Beast: The Primordial is the tenth major supernatural game for the Chronicles of Darkness, published by The Onyx Path. Matthew McFarland is the leading developer.
The game was designed with crossover compatibility in mind, the Beast's mythology viewing almost all types of supernaturals as kin. As such, even though e.g. Forsaken are seen as "cousins", they are still considered offspring of the Dark Mother. It is also one of the first gamelines of the New World of Darkness that is not directly based on a gameline from the Classic World of Darkness.
The Begotten
- Main article: Begotten
Beast skull
In Beast: The Primordial, you are one of the Begotten: a human being with a monster's soul; not just any monster, but one of the great monsters of legend: A titan, dragon, gryphon, kraken, or the great unseen threat. You’ve been having the same nightmare for a long time, possibly all your life. Maybe you were stalked by a unyielding, unseen hunter, or dropped from great heights. Maybe you were pulled down into the waters, slowly drowning. Left helpless in the face of overwhelming power. Or something so ugly was hunting you that just the thought of seeing it might jump-scare you enough to wake up. The kind of dreams humans had since the dawn of time.
However, you decided you were done with being a victim, and turned to face the monster. And in doing so, you realized that YOU are monster. You have always been the Beast. And now that you embraced your true nature, you understood yourself so much better. Even though this experience may have been dramatic, it is also a huge relief: the Beast understands why it is different, why it never felt like it fit in, and where its strange urges come from.
Families
- Main article: Family
Family is one of the main thematics for the game. The Begotten organize themselves in five Families that draw on heritage from the Dark Mother, each representing a different aspect of monstrosity and Nightmare.
Hungers
- Main article: Hunger
Beasts have certain needs that they need to fulfill, so-called Hungers. They correspond to the "typical" behaviour of monsters in stories e.g. hoarding riches (not necessarily gold or even valuables though). However, the Hunger is a metaphysical need, not a physical one. As such, a Beast with a Hunger for Ruin can feed on destroying the rich's sense of security (by a brick thrown through a window or writing messages in their kitchen when they are not home, for example) as easily as by wrecking someone's car or legs.
Antagonists
Heroes
- Main article: Hero (BTP)
As Beasts sate their Hungers too recklessly, they draw danger of creating Heroes, mortals with low Integrity that become obsessed with the idea of having to be the one who kills the Beast. These Heroes can inflict Anathema into the Beast's soul, making it weak to standard weaknesses experienced by monsters in myths and movies.