Building Silent Hill: Monsters

Are you ready to return to Silent Hill? I hope so, because I have such sights to show you...

We've discussed some of the history of Silent Hill. We've talked about the characters from the games and comics. Now, we should discuss the monsters we're forced to battle in the games.

In the first three games, you had your “roaming” monsters and your boss monsters. These monsters were inspired by the minds of the characters observing them. In the first Silent Hill, the monsters were from the mind of Alyssa, as seen in her room. The drawings in this room match many of the monsters you see in the game. In Silent Hill 2, the meaning of of the monsters are much deeper. The obvious sexual appearance of the nurses and mannequins, the tortured movements of the Patient Demons or Lying Figures, and the Doormen or “daddies” are all inspired by the minds of James and those we encounter. In Silent Hill 3, the monsters contain imagery of birth, children, impregnation, and exaggerations of the female form. Each of these games used this imagery perfectly and made these monsters memorable.

But, there were more monsters than that, weren't there? I'm talking about the boss monsters. Each one used that same imagery, but some of them were more memorable than others. Yes, I'm talking about Pyramid Head. Aside from the P-Head, there's not a lot of memorable boss monsters, are there? Maybe the Missionary that kills Harry. Or the Demon at the end of the first game, who's appearance depended on which ending you had gotten. I remember the moth monster from the first game very well, both forms, because they were a pain to kill. But, when I go back to play the games, I also seem to go “oh, yeah, that's right, there's a boss fight here.” I think the reason why we remember Pyramid Head so well isn't just because of his strange and iconic appearance, but also because he's the only boss we fight several times in a game. Resident Evil had this in their sequels, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was an influence for Pyramid Head's recurring fights. Another reason why we remember Pyramid Head is because we never actually defeat him. If you don't remember, I'm sure you can find a video of the final fight with him in SH2.

The normal monsters from the first game have always stuck with me. The “demon children with steak knives” in the school. The creatures in the sewers. The doctors and nurses in the hospital. The weird teddy bear looking things. And the flying monsters in the town. To name just a few. The bosses didn't stick with me as much, except the moth monster and the “demon” at the end. Of course, the demon would look different depending on what ending you got.

The second game had some of the most disturbing and unique monsters in the series. All of them were dark and unsettling. Of course, you didn't have too many boss monsters, except for Pyramid Head. And he was one of the best things to happen to the series. Until he was put in damn hear everything...

The third game went for a different style. While I didn't notice at the time, each monster is based around pregnancy, children, and the feminine form. Think about it. The boss monsters were slightly more memorable, but they were few and far between. There's a total of five in the whole game, including “God” and the ghost or memory of Alessa.

The comics didn't add anything to the monster roster, they just reused the ones from the games.

The movies reused stuff as well, but it did add in what I called “The Dollmaker” in the second film. And it scared the shit out of me. It was the perfect addition to the movie, especially since it was based on the third game, and contributes to the feminine image stuff. Also, it was nice to have something original added.

So, there's a huge list of monsters available to me to use for the game. But which ones do I choose? As I was starting work, I had my potential players make a note of their sins and fears (I may have mentioned this before), so I used that as a source of inspiration. I also looked at the monsters that effected me. Of course, most of those were from the first and second games. However, I chose the nurses from the third game, rather than the second, as they were more doll like and would be a bit more unexpected. I did have a rough list of what locations I wanted to use, and made sure to make a note of which monsters you would encounter in them, but I didn't limit myself to what had been in the game. I did want to catch people off guard. But, I knew that I would be including the more iconic things no matter what.

Using the information I had for the players, the characters I was thinking about including, the list that I had, and the locations I was thinking about, I started working on the list. I chose only one of each “type” of monster, as there were several different dogs and flyers in the games. I also picked some “minor” enemies to be encountered in the “normal” version of Silent Hill and then some more “serious” monsters to be encountered in the “nightmare” version of Silent Hill.

Then, I had to start thinking about boss fights. I know, some of you may disagree with this mindset, thinking this sounds too much like a video game. However, I'd like to remind you that this whole idea is based on a series of video games. As such, I don't mind going with that idea. So, I looked over the bosses of the games. Beyond the final boss and your fight with Cybil, the big monsters in the original Silent Hill were... Weird. A giant lizard, a giant caterpillar, and a giant moth. While these make sense in terms of the game, they seem pretty cheesy for a table top game. If someone starts laughing at the monster, it can break the tension at the wrong moment. I did think about including them, as I have fond memories of them, I did realize that they didn't work with what the game was shaping up to be.

In Silent Hill 2, the main boss was, of course, Pyramid Head. Yes, there were other bosses (mostly the other characters), but I know they didn't stick out in memory as much as nearly as much as Pyramid Head and the characters. The problem with Pyramid Head is that he's become one of the mascots of the whole series. I feel like it's a mixed bag. I think he's one of the most unique and iconic designs in gaming. This is why he's kind of everywhere. Many people will say that he only exists to punish James, and I do agree that the two are tied together, but Silent Hill is a very unusual place. I don't see why he couldn't exist as something independent of James. A wandering judge. Or, if we include the Order, as some kind of servant for them...

Silent Hill 3 had only five boss fights. Which I know because if you want get one of the special things, you can only kill 10 (!!!) monsters in the game, including bosses. Sadly, beyond the final boss and the Missionary, there's nothing that jumps out in the bosses. I do remember the giant worm, but that's because I killed it in my second play through in about five seconds with the infinite ammo SMG. The Missionary is also memorable because it was in the second movie. Even if they did change it quite a bit.

 

But, what about other monsters? As I've mentioned, monsters in Silent Hill are based on perception and fear. So, I had seen this line from someone online when I was doing some research for this project:

It would be interesting just coming up with monsters for this. Two people's main vices combining to form a monster that would hurt them both greatly.
Lust + Insecurity + Silent Hill = Crazed good looking chick screaming "DON'T LOOK AT ME" as she rakes her nails across her face, lashing out with the blood that oozes from her face.

This was what helped me start developing new monsters. I had a list of people I would like to play this game, so I asked them to write down their two major “sins” from the good old list of the Seven Deadly and then asked them to write down their fears. Anything they were afraid of. I will not reveal these, as I promised not to, but I did notice some common things. Bugs and spiders were mentioned a few times. So, what could I do with that? Well, a while back, I played a game of Pathfinder, which you can read here. When I talked about the spiders, I was afraid. And the GM showed a video of someone cutting a spool of twine to describe what it was like to cut the spider webs. This clicked in my mind. Making the normal abnormal. I created some horrible things that were part sewing machine, part spider. They creep me out, so that's always a good sign. I also noticed a fear of needles popped up several times. Which isn't too surprising, it's a very common fear. I'm not terrified them, but I don't exactly like them, either. I began thinking about needles and death and my locations. I remembered that I wanted to use the prison and things clicked. I came up with a monster I call Injectors. This is the description I wrote:

This gaunt humanoid walks with its shoulders slumped, its long arms almost dragging along the floor. When it turns around, you see that its face has been covered with a smooth white mask, leaving only the eyes exposed. As it looks at you, you notice in horror that its eyelids have been removed, leaving the glassy orbs to stare at you. As it advances, the creature raises its hands, and you see that the fingers have been replaced with syringes.

How's that for creepy? I feel that it fits with the fear of needles, the dehumanization of prisoners, and is just unsettling. I admit the wording isn't the best, but that's what editing is for.

Now, I want to talk about boss monsters. While I am borrowing a few from the games, I did want some more surprises for the players. I used their fears, their sins, and my own fears. I also thought about various myths and legends. I won't reveal what all I came up with, as some of my potential players might be reading this, but have you ever heard of a “Sin Eater?” They're something I've heard comes from the south. Mostly benevolent, I knew that they would be something interesting to encounter. Assuming the players are able to recognize them. I also pulled the one good monster from the second Silent Hill movie, as it scared the crap out of me when watched the movie for the first time. While the comics do have some unique and interesting monsters, I decided not to use any of them, even the big bads. Just not quite good enough. I also didn't want to have too many things running around.

Of course, there could always be a sequel game...

 

So, there's my thoughts on the monsters. Now, where do I put them? Well, that'll be my next entry in this series: Mapping Silent Hill.

Building Silent Hill: Cast Of Characters

Welcome back. Are you ready? I hope so...

Last time, I talked about the things I enjoyed about Silent Hill, the games and etc. Let's talk a little more about that. Beware spoilers for the first three games, if you haven't played them... You've had, like, 20 years...

As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the first three games. And a major part of that was the characters... Well, except for one, but we'll get to him in a minute. In the first game, you were playing a man named Harry Mason, just trying to find his child. Of course, it wasn't that simple. Playing as Harry, you were drawn into a series of disturbing events, nightmarish locations, and interacted with a few unusual people. All of this kept me engaged. Of course, I didn't get the best ending the first time through, but I went back for more. Several times.

In the second game, you played a man named James Sunderland. Now, since I'd played the first one, I knew I was getting into something weird. And the game did not disappoint. Silent Hill 2 was a worthy successor to the first game, with a major twist. If you don't want a spoiler, just skip to the next paragraph. Unlike the first game, you weren't playing some noble man. No, you were playing a man who murdered his wife, and then came to a town because he received a letter from her, and thought he could make it better? Who knows. He was going a bit crazy, so what we thought was going on might not have been the truth. Either way, the first time through, I almost didn't finish the game after the big reveal.

In the third game, you were playing a girl named Heather. A young teen just living life, until ghosts of her past came for her. Well, perhaps ghosts from her past lives would be a better phrase. She has to deal with monsters and the madness of the Order of Silent Hill, and then the God within her. Because it turned out she was the girl from the first game. While short, I think it's one of the best of the series. I've played it a few times and gotten all the endings (all three).

In the comics, the original ones, they introduced several new characters. They made Christabella, who was something between Cheryl and Sadako from the Ring series. I didn't find her all that original, but I liked the series as a whole. The character I really liked was Dr. Troy. A psychologist who tries to prove to his patient that the horrors of Silent Hill weren't real, he ends up trading his soul for the patient's safety. From there, he becomes part human, part eldritch monster. When he appears from that part on, he's oddly calm (usually), while inflicted all sorts of terrible tortures upon innocent people.

There's several other characters I really liked. The artist was one of the best, in my opinion. The soldier was good, but very much an archetype, rather than a real person. Of course, the interplay between him and the singer was what made that story so good. I thought about including Lauryn, but I'd have to include Christablla, too. And, while Lauryn is interesting, she's a lot like a darker version of Heather. As a brief aside, a Witchcraft campaign centered around the Mad Gods, using Silent Hill from the comics and story of Lauryn and Christabella as a basis, would be great. I might work on it later. Might.

After thinking about all of the games and the comics, looking at the characters, I started making a list of the characters that I thought were important to the world I was working with and I had enjoyed. Since I'd already decided on using The Order, I knew that Heather and the people related to her story were going to be involved. That means Heather, Dahlia, Claudia, and Cybil would be a big part of the adventure. Since I loved the second game (as many people do), I wanted to include James, but you can't have James without Maria or Mary (or both). I also wanted to include some characters from the comics, but I had to make sure they meshed well with the Order plot I'm going for. The two that I felt could really add something to the plot, or be useful, were Dr. Troy and Mordecai.

Now that I've got a list of characters from the game, I had to figure out how to work them all into the plot. While I did develop some new characters for the game (more on that in another entry), I wanted to start looking at what these characters I picked represented and what roles they would play.

For the Order, we have Dahlia and Claudia. Of course, they're both dead in “canon” such as it is. But, as Silent Hill 2 shows us, death isn't always the end of things. Even in Silent Hill 1, we saw Lisa up and walking around, and she was probably dead. So, yeah, I can do what I want. From there, I thought that Dr. Troy and Mordecai could be added to the Order's side of things as well. Their motivations and origin would have to be a bit different, but they do fit rather easily. I think by having these characters, each working towards different goals, can add some depth to the game and throw the players for a loop. Because you do need to have some twists and turns in Silent Hill. I also decided that if I was going to include The Order, I'd need to include Heather. My idea was that it would be good to have a character the party could interact with that wasn't completely insane or out to kill them.

Outside the Order, I had to work in the characters from Silent Hill 2. These characters had a completely different history and story, not really connected to the Order and the mythology of Silent Hill. In many ways, Silent Hill 2 is a true stand alone entry in the series. Which meant that I was going to have to think a bit more about them. As the Order was shaping up to be my main focus, I made the decision to make the Silent Hill 2 characters just cameo characters. I know, some people might not like it, but it thought it was a good idea. And it would throw some red herrings to the players. And, when you have James, you get Pyramid Head...

After I've figured out which characters I'm going to include I needed to look at what kind of characters they would be and what powers they would have. In the core book, they introduced the concept of Miracles, but those might not wok for a group of evil cultists. In All Tomorrow's Zombies, they did include a much more streamlined system for psychic powers. I decided to use a mix of both for the Order's powerful people, meaning that the more powerful members would be Inspired characters. For most of the other characters, I made them Norms. That works as many if the characters are normal people. Dahlia is definitely a Norm. For the main characters of the past games, I thought Survivors would work, as they had to survive some terrible things.

For making the characters, I used the core book and One of the Living for most characters, and then (if they had special powers), I would use the powers from All Tomorrow's Zombies. When it came to making Dr. Troy, I added in some zombie aspects, to give him the things I needed. And to make him a little more horrifying.

I made a mix of Norms, Survivors, and Inspired characters. Some will be allies and others will be enemies. I've been trying to make sure that they don't outside the players and their characters, because that's not fun for anyone. While the players' characters can't have powers, I've made sure that those enemies who do don't overpower them.

I've also designed some new characters, ones just for this game. It's all part of the story I've been putting together, and I'll be discussing that in another entry, but I've designed these characters as almost mirrors of the ones from the game. Think of it as a cycle, doomed to repeat itself. At least, until the Order is destroyed completely. Or perhaps the town must be destroyed? It's suggested that Silent Hill suffered some sort of catastrophic event between Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2. But, I don't like that idea too much. Feels too much like the movie, you know?

I've also tried to give each NPC different motivations, adding some complexity to the encounters. Some serve the Order, some combat it. Others are unaware of it, and a few want to take control of the town. I was trying to do something similar to the first game, where you came across different people, but didn't know how they fit into the plot for some time. I wanted to enhance the surreal feeling by having people just kind of wandering around and you wouldn't know if they were important, and if they were, why they were important. I've put some “fan service” characters in a red herrings. If you played Silent Hill 2, you should remember Eddie. I remember when I first played it, I kind of related to Eddie. And then he went nuts and you had to take him down. Since the players are aware of the history of the games, they'll know who Eddie is when they run across him. But, will they be able to trust him? I'm hoping they'll be suspicious of him from the start, unsure about what he's going to do. And I'll be keeping exactly what I'm planning for him under my hat until it happens. He could be a boss fight, like in his appearance in the game. Or he could be an illusion, used by the town or the Order to lull them into a false sense of security. Or it could be something totally different, something far more terrible. And that's what I like about using these known characters. You think you know them, but you don't. 

You know, I almost thought about not including any NPCs and just had the town be empty, like in Silent Hill 3. But, I knew it would just be a dungeon crawl, and my idea was becoming close to that already, so I knew that having the players interact with others would keep them from devolving into muderhobos. You rarely come across NPCs in dungeons, so I hope the tonal shift keeps that at bay.

So, I've selected and built my NPCs. I've got a rough idea for a story. But, what's next? That's right, the monsters...

Building Silent Hill: Welcome to Silent Hill

I remember the first time I visited Silent Hill. Many years ago, my dad brought me a PlayStation (one of the originals) and one game: Silent Hill. Because I didn't have a memory card, I played the first part of the game over and over. By the time I finally got a memory card, I could get to the school within a short amount of time.

I was hooked by that point, which is odd. I've never been a fan of horror. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a scaredy cat. I don't react well to a lot of horror stuff, especially startle and jump scares. Which is probably why I liked Silent Hill so much. Rather than going for cheap tricks, Silent Hill drew you in with a mystery and a very emotional story. It was a masterpiece. I played several times and bought a PS2 just to play Silent Hill 2. I liked Silent Hill 3, but never finished Silent Hill 4. It just didn't connect with me. Plus, I hate having enemies coming after you that you can't kill. No thank you. That said, I've beaten the first three games several times and have earned almost every ending in each one.

Over the years, the Silent Hill media has grown immensely. More games, comics, and even movies have been produced in the almost 20 years since the first game came out. And I've enjoyed some of it. Of course, the canon of all of this is a complete and total clusterfuck. More on that in a moment...

Since Silent Hill has been such an important thing for me, of course I've been thinking about trying to run a game of it. For several years. Before the first movie came out. As much as I wanted to run a game of Silent Hill, there were a few problems that cropped up. The first one was, what system to use? There's a lot of different gaming systems out there, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. After much debate, I selected All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Why AFMBE? The system can handle fear stuff, the supernatural, and is highly adaptable when it comes to making creatures. There are, of course, drawbacks. It's not an easy system to pick up right away, it can be overly complicated, and it is not very forgiving when it comes to damage. However, I do feel it is the best thing to use.

Now that I've picked the system, the issue of canon comes to the fore. As I mentioned before, there's a lot of Silent Hill stuff out there. In addition to the first four games, I also own the IDW comics and the movies. But, the canon is a mess. The first and third game connect directly, as do the second and fourth, but the two groups don't intersect (except for some jokes in the games). The comics make reference to some of the things from the games, most notably The Order and Pyramid Head. However, they start adding in other elements, such as the Cthulhu Mythos. Now, I have to pick and choose what I want to use. Since I liked the first three games so much, I decided to use them as my main sources of influence. I only use the movies for people who haven't played the games to get an understanding of the main ideas.

Using the games, there's a few gaps to work out. In the first and third games, there's The Order. However, what exactly is The Order? We don't know for sure, but we do have little hints. Going over the strategy guides (which I own), as well as going over walkthroughs and other sources, we've got some kind of idea of them. From what I've pieced together, The Order is a cult of some kind. While there's some elements of Christianity, there's clearly some Pagan undertones that appear in the third game. And there's some talk about how there was a Native American tribe in the area where Silent Hill now stands and that area was some sort of holy place, a place of spirits. Given the typical history of white folks coming across Natives, it probably didn't end well for them. Which can also explain the Pagan undertones in The Order. Given how Christianity had a tendency to steamroll previously existing faiths, many peoples would simply cover their native practices with a “Jesus” covering. And this is where I'm at with The Order.

My personal belief is that The Order is from somewhere in Europe originally. This small sect managed to keep their original beliefs, but they shifted and changed over time. Eventually, the sect made the leap across the Atlantic. There, they tried to settle in an area where they could practice their beliefs a little more openly. They found the area what would become Silent Hill...

And that's a brief history of The Order. But, what about their beliefs and practices? Thankfully, the third game gives us the most amount of information. We know that they have one “God” who is female (or perhaps became female) served by a host of lesser gods and angels. Here, we don't have much else to go on. Clearly, there's something about Paradise, Resurrection, and believers and unbelievers. Exactly what all these things are, we don't really know. This is both good and bad. While much of The Order's faith is up in the air, it gives me stuff to explore. I started by building on the themes we've seen in their stuff, the dark faith and weird mix of other bits. Having all this come together also gave me a thread to follow for all the monsters.

Which brings me to another point, what about the town? Not only do I need a physical map of the town, but there's the matter of the town itself. In Silent Hill 2, we're introduced to the concept that the town itself is possessed or somehow alive. And it calls people to it. While the main character was called there by something else, the other characters we met seemed to have randomly turned up there. Given how we've got some weird metaphysical stuff going on with The Order, it stands to reason that the town itself has absorbs some bad ju-ju. Could it be that the town itself has become “alive” in some fashion? Quite possible, but not something I focused on.

Now that I've picked out the “what” of Silent Hill (for the most part), it was time to figure out the “who” of this game. Stay tuned...