A game published by Dark Carnival Games, who are also some of the people behind The Insane Clown Posse.

It is unlike any game you have ever played. It involves dice, but only briefly, and it is not a board game or role-playing game. It involves tasks, yet it is not like any other game, in that you are not told precisely how you are to do them.

Quite simply, it is, as the slogan goes, "the game to end all boredom"

It is available for approximately 35-40 dollars, and is simply comprised of a box bearing the name of the game, which contains but a large, 360-page book and a dice-bag. The dice-bag in turn contains one 30-sided die, and six average 6-sided dice.

The rules are simple: you must dedicate, for a period of at least one hour, all of your creativity, intelligence, and life-force towards the completion of a Quest. This Quest could be anything from baking a cake to world domination. It's all in there, and it's but a roll of the dice away.

A brief synopsis of play:
-The players all get together at an agreed-upon time in an agreed-upon place. There is no defined leader as of yet.
-All players who wish to participate as players in the game (or "Members of the Inner Circle") take what is known as "Morton's Oath", where they agree to spend at least one hour completing the quest.
-All Inner Circle members who wish, then roll-off using the six-sided dice to determine which of them will become Table Master.
-He or she who is so-chosen by fate, must then roll the 30-sided die (called the "Morton Boulder") to determine the Quest.
-Once the quest is determined (perhaps read with dramatic flourish by the Table Master), the game enters the final pre-Quest stage called The Winds of Change. It is during this stage that the Inner Circle members agree upon how they will complete the quest, and it is during this time that a player may refuse to quest or attempt to veto certain ideas based upon their Moral Code. A player's Moral Code is given the highest of priority at all times, being that the primary idea of the game is to have fun.
-Once the Winds of Change have passed, and the group is in harmony as to their course of action, the Quest begins.

It is from here on out, fellow humans, that codification of a session of Morton's List becomes impossible.

As you may have guessed, the game, like the other works of its creators, has a very occult / mystic tone to it. Karma, for one, is mentioned quite frequently, as are crows and their mythological significance. As for the numerology involved, well, let's just say it was well thought-out. Whether or not you hold any sort of occult beliefs, however, the occult tone of Morton's List serves mainly to grant a delicious atmosphere to the whole experience, so don't go thinking the game will tell you to go out and kill babies for Beezulbub or anything like that. But then, it's all up to you, isn't it?

If this wasn't interesting enough, Dark Carnival has recently released a supplement to the game called 360° of the Inner Circle. Originally intended as part of the game from the beginning, 360° of the Inner Circle adds in a ranking system for players, such that they can creep through the ranks of the Inner Circle, much as the lowliest Acolyte in your everyday Cult of Doom, might slither his vile way up through the ranks until he is Grand Poo-bah of evil. With each of the ranks (called "degrees") come power as well as prestige, and each degree is given its own unique name and special power with which a player of that rank or above might modify the way the game is played... but more on this in another node.

The simple fact of all this is that Morton's List has never once failed to grant anything less than it promises, and on a dreary Thursday night, something interesting to do is oftentimes all one wants, anyway.

It is 35 dollars well-spent to the depths of the Æther and beyond.

-www.mortonslist.com-

Morton's List: The End to Boredom AKA The Game of Real Life Adventure was published by Dark Carnival Games, LLC (July 2001) and co-authored by Robert William Bruce (as Robert "Jumpsteady" Bruce, now Robert William Bruce-Encarnacion), Richard Jess Deneaux (as R. Jesse Deneaux) and Nathan Andren Fostey (now Nathan Ichiro Noris Jay Andren). ISBN: 0971090513. Paperback: 402 pages.

== Game Play ==

A group of players (generally 3-12) gather together and begin by taking the Oath of Morton's List. Everyone agrees to play Morton's List and follow through with whatever Quest the game sets before them before they know what that will be. Everyone who agrees becomes a part the "Inner Circle."

NOTE: There are several caveats inherent in agreeing to do whatever Quest the game reveals. One is each person's Moral Code. If the game were to direct them to drink alcohol, for instance, but one or more Inner Circle members object to drinking on moral grounds (willful behavior restrictions), the Quest would be re-rolled. Allergies and phobias (un-willful behavior restrictions) can also cause a re-roll. Impracticality can come into play: skydiving at 3am warrants a re-roll. Two Tables, Solar Rise (day time Quests) and Nightscape (nighttime Quests) may lead to a re-roll if reached at the wrong time. Finally, certain Quests may require more than the $6 each Inner Circle member should have and be prepared to spend, necessitate a car or other access to transportation, take longer than the one hour minimum, be especially dangerous or unlawful depending on the player's age and/or geo-political location, or require reasonably pleasant weather conditions. A Quest can be re-rolled if it is in danger of violating any of these cautions.

Next, a group leader called the "Table Master" is randomly determined. This may be done by any means the Inner Circle unanimously agrees upon, but is most often an elimination style roll-off using six-sided dice. The larger the Inner Circle the longer this process stakes, so those numbering seven or more often modify the roll-off or choose another method entirely. The Table Master's role is to guide the group towards activities that will be the most fun for the most people, and has final say in any disagreement.

The Table Master then performs a ceremony called the "Karmic Gathering." The purpose of this is to instill the energy or "Karma" of the Inner Circle into the 30-sided die, called the "Morton Boulder" which the Table Master will roll to determine the Inner Circle's Quest. The Karmic Gathering often involves all Inner circle members touching or holding the die, and can be as simple or elaborate as the Table Master wishes. Dimming lights, playing music, wearing headdresses, rolling on unusual surfaces, etc. - anything that turns a simple roll of the die into one befitting a roll that will determine the Inner Circle's fate for the next hour or more.

The roll to determine the Inner Circle's Quest begins on page 13 of the Morton's List game book, which is Morton's List (where the game gets its name). The Table Master simply rolls the Morton Boulder, compares the result to the list, and turns to the page indicated. This will usually be one of the 13 chapters, called "Tables," the game is subdivided into. Each Table has a different theme, and contains 27-30 Quests:

TABLES - followed by the type of Quests included
The Nine Prime Tables:
Solar Rise - daytime
Cosmic Law - calm
Mortal Ties - social
Lore Galore - mental
"I'm Neutral" - all other
Mountain - physical
Vision Quest - creative
Chaos - wild
Nightscape - nighttime


The Triumvirate Tables:
Yang of the Sky - helpful
Rainbow Dragon - self centered
Yin of the Earth - hurtful


The Singularity Table:
Twilight Scroll - beyond

The Inner Circle's Quest will be determined in 2+ rolls, and may include a Mutation or Deviation. Mutations are activities done before and/or during a Quest, such as wearing a costume, adopting an accent, etc. Deviations modify the game's rules, such as changing the Table Master's role, combining Quests, etc.

Once the Inner Circle's Quest is determined, they discuss how they will accomplish it as a group. This is called "The Winds of Change." The Table Master listens to all ideas and decides on the best course of action.

Afterwards, the Quest begins and will last at least on hour. What happens is entirely dependent on the Quest rolled and how the inner Circle chose to interpret it. Morton's List covers every fun activity ever conceived of by human kind, arranged into 360 Quests, like the 360 degrees in the Circle of Life. So literally, anything is possible. An Inner Circle may be having a deep philosophical conversation one session and patrolling their neighborhood for crime the next. They may be improvising a bowling alley one day and playing Clue at a strip club the next. All this has happened, and so much more is happening and will happen because of Morton's List.

== History ==

Since its release Morton's List has been a roller coaster ride of success and problems. The successes being mostly fan-based, problems being mostly financial. Its strong initial sales at The Gathering sparked optimism. The first sign of trouble occurred when Dark Carnival Games decided to make its big push into the gaming market at GenCon, the country's largest annual gaming convention, then held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ads and booth space were purchased, then Wizards of the Coast, then owners of the convention told Dark Carnival Games it could not play or sell Morton's List. Booth space was refunded, but the ads had already gone to print. The reason given was that Morton's List contains real life magic spells in violation of an obscure Wizards rule meant to cater to the religious right. They also sited concern about an interview granted earlier that year where the authors discussed possible ways an Inner Circle could interpret a Quest called Neighborhood Patrol. In the interview the authors stated that some players might decide to call the police if they discovered suspicious activity, while others may decide to emulate the vigilante tactics of the Guardian Angels, making citizens arrests.

With thousands of dollars tied up in GenCon, Dark Carnival Games had no choice but to show up and deal with the situation with no booth and no demos. They decided on the controversial tactic of playing up the situation, devoting all efforts to creating and disseminating tens of thousands of colorful fliers, blanketing the convention center and all parking facilities within a two block radius. The flyer front sparked interest with a graphic of GenCon with a circle and line through it and the word "BANNED!" The back explained the situation as it happened, and railed against Wizards of the Coast for unnecessarily dealing such a huge blow to an upcoming game company for no good reason. By the end of the four-day event every attendee had seen the flyer and staff members had been tasked out to remove them. Meanwhile Dark Carnival Games set up a full booth in the corner of the game rental area and managed to sell a modest number of games to some of the many curious attendees looking for their booth.

This publicity stunt catapulted Morton's List into infamy, causing it to appear on the national black list of companies banned from conventions. Struggling to find distributors who would touch such a controversial game, Dark Carnival Games was facing a crisis.

A new hope appeared in Hot Topic, a national chain of mall stores catering to the perfect target market, and already actively carrying Insane Clown Posse and other Psychopathic recording artists' merchandise. Morton's List was accepted and distributed to Hot Topics nationwide after a brief and highly successful trial period in select stores. In its first two weeks game flew off the shelves, causing a senior west coast VP to contact Dark Carnival Games and state that he had rarely before seen such sales and never from an unheard of company.

Disaster struck again when a concerned parent complained about the games content to the store her son purchased the game from. The complaint quickly led Hot Topic to remove Morton's List from sale, listing bomb making and illegal firearm procurement as the two activities the game contained making it too controversial to sell. It should be noted that illegal firearm procurement is in no way mentioned or suggested in Morton's List, and although bomb making is covered, the "bombs" are on the magnitude of children's fireworks.

The low point of Morton's List history occurred directly after this on Monday, February 4th, 2002. The financial situation was dire. Robert Bruce's home mortgage which was used to finance production was paid off by Psychopathic Records, shifting Dark Carnival Games debt to them.

The following three years were spent slowly growing the fan base. Fan web sites began to appear and a true community of Inner Circles developed. Dark Carnival Games made official appearances at each Gathering of the Juggalos, encouraging, then hosting games.

The Morton's List renaissance began in 2006 with the anticipated fall 2006 release of the joint Psychopathic Records/Dark Carnival Games board game: The Quest for Shangri-La. Energized by this project, Morton's List authors Jesse Deneaux and Nathan Andren are aggressively pursuing a campaign to spread word about the game. They returned to Origins, one of the largest and most industry-affiliated gaming conventions, for the first time since 2002, and met with an overwhelming response. Due to this, Morton's List will likely be removed from the banned game convention black list this year. Dark Carnival Games plans to return to GenCon in an unofficial role (no booth or official demos) to test the waters and play with fans. Current plans include incentives for fans to run demos and games at conventions nationwide, and word is out that Dark Carnival Games is looking for an exclusive retailer who attends many conventions annually to carry Morton's List.

Dark Carnival Games is currently planning their first ever independent all-Morton's List event, tentatively titled The Karmic Gathering: OctoberList for Friday the 13th of October, 2006 in Detroit, Michigan. Tickets are $30 and will be limited to 360. Sales started at this year's Gathering of the Juggalos in Columbus, Ohio.

== The Tao of Morton ==

Morton's List is ostensibly a simple game. Underneath the surface, however, lies a complex system of Eastern philosophy mixed with Kabbalah and numerology, and featuring its own mythological symbols, sometimes referred to as Mortonology. The numerological basis for Morton's List revolves around the power numbers of 1, 3, 6, 9, 13, 30 and 360:

1 = The Singularity Table
3 = The Triumvirate Tables
6 = The six six-sided dice
9 = The Nine Prime Tables
13 = Crow, bad omen/luck, the 13 annual cycles of the moon, when rolled it moves the Inner Circle farther from Morton and closer to the mundane world
30 = Morton, good omen/luck, the transcendent, when rolled it moves the Inner Circle closer to Morton and farther from the mundane world
360 = The 360 Quests, the 360 degrees of a circle


The philosophy behind Morton's List revolves around understanding and transcending the ego/self through letting go of the illusion of control. By allowing chance/fate to determine your actions you experience freedom from the control of the ego and personality. We discover that our ego personality can be and is much more expansive than previously believed. By doing something that we would not normally consider doing, but which would be a normal, fun activity for somebody else, we take a step closer to understanding, becoming, and expanding into that someone else. That someone, that other who is and always has been apart of us all along. Not apart of the limited ego, but part of the limitless, transcendent, all encompassing self beyond all self. This accounts for the spontaneous, explosive, positive energy oftentimes released through playing Morton's List.

== Mystery ==

One of the most commonly asked questions about Morton's List is "Who or what is Morton?" This mystery may never be answered. If the authors know, they have remained totally tight lipped, revealing no clues. All that is known is that the 360th Quest of Morton's List is "Find MORTON." This following the penultimate Quest, Enlightenment, where Inner Circle members are tasked to become enlightened. Many ideas and much speculation surrounds the mystery of Morton. Some theores are:

Something to do with the Morton Salt company.

A tribute to a dead homie of one or more authors.

Entirely made up and meaningless.

A code or cipher having to do with the original Chinese manuscript.

A purely symbolic meaning where Morton stands for "true self" or "being here now."

The name of a/the (Chinese?) Twilight Lord consulted before/during/after the discovery of the manuscript.

The name of the Twilight Lord who wrote the manuscript centuries/millennia ago.

The name of an ancient (Middle Eastern?/Chinese?) god(dess).

In 2001-2002 Dark Carnival Games employees began sighting suspicious black vans near company headquarters. These vans would leave when approached and appeared to be conducting surveillance. Sightings were also reported from various Inner Circle members across the country. This may be an entirely separate mystery or could somehow be related. Occasional black vans still appear near Dark Carnival Games events and places of work, but less frequently than before.

== Influences ==

The roots of Morton's List, with its Tables and random rolling come from role-playing games, most notably Dungeons and Dragons. The structure of Morton's List also follow the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system:

Dungeons & Dragons Alignments - Morton's List Tables:

Lawful Good | Lawful Neutral | Lawful Evil - Cosmic Law

Neutral Good | Pure Neutral | Neutral Evil - "I'm Neutral"

Chaotic Good | Chaotic Neutral | Chaotic Evil - Chaos

Lawful Good | Neutral Good | Chaotic Good - Yang of the Sky

Lawful Neutral | Pure Neutral | Chaotic Neutral - Rainbow Dragon

Lawful Evil | Neutral Evil | Chaotic Evil - Yin of the Earth

Another role-playing influence is Marvel Superheroes RPG, contributing the Morton's List term, Karma. In Marvel Superheroes characters keep track of a pool of Karma points, spending them to succeed in situations where they would normally fail. Thus a character with many Karma points was said to be have high Karma or be high on Karma, while one low or out of Karma points had low Karma or low on Karma. In Morton's List, the term Karma translates best as "energy," "motivation," "drive" or "excitement," being the opposite of boredom. It is also used to mean synchronicity, being half way between luck and fate, and thus the experience of realizing synchronicities and living on the edge between luck and fate.

Morton's List was in no way inspired by the excellent series of books by Luke Rhinehart (George Cockcroft), the most notable of which is The Dice Man, published in 1969. The authors of Morton's List discovered and read The Dice Man in 2005 and were amazed and shocked to discover such a clear example of convergent evolution and/or the universal unconscious. To date these books are the closest known works to Morton's List.

Morton's List is influenced by countless other people and works, drawing inspiration from hundreds of interviewees, play-testers, books, films, albums, etc.

== External links ==

www.MortonsList.com - official website
crowsnest.conforums.com - official forum
MySpace.com/Mortons_List - Myspace site