Unleashed
Plot Overview
Unleashed is a game that follows the lives of a group of innocent individuals that are forcibly inducted into the dark shadow reality of the Madness. While attempting to navigate through the world that they now find creeping in the dark corners of rooms and scratching its way into their mind they must survive encounters with the mythical and supernatural. The game test the limits of the both the mind and body of the character as they are subjected to a gruesome battery of obstacles that stand in the way of their one true objective: freedom. While characters will be posed with situations and decisions that challenge their morals, world view, and basic humanity they may end up being changed by the Madness. Ultimately only three faiths await those that find themselves lost in the cacophonous labyrinth of reality blurring derangement: death, insanity, or the rarely obtained and highly sought after freedom.
Game Mechanic
The game uses a black box mechanic that draws inspiration from World of Darkness and Fate. This system is used to determine opposed outcomes and chance occurrences. The exact extent and details of the system are known only to the GM (Exxcile) for the sake of simplicity in play and to help in avoiding metagaming. In general, however, rolls will be based on stats abstracted from character descriptions in addition to modifiers or penalties obtained from situational circumstances or the presence/absence of tools.
Terminology
- The Madness
"You think that the Madness can't get to you, that its not real, that you can escape it. You can't run or hide from the Madness. Today, tomorrow, or ten years from now it finds all of us...it finds all of us"
The Madness is a personified psychological force that seems to be omnipresent and omnipotent. Many people believe that the Madness is actively manipulating the events and forces of the world to bring out the chaotic and sinister occurrences that permeate the peripheral realms of reality. Those that find themselves snared by its far reaching web are nearly always innocent bystanders and eventually become cogs in the machine that allow it to grow and maintain itself. The Madness can be likened to the Universe, God, Faith, etc. but the reality is much more abstract. The Madness, although perceived to be real, is simply a self-fulfilling prophecy, a figment of the shared delusion of millions of people over the course of thousands of years. No one knows exactly what brought about the Madness or how a supposed figment of shared delusion could bring about such things as magic, supernatural creatures, or cursed items but no one can argue that they do not exist. To those left in its cacophonous labyrinth of reality blurring derangements only three faiths await them: death, insanity, or long sought after and rarely obtained freedom.
- Orator
"These bastards are fucking evil. The literal spawn of Satan himself."
Orator is a title that is used by those individuals that claim to "speak" for the Madness. Coming from a variety of backgrounds with a wide assortment of skills, abilities, and quirks, Orators are bizarre even among those in the Madness. Each with their own particular rituals and reasons they share the commonality of having the desire to induct more people into the Madness to perpetuate or maintain their lifestyles and the benefits that come from it.Infamous among those in the Madness, encounters with Orators can be broken into two broad categories. Most have the distinct misfortune of being unwittingly involved in one of the rituals or games of an Orator in which they are forcibly inducted into the Madness. These individuals rarely escape the Orator unharmed and more rarely do they ever escape the Madness. The second group of individuals are those that were inducted into the Madness through other means and have regaled the existence of the Orators to mere myth and legend. Those persons of the second group that find themselves faced with an Orator generally become subject to a sort of "retrograde induction", wittingly or unwittingly. Finally, nobody has an accurate number of how many Orator's there are in existence or what causes them to do as they do.
- Induction
"Once you're in, you're in; its too late to go back to your normal life. No matter what you do: scream, kick, claw, or thrash you can't unsee what has been seen."
Induction is the informal act of exposing a person to the world of Madness. This can be done intentionally as with Orators or unintentionally such as witnessing an chance engagement or obtaining a seemingly innocuous item that is actually cursed, albeit most of the time in unremarkable ways. The process of induction is simple and only has one step in which it can be avoided. Once exposure has been made if the person can remove themselves from the situation totally: memory repression, forced rationalization, sudden loss of consciousness, etc. they can avoid being drawn in. For those that do not have the fortune of undergoing one of these effects finds themselves slowly, or rapidly, drawn to the Madness until they can no longer live ordinary lives.
In Game Options
This section is dedicated to a brief listing of some broad options that are available to characters as they play through the game. The mechanics in which they are obtained very highly and are largely up to chance.
- Magic: Magic is the supernatural force that allows an individual to distort or control reality via the exertion of their will and perceived reality. Magic is unique and varied with a myriad of schools and disciplines loosely structured from the nigh infinite number of spells. Those that practice magic use different terminologies to identify themselves but the term has no actual relevance to their ability, although some believe otherwise. Finally, all practitioners of magic suffer a cost which is reflected in their character's description.
- Curses: Where there is magic, there are curses. Curses are magical afflictions placed on a person to cause them some sort of harm. These curses can be simple and seemingly benign or aggressive and destructive. In some instances a curse can be manipulated and used to the advantage of the afflicted. A curse has no additional cost outside of the negative side effects that are brought about by the affliction.
- Cursed Items:All items imbued with magic become tainted by the warping effects of the Madness leading them to become cursed in some shape or form. While these items can be innocuous in appearance, or mundane in effect they too can also be deadly and powerful. Possession of a cursed item levies its own afflictions while using the item causes an additional negative effect to take place.
- Eldritch Knowledge:Ancient tomes, lost scrolls, authorless books, and talking skulls. The shadowed world of delusions and chaos is filled with collections of bizarre knowledge. This knowledge can be both a boon and a curse giving the character information that could save their lives or give them an advantage in a situation but more common than not obtaining this knowledge pushes the mind to its very limits; some secrets are better left buried. Any negative effect that comes from obtaining this knowledge is reflected in the character description.
- Supranatural Abilities:While not entirely superhuman in nature a character may gain abilities that would allow them to perform feats ordinary men and women could not even attempt. This is due to the subtle, but continuous taint that the Madness has one the mind, body, and soul. These abilities tend to manifest without warning, rhyme, or reason; just as the Madness itself exist without logic or consideration.
- Supernatural Affliction:From the pages of ancient lore to the timeless tales of bedtime stories monsters in the guise of men have walked the planet, hiding secretly among us, feeding on our flesh and blood, and spread like a sickness. In the world of Madness these fairytales shine a dim light into the reality of supernatural afflictions. As varied and unique as magic, the Madness has created a variety of supernatural creatures. Each disease has its own unique ways of transmission and gives the afflicted a set of weaknesses and new strengths. All changes are reflected in the character description.
Player Characters
Current Players
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Inactive Players
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Previous Players
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Non-Playable Characters