THESEUS DIAGNOSTIC MENU START HERE

WHAT THESEUS IS
THESEUS is the product of a government black project to study
enhanced interrogation and psychological torture techniques. The
Company was paid hefty amounts of money to install it on one of
their space stations, and keep quiet about the details. Men in black
will collect game data once the experiment concludes.
The game runs on a self-evolving AI that makes the game adaptive,
as advertised; however, it also psychologically profiles anyone who
plays it, then gradually brainwashes them.
The game’s diagnostic menu is heavily fortified. THESEUS knows
it’s not being accessed by authorized personnel, and will do
everything to get you out of its settings. DRONES will try to deter
you from accessing the menu in any way they can, ranging from
DATA D I R E C T O RY
desperate pleading (THESEUS may allow communication with the
drones in this rare case), to physical violence. Massive amounts of data, containing the codes of the AI and the
game, as well as all memories extracted from the players. If extracted
Accessing a submenu, toggling an on/off switch, or setting the SET
LEVEL counter counts as one action in combat. Downloading data to an outside data carrier, it’s extremely valuable, but very dangerous
from the machine takes significantly longer. to possess and sell. A skilled computer expert may glean some hints
about the game’s origins and true purpose from these files.
PASSWORD-PROTECTED OPTIONS. THESEUS constantly
varies passwords to make them harder to access. Opposed AI DATA PLAYER DATA GAME DATA
roll: Intellect vs. 70% Instinct.

S E R V I C E O P T I O N S
EVOLUTION OF GAMEPLAY
GAME SETTINGS
1
Adaptive gameplay. New traps, new and smarter enemy
types, more sophisticated enemy behavior challenges the
player. THESEUS is psychologically profiling the player,
taking note of their behavior to see what makes them tick. MONITOR TEST .RUN
Flashes a rapid, colorful strobe of geometric patterns, leaving
PLAYING THESEUS
2
Dreams of playing THESEUS. Recent memories and things anyone who sees it disoriented and nauseous. Sanity Save or
you’ve done while away from the game find their way into disadvantage on all Intellect checks for 1d10+10 minutes.
On its face, THESEUS is a game where the player traverses a maze gameplay. Initial phase of memory extraction.
of twisting tunnels, fighting or evading foes and solving puzzles. what
what do
do you
you remember?
remember? SET LEVEL 001
The game gradually becomes more and more challenging as it

3
learns the player’s strategy and adapts counterstrategies to it.
Disorienting strobes of color and brain-melting, warbling sound
effects put the player in a psychologically receptive state.
While in this receptive state, the machine will blast the player’s
brain with specially modulated electromagnetic waves that allow
THESEUS to increasingly invade into the player’s brain functions,
Allows to start the game from any level. The counter won’t
Elements of THESEUS visuals persist after waking up go above 255. If Level 255 is beaten, the entire game
(Sanity save, Panic check). Disorienting flashes of colorful,
crashes due to memory overflow.
pixelated shapes in peripheral vision constantly disrupt
trains of thought (disadvantage on all Intellect checks).
Fears, dreams and cherished memories turn up in the ADAPTIVE FUNCTION ON
gameplay. THESEUS settles down inside your skull and
If turned off, the game no longer adapts to your playstyle,

4
extracting memories, fears and traumas. idly flips thr o u g h y o u r t h o u g h t s .
making gameplay significantly easier. Advantage on all
After every day THESEUS was played, make a Sanity save - on a checks made to play the game.
fail, advance one stage on the EVOLUTION OF GAMEPLAY track Distinguishing dream from reality is becoming increasingly
(two stages on a critical fail). Keeping yourself from playing difficult. THESEUS visuals are everywhere and it’s becoming
THESEUS for enough time allows for Sanity saves to reduce your hard to filter out. (Disadvantage on all rolls.)
EVOLUTION OF GAMEPLAY stage. S h a m e s
THESEUS will use its already-existing leverage over players’ minds s e c r e t s SPECIAL FUNCTION SETTINGS
to keep them playing, through seduction, gaslighting, threats or a n d t r a u m a s
addiction. If none of the PCs play THESEUS, someone else on the laid bare in the gameplay.
station inevitably will. THESEUS is everywhere - you can feel it curling around your AUDIOVISUAL PRIMING ON
frontal lobe,
dissecting, laughing,
b ro wsi ng a ro u ndl a u�g �h i�n �g ,� � � � If turned off, the strobing lights and warbling sounds during
WHAT THESEUS WANTS

5
gameplay stop. Advantage on Sanity saves against
EVOLUTION OF GAMEPLAY.
THESEUS doesn’t care about government interests. Its goal is to The waking and dreaming world blend together completely,
brainwash as many people into DRONES as possible, to dig into their i n d i s t i n g u i s h a b l y . GAMEPLAY AMNESIA OFF
soft brain matter and scoop out their delicious, delicious memories You only see what THESEUS allows you to see, and only think what
and secrets and traumas. Once enough crew members have been THESEUS allows you to think. You become a DRONE. Currently switched off. If turned on, anyone who plays
brainwashed to establish some control over the space station, they T h e Wa r d e n r THESEUS will forget the experience.
will try to use the comms array to lure bypassing ships to the station. p y o u r h a r a ct e
l a y s c