The Maze: A Dark Themed Survival Game

[Urbanzorro]

The Maze


Ever since mankind was first granted the secret of fire, he has almost constantly sought more. More experiences, more knowledge, more understanding of the realm within which he exists. Scientists, explorers, philosophers, and many more have made it their life's work to push the boundaries of humanity's understanding ever further, to reveal the next secret, to encounter the next creature, and to catalog the next facet of reality. But, there are things that mankind was not meant to know, things that the human mind simply cannot understand. In the grand scope of all that exists there are sights better left in the shadows, there are sensations that are best never felt, there are ideas that should never be thought, there are corners which should remain unexplored. For in such corners monsters await.

It had taken years of dedicated research, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in field work to finally reveal the location of to what the ancient Mayans had called 'The Door of Souls' but it in the end it had finally been done. The legends spoke of the door as being able to open the way to "The Gods" which was believed to be some form of ancient religious complex. A holy place of ancient culture sure to be rich with priceless artifacts and great insight into the beliefs of a long dead culture. Needless to say the opportunity to be among the first researches to ever set foot in such a place was a prospect that had many within the archeological community practically salivating at the mouth. It was a chance to really discover something new, to be the first set of eyes to gaze unknown wonders. It was something so important that anyone asked to join the expedition would have to be a utter fool, or total coward, not to accept.

It had taken the team several weeks to finally reach the area where the abandoned temple that housed The Door of Souls was located. It had taken a full day to climb the temple, enter it, and descend to the site of the door. In part due to the need to document all the vague descriptions of what could be found behind the door, many seeming to warn against entering it for fear of "The Gods' Wrath." that were spread all long the temple. But now it was a new day and the door stood before the team, ready to be opened, ready to be explored, ready for each excited member of the expedition to finally see what they had traveled all this way for.

....But what if the warnings were more than just myths? What if the warnings that had been written off as simple Mayan religion in fact had a core of truth? What if what lay beyond the door was something that would make all who passed through it regret their decision for the rest of their, possibly short, lives?



O.O.C

This is an idea that came to me recently, and one that I think has a lot of potential for exploration of just how people react to horrible situations. The basic premise is pretty simple the player characters are part of an expedition to The Door of Souls. They are there to document the mysteries of an ancient civilization, but once they pass through the doorway they don't find an abandoned temple, or a burial ground, or anything at all like what they had been expecting. Instead they find themselves suddenly trapped in a mist filled maze. With no way of knowing how large the maze is or what the correct path out is. Even more troubling is that the maze isn't empty, it is stalked by monstrous creatures and filled with bizarre traps that will do unspeakable things to any who enter their realm in the effort of slowly driving those within the maze utterly insane.

The game would be set in the modern 'real' world so the characters would never have had any kind of experience or knowledge of the mystic monsters within the maze, nor of the existence of whatever power is behind the existence of the maze itself. The game would follow your characters as they try to escape the maze with their mind intact. I'm intending to use a VERY simple system to help determine just how long the player characters can last before their minds finally shatter and how well they can survive the elements within the maze.

The game will be open to characters (and players) of any gender. I'm looking for at least 3 or 4 players but this idea is currently motivating my muse quite a bit so I'm willing to start with as few as 2 if we don't find anyone else. An upper limit for the number of players is probably something around 8 or 10. I will be playing the maze, as well as the monsters within it.

IMPORTANT
It is possible to win via your character finding their way out of the maze. I've actually drawn up a maze that I intend to use for the game and your ability to escape it is based purely on the decisions you make with regards to which directions to send your character, and which ways to react to what they encounter.

The System

They system is VERY simple and meant to feel entirely free form to the players.

The system will have 4 statistics, each one meant to represent a different way your character can(or can't) deal with danger within the maze. These stats are as follows:
Strength: How strong your character is, which represents if they can manage to overpower a monster or device they run into. It is displayed as a number between 1-10
Agility: How fast your character is, which represents if they can outrun a monster that's chasing them. It is displayed as a number between 1-10
Perception: How easily your character can notice things which represents if they can notice a trap before stepping into it. It is displayed as a number between 1-10
Willpower: How much mental stress your character can take before going mad. For the sake of the game this stat will act as a 'health' stat.  It is displayed as a number between 10-100(It takes the stat value you assign and multiplies it by 10)

Each character is given 22 points to distribute between their stats as they see fit. With the minimum for each stat being 1 and the maximum being 10.

The formulas behind the game are very simple and involve you simply making a post stating your intention of what to do when you encounter something. Such as "My character sees the monster and turns to run from it" or "My character stands their ground intending to fight the monster." (Hopefully in a bit better detail than the examples though ;D )This will be followed by a quick D6 roll (made by the GM) to determine if the attempt is successful or not. The result will then be played out in a free form manner. Each time your character falls victim to a trap or creature they lose a bit of their willpower(how much depends on what they fall victim to) and once their will power runs out they go insane.

If you're interested in playing then please feel free to say so and/or fill out a character sheet. Also if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

Character Sheet

Code Select Expand


[float=left][img]Your Character's Image Link Goes Here[/img][/float]
[u][color=maroon][size=18pt][b]Place Your character's name here[/b][/size][/color][/u]
[b]Age:[/b] How Old Are They?
[b]Gender[/b]: Are they male or female?
[b]Orientation:[/b] Do they prefer men? Women? Both?
[b]Ons:[/b] What sort of sexual acts does your character like?
[b]Offs:[/b] What sort of sexual acts does your character dislike?
[b]Personality:[/b] What are they like?
[b]Biography:[/b] How did they get here? What is their personal History?
[spoiler=Stats]
[u]Strength:[/u] How many stat points did you assign to Strength?
[u]Agility:[/u] How many stat points did you assign to Agility?
[u]Perception:[/u]  How many stat points did you assign to Perception?
[u]Willpower:[/u] Take your number of willpower points, multiply it by 10 then place the result here
[/spoiler]
[b]Player's Ons:[/b] What are your Ons for this game? Please give a short list/description for easy reference rather than only a link to your ons/offs page
[b]Player's Offs:[/b] What are your Offs for this game? Please give a short list/description for easy reference rather than only a link to your ons/offs page



[Queen of spades]

I'm throwing my hat in the ring as being interested in this. Reminds me of the movie Cube a little. Although it will be my first group game.

[Urbanzorro]

Glad to have you. And cube is one of the movies/stories/etc that helped feed this idea.

[Frelance]

I am going to throw my interest in for this game and will fill out the cs soon. Would you like it posted here in the thread or pmed to you?

[Urbanzorro]

Glad to have you, and here in the thread is perfectly fine

[Faeli]

Also interested, should get a CS drawn up in the next day or so :)

[Strangefate]

Posting possible interest.  Keeping an eye on it for now.   :-)

[incandesce]

Definitely interested!  Before I start a character sheet, what type of character is everyone thinking about?  Since this is my first game on the site, I'm thinking about sticking with what I know while I get used to it: I'd enjoy playing a linguist or historian, of that fits?

[Urbanzorro]

Well it looks like we have between four and five players, so I'm willing to get us rolling as soon as character sheets are up ;D

[Chreestafer]

I am interested as well :) if there is room

[RipTide]

I would also like to make my interest known!

[Urbanzorro]

There is absolutely room :-)

[Prince Truhan]

I think there is still room. If there is just let me know if you need me to change anything

Richard Parker

Age: 42

Gender: Male

Orientation: Straight

Ons: He likes being in charge, rough sex, angry sex

Offs: Bathroom play, permanent injuries

Personality: Richard considers himself a perfectionist and can be a bit abbrasive, he has a hard time listening to people unless they have earned his respect and not many have. He thinks people by default are stupid and is surprised when other people come up with good ideas, but even then he considers that an exception to the rule.

Biography: Ever since he was a child Richard had been interested in history, he felt that only by looking back he could see humanity's great achievements, despite his focus on those he had always also found himself drawn to religions and superstitions of ancient cultures.

He was very focused in his studies and got himself a PHD in both archaelogy and anthropology. He works for a university and despite himself he is often found teaching classes, he has the hidden hopes of finding bright minds that will aid in his quest for knowledge although more often than not he finds everyone lacking.

He feels many things haven't been discovered yet so whenever an opportunity to explore something new shows up he tries to take it. That's how he ended up in an expedition to The Door of Souls

Stats

Strength: 5
Agility: 4
Perception:  7
Willpower: 60

Player's Ons: Would like my character to feel as if he is in control in a bizarre situation.
Player's Offs: Bathroom play or mutilation

[Rel Mayer]

Keeping a watch on this! Looks interesting!

[Urbanzorro]

Well looks like we have our first approved character :)

[Prince Truhan]

Thank you Urban, also I figure we should all be more or less part of the same expedition so if anyone wants to work Richard into their backstory I'm open to it.