Page 119 - Chronicles of Darkness

Horrors
and Wonders:
Antagonists
“Now is the dramatic
moment of fate,
Watson, when you hear
a step upon the stair
which is walking into
your life, and you know
not whether for good or
ill.”
Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle,
The Hound of the
Baskervilles
118
Horrors and wonders-antagonists
Horror comes in canisters with labels written in ancient languages that scratch
at the mind like hidden claws. It comes in smiles that hide empty hearts and empty
souls. It comes in shadows behind the dumpster, in handshakes in broad daylight,
and in self-fulfilling nightmares. People in the Chronicles of Darkness can readily
find horror in slavering beasts and primeval predators, but they can find it in the
everyday atrocities that humans visit upon each other, too. No law of nature puts
abomination in nicely classified boxes, easy to avoid if you just walk on the right
side of the street and always lock your doors at night. It could be sitting across
from you on the subway. It could be the subway. It could even be you.
This chapter scratches the surface of the myriad horrors and wonders that
populate the world. It gives the Storyteller characters and story hooks to use in
her games, and simplifies her job by providing traits and rules that she can pick
up and play with as is, or adapt to fit the needs of her game.
The first section is about plain old human Antagonists. Not every encounter
the player characters have throws them into the deep end of the dangerously
supernatural. The Storyteller can use the traits given in this section to represent
any number of non-supernatural enemy types that the player characters might run
into, whether they decide to fight, talk, or just to follow these people around to
see what trouble they’re up to.
The second section presents rules that govern Ephemera, beings that live on
the fringes of the material world and interact with it in unearthly ways. They range
from ghosts of the dead to spirits of Shadow and angels of the God-Machine, to
even weirder things that can’t be easily defined. This section presents rules for
how to create ephemeral beings as Storyteller characters, including the strange
laws they must follow, special powers they have, called Numina, and Conditions
they cause or require for working their mystical devilry, like possessing people. It
also explains how player characters can interact with these beings, including rules
for summoning, warding, and binding.
The third section talks about Horrors — physical monsters that share the world
with humanity and plague it with all manner of gruesome terrors. It presents a
system for building these creatures as major antagonists and details the sorts of
powers they might possess. It also provides advice to the Storyteller on how and
when to use such creatures, and what kinds of roles they might play in the story.
Then, it gives examples the Storyteller can use in her games, or as inspiration for
Horrors of her own devising.
Antagonists
Not every foe has hellish powers and an otherworldly agenda. Sometimes, the
obstacle that stands between you and your goals is just a person like you, doing
his job, standing up for what he believes in, or taking the gullible for everything
they’re worth. This section presents traits for non-supernatural opponents that the
Storyteller can use to populate her world and pit against the player characters in a
variety of situations. Some are best suited to fighting, some to social maneuvering,
and others to different kinds of challenges.