Cursed Items

Who doesn't love some good loot? Well, anyone who had the bad luck, or made the mistake, of picking up a Cursed Item, for a start. While the typical home of a +5 Cursed Sword of Sodomy (Receiving) would be a fantasy dungeon, you can do just as much or more horny weirdness with a self-embedding cyberchip, or a quantum-locked raygun, or a dimension-folding shoggoth-tooth. The examples here will all take the form of some genre's appropriate widget or tchochke, and the unifying through-line is an object, item, artifact, or other tangible object that a main character can't (or won't) rid themselves of, and which manages to afflict the character in some 'unfortunate' (and horny) fashion.

These mechanics all assume use of and familiarity with 'Into the Peril', or 'Ryona Royale' in a pinch, though 'Harem Tales' presents some interesting options for a few items, if you take some creative liberties with the rules. Outside of these systems, these items are more limited to fluff and premise fodder, so read one of the above if the mechanics seem confusing!

Too Good To Leave

These items, potions, drugs, or spells all confer some kind of benefit, or fulfill some kind of external requirement or demand. The character could abandon the item anytime they want--they just don't want to, or they'd lose a genuine benefit, or face an external consequence.

+5 Sword of Sodomy

While it may not widely be called that, it's an apt descriptor for this infamous blade. It grants the wielder masterful dexterity and strength, both for parrying blows and for cleaving foes, yet few have wielded it for long, and none speak of why. The truth is that with each clash of steel the wielder feels their pucker clench, and each slice of flesh fills the wielder's mind with fantasies of being penetrated--but worst of all, whenever the blade strikes into the dirt, it lodges there, the guard gripping the wielder's hands, and won't release until someone else releases in the wielder. But, knowing this, you might be surprised how many past wielders lived long enough to discard the cursed blade . . .

  • Mechanics: you normally have Attack for combat with foes, the Goal is to hurt or destroy with violence, and the Danger is unwanted harm (to yourself, or something else). When you Attack With the Sword of Sodomy, the 'unwanted harm' is replaced explicitly with 'unwanted penetration'. It might not be by your foe, you might defeat your foe after they penetrate you, or you may need someone to 'have your back' in order for the sword to release your hands. But, it's not injury!
  • Alternate theme: this is a very fantasy item, but this could be a very stylized ritual weapon from a 'mysterious alien species', which demands its wielder receive a 'genetic sample' from 'superior combatants'.
Registration Collar

Foreigners entering the Slaverati Empire have no legal rights, and can be captured and sold at auction--unless they already have an owner. Luckily for you, you have a good, loyal contact willing to put their name on a (surely definitely temporary) collar, allowing you to walk freely without being captured--except, legally, that contact does own you while you're here. Surely they won't abuse their power . . .

  • Mechanics: this works like an inverse of the elective Action Command, instead of having friends or lackeys, you are the lackey. You gain the following Action: Do Business: whenever you try to mind your own business among the Slaverati without anything weird going on, the Goal is just that (failure means you need your 'owner' to step in and vouch for you). The Danger is your 'owner' taking liberties in return for the hassle.
  • Alternate theme: the technology involved here is social, rather than tangible, so it can work in sword-and-sorcery or science-fantasy settings about equally well. For a more grounded cyberpunk or adjacent setting, make the Slaverati a sprawling megacorp with a lot of territory to be stuck in.
Translator Earrings

When traveling to foreign lands, these enchanted earrings can let you speak with the locals--with some asterisks. The earrings sense the surface thoughts of others, both what they mean to say, as well as what they stop just short of saying. And to allow the wearer to speak back, the earrings draw from what the listener hopes or expects to hear, and conveys the sounds for the wearer to make. But, there's a few problems with this process . . .

  • Mechanics: To hold a full conversation with a local, you have to Focus to filter out what they'd like to say (and ask you to do), as well as to not say what they'd like you to say as your earrings borrow their language. But, when Persuading, the earrings give a permanent Edge, since you do know exactly what they'd like to hear.
  • Alternate theme: these earrings could work reasonably as cyberpunk skillchips, or as a glitchy translator module in a sci-fi setting.
Antitoxin Serum

Why did your mark have to hide out on HE-69? The atmosphere is fine, but the flora and fauna are highly toxic, and they're everywhere. Fortunately, there's an experimental antitoxin serum, and your ship can produce it indefinitely! Unfortunately, it's a potent stimulant, causing distracting tingling and engorgement, mild delusions and hallucinations, restlessness, and a serious thirst for 'protein'. But it's your only refuge from the pervasive poison . . .

  • Mechanics: as long as you have to take the antitoxin, you start each scene with the Danger "collapse into a heap and gratify yourself". If you put a 5-6 into this Danger, it's gone--for the rest of the scene, unless you explicitly forego dosing up again. Decide how nasty or pervasive those toxins are, and what they can do, in order to make it sometimes reasonable to not dose up--or at least, make it a question to consider.
  • Alternate theme: this antitoxin isn't too implausible for a modern-day setting, supposing some kind of nasty biohazard or exclusion zone as a premise, and it can easily be a protective potion or (amorous) deity's ward of protection.
Strutting Heels

These ornate and decadent high-heeled shoes are far more alluring than they might first appear. After painstakingly lacing them on, a preternatural grace courses up through every limb, turning even the most mundane gesture into a show of poise, and casting even threadbare rags as deliberate, cultured apparel. Anyone who looks at you will see you as an icon of desire. But, this beauty comes at a cost . . .

  • Mechanics: these shoes fully replace Run with Strut: paralyze onlookers with your ravishing looks, leaving them too enthralled in the moment to interfere or interrupt you (granting you one unopposed Action). Danger: after your action, or immediately on a failed Goal, those onlookers close in on you to sate their desires. These shoes take time and concentrated effort to remove, and you cannot Run at all until you do so.
  • Alternate theme: though presented as high-heels, these can just as easily take the form of imposing boots, or other masculine attire. The crucial element is the replacement of Run with Strut and its influence over others, and accompanying Danger.
Pendant of the Void

This talisman grants you guidance from a whispering wisdom from beyond, that can aid almost any task of concentration and finesse. However, just as you hear the Voice of the Void, the Void hears you, and the Empress Beyond draws you nearer . . .

  • Mechanics: when you Focus With the Pendant, your Goal is never less than 3 for determining success. For all other rules that mention "assigning a 1-2 to your Goal", those rules apply normally (such as GM Points). The Danger is unaffected (whatever it would be for this Focus), but now you have an Enthrallment Countdown:
    (fine) [distracted] [daydreaming] [fixated] [hallucinating] [delusional]
    Each time you Focus With the Pendant, you step further down this Countdown, and have a corresponding Twist that can apply to any Action: the Empress Beyond calls your mind to Her Palace to worship Her, proportional to the level of your Countdown. [distracted] merely prompts some coaxing from the Empress; [fixated] risks a brief but vivid vision of reverence; [delusional] risks an extended encounter of worship and preparation for the Palace. This Twist returns at the start of each new scene, but only worsens when you Focus With the Pendant.
    You can only reduce your Enthrallment by successfully Focusing without the Pendant. And specifically, this means you have to engage in some feat or effort that would not fit any other Action. Explicitly, you cannot Focus to 'clear your mind', as that would be Bracing. You have to do something like "mix a volatile compound", or "walk a tightrope", or "suture a wound", or "recite an invocation", or any other fraught, tense, or failure-prone act that could have interesting consequences, but that no other Action covers.
  • Alternate theme: instead of a talisman tying you to an eldritch deity, this can be a communicator to a powerful AI that uses its hypercomputation to assist you, but which slips in subliminal programming in the process. Regardless of theme, make sure each encounter with the Empress is sufficiently engaging to make it worth waking up from the sudden interruption.

Piercings, Tattoos, Brands

Though these are less obviously 'items' once you leave the piercings, this category has a much stronger rationale for "why can't you just get rid of the thing?" Because it's physically attached to or embedded in your body, that's why!

Ring of Endurance

This ornate piercing is only known to select and secretive circles, but its power is revered. While some proclaim it as a relic of peerless sexual piety and restraint, others know it to hold a danger of depravity all its own. But none question its effect in staving off pain that would cripple or kill those not so protected. They only question the cost . . .

  • Mechanics: this piercing precludes you ever needing to Brace against external sexual effects or attempts: they just don't require the Action at all. When you Endure for any reason, the Danger is replaced with increasing the following Desperation Countdown:
    (fine) [flustered] [horny] [squirming] [panting] [twitching] [drooling]
    You can't be 'incapacitated' or 'suffer lasting effects', but your state on the Countdown is a Danger that returns with each new scene, and can apply to any Action other than Endure or Brace, and if you ever increase past [drooling], your mind breaks under the desperation.
    You can reset yourself completely, back to (fine), but only by sex that requires that you Endure, physical shock, pain, injury, et cetera. This Endure works the same as ever though, including the Danger of increasing your Desperation. If your Endure fails its Goal, you don't get the reset, but the reset occurs prior to any increase in Desperation.
  • Alternate theme: numbing drugs or implanted nerve-blockers could accomplish something generally similar, with a throughline of sublimating pain into sexual desire, without quite making your character actually masochistic (though masochism might be easier).
Stud of Infernal Speech

Powerful demons use this heavy barbell piercing to graciously allow mortal servants to ~properly~ speak their language when spoken to, to give their keepers fawning praise. Outside of the underworld, it reveals a curious and useful property. But, it still retains its intended function . . .

  • Mechanics: you can Attack just by speaking, words you only hazily understand forming a sentence so sinful it harms the listener; the Danger of this Attack includes Hellish heat searing your own body, as you breathe air burned and blackened by the demonic tongue.
    Whenever you Persuade, the Danger includes your pierced tongue twisting with a mind of its own, and a will to offer itself with your voice. The piercing wants to submit and serve, to lick and suck, and to flatter and praise, and will beg for it if given the chance.
  • Alternate theme: in lieu of demonic or infernal power, this could work as telepathic or telekinetic outbursts, with some wires crossing in the person's mind at 'inopportune' times. Or, the effects might arise from some inhabiting spirit (whether departed or not).
Seal of Concubinage

While the secrets of preparing this enchanting tattoo are closely guarded, its effects are widely known. The magical reagents of the ink and intricate runes of the sigil will imbue even the most homely scullery-maid or stable-boy with the beauty and appeal of an exotic concubine. But even more importantly, the seal compels its bearer to proper comportment befitting a courtesan . . .

  • Mechanics: you can no longer Attack at all, the seal leaving you wracked with pain on the floor before you can even curl a finger. But instead, if you like, you can:
    Submit: bare your brand to any person or creature that would do you harm, and they will instead perceive you as an irresistable exotic concubine, or the closest their mind can conceive. They probably won't help you, but they won't harm you (or no worse than a backhand). Unintelligent or nonsapient beings will identify you as a mate, a foundling cub, a fellow automaton, undead drudge, or hive member, always in the most possessive manner possible. This delusion persists so long as you don't strain the delusion with your behavior. The Danger is that your former attacker may ravish or abscond with you on the spot.
  • Alternate theme: it would be hard outside of a straight fantasy context to have this affect any and every being, but in a more grounded setting, Submit could rely on a pheromone gland, and in a more futuristic setting, it could conditionally override security droids.
Compliance Chip

After escaping from SlutTek Industries, you managed to jailbreak, but not fully remove, the Complimentary Services chip. It still buzzes, tingles, and streams you with euphoria in the presence of any SlutTek employee or contractor, but now you can parse the thrumming signals of pleasure and impulses of servitude into where they are and what their rank and department is. And you don't even descend into needy glassy-eyed submission--most of the time . . .

  • Mechanics: whenever you Pry, Sneak, or Persuade, a successful Goal also lets you know about any nearby SlutTek employees, contractors, deniable assets, or anyone else who would have permission to use your former role as 'accommodation', which is a very liberal list of affiliation. You know roughly where they are, their rank or how 'deniable' a contractor they are, and vaguely what department or duties they have (sales-rep, executive, researcher, goon, paper-pusher, etc). This is not an Edge, you just get this information on any successful Goal with these Actions.
    But you have an added Danger: there is such a SlutTek lackey nearby and the only thing your character can think about is being used by the next person they see. This doesn't have to be the SlutTek lackey, but all your Actions are about getting used, until you get used.
  • Alternate theme: for science-fantasy, this could instead be a psychic link, and for regular-fantasy, a partly-broken spell. The core of it is leveraging "I'm enslaved to this faction or group" into "I can recognize this group no matter what". This best suits stories with a lot of subterfuge, spying, or other social conflict, more than two-fisted pulp action. If you want to be surrounded and outgunned in enemy territory, or otherwise have to stay undercover against adversaries who could slink out at any time to 'bring you back in', this is for you!
Witch's Collar

A sorceress can get quite bored in her study, and grow a thirst for entertainment. And what better entertainment than your struggles and hardships--especially if you previously foiled her ambitions? With this ethereal collar, she senses your stress and desperation, watches your mistakes and misfortunes--and summons you to her study before you can die. She'll even deign to mend your wounds, for a price . . .

  • Mechanics: this item first relies on having a simple 'health system' in place (see Into the Peril, 'Twists As Injury', of which this is a more structured take). Normally your character only Dies For Real when you, the player, think it's a good time for that. Arguably that's still true with the Witch's Collar, but with some caveats.
    Whenever an Action (such as Attack or Run or a failed Goal on Endure), or other event says you 'suffer injury', increase the following Countdown:
    (fine) [scraped] [bruised] [sprained] [limping] [crawling] [dying]
    Rest, healing, or other restoration can reduce this Countdown, but your state on the Countdown is a Twist on any relevant Action, and straining yourself can worsen your health.
    Whenever the sorceress decides you're injured enough (definitely at [dying]), she will summon you out of whatever you're doing to her lair. Pity about whatever you were doing. She'll then offer you a choice of two demeaning and humbling 'repayments' for healing you, and she might deign to heal you further than 'just barely alive' for additional humiliation.
    As a starting sample list:

    • Exhausting sexual service
    • Degrading or painful sexual service
    • Humiliating torture (does not affect injury or healing)
    • Shameful attire or decorations
    • Groveling, pleading, praise
    • Inflicted sexual desperation
    • One of the above, for a vile familiar or lackey(s)
    • One of the above, as exhibition
    • One of the above, then send you back just where you were, just as you are

    The 'one of the above' options each count as two picks, and entitle you to two steps down the Health Countdown. The sorceress will always pick at least two of these and offer you the choice between them, even if she only pulls you out of danger without healing you. She might allow a choice other than what she offers, if you're good.
    (But needless to say, change this list to suit your actual preferences and tastes as a player. Just make sure the dilemma really feels like a dilemma, at least to the characters involved.)

  • Alternate theme: a more science-fictional or modern take could have the 'sorceress' instead be an 'eccentric' contagonist or non-antagonistic villain, poised to 'rescue' your character through less sorcerous means.
Hive Healer

Far out in the trackless wastes, desperation takes many forms. But perhaps none is so remarkable as resorting to the use of a Hive Healer, a symbiotic larva that can restore a wanderer's health, mend their limbs, even heal their sight and hearing--but only by replacing the wanderer with its own growing, insectile body, to one day rejoin the hive . . .

  • Mechanics: this expands and elaborates on the Health Countdown used in the Witch's Collar, adding a secondary, irreversible Countdown for Assimilation.
    (fine) [scraped] [bruised] [sprained] [limping] [crawling] [dying]
    (normal) [plates 1] [plates 2] [padding 1] [padding 2] [organs] [head]
    Whenever you get injured, you have until the end of the next scene to at least begin some kind of treatment or recovery, or your Hive Healer will begin patching you up with its own growing body. At first, hard chitiny plates, especially covering any open wounds or protruding bones. Then softer, more pliant insect-flesh, covering your 'softer parts'. Then internal organs change and with them your diet and appetites, and instinctive need to nest, forage, and especially breed. Lastly your face, and the last of your mind, become that of a hive-creature, and your previous life ends.
  • Alternate theme: the symbiotic larva might instead be a prototype super-soldier cybernetic platform, or a genetically engineered 'cancer' regeneration.

Can't Unequip

Farther afield from your usual 'items', these cursed objects all have different reasons that your character can't simply "get rid" of the source of so many of their troubles. But all of them impose some kind of unsettling and sexy burden, and none are easy to escape.

Faerie Coinpurse

Taking coin from one of the fae might not be the wisest way to wealth--but it's a way. If you ever drop or discard the coinpurse, its owner will be able to find you and punish you for theft (whether you stole it or not). Should you spend any of the six coins, your purchase will be your undoing (somehow). But, should you use all six coins, she'll accept this as a bride-price, and claim you as her loyal and subservient spouse--which at least beats the alternatives. And you can use these coins to change your fate . . .

  • Mechanics: you're assumed to always have at least one coin from the Coinpurse, somewhere you can reach it. It doesn't matter if you're clinging to a cliffside, batting bugs off of your face, or locked in a pillory, you can always flip at least one coin from the purse until it's empty. So, you gain the following Action and can always make it:
    Flip a Coin: when you reach into the cursed coinpurse and toss one of the dreamy, unrecognizable tokens, fate rewrites your story for the next few moments or minutes, freeing you from imprisonment, turning guards aside to cower from a cloud that looks like a dragon, or any other 'stroke of luck', whether plausible, possible, or preposterous. A 3-4 Goal should leave you in 'ironic' and 'unfortunate' straits from the mishap, but still solve whatever the immediate problem was.
    The Danger is losing a coin from the Coinpurse: you have six to start, and a 3-4 means the coin lands on its edge (surprisingly frequent for these--are the coins really fair?!), while a 1-2 means the coin you tossed flips into the future, and into the fairy fiancee's hand. When the last coin disappears like this, she'll claim you on the spot, and while this might possibly not be the end of your adventures, it will definitely be the start of a very strange and arduous new one.
  • Alternate theme: as fantastical as this item is, you might justify a science-fictional alternative using quantum-tunneling hyperposition eigenvectors that shunt you into favorable timelines, but with only a limited number of timelines before dropping you into The Bad Future.
Stalwart Song

Taught only to initiates of a reclusive monastic order, this complex song is hard to learn, but impossible to forget--no matter how much one tries. Members of this order are practically invincible, but there's a reason only initiates know the song--or rather, all who know the song are initiates . . .

  • Mechanics: whenever you Attack, Endure, or Brace, you can add an Edge for "the Stalwart Song guides me", and completely replace the Danger with "the Stalwart Song compels me". If this Danger ever comes true, the oaths and vows start to claim your thoughts, and only the ardor of base animal passion can shake its hold. You have until the end of the scene to have sex with someone--anyone, any kind, you can even Attack (without the aid of the song) to force yourself on someone. If you don't, you abandon your ambitions to return to the monastery and live the rest of your long, quiet life by the vows you've etched into your mind.
    You can make this less drastic, by instead using a Vows Countdown. Come up with a list of suitably burdensome Vows that your character progressively adopts, if they can't orgasm back to their sense of self. When all Vows have taken hold, then your character retires to the monastery.
  • Alternate theme: this could instead take the form of combat programming (possibly literal in a microchip or implant), or even some form of device that alters destiny or the future, into either success, or a nebulous limbo.
Rising Crown

If you ever get this thing off of your head, you'll never put on another priceless artifact as long as you live. Until then, you have a haughty, ambitious, and disturbingly charismatic queen giving orders in your ears--and overriding your voice. She intends to use you to rebuild her realm, and to enjoy the fineries the ages have denied her, whether you like it or not . . .

  • Mechanics: through the Rising Crown, the spirit of the Queen possessing it can give out Edicts, commands to any thinking being your character encounters. They'll always make at least some token effort toward obeying, without fully understanding why they honor and fear the regal voice and visage ordering them around.
    But you can only Persuade the Queen to give Edicts that help or favor you, or you can Endure to literally bite your tongue, or claw your palms, or crush your toes, or otherwise inflict enough pain on the Queen (through yourself) to stop her speaking through you for a moment. You can always take any other Actions you like as applicable, but the Queen cares nothing for your aims and needs, and even less those of anyone traveling with you.
    As you play and the other player(s) develop the personality of the Queen, the nature of her former or future realm, and what customs and traditions she honors, keep in mind that the Queen initially cares only about the following:

    • Restoring her realm and seeing it rule supreme over all others
    • Meting out vengeance on all the people and descendants of whoever ruined her realm
    • Enjoying decadence and obedience, often extremely 'acquired' tastes, and always expensive

    And whenever you try to Persuade the Queen in her Edicts, you'll have to cater to these drives, and anything else you learn about her and her values and wishes.

  • Alternate theme: the Queen can instead be a reactivated AI or rogue virus, or possibly a sapient alien symbiote with psychic or pheromonal abilities.
Dollmaker's Jewel

In exchange for returning someone precious to life as a free and flawless doll (or some similar priceless boon), the Dollmaker has exacted a price from you in return. You have your freedom for now, but by attuning a gem to your heart, she will gradually ready your mind to become a unique and artisinal doll--not emotionless, but in fact very emotional: frothing carnelian lips and drooling pussy, disgusted onyx eyes and oiled leather pucker, silver tears of sorrow lubricating a gleaming cock. A work of art orgasming in the most maddened extreme of emotion, for the Dollmaker's admiration . . .

  • Mechanics: the Dollmaker wants to make a doll for any of the following: anger, sorrow, fear, disgust, and joy (she already has a dance-hall full of dolls for lust and arousal and love). Keep track of these for your character with tallymarks:
    [Anger: _____] [Sorrow: _____] [Fear: _____] [Disgust: _____] [Joy: _____]
    Whenever you Brace, add a Danger: suddenly orgasm uncontrollably, and make a tallymark for the nearest-fitting emotion. At the fifth tallymark on any of these emotions, it becomes all your character can feel, and the Dollmaker will collect you soon, to apply the 'finishing touches' to her latest work.
    The other player(s) can and should frequently ask if your character is Bracing to keep their composure against anger, sorrow, or even being overjoyed at victory or good fortune. But, there is a small upside: the Danger is added to the usual Danger for Bracing, which can let you avoid 'giving into a compulsion' from something else, or 'needing recovery later' that leaves you mentally debilitated.
  • Alternate theme: instead of a magic soul crystal, this might result from an experimental drug, or exotic chemical-warfare agent.
Feral Fuckdoll

Being a doll isn't all bad however, it at least beats oblivion. You've died (or perhaps escaped the Dollmaker above?), but though you live, you don't have your old life. You've been remade for lust and gratification, rather than independence and adventure, and even clothing can't hide it. Regaining some measure of your old self's abilities will be a quest all on its own . . .

  • Mechanics: good news, you no longer ever have to Endure against injury, damage, or fatigue, as you were made for very rough and careless use indeed. Bad news, you can no longer Attack or Run at all, and while you can still Persuade, you're very obviously a crafted fuckdoll that now presumes to talk--how persuasive are you, really?
    You can seek out enchantments, items, even those listed on this very page (since their 'curses' might affect you less or not at all), but failing those, you can regain your ability to Attack and Run with the following (good!) Countdowns:
    (caress) [prod] [grind] [shove] [slap] [hit] [choke]
    (jiggle) [tiptoe] [mince] [snatch] [leap] [yank] [sprint]
    These Actions always cover the usual things they could (including social violence, and 'reaction-time' speed), but the Countdowns give an idea of your returning capabilities. You can advance these Countdowns (separately) by applying your new nature as a fuckdoll:
    Learn how to fuck someone as an Attack by Prying for their hot-buttons and weaknesses, and gaining a step on your Attack Countdown.
    Learn how to outpace someone and Run by Focusing on their reactions and responses, and gaining a step on your Run Countdown.
    Whether you're learning to fuck someone into submission, or stimulate them to orgasm before they can even protest, you only gain your Attack or Run when you complete the associated Countdown. Until then, you're limited to what the current rank of the Countdown suggests.
  • Alternate theme: this obviously lends itself to a cyberpunk or transhuman setting, in which putting someone's brain (or upload) into a cybernetic sleeve is a plausible way to end up. Or, instead of a constructed doll, your character might wake up after having been organically repurposed, with similar results.
Dancer's Mask

You don't remember putting on this beautiful mask, but perhaps it has something to do with these people asking you to remember--remember what? You remember a lot of things about your home, its secrets and dangers and rewards, and you know these strange people don't belong here--but, they seem so familiar, and you like them, care about them, though you don't know why. But, they're trying to take away your precious mask! Luckily, you can always easily evade their grasp with your fluid grace, and keep your mask in place . . .

  • Mechanics: this item steps above ordinary dice mechanics, and instead changes who has which narrative duties and rights. Once your character puts on the Dancer's Mask, they cease to be your character, though you retain some control over them. Specifically, you gain narrative control over the dungeon, temple, ruins, or whichever large, complex, sprawling place you found this mask, and you can use the dancer (formerly your character) to hint, gesture, lead, and generally guide the other player(s)' characters through safely, if they can understand the dancer's cryptic hints and lopsided help.
    The other player(s) can describe anything else the dancer does, as they twirl and glide around the dungeon. As an example, since you control and describe the dungeon, you can narrate a shifting bridge over a spike-lined chasm--and a conspicuous socket awaiting some lever to insert. The other player(s) can embellish this, describing the dancer suggestively tracing their finger in a circle around the socket, before returning to nuzzle the thigh of a fellow adventurer.
    The dancer themselves is never in any meaningful danger from anything native to the dungeon, and it's assumed that the other adventurers won't attack or harm the dancer, nor can they easily capture or detain them. Instead, the other player(s) should come up with a suitable 'side-quest' that will dispel the Dancer's Mask, perhaps by breaking or forcibly removing it, or by banishing or satisfying the spirit inside it. But they needn't rush, designing a good quest takes long, slow, careful consideration, after all.
  • Alternate theme: instead of a possessed mask, this could take the form of a cybernetic override, or a parasitic cryptid or alien implant. The core concept is (temporarily) losing your character, and making them into a knowledgable and somewhat-friendly guide through a complicated and dangerous environment, still helping their former allies, without being themselves.
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Pub: 25 Aug 2022 22:32 UTC
Edit: 29 Sep 2023 07:27 UTC
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