Sorry if I sounded like I had something about Rend; I thought it to be fine, or at least I did not find anything particularly wrong with it. I was only protesting about levels 2 and 5, and even then it wasn't about what they did, it's how they did it, story-wise.
Y'know, I noticed that Mutation and Bone Body options have some overlap. Was the intention to allow these to stack?
Here are some more possible options for Bone Body, apart from the 3 already there.
- Spines: Sharp, thin spikes appear all over the character's body. Successful Brawl attacks against the character mean that the attacker takes damage as well.
- Stake: One huge, thick spike growing as an extension of the arm that can be used to impale enemies. The attempt requires a Brawl+Strenght roll at -4. If three or more successes are achieved, the stake is driven through a vital organ such as the heart, killing even most supernaturals instantly.
(Also noticed that there is a protection against poison and disease at the first levels of both Regen and ATP Control. Don't know if this was intentional.)
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Knuckle-Dusters: Doesn't this do exactly the same as Bone Body?
Anyway, I don't want to mess with the subversions too much until we figure out how to deal with mutations, and where are the limitations of the Pathogen-granted abilities. (You are free to; I just don't want to commit myself just yet.)
You probably understand what I have against shapeshifting and Mage-like abilities - it takes away from the horror of your body turning into something else if you can just change it around too much at your own leisure. If it's something that result from one's already different biology or require relatively little "ATP magic" then it's okay, but put too much emphasis on the cool superpowered mutant aspect at the cost of the body horror one, and you lose a lot of what was interesting about Pathogen's approach. I just want to bring some of that back - make the transformations actually frightening and physically painful, make the characters actually anxious about the direction their changes are going.
Enjoying being the advantages being an Infected is fine. And for this reason, horrific events and permanent drawbacks will be reserved to Dramatic Failures, and Fusion loss (where the player can still choose the penalty they're the most comfortable with). But settings-wise, these are important.
[Also, this may not sound encouraging, and is not directed atb anyone in particular, but I'd like to discourage people thinking in the terms of video games, and pick additions based on what would look cool there. Designing attacks or at least combat abilites is fine, but please think about what creates an interesting or believable situation story-wise that fits the theme of the tale first. There is a good chance that something that you saw in a game will be decidedly showy and over-the-top, but would just look wastefully powerful and weird when you are putting it in a story. nWoD always put a great emphasis giving more focus to personal horror rather than the action-horror that the oWoD had become, and the ability for something to help to create an atmospheric backstory or scene is more important than its combat utility.]
I agree with that. I'm not sure if a whole Subversion should be created for this, but yes. Perhaps the "minor infection" Adam mentioned where you take control of someone else's body can be included in this, too.
Also, if we are talking about additional abilites, then there are two others I'd like to have included somehow, too: one is a "Tetsuo" ability to replace your flesh with some other material; another is one like Incorporation (or a change to Incorporation) that allows you to merge with or assimilate parts of biological organisms, as well. (Shared Memory may fit under this perhaps.)
Anyway, more after Christmas. 
Happy holidays to all in the meantime.
edited 26th Dec '10 7:04:00 AM by Vree
I didn't think it'd be that feasible. It was just, well, the question came to me of how an Infected might try to spy on something where he personally can't go, followed by the image of them throwing up small, unidentifiable things that go crawling and wriggling through the air ducts, transmitting everything they see, or the Infected's eyeball popping out of its socket, optic nerves twisting into tendrils that it uses to sneak in, record what needs to be seen, then return to its host-body.
Yeah, I know there's some overlap, and I realize that Rend doesn't have to go. Just weird speculation.
Just been doing some random thinking on this subject, and there was some things I wanted to say.
First off, totally randomly, "weaponized" Synopsis powers I can see include: bloated crushing arms, bladed limbs, spikes, claws, gnashing mouths, whipping tendrils, corrosive bile, absorbing touch, bio-napalm, venom, disease, bio-electricity, strangling tongues.
Secondly, equally randomly, I wonder if it'd be possible to make use of Beat Still, My Heart. After all, in a creature whose very cells are sentient, an organ that suddenly sprouts limbs, oozes out of their body and then scuttles away is practically mundane.
Now, to business. I've been thinking and I needed to put this forward: while I like the suggestion of a power that lets an Infected tear meat from a corpse and absorb it into their own body to replace their injuries, I was thinking the Infected maybe should have some form of regenerative ability. This could be an innate ability (ala Uratha), or it could be a "passive Synopsis", ala Celerity/Vigor/Resilience. The point is, I think this can actually fit the theme of Body Horror quite well, especially if given some tweakings to make it different from the regeneration of werewolves.
First of all, you're surely asking: why fitting? Simple; to epitomize the utter lack of control the Infected has over his or her own body. The body is so utterly divorced from the mind that the mind cannot even decide whether the body will live or die. The body's strange, unnatural vitality obliterates pain and shrugs off injuries that should be devastating, further emphasizing that the Infected is no longer human.
It's not as though similar themes aren't sometimes to be found in Body Horror. After all, are there not stories where the victim desperately tries to correct their "disorder" with surgery? Try to restore themselves to normality by taking knives and flames to the strange growths, the oozing sores, the rebellious flesh? Only for the corruption to not only return, but increase in vigor? They cut and they burn and they pray and they struggle, but their actions seem only to fuel the taint that is overwhelming them, causing it to multiply faster and faster in response to their efforts to purge it.
And just because the Infected can heal injuries does not mean their healing should be "natural". Look to Resident Evil 2, and it's most notorious enemy. I believe it was on this very site that someone realized the unspoken brilliance/horror of Birken's continuing descent into repulsiveness. It is no mere coincidence that Briken grows increasingly less human as you encounter him; it's directly related. Each time you fight Birken, the G-Virus corrupting his cells makes them multiply in order to repair the damage. And as they multiply, Birkin's DNA becomes ever more broken down. He survives death again and again... and sells off ever-increasing amounts of his humanity to do so.
This does not neccessarily mean that Infected should have something akin to the Sin-Eater ability to come back from the grave at the cost of a permenant 2 point decrease in their Morality Meter, but you can see why I made this suggestion.
Speaking of morality and mutations... the thought came to mind to suggest that Infected might actually have two meters; Fusion is the Morality Meter, covering how well the human and Pathogen have become synchronized/symbiotic, while "Humanity" is, quite simply, a measure of just how human the Infected appears to be. Fusion covers sanity and morality, while Humanity covers just how well the Infected can interact with others. Things like regenerating aggravated damage, critical failures with using powers, all things like this, can cause an Infected's Humanity to drop... and as it does so, it leaves them looking more and more grotesque. Humanity does not affect Fusion, so it's quite possible to have a Fusion 10/Humanity 0 character. It's just that such a character is probably no longer human by any definition of the term — physically or mentally.
Anyway, just some thoughts I had, and they're probably not worth anything anyway, so, yeah.
Bump of life
As a response to the idea of parasite cannibalization, I propose splitting that vector into two different forms:
- Brood Parasite:
- Spread Parasite
On the "eating a parasite" discussion a couple of pages earlier: I think that game mechanics wise the only important point is that you need to kill the Infected. What the actual form of the pathogen is and how one goes about consuming it can be left to the storyteller. (If the victim did not have an endoparasite you can still eat the body part that the Pathogen attached itself to, or suck out the juices if it's a blood-borne disease etc.) The point is that you consume the Pathogen itself in some form.
(Notice the parallel with Vampire Diablerie, by the way. The difference is that per the current rules, Infected do not gain in their power stat (Resonance) from devouring each other.)
edited 5th Feb '11 5:40:48 PM by Vree
I think Parasite should be removed at as a vector. Any Infected should be able to develop parasites. Parasites spread through airborne spores and animal bites, after all.
The Regeneration Subversion already deals with regeneration. Without that Subversion, an infected heals like a normal person.
A given Pathogen takes the physical form of a virus, a bacteria, a parasite, a fungus, an algae, a viroid, a prion, or something else. Maybe or maybe not, it's not an exact science. The Pathogen may take no form at all, or take many forms at once.
The point is that Infected can regain ATP by consuming living creatures. Every pound of flesh, every leather boot, every scurrying cockroach, every overgrown tapeworm, ugh... The flesh of creatures that are Infected are a particular delicacy. It's why Chimeras and Zombies go after Infected; they'll even eat each other if they have to.
The whole "kill" thing is unnecessary. Why not keep the victim alive? They'll last longer that way. Each them one limb at a time. First the arms, then the legs, then the internal organs, and then crack open the skull to get at the brain. All the while listening the the screaming. If the limbs will grow back, then you get that many more limbs to eat. Pin them to a wall and keep them alive with meat you steal from restaurant garbage cans.
Ever seen the movie Splinter?
edited 5th Feb '11 8:55:56 PM by Zenoseiya
Note that I was only addressing the "eating a parasite" rule: eating Chimeric or even Infected flesh is still unaffected by whether the victim is alive or not. But yeah, given that dead bodies rapidly lose ATP, feeding from live targets would make sense mechanics-wise, AND is a good way to encourage spreading the infection through bite.
(On that note, the amount of ATP you can gain from Chimera needs to be drastically decreased. Twice its Resonance and all the ATP it had for a single chimera can give the character a ridiculously high amount, especially in mass outbreak scenarios. When it comes to regaining power points, other supernaturals have it a lot worse. It doesn't make sense that consuming another's Pathogen yields you less, either. But then again Infected have it easy with ATP at any rate - as long as they don't run out of food, they can regain any amount of ATP easily if not quickly - so maybe abundance of ATP was part of the original intent.)
We do already have Regeneration, but I like the suggestion to allow characters to come back from a life-threatening wound at the cost of aggrevating their condition. I do support @Wandering Browser's idea.
This does not really excule the Regeneration subversion, because it is not a natural ability. It's forcing the infection to progress a lot faster than it normally would (and what one'd normally be trying to resist). Because of the severe repercussions, it's really a last resort ability anyway.
^On parasites, note the difference between a microparasite
and a larger parasitoid creature. The "brain parasite" in fiction where a single creature invades the host is typically the latter.
And since Puppeteer Parasite is such a huge part of the genre I don't think it'd be fair to remove it as an option. It does not really come with any in-game differences, either. Ectoparasites are a whole different topic (even I don't think that one could reasonably play a character with a headcrab), but a character with an endoparasite would not experience any differences from other players other than the Bizarre Alien Biology if opened up, which is a weakness of most Infected anyway.
Anyway, sorry for the absence! I didn't want to talk too much before I actually had the chance to playtest this, or dominate the thread too much.
edited 6th Feb '11 10:23:28 AM by Vree
Here are a few ideas about how to handle Chimera (because we really needed some rules for handling them). They were chosen for simplicity, and I would be quite curious about what you think of them, or how -you- perceive the place of Chimera in a story.
I'm using "Chimera" differently here, as an umbrella term covering the same category as "bio-organic weapon" or "neo-mitochondrial creature". Basically, a synonym for "infected monster". This opposed to "normal" Infected; where Infected are mortal character in whom the infection (the process of being transformed by the Pathogen) is in progress, a Chimera is the end result. The later an Infected "turns", the stronger the resulting Chimera. Animals pactically always become Chimera; plants are only affected in about 10%; while humans have about 50-50% to either die during their infection, or activate as a Chimera, and only 1 in 10 becomes an actual Infected. Chimera can be said to be similar to 0-Fusion Infected, expect that they already activate with a score like that. (Both the mechanics and the creation method for Chimera heavily borrows from Larvae in Vampire (p. 100 in The Wicked Dead).)
Being a Chimera:
Chimera do not possess a Resonance stat. Instead, each Chimera has a Rank. A Chimera's rank determines the number of dots it may possess in Attributes and Skills (this is similar to Infernal Ranks in "Inferno"). For a simple reference, imagine each Chimera as having a total roughly the same as a creature equal to its size would (insects for size-1, dogs for size-4, etc.). If a Chimera is created from a base creature that had more dots than his Rank says, it automatically loses as many dots as needed to fit its new category (for example, human to zombie).
A Chimera's rank also determines the number of Mutations it possesses. A Mutation may mean a dot in an Infected Subversion, or a physical change (+1 size is frequent for smaller Chimera). For each number in its Rank, a Chimera requires one point of ATP per day to sustain itself, due to their mutated state.
A Chimera has the following ways to fulfill its daily ATP requirement:
- If a Chimera is inside an Infected's Aura (see below) then he automatically receives a point per day (as long as the aura has onyl the amount of Chimera it can support). - A Chimera can regain ATP by eating other Chimera. He uses the same rules for feeding from creatures that have ATP as regular Infected. - A Chimera can gain ATP by consuming an extra amount of food (which can mean any biological material that can constitute as "food", for that matter). Again, the same rules apply as for the Infected. - A Chimera can hold onto and spend the ATP it has gained over its daily requirement. Chimera can hold as much total ATP as they could if they still had a Resonance stat equal to their Rank.
If a Chimera cannot fulfill its daily requirement it loses the use of an equal number of Mutations. This is usually crippling (if a Chimera has a regenerative ability, and it cannot "feed" ATP to it, it loses the use of its regenerative system completely, rather than just the bonus provided by the mutation). If the mutation is connected to any vital organs, the Chimera dies.
Chimera do not typically possess skills other than what an animal could.
Chimera cannot raise their Rank naturally like an Infected would raise their Resonance stat. However, if a Chimera conpletely devours something that has a Resonance attribute (this usually means an Infected's Pathogen) its rank goes up by 1.
Becoming Chimera:
When an Infected hits Fusion 0, his Resonance rating is automatically converted into a Chimera Rank on a 1-for-1 basis. These "Lost Ones" are typically more powerful than regular Chimera. (Needs rules for Lost Ones.)
New Chimera are formed spontanesously all the time. A point of ATP "dropped" by an Infected (see "Aura" below) has the power to transform 1 size of biological material. If the "biological material" was a living creature, it uses its Resolve+Stamina rating to resist the infection as if resisting a normal disease. If it fails, it now possesses a Mutation and a Chimeric Rank, meaning that it will needs to start eating ATP soon. Their Morality/Fusion also drops to 0, meaning that they probably use all ability of coherent thought, including speech and all non-physical skills that they may have had.
The Pathogen works in strange ways, and taking control of the body of an infected creature is by far not the only option. For example, a dog that's been infected may fall over dead, and a swarm of Chimeric worms can march out from its stomach. If the ATP requirements are met, and sufficient biological gets used up, it's the same thing.
Chimeric infection still happens through the normal Vector of the Pathogen.
Chimera may be created with a starting Rank higher than one dot, but it means that the ATP required for their creation (which is equal to their starting rank) is spent in a single turn. Even if the creation of Chimera is unintentional, an Infected may not create Chimera with a higher Rank than their maximum ATP per turn.
Chimera do not typically attack humans or other Infected. Their instinct are similar to an animal and while they recognize humans and more importantly Infected as valuable food sources, they typically goes for the easier prey and do not attack creatures that are stronger than them. A Chimera that is starving for ATP is typically more aggressive, but a well fed one will usually escape and hide when it meets humans. They do have their surprises though, and tend to be more couragous in high numbers: and an Infected who had no trouble sleeping in the same room for decades may suddenly find himself swarmed by hundreds of small Chimeric insects attacking in unison.
New disadvantage of Resonance: Aura
(this is intended to put the description on p. 11 about Chimeric ecosystem into rules, and also to tweak the "Detection Range" disadvantage a bit)
Infected spread the Infection unintentionally all the time. In game terms, this means that the Infected loses a small amount of ATP each morning when the Infected wakes up. This ATP does not just disappear - it translates into some sort of contagion leaving the body some time during the night or the day. A cough, a sneeze, a half-eaten sandwich left behind, a touch may all "transfer" the ATP point to someone (or leave a droplet on a surface). Once outside the Infected's body, the ATP "point" (really a form of the Pathogen's Vector) has a limited "life expectancy" - about one minute if free-floating (the rate at which ATP normnally diminishes) but this can be extended indefinitely by outside factors (eg. by other biological material to sustain it present).
What this free-floating contagion is looking for is a living creature it can infect. When it comes into contact with one the ATP point is "spent" and the creature must make a Stamina+Resolve roll against the disease (see the rules for Chimera above).
If it fails to find a target, it disappears harmlessly. (As well as if the creature successfully resists the roll.)
Most of the time the Infected character remains unaffected by this effect. However, when the Infected stays in the same place for a long period of time, the effects of the "dropped" contagions pile up. We collectively refer to this as the character's "aura", although it's far from that. It basically means that Pathogenic phenomena pile up around the Infected over time, and the range and severity increases along with his Resonance and the time he spends in one place. Biomass begins to apper in damp corners, and the walls, Chimera may be crawling around under the bed or scurry from under the sink. Eventually these effects form a place where the presence of the Pathogen is unmistakeable.
Effects of Aura:
- Biomass:
aka red goo, Biomass is a biological material created when the Pathogen meets a material that is organic, but not plentiful or complex enough for a Chimera to get formed. At lower Resonance levels, it manifests as random, organic-looking goo and pieces that are more likely to cause a "what" moment than a serious problem. At higher levels,
(Foot note: never, ever open an Infected's fridge, or ask to use his toilet. You have been warned.)
Biomass isn't really "alive" per se - it does not even reach the biological complexity of moss - but is as close to it as possible.
- Chimera:
Chimera are randomly formed around the Infected. See the rules above.
Rules for Aura:
When the Infected moves to a new place, the aura rebuilds itself at a rate of 1 size per day, to the maximum of the character's Resonance. The ATP automatically lost by the Infected during sleep is "fueling" its formation. If the character ever leaves the place, he takes his ATP with him that'd normally go into sustaining the Chimera inside the Aura. (Note: Chimera still needs to feed as they'd normally to stay alive - the ATP requirement is an additional burden that goes into maintaining their mutations.) In the absence of an Infected to gain ATP from the Chimera are forced to consume extra amounts of bio-matter to create their own ATP. If there is enough food (note that anything that can possibly count as food can sustain a Chimera, similar to an Infected) the Aura remains the normal size. If not it decreases 1 size a day - the Chimera either die or try their luck elsewhere.
Range: The range of an Aura is the same as the Detection Range under the original rules. If this is larger than the size of the place that the Infected is staying at, strange noises, wandering Chimera, growing Biomass and infected plants and other phenomena are likely to attract people's attention to their source.
Example:
Assume that an Infected girl is staying at some relatives for a few days. For the first day, things look completely normal. During the first night, a small aura is created - perhaps a few size-0 Chimeras or some Biomass, but nothing very noticable. During the next few days, the aura builds itself to a size 3. The girl's relatives may notice strange looking insects scurrying away under the bed, or some strange red moss growing in a corner. However, at this point the aura is peaceful - as long as the girl is present they receive the daily intake of ATP.
When the girl leaves three days later, she leaves the aura behind, which struggles to maintain itself. Fortunately at size 3 the Chimera inhabiting the aura are still probably too small to be attack a human, but the girl's relatives still probably have to expect Chimera in the salad and the fridge, and a strange encounter with the housecat.
If they survive for the next 2 days, the aura has probably diminished enough that it does not pose a threat any longer.
(Changing Breeds had used Den, as well, but I can't think of a better word.)
Den is the Infected's safe haven. It's where he withdraws at the end of the day to treat his symptoms, or where he hides himself during painful episodes or a disturbingly-looking metamorphosis.
The Den can be the character's own home or any abandoned place that the Infected has expropriated. Even if the Den is in the character's house, the actual Den is usually a place that can be hidden from visitors (a garage or a basement). The best Dens though, are those that are hidden from the eyes of most mortals.
You can assign dots in Den to Safety, Size, and Resources.
- Safety:
The Den's defense against intruders. This maybe something that the characterPoints added here may mean that 1. the Den is difficult to find, 2. it is well protected and difficult to enter (by a security camera system and strong locks, or webs and Chimera).
Either way, you get +1 bonus against anyone attempting to enter the Den, and a +1 Initiative to attack when they do.
At the player's choice, the bonus may be applied to attempts to leave the Den instead. (Many Infected have used for mortals that they can trap.)
- Size:
How many Infected can stay in a Den at the same time, and how many belongings the character may store there.
0: A broom closet somewhere with a shoddy lock. Still, at least you can retreat somewhere in a pinch. 1: A small room. 2: A garage. 3: A house or cave. 4: A mansion or laboratory. Can probably hold some pretty complex ecosystems. 5: A military base or an underground cave system. Whole species can appear and die out without anyone learning about it.
- Resources: Infected have special needs. A good Den is chosen to satisfy these needs.
Maybe the character needs to be close to water due to his symptoms, or requires a permanent high temperature. Note that if someone knows about the character this can be a weakness: for example, there can be only so many locations in a city where freshly killed animal meat, or nuclear sludge, are avaliable.
The dots can express helpers, too. A doctor who is monitoring the health of the Infected; a Chimera slave that helps to provide for the character, are expressed through Resources dots.
Every dot in Resources decreases the drawbacks of one's Symptom by one while in the Den, and adds one to the success of any mutation the character goes through while in the Den.
[These rules are kind of vague and don't make much sense under the current rules. Anyway.]
Aura and the Den:
The total of the Den's Size and Safety is substratced from the character's Resonance for the purposes of determing the range of the Aura. Any dots that exceed this mean some artifacts or Chimera leaving the Den, and risking that people will find it.
Cleaning the Den:
It should be noted that the character has to spend considerable time if he wants to keep the Den looking normal (for example, if it's his house where he's normally accepting visitors). It doesn't take long before
A character requires Resonance times Size divided by two number of hours to sterilize a Den. Divide the time by the number of people who are assisting in the task. If multiple Infected or Chimera are populating a Den, their accumulated Resonance scores is used.
If the character has sterilized the Den recently, he may have an easier job. The character's
The character can make things appear normal in a time shorter than this (throw a towel over a suspiciuously looking growth, lock every room etc.). Doing this halves the time needed again; however it does not remove most risks of contamination and last only for the next scene.
edited 7th Feb '11 4:41:35 AM by Vree
Nightmare Feitishist
Goodness gracious quite a lot has happened while I had computer trouble! I noticed the original author popped in, but if we're still active here, might I ask for a quick summation?
Hrmm
Nightmare Feitishist
On the big list o Symptoms from Vree, I like it!
On Blood, Bone, and Flesh also digging it, though I wonder if we've worked out a power for the sort of Prototype/The Thing mutations. Perhaps that's a high level combination of two or all three of those?
On that note, will we be making rules for using powers in tandem? Bone and Induction to absorb a gun and Bone to fire small sharp shards of hard bone from it...
I'll try and be around some more now that I've got a computer that doesn't shit itself inside out almost every time I fire it up.
edited 6th Feb '11 7:43:52 PM by NightmareWork
Hrmm
A good alternate name for Den is "Nest."
The creature in Splinter is a good example of a human Chimera. Although I'd like to be able to have rotting cannibalistic Zombies or something similar like those featured in Resident Evil and Dead Space and Halo.
> And since Puppeteer Parasite is such a huge part of the genre I don't think it'd be fair to remove it as an option. It does not really come with any in-game differences, either.
Vectors are supposed to be the different ways by which the Pathogen is spread, which I think should serve as the equivalent to the "prelude" given in the other games (I advocate that Vectors not provide subversions or benefits, since in my opinion Vectors should be available for use to all Infected).
Parasites can be spread by several of the vectors, such as the Bitten and Airborne. I think we should have a "food poisoning" vector to round out the options. Parasite can be changed to a merit, as stated on an earlier page in the thread.
Here's my original post on parasites:
> I think it should just be a flaw rather than a merit. It would work similar to the Deformity flaw, where he'd get a -2 to social rolls if someone seeds him naked or half-dressed, because then they notice the discolored wounds under his skin made by the parasites and will react accordingly ("Uh... are you feeling alright? You look terrible."). Predatory Infected, Chimeras, and Zombies might have a preference for him over other individuals, because his parasites smell so delicious. / Furthermore, the Infected might gain obsessive-compulsive derangements related to his parasites, and have a situation like the movie Bug.
As far as a merit goes, weaponizing the parasites seems like a good idea. It still has the drawbacks listed above, but the Infected can use their parasites as tools and weapons. Perhaps a parasite can crawl out from under his fingernail and pick a lock before crawling back in. Perhaps a parasite could crawl into a victims mouth and attach to their brain, allowing the Infected to control their body or extract information from them. Perhaps a monstrously huge parasite could burst out of the character's torso and swing a large, biological scything claw at nearby enemies. Perhaps Parasite could be its own Subversion, with a corresponding flaw as stated above.
"Nest" sounds great :D
Well, we have considered the Tetsuo-like "machine men" and the Gregor Samsa-esque zoonotics who devolve into animals (on that note, Wo D's "Skinchangers" has a section on that type of infection on p.209) and I do not have any idea what will become of those either - major splats, merits, alternatives in the appendix, but adding The Worm That Walks-esque characters who overflow with smaller parasites to the list. (D&D Swarm Druids, anyone?)
Though the powers you have listed aren't making a really good case because being performed by a parasite is just a matter of how you have described them (storyteller decision)
Since we are on the topic of parasites, one way I was trying to distuingish between the different wings was trying to give them different warehouse options - so the pharmaceutical group would have combat drugs and medicine that supresses or unleashes the pathogen, the occult groups would have Lovecraftian magic, -and- the evolutionary/transhumanist group Organic Technology from Chimera that they cultivate/breed. Which would probably include some useful symbiotic parasites.
I prepared a long ass post on Vectors back then but decided that it was boring :p But here's the gist of it:
Means of transmission:
- Airborne (+droplets)
- Direct touch (meaning that you touch a sick person)
- Sexual, childbirth, and breastfeeding
- Indirect touch (soil or water)
- Foodborne/drinking water borne (aka fecal-oral)
- Organ transplant, injection or blood transfusion
- Bite (vector-borne)
That pretty much covers the realistic means. Now if you are in fiction land, you have more options as many unique "pathogens" (especially if supernatural) are not limited to physical means. Nuclear radiation is a classic example. Radio waves or photons from a TV screen may act as a carrier to many "UFO" or "technological" pathogens. Curses, possessing spirits and the like can spread by invisible means, or make use of human concepts such as words and symbols.
(Some works don't even give an explanation, especially those in which the infection & the transformation is symbolic - the man transforms into a monster because he WAS a monster inside, or a character became a metallic monstrosity because they treated him as a machine.)
(Footnotes:
Droplets is an upgrade of sorts for airborne - it allows a pathogen to stick to a surface until an unsuspecting person touches it, or be carried in the air for longer until the droplet evaporates and the pathogen is released.)
Genetic transmission is another neat topic. There are no known pathogens that can transmit themselves by affecting the DNA, but given the nature of the Pathogen that does just that, it might be possible. Most real-world "vertical transmission" (a fancy word meaning from mother to child) happens due to the physical contact like other diseases, and while some take advantage of pregnant women being in a weakened state, and many are a severe threat to the embryo none specifically take advantage of the fact that the host is pregant. If an infection could actually take greater control of one's body like the Pathogen does then with 9 months of close physical contact, it'd be a wonder if it didn't try to infect the offspring. (What else it can do if it can actually take control of the progress of child development leads us to horror pregnancy which is such a huge topic that it needs to be discussed separately.))
I feel that I should mention that "transmission" is not the same as the pathogen's form. The default form is "Germs" - viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other micro-sized life forms. But the "germ theory of disease" has only thriumped a few centuries ago even in our world. Perhaps in the Wo D, the "miasma" theory was also true.
I feel like I should give some examples of alternate forms (sorry for the lenght):
Germ: a living agent too small for the eye to see is what is typically called a pathogen by modern medicine.
The biggest trope about germs, I think, is speculating about them being extraterrestrial. Viruses from space has been a hot topic since The Andromeda Strain.
Macroparasites constitute as a sub-trope. Helminths (parasitic worms) are the closest real-world example. I think it was David Cronenberg's "Shivers" which first introduced the idea of parasites that can alter the host body. In the latest version of the secret alien invasion story, the virus/parasite and the intelligent alien are one, wandering from planet to planet, living through its hosts. Nowadays the idea is used completely naturally in films like Slither or The Faculty. (But this is a new development that wasn't always so; for example, The Thing is the definitive "Infected" movie and a great scenario, but the "thing" in the story did not actually take over the host: it killed them and created replacements. If it was filmed today, it'd probably go with the scenario that the people are invaded themselves, as it happened with Invasion of the Body Snatchers: in the original spores from space land on Earth and replace people with pod-grown clones. In the 2007 remake, the people themselves are the ones who get taken over by The Virus as soon as they fall asleep. )
Fictional parasites actually seem a lot more simple than real-world ones: there is usually a single one per host, rather than a colony (most endoparasites would try to breed like crazy).
But the idea of "a small creature is inside me, doing things to my body" idea goes back further than that, and if you imagine a small person or creature rather than a bacteria you probably get it immediately why the germ theory did not seem so self evident. You can also make use of the same fears and instead of the usual types of germs create some other living being that invades - or gets unintentionally stuck in - a body.
Miasma: "Bad air". An early theory of disease that stated that particles of decayed living matter forming into poisonous clouds spreading through the air breathed in and drinking water was the cause.
Miasma is a good word that can stand for plenty of unconventional pathogens that one'd want to make up.
Pollution: Toxic waste, an old favourite like lighting and radiation. (The "Toxic Avenger" comes to mind.) In a modern story it is also sometimes a cautionary tale against human pollution of the enviroment (say, in the monster movie Godzilla vs. Hedorah, where the titular smog monster is a result of this.)
A related trope is radiation; everyone has probably seen enough post-war and post-nuclear war stories that this does not need an explanation.
Wonder Food: Eating a rare animal or plant may create the change. May Contain Evil stories offer even more possibilities (and can play to our fear of modern additives, like in the case of genetically modified foods), for various products (say, body care products). Eg: in the movie Matango, a group of people have to choose between starvation and eating the only plant life on the island they are marooned on, a strange mushroom that turns people into plant-like mutants. In Wells' The Food of the Gods, an artificially created foodstuff makes animals and eventually people grow into giants.
The Mutionous Body: In these stories, the body itself, or often some overgrown part of it, has or develops a mind on its own, and tries to take over the rest.
Transplant: The character has someone else's body parts in them, but they inexplicably retain some amount of individuality, and take over. This is an old trope: a person gets an organ transplant, but discovers that the body part "remembers" the previous host, and acts accordingly. (The heart beats faster when near the donor's girlfriend, the hand retrieved from a dead murderer must kill again, etc.)
For mechanical "Tetsuo" characters, there are also prosthetics (from pacemakers to artifical limbs) - being "used up" while the body is replaced by artificial parts can also be a type of horror.
edited 9th Feb '11 5:50:03 PM by Vree
The social rolls have been a problem for the start, because obviously any visible mutation that is worthy of being called body horror would have to create a penalty. The solution I currently think works best is that you only take social penalties for mutations while they are active, and a maximum -5 in a fully mutated form. With the addition of Fusion loss making it harder to remain unnoticed and creating a -1 even while not transformed, say, -1 at every even number below 7. (1-2: -3, 3-4: -2, 5-6: -1) (Which you can interpret as just looking very sickly and contagious or actual physical disfigurement.)
Nightmare Feitishist
Parasite would be a FANTASTIC subversion, allowing for the crazy kind of Prototype-like mutations when used with other body based subversions... How should subversions work, by the by? Should we just do the straight five dot pathway, or should we do something weird? I could see them working a bit like Mage. Or maybe we have the five-dot pathway, and then you can create Combo Subversions. Just a few little thoughts
Hrmm
Gonna dive in and suggest Something Weird would be better for this game- the five-dot path works well for Ancient Forgotten Knowledge and Changeling Contracts and stuff, but in my eyes, the Infected need to be doing weird stuff so you're never quite sure what they're going to do.
It is, of course, more work...
Nightmare Feitishist
The more work you put into it, the better it comes out... Why not liberally borrow from Giest's way of handling powers? You buy something like... Bioelectricity, and then you buy a few ranks in ways of using bioelectricity, like Mutation, Control, etc etc
Hrmm
Speaking of Geist, I have found a section about spirits that originate from viruses that even the other animal spirits don't quite comprehend in "Book of Spirits". Chalking it up under "crossovers".
What I'd really like to work out is the "lost control" aspect of the game. Blackout when you pass out and your body does things is good too, but the character would probably be at risk of his body doing strange things even while awake and aware. This kind of thing seems to happen too much in this game to be handed over to the storyteller without proper guidelines. It probably helps that most pathogen's wouldn't act like an intelligent person, so what they respond to and how can probably be worked out to work mechanically only through rules and rolls.
That could tie in with the powers- maybe give each Subversion power you have a condition on which you roll your Resonance, and a success means it activates on its own accord to do something.
Not necessarily something bad, either- you could have one that, say, might activate if you're scared and attack whatever's scaring you. Great if you're jumped by Chimera. Awful if you're at a police roadblock and trying to get home...
This also means there's a genuine, difficult trade between getting high Resonance and plenty of Subversions, and staying safe. Someone who focuses on the power of the Pathogen will be better at fighting off Chimerae and suchlike, when they don't need to be subtle- but someone who learns a load of mundane skills and mainly uses ATP for physical boosts and avoiding fatigue finds it much easier to conceal their nature.
Nightmare Feitishist
A bit like Catches, but they activate automatically?
And as for Blackouts, I suggest we look at another fanmade game called Zombie The Coil. See Zombie has these things called Liches. When your character is at his weakest, a lich appears to try and fuck him over. If he suceeds his rolls, lich goes away, fail, and he suffers horrible horrible torment until he can succeed in driving the Lich away. I feel Blackouts could be like this, when you are weakest the Pathogen jumps you, and tries to wrest control away. You barely realize it's happening... And maybe sometimes the Pathogen IS intelligent, what's to say it isn't? The GM can come up with what it does, if anything. All to drive home the point that this body is not your own
edited 15th Feb '11 2:51:41 PM by NightmareWork
Hrmm
I apologise for any rudeness, but... has there been any discussion of a sort of "broodlord" type power tree? At least one of the possible sources of the Pathogen is parasite colonization or the sudden development of self-awareness by the various symbionts within the human body, so... would it be impossible that some of the Infected learn to come to terms with the creatures breeding inside their bodies? Creating spawned... things... out of their orifices or even living flesh that obey the Infected's commands, be it combat, reconnaissance, etc?
For an example of such a Lovecraftian Superpower in modern media, see the Bee-Bee Gun of Bio Shock, which is almost always referred when the Body Horror of the player character gets mentioned.