Can a group of people come back as Sin-Eaters simultaneously?

[shredgasm]

I am writing a game at the moment anticipating the release of Geist 2E. I'm sure this has come up before but can't find any note of it. I would like to have my PCs start the game becoming Sin-Eaters, having just died and come back. The early game will consist of learning what it means to be a Sin-Eater and all that. This keeps the power level pretty low where I want it to focus on mostly mortal-level things to put it into game terms.

So my question is, is there any reason for or against having a group come back from the dead all at the same place at the same time? For example, a big battle occurs and five of the dead come back as Sin-Eaters. Surely this would be an unusual event but is it too far away from plausibility in the setting? Thanks!

[Mangle77]

Well, if a group of people died all at once like that, it would most likely be of the same thing, right? So they would all have the same Threshold. The lack of variety might be kinda boring...

[Sconce]

It wouldn't necessarily have to be the same cause, so long as the circumstances are big enough. A battle may not necessarily be the best way to go if you and your players want some variety (unless it's a really big battle and people are using explosives and fire, and innocents are getting caught in the crossfire...? Hmm), but take all the ways the citizens of a small town could die from a flood, as just one example. One could drown in the flood itself, another could get swept up in a panicked crowd and trampled as everyone else flees, still another might get mauled by an equally panicked animal, and a fourth person's weak heart could fail from the stress and panic of the entire situation. They all get offered the Bargain independently (... or perhaps not so independently? That could be a hook in and of itself) and stumble across each other over the course of the next few days or weeks.

That's just off the top of my head, but... so long as you can come up with the right circumstances, and maybe want to frame the "multiple near-simultaneous Bargains" thing as a story hook, I don't see why you couldn't do this.

[shredgasm]

Thanks for the ideas! To be honest, I haven't read Geist for a few months so thanks for reminding me of the importance of different methods of death. I'll think of a way to make it all make sense and let the players have their freedom with it. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a hidden rule in the book somewhere that made multiple bargains at once impossible. Thanks friends

[milo v3]

You could have had a group of geists which escaped the Underworld together and once they were free decided to work together to "Create" bound for themselves.

[EndlessKng]

Nothing says it can't be done... and if you're willing to stretch the bounds of credulity enough, even a small event (geographically) can have multiple Thresholds.

Take a car accident. Seems like any Sin-Eaters would be Forgotten, right? But now, let's look at a strange sequence of events. The car had three people in it driving along a river-side road. One is dying of an unknown disease, and expires from it first. This causes the other two to turn around and panic, which leads to them being hit by an eighteen wheeler as they skip a red light at a T-Bone intersection. This kills the driver instantly, making them Forgotten, but the passenger is alive - until they hit the water and drown.

They all come out of this, somehow, all with different thresholds.

To make it even crazier, maybe the impacting vehicle was driven by the car driver's vengeful ex, turning the soon-to-be Sin Eater into a Torn instead due to the violence. The Forgotten comes from the person who was just walking by right at that moment and got hit by the shrapnel from the car impact.


Also, everyone being the same Threshold isn't necessarily a bad thing. You each only have one mandatory key, and you even get a choice on which key to take, before picking one of the other eight. At a four man table, you can easily have it so that two people each share one key, but no one shares any others. It may be thematically interesting, too... a group of mobsters out for revenge after being gunned down at the same restaurant would make an interesting story.

[SunlessNick]

Thresholds are also about what the death most means to the decedent as well as exactly what happened. So a car crash might produce a Forgotten if their last thoughts were about how sudden it is - but it's also a traumatically injurious death and could yield Torn - while a passenger who bleeds to death before help comes might also be a Torn (but because they dwell on their blame for the asshole who hit them) or else a Silent (as their life runs out slowly).

A battle is more likely to produce Torn, but you could come up with ways to get Silent or Forgotten, and maybe Stricken if involves poison gas or something.

According to the book, a potential Bound must have had some other supernatural brush with death in the past - knowingly or not - but that's common enough in Chronicles of Darkness that it's not a crock that everyone in a car crash might have one.

You could have had a group of geists which escaped the Underworld together and once they were free decided to work together to "Create" bound for themselves.

They don't have to be so deliberate about it either. If the geists know about each other, the Sineaters might be drawn to each other by instinct.

[Vent0]

Hmm. When a Sin-Eater dies someone dies to restore them. I don't think the Geist does the deed directly. Maybe a group of Geists escaping the Great Below in the same time and place triggers a surge of deathly energy that ends up killing people. But since there isn't anyone to bring back, the Geists bargain with the victims. Alternatively, the reason the Geists are in the area is due to some Fated event - and the Destiny of those killed is tied to it.

[Darkfoxdev]

You could have a group of people get lost in the underworld (it's actually frighteningly easy to do) and meet their ends there, plenty of geists to bargain with.

[Cinder]

Barging in with another idea: all the members of the same Krewe die together in what is a spectacular example of how not to be a Sin-Eater. Perhaps they lose themselves in the Underworld, perhaps they mess with some Chtonians or maybe crossed the wrong Kerberos. Pick your fate. The thing is, as part of the circumstances of their definitive death, their Geist were not able to make Bargains for a set period of time. Easiest option is a force of the Underworld keeping them imprisoned (Deathlord? Kerberos? Laws of the dead?), but what's important is that the Geist could not merge with a human for a long time.

Once they regain full control of their power (or their imprisonment ends), echoes of their previous connection basically lead them the make a new Krewe from scratch, except this time it happens simultaneously.

Of course, there's no way to know the circumstances of the Geists return and the old Krewe's death won't have an impact on the new Sin-Eaters. Echoes from the past haunting the present and all that.

[SunlessNick]

Hmm. When a Sin-Eater dies someone dies to restore them. I don't think the Geist does the deed directly. Maybe a group of Geists escaping the Great Below in the same time and place triggers a surge of deathly energy that ends up killing people.

Barging in with another idea: all the members of the same Krewe die together in what is a spectacular example of how not to be a Sin-Eater.

Putting these together, a krewe is at an open Avernian gate, and demonstrates poor tactical acumen, leaving them dead and the gate sitting unguarded for the rest of time it's open. Their geists restore them, and the PC's are the unlucky payment for that - but in the meantime, some geists come out of the gate to find a collection of dead and death-touched people who weren't ready to die.

[Master Aquatosic]

Putting these together, a krewe is at an open Avernian gate, and demonstrates poor tactical acumen, leaving them dead and the gate sitting unguarded for the rest of time it's open. Their geists restore them, and the PC's are the unlucky payment for that - but in the meantime, some geists come out of the gate to find a collection of dead and death-touched people who weren't ready to die.

bloody genius!

[Mangle77]

All wonderful ideas! I was merely pointing out the MOST LIKELY scenario for many people dying at once. Of course, I can imagine how even a single death could be interpreted as multiple Thresholds: A case of mistaken identity (Forgotten) leads to someone being killed (Torn) by being thrown into a pit of snakes, (Prey) who's venom (Stricken) causes asphyxiation. (Silent)

That's stretching things a bit, but you get the point.