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Interest Check - Supernatural Detectives [UN]

Started by Procrastinationary, November 14, 2008, 11:08:07 AM

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Procrastinationary

Just an idea I had kicking around that I'll throw out to see if anyone bites. I suppose I'm probably robbing bits of Hellboy and the BPRD, Supernatural, Buffy/Angel and a bit of CSI, in a rather World of Darkness setting. The ideal tone would be that blend darkly humorous and disturbingly dark.

The Premise: Virtually every supernatural creature one could care to name does exist, though the vast majority of humanity is oblivious to this fact. Some, like the Fae, just want nothing to do with the modern world, the smoke and steel poisoning most of them. Others, like werewolves and vampires, blend into the great seething hive of humans, carrying on their own agendas. Not all humans are oblivious, and plenty of them are gifted in their own right, either with the intelligence and strength of will to accept the truth and confront it or, more rarely, with bizarre abilities that could be called psi, magic or whatever name that happens to fit.

Something is upsetting the delicate balance though, and supernatural creatures are becoming more and more brave. New crimes are leaving conventional law enforcement authorities useless, as ghosts don't leave fingerprints and there isn't a dog in the world insane enough to track down a werewolf. The obvious solution is to set a monster to catch a monster. To this end the higher authorities have authorised the recruitment and training of a team of supernatural law enforcement officers, capable of meeting the otherworldly criminals on their own terms.

The Characters: Most of the characters will be recruited primarily for their innate talents, followed by their experience and temperament. Some may be willingly working for the new unit, while others may be forced to do the job. The exact details are best left to the player. It may be possible that some of them have previous law enforcement training, or even an intimacy with the wrong side of the law.

The unit will require agents who can maintain some level of control, as well as pass for human in most circumstances. Given that they'll have to work with purely human agencies, there is room for humans within the unit, working as a liason with the other agencies and reminding the monsters who is ultimately in charge.

Here's a rough example of the sort of team they'd be trying to build. This is just so folks can get an idea of just why anyone would bother hiring monsters in the first place. Obviously a larger team would be nice, and certainly more variety would be wonderful. Different bloodlines exist among each group of monsters, so there's no guarantee that even two vampires might be remotely similar in anatomy or abilities.

Vampire: Intelligent, charismatic and physically resilient, a vampire is ideal for getting past human security, being able to charm most anyone with a little effort and unable to be detected by electronic surveillance. Undead resilience, keen senses and superhuman agility and strength make for an excellent spy, sniper or brawler.

Werewolf: An unequalled sensory array coupled with several hundred pounds of killing machine makes for an ideal shock trooper and forensic analyst. While not so subtle as the others, there are times when there won't be any perpetrators left alive to tell anyone about the eight foot tall death beast they saw.

Human: While not gifted with supernatural powers, any human element of the team will have the advantage of being utterly mundane. Salt, silver, sigils, seals and all manner of supernatural defenses have virtually no effect on the average human. It may not seem like much, but human adaptability is the reason they've managed to crowd out almost every species, even the ones capable of benchpressing cars.

Psychic: While technically a human, a psychic is so far removed from true humanity that they are most definitely classified as monsters. The exact abilities and methodology varies from person to person, some calling themselves wizards and performing elaborate rituals, others considering themselves psychokineticists and wielding mental force on an instinctive level. Needless to say, skills such as psychometry and telepathy make for a detective like no other.

The Character Sheet:

Name:

Species:

Gender:

Age: The character's apparent age, not their chronological age.

Birth Date: Day/Month/Year. This can be important for those things that don't have human lifespans.

Nationality: Your character's country of birth.

Distinguishing Characteristics: Physical or psychological.

Weight:

Height:

Eye Colour:

Hair Colour:

Appearance:

Personality:

Supernatural Powers:

Skills:

Weaknesses:

Background:

Starchaser

I'd be interested. I have an idea for playing the offspring of an Incubus (I'm thinking of the medeival version of an Incubus - i.e. the male version of a Succubus) and a Human. He'd be sort of like a psychic vampire, feeding off intense emotions such as arousal.

I can only post about twice a week, though.

Procrastinationary

I'm pretty sure that they're called Cambions, but that's not entirely relevant. It'd certainly be along the lines of what the game needs, but I'm really more interested in how people apply a monster's abilities and psychology to crimefighting.

I'll sort more details out as soon as I get a few more interested parties.

mannik

This does sound interesting.

I would probably make a Werewolf character, because it's basically two characters in one because every werewolf has two sides, a human side and a beast side.

The human side of the werewolf would join the team to try and learn how to control their beastial nature after murdering their family (the ultimate curse of the werewolf is to kill those you love.) The beast side would immensly enjoy hunting prey that was more powerful and cunning than typical squishy humans, and the pack mentality of the wolf could be manipulated to help ensure it's loyalty to the team.

Valerian

I have a couple of character ideas of the psychic persuasion that would fit well in such a group... and of course it's often those monsters who look most human that try the hardest to be human, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Procrastinationary

QuoteThe human side of the werewolf would join the team to try and learn how to control their beastial nature after murdering their family (the ultimate curse of the werewolf is to kill those you love.) The beast side would immensly enjoy hunting prey that was more powerful and cunning than typical squishy humans, and the pack mentality of the wolf could be manipulated to help ensure it's loyalty to the team.

The great thing about the Agency is that they only have to be nice to monsters on the payroll. They're not above reminding any werewolf in their employ that they know plenty of folks who are a crack shot with a rifle and have enough silver bullets laying around. Nothing like being reminded that one can be put down like a dog to keep them from getting too used to thinking like one.

QuoteI have a couple of character ideas of the psychic persuasion that would fit well in such a group... and of course it's often those monsters who look most human that try the hardest to be human, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

Wonderfully put. Certainly psychics have it almost the worst of the monsters, since they don't have their own inherent culture and communities to depend on. There's so much variation between them, so that you can have two psychics getting information from a murder victim, one convinced that he's had the soul brought to him by a grateful loa and the other convinced that she's scanning residual brainwaves, and they're both right.

Also, I'd love to see an interrogation where telepathy can come into play.

Jefepato

I'd be interested.  Not sure what I'd play yet, though...

Procrastinationary

Well, just about anything is conceivable. I only listed a few ideas, but it's just as possible that they could recruit a troll who wants to do some good in the world and can manage a decent enough glamour to look like a hulking giant of a man rather than a genuine hulking giant.

PhantomPistoleer

Ha ha ha!  I have a character I created for a one-on-one scenario...

... but I would consider flitting in and out of your RP!  Check out Det. Crispus Alcott in my o/o and shoot me a PM if we can work something out.
Always seeking 5E games.
O/O

Procrastinationary

Well, I've added a character sheet to my first post. Obviously this is quite helpful for me in knowing who's actually interested in playing the game and who just happens to think its a cool idea. Once I've got a nice little menagerie assembled I'll set the game up, since I've got the general outline bumping around up there, but it's still going to take a few characters to help me fine tune the setting.

As for the sheets, if you can't think of what to right in a given spot just let me know and we can work something out. I'm trying not to set any details in concrete so that people can be as creative as they like before we have to begin.

BentNotBroken

i'm interested :) i'd like to play a human, a young woman in the FBI, a criminal psychiatrist who also is a bit of a clairvoyant. Her father was in the FBI and she got her clairvoyant gift from her mother. She is known to be great at interrogating witnesses and criminals and getting them to turn over information.

Would that be a good character?

BentNotBroken

So where do you want us to post our character sheets? are u making a seperate thread?

Procrastinationary


Ixy

I've submitted a sheet-- thanks for the opportunity.
______________________
The big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Ixy

Hope that this one isn't fading into the sunset.
______________________
The big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Starchaser

I second that, I was looking forward to playing in this one.

mannik


Procrastinationary

Well, I've generated sufficient interest, so it remains only to get my thoughts organised and written up. Should be sometime today, since I'm just home and still relatively sober.

mannik

Quote from: Procrastinationary on November 19, 2008, 08:38:09 AM
Well, I've generated sufficient interest, so it remains only to get my thoughts organised and written up. Should be sometime today, since I'm just home and still relatively sober.

So...how's the thought organizing coming? Need any help fleshing out ideas?

Procrastinationary

The skeleton of the story exists. Any further questions will only help to flesh it out.

mannik

Quote from: Procrastinationary on November 21, 2008, 06:20:59 PM
The skeleton of the story exists. Any further questions will only help to flesh it out.

Ok, question about the werewolves...seeing as how there are differences in the various stories and all.

Some say they change every night, others say it's only during a full moon, I've even read some stories where they can change at any time depending on stress levels, still others say when they become the wolf they don't change back untill killed...So which would you prefer for the werewoves in your RP since it's your rules and all.


Procrastinationary

#21
You would have to PM with the exact ideas, but ultimately it depends on the sort of therianthrope that is selected by the agency.

Mírë

Is this still open?  I've PM'd a character sheet.