So Other Occupations for a Character

So Other Occupations for a Character

Often times in gaming we keep reusing the same occupations over and over. I know as a Player and a GM that the same sorts of people keep showing up, time after time after time. So this list is one way for myself, and potentially you my reader, to include a few different vibes in your game. 

Some games have a limited subset of occupations. Call of Cthulhu is one such game, with a very specific main set of where characters come from occupation wise. This is intended to maintain the look and feel of the core setting. 

Other places I have used to pull in real world occupations are the major job boards and the Occupational Handbook. The easiest way is to log into your account at one of the major job boards (if you have your own login already made) or just put in a larger city in the location search field. So run it and pull in a search of the last 30 days worth of jobs. Copy it all and paste into a text friendly location such as Notebook or the website www.darkcopy.com (my personal favorite).

Copy again into your word processing program of choice to do some cleanup work and if you want to, as I did with a large list one time, put the cleaned up list of only job titles into a spreadsheet program to sort alphabetically and remove duplications. 

Yes it takes a little work, but the efforts can yield a long list of potential different, more modern oriented of course, occupations. These are suitable for modern, near future, and with minor tweaks, far future SF games. The genre does not really matter in the timeframe. These jobs work equally well for espionage, conspiracy, surreal, horror, cyperpunk, superhero, or even urban fantasy.

The following list was pulled from a poem that was published in a magazine. They are all dealing with new ways to move, aggregate, adjust, and deal with customers and people in the online setting. Some are older, such as Copywriter and Brand Agent. Others are brand new and really are less than 10 years old such as the Sponsored Blogger or Notable User.

Some research would be necessary to find out more about the more esoteric ones. Since many of them are new, creations of companies attempting to tame the wild Internet (Used in the broadest term here), others are outgrowths of existing occupations, taken in new directions.

Have fun using them, or finding inspiration for character backgrounds or even entire types of characters in this list.

In Alphabetical Order

Aesthetic King

Bit Tracker

Bottom-Line Analyzer

Brand Agent

Brand Ambassador

Brander

Change Agent

Copywriter

Designer

Illustrator

Interface Wizard

Marketer

Meme Generator

Multi-Platform Guru

Notable User

Online Retailer

Profit-Maximizer

Re-Poster

Social-Media Consultant

Sponsored Blogger

Starred Commentator

Viral Relayer

Writing and Creating Monsters and a potential resource to help out with that

Writing and Creating Monsters and a potential resource to help out with that

http://amzn.to/1elN5E5

Pulled from the book “Writing Monsters” by Philip Athans. I had skimmed a copy at my local Big Box Bookstore (Only one in town for new books, we have an excellent used bookstore as well that I had visited today and got 3 books on Investing and Stock Trading for $11.50). 

I got a couple of chapters in and jotted a few notes from it as inspiration for gaming and writing. Lots of great ideas in the first few chapters, and enough as I skimmed it before us leaving (due to weather) to prompt me to put it on my list of must haves. 

So here is the Table of Contents from the book. Just skimming over the ToC is enough to give me ideas. You could even just copy and paste it into a document and then fill in the blanks after stripping off the Chapter titles and headings, and then using it to do some monster making. So look over the below list and see what it sparks in your horror gaming and writing. 

Part I: What They Are?

Chapter 1:  What is a monster?

Chapter 2:  What makes a monster scary?

Chapter 3:  Transformation

Chapter 4:  Where do they come from?

Chapter 5:  Monster or Villain?

PartII: Why They’re here

Chapter 6:  How “Monster-Rich” is your world

Chapter 7:  Monsters as metaphor

Chapter 8:  Monsters as obstacles

Chapter 9:  Monsters as agents

Chapter 10: Monsters as sources of pity

Chapter 11: Monsters as sources of magic or technology

Chapter 12: Bringing out the good and evil in people

Part III: How to write them

Chapter 13: Setting the rules

Chapter 14: Size

Chapter 15: Powers and Abilities

Chapter 16: Weaknesses

Chapter 17: Description

Chapter 18: The Five Senses

Chapter 19: Staging the reveal

Chapter 20: Isolation

Chapter 21: Originality: Cliche vs Archetype

So now pulled out of Chapter 2, What makes a monster scary? These are essentially headers in the chapter that were expanded on. It looks like you could use the list as a framework or almost blueprint for monster creation. In example in the first section, the What are people afraid of?, the author of the book illustrates that they had looked up a Top Ten List of Phobias and used them as a basis for a novel in fact. 

l What are people afraid of?

l They are unpredictable?

l They have a disturbing capacity for violence?

l They exhibit an “otherness”

l Our imagination makes them scarier

l They are amoral

l They are beyond our control

l They are terrifying in appearance

l They turn us into prey

So go check out the book and pick it up for yourself and get some great tips and ideas

http://amzn.to/1elN5E5

Random Creature Starting Points

For all of you GMs out there looking for a starting point to your new creatures, here are some simple lists to give you a starting point to making a new creature or encounter.
A couple of die rolls and you have the concept, ready to be fleshed out with some crunchy bits.

These are targeted to The d20 OGL/Clones or Pathfinder Roleplaying Game systems with a dark tone/bent to them.

Base procedure:    Select or roll in Row 1 and Row 2, or twice in Row 2
Then chose or roll in Row 3 and roll in Row 4
Select the Hit Dice or Roll to get a random value
Consult the Monster Creation Guides to flesh out with crunch
  
Some of the results might get skewed a bit. In instance choosing a Fine size creature with 20 hit dice. Really does not seem plausible.
In these cases best judgement is the real guideline. If in doubt start at Medium size and increase or decrease from there hit dice wise



This is a reprint of an article I had done years ago on another site.
This is lightly reorganized and updated.

 

Row 1
Die Roll	Name/Title
1	Aether
2	Air
3	Clockwork
4	Coal
5	Dark
6	Earth
7	Fire
8	Light
9	Moon
10	Oil
11	Patchwork
12	Quilted
13	Shadow
14	Spirit
15	Steam
16	Stellar
17	Sun
18	Toxic
19	Walk
20	Water

Row 2
Die Roll	Name/Title
1	Assassin
2	Blank
3	Butcher
4	Crawler
5	Creeper
6	Flenser
7	Hunter
8	Killer
9	Malevolent
10	Opaque
11	Render
12	Runner
13	Seeker
14	Snatcher
15	Soarer
16	Stalker
17	Thief
18	Wader
19	Wanderer
20	Wielder

 

Row 3 Die Roll Type of Creature 1 Aberration 2 Animal 3 Construct 4 Dragon 5 Elemental 6 Fey 7 Giant 8 Humanoid 9 Magical beast 10 Monstrous humanoid 11 Ooze 12 Outsider 13 Plant 14 Undead 15 Vermin 16 Robot/Android 17 Alien 18 Template 19 Chose 20 Combine 2 or more
Row 4 Die Roll Size 1 Fine 2 Diminutive 3 Tiny 4 Small 5 Medium 6 Large 7 Huge 8 Gargantuan 9 Colossal 10 Chose
Row 5 Die Roll = HD  Hit Dice 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20

Protodimension Issue 7 is Available

The Premier Horror Gaming Free EMagazine Protodimension Issue # 7 is uploaded and available for free at the Download Page on Protodimension.Com

The Winter Issue has the following content for your reading pleasure

• From The Shadows By Norm Fenlason
• When a Cold Heart Comes to Call a Mini-Adventure by Dave Schuey for Dark Conspiracy®
• dark story Fiction by Andrew Gardner-Blatch
• Where Have They Gone? Poetry by Eleanor Williams
• Wheels of Terror an Adventure by Linden Dunham for Cold City®
• Flash Backs a Classic RPG Review by Marcus Bone for Dark Conspiracy®
• Grim Wisdom a “Grim” Interview by Lee Williams
• The Container Witchcraft Fiction by Kevin Dawson
• Canadian Content Northern Dark Races by Tim Bisaillon for Dark Conspiracy®
• Friendly Fire a Mekong Delta Adventure by Peter Bowkett for Call of Cthulhu®
• The Coney a New Dark Race by Tad Kelson for Dark Conspiracy®
• Not Much Larger Than a Cat Minion Hunter Fiction by Joel Steverson
• Rasputin a Dark Lord by Norm Fenlason for Dark Conspiracy®
• Decrepit Blade Dark Weapons by Tad Kelson for a Pair of Systems
• Floorboards RPG Bits by Lee Williams 

Over 70 pages of content, quarterly release schedule, covering Dark Conspiracy, Call of Cthulhu, Cold City, Little Fears, and other horror and surreal oriented RPGS.

Protodimension 3 is available

The 3rd issue of the Horror and Conspiracy gaming oriented E-Magazine Protodimensions is posted at http://www.protodimension.com/ ready to download.

It is 76 pages of gaming goodness all for the price of downloading it for free

Go grab it, tell your friends and other gamers you got it and what you think of it

Issue 4, Spring, is slated for the April Timeframe

Characteristics or More on Monsters Point 1: Mythological Monsters

Characteristics or More on Monsters Point 1: Mythological Monsters

Mr. Wigglestick here, coming to you today from the Hallowed Halls, where fine suggestions lurk behind every nook and deep within the crannies of the mind. The Hallowed Halls is a fine establishment, with room to accommodate most any sort of appetite, no caveats attached. So take your time, browse the collection and admire the artwork, feel free to visit the front desk for entertainment, refreshments, or lodging requests.
Welcome, one and all.

So welcome to the Monster Roundup. Today we have for your reading and viewing entertainment a fine assortment of classic specimens. All guaranteed to make your mouth water in anticipation of many screams and groans of terror and pain. These are the classics, the ones that have been around the longest, with the greatest of staying power and puissance. Be warned however, to cross them is to imperil all that you might have held dear.

This is a simple straightforward listing of some of the more iconic monsters from classical mythology and beliefs that can be incorporated into your existing framework; they often are statted out for the system of your choice. If not, then improvisation can be a key to delightful fear.

1. Sphinx
2. Lamia
3. Animated Statue
4. Sea Monster (In all shapes and sizes)
5. Cyclops and other Giants
6. Wild Animals (such as wolves, lions, snakes)
7. Christian Demons and Angels

More Tentacles than you can shake a Fist at

Characteristics in Horror Genre Gaming
More Tentacles than you can shake a Fist at
There are five main genesis points to the modern horror genre in gaming, as far as monsters as protagonists are concerned. They are illustrated below with details to follow. This refers to the protagonists/threats distinction made already. These are the easiest to find examples of, to use and implement in your own gaming as well. Several of these fall or cross over with the Grotesqueries category of protagonists as well.

So the 5 main starting points are as follows:
Point 1 are Mythological Creatures such as The Medusa, Werewolves (also present in Point 2), The Kraken, etc.

Point 2 are the examples that come from the Gothic Novels. This includes the traditional monsters of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Jekyl and Hyde, Jack the Ripper, The Invisible Man, etc. These will often overflow with the Grotesqueries form of the protagonist.

Point 3 are the works of HP Lovecraft and to a lesser extent Edgar Allen Poe (Who can fall into the Gothic perspective at times easily). These are the things man was not meant to know or understand, aliens, things from other places in many instances.

Point 4 is the modern slasher/gore/madman/monster type. More than the others these will often overflow with the Grotesqueries form of the protagonist.

Point 5 are the modern monsters classification. The prime examples of these are the 1950s monster movies, the Aliens from the movies by the same names, all the things that are found in outer space, etc. Also aliens and abductions fall into this category while things like giant mutant crocodiles also fall into this distinction, which is mostly time based (more recent) than anything else. This is to separate out the axe wielding inbred family monsters from the giant crocodile monster or the alien space virus that creates shambling hordes of brain eating things from each other.


Of course there are variations to all the themes.

Characteristics

Good Day // Good Evening, as it will pertain to the kindly reader

Next I would like to discuss what I see as some of the salient characteristics of the genre as it pertains to Roleplaying Games only. Naturally there is cross-over, between literature, films, stage, and RPGs, no denying this. I am going to talk about my own perceptions of it, from over 30 years of being a gamer.

Characteristics in Horror Genre Gaming
Protagonists / Threats
These come from 3 main areas. There is a natural overlap, none have only a single one that I can see.
That said there are 3 main types:
• Psychological
• Monsters
• Grotesqueries (Macabre/Surreal/Unnatural)
So in example in the fiction of HP Lovecraft, he has all three at one point or another. Psychological is in the Rats in the Walls story, Monsters are all over the place naturally, while Grotesqueries show up in the Dream Stories of Kadath that I have noticed. The line between Monsters and Grotesques is tenuous and thin at best. That distinction is more evident in Film I think than RPG settings.

Psychological:
This is more terror than horror, the fear of the unknown, the uncertainty of what is happening. It is often a component leading up to the climax and battles with monsters and grotesqueries.
The scary elements, the clues, the hidden messages in ancient tomes, all part of this element.

Monsters:
These are the staples, the things that go bump in the night. These are the elements most often found in a non-horror genre game system or setting. One example is Vampires in the Victoriana Game Setting of Gaslight (Both the Savage Worlds and OGL editions). It is not a horror game setting per se, but with Vampires and Monsters in it, drawing from the literature of the time, which lends to Horror like elements included.

Grotesqueries:
These are often monsters themselves, or the changed and strange. Examples would include hunchbacks, circus performers, sideshow freaks, the misshapen from birth, those are the grotesque things. Sometimes they are monsters; sometimes they are simply misunderstood to the point of turning them into monsters. Also these include those that appear normal, but in their heads they are not. So an example of this is that Jack the Ripper would fall into the Grotesqueries category, while Werewolf or Spring Heeled Jack would fall into the monsters category.

These are the three main elements to Horror Gaming and what sorts of challenges are encountered. It of course has omitted traps and natural disasters. Those do not fall neatly into these categories. So with these elements in mind, you the person running the game can see which you prefer to use in your game. A later article will start discussing the stock versions of these elements.


So it has come this point, here is a master / consolidated listing of extant Horror Genre Roleplaying Games, being as inclusive as I can make it. I am sure there are many others I am missing, small and obscure ones I have not heard of, or ones in progress I am unaware of. So this list will expand as time permits.

Master List of Horror Genre Roleplaying Games
All Flesh Must Be Eaten
Beyond the Supernatural (Palladium)
Call of Cthulhu®
Chill
CJ Carella’s WitchCraft
Code Black (BTRC)
Conspiracy X
Cyberpunk 2020 Alternate World (R Talsorian)
Dark Conspiracy (Far Future Enterprises)
Dark Heresy (Fantasy Flight Games)
Dark Matter (Alternity Edition and d20 Editions)
Dread
EABA Code:Black
Etherscope (Goodman Games)
Feng Shui®
GUMSHOE System (The Esoterrorists, non-mythos Trail of Cthulhu)
GURPS, GURPS Horror, GURPS Undead, GURPS Spirits
Kult (Unknown as of this time)
Little Fears
Little Fears Nightmare Edition
Monte Cook's World of Darkness
Nephilim
Nightbane (Palladium)
Nightlife (BKM)
Over the Edge®
Ravenloft (AD&D)
The Hunt: Rise of Evil (Mystic Eye Games d20)
The Mutant Chronicles (Target Games and CMG version Fantasy Flight Games)
The Whispering Vault (I forget right now)
Torg (West End Games)
Unhallowed Metropolis
Unknown Armies®
World of Darkness (especially Hunter: The Vigil)

Relaunched

Ohh how long has it been since the darkness was last pierced with clarity and insight into the inner workings of depravity. Well something like that, and now for a change in direction. Originally this was intended to touch on the larger aspects of horror in life, literature, film and other activities. But that is a total waste. My interest in horror is much more focused, sharper, more piercing than an overreaching view will encompass. So instead, the foci have altered. No longer the big view, instead it is time to narrow it down, bring it into a gun sight focus on a few areas of the horror genre.

Welcome to the varied worlds of Horror Tabletop Gaming, or Horror Roleplaying Games and Gaming. Horror RPGs have a wonderful history in the overall hobby of Tabletop Gaming. There is a nice wide assortment of products still in print, with new ones coming out every year. Oftentimes in fact a non-horror game will have nice facets of the horror gaming genre in it making for plenty of choices to pick and chose (and borrow) from for the gaming enthusiast.

Now for purposes of this writing, the genre includes the weird, paranormal, macabre, occult and the conspiracy oriented genres as well. Often these are essential elements in addition to the horror factors, so no need to exclude them now is there. I might add in Urban Fantasy and some elements of SF gaming, often there can be an element of horror (See the movie Alien for a prime example) included in those. The initial focus is on the core elements though.

Starting off is a list of the titles I personally own, which are the ones I have experience and most of my interest falls into. I then go on to some other very arbitrary distinctions about the games and settings. I am going to focus my writing and support efforts on the systems and settings I have and are the most acquainted with.

Ones that I still possess
Call of Cthulhu (Chaosium)
Dark Conspiracy (Far Future Enterprises)
Kult (Unknown as of this time)
Dark Matter (Alternity Edition)
The Mutant Chronicles (Target Games and CMG version Fantasy Flight Games)
Dark Heresy (Fantasy Flight Games)
Unknown Armies (I forget right now)
The Whispering Vault (I forget right now)
Code Black (BTRC)
Ravenloft (AD&D)
Etherscope (Goodman Games)
Nightlife (BKM)
UnHallowed Metropolis (I forget right now)

Others I know of and want to get
Little Fears Nightmare Edition

Others I know nothing about
Dread
Chill

In Production (that I am personally aware of) Includes
Dark Days RPG (George Cotronis)

Related to the genre are the following
Eclipse Phase
Capacity (my own product in production have to plug my own items)

Most of the various generic game systems have horror based settings as well. GRUPS has the GURPS: Horror and GURPS: Screampunk setting books, Hero Games has the Horror Hero sourcebook (a perennial favorite of mine ideal to mine for sources and material). The d20 OGL world has the d20 editions of Call of Cthulhu, Dark Matter, and the more Urban Fantasy Urban Arcana (which can have horror elements and in fact it incorporates ideas from the old Rising Tide AD&D setting as well). Some of these are a bit more peripheral.

So time to embark on the weird and wonderful world of Horror Gaming

Protodimension Magazine Issue 1 available

We are very pleased to announce that Issue 1 of Protodimension Magazine is now available for download. Protodimension is a free PDF publication focusing on modern and near-future horror and conspiracy genre roleplaying.

You can get a copy from here:

http://www.protodimension.com/zine/?page_id=101

We are seeking submissions for future issues, as usual. If you are interested in contributing something then email us at guidelines@protodimension.com and you will receive a copy of our submission guide. If you already have something that fits our remit, why not send a copy to submissions@protodimension.com

If you see something you like and want to discuss it with other fans and the editors, we have also established a forum for just such a thing. Just point your browser to:

http://www.protodimension.com/forums

Cheers!

Norm Fenlason
Tad Kelson
Lee Williams
- editors -