In the same way a realm of spirits can
be thought of as a physical thing, a mind can be a physical thing
too. Not on its own, of course, but one can enter it. One can use the
gates of astral travel, or powerful spells, or shrinking powders, or
a psychic bridge more powerful then most. Then, you step inside the
head of a sleeping person and enter their dream as a passenger.
Of course, within a person's mind,
things are unsteady. You are bombarded with memories, trains of
thought, imaginations. People and objects become idealized- it is
best if you only enter someone's mind if they do not know you, else
you will be subtly changed by the experience. If the target of this
intrusion thinks of you as an annoying braggart; you will become
arrogant and useless as you sit back and take the credit for
everything. Women grow extra cup sizes in the minds of men, and men
become whimpering, doddering fools talking about their “emotions”
in the minds of women. Such things are best avoided, and are simply
troublesome for everyone involved. Every few minutes, the dream will
shift again and again, following a train of thought to new
destinations only partially connected.
The Labyrinth
seems to almost have an inbuilt defense against intruders like
yourself; certain beings manifest from the thoughts and dreams of the
person. The religious have statues of their most beloved Gods here
within their mind- watching over even this place. Nightmares and
negative emotions are actual beasts here. Traps in the labyrinth
slide down into trauma from the past, hidden just beneath the
surface. Their imaginary friend from childhood is still with them; it
is the Minotaur that wanders the halls. The person whose labyrinth
you explore is very much master here- if they become aware of your
presence within their mind and are conscious; even a novice can make
things even harder and could forcibly eject you. Masters of psychic
warfare and psychology may well be able to trap you within their
mind-maze at their own desire; letting them torment you further or
even killing the intruders with the sheer force of their will and
imagination. Of course- to the intruders, the ire of the owner of the
mind they are invading will appear as black storms, or sudden hoards
of jeering townsfolk in an angry mob; you are the unwelcome monster
here.
The Mental Labyrinth
Each person has a
unique maze within their mind. It can only be entered with specific
spells and a magical journey. The maze has walls and floors that
mimic the person's own life and personality- the labyrinth twists and
turns along with their memories and thoughts. The traits of the
individual make up the Labyrinth's details and the details of the
mind.
The
walls of the labyrinth are the place where the person feels at most
most comfortable. This may well be a childhood home, the clean walls
of a sanitarium, or it could be the rough hewn walls of stone,
present in the masterful minds of dungeon crawlers and treasure
collectors. It is where someone feels most “in their element”.
The light of the Labyrinth is also based on the person's own nature
and secrecy. Honest men have honest hearts; and in their Labyrinths
the air is practically glowing. You won't even need to burn a torch,
it may as well lit a summer's day. But most normal people with a few
secrets, and especially those of criminal background or the guilty,
will have darker and darker dungeons. The Labyrinths of spy masters,
secret keepers, and dark people will have thick fog and heavy shadow
that makes it even harder to navigate.
Depending
on the creature's Wisdom
score, the maze will denizens with their own goals, personalities,
and factions. Those with high Wisdom will know the connections
between people, and there will be a deeper level of interaction with
the creatures of the maze. This does not necessarily equate to
benevolence or neutrality- but more to a consistent and real
“personality” to the place. Higher Wisdom scores also indicate a
deeper level of religious and spiritual understanding; puzzles
involving symbolism and the deeper cultural subtext will be created
within the mind. Those with Higher Wisdom are also said to have a
“rich inner life” and will have a more beautiful labyrinth,
though this combines with Charisma as for artistic talents. Those
with lower Wisdom will instead have a demographically barren
labyrinth; few if any personalities will spawn within their mind,
their motivations banal and pointless. Low Wisdom people may have
Labyrinths that lack any kind of personal touch; any given part of it
won't seem to be a part of “them”, as they lack that will. Those
with Low Wisdom will even suffer from their own monsters and
censor-beasts lacking somewhat in conviction; after all, only a very
religious, empathetic man will truly know the full depth of evil a
Balrog lives and breathes.
Depending
on the creature's Charisma
score, the maze with become more or less powerful and difficult to
escape. This seems backwards; those with high Wisdom but low Charisma
will have artistic, rich personal dungeons with talkative
manifestations. This is because Wisdom and Charisma are used for
different purposes; Charisma is however about force of will and
personality as an OUTWARD force- and those factors bring great power
to the mind-maze, where as Wisdom is more an INWARD force, the power
of ones own convictions. Those with Higher Charisma are better apt to
change the people who enter their mind, subconsciously or not, and
will have higher walls, stronger creatures, and more vivid emotions.
Those with powerful Charisma will have rolling waves of emotions or
memories that intruders will feel grip them as though possessed by
them. Those with weak Charisma, on the other hand, will have less
passionate and less powerful labyrinths as a whole. The traps lack
the sharp spikes of spite, the jokes and references to their personal
life won't have the edge of a well timed joke. Escape a Labyrinth of
a person with low Charisma is relatively easy, simply slip out and be
forgotten, where as one with High Charisma will drag intruders in
even deeper and harder to escape their innate magnetism.
The
Alignment of
the individual is also important to their mental labyrinth. Those
with a more Lawful alignment will have tight right angles, well
placed walls, and symmetrical layouts, where as those with a more
Chaotic element will have organic walls that curve, chambers of
varying sizes, randomly sized doors and so forth. The Good to Evil
axis is more abstract, since everyone thinks they're at least a
little bit good on the inside or justifies their behaviors- instead
Good and Evil will manifest more as clouds of energy; positive if
more Good, and negative if more Evil. Because this in the
imagination, the fogs of positive energy will heal wounds and bolster
holy and white magic, where as the mists of negative energy will
degrade equipment, deal damage over time, drain levels with extended
exposure, and empower undead. Of course, like-minded individuals
exploring another person's mental maze will be more at home and
rewarded for sharing the same alignment as the owner; but Evil
creatures tend to be backstabbing and not work well with each other,
so in this case it makes sense that the evil mists still hurt other
evil creatures; but they COULD act as a force that is used to empower
dark spells regardless, or act as healing mist for intelligent undead
and evil-high priests and the like.
Finally
the being's age and Experience
level will indicate the size, depth, and complexity of their
labyrinth. Children, simple races like goblins and kobolds, or a
grown simpleton will have only a few turns, their whole labyrinth
being no more then a few rooms of their most important features.
Adults, adventurers, and monsters with a few HD will be more complex,
at least those with minds and histories. The biggest, meanest purple
worm isn't going to have a maze in their brain at all, because they
don't really have one. The immortals, elves and ancient wizards, have
massive, sprawling labyrinths. These beings may even have different
“wings” of the labyrinth, each one representing a different
period of their lives or where they reinvented themselves. The entire
place is filled with lovers who died of old age, forgotten events
from history, treasures that have long since been melted down back
into gold and sold off in the real world from ages ago. This is
probably the best way to talk to a dead man from a history book; but
it will not be them as truly as they were, but how the individual
whose mind you are sneaking around in saw that historical figure when
they knew them.
Every exploration
turn, you are faced with a Manifestation Roll, which is equivalent to
a wandering monster roll. Instead of the roll being based on how
encumbered, slow, or loud your party is moving; it is based on how
aware the mind is of your intrusion. If you are wearing colors that
go against their own personal tastes, are members of races they do
not like or are unused to, if you are acting against the flow of
their mind and so on you are making them more and more aware of your
presence. This makes it more likely that a roiling manifestation of
their mind reaches you.
Instead of using a
normal 1 in 6 roll to determine wandering encounters, consider using
a “roll a 18 or higher” on a d20. This equates to a 15%, close to
a 1 in 6 at 16.66%
This way, you can
add more modifiers for smaller breaches in conduct; add a +1 for each
infraction.
It should also be
noted here that the Labyrinth is at least partially in the
“subconscious”, meaning it isn't quite as variable or easily as
to control as the raw mindscape and imagination of the person. If the
person becomes aware of you, they can't just immediately wipe you out
by imagining you disappearing into nonexistence, as long as you are
in the Labyrinth. Of course, if the person is aware of you inside
their mind, they can focus to give you a manifestation roll every
single exploration turn, with greater levels of control to those who
have more Charisma and willpower. Of course, even this isn't
fullproof- people sometimes find surprises within their own mind.
Manifestation Table-
Roll 1d6
[1]
Memory. There are memories in the form of portraits (to remember
faces), maps (to remember places), and objects (to remember events)
scattered all throughout the labyrinth. But sometimes specific
memories manifest directly as snippets; glowing ghostly phantasms act
out the memory. Disrupting the memory will cause awareness to grow
from the Labyrinth's owner, but can also permanently alter their
perception of an event. Also if anyone who has gone into the other
person's mind to invade their Labyrinth was in this event in the
memory; then the memory will not feature a clone of them but they
must act out their role in that memory as
the owner remembers it.
This can also lead to clues about the invasion of their mind; you
remember someone meeting you at the fancy dress gala, but in your
memory they're wearing bloody armor with swords and rags. To the
educated and powerful, jarring events like this in memory that nobody
else seems to be remember is a very telling sign of someone sneaking
around inside your brain.
[2]
Imaginations. These are beings wholly created from imagination, and
may be either supportive of the creator of the labyrinth (sharing
alignment, protecting it, etc.) or may be against the creator, as
though from a tortured psyche or moody artist. Imaginations are
similar to illusions; you can make a saving throw modified by wisdom
to disbelieve them, but in the mindscape everything is partially
illusionary, and as such the illusions can still interact with the
world but simply cannot hurt you unless you allow them to. This still
requires a successful save, even though you know they are “fake”.
Imaginations can
exist as any kind of creature, person with any equipment, or even
made up and fictional creatures which cannot or do not exist in the
“real” world of the fantasy space.
[3]
Moods. Moods appear as colorful ghosts or spectral versions of the
labyrinth's master themselves- they always act according to the mood.
Moods are stated as spellcasters, and can shift the labyrinth around
them based around their emotional states. Moods get reaction checks
when encountered, which indicates how reasonable or clouded they
actually are based on their mood or emotion. Very low rolls will make
an anger elemental attack you out of habit, where as a high roll
would indicate a bit more nuance and being able to actually have a
conversation.
[4]
Static. Strange half formed ideas, boiling emotions, or
half-forgotten dreams struggling not to die among the eddies of the
master's mind. They appear like flaming orbs or cubes of shapes, with
suggestions of shapes and voices. Less of a creature and more of a
hazard; flies down corridors in a haze of change. Make a save to duck
out of the way or take 2d6 damage.
[5]
Custodians. These are like spirit guides, memories of teachers and
mentors, positive spirits or ideas, or other usually friendly beings
inhabiting a person's mind. While they are usually of inner origin,
some of them may be actual angels putting good ideas in their heads,
or ancestral spirits granting old knowledge or magical power by
realigning the stones of the mental labyrinth.
Roll
a reaction check when interacting with a custodians. Only if you are
obvious or a bad result is listed will they realize you are foreign
to the mind maze, and will otherwise be helpful, granting advice or
directions.
[6]
Censors. These are among the dangerous threats in the Labyrinth, as
they are specifically designed to hunt beings like yourself within a
foreign mind. Everyone has Censor-Beasts inside their head, roving
around to remove astral parasites or dark influencers. People sucked
into another's mindscape count as foreign bodies in their heads, and
the Censors have the innate ability to sniff you out. You must make a
successful stealth check each time you encounter them, even if you
defeat them in combat, and on a failure the alarm is raised and the
person's whose mind you are within realizes something is wrong. This
is another reason why delving a person's mind is much easier if they
are willing to the procedure or otherwise knocked out so Censors
don't awaken them to your plot.
Censor
Beasts
(2+2 HD, +3 to hit, Bite at 1d8, Erasure at 1d4, tracking, howl)
Morale:
17
Numbers:
2d3 in Labyrinth, 1d2 in Outer Mindscape, 2d8 near Labyrinth Center
The
Censors are powerful psychically driven beings who appear as the
individual's mind would perceive a ruthless, tireless hunter. For the
vast majority of people, this would be a hunting dog or group of
wolves, hence the name, but just as often they are monstrous looking
city guards or patrolling orc justice-makers. Censors Beasts have two
attacks; a “bite” which could also just as easily be a sword
slash or short fire breath attack based on their manifestation, and
their Erasure. Erasure only works on foes who stand still long enough
for it to erase part of their being, and as such highly Dexterous
fighters (+2 or better) avoid the erasure entirely.
Being
erased is a lot worse then being harmed. If your character is
actually physically present within another being's mind, such as
through a portal or powerful spell, then when the Erasure move deals
4 damage on a hit, they take a level in level drain. Part of their
being is deleted and they look and feel slightly transparent and
wraith-like, which gets worse the more they are drained. If your
character is not physically present in the Labyrinth, and are
invading through magical and psychic manifestations or are otherwise
using a proxy, then the Erasure beam deals 2d6 damage to their avatar
instead.
Finally; Censor-Beasts are hunters. They exist to destroy rogue
bodies like yourself within the very mind you are plumbing. They can
track like dogs can by scent (though in this case, it's thought). The
only way to avoid being tracked is to meditate and move without
thought or leaving your 'mark' on anything mentally. Don't describe
or interact with the environment. You'd have to move without mapping
in order for you to lose a patrol of these beasts, which means you'll
also be getting lost. Finally, Censor Beasts will 'howl' upon the
death of their last, which forces another wandering monster check. If
it succeeds, then the wandering monster encountered will always be
another pack of Censor Beasts. In the unlikely event these Censor
Beasts flee combat, then they don't howl and instead fall back to
dissipate into the mind.
[1]
Secrets. Private memories, dirt, shameful things, and so on found in
the Labyrinth. Sometimes found in memory snippets, sometimes find in
abstract locked rooms or dusty corners, sometimes manifested as the
prize to win in a highly defended “dungeon”. Can be used as
blackmail against the person whose mind and privacy you are invading.
Doesn't require anything special, just finding it and remembering it
is is enough to learn their dirty secrets.
[2]
Skill. The “well of experience” appears as a literal well with
shimmering gold liquid. It may also appear as small piles of coins
(such as coins won in successful duels) or little portraits with
moments of success from the labyrinth owner's life. This is their
abstract experience. Each “load” unit you find and take is equal
to 500 experience points, which is lost from the owner and given to
whoever absorbs it first. Stealing from monsters/NPCs will instead
cause a lose in HD and related abilities. Characters who are in line
with the archetype get the full experience value, but characters who
are on a different path may only receive half experience as it
doesn't help them learn as well.
Note that as an abstract item, it may not manifest in the real world
correctly and may simply dissipate like a dream when you leave the
Labyrinth, unless you have a special container that can keep
something abstract like an idea in a physical form.
[3]
Abilities. Similar to skills above, but this could be about entire
specific abilities the person has instead. Magically or psychically
you could take out a person's ability to speak a certain language, to
pick locks, a blade art, or a specific spell or group of spells. When
taken out of the person's mind, these will manifest as an item that
can be worn to grant that ability to somebody else. Spells turn up as
scrolls or can be transcribed on scrolls; which can then be cast or
used to write in a spellbook as normal. While not totally realistic
or in-line with the fiction, it may be possible to do things like
steal a snake person's ability to create venom and forge it into a
vial that refills itself with venom every new moon instead. Stealing
or trading innate powers into magical items.
[4]
Friends. The minds of people contain imaginary friends from their
childhood, half forgotten faces of people they haven't seen for
years, and even passengers and beings from the astral planes or
shared through thoughts. While most of these beings will have a great
deal of loyalty, even love, for the progenitor of the Labyrinth, they
may also see a chance to leave as beneficial. Outside of a person's
mind though, these beings are either like living illusions or ghosts
without bodies in the physical world, but inviting them into your own
mind could act a bit like a helpful custodian within yourself, acting
as an extra guardian. In these cases, you can always speak to this
being while its inside your own head just with a thought, letting you
gain advice or companionship. Even while physically alone.
[5]
Identities. Using the magic of names, or some kind of super
Rogue-Disguise power, stealing the “faces” or “names “ from
within the mind of a person could allow one to disguise themselves in
real life. After all, the mask made from the memory of a dead man
will pass much better then a second or third hand retelling of the
man's appearance. Also speaking magically, stealing some bits of a
person's mind could be a powerful method to create “proxies” of
them; voodoo dolls weaved from cloth found in a person's own mind
could create a very powerful method to control them or protect
yourself from their arcane witchdoctory.
[6]
Actual treasure. While uncommon, it is possible for certain things
inside people's minds to be valuable in and of themselves. For
example, a rush of positive emotions or a feeling of comfort could be
taken from a mind and given to someone else for a payment. Certain
creatures, like some fantasy versions of dwarves or nonhumans in
general, may not be capable of “true” creativity and as such
stealing the creative spark from inside a human brain will allow that
being to become truly creative, but of course robbing these qualities
from your first subject makes them incapable of them and leaves them
permanently decreased in their quality of life. There is also always the chance of a fantasy wizard storing something valuable or like a pile of gold in someone's subconscious; this is why after a particularly good dream they find a gold coin on their pillow when they wake up. Must have slipped out of their ear.
love that psychonauts reference with the censors
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