The first time I heard about Vaesen was from the TV Series Grimm. There's been a series of Monster of the Week TV shows such as Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Supernatural, and The X-Files. I'm a big fan of these shows and Hammer Horror films. So for me, this is a great combination like peanut butter and chocolate.
Free League has been consistenty amazing at releasing beautiful RPG books. Vaesen are supernatural creatures invisible to normal people except for people with the Second Sight. The setting is mid-1800s Sweden with industrialization changing the world, creating a clash between urban/rural, rich/poor, industrialization/nature, locals/immigrants, seen/unseen, science/magic, upper class/lower class, church/old ways.
The conceit behind this game is that the PCs are Thursday's Children, people traumatized by a supernatural event which enabled them to see Vaesen. They belong to The Society, a group that is dedicated to investigating and solving disturbances with Vaesen. PCs also have a Dark Secret that will resurface during play.
The system is a d6 dice pool, counting successes (a 6 is a success). Most tasks only require one success. There are only 4 Attributes (Physique, Precision, Logic, Empathy) and 12 Skills (3 skills under each Attribute). The dice pool rolled is the Attribute + Skill. Various items and talents add extra dice. PCs can take 4 physical and 4 mental Conditions, but the 4th condition always Breaks the PC (either crippling the PC physically or mentally). If the PC survives the Injury, they can get some penalties or in some rare cases additional Insight just as how they got their second sight.
There was a big buzz about the game and I wanted to learn more about it. The first few times I played this game, I wasn't quite sure about it. First, I thought the system was ok, but not that exciting. Second, I thought it was almost impossible to kill a PC, so a game without threat takes away the excitement of danger. Third, I wondered whether a long series of Monster of the Week would get boring.
I wanted to get more Vaesen under my belt, so I played 5 games of Vaesen at VaesenCon. I saw enough variety from different GMs and scenarios that it assuaged my fears. I actually bought a HC of the book and read almost all of it. I skipped the monster section, so I could still play games without having spoilers ruin them.
Reservation 1: The System. It's fine, but one thing that works really well is if you want to Push a roll, you take a Condition. That's a big deal. You only have 4 physical and 4 mental HPs. Also each Condition reduces your dice pool for related tasks on a 1-for-1 basis. It makes Pushing and taking Conditions a major risk factor. This raises the tension level during play.
Reservation 2: Hard to Kill PCs. Some monsters can cause 2 or 3 damage and it can go up if it rolls multiple successes. This can Break a PC in one hit. If the PCs lose the fight or abandon the Broken PC, that PC is basically dead. Seeing a Vaesen can cause 2 Fear, that's 1/2 of your mental conditions. So, Vaesen can be a very deadly.
Reservation 3: Lack of Variety. There are 21 Vaesen in the core book. There are more in published supplements and fan based supplements. Also the Vaesen are based on Folk and Fairy Tales. I bought a copy of Swedish Folk Tales for inspiration. And for people who memorize Monster Manuals, the GM can make up anything they want to switch things up. Most Vaesen are almost impossible to kill without knowing their secret weakness. I'm also using the Society's HQ, a rundown castle full of cobwebs and mysteries, which the PCs need to cleanup, upgrade, and explore. I'm also tying in various character's Dark Secrets and fallout from their actions when they solve a mystery. In my Upsala, I've highlighted the social pressures from the various social classes in the city.
Why is the basis of the game Monster of the Week?
Well, one of the ways of getting an Experience Point (XP) is meeting a new Vaesen, so that's designed into the game. Another is confronting a Vaesen. Each PC gains XP at the end of each session. Every 5 XP allows the PC to bump up a Skill or add a Talent.
Another basis of the game is developing your HQ. The Society (as a whole) gains Development Points (DP) by learning about Vaesen. DPs are spent upgrading the HQ which gives benefits to all the PCs. DPs are gained at the end of each scenario. But fixing things and opening up sealed rooms and areas of the HQ comes with its own danger and more opportunity for adventure. The problem is when you play random one-shots, you never see this aspect of the game.
I also have a deep love of folklore from various cultures, so I plan in using this knowledge in my games.
Overall, Vaesen is turning out to be a really good game. No wonder it's doing so well in the market place.
Q: Equipment rules seem confusing. p.88 Equipment in the Headquarters. It states that you keep the equipment you started with plus one newly acquired item or weapon. Does this mean you keep only 1 extra item or 1 from each completed adventure?
A: One extra item apart from your starting equipment. Period.
This is to prevent the PCs from becoming pack rats. This is for equipment that gives any type of bonus. Normal items that give no bonuses can be carried. You don't want the PCs to have a giant inventory with multiple bonuses for everything.
At the start of each adventure, the PC would have their starting equipment + 1 item they got from a previous adventure. In the Preparatory stage (p.73 Preparatory Equipment), they can then spend resources to buy other equipment that gives pluses. During the adventure (p.73 Shopping During the Mystery), they can also buy equipment. At the end of the adventure, the PCs would keep their starting equipment + 1 item (from any equipment that wasn't used up). If the PCs had upgraded their castle, they can keep more equipment based on the upgrade specifics (p.89 Armory, p.90 Weapons Corridor, p.91 Cellar Vault). As a GM, I'd let them permanently replace starting equipment with something they would rather carry instead. The replaced items are lost.
I'm tempted to explain the missing items as either being borrowed by other Society members, ghostly thievery, or just being used up between adventures. You can turn the quest for the missing items into an adventure.
Q (C): How do you play The Sight in your games? While I love the idea and its potential for generating exciting play, I'm confused about how to make it work in game.
If I understand it right, The Sight allows the PCs to 'see' Vaesen others can't see - as the book says, 'you have the ability to see vaesen – even when they are trying to remain invisible.' But reading the excellent descriptions of each vaesen in the book, there are very few that seem invisible by default. So what difference does The Sight actually make?
A (MH): I assume they're all invisible or have a glamour that makes them look like normal people or normal things (trees, rocks, a bird, a cat, a deer, etc.). Only people with The Sight can see their real form (even when invisible) or when the creature wants to be seen. Some people might catch a glimpse of their real form from the corner of their eye or during trauma or in dreams. Those are my thoughts on this.
Most if not all Vaesen have Enchantment which includes invisibility (Distort Vision, p.118 core book).
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