Contest for Codex – Madness

Contest for Codex – Madness

Contest for Codex – Madness

We don’t often get careful, nuanced portrayals of characters who struggle with mental health in popular media. In the roleplaying game space, the sort of shattered-mind, gibbering madness associated with Lovecraftian stories is fairly common, and any gradual deterioration of a character’s mental health is usually abstracted in ways that are unhelpful (such as referring to one’s “Insanity” score). Some recent games, like Becky Annison and Joshua Fox’s Lovecraftesque, have dealt with mental health in a careful and compelling way, but those are the exceptions to the rule.

We want to hear about a character you have recently played who struggled with mental health. These can be naturally occurring problems the character had to deal with, or they can be the sort of supernaturally-induced problems that sometimes occur in fantastical settings. Importantly, we want to hear about characters who were interesting, and whose mental health struggles were not just set dressing, but rather an important lens through which you were able to understand the character and better explore mental health in an inclusive way. Tell us a little about what made the character compelling to you, and how it impacted your views on mental health.

We will select a winner and up to two runners-up to be featured in Codex – Madness. The winner will have artwork commissioned for their character.

Here are the submission details:

-600 word max

-You can paste your entries here as a comment, or you can send them to us at gauntletpodcast@gmail.com

-Please avoid special formatting

-You agree if your submission is selected to appear in the zine it can also be used in future compilations or anthologies that feature Codex – Madness.

-Deadline for submissions is 03.20.17.

If you have any questions, let me know!

30 thoughts on “Contest for Codex – Madness”

  5. I think I have something. My character from The Porch was a teenage closeted lesbian in a rural community. She had some serious anxiety that may well have started with internalizing homophobia. I’ll see if I can weld that together.

  6. I think I have something. My character from The Porch was a teenage closeted lesbian in a rural community. She had some serious anxiety that may well have started with internalizing homophobia. I’ll see if I can weld that together.

  19. River Williamson Part of this particular issue will contain some very unrealistic, Alice in Wonderland-style “madness.” It will be presented in a fantastical/weird context, but I don’t make any guarantees it won’t offend. Like anything, it simply may not be your cup of tea, and I think that’s ok. Other parts of the issue deal with the issue in a more realistic way, such as this feature and a separate feature that uses PbtA mechanics to explore mental health.

  20. River Williamson Part of this particular issue will contain some very unrealistic, Alice in Wonderland-style “madness.” It will be presented in a fantastical/weird context, but I don’t make any guarantees it won’t offend. Like anything, it simply may not be your cup of tea, and I think that’s ok. Other parts of the issue deal with the issue in a more realistic way, such as this feature and a separate feature that uses PbtA mechanics to explore mental health.

  25. While on the sensitivity subject, my character Gigg was/is a serious and respectful attempt to explore mental health struggles like abandonment, mother and father issues, memory repression, and compartmentalization of trauma through the use of multiple personalities. Let me know if that’s not appropriate for this issue, and I’ll pass on submission.

  26. While on the sensitivity subject, my character Gigg was/is a serious and respectful attempt to explore mental health struggles like abandonment, mother and father issues, memory repression, and compartmentalization of trauma through the use of multiple personalities. Let me know if that’s not appropriate for this issue, and I’ll pass on submission.

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