Many Mansions (Trail of Cthulhu)

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. John 14:2, KJB

As a change of pace, I thought I'd spend some time designing a Trail mini-campaign. When I say 'spend some time' I actually mean the month of May, so you have that to look forward to for the next few weeks.

Before I dive deep into the weeds, let's set some ground rules.

First, what kind of game will it be? 

Purist, I think. That tends to be more interesting, though I have noticed that a lot of games which start Purist end up Pulp. I don't think any game that started Pulp went Purist - though I'm open to being proved wrong.

Second, what's the main Mythos threat? 

Cthulhu, why not. He's rarely the star of the show any more; it'd be interesting to see what can be done with ol'squiddy.

Third, what's the campaign location?

Lovecraft Country, I think. Starting in Kingsport. We'll see where we end up after that.

Fourth, why that quote?

Because when I noodled around with this idea I re-read the Trail section on the greater Mythos entities, and was reminded of this bit:

Cthulhu is an infra-dimensional entity that has only a conceptual existence within the human “R-complex,” the brain stem and limbic system left over from our primordial reptilian ancestors. This is why he appears only in dreams, high-stress encounters (such as shipwrecks), and artistic impulses. He is attempting to create a critical mass of believers so that he may “emerge from R’lyeh” and open the eyes of all ... [p91]

Many mansions in this instance means many hidden places within the human psyche, in which hides the Great Old One. Or, as you'll soon discover, many hidden rooms within the crumbling houses the investigators will search, looking for clues and finding only pain.

Let's take that one step further.

Though it sails a little close to Only A Dream for my liking, there's a way to play this which could be really ... peculiar.

Let's say that this whole campaign takes place in the mind of someone who's going slowly insane. That the characters are aspects of this person's personality, fighting back against the horrors which are eating this person's soul. If they win, then the person wakes up - which means the characters die, fading away like dreams.

Of course, if they lose, then the person never wakes up. 

That sounds pretty Purist to me. Further, it allows an extra little fillip: should a player character fall, then even if that character is replaced a section of the game world crumbles and becomes either less reliable than before, or downright dangerous. The loss of that portion of the personality = danger for the rest. 

So why do this?

Well, it occurs to me that I've never really worked much with Trail of Cthulhu. Bookhounds, Night's Black Agents, pretty much every other Gumshoe line has had its time in the sunlight - but not Trail, and not for a while. I think the last time I wrote Trail, the Unspeakable Oath was still a physical magazine. 

Also, I haven't often worked in Lovecraft Country, and when I do it's nearly always for Call, not Trail. The two systems share a great deal but they're not identical by any means. It will be an interesting intellectual exercise.

Also, fun. Which is always important.

Next week I'll start thinking about the OPFOR, but as a conclusion let's discuss the Tree a little.

A CORE CONCEPT tree bears CORE CONCEPT fruit.

So what is the core concept? 

Purist Dreamworld. Not, I point out, Dreamlands - that's a whole different ball of wax. No, this campaign setting exists within the dreaming mind of so-and-so (we can discuss who that is later) and it does so because this is all taking place within that person's "human “R-complex,” the brain stem and limbic system left over from our primordial reptilian ancestors." Cthulhu is trying to take over that person's mind, to make them into a believer so as to create one more means - one more mansion, effectively - by which Cthulhu can emerge.

I don't think I need to discuss dream logic here; I'm sure you're familiar with that concept. As a reminder, Purist is defined as:

A game of philosophical horror, in which the act of uncovering the truth dooms both active seeker and unfortunate bystander alike. [main text p7]

So every event, every scenario needs to reinforce that core concept. The fruit of the Purist Dreamworld tree is Purist Dreamworld; it spreads more Purist Dreamworld events, situations, locations. The investigator's efforts run counter to the Tree; they are always trying to stop more Purist Dreamworld from propagating. 

That's enough for this week. Next week, the Antagonists. The week after that, the Setting.

The week after that? We'll see ...