For those dukes who need a new life fast, and don’t care who they hurt.
From a twisted point of view, it’s like this:
A nobody, picked on by everyone in their class, wanders in one day with a gun. In less than a day, everyone knows who they are.
I couldn’t say if that’s the aim of their game, since they usually shoot themselves afterwards, and I personally can’t talk to the dead.
It’s a bullshit kind of immortality anyway.
We used to know this Videomancer, bit off more than he could chew. We thought he’d gone loco, like too many others, but then I found some of his ramblings and notes. His big thing was the news – at first I thought he was just trying to get on it. But this was different.
You see, when he went and shot down a bunch of his class mates, he videoed all of it. I guess he had it strapped to his shoulder, cos you can kinda see the right side of his head. Twenty minutes and seven students into the film, he put the camera down on a desk and faced it towards him. Then he blows his brains out.
He figured that he’d become one with the story of the shooting, or his soul would go into the tape, or something crazy. But the upshot was, he thought he could then reincarnate as someone who saw the video, or possess their body. The terminology was a bit vague.
What do I think? I’m not shooting myself to find out if it works. But if the Sleepers go after you, it’s probably worth a shot. So to speak.
The ritual:
Costs 3 significant charges.
The operator will need a handgun (with a +10% shift if you can use the same make as used in a high profile school shooting, +25% if it’s the exact same gun as was used) for this one. The day before s/he goes into action should be spent in a perverse kind of ritual purification – specifically producing evidence that can later on be viewed by others – ranting against the targets to be, or about how the ritualist will become infamous, etc. Graffiti on bedroom walls is fine, as are dramatic diary entries. Youtube videos are popular with Videomancers, but might lead to getting caught before you go to town.
On the actual day, the shooter needs to successfully hit several students – one isn’t enough, five *might* be – before shooting themselves. Videoing the massacre isn’t strictly necessary, but there should be some kind of testimony following the event. Survivors do just fine, but since you can’t tell how many there will be…
Strictly speaking, no students are *required* to die, but the odds are that when you start firing, people *will* die.
The duke spends the charges at the time s/he shoots him or herself. The precise effect is left to the GM to determine. I would suggest that they either gain ownership of the body of someone (who may resist witha Soul Check) hearing about the massacre/ viewing the evidence left behind or that they suddenly pop into existence as a new person, who has just finished watching the massacre video (possibly with no memory of their previous life).
Naturally, taking part in this ritual will lead to a number of Violence and Self Checks. If one reincarnates successfully, an Unnatural Check should also be taken.
What you hear:
About the only way to avoid being possess this way is to just not watch the TV. Ever. Hope that someone else gets the whammy first.
This ritual is a fake. The originator is actually trying to inspire mass murder so that they can Ascend as a new horrific Demagogue.
This ritual wants to be known by people. But rituals can’t think – or can they?
You can tell if someone has been targeted by this spell and switched. They wear black a lot and listen to rock music. It’s okay though. You can use a Christian Exorcism to get the original soul back in there, if you play pop music at the same time. Nothing banishes demons quicker than Paris Hilton.
Paris Hilton *banishes* demons? Sorry, that’s a load. I know because I use that Paris Hilton song to turn lead into gold.
Holy shit.
I love this website.
I like this a lot, but I have two suggestions:
1- I think this should require a major charge or at least a fuckton of sigs. Death is a BIG thing and should not be cheated easily.
2- Why does it have to be a classroom? Why not any public area with lots of random innocent people? I would require that a famous or significant weapon be used in a fashion which made it famous or historic.
Vagina,
Both of those are good points. If you want to use it, adjust to taste. Perhaps 5 or 6 Significants might be in order?
I suppose I largely saw the risk inherent in trying to gun down lots of people as being an issue (if there’s security, you may get gunned down before you hit the right point, if there isn’t, other people might be packing too).
A Major might be appropriate, as generally that is a good way of spurring a story too.
As to why the classroom… I guess that resonated for me, largely due to the various high school shootings of past years. If something sounds better for you, variants should be good too.
And finally, you make a good point about the historical weapon.
I think the last thing I would add as a hind-sight thing, that the evidence the shooter leaves behind can be used as a link to his/her new body.
This popped in my head randomly. Maybe the ritual only works if it makes international news. The person who is “reincarnated” is brought back to life simply by the cumulative effect of public horror. As that horror fades, the person looses power. Once the horror is lost and the event becomes a local historic footnote, the person dies.
Also, maybe the “reincarnation” twists the person being reincarnated in some way to match or support the public opinion. (perhaps becoming an old man who tells the tale, an internet blogger who spreads rumors about it, or a twisted serial killer who the cops just can’t seem to catch)
I’m not sure about the second one, but the first one might make for a good nemesis in an appropriately large scale campaign – someone who is trying to create bigger and bigger atrocities to keep their new body going?
It couldend up looking like a fairly UA influenced Bond/ action flick. 🙂
I’m not sure about the second one, but the first one might make for a good nemesis in an appropriately large scale campaign – someone who is trying to create bigger and bigger atrocities to keep their new body going?
It couldend up looking like a fairly UA influenced Bond/ action flick. 🙂