CSI: Trail

CSI: TRAIL

(aka: alcar is actually giving this some thought. Be scared.)

System: BESM3, 250 points, minimum 50 in skills. (Vanilla humans cannot get Dynamic Powers, no one can get Resurrection.)

The PCs are people living in the land of the Lords of Life and Death. Vampires and werewolves roam the world, terrible in their power, while magicians slink about the edges of the world practising their forbidden magics and the remains of the once-mighty fae hide in shadows and dream of better days.

You are all a forensics team sent to Trail to investigate the death of the last dragon. Because even in a world where myths and monsters walk they still manage to die and someone has to file paperwork, figure out what happened and survive the attempt to arrest the perpetrators. Most humans are scared of the monsters, thanks in part to the vampire publicity machine cranking things up to 11 but you've dissected enough corpses to know that anything that was born can die, no matter what it might become, and that can be dangerous knowledge in such a place and at such a time. Trail, as always, is a powder keg and the PCs have all the potential in the world to be matches just by asking the right questions and turning over stones to find out what lies beneath.

Note: Vampires and werewolves are the top dogs of the setting. While this may not be true in terms of actual power they are the humans of the supernatural world: they win with numbers compared to other critters out there and, like humans, have a wider variety of abilities and powers than the other kinds of monsters who infest the world.

GM Note: Vampire and were PCs are not allowed. You have Law on your side, a lot of skill, access to magic and technology. Some of the PCs may know magic, others not be entirely human at all or some other variety of monster in the employ of a Crime Scene Unit. Players are encouraged to make characters who'd fit into such a setting and provide useful skills for the group as a whole.

Other PC Concepts: if a player doesn't want to make a CSI-affiliated PC, there's always making a local guide to the weird for the government agents and the like if need be. New PCs can be agents sent into the game, or even from other government departments.

Genre: LOLAD was first and foremost about fun and adventure, and monsters being able to alter the world and become powers in it, upstarts who shook the balance of the old and established powers. They have done this, quite well in fact, and now it it time for humanity to try and reclaim some lost power and prestige of its own ...

While the game will begin with a mystery (Who Killed Cecil?) this can be seen as akin to the Amanda Palmer killing in Twin Peaks: it's an initial plot-thread but not the impetus of the game and will likely slip into the background of plots as PCs become involved in various going-ons in Trail and the attempts by humanity to take back the night, or at least find a new status quo for the world.

SETTING:

A century ago the world only knew of monsters from stories, thanks to the stringent efforts of the vampires. When you can live centuries and enjoy compound interest and blackmail you can accomplish many things, and among those was hiding the truth of the world from humanity. Some thing the vampires did that because humans would destroy them, others that it was an amusing game. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle of that.

A decade ago things began to fall apart: the internet, camera-phones and twitter came into existence and the vampires were old, and terrible, and not able to see the shape the future was taking in time to truly stop it. Oh, they tried – the RIAA is theirs, and SOPA and all things of that ilk – but the truth about the world is now an open secret in many places, the first among those was the small town of Trail in BC, Canada, where an exceptionally strong group of were outed themselves to the media in defiance of local vampires. How much of this was an accident is, also, open to debate, but the town is one of the few places now where the existence of monsters out of myth is not so much 'open secret' as much as 'accepted fact' and the town deals with this as best they can.

Property values have plummeted and yet people move to the town, some hoping to become monsters, or slay them, or attracted by high pay or danger, or simply being too damn stubborn to leave. There are now enough monsters in the town to fit into a major city and the clashes of new powers vs. old and the New World vs the Old World happen often enough that the detritus left behind must be cleaned up, catalogued and explained.

It's a plum job, if you make it out alive: having Trail on the resume looks good almost anywhere, after all ... if you can survive it here, you can make it anywhere.

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Weres and vampires have no desire to be catalogued and understood – who does? – but some general facts are relatively well known among those who know about them. (As with the moon landing, there are a lot of humans who still refuse to believe weres or vampires exist at all.)

Weres: In general, were are stronger when they're younger and their powers fade with age; as such, were Packs often have competent leaders being beaten by younger were and don't become anywhere near as powerful or competent as they could. All were heal phenomenally quickly and many can be harmed by silver in one form or another. Most tend to be physical and dangerous beings, not the least because they have senses humans don't and tend to be driven by a sense of morality that often isn't human a all.

Vampires: Vampires do lack the raw power of were and sunlight (and fire) are seldom their friends. While a vampire can be active in sunlight their actual powers – which are many and varied – tend to be much reduced. However, vampires can live for decades and even centuries and only grow in skill and cunning over time. It is said of the old master vampires that, while they may not win, they never, ever lose. The downside of such a mindset is that vampires tend to plan for the future and not the short term, finding the acquisition of wealth and mutual funds – to say nothing of influence – far more important than actual vampiric powers.

Magicians: Magicians exist, human and otherwise, individuals capable of making their desires real, of manipulating energy and changing the shape of the world. While magic is power it also takes a lot of energy, often time, and is frustratingly limited against vampires and weres, though not other kinds of monsters. Most magicians keep to themselves and try to make their magics as mysterious and unknown as they can.

Humans: The problem of living centuries lies in falling behind; the problem of having the raw power of a were is forgetting other forms of power. Or, put another way, gun beats spear. And magic. And often monsters. Human monster hunters do exist and are generally terrifyingly good at what they do, at least up until they get eaten – or worse.

TRAIL:

The lords of life and death are the true powers of the town but divided into several factions which can, in theory, be played off against each other. Certainly the mayor tries his damndest to do so.

Cameron: an old-school vampire who owns/runs a mansion just outside the town, he's been known to take in any strays and has a wide range of alliances and allies throughout the town and beyond. He prefers to consider a sheathed sword more dangerous to one waved about and counts Frankensteinian monsters and fae-damaged humans among his stranger allies.

Sophie: The leader of the Vampire Nest in the city of Trail. Sophie and Cameron had a falling out years ago and Sophie decided to become a Power in the city, whereas Cameron preferred to work from behind the scenes. Sophie is young, as vampires reckon things, but makes up for power with sheer brutality and a willingness to do terrible and awful things at the drop of a hat.

Simon: The leader of the foremost Pack of were in Trail, he reputedly tries to avoid open war with Sophie and is a friend to Cameron. It's said he was in Trail since the beginning of things and knew Faline before they were even were but there's a lot of stories about him and most of them are riddled with lies.

Old Rabbit: A native american were who still has some power over the weres in the local Tribe. His 'pack' is rather small but fiercely loyal to the old man. He once ruled all of Trail and the well of bitterness runs deep within him that so much has been lost and will never come again.

Out Lady of the Claws: Faline is said to be a goddess , something perhaps far more or less than human. Most believe she was a were, though some think she was a fae in disguise. Sightings of her are as rare as those of a bigfoot and whether she is really any kind of god or not is a subject of much debate. That she was real is accepted – though, as with Jesus, there are doubters – but whether she is dead or something else entirely is a matter of some debate.

Lyn: the local magician-in-charge of the coven of magicians who operate in the town. (Well, she would be in charge if they bothered to vote and since they haven't she is.) Little is known about her save that she tries to keep her people out of harm's way from the mightier forces abroad in the city and, like everyone else, is said to have known Faline.

Edward D'Eath: A special police constable who often deals with monsters and weirdness in the town. He isn't liked by any faction and collects secrets like other men collect STDs.