# RPG a Day 2026 - 27: Hunger tags: #thoughts #thoughts/RPGaDay/2026 ![[RPG a Day 2026 (illo).jpg]] ![[Elegy 4e Beta (v3) (cover).jpg]] I'd bet, given the prompt, you expected me to be working on an article about desire, about the need for characters to *need* something. I, on the other hand, have looked at what I've been posting this month and realized I've covered that on more than one occasion. So we're not doing that. Instead, what we're doing is leaning into another aspect of hunger—vampirism. That's right. You get a character today. Not because I'm lazy, but because I need to test another game system/character creation architecture I've been working on. Today it's **[[Elegy]]**, because what else am I going to create a vampire in? ## Edwin Aspenberg > [!note] Edwin Aspenberg, the Fallow Scholar > A pale Jewish man of middling height, a scholar's stoop, and little round glasses he no longer truly needs. An air of constant study — everything around him observed, categorized, filed away. He still goes by his mortal name, gamely keeping up the pretense that he's still alive. > > - **Health** ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ (5/5) > - **Clarity** ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ (5/5) > - **Blood** ⬛⬛⬛⬛ (4/4) > - **Rush** ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ (**+2**) | **Body** | **Mind** | **Charm** | **Soul** | | -------- | -------- | --------- | -------- | | +1 | +3 | +2 | +2 | ### Connections - **Aaron Grimm — Rank 4 (Elder Vampire).** Born in Heidelberg; a philologist of the old school. Edwin once worked for him; he turned Edwin to secure his legacy, wanting an inheritor of his place in vampiric society. - **Julia Robertson — Rank 1 (Common Mortal).** Edwin's ex-girlfriend, 28. She knows that Edwin has been turned and hasn't quite decided how she feels about it, though she's leaning toward "disquieted" and probably moving into "actively horrified". ### Aspects #### Expertises & Edges > [!abstract] Academics > *EXPERTISE* 🧛 > > *Skills in academia and research, and scholarly knowledge* > > - [x] When you roll by relying on your academic research skills or knowledge, add +1. > - *+1 to rely on academic research skills or knowledge* > - [ ] Choose a field of study to represent your scholarly expertise. When you Gather Information by conducting extended research within your field of study, or when you Respite through the comfort of dedicated learning, add +1. On a match, you piece together an enlightening or harrowing theory; envision the nature of this revelation and gain 1 XP. > - *+1 to research {your field} or Respite through study. Match: +1 XP* > - [ ] Requires the previous ability. When you Secure an Advantage through cursory observation of a situation that falls within your field of study, or when you Compel using your expertise to speak truth or logic, add +1. > - *+1 to SaA or Compel within field* > - [ ] Requires the first ability (not starting). When you pick up a loose end related to your field of study, gain +3 Rush. When you tie it, gain +3 Rush. > - *+3 Rush when you pick or tie loose ends in your field* > [!abstract] Investigation > *EXPERTISE* 🧛 > > *Skills in finding clues, solving puzzles, and analyzing evidence* > > - [x] When you interrogate someone or investigate, analyze or look for clues to solve a puzzle or mystery, add +1. > - *+1 to analyze/look for evidence or interrogate people about a puzzle or mystery* > - [ ] When you roll to avoid detection as you surveil a person or place, add +1. > - *+1 to surveil without being detected* > - [ ] When you Gather Information about an unsolved matter by looking for clues or interrogating persons of interest, suspects, and witnesses, you may reroll your action die if it scores lower than your Clarity. > - *GI by looking for clues or interrogating: reroll action die if below Clarity* > - [ ] When you Gather Information by interrogating someone and get a Failure or Flat Success, you may press them for more: reroll any dice, but treat a Flat Success as a Failure. On a Failure, they revolt and shut you out: envision the consequences of this as you pay the price. > - *GI by interrogating: press for more; reroll any, but Flat counts as Failure* > [!abstract] Wealth > *EDGE* 🧛 > > *You have a lot of disposable money.* > > - [x] Once per night, when you roll relying on a possession or service, you may envision it as a high-end version. If you do, preset your action die to 6. > - *1/night, envision a possession or service as high-end: preset action die to 6* > - [ ] When you negotiate with someone by relying on money, reroll one challenge die. If you attempt to bribe them, reroll any, but treat a Flat Success as a Failure. > - *Negotiating with money: reroll one challenge die; bribing: reroll any, Flat counts as Failure* > - [ ] Once per scene, when you rely on a service, you may overtip the provider. For the rest of the scene, when you interact with them, add +1. > - *1/scene, overtip: +1 with that provider for the scene* > - [ ] When you interact in sumptuous, luxurious, rich or VIP places, add +1. > - *+1 to interact in luxurious or VIP places* #### Gifts > [!abstract] Vision > *GIFT* 🧛 > > *Powers of superhuman intuition and perception* > > - [x] Your basic perception is enhanced. When you roll to look for something or rely on your senses, you may reroll your action die. On any Success, envision what hidden pattern, meaning, or logic you catch at the last moment that leads you to your answer. > - *Reroll action die when looking for something or relying on senses.* > - [ ] You can Gather Information from an object's past when you touch it and focus on its impressions. When you do it, decide what you want to learn (who used it last, who created it, who put it here, etc.), then roll. Brief moments from the object's history will flash within your mind, and answer your question. > - *GI while holding object: flashes of its past answer one answer about it* > - [ ] You can Secure an Advantage by staring at someone and focusing on their psychic vibrations. When you do, envision what you want to learn about them. Their aura becomes visible as a faint light emanating from their body, intuitively telling you something about their inclinations, emotional state, personality, or the like. > - *SaA while staring at someone: aura reveals something about them* > - [ ] When you roll with Mind and your action die scores a 6, you may envision gaining an intuition about your current situation. Ask the Oracle for a theme. When you later encounter a situation that illustrates, represents, or realizes that intuition, gain +2 Rush and add +1 to your next roll. > - *6 on action die when you roll with Mind: gain intuition related to random theme. In next related situation, +2 Rush and +1 on next roll.* > [!abstract] Haunt > *GIFT* 🧛 > > *Powers that instill fear, terror, and despair* > > - [x] You can Secure an Advantage with Mind by inducing a sudden shock response on someone within eyesight. The victim will either flee or freeze (your choice) for a couple of minutes or so. > - *SaA (Mind): shock a victim into fleeing or freezing for a few minutes* > - [ ] You can Secure an Advantage with Mind by inducing horrifying hallucinations that trick all senses of a victim and last for about ten seconds. When you do it, envision in what extreme way your victim reacts. > - *SaA (Mind): ten-second hallucination tricks all their senses* > - [ ] Requires the previous ability. You can instill a distressing delusion in someone for the night. To do it, speak it to your target and Flow Your Blood with Mind. They will believe it and react accordingly for the rest of the night. When you act by exploiting your target's paranoia, preset one challenge die to their rank. > - *FyB (Mind): cause night-long delusion; when exploiting, preset one challenge die to their Rank.* > - [ ] Requires the previous ability. You can cause a mortal such terror that it physically incapacitates them. To do so, stare at your target and Flow Your Blood with Mind. Your victim enters a state of shock until sunrise, unable to move or speak. On any match, they develop a permanent physical sign of the trauma (a stutter, a phobia, recurrent nightmares, a mental disorder, etc.). On a Failure with a match, they perish. > - *FyB (Mind): paralyze a mortal until sunrise; match: permanent trauma, death on Failure.* > [!abstract] Decay > *GIFT* 🧛 > > *Powers of putrefaction and death-like decay* > > - [x] You can break down, rot, and putrefy unliving organic matter, such as corpses or wood. To do it, touch your target and Flow Your Blood with Body. Your target can be no bigger than one and a half times your size. If it is bigger than half your size, lose 1 Blood before rolling; corpses are exempt from this cost. > - *Touch and FyB (Body) to rot unliving organic matter; large targets cost -1 Blood* > - [ ] You can shrivel the flesh of a limb or body part. To do it, touch a mortal on the area you want to affect and Flow Your Blood with Body. The muscles atrophy, rendering it useless for the scene: when you act against them by exploiting their disadvantage, add +1. > - *Touch limb and FyB (Body) to shrivel for the scene; +1 exploiting it* > - [ ] You can induce a temporary state of corpse-like stillness on a mortal. To do it, touch a mortal and Flow Your Blood with Body. They'll freeze in place, and any inspection of their body will conclude they're dead. The effect lasts for the scene or until you deactivate it. > - *Touch and FyB (Body) to freeze mortal in corpse-like stillness for the scene* > - [ ] You can absorb life force with your powers. When you use a power from this Gift and get any Success, you may lose 1 Rush to absorb your victim's life force. If you do, Regenerate (instead of rolling, assume the same result from the roll you made to use the power). > - *On power Success, lose 1 Rush to Regenerate with the same result* ## The City ### Basics - **Name:** Atlanta - **Founded in:** 1837, as the railroad terminus "Terminus" (incorporated 1847) - **Economy:** Logistics and the airport; film and TV production; corporate HQs; tech and fintech; the academic-and-medical corridor. - **Climate:** Humid subtropical. - **Language(s):** English (and, in practice, a great many more). - **Highlights:** Jobs and the logistics hub; the film and music economies; the universities and hospitals. - **Ugly side:** Sprawl and the traffic; gentrification; stark inequality. ### Factions > [!info] The Curia of the Fallow > Edwin's faction. Scholar-destabilizers who study laws, processes, and intellectual systems not to preserve them but to break them down — trusting that in the fallow void something better takes root. > > - [x] **Rupture** — provoking ruptures in cognitive or moral assumptions > - [x] **Power** — accumulation and control of financial resources > - [x] **Intellectuality** — understanding the world through study and research ### Districts > [!info] Home District — Georgia State > The Curia's home ground, and the district where Edwin sleeps and works. The institutional campus corridor in downtown Atlanta, within reach of the capitol and the courts. > > - **Name:** Georgia State > - **Dominating Faction:** The Curia of the Fallow > - **Type:** Institutional > - **Key Place:** *The Cæsura* — the incredibly pretentious coffee house (named for the break in a line of verse) where Edwin feeds. ## Exeunt I'd say that worked out pretty well, and I really like how that came together. A recently turned linguist working near Georgia State who's made his money, possibly in some shady antiquities, turned by an elder vampire as part of an organization that wants to destroy the world in order for it to be remade. How can you not love that? Maybe we'll actually get around to doing a Let's Play with this character. Who knows what the future may bring? I, for one, know that it brings a quiet night and the lingering threat that the Cæsura is an actual coffee house downtown. I'm not saying it is, and I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just saying that if you go to Little Five and stick your head into a coffee shop, there might be a stooped Jewish man sitting in the corner with an old book and an intense look on his face. Sleep well, children.