GURPS Horror: The Madness Dossier

[Kromm]

The past is a lie
Free will, merely illusion
Words, the enemy

— Sumerian graffiti (translated)

GURPS Classic: Horror included three campaign frames: "Seas of Dread, Sails of Daring," "Blood in the Craters," and "The Madness Dossier." GURPS Horror includes just the first two. What happened to "The Madness Dossier"? Perhaps it never existed.

GURPS Horror: The Madness Dossier, the latest Warehouse 23 original, looks at the real history of the world and the forces trying to expose it as a cover-up . . . or maybe it looks at the cover-up and those trying to reveal the truth. It all depends on one's point of view, and only two groups have a perspective that matters: One is the irruptors, servants of the sleeping Anunnakku – the ancient, terrible beings who programmed our minds. The other is Project SANDMAN, humanity's bulwark against the irruptors waking their masters and erasing reality as we know it from existence.

Of course, humanity doesn't know that it needs help, or that "its" languages are really tools of the Anunnakku. It has no idea that those weird artifacts, powerful symbols, and freakish psi powers that turn up from time to time come with terrible risks. As a result, humanity is sometimes its own worst enemy. Project SANDMAN has to deal with that, too.

The Madness Dossier lets the players become stalwart Project SANDMAN agents, using every means possible to defend history itself. These "Sandmen" receive the best mundane and esoteric training, and have access to a lavish array of potent technological and paranormal tools. They comprehend the dark reality of language, of mind-controlling memes and glyphs. And they're going to need it – all of it – because they're aware of the enemy and have glimpsed the truth, and their gaze has been met!

Do you have what it takes to face dangers of which you cannot speak, invisible to everyone around you? To keep your fellow man in the dark, even kill him, for the good of humanity? To take on enemies so powerful that the only known victory involved a nuclear weapon . . . which had to be covered up? If you do, then welcome to Project SANDMAN!

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Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-1682

[b-dog]

How powerful are the PCs? I liked Monster Hunters but the PCs were over the top, almost matching the power levels of Steven Seagal characters that he plays in his movies. Are the PCs this powerful?

[Mailanka]

Kromm's short description doesn't do the Madness Dossier justice, but that's not his fault. It's hard to express just how deep any of Hite's works go without actually reading the text and then doing your homework, examining all the possibilities, following up on small comments Hite makes, and so on. My friend and I pounced on copies of the book as soon as it came out (I had been waiting for it ever since I heard it was going to be released as a stand-alone, since it was probably the most influential two pages I had ever read out of an RPG in my life, with the possible exception of the 40k flyer I found as a kid in middle school) and literally spent hours just discussing the Cheval template and the Chodpa monsters.

I find Hite's works are best described by Hemmingway's Iceberg Theory: Hite prefers to leave a lot unsaid, not because he doesn't know the answers to your questions, but because he knows, and he leaves more than enough information to imply the answer, if you're willing to do a little digging of your own. The result is that all of Hite's work, in my experience, unfolds like an origami flower. The deeper I look into the folds, the more I find blooming there within. Of course, it helps that I actually go out and find some of the books he references, and wiki some of the people, places and events he mentions. I recommend that for you too.

I personally found that it burst with inspiration, but Hite may be an acquired taste. I've learned to read between the lines and to bisociate. For example, my friend initially expressed profound skepticism (masking his interest) in the Wabbit loa for the Cheval. "I would feel silly playing such a character." Then we discussed the darker side of a character who behaves like a cartoon character in the real world ("Dropping an anvil on someone's head is decidedly less silly in the real world.") and how the character would start to veer more towards Donny Darko than real Loony Tunes. Then when he really grasped that he wouldn't be playing "Wabbit" but that this was one of many personas his character could take on, and then when we began to discuss the possibilities of broken loa-programming, of fragments of these personalities becoming stuck in his mind, or hidden "code" lurking in the back of his head as "secret loas," then suddenly we had this crazy, tragic, broken person who was so desperate to fight the good fight that he was sacrificing his sanity. "The Wabbit" was silly, yes, but that silliness becomes gallows-humor in the hands of a commando, and that silliness only lampshades how tragic his character could be, as well as exploring the malleable nature of the human mind, a fundamental theme to the game.

All of this, of course, popping out of a single template, a single concept, which in and of itself would be enough to kickstart an entire campaign (it is, after all, the premise of Dollhouse). And yet we have even more.

But true to form, there's so much left unsaid. What does History B look like, for example? I've hunted, but I haven't been able to find out. But that's because you can read between the lines, take your own vision, and put it in there. I highly recommend having a few of Hite's other works on hand to fill out the blanks, or some of your own inspiration. But half the fun is discovering the rest, I think.

In any case, a delightful read and very inspiring, but I expected nothing less.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by b-dog

How powerful are the PCs? I liked Monster Hunters but the PCs were over the top, almost matching the power levels of Steven Seagal characters that he plays in his movies. Are the PCs this powerful?

350 points, but Monster Hunters is, perhaps, a bad parallel. The heroes are badass, but having browsed a few templates, they remind me more of Nights Black Agents than Monster Hunters. They're less about supreme badasses, and more about highly competent people with more social and investigative capability (You have reality archaeologists right there).

The stuff they're up against are monstrous, though. Just... oh my god. The Chodpa alone are like... fighting an entire unit of sociopathic Captain Americas.

It's high power, but where Monster Hunters is more Buffy, Constantine (the movie) or Hellboy, this is more... hmmm. I can't think of a movie equivalent, actually. The Ninth Gate meets Jason Bourne meets Hell Raiser?

Let me give you an example of what I mean. The commando template is 350 points and has the requisite stuff like ST 12, DX 15, IQ 11 and HT 12. But when you get to advantages, you find a pile of languages, a big mentor, resistances to corruption, rather than the expected Gunslinger and other cinematic things. The disads are full of pieces of a broken psyche, with possibilities of addiction and flashbacks, or single-minded devotion to the cause. In skills, naturally, we have Guns-17, Stealth and Acrobatics-16, Judo and Karate and all kinds of fun things... but also Archaeology and Hidden Lore (History) and Physiology (Irruptor). There are options for spooky and exotic martial arts like Kliel.

That's what I mean by a very different feel. This is like an archaeology nerd (Shocking right?) got ahold of Black Ops and said "No, you're not fighting Aliens, you're fighting dead Sumerian gods. Why is that even better? Let me explain..." and then outlays the monsters as well as you'd expect someone who literally wrote the book on horror.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by b-dog

How powerful are the PCs? I liked Monster Hunters but the PCs were over the top, almost matching the power levels of Steven Seagal characters that he plays in his movies. Are the PCs this powerful?

More points, more powerful? maybe lot of required advantages tied up there.

[ColBosch]

If this was a store queue, I'd be bowling everyone out of the way to buy it as fast as possible. Since I'm sitting comfortably at home, you'll just have to bang yourselves against whatever hard surfaces are around and swear at me.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Kromm's short description doesn't do the Madness Dossier justice, but that's not his fault. It's hard to express just how deep any of Hite's works go without actually reading the text and then doing your homework, examining all the possibilities, following up on small comments Hite makes, and so on.

Good post. I just fiished reading it, though skimmed a few sections like the tech and gear and some of the monster wrtieups.
Now I need to digest it, good thing to mull over during my therapy and wound care which were scheduled late today.
My initial thoughts are, glad I bought it, It was not on my list of looking for items. But I always like his work so am likely to buy anything he puts out for GURPS. I had not recalled the initial world back from the old book, used ot building my own worlds. But I really want to play in this or adapt it for my own.

[ColBosch]

Originally Posted by b-dog

How powerful are the PCs? I liked Monster Hunters but the PCs were over the top, almost matching the power levels of Steven Seagal characters that he plays in his movies. Are the PCs this powerful?

350 points is the recommended level, with 99 points of "fixed" traits and skills.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by b-dog

How powerful are the PCs? I liked Monster Hunters but the PCs were over the top, almost matching the power levels of Steven Seagal characters that he plays in his movies. Are the PCs this powerful?

As others have said, 350 points, though 90 of that goes on your Patron alone. And you can acquire some quite ... strange ... abilities. (Or you can be a Seagal-esque gun-toting badass, sure. It's always nice for the party to have an ablative meat shield. Just try not to get mind controlled.) But the snag is, not only are the opposition worse, but using your own abilities - including that Patron - should tend to rot the soul. Re-purposing the opposition's own weapons isn't always nice.

Originally Posted by Mailanka

What does History B look like, for example? I've hunted, but I haven't been able to find out.

There are suggestions for evoking it on p.57, though it's just a couple of paragraphs. Basically, though, anything that evokes Bronze Age Mesopotamia is on the right track. Hot, sandy, oppressive; even in the temperate zones, it should feel suffocating. And remember, the Anunnakku would never go for an elegant solution when they could tell a dozen or a hundred slaves to do something - so for all their sophistication, their architecture would be distinctly TL1.

[Crakkerjakk]

I'm also getting some strong Project Phoenix vibes, which is awesome.