Hi, gang,
I must say, it was encouraging and refreshing to see so many requests for a teaser about the themes of Mummy: The Curse. Since theme is so fundamental to Storytelling games (and to storytelling in general), it’s certainly a great place to start.
Like other World of Darkness games, the world of Mummy plays host or potential host to more than one theme. The protagonists who stand front-and-center in our setting — the Deathless — are ancient and complex souls, each with the potential to reach both the pinnacle of greatness and the nadir of loss or despair, possibly even within the same chronicle. With such a vast, dynamic range of story and personality, of character and complication, it follows that the underpinnings could be similarly broad.
With that said, two themes stand out as the most foundational to the game and to its main characters. The several other themes at work in the game all derive from either these foundational two or from the specific setting background and contextual elements in which the characters’ stories will unfold. The first, and by far the most central of these themes, is memory. Once-mortal souls that must weather not just the passing of centuries, and with them the death of all that’s familiar in culture and civilization, but also the passing of themselves through that same process — as they too must die and be reborn, over and over again — cling to memory like the balm that it is. Memory is not only that which sustains the soul as an independent entity, but that which defines the story of one’s existence. And when one’s existence drags on, through and beyond the lifetimes of all those around him/her — save only other true immortals — the importance of memory does not wither, but grow. Indeed, memory is so fundamental to a mummy that it’s represented by its own game Trait.
The Janus twin of memory, then, and our other foundational theme, is self-discovery. Even creatures that live for but a moment, as compared to a mummy, often struggle with what it means to simply identify themselves: their true character (or soul, if one prefers that term), as well as the purpose or purposes that drive them to daily action. If knowing one’s self and one’s place in the roll of history — or, in more esoteric terms, the role that Fate has in store — is important to a human being, imagine how important it must be to one who once was human, but whose soul now persists. Forever. This theme is doubly important in the specific context of this game, since mummies struggle to retain details of their origins and former life, which makes self-discovery — or re-discovery — a central narrative element in many Mummy stories and chronicles. The more a soul discovers or re-discovers of itself, the greater its memory and sense of its own place in the scope of time. Self-discovery isn’t represented in Traits, but that makes it no less pivotal to the game’s characters.
Until next time…
Senebti!
Nice, very nice! Obviously, we’re not just talking the shambling, wrapped up horrors of classic film here, or even more modern interpretations.
Given some of the hints being thrown around, I’m very, very interested in seeing what these novel systems and subsystems are going to be for M: tC.
“the shambling, wrapped up horrors of classic film”
I know this is the cliche’d image of the mummy, but like Rambo as a patriotic action hero, it’s built entirely on the later films and is completely unlike the original.
The original film version of The Mummy with Boris Karloff is cited in WoD: Mummy as one of the inspirations for the game. His Imhotep spent all of two minutes wrapped in bandages, and the rest of the film plotting and scheming and, most importantly, blending into the people of modern Egypt.
It’s a fantastic movie, and aside from the first moments following his awakening, entire devoid of shuffling or shambling, bandaged or otherwise.
It’s important to tread a fine line between playing that tired trope straight and utterly subverting it. The image of a shambling, uncomprehending monster babbling in Archaic Egyptian and shattering bones with a clumsy swipe is iconic and powerful. The fact of the matter is, your audience knows this as the classic depiction of mummies in popular culture, and if you don’t acknowledge that in some manner you’re going to fail to engage their interest.
You’re right in that you’ll ultimately gain far more drama out of of blending the eternal with the temporal, telling stories of beings who’ve seen the rising sun gleaming off white pyramid stones and steel skyscrapers alike. nMummy’s task, then, is to engage mummy fans new and old on both levels, something I think Resurrection didn’t always succeed at.
I guess this is a point where we just don’t see eye-to-eye, then, because I don’t see anything in the “shambling, uncomprehending monster” to be worth emulating in a player character, however ‘iconic’ it is. In fact, I’m curious if Jaym Gates’ comment below about how she’d “never given a second thought to mummies” is because of her associating the word with the image you describe.
Simply put, Karloff’s Imhotep was actually interesting; I want to play him, not Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.’s shuffling archaeologist-killing zombie in the later films). When I first heard about the original WoD: Mummy, I was baffled because I didn’t get how they could be interesting characters; the 1999 remake hadn’t happened yet, and I had yet to see the Karloff original. But then I heard about the premise and immediately went “Oh hell yes.” The fact that Karloff’s version was named as an inspiration for White Wolf’s version in the 2nd edition was what inspired me to finally watch it.
This doesn’t mean that the relentless shuffling murder machine can’t have a niche in the game (werewolves in both Apocalypse and Forsaken are far more complex than the movies, but there’s still room for those who mindlessly kill on the full moon), but it seems to me it should be that: a niche. Perhaps a corpse animated by a PC mummy as a tomb guardian, or as someone on RPGnet suggested, a Deathless who can no longer stand the relentless march of history and so entombs himself with relics of his past, only to awaken when disturbed by an archaeologist or tomb robber who removes one of these relics (or from the mummy’s perspective, literally stealing his memories). It just seems to me that focusing on these tropes for the game would be a mistake, as much as focusing on infectious bites and lunar rampages would have been a mistake for either Werewolf game.
Regardless, the game’s basically done at this point, so it’s not like my input will affect the outcome. But that’s my two cents on the matter.
You are going to get a ton more mileage out of immortals applying eternal principles to the transitory world than a hideously strong monster struggling to comprehend a new existence. Nobody’s disuputing that, least of all me. Nobody’s suggesting a laser focus on those tropes.
You do, however, need to have a nod to them, at the very least – even if it’s only in a mummy who’s fallen below PC status and is bereft of all memory, or one who’s just awakened. They might be a sad part of the Mummy mythos, or the one most regrettably ubiquitous, but that ubiquity is there. to wonder what the hell they bought.
Very glad to see that the concept of periods of death and rebirth as well as the enduring soul have remained. Very curious to see how memory works as a trait in the game.
As a serious Mokolé fan, I think I will swoon if the ability is for whatever reason named “Mnesis”. ^_^
I like how this contrasts with Vampire, and it’s very interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing!
I forgot if it was mentioned somewhere: is there an ETA on the game’s release?
Hi, Claire. We’re shooting for a GenCon debut, same as most every prior WoD game. 🙂
Aha. One of these years, I’m actually going to make it to GenCon! For now, I shall have to make do with the fact that this game is coming out.
When’s GenCon? August, right? Too far away! I can’t wait that long! What do you think I am, immortal?
😛
Random question (to tide me over until the next update): will mummies be able to travel to one of the known other realms, like the Shadow Realm or the Underworld?
“-Brand new and Ancient-”
Reading this, those four words from the Eleventh Doctor spring to mind. I like that as a tone and central idea, and that’s what’s communicated. If Vampires are defined by the struggle of entropy, Mummies being defined by a struggle of renewal is a very nifty contrast.
Even more simply though, the theme is identity, and that is my absolute favorite concept to challenge and play with. I’m liking this.
Fantastic.
I guess it would be asking you to give too much away to ask what the nature of the mummies’ immortality is? You hint at it so deliciously.
Awesome. I’m digging it!
You know, I’d never given a second thought to mummies, but this stands to be a fascinating rival to vampires for complexity and mythology.
~applause~
Think of the instant hatred vampires might have for mummies, for being able to remember the passage of time from great ages to modern times.
Then again, mummies apparently struggle to retain details of their origins and former lives. I could see some uneasy alliances being formed.
We can remember it for you wholesale. 🙂
I love this! Can’t wait to have more infos! =P
Posted and waiting new comments: http://livrodosespelhos.com/mummy-temas-do-novo-jogo/
I’ll watch Boris Karloff’ The Mummy again, and waiting for more infos *-*
Ooh, I like this. It could be very interesting 🙂
Yet the question that truly matters to me: Is Mummy a game where you can have ancient pulp sorcerers plotting against eachother across the ages?
It might not be the focus, but so far I haven’t seen anything that says it can’t be played that way if you wanted…
They did say there’s quite a few themes spinning off from the central ones above. I remain hopeful that ancient plotting sorcerers is one of them.
This sounds amazing! I cannot wait for this game. I surmise by these themes that historical time periods and storytelling will be a great way to explore these characters. I can envision a character from the early Christian Gnostic era in the modern nights!!
Guys, I can assure you right now that ancient plotting sorcerers are an *integral* part of Mummy: The Curse.
I…
(sniff)
I think I love you.
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
Shut up and take my money!
😀
Excellent, exactly what I was hoping for 🙂
So who are the protagonists? What’s a mummy in the context of this game?
Oh my God, it’s a game about playing The Nameless One. This post alone (with some help from hearing that Greg Stolze will be involved) made me do a 180 from laughing hysterically at the eternal punchline of oWoD being brought back to intensely interested. So, are the parallels to Planescape: Torment’s theme of undying existence and searching for your memories a coincidence, or a deliberate inspiration?
So my half joking guess that it was going to involve a Jungian dark night of the sol through the underworld to resolve your tiny shadow self were correct?
How often can we expect blog updates? Not to sound like a Mummy junkie or anything, but … yeah. I’m a Mummy junkie. 🙂
I’ll second Christian A’s notion.
Hi, Christian. We’re still a ways out from release date, and there are some things best held in reserve, but the goal is to average a meaningful update every ten days to two weeks. If I can squeeze more in without either getting too far behind or ahead of ourselves on marketing, I absolutely will.
Either way, thanks for the enthusiasm. I can’t wait to see you guys dive into this.
Very good, thank you for the reply! Keep up the good work!
Planescape Torment was and still is SOOO great!
Sounds awesome if something out of Planescape/dust men slips into Mummy.
I love the direction your taking CAS, i’m digging the Theme. It’s very reminicent of the first edition of Mummy, it also dealt with Memory and remembering who you were while facing the forces of the ever increasing darkness of the modern world.
One little hook i would like to throw out there, but could definetly covered by ST fiat, would be the idea of covering a few points in history that help fill in character history. I would point to the game Nephilim where they pick out occult history points and have you fill in your role if you were awake at the time. I would love to see somthing along those lines, but obviously more geared towards a White Wolf product, you guys could put some wicked spins on them.
Eagerly waiting your next installment!
I love the list of historical periods and events in Nephilim. In fact, if one were to do a history-spanning chronicle of Mummy, you could do a lot worse than to just follow that timeline.
When can we expect the next blog post? I thought they were going to be a Tuesday thing.
+1
New post up, ladies and gentles.
These seem like absolute thematic rocks to lay MtC upon. While you mentioned that Memory may have a Virtue-like mechanic, I am wondering if there is not some way that Self-Discovery can not have some kind of virtue or virtues to help provide mechanics that promote the theme. In Mummy 2nd Ed there were Joy and Integrity which are certainly aspects of Self-Discovery. Perhaps MtC could explore Self-Discovery through something similar to the Vampire Dark Ages’ Roads or the modern Vampire Paths. How mummies go about pursuing their Self-Discovery throughout their eternal lives would have to follow some kind of ideology and there would most certainly be virtues that form the foundation of that ideology.