Hellboy

by Rich Redman

[Note: Parts of this review contain spoilers.]

I agree with JD about seeing movies on opening weekend, but just as he got sucked into seeing The Matrix Revolutions, he and I both got sucked into seeing Hellboy. A bunch of our friends wanted to go, and we did want to see the movie, so we contributed to it being the #1 movie on its opening weekend.

I've been waiting for this movie since it was announced. I'm a relatively new convert to the comic book. I think I started in '99 (Hellboy started in 1994), and immediately became a loyal reader. I bought all the collections and each new issue as it became available. I've got both Hellboy PVC sets (the comic book set and the movie set), a couple of t-shirts, a couple of baseball caps, a satchel, and the Hellboy soft vinyl figure (in fact, one of the hats and the satchel are immediately to my left as I type this). So I'm a fan boy. I downloaded the trailers and the film of Mike Mignola, Guillermo del Toro, and Ron Perlman at ComicCon (I tried to find a link to it, but I couldn't so if you know the link post it to our message boards). I bought Hellboy: The Art of the Movie, and read the shooting script. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to "out-fanboy" anybody. I'm just trying to establish that I had emotionally invested in the property like JD did with his review of The Matrix Reloaded, and I knew that set up me and my preconceived notions to have a violently negative reaction to the film.

Yeah, well, that didn't happen. I really enjoyed it. The acting was good, the directing was good, the special effects were good (and I usually hate CGI stunt people), and the story was a reasonable adaptation of Seed of Destruction. I've read some reviewers complain that it's derivative, but I knew that because I'd read the comic books. I think a major contributor to my enjoyment was reading The Art of the Movie, which let me not only see changes from the comic continuity in advance, but also see why Mike and Guillermo thought those changes were necessary. So, in a sense, reading that book was just the right seasoning for my heady stew of anticipation and anxiety.

Just a Pinch

They use a lot of little details in Hellboy, some subtle and some blatant and all of them add to the film's atmosphere. Unlike Bulletproof Monk, where foreshadowing moved to the fore and became prophecy and destiny, most of the hints in Hellboy are atmospheric. For example:

• The sergeant leading the troops who find baby Hellboy smokes cigars, and when Hellboy grows up so does he. It would seem odd if Professor Bruttenholm (it's only pronounced "Broom") didn't smoke cigars and Hellboy did, since the professor is the father figure, but this detail smoothes things over.
• There's a cat carved into the sarcophagus lid in the tomb where baby Hellboy takes cover, Hellboy has tons of cats in his room in the present day, and risks his life to save a box of kittens while fighting Sammael...well, one Sammael anyway.
• When Rasputin gives Professor Bruttenholm a vision of the future he plans for Hellboy, we get to see the tentacles of the Ogdru Jahad in the sky--before we see the deity-monsters themselves.

I'm sure there's other stuff I missed (start a thread on our boards listing the ones that you caught).

My point is that little touches, while unrelated to the main plot, establish atmosphere, a sense of verisimilitude, and a feeling of depth to your campaign world. On top of which, you might even be able to flesh one out later into a full-fledged adventure!

Recipes

Some GMs avoid spicy details because they believe that such techniques require a lot of planning. That's true, but not in the way most GMs think.

If you're dropping hints about your plotline, you need to know what the plot is. You can't drop hints or clues about a villain unless you know who and what the villain is. These things are foreshadowing. However, if you're using little touches to add spice and flavor to your adventures, you can use them spontaneously. Just make notes in your adventure for what you used so you can come back to them later.

Taste Tests

Players tend to have one of two reactions to little flashes of flavor.

Addiction

This reaction occurs when some bit you dropped in sends players racing out of the planned adventure. I recently ran a D&D adventure for some friends in which a group of halfling mercenaries passed through a small village and began excavating the ruins of an evil temple. The mercenaries were looking for a book of prophecies. I chose halflings because it was a low-level adventure and small characters' weapons do less damage, and because I was a little tired of goblins and kobolds. The book of prophecies was just an object, a "mcguffin" in movie parlance, which heroes could chase back to the patron of the mercenaries in later adventures. Instead, my players became convinced the mercenaries were part of a "halfling death cult" and that the Chronicles of Garrath, as the book was titled, were a clue as to the real events of the campaign.

When this happens, there are several things a GM can do.

• Embrace it. You may have to stop the campaign while you write up more material, but you can simply let the players direct the campaign.
• Punish it. While the players are distracted, have the real villain's plan continue apace. If you do this, make sure that gossip and clues continue to reach the heroes so they have a chance to recognize their mistake.
• Ignore it. I did something like this with my D&D adventure, allowing the heroes to take the book "someplace safe," and then dangling another adventure in front of them (and they took the bait). Alternately, you could just "advance the story" by telling the players that their heroes spend some time following the trail, the animal, the suspect, or whatever, and learn nothing interesting.

No matter what, you should make note of what distracted the players (you might even ask them). Perhaps you put just a bit too much emphasis on a detail, or perhaps it's a personal bias of one of the players. For example, one of your players might have recently gotten a traffic ticket. A police cruiser rolling down rain-wet streets with its windows down, the driver eyeing the heroes suspiciously, might provoke an unexpectedly extreme reaction from such a player. So keep track of what's distracting so you can avoid it in the future.

Enjoyment

This is the reaction you want. Players who respond this way understand that you're establishing atmosphere, not plot points. They role-play their heroes' reactions, and get on with the story.

It's especially rewarding when you provoke an involuntary reaction from the players themselves. Goose bumps, shivers, going pale, and talking faster or louder or both are all examples of provoking an involuntary reaction. Of course, if it goes too far and a player starts to panic, take a break and let things calm back down. There is such a thing as too far.

To get the involuntary reaction, consider your players and the appropriate feeling for the story. If you know your players well, you know their pet peeves and personal fears. Exploit them, but remember that it's only a game. If any emotion outweighs enjoyment of the game, the player will leave. I quit JD's Dark*Matter campaign because he was a good GM--he managed to creep me out, and old anxieties and paranoia started surfacing during the games. It wasn't fun for me anymore. Most of my players aren't particularly afraid of clowns, at least anymore, but we know enough people who are afraid of clowns that putting some in a game would be a signifier. Even if they didn't consciously react to the clowns, the players would start to feel uneasy.

Remember to also consider the story. You don't want people laughing when they're supposed to be scared, or getting angry when they're supposed to be reasonable. Match your spicy detail to the mood you're trying to establish.

Cooking Tools

I know that if I were reading this, I'd be thinking "Okay, enough. Where do I get ideas for flavorful bits, and how do I implement them as GM?"

• For each scene, give 2-3 details. Keep them short. Involve as many of the five senses as possible.
• Feel free to let players add their own details. A dark and stormy night is a cliché, but how heroes respond to it can liven it up and make it fresh.
• Keep a file of ideas. When you use one, make a notation that you used it and try to avoid repetition or overuse of a particular idea (like undead or Nazis or undead Nazis). Your file might be a recipe box of 3x5 cards sorted by the mood you want to establish, or a list of notes in a notebook. Whatever works best for you. Your notations should also tell you which details are available for further development. For example, the heroes were in an upscale condo and found a walk-in freezer. After hearing a repeating creaking noise, they look in the freezer and dangling from a swinging meat hook is a single blond pigtail. Now the heroes know where the missing kids have been disappearing, but who installed the freezer? And who (or what) did the pigtail belong to?
• Do it all the time. If this is a change for your usual GMing style, explain to your players what you're going to do before you start. If you've got a new group or you're a new GM, start off with this. Players will quickly get used to it.

Spice Racks

Look for ideas all the time. There are often message board threads with lists and lists of ideas (and if there isn't one on your favorite gaming board, then start one and ask for contributions). For example, there's this thread and this one.

The news, in whatever media form you prefer, often has little events or peculiar details in background that you can adapt. If a book or a movie makes you react in a way you'd like to provoke in your players, then think about how it happened and try to use similar techniques in your game.

I can't emphasize enough that changing your voice, changing your expression and body language, and getting out of your chair are important tools for you as a GM. Consider this example: I'm your GM. Sitting in a chair six feet away, I tell you that your hero sees a black cat trot across a dark, rain-soaked alleyway. Big deal, right? Maybe you're curious about where the cat came from, or went, but probably not. Now in the same situation, I get out of my chair, get inside your personal space, put my face near yours, and say, "You see a black cat trot across the alley." Suddenly that cat is a lot more significant, and you wonder if it was really a cat, what made it move, why it's so impressive to your hero, and why that alley suddenly seems a little too quiet....

Your Turn

Tell us what you thought of Hellboy, my review, and successes that you've had using extra details to establish atmosphere on our discussion boards.