I’m
a horror writer; I have a bit of an imagination. I know I dream because it’s a scientific fact
that we all do but I seldom remember mine.
Last night was an exception.
Before I get to that, a dramatic set up.
There’s this show I love called “Stranded”, where
three regular people get stuck in a haunted location for five days and are
tasked with investigating the paranormal.
One episode a guy lost his nerve and couldn’t follow some mysterious
sound into the dark. He was frozen in
place by fear, and hated himself for it.
He said, “We’re supposed to be investigating this stuff and we’re
running from it. We’re the worst
paranormal investigators ever.” At the
time I found it very funny.
Now, onto my dream - It was New Years Eve, I was
home with my family and the world was about to end. I knew this, as well as I knew anything. I had no doubts; not even the comfort of
suspecting I might be insane. I knew,
and I also knew there was nothing I could do about it. My daughter had a few of her pre-teen
girlfriends over; they were making noise and painting nails, having a good time. My son was in his room, on his computer,
probably on Skype with his friends. My
wife was going to watch funny videos online.

I thought about it a moment. I wouldn’t get a rifle anywhere near Time
Square on New Years Eve. I didn’t know
Latin. I didn’t know any spells. There was nothing I could do at Time Square,
other than see how the Endtimes all begins.

When I woke up I realized I would be the worst
mythos investigator ever. An
investigator faces those odds, to try to save everyone, even if it appears
totally hopeless. I’m not an investigator. I just wanted to be with my family as long as
I could, see my wife laughing at videos of people falling down, hear my daughter screaming with her friends,
knowing my son was safe in his room.
Nice post Osk.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that you have a rich imagination to provide great scenarios for CoC keepers to run.
You don't have to be an investigator yourself. Part of your "charm" is that outside of gaming you are a normal family guy.
To be fair, I'm inclined to think that's pretty common. We play investigators because we're not investigators. Not really.
ReplyDeleteThat's also why I think a lot of player characters have minimal families. It's much harder to take big risks when you have more to lose.