Edgewalkers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Edgewalkers is a pen and paper RPG by Jackal Pack Games that runs on it's own system that involves 3 d10 dice. It's a typical Urban Fantasy/ Masquerade type deal revolving around the politics and interactions between criminal groups of monsters living on "The Edge" (Which is basically the parts of the city/ town/ world which monsters inhabit). A very good example of Our Monsters Are Different.

Each species is divided into three "classes" (Typically the species proper and then two "Supspecies"). The players each pick one and play as that. They get to choose between:

  • Ghouls, Purple skinned, "Naturally suspicious bastards" who keep The Masquerade from getting broken. Vulnerable to fire but they make up for it by having lots of connections and being very smart. Their subspecies are Mummies who are immortal Ghouls held together with faith and bandages and Jekyll and Hydes which are Ghouls able to attain human form along with a Literal Split Personality.
  • Werewolves, Werewolves stay away from most of the Edge but will occasionally do favours for the Ghoul families. Werewolves in Edgewalkers can change between human and Wolf form at will but by spending too much time in one form they can suffer Mode Lock and become a Civilised with a bad mix of Super Strength and Hair-Trigger Temper or a Feral who's still calm and controlled but prefers to use their cunning instead of intelligence.
  • Vampires, In Edgewalkers Vampirism is a virus that gives you a thirst for blood, Super Senses and Super Speed (Well specifically it gives you "Zero Friction" which lets you choose between Super Speed or Playing with Fire). The Vampire subspecies are Banshees who've contracted a stable strain of the virus that gives them hollow bones, powerful lungs and no qualms with killing people and Denials who have all the powers of "A storybook vampire" because their latent faith magic has gone a little haywire.
  • Humans, Unlike the last three humans don't have a "Pureblood" species then two subspecies. Instead they are divided into the three types of people who know about The Edge. The Badass Normal Scholars, Believers who can use their faith in ... whatever to kill you and Summoners who are usually weak but have monsters to do the work for them.
  • Tejcoto, Are an original creation, the Tejcoto were an ancient South American culture with very powerful faith magic. Unfortunately their culture was annihilated by their own power. And now they've started to come back into "The New World" through places where reality has been weakened. Like humans the Tejcoto are basically three different subspecies. The spindly, monkey-like Scouts come into the world through places where belief has worn the fabric of reality thin. Shifters possess someone who's mind has been shattered and broken, as the name suggests they're shape changers. The last and most monstrous are Stalkers who take control of a Summoners monster.
  • Crossbreeds, In Edgewalkers there are four Heinz Hybrid's of the three main monsters (Werewolves, Vampires and Ghouls). A Ghoul who contracts vampirism will become a Nosferatu, who's completely and totally insane but can control rats, pigeons and vermin to do their bidding. A werewolf who contracts Vampirism becomes a Sasquatch who slowly transforms into a vampire until they drink blood. A Ghoul who develops lycanthropy becomes a brooding Sasquatch and if they're unfortunate to contract vampirism then they become the psychotic, power hungry and ultimately unplayable Wendigo.
Tropes used in Edgewalkers include:
  • Applied Phlebotinum, Faith Magic, a mixture of Religion Is Magic and Your Mind Makes It Real. In The Edgewalkers world belief is pretty damn powerful.
  • Badass Preacher, Believers tend to be this.
  • Five Races, There are five main races (Human, Ghoul, Werewolf, Vampire and Tejcoto) but they don't typically fit into any of the categories. At best Ghouls are High Men, Tejcoto are The Fair Folk, Humans are Mundane, Werewolves are Stout and Vampires are Cute ... or maybe Sexy might be a better fit.
  • Hybrid Overkill Avoidance, Played with. While it is possible to mix Vampire, Werewolf and Ghoul up it's impossible to do it through sex since Vampires are infertile and Ghouls aren't biologically close enough to the other species to copulate.
  • Our Monsters Are Different, they live and mingle alongside human society.
    • Our Banshees Are Louder, They're vampires who've contracted a stable form of vampirism.
    • Our Ghouls Are Creepier, A really unusual version. Ghouls are a wholly separate species to humans but very similar.
    • Our Vampires Are Different, They're the typical urban fantasy type unless they grow up isolated in which case they get all the superpowers and abilities of a storybook vampire. They're helped out by a group called the Franchise.
    • Our Werebeasts Are Different, Lycanthropy mostly shows up in humans but sometimes shows up in Ghouls which makes them into giant purple Sasquatch's.
    • Our Monsters Are Weird, Stalkers and Summon creatures can be made up of nearly any combination of abilities, and have their own exclusive traits as well meaning you can summon a pair of flaming dinosaurs with super speed.