We are all MAD here!
Hello there! I am currently trying to craft the perfect game setting/plot/map/interesting homebrew/game! I just wanted to make a quick overview of my game here to see how you all like it, and if you have any suggestions. If you guys want a more detailed description of all the plot twists, secret motives, etc that I will not be going over, feel free to add me as a friend and ask. I would be more than happy to send you more info. First things first, the difference between my game and most. In my game (Currently run in the Pathfinder system) EVERY playable character has some kind of insanity.
Sounds interesting right? I am currently running it with 5 characters who are as follows: 1 Schizo(Lost touch of reality) Dwarf, 1 Psychotic(Feels the urge to kill friends as well as enemies) Human, 1 Multiple personality disordered(Has 2 currently, more in depth later) Human, 1 MPD(Also has 2) Suli, and finally 1 Psycho Schizo Human(Favorite character of mine). Needless to say all of these factors have combined to provide some interesting events, for example: When they started, they were all in an asylum, but the dwarf saw it as a goblin dungeon, and the nurses syringes as daggers; the MPD human is a female Divination wizard who switches from Luna(Chaotic Neutral) to Sol (Lawful Good), but once a month she gains access to a third personality because her insanity increases by one named Umbra (Chaotic Evil) who is a Necromancy wizard, hell-bent on the destruction of all who stand in her way; the human psycho is constantly sabotaging all of the groups efforts, and he has yet to be caught, and almost killed someone in their sleep; the other MPD suli turns into a tree hugger in his alternate personality, and loses worth of money, so he often simple gives it all away, while the original personality is very greedy, so he generally steals it back.
My favorite character is named Dolus (Latin for deceit) and he is the human schizo psycho. He has yet to be introduced to the group, but he is going to be one of my members. What makes Dolus interesting is that he was the only member not present in the asylum that they escaped from. As far as the members are concerned, none of them are insane (they are to mental to realize it), but they found one empty cell with loads of locks and chains. This is the cell Dolus was held in, before he escaped almost 1 year ago. Dolus is also very unique in that he is my villain. I thought it would be interesting to have the villain as a pc, and only be as smart as the player rather than have me roleplay him with my all knowing knowledge, and I also thought it would make the villain interacting in the world as they are playing more interesting. Dolus is the only PC who also has a background. Everyone else in the asylum started with no money, and no weapons, as well as no idea who or where they were. I gave Dolus his backstory which is as follows (Also, I am making my game a prequel to one that my friend has run that was a big success): Dolus was a very powerful paladin who had brought peace to a crumbling empire that almost went extinct due to dragon wars, as well as invaders, and saved them from a near civil war. After he had done all this, the leaders of the human empire decided he was far to strong to be kept alive. Even though he helped them, they feared if he was to turn against them he could destroy them all, as it was said that he had the spirit of Bahamut himself inside of him. They led Dolus into a trap, and finally overcame him and bound him with the loss of 5,000 men, nearly 80% of all of the kingdom's fighting forces (It's a very small and young empire). They then tortured him and tried to make him forget who or what he was, and what he was capable of, and it worked... almost.
After they believed they had succeeded, they put Dolus in an asylum with other normal, yet insane, inmates, in the hopes he would imagine that he was always there, and was just like the rest of his cell mates, and he did... almost. They also had the hopes that after putting him here, he would not only forget, but he would lose most of his vast power, in case of the unfortunate event that he should escape, and he did... almost. But almost isn't good enough. Tiamat grew jealous of Bahumut's champion, and all he had done, and after he saw how Bahamut let the people take him, Tiamat saw his chance. One night, Dolus was sleeping in his cell, when he had a dream. It was Tiamat telling him to follow him, and that there was no true good. Tiamat reminded him of his power, and his fall from Bahamut's graces. He filled Dolus' heads with lies and told him that even the god of good turned him over to wicked men, and how Tiamat was the only just god, because Tiamat seeks to destroy all, for none are innocent. This, Tiamat explained, is the only way to truly protect goodness and peace, was to destroy all unworthy of it, and the unworthy were very many. Dolus shot up from his bed that night, and screamed in agony as Tiamat came into him. With his new power Dolus ripped the iron door off with a flick of his hand, and the very sky around the asylum was darkened. A storm began to brew and Dolus used to to rip apart a hole in the room and walk out. After that Dolus screamed towards the pit of hell, and pit fiends came to his side, and took him away so he could learn to control his new power.
Now, for the story of my game, Dolus will join with the group very soon (aprox lvl 3) but yet will be a level 30-40 Antipaladin and sorcerer. He will be seeing if his old cellmates were there for a similar reason. After he realizes that they have no power like him, he will leave (lvl 4-5) and begin to continue his quest. Dolus figured the easiest way to kill thousands would be a war, and so begins to play the capital against the rebels. The rebels capture a very important fortress in the mountains, and at this point the king realizes he may lose, and so he uses a wish from a wishing ring to "Win the war at all costs" when he says this, all the rebel leaders, and most of the men have gathered in the recently captured fortress town of Terra. Dolus realizes that to make this war as bloody as possible, he should make the armies without leaders, and so he calls upon Tiamat who shakes the mountains, and destroys Terra, Thornin's (The capital's) only ally. At this loss, the rebels lose the war, and towns are decimated, but Dolus is not yet done. Dolus then causes a sort of zombie apocalypse from the dead of the war to kill the remaining living (Not going to go into detail about this, but I have it all planned, and I think it's pretty cool). Finally once the PC's can fight Dolus, Dolus will break off a large chunk of a mountain the he is residing on, and will fly high into the air with them, so there is no escape for either him, nor the party, and he will call down a storm. After 2-3 die, which is VERY likely, Dolus will begin to berate them about how none of them are innocent either. He will begin to ask them questions that he already knows the answer to.
Finally, when one of the party gets annoyed and yells the answer, that member will suddenly look down at his hands, and realize he is in chains. Upon looking up, he will realize he is in a modern court room (I will obviously narrate this as if trying to tell this to a man who lives in the medieval ages, so it may take him awhile to realize he is in court). The judge will have just asked him, "Did you kill those nurses (referring to the Asylum way at the beginning)" To which the player had yelled yes, thinking he was yelling at Dolus. While the players' heads are still spinning, I will begin to describe how they are taken away and led into a metal beast (van) and how one of the guards sympathizes with them. Through this interaction they will learn they were Korean War vets, and for the history buffs out there, you know there was no real peace treaty, and as such, many prisoners of war were not released until after years of imprisonment, and several went mad. The character realizes, this whole game has been a part of their insanity, they were moved to the states a year ago (The same time when deceit(Dolus) broke out symbolizing their being freed from the deceit of the North Koreans). Since then, anyone who has died in the game will be narrated as having died in the prison in Korea, and that upon being moved to the states the ones alive attempted an escape, still believing they were being lied to and that the states were still Korea. In their escape they killed some nurses (the nurses at the asylum). At this time, the van will pull over and the guard will lead them to a graveyard so they can say goodbye to their dead friends, before the ones who are alive go to be executed. The ones who alive see the grave and then a storm comes in. At this they believe this whole thing is a lie, and that Dolus has played a mass deception on them. They lunge for the guard but his back up pull out their guns(and since the party has no idea how to use guns they will be defenseless) and kills them, and they lie dying on the graves of their friends, still wondering what was the actual deceit... them, or Dolus himself.
So, yeah opinions would be good, advice if you have it, and I hope you enjoyed it. Again feel free to ask plot questions.
Sounds interesting right? I am currently running it with 5 characters who are as follows: 1 Schizo(Lost touch of reality) Dwarf, 1 Psychotic(Feels the urge to kill friends as well as enemies) Human, 1 Multiple personality disordered(Has 2 currently, more in depth later) Human, 1 MPD(Also has 2) Suli, and finally 1 Psycho Schizo Human(Favorite character of mine). Needless to say all of these factors have combined to provide some interesting events, for example: When they started, they were all in an asylum, but the dwarf saw it as a goblin dungeon, and the nurses syringes as daggers; the MPD human is a female Divination wizard who switches from Luna(Chaotic Neutral) to Sol (Lawful Good), but once a month she gains access to a third personality because her insanity increases by one named Umbra (Chaotic Evil) who is a Necromancy wizard, hell-bent on the destruction of all who stand in her way; the human psycho is constantly sabotaging all of the groups efforts, and he has yet to be caught, and almost killed someone in their sleep; the other MPD suli turns into a tree hugger in his alternate personality, and loses worth of money, so he often simple gives it all away, while the original personality is very greedy, so he generally steals it back.
My favorite character is named Dolus (Latin for deceit) and he is the human schizo psycho. He has yet to be introduced to the group, but he is going to be one of my members. What makes Dolus interesting is that he was the only member not present in the asylum that they escaped from. As far as the members are concerned, none of them are insane (they are to mental to realize it), but they found one empty cell with loads of locks and chains. This is the cell Dolus was held in, before he escaped almost 1 year ago. Dolus is also very unique in that he is my villain. I thought it would be interesting to have the villain as a pc, and only be as smart as the player rather than have me roleplay him with my all knowing knowledge, and I also thought it would make the villain interacting in the world as they are playing more interesting. Dolus is the only PC who also has a background. Everyone else in the asylum started with no money, and no weapons, as well as no idea who or where they were. I gave Dolus his backstory which is as follows (Also, I am making my game a prequel to one that my friend has run that was a big success): Dolus was a very powerful paladin who had brought peace to a crumbling empire that almost went extinct due to dragon wars, as well as invaders, and saved them from a near civil war. After he had done all this, the leaders of the human empire decided he was far to strong to be kept alive. Even though he helped them, they feared if he was to turn against them he could destroy them all, as it was said that he had the spirit of Bahamut himself inside of him. They led Dolus into a trap, and finally overcame him and bound him with the loss of 5,000 men, nearly 80% of all of the kingdom's fighting forces (It's a very small and young empire). They then tortured him and tried to make him forget who or what he was, and what he was capable of, and it worked... almost.
After they believed they had succeeded, they put Dolus in an asylum with other normal, yet insane, inmates, in the hopes he would imagine that he was always there, and was just like the rest of his cell mates, and he did... almost. They also had the hopes that after putting him here, he would not only forget, but he would lose most of his vast power, in case of the unfortunate event that he should escape, and he did... almost. But almost isn't good enough. Tiamat grew jealous of Bahumut's champion, and all he had done, and after he saw how Bahamut let the people take him, Tiamat saw his chance. One night, Dolus was sleeping in his cell, when he had a dream. It was Tiamat telling him to follow him, and that there was no true good. Tiamat reminded him of his power, and his fall from Bahamut's graces. He filled Dolus' heads with lies and told him that even the god of good turned him over to wicked men, and how Tiamat was the only just god, because Tiamat seeks to destroy all, for none are innocent. This, Tiamat explained, is the only way to truly protect goodness and peace, was to destroy all unworthy of it, and the unworthy were very many. Dolus shot up from his bed that night, and screamed in agony as Tiamat came into him. With his new power Dolus ripped the iron door off with a flick of his hand, and the very sky around the asylum was darkened. A storm began to brew and Dolus used to to rip apart a hole in the room and walk out. After that Dolus screamed towards the pit of hell, and pit fiends came to his side, and took him away so he could learn to control his new power.
Now, for the story of my game, Dolus will join with the group very soon (aprox lvl 3) but yet will be a level 30-40 Antipaladin and sorcerer. He will be seeing if his old cellmates were there for a similar reason. After he realizes that they have no power like him, he will leave (lvl 4-5) and begin to continue his quest. Dolus figured the easiest way to kill thousands would be a war, and so begins to play the capital against the rebels. The rebels capture a very important fortress in the mountains, and at this point the king realizes he may lose, and so he uses a wish from a wishing ring to "Win the war at all costs" when he says this, all the rebel leaders, and most of the men have gathered in the recently captured fortress town of Terra. Dolus realizes that to make this war as bloody as possible, he should make the armies without leaders, and so he calls upon Tiamat who shakes the mountains, and destroys Terra, Thornin's (The capital's) only ally. At this loss, the rebels lose the war, and towns are decimated, but Dolus is not yet done. Dolus then causes a sort of zombie apocalypse from the dead of the war to kill the remaining living (Not going to go into detail about this, but I have it all planned, and I think it's pretty cool). Finally once the PC's can fight Dolus, Dolus will break off a large chunk of a mountain the he is residing on, and will fly high into the air with them, so there is no escape for either him, nor the party, and he will call down a storm. After 2-3 die, which is VERY likely, Dolus will begin to berate them about how none of them are innocent either. He will begin to ask them questions that he already knows the answer to.
Finally, when one of the party gets annoyed and yells the answer, that member will suddenly look down at his hands, and realize he is in chains. Upon looking up, he will realize he is in a modern court room (I will obviously narrate this as if trying to tell this to a man who lives in the medieval ages, so it may take him awhile to realize he is in court). The judge will have just asked him, "Did you kill those nurses (referring to the Asylum way at the beginning)" To which the player had yelled yes, thinking he was yelling at Dolus. While the players' heads are still spinning, I will begin to describe how they are taken away and led into a metal beast (van) and how one of the guards sympathizes with them. Through this interaction they will learn they were Korean War vets, and for the history buffs out there, you know there was no real peace treaty, and as such, many prisoners of war were not released until after years of imprisonment, and several went mad. The character realizes, this whole game has been a part of their insanity, they were moved to the states a year ago (The same time when deceit(Dolus) broke out symbolizing their being freed from the deceit of the North Koreans). Since then, anyone who has died in the game will be narrated as having died in the prison in Korea, and that upon being moved to the states the ones alive attempted an escape, still believing they were being lied to and that the states were still Korea. In their escape they killed some nurses (the nurses at the asylum). At this time, the van will pull over and the guard will lead them to a graveyard so they can say goodbye to their dead friends, before the ones who are alive go to be executed. The ones who alive see the grave and then a storm comes in. At this they believe this whole thing is a lie, and that Dolus has played a mass deception on them. They lunge for the guard but his back up pull out their guns(and since the party has no idea how to use guns they will be defenseless) and kills them, and they lie dying on the graves of their friends, still wondering what was the actual deceit... them, or Dolus himself.
So, yeah opinions would be good, advice if you have it, and I hope you enjoyed it. Again feel free to ask plot questions.