01-28-2019, 02:27 PM | #141 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Re: [MH] Caribbean by Night
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Myths and fairytales project human experiences into frameworks that allow the creators to try to deal with those experiences, psychologically and emotionally. That means those children have lives so grim that they create stories in which even Holy Mary, Mother of God, lacked the strength to resist corruption by evil. That news feature is 20 years old, now, and I'd hope that things have gotten better for the poor children of Miami. Unfortunately, I sort of doubt it. From a campaign standpoint, the stories are great sources. Having worked with kids in the past, I know they can provide really good information, as long as the question is asked carefully. They're really easily led, are taught to obey adults, and usually want please the grown-ups around them. If the questioner takes care to make sure the child knows that accurate descriptions of what actually happened is the way to please, then the bald-faced facts are exactly what they give -- like it or not. :) Moreover, kids see and hear everything, but frequently escape notice, themselves. For an investigation campaign such as yours, they could be a great asset for the PCs, and allow you to create a sense of existential despair -- or deliver some humor, or even both. As for the approach you've chosen for spirits, that works well on your setting, as it's considerably darker than mine. While I include evil spirits, most of those in my campaign are nature spirits. That doesn't mean they're nice -- nature is red in tooth and claw, and cat spirits like to play with their food -- but that's not evil. It's just cats being cats. For a horror campaign, it would make perfect sense for demons and creatures of darkness to pretend to be benign, so they could more easily prey on those who contact them. Under those circumstances, Voudou and Santeria become much more hazardous. What about the shamanism of indigenous people, though?
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01-28-2019, 02:56 PM | #142 | |||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [MH] Caribbean by Night
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And while it is unclear whether the spirit that answers to 'LaDarius Fournette' is truly the restless ghost of Lucien Lacoste's (PC) former partner in the NOPD or whether it is merely some kind of free spirit that takes his form and personality because of Lacoste's refusal to let go, no one seriously doubts that 'Dee' is extremely attached to Lacoste and he has already risked his 'life' for him on several occasions. It isn't as if orishas/loas/other spirits are all going to be evil, just that the most powerful and notable spirits all tend to be very far from anything that human morality would consider acceptable. There are plenty of spirits that can be described as inhuman, rather than evil, but from a human perspective, that makes little difference. Quote:
All forms of magic are hazardous in the campaign. The PCs all make use of it, but they are very much fighting fire with fire. Well, in this world, any successful magical tradition will make a point of purifying, cleansing and warding around rituals, to prevent spirits that aren't invited from interfering. A lot of real world traditions already make a point of the dangers of hostile spirits and the need to be wary of the claims of spirits.
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01-28-2019, 04:13 PM | #143 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [MH] Caribbean by Night
Penemue's engineers may have a reputation problem, given the amount of spare parts they go through. Given their salaries, they are unlikely to worry much about this, but they will be keen on whoever does Kessler's life-extension magic.
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01-28-2019, 04:32 PM | #144 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [MH] Caribbean by Night
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Despite Kessler's eccentricity and his sometimes unreasonable demands, he has a considerable knack in acquiring the loyalty of people. Not only is Kessler a bit of a character and strongly appeals to those of adventurous bent*, but he also has a way of getting people who should by all rights condemn him and all he stands for of becoming fond of him despite themselves.** As for life-extending magics, Kessler's doctor, Dr. Dao Van Sang, believes that using occult medicine is extremely dangerous. There exists essentially no body of reliable research on the long-term effects of magic on the human body and the files of the monster hunters Kessler sends out are full of animals and humans twisted into horrible things by the influence of magic. That being said, Aunty Genie, the chef aboard Penemue, is almost certainly feeding Kessler a diet of healthy Esoteric Medicine supplements, but whether that rises to the level of actual magical elixirs is unknown. *Because of Talents. **When young, Kessler was rakishly handsome and extremely secuctive. At age 100, his Sex Appeal is not what it used to be, but he's still got boat-loads of Charisma.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 01-28-2019 at 04:35 PM. |
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01-28-2019, 06:38 PM | #145 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [MH] Caribbean by Night
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Then I have gotten most of the authority figures aboard. Happily, there is an interesting mix of ethnicities and cultures, with the four important NPCs who've interacted the most of with the PCs so far (other than Kessler himself) being a black Haitian-born major-domo, black Congo-born librarian and graduate of UT-Austin, black Dominiquais chef and a Houston-born doctor of Vietnamese descent. The two temporarily leaders of the security aboard are another Houston-born man of Vietnamese descent (doctor Dao Van Sang's brother) and Zamal Juman, former secret policeman from Guyana. That's only because the team leader of the monster hunter team and the chief of security aboard the Penemue were both away for a Christmas vacation, however, so Dao and Juman were the two people with leadership positions in the shooting teams who were able to respond quickly to an emergency. Dao is actually a serving US Army Special Forces officer, which is why he is not a full-time member of the monster hunting team, but he's Kessler's godson and is aware of everything. Once the full crew comes aboard, the PCs will interact more with the Houston-born Captain Gus Starr and a few other leaders who are likely to be Americans of European descent, so the leadership isn't entirely 'ethnic', but there is definitely a strong exotic vibe, which is a good thing. I expect the PCs will probably interact less with Ms. Marchant than the other senior NPCs, if only because she is more concerned with Kessler's mundane business empire than the hunting of monsters, but given how fond PCs are of trying to short-circuit chains-of-command and speaking directly with The Boss, they might draw her ire on a semi-regular basis. What I'm missing now are the First Mate, who'll definitely be a former Coast Guard warrant officer, in his sixties, and more than competent enough to command the Penemue on his own, and the commander of the monster hunting away team. Wait, and the chief of security aboard, whom I've just decided to make a full-time position separate from the monster hunting team or the ship's officers. Where might someone have learned close protection, counterintelligence and counter-terrorism to a high-pitch of perfection, before becoming a high-priced security consultant? Somewhere like the Secret Service, but ideally somewhere else, for variety and interest. Maybe a French citizen or someone from the Caribbean... I'm thinking the current chief of security has been there less than ten years.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 01-29-2019 at 07:30 AM. |
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01-29-2019, 08:56 AM | #146 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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British Surname of Norman Origin, Never too High, Never too Low
I'm looking for a surname for an Englishman. His ancestor came across in the train of William the Conqueror, but it was not as a Norman knight or baron, but rather as a grizzled serjeant in the service of a nobleman. In the almost millenia since, that's mostly been the lot of this family. Military service, honoured retainers to gentry and nobility, but no titles or land grants of their own. In essence, hereditary sergeants, game keepers, bailiffs and policemen, with a smattering of stout yeoman farmers and the occasional drunkard.
The name can suggest a tradition of military service, but should not sound too much like an officer's name. Which, I'll grant, is tough to do with old, established Norman names, as the tracing of descent to the Norman Conquest is generally a very posh past-time. Let's assume that the average modern bearer of the name has no more idea of his ancestors than most ordinary people, when going back further than grandparents remember, but that looking them up on genealogy websites reveals, at least, a Norman origin for the name and possibly that original Norman serjeant owing some tax or other in the Domesday Book (or more likely his descendant in some church roll or something). Ideally, I'd like the name to sound fairly warlike or at least appropriate for a tough-as-nails NPC who used to be a sniper in the 22 SAS and who currently maintains and customizes the armament of the monster hunters aboard Penemue.* *As well as making the security of J.R. Kessler his personal priority, entirely aside from any formal job title. As far as this NPC is concerned, he is a man at arms, as was his father before him (and his father before that, etc.) and he has found a feudal lord he is proud to serve as long as he draws breath.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 01-29-2019 at 09:26 AM. |
01-29-2019, 09:12 AM | #148 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [MH] Caribbean by Night
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 01-29-2019 at 09:20 AM. |
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01-29-2019, 11:08 AM | #149 |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
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Re: [MH] Caribbean by Night
I'd give thought to the more martial of the trade-names: Ballister, Fletcher, Bannerman, Faulkner.
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01-29-2019, 11:27 AM | #150 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: British Surname of Norman Origin, Never too High, Never too Low
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Kessler employed the senior Bannerman (1924-2002) as a mercenary on numerous occasions in the 1960s and 1970s, before offering him a position in his household on a more permanent basis. The 'current' Bannerman is born in 1962 and became a part of Kessler's orbit as a teenager. He could have gone to any college he wanted and gotten considerable help in establishing himself as a business executive, but for reasons that his father understood perfectly, elected to follow rather than lead. Young Bannerman joined the British Army in 1980, as his father had before him in WWII, but he did so with the explicit intention of serving in the SAS and acquiring the skills he'd need to enter Kessler's household as a valued man-at-arms. The younger Bannerman has been an active member of the monster hunting teams since 1992 and has only recently accepted a less active position, as the Penemue's armourer. What first names should I give the father and son? Something simple, no doubt. Charles, George, Harry, Jack, John or Thomas?
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caribbean, ken hite, monster hunters, suppressed transmission, vile vortices |
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