Human Centipede TTRPG by Adam Davis (@fraudsyndrome) Human Centipede TTRPG – Players Guide Getting Started Dear god no one asked for this, but here it is anyway! The Human Centipede TTRPG. Turn back now, or forever hold your peace. You and your friends have been captured by a Scientist, who has performed a terrible experiment on you and your friends. They have sewn you all together, ass to mouth in a gruesome parody of both human and arthropod existence. But you and your friends are not going to take it lying down. You are all on a collective mission to escape with your lives. Before we get started, you need to determine a few things. First, what were you and your friend doing when you were captured by this Scientist? (It would be fun to play a scene in that location, but is ultimately not necessary and we leave this to the discretion of the players). Character Creation You will also need to build your character. The character stats don’t change, but there may be some down the road consequences of your character creation. On a sheet of paper, write down your character’s name, and their life’s greatest ambition. If you can’t come up with one, use the table below. Keep this secret from the group, unless gameplay forces you to reveal it. Once you have that written down, and you have played out your scene (if you are doing so), you now need to determine in what order you were heinously sewn together. Each player will then roll a d6, the lowest number is the front of the centipede, and the highest number is the rear. In the event of a tie, determine your order by whatever means. A few suggestions are; a roll off, a knife fight, oldest decides, GM fiat, or by allowing the person born closest to the Netherlands decide. Playing the Game To be played collaborativel y with a GM, and 3 or more “CentiPlayers”. Many of the rules (not t hat there are very many rules) will reference certain numbers that must be rolled above or below. If those numbers appear in parenthesis ( ), they are being presented for a 3 CentiPlayer game, and will need to be adjusted if the number of CentiPlayers is higher than 3 (see “More Than 3 CentiPlayer” chart). d6 1 Camping in the woods 2 Beach party 3 Cruising when you had a car accident 4 Slumber party 5 Weekend detention 6 GMs choice d6 Character Dream 1 To graduate college with highest honors 2 To see my grandchildren grow old 3 To own a dog 4 Be a millionaire 5 To get married 6 Own a business After things have been determined, the party wakes up in a lab, sewn together, and ready to try to break out. The mad scientist is there, and will probably give an evil guy speech. Sit patiently through that, and play will begin. Play will basically go in “rounds.” Each round, every player can use their turn to either take a Human Action, something they are attempting to do (grab a nearby object, listen at the door, observe the space, etc.) or can use their turn to make a Centipede Action, something the group will have to do together (open a door, climb to a higher vantage point, etc.). Some actions may seem like they could fall into either category, at which point the GM will have to make a call and ask for the appropriate Action Roll. Taking Action - There are two types of actions, and each will use a different stat. Human Actions will use the Human Stat, Centipede Actions will use the party’s Centipede Stat. Human Stats are measure from 0- 6, while the party’s Centipede stat starts at 0, and works its way u p to a maximum of 10, fluctuating based on success and failure. Each character has their own “Human” stat, but the “Centipede” stat is shared by the party . (Note* A party member who decides to take a “Human” Action must still participate in the “Centipede” Actions of a round. Each party member chooses an action and then either just that person rolls, or the whole group rolls) Human Actions For Human Actions, you will use your “Human” stat. Your Human stat is constantly shifting. It will begin at 3. In order to be successful, you must roll at or below your number on a d6. For every success you have, your human will to live will grow, and your number will increase by 1, making Human Actions easier. For every failure, your situation will seem direr, and you will have to decrease your Human stat by 1, making subsequent actions more difficult. Individual successes and failures aren’t too much trouble. Too much success and too much failure are however. If you every reach 0 or 6 in your Human stat, there are consequences. Reaching 0 – If you every reach 0 on your human stat, you lose the will to live. When you lose the will to live, you cannot take an action, nor can you take part in the Centipede Actions of the party. The party will then have to make some tough decisions. If you go a whole round without the will to live, you die, and the party is put in the awful spot of having to drag your dead corpse around. They can however choose to save you. By choosing to work together (and increasing the party’s Cen tipede Stat by 1), they can raise your spirits and reset your Human stat to 3. After you are reinvigorated in this way, your psyche is on shaky ground, and you must roll your next rounds Action rolls twice and take the lower number each time. Reaching 6 – Reaching 6 on your Human stat comes with a different set of problems. You become almost too human. Too focused on your own goals and dreams. Too focused on your own survival. Remember the “life goal” you wrote down earlier? That becomes your singular focus. Every ac tion you take must push you toward that goal. Because of your singular focus, you cannot participate in Centipede Actions, until a party member uses their action to bring you back down to earth, and refocus your attentions on the task at hand. To do that, they must use a Human Action, and roll against you. More than 3 CentiPlayers # of Players “Centipede” Success Threshold 3 10 4 14 5 17 6 21 Each player rolls a d6, and the lower number is the success. If they successfully roll under your number, your Human Stat is set back to 3. After being humbled by your party, you find yourself trying to prove you’re a team player and almost trying too hard, so you will make your next rounds Action rolls twice, taking the lower number. Centipede Actions When the action being completed requires the whole party’s participation that is a “Centipede” Action. Each member of the party will have to work together to be successful, so each member of the party must roll a d6, and total up the numbers. If the party matches or beats a total of (10) (or higher, see “More than 3 CentiPlayers” t able above), the action is a success, and they move the groups “Centipede” stat up by 1. On a failure, the party suffers consequences, but the stat does not move down. Working together is the only way out of this mess, but too much success as a group may lead to the party not knowing how to function outside of their Centipede form. Failure – If the party fails a Centipede Action, the madman will show up, and punish the players (see GM Guide). These punishments can be anything, and the GM may choose to roll on the table in the GM guide, or come up with their own tortures. Reaching 10 – If the party is too successful, they cease to function as individuals. You have achieved a certain oneness with each other, which is arguably the point of the experiment. If the party does not escape on their next turn, they lose the game. The madman has successfully created a Human Centipede, and you and your party will be brought before the scientific community as the first prototype of a new species, and proof that playing God is something humanity can and should do. Centipede Saves – Once the party reaches 5 points in their Centipede stat the individual starts getting lost in the group. At that point individuals will have to start making “Centipede saves” to prevent an action taken against that individual from affecting/being felt by others. Some saves will require a saving throw from the player affected (Feeding Time), while others may require throws from the remaining players to not feel the effects of the action (removing limbs, sight/sound tortures, death). Some may be at the GMs discretion. To make the save, roll 1d6 and add 4 (1d6+4) and you must beat your current party Centipede Stat. (example, your current party stat is a 7. If you roll a 3 or lower (3+4) you would fail the save and suffer the effect. If you roll a 4 or higher (4+4) you would pass the save and be unaffected. Human Centipede TTRPG – GM Guide Player Safety First and foremost, this game is meant to be a fun thing to do amongst friends. If your friends have all agreed to play this game, there is clearly enough depravity to go around, but that doesn’t mean anything goes. Have a conversation with your players about what is and isn’t acceptable, and build in a safety net for if things get too out of hand. TTRPGs can become very intense, and one as ill-advised as this has an added factor of covering some touchy subject matter. DO NOT FORCE ANYONE TO DO ANYTHING OR TALK ABOUT ANYTHING AGAINST THEIR WILL. Running the Game Once you and your depraved friends have laid out some ground rules, the fun can begin. Allow your players to spend some time developing their characters and making them into real people. You also need to spend a few moments developing your Scientist character. They don’t need to be ov erly complicated, but they need to have some amount of personality. If you are having trouble coming up wit h something, use the “Building Bad” charts at the bottom of this section. The setting and scenarios of the game are also paramount to making the experience real, and different each time. You need a secret lab, filled with all sorts of tech and biological horrors, as well as a single fatal flaw your players can exploit if discovered. Ultimately, you are the antagonist on this and you know your players, so design something that is going to be fun and entertaining for them, but not overly complicated or that makes escape imp ossible. Maybe it’s a dungeon crawling map building game. Maybe it’s all about the horrible body horror descriptions and making your players confront those things in a vaguely defined space. Maybe it’s a mystery game, where there is something the players h ave to solve and discover before they can be allowed to escape. This system is designed to be rules light in hopes that it will be accessible to a myriad of different players and play styles. Rounds of Play As described in the Player Guide (see above), once the stage is set, play will go in rounds. At the beginning of each round, roll a d6 to determine what the players will be up against this round. This is called the “Lab Action” and will set the round up to either be a boon or a hindrance to the party. As the GM, you will be able to decide at what point in the round the Lab Action takes place. 1 – Have your S cientist show up and perform an “Experiment” on one of the players. Roll a D3 (4,5, 0r 6 if you have more players) to decide which player to perform the experiment on. 1, the player in the front, 3 the player in the back. Have that player roll a d6 to determine the type of “experiment” you will be performing on them. Once the group “Centipede” Stat is over 5, the individual will have to make a d3 Fatal Flaw 1 The door/window is unlocked 2 There is a person in the lab sympathetic to your cause. 3 The phones are working “Saving Roll” (d6+4) against the group Centipede Stat to have it affect only the individual player and not every player. 1 Does sound/light experienced by the individual affect the whole? Individual has disadvantage on hearing/sight Action Rolls until the end of the next round. Centipede Save – remaining players make saves. On a fail, they have can hear/see the images/sounds as well, and have disadvantage next round. 2 Can the whole compensate for the shortcomings of the individual? Remove a hand or foot from target. Imposes disadvantage until end of next round on all checks, and they cannot use that limb any longer. Centipede Save – remaining players make saves. On a fail, they can no longer use that limb. 3 Back to your cage! The party is knocked unconscious and taken back to their cage and must start over on moving through the lab. Centipede Save – All players make a save. If they pass, they remain semi- conscious and may ask the GM a single question about what they see as they are taken back to their cage. 4 Some may lead, some may follow. Really, only the lead person needs their eyes. Whoever rolled this has their eyes gouged out. They have permanent disadvantage on all sight action rolls. If the lead person rolls this, they are forced to choose which remaining player is affected by this. Centipede Save – remaining players make saves. On a fail, they too go permanently blind. 5 Feeding Time! When this is rolled, you feed the player in 1 st position. They will then have advantage on Human Action rolls for the next Round, unless they fail a Saving Centipede roll, in which case they “feed” the player behind them and they and the player behind them have disadvantage on Action rolls the next round of play. On the next round of play afte r a failed save, he person who was “fed” the previous round makes a Centipede saving throw in an attempt to not feed the person behind them. They gain the same advantages and disadvantages of the initial feeder based on their saving throw. 6 Death of the individual and its effect on the whole. Whoever rolls this is killed and left attached to the party. GM, use your discretion. If this happens really early in the game, feel free to have the party member who rolled this roll again, or choose something else to punish that player. Centipede Save – remaining players make saves. On a fail, they die too. 2 or 3 – The players’ progress is stymied. The come up against a locked door, they find themselves caught in a trap, they come upon a set of stairs, etc. Their progress is stymied until they can find a way through it. They must take either a Human or Centipede action against the obstacle and be successful in order to proceed. 4 or 5 – The party finds their way unhindered. This option is mostly pretty boring, but it gives the party a chance to operate in the space. Let them have it. 6 – The players find a boon. Roll a d6 to determine the boon. These could be physical or psychological boons, and could have a myriad of effects. 1 We’re not the first. The party finds other experiments that affect their psyche. They can use this information to bolster or humble themselves, allowing them to move their Human Stat one point in either direction. 2 Broken Equipment. The party finds something that could be useful, if they could find a way to get it working. Perhaps it’s a dead cell phone in need of a charger, or a set of unlabeled keys that unlock certain types of doors. 3 A Clue. The party finds some bit of information about where they are and what exac tly may be going on here. They can use this information to bolster or humble themselves, allowing them to move their Human Stat one point in either direction. 4 Our Stuff. The party finds their personal affects. This bolsters the group, allowing them to m ove one point out of Centipede, or shift their Human Stat by one in either direction. 5 Weapon. The party finds a proper weapon. Something handheld that they could use when the Mad Scientist comes back around. 6 The Scientist’s Fatal Flaw is revealed. The party now knows exactly what tool they could use to escape, if they haven’t already come up with a plan. Play continues in rounds until the party escapes, dies, or this gets boring and you all quit. Regardless, you now know the rules of Human Centipede the TTRPG! Building Bad – How to build an Antagonist mom will be proud of! Making your Scientist doesn’t need to be a lengthy and detailed process. The character needs to have enough of a back story that you can accurately role play them when they show up, and you can build the type of world around your players that is consistent with that character. If you have volunteered to GM this game, you probably can build the outline of this person pretty quickly. However, if you are having trouble, use the char ts below to help you set the world you’re inhabiting. Where is your lab? Roll a d6 Disposition? 1 Basement of mansion 2 Abandoned lab in woods 3 Working lab in major city 4 University lab on summer vacation 5 More a meat processing plant than a lab 6 Abandoned farmhouse Why are you making Human Centipedes? Ultimately, your character will still need some amount of medical training, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a different career. 1 You are an anatomist, trying to further health sciences 2 You are an entomologist, trying to understand small scale biology on larger scales 3 You are a religious zealot, trying to play god 4 You are a film director, trying to create the ultimate monster 5 You are under duress. Sure you’re somewhat ok with this, but you are working for someone else 6 You have no idea why you’re doing it, you just know you have to Have people heard of you before? Roll a d3 1 You are a nobody 2 You are quite famous 3 You are quite infamous 1 Surly 2 Calm 3 Angry 4 Happy 5 Thoughtful 6 Manic