The idea is, you have six players, each one gets a role in the game:
1. The Player
The player is the unlucky soul who must slog through the challenges presented by the Cosmic Horror Chamber. They're locked to "mostly human" in character creation, although their abilities do not have to be. Basically, the player cannot start off as a common dachshund, an octopus professor, or anything of the like, but they can be a half-man half-bear firebreather, or Joe, IT guy for Intellicorp. This does not mean the player will not be able to become any of these things through progression. They do this:
Strength: (Physical ability, the power behind attacks, ability to lift and push, etc.)
Endurance: (Ability to endure damage. More of this allows you to take less damage as well as survive 0HP for longer.)
Dexterity: (Quickness, also jumping, dodging, climbing.)
Intelligence: (Ability to think about something, figure out what's going on, figure out riddle meaning, hints to puzzles.)
Willpower: (Ability to resist mind-jacking, confusion, helps with staying awake, conscious, 0HP survival)
Openness: (Ability to get supernatural help. Sometimes, spirits and the like will try and communicate, and this lets them.)
and 9 points to spend among them.
Next is the Mother Atrocity. This player does not directly play the game, but keeps a bank of 18 monsters for the character to fight at any time. These monsters are given a name, their appearance is given, then their abilities and general intelligence level. Anything from civilization-smart bloodsucking micro-bat swarms with blade-sharp wings to a common daschund with limited immortality and fire-breathing.
The first list of 18 is given by PM, and then any time a monster is slain, a new (must be different than the original, but on the original list there may be up to three of the same kind of monster on the list) one takes it's place on the list (again with PM). Each turn, a d20 is rolled to see what monster inhabits the area- on a 19 or 20, no monster is around.
The third player is the Lootsmith. Most rooms will contain some form of loot for the player- a treasure box or like item to open and find the treasure inside.
The Lootsmith does what the Mother Atrocity does, but in a different way. The same d20 is used, but with a few variations:
On the list, items 1-4 are bad items that hurt the player in some way- a sword that painfully welds itself to the player's hand, a staff that can't hit monsters and instead bounce off and smack the player, etc, 5-8 are bad items that, while not directly harmful, aren't good either. A staff that breaks as soon as it hits something, a really tiny sword, a lint roller... that kind of thing. 9-18 are good loot items that have some beneficial effect- net benefit, at least. A cloak that blocks magic attacks or a giant warhammer that lowers Dex but increases Str greatly. 19 is a special loot set that includes three or more items of a "set", all of which are good but not always sensical: such as the "Delicious" set that has "Hot Dog Costume (+2 all stats) + Condiment Bottle Boots (rerolls failed Dex) + The Tenderizer (Warhammer that does extra damage against flesh.) The player will not know what grade their loot is unless they roll a 19. 20 is no loot. The Lootsmith may detail weapons as much or as little as they please, but the GM will fill in where they don't.
Fourth is the Cosmos Architect. This player designs 20 rooms, such as "long hallway Steampunk-style, tubes and gears everywhere, constant Dex checks" or "Wide, expansive village, filled with villagers of various disposition, Int check for thieves"
Each room must have at least that much description, and various checks must be made, with one exception. Room #20 should make no checks on the player, and contain something useful. Other rooms may contain useful items, but Room 20 will have no checks to obtain said item. For instance, say room 2 had a useful item. It would look like this:
"10x10x10 cubic room with various benches holding a wide variety of exotic potted plants. Willpower check vs plant pollen, Int check for safely edible berry that cures poison"
Not every room should have an item, but there's no structure to this one.
Next up is the Destiny Weaver. The Destiny Weaver chooses five numbers on a d20 to have events, such as "A local gifts the player with a useful weapon" or "A malicious entity attacks the player's mind". These should be vauge in detail, as the most important thing here is the action. The events that the Destiny Weaver creates are influenced by the other Cosmic players, such as:
Cosmos Architect: 12: A long hallway underwater. Cramped with various dials, controls, beds, and portholes outlooking the sea. (Submarine.)
Destiny Weaver: 16: A catastrophic problem will arise.
The hull breaks in places and water rushes in quickly! You'll have to reach the exit, ASAP. Unfortunately...
Mother Atrocity: 1: A small but muscular spider-like beast, with blade-sharp legs. Very smart, very aggressive.
A large spider stands in your way! It's legs oddly shine as it crawls along the walls, avoiding the flood of water! It looks like it's going to attack...
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The Destiny Weaver's abilities don't always activate, but when they do, they can change the scene entirely. Once one comes up, the Destiny Weaver can add a new event to any un-taken number or use the same one, but the event and number can't be the same. (the same event on a different number is fine.)
Lastly, there is the Madman. The Madman gives a list of 20 "edits" to the game, and his power overrides all but the Destiny Weaver. He can directly change the results of the other Cosmic players, but not completely, for instance:
Madman: "Change the current monster to be three times the size of the player." (12)
Mother Atrocity: Small, wingless birds with knife-like beaks. A sizeable group of them. Fairly unintelligent, not angry unless provoked.
The result? Big, wingless birds three times the size of the player... and they're hungry. The player looks like food to them. Giant knife beak attacks.
If the Madman's effect wouldn't change the current result in any way, his roll is rerolled. The Madman must replace his effects like any other player. He can make such changes to the Mother Atrocity, Lootsmith, and Cosmos Architect.
The Player is not allowed to commune in any way with the Cosmos players. The Player may make actions such as ask for guidance (Openness roll), but the Cosmos players are not allowed to respond in PM or on the thread. The Cosmos players may communicate with one another, but only in an OOC thread or PMs, as it could easily clog the game up. The Cosmos players and The Player may chat about anything other than the game, or laugh about events in the game,
just so long as lists aren't handed out and the like. The Player may give suggestions to the Cosmos Players in-character but they do not have to heed those suggestions, as The Player leads a sad existence controlled by cosmic horrors. Basically, the player should be blind to what could happen until it does.
So yeah, if a 10-story tall bear tries to spawn in a 5x5 room and the player is met with a cube of super compacted gore and bone then has to slog through that, or other comedic happenings, you know, happen, they players can freely chat about that so long as The Player doesn't know about the other possibilities until they happen. Things aren't on the list (such as "I was thinking of adding something like this") can be posted but should be spoilered so that The Player knows that they may or may not be ruining a potential surprise. A player that breaks this rule will have their list emptied, and any other unemployed Cosmic Horror may try for their job.
Masochists Playersdermonster- The Madmansjm9876- Monster AtrocityExKirby- Lootsmithanailater- The PlayerHarry Baldman- Cosmos ArchitectGreenstarfanatic- Destiny WeaverThe Player has awoken in a starry space, where space and time does not flow. Yet, The Player is still able to move, not shackled to the confines of spacetime but free of them. The Player is awakening. Now is the time to warm up, to begin the gears turning, and put The Player through their challenge. The Player must come to terms with him or herself as the Horrors begin creating their worlds, as the cosmic machine begins it's horrific work... Anyone who is not The Player should PM their sheet. 
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Topic: Horrific Hallway: Turn One : Player-Designed Deathtraps on a d20! (Read 2486 times)