Beast: The Primordial, Chronicles of Darkness 2nd ed.

Started by Op3999, August 21, 2018, 11:21:41 PM

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Op3999

Okay, to put it bluntly, I want to play a Beast Chronicle.  I have limited experience with Beast, but I am familiar with the rules.  I just want to create a monster and go through a journey that organically expands that character's Legend.

Right now, I just have the core Beast book, but am looking into getting the Player's Guide and Building the Legend as well.  Preferably, this would be a majority Beast game focused on the brood with maybe one or two non-Beasts mixed in (depending on what people, if there are any such people, would want to play in this game) with the exception of Mage.  I never understood that one, especially not in connection with the other creatures (and especially not as related to Beasts in lore with to the Dark Mother).

So, this thread is here because I really just want to play this game.  I don't know anyone IRL who's interested, but the concepts presented are fascinating to me.  I don't have enough experience to run a game, otherwise I'd be looking for players instead of Storytellers.

This is also a thread looking for other players as well unless said Storyteller is confident in their ability to run a game based on only one player.  I don't mind that idea, but doing a group does sound like more fun.

PixelatedPixie


TheKhan

Hmmm... I might be able to come up with something as a Storyteller if you are still interested. I'd definitely think we should try to pick up at least one more player as well. Any particular settings or supernatural elements you'd want?

Op3999

I mean, I'd still be up for it.

I did have an idea before about a Sin-Eater conspiracy embedded in the Catholic church of the city, headed by the Bishop there, but maybe not in all of the churches.  I also like the idea of Vampires playing a role with a building civil-war between the Invictus in power and the Carthians growing in number, looking to take it down.  The Sin-Eaters in this case would be more of a sidelines group most of the time, dealing with other supernaturals, but mostly keeping to themselves, but perhaps there's a growing movement within them that views Vampires as undead abominations that have to be dealt with.  In this scenario, the Beasts may just end up playing a bit of referee between their two cousins or maybe they end up joining a side for an all-out war.

I'm also fond of Changelings, but I never got the way the Courts are really supposed to work down.  I had an idea for them where the leaders are more Changeling Elders than monarchs.  The Winter King would be a psychologist who specializes in Changeling trauma.  The Autumn Queen led a commune outside of the city where vagrant Changelings could stay provided they helped out in the farm that sustained the place.  The Spring Queen ran a mostly legitimate strip club (perhaps called Bottoms Up) that favors Changelings in employment and pays more than just food and shelter.  Lastly, the Summer Queen was dead.  The victim of a fight against a Huntsman that went South and no one's been able to fill her shoes.

No idea how that'd interact with the other two, but I feel that those factions could operate in basically the same place with Beasts operating without such a structured community and instead forming their independent Broods filling the spaces in between.

Those are my ideas, anyways.

PixelatedPixie

I'm still interested, though I don't have anything in mind for setting or supernatural elements.  I need to review the book a bit to refresh myself if I am honest.

TheGlyphstone

I'd be tentatively interested in this as well, if there's a Storyteller available. Beast was/is a very neat game concept (though admittedly I liked Beast 1.0 better than the final release version), and a solid Beast-centric game would be nice to actually play.

TheKhan

Let me pull some ideas together. I think I may be able to get a plot sketched out in a couple of days. What characters would people like to play?

(Also, if anyone is interested in Changeling or Werewolf, I'm recruiting for that as well in GMs looking /shamelessplug)

Op3999

Quote from: TheKhan on October 02, 2018, 11:15:24 AM
Let me pull some ideas together. I think I may be able to get a plot sketched out in a couple of days. What characters would people like to play?

I have a few concepts handy, but which ones are available for this game and which would be scaled back a bit depend on whether or not material from the Player's Guide is allowed.  I did get that book (as well as the other, but I haven't gotten to it, yet) and I've read most of it, so if we can, I would like to include that stuff as additional options for us as well.

On that note, my three characters:

Madison: Makara Ravager - Character Concept: Southern girl from the Mississippi Basin whose Horror takes the form of a river leviathan, a whale-like catfish that brings floods.  Her intent is to teach people to fear the water again and her goal is incarnation.  She'd work best in a setting taking place in a city that has a dam placed nearby/within it for... potential plot reasons.

Michael: Eshmaki Collector (or Whisper) - Character Concept: Detached cyber terrorist.  Devoured as soon as he formed his earliest memories and was old enough to have nightmares, Michael hasn't known much of a life outside of being a Beast and that's colored his outlook on the world.  More than most, he sees his Horror and himself as one and the same and has no designs on Inheritance, intending to live his life according to his hungers collecting information and secrets.

Winston (placeholder name): Inguma (hunger undetermined) - Character Concept: Ecosystem poisoner.  His Horror takes the form of an alien tree spreading it's seeds throughout an otherwise normal forest, whose saplings choke other young trees and whose wood and fruit are useless and poisonous.  His horror represents the fear of nature turned away from humanity, impossible to use, to remind people how much they still rely on it.  He hasn't totally turned away from his human side, though, because after his Devouring, he did have children, two boys that he cherishes dearly.

Thoughts?

TheGlyphstone

Right now I'm feeling like a Sphinx (Ugallu Whisper or Ugallu Tyrant). Not sure where I want to take that, I'll have to think.

TheKhan

Definitely use the Player's Guide if you have it! Lots of fun stuff in there!

TheKhan

So, if people are okay with tossing Werewolves into the mix your Beasts have to deal with, I'd kinda like to run this in Ciudad Juarez (adding Changelings, Geists, and Vampires into the mix too).

PixelatedPixie

I lean towards an Eshmaki or Namtaru Nemeses.  Or maybe an Anakim of some variety.  Though I need to see if I can figure out what happened to my Player's Guide. 

PixelatedPixie

Or a Talassii Enabler.  So many options.  Hmm. 

TheKhan

And here we go...

History has been unfair to Ciudad Juárez. Crime, murder, and the drug trade have long poxed its neighbourhoods, while gangs fight to keep whatever power they can. Unfortunately, the street wars run much deeper than anyone suspects. The city supernatural underworld is dominated by werewolves, and signs are pointing to another conflict brewing on the horizon. Beneath them, vampires struggle with their own political divisions, changelings evade the watchful gaze of the Huntsmen, and sin-eaters attempt to bring peace to the city's many restless dead.

The Beasts watch everything and stick their noses in where they can.

Like so many night in Juárez, this one begins with murder. A Crone, Natalia Muerta, has been found deader than dead and her boss wants answers. She wasn't part of the brewing conflict between the Invictus and the Carthian, and he doesn't trust other Kindred to give him an answer. Instead, he turns to the Begotten.

He turns to your brood.

You.


Game Style: Episodic. I've tried to do massive plots via PbP before and it never reaches even the midway point, so this time I'm going to go a bit more self-contained (although themes may emerge over time)
Genre: Urban Fantasy-Horror
Setting: Cuidad Juarez
System: Beast: the Primordial
Beats:Since PbPs run slow, I'm going to as everyone to have four Aspirations (three short term, one long term) so we can advance a little quicker.
Character age: 20+ and please no characters that look younger than that for any reason.

Other details
Please don't try to screw each other over with inter-party conflict. Even if both players agree with it, it can result other players getting turned off of the game, which kill PbPs dead.

If you want to do something unique or funky, just let me know. Feel free to introduce strange horrors through backgrounds or kinship nightmares.

The type of players I'd like to work with
I do intend to update regularly, but for better or for worse, deadlines in RL could cause gaps between updates.  I'm looking for people who will be able do deal with that maturely and stay interested even if I go poof for a bit.

My role in all this
I try to be very descriptive and evocative as Storyteller. This means that I try to create action and movement in my posts by describing PC actions if the player doesn't describe them themselves and just rolls the dice or says "I stab them three times." I'm definitely not trying to take over your character, but describe how their actions play out since I am trying to make an exciting story for both the people actively engaged in the story, but also passerby who happens to read it. I know some people don't like it, but others don't mind, so if you fall in the former category, this is me trying to be polite and let you know ahead of time.

Adult Themes:
The big focus on this game for is to play the game. Beast is a gam with mature themes and E! gives us the chance to explore those themes if and when they are appropriate.

For sex, I'm more interested in seeing realistic (or realistic as possible) relationships develop, rather than "everyone gets laid." It can and will come up, but it won't just be with a random NPC unless you specifically go looking for that. In this regard, the game will be filed under Exotic - Bondage.

With that said, Beast is a horror game, and nasty stuff like body horror and gore are possible. Part of me is considering planting the game in the Extreme forum just to play it on the safe side to make sure no-one gets traumatized by accident. Even if we do though, please keep non-con out of this game, as it makes me feel quite uncomfortable.

Let me know your thoughts.

TheGlyphstone

I was originally considering a 'hacktivist' who ferrets out the secrets of corrupt politicians/leaders and exposes them, but am I correct in guessing that this sort of city is so hopelessly and openly corrupt that it wouldnt be a big deal?

TheKhan

I wouldn't say it would be completely pointless. I've done some reading on Juárez and the city has been making a push to clean itself up for the last half-decade, including arresting corrupt politicians with ties to the drug trade. Your character's work may be cut out for them, but they could make a difference.

PixelatedPixie

I was thinking a Talassii Enabler who, as a Professor or Grad Student, entices people to cheat and what not.  Admittedly I also had a bit of a non-con (enticing people to commit sexual assault, to try and kind of flip the Talassii bit) thought process going for as well, though I didn't expect it to come up much.  The horror I had in my head was a spider in a web type deal. 

Based on TheKhan's offs though I may need to rework that.  Maybe I will go with an Anakim Enabler, something with a demonic angle. 

Op3999

Based on that setting, I'd have to say that Michael, my Eshmaki Whisper would work best with that and tbh, Glyph's Hacktivist-type character could be an interesting foil to him.  Michael's supposed to be a little on the sociopathic side.  He wouldn't be much for releasing that information to the public (which strikes me as a bit of a Nemesis-type deal) so much as he'd just collect the information or use it to blackmail/ruin their lives as per Whisper protocol.

It could be interesting to see them perhaps work together, but take it in slightly different directions.

TheKhan

Interesting ideas. It will be neat to see how this shapes up.

As you are working on your characters, I'm working on setting and plot. One thing that would be helpful to me is knowing your character's four Aspirations. I don't need them right away, but the sooner I have them, the more setting I can design with them in mind.

I like to start PbPs in media res if possible so that everyone gets involved right away. I'm thinking this will be a smuggling run (humans and/or drugs) gone sour.

Also, do you think we should try to add one more person or is three Players, plus a Storyteller enough?

TheKhan

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on October 03, 2018, 02:02:44 PM
I was originally considering a 'hacktivist' who ferrets out the secrets of corrupt politicians/leaders and exposes them, but am I correct in guessing that this sort of city is so hopelessly and openly corrupt that it wouldnt be a big deal?
Also worth keeping in mind that Juárez and El Paso are basically one metropolitan are bisected by the Mexican-American boarder. You character could easily target politicians in Texas from Ciudad Juárez.

Marie Reynolds

Hello The Kahn Pointed me over here from his Werewolf Interest Check.  So I was wondering  if all the Players would mind a Changeling pc in the mix?

TheGlyphstone

Honestly, Id rather we stay all Beasts. A Beast with affinity for Changelings who associates with them is one thing, but not a full on Lost. Sorry.  :-(

Op3999

Quote from: Marie Reynolds on October 04, 2018, 06:40:44 PM
Hello The Kahn Pointed me over here from his Werewolf Interest Check.  So I was wondering  if all the Players would mind a Changeling pc in the mix?

Honestly, I'm not super crazy sure I'd mind a Changeling, especially if TheKhan incorporated my idea about the Courts into the setting.  That way, they could be a plot hook into something to do with them.  However, if you were comfortable with making a Beast character to add to the group, that would be preferable.

Quote from: TheKhan on October 03, 2018, 08:08:03 PM
As you are working on your characters, I'm working on setting and plot. One thing that would be helpful to me is knowing your character's four Aspirations. I don't need them right away, but the sooner I have them, the more setting I can design with them in mind.

I like to start PbPs in media res if possible so that everyone gets involved right away. I'm thinking this will be a smuggling run (humans and/or drugs) gone sour.

Also, do you think we should try to add one more person or is three Players, plus a Storyteller enough?

Do you want the aspirations posted here or sent via PM?  Also, three players and a storyteller is fine because you can build the story around those character's strengths.  I absolutely don't mind more characters, though.

TheKhan

Quote from: Op3999 on October 04, 2018, 07:55:27 PM
...especially if TheKhan incorporated my idea about the Courts into the setting.
Oh, I am! I have a few rough drafts of Juárez's social dynamics, and they are in the thick of it.
Quote from: Op3999 on October 04, 2018, 07:55:27 PM
Do you want the aspirations posted here or sent via PM?  Also, three players and a storyteller is fine because you can build the story around those character's strengths.  I absolutely don't mind more characters, though.
I'd prefer them posted here, if you know them. I know that some people like to keep their sheets secret, but personally I prefer to have everything posted in an OOC thread since that makes it about a billion times easier for me to track, which is crucial for me posting regularly (which reminds me, I should post a character sheet template).

Marie Reynolds

Well if everyone prefers i run a beast I can  take a look at them and see what i can come up with.