[DL] The Pale

["Eric Young" <ecyoung@attbi.com>]

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| > | Stop
| > | Play fair
| > | Only look if you are a Marshal
| > | In case you didn't gather, this is a SPOILER!
| > | Look away if you are a Posse Member
| > | Escape now while there is still a chance
| > | Ruining the game for yourself is no fun at all
| > | So many thanks for heeding my warnings
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| > | SPOILER SPACE
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[mostly copied from Dark Conspiracy with some slight changes added by me,
not sure who owns the copyright on this at the moment since GDW has gone out
of business (a truly sad day that was, before PEG came along GDW made most
of my favorite games), and I'm not sure if anyone else has bought the
copyrights to their Dark Conspiracy line.]



    The Pale are tall and gaunt, with relatively short torsos and long,
spindly limbs. They average 6-7 feet in height and weigh about 150 lbs.
Their skin is incredibly pallid, and their hair (which grows thickly on the
head, neck, and shoulders, like a lion's mane) is pure white. Their eyes are
pink, like an albino's. To disguise their inhumanly long limbs and short
torsos, the Pale tend to dress in billowy clothes and wear flowing cloaks.
They prefer black because it makes them less visible at night.
    Despite their relatively human appearance, the Pale do not feed like
humans. Instead they leech body heat from warm-blooded creatures, preferably
humans, leaving their victims as cold corpses. They can drain a body down to
just short of the freezing point. To do this they must create a mental link
with the victim, while physically in contact, skin-to-skin. In order to
establish the link a Pale must concentrate for a few minutes, which means
that it can not do so during combat. But it could wrestle a victim to
immobility, then simply hold the victim while the link is established.
Without this link they can not absorb heat effectively, which is why
nonliving heat sources will not sustain them. [I'm sure that whoever thought
this up must have known one of my ex-girlfriends... I'm sure you guys out
there know what I'm talking about... :)]
    The Pale are nocturnal hunters, shunning the bright light of day. The
sun will severely burn their sensitive eyes and pale skin. [That part sounds
like me...] When prey is scarce or human resistance is strong, they can
enter a hibernative trance to wait for better times. They can only leave the
trance by absorbing more heat, which means that a victim must be within the
immediate vicinity.
    The amount of heat that can be leeched from different victims varies
considerably. For victims that are drained completely (i.e. killed), each
pound of body weight translates into 20 minutes of activity for a Pale. The
heat from an average adult human who weighs 150 lbs could sustain a Pale for
a little over two days (50 hours to be exact).
    Some of the oldest and wiliest of the Pale are able to stop feeding from
their victims short of causing death, saving them to feed upon again and
again. The average human can survive down to a body temperature of 77
degrees, but will become comatose and require special care to be rewarmed.
Humans can remain coherent and able to care for themselves with a body
temperature down to almost 90 degrees. Bellow this they quickly become
delirious and eventually incapable of any activity at all.


I'll post some stats later on tonight some time...


I hope you all torment your players with this.


Eric Young