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General Category => RPGs => : Cordyceps October 20, 2015, 12:03:49 AM

: Night's Black Agents
: Cordyceps October 20, 2015, 12:03:49 AM
So what are the community's experiences with GMing Night's Black Agents and creating vampires and conspiracies for their games?  Here is my first go at creating a vampire for a mini-campaign that I plan on running soon: 

Rakshasa (Supernatural)
Description: Rakshasa (or Rakshasi if female) are cannibalistic demonic beings characterized in Hindu mythology as well as in Buddhist lore.   They are shapeshifters that possess great strength, animal senses, and magical powers of illusion. While rakshasa are not inherently evil, their hunger for human flesh and lust for power often cause them to walk that path. Through self-control, meditation, and study, their hunger and lusts can be curtailed enough for long term planning for goals that mostly malevolent, though very few rakshasa have the capacity to reach this state and often require tutelage under a mentor or leader.  Because of this, the majority of the few surviving rakshasa are content living as ogres in the hills and forests of rural India eating wayward travelers or terrorizing villages.    Every once in a while, a powerful and ambitious rakshasa is able to raise a large enough army, as Ravana and Narakasura both did. The defeat of both these beings sent shockwaves that changed the spiritual nature of rakshasa, particularly the defeat of Ravana by Rama, a human and the seventh Avatar of Vishnu.  These defeats have created a vulnerability to consecrated weapons resembling those shared by Vishnu (the mace and chakram) and Rama (the bow and arrow). Weapons are consecrated by through Ayudha Puja on the date Navratri while repeating a mantra related to Rama or Krishna followed by a Durga homa on the date of Vijayadashmi. They are particularly vulnerable to astra (supernatural weapons presided over by a specific deity). Rakshasa now are also vulnerable on the dates of Naraka Chaturdashi, Rama Navami, and Vijayadashmi because of the association of those dates to the defeat of evil beings. Rakshasa now possess a primal fear these dates and festivals as well fireworks, shloka from the Ramayana or Mahabharata, and mantras of Rama, Krishna and Durga. Diyas are associated with Rama’s victorious return from exile, so they are capable of warding passages against rakshasa.  New rakshasa are produced when a rakshasa of at least age 300 mates with a human, though there is only a 10% chance of the pairing producing a rakshasa.   
General Abilities: Aberrance 18, Hand-to-Hand 15, Health 12, Weapons 12
Hit Threshold: 6 (Can change through invisibility and shapeshifting)
Alertness Modifier: +3
Stealth Modifier: +1 (more through invisibility and shapeshifting)
Damage Modifier: +0 Claw Strike, +1 Bite, +2 Sword
Armor: -1 Tough skin
Free Powers: Animal Senses, Spider Climb, Regeneration (All damage regenerates at the beginning of the next round)
Other Powers: Cloak of Darkness, Turn Invisible, Magic (Typically illusions), Vampiric Speed, Sprout Wings, Mimic Form, Turn to Creature (any), Turn to Mist, Turn to Monstrous Form (+2 additional damage, Rubbery or Fluid or Stony armor, Venom, Wings ), Strength, Summoning
Banes:  No regeneration on the dates of Naraka Chaturdashi, Vijayadashmi, and Rama Navami. Consecrated arrow fired from a bow, consecrated chakram, and consecrated mace inhibit regeneration for the combat scene. Astra do double damage, are unaffected by armor, and stop regeneration.   
Blocks: Diya, Consecrated ground
Compulsions: Kill humans. More “refined” rakshasa must meditate, study ancient or recent lore, and write stories and poems or practice music as a form of self-control. 
Dreads: Fireworks, Shloka from the Ramayana or Mahabharata concerning the defeat of a rakshasa, mantras involving Durga, Krishna, and Rama
Requirements: Devour human flesh
 
: Re: Night's Black Agents
: clockworkjoe October 20, 2015, 01:47:15 AM
I ran a 3 part NBA game using greek mythology recently. Look up the embusa if you want ideas.
: Re: Night's Black Agents
: Twisting H October 22, 2015, 01:07:15 AM
Rakshasa

If you don't want to go full Indian Mythology on Rakshasas, consider reading "The Siphon" by Laird Barron in The Beautiful Thing that Awaits Us All


I ran a 3 part NBA game using greek mythology recently. Look up the embusa if you want ideas.

Yaaaaay. Can't wait to hear it.