[Scott]

galsiah, that's an interesting and original suggestion, I like it.  I'd like to incorporate it somehow to counter the player who (much like I myself would) wants to disregard what the game is obviously suggesting he do.  Good point about the drug-addled nobleman as well.

No, no, I'm quite sane. *twitch, sniff* I just arrived from England, where I am recognized nobility.  I've come all this way to occupy that run down old manor house in the woods that's been abandoned for 30 years.  Why am I shivering?  I'm not shivering!

Why should people treat some random stranger with courtesy and respect?  That's not the kind of tone I want to set!  And if the player does get arrested, some snide and totally baseless innuendo in the paper, instead of hero-worship, would be priceless.

Everyone starts the game alone, no retainers or buddies -the nobleman is broke remember- and everyone but the Drifter starts at the boarding house.  I had already considered the Lunatic-in-the-room option.  Makes sense for the player who refuses to hunt him down.

[Tuomas]

I agree, Galsiah's idea is fantastic. That kind of gameplay right at the beginning of the game would set it apart from traditional RPG gameplay (in which you either do quests or don't, even though the latter is rarely an option) and it fits the setting perfectly. It would be a perfect way to introduce the player to the world.

And I like the idea of media reacting to events. In a (relatively) modern setting it's a must. Arcanum and Bloodlines had it, why not Cyclopean?   

[Scott]

I do like Arcanum's newspaper idea, where they pay you for your story (and it's a lot of money).  There are supposedly consequences to revealing your identity but I never encountered them.  In Cyclopean, if you run around blabbing to the local tabloid about nameless cults and horrors from beyond, I want real consequences, if you know what I mean.

[PrzeSzkoda]

There are some consequences of spilling your story to the tabloids in Arcanum, minor mostly. There's this one dude in Tarant who asks "So, you're the survivor, hur?" and attacks, 'cuz he's an assassin hired to do you in and whatnot. Plus, noble city-dwellers give you monies.

The nobleman idea is neat, and having the citizenry treat the player character as if he could possibly be the escaped wackoo would be priceless (a med-school drop-out? Check. A down-on-his-luck nobelman junkie? Check. A scary disfigured dude who lacks in social skills? Check. A guy/lass who's there to attend a frickin' witches' coven? Check-check, etc.)

[Dicksmoker]

While I kind of like it as an option for those who refuse to act, I still don't see how it could work for all backgrounds. The fact that the nobleman comes alone makes sense now, but what about the archaeologist? Surely he would be known by some intellectuals in town. And if that's the case I can't see him getting arrested, at least not for long because his colleagues (Dr. Blackpool and others) would clear it up - "How dare you arrest that man!" And the big game hunter, as I said earlier, is horribly scarred, and it wouldn't make sense for the authorities not to have a description of the lunatic. (There's incompetence, and then there's incompetence, if you know what I mean.) So that wouldn't work, unless the lunatic is scarred himself. In which none of the other backgrounds could be mistaken for him.

Unless you're planning to make the lunatic different for every background. Which is an intriguing concept, I must admit.

So Scott, if you have already considered the idea of having the lunatic hiding in your room, what made you deicde to scrap it?

Oh, and in Arcanum people tried to kill me in bars after I told my story to the press and I also once had a random encounter while travelling the map with assassins who mentioned that I had fucked up in that regard, giving them my description and all. People also gave me money too, as a charity.

[Scott]

I know that people gave you money in Arcanum after you spill your story. I thought it was a ridiculous amount of money.  I guess I never made the connection between the assassins and the news story.  Anyway, who doesn't like assassins?

I'm not scrapping the Lunatic-in-the-room idea.  It's still good.  I think you'll find the Arkham Police Department sets a new standard in incompetence.  Making the Lunatic match the player sounds like a good idea actually.  Also remember the player could be female.

[galsiah]

And if that's the case I can't see him getting arrested, at least not for long...

I'd say it could easily be a day before any of his friends even hear about it. It's a relatively modern setting, but people aren't running around with mobile phones and checking twitter ever few minutes. Even if some colleagues had agreed to meet him (which isn't necessary), he could easily get himself locked up for a few hours. That's easily enough time for an interrogation or two, and some press interest. You're also assuming that the police give a damn about some jumped-up intellectual types coming into their jurisdiction and making demands. This could go either way too.
Again, while it's certainly possible that the details of such a situation could fail to fit, it's equally possible that they would fit. Since Scott gets to write/create the details, there's not really a problem here.

...and it wouldn't make sense for the authorities not to have a description of the lunatic.

Whyever not? If the lunatic has been on the loose for days or weeks it wouldn't, but if the escape was recent, it's entirely possible that there'd be no description. For a start, it's quite possible for the authorities at the asylum to know that someone escaped (gates open / guards knocked out / clothes stolen / dogs barking /...) before they work out exactly who has gone missing. Or, alternatively, it might be that there's some security cock-up, leading about ten loons to attempt escape - nine of whom are eventually captured on the grounds. Sorting out who the tenth is could be beyond the capabilities of the security guys present - to them a loon might be just another loon. Even working out the sex of the missing lunatic might require records to be checked (some dusty file in the basement perhaps), or staff to be called in from home (which no-one's too keen to do until it' absolutely necessary). The first report to the police might well be extremely vague.

Not all this needs to be explained, but there are a thousand ways for there to be no good description for a while at least. An escape means that something has gone seriously wrong with the system - probably something the staff are unused to dealing with, and something they aren't particularly keen to see as their problem.

Unless you're planning to make the lunatic different for every background. Which is an intriguing concept, I must admit.

It's a thought, but I worry that this starts to seem too contrived. The motivation for having the lunatic look like the PC is clearly that the situation wouldn't work without it (presuming there's an unnecessarily clear description). I think it might seem contrived to the player, and distract from the game. Underpaid security officials screwing up and not having an encyclopedic knowledge of the lunatics, rings true to me. A lunatic who just happens to resemble the PC seems too convenient.

...having the lunatic hiding in your room...

This could reasonably work well with the PC-as-suspect theme. Presuming that they're is no clear description, the most the police have to go on might be a direction/trail. If the trail leads to the area the PC is staying in, that's another reason to be suspicious of him/her.

Would it be possible to have the lunatic in the next room, or hiding in some other part of the house though? Putting the lunatic right in the PC's face from the start does give you fewer possibilities to take care of - but it also gives you fewer possibilities. I think I'd quite like it if it were reasonably possible for the PC to leave the house with or without confronting the lunatic first.

[Scott]

Would it be possible to have the lunatic in the next room, or hiding in some other part of the house though? Putting the lunatic right in the PC's face from the start does give you fewer possibilities to take care of - but it also gives you fewer possibilities. I think I'd quite like it if it were reasonably possible for the PC to leave the house with or without confronting the lunatic first.

To spell it out further, the player doesn't start in his room.  He starts in a conversation with the landlady, who will introduce the missing Lunatic.  At some point later on, if the player doesn't meet the Lunatic outside, or get arrested, and I feel the plot needs to be moved along, he will be waiting in the player's room.

Regarding descriptions and mistaken identity, the gender poses the biggest problem in my mind.  An Asylum has to be segregated, naturally, and it doesn't seem right that they wouldn't at least be able to say male or female.  It would also be very awkward to write or articulate in dialogue.  I don't see a problem with tailoring your Escaped Madperson to the player character.  Call it contrived if you want, but it's not even in the same league as the Chosen one farm boy, heading off to save the world armed with nothing but a rake and the favour of the gods.  It's a contrivance which could be very amusing, which I think balances it out.

[galsiah]

I guess you're right on the segregation bit. Still - it'd only be necessary to have the gender match in that case. Having the other specifics match up is an option, but I'm still not keen. Certainly it's less contrived than many other situations, but I don't think "Our X is less bad than most X" is a particularly convincing argument.

If you can come up with significant upsides which only work with the PC looking similar to the lunatic, that's great - it might work better on balance. However, to me, the looks-like-the-lunatic aspect is a negative on its own. I'd rather think as a player that my character is entering a world which already existed. Having that world artfully conspire to have its initial configuration match my character, ruins that impression. It not only starts contrived, but also sets me wondering how many other aspects of the world have been artificially altered to fit my initial choice.

If you're not going to change any other world facts based on initial character choice, I think it's a bad idea to start off by doing that (unless there's a huge upside). Having the world respond to choices is a good thing; having it artificially altered so that a different response becomes unnecessary, makes the choice seem pointless and the world seem artificial.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out why the idea bothers me, I guess the first thing would be that as a player you start thinking how it is that the lunatic matches your character, which takes you out of the game. The second problem is it would happen again during replay, making the world seem artificial. I don't like the idea of police not having a description either, surely the asylum wouldn't be that sloppy, in any case you'd have to explain carefully why they don't, else risk it seeming like a contrivance. May be just have the police say you match the description, without seeing the lunatic?

[Dicksmoker]

I thought of something else. Since the lunatic will eventually end up in your room, how about instead of the police arresting you because they think you're him, you get arrested for aiding and abetting. That seems to make a lot more sense and you could still have most of the things galsiah mentioned. What do you think?

To spell it out further, the player doesn't start in his room.  He starts in a conversation with the landlady, who will introduce the missing Lunatic.  At some point later on, if the player doesn't meet the Lunatic outside, or get arrested, and I feel the plot needs to be moved along, he will be waiting in the player's room.

OK, this makes more sense now. So that if the player doesn't go after the lunatic it will be forced on him, one way or another. Two questions:

What about the drifter?
Why wouldn't the dissipated noble go straight to his inheritance?