Grand Guignol gives us crooked alleys and foggy squares, charged touches and words left unsaid, lavish parties and faceless crowds, bloody hands and dangerous smiles, and always the darkness without and within asking "What lurks in the secret corners of your heart?" In Grand Guignol we play as citizens of London in all its sprawling Victorian glory. Crowds pour in from the countryside as the Industrial Revolution chews through their livelihoods, while in the factories nature and time itself are brought under control. Predators party with the powerful and prey upon the poor, while whispers echo in the witching hour and unseen eyes watch from the shadow. Amongst it all we monsters and queers hold each other close, slay our demons, and live our lives. We flirt and feud, tremble and embrace, and hurt and heal one another in turn as we cling together in the margins of this hostile world. Our lives are shadow and mist—beautiful and ephemeral, impossible to tame. What secret histories might we write on dark streets where the gaslights don’t reach, in corners of our tender hearts that neither God nor science has caged? Inspired by queer reads of the Victorian Gothic, Grand Guignol delves deep into the heart and soul of the period, weaving an environment both intimate and terrifying. Built on the Belonging Outside Belonging system invented by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum, Grand Guignol presents us with a cast of tragic anti-heroes, including: The Beast, a tormented soul who struggles to keep their monstrous urges in check. The Gate, a once-normal individual haunted by a terrifying and incredible power. The Hunter, consumed by their revenge against the monsters that destroyed their life. The Patron, a wealthy and powerful individual who keeps one foot in the darkness. The Scholar, a maverick philosopher obsessed with a new vision for the world. The Ward, an innocent soul whose every step brings them closer to darkness. Together, the players sculpt foggy London from the ground up, choosing the elements that speak most to them and developing the various competing interests of capitalism, tradition, religion, monstrosity, and bloodstained empire that sculpt the social landscape of the rotten city. Grand Guignol builds on the traditional "No Dice, No Masters" GMless framework of Belonging Outside Belonging with a set of Occasions, narrative frames that recreate classic genre-defining moments from Gothic literature, including Seances, Investigations, Rendezvous, and Visitations by the darkness. Grand Guignol both indulges in and critically challenges the themes and imagery of the Gothic period.
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