Welcome to Cyclopaedia 4: Gothic. Cyclopaedia is a monthly article on the InnRoads Ministries website. This month’s article was inspired by my preparations to run the 5th Ed D&D adventure Curse of Strahd. I have fond memories of playing the original 1st Ed AD&D Ravenloft module back in high school. The setting was dark, brooding and unforgiving. That module felt so different than any other D&D module I had ever played. I want to set the proper Gothic tone and aesthetic for my players, so I am returning to the roots of the Gothic theme by rereading Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and other items listed below. Test your mettle as we walk the cobblestone lane as the fog rolls in.
If you have questions about this article or topics you would like me to consider researching for future Cyclopaedia articles, please leave a comment below.
Overview
Gothic Romanticism (sometimes called Gothic fiction, Gothic horror or just Gothic) imagined a medieval past that never was, often releasing the evils of the night. Gothic centered on helpless victims experiencing extravagant passions and remorseless practitioners of unmotivated cruelty. Over time, Gothic added dark heroes and supernatural villains. The effect of Gothic feeds on the emotions of palatable terror that is almost pleasurable. It was characteristically set among haunting ruins, fog-filled cities, and harrowing dungeons visited by unearthly apparitions and creatures. First given expression in Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, Gothic has continued to haunt literature, art, cinema, fashion, and games ever since its height in Britain in the 1790s.
This extreme form of Romanticism was very popular in England, originating in the second half of the 18th century and also having success in the 19th, as can be seen by the popularity of by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the works of Edgar Allan Poe, culminating in the late Victorian era Dracula by Bram Stoker. The word Gothic refers to the buildings of Gothic architecture in which many of these stories take place. The English Gothic novel also led to new novel types such as the German Schauerroman and the French Georgia.
Modern Gothic Influences
The themes and aesthetics of the literary Gothic have had major influence in other media and mediums.
- Goth Movement and Fashion
- Goth Rock
- Gothic Romances
- Modern Horror
- Southern Gothic
Following are sources of information pertaining to Gothic Romanticism to assist prospective game masters, game designers, writers, and storytellers in knowing where to start their research.
ARTICLES
Being There: Gothic Violence and Virtuality in Frankenstein, Dracula, and Strange Days
By Law, Jules David
Source: ELH, 73, no. 4 (2006): 975-996
The Forensic Gothic: Knowledge, the Supernatural, and the Psychic Detective
By McGuire, Ann and Buchbinder, David
Source: Canadian Review of American Studies, v40 n3 (20101201): 289-307
The Gothic Heart of Victorian Serial Fiction
By Chavez, Julia M.
Source: SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 50, no. 4 (2010): 791-810
Gothic Origins: New Primary Scholarship
By Gamer, Michael
Source: Eighteenth-Century Fiction, v14 n2 (2002): 215-222
The Gothic Vocabulary of Fear
By Carlson, E.
Source: Journal of English and Germanic Philology, v111 n3 (2012 07 01): 285-303
The Horror, The Horror: Recent Studies in Gothic Fiction
By Williams, Anne
Source: Modern Fiction Studies, 46, no. 3 (2000): 789-799
Introduction: Gothic Cults and Gothic Cultures 1: Modern and Postmodern Gothic
By Whatley, J.
Source: GOTHIC STUDIES, 4, no. 2, (2002): 91-98
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: What made the Monster monstrous?
By Britton, Ronald
Source: Journal of Analytical Psychology, v60 n1 (February 2015): 1-11
modern gothic. Undeath in Fashion
By Benesh-Liu, P.R.
Source: Ornament. 32, no. 2, (2008): 38-41
Purity and Danger: Dracula, the Urban Gothic, and the Late Victorian Degeneracy Crisis
By Spencer, Kathleen
Source: ELH, v59 n1 (19920401): 197-225
Toward an Organic Theory of the Gothic: Conceptualizing Horror
By: Morgan, Jack
Source: The Journal of Popular Culture, v32 n3 (Winter 1998): 59-80
Screening the Gothic
By Waldman, Diane
Source: Film Quarterly, v61 n2 (200712): 86-88
Vampire Gothic
By Goddu, Teresa
Source: American literary history. 11, no. 1, (1999): 125
BOOKS
A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History’s Nightmares
By Mighall, Robert
A New Companion to The Gothic
By Punter, David
A Scicilian Romance
By Radcliffe, Ann
The Biology of Horror: Gothic Literature and Film
By Morgan, Jack
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stores
By Lovecraft, H.P.
The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction
By Hogle, Jerrold
The Castle of Otranto
By Walpole, Horace
Dracula
By Stoker, Bram
The Fall of the House of Usher (and other stories and poems)
By Poe, Edgar Allan
Frankenstein
By Shelley, Mary
The Gothic cathedral: Origins of Gothic Architecture and the Medieval Concept of Order
By George von Simson, Otto
Gothicka: Vampire Heroes, Human Gods, and the New Supernatural
By Victoria Nelson
Gothic to Goth: Romantic Era Fashion and Its Legacy
By Bassett, Lynne
The Gothic Quest: A History of the Gothic Novel
By Summers, Montague
Gothic Realities: The Impact of Horror Fiction on Modern Culture
By Cooper, L. Andrew
The Gothic Vision: Three Centuries of Horror, Terror and Fear
By Cavallaro, Dani
The Hound of the Baskervilles
By Doye, Sir Arthur Conan
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
By Hugo, Victor
Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles)
By Rice, Anne
Jane Eyre
By Brontë, Charlotte
The Monk
By Lewis, Matthew Gregory
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
By Dickens, Charles
The Mysteries of London
By Reynolds, G.W.M.
The Old English Baron
By Reeve, Clara
The Phantom of the Opera
By Leroux, Gaston
The Picture of Dorian Gray
By Wilde, Oscar
Romanticism and the Gothic : Genre, Reception, and Canon Formation
By Gamer, Michael
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
By Stevenson, Robert Louis
Terror & Wonder: The Gothic Imagination
By Townshend, Dale
Wuthering Heights
By Brontë, Emily
GAMES
American McGee’s Alice – Computer Game
Betrayal at the House on the Hill – Tabletop Game
Bram Stokers Dracula – RPG
Castlevania – Computer Game
Chronicles of Darkness – RPG
Curse of Strahd – RPG
Dance of the Damned – RPG
Dark Harvest – RPG
Dead of Night – RPG
Demons Souls/Dark Souls/Bloodbourne – Computer Game
De Profundis – RPG
Frankenstein’s Bodies – Tabletop Game
Fury of Dracula – Tabletop Game
Gloom – Tabletop Game
Gother Than Thou – Tabletop Game
Hunter: The Reckoning – Computer Game
Letters from Whitechapel – Tabletop Game
Lost Souls – RPG
Monsterhearts -RPG
My Life With Master – RPG
Ravenloft – RPG
Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death – RPG
Rippers – RPG
Silent Hill – Computer Game
Vampire: Bloodlines – Computer Game
World of Darkness – RPG
CINEMA
Adams Family – Movie & TV Series
American Gothic – TV
Bezerk – Anime
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Corpse Bride
The Crow
Dark Shadows – TV
Death Note – Anime
Dracula (1931 & 1958)
Dragonwyck
Edward Scissorhands
Frankenstein (1931)
The Hound of the Baskervilles
House of Usher
House on Haunted Hill
Interview with the Vampire
Jane Eyre
Kolchak: The Night Stalker – TV
Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Medium – TV
The Name of the Rose
Near Dark
Nightmare Before Christmas
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
The Orphanage
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
Rebecca (1940)
Sleepy Hollow
Suspiria
Supernatural – TV
Sweeny Todd – Broadway Musical
Trinity Blood – Anime
Underworld
Vampire Hunter D – Anime
Witch Hunter Robin – Anime
LOCATIONS
Biserica Neagră
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biserica_Neagr%C4%83
Castle Dracula
http://www.castledracula.ie/
Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris
http://notredamedeparis.fr/
Gothic Quarter, Barcelona
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Quarter,_Barcelona
Keats-Shelley House
http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/
Museum of Edgar Allan Poe
http://www.poemuseum.org/index.php
PEOPLE
Charlotte Brontë
Emily Brontë
Tim Burton
Count Dracula
Victor Frankenstein
Dr. Henry Jekyll
Bela Lugosi
Edger Allan Poe
Vincent Price
Ann Radcliffe
Mary Shelley
Bram Stoker
Horace Walpool
I hope you find these resources informative and inspiring for your adventures, storytelling, or game design.
Stay Creative!
T.R. Knight
( If you would like to save this list of resources as a convenient PDF for later reference, you can find that HERE )
WHO IS T.R. KNIGHT?
He is a freelance editor, proofreader, and writer in the game industry. He is also a Husband and Caregiver to his wife Angie, Father of Twins Emily and Rachel, Gardner and Hobby Chef, and Director of Academic Technology and User Services at Taylor University. You can learn more about T.R. at his blog http://www.thomasrknight.com.
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