I’m personally a big fan of RAW’s fnord work, and loved the Illuminatus Trilogy. And I went through my own Discordian phase when I was fnord younger. So that amounts to some kind of fnord influence!

And it’s not a movie but The Illuminatus Trilogy (1975) is a book covering all sorts of trippy things but mostly revolves around conspiracy theories.

And speaking of The Illuminatus Trilogy, does your Groovy Ghastly stuff include Discordianism at all?

Cool stuff.

As a big Croneneberg fan myself, I approve! And Canada certainly would have an Uncanny Highway of its own.

– They Came From Within / Shivvers
– Rabid
– The Brood
– Scanners

Thanks for the suggestions!

I’ll be curious to see whether the campiness of TCFBTG! succeeds in contrasting but not capsizing the Gothic elements of the game. In the meantime, there’s definitely room for differing gaming takes on such a rich cultural moment. 🙂

That you for the compliment. As far as I can tell, Onyx Path has chosen to focus on playing up the “cheesy” elements of 70s horror films. My vision for GROOVY Ghastly affair is for something that can handle concepts like “Badass King Fu Fighters Versus Dracula”, but can also be played as a serious exploration of Gothic themes. And just like regular “Ghastly Affair”, I want to give player the tools to truly imagine themselves as people living in that time period. But, I would also like to check out Onyx Path’s game. It looks like fun.

You beat them to the punch by a couple of years, but it’s interesting to note that Onyx Path is also exploring the idea of 18th- and 19th-century Gothic stories interpenetrating the world of the 1960s and 70s in their Kickstarter-funded game They Came from Beyond the Grave!

Mechanically (and perforce thematically), I suspect GROOVY Ghastly Affair will be quite different from TCFBTG!, but I’m looking forward to seeing both.

Of course “Scooby-Doo” should also be on the list of inspirations! The game should definitely be able to handle a group of “meddling kids” solving horrible mysteries (which always turn out to be somebody disguised as a supernatural being, or using stagecraft to fake a haunting). And of course, the basic plot of an Ann Radcliffe novel is pretty much that – an innocent girl experience apparent supernatural events, which upon investigation are revealed to to have ordinary explanations.