La Méthode
du
Docteur Chestel
The Cell RPG ?
Do you remember that
year-2000 movie called The Cell , with Jennifer Lopez as a
psychiatrist, exploring the subconscious of a serial-killer, thanks to
some innovative technology ?
There was a RPG, exactly about that
topic : a French game called La Méthode du Docteur
Chestel , published in 1991 and still considered a kind of
masterpiece (or unique aberration).
When The Cell came
out, that was evident : "At least, Docteur Chestel ,
the movie !".
By the way, I didn't like the movie
that much, but that's another story.
What does the title mean ?
Litterally : "Doctor
Chestel's Method".
Incredible.
What are the PCs supposed to do ?
The PCs
work for
Docteur Chestel , a guy who has invented a method to
travel inside people's
Intracos (Intra-Cosmos : the inner
universe inside one's mind) during their dreams.
Like in The
Cell , the clinic of Docteur Chestel is a little-known
facility, taking care of desperate cases (sometimes under scrutiny
from the government).
Their mission is generally to find a way to
heal the inner universe from prejudices and other problems. So the
solution is generally not to destroy the menace, but understand it and
smooth the situation.
For example, if the patient is afraid of
gypsies, the Intracos will be full of evil gypsies casting curses,
kidnapping children, stealing cars, etc. If the PCs kill all the evil
gypsies (in the Intracos ), then the mission will be a
failure because the patient will be even more prejudiced (and violent)
against them. On the opposite, the PCs should try to bring peace in
everyone's heart, for example understanding WHY there's a problem, and
find the better solution.
The PCs can achieve miracles (when
rolling a 12) but it's not recommanded (remember : the Intracos is
what the patient believes ).
The missions of the PCs are
generally about healing people's mental problems, but the authors give
some other examples, à la The Cell for some of them (see
below).
How do I build a character ?
Technically, a character has got 12 attributes, rated -2 to 2.
Those attributes are organised as 4 sets of 3 attributes : 3 attributes about Self, 3 attributes about Things, 3 attributes about Other People, and 3 attributes about Environment.
| | self | things | people | environment |
| achievement | CMB
combat | TEC
technique | SOC
social | DEP
déplacement
(moving) |
| potential | FOR
force physique
(physical strength) | MAT
matériel, richesses
(equipment, wealth) | REL
relations, amis
(relatives, friends) | PER
perception |
| manner | FOI
faith | LOI
law | SMP
sympathie, charme
(charisma) | ADA
adaptation |
As you can see, some attributes are
not traditional attributes, they work a bit like White Wolf's
Backgrounds (MAT,REL).
Also, the beginning character has got 5
skills : one rated 9, another rated 8, then 7, then 6, then 5.
Each Skill is linked to an attribute, some of them are not "skills" as
commonly understood in traditionnal RPGs (for example "Having a
beautiful car" is linked to MAT, and "Friends in the Police" is linked
to REL).
Otherwise, the character has got a name, a "real"
profession, and a description.
There are rules for some evolution
of the character, and also for aftermath : when you die in someone
else's Intracos, your Masque (dream avatar) is somewhat
damaged.
K3wL P0w3rZ ?
The PCs
are defined by their attributes (and skills), and these attributes
allow them to do perfect or incredible feats (when 11 or 12 are
rolled, respectively, which is quite common).
Also, some Intracos
(the universes inside people's mind) allow for magic or psychic
powers, but it is rare.
What about the resolution system ?
When
someone wants to make an action, they roll some six-sided dice and
keep two of them.
When someone has got an attribute of 0, they
roll 2 dice and add them together.
When they've got 2, they roll
4 dice, and keep the 2 better dice.
When they've got 1, they roll
3 dice, and keep the 2 better dice.
When they've got -1, they
roll 3 dice, and keep the 2 lower dice.
When they've got -2, they
roll 4 dice, and keep the 2 lower dice.
The result is compared to
a difficulty.
A 2 is always a fumble, a 12 is always a miracle
(only happens in dreams).
11 is the best one can normally achieve
(in the real world).
If the character has got a skill
corresponding to the action, then the skill rank is the minimal result
(unless you roll a 2, which is always a fumble).
Wounds make
actions more difficult (giving a base difficulty to every
action).
Physically
The book is a slim (52-page)
book ; the character sheet is on the back cover (this sheet is
beautifully designed : it contains a summary of nearly all rules
!).
The Creation of Character takes about 4 pages, the rest of the
system is explained in some 15 pages. The rest is about advice to the
GM, play-aids, etc.
There are many synopses proposed to the GM
(nearly 30 of them) : most of them are 'classics' (phobia, etc), some
of them funky (like this D&D fantasy), some of them
psychedelic thrillers :
the president's cat has seen the murder :
the answer is in its dreams only one man knows where is the virus
sample who could kill millions, but he's in a coma etc There
are also 2 complete cases, detailed in 15 pages :
L'Homme
qui avait Peur du Noir (the man who was afraid of the
dark) Le Prêtre qui avait Peur des Enfants
(the priest who was afraid of children)
Both
scenarii involve satanist bikers : maybe the author has some problems
with bikers ? The art is very poetic and dreamlike : a
woman walking through a mirror, absurd landscapes ...
Is it any good ?
La Méthode du
Docteur Chestel has got an original theme and a clever
sytem. There are some drawbacks, though : the skill system is a bit
too simple (it helps only for easy tasks), and the combat system a bit
strange (why rolling against difficulties, where a simple opposed roll
would have been perfect ?). Also, the game was very expensive for
its size : 99 FF for 52 pages was a lot. (most games have about a 1FF
/ page ratio, even a bit less in 1991).
Anyway, this game is really
interesting ; it was the first time such a thing was done, and it was
brilliantly so. In the following years, we have seen Shattered
Dreams and other such games, but Chestel is
still the best one : essential, beautiful, and full of clever
ideas.
And now ?
The author and the
illustrator have made no other RPG stuff ever since, but they're
somewhat working on Onirocosme , the follow-up to
Chestel . If you read French, have a look at http://www.chez.com/kpdd/ . There
are some pages in English too (on another website), with an even more
complete summary of the rules ( here
).
You may order the game at the authors' website.
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