Esoteric and Occult Adjacent Game Ideas

You're looking for story ideas? This is the Writing forum.

Or are you looking for game ideas, which would be more of a Game Design topic?

Tom Sloper wrote:

You're looking for story ideas? This is the Writing forum.

Or are you looking for game ideas, which would be more of a Game Design topic?

I'm looking to network and find ideas for both.

It's an interesting mix of game design and exploring unusual ideas together.

It's weird alright but not impossible by any stretch. If you think of dungeons and dragons, JRR Toilken and Harry Potter, they all have something in common. The so called fantasy genre is widely based on Celtic mythology and the occult. There are actual spell books called grimoires out there and psychic self development courses you can take to improve your esp or psy powers. Some of it is very popular like tarot cards and horoscope. Christians will call anything they don't like devil worship but they also pray and ask for help from invisible forces and let me tell you that works too. Now this game could be a way of bridging that gap between so called fantasy and reality. There are million different ways to do that.

JieuShieu wrote:

The so called fantasy genre is widely based on Celtic mythology and the occult.

I disagree with that. I think occult stuff is a substantial subgenre of fantasy. One might even question why it is included in fantasy at all. Occult stuff also tends to overlap with horror.

Whereas, I don't think there's anything occult about Tolkien and I'd ask that you provide a specific example there. Note that he and his friend C.S. Lewis were very Christian and it seriously informed the authorial voices of their work. I just don't think getting into esoteric weird anything was their point, or interest, as far as the term occult is generally taken to mean. I haven't looked for interviews of either men on the topic of the occult, but I have some predictions as to what they'd say about it.

Really there is nothing occult about dragons wizards and elves? Maybe we have a different definition of this stuff. I can show pictures of elves. Google dmt elves.

No, there is nothing inherently occult about dragons, wizards, or elves. They are fantasy and folklore material. Of course anything can be made into an occult topic if you bend it hard enough, judging by the screenshots I saw when searching "dmt elves". Perhaps you could review the Wikipedia article I linked about the occult as to what the term has historically meant.

I cannot speak for dead authors, but to be more blunt about the concerns of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, they'd probably have been offended if you called their work occult.

I'm not saying you are a bad writer though. You seem really lucent. [personal insult removed by moderator] You can read my new book linked on my page. It's free on Amazon Kindle right. I need some reviews.

Thanks for banning my previous comment for using the not so smart meaning s word. I know in the Pacific Northwest a lot of people of certain background bleed to death when you prick them. I'm sure the gaming community is different.

I will repeat my comment in a different way. If you think you can define mysticism or the occult from a Wikipedia article, I think we are on a different wavelengths. The whole point of this mysticism sheet is to blur the borders between labels and understand everything is interrelated on some very real level. Even thoughts are alive. The Japanese ancient traditions say that the dreamworld is real, and this world is the fake one. Hence, if you dont know what machine elves are, it doesn't mean you should pretend to know them.

JieuShieu wrote:

If you think you can define mysticism or the occult from a Wikipedia article

Of course, the occult is more specific than mysticism. Specific cultural practices, specific historical figures, specific geographic location. But I don't think Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would have liked being called mystics either.

Actually upon further web readings for about an hour, I wouldn't want to make a strong case about either man regarding mysticism. To really settle the question, I think one would need to look at their various letters and interviews, what they themselves may have said on the subject. The internet is awash in interpretations of these authors, and they typically advance their own agenda as to what any of these works meant.

I don't really care anymore. I have my own interpretation. I'm here to spread my philosophy not argue about CS Lewis.

Sorry if I sound off but I got better things to do than read CS Lewis diaries. Here is a notepad file of my conversation this week with chatgpt. It is a list books that it recommending I read. This is just from this past week.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jSz98_wGbJ_ZA1zARg89Ow7-w016-IIq8f0_kCDQpFw/edit?usp=sharing

JieuShieu wrote:

I'm here to spread my philosophy

Moving thread to the Lounge.

I did skim your AI generated booklist. I would note that it's following a fairly particular intellectual tradition, that Tolkien is simply not a part of. Tolkien is such a major influence on the fantasy genre that this bears note. Hence pushback that fantasy as a genre "is based on" the occult. It may have it, but it simply doesn't need it, and it isn't the dominant influence on it.

C.S. Lewis is a more complicated figure as he did dabble in the occult when he was younger, but then recanted. Some of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis' peers did embrace the occult.

Hello lounge. Does anybody smoke cigars?