I have never run a FATE game before, though I have run a lot of RPGS. Here is the basic plot for the game, but I could REALLY use some help figuring out how the villain works in DFRPG mechanics. This is for a one-shot game with some friends just to try out the mechanics, etc. My friend Keith came up with the basic plot with my input over coffee...
Our Villian: Ray Ring (Though he prefers his somewhat odd given name of 'Ado' almost everyone who knows him calls him Ray, or A-Ray if they are trying to annoy him) is a frustrated paint & drawing major at the University of Georgia. Spurned by potential lovers, harshly criticized by faculty and regularly 'overlooked' by the art community, he is pushed into act of black magic in revenge for these supposed slights. Alas, the truth is, Ado just isn't very good. But don't tell him that, particularly if you happen to own one of his deadly works of art.
His first victim is local philanthropist and art patron C. Gilbert Gordon-Head. Gordon-Head is (or was) a regular fixture at senior exit shows, the Georgia Museum of Art, and various openings in Athens and Atlanta. His patronage has been instrumental in launching the careers of more than a few local artists who went on to prominence and success. Ten days ago, he was found dead in his Five-Points home, where he lived alone with his numerous cats. He had dark bruises on his neck and throat, and an autopsy report indicated that he had been strangled. There was no sign of forced entry, and indeed the doors to the house were still locked when his body was discovered by his housekeeper Hazel Garrett. The case is actively being worked by Athens-Clarke County police but they have no leads and, at tens days old, few prospects.
The Connection: Six weeks earlier, Gordon-Head purchased one of Ring's paintings that hung in his senior exit show. Ring was, of course, initially ecstatic, but was quickly deflated when he overheard a faculty member remark that Gordon-Head must surely have purchased it because "It's too bloody awful to be allowed to be seen by unsuspecting members of the public." The painting was quickly deposited in Gordon-Head's attic and forgotten. It is titled "After Pickman" and depicts a ghoulish graveyard scene; prominently featured on a moldering tombstone is a long-fingered, cadaverous man gnawing a suspicious looking bone.
Victim number two is a local server in a popular downtown pizza joint known for its quirky art and funky decor. The victim, Alice Hyatt, is found dead in a pool of her own blood early one morning when the morning shift arrives to start prep work; according to the schedule she'd closed the night before. One co-worker reports that he had left shortly after one AM to deposit the night's receipts and left her to lock up. She has been brutally attacked and has numerous wounds, including several bizarre crescent-shaped contusions on her back and shoulders, and a deep gash in her neck.
The Connection: Alice and Ring had a brief and unsatisfying fling during his junior year. Though it lasted only a few short weeks, it was the most significant romantic entanglement of Ring's life. When Hyatt abruptly spurned his advances, he was crushed and became quite bitter. Currently hanging in the pizza joint is a group show featuring painting by several local art school grads. Among them is one of Ring's works, titled "The Hatchetman Cometh." It is an homage to an easily recognizable fantasy panting depicting a dark figure seated on horseback, wielding a great battle-axe. It is not a large painting, and is hung well in the back of the storefront, almost out of sight.
Victim number three is destined to be UGA Faculty member Jack "Capo" Knolls. Knoll's sobriquet was bestowed upon him years ago by a group of students in reference to his ability to make or destroy students due to his own influence in the department and the art world. Knolls himself is something of a failure as an artist; while technically capable, his work always lacked that certain something to set it apart. He is, nonetheless, a formidable critic with a keen eye and an uncanny knack for spotting talent. Nonetheless, he has always felt that art should stand or fail on its own merits. Feeling himself to have been at least somewhat slighted by his own critics in his days producing art, Knolls took on a project - to prove the claims about his influence false. To do so, he began to champion the work of Ado Ray Ring. The results were slightly mixed - though some did give the hack Ring a second chance, and he managed to hang a few shows as a result, most thought that Knolls had simply lost it. Finally, after six months, he revealed his deception to his closest compatriots and let the matter drop, feeling he'd proved his point. The nickname stuck, however.
Ring found out that Knoll's promotion of his work had been a sham and was unsurprisingly furious. His last remaining solo show, hanging in a local coffee roasting house, includes a ghastly work titled "The She-Devil" which depicts a garishly-clad woman wielding a great scimitar astride a huge hunting cat. Knoll's fondness for coffee is well known, and Ring is ready to be less subtle in his revenge. Unless stopped, he will murder Knoll the next time the professor goes out for his morning cup of joe.
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