are into manga and action, Shonen Jump is THE big deal, monthly magazine-wise. Even if you love all genres equally, really. Once again, that's the October 2008 version of Shonen Jump, Volume 6, Issue 10. It's comedy/supernatural/action in the flavor of Naruto and Inu-Yasha.



Anyhoo, I tried to pick up a little work on the side recently— someone contacted me who wanted, since D&D 4th Edition is “open source” as far as supplemental materials goes, to put out a series of books dealing with gaming using D&D and various genres, such as say horror. Wanted me to write the introductory chapter to each book, and then he and his crew would work on the specific content to fill the book after that.

Fell apart when he went to a recent con and decided that the fan jury, particularly the hardcore old-school diehard gamer jury, is still very much out about 4th Edition... risky. Offered to pay me a little for our (I brought Barb in on it as a horror expert greater than myself) work, which was nice, but it seems quite a shame that the outline we worked on will never see the light of day. In retrospect, I notice I was just getting my ideas down first, I was going to go back and tailor it specifically for 4th Edition later, so right now there's a strong 3.5 and back vibe. What the heck; no harm, no foul.

So, I’m making said outline see the light of day here, since it’s fannish and pop-culture enough, being the intersection of Gamer and Horror Fan. Maybe someone else will see it and say “say, I think I’ll hire one or more Coopers to write some sort of fannish or popular-cultural thing for me; I like the cut or cuts of his, her, or their jib or jibs.”

Annnnnd so here's the conclusion of the whole thing. Enjoy.




J. --Evil Cult
1. Definition
2. Examples: To The Devil a Daughter, The Wicker Man
3. Incorporating it into your game
4. Considerations

K. --Goremaster
1. Definition: The protagonists are trapped in a place they can’t leave, where they are at risk of being harmed, mowed down, critically wounded, and killed.
2. Examples: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Town That Dreaded Sundown
3. Incorporating it into your game: Give the PCs an NPC pacifist cleric they have to escort somewhere (an excellent healer, but no good in a fight), trap them in a hard-to-defend town or isolated place, and then send in the bad guys to take them apart—literally. If they make it out, or until the morning, without letting the cleric die, the cleric can heal them all up without interruption, but in the meantime, break out the critical hit tables.
4. Considerations: Can be adjusted for the difficulty level of any party, but good judgment must be made about how to use it.

L. Mad Scientist/Insane Wizard
1. Definition
2. Examples: Frankenstein
3. Incorporating it into your game
4. Considerations – risk of seeming campy if done wrong

M. Hunted – The Most Dangerous Game
1. Definition: The PCs are hunted by one or more deadly intelligent beings, especially if for sport.
2. Examples: The Most Dangerous Game, Predator
3. Incorporating it into your game
4. Considerations: Good for any party level, as long as the villain and the setting is equally challenging. Good for a thief-heavy party, who can find traps that may have been already set—and perhaps set a few of their own...

N. Dream Logic and Nightmares
1. Definition: pull the PCs into a world, or a dream state, where they must confront dreams, nightmares, symbolism… perhaps make it a mystery of why they’re there and how to get out
2. Examples: Nightmare on Elm Street, Paperhouse
3. Incorporating it into your game: There are various cleric spells involving dreams... or you could have the PCs troubled by a nearby psychic or magical monster who sees them as a threat and attacks them in their dreams.
4. Considerations: Can be very good for high-level players with a long history—revisiting their most frightening moments—or for new characters played by the kind of creative player who likes writing up a whole detailed life story for his or her character... a rich background for a wily DM to draw upon. Good for any level, since reality can be what the DM makes of it—Wisdom or Intelligence rolls might even allow the PCs to affect the dream’s reality!

III. Considerations about you and your group
A. What violence level are the players used to?
B. What patience level are your players at? Will they get bored if you set them an evil conspiracy to unravel, or is it just their cup of tea?
C. At what speed should you best introduce horror? Are they about to walk if you don’t offer a fresh challenge fast, or do you want to just toss in a few elements of horror and get their feedback first?
D. As DM, how are you at handling flavor text? Are evocative descriptions a problem for you?
E. With what level of disturbing material might your players be comfortable? What are the ages and experience levels of your group—and are their any young potential spectators running around the house where you game to consider?

IV. Techniques:
A. Keep the players off-balance
B. Use the unexpected—know their expectations and play with them
C. Be mysterious – give them clues they just don’t know what to make of at all (until later)
D. The Twist/Turning the Tables (Like Twilight Zone)
E. Don’t tell-- hint! The players’ imaginations will often come up with ideas about what’s going on that are just as scary as what you have planned—but the important thing is getting them to scare themselves
F. You have to give to take away—if there are no places, people, or things that are precious to the PCs, you may have to start establishing some. Imagine several months’ worth of gaming around a certain city, defending it, solving problems there, meeting kind locals—and returning to find half of it in flames from an attack—or worse yet, entirely, suddenly, and mysteriously abandoned, without anyone, not even bodies, left to be found (by daylight, anyway)
G. Hostages. Fear—and manipulation--can come from the PCs themselves not being directly in danger
G. Don’t just inflict things on the PCs—always threaten first!
H. Torture/entrapment/(threaten!)
I. Death/Soul. Death is an important consideration in a world with a spell for resurrection... if the party is nonchalant about death, make it clear that, due to magic, a cursed weapon, or a special monster, there may not be any coming back if the PCs fail...
J. Lack of control. What’s important in horror is that the players are made to feel that the situation is—or might instantly be—out of their control...
K. Real Life Mood: music, lights, time of day... It seems obvious to say, but the mood can be heightened by such simple things as creepy music, dimmer lighting, or just arranging to play at night, if that’s not already the case...
L. Flavor text—the grotesque—atmosphere—again, these things can be key...
M. Isolate the PCs -- no help (citizens chasing them?)! Perhaps they visit an area where everyone speaks a language they don’t know...
N. Paranoia
O. Mind control/tampering
P. Betrayal
Q. Darkness and the invisible/weather—not only does the game have special modifiers for fighting in the dark, various monsters are just plain invisible—or can be made invisible... and, failing that, there’s no denying that it’s more frightening to fight monsters in pouring rain (or a blizzard) than in sunshine... or, worst of all, fog
R. Spells, monsters, races, children, certain governments or organizations—experienced PCs will think they know how all of these should behave. But when spells don’t work right (or at all), when elves are mysteriously afraid to go into the woods and won’t talk about why, when children follow the PCs at a distance, eerily mute... when the members of the local thieves’ guild start leaving town in droves, leaving all their possessions behind... the players will start wondering what everyone else knows that they don’t
S. Use of prophecies/strange warnings/premonitions
T. Tell the players that it’s very important that they NOT do something (like, say, losing a magical key that locks the entrance to the dungeon behind them so that the monsters don’t get out while the party goes in to do something), and then that something happens (they get back to the dungeon exit, and sure enough, that friendly goblin stole the key and the PCs can’t get out unless they get it back)




Extra: Fear First, Then Examples

After I did all that, the person I was creating it for suggested switching it around so as to focus on the fear first, then giving examples. Sure, I'm game... the following is what I came up with before I got word that the whole thing was kaput...


A. PC vs. Himself/Herself-- One important element of horror is when your body starts changing in ways you weren’t planning on—and which you don’t like. This is at the core of all classic werewolf stories—nowadays, werewolves are often just another type of monsters that attack, but before that, the horror of a werewolf was that one was changing into something else, and that nothing could stop it. This could also be done through all sorts of spells or other sorts of magic that affect the mind—say that a spell has made the PC ready to betray the other players at a critical moment, and (due to a note passed from the DM to the player) none of them know! Of course, that PLAYER will know—and that will make the whole thing excruciating for that player in the meantime, and horrifying for everyone once it happens.
1. Cinematic Examples – Ginger Snaps, most werewolf movies, Jekyll and Hyde, The Fly
2. Incorporating it into your game: Have your team fight a lycanthrope, get bit, hand them all notes about if it’s them or not, keep playing regardless, try to find a cure once they all realize what’s happening
3: Technique: Impending Doom—Various sorts of magical causes can cause the PCs to grow older by a year every hour—or younger, with a respective change in their ability scores that increases as time passes. They can fail saves they’d normally make, fumble attacks, and so on, heightening their sense of endangerment and increasing difficulty to do anything about it. Play it right, and they’ll start to panic...


B. PCs vs. the Visual— Humans rely first and foremost on their sense of sight, so if that’s interfered with, they can feel a real and terrifying loss of control—it’s why people are afraid of the dark. But what it’s important to realize is that the human imagination works the same way—if you have someone imagine a place, what they’ll want the most is visual details to get a sense of the new location. By taking that away from your PCs, you can really start to scare them.
1. Incorporating it into your game: Not only does the game have special modifiers for fighting in the dark, various monsters are just plain invisible—or can be made invisible... and, failing that, there’s no denying that it’s more frightening to fight monsters in pouring rain (or a blizzard) than in sunshine... or, worst of all, fog.
2. Real Life Mood: music, lights, time of day... It seems obvious to say, but the mood can be heightened by such simple things as creepy music, dimmer lighting, or just arranging to play at night, if that’s not already the case...
3. Flavor text—the grotesque—atmosphere—again, these things can be key... Having discussed taking away visual cues (besides the very visual details of an invisible monster tearing someone or something [like a sturdy locked door] apart before the PC’s eyes), don’t forget that what can really creep out your players is to start replacing the visual details with audible ones—the thud or creaking (depending on the floor type) of footsteps approaching, or growls and snarls...

C. PCs vs. Teeth and Claws: Ah, killer monsters. This is actually the most typical problem in all of D&D—the horror comes from making the players feel in over their heads... and then thinking they’ve got it under control... and then showing them they’re wrong... etc. It’s not about sending wave after wake of bugbears to attack until the PCs are dead, it’s about feeling stalked by something cunning—but unnatural.
1. Cinematic Examples: Alien/Aliens, The Howling
2. Technique: Claustrophobia/Agoraphobia—you can enhance this kind of fear by using your flavor text to drive home the idea that either the PCs are in a small, cramped tunnel—or worse, a dead-end tunnel; or the exact opposite, that they realize that they’re about to be attacked by a swarm of flying beasties right when they’re out in the middle of an open plain with no available cover anywhere in sight... planning ahead will help you set this up, but the right flavor text at the right time can be even more useful.





Anyway, if any publishers out there of any sort are saying "This young Cooper chap is brimming with ideas for fantasy and/or horror, eh what-what!" ...Sure, I'm game. Contact me at the address above and I'll propose some of the many ideas I've got.


Okay, that's it for this time... more about manga next time, if I guess right... please look forward to next time