My Master

[Mike Holmes]

I feel that the Premise of this game is timeless. If that's so, then I should be able to create a Master in any setting. Here' my experiment to see how it works:

Going by the checklist (I am a slave to protocol) -
1. Type and Aspect. Just to be a curmudgeon, I'm picking at random. I get Teacher, Brain. Hmmm.

The Teacher is about evangelizing their own monstrous and dysfunctional view of the world, or instructing others to develop an appreciation for the flawed and horrific things they take pleasure in.

OK, I can work with that. The first thing that comes into my mind is a professor. Very literal, but I'm seeing something like a hyper-stereotyped version of Jouh Housman's character from The Paper Chase. Secure in his tenure, he bends the minds of his students through his classes. And he has a very small group of special students to whom he gives additional attention. Just for kicks I'll put him at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where I spent most of my college days, as it's one of the largest in the nation, and teachers like him could get hidden amongst all the other Mad scientist types there (there's a nuclear reactor on campus, and they've done stuff like creating life from protoplasmic slime).

2. He definitely fits the Brain motif. I imagine him as very coldly calculating.

3. His need? Why to prove his theories correct! Let's see. Lots of easy ways to go with this, weird science being foremost. But I want something different, and I have to keep away from the other Types. So, let's make him a professor of Philosophy. He needs to prove his own version of Neo-Neitschieanism. Man should make his own Way, and must prove himself to the world by taking actions that are against it's desires and conform only to his. As such, he performs attrocities that suit him, and encourages his special students to do so as well. They are to be above morals, and the only law they need consider is his. As impressionable youths, his slaves see themselves as inferior to the Master, but willing to do his will to get his approval. Thus will they become like him. In theory. In this way, the "Townspeople", the students and faculty at the University, will be subject to his need as he requires of them things like grisly deaths and other depredations.

One thing I like about this need is that the Master can have the Minions perform any sort of illegal or immoral action just to "prove" themselves. So it won't all be murder at first, it'll be theft, infidelity, cheating, etc. And then building over time to more heinous crimes. And cooler, the crimes will be tailored to the characters. If one is in love with some girl,the Master will order that he betray that girl proving that the minion is not a slave to love.

Other minions could be janitors, other faculty, whoever that he's swayed secretly to his little cult.

4. He, of course, wants the admiration of the Intellectual Elite (the Outsiders). He wants them to see him as a genius, and leader of a new wave of existence. IOW, he wants to be worshipped as a new savior.

5. The Master and his Minions meet regualrly at his brownstone mansion off campus. For students this might as well be the wilderness, because they don't know how to relate to non-students.

6. I'd probably set Fear and Reason based on the length of game I was intending. But I think that, assuming a medium length run, I'd go with Fear 5 Reason 4. Characters are originally involved with the Fear of their newfound Master, but the rationality of the University can be quickly stabilizing. To play up Madison's weirdness, and to make the game longer, I'd go with Reason 3.

So, what do we have?

Professor Craig Durant

Professor Durant had an extremely strict upbringing. His parents drove him to excell in whatever he did. He ended up becoming a professor, and was respected at first. Until he started his new school of Philosophical thought. Now his classes are well attended by students who see him as sort of "hippie" in nature. But the professor isn't preaching peace. Secretly he believes in an anarchic state in which everyone makes their own rules, and does to others as they will. As his detractors became more and more vocal (comapring his philosophy to Satanism, which he despises), his mind snapped, and now he believes that only acts which confirm the will to do as one wishes have any value. In his egomaniacle state the bachelor professor invites students that he thinks he can sway to his ideas to his home, and indoctrinates them as well as anyone else he can ensnare. Ironically, instead of selecting the strong willed, he selects the weak so as to be more able to bend them. But then he begind to revile them for that very same lack of strength. As such a couple of his special students have dissapeared in the past.

Well, howzat for a Master?

Again, he's pretty timeless, and could be placed in a lot of settings. But, again, that's a feature of the game, IMO.

Anyone else want to add their Master idea to this?

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

That bad? No responses at all? No, really, what do you think? Did I hit or miss?

And someone else post another. In fact, I challenge someone to come up with a Brain Feeder. They seem at odds. Are they?

Mike

[xiombarg]

Brain Feeder? That's easy. A highly cold, calculating vampire with a phobia of blood. He can only consume blood when it is presented in a sterlie way, seperate from the body it was taken from, like in a vial, preferredly with some food coloring to make it look less like blood. Hence his minions. That's his Need: blood. Other than the need for preparation, he's not very finicky where it comes from, so he's not a Collector. He Wants to be recognized as a natural being by scientists (Outsiders), despite being supernatural in nature -- so he's usually busy coming up with scientific vampire theories. The blood is to keep him going while he "works". He goes by the simple moniker of "The Professor".

[Mike Holmes]

I'll buy that. I can also see him slipping over into Beast mode when he is failed by the humans around him, ultimately. Reverting to his, "Natural" state, and thus belying his theories. Neat.

Beast Collector anyone? I get a vision of a troll collecting passersby, but then he wouldn't need minions or be a Master. Hmmm...

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

Hey, Josh, Julie, and I made up a master on Teusday. Josh was supposed to post it. Wheresitat, Josh?!? Put it right below this post. Right

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[joshua neff]

Okay, Mike.

Beware, quiet town. Beware the restaurant of...Master Chef Antonio Sonnoladro, the Beastly Collector of Dreams. He sends his Minions out to steal the dreams of the townfolk while they sleep. He puts the stolen dreams into his meals, in order to get more money from the rich Outsiders who come through town, eat as his establishment, & revel in the hallucinatory effects of the dream-laden food.

I see him as a grotesquely fat, sweaty, redfaced man in a white chef's uniform & hat, with a thick, black handlebar moustache & unruly black hair. He's temperamental, cruel, & rapacious. And all he cares about is his own material gain.

Fear: 3
Reason: 3
Need: dreams
Want: money

(And yes, Mike, I changed his name. Just this minute. After consulting my Italian-English dictionary. His name now means "Sleep thief.")

[Paul Czege]

Damn...he's real cool.

When we played Mage last year, Matt nixed the Traditions requirement from chargen. We were given license to buy abilities from across them all. But, wouldn't you know it, the individual abilities are all so inter-dependent within a Tradition that we ended up creating our characters pretty much within the requirements of the Traditions anyway. I absolutely didn't want a similar illusion of open-endedness, a "limited number of functional combinations" effect, for My Life with Master. And seeing what people are coming up with convinces me that I got it right. I can't help but be exceptionally pleased to see the Master creation mechanics provoking stuff I never would have invented myself.

Can I ask, are you using the early 17th century setting, or going with a modern setting? What was Master creation like? Fun? Tendentious? How long did it take?

Paul

p.s. I'm really geeked to see you set Fear equal to Reason. I think high Reason is currently the great untested spot in the game.

[joshua neff]

Actually, in terms of time period, Mike & I talked about it & noted that the source literature, gothic fiction, really comes into play in the mid-19th century (well, The Monk came out in the late 18th century, but Frankenstein came out in the early-to-mid 19th century), & the source movies tend to be set anywhere from the mid-19th to early-20th century. So, we decided to set the game in an vague "19th century", without tying it down to any particular year or decade (just as we set our Master's town in a vague Italy-influenced western Bohemia/Yugoslavia kind of place).

[Mike Holmes]

Like the caption at the beginning of Brazil:

Somewhere in the 20th century.

We're:

Somewhere in the 19th century.

Anyhow, I want to add some other bits that we came up with.

The Master keeps the dreams in powdered form in small crocs about the kitchen. When he pulls some of the powder out to season something, a small cloud of dream often forms ephemerally in the air just above the croc.

As for those who have had their dreams stolen...life is dull and gray. They seem deviod of spirit as though already dead, yet still in motion. The whole town has started to take on a creeping grey pallor in fact since the mad chef first opened shop.

And here's my Minion (who I just made up):

Milo Oostliender

Milo is the maitre d'hotel at the resaurant. He oversees the diningroom, and could almost be considered a partner in crime with the Master of the establishment, except that he is dominated by Sonoladro as are the rest of the employees. Milo has no doubt that Sonnoladro would kill him if he were to rebel even a little, and that fear keeps him in line. As such Milo is just another servant. But he does share his masters greed and materialism. He is quite the snob, and will tolerate few of the townspeople. He does, however like the gruff constable who helps ensure that the riff-raff stay away from their fine restaurant. And he also has a deep respect for the Contessa Aubernaigne, a local member of the nobility who frequently dines at the establisment.

Self-Loathing: 0
Weariness: 3

More Than Human: Milo has a remarkable eye for detail in "his" establishment, and he rarely misses anything. This eye only seems to extend to the restaurant, however, and he is less confidant and watchful on those rare ocasions that he leaves the premises.

Less Than Human: Milo has a paralyzing fear of dirt and uncleanliness. This does not, however extend to the mess of the kitchen which he has learned deal with (though he does do his best to see that it is kept as clean as he can).

Less Than Human: Milo is impossibly gaunt, and his ganglyness causes him to be quite clumsy when moving at more than a walk. He therefore moves about in a slow and stately manner. Somehow, though, if spurred by his fear of all things dirty, he can find a source of agility that allows him to move as quickly as anyone else.

Connections
Constable Erico Bonollio
Contessa Wilhelmina Aubernaigne


Howzat Josh? Ten bucks says Julie chooses a scullery maid. As I've mentioned here before, I think that we should make up all the NPC minions that might exist as well.

Mike