Mechanics

The Curse Delusion

Once the characters start to unwrap the Mummy, the mask of good society will begin to slip away. The characters will care less and less for the rules and customs they usually follow. They will be increasingly convinced of their own grandeur and will start to take what they want and need without a second thought. When valued possessions, relationships and identities break along the way, the characters will be convinced it is the curse of the Mummy that brings bad luck and horrific visions to them. After all, all their erotic dreams and power fantasies circle around the dead body, imbued with dark majesty and strange attraction - its unnatural allure.

The truth is: there is no curse. There will be no supernatural reason behind the characters’ behaviour in the game, but rather a purely psychological one. The collectively committed transgression of violating a buried body, the resulting excitement combined with exoticised ideas about the Mummy’s curse, will lead to collective delusions and psychosis, which we call the Curse Delusion. This delusion shows itself in many forms, but while the characters think that it is the revenge of the Mummy spreading like an infectious disease among them, it is in truth their own urges, fears and dark tendencies reinforcing and stimulating each other. The stronger the delusion of the curse affects them, the stronger, more confident and seductive they grow as the infestation urges everyone to indulge in their base desires. The academically or spiritually educated might try to search for a cure or explanation - but will only find their lack of understanding to be their own undoing when the Curse Delusion affects themselves. Ultimately, the characters will descend into madness, defiling themselves as they intended  to defile the ancient mummy.