Silent Legions+Tokusatsu Game Concept

An oddball game concept, because these tend to be what I produce. Blending genres and drawing from inspirations generally not found among OSR blogs is slowly becoming my 'calling card'.

The Masked Warrior: Who Is He? Man or Monster?

Picture this scene: A mother's personal life is in tatters: her daughter has been increasingly dragged into dark matters which can only be described as a 'cult'. Fearing for her daughter's life, this ordinary woman one day decide to tail her child and single-handedly sneak up on the cult and observe their activities, perhaps hoping to snap some pictures and drag in the local authorities. An act of heroism, arguably, but it's a stupid idea. As she observe the hooded figures, trying to see which one is her child, a horrible monster emerge from the shadows and attacks her for daring to observe the cult. She's going to die.

Angrey, from Garo.

Out of the darkness, another monster emerge and takes the blow for her. Before she can even ask what is going on, the 'monster' speaks up and barks at her to leave if she wants to live. Terrified, the woman runs away but ultimately curiosity makes her look from a distance as the two monsters fight. Finally, her savior destroy the creature (which become an ordinary human in the same black cloaks as the cultists) and then...collapse in pain before he too revert into an ordinary person in horrible pain, which struggles to get back up, body and mind shattered by the eldritch powers they were currently a host to. Just what the hell happened?

Game Pitch

Main Inspirations: Devilman, Guyver, Kamen Rider Kuuga, Kamen Rider Agito, Kamen Rider Amazons and the Garo franchise

The idea itself is very similar to ordinary Silent Legions, albeit a bit more combat-focused. Not that it mean combat will be a piece of cake. Far from it. Not only do the characters have to contend with the horror outside, they also have to deal with the horror within.

There's been an upsurge in eldritch phenomena and murders in recent years around the area where the game is set. That area could be anywhere with enough people but personally I do think using Tokyo in the recent past is a good idea: for one thing, Japan allows one to more properly homage the key inspirations and also has the added bonus of limiting access to guns a whole lot more than setting the game in the United States*. The near past (from the '70 to the early 2000, depending on your flavor and how much research you want to do) has an added bonus that smartphones and social medias aren't a thing yet, limiting exposure of the eldritch as well as making finding information harder.

*This isn't me lecturing on gun control. I have no particular stance on it as it related to American politics, not being American, I'm simply stating that Japan has far more draconian gun laws which make getting your hands on a gun able to make holes in a monster far more difficult unless you're willing to deal with the Yakuza. Which is convenient for a horror game.

They could be parasite, they could be mimicking humans or they could be themselves transformed human. Or they could be all at once and also nothing like that at the same time. Whatever the case is, an ancient race (or a collection of races) of eldritch beings has arisen in the area. They prey on humans, be it their minds, flesh or sanity. They are forming cults, horrible cults which commit endless atrocities. There is a good chance they are preparing for an incoming eldritch apocalypse, possible the awakening of ancient and vile, thirsting gods. All hope is likely lost.

Another Agito

A hero emerges? Yeah, right, good luck...

Not all hope is lost. Somehow (depending on the needs of the game, this could happen mid-game even!) there exist ancient, petrified artifacts of some lost order of antediluvian warriors, human or not, who fought back against the darkness before the dawn of recorded history. They did not win but the eldritch horrors left mankind (mostly) alone for millennia after their battle. Now that the ancient beings are rising again there is hope, if people are brave enough to wield this ancient power.

Except it's not a walk in the park.

Oh sure, you get to be what people call a 'henshin hero': you transform into a super powered form able to go toe to toe with eldritch monstrosities. Unfortunately, the downsides is that it mean you are yourself now an eldritch monster. The process is painful, maddening and will eventually kill you if it doesn't make you go mad.

How it all works, in theory anyway...

Here's some bullet points on how the idea for such a game would work:

• The monsters are scary in a realistic way. What I mean by that is that when these bastards start butchering people there is no PG or PG-13 violence. These are monsters who can chow down the average human like it's nothing.
• The transformation is limited. Ideally, the artifact which allow humans to temporarily transform into horrible monsters themselves should be limited, maybe 1 or maximum 2 in the entire game. Furthermore, the amount of time one can spend transformed is measured in mere rounds with a serious cool down time.
• The transformation is horrific and dangerous. The ancient humans (or whatever they were) fought fire with fire and using these artifacts make you some horrible monsters which is likely to terrify people. Furthermore, using it too much and for too long will guarantee you go insane and become a monster.
• Expect to pass on the powers several times. When the current wielder goes insane/die, the artifact become usable by someone else, who can now pick up the mantle and go into battle by turning into a monster. It is likely many characters can and will die and the players have to replace their ranks, possibly even having to hunt down strong-willed individuals to rope up or even force into their desperate crusade by shoving them the transformation trinket and not telling them the side-effects.
• Those wielding the power will degenerate. There's pain, madness and a whole lot of problems. There should be some kind of corruption table. In other words, whichever character (PC or NPC) currently wielding the artifact is a dead man (or woman) walking who is buying humanity a bit more time.
• The powers become more terrifying as they are used. There should be a power growth for the artifact's transformed state the more it is used by individuals not killed in the first or second use. This power growth is a terrifying thing. At first they just gain some measure of super strength, toughness and agility but then they might find there are more sanity-warping abilities. And what if one of them goes rogue?
• Those who are ordinary humans are still useful, if not more! Just because your character isn't wielding the doomed artifact doesn't mean they sit on their asses. Being a slightly-more-sane investigator who doesn't have to deal with eldritch degeneration mean you can perform the expected investigator duties, finding and exposing monsters and cults.

The rest can and should be fairly standard Silent Legions fare, believe it or not. The rest depend if the group the player characters belong to is an impromptu one of loosely allied ordinary people who have agreed to fight the horror in the shadow, sacrificing one of them to become that thing. Alternatively they could be some cult themselves, amusingly enough. Just one with slightly more benevolent goals. Maybe.

Additional threats would be law enforcement. Sure, on paper having the cops on your side seems good but then there's the issue that your merry band of 'heroes' is killing cultists and transformed human and doing shady activities to possibly stay afloat. Of course, there is also a good chance the cops have some monsters in their ranks and don't even realize it, which could go a long way to explain how so many of these newborn cults have evaded the authorities even as they go kidnapping and murdering people.

Of course there is a good chance the 'masquerade' gets utterly broken. This is normal and even to be expected, but it will also mean mass hysteria and people murdering each others as they try to expose who is and isn't actually a monsters/a human turned into a monster.

Thoughts? Is there any potential in the idea or is it dumb?