Puppets and Talismans

When a Character is subjected to the bad influence of a Puppet or a Talisman, one has to consider the following parameters:

  • The Power of the artefact, taking the form of a Power Level of a value generally comprised between 1 and 20, sometimes even more in some cases. That Level is the result of the Power and Skill of the object's creator and of the quality of his or her work;
  • Its Effect (including a Radius if necessary and the expected consequences for the victim);
  • The Duration of Effects: in practice, what is important to know in terms of Gaming System is the « number of times » the Game Master has to consider that the Voodoo power acts, that is the number of Rolls to be done; as for the stoy-telling part, it is thus sufficient to determine the periodicity.

Let's take an example to illustrate that:

A Wax Puppet can have been made so as to serve ten times before being worn out, with a Power of 14. As Effect, it causes immediately and for some hours a specified victim having terrible colics. Hair and nail scraping of poor – but always available! – Berthomeu have been used to empower it with a Radius of Effect of five hundred meters. Its user, a sinister Bokor, paid by commisioners who do not want only good to Berthomeu, got down town in a hostel located not too far from the victim's place and he uses the Puppet every morning and evening, hence during a total of five days.

Let's go on with that example to show at once how to usually manage such a situation:

As soon as the Voodoo Puppet acts for the first time, the Game Master secretely rolls in Opposition between the Power of Berthomeu and that of the Puppet, who has got a 10for that Attribute. The result has to be less than 10 x 2 + 10 – 14 = 16. The result being 15, a violent colic suddenly strikes Berthomeu but it will not, fortunately enough, last too long (Normal Success). However, it also means that Berthomeu becomes rapidly aware that something unusual is happening: he has clearly been « cast a spell » and some Voodoo power acts on him… He will thus suffer no Malus for the next Rolls and his Player will be able to roll the dice him or herself. However, he is likely not out of the problems and he should care seriously about the situation… It is maybe just the point in the following of the Scenario, which the Game Master prepared for that time! If he would have missed his first Roll, he would have had to undertake the next Rolls with a Malus of 3 and, moreover, Berthomeu would not have become aware of anything and probably tried to identify which suspicious food he possibly might have eaten in the last days!

Strange Voodoo Things

As for principles, there's nothing new in this section… The main starting point is the Roll in Opposition against pure Power of the victim (as the Reader would now know, by the Attribute multiplied by 2 and adding 10 to the result).

But it is truly through these Strange Voodoo Things that unveils occasionally all the incredible diversity of the expressions of the Power of the Lwa: all the imagination of Mankind could not seriously cover the topic! But nature can from time to time compensate that incapacity…

That being said, there are few natural reasons for the Lwa to elect a victim; they have generally many more serious subjects of concern and they almost exclusively intervene at Man's request, precisely through Rituals, Maledictions or the making of Talismans or more exotic Voodoo artefacts… In the latter case, it is legitimate to adapt and apply what has already been discussed in the previous sections.

The rare cases of natural unusual interventions of the Voodoo are to be found in a few strange locations (where very few visitors ever went, actually) of the Known World, where the Lwa are in fact at home: some deep valleys of Hattea, Zebra Island as soon as its coastal line is visible and according to the direction of the winds, Evil Island as well and also some remote places of Madladscar, particularly « where the baobabs run » and « where live the Lemurs »… In those cases also, the Game Master has to work out, as precisely as he can, the parameters of the « encounter » with the Power of the Lwa in a similar way to what was already discussed in the previsous paragraphs. The most important for the game remains at any rate the story-telling part of it! It goes equally without saying that the « encounters » with the Voodoo in the places where it appears naturally, just like that and with all its power, are extremely dangerous; well, as a general advice, such places should to be avoided, whatever could be the consequences because going there can only be worse!

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