Hey everyone,
Ever since the APG came out, I’ve given serious thought to creating a PSRD d20 game for modern supernatural horror, much in the vein of Monte Cook’s World of Darkness, in which the player characters are the “monsters”. What I have in mind is a more universal/inclusive design philosophy than what is already published; one that is not tailored to replicate the NWoD or any other established world, but one that rather serves to accommodate a wide variety of folkloric traditions and player tastes. I want to create something where I can satisfy the sundry tastes of my diverse gaming group, whether each individual is a fan of Mercy Thompson, Twilight, Being Human, Supernatural, True Blood, Charmed, or Buffy.
I was inspired by the archetype system introduced in the APG and I’m using that as my current model for efficiently covering as many “supernatural horror” creature types as possible. Below is a rough sketch of what I’m thinking. There would be seven base classes (levels 1-20), with the assumption that the player characters recently became supernatural, recently discovered their supernatural nature, or have only just begun to unlock the secrets of their abilities. Multi-classing seems unrealistic, but I may consider it for certain combinations.
I know that there’s a lot else going on with running Pathfinder in a modern setting, what with wealth, reputation systems, firearms, etc. etc., but for now, I’m gonna focus on just the supernatural elements and see if I can get that working. So let’s see what I’ve got so far…
Lycanthropes
Primarily melee combatants with various “were-creature” archetypes that introduce moderate degrees of versatility, plus a “shapeshifter” archetype.
Vampires
Physically gifted, but they also possess unique mental powers [mind control, empathy, etc.], that can be selected and improved upon with level advancement like rogue talents. No archetypes for this one, but perhaps an “origin” that can only be selected at 1st level instead of a power that would specify the nature of the vampiric curse (such as being dhampir).
This could be expanded to “Reanimated Dead” with Vampires actually being an archetype, alongside mummies, revenants, and a Frankenstein’s monster kind of thing.
Witches/Wizards (working name since I don’t want to say “mage”)
Pretty straightforward spellcasters: physically unimpressive, but tremendous versatility. No archetypes, but player character concept would probably reflect the kinds of spells the character would most often use. Considering a magic system similar to Monte Cook’s component system (cuz it’s awesome).
Faeries
Faerie babies left in human cribs (ie. changelings), gifted mostly with luck and trickery powers, but with a wide variety of archetypes (boggart, selkie, nymph, hag, goblin, etc.) to create more specialization and sense of “role” beyond simply being fey.
Demons
Considerably one of the more difficult ones, since it’s the one that might be regarded as the most “inherently evil”. The “general” abilities of the class still elude me, but archetypes could include fallen angels, oni, ifrit/djinn, etc. to give it more universal appeal and less of an assumed Judeo-Christian cosmology.
Ghosts
Obviously, dead people. Generic powers would include fear effects, incorporealness, etc. with multi-cultural archetypes (banshee, poltergeist, gaki, will-o-the-wisp, etc.) filling out the rest.
Psychics
Humans with psychic, not magical, powers. More limited in scope than the witch/wizard, but probably considerably more powerful within their given scope. Archetypes could include telepaths, firestarters (pyrokinetics), telekinetics, precognitives, and would definitely include a “hunter” archetype; someone with the ability to sense other supernatural creatures as their gift, and would instead focus on a more martial/favored enemy type of advancement).
So that’s what I have so far; obviously everything is very rough and conceptual right now, but any feedback you guys have would be great. What I’m particularly interested in is any archetypes that you guys could suggest for each of the seven base classes. I want to see if I can cover as much ground with the existing classes as they are (hopefully, they are broad enough). Comments and critiques TOTALLY WELCOME.
Thanks!
I think that if you want a coherent system you should probably seek to normalize what 'class' means. Lycanthrope, vamppire, ghost, etc is a thing you are and a 'race' in the standard d20 language, where as wizard/witch/psychic is a thing you learn, and thus a 'class' in standard language of d20. Focusing on either or would be fine, but mixing the two would make things very complicated to work out coherently and balanced between.
For instance in a lot of lore it takes hundreds of years for a 'fledgeling'[read level 1] vampire to become a 'master'[read level 20] vampire. Usually that time is non-negotiable in the lore. This would represent the class progression from 'just turned' to master vampire. How do you reconcile that with a wizard or a psychic who may not have that kind of time in their life let alone career in the story?
I would however agree that for this kind of game building a more robust way to play monsters is a good idea.
The Frankenstein Monster would be a Created. So would robots and androids.
The Frankenstein Monster would be a Created. So would robots and androids.
Hmm, while I agree that a Frankenstein's monster would fall into the category of the Created, I'm not sure that robots and androids really qualify as supernatural horror.
Any other ideas?
Sure, not until a ghost moves in and takes it over.
The Golem of Prague should qualify.
There is also Talos, the greek iron golem.