Musings on Masks: Episode 9

EPISODE SUMMARY (Nesting): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in New York, finds a cheap apartment in Hell's Kitchen with an ... interesting price. Afterwards he goes on the hunt to find Sydney Silvers at the New York Weekly Messenger while chasing up a hot tip on the London eugenicists given to him by Elias Jackson.

EASTER EGGS: We were pretty jokey this session but I think it worked well as a bit of a tension breaker following the funeral and graveside visits.

You might notice how my constant demands for him to mark down how much money he's spending actually builds some tension for the player.  This wouldn't normally be the case but playing an immigrant private investigator with only a few bucks to his name not only is thematically appropriate but actually motivates him to get involved in some shady business.

Those who know much about September of 1938 in New York might have an inkling about what the wind and rain suggests.... Then again, those who have read my earlier articles about this particular campaign might well know as well.

Musings on Masks: Episode 01

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: This is a campaign near-reboot / continuation of a Vampire: the Requiem chronicle that was connected by a rather intense incident in 1956 where James Paterson (vampire) and Jack Frost (Banished True Fae) were tricked into a situation which returned them to human by the hands of a powerful entity (read: Deus Ex Machina).  This situation was the resolution of a long-term campaign.  Now, awakening in 1938, James Paterson needs to determine if he simply suffered a psychotic break brought on by the stressers of non-Euclidean reality or if his vampire-based memories are actually real.  In doing so, he has to cope with the trials and tribulations in a global conspiracy while meeting the occasional person he believes he has met before.

EPISODE SUMMARY (Awakening): Wherein James Paterson, Australian private investigator in London, awakens in hospital in 1938 to find everything changed.  Desperate to solve the mystery of his own coma and his beloved's apparent death, James Paterson briefly manages to investigate the case from his own hospital bed when an unexpected visitor arrives.

EASTER EGGS: Did you guys notice the various name drops and subtle hints for the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign? Or the historical inaccuracy?

Interesting points to note include the re-introduction (first time in the audio play) of Jackson Elias and the mention of the four books he had written which James Paterson has read, which include the Way of Terror, Witch Cults of England, Master of the Black Arts and Skulls on the River (details of which can be found in the Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion).

I also name dropped Mickey Mahoney from the Scoop and there is a very subtle hint about Agatha Broadmoor in one of those newspaper articles - referred to in this episode as an impressive medium.

The historical inaccuracy in this episode includes the mention of the National Fire Service which isn't established until 1941. At this date, 1938, it should be the London Fire Service. That's my mistake and has no bearing on the plot.

Insylum: First Three Days

I can't believe I forgot to post this up as it was set ages ago.  I won't be finishing this Actual Play (naturally) as it occurred several months ago and I've moved on.  Still, for those who want to run an Insylum type game or want to play around with vampires in asylums, this might still be of interest.  The part of the campaign I'm up to is listed over here, though there's no real Actual Plays there.

Day One

James awakens in a white room with no memory of himself.  He discovers the intercom but learns from a nurse that it's not 7:30 yet so it's not time to get ready.  As he is an amnesiac, he has no reason yet to be anxious about the situation.  Instead he makes a pillow body and dresses it in spare clothes out of boredom.  He also notices that the windows have been replaced by paintings of the outside world with light bulbs placed around the frame behind the glass.  The orderly arrives and takes him alongside five other men to Bath 2 for a group shower and then into the room adjacent to Bath 2 to brush their teeth.  James noticed he had a blurred reflection in the mirror and muttered: "The mirror's not working."  No one else seemed to notice.  He learns that he's an amnesiac on a schizophrenic ward from the orderly whom he stirs up a little.

He goes to the Day Room for Breakfast but isn't hungry.  The food smells nice in the same way that sawdust smells nice.  Not a bad scent but certainly one that doesn't make him hungry.  An attractive young woman comes to sit next to him and he discovers that he never eats because he thinks he's a vampire.  This young woman introduces herself as Molly and states that she has Al Capone as a boyfriend and has been put here because her mother doesn't like the relationship.  Apparently she has a direct phone line to him in her bedroom.  Other than that little detail, she seems just like a fun loving ordinary woman from what he can see.  She encourages him not to take his pills when they're handed out and once the breakfast tables are packed away, she takes him over to a couch and turns it to face the corner.  She then proceeds to talk him into letting her give him a hand job.  He blushes of life instinctively.  It gets all the more tawdry when an orderly notices just as he, err, finishes.  Molly is returned to her room for a week as punishment.  

Two of the women gossip, one of whom is known as Hester, is totally outraged and bitches about James to another woman who seems more disappointed that she didn't get to perve at him.  James, feeling deeply ashamed and therefore doubly defensive, confronts Hester as a prude and the other woman walks away. The two have an argument with Hester reinforcing how stupid and vulgar he is though luckily James' defensiveness doesn't give way to a frenzy.  

James also meets Nora, a catatonic schizophrenic who just moves where she's taken and sits where she's placed, who nonetheless is brought out daily and gently moved around by the other patients.  He also plays cards with a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks the government has inserted robot neighbours to watch the civilian populace so that they don't realise that the Nazis infiltrated America when the Third Reich temporarily collapsed in Germany.

Just before bedtime he is fed a blended meat shake due to his psychological issues surrounding food.  In truth, it's luke warm blood but the orderly and nurse swears that it's not.  It's alleged to be simply blended meat with vitamin supplements.  It tastes good but not fantastic.  Drinking it makes his fangs slip out but when he shows the orderly and the nurse both of them say that he has normal teeth.

Day Two

James awakens early again.  He takes his pills today, reasoning that Molly was crazy and so he shouldn't take her too seriously.  He notices Ron staring at him in the shower and, feeling cross and exposed, snaps him with a towel which sets Ron off in an angry rage.  James doesn't get hurt and manages to stay clear of him until the orderlies can calm him down.  James is sent into the therapist, Dr. Kelly, who explains Ron's difficulties with social situations and how his schizophrenic symptoms and low IQ only make things more problematic for him.  James feels guilty but it's Ron who is the first to apologise.

Dr. Kelly also explained to James that he's only been there two weeks and that he came in due to his delusions of being a vampire and his memory lapses which have since extended into retrograde amnesia that seems to come over him in waves.  He can remember himself for some time but then starts to forget again.  When he mentions feeling condemned by Hester, Dr. Kelly says that it's a shame as the two were good friends for awhile despite the incident when James had a violent episode and chased her into the toilets whereby she locked herself in until he calmed down.  Dr. Kelly also expressed hope that he could go outside during the one Outdoor session that he has in his calendar.

That night he hallucinates a presence in the bed next time which makes a sound like bones rubbing against each other.  He lays there for a long moment but when he feels it begin to move as though someone were turning to regard him, he shoots out of the bed and lands by the door tangled in sheets.  There's nothing on the bed but he now senses a presence under the bed reaching for him.  He passes out instantly as, unbenownst to him, the sun came up in the world outside.

Day Three

James discovers that he likes swimming as he has no fear of drowning.  He doesn't test this, however, as he's pretty sure he's schizophrenic and he worries that he'll accidentally drown himself if he puts his head under for too long.

He browses their small book selection when it's brought out in a trolley in the hopes to find something to tide him over between going to his room and lights out.  Most of the material is informative and all of it isn't imaginative.  No tales of Magic Faraway Trees here.  He does find a novel about a British drama set in the quiet months before the Blitz and borrows that.

That night when he goes to bed and starts to read it, he hears the sound of 1930s crooners over the speakers and his door creaks open.  He's in his pyjamas and peers out the doorway and sees a movie set with individuals hurriedly putting up walls and faux building fronts.  There's a single street light on despite the fact all the buildings (British) are dressed for the black out.  He goes to his closet to get some better clothes and finds a nice suit complete with a wallet, leave papers (Australian Army) and cash.  He heads into a British pub and meets the bartender whom he chats up.  She teaches him how to play Chopsticks on the piano before the sirens start and they all head to shelter in the basement.

James feels very conscious about the hurricane lamp she uses for lighting (she has no batteries and apologies for the fire risk) and so James sits by the stairs.

Ten minutes later, a dusty Air Raid Warden brings in four soldiers on leave (two Americans, a Polish man and a Greek man) who immediately start gambling with various odds and ends.  The Greek man has a sausage (who knows how?) whom he puts onto the pile.  James gets involved and discovers that he's quite good at gambling by spending a Memory chip.

He recalls similar occasions sitting in basements and dusty buildings with folks speaking French around him, gambling with folks in uniform while mortars go off in the background.  Finally he knows something about himself - but did he truly serve as a soldier or was he in an administrative capacity?  Dawn rises (though he can't see it) and he passes out.

World of Darkness Thematic Clashes with Call of Cthulhu

The World of Darkness is an urban fantasy game set in a dark fantasy style where players reprise the roles of supernatural creatures whose very presence makes an already dark world an even darker place.  The mundane world and the people in it are petty and selfish partly because humanity is its own form of monster and partly because its better for the monsters if humans behave that way.  While it does have its own form of Other (the Belials Brood, the Thrill Kill Clubs), the horror they evoke is more along the lines of "But for the grace of God, there goes I".  It's a deeply personal form of horror dressed up with false empowerment.  Sure, you can run really fast and bench press a lot but your unnatural anger, strange manner of behaviour, and bizarre sense of right and wrong alienate you from everyone else around you.  That alienation can also lead you to do really nasty things and such mystical powers, while not inherently good or evil, tend to hurt more often that heal.

In other words, what empowers you can lead you to disempower and destroy the very things you want to cherish.

Call of Cthulhu is a straight horror game where humanity and the mundane scientific reality may not be inherently good but it's the best we have.  Humans may be more like children of the cosmos toddling around our playpen rather than masters of our own destiny, but we're generally well-meaning and try to do the right thing even as we fail.  There is a similarity with the World of Darkness in that we have no friendly parental figure in the form of a God.  In fact, the Gods ignore us but humanity act like neglected children and some seek them out anyway.  There is goodness, or at least a wholesomeness, in being human.  The goodness isn't something that can be held up against a stricture nor measured on a human's soul.  It is an entirely artificial human conceit.  But that doesn't mean it's not important or it doesn't matter to those individuals involved in it.  There is nothing good or redeemable in the supernatural elements or creatures upon this world and humans who attempt to deal with such entities or learn magical spells will slowly find themselves becoming tainted and going slowly mad.

In other words, what empowers you can lead you to disempower and destroy the very things you hold dear.

As you can see, there are similarities but the differences are immense and the change in focus profound.  If you dial down the mundane cruelties of the World of Darkness and make the world a bit more ordinary, you can show off the extraordinary cruelties of the supernatural denizens.  The trouble is that most people play WoD for the chance to be a supernatural creature, often for a sense of empowerment, as while there are creatures even the monsters fear at least your characters don't have much to fear from a random mugger.  And let's face it, it's the very real mugger that most people actually fear rather than vampires or werewolves.

Playing a monster in a game that's true to the Cthulhu Mythos (and, to a lesser extent, truer to the harsher side of WoD), leaves a character becoming slowly possessed and consumed by their supernatural corruption until there is nothing left of the original person.  While Death Rages and Frenzies do have an impact on the game and can whittle away your character's morality, that's nothing compared to knowing with absolute certainty that your future is as a sociopath or a violent warmonger or an insanely whimsical and cruel creature of beauty and terror.

In my James Tyler campaign, I have a player who enjoys being the Good Guy.  He admits that he's not really a horror player though I've found a way to get him to loosen up and start to enjoy the horror through a Supernatural-style 'monster of the week' episodic campaign.  I've let him play at being a more human character, despite being a vampire, but that doesn't mean that I haven't dropped a few hints as to the wrongness of the kindred condition.

True, I like the whole "sympathy for the monster" routine because it keeps things from getting simple but a "Monster of the Week" campaign kinda craves real Bad Guys.  The way I've dealt with this is to make humanity (and human goodness) an artificial conceit as it is in Call of Cthulhu but without it a character loses themselves to madness and cruelty.  This kind of fits in with Morality which is pretty artificial itself though I have detached Morality from strict 'Thou Shalt Nots' and made it more a number of times you can do the 'Wrong Thing' before you completely lose yourself.  Stealing a serial killer's knife isn't going to lose you anything but stealing $20 out of your mate's wallet when they trusted you enough to leave it out most assuredly is.

Since I'm running a vampire campaign I can put a lot more interest in the whole corruption by the supernatural deal.  James has earned a few coils which helps him throw off the curse just a little but those coils are simply a delaying tactic.  As he ages, I will slowly reinforce that simply being a monster is corruptive, not just to yourself but to other people.  He will begin to struggle to see those he hasn't attached to through his coils as objects (namely tasty or threatening ones) and will have to keep pulling himself up on that.  As a human he was a heterosexual but as a Daeva he will slowly lose that standpoint and start seeing men and women more equally.

I know my player and he'll be okay with this.  In return, because a roleplaying game is always about concessions, I will hold out the opportunity to cure himself before it progresses too far.  The cure won't be an easy thing and it will have temptations of its own but should still be interesting.  The evidence of his own growing inhumanity should also work to galvanise him and be like a more optimistic version of the various Call of Cthulhu taints (where the end result is that it is incurable and you fail).

Anyway, that's enough musing for now.  What do you think?  Can the World of Darkness be blended (somewhat) with Call of Cthulhu or are the two doomed to forever run counter to each other?  You can read more about my Tatters of the King (call of cthulhu campaign) run with a vampire character over here.

Invictus Groom & The Auction House

For those who don’t know much about Vampire: the Requiem, the vampires within a particular court are generally split into five major factions (called covenants).  One of these factions, the Invictus, style themselves as nobility with extravagant titles, liege lord / vassal connections, and a focus on having lots of top quality servants.  Some of these servants are fed vampire blood to make ‘ghouls’, which has nothing to do with consuming dead flesh and everything to do with becoming besotted with the kindred that feeds them (love at third drink) and being addicted to vampire blood.

The Invictus have a covenant position called a Groom whose responsibility it is to focus on developing a good stable of humans, the same way a person might develop a stable of horses.  They might breed them over centuries, cherry pick them from the herd of humankind, or even attempt to interbreed ghouls (which is difficult) to create ghoul families who have a little of the tainted vitae as a part of their very beings.  The Invictus in a particular court might have several grooms or none at all.  Even if there is only a single groom they tend to specialise in a particular type of human flesh.

One can imagine that Invictus from other courts might even send human retainers to purchase appropriate humans for their own purposes.  Other covenants, as well, might look to the groom to purchase a human skilled in a particular manner – though this is less common for fear that the human might be Dominated or at least recognisable by the Invictus.

In my London game, James Tyler has to deal with an Invictus groom called Martha Sinclair, who was liege lord to a missing kindred.  Martha is a Ventrue ancillae of 116 and she specialises in artists, entertainers (including BBC presenters), media figures, talent scouts, agents, and the beautiful people. 

Although not a Daeva, she is close ‘friends’ with the leader of the ‘sweet salons’ held by the Daeva, Leila Grant, and has a standing invitation to attend.  She also uses the ‘sweet salons’ club, the Bright Spark, for her auctions due to the nice ambience and Leila’s impressive security.  In exchange, Leila Grant gets some of the better picks of Martha’s humans for sale as well as unwitting ‘extras’ to populate the club on ‘sweet salon’ club nights.  The two need each other and for so long as their relationship is mutually beneficial, they can remain allies.  Thus the two strive to keep the status quo working as they do enjoy each other’s company yet are old enough that they would turn on each other without some pragmatic need to bind them.

Matha’s best picks go to the elders of her covenant first, her clan second, and then the elders and older ancillae of the court third.  The better picks not yet sold (or sometimes tithed rather than sold as elders have certain expectations) are then offered to Leila Grant, then other Invictus and members of the ‘Sweet Salon’.  Finally others may purchase from the rest. 

In order to represent this, there are private offerings made to those within her covenant or clan’s elders before the auctions begin.  The first auction includes exclusive invitations to the ‘Sweet Salons’ members as well as the elders and older ancillae of the court.  The younger kindred know better than to bid against such important personages but are more than happy to bid against each other.  The second auction is for those not already sold and includes an open invitation to all members of the court – even the Carthians.

These two auctions occur twice a year.  Many of Martha’s slaves believe they are simply under contract to her as they still provide her with her revenue through perfectly mundane performances.  As part of their contract, the women must wear a fine gold necklace of interlinking hands and the men must wear large gold cuff links of a hand bound in what looks like a silk rope.  These are her symbols and woe betide any kindred who steals, ghouls, or kills a human being with such a symbol upon them. 

The Deputy Sheriff Leila Grant is Lady Sinclair’s good friend, after all.  While the elders and older ancillae will be annoyed that they might have lost the opportunity to have a good slave, they will not directly interfere.  After all, if Lady Sinclair can’t protect her humans then what good is she?  Still, they generally disapprove of such actions.

And what of the humans that are sold?

Their fates depend on their masters.  Some will become blood bonded.  Others given a ghouls’ supernatural powers.  Others will simply continue their duties, doing what they’re told according to contract and only realising their trap if ever they try to leave or start a family of their own desires.  Some will disappear, drained dry or suffering excruciating experimentations.  Perhaps one or two will even be Embraced.

If you use Martha Sinclair, or a groom like her, she could end up enemy, friend, or simply a part of an auction that they need to win on behalf of their own liege lords or mentors.

It’ll be interesting to see what James Tyler plans to do with her.  I can imagine him braving all of the issues to kill the slaver, hunter that he is.  You can read more articles from James Tyler's campaign, including a few more London NPCs and places, over here.

Vampire Sheriff Set Up

In my James Tyler campaign, the London Sheriff has assigned a Deputy Sheriff to separate precincts joined under his command rather than simply having a pool of deputies who serve him directly.  Each Deputy functions as a mini-Sheriff, reporting to the true Sheriff, but otherwise administering and investigating crimes within his precinct as he sees fit.  No Deputy is to stray outside of his own precinct, except to attend soirees or report a cross-city problem to another Deputy.  The Sheriff is to be kept apprised of all situations and has the right to personally investigate any problems that he sees as sufficiently interesting.

In some of the more troubled spots, the Sheriff has placed two Deputies in place in opposition to each other so that they will constantly be striving to outdo each other in spotting trouble.  He only does this in Carthian regencies or places where known troublemakers spend their time because setting two kindred to prove themselves to him in this way means that a lot of trumped up charges and false conspiracies are found -- things that would de-stabilise the region if allowed to occur in important neighborhoods.  Since their precincts contain those the Prince cares little for anyway, the extra strife it causes it considered to be beneficial.

It does make the Carthians chafe and give them more to complain about but the London kindred believe the Carthians are not a threat and, for now, they aren't.  Things will change when the Information Era brings swift changes in technology and social norms.

There are currently twelve Deputies in this court which ranges from the London Metropolitan area to its surrounding suburbs to the north, west, near south and near east.  The East End belongs to a different kindred court - one established and run by some rather lowbrow Invictus whom the more proper Metro to West End Invictus court consider to be uncouth fools who unfortunately have managed to retain their court independence.

Tatters of the King Chapter 3 NPC WoD Conversion

This is a conversion of the NPCs from Chaosium's brilliant Tatters of the King campaign book for use in my Vampire: the Requiem game.  I whole-heartedly recommend this campaign.  As I had to convert many of the important NPCs to World of Darkness rules, I thought I would share those characters here with you.  I haven't converted all of the spells known in a few cases because, well, that would be quite impossible.  I would recommend simply referring to the Call of Cthulhu Core Rule book to figure out what the spells do and making a Resolve + Composure check to see if they are capable of pulling it off in those cases where the spells haven't been converted by me and you don't feel like fully converting that spell.

You can read more from this campaign, including other chapter conversions, over here.  Oh, and for those following that campaign: "Yes, I know it's Friday and Friday is meant to be Changeling post day but as I posted Changeling on Monday by accident in the Tatters slot, I thought it was only fair to swap it around this week."

Dick Blair

Species: Human

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Wrath

Intelligence: 2        Strength: 2         Presence: 3
Wits: 1                    Dexterity: 2       Manipulation: 2 
Resolve: 3              Stamina: 2         Composure: 2

Academics: 1

Computer: 0

Crafts: 1

Investigation: 1

Medicine: 0

Occult: 0

Politics: 0

Science: 0

Athletics: 0

Brawl: 3

Drive: 0

Firearms: 0

Larceny: 0

Stealth: 0

Survival: 1

Weaponry: 2

Animal Ken: 0

Empathy: 2 (Strangers)

Expression: 0

Intimidation: 2

Persuasion: 2

Socialise: 1 (Pub)

Streetwise: 2

Subterfuge: 2

Initiative: 4

Willpower: 5
Health: 7
Size: 5
Speed: 9
Morality: 3

Merits

Allies (Hastur Cult) (***)
Resources (**)
Improvised Weapon Fighting Style (*)

Weapons / Attacks:

Grapple and Brawl, 5 dice
Broken Billiard (1B), 5 dice

Harold Jennings

Species: Human

Virtue: Faith

Vice: Wrath

Intelligence: 2        Strength: 3         Presence: 3
Wits: 2                    Dexterity: 1       Manipulation: 2 
Resolve: 3              Stamina: 4         Composure: 2

Academics: 0

Computer: 0

Crafts: 3

Investigation: 0

Medicine: 2 (Veterinary)

Occult: 0

Politics: 0

Science: 0

Athletics: 1

Brawl: 1

Drive: 1

Firearms: 3

Larceny: 0

Stealth: 0

Survival: 3 (Farming) (Hunting)

Weaponry: 0

Animal Ken: 0

Empathy: 2

Expression: 0

Intimidation: 2

Persuasion: 2

Socialise: 0

Streetwise: 2

Subterfuge: 1

Initiative: 3

Willpower: 5
Health: 9
Size: 5
Speed: 9
Morality: 6

Merits

Trained Observer (**)
Iron Stamina (**)

Weapons / Attacks:

.410 Gauge Shotgun (4L) 8 damage

Lawrence Bacon

Species: Earthbound Thrall

Virtue: Faith

Vice: Greed

Intelligence: 6        Strength: 2         Presence: 3
Wits: 3                    Dexterity: 1       Manipulation: 2 
Resolve: 4              Stamina: 3         Composure: 4

Academics: 3 (Accounting) (Research) (History)

Computer: 0

Crafts: 2 (Bookbinding)

Investigation: 2

Medicine: 0

Occult: 4 (Hastur Mythos)

Politics: 0

Science: 1 (Natural History)

Athletics: 0

Brawl: 2

Drive: 1

Firearms: 0

Larceny: 0

Stealth: 0

Survival: 0

Weaponry: 2

Animal Ken: 0

Empathy: 0

Expression: 1

Intimidation: 2

Persuasion: 2

Socialise: 1

Streetwise: 2

Subterfuge: 3

Initiative: 4

Willpower: 5
Health: 7
Size: 5
Speed: 10
Morality: 4

Merits

Language: English, Latin
Resources (**)
Allies (Hastur Cult) (***)

Contact (Ghouls) (*)

Weapons / Attacks:

Crowbar (1B), 8 dice
Grapple and Brawl, 6 dice


Gift:

+2 Intelligence
Steal Life: He physically becomes a year younger for every point in Stamina stolen from a victim before they die.

Spells:
Bespeak the End of the Day, Chant of Thoth, Chime of Tezchaptl, Contact Ghoul, Create Gate, Flesh Ward, Hands of Colubria, Song of Hastur, Summon / Bind Byakhee, Summon / Bind Nightgaunt, Unspeakable Promise, View Gate, Voorish Sign, Wandering Soul.

Daeva Location: Sweet Salon

The Sweet Salons are held in a beautiful nightclub called "The Bright Spark" that plays old-fashioned jazz tunes and still manages to retain its popularity with a slightly older crowd.  On certain Saturday nights, the jazz club is closed to the public and only certain VIPs are allowed entrance.  These VIPs are, naturally, members of Clan Daeva.  Normally such a place is only for those of a reasonable status within city, court or covenant (Status 2) but they make an exception occasionally by inviting the freshly embraced or the newly arrived as a Special Guest.  Sometimes they even invite a member of another Clan.  They never invite Elders or older Ancillae.  It's only for young Ancillae and Neonate up-and-comers who've risen fast within the ranks.

In fact, during this particular style of soiree, run by the Daeva Deputy Sheriff known as Leila Grant and these events are called the Sweet Salons.  Sometimes it's great to be their Special Guests.  Such a person is lured there under appearances of friendship or tricked into arriving through retainers or human allies without forewarning of the salon itself.  They are indulged, befriended, and then either ignored at later social engagements (at best) or subjected to strange and twisted social games (at worst).

One of their favourites is a simple one where an eager young thing is toyed with into thinking they made social faux pas when the other kindred start to react to certain statements quite badly.  The kindred leaves feeling like they just missed their chance and not knowing why.  Others are alternately bullied, cajoled, and sweet talked.  Some try to convince the kindred to side with one alleged clique or another.  Perhaps the kindred is even convinced to do something that is social suicide at the next court.  Awe is the only form of mental manipulation allowed.

There's two dozen blood dolls who provide the bulk of the crowd as the kindred present rarely number a dozen - though they are normally on the dance floor, bartenders, performing on the stage, or sitting in booths or at tables in quiet conversation like the extras in a Noir movie.  They are all quite attractive though none are more beautiful than the Deputy Sheriff's girlfriend, Ava Schmidt.  The blood dolls are all willing to be fed from, though none of them are aware of the existence of vampires and think they're part of some strange 'sex cult' who drink and make out for the amusement of the rich.  Many of them are from the theatre business and are hoping to make their big break.  If a blood doll is silly enough to ask too many questions, they will end up so well-Dominated and drugged up that they'll have a quick trip into an asylum controlled by a Daeva elder who takes a special joy in messing with the heads of potential hunters since his lover was slain by hunters a century ago.

Anyone who wants a drink will find it laced with blood by one of the bartenders to allow for an easy drink.  Mix in enough warm blood and any alcoholic cocktail will go down and be absorbed without the expenditure of vitae (at least in my game).  When a bartender gets too blood-weak, they go and have some orange juice and a lie down and another one takes their place.  These five bartenders are more in the know.  They are all in thrall to Ava Schmidt.  They are also all capable combatants with guns and knives under the counters.

The bouncers are the Deputy Sheriff's personal thralls and are quite capable as well.  If necessary, their role is also to ensure that no one leaves in the event of a frenzy or a game gone too far.  You see, while the kindred do have access to enough Dominate to remove any pesky memories, they can't let any of the humans out even if it means they die.  The occasional person does step loose from it with a friend who suddenly disappeared.

This salon was invented for use in my James Tyler campaign.  You can read more about that campaign over here.

Vampire Noir Adventure Creation: Themes

I’m currently preparing the adventure to sit between the two halves of the Tatters of the King campaign and I thought I’d turn my eye onto something more typically vampire-oriented as an adventure.  In fact, I thought I'd try my hand at something more typically Daeva.  Since James Tyler is a tough and cynical anti-hero, I thought a Noir-themed adventure could work as we've had several regular hunter stories beforehand and I wanted to try something different.  The World of Darkness creators suggest getting all of your themes in a line before working on the adventure itself so I thought I’d do just that with no less than eight Noir-inspired themes to get my inspired.  Take a look.

Private Investigators & Femme Fatales.

While classical Noir requires neither a private investigator nor a femme fatale, the plot has led James Tyler to more of a desk job (private investigation as cover) while Daeva politics simply scream for femme (or male) fatales.  As a twist against the genre, however, I think I will use an ingénue in wolf’s clothing rather than a true femme fatale.  There is nothing more unexpected than a genuine victim amongst the kindred and the freshly dead can seem quite human even to themselves.  I’ll add a Gothic vibe and another level of suspicion by making her a member of the Circle of the Crone.  She’ll hold the Maiden role but that isn’t what James will expect nor is it something she’d ever think to tell him.

Temptation.

Noir is all about temptation and not just of a sexual variety.  It could be the temptation of alcohol to fog the pain or fuel excitement.  Or perhaps the temptation of a bribe that would make everything better in the short-term.  Or even the chance to take the easy road: to ignore cruelty, submit to another’s dominance, or surrender something which is held dear, simply to avoid violence or further recriminations.  Even something relatively innocent like a teenager being tempted to copy what their parents do could work.  I won’t just be holding out temptations to the protagonist, however, as I think it’d be more fun and in keeping with the Daeva tradition to sometimes make him the inadvertent source of temptation. 

I’ll cover temptation of parental mimicry by having Charlotte, his perfectly human foster daughter, try to do a few things that he does which will get her into trouble.  I’ll start small with her trying a few shots of whiskey and perhaps have her tail someone she should be avoiding.  I’ll have a woman he accidentally fed upon twice within a few weeks try to give her life meaning by slowly working to become his blood doll.  He’ll meet a one-time idealist police officer drowning his sorrow in alcohol after one too many cases where the witnesses he wrangled onto the stand suffered the recriminations they feared despite his hollow promises.  I’ll encourage him to bribe and extort his way through people to achieve his goals.  I’ll make it easy to do so.  Daeva are quite good at forcing other people to succumb.  In the end, I’ll offer him a nonviolent resolution so long as he surrenders part of his conscience.  I don't think he'll take that offer, knowing how stubborn he is, but I'll throw the temptation out there anyway.

All Is Not What It Seems.

This is a pretty favoured theme for me, much to my player’s chagrin.  It can be cruel to truly use this theme to its full potential in a party situation as at least one of them are bound to fall for it and sometimes the other protagonists may be dragged painfully after them.  Some like the clashes and in-game arguments that stem from this but most of my players prefer to minimise it.  In a solo game, however, this should work out well.  I’ll aim to provide three layers to each principal character and to the overall minor ‘conspiracy’ that the adventure involves unravelling.  Each layer will create its own perception but only by the third layer will he have the truth.  It’ll be interesting to see how many layers he unpeels with each character.

Urban Decay.

This is more about description than anything else.  Considering that the game is set ten years after the Blitz hit London, there’s bound to be the odd bit of bomb damage I can throw into the descriptions.  Cracked and peeling paint, faded facades, boarded over windows, and fire escapes hanging slightly askew on rusted bolts can all provide some additional colour and help provide the next element....

Heavy Contrasts.

Noir movies often work with a heavy contrast between light and shadow as well as the haves and the have-nots.  I can do the same by comparing the urban decay prevalent in the poorer areas with the luxury surroundings of the rich.  I can also create quick clashes between expensive nightclubs with trash strewn alleyways beside them that reek of piss and are littered with cigarette butts.

Erotic Ambivalence & Cruelty.

I think I’ll focus on Clan Daeva for this one as it slips in so neatly into Noir and especially this particular theme.  Simply being a kindred, or around kindred, raises the specter of this particular issue.  Can a ghoul ever consent to sex with his master if he is bound by blood to love her?  Are those human servants used as slightly eroticised furniture happy with their arrangement even if they are well-paid?  What about the wannabe blood doll who throws herself at James Tyler?  Is it crueller to relent to her desires and draw on her blood or turn her aside and reinforce her fears?  And can two Daeva ever be together without being cruel towards each other?

Extreme Psychologies.

While not everyone will have an extreme psychology, I will include a few to add to that heavy contrast and that strange ethereal sense that everything isn’t okay.  I already have a few in mind though I’m not sure where I’ll slot them.  A smiling man who is prone to cruelty.  A beautiful woman reclining who is prone to sudden bouts of anger.  A broken and cynical police officer who doesn’t know what to do in a world he barely believes in.  A pretty woman, desperate to be loved, whose halting voice sings beautiful tunes while her greedy manager takes the larger cut.

Beauty can hide a cruel heart. 

This is an easy one to do but I don’t think I’ll be focusing as much on individual attractiveness so much as the notion of the “beautiful people”.  People who are popular, well-dressed, upper middle-class with the right amount of make-up ... the perfect people for Daeva to stalk amongst and also, unfortunately, to sire.

So that's it so far for my Noiring up of my vampire game.  You can read more about the campaign and other articles on the Vampire, Changeling, and Tatters of the King side of it over here.

Visiting Carcosa

I ran Carcosa pretty much as it appears in the Tatters of the King campaign.  I described the off-kilter changes to the world and kept James moving through it.  In the end, the group got divided because Charlie slipped off the narrow bridge into the water.  James followed her but couldn't find her until he came out of the water and saw her on the steps.  There was no sign of the other two (Peter Walsh and Joy's retainer, Juliette) as Carcosa had already spirited them away with its strange dream logic.  It was difficult to get them back together as James' suspicion towards the various Carcosan people meant that he rebuffed any of the NPC's attempts to help him.  So in the end I made him stew for a bit before he stumbled across the museum where he met with Alexander Roby and, later, the other two NPCs.

As he was all on his own, at the very end I gave him more time to plot out how he would react to the ceremony than I otherwise would.  He didn't have several minds to remember the bell, after all, so I thought it only fair to give him a chance.

When Hastur appeared, Yolanda ran away as James had been rather callous toward her (thinking her a figment of a dream world or some supernatural creature) so she took her chances on her own.  Unfortunately, she ended up having her throat slit outside the garden labyrinth but what can you do?  Easy come, easy go.

While the actual gameplay didn't look any different, I did have a different cosmology in mind which could have led to a few different changes that didn't end up coming up because of the player's choicse being pretty standard to the campaign.

The people in Carcosa are Changelings who have been delivered by other True Fae as according to ancient arrangements with the King in Yellow.  Over time, their masks become affixed to their faces, though none of them believe this is true until the Stranger arrives.  In which case, when he is due to remove his mask and can't, they each attempt to remove the mask and realise the same laws apply to them.

Yolanda is an exception to this as she hasn't been here for very long.  Neither has Noss.  These Changelings don't know of True Fae or their own status as kidnap victims.  No one else could give them that knowledge and they're minds have been freshly scrubbed.  Most of those taken to Carcosa were taken as small children and have no understanding of any other world so escapes are rare.  Time passes strangely on Carcosa too (when it's not cojoined with Earth) so most have been there so long that there is nothing left for them to come back to.  No anchors to their memories.  Although this is an Arcadian Realm, Carcosa itself will make the requisite agreements with the Wyrd on visitors' behalf to allow them to walk in the location.

Humans who wear the masks given by Noss will slowly find it attaching to them over the process of several months as the Wyrd adapts the mask to become their face.
All humans who enter this realm and wear masks or eat and drink while here become Fae-touched mortals, a lesser supernatural template that can be replaced by ghouling, or more permanent transformations such as vampirism of the First Change.  Remaining here for much of a week will also become Fae-touched.  This could have happened to Charlotte and Juliette, but it didn't, because James was suspicious of the masks and they were suspicious of the food and drink.  James did end up drinking Changeling blood in a frenzy but he can hardly take on a lesser supernatural template.  Normally the player can be quite quick to identify what he bit but my solo player makes no such assumptions when he's in a Call of Cthulhu game.  It's interesting, because he knows it's all been converted to World of Darkness logic, yet still he makes no assumptions.  I find it adds to the horror.

Anyway, if your World of Darkness character is human and arrives in Carcosa, you could grant any who eat, drink, or wear a mask the Ensorcelled Mortal merit at two dots as Fae-touched individuals are permanently ensorcelled.  However, I recommend re-naming the merit to 'Touched by Carcosa' so the players don't know quite what is happening.  They might then assume that Changelings they see are just strange 'hallucinations'.  So long as they don't meet the same 'hallucination' twice and work out that it's oddly consistent, they probably won't figure it out as a Changeling.

In this campaign, it's unlikely that any of the player characters will become Changelings here.  Perhaps if one were abandoned in Carcosa, then perhaps, but such an event would render that character unplayable so the players would never know.  In the latter half of the campaign, the player character who led the King in Yellow astray to Carcosa and became the new 'Stranger' will become a Changeling.  As they can escape after a year, the player might then pick up a rather low Clarity Changeling. 

Since Changelings don't necessarily know that there are more of them nor about the details of other True Fae, both the player controlling the Changeling and the others might not even figure out their friend's true nature for quite some time.  One thing I would suggest, though, is to give that character a working knowledge of pledges alongside their own Contracts as that's pretty innate to anything partially of the Wyrd.

If you'd like to read more articles about the Tatters of the King conversion to the World of Darkness and the campaign that has sprung up around it, have a look over here.

Call of Cthulhu Spell Conversion: Free Hastur

For those attempting to run Tatters of the King using World of Darkness rules like I did, or who would simply like to add Hastur or a Hastur-like figure into their World of Darkness mythology, you can find the 'Free Hastur' spell below.  It has been designed using similar rules to what you will find in the Second Sight book.  If you would like to read other articles like this one, you can take a look over here.

 

Free Hastur

Prerequisites: Occult **

Effect: This chant draws the Hastur to Earth and binds it into an area bounded by the nine stone monoliths used for Call Hastur.  Once freed, Hastur imbues the soil within those nine stones and is treated as a powerful Earthbound from Demon: the Fallen.  Multiple participants may be involved and each one can make a sacrifice to gain a roll and add their successes to the total pool.  Approximately 35 participants are required to complete the ritual if performed in Carcosa after summoning each Spawn of Hastur.

Dice Pool: Presence + Occult.

Minimum Successes Required: 350 (Hastur) or 180 (Spawn of Hastur).

Ritual Length: 10 minutes per roll.

Duration: A year and a day unless recast.

Cost: 1 permanent Faith OR Willpower dot per roll.  If you aren't using the Demon: the Fallen cosmology, only Willpower may be sacrificed.

Suggested Equipment: Each Spawn of Hastur present within the ritual area provides 50 successes to each subsequent casting of Free Hastur.  Casting this spell within a space where the barriers between the Arcadian Realm of Carcosa and Earth are weakened provides an additional 100 successes to the casting of this spell.

Suggested Penalties: Attempting to cast this twice in one night levies a -5 penalty to each roll.

Ritual Details: This chant draws the Hastur to Earth and binds it into an area bounded by the nine stone monoliths used for Call Hastur.  This spell can only be cast at night with Aldebaran visible.  Unless cast in Carcosa with four Spawn of Hastur present, Hastur's arrival will last for only one hour.  If this spell is disrupted, Hastur will nonetheless appear for only a single minute before being torn back to the Abyss.

Drawback: Hastur may be present but he is under no compulsion to avoid injuring, slaying, or devouring the summoners.

Vampire's Pseudo Sire: Peter Walsh (Custom Creature)

“I don’t know who, or what, I'm not lying when I tell you a different name.  In the end, I’m trying to help.  I'm your pal.  Your buddy.  That's all that should matter.  I lie because it's easier.  I lie sometimes because I can't remember what the truth is anymore.  Memories bubble to the surface and sometimes truths become lies.  Sometimes I know I'm lying but I do it anyway because I don’t know how you’ll react and I ... I can't lose anyone else.”

This character is a rather complex one borne from a different campaign, a Live Action Roleplay, and then honed through a game set in an alternate reality where this at-the-time-male shapeshifter and his pseudo-childe went to America soon after James’ Embrace rather than remaining in Australia.  Peter’s history is a complex one.  It seems to have sprung into being several hundred years ago in South America where it was a quadruped protecting a few tribes in South America from the Aztecs but that all changed when the Spanish conquistadors arrived.

Lost and alone it played doppelganger to a little British girl in the 1550s, luring her out into the jungle and then looking after her, learning all the while.  Through this it gained the power of speech and some more humanoid aspects (especially appearance) before being adopted as a wild child by the girl’s father.  She was brought to England (well, at the time, he was a she) where a few eminent individuals attempted to tame her and teach her how to behave properly.  She took to it a lot more easily than most wild children although she appeared to stop aging in her mid-twenties.

Realising how most people reacted to her timeless youthfulness but at the time unable to control this, she disappeared into the streets of London.  She met with a group of changelings while lost and alone, as she could see them for what they were, and they assumed she must have been one like them although more subtly marked by her Durance.  The motley quickly figured out this wasn’t the case but by that time they had become friends.

From that point on, the Songbird travelled extensively under different names although she never forgot her time as Songbird.  She befriended different supernaturals (well, using the word 'friend' was more often than not a strong word as there were frequent betrayals, misunderstandings and other issues), destroying those who were evil or cruel as though instinctively hearkening back to her time as a tribal guardian.  While the Songbird learned a great deal, she couldn’t seem to improve much in one skill or attribute without accidentally devolving another.  She also found himself more comfortable when maintaining a single identity but that shocks and disruptions to that identity (such as being ‘killed’) would allow her greater mutability to her form but at the cost of discomfort to her psyche – greater anguish, rage, and a sense of being split in twain.

She also discovered that she was immortal, although she would often forget this as the memory itself troubled her.  She could heal from practically any sort of injury (though she hasn’t tried immersion in lava or acid, so perhaps her body does have its limits) though she certainly doesn’t like pain and whinges quite a bit when hurt.  She didn’t age.  She could appear to be older or younger but it never really affected her abilities.  She could tear pieces off a vampire’s Beast and wear it to mark himself as kindred.  She could feign undeath to those who weren’t looking too closely by thickening her skin and burying the veins lower down to provide the pallor and becoming cold-blooded so she didn't release quite so much heat.  She was predominately a carnivore and had cat-like taste buds.  She didn’t care for property like most people did.  If she wanted / needed it, and the person could live well enough without it then it wasn’t ‘bad’ to take it.  In short, she was different. 

And she was alone.  There was nothing else like her in all the world that she could find.

There’s a lot more to her past.  Five hundred years of it, in fact, but suffice to say she helped forge the unusual coterie that will be described in the next article, set up a treaty between that coterie and the Autumn Court that helped repel a Fae incursion, and later feigned being James’ sire (Peter Walsh a.k.a. Jack Tyler) so that he (at the time a ‘he’) could guide the kindred to safety.  Now he’s back in England, back in his old persona of Dr. Kellis, a blonde female Ordo Dracul Mekhet, lured by a plan she can hardly remember which seems to lurk in her subconscious awaiting the right moment to spring to fruition.  Of course, he's sick of the Dr. Kellis person already so who knows how Walsh will end up.

Age: Unknown

Species: Unknown

Gender: Currently female

Virtue: Hope

Vice: Gluttony

Intelligence: 5

Wits: 3

Resolve: 3

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 3

Stamina: 2

Presence: 2

Manipulation: 3

Composure: 2

Academic: 3 (Research)

Computer: 0

Crafts: 1

Investigation: 2

Medicine: 3

Occult: 4 (Sacred Geometry) (Underworld Lore) (Rituals)

Politics: 0

Science: 2

Athletics: 3 (Climb)

Brawl: 1

Drive: 1

Firearms: 1

Larceny: 2

Stealth: 3 (Shadows, Quiet Movement)

Survival: 3

Weaponry: 1

Animal Ken: 2

Empathy: 2

Expression: 1

Intimidation: 0

Persuasion: 2

Socialise: 2

Streetwise: 2 

Subterfuge: 3

Power Stat: Equal to 10 – Unity (currently 5)

Unity (Akin to Morality / Synergy): 5

Willpower: 5
Health: 7

Experience Points: 350 exp (never more, rarely less)

Merits

In this game, I use the LARP rules for merits whereby simple merits cost Total Dots x 2 while complex merits must have each level bought separately.

Le Parkeur ****

Archery ****

Striking Looks **

Architectural Attunement ****

Combat Awareness **

Encyclopedia Knowledge ****

Languages (Spanish, Italian, German, French, English, Mayan, Aztec, Arabic, Indian, Persian, Latin, Spirit Tongue, Celestial (Fallen language, root language of Atlantean in my game)

Mythologist ***

Supernatural Lore (Vampires) *****

Supernatural Lore (Changelings) ***

Supernatural Lore (Werewolves) **

Supernatural Lore (Spirits) **

Supernatural Lore (Fallen, namely Earthbound) *

Supernatural Lore (Mages) *

Trained Memory *

Trained Observer ***

Well-Travelled *

Outdoorsman **

Ingratiating Wanderer **

Relic Analyst *

Innate Abilities

These abilities are ones that I have found easiest to simply describe using regular merits granted for free, much as a vampire might take bashing from bullets.

Quick Healer ****

Iron Stamina ***

Toxin Resistance **

Sin-Eater *** (Different method, same outcome)

Fast Reflexes **

Fleet of Foot ***

Strong Lungs ***

Natural Immunity *

Ambidextrous ***

Direction Sense *

Lucid Dreamer *

Unity-Dependent Abilities

Just to be difficult, I made this creature act according to some complex rules.  She becomes more powerful the lower her Morality stat gets.  Now, in truth, if you take a look at the list of ‘sins’ in the section further down, it’s not so much about morality as it is about how well she is a blended entity rather than competing elements.  There are more rules that constrain some of her abilities but that would be a whole chapter in and of itself, so here are the cliff notes.

At Unity 9 or above:

·         She will age as though human and appear to suffer age-related degeneration but she will not die which will eventually erode her Unity and cause her to shapeshift and take on a new identity.

At Unity 8 or above:

·         She is essentially human in her abilities though she does not appear to age.

At Unity 7 or below:

·         She may spend willpower to heal lethal damage on a one for one basis or regenerate bashing on a two bashing for one willpower basis.

·         She may make minor changes to her body largely in keeping with the feigned identity (i.e. grow fangs or shed them and swallow them, grow nails into claws that deal 1 lethal damage). 

·         With a willpower point, she may choose to effectively ‘hide’ a wound by breaking down healthy skin elsewhere to heal that area.  This allows her to appear as though she has supernatural healing, although in truth it just moves the wound elsewhere.

At Unity 6 or below:

·         She may change her appearance using a rather organic process of shedding skin and shifting bones and organs with successful Intelligence + Science rolls, once per minute, successes required varies on the changes. 

·         She may choose to effectively ‘hide’ a wound by breaking down healthy skin elsewhere to heal that area.  This costs nothing at this level.  It also provides no benefit other than allowing her to feign supernatural healing.

She also gains the below merit:

·         Unseen Sense (All – does not discriminate)

At Unity 5 or below:

·         She may spend willpower to gain werewolf-like regeneration that heals one health level of bashing damage per round for a scene.  During this scene, a lethal point of damage heals once every fifteen minutes.  This regeneration can be triggered by falling unconscious. 

·         She may use a rather organic process of shifting bones and organs with successful Intelligence + Science rolls, once per round, successes required varies on the changes.  Any discarded elements, such as teeth, bone, hair and skin are reabsorbed through a metabolic process. 

·         Non-human changes are limited to fangs, claws, and slight adjustments, i.e. pointed ears, wolf eyes, etc. that may provide some slight advantages. 

·         She is immune to natural diseases.

At Unity 4 or below:

·         She may spend willpower to gain werewolf-like regeneration that heals one health level of bashing or lethal damage per round for a scene.  During this scene, an aggravated point of damage heals once every fifteen minutes.  This regeneration can be triggered by unconsciousness. 

·         She may shapechange smoothly and quickly with a single success on an Intelligence + Science roll.

·         She may change her size substantially and may shift into animal forms or do partial transformations to give herself goat legs.

·         She gains an extra three attribute points that can be spread across her attributes as she pleases, though once set these can’t be shifted again until her Unity rises and falls again (thus she loses them) or until ten years have passed, whichever is sooner.
·         She has the equivalent of the Arcanum Life 1, Spirit 1 and Fate 1.

She also gains the below merits:

·         Heavy Hands *

·         Demolisher **

At Unity 3 or below:

·         She may spend willpower to gain werewolf-like regeneration that heals one health level of bashing, lethal or aggravated damage per round for a scene. 

·         She also gains 2 / 1 armor. 

·         She may make such changes that she no longer looks like an earthly creature (such as to appear like a manticore).  These changes can involve supernatural attacks such as flinging barbs from a tail.

·         She gains an extra three attribute points on top of what she received at the last fall.  These can be spread across her attributes as she pleases, though once set these can’t be shifted again until her Unity rises and falls again (thus she loses them) or until ten years have passed, whichever is sooner.

·         She is immune to mundane poisons.

·         She has the equivalent of the Arcanum Life 2, Spirit 2 and Fate 2.

At Unity 2 or below:

·         She constantly has werewolf-like regeneration that heals one health level of bashing, lethal or aggravated damage per round. 

·         She also gains 3 / 2 armor.

·         She can shapeshift weapons that deal aggravated damage.

·         She may make a physical and a mental action each turn.

·         She has the equivalent of the Arcanum Life 3, Spirit 3 and Fate 3.

At Unity 1 or below:

·         She constantly has werewolf-like regeneration that heals two health levels of bashing, lethal or aggravated damage per round.

·         Her body can be shifted with a thought.

·         She can access a number of abilities from the Demon: the Fallen apocalyptic form chapter.

·         She has the equivalent of the Arcanum Life 5, Spirit 4 and Fate 3.

Unity Definitions

Unlike most supernaturals, Unity is a sliding scale and can be gained almost as readily as it can be lost.  It can be gained primarily through maintaining a coherent and solid identity with close friends who behave toward her in a consistent manner that helps maintain that identity.  This does make it a little complex to run Peter Walsh but it remains a lot of fun.

So what is the cost of low Unity?  Why not try to keep at low Unity as that’s largely the only way to gain power?  Otherwise he can swap his 350 experience points around but he can’t ever advance beyond this.  That doesn’t seem nearly as much fun as doing partial transformations, right?

Well, part of the answer is that he’s an NPC and not a PC and therefore far more unlikely to meta-game.  The other answer is that only at Unity 7 or higher does he feel particularly at peace with himself.  At Unity 6 there’s a slight low-level strain that is easy to cope with but any lower than that and there’s a growing dualistic mentality and a sense of being split apart.  By the time he reaches Unity 2, choking rage, boiling despair, utter terror, and malicious joy have well and truly reared their heads and it is difficult for him to pretend to feel anything else. 

If not for the fact that higher Unity feels so good, he would have devolved long ago but as it stands it remains the light at the end of the tunnel and as his Unity decreases, he surges towards finding ways to increase it.  Therefore, he will work his way back up to 7 constantly.  As most sustainable identities don’t come with a bag of uber-powers, Walsh will also downplay his abilities even when he does have them because being a ‘doppelganger’ is about as alien an identity as most people can accept.  It’s much easier to pretend to be a supernatural creature that has entire societies (i.e. vampires) or even pretending to be human.

It also makes for some interesting roleplay with James, the Player Character, as James is slowly starting to figure out just how alien Peter really is.  If I were to allow Walsh to linger at his more powerful levels without issue, then the PC couldn’t possibly compete and that would be dull.  It's one of the reasons why much of his experience pool is also skewed toward being the academic who can provide pieces of the puzzle, advice, and research information to James Tyler.  If you take a look at Walsh's combat stats, while he's pretty good at throwing knives and excels in shooting arrows, he's generally out of luck in a fight.  The Player Character is the protagonist.  James is the one who gets to be epic in a variety of combats as well as makes most of the decisions.

Unity Sins

Unity 10 Sin: Someone refers to him / her by a previous name.  Revelations of a supernatural nature (i.e. seeing a vampire unsheathe their fangs).

Unity 9 Sin: Reminders of previous lives that don’t fit the current identity.  Pretending to be someone they’re not (dressing up during Halloween doesn’t count as no one reasonably could believe it but pretending to be over the age of 21 to buy alcohol when in a teenaged identity in America does).

Unity 8 Sin: Behaviours that are out of character of the chosen identity (i.e. going out in the sunlight while current identity is that of a vampire).  

Unity 7 Sin: Being accused of lying / pretending to be someone she’s not by a close friend.

Unity 6 Sin: Maintaining multiple lasting identities (i.e. briefly impersonating an FBI agent doesn’t count but alternating between a human librarian and a vampire biker would).

Unity 5 Sin: Being revealed to be something she’s not to a close friend (i.e. revealing she isn’t a human to a friend who thought she was).  Losing a close friend who has been supportive of her.

Unity 4 Sin: Being ‘outed’ to a group of those who believed in an identity.  The death of a friend.

Unity 3 Sin: Death (or rather, injuries that should result in death).  Having no one to cement an identity for over a month, i.e. no one who knows her that can maintain a relationship.  

Unity 2 Sin: Anything that undermines one’s sense of self for a prolonged length of time, i.e. if people refusing to refer to her by name for a prolonged period of time and referred to her by a number instead.

Unity 1 Sin: Apparent Destruction (a death so immense that no one should be capable of surviving it).