Draft
At the Mountains of Sensibility
February 2nd, 1931 - the City of the Elder Things
When the wind on the Antarctic ice flats is still, you can hear the drone of an approaching aeroplane's motor from miles away. For that quiet moment, as you stop your work and scan the horizon for the approaching plane, it might seem to you that Antarctica is just another part of the real world. Our world, and that humanity could have a place here. But then the wind begins to scream again, whipping your face with ice and the tethered dogs howl and try to bite one another, and in the deafening snowy darkness you suddenly know. Antarctica isn’t part of any world that men can claim a right to. It’s as alien to us as the surface of another planet.
Or a mad-man’s dream.
But we were high above the Antarctic plains now, and in the City of the Elder Things the memories of the ice flats seemed like childhood fancies. Here the wind was never still, and its strange, almost conscious musical piping filled our world.
The City, and indeed the mountains that surround it were entirely unknown before this year. Three parties there were on the ice that spring. The Miskatonic University expedition had been the first, crossing the continent with their Dornier aeroplanes and marking the line of the hitherto undiscovered barrier mountains. A few weeks later and we might have been the ones to name the mountain range, or the first navigate the mountain passes to the high plateau where the City of the Elder Things lay waiting. Or to die in this accursed place when the horrors that we had awoken tore through our camp like an Antarctic winter gale.
I stuck my shovel hard in the snow, and looked about. Ruined windows stared down from around the plaza where we had made our camp. On the horizon loomed the dark mass of the barrier mountains, and as far as I could see stretched the inhuman, shattered architecture of the City. Giant Euclidian shapes worn down by ice and time, honeycombed with tunnels. There was yet time to die here among this monstrous tangle of dark stone towers.
As I brushed the ice from my gloves, Professor Fencrist stomped from the relative safety of the building we had made our dwelling.
“Bruuke should have been back here by now,” he said, and his breath was like smoke in the air before the wind carried it into the twilight. “Radioed half-an-hour ago to tell us he had spotted the American’s plane abandoned in the foothills. He wanted to land, but then he reported mechanical problems so we told him to come back immediately. We can’t afford anything to go wrong with the Northrop, not with the other plane grounded for good.”
I nodded beneath my furs. Our Fairchild FC-2W lay damaged beyond our repair at the base camp two hundred miles away on the other side of the mountains. Our weeks on the ice had brought an endless series of disastrous mishaps, and some were whispering of saboteurs amongst us. Fencrist met my stare, and even behind his goggles I knew that we were thinking the same thing.
"The Others?" he asked, and I nodded again. There was a third expedition in Antarctica that summer, in addition to ourselves and the Americans - if any still lived - and a matter of national enmity remained between us. Strange that history should be a killing matter so far from home, but there were still among us those who had fought the Great War. Perhaps our hatred in this dreadful, alien place reminded us that we were still human.
There was nobody else in sight, but in spite of the piping wind Fencrist leaned closer and seemed to lower his voice. "They're with us, you know, the Others. Here. Now. Saboteurs. I know them and I know their number, but two can play at their game. Their lot won't have any luck either, I've seen to that."
The air was twenty degrees below freezing, yet still I felt a chill at his words - the more so because though madness seemed to seep from the very mountains, his words were spoken with lucidity beyond gainsay.
[ blah blah blah ... incoming plane crashes due to sabotage, killing Fencrist. Party must make long trek to American plane to escape City and win game ]
Simple Rules:
At the Mountains of Sensibility is variation on Mafia played by two equal teams - Black and Red.
Each team consists of sixteen players, some of whom are saboteurs loyal to the opposing team. To win the game, each team needs to successfully root out their saboteurs while working together to escape the City of the Elder Things. Only one team can win the game, so you must be wary of both apparent friend and apparent foe.
To win the game, each team must:
* Lynch or eliminate all the Saboteurs from their own ranks.
* Travel as many miles each day as possible, to reach the Dornier aeroplane before the opposing team.
Meanwhile the opposing team will be trying to confuse or betray you, saboteurs will be looking for opportunities to slow you down or commit murder, and eldritch forces from the City will be trying to prevent any human leaving at all.
Game Concepts
There is no true night in the cold Antarctic summer, but our game is divided into Day and Night phases depending on whether the parties are travelling or resting.
The two teams travel separately, in a desperate race for the aeroplane. During the day, team members pick their way through the abandoned ruins of the City, and discuss their predicament. They can vote on whom to lynch or elect a new leader for their team.
At night the team rests, though individual members may have their own agenda. Saboteurs go about their business in secret, and there may be loyal team members with their own abilities too.
Travelling through the City of the Elder Things
Depending on how hard they work, each team member contributes a certain number of miles travelled each day. Contributions from each member are added together and then divided by the total number of members in the team to get the number of miles travelled by the team. Saboteurs may try to hold the team back, and Team members who push themselves beyond their limit might wind up having costly accidents.
Sabotage
The Saboteurs hiding in a team will do their best to make sure that the team never leaves Antarctica. They will do their malingering best to hold the team back without arousing suspicions, and can arrange little trail ‘accidents’ for their team mates. At night their games turn more serious, and they won’t shrink from committing murder.
Team Leaders
Both teams need a leader, but in the desperate fight for survival, conventional discipline breaks down. Each day both Teams can choose to elect a new leader, if they think it will improve their chances of making it back alive. The Team Leader has many extra powers and responsibilities, and the best led team is likely to be the one to escape the City.
Designated Roles
The Team Leader is in charge of designating the roles of team’s Dog Handler, Quartermaster and Navigator. Some players will perform one of these functions better than others, giving their team an edge.
Chaotic Roles
Two unearthly characters in human form travel with the teams. Unless the Serial Killer and Finger Biter can be disposed of, it is unlikely that anybody will escape alive. Whether the teams can bring themselves to work together to root out these abominations remains to be seen.
Player Types
Each team has an equal number of the different player types.
The Saboteurs
The saboteurs hiding among one team are in fact secret members of the other team and will do anything that they can to ensure that their own team wins the game. They can communicate in secret with each other, but cannot communicate directly with their own team except in the public game posts. All Saboteurs win or lose with their own true team.
The saboteurs have a set number of Sabotage Points each night that they use to sabotage their unsuspecting team mates. The more points allocated to a player makes it more likely that he will suffer an accident on the trail. Each saboteur has one Sabotage Point that he can choose to allocate, and any remaining points fall to the Saboteur Leader to allocate.
Committing sabotage is dangerous to the Saboteur as well, as the Watcher might have their eye on him. A saboteur should PM his target to the GM before the end of the day.
The Saboteur leader
The Saboteurs have a set number of Sabotage Points available each Day. The leader of the saboteurs can allocate any remaining Points. He should PM his target and the name of the saboteur he wants to carry out the sabotage to the GM before the end of the day.
The Saboteur Poisoner
One of the saboteurs is also known in criminal circles for his skill administering poison unnoticed. If this player is made the designated Quartermaster, he may choose the poison the expedition's evening meal, making trail accidents more likely the next day.
The Protector
The Protector is loyal to his team, and can choose an individual from his own Team to protect. The individual protected is safe for that night and the following day from murder, burglary or sabotage, except in the case of a suicide attack.
The Protector should PM his choice to the GM before the end of the Night.
The Watcher
The Watcher can set a watch on another team mate for a night and the following day. If that person commits an act of murder or sabotage, the Watcher will surely know of it. The Watcher cannot determine guilt if no act was committed that night, and is entirely blind toward Finger Biter or the Serial Killer.
The Watcher should PM his choice to the GM before the end of the Night.
The Liaison
When I brushed the dirt and ice from the object, I found it to be a five sided disc of green soapstone the size of my palm, though embedded somehow beneath the surface I saw sharp lattices of darker material. I held it in my hand, and in a fluid moment my thoughts seemed to melt into it, finally crystallising into new and alien shapes. Though I withdrew with difficulty, it was not before I sensed another person's thoughts radiating in the void. I must consider carefully before making use of this thing again.
The Liaison is the team member currently in possession of the Green Crystal, and has the following choice of actions at night:
* Probe the loyalty of an opposing team member.
* Block the opposing Liaison from conducting their probe.
* Implant a player name into the dreams of a fellow team member, with emotions of loyalty, disloyalty or chaotic destruction.
* Send a telepathic message to the opposing Liaison, who can send a reply in addition to their own choice of action.
Effective co-operative use of the Green Crystal is the only sure way for the teams to eliminate the Serial Killer and Finger Biter. But will the lure of betrayal be too great? The Liaison should PM their choice to the GM before the end of the night.
The Thief
A dedicated pack rat like the thief is adept at stealing anything he can carry from his fellow team members, or even travelling quite a long way in the night to search the opposing team camp. A thief can only use this ability if he had no other Night Action to perform, and should PM the name of his quarry to the GM.
Old Friends
Wartime buddies, the Old Friends have fought together before and know beyond doubt of their loyalty to their team. They can converse in secret, but have no extra abilities beyond their knowledge.
Serial Killer
Driven quietly insane by the City of the Elder Things, the Serial Killer is riven with insight into its eldritch mechanisms that escape lesser men. Although the Serial Killer travels with one team, he has absolutely no loyalty to either, and seeks only that nobody escape from the High Plateau taking news of the City to the world beyond.
Each Night the Serial Killer can choose any unprotected target other than a team leader from either team to murder.
Neither team can escape Antarctica while the Serial Killer lives. If the game finishes and the Serial Killer is still alive, he is the sole winner of the game.
The Serial Killer should PM his target to the GM before the end of the night.
Finger Biter
Back, not by popular demand but by realisation of unfulfilled potential, is Finger Biter. A vile relic from an ancient race, the Finger Biter seeks to replace its missing fingers with fresh examples bitten from living hosts.
Each night Finger Biter can choose any unprotected target from either team to bite the finger from. The targets suffer no loss of function unless at any time the individuals in a team who have been bitten outnumber the unbitten. The game goes on, but Finger Biter is considered a winner whether it escapes Antarctica or not. If the majority of the team who escapes Antarctica has been bitten, Finger Biter will be the sole winner of 'At the Mountains of Sensibility'
Finger Biter should PM its target to the GM before the end of the night.
Consensual Actions
Day Actions – Lynching
During the Day each player should vote for a member of their team they suspect of sabotage. Players cannot vote to lynch members of the opposing team, although they are free to mislead opposing voters in the normal way.
Day Actions - Electing a Team Leader
If dissatisfied with his performance, any player can nominate himself or another team member for new Team Leader. To make a nomination a player has only to state their intention, and allow other team members to up-mod or down-mod their comment. Players should refrain from modding opposing team nominations or down-modding into negative score, and should be aware of certain quirks of SE modding. At the end of the day, the highest modded candidate wins and becomes the new Team Leader. If there are no nominations in a day the existing Team Leader keeps their job, otherwise they need to win the nomination against other challengers. If there is only nomination in day, the nominated player wins automatically.
When the role of leader changes, all remaining abilities are transferred to the new leader at the end of the day. If the Team Leader changes Designated Roles
Night Actions - Saboteur kill
Each night, one and only one of the Saboteurs may try to murder one of the team that they are travelling with. Each Saboteur can only perform one or two kills during the game. The saboteurs will waste their kill if they try to murder a protected individual or the Team Leader, unless they perform a mutually lethal suicide attack.
Saboteurs should decide among themselves who is to commit their murder. The chosen Saboteur should PM his kill to the GM before the end of the night. If more than one kills are PMed, one will be chosen at random, although suicide kills take precedence.
Skills
All expedition members have a variety of skills, such as Dog Handling, Quarter Mastering and Navigation, which are only used if the player is required to perform that function. It is important that a few otherwise loyal and well-meaning team members may actually be incompetent in a skill they believe they possess, and will perform that role more poorly than an unskilled player.
A few players will have a Leadership skill which allows them to automatically travel an extra two miles every day.
Roles:
Elected Role - Team Leader
The Team Leader is the most trusted and valuable member of a Team, and a Leader who fails to perform or goes against his team's wishes is unlikely to keep the job for long
The Team Leader's mileage contribution is automatically doubled.
The Team Leader can also choose the Team Dog Handler, Quartermaster and Navigator from his team. He can change the allocation during the day, and should make his choice explicit in the main game post during the Day.
The Team Leader has possession of the team's only rifle and two remaining rounds of ammunition which he can use to execute any unprotected player from either team except for the opposing team leader. He does this by explicitly stating his intention in the main game post during the Day.
If the team reaches the Dornier first and their Investigator has been killed, the Team Leader takes on the role of Investigator.
Designated Role - Dog Handler
The designated Dog Handler looks after the huskies and the single sledge that carries most of the expedition supplies. In the uneven terrain of the City the sled can travel little faster than walking speed, but how well the sled is handled will have an effect on how much ground the expedition can cover.
Depending on his Dog Handling skill, the Dog Handler will make an additional positive or negative contribution. The level of this contribution can only be inferred indirectly.
If the Designated Dog Handler is a Saboteur, he can optionally choose to perform poorly the next day by sending a PM to the GM before the end of the night.
Designated Role – Quartermaster
The Quartermaster is tasked with looking after the expedition's food supplies, and prepares the meals that sustain the party and help them recuperate from their daily exertion. A skilled Quartermaster can help the party regain their fitness faster, and a party with an incompetent quartermaster will recover more slowly.
By default the Quartermaster helps each player to recuperate equally, but the Quartermaster can choose to help one player more at the expense of others by sending a PM to the GM before the end of the night.
If the Designated Quartermaster is a Saboteur, he can optionally choose to perform poorly. Additionally, if the Poisoner is made Quartermaster he may choose to poison the daily meals. The effect of each poisoned meal lasts one day, and will mislead players into believing that they are fitter than really are, leading to possible accidents from over-exhaustion.
Designated Role – Navigator
The Designated Navigator is tasked with finding through the labyrinth of the City. Part learned skill and part intuition into the inhuman topology, a good Navigator will gain the team a few miles and a poor Navigator will lose it a few miles. This contribution can only be inferred indirectly.
If the Designated Navigator is a Saboteur, he can optionally choose to perform poorly by sending a PM to the GM before the end of the night.
Artefacts
Few of the tools of the Elder Things remain so many thousands of years since the city was abandoned, yet there are still a few artefacts that men might find some limited use for. If an artefact’s owner is killed, their killer (or a random killer) inherits their possessions.
Green Crystal
A Green Crystal has been found by both opposing parties. Knowledge of the opposing team's loyalties are of limited use, except in the case of the Serial Killer and Finger Biter. It is in both team's interests that these chaotic forces be removed, if the teams can rise above their struggle to co-operate effectively.
The Green Crystal is allocated to a random loyal team member at the beginning of the game. It can be given to another team member, at the cost of a night's probe during which the opposing Liaison is free to probe. It cannot be stolen, and in event of its owner’s death it falls to the Team Leader to re-allocate. The Team Leader doesn't have to say to whom it has been given, but while he keeps it himself he loses his general immunity to murder at night.
Dream Spawner
The owner of the Dream Spawner can inflict dreadful nightmares on any other player, preventing them from recuperating their fitness fr
Radio
One human player on each team, chosen entirely at random, has a portable two-way radio capable of transmitting over short distances. At night the radio operator can send a short message to the opposing team’s radio operator. The message can contain any information, but of course the operator has no sure way to know who he is talking to, or their true loyalty.
If he wishes to use the radio, the Operator should PM his message to the GM before the end of the night. The radio can be given away or stolen, but only within a team.
Rescue Matrix
The Rescue Matrix allows the owner to pluck one live member from the opposing team and bodily retrieve them. The rescued player joins the rescuer's team, but their loyalty is unchanged. The rescued player functions as any other member of their new team, and if they are not loyal to their new team they are automatically inducted into its saboteurs.
It can be stolen or given away, and the owner should PM their intent to use it to the GM before the end of the night.
Escape Matrix
The Escape Matrix functions in the opposite direction as the Rescue Matrix, and allows the user to bodily travel permanently to the opposing team. The traveller functions as any other member of the team, and if they are not loyal to their new team they are automatically inducted into that team's saboteurs.
It can be stolen or given away, and the owner should PM their intent to use it to the GM before the end of the night.
Advanced Rules
Not all players need or will want to read the Advanced Rules, which describe the mechanisms behind 'At the Mountains of Sensibility', but those who do may gain an edge.
Game Schedule
New Day Phase begins. Daily post lists:
* Any players killed or obviously effected during the previous night phase.
* A table containing the apparent fitness of each player
Day Phase. Most actions conceptually take place before the team travel anywhere.
* Players publicly vote who to lynch, and possibly elect a new Team Leader.
* Team Leaders can publicly designate different players for the designated roles.
* Players can optionally PM if they wish to work harder or work less than their default safe level.
* Saboteurs may choose to sabotage other players.
* Saboteurs in Designated Roles can optionally PM if they wish to sabotage their function.
Day Phase ends
* Lynching results are published.
* Miles contributed by each team member (excluding the lynched), are calculated and published, along with the team total.
Night Phase begins.
* Fitness points are deducted based on miles contributed, and added based on food and sleep.
Night Actions should be sent to the GM, and evaluated in the following order:
* Protection
* Night Kills
* Watching and Probing.
Fitness
Every player has a fitness value from 1 to 10, which describes their physical state. A fit player can push themselves harder and contribute more miles to their team.
Players do not know their exact fitness, but at the start of each day a table lists their apparent fitness in the following terms:
1 - 3 Exhausted
3 - 5 Tired
5 - 7 Adequate
7 - 9 Well
9 - 10 Strong
So, an adequately fit player might be 7 or 6, but can only count on 5.
Where a fitness level falls between two bands (3,5,7 and 9) a band will be chosen at random.
Mileage
Every player tries to contribute a certain number of miles every day, and their success depends mostly on their fitness. A player can safely contribute as many miles as their fitness level, but trying to contribute more than their fitness may result in an accident.
The problem is that each player doesn't know his exact fitness. So, a player who knows that he is adequately fit might be able to safely contribute 7 or 6 miles, but only knows for sure that he can contribute 5 miles.
Most players will just choose this minimum safe level, and if they don't PM anything different to the GM, they are assumed to have done so. But players may choose to try and contribute more or less.
Exhaustion
After a day's travel, each player will have spent some of their fitness points. Normally this will be:
if "number of miles contributed" > 1
fitness := fitness - ( random ( "number of miles contributed" - 1 )
else if fitness > 1
fitness := fitness - 1
Accidents
When a player tries to contribute more miles than their fitness level, there is a one in three chance of a mishap for each mile above their fitness. More precisely there is a 23% chance of the player suffering a minor mishap and a 10% chance of a major accident. Chances are calculated individually for each extra mile, and the "Miles the player tried to contribute" figure is the one at which the accident happened, not necessarily the absolute value that the player tried to contribute.
In a minor mishap, exhaustion is calculated as if the player achieved their chosen contribution, but the number of actual miles the player contributes becomes:
"Miles contributed" := "Fitness Level" - ( "Miles the player tried to contribute" - "Fitness Level" )
In case of a major accident, the player's fitness level drops to one, and the number of miles the player contributes becomes:
"Miles contributed" := random { "Fitness" } - 2 - ( "Miles the player tried to contribute" - "Fitness Level" )
A major accident during the day will always be mentioned at the end of the Day Phase.
Sabotage
When the Saboteur leader allocates Sabotage points to a player, that player is more likely to have an accident because their Fitness Level is temporarily calculated at a lower level.
“Acting Fitness Level” := “Real Fitness Level” - Sabotage Points
If the Poisoner is currently the Quartermaster, he can optionally allocate one or two Sabotage Points, depending on the severity of the poison, to every non-saboteur player in his team.
Recuperation
Players recuperate by sleeping, and when they take their evening meal.
The Quartermaster has charge of the evening meal, and the extra fitness points it allocates to his team mates. The number of extra fitness points is usually three for each team member, and by default each team member will receive an equal number. The Quartermaster can choose to re-allocate the total points in any way he wishes.
A skilled Quartermaster will unknowingly add one extra fitness point to each team member, and an incompetent one will deduct a fitness point.
All players also recuperate one fitness point from sleep, unless disturbed by nightmares.