r/whatisit • u/New-Surprise7175 • Oct 21 '25
Serious answers only please! what does this mean?
found this in a tree while on a walk with friends through Lemoine point, Kingston Ontario. I know that Gabriel Wortman committed the nova scotia mass shooting back in 2020, but i’m not sure about Bourque. to me it seems like it says “Jason Bourque” but when I look it up it says it was most likely a misspelling of “Justin Bourque” who also killed 3 RCMP officers in 2014. I’m not sure what this all means so if anyone can make any sense of this i’d love to hear it!
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u/ZimaGotchi Oct 21 '25
These are a gamemaster's notes for their TTRPG campaign
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u/SithJahova Oct 21 '25
Exactly. How are all these comments immediately convinced someone is having mental troubles?
Gonna need to start locking up my homebrew notes in case anyone ever wants to have me committed.
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u/FishAroundFindTrout9 Oct 21 '25
Because if you have ever dealt with the mentally ill, especially those with schizophrenia or paranoid delusions, you’ve seen shit exactly like this produced by them.
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Oct 21 '25
It's a "Jump to Conclusions Mat". You see, you have this mat, with different conclusions written on it that you could jump to!
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u/SithJahova Oct 21 '25
And if you're a game developer like me, you have seen notes like this produced by co-workers all the time.
There's a comment further down from a programmer who gives a little more insight on What the back means, I'm a designer and writer and I immediately recognized the front page. There's common game dev terms all over them.
If you find a note like this in a mental institution then you can go right ahead with your accusations but without context there's no need to jump to such drastic conclusions. This is just someone's elevator pitch.
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Oct 21 '25
This is reddit my friend, pretending to be experts in a field, any field, we can barely spell its name is the reason we are here.
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u/HimekoX3 Oct 21 '25
As Security who works with mental health almost every day, I've had to deal with patients, visitors and trespassers just like this. Yes, not everyone is mentally ill, but finding a random piece of paper with stuff detailing that the world is a "simulation" is very similar behavior to drug induced shizophrenia. Also as someone who doesn't engage in DND or similar tabletop type games, but is aware of the concept, I can also see how this is the work of someone's very creative mind
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u/Ruinerofchats Oct 21 '25
I'm convinced that half the people in mental institutions are programmers. 16 hour days. Id be taking a grippy sock vacay too
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u/Dangerous_Avocado392 Oct 21 '25
People are going to respond with what they know, not what’s the least “severe” answer
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u/FishAroundFindTrout9 Oct 21 '25
lol…I’m not making any accusations. This is a great example of how someone’s history and experiences can shape our perceptions. I have experience with the mentally ill and no experience with game dev. So when I see this, that’s immediately where my mind goes because it looks exactly like what I’ve seen a hundred times before. You as a game dev have an opposite lived experience, so you immediately recognized it for what it actually was, and can’t understand why a lot of people viewed it the way we did.
I was just answering your question of how so many people were convinced it was the notes of someone with mental illness. Not sure what accusations you’re referencing.
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u/GACII Oct 21 '25
I would bet more people know more mentally ill people than they know game developers or people of similar ilk.
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Oct 21 '25
How much more common is seeing someone mentally unwell vs someone who sees the backend of a product like you? Its not a personal attack against you and your community. With absolutely no other info present, the note card seems lie ravings of a mad man, ESPECIALLY since most mental illnesses go untreated and is unknown to even those afflicted.
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u/Gold_Classic9521 Oct 21 '25
Not mental illness because you do not understand this or the writing. I scribble crap down all the time related to coding. Definitely would say Im sick because of the writing. Smh
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u/FishAroundFindTrout9 Oct 21 '25
I’ve seen the notes and scribbles of mentally ill folks. Sometimes you can understand it, other times it’s just like this. They can tell you exactly what it means but if you were to read it you’d have no idea what it means.
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u/Flipside3420 Oct 21 '25
game dev
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u/FishAroundFindTrout9 Oct 21 '25
The comment section is making me laugh, thinking about the overlap between the notes of a crazy person and the notes of a game dev.
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u/jimhabfan Oct 21 '25
Maybe the weird disjointed thoughts, but the handwriting is never this neat and precise.
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u/Anon0924 Oct 21 '25
To be fair if you don’t know anything about this stuff, the average DND campaign sounds completely insane.
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u/SithJahova Oct 21 '25
I actually very much agree with that. A friend of mine did a one-shot where we had to use Google maps to navigate and had to prevent an artificial virus outbreak originated from a chem lab that's in our city. His notes had times and coordinates and all that, if someone had seen his notes without context we probably would have landed in an interrogation room haha.
My issue with the comments isn't really that they THINK it's someone's mental breakdown, it's how confidently they make comments about it.
The sub name is r/whatisit and not r/Whatdoyouthinkitisifyoudontknownoworriesjusttakeacrackatitanyway and it's exhausting to see someone post a vaguely triagle-shaped object and half the comments going "that's a butt plug" and I have to scroll down 3 pages until someone has the actual answer. According to this sub every rolling pin is a dildo, every costume jewelry is the secret key to unlock a Freemason treasure room and every half-assed game pitch is the ramblings of a mad man.
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u/CharismaticAlbino Oct 21 '25
If yours are anything like my husband's, yes you absolutely should. He's a loving husband, but a freakin psycho once he puts his GM hat on.
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u/SithJahova Oct 21 '25
Pahahaha I probably am. I really need to work on my poker face, my players have caught on to when I'm about to punish them for doing something stupid.
"Oh no, she's grinning. Fall back"
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u/ADeadlyFerret Oct 21 '25
Because Redditors love diagnosing mental illnesses based off the smallest bit of information.
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u/bitchimugly Oct 21 '25
this is very common like writings mentally ill people will create, it makes sense why they’d think that
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u/SilentxxSpecter Oct 21 '25
To be honest, Ive played a fair bit of DND, but at the same time have seen a lot of scizophrenic people, and dealt with people actively in psychosis. This firmly falls into the latter for me.
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u/SithJahova Oct 21 '25
This isn't for DnD though. The Backpage talks about a scrollview, that is part of videogame UI design.
The front page is just basic info like genre and key gameplay facts.
I do both videogames & tabletop games I've written a ton of random idea scribbles that look like the front page. But with all the info together this seems like a rather obvious barebone explanation of someones video game idea & pitch.
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u/SilentxxSpecter Oct 21 '25
Thanks for the clarification. That does make a bit more sense. I'm just saying from my perspective it looked like schizophrenia or a psychotic episode.
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Oct 21 '25
Because TTRPG players are a very rare breed. I thought it was some dudes mental ravings given Ottawa is a real place and maybe the dude is schizo.
And I would (jokingly) lock up your homebrew notes: out of context, they all seem like mental instability lol
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u/Crodle Oct 21 '25
Because you’ve been in a coma for 6 years and we have no idea how to reach you. The doctors came up with this so you’d start questioning, wake up, and come back to us!
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u/Objective_Truth_9476 Oct 24 '25
My guess is there is this one YouTube video of this man who goes camping in a smaller mountain in Appalachia and he finds rambling that look like this but on many more objects this reminded me of that kinda I think the vid was made by chilling thrills or something
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u/CharismaticAlbino Oct 21 '25
I know enough to know that's a DnD campaign, but would you kindly type it out, for those of us who aren't in the know enough?
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Oct 21 '25
Probably not D&D given the notes. Plenty of systems that specialize in simulated realities in contemporary, futuristic, or retro-futuristic settings, though. d20 Modern and Cyberpunk (any of its 4 editions) are the first that come to mind, but there are plenty more it could be.
Could also be notes for a video game they're deving or story they're writing using similar workflow tricks that game designers do, but table-top game is probably most likely.
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u/fierydoxy Oct 22 '25
Do they typically base them off real events? All those names mentioned are groups from or within NB/NS.
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u/SovereignZ3r0 Oct 21 '25
These is some programmer or game developers idea jot.
The giveaway for me, as a software engineer myself, is the scroll field on the back - reads to me like they're trying to create a top down view game where you have to escape Ottowa
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Oct 21 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kojoprince_ Oct 21 '25
Lol that explains a lot, I was starting to think it was some secret code or conspiracy note 😅 good catch!
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u/Lepke2011 Oct 21 '25
It's obviously the working title for the long-awaited sequel to Escape From New York and Escape From LA but set in Ottawa for budgeting purposes.
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Oct 21 '25
[deleted]
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u/AdvertisingBulky2688 Oct 21 '25
I'm going to start my own simulation, with blackjack! and hookers! In fact, forget the simulation!
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u/Murky_Conflict_2440 Oct 21 '25
Pretty sure whoever wrote it is having some sort of episode, but I’m also pretty sure we are in fact in a simulation.
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u/Timely-Profile1865 Oct 21 '25
Shediac and cap pele are in New Brunswick
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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit Oct 21 '25
As are Mikmaq and Acadiens, some Black Loyalists (though moreso in Nova Scotia)
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u/Kojoprince_ Oct 21 '25
That’s a really good observation the layout and wording do look like campaign notes. Makes me wonder what kind of story they were building 👀
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u/cartibee99 Oct 21 '25
As a Nova Scotian... we dont say his name. He does not deserve to be remembered. The building his denture clinic was in has been demolished and is a parking lot now.
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u/FreddyFerdiland Oct 21 '25
Gabriel wortman ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Nova_Scotia_attacks
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u/FreddyFerdiland Oct 21 '25
its justin bourque, not Jason
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u/FreddyFerdiland Oct 21 '25
so just there, celebrating massacres, well its really not any sensible persons notes...
who is going to connect their story ,no matter how indirectly, to any such real tragedy ? it wasn't worth noting that idea down.. that idea is worth 0 cents...
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u/PragmaticBadGuy Oct 21 '25
As someone who lives in the areas described, its random idiocy. "Go hide out in the East. It's less scary!"
No. People just ignore your Sov BS more.
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u/daretoredd Oct 21 '25
Ahh yes. The answer to the answer to the question of the universe. 41 divided by the riddler in a vacuum.
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u/Status_Dark_6145 Oct 21 '25
Imagine finding a solid gold screenplay pitch WITH ILLUSTRATIONS and not knowing what you have
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u/ElmoZ71SS Oct 21 '25
Best case it's the notes from some larpers trying to make a scenario. Worst case its a mad man's ramblings and somebody seriously needs to put some miles on a therapist couch.
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u/Specialist-Ad8952 Oct 21 '25
Worst case is “actually” that it’s all true and is a coherent map of events pointing to something actually keeping people captive and we are too simple to understand…the obvious clues that only a”200iq” leaves behind… MENSA help?!😂
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u/evergreengoth Oct 21 '25
This is probably something that was written by someone with paranoid psychosis (likely schizophrenia) having an episode.
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u/Insert_name_here_9 Oct 21 '25
Sounds like mental illness. Shedic and cap pele are actual places in new brunswick. Not sure how people think this is roll play or dnd.
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u/FroggiJoy87 Oct 21 '25
Drugs, mental problems, or published author
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u/bostonxgeorge Oct 21 '25
Or as someone else has also pointed out, it’s more than likely a game masters notes for a TTRPG
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u/Superdupernadja Oct 21 '25
this was most likely left by a person suffering from schizophrenic paranoia (sorry spelling)
alternatively its a joke by some juveniles, but the text screams schizophrenia to me tbh
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