Montgomery Whitlow, a Hunter on a Fool's Errand - Downward Arcs with Gamesinabunker (Vaesen)

Star : 0:00

What happens when your quest is a fool's errand? What would you do to get your family back? And how do you make your game safe enough to explore trauma at the table? Hello friends welcome to characters without stories, a TTRPG podcast about the roads not yet traveled. I'm star. This episode I am joined by Glenn Buettner, a tabletop gamer since the 70s, and an almost always forever GM. He has been working on the retail side of the gaming industry for the last 16 years and has a self published RPG called Mistrunner. Glenn, I will give you a chance to plug your projects at the end. But right now, do you want to tell listeners a little bit about

Glenn: 0:50

Well, as you mentioned, I work in the retail side of the yourself? industry. I've been running game stores for the last decade and a half roughly love what I do. I get to sell. I sell fun. And despite what people think I don't play games all day. But I get to I get to introduce a lot of people to games, whether they're already gamers or not, I need to introduce them possibly something they haven't played before. And one of these I pride myself on is our RPG selection course we have d&d, because if you're a game store, you're going to sell d&d, most likely. But I have curated a collection of easily 50 Different at one time. 50 different indie RPG we have at the store. So I like showing off all the different things that people can do with games, and just working to build a bigger and better community.

Star : 1:40

Yeah, Glenn, you and I met on Tik Tok and your content. A lot of it is about all of these other amazing TT RPGs that are available. And you've also on my Discord have actually run games and have recommended playing a lot of games. And I really I really enjoy that. It's great to discover new games.

Glenn: 2:00

Yeah, it's one of my favorite things since I was first introduced in the late 70s, to d&d, and then the other games. I've always sought out other titles because I have a lot of varied interests. And I want to try and experience new things as often as I can.

Star : 2:16

Yeah, definitely. So today, we're talking about a character built for a game called Vaessen. Can you tell me a little bit more about that game.

Glenn: 2:26

So that's an is Nordic horror set, kind of during the 17 1800s. Initially, it was primarily set in Scandinavian countries, the main setting takes place in Sweden. But they've since introduced a Celtic and British book, which is the one that my character has been mostly playing through, or in that setting. So it's all about the coming Industrial Age mixing with the mythological and how those two will buttheads and how the two worlds are, you know, our world is changing, and it's gonna pushing this old rolled out, and then you're part of the society that deals with that. Mm hmm.

Star : 3:06

Yeah, it's interesting to me a lot of the I think a lot of the literature that came out around that time period at the beginning of the Industrial Age, and a lot of it is about kind of similar themes as evason, you know, this kind of traditional folkloric, versus this modern industrial age, like I think of Dracula, for example.

Glenn: 3:25

You don't have to use it, but in our games we do. It's also the, the way that Europe changing from as it becomes more industrialized. And there's more, more and more to the cities, as between more and more Christian nations. That is the old old beliefs and that, again, it's that conflict that that causes because a lot of the that's the base are not, they're not big fans of Christianity, probably because you don't appreciate it tends to burn people who don't like it. So,

Star : 3:55

right. Yeah, I think it's a really fruitful, really interesting theme to set a gaming world in, I'd say also, having looked at the game a little bit that it shares some kind of commonalities with games like Call of Cthulhu, or monster of the week, and that you're investigating monsters. Would you say that that's like kind of the primary goal in this game?

Glenn: 4:21

Definitely. That is that is the main goal. You actually are members of what's called the society and you investigate occurrences with with with Vaessen. And one of these I love about it is that it's not simply a find and kill type measure. It is always the investigate, find out what's going on and then come to a solution, which on some occasions does mean killing whatever is involved, but a lot of times it means trying to find some way to smooth things over between that which is most often the human populace and whatever investment is in the area. Because the Vaessen in general are not necessarily evil. They're just Different. I mean, some, some are evil, just like people, some of them are evil. But it's all finding out what caused this problem to begin with. And how can you fix that and address that problem?

Star : 5:12

Yeah, I think that that's, that's great. I think there's a lot of media, including games that deal with monsters as being just 100% evil, and it just makes it easier for us to kill them. And I love it when a game or a piece of media complicates that story. So, Glenn, tell me who are you bringing to the table today?

Glenn: 5:36

Characters is actually the first character I made for the Game, Boy, almost about two ish years ago or so. Montgomery Whitlow, that is the name he goes by now, he had another game that he no longer uses, because he had a falling out with his family. But he is a was a not really an aristocrat, but had come from family that had some money, left it all behind that he joined the society because he has what is called the site, meaning he can see and interact with basic which most people cannot generally unless the base we want to be seen. But if he has kind of made it his mission to understand this other world better, and to come to grips as well with his past, because the spaces he had when he was a younger man and a child that introduced him to this other world really shaped and changed him in a way that he wants to try to come to peaceful solutions as often as possible with these other other world creatures.

Star : 6:35

Yeah, I thought that was interesting when looking at the rules for this game. The the sight is an interesting idea. From what I read, the ability to see the Vaessencomes out of perhaps a trauma. Why does Monty have the sight?

Glenn: 6:52

Is it Monty came from not literally aristocracy, but he came from a little bit of money, his family had an estate. And he, you know, obviously grew up there. Monty is not exactly what one would call a handsome fellow. He had an accident when he was a child that left a very large scar across most of his the left side of his face. So that meant that you know, his potential as a husband was greatly diminished. And there was a young girl who lived on the estate who was kind of a servant, in a way and they kind of grew up together. And as what happens with two young people who spent a lot of time together, they fell in love. And they made all these plans and stuff like that. And there was some of that kind of was eating away at Monty and that as happy as she would be at times his his wife, a wife to be Theya. There was like a sadness in her eyes all the time, like a longing for something else. And he asked his mother about it because his mother is you know, who hired the girl or brought her in when she was a child and could never get a straight answer. And after much digging, he found in the attic, he found an old trunk. And inside the trunk he found a sealskin. And he wasn't really quite sure what that meant. And when he showed it to day, she was overjoyed. Because she is a selkie. And her mother had found her when she was a child, she was on a beach with her mother, and her mother took her skin. And as long as you have the selkie skin, they can't change back into a seal. And she had basically been a prisoner all this time. Now Monty feels awful about this. And you know, he's conflicted because he loves this woman. But he also doesn't want to, you know, keep her here against her will. So he offers the sealskin back to her. And initially, she takes it, but they stay together. She doesn't leave the farm, and they eventually do get married. But with her sealskin back, the call for her to return to the sea becomes stronger and stronger and stronger until one day, she does decide to leave him. And at this point, they have a daughter, and she takes the daughter with her and leave. She tells Monty this, and Monty is accepting of it, though he's incredibly sad. And that now he is constantly trying to find a way to reunite himself with his family. He's not just seeking out best and so you understand them because of his upbringing and his connection with this woman he wants to see if you can find a way to, in essence, join her in her world. And that's what really drives him because he's had that there's a love of his life, taken away from him. And also the fact that his mother basically kept this prisoner in the house. He's pretty sure she still loved him because she stayed even after he gave the skin back. But there was always that lingering thing of the how much of that was love and how much of that was just simply her adapting the condition that she was raised in.

Star : 9:52

That's a difficult place to be in emotionally.

Glenn: 9:56

Yeah, and I should I should note that this game, the subject matter of it is very adult, there's a lot of heavy themes, the consent sheet for this, a lot of people would look at it and be like, that's a little too much for me. There's a lot of stuff that goes on. Because this one was really started, the person who made the who's runs the game, they started doing role playing games, as a way for them to deal with the head of very bad upbringing as a child, assaulted all that type of stuff. And this is a real thing, it was their way of dealing with those issues and talking about those issues in a way that she was more comfortable with. So we run a lot of very heavy, heavy theme games, which she runs.

Star : 10:33

Hmm, interesting. I know, there's been a lot of discourse about how much of our real life issues we take into our games. How do you feel about that, about kind of taking these experiences and working through them at the gaming table?

Glenn: 10:52

I think as long as everyone at the table knows what's happening, and is on board with it, it's great, it's fine. It's not something you want to slip into a game without telling anyone, especially if it's dealing with any kind of trauma. Because I mean, you don't know what everyone else is bringing to the table with them. So if you suddenly just throw in something about, you know, child abuse, and someone else, the table has gone through that, but they're they don't want this coming up in the game. This is their escape from that, that would be a bad thing. But I think, you know, using using your safety tools using consent forms, and stuff like that can lead to good experiences for everyone involved.

Star : 11:31

Yeah, I can't overstate that safety tools are the only thing that really make playing games like that. Any fun. Like, I don't want to play Call of Cthulhu or something like that. That's really dark without having done a consent form. And having had that discussion, even even, I'm playing a very lighthearted d&d game right now. And we still did it because it's important.

Glenn: 11:57

Yeah. And this game also showed me something that I had never experienced before. But the game master at times, will throw an extra card in that game, because it gets a little too heavy for her. I'd have never experienced it from from it from a Game Master before where they say, Alright, hold on, we're gonna pull back from this type of a bit, because it's going to be a bit too much. Yeah. And that was really interesting, because I'd never thought of it that. Oh, yeah. If I'm running a game, I'm also playing. Right? I should have the same safety and comfort as everyone else.

Star : 12:31

Yeah, if you're listening, and you're a Game Master, please let this empower you to treat your own safety at the same way that you treat your players safety.

Glenn: 12:42

Yep. That's why it's often overlooked. Yeah,

Star : 12:45

yeah, definitely. So how old is Monty when he begins his career as a member of the society,

Glenn: 12:53

Monty is in his late 20s, when he begins.

Star : 12:58

So is he a newlywed at this point? Or has he been married for a while,

Glenn: 13:02

when when he joined society, it's about a year after Theya, his daughter left him. Now he's in his 30s, because it's been several years that he's been a member. So

Star : 13:13

So you're starting the story with him having a lot of familiarity with the society,

Glenn: 13:18

a fair amount, by the time you start, you're gonna you're either already a member of the society, or you're just joining, but like Monty did, he did a lot of searching on his own the society and finding him because of all the places he was taking and investigating, he crossed paths with them enough times where they're like, alright, we either have to deal with this guy or bring them on board.

Star : 13:40

So what was he doing to cross paths? So then before you as a member of the society?

Glenn: 13:45

Well, the society investigates mysterious happenings, and that's the same thing Monty was doing. And Monty has a much lighter touch than a lot of other society members do. Because his first and foremost action is to come to a peaceful resolution, and that everyone aside, he shares the same thoughts. On top of the fact that sometimes a peaceful resolution is not possible, because there are some lessons just like people that they just want to cause harm. And sometimes you have to deal with them a bit more harshly. But Monty is very reluctant to do that. Even though he has a very good shot. He doesn't like pulling his gun unless he absolutely absolutely has to.

Star : 14:27

Let's get a little bit into Monty's skills and abilities. fascin has an archetype system, correct? Yes. It's similar to like a playbook or an occupation, like an occupation and Call of Cthulhu or maybe a playbook and like a PbtA game, something like that.

Glenn: 14:45

A little bit. Yeah.

Star : 14:46

What is his archetype?

Glenn: 14:49

Monty's a hunter.

Star : 14:51

And what does it mean to be a hunter?

Glenn: 14:53

It can be interpreted in many different ways. I mean, sometimes it simply means that they were like natural like Hunter like Got a big like a wild game hunter beforehand. But it's generally it means someone who is good at ferreting out information in the area investigating and stuff like that, as well as someone who is a bit competent when it comes to when things turn a bit violent, kind of like the closest thing you might even call like the more modern Sherlock Holmes news with Robert Downey Jr, Sherlock, and that is kind of akin to a hunter, in that he's got these great investigative skills, but he's also fairly martially adept as well.

Star : 15:31

Going into that, what is Monty good at? How do skills and attributes work in this game?

Glenn: 15:38

You have your series of attributes, which is things like logic, empathy, precision, these are different things that you're going to when you're rolling the dice is higher determine how well you do you have agility, both combat force medicine, range, combat, stealth, investigation, learning, vigilance, inspiration, manipulation and observation. And those come off of your attributes which are physique, precision, logic and empathy. You have the four do physical to mental, and you're rolling dice, and it's the sixth system. And it's a six is a success. So you have to roll six. And that's all on a scale of how many successes did you get?

Star : 16:19

It's a dice pool, right?

Glenn: 16:21

Yeah, it's a dice pool. So and most often, it's your rolling, you know, only a couple of dice. And most the time, normal action, you need one success on your dice. And your dice is it's your attribute plus your skill. So if I have a three in logic and a three precision, I would roll six dice.

Star : 16:40

Okay, yeah, I see that and the scale goes from zero to or I guess one would be the lowest, how high can still be?

Glenn: 16:50

Oh, boy, you know, I don't remember how high they can go. Because we don't advance that much.

Star : 16:56

I'm just kind of curious how many how many dice could you possibly be rolling? And when and run roll? Could you be rolling 10 or 12? Dice?

Glenn: 17:04

Well, I think I've rolled, maybe you can I know I've rolled 10. Before, wow. Because you can also you can also get bonuses for stuff, depending on the situation or if someone's helping you. And I will also add that every game I played, there's always a tremendous amount of home overruling just because we like to change things, to the way that we like things to be. Because sometimes we want to make certain things a little easier. We also don't roll the dice a lot. Generally, if it's anything outside of combat, that is not story changing. If it's within your wheelhouse, you can just do it. Just because the the like, I'm trying to pick a lock, and there's there's no one around. There's no rush me to pick this lock. And I'm really good at picking locks, making me roll for it. What is just a normal lock door that like person has in their house, we're not going to bother with a roll that just happens. Now if it's I'm trying to do this quickly or quietly? Or if they're really, really good luck, then sure you roll. But we try to minimize our dice well, because we like to focus a lot more on just the story that we're telling.

Star : 18:10

So then what is Monty good at? Is he good at precision, physique logic, what kind of skills,

Glenn: 18:18

Monty is very good at precision and observation. There's two big things. So and vigilance, like your perception check, and stuff like that as your vigilance. So those are the three biggest things that he's good at the precision because he did spend a lot of time as a young boy he hunted and stuff like that. He just enjoyed shooting in general and practicing that skill, but that the observation and the vigilance are a lot from his investigating and just searching out information. Even as a boy he was very inquisitive. And it's just kind of played over and it was adulthood, and it's really served him well. Observation. This is best stability. That's the one that he has, he has a five observation

Star : 19:01

that makes a lot of sense, when you were telling me about discovering the selkie coat. There had to be a certain level of inquisitiveness that went into that discovery, right, he had to have a certain amount of curiosity to want to learn more about that story. And also, I think, just you know, if you're curious about somebody else, and you want to learn their story, like that's, that's a way to relate to them. So I think that that that's interesting that you're this kind of natural inquisitiveness.

Glenn: 19:29

Yeah. And part of it also came from the fact that because he was always questioning and always looking for information, he was able to from a young age, tell when his mother was lying to him about something. Whether it was the good natured lies we tell children like Santa Claus and stuff like that, or more insidious lies like oh, yeah, the girl that you've been growing up with, that you fall in love with is actually a otherworldly creature that I captured them holding her against her will from cuz I stole her from her mother when she was a child. So

Star : 20:01

let's get into that a little bit. His mother sounds like an interesting person. I'm very curious about her capturing this selkie. How did that happen? And I guess also, why would why would she keep this creature captive?

Glenn: 20:15

His mother is a very jealous woman. She's jealous of anyone who has something that she does not. And at the time, she was in a marriage to a man, she did not love. But she married him because the fact that this man had more money than her family did. So she married strictly out of a desire for access to his wealth. He was also a much older man, her initial thoughts was that she'd be married for five to 10 years, and he would die. And then she would take the wealth he had, and then she could marry up from there again, and constantly kind of move her way up. It is the late 1700s. In this game, it's it's 1800s. Now, but when you know, when Monty was born, it was the separate late 1700s. Women don't have a lot of authority in the world. So a big thing for women is who they're married to. And that kind of gives them their position. So even if she was, if if her husband died, and she still had this money and stuff, she'd still be thought of as less than a man with the same amount of wealth and land. But Monty's father lived a long time. Monty's father lived to be 97 years old, which for the 1700s is pretty pretty darn long.

Star : 21:24

Yeah.

Glenn: 21:25

I mean, it's pretty darn long for today's still too. So instead of being married five or 10 years, she was married this man for almost 30. Now she is a woman in her in her late 50s. And it's made her very bitter, and she was bitter, you know, just with the fact that this man would not die. So she was always trying to find things that she could not find elsewhere. She also wanted more children. But Monty's father was well past the age of being able to give her children both physically and just didn't have the desire. I mean, you know, at this point Monty's father is, you know, pushing 75. So when she finds this young child alone on the beach at the moment, she just acts, she takes the child. She doesn't know what the sealskin is at first, but she takes it, but she does some investigating of her own. And she finds out what this means, because the child keeps trying to try to take it. And she then decides to lock it away in the attic. And then as the child grows up, there is I mean, as it is with many creatures that are otherworldly, she is extraordinarily beautiful. And that just leads her to believe more and more that this woman is not just supernatural, but it is something that she can use. And if she can use it to marry off her son, to this beautiful woman who has no ancestry that people can can point to and say where she came from, she can craft she was already putting in crafting some story about this woman being from some other country and being you know, some type of aristocratic daughter that her son had been married to, because they was never left off the grounds either. She was kept under strict watch as she worked in the house, she really left the house. And if she did, she was under supervision. So his mother is not a good person. He's very manipulative and she's cruel.

Star : 23:17

You'd have to be really to imprison a young girl for for so long. Did Monty grow up Christian?

Glenn: 23:26

He did, but not devoted Christian. It was a Christian household. But they did not attend services regularly and stuff like that. Generally, the Bible would only be brought out with his mother would be trying to reprimand him for some type of behavior he had engaged in as being improper. But as it is with many Bible thumping Christians, they ignore the parts that condemn themselves, and she always condemn him. So while he was raised Christian, he himself does not consider himself to be devoutly Christian. He believes that God exists, but he does not appreciate the direction of the church itself takes

Star : 24:05

right do they have any connection to these kinds of folkloric beliefs? How alive is the folklore in Monty's life growing up? I know all of these, you know, there's a lot of myths that we believe it Santa previously mentioned, being one of them. And I don't believe in Santa Santa is not like part of my spirituality. But when we're talking about a game that's dealing with kind of these traditional, non Christian folktales coming to life, I'm kind of curious how Monty and his family relate to that

Glenn: 24:41

Monty's father was much different than his mother, he told always told Monty stories I'm known to Monty is his father also has the site or had the site his father's dad passed away. And some of the stories his father was telling was not out of Hans Christian Andersen book. It was things that he himself had experienced when he was a younger man. His father had been a bit of a soldier and had bought across Europe and had traveled a lot. And he had encountered trauma of his own at war, which is when he gained the sight. And he saw things in his travels. And then he kind of also just had the stories that he himself had grown up with, because he himself was born, you know, in the late 1600s, when yes, there's still Christianity. But there's still a lot of that claim to the old ways, especially being a rural, which is what Monty's family was. And he told all those stories to his son. And Monty being inquisitive, just ate that up,

Star : 25:37

you say they were rural, do they still live in a rural area?

Glenn: 25:44

It is less rural now. Because if it had been a third place, there was a couple of miles outside of a larger town. But that count has grown. And now it's more like it's a close suburb, as opposed to being out in the country. It's, you know, it's slowly being eaten up by the city itself.

Star : 26:04

And you said that this was a build for the the new setting, which is Celtic,

Glenn: 26:12

partly, there was a story that started being formed before the book came out. And then the book is just added to it. So because our GM, she lives in Scotland, she wanted to use the mythology that and the landmarks she herself was more familiar with. So all of our stuff is based on a was originally based out of out of Glasgow, as opposed to Uppsala, in Sweden, which is where the original society is based.

Star : 26:36

So we're talking about a very different time period, but not, I'd say, again, I keep comparing it to Call of Cthulhu. But there's a lot of things that are similar in terms of time period. And at least for you know, kind of the classic Call of Cthulhu that it's taking place in an earlier time. And it's fairly realistic with like this kind of magical element or this, you know, cosmic horror element being brought in. And here we're talking about a fairly realistic setting where of folklore and all of these kinds of monsters and things are alive, has it been difficult for you to build a character that is in a different time period that and has beliefs and customs that are perhaps a little alien to us?

Glenn: 27:27

I don't think I would say it's difficult our game master this, you know, she's she has been kind to us in you know, the fact that one of the guys tries to speak with a Scottish accent, which is, it's an okay, American Scottish accent. But you know, when you're dealing with someone who's actually Scottish, but she humors us with a lot of stuff in that way. But she's also given us feedback on some things, we would come up with our backgrounds for our characters, as the things that fit more with kind of how she grew up, because she grew up in the countryside in Scotland, outside of Glasgow, to make things you know, fit a bit more with with the the location and stuff like that, and just general attitudes. But I mean, it's just, I think, while it is based on a real locations, there's still enough that element of the make believe where there's a lot of room to explore. We're not pretending to be African or Chinese, where it can easily, very quickly become very culturally insensitive and inappropriate, was definitely one person, I mean, everyone playing the game, we're all either white and the one person who isn't white is the GM. But she's, you know, she grew up in Scotland, she's born and raised in Scotland, we all come from a very western perspective. So it's the stuff that we kind of already know, to a degree, even though it's a different time, a lot of the morals and stuff haven't changed a whole bunch. It was a lot stricter back then just in some degrees. But the thing is, you still see people who are still very much like that and their belief systems of what is isn't isn't acceptable behavior in society. So it's not too big of a stretch to to see what that time would be like.

Star : 29:07

And your submission, you mentioned that this character came out of a piece of writing that you're doing a short story, is that something that you do often?

Glenn: 29:17

Quite often, I have more unfinished stories than I have had breaths in life.

Star : 29:24

That's a lot. You just You just wrote another one.

Glenn: 29:30

I get little ideas and I jot them down and then sometimes, sometimes it grow beyond a sentence. Sometimes there'll be a couple pages. I mean, sometimes they're longer because I do like I do like nanowrimo the National Novel Writing Month I do that every year. So and a lot of my characters grow either grow from those stories or my stories grow from the character. But the Monty Monty was born out of a out of a short story I was working on were ahead. I had just finished reading a book called meeting the other folk. It's all Irish Tales by A man named Eddie Lenahan. Who, if you were to look him up online and see pictures of him, you'd be like, That's a guy who talks about mythology. I've always had an interest in mythology, particularly British and Germanic and Scandinavian myth. And I had books of that growing up as a child, and read this book and just rekindle that interest for me. I mean, it never went away. But it like really led to a bigger fire under me. And I started reading some of the other creatures that existed in mythology. And I've always liked selkies. And also a bit from a world of darkness game, I've been playing online for a long, long time, that blends all of the world dark themes with blends, vampire, and werewolf, and Changeling, all into one mass. And in that game, I've been playing a fairy character, a fae character for a long, long time. And selfies were never allowed in the game. And I just had just introduced them. So between my my old research and then just getting back up, it prompted me against like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna tell a story about a selkie. I just find it really interesting. And there's actually, there's a great lesson podcast called, I always get it wrong. So last mountain podcast like that. And they just had an episode recently on selkies as well. So I'm like, Ah, this is much like the idea that I had when I came up with Monty.

Star : 31:24

I'll drop a link to that in the description so that if you're curious, you can go check out that other podcast. I'm curious, I might go check it out myself. We've talked a little bit about how he gained the sight and how he joined the society. He's currently on a quest to find a way to kind of join this kind of other world that his wife is a part of being a selkie, you would say that is his kind of central motivation for being out adventuring in the world.

Glenn: 31:54

Yeah, as I said, he grew up with this woman been in love, since they were, you know, young teenagers, where they were actually understood that this was love and not just we grew up together, and obviously his child as well that he loved dearly. His mouth, he also thought for a long time that he was never going to find that because of the fact of the scarring on his face. I mean, his mother used that many times that berate him, and that he was useless. Because no one ever marry him. And yeah, trying to find some way to rejoin his wife and child, is what really drives him, even though he knows that it's most likely never going to happen.

Star : 32:29

Yeah, it's interesting. He's on a quest that may never be fruitful, it takes a great deal of optimism.

Glenn: 32:37

It definitely does.

Star : 32:39

Would you say that Monty is in general, an optimistic fellow

Glenn: 32:44

he is, and a lot of that grew out of the relationship he had with Thea, because without her in his life, he could have very easily turned out much more like his mother, who is not an optimist. He's an opportunist.

Star : 32:55

I know that his story hasn't been written yet. But in your head, is there a way for him to join his wife and daughters world?

Glenn: 33:04

In my head, there is not the best he will ever get is he will catch glances of them sometimes, you know, perhaps these by the sea, he may see some seals and you know, there'll be that part of him that be like, That's them. In my heart, I would love for him to have that reunion and to find a way to join them. But in my head, I think it's a fool's quest that will never come to fruition. It'll never bear fruit.

Star : 33:29

That's kind of a devastatingly sad choice to make as a player for your characters to give them an incredibly meaningful but unattainable errand to pursue.

Glenn: 33:42

As I'll play him, my hope, hope is not quite there were my idea is that, the longer he's denied this, it'll slowly chip away at that optimism. And it'll become a bit more jaded and a bit more bitter as he grows, and realizes that he's never going to get what he wants. And then he'll slowly turn that anger on the world around him.

Star : 34:03

I think that a lot of times, we kind of expect or, you know, maybe pursue it, I don't, there's nothing wrong at all with starting a character with a lot of flaws, who then grows and learns to overcome those flaws. And you're kind of going in the opposite direction and that you're starting with a character who is optimistic, and hoping may actually be the best word hoping that they come to a point where that is challenged and where that could actually change their character for the worse hoping for that isn't necessarily saying that you want that to happen in the real world. But you want you hope that your character will have an arc of some sort is that something that you often do is having these kind of negative character arcs or kind of allowing or wanting your characters to go down a road that's maybe not bettering themselves?

Glenn: 34:54

I like exploring that at times and games. I think like a game like Vaessen or Call of Cthulhu can lend itself well to that type of character arc. And it is not unheard of in this group, I play with former characters to end up as BB EGS. In later games we play, because they've been chipped away so much that they become the villain themselves. I mean, it's that that old saying, as a hero, if you live too long, you become the villain. I like playing that sometimes. I mean, I'd like the redemption arc do, but I could change it up sometimes. And I like to have it where there's this possibility that this character is setting themselves up for a huge fall. There's also the hope that, of course of the game, and the course of the other players, pulls them out of that.

Star : 35:36

Yeah, that's an important point is that you may have a very specific goal or idea of what your characters arc may be, but the other players and the DM are going to change it, they're gonna throw a wrench into your plans. It's a great viewpoint to have to say, You know what, this may change. And I love that you're thinking of that right from the start.

Glenn: 36:00

My thought now is, is if I were to play this character through a series of campaigns, still it ended, it would end up one of two ways. Well, one of three ways. One is he ends up dead. And it's always a possibility these games, but the other two ways is that he somehow manages through whatever miraculous beans to get that reunion. And that's the least likely scenario. The other thought is that he eventually gets ejected from the society because his ways have shifted from being peaceful and understanding to be more barbaric. I'm curious to see what the future will hold for Monty, I have opened my heart, that it'll be positive. But there's the thoughts in my head that I liked, you know, I've set this character up to do nothing but go down. Well, yeah,

Star : 36:43

I mean, he seems to be starting off in a very positive place, I mean, wanting to not just kill every monster that he encounters, you know, trying to find peaceful solutions when possible. Seems like he has a lot of empathy and curiosity about his fellow man. What would you say, at this point, this early point in the story, what are his flaws,

Glenn: 37:06

you just have a blind spot to danger, because he's so focused on finding a peaceful solution, that he can be manipulated, and many of the vessels are bastards, that manipulation, we can fall prey to that a bit too easily at times. And he also does not deal with bullies, the one time that will really drive him to become angry, is when he encountered someone who was a bully, at times, he will become physically violent with people who that are bullied, because he grew up with him live with his mother, that was his mother's entire life,

Star : 37:36

both in your character and in the world that the game is set in and depicts theirs, this idea of how evil is defined by your perspective, for example, the Vaessen and these monsters are not necessarily just outright evil, that they may be responding to an evil that has been done to them or a way that the world has changed, that hurts them. And you could say that with his mother's actions, that trying to find a way to provide for herself in a world that doesn't give her many options from within from within the family, it is evil, he sees the evil and he is affected by it, but from the outside world doesn't really look the same. So it seems like there's a lot of play with that kind of outside inside perspective, and how perspective changes morality or how you look at somebody else's morality?

Glenn: 38:33

Oh, absolutely. But you can lean a lot of different ways. So if you want it to, you can lean hard into the as as it always is, as as the world changes, there are those who are reluctant to adapt to the change. And in this case, it's not, you know, it's not your grandparents, it's the Vaessen, who are reluctant to the changes coming to the world as the world becoming more modern, they have their own set ways. They don't want to change that. Does that mean that the modern ways they're all evil or not? Does it mean, you know, it's, you can say there's aspects of it, that would be but it's like modern medicine, evil, I mean, can't really argue that but the thing is, there are changes that improve the lives of humans, but in this case, it comes at the cost of affecting the Vaessen. So you can lean into that way, or you can lean into the fact that there are games that we've generally played in the world of vessel and leaves much more in the the church is overbearing, and is very vehemently against anything that is not overtly Christian. So they are kind of waiting their silent war against the Vaessen. Sometimes that sometimes not depending on where you are, the more rural you are, the more vocal the preachers get. The game lends itself to a lot of noise, you can interpret it.

Star : 39:45

So let's go into Monty's characteristic characteristics, his kind of his basic stats, so to speak. We already said he's in his 30s he's a hunter. He has a scar on his face. Can you describe his appearance a little bit more?

Glenn: 40:00

Monty was attacked by a dog when he was a young boy. And he was mauled, the entire left of his face is just a series of scars from having, in essence, half his face chewed off by a dog. So the doctor is, you know, being the late 1700s did the best they could. But I mean, the whole side of his left side of his face is just a ruined massive scarred flesh. It doesn't look like he can see out of his out of his left eye, but he can because it's very cloudy, that the playing of the story is that that that I improved when he gave the sight, we played that up to kind of add a bit more to the mystical of having the site he physically is he's done a very imposing man, except when he's angry. When he gets angry. It seems like he gets bigger when he wants to exude a larger presence he can. But he's average build nothing spectacular about him. He's healthy. He's not like ripped muscle man or anything like that. He keeps his hair cropped short. He dresses in very simple garb as you would expect someone who is constantly on the road to where he does not keep much possessions. He leads a very, very simple life, which is much different than growing up. He was by no means rich, but he was he was well off growing up, never had needs that weren't met. And he had many of his wants filled.

Star : 41:19

You said that this is taking place in Scotland. Are you doing an accent for this one? Will you be doing an accent?

Glenn: 41:28

I am not. Monty just talks a bit more gruff, though this is the voice I generally use for Monty. My Scottish accent is not great. And the fact that the GM is Scottish. Right? I just, I feel I feel like it'd be like I said, she's fine with us doing whatever we want. But I don't know, I would just feel kind of foolish doing it. around her. I've learned so many different ways that the Scottish people speak. And it's really, really knowing her. I've known her for about nine years now. And just having talked with her over the years, it's not just doing an accent, it's not just having your voice sound like somebody's from there. It's the words they use. Because the Scottish have so much slang. I mean, Americans have a fair amount, but oh my gosh, the Scottish just wow. Wow.

Star : 42:20

I feel like they probably think the same thing about Americans, though. From the outside it always, you know, of course, everybody knows American slang because we're so dominant. Did you do any research on into slang of the period?

Glenn: 42:41

I always do a lot of different I mean, lots of everything's, but the thing is, I don't use them that often. Because even if I know what it is, the odds are the other players don't. And even though it's it's helped fit the feel of the game. If you confuse other players, it takes them out of the game. Because I've learned tons of slang, I run a lot of called foo. So I know a lot of 1920 slang, but most people don't know that stuff. So I don't use a lot of it. I mean, there's some that everybody knows, you know, that just kind of linger. Everyone knows, if you say you know, Gams a lot of people know that. That means legs. Yeah. But even that can leave you know, especially about younger players. They're not going to know what that is. No one uses the word anymore. Unless you're playing into that stereotype from, you know, the 1920s or wherever.

Star : 43:31

I'm in my early 40s. And I know what gams are, but I would not expect anybody younger than me to know because I feel like for even for me, it was very antiquated. It sounds like, obviously, you do a lot of writing. You're writing RPGs you're writing novels, you're writing short stories with every breath? Is research a big part of the writing that you do. Are you bringing that into creating characters for games as well?

Glenn: 43:59

Sometimes, a lot of the stuff I write is loosely based on real stuff. There's often been a thing like for free games, like when you're not playing in a real words, real setting where someone will be doing an accent, then will say oh, I've done a very good British accent. And my reply would always be I'm not British. I'm an elf from the gurney countryside. So this is how an elf from the gurney countryside sounds what's British. So I do a little bit at times. A lot of my research is simply just reading. I take ideas from everywhere from books and comics and TV and movies as well. But I do have some sources I use for research like sometimes with the slang or I'll do research on a location if I'm setting some specific location that's going to be a long term setting or I'll try to get some things there actually existed in that time period. If I'm doing anything historic, I try to make sure I don't introduce things that don't exist yet. Obviously, like in Call of Cthulhu I mean they have phone means but not everyone has a phone. It's the 1920s. Not everyone has electricity. But a lot of people do. Knowing those types of things that I think can help in the game where it leads more to the atmosphere, without being confusing, like slang would be

Star : 45:16

the spark for Monty came from some folklore that you're reading and this interest in this selkie tale. Is that a common way that you come up with characters? Are the sparks coming from things that you're reading? Or are they coming from a lot of different places.

Glenn: 45:37

So there's this from things that I'm reading, I'd say, probably a third or so comes from stuff that I'm reading, the rest of it comes from, when I'm writing, I'll be writing something, and I'll come up with an idea that doesn't fit the story I'm in. And I'll just jot that note down. And a lot of characters have grown out of those sparks as well. Do

Star : 45:57

you have a notebook of character ideas that just waiting to be adapted

Glenn: 46:02

notebook would be a rather organized way of saying it. I have Google Docs and Microsoft notes and post it notes and file folders, with ideas scribbled on that eye every now and then try to organize and just never get very far.

Star : 46:23

Do you remember all of them?

Glenn: 46:25

No. No, I've come across some fragment of a note and I'm like, what do they mean by waffle King? What? Who's the waffle? What am I talking about? Waffle King?

Star : 46:35

Well, shoot, I'm going to make a character who's the waffle King? That's a great idea.

Glenn: 46:39

Yeah, but in some ways, I will remember in in trying to remember all sparks a different idea. It's still the waffle King. What What could I have meant by this? That's how I got inspiration for a character I ran in Call of Cthulhu, where I was a mobster who was known as the waffle King.

Star : 46:56

I love that. Monty, who do you look up to?

Glenn: 47:04

Oh, who do I look up to? That's I mean, when I was a boy, it would have always been my father. He was. I mean, despite being a very old man, my entire childhood, he was that larger than life kind of figure. I didn't realize at the time. But the stories he told me and the way he treated me, I think in a lot of ways shaped the man I am today. So probably like looking back. That's who I looked up to then. And I still respect my father a lot and what he taught me as far as the day I would have to say my wife, they are she showed me how love can really change a person. Even in even in a bad situation, they can shine above that darkness. And they can drive you in ways and motivate you in ways that you never thought you could. Yeah, yeah, I I miss her.

Star : 48:11

Glenn, thank you so much for sharing your character with me today and with my listeners, how can people find you? What kind of projects would you like to tell them about?

Glenn: 48:19

I am on most social medias as games in a bunker, all one word, Twitter, Instagram, Hive Tiktok. All over the place. As far as my games, I have an itch page that currently has Mr. for free on it because it was the first game I made. And I see lots of flaws in it. So you can go grab it for free.

Star : 48:39

I'll put the link to the each store in my in the description.

Glenn: 48:43

As far as what I'm working on. Now, I'm kind of leaning into power by the apocalypse for rule settings. Because making your own rule set is really hard. It's a lot of work. And it's a lot of a lot of play testing. I mean, you still play test even using this existed, but a lot of the kinks have already been worked out for you. Right. So I have two games I'm kind of working on a bit right now. The first is demon eater, which is a Powered by the Apocalypse game set after the world kind of met a end as it were when the supervolcano at Yellowstone erupted. And unknown to everyone there was an ancient cosmic entity that had fallen to earth there. And when the volcano erupted, it spread this thing's bits everywhere, which kind of became a corrupt everything. So there's that one, and the other one is Eden adrift, where you are on a last colony ship in space, and it has been adrift for 1000 years. And you are the people who have grown out of the original crew, the planet the sun that they relied on was dying. And this was their escape plan as they built these these arcs is colony ships that they stepped off and this one They encountered a problem along the way. They can't wake up any of the original people who were in cryo stasis. They got trapped on the ship. And they had kids and those kids had kids and it's grown beyond that.

Star : 50:13

Those both sound really interesting. I especially like the ship. That's a really interesting idea.

Glenn: 50:19

I need to go back to that one and work out more.

Star : 50:23

You can find me on Tik Tok at Star mama See, that's S T A R M A M A C. You can also listen on YouTube, just search for characters that stories or follow the link in the description. Please like subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends. I am just starting out and I can't adequately express how much it means to me that you've given me some of your valuable and limited time. Thank you. If you'd like me to send you a free button, email me at characters without stories@gmail.com With your address and something you like about the podcast. And if you write a review on Apple podcast or Spotify, I'll give you a shout out on the show. I am currently accepting submissions, particularly for non d&d characters. So if you'd like to share your character, you can go to the submission form at characters without stories.com Thanks for listening and may all your characters find their stories