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Just tried to create a new Vaesen: The Wendigo
https://charzinski.wordpress.com/2020/0 ... ns-vaesen/
Need two more examples to complete. Anybody a good idea?

Same for my writing. If you find mistakes, please say.

Deep,

I like this as a concept and it seems well-constructed. (I haven't run the game yet, so can't comment on how balanced or imbalanced it may be.) I think it's smart of you to note that although the wendigo comes from Algonquin mythology (in North America), there's no reason the same types of spirits couldn't descend from the Arctic Circle to appear in Sami or other indigenous folklore. That said, you might want to establish a localized name for the creature. Perhaps the creatures have a name for themselves which has been translated into local languages, accounting for some similarity of the name used in the Mythic North. That way, you could just juggle some sounds around to make "wendigo" sound more Finnish.

I also appreciate that you included a means of defeating the creature that doesn't require combat. Media depictions of wendigo-inspired monsters usually make them purely physical threats, to be dealt with purely physically. But if the creature is no more than teeth and claws, you might as well be facing a rabid animal. Nice to see a bit more consideration in this version. Still, I'd like to see more complexity in their motivations or personality -- is there even room for a personality, given that they are driven by ravenous hunger alone? (If not, I think that's kind of a boring monster and I'd probably never use it. Again, it could just be a pack of starving animals.)

You mentioned that over time the wendigo becomes more feral or bestial and takes on more animalistic features. I like that detail a lot, and it suggests that a more newly-created wendigo could be less feral or animalistic. Maybe a newer wendigo retains (however briefly) a vestige of its human memory and personality. This could allow for more complex motivations for a wendigo antagonist.

As an example, maybe there's a brand new wendigo formed in the body of a hermit or outcast from the local village. Now reveling in its new power, the creature decides to take revenge on the town that treated the hermit so shabbily. First, it "converts" other folks who operate at the edge of the village -- a farmer, a herdsman, a woodsman -- and assembles them into a pack, with the intention of swarming and devouring the entire village in one bloody night. But first, the herdsman's wife writes a letter to the Society...

Oh, forgot to mention that I think it's funny you call out that they cannot be seen from the side, while the illustration is oriented in exactly that way. It's a good illustration, so I see why you would want to use it. But am I supposed to show it to my players and say, "This is what you see, but you can't see it"?

Just an observation, not a complaint.

That way, you could just juggle some sounds around to make "wendigo" sound more Finnish.

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What? "Ventikko"?

Interesting idea ... just thinking that the game's "default" setting being in Sweden, not Finland, making it sound Finnish might not be the thing. So, in Swedish ... simply "vendigo", I think?

Wow, that´s seems to be a very good analysis to find everything that could be criticied.

The wendigo was more in experiment to see, how to build up a new vaesen. Like every vaesen it´s more of blueprint than the definitive truth.
To be honest: Did you read the text? It mentions the Sàmi, a way to fight the vaesen without fighting. The intro even shows lasting personality. The powers and the "invisibility" are part of several legends, not my idea, but I liked the idea, because it efforts creativity to find him at least.

I don´t speak suomi, but yes every GM might name like she/he wants to.

Some sami inspiration: http://www.goranus.com/eng/hahmot.html

Great inspirations, thanks.