Quixotic1
2022-02-17, 03:42 PM
Been working on this concept for a while now, and I've finally gotten to a point where I'll be ready to roll soon. I figured I'd put it here to see if I could find any additional ideas, suggestions, concerns, etc.
Each player has received a key in a padded manilla envelope with the numbers 1-9-8-2 written on it, as well as a series of strange instructions. These notes lead them to a numbers station (nicknamed "Growl PSK" by people who give such things nicknames) and an underground complex that seems to be part bomb shelter, part mushroom grow project.
The variant species of fly agaric mushroom that grows in the abandoned trays, when consumed, is a powerful psychotropic that seems to send the user back in time. Specifically, forty years ago.
The central concept of the game (totally unsure how much they'll figure out in the course of actual gameplay):
The mycellium network (the root-like system of fungi) beneath the forest floor connects all of the plant and fungal life in a way that is very similar to the way neurons are connected within a brain.
The Network is a brain. A massive, utterly alien brain with inscrutable goals and desires. Many--perhaps all--people in the area (or in the world?) are a part of the Network as well. Fungal spores release phramaones and take root in grey matter, and the Network has been slowly, subtly manipulating the human population since they first walked upon the earth and breathed it's air.
The Agency (looking for a suitably ominous and vague name for them that condences to a short acronym, a la FBI, CIA, etc.) used Growl PSK to communicate with the Network, using the whole of the forest as a massive receiver.
They have made some kind of deal with the Network--every 40 years, they offer it a human child (cue themes of faerie and alien abduction).
What the Agency gets out of the deal is further attempts to understand what they at first see as a potential source of power or a biological weapon, but later (when they realize the breadth and scope of it's influence) they are simply trying to appease it, like frightened cultists making sacrifices to an uncaring god.
So the game will consist mostly of the players trying to unravel the mystery around the numbers station, the missing children, etc. while avoiding the attention of the Agency and those under the influence of the Network.
Been doing a lot of reading on running mystery games and the like. The Angry GM is invaluable, as usual. The Alexandrian isn't normally as helpful for me, but the Three Clue Rule and the concept of Revelations were great points.
Now I need to solidify the essential plot points (i.e. the scenes that are necessary for the game to be complete), the revelations (and at least three clues for each) and how they might be connected (looks like largely a branching structure with some open elements and a couple linear ones).
I've got a list of people from different parts of town they can meet, places they can dig around for clues.
I'm not sure how this will go. Especially the time travel aspect related to the varient fly agaric mushrooms in the underground facility.
I've also got the idea that there's *something* in the woods. A distant, thin wailing. A sudden rumbling crash like a freight train in the forest. A thousand people and beasts screaming and growling and dying--but it's just "soft places" in time and space, most of them sort of worm holes leading to the night of the blizzard when the children are taken.
I'm not sure I included everything necessary to understand the game in the above description (trying to transcribe it from two different notebooks, the note function on my phone, a computer and three different forums), so I'd be happy to clarify anything.
This game feels really big and unwieldy and I'm doubting my skillz as a gamemaster for the first time in a long time. So any comments are welcome. Worst case scenario, this has been a good sounding board for all my ideas.
Each player has received a key in a padded manilla envelope with the numbers 1-9-8-2 written on it, as well as a series of strange instructions. These notes lead them to a numbers station (nicknamed "Growl PSK" by people who give such things nicknames) and an underground complex that seems to be part bomb shelter, part mushroom grow project.
The variant species of fly agaric mushroom that grows in the abandoned trays, when consumed, is a powerful psychotropic that seems to send the user back in time. Specifically, forty years ago.
The central concept of the game (totally unsure how much they'll figure out in the course of actual gameplay):
The mycellium network (the root-like system of fungi) beneath the forest floor connects all of the plant and fungal life in a way that is very similar to the way neurons are connected within a brain.
The Network is a brain. A massive, utterly alien brain with inscrutable goals and desires. Many--perhaps all--people in the area (or in the world?) are a part of the Network as well. Fungal spores release phramaones and take root in grey matter, and the Network has been slowly, subtly manipulating the human population since they first walked upon the earth and breathed it's air.
The Agency (looking for a suitably ominous and vague name for them that condences to a short acronym, a la FBI, CIA, etc.) used Growl PSK to communicate with the Network, using the whole of the forest as a massive receiver.
They have made some kind of deal with the Network--every 40 years, they offer it a human child (cue themes of faerie and alien abduction).
What the Agency gets out of the deal is further attempts to understand what they at first see as a potential source of power or a biological weapon, but later (when they realize the breadth and scope of it's influence) they are simply trying to appease it, like frightened cultists making sacrifices to an uncaring god.
So the game will consist mostly of the players trying to unravel the mystery around the numbers station, the missing children, etc. while avoiding the attention of the Agency and those under the influence of the Network.
Been doing a lot of reading on running mystery games and the like. The Angry GM is invaluable, as usual. The Alexandrian isn't normally as helpful for me, but the Three Clue Rule and the concept of Revelations were great points.
Now I need to solidify the essential plot points (i.e. the scenes that are necessary for the game to be complete), the revelations (and at least three clues for each) and how they might be connected (looks like largely a branching structure with some open elements and a couple linear ones).
I've got a list of people from different parts of town they can meet, places they can dig around for clues.
I'm not sure how this will go. Especially the time travel aspect related to the varient fly agaric mushrooms in the underground facility.
I've also got the idea that there's *something* in the woods. A distant, thin wailing. A sudden rumbling crash like a freight train in the forest. A thousand people and beasts screaming and growling and dying--but it's just "soft places" in time and space, most of them sort of worm holes leading to the night of the blizzard when the children are taken.
I'm not sure I included everything necessary to understand the game in the above description (trying to transcribe it from two different notebooks, the note function on my phone, a computer and three different forums), so I'd be happy to clarify anything.
This game feels really big and unwieldy and I'm doubting my skillz as a gamemaster for the first time in a long time. So any comments are welcome. Worst case scenario, this has been a good sounding board for all my ideas.