What is Mnemos Effect? Sekhat?
In the French version of the game, flashbacks were referred to by the in-game jargon Mnemos Effect. The exact rules for this varied across editions, with some editions treating it purely as a fluff thing. Flashbacks could consist of groups playing adventures that occurred during past lives rather than the present, or as individual PCs recalling forgotten events and gaining temporary skill bonuses or permanent increases as a benefit.
This was never implemented in the US version. However, on the mailing list some freelancers discussed making a new edition with a flashback mechanic. For example, treating past lives as skills and recalling during play to explain skill increases. This was a decade before the French 5th edition would implement a similar idea.
Another idea floated was "Sekhat" (from Egyptian sḫꜣj), where really stressed PCs could enter fugue states where they'd assume the personality of a past life and reinterpret present events in that light (e.g. a WWI nurse treating a PC's wounds and thinking they're in the trenches).
Inspired by this, I thought of introducing "abomination" from Dune. In this case, a past life would outright possess the PC, pursue past vendettas and so forth. The French version already has multiple Dune references like Kwisatz Haderach, Ben Gess-Rith, Shai-Hulud, and the Golden Path itself, so this would be right at home.
I'll need to think more on it...
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