Reality and the PCs

The Archons and Death Angels only seem to exist as abstract concepts unless they choose to manifest an incarnate, which can take on any guise the entity chooses. In the Players Companion, the Angels are quasi illusory in that they always appear to be human unless they want to manifest their true nature. Razides and Lictors also look human most of the time, and it is reasonable to assume that their human facade can change appearance, otherwise people might notice these immortal humans running around. Most of these supernatural beings have a "true form", its just that they are so adept at manipulating the Illusion that they can appear in other forms. Whether this talent would hold in Metropolis, Inferno, or some other realm is open to debate, however.

What I think I was hinting at is that with the illusion so easy to manipulate, how can PCs, trapped inside the illusion ever know what is reality and what is just another layer of illusion? In that sense illusion becomes the reality, the normal state of affairs, and the truth or awakening, is something else. Short of the GM telling them "ok you know this is really real..." But then I know my players would definitely not believe me. Such things as belief, and illusion can be hard to portray effectively in a game I think. Where the GM has control of the laws of reality in the game world (I know he always does, but I mean blatantly); can make walls melt and people turn to goo etc it is harder to let the players think that they have an impact, or any purpose, all to easy for them to be passengers, if you see what mean. So, how do players face up to their puny insignificance in your games?

I don't think the players need to ever have the impression that they have an impact on things, once they get the drift of what is really going on. The nature of the game lends to a feeling of hopelessness, where the characters slowly drift into insanity. That's sort of the problem, they can't stop it. The meat of the game is the characters themselves, and how they deal with the fact that the reality they know and love is slowly shattering, tearing at their minds, and goo covered things are starting to come towards them through the cracks. That's where the fun is. The only ray of hope I provide to my characters comes from a hint of true enlightenment here and there. I get them into thinking that perhaps there is a way to overcome all of the suffering to come, through some other *means*. Unfortunately for them, it's only a nebulous impression, so they are struggling feebly to find a means of gaining knowledge of the truth as they watch their worst terrors appear and slowly approach them, getting closer and closer with each adventure.

So far I have only run two sessions, the first using a scenario out of a magazine where all the characters (who did not know each other) were brought together at a mutual friend's estate. He is dying of AIDS, but he is a strong dreamer. Unfortunately, his fear of death, and the medication he is on as well as the disease itself have summoned a nightmare creature. The players become trapped in his dreams, and slowly enter more and more surreal events, confronting their own fears taken physical form. Eventually, they face the creature and must either destroy it (nigh impossible) or save their friend. If they choose to save their friend, his fears of dying alone are banished and he is released, leaving them back in reality. The second session used the first part of Fallen Angels (the Vampire scenario), to introduce Elizibeth and to provide an interesting scenario where violence won't solve anything.

Their situations don't seem hopeless to them because they are accomplishing something in the illusion. Even if it is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, it is meaningful to the players. It will take some time before they know what is really going on, but when they do, they will be better prepared to handle it. They will get feelings of accomplishment from preventing certain more dastardly plans of Archons and Death Angels and their servants, and preventing humanity from being treated as pawns in the games of greater powers. I have no plans to allow the PCs to become awakened, although they may interact with awakened humans on occasion. They will have to make do with accomplishments within the Illusion that they believe is their reality.

The players of a Kult Game should never fully know all that is going on, and the more they learn, the less they know. Everything beyond our reality, the magic realms, inferno, etc., should all be giant blur. If they do figure certain things out, it should always come from an unreliable source and there should be counter evidence so the players are never on even footing. If the players realize they are in an illusion, then there is still a lot to do. I don't think its ever hopeless. Even if they know all about the trapping of humanity in its prison, they can still turn that prison into the so called paradise, by hardening the illusion so much that all Lictors, Razides, etc, cannot exist there. That may be better suited to a particular cult though.