Adapting the Bone Wars into BTP

[Marengo]

Hello everyone!

So, in full disclosure, I don't have BTP and it's not necessarily a game that I'm super interested in. I don't mean to start this post off so negatively, I just thought I'd be direct and honest. That said, I have looked over BTP, and I still have taken a mental note of where I would set such a game. While I have a few other places I'd set a game, the setting I'd be most interested in would be during the Bone Wars, between the two competing paleontologists. If you're unfamiliar, here's the wiki link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Wars#Legacy


Anyways, asides from just the setting, I don't really have any further plot ideas. And so, out of curiosity, I thought I'd ask about how you all would adapt it! Hit me with your best shot.

[nalak42]

So you basically are considering a Beast game during the big fossil rush.

Well in the most direct fashion you'd have the PCs actually taking part in and/or performing the theft, slander, destruction, etc that was common during the fights over these fossils.(By the same token they could also run counter operations on those things. After all Nemesis are all for stopping thieves, and proving a person lied or did something wrong could just wreck their reputation in a way a Ravager would love and so on and so forth.) Of course depending on what other supernaturals you want to include this could also include conflict over groups not wanting an area messed with for reasons.

This could lead to things like the PCs being a proverbial curse on a dig site trying to scare away those seeking to dig up the area because the last thing anybody wants is for someone to dig up slab of marble and carbon that Hesine was sealed in, let alone digging out his bones. Mostly because you're old changeling buddies are sure some of its fey contracts might still be good and that means it not being just bones in rock might lead to it walking around again. And a few mages you can think of are pretty sure its not a good sign if the skeleton is purported to have runs carved in it to evaporate flesh and turn the air into what they're pretty sure from the description was chlorine gas. so really it should just not be above ground.

[wyrdhamster]

BtP is all about you connection to your Horror, Astral image of the Fears that you are now embodied as Begotten. Easiest would be simply archeologists to have been Devoured by the Horror representing different bone structures - i.e. different dinosaur species. Interesting would be what Family and Hunger would they have then?

Dinosaur are 'ancient reptilian giants that ruled the Earth from dawn of time', so Anakim, Family of Fear of Hopelessnes come to mind. Uncovering SECRETS of lost world is clearly Hunger for Secrets ( see Beast Player Guide ) and collecting bones for the collection itself are naturally represented in Hunger for Hoard. Anything more you need?

[Marengo]

nalak42 I love it. Of the idea of other supernaturals being involved (which I guess is the bread and butter of BTP, now that I remember how the game plays), I'm really fascinated by why mages would be interested in these bones. I guess that's a discussion for a different day. Still, I love it! XD

[Marengo]

BtP is all about you connection to your Horror, Astral image of the Fears that you are now embodied as Begotten. Easiest would be simply archeologists to have been Devoured by the Horror representing different bone structures - i.e. different dinosaur species. Interesting would be what Family and Hunger would they have then?

Dinosaur are 'ancient reptilian giants that ruled the Earth from dawn of time', so Anakim, Family of Fear of Hopelessnes come to mind. Uncovering SECRETS of lost world is clearly Hunger for Secrets ( see Beast Player Guide ) and collecting bones for the collection itself are naturally represented in Hunger for Hoard. Anything more you need?

On the topic of dinosaurs being their own unique Beast family (through the power of homebrew or something of the sort, I guess-again, I'm not super familiar with the game), how would you incorporate their extinction into the history of the WOD? I ask because I love the idea of a similar mass extinction event possibly happening again to the PCs, and maybe they have to stop it or something, as an extension of their maybe being a deeper meta-plot to this Bone Wars scenario.

[nalak42]

nalak42 I love it. Of the idea of other supernaturals being involved (which I guess is the bread and butter of BTP, now that I remember how the game plays), I'm really fascinated by why mages would be interested in these bones. I guess that's a discussion for a different day. Still, I love it! XD

No problem. Well you could also have interest for other reasons as well. I've seen characters in a few games that take hardline stances against criminal activities in certain fields, sometimes moral, the more fun ones tend to be when these are just because they don't want people screwing up the results.* So maybe a mage doesn't want the stuff lost, misrepresented, or destroyed because they find the fossils fascinating and they will not suffer someone getting in the way of their new mystery to solve over something as petty as mundane fame and cash.


*IE Attempting to fix boxing matches ran individuals a serious risk of finding out if immolation or being hung from the rafters with your intestines kills you first.

[wyrdhamster]

On the topic of dinosaurs being their own unique Beast family (through the power of homebrew or something of the sort, I guess-again, I'm not super familiar with the game), how would you incorporate their extinction into the history of the WOD? I ask because I love the idea of a similar mass extinction event possibly happening again to the PCs, and maybe they have to stop it or something, as an extension of their maybe being a deeper meta-plot to this Bone Wars scenario.

It would still be Anakim Family. They are called Giants not only because most of 'titanic races' of mythologies were part of them - but because Family, as large, represents monsters that makes human afraid of their general capabilities and... well, extinction of humanity, exactly. Anakim are, by definition, representing beings you can summaries as 'force of (super)nature, not an mere monster'.

Gigantic size is obvious here, but Anakim Beast would also be unstoppable demon, immortal undead, etc. Everything you think about as 'we cannot kill it with our normal weapons' can be represented by Anakim. Popular modern examples of Anakim are Slanderman ( questionable ) and kaiju, like Godzilla ( perfect. atomic example ).

And, well, Godzilla is modern reinterpretation of fears about the dinosaurs in 19th century generated - of course, some dinosaurs could be represented by other Families - like Velociraptors by Eshmaki - but general feel 'ancient giants from the dawn of times' is exactly what Anakim are about.

[wyrdhamster]

how would you incorporate their extinction into the history of the WOD?

And if you are really into extinction-extinction scenario - That are represented by the Insatiables. Basically, they are the same to Begotten, like serial killer is to the normal human. Insatiables, instead of monstrous Horrors, have in their souls centers Moments - Astral realms of great elements crushing whole humanity and monsters. Deep of the Ocean would be one of it. Another would be Cosmic Void. And, probably, Great Impact that killed dinosaurs would be another. More on Insatiables you can read in Beast's antagonists book - Night Horrors: Conquering Heroes.

[Marengo]

wyrdhamster It's funny you say that, because another setting that I thought of for a BTP game would be Toho studios during the 1970s. I fear that the setting would maybe lend itself to being too goofy, especially for a BTP game, but that can actually be a very damatic twist sometimes-putting a dark spin on a humorous subject or topic.

[wyrdhamster]

You are not the first one to think about using Kaiju as BtP historic era. For the clarity, on the dinosaurs you also come second. Good could be to ask original pitchers what they have in mind, maybe they help you also. So let's address to tasti man LH and Second Chances, shall we?

Tyrants of the Rising Sun (Occupied Japan, 1945-1952)

In August 1945, the world and the Primordial Dream was changed forever. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the world was introduced to a brand new fear that would dominate the rest of the century: the fear of nuclear annihilation. That weapons technology had reached a point where tens of thousands of people could die in an instant. The people of Japan know this better then anything else. Especially since the radiation still lingers on in the sites where the bombs dropped. This is further exacerbated when American forces occupied Japan for half a decade, increasing anxiety and lethargy on losing in a major world war. The combination of new and old fears would create...an unusual effect on the Horrors created in this time. Years later the Japanese Begotten still wasn't sure what it was, but the Horrors all grew to enormous size, almost as tall as buildings. Whatever they were, a new kind of Beast was created in the embers of the dying Empire of the Rising Sun: kaiju. From oversized insects, to mutated lizards and dinosaurs, to sea dragons that crawl on land, Japan is about to face a new kind of fear.

Rise of the Thunder Lizards (the Dinosaur Renaissance, 1969-1996)
Dinosaurs have always gripped people's minds. In the late 1800s, it was not uncommon for Horrors to take the form of terrible lizards. As dinosaurs dropped out of the public consciousness in the early 1900s, these Beasts appear less and less frequently. The discovery of Deinonychus in 1969 changed everything. It was impossible to see the newly found raptor as a slow, dumb, brute of a reptile. As the scientific community recognized that dinosaurs were dynamic, power, and likely intelligent, ripples spread outward through the Primordial Dream, calling to young minds everywhere. Dinosaurs were terrifying once again, but they were also hypnotic and beautiful creatures to be admired. Somehow, the call went out, and the prehistoric Beasts returned. Some were new horrors, born in modern nights. Others were Begotten who had hibernated in their Lairs since the turn of the century. In 1985, they converge on Drumheller, Canada for the opening of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and pay tribute to the creatures their Horrors have borrowed the forms of. The rising tide of beasts reaches its crescendo in 1993 with the release of Jurassic Park and the release of a new generation of dinosaurs in the dreams and nightmares of the world. The torrent finally slows in 1996 with the discovery of Sinosauropteryx fossils with feathers, definitively showing that birds were actually non-avian dinosaurs, but this time the prehistoric Beasts were here to stay.

Damnit, now I want an entire book of Beast Dark Eras like Requiem got!

[Second Chances]

It would still be Anakim Family. They are called Giants not only because most of 'titanic races' of mythologies were part of them - but barbecue Family, as large, represents monsters that makes human afraid of their general capabilities and... well, extinction of humanity, exactly. Anakim are, by definition, representing beings you can summaries as 'force of (super)nature, not an mere monster'.

They decidedly do not have to be Anakim. Any of the core five Families would work depending on what makes that particular Beast/Dinosaur concept scary. Lots of Anakim? Sure, but I wouldn't even say they'd be a majority of dinosaur-Horrors.

Anyhow, my pitch wouldn't have a huge amount to do with this time period. I picked the Dinosaur Renaissance because that's when our perception of dinosaurs shifted to active, potentially terrifying creatures rather than slow, lumbering, dumb beasts. Maybe there's something you can do with Heroes in this period, thinking the Beasts they hunt are less than human in terms of intelligence?

[ArcaneArts]

If you define the Anakim merely by their size, you've failed to understand the enormity of the Anakim's meaning.