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Hello, I am one book away on Reign of Winter where I will be confronted with playing, as the Gamemaster, Anastasia and Rasputin.
My question is for a little background on them and an idea on what they were like. I don't want to play out Rasputin as a godly person obsessed with power, unless that was what he was like in real life.
Mind that I am seventeen, and am GMing for a bunch of people who are 30 and above. Where I lack in knowledge they usually make up for. So, I'd like to know a little bit more about the characters themselves.
As for Baba Yaga, I know how I will play her out!
Rasputin is one of the more controversial figures in modern Russian history. So basically there's nothing you can say about him that will be definitively wrong or definitively right. Go for what makes your story the best.
Rasputin must be full of himself, assured his plans will succeed. And play on his spiritual side some. Have him yell out things like "I will see to it you burn in he--, heathens!" and similar.
Anastasia will be more of a mixed bag for RP. IRL she was a fairly easy going noble. Kind, but still very sure that her nobility was basically a divine boon. Having died and be resurrected... Well, she'll be confused to say the least. And if you bring her along to Irrisen (possibly to be it's new queen), she may go right loony. Or maybe, just maybe, she keeps a stiff upper lip and throws herself into the role with zeal. But remember, she was a devout Russian Orthodox Christian. With all these deities, demi-deities and semi-divines running around... Well, she either has to accept it, or mentally deny it.
In short, Rasputin tried to stare a whole through people he met, from what I read he would often try to hypnotize people with his staring intensely at them. He was also a womanizer and a rapist, with several cases brought against him and dismissed due to his connections. He clearly took advantage of his station and power by seducing dozens of women who did succumb to his "charms".
Anastasia was a noble always taken care of rarely got outside of her immediate circle, very close with her family, and as mentioned above a devout Russian Orthodox. From this situation she was thrown in prison and wrote in prison that she did not believe she would see 18. Schoolwork bored her and preferred the outdoors, she was playful, cheerful, and liked to play practical jokes. Also, a tomboy who loved to play with her brother. She liked to read novels.
Rasputin was in effect a mentalist. He gained access to the royal family because he could use hypnotism to stop the bleeding of the Tsar's hemophiliac son. This gave Rasputin tremendous pull with the boy's grateful mother the Tsarina. He certainly was interested in power and he certainly used his relationship with the royal family to his advantage. He basically convinced the Tsarina to get rid of her normal noble advisers and rely on him alone. That is why he was eventually killed, by angry nobles who had lost access to the royal family.
I would play him as cold, 100 yard stare kind of guy. Look up a picture, he is creepy.
The book Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie is excellent by the way.
The movie is like the cliff note of the book, watch the movie for a quick view, read the book for lots more details.
As someone said - anything and nothing might be true about Rasputin. Play him any which way you want, but funnily enough, I find the portrayal of Rasputin (by Karel Roden) in "Hellboy" quite fitting, given the AP's scenario.
Supreme arrogance, utter confidence in himself, ensured of his fascination on the fair sex/everyone else, cold and calculating in his reponses.
Karl Roden's appearance in Hellboy matched the comic books on which the film is based rather than the historical Grigori Rasputi. Rasputin was just another fictional character to me while watching the film rather than a recreation of a historical figure.As someone said - anything and nothing might be true about Rasputin. Play him any which way you want, but funnily enough, I find the portrayal of Rasputin (by Karel Roden) in "Hellboy" quite fitting, given the AP's scenario.
Supreme arrogance, utter confidence in himself, ensured of his fascination on the fair sex/everyone else, cold and calculating in his reponses.
Of course that Hellboy-version is fictitious - but I like the tone, gestures and arrogance conveyed. If I would ever GM Reign of Winter ( I presumably won't), I will look to that malevolent arrogance sans humour and moderate to low tonal inflection as something to go by.
On the other hand, I find your certainty about the way the factual (historic Rasputin) acted and spoke quite surprising^^
Mike Mignola's/de Torro's depicition of him seems just as valid as your take or that of any television documentary.
And I highly distrust "play acted" documentaries which inevitably represent the "zeitgeist" at that time
I apologize for the tone of my message, deathbydice.
readily accepted^^