General WoD Discussion #5: Chronicles of Duty: Modern Darkness

[Ravian]

So I've been considering how to run an interesting Promethean game. One of the things that I've found is a bit of a disconnect is playing a character that understands less about the world than you do, requiring a fair bit of suspension of disbelief to consider how one would react to things that a Promethean character might not have encountered before in a serious manner.

As a way to combat that I've come up with an interesting idea, that is to set the game in a world that is more recognizably not our own, essentially putting the players in the same boat of limited understanding as their Promethean characters. It likely wouldn't be too off-the-wall, more alternate earth than entirely new reality, possibly with some greater alchemical influences. I'm mostly planning on just throwing them in the world with a very minimal idea of what the world is like and how certain things might work (with only a few elements provided from their personal backstory with their creators as well as some flares of Azothic memory.)

I'm somewhat inspired by some of the bits from The Golden Compass books (more specifically the scenes of the protagonists exploring Cittagaze) as well as an interesting actual play report of a Promethean Game said in the Trigun universe (which felt extremely exotic to me since I didn't watch the anime until after reading the report.)

I'm hoping that the theme of self-discovery will be more easily accomplished when the players are forced to literally discover the world around them alongside their characters.

Any thoughts on this, advice, possible tips? I'm contemplating posting this as its own thread but I'm not sure how to explain the circumstances without plunging into Promethean lore minutia.

[Jallorn]

So I've been considering how to run an interesting Promethean game. One of the things that I've found is a bit of a disconnect is playing a character that understands less about the world than you do, requiring a fair bit of suspension of disbelief to consider how one would react to things that a Promethean character might not have encountered before in a serious manner.

As a way to combat that I've come up with an interesting idea, that is to set the game in a world that is more recognizably not our own, essentially putting the players in the same boat of limited understanding as their Promethean characters. It likely wouldn't be too off-the-wall, more alternate earth than entirely new reality, possibly with some greater alchemical influences. I'm mostly planning on just throwing them in the world with a very minimal idea of what the world is like and how certain things might work (with only a few elements provided from their personal backstory with their creators as well as some flares of Azothic memory.)

I'm somewhat inspired by some of the bits from The Golden Compass books (more specifically the scenes of the protagonists exploring Cittagaze) as well as an interesting actual play report of a Promethean Game said in the Trigun universe (which felt extremely exotic to me since I didn't watch the anime until after reading the report.)

I'm hoping that the theme of self-discovery will be more easily accomplished when the players are forced to literally discover the world around them alongside their characters.

Any thoughts on this, advice, possible tips? I'm contemplating posting this as its own thread but I'm not sure how to explain the circumstances without plunging into Promethean lore minutia.

Ideas off the top of my head (some may be harder to implement than others):

Have some things be rewound back in time. Maybe instead of airlines, we have blimps everywhere or such. Or perhaps horses are still common forms of transportation in parts of the world.

Mix up cultural elements; (preferably ones who's purpose you understand well) perhaps cherry blossom trees are common in the US, creating a slightly altered culture that has space in it for the melancholy of the cherry blossoms that is such a big part of Japanese culture.

Once your players are used to the idea that they don't know everything about the world, maybe the third or fourth session, (use best judgement, could be later or earlier, I'd err towards later than earlier) have them encounter something that exists in the modern world, but describe it such that it is not immediately apparent what it is. Have them go through the experience of discovering, "Oh, it's that." Pulled off well, it could toss them into a nice state of reexamining ordinary things around them.

[JBPuffin]

Hey, y'all. It's been awhile since I've checked in - doing other stuff, on and off forum - but this idea dug into my brain and now I'm in need of some help. I've got an idea for a novel (I'd say "fanfiction," but I have too much pride to go that far) which sets a former mortal crossing paths with each of the core splats as a result of a supernatural gorefest which resulted in his parents' deaths along with some other upper-tier government officials (characters fictional for obvious reasons). What I need are methods of killing that make distinguishing what killed who kind of obvious. One of them can be blatant hack-and-slashing (probably Werewolf, but I could be wrong), the Vampire deaths are pre-established as exsanguinations, and Hunter will probably involve a gun, but the rest...I don't know where to start.

So, what are some of the causes of death that are almost exclusively available to Changelings? Geists? Prometheans? Mummies? Demons? Mages? Werewolfs (see above)? Beasts? Any and all advice about undergoing this task is welcome.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

A powerful Arisen can retroactively edit people out of existence. Imagine just realizing you never had a mother. A powerful Awakened can send someone into the past so they die catching up with time. Some Prometheans can control flame and electricity, so someone electrocuted to death?

[Milo v3]

A beast could be a situation where camera footage shows someone just lightly poking someone in the chest, but the body has their whole chest caved in.

[solidork]

I think the most stereotypical ways for Mages to kill someone are things like: heart attack, car accident and suicide. I think it would be way more fun to have someone not do the optimal thing and do something insanely over the top Mages can do pretty much anything, so it is hard to narrow down more than "something totally impossible".

Like, a Mage turned someone into a flash drive and then smashed/wiped it. The investigator could do something to recover the data and just end up with 200 gigs worth of terrified screaming and begging.

Or, if you do lightning for one of the other splats, you could have it look like another kill of the same type (just without the body) at first, except the Mage turned the victim into electricity. Maybe all of the screens of electronic devices in the house have an image of the victim trying to break their way out of the screen burned into them?

They're also great at "locked room" scenarios since they don't even need to be physically present to take someone out.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

The problem is that unless the Mage goes specifically out of his way to leave a trail, there probably won't be one. You'd have to have a very angry and rather stupid mage.

[AshfireMage]

I can't beleive my chronicle starts in a week and a half! So excited!

Especially since I've finally started to get concepts from my players. So far we have the Ventrue daughter of a corrupt politician and a Tremere corrupt hospital director turned biomedical CEO. One other player has offered a few concepts that I like, but hasn't settled on which one yet, and the other just recently told me that she's deciding between a Gangrel and a Malkavian. Should be an interesting group...

Now to just finish hammering out the details for the actual first quest, lol

[solidork]

The problem is that unless the Mage goes specifically out of his way to leave a trail, there probably won't be one. You'd have to have a very angry and rather stupid mage.

Yeah. Maybe the mage is has Wisdom 0? Their nimbus would get everywhere too, which could mean that they have a sort of "calling card" of places where they've been.

[The Random NPC]

Some came up in my game yesterday, apparently Beasts can drop someone's composure by 1, what happens if you only have 1 composure?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

0 Composure? They'd be unable NOT to react to social stimuli. Someone wants to get a rise out of them? They get a rise. They're easy to convince, will go along with whatever the last person to speak said. You'd consider them super flighty, the world's ultimate follower.

[Morty]

The promised crossover book turns out to be Contagion Chronicle, and sounds less and less like anything I'm interested in. Hopefully there will still be some general advice on how to run crossover.

[Kesnit]

My wife is about to start a Changeling: the Lost (original, not 2nd Ed) game. I have a character I've been wanting to play, but am stuck on one point.

Spoiler: The Concept

Show

He was either an ATF or DEA agent undercover with an international gang that ran guns/drugs into the US. The gang's warehouse was raided by local police while he was there, and to maintain his cover, he ran with the rest of the gang members. A few blocks away, a woman on a motorcycle stopped and asked if he wanted a ride. He accepted, and that is how he was taken into Arcadia.

As an alternative, he wasn't an undercover federal agent. He was a real member of the gang, but was still in the warehouse when it was raided.

Either way, he became a spy for his Keeper. Dual kith Shadowsoul/Mirrorskin.

I want to take him into the Duchy of Truth and Loss. (Fetch killers), but don't know what to have him do as his day job. My original idea was to make him a killer for hire (since he's likely officially dead or missing, presumed dead). Then I realized that that would drop him to Clarity 2 very quickly, making him almost unplayable.

If he was an undercover agent, he would have been declared dead long before now. I can't really justify a reason he dropped off the radar for years. (I can, in theory, say that his Fetch was running his life, and the first Fetch he killed was his own. However, Fetches don't tend to improve people's lives, and I doubt he would want to go back to whatever life the Fetch created for him. Also, my wife has said that two Keepers we can choose between don't tend to leave Fetches.)

If he was a gang member, he could say that he was in hiding elsewhere for all the years he was gone. That was what I was going to go with, until my wife asked how he would handle gang / prison tattoos. I specifically want Mirrorskin so he can change his appearance. However, that would require my character to always put his tats back the way they were (and there would be rolls for NPCs to notice if he didn't get them perfect).

My current thought is to make him a thief. There was multiple ways he could fence stolen goods, which would give him an income to live on, if not comfortably. However, I know there has to be a better idea for his new career. Can anyone give me a better suggestion?

[comicshorse]

If he was an cop undercover then he could try some more legal careers ; working for a private security firm, bodyguard agency or if you're fan of old Noir movies there's the ever classic P.I. ( "I knew she was trouble the moment she walked in the office. It may have been the short skirt, it may been the smile but it was probably that she was seven foot tall and had horns ")

[Beleriphon]

The Four Pillars
The Shackled God: a True Fae that didn't break his contract with iron, the other True Fae banded together and locked him away, inside of several nested realities.
The Darkness: Its the Darkness from Alan Wake, probably gonna have it be the ruler of Spirits.
Das Uber Vampire: Need an idea for a super Vamp, not gonna use Dracula or Cain for this (cuz they have another role)
Super Ultra MEGA Mage: Again, need something for this, cuz im drawing a blank.

Now they won't be doing this alone. Eventually they will meet a faction of Demons that want to just tear it all down, because of how horrid it is, never mind that they will cease to be themselves, as well as Dracula and Cain, who just want to stop suffering. (also Cain may want to rule Hell, not sure on that yet)

Das Uber Vampire

On mega mage Merlin gone crazy(ier?) is always a good way to go. Living backwards through history has got to do weird things to your psyche.

[fishyfishyfishy]

In VtM are there any canon examples of Tzimisce with Serpentis, or Setites with Vissictitude that you guys are aware of? Fleshcrafting snake monsters is what I'm looking for.

[comicshorse]

In VtM are there any canon examples of Tzimisce with Serpentis, or Setites with Vissictitude that you guys are aware of? Fleshcrafting snake monsters is what I'm looking for.

Rasputin ?

[SaurOps]

Rasputin ?

Spoilers: it was the Puppeteer guild of ghosts all along.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Isn't that the cop out answer?

Every supernatural group wants to claim him.


If I ever have to give an answer on Rasputin I'll probably go with a Nephandi.

[Morty]

Maybe Rasputin was just a ridiculously lucky and/or durable mortal.

[SaurOps]

Maybe Rasputin was just a ridiculously lucky and/or durable mortal.

"Ever wonder what it looks like when you keep rolling 10s on your Stamina tests?...Surprise!"

[AshfireMage]

Apparently one of the guys in the Vampire group I play in has decided to ST a game of Hunter and despite my free time rapidly approaching nil... I've started kicking around ideas

[darkblade]

In VtM are there any canon examples of Tzimisce with Serpentis, or Setites with Vissictitude that you guys are aware of? Fleshcrafting snake monsters is what I'm looking for.

Between Setites accepting converts of other clans and the Serpents of Light being part of the Sabbat it's within the realm of possibility for a Tzimisce to learn Serpentis.

[Tinkerer]

Maybe Rasputin was just a ridiculously lucky and/or durable mortal.

Rasputin is one of the characters who I always say was mortal, just to mess with expectations. Now Queen Alexandra on the other hand....

[Grytorm]

My wife is about to start a Changeling: the Lost (original, not 2nd Ed) game. I have a character I've been wanting to play, but am stuck on one point.

Spoiler: The Concept

Show

He was either an ATF or DEA agent undercover with an international gang that ran guns/drugs into the US. The gang's warehouse was raided by local police while he was there, and to maintain his cover, he ran with the rest of the gang members. A few blocks away, a woman on a motorcycle stopped and asked if he wanted a ride. He accepted, and that is how he was taken into Arcadia.

As an alternative, he wasn't an undercover federal agent. He was a real member of the gang, but was still in the warehouse when it was raided.

Either way, he became a spy for his Keeper. Dual kith Shadowsoul/Mirrorskin.

I want to take him into the Duchy of Truth and Loss. (Fetch killers), but don't know what to have him do as his day job. My original idea was to make him a killer for hire (since he's likely officially dead or missing, presumed dead). Then I realized that that would drop him to Clarity 2 very quickly, making him almost unplayable.

If he was an undercover agent, he would have been declared dead long before now. I can't really justify a reason he dropped off the radar for years. (I can, in theory, say that his Fetch was running his life, and the first Fetch he killed was his own. However, Fetches don't tend to improve people's lives, and I doubt he would want to go back to whatever life the Fetch created for him. Also, my wife has said that two Keepers we can choose between don't tend to leave Fetches.)

If he was a gang member, he could say that he was in hiding elsewhere for all the years he was gone. That was what I was going to go with, until my wife asked how he would handle gang / prison tattoos. I specifically want Mirrorskin so he can change his appearance. However, that would require my character to always put his tats back the way they were (and there would be rolls for NPCs to notice if he didn't get them perfect).

My current thought is to make him a thief. There was multiple ways he could fence stolen goods, which would give him an income to live on, if not comfortably. However, I know there has to be a better idea for his new career. Can anyone give me a better suggestion?

I have one idea, what about your character saying he was deported if it fits with the rest of the details. If the group he was part of was broken up it seems like it would be plausible and not easy to verify.

Also, have you ever read A Scanner Darkly? I think it would be relevant.

[Kesnit]

I need some help with a nWoD Changling plot.

In the last game, the party of 4 escaped from the Hedge and were found by the Freehold. I have a large plot to lead them towards, but it requires they establish themselves first. And that is where I am stuck. Does anyone have some ideas for short plots for new Changlings that will get them going?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Fast-forward. Time-skip. Give them all a small bit of extra XP to get them the merits, ask them to describe their goals and methods for the next 6 months, and do a session working that out with a quicker time skip

[Kesnit]

Fast-forward. Time-skip. Give them all a small bit of extra XP to get them the merits, ask them to describe their goals and methods for the next 6 months, and do a session working that out with a quicker time skip

The idea is to let them meet and get to know the NPCs.

[comicshorse]

I need some help with a nWoD Changling plot.

In the last game, the party of 4 escaped from the Hedge and were found by the Freehold. I have a large plot to lead them towards, but it requires they establish themselves first. And that is where I am stuck. Does anyone have some ideas for short plots for new Changlings that will get them going?

Assuming that new Changelings are a valuable resource each of the Courts will want to attract as many as possible. So have each of the Courts run an 'open day' where the P.C.s can see around the Court's centre, meet some of the Changelings already in the Court and discuss the philosophy of the Court. Obviously this gives you a chance to introduce the PCs to NPC's you want them to meet and gives them an idea of what the Courts are like in your city.
You could also have each Court have arranged a 'activity' where the PC's can get a taste of the activities they may have to undertake for that Court ( and the Court can get to see if the PC's have any useful skills). This will vary from Court to Court ; the Summer Court may run a combat exercise (or actual combat if they like to throw the new guys in at the deep end), the Winter Court may have the P.C.'s help break in and steal some data, Autumn Court may have them go into the Hedge to gather Goblin Fruit and the Spring Court.......Well the Spring Court are going to throw a party


On the subject of Changeling the Lost ; What ways are there to discover if an object is a Token and what it does ?

[NekoMancer657]

I need some help with a nWoD Changling plot.

In the last game, the party of 4 escaped from the Hedge and were found by the Freehold. I have a large plot to lead them towards, but it requires they establish themselves first. And that is where I am stuck. Does anyone have some ideas for short plots for new Changlings that will get them going?

Establishing homes and adjusting back to Earth could give you some early stories. The latest preview in the 2nd edition kickstarter has some advice on the matter.

Do any of the characters have some short term goals they could work towards?