Man-hunt in the subconscious (game proposal)

[Jacob Mazanti]

Hi everybody,

Here follows rather a long posting outlining a game concept (work title: Reflections) posing as a sort of surrealistic existentialism. I present you first with some background to understand the layout of the universe, then describe the generic situation the game will confront its players with, and lastly toys with a few ideas for structuring play. It is, of course, mostly this last part I would like to have some feedback on, but I've chucked in the rest of the material to give you a meaningful framework to build ideas from. I would like the game structure to be closely allied to the content, and avoid too many abstractions (like dice, cards, etc.) and too much fortune (hopefully the setup will to a large extent allow players to surprise themselves).

Anyway, here goes ...


Background

Reflections is all about man and the forces that drive him. In it you take the role of History itself, the organizing principle that shape the destiny of all things. In order to continue its grand work – a monument to itself, whatever the reason – it became necessary to introduce a partially free-willed life form in the world. That is, a life form subjugated to natural laws but not necessarily to the more abstract cosmic laws governing History's own evolutionary principle. Thus homo sapiens entered the world as a constant challenge to the preplanned unfolding of the universe, and quickly became a physical manifestation of the struggle between the determinism of creation and the autonomy of creatures. And this is indeed the central conflict of Reflections.

At birth every human being is given a part to play in the making of History. The part consists of a limited set of choices dependent upon the exact time and place of birth. Whatever is needed for History to stay its preconceived course is laid down as a potential in this or that individual. Whether a potential is realized or not is ultimately the decision of the individual, but as many people are invested with the same potential it's rather just a question of who realizes it, and as such of no consequence to History. But then again, it's not always as simple as that.

From a human point of view the choices allotted to the individual correspond to her life circumstances, be they biological, social, or intellectual. These are the circumstances within which the individual can shape her own life – her own history, if you will. Because of her limited outlook on the world she can never grasp the true implications of her actions, nor fully understand the part that she is playing in erecting the monument of History. What she can and will do, is assign meaning to the seemingly dissociated fragments of her life circumstances, and thus bring them together to form an – albeit limited – whole. This is, of course, always a retrospective experience, but exactly the kind of experience that prompts people to go on. That is, unless they decide to do otherwise.


Situation

Giving out partial autonomy to History's own creation was always a gamble. And as such, a bet that couldn't always be won. It so happens that certain people stray from the path of History by succeeding in making seemingly impossible choices. Not only do they not realize their own potential, they reshape and refigure it, turning it into something wholly incompatible with the role originally assigned to them. They are the rebels that History didn't plan for, the true rebels against all time and place. And it's History's own dirty job to track them down on the side roads of destiny, and chisel away the marks they have scratched on the surface of its monument.

Like the Christian God who had to become flesh and bone in order to act in the world that he himself had created, so History has to manifest itself among its own creations in order to locate the escapees of destiny, and take control of their personal life stories. History always manifests itself as different aspects of whoever it's trying to catch. Firstly, becoming somebody else is the surest way to catch them, and secondly, not becoming somebody other than the ones you're trying to catch is the surest way not to mess up things even more. The aspects manifested by History corresponds to different choices the escapee might legitimately have made in his life, meaning that the manifestations consists of a series of basically identical mirror-images (the players). It is the purpose of these mirror-images – or Reflections, as I also call them – to relive the life of the escapee, and restructure History accordingly.

Furthermore, to avoid interfering unnecessarily with other humans and their potentials while manifest in physical reality, the Reflections always appear in the slipstream of the escapee's mind. Remembrance is the one tracking device that no human can escape. Though memory is fragmented and incomplete – if it weren't there wouldn't be room for people to invest their own meaning in it – it is also highly customizable, allowing for almost any constellation of people, places, and events that you can think of. By roaming the subconscious of the escapee Reflections can investigate childhood memories, interrogate family, and even enter the most secret phantasies. All this to fully understand, to fully become, the escapee, and only then to trap him in his own mind, and take control.

However, the challenges in doing this are greater than might be expected. By manifesting itself as human beings the organizing principle loses the cold and cynical distance necessary for it to construct the monument of History. Physical and emotional stress is all part of being human, and something that not even manifest History can escape. Though the mission will always be clear in the mind of the Reflections, they too will be under the influence of the life circumstances particular to the person they're trying to catch. To put it more exactly, History becomes entangle in the human side of the desperate struggle between autonomy and determinism. Whether it can overcome the challenges of being human, or whether it too will be subjugated to human desires and ambitions, is the core conflict underlying the overall mission goal of the Reflections.

The battle for the control of History has begun. Will man let himself be directed towards some greater yet unknown purpose in life, or will he protest his independency and rebel against life itself?


Game concepts

I imagine that a complete Hunt (that is, the tracking down of an escapee from the clutches of History) plays out as the investigation of a human mind – its dreams, thoughts, emotions, ambitions, and so on. A Hunt might therefore be created as a sort of map of the subconscious of the person being hunted. Scenes might be created by combining places, persons, props, and events important to the person. Instead of having them appear in their original constellations I would rather have these elements – these pieces of memory, as they have now become – arranged according to more intuitive, associative, and dream-like propensities. Something along the lines of meeting your divorced wife in the bomb shelter where you used to play as a kid while the thunderstorm in which your brother got killed rages outside. This would hopefully open up to a kind of storytelling which could go in any which direction at any which time dependent upon which layers of the story the players decide to delve into.

Another point is that by becoming aspects of the person they're trying to catch, the Reflections actually become that person, and their actions become the actions of that person. The consequences of this seem to me to be that they reshape and redramatize the life story of the escapee thus enabling themselves to get closer to him, and eventually to catch him. However, allowing for the Reflections to have actual impact on the memories they're exploring might open up a can of worms I would rather avoid – especially so since the main interest for me is the investigation of the human psyche through dream-like sequences set in the subconscious of another individual.

That was a long bout. If you're still with me down here, I would love to have som input.

Cheers,

Jacob

[Caesar_X]

Hi Jacob,

This sounds really interesting.  I'm curious whether this is meant to be a two person game (GM and protagonist) or whether it is meant for a larger group.  And if it is the latter, does each player have a character who is involved in a manhunt in their own mind?  Or are the players all involved in the same mind?

Just trying to understand the space you are working in.

If you feel like posting a short version of how an example scene might play out, I think that would help us to visualize the concept more here.  And we do want to see more!!

Chris B.

[Jacob Mazanti]

Okay, easy answers first.

Though the game might work fine as a two-player game (GM + PC) I intend for it to be a multi-player game. Also, I don't intend for it to be GMed, but this could change with time. My immediate view is that a GM in general is too problematic as anything else than a stager/director of scenes. Players can have some of the stress taken off their shoulders and sessions can run more smoothly if you got somebody sitting there going Action! Out! Cut! – but that's about it. In my mind, anyway.

Your next question I can only answer partly as I'm not really sure about the exact role of the players in the manhunt (see below). But I do feel pretty sure that they're all somehow participating in the same manhunt.


Now it gets more tricky. Beware of inconsistensies!

I visualize the setting up of a scenario like the drawing of a mind map between the players. The focal point should be the person that they're trying to catch. This could either be a historical or a fictional figure, but some general decisions have to be taken regarding the period in which the game is going to take place. Initially I would just like people to go crazy on the mind map, but later on it might be necessary to specify certain locations, people, and events to make sure that players have some concrete cues to build their scenes from.

I imagine that a single path in the mind map might go something like this: Blackbeard (central character) – pirate – ship – crew – wreck – barrel – hunger – whale – exhibition – party – garden – beauty – tropical island. The words put down might then work as keywords for the setting of scenes. This might have you end up with a scene depicting a crew of pirates at a garden party centred around a whale exhibition.

How the players are cast in the scene depends on which role I want the players to take in the manhunt (which is as yet undecided). As of now I see two central choices regarding this:

a)   The players are either multiple mirror-images of the person they're trying to catch (Blackbeard in the example above), or they are the combined forces/voices working through this character (essentially meaning that they're sharing the same character, and have to agree on his actions).

b)   The players either enter the scene from the outside as observers/investigators, or they're an integrated part of the scene (either in the role of Blackbeard(s), or in the role of the overall scene – in the example above you might have a player taking the role of the crew, another taking the role of the whale, and a third taking the role of the garden and/or weather).

Now, I picture the scene played out as a surreal reenactment of the gathered pieces of Blackbeard's memory (his crew, the garden party he attended, and the exhibition of the whale who swallowed his wooden leg). This would mean that the actions of the PCs should correspond to the actions of Blackbeard, and therefore determine/change his life story. This might also be a pointer for the players about where to go next. E. g. if Blackbeard disembowels the whale in order to get his wooden leg back only to discover the treasure map he was looking for had been hidden in a cavity in the leg all along, the PCs could continue to the destination of this map – which might be the tropical island put down on the mind map.

By going from scene to scene like this the players should eventually discover the true motives of the person they're chasing, and become able to predict his next move. To be more exact, the idea is that the players through actual play deduct the characteristics of the escapee, and then decide upon a plausible life story for him. When this happen they set up a climax scene in which they try to undo the escapee by minimizing his impact on his surroundings. E. g. by sending tropical storms and a bunch of angry natives after Blackbeard they try to keep him from discovering the treasure which would eventually have enabled him to buy the loyalty of a colonial governor, who in turn would have revolted against the Portuguese and kicked them out of South-East Asia.

Or something like that. Seems like I'm developing some kind of complex character creation tool here, so I think I'll just stop the rant, and wait for somebody else to chip in some ideas. I am, however, pretty fond of the literal mind map, the idea of turning a character into a story, and the way the players figure out the meaning of it all as they go along, and then direct play accordingly. Just that you know :)

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya Jacob,

Welcome to the Forge!  You have a very informative and well written post.  The thing is, you ask for general input.  I could write rhemes of stuff that might or might not apply to your game.  So let me ask, what specifically about your game would you like input on?  What parts aren't you sure about?  Which parts have you concerned?

Peace,

-Troy

[Jacob Mazanti]

Hi Troy and others,

I probably shouldn't have spent so much space trying to come to grips with the idea myself, and then let you hang in the balance wondering what it might all be about. No, I definitely shouldn't have done that. Here goes for a shorter and more to the point version consisting of four isolated areas I would love to have some feedback for:


a) Idea. One or more persons (the PCs) incarnating a universal organizing principle enter the subconscious of another person who has ventured outside the bounds of her assigned destiny (compares to the event horizon of her life). The PCs are to locate her in the "off-track" area of her mind, and quell her rebellion against the principle. During the chase they will be confronted with human values and desires, and risk losing themselves to the world they organize as a principle only.

Does this make any sense? Does it hold any allure? And if yes, what images pop into your mind when reading it, or thinking about it? What would you say are must-have game elements in a setting like this?


b) Mind map. I'm toying with the thought of having the players start out by drawing up a regular mind map of the person whose subconscious they'll be visiting. Not only will the map be a guide to understanding and developing the psychology of the person that they're after, it will also be an actual springboard for setting scenes by combining words on the map (characters, locations, moods, etc.).

How about it? Do you think it could work? What kind of rules might you set up for the players when creating the map? In which other ways than the ones stated above might you be able to use it?


c) Dramaturgy-in-progress. As I picture the game being played without a GM – and the plot (or portrayal of the runway's character and choices) as being developed by the players as they discover more about their opponent through their investigation of the points on the mind map – meaning and dramaturgy will have to be created as they go along. For players not to get totally lost in this freedom of plot development I would like to have some rules deciding on points of especially dramaturgy.

Would a simple Aristotelian narrative model with end requirements for the different stages work for this (and if so, what could these requirements be)? Or might I be in need of another and more intuitive model to allow for the elements of dream, memory, and the subconscious? Perhaps a theme-based model exploring specific areas of the mind, or ...? Anyway, what are your thoughts on this, and do you have – or know of anybody who has – experiences with this kind of on-the-run dramaturgy?

d) Player-to-player. I worry what the exact tension within the group of players is gonna be. Initially I was thinking that they might incarnate different aspects of the person they're after, allowing for a sort of schizophrenic internal dialogue between the players about which goals to pursue. But then again, while this might work in the off-stage section of the game where players discuss which parts of the runaway mind to explore, I'm not so sure about the actual in-mind dramatic situation. I guess it could very easily deteriorate into the usual bickering about how to progress down a one-way path. Perhaps my thoughts about the role of the players are just too conventional. Perhaps they should take on the role of the subconscious that the organizing principle is chasing its man down through – or some other freakish thing? Any suggestions on how to crack this one?

That's it. Hope you'll find it more easy to respond now. Whatever grabs your attention please let me know. And – just to make sure – I don't mind it getting weirder.

Cheers,

Jacob


PS:

Welcome to the Forge!

Thanks a lot! It's good to finally be here.

[Graham W]

Hey Jakob,

For inspiration, it might be worth looking at the Game Chef entry Psykhotherapy: The Dark Mind. It's got a very similar kind of setting. Actually, as it happens, I think the setting's the best thing about the game: I'm not a fan of the mechanics. But it's definitely worth a look to see how someone else has handled this sort of subconscious game.

Graham