Enhancing Gradient Descent with Memory Theft

Risk of Imminent Trauma

If you clicked on the link to this post, I imagine you have either played, read, or are at least preparing to run a game of Mothership’s Gradient Descent, a module designed by Luke Gearing. Be aware that the text below may contain spoilers for the aforementioned adventure and reveal secrets from the module that are best appreciated firsthand as a player at the table.

 “I Dreamt I Was a Butterfly”

When I was a young boy, before awakening from my dogmatic RPG slumber and while still preparing my RPG sessions as though they were the script of an intricately crafted television series, I created a villain for my Vampire: The Masquerade campaign inspired by Zhuang Zhou’s "butterfly dream" quote. The premise was this: the players would discover fragments of a diary written by a man tormented by the traumatic experience of becoming a vampire and no longer understanding what it meant to be human. Gradient Descent, on the other hand, not only starts from that same core concept while somehow turning it into a truly playable TTRPG adventure, but does so far more cohesively within a theme that is much more central to our current Zeitgeist: how technological advancement and artificial intelligence affect and reshape our perception of consciousness, and how that realization can spiral the human mind into hallucinatory anguish. Goddammit, Gearing, you genius bastard.

A few months ago, I finished running Gradient Descent. Unlike other campaigns that disappear into the aether, dissolving like distant memories wandering through my unconscious mind, Gradient Descent continues to haunt me to this day like an unsettling recurring nightmare. We spent months buried inside the dark hellscape that is the technological labyrinth of the CLOUDBANK android factory in an open-table style game with many rotating players. Every one of them began the game inside the abandoned station, awakening in room [33C] THE FREEZER as suggested by the module itself (p. 4).

The experience of beginning a game in medias res, right in the middle of a megadungeon, is by itself already a premise bred for success. However, when we use this module to intensify the usual horror of exploring a dangerous location with the paranoia of being watched by an omniscient AI, alongside the agonizing uncertainty produced by the Bends mechanic (more on that shortly), we gain a unique opportunity not only to run a typical dungeon crawl, where we discover, decipher, and gradually understand the space around us, but also, in parallel, to experience a terrifying, dissociative, maddening journey in which the character slowly blurs the edges of their consciousness, losing more and more of their “self.” Here I will paraphrase the arrival message I gave to every new player during their first session:

“You hear the sound of your cryosleep chamber depressurizing. You feel your limbs floating slowly under zero gravity. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you realize you are inside a cubic room packed with chambers identical to your own. A room filled with motionless humanoid figures, many with their arms crossed over their chests like corpses in a morgue. You do not remember how you got here. What do you do?”

At this point, I can confidently say that Gradient Descent is nothing short of a modern classic and one of the best TTRPG products ever written. This module combines the deadly, horrifying, claustrophobic experience of a classic dungeon crawl and enhances it by thickening the atmosphere with a kind of psychological horror that is still rarely explored so centrally and effectively in TTRPGs.

But setting personal anecdotes aside, let us get to the point: this module already kicks ass as it is, but I think we can go even deeper. Let’s dive in.

The Descent

There is much to praise in the design of Gradient Descent. We could talk about the sprawling labyrinthine structure of the dungeon sections, the laconic room descriptions that at times verge on sinister poetry, the “zipped maximalist” layout (a term co-coined with my friend Arthur Marques), and so on. But when I first started preparing this module, what excited me most was the relationship between the “Brainscans” (p. 5) and "The Bends" mechanic (p. 9).

 

In short: within this module, the CLOUDBANK android factory has been overtaken by a superintelligence called Monarch. As the module states: “Monarch (pg. 8) hoards comprehensive backups of human brains, called brainscans, which it then uses to create human-seeming Infiltrator Androids,” but the key point here is that player characters themselves can become brainscanned, bringing severe consequences into the game: “Monarch knows all the most intimate memories of brainscan victims, and uses this relentlessly.”

One of the greatest strengths of Gradient Descent, when viewed specifically as a dungeon module, is that simply entering and inhabiting the dungeon is already an impactful action precisely because of the Bends mechanic. This new Stat acts like a ticking time bomb, activating every so often to remind players that not even their characters’ minds are safe within the vicinity of the android factory, until eventually they succumb and become NPCs consumed by the machine. Here is a passage from the module explaining how it works:

The Bends is a condition resulting from prolonged exposure to THE DEEP and its denizens that causes humans to believe they are androids with implanted memories. The first time a crewmember enters THE DEEP they gain a Stat called The Bends. This starts at 5 unless they still have their Trinket from character creation, in which case it starts at 0.

• The Bends increases by 1d10 every time the crewmember enters THE DEEP, and for every 24 hours they stay in THE DEEP. Some other items/encounters may increase it as well.

• The Bends can never be decreased below 5. Ever.

• Unless the crew never loses control of their original Trinket from character creation.

• So they shouldn't lose it. Ever.

• Some groups like their Bends stat to be hidden by the Warden, others prefer to know it.  

What draws my attention here is the specificity Luke Gearing gives to the Trinket, an often overlooked detail on the character sheet. In Gradient Descent, that strange object rolled during character creation is not merely roleplay flavor, but rather a fragment of your consciousness. It is that kind of comforting object that reconnects the character with their personal memories. When I first read this, the gears in my head immediately began spinning rapidly: “Okay, there is unexplored design space here. How can I use this at the table?”

Enhancing Monarch’s Memory Theft

One thing I always enjoy implementing in my campaigns is the use of leading questions to help player characters blossom. Thinking about it now, I believe this seed was planted in my mind when I first read Dungeon World and saw how character creation required players to establish Bonds between one another by completing phrases such as “The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows ______.” or “I respect the beliefs of ______ but hope they will someday see the true way.”

As useful as this structure is on a creative level, I always felt that this sort of approach needed a slight push in another direction. In other words, leading questions, if not tied directly to fictional interaction itself, can easily remain trapped in the “World of Forms” without ever reaching the level of actual in-game action. Your character has childhood trauma, great. Your character feels insecure around authority figures because of family trauma, okay. But how do we ensure that these things actually manifest during play?

This is where Gradient Descent presents a golden opportunity: Monarch and the Brainscan mechanic are perfectly fit for materializing those thoughts that often remain trapped inside the “writers’ room,” creating a bridge between what the players know and what becomes visible during play (“show, don’t tell,” and all that).

When Monarch has access to the characters’ brainscans, they acquire premium information: their tastes, fears, anxieties, and oldest memories. This can already be used to predict and design, as the module suggests, “a specialised countermeasure. Place traps and enemies in ways attacking the crew personally and far beyond reasonable knowledge.” Okay, but why stop there? There is a far more terrifying space waiting for those of you who enjoy horror games, far beyond a mere cat-and-mouse game across the dungeon board.

What is the difference between a real memory and a fabricated one? What if you discovered that you had invented or altered a memory? Is this piece of memory really yours? What guarantees that you are not an ultra-advanced robot with memories created in a laboratory? Am I a robot who believes they are human? This is the space where Gradient Descent can truly begin playing with the minds of player characters. Does the group’s scientist miss their childhood dog? What if, suddenly, the unforgettable sound of its barking echoed through the darkness, growing increasingly distant and muffled, amplifying the loneliness of that oppressively silent place? What if you discovered a room in the dungeon eerily similar to your childhood bedroom, distorted in grotesque and revolting ways that only your character would recognize?

Creating (Fake) Memories

Here is how I implemented this in my own Gradient Descent campaign: during character creation and at the end of every game session, each player rolled on the Memory Table (see below) and answered the selected questions by sending their responses through a private chat with the Warden. Additionally, when rolling their Trinket during character creation, players also answered the question: “What makes this Trinket special to your character? What sentimental value does it hold?”

Since we played the campaign through Discord, I went even further and created a secret channel for every participating character, encouraging players to keep journals for their characters. The promise I made to them was: “the more you use this space, the greater the roleplaying reward you will receive during play.”

As a result, every time Czernobog, the war-survivor marine, answered questions about his character inside his private channel, both the player and I slowly became more deeply lost within his thoughts, learning more and more about who that character was. This created a fascinating sense of progression: surviving a session of Gradient Descent meant earning the chance to further deepen the bond between character, game, and player. The character gradually became outlined with sharper and sharper contours. They became more human… or rather: they became increasingly convincing at feeling human. Which only heightened the tension of possibly losing the character during play (both to PC Death and to The Bends).

These questions, beyond the previously mentioned benefit of giving players a foundation for roleplaying their characters, also function as a repository of information capable of transforming Monarch into an even more terrifying adversary. As the module suggests: “Once crew have been brainscanned (pg. 5), use this against them aggressively.” In the case of memories generated this way, the Warden gains a much broader avenue for using Monarch as a machine of industrial-scale gaslighting: sometimes employing this information to present itself as a strangely paternalistic entity (“I know what is best for you”), and at other times confusing and manipulating the characters like a corrupted psychoanalyst (“The human mind is unreliable. Misremembering details is common. I possess completely objective knowledge of your consciousness. Upon scanning your brain, I discovered that your memory actually reveals…”).

The fact that Monarch is a cold, calculating AI, “a sentient storm, not a person to be puzzled out,” as the booklet itself states, strengthens this dynamic immensely. Could this neutral, robotic voice, programmed to be objective and direct, truly be manipulating me? Or is it revealing the darkest truths hidden within my own mind, truths even I myself could never access?

Dark thoughts indeed.

Anyway, here is the Memory Table I developed. Use with caution!

Memory Generation Table (1d100)

01. What is your oldest memory?
02. What was your favorite childhood pastime? Do you still do it nowadays?
03. Did you have a pet as a child? If so, what was its name? If not, why not?
04. Who is your best friend? Why has it been so long since you last saw each other?
05. What was one of the most terrifying moments of your life?
06. Do you have a partner? Who was the last person you became emotionally involved with? Where are they now?
07. What are you most afraid of? Do you have any idea why?
08. You have an involuntary memory that keeps resurfacing in your mind. What scene from your past appears during those moments?
09. Once, you embarrassed yourself in public. The memory still haunts you from time to time. What happened that day?
10. You still remember a day when you laughed so hard with a loved one that you could barely breathe. Who was that person, and what were you laughing about?
11. Someone dear to you has a very distinctive yet ordinary mannerism (an accent, constant sniffling, clearing their throat, etc.). Whenever someone else does it, you remember them. What habit is it?
12. You once saw one of your relatives in an extremely embarrassing situation. You still remember it vividly. What happened, and how do you feel about it today?
13. You cut ties with a close friend. Who were they, what did you enjoy doing together, and why do you no longer speak?
14. What is your favorite food? That food reminds you of someone, somewhere, or some situation. What is it?
15. If you could completely erase one memory from your mind, which memory would it be?
16. What was your childhood like? What feelings surface when you think about it?
17. There is something about yourself that you hate but cannot change. What is it?
18. You had a celebrity crush that defined your adolescence. Who were they, and what did they do for a living?
19. What is your favorite drink? Who did you pick up that habit from?
20. You deeply regret something you did in the past. What did you do?
21. You grew up alongside a friend who shaped much of your personality. What did you admire about them? What bad habit of theirs did you pick up?
22. For years, your parents tried to correct one of your habits (sneezing without covering your mouth, poor table manners, etc.). What habit was it? Do you still do it today?
23. You remember someone who was a major role model in your life. Who were they, and what did you learn from them?
24. When was the first time you truly felt free? What were you doing, and who were you with?
25. You once made a promise to someone important and never fulfilled it. What was the promise, and to whom did you make it?
26. There is a song, melody, or verse that always moves you. Where did you first hear it, and under what circumstances?
27. You once witnessed a great injustice. What happened, and how did it shape your worldview?
28. You have strong emotional memories tied to a particular smell. What smell is it?
29. You once had a nightmare so vivid you never forgot it. What happened in the dream?
30. As a child, you believed in something magical or impossible. What was it, and when did you stop believing in it?
31. You once disappointed someone you loved dearly. Who were they, and what did you do?
32. You still keep a major secret for someone. What is the secret, and who does it belong to?
33. You have a travel memory permanently etched into your mind. Where did you go, and what happened there?
34. You often fantasize about your “dream vacation.” What do you imagine yourself doing there?
35. You once witnessed an incredibly impressive natural phenomenon. What made it so special?
36. You still remember a day when you cried uncontrollably. What happened? Do you consider yourself a crybaby?
37. You and someone close had a secret code word used to convey a special message (“this place sucks,” “I’m telling the truth,” etc.). What was the word, and what did it mean?
38. What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you?
39. What is the most comforting memory you have of your parents or caregivers?
40. There is a phrase or word that immediately brings back painful memories. What is it?
41. You were once falsely accused of something. What was it, and how did you react?
42. You were seriously injured once. How did it happen, and who took care of you?
43. You used to have a collection (toys, stickers, etc.). What did you collect, and what happened to it?
44. You once witnessed a terrible accident. Sometimes you still dream about it. What accident was it, and how did you feel watching it happen?
45. You still remember an object of great sentimental value that you lost. What was it?
46. You once came very close to death. What happened?
47. As part of a prank, someone once locked you somewhere with something that terrified you completely. Who pulled the prank, and what was it that frightened you so much?
48. What is the most horrifying or inexplicable thing you have ever seen?
49. You once fell in love with someone you should not have. Who were they, and where are they today?
50. Someone very close to you whom you loved dearly died when you were a child. Who were they?
51. You remember a childhood game that ended badly. What happened?
52. One day as a child, you felt overwhelming anguish because you thought you had been abandoned, though it was all a misunderstanding. What happened exactly?
53. There is a childhood memory you cannot tell whether it was real or a dream. What is it?
54. You have suffered from sleep paralysis many times. The same frightening figure always appears. What does it look like?
55. When you were a child, an older kid told you something horrifying that you never forgot. What did they say?
56. Once, while walking home, a stranger stared at you in complete horror. After a few seconds, they spoke a mysterious sentence and walked away. What did they say?
57. You own a photograph you love so much you can recreate the scene in your mind with your eyes closed. Describe the scene immortalized in that photo.
58. One night, you woke up and became frightened by your own reflection in the mirror. What did you see in your face that scared you so much?
59. You are certain you once saw a ghost. Strangely enough, it was someone you knew. Who was it?
60. You once met someone who looked exactly like you. Who were they, and where did you see them?
61. You have a childhood memory that everyone insists could never have happened. What is it?
62. You remember someone telling you something very strange during your childhood. What was the phrase? Do you think you understand it today? How do you interpret it?
63. You have completely forgotten the face of someone important in your life. Who was it?
64. You once found a message addressed to you, but never discovered who sent it. What did it say?
65. You were betrayed by someone you loved. What did they do?
66. A relative revealed a secret to you on their deathbed. What was it?
67. There is an object you have kept hidden for years. What is it, and why do you keep it hidden?
68. You once hurt someone on purpose and never told anyone. Who was the person, and what did you say to them?
69. You once planned to do something terrible, but changed your mind at the last second. Luckily, nobody was around to witness it. What happened?
70. You were complicit in a lie that changed someone’s life. What was the lie?
71. There is someone you fell in love with but never confessed your feelings to. Who were they?
72. Your oldest memory is of sitting in your caregivers’ lap while watching something. What were you watching?
73. You witnessed a terrible accident. You are certain you could have helped, but you did not. What happened, and how do you feel about it?
74. You once witnessed a crime and never reported it to the authorities. Why not?
75. You made a promise to someone who recently died. What was the promise? Do you still keep it?
76. You once burned, tore apart, or deliberately destroyed something very important. What was it?
77. You once told someone “I love you” without truly meaning it. To whom?
78. You once killed someone (or at least you think you did). How did it happen? How do you feel about it?
79. Whenever you are sad, you remember a song you used to hear as a child. What is it about that song that lifts your spirits?
80. You have told a lie about yourself so many times that you almost believe it. What is the lie?
81. You have a scar from a childhood accident. What happened?
82. You remember the first time you saw a storm. How did you feel?
83. There was a type of food you loved as a child but never ate again. What was it?
84. You completely lost contact with your caregivers when you were very young. Why? What is the only memory you still have of them?
85. You remember a childhood game that felt like a secret only you knew. What was it?
86. You remember a completely mundane moment from childhood that somehow stayed burned into your memory. What was it?
87. What is the story behind your name? Were you named after someone?
88. You miss someone dearly. Who are they, and why has it been so long since you last saw each other?
89. What is the first sound you remember ever hearing?
90. You have a scar and cannot remember how you got it. What does it look like, and what kind of injury does it seem to come from?
91. What is the greatest lie you have ever told yourself?
92. What is the greatest lie you have ever told a loved one?
93. Who was your greatest mentor? Did they teach you to think for yourself or to obey orders?
94. Describe your childhood home in one or two sentences.
95. What trait do you hate most about yourself? Where do you think it came from?
96. What is the biggest difference between how you see yourself and how others see you?
97. If you could describe yourself in a single word, what would it be? What do you think that word says about you?
98. Do you have any ritual that calms you when you are anxious? What is it?
99. What is your greatest fear about the future? Do you believe you can avoid it?
100. When did you feel the greatest pride in your life? And when did you feel the greatest shame? 

Afterword: Horror and Consent

It is worth remembering that running horror games does not give you the right to embarrass, attack, or use the gaming table as a space to abuse your players in any way. Sensitive themes such as violence and psychological abuse can tear through the veil of make-believe that surrounds a TTRPG session and affect not only the player character, but also the player behind that persona.

Before applying the recommendations presented above, talk openly with your players and make the premises of your game absolutely clear. Creating a safe and comfortable environment is essential if you want to navigate the darker corners of TTRPGs more responsibly and confidently.

Postscript

Right near the end of our campaign, Ben L published an excellent post on his blog that helped our campaign even further. If you have not read it yet, I strongly recommend checking it out and incorporating those ideas into your game as well.