RPG Antagonists: The Esoterrorists (GUMSHOE)

So, aside from World of Darkness, I like to think of GUMSHOE as my 'pet' RPG setting. It's got a lot of really cool ideas, and a lot of really cool lore. It's based on the primary assumption that investigation games aren't about finding clues, but interpreting them, and in a horror setting, that goes a good, long way. Horror is all about not showing. Letting the investigators see the eviscerated corpse of their friend, pinned to their ceiling, with no clue what did it, is a lot scarier than catching the monster in the act. With this in mind, let's take a look at the standard human enemies within the GUMSHOE setting of Unremitting Horror, the Esoterrorists.

Now, the Esoterrorists are a prime example for why not everyone should have magic. The Esoterrorists are defined, in fact, by not having magic, or at least, having only the smallest possible smidgen of it. What the Esoterrorists want, at its core, is power. Now, Esoterrorists will wax lyrical about how they want a world of wonder, where dragons and pixies, and angels that shit fairy dust frolic in the clouds, and to accomplish this, they're willing to gut a little girl from down the street, pull her entrails out, and work their magic from there. They're willing to murder dozens of people, exsanguinate their corpses, and display them for the public to make people believe, just for a split second, that the Chupacabra is real. You see, core to the belief of the Esoterrorists is the concept of the Membrane, the veil between objectivity and subjectivity. Human belief defines the Membrane, and the more the humans believe in the supernatural, the easier it is for the Esoterrorists to use their magic.

In a word, the Esoterrorists are totally misguided. In much less flattering terms, the Esoterrorists are unpleasant, irresponsible, stupid, fucking morons who are tampering with forces they have no hope of controlling. In exactly the same way as Chaos cultists in Warhammer, or alien-worshippers in Call of Cthulhu believe that they're going to be at the very top of the pyramid when the new world comes along, and end up being eaten by the monster they summon, the Esoterrorists are playing with fire. The Membrane is very real, and serves a very real purpose. What it protects the world from is the Outer Black, a horrible, hostile dimension of chains, electric drills, skewered flesh and nightmarish demons with wings of torn plastic from turning reality into their own personal hellpit. The Esoterrorists wearing the Membrane away would allow them to use magic, yes, real magic, but that isn't going to provide even the slightest defense against the powers of the Outer Black. To relate this to my other pet RPG setting, the Esoterrorists are exactly how the Technocracy sees the Traditions in Mage: The Ascension. Totally irresponsible, self-obsessed idiots who would feed the world into the maw of oblivion if it meant they could shoot lightning from their hands with no repercussions.

Now, accepting that the Esoterrorists are stupid doesn't make them any less dangerous, as the poor agents of the Ordo Veritatis will find out. In fact, if anything, it makes them even more dangerous. The Esoterrorists are so assured of their own power and understanding of magic, that they don't give a fuck what they summon up. The Esoterrorists are totally confident allowing and even encouraging a mortal occultist to summon up a horrifying demon, totally convinced that their wards and protective symbols will hold it. The problem with the Esoterrorists is that they can't accept that magic isn't real. The little hole that they create in the Membrane to let their flesh-devouring demon through, is not also going to allow themselves to protect against it magically. Yet the Esoterrorists are so fanatical, so totally committed to their goal, that they allow the most nightmarish monsters into our realm, all for the sake of weakening human belief in the rational. More often then not, the investigators of the Ordo Veritatis are going to find their first clue in the dismembered corpses of the idiotic magicians, and the shattered wards that they foolishly tried to defend themselves with. This is the kind of mess that the Ordo Veritatis has to deal with, but unfortunately, unlike the Technocracy, they don't have advanced laser weapons, HIT-MARK robots or other sci-fi gear to fight the monsters that the Esoterrorists summon. Just normal human brains, guns and body armor.

One thing to understand, most importantly, is that the Esoterrorists are losing. They can't simply manifest whatever monsters they want. Each monster needs to be individually created and made to fit into rational reality. Esoterrorists can't just wave their hands and conjure a creature made of living air that tears the blood-vessels  from its prey. The Membrane holds, as long as the Ordo Veritatis tries to maintain it. As much as the Esoterrorists don't want to admit it, the Ordo is the winner here. Reality bends to their whims, and if a monster doesn't work within the laws of physics as set down, all the Esoterrorists will have is a pool of burning viscera in their summoning circle, and a trip back to the drawing board.

Now, what makes the Esoterrorists evil, as well as totally idiotic, is the fact that if a monster doesn't exist yet, they'll do anything in their power to make people believe it exists. The Esoterrorists regularly gouge the eyes out of teenagers in their bathrooms to make people believe in Bloody Mary. They rape and slaughter young women to make people believe that the Pookas exist in the dark swamps of the Scotland. They're fanatics, and totally self-obsessed fanatics at that. What makes them so morally repugnant is that they're doing all of this, not because they're trying to make a better world, but because they want their magic to exist. All Esoterrorists are driven by the belief that they will be the dark, sorcerous overlords of the world they create, never imagining that they will be the one man in the world with a handgun, fighting against a world of utter darkness and terror, devoid of hope.

Some neat works of fiction to inspire an Esoterrorist campaign.

The Cthulhu Mythos: A pretty obvious one, given that it was one of the primary inspirations for the RPG, but it's an absolutely perfect example of what happens when someone with more ambition than brains decides to tamper with forces beyond their understanding.

Mage: The Ascension: I feel like I'm cheating with this one, because it's another RPG, but The Esoterrorists gives a near perfect example of how the Technocracy sees the Traditions. Admittedly, it's a bit more morally grey in that setting, but if nothing else, Esoterrorists gives Tradition players something to think about when they assault  the Technocratic base with summoned spirits and ritual magic.

The Evil Dead: Definitely more of a comedy than a horror movie, but everything about it, especially the more serious remake, shows exactly the kind of stupidity that the Esoterrorists can reek, especially when they try to utilize magic to open doors to things that probably shouldn't be opened to.

- Kephn

RPG Antagonists: The Ebon Dragon (Exalted)

So, it's been awhile since I've tackled an RPG antagonist outside of WoD or Dark Heresy, so today, we're going to be looking at one of White Wolf's less played RPG's.....Exalted.

Now, I've never had a chance to play Exalted, though it seems like a really fun game that I can get into. That said, I've read the books, and I know the lore of Creation pretty well, and that's why I feel qualified to talk about possibly my favorite villain within Exalted, the Ebon Dragon.

Now, the Ebon Dragon differs from many RPG antagonists because he, among them all, really doesn't have a goal or a selfhood. Like all Primordials, the Ebon Dragon is a concept made manifest, powered by Essence, and incapable of going against his nature in exactly the same way that other Primordials are. The key to the Ebon Dragon, and the reason he's such a cool baddie, is that he represents the principle of antagonism. The Ebon Dragon, to the very core of his being, represents the defiant urge to go against something. Now, I've heard the Dragon referred to as the embodiment of freedom, because one of his urges is to be free, but I find that quite the misnomer. The Ebon Dragon wants to be free only to spite the gods and the Exalted that trapped him in Malfeas. To understand the Ebon Dragon, one needs to understand that he has no sense of self. The Dragon is the eternal antagonist, that little bit of boundless malice that stands in opposition to everything you do.

In portraying the Ebon Dragon, there needs to be a personal element to it. Remember, that despite his power, the Dragon is a very personal antagonist, and even if he de-powers himself, the Dragon reshapes himself to be your personal enemy.  In a very real way, the Dragon lacks identity, and the only way he can get power over the world is by sacrificing his identity and becoming the opposite of someone else. In reality, the Dragon is the weakest of the Primordials, because he, of all of them, can't exist without mortals to torment or gods to oppose. Like Tzeentch, the instant he succeeds in one of his plans, he loses another portion of himself because he's destroyed something that gives him power through opposing it. The true tragedy of the Ebon Dragon, is that he has no endgame and no goal. As soon as every one of his enemies is dead, he will cease to exist, because there isn't anything to oppose any more. He's just a sentient, all consuming thematic, and  the true pity is that once he accomplishes his goal, he will die, however he cannot steer away from the path of accomplishing it.

Now, one of the most important things about portraying the Dragon is that he is the opposite of the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus, that ultimate embodiment of righteousness and honor, who would sacrifice his own divinity to save a single mortal.  The Ebon Dragon, in his natural state, is the opposite of the Sun, the very original creator of darkness, and as such, he is devoid of virtue entirely. The Ebon Dragon, when it comes down to it, is a rather weak individual, largely because virtues are somewhat necessary to be a functional being. The Dragon knows no temperance, compassion, valor or conviction, and cannot summon up the willpower to continue his plans if they are sufficiently foiled. Sure, he can summon these traits as a defiant opposition to his opponents, as well as a blatant betrayal of himself, but he has no idea what they really mean. What this means, of course, is that the Ebon Dragon is only ever as willful as whoever he's opposing at this moment. He literally cannot summon these virtues from within because there's nothing there.

Finally, I think it's important to talk about the Dragon's goals. The Reclamation is something that the Dragon has been working toward from the first moment of it's imprisonment, mostly to spite the gods. However, it's difficult to think of the Dragon as a particularly effective planner, especially given his total lack of conviction.  However, one has to remember that the Dragon's conviction is always equal to the person he's trying to oppose, and in this case, he's opposing the Unconquered Sun. Another thing people always forget is that the Dragon has no friends, merely people he hasn't gotten around to hurting yet. As a Compassion 1 entity, he literally cannot comprehend the concept of Charity, and as such, plots to be the first one out of Malfeas just so he can seal the other Primordials in forever and laugh at their expense. The problem here is, while he is committed to his goal, his souls are equally committed to betraying the other souls of the Dragon and leaving them behind, being the sole soul (heh) to define the only free Primordial. The Ebon Dragon is a powerful opponent, but when fighting him, remember that he is the embodiment of betrayal. He'll always be betraying himself in some way, because on a very real level, he can't exist if he wins. That's the key to portraying him. A huge amount of power, but fettered by the fact that deep down, the Ebon Dragon is a loser. He can't just escape into bizarre alternate moralities like the other Primordials, he's stuck in a human morality, a very understandable, weak human morality, and he sucks at it more than any other being in creation.

Here are some neat bits of fiction to inspire a game of Exalted where the Ebon Dragon is the primary antagonist:

The Dark Knight: If you want to see a villain defined primarily by their antagonism to the hero, look no further than the Joker. Like the Ebon Dragon, he has no reason for what he does, and no backstory to make himself seem sympathetic. Gotham city, in fact, is nothing more than collateral damage for him, and his sole goal is to corrupt Batman. Like the Dragon, there is no reason for what the Joker does, he simply exists to oppose.

American Psycho: Both the book and movie are an intense character study of Patrick Bateman, who like the Ebon Dragon, has no sense of selfhood, and nothing to live for outside of murder and hurting people. The book in particular portrays a fairly spectacular breakdown when Bateman runs out of people to hurt, and has to come to terms with the fact that he's an empty shell of a person.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: A really strange one, I know, but think of the protagonists as the reclamation Yozi. Dennis is the Ebon Dragon, the eternal sociopath who schemes and could be magnificent, but is sort of pathetic anyway, Mac as Malfeas, the sad and pathetic man who thinks of himself as a big shot, Charlie as Adorjan, who hurts who he loves, and is violently insane, Dee as She Who Lives Inside Her Name, smart and capable, but always unheard and ignored, and finally Frank as Cecyline, the spiteful, fallen power who takes pleasure in cynically hurting everyone around them. This show actually provides a great dynamic for how the Yozis interact with each other, and on top of that, is really, really, really,  funny.

Dead Puppies

Good afternoon my readers. Today I’m going to be tackling that black sheep of the oWoD, the word that every storyteller dreads hearing. Today I’m going to be looking at Abominations.

Now I’m going to be straightforward here, and just state flat out that I love the idea of an Abomination. For the uninitiated, an Abomination is a werewolf that has survived the embrace, becoming a blood-drinking, shapeshifting undead monstrosity, with the powers of both, and hated by all. I think it’s a really cool expression of the idea of vampirism as a disgusting, diseased curse, capable of infecting even the most spiritually pure of beings, like one of the Garou. I think an Abomination is a great boogieman, capable of scaring even werewolves, a fallen warrior of Gaia corrupted to the Wyrm is a pretty powerful symbol, even more freakish than the most depraved Black Spiral Dancer. Abominations live up their namesake very well, being absolutely repulsive freaks that all of nature, the world, and even other servants of the Wyrm recoil from.

Now, all of that said, it would take a fuck-ton of convincing for me to allow a player to try one. Abominations are inherently really tricky to play, and if you let one out of control, it can be disgustingly overpowered. In a vampire game, an Abomination wrecks shit, and I really don’t recommend allowing this sort of shit in any kind of group game. Doing so will basically ensure that every other player is going to be sidelined in favor of the group’s dead puppy, and even worse, kiss any kind of meaningful boss fight and combat goodbye, because the Abomination player is going to tear through anything you throw at him short of an Antediluvian. In a werewolf game, bizarrely, you suffer the opposite problem. Most people don’t get this, but Abominations are actually way, way weaker than your average werewolf. I specifically enforce in my games that while an Abomination may have the strength of both species, they also have the weaknesses of both. In addition to that, their gnosis permanently drops slowly, effectively getting rid of their spiritual powers altogether. Abominations also heal like vampires, a less efficient way than werewolves, giving Garou an inherent advantage. Add to that the problem of hiding from the Gaia-lovin’ Garou, our feisty little Wyrm minion is going to be answering some very awkward questions like why he’s never seen in daylight, and why he stinks of corruption.

The first part of putting an Abomination in one’s game, is to define what it is. In classic White Wolf fashion, there’s a ton of contradictory ideas spread out through the various sourcebooks as to how to craft these beasts, and therefore, I’ll put forth my method. This write up isn’t exactly canon, but I think it’s one of the few ways to make an Abomination balanced.

So, start the character off in the normal way you would make a werewolf character. No double freebie points for you, because that’s just stupid. Pick a tribe, pick an auspice etc. etc. as normal. Now, once you’ve put that together, level it up as normal to get it to the point in life at which it was embraced. Now the fun starts. Apply the vampire template. Pick a clan, generation, all the normal stuff. Your werewolf’s gnosis is now frozen, and can never be increased. They keep the gifts that they had, but gifts that call spirits always call Banes, who are somewhat pissed that the werewolf has severed his spiritual side and weakened his connection with the Wyrm. In addition, their Gnosis is capped at their humanity. Pick disciplines and apply a blood pool as normal. The Abomination now has a blood pool and a rage score. They can only spend from one of those scores a round, no spending rage and blood in the same go, because they are intrinsically spiritually opposed and don’t go well together. Abominations lose their werewolf regeneration and heal like a vampire, by spending blood. They gain the vampire weakness to sunlight, fire and their clan weakness, on top of their tribe weakness and the weakness to silver. They retain their ability to shapeshift normally, but optionally, their werewolf form looks decayed and hideous and obviously undead. Like any other vampire, they need to drink blood and can be sent into torpor if their blood pool empties out. They also instantly lose all renown, ‘cause Gaian spirits aren’t going to accept any of your shit once you go leech.  The Abomination now subscribes to humanity, which, as mentioned above, caps their Gnosis, so their Gnosis score can’t be higher than their humanity. Switching onto paths are fine, as always, but you need to drop your humanity to 3 or lower, which means sacrificing quite a large chunk of your spiritual power. Finally, unless they were Black Spiral Dancers in life, they lose their pack bond and totem, and upon becoming an Abomination, they automatically gain a derangement. This is how I like Abominations to function, and for the most part, it neuters a large amount of their broken reputation. It’s not perfect, but thus far, it’s the best I have.

Now, in terms of roleplay, nobody likes Abominations. Kindred hate and fear them because they’re jealous of their power, and because no elder wants their centuries of planning to be ended by a swipe of a neonate’s claws. Abominations in kindred domains need to keep their heads down, unless they want to end up blood hunted as a massive Masquerade breach, or if nothing else, at very least, blood bonded to everyone even vaguely interested in not being eviscerated. In werewolf games, this is even harder, because werewolves can sniff out the Wyrm (something Abominations are just soaked in) and do a lot of their stuff during the day, so it’s basically impossible to remain hidden unless you’re of a ridiculously high rank and literally beyond reproach. All of this makes for a really cool roleplaying challenge in my opinion. On one hand, you’ve got a huge amount of power. In Vampire games, it’s really, really nice to be able to take out elders with one flick of your aggravated damage claws, and basically to outclass other neonates and ancillae a million to one. An Abomination who survives to be an Elder is going to be a bloody dangerous monster indeed, and can use its shapeshifting (even without Gnosis) as a nice ace up their sleeve. Still, it’s even more dangerous than being a Baali, an un-blood-bonded Tremere handing out Thaumaturgy like Halloween candy or even a Camarilla Lasombra. You need to be way, way, way more paranoid than a regular vampire, because all it takes is some random ghoul to see you transforming and it’s curtains for you. Other vampires are also capable of using their politics against you a lot easier, because whinging to an elder brings attention to you. That doesn’t mean that you can’t transform ever, but you’re going to need to be prepared to lay the smackdown on any kindred that gets too nosy.

A large inspiration for this page was a post on a WW forum (I’ll link it below), that suggests some cool combinations. Here’s what I think are probably the easiest and hardest to run.

•    Lasombra/Shadow Lord: Pretty easy to merge philosophies, as both of them essentially boil down to being a backstabbing douche. Both are also very accustomed to being the power behind the throne.
• Malkavian or Nosferatu/Bone Gnawer: Pretty easy to meld, as these guys know what it’s like to be an outcast already.
•  Red Talons/Gangrel: A pretty obvious one anyway, a Red Talon/Gangrel is really quickly going to be about embracing being the ultimate predator, but is going to have to handle the problem of their humanity and Gnosis dropping like a rock in a pond.
• Black Spiral Dancer/Anything: BSD’s are essentially the only tribe who will accept these freaks, and some really insane BSD’s may be tempted to truly become ‘one with the Wyrm.’

All in all, I don’t think Abominations deserve the kind of hate they receive. White Wolf fucked up, yes, when they decided to create Samuel Haight, their idiotic hybridized mage/werewolf/ghoul hybrid, but that doesn’t mean that the idea of a freakish hybrid is necessarily a bad one. Just please don’t go stacking a shit ton of templates on top of each other, like a mage-Baali-BSD-changeling, because that is just ridiculous. That said, if anyone manage to pull that off and make a good game out of it, they have won at oWoD and need never play it again.

- Kephn

[EDIT: I can't actually find the post, and I have a musical to prepare for, so I'll link it when I find it.]

Special Snowflake Syndrome

So, today, I'm going to be talking to all my GM broskies out there, about one of the most annoying things I've ever encountered in tabletop gaming. How many times has this happened to you? You're putting together a nice DnD game, you've got your story arc set, the hero's journey and all that good stuff, and all the players are rolling up basic characters. Then there's this one jackass who goes 'Can I play a vampire?' Or in a vampire game, where you've sorted out the city's politics and put together a nice interesting game of backstabbing and politicking, and one guy just can't get it out of his head that he wants to play a Baali, or an abomination or some other twinked out shit from one of the sourcebooks. My friends, we've just experienced a very special type of bad player, the Special Snowflake.

Now, these people aren't necessarily bad players. Maybe they've played the game long enough that they want to try out something new. Maybe they've got a really good character concept, and think that it genuinely only works in this race/class/bloodline. Maybe they just took their mother's advice on being unique too literally. The problem comes in when you remember that, most of the time, roleplaying a is a collaborative experience. The story becomes really unfairly focused on the one guy in the coterie of vampires who just happens to be the last surviving Cappadocian, or that one inquisitorial team that employs a bloody aspect warrior. Before you know it, all your players are trying to have their cake and eat it, soon, you'll have a dungeon crawl starring a Minotaur, a Devil, a Mind-Flayer and a Yuan-Ti, and that way madness lies. This is actually way worse in Dark Heresy and World of Darkness, because at least in DnD and Pathfinder, those things can be sorta-maybe-not really balanced by level adjustments, but in systems like oWoD or the Fantasy Flight warhammer games, balancing that shit just starts inflicting sanity damage. Protips for GM's: Vampires and werewolves and mages are not even remotely balanced against each other. Vampires especially get the short end of the stick here, because really, their only advantage is outliving the other two. When a werewolf is dealing aggravated damage with each swipe of its claws, or a mage can transform your skin into fire, vamps are going to be outclassed, very, very quickly. Mages and werewolves are a slightly different story, as given prep time and a good hiding place, even a nooby mage can absolutely annihilate an entire werewolf pack, but up close and personal, even an archmage becomes doggy-chow. Likewise, Eldar, Orks and chaos people in Dark Heresy are absolutely going to outclass their humie counterparts in every possible way. We are talking aliens that can make your brain leak out of your ears by screaming, and epic psykers that can kill people from three ships away. Players don't really like being outshined by their compatriots, and sooner or later, they're going to wonder exactly why one player gets to have all the shiny toys.


The second problem, especially for games like WoD and DH, is that it breaks the setting of the game. Vampire, Werewolf and Mage are games with very distinct tones and settings, and including too many elements from each one sort of breaks that. Now, I'm not saying I'm a fan of every bit of metaplot that White Wolf has ever put out, because some of it is in fact atrocious. Still, I think the main settings of the games are very, very well done, and do a lot to set the mood. Vampire is all about politics and the long game, and doesn't involve a lot of hack and slash. Even Sabbat games still focus on politics and the eventual apocalypse bearing down on everyone. Werewolf games are all kicking ass, all the time, and while there is some good cultural and interpersonal goings on here, they do take second place to murdering the enemies of Gaia. It becomes problematic when you start introducing vampires into werewolf games, because in canon, they are flat out servants of the Wyrm, and need to be re-purposed as lawn fertilizer posthaste. They don't even like mages too much, given that they smack of humies trying to tamper with the environment. The thing I'm getting at is that the GM has to go through a lot of idiotic loopholes to try and make it make sense, and sometimes, it's just not worth it so one person can have their super speshal mary sue.

I find the best kind of special snowflake character is one that has a lot of inherent drawbacks, essentially so they don't feel like they're playing a ridiculous power fantasy. For example, in my vampire games, anyone who wants to play a Baali absolutely can. The instant they make themselves known as one of the demon-worshippers, though, they're going to be getting a very permanent rooftop suntan. I think that's the appeal of one of these characters. The singular chaos-cultist in the group, or the single secret Esoterrorist in the party of investigators. If you're a GM like me, and enjoy watching all your players plot against each other, it becomes quite an excellent sit-com. Just remember, with power, must come a price. If a player wants to be special, remember to fuck them royally with the power of plot, and that way, the rest of the party isn't going to feel so maligned.

Now, I know a lot of WoD GM's can be elitist about this sort of thing, because far be it from anyone to tamper with the sacred cow of metaplot. I think, however, that most, if not all these problems can be overcome with a solo game. If I'm running a solo game for you, and you're not making my other players feel like extras in a fanfic, go nuts. I'll practically let you play whatever the hell you like. BSD-Lasombra Abomination? Go ahead. Cthulhu-Worshipping Deep One? Easy. Solo games are a good chance to explore the crazy shit that you wouldn't touch in a group game with a ten foot pole. I actually find that it's quite good fun to explore what it's like to be something that really shouldn't exist in your setting, and to just go wild in a way group games don't allow. Remember though, it falls to the GM and the player to make it interesting, because stacking a shit ton of templates over a base character doesn't mean jack-shit if he's boring. Remember that underneath all the cool powers, there needs to be a good story, because without that, you're not going to be able to run a good game anyway.

- Kephn.

RPG Antagonists: The Wyrm (Old World of Darkness)

It's been awhile since I've done one of these articles, so today I'm going to be tackling something I've been wanting to tackle for a bit, the biggest, meanest baddie of all in the entirety of the Old World of Darkness line, the Wyrm of Entropy.

Now, the Wyrm is a really hard antagonist to pin down, because it's not really an embodied figure. While in Werewolf: The Apocalypse, it's the main big bad and acts as a sort of Satan figure to Gaia, I've listed it as an antagonist for the entire World of Darkness because it extends into all the gamelines. The Wyrm isn't really a character so much as it is a sentient force, sort of like Chaos in Warhammer or the Dark Side of the Force in Star Wars. The Wyrm is a force of corruption, one that twists otherwise natural things into its own, mutilated image, and its tendrils are felt in every single gameline of oWoD.

So, starting in the Werewolf cosmology, since that's where it originated, the Wyrm was originally a force of destruction and rebirth, an engine that recycled the static patterns of the Weaver (order) and returned them to the Wyld (chaos), thus ensuring the continuation of the cosmic cycle. One day, the Weaver became sick of this, and wove the Pattern Web (our current universe), trapping the Wyrm inside. The Wyrm went mad, and struggled to escape, and in its struggles, managed to slice itself into many smaller pieces, that descended onto the Pattern Web, spreading many minor spirits of ill and evil called Banes. The Wyrm itself was fractured in its struggle, losing its original identity and becoming a three headed hydra, and becoming a spirit of decay, corruption and entropy, both of the spirit, the physical, and the mental.Its ultimate goal is the unmaking of the Pattern Web, finally freeing it to continue its great work and return it to its original identity.

Now, that all sounds like a very sympathetic backstory, now doesn't it? That's until you remember that the Wyrm's original purpose really doesn't leave many survivors, and ultimately, it wants to dissolve the world into total, mindless chaos, in the name of some great cosmic cycle. Now, the Wyrm can't really be blamed for its madness, but its methods definitely leave a lot to be desired. The Wyrm no longer represents the idea of a clean death and rebirth, something the Euthanatos may believe, but something wholly tainted, the slow and painful slide into oblivion. The Wyrm may have been a positive force of renewal once, but you could arguably say that it was its own first victim, and it's now been totally corrupted into something broken and evil.

Now, I know I overuse this word a lot, but the thing that makes the Wyrm such a good antagonist is how insidious and subtle it is. In fact, the Wyrm may well be the subtlest of any RPG Antagonist ever printed. There's a lot of debate as to what it even is, both in and out of universe. The Garou would have you believe that the Wyrm is literally an enormous, universe-sized bane trapped in the deep Umbra, and woven into the very strands of creation, and that all its servitors and banes are extrusions of itself into Gaia, trying madly to tear her apart and break free. Mages will tell you that the Wyrm is a metaphor the ignorant were-folk talk about, and really, it's a representation of Entropy, the balancer between Stasis and Dynamism, a natural part of the cycle of the universe. Even the Wyrm-aligned mages, the Nephandi, each have different ideas about what exactly they serve. Infernalist Nephandi will tell you that the Wyrm is a ridiculous legend spawned by their compatriots, who have been suckered into the werewolf's religion, and that devils and demons are the only true force of evil in the world. Malfean Nephandi would argue, however, that devils and demons are mere masks for the Wyrm's true tendrils. Vampires will naturally just shrug and go back to politicking. Really, though, what the Wyrm is isn't very important. What's really important is the way it infects the world like a cancer that needs to be excised.

Now, the Wyrm has many servants, both knowing and unknowing, and those servants don't always get along. The reason for that is, every time the Wyrm tries to enter reality through a certain vector, it further mutilates itself along the strands of the Pattern Web locking it away. The pieces that result are self-willed spirits, eternally a part of the Wyrm, but perfectly capable of going against the greater whole, or other parts of the Wyrm. Because of this, the Wyrm comes across very chaotically. It's literally schizophrenic, and every Bane and Maeljin has their own agenda, and doesn't necessarily care whether you serve the Wyrm or not. Because of this, the Wyrm has great power to infect, twist, and mutate things to its service, but not a great amount of power to really coordinate them. A prime example of this principle in action is vampires. Vampires have no idea the Wyrm even exists, and yet descend from Caine, arguably one of the triatic Wyrm's earthly incarnations. Likewise, Pentex, a Wyrm empowered company, fights against the Giovanni and the Camarilla daily, two other Wyrm organizations, for control over the world's economy. This is the main advantage for those seeking to fight the Wyrm, as, in its mindless urge to devour all, it's very easy to turn the Wyrm's fangs back onto itself. All Wyrm minions, as a rule, are selfish assholes, a symptom of the degradation of the spirit their patron represents, and while they may be omnipresent, a near constant taint, they're easy to outfox if one has the brains.

Like Chaos, interacting with the Wyrm should feel dirty, but in a very impersonal way. The Wyrm literally represents the cracks in the world where the filth seeps in and mingles. Coming into contact with the Wyrm in any form will almost certainly taint you, and like a virus, you're going to spread that taint to others. It won't necessarily make you evil, however, and that's something a lot of Werewolf players forget. Not everything the Wyrm touches is evil, and likewise, Wyrm taint isn't something that black and white. There are good vampires, who struggle to maintain their humanity, and still stink of corruption as much as any Formor would. One thing that a lot of GM's forget is that, while the Wyrm is all powerful and evil, all of its minions, from the rampaging Black Spiral Dancers to the Nephandi, the Formori and even the Kindred, are its victims. Most of them didn't ask to become servants of corruption, or were duped or mislead into the coils of the Wyrm. This doesn't make them any less evil, and it doesn't mean that they're worthy of anything other than a swift, painful death, but an important theme of the Wyrm is the slippery slope. Sometimes, the most innocuous things, things that seem perfectly normal in one's daily life, can lead one down the path of corruption, and really, that's the saddest thing about the Old World of Darkness.

Finally, I feel the need to address the motivation of the servants of the Wyrm, because to me, they never made any sense. W:TA did many, many good things, but one thing it never really excelled at is characterizing its baddies any more than a Captain Planet supervillain. Those Wyrm minions who willingly serve the Wyrm, like Nephandi or Black Spiral Dancers, what do they gain out of their service? Yes, it is nice to be able to spit flesh-dissolving acid or summon barbed tentacles out of one's back, but even they have to realize that the Wyrm's endgame doesn't leave any of them alive. Now, you could argue that some (or a lot) just don't give a shit, and would be happy to burn the world even if it did have the unfortunate side effect of burning them with it. You could argue that the Wyrm is so changed an insane that it won't destroy the universe, merely turn it into an eternally rotting hell, where its minions can play around and torture humans forever, which, really is gonna get old at some point. In my World of Darkness, the Wyrm offers tangible rewards for its service, far greater rewards than other members of the Triat, and remember, the Wyrm is far, far, far more powerful than lesser spirits like Gaia and Jehovah, so those rewards are going to be a lot shinier. The ultimate reward for a true servant of the Wyrm is to become a Maeljin. Now, this isn't exactly canon, but when the end comes, call it the Descent, call it the Apocalypse or Gehenna, the Wyrm will assimilate all its minions back into its being, where they will live on, the only permanence in a constantly transient world, doing what they love most: destroy things. The servants of the Wyrm ultimately represent humanity's urge to self-destruct and debase themselves, and for their actions, will be rewarded with the hells of their dreams to torture and be tortured for all eternally, exactly what they would have wanted. Now that's a goal as lofty as Ascension or Golconda, now isn't it? All you have to do to earn it is feed the entire world down the maw of your master.

Some neat works of fiction to inspire games where the Wyrm is the antagonist:

The Secret World: I'll admit that I have barely played this, but from what I have played, this is one of the few MMORPG's I'd recommend. It's story, voice acting, and everything about it is detailed and top-notch, and actually, really, really feels like an oWoD RPG. The Filth is exactly what the Wyrm should be, an endless tide of horror that comes in different shapes and sizes, and corrupts everything good about the world as it devours it.

In The Mouth of Madness: Man John Carpenter is good for cosmic horror, isn't he? In the Mouth of Madness constantly wars in my mind with the Thing for my favorite Carpenter flick, and for good reason. It's a very good example of very subtle horror, slowly corroding away at the fabric of ordinary existence. This is exactly the Wyrm's mode of operation, slowly insinuating itself into reality, until before you know it, you're already doing its work.

The Filth: A very, very funny, occasionally nightmarish, and totally deranged comic by Grant Morrison, kind of a sister series to the Invisibles. It follows the agents of the Hand, the immune system of reality, as they track down and destroy glitches within reality, who are either nightmarishly evil and supervillainous, or just kind of pathetic and pitiable. Still, like a cancer, they all need to die for the world to live.

Adeptus Mechanicus

Many praises be to the Omnissiah my son. How may I assist you in your quest for knowledge?

Ah, you seek knowledge into the most holy of orders to serve High Terra. I commend you for your intelligence in recognizing the Mechanicum as the most important part of the holy Imperium of Man. I shall attempt to enlighten you in any way I can, my son, though I warn you, the biological components of your cortex may have trouble containing or comprehending the knowledge I impart. Such is the weakness of the flesh.

Those new to our order, such as yourself may think of the Mechanicus as nothing more than the engineering wing of the Imperium. Outsiders may see us as heretics, perverting the teachings of the God Emperor, or debasing ourselves with technophiliac rituals. I tell you this, my son, that nothing could be further from the truth. The Mechanicus is here to preserve the most sacred treasure of the human race, that of knowledge.

Man is a weak and fragile animal, always has been. Even in the earliest days of Terra's history, we were outmatched in tooth and claw. But always, man has been the superior species, because we are capable of harnessing the most holy of forces, the divine inspiration of the Omnissiah. When the first proto-human took up the spear to fell his enemies? When the first men created the wheel, created machines to bear his burdens? These are the gifts of knowledge, my son, and this is what the Mechanicus was created as a chalice to hold. The holy men of high Terra focus on the wrong thing. They focus on the God Emperor's incorruptible form, while we focus on the spirit. Machine is as much an extension of the spirit as biomatter, my son, as you well know. Organic life is nothing more than a machine to house sentience, the true spirit of the Emperor. Perhaps the Ecclesiarchy in all its pious glory has forgotten that machines are the only thing that keep the great Emperor alive to this day. The Emperor was powerful, and a great man, yes, however, like all life, he was forsaken by the most fallible of materials, the flesh.

Despite that we maintain their weapons, forge their Titan engines, and even give spiritual council to the lost and weary, looking for purpose, we are reviled by many factions within the Imperium. The High Lords of Terra, The Inquisition, and even many noble houses believe us to be nothing more than freaks, concerned with nothing more than our own self-improvement. They view us as a cult, an accepted heresy, one that would drive the Imperium back into the dark age of technology. In truth, my acolyte, they fear us. The noble houses and the High Lords are incestuous politcians, concerned only with the material. The fools see no value in the intangible, and are concerned primarily with maintaining their position. The Inquisition? It's been a long time since something has triggered my humor, and I savor it. The Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy waste their time worshiping the physical aspect of the God Emperor, while we worship his mind and soul. That is the Omnissiah, my son, the collective of human knowledge.

The Omnissiah, as you should well know, is the basis of our religion and the font of all our knowledge. For all his power and wisdom, the God Emperor of Mankind is merely the vessel, the physical avatar of the greater being within. He speaks to us through the code and the speaker, watches us with the view screen and the camera, protects us with the bolter and the grenade. Some see the God Emperor as an impotent corpse upon the throne, whereas we see him everywhere. The hum of a server quietly sings the Emperor's hymns. The roar of the blaster declares his ire and the whistling cry of the mortar his divine judgement pronounced. This is why innovation is anathema my son. In truth, while others may see us as heretics, we trust not the fallible human imagination, that invites chaos and disorder, we trust only the eternal wisdom of the Omnissiah, in his tried and true formulae. This is why machines are worthy of respect, nay, reverence, for each one houses an aspect of the Omnissiah, as holy and worthy of adoration as the Golden Throne itself. The Omnissiah is in all things, and only the unenlightened see him as a fractured entity. When we find S.T.C.'s, the old knowledge of the world, do restore further order to the completed divine engine and widen our grasp. Stray not down the path of the Heretek my son. The Omnissiah is here, and everywhere. He needs not your flawed consciousness to corrupt his holy being.

I hope this has been an enlightening talk, my son. Perhaps one day, you will deliver it yourself, when you have reached the highest levels of optimization and calibration. Have a productive day.

The Ivory Tower

You seem lost, neonate. Confused about your place in the world. I've been watching you, you know, seeking answers from all the wrong sources. Mingling with Anarchs and unbound louts. Well, I'll do you a favor and fill you in, but you'll owe me. Deal? Excellent.

What you're going through is natural, neonate, the usual response to a brain ripped free of its mortal ties. The sunlight now burns you, animals reject you, and, let's face it, you're never going to see your friends or family again. These are just some of the sad facts about being Kindred. But chin up, we all had to go through it mate. And it's not all downside either. When you were a breather could you lift a dumpster over your head? Run faster than a speeding car? And those are just the most vanilla benefits. By becoming one of us, you've just joined the most exclusive club the world has ever known, one who's roots stretch back to the middle ages. Yes, with eternal life, we don't just sit around moping all day, you understand. The Camarilla gives us something to do with our time. You might think us weak, neonate, despite our powers, and you'd be right. Mortals outnumber us a million to one. But the one thing we'll always have over them, is time. We will never run out of time.

Don't listen to the jostling rabble who decry us. The Camarilla has been around and survived more persecution and revolts than you know. Yes, it is a strict organization, but those rules have a purpose. You're too young to remember the inquisition, correct? Well, there was a time, not too long ago, when the kine found out about us. In those nights, they put dozens of our kind to the torch, neonate and elder, and that was using only the technology of the middle ages. Can you imagine what the humans would do to us if they found out about us today? Don't listen to the idiotic ramblings of the Anarchs, they would never accept us. As cosmopolitan their society has become, even they are not stupid enough to accept predators in their midst. Even more, don't listen to the inane babblings of the Sabbat, who fight for some foolish dream that they could rule the kine openly even. Kine have weapons, technology and above all, numbers, as well as the daytime on their side. No, we don't stand a chance against them, and that's why the first rule of the Camarilla is the Masquerade. We don't reveal our nature to humans. It's as simple as that. If you break that law, you threaten all of us, and thus, we group together to bring you down. It may seem a harsh penalty to you, neonate, but mortals today have the internet. They have cameras in their phones that can upload video to the web in seconds, and all it takes is some foolish vampire showing off to endanger all of our blood.

The second rule is that of progeny. You don't embrace willy-nilly. Now, I'm aware that this one seems especially harsh, especially given that the sire and childe must both be destroyed. Think upon it from our perspective, neonate. This is a fragile ecosystem. There can be no point in which the mass of predators outweighs the prey. While it is all well and good and romantic for a young Toreador to embrace out of love or obsession, how long do you think that love will last? Vampires have centuries to get sick of each other, form new obsessions and bonds. If we simply embraced on a whim, the Masquerade would have fallen centuries ago. Some Kindred will say that the embrace is there's to give as they please. Some would say that we have no right to infringe upon our citizens. These vampires are irresponsible, young, and have not seen what happens when the embrace is handed out with no respect for the law. Take one look at Mexico city, or Detroit, where the Sabbat  embraces dozens of kine to use as shock troops, because that is what it would devolve into. The Camarilla is the only one being responsible with its depredations.

Finally, within the Camarilla, we respect the rule of elders. Again, you may argue, why should age determine power? Well, allow me to clue you in neonate. Elders are specifically those kindred who have come from more turbulent nights, and have lived beyond what a human would consider a natural lifespan. Elders see the long game, they are not blinded by petty human emotions or flaws. Elders see what neonates cannot, because neonates have not yet come to appreciate the patience that is required to play the Jyhad for eternity. Some would call it a weakness, some would see us as slaves, but in truth, our elders are our greatest strength. Look again to Sabbat cities, or those cities of the preposterously named Anarch Free State. Crime, warfare, kinslaying in the streets. Within the cities held by the Camarilla, there is order, and do not let your impulsiveness fool you, fledgeling, order is all that holds our kind together. We are a fragile race, and as a fragile race we must control everything around us, to ensure our unliving conditions are optimal.

Don't listen to the Anarchs who would say we are exclusive. The Camarilla opens its doors to any kindred that wishes to follow the traditions. One of the arrogant Tzimisce, Assamite or even a Follower of Set could claim membership, and as long as they obeyed the rules, they would be welcome to the protections herein. Do not let the naysayers fool you, my friend, the Camarilla is the last line of defence against the very real extinction of our race.

Good night neonate.

- Kephn