Organization for Monster Hunters

Kalzazz · 04-10-2011, 09:29 PM

Here is some fluffness for an organization from my games that might be adapted to Monster Hunters as for instance a Patron or an Enemy, or just fluff

Supernatural Tracking Center (STC)

The STC is a blacker than black US Agency founded after WW2 to catalog, shepherd and expand America's supernatural resources in preparation for the inevitable battle with the Soviet Union. Also of key importance was to make sure that mages and others like them were paying their fair share by ushering in the Supernatural Gains Tax in cooperation with the Infernal Revenue Service. The need for this was recognized after reviewing the improvised ways in which American supernatural resources were used during WW2 and finding them suboptimal. The current mission is the same though there has been some discussion that it might need updating given the fall of the Soviet Union but this has yet to be acted upon.

The STC is funded through hidden budgets and through a portion of the Supernatural Gains Tax being retained for its use. It is unknown whether or not the STC makes or loses money, but it has been commented upon that STC offices tend toward the extremely opulent. STC employees are paid according to Government Service scales however they also tend to receive cars, housing, food and numerous other benefits.

STC primarily recruits from people taking the Civil Service exam, however it also hires people away from other government agencies. One requirement that is looked for is a love of the supernatural and college degrees are expected. Most STC agents are people who tend to think 'vampires need to eat to' and take an exceptionally dim view of monster hunters, considering them poachers at best and genocidal traitors to the nation at worst. The STC embraces diversity and tries to hire both men and women of all races and all species, hiring elves, centaurs, dragons, vampires and so forth when possible. They do however attempt to only hire people suited to their position, after disastrous results following a report on the lack of zombies in leadership positions.

The STC attempts to perform several vital functions
1. Maintain an up to date record of all supernatural entities, magic users, magic items, and other supernatural resources in the US complete with contact information in case of necessary draft.
2. Mediate or deal with threats to the US's supernatural resources, such as clear cutting of centaur housing forests, vampire-werewolf wars, and monster hunters.
3. When necessary cull supernatural beings when they prove overly unruly or expand beyond their habitats ability to support them
4. Provide needed assistance such as medical or other excuses for werewolves to miss work around the full moon or vampires to get drivers licenses despite not showing on film or being able to visit the DMW when it is open.
5. Provide lifestyle counseling such as eating illegal immigrants is okay, eating the daughter of a senator is not. Colorful pamphlets and 24hr 1-800 numbers are available.
6. Monitor the financial activities of mages and supernatural beings to make sure the Supernatural Gains Tax is being paid and magic items properly registered. If necessary to collect taxes by force. Helpful booklets and DVDs are available including the popular 'The Supernatural Gains Tax and You' series, and anyone can request the full Supernatural Gains Tax Code on 5 DVDs.
7. Intervene in cases of conflict between supernatural beings and government authorities.
8. Take actions to ensure the supernatural is undetected by the populace at large to avoid panic. For instance if godzilla destroys a city the STC will be sure to spraypaint Dealing Don's Used Cars on him and call it the act of a rogue advertising balloon.
9. Supply supernatural assistance to other parts of the US government as needed, for instance the STC raised a unit of vampires to send to Iraq as Desert Fighters.

STC agents rarely enter combat or other harmful situations themselves if they can avoid it, preferring to operate from the comfort of their offices. While many STC Agents are truly motivated and idealistic patriotic citizens and lovers of the supernatural an increasing number are unmotivated employees who relish the fact it is extremely hard to fire people from government jobs that do not exist. Corruption is a problem as many think the government does not pay them enough for what they do and that thus they are entitled to 'tips'.

When field action is necessary and risk is anticipated Free Agents, Trustees or other government forces are usually used. Free Agents are those supernatural entities or humans who when surveyed by the STC indicate a willingness to participate in STC sanctioned actions for compensation. Trustees are those entities or humans who have committed Supernatural Code violations and are being allowed to do work to pay for their sins. Also people from the Army's Supernatural Operations Groups, DARPA, or other places may be called upon. Finally if necessary the STC is empowered by the Selective Service to draft those with uniquely necessary talents to government service whether they like it or not. STC agents are also sometimes used but this is not recommended except in an advisory capacity.

Supernatural beings found to be violating the Supernatural Code are arrested and placed in training to curb this behavior, frequently through lectures accompanied by PowerPoint and then a test. Sample questions include 'if a train full of 300 humans leaves Chicago traveling East at 4 AM at 35 mph and a train leaves Philadelphia with 400 humans traveling West at 5 AM at 50 mph is it acceptable to destroy them?' If the test is failed then further tutoring is needed. They are also frequently assigned labor as Trustees, given assignments varying between extremely dangerous and vacuuming the lobby.

Formally weapons include M1911s, M1 Carbines, and Thompson SMGs. Informally STC agents are allowed to use whatever they like and are given an allowance to purchase them. Due to good relations with DARPA the STC frequently has access to lasers, gyrocs, or whatever other nice toys DARPA will sell them. The official STC vehicle is the Cadillac Elven Steed. Elven Steeds are large black cars with lots of chrome, leather interiors and tail fins. They also include heated seats, minibars and premium sound systems, with run flat tires and bullet resistant materials. Thanks to elemental fueled engines they have exceptional acceleration and top speed. Active camouflauge systems allow them to be disguised as other cars, shrubs, cardboard boxes or other inconspicuous things. The elemental and onboard computer are linked and equipped with satellite broadband, this allows the cars to talk. They tend to have a particular fondness for wikipedia and love to act as tour guides regaling their drivers and passengers with tales of the landmarks they pass (for instance telling them about the 7-11 they pass every day on the way to work. Every day). The elemental/computer hybrids are not terribly smart and care must be taken not to confuse them intentionally or otherwise (an incident involving the motor pool being informed pink elephants were particularly stealthy is well and not always fondly remembered). Elven Steeds can drive themselves but not very well, tending to run over things. The STC has decent access to magic items, especially healing potions.

starslayer · 04-11-2011, 03:57 PM

Having played in multiple of Kal's games where the STC was used I have to say they are a pretty good group, but for a series of reasons that may not be outright evident from his summary.

1- They are NOT a secret shadowy government agency operating outside of the law with unlimited resources and zero accountability. They pay trivial lip service to secrecy, there resources entirely come from there dividend of the supernatural gains tax, and are thus limited by how many supernatural creatures/wizards/whatever they can convince to pay them taxes, and they are 100% accountable for not only there own actions, but for any supernatural creatures they have supposedly 'reformed', which means they are vulnerable to local politics and the regular legal system (A judge could deny them the ability to place a magical tracking device, a senator could make them pay for the damage the big eyed monster inflicted on his city, etc)

2- They are nowhere NEAR 100% effective, possibly not even 25% effective, but there good at spin and clean-up, there stories don't mesh 100% with observed events, so anyone asking the right questions will get the real story, but 'gas line rupture' just makes more sense then 'pyrokenetic on a rampage', doubly so when some previously unheard of company that apparently installed the gas lines has been sued for the damages.

3- In any setting where at least a good portion of the GURPS magic spells exist (or any other magic system really) something like the STC can be used to explain why the local economy has not tanked in several industries- the supernatural gains tax makes it an non-viable option for instant wealth. If the penalties for being caught making wealth with magic are suitably high then it will discourage mages who don't want to constantly be on the lam from doing so and also prevent any large operations from appearing.

4- The STC only exists to protect it's host nation, and can be VERY pragmatic about it (If you have to eat someone, don't make that someone a citizen).

5- They behave like any other government organization, which is to say that nothing is set in stone and rules change from administrator to administrator, let alone location to location. Further they reward good work with better locations to administer, and poor work with harder to administer locations, so places where supernatural activity are at a minimum are likely to stay that way with maximum enforcement from skilled individuals, and places which are 'slums' of supernatural activity are likely to stay that with with incompetent staff helming the STC there; which is excellent from a GM perspective; you can safely have STC control measures STRICTLY enforced in some locations, and essentially unenforced in others (to prevent quest breakage and yet still let supernatural creatures use there powers)

6- They are BELIEVABLE, when done correctly the STC resembles any other government agency and are very believable in a situation where supernatural creatures and powers exist which makes them feel natural in the setting- there provide enough 'smokescreen' for supernatural acts to prevent the whole world from being actively aware of there existence, and answer the question of 'why doesn't group xxx rule the world' adequately.

In short, it's a good organization for a Dr Who/Torchwood esque 'not quite out in the open, but not that well hidden either' supernatural setting.

04-10-2011, 09:29 PM	#1
Kalzazz Join Date: Feb 2009	Organization for Monster Hunters Here is some fluffness for an organization from my games that might be adapted to Monster Hunters as for instance a Patron or an Enemy, or just fluff Supernatural Tracking Center (STC) The STC is a blacker than black US Agency founded after WW2 to catalog, shepherd and expand America's supernatural resources in preparation for the inevitable battle with the Soviet Union. Also of key importance was to make sure that mages and others like them were paying their fair share by ushering in the Supernatural Gains Tax in cooperation with the Infernal Revenue Service. The need for this was recognized after reviewing the improvised ways in which American supernatural resources were used during WW2 and finding them suboptimal. The current mission is the same though there has been some discussion that it might need updating given the fall of the Soviet Union but this has yet to be acted upon. The STC is funded through hidden budgets and through a portion of the Supernatural Gains Tax being retained for its use. It is unknown whether or not the STC makes or loses money, but it has been commented upon that STC offices tend toward the extremely opulent. STC employees are paid according to Government Service scales however they also tend to receive cars, housing, food and numerous other benefits. STC primarily recruits from people taking the Civil Service exam, however it also hires people away from other government agencies. One requirement that is looked for is a love of the supernatural and college degrees are expected. Most STC agents are people who tend to think 'vampires need to eat to' and take an exceptionally dim view of monster hunters, considering them poachers at best and genocidal traitors to the nation at worst. The STC embraces diversity and tries to hire both men and women of all races and all species, hiring elves, centaurs, dragons, vampires and so forth when possible. They do however attempt to only hire people suited to their position, after disastrous results following a report on the lack of zombies in leadership positions. The STC attempts to perform several vital functions 1. Maintain an up to date record of all supernatural entities, magic users, magic items, and other supernatural resources in the US complete with contact information in case of necessary draft. 2. Mediate or deal with threats to the US's supernatural resources, such as clear cutting of centaur housing forests, vampire-werewolf wars, and monster hunters. 3. When necessary cull supernatural beings when they prove overly unruly or expand beyond their habitats ability to support them 4. Provide needed assistance such as medical or other excuses for werewolves to miss work around the full moon or vampires to get drivers licenses despite not showing on film or being able to visit the DMW when it is open. 5. Provide lifestyle counseling such as eating illegal immigrants is okay, eating the daughter of a senator is not. Colorful pamphlets and 24hr 1-800 numbers are available. 6. Monitor the financial activities of mages and supernatural beings to make sure the Supernatural Gains Tax is being paid and magic items properly registered. If necessary to collect taxes by force. Helpful booklets and DVDs are available including the popular 'The Supernatural Gains Tax and You' series, and anyone can request the full Supernatural Gains Tax Code on 5 DVDs. 7. Intervene in cases of conflict between supernatural beings and government authorities. 8. Take actions to ensure the supernatural is undetected by the populace at large to avoid panic. For instance if godzilla destroys a city the STC will be sure to spraypaint Dealing Don's Used Cars on him and call it the act of a rogue advertising balloon. 9. Supply supernatural assistance to other parts of the US government as needed, for instance the STC raised a unit of vampires to send to Iraq as Desert Fighters. STC agents rarely enter combat or other harmful situations themselves if they can avoid it, preferring to operate from the comfort of their offices. While many STC Agents are truly motivated and idealistic patriotic citizens and lovers of the supernatural an increasing number are unmotivated employees who relish the fact it is extremely hard to fire people from government jobs that do not exist. Corruption is a problem as many think the government does not pay them enough for what they do and that thus they are entitled to 'tips'. When field action is necessary and risk is anticipated Free Agents, Trustees or other government forces are usually used. Free Agents are those supernatural entities or humans who when surveyed by the STC indicate a willingness to participate in STC sanctioned actions for compensation. Trustees are those entities or humans who have committed Supernatural Code violations and are being allowed to do work to pay for their sins. Also people from the Army's Supernatural Operations Groups, DARPA, or other places may be called upon. Finally if necessary the STC is empowered by the Selective Service to draft those with uniquely necessary talents to government service whether they like it or not. STC agents are also sometimes used but this is not recommended except in an advisory capacity. Supernatural beings found to be violating the Supernatural Code are arrested and placed in training to curb this behavior, frequently through lectures accompanied by PowerPoint and then a test. Sample questions include 'if a train full of 300 humans leaves Chicago traveling East at 4 AM at 35 mph and a train leaves Philadelphia with 400 humans traveling West at 5 AM at 50 mph is it acceptable to destroy them?' If the test is failed then further tutoring is needed. They are also frequently assigned labor as Trustees, given assignments varying between extremely dangerous and vacuuming the lobby. Formally weapons include M1911s, M1 Carbines, and Thompson SMGs. Informally STC agents are allowed to use whatever they like and are given an allowance to purchase them. Due to good relations with DARPA the STC frequently has access to lasers, gyrocs, or whatever other nice toys DARPA will sell them. The official STC vehicle is the Cadillac Elven Steed. Elven Steeds are large black cars with lots of chrome, leather interiors and tail fins. They also include heated seats, minibars and premium sound systems, with run flat tires and bullet resistant materials. Thanks to elemental fueled engines they have exceptional acceleration and top speed. Active camouflauge systems allow them to be disguised as other cars, shrubs, cardboard boxes or other inconspicuous things. The elemental and onboard computer are linked and equipped with satellite broadband, this allows the cars to talk. They tend to have a particular fondness for wikipedia and love to act as tour guides regaling their drivers and passengers with tales of the landmarks they pass (for instance telling them about the 7-11 they pass every day on the way to work. Every day). The elemental/computer hybrids are not terribly smart and care must be taken not to confuse them intentionally or otherwise (an incident involving the motor pool being informed pink elephants were particularly stealthy is well and not always fondly remembered). Elven Steeds can drive themselves but not very well, tending to run over things. The STC has decent access to magic items, especially healing potions.

04-11-2011, 03:57 PM	#2
starslayer Join Date: Dec 2006	Re: Organization for Monster Hunters Having played in multiple of Kal's games where the STC was used I have to say they are a pretty good group, but for a series of reasons that may not be outright evident from his summary. 1- They are NOT a secret shadowy government agency operating outside of the law with unlimited resources and zero accountability. They pay trivial lip service to secrecy, there resources entirely come from there dividend of the supernatural gains tax, and are thus limited by how many supernatural creatures/wizards/whatever they can convince to pay them taxes, and they are 100% accountable for not only there own actions, but for any supernatural creatures they have supposedly 'reformed', which means they are vulnerable to local politics and the regular legal system (A judge could deny them the ability to place a magical tracking device, a senator could make them pay for the damage the big eyed monster inflicted on his city, etc) 2- They are nowhere NEAR 100% effective, possibly not even 25% effective, but there good at spin and clean-up, there stories don't mesh 100% with observed events, so anyone asking the right questions will get the real story, but 'gas line rupture' just makes more sense then 'pyrokenetic on a rampage', doubly so when some previously unheard of company that apparently installed the gas lines has been sued for the damages. 3- In any setting where at least a good portion of the GURPS magic spells exist (or any other magic system really) something like the STC can be used to explain why the local economy has not tanked in several industries- the supernatural gains tax makes it an non-viable option for instant wealth. If the penalties for being caught making wealth with magic are suitably high then it will discourage mages who don't want to constantly be on the lam from doing so and also prevent any large operations from appearing. 4- The STC only exists to protect it's host nation, and can be VERY pragmatic about it (If you have to eat someone, don't make that someone a citizen). 5- They behave like any other government organization, which is to say that nothing is set in stone and rules change from administrator to administrator, let alone location to location. Further they reward good work with better locations to administer, and poor work with harder to administer locations, so places where supernatural activity are at a minimum are likely to stay that way with maximum enforcement from skilled individuals, and places which are 'slums' of supernatural activity are likely to stay that with with incompetent staff helming the STC there; which is excellent from a GM perspective; you can safely have STC control measures STRICTLY enforced in some locations, and essentially unenforced in others (to prevent quest breakage and yet still let supernatural creatures use there powers) 6- They are BELIEVABLE, when done correctly the STC resembles any other government agency and are very believable in a situation where supernatural creatures and powers exist which makes them feel natural in the setting- there provide enough 'smokescreen' for supernatural acts to prevent the whole world from being actively aware of there existence, and answer the question of 'why doesn't group xxx rule the world' adequately. In short, it's a good organization for a Dr Who/Torchwood esque 'not quite out in the open, but not that well hidden either' supernatural setting.