Role-playing Rants: Bring out your inner beast!

Those pesky Beastmen, they're so adorable, aren't they? Funny goat-men who sometimes try to ruin the adventurer's day by jumping out of the forest, screaming "oogah boogah boogah!"

At least that is how they're usually portrayed: as a bunch of inbred dumbasses, who are only threatening to level 1 characters, and only on a very bad day. It doesn't matter if we are talking about official or fan-made publications - the Beastmen always get the shaft.

What if I'd told you that it is possible to make them a formidable, scary and unique threat to your players? Is it even possible?

Yes, yes it is. For that we'll have to reach out to our boy, H.P. Lovecraft himself and steal a bit of his ideas and, more importantly, the atmosphere of primeval horror, which he was able to include in his works with unparalleled skill.

You see, the Beastmen are not men with hooves. They're not men with animal heads, wearing shit-stained loincloths and brandishing flint-bladed spears. They're not stupid drunks who only like to shag and smear feces over the altars of civilized races.

They're so much more than that

They're the primal force of the world. They're the true children of the gods. They are the cry of dark and forgotten places, where no man, elf or dwarf has ever ventured.

The Beastmen are the last remnants of a world, from before the advent of civilization. When the nature was untouched by the hands of "smoothskins" and the wild places were untamed and majestic in their raw, unblemished splendor.

The weak and deviant Asrai would probably disagree, but they know nothing about true nature. Theirs is but a single forest, while the Beastkin own all of them. Wild lands, dark expanses of endless trees and fog-shrouded mires and meadows - these are the domains of a race, which lives closest to the four great gods of the north. One, whose shamans are able to walk the realms behind the veil and converse with powers that dwell there. They don't use humanity's names for them, for they are crude and simple.

The Beastmen know the truth about the nature of the Four much better than other, more "enlightened" races ever will. Because they have their blessings, thundering through their veins and hear their song in every corner of the globe. They see their influence all around them, not just in some dusty basement, filled with robed cultists, clumsily chanting gibberish from some old, poorly-written tome. Fools, they don't even know half of the truths to which the Beastkin are privy. Their weak, soft minds would bend and break, if they'd ever to discover them. For they were never meant for them but only for the true children of the gods.

Beastmen don't need books to know the wishes and thoughts of their gods. The world all around them is ripe with the signs of their will, their intent towards mortal races and their fate. Beastkin know where to look for them, even if the other "faithful" do not.

Deep in the ancient forests and dark groves, beneath the shadows of endless mountains, the true children of the gods show their devotion to their deities, by constructing altars to their greatness and eternal will. Chthonic obelisks and otherworldly idols can be found in those places, although woe betide those who discover them amongst the dark and gnarled trees. For their makers will snatch such a individual and make him see the truth, which lurks behind the veil, just before they'll end his existence.

"I now walk in the shadows between worlds...and it is there I have finally glimpsed upon what lives in the dark corners of the Earth..."

Or perhaps not? Perhaps they will allow him to live, so that he may see the truth of existence and the real power, flowing through the dark corners of the world. In time he too might change into a being, whose form is more pleasing to the eternal gods of the void. Another soul enlightened. Another lost sheep brought back into the fold.

The Norsii may speak about "waking up" after dying, in a land of the gods, but the Beastmen know that true enlightenment can be attained during one's life. After all, they do accept abandoned children, left on the edges of the forests by their terrified parents, scared out of their wits by the deformities, present on their progeny's flesh. Deformities, stigmata? They are blessings, not curses. Clear signs of the Four's favor, here to be cherished and nurtured, not "cleansed" with fire and silver. If only more "smoothskins" would understood that obvious truth, the world would be a better, purer place, existing in accordance to the wishes of the true gods.

The Beastmen are honorable, not only to those who are marked by the ancient powers, but also to those who prove themselves worthy. There is a tale of a human youngster, getting lost in the forest and stumbling upon a herdstone, guarded by a Minotaur. The guardian of this forgotten place let him leave, showing the child one of the ancient routes, leading back to civilization. He told the human to return, once he'll get older, when he will be a worthier adversary... and a more tasteful meal.

Don't think about the Beastmen as mindless brutes, who are only fit to rut, drink and kill. If you want to spice up your games, make them more interesting, use them as guardians of the last, few wild and untamed places. They are the primal force of nature, eternally raging against the encroachment of civilization, not a bunch of inbred goatpeople who like killing.

Though to be fair, they're very good at it, as well!

This post was inspired by a fantastic thread on the Strike to Stun forums, which I fully recommend. Join the community and leave your thoughts on this and many other, WFRP-related subjects. The 4th edition will premiere soon, so now is the best time to do so.

Until next time!

Xathrodox86