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2015-10-11, 11:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I love it.
Also, good timing, because last night we finally played the first session of the playtest!
Game-design wise, there weren't really any new problems that arose, though there were a couple things that I had previously thought of but hadn't done anything about yet. We were more held up by my own inexperience with STing than anything with the game itself.
One thing that became clear is that we need to go through and explicitly define which auxiliary legacies need only the Attribute boost to be active, which ones need the Legacy's "tell," and which ones can be activated independently.
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2015-10-11, 02:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
On my end, I'm still plodding through House Echinda. Got some bits and pieces done. The most time consuming part is going to be some sample stats for some of their creations. I'll try to have a first draft for you guys ASAP. I also maaaaay have made a slight change to what I started with. They may or may not be more magitek rather than maternal. But you didn't hear that from me.
Open the lid and snatch a homebrewed treat from Cookie's Jar
Ponytar by Dirtytabs
Originally Posted by DudeWhyAreAllTheNamesTaken(Imgur)
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2015-10-28, 04:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
We've been working on finishing Radiance of Quetzalcoatl. We only have one part of the 5th dot done so far, but I like it:
The dragon cannot be bested in one-to-one competition. Contests of physical might, exercises of will, even challenges of artistic ability, she cannot be bested as long as she has even the slightest idea what she is doing and an opponent to strive against. Any time she loses a contested roll, she may reflexively pay 2 Willpower to instead gain 1 more success than her opponent, as long as she had at least 1 die in her pool.
I've also added in a Tell mechanic to the General Legacies, which clarifies and condenses abilities which can only be used when the "visual effect" of the core legacy is active in Anthropos.
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2015-10-28, 06:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
It might be overpowered or it might be completely balanced game design wise. Then again, it's a huge Willpower sink to use that ability which I think is fine for WoD as Willpower is quite expensive as far as Supernatural resources go.
Still, I think it'd be poetic if the ability is unable to be activated against dramatic failures. Not regular failures, but rather during circumstances where the dragon fails so badly compared to his/her opponent no amount of divine magic can hide it.
And I am happy to hear of changes as of late; other progress made?Last edited by Almarck; 2015-10-28 at 06:13 PM.
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2015-10-28, 06:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Well, by default, there are only two situations in which you can get a dramatic failure: by rolling a 1 on a chance die (which would mean you already can't use the power) or by downgrading a failure for a Beat (which, hopefully obviously, you can't do and then use this ability at the same time). Still, our table and a number of others have house rules for dramatic failures, so the text might be worth adding in.
As for progress, we've been primarily focusing on the play test, which is going well so far. There have been a few things that have needed clarification or change, including the Tell mechanic, but they are generally minor.
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2015-10-28, 09:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
I believe either as a canon rule or a house rule: you suffer dramatic failures on Contested rolls specifically when your opponent has 5 of more Successes above you. It's either that or your opponent gets an exceptional success.
Also, you may want to exclude Clashes of Wills from that power specifically. Those are always contested rolls and the whole point of them is to settle what happens when two powers that don't normally interact with each other encounter each other. Such as say invisibility versus all seeing senses. Or bonds that never break versus a power that breaks bonds regardless of their difficulty. In short, it might be a little too exploitable to have a power to always win Clashes of Wills, even if at a high Willpower drain.Last edited by Almarck; 2015-10-28 at 09:25 PM.
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2015-10-28, 10:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Actually, the "perfect defense" aspect of it is what I like the most about the power. The 5 dot level of birthright is meant to be game-changing. A hydra will never die as long as their head is intact, a wyrm or drake can destroy entire cities, a wyvern can consume a creature's soul with a single bite, and an amphitere can no-sell magic used against them (or make their magic irresistible, or generally be Better Than You).
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2015-10-28, 11:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
I'll admit I am a bit disappointed by that, mostly because it seems too much like an I-Win button or atleast feels too spammable as it currently is.
I get that high level stuff is game changing. I mean, literally everyone has stuff equivalent to city busting or nigh invulnerability in 2e or just bloody murdering everything within a hundred feet, literally I might add. But lots of that stuff isn't universally applicable to nearly every situation you find yourself in and that's what I feel is what pushes it over the deep end.
Perhaps as an alternative, instead of a flat cost, the cost of activation is literally as many successes you need to "win" after determining the results without the power. And unlike other uses of Willpower, doesn't count towards your turn's Willpower limits. Really powerful and keeps the flavor without changing anything save the cost.
Edit: Actually, I forgot about Willpower being a much "smaller" fuel reserve than other Energy types and that has its own drawbacks. So maybe my complain isn't as major as I initially thought.
also, I just learned of an interesting rule: apparently, Willpower is hard capped at 10, even for Supernaturals. For some odd reason, apparently an obscure rule, but apparently that's what's been said about it.Last edited by Almarck; 2015-10-28 at 11:54 PM.
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2015-10-29, 12:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
It's also worth remembering that dragons, even with their higher pool (which, as we're learning in the playtest, is still pretty limiting), still have limits on how much they can spend. The "limit" from Kau 1-3 is 1 per turn. They can go over that limit, but each additional point costs another point to access. (so the second costs 2, the third costs 3, etc). And reaching Kau 4 is a significant XP investment, even at that level of play. So for a fair number of dragons, they actually have to spend 3 WP to get the effect, not 2. Even for a dragon with a large pool, spending 3 WP frivolously will deplete their pool fast.
Also, if you were to have to pay WP equal to the successes, it would be essentially just like blowing a bunch of WP on dice. The only extra benefit would be that you could do it after you see the result. So I wouldn't like that nearly as much.
Do you have a source on that Willpower thing? We'd obviously exempt dragons from it, but I'd like to see where it comes up all the same.
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2015-10-29, 12:14 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Yeah, I remembered Willpower had a very small Max pool and that thing is used for EVERYTHING to the point that blowing 2 WP might actually be a serious investment. Especially with how "slow" it takes for a dragon to spend anything...
Sadly, I actually don't remember where the source comes from. I don't even recall the Forum it was on. I'd cite it for you if I could. But specifically, the hard cap applied to your Willpower pool from Attributes as well as your "trait" value when you used it. Assuming my memory is correct, of course
It was about a month ago I think...
In any case, the rule would realistically only affect Willpower gained as a result of high attributes for Dragons as well as whether or not it applied to the legacies that affect Resolve and Composure (since they increase Resolve and Composure by up to 5 each.)
Still, most people don't know this rule or don't have a situation where it would come into play (as largely it comes up in Post Power Stat 6 games), so it really doesn't matter unless you have a rules lawyer or are in high tier play to begin with.Last edited by Almarck; 2015-10-29 at 12:15 AM.
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2015-10-29, 12:15 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Also, apparently your dice pool for 2e is supposed to cap at [base dice pool] + 5 (at least, according to comments from freelancers). So spending multiple Willpower on one roll for extra dice is only good for dealing with penalties, really.
As for "auto-win"... eh, it's a bit much. Then again, you are tossing 8-again and Rote action around like candy, which makes you unlikely to fail the roll anyway, given the generally high dice pools Dragons get while in Drakonos.
Then again, given how strong the rest of the template is... playtest it.
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2015-10-29, 12:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Oh, I plan to.
Spoiler: Xallace don't read thisI have a Birthright 4 Amphitere NPC that the PCs will probably be fighting some time very soon, and she's going to be my main way of testing out Amphitere Birthright stuff, particularly on combat focused characters. If they manage to hurt her bad enough, it's entirely possible that she could go Tyranos. She is very tanky, so I don't expect them to push her that hard before she surrenders or leaves, but it could happen.
If that doesn't pan out, there's also the Zaltys Queen, who is definitely a birthright 5 Amphitere.
Spoiler: No really, Xallace, I'm talking about spoiler stuffActually, while I'm talking about NPCs, I find myself in the dilemma of having an NPC get targeted by a PC plan before I figured out his exact power list, and there is one particular power he could have that would utterly ruin her plan. If I give it to him, it'll feel like I'm ruining her plan on purpose, but if I don't, it'll feel like I'm letting her off too easy. So I need some advice:
For a socialite Zmaj with 3 dots of Sorcery, what individual spells would he have? Let's say he has a total of 6 spells, and naturally he has to have one at each respective dot level from the base Sorcery dots.
If this doesn't pan out, another option I was considering was for them to pay a higher WP cost (like 3 or 4) to get successes on a roll equal to their diepool, probably with a few limitations on how it can be used. Or something like 2 or 1 WP to just get 1/3 of their pool as successes. Or something like that.
Also, if that is how it works, then Hives become significantly less scary.
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2015-10-29, 12:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Well, at the point you get the ability to do that, you probably could survive atleast one shot from antitank weaponry to begin with. Maybe more provided nothing blows up your head and overkills you... So, obviously, yeah, "When you are a fully realized Demigod, Enemy X is no longer as threatening as you recall..."
Of course, at that point, the Hive should they be at a primary antagonist, would have a bunch of stuff to make them still threatening in some manner... specifically, a "Destroyah mode", perhaps a whole bunch of other unfair T5 Abilities on its own behalf...I possess the Addicted to Editing flaw. I have edit my posts 3 seconds after posting them for 10 minutes.
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2015-12-08, 01:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
So is this still being developed on?
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2015-12-08, 02:53 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
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2015-12-08, 03:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
So how is that going? How does the game work so far on it's own and how does it mesh with other systems when they come up (Eg. Running into vampires or hunters for instance).
I've mostly been trying to recreate the dragon-feel through Changeling and Demon, due to their more supernatural and less human bents. So I am curious about a game that actually wholly invests in the idea.Last edited by Reshy; 2015-12-08 at 03:56 PM.
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2015-12-08, 09:04 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
I haven't gotten a chance to directly introduce any other splats to the game yet (since we can only play every other week or so), but I don't anticipate anything more drastic than other official splats.
On its own, though, it's working well. There have been a couple hiccups, but that's to be expected in playtest, and it's not been anything huge.
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2015-12-08, 09:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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2015-12-09, 03:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
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2015-12-09, 05:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
That's what I had thought, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I'll be looking in-depth at the document for it (Now that I'm done bombing my finals), and I'll probably write my thoughts down here once I've read a bit. Albeit, my feedback will probably be less relevant due to my personal lack of playtesting with the system.
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2015-12-10, 02:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Nah, we value all the input we get. It's especially nice to get a fresh set of eyes every once in a while, since we sometimes talk about putting stuff in, agree that it's canon, and then fail to actually write it. Granted, I think we've cleared up most of those things, but it's always possible for us to miss something.
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2015-12-10, 02:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Alright, I'm going to go top-to-bottom and comment on things as I see them.
Legends of Dragon Kind:
There doesn’t seem to be an origin story for the dragons themselves, which I find a little odd.
Alright so this empire sounds familiar to me, specifically it reminds me of the Golden City in Dragonbound and Requiem from the Dawn of Dragons/Song of the Dragons series. In addition, it also reminds me that in Mage the Awakening that there were supposedly dragons on the island that eventually became Atlantis. I assume you know this, but is this possibly a tie-in?
It mentions serious scientific inquery, so how do dragons handle things like the Null Mysteriis and the Mysterium? The latter specifically would be difficult to throw off due to the Mage's innate Unseen Sense ability. Is it only considered to be a problem when a Mortal does so?
Inheritance:
On the topic of "transform spontaneously" what happens if they're placed in a situation where there is a serious risk of loss of life? Mugging to Kidnapping to Attempted Murder. Would these things possibly cause the Heir-to-be to suddenly manifest in an attempt to avoid a swift death (or the death of someone close to them)? Furthermore, is it possible for a dragon’s will to be crushed under duress rather than strengthened? If so, what happens then? Lastly, what happens if they’ve never been in a highly distressing situation? Do they simply never manifest, and if that’s so can existing Heirs see what they are (and what they could be)? Would other Heirs instead try and “force” the issue by putting them in a high stress situation? How does heritability function for Heirs? Are the descendants always dragons, do some become normal, or do some become essentially the dragon version of sleepers?
On a brief case of nitpicking, there’s a line that says “no matter how cool it would be” Cool doesn’t seem to be the fitting word for it, seems (to me) to be a fairly subjective/opinionated statement.
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2015-12-14, 07:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
I found this project via the White Wolf boards, and loved reading it. As my name would indicate, I'm quite a fan of dragons in general, and this is the best take on them, as their own particular thing (as opposed to Beasts), that I've seen in WoD. It's pretty much how I imagined dragons would survive in the modern world. I do have a few questions that came up as I was reading through it.
The section on the Inheritance was extremely evocative; it may have been my favorite part in the whole book, just because of how clear a picture it painted in my mind of what it would feel like. I do wonder just how extensive the change to Anthropos could be; you said it can't regrow limbs or restore a lost sense, but for example, take an obese Heir who used to be (or had always wanted to be) athletic. How much fat could they trade in for muscle? It stood out a bit how much space was devoted to transgendered dragons, but I understand that's a thorny issue... in that case, do the Drakonos and Anthropos need to have the same plumbing?
I'd also wondered the same thing as Reshy, about just how the Inheritance is passed down. Is it through literal bloodlines, a wholly spiritual thing, or somewhere in between? My own thought on it would be the same as the Dragon-Blooded in Exalted; it is passed on by descent, and two dragons are more likely to have dragon children, but can skip multiple generations at a time, needs that indefinable je ne sais quoi to actually spark the transformation, and at this point has diffused enough that an Heir could pop up just about anywhere. This does raise the fascinating mental image of literal dragon dynasties...
Speaking of Dynasties, it's mentioned a couple of times that dragons can leave one for another. How does that affect their Dynastic Legacies? If they get to keep their old magic, that could lead to stories about Dynasties "poaching" young dragons from each other to broaden their skillsets.
It's said that there's no upper cap on your attributes in Drakonos; how does that work? Do you just buy them with xp normally, and dots over 5 are ignored in human form?
5-dot Birthrights are terrifying. Just saying.
This may be an odd nitpick, but why does fire breath not add attack successes to damage?
Thanks!Last edited by WarDragon; 2015-12-14 at 08:47 PM.
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2015-12-15, 04:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Thanks! We're always glad to hear that people like our work.
The section on the Inheritance was extremely evocative; it may have been my favorite part in the whole book, just because of how clear a picture it painted in my mind of what it would feel like. I do wonder just how extensive the change to Anthropos could be; you said it can't regrow limbs or restore a lost sense, but for example, take an obese Heir who used to be (or had always wanted to be) athletic. How much fat could they trade in for muscle? It stood out a bit how much space was devoted to transgendered dragons, but I understand that's a thorny issue... in that case, do the Drakonos and Anthropos need to have the same plumbing?
As for transgender specific material, that's mostly because we find the topic to be important and we wanted to do it justice. And my take on it is that, being a pure expression of the dragon's will, the Drakonos does not need to have the same plumbing as the Anthropos. Whether it actually does or not, I'd leave up to the players.
I'd also wondered the same thing as Reshy, about just how the Inheritance is passed down. Is it through literal bloodlines, a wholly spiritual thing, or somewhere in between? My own thought on it would be the same as the Dragon-Blooded in Exalted; it is passed on by descent, and two dragons are more likely to have dragon children, but can skip multiple generations at a time, needs that indefinable je ne sais quoi to actually spark the transformation, and at this point has diffused enough that an Heir could pop up just about anywhere. This does raise the fascinating mental image of literal dragon dynasties...
Speaking of Dynasties, it's mentioned a couple of times that dragons can leave one for another. How does that affect their Dynastic Legacies? If they get to keep their old magic, that could lead to stories about Dynasties "poaching" young dragons from each other to broaden their skillsets.
It's said that there's no upper cap on your attributes in Drakonos; how does that work? Do you just buy them with xp normally, and dots over 5 are ignored in human form?
5-dot Birthrights are terrifying. Just saying.
This may be an odd nitpick, but why does fire breath not add attack successes to damage?
That said, we are still playtesting. Once we get a good chance to test it in game, we might decide to add in scaling damage if it is too weak as-is.
Yep, that was deliberate. The Mage part, that is. In the true spirit of World of Darkness, it could be just how it looks, it could be misinformation, or it could be a hint at something bigger than either group knows. The true answer is whatever is best for the group's story.
I'm actually not familiar with those other series, I might have to take a look at them.
It mentions serious scientific inquery, so how do dragons handle things like the Null Mysteriis and the Mysterium? The latter specifically would be difficult to throw off due to the Mage's innate Unseen Sense ability. Is it only considered to be a problem when a Mortal does so?
Inheritance:
On the topic of "transform spontaneously" what happens if they're placed in a situation where there is a serious risk of loss of life? Mugging to Kidnapping to Attempted Murder. Would these things possibly cause the Heir-to-be to suddenly manifest in an attempt to avoid a swift death (or the death of someone close to them)?
Furthermore, is it possible for a dragon’s will to be crushed under duress rather than strengthened? If so, what happens then? Lastly, what happens if they’ve never been in a highly distressing situation? Do they simply never manifest, and if that’s so can existing Heirs see what they are (and what they could be)? Would other Heirs instead try and “force” the issue by putting them in a high stress situation?
Though I do want to correct you on one important detail: it's not just a distressing situation that catalyzes a dragon's Inheritance, but rather a crisis of identity. It's when they question, on a fundamental level, who they are that they become open to realizing their true heritage. So while a mugging, an assault, or other traumatic event might be distressing, it wouldn't trigger the Inheritance unless it also made the dragon rethink their identity as a result. And, for that matter, it would usually happen in the time following the event, rather than during the event itself.
How does heritability function for Heirs? Are the descendants always dragons, do some become normal, or do some become essentially the dragon version of sleepers?
Most importantly, all of this lines up with the Empire history that dragons believe so adamantly in. After all, it wouldn't make sense for the humans that usurped them to become capable of gaining their power.
Unless they're wrong, that is. It is possible that the Empire story is just that: a story. That dragons are, contrary to what they believe, fundamentally human in the same way that a Mage is, who through some unknown mechanism had their souls made open to this transformation. Under this interpretation, the Inheritance is the way it is mostly because that's the way that existing dragons teach it. The descendants of dragons becoming dragons themselves is just a coincidence of humankind's constantly expanding population.
Of course, that does raise quite a few questions. Like: what is the true origin of the Heirs? Why do Slayers exist? Why are the forces of Fate demonstrably working against dragonkind? Why can only some humans become dragons?
Occam's Razor says that the Empire story leaves less unexplained, and thus is more likely to be true, sometimes but you have to wonder...
I might have put a lot of thinking into this particular topic. A lot of what I've written here is going into a sidebar/section of the book, as soon as I figure out where it will fit best.
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2015-12-15, 09:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
My pleasure.
There's no strict conversion rate of fat to muscle or anything like that that the Inheritance can change, but as a rule of thumb any changes that it makes are subtle enough not to be immediately noticed by anyone who isn't specifically looking for them.
As for transgender specific material, that's mostly because we find the topic to be important and we wanted to do it justice. And my take on it is that, being a pure expression of the dragon's will, the Drakonos does not need to have the same plumbing as the Anthropos. Whether it actually does or not, I'd leave up to the players.
You can keep any Dynastic Legacies you've learned after you leave the dynasty. However, because they are learned techniques instead of instinctual ones, you cannot learn any new dots of them or any new Auxiliaries for them after you leave the dynasty in question, because you no longer have access to the teachers willing to share them. And yes, there is indeed room for such stories.
Mostly it just means that the dots you gain from Legacies aren't limited by your Kauchaomai in the same way as normal dots. While I haven't discussed that edge case with Xallace, I'd be inclined to say that it would work the way you describe. However, if you want another Attribute dot that is only accessible in Drakonos, why not just buy another Legacy dot? They're half the price, and give more power.
A couple reasons. 1: We based the mechanics of fire breath off of the mechanics for flamethrowers, which work this way. (Or at least they did in Armory, if I remember correctly they changed it up a bit for Hurt Locker.) In fact, we used to have it use the actual Size and Intensity ratings of normal fire to determine damage, but wound up deciding to simplify it. 2: Flame breath has the potential to be a dragon's most game-breaking weapon, given the possibility to wipe out entire groups of enemies at once. Giving it a set damage rating, instead of one that scales directly with your die pool, has less chance for abuse.
That said, we are still playtesting. Once we get a good chance to test it in game, we might decide to add in scaling damage if it is too weak as-is.
Mages don't take the effects of Enkindling, so dragons as a whole aren't overly worried about Mages knowing of their existence. Null Mysteriis, on the other hand, could be a much bigger problem, though you could say the same about any sufficiently large and interested Hunter group. Hunters that go up against dragons have a nasty tendency to become Slayers by the end of the hunt.
The Heirs think, for the most part, that it is hereditary. It's clearly not the only factor, though, because the children of Heirs remain apparently human more often than not. In fact, it's more common for it to "skip" several generations than it is to be passed to children of dragons directly. Inheritance does also show up in people who have no provable dragon ancestry, but that doesn't mean much given how far back in human history dragons have existed, and how generally poor dragon record-keeping is. (The Nagaraja are the only dynasty that has put any widespread effort into the human side of dragon genealogy, and even they can only really track the family trees of their own members with real accuracy. Most others are more concerned with lines of Inheritance than biological parentage.)
Most importantly, all of this lines up with the Empire history that dragons believe so adamantly in. After all, it wouldn't make sense for the humans that usurped them to become capable of gaining their power.
Unless they're wrong, that is. It is possible that the Empire story is just that: a story. That dragons are, contrary to what they believe, fundamentally human in the same way that a Mage is, who through some unknown mechanism had their souls made open to this transformation. Under this interpretation, the Inheritance is the way it is mostly because that's the way that existing dragons teach it. The descendants of dragons becoming dragons themselves is just a coincidence of humankind's constantly expanding population.
Of course, that does raise quite a few questions. Like: what is the true origin of the Heirs? Why do Slayers exist? Why are the forces of Fate demonstrably working against dragonkind? Why can only some humans become dragons?
Occam's Razor says that the Empire story leaves less unexplained, and thus is more likely to be true, sometimes but you have to wonder...
I might have put a lot of thinking into this particular topic. A lot of what I've written here is going into a sidebar/section of the book, as soon as I figure out where it will fit best.
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2015-12-17, 01:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
I was just urious about the mage part, because I was like "Well, what if you have a cross over?" I know Beast was built for crossovers, so I wonder why Dragon can't be as well. Doesn't need to be solid answers, it could be something as simple as "Dragons have noted the apparent similarities of the Empire and the City Atlantis that the Mages describe."
As for the books, they're both interesting in their own kind of ways.
Dragonbound is about the "Great Dragons" (True Dragons, as opposed to the myriad of mixed-blooded serpents) and how they bond with special individuals of humanity called "Nagas." When they bond they unlock each other's telepathic capabilities, which historically has made them fearsome (Great Dragons normally communicate with one another telepathically, but it's only communication and only between dragons). Part of why the Golden Kingdom fell in the first place was using mind-control to keep unbound dragons and normal humans so that they could build up their perfect world. Of course, this fell apart when the rebels got their hands on the "Singing Stones" which disrupted the telepathic abilities of the Naga and Bound Dragons.
Requiem is about a group of "Weredragons," individuals blessed (or cursed) with the ability to assume the form of a dragon. However, the blessing and curse is seemingly random, and they have no real culture or civilization to call their own. In a hostile and superstitious world they're often hunted and killed due to their monstrous forms. The first dragon kingdom is called Requiem, where those with the blessing can live at peace with themselves and embrace their draconic ancestry. However, as many of the books go over; the Kingdom is regularly attacked by those who covet their power or those who would see the "Reptilian Evil" purged from the world. Weredragons can shapeshift pretty much from the moment their born, and often do so when distressed. Furthermore, weredragons must change shape every so often or they start to feel ill. Those damaged sufficiently revert back to their human shape.
Out of the two Requiem is far more dark, though both are fairly dark. Dragonbound seems to be a bit more optimistic.
But if a Mage sees a dragon, wouldn't they remember it? Furthermore, they have that "Super Unseen Sense" ability which lets them feel the presence of any supernatural type, dragons included. I haven't really gotten to slayers yet, or really understood what Enkindling does or how it works so I can't really comment on that.
So it's not something that can be self-taught, it must always come from someone who's already a dragon? Part of me doesn't really... like that. I kind of like how Firelight or Weredragon does the whole dragon-human thing, where the ability to assume dragon form is an inherent knowledge, sometimes reflexive in nature.
I don't know what the Spurned are, haven't gotten to them yet. Been reading Beast (And trying not to vomit) and Princess the Hopeful (Fan-splat).
Alright, so it's not any way a defensive reflex but kind of like an inversion of the Demon's Compromise/Cover system in a weird way? They're normal till they start digging into who and what they are?
Alright, that's what I had thought. So when it "Skips" is it because they don't judge their self-image or are they just simply not able to do so? Furthermore, how does say the human-child interact with the parent's dragon form if they've not become a Heir or simply can't? Are there half-breed lesser supernatural templates? Like Offspring for Demons?
So a Dragon is in a way a variant of a Mage? So it's less about the blood and possibly a function of the sleeper's inherent magical qualities? So if a Vampire embraces a Heir, what happens? They're fundamentally human, so presumably it'd work but... then what?
Still don't know how Slayers operate, I assume in a kind of similar way to the Beast's Heroes?Last edited by Reshy; 2015-12-17 at 01:28 AM.
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2015-12-17, 01:35 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
I don't think anything should really be said about mage cities since Atlantis wasn't really a place in 2e Mage as far as I can tell.
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2015-12-17, 03:15 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
We made a brief mention of the 1e Atlantis lore in the crossover section for Mage, but ultimately it isn't all that important. If the island of Atlantis really was the site of the draconic Empire, the biggest thing it would imply is that the Awakening can be traced back to the dragons. Some Mages might care a lot about that, but as far as day-to-day life is concerned it's not terribly earth-shattering for either side.
If they remove all mention of dragons in 2e Mage's description of the Atlantis myth, we might cut that mention out.
As for the books, they're both interesting in their own kind of ways.
*snip*
But if a Mage sees a dragon, wouldn't they remember it? Furthermore, they have that "Super Unseen Sense" ability which lets them feel the presence of any supernatural type, dragons included. I haven't really gotten to slayers yet, or really understood what Enkindling does or how it works so I can't really comment on that.
To explain: When normal humans see a dragon assume their true form, whether wholly or in part, an effect called the Enkindling takes place. Most of the time, Enkindling causes normal humans to panic, run, and cower before the dragon, generally not posing a threat to them. Sometimes, however, the Enkindling causes a single onlooker to instead become a Slayer, a human empowered by Fate to slay that particular dragon (and pose a huge risk to all other dragons). The possibility of creating Slayers is the entire reason that dragons hide their existence, and the reality of having to eventually fight Slayers is what drives them to bond with and protect each other.
It's also worth noting that Enkindling has no supernatural effect on the minds of human witnesses. They might not want to believe that they saw a 30 foot long, fire breathing, flying lizard, but they will remember as clearly as they remember any other traumatic event.
So it's not something that can be self-taught, it must always come from someone who's already a dragon? Part of me doesn't really... like that. I kind of like how Firelight or Weredragon does the whole dragon-human thing, where the ability to assume dragon form is an inherent knowledge, sometimes reflexive in nature.
There is one exception to normal Inheritances, however...
I don't know what the Spurned are, haven't gotten to them yet. Been reading Beast (And trying not to vomit) and Princess the Hopeful (Fan-splat).
I kinda like Beast, personally, but that's neither here nor there.
Alright, so it's not any way a defensive reflex but kind of like an inversion of the Demon's Compromise/Cover system in a weird way? They're normal till they start digging into who and what they are?
Alright, that's what I had thought. So when it "Skips" is it because they don't judge their self-image or are they just simply not able to do so? Furthermore, how does say the human-child interact with the parent's dragon form if they've not become a Heir or simply can't? Are there half-breed lesser supernatural templates? Like Offspring for Demons?
Because it's so difficult to tell the difference between a dragon who hasn't undergone Inheritance and a normal human, dragons just don't have enough information to do more than make educated guesses about how exactly draconic Inheritance works. And since dragons don't know, it's best if we just don't strictly define it.
The exception is dragons who have undergone the Blood of the Heir spell, which guarantees that a child will grow up to become a dragon. Or, if the spell goes too well, the child is actually born in Drakonos. This is the exception I mentioned earlier, which is very rare due to both the rarity of the spell itself and the infrequency with which it is cast.
So a Dragon is in a way a variant of a Mage? So it's less about the blood and possibly a function of the sleeper's inherent magical qualities? So if a Vampire embraces a Heir, what happens? They're fundamentally human, so presumably it'd work but... then what?New World of DarknessChronicles of Darkness thrives on the possibility that the PC factions are just plain wrong about some things.
Still don't know how Slayers operate, I assume in a kind of similar way to the Beast's Heroes?Last edited by One Tin Soldier; 2015-12-17 at 03:20 AM.
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2015-12-17, 03:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Last edited by Milo v3; 2015-12-17 at 03:55 AM.
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2015-12-17, 10:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: nWoD fansplat: Dragon: the Inheritance
Last edited by One Tin Soldier; 2015-12-17 at 10:16 AM.