This is RPG-ology #104: Third Man Syndrome, for July 2026.
There is a strange experience known to some real-life adventurers that has been called Third Man Syndrome. That it’s a syndrome (as we’ve elsewhere mentioned) means it’s a collection of symptoms occurring together with no identified cause. In this case, it’s the tendency of adventurers in extreme conditions to have the strong sensation that there is someone else with them.
One Himalyan climber had the sensation so strongly that within sight of the top of the mountain he stopped, took rations from his pack, and tried to hand them to the non-existent accompanying person. These imagined people are not hallucinations, exactly–they’re not visible–but when you aren’t looking their direction you have the sense that they are there.
We might debate whether someone, or something, really is there–whether there is some spirit present watching the adventurer fight against the odds. Certainly in many role playing games, that would be a viable reality. On the other hand, in the real world not everyone believes in spirits, and although many believe in ghosts the evidence of the supernatural is for many not persuasive. Thus in many games this would more likely be something akin to a hallucination–yet it is a real phenomenon, and it would not be inappropriate to include it in a game scenario.
The question then becomes how. What triggers it? How does the player become aware of it? “There’s someone behind you.” “I turn and look.” “There’s no one there.” “I call out, ‘Hello? Who’s there? Where are you?'” “There’s no answer.” “I turn back and keep going?” “You really feel as if someone’s following you.” “I look again. Are there footprints?” “Only yours.” “I’m losing my mind. I’m going to ignore this and keep going.”
It certainly adds a psychological dimension to the adventure. Does it work? What does the player think is happening? What does the character think is happening? It certainly would be a strange experience in reality; can that strangeness be captured in game?
I’ve tried to capture it in the twelfth Multiverser novel A Dozen Verses (currently being serialized online), but then, as C. S. Lewis once observed, characters in a book do what the writer wants. Well, maybe not always–I’ve had the experience expressed by some other authors of having my characters refuse to act in ways I had intended. But in the main, if an author decides that this is how the character would act, it’s what he gets. That’s very different from a role playing game. I can’t tell you how many times players I thought I knew well had their characters do things that totally surprised me, even derailed my expectations. But I think something like this could work.
What do you think? Let me know if you get a chance to try it.
Previous article: Objectives.
Next article: Chargen.