Maze of Madness.pdf

The Maze of Madness

www.quillmaster.co.uk

A Gothic Horror Adventure

Written by

Geoff Cordery

www.quillmaster.co.uk

The Maze of Madness

www.quillmaster.co.uk

The Maze of Madness

Introduction

This scenario is set in 1925 and has a general theme of Gothic Horror,

originally intended for the “Call of Cthulhu” role playing game. Please note

that this is intended for mature players, and that it is not my intention to

encourage interest in anything pertaining to black magic. The game is for

entertainment purposes only. If you think you may find the contents of

this scenario disturbing, then stop reading now.

In order to increase the mood and feeling of player involvement, the

scenario refers to some real events, people, and places. It is important to

note that such references are purely for gaming purposes and were

derived purely from my imagination. One should also note that liberties

have been taken to develop the story. For example, it is not known as to

whether or not the engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower actually had a

daughter. Where historical inaccuracies may be present, it is down to the

individual referee to remind players that this is only a game. Information

known to be true has been italicised so that you can point it out to the

players if you so wish. This can help add to the spooky atmosphere at times.

Statistics have deliberately been held back to make the scenario as generic

as possible. As the scenario was originally intended for use with “Call of

Cthulhu” , it makes reference to existing material written for the game.

Such references are not essential however. A good referee should get by

without them, although they will make your life easier.

The very nature of the scenario requires a good referee who can ad lib

when necessary. It is highly recommended that the entire scenario be read

before running the game. Notes on how I ran certain elements are

provided to give an idea of game flow.

Here follows a basic outline of the plot, intended for the eyes of the referee

only.

The Maze of Madness

www.quillmaster.co.uk

Basic Plot

In 1921, a British psychiatrist by the name of Frederick Baiter performs

experiments to investigate the psychological make up of the emotion of

fear, in an attempt to understand various cases of phobia that he is dealing

with. For a while he receives grants to aid in his studies, and uses the

money to condition animals to experience fear when certain sounds or

imagery are displayed.

By 1923, he notes that the programmed images and sounds induce fear

regardless of whether or not the real reason for the fear exists. At the same

time, when the associated imagery is not present, the animals appear

better able to cope with the mistreatment he puts them through. He

decides to transfer his experiments to one of his patients. For this purpose,

he chooses one of his newest patients, a man by the name of Geoff

Harrison, who is suffering from the worst case of claustrophobia Baiter has

ever seen. At the same time, Baiter receives a new assistant in the form of

Douglas Cole.

Unknown to Baiter, Cole is in fact a member of a secret sect that is

responsible for making Harrison insane, and arrives at the Asylum with the

intention of making sure Harrison remains insane, or, failing this, meet an

untimely end.

Baiter creates a number of cubicles with moveable walls capable of

shrinking, and only has the room shrink when Harrison is shown an image

of a maze. Over a period of several months, Harrison associates his

claustrophobia with the image implanted, and begins to show remarkable

improvement once the shrinking room sessions have ceased. He no

longer screams in his cell at night, and is considered cured of his

claustrophobia.

When Cole discovers Baiters' fear experiments, he deliberately shows

Harrison the image he has been programmed with, causing him to have a

complete mental breakdown followed by a massive heart attack. When

Baiter discovers the body, he confronts Cole, and Cole kills him, framing

the now dead patient, claiming that Harrison went mad and suffered a

heart attack after having murdered Dr Baiter. The Asylum is closed down

shortly afterward.

Recognising the potential of Baiters' experiments, Cole informs his sect of

the results, who decide to recreate the experiments for the purpose of

brainwashing enemies of the cult so that they may be killed via "natural"

means at a later date to avoid suspicion. To aid in this purpose, the

Asylum is bought and set up as a health farm with Cole in charge.

The Maze of Madness

www.quillmaster.co.uk

At around this time the cult discovers something very interesting

regarding the Eiffel Tower:

In 1882, Alexandre Gustav Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower, stumbles

across an ancient manuscript allegedly showing an area of Paris as it was

before man roamed the Earth, back in the time of the "Old Ones".

The map reveals France to have been mountainous, and also reveals the

location of a portal used by the "Old Ones" to travel from their world and

populate the Earth. The portal was situated at a level of 900 feet

The manuscript went on to describe the fact

that only a third of the "Old Ones" managed to get through, before being

forced to retreat to Antartica and abandon the gate.

The revelations that the Cthulhloid manuscript revealed to Alexandre duly

made him insane, to the point that, when approached by the Parisian

government and commissioned to create a landmark for Paris, he

considered creating a tower in the estimated location of the old gateway,

tall enough to reach the same height as the portal described within the

manuscript.

Alexandre became more insane during the construction, and decided that

the tower should be more significant for its' purpose. As it was known to

him that only a third of the "Old Ones" had managed to use the ancient

portal, and that their description implied that they were Devils, he decided

to incorporate a third of the Devils' number (being 666) into the design.

The cult is due to attempt opening the portal soon on top of the Eiffel

Tower to allow the Earth to be re-populated by the "Old Ones". All

members of society who are seen as a threat to the opening ceremony are

given free invites to the health farm, where they are subjected to image

implantation associated with the fear they are subjected to. This is done

with a specially constructed maze in the cellar of the health farm, where a

lesser Demon is housed to terrorise the occupants. Image association

used is a simple line drawing of a maze. Health farm "patients" are then

brainwashed to forget the experience and released, believing themselves

to have enjoyed a normal health farm experience. Weight loss suffered

due to stress experienced helps substantiate this.

By 1925 (present day), the cult begins to post the maze pictures to induce

heart attacks in all health farm visitors in order that nothing stands in the

way of the portal opening ceremony. One of the victims of the Maze is a

friend of the players, which is where our adventure begins.

The Maze of Madness

www.quillmaster.co.uk

Player Intro

The game starts in central Washington U.S.A. in 1925 and should suit

almost any character. Player characters know one another through being

at Dunbar High School together, and will meet again after one of their old

school chums, Frank Walters, invites them all for a reunion, meeting them

all outside their old school, then driving them in his car to his house in

Virginia Avenue, pointing out his place of work along the way (The

Washington Daily News), where he works as a photographer. Once home,

he will treat the players to a grand meal, during which the players may

reminisce and talk about their lives in general.

This is an excellent opportunity for the players to familiarise themselves

with one anothers' characters. Have them role play talking about their old

school days, and discuss how they've got on in the world, describing their

jobs and interests - What do they do now? Are they single? Where do they

work? What are their hobbies? Do they consider themselves good at what

they do etc.

After the meal is over, Frank will give the players a guided tour of his house.

It would appear that he is doing rather well for himself, and becomes

evident that he is something of a ladies man. Eventually, the tour leads to

the cellar where he has his own darkroom set up. Many pictures line the

walls, consisting of the White House, the Eiffel Tower, a grand mansion,

and of course, women! If asked, he smiles and relates

stories to them. The White House was taken as part of

some story for the paper, and caused much difficulty in

getting the exposure right. The women are mostly

previous lovers. The picture of the Eiffel Tower was

taken in 1921 when he went to France on holiday. While

there he acquired some rare antique silver which he

collects for investment purposes from an auction which

took place at a police station, where unclaimed stolen

goods were on offer. He gained many bargains while

there, although (he laughs at this point) he was burgled

roughly a month later. If inquires are made into what

was stolen, he will state that apart from a few bits of

silver, it was mainly just a pile of old illustrations that

came as part of a job lot which were of no interest to him anyway. As for

the picture of the mansion, it is a health farm he attended in England,

which, he recalls, was very successful in making him lose weight. He

highly recommends the place. If asked, he recalls it being near Dover, and

run by a Doctor Cole.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: