#we use the sentinels of the multiverse ttrpg

[beacon-of-chaos]

*cracks knuckles* Alrighty then. This is a character I came up with for a friend's superhero setting but could easily be ported to nearly any superhero setting where you can be born with powers. Also, like many of my characters, they came to me in a dream. Just one of those things, I guess. Also, holy shit this took like an hour and a half to write.

Her name is Cassandra Belle Williams (she/they), also known as Duet.

Her ability is simple: She has two bodies. One mind across two forms, a sort of mini hive-mind, if you will. She controls both equally and simultaneously.

Backstory (note, no NPCs have names yet)

Born as "twins" Cassandra and Belle to middle-class parents in England, it soon became apparant to those who knew them that there was something odd about them. The girls never spoke directly to each other but acted in unison and always knew what the other was thinking. A secret told to one was instantly known by the other and she displayed confusion whenever one or both were treated as separate entities.

Eventually, she became old enough to understand that she was different and spoke to her parents of her divided nature. Her parents did what all middle-class folks do when they don't understand their children: send them to boarding school.

Here, Cassandra Belle (C.B. to her friends) learned many important lessons: sometimes you have to act like two different people to stop people treating you like a freak, people love the idea of getting with twins which makes them easy to manipulate, and it's really easy to get away with things when you can act as your own look-out.

It started off simple: pranks and petty thefts, mostly to get back at obnoxious bullies and stuck-up teachers. Then it progressed to running scams and picking pockets. Anything that could be made easier with two people telepathically connected, they would do and they loved it.

Carrying on this criminal life into adulthood eventually got her noticed by an underground group of similarily empowered individuals. Led by a charismatic crime boss, CB, now taking the name Duet, was trained in advanced skills and combat, eventually working their way up to becoming the boss's right-hand.

That is until a skilled hero changed everything. Chasing down a lead on a high-profile heist, this hero infiltrated the hideout and took down both Duet and the boss in one fell swoop. Recognising Duet's true nature and seeing potential there, he tells her "hey, you got a couple of good heads on your shoulders, come train with me". Not seeing any good alternatives, she agrees.

After a good while of training with the hero (who I'm imagining to be a batman style character) she eventually becomes his sidekick, with new found aspirations of being a full time hero someday.

Though maybe one who still picks pockets on occasion. Old habits die hard.

Powers and Abilities

Duet's dual nature allows her to act together or completely seperately as needed. She can fight alongside herself in combat, or split up to perform complex tasks. She's an incredible multitasker; having two brains doesn't necessarily make one smarter, but it does allow her to be in two places performing two tasks with ease, such as picking a lock in one room while distracting a target with a lengthy conversation in another.

Her training makes her a skilled unarmed fighter, though she can use weapons in a pinch. She also has great expertise in stealth, acrobatics, espionage, and fast talking.

Their major weakness is that the bodies can't be apart for too long. At a distance greater than 1 mile or so, they begin to get headaches and dizziness. Going even futher causes one body to randomly pass out, leaving the other dazed and confused.

Personality

Arrogant and loud-mouthed. She thinks she's hot shit and that gets her in trouble. She especially can't stand other heroes or villains looking down on her due to her relative inexperience, or "normal" people treating her as weird for her nature.

This doesn't mean she's completely insufferable. She can be calm and kind when she wants to be. She has made friends and found love with people who accept her true self.

But ultimately, her goal is just to be the best in whatever she does.

@beacon-of-chaos tell me about this super hero oc of yours, please.

[alexissara]

Why Hunt Monsters?

in TTRPGs the default standard mode of play is to fight monsters. In many ways this is thanks to D&D but this is replicated in many TTRPGs. I wanted to explore this common TTRPG, Video game and fictional trope of the "monster hunter" and really break down my thoughts on this topic.

The Reasons People Hunt Monsters

"Their Evil" is the most basic Lord Of The Rings ass reason for killing a monster. They are born evil, spawned of evil, they can never be anything but evil. These arguments count on you believing in the ability for something to be evil, to exist purely for malice. These both ask you to accept that an individual can be evil but also a whole race of people can be evil.

"Their Animals" is another approach taken for monster hunting media. A wild animal is dangerous so you are always justified with killing the animal just living it's life. Perhaps it's stricter and requires the use of it for food, cloths, etc in the way hunters might use an animal they have killed. This concept does require one to believe in killing animals and that animals are ultimately lesser life then the lives of your characters.

"Their Present Danger" Maybe these monsters evil or animal or neutral morally are simply a present danger to people. If they are people then they can't be reasoned with, there is no means of peace, you simply must enter a phase of violence against them even if you don't take issue with their wider existence. If they are animal then we must believe this land you are on did not belong to the animal, that it living it's natural life is unjustice and that protecting the lives of the people or yourself is more valuable then the life of the other living creature.

These three reasons take up the core logic behind monster hunters, monster slayers, adventuring parties, and more. I want to examine this and talk more in depth about the ways that these interactions with fictional life interact with the ways with think about real life.

The Dangers Of Minimizing Life

You may say that I am stretching when I say that to treat fictional monsters who have sentience as worthy of killing teaches us to feel the same way about humans, I don't think it is. We see this exactly mode of play replicated through many other TTRPGs. Games like Sentinels Of The Multiverse RPG and Mutants and Master Minds also work on treating people with lives and thoughts, families and friends as monsters. Their XP to be farmed, obstacles to be overcame. Maybe you don't kill the henchmen like you do a Goblin but mechanically you do functionally the same.

Sentinels Of The Multiverse RPG a fairly recent Super Hero TTRPG has fucking Rioters as a standard enemy they designed for you to kick the ass of. Any of the three core reasons people hunt monsters still lead to a mechanical similarity to this outlook. For instance it has been said by people smarter than me that the way we treat animals is the way we treat people we dehumanize. So it's easy for many to see a marginalized person lashing out at a world killing their people and see them as equal to a feral alligators let loose on the city. However, that person is justified at being angry and doing things to try and make the world better and the Alligator, it's just trying to live.

When We're Evil

If evil exists and it is in somethings nature, a simple core part of their function, unchangeable and unavoidable, their fate to be a piece of shit, can they really be blamed? Is a thing born of evil any different then any animal running on gut instinct? They can't help it right, it is who they are, who they will always be, then can they really be blamed for their sins? These questions basically move us back to "animal talk" and that's part of the point. Inherent evilness reduces people to animals, to beasts and those people have decided that being an animal is enough to justify your slaughter.

Inherit evilness is a tool of the racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist powers of be. From demonizing witches to Jewish people to trans people to queers even the word for what has been done to these communities implies it is making a monster out of them. In fact many monsters have their commonly coded traits from marginalized people's of their historical times. Those who were oppressed, they were turned into monsters, their stereotyped features enhanced into a fantasy version of the bigoted image of hate. So many of these things in fiction seen as inherently evil are also based on what the people through the years are based on these oppressed peoples.

Even the simple belief that a whole group of people connected only by birth could be evil is fuel in a fash fire. Even taking some "evil occupations" can be coding in these same stereotypes like many of witch stereotypes are taken from Black, Jewish, and Romani women. So in worlds where witches are always evil it is often taking religious and cultural practice's from these groups and declaring those to be the signifies of evil. Obviously there is real life jobs that are pretty evil but they actually require human suffering and they translate across cultures, sexualities, genders, etc as always being harmful to others.

That is to say that when we look at evil itself as a concept we need to challenge it. What is evil, who is evil, what about these people are evil, and is this so called evil based on stereotypes or bullying marginalized people?

We Can Change

We also have to ask what we are saying about the ability to change, about free will and our hearts. If someone is a danger, if someone is evil, if someone is an animal can we not find ways to work things out, to co-exist, to help them grow, to help them change? Their is obviously times where violence is needed, that is clear but when we are looking at monsters and what is "inherit" why are they not afforded the same consideration as those we consider to be "basically human".

I personally prefer to live in a world where people can change, where things can get better, where things aren't decided by the divine above us but instead we chose our own fates. An inherit dark nature, an inherent reason to end the life of something removes what makes life great, that free will. If you believe in change then why not believe in it when your blade is drawn at a monster?

Empathetic Models

This has all been to say that I believe we should be looking at ways to make more empathetic models and modes of play. Killing a hoard of Orcs isn't what an action game has to be let alone a game. We can look to all sorts of art to see these alternative structures. On one end we have something like Monster Hunter Stories 2 which takes a more indigenous approach to the monsters and the ways the characters relate to them. Then another we have a show like Steven Universe which believes in the kindness and ability to be redeemed in everything. We have plenty more examples of different approaches Pokemon, Digimon, Undertale, Deltarune, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Monster Care Squad, Wanderhome, and more to build from.

I want to see empathy and more thoughtful violence built on in the same ways the thoughtless violence of Lord Of The Rings and D&D were for so many years. We could have so many cool and amazing things if we managed to focus in and build more and more models for what engaging with the world.

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