The room was shrouded in darkness. The only source of illumination was a lone bare light bulb hanging over the table where we set. Its light did more to conceal than to reveal, promising clarity only to deliver unnerving shadows.
“All set,” said the doctor with sunken eyes and melodic voice, putting away the syringe. “You will feel the effects shortly. Now, we already went through the process, but sometimes patients suffer a relapse under the influence of the drug, so I will leave these papers with you.” She indicated a few pamphlets lying on the table. “Just consult them if you’re unsure of what you’re supposed to do. We find it helpful to pick one patient to be your guide in this matter.”
She stepped deeper into the darkness, so only her voice could be heard.
“I’ll be leaving now. It’s… undesirable for unrelated people to be present at this stage. Don’t worry, though. No matter what happens, no matter what thoughts and memories you find in your mind, nothing can hurt you in this room. Not anymore.”
A sound of a door opening and closing could be heard, though we could not see it.
“Right,” I said reaching for the pamphlet. “So I guess we’re doing it. Let’s see…”
Questions:
- What was your first encounter with the supernatural and how did it change you?
- What have you sacrificed and was it worth it?
- How did you lose your memory and do you want it back?
We’re using the City as our setting. I’m willing to elaborate on stuff about it if you have questions and you can read this if you want to know more about what I was going for, but don’t worry about contradicting canon or anything like that. Penny is intended to be a collaborative project, so if you think you have a cool idea, just go for it, I won’t object.
Triggers:
- Words on a wall written in rust
- A bloodied glass shard tightly clutched in my hand
- A sweet smell on the edge of sensation
- My glass eye
- A smell of burned plastic coming from the prothesis.
- The sound of a door slamming shut.
- A metallic taste on my tongue
- A burning car
- A cold hand on my shoulder.
- The heavy bass of a stereo
- A beagle’s baying
- The taste of oversteeped tea
- Someone touching my foot
- The high beams of a car at night
- Glaring neon signs
- Old cigarette smoke
- Cold industrial air conditioning
- Heavy TV/radio static
- The taste of cheap whiskey
- A man running away
- Looking down from a rooftop
- A dark, enclosed space
- A heated conversation
- A rainy park.
Used triggers:
- The stench of rotten meat (illhousen, first memory)
Here is an online diceroller I’ll be using to pick my triggers. At first the number of our triggers should be a neat twenty, one of the standard dice types, but as we use them, the number would decrease to 19, 18, etc. It’s not an issue, however, since at the bottom there is an option to set the number os sides of the dice, in the second window, after dX.
Penny count:
- illhousen: 1
- Act: 2
- Roarke: 1
- Socordya: 1
- EnviTheFool: 1
Rules:
Stage 1: Memory Triggers:
So, now we have our memory triggers that we’re going to use throughout the game.
Generally, it’s more fun to pick triggers at random, so I’m going to use the diceroller linked above, but if you really like one of the triggers, go for it.
Memory triggers are objects, places, people, sensations, etc. strongly associated with the memory. It is something your memory will feature prominently, something very important to it. While memory triggers are not always central to the memory, they’re always important to it. For example, “the sound of a door slamming shut” or “someone touching my foot,” to use our triggers, would likely be an initiating event, the first thing you recall followed by some developments from there.
The purpose of memory triggers is to inspire you in crafting your memory, so think what cool situation could feature the trigger you got.
Stage 2: Guiding Questions:
I treat it as an optional stage: if you have an idea for a scene just from the main question and the trigger, you may skip right to writing. However, often it’s hard to come up with a narrative right away. Guiding questions help with it by establishing more details and context for the trigger.
The way it works is that every player should now ask the active player a simple yes-or-no question about the current trigger or answers to the previous guiding questions.
Those questions are always treated as right but lacking some crucial details, so I can answer only with “Yes, and…”
Let me transcribe an example from the source book. The trigger was “a blood stain on a white carpet.” Someone may ask, “Was the blood from an animal?” Then I may answer, “Yes, and I had just dropped the steaks on the carpet.” Someone else then may ask, “Did anyone see you?” And I may answer, “Yes, and when she did, my wife laughed so hard that she had to sit down.” A third player then may ask, “Were you married recently?” And I may answer, “Yes, and our honeymoon wasn’t really over.”
This is a good example on many levels. First, it establishes what kinda of questions are preferable here: simple, establishing one detail but leaving enough room for interpretation. “Was the blood from an animal?” is a good question. “Was the blood from an animal you just drove over and dragged all the way into your house?” would be a bad question as it establishes too much.
Secondly, it demonstrates the kind of answers that are preferable: the ones that establish the following scene, give it context and general direction. Just from reading the answers you get where it’s going and what mood it’s going to be. Thinking about the answers and how you may tie them with the theme of the current memory (in our case, the first encounter with the occult, the example from the sourcebook was about a happy memory, as I recall) makes actually writing the scene so much easier since half of the work is done already.
Thirdly, it shows how the triggers and questions can be manipulated by answers. The trigger here is pretty sinister, and the first two questions are not much better, but still the active player managed to turn it into something lighthearted. While I’m going for a serious rather than humorous game, the exact tone of your memories is up to you to decide, and the guiding questions can help with it.
Stage 3: Recalling a Memory:
First, we have three questions that guide the storytelling.They can be found above, but I’ll type them here as well:
- What was your first encounter with the supernatural and how did it change you?
- What have you sacrificed and was it worth it?
- How did you lose your memory and do you want it back?
Each memory told by players must answer one of these questions. They also must be done in order, you can’t answer third question first before going for the second one, for example.
Answering each question requires a certain amount of pennies to initiate: two for the first one, three for the second and four for the third. Given how pennies work, that means that the memories grow longer as the game progresses.
You may notice that each question consists of two parts. For the first question, it’s “what was your first encounter with the supernatural?” and “how did it change you?” The first part is what the memory would mostly be about, the second part is written at the end and is not beholden to the usual rules, which basically means you can expand it as much as you like (though it’s preferable to keep these sections short) and you have full narrative control over your actions unlike during the memory.
Now it’s time to talk about narrative rights. While recalling a memory, you have control over everything but your own words and actions. Think about it as a text quest or a VN with very frequent choices: you can freely describe the scenery, what other characters are around, what they’re doing and saying, you can describe your own thoughts and feelings, but when it comes the time to act or say something, someone else must imput a command.
Now, given the format, I’m treating this rule more loosely than the game suggests. As long as the direction of your words or actions is decided, you can write out the outcome in full. That is to say, if it is decided that, say, you turned an argument with your loved one into a shouting match, you can write out that shouting match in full instead of asking for your every reply. If it’s decided that you’re chasing after a suspect instead of giving up, you can write out the chase scene in full, with stunts and close calls and everything, rather than asking for your every action.
Basically, stop the scene and ask for guidance when it’s time to make an important decision that would decide the direction of the story.
At this stage, the active player should nominate two players to tell what would happen next. The active player would choose one of their proposals and proceed from there.
The player whose proposal the active player picks would receive one penny, and the active player would lose one. In order to complete the memory, the active player must spend all of their current pennies (that would be true for all memories, even if you have more pennies than recalling a memory requires, like three pennies when you recall the first memory).
That means that the number of important actions you can do is determined by how many pennies you have. That’s probably the most tricky part of the game: without practice, it may be hard to pace the memories, so you may end up not being able to tell everything you wanted or the memory may drag on way past the point where it’s clear what’s the deal is. It’s hard to give a good advice about it, but my interpretation of the rules does give you a bit of flexibility to deal with it: if your memory gets too long, ask for guidance more often, if it’s too short, take the action away from your character. Most importantly, don’t sweat it. The stories we write are going to be rough in places, it’s inevitable with improvised fiction.
I would suggest nominating people with the least amount of pennies since it helps the flow of the game, but it’s really up to you.
The proposals should be brief. Think about the choices you get in VNs and text quests: they shouldn’t detail my actions five steps in advance, but rather focus on immediate course of action.
The two proposals don’t have to be different. If another player proposed something you’d really like to see, your own proposal can be essentially the same, just refined, placing more emotional emphasis or adding details.
Example from the game: the memory is about a falling marriage. After an emotional scene, a player proposes that the active player “took the wedding ring from your finger.” Another player wanted to see it, and so proposed, “You took the wedding ring from your finger and threw it into the waves.”
Once you complete your memory, you get a penny.
Stage 4: Picking the Next Active Player:
The one who has enough pennies to tell the next memory (2, 3, 4, respectively) becomes the next active player.
If there are more than one person who qualify, the one who has the most memories to tell still is chosen.
If there is a tie, the one with the most pennies is chosen.
If there is still a tie, we’re doomed. By which I mean, it’s left up to the group to decide. If such a situation were to occur, I think the best solution would be for relevant players to come to an agreement, but I can also just flip a coin and nominate someone or leave it to whoever starts first. Your call on that one.
I think that covers everything important. If someone has questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
Triggers:
The sound of a door slamming shut.
A mettalic taste on my tongue
The stench of rotten meat
A burning car
A cold hand on my shoulder.
And I give Illhousen a penny.
0
And added. Once everyone writes their triggers, I’ll begin.
Triggers:
– The heavy bass of a stereo
– A beagle’s baying
– The taste of oversteeped tea
– Someone touching my foot
– The high beams of a car at night
And added.
1. Glaring neon signs
2. Old cigarette smoke
3. Cold industrial air conditioning
4. Heavy TV/radio static
5. The taste of cheap whiskey
And added. I’ll begin the next stage shortly in a comment.
So, now we have our memory triggers that we’re going to use throughout the game.
Generally, it’s more fun to pick triggers at random, so I’m going to use the diceroller linked in the post, but if you really like one of the triggers, go for it.
So, I roll the dice and get 8, the stench of rotten meat. This is going to be my trigger for the first memory, a sensation strongly associated with how my character has encountered the occult for the first time.
Next stage is guiding questions. I treat it as an optional stage: if you have an idea for a scene just from the main question and the trigger, you may skip right to writing. However, often it’s hard to come up with a narrative right away. Guiding questions help with it by establishing more details and context for the trigger.
The way it works is that every player should now ask me a simple yes-or-no question about my trigger or answers to the previous guiding questions.
Those questions are always treated as right but lacking some crucial details, so I can answer only with “Yes, and…”
Let me transcribe an example from the source book. The trigger was “a blood stain on a white carpet.” Someone may ask, “Was the blood from an animal?” Then I may answer, “Yes, and I had just dropped the steaks on the carpet.” Someone else then may ask, “Did anyone see you?” And I may answer, “Yes, and when she did, my wife laughed so hard that she had to sit down.” A third player then may ask, “Were you married recently?” And I may answer, “Yes, and our honeymoon wasn’t really over.”
This is a good example on many levels. First, it establishes what kinda of questions are preferable here: simple, establishing one detail but leaving enough room for interpretation. “Was the blood from an animal?” is a good question. “Was the blood from an animal you just drove over and dragged all the way into your house?” would be a bad question as it establishes too much.
Secondly, it demonstrates the kind of answers that are preferable: the ones that establish the following scene, give it context and general direction. Just from reading the answers you get where it’s going and what mood it’s going to be. Thinking about the answers and how you may tie them with the theme of the current memory (in our case, the first encounter with the occult, the example from the sourcebook was about a happy memory, as I recall) makes actually writing the scene so much easier since half of the work is done already.
Thirdly, it shows how the triggers and questions can be manipulated by answers. The trigger here is pretty sinister, and the first two questions are not much better, but still the active player managed to turn it into something lighthearted. While I’m going for a serious rather than humorous game, the exact tone of your memories is up to you to decide, and the guiding questions can help with it.
If someone is still confused, I may provide more guidelines and transcripts of example questions, but otherwise let’s get on with it.
So, my trigger is “the stench of rotten meat.” Ask your questions, one per player, and I should answer them.
Were you able to see what it was coming from?
Yes, and it was from my arm.
Was it a sudden rot?
Yes, and it was caused by a dead man caressing it.
Were you afraid?
Yes, and the fear only grew when I realized I was dead as well.
Alright, I have all the questions now. Soon I’ll proceed to the next stage.
(OOC: Maybe instead of two separate lists, just strike out used triggers on the main list and put someone’s name next to them?)
Yeah, I thought about it, but that would make using the diceroller harder. As it is, you can simply set the number in the bottom box even if it’s different from standard dice, but if I were to leave used triggers on the same list, you’d have to either reroll if you get the same result (which isn’t a big issue now but may get annoying after a few triggers) or basically create your own list of active triggers.
So, I can switch to a single list if people would like to select triggers manually, but I’m leaving it as is for now.
Alright, so now I have everything I need to begin the story, so it’s time to explain how it all works.
First, we have three questions that guide the storytelling.They can be found in the main post, but I’ll type them here as well:
Each memory told by players must answer one of these questions. They also must be done in order, you can’t answer third question first before going for the second one, for example.
Answering each question requires a certain amount of pennies to initiate: two for the first one, three for the second and four for the third. Given how pennies work (which I’ll explain in detail later, but basically they’re currency spent to act or say something), that means that the memories grow longer as the game progresses.
You may notice that each question consists of two parts. For the first question, it’s “what was your first encounter with the supernatural?” and “how did it change you?” The first part is what the memory would mostly be about, the second part is written at the end and is not beholden to the usual rules, which basically means you can expand it as much as you like (though it’s preferable to keep these sections short) and you have full narrative control over your actions unlike during the memory.
So, the bottom line for now is, my first memory is going to be about my first encounter with the supernatural.
Next, I have the memory trigger, the stench of rotten meat. It’s a sensation that’s going to feature prominently in my memory. While memory triggers are not always central to the memory, they’re always important to it. For example, “the sound of a door slamming shut” or “someone touching my foot,” to use our triggers, would likely be an initiating event, the first thing you recall followed by some developments from there.
In my case achieving it is simple since the smell can easily haunt me throughout the whole memory.
Then, I have guiding questions and my answers. From them, I know that I’m dead, that there is a dead man caressing my arm and that it rots away under the touch. That gives me more than enough material to write a short scene.
Now it’s time to talk about narrative rights. While recalling a memory, you have control over everything but your own words and actions. Think about it as a text quest or a VN with very frequent choices: you can freely describe the scenery, what other characters are around, what they’re doing and saying, you can describe your own thoughts and feelings, but when it comes the time to act or say something, someone else must imput a command.
Now, given the format, I’m treating this rule more loosely than the game suggests. As long as the direction of your words or actions is decided, you can write out the outcome in full. That is to say, if it is decided that, say, you turned an argument with your loved one into a shouting match, you can write out that shouting match in full instead of asking for your every reply. If it’s decided that you’re chasing after a suspect instead of giving up, you can write out the chase scene in full, with stunts and close calls and everything, rather than asking for your every action.
Basically, stop the scene and ask for guidance when it’s time to make an important decision that would decide the direction of the story.
If you need clarification, I’ll be happy to answer, but for now let’s proceed with the scene.
***
I awoke to the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. A haunting melody washed over me, taking away the cold I felt on the edge of my senses. Quiet undertones made me strain my ears, fearful of missing any part of the music, for following the melody was the most important thing in my life.
It took me a while to realize that a soft crunching of bones was a part of the music, and by then I didn’t care.
What brought me out of my haze was the stench of rot, a discord in a perfect rot. Slowly, it creeped upon me, rising in intensity, until I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
With a sigh I opened my eyes to see a gray ceiling above me devoid of any and all distinctive features. No light bulbs, no patches of slightly different color, no cracks, no shadows, nothing.
For a moment I was content to simply lie there and stare ahead, the effort of opening my eyes draining me of willpower. But the smell become stronger still and I could see movement at the corner of my vision. Slowly, I turned my head to the side…
To see a man with parchment skin and clothes clinging so tightly to his body, it was hard to tell where his skin ended and the clothes bagun. Half of his head was replaces with overlapping glass shards arranged in a grotesque attempt to mimic human face. Each movement of the man disturbed them, making them produce the haunting melody that I heard.
He held my arm in his hands, caressing it gently, and I could see rot spreading under his touch, arm swelling with puss and taking on unnatural colors.
For a moment I just stared at him, stared at my arm, watched as he took it to his mouth and bit off one of my fingers, which he apparently did two times before already.
I felt no pain, so it couldn’t be real.
I knew it was no dream, but still it couldn’t be real.
And yet, and yet…
And yet I could still hear the crunching of the bones in the music, could still see my arm being devoured bit by bit, could still smell the rot, could still feel the numbness spreading over my body, could still…
I could not escape this.
Fear and revulsion swelled inside of me, overtaking the last remnants of the melody living in my mind, and then…
***
And now it’s time to ask for guidance. At this stage, I should nominate two players to tell me what would happen next. I will choose one of their proposals and proceed from there.
The player whose proposal I pick will receive one of my pennies. In order to complete the memory, I must spend all of my current pennies (that would be true for all memories, even if you have more pennies than recalling a memory requires, like three pennies when you recall the first memory).
That means there are two important actions I’m going to perform before it’s time to wrap up the memory. That’s probably the most tricky part of the game: without practice, it may be hard to pace the memories, so you may end up not being able to tell everything you wanted or the memory may drag on way past the point where it’s clear what’s the deal is. It’s hard to give a good advice about it, but my interpretation of the rules does give you a bit of flexibility to deal with it: if your memory gets too long, ask for guidance more often, if it’s too short, take the action away from your character. Most importantly, don’t sweat it. The stories we write are going to be rough in places, it’s inevitable with improvised fiction.
Now, to other matters…
I would suggest nominating people with the least amount of pennies since it helps the flow of the game, but it’s really up to you. For this instance, I nominate Socordya and whoever else responds first.
The proposals should be brief. Think about the choices you get in VNs and text quests: they shouldn’t detail my actions five steps in advance, but rather focus on immediate course of action. Should I run or fight or scream and cower or something else entirely? It’s up to you to decide.
The two proposals don’t have to be different. If another player proposed something you’d really like to see, your own proposal can be essentially the same, just refined, placing more emotional emphasis or adding details.
Example from the game: the memory is about a falling marriage. After an emotional scene, a player proposes that the active player “took the wedding ring from your finger.” Another player wanted to see it, and so proposed, “You took the wedding ring from your finger and threw it into the waves.”
So, I think that covers it for now. Socordya, one other person, I’m waiting for your proposals.
A finger for a finger! Eat one of his.
Since you can’t escape, try talking.
A note on format: I’m going to post each new part of the memory as a separate post since otherwise longer memories would become awkward to read. Since memories are told in turn, there should b any issues with following along. I’m not going to enforce the format or anything. If you want to use the reply function instead, it’s up to you, but I do think separate comments would make the game clearer.
Now, to the memory. I’m going with Socordya’s proposal. Socordya gets a penny, I lose one.
***
“S-stay away from me!” I shouted, trying and failing to get my hand away from the monstrous man.
He quickly looked at my face before carefully letting go of my arm. I clutched it to my chest.
“So, you’re awake,” he said with a sigh. The haunting melody stuttered, music growing dissonant, though never stopping. “It would have been easier for you if you weren’t.”
My mind raced. The impossible situation defied comprehension, but one thing I knew for sure: the man before me meant me harm. He already did… something with my arm, the smell of rot still strong in the stale air, he likely wanted to do more.
What could I do now? My body still felt numb, my arm was a mess, I could barely feel my legs… But he wouldn’t kill me as long as he was talking, right? I just needed to keep him talking until… until some opportunity presented itself, right?
And so I did.
“What are you?” I asked in a faltering voice.
“My name… My name is…” His face took on a pained expression for a moment, until he relaxed with another sigh. “Doesn’t matter. Not anymore.” He looked me straight in the eye, the leathery face solemn, the glass part a mess of my broken reflections. “I’m dead. And so are you.”
“What,” I said.
He pointed at my legs. I looked and for the first time noticed blood covering them. I was bleeding from my stomach, cold spreading over my body. And in that moment I remembered. A flash in the dark, a loud noise that shattered my world and left me falling, falling until I could feel fear no more, until I was no more.
“Is this Hell?” I asked in an empty voice.
“Corners,” he said. “The land of the forgotten and discarded. The only place for the dead. There is no punishment and no reward for us, just… emptiness. Corridors stretching into infinity, with nothing to be found in them.”
For a long moment both of us were silent.
“So, what happens next?” I asked eventually.
After a long pause, the man replied, “I want to consume what life remains within you and make it mine. It’s the only way to advance higher, to get closer to the world of living and perhaps even get back.” He leaned closer to me and his voice became desperate. “Please, don’t resist. You’re weak, you’re new here. You won’t be able to protect yourself from others like me even if you were to win here. Only one of us has a chance, and it’s not you. Just… please, let me do it, let me feel alive again. I promise, if I do get out of here, I’ll make sure your last wish will be fulfilled. Saying goodby to your loved ones, avenging your death, whatever, I’ll do it. Just, please, give me life.”
What did I do then?
***
I nominate Act and Roarke.
Meant to make this a reply: Eat him.
OOC: Incidentally, we maybe want to start using @Act and @Roarke, for instance, when we want to start prompting people.
(Me subscribing to the post would probs fix this issue.)
Take a desperate swing at his face with your good hand.
Going with @Act. @Act gets a penny, @I lose a penny.
***
Ah yes, I remember now. I’m not the one who experienced this memory but the one who ate him.
He swinged desperately at me with his good hand, but he was weakened by the fall, weakened by what I did to him already. He didn’t have the time to rebuild his body, he didn’t have time to learn the only music that could be heard here. He didn’t have a chance.
Swiftly I subdued him and continued with my task, doing my best to ignore his pleading and his screams. Soon, nothing remained of him but a whispering voice drifting down the corridor, one of many to haunt the corners.
His life became mine, and I felt the weight lifting from my shoulders, replaced with a weight of an entirely different nature. I had strength now to go farther up, to get closer to the world of the living.
I had to make it worth it.
***
Memory ends, so now it’s time to answer the second part of the question:
How did it change you?
The act changed me in ways that are hard to comprehend. Shards of memories, bits of personality, dreams and desire of my victim became my own, replacing what I’ve lost to the corners. I was not the same man I remembered from being alive, though neither was I my victim. Something in-between.
More concrete was the fact that he was my first victim. The first person I have sacrificed to my desire of escape. There was no turning back for me from this point. I had to make it to the top so blood on my hands would have meaning.
***
And that’s it for the first memory. I get a penny for completing it, which is how new pennies get into the circulation. Same would happen each time someone completes one of their memories.
Now it’s time to pick new active player. The process is as follows:
The one who has enough pennies to tell the next memory (2, 3, 4, respectively) becomes the next active player.
If there are more than one person who qualify, the one who has the most memories to tell still is chosen.
If there is a tie, the one with the most pennies is chosen.
If there is still a tie, we’re doomed. By which I mean, it’s left up to the group to decide. If such a situation were to occur, I think the best solution would be for relevant players to come to an agreement, but I can also just flip a coin and nominate someone or leave it to whoever starts first. Your call on that one.
Right now, next person to tell a memory is @Act since no one else has enough pennies to do it.
I think I’ve explained all relevant rules here, though if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
I’ll also update the main post tomorrow with all rules so they would be all in one place.
(I haven’t forgotten, I’ve just been really really busy — I’m sorry!)
It’s fine. I was planning on it being a slow burning project, after all.
1. A man running away
2. Looking down from a rooftop
3. A dark, enclosed space
4. A heated conversation
5. A rainy park.
Added.
ALRIGHT. So, my trigger is: The sound of a door slamming shut.
Did you slam the door?
Yes, and I made sure to lock it tight and drag a dresser in front.
Did you feel calm?
Yes, and I was surprised I could keep such a level head.
Was it a door to your atelier?
Yes, and I was grateful I’d made it back there before I got caught.
Was there someone waiting for you in there?
Yes, and I was relieved to see my dog was safe.
Oh, and I think I forgot to mention: it’s better to not make different stories directly related. With the format the logistics become a mess. As such, it’s preferable to make the stories independent of each other.
It’s fine to use other players’ characters as cameos and deal with some major conflicts introduced by other people (like, if someone invents a huge conspiracy, it’s fine to say that your character was involved in fighting or aiding it somehow, just on a different front than other characters).