[Afraid] Questions - flashbacks and nature of monsters/victims

[Valvorik]

1.  Can 'flashback' scenes be used to resolve research or absentee stakes?  Not as something to recount in raises etc. (page 88 of DiTV) but as the stage for a conflict.

E.G., in the "getting to PD on time" example where a monster's acolytes are approaching a victim's house to snatch them, can it turn out that the players were getting to the PD in a flashback, resolved as "yes they made it", so there are cops there to scare off/arrest/shoot up the acolytes if players win stakes (and cops arrive to find door broken in and house empty, the victim's guard dog dead on floor, if the monster wins)?

Or perhaps the players winning allows them to determine scene framing for a follow-up (e.g., they are there, courtesy of police files helping to locate victim's house, when the acolytes burst in - making this a follow up conflict to their 'do we make it to PD' conflict).

2 A - Do monsters have to be "humans made monster" or does it work pretty much the same if it is "monsters made by human deeds" etc.  Any reason this doesn't work as as monster nature and drives work the same?

2 B -  Do the traits that attract a monster have to be "good ones".  As below, this may require some special handling to still engage players, but again, any particular reason it fails?

For #2, consider the legend one sources says underlies the Hound of Baskervilles story.

http://www.pbs.org:80/wgbh/masterpiece/hound/ei_moor.html

Richard Cabell, a 17th-century squire who'd suspected his wife of infidelity and attacked her in a jealous rage. When she fled across the moor with her faithful hound, Cabell gave chase and eventually killed her. Still by its mistress' side, the hound then turned on him and ripped out his throat before dying itself of the squire's knife wounds. The dog was said to haunt each new generation of the family.

So here the monster is created by a man's murder, to avenge the woman he wronged.  Depending on cosmology it is a demon let loose into world by the evil deed, a vengeful pagan spirit from the ruins on the moor, the ghost of the original victim in animal form.  The players may uncover/dictate this aspect of the monster through their own theories, and research etc.

The monster is drawn to the quality of misogyny that produces violence to women (it could be jealousy or another aspect of Cabell's flaw).  It pays special attention to Cabell family males but does not pursue them if they are completely innocent of its favoured flaw, and is open to other males.  A male victim or that abuser's victim crossing the moors is enough to draw its attention.

In the list of questions about victims, not all have to be answered so no one likely loves victims for this trait and that's an unanswered one.  Some love them despite it, some depend on the victim (in each of these cases their own victims are good candidates to meet these definitions).

The nightmarish symptoms of the monster's predation are things such as:

Stage 1 - sensory items - glimpses of a large black hound out of corner of eye that is not there when you turn and that no one else sees and hearing a hound howling that likewise no one else hears except the abuser's victim;

~ those familiar with the legend in the region the story occurs may see in this the pattern

Stage 2 - dreams in which one is pursued by something you can't see but which you know will kill you if it catches you;

Stage 3 - sudden fears at the sight of the woman normally abused, in which the recollections of the first two come suddenly to the victim's mind and he feels an "unnatural fear" of the woman.  This may stop the man's actions (though sometimes it may only drive him on even more), this is accompanied by skittishness, feelings of being watched, behaviour changes driven by sleeplessness, increased refuge in drink or other distractions;

Stage 4 - being chased by the hound, this can go on and doesn't have to end in death, cat and mouse games are possible, the victim may "run themselves to death" fleeing over a cliff, into traffic, "into the mire to drown or falling down an old mine shaft" in a classical moor story.

Otherwise final death is indeed being physically attacked and slain by the hound.  The hound can only be confronted when it's engaged in a Stage 4 activity and even then the players can only interact with it if they've researched/played out a conflict to gain "second sight" or otherwise "pierce the veil" that makes it unseen and immaterial to all but its victim and the one the victim is abusing.

Slaves, these are the victim men (usually less egregious abusers) that the hound sways in dreams to do its bidding to stave off their fate.

Acolytes - not following rules strictly - these are actually the victims' own [not in Afraid terms] victim - women who see around Stage 3 a kind of salvation in the hound.  Some hate the hound, hate its supernatural nature, hate the one who is harming the man they love nonetheless or depend on but some welcome it as a godsend.  They go on to serve it, to draw other abusive men to its attention (e.g., draw them onto the moor).

Likely victims are abusive husbands, sons and brothers, the priest or policeman who exploits his position, the hanging judge who punishes women, the escaped rapist hiding out on the moor...

These victims are not sympathetic, so good backgrounds for the characters need to have relationship bonds, or a dedication to destroying monsters even when the monsters' effects are "ambiguous".

The nightmarish effects at large of the monster are simply that set in a 19th century moor setting, there are an endless supply of men who abuse women and thus of victims.  The players need to see that death is not the best answer for this, that men who repent and try to change still suffer the monster's predation, that women who lose their means of support suffer anew.  That there is no "really good" answer to this issue in this time (the justice system ignores a vast part of this sort of violence) is part of the drama of story.

The stakes can be upped by something like, "the next victim is the current Lord, who whips servants including women that displease him, but he contributes annually to the poor relief mission and keeps it afloat, and his wastrel heir will do no such thing."

The monster was dormant but unleashed when something triggered it (a man killed a woman ~ his lover threatening to tell his wife ~ on the same spot that Cabell killed his wife so long ago, this man is the first victim).

[lumpley]

Everything you say seems completely reasonable. Give it a whirl and let me know how it works!

-Vincent

[lumpley]

Let me add: don't underestimate the ability of otherwise sympathetic people, men of course but also some women too, especially in your setting, to love a man for his capacity for violence toward women.

-Vincent

[Valvorik]

Here is a write up of the Hound monster for the concept above, comments welcome.

Using the "Hound of the Baskervilles" and deciding, "why hide it", so revising the original story of Richard Cabell and blending with Doyle's version, ORIGIN OF MONSTER

Hugo Baskerville, a blasphemous, roistering 17th-century squire suspected his wife of infidelity and attacked her in a jealous rage. When she fled across the moor with her faithful hound, he gave chase with his companions, his own hunting mastiffs and eventually killed her – at the Three Sisters (a set of three standing stones).  Still by its mistress' side, the hound then fell on him and ripped out his throat before his comrades, only then arriving, could intervene.  The hound then died itself of the squire's knife wounds. The hound is said to haunt each new generation of the family and the descendants of the related families whose ancestors participated in the crime.

Hugo Baskerville is the monster's origin.  The harm he inflicted was injury by a man to a woman for the reasons more associated with male-female interaction than human interaction generally.  This has become the monster's interest, the quality that draws its attention, as a spirit of vengeance against those who inflict such harm.

His deed took place at an old ruin, where pagan spirits were worshiped, and his wife's death summoned a "hell hound".  As quoted in the story, "great stones, still to be seen there, which were set by certain forgotten peoples in the days of old"

TIME:  1889

AREA: Location is south-west England, Dartmoor — the region surrounding Baskerville Hall.

If one examines a standard ordnance map, one can see (quoting adapted from Doyle's text):

"That is Baskerville Hall in the middle, with a wood round it.  Yew Alley, though not marked under that name, stretches along a line, with the moor, as you perceive, upon the right of it.  The alley is two lines of old yew hedge, twelve feet high and nearly impenetrable, it leads from the Hall to a summer house, and has a opening onto the moor. The walk in the centre is about eight feet across.  This small clump of buildings here is the hamlet of Grimpen, where Dr. Mortimer has his headquarters. Within a radius of five miles there are, as you see, only a very few scattered dwellings. Here is Lafter Hall, which was mentioned in the narrative and close by it Fernworthy Village. There is a Merripit House indicated here which is residence of the naturalist--Stapleton. Here are two moorland farm-houses, High Tor and Foulmire. Then fourteen miles away the great convict prison of Princetown. Between and around these scattered points extends the desolate, lifeless moor. This, then, is the stage upon which tragedy has been played, and upon which we may help to play it again."

"The moor is very sparsely inhabited, and those who live near each other are thrown very much together."

The farmhouses are large affairs with extended families and labourers/servants, each easily thirty or so people in a tight-knit small community and with their own hierarchies.

Also, by this time, hiking "walking" had already become a passtime and thus there are tourists who take walking trips through the mire "letterboxing" having started not long past, and a couple of locals being at Grimpen to act as guides.

MONSTER - The Hound of the Baskervilles — Vengeful Spirit

Acuity 3 Body 4 Heart 3 Will 4
[its' particularly good in "fighting", and particularly bad in "talk/social", this is not an 'evil mastermind', this is a 'force of nature's evil twin']

Traits:

– these I didn't treat as supernatural, no extra d4's -

Fast 1d8 (any conflict that is a race to safety or a Victim or in a fight);
Tireless 1d4 (can run on and on, draw out games of cat and mouse - it invokes this trait in physical contests, it likes to run someone down a bit before fighting - particularly in the mire).
Vengeance is Mine 1d6 (a vengeful spirit it applies this trait when striking against any that have injured it or injured a women who has come to its attention).

- these are its supernatural traits -

Not of This Earth 1d6+1d4 (no normal creature, this trait can be invoked in answer to attacks that would hurt a normal creature);
Eyes from Hell 1d4+1d4 (the hound's eyes are by turns fiery red and completely black, they unnerve anyone trying to face it down or interact using talk/social or in a fight);
Ghostly form 1d10+1d4 (the hound can make itself hard to see even when you're looking at it; it invokes this trait in fights/lethal conflicts to not be there when a blow should land, to strike from an unexpected direction, or in an information conflict to pass unseen when carrying out its access/Victimization Challenges - its Victim can always see it, people not looking for it simply won't unless they have a second sight trait or something of that sort, once you start looking for it, then it needs to win Conflicts not to be seen - note the hound doesn't have a continuous physical existence anyway and when its reason to manifest is gone it vanishes).
Howl from the Pit 1d10+1d4 (it can start a conflict without even being face to face, it can try to intimidate, scare off, herd via a 'social conflict' where it invokes this trait on opening Challenge, and if the conflict heads into a fight, that's fine -  supernatural because it's "no ordinary howl");

Bonds:

Manifest at the Standing Stones 3d8 (appears in physical form at the standing stones where the original murder took place, every dark of the moon - a blessing ritual or similar conflict might ward the area against it, though it would likely not let the attempt pass without challenging);
Only the Damned 2d6 (it uses lethal Challenges but it never stakes "death" of anyone but its target, if anyone did die of lethal fallout, this bond would be lost until such time as it killed every outstanding Victim - which means it may go on a bit of a rampage)
Born of the Baskervilles 1d10 (if the Baskerville Hall was not occupied for at least a month by any that blood, part of its connection to reality would be severed)
Avoid Holy Ground 1d4 (note the local cemeteries are all adorned with celtic crosses and on grounds used by earlier faiths so true reason for this is left for players to author - tricking it in a chase or somesuch would make untrue, it regains the bond after observing it for a fortnight - the stone circles don't count);
Victim Bonds: Sir Charles 2 and others (total another

Belongings:

[I decided to treat iconic locations as 'belongings' - like a PC's mansion]

The Three Sisters - Standing Stones where Hugo Baskerville murdered his wife and the Hound manists on the dark of the moon also belong to it — in effect  — and in any conflict there the stones seem to loom over anyone opposing its interests.  It "uses them" by appearing atop one and jumping down onto a foe or ducking behind one and appearing out from behind a different one.  They're big and supernatural  +1d8 +1d4.

The Grimpen Mire which surrounds these Stones.  The Hound loves to lead people into the Mire and turn on them, threatening them with the drowning death of being sucked into the bog.  Any given patch of bog is normal and supernaturally deadly.  +1d6 + 1d4.

Its Access/Victimization pattern (in each case I speculate on a way to undo, wanting to be sure something viable, but players could come up with their own)

Stage 1 - Victim must be somewhere on the moor (that's not hard, the moor is big and has several villages etc. in it) when the Victim harms a woman.   The Hound doesn't initiate these conflicts, a Victim does — but this being Victorian England that happens frequently.  At that time and thereafter, the Victim has glimpses of a large black hound out of corner of eye that is not there when they turn and that no one else sees and hears a howling that likewise no one else hears.  The exception is the Victim's victim or other victims of other abusers.  Other visible effects are that dogs cower and small animals are found dead (particularly household pets such as cats, rabbits).  (Nightmarish events in the Victim's environment  - events verifiable by other people)

- the Access conflicts for 'new victims' that players get drawn into are domestic affairs, drinking bouts that will lead to abuse, common assaults, kidnappings for London's brothels etc.

Stage 2 - Access requires the Hound appear within a few paces, the Victim gets a good look at it and sees it for something unnatural.  Thereafter leads to dreams in which Victim is pursued by something he can't see but which he knows will kill him if it catches him.  Continuing access at this level requires it continue to physically appear near the Victim at least once every fortnight (2 weeks) as the Victim dreams.  The Hound is in the immediate area for as long as the Victim is dreaming, these are disturbing dreams that cause them to toss, turn, cry out so can be identified, however note it will invoke its ghostly form trait to avoid anyone seeing it — Acuity Conflict to spot it.  (Disturbing, inexplicable, nightmarish experiences - these are things only the Victim experiences that are hard to verify).  Something to ward the Victim's dreams or driving it off, wounding it (inflicting Fallout) might undo.

Stage 3 - As glimpses continue and dreams continue (since earlier access must be maintained), the dreams escalate to show the woman the Victim has harmed in them, watching as the Hound attacks the Victim.  This leads to sudden fears at the sight of the woman normally abused, in which the remembered dreams come suddenly to the victim's mind and he feels an "unnatural fear" of the woman.  If the woman is dead (e.g., the Victim's deed that attracted the hound was murder), then during waking hours the Victim starts seeing her "ghost" or "corpse" doing familiar things.  This may stop the man's actions (though typically the choicest Victims are only spurred on — the Hound is Vengeance, not Salvation), this is accompanied by skittishness, feelings of being watched, behaviour changes driven by sleeplessness, increased refuge in drink or other distractions.  (Nightmarish behaviours and mood changes)

Stage 4 - Nightmarish physical symptoms - the dreams escalate and Hound appears in them and the Victim now gets real bruises, scrapes from their dreamed runs, and the Hound also physically appears to menace the Victim, setting them running.

Killing the Victim at Full Victimization

The Hound likes to run a Victim down in the mire, driving them into it someplace to never be found (which incidentally reduces coroner's reports etc. calling attention to it - disturbed men drowning in the mire etc.) - ideally near the Three Sisters.  If the Victim has fled the region, the Hound may run them into traffic in a city (under the wheels of lorry or carriage) etc., and it can initiate "stakes death - tear out Victim's throat".
   
Notes:

- the Hound only appears at night, dusk, or on cloudy days. 
- the Victim's growing fear of the woman he is harming and his supernatural suffering, may cause this woman to be suspected as a natural or unnatural source of his ills;
- there are stories Hugo's bride was of gypsy-blood or a witch;
- there are stories of witches calling on the Hound to kill men who offended them;
- the Hound is not limited to the moors.  Once is has chosen a Victim, it can manifest wherever that Victim goes.  Its connection to the Baskerville line means it can use Information and Social conflicts at a distance trying to encourage Baskerville family members to return to their ancestral home (stakes a longing for this home, that contributes to the fact that however long they stay away, eventually they always come home).

Characters Confronting the Hound

This is tricky, it has no lair and only exists physically when it is carrying out its Victimizations or satisfying its Bond requirements.  Players may be able to come up with rituals etc. to summon it though the surest ways of doing so (harming a woman) also put them "in its sights".

Slaves — the Hound has two slaves. 

A woman whose father is a Victim and who has gone onto the moor praying that the Hound will spare him, thus far the Hound has done so.  She is very torn by what she is required to do but believes absolutely in the Hound.

A Victim whose wife died in childbirth when he was at Stage 3.  He did not kill her and mourned her so deeply that the Hound has gone on tormenting him but not killed him yet.  He accepts the Hound is real, in a fashion (perhaps his own guilty conscience) and serves its interests.  A large, ill-tempered man, he will pick fights with anyone who seems to pursuing the Hound and may do worse, will certainly tamper etc.  He sometimes accepts the Hound as "God's judgement on me" and sometimes feels lost and abondoned.

Acolytes - the Hound has one Acolyte as is not likely to get more in the short term.

She is the widowed keeper of the Hound's Tooth tavern in Grimpen Mire, whose husband abused her and sold their daughter to a pimp from London, he was "lost in the mire" in a Final Victimization where she was present and at a crucial moment she helped the Hound (in PC resolution terms she gave the Hound helping dice, refusing to do anything to save her husband as he sank) thus becoming an Acolyte.  She has embraced the Hound as a just instrument of Vengeance from an earlier time when "forgiveness" and "male dominance" were not so admired.  She has embraced dark rituals of witchcraft (I'm letting her have supernatural traits).  She communicates the Hound's will to others the two slaves (though it's not always clear how much is the Hound's versus hers).

Apart from 1d6 and 1d10 'normal traits' connected to her past, she will have:

Eyes from Hell 1d6+1d4 (her eyes can also turn fiery red and completely black, they unnerve anyone trying to face it down or interact using talk/social or in a fight - but the people who see this forget it [players know, characters don't]);
Psychic Howl 1d8+1d4 (in her case, with any token of the person, such as a boot, she can start a Social only Conflict to attack someone in their dreams - without even being face to face, her howl in dreams is a woman's shriek of rage, not a hound's howl).

She is a sympathetic character in some ways, having been harmed so much, but is spiteful and lost to hatred.  She is not really concerned about helping other women, she hates all men and would see the Hound destroy them all.  Should the Hound be destroyed before she is dealt with, she will go on to be a Monster in her own rights and one less discriminating in tastes than the Hound.

First Victim

Sir Charles Baskerville

"It cannot be denied that the prosperity of the whole poor, bleak country-side depends upon his presence. All the good work which has been done by Sir Charles will crash to the ground if there is no tenant of the Hall."

Sir Charles is a retiring man, of poor health, and a community of interests in science kept us so. He had brought back much scientific information from South Africa, and many a charming evening we have spent together discussing the comparative anatomy of the Bushman and the Hottentot.

From a local newspaper (again adapted from the Doyle story, where it was obituary, but here he's First Victim and PC's basic introduction is in the style of a newsclipping from Times)

"Sir Charles Baskerville, whose name has been mentioned as the probable Liberal candidate for Mid-Devon at the next election, has demurred to confirm this is the case. Though Sir Charles has resided at Baskerville Hall for a comparatively short period his amiability of character and extreme generosity have won the affection and respect of all who had been brought into contact with him. In these days of nouveaux riches it is refreshing to find a case where the scion of an old county family which has fallen upon evil days is able to make his own fortune and to bring it back with him to restore the fallen grandeur of his line. Sir Charles, as is well known, made large sums of money in South African speculation. More wise than those who go on until the wheel turns against them, he realized his gains and returned to England with them. It is only two years since he took up his residence at Baskerville Hall, and it is common talk how large are those schemes of reconstruction and improvement which have been set in motion. Being himself childless, it is his openly expressed desire that the whole country-side should, within his own lifetime, profit by his good fortune. His generous donations to local and county charities have been frequently chronicled in these columns."

[Note in 1885 gold was discovered in the Transvaal - this was likely the source of Sir Charles' wealth, the estate is entailed – can't be sold off must pass in line – but the liquid assets he has are immense.]

Though not mentioned above, Sir Charles has a wife, Flora.  She is seldom mentioned and seldom seen.  Sir Charles blames her for his failure to have an heir and when he drinks he has physically abused her (striking her) – he never strikes her when sober and though their marriage has grown cold he is decent except when he drinks.  "Baskerville men are known for being demons in their cups".  Flora loves him despite this, and also blames herself.

The Someone.. list is easily generated from the story.

Comments?

[Valvorik]

It occurs to me, in particular, are these bonds "nightmarish" enough?  I tried to make sure they were all potentially "made untrue" either intentionally or by circumstance.

Those deemed supernatural should actually get a +1d4, correct?  I would classify all but "Only the Damned" as supernatural, that is more a "conscience" bond.

The Acolyte section indicates they get 'bonds of nightmare' like the Monster's

For his Acolyte, I'm thinking:

I Keep My Dead Husband's Mummified Corpse in the Cellar 2d8 (when it bobbed up again from the bog she retrieve it, using a Slave's aid)
I Visit the Three Sisters - Standing Stones 2d10 (similar to the Hound's obligation, but not required to be at same time)
I Avoid Holy Ground 2d6 (like the hound, suspiscious in this small community)