Twisted World Setting

Concept and Inspiration

Ive wanted for a while to come up with a modern horror setting for fantasy
roleplaying. I had a vague idea of adapting the D&D Ravenloft gothic horror setting
to modern times somehow, preferably shedding the strict focus on a somewhat
narrow set core monsters (vampire, werewolf, Frankensteins Monster, witch,
zombie, etc.).
The key inspiration came when I realized that there is actually a great deal of
similarity in the underlying premises of Ravenloft and the Silent Hill videogames.
Both are settings where external reality is twisted to reflect internal darkness. In
Ravenloft each domain is a reflection of the sins and mindset of its domain lord; in
Silent Hill the otherworld generates environments and creatures drawn from the
memories, fears, guilts, and other negative emotions of people within the town.
Furthermore, in both Ravenloft and Silent Hill this process of reflection is driven by
an unknown force or forces. And in both settings, most people remain oblivious to
all of this (although most people in Ravenloft are probably at least aware that
monsters exist).
This led to the basic concept of the Twisted World setting; a world where some
ambiguous force occasionally alters reality to reflect the darkness inside the human
soul or other souls.

The World
At first glance, the Twisted World setting appears largely the same as the real world
in the modern day (though you could potentially set it in other time periods).
However, even an observer who escapes the more fantastic aspects of the setting
may notice subtle differences. Rates of unexplained disappearances are higher.
Urban legends are taken more seriously, and people are less likely to investigate
them. There are fewer people who habitually visit abandoned or haunted places
for a living. Though it goes unspoken, and few would admit to superstition, people
seem a bit more aware that forbidden places usually have good reasons to be left
alone.

The Twisting
The Twisting is a strange force that alters the physical environment, or generates
new environments, to match subjective/internal feelings, themes, and memories.
Specifically, the Twisting alters the world to reflect negative emotions, or to echo
past tragedies and sins. These changes may reflect their source of inspiration
directly or more symbolically. Whats important is that the inspiration seems to
haunt anyone who encounters such environments, dominating their experiences.

Twisted Zones
Most often the Twisting manifests through the creation of unnatural environments
referred to as Twisted Zone.

Origins of Twisted Zones

Twisted zones usually originate either from the darkness inside the mind of a
specific person, or from a particular event. Of course, there is a bit of overlap
between those origins, as some event often triggers the formation of a zone tied to
some individual.

Zones Created from Troubled Individuals

Often a Twisted Zone reflects the mind of a particularly troubled and/or evil
individual. In this case, the contents of the zone are drawn from that persons
memories and emotions, so that the zone itself becomes a reflection of the
originators psyche. In jail zones the originator is alive and trapped inside the zone,
often unable to leave until they somehow atone for their sins. When the originator is
dead, the zone is referred to as a mortuary zone. Keep in mind though, that the
line between life and death can be blurred by the twisting.
Originators often have a certain amount of control over their Zone. They might be
able to decide who else enters and leaves, control creatures inside the zone, or
even alter the environment at will. These abilities are often restricted in some way
though, if only by the originators own habits and obsessions. Even in mortuary
zones, an echo of the originator may persist with some level of awareness and
control over the zone.

Zones Created by Past Tragedy

Somewhat rarer are twisted zones that are tied more to a past event rather than
any specific person. Such zones usually originate tragic or horrific events that
happened over a brief span of time and seriously affected a fairly large number of
people; for example, a Twisted Zone might originate from a fire that killed hundreds
of people. The contents of such a Twisted Zone echo the features of the event and
reflect the feelings of those involved. The aforementioned zone originator from a fire
might be dominated by flames and burnt environments, and inhabited by monsters
that reflect the panic, pain, and terror of the victims.

In a sense, Twisted Zones tied to past tragedies are again the result of troubled
people, but each has more than one originator. Twisted Zones do not arise events
that did not inspire strong emotions, even if the event itself was highly destructive.

Non-Human Zones
While quite rare, there are some twisted zones that do not originate from human
suffering, but the suffering of other organisms instead.

Entering Twisted Zones

Entry Requirements
Whether or not someone can enter a twisted zone depends on a number of factors,
which vary with each zone. It may require a certain mindset, a certain body type, a
certain background, etc. It might be triggered by certain actions, or only occur at
certain times of day or times of the year. These are known as the entry
requirements for that Twisted Zone.

Contiguous or Separate
Twisted Zones may exist contiguously with mundane reality, such that one can
effectively walk between the two, or they may exist in their own pocket
dimension. The former is more common for Twisted Zones made by changing
existing environments, while the latter is more common for Twisted Zones
containing entirely created locations. This particular distinction is quite vague
however; the same Twisted Zone might show characteristics of either.

Contiguous
A Twisted Zone may be contiguous, that is, spatially contiguous with mundane
reality. When this is the case, one can in theory simply walk from mundane reality
to the twisted zone or back through normal spatial movement. It should be noted
however that most contiguous Twisted Zones will have obstacles restricting such
movement, especially when one is trying to leave the Twisted Zone.
Barring visual obstacles, a contiguous Twisted Zone is fully visible to outside
observers. However, the unnatural nature or the zone may not be obvious, either
due to illusions or because unusual features and phenomena dont appear in areas
of the Zone visible to the outside (at least, not in the presence of observers). Still,

most Twisted Zones strike onlookers as having an ominous atmosphere, intimidating

or perhaps melancholy in nature.

Separate
A separated Twisted Zone is isolated from mundane reality, off in its own pocket
dimension. This is especially common for Twisted Zones that mostly contain
created content, and/or are especially obvious in how unnatural they are. Entering
or exiting such a Twisted Zone is more like teleportation than normal movement
through three dimensions. This may visually manifest in a number of ways;
someone might simply black out and wake up inside the Zone, the Zone might
seem to fade in over reality, reality might peel away to reveal the zone, the
change from reality to the zone might occur in a flash of light, etc.
Separated Twisted Zones are almost always tethered; they are still tied in an
indirect manner to some location of varying size in mundane reality, called the
anchor location. Only individuals inside the anchor location can enter or be drawn
into the Twisted Zone, and anyone exiting the Twisted Zone appears somewhere in
the anchor location. The size of the anchor location can be completely unrelated to
the size of the Twisted Zone, and one Twisted Zone might have multiple anchor
locations. Anchor locations tend to be places significant to the inspiration that
shapes the corresponding Twisted Zone.
In rare cases a separated Twisted Zone may not have any anchor locations. Instead,
whether or not someone is drawn in depends entirely on the entry requirements of
the zone.

Contents of Twisted Zones

Changed or Created
Twisted Zones and their contents may originate as preexisting objects and locations
that have been altered by the twisting, or they may be new creations of the
twisting. Often a Twisted Zone will comprise of and contain examples of both.
Consider for example, a zone comprising of a bizarre house filled with unnatural
monsters; the house may have originated as a mundane structure, while the
creatures are entirely created by the twisting.
The twisting is more likely to create new living creatures rather than alter existing
ones. Either origin, changed or created, is common for inanimate objects, but
monsters encountered within Twisted Zones are usually created. When the twisting
does change a creature, it is far more likely to do so to animals besides humans; the
exception to this is any humans whose memories or actions serve as the inspiration
for a Twisted Zone.

Monsters