The Asylum for the Mentally Disturbed

[Scipio]

I've finally gotten my group to agree to a mini-campaign for the entire month of October. Halfway through, the party are likely to wind up in the Asylum, under the -ahem- "care" of the good Doctor Heinfroth, as I've always liked the idea of toying with that domain.

Has anyone used the Asylum as the setting for a couple of sessions worth of gameplay? What worked vs what didn't? Looking for any and all tips.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Paging Dr. Joel... Dr. Joel to the Dominia thread...

Joel recently ran Bleak House... you can find links to the journals buried in this thread until I get around to updating the Veranda...
http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... &start=165

[Joël of the FoS]

Thanks Doctor Ron!

Indeed, IMG we are in the last part now, the Van Richten House.

The asylum part was a blast

If you read my journals, you'll see I changed a lot of things for the middle part, i.e. the Martyra Bay part (which I thought was a bit silly), adn added flesh and structure to the last part, the House.

First hints of this adventure starts in session 73. In 74, they are at Dominia
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/TheV ... _73-74.pdf
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/TheV ... _75-78.pdf
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/TheV ... _79-82.pdf

Have fun with this adventure, I hope your players will dig it as much as mine did!

Joël

[Scipio]

Ah, thank you very much. That should be enlightening. The party is getting a four-week all expenses paid vacation into madness. Week 1: the Strange Story of Darkagnon Estates. Week 2: a storm will force them to seek shelter, ending up in the House of Lament, mirroring their time with the fleas of madness. Week 3: Hopefully after some failed madness saves at the end of Week 2, they wake up in Dominia.

[Five]

Depending on the real life sensitivities of your players, play up the theme of violation. Brides of Dracula with a psychological twist. Mental seduction/rape, physical seduction/rape. Being cerebral vampires and isolated predators with individual modi operandi both are likely to befall the unfortunate inmates. Especially so, considering the whole bloody island is a study into madness! The not-so-good doctor is probably studying his staff as well, which would justifying him employing the entire gamut of human deviancy, or in the least as much of it as possible and that he can control. That, and who's to say what is what; the brains of the victims may not distinguish the two violations, or, read one as another (ie: maybe the mental rape is "recorded" within the victim's brain as physical rape). This translates to PC doubt...resonance that can carry over into a neat character development subplot. IF your player(s) are comfortable with the idea.

And for added horror (psychological impact) think about same sex, or, opposing sexual orientation violations as well. The social stigma that accompanies this would in effect keep the damage within the victim's head for all but the bravest of them.

If you're going to use an asylum as a vehicle for horror then you might as well dive deep.