[WoD] Fractured Philly – Beast: the Primordial

[mofous]

Game Name Fractured Philly – Beast: the Primordial

Game System Chronicles of Darkness – Beast: the Primordial

Theme Horror

Flavour Cross Over

Plot Summary Fractured Philly Once the heart of the nation, now only the heart of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia endures. Gentrification adds yet another layer to the strata of the city, atop the declining rust-belt metropolis, the thriving industrial city, and the colonial hub. Different cities coexist, not just vertically, but also side by side, as neighborhoods new and old grow and shrink, abide and reinvent themselves. A million and a half residents tread the asphalt and concrete of this section of the East Coast urban sprawl, some more aware of the history underneath and around them than others. If the mundane inhabitants of Philadelphia live in a city divided into neighborhoods, its supernatural citizens live and die by their territories. Beasts, werewolves, vampires, and even stranger things all contest the choicest bits of real estate and influence. No grasp is so firm that a group can reckon its position unassailable, and no territory is so bountiful that its holder can put all thoughts of expansion, all fantasies of owning that greener grass next door completely out of mind. It’s the city of brotherly love, not neighborly love. It’s not just the neighbors that a Beast has to worry about in Philly, but also the damn hunters. They, or those like them, have been a part of the city’s fabric for centuries. Some hold and contest territories, others just stick their noses into someone else’s business at the most inopportune moments, but most are a major inconvenience one way or another. How it Happened The land for the colony of Pennsylvania was given to William Penn to settle a debt the English crown owed to his father. Despite this relatively seedy origin, Penn conceived of the colony as the home of a religiously tolerant society. A fairly popular notion, this helped spur the growth of Penn’s capital, Philadelphia, founded in 1682, attracting Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and even odder folks, including the city’s first Beasts. Although not quite the utopia that Penn envisioned, it quickly grew to be one of the cultural and economic centers of the colonies. Philadelphia had become so prominent during the latter half of the 17th century that it was the site of the first two Continental Congresses and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Of course this, as well as its inherent strategic value, led the British to capture and briefly occupy Philadelphia during the American Revolutionary War. Several factions of the city’s supernatural denizens saw the chaos as an opportunity to expand their influence, but, in a pattern that would be repeated several times in the city’s history, Philly’s hunter population pushed back enough to keep any of the factions from gaining preeminence. After the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the city was the capital of the new United States until construction on the District of Columbia was sufficiently advanced to hold the workings of government in 1800. The federal government, relatively circumscribed though it was until the Constitution came into force in 1789, attracted even greater numbers of people to the city, including a fair number of not-exactly-people, drawn like moths to the mechanisms of power. The presence of the United States Mint alone attracted the presence of several hopeful Collectors through the decades. Although no longer the national capital, Philadelphia retained its status as a major city and the industrial revolution led to a booming manufacturing industry. The factories and foundries drew large numbers to work in them, concentrating population in the city like never before. Packing such a large number of people into a relatively small area meant physically smaller territories and greater friction. In the 1870s this briefly erupted into street violence between three small broods, each claiming only a single factory. Further violence was forestalled when all three factories experienced unexplained and devastating fires within a fortnight. The Great Depression hit Philadelphia as hard as any other city in the nation, upturning established orders and creating new opportunity for advancement among the city’s shadow population. The large numbers of poor and unemployed made perfect prey for Philly’s vampires. One particularly crafty bloodsucker was able to leverage the easy feeding and connections with several of the city’s more aggressive Beast broods to expand his power over nearly all of the vampires in the city. Again, local hunters united in the face of this rising centralized power and spoiled his bid for control, this time through judicious use of arson. Much of his power base destroyed, the broods proved fair-weather friends and deserted him. Rumors persist to this day that one of the other vampire factions staked the would-be Prince and entombed him in a Works Progress Administration project. The events of the 1930s also set the stage for one of the bloodiest chapters of Philadelphia’s secret history when hunters began exterminating the city’s werewolves. The bloodshed reached a peak in the 1970s, when hunter cells swept through the last major werewolf stronghold, Fairmount Park, and slaughtered those within. Since that time, the city has been in a state of relative equilibrium. Individual cells, Broods, coteries, and packs all rise and fall, but none has gained preeminence in the City of Brotherly Love. Why Philadephia? If you've read through Beast: the Primordial then the words above might sound familiar. They're copy and pasted from Chapter Six: Beasts of the World. And I chose Philadelphia because, well, I'm from there. Kind of. South Jersey really, but it's all the same. I went to school in Philadelphia. I spent an extraordinary amount of time on its streets and in its restaurants. I met my wife in Philadelphia. Philly holds a very special place in my heart. And I cannot help but wonder what monsters lurk within its limits every time I visit. Why Beast: the Primordial? The simple answer is, "I love the 2nd Edition of the New World of Darkness (now Chronicles of Darkness)." But really, I was drawn to the cross over concept that was built into the game. I have avoided cross over games for years, but after enjoying shows like Being Human (US & UK) I can't help but think that I might be missing out. So this is my foray into the, for lack of a better term, genre. Who are you and what are you looking for? I'm looking for 3-5 dedicated players. After having some experience here at RPGX I think that a slower pace is good for me, but you can expect at least one post a week from me. I run my games like TV shows, preferring character driven stories. I frequently split up the group and try to give individual characters a lot of attention, so smaller groups are good for me. I'm thinking that most of the players will be Beasts, but if someone wants to throw in a Vampire or a Werewolf, don't be shy. Though, as a crossover game, I won't be devoting a whole lot of attention to the advanced details of those game's individual settings. What should be in my application? • Character Concept • 3 Aspirations (2 short term, 1 long term) • Family • Hunger • Legend & Life • A brief biography of your character • A brief description of your character • (Optional) A complete character sheet. Interested? Interested but don't have the book? Here is a google doc of the rough draft. The book should be available on Drivethru RPG sometime in the near future.

Player	Character	Concept	Family	Hunger	Legend	Life	Note(s)
Gulielmos	-	-	-	-	-	-	Interest
Xildur	Igor Pavlevich	Hunting Professor	Ugallu	Predator	Watchful	Cautious	-
Sassafrass	-	-	-	-	-	-	Interest
Qalyar	Sebastian "Ian" Corsus	N/A	The Forgotten	-	Diligent	Dauntless	Giest

DEADLINE: February 17th, 2016

[Gulielmos]

So at long last the Beast game. I will have to go back through the book to make up a Beast.

[Sassafrass]

mofous.... I cannot hate you more than I do at this moment.

UGH.

[Xildur]

I am in.
I will post my concept shortly.

Is the character new Beast or a settled one?
And is it standard character building?

[mofous]

Originally Posted by Xildur

I am in.
I will post my concept shortly.

Is the character new Beast or a settled one?
And is it standard character building?

Since I'm new to Beast, I'd prefer to start from the ground up. So let's say the Beasts are new.

[mofous]

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

mofous.... I cannot hate you more than I do at this moment.

UGH.

Don't hate me, Sass. Join me

[Xildur]

OK, I will think on something.

[Gulielmos]

Poor Sass you know the dark side has cookies and cake.

[Xildur]

Are you going to run political game or more down to earth game?
Or even adventuring with many battle, mofous?

[mofous]

Originally Posted by Xildur

Are you going to run political game or more down to earth game?
Or even adventuring with many battle, mofous?

My games tend to lean toward the dramatic, but you can anticipate some combat. Tanks usually get left out in the cold, though, so I would advise against a completely combat oriented character

[Xildur]

I mean that I have concept: young CEO, new professor or Private Eye. If you want to play high politic and social encounter, I would go with young CEO, if tend to combat, I will go with Private Eye, but if the game tends to balance things out, I will use New Professor.

I assume that we would make a group or sort, right?
How about the others? We can form Rich Boys Club or University Brotherhood or even some bloggers club.

[mofous]

Originally Posted by Xildur

I mean that I have concept: young CEO, new professor or Private Eye. If you want to play high politic and social encounter, I would go with young CEO, if tend to combat, I will go with Private Eye, but if the game tends to balance things out, I will use New Professor.

I assume that we would make a group or sort, right?
How about the others? We can form Rich Boys Club or University Brotherhood or even some bloggers club.

I think that a balanced character might be your best bet. I would hesitate to call my games "political," down to earth might be a better description. But if you feel more strongly toward one of the other concepts we can come to a compromise and work him/her into the story.

[mofous]

A quick shameless bump to keep the thread from dropping onto the second page

[mofous]

Also, I realized that the book is not actually for sale just yet. Whoops.

I backed the book when it was up on Kickstarter so I have a PDF... but for those of you who aren't backers there is a link to a rough draft of the book in the main post... and in my signature

[Sassafrass]

I also have an early copy, so shouldn't be a problem. Sadly, I haven't given it much more than a glance and from what I've heard, it's pretty reliant on crossovers, but I'll see if I can cook something up.