Seeing as how Geist is on sale this week, I thought this would be an opportune time to announce the era (as in, Dark Eras) that we chose for Geist: The Sin-Eaters:
God’s Own Country frames the experience of playing Sin-Eaters in New Zealand of the 1950s, a time of post-war prosperity and growth, concealing a maelstrom of spiritual and supernatural unrest beneath. For almost two hundred years, the rich sacred traditions of the indigenous M?ori people have been forcibly integrated with European beliefs and cultures. As a result, the cycle of life and death has been disrupted; the cenotes and gates to the Underworld are choked with restless dead, angry ancestors, and belligerent spirits; the Gauntlet is weak, and powerful nature spirits that feed on this unrest and conflict are growing in strength. This Dark Era brings its own Themes and Moods to complement or build on those of the core Geist: The Sin-Eaters.
God’s Own Country is written by Cam Banks (whom you might know from games like Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Smallville, and Serenity, though this is his first foray into writing for the World of Darkness), and developed by Michelle Lyons-McFarland (whom you might know as editing a surreal amount of our World of Darkness stuff over the last few years, writing and editing for everyone from WotC to FASA to Green Ronin to Growling Door Games, and as the mad genius behind the temporal-rift craziness in the Seattle Appendix of Demon: The Descent).
(Astute reader might note two facts: One, that Michelle is my wife, and that biases me, and two, Growling Door Games is our company, and obviously she’s written for her own company. These facts are true, but ultimately they have nothing to do with ghosts or geists, so move along.)
So: Go buy Geist, so you can fully appreciate Dark Eras.
Fuck. The. Hell. Yes.
That is all. 😉
New. Zealand? Not the most evocative possible setting for a ghost story… oh well. Then again, I don’t live there so perhaps the atmosphere of the place is lost on me, but still, New Zealand? As in where they shot the Shire scenes from LofR? Will there be ghost sheep? I suppose there is that Lake Mungo film for a little bit of similar inspiration.
*Points at the Dead Men Army.*
Did… did the reference to Maori people go unnoticed?
They shot the shire scenes… and every other scene in Lord of the Rings. And the Hobbit. So, yes, the shire… and Mordor, Isengard, the Necromancers hideout in the Hobbit movies… While I wouldn’t see NZ as a particularly spooky country in and of itself, there are certainly parts that could be…
Oh man I am so excited for a new Geist book. I cannot wait to get my hinds on this thing. Geist has been my favorite of the nWoD stuff since it dropped and I am so glad it is getting some love.
It might not seem evocative at first glance, but JSR did a PDF of the “Maori” pantheon and they do actually have a pretty evocative underworld despite low cultural visibility otherwise. Also, Hitchhiking Ghosts.
Man, was not expecting that at all. That’s pretty cool.
very cool! 😀 looking forward to it!
any chance for some GMC conversion guidelines as well? 🙂
I love the ‘obscure’ non-obvious setting. A great chance to introduce us (or me at least) to the stories and mysteries and supernatural of somewhere never heard of before. A chance for something unique and new rather than a rehash of well explored tropes from cultures I am familiar with.
As an Australian waiting to hear anything set in Australia, I am really pleased our cousins across the Tasman got an awesome setting.
Even to us, nothing of note happens in New Zealand. There’s an earthquake every now and again, a coal mine collapsed a little while ago… But other than that, it’s our token holiday destination. But it’s fully of this rich Maori culture and beautiful scenery. I’d love to read what you guys have for Geist now!
I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Sam Neill once upon a time. As a Kiwi he told me that there’s only two kinds of story people in New Zealand tell; about trying to escape from New Zealand or about being trapped and going mad in New Zealand.
Therefore I’m greatly anticipating this section of Dark Eras 😀
A setting that involves the Maori is pretty interesting since it can be somewhat related to the rest of Polynesia which doesn’t get a lot of coverage in The World of Darkness.
Congrats to Cam! This sounds like a great project!
I, too, would be interested in seeing an update for GMC. Our Storyteller put a Geist game on hold once GMC was released because she felt too much changed.
This is good. For those of us that are craving more Geist but are still having trouble setting up a story that has real depth this sounds like it will work nicely!
Score. Good to see a setting used other than the US or the UK. Those are fine settings, but there is more to the world than those two areas.
Also, Geist, which is my favourite game line anyway 🙂
This isn’t the GMC installment for Geist, is it? It would be EXTRA cool if it were…
I’m totally available for game mechanics restructuring… by the way… FYI… just saying. <..>
I had a look at that biographical link, originally just to check if the writer was a native Kiwi. He has a very impressive RPG resume. I don’t know much about New Zealand, apart from Captain Cook and Footrot Flats, but I can already see it as a good ghost story setting. Sounds like the Dark Eras entry will also have considerable crossover potential with Wereworlf and Thyrsus mages. Matthew Dawkins’ comment makes me think of Changeling crossover too. Sounds like it should be a good chapter.
This is going to be a big enough book as it is — at least ten different Dark Era chapters — so we’re unlikely to cram any GMC updates into it.
Ok, thanks for letting us know!
Note, I would pay for a book that just updated the remaining game lines. 🙂
Leaving major overhauls for the chronicle books, which I would still buy. 🙂
Nine different Eras.
(So far.)
Wonder if there will be stats for a Sumatran Rat Monkey.
As a huge anthropology nerd, I’m excited to see what you explore in this setting. Polynesian spiritual forms usually take a bit of finessing to convey to those of us without the cultural foundations, but that dissonance itself is a great play on the theme of synergy.
Fantastic! This could be the first time New Zealand has ever been mentioned in both nWoD *and* cWoD! Excellent.