Awakening: Modern Occult Horror

 It is time.

Gravity falls is a huge inspiration to me.

History

For nearly all of human history and prehistory, the mystic and the occult have existed alongside us. Those who understand and utilize mystical forces have been called many names, and inhuman entities always have and always will exist alongside our "mundane" reality.

In the past, this was open and blatant. However, as the Church grew in power, and as those in power grew suspicious of those with preternatural capabilities, repression and secrecy have been the norm for the last few centuries. Enlightenment era philosophy and strict control over society have forced the occult even further into the backdrop.

However, such things cannot last.

With the advent of computer networking and global communication networks, it was inevitable that something would happen that would finally shatter the dam of unbelief.

In 2005, something awoke. A series of protoplasmic lifeforms from the depths of an undercity emerged and wreaked havoc on the local population of continental Europe. Significant firepower, and occult bindings, were deployed to finally quell the menace, but not before several buildings, hundreds of lives and thousands of livelihoods were ruined.

That was sort of the final nail in the coffin of the "masquerade." Global communications weren't too advanced but they were good enough to finally burn that thin veil down.

Its believed the previous event is one of the main causes for the 2008 market crash, and other less mundane disasters.

It is now 2025. A mere 2 decades after the occult was fully revealed. This is where we are now.

Imagine if a sword and sorcery weird/dark fantasy world progressed to the modern age, and the enlightenment resulted in a repression of inhumans, occult practices etc. Then the internet (and weird Lovecraftian slimes) busted open that façade. That's the setting.

Scp Foundation too. Souce: "Sunny Clockworks"

Tone and Themes

The idea is to not be overly pessimistic about the innate evils of humanity, while also going full throttle into the horrors humanity can be.

"Humans are the real monsters" is boring, but some humans are certainly monstrous. So players will encounter some fucking evil people, but most people don't want to murder them in their sleep.

Most.

Magic isn't unilaterally 100% evil. It is, however, dangerous. The mechanics reflect this.

You can play as inhuman beings, but there are things much worse than you out there. There always will be.

Basically, its horror but its not judgmental about humanity as a whole. Just those with too much power, hatred or lack of care for other lives. Monstrous things still exist though so you're not off the hook.

B.P.R.D. too. Ogdru-Hem and Ogdru-Jahad are awesome.

The World

I'm sort of "Arkhamizing" the world. Cities and towns exist basically in the same areas, but renamed and shuffled a bit, culturally, due to differences caused by the weirdness.

Deep time is as real life, but weirder things are woven into the fabric of it.

The world is being generated with Silent Legions and Esoteric Enterprises methods. They're good books for that.

Other realities sort of exist "alongside" our own. These range from a room that shouldn't be able to fit into a house, to an earth sized (or larger) realm with its own rules and laws of physics. These are collectively referred to as earths "Shoals" (singular, Shoal) due to them not being full universes. At least not obviously, some definitely have things in the sky that imply there's more to them, but that's neither here nor there.

Otherwise the specifics of the world are up in the air. Different games can and should result in different plots and cults being uncovered, different threats and different gods.

My personal setting is going to take place in the deep south of the United States. Urban, Suburban, Rural and Wilderness shits all throughout there so it should be fun and variable. No reason characters can't go to places outside, but that's the "setting" for my personal game.

Trevor Hendersons old found footage art too. Gods this is cool.

The Mechanics

Heavily modified from Esoteric Enterprises, mixed with a number of mechanics found around the web. I'll link inspirations or direct sources for certain mechanics if I can remember them. A post for character creation will be up soon, and then magic.

I'll make a masterpost of all the rules at some point, for players and people wanting to run with the system.

Anyways, thats it for now. Just needed to get this out so I can move on to working on the nitty gritty of the system.