#why is the mummy included in the main characters more the invisible man

[a-walking-fandom-reference]

i’ve been trying to watch all the og universal monster movies that i hadn’t seen this year and i just most of them are very cool and fun and i really like them and then there is the mummy that shit is soooo boring omg

[thenightling]

The Universal Monsters were surprisingly diverse

Everyone thinks that Media has "Gone woke" with diversity today but it occurred to me that the original Universal movie monsters were actually extremely diverse. Observe. Phantom of the Opera - French Dracula - Character from Romania / From Transylvania. Only American-made Dracula movie with an authentic Transylvanian. Dracula was played by an immigrant actor actually from Transylvania (which was part of Hungary at the time before reverting back to Romania. The boarders were shifting so often than "just to be safe" when Bela Lugosi became an American citizen he renounced citizenship to both Hungary and Romania. Dracula (Spanish version) - Filmed at night using the same sets as the Bela Lugosi movie in 1931, it is arguably better than the Bela Lugosi movie. Has an all-Spanish cast and better effects than the Bela Lugosi movie. Dracula's daughter (1936) - The character is canonically bisexual despite the era. Frankenstein - The Frankenstein's monster was brought to life (in the novel) in Ingolstadt Bavaria. The 1931 film was directed by James Whale (a gay man). And The Creature was played by Boris Karloff, an Anglo-Indian Man. Bride of Frankenstein - The most compassionate human character was the visually impaired old man who was self-sufficient, a surprisingly progressive portrayal of disability for the era. And the original Frankenstein monster was played by a man who was Anglo-Indian. Ernest Thesiger (who was gay in real life) played Dr. Pretorius. Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein - Features Ygor, who has a neck / spinal disability. (Not a hunchback the way the zeitgeist version has you think.) These films also feature a one armed police chief constable. The Wolfman - Welsh (though played by an American.) Bela Lugosi (immigrant) was also in the film. And the film has Roma characters, including the very sympathetic Maleva. Frankenstein meets The Wolfman - One of the main characters is a pro-active older Roma woman instead of a pretty damsel. Unfortunately the movie was badly chopped up for its theatrical release because test audiences didn't like Bela Lugosi's voice as the monster and didn't realize the Frankenstein monster was now Ygor's brain in The Monster's body (obviously most of the test audiences missed Ghost of Frankenstein). Had the film not been tampered with, this would have portrayed The Frankenstein monster as blinded, that's why this movie started the trend of imagining the Frankenstein monster stumbling around with his arms out stretched. Maleva (Roma) was also in this one. The Mummy - North African (Though played by an Anglo-Indian man from the UK, Boris Karloff. It was 1932 so it wasn't the best representation but the character was still North African). The Invisible man - Depicts mental illness (with arguable authenticity). Also directed by James Whale (gay man who directed Frankenstein). House of Frankenstein - The Welsh (Actually American) Wolfman falls in love with a Roma woman. Boris Karloff (who was Anglo-Indian) was in it but not as The Frankenstein monster. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein - The Invisible Man (though his scene is brief) was played by Vincent Price (bisexual in real life). Bela Lugosi (an immigrant from Transylvania (which was part of Hungary at the time) played Dracula. Creature from the black Lagoon - The Creature is from South America. The movie is from 1954 and features a woman scientist. An Immigrant from Eastern Europe, an Anglo-Indian, a gay director, at least one gay actor, at least one bisexual actor, a bisexual woman character, a North African character. Disability representation. Women, including a woman scientist. And more representation. That's more diversity than The Avengers.

[delightfully-deranged-dagur]

Okay, I'm just gonna write out my main ideas for my Reimagined Monster High. Here we go.

-it takes place in a world where monsters are outnumbered and shunned by humans, so monsters are forced to basically live in secret. Away from humans, in their own secret communities.

-The school itself was founded by Nora Bloodgood. Monster High was the first school of its kind to accept all kinds of monsters and has been running for hundreds of years. Also, it's a boarding school.

-The story will be mostly character driven with the main players being,

-Toralei Stripe. A werecat.

An orphan adopted by Headmistress Bloodgood. Toralei made friends with twin sisters Meowlody and Purrsephone Moon. Unfortunately, the 3 of them became the biggest bullies in the school. Though the twins were much more worse then Toralei. The twins were send to juvy after "the freezer incident".

"The freezer incident", Without Toralei's knowledge, the twins played their most dangerous prank of all. They locked Deuce Gorgon, a cold blooded monster into the school freezer, resulting in him almost freezing to death.

After that, Toralei took a long, hard look in the mirror and decided to change. Trying to redeem herself. So far most students are still untrusting of her. But 2 of them have forgiven her and became her friends, those 2 being...

-Clawdeen Wolf and Draculaura. A werewolf and vampire couple.

Clawdeen is a fashion designer with quite a following. Monsters love her designs and she's gotten quite a lot of commissions.

She always speaks her mind and has an extreme dislike for lies and liars. She's also fiercely loyal and protective of her friends and family, especially her younger siblings, Clawd and Howleen.

Draculaura is vegetarian vampire, no meat or blood for her. Unfortunately, due to her diet she's also extremely vulnerable to direct sunlight and always carries a parasol or umbrella with her.

Draculaura is one of, if not the most kind person in the school. And yet, there's some hints she's got a dark past. She's 1599 years old, so of course she has some secrets she doesn't want anyone to know about.

-Frankie Stein. One of the 3 new students at the beginning of the story.

Frankie is only a month old and still doesn't quite understand how the world works. She only knows stuff from outdated teen girl magazines. So, yeah. She knows nothing.

Frankie is assigned as Toralei's new roommate. Which means Toralei is half the time busy with making sure Frankie doesn't piss off the entire student body with her antics. Luckily she's helped by Clawdeen and Draculaura.

The 3 of them become Frankie's guides to life. With varying degrees of success.

-Gil Webber. The 2nd of 3 new students at school.

Gil was raised by highly abusive and bigoted parents. Constantly talking about how dangerous and despicable other monsters are. They sheltered Gil never letting him outside or go to the surface. Gil grew up terrified of the world.

Eventually, word got out about Gil's situation and the authorities got involved. Gil's parents were arrested and Gil was taken to Monster High and put in the care of Nora Bloodgood.

Gil is assigned as the new roommate of...

-Deuce Gorgon. Half gorgon, half human.

Deuce has lived for thousands of years since ancient Greece. Son of medusa and inherited her stone gaze. If he looks someone in the eye, they turn to stone. Luckily, since Deuce is half human the gaze is only temporary. And it doesn't work on monsters made out of stone or the undead. Like ghosts, zombies and mummies.

Deuce is a nervous wreck. Freezer trauma notwithstanding, he's constantly worried about dropping his sunglasses and turning someone to stone. He's also insecure about his skills as a chef and artist. He tries to look cool and laid back but he's not fooling anyone.

The snakes on his head are named, Jefferson, Addison, Carson, Maddison and Ed. He treats them as younger siblings even though they're all the same age.

Deuce has some trouble helping Gil not being afraid of everything. So he finds help from other water monsters. Sirena Von Boo? Too ditzy. Finnegan Wake? Comes on too strong. So his only choice is...

-Lagoona Blue. Half Sea monster, Half Water nymph.

Lagoona is bubbly, kind, carefree and very much a Himbo. She's genderfluid so they go by any pronouns he feels like at the moment.

They have 2 passions. Sports. And helping people out. And Gil is just the person that desperately needs Lagoona's help.

-Cleo De Nile. A mummy.

A princess who disowned her family because of how horrible they were. Cleo's lived long enough to know that being bad doesn't get you anywhere.

She's kind, understanding, and extremely generous. She's a natural born leader who takes charge when needed.

-Billy Where. An invisible man.

Billy, or "Invisi-Billy" as some call him is a theater kid at heart. Aside from that Billy also loves discovering the unknown and mysterious.

While his father is invisible all the time, Billy can control his visibility at will. He can even make other objects or people he's touching invisible.

Billy was assigned a new dorm room by Headmistress Bloodgood. A room down in the catacombs. He was put there cuz Bloodgood believes he can help the student living down there with his problems. That student being...

-Johnny Spirit. An unchained ghost.

Johnny died during the late 50s and he's got the greaser look down pat.

Johnny refuses to leave the catacombs and interact with other students, he does not wanna get involved or get attached to anyone. So he does not like having a roommate forced upon him.

And yet, as time goes on Johnny starts caring for Billy and thinking of him as a friend. Eventually trusting him enough to tell him the reason why he shut himself off. The story of how he died.

But that's a story for another time. ;P

Other important characters include,

Abbey Bominable. 3rd new student. She's blunt and likes photography. She has no roommate but gets taken in by,

Clawd Wolf and Heath Burns. Boyfriends that guide Abbey through the school and drag her into their shenanigans and schemes.

Ghoulia Yelps. Cleo's best friend and assistant. Genius.

Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde. Mad scientist and laid back DJ sharing a body.

Neightan Rot. Gay zombicorn. Can go from dishevelled hobo to fabulous drag queen in 10 seconds.

Spectra Vondergeist. Ghost "reporter" that runs the ghostly gossip.

And many more students.

So that's my basic idea. What do you think?

Feel free to leave questions about other students and their roles and what kind of plans I have for this au.

[brendancorris]

My Top 10 Universal Horror Movies

My final top horror list for the year, here’s my top 10 (sort of) Universal Monsters list. This is exclusively just the Universal horror films from the silent era to the 50s. I won’t be including later ones like Jaws or anything, just the original Monsters collection, or this list would be too big and messy.

#10...

The third in the Frankenstein series, I don’t feel it’s as good as its two prequels, but a damn good film all around. While hardcore fans of the Monster may be let down by how little he appears in the movie, I feel the real star of the show is Ygor, played by Bela Lugosi. It’s an interesting turn for the series, but still perfectly captures that classic Universal atmosphere. I feel this is the last great Frankenstein film in the Universal library, ironically also being the last one with Karloff behind the Monster.

#9...

I know many people would probably rank The Mummy higher than this on their personal top 10 Universal lists, and it IS a great movie, but I’ve always felt it was a bit weaker than the other greats in the Universal series. Karloff is amazing as the resurrected haunting mummy, Imhotep, and the film is far smarter and better acted than the other unrelated Mummy “sequels” that followed (not to mention all remakes). I have a few problems with the movie, like the rehash of many of Dracula’s elements (some argue it’s the exact same story), the lack of much spooky scenery and settings, and they kill a dog. Come on. Why do movie directors always have to kill the dog?

#8...

My personal favorite film adaptation of the classic romance tragedy, Lon Cheney IS the Phantom. His look and mannerisms (all makeup done by Cheney himself) were the perfect defining version of the character, and all later iterations always felt a bit flat in comparison. This one doesn’t seem to be as widely renowned as all the post-Dracula films, as silent movies rarely get enough love, but it truly is one of the greats, and in my opinion, the first Universal film to kick off their style of gothic horror.

#7...

This one is not only important in that it practically set up an entire genre, but is also just a really great film. The most famous character is likely the mute, drunken butler played by Boris Karloff, but the whole cast is really good. The mood and visuals of the film make it perfect for a stormy, spooky night.

#6...

Lugosi and Karloff together in one film, the Black Cat, which is really not at all related to the Poe story beyond the title, is actually a surprisingly damn good film despite the little buzz about it these days. We see Lugosi in a heroic role, which was not common at that point (or ever, really) and he actually plays a really likable guy, despite being really bizarre at times. The acting from Lugosi and Karloff is some of their best, and there are a lot of really interesting and ambitious effects and scene transitions for its time. I won’t spoil the whole film, but I will say that the ending is the only thing in the movie I don’t really care for. It ends on a crappy, throw-away joke after some really heavy events just occurred, which to me weakens the mood and, considering what the main protagonists just witnessed/did, makes them seem pretty inconsiderate and messed up.

#5...

A direct sequel to the 1931 classic, Dracula’s Daughter, Countess Zaleska, is an extremely interesting vampire for her time since she is reluctant to give into her curse. She’s sympathetic and dreams of a release from her vampirism, much in contrast to the monstrous pride of her father. Not only do we want to see her get better and succeed, but her gradual failure to fight her urges make for a very unique and complex vampire film for its time.

#4...

Though this is sort of the odd man out in the Universal series, as we don’t see any old European castles, mansions or laboratories, this film is still a ton of fun and a worthy member of the Universal Monsters Collection. After decades of magical monsters terrorizing the screen, the 50s gave birth to more monsters of science. And when it comes to sci fi horror films of the 50s, few are better than “Black Lagoon”. Some may find the Gillman suit a bit too silly and tacky looking today, but if you enjoy the slight campiness, this movie is a great time. It’s sequel, Revenge of the Creature, however, I probably feel is the worst Universal horror film I’ve ever seen. Not TERRIBLE, but not NEARLY as good as its prequel.

#3...

The Invisible Man is a smart and cheeky flick. Not as horror based as many of the other Universal classics, but still enough so to fit right in. The acting is great, the special effects are mind-boggling for their time, and the movie can actually be damn funny, especially with how surprisingly not weirded out the people are by Griffin’s invisibility. The only two complaints I have is that I would have rather had there been no explanation that the drug is responsible for his madness, and think it would have been more powerful and interesting if his madness was the result of his living in terror and paranoia, as well as realizing the freedom of his new form. Also, I hate that loud old woman. She’s so freaking annoying. I guess James Whale found her really funny, because she plays the exact same kind of loud annoying comic relief role in Bride of Frankenstein.

#2...

Often considered possibly the best Universal Monster film, Bride of Frankenstein is definitely one of the greats. While it is probably the best written, acted, and directed of the Frankenstein series, I do personally think it is not AS enjoyable as the first one. That being said, though, it is extremely well made, and surprisingly smart, emotional, and even witty for a 1930s horror film. It clearly has more to say than your average classic horror flick, but still delivers all the eerie atmosphere and sets you expect from Universal.

#1...

And for my #1 space, I couldn’t decide. These are the generic standard for Universal Monsters. They’re the three everybody thinks of first. But I genuinely just love these three the most. I used to say The Wolfman was probably a bit higher for me than the other two simply because I LOVE those foggy woodland sets, but Dracula and Frankenstein are so damn good, it’s impossible for me to choose. If I had to pick one as my favorite, it might be Dracula. It just perfectly embodies everything I identify the Universal collection by. All three of these movies excel in that perfect gothic style of visuals and setting and just have great simple yet absolute classic monster stories. Not to mention, the actors playing the monsters are perfect. It doesn’t feel like Halloween season any year if I don’t watch these three.

[theonyxpath]

Welcome back, faithful readers!

Last Time we talked about the elevator pitch for Deviant: The Renegades, the newest Chronicle of Darkness game. Deviant will be the eleventh main gameline in the CofD, the third to be written entirely for a second edition ruleset, and if you include every monster, faction and creature ever published in the “blue” books like Changing Breeds or Second Sight… Well, it’s a lot. Any new game has to do something to make itself stand out from the crowd. Unique points of interest, compared to its big siblings. Why should you play Deviant, rather than a “mortals” game using the Lost Boys in Hurt Locker? What does Deviant have to say about the fallout from trauma that Changeling doesn’t? Demon had the God-Machine, all the way from the original 2004 corebook, as an antagonist. Beast flipped our usual crossover assumption from supported in a supplement, maybe, to talked about throughout the core. Mummy brought back player-Storyteller knowledge separation and inverted our usual character progression.

When we pitched the game to White Wolf, we included the following key points, our design goals that would make Deviant stand out.

Simplification and Clarity

Chronicles of Darkness games have become increasingly complicated over the last decade (and as Awakening Developer, I know of what I speak,) with lots of moving parts and descriptive traits (things like Virtues, Aspirations, and Conditions) for players to keep track of above and beyond the visually-easy dot ratings on the character sheet.

Deviant is designed to be easier on a troupe than our other games. The Remade Template condenses several things; no Virtue or Vice and only one Aspiration, as their mechanical functions (willpower renewal and beat generation) are supplied by other traits. Deviant’s powers are dot-rated, bought individually, and mechanics like Supernatural Tolerance (which for everyone but Demons is supplied by a 1-10 trait like Blood Potency or Gnosis) derived from those powers rather than being bought and recorded separately. Our goal here is to have a clean character sheet that’s easy to read and understand.

Chronicle-specific Settings

And I don’t mean settings as in “LA” or “Moscow”. I mean as in dials and switches.

We’ve spoken here and there about how Deviant will, for the most part, be the lowest-powered game bar Hunter, as the Remade’s opponents are mostly ordinary, if organized, human beings. Well, a troupe can change that. A troupe can change a lot about the game.

Deviant characters buy their powers with Experiences, same as everyone, but how strong those powers are – their dot-rating, if you will – is entirely up to the troupe. The total badassery of a character then feeds into other mechanics, informing how bad her Scars are, how potent her opposing conspiracy is, and other things. While isolation and instability brings further Scars and, as the character rebalances, more powers, that initial setting is entirely up to the troupe. A bare-minimum Deviant character is slightly more potent than someone with a Supernatural Merit, an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink Deviant is a walking timebomb. Where you sit on that curve at chronicle’s start is up to you, divorced from Experiences and beats.

It’s not the only thing.

The Remade template itself is somewhat more variable than our other games. The splats alter how many powers, Scars, and Conviction and Loyalty dots a character receives at creation, but that’s a game design element dating back to Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Where Deviant stands out is the support in the game for what we call Forms, modifications to the Remade template as it applies to a particular character. Imagine if Kiths were much more involved, but not every Changeling character had one, or if Vampire presented things like postmortem embraces, clanless vampires, and hollow Mekhet as the game’s customisation option rather than bloodlines. Forms allow us to handle things that require extra rules but don’t fit our splats, like Symbiotes.

Build Your Own Powers

In keeping with the last point, one of the big draws of b is how open-ended the powers list is going to be. All Variations have one of a set list of activation mechanics (I’ll explain this in a later blog) and then the player picks a Variation and “skins” it according to his character’s aesthetics. Creating a Deviant character feels like assembling a custom monster from building blocks, which when combined with the fact that how potent Variations are is divorced from Experiences, gives the game a unique niche among the Chronicles of Darkness, akin to Exigents in Exalted. Mage has the free improvisation of effects within guidelines in play, but Deviant has a power workshop. Our intention is for it to be the go-to game for building playable one-off monsters.

Chronicle Planning / Antagonist Systems

Deviant isn’t just about body-horror; it’s about a struggle with your enemy. A Remade’s Progenitor is not necessarily a member of the Conspiracy hunting them. Many Deviants are self-made, but their antagonists are looking to acquire them just the same. As you’ll see when we get around to blogging about Instability, without some external force to rail against a Deviant’s broken soul metastasizes and inflicts more debilitating aftereffects of their change.

Here’s something I don’t think we’ve spoken about anywhere – at some point between now and Deviant being released, dedicated Chronicles readers will see a ruleset we’ve been working on across several gamelines over the last few years for organization-level play. In the book they’re coming in first, they’re used for player-controlled groups, treating them almost as characters. Deviant will use them, but for the antagonists.

What this means is that the conspiracy hunting Deviant characters will have a character sheet of its own, filled out by the Storyteller from facts established by player choices in character creation and collaborative questions. The more Variations a Remade character has (and how powerful they are) is a key factor in how many points the Storyteller has to spend on their Conspiracy, and multiple players can pool their Conspiracy creation together.

In Deviant‘s Storytelling chapter we’ll have an optional system (in so much as the ST can override it at any time) for determining the Conspiracy’s “actions” in response to what the player characters do in a Story, how active the Conspiracy is in hunting them, and other factors determined by the Conspiracy’s “stats”. This isn’t new ground for rpgs in general, but for a Chronicles of Darkness game we haven’t tried it before.

Tap into Unused Source Material

After two worlds of darkness and 25+ years, there can’t be any monsters we haven’t done a game for before, right?

Wrong.

While inspirational media for some of our games is thin on the ground or requires a sideways view, Deviant taps into horror stories we’ve all seen and read but haven’t had a place in White Wolf games yet. From the last remaining famous gothic horrors – Dr. Jekyll, Dr. Moreau’s creations, and the Invisible Man are all comfortably within the game’s remit – to 1970s and 1980s stories of isolation being linked to mutation and metamorphosis like the works of Cronenburg (especially the Fly), Japanese horror featuring monstrously transformed protagonists like Guyver, Akira, and Tetsuo, to the 1990s and early millennial trend for “minor supernatural beings versus the conspiracy” like Dark Angel, Gargoyles, Beauty and the Beast, and Roswell, to modern classics that draw from all of the above like Orphan Black and Fringe. You’ve all seen a Deviant story, you just didn’t know it.

A Toolkit

To summarize, Deviant is going all-in on the tendency for Chronicles of Darkness games to be “toolkits”. Some of the CofD games have a firmer idea of “canon” than others – compare, for example, the just-as-setting-heavy-as-a-WoD-game Mage and Changeling to the every-Chronicle-is-different Hunter and Beast, but in Deviant no two Chronicles will use exactly the same rules. Within that wide-open customisation, it’s still a Chronicles game, laser-focused on the inner journey of the players’ characters and the story of isolation, revenge, and mutation they tell.

And that story – Deviant‘s themes and mood – will be the subject of our next blog.

Until then!