My review of the Curseborne manuscript

    I remember when I first bought a copy of Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition and that was my introduction to Onyx Path Publishing. I was late to the party by several years at that point but was interested in several of their books like a re-writing of the Tal'Mah'Re AKA The Black Hand, their Anarchs Unbound book, and later Beckett's Jyhad Diary. The last of which I consider to be one of the all-time best game supplements ever written. 

    Later, I would become a fan of their work in 5th Edition Vampire: The Masquerade with Chicago by Night 5th Edition and Cults of the Blood Gods. I even donated heavily to the former's Kickstarter and got my picture used for one of the characters in the book Let the Streets Run Red. Generally, I associate OPP with quality game writing and think they are one of the best urban fantasy/horror writer companies around.

    However, I was initially hesitant to join the Kickstarter for their latest project in Curseborne despite my long time game associate and co-author to many books, Michael Suttkus, saying it was the best thing he'd ever read. Distilled to its barest bones, I had about 30 years of World of Darkness books to cover my urban fantasy/horror needs. Did I really need another line of them? I didn't even pick up more than a handful of the New World of Darkness books.

    Well, curiosity won out in the end and I have to say that I actually think this is probably the best RPG book that has been put out in the past six or seven years. Basically, I don't know if I love Curseborne more than Beckett's Jyhad Diary but I probably love it as much and that is high praise indeed since it doesn't have the decades of fandom attached to it or its characters.

    A warning that this is only my impressions from reviewing the manuscript for the book that was provided to me as a backer for the Kickstarter. The actual finished project is likely to be different, at least in some ways, but it is as honest a review as I'm capable of giving. I do this for fun and I don't tend to review things I don't like. 

    If you want my overall opinion, it's very positive. I like it and recommend you pick up a copy for preorder from the Backer Kit when it goes up. It's a fantastic game and perfect for 21st century horror rather than trying to retread the Nineties zeitgeist. It has some areas I think that could be improved but if it's a 9.5 in an age where most of the supplements I buy barely crack 6 or 7, that's as good as a ten for me.

What is Curseborne?

It is a urban fantasy and horror tabletop game for the Storypath system.

What is the Setting?

    The premise is that the world, 2024-2025 Earth, is cursed. Specifically, it is hella cursed. There's millions , if not billions of curses, great and small interweaving a tapestry (called the Web) throughout humanity's day-to-day life. Whether humanity's life sucks because of curses ala "God cast out of Eden" or "Thor spit on mankind for eating his goats" or all of humanity's bad deeds have created curses doesn't really matter. What matters is there's an endless amount of bad mojo gathered around us with supernatural effects.

    In simple terms, the world is like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, The Dresden Files, Stephen King, Silent Hill, Alan Wake, SCP Foundation, your average creepypasta, and Supernatural all shoved into the same universe. There's monsters everywhere and humanity collectively doesn't so much ignore them as just sort of filters all of it out. 

    Most of the world believes in spirits, half the world believes in secret conspiracies, and quite a few people believe in aliens. They just don't believe they'll ever see them in their day to day life. In short, the Masquerade is changed from being a global conspiracy to keep the truth than humanity is just damn stupid as well as resoundingly apathetic. I'm not sure I believe that but after the past ten years or so, I don't "not" believe it.

Who are the Player Characters?

    The player characters of the World of Curses (not its actual name) are those who have been hit by a bigger curse than most. They have been hit by Damnations and become one of five loosely defined Linegaes (Dead, Hungry, Outsiders, Primals, and Sorcerers). If you think that means Ghosts, Vampires, Demons, Shapechangers, and Wizards then you're basically right. These are the Accursed.

    Much attention has been made to even out the various splats and make it so everyone is able to play in the same "crew" (adventuring party/social circle). The Dead can possess their original body, the Hungry don't necessarily burn in sunlight, and the Primals are not indestructible killing machines nor do the Sorcerers break reality. Each of the individual Lineages breaks into Families that are sort of like Clans or Tribes but often show vast differences in the type of Lineage. TLDR - A Blackheart Hungry eats emotions, a Heir Hungry eats hearts, and a Gaki eats spirits but all of them can drink blood.

What do you do in the Game?

    This complicated question is answered across the entire book but comes in two parts. The first being, "Whatever you want." I once described the initial success of Vampire: The Masquerade as being the game about nothing. You can get up, feed, and go down to the Succubus Club to hang out with other vampires as what you do in the game. The game recognized being a vampire or other supernatural was an inherently interesting  Curseborne hasn't released its equivalent of Chicago by Night but there's plenty of fun to be had with the idea of socializing as an Addams Family or Munsters group of people.

    The second, more traditional, RPG part is probably best defined as, "Defend your territory against the onrush of the weird." While only the Outsiders are 100% committed to fighting the Outside (Extra-Dimensional Space), the game makes it abundantly clear that Earth's veil to the Spirit World is swiss cheese rather than a brick wall. Earth is constantly being invaded by supernatural nasties that turn houses into the Overlook Hotel or the equivalent of Walmart-sized Mimics. 

    The nature of the WOC is that as an Accursed, you are burdened with the ability to see all the monsters around you and ignoring them is not necessarily an option. Even if your characters are sociopaths, they're probably not going to happy if Chucky starts killing kids around them. You don't want to attract the wrong kind of attention after all. Much is made of holding territory as a form of status and power in the Accursed world. To hold territory means you have to defend it against the other, less pleasant supernaturals out there.

What is the Themes of the Game? 

    Interestingly, this game tries to take a much more hopeful and defiant attitude toward the supernatural than a lot of horror games. Stephen King and various monster hunting shows have a lot of crap thrown at their protagonists but they generally emerge triumphant. The game acknowledges that your characters are cursed but like The Mummy, being cursed comes with some pretty sweet powers. It even uses the term "Hopepunk" several times. The player characters should be probably more Batman, Nick Knight, or the Winchesters than full-on Villain Protagonists.

    I think this is probably a very smart move marketing wise. As much as I like grimdark fiction,I also feel like the majority of players like doing heroic things in their games. They may not want to be a full-on goody-two-shoes but antiheroes are more satisfying than the Sabbat who have their Thanksgiving nursery feast (at least at my table--really, they have no imagination). You fight to protect your territory, to use your powers for "good", and try not to get overwhelmed by the fact that the cable news channel is literally a demon possessing millions of people.

How is the System?

    I'm more of a lore guy than I am a systems man and I am not the kind of guy to be answering this sort of question. The Storypath System is functional enough and consists of a pretty straight forward, "roll D10, get over eight and you get a success." The splats all are templates added to a human being so there's very few individual rules that has to be memorized for each and they all (mostly) have a shared selection of powers. 

    The game leans heavily into the narrative, though, and those expecting crunch above all will probably be a bit disappointed. The game has even been suggested to not have a system for saying when your character dies, instead having "Taken Out" as a status. I feel like that isn't really the game's fault so much as saying death should be dictated by the story but I know people who feel that removes a lot of the game's competitive edge.

What is the game's flaws?

    I think they're fairly minor and aren't even so much flaws as leaving large areas of specifics up to individual tables. Like, for instance, do vampires have fangs? Do they have a erotic bite or is it a horrible one? Do the clothes of Primals get shredded when they change or do they disappear then reappear? It's these kind of anal retentive details that I want from my games and there's not enough space for in the first book.

    The game's treatment of Damnations are also somewhat lighter than the WOD. There's no frenzy system for "I will tear into a bunch of innocent bystanders if I don't have blood" but compulsions that can take over you for a time that might lead to a bunch of bystanders being torn apart if that's what you want to roleplay. Like I said, a lighter and softer narrative experience. I feel they could have gone a bit darker but I understand why they made a deliberate choice not to.

What did I especially like?

    If I had to make a statement of what I like most, it's the fact that I think this game is far, far more flexible than the World of Darkness and even Call of Cthulhu. Basically, one of the flaws of previous urban fantasy games was they weren't able to find a balance between many kinds of splats or only one kind of splat. If you were in Vampire: The Masquerade, you were in a Judaeo-Christian universe that clashed heavily with, say, the Werewolf: The Apocalypse's animism.

Here, there's no central origin for the Accursed. There's a lot of curses that have created a lot of different supernaturals and continue to do so as time goes on. I especially like the Hydes and Unburdened as concepts with the former being transhumanist mad scientists while the latter are anarchist mages.

Conclusion

    In conclusion, I think that Curseborne is a fantastic new addition to the Onyx Path Publishing's library. It's a much lighter (but still dark) urban fantasy setting than the World of Darkness in terms of how the player characters are meant to function but the world around them is a very hostile sort of place. Among the suggested antagonists is an entire dimension of darkness, a ratshifter Jack the Ripper, and a nightclub that eats you. The implication is just surviving once you can see the curses around you're hard. I think this is just the start of a vast interesting new universe. I'm definitely going to support future Kickstarters and hope this is a big enough success to get multiple ones.

The Penguin (2024) review

    THE PENGUIN is a spinoff series from the well-received but not-gangbusters success of the Robert Pattinson 2022 THE BATMAN movie. I really liked that film for being the grittiest, most realistic Batman movie yet but that’s a reason why plenty of other audiences were tepid about it. Honestly, it felt more like an HBO miniseries than a typical Batman film and the irony wasn’t lost on me when they announced Colin Farrell as getting his own.

    Still, that just added to the sense of oddity about the whole thing. THE JOKER was a decent villain movie for the Batman license, but the sequel was a complete dumpster fire. Also, the Penguin has always been considered a secondary villain of the Batman rogues gallery, even if he’s still up there. Having Colin Farrell in a fat suit and extensive prosthetics also seemed to be like someone taking crazy pills for a dark and dramatic series.

    So, it’s weird that this is probably the best Batman property since the Animated Series if not ever. No, seriously, this show is fantastic from beginning to end. Colin Farrell puts on a ludicrous amount of costuming and a fake Italian accent yet somehow delivers one of the best performances I can remember. Co-stars Cristin Milloti (Sofia Falcone) and Rhenzy Feliz (Victor Aguilar) also turn in amazing performances. Indeed, of the entire series, Mark Strong is probably the only weak performance, and he does a serviceable job as Carmine Falcone.

    The premise is that Oswald “Oz” Cobb (not Cobblepot) is a mid-level Italian mobster in this universe as opposed to being the criminal mastermind he usually is. He’s a working-class crook this time around instead of a fallen billionaire’s heir and even envisions himself as a man of the people. It’s a change from the comic books but the Penguin has had multiple origins so it’s not as big a change as one might think. Besides, the fact that the Penguin is centrally tied to ideas about wealth and class in America actually comes through pretty well in these eight episodes.

    The short version of what happens is that Oz lets his temper get the better of him during a discussion about who is going to inherit the late Carmine Falcone’s throne. This one impulsive action sets off a domino effect of events where Oz is constantly forced to scheme as well as plot to dig himself out of the hole he’s dug for himself. This includes recruiting a disabled young man to be his no. 1# henchman and dealing with the return of Carmine Falcone’s daughter, Sofia, who has spent the past ten years in Arkham Asylum.

    For the most part, this show benefits from the fact that it could be any other mob movie rather than a superhero movie. The show never acts ashamed of its superhero roots, though, and gradually the story ramps up until it starts becoming more obviously something taking place in Gotham City. Certainly, it’s not that much different than the Gotham of The Batman (2022) onscreen and has several important references to the movie. While Batman’s lack of presence throughout the show is a bit disappointing, I felt the show more than made up for it with the final shot of the show. No, I won’t spoil it but it recontextualizes a lot of the show’s place in the larger iteration of the franchise here.

    Part of what makes this show grimdark is the fact that Oswald sells his idea of being a mobster of the people extremely well. Someone who was respected by the community and a friend despite the fact he wants to flood the streets with narcotics. Except, the show never forgets that this is Oswal’s opinion of himself and we get numerous reminders that he is ultimately an utterly ruthless gangster. Some of which are genuinely shocking right up until the end.

    Sofia Falcone is almost the co-protagonist of this film as we follow her own journey from victim to villain and discover numerous twists as well as turns regarding her past. Christine Miloti is someone that manages to keep you guessing as to who her true allegiance even as we discover how hideously wronged she was by her father as well as mobster family. Sofia also has a fabulous wardrove throughout the show and the costume designers deserve kudos.

    Feliz’s Vic is also a character that I think a lot of us can relate to, particularly in our teenage years. He’s someone who knows better than to be involved in organized crime but is quickly swept up in the excitement as well as lifestyle of Oswald Cobb. This Penguin has some serious, uh, issues, as they’ll come out but he is also friends with a prostitution ring madame as well as owner of a wealthy nightclub. At eighteen, I would have been rather easily swept up as well.

    In conclusion, this is just a damn good show and everyone should check it out. You should definitely watch The Batman (2022) before you watch it, though. While you can follow events pretty well without it, it ties together in several surprising ways.

101 Curseborne Adventure Hooks

1. The player characters are invited to a party being hosted by a Dead Elder that gradually degenerates to an orgiastic celebration. This would be fine for most Accursed if not for the fact it then becomes violent to the mortals invited too.

2. See #1, worse, it's the Champagne Room and they're trapped in a living horror.

3. A factory has been opened in the area and is reviving the area's economy and reducing crime. That's because everyone who goes in is transformed into a P-Borg and the community is being made "whole."

4. The player characters meet their cuckoo doppelgangers, who have escaped their archon master who intended to replace the PCs with them. The cuckoos want to live "their" lives and offer to betray their master but is this a trap or an opportunity? Is there room enough for two of them?

5. The player characters inherit the home of a House Bathory Hungry who died recently. The PCs didn't know them very well and are surprised by the gift. Unfortunately, the house is massively haunted as the Hungry was an actual mass murderer in the manner of the House founder.

6. See #5, the ghosts are harmless and the actual danger is from a Gaki who wants desperately to acquire the place from the PCs and the one Dead who feels unsatisfied by the vengeance they wrecked on the late Bathory.

7. See #5, the House Bathory member is actually alive and attempting to frame the PCs for their gross violation of morality as well as secrecy.

8. The PCs discover their closet leads back to last week, which is an unusual occurrence by itself but it's a last week of an alternate reality where the PCs were assassinated by their enemies. 

 9. See #7. They are trapped in this new timeline as the entrance is one way and must take over the lives of their associates in this just-slightly different world. At least until they can find an exit from this Epoch.

10. The Bandy Man offers the PCs a selection of incredibly valuable items of sentimental or occult power but has a price: he wants the PCs to recover items of equal value from customers who have not paid their debts. All these customers are Accused who have done horrible things with their "gifts."

11. See #10, one of the things the Bandy Man may offer is a friend or relative of the PCs trapped in a mayonnaise jar.

12. The PCs are in possession of a legitimate "The Ring" video that kills you after seven days unless you send it to seven other people. It is collecting people for the incredibly powerful Gaki inside as they eat the souls of the ones it kills. The only solution is to destroy all the tapes or somehow go into the reality of the tape to kill the spirit.

13. The PCs are gifted a puzzle box that contains a malevolent spirit. It's actually quite willing to bargain for a chance to do violence and evil on the PCs behalf.

14. The PCs are invited to a meeting where they end up getting trapped by Doctor Gabriel. Doctor Gabriel proceeds to run them through a series of trap-filled rooms like a wannabe Jigsaw.

15. A lone police squad car wanders the worst parts of the city at night with a faceless police officer who engages in horrific police brutality. It is the living spirit of all the cruelties and corruption that have caused the neighborhood's fears to come to life.

16. A friend has been infected with the Host that he's desperate to get out of him before he kills it and begs the PCs help to destroy its Host before it consumes him.

17. See #16, it's a trap and their friend is leading them to the lost in the belief it can cure him (it won't).

18. See #16, it's too late to save their friend and he's infected the PCs. They can let him go while containing the infection within  or kill him to cure themselves. 

19. Resurrection Jack is in town and stalking the local prostitutes. The PCs can let him do his thing and move on or try to stop him.

20. See #19, Abigail Sloan is also in town and hunting Resurrection Jack. 

21. See #20, the PCs may attempt to play the two off against one another and use the chance to eliminate one or both permanently.

22. A mortal author comes to the PCs and insists they are in fact the products of his recent series of successful books about their adventures.

23. See #22, and he's absolutely correct. The PCs were fiction a few weeks ago but reality has been altered so they've always existed.

24. See #22, the author's actually from an Epoch where they were fiction and he's somehow found his way into a reality similar to it.

25. See #22, the author's actually an Archon that has been exiled from his reality and is immensely powerful but limited in his scope. Killing him may be a good idea but so would helping recruit him to the Outcasts and their war. Returning him to his universe where he rules as a god may be an ethical/unethical alternative too.

26. A Sister of the Cross wants to recruit the PCs to deal with a Haint that is killing children in the area. She doesn't think she can handle it alone. She suggests the players can be protected from future problems if they cooperate and also be rewarded.

27. See #26, she isn't a Sister of the Cross and is actually a Sorcerer trying to collect the Haint for her studies or resale.

28. See #26, she's actually the Accursed mother of the children and came up with this very stupid plan because she doesn't believe the PCs would do it out of the kindness of their hearts.

29. See #26, the Haint is actually protecting the Accursed Children and the Sister is there to take the children to be exorcised. The PCs, of course, will be finished off once they've weakened themselves fighting the Haint.

30. See #26, the nun is a prostitute assassin working for a Dead film maker who is filming the whole thing as reality TV. Sex is something he'd like insert as well as improbable plot twists. If the PCs do well, he may offer to make it a series.

31. The PCs are asked to investigate a mortal friend or relation's child who is acting really strange. Their teddy bear turns out to have become extra-protective of them and is threatening to kill their parents.

32. See #31, because said parents are abusive ****wads.

33. See #31, because the daughter is not actually their child at all but a supernatural entity that brainwashed them into thinking she was their child. The teddy bear is trying to scare the family away to save their lives.

34. The PCs are given a bizarre jon: a local Premiere mage has named them as the arbiters of his will. They can determine who gets what in his collection of Accursed relatives who gives KNIVES OUT  a run for their money in terms of in-fighting. They'll be rewarded handsomely for their efforts but the implication is the deceased really hated his family (and possibly the PCs too).

35. A Primal decided to commit suicide by cop and went down in a hail of murder and bullets that has a lot of evidence pointing to a supernatural event including Youtube videos and bodies. The PCs are asked to discredit it by the Premiere but the Unburdened want to give it much more play.

36. A Dead accidentally ran into his ex-wife twenty-years later and she's done her best to investigate this miraculous event. She is inclined to believe he faked his death more than he's a corpse puppet-ed by his ghost but the Dead would love the PCs help resolving this. Especially since he'd prefer not to abandon his current body.

37. A group of roller derby girls with swords are hunting down and killing Outcasts. They seem immune to bullets and most magic.

38. See #37, they are a crew of Primal Venators that are venting their aggression what they view as alien monsters.

39. See #37, they are a group of creatures from the Outside that have just assumed a very strange form. This is another front of the war against the Archons.

40. See #37, they are a hive minded entity that was defined by the first person it encountered.

41. Selena Height is a Red Riding Hood who is barely 5'1, in her late teens, but has a fur "quilt" made of the skin of various Accursed that she has chopped up to obtain the powers of. 

42. See #40, she's looking for the bastards who killed her father and made his skull into an ashtray containing his soul.

43. See #40, she's actually quite friendly as long as you understand she's a power-gaming Munchkin who will do anything to get stronger.

44. See #40, she's actually in her forties but due to the magic, looks like a blood-soaked magical girl.

45. The PCs inexplicably find a TV set in their house that can be used to view other locations. The trick is that it also shows them crimes and tragedies they can prevent (or perhaps profit from)

46. A brutal gang war is being fought between two local crime syndicates that previously didn't have body counts in the dozens. 

47. See #45, this is an Outsider  manifesting itself and taking over one of the gang to fight the local Outcasts.

48. See #45, it is a actual normal ordinary gang that is causing major chaos in the PC's neighborhood. 

49. See #45, a Primal street  gang is fighting against a Hungry one over territory as well as possibly a Outcast lover that "belonged" to both their leaders.

50. A bunch of Ghost Hunters are gathered around a fame-obsessed Accursed who is leading them to things they should really not be investigating. Eventually, something like a Liminality will solve the problem, but the PCs may want to protect these idiots.

51. A white collar criminal lost a huge chunk of money, estimates from the hundreds of millions to a billion or more, to a living crypto-currency site. This is not healthy given he's employed by the Heirs. He'd love the PCs help in taking down the internet daemon and is willing to offer a huge chunk of his client's money (he can make back some of it, not all of it)

52. During an encounter with a monster intruding on the PCs territory, a child is afflicted with a Curse and becomes one of their kind. The PCs can either help her integrate into the Accursed World or send her back to her family.

53. An Accursed leader wants to unite the Accursed of a city into a collective army to exert power over the mortal world. Others think this is insane and he needs to go down. The PCs must figure out where their crew stands. Can you dig it?

54. A police officer has been working against the Accursed for much of his career, often justified. The PCs are asked by a friend the officer is hunting to either bring him into the fold or deal with him in a more permanent manner.

55. A Munificent Elder has the soul of a woman who traded it for her husband's cancer to go into remission. Now he's died of natural causes and he wants to claim her. The woman is terrified because she has an infant daughter that will be left alone.

56. A Battlefield Angel knows that the local grocery has been replaced by a thing that has been eating people. He intends to go on a killing spree and blow the place up. His friends just think he's snapped.

57. A Spawn of Vodnik is a huge fan of HP Lovecraft and believes that he was actually one of their race. He wants to go track down a previously unknown set of letters formerly belonging to his ex-wife, Sonia Green up for auction at an Elder's house supposedly confirming it.

58. See #57, the Elder is actually HP Lovecraft himself (or a man convinced he is) and he's trying to get a bunch of people together to placate his unwilling Archon master.

59. A multilevel marketing scam has been raided by the FBI with a lot of horrific abuse to employees, women, and cult-like behavior. It's Network owner was a real piece of work and is currently in hiding.

60. See #59, the PCs are asked by a member of the Faceless to help him loot the fortune stolen by the man and redistribute it to his victims.

61.See #59, the PCs find themselves unwittingly sought out by the Network mage who will give them vast wealth to protect him from his "partners" upset at the scam going kaput.

62. See #59, the PCs are asked by the Network to clean up the mess as it's given them a bad name.

63. A Fury has been going on a killing spree throughout the city's criminals like the Punisher. It has become a mass media sensation, especially since the man is seemingly immortal. The criminals aren't exactly all hardcore killers themselves, though. Do the PCs help the Fury, stop him, or moderate his wrath?

64. A mortal relation of the PCs has fallen in love with a Blackheart who is leaving her exhausted and listless. The Blackheart claims to be genuinely in love with her but it might not be too long until she's just an empty shell.

65. A Archivist has got a sweetheart gig where she deletes social media accounts of people who don't pay their bills or have been inactive for a long time and feeds copiously on the lost knowledge. Unfortunately, she has the worry that another Archivist plans to kill her in order to take her job.

66. See #65, it's actually the servers themselves that have come alive and view this as an attack.

67. A Radio Talk show host has switched to becoming a Far Right (or otherwise) demagogue spreading hatred and fear. This is after they had a heart attack and became a Poltergeist. Somehow, he's learned how to feed off of fear generated by his show even if he's not there to feed on it personally. He's gorging to the point he's becoming something more than an Accursed.

68. A guy has successfully produced a manual that allows anyone to become a Hyde and published it on the internet. This astoundingly bad idea from a transhumanist would be bad enough among the DIY biohacking crowd if not for the fact that the Damnations are not...normal. The Creature is the only thing that survives after the transformation. Did he come up with this or is he a tool for someone else? Can the genie be put back in the bottle?

67. The PCs find themselves in a "Storm of the Century" scenario where an Archon traps a group of humans in an isolated location and torments them. His goal is to turn them against one another until they give him a new host (that must be given voluntarily) from one of the children.

68. See 67#, it's not an Archon but a League of the Hidden Crossroads Outcast who just wants to demonstrate what scum people are. His actions are all done with illusions, threats, and the weakness of his prisoner's will.

69. A Liminal Space opens itself up to the PCs...and offers itself as a safe haven for them. It feeds off their curses but only as much as the PCs are willing to let them and offers protection as well as an enhancement to their magic. Is this a trick or a genuine offer? How would the PCs know?

70. A local group of boys are being murdered horribly and their bodies being proudly displayed. This is the work of a local cheerleader who has become a Get of Lyka and seeking revenge upon them for the awful things they did.

71. See #71, the twist being that they exposed what a nasty awful bully she was on social media. She had driven a girl to suicide over it.

72. A Fury, Poltergeist, and Zed have caused people to horrifically hallucinate monsters out of their families as well as loved ones before supplying the weapons to go on killing sprees. It is vile beyond belief.

73. See #72, they claim they need to do human sacrifices to bind an Archon underneath the city.

74. See #73, which is complete bullshit and they're just absolute trash people.

75. The PC's bathroom mirror opens up to a doppelganger of their home. Inside is a ghost of a girl trapped there along with the spirit of her abuser. The previous owners of the place have left a powerful impression on the universe.

76. See #75, this is actually an ethical test by an Archon that wants to see how the PCs respond.

77. The Premiere, Heirs, and Network are having a conference to discuss possibly making an agency to protect their existence as well as cover up issues. The Unbound are planning to blow it up in order to prevent this from happening.

78. A Barghest is stalking a man and has killed seemingly all of his family. It seems to be toying with him and he is at his wit's end. He is subject to a family curse that destroyed his father and grandfather. Enterprising PCs will realize he must have left a child behind so the curse could continue.

79. It's a full on zombie apocalypse as the PCs end up in a isolated set of cabins in the woods with a dozen or so civilians when the dead come to life as a bunch of flesh eating monsters. The PCs own inhumanity may cause the others to turn against them. What caused it and will the curse spread to those around them?

80. The PCs are accidentally projected into a post-apocalypse wasteland where their doppelgangers are among the warlords of a feuding, almost extinct humanity. A plague is about to wipe out humanity and then they're shoved back in time to a week before the end of the world.

81. A Battleground Angel is chasing another Outcast who he claims he has severed from his Archon patron. Both of them claim the other has done horrific deeds in the Outside in a dimension far removed from this one. Who is telling the truth? Both? Neither?

82. A Maven Ghost has discovered a spell that allows him to possess still living people, effectively granting him immortality at the price of murder. The Vorare would very much like to eliminate this guy before it becomes a commonly shared magic. The Ghost is willing to share this power with the PCs if they're willing to help him, though.

83. A friend is looking for a bottle that can cleanse a curse permanently. He wants to do it from his family that has an ordinate but believable amount of bad luck. It's in a pawn shop that requires the player characters to deal with a supernatural being that only trades in uncomfortable truths. 

84. See #83, the bottle has enough curse cure for two. What will the PCs do with the extra, assuming they want to share with their friend at all?

85. A human relation has tracked down the PC and begs to be made into one of the Accursed. Whether that is possible or not is up to the Storyteller but they will not accept no for an answer. The relation is incredibly overconfident about their limited knowledge, though. 

86. See #85, they are also stupid enough to try to threaten the PC if they don't get what they want with either blackmail footage or hired goons.

87. The PCs are being hunted by a group of Venators or Betrayed that have a personal mission of vengeance against the crew. They want the PCs to suffer and to know who brought about their ruin. The PCs have absolutely no idea who the **** these people are.

88. The PCs acquire a book of magic that can teach multiple spells across Lineage. More importantly, it is a book that can turn an ordinary human into a Sorcerer. 

89. See #88, Unknown to the PCs, every spell they learn will kill a random mundane unless they enter someone's name and birthday. Some would find that even more useful than its primary power. It is useless against Accursed.

90. See #89, it will also drag you off to a prison dimension after ten uses.

91. The PCs find a dufflebag of millions in cash and guns in their home as well as a heavily wounded bank robber. He has no idea how he got here but is desperate to make a deal of some kind.

92. See #91, the robber is either the illegitimate brother/sister/son/father of one of the PCs that has been drawn by an artifact he was hired to steal from a safety deposit box. It brings someone to family when in terrible danger.

93. See #91, the robber was sent to the PCs by the bank's guardian Barghest who is giving it as a gift to the PCs. The bank manager who owned it is dead and it is looking for a new master. It assumes that the bank robber would be "food" to the PCs and the money something they'd want since the PCs use the bank (it is a very simple minded creature)

94. A Haunt that menaced the PCs as a child is coming back for it as an adult. It is capable of creating terrifying illusions and trying to lure the PCs to its Liminal realm in the Sewers or a reproduction of their hometown.

95. See #94, because it is lonely and misses the PCs.

96. See #94, because it is dying and wants to give the Pcs all of its possessions.

97. The Greys abduct the PCs and stick them with a bunch of prisoners from various time displaced prisoners. They escape rather easily but getting out of the spaceship is much harder.

98. See #97, they are actually in a UFO Christmas ornament on a tree in the 1950s. How this affects the situation is up to the PCs.

99. See #97, they are actually in the realm of an Archon pretending to be one of the prisoners trying to test their morality.

100. The PCs are invited to a high stakes poker game with a man who can take years off the individuals he games with and provide them to others. The Accursed offers to teach the PCs how to do the spell. What he failed to mention is several of his now geriatric victims have been turned by a Hungry and want their lives back (which cannot be returned as they're now dead)

101. A local radio show talks at length about a children's show the PCs remember fondly before a lot of calls to it talk about how he's crazy and it never existed. This despite it being filmed right outside the PC's territory. The radio show starts putting up a reward to finding proof of its existence or not.

102. A Sphinx burglar sends an announcement that they will steal something from every Accursed in the city before the end of the month. Sometimes it's harmless objects. Sometimes its beloved friends. Sometimes its part of their souls.

Brighteyes, Book 2 of the Morgan Detective Agency, is now available!

Hey folks,

I'm pleased to announce that BRIGHT EYES, the second MORGAN DETECTIVE AGENCY novel and 12th novel of the UNITED STATES OF MONSTERS series is now available on Kindle as well as paperback.

The United States of Monsters books are a collection of urban fantasy novels all set in the same world where the supernatural was revealed to the world in 2008 and society has been catching up ever since. Vampires, slashers, werewolves, weredeer, and more all struggle to integrate with a human race that either worships or hates them.

What is Bright Eyes?

Ashley Morgan has been many things: a trainee spy for the House, a psychic superhero, a private detective, and a bounty hunter. However, she's lost all of those jobs because it turns out none of them are very easy in a city run by vampires. Now having her wounded sister recovering in her apartment, Ashley has to figure out who her latest enemies are. What she finds out are they may be closer to home than she ever imagined and targeting her old classmates at spy school for sale at an undead slave market.

Armed with a magical sword containing an angel, her ex-boyfriend's magic, her devious brother, and the dubious help of New Detroit's ex-voivode, Ashley has to set out to smash a conspiracy before it turns everyone she used to know into playthings for the damned. But can she trust even those closest to her?
Brighteyes is set in the same world as the Red Room series, The Bright Falls Mysteries, and Straight Outta Fangton.

It is available on KU, Kindle, and paperback.

Available here

United States of Monsters series

Ten Curseborne reactions from a longtime WOD fan

 
Hey folks,

I just finished my read through of Curseborne's manuscript and being the longtime fan(atic) of the World of Darkness I am, I thought I'd share ten thoughts as my initial reaction. Overall, I really like it and think that it'll probably be my World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness substitute even if it's very distinct.

1. It is a lot easier to run mixed groups

One of the persistent struggles of World of Darkness was the fact that all of the gamelines might as well have been separate. Vampire: The Masquerade supplements were fairly useless for Werewolf players and the same for Mage ones. You could do crossover but it was strongly discouraged with everyone going, essentially, "if it's not like us, kill it." This is not the case for Curseborne and all of the supernatural Lineages basically can get along even if they don't necessarily do. As such, this has a lot more potential for mixed groups of wizards, vampires, and werewolves.

2. It is a very weird world

If I had to use video game references, I'd say Curseborne is far more Alan Wake and Control than it is Bloodlines. The world is full of inexplicable uncontrollable magical phenomenon that can't be explained but only dealt with. I'd argue it's more Doom Patrol than even Hellblazer. For the most simplistic example, in Bloodlines, you deal with a haunted hotel based on the Overlook from The Shining. It's haunted because it has a serial killer's ghost in it. In Curseborne, you may actually be dealing with the hotel itself being evil and actively working against you.

3. It is more Chronicles of Darkness than World of Darkness

I feel like this description is almost cheating as its true but due to the other things listed here. However, it's something that should be stated upfront. Chronicles of Darkness was a horror game set in the "real" world with disorganized supernaturals wandering among us and weird phenomenon. World of Darkness was heavily organized conspiracies in a stylized Gothic Punk world. The fact Curseborne is way more the former than the latter shouldn't be expected since, well, OPP really developed the Chronicles of Darkness world in the first place.

4. Characters are antiheroes not monsters

A big difference drawn starkly between the Accursed and the vampires of, say, 5th Edition is that the Accursed have some serious problems but aren't automatically required to flip out and kill everyone. They're significantly more able to keep their humanity (for whatever value that is) and are far more "people with powers that have serious drawbacks" versus "alien in human suit" as sometimes Werewolf and Changeling were. They aren't required to use their powers to help people but the gameworld doesn't imply a Blackhart who eats the addictions or withdrawal pain of addicts is Doing It WrongTM. The game also provides a bunch of truly alien beings to contrast against the more human-like PCs. I should note that there's some Lineages and Families that are much worse about this than others and Damnations that do push you to the "monster" side of things but the line is much, much further.

5. It makes a delightful mockery of the Masquerade

One of the revelations of the 21st century has been the fact that not only do people believe all of the utter insanity that a lot of the conspiracy theories are built upon (as in millions of people) but none of this actually matters in day to day life. Barbara Jones the soccer mom may well fully 100% believe in vampires controlling the world but this won't trigger a Second Inquisition because no one is going to pay for it.She probably wouldn't support it either since she'd rather not be taxed for it. After all, it'll probably be someone else's kids getting eaten. The Accursed may keep their activities secret so they get chopped up in a lab but if a guy goes on Youtube proclaiming he's a werewolf, well, is that video footage real or AI?

6. Street level versus International Conspiracy

While I'm sure this will change with later supplements, the implications are that the Families are about the highest level of organization you get in this world and they're disorganized as fuck. There's no Camarilla or Technocracy here but you might have a local vampire mob or court of supernaturals tun by a literal god in human form. As such, I expect the adventure you'll run will be far more like, "rescue girl from a kidnapper who feeds on fear" or "close up portal to Hell in basement" versus "ancient vampire rises in the East and wipes out your Clan." Ironically, this makes international play far easier as there's no massive nation states of supernaturals to deal with. Weirdness in Tokyo will not have much effect on weirdness in New York, unless it does.

7. The system is simple and functional

I'm more of a lore man than a crunch man but the system is unified and flexible in a way that wasn't the case with the Storyteller system past 1st Edition. Curseborne aren't as complicated as each individual splat and while I have annoyingly specific questions like whether the Hungry have fangs or not, whether subjects remember being bitten, and so on, the general fact is they are mostly humans plus a certain number of traits unique to each Lineage. You can make a character in about thirty minutes fitting just about any type of supernatural and gameplay should be extremely fast. 

8. Supernaturals are far more varied

One of the annoyances of the World of Darkness was trying to reconcile the mythology of all the world's vampires with the explicitly Judeao-Christian myth of Caine. Which is fine for some games but a non-starter for others. Here, the Lineages are explictily more, "we're kind of like X but have a origin related to Z." It's also implied by groups like the Hydes that new ones can be created at any time and we're only scratching the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, the Antagonists section makes it clear there's just a lot of outright WEIRD shit out there that defies description. This is a game that would allow you to make a Lineage or Families about guys who become werekoalas or music eating vampires in an hour and play them.

9. Otherdimensional weirdness

it should come as no surprise that the gameworld has a lot of Gnostic influences and ideas of other realities breaking into this one. It's always been a big feature of OPP's Chronicles of Darkness and some of their other games too. These worlds are portrayed as wholly alien and can mess up parts of the world in ways that turn them into miniature Silent Hills or Twin Peaks. I always liked Horizon Realms in Mage and the Penumbra in Werewolf so these can both be present.

10. This is a labor of love

This is something I am going to end on as I believe it deserves to be mentioned. A lot of recent products from a certain company (not naming names) feel like they weren't done by longtime fans and devotees of the product. They feel very corporate. This is something that clearly is the result of people who have a decades-long love for urban fantasy/horror gaming and it shines through in every page. OPP probably didn't have the opportunity to pursue every idea they wanted when working in someone else's sandbox that they clearly have the chance to do so now.

The Books That Made Me - The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

*Fnord* You are reading a silly review *Fnord*

    This is a book trilogy that would mock me for saying that it helped shaped my political and social ideology as well as attitude about sex. This book also helped shape my political and social ideology as well as attitude about sex. ILLUMINATUS! takes the Right Wing racist conspiracy theories of the 1970s (and today) then proceeds to skewer them with a ruthlessness that Mel Brooks would envy. HP Lovecraft, anarchism, James Bond, Captain Nemo, chaos magic, and just about everything else is run through the wringer.

    If you must take away three things from this trilogy, let it be these:

1. Nazism/Fascism/Reactionary politics in general is incredibly stupid: It is propped up by people who take silly things very seriously. If its followers had the slightest bit of humor about themselves then no one would follow it.
2. Question everything because a lot of people are lying to you for money, power, or because they themselves are idiots: Self-explanatory. It doesn’t take much to say something utterly ridiculous with conviction and convince people you know secret truths.
3. Sex is fun and should be had by people having fun: If someone isn’t during it, you’re doing it wrong. Safe, sane, and consensual and none of it anyone else’s business.

    Is it wrong to suggest that, at the end of the day, every insane dictator and mad corporate demagogue is just trying to get his rocks off from the power jolt to his nether regions? I mean, the author makes a good cause it really is *that* Freudian. That the more you scream and want about “my way or the highway’, the more you’re covering up some deep insecurity. Anarchism is also shown to be simply, “Don’t take hierarchy seriously and once everyone realizes it’s all costumes and titles, it can’t hurt you.”

    As for the actual books, they’re ridiculous, mildly smutty, and sketch comedy akin to THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY except predating it by four years. The Illuminati isn’t real, except it is because so many people believe in it that unfortunately it has a non-zero effect on politics and people regularly convince themselves they’re a part of it or try to claim they’re members or just flat out invent versions for themselves. It’s like my claiming to be a Jedi. It’s ridiculous, except there’s no actual Jedi to dispute it so why not? It actually gives some fascinating insight into fandom as people fight over what is the “real” version of Optimus Prime and what a “real” fan of his looks like.

    This trilogy inspired the Steve Jackson card game and ironically caused a bit of a real life bit of confusion as the cards keep the satirical progressive spirit of these books. However, then RPGs of the Nineties took the card game and portrayed the conspiracies as serious–even though they’re parodies of a bunch of racist Far Right idiocy. How do I define Far Right? “You absolutely think this view of the world is the only way to go and everyone who says otherwise should be shot*.”

    You may notice I haven’t described the plot because that would be missing the point. It is a book about nothing like Seinfeld, except everything, because everything is crashing weirdness from people trying to find out what the real Illuminati’s plots are. Either because they want them to succeed, to thwart them, or to join them. If you haven’t guessed what the joke about this quest to defeat the Illuminati is by my description, you may want to give this one a skip. There is lots of sex and people acting stupidly but, scarily, not that much different from the people in power today.

    Is it fantasy? Well, there’s magic, Atlantis, Cthulhu, undead Nazis, magical rock bands, and politicians who actually do want to make the world a better place (they’re just terrible at it). So jump in your giant battleship-sized yellow submarine and seek the truths of the goddess Eris my friends. Or avoid this book like the plague there’s words in it that might make you question things.

    * That’s the Far part.

Available here

Shadowrun: Never Deal with a Dragon by Robert N. Charrette review

    NEVER DEAL WITH A DRAGON by Robert N. Charrette is the first Shadowrun novel and the first volume of the Secrets of Power trilogy. It is our first introduction to Shadowrun from the literary side of things and if you’ve never played the game, Shadowrun is a cyberpunk fantasy where magic returned to the Earth in 2012. Huge chunks of humanity were mutated into races like elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls. If that sounds silly, it is. If that sounds awesome, it is. If you’re a person who loves “pure” cyberpunk and hate the sound of that, well, this isn’t the book for you.

    The premise is that Sam Verner is a white male human heterosexual religious protagonist, which is not a criticism but just a note that it’s somewhat noticeable in Shadowrun (as well as cyberpunk in general), that works as a programmer for the Japanese Renraku megacorp. His life is reasonably okay until his sister is transformed into an Ork and he immediately finds himself shunned by polite society. His wee gets worse as he’s sent to Seattle and the plane is hijacked by a group of Shadowrunners that he ends up accidentally befriending.

    I like the book’s mixture of magic and cyberpunk elements by never winking at the reader or commenting on how strange it is. By playing it straight, the book’s weirder elements have a chance to shine. Sam Verner is a guy who was raised by a fundamentalist who refused to acknowledge magic and tried to shield his children as much as possible from it. However, magic (and chaos) proceeds to find Sam even when he’s trying to live as lawful and orderly a world as possible.

    The depiction of Shadowrunners in the book is also interesting as we get to see them do some pretty awful things but show each other loyalty that you wouldn’t expect from hardened criminals. It felt very much like a tabletop RPG in that once you were accepted as a member of the “player characters” that they would go to elaborate lengths for one another.

    I like how the various plots and counter-plots in the book build up like a game of Vampire: The Masquerade. There’s several separate corporate conspiracies going on simultaneously with Sam Verner suspected to be at the bottom of them, ironically, because everyone believes no one can be as squeaky clean as him. This includes a plot by Mr. Drake who, shock of shocks, is actually a dragon. If I had any complaints, I would say that I didn’t like the handling of Sam Verner’s girlfriend who seems to exist solely to give him someone to avenge.

    This is a pretty entertaining book from beginning to end as I came to like all of the characters with Sally Tsung, Dodger, Ghost, and Ms. Crenshaw that are a great deal more interesting than the somewhat naive Sam Verner. There’s a lot of use of the signature characters from the 1st Edition Shadowrun sourcebook and I like when tabletop games take that attitude. The cross-pollination of tabletop games with the fiction is well done throughout the book.

Available here