General WoD Discussion #1: Assemble

[CN the Logos]

Huh, more interest than I expected. Well, here it is, read away and feel free to tell me how terrible I am. No really, I could use the criticism.

SO hey, now that there's a WoD discussion thread, does that mean that there'll be a ton of WoD games now?

>.>

I wanna play Promethean. ;.;

I can only hope so.

Someone should totally start such a game...

Someone...

Don't look at me, I'm running two games in meatspace right now and about to start my fall semester of grad school. I could be the PC in a solo game, if anyone wants to get their Geist on.

(Note: Prospective STs must have a firm grasp of the English language and be clear on the distinction between sin-eaters and geists.)

Getting into the whole Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism debate for a second, out of official gamelines, Geist seems to be the most upbeat, if not the most hopeful.

Yeah, Geist is basically, "Live Like You're Dying: The Game." It's depressing in the sense that you'll still die eventually (just like everything else), but you're responding to that by living life to the fullest in the meantime, be that by partying, giving up the meaningless things that ate up so much of your pre-incident life, or throwing yourself wholeheartedly into a task you feel is significant. Compared to Changeling (Abuse Victim: the Therapy) or Vampire ("How long until you give in and start eating depressed single mothers and setting the resulting orphans on fire? Let's find out together."), it's actually fairly uplifting. Being the second most powerful splat in the New World of Darkness without all the political intrigue accompanying the first helps too.

Also, I'm stealing this for my sig. I cannot read it without giggling.

Sig away, friend. Sig away.

[Yuki Akuma]

Someone should totally start such a game...

Someone...

...Don't look at me. I don't GM.

[Morty]

I'd love to play Promethean but I don't have the rulebook and I've spent enough on them lately. But I'm definetly up for Hunter, Vampire and Changeling games.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

I could get my hands on a Promethean book, but I'd need a few days to read it before being ready to play. And I don't GM, either, so we're still stuck for that.

[TheCountAlucard]

...Don't look at me. I don't GM.

Didn't say it had to be you.

And I don't GM, either, so we're still stuck for that.

Eh, that's fine. We'll just lurk until someone who does ST shows up...

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Well, this is a Promethean game we're talking about. Maybe we should just build a Storyteller.

[Imbasel]

I would run a mage game if interested. I made one a while ago but I couldn't put the time into then. I have more time now and I already have a setting fleshed out.

[The Glyphstone]

Calling dibs.

[JollyChris]

I would run a mage game if interested. I made one a while ago but I couldn't put the time into then. I have more time now and I already have a setting fleshed out.

I'm interested in trying mage. If you start a thread i'd play.

[Imbasel]

So does that mean you'd like to play?

I can take about 5 players and I'll do whoever expresses interest first. I'm at work right now so I don't have my setting stuff with me, but here is the basic stuff. If I get enough interested I'll make a recruitment thread with invite only for the first 5 people here and will let them know.

Year: Present
Setting: NYC

Premise: In recent years NYC has seen mages come and go which is something to be expected in a city so large. However, events of late has put the local Consilium on edge. Mages are being found dead in their homes for no apparent reason. Magic has proved inconclusive in many cases with it seeming to be "accidents". Recently tensions between mages and vampires has hit an all time high after a new childe went on a bloodlust on the family of the Counselor for the Adamantine Arrow, in the dark alley near their home.

Werewolves have been retreating in on themselves and nobody dares to walk in the park in NYC past 9 now.

[The Glyphstone]

Would we be starting as newly Awakened, or (hopefully) do we get some starting XP under our belt, especially considering the glacial pace of most PbP games?

[Imbasel]

Everyone would be an established mage (35xp) as you are a relatively new cabal, but you have all dealt with minor to moderate issues that have gained you approval from the Consilium.

Also you guys are invited and here is the thread http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209233

[TheCountAlucard]

I have a query regarding something I found in the Vampire: the Requiem book...

What's the story with gargoyles? There's almost nothing explained about them, just a listing under antagonistic stuff, and that Animalism doesn't work on 'em. Are they ever mentioned again, ever, in any of the other books?

I mean, in Vampire: the Masquerade, they were a variety of Kindred "created" by the Tremere, but obviously this doesn't fit for nWoD, since they don't even seem to have any Kindred-esque traits - in fact, it says the nWoD ones are automatons.

[hiryuu]

I have a query regarding something I found in the Vampire: the Requiem book...

What's the story with gargoyles? There's almost nothing explained about them, just a listing under antagonistic stuff, and that Animalism doesn't work on 'em. Are they ever mentioned again, ever, in any of the other books?

I mean, in Vampire: the Masquerade, they were a variety of Kindred "created" by the Tremere, but obviously this doesn't fit for nWoD, since they don't even seem to have any Kindred-esque traits - in fact, it says the nWoD ones are automatons.

There's a ritual in Circle of the Crone that creates them; same with homunculi. Something about a womb...

Oh, I started running a Geist/Mortal type game for some friends, and one of them takes totally awesome notes. Any interest in the story time log?

[TheCountAlucard]

There's a ritual in Circle of the Crone that creates them; same with homunculi. Something about a womb...

Scary thought.

Oh, I started running a Geist/Mortal type game for some friends, and one of them takes totally awesome notes. Any interest in the story time log?

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it.

[Pokonic]

Well, I was stumbling around the WOD wiki for info on gargoyles, and I stumbled apon this gem. It takes the gargoyales of the classic Disney cartoon and melds them very well into the oWOD. Its all well written and even if it is oWOD stuff, it felt like it was worth posting.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Oh, I started running a Geist/Mortal type game for some friends, and one of them takes totally awesome notes. Any interest in the story time log?

Yes. Yes yes yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes a thousand times yes!

[TheCountAlucard]

So, for my V:tR game, I plan on running it in San Francisco. Is there any material one might recommend to me? Not necessarily White Wolf books (though of course those are fine) - anything that'd help me get acquainted with the City by the Bay would be nice.

[Urpriest]

The song "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" is probably relevant.

[comicshorse]

The song "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" is probably relevant.

Only if you're playing a Setite

Wasn't old Changeling set in San Francisco, those books might provide some help

[Morty]

I have a question regarding Vampire: the Requiem, for the chronicle I'll be running in two months or so. Is it possible for a vampire, perhaps using the first dot of Auspex, to determine whether a pool of spilled blood belonged to a regular mortal or a ghoul?

[TheCountAlucard]

I have a question regarding Vampire: the Requiem, for the chronicle I'll be running in two months or so. Is it possible for a vampire, perhaps using the first dot of Auspex, to determine whether a pool of spilled blood belonged to a regular mortal or a ghoul?

Well, Kindred can taste vampiric Vitae very easily; unfortunately, ghouls don't actually carry the Vitae in their blood like Kindred do, so it's a bit of a tossup, really.

I'd allow for it with a Wits + Occult roll, like identifying a vampire's clan by "taste" in the core V:tR book, but probably at a higher difficulty.

[Fox Box Socks]

THEY'RE MAKING A NEW MUMMY

Honestly, raise your hand if you saw this one coming.

[Morty]

So a Wits + Occult - 1 or 2 after tasting a bit of the blood? Sounds reasonable. It'll only come up if one of my players has such idea, but I want to be preprared all the same.
@^ As in, a nWoD version of Mummy: the Ressurection? I thought Promethean was its spiritual successor. I also thought noone actually played Mummy.

[Yuki Akuma]

I hope they actually give the characters some concrete goals this time.

[Urpriest]

THEY'RE MAKING A NEW MUMMY

Honestly, raise your hand if you saw this one coming.

Ooh, fun! We've finally got another Anne Rice supernatural to compete with Vampires and Mages. Now we just need Taltos...

[Fox Box Socks]

Specifically, this is what White Wolf has to say on the subject.

Aug. 2012: (Mt?) Mummy: the

Our latest game line for the World of Darkness, Mummy will be developed using an open process in which the community can see the progress of the game and contribute, and released as a virtual box set.

Sounds neat.

[CN the Logos]

THEY'RE MAKING A NEW MUMMY

Honestly, raise your hand if you saw this one coming.

Not at all. I was pretty sure they covered mummies with Promethean's Osirans, and I'm not sure what they're going to do with it. There's no real mythological background behind the mummy that gets up and walks around, unless they're going to make this the general "walking dead people who aren't vampires but are too dead to be sin-eaters" line. In which case, we already have rules for revenants. I have also heard that OWoD mummy (which tried to extend the classical movie/Anne Rice Egyptian mummy into an entire game line) sold terribly.

Honestly, I haven't been predicting anything out of White Wolf, but I'd have called a new Demon (the Possessed can be that line's minor template, no big deal) before a new Mummy. Still, maybe they have a really revolutionary idea they will totally make this worth playing. I'm not optimistic, but I could be wrong.

[Fox Box Socks]

For those of you who don't remember (and some of this might be wrong, it's been years), Mummy: The Resurrection was a gameline in which you played ancient Egyptians who had undertaken an immortality ritual, trapping you in a cycle or reincarnation. It had more to do with Highlander than it had to do with Egyptian mythology, really. The line had a lot of problems, most notably problems similar to Wraith ("Okay, we're immortal. Now what do we do?") to Hunter (Mummies were horribly weak compared to other splats, even though the other supernaturals were supposed to treat them like badasses). Ironically, their strongest advantage was one that had little to no impact on most gamelines: the fact that it was literally impossible to wipe out a Mummy for good.

Think about it. Let's say you're a Vampire, and for some reason or another you make an enemy of a Mummy. What do you do? Killing him only means that he comes back 20 years later with a fresh plot to do you in. Engaging him in political backstabbery likely ends in him killing you, since he's innumerably older than you. In general, if a Mummy wants to kill you, you're going to die before he is, if only because his immortality is better than yours, and they're immune to Embrace.

It's...interesting.

[Morty]

If they can make it interesting, that's great. I'll be keeping an eye on the development in any case. The oWoD Mummy had little that could captivate my interest... not that there's much info on it out there.