#huntober

I've shown a couple of entries that focus around a Sect well this is a team that revolves around an organization. In the first season it feels like Sanctuary is mostly limited to the one city, but as you go deeper into the world, you realize that the organization has moved to be something far larger than just that one city, even with a board of directors that have substantial power even compared to their founder.

This is also interesting because this is a case where the agency is largely benevolent with a core mission intended to protect and understand the supernatural rather than hunt and contain it.

If the story focused on the residents of Sanctuary, this would be Mundane Monstrosities as a Team Playbook, however, as shown it is probably better noted as the Research Lab or Agents in Black.

The Cast

Dr Helen Magnus

Immortal (as far as we know)

Victorian era scientist

One of "The Five" a collection of scientists that discovered amazing things in the 19th century.

The Five gained their powers by injecting vampire blood. It made her stop aging.

Only one of them became an actual vampire.

Multi-disciplinary scientist

Heavy mentor vibes

Probably was the Action Scientist in the 19th Century

Expert in the present day.

Weird Science as a weird move

Has Dark Past because while she herself is benevolent a lot of her old friends have turned evil.

Dr Will Zimmerman

Brilliant deductive reasoning

FBI profiler was fired for wild theories

Had a childhood encounter with Bigfoot

Recruited personally by Dr. Magnus

Could be the Flake

But also point perfect the Searcher

Trust Your Gut and Empathy both make good weird moves for him

Ashley Magnus

Helen's daughter

Very combat oriented

The season 1 combat muscle of the group.

End of season 1 she is turned into a mindless killer with multiple abnormal powers.

Killed early season 2

Was probably the Professional

Possibly the Hard Case

No Limits is a good Weird move for her

Bigfoot

A neanderthal/sasquatch like abnormal.

Is the one who scared Will as a child

Used to enjoy scaring children

Acts as the butler for the Sanctuary in the show

The Monstrous might be a good choice, but doesn't have a great example of a curse

Could be the Professional

Actually, Mundane might be a good option for him.

No Limits is a good weird move for him

Henry Foss

The team tech wiz

Also a werewolf

Initially used drugs to control his werewolf abilities

kind of nerdy

Almost certainly an Action Scientist

Could have transitioned into the Monstrous, but more likely he borrowed Monstrous moves such as shapeshifting and natural weapon.

Weird Science as a weird move, naturally

Kate Freelander

A mercenary

formerly connected to the villain group from season 1, the Cabal

switched teams after turning against the Cabal

Replaces Ashley as the muscle

Certainly the Crooked

may have transitioned into the Professional

Tradecraft is a good weird move for her

John Druitt

Recurring character, may be more of an NPC

Helen's old lover

One of the "Five"

Ashley's father

Vampire blood made him a Teleporter

During one teleportation he picked up a parasite that enhanced his aggression

The parasite pushed him to become Jack the Ripper

Rid himself of the parasite at one point, but it proved more dangerous outside him.

Has since taken back the parasite to contain it.

Now that he's aware of the parasite seems to have more control of his impulses.

Would definitely be the Monstrous - Pure Drive: Pain if a hunter

No Limits as weird move

Something Borrowed: Angel Wings

Probably more of a recurring villain or monster

Nicola Tesla

That Nicola Tesla

One of the "Five"

Vampire, because apparently he descended from true vampires

Obsessed with bringing back the vampire species

True ancient vampires found him unimpressive once he woke some up.

found a way to turn humans into vampires... it went badly

Electrical powers gained after being exposed to a vampire cure

Rarely a direct antagonist

usually causes problems that the team has to clean up.

Electrokinesis

Action Scientist and Monstrous would both be good playbooks

Probably more of a recurring bystander or ally

Other members of the Five

James Watson - the in universe model for Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Created an exoskeleton to slow his aging which eventually fails causing his death by rapid aging. Vampire blood apparently enhanced his intellect.

Nigel Griffin - invisibility. Died of old age, his daughter and grand-daughter inherited his powers.

Clara Griffin - Not really one of the Five, but inherited Nigel's invisibility. Dated Will for a bit, killed by "super abnormals" who could see her even when invisible.

The series frequently had a fairly even split of Villains, Phenomena, and Monters. Atonement missions were very frequent. Series antagonists run from opposed evil secret societies like the Cabal, rival members of the Sanctuary organization (though they weren't really evil, just ambitious... and it might not have really been a series antagonist, been a while since I watched it), governmental organizations, and abnormal groups seeking dominance.

All told, mystery wise, it is similar to most MotW games save that the overall goal of the team is to protect the supernatural more than fight it... just sometimes there are evil supernaturals.

Example threats include:

Evil organization trying to turn abnormals into an army to conquer the world, the Cabal

"Adam Worth" an old enemy of Helen's who was the in-universe basis for Jekyll and Hyde

Three women kept in stasis to be woken up as weapons, may have been the in universe basis for the Morrigan, convinced to free themselves

Ancient vampires

Affluenza jerk college kids that Tesla unwisely turns into vampires

An abnormal that shapechanges and manipulates dreams as a means of killing people

Giant sea spiders that communicate through dreams (other Sanctuary leaders wanted to kill her, Magnus and co were trying to save her.

People able to fold themselves to two-dimensional forms to fit through small places

Abnormal terrorists

The energy parasite that turned Druitt into a killer getting into technology.

Fast reproducing cute abnormals similar to tribbles from Star Trek... if tribbles also can eat people

An incorporeal creature that can show send a person to a future that is the result of making a terrible mistake as a way to prevent the mistake from being made.

Ancient lost civilizations

A swarm of telepathic insects that turn someone into a superhero

Abnormal gangs

Not the stench of raw meat and viscera. The flashes of teeth bared, dripping with bile and blood. The sound of claws ripping through flesh, tearing the meat and breaking the bone. And the eyes. Ravenous. Vacant. Shining in the darkness with that same red which they craved.

The memory is faint, faded under the fog of time. He can barely remember her dark hair anymore, brown on the edge of ginger. Every scream he's ever heard, every shout and desperate cry echoes in a single cacophony, from which he can no longer pick out his father's voice. Every thought of his mother's smile is twisted, corrupted beyond recognition with sharp fangs tearing out his father's throat, the stench of gore and viscera permeating the house. He could see it all, from the narrow space he'd squeezed himself into under the floor. Too tight to move, too small to breathe, too close to risk the slightest shift even as the blood seeped into the floorboards and dripped on his face, rolling down his cheeks to catch his tears.

The rest of that night is a blur. The scratching of nails on wood as she'd tried to get to him, cut short by a gunshot and a bloodcurdling scream. His hands digging into the wood, torn with splinters, crying and screaming and holding on as they dragged him away. The sight of his father, laying motionless, staring with those lifeless eyes. His mother, brought to her knees, raving and snapping her teeth until another gunshot silenced her for good.