Playing a Deep One Hybrid?

[siloqui]

Hi everyone,

We are getting further in our planning for our next campaign and one of the players asked if it were okay to play investigators who are hybrids. I honestly didn't have much of an issue with it because it wouldn't really be taking anything away from the other players. And it does seem like an interesting turn to take. We've got a pretty diverse group of players and characters, at least three played are minorities (out of six), and at least three are female. One of them is homosexual. All are from different socio economic backgrounds, but they have enough in common that it would be likely they would work together in these situations...

But I was wondering, would that translate well in your opinion? How would a character like that be in the same group as the others, considering we're doing a Classic Era campaign (we're probably gonna stick with one of the Before the Fall scenarios, as its an easy campaign for our newer players to start out with, and they've expressed high interest in it because most of them have played the video game Dark Corners of the Earth).

Before someone answers:

Yea he knows what Deep One hybrids are, and all about the whole "taint" situation. He thinks it'll be interesting to play, especially further into the games.

No, he hasn't figured out the proper motivation for the character yet, but he has a decent idea for a background.

Thanks!

[HomoLupusDomesticus]

It could be fun to have him play a hybrid who isn't aware that he's tainted yet. Or perhaps a hybrid aware of his taint, but trying to keep it hidden from his friends, which should prove increasingly more difficult with each additional subtle change in his appearance taking place. It would make for a rather paranoid and mirror-obsessed character.

[Paddon]

Or perhaps he knows he has the taint, it's evident, and people just don't care.

Seriously, the only problem with the Innsmouth Taint is when you're actually in Innsmouth, and the ones with the Taint are under the control of the Order of Dagon.

Unless you're having the Investigators going against the minions of Cthulhu/Dagon/Hydra, then they might start mentally FUBARing the one with the Taint trying to turn him against the rest of the party.

I only have two questions:
Firstly, how far along in the Taint does he want to play?
Secondly, is he willing to use the "I-sound-like-I-have-water-in-my-mouth-while-I-talk" accent all the time?

[ProfSpender]

Well, the protagonist of Shadow over Innsmouth is a hybrid, so it was okay for HPL.

In one monster entry ("deep ones" or "deep one hybrid") there is a formula for the age of the change (D20+20, IIRC), implying that playing a hybrid is thought possibly in the rules.

I had one player play a deep one hybrid during an Innsmouth campaign. It did work reasonably well, apart from the inevitable betrayal. I think, however, it is more fun if the hybrid doesn't know about the taint, discovers it in game and has to decide which side to support - his friends or his family.

[kelvingreen]

I would imagine that the average investigator is killed or made insane long before something like the Deep One genes would come to the surface, so I'd allow it.

[IQ]

I would allow it, it's a great plot hook. I've done it myself (well, my brother has), and it worked well.

[cpt_machine]

While the idea is fun I wouldnt allow it, however if I did I would have the player plagued by dreams of underwater depths, perhaps of tall impossible underwater cities and of looming presences with shadowy tentacles coming out of the dark outline.

This would get worse the closer the player got the sea but also the further from the sea the player became the more leathrgic he would become sleeping for hours into the day and eventually falling into a deep coma.

Add ontop of this the physical changes which again get worse the closer the player is the sea.

Finally discovering these changes and the dreams will slowly chip away at sanity and when SAN hits zero the player character is lost, he scrubs to the Call of Cthulhu and joins Dagon and Hydra in the ocean.

Yes its pretty doom and gloom but that is what I would do if I was ever to allow a hybrid PC.

[rylehNC]

I would tell the player straight out that at some point the other investigators will try to kill the hybrid, and then offer opportunities in which this might occur.

[siloqui]

Thanks for the replies and advice everyone!

He seems quite intent on playing it, especially with the potential outcomes. In fact, I think that's made him more interested in doing it. He pretty much is working on setting the investigator up, and plans that he'd be at least relatively normal to the point where either he doesn't exactly know about whats in store for him, or he does know and has to deal with that fact while working with the others. Of course he finds the idea of an internal battle between supporting or betraying his 'friends' quite interesting.

[Thaluggma]

How long does it take to become a Deep One? I would think that someone with the taint would suffer dreams and would have a constantly lowering SAN. I like the idea. I think the player could have a lot of fun hiding his PC's deformaties from the others.

[zackspacks]

As long as the player understands what a hybrid is, then this is superb, as a GM I would go for it. Personally I wouldn't penalise the player at all, after all he could have either good, evil or ambivalent intentions. Wolverine of the X-Men is one such character, Selene in Underworld is another. It could lead to the character being privy to secret titbits of information, and the rest of the party not knowing whether to trust them or not.

Go for it !

[moonbeast]

It could lead to the character being privy to secret titbits of information, and the rest of the party not knowing whether to trust them or not.

There is no reason why "the rest of the party" needs to be told about the hybrid character's legacy. Remember that most Innsmouth hybrids do not necessarily sport gils or other fish-man appearances until later in life.

In fact, such a secret should be kept secret (known only by the Keeper and the Player in question) for as long as possible.

[moonbeast]

How long does it take to become a Deep One?

According to an in-depth article by Chaosium (I forgot which source, but it was probably one of the Keepers Companions), the severe physical manifestation of the taint does not surface until later in adult life. Thus, it is very possible for a hybrid to live much of his adult life being passable for "an ordinary human" albeit a semi-ugly individual.

Just because someone has the "Innsmouth Look" --- those beady eyes can easily be explained by other diseases and medical conditions (e.g. hyperthyroidism is not uncommon). Flaky semi-scaly skin? Millions of Americans have skin diseases, dermatological problems, dry skin, fungal problems, overactive sebaceous glands leading to foul body odor, etc.

[zackspacks]

It could lead to the character being privy to secret titbits of information, and the rest of the party not knowing whether to trust them or not.

There is no reason why "the rest of the party" needs to be told about the hybrid character's legacy. Remember that most Innsmouth hybrids do not necessarily sport gils or other fish-man appearances until later in life.

In fact, such a secret should be kept secret (known only by the Keeper and the Player in question) for as long as possible.

I also like this idea of yours. TBH I may have misinterpreted Siloqui's original post, as I thought that this had been raised in front of all of the other players OOC. Siloqui's post doesn't actually say one way or another, so I have probably misinterpreted this. I don't think it matters either way TBH, I think both ways present unique opportunities, especially in the way of scenario threads being directed through this unique character.

[Gaffer]

It's difficult to imagine how the typical group of investigators meeting as random strangers would know that one of their number is a partly non-human hybrid fellow who will eventially evolve into a monstrous amphibian. So the other players, if they already know of his taint, will need to suspend that knowledge in character.

The hybrid player probably should only have some vague intuition that he isn't normal and maybe a garbled understanding from overheard family conversations and a couple of cryptic letters/diary entries or the rambling warning of his senile granny. If he saw written references, I'd be inclined to create them, let him read them once, then take them away -- he stumbled upon them in his father's papers, but never could find them again after his father disappeared.

Actually, from a Keeper's viewpoint, I'd let the player believe his character is a hybrid, but really he isn't. That could be fun.