Musings about weirdness

Ah, I love weird adventures and settings! I've got Carcosa, Many Gates of the Gann, Vornheim, Red and Pleasant Land, Systema Tartarobasis, Gus Ls free Adventures, Beneath the Ruins (Kihago)... they are all wonderful!

If you follow my blog, you'll know that I try to mix Into the Odd with Carcosa; these are mostly ramblings about game mechanics but deep in my head rests the hope to one day dm a full-fledged "Into Carcosa" campaign... and then? How the hell has an adventure in Carcosa to look like? Especially if I want to make sure it's weird? How much weird is too much? When will my players be disappointed because the plot is too "normal"?

These questions are highly theoretical by now but interesting nonetheless. What defines "weirdness"? Don't get me wrong, I don't want a cast iron proof definition of "weird" - I just don't have no idea.

Let's look at some examples; first, some "non-weird" things:

1. A paladin on his horse rescues an abducted princess from the claws of an evil dragon.

or

2. An elven archer shoots an orc fighter in a wild dungeon-fight.

or

3. A bunch of investigators find clues about a murder series in 1920s London.

or

4. A group of space rebels fight the evil imperial army in an epic spacefight.

Sounds all pretty "normal" - I think we agree here.



Ok, let's change some things...

1v1. A paladin on his horse rescues an abducted princess from the evil scientist who tries to model an obedient robot slave after her example.

or

2v1. An elven archer shoots a space orc in a derelict space hulk.

or

3v1. A group of investigators find clues of the involvement of an alien entity in a murder series in 1920s London.

Weird? I mean the plot did not change, the protagonists did not change, heck, even the basic nature of the enemy did not change.



What about...

1v2. A lawful insectoid on his symbiont bug rescues an abducted slime-princess from the claws of mother winter.

or

3v2. A group of 0-level turnip-farmers, haberdashers and thugs armed with sticks and pitchforks find clues about the activities of a beastmen killer-cult involved in the abduction of local townfolks ("Sailors of the Starless Sea").

Too much weird? Gonzo even? Again, the plot didn't change. Pretty basic stuff, one might think...



Then, some plot tweaking...

2v3. An elven archer shoots an orc in a dungeon after travelling back in time to hinder said orc from killing his mother 200 yrs. later.

4v3. A group of space rebels fire re-programm-rays on their evil imperialist counterparts to ally with them to find a way to cure the parasitic infection that will destroy the whole universe.

Weird?



And, last but not least - normal plot and motivation, weird protagonists:

5. A sentient mushroom-monk (conversing via pheromone-like spore clouds), a sentient swarm of colibris, capable of summoning whirlwinds and a depressive three headed animated statue of cerberus go forth to collect gold and experience to become famous (I'm pretty sure some DnD 3.5 games ended up like this).

Again: Weird protagonists with pretty standard motivations.

My point: What constitutes weird? Weird characters? A weird setting (say Carcosa)? A weird plot (time travel, dreamlands, insanity)? Is it enough to play pretty basic adventures if the background is weird enough (Carcosa)?

Feel free to comment!

F



EDIT: as +trey causey points out, all my examples are more "gonzo" then "weird"; he has an excellent post on "Weird and Wonder" on his blog. The question remains... what defines how weird a game is - characters? Story? Background? Obstacles? Setting? Plot? Or, strongly worded, is it enough to say "we're playing Carcosa tonight", to be on the weird side of gaming?