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Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
I would have zero problems with Beast as an analogue for teenage power fantasy if that is the feel they are going for, along with overlays of mythology. Alienation, bullying, and externalizing "bad" parts of yourself as a monster are all interesting themes to me. Choosing that particular fiction to debut on to me indicates this is what we should expect, so I can't imagine these themes are not intentional.

The tone of some the responses from the developers have made me not sure if it's being approached without some sense of detachment. The defensiveness is weird to me, and makes me anxious to see what comes of it.

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Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
There's a fair amount of thought that our propensity for fearing wide open spaces comes from a primal fear as primates of flying predators (you know, Raptors). Fear of exposure is fear of being vulnerable, rather than outright powerless because it's a fear of something you'd normally not expect, something from a direction you find yourself constantly looking towards out of some inborn anxiety.

I mean I think that power is really boring, as is the waterbreathing one. Inborn abilities I think should be a lot more broad and thematic than those, but it doesn't surprise me at all that Raptors are a Family. Agree that Nightmares of Exposure is a better name.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Generally I treat the Pure as the kind of werewolves that werewolf hunters are able to isolate and target mostly, and while they aren't explicitly "attacked" by spirits or hated by them in the same way, they have the opposite and equally dangerous problem of being open to spirit influence and subjugation and worst of all spirit politics. The Pure have a lot more to deal with than strictly just fighting the Forsaken, the way I see it, and that can help balance them as an antagonist despite the whole "outnumbered and outgunned" narrative. I also tend to play the Forsaken as more willing to work together. Predator King philosophy is ultimately anathema to working together even within their own tribe for any goodly amount of time, the Ivory Claws tend to be extremely aloof from the other two tribes. The Fire-Touched are explicitly the tribe that is most numerous and that's because they are willing to recruit, and they have a problem with zealotry and organization that is similar to say, the Sabbat in oWoD where a good amount of them are probably not exactly at a high level of involvement, information, or means.

Each of the three Pure tribes kind of represents a different threat, rather than altogether a joined one, and I like that. I play the Predator Kings as the reason you don't go too far outside known territory, the monsters in between the points of light, while the Ivory Claws are specifically the ones that singularly hunt and kill their own kind, like a vile family of killers. The Fire-Touched, with their themes of disease and rabies on top of the religious schtick, are the whole "danger to our family" narrative that I think functions a bit differently than the insidious threat of Bale Hounds. Fire-Touched instead represent an "alternative", something that celebrates being a werewolf rather than, as the name Forsaken suggests, treats it as a burden. An infectious idea.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Kaza42 posted:

Yeah, I was exaggerating there. I'd probably rule that a trenchoat, gloves, hat and glasses are about the level you'd need. Of course, people would think you were very suspicious for wearing that most of the time, but that's just another reason why Obfuscate 1 is so incredible.

I believe the criteria given is something that covers nearly everything but your eyes, so I think it'd be a step past that. So Darkman or bust.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Son of a Vondruke! posted:

You could go with a burqa. Does the middle east have it's own ruling supernatural creatures in the nWod? If not it might just be a hotbed of vampire activity.

Speaking of vampires in the Middle East, I highly recommend A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. It's got a stylistic feel that I think really fits Requiem.

To answer your question, like most things in nWoD nothing so much like that is set. There is a modern day Hunter compact focused on vampires based loosely on the Assassins in Ancient Mysteries, but I similarly like to think that the dead do well in the Middle East. I ran a Demon game in Dubai that briefly explored that.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

moths posted:

Reap the Whirlwind starts off with the PCs executing the Prince and then goes off the deep end of vampire politics.

It was a loving terrible choice for a Free RPG Day adventure, since it assumes players have a ton of setting knowledge. Which is one thing "played this once fifteen years ago" players don't come with. It was also where a lot of nWoD2.0 mechanics were debuted!

At one point the adventure's narrative just backs off and gives you like thirty NPCs and expects you to sort it out.

I agree that the way it is presented works rather poorly for less experienced players, but it also turned out absolutely amazing when I had two inexperienced with Vampire players in it who decided to play two misfit Nosferatu thugs who got lucky working for the Judex, and decided to actually take the Prince at his word and let him live, resulting in action movie escalation as the whole city turned on them and they had to fight their way back to the top, in a 1980's action movie style, ending with an endless bloody firefight in Elysium.

It was not the game I intended to run, but I'm extremely glad it happened, because it was a helluva swerve from the scenario as presented but by changing the reason for everything going to chaos from "the Prince is dead" to "the Prince calls a blood hunt and the players implicate their patron power player" worked surprisingly well.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Shockeh posted:

I love that in my mental WoD, there is now 'Breach Studios - Cinema in Plain Sight' run by entirely genuine people making bad send-up movies, and actually owned by a few canny Kindred who offer 'cover up services' in the form of making a film.

Running a Demon: the Descent game in Los Angeles and this is a fantastic plot seed for a future session. Especially if the God-Machine gets involved and it starts becoming a "hungry" industry.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Reconstruction would be a great setting without the Beast baggage, though, especially for an actually good game about corruption, decaying monsters, and incited violence, like Requiem.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

DJ Dizzy posted:

Would The Union be a decent compact for a homeless person to be a part of?

Could be, yeah, depending on the locl flavor of the Union, but the Night Watch is kind of more targeted at "those who can't protect themselves" in that regard, thus why they mostly hunt vampires who prey on those who will not be missed. The Union in a way is a bit more about neighborhoods and communities less than transients, and a homeless person in the Union would likely have a lot of stigma to be up against (which isn't a bad plot hook at all.)

e: The Long Night specifically does a lot of homeless shelters and outreach to get members, that could work well too.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
The idea of it being a time of tribulation and the whole Apocalyptic feel I think is a strong and interesting undercurrent, especially for a Hunter game, but yeah its portrayal in-text can be real spotty at best.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Ferrinus posted:

At this point there's no oWoD clan or faction or whatever that hasn't been done cooler in Requiem.

Requiem's use of Clans as literary archetypes rather than cliquish stereotypes is also a lot more compelling but I do understand the appeal of using an established property. Requiem never caught fir like Masquerade, even if it is the best.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Whether or not it was the original intention, I always felt Sanctified theology being in conflict with modern, temporal concerns was always a compelling theme, much like how the Catholic Church became such a temporal institution in contrast to the original writings.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Ferrinus posted:

I don't know if they reiterate this in 2E and I don't know what page to point you to in 1E, but I'm near-positive that a vampire that gets its head cut off or is otherwise physically destroyed rapidly ages towards what the age of its body actually should be. So, a neonate might become a days or years-old corpse, an elder might skeletonize or collapse into dust.

This is a detail discussed in The Blood that also has other semi-apocryphal details that may not apply anymore unless you want them to, like the fact that Final Death tends to move all Kindred to tears nearly uncontrollably. Which is a detail I absolutely love, but may not be for every game.

Even in a brutal jungle politics game I like the idea that is just a step too far, and torpor is the name of the game.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Obviously it works on multiple levels since the metaphor is as tortured as the Huntsmen's very existence.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

paradoxGentleman posted:

Yeah, but at that point you are stepping on Vampire's toes. Frankly I'd still take it, I don't mind having the choice between two different flavors of "I must live at your expenses"

This is actually what I was expecting too from the initial flavor which is why I was tentatively excited. I feel you could even tap into a very different vein of "the monster I am" than Vampire. Requiem is primarily about immorality, about corruption and the gothic horror aspect of a slow descent. Beast I feel could definitely tap into the whole "growing up into a monster" vein of fiction, and still does in theory, but its weighed down with this albatross of trying to make them defensible or even the good guys. It's far more compelling that their hungers are terrible, only helping people in spite of their natures. A Beast game should be mostly about a group trying to deal with their problem, not revel in it, and risking the consequences of their hunger because they know if they don't it just gets worse, because they are not in control then.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
I would much prefer that instead of, or in addition to, providing concealment from Huntsmen, Bargains were a means of gaining Glamour. The bulk of fairy lore talks about them getting power out of little rituals and purposes like that, through tokens such as leaving out milk or the like.

I don't mind though the Reticent Condition in idea, it's way too powerful as it is but the idea that in order to power fairy magic they have to take something away is alright with me. Everything in fairy tales is about sacrifice of this or that. I would prefer though perhaps more robust ideas around that. It might be interesting that in invoking and feeling the emotions, you also take away the core of that emotion. Take away someone's fear so that you can turn it into a spell of autumn leaves, or destroy an object of someone's desire so that you might make something even more beautiful.

Sounds a bit finicky to actually implement though.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

MonsieurChoc posted:

I don't want to sound too negative when comparing the first and second editions of the nWoD, especially since I'm very much not objective on this subject. The time period 2003-2004 is when I started really getting into gaming, and I've been following the nWoD since it's start. I'm really emotionally invested in it.

This is also me when it comes to new World of Darkness. Overall, I'm a big fan of 2E. I really love all the new flavor for Forsaken especially, and Demon is one of my favorite games. A lot of the shift in flavor and presentation for Requiem though, which I felt started in Danse Macabre, turned me off. I got over it, putting it aside as me being a grognard. but I still prefer overall the more muted presentation I remember from the original Requiem corebook, and the larger focus on a Gothic horror theme, which is what made Requiem my favorite game period in the first place. Not that I can't basically play the same game, in fact some things in 2E make it better, and some aspects feel like they have a more solid identity, but it also feels slightly more uneven in the end.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Yeah Nosferatu is more impressionist than Gothic fiction, all of the examples he list rely a lot on referencing real places and events, and in Dracula's case the epistolary format, to give a sense of place and verisimilitude, which incidentally is a big hook of the World of Darkness as a setting as well. That being said, he might be overstating the point, but in general what he's describing is why I liked the new World of Darkness over the old one's Gothic-Punk vibe, which is all the more ironic.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
I didn't much care for Mask/Dirge (the whole Requiem/Masquerade thing in Danse Macabre was much better as a concept, even if more tacked on) and generally prefer Virtue/Vice for Vampires, but I like the concept of Blood/Bone for Werewolf. Here's my human self and my spirit self. Should have pushed it as more freeform with one or two examples rather than a list though, IMO, closer to Virtue and Vice in that way.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Brother Entropy posted:

e: one of the few cod fictions i can recall offhand is the intro to demon where the climax involves a stigmatic husband gets killed to further the emotional drama of his demon wife

It's also really good. Kill more spouses in fiction, imo.

CoD isn't in the business of happy endings and I generally play it for the gut-wrenching drama aspect, I get the idea of representation in media but I am 99% sure the idea here was to appear inclusive rather than promise death to all lesbians. Presentation of homosexual, especially f/f, and healthy relationships may be sparing but it has got better. Your choice here is erasure, via not writing about lesbians at all, going out of theme by giving them a happy ending because lesbians don't get a fair shake elsewhere, or what we got, which is the most sane and reasonable of all three choices.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
The way I intended to run Mummy was very much like The Fountain in that basically time and the Descent was something to play around with and we'd freely switch times and places, connected by thematic ties between the two. Only got two sessions in but it worked quite well! Just have to have the right group. I love all the flavor personally, but yeah, the mechanics are fiddly and it really would benefit from a 2E update that took care of some of the fiddliness.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Mors Rattus posted:

I would note that given the primary method of making spells do more than the default effect is to take penalties to a roll with a small dicepool, +1 dice is a bigger deal than it seems at first.

Yeah, Mage has really moved away from "more successes is better" and instead it's about the spell factors to start with. Yantras are there to beef your dicepool so that you can take more penalties, rather than get more successes. A mystagogue who wants to just bless somebody, sure, they probably don't need to spend two turns doing it. But if they want to bless the whole team with Fate? That'll take two turns to prepare all their yantras. An Arrow without Adamant hand can punch a dude and then fire a magic missile as normal, but with Adamant Hand expanding their yantra usage, they can probably hit two missiles.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Magnusth posted:

I appreciate that i'm horrendously biased by being surrounded by it all the time, but i do think that blockbuster larping (and just larping in general, with jucidious applications of propper workshopping and the ability to throw people out and do other things to create a welcoming and not-horrible atmosphere.) could be a valuable and awesome focus for WW to take. What i saw of CoT, though, did put a significant dampner on my enthusiasm for WW's ability to make cool and awesome larps i want to join.

Could you share more details from your personal experiences with both? I've had a nice side-seat to some drama unfolding in America's "New World Magischola" equivalent to the College of Wizardry that makes me less certain I'll try again next year, and am always curious to see what's up beneath the surface.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Magnusth posted:

i'm on my way to bed relatively soon, but what do you want to know?

You mentioned that Convention of Thorns dampened your enthusiasm for their future projects. Why? What kind of tone turned you off?

What were some of the parts you enjoyed most from writing for and working with the people involved with it?

What would you say is the difference between what you have heard of/experienced between both big ones mentioned, College of Wizardry and Convention of Thorns?

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Speaking of, I've been meaning to run a Forsaken game set in mid-1800's Quebec based on some material I read in this thread, and while I love the game to death, one of the first things I wanted to do was really de-emphasize the use of First Tongue terminology. Especially since I was originally gonna run it for a bunch of people who never played werewolf before.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

MonsieurChoc posted:

I think that was my suggestion, back during the Dark Eras kickstarter. This just made my day!

:unsmith:

Yeah, it was your idea in this thread and building on it that I was basing it off of. The game never materialized in tabletop form, but I'm looking to run it as a PbP it looks like here on the forums, using the writeup I did for the Christianized Forsaken mythos and such.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
I've always viewed Wisdom as the ability to separate your insight to the Supernal with what is in front of you, in the phenomenal world. The wording is important: Wisdom implies good judgment and principle, as opposed to knowledge and insight ala Gnosis. In this way, it's better viewed as an Integrity rather than a Morality. Wisdom breaking points are those that muddle the waters for your perception, and prevent you from having the ability to separate your perceptions. Thus the Mad Ones. This dovetails nicely with the thearch conception, as Wisdom understood in this way isn't necessarily "good" in an intrinsic moral way, but it does have utility. This is also why the Guardians are, well, guardians of it and do the sin-eating of committing Wisdom sins on their own, trying to create ritual to keep perspective, and prevent it from tainting others. The problem with losing Wisdom is not that it makes you a worse person, it's that your ability to separate the Supernal from the phenomenal begins to dissipate, and on a fundamental level that enables Hubris. The Fallen World creates a paradigm where, yes, doing magic is hubris and invites that danger. Whether you think that's a construct of the Seers, or a necessary morality, that varies with the mage, order, and context. Until you ascend or go mad, that is the way things are, and thus why it ties so much with Paradox.

This idea is translated basically perfectly with its mechanics: High Wisdom mages are not necessarily more potent, but they are more aware of where the line between their magic and "reality" is. They do not let goetia or Supernal entities control their perceptions as easily, and thus can deal with them better. They can control their magic better in the face of the Abyss. On the other hand, those with a low Wisdom find their Nimbus leaking into the world around them, because the very act of perceiving is itself an act upon the world.

So I've never really seen any point in changing it. It fits really well with the game as presented. Like Humanity, it is designed as something that is supposed to degrade over time, save for those who really do focus their concept around it.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Most of my take is from DaveB's writup on the the 2E rework, but most of the Acts of Hubris fit well within this idea. Most of the Acts of Hubris have to do with imposing your will on the patterns of the phenomenal world in some form of violent fashion, such as the violence of mind-control, soul-stealing, casting with Sleeper witnesses (and thus causing Integrity breaks), destroying without thought or extinguishing the Awakened spark. This is pointedly why pre-meditated killing is "less wrong" than impassioned killing. Killing out of hand, especially when magic is involved, is a violation of the forethought and perspective that is the core principle of being Wise. It's about doing without thinking about the consequences.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
One of my favorite Changeling PCs I played was a Runnerswift Beast of Autumn who was terrified of everything. Not screaming bloody murder but extremely skittish, pronouncing doom and constantly pointing out the myriad ways that bad things could be jumping out of any situation. He believed Fear needed to be experienced, not just spread, and when he bolted, everyone knew it was for good reason. Eventually went College of Worms and became a seer. I always felt there were many different and interesting ways to approach the basic court philosophies and emotions.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
I thought I had escaped Persona 5 for good but now I've been thinking "hm leaning into this might actually fix my problems with Geist's lack of thematic focus" goddamnit.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
One day when the Silver Ladder breaks open the Heavens to challenge the Exarchs, they'll find the whole place a mess with vampires sinking their fangs into the local power structures. Those pests get everywhere.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
With the slightly infectious nature of Death Rage and the way it just seems to encourage kind of "blacking out" those scenes either both packs restrain the raging werewolves and wait it out, or everyone goes nuts, claws up each other, realizes instinctively it's pointless, and become a sort of super-pack of raging werewolves tearing up their surroundings. It's great story material.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Spector29 posted:

How do the Faculty deal with the Abyss? Is there a way to purge or otherwise deal with Abyssal nonsense, perhaps with Prime? It would probably be difficult, but there are always more Arrows...

More proactive than reactive, but if all the teachers invest strongly in creating Demenses and also Irises into other realms where the Abyss's hold is not as strong, that would make a lot of sense. Allows you to add an Astral Realms flavor that lets you create the fantastical Hogwarts-esque environments and the like too.

I imagine on staff would be several faculty that specialize in dealing with the Abyss, like a Defense Against the Dark Arts thing. Maybe even a "club" that gets the students involved with the different orders having wildly different opinions on it (Silver Ladder and Adamantine Arrow being in support of getting students involved and learning, Mysterium and Guardians of the Veil being very much against it.)

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
Beast was the line that was supposed to get into Astral shenanigans other than mage.

Unfortunately.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

blastron posted:

I’ve got a bit of a conundrum that I could use some advice on. The players of my Mage: the Awakening game are part of an occult engineering firm, and as part of fulfilling client needs they’ll likely be wanting to cast long-duration spells on items or locations and then relinquish them so that they don’t have to keep concentrating on them forever. Safely relinquishing a spell, however, costs a dot of Willpower, which means that they’re going to be faced with the option of either stunting their character growth or releasing it unsafely, which is a magic crime with two members of the Guardians in the cabal. Both of these options feel like they’re kind of making GBS threads on the players’ concept, however, so I feel like I should come up with another solution.

Would hand-waving away the cost of safely relinquishing a spell cast to complete a job break the setting? I know that building works of persistent magic is hard in the Fallen World and don’t want to weaken that concept, but that’s the only thing I can really think of. (Everything else I’m coming up with is along those lines, like “you get an Arcane Experience for finishing a contract if you relinquished a spell safely”.)

In Tome of Mysteries, the 1e book, there were some sample alternate costs for making spells permanent, mainly in the context of crafting, but could be a starting point.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo
I'm putting together a VASCU game and am curious what are some good sources for running a game that is heavy on procedure and investigation. Both in inspirational media and more meatier stuff, brush up on my ability to craft evidence and the like as I really want to focus on the idea of the focus of the hunts the players do is catching and prosecuting the monsters.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Mr. Maltose posted:

Hannibal the TV series is basically a VASCU game with one character secretly being a different splat entirely.

Yeah that's a big inspiration for me. Just curious about how to best make the procedural part of it feel right, like investigative techniques and ways to reveal clues. I didn't enjoy the first episode of Mindhunter but going to give it another try for sure.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

DigitalRaven posted:

In addition to GURPS: Mysteries and anything Gumshoe, check out Aletheia for more ways of making investigations work in RPGs. It was one of my main inspirations. TV stuff, original Law & Order, Columbo, and Waking the Dead.

Definitely appreciate this, especially Waking the Dead which I hadn't thought of. Just finished Mindhunter (have mixed feelings but good source material) and working on some other material. Right now I'm decided on definitely focusing it on the slasher phenomenon as a continuing theme, and have some ideas for where to go but I'm trying to get a handle on a solid introductory plot.

I want to make sure that the target of the investigation is one that is ambiguously supernatural, while still requiring the intervention of VASCU. A slightly straightforward case with a few twists and turns while still making it clear what kind of role they can play. Would be down to hear any story hooks or ideas from folks in the thread, or even other sorts of killers.

I do have some story seeds already (a blood bather fraternity, a body thief that must commit suicide to change bodies, a family feud in the Ozarks boiling over due to generational influence of spirits) but they don't yet feel the kind of plot that feels best to introduce the slasher phenomenon and how it relates to what VASCU does.

Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

Tuxedo Catfish posted:

Mummy: The Curse is a really bizarre game with a lot of throwbacks to the oWoD in terms of mechanics and fluff that, near as I can tell, is almost completely disconnected from all the other nWoD fluff. Again, I don't know it that well, if the game actually has one whole fan on these forums maybe they can offer a more positive pitch.

I wouldn't recommend Mummy to anyone unconditionally, but I really like it. I think it could really benefit from a 2nd Edition to clean up some of the thematic and mechanic mess it is, but the core idea is one playing with memories, one of my favorite themes. It's a game that's really designed to be run non-chronologically, with going from one time period to the next, sometimes within the same scene. If the focus on timelines and memory were more a core mechanic rather than just theme, it'd be a lot more compelling.

But the basic pitch is that you are Arisen, a magical construct created from the soul of an artisan in an ancient city of legend, where sorcerer-priests embalmed all of their servants to serve them for eternity and the city was destroyed in some uncertain cataclysm, and pieces of that original ur-culture (Relics) arise both in the works of people influenced by ancestral memory or uncovering old shards. Mummies were not kings or aristocrats but essentially servants and craftsmen, but have forgotten how to create, only remembering how to use the items. The best metaphor I've heard with how to deal with Relics is treating them like how post-apocalyptic settings treat high-tech, and its a fitting metaphor for how the Mummies and their Guilds view the world and try to keep the lore alive.

Mummies have a different structure for advancement. They start at 10 in their power stat and "Descend" from there over time. They essentially have a time limit based on the purpose they were summoned by their Cult, which through the mummy usually worship and serve a Judge, a strange god-like being in the Underworld. The Cult occupies a place where they are both obedient to the mummy, but also have power over it, and are just as much a character. They often suggest that people play members of the cult (including the "half-mummy" sadikh template, ghosts, and sorcerers or even other supernaturals) and one person play the Mummy. I've done this with troupe style play and it works pretty OK, but the game mechanics really aren't built for that in mind and it'd be a lot more interesting if Mummy powers were based around this concept instead of just making them individually powerful. Utterances work great: They are basically the big setting-changing magics that are interesting for a mummy to have (for the most part), but Affinities suck thematically for making Mummies interesting, a lot of the time.

The game works really really well for that kind of pulp horror feel, but you gotta really embrace it and go really gonzo. I tend to make Irem, the ur-culture, very Stargate/Ancient Aliens like and add some sci-fi elements, and expand its cultural milieu to a little beyond the purely Not-Egypt stuff, but much like with all the First Tongue stuff with Forsaken, it's kind of a matter of taste. I love all that Egyptology poo poo so I don't throw it out completely and it really ties things together thematically, I just make allowances more for different influences.

If you are interested in trying it, I recommend having each character come up with a mummy, and then together creating either a single cult that ties all of them, or a few related ones (but still collaboratively), and then cycle through highlighting each mummy, with the occasional session that has more than one (or all) active, and don't be afraid to just throw ideas of linear time out the window and jump around all the time, using whatever waking mummies as the subjective observer for the timeline. I also generally basically abandon the concept of Memory as the morality equivalent. It might be worth taking more like Harmony, if I took a second crack at converting it I might try that. I have a half-finished 2e conversion for the game I ran, which tried to simplify a lot of things.

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Tricky Dick Nixon
Jul 26, 2010

by Nyc_Tattoo

PoultryGeist posted:

Lol, I had actually forgotten that movie existed.

In actual CoD stuff, does the C:tL corebook have information on Hobgoblins? The cell in my Hunter game have 'befriended' a hobgoblin/dragon, and I'd like to get some more meat to its abilities and such

It has some samples. Autumn Nightmares has a little more in-depth rules and treatment.

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