Idea Roll Flavor Idea: The Mad Prophet

[Nephanor]

Want to add some flavor to your "Idea Rolls" when adventurers are stuck?  Why not try, THE MAD PROPHET!

What is the Mad Prophet?

The Mad Prophet is a person in your world who has a decent level in Cthulhu Mythos skill, but has a low sanity in which to express it.  They tend to get the IDEA of what is going on right, but mess up the details.

What do you mean?

Well, let's take an example.  Deep Ones.  One of the most well known creatures, and most of us understand them from an ecological standpoint.  They are fish people, most of which who came from transforming from people.  But the Mad Prophet may get it all mixed up and rant about them dumping garbage in the fishing waters that turns the fish human.  "I don't like 'em putting chemicals in the water that turn the freaking fish human!"  Or how about Mi-go?  They could think the government is making monster mosquitos that make your brain melt.

Okay, but how can this improve idea rolls?

Well, simple.  If they are in a tough spot, have the Mad Prophet say something about the current situation cryptically so as to give them a hint, without actually telling them the answer.  A way to nudge them in the right direction.  When they make the idea roll, (but call it something else, maybe even use a listen roll) they hear the prophet saying something.  Maybe they are on a street corner ranting or maybe telling conspiracies on a radio show.

How will the players even know of this Mad Prophet?

Simple, have some flavor some time where after an adventure, the Mad Prophet can be heard describing their last adventure's resolution, but in their usual garbled way.  This way the PCs will learn of this character, and know that they know something is going on, but may not know everything.

But can't the players abuse this?

That's why it is very important to come up with other things for the Mad Prophet to talk about.  Maybe some local politician is into something shady, but not actually related to the adventure.  Maybe they are talking trade deals, or businesses.  This way you have some other things that the Mad Prophet can rant about that won't give the players any information.  Make it clear this way to the players that while this character DOES know things, they ARE lacking on sanity, so it's harder to get the knowledge out of them.  And if the character isn't always present (they are on different street corners, or their radio show is not on 24/7 obviously) they know they can't rely on them.  Just have this character as an OPTION so that if you need to, and the players do get stuck, they can be there to nudge them.

What Other uses can the Mad Prophet have?

Well, besides giving hints, and possibly acting as SOME recognition of what the players do, they could also act as fore shadowing.  Maybe you are getting geared up to take your players through The Two Headed Serpent, so he could start talking about lizard people controlling our government to sacrifice us all for an endless supply of rats, or how that snake medical company is actually experimenting on poor people and turning them into monsters.  Also, the Mad Prophet is good for adding a little color to your world, making it seem more alive.

Sample Mad Prophet

Alexei Jonovich

STR 60   DEX 40    INT 60   CON 50
APP 40   POW 70   SIZ 70   EDU 75

Sanity: 35
HP: 12
MP: 14
Move Rate: 7
Damage Bonus +1d4

Skills:
Cthulhu Mythos: 40
Dodge: 30
Drive Auto: 20
History: 30
Languages: Russian: 70
Languages: English: 30
Fighting: Brawl: 40
Library Use: 35
Intimidate: 25
Listen: 45
Occult: 20
Persuade: 50
Spot Hidden: 30
Stealth: 40
Art/Craft: Orator: 60
Firearms: Rifle: 30

Alexei is a poor immigrant from Russia, having l come to America when he was a child, it is all he knows.  His parents still taught him Russian, but he picked up a small amount of English as he was growing up from the area, but still isn't perfect in it.  He has been exposed to much in the Mythos from eavesdropping on his family, who were investigators, but didn't quite understand what he was hearing.  When he grew up, he ran into a few things of his own, and never quite recovered from it mentally.  He will drop into rants about how monsters are trying to destroy this country he so loves, but will sometimes slip into speaking in Russian and be hard to understand.  A family friend who works at a local radio station heard this and offered him a job to go into these rants to entertain people, as he found the crazy conspiracy theories quite amusing, and Alexei was always good at public speaking and persuading people.  It soon became a very popular show, and he regularly rants about government plots and monsters to the delight of the audience who doesn't realize just how much of what he talks about is actually real...

[EricW]

Hmm. Your mad prophet could actually be kind of dangerous. 35 points of sanity from becoming an antagonist. Maybe the mad prophet knows some horrible ritual which would really help the investigators, but they must persuade the mad prophet to help them perform it, he's frightened to do so for a reason he cannot explain...