[Afraid] Someones.. and Interplayer Tension

[Valvorik]

In DitV, a good deal of game comes from players not seeing "the answer" the same way etc.

1..How much of that should be brought into Afraid?  This links to NPC's, or the "someone who..." lists, thus the next questions.

NPCs in Afraid can often, depending on scenario, naturally present conflicting and mutually incompatible desires to the players that players may be drawn to in opposition to each other.  These issues could be difficult to ignore as they tie into the Monster's agenda and the saving of Victims. 

E.G.,

- Different views that the Victim must pursue this course (job, relationship, next step in life), the Victim must pursue this other course instead (where the courses have implications for Monster's access, the PC's abilities to protect the Victim).
- This person (Slave, Acolyte) must answer maximally for their crimes, no they must be forgiven, rehabilitated.
- The supernatural cannot be permitted to stand as an explanation of anything (even if it exists); the supernatural must be proven to exist, the efficacy of this response to the supernatural must be shown/cannot be proven.

More specific ones, such as something where a monster's belongings, bonds or backstory relates to objects:

- The relics must be reburied with dignity, the relics must go to the museum, the relics must be sold off profitably.

Role Based Ones from already in some cases:

- the Entangled character has NPC's/someones who will not want them around, not trust them, be glad to blame them for anything that is wrong.  That's pretty much a "must have" for the role.
- the Veteran may have a need to "lay low" to avoid calling down attention from authorities he has crossed or Monsters still out there, or the "next Monster, and may have an agenda about the supernatural (third one above).  You can practically guarantee a Veteran with any notoriety and a "circumstance" finds themselves in trouble on arriving in town because they were expected and trouble arranged...
- the Investigator has a need to show the value of their discipline and whatever system is inherent in it (different backgrounds will have an inclination to concepts of cure vs counsel vs bring to justice)
- the Attached has stakes in the Victim's choices (first one above)

2.  In DitV there's the list of roles/occupations found in towns.  Has anyone done a similar list for Afraid scenarios?  Being so wide open, it can't be as specific (unless you're running it in old west), but I think that depending on setting there are some "standard go-to's" that a GM might think about both in terms of the existing someone who... lists and others.

These are classic horror/suspense roles PC's may seek out/encounter (if they don't fill them): police, judge (alone encounter, in the courtroom before the county judge - where so many certain sorts of stories see our hero's at times for having been caught sneaking around the cemetery etc), lawyer, priest/pastor, reporter, taxi-driver, hotel clerk, waitress, funeral director, cemetery caretaker, coroner, psychologist, doctor, nurse, private investigator ('inquiry agent' in Victorian England), gangster, professor-historian-antiquarian (for the "we take it to the university to see what the text says" scene), anthropologist/geologist, amateur monster hunter, town bully, for any Victim or Attached, Entangled - employer/teacher, co-worker/colleague/fellow student, subordinate. 

If some of these "natural go to's" in particular scenarios are already worked into other "Someones" lists that makes a tighter frame on story as long as it's not "over-tightened" (unless you're playing "Rosemary's Baby" in which case, yes everybody is in on it).

3. What about a "someones" list re "the Monster/supernatural events".

Drawn from Rustin's "hounds on the moor", consider if anyone fits the following descriptions, and if so name them.
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17170.0

Someone knows "something is wrong";
Someone wants to exploit the Monster (not necessarily knowing all about it);
Someone wants to become an Acolyte/Monster;
Someone knows the supernatural is real;
Someone is walking the same path of human harm and ritual etc. the Monster walked;
Someone is mistaken thinking they know what is wrong.

This links back to #1 in terms of conflicts.  The police officer who is sure they know what sort of killer is at work is an obstacle.

[lumpley]

Good stuff. Very good stuff. I like both 2 and 3, they may wind up in the book (properly accredited, of course).

To 1, add also that the victim's victimization may very well include her doing terrible things to other people. What's her moral responsibility for those?

-Vincent

[Valvorik]

Thanks (gotta get one right sooner or later).

Re #1 and the Victim themselves, d'oh to me for missing that juicy one.  Particularly given my own scenario I'm working on where the Victims are men who have mistreated women in ways ranging from crimimal to simply 'heartless' (inspired by Hound of Baskerville story, one is simply a father who cut off his daughter when she ran off with someone he disapproved of, and hasn't forgiven her even though the cad deserted her ~ him being another victim).  Such can have moments when they honestly repent, pray for forgiveness ~ even though they fail again.  Players may divide.  The player of the "investigator" whose professional interest is that they're the local pastor, vs the player of the veteran who sees in every human act harming and wronging others the first step to the creation of the next Monster, or the "entangled" who is the uncle of the woman mistreated and brother of the Victim.

The backgrounds do come with some implicitly variable "agendas".  Would be interesting to hear if play has seen those borne out:  Veteran wants the Monster stopped most of all, a bitter Veteran may see a "dead Victim as better than a Victimized Victim" (a rogue Veteran with that attitude could be an interesting complication).  Attached/Entangled want the Victim saved most of all and their relationship maintained/redeemed (and could be natural rivals over that - the fiance and the ex-fiance).  Investigator wants to learn and fit it into the paradigm of their discipline.  If players "get into" the agenda that comes with a background, some conflict will flow naturally.  "Let's use the Victim as bait" will go down smoother with some than others.