Middle Management
Desperately trying to get out of the depressive spiral, I've been looking for sources of inspiration.
Cthulhu probably isn't the best place to look for a way to restore a bit of sanity, especially when I'm already caught up in patterns of shadowy conspiracies, futility and general self-doubt.
Hang on....How does Cthulhu link to middle management? WTF?
I'm rhetorically glad you asked.
I had a crazy idea for a game a few months ago, and my recent activities have reminded me of it.
The game has a working title of "Middle Management", it's about spiritual beings caught working for impossibly powerful malevolent forces (the senior management....AKA the elder gods), they are forced to enact the secretive conspiracies of the world through their low ranking peons.
The players are free to roam between the physical realm and the great abyss beyond time and space.
Here's the basic working notes.
Middle Management
In which the players take on the roles of various races subjugated by the deities of the cthulhu mythos, and in turn enslave mortals.
Game should use d12s due to the pentagons on each side (the dice represent elder stones, which are always referred to as five-sided.). Perhaps a range of d4s d8s and d12s, or maybe cards.
Players have a rating from 1 to 12. Where 1 is a full connection to the physical plane, and 12 is no connection at all.
The true masters are caught in an abyssal realm, ageless and eternal, the players shift between the abyss and the mundane world. They need agents in the mundane world to achieve the goals of the beings trapped in the abyss. The more removed the players are from the abyss, the weaker they become; the more they use agents from the mortal world, the more insane or degenerate those agents become.
Mechanism Ideas
Players roll 2d12 for their actions (or draw 2 cards). They use the lower result if they are interacting with mortals in the physical world, and the higher result if they are interacting with elder gods in the abyss.
Basically, the difference determines the success level.
Affecting the physical world has a target value of 1. Affecting the abyssal realm has a target value of 12. Affecting a figure caught somewhere between the physical world and the abyss has a target value equal to their planar rating.
Every time a mortal is affected, their target value increases by 1 as they lose their connection to the mortal world. This might be manifested through loss of sanity or physical degeneration.
Every time an abyssal creature is affected, their target value decreases by 1 as their bonds of extra-planar imprisonment are weakened.
It's just something that's been rattling around for a while, I haven't really known where to proceed with it. Every now and then the basic concepts raise their heads again and I rehash them.
If it gives you any ideas, or if you have any ideas on where I could proceed, I'd be glad to hear them.
At this stage I'm thinking of linking the structure to one of my other games, perhaps Bunraku Nights, or maybe even FUBAR.
At this stage it's probably just going to end up in the library of lost ideas.
Cthulhu probably isn't the best place to look for a way to restore a bit of sanity, especially when I'm already caught up in patterns of shadowy conspiracies, futility and general self-doubt.
Hang on....How does Cthulhu link to middle management? WTF?
I'm rhetorically glad you asked.
I had a crazy idea for a game a few months ago, and my recent activities have reminded me of it.
The game has a working title of "Middle Management", it's about spiritual beings caught working for impossibly powerful malevolent forces (the senior management....AKA the elder gods), they are forced to enact the secretive conspiracies of the world through their low ranking peons.
The players are free to roam between the physical realm and the great abyss beyond time and space.
Here's the basic working notes.
Middle Management
In which the players take on the roles of various races subjugated by the deities of the cthulhu mythos, and in turn enslave mortals.
Game should use d12s due to the pentagons on each side (the dice represent elder stones, which are always referred to as five-sided.). Perhaps a range of d4s d8s and d12s, or maybe cards.
Players have a rating from 1 to 12. Where 1 is a full connection to the physical plane, and 12 is no connection at all.
| Plane | Divinity | Awareness | |
| 1-2 | Fully Material | Ages Quickly | 4 Senses |
| 3-4 | Quasi-Material | Ages Normally | 5 Senses |
| 5-6 | Ephemeral/Astral | Long Lived | Extrasensory Perception |
| 7-8 | Outer Realms | Demigod | Temporal Perception |
| 9-10 | Abyssal Threshold | Virtually Immortal | Extra-planar Perception |
| 11-12 | Abyss | Immortal | Omniscience |
The true masters are caught in an abyssal realm, ageless and eternal, the players shift between the abyss and the mundane world. They need agents in the mundane world to achieve the goals of the beings trapped in the abyss. The more removed the players are from the abyss, the weaker they become; the more they use agents from the mortal world, the more insane or degenerate those agents become.
Mechanism Ideas
Players roll 2d12 for their actions (or draw 2 cards). They use the lower result if they are interacting with mortals in the physical world, and the higher result if they are interacting with elder gods in the abyss.
Basically, the difference determines the success level.
Affecting the physical world has a target value of 1. Affecting the abyssal realm has a target value of 12. Affecting a figure caught somewhere between the physical world and the abyss has a target value equal to their planar rating.
Every time a mortal is affected, their target value increases by 1 as they lose their connection to the mortal world. This might be manifested through loss of sanity or physical degeneration.
Every time an abyssal creature is affected, their target value decreases by 1 as their bonds of extra-planar imprisonment are weakened.
It's just something that's been rattling around for a while, I haven't really known where to proceed with it. Every now and then the basic concepts raise their heads again and I rehash them.
If it gives you any ideas, or if you have any ideas on where I could proceed, I'd be glad to hear them.
At this stage I'm thinking of linking the structure to one of my other games, perhaps Bunraku Nights, or maybe even FUBAR.
At this stage it's probably just going to end up in the library of lost ideas.
.png)
Comments
Here's my idea:
Total brainstorm moment so this might not make much sense at first, but what if you made it a one on one type game where one player acts in the role of Investigator trying to prevent the coming of the Old One and one acts in the role of Cultist who tries to bring about said return.
You've already got a nice diminishing die mechanic that would prevent any run-away success problems. In fact, success might not be an easy thing to realize based on the mechanics.
Add the following to the game idea: two "NPC" objects that the game that the players act upon and success hinges upon; a Mortal and an Old One. For the Old One to fully enter the Material Plane, the mortal must be insane.
The Mortal starts the game with a Plane state of 3.
The Old One starts the game with a Plane state of 10.
Success is realized for the Investigator if the Old One moves beyond the spheres (obtaining a Plane score of 12) and the Mortal retains a sane state (obtaining a Plane score of 1.)
Success for the Cultist is realized when the Old One fully enters the Material Plane (obtaining a Plane score of less than 3) and the Mortal goes insane (obtaining a Plane score of more than 10.)
Note that since the required scores for success are skewed to the Cultist, it falls in line with the hopeless nature of Lovecraft's writings. However, the Investigator always goes first in every game.
The versus mechanics is directly as you indicated and would look like this: Each success level allows a player to move the Plane score of their target that many positions.
Example of game play:
Alex is playing the role of the Cultist and chooses to affect the state of the Mortal. The Mortal is currently at sanity state 3. Alex rolls 2d12 resulting in an 8 and a 4. Since he is affecting the Mortal, Alex has acheived 1 success (4-3=1). The Mortal moves 1 level on the Plane scale and now has a Plane score of 4.
Bob takes his turn as the Investigator and chooses to affect the state of the Old One. The Old One is currently at Plane state 7. Bob rolls 2d12 resulting in a 5 and a 3. Since Bob chose to affect the state of the Old One, he has acheived 2 successes (7-5=2). The Old One moves 2 levels on the Plane scale and now has a Plane score of 9.
Things to think about:
The game could be played with more than 2 people but would almost require that it be played in even numbers (half playing cultists and half investigators.)
Maybe add a mechanic where exactly rolling the state of the affected choice allows the player to draw a card where good or really bad things could happen. (i.e. a card that states "Next round double your successes." or "Asylum time - the Mortal returns to state 3." or even "The Stars are Right - Subtract 3 from the Old One's state.")
Just some ideas off the top of my head.
That's a nice idea for a one-on-one game. It could make a good twist to the rules or a good specific scenario.
I'm still trying to work out the exact method by which the game mechanism works, but you've got some good ideas there.
This is certainly more productive than the discussion I'm getting over on Praxis (it's in a member only part of the forum, so you'd have to sign up if you wanted o look at those responses).
I'll see about applying to the forums and follow the discussion there as well.
As far as making a proper RPG out of this idea... I don't know. Do you see it more like Bizarro-In-Spectres? Or more like Cthulhu-My Life With Master?
You're probably right though, I'm starting to see it developing more as a card-game or strategic board game with storytelling elements more than a roleplaying game proper.