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This may sound weird, but I often like planning for potential games well in advance of when I might get a group together. There's some fun in prepping setting and adventures for a potential game while your core group's wrapping up other stuff. I'm not doing too much just in case it doesn't come to fruition, but reading VtR and the Strix gave me an idea. Vampire/Spirit-Hunter Tag Team! (Working Title) Basically for a Chronicle I was thinking that the Kindred of a city find themselves ill-equipped to fight the Strix, in part because spirit-affecting powers and the like they do not specialize in much aside from a few bloodlines. So now that the Sanctified priests and Crone acolytes failed, the Dragons suggested recruiting outside help. In other words, mortal mages to help them fight the Strix. And the only magically-talented kine in the area are high school/college students dabbling in powers beyond their ken! Breaking the Masquerade is not something to take lightly, so via a series of pressures, offers, and threats, the mortals find themselves dropped into the seedy underbelly of the Kindred! This campaign's less orthodox. It draws inspiration from Persona, a bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a 'dark superheroes' vibe where the PCs take on "Monsters of the Week" between the guise of a mundane life. The PCs (both vampires and mages) need to prevent the Strix, spirits of the Shadow Realm, and other greater threats from threatening the mortal world for reasons altruistic and selfish (can't have those other monsters killing and scaring off the blood supply). Balance Concerns Naturally the problem is the crossover thing. Typical Awakening Mages are too high-powered for my tastes, so I've tried looking into other alternatives. I've considered Second Sight's Low Magic, but I heard bad things about it. Gutter Magic from Hunter's Witch-Finders seems rules-lite and open-ended, but I don't know if it's intended for PC use. Or for the purposes of a sort of "system unity" I could give the mortal mage PCs access to Cruac/Theben Sorcery at higher dots, or use the open-ended system from Blood Sorcery book. In short, the vampire and mortal PCs would have an incentive to work together. The vampires are more resilient and know the Kindred politics better. But the mage PCs have magic and better means of affecting ghostly entities such as the Strix. Mechanics-wise, is there a way to do this so that neither side is rendered too unbalanced, either useless or overpowered? Libertad! fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Apr 26, 2015 |
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Apr 26, 2015 04:42
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Xelkelvos posted:So I take it literally autistic (or close to it) people are the ones missing the entire problem with Beast then? Or at least taking part in the Beast defense force? I'm autistic, and from what I read about Beast's lack of self-awareness, it does seem pretty bad in the excerpts if Beasts are meant to be the 'heroes.' Edit: Also, what LatwPIAT said. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Jun 8, 2015 |
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Jun 8, 2015 06:57
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spectralent posted:So true. Changeling is rad (did I mention changeling?) because it's got so many different things weaving together; mage is great because it's got just that one spark of curiosity that means you've got a billion activities to do with it. Vampire ranks the top for me. One, it was my gateway drug into WoD. Two, I like the concept of bloodlines, the toolbox nature with things such as Danse Macabre and Requiem Chronicler's Guide. Three, I like the whole gothic tone of old world conspiracies and history resurfacing in modern nights. The covenants have some cool things going for them, like the Invictus' dynasty of torpid elders communicating their thoughts to awake members. Below that would be Mage and Hunter. I like Mage for many reasons people above pointed out, although I am fascinated with the Astral, Shadow, and other realms of existence. Hunter is cool because I like the idea of them both as protagonists and as hostile factions for use in the other monster games. Changeling and Promethean I have not read anywhere near as much as the ones above, but in terms of general ideas they both intrigue me. Demon, Mummy, and Geist I do not have but plan on checking out. Beast doesn't grab me for obvious reasons.
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Jun 9, 2015 04:40
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At the risk of detracting from the Beast discussion... So it's a kind of accepted in NWoD that Mages are the most potentially powerful supernatural template, with Changelings being one of the lower-tier ones being slightly above mortals. I don't know if supernatural splats are grouped into tiers, but for the ones already out, how would they rank from top to bottom in terms of overall power and versatility? Not just cheap exploits, but stuff many non-optimized gamers do as well.
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Jun 9, 2015 22:57
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Kurieg posted:My favorite vampire LARP story was the group that went into an established Camarilla larp, sat down in a circle with an egg timer. When asked what they were doing they just said they were casting a ritual and otherwise weren't disruptive or hostile to conversation. Heh, reminds of that time when Spoony first participated in a LARP where his character was tortured by the other players who then foolishly let him join their Covenant in the belief that they "won him over." As his PC was min-maxed in chemistry, he infiltrated Elysium with a bunch of homebrewed explosives and blew them up, killing the majority of the Kindred gathered there. Starts around the 10:34 mark.
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Apr 28, 2016 01:35
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Can't believe I'm saying this, but it sounds like Beast has reached WoD: Gypsies level of badness. The major difference is that White Wolf later apologized for the latter.
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Apr 28, 2016 05:07
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Given my recent gaming fascination with superhero tropes, does anybody know if the campaign alternative White Wolf Comics Presents: the Cabal! is any good? I love the idea and own the book it's in (Mage Chronicler's Guide), but I don't know if the rules for Scaling to represent superheroics holds up in play. Also, the character creation section seems a little iffy; the allotted skills and attributes list beyond the Heroic Traits seems a little lackluster.
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May 19, 2016 00:02
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Beastchat will probably be running hot until the F&F is over, I wouldn't fight the flow. What's so bad about Mummy?
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May 24, 2016 00:00
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I don't know when exactly they'll be released, but I'm considering holding off on buying Changeling and Geist until they get their 2e versions. However, I don't know if that will be this year or next. And I'd rather not spend money on something only for it to get upgraded several months down the road. Would getting the 1e versions of said games within the month be risky/a waste?
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Jun 5, 2016 07:20
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BKzuzjjCro So I was looking up some Alex Jones stuff for fun on Reddit and ended up stumbling upon a rather strange video. He's full of bunk, but his rant on clockwork elves sounds like something straight out of the God-Machine Chronicles.
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Jun 18, 2016 20:55
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Wassup bloodsuckers? NWoD heretic here. I noticed that Promethean the Created had a 2nd Edition upgrade, and one of the few CoD lines which hasn't been written up by Mors Rattus in the F&F threads. Apologies if it's already been talked to death, but with 796 pages I cannot easily maneuver through the posts here. Can anyone give me the shindig on the major changes, or point me to an earlier convo here? I'm a bit familiar with the original Promethean.
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Jul 18, 2019 06:50
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I Am Just a Box posted:Let's see, I think I have a post back here in the thread to dig up on Promethean: Awesome, thank you for the explanation!
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Jul 18, 2019 22:52
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I Am Just a Box posted:There is one Changeling 2e book, the corebook. Nothing else has been released yet. Autumn Nightmares or Night Horrors: Grim Fears would be the corresponding books from 1e Lost, with the former being more of a how-to exploration and the latter being more of a raw compendium. Where the Keepers are specifically concerned, Equinox Road goes into the deeper digging more relevant to late-game adventures that do direct battle with the Gentry in their full glory; Autumn Nightmares, I believe, sticks to their practical role in a typical game. Given the godlike powers said beings have in their own domains, what kind of campaign would this look like? Is there a Changeling "Archmage" equivalent? Said as someone only ephemerally familiar with the line.
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Jul 22, 2019 08:54
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Has anyone here ran a Vampire the Masquerade game without the looming metaplot, or where the setting constraints are changed to the point that you're effectively substituting your own? People earlier mentioned that  V5 has some "pick and choose" system, but how much work would need to be done if you wanted to have a game with significant Anarch baronies outside of California, a Camarilla in a non-Western country, or a game in Mexico or Eastern Europe that isn't a Sabbat hellhole?One where you excise the racist stereotype clans entirely? Or say, some True Blood style alt-history where the Masquerade has fallen and vampires are now an open subculture, albeit not without controversy? Libertad! fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Aug 3, 2019 |
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Aug 3, 2019 00:02
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moths posted:One thing about Beast that really seemed incongruous was that the game constantly affirmed the beasts' behavior. What they're doing is actually good, their victims needed to be taught a lesson, Heroes are actually bigots oppressing Beasts for being themselves, etc. This is also part of why I don't like the idea of using Beasts even as a deconstructed villain context. It would be akin to importing MYFAROG's Swole Vikings or FATAL's child-eating ogres as bad guy factions rather than standard PCs, but the problem is you'd be incorporating bad ideas written by bad people into your not-as-bad game when there's a wealth of other material out there you can use.
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Aug 4, 2019 21:46
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Archonex posted:If you want a real short summary of why Beast is bad and Beasts are terribly written just look at that Hunt Club perception write up about them. For what it's worth, I recall that Dave Brookshaw (one of the collabs on Beast) inserted the line about Beasts being buddies with Changeling's True Fey as a way of poking a hole in the Mary Sue bubble. Link is here. I take this with a grain of salt, but given how sadistic and antagonistic Changeling's Gentry are, they're not exactly the type of faction PCs are expected to team up with in most lines.
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Aug 4, 2019 23:33
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Warning: TVTropes Link. Dragon: the Embers is apparently a better take on the "bigass monster in modern society" trope. I have not read much on it, but to those who have, how "big" can you become as a Dragon, and how does it try to balance the issues gained from this?
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Aug 5, 2019 09:15
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Rand Brittain posted:Mummy. Are we talking more "developer was too busy being a sex pest and had to be let go" or more "developer has a hard-on for mummy girls and this bled into his work?"
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Aug 7, 2019 23:20
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Dave Brookshaw posted:I once attended a LARP where the Malkavian Primogen was Krusty the Clown. You have the right to play a "mental illness is funny lolz111" Kindred, and I have the right to play a Gangrel going all Beast Shape on your rear end.
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Aug 9, 2019 00:15
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Ferrinus posted:Sounds like the storytellers were deliberately giving that player a hard time because they made a combat character, which is really no more than I'd expect from anyone running VtM. I ran a combat monster Gangrel in Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. The funny part about this is is that it's totally a valid playstyle, but combined with relative lack of stealth options and going for Intimidation meant that quite a bit of quests ended with someone dead and the cops/security guards/etc chasing me down. Combined with my low Humanity making some conversation options frenzy, and it was very much like those carefully-planned Shadowrun missions going tits-up forcing you to go loud and dumb. Also the fact that the game was rushed meant that you had to do combat near the end, so the last parts of the game were quite easy.
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Aug 19, 2019 04:40
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Loomer posted:The World of Darkness is a setting where the capitol lawn is a giant refugee camp and the Sabbat burned down the goddamn White House. One more dead clubkiddie isn't really going to make waves. Is this before or during the End Times Gehenna thing?
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Aug 19, 2019 04:49
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The thing with RPG Horror Stories is that a lot of time we get the information filtered from the perspective of one gamer than a more holistic view. And I've definitely heard of my share of melodramatic Vampire players who hate anyone with so much as 1 dot in Potence (ROLEPLAYING NOT ROLLPLAYING). That said... When the Sabbat burned down the White House and are openly killing people in Mexico, I'm pretty sure that the Masquerade has been blown wide open by now. From a Storyteller's standpoint it seems weird that someone being bitten in the jugular in a nightclub counts as a Final Death-worthy Masquerade Violation when IRL mortals do the same when jumped up on bath salts. Unless of course the PC was screaming "I AM A VAMPIRE" and using a very obvious Discipline like powerslamming the dude through a solid wall. Or there's several news reports of "biters" already floating around, or whatnot. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Aug 20, 2019 |
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Aug 20, 2019 01:42
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Metapod posted:I'd suggest getting your group to play v5 Just to let the prospective newcomer know where his money's going... V5 courted alt-right shitheads to help write it, although said people were kicked out of the company when they caused an international incident. So if that's a dealbreaker and you want to get into weird vampirey goth stuff you should try one of the Chronicles of Darkness games by Onyx Path Publishing such as Vampire the Requiem. Granted, OPP has its own share of problems (coughbeasttheprimordialcough), but courting fascists is not one of them to my knowledge. Anyone should feel free to correct me. a neat cape posted:Oh, my bad, sorry. Friendly Neighborhood Link to the 13th Age thread! Libertad! fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Aug 20, 2019 |
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Aug 20, 2019 03:13
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I more or less finished up my reading of Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition. This came after WtF 2e, meaning that the only 2e games I have left to read is Changeling the Lost and Demon the Descent. I also already read Vtr and WtF 2e, as well as Mortal Remains which is Hunter's pseudo-2e update. But after Promethean what line should I read next, 1e or 2e? I've been a big fan of Mage the Awakening, but it's kind of familiar ground I already tread so I'm considering getting my feet wet with a new line entirely. I heard that Demon is one of the best "extra" lines as of late, which may be worth looking into. Changeling seems cool but I heard that the 2e upgrade changes things up thematically. I heard good things about Geist, although it apparently had some errata and update problems. Mummy sounds rather quirky. I'll report the post of anyone who suggests Beast. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Aug 22, 2019 |
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Aug 22, 2019 00:49
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Mors Rattus posted:yeah the Ventrue Primogen being like 'actually Ventrue are not republicans' is loving hilariously dumb On the one hand, I can see how centuries-old vampires may not be fond of wrecking the planet with human-induced climate change. Especially if it means waking up under several hundred feet of water once torpor ends. Not to say that Democrats aren't on oil's payroll as well, but Republicans and Libertarians are the greater evils in this regard. On the other hand, everything else about the GOP is pretty much set up to appeal to a regressive monster borne out of the Medieval era.
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Aug 23, 2019 20:58
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Schreknet's LARP posts are the best thing in this thread. It also never ceases to amaze me how many IRL conservatives see themselves as the anti-establishment rebels in fiction.
Libertad! fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Aug 24, 2019 |
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Aug 24, 2019 02:54
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Tollymain posted:they hate that theyre not considered cool The avatar to your left makes this post 100x funnier.
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Aug 24, 2019 05:28
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Demons have a Cover stat in place of the Integrity equivalent, which is not tied to a moral or psychological foundation so much as their ability to elude detection by the God-Machine and its angels. To use a video game analogy, Cover 0 would be like entering the "Alert" phase of a Metal Gear Solid game or a Five-Star Wanted Level in Grand Theft Auto. Granted, I am only partway through the chargen chapter so someone else may go into better detail than I.
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Aug 29, 2019 20:00
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PHIZ KALIFA posted:Make one newsletter where it's just Rot13 text of the Book of Nod. Offer (fake) Noddist lore to curious camarillians and when the prince gets cranky say a higher up asked you to sew disinformation amongst the curious to dissuade anyone discovering Horrible Truths. Posts like these make me want to play VtM again.
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Aug 30, 2019 22:40
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This isn't just a Vampire thing; using Enchantment spells in Dungeons & Dragons, weirdass exsurgent viruses in Eclipse Phase, and other "I take over your PC and make them do stuff for extended periods" is basically similar to PC death/KO in the sense that the player at the table becomes unresponsive for a duration of play. Long-term effects are more problematic in the sense that they can last for longer than a typical fight or scene. As a result, the typical Player vs Player problems, compounded with using such an effect on fellow players, runs the risk of kicking a player out of the game for a time. And given how infrequently groups meet (once a week at most) it may not feel very elating to sit around for 30 minutes to an hour watching everyone else play the game. Dominate and mind-control Disciciplines are technically legal within the confines of the game and genre, but require some group input ahead of time to avoid ruffling feathers. Much like if someone wanted to play a Gargoyle, Baali, or Ravnos PC (the first being a walking Masquerade violation with a rather limited powerset, the latter two due to their clan reputations for edgelordiness and racism). Libertad! fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Sep 1, 2019 |
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Sep 1, 2019 06:17
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I do not really have personal experience to pvp besides perhaps one or two games, but a good way to possibly implement this is where the PCs are all Ancillae/Elders/etc. They'd be built with more starting XP, and it's a given they'd have lots of social Backgrounds to draw upon. They can play as themselves, but certain missions and sessions may put their Retainers and Allies in the hands of the players. That way, there's less of a personal feeling of "you Dominated/brainwashed/staked my Nosferatu Primogen" and more "you firebombed/blood bonded my ghoul hitmen." There's still stakes involved and fighting over influence and resources, but it does not have the sheer finality of hitting a level three Blood Bond or the Final Death.Terratina posted:So, with Nu Woof, is it assumed that all PCs are of the same tribe starting out, or otherwise? Not necessarily, although it is a common form of social bonding. Werewolves in territories which are close together or slightly overlap may allow fraternization as to foster community and let their newer members learn more about the wider Uratha culture. There's also the fact that Tribes organize along what types of prey they're tasked with hunting, so a Bone Shadows shaman (specialize in spirits) hanging out with some Hunters in Darkness may learn a thing or two about Hosts. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Sep 1, 2019 |
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Sep 1, 2019 21:48
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Inzombiac posted:We made our characters last night and had a blast. A Japanese amusement park which a rival covenant is trying to destroy by sabotaging the rides.
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Sep 1, 2019 21:53
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To the forum VtM fans here, to what extent has the Giovanni clan be "redeemed" from what some regard as its iffier origins? Although the Ravnos are regarded by fans overall as the worst, they along with the Kuei-Jin and Assamite fall into the 'ethnic stereotype clan' as Italian mafia necromancers along with excessive inbreeding. Although the most common criticism is that their surname is rather mundane in Italian, and their base of operations in Venice is far from the IRL Mafia's strongholds in southern Italy. I have heard that in VtM 5e some other necromancer bloodline joined up with them or something to make up for both of their lost numbers, and according to the VtM wiki they started embracing groups of other nationalities and ethnic groups, albeit largely confined to said countries in which they expand (Mexican Giovanni largely reside in Mexico and such). Barring some of the more obscure or long-dead bloodlines, how easy would it be to play a vampire necromancer-gangster without being a Game of Thrones/Godfather incest-baby? Libertad! fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Sep 3, 2019 |
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Sep 3, 2019 06:04
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Soonmot posted:Not World of Darkness, but I just found out this was a thing and it should be in my hands tomorrow: Pounded in the Butt by My Demon Roommates' Embed Key.
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Sep 4, 2019 07:04
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So I've been checking Mors' Rattus' F&F of Shunned by the Moon when I can, and it's a pretty stellar Werewolf sourcebook. As someone who only has the 2e CoD book of WtF, can any shapeshifting veterans in this topic recommend me some of Werewolf's other best books?
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Sep 4, 2019 22:43
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Rand Brittain posted:They just updated Masquerade Revised from scan to original electronic files last week, so you can be pretty confident that it's going to get POD in the near future. Same for all of Reckoning. Noice.
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Sep 6, 2019 21:37
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Y'all are probably gonna give me the stink eye for this, but I'm in the process of writing a fan crossover supplement between Werewolf the Forsaken and Princess the Hopeful titled By the Power of the Moon! I'm curious about what subject manner and topics I should cover for this. I already have some general ideas, such as Princess/Uratha interactions, new Gifts/powers/etc interfacing with each other's respective enemy factions (Magical Girls fighting spirits, werewolves performing the Sacred Hunt against creatures of Darkness, etc), a mini-bestiary, and possibly a Unified Cosmology tying together concepts from the two sourcebooks into a more put-together whole. The reason I'm doing this is because out of all the official splats, the "transforming spirit cops" aspect of Werewolf in preventing otherworldly horrors from loving up the world of humanity is thematically close to what Princesses do, save replace the Pure with Twilight Queens, spirits and hosts with the creatures of Darkness, etc. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Sep 7, 2019 |
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Sep 7, 2019 07:40
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I think that feeding mechanics have a role in Vampire, in part because it's a careful risk the Kindred must perform in order to survive but has the very real risk of exposure and violating the Masquerade. However, I think that waiving a feeding scene is fine if the PC invests dots in Herds, Ghoul Retainers, etc which can grant them a steady stream of vitae. More so if they're not using blood point intensive powers between nights. I'd totes call for feeding rolls in the aftermath of a brutal combat where an injured vamp needs to find some blood to heal, or drained themselves of vitae, or are cut off from their normal sources of nourishment. Granted, I won't ask to roll for initiative if a vampire tries to grapple a mark and fails (unless they're in view of a cop or in a drug den or place where violence is reciprocated), but I may go "okay you drain the fella but now cops are on the lookout for an assault/mugging which will make future hunting harder/someone in the future may recognize your description/you resorted to feeding in a rival vamp's territory who tries to use that as leverage" and the like.
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Sep 10, 2019 00:01
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moths posted:Is your group hunting in packs? If your coterie is not decked out in sleeveless shirts and sunglasses hitting da clubz for da licks, then you're not a real Vampire gamer. Regaining Humanity points by rocking out on the dance floor was canon in Bloodlines' metaplot. There everyone, I wrote your next feeding scene. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Sep 10, 2019 |
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Sep 10, 2019 03:16
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Presence + Potence makes Brujah the best pro-wrestling vampires. Toreaders may see "art" in the cinema of the ring, but they'd just stand in awe of the squared circle and be unable to do anything. A Gangrel's animal-themed frenzy flaws can double as a "wild man" themed costume. Nosferatu are similar to Brujah, but Nightmare instead of Presence makes them natural heels. Ventrue would be snooty heels who brag about their wealth to the crowd so the Brujah Face can give them a proper beatdown.
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Sep 12, 2019 07:41
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