If you don’t know what the False Hydra is a monster that affects memories as their main hunting method - made for DND by “goblin punch”
Sparknotes:
creates gaps in your attention and then slips through them by singing
it’s not invisible, it Charms you (YOU SEE IT just you keep forgetting/ignoring it)
To attack/eat someone, it must usually stop singing
Your brain hurts
The song erases memories of the person eaten from anyone who hears the song
I personally think it fits perfectly with the horror of the dark sea
it’s the remains of a lying (sound magic) captain
a logbook can be found of the quartermaster, all of the numbers are off from start to end
there are too few people and too many mouths
found on layer 4 and 5
on getting the encounter the island is spawned in an area around the island insanity effects stop your freely able to loot the island however looting ANYTHING will cause your ship to be “infected” (something is on the ship)
new stat - Forgotten
a downside is you can’t repeat the same attack you last did
(if you use leap you can’t use leap again without using another attack first)
(having 2 of the stat means you can’t use the last 2 moves, 3 moves ETC)
(note I’m too lazy to write more of my ideas I have : P )
I dig this and totally can see how this could be implemented in numerous manners, though it’d be hard to find a way to mechanically induce this effect in players.
Questions, Feedback, and Nitpicks
What are the remains of a lying (sound magic) captain (i.e. is it just there to give the logbook which hints to the existence of the false hydra or is it something else)? And why is ‘sound magic’ in parentheses?
I think this would run into conflict with the lore that states that this insanity is caused by magic energy, how exactly do you think it would negate this effect (especially in the far reaches)?
I may be stupid, but what would that do?
Considering what it does, what it stems from, and what its applications could be; I think it’d be better off as a status effect.
Please write more! This is really good, but the lack of details might kill it.
P.S.
This is my first time replying and rating a suggestion, so I’m not knowledgeable of the standards of the latter and what its lowest/highest represents.
like 8 something years ago I personly really liked world-building more than the stories that take place in them
(IE I like to read why and how the orcs are, instead of what they are doing)
basically, the captain used sound magic to song and dance their way to being a captain however song and dance can’t manage a ship so they cooked the hell out of the log books, and so when they took on the challenge of the dark sea, well not all deaths was just but one was
IE: it says a year of food but half of the barrels are just filled with sand
so as the trip goes on the numbers and what they have differ more and more
“too few people and too many mouths” - personal note of the quartermaster
(also yes I know that the quartermaster manages the ship and the captain manages battle bite me)
it doesn’t stop it, the effects are just normal to you, aka Dissonance
“the voices are normal, the bleeding is normal, the letters are normal, that thing is normal don’t look at it and move on”
oh I was just too lazy to add any effects I just personally liked the idea of the false hydra climbing onto your ship and just sitting there looking at you
nope it’s intended to be a downside like insanity and drawback it like a modifier you can add to armor for more stats with a downside
personly RNG effects aren’t a lot of fun even more
Imagine how it is when the hydra finally attacks, allowing you to notice it finally as the insanity all moves back in cause it is no longer distracting you, it is no longer normal
Wait
Imagine a quest line of this island that no one has ever spoken about or mentioned, and this person on the island you got the quest from is wondering about it, or maybe a group of people where the slowly go missing over the course of the quest
But a false hydra was on the island, cause it was patient enough to wait for someone to return after a dark sea expedition instead of eating them while still out there, could be smth for one of the later seas
A hydra got onto someones ship, and it waited till they got to the war seas where there would be plenty of new easier food to consume, and then got stuck on another island in the war seas where visitors are more frequent than previously
