My second question is about “open your brain”.

I love your take on playing the maelstrom not just as a “twisted psychiatrist”, but even more so, as a gaslighter or psychological manipulator. Someone whispering terrible ideas in the character/player’s head, and making them true (or possibly true) just by being that voice.

Some tactics which are reprehensible in real life could make for some really good story gaming techniques here, and your notes on “pushing” that move are spot-on.

Again, though, my curiosity is about the specifics. How do you do this, in actual play? Do you give the maelstrom an actual voice, so that you “speak” to the player in-character and have a conversation like that? Or do you use it as simply an excuse to have an out-of-character chat about what the character might be feeling or thinking?

Something in-between, most likely. Still, framing this naturally in play is not super obvious, so I’d love to get a sense of the specifics of how you do this – what you say, at the table.

Fantastic post! Far more than I expected, and very timely, as I’m running a short campaign at the moment. Cheers, thanks for the response!