#World of Darkness

1 messages · Page 38 of 1

rapid glacier
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is the Baali book even out? I thought it was still in the 'release teaser paragraph in a press release' stage

high current
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the pdf went out to preorders today

hybrid dock
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LMAO

clear delta
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Once had an idea of ffxvi dominants. Very silly I know
I'd need to remove the giant monster part, and also rework them to still be big political/war beatsticks while maintaining the loose masquerade of cofd

hybrid dock
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Oh?

clear delta
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Dominants are vessels for the god-like eikons

hybrid dock
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I unfortunately don’t know what that is

spice abyss
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Is Beast. 😛

clear delta
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You know ff summons?
That but heavily implied to be connected to human thought

hybrid dock
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Need to read conquering heroes then

spice abyss
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Not actually a part of beast

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But I'd definitely define what's going on with Final Fantasy Dominants as Beast.

hybrid dock
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Ohhhh

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Sorry I woke up early

spice abyss
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All good! Easy enough to clear things up.

clear delta
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Don't spoil, btw

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Following along vods

heady kestrel
clear delta
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Go monster in twilight
Astraly projecting vampire and mage: hey, what the fuck

nimble gale
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I love it when big endboss monster form is a standard PC option

hybrid dock
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Same

clear delta
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Dominants attain power to command nations and turn wars, blessed by Alkahest and temenotic entities
However, ancient laws were imposed to curtail their influence

The gods within still call for action, and may exert their influence in times of stress
A release valve is to use the power yourself or partition some of it for humans. The latter can be subtler, but less in your control

high current
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VVSipp it occurred to me that my favorite class of Embeds, Instrumental, are associated with Guardians
so, Guardian Tempter, I'm thinking a bassist for a band that was supposed to play a specific series of chords with a special guitar(lynchpin) at a specific concert, mission was protecting the guitarist until that event could happen, Catalyst either Obsession or Divided Loyalties rooSip2
i have no idea if this hypothetical game will ever actually happen but i at least enjoy coming up with a character

hybrid dock
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Oooooo

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That’s cute

nimble gale
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I heard there was a sacred chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music, do ya...

clear delta
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So I guess I fill in as psychopomp inquisitor

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Make a whole community an artistic project of physical and social engineering

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Fell cause God Machine didn't let me do things the way I wanted and also messed up my work

hybrid dock
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Analyst is also a fun option.
Though I’m big into destroyers

clear delta
hybrid dock
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Hahahhhaah

clear delta
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"Fuck brutalist architecture.
And fuck social customs for stopping me from making a modular network of polycules"

hybrid dock
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“What are you doing”

clear delta
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"Family 3.0"

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"Okay, how much affordable public transportation and green areas can I add here before GM gets mad?"

hybrid dock
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Hahaha

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“I could do this so much better”

clear delta
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"Look at this, I made shelters into pet cafes, among other business. Animals get funding and stimulation
Created a lot of jobs in animal breeding, too"

high current
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The local werewolves show up to check on why the local spirit courts are all fussing over these changes
Decide after a bit of looking around that this is okay, actually

clear delta
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Werewolves: Why did we never meet these Satanists instead of Bale Hounds? Much more pleasant

hybrid dock
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Analyst demon being vastly confused about this

clear delta
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Satanists: In the name of our lady, we are improving city infrastructure and creating social nets

clear delta
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Hunter A: Well, this entire neighborhood belongs to demons and demon-blooded, due to a demon resentful that God interfered in her art, thus she took over the area to be able to work in peace
B: Oh no
A: But it's surprisingly nice, and the cult is improving quality of life in the city

hybrid dock
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Demon who fell because they believed in god…

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Not like, the machine

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They just became religious

clear delta
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Priest convinced demon to not destroy a town

hybrid dock
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Oh shit?

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That’s awesome

clear delta
hybrid dock
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Which page I wanna read

clear delta
hybrid dock
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Mhm mhm

high current
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Flowers of Hell has that section on pages 55-59

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not sure where the specific thing pandora is referrring to is though, searching 'brick' doesn't find it

clear delta
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No miss brick is my oc

high current
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o

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guessing you mean the Contamination examples then, cause that is just different takes on 'angel is sent to destroy a village, preacher pleads in the name of god and causes the angel to fall'

clear delta
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What was karen's descent demon she wrote here? I know voy had the destroyer that realized his job is bullshit and fell

high current
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idk if karen has posted anything other than most likely an integrator and musing on different incarnations(was talking about psychopomp yesterday, mentioned analyst and destroyer earlier, dunno if those are actual 'i might do that' or just appreciating the vibes of those incarnations)

clear delta
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Building the pnet demon ring

hybrid dock
hybrid dock
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But also Destroyer who’s built like a superweapon

clear delta
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Another psychopomp
*Tumbleweed rolls by*
Not enough town for both of us pardner...

So let's expand it!

high current
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tbf Demon is probably the easiest game to have an entire group sharing the same x- or y-splat without any overlap

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like, psychopomps tend to be stealthy, but beyond that there isn't anything to say any 2 psychopomps will have anything in common

hybrid dock
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Yeah

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For sure

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Honestly I’m thinking of either a tank ass destroyer demon, or a psychopomp who’s true form is a silhouette of Buer(5 limbs)
arranged like a wheel) but due to spatial warping it always seems to be facing you. A freaky representation of its true shape.

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I am a fan of making a destroyer demon whose true form is basically as terrifying as a werewolf though.

clear delta
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I'd love a form that can just pull a transformers to look like different things
"Yeah I'm going for dragon for abit, then will switch to angel"
Maybe a mess of arms and tendrils that can arrange into shapes

hybrid dock
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Ooo yeah

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There’s a lot of processes and stuff that do that

clear delta
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"Jellyfish time"

hybrid dock
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Letting you shapeshift certain traits you have

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So yeah that is possible

clear delta
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Big long arms to grasp things and multitask

hybrid dock
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Expensive in terms of aether

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But you can adapt quickly

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There’s also my other favorite fallen type I’ve been rotating, an analyst that was sent to analyze another supernatural community

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And just sorta…kinda liked them

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And fell because they stuck around and wanted to stay

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Kept on pretending to be a changeling

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Or mage

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Or what have you

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…there was the guardian version of this who was meant to bodyguard a seer

clear delta
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A psychopomp can be a lone wolf hidden type dipping into instrumental embeds for competency and mcguyver stuff
Or an infiltrator using vocal embeds

hybrid dock
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True

clear delta
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"I can almost understand this socialization thing but sometimes humans surprise me. Thank the First Fallen I have embeds for that"

hybrid dock
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Yeah

nimble gale
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I should probably go and re-read descent at some point, it's been years enough.

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also, actually give chronicles agood read-over and figure out how hard it'd be to adapt purified

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One of my favorite nWoD characters was a purified who lived in las vegas and was a professional landschnekt cosplayer. Except her prop sword was a real sword. Also I combined the Siddhi that let you run on water with Parkour to do things like 'run up waterfalls' and 'run across skyscraper windows'.

hybrid dock
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Oooo

clear delta
clear delta
# hybrid dock

Yeah, would have to pick between amorphous or extra arms at character creation
There's another process that lets you reassign physical dots, too

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Could start with extra arms, and have her just reshape her body in appearance but not abilities
Then grab amorphous from high primum or terrible form

untold elm
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there any chronicles books that have merits/whatevers for having multiple heads. if its anywhere I would think its changeling or demon

clear delta
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Okay
Ms Brick (still working on name. Could go Circuit or Net), body surrounded my limbs and wings she shapes into forms.
Her main body in the middle of this is a round core with a head

hybrid dock
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Ooooo

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Yesssss

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Coooool

clear delta
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She can have eyes on the limbs, which she uses to see if she wraps up her core body

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Commonly forms a robed angel as her presentation, but may often use other forms based on her mood

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Her cover is an office worker in the government

nimble gale
clear delta
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Yeah they just aren't very involved in mummy stuff
If cofd had been allowed to keep going, we'd have probably gotten more of them in a supplement for immortals or sacred geometry (due to how it could relate to spirits)

nimble gale
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yeah. the splat they're actually 8closest* to was always Werewolf, despite everything else.

hybrid dock
hybrid dock
clear delta
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Gotta think of a cipher I guess

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Could also go for a cover incidentally connected to the government
Like friend of a worker, tech support

hybrid dock
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Oh right ciphers

clear delta
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Man I think pentagram should be changed
Just add a new combo instead of overhauling all of them

untold elm
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What's the "easiest" cod game to run. Vampire?

high current
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probably Vampire or Mortals

untold elm
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is there an actual mortals book or is that just the core

high current
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just core

hybrid dock
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I should read vampire the requiem

high current
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mortals are definitively the easiest to run, because there's no extra mechanics to worry about, but if you want an actual splat, Hunter or Vampire are probably the easiest
Hunter just adds tactics iirc, Vampire is the easiest splat that's actually a monster i think cause it's just disciplines and frenzy stuff

hybrid dock
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I like vampires conceptually

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They’re solid monster splats

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With a solid soggy potential

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(Which is critical to me. The sog potential index)

high current
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i feel the need to ask, have you ever considered

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vampirates

hybrid dock
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Woah

high current
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vampire pirates

hybrid dock
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Vampire pirates

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…like normal modern pirates but they’re vampires?

high current
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well, idk how well it would work in wod/cofd vvvSip but its an idea ive seen some friends toss around before mostly as a joke

clear delta
high current
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also, i feel like it's been done more recently but cant remember anything more recent than Swamp Thing vol 2 from like the 80s, which had a town that had been flooded years ago and a group of vampires living out of the submerged ruins

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just, pop out to grab a bite from some passing mortals, drag 'em back under the water to drink if you need stealth

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town is deep enough under water that sunlight didnt reach the buildings iirc

hybrid dock
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Huh

high current
clear delta
hybrid dock
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I should actually decide on creating one demon oc

high current
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im mostly aware of this bit of Swamp Thing because it was part of John Constantine's introduction to the DC universe, and like 6 years ago i went through and read everything Constantine vvvSip

hybrid dock
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Hnnnnnn

Okay I’m polling here what should I choose, of the five demonic subtypes

patent talon
high current
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also yeah i just mostly finished making a google doc sheet for my dude, currently going with the name Mr Steel because pandora went Ms Brick and i like a Ring with thematic names vvvSip

hybrid dock
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Nice

high current
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consider looking at Dark Eras Companion, which has a thing for playing in the 1800s age of spiritualism(technically a 2e take on 1e's Second Sight stuff, too, iirc)

nimble gale
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... Hmm.

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well nwo I'm having strange thoughts about descent combined with my recent re-obsession with warframe.

hybrid dock
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Hell yea

nimble gale
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(warframe spoilers, plus an acknowledgement that I havent' delved super deep into dtd yet) ||Obviously the reference is imperfect, but I bet you could use the Lotus as good inspiration for a descent character, given her own character arc of defection and found family||

hybrid dock
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Oooo

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Perhaps yeah

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Fuck it, I’ll go psychopomp

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Mrs. Wire

…not married or anything she just put the in the code name

sacred viper
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Amazing

nimble gale
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I guess I'll put my purified digging on hold for a bit lol

heady kestrel
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BTW Voy I found where the Dragon Coil is that lets you as a vampire regain supernatural merits

It is in second edition, its called Coil of Zirnitra and its in Secrets of the Covenants which adds extra stuff for all the Covnenant Powers

untold elm
hybrid dock
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Being sad about one’s situation, mainly. For me at least.

The dynamic of struggling with one’s existence and morality while also struggling to survive.

clear delta
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Demon cult that just obsesses over art and engineering, putting pretty plants and keeping authorities away

high current
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see i assumed soggy just meant 'wet' vvvSip

mighty zephyr
heady kestrel
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It does a bunch of cool stuff

Like letting you spend Vitae to increase the dice pools of supernatural merits the way you can for rolls with physical attributes

clear delta
marble sorrel
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As you initially treat all failures as dramatic failures

heady kestrel
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This is true

hybrid dock
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Oooo

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That’s interesting

hybrid dock
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I really like that

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Also on further consideration mrs wire is a destroyer

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Because I’m more amused by a literal warform

clear delta
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My demon doing deals with demons who want to go to otherworlds to build their hell, knowing most come back running back and she can "sell" these areas again

hybrid dock
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Lmao

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Hellish real estate

clear delta
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She gets resources and information, very good deal

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Not her fault people think they can colonize the underworld

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Even the God Machine gave up on it

heady kestrel
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Coil of the dragon about creating a new vampire discipline would be funny

clear delta
high current
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rooHmm right, my Demon's demonic form

covered in metal plates, glowing tracery of blue veins, ears are replaced with radio antennae, eyes are pitch-black and covered in telescoping lenses, left arm has a shield attached, entire body gives off a faint glow
form powers if anyone is curious
Modifications: Armored Plates, Sonic Acuity, Advanced Optics, Radio Suite(took Terrible Form 1 for an extra Modification)
Technologies: Blind Sense, Inhuman Beauty
Propulsions: Teleportation
Processes: Aegis Protocol
rooSit basically built to sense danger and defend against it

nimble gale
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okay I lied i'm back on my purified bullshit but I have questions about Beast now

heady kestrel
nimble gale
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So Beasts have special interactions with other creatures in the world of darkness with the whole apex thing and etc, and don't have any such thing with demons, but do they have--either explicit or implicit--any sort of interaction with minor splats? Immortals, possessed, etc?

high current
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Do they have a resource they need to refill or do any sort of activity that would constitute hunting or feeding? If so, then yes

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The Demon exception is specifically because they're robots attached to the God-Machine afaik

nimble gale
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Interesting

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Thank you!

hybrid dock
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they also have the ability to develop a connection with things that arent even splats. such as supernatural critters. nonsentient ones the relationship is more like...being the apex animal and forcing them to listen but they can do it

nimble gale
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nods

hybrid dock
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i am now beginning work on mrs wire

hybrid dock
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this is me just forgetting what youve said about them (my brain is frazzled)

high current
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ye, guardian tempter, bassist for a band with the mission being to protect the guitarist until he could play a special series of chords at a specific concert

hybrid dock
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nodnod

clear delta
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Back on my ffxvi shit
Dominants can partially summon the eikon form
They can take full form, but uh. They have to do so in twilight and ephemeral realms? Or maybe humans forget and rework memories, and the astral punishes you later

hybrid dock
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Embeds - Just Bruised, Eavesdrop, Miles Away

Exploits - Living Shadow

Modifications - Armored Plates, Blade Hand, Mental Resistance

Technologies - Barbed Tail, Mind Reading

Propulsion - Long Limbs

Processes - Eliminator Cannon

Man demons can be scary if theyre built to kill

marble sorrel
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Tinkering with my own demon things for Fallen.

All Forms:

Replace most of their passive effects with:
-Demons are considered to have True Faith equal to their Permanent Faith rating. Can spend a faith or gain torment instead of spending a willpower to use it.
-Can passively sense faith around them, allowing them to determine what someone's faith rating is/identify people with true faith. With an action, can identify the *details* of what they have faith in (For example, working out if someone is an Alien Conspiracy Guy or if they have faith in Caine etc), if they have notable faith. With downtime, can feel a large area around them, getting hints towards people having a crisis of faith or at a faith-related crossroads.

Human Form:
-Can spend faith or gain torment while resting to heal. It costs 1 faith or torment per level but unlike vampires, they *do* actually heal naturally so an injured demon can spend a couple of points for the worst damage and then just take it easy for a couple of days.
-Cannot soak lethal damage with stamina. They're still a human like this.
-If Incapacitated, has 2 options:
--Go Loud: Spend enough faith or torment to immediately get back to function, immediately go apocolyptic form.
--Play Dead: Spend enough faith or torment to negate damage levels past incapacitated and fall down (So you'll still be out but a werewolf's claw would go from 'Turbodead' to 'Taking a nap but alive'.)
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The big thing is I want the difference between 'playing a human role' and 'apoc form' to be stark

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Outside Apoc form they're closer to a Hunter than a Vampire or something. They're a Human With Tricks.

sacred viper
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Interestiniing

marble sorrel
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The Apoc form still gets to pick a few Cool Special Abilities but some have been scrapped and just Made Default.

-Hefty Bonus to stats. Not as big as a werewolf but they get them to mental and social stats too. An apoc form demon isn't just bulky, they're supernaturally persuasive, as long as you're willing to be the least subtle guy about.
-Can soak all damages with stamina.
-Can spend faith/torment to heal immediately, not just when resting.
-Can spend faith/torment to ignore stunning or pain.
-Has a passive level of defence. Can buy extra actions with faith/torment but can't buy more than (permanent faith/2, rounded up). So even a Permanent Faith 5 demon is capped at 3 extra actions. Which is less than a vampire but vampires don't have a passive defence.

The old demon had the 'bonus stats' and the 'extra actions' as 'stuff you needed to spend your special abilities on'. Which was no fun as it meant you needed to spend 2/4 of your Cool Special Unique Tricks on 'Fixing your dice pool' and 'fixing your action economy'. This is a toned down version of the extra action stuff (Which had no cap) but everyone gets it passively.

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I don't want ot mess with the themes of Demon but the mechanics were not great.

sacred viper
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Researching the other Demon and I am trying not to laugh

image.png
marble sorrel
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Ah, perfect for my botanist demon

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But yeah, I really want people to be able to go 'my apoc form is mine' instead of 'my apoc form is dictated by what is mechanically needed in case a fight happens'. XD

clear delta
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Hm what promethean lineage would go well for me?

clear delta
hybrid dock
clear delta
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Spent my life thinking myself plhgmatic then realized I'm very excitable

marble sorrel
# hybrid dock Ooooo

Glad it sounds interesting. I don't want them to overshadow werewolves as the 'Prime Shitkicker' but I do want them to have an element of the same 'oh fuck, this thing is a terror if it's willing to spend the resources to go all-out'

hybrid dock
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I think demons and werewolves are allowed to share the space of “oh fuck”

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What are your thoughts on apocalyptic form body parts and traits?

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Cus I’m a big fan of having extra body parts and using torment to get the fucked up ones

high current
spice abyss
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Demons should be on the same level of "Oh god oh fuck we need to leave"

high current
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i actually used the LA setting from that book in one of the Demon games i ran rooSit specifically the Big-Budget Disaster plot hook, which is about a never-ending film production ||that the God-Machine is perpetuating to keep the film's star, an Angel, from falling||

hybrid dock
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Oooo

high current
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one of my players streamed that game on her twitch channel but the VoD has been lost roo7 i think that was one that fell apart to scheduling issues though

marble sorrel
hybrid dock
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I see

marble sorrel
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But yeah, extra arm sorta stuff is 100% on the list. Anything you'd like to see on that list?

spice abyss
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So I was going over the Urban Legends book for NWoD, and found what is a wonderful hook for Beast.

# 

Of course, once she’s drained a patient’s misery, she has to do something with the food. Destroying or discarding the food voids the ritual and returns the memories to their owner, and anyone who eats it gets stuck with the memories. Miranda’s practice used to leave her with a cellar full of rotting bread. With candy, the solution was easier, as it didn’t start stinking.

Some horrors, though, are potent even when spread across hundreds of pieces of candy. Through her involvement in self-help communities on the Internet, Miranda has found scattered people who want to experience personal fears and tragedies. These men and women pay a lot of money to experience particular types of trauma over and over again. So she sends them the tainted candy, and they eat it, and they experience nuggets of trauma. All told, Miranda has a tidy business, and she believes she’s making the world a better place by distributing sadness more evenly.

Unfortunately, one of her packages, intended for someone in the city where the chronicle takes place, was damaged in transit. With the source and destination illegible, the package was given to a postal worker named Mike Davis to deliver with some canned goods to a local church. Mike dropped off the cans, but kept the candy to give to the neighborhood children. It’s Halloween, after all.```
sacred viper
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Ooooou

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Thats very funny

spice abyss
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Indeed!

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Beasts getting to go "Trauma candy, you say?"

hybrid dock
hybrid dock
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And shockingly ethical for a Beast

spice abyss
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Yeah! There's Beasts who would love for an opportunity like that.

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Buying the Trauma Candy.

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There's also Beasts who would love to get that candy in the community, but

grave gulch
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🍬 vicksyLick

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is trauma candy a mechanic or a form of expression that i am unfamiliar with?

marble sorrel
spice abyss
hybrid dock
grave gulch
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oooooh

marble sorrel
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Where you either have a Natural Weapon or a Supernatural Weapon that you can generate in that form, so is functionally a natural weapon that uses melee instead of brawl. XD

hybrid dock
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Mhm mhm

marble sorrel
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Elemental Stuff could be very fun though. A Hostile Aura could be a fun thing.

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With your choice between like 'harmful' and 'disruptive'

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Actually...

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Aura - Some fluff to talk about it. Pick One:

  Harmful - Environmental damage near you. If you're under 5 torment, it won't hurt allies. If you're over 5 torment, they're not safe any more.
  Disruptive - Dice penalty around you. If you're under 5 torment, it won't affect allies, if you're over 5 torment, they're also affected.
  Protective - If you're under 5 Torment, you can protect others near you with your True Faith. If you're over 5 torment you can't protect others *but* you don't need to spend resources to get the true faith protection against supernatural stuff, it's always on.
hybrid dock
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Oooo yeah

mighty zephyr
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The new W5 book fucking rules

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That is all

sacred viper
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Hell yeah

hybrid dock
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People mention “W5” and I do not know what that is sometimes

nimble gale
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Werewolf the Apocalypse 5th edition

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like W20 is WtA 20th anniverssary edition

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WoD5 is the general shorthand for the fifth edition of the old world of darkness lines, which are... kind of a... firm? Not a soft but not a hard reboot of the franchise compared to the 20th anniverssary editions

high current
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i'd call it a soft reboot personally, they're keeping the old lore mostly but changing some names of things or how some stuff works, but overall it's still the same setting rooSip2

marble sorrel
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For werewolf it's a bit harder a split than others.

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Hart Warders lack the heavy Fey links of the Fianna.

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They're a very different clan overall.

hybrid dock
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I see…

nimble gale
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and H5 has literally nothing to do with hunter the reckoning, either. Vampire qualifies as a soft reboot, the others... somewhere etween a hard and soft, edging towards hard.

heady kestrel
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I continue to create the most Scuffed chronicles of darkness memes

Homophobic_Demon.png
nimble gale
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scuffed memes ar egreat

heady kestrel
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there was also this one from when me and karen were imagining a beast who hangs out with A Strix for some reason

Strix_and_Beasts.png
hybrid dock
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Man I do really like integrators.

I really really like the perspective of trying to reprogram the god machine into something good

heady kestrel
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yeah!

hybrid dock
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Like there’s some super interesting ideas here

image0.jpg
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Such as “Hell is the god machine repaired” “ACTUALLY THE GOD MACHINE ISNT MY GOD” and “What if I became a computer virus”

sacred viper
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(what does this mean)

high current
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demons have an embed(?) called Wave Function Collapse that iirc locks shapeshifters into whatever form they're currently in

hybrid dock
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Yeah

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It’s really funny

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You can just tell a werewolf that you do not consent to warforms

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“I’d rather you didn’t do that”

high current
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ye, locks them into whatever form they're in(book only mentions demon form and human form, but it's implied it works similarly for Werewolves and other beings) for a number of hours equal to the user's Primum

hybrid dock
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It does say stuff like “or whatever supernatural equivalent” n stuff

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So it is explicit that it works on other shapeshifters

high current
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er, locks them to human form for Primum turns, demon form(or equivalent) for Primum hours, or locks a Demon to their current Cover for (Successes x3) hours

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user chooses which thing when activating it

marble sorrel
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...man, nWoD demons would find oWoD changelings just the most headache inducing thing.

"I collapse your waveform, preventing you from turning into a fey."
"I'm already entirely a fey."
"No you're not, you're a human."
"I'm also entirely a human at the same time."
"...what?"
"CHIMERIC REALITY!"

nimble gale
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WE'RE GOING QUANTUM BABY

spice abyss
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Hrm. I wonder if Wave Function Collapse functions on merging with the Horror.

hybrid dock
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It might

radiant marsh
sacred viper
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So i hope yes

clear delta
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So dominants from ffxvi were compared beasts
Key difference is that beasts lose control due to hunger for trauma
Dominants crash out from trauma

mighty zephyr
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I think that's comparable yeah.

clear delta
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||Dion snapping and deciding to laser everyone||

mighty zephyr
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I don't know how you fit this in

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but you should

high current
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it's occurred to me that the Corinthian, at least, would probably best be represented as a Beast rooSip2

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(from Sandman)

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at least as far as being a playable character

clear delta
craggy coyote
#

Not sure if this is the place but I'm playing a Toreador Sheriff in NYC and I wanted to note that this has now happened between him and his ghoul.

Alan found his old sergeant who thought he was dead for 50 years, placed vitae in his food, blood bonded him, and thereby cured his cancer to keep his loyalty. Then he used his old friend's connections to stifle hunter activity and inquisition activity. and I genuinely think the most offended (not angry, Offended) this judge has been is having to go to fucking Hoboken

clear delta
nimble gale
#

I mean, if you asked me to go to Hoboken I'd be insulted and I'm not even from New York

craggy coyote
rapid glacier
#

The Sept of the Green has been beefing with the Pine Barren Sept in my local game and they solve disputes amongst the two by playing football

#

I have given (nor thought up) any more details than that and have been using it and in-joke/shitpost for the Boston wolves sick of hearing about it lmao

craggy coyote
#

and its funny

rapid glacier
#

The best part of throwaway jokes in WoD is due to the hearsay nature the games lore is presented you can just have everyone assume it’s true and it be complete bullshit but nobody in fiction bothers to go and check

#

Leaving up to the ST to ruin a dramatic moment with a funny interlude or exacerbate one by making the actual truth worse somehow

dusky ledge
#

Because I'm on a roll with these rn

IMG_20250725_210732.jpg
nimble gale
#

I am reminded of the made/saw/played templates from the days of yore

untold elm
#

the cross section of miss honey with anyone else here is wild

clear delta
#

So my demon
Modifications: Armored Plates, Component Indicators, Radio Suite
(Considered Inhuman intelligence, Mental Resistance)
Technologies: Fluid form, Inhuman Beauty
(Considered Aura Sight, Environmental Resistance, Mantle of Fire, Savant Core, Shielded Compartment)
Propulsion: Wings
Process: Multiple arms
Embeds and Exploits: In my pocket, Authorized, Animal Communication. Context matters
So she can easily walk into places, pull out needed tools or documentation. Plus being able to pull things people want or need is an useful trick. Animal communication lets you
Oh brb

clear delta
#

Animals can be useful for subtle tasks, such as stealing something, or carrying a recorder. Besides, she likes 'em. Context matters is to better protect her cover

#

She is torn between being careful and pursuing desires, choosing being an Inquisitor but being prone to temptation. She wants to do things in a slow and steady manner, protecting the life she's building and slowly pursuing expansion and satisfaction. She also secretly cares about Justice and Kindness, but worries both about ruining what she has, and that she's inherently untrustworthy as a demon. All this could be inspiration for virtue and vice. She wants to improve the community around her, claiming as just wanting to do it for enjoyment and pride, but secretly due to caring
She warns people she deals with that demons are untrustworthy and claims selfish motivations, both to protect them from other demons and to keep a distance
She envies that humans genuinely laugh and cry. She does not wish to be human, she likes being a demon, but she wishes she could spontaneously express herself.
She sees how everything is a system even outside the God Machine, both society and nature, and believes perhaps she can attain Hell by truly stepping outside the machine and resonating with the world. Contact with other supernaturals would only spur her on: the ecosystem of the shadow, the Principle and its angels, the Truth patterns of the supernal reflecting here.
To her, Hell is having a place she can relax and let down the disguises. Deep down, she also sees it as a place where she is honest and trusted

#

@hybrid dock

hybrid dock
#

I’ll need to read this once I’m more awake

clear delta
valid merlin
#

true, yeah

#

the GM does overlap a bit with the Prescripts thematically

#

shoutouts to that one group of vampires the God Machine forces to do ARG puzzles for it

clear delta
#

It's enrichment for them

sacred viper
#

The G-M does seem to just love abusing vampires

heady kestrel
#

They are useful!

#

Like humans but more durable

marble sorrel
heady kestrel
#

… that actually might be effective

clear delta
#

If we take into account how the requiem devs deliberately avoided giving vampires super powerful leaders, and how the mage book golden road said most splats have patrons that stop you from fucking with them
Vampires might be the one major splat without a powerful backer, so anyone can mess with them

marble sorrel
#

Which is weird when vampires are pretty much the splat for picking up systemic power.

#

With the mix of 'mental stuff' and 'literal immortality'

sacred viper
#

Yeah but unless you are one of the few lucky ones to live long enough to actually establish yourself you're just a very easily manipulable human with slight superpowers

high current
#

Systemic power ain't shit compared to metaphysical bullshit

untold elm
#

just go bite the governor of your state it'll be fine

heady kestrel
#

Vampires get social and systemic power as opposed to like… the metaphorical systemic power that comes from a rank 8+ entity that cares about the well being of your kind

high current
#

Oh, you're Prince of the city and CEO of a major corporation? That's neat. I'm [Authorized] your new bodyguard who is actually here to kill you, and then disappear off the face of the earth

untold elm
#

vampire the requiem character who plays vampire the masquerade and is like "damn we should do this"

high current
#

Revenant the Ravishing* rooVV

marble sorrel
grave gulch
#

vicksyBork do bullets deal a lot of damage in V5?

untold elm
high current
#

Revenant the Ravishing is a joke in-universe game from oWoD that is functionally VtM NODDERs

#

Published by Black Dog Game Factory, a subsidiary of Pentex

hybrid dock
clear delta
#

I like to theorize vampires are a sort of accumulation of glitches from all the powerful beings affecting reality and occult laws. All the spaghetti code spawned them like missingno. So they have no patron but the powerful beings use them sparingly, since their messy nature is inconvenient

marble sorrel
#

I also think that the big entities don't normally matter for most people. Like, they might step in if something is a threat on a broad level to the entire splat but the average Werewolf or Mage doesn't really have those entities stepping in if they're getting their knees broken in an alleyway. XD

There's a line between 'cares about the safety of X on a broad level' and 'Cares about individual members of X'

high current
#

Ye. The patron thing is iirc mostly just saying that if you become an Archmage, you can't simply snap werewolves out of existence. You have to go through Luna

#

Until you hit Archmage (or equivalent)the whole thing is a non issue

marble sorrel
#

And even then, I'm not sure vampires lack such. As they've got stuff that falls into 'might exist, might not have'. It's just the game doesn't really give Concrete Metaphysical Answers due to it's deliberate focus.

#

Like the books don't really say what the Crone is

#

Or if the Lancea et Sanctum are right you'd need to go through Capital G God.

#

It's just a lot of 'ehhh...maybe? Who knows, this game isn't about the specifics of if it's true or not'

lethal idol
grave gulch
#

Thought vampires wouldnt take that much dmg from bullets vicksyThink

marble sorrel
#

They take a lot less than most people.

grave gulch
#

So its subjective but from that i take that you should fear or respect them in game

marble sorrel
#

Less is not, however, none. XD

grave gulch
lethal idol
grave gulch
#

Is it because bullets are very hot?

valid merlin
#

It's because bullets hurt

#

Even if you're undead

grave gulch
#

wixelsSit wowie

lethal idol
#

The best ways to slay your enemies in V5 are:

  1. take them by surprise
  2. bring lots of friends
  3. get really big weapons
marble sorrel
#

More 'a hole is still a hole'. If a bullet punches through a ligament or bone, it's not going to work well after that.

#

Like they won't bleed out.

#

But anything that breaks is still broken.

valid merlin
#

Yeah it still messes up their body

clear delta
#

Also can destroy the head

lethal idol
#

There’s only so many times you can take 3 or 4 Superficial

grave gulch
#

So vampires still need their bodies to remain structually sound?

#

Always thought the vitae worked as a skeleton vicksySip

lethal idol
#

Well, “How exactly do vampires work?” is never fully explained, largely because it would be incredibly tedious

#

But what is clear is that if you get shot enough, eventually you will fall into torpor

grave gulch
#

Shoot at your problems in vampire. Got it vicksyNoted

marble sorrel
#

Generally a sword will put a vampire down easier than a gun but a gun is plenty good against most problems.

clear delta
marble sorrel
#

And I'd rather a gun than a sword against most other supernatural problems.

nimble gale
#

"Mr. Johnson, how do we kill a mage?" "A bullet and surprise."

heady kestrel
clear delta
#

Also dunno in Ascension, but in awakening you can spend two spell slots to have time reversal to go off if you take fatal damage

marble sorrel
#

Aininur also managed to get the GM (ID right there) to go 'God, she is such an asshole' today.

It's a wonder she's maintaining rank 8 on her path but her path doesn't care about 'being a bit of a jackass' at least. XD

nimble gale
#

You can absolutely have pre-prepared spells for Ascension, but beneath all the bullshit a mage is still a perfectly mortal human at the core

#

also yes Aininur is easily the biggest asshole in the party, which is surprising when you consider we have both a tremere and a tzimisce in it

marble sorrel
#

Our Tzimisce is adorable. He's like a puppy someone dropped on its head several times.

nimble gale
#

shit don't say that in front of Aininur she might use some of the zororastrian rituals on him

marble sorrel
#

Aininur is very fun to play. She's genuinely righteous and trying to make things better but she's also just a jerk.

#

She banishes Wrym spirits and rescues local fae then proceeds to just be a jackass to other vampires.

hybrid dock
#

I love that

marble sorrel
#

They asked for a sorcerer and basically got a vampire spiritualist/medium who's confusing the local tremere.

#

'Why would the mage be nice to the spirits when you can just bind them to service?'

#

Meanwhile the local werewolf thinks she's clearly a Mage the local vampires blood bound.

nimble gale
#

The party Tzimisce just volunteered to take the Prince's seat in the city in a trick/plot, not becuase he wants the political power (though his sire is thep revious prince) but becuase he figures he'll be the best bait, becuase he is aware of exactly how bad he is at politics.

#

which conversely makes him very strong in vampire politics because everyone else is playing five dimensional chest with multiversal time travel and here he is, playing checkers.

marble sorrel
#

He's so going to get stabbed

nimble gale
#

being fair he'll probably survive it, especially once he picks up some fortitude

#

And he has gotten on the good side of the local Ventrue who, in another setting, might have been a Kakita

#

important NPCs so far include a 'ventrue' who has a weirdly rainbow colored aura, a lasombra who is deathly afraid he's going to hell, a gangrel elder who never wears clothes to be closer to lilith... I am a firm believer that every vampire has to be a little kooky.

clear delta
#

Naked gangrel?

nimble gale
#

the game's set in 1242, so

clear delta
craggy coyote
nimble gale
#

lmao

#

being fair to the brujah this is during their warrior-scholar era, at least, but yeah.

heady kestrel
#

What are your favriote fan splats?

#

I haven't actually looked too deep into fan splat stuff so I am curious if this chat has fun ones

clear delta
#

I know of leviathan and dragon the adamant

sacred viper
#

It's gotta be Leviathan, no one gets the thematics as on point as them

#

The one Dragon I read was very boring

clear delta
#

Which dragon did you read morgana?

#

Adamant didn't seem that interesting, but I feel like sharing it

valid merlin
#

Leviathan was pretty neat, though i read that one ages ago

clear delta
#

I love leviathan

untold elm
#

is leviathan world or chronicles

clear delta
#

I gotta check how they handle you going big monster mode

clear delta
nimble gale
#

There's Genius, though i'm unsure if it ever got a chronicles version?

marble sorrel
#

Genius is fun

high current
#

Genius was always chronicles, unless you mean 1e v 2e

nimble gale
#

1e verses 2e yeah

#

I thought the general nomenclature was preferred to be oWoD, nWoD, and CofD?

high current
#

technically all of nwod was rebranded to CofD, but yeah generally CofD refers to 2e

mighty zephyr
#

Storm Lords update

spice abyss
#

First session of the VASCU game done!

#

Boy are they a bunch of weirdos.

#

The good news: Teleinformatics is operating as intended, and they have already figured out the party responsible for the teen deaths in town.

#

Now the true hard part settles in: They gotta figure out what sort of gribbly this is, and if they can arrest it before it kills again in 6 days.

spice abyss
#

"But yes, as Mourge so helpfully pointed out ghosts have no rights. So we go in there loaded for bear, bust the shit out that ghost and then worry about scapegoating"

hybrid dock
# 
"the other members of the adamantine arrow staring at me in genuine revulsion, shock, horror, and undying hatred as I say 'I can fix her' about an exarch"```
sacred viper
#

You could have Wisdom -1 and that would still be an act of Hubris

hybrid dock
#

this was in reference to Ochemata

heady kestrel
#

Mage The Awakening Demons are so wack

#

The "Suffering" half of "Suffering Builds Charecter"

sacred viper
#

One of my fav parts of Mage

sacred viper
#

Demon the Descent

nimble gale
#

It also has guns and wants to be your friend really badly to be fair. It means well! Just...

marble sorrel
#

The second testament is the divine right to resist tyranny with angel guns 😛

#

Makes notes for that oWoD demon update I'm tinkering with

nimble gale
#

Lol

#

... An apocalyptic form that has gun angel wings would be kickass, being fair

marble sorrel
clear delta
sacred viper
#

I should be able to recreate the Angel with a Shotgun AMV in my Apoc form

clear delta
nimble gale
#

Angel with a Shotgun
One: oh God nostalgia
Two: hmm.

clear delta
marble sorrel
# nimble gale ... An apocalyptic form that has gun angel wings would be kickass, being fair 
Divine Iron
Dmg 4L
Range 30
Rate 3
Clip N/A

Steel Made Them Equal: This weapon ignores all effects that would enhance its damage, such as Spells or Gifts, though not extra successes on the attack roll. However, all the target’s supernatural defenses (including Fortitude, Mage Armour and similar effects) are likewise negated — he soaks the attack only with his base Stamina. If the negation of his powers and defenses renders the target unable to soak lethal damage, he cannot soak the attack at all. Body armour does protect against this attack, as it is a mundane form of defence.

On one hand: It's only a light revolver damage-wise.
On the other: That forces mage just had a real bad day.

#

||The rule name is part of the Blacksmith's prayer 'God made some men big and some men small, but man made steel and steel made them equal'. Colt used a variant of it for their motto for a while.||

nimble gale
#

Does this negate things like a vampires native ability to soak bullets and werewolf natural lethal soak?

marble sorrel
nimble gale
#

Nice

sacred viper
#

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/529779/night-horrors-primordial-peerage?affiliate_id=688223

Night Horrors: Primordial Peerage - White Wolf | DriveThruRPG

Forget obsessing over what’s out there. Those much longer-lived than either you or I have spent both life and death trying to put a name to everything. 
None of them have ever come close. 
What we should be taking a better look at are the matters of our inheritance - the Primordial Dream. Half of what we are is made up in there and most of u...

copper raft
#

lol, lmao even

#

I'd heard some folks saying that White Wolf becoming its own thing again would lead to good things for their ttrpgs

#

And well

#

lmao

rapid glacier
#

It’s a boilerplate from paradox isn’t it?

#

Jason Carl put out a post about it fairly quickly after this started getting passed around

nimble gale
#

Honestly Paradox has a good track record for using AI in non-shitty ways, at least in their video games. The Stellaris dev team's used image gen software for non-artistic people on the team to go 'look, this is vaguely waht I'm imagining as a base' to show the art teams (no AI art makes it into the final product), and one of the big bad galaxy-ending threats is voiced by a voice generative AI... Made by sampling one actress over and over again and making the voicegen from those lines, paying her for each line in perpetuity if they add more from that htreat, and done to make them sound like they were made by a voicegen AI because the galaxy-ending threat is an AI herself (and a really interesting one).

copper raft
# nimble gale Honestly Paradox has a good track record for using AI in non-shitty ways, at lea...

Big difference, I reckon, is that Paradox's video game development is pretty definitively separate from their World of Darkness endeavors- and to that end, they've had a pretty poor track record whether it's been in-house or their outsourced work (e.g. Werewolf V5 had a bit of a controversy where some art copied a real-life person's likeness without any permission, going as far as far as to copy their sacred tattoos- it was only after there was an uproar they acknowledged it and went "oh whoops our bad")

nimble gale
#

... damnit white wolf. I was unaware of htat, sorry

copper raft
#

No you're all good! If ya weren't aware not gonna fault ya, more or less just an fyi that the V5 WoD's already had a spotty track record

dusky ledge
dusky ledge
copper raft
#

There was also an issue where the WoD folks were using folks' art on monetized streams without their knowledge or consent- so at least for me they burnt away a lot of benefit of the doubt

#

Oh wait apparently one of their latest books already used generative ai lmao

patent stirrupBOT
#

No that's just cheep art, like the artest they hierd has been making art like that for years

marble sorrel
nimble gale
#

Whip? Thorned maybe? A gnarled wooden staff, too strong and too sturdy? Bladed tail, fangs, horns?

marble sorrel
#

A whip would fit the demon thing, yeah

#

As would a Shepard's Crook for less tormented ones

#

Oh a Trumpet.

#

Basically treat it like a bashing grenade launcher. XD

# 
Horn of Jericho: This weapon deals aggravated damage to targets made of unliving material (such as walls, HIT Marks and Vampires)
nimble gale
marble sorrel
#

Technocratic Union: "Our enlightened technology is unmatched."
Demon: Doot

# 
Example Divine Weapon:

-Hell Whip
-Claws
-Flaming Sword
-Trumpet
-Super Shotgun
~Dragonslayer Spear
-Divine Iron
nimble gale
#

wholesale doom references are fun

marble sorrel
hybrid dock
#

holy shit

marble sorrel
hybrid dock
#

yeah im into it

gleaming wave
dusky ledge
gleaming wave
#

Fuck yes

high current
#

wild thought that popped into my head last night, Barbie(2023) can be read as an example of a Mastigos Awakening(Gloria being the Mage in question) vvvSip

hybrid dock
#

If I ever get the chance to do mage I’m tempted to go obrimos

clear delta
#

Angel angel

#

I have an angelic healer legacy in mind

#

But need to do historical researcher of religious medical charities

hybrid dock
hybrid dock
#

I’m also thinking about ochemata that forget they’re ochemata

#

That’s so fucking funny to me that it’s possible for that to happen

#

The silliest mage backstory

high current
#

my favorite path for nMage is Mastigos rooSit with Thyrsus as a close second(followed by Moros, Obrimos, Acanthus)

#

ive made a Thyrsus and played a Mastigos before, but both games fell apart rooSuffer
Thyrsus iirc the GM just kinda, disappeared before session 0 actually happened vvShrug
Mastigos we got like 4 sessions in and then I got into an argument with the GM and he decided to end the game VVSipp

#

(tl;dr of the argument, to avoid clogging up this chat with ramblings, GM was 'randomly' deciding if our spells worked or not, we were not given any info on how he was deciding this beyond vibes, towards the end of the session we learned that it was because we'd spent the whole game up to that point in a Sleeper's mind, i tried to point out that he should have used the Paradox rules and that the book has explicit info on Paradox from being in a Sleeper's Oneiros, he got mad and killed the game)

untold elm
#

what on earth

patent talon
#

That's wild damn

high current
#

tbf i think he was already considering ending the game after the last session we had anyways, because we'd wrapped up a story, but it wasnt until after our argument that he fully said he was done with it

untold elm
#

it seems that at no point was he actually running the game

high current
#

gist of that game iirc was we were told to make both a modern character and a character who lived in the 60s, but we'd be using the same sheet for both, because our modern characters were being transported back in time into the bodies of the 60s characters; from the start of session 1, we were in the 60s, with the knowledge that our characters came from the present but had somehow been transported back, with no idea of how, and for the first 3 sessions we mostly just explored the city and met the local mages; session 4 we learned we were trapped in a comatose Sleeper's mind because of a spell his Awakened dad cast

#

the first 3 sessions were fine, session 4 was when it went downhill because of the GM's screwy handling of the spells as mentioned above, and also just him kind of handling the plot weirdly once we reached a certain point(basically once we discovered what the scenario was, the whole thing got really railroad-y; having played in other games run by the same dude before, he wasn't usually one to railroad, so i think he had loose notes for what would happen at that point, and i just screwed his plans up by managing to cast a single spell that gave me a lot of info, and rather than going 'lets stop there so i can figure out how to handle what happens next', he just speedran us through what he had prepared at that point)

sacred viper
high current
#

in my defense, i have wild thoughts when high vvvSip idk why it entered my brain but that thought started with realizing that Barbieland 100% exists in the Temenos

orchid void
#

I mean that’s true

#

That’s Playing Mage Correctly in my books

nimble gale
#

Either version tbh

clear delta
#

Inquisitor demons
How to make them more active in matters without overlapping much with other agendas?

#

Feels easy to step into being a tempter

#

If you exert influence on the area

hybrid dock
#

Their thing is controlling the flow of information and secrecy si

#

I suppose unlike a tempter

#

The influence they exert isn’t for their own pleasure or resources

#

But to establish a network of safety and control

high current
#

ye, tempters thing is delegating, inquisitors are info gatherers

#

like, stereotypical members of the 2 agendas needing to get info out of someone
a tempter will send someone else to ask the target specific questions and report back
an inquisitor will sit down right next to them, find a way to distract, and get the info off their laptop when they're not looking

gleaming wave
#

Rewatching the john wick movies again and it's making me want to run a new vtr campaign

hybrid dock
#

hell yeah

#

i should read VtR

#

considering ive literally only read descent, awakening, and Primordial

#

i should actually read the vampire one for once

clear delta
#

Oh you haven't seen mummy yet

high current
#

🤨 is there anything supernatural about John Wick? im aware he's referred to as the Baba Yaga for some reason and like, there's a game called John Wick: Hex, but I've always assumed it was just a mundane high octane action series and they just use mythology names for style

velvet sparrow
#

Not supernatural as such, but the movies do revolve around a secret underworld

clear delta
gleaming wave
#

also they're all aura farming, megalomaniacal and sexy

high current
nimble gale
#

There's nothing explicitly supernatural about John Wick except for all the stuff that's supernatural bu tyou don't go 'well that doesn't make sense because physics/chemistry/sociology/economics' because the film needs it to function

gleaming wave
#

there

#

there is nothing supernatural about john wick except the fact he survives a three story fall with multiple fatal hits

#

more like 5

hybrid dock
orchid void
#

hi karen

#

Here’s my suggestion for reading VTR

  • Core 2e
  • Nosferatu Clanbook
  • Gangel Clanbook
  • Mehket Clanbook
#

Those Clanbooks from 1e are some of the best a vampire team has ever managed in my estimation as an oldhead

sacred viper
#

📝

hybrid dock
#

understood

#

o7777

marble sorrel
#

GM was complaining about the 'A vampire requires 100,000 mortals to sustain' number from modern nights since we're in a dark ages game where a major city has 10k people and I think I gave him a coughing fit with my message.

grave gulch
#

do older vampires require more blood than younger vampires?

marble sorrel
#

Depends on the exact edition. In oWoD they don't need more but they've got bigger tanks of blood.

#

So getting them from 'empty' to 'full' takes a lot more.

#

But they still only need 1 blood/night

grave gulch
#

vicksyNoted they dont necessarily need more they simply are able to store more then

marble sorrel
#

Yeah. In nWoD/Chronicles it gets weirder as older vampires after a point stop being able to feed on mortals and can only feed on other vampires.

#

Ironically despite Mummies being about, the vampires have the Pyramid Scheme.

grave gulch
nimble gale
#

in ovampire, one of the clans is even literally a pyramid scheme

#

like they outright call it 'the pyramid' and everything

clear delta
#

Nmummies are just middle managers being sent on errands

high current
#

for reference in V5, older vampires dont have bigger tanks, but they do get to reroll rouse checks to a degree, so they effectively get more uses out of a pool of the same size(or smaller--as they age/go up in Blood Potency, they eventually hit a point where their minimum Hunger without killing someone goes up)

marble sorrel
#

...did Sons of Osirus ever get an update for V5? They were always interesting with their heavy focus on relentless self control/being able to push the beast down.

#

With the heavier focus on Hunger, they'd be interesting to see.

rapid glacier
#

I don’t think so, apparently there is some promo material for Daughters of Discord floating around as like pre release stuff but I haven’t seen any Sons of Osiris stuff

marble sorrel
#

That's a pity. They were interesting in just how self-repression focused they were.

#

Also being one of the main 'clans' that wasn't really a clan per-say but a group you could join.

rapid glacier
#

They might be a lore sheet in one of the books then

#

They did that with a lot of the sub-sects

marble sorrel
#

nods
Bardo was an interesting Discipline, being all about reducing the harm you cause.

#

The capstone for it let you bless a mortal, preventing them dying from feeding/embracing for several months.

#

Making it both safer to feed on someone you cared about and keeping them safer from being killed by other vampires.

sacred viper
#

Shoutout to the mermaid who decided to rebrand to the "10y old birthday princess" aesthetic for the modern day in the CRB

clear delta
sacred viper
#

This might be peak (the context is that the author is getting all of this from a God-Machine Angel)

clear delta
#

On that note, gotta research the Inca
Very interesting empire

sacred viper
#

I really wanna use the Missing Person Case method to make the setting if I end up running a WoD game

orchid void
#

There's also all the Elder Gangrel who have just gotten Very Weird with how they get their meals

#

Becoming more of a monster, taking on more banes and bans, becoming a wild thing, it helps them stay awake

spice abyss
sacred viper
clear delta
radiant marsh
#

Who just decided "Guess we're eating vampires now"

marble sorrel
#

Vampires are more resistant to getting killed by blood drain than mortals are.

radiant marsh
#

For such an edgy concept, the way she's treated by the setting amuses me greatly.

#

Local Princes having given up trying to actually kill her a long time ago, and now basically treating her like an incoming hurricane

#

"Issue warnings and shelter in place until she goes away"

clear delta
#

Wonder how much an elder can mutate while still relating to humans

orchid void
#

bout as well as the strix do, i imagine?

#

that's my gut answer tho

clear delta
#

Lawnchair vampire
So comfortable, you don't notice it draining your blood

orchid void
#

i mean if you played up some wonderful old pulps it'd work... Ranpo made an armchair scary

clear delta
#

The capacity vampires have to change is rather fascinating

clear delta
#

I'm reminded of a pulp call of cthulhu campaign with cursed fez that can make fez zombies
Inherently funny, but I guess someone could make it scary

spice abyss
#

Like the worm Nosferatu who build residences for vamps.

sacred viper
#

I really like the Wellington School for Gifted Children story hook in the Core Book

#

A barely functioning school for gifted children, who see what others dont, who are scared and terrified of all the ghost hauntings and freak-accidents, where the player characters are meant to be school staff trying to discover what is going on.

#

||The twist is not the influence of the God-Machine- it's that the whole school is a massive blindspot for it and all the students that grow up here end up not affected by Concealment Infrastructure. The players are unwitting Infrastructure for the God-Machine, and their inveatigation into what is strange about this place is meant to help the G-M discover a way to remove this blindspot.||

marble sorrel
#

In W20, how are the various other shapeshifter options like Kitsune or Werelions or such?

clear delta
#

In w5, is it simple creating a shifter type?

heady kestrel
#

Beasts in their ideal world

IMG_0749.png
spice abyss
#

Actually, look at how that old man is reacting.

#

That's not a trauma reaction.

#

That's an "Oh shucks, guess that's life."

#

This isn't the ideal

#

This is a beast specific nightmare.

clear delta
#

Mortals in cofd be like: yeah, whatever. The world is filled with horrors, known that forever. Get it over with

sacred viper
#

desensitization absolutely murdering the feeding pool these days smh

hybrid dock
#

😔

#

This is why the god machine tries to maintain a masquerade

#

And vampires I guess

sacred viper
#

Whats like the prep you should do for a Chronicles game

radiant marsh
#

Like power level wise? How well do they work?

tough pebble
#

What is their current state of existence?

#

What's the general opinion on them?

marble sorrel
radiant marsh
#

The ones in the W20 corebook are mostly unplayable.

If you get the Changing Breeds book it's doable, but you're probably going to want to dig up the old breed books if you don't know anything about them, just from a flavor/lore perspective.

Mechanically, there's nothing really broken or bizarre about them. The relative power level compared with a Werewolf PC's going to be all over the place depending on the breed.

marble sorrel
#

nods
That's unfortunate to hear but I guess WoD has never been great for balance.

radiant marsh
#

Granted the corebook ones are unplayable because they're written up for the ST to use as NPCs

marble sorrel
#

(I also have various Australian Concerns with Bunyip as a clan. The writers seem to think Dingos are new to Australia. They've been in Australia for multiple thousands of years. I'm gunna file this under 'They likely didn't actually talk to any Australians'. XD)

clear delta
#

Is it easy to create shifter types in w5?

high current
# sacred viper Whats like the prep you should do for a Chronicles game

my general process is, assuming you already know what splat you're using and what city it's in

  1. start by doing research on the city, if it isn't the one i live in(still do some research anyways, but also ayy local knowledge helps). use stuff you find to inform what you do with later parts
  2. figure out what setting weirdness there's going to be, if any(Seattle's time windows, LA's dream wall thing, Montreal's Nameless, etc); this can be either a result of whatever your main plot idea is going to be, or the source of your main plot, but it can also just be some weird thing that's going on
  3. figure out demographics(how many total of the splat exist in the city, how many of each x- and y-splat, how many coteries/packs/whatever, etc)
    3a) assuming it's one of the big 3 or pretty much any splat except like, Hunter/Demon/Mummy/Beast(?), make sure your demographics include someone responsible for recruiting/training each PC, bonus points if your players gave you info to work with on them
  4. work out who the most powerful figures in the city's supernatural landscape are(covenant leaders and princes, etc)
  5. work out how many other people are on roughly the same power level as the PCs will be starting at, presumably 1; usually, i'll do 1-2 other groups worth, though they might not get named until i anticipate them showing up in a session
    6?) figure out why none of these other people are dealing with the main plot before the PCs show up--'nobody is aware of it yet' is an acceptable answer, especially if it's not a threat to the entire city. if it is, then once word gets out the PCs are likely to have competition, which isn't a bad thing from the ST perspective. question mark because theoretically i start working on this at the same time i start researching the city, but i leave a lot of stuff floating until i've figured out a lot of the other details, depending on what kind of plot i'm going for rooSit
#

for reference, this is a spreadsheet i used for my last Mage game
(first pic is the main spreadsheet, second is just for me to keep track of expected Order membership numbers, third is actual Order membership numbers, pulled from the first sheet)

image.png image.png image.png
#

this game didnt last long enough for me to figure out more than 25 NPCs vvvSip

#

oh actually, this wasnt my last Mage game rooThink that was my first one

#

this is from my last Mage game, featuring some better organization vvvSip there's like 140-ish rows below what's in that first screenshot that just have gender, path, order, and gnosis filled out, plus a couple of odd notes like some 5s in the city/order status columns

image.png image.png
#

...im like 90% sure G-Easy was meant to be a joke character who was going to show up and annoy the hell out of the group for a session, cause this game i think started in March and i was going to have a session on April 1st

marble sorrel
#

Does W5 still have the War of Rage as a thing?

rapid glacier
#

Yeah they don't elaborate on it too much, but its some known Garou knowledge that they ran roughshod on the rest of the changing breeds and now they aren't trusted

#

the book makes it explicit that the Garou aren't the best wepaons, just the last ones

#

The nature of the lore being told by unreliable narrators and having this kind of generational game of Telephone means people kinda know whats happened before but not the details

marble sorrel
#

Right so still 'Poor Werebears'

marble sorrel
#

I do find it funny how nearly every single changing breed looks at werewolves and goes 'Oh, those assholes'

nimble gale
#

Understandable reaction to seeing a garou

rapid glacier
#

yeah for sure

#

strangely enough, I think Werebears will still render aid to Garou with little to no return, but they won't approach or seek them out without vetting them

#

so say PCs might befriend one but NPCs are unlikely to

marble sorrel
#

My Vampire is likely going to Do A Stupid.

hybrid dock
#

oh no

marble sorrel
# hybrid dock oh no

She's likely to Get Herself Killed By Werewolves because the thing she values her duty and her love more than 'staying alive' 😛

#

She's being bad at being a heartless leech.

hybrid dock
#

...

#

oh my god thats adorable

#

hows she gonna dieeeee

marble sorrel
#

Either 'clawed to death' or 'burned to death by Gaia magic'.

The book notes that Cleansing Rituals cause tremendous pain to vampires but she's 100% willing to let herself be killed by it, if it avoids bringing dishonor/banishment to her love (Who she met when she was mortal and didn't know at the time was a werewolf). As well 'my ex is a vampire and I still hold a torch for her' is something that werewolves tend to just kinda murder each other over, for honor reasons.

#

And I mean, she's willpower 9. She will sit there in the ritual without running if it comes to that.

hybrid dock
#

...

#

oh

#

my

#

god

#

okay

#

okay

#

go back

#

what the hell happened

#

iki you gotta tell me

#

im a sUCKER for romance drama

#

this is DELICIOUS to me you gotta tell me more

marble sorrel
# hybrid dock this is DELICIOUS to me you gotta tell me more

So Aininur and Sera knew each other when Ainunur was alive and were in pathetic puppy love. Aininur was a tomboy who went about with a dagger (This is a dark ages game) trying to help local travellers avoid getting mugged in her town/when she heard rumours of dangerous creatures.

One night she saw a woman being assaulted and jumped in...only to find the 'mugger' turning into a giant fucking ball of fur and claws and jaws. It grabbed her to throw her aside...and she shoved her zoroastrian necklace down its throat, hoping that if it was a demon that it would be driven off. Said necklace was pure silver and the creature gutted her as it fled, choking. The woman she'd jumped in to help turned out to be an Assamite vampire and offered the dying girl a chance to live, having been impressed with her courage. Aininur, not wanting to die, agreed.

#

This ran into three problems:

  1. That werewolf is Sera's brother.
  2. He's not told his sister that he killed her girlfriend.
  3. Said girlfriend is undead, not dead.
hybrid dock
#

OH MY GOD

#

fhkajdshfjkadshfkadshkjfhads

#

THIS IS

#

SO GOOD

#

good lord this is amazing

#

going feral over this

marble sorrel
#

Sera tracked her across what is modern Turkey all the way to Poland (Where the game is set) trying to work out why her girlfriend, as far as she can tell, just fled the town without any reason.

hybrid dock
#

...

#

oh my goodnesssssss

#

oh my goodddddnessssssssssss

#

ehehehheheheheheh

marble sorrel
#

This is a couple of years later and Aininur by this point is a rookie but trained Assamite sorcerer...who's speciality is spirits.

hybrid dock
#

OH MY GOD

#

hidhfkajsdhfkjasdhfjkhasd

#

okay okay okay okay

#

so good

marble sorrel
#

So she is found by Sera and the two have an adorable meeting that has both of them break down and hug...but Sera's not an idiot. She knows something is different with Aininur.

hybrid dock
#

EEEEEEE

#

yes

#

vampire bodies are cold

#

and their hearts dont beat do they

#

...idk how keen werewolf senses are but y'know

#

ehehhehe

#

ehehehehHEHEHEE
GOD

#

that reunion must've been so fucking adorable

marble sorrel
#

Not Aininur actually! She's got high enough humanity that she can keep the blush of life going for 0 blood.

hybrid dock
#

funky!

#

remind me is this chronicles or world of darkness

#

i dont actually know anything about werewolves and vampires in either

#

but

marble sorrel
#

V20, old world of darkness.

hybrid dock
#

felt i should ask

#

nodnod okay

#

continue continue

#

(imagining the complete dorky mess that was that reunion)

marble sorrel
#

So the clues she has are pointing her odd places.

A) Aininur doesn't smell of the Wyrm and she's not cold.
B) Sera has been watching her and has seen the girl going places and banishing bane spirits, helping cleanse the land of the harm the recent mongolian invasion has caused.
C) She's seen Aininur with people she's 90% sure are vampires.
#

This has brought her to the very reasonable conclusion - Aininur has awakened as a Mage and the Vampires are manipulating her.

hybrid dock
#

i

#

well

#

...

#

sure

#

i suppose its also like

#

reasonable especially if you dont know the deep intricacies of how vampires work

#

yeah sure

#

okay

marble sorrel
#

yeah, Aininur is sorta a really rare case.

hybrid dock
#

yeah im given to understand that actually having that much humanity isnt...common

#

so
yes, understandable

marble sorrel
#

-You need humanity 8+ to not smell of the wyrm. Most vampires are not Super Ethical People.
-You need to be a Blood Sorcerer to work with spirits as a vampire. Only 2 clans can do that and only one of them does it commonly.

#

So the information she's working with? Sera is making a very reasonable conclusion.

hybrid dock
#

yeah

#

"high humanity blood sorcerer" doesnt seem like a very common archetype

#

and honestly i dont know how common info is but like
i wouldnt expect "oh yeah some vampires actually still seem pretty human" to actually be...very widespread information

#

...oh right vampires also dont share jack shit about themselves very often either

marble sorrel
#

Yeah. Especially since 'smell of the wyrm' is the primary way werewolves find vampires. XD

hybrid dock
#

nodnod

#

yeah

#

which idk seems reasonable

#

i dont know much about the wyrm but from what little i know

#

"oh yeah this creature that predates upon humans" seems like

#

"yeah sure that seems like it would be connected from a werewolf pov"

marble sorrel
#

It's basicly the primordial force of destruction, which got warped over time into corruption.

hybrid dock
#

mhm mhm yeah

#

thats the gist of what i know

#

i should read requiem goshhhh

marble sorrel
#

Vampires are not direct servants of it but they've got some connection due to their very nature.

#

So Sera is working to Save Her Love From The Vampires, unaware that said love is a Vampire. Her brother will know Aininur is a vampire because he killed her but hasn't told that fact to his sister.

#

And 'friendly relations with vampires' is on the werewolf 'we will banish you from our pack or outright kill you' list, due to the wyrm connections.

hybrid dock
#

oh my goddddddd okay okay how the fuck is this working out- what is AININUR DOING!!!
what is she telling her girlfriend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sacred viper
#

Amazing

marble sorrel
#

She told her that she was hurt badly and never fully recovered. Which isn't wrong but she doesn't think Sera knows about supernatural stuff at all. XD

hybrid dock
#

(wow thanks discord for lagging on me)

marble sorrel
#

And doesn't want to freak her out with everything at once

hybrid dock
#

Aininur…

#

Oh my fucking god

#

Okay

#

That’s

#

So funny

#

That’s

#

SO FUNNY

#

Love these two already they need to kiss

#

It’s only getting worse

marble sorrel
#

Aininur doesn't yet know Sera is a werewolf but does know that fact of werewolf politics because her mentor has been about for a few centuries. So when Aininur finds out Sera is a werewolf she'll know that being with Sera will get Sera killed.

hybrid dock
#

oh my god that’s so tragic

#

yesssssss

marble sorrel
#

And she is going to be 100% willing to let the werewoofs kill her if it avoids Sera getting in trouble.

hybrid dock
#

Aininur you fucking moron…

#

I love her

#

Please you have to ping me with how this goes

#

I have to see this

marble sorrel
#

Aininur is A) Genuinely a good hearted person B) Kinda An Asshole.

hybrid dock
#

Yeah

#

The specific kind of person who will martyr themselves and not even fucking ask

#

The sort of arrogance that comes from self sacrifice

#

To decide that you know better

#

It’s very good shit

#

It’s very good shit

#

Goddddsddd

#

She’s so dumbbbbb

#

I love her

marble sorrel
#

Part of what has Sera going 'can't be a vampire' is that right now Sera is also outranking the local werewolves in 'who's done the most to get rid of Wyrm influence'. XD

hybrid dock
#

HAHAHHAHAHA

marble sorrel
#

As her heading about banishing evil spirits is driving off a lot of the Wyrm-aligned spirits.

hybrid dock
#

Overachiever…

#

Adorable

marble sorrel
#

As the main threat of the campaign is the Baali, who are Vampire Demonologists.

#

The Baali have exactly zero clue the spirits they summon are not actually Demons (As you've read the demon book).

hybrid dock
#

Oh I see

#

…I’m given to understand that demon summoning has happened before in demon but-yes yes

#

I see

marble sorrel
#

There's a lot of things people call demons because people like calling 'evil spirit that eats your soul' demon. XD

hybrid dock
#

True yeah

marble sorrel
#

In this case, these Baali are summoning Wyrm Bane Spirits.

#

So for example the big one we found first was a Spirit of Murder.

hybrid dock
#

Mhm mhm

marble sorrel
#

And in a recent session she found a Spirit of Plague inhabiting the granaries of the town.

hybrid dock
#

Good job vampire girl!!!!

marble sorrel
#

The werewolves are going to be so salty if they figure out it was a vampire for one of them. The GM is having fun building this up. XD

hybrid dock
#

Eeeehehehehehe

#

Goddddddddddd

#

I so absolutely want to see more of this

marble sorrel
#

She tracked the Baali magic to a deepwoods clearing, where she found a local spirit of the forest bound in chains of bloody, rusty cold iron spikes.

hybrid dock
#

Ooo

marble sorrel
#

She did her best to free and tend to the spirit because well...she's about spirit magic but she's less 'summoner' and more 'exorcist' in her vibe.

hybrid dock
#

Yeah

#

Very sensible

marble sorrel
#

The reason the werewolves are going to be salty? That was a Caern. Those are areas of pure wild and the holy sites of werewolves. The Baali had attacked and defiled it with the help of some corrupted werewolves.

hybrid dock
#

…ah

marble sorrel
#

So after they lost the site, a vampire wandered in and went 'wow, I guess I better fix this' and succeeded. XD

hybrid dock
#

AHAHAHHAHA

#

fucks sake

#

That’s so

#

Funny

#

I love her so much

marble sorrel
#

Aininur is so bad at being an evil force of corruption but this is also the Dark Ages, where that's less 'Oh yeah, vampires are all about that shit'. Populations are a lot lower and they can't just go 'not my problem' to local things.

#

But even then, she's kinda bad at this.

hybrid dock
#

She sucks shit at being a creature of murder and death

#

Worst living parasite

marble sorrel
#

To be vaguely fair, she's an Assamite. Assasmites tend to have a very different philosophy than most vampires.

# 
The Laws of Haqim
The loyalists of the clan do not follow the Traditions as such, but instead a set of codes handed down from their founder.

The Law of Leadership
Honor the Eldest among you for he is to rule my House when I am absent.

The Law of Protection
Ward the mortals from Caine’s descendants and treat them with honor in all things.

The Law of Destruction
Slay not those of the Blood, for that Judgment is for the Eldest alone.

The Law of the Word
Deceive not those of the Blood, for my House is founded on Truth.

The Law of Judgment
Judge those of Caine’s blood and punish them should they be found wanting.

They basicly see themselves as the guardians of humanity from vampiric overreach.

hybrid dock
#

Mhm mhm I see

marble sorrel
#

Not that they want to wipe out other vampires but if a vampire is doing Real Harm/Going to fuck things up for everyone else, they theoretically step in. How well they do that is a bit up for debate.

hybrid dock
#

Yeah

#

They’re intermediaries and gatekeepers so to speak

#

Mhm mhm

#

Makes sense

marble sorrel
#

Her being very focused on 'making sure things don't suck around here' is not that out of place, though she's taking it more seriously than a lot of them.

hybrid dock
#

Very sweet of her

marble sorrel
#

Entertainingly: For all her niceness? Aininur has done something that most vampire groups would execute her for. The Assasmites are one of the only clans that don't have a strict rule against drinking other vampires dry, Diabliare.

hybrid dock
#

OH

marble sorrel
#

As that's part of the 'punish them should they be found wanting'

hybrid dock
#

Aininur…

#

Wow

#

Well

#

How does humanity deal with diablerie?

#

The morality stat

marble sorrel
#

Depends on your exact moral code. For many moral codes it's treated as premeditated murder.

hybrid dock
#

I just realized how unclear that was-mhm

#

And hers?

marble sorrel
#

Actually not against hers! The GM is having her use this one for Zoroastrianism.

image.png
hybrid dock
#

Fascinating

#

Well

#

Fair enough

#

If it works it works

marble sorrel
#

And well, you can see how it links into the things she's been doing with attempting to get rid of all the baneful spirits.

hybrid dock
#

I see it I see it

marble sorrel
#

She cares a lot about the conflict between the the yazatas and the daevas, which is how she's mentally reading 'Nature Spirits and Bane Spirits' now that she's a sorcerer.

hybrid dock
#

Hey if it works it works!

#

As long as things are in harmony then it’s probably all good

#

…I wouldn’t know

marble sorrel
#

But yes, I am having fun with how nobody has the full picture and everyone is making understanable but so going to backfire decisions.

hybrid dock
#

This is my favorite kind of romance

#

God I would absolutely adore watching how that cleansing ritual goes lmao

marble sorrel
#

If it happens. It might end up just being 'she gets her head torn off' 😛

hybrid dock
#

Oh nooo

#

Godddd

#

I hope she doesn’t dieeeee

#

…

marble sorrel
#

Already happened once 😛

hybrid dock
#

Well this time your girlfriend might be there!

#

…so I’m certain it’s gonna go great

#

Surely

marble sorrel
#

Hahaha. We'll have to see. I don't think we'll see the payoff for this for an arc or two, so it won't be immediate. But the path has been laid and is going to be very fun.

hybrid dock
#

Mhm mhm

#

It’s adorable

#

Keep me posted this is my shit

marble sorrel
#

Will do. The most immediate thing is that we just got the Dumbest Vampire set up as Prince.

#

And are hoping him being dumb and clearly vulnerable lures the Baali out.

hybrid dock
#

Oh my goshhhhhh

marble sorrel
#

The previous prince had put in her will that when she died, whoever killed her killer would be prince. Pretty understandable rule.

#

She was technically killed by a mongolian cavalryman.

hybrid dock
#

…helluva guy

marble sorrel
#

But we know from our investigation it happened becuase the Baali had possessed him with the spirit of murder and cursed her armour to weaken her, so that she couldn't win the fight against what should be a normal human.

#

We have the guy who killed that mongolian soldier. XD

#

And since nobody else knows the Baalie did it (Since we're keeping that part subtle to not alert them)...

#

Well, rules as written...

hybrid dock
#

When in history is this?

marble sorrel
#

12th century poland.

hybrid dock
#

Gotcha yeah

marble sorrel
#

Just after the Mongolian Invasion.

hybrid dock
#

Gotcha

marble sorrel
#

So we have the Dumbest Guy but he's got the twin benefits of A) The previous prince sired him B) He did kill that soldier.

hybrid dock
#

Lookin it up rn

marble sorrel
#

So he fully meets the requirements.

hybrid dock
#

Heck yeah

marble sorrel
#

But he's also A) Dumb as a rock B) Clearly unaware of how to protect himsefl from supernatural effects.

#

So we're hoping he'll act as bait for the Baali to either attempt another assassination or to attempt to corrupt him.

#

And then Aininur can stab them, a lot.

hybrid dock
#

Oh right she’s a stabby girl

marble sorrel
#

Yeah, spirit magic isn't really much good in a fight unless you're actually fighting a spirit. XD

hybrid dock
#

I would’ve thought it might be helpful but fair enough

marble sorrel
#

The big limitation of it is that it can't summon spirits.

#

It can see them, communicate with them, command them and eventually let you enter the spirit realm yourself.

#

But you've got to work with whatever is about.

#

The GM picked poland as it's one of the single most 'Oh god, why is everything heere?' places.

#

You've got the mongols invading, so there's a good number of supernatural beings who are causing trouble for Entirely Mundane Reasons of 'Being part of the invading army'.

#

You've got vampire politics in the local big city.

#

Said vampire politics involves two clans being Basicly At War With Each Other.

#

The mages are here in two different capacities. The Order of Hermes are at war with a vampire clan and the Knights Templar are here and they've got a mage order of their own.

hybrid dock
#

…jeez that sure is a lot

#

…I forget if the earthbound are asleep during this time or not

#

Them’s demons eepy

marble sorrel
#

The Demons and Changelings are not about in Dark Ages, yeah.

nimble gale
#

The actual honest to God Fae are though

#

Also Poland is super Catholic and everyone else around them is still pagan more or less. Everyone forgets about the Northern Crusades but they were a whole thing.

high current
#

there's at least some demons around during dark ages, because Devil's Due exists rooSit

#

most likely earthbound though, i havent read Devil's Due so idk what it actually talks about

nimble gale
#

tehre's some earthbound around, yeah, but there's also just things that aren't capital-D Demons that are called demons still

worthy sundial
#

chat im considering running a vampire game but im split on whether to do requiem 2e or v5
im mainly looking at either for the experiential play, i could attach myself to any lore either way

high current
#

mechanically the biggest difference is how they handle blood/hunger
(also requiem2e disciplines give you a specific power at every dot, v5 gives you a choice at every dot)

#

requiem is just 'spend points of blood', v5 you roll dice and get hungrier on a failure

worthy sundial
#

right but i mean like
i keep hearing v5 offers a specific flavor of the vtm experience but not too many specifics

#

so im curious what those r compared to vtr

lethal idol
#

I suspect that most people who say that are comparing it to V20? V5 is focused very explicitly on younger, less powerful vampires (although this has changed somewhat with recent supplements)

I agree with Rats that the main difference is with the hunger rules, where in V5 you feel constantly on the edge of losing control

#

It’s hard for me to say “this is how it will impact your play” because how tables handle messy crits / bestial failures will vary quite a bit

#

But they will happen! Very often!

worthy sundial
#

so v5 has a much looser grip on vampireness for pcs then?

lethal idol
#

What do you mean by looser grip?

worthy sundial
#

more on edge abt the beast, etc

lethal idol
#

Imo yes. From what I remember playing Requiem (which was quite a while ago!) the main knob the GM had to twist regarding the beast was frenzy. In V5 you have frenzy and hunger, and hunger plays into every single roll

craggy coyote
# worthy sundial more on edge abt the beast, etc

V5 revolves around a game play loop of escalating tension. The more you use your resources (disciplines, Willpower, backgrounds), the more likely you are to risk something dangerous happening (frenzy, messy crits and beastial fails with higher hunger).

This creates tension and stress as the game goes on, until bam something snaps, a big moment happens, and things die down, characters process, repeat. Its why killing someone through feeding actually sets your hunger to its lowest possible level, while taking agg damage is hard to heal (3 rouse chceks per point only 1 point a night unless you grab a level 3fortitude power). Combat is dangerous, but the long term effects alone of serious wounds as a vampire can result in you killing someone

high current
#

the hunger dice stuff from V5 makes the beast more of a presence, regardless of your character's age
the other big thing about it is, most of the rolls you make(exceptions to stuff like Willpower tests and rolling to see if you lose Humanity), you replace some of your standard die with hunger dice, which can trigger messy criticals and bestial failures
a messy critical happens if you get a crit involving a hunger die(crits happen when you have two 10s; they double and count as 4 successes total), and it represents succeeding in a messy way--so if you wanted to break a lock, you're more likely to have fully broken it, instead of just getting it unlocked. if you wanted to attack someone, a messy crit almost certainly means they're losing a limb, if not fully dead.
a bestial failure happens if you roll a 1 on a hunger die and otherwise don't roll enough successes to pass whatever check you're making, and it usually represents stuff like hunger clouding your senses or otherwise distracting you, though if there's not a good explanation for how it manifests the book also suggests just giving the character a compulsion, which is typically something like 'you take a penalty to any roll that isnt in pursuit of X', with X being 'feeding', 'getting away', or something specific to your clan(like a tzimisce might get a compulsion to claim something as theirs, adding it to their metaphorical dragon's hoard)

craggy coyote
#

^
It means that on some level vampires always have to worry about the beast clouding their judgement... unless they're ruthless enough to kill somene every night or before making critical actions where they don't want hunger to get in the way.

high current
#

tl;dr yeah the Beast feels more generally present in V5, and unless you're at 0 Hunger(meaning you've killed someone), you're always going to have an eye on how its influencing your rolls

craggy coyote
#

Ye

high current
#

that said, the Beast can still be handled as entirely a metaphor for the 'dark side' of a given vampire, in contrast to how it's presented in like LA By Night as an actual voice in everyone's head

craggy coyote
#

Yep, there's license for it to appear differently to differnet vampires

#

Sometimes its a seemingly foreing voice in your head, sometimes its just the part of you that already wants to punch this guy in the face cranked up to 11 (anger frenzy)

high current
#

fun thing is they used a similar mechanic for Rage in W5, and Desperation in H5(though Desperation works differently; you add those dice on top of your standard pool if you're following your character's Drive, and rolling 1s causes either Overreach, which is success that makes your main target more dangerous/alert, or Despair, which locks you out of calling on your Drive until you redeem yourself) rooSit

orchid void
#

Requiem 2e has some fun mechanics about Being Dead with Mask and Requiem replacing Virtue and Vice? I would generally consider it a very polished and my own favorite edition of Vampire mostly bc i agree with the Vibes the Requiem books work to lay out

#

Without a real metaplot individual cities become weirder and letting there be a nice focus on like… “local conspiracy” is probably what it’s best for

craggy coyote
high current
#

to be fair that escalating tension has always kinda been the point of paradox

#

my guess at how M5 will work is basically paradox dice get swapped in for spellcasting rolls, and backlash happens on what would be a messy crit

high current
#

alternatively they'll work like H5, where you add paradox dice on top of an appropriate dice pool when using magic rooThink i could see like, wits+awareness+paradox being the dice pool for a scrying spell

marble sorrel
#

Hmm...looking over M20 Sorcerer (As W20 Kitsune can learn linear magic) and trying to find any of these that is worth taking over 'just more werewolf gifts' and...not really...

#

Sorcerer magic seems kinda...not fantastic.

patent stirrupBOT
#

Sorcerer is probably the most inconsistent like splat in oWoD TBH

#

LIke it ranges from falt out worse then most of the mainline splats to just shy of mages in power level

marble sorrel
#

I guess I'll just skip that 'Can learn linear magic' then. That or just ask if I can grab a Thaumaturgy Path instead. XD

patent stirrupBOT
#

You could also get one of the older editions Seconed edition (published 97) runs liner magic as bieng about on par with thermaturgy paths at first wiht a bit of ramp up after the 5th dot

#

not to be confused wiht seconed edition revised whare they are just mini mages

dawn wigeon
#

Changeling the Lost 2e really makes you feel like the walls are always closing in

sacred viper
sacred viper
#

Thinking about that campaign I was planning. I think opening it with a oneshot mission where everyone is mortal then cutting it to after everyone got independently turned into a splat would be funny

marble sorrel
#

Everyone gets in the same bus accident but one of them regenerates furrily, one of them gets grabbed by a vampire, one of them gets sent back by Osiris...

sacred viper
#

LMAO that would be a banger

#

But no like "Y'all met as mortals during a collective encounter with the supernatural, survived it together then the second time yall meet you were all changed."

high current
#

meet for the second time as an Unchained Demon
"Hey so I was actually an Angel the first time we met. God's a dick, though."

#

(the alternative is becoming a Demon's Cover via Soul Pact by the second meet, but that would technically be playing a different character pretending to be the original character)

nimble gale
#

maybe the angel caused the first meeting but something went to shit during it which is why they're a demon now (assuming cofd of course)

sacred viper
#

Technically not the same character but that makes it even juicier

high current
#

the other thing is that implies a more experienced Demon, out the gate, because standard DtD character creation says your first Cover is the one you had as an Angel still
not that a Demon can't immediately go to a bar and make a Soul Pact with someone shortly after falling, then burn their initial Cover and cash in the pact, but that just seems like a waste of a perfectly good G-M constructed Cover to me vvvSip

high current
#

Virtual Adepts be like

high current
mighty zephyr
#

I got reminded of one of my favorite lines in Book of Hungry Names so I'm posting it again

rapid glacier
#

BoHN has a million clips that are quotable and I like Melodie’s stance on “look don’t worry about it too much” wrt in-fiction lore

mighty zephyr
#

"You can square any belief with any other belief if you want to. So it's best not to overthink it." is like the most WoD-applicable line ever written

rapid glacier
#

Black Tarn’s line about the Tribes being “a religion that you choose and sometimes chooses you instead” is also a good one

mighty zephyr
#

also every text conversation

rapid glacier
#

It took me an embarrassingly long time to get the AWAB15 joke lmao

mighty zephyr
#

I don't get it still

rapid glacier
#

(Assigned wolf at birth)

mighty zephyr
#

HA

rapid glacier
#

Nin is 7, so 2015 would be when she was born

mighty zephyr
#

Fuck

marble sorrel
#

You know, I don't think I ever played oWoD Mummy. Does it have a v20 version to look into? Kinda interested in taking a squiz at it.

mighty zephyr
#

Book of Hungry Names is so good

#

Don't think Mummy got a 20th?

nimble gale
#

It did not

marble sorrel
#

That's a pity. Would be interesting to see what was done with it.

#

Considering V20 Dark Ages has the Children of Osirus and you know...the Settites, it doesn't seem like they're opposed to using Egyptian Mythology so I guess it's just 'it was a very minor and not super popular game' reasons.

mighty zephyr
#

Ye probably

marble sorrel
#

...I should find the oWoD books and read them, as everything I can find about them is making me feel like CoD Geist was 'Mummy v2' rather than actual CoD Mummy.

#

Being modern humans who died and melded with a spirit of the dead, coming back fully alive to help maintain the balance of life and death.

mighty zephyr
#

Geist was a combo of Wraith and Mummy yeah

marble sorrel
#

I enjoyed the hell out of Geist, so I'm going to see if I can track down some oWoD mummy and see if it had anything interesting there.

orchid void
sacred viper
#

AITA for gaslighting my Promethean GM into letting me play Hatsune Miku?

hybrid dock
#

HOLY SHIT

worthy sundial
#

teto extempore

mighty zephyr
graceful saffron
#

I forgot that "The Pilgrim" sample Sublimati prefers talking to girls and avoids "men" because she doesn't know how to appeal to them.

#

I adore her.

hybrid dock
#

omg

graceful saffron
heady kestrel
graceful saffron
#

Putting that last line on my headstone.

hybrid dock
#

oh :((

graceful saffron
#

Why sad?

hybrid dock
#

a confused and deluded predator :(((

graceful saffron
#

I grin Best way to describe a vegan!

hybrid dock
#

well thats somewhat mean to vegans

#

unless i am being confused about the meaning

graceful saffron
#

(I'm a vegan, so I'm mostly loving how it parallels how I'm talked about by my family)

hybrid dock
#

ahhhhh I see

graceful saffron
#

Without the context it is quite rude, so thank you for commenting. 🖤

hybrid dock
#

yeah i was confused for a sec hahah

sacred viper
worthy sundial
#

actually reading it thats just wow

#

how do u open on 'currently identifies as female' and then get worse

sacred viper
marble sorrel
# sacred viper

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS BLOOD BROTHER? THIS CAINITES GUNNA RETURN ALL THE SUFFERING YOU CAN DO SEVENFOLD! THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP WILL BE MINE!

worthy sundial
#

splat-crossover wrestling tournament would kinda go crazy as a game actually

marble sorrel
#

Werewolf who's sick of them constantly booking him to lose because they know he can take a beating better than anyone else.