Victorian-Era Nightbane

[Rallan]

Yeah a Victorian-era Nightbane would make humans (even mages and psychics) largely irrelevant because of the lack of technological equalizers. The Seekers of a century ago, and the era's equivalent of a Spook Squad (which would ideally be made up of English secret agents who've been abroad killing vampires for Queen Victoria) just wouldn't have the mundane firepower to pose a serious threat to Nightbane, Nightlord minions, or pretty much anyone else except in very large groups.

Oh and Adventure was Pulp, not Victorian.

[abe]

what sort of forms would victorian nightbane use?
what sort of unique table would be applicable?

[Aaryq]

Last would be something along the lines you propose: give humans the ability to fight back, either through steam-punk technology,

Technological elements could be futuristic or have a decidedly steam-punk feel to them.

Okay, folks. Not trying to take y'all too far off course, but I have a question that's been burning for quite some time. What is Steam Punk and how would Steam Punk technology be different than the standard technology of its time (industrial revolution, right)?

[Aaryq]

Mmmmmm...I may have to push my WWII Nightbane campaign back to the Victorian Era...steam punk makes my @$$&()^# perculate (don't ask, it's something silly one of my sergeants used to say).

[abe]

just a couple of form ideas for victorian nightbane
lanturn eyes-your eyes have been replaced by road lanturns allowing you tripple nightvision distances when they are lit
corsit(stigmata)-you have +2 to charisma(pb)to men if you are a woman-5 to pb(weird looking)to all if you are a man your waist it 2d2 inches across(yes this does make you wear a distincly uncomfertable device around your waist) you also have 1/2 the normal physical dexterity.
tell me what you think of these offerings.

[abe]

smelling salt fingers-your fingers emit the smell of smelling salts that can revive people that are out cold!

[Nekira Sudacne]

Yeah a Victorian-era Nightbane would make humans (even mages and psychics) largely irrelevant because of the lack of technological equalizers. The Seekers of a century ago, and the era's equivalent of a Spook Squad (which would ideally be made up of English secret agents who've been abroad killing vampires for Queen Victoria) just wouldn't have the mundane firepower to pose a serious threat to Nightbane, Nightlord minions, or pretty much anyone else except in very large groups.

Oh and Adventure was Pulp, not Victorian.

Well, if you place this before dark day occuring, while the nightlords are still sealed and can only manage to get occasional minons through in ones and twos, then it suddenly becomes a bit more viable. While it's true individual nightbane would severely outclass others, they would be on the whole much rarer, prone to not working togeather and mistrusting each-other, and the same with minions. thus while the technology of the day is not as much of an equalizer, numbers would count for more, and on the whole individuals would be far better trained when sent out for this.

Also, this would be right around the time the very first Club Freak was founded, and that might even be the starting point of the campaign. At the time Club Freak was named after the founders own personal freakish morphus, and was open to all immortals and not simply nightbane. but given the levels of mistrust, this could provide the genisis for an adventure. Both in trying to gain the trust of members, as well as other immortals (And vampire hunter types) wanting to shut it down before they actually organize.

[Lord_Dalgard]

Worse yet, on a second or third appearance a Nightbane or other critter might find themselves ambushed on Mainstreet by the entire town armed with rifles firing from roofs and windows. The kind of "neighborhood response" you just don't see today. 50-60 people all firing rifles doing 7 or 8d6 apiece is going to ruin days, even in Nightbane.

>>>----Therumancer--->

And it did happen. Note the Dalton gang's raid of Coffeyville, KS: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/daltons.htm

[abe]

blubber oil for blood-you have whale oil for blood effects are -2 to fire attacks + 3 to horror checks when bleeding & on fire.

[Razorwing]

I do believe that while the world was shifting towards a firm belief in science on the whole, there was still a wide-spread belief in the occult and mysticism. True, most of it was being debunked through science as mere trickery and hokum... at least in real life. However, as the setting presents magic and psionics as "real", I would venture to say that the few wizards and psychics present in a Victorian setting would present a much more viable opposition than any other at the time... thus making them the biggest threat to a possible Nightlord invasion of this period.

As has been stated above, while military technology of the time is not as far off from what we have, it was less refined and some technologies we have has yet to be invented (planes, automobiles, computers, ect.). This means the only real defense this time period would have against the occult would be those few who deal with the occult... wizards, psychics and a few of the less malevolent supernaturals (and even the more malevolent ones would have a vested interest in keeping the Nightlords in the Nightlands).

Nightbane themselves would be a little rarer than in the modern setting... unless there was some event that could produce an upswing in the population (maybe not quite on the level of Dark Day... but even a smaller increase could be significant). Should a Dark Day event happen at this point in time... well, it is possible that the majority of people would abandon the still nascent disciplines of science for the mysticism that seems to be growing in the modern setting (and still widely believed in the Victorian-era). This could lead to a new renaissance of magic while the industrial revolution slowly grinds to a halt (or takes a different turn... maybe towards technowizardry?).

Overall, while the overall nature of the setting would remain more or less similar, the effect of technology based factions would be significantly reduced. More emphasis will be placed on magic, psionics and the supernatural as science and technology have a large gap to cross to be comparable. That said... nothing spurs invention and innovation like necessity... possibly advancing technology much more quickly than in the real world (though whether that is a good thing or not is open for debate).

So many ways this could go... and all of them worth investigating.

[Zenvis]

This is an awesome backdrop for a great game.

[abe]

Any new thoughts on the subject?

[abe]

Steam piston arm?
You gain +3 to punching damage, but you can’t reduce your damage to punches even if you want to!

[Axelmania]

Yeah a Victorian-era Nightbane would make humans (even mages and psychics) largely irrelevant because of the lack of technological equalizers. The Seekers of a century ago, and the era's equivalent of a Spook Squad (which would ideally be made up of English secret agents who've been abroad killing vampires for Queen Victoria) just wouldn't have the mundane firepower to pose a serious threat to Nightbane, Nightlord minions, or pretty much anyone else except in very large groups.

Maybe not an optimized Nightbane but I think if we randomly rolled up one right now, I could roll up a pair of farmers from Palladium Fantasy who would have decent odds of pitchforking it to death. Wouldn't need to be very large at all.

This largely depends on what you take as your free Talent, of course. There's a big degree of separation between those who have Shadow Blast or Shadow Shield vs more RP stuff like See Truth, for example, in terms of being able to fight.