Fallout and HP Lovecraft

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xCassiusSlay

First time out of the vault
Hi. New guy, old fan. Just curious... Mutants,aliens and androids...

Lovecraft's particular juxtaposition of sci-fi and horror seems to me, to be a nice pairing. Lovecraft's stories tend to involve semi-gelatinous substances, such as slime, as opposed to the generic elements such as blood, bones, or corpses; which he is no stranger of considering he may have authored the original concept of zombies in literature.

Even when dealing with up-to-date technology, Lovecraft tended to use old-fashioned words when dealing with such things. For example, he used the term "man of science" rather than the modern word, "scientist."

Detachment. Lovecraftian heroes (both in original writings and in more modern adaptations) tend to be isolated individuals, usually with an academic or scholarly bent.

Although Lovecraftian heroes may occasionally deal a "setback" to malignant forces, their victories are temporary, and they usually pay a price for it. Otherwise, subjects often find themselves completely unable to simply run away, instead driven by some other force to their desperate end.

There have been times in fallout that one could say was scary or thrilling. They might have been your favorite quest lines or locations. How do you feel about having Fallout float towards a more Lovecraftian style of story telling or theme as opposed to the more slap stick, dark- comedy and "wild wasteland esque" route that it has been for so long?

Is it time to evolve or grow? Or should it stay true to the roots?

Thanks for reading.
 
A quest or two, as a nod to that author, might fit in a bethesda fallout, sure.
 
Right, I don't mean all of Fallout be one big Lovecraft story. But more so, Iamsaying that the Lovecraftian style fits Fallout so well. Seeing as though future Fallout games have to grow and change..

Would you want a lighter hearted funny albeit adventurous wasteland or a darker, dangerous, thrilling wasteland
 
I think it's kind of a false dichotomy. Fallout 1's wasteland, and to an extent New Vegas', was a bleak, dark, grim place. What laughs were to be had were in counterpoint to the fact that the world was a miserable place and your life could end at any moment, for a variety of depressingly mundane reasons. You had no idea what you were up against, but what you gradually uncovered was a vastly powerful inhuman force spawned from the forgotten remnants of the mythic past, a corrupting influence capable of twisting the minds and bodies of men into abominable forms. Humanity itself, even apart from that, was prone to falling prey to the baser elements of its nature. I'd say there were Lovecraftian elements inherent in the series from the start, they just got blunted over time. The series could profit thematically from re-emphasizing some of them, I think, but it would have to be through its own lens.

"Lovecraftian elements" would be fine, and would actually be a return to first principles. To aim for a full-on "Lovecraftian style," though, would be a disservice to the franchise in my opinion-- just one more hamfistedly borrowed thematic component grafted onto an increasingly diluted setting.
 
xCassiusSlay said:
Hi. New guy, old fan. Just curious... Mutants,aliens and androids...

Lovecraft's particular juxtaposition of sci-fi and horror seems to me, to be a nice pairing. Lovecraft's stories tend to involve semi-gelatinous substances, such as slime, as opposed to the generic elements such as blood, bones, or corpses; which he is no stranger of considering he may have authored the original concept of zombies in literature.

Even when dealing with up-to-date technology, Lovecraft tended to use old-fashioned words when dealing with such things. For example, he used the term "man of science" rather than the modern word, "scientist."

Detachment. Lovecraftian heroes (both in original writings and in more modern adaptations) tend to be isolated individuals, usually with an academic or scholarly bent.

Although Lovecraftian heroes may occasionally deal a "setback" to malignant forces, their victories are temporary, and they usually pay a price for it. Otherwise, subjects often find themselves completely unable to simply run away, instead driven by some other force to their desperate end.

There have been times in fallout that one could say was scary or thrilling. They might have been your favorite quest lines or locations. How do you feel about having Fallout float towards a more Lovecraftian style of story telling or theme as opposed to the more slap stick, dark- comedy and "wild wasteland esque" route that it has been for so long?

Is it time to evolve or grow? Or should it stay true to the roots?

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

I would love a Lovecraft setting game with the turn based RPG engine style of Fallout 1 & 2. Would be great if it was in the present.
 
"Mutants, aliens, and androids' is not accurate. Aliens are purely an easter egg thing, unless you're bethesda, and adroids are purely a bethsda thing.
 
Wintermind said:
"Mutants, aliens, and androids' is not accurate. Aliens are purely an easter egg thing, unless you're bethesda, and adroids are purely a bethsda thing.
Click to expand...

I think the aliens he means are the wannamingos, not the random encounter. If that's the case, it should be noted that they are not aliens, but a bioweapon designed before the war. The idea of them being aliens is just what people at Redding, ignoring their origins, assumed they was.
 
Aliens (as in, actual aliens) were an Easter Egg thing. Wannamingos you meet outside of Redding are called Aliens too.

But it's not a serious or anything resembling a large part of Fallout. Mutants, yes. Aliens? Androids? no.
 
I'm a huge Lovecraft fan, and seeing more nods to his works would be great.

But you do know they've already put Lovecraftian themes in Fallout, right? In Fallout 3 there's a place called the Dunwich Building and if you have the Point Lookout add-on you get yourself involved in a lot of Eldritch shenanigans. Not really any cool new monsters, though. Just inbred swamp people in a cult.
 
Well, it's really hard not to find Lovecraftian influence without drawing direct inspiration. The centaurs come to mind and like another poster; wanamingos.

Apart from monster design, tho, I don't think the Lovecraftian method of story telling would be very welcome. Hardcore fallout fans seem to not be agreeable to much change at all.
 
I think it'd fit in the same way "Barrier Peaks" module did to DnD PnP, cool sideline and a break from the setting.

Also, alot of the retro-future that FO titles draw from were inspired by the pulp sci fi books of the 30s'-50's, and alot of those imprints made almost no distinction between genre sci-fi and horror. You could get a lovecraft inspired novella back-to-back with the latest Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship.

I think you'd be walking a fine line to do itfor an entire game, but parts of a fallout could easily accomodate that genre, think of Hellboy/BRPD in that light (the comics), it veers between horror/hero/tech pretty loosely, comic by comic.
 
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