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Welp, here goes nothing: A World of Darkness: The Promised Lands, 1st Edition Part 1 “Beginning a series of World Sourcebooks for the Storytelling System including Vampire the Masquerade” notes the front cover. Released in 1992, with a retail price of $15.00, approximately $29.81 adjusted for 2022 inflation rates the book clocks in at 135 pages, along with a pretty sweet ad for Werewolf the Apocalypse in the back of the book, with the line “The Cycle is ending, Will a new one begin? When will you Rage?” along with announcing the release of August ‘92 for the new game. The authors listed are Graeme Davis, Rob Hatch, Andrew Greenberg, Steve Crow, Ryan O’Rourke, Lee Gold, and Frank Frey. The back cover reads: “Where Light Fears to Tread..... Throughout the world mortals walk, believing themselves safe in the light of civilization. But what happens when the darkness does not recede but stays, refusing to yield to the penetrating rays of light? How Can There Be Hope? Voodoo cults in the Caribbean, lost tribes in the Middle East, hidden castles of Europe and the geomancy in the boardrooms of Hong Kong. Everywhere the shadows flicker, but here they rule. From the Americas to Asia, from Ireland to Jordan, there are those places where the light of reason and hope has never intruded. And here even the forces of night may meet their end. World of Darkness includes: -Details on some the Earth’s darkest sites, from the notorious Vampire Club in San Francisco to the lost Valley of Kings in Jordan, designed for use with any game in the Storytelling Series. -Expanded Information on Vampires in Asia -Source material on the mysterious Inconnu, the hidden sect of ancient power.” Not a bad summary of what’s to come, although I have to point out right up front that the note about “designed for use with any Storytelling Series” game is….well it’s kinda bullshit. While three of the other game lines get mentions here and there in the book, specifically Werewolves, Mages and Fae, there is no real discussion of Wraiths. I found this a bit odd, considering Wraith was released before Changeling and considering this is a book that covers large chunks of the globe, you would think at least one of the countries mentioned would have some kind of heavy Wraith traffic. Apparently not. The book kicks off with a quote from Lord Alfred Tennyson, “Death has made His darkness beautiful with thee” next to a drawing of a woman with gnarly stitching work on her wrists. There's another page of fluff to establish this is a book about the spooky things that lurk in the dark shadows of the world, and a page long introduction explaining that the book covers various locations, and that the focus is mostly on vampires. There are also a few paragraphs towards the end of the introduction explaining that it’s up to YOU, the storyteller, to decide how much of what is presented in the book is true for your own game. Here’s a spoiler, if I was running a Masquerade game in ‘92 when this book came out, there would be a bunch of stuff in here I would absolutely use, and other stuff I would cast into oblivion to never be seen or heard from again because loving yikes. Chapter 1: The British Isles By Graeme Davis, art by Larry McDougal “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun” -Noel Coward Mad Dogs and Englishmen We kick things off properly with a chapter dedicated to the British Isles. And when I say dedicated, I mean that the first 8 pages of this chapter (18 pages for the whole chapter) are a cliff notes history and topography of the Isles. On the one hand I appreciate the work the author did here, and I’m sure in ‘92 this might have actually been kinda helpful, but on the other hand, I bought this book to learn about the cool monsters hanging out in these countries, I did not come here for a history lesson. Thankfully the rest of the chapters skip the long winded historical information and give a more broad overview of the locations discussed. On page 16, we start to discuss things that are slightly more relevant to a modern game, with discussion of the mortals of the UK. There’s quite a bit of talk about Thatcher and the problems her years in power caused, as well as some information about the police, youth culture, immigration and transportation. So far, we’re off to a slow start, and honestly when I was reading through this chapter I kept wanting to skip ahead, especially during the 8 pages of history, but I stuck with it because I figured maybe we’ll throw some vampire nonsense in there. They don't, and sadly when my dream of mixing real history with fiction occurs in a later chapter, it's incredibly frustrating. The vampire nonsense, in fact, kicks off on page 19. Here we find out that London has been a clusterfuck of Kindred for a long time, with the Ventrue holding the city for periods of time, while fending off the Tremere and Toreadors rolling in. We also get mention of Mithras, a Ventrue clan elder who ruled over London as Prince for centuries but has been missing since the Blitz. There is also mention that the Tremere may have been involved in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a thing that most Americans only know about because of V for Vendetta. I’ll take this moment for an aside. This is the first of many times in this book that vampires specifically are cited as either being involved or directly responsible for a real world historical event. Broadly speaking I have no issue with this, historical fiction is interesting and considering that the World of Darkness is supposed to be a dark reflection of our own world, it makes sense the monsters would be involved in various historical events. However, like a number of other things in this book, there are some extremely poor choices made in service to this idea of blending the real world with the fictional. I’ll elaborate more when I get to those specific examples, but I felt it important to point out where I’m coming from when discussing certain elements of this book. We get four pages about mood and themes, along with a few paragraphs about 9 cities ranging from London to Winchester. Now we get into a bit of info about the various vampire clans that are hanging out in the UK. I won’t go in depth about the clans here, but for the sake of clarity, I’ll give the clan names and a quickie descriptor. The Brujah are the first clan discussed, and can be best summed up as “The pissed off political clan” They were apparently involved in trying to take Thatcher down by taking part in the miners strikes in the 1980’s as well as the Poll Tax riots of ‘89 and ‘90. The rest of their blurb is about Liverpool being the safest place for them to hang out, and that the clan focuses on the Labour party and social reform groups in the area, thus helping out the mortal population. Here it is folks, the least lovely vampires so far discussed in the book. The Gangrel are next, these are the “Shapeshift into wolves” clan, and due to the urbanization of the UK, have mostly bugged out to areas of the north and southwest of the isles. There is mention of prominent Gangrel having contact with the werewolves (referred to as Lupine) in the area, as well as the suggestion that while this clan doesn’t typically live in cities, there are havens in London’s Regent’s Park Zoo and the London commuter belt. The Malkavians, aka “The Crazy Ones”, are doing what Malkavians do best, which is cause trouble, remaining mostly neutral in the on going war between the Ventrue and the Tremere, they are also carrying out terrorist attacks against both sides because Malkavians gonna Malkavian. The Nosferatu, aka “They look like Nosferatu”, have said gently caress this civil war nonsense and have gone to ground, keeping an eye on the fight from the sidelines. There is mention of the oldest Nos on the isles named Blake who has taken his neutrality to the point of going into torpor to ride out the whole thing. Okay, so chalk that up as 2 clans of vampires who so far don’t seem to be that awful. The Toreador, aka “The Prettiest, most special artists” are trying to stay out of the fighting and focus on running Elysiums and doing what Toreadors do best, which is stand around looking pretty and being pretentious art people. The Tremere, aka “Vampire Wizards” are fighting with the Ventrue, claiming that they’re defending their traditional domains. The Tremere elders in Vienna are staying out of it. The Ventrue, aka “Count Gordon Gecko”, are busy dealing with the civil war with the Tremere, and as such are having a real bad times of it because Mithras is missing. The Caitiff are the social outcasts of the vampire world, vampires who for some reason do not have a strong connection to their clan and the powers associated with said clan. Basically it sucks poo poo to be a Caitiff in the best of times, but during a Kindred civil war, they’re essentially marked for death either because they are seen as spies or as potential shock troops. The Sabbat, aka “We’re the Bad Guys” vampires may or may not actually be kicking around the UK. They might be playing both sides against each other, or they might not be there at all. The power is in your hands dear reader! The Assamites, aka “The Muslim Assassin vampires” supposedly have a secret base set up in England, but no one is totally sure. The Setites, aka “We worship the Egyptian deity Set who is actually a vampire” have been mostly driven from the Isles by the Ventrue and the Tremere. They have a few members hanging out in London amongst the Afro-Caribbean immigrant populations. The Giovanni, aka “Vampire Mobsters” are not in the UK, mostly keeping in contact with the Tremere but otherwise staying out of things. We’ll discuss them more shortly. The Ravnos, aka “The Romani vampires” are mentioned as occasionally popping up in England and Ireland. This is the single most positive thing about the Ravnos in this entire book. The remainder of the chapter deals with notable Kindred of the UK, and it's here that the book first really begins to shine. The first major Kindred of note discussed is Black Annis, a figure of English folklore. Annie is a Nosferatu in this setting, and does not see herself as a vampire, but as the avenging avatar of the Celtic goddess Morrigan. We’re also provided with a stat block for Annie, and some information about how to present her in play, with the note that she typically sleeps from May Eve to Halloween, then when she rises, she unleashes her vengeance on those she has judged according to her own mad laws. Black Annis rules and is easily one of my favorite characters presented so far. Mithras is the next to get a lengthy write up and stat block, the most important bits being that his haven was destroyed in 1941 by the Blitz, and that his followers have moved him into a secondary haven. The general Kindred population assumes that Mithras is either dead or still in Torpor, but he’s actually alive and just hiding out. The English Mathematician John Dee, as it turns out, is also a vampire embraced by the Tremere in 1608. Another chunk of info and another stat block, with notes stating that with Mithras MIA and Black Annie not being known to be a kindred, John is the most powerful vampire in the UK. He’s also working to infiltrate the new age movement with his clan. Anne Bowesley aka Queen Anne the Prince of London is a Ventrue. She’s been in control of London since Mithras went missing, however her rule has not been without conflict, as the chapter has previously outlined the civil war between the Ventrue and Tremere. What would a book about the UK be without a mention of one of the greatest weirdos in all of UK history? That’s right folks, Alister Crowley, the Great Beast 666 himself didn’t die a drug addled mess, he’s actually a Malkavian! Crowley was embraced by the Malkavians because Mithras saw an opportunity to gently caress over the Tremere, and so with a couple of well placed uses of dominate, Crowley was embraced. Crowley currently splits his time between the usual pseudo-occult orgies he’s known for and taking part in the terrorist acts committed by the Malkavians against the Ventrue and the Tremere. Finally we wrap up the kindred of note with Lianna, an Irish Toreador who is very lovely and otherwise not super interesting other than as a potential contact to the players if a game takes place in the UK, and discussion of a group calling itself the “Hunt Club”, who hunt other kindred for sport. Count Zaroff of The Most Dangerous Game gets name checked as a Caitiff along with a stat block. We close the chapter with a discussion of chronicle ideas, advising the reader to further research on the Isles for potential plot ideas, and finally wrapping things up with a few paragraphs about how to potentially use the Jack the Ripper murders in a chronicle. The book doesn’t outright say “This is how Jack the Ripper fits” and instead presents a few scenarios to consider, with Jack potentially being a Tremere, a Malkavian or just a mortal. So that’s chapter one, a very mixed bag as far as content is concerned. As I said at the beginning, I’m not crazy about the first 8 pages of this chapter being dedicated to a dry, cliff notes history of the UK, but I also understand the thought process behind doing so, even if it does feel a little like trying to bump the word count on the chapter/book. The civil war angle between the Tremere and the Ventrue is fine, not something I personally find all that interesting, but it gives a good overall plot point to focus on if a game is set in the UK. This chapter shines with the introduction of Black Annie who is easily one of my favorite characters in this book. Crowley and John Dee being vampires is a fun bit of flavor, and I have a feeling that Crowley being a Malkavian is going to get retconned or contradicted later by another book/game line because its Alister Crowley, one of the biggest names of 20th century occultism and having him not pop up in something like Mage seems like a huge missed opportunity. The inclusion of Baron Zaroff is amusing, and I appreciate that literary characters as well as legends are being worked into the flavor of the world. Next: Chapter 2 - Europe or how much can we poo poo on the Ravnos in one chapter?
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A World of Darkness: The Promised Lands, 1st Edition Part 2 Chapter 2: Europe by Night Written by Rob Hatch, art by Josh Timbrook Chapter 2 takes a much broader approach than chapter 1, covering the nations of Europe circa 1992. The chapter kicks off establishing that European Prince’s are predominantly male and mostly reactionary old assholes. This has lead to the Anarch movement in Europe being much more prominent, and ultimately the continent is split between the Anarchs, the Elders and the Reformers, those who believe that change must come to the Camarilla , but they’re less inclined to blow poo poo up to get it done like the Anarchs. Next up we get a run down on the clans of Europe and what they’re up to. The Brujah of Europe are more refined than their North American counterparts, being compared to the Ventrue in their demeanor. This is also the first time we get a mention that Communism in Europe was backed by the Brujah. The Gangrel are losing ground to the expansion of cities across the continent, which is pushing them into more direct conflict with the Lupines. Some have taken to Ecoterrorism to deal with this, because why the hell not. The Gangrel of Europe are also said to be drug addicts or just straight up crazy, and that there is a mass exodus from the continent happening. There are Malkavians in power in Europe. This is obviously a bad thing because they’re the crazy clan and what’s more dangerous than a crazy old powerful vampire? One in control of a city. The Nosferatu mostly hang out in ruins and in the metros of the continent, but are generally seen as cursed and disliked by other European kindred. It’s hard out here for the freak looking vampires. The Toreador of course hold power in Paris and Florence, and are snobby shits who don’t like foreigners, especially their American cousins. The Ventrue are strong across the continent, though they are busy debating how things should be run, with some believing the current systems or even reverting to quasi-feudalism is the way to go, while the younger believe in a United Europe of which they will rule. The Tremere are a European born clan, and as such their power center is in Europe, specifically Vienna. Caitiff are shunned in Europe, because European kindred are all about age, bloodline and clan ties, but occasionally they get swept up into suicide missions for other Kindred who see the lowly Caitiff as effective pawns. The Assamites. Whoooo boy this is where poo poo starts to get kinda dicey. So the Assamites are making their way into Europe from their home base in Turkey through the influx of Arab immigration to the continent and building up power. Also they're big on terrorism, and here’s the first time I’m going to call this book out for doing something gross. The Assamites are blamed for the 1985 Vienna terrorist attack that took place on Dec. 27th. This is a real terror attack that occurred both in Vienna and Rome at two airports, leading to 19 deaths and 100’s of injuries. This is incredibly tasteless, not only because this was an event that took place barely 7 years prior to the publication of this book, but straight up making the Muslim analog clan do a terrorism is a terrible look. The Followers of Set are around, but not doing much. The Giovanni are expanding out of Italy and into Switzerland. No one knows what they’re up to, but no one trusts them. Because they are vampire mobsters. Vampire. Mobsters. The Ravnos are all over Europe, although they are most common in Eastern Europe, because as previously stated they are the Romani analogue. Yes, the book says they travel with the “Gypsy Clans” Apparently the Ravnos also roll into Vampire festivals and do sleight of hand tricks, while also pick pocketing because OF COURSE THE ROMANI ANALOGS ARE THIEVES GOD drat IT WHITE WOLF. The World of Darkness: And you thought the real world was loving racist? France France is the first nation to get a closer look, noting that the Toreador hold power here and are also nationalist assholes. So I guess we can blame the rise of the right wing nationalism in France in the 80’s and 90’s on the Toreadors. Paris is ruled by one Francois Villon who owns the Louver, and he and his buddies decide what’s hot or not when it comes to art and fashion. The other clans in the city aren’t in love with the Toreador stranglehold on power, but nothing specific about them taking any action. The Sabbat are said to have a hideout in the Parisian slums, the idea being that if they stir up enough trouble with the mortals, it’ll cause trouble for the Toreadors. The Nosferatu are few in number mostly hiding out beneath the cathedrals of the city, but here’s where the book introduces two amazing Nos characters almost as an afterthought. One is said to have been the inspiration for Quasimodo, and the other is named Erik with a K, who lives under the Paris Opera House, and whose singing voice is grudgingly acknowledged as one of the best. They put the Phantom of the Opera into this book and I loving love it. Erik is the best thing in this chapter so far. Germany Home base of the Ventrue who have held the nation for centuries. Berlin is noted as being an Anarch hotbed after the wall fell, with Malkavians especially doing well in the newly united city, as their antics are considered more just expressions of the newly gained freedom of the citizens. The Black Forest is being overtaken by Lupines and it’s causing the Gangrel to move into the cities. Also hidden deep inside the forest is a Sabbat stronghold, where they work to control the resources of the newly united Germany. Except they’ve also got a real big Faerie problem. Which honestly is a pretty hilarious image even without any further context of how the Fae work in this setting, the idea that a group of badass monsters are being hosed with by Faeries of the Black Forest is very, very funny. Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg Nothing really of note to say about these three countries, they get two short paragraphs that establish the Ventrue are here and in control of the banking and jewel industries. Also they’re trying to make nice with former Soviet kindred but are being ignored. Amsterdam is held by a younger Ventrue Prince, the Sabbat and the Giovanni are making moves into the city, and nothing else of interest is said. Norway/Denmark/Sweden Sure, let’s lump these three together. The previous three made sense as they’re relatively smaller countries but I guess Scandinavia is getting lumped together too because reasons? Norway was a stronghold of the Brujah, but with the Christianization of the nation, the Toreador and Ventrue moved in. There is also mention of an all female Gangrel group known as the Valkyries who were driven into the forests by the invading German/English Ventrue forces. There is also mention that because of the midnight sun phenomena, many kindred in this part of the world spend half the year in torpor. The Anarchs are making trouble in Scandinavia, and once again we pull out a historical figure to tie to vampire bullshit. This time the books claims that the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986 was actually by the leader of the Valkyries, a Gangrel known as Brunhilde. Again, this is loving gross, why did we need to tie this group of vampires to the very real assassination of a political leader just 6 years prior? Does this actually add anything to the lore and plot? No, it’s literally a single sentence at the end of the write up for this section. Can’t wait for Assamites did 9/11. Finland Nothing of interest to report on Finland other than the Prince is a crazy Tremere who is trying to figure out a ritual to blot out the sun. That’s it. Austria Most of this segment is all about Vienna, the seat of Tremere power. Once again no one likes the Tremere and basically they have more or less total control of Vienna. Switzerland Switzerland doesn’t have many vampires, but the one in charge is Guillaume, a Brujah who has achieved Golconda (transcendence of the vampire condition) and now keeps Switzerland a neutral power. The Giovanni are moving into the banking side of things, and the Ventrue already have their claws in the economy. Spain The Anarchs are popping off in Spain, with the country's clans being Ventrue, Toreador, Tremere and some Malkavians and Gangrel. Barcelona gets an interesting write up, noting that the Dia De Los Muertes festivities are the one time of year when all the kindred come to the festivities put aside their differences and just have themselves a big bash. They also embrace someone at the beginning of the event, proclaim them Prince of Vampires and let them do whatever they want. Until the end of the night when they get staked and dumped in an alley to greet the sun. Because Vampires are assholes. Toledo is a secret battle ground for Mages and Tremere. Wizard Fights! The Toledo steel of legend is said to have been forged by Mages to try to kill vampires with. Not much else to say other than Mages and Tremere are fighting each other and stealing each others magic books and doo-dads. Like you do. There is mention of a small group of Nosferatu who live under the Escorial, and are the source of local legends regarding the sounds that emanate from the crypts there. The Basques get mentioned mostly to say they occasionally do a terrorism against the Spanish and the Brujah and Gangrel sometimes hangout with them. It’s probably not a great depiction of these people but apparently White Wolf was really into terrorism in 1992? Italy The Italian powers that be are Brujah and Toreador, and because they’re old as gently caress they are too busy bitching at each other about slights that happened centuries ago then focusing on their cities. You know, like boomer vampires do. The Giovanni are, of course the real power in Italy because the Mafia am I right? Lupines apparently aren’t really a thing in Italy, but Faeries hang out in the outlands of the country. Rome is of course the seat of power for the Catholic Church, and as such, there are a few folks floating around Rome with “True Faith”, a power that can repel vampires, which means there aren’t many vampires actually hanging out in Rome, other than some Nosferatu who seem to be undisturbed by the power. Toreador come to visit to see the art because of course they do. The Society of Leopold is mentioned here, essentially a group dedicated to hunting supernaturals has a headquarters in Rome because of course they do, and there is a rumor that the Society also has a hidden library with at least one copy of the Book of Nod (vampire bible) along with information about the powers and weaknesses of both individual kindred as well as clans. No one has been able to find said library…yet. Venice is the home of the Giovanni who apparently loving hate the Nosferatu for uncovering some secret about them, and as such, the Nos stay hidden in the canals and sewers of the city. That’s it. Sicily is run by a Brujah named Don Caravelli who is the head of the Mafia. So we have literal vampire mobsters in the Giovanni, and now a completely different vampire who is the leader of the mortal Mafia. I think? It’s not super clear but for the sake of sanity we’ll say Caravelli is the head of the mortal Mob. The Don may or may not be working with the Sabbat, and due to the large population of Lupines in Sicily, he’s considering welcoming them into the family. Surely this won’t have any kind of negative consequences at all. Eastern Europe Eastern Europe isn’t actually a country, but sure let's just lump all of “Eastern Europe” into one thing, sure. Mostly a lot of really old vampires who remember a time before the Masquerade live here and have either hosed off to Torpor or just hang out on their own, and generally are polite to visitors, but give the side eye to female Kindred traveling alone because back in their day, the ladies didn’t travel without a man. Oh hey, remember how I said no one likes the Tremere? The elders of Eastern Europe really, really hate the Tremere and remember the bullshit they pulled to become a clan in the first place and thus make unlife difficult for any Tremere they find in their domains. There is a little bit about Transylvania being where the Tremere got their start as a clan, as well as the Inconnu (really old, powerful vampires, more on them later) meeting there. Also something happened in Russia that has made their power of Auspex useless. Also they sent some dudes to go investigate and they haven’t come back so that’s probably not a good thing. Gangrel hang out in the forests except when driven out by Lupines, Malkavians wander the countryside, and the Ravnos are considered cheats and thieves because racism. Greece Greek vampires stick with the Hellenic tradition of city-states and strongly enforce the law of presentation before the Prince for all newcomers. Those who don’t are hunted down and killed. The Brujah have considerable numbers in Greece, but unlike their more raging brothers and sisters, these are the philosophical Brujah because of course. The Anarch movement is mostly made up of Gangrel and Nosferatu who have kicked the poo poo out of the Lupine population for centuries. Faeries are still hanging out in the Greek wilderness, with specific mention of Satyrs, Nymphs and Maenads, and they have no problem loving up anyone, mortal or vampire who wanders into their territory. USSR/Russia So the Brujah were behind Communism. I got nothing to say about that one other than, of course they were. Baba Yaga however is whats worth discussing in this section. Baba Yaga is crazy powerful and she awoke from torpor in 1990. She’s now slowly rebuilding her base of power and plans to return Russia to greatness. Baba Yaga rocks. Turkey The Assamites have their base here. That’s about it. Some Lupines and Faeries run around the hills but otherwise this is Assamite country and they don’t actually give a poo poo about the mortal politics of the country. Istanbul Controlled by the Assamites. Not much else of interest to say on this one. And with that, we close out the bulk of Chapter 2, with some more stat blocks for Brunhilde, Don Caravelli, Guillaume, Francois Villon and Baba Yaga who is listed as being a 4th generation vampire, with an embrace year of 5000 BC. Baba Yaga is cool and good and deserves a spot on the board next to Annie and Erik as “Best characters of this book” Next, subchapter 2(?): Hunedoara Castle
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Apr 8, 2022 16:35
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A World of Darkness: The Promised Lands, 1st Edition part 3 Hunedoara Castle Written by Andrew Greenberg, art by Josh Timbrook Europe gets a sort of subchapter here focused on the Romanian Hunedoara Castle, opening with lyrics from the song In the Kingdom of the Blind the One-eyed are Kings by Dead Can Dance “For time has imprisoned us in the order of our years, in the discipline of our ways and in the passing of momentary stillness we can view our chaos in motion and the subsequent collision of fools, well versed in the subtle art of slavery” We’re given a bit of historical information about the castle, then launch into its place in the World of Darkness. Remember the Inconnu I mentioned previously, the really old and strong vampires? This is where they hang out. The book gives a fantastic description of how the castle is hidden away and actually attempting to reach it is a near impossibility due to the powerful magic used to conceal the castle. The castle was also chosen for its proximity to the Tremere, giving the Inconnu a strategic advantage should they finally get sick enough of the Tremere’s poo poo to end them. Saulot, another incredibly old and powerful vampire is said to have been friends with the Inconnu despite never actually joining them. He is said to have been the first to achieve Golconda, and because of this he was seen as a great ally. Cret, one of the few named Inconnu in the book, is the one who came up with the idea for the ritual to conceal the castle. Which as it turns out, was a really bad loving idea, as it's a blood ritual to the demon Baphomet, and the 12 Inconnu who first performed the ritual are now bound to repeat the ritual every year to maintain the protection over the castle, and thus locking themselves out of achieving Golconda. Bravo gents. Your hatred of the Tremere was more important than transcendence. And speaking of Golconda, we don’t get a whole lot of information about how it is actually achieved, however there is discussion of a “Room of Self” that is hidden in the under keep of the castle, that has mirrors and fire and is meant to test a Kindred on their path to Golconda. The aforementioned Saulot is said to have done this, though there is the suggestion that maybe Saulot didn’t achieve Golconda or whoever did wasn't him. Mystery And that’s Hunedoara Castle, a neat little subchapter about a group of idiot vampires who hate another group of vampires so much they’ve locked themselves out of transcending their vampiric condition to make sure their secret club house remains hidden on the off chance they decide to actually go and gently caress up the Tremere. Jordan: The City of Petra Written by Steve Crow, art by Jon Skoglund This chapter opens with a quote from François de La Rochefoucauld’s book Maxims and Moral Reflections. “There is scarcely a single man sufficiently aware to know all the evil he does” So points for another thematic quote, which leads into an opening paragraph about how in the world of Vampire, characters are often embracing the lesser of two evils to accomplish a goal. This rolls into a bit of explanation about the secret ruler of Jordan, and that while this secret ruler has killed or had killed anyone who has or may oppose him, his rule has also brought relative peace and prosperity to Jordan, so moral quandary. Except not really, we’re talking about an immortal being (not a vampire anymore, and we’ll get there) who secretly pulls the strings behind the scenes of a country and who the book just told us has murdered people who opposed him, as well as those who were unaware they were opposing the dude. So no, this is not a real moral quandary like you’re attempting to present here book. We move onto the history of the country, this time going full on mix of history and fiction, introducing the Nabataeans who built Petra, along with Talaq the previously mentioned secret ruler of Jordan who is no longer a vampire. Here we get yet another example of “Historical assassination was actually vampires” this time with the assassination of Abdullah the First of Jordan being done by the Assamites. I guess this kinda makes sense if Talaq is supposedly pulling the strings and apparently didn’t want peace with Israel? Honestly this section of the chapter is kind of a mess, because we’ve got references to in universe stuff layered in with the real history, but then right after that we have a whole section titled “The Shadow History” which is 100% in universe history of the country, so why did we mix the two if you're going to just do a full fictional version shortly after? The majority of the shadow history can be summed up thus: “Talaq loving hates the Romans, the Setites and Romans fought a bit over the area before they realized it would be easier to just influence the Roman emperors. Talaq was embraced by the Assamites, used this new power to gently caress with the Romans and gather the remaining Nabatean peoples to Petra once again, also he loving hates the Setites.” This is also where we are introduced to the greatest named character I have ever seen, a Jewish Mage by the the name of Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon aka RAMBAM. RAMBAM (whose name must always be typed in all caps and should be said with great emphasis) agreed to use his Kabbala magic to return Talaq to human, but with a really long life span, and apparently some of his vampire powers intact, in exchange for Talaq convincing Suleiman the Magnificent to erect a wall around the Old city of Jerusalem and to protect the city during his reign. With this done, RAMBAM restored Talaq to humanity, and Talaq faked his death so the Assamites would leave him alone. The lost city of Petra was not found in 1812 by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, instead he and his crew were wiped out by the Nabateans. And speaking of the Nabateans, the book details a bit about what they’re like, which is deadly warriors who begin combat training at 10 and move onto live rounds and real blades at the age of 14. At 18 they leave Petra, travel 100 miles away and then decapitate a man between the ages of 22-40. Because reasons? The book isn’t super clear on what this actually accomplishes. There are Lupines in Jordan, but mostly in the northern desert area of the country. Talaq doesn’t like them (what a shock) and of course has trained the Naba to fight against them. This can’t possibly end poorly for everyone involved. RAMBAM is hanging out with the Mossad, you know, like you do. Apparently most other mages stay the gently caress out of Jordan, which considering Talaq and his nonsense, yeah I can see why. Did you know the Palestine Liberation Organization has lupines? Well they do! In what is one of the most bizarre moments of not leaning into the dumbest poo poo possible, Yasar Arafat is mentioned in this bit about the PLO’s Lupines, but it’s made clear he is not, in fact a werewolf himself but that he probably knows who the werewolves in the group are. The chapter wraps up with a stat block for the Naba, a bit about Talaq’s enemies (basically everyone) and then into a bit more general info about Jordan’s geography and people along with some story ideas, a few about how to bring the Jordanian conflict and intrigue to the city where the story takes place, including one that suggests that the players be drawn into a PLO Werewolf vs Mossad Mage fight. I’m not sure if PLO Werewolves vs Mossad Mages is the dumbest poo poo I’ve ever read, or the most amazing. Maybe both? Anyway that wraps up Jordan, a chapter that I honestly dreaded reading considering some of the already questionable things I’ve seen in this book. I was expecting this chapter to fly off the rails with racist poo poo, but surprisingly it doesn’t. Admittedly I don’t know much about the history of Jordan or its politics, and I think bringing the Israeli/Palestine conflict into a game about vampires is a real bad idea, then again it gave us loving RAMBAM and PLO Wolves vs Mossad Mages. If you don’t love saying RAMBAM then I don’t know what to tell you. RAMBAM. Hong Kong Written by Ryan O’Rourke, art by John Cobb We begin probably the single worst chapter of this entire book with a Rudyard Kipling quote, from The Man Who Was “Asia is not going to be civilized after the methods of the West. There is too much Asia and she is too old.” Now I should correct myself, because while the Hong Kong chapter does in fact begin with it’s title and the Kipling quote, it’s also preceded by an insanely racist drawing of an asian vampire with a fu-manchu mustache and rice hat just right there. It’s a full loving page image. I have included a link (https://i.imgur.com/WJyH6Gim.jpg) so that you too can have your brain smacked around your skull by how insanely loving racist this drawing is. Now that you’ve taken a moment to look at the picture, and I sincerely hope that you did, keep that image in mind as I discuss the rest of this disaster of a chapter. The chapter properly opens with some fiction about the Taipan (Prince) of Hong Kong, an Englishman by the name of Pedder. Pedder is a racist piece of poo poo right out the gate, describing being revolted at the sight of another vampire who is, and I quote “Oriental in features and complexion” Our asian vampire friend then proceeds to drink blood from his victim in a magical way because of loving course he does. Pedder then gets a jab in at Indians by calling one a “Fat Punjee”. gently caress you Pedder, you suck poo poo. Thankfully the book explicitly calls Pedder a racist a few pages later when discussing him, and points out he’s an old school English colonialism type. So you know, a real shitbag. There’s a lot talk about the “Mysterious Eastern Kindred” because Asian vampires are a totally different thing FOR NO loving REASON OTHER THAN RACISM. God loving drat it. The gist of the this first chunk of the chapter is basically establishing that mainland China is impenetrable by western Kindred, noting that those that attempted to make a foothold in the mainland all go their poo poo wrecked, including elders who have either gone missing or are dead. I’d also like to point out this yellow peril rear end line “Crouched the great dark mass of China, a huge dragon about to swallow the Taipan and his rich fat city” The one two punch of the opening art for this chapter and the first few pages were enough that I took a break from reading this book and didn’t get back to it for six months because there’s only so much questionable, or out right racist poo poo I can take in my RPG books before I need to take a break. Anyway, Pedder sucks, but this chapter does give us Gerald, a Malkavian who hangs out in the tourist heavy areas of Hong Kong wearing floral pattern shirts and two cameras. He plays up the obnoxious American gimmick and I kinda love this character. Pedder doesn’t like Gerald, but our boy is smart enough to cause a scene whenever the Taipan decides to send goons after him. Shine on you crazy diamond. We also get two more amazing characters to add to the “Best characters in this book” list with Tom and his lover Carlos. Tom and Carlos show up to karaoke bars across Hong Kong and while Tom is fantastic, Carlos can’t carry a tune. I legitimately love that despite literally every gross thing in this chapter that makes me want to scream, we also get a gay vampire couple, who seemingly are just spending their eternity doing karaoke. Tom and Carlos deserved their own book White Wolf! #TomandCarlos From here it’s more descriptions of various areas of Hong Kong to set stories and the types of stories to tell in each location. I won’t go over all of them but I pulled a few things worth mentioning from these segments. Golconda gets mentioned again, this time in relation to a Virginia Brown, a Brujah who fled New York after the Sabbat took over (late 1920s), she’s apparently nearly achieved her goal of Golconda, so good for you Virginia. We’re also told about a Gangrel who is attempting to meet the water faeries that hangout on St. Stephens Beach, going so far as to bundle himself up in heavy clothes to attempt to find them during the day. No reason is given for why he’s doing this, but hey, who am I to judge. Lantau Island is mostly Buddhist monasteries and convents, however there is a group of Trappists (Catholic religious order) that also live on the island. I mention this only so I can tell you about the unnamed Malkavian who also hangs out here with the Trappists, selling milk and cookies to tourists. We’ve got another named Inconnu in Cassius who hangs out on a tiny island near Lantau, keeping an eye on the situation with the mainland in relation to the return of the “Eastern” kindred. Finally a goddamn ghost! Captain T’o Ngoh and his ghost crew rob ships by stopping the wind to their sails and then boarding and stealing any valuables they recognize, so jewelry, cash and shipped products, but ignore the potentially more valuable tech and credit cards. So we’ve slogged this far through the Hong Kong chapter and we’re nearing the end right? SURPSE FUCKER! Did you want Feng Shui explained to you by an RPG book? Too bad! Feng Shui as described here is literally magic, and has three paths: Geomancy, Spirit Thaumaturgy Weather control and something called Neptune's Might. Not all practitioners of Feng Shui are capable of doing further magic, but some can. We are informed that Buddhists can become Witch Hunters (aka: Hunters) or Spellcasters. I assume Spellcaster is not quite a Mage, but the book does not elaborate. Let’s assume that yes, spellcaster is a lesser form of a capital M Mage, and hope that this gets mentioned in the Mage core book. I’m not entirely sure why Buddhists are more capable of becoming spellcasters/witch hunters, but there ya go. We get some Geomancy rituals and the ways a Geomancer can bless or curse a person. Unless I’m totally blind, I saw no further mentions of the other types of Feng Shui magic other than Geomancy in this book. The chapter closes out with “Reports of The Chinese Vampires” which isn’t nearly as awful as the title suggests. Mostly this is setting fluff that lays the groundwork for the Kindred of the East line to come in 1998 and the Keui Jin of said book. There is also discussion of these mysterious kindred having control over the “Spirit World”, along with some notes from the Tremere about plotting to get in good with these Eastern kindred so they can better control the spirits. This can’t possibly go horribly wrong can it? We’ll have to wait until I eventually review Kindred of the East to find out! And that’s it for Hong Kong proper. Admittedly I skipped over a lot of the detail in this chapter compared to some of the chapters I’ve previously discussed, but I covered the gist of it, and honestly so much of it is incredibly hard to read without rolling your eyes at because good lord is it loving racist and extremely annoying to constantly see this Mysterious Eastern Kindred poo poo all over this chapter. Not to mention that by explicitly saying Asian vampires are different, they’ve basically thrown their entire Masquerade cosmology out the window so that the Chinese vampires can be mysterious. It sucks and I hate it. But wait, it gets so much loving worse! Hong Kong: The Gagiki Written by Lee Gold, Art by John Cobb So apparently in 1992 the best way to talk about Japan is to just shoehorn it into a subchapter about loving HONG KONG? God loving drat it White Wolf. The Gaki subchapter is all about Japanese vampires, and if you thought Hong Kong was racist, hold onto your butts because it’s going to get worse, and really kicking off a chapter about Japanese vampires with Hong Kong as the title is just the tip of the iceberg. We get some opening fiction about a Hengeyokai, a shapeshifting cat that doesn’t actually get addressed until about 4 pages later. In the interim we talk a bunch about Buddhism and the idea of the Jiki, creatures that eat various things. We get a whole list of them because apparently the author really wanted you to know how much research he did on Buddhism so here’s the list: Jiki-Ketsu are Blood eaters, and are the vampires discussed in this chapter Jiki-Niku are flesh eaters Jiki-Da are eaters of tears Jiki-Fun eat poop Jiki-Doku eat poison Jiki-Fu eat wind Jiki-ke eat smells Jiki-ka eat fire. Did we need this information? No, not really but hey, if I have to read the poo poo, I'm going to make you read it too. Anyway, the Jiki-Ketsu or Gaki (pick a loving term and stick with it White Wolf) are Japanese vampires. They claim that they come from the coupling of two Japanese Kami (Spirits or gods in Shinto) Izannagi and Izanami (who are said to have created the Japanese islands in mythology) which lead to the Jiki-Ketsu. This is then explained to be somewhat analogous to the Caine/Lilith story that Western kindred believe and therefore, the land of Nod (the location of the first vampire city) is actually in Japan. I haven’t really gone into the questionable nature of using various world religions in the way this book has, and personally I’m not bothered by the extremely Christian view that Masquerade takes with regards to the story of Eden being true and such, but Buddhists having magic powers and Japanese vampires just wholesale saying “Oh yeah that western vampire legend actually happened here” is….something for sure. We’ll roll it up into “White Wolf doesn’t understand how to not be loving racist about Asia” pile and call it good. Did you know the Gaki (gently caress you White Wolf, I’m picking the easier word here) have a completely unique and different manner of embrace from their western counterparts? Well they do, and it’s as eye rolling as you would expect. It's a whole ritual with oaths being sworn and just no. If you’re saying to yourself “Joyless, I understand that Hong Kong had some questionable poo poo in it, but did they really lean into the racism with this Japanese bit by making the vampires into Samurai and Ninjas or something equally stupid and racist?” C’mon down you’ve won the prize of knowing that White Wolf was loving Racist! Yes, the Gaki are Samurai and Ninjas and when they dishonor their elders they become Ronin until they can atone for their sins. Also Buddhist Gaki apparently have something called a “Blood Sutra” which I’m pretty sure is probably offensive in some way. The Gaki also don’t like anyone who isn’t Japanese, because of course they’re xenophobic. The Gaki and western Kindred are different for reasons that are not at all interesting and oh my god i don’t care. I want to die. So the Hegeyokai previously mentioned are their own weird little side thing, described as mostly being long tailed cats. They use a special and different version of the power Protean, which is the power that allows a vampire to take on animalistic qualities. I feel like this whole bit about the difference between Hegeyokai protean and standard protean was in anticipation of that one person at the table who would hear about this nonsense and want to be a vampire that can also change into a cat. Also they steal Ki (life force) instead of blood, like Hong Kong kindred because again, Asia is Magic! Speaking of magic, we get some Gaki and Cat vocabulary because this is very important information that I need for my game. The Gaki also don’t sleep, because if they do they have to pass through “Rifts” that are their own personal nightmare dimensions. There are 10 of these and I didn’t read through them because I honestly do not care. This chapter also gives us rituals for the Gaki called Maho(the demon arts), which I also skipped over because by this point I want to be done with this god awful loving chapter and oh hey the cats have rituals too. And with that the suffering ends, we have completed Hong Kong: The Gaki. First and foremost, what in the absolute gently caress were they thinking here? Hong Kong and Japan are two entirely different nations with entirely different histories and cultures, but sure, lets just mash these stupid loving Gaki into the a sub chapter about Hong Kong instead of just titling the loving thing “Japan: The Gaki” or literally just “The Gaki”. So not only does this subchapter start off on the wrong foot with its stupid title, but then proceeds to be somehow more offensive than the entirety of the Hong Kong chapter itself. I am truly in awe of how loving awful these two chapters are and would honestly like to smack both the authors and whoever gave these two chapters the go ahead. Sure you can make an argument that “Oh it was 1992” but yo, this poo poo is insanely racist and the loving picture that opens Hong Kong is as racist in 2022 as it was in 1992. If I was a storyteller when this book came out and a player came to me raving about this Gaki poo poo or the Hong Kong chapter in general, I’d take the book from them, roll it up and smack em on the head with it. gently caress outta here with that nonsense. Well at least the book can’t get any more racist right? Oh it gets worse in Part 4
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Apr 8, 2022 17:07
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A World of Darkness: The Promised Lands, 1st Edition Part 4: Please White Wolf, I am begging you to stop with the racism Haiti (aka Please god be less racist than Hong Kong) Written by Andrew Greenberg, art by Josh Timbrook “And when the voices told her when and where to act, she said: I’ve lost control again”-Joy Division. Okay, so you’re quoting one of my favorite bands in the opening to the chapter, I’ll give you a point in your favor Haiti.  To be honest, this chapter is in fact way less racist than Hong Kong was. We get a bit of history about the country and jump almost immediately into establishing when vampires showed up (17th century) and that when the Haitian people overthrew the French in 1804, the Camarilla population of the island wasn’t strong enough to not get their poo poo utterly wrecked by the locals. (LOL) This left the island to the Followers of Set who have taken over the island and have ingrained themselves into the local voodoo traditions as Loa (spirits or gods of voodoo traditions). There is of course some conflict amongst the local Setites, with a particular focus on Ezuli, a Setite who leads a cult with worshipers all over the island. Ezuli is seen as a spirit of love and sex and sensuality, which the book notes means her followers emulate her promiscuity. Do you see where this is going? If you guessed that Ezuli has picked up AIDS from someone and has been passing it along to every follower she feeds on, you would be correct. I’ll quote the passage: quote:Thus Ezuli has recently noticed that she sometimes feels weaker after feeding than she did before. She has even caught herself coughing, though she has not had a need to breath in more years than she can remember. Okay, it’s 1992, and the AIDS crisis is actually being talked about more openly in the media in general, so I understand why it would be included in the book, and hell it might have even been kinda progressive in a weird sort of way back then, especially considering how casually the book drops Tom and Carlos into this without making a big deal about them, but the execution is still taking making a character into the Typhoid Mary but with AIDS. This ain’t it chief. It’s the most tasteless thing in the chapter about Haiti so I guess that’s a win of sorts? I still hate it and toss it onto the pile of other questionable poo poo this book has thrown in as part of it’s “Ripped from the Headlines” shenanigans that I’ve previously complained about in other chapters. The rest of the chapter discusses how the Setites are of course pulling the strings of power on the island, and of course voodoo and voodoo priests are a big part of this chapter. There’s a split between priests who work for the Setites and the independent priests who are as dangerously powerful, if not potentially more so than the priests linked up with the Setites. There is mention of fairies and werewolves on the island, but they’re pushed off towards the center of the country and that’s about the last we hear about them in this chapter. There’s also mention of the Society of Leopold having agents on the island under cover of being Catholic church aid workers. And that’s basically it for Haiti. Ezuli is the main focus of the chapter, with most of the plot elements surrounding her and her sire’s cults and the general struggling for control of the island. It’s not a bad chapter, and the stuff about Voodoo is about what I expected, correct terminology with the feeling that it’s all leaning towards the pop cultural/movie vision of Voodoo which makes sense for a horror game, but the Typhoid Mary aspect of Ezuli is the elephant in the room of this chapter that I just kept coming back to over and over again, trying to suss out who the gently caress thought it was a good idea to go with. Baffling poo poo at times. But we’re almost done with our trip around the World of Darkness, at least as far as this book is concerned as we close things out with: The Vampire Club Written by Frank Frey, art by Jon Skoglund “It’s an odd thing that anyone who disappears was said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world” Oscar Wilde The final chapter details a single location within a city, rather than the city or country itself. The Vampire Club in San Francisco, California. The story goes that a rich Engishman goes broke, moves to SF and rebuilds his fortunes, and then builds the greatest luxury yacht the early 1900’s has ever seen. He eventually goes bankrupt and kills himself. Enter Vannevar Thomas, a Ventrue who purchases the yacht. The 1906 earthquake knocks the ship ashore and it’s grounded. Vannevar has the ship completely restored and upgraded, turning the upper decks into the “Alexandrian Club” for ghouls (vampire’s assistants) and the lower decks into “The Vampire Club”, a Kindred only spot where anything but diablerie (killing and consuming the soul/powers of another vampire) goes. The club officially opened on Halloween in 1917 and everything was going great until LA fell in the Anarch Revolt of 1944. SF being a stalwart Camarilla city stood strong after the fall of LA, and business at the club picked back up as the kindred of the Camarilla saw that SF wasn’t going anywhere. Anarchs are known to come to the club occasionally, but it’s noted that everyone remains on their best behavior. The book also provides extensive descriptions of the ship and includes several maps of the floors of the ship as well. Mages are aware of the Alexandrian club, potentially aware of the Vampire Club as well, but they leave it alone. We get a bit of info about about a seedy club in the Tenderloin called the Blue Bird of Paradise run by a Malkavian that features nude male and female dancers, and because it’s run by a Malkavian, poo poo tends to get weird. As someone who lives in the Bay Area, this is the most accurate thing in the book regarding the Tenderloin. There’s also a brief blurb about the Cafe Prague in the Haight-Ashbury that is owned by a Toreador, and pops up as a location in one of the Masquerade anthology books. The chapter wraps up with write ups for Sebastian Melmoth, aka Oscar Wilde, the owner/creator of the Vampire Club. The Irish poet is of course a Toreador, and in the notes about presenting him in play it mentions he’s got a soft spot for Caitiff and that he tries to spend a bit of time with all his guests. So hey, Oscar Wilde is a vampire and he’s also apparently not a total rear end in a top hat. Tex R. Cainen, the son of the Sundance Kid is the night manager of the Alexandrian Club and a friend of Wildes, who has been hanging out in the Vampire Club since 1921. The book finishes with a half paragraph about Tex’s ghoul and that’s the book. Despite some issues, I didn’t hate this book. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, unless you’re planning to run a Masquerade game set in the time period that it was released, or you really want to read a roleplaying supplement book from 1992. But there are elements of this book that I think can still be used in a modern game. The Vampire Club for example is a great bit of plot, and I’m certain it will come up in other Masquerade supplements as I make my way through the books. As a time capsule of where the setting and game was at in 1992, I think this book is sort of fascinating, you’ve got the major plot stuff like the civil war taking place in London between clans, the dreadful threat of “eastern kindred” stuff, right alongside these delightfully fun side characters like Erik under the Paris Opera, or Tom and Carlos or Gearald and the unnamed Malkavaian on Lantau selling milk and cookies to tourists. These were the characters that made me smile the most when I was reading through this book, because they’re such wonderfully odd little flickers of light within the overarching darkness of the setting. I have no idea if Tom and Carlos or Gearld ever get mentioned in another book, or if this is their one and only appearance, but if it is, then they made a hell of an impression. The same goes for Black Annis and Baba Yaga, these are fantastic bits of real world legend that make absolute sense to be creatures lurking around the World of Darkness setting. The somewhat scant inclusion of the other game lines, was a nice bit of world building, although aside from Captain Ngo, there aren’t many ghosts really detailed in the book. Unfortunately the good elements of this book are overshadowed by the incredibly racist nonsense that's sprinkled throughout the book. Skip it unless you absolutely need to read a first edition Masquerade setting book.
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Apr 8, 2022 17:29
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By popular demand posted:He's a real historic figure and still brought up in conversations for his many contributions to medicine and Jewish philosopy. I was legitimately baffled that they name dropped Arafat but then say "Oh he's not a werewolf, but he knows who is" Just make him a werewolf! Missed opportunity. Also I learned something new and cool about RAMBAM.
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Apr 8, 2022 18:40
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Dawgstar posted:I don't think Crowley as a vampire pops up again. Mithras sure does. In the 2E version of this book he's mauled near to death by a pack of Garou, diablerized by a Sabbat rando but Mithras' spirit is so strong it basically takes him over and he starts climbing his way back to the top, culminating in the Not Very Good Fall of London giant hardback adventure for V5 which while published in the Year of Our Lord 2020 also expected you to play the pre-generated characters and is written assuming you will. Oh I've got the second edition of this book as well. It's on the list of "To be read/reviewed" but at the moment I'm thinking I'm going to stick to my original review plan and knock out a couple more 1e Masquerade books, then jump to Apocalypse and so on. Try and cover the first two published books of each first edition game (aside from this one) I dropped enough money on Ebay to have physical copies of em, might as well read em and melt my brain further with 90's rpg schlock.
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Apr 9, 2022 01:36
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Fuzz posted:gently caress, oWoD was such a loving trainwreck of horrid appropriation by mostly bros from Georgia. Jesus Christ  I literally only own a copy of KOTE because I needed something to fill out an order for free shipping. I've skimmed it exactly once and from the art alone it was pretty 
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Apr 9, 2022 02:27
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Fuzz posted:Speaking as an Asian, it's bad. Oh so doing what they should have done in the first place instead of the horror they inflicted on us with the "Hong Kong" and "Gaki" chapters and later KOTE. E: I'd actually be interested in reading it when it's done, I liked the LA By Night lore sheets you did joylessdivision fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Apr 9, 2022 |
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Apr 9, 2022 03:24
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PurpleXVI posted:You know, thinking back on WoD, I don't recall any particular LGBT rep that didn't feel like it was intended to titillate male readers. Like if a character's sexuality was mentioned at all, it was more or less always to show how weird they were or because the writer was horny at the time of writing. I will direct your attention to the Hong Kong paragraphs I wrote. Tom and Carlos are the best queer representation I've seen from a classic WoD book so far, literally just "These dudes are lovers and sing Karaoke". Nothing weird about them, other than being vampires. Tom and Carlos are A-OK.
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Apr 9, 2022 15:13
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:For all the deserved poo poo that Nightlife receives, Vampire has set a very very low bar. Having started reading the 1st edition core of Vampire recently for later review, Dracula in the opening fiction literally says the Inquisition was as fearful a time as the Holocaust. It's barely 10 pages into the book when this pops up I am once again questioning why I have chosen to do this to myself, other than entertainment.
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Apr 10, 2022 17:12
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Bogart posted:This also implies that old Drac knew, since you can’t fear what you don’t know about, and despite being a magic vampire chose to do nothing. Stake em all.
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Apr 10, 2022 23:45
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Pray for me Goons, I've decided to read/review Mage the Ascension 1e instead of Masquerade 1e next. I anticipate regretting this choice by about 30 pages in.
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Apr 19, 2022 22:18
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Dawgstar posted:I actually brought that book back to the game store and swapped it out for something else, so displeased was I. I'm about 20 pages in so far and aside from the doofus in the opening fiction wearing a trenchcoat and carrying a katana (Also a literal dragon lady Holy poo poo that just hit me) and the use of the term"Magick" (it's a pet peeve), I don't hate it....... Yet. There's still 284 pages to go 
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Apr 20, 2022 01:40
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Halloween Jack posted:This is fortuitous. You've pretty much nailed it as far as what my own motivation for this project I've undertaken for myself. I'm fascinated by the oWoD and I'm super interested to see how it starts and evolves with each supplement and new edition as well as getting a chance to explore the other lines that I basically know little to nothing about beyond their premise and bits of things I've picked up from the discussions here. I actually have a short list of the books I'm doing as "Part One" of this project, the book I already reviewed, then each of the 5 1e core books and the first book published after the core for that line. Originally I was going semi chronological order with Vampire then moving to Werewolf, but I wanted to mix it up so I went with Mage because I like that it's purple And I needed to break out of Masquerade brain a bit, I'm already running a V5 game so a change of scenery as it were is nice.
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Apr 20, 2022 18:36
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By popular demand posted:F&F 2022: The Poster Must Awaken This my new motto
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Apr 22, 2022 14:47
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Kult is absolutely a game that has crawled further and further up its own rear end as new editions have come out. Kult sounds like a worse version of the World of Darkness setting, with even worse mechanics and writing somehow I'm genuinely impressed? Deeply confused? Both? Quick update on Mage 1 reading: It is....it's dumb as hell. I don't know if I love how dumb it is or kind of hate it for how dumb it is. I am annoyed that the "Storytelling" chapter is talking about how to use the rules or not, while not having actually discussed the god drat rules of the game yet.
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May 8, 2022 17:31
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I am about 10 pages away from finish up reading the Mage the Ascension 1e core. I have 97 pages of notes, including tables! My god so many tables...... Then the assembly of thoughts and review will happen. Short version: It's an extremely frustrating game with equally frustrating mechanics. It has its moments of being hilarious and great but the tables 
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Jul 5, 2022 02:20
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PurpleXVI posted:I genuinely thought most of the WoD games were pretty similar in their original incarnation up until their ends, mechanically and such(excepting the nWoD jump). Did you know wizards need guns? Because they do and that's a table. Magic effects? That’s a table. Oh, except for sphere X,Y and Z because those each have their own tables There's a table for health levels! And a table for XP spending! THERE'S A GOD drat FLOW CHART FOR MAGIC!  It's so, so stupid. And yet I kinda love parts of it? July 5th edit: The notes/reading are Done! Clocking in at 104 pages, I'm probably going to take a day or two before I start to actually assemble my chapter by chapter review because I need a little time away from the material, and I'll probably spend some time this weekend going through the PDF and pulling art/tables. joylessdivision fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Jul 5, 2022 |
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Jul 5, 2022 03:15
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Xiahou Dun posted:Fyi I have full intentions of trying to make you do the free casting rules for novel spells by the book. I think you might have a different edition of Mage in mind. I am heavily debating actually attempting to create a character using the rules because as the book says "Making a Mage Character is easy and should only take about a half an hour
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Jul 6, 2022 00:44
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Xiahou Dun posted:Every time you have to look something up more than 20 pages away, take a shot. are you trying to kill me?
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Jul 6, 2022 01:05
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By popular demand posted:A shot only serve to numb the pain, completely in opposition to the spirit of the review. I was admittedly vaping weed throughout my reading/notes taking and I can assure you, it did not at all ease my suffering of trying to wrap my brain around some of the bullshit the game threw at me. I think I had to read the section on the Telurian twice to make sure I was actually understanding it and not just extremely high.
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Jul 6, 2022 14:57
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Quick question before I get into actually writing my review tomorrow. I'm going to make a Mage character, but I'm debating if I want to see just how badly the system hates Hollow Ones by making one of them, or if I should go with one of the other Traditions that would probably be easier. Admittedly I'm kinda leaning towards a Son of Ether or Virtual Adept if I don't go with HO.
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Jul 7, 2022 01:10
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Xiahou Dun posted:Over the top 90's edgy Euthanatos.  That Old Tree posted:While the system is a little overcomplex and the organization is terrible, I think once you hurdle that latter part the actual character creation is simple enough I would encourage you to make two. It would allow you to demonstrate a bit more of stuff you might want to show off, and in particular also better showcase how wildly wonky things can get by contrasting the two characters. Also a very good idea. I'll add that to the weekend to do list.
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Jul 7, 2022 01:49
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Dawgstar posted:Gee, if joylessdivision wanted that I could just have given them one of my old character sheets.  I appreciate the thought, but I think I might have hit on a very amusing character idea for my Euthantos which is both edgey and 90's as hell. It's also going to be pretty god drat silly, but it came to me last night and I think it has legs (as far as being a character I make for a review at least).
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Jul 7, 2022 14:28
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July 7th update: Chapters 1-5 have been written up. I've been writing pretty much all day since 7am and just stopped because I'm struggling to stay focused and coherent. I haven't read back over it yet so I'm not sure about the flow but I feel pretty good about. Plenty of chastising White Wolf though I can promise you that!
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Jul 8, 2022 02:52
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Xiahou Dun posted:You’re doing the Lord’s work. I gotta justify the money I spent on eBay acquiring these stupid books.
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Jul 8, 2022 03:05
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Xiahou Dun posted:God I hope you set aside the money for like a liter of Evan Williams or something to get you through it. Nope, but I live in a state where weed is legal and I get incredibly high and then read the schlock. It's part of why it's taken me a couple of months to get through this book. Understanding the PROPER NOUNS in these books is hard enough sober, it ain't any easier stoned. But it is a hell of a lot funnier. So far I think "Gilgul" is my favorite word I've encountered that is just fun to say.
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Jul 8, 2022 04:12
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Halloween Jack posted:Tried it on absinthe yet? I know, it's cliche... I regret to admit I am the worst goth as I do not like Absinthe. The taste is bad (never liked black licorice) and it gives me a migraine after a sip or two. I learned this the hardway in my mid 20s when my dumb goth and goth adjacent friends got into it. Another question for the F&F thread. Here is my list of the first round of 1e books I was planning to read/review for the first part of this insane project. The method to the madness of why I chose these books was focused on 1e and the first supplement that came out for that game. I've knocked out two of em. What am I reading next Goons? Vampire: The Masquerade 1st ed Players Guide (Vampire 1st ed) Werewolf: The Apocalypse 1st ed Rite of Passage (Werewolf 1e) Digital Web (Mage 1st ed) Wraith: The Oblivion 1st ed Necropolis: Atlanta (Wraith 1st ed) Changeling: The Dreaming 1st ed Book of Storyteller Secrets (1st ed Changeling)
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Jul 8, 2022 14:58
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Halloween Jack posted:Voting for Changeling because I never read the first edition of that one. There were cards of some kind? Yes, apparently there were "Cantrip" cards as well. I've seen them on Ebay pretty frequently, but I've made a very deliberate choice to limit my purchases of old WW stuff to books and things I can easily hang on my wall. So that's why I have something like...almost 100 WoD books (I'm including NuWoD and V5 in that count), maybe 20 of the novels/short story collections and a really sweet MET Masquerade promo poster with a Tim Bradstreet illustration on it, all three of the Masquerade action figures that were released (in their packages, in amazing condition) and probably my single most prized WoD related item (aside from the $150 copy of 1st edition Vampire  ) is the Mage 1e DM screen I picked up for like  at a used bookstore and now have framed because it is the most absurd god drat thing I've ever seen. https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Mage_Storytellers_Screen
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Jul 8, 2022 15:40
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Well that's at least 1 vote for Changeling. Unless the other Mage book I put on that list wins, I'm taking a break from Ascension once this review is done because I just.....I hate it. I hate a lot of it and it makes me angry. But at least I've channeled that anger into (hopefully) funny commentary
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Jul 8, 2022 16:37
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By popular demand posted:Here's some choice edge: I'm going to go out on a limb and say that screams Brucato to me. The RPG gods smiled on me as his name is not on Ascension 1e (and I scoured that credits list) and for this I am deeply grateful. There's enough other things to make me angry I don't need Brucatos bizarre sex stuff in there too.
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Jul 8, 2022 16:49
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By popular demand posted:Brucato is in the credits and the book has plenty of weird sex stuff I.E. A shocker is mentioned as both a defensive item and a sex toy. Yeeeep going to go ahead and just put off getting to 2nd edition Mage for as long as possible
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Jul 8, 2022 16:53
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Well that's 2 for Apocalypse and 3 I believe for Changeling.
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Jul 8, 2022 21:06
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Rand Brittain posted:Apocalypse 1e was once described me as "clearly written by someone who had to either write this or go and and do everything in his power to beat the CEO of an oil company to death or die trying." I will accept this as a 2nd vote for Werewolf 
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Jul 9, 2022 00:06
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Welcome to Joylessdivisions World of Dorkness https://imgur.com/fLGGX82 Authors note: As this review is presented chapter by chapter, if a term or idea is introduced in a chapter and not explained until a later chapter, I will leave the explanation to the chapter where the definition is provided. Mage: The Ascension 1st edition Core Rulebook The year is 1993, Vampire the Masquerade has been on store shelves for about 3 years now, and Werewolf: The Apocalypse came out the prior year (August according to the ad in the previously reviewed A World of Darkness: The Promised Lands) and now, the World of Darkness is about to be rocked. BY MAGICK. Okay let me get this out of the way right up front. I personally loathe the term Magick spelled with a K at the end, it’s just one of those things that annoys me and causes me to roll my eyes when I come across it. This book is full of the use of the word Magick. For the sake of my own sanity, I will only be using the spelling with a K when it is related specifically to a chapter title or a segment heading. Otherwise I’m spelling it without the K.  https://imgur.com/gallery/AraUnPC  First, I absolutely love the color choice/cover of this book. Yes, it’s basically just the Masquerade cover design with a few changes, but laying all five of the original 1st edition cores together I noticed that there is a distinctive difference between the very minimalist designs of Masquerade and Mage and even Wraith, with the background being dedicated to a color and texture and a single item or element to draw the viewer's attention vs Werewolf with its muddy/bloody reddish brown cover with claw marks punched out of the cover, revealing a forest beneath, and the stained glass look of Changeling. Further down this aside, I have to say I don’t love the covers of Demon or Hunter as they feel rather uninspired. At least Orpheus has a distinct style to its cover. So, 5 points to the design department this time around. I really like the Mage cover and the purple background with the bold golden title dominating the top of the cover, and the tarot card on the cover is very eye-catching but subdued, much like Masquerades cover. We need to talk about this tarot card for a second holy poo poo. The tarot card on the cover presents us with so much stuff to look at and puzzle over. There are symbols that are likely occult in someway, there’s a gun, three tarot cards and a key sitting on a table that also features an early 90’s PC with a glowing green screen displaying another occult symbol and a Fax Machine oh my gaaaaaaaawd. The Mage on the card is depicted as having some kind of either robot hand or maybe it's a gauntlet(?), dressed in a trenchcoat (a running theme in this game) headphones and Vegeta’s power reader eyepiece. I don’t even like Dragonball and that's the reference I pull? This is going to be interesting. Listed price is $25.00, which adjusted for 2022 inflation would make this book $49.61. That is entirely too much to pay for this schlock, but moving on. To quote the back cover: "A Storytelling Game of Modern Magic. The Closing of a millennium is at hand. We have been crushed in a vice, Trapped between rigid law and black chaos. All we have wrought with magick is forgotten. The Technocracy, Rational Resolute Ruthless It rules the crystalline earth And suffocates us in webs of steel The Marauders, Unknowable Unpredictable Unholy They rule the outcast realms The Nephandi, Damned Diabolic Destructive They rule the nethermost voids And constrict us with the Wrym’s coils. We have failed to heal the growing paradox Our timid tinkering has won us little ground But perhaps you will not fear to strike firmly To wield the full force of your fury, Perhaps you will battle them as we could not…. Perhaps the time has come." Okay, so right off this sounds pretty cool, and gets a lot about the setting across in a couple of paragraphs or stanzas. The opening paragraph gives us a firm time and place, calling out the coming end of the millennium that we were all so obsessed with in the 90’s. The next three paragraphs/stanzas introduce the three main antagonist groups of the setting, before finally ending with a call to arms to the player to wield the full force of your fury. At this point you’ve probably got all kinds of ideas racing through your mind, who are these Technocracy guys? Outcast realms? What kind of cool powers can I unleash on these evil assholes? Settle down Beavis, because there’s one word slipped into that back cover copy that you will soon understand to be the bane of your existence and easily one of the most frustrating aspects of this game if taken read as written. Paradox. Oh yes, we’ll get to Paradox soon enough friends, soon enough. The title page tells us that this is a “Storytelling Game of Modern Magick”. Lead credit goes to Stewart Wieck, with Chris Earley and Stephan Wieck. We are also given the games tagline “Truth Until Paradox” It’s not quite as evocative as something like “When will you Rage” and it's definitely less wordy than “Beast I am lest Beast I become”, but it doesn’t particularly grab me as taglines go. Lead Design is credited to the above mentioned trio, with Additional Design credited to Mark Rein-Hagen and Chris Hind. Words are credited to Sam Chupp, Christopher Earley, Robert Hatch, Chris Hind, MR-H, Kathleen Ryan, the Brothers Wieck, Travis Williams and Keith Winkler. Noticeably absent from the credits is one Phil Brucatto. I guess I was spared his particular brand of weirdness this time, but I know I won’t be so lucky in the future. Our table of contents breaks down into 9 Chapters (because there are 9 spheres of magic ) along with a prologue and an appendix of antagonists.Prologue: The Awakening What is a White Wolf book without some introductory fiction? Our opening story here follows a young man named Raphael who wears a trenchcoat and carries a katana because it is the 90’s and Highlander was cool and SHUT UP MOM YOU DON’T, UNDERSTAND ME! Anyway, Raph is a big old weeaboo who claims to be a master with his deadly hanzo steel and is going to meet a Madame Wo who placed an ad in the newspaper claiming to be a practitioner of the magical arts, offering her services. What unfolds is the typical “Apprentice meets master and is told they are not worthy, master shows true power” plot that also sprinkles in the basics of the game's setting. Unfortunately the way Wo is written here she gives off some extreme Dragon Lady vibes, and while I’d be willing to assume the best, that it wasn’t intended to come across that way, it does and then proceeds to get about as on the nose with it as possible when Wo shows her power to Raph by turning into a “Oriental Dragon”. Sigh. Lets go ahead and put that down on the board for “Racist nonsense in a White Wolf book” Wo’s show of power has caused a Paradox creature to appear. She explains that while those who have been Awakened can do magic, reality doesn’t like it when the rules are broken, and so Paradox spirits tend to show up to correct the perceived flaw in reality. Wo snags the creature and tosses it into a fish tank full of other paradox spirits, which Raph points out is probably not the best idea and that she is writing magical checks her rear end can't cash. Wo tells him it’s totally fine and under control. It is in fact, not fine or under control, as the fresh paradox spirit she threw in the tank ate all the others and broke free, capturing Wo and dragging her off into another dimension. She drops an enchanted jewel that Raph picks up after another mage, Dante (fitting the description of the mage on the cover) appears on Wo’s computer screen in the 1993 version of a magical Zoom call and tells him to find the most important item Wo left lying around. Touching the jewel “Awakens” Raph to the truth of magic, he uses his new powers to gather a few powerful trinkets from Wo’s attic, including a new katana (Wo melted Raph’s original at one point during the whole “You’re not ready” bit). Raph leaves with his goodies and notices as he's walking that someone is following him. He snaps his fingers and thinks “If only I could find a cab!” and ta-da as if by Magick a cab pulls up and Raph is headed to La Guardia. Not too long after hopping in the cab, another Mage begins to work their own magic on the vehicle, and a gas begins to seep out of the air condition, knocking the driver unconscious while the vehicle picks up speed. Raph bails out, and climbs a fire escape to the top of a building. He leaps from one roof to another and is greeted by the Technocracy being assholes and using a digital sign to taunt him saying “RAPHAEL YOU SHOULD JUST GIVE UP. JOIN US. WE WILL RULE THE WORLD FOREVER. WE ALREADY CONTROL YOUR MIND, YOUR IDEAS. IT IS FUTILE TO RESIST. TRY AN I.R.A. AND SAVE” Raph is having none of that, and in his anger causes several of the bulbs to explode. However his minor temper tantrum was enough time for a gaggle of seemingly normal folks who have been possessed like Agents from The Matrix to climb up to the roof to capture Raph, including the cabbie, a homeless person, a mugger, a wino and a security guard. The Technocracy is not sending their best. The security guard takes a shot at Raph but he dodges it, and then the mugger goes in for the kill with a switchblade but Raph and his Magickal Hanzo Steel are too much for the mugger and his head is separated from his body. This grosses Raph out but he makes his escape down another fire ladder to the street where he steals a car, and sends a bolt of electricity into a pursuing van, causing it to blow up and giving himself a healthy dose of Paradox in the process. Raph makes it to La Guardia, has a little trouble at the ticket counter that Dante resolves for him using his magical hacking skills and Raph is then on his plane, safely heading for San Francisco to meet with Dante and continue his adventures as a weeaboo wizard with a katana in his trenchcoat. I can’t hate on this story too much to be honest. It’s silly as hell, and Raphael with his trenchcoat and katana is just so delightfully silly 90’s schlock that I can’t help but be charmed by it. Aside from the previously mentioned yikes moment when Wo turns into a dragon, I really dug the way the random sleepers were just showing up with glowing eyes and coming after Raph, and gave me serious Matrix vibes. Now that I think about it a little bit, the Matrix films are Ascension as hell, or at least could be watched through that lens for inspiration. Book One I know we just spent 13 pages on an introductory fiction piece, but we get part one of an ongoing tale of awakening starting with a one page snippet about an assassin at a charity ball who is thwarted from killing her target by a Mage who has come to awaken her. Chapter One: Introduction The chapter properly begins with an explanation of what storytelling is a concept, and what a role-playing game is, and how role-playing games are just the next evolution of storytelling, etc. It’s not terrible, and it’s considerably less fart-huffing than the same segment in Masquerade 1e (I know I haven’t reviewed it yet but I did read that bit and it’s hilariously up its own rear end). We have the terms Storyteller, Players, Characters and Cabals explained to us, the first three being self explanatory to anyone who has ever picked up a White Wolf game, and the even removing that, it's obvious to literally anyone who has played an RPG ever. But to pedantic about it, The Storyteller is the fancy White Wolf name for the Game Master (Dungeon Master, etc, every game has a slightly different title for The Poor Bastard Running the Monkey Farm) The Players are the people who have decided that the best way to spend their afternoon is sitting around a table rolling dice and playing this game. Characters are the people in the story/game that the players control. Cabals are the name given to describe a group of Mages, like the players! Winners and Losers kicks off a segment detailing the use of play aids, like moody lighting, music or props to help enhance the game experience for the player, and we also get LARP rules because White Wolf loves LARPers and suggests using The Masquerade Mind's Eye Theater book for rules on LARP combat for more details. An official Ascension larp book was released eventually. Go ahead and start keeping track of how often other White Wolf products get mentioned throughout this book. It’ll be fun! The Meaning of Mage We get a short paragraph about how Mages obviously can do magic because it would be a boring game without that, but their magic is more about philosophical truths than just parlor tricks. Sure, if you say so. I’d just like to fling some fireballs around, but I have a feeling that’s not how this is going to shake out despite the back of the book telling me I should fight back. Belief and Paradigms Here we go, now we’re getting into some information about what the hell this game is about. Every human soul (or Avatar) allows a person to use their force of will to alter reality. “Sleepers” (mortals unaware of magic) are also able to do this to a degree, but Mages actively alter reality through their will. Your beliefs about how life, the universe and everything works is your “Paradigm”, however the unconscious consensus among humanity about humanity is what has created the world the game takes place in. Mages of course see beyond the consensus reality, and can use their will to impose their paradigm on reality, which is how magic works. Confused yet? Static Reality: A grain of sand represents a singular element of reality, and together with other grains of sand, form a beach. To accept a particular world-view, or a single handful of sand, and take it as absolute fact is ignoring the rest of the beach. It’s a bit of an overly complicated metaphor to explain that basically the world is hosed because the technomages have turned rationality and SCIENCE into a weapon of control, so that Magic shouldn’t be possible. Mages as Dynamic Forces Mages by their existence are attempting to strike a new balance of changing the rigid reality the technomages created while not going buck-wild, because that leads to capital c Chaos and Marauders. The Marauders are Mages who have fully embraced the aforementioned Chaos and while they too are fighting the Technocracy, they’re doing it because they just want to watch the world burn. The Nephandi Corrupt Mages or extradimensional nightmares? Yes. They don’t give a poo poo about control, they’re here to destroy everything and are also allied/controlled by the Wrym. Ascension Mages are trying to achieve “Ascension”, essentially a journey of enlightenment that will change reality. The bad guys are doing the same thing in their own hosed up ways, so maybe be careful with that whole attempting to ascend thing? Quintessence The literal stuff that the universe is made of. gently caress atoms, Quintessence bitch! Paradox is reality violently reacting to a Mage doing blatant magic. For example, throwing a fireball at a door would trigger a Paradox spirit to come and kick my rear end because according to the rules of reality as set by the Technocracy and SCIENCE, I can not throw a fireball from my hand. However, I’m a goddamn wizard, so if I could somehow coincidentally cause the aforementioned door to burst into flames, like a beam of sunlight coming through a window hit a flammable cleaning product that was used on the door and caused it to ignite, then no paradox would occur, even if a Sleeper was present because it was a Coincidence. Paradox bad, eventually Paradox comes for us all because we’re lovely idiot wizards. The chapter closes out with a lexicon of terms, many of which will be mentioned in the coming chapters without further elaboration on how they affect gameplay or with notes saying that more information about the term is available in a later chapter. I realize I should have read over this section more carefully when originally taking my notes, but there are really only so many White Wolf Proper Nouns that I can cram into my brain in one sitting before I start to lose it. And that covers chapter one, a fairly broad overview of the game's setting and ideas. Now let's spend the next 8 chapters of the book going over these same concepts again and again and again because apparently we really need to have all of this hammered into our skulls every chapter. joylessdivision fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Jul 9, 2022 |
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Jul 9, 2022 01:53
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Cooked Auto posted:
I fixed it on mobile because the imgur links I had were being stupid
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Jul 9, 2022 01:58
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Joylessdivisions World of Dorkness presents Chapter Two: Setting We’re given the familiar explanation of the “Gothic-Punk Milieu”, that the World of Darkness setting is not so different from our own world, only it’s way worse and everything is awful and there are literal monsters running around controlling everything, but also everyone is cool and goth and everything looks like The Crow or Dark City. Mages don’t really know where they come from, but the theory is that back in ye olden days reality was unified by the force of Prime. This force led to the creation of the Pure Ones, a race that presided over reality until reality was torn asunder and the Pure Ones were shattered into Shards or souls. The shards are in everyone (because Souls are A Thing in the WoD), and Mages call souls Avatars. Awakening is when someone realizes they have an avatar and then can learn magic. Mages also believe that the other supernatural creatures have awakened avatars because of course they would believe that. Once a sleeper has awakened(Maudib! Maudib!), they are driven by their Avatars towards a quest for Ascension, which is all well and good, but when a bunch of different wizards are all trying to ascend and change reality to fit their particular view, it turns into a clusterfuck, giving rise to the Ascension Wars, the driving conflict of the game. And who are these wizards fighting for Ascension you ask? Well first up is The Technocracy, and they’re bad okay. They use science as their form of magic and they’re really a bunch of big assholes who enjoy murdering other Mages to keep control of reality and reach ascension through their method of repression or something. While I like the general idea of the Technocracy, I loving hate the entire “Science vs Magick” thing that is at the core of this conflict. Hate it a whole bunch, but I’ll get into it more later. The Maraudersare the crazy chaos Mages of the setting who hang out in the Near Umbra, the realm just outside of earth. The Technocracy hates them, and Marauders show up and cause all kinds of hate and discontent because they want complete control of reality to achieve ascension. So they’re like the Technocracy, but more chaotic evil than just evil. The Nephandi are Mages and beings that have wholly embraced evil. So just to make sure we’re all keeping track here, that’s Three factions and flavors of Evil running around this setting so far, but the Technocracy are supposed to be the main villains. The Traditions are the PC groups, who have their own views of achieving ascension but all agree that Technocracy/Nephandi/Marauders are bad and should be stopped. They are outnumbered but they can fight back because that’s the point of the game after all. Magick comes in two flavors, “Dynamic” or vulgar magic and “Static” or coincidental magic. Magic is built on 9 spheres which were briefly mentioned in the opening fiction, and are described as being essentially a wheel where each form of magic is an extension of the previous sphere, and to control Time, one would have to master the Time Sphere. Conjunctional Magic is what you call a spell that requires more than one sphere of magic to achieve the desired effect. “Disciple” is used to refer to someone first learning a sphere, while a “Master” is one who has naturally mastered a sphere. There might also be a 10th sphere but they haven’t figured out what it is yet. Mages who become masters of a sphere often try to become “Oracles”, a special group of Mages who hang out in the Deep Umbra and are super powerful. If you can find them, you might be welcomed into the club, or you might not. Some say a new oracle is only allowed to take on the role after another has died/ascended. Paradox is explained again, as is Quintessence, expanding on the previous chapter mentioning it, letting us know that Quinessence is only produced on Earth because of course the Earth is the literal center of the universe in the WoD, and Mages frequently fight over possession of locations that are rich with Quintessence that they call Nodes. Nodes have a different name as well, Carens which for the Apocalypse players among us, will recognize as the sites that werewolves tend to protect. Surely this doesn’t ever lead to conflict right? Talismans and Foci are exactly what they sound like, objects of power a Mage has infused with quintessence to use for a magical effect, or items used to focus (ahhhhh?) their power. Talismans can be activated by sleepers but that doesn’t generally end well for them. Once a talisman has been tapped of its reserve of power, it has to be refueled with more quintessence. Foci are literally any object the mage uses to focus their magical spells like a ring, a staff or a computer, Hitachi wand. Oh yeah, computers are magic as gently caress ya’ll. Hark, what is that sound on the horizon? Is it…..WORLD BUILDING?! The Telluriandescribes all of reality, including the spirit realms that mirror earth. Within the Tellurian, we have The Near Umbra or spirit realm, a mirror of the earth but in spirit form.Realms are parts of the Tellurian. Earth is at the center of the Tellurian because if we’re going to claim that heliocentrism is the cause of Magick going away, might as well go all in on that idea I guess? Mages believe that the Earth’s moon known as Arcadia also exists in the near umbra and is where changelings are from. Changelings are from the moon, sure why not. Humanity has also through force of will and the telling of stories, created beings that exist in the realms of the tellurian. We’ll come back to this idea a little later. Horizon Realms are realms that sit on the edge of the earth’s near umbra and work as a spiritual ozone layer. Mages typically create these realms, but they take a great deal of power and require being linked to a quintessence node on earth to power them. Shard Realms correspond to the planets and represent the 9 spheres of magic. Mages don’t know much about these realms because they are huge. Shade Realms are a sort of transitional spaces on the edge of the near umbra that connect to the Shard realms and have features of both Earth and the shard realm they lead to. Dream Realms are formed by the dreams of mortals in the near umbra. Nehpahndi use the dream realms to cause trouble and nightmares for their enemies. There is also a group known as the Oneira or Dream Lords who create dream realms out of the bits and pieces of severed dreams. Which is pretty cool. Paradox Realms are the corner that bad Mages get put by paradox monsters for loving around too much with reality. Paradox realms are outside the near umbra because you’ve been a very naughty wizard! Next up is The Deep Umbra, basically the vacuum of space. It’s inhospitable and difficult to travel the deep umbra, and there be monsters and other horrible gribblies floating around in it so probably for the best not to go traveling there. The Technocracy maintains The Gauntletwhich is a magical wall that separates Earth from the near umbra, as well as The Horizon, which is the barrier between the Near Umbra and the Deep Umbra, because again, Marauders and Nehphandi and other gribblies be lurking out there. The traditions agree this is a good thing because not being invade by horrors from beyond the stars is good, but also bad because it’s just Technoncracy xenophobia. Which…..I’m sorry, the book has made it abundantly clear so far that Marauders and the Nephandi are a major threat to all existence. But keeping them out is just the Technocracy being xenophobic? Anyway, because of the gauntlet, the wonders of the near umbra can’t shine onto the Earth, thus robbing it of the natural creativity and vitality that would make the world a lot better and not…well the World of Darkness. It’s an explanation for the setting being the way it is, and it’s not terrible, as it's obviously leaning into the heavily spiritual aspect of the WoD, but then doesn’t this contradict Masquerade's cosmology of Yaweh being real and creating the universe, or Demon and Apocalypse’s cosmologies as well? If you’re saying “But they’re separate games, who cares?” I regret to inform you that Mage not only leans heavily into referencing Apocalypse, in a much later chapter the book outright suggests doing a mixed PC party with a Mage, a Werewolf and a Vampire. Because that won’t be a loving nightmare for the ST to handle mechanically at all The Tapestry refers to the Tellurian as well, but ignores the division of realms and looks at it as a whole. Quintessence nodes spread their power via ley lines, and as mentioned previously, werewolves tend to protect nodes. Spirits! They exist in the near umbra, Mages think werewolves are a type of spirit made flesh and that’s why they travel via the near umbra from caern to caern. Spirits are formed by the belief of humanity and thus mythological and fictional creations can exist as spirits in the near umbra because humanity dreamed them up. So your imaginary friend from your childhood is real and hanging out somewhere in the near umbra. As is your imaginary girlfriend in high school who totally existed and just went to a different school, in a different city, you guys wouldn’t know her shut up! Is also totes real. The Technocracyare again discussed in more detail, we learn they had a good idea at first and have been corrupted by their view of how to reach ascension, which as previously noted involves blocking the outer realms from interacting with humanity, enforcing consumerism and attempting to destroy dreams. Copernicus was a technomancer and the traditions still hate him for figuring out that the earth wasn’t the center of the universe, and thus kicking off the reign of science. Basically the Technocracy is making everything suck so everyone is equal so ascension can be achieved. So they’re just a Republican’s idea of Communists. Or the rational debate bros of the internet today. Whichever, the point is the Technocracy are big jerks who are oppressing humanity and keeping magic from the hands of humanity with Science. Science isn’t magic. Science isn’t magic Science isn’t magic Science isn’t loving MAGIC! I hate this element of the game so goddamn much, and it drives me absolutely crazy that the game hammers on and on about how terrible the Technocracy is, and how all modern technology is really just magick maaaaan and to that I say, no gently caress You, White Wolf. I get that it was the early 90’s and everyone was on a heavy spiritual trip again, and eastern mysticism and all the new age stuff was getting big and popular, but I’m offended that this game decided “Hey, every human being who ever did science and helped elevate our understanding of our planet and ourselves as living beings, and the universe, who saved innumerable lives with their discoveries and helped us literally reach the heavens, they’re all assholes who just decided to couch magic in more rigid terms and then fed it back to us with technical terms and math to back it up” gently caress off, and then once you’ve hosed off, continue loving off until you’re certain you can’t anymore, and then continue loving off! The Technocracy is broken up into subgroups because what is an evil faction without sub-factions. Iteration X are the transhumanist technomages who believe combining flesh and machine will lead to ascension. They have an umbral realm called “Autochthonia” which just sounds like Cybertron from Transformers from its description. They also have Terminators they call HIT MARKs. Like straight up T-800 terminators. The New World Order (4-lyfe) is exactly what you expect from the name, a Big Brother convention focused on information tech who kidnap and brainwash Mages who are causing trouble. They also have Men in Black. The Progenitors are the genetics and cloning group. That’s their whole deal, they replace Mages with clones. If you read that line and said “I bet there’s a Nazi Wizard in here somewhere” then please pat yourself on the back and see the management about collecting your prize for correctly guessing that White Wolf gonna write something Racist/Gross into a game The Syndicateare all about power through money, and also control the mafia and organized crime. They systematically destroy a Mage’s life before finally just killing the Mage. The Void Engineers are all about exploring the deep umbra, and convincing everyone that the beings that exist in the deep umbra are aliens and not powerful celestial beings. The moon landing was their doing, but whoops that had the side effect of making people dream of going to the stars which opened up the path to Arcadia and Changeling magic to infect the world. As punishment the fall of Skylab and the Challenger explosion were caused to make the Void Engineers settle down. Way to go White Wolf once again making a real tragedy a part of the games. Classy. There are two offshoot traditions from the Technocracy, the Sons of Ether who are into science but the wacky and weird parts of science, aka the bullshit like alchemy, or if you want to get really gross with it, phrenology and eugenics. They believe that Ether is a thing in space and have since advanced the theory of Quantum Mechanics, which has pissed off the Technocracy. The other offshoot is the Virtual Adepts who have created a virtual realm via computers. The Technocracy didn’t like that so they kicked the VA’s out of the club. However, the Technocracy then realized “Oh poo poo, they might still have access to our systems. Oh poo poo, they might share our secrets! FIRE UP THE MURDER MACHINES BOYS!” and have since stepped up their efforts to purge non-Technocracy mages. The Traditions are pretty pissed about it and blame the VA for bringing the heat down on everyone which is fair I guess? But if the Traditions weren’t acting like a bunch of goddamn babies and actually fought back this might not be a problem. The Technocracy has Symposiums where each convention talks about how well they’re doing in the whole oppression of the sleepers thing. In recent times young Tradition Mages have launched attacks on these symposiums. The Marauders are given a bit more detail, they’re the mages that stared too deeply into the abyss and the abyss looked back. Their goal is a return to the Mythic Age when magic and quintessence were plentiful and the realms weren’t locked away. Like the Marauders, The Nephandi are given a bit more detail as well, although it’s essentially a page of reiterating what was said when they were introduced in Chapter One and again in the beginning of this chapter. Remember how I said this book repeats itself a lot? Yeah. Oh hey we finally get our first bits of information about the Traditions, AKA the Player character groups. There are 9 traditions that determine the rules and customs of those that follow its path. It’s the wizard equivalent of Clans or Tribes in Vampire and Werewolf. Our Heroes are: The Akashic Brotherhood: Martial arts monks who focus on the sphere of Mind. Celestial Chorus: Believe that “The Great One” is the source of all power and the destination of Ascension, and focused on the sphere of Prime. Cult of Ecstasy: Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. They control the sphere of Time and probably do a ton of drugs. Dreamspeakers: Shamen who speak with spirits and focus on the sphere of Spirit. Euthanatos: A death cult who uses the sphere of Entropy to kill and destabilize things. Order of Hermes: Once the masters of reality, they’ve fallen off quite a bit since the middle ages. They have mastered the sphere of Forces to control the essence of the universe. Sons of Ether: The junk science wizards previously mentioned, Matter is their sphere of choice giving them control of physical reality Verbena: Mages focused on life and the sphere of Life. Virtual Adepts: The VR wizards, they focus on the sphere of Correspondence. Life in the Traditions: Mages have a social order, because these games are all basically “High School: The Cliquening” Orphans are Mages who awakened without a teacher and have no tie to a tradition. The Traditions look down on them because the Traditions are assholes. Apprentices are baby Mages who haven’t been accepted into their tradition yet as they are still learning. Disciples are Mages of full status within their respective tradition. Adepts are Mages who have achieved Rank 4 in any sphere. This is seen as a much greater accomplishment than achieving Rank 3 in a few spheres. Masters have reached Rank 5 in a sphere Oracles as previously mentioned are Mages who have achieved total mastery of a sphere and have hosed off to the Far Umbra to go do some real wizard poo poo, free of the threat of Paradox. Ascension is explained some more, and essentially comes down to the agreed upon outcome among the traditions that there must be balance between Forces and Stasis. The Technocracy wants all stasis, the Marauders want dynamic change constantly, while the Nephandi want unification in Oblivion. The traditions believe in the middle ground approach, that personal enlightenment is important, but that all of humanity must be awakened for Ascension to be achieved. The traditions all agree the Technocracy has to be stopped because they’re loving it up for everyone. The traditions also believe in protecting the sleepers and pulling them back from the Technocracies' control, because human souls and the earth are the center of the magical universe and are very important. I already explained what a Cabal is, but in case you forgot they helpfully explain again that it’s what you call a group of Tradition Mages that work together. Sometimes Mages go bad and they’re called Rogues because the traditions are very, very clever you see. Chantries are a cabal’s home base, usually built near or on a quintessence node, which can be used in the creation of a Horizon Realms. Each chantry has rules for how things are run, and new cabals often have to work for the members of a chantry to gain acceptance and access to the resources of the chantry. Chantries of course have ranks because there wasn’t enough stupid terminology to remember. Pedagogue- A chantry teacher of renown. Deacon- Leaders of the chantry Fellow- General membership of a chantry Sentinel- Guards of a chantries node and occasionally the folks you send out to wreck some poo poo for you. Errant- A Mage whose chantry and cabal have been destroyed. No one wants to deal with them because their enemies are usually not far behind them. Rogues- Bastard Mages no one else wants to deal with, they are mercenaries who don’t have ties to a chantry or node. Did you know there are different Types of Chantries? Well there are, and they fall into a couple categories: Ancestral- What it says on the tin, the ancestral home of a tradition. College- Magic school Squatter- A chantry not built on or near a node. Basically wherever a cabal sees fit to set up shop. The Net- Virtual adepts created VR, and they go there. With magic. The Technocracy also has chantries, usually where they do their research. Iteration X’s chantries connect to Cybertron. The Technocracy finds its nodes by finding Tradition chantries and destroying them. If Mages duck out to the horizon realms, they run the risk of attack from Marauders and Nehphandi because horizon realms are built out of quintessence and the Marauders and Nehphandi can’t easily access earth for that sweet sweet Q. Oh god we have more Proper Nouns that no one playing this game is going to bother to remember, but here we go anyway: Apprenticeship Being an apprentice takes about a decade of training with a mentor of the same tradition, and then your Avatar is awakened and you become a proper Mage. Acolytes Regular sleepers who help out Mages and sometimes are chosen to be apprentices. Acolytes are the goobers Mages go to for mundane help because being a wizard is far more important than remembering to pay your taxes. The Traditions have Protocols which are general rules everyone agrees on. -Respect those of greater knowledge -A debt to a tutor must be repaid -A Mage's word is his honor, never break a sworn vow -The will of an Oracle must be obeyed -Do not betray your cabal or chantry -Do not conspire with the Technocracy or other enemies of Ascension -Protect the Sleepers, they are ignorant of what they do. If you break enough protocols a Tribunal is called and has various forms of punishment: Censure- Formally rebuked and put on probation with various restrictions. Ostracism- Formally exiled, no one can talk to you or they also risk censure or worse. Branding- A master of Spirit marks your avatar with a sigil to show you were a very naughty Mage. Death- gently caress you buddy, you’re avatar is getting recylced into someone who will appreciate it. Also you’re dead. Gilgul- A fate worse than death I suppose, as the offending mage has their Avatar straight up destroyed, leaving the former mage nothing more than a basic schmuck again. Did you know that Mages are all about knowledge and teaching? Well they are, so they create colleges or take on Mentor roles. Tuition is paid to a mentor by going and doing poo poo for them because wizards don't need money and I have better things to do with my time right now like figure out how to harness the powers of the cosmos Timothy, and I want an iced Latte and I can’t do both things at once! The Spontaneous Gift aka Orphans So because the world is hosed up, some sleepers are being born with awakened avatars or randomly awakening on their own, thus earning themselves the title Orphans. Tradition Mages (as previously noted) are assholes who don’t really like or trust Orphans because of course they don’t. There isn’t really a good reason given for why the Traditions were such assholes to Orphans in the past, but eventually they stopped being as big of assholes about it, and realized that Orphans are potentially useful assets in the Ascension War. Much like the Caitiff from Masquerade, Orphans are the outcasts of an already hidden society, and it sucks to be them, but the Orphans also have their own semi-tradition known as The Hollow Ones which is a Gothic-Punk tradition, so they’re the gothy goths of the setting. Victor Frankenstein was a Son of Ether because sure why not, and is mentioned to illustrate that the angry villagers who rose up to burn down his laboratory are a good analogy for why Mages currently keep magic on downlow. Human beings are really bad about accepting things that frighten us or that we don’t understand, which the Technocracy has exploited by creating the Consensus Reality that the game takes place in. To further elaborate on this point the book offers us yet another fundamental misunderstanding of what science actually is and how it works, telling us that sleepers will accept a news story about a new scientific device or breakthrough that would allow a doctor to completely change the genetic structure of a child in utero, but if that same story were about the miracle of a man waving his hand over the woman’s womb and causing the same effect, no one would believe it despite achieving the same effect and “Even though the exact process of either method is incomprehensible to the average person” Again, this is where I take issue with this entire book’s anti-science premise, because for being so goddamn focused on the Earth and Humanity being the loving center of the goddamn World of Darkness universe, they seem to really, really hate the average folks of this games universe, and seem to treat them like they’re just utter morons. And while granted, I am guilty of thinking that some people I encounter in the real world are utter morons, I am also well aware that if we had the technological capability to completely change the genetic composition of a human being in uetero, THERE WOULD BE PAGES AND PAGES OF loving DOCUMENTATION AVAILABLE TO EXPLAIN IT and while it might not be easily grasped, the average person could very likely come away with at least a basic understanding how the thing worked. Also, if you said “A Wizard did it”, I can almost guarantee that some percent of the population will 100% go along with that explanation, no questions asked. God drat this book makes me angry. So that was Chapter 2! We got a whole lot of terms thrown at us, Gilgul being one I find especially amusing to say every now and then, along with the reiteration of ideas already introduced in chapter one, as well as stuff that was introduced in this very chapter! I’m not going to rant further about my hatred of the writer's treatment of science and technology, but know that fire burns deep within me, and it’ll come out again, because good lord does it pop up alot in this book.
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Jul 9, 2022 02:56
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Joylessdivisions World of Dorkness presents Chapter Three: Storytelling The chapter kicks off with several large blocks of text regarding what the role of the Storyteller is, how to use rules that haven’t been explained yet, and that as the ST, I can use as many or as few of the rules as I want! That’s great but at this point I don’t know what the actual rules of the game are because those are in the next chapter. Game Layout! White Wolf is terrible at it! There is discussion of the two extremes of STing, “Rules Lawyer” and “Free Form” with the book suggesting that taking a more middle ground approach between these two extremes is the recommended approach. This seems like one of those things that should be as obvious as “Rule 0” but we’ve all suffered a rules lawyer at least once in our gaming careers, so I suppose having these suggestions sprinkled throughout are useful. A Chronicle is the term used to describe the overarching story taking place at the table, the bigger picture that is being made up by the individual stories and sessions. Creating a Chronicle details just that, how to create your own chronicle. First up we have Setting which is very straightforward advice to the reader, explaining that you should be thinking about not only the location of your game, but the flavor of the place, the type of people who live there, if there are other supernatural creatures in the area, etc. The Characters section provides more common sense advice for the ST. The game should be focused on the players and their characters, not your genius NPC’s and their plots and machinations. You should talk to your players about their characters beforehand to get an idea of what they want to do and have that help inform the game you’re writing. Big old No poo poo there but again, we’ve all played with That Guy as the ST(DM, etc) who was god awful because they had written their campaign just so and there will be no deviation from it! We’re given advice on handling Antagonists, with the suggestion that if they are going to be a recurring villain in the story, make them stronger than the players, but if they’re just a one off or a mook, it’s fine to make them at level with the PCs. We also get a suggestion to use the other published books (at this point Masquerade and Apocalypse) as antagonists for your chronicle. Again, they’re leaning into this being the crossover game and honestly it’s just not needed. We have three (3!!!) flavors of villains in just this book! Werewolves I can at least understand showing up in a Mage game, because Mage’s need Quintessence, which is stored in Nodes, which Werewolves protect, so obvious and easy conflict to toss in there, but Kindred politics is it’s own can of worms, and while sure you could absolutely entangle Kindred bullshit into your Wizard game, it seems extremely unnecessary. Scheme is mostly good advice about how you should approach prepping for a session, writing an outline of the plot for the session and treating it as a framework that the players will fill in through roleplaying. I take issue however with the following line from the book: “You must then decide whether you want to sacrifice the players free will by forcing them back into your intended plotline, or sacrifice what could possibly be a better chronicle conclusion to go with the radical new direction the players have chosen” Oooooooh boy. Okay, first off, if you’re at the conclusion of a Chronicle, as in the final game to, in theory, cap off a series of games and stories that followed this group of characters, as the ST, you should have a pretty clear idea of how things are going to end, with several back up plans just in case. I cannot see a group reaching the final session of an ongoing chronicle and then just deciding “No, we don’t want to go do the thing this final story arc has been building to, we’re going to all become donut chefs now”. While I understand what the book is trying to say, that as the ST you are going to occasionally have to kill your darlings and let the players chase whatever plot threads have caught their attention, trying to tie that lesson to the final session of a chronicle feels like the epitome of STDH, but also poo poo That Wouldn’t Happen. Of course we are talking about tabletop players, so someone, somewhere probably has done exactly this kind of dumbshit, but I feel like this is an issue best solved by Talking to your Players, a thing the book has been really good about recommending. Finally there is the Title, what are you going to call your chronicle? The book suggests giving it a name that suggests something about the story, or just whatever sounds cool. Now that we know what a chronicle is, let’s talk about some Chronicle Concepts. These are different from a Story Concept which we’ll get to shortly. Retainers of the Chantry-The players have to go do stuff for their chantry. Recommended as a good starting chronicle as it gives the ST considerably more control over where the players go. Street Gang- The players are a gang of awakened Mages who aren’t part of the greater Mage social hierarchy. Fight the Technocracy- The players are fighting against the Technocracy. Pretty simple jumping off point with a bunch of suggestions Espionage- The Players have infiltrated the Technocracy and are trying to fight from within. Quest for Ascension- See Chapter 8 for more information about Ascension because we’re White Wolf and we love to talk about concepts and ideas in parts of the book and then refer to a later part of the book to explain the thing we’re talking about for pages on end without definition or explanation of how it works in game. Surmount the Quiet- I guess this is the David Lynch/Clive Barker (as noted by the book) chronicle idea, but then it again refers to chapter 8 about loving Quiet. I don’t know what Quiet is at this point! I do know this is apparently the way to go if you want to do a high strangeness chronicle which is cool. (note: If I had bothered to read the Lexicon, I would have known what Quiet was )The Ivory Tower- The players have spent all their time in a chantry and now have to deal with reality and the horror of the WoD. Exploration of the Telurian- Remember how I said that in the Near Umbra, spirits of fictional characters exist? Yeah this concept is basically carte blanche to do whatever the gently caress crazy crossovers you want. Want to play Mage in Sailor Moon world? Or what about Ravenloft or Dark Sun or Unknown Armies? In the Telurian, anything and everything is possible!* *Possibility may still incur paradox, see the rules regarding use of magic in the Telurian in a later chapter. The Guardians- The players are tasked with protecting a place from the evils that lurk beyond the darkness. Historical Setting-Self explanatory. Mention of Ars Magica as a source of info about Mages in the middle ages. Also suggests Highlander as an example of the historical chronicle that takes place in various time periods, or Hellraiser for a trip through the unknown. Oh hey here are those Story Concepts I mentioned that are totally a different thing than Chronicle concepts, but I won’t elaborate on that right now, but don’t worry, the book will break down in excruciating detail the difference between a Story and a Chronicle soon enough. Quintessence Raid- Go steal some magical mcguffin juice, deal with the problems this entails. Not a bad jumping off point. Marauders take Manhattan-Marauders have shown up and are wrecking poo poo. Exploration- Send the players out into the Umbra to explore some poo poo. (yes, they used “Explore the Tellurian” twice with a slightly different title.) On the Home Front- Bring the action to the players, put 'em on the defensive! Mystery- Figure out the mystery. War- Wizard Fights! Freelance- the players are asked to help someone do something. Before Beginning a Story, you should make sure that your previous story has concluded and that there aren’t any dangling plot threads that need to be resolved, unless your next story is part of the same chronicle. We’re also given some tips on being a decent host, like providing snacks and drinks and chairs for the players. Telling a Story gives us all the secrets we could possibly want to know about telling a story. Really it’s pretty straight forward “Fiction 101” kinda stuff like the suggestion to use Foreshadowing and Symbolism and *Gasp* Suspense in your game. I can’t really rag too hard on this stuff because while it’s pretty obvious to anyone who has ever put pen to paper and written fiction before, or sat through an English class, it’s still probably a good thing to remind the ST of the practicals of creating a narrative game, while they’re also busy trying to remember how to actually run this dumpster fire. Anyhoo, Conflict is explained to us because we are apparently children who don’t understand that fiction has conflicts, and we’re presented with a list of potential conflicts to bring to our stories. Traditions vs Technocracy Traditions vs Nephandi Traditions vs Marauders Tradition vs Tradition Cabal vs Cabal Mage vs Mage Mage vs Umbrood (Umbral beings) Mage vs Vampires Mage vs Werewolves Mage vs Supernatural Mage vs Paradox Mage vs Sleepers Mage vs Self Sanity vs Madness. Each of these has a small paragraph offering suggestions and ideas for how to potentially use any of these conflicts in your game, although they’re all pretty self explanatory, even based strictly on the information we’ve been given in the book to this point. Did you know you can employ Advanced Techniques to your storytelling? I dunno if I should tell you about this, because these are like…really heavy duty and only for the most advanced storytellers. Okay I guess I’ll tell you. DREAM SEQUENCES AND FLASHBACKS. These are the truly powerful and advanced storytelling techniques that one must hone their storytelling skill to use. I laughed incredibly hard when I read this paragraph of the book. I’m sorry, but loving dream sequences and flashbacks are not advanced techniques, they’re super easy and extremely common tropes in fiction you loving dorks. Now, doing a Parallel Story is a more advanced technique and definitely going to be more work for the storyteller, as trying to run two distinct plots at one time is a headache at the best of times. So I’ll give you that one, but I will not agree that goddamn dream sequences and flashbacks are advanced or difficult techniques. Pretentious dorks, the lot of 'em over there in the '93 White Wolf office! Preparation style covers how much or little prep a storyteller should consider before going into a session. The book also outright says that if your sessions are going 100% to how you wrote them, you are railroading your players (and that’s bad), once again reiterating the advice that you should have an outline of the session with the names of locations or NPC’s the players are likely to encounter handy. No poo poo. Working with the Players feels like another section I could dunk on for being seemingly common sense advice, but it’s good to have an RPG rule book straight up say “Hey, talk to your players about the game, keep them engaged, find out what’s working and what isn’t, make sure everyone is included in the story”. It’s the kind of common sense courteous game mastering that one would expect to just…know but like I said, it’s still good to have the reminder on the page. After the Story is more obvious advice for the ST, to take notes of any major events that took place, and make adjustments to the setting as needed. Ending the Chronicle tells us we should make the final act of our chronicles special, because it's the big finale. Have an epilogue to wrap things up and give everyone a chance to wind down after the story has concluded. And hey there pal, now that your chronicle has concluded, don’t you think it’s time to start thinking about the Next Chronicle you want to run? Will this be another series of adventures for these characters or maybe you and your friends would like to try out one of White Wolf Games' other Great Storyteller SystemTM Games like Werewolf or Vampire. I am absolutely not making this up, the finale lines of this chapter are pitching you on buying more White Wolf books. The shilling of other products in this book is truly a sight to behold and holy poo poo does it get outrageous and down right offensive at one point. But that’s later…..so much later. And that wraps up chapter 3! Broadly speaking, it’s not bad, there is a lot of good practical advice in here for how to handle being and ST, and while I think most of it is pretty common sense stuff, it’s fine. Except that nonsense about dream sequences and flashbacks being advanced techniques.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Book 2 We get another one page story bit about our awakened assassin. I think she’s being awakened by a Euthantos, but I also don’t really care as this story is just not that interesting and parceling it out in these vague single pages at the front of a long segment of the book is not the way to keep me engaged. ~~~~~~~~ Chapter 4: Rules Ah those things I was complaining about not knowing in the last chapter! Good to know we’re finally going to learn some rules….oh no wait we have to discuss time first. A Turn refers to a very short span of time, typically 3 seconds to 3 minutes in game time or how long it takes for the player to perform an action. A Scene refers to the series of turns/actions or events taking place in a singular location, and a scene does not require turns if no dice are being rolled. A Chapter refers to a singular game session. A Story refers to the game being played currently A Chronicle refers to the ongoing story. See, I told you we would define the difference between a Story and a Chronicle, and to be honest it’s such a minor thing that you could probably use both terms interchangeably and be fine. When I run Masquerade, I organize my game(s) into a chronicle tab, and then if I’ve come up with a different story title I’ll use that, but generally I just use chapter titles. Anyway, more terms! Actions are what the players are doing when not speaking in character. The player tells the ST what they want to do, the ST either gives them a difficulty number to beat in order to accomplish the action, or they can simply do it because who rolls for walking across the street? Rolling Dice is what you do. D10’s (10 sided die) to be specific is what we’ll be rolling here. Ratings relate how good you are/how many dice you have in a given skill or trait. 0 is Abysmal and 5 is Superb. When the ST calls for a roll, it will generally be an Attribute + Ability and the number of dice to be rolled is determined by the number of dots in the attribute/ability requested. Difficulties are rated on a 1-10 scale, with 1-2 being considered automatic successes, and 10 being impossible, however if the ST sets a difficulty at 10 and the player rolls at least one 10, the whole roll is considered a success. 3-9 break down thus: 3-Easy 4-Routine 5-Straightforward 6-Standard 7-Challenging 8-Difficult 9-Extremely Difficult Success is any dice rolled that are equal or higher than the difficulty number established by the ST prior to the roll, and Degree of Success is graded on a 1-5 scale: 1-Marginal 2-Moderate 3-Complete 4-Exceptional 5-Phenomenal The Rule of One is simple: every die that comes up 1 automatically cancels out the equivalent number of successes rolled, and if no successes were rolled or the whole thing came up 1’s, it is considered a Botch and the consequences are determined by the ST. Automatic Successes as noted previously are anything that the players can do without rolling dice, or to get really technical about it, an automatic success takes effect when the players dice pool for a challenge is equal to or greater than the difficulty. While this is an auto success, it’s only considered a Marginal success, and so players can choose to roll their pool regardless of the auto success, in an attempt to bump up the quality of the success. Players can also burn a point of Willpower to gain an auto success, however we haven’t even discussed Willpower yet. Extended Actions are anything that require the player to achieve a designated number of successes to accomplish. The player can attempt the rolls as many times as they wish to accomplish the task, unless they botch, in which case they have to start over. Resisted Actions are simple. Two characters are attempting to attack each other and roll against each other, whoever has the most successes wins. However the Rule of One applies here in the sense that your opponents successes act as ones against your successes. Whoever has success dice at the end takes the win. Teamwork (makes the dreamwork) allows the players to combine successes to achieve a goal, however they can not combine their traits for a roll. So while two players can both roll their Strength + whatever they can’t combine their Strength scores to make one pool. Trying Again is about raising the difficulty of an action once it has been failed. Number go up. We’re given some example rolls to get a clearer picture for how to use the Trait+Ability math and target difficulties (You yell at a taxi driver to make him drive faster, roll Charisma + Intimidation at difficulty 6) as well as The Golden Rule. But let me be clear, they give nearly an entire page to example rolls. I’m starting to think that they’re just padding the word count to pad the page count :hyperthunk: The Golden Rule, also known as Rule 0, is very simple. Use whatever rules you want from the book or don’t, it’s your game so run it how you see fit. If you wanted to be a smartass about it you can wave this rule around and say you don’t even need the book, and sure you could absolutely do that, but I’ve always understood the intent behind Rule 0 to be not to treat anything in the books as too precious or unchangeable, and to have fun with the game you’re running. Personally I can’t imagine running a game without some amount of homebrewing to the setting, even if it’s just adjustment to metaplot or even just how I describe the use of a power. The chapter finishes out with another lexicon, this time of game terms starting with Ability (A Trait that describes what a character has learned) to Willpower (One of the most important Traits is Willpower. It measures the self-confidence and internal control of a character. However, Willpower works differently from most Traits, it is usually used up instead of rolled.) I am at this point, impressed with how straightforward and downright….simple the rules of this game are. Of course, Spoiler they get a lot more complicated later, and while my familiarity with the newer WoD system (V5) has given me a solid basis of knowing this system, it’s still fascinating to come back to a first edition and see the bones of that same system are here, albeit with a few more fiddly bits (I want to say you don’t lose all successes on an extended action if you botch in V5 but I could be wrong). I’m going to be honest, I don’t hate this chapter. It’s a little overly wordy in its explanations and examples of how the rules work, but I’m okay with that, as they manage to get the absolute basics of gameplay explained in an understandable way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter Five: Character Before one can play the game, one must make a character. The first page of this chapter straight up calls out power gamers, saying: “Character creation usually follows a pattern from the general to the specific. Do not use this process to create the ‘Best’ possible character, that defeats the whole purpose of making up a really interesting individual. These numbers are intended to enhance the roleplaying, not open an avenue to some mythical character Hall of Fame” Emphasis mine because God drat White Wolf, getting salty about how people play your games huh? While I understand that The World Of Darkness is a dark and serious roleplaying world of personal horror and all, and I appreciate that earnestness, I really do because it’s what drew me in as a teenager, but come the hell on White Wolf. Get over yourselves. You’re literally pushing crossovers in this very book, and you expect a player to create a Mage for this theoretical crossover game and not powergame just a little bit so they can actually stand up besides a Kindred and a loving Werewolf?! This is an ongoing tonal problem with this book, where the artwork often shows cool wizards doing cool wizard poo poo, or wielding katanas (there are so many katanas in the art for this book, it's absurd) but then hammers on about Paradox and not actually using your cool powers. Make up your mind White Wolf! Anyway, before we really get cracking into character creation we have five character creation concepts the developers want us keep in mind: 1.You can be anyone from anywhere, but you’re still a newbie 2.Focus on who the character is, don’t sweat the numbers 3.Character creation works on a point buy system, so don’t stress to much if you can’t get all the things 4.Reminder that Traits are 1-5 5.Don’t be a dickhead. Make a character that fits the chronicle All fine advice, not really concepts but whatever. The ST is advised to treat session 1 as a chance to guide the players through character creation, answer their questions etc. We just call this “Session 0” nowadays grandpa! Character Creation breaks down into a totally simple, and not at all convoluted process of just 5 easy steps: 1)Concept 1a-Concept/Tradition/Essence/Personality Archetype(Nature/Demeanor) 2)Attributes 2a-Prioritize three categories: Physical, Social, Mental (7/5/3) 2b-Choose Physical Traits: Strength, Stamina, Dexterity 2c-Choose Social Traits: Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance 2d-Choose Mental Traits: Perception, Intelligence, Wits 3)Abilities 3a-Prioritize 3 categories: Talents, Skills, Knowledge 3b-Choose Talents, Skills, Knowledge (13/9/5) 4)Advantages 4a-Choose Backgrounds(7),Sphere(5+Tradition Speciality) 5)Finishing touches 5a-Record Arete (1), Willpower (5), Quintessence(equal to Avatar rating) 5b-Spend “Freebie Points” Step 1: Character Concept So this is kind of poorly explained, but to break it down into the simplest way, you start out with an idea for a basic rear end mortal, like a journalist or priest. That’s your concept. Then you choose your Tradition (what kind of wizard are you), then Essence which is supposed to represent your Avatar and how you relate to magic. The 4 Essences: Dynamic-They work throughout their lives to master a specific field or complete a certain endeavor Pattern-The architects of the world Primordial-Their power comes from deep within, from the original energy of the universe Questing- They move continuously through life seeking knowledge and purpose. Personality Archetype are 20 choices meant to express your character’s Nature and Demeanor. Nature refers to who the character is at their core, Demeanor refers to how the character presents themselves to the world. Nature has a mechanical effect, Demeanor doesn’t, and is more a flavor aspect. Step 2: Choosing Attributes Attributes are explained with the 7/5/3 rule (7 in your best attribute, 5 in your second best, 3 in your worst) and each attribute starts at 1 dot out the gate for the player. The attribute categories are: Physical (Strength/Dexterity/Stamina), Social (Charisma/Manipulation/Appearance), Mental (Perception/Intelligence/Wits) Step 3: Choosing Abilities Your abilities are broken down into three main categories, Talents, Skills and Knowledge and are meant to reflect things your character has learned vs things they can naturally do. Ability points are spread as 13/9/5 using the same method as described above for attributes, however at this point in character creation you cannot go over 3 dots in any ability, until you are finishing up with the “freebie” points left at the end, at which point you can bump up to 4 or 5 dots in an ability. Step 4: Choose Advantages Advantages are split between two major categories, Background (7 points across 10 choices) and Spheres (1 dot in your Tradition Sphere, and 5 points to be spent on additional spheres). Players cannot go above Rank 3 in any sphere at creation, and also can’t have a ranking higher in any sphere than their Arete score. Also you can’t raise a sphere above 3 unless you learn from a mentor. Why? I mean sure you can probably toss that in as part of your prelude if the ST is cool with it, but it still seems like the game is just trying to punish you for…doing cool wizard poo poo. Backgrounds work on a 1-5 scale, with each dot increasing the quality of the background element. The backgrounds are: Allies/Arcane/Avatar/Destiny/Dream/Influence/Library/Mentor/Node/Talisman. No, I won’t explain what the dots equate to in these backgrounds or what these backgrounds actually mean right now because those won’t be explained until the next chapter. Step 5: Finishing Touches Record your Arete score (1), Willpower (5) and Quintessence (equal to your Avatar rating). Then you get to spend your 15 freebie points. They even provide us with a table:  Good lord this loving table. Okay first complaint is while the Quintessence seems like a good deal, it’s temporary. So why waste those points? That bit about how you can’t raise a Sphere above your Arete score comes into play here, because every player starts at 1 Arete. We are expected to spend 5 dots in Spheres before we get to these freebie points, which means we have to spend at a MINIMUM 4 freebie points to bump Arete to two, which is still hot garbage, and even in the “Example of Character Creation” that this chapter provides, our example player drops 8 freebie points on Arete because OF COURSE YOU WOULD! Why the hell wouldn’t you bump that score up to be able to actually do something useful with your wizard powers? Because lemme tell you the 1 dot spheres are all poo poo. Anyway the next part of character creation is the Spark of Life which is meant to further flesh your character out beyond just numbers on the page. Appearance is exactly what you expect, what does your character look like? Specialites are any abilities the player has 4 or more dots in and should be noted on the character sheet. Specialities are also discussed in the next chapter. Equipment is anything your character already owns or is in possession of, however you can only have a Talisman if you have the Talisman background at creation, or you acquire it through gameplay. Quirks and Motivations are unique elements about your character and what drives them to pursue magic. Mundane Identity is who you pretend to be when dealing with sleepers, or one could even say it’s your Mask? Looking Ahead and The Prelude dovetail into each other nicely to close out the chapter, with the former hammering on the idea that you should keep thinking of your character as a real person and be willing to change them as the game moves forward, and have those changes come from the narrative events of the game, and not just a series of numbers on a sheet of paper. The remainder of the chapter details how to run a Prelude with the players, a one on one session where the ST and the player sit together and run a short introduction for the character to the story and setting. There are also a number of questions to ask the player as a guide for the ST, including a few for the group to answer about their cabal. And that wraps up Chapter 5. Why would you put Character Creation as Chapter 5 when half of the information I need to actually understand the choices I’m making are in Chapter 6? Follow up question, why would you put the other half, and arguably the most important part of a game called MAGE, the loving MAGIC SYSTEM in CHAPTER GODDAMN 7? Honestly, can someone please explain to me who at White Wolf thought this atrocious loving layout was a good idea? Because it’s not, it's a goddamn terrible and infuriating idea and I hate it. Anyway, Chapter 6 Ahoy!
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Jul 9, 2022 04:01
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Joylessdivisions World of Dorkness presents Chapter 6: Traits Oh I’m sorry, did you expect a chapter entitled “Traits” to start with those? What are you, some kind of logical thinking person? Get outta here, this is 1993 White Wolf! We’re starting off with the Traditions (Tradition!). Each of the 9 Traditions is detailed through their Introduction, Philosophy, Organization, Meetings, Initiation, Chantry, Acolytes, Sphere, Foci, Concept, Quote and Stereotypes. For the sake of brevity I’m not going to cover every one of these categories for each tradition, and mostly just cover the most important or amusing bits. Let's kick things off (waka waka) with The Akashic Brotherhood.  More or less magical Shaolin monks, the Brotherhood practices a blend of martial arts and yoga that they call the Do (pronounced like the animal), and believe that knowing oneself is the path to enlightenment and thus, Ascension. If you guessed they have a monastery style chantry system, you would be correct and wouldn’t you know it, they have a secret hidden monastery in Tibet. Men and women are welcomed into the Brotherhood, and like all the Traditions, their Acolytes and Concepts overlap a lot with both suggesting Zen practitioners, Buddhist Scholars, martial artists and wandering wise men. The Brotherhood have mastered the sphere of Mind and their Foci are Do (Correspondence/Mind/Prime/Time), Purification (Spirit/Entropy), Sash (Forces), Weapons (Life/Matter). The Celestial Chorus comes across as very heavily inspired by Christianity, as they believe in “The One”, a creator being that gave itself life (somehow?) but was later fragmented. The Chorus believes that an event they call “The Reconciliation” must occur to restore The One and to achieve Ascension. They’re pretty hazy on the details of the reconciliation, with no real word on what happens when all the realms are smashed together as this event is supposed to cause.  Some of the Chorus have taken up arms against “Evil”, and of course this has never ever caused any issues for anyone at all, and you should absolutely ignore those rumors about heretics being locked away. Because they’re on a mission from Gawd you see. Apparently the Chorus draws from Red Cross workers, the “Faithful” in general, Televangelists :hyperthunk: , Witch Hunters (a thing that actually gets detailed later in the book), priests and theologians. They have mastered the sphere of Prime with their Foci being Fire (Prime/Spirit) Holy Symbols (Forces/Mind), Pure Water (Entropy), Song (Correspondence/Life/Time) and Touch (Matter).  The Cult of Ecstasy is next, and all I can say is drugs man. DRUGS. Do you want to play a drug addict wizard? Wait…..isn’t that just Alan Moore? Well now you can by joining the Cult of Ecstasy! They are a nomadic tradition that takes drugs and inspires artists and believe that Self Expression and Free Action are the pinnacles of human achievement. Their main chantry is in Berkeley, California because of loving course it is. They also were the cause of Woodstock and the Summer of Love so thanks? I know this was ‘93, but I wonder if by that same logic the CoE were also behind Woodstock ‘99, in which case big old LOL there. Our drug addict wizard pals have mastered the sphere of Time and their Foci are (I poo poo you not) Incense (Correspondence/Spirit), Music (Forces/Mind), Ring (Entropy/Matter), and Vice (Life/Prime/Time) Concepts and Acolytes are entertainers, musicians, Hollywood agents and whatever the hell a “Primitive Drummer” is. The CoE does have a couple of funny stereotypes relating to the Sons of Ether and the Virtual Adepts: SoE: This is what science outta be, funny goggles and Frankenstein. VA: These guys are cool, check ‘em out. I can’t hate the druggie wizards, although they probably smell like patchouli.  To my absolute shock the Dreamspeakers are not the racist caricature I was expecting. They are the most Earth focused of the Traditions, with their thing being interacting with Spirits and Gaia herself. Unfortunately because of the Technocracy's shenanigans, and the ongoing destruction of the planet, the Dreamspeakers are kinda losing their minds a tiny bit. They lack any kind of real organization, but those drawn to them are generally Shamen, hitchhikers, ecologists, environmentalists, Garou, and Sleepwalkers.Their sphere is Spirit and their Foci are Crystals (Life/Mind/Prime) Drums (Correspondence/Entropy/Forces/Matter/Time) and Feathers (Spirit)  The Euthanatos are a death cult who are pretty goth but they’re more of the nihilistic, death-rock goths. They believe that humanity is wasting the most precious gift it has been given, life itself. So they’ve taken it upon themselves to just murder folks to put their souls back into the ethereal rotation for a fresh incarnation. Many of these victims of the “Good Death” return as Euthanatos, which seems like some fuckery going on from the tradition to stack the deck in their favor. Also they are obsessed with figuring out the Kindred. Because they are goth dorks. They have mastered the sphere of Entropy with their Foci being Bones (Entropy/Matter/Prime), Dancing (Correspondence/Spirit) Dolls (Lfe), Rattle (Mind/Time) and Weapons (Forces). Voodoo Priests/Witch Doctors, morticians, occult store keepers, Terrorists  , assassins, doctors, scholars and gravediggers are all offered as concepts and potential acolytes of the death wizards. Okay, I know I just called the Euthanatos the goth wizards, but Holy poo poo. The Hollow Ones are literally the Gothiest Goths to ever Goth. They fart cobwebs and poo poo bats, that how loving GOTH they are. Technically the H1’s are Orphans, and they don’t care about Ascension maaaaaaan. They just want to hang out in the club, smoking cloves and nodding along to The Sisters of Mercy. They call their Cabals Cliques, they hang out in cemeteries and clubs and on Halloween they throw a big ball where all the cliques come together and the positions of power within the largest few cliques (these leaders are known as Prince and Princess) are up for a vote. But not King and Queen of the H1, that’s until death and already went to the two prettiest goths in all of the tradition. I swear I am not making that up, it is literally on the page oh my god I loving love this nonsense so much. The H1 are essentially White Wolf saying “Hey there spooky goth kid, we know you’re already playing Masquerade because you’re a gloomy little rain cloud that nobody understands, but now you can play a Wizard! But, like a totally cool and dark wizard with nice cheekbones and Robert Smith hair.” I can’t even be mad at this, its so loving funny, and obviously WW not only trying to bait their Masquerade audience over to Mage, but it also feels like they are just absolutely mocking the ever living hell out of their audience, and to be honest, I’m fine with it in this case because this tradition is loving Amazing. The Hollow Ones draw from Blood Dolls (slaves of vampires who serve to be fed on) occultists, artists, runaways and night-shift workers. They also don’t have any specific sphere or foci linked to them which seems like it might be cool from a creative freedom perspective, however they pay a higher cost for their spheres per chapter 8   The Order of Hermes are you good old fashioned cantankerous, obtuse wizards. The most secretive of the Traditions, they use arcane languages, “Profound Metaphor” and esoteric numerology as part of their magic. Oh and they apparently created Kabbalah which…..I think the Jews might have something to say about that? Also they started the Order of the Golden Dawn which was a magical society that Alester Crowley was involved with at one point before he hosed off to start his own magical order. None of that information beyond the Golden Dawn being started by the OoH was in the book, that’s just some fun facts from me to you  The O of H used to have an Order working out in the open during the Middle Ages as a sort of experiment. Apparently this didn’t work out so well, as there was corruption and somebody decided to start summoning monsters. To be honest, what else are you going to do when chanting arcane languages? That’s how you summon monsters, everyone knows that! Anywhoo, the O of H draws from Mathematicians and members of secret organizations like the Golden Dawn or the CIA, and also scientists. They have mastered the sphere of Forces with the Foci Circle (Spirit), Language (all spheres including those with another focus *linguistics ability required*) Seal of Solomon (Forces/Prime), Showstone (Mind/Time)  Oh hey it’s The Sons of Ether, and lemme just say right off, I absolutely love the tiny Robot Monster guy with the tray! It is Adorable. Anyway the Sons are the mad scientists of the setting, and their understanding of magic is that if you believe hard enough in you stupid theory, it will work because it should work that way from your perspective. Mad scientist wizards. Kinda love em, but as I said in their initial introduction, because they’re all about scientific thought that has been disproven, you have the unfortunate potential for these guys to be gung-ho about some really, really bad ideas. Mad Scientists, absent-minded professors, inventors and eccentric people are the suggestions of who the SoE recruits. They have mastered the sphere of Matter with their Foci being Abacus (abaci?) (Correspondence/Entropy) Electricity (Life/Prime) Ether Goggles (Mind/Spirit), Scientific Meter (Forces/Matter/Time)  Look everyone it’s the Not Tremere I mean The Verbena. If the Dreamspeakers are our earthy tradition focused on Gaia and spirit, that makes the Verbena the weirdo quasi-wiccans who are really, really into blood rituals. Also said to be the source of most fairytale depictions of witches so that’s fun. They draw from Civil Liberatarians (the gently caress?), Wiccans of course, butchers, new Agers (again no poo poo), Druids (do we have an abundance of Druids hanging out or something? Did I miss a memo?) and explorers. Their sphere is Life with their Foci being Blood (Life/Prime) Cauldron (Entropy/Spirit), Herbs (Matter), Wand (Correspondence/Forces/Time) Weapons (Mind)  Oh poo poo it’s VR CHAT time with the Virtual Adepts. I already discussed the VA in a previous chapter and their info here doesn’t do much to expand on what we already know, they created a digital virtual reality realm that they hang out in via magic. Because it’s 1993 and VR is going through its early 90’s “Technology of the Future!” push. I actually think the idea that the VA created VR Chat is much, much funnier, and you’ll pry the image of big tiddie anime girls talking about how to take the Technocracy down while a Ugandan Knuckles in a tank is there, and probably some furries, from my cold dead hands…or brain because it’s something I imagined. This book is driving me insane. The choices of who the VA draws from are hysterical in how Extremely 90’s they are with Sci-Fi fans, Hackers, PC gamers, Software Designers and “Computer Net Operators” which…..I feel like in 2022 we are all “Computer Net Operators”. Their sphere is Correspondence (a word I am getting very sick of typing at this point) and their Foci being listed as Computer (All Spheres), Electricity (Forces),and Network (Prime/Spirit). I know later in the book it explains what all these Foci actually are, but what in the gently caress do they mean by Network in this case? Again, I’m trying to translate 1993 understanding of technology and trying to sound advanced into 2022 coherence and lord help me it just ain't gonna happen every time. Personality Archetypes are finally detailed a bit more, remember this is supposed to be a way for the players to express their Nature and Demeanor through handy stereotypes. For the sake of brevity I’ll just list the Archetypes along with their flaws and how they regain Willpower. Any commentary I have about them will be saved for the end of the list. 1)Architect - Flaw: Obsessed Willpower is regained whenever they create something of importance of lasting value. 2)Avante-Garde - Flaw: Pride Willpower is regained whenever they are first with a piece of new info or other significant discovery. 3)Bon Vivant - Flaw: Hedonism Willower is regained whenever they have a truly good time or can fully express their exultation. 4)Bravo - Flaw: Anger Willpower is regained whenever they intimidate or physically force another person to do what they wish. 5)Caregiver - Flaw: Lack of Confidence (The self sacrifice of helping others is done out of a need to be appreciated) Willpower is regained whenever they successfully protect or nurture someone else. 6)Conformist -Flaw: Low Self Esteem Willpower is regained whenever the group accomplishes something because you helped. 7)Conniver - Flaws: Envy Willpower is regained whenever you are able to get your way by tricking someone into doing your will. 8)Critic - Flaw: Arrogance Willpower is regained whenever you discover a significant imperfection that others overlook. 9)Curmudgeon - Flaw: Lack of Imagination Willpower is regained whenever someone does something stupid, just as you predicted (Prediction has to be made out loud to the other players or in private with the ST) 10)Deviant - Flaw: Perversion Willpower is regained whenever you successfully thumb your nose at society without retaliation. 11)Director - Flaw: Lack of Tolerance Willpower is regained whenever you are allowed to lead a group and accomplish a significant task. 12)Fanatic - Flaw: Stubbornness Willpower is regained whenever you accomplish an act that furthers your cause. 13)Jester - Flaw: Hypocrisy Willpower is regained whenever you raise the spirits around you through humor, especially if you are able to escape your own pain at the same time. 14)Judge - Flaw: Lack of Vision Willpower is regained whenever you are able to separate truth from lies, or when convincing disputing individuals to agree with your judgment. 15)Loner - Flaw: Lack of Empathy Willpower is regained whenever you accomplish a significant task on your own without aid of others, but still aids the group. 16)Martyr - Flaw: Pessimism Willpower is regained whenever you sacrifice yourself in a real and immediate way for your beliefs or for another individual. 17)Rebel - Flaw: Lack of Direction Willpower is regained whenever your rebellion against the status quo turns out for the best. 18)Survivor - Flaw: Lack of Trust Willpower is regained whenever you survive a difficult situation through your own cunning and perseverance. 19)Traditionalist - Flaw: Complacence Willpower is regained whenever you are able to protect the status quo and prevent change. 20)Visionary - Flaw: Pride Willpower is regained whenever you are able to convince others to believe in your dreams and follow the course of action you’ve outlined for the future. Not bad for some archetypes to build a character off of, and the flaws make for an interesting direction for a character to focus their journey to Ascension. The regaining willpower for some of them is a bit silly though, like what the gently caress does “Thumbing your nose at society without retaliation” mean exactly? Are you saying if the player pulls off a bit of vulgar magic and gets away with it, they would get some willpower back? Why do you do these things to me White Wolf? Essences describe your Avatar, and there are 5 essences, but Mages are only semi knowledgeable of four. The Infinite is the fifth and unknown of the essences and is assumed to just be part of the way magic works despite no one actually being able to confirm that it exists. Dynamic essence is the force of change, and while all Mages have a bit of this essence, those that have it as their primary essence are driven to constant change and are seen as pioneers. Pattern essence Mages are all about a focused goal, working towards an end, and are typically part of the Technocracy. Primordial essence Mages are the most rare, and considered somewhat obsolete. Questing essence was once considered part of Dynamic essence, but Questing is about the bigger picture and achieving the goal. Specialites are a specific aspect of an attribute or trait that is 4 dots or higher, and allows the player to re-roll any 10’s scored while performing an action directly involving the specialty. The original 10 is counted as a success, and any additional successes are added with the player being allowed to reroll for each subsequent 10. This rule also applies to magical effects if the player has a speciality that connects to the magical effect they are creating. Example: a Euthanatos with a Medicine specialty for Heart Diseases, causing a victim to have a heart attack would allow the reroll 10’s rule to apply. Attributes are finally given some actual explanation because these dots gotta mean something! Attributes are both straightforward and also a bit loose, as everything is on the 1-5 dot scale with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent, and each dot has a recommendation/example to express the quality. Of course as outlined in Character Creation, the player's attributes break down into 3 main categories with each of those breaking down into subcategories. Physical: Strength: 1 dot = to bench pressing 40lbs 5 dots = benching 650lbs. Dexterity: 1 dot =You’re a klutz 5 dots =You can juggle knives blindfolded. Stamina: 1 dot= frail or sickly 5 dot = Tough enough to survive almost anything Social: Charisma 1 dot = People avoid you 5 dot = You could lead a nation Manipulation 1= You’re real bad at expressing yourself 5 dot = “You could sell ice to an eskimo” Appearance 1=You attract the hostility of others (with your Elephant Man looking rear end) 5= First reactions are either that of awe, intense jealousy or complete solicitude. Mental: Perception 1=Oblivious to anything but the very obvious 5=You can find a needle in a haystack Intelligence 1=IQ 80. 5=IQ160+ (Pretty sure IQ tests are bullshit. Also LOL) Wits 1= You send money to televangelists (which is double lol considering they’re a viable part of the loving Celstial Chorus) 5=Your brain is a supercomputer Abilities kicks off explaining the re-roll on 10 for specialites rule again. Even though we just had the rule explained to us 4 pages ago? Abilities break down in the same way the Attributes do, with Talents, Skills, and Knowledge. To spare all our sanities, I’ve included the Talents, Skills and Knowledge below as lists with specific notation regarding dot descriptions when something was worth noting. Talents: Alertness Athletics Awareness Brawl Dodge Expression (1dot = Tabloid Reporter, 5 dot = William Shakespeare) Intuition (1dot = Good instincts, 5 dot = You could bankrupt Vegas) Intimidation Streetwise Subterfuge Skills Drive Etiquette Firearms Leadership (1 dot = You could coach little league, 5 dot = “You are a Napoleon, a Churchill, or a HItler…”) :hyperthunk: Meditation Melee Research Stealth Survival Technology Knowledge Computer Cosmology Culture Enigmas Investigation Law Linguistics Medicine Occult Science Backgrounds were mentioned in Chapter 5 but now we get more information about what a background actually means and its value scale in dots. We’re also informed that dots cannot be added to your background with XP, it has to happen via gameplay events. Which contradicts the last chapter saying those “Freebie Points” could be used to….Improve your Background at *consults lovely table* 1 point per Background dot. Soooo I’m going to assume that when they say your background score can’t be improved with XP, they’re not talking about the freebie points given at the end of character creation, and mean generally earned XP. Allies are anyone who helps out the player, however the dots in this background allow for consolidating the dots used into a singular/more powerful ally, so a player can choose 3 allies with 3 dots, or 1 ally equal to the power of 3 dots, where 1 dot is listed as being “of moderate power” and each subsequent value being “Of correspondingly greater power” which….sure whatever, throw some math at me with no real parameters for what I should adding up. Game Design! Arcane oddly enough is more about hiding than it is arcane knowledge, but isn’t meant to be taken as a stealth ability and more about how well the Mage is able to “Cloud minds” and keep attention off themselves. 1 dot is “Easy to Overlook” with 5 dots being “Which grain of sand?” Avatar relates to the character's base Quintessence pool. If the player’s Quintessence falls below the number of this trait, they can reabsorb Quintessence after successful meditation at a node with a difficulty 7 roll. Quintessence gained with this background cannot be transferred to other Mages. Each dot is equal to the equivalent quantity of Quintessence that can be regained. Destiny is the Mage's ultimate potential. The higher the Destiny score, the more likely the Mage is to do something important and the more respect they receive within Mage society. Once per game session a Mage can roll a number of dice equal to their destiny rating (difficulty 8), with each success the player regains a point of willpower. Dream relates to the Mage’s ability to tap into the “Collective Unconscious” and gain information they would not normally have. This can also be used to boost an ability, however if it is used in this way then the user can only use Dream as a substitute for the ability for the rest of the day. Dream can also be used in situations where another ability wouldn’t work (Example: Intelligence+Dream (Linguistics) to understand the language of a being from another realm. 1 dot = “Hazy bits of information can be gleaned” with 5 dot = “Astounding insights are possible” Influence reflects the player's ability to influence mortals and gain followers. Influence can also be used with trait rolls to exhibit expertise. 1 dot = “Moderately influential” to 5 dot = “Vastly Influential” Library is related to the quality of the magical tomes in your personal/chantry library. The dots work slightly differently here as each dot adds “Study Points” that can be used to learn spheres (explained in Chapter 8 goddamn it) 1 dot = 5 study points, 5 dots = 25 SP. Mentor is who taught the player how to use magic and can additionally teach Spheres and Abilities to the player (per Chp.8) 1 dot = The Mentor knows a little bit of important info, 5 dot = They basically know everything Node works as a group score, as each player’s Node score is added together to gain the group's Quintessence value for that node. Each dot is equal to the equivalent dots of Quintessence. The Quintessence gained from the node is additional to any Quintessence gained from the Avatar background for the player with that background. Talisman refers to an item imbued with Quintessence that can be used by a Mage to help perform magic. The dot value of this background determines the power of the item. It is also used when creating a talisman. 1 dot = a minor talisman (Spirit helmet, listed as “Spirit Goggles” in the appendix) to 5 dot = a talisman of incredible power (Prodigy, a four pound supercomputer) Your Arete score covers a few things. It dictates how many dice a player can use when attempting to use Magic, it also allows the player to no longer need a Foci for one Sphere, and with a score of 3, the player can choose two spheres to discard the need for Foci. The final aspect Arete covers is the level of Sphere mastery the player can achieve. 0 is Superficial, with 10 being Enlightened. While Willpower was previously explained in chapter 5, this section is more focused on how the Willpower pool dictates the difficulty rating for a Willpower roll (1 being weak, 10 being Unshakeable) with players starting at a base of 5 (Certain) with the ability to purchase additional willpower during character creation. A point of Willpower can be used for 1 guaranteed success on a roll. The player may also use a point of willpower to counteract the storyteller in a situation where the storyteller calls for the player's action to be dictated by instinct/primal urge/gut reaction. If the player chooses to use the point of willpower to counteract this, they can. But the ST can just do it again, forcing another use of WP. (This is a loving stupid rule and really is only potentially going to lead to a war of attrition until the player is out of Willpower. And I don’t just mean on the paper either.) Willpower can be recovered at the end of the story (not the end of a session, the actual story what the gently caress) WP can also be recovered by special success in the story, fulfilling a criteria of their archetype, or if they have a sufficient Destiny score. The Paradox and Quintessence tracker works on a 20 point circle. Left side going clockwise for Quintessence, right side counterclockwise for Paradox. Quintessence ratings reflect how much energy a Mage has to use to power their magic. Paradox reflects that the Mage is an aberration to reality. Paradox can overlap Quintessence, but Quintessence cannot overlap Paradox on the tracker. Quintessence is gained by the Large Avatar background, or absorbed from a talisman, mystic site or a chantry’s reservoir/node. Quintessence can be used to lower the difficulty of a magical effect roll with each point spent equal to one less difficulty. Using Quintessence this way may have an effect on coincidental/vulgar magic rolls. Paradox can be gained whenever a player does a magic roll, and increases when using vulgar magic. The rules are in Chapter 8 because WW doesn’t understand how to lay out a usable corebook. A character's Paradox rating also indicates the player's level of Quiet, which is a measure of how “Sane” a Mage is. The higher their Quiet, the more likely they are to see things that don’t exist/miss things that do exist. Again, chapter 8 is called out as where the full rules are. I promised tables, so here’s the Health Level Table  As the table notes, once you are Incapacitated, if you manage to take additional damage, you are dead. And that is it for Chapter 6. I love The Hollow Ones, they are just the most adorable nonsense ever, although having not attempted to create one yet, I am unable to assess if this system hates them as much as I suspect it does. This chapter is broadly good, and has a lot of very useful information, it being after the rules for character creation is so utterly unintuitive, because as I’m reading this book the way it's goddamn layed out, I feel like I’m constantly trying to figure out what the hell the book is trying to convey, or just keep up with the jargon its flinging at me before bothering to actually give context for any of it. As for the Traditions, honestly other than the Hollow Ones and maybe the Sons of Ether, none of them really grab me as being a character I would be interested in playing. But that’s enough about Chapter 6 because friends, it is time to delve deeply into what is possibly the most important chapter of this book? That’s right. Next time its Chapter 7, MAGICK joylessdivision fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Jul 9, 2022 |
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Jul 9, 2022 05:00
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Than you all for tossing a vote,between here and the WoD thread it has been decided by 4 votes that Werewolf the Apocalypse 1st edition will be the next core I read. Rest of the review of Mage should be up tomorrow, I gotta wrap up writing the last couple chapters and create my characters and having to go through and manually fix the bbcode is a pain.
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Jul 9, 2022 05:21
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