[UA] re: Re: Things that are 3:33 long... Dexter

[Chris Cooper]

--- Russell Rayburn <rusrayburn at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 5:57 AM, Bret Allen
> <arcturus91 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Is thanatomancer a good fit?  I mean, I like the
> ritual:
 
> * Identify target.
> * Evaluate target based on Harry's Code.
> * Surveil target; gather evidence of target's guilt.
> * Prepare killing zone; all surfaces must be covered
> with plastic
> and/or rubber sheeting.  Cover all windows.
> * Capture victim.

I'd say these are preparation for the ritual. Don't
forget the fetish masking the environment in clingfilm
and clear plastic - notice how Dexter assumes the role
of dispassionate, unfeeling environment by clothing
himself in the same material? I'd say that is a fetish
too.

> * Confront victim with evidence.
> * Gather fetish ( blood sample ).
> * Sacrifice target.

This is the ritual, the victim is merely the
appropriate scapegoat.

I'd add that the method of elimination is the ritual
as well. After the cheek to-get-the-blood-drop
incision, the gouging of the neck with power tools,
and measured, methodical dismemberment of the body
complete the ritual.

> But I don't think I see "ritualistically show
> reverence to death" in
> there.  Then again, those ritual rules seem to be
> there only to
> discourage players from playing thanatomancers.

Thanatomancers should be reworked and revised so they
can lose that whacky Evil Necromancer feel. I had some
ideas to make them vampiric gain power from spilling
blood. I feel this would work fine as one of Ted Pro's
minor schools.

I planned to run a on-the-street global UA game set in
post-Katrina New Orleans. The characters where
Sleepers hunting a thanatomancer butchering survivors
by the tens. The premise was the thanatomancer
believed he was rectifying the cosmic balance by
taking care of people who should have died in the
original hurricane onslaught.

I had mental pictures of gunmen camped out with tents
on rooftops; sinister Gondoliers and the unquiet dead
lurking under the water; and the PCs wading through
dirty, drey water with their weapons held above their
heads.

Then it went to teenage kids with emo hair hanging out
at the mall.

C.


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