Cthulhutech [tabletop RPG]
There is a tabletop RPG called Cthulhutech that, in theory, I am a big fan of. The setting is the child resulting from the disturbing tentacle sex of the Lovecraft Mythos and mecha anime. The basic plot is a three-way war in 2085 between humanity, the invading alien Migou, and the human and inhuman cultists who want to summon back the Old Ones. When the developers paint with broad strokes, they do an excellent job of showing hints of a world that your imagination just has to fill in. When they get into more detail, they seem to lose their minds.
A new book just came out, and I'm really troubled by it and having a hard time articulating everything.
The setting contains nasty things, like cultist orgies and gruesome battlefields, but I wouldn't have said those went too far. Perhaps the nastiest they've ever shown us is a picture of the Migou doing brain surgery on humans to make them obedient. Well, now they've added a rape machine. Its description mentions "phallic" three times. According to the fluff, it's just like the one the Nazis had at Dachau. And there's a picture of it in use.
I'm just agape. I'm trying to compare the two pictures (the Migou brain surgery and the machine) to see why one crosses the line and the other doesn't, but ... I don't even.
And the person who wrote it and their fans are defending it! The writer says it was to remind us that things are supposed to be horrifying. Some fans are calling it camp.
I guess what I'm trying to put together is a coherent argument against it. Why there's a big difference between a war mech and a rape machine. I'm still at a loss for words, at this point.
A new book just came out, and I'm really troubled by it and having a hard time articulating everything.
The setting contains nasty things, like cultist orgies and gruesome battlefields, but I wouldn't have said those went too far. Perhaps the nastiest they've ever shown us is a picture of the Migou doing brain surgery on humans to make them obedient. Well, now they've added a rape machine. Its description mentions "phallic" three times. According to the fluff, it's just like the one the Nazis had at Dachau. And there's a picture of it in use.
I'm just agape. I'm trying to compare the two pictures (the Migou brain surgery and the machine) to see why one crosses the line and the other doesn't, but ... I don't even.
And the person who wrote it and their fans are defending it! The writer says it was to remind us that things are supposed to be horrifying. Some fans are calling it camp.
I guess what I'm trying to put together is a coherent argument against it. Why there's a big difference between a war mech and a rape machine. I'm still at a loss for words, at this point.