So the original idea was to burn up the whole stock, life paths and all. And I got a setting done, more or less, not to mention a general idea of minotaur society. I'd been leaning on the Monster Burner as heavily as the tome deserves and couldn't wait to do some more.
Real life is a bitch. More specifically, work. Some stuff's going on with that and I've got absolutely no extra brain space. I contacted Will and asked him if we could just burn up an example, with the societal stuff I'd come up with. Will, who also has been rather swamped, agreed. Grabbing the Monster Burner we sat down and went after it.
So in the overarching idea of the setting, about 1500 years ago The Flame, source of all goodness for everyone on the planet, was lit. Everyone has some conception of this event, regardless of their opinion of such event. Minotaurs decided that they would find the Flame. And they did. 1500 years of tunneling later, and minotaurs can get pretty much anywhere they want to go and jealously guard those tunnels.
Here's the Traits we agreed upon:
Character Traits
Elf Hater (Minotaurs were were rendered almost sterile by the elves, eons ago. Minotaurs have never forgotten. Or forgiven), Bovine Head, Cloven Feet, Flame-Oriented, Taciturn
Dice Traits
Massive Stature (MW Base 6, all weapons at +1 length), Infallible Underground Sense (can't get lost while underground), Massive Horns (IMS TBD)
Minotaurs have what are called Comesos, cities on the surface where they breed and guard the entrances to their tunnels. Minotaurs are a rather porous society, practically caste-less. They view life as one continuous journey, and that change is a natural part of that journey. That being said, minotaurs are extremely insular... except for one particular comeso, Bando, is known for frequent trade deals with Great Wolves.
Somehow Will's minotaur managed to be the head of a Great Wolf pack, thanks to some obscure agreement that pack had made with Bando, way back. Nobody remembered it or cared until the Lone Keep wiped out all of the Alpha Pack. Somehow, some way, Will's character is the inheritor of a promise made long ago that nobody really took seriously. Except now. And now everyone's pissed off.
As we continued on, we discussed the idea of branding. I posited that Minotaurs, needing very little light to travel, would resort to as many non-audio cues as possible. So I suggested that minotaurs would brand themselves the same way prisoners supposedly tattoo themselves. With one look you get all the relevant information you need about where that minotaur has been, what his skills are, and what others in those circles think of him. I kinda figured that each minotaur lifepath would get you an additional branding, as well as a permanent affiliation with that particular group.
I gotta tell ya, folks, God blessed me with an embarrassment of riches. Cause Will just took it and ran with it. His minotaur had four tattoos, kinda approximating four life paths. Will's PC had been born in Bando, which automatically made him a pariah to the rest of minotaur society. He tried to become a tunneller (empurrador), only to get into a fight and exiled after someone called him "Half-Breed" to his face, which references the common myth that minotaurs from Bando fuck wolves. He was given the trasa (exile) brand, and has been wandering for probably ten years now.
Numbers
Oh, right, you're probably wanting to know what we did with stats and stuff, right? Fair enough. Now I've got a lot of thoughts about the Monster Burner, but the principle one is that it's freaking useful to have after a week at work when your brains have become jelly. So, say what you will about "You can do this yourself", but I've got news: sometimes you really can't. And I think the Monster Burner should be around for that, for everyone, not just me and whoever else got to buy the damn book before it went out of print.
Here's the stats. As per the book, we went through each and every stat and asked, as frankly as we could, what we thought Will's minotaur should have.
Will B3: This one was a bit tough to nail down but Will wanted a weakness of some sort. We certainly weren't going for a 2, and 4 just seemed... excessive... for what Will wanted to do with the character. He wanted someone who would grow into being a leader, not a leader now!
Perception B5: A creature raised to pay attention to silent tunnels just ain't gonna have a B3, folks. I couldn't really justify a B4, either.
Agility B3: The entry literally talks about fat fingers and big hands. Not even a question.
Speed B4: Literally the average. We didn't have an opinion, so the minotaur gets a B4.
Power B6: I wanted a B7, but the rules literally forbid it. Will was fine with it, but c'mon, the entry for B7 is for an ox, and I thought that appropriate. And hilarious.
Forte B6: No way no how was a minotaur going to be less durable than a dwarf, by the tables. Absolutely not. And yeah, that gives the PC a Mortal Wound of a friggin' B12. Gonna be tough as hell to kill, that's for sure.
Oh, and the Minotaur's name? Idiota. I stopped and asked him to confirm it, which he did. The minotaur was named such because even his own folks at Bando didn't like him. They had sent him to the tunnels out of sheer spite... where he'd gotten into a fight and was exile from there. Bando had always told its minotaurs they were the heirs, with no one really defining what they were an heir to.
And then the wolves came.
And then Idiota had some purpose in life.
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