History TabletopGame / HunchbackTheLurching

''Hunchback: The Lurching'' is a fan-made game for White Wolf's ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' storytelling RPG. The game concerns the (mis)adventures of these [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hunchbacks]], who suffer from "The Curse," an affliction that twists their bodies into something inhuman.

** Some Oblieur think Hunchbacks are the result of failed possession by Spirits of Misery. The spirit is present, but has no control, and yet its host is compelled to 'feed' in the same way the Spirit normally would, by creating misery in themselves and others.
** Some Hunchbacks think that the original Hunchbacks were [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Mages]] who screwed up and got themselves cursed, or unfortunate Sleepers who were cursed by mages.
** Another theory is that Hunchbacks are the result of [[TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated Prometheans]] somehow managing to have kids, with the unnatural nature of the act (and the Pyros and Flux involved) caused some of their descendants to become Hunchbacks. Proponents of this theory point out that the rejection that Hunchbacks inevitably face (even when they're in situations where nobody can see the hump or tell that they're Hunchbacks, such as in online interactions) is eerily similar to a Promethean's Disquiet.

** Some Hunchbacks think that the original Hunchbacks were [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Mages]] who screwed up and got themselves cursed.

* MultipleChoicePast: The Hunchbacks have no idea where their curse came from, with theories including [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem being a Nosferatu's ghoul for far too long]], [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken possession by spirits]], [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening a magical catastrophe]], [[TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated being the child of an inhuman abomination]]...

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: By their very existence, the hunchbacks can never achieve what they desire most, because if they did, it would mean death by slow, painful starvation.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: A prerequisite for the Hunchbacks, every Hunchback has a Tragic Love that he obsesses over but is forever unable to form a relationship with due to their horrible appearance. This is actually part of what gives a Hunchback its powers, as they feed off their own misery and self loathing.

The complete game is [[http://worldofdarkness.wikia.com/index.php?title=Hunchback:_The_Lurching available online,]] and even has a [[BigNameFan Mr Gone]]-designed [[http://mrgone.rocksolidshells.com/pdf/MiscNWOD/Hunchback1-Page_Editable.pdf character sheet.]] The author also put out some ideas for a companion game, ''Mad Scientist: The Experiment'', [[http://worldofdarkness.wikia.com/wiki/Mad_Scientist:_The_Experiment here]].

All over the world people suffer from debilitating physical ailments. Legs bend at odd angles naturally. Faces swell and twist. Some are affected by chemicals in the atmosphere. Others by their parents genes. Then there are those who cannot be explained. Twisted humans who inspire revulsion in even the most accepting. They are known as Hunchbacks.

* TheTopicOfCancer: As a drinking game, take a shot when the lump is described as "Cancerous", "Malignant" or "Tumorous". Just don't blame me when you lose your liver. (Though ya’ probably should, if you took their challenge. -TerrorCooper.)

* BlessedWithSuck: The Curse is basically this. On one hand, hunchbacks gain cool powers like the ability to see ghosts and regenerate from terrible damage, they also are hideous and unsightly monsters with a painful emotional parasite living in their back.

* GratuitousFrench - Given in a game about hunchbacks.

* TheIgor - Even ''more'' given. One of the Hunchback classes is this specifically, drawn to Scientists and Geniuses in the hope that science will provide relief for their agony.

* TheTopicOfCancer: As a drinking game, take a shot when the lump is described as "Cancerous", "Malignant" or "Tumorous". Just don't blame me when you lose your liver.

** Not that the Hunchbacks are slackers in this department either. The sheer variation of hideous mutations the Hunchbacks are subject to is truly horrifying, but worst is probably the ones who manages to survive for centuries. Their humps continue to grow and mutate, eventually reducing the Elders to little more than half-mad giant lumps of flesh and pus, with athropied limbs hanging uselessly off their bodies.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: By their very existance, the hunchbacks can never achieve what they desire most, because if they did, it would mean death by slow, painful starvation.

* NatureHero: "Hero" is probably the wrong word, but one class of hunchbacks have just devolved entirerly and escaped into the wild where they've started co-existing with animal herds. ''Existing'' being the main word here, they live on the edge of the natural kingdom and feed off the weak and the scraps like scavengers, still denied any acceptance or peace.

* FailueIsTheOnlyOption: By their very existance, the hunchbacks can never achieve what they desire most, because if they did, it would mean death by slow, painful starvation.

* LovecraftianSuperpower: Hunchbacks are humans who, through some unknown cruel quirk of fate, have mutated humps on their backs that are actually stores of mystical energy they can access for a variety of powers and effects. The drawback is that the energy replenishes itself from the wearers suffering, forcing the Hunchbacks to the fringes of society if their mutation hasnt already driven them there, wallowing in their own hate and anger at the world just to stay alive. The mutation also worsens the older the Hunchback gets, eventually reducing them to immovable mountains of twisted flesh.

* LovecraftianSuperpower: Hunchbacks are humans who, through some unknown cruel quirk of fate, have mutated humps on their backs that are actually stores of mystical energy they can access for a variety of pwers and effects. The drawback is that the energy replenishes itself from the wearers suffering, forcing the Hunchbacks to the fringes of society if their mutation hasnt already driven them there, wallowing in their own hate and anger at the world just to stay alive. The mutation also worsens the older the Hunchback gets, eventually reducing them to immovable mountains of twisted flesh.

* CityOfAdventure - Pittsburgh since apparently Amerindian history of the area describes a giant "mound" in the area that was a source of great evil. It seems Hunchbacks are called to it.

* TheIgor - Even ''more'' given.

The complete game is [[http://worldofdarkness.wikia.com/index.php?title=Hunchback:_The_Lurching&oldid=4247 available online,]] and even has a [[BigNameFan Mr Gone]]-designed [[http://mrgone.rocksolidshells.com/pdf/MiscNWOD/Hunchback1-Page_Editable.pdf character sheet.]]