coolclaytony-2

[coolclaytony-2]

Princess: the Hopeful, Crystal Edition, is DONE!

All that remains is formatting and layout and editing! The game is complete and playable top to bottom! You know the premise, don't you? Corruption. There's a force of evil corrupting everyone, poisoning their minds, spreading like an infection. Turning people against their friends, against themselves, until all they do is spread the evil. The enemy is everywhere. The enemy infects everyone. And its name is "fear."

Fear controls the world. Fear twists and imprisons us, turns us on each other and against ourselves. Fear hollows you out and turns you into a vessel to spread more fear, demanding more and more of yourself, demanding you spread it to others just to alleviate the pain on yourself.

We've lived under the tyranny of fear for so long we don't realize it any more. But now, we have the chance to be free. You're that chance.

Welcome to the War for Hope. Become a magical girl in the Chronicles of Darkness and fight the forces of Fear Itself! Express who you are in every action, put your lives and ideals on the line, and face glorious triumph or ruinous, soul-crushing defeat! Cast dynamic Charms made of multiple modular Upgrades to create your very own anime word salad spell names! Face Nightscapes crafted from fear and trauma to resolve and free the people who imprison themselves inside! The fate of the world is on your shoulders -- no matter if you're ready for it or not.

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With all the ink that's been spilled over whether or not calling a lich's soul receptacle, a "phylactery" is appropriate, I think that sentiment does hold true for the Nobility in Princess: The Hopeful. Which is why I propse we rechristen the princess' phylactery an "Insignia".

[coolclaytony-2]

Oh by the way. You know what's a thought i've been ruminating on all day? I think the Persona games could serve as a good model to base a "Princess: The Hopeful" videogame off of.

Particularly the emphasis on time management and making developing one's social relationships a critical aspect of gameplay.

Of course, this would mean having to drop most overt references to the World of Darkness. But that can be acceptable, especially since P:TH's story holds pretty well on its own.

I think the social links could be especially emphasized with certain story missions having parts that are made easier by having specific links up to a minimum level.

And perhapse tying them even more to character progression for party members.

Ooh. And maybe each social link can also have links other characters who the PC can facilitate bonding with for extra bonuses!

That's not even getting into how I envision their being multiple branching paths for the main story influenced by which Radiant Kingdom the PC pledges themselves to.

And perhaps unlike Persona, failing a main story mission doesn't result in an automatic game over but does result in a progressively sadder ending with each failure. You get lots of party members because they can all die if you're not careful.

And each death has consequences.

Though perhaps for a quality of life fix, character death is only possible during boss fights.

You know what the thing with failing missions not resulting in a gameover might not actually make sense.

Or at least, not unless you add more conditions to success than "defeat the dungeon boss before the designated date".

Then of course, there's the question of wether or not the Sensitivity and Belief mechanics should carry over to this hypothetical game.

In any case, they would have to be altered to function in this new format

Especially since the Integrity mechanic for mortal NPCs would have to be cut for narrative flexibility.

Some highlights from a conversation I had from a friend, @dailycharacteroption.

[coolclaytony-2]

Malicious Mugger

Normally, the common mugger is often some desperate soul who needs money fast; to feed themselves and their families or to keep a roof over their head, and is willing to threaten people to get it. A Malicious Mugger has no such excuses. They are almost always bullies and cowards who enjoy antagonizing people they percieve as weaker and taking their valuables, and if their victims don't submit to Intimidation or have no money to surrender, the act of murder is it's own reward.

Type: Darkened

Attributes: Dexterity 3, Stamina 1, Strength 4, Composure 2, Manipulation 2, Presence 2, Intelligence 2, Resolve 2, Wits 3

Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl (grappling) 1, Drive 1, Firearms 2, Larceny (theft) 1, Stealth (moving quietly) 2, Survival 1, Weaponry 2, Intimidation 2, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 2, Academics 1, Crafts 1, Medicine 1, Occult 1

Derived Traits: Health 6, Willpower 4, Size 5, Speed 12, Initiative 5, Defense 4

Integrity: 4 (murder)

Vice: Cowardice and Cruelty. Malicious Muggers are motivated almost entirely by self preservation and a sadistic desire to steal from the weak.

Virtue: Efficient. A Mugger won't waste his time on extravagant plans nor take unnecessary risks.

Merits: Common Sense, Patient, Vice-Ridden, Fleet of Foot 1

Umbrae: Faceless in the Crowd, Thieves Touch

Caligines: Shadowblade

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Tremaine

Some agents of The Outer Darkness are so unspeakably cruel as to direct their malice onto those they should love the most. Despite what their common epithet may imply, tremaines do not always manifest from abusive parents, though that is indeed the most common context in which Nobles encounter them. Compared to other sorts of Darkened, a tremaine can persist as she does for decades before transitioning into a mnenosyne or darkspawn, though the former is a far more common fate, as tremaines rarely fight against the Darkness' influence, seeing it's corruption as a liberating force to elevate themselves above others. Perhaps more than any other sort of Darkened, many among the Nobility consider these individuals to be little better than their fully monsterous kin and feel little regret for killing them where they stand

Type: Darkened

Attributes: Composure 3, Manipulation 4, Presence 2, Intelligence 3, Resolve 3, Wits 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Strength 1

Skills: Empathy 1 (lies), Intimidation 3 (veiled threats), Persuasion 3, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 5 (gaslighting), Academics 1, Computer 1, Investigation 1, Medicine 1, Occult 1, Politics 1, Science 1, Drive 1, Firearms 1, Larceny 2, Stealth 1

Derived Traits: Health 7, Willpower 5, Size 5, Speed 9, Initiative 6, Defense 2

Integrity: 5 (abuse, lies)

Vice: Cruelty — A tremaine has many flaws in their character that might serve as a suitable vice, but the most common of these is a persistent need to make other's hurt for their own benefit.

Virtue: N/a — Tremaines are infamously lacking in any pretense of virtuosity, try as they might to hide it.

Merits: Common Sense, Eidetic Memory, Fast-Talking 2, Resources 2, Pusher, Untouchable

Caligines: Bad Seed, Liar's Heart, Serpent's Tongue

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Crooked Cop

It is of little surprise to many that police officers are uniquely vulnerable to dark taint. They often blindly walk into tainted places with the intention of committing sin upon the innocent and malicious alike, with their government's approval of course. To say nothing of the cops who regularly commit full-fledged felonies and leverage their authority or that of their superiors to sweep their transgressions under the rug. But while mundane cops can be exceptionally awful people, a darkened cop is a different breed all together. Indeed, nearly every police force in the world has at least one clique of Crooked Cops who are banded together by a mission to indulge their most despicable desires with the iron fist of the law on their side. Crooked Cops are instinctually driven to abuse their authority in ways that will undermine the ability of untainted officers to make legitimate arrests against other darkened and to interfere in investigations that would expose Darkspawn and cult activity. Of course, like any organized effort by agents of the Outer Darkness, ultimately any group of Crooked Cops will fall apart over time if a Mnemosyne or Cataphract does not eventually take charge.

Type: Darkened

Attributes: Composure 2, Manipulation 2, Presence 3, Intelligence 2, Resolve 2, Wits 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Strength 3

Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Drive 2, Firearms 2 (Handguns), Larceny 1, Stealth 1, Weaponry 1, Animal Ken 1, Persuasion 1, Socialize 1, Streetwise 2 (Gangs), Subterfuge 2, Computer 1, Investigation 1, Occult 1, Politics 1 (Laws)

Derived Traits: Health 7, Willpower 4, Size 5, Speed 14, Initiative 5, Defense 4

Equipment: Kevlar Armor, Lt. Pistol, Sap

Integrity: 4 (Assault)

Vice: Wrath — A Crooked Cop often joins the force because he wants the legal freedom to inflict violence on acceptable targets.

Virtue: Loyalty — Crooked Cops barely respect the law, much less any pretenses of morality. But their twisted loyalty to eachother and the police institution is often absolute.

Merits: Danger Sense, Fleet of Foot 3, Small Unit Tactics

Umbrae: Cruel Confidence, Grip Onto Your Fear, Taste of Sin

Caligines: I Have You Now My Pretty, Liar's Heart, Shadowbolt 1, Zombie's Flesh 1

—————

Been a while since I've posted on this blog.

Edit: I had just discovered that the number of integrity triggers that get ignored by Darkened determine how close they are to becoming a Mnemosyne relative. This required me to either increase the Crooked Cop's resolve or increase it's Integrity at the cost of how many acts of evil it can get away with doing. I settled for the latter.

[coolclaytony-2]

In a certain game I love, technically yes!

If I ever made a webcomic

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[coolclaytony-2]

Does anyone know what "Blazing" and "Responsible" mean here? I assume they're early development names for Fouco and Terra, respectively, that got overlooked when the text was being edited.

[coolclaytony-2]

Hmmm. There's potential here!

While we're at the subject of re-interpreting ancient greek myths, has anyone made one of Pandora's box, where all the ailments and evils in the world were already in the world while sealed in the box, and all that was really sealed away was peoples' awareness of them, and the ability to see what causes the harm that they already do?

So by opening the box she was told to never open, poor Pandora didn't release the evil into the world, but only made the unseen into something that could be seen? From an outsider's perspective, the outcome looks just the same - the box was opened and now everything's awful. But the last thing to come out of the box was hope. Now that we know what the evils are, where they are and what they do and have done, there is hope of doing something about them.

[coolclaytony-2]

Hey, if you guys had to pick two emotions to sum up the "Addams Family" mentality, which would you choose? Particularly obscure emotions are welcome and encouraged.

@jimothy-g-brooks @erbe-des-chaos @zadokengel @eggchjf @glare-quietly @revolupine @nescio7 @hypnooperapursesuitcase @krystinyas @amethystmonarch @cheyj05 @insidetheskinofthesun

[coolclaytony-2]

Request: The end state of a Deluded Vigilante that gives in to becoming a monster that preys upon the "guilty".

Bigger Request: Read my CoD homebrews and see if that gives you any inspiration for evil critters.

Punitor

When people try to court the powers of The Outer Darkness to enact justice, they play a dangerous game. Common such individuals are Darkened known as Deluded Vigilantes, people who want to answer the calling of a superhero, but turned to sinister powers to achieve it. Sadly, but predictably, the Darkness usually wins over such misbegotten heroes, and a grim Darkspawn rises in their place.

Punitores are musclebound ogres driven by a single-minded need to inflict harm on people for some manner of "crime." The specific nature of the sort of crimes a Punitor avenges varies from individual, but it usually ammounts to any act that aligns to a specific virtue that, in life, the Punitor merely perceived as foolish, that had since been elevated in their minds to a basal moral failing by the Darkness as they lost grip of their humanity. A Punitor, who loathes kindness, might see a person give a homeless man spare change and interpret it as enabling drug addiction or a patronizing act of infantilization. Regardless of the perceived offense, a Punitor's best and only punishment is a brutal death.

Hypocritically, Punitores are incapable of interpreting the actions of other dark beings as criminal, perceiving Darkened and other Darkspawn as allies of justice and seeing Mnemosynes and Cataphractoi as wise leadership who will point their guns in the direction of true evil.

Type: Darkspawn

Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 2, Resolve 4, Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Presence 3, Manipulation 0, Composure 2

Skills: Crafts 1, Investigation 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Drive 2, Firearms 3, Stealth 2, Intimidation 3, Persuasion 1, Streetwise 2

Derived Traits: Health 8, Willpower 6, Size 6, Speed 13, Initiative 5, Defense 5

Vice: Cruel & Arrogant — A Punitor is ever eager to inflict pain on the guilty with self-righteous zeal.

Virtue: Righteous — Though they completely fail to recognize legitimate justice, Punitores still have a twisted sense of ethics.

Merits: Iron Stamina 2, Street Fighting 3, Unarmed Defense 1, Vice-Ridden 1

Umbrae: Cold Flesh, Dark Dreams (blindness), Faceless in the Crowd, Scuttling Spider's Sense, Taste of Sin

Calignes: Grotesque Bulk 1, Voidbolt 3

[coolclaytony-2]

Have you taken a look at Crystal Edition of Princess: the Hopeful?

Should I? I'm not sure what the Crystal version has to offer that that Dream or Vocation can't.

[coolclaytony-2]

Request: The end state of a Deluded Vigilante that gives in to becoming a monster that preys upon the "guilty".

Bigger Request: Read my CoD homebrews and see if that gives you any inspiration for evil critters.

Punitor

When people try to court the powers of The Outer Darkness to enact justice, they play a dangerous game. Common such individuals are Darkened known as Deluded Vigilantes, people who want to answer the calling of a superhero, but turned to sinister powers to achieve it. Sadly, but predictably, the Darkness usually wins over such misbegotten heroes, and a grim Darkspawn rises in their place.

Punitores are musclebound ogres driven by a single-minded need to inflict harm on people for some manner of "crime." The specific nature of the sort of crimes a Punitor avenges varies from individual, but it usually ammounts to any act that aligns to a specific virtue that, in life, the Punitor merely perceived as foolish, that had since been elevated in their minds to a basal moral failing by the Darkness as they lost grip of their humanity. A Punitor, who loathes kindness, might see a person give a homeless man spare change and interpret it as enabling drug addiction or a patronizing act of infantilization. Regardless of the perceived offense, a Punitor's best and only punishment is a brutal death.

Hypocritically, Punitores are incapable of interpreting the actions of other dark beings as criminal, perceiving Darkened and other Darkspawn as allies of justice and seeing Mnemosynes and Cataphractoi as wise leadership who will point their guns in the direction of true evil.

Type: Darkspawn

Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 2, Resolve 4, Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Presence 3, Manipulation 0, Composure 2

Skills: Crafts 1, Investigation 2, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Drive 2, Firearms 3, Stealth 2, Intimidation 3, Persuasion 1, Streetwise 2

Derived Traits: Health 8, Willpower 6, Size 6, Speed 13, Initiative 5, Defense 5

Vice: Cruel & Arrogant — A Punitor is ever eager to inflict pain on the guilty with self-righteous zeal.

Virtue: Righteous — Though they completely fail to recognize legitimate justice, Punitores still have a twisted sense of ethics.

Merits: Iron Stamina 2, Street Fighting 3, Unarmed Defense 1, Vice-Ridden 1

Umbrae: Cold Flesh, Dark Dreams (blindness), Faceless in the Crowd, Scuttling Spider's Sense, Taste of Sin

Calignes: Grotesque Bulk 1, Voidbolt 3

[coolclaytony-2]

Caligo: The Shadows Know

The Shadows Know (•)

Action: Instant Dice Pool: Resolve + Empathy + Shadows vs Composure + Supernatural Resistance Cost: 1 willpower Duration: 1 scene

The character peers into the hearts and minds of others and learns the most awful thing about their inner selves. Actual actions are ignored, intent is also irrelevant- the only thing this power reads is the darkness inside the hearts of man. What they would do if they were bereft of all laws and rules and society and empathy and self-control, what dark, predatory desire or fantasy would they act upon if they were free of all restraint both outside and inside. It cannot tell if the person revels in these thoughts or is ashamed of them, it cannot tell if they're on the verge of giving in to their desires or if those desires have no power over them. Someone who is virtuous in action and someone who has or will be a predator are no different from one another under the character's gaze.

Umbra: There is no activation cost. Instead, the character has this power active constantly and it works on anyone they make eye contact with, maintain physical contact with for more than five seconds, are within one meter for more than 30 seconds, hold an in-person conversation for more than a minute or any conversation for more than five. 

Depending on interpretation, the character's perception of his fellow man will degrade as he finds out too many of them harbor predatory desires, no different from someone who engages in predation themselves. How one acts on this information is a matter of choice, but the Darkness imposes a pressure selection for the worst kind of conclusion.

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Apates the Pretenders, the Jesters Of Darkness

((Greek: "Fraud", απάτες apátes)) (sg. Apati)

A Darkened with few Umbrae loses the last of their Integrity and instead of dying in their sleep and melting into a puddle of goo, they sweat the goo out, become a Mnemosyne and the sweat becomes a monster. A Darkspawn devours the flesh of their would-be Master and becomes possessed by a shadow of their intellect, compelled to seek another corpse and a Tainted Place on the night of a new moon so that they might give that voice a body once more. A Darkened loses the last of their Integrity, dies in their sleep and melts into a puddle of goo all over the person they were sleeping next to. A sorcerer binds a Darkspawn as their familiar and the binding goes far deeper than expected. A Darkened loses the last of their Integrity and falls asleep in the grasp of a Darkspawn, Subsumed By Their Shadow.

There are a number of ways to create an Apati, a Creature Of Darkness with two bodies and one of what passes for a soul. There is the seemingly plain half of the arrangement, called the humaniform, and the bestial half, the monstroform. The Apates don't gain any flashy powers from their connection that makes them more threatening to the Lighttouched, but their coordination and their persistence may make them more than a mere nuisance to a Nakama.

In effect, an Apati is a Darkened or Mnemosyne with a Darkspawn as a kind of familiar. More succinctly, human and monster have become one entity in two bodies, with the human half being the dominant party and the monster acting as a mere extension of the former. For the most part, the monstroform acts independently, like a Darkspawn under the aegis of Subsumed By Another Shadow without the need for rolls and unshackled by any limits of time or distance. 

The two are still connected mind-to-mind, so the monstroform’s independent actions are motivated by the humaniform’s desires, albeit through an impulsive, bestial lens. Through this connection, the humaniform may give orders telepathically to the monstroform, which are always obeyed, and grant the monstroform access to their knowledge, skills and any merits that would make sense to be transferable mind-to-mind. When the humaniform sleeps, the two creatures share memories and learn what the other has learned.

In the event of the humaniform’s bodily demise, their spirit will continue to linger with the monstroform as an anchor, seeing through their senses and continuing to give orders and share skills as if they were still alive. The monstroform may drag a whole and freshly murdered human corpse into the Nightscape of a Tainted Place, before rigor mortis sets, and perform a nightlong vigil under a new moon. As long as the body is roughly the same dimensions as the humaniform's old body, the Outer Darkness will transform the corpse into a simulacrum of the humaniform’s old appearance with a passable simulacrum of life instilled within it and inhabited by the humaniform's spirt. If the humaniform had any Integrity before this, they no longer do, and become a Mnemosyne if they weren’t already one.

In the event of the monstroform’s destruction, the humaniform may perform a nightlong ritual during the new moon in the Nightscape of a Tainted Place. By performing an act that increases the Severity or Size of the Taint, they may call to the Outer Darkness to recreate their faithful servant. In this way, the Apati can escape death over and over until someone figures out their secret and sees to it both halves are killed. In both cases, these rituals and their requirements are intuitive to an Apati.

If there exists a Tempesta charm capable of destroying a Dethroned, even at the cost of the Seraphim’s life, then it should be of sufficient power to destroy a Pretender for the same, killing both one half and the other through their connection in one shot.

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Terata the Invaders, the Barons Of Darkness

((Greek for "Monster", τέρατα térata)) (Sg. Teras)

Whenever a horror fails to take place, when some supernatural tragic hypothetical teeters on the edge of being real and instead topples into the abyss of never happening, the Darkness rumbles with disappointment. In the Dark World, the ground may shake and a fissure opens up so that the vast Ultimate Darkness sighs in regret before closing back up again. This is especially likely to happen when a mortal perishes without hope and fails to rise again as a Cataphractoi, or when a Noble who has lost all Belief simply perishes in her sleep rather than Dethroning in an act of eternal sorrow. In a place of close correspondence to where the incident didn’t happen, a hole in the ground briefly opens and, sometimes, something falls inside.

Darkspawn that find themselves in the Dark World become frozen by a setting inhospitable even to its supposed natives, things of pure evil unable to survive in a place of ultimate evil. Only when a Tainted Place forms over in a corresponding area of the real world may they begin to stir to life, for when Darkness creeps into reality, Light shines down into the Pit and awful things begin to hunger. Otherwise, few things can move freely through the wasteland save the Dethroned and the Queen Of Storms, so when a hole in the ground opens up, most creatures are helpless but to be sucked in. Normally, the fate of these things is utter annihilation as they are recycled back into Darkness but, on occasion, something crawls out.

Rarely, more rarely, something will spontaneously crawl out of the depths of the Dark World, or descend from its starless night like a fallen angel from an inverted heaven or march from some shadowy hinterlands hitherto unknown. Terata of this sort are even more alien than the creatures that were, presumably, once human or mortal beasts, and have come here from somewhere beyond earthly horror. It’s not impossible that something called them here but it was not in response to any tragedy-that-wasn’t, rather these are unpredicted invaders upon a world of sanity, warlords of Darkness against all that is Light.

And still there are more way a Teras may form: A Darkspawn may live and experience an unusually long life and by sheer dint of accumulated age grow into something more awful. A Darkened with an unusual accumulation of Umbrae and perhaps other mutating powers finally loses the last of their Integrity and spontaneously becomes something more than a mere Darkspawn. A horde of Darkspawn fall upon one another in fratricidal violence and the melting goo of the dead accumulates upon the sole survivor. Any number of explanations and, again, the Withering increases the chances of it taking.

Traits

Terata possess Inner Night as the Dethroned do and may purchase them at the same rate as Nobles do Inner Light, thereby affecting how the Invaders collect Shadows or resist supernatural effects. This is also the same as those who have undergone the Withering and this is not entirely a coincidence. The rare Darkspawn that has Withered and later was swallowed up by the Dark World has a greater chance of emerging again as a Terata. They lose access to the merit, being that is innate to the template, but those who were Withered to begin with tend to be more thoughtful examples of their breed.

In addition to Caligines and Umbrae, Terata may gain the Hexes and Chains of the Dethroned, plus Dread Powers as well. To utilize the Dethroned powers they have acquired, Terata may use Shadows in place of Clouds. Many of the powers of the Dethroned are recontextualized and renamed as appropriate, especially in the sense that the Invaders are not remorseful fallen angels but beasts of glorious damnation. A Teras awakens to this world with the First Chain innately, and it is called the Fortress Of Contempt. An Invader does not automatically gain the other Chains as they gain Inner Night, and instead they must be learned separately, but appropriate dots of Inner Night are prerequisite.

Variations

Withered Invaders, Maramenoi Terata, often the ones who had undergone the Withering when they were swallowed by the Dark World, make-up half-ish of Dark Barony. Still monstrous in appearance, they tend to be more human shaped, normally favor Caligines and Hexes and will often utilize minions and misdirection to destroy the Lighttouched. They will continue to embody the dark philosophy that Withered them as a mere Darkspawn long ago. They are also called the Deluded.

Monstrous Invaders, Anoita Terata, the result of normal Darkspawn that managed to crawl their way out of the Dark World’s depths and are roughly half of their numbers. They tend to be the most bestial in appearance, often favoring Umbrae and Dread Powers and normally utilizing upfront wave tactics to ambush the Lighttouched at the head of a Darkspawn army. They are brutal sadists that have absolutely no care for how things are done, as long the Lighttouched die screaming. They are also called the Brutes.

Obsessed Invaders, Emmonika Terata, is an additional sub-variation that may be added to either of the above two. They have a focus on the non-event that lead to their creations, their plans and targets will often include things associated or peripheral to that thing and they will have powers and forms that ape and mock the horrible entity that never was.

Eldritch Invaders, Exogiinous Terata, were never human or any mortal creature of Earth, possibly impossible creations of destructive Darkness or entities of alien origin. Their appearances tend towards the bizarre, they often favor Hexes and Dread Powers and will act on alien whimsies to see that the world the Lighttouched protects is swallowed by Darkness. They are lonesome, loathsome creatures that either eschew companionship or limit it to a custom made cadre of elite minions. They are also called Freaks.