Line #21 TabletopGame/OutsiderTheCalling


1	The Franchise/CthulhuMythos is famed for its darkness and horror. Alien entities roam the world's forbidden places, turning men into monsters, entire villages into strongholds for their cults. Intelligences so foreign we cannot even understand why they act the way they do haunt us. Picture that. Then picture it in the [[TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness World of Darkness]].
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3	In ''Outsider: The Calling'', this is the struggle of the protagonists: Surviving in a reality that denies their very existence. Human in form, they are still alien, whether through birth or... anything. To the Outsider, our reality is a dangerous thing, one they cannot understand. Whether or not they fully give to their strange abilities is only up to them. The two splats of the suppliment are an Outsider's Sect and Creed. The working PDF can be found [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hDIbVMLjGNKBgjDcyvrvKqkIMh3lWhj6HSldYPYwW0s/edit?hl=en&authkey=CMmy_NwK&pli=1#heading=h.3wqplv-gien2a here]]. While the blog showing recent updates can be found [[http://outsiderthecalling.blogspot.com/ here]]
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5	'''Sects:'''
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7	* Starspawned Savants -- Servants of [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu himself]], the "Wakeners" are called to his home of R'lyeh, where they are brought into his service. Charismatic, the Savants are able to shift reality to their will, though they keep getting dreams from R'lyeh even after they answer the call.
8	* Shepherds of the Silver Key -- Followers of Yog-Sothoth, seekers of knowledge. "Encompassers" gain access to jump through time and space, as well as their ability to access the minds of other beings.
9	* Young of the Thousand -- Shub-Niggurath's "children", the "Goatspawn" possess multiple genetic mutations able to withstand even the toughest onslaughts.
10	* Scions of the Yellow Sign -- Cult of Hastur, those who realize he is a god of truths, not madness. Frequently, they are able to use their abilities to turn the truth to their own ends, even the truths of the universe.
11	* Courtiers of the Black Pharaoh -- Under the sign of Nyarlathotep, the "Favored Ones" are those who directly contact their chosen deity the most, not forced to rely on vague dreams and voices, as well as becoming rather consummate liars.
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13	'''Creeds:'''
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15	* Servants -- Blind followers of the gods, servants do as they must, whether out of loyalty of fear.
16	* Masters -- Leaders of the god's cults, they are usually found using their powers for their own gains.
17	* [[DefectorFromDecadence Rebels]] -- Utterly rejecting their "gifts", they instead fight the things that changed them.
18	* Deniers -- They still see themselves as human, bodily changes be damned-it's obviously a curable disease.
19	* Dreamers -- They know the truth, and seek to protect the balance between the world we know, and the Outer Realms.
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21	While the gameline follows the Lovecraftian mythos like TabletopGame/PathogenTheInfected, it focuses more on the willing servants of the elder gods, as opposed to those infected by the old evils.
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23	!!Tropes:
24	* ArtifactOfDoom: Subverted with the Silver Keys, the devices that catalyze a human's ascent into an Encompasser-to even come into the ''possession'' of one, you have to be the kind of person that would be receptive to the idea of becoming an demi-avatar of Yog-Sothoth in the first place.
25	%%** AlienGeometries: Which some followers can jump between.
26	%%* CityOfAdventure: Baltimore.
27	* CrossOver: Miskatonic University becomes a Outsider-hunting [[TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil conspiracy]], as is TabletopGame/DeltaGreen.
28	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: ''Subverting'' this is what usually catalyzes metamorphosis into an Outsider: Wakeners and Encompassers both [[BrownNote beheld their patrons personally]] and simply regarded it as a profound religious experience, and Scions read ''The King in Yellow'', but had the HeroicWillpower and curiosity to pull through the resultant visions long enough to realize Hastur is a god of ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, not madness. All came out with their sanity intact (if...''[[BlueAndOrangeMorality different]]''), though not [[TranshumanAliens their mortality]].
29	%%* HumanSacrifice: Par for the course in the mythos.
30	* HumanoidAbomination: Besides any Outsider with a trace of the KarmaMeter intact, a quirk of the Goatspawn means their mutations take the form of biological ''grafts'' to their original bodies-cut open the skin, and you'll find the original human form, unblemished.
31	* LovecraftLite: An interesting blend of a true CosmicHorrorStory and this. Yes, it's the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, yes that means a bunch of alien gods with either contempt or complete disregard of humanity... except that the game also makes clear that their schemes aren't coming to fruition canonically (without player assistance, at least), and their representatives on Earth can go down like any other supernatural template. Oh yeah, and you're playing them.
32	%%* SemiDivine: Guess who.
33	* VillainProtagonist: Outsiders are actually nicer on average than say, [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem Kindred]], and while they're certainly arrogant and have somewhat of a disregard for mortals, that's nothing new for greater supernatural templates and the patrons won't mind if you're nice. ''That being said'', vampires are a pretty low bar to clear, and the game makes perfectly clear that an Outsider does not care about humans in the slightest, except for their cults and as [[HumanSacrifice regents]].

Context TabletopGame / OutsiderTheCalling