- tatankatonk
- Nov 4, 2011
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Pitching is the art of instilling fear.
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Beasts are also abusers but it's weird because they seem to justify it by targeting people who 'deserve' it. See, even when vampires skew evil they typically see themselves as apex predators; detached predators. Oh I'm sure I can find an example of a vampire vigilante somewhere but if you look at the Invictus or the Sanctum they have opinions about human masses and not individual people. We still can acknowledge that as an evil perspective but it's sensible. I think it's the fact that Beasts tend to judge their prey on a very personal, often petty scale that would make even a vampire raise an eyebrow.
You can decide for yourself whether that's good or bad for the line but I think that's what makes it feel weird.
Here are excerpts from a game run by the head writer of Beast, written by the head writer of Beast.
quote:
[Player's] character is Maia Wallis (Makara Ravager). Maia prefers to feed by getting into relationships with men and then slowing wrecking their lives. They're free to walk at any point, of course (she doesn't stalk them if they break up with her). She teaches the lesson that some relationships are toxic and it's better to end them.
[Player] character is Tyler Townsend (Eshmaki Nemesis). Tyler bought a house in Parma, near John's - a big ostentatious Tudor. He relocated from Chicago in 2003 following some Hero problems. He was Devoured in 2001; a Namtaru was trying to feed on him, but wound up awakening the Beast, as it were. As a Nemesis, he tries to teach thieves that their lives aren't worth whatever they're trying to steal (he runs an antique shop). He once contribute Dragonfire to an Obrimos mage who needed it for an enchanted item he was making. Lair: Brightly Lit, Sealed Exits.
[Player] plays Miriana Kyle (Eshmaki Predator). Mirana lives in a simple ranch house, also same neighborhood, with access to the woods. It also has a walk-in freezer complete with meathooks. Miriana is a native Clevelander, and experienced the Devouring recently, just after her mother passed. As a Predator, she seeks to remind people that their status on the food chain isn't a given - even people can be prey.
[Player] plays John Dawson (Ugallu (Predator). He owns a house in the neighborhood, where he takes people (children, often), whose families are lying to one another and otherwise toxic. He lets them freak out, then returns the kid a few days later, unharmed.
[...]
Anyway! Our story begins on May 22, 2009. It's Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and folks are gearing up for a little break. Miriana Kyle is packing up her car to go camping. John Dawson is coaching his Little League team. Tyler Townsend is closing up his curios shop for the weekend. Maia Wallis is getting ready to go out.
All of them are doing normal things. All of them have monsters in their souls. For the moment, all of their Horrors are Sated.
Tyler leaves the light in the display case on as bait, and goes to the hookah bar across the street. He waits for a while, and sees a slim figure in a hoodie walk by his shop, stop, walk up to the door, try it, take a picture with a cell phone, and then walk away. Tyler tails the individual to an apartment a few blocks away, and notes the number. Maybe this person is just interested in buying something. Maybe Tyler will have to punish a thief.
Dawson finishes up the practice, noting which parents are there cheering for their kids and which ones stay on their cell phones the whole time, ignoring what's going on. He doesn't need to feed right now, but he notes which of his charges might need to get lost for a few hours at some point, just enough to make their parents take notice.
Maia goes down to 4th Street, where crowds are already drinking and partaking of the hip new restaurants beginning to spring up (this trend continues, by the way; Cleveland has a fun food scene). A young man named Ryan approaches her - suit and jacket, tie tucked into a pocket, obviously a young capitalist type. She flirts and accepts his offers. She doesn't know yet if he's going to be her next boyfriend; it depends on what he needs to learn. They eat and flirt, and then head over to the warehouse district to go clubbing. Maia notices posters on the wall with a picture of a woman in a top hat, and the words "DOCTOR BONES - I CAN HEAL YOU" underneath, along with some tear-offs with a phone number. She grabs one.
[...]
Tyler goes over to John's house and watches the Indians game with him, drinking beer and chatting. They talk about John's Little League team and any Beast-related actions John might be; Tyler points out that the kind of trauma John inflicts doesn't always have the intended effect of bringing families closer. John agrees, but at least it gives them the chance.
Maia and her new beau Ryan are waiting to get into a club, and hear sirens. As they watch, they see a man round the corner on foot, fleeing a squad car. Maia surreptitiously trips the guy, figuring he'll just be arrested, but the cops jump out of the car and immediately taze him, and then whack him with nightsticks a couple of times. Maia, outraged, films it, but the cops don't take much notice; they cuff the guy and toss him in the car. Maia expresses her feelings to Ryan, but he shrugs it off. Probably a drug dealer, he says. So what. Maia realizes this guy might actually be something of a schmuck, and is cheered by that thought. [This one is just funny because it goes from 1) helping the cops to 2) a person who terrorizes people being outraged at police brutality 3) justifying her planned abuse of him because he's a bit of an rear end in a top hat]
That seems kind of suspicious, so Miriana heads back to Parma and drops in on John and Tyler, and tells them about what she saw. Maia rolls in short after and she and Miriana note they both have Bones' number, so they decide to meet her the next day. For now, though, it's late. Tyler swings by his shop on the way home and sees someone has broken in and stolen a brass spyglass in the front display. Perfect.
He visits the presumed thief, and sees her on the phone. He knocks on her door, but she tells him to go sleep it off somewhere else (he doesn't say why he's there), and he decides to wait and hit whoever she fences the object to.
The next day, he waits until she leaves and trails her to a dive bar. He watches her sell the spyglass to a man, and then Tyler waits and tails him. This guy notices him, though, and leads him into an alley to warn him off. Tyler tells him to give back what he took, the man says he bought it and refuses to give it back. He pulls out a sap.
Tyler, in no mood to gently caress around, uses his Dragonfire Atavism and sets the guy alight. He runs a little ways before he remembers to stop, drop, and roll, and Tyler picks up the bag and leaves. Unfortunately, his Horror isn't interested in this meal (player failed the Satiety roll and took the dramatic failure), so Tyler is even hungrier now. Fortunately he knows someone else to punish. 
[...]
Meanwhile, Tyler goes back to the thief's house. She's on her couch, smoking a bowl. He breaks in and hits her with the You Cannot Run Nightmare, and then grabs her head and carves a T into her cheek (for thief). Hungry and pissed off, he spends a Satiety to inflict the Fugue Condition on her, as well, grabs the money she got, and leaves, his Horror happily feasting (he's up to six Satiety; didn't quite crack out of Sated).
[...]
Miriana did indeed drop by the woman's place, and found her door unlocked and her on the couch, catatonic. The place was a Chamber, and Miriana called up Tyler and told him so. Miriana then went to the park and started looking around for people jogging and not appreciating what was around them. She found a woman with a FitBit, running along, and used her You Can Never Rest Nightmare on her to scare her. The woman picked up the pace, and Miriana chased her until the woman outran her, and Miriana's Horror fed on the fear.
[...]
Maia goes on her date. She's lost a dot of Satiety (I made the offer to all of them at the beginning of the sesson; lose a dot, get a Beat), so she's hungry. She activates Heart of the Ocean and, wouldn't you know, Ryan is indeed her type - drawn to bad relationships. She immediately seduces him, looking forward to making his life hell over the next few weeks.
[...]
Meanwhile, the others decide that they'll go in search of Dillon Markway, the temporarily-immortal dude who's troubling Tyler. They can't kill him (like, they literally can't), but maybe they can stash him away for a while. And who's good at that? Why, John, the Ugallu kidnapper! [This guy threw a brick through one of the Beast's shop's windows, remember]
They all four head out to his house, and see that someone's up and watching TV. Tyler and Miriana hide in the backyard while John lurks in the shadows and Maia knocks on the door. A guy answers, and Maia claims to be out of gas, and could he drive her up the road? He agrees, somewhat sleepily (but hey, he was up), and Tyler and Miriana sneak into the house. John assumes shadow form and rides with Maia and the guy, who introduces himself as "Mike."
Tyler sees that the living room is being lived in - blankets, pizza boxes, etc. The upstairs has a room full of boxes, and another bedroom that looks more orderly. The downstairs has a workbench and some scraps of metal and leather, and obviously marked with tools that aren't present. Someone made something and took it with.
Meanwhile, Mike and Maia chat, and he mentions that he's housesitting. Realizing he's not Dillon, she relays this to Tyler, who is annoyed that Dillion isn't there. Maia offers Mike a couple of bucks as they get back to the house, but Mike just tells her to pay it forward, and Maia quickly asks him to get a cup of coffee (not wanting to send him into the house with two Beasts). They chat, and he reveals he did time for car theft, and sometimes does some work under the table for a local guy who collects vintage cars (who happens to be Tyler's annoying neighbor).
Tyler, irritated that Dillon isn't home, notes that it is his house, and torches the place with Dragonfire, reaping the delicious [ ] Satiety that brings. Maia is contemplating inviting Mike home with her, but he gets a call from someone and rushes back to the house, just in time to see the windows explode outwards. The fire department is on the scene, and Maia thanks him and leaves in John's car (with John still in the back).
I'm not reading into anything. That's the language of abuse. This is the way the game is supposed to be played. I have zero interest in its themes. I would probably start to rethink my relationship with a player if they did.
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¿
Oct 30, 2015 01:34
VVVVVVVVVVVVV L@@K VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 