(Entry) Psykhotherapy: The Dark Mind

[Antti-san]

Oh, resolution and die rolling mechanics mean the same thing. That explains a lot. (After all, games can be resolved without dice. -_-)

So the game works on d12. After counting two attributes together (say, Instinct + Awareness for checking if the character is surprised or not) the Host applies any situational modifiers, thus either increasing or reducing the target number. Then, the player rolls a d12, trying to roll lower than or equal to the target number.

[adgboss]

[Antti-san]

[Antti-san]

So, now I'm dividing the attributes to three groups, based on opposites. What do you think about these:

Cognition - Physics
Instinct - Awareness
Inspiration - Ego

[Antti-san]

Major change. I decided to ditch the previous ingredients and chose new, and more suiting ones, from the other category:

Ingredients:
- Glass
The Dark Mind forms when something really terrible causes the characters mind shatter like a glass
- Committee
Those who are ready to go through the therapy are decided by the Committee of Mental Disorders, which consists of top psychiarists
- Emotion
Emotions are feelings that float around the Dark Mind. They may be hostile, or even helpful towards the Visitors, but the always act like the feelings they are born of

[kenjib]

Those ingredients seem a much better fit for your game. I wonder if glass could be tied in in a more concrete fashion though. After all, inside someone's mind something that exists as metaphor/symbolism can take material form. The host's mind has shattered like a glass and the visitors are in the host's mind. What does this mean in the surreal world of the host's insane mind?

[Mark Bravura]

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I haven't even thought about "non-insane" characters. Either you can't play one, or there might be an option for "researchers", characters that aren't actually insane and try to help others to recover.
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Your "non-insane" characters [protagonists] might have opposing "magic" [i.e. N.L.P.; Theater of the Mind, Psycho Cybernetics, Creative Visualization, etc.

M.B.

[Antti-san]

[Antti-san]

I wrote a short story about the game. It works as an introduction to the game.

Forgotten Memories

March 7. 1968

Dearest Sarah.
I know that I haven't been myself lately, and I humbly apologize any harm that I might have caused you. I need serius help for my problems. I can't manage on my own! I am afraid, very afraid. Please forgive me. My feelings towards you are pure, but so is my fear of losing you. I can't keep myself from thinking that I'm not worthy of you and that you'll find another man, a better person than I am.

So I beg you, give me some time. I will once again become the man I used to be. I need you. I love you. I just.. Don't know what I would do without you.

I am going to the clinic just like you proposed. I have already made an appointment with Doctor Reich. He promised that his new form of therapy would help me to gain control of myself again. I don't know how long it will take, but I promise that when I'm ready, this whole thing will be left behind.
-Your loving husband, John

* * * * *

A week has passed since since. The things I have seen during the psychotherapy have made me lose my will to continue. Human mind is a terrible thing indeed, and we have to face it every day. My fellow patients Jennifer, Alex, Lucy and James have been very supporting in these dark times. I don't understand how they can be so carefree after seeing the things we've seen.

It's Alex's turn to go to the large chamber. I've heard Doctor Reich calling it "the Host chamber". It has a sinister sound in it, and I fear the day I have to go there myself. Jennifer said that it felt like dreaming, but still being awake at the same time. "Kinda like drugs", she added with her maniacal grin. It creeps me out.

We bid Alex farewell and go to "the Visitor chambers". I am shaking again, I can't stand the chambers. Something about them makes me nauseous. We really shouldn't mess with things we don't understand! But Doctor Reich has assured that the chambers are safe and everything we do in the Dark Mind (as he calls it) is merely a mental image we form in the Hosts mind. I don't really understand all of what he says but I trust his words. He is a doctor after all, right?


I close the chamber door and close my eyes. Sweet, relaxing music starts playing and I feel much better. Ah, Mozart. The music keeps playing and I pass out, just like the other times.

When I finally wake up, I see Jennifer, Lucy and James standing right in front of me. Partially. We were said that after entering the Dark Mind, we are merely mental images of ourselves. It isn't very comforting, because it is really hard to think that you're ok when you are transparent.

We haven't been inside Alex's mind yet. It looks so much different than James' or Lucys. While James had a complex maze filled with doors and hidden traps, and Lucy's mind was clear like a glass palace, Alex's mind is pitch black. There is only one hallway leading forward. We started moving. After a short while I looked back and couldn't see anything. The hallway kept going on and on and on... It felt oppressive. I had thought that finding our way in a maze was frustrating but this was way beyond my imagination. It felt like that only way out, was a quick and painless death.

Suddenly, the hallway split in two. We decided that we would advance in two groups. Me and Jennifer went to the left and James and Lucy to the right. "Making us split apart, eh Alex?" said Jennifer while grinning. It made me even more nervous.

Then we heard the screaming. James and Lucy came in mind first, but after a short while it was clear that it was something else. Something that had taken form in Alex's mind.

We saw some light in the end of the hallway. It felt almost relaxing, but the screaming was coming from that direction. We braced ourselves and went towards the light. But we weren't ready for what we were about to see.

The room was a small living room that was in fire. And suddenly, we were in the middle of it. And the corridor behind us had disappeared. There was a young woman holding something against her breast. And she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

I paniced. I ran to the door and tried to get it open. It was stuck. "Jennifer! Do something!" I yelled while trying to avoid the flames that were bursting from around me. Jennifer was just standing and staring, nearly catatonic. She had reverted to her depressed side. I grapped her, and placed her near the screaming woman.

"Shut up you bitch!" I yelled back. It felt good, but then it suddenly hit me. I'm acting just like back home...



I shook my head and tried to concentrate. My recovery was well underway, I shouldn't give up now. I tried to calm the woman down, and noticed that she had a young boy with him. Alex.

He was sobbing and clutching his mom. This had to be the traumatic experience that had made him so jumpy around fire. I should have guessed.

Suddenly, the woman started to scream even more and tried to hide his son away, looking horrified by something. I turned and saw a large man made from fire walking down the stairs and towards us. The embodiment of Alex's fear. And I didn't have a clue of what to do. Then Jennifer decided to turn manic again.

She jumped up and ran towards the kitchen. The fireman turned and tried to catch her, but she was too quick. I started screaming myself and tried to attract the fireman's attention. It worked too well.

It came rushing towards me and I had nowhere to run. I ducked under the table and saw it coming closer and closer. Then Jennifer came back with a fire extinguisher. "Take this you meanie!" she yelled and started blasting the thing with the extinguisher. Soon afterwards, the fire stopped.

James and Lucy opened the door that I had tried to open earlier. "Come on!" James shouted. I took Alex and his mom out, while Lucy and James took Jennifer with force, as she was laughing maniacally and smashed the extinguisher around the room.

When we finally got away from Alex's mind, I could see the shame on his face. I am not sure if he got rid of his fear, but I think that the past will haunt him forever. Just like mine.

[Antti-san]

So, the step 3 in character creation is for some traits. Here's a short synopsis of what they do. Any suggestions about some others that feel necessary?


Step 3: Calculate the Personality
Personality Traits are derived from the characters Attributes. They all have different meanings and usages. Each Trait is described more throughly in the "How the Mind works" section.

Resolve: Cognition + Ego
Resolve is your characters guts. Higher Resolve benefits less sanityloss, and higher rate of succeeding in a demanding task.

Mental Points: Cognition + Awareness
Mental Points measure how much mental pressure the mind can handle before collapsing.

Sanity: Instinct + Ego
Eventhough every character is insane, sanity measures how insane the character really is.

Combat Prowess: Physics + Instinct
Combat Prowess means the characters potential in combat.