To that end, I think there could be some excellent potential to hack A Dirty World which is an astounding character/values focused implementation of the One Roll Engine for this premise. It'd be a great campaign with the potential for lots of character beats and scenery chewing roleplaying.once.
Outside of some kind of additional frame - akin to the conspiracy mechanics/rules from Night's Black Agents - I find it hard to see this as a full on game with lots of re-play potential. The Monster Maker would be an "upstanding citizen", and so the traditional option to kill/imprison/fight them would be off the table except as a game ending move.Įdited to add: with Fate or Cortex, the mechanics would revolve around values and personality traits (akin to Smallville) vs. Just as interestingly, games like Fate or Cortex Prime could do versions where the whole idea is how do you prevent the Monster Maker from succeeding - with the PCs attempting to be a targets better angels vs.
I could see it being a neat investigative campaign framework for Trail of Cthulhu likewise. Likewise for the aforementioned Monster of the Week. I could see it as a decent short to mid-length campaign framework for Vaesen - whether you strip out the Nordic elements from the game or not. I'd lean more towards the latter frame, where the monster makers are the supernatural creature(s). But they're so clever and capable that you can simply assume that they've got backup plans for their backup plans, and coming up against them almost looks like they're doing something magical. They're probably something like Hannibal in that they appear to be simply amazing at everything, but not obviously supernatural themselves.
There's also the Monster Makers themselves. Like low powered psychics or spell casters than can do a few tricks. Or maybe into a setting that's otherwise much more subtle. But if you put it into a setting as the only supernatural stuff, this is a whole campaign. I mean, if you drop this into a full WoD type setting with 100 different types of supernatural being spraying from every crevice of every city in the world, this is just some minor weirdness. My first inclination is to put this into a setting with minimal supernatural elements. But always destructive, and always violent.Īnd this is where I have lots of ideas, but I can't really decide between them. Sometimes ones that the person knows about and can control, and other times a secret transformation that they forget or rationalize. Specifically, they make people into monsters better able to carry out their darkest, most terrible urges. As the name says, Monster Makers make monsters. They use this connection to find the monsters inside of otherwise regular people, then to release those monsters.Įxcept, unlike with Hannibal, this comes with an actual, literal transformation. To observe them, interact with them on numerous occasions, and typically to get to know their secrets. The commonality is that they gravitate toward positions that allow them to interact with and get to know people. One might be a psychiatrist, another a school teacher, and another a priest. Each has different proclivities from the rest, and they typically have no connect with one another except by pure chance. The Monster Makers are a mysterious class of supernatural being that mostly appears to be just human beings living their lives.
Now, what if that was more literal? That's the basis of the Monster Makers. Through one lens, he finds the monsters hiding inside some of his patients, and he releases them. Specifically, it's how on the show he repeatedly inspires others to become (or attempt to become) murderers.
It's inspired by one aspect of the TV show Hannibal, which is of course about Hannibal Lecter. This is an idea I've had for a while as an element in an urban fantasy setting, with leanings more toward horror than wonder.