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Call of Cthulhu RPG
Taint of Madness: Insanity and Dread Within Asylum Walls
TAINT OF MADNESS is a sourcebook of Sanity, Insanity, Therapies, Asylums, and Laws & Procedures Relating to Such Topics. Only small events are needed to shake shared beliefs--a suspect friendship, for instance, or a machinating government, or a doctor's threatening manner, or inexplicable evidence of a dreadfulness older than the stars. When we perceive this change in ourselves, we soon learn whether we are disturbingly normal, or completely insane....
TAINT OF MADNESS discusses the recognizable forms of insanity, the historical treatment of the insane, how the mad or the incompetent are handled, and what the legal complications of being classified insane may portend. Plenty of game-related information and suggestions are made. The Cthulhu sanity rules are modified. There are three fully-developed asylums (Bethlehem for the 1890s, Arkham Sanitarium for the 1920s, and Bellevue for the 1990s), as well as a short scenario for each.
Background information includes notes for conducting psychiatric interviews, sample commitment and release papers, a glossary of psychiatric terms corrected for the era, extensive information concerning historical asylums in the U.S. and across the globe, an annotated bibliography, and plenty of illustrations. Indexed.
TAINT OF MADNESS discusses the recognizable forms of insanity, the historical treatment of the insane, how the mad or the incompetent are handled, and what the legal complications of being classified insane may portend. Plenty of game-related information and suggestions are made. The Cthulhu sanity rules are modified. There are three fully-developed asylums (Bethlehem for the 1890s, Arkham Sanitarium for the 1920s, and Bellevue for the 1990s), as well as a short scenario for each.
Background information includes notes for conducting psychiatric interviews, sample commitment and release papers, a glossary of psychiatric terms corrected for the era, extensive information concerning historical asylums in the U.S. and across the globe, an annotated bibliography, and plenty of illustrations. Indexed.
132 pages, Paperback
First published December 3, 1995
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 12, 2023
Basic Premise: Help for dealing with insanity issues in the Call of Cthulhu RPG.
Insanity is a core feature of both the fiction of Lovecraft and the TTRPG named after his most famous story. How many Keepers or players actually have psychology, psychiatry, or legal degrees, though? Not many. Knowing how issues of insanity are dealt with legally and in therapy situations is pretty important to the game. How are these things treated? How were things dealt with in the 1920s, when many scenarios for the game are set? There's a lot of good information in this book that is understandable for the layperson. There are also a lot of neat game aids, handouts, and scenarios in this book, so it is *very* worthwhile for anyone planning on running this game.
Insanity is a core feature of both the fiction of Lovecraft and the TTRPG named after his most famous story. How many Keepers or players actually have psychology, psychiatry, or legal degrees, though? Not many. Knowing how issues of insanity are dealt with legally and in therapy situations is pretty important to the game. How are these things treated? How were things dealt with in the 1920s, when many scenarios for the game are set? There's a lot of good information in this book that is understandable for the layperson. There are also a lot of neat game aids, handouts, and scenarios in this book, so it is *very* worthwhile for anyone planning on running this game.
Displaying 1 of 1 review