Mind Control (Episode 229 The Good Friends ofJackson Elias)

[Paul Fricker]

https://blasphemoustomes.com/2022/03/01/mind-control-in-rpgs/

This episode is our discussion of the presentation of mind control in RPGs. Genre fiction is full of unnatural magic, weird drugs, and sinister devices that twist the human mind according to the wielder’s desires. Villains may plant compulsions in the heads of protagonists, twist their perceptions, or alter their memories. And, of course, this is reflected heavily in gaming. But how do we make it work? Does it have to remove player agency? And what happens when these tools and techniques fall into the hands of player characters?

We’ve paused our discussion of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath for a few episodes. Matt has been seriously ill, requiring a lengthy stay in hospital. We don’t know how long he’s going to be out of action but we wanted to save the resolution for his return. Until then, we’ve called upon some of our good friends in the podcasting world to stand in as guest hosts.

This time, we’re joined by Keeper Murph of the Miskatonic University Podcast. There can’t be too many listeners who don’t know our good friends at the MU. If you’ve somehow resisted falling under their spell so far, do check them out. They have been our biggest influence and supporters over the years. In the decade their podcast has been running, they have won two ENnie Awards, and with good reason.

• The Miskatonic University Podcast
• MU Podcast on Twitter
• MU Podcast Discord
• Murph’s secret bunker

You can hear Murph’s previous appearances with the Good Friends here:

• Cthulhu Through the Ages
• Necronomicon 2017 seminar with the Miskatonic University Podcast
• Necronomicon 2019 seminar with the Miskatonic University Podcast

News

Update on Matt

As we’ve mentioned, Matt has been seriously ill recently. At the time of release, however, he is well on the road to recovery and will be home from hospital soon. We’re not sure how long it will be before he is feeling up to recording again, however, but we shall keep his seat warm for him.

A Weekend With Good Friends

The latest incarnation of A Weekend With Good Friends has wrapped up. This is the increasingly regular online gaming convention organised by our lovely listeners, taking place on our Discord server.

We spend some time thanking everyone who made it happen, from the organisers to the convention staff to the players and GMs who filled the weekend with amazing games. And we’ll repeat those thanks here! Thank you especially to Bence, Chris and Martin, who put in a phenomenal amount of work to bring the whole thing together.

[Mechashef]

Best wishes to Matt.

Your podcast is my favourite gaming one.

 

I look forward to Matt returning.

[Darius West]

On 3/1/2022 at 10:07 PM, Paul Fricker said:

This episode is our discussion of the presentation of mind control in RPGs. Genre fiction is full of unnatural magic, weird drugs, and sinister devices that twist the human mind according to the wielder’s desires. Villains may plant compulsions in the heads of protagonists, twist their perceptions, or alter their memories. And, of course, this is reflected heavily in gaming. But how do we make it work? Does it have to remove player agency? And what happens when these tools and techniques fall into the hands of player characters?

Let me open by saying that REMOVING PLAYER AGENCY IS THE CARDINAL SIN OF GMing.

I hate removing player agency in any way, and try to get them to live out the motives and interactions of their characters in the most immersive way possible.

That being said, I use a lot of horrible mind magic in my CoC games, as the loss of agency is something that is pretty scary.  Here are some of my methods...

1.  Mind Control is something that happens "to other people".  The players keep their agency, but come to fear the scaly shadow of the evil hypnotist as they create mind controlled puppets in the community to do their evil will.  The players can mainly resist the magic, but they must save the NPCs.  I am very into creating memorable NPCs that are actively useful to players in CoC because when they die, it really hurts and amps up the horror.  Mind Controlling them is just a little less final.  Putting players into situations where they potentially have to kill their NPC friends they have come to love and rely on is plenty "horror".  This can lead to "fugitives for a crime they didn't commit", "invasion of the body snatchers", "exorcist" and similar fun tropes.  Every author is a thief, and so should every GM steal and repurpose plots to their own ends.

2.  Crude Control.  Rather than destroying agency, the evil hypnotist is merely able to use their power to get the character to perform or not perform certain simple actions.  The character is fighting the control, but they must still obey the ominous command to "pull the lever of doomy doom doom".  This is the "Hold Person" version of mind control.   It limits the character's actions but doesn't compromise their sense of agency any more than throwing a net on them might.

3.  "When I woke up I discovered I had eaten my pillow" Control.  The idea here being that the mind control is exercised over the player's body while they are asleep.  They are a somnambulist serial killer a la the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, except at large in the community and controlled via their dreams.  They wake up fully dressed, or wake to discover shoes are muddy, or with blood on their hands, or with a child's body embedded in the radiator of their car.    They faintly remember snatches of their dreams, but know the truth and must take steps to stop what is happening to them.  It is a werewolf scenario, where you become a bad guy at night unless carefully contained, but only once you realize what is happening.  It doesn't destroy agency, it just adds a new problem.

4.  Abuse of Power with a surprise ending Control.  Most players love turning a game into a power fantasy, it's an addiction, and they like nothing more than to develop a new spell or form of expertise.  But what about when that spell comes with a side-effect of slight but increasingly abnormal behavior after you perform it?  Players will normally keep pushing the skill regardless and wear the consequences in good murder hobo tradition.  Then you begin to slide them clues that the power doesn't belong to them, but is theirs on sufferance, and the more they use it, the less control they have over the power and their character itself.  Can they go cold turkey?  Will going cold turkey be enough to save them?    This does take away agency, but really only becomes an issue as you get closer to facing the big bad hypnotist.  They thought they were using the spell, but the spell was using them.  What a twist! 

There are definitely other ways to handle this, but I like these as they don't destroy player character agency too much, save in minor ways and in the service of the plot.