BLOC MASS currently includes four fables. In fact, these are best called "fable nuclei" as they don't tell the whole story, but provide the key elements for the fable to be told as many ways as many are telling it. 

A BLOC MASS fable gives a hook for the Channelers, while the Vessel (the GM) gets a guideline that provides a generic direction about the combination of intents, along with people, places, and 12 Twisted, Inexplicable Events (TIEs). Everything else is up for interpretation and improvisation. 

The idea for this structure came from my experience in playing and running horror mysteries (Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, Cthulhu Dark, Trophy Dark, Monster of the Week), and while enjoying many things in those games, I found the part about collecting clues and revealing the villain's intent ardous and forced. On one hand, it's always a lot of prep for the Keeper. But also, many games glitch when the players roam free, and their investigation takes unexpected turns. If they don't visit a place where a clue is planted, it's hard to get it to them, right? I wanted to change that.

Twisted, Inexplicable Events

Fables in BLOC MASS are free. They don't have explicit planted clues,  just TIEs: random, eerie occurrences that characters experience, revealing the influence of the demonic activity within the setting. They evoke a weird and uncanny atmosphere, enhancing the feeling of oppression and otherworldliness within the setting. Responsible for both uncertainty and horror, TIEs introduce strange and unsettling events connected to dark, demonic forces. They don’t follow logical rules, but give a hint on the fiend’s intent. 

For example, when a fiend is here to ASCEND, you may witness people feel compelled to kneel or bow, as though a divine force commands their loyalty. When it wants to HIDE, shadows seem to move independently, lengthening and drifting, with flickers of something darting into the dark. When it prepares to RITE, low, rhythmic, ritualistic chanting fills the air, coming from the distance but no identifiable direction. If it came to TEACH, shifting, enigmatic symbols appear on the ground or walls, glowing faintly.

When the Vessel plays a TIE, they roll d6 twice, and choose one from two to play. Of course, they can pick or even prepare TIEs, or write their own.

Cryptic Unbound Truths

As TIEs reveal the pervasive presence of demonic forces, they don’t follow logical rules but give a hint on the fiend’s intent. TIEs can also serve as clues to the Channelers. Based on a TIE, players can identify a Cryptic Unbound Truth that represents the unraveling of the events. 

A CUT or Truth can be anything, such as an object or a perception. It gives a hint about the fiend’s intent, and carries fitting impressions. Players interpret CUTs as they find them. When there are enough CUTs collected, the PCs can try to overcome the fiend in the Endgame.

A fiend cannot be killed or defeated in combat. Channelers must find a way to drive it away or make a bargain with it so that it leaves the mundane world alone. The CUTs gathered by the Channelers serve as a cryptograph that helps them piece together how to banish the fiend. 

In summary, BLOC MASS gives freedom to the Vessel: treat the listed people and places as placeholders for your own ideas, but if you replace the TIEs, you must know that they are based on the intents.  It’s best if you don’t prep, but have good ideas about how the fiend’s intent will interact with the setting. Even if you have a concept for how the fable should unravel, throw some utter curveballs sometimes to allow for freestyling in play and free interpretation in the Endgame. The fables are designed to help you in that.