Shadow People in BtS

[Lord Z]

Due to me not receiving new paperwork from some contributors from last year, I may end up cutting stuff from Boxed Nightmares 2, including at least one new monster. To compensate for that loss, I have started working on that troublesome Shadow People article of mine again. I am adapting Shadow Creatures from the Rifter Articles in Issues #20 by Sonny Rice and #28 by Carl Gleba. The premise of the article is that the Shadow People observed by paranormal witnesses equal Shadow Realm denizens like the monster from the classic Summon Shadow Beast spell of Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited, & Rifts.

Here is what I have. I have little animal life forms (a new monster class), regular Shadow People (the Shade Men from Sonny's article), Shadow Snakes (the Shadow Serpents from same article), very large Shadow People (the Shadow Beasts as presented in Carl's article), and a boss monster (Shadow Lords also from Carl's article). I also am including a new Spell of Legend which can permanently connect an area to the Shadow Realm (like the Shadow Forest in Carl's article). All these critters are converted to SDC and given BtS2 stats like Discorporation and Weaknesses. I am referencing but not including various other Shadow Creatures from those two articles and the Shadow Stalker from Land of the Damned 1.

What else would we like to see included in this article.

[mrloucifer]

What else would we like to see included in this article.

Maybe include the paraspychology details, methods, weapons and the Lazlo Society's involvement in dealing with them?

[Lord Z]

Me like!

[Lord Z]

Let's list some anti-Shadow tactics.

Off the top of my head, here are some.

Psi-devices which generate blinding flashes
Lasers -- weapon sights and actual beam weapons
Recruiting Haunting Entities which can duplicate the person whom the Shade Man is also impersonating and do a better job of it, thus exposing the fake
Sense Magic since Shadow Meld is a magic effect
Demon Wrestling (Mystic China style)

[mrloucifer]

Other thoughts to consider:

-What penalites do Nega-Psychics inflict on them?

-Psi Mechanic devices that may be beneficial in dealing with them (such as flood lights enhanced with "Burst of Light")

-Perhaps Shadow Beasts possess a unique energy signature that gives them a distinctly recegnizable feature to a Ghost Hunters "Ghost Vision goggles".

-maybe go into the type of Precognative dreams a Latent would experince when Shadow Beasts will soon be paying a visit to their hood.

[Lord Z]

Excellent additions!

I had not thought of our friends, the Nega-Psychics. Let's see... Shadow Lords and other spell casters would have the same penalties to magic as any other mage in the presense of a Nega. The basic ability of all Shadow Creatures, the Shadow Meld, is magic. I don't want that effect canceled, however, because it would expose a large Shadow Beast standing in front of you -- which is exactly what we don't want a Nega to experience. Maybe the magic-canceling field traps them in the shadows (which doesn't really help the humans that much if they are in the same dark room as the monster). Maybe the Nega's field inflicts the same weaknesses on them as if they were exposed to sunlight while keeping them hidden. Maybe the Nega will reveal the Shadow People but also warp their magic chameleon abilities so that they actually look like humans in bad costumes.

Here is a breakdown of possible tactics -- I am likely to trim this list later.
Low tech: flashlights and lanterns reveal the Shadow People but do not harm them. A called shot with a beam of light might blind the Shadow Person long enough for you to get away. Camera flashes work also, but the Person will still not show up on the photo.

Hi Tech: Lasers, it's super effective. Laser sights and even laser pointers will reveal the Shadow People's locations. Actual laser weapons create this effect and inflict damage -- they never just nick, and they reduce armor ratings to 4. Lasers inflict double damage against creatures of true animated shadow like the Shadow Lords. Other beam weapons reveal the monsters but do not gain other bonuses.

Psi-Devices: I was already intending to make Burst of Light a game legal psi-device application in Boxed Nightmares 2. As flood lights or head lights, it will reveal the monster and inflict the same penalties as daylight (easier than adding the book penalties), but only if the light is kept on the monster. Burst strobe lights might create a different effect. Burst flashlights, gunsights, et cetera will create the same effects as daylight but for no more than 1 minute because they aren't as potent as larger psi-devices.

[Lord Z]

I broke up this response because the Android browser is so lousy for typing long text blocks.

Psi-Devices Continued: The Sleep Batons of the Court are as effective against these critters as against humans except for true shadows. Finding the critter's head to hit it first is the problem. The Court prefers incapacitating and capturing these critters for interrogation, dissection, and extermination (in that order).

Psychics: See Aura will not reveal the monster's location because the aura as part of the monster is also Shadow Melded. See the Invisible doesn't work either, but Sense Evil and Sense Presence & Sixth Sense work wonderfully. The smell of Shadow People is distinctive and tar-like to Austic and Medium Psychics. Diviners might see patterns in the ground which look like distinctive footprints anywhere a Person has walked within the last ten minutes xXP level of the Diviner. Since S People are not themselves psychic, they make all saving throws at the more difficult number. See Heat works about the same as See Aura.

Animals: Will be able to smell these monsters and will tend to react to them as they would if in the presence of a demon. Maybe I'll do something special with seeing eye dogs.

Other SN critters: Tend to not work with S People because the People are clichish and have their own goals. If a Shade Man replaces a certain human, a Haunting Entity can inpersonate the same human to expose the disguise. Spirit Guides and other etherial creatures are never fooled by this ruse. Entities can perceive Shadow People but not see them any better than humans; entities tend to say clear so to avoid the wrath of a powerful Shadow Lord. Shade Men do admire the shadow-like demons called Wraiths and Dire Wraiths as idealized versions of themselves; Wraiths can use this to exploit the Shade Men.

Super Science: Star light is the sunlight of other worlds but is too weak to have much effect on S People. Alien technology could be used to harness starlight at its source and store it in its pure daylight form. Using this resource, lights could be built which have the punch of full daylight. Such alien laser weapons would inflict double damage against Shadow People, triple against Shadow Lords. Mr Green has advised the Court of how to develop such technology, but they won't be able to actually get it working until they spring him and bring him back. Sigma Station from Window to Another World adventure might be developing beam weapons also. The most potent weapon of course, would be homing lasers. When someone yells, 'Fire the homing lasers,' you better just give up. That would be Sufficiently Advanced Technology for butt kicking.

[Lord Z]

Ghost Goggles: The Night Hunter's psi-device goggles have a separate setting for Shadow Creatures. It reveals and makes them completely visible, but the Night Hunter loses his ability to see invisible creatures.

Lazlo Society: Like using old school defenses like trip wires and snares. Flash lights and laser pointers are standard investigational equipment. Love using psi-devices including Burst lights and Ghost Goggles when they can get them.

Lazlo Agency: Has access to a variety of psi-devices. Like using a mixture of methods including hi-tech, psychic, and magic & animals. Will avoid recruiting help from other SN critters.

Court: Relies heavily on spirits including Spirit Guides, Haunting Entities. Has access to some unique psi-devices like the sleep batons. Tried to recruit a Shade Man once, but a Shadow Beast successfully assassinated the traitor. Has offered a bounty for the successful capture and sale of a Shadow Beast.

Hourglass Foundation: ?

[pblackcrow]

What else would we like to see included in this article.

PFRPG Eastern Territories has Moord-Sith and Shadow Wolves. Read up about them.

[Lord Z]

Thanks Big PBC, tthat does sound like a lead.

Update folks, I ran ohut of time before the Feb. 28th deadline that I set for myself. So even though Mr. Loucifer wrote an awesome short story to accompany it, this Shadow People article will have ro get shelved. I polished off a Dead Reign article instead. Now I am elbow deep in editing and compiling all these great contributions we have been given for Rifter 9.1. There will definitely not be a lack of BtS monsters.

[Jasper]

You certainly couldn't use them for any official BTS product but if you are looking for more shadow type people and creatures to run in your personal campaign I recommend GURPS Creatures of the Night. I've picked up a number of various horror supplements from other game companies to use with BTS due to Palladium's dearth of BTS products. Creatures of the Night is a good one.

[Lord Z]

You have me interested. What is GURPS' take on Shadow People?

[Lord Z]

This is getting too convaluted again. Let's get back to basics. I heard a psychic on a paranormal radio show once refer to Shadow People as being, 'They are something I've never encountered before. They aren't demons or any manifestation of blind negative energy. There is an intelligence there. I don't know what their goal is, but I sense they are malevalent.' (Paraphrased)

That is the basic theme I am trying to create. These Shadow People are not pure evil like the demons and animalistic supernatural predators of BtS. The Shadows are intelligent with free will, and they have chosen a path of evil. That is more menacing to me than a balrog who never had a choice but to be the bad guy.

The Shadows are spies and conspirators. They hide in the corners but also walk among us, wearing the guise of humanity. They watch us sleep and infiltrate our most secret places. They rarely hunt humans for sport or food, but they do plot against humanity as a group.

[Lord Z]

Another Shadow Person story occurred in a recent episode of Jim Harold's Campfire. It's the first story of the episode about five minutes into the program. Link! I will mention this in the .Org also, because Raven Davenport loves his Shadow People stories.