Rogue Holograms in This is Normal Now

When Kanye West commissioned a hologram of her late father as a birthday present for his wife Kim Kardashian, he was giving a gift to her, no doubt about it. But wasn’t he also giving a gift to us, as Game Moderators looking for perfect scenario seeds for the This is Normal Now sequence of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game?

West reportedly programmed this holo-tulpa-revenant to describe him as “The Most, Most Most, Most, Most Genius Man in the Whole World.” Gosh, how are we going to make this entirely regular spousal behavior into something creepy?

The simplest option is to simply have the hologram of a celebrity relative go berserk and start attacking people.

Alternately, a player character receives the gift of a hologram as a misguided gesture of affection, and must cope with the consequences.

In a baroque option, the hologram might come to the investigators, having somehow learned of their expertise in Carcosan-related problems. It suspects that it will be used as a murder weapon, or has already been. Invested with the conscience and personality of its deceased template, it wants to reveal the unknown culprits and then return to oblivion. It needs the player characters’ help in doing that.

Later the group might stumble across a covert community of sapient holograms. They fear exposure and wish to continue living among humans. The investigators might be tempted to sympathize with them, until they realize that the holograms have been protecting their privacy by murdering not only their original creators, but anyone else who stumbles onto their secret.

In all the above cases, the hologram gains the power to interact with its physical environment from a passage from The Yellow King embedded as comments in its code. An upgrade to a new software version, without the passage, deactivates them for good—if the team can figure out how to administer it. Until then, Kill results in combat merely dissipate them for a few days.

Numbers: 1 (or as many as the group)

Difficulty: Superior (Escape 5, Other 4, Kill 5)

Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if you know what it is; -2 if you have the Computers ability and have read its code; -1 if another investigator in the fight gets the previous bonus

Toll: 2

Tags: Construct

Injuries, Minor and Major: Holo Swipe/ Holo Strike


The Yellow King Roleplaying Game takes you on a brain-bending spiral through multiple selves and timelines, pitting characters against the reality-altering horror of The King in Yellow. When read, this suppressed play invites madness, and remolds our world into a colony of the alien planet Carcosa. Four core books, served up together in a beautiful slipcase, confront layers with an epic journey into horror in four alternate-reality settings: Belle Epoque Paris, The Wars, Aftermath, and This Is Normal Now. Purchase The Yellow King Roleplaying Game in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.

Leave a Reply

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. By browsing this website, you agree to our use of cookies.