Tatters of Carcosa
“For I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now.”
You are investigating the impact of The King in Yellow on Parisian society. You have read the play. Carcosa will eventually reveal itself to you. Reality isn’t as it seems.
It’s the Belle Epoque. You are part of a secret government agency called Le Bureau de Nuit (The Night Office).
Give your agent a name and description. Choose three skills they’re good at. Write down an interest and the obsession it could become. You have 5 stamina.
You always find the clue if you’re looking for it. If you need to know how well you do something roll a d6. If you’re good at it roll 2d6 and take the highest. High is good and low is not so good.
When you encounter a Reality Anomaly take a Carcosa token and roll a d6. If the result is under the number of tokens you currently have, you catch a glimpse beyond the veil of reality.
If you have at least 3 tokens you may choose to Disbelieve by rolling again. If the result is equal or over your Carcosa tokens remove a token. Otherwise add a token. As you add tokens your interest slowly becomes obsession. Roleplay how this manifests.
If you ever have 6 Carcosa tokens you are under the influence of the King in Yellow. You can no longer Disbelieve for you know the great truth. Describe how your interest becomes obsession. Your character becomes an NPC at the end of the session.
When a fight breaks out both the players and GM describe what they’re doing. Assume when a character attacks a normal person they win the struggle but reduce their own stamina by 1 point. At 0 Stamina they are dead or incapacited.
Denizens of Carcosa can’t be defeated by fighting. Perhaps they need to be banished or, more likely, fled from.
Le Bureau de Nuit furnishes you with the resources you need. The beginning of each investigation outlines the effect of a Reality Anomaly that leads them deeper into a plot for the King in Yellow to influence the world.
Research the Belle Epoque. Find the horror. Bring in themes of decadence, decay, artistic movements, bohemianism, and unreality. Some ideas:
- A new art exhibition seems to be turning visitors violent.
- Members of the aristocracy are disappearing, each leaving behind a coded letter.
- A secret society who share dreams. The dreams are slowly becoming the domain of the King in Yellow.
- Statues in the garden of a manse are reportedly whispering a strange language
- A message in a bottle washes up on the shore. Someone is trapped in Carcosa and needs to find a way back.
Inspired by Cthulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley. Based on The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers.