Tl;dr: letting beasts embody transgression over just fear
Something that I've been considering as I read through Beast, and reading some of the threads here, I feel that Beast is the (intentional or not) sequel to Changeling the Dreaming that Lost is to DA: Fae. Except rather than from the brilliant and beautiful Kinain, you're playing as the Thallain, the offspring of nightmares, who are the antagonists of that game (oddly the Heroes also feel a lot like Reckoning Hunters but that's another topic entirely). One thing I noticed was the CofD seemed to move away from it's more edgy options, making them unplayable antagonists or else tame them (compare Red Talons to the Predator Kings and the Tzmisce to the Ordo Dracul) and it's easy to understand why, I think some of the more visceral reactions to Beast, despite being not really worse than vampires in a lot of ways, shows how it's important to build a sense of empathy, so I wondered if maybe bring more of Dreaming into Beast might make it more approachable.
Alot of people I saw commented on the feeling of otherness being a major draw, or push away do to the game's context, from the appeal of Beast. One of the things I liked about Dreaming was it actually had a similar theme, just with a generally more positive depiction. I wonder if refocusing these ideas, capturing the feel of otherness as a sense of purpose as much as playing the villian, wouldn't aid a hypothetical 2e of Beast. Beast borrows a lot of it's ideas from Vampire, the idea of being the monster, the predator among humanity, of needing the harm and abuse them to survive. I wonder if perhaps drawing more from Promethean might lead to a more nuanced look at the "reincarnation of Archetypal Mythic Antagonists" idea. Capturing the feeling of Otherness not as Fear, but as Transgression.
I wonder if the game were to have a second edition, if it would be better off harkening a bit back towards Dreaming, bringing back the 'born this way idea' the game waffled on, giving your character more control over their hunger; with Hungers that feed on more than just fears, but also specific transgressive emotions, things that snap people away from societies comforts; breaking taboos or keeping secrets [not the fear of them but also the elation that comes with it] and of course fears as well, the lack of safe places to be, so that there is more than one role to be played by Beasts as well as ditching the idea that if you don't intentionally hurt people your inner monster will go and attack random people. Maybe give them their own oneiromancy to keep the wandering in dreams but I'd ditch the idea of unintentional hunting. Give Beasts full control over their hunting (though I'd keep the satiety rules) and instead draw on something closer to Promethean's Disquiet just on a purely social level, letting people as a group come to loath and disgust you if you aren't directly influencing them, eventually creating heroes. It could make Beasts as much as a tempter or an enabler, the devil giving advice that leads people away from what makes them comfortable and safe in addition to getting to be the monster hunting them.
This one would have nuance while encompassing most of what beast already is as one hunger type. You could easily have Beasts who antagonize others to feed on their fear but also those helping people find their place outside societies boundaries (which could be simple more moral things, like presenting differently but also just as easily be things like helping an uratha join the Bale Hounds since it's where they feel most drawn, depending on your Beast). Basically taking Dreaming's idea of playing myths that inspire creativity and applying the same idea to playing as darker characters that inspire transgression and helping people come to accept their Vice (for good or ill).
I suppose I'm trying to say that making Beast feel like a more direct darker CofD version of changeling would appeal to me and I felt the need to share. I'm probably missing something that would make this a mess and it might alienate some of the fans the game has due to drifting from what makes it appealing to them, perhaps I'll try bringing something like this into a circle of the crone Requiem game or maybe something with Lost.
Something that I've been considering as I read through Beast, and reading some of the threads here, I feel that Beast is the (intentional or not) sequel to Changeling the Dreaming that Lost is to DA: Fae. Except rather than from the brilliant and beautiful Kinain, you're playing as the Thallain, the offspring of nightmares, who are the antagonists of that game (oddly the Heroes also feel a lot like Reckoning Hunters but that's another topic entirely). One thing I noticed was the CofD seemed to move away from it's more edgy options, making them unplayable antagonists or else tame them (compare Red Talons to the Predator Kings and the Tzmisce to the Ordo Dracul) and it's easy to understand why, I think some of the more visceral reactions to Beast, despite being not really worse than vampires in a lot of ways, shows how it's important to build a sense of empathy, so I wondered if maybe bring more of Dreaming into Beast might make it more approachable.
Alot of people I saw commented on the feeling of otherness being a major draw, or push away do to the game's context, from the appeal of Beast. One of the things I liked about Dreaming was it actually had a similar theme, just with a generally more positive depiction. I wonder if refocusing these ideas, capturing the feel of otherness as a sense of purpose as much as playing the villian, wouldn't aid a hypothetical 2e of Beast. Beast borrows a lot of it's ideas from Vampire, the idea of being the monster, the predator among humanity, of needing the harm and abuse them to survive. I wonder if perhaps drawing more from Promethean might lead to a more nuanced look at the "reincarnation of Archetypal Mythic Antagonists" idea. Capturing the feeling of Otherness not as Fear, but as Transgression.
I wonder if the game were to have a second edition, if it would be better off harkening a bit back towards Dreaming, bringing back the 'born this way idea' the game waffled on, giving your character more control over their hunger; with Hungers that feed on more than just fears, but also specific transgressive emotions, things that snap people away from societies comforts; breaking taboos or keeping secrets [not the fear of them but also the elation that comes with it] and of course fears as well, the lack of safe places to be, so that there is more than one role to be played by Beasts as well as ditching the idea that if you don't intentionally hurt people your inner monster will go and attack random people. Maybe give them their own oneiromancy to keep the wandering in dreams but I'd ditch the idea of unintentional hunting. Give Beasts full control over their hunting (though I'd keep the satiety rules) and instead draw on something closer to Promethean's Disquiet just on a purely social level, letting people as a group come to loath and disgust you if you aren't directly influencing them, eventually creating heroes. It could make Beasts as much as a tempter or an enabler, the devil giving advice that leads people away from what makes them comfortable and safe in addition to getting to be the monster hunting them.
This one would have nuance while encompassing most of what beast already is as one hunger type. You could easily have Beasts who antagonize others to feed on their fear but also those helping people find their place outside societies boundaries (which could be simple more moral things, like presenting differently but also just as easily be things like helping an uratha join the Bale Hounds since it's where they feel most drawn, depending on your Beast). Basically taking Dreaming's idea of playing myths that inspire creativity and applying the same idea to playing as darker characters that inspire transgression and helping people come to accept their Vice (for good or ill).
I suppose I'm trying to say that making Beast feel like a more direct darker CofD version of changeling would appeal to me and I felt the need to share. I'm probably missing something that would make this a mess and it might alienate some of the fans the game has due to drifting from what makes it appealing to them, perhaps I'll try bringing something like this into a circle of the crone Requiem game or maybe something with Lost.
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