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Night10194 posted:I've always gotten the impression that the Paths are fancy ways to get around the fact that humanity is extremely inconvenient and uncomfortable for vampires. Like, take that Noddist stuff. 'You might be a soul-sucking monster who exists as a bane on humanity as punishment for the first murder but that's totally not evil I swear. Because reasons.' Humanity--even among Sabbat--is the prevalent morality code. Paths are an interesting take on the whole "immortal blood drinker with awesome powers" mentality--these creatures who think in terms of centuries or millennia, who regard individuals no more than you do the free breadsticks at the Olive Garden. Such thinking is truly alien to the human condition. Not all vampires can get there, but for the strong-willed ones it is possible to completely discard their original morality for the code of their Path. Hell, there are regular humans who can do it, though they're mostly insane. As with anything in Vampire, it's all in how the character is presented and played. If you do it poorly you just have an rear end in a top hat looking for a get-out-of-assholery-free card. If done well, you have this powerful, ancient being whose motivations are even less relatable than the most out-there bad guy. Who could kill you or ignore you based on some characteristic or behavior that you don't even know matters. If they're tangential to the story you'll be giving them a wide berth. If they're your adversary...you'll probably be more than a bit creeped out.
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Nov 19, 2013 06:52
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insanityv2 posted:We're forgetting the silliest/funnest part of humanity though: derangements. The irony here being that a humanity 10 vampire, if human, could well have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in the first place - a person categorically incapable of lying or doing anything he sees as harming others, and particularly one who indeed fears and suffers from thinking selfish or mean thoughts, is not mentally healthy.
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Nov 19, 2013 07:18
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OAquinas posted:Humanity--even among Sabbat--is the prevalent morality code. Paths are an interesting take on the whole "immortal blood drinker with awesome powers" mentality--these creatures who think in terms of centuries or millennia, who regard individuals no more than you do the free breadsticks at the Olive Garden. Such thinking is truly alien to the human condition. Not all vampires can get there, but for the strong-willed ones it is possible to completely discard their original morality for the code of their Path. The one of Humanity has probably fluctuated wildly for so drat long that they're bound to have picked up a few Derangements and other personality glitches. Being on Humanity is just not a natural state for a vampire. Those on a Path, meanwhile -start off- crazy and -stay- that way. They might be more stable but they're still warped and twisted and not thinking properly. And in the end, the Beast doesn't give a crap what Path you're on. It still wants you to fail and turn in to a bloodthirsty, mindless critter.
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Nov 19, 2013 07:20
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Yeah, even clans with a relatively high rate of membership in Paths have more people who are still on the path of Humanity than not. Moving to a Path is difficult enough that you don't expect the youngest members to be there even if they're capable, and there are always going to be people who don't manage to do it one way or the other (or just people who you keep around who you know will never really 'get' it but who are useful for other reasons).
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Nov 19, 2013 07:20
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Night10194 posted:I've always gotten the impression that the Paths are fancy ways to get around the fact that humanity is extremely inconvenient and uncomfortable for vampires. Like, take that Noddist stuff. 'You might be a soul-sucking monster who exists as a bane on humanity as punishment for the first murder but that's totally not evil I swear. Because reasons.' Yeah this is precisely the reason why I never liked paths for VTM. (They make a great alternative to alignment in things like DnD though).
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Nov 19, 2013 18:57
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MJ12 posted:Amusingly enough, firearms being kinda poo poo in Bloodlines is a reasonable simulation of the actual state of using guns in oWoD. Your starting pistol, a lovely .38 revolver, does approximately 5L damage in the oWoD, which will maybe kill someone if you shoot them three or four times on average. With really low starting stats, you'd be barely grazing and require all those shots. Not to throw out the "it's a game not an accurate simulation of real life" excuse, but five lethal damage dice is pretty respectable against non-supernatural targets. Humans and other mundane, non-vampire/werewolf/etc types can't soak lethal damage anyways. Against a vampire, who can soak it just fine and treats it as bashing anyways? It'll take a bit more than three rounds. Re: Tabletop differences - it actually took me quite a long time for me to realize that Potence and Fortitude were activated abilities in this game. In old world of darkness, Potence and Fortitude just worked - you had Potence, every physical check had an automatic success added to it. You had a few dots in potence and you basically couldn't fail even ridiculous checks, like picking up and throwing semis. Similarly if you had Fortitude, you got to roll an extra soak die for everything, even aggravated damage. Anyway, the game has console commands in place to allow you to simulate the old WoD-style behavior of having potence and fortitude always being active, but at some point in development the powers themselves were made to adhere to the new WoD-style where potence and fortitude were activated abilities. quote:Paths/Humanity chat The problem, like so many things that might seem cool on paper, is that they don't really work because most people are generally unable or unwilling to adopt a completely foreign morality that is more complex than "murder people and steal poo poo" - it does end up as "The Path of poo poo I Was Gonna Do Anyway" in practice - and from a practical standpoint players take paths when they really should have just settled for having low Humanity, but I guess there's some kind of stigma (internal or not) when the game itself is judging the poo poo you're doing as being kind of a lovely thing to do. Humanity itself is more of a metric of where your character sits, though - acts that are considered "sins" on the hierarchy aren't automatic Humanity losses, so long as your character can manage to internally regret the act and justify it as being an accident or an exception or necessary or whatever. Yes, lying to yourself to justify doing bad things is an actual game mechanic.
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Nov 19, 2013 22:10
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Potence actually has an activated ability these days. In the V:tM 20th anniversary edition, they errata'd and cleaned up a lot of things. Potence now only adds dice to your Strength-based dice pools. You can spend a blood point to turn those extra dice from the Discipline into automatic successes. Much more balanced, I think. More on Paths later. I'm enjoying the nice relaxing evening. Edit: vv Well, as I said, you HAVE to have a minimum of 5 Willpower to start on a path, and you can't have a rating higher than 5, since it takes decades to master a path that is so inhuman. Or maybe I didn't mention that part. I forget. Vicissitude fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 19, 2013 22:33
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One thing about Paths is that, rules as written, you're not supposed to start on them until you're already on your way out of Humanity anyway. So it's typically someone that's already slid pretty far off what'd be considered human behavior (Humanity 1-3 tends to be the sweet spot for serial killers or other Hannibal types) and is building back up in a different direction from there. And it's kind of how White Wolf's writing was always a little disingenuous. 'The Path of Things I Was Going to Do Anyway' is a pretty backhanded way of tutting at people trying to play vampire stories like the ones that preface stuff in the rulebooks, rather than the kind of constant degeneration you'd get by just using the mechanics. Simplifying things like Generation, Humanity, etc, is exactly the right kind of idea for a game; not just a video game but just general roleplaying too with the kind of mess that WW was putting out at the time.
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Nov 20, 2013 03:06
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Not sure why, but this has always been one of my favorite games that I absolutely refuse to play again. I love the characters and story, but the levels just turn me away like nothing else. Shame too, cause I recognize how well designed a few were.
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Nov 20, 2013 05:23
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WendyO posted:And it's kind of how White Wolf's writing was always a little disingenuous. 'The Path of Things I Was Going to Do Anyway' is a pretty backhanded way of tutting at people trying to play vampire stories like the ones that preface stuff in the rulebooks, rather than the kind of constant degeneration you'd get by just using the mechanics. Simplifying things like Generation, Humanity, etc, is exactly the right kind of idea for a game; not just a video game but just general roleplaying too with the kind of mess that WW was putting out at the time. I've only had limited experience with the tabletop game - an ex of mine wanted to play and passed me the book, but one of the things that stood out to me was this complete lack of irony or perspective on things like this. Most prominent in my mind: the book very much insists that 'your character is not a stereotype' and chides anyone who seeks to play a 'typical' member of a clan, that there is no typical member of a clan and these organizations are too diverse to be put in your boxes, man, but at the same time they provide nothing but stereotypes to work with and they go into excruciating detail about each clan's stereotypes! Including sterotypes for how to react to other clans and everything! You can't have your cake and eat it too, White Wolf. <  >
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Nov 20, 2013 06:03
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Olesh posted:Not to throw out the "it's a game not an accurate simulation of real life" excuse, but five lethal damage dice is pretty respectable against non-supernatural targets. Humans and other mundane, non-vampire/werewolf/etc types can't soak lethal damage anyways. Well it's not so much that it isn't an accurate simulation of real life, it's that it's just kind of amusing that swording people is so much more useful for a lot of fighters than shooting them with bullets, especially because the canonical autofire rules are so bad (you get +10 accuracy, but +2 difficulty, which means you roll basically the same amount of successes with an increased botch chance if you've got a high firearms score). As a mage, you get to appreciate very much just how weak guns are if you're not specifically building to make use of them well and/or get your hands on one of those awesome Technocratic death machines (like the Mjolnir, which does a base damage of 10L, same as a .50 BMG sniper rifle or a really strong guy wielding a super-huge axe, and is a handgun). Of course, if you are a mage, you can adjust the difficulty down to a base 3 (so 3+ on a 10-sided die is a success), and then fight by dumping the entire magazine of a pistol on full-auto into a crowd of enemies, throwing the pistol away, fast-drawing another one, and repeating this multiple times in the same round. Even against vampires this is surprisingly effective-sure, vampires get to soak and treat it as Bashing, but you can very rapidly put enough Bashing to spill over to Lethal and incapacitate them. Also if you're a vampire, the ammunition is clearly white phosphorous/made out of the cleansing sunlight of the Lord/special bullets blessed by Eros which seek out the heart and destroy it, as lust does to all things in the end. Mages + Guns = hilarity.
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Nov 20, 2013 06:33
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FM posted:I've only had limited experience with the tabletop game - an ex of mine wanted to play and passed me the book, but one of the things that stood out to me was this complete lack of irony or perspective on things like this. Most prominent in my mind: the book very much insists that 'your character is not a stereotype' and chides anyone who seeks to play a 'typical' member of a clan, that there is no typical member of a clan and these organizations are too diverse to be put in your boxes, man, but at the same time they provide nothing but stereotypes to work with and they go into excruciating detail about each clan's stereotypes! Including sterotypes for how to react to other clans and everything! You can't have your cake and eat it too, White Wolf. < New WoD is quite similar in this case - look at the new Mage and its paths, for example.
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Nov 20, 2013 07:16
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FM posted:I've only had limited experience with the tabletop game - an ex of mine wanted to play and passed me the book, but one of the things that stood out to me was this complete lack of irony or perspective on things like this. Most prominent in my mind: the book very much insists that 'your character is not a stereotype' and chides anyone who seeks to play a 'typical' member of a clan, that there is no typical member of a clan and these organizations are too diverse to be put in your boxes, man, but at the same time they provide nothing but stereotypes to work with and they go into excruciating detail about each clan's stereotypes! Including sterotypes for how to react to other clans and everything! You can't have your cake and eat it too, White Wolf. < I'd bet that you were looking at the 2nd Edition corebook, which bent over backwards to try to break the rock-hard stereotypes that had developed after 1st Edition and possibly went overboard in doing so - I remember the back-of-the-book example characters in the 2nd ed clanbooks were extremely diverse to the point of self-parody. Some of that hung around to the Revised Edition, which were the final versions of the books before WW pulled the plug on the oWoD. It's not entirely hypocritical to have clan stereotype sections following a lengthy diatribe against stereotypes, however. A huge theme of the game is the friction between the edgy new late 20th century vamps and the stodgy set-in-their-ways movers and shakers, and the stereotypes can be considered the 'lessons' they were taught on the other clans by a hidebound sire or something. Some of the stereotypes are just plain wrong, and deliberately so, to represent limited information - a good example is how most vampires clanbooks (except Gangrel) have a stereotype about werewolves and they all say something along the lines of 'they live in the wilderness between cities and will eat you if you venture out there', apparently completely ignorant of the fact that two entire Tribes, Bone Gnawers and Glass Walkers, live almost entirely within cities. Also, at least in the world of vampires, stereotypes exist for a reason. Jack's an anti-authoritarian, streetwise, brawling, backer-of-the-underdog and surprise surprise he's a Brujah. The Prince is a stuffy authoritarian business type with an aura of smugness and a very punchable face, doesn't take a genius to realize he's a Ventrue. But the thing is that they have a character beyond their Clan, which a lot of players circa 1st ed didn't. They'd treat a clan like a race/class combo in D&D and not engage in any character development beyond picking a name for their soulless husk and completely miss every point of the game.
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Nov 20, 2013 07:50
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Tehan posted:Also, at least in the world of vampires, stereotypes exist for a reason. Jack's an anti-authoritarian, streetwise, brawling, backer-of-the-underdog and surprise surprise he's a Brujah. The Prince is a stuffy authoritarian business type with an aura of smugness and a very punchable face, doesn't take a genius to realize he's a Ventrue. But the thing is that they have a character beyond their Clan, which a lot of players circa 1st ed didn't. Continuing on this train of thought, the actual matter-of-fact reason Jack's a Brujah, is because he was embraced by a Brujah. And that happened because the reckless pirate lifestyle he had as a mortal made him interesting enough for a Brujah to sire. Same goes for LaCroix; he quickly rose to a high military rank during the Napoleonic Wars, which made him an excellent candidate for a Ventrue to embrace. Vampires are strongly defined by their mortal lives, to the point of it deciding their clan more often than not. All of this can escape the type of player that goes "Cool, I get to be a rebel badass with Celerity and Potence and poo poo!" While the clans are bound by blood, they are also very much gatherings of like-minded Kindred. Looking at it from this perspective, the clans are kind of another coping mechanism for the vampiric state. When you surround yourself with others like you, it's easier to keep on doing things a lot like you did while still alive, which helps you hold on to whatever humanity you have left. Of course sometimes things just go to poo poo, and someone ends up embraced in whatever clan because it seemed like a great idea to someone at the time. Which tends to quickly end with the kind of scene that Bloodlines opens with.
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Nov 20, 2013 13:31
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StoryTime posted:Continuing on this train of thought, the actual matter-of-fact reason Jack's a Brujah, is because he was embraced by a Brujah. And that happened because the reckless pirate lifestyle he had as a mortal made him interesting enough for a Brujah to sire. Same goes for LaCroix; he quickly rose to a high military rank during the Napoleonic Wars, which made him an excellent candidate for a Ventrue to embrace. Vampires are strongly defined by their mortal lives, to the point of it deciding their clan more often than not. All of this can escape the type of player that goes "Cool, I get to be a rebel badass with Celerity and Potence and poo poo!" Agreed. Sectarianism within a clan (ex. between bloodlines), as well as the Antitribu, complicate the picture, but I think your point still stands taking those into account. gatz fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 13:47
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Vicissitude posted:I think Moncada was an exception, and his control was largely over most of Spain and Portugal. There were other Bishops below him, but he was pretty much the one in charge. Then again, Moncada was exceptional in many regards, since he was one of the very few canon vampires with True Faith. This, however, did not mean that he secretly had a bleeding heart of gold, or anything like that. He just had an ironclad conviction that him being a vampiric version of Baron Harkonnen with a BDSM fetish was actually an integral part of God's master plan, and this faith was strong enough to cause minor miracles. (He is also credited as being one of the creators of the aforementioned Path of Night)  What a charming fellow. mortons stork posted:How does the whole 'monster who takes life force from others against their will' jive with Humanity? Especially how would it work with humanity 10? The minority (that is, the player characters) just have to get very creative. Bobbin Threadbare posted:The actual Ventrue downside is that they can only feed on a specific segment of the population. What qualifies can vary from a profession to an ethnicity or a demographic, but the idea is that it has to be at least somewhat inconvenient; "stenographers," "Korean/Korean-descent women [assuming the city has a sizable Korean population]," or "gay men" would work, but "males only/females only" is too broad. I've never realized it until now, but if feeding is supposed to be a metaphor for sex (and taking blood by force is an equivalent of rape), then Venture are hardcore fetishists who literally can't get their fangs up unless their particular 'thing' is present. Rogue AI Goddess fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 14:01
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Well, they CAN, they just can't get anything pleasurable out of it. 
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Nov 20, 2013 15:18
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I love VtM lore and Bloodlines is one of my favorite action rpgs ever. I'll be following this thread closely.  By the way, I remember a let's play of this game here in the forums were someone was doing a Malkavian playtrhough as a pacifist ninja. Did that ever get completed? I don't remember what happened to that thread.
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Nov 20, 2013 19:16
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Kanthulhu posted:By the way, I remember a let's play of this game here in the forums were someone was doing a Malkavian playtrhough as a pacifist ninja. Did that ever get completed? I don't remember what happened to that thread. It went like most Bloodlines LP's. Nowhere.
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Nov 20, 2013 19:28
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Kanthulhu posted:By the way, I remember a let's play of this game here in the forums were someone was doing a Malkavian playtrhough as a pacifist ninja. Did that ever get completed? I don't remember what happened to that thread. That was the Ahimsa Ninja playthrough by Didja Redo. As far as I know he only completed these two videos before he abandoned the LP. It's a real shame because it was one of the funniest LPs I've ever come across and I would have loved to see it completed. That said, you're doing a great job so far, gatz. VtM: Bloodlines is a real gem and I'm happy to see you do it justice.
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Nov 20, 2013 19:54
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Samuel Clemens posted:That said, you're doing a great job so far, gatz. VtM: Bloodlines is a real gem and I'm happy to see you do it justice. We're really only one real update in, but I appreciate the kind words.
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Nov 20, 2013 21:14
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Cooked Auto posted:It went like most Bloodlines LP's. Nowhere. On a side note, wherever did hampooj go? I remember being out of the loop for a couple of months, then forgot he was even doing an LP and only remembered now that I saw this thread that he was doing one.
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Nov 20, 2013 22:21
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mortons stork posted:On a side note, wherever did hampooj go? I remember being out of the loop for a couple of months, then forgot he was even doing an LP and only remembered now that I saw this thread that he was doing one. Disappeared off the face of SA. I remember that near or after the last update he made, he said he finally got a job and didn't have as much free time, so I assume he's just got different priorities now. Too bad he was apparently pretty embarrassed about that and stopped frequenting SA entirely. He was a good poster.
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Nov 20, 2013 22:28
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  Welcome to our lovely apartment in Santa Monica. This place is a dump. LaCroix could have done a lot better than this, but this is what we're given.  We find 3 Blue Blood packs in the fridge, and a pill bottle and watch (!) in the bathroom. Bloodlines is set in 2004. People still used watches back then. Almost 10 years later and the only people who wear watches are old as gently caress, or wear them as a fashion accessory.  Turning our attention to our desk that looks like it was found next to a dumpster, there are three things of immediate note. The first is a note.  Mercurio doesn't seem like such a bad guy, but you can never tell for sure if he's just getting all buddy-buddy with us for his own gain. In the world of Vampire, you've got to be aware that that stuff can happen. As a young fledgling, we're viewed as a tool by many who would use us for their own gain. We take the $100 from the desk, and check out the folded card sitting on our desk.  Downtown... Downtown LA? We're stuck in Santa Monica, and who knows when we'll be there. Something to keep in our back pocket, anyway. Last, let's check the computer.  Email posted:<Subject> A reminder We know, LaCroix. Email posted:<Subject> DANG! It's big you know!!!111 I don't think we need to worry about that. Email posted:<Subject> Kilpatrick's Krime-Puter! If we need to find someone, it sounds like Kilpatrick's is a place we can go. Email posted:<Subject> Welcome Mercurio's picking up explosives? Whatever we're supposed to do must be serious. Email posted:<Subject> The opening Hmmm... Could this be spam? Or something more?   Bah, forget it. Turning on the television, the newscaster is reporting about some new creature that washed up on the beach. The background says "Terror on the Pier". What could've happened?  We won't find any answers standing around in our apartment, at any rate. We should go. Exiting our apartment and going down the stairs, a newspaper, sitting on someone else's doormat, catches our eye.  That must have been what the news report was about. It's surprising that the L.A. Sun would print that picture on the front page, or even at all, but it's also intriguing in another sense. The killing looks unique enough where it could have possibly been a werewolf that committed the killing. But why tie him up on the pier for everyone to see? It means that whoever, or whatever, did the killing wanted to send a message. We should check this out when we make our way down to the pier. * * * A side note: there was a completed game caled Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of Gaia that never got released.  However, you can view all of the cutscenes from the game, stitched together, here, and what looks to be a gameplay clip here. The cinematic director wrote a small amount about the game on his website. * * * Exiting our apartment, a homeless guy strikes up a conversation.   Here, it's not much, but I hope it helps,We lose $10 but gain back some humanity. A reasonable trade.  Mercurio said his place was just to the right when we go down the alley leading to our apartment.  And to the right we find... Mercurio? We don't know what he looks like, but it's safe to assume that the deal for the explosives didn't go as planned, if that's him. And who's that crying over him?  As soon as he enters his apartment building, she disappears. She was added into that cutscene by the recent Plus patch, if you're wondering. It doesn't make much sense. Those of who who have played the game know who it is, but please don't spoil it yet, because we haven't met her.  That's the music that plays throughout the streets of Santa Monica. Bloodlines' soundtrack is pretty good, so the music is worth listening to. It also played throughout the tutorial, for whatever reason. Anyway, it seems that this guy is having trouble with his car. So much trouble that he decided to park it on the sidewalk. Let's confront him about it.  What are you doing? Let's try to get money out of this guy before anything else. [Persuade] Terribly sorry to trouble you, my walllet's been stolen and I need to take a cab. Good. Now...  [Dominate] Meet me in the alley. I'm sure you can see where this is going.  We drink just enough blood to refill our meter entirely. As OAquinas pointed out, it doesn't make sense if the target's blood meter represents the full amount of blood in their body, since they live if any amount is left. It probably represents the least amount of blood they can live with.  With that little diversion out of the way, we should check up on whoever that was. I'm guessing it's Mercurio.  That's a lot of blood loss. No normal human could lose this much and be okay. P.S. I'd love to link to the little piano piece that plays in here, but I can't find it with the other music, or in any other folder.  Ouch. That does not look good.  Just kidding. There was a cappadocian vampire named Mercurio back in Redemption. No relation, thanks to Christof Romuald. Have I mentioned that I'm not happy with that LP? One thing I wished I would have done is show off the soundtrack more than two times.  Are you Mercurio? Uhh... yeah. You're lookin' for the Astrolite? I'm... oh... I can feel a draft on my fuckin' insides! They shanked me - the bastards! The blood ain't workin' no more - my head, it feels... cracked. Uh. I think my eye's popped.He says that "the blood ain't workin' no more", meaning that he's been fed vampire blood. Mercurio is a ghoul: a creature that is fed vitae and gains some of the benefits and drawbacks of being a vampire. The effects last one month, and the process must be repeated if the ghoul wishes to remain a ghoul. A ghoul stops aging when fed vitae, and if their supply runs out, then they progress to what their normal age would be. If a ghoul is old enough, this means certain death. Stay with me. What happened? I got... I went... Uh... What is this lump? Is this my rib? Oh, holy poo poo, my rib is pokin' through my side?!? Oh. I'm all numb... you gotta look and tell me! It's a broken bottle. Now, tell me what happened to you. Goddamn chemist! Can't trust any operators in LA. I verified him, organization seemed reliable. Guy mixes up speed, his crew sells it. Occasionally does explosives. I set up a drop. I show up at the beach with the money, right? Four of these guys, they come out of nowhere. Junkie pricks - hit me with a bat! Head feels like I got a friggin' horse kickin' it. I never shoulda gone alone... amateur move. I shoulda handled those pricks. Goddamn dirty Cali rat bastards. Those cocksuckers - beat me rotten, left me for a stiff. I had to crawl to my car, crawl my rear end up here. The vamp blood's the only thing holdin' me together. But poo poo, they got the money, they got the Astrolite...Vamp blood. Let's press Mercurio on this, see what his story is. Vamp blood? Right, you're straight off the bus. Once a month I get fed vampire blood. Heals me faster, makes me stronger than a normal human. I don't age. By lookin' at me, you wouldn't realize it, but I'm almost sixty. So where do I find the astrolite now? Those small-time sons of bitches live out in a dump on the beach. Four or five of 'em. The one's got the explosives is Dennis. Got my money too, that prick! How do I get it back? You gotta... gotta get it back from 'em. Maybe reason with 'em, maybe break in, I dunno. God, I wanna kill 'em. Do whatever you people do. I blew it, I know. Is there anything I can do to help you? Yeah, if you could... unhhh.... Somethin' just started leakin' - I need somethin' for the pain. I'll bring something back for you. Good to know. Goodbye.Choices and consequences. We don't have anyone to tell, at the moment, though. We could conceivably email LaCroix, but that's not an option Bloodlines gives us.  Back outside, the clinic opposite of Mercurio's apartment building stands out against the night sky. The clinic looks very... unlike a clinc would, I'll just put it that way.  This creepy guy standing outside of the clinc strikes up a conversation when we pass by. I'm okay, do I know you? Aw man! Wait. Say that again.This sounds like a bad pick-up routine. Okay. Do I know you? Aw man! You - you're a vampire, aren't you?This isn't good. If he's bluffing, if this is really some sort of pickup routine, revealing ourselves is a masquerade violation. What? Vampire? What the hell are you smoking? C'mon. You are too! Oh man! Don't bullshit me, girl; just come clean. I ain't gonna tell no one. It's okay! I just wanna talk.Well, let's humor him, anyway. Alright then, let's talk. Hell yeah! Oh man, I knew it! I just- Oh geez, I knew you were. I just could tell. I - oh man, this is great! And th-then I saw your teeth an-and I was, like, drat! It was like I could just sense you. The name's Knox Harrington. Pleasure to meet you. Aw man! Are you a vampire? How do you know all of this? I'm a ghoul. I didn't know about any of this stuff until a couple months ago... when this guy just appeared and, well, all of a sudden - bam! - whoa man! - vampires are real and right there in front of my eyes. Blew my goddamn mind.Physically strong and intimidating, a very rugged individual. Now uncharacteristically giddy. Knox has succumbed to childlike excitement at the new world that was suddenly unfurled before him just months ago, when a vampire came to him and welcomed him into the world of immortals. Let's see... we could press him more about being a ghoul, see if he reveals who did it to him. You said you're a "ghoul"? What is that? Well, the way it was explained to me, whenever a vampire lets a human drink some of their vampire blood, the human gains a little vampire power, can heal up quick and that kinda stuff. Geez, oh man! Then they're a "ghoul", and ooh, watch out! Who was the vampire that made you a ghoul? Aw man! I really wish I could tell ya, but I don't think I'm supposed to. But it's really cool to be talkin' to you, just, well, because I don't get a lot of chance to talk to vampires - oh man! - well, other than my master, so I thought I'd just say, ya know, what's up, ya know?He can't tell us? Interesting... You like being a ghoul? It's awesome! Man after that first taste of vampire blood... it's like the best drug. Aw man, I'm tellin' ya, it's like... well it didn't mess me up, just made me feel like I was better at everything. I felt like a god, just suckin' on that nasty dude's wrist.He's inadvertently dropped a clue as to who his master is. Knox called him a "nasty dude", which could mean it's a Nosferatu, or it could just be a guy who doesn't shower. But we do know it's a male. So what are you doing around here? Look, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I'm on a "secret mission" for my master.Secret mission? This could be good... Well, hey - ha! - it's been great talkin' to you, man, but I better be going - aw man! - ya know, important stuff to do. See you around.That didn't go anywhere, but we'll see if we run into Knox later.  Down one of the alleys, we run across this hairy-looking guy.  Who disappears in a cloud of smoke. Hm...  Best get to getting this Astrolite. If those guys, one being named Dennis, have a lovely shack on the beach, we've got to go down through the parking garage.  Of course, the pier is closed off. We'll have to go through some other way to get a look at the body. Those stairs on the left could be a way.   We find our way to the beach, but someone blocks our path.  What? Those men you're looking for. How did you know I was looking for someone? Never mind. You wouldn't understand. Weird. Well, what's new. Thanks.  This song quietly plays from the radio There is quite a ragtag group of people around here. I wonder why they're congregated around here. Let's ask.  What are you talking about? You mean you ain't here to run us off? Uh, no. Is that common? We're getting pretty sick of it. Someone citing domain or inthe worst cases, hunting us for sport. What? Why? I'm new to this myself. What's a thin blood? Damned if I know. I know you don't want to be one. You seem to be in the loop - you tell me. For starters, what clan are you? Clan? See, I've heard all that before, an- and I still don't know what the hell anyone's talkin' about. I'd like to know just what I've become - we- we'd all like to know jus- just what the... the hell kinda devil's contract we've apparently signed. How'd this happen to you? I'd just came to town for the surf tourney - seems like years ago, but it's, well, been about six months now. Every night during the finals, I used to hit the local diner after the beach parties fizzled out in the A.M. That's where I met her. Met who? She had a natural beauty, not like all the plastic dolls littering the sand. Her name was Lily. I remember introducing meself - the way she seemed grateful for the company. Well, a few nights after our meeting, we were on the beach alone and... Go on. Is Lily dead? Clinically, yes. But honestly, I don't know. I suppose I'd have moved on by now if I didn't think she'd show up one of these nights. There's a lot I've got left to say to her. You do know you're vampires, right? That's what Lily tried to tell me. But what I don't understand are the rules and the terms and the reason some of 'em are at our throats claiming we're harbingers of the apocalypse. That's what I want to know.The apocalypse. The Kindred Eschaton, the end time. Gehenna: the albatross of Vampire: The Masquerade. The time when the antediluvians awake from their slumber and devour their descendants. The increase of Thin-Blooded vampires is a sign of the coming of Gehenna. * * * The Chronicle of Caine In the beginning there was only Caine. Caine who sacrificed his brother out of love. Cain who was cast out. Cain who was cursed with the lust for blood. It is Caine from who we all come, Our sire's sire. For the passing of an age Caine lived in the land of Nod In loneliness and suffering. For an eon he remained alone. But the passing of memory drowned his sorrow. And so he returned to the world of mortals, To the world of mortals, To the world his brother and his brother's children had created. Though he became ruler of a mighty nation, Caine was still alone, For none was as he. His sorrow grew once again. Then he committed another great sin, for he begat progeny, Of whom there were only three. But from them came more progeny, Caines grandchilder, And then Caine said, "An end to this crime. There shall be no more." And as Caines word was law, his brood obeyed him. The city stood for many ages, And became the center of a mighty empire. But then came the Deluge, a Great Flood that washed over the world. The city was destroyed. And its people along with it. Again Caine fell into a great sorrow and went into solitude, Becoming as a dog amidst the wastes, And leaving his progeny to their own ends. They came to him and begged him to return, To help them rebuild the city. But he would not come with them, Saying the Flood had been sent as punishment For his having returned to the world of life And subverting the true law. A great war was waged, the elders against their children, And the children slew their parents. The rebels built a new city And brought to it 13 tribes. It was a beautiful city and its people worshipped them as gods. They created new progeny of their own, The fourth generation of Cainites. But they feared the Jyhad, And it was forbidden for those childer To create others of their kind. Although this city was a great as Caines, eventually it grew old. As do all living things, it slowly began to die. Their city was destroyed and their power extinguished. With their authority gone, all were free to create their own broods, And soon there were many new Cainites, Who ruled across the face of the Earth. * * * The Antediluvians are Caine's grandchilder, according to legend. The survivors of the Great Deluge. 13 of them, one for each clan, though this number has been disputed. Some have been diablerized, some remain in torpor. I asked Vic, "Why are they in torpor?" and this is what he said. quote:Basically, the Antediluvians are feeling the weight of the ages on them. The more potent the blood is, the more you feel the pull toward torpor. Beyond that, most of them have no Humanity left, so they tend to sleep for a long, long time. If any of you have played Redemption, Vukodlak's plan was to arise and diablerize the antediluvians to prevent Gehenna. How he would do this is a mystery. Why the antedilvians would want to diablerize their offspring is a mystery, as well.  Are all these others here thin-bloods as well? Aye. Most of them just recently arrived in LA. Got chased off by the Sabbath or some such thing from their home cities. They're more in the dark than I am. They're a good bunch, but... well they've been through a lot. It's affected them. Maybe I should look into this whole thin-blood thing. I'll ask around, see what I can dig up. Oh, we'd appreciate it. Oh, 'fore I forget, name's E. The black-haired beauty over there's Rosa - sees the future, so she says. That nervous bloke is Copper, and the one who can't speak so well's Julius. Kids' gloves with them; they've had it rough. Any idea where I might begin looking for information? Seems no one'll talk about it. This all started that night in the diner... maybe you could start there. I'll see what I can do. Goodbye. Before we do anything else, let's check on that killing at the pier. If you look near the top of the picture, you can see a lone wolf standing on the ridge.  It confirms what we saw in the newspaper, but there aren't any other clues to be found around here.  While up here, We find a pack of gum...  and below the pier, a stake. We are a vampiric MacGyver - this will all make sense soon enough. So let's get to talking to the rest of the thin-bloods. We'll start with Copper.  Head vampire? Uh, yeah, of course we do. Who doesn't? [Persuade]If he's killed with the Holy Stake, sure. Interested in purchasing it? Okay. But first I had another question. Umm... how about blood transfusions? If I get a full blood transfusion I can become human again, right? [Persuade]Sure. If it's unicorn blood. Unicorn blood? Oh, there can be vampires but no such thing as unicorns? Next is Julius.  Are you okay? It's nuh-nuh-nothing. Do I scare you? Nuh-nu-nuh-no no. I have a sp-s-s-speech-puh-pw-oh-oblem. S-s-sor-sorry. Puh-puh-puh-pathetic!I'm sure he'll never come up again. Let's try talking to that woman again, Rosa.  What are you talking about? Why is he smiling? The father? Is it- Is it the father behind him? You're not makng any sense. Here Troika falls back on that lovely mad oracle trope that bad writers use as a lazy method of foreshadowing. I don't understand. Ah, I sorry. Sometimes I see... nothing - disregard what I say.That's a not-so-subtle way of saying "we're trying to foreshadow, here." [Persuade]You have a gift. Please, it's very important. Can you tell me anything else? This sound suspiciously similar to that email we received from "a friend". Can you be more specific? I don't know what I'm saying. Forget what I say. Wait... do you know anything about the murder on the pier? Murder? Yes... the killer is dead. He moves soon and travels to the heart of the ángeles... and to the home of the stars... and then returns fulfilled... and empty once again. Can you tell me my fortune? I'll pay you. Fortune is not your destiny. All of us are unfortunate. Every time I sleep the future plays out before me. I know the ending... it will end over and over until I cease to dream. I know your questions. For $100, I'll tell you what you don't want to hear. I need money to leave this place. A hundred? I'll give you twenty. Here's my question. What's going to happen to me in the next few nights? The crimson ship. He's not who he says she is and it's going to burn. Dinosaurs? He's furious... the man with the crest... the voice in the darkness, boss. Chinese brothers. Follow the lights to the end of the tunnel. Where do you want to go? Who can I trust? Hmm... the man on the couch... the lone wolf. All others - tread carefully.The man on the couch? Could she be referring to Mercurio? And who's this lone wolf? Who are my enemies? Many. Everywhere. Some with swords, some with smiles. But I pity them. You are a remarkable foe. So, who has a job I can do? Those with a lot to say... usually have something on their mind. There are many unique individuals around the city. It's almost as if they're waiting for you to ask the right thing. E, for example."You're aware that you're playing an RPG, right? Any advice at all? Something that's going to save my life? Don't open it. In fifth grade, who stole my bike? I see the future, not the past. So, am I going to win after all is said and done? Don't worry, Troika. I bought the game on steam when it was on sale. I didn't pirate it.  Let's get to the point. We came down here to get the astrolite. The chemist's beach house is up on the cliff.  As the first main quest, when Troika didn't face any time-crunching deadlines, etc., there are multiple ways of approaching this. 1. Kill everyone and get the astrolite 2. Sneak around the back, cut the power, and sneak in to steal the astrolite 3. Talk our way into getting the astrolite We're most equipped to do this the third way. Our first obstacle is the shirtless guard near the fence. We should also look for Mercurio's money.  [Seduction]Do I look dangerous to you? I'm sure a big man like you isn't scared of me. With that, we enter the house.  This is on the television. I've read that this is actually alpha footage of Bloodlines.  We also find a room with a vent. Something tells me we should check it out.  What do you know! Mercurio's money. Now to get the astrolite.  Eventually, we come across this room. This must be Dennis. The astrolite sits on a table behind him, but if we just take it, guns will come out.  Bringing up astrolite right away will tip Dennis off that we're with Mercurio. Better play this safe. What have you got? My staff maintains at all times a twenty-four carat smorgasbord of A+ narcotics guaranteed to make the competition's poo poo seem like a weak cappuccino in comparison. White, green, blues, reds, black - you pick a color. I'm looking for something different. Got any explosives? Explosives? Fun stuff. You can get yourself a lotta attention that way. I may have somethin'. Why would you need to get your hands on some fireworks? Money problems. I need to make a car disappear for the insurance. [Seduction] Anything else you take besides cash? Mmm hmm. I'd be open to negotiations. Question is: how open are you? Want to send your buddy out of the room and find out?Dennis turns to the other guy in the room... Yo, go check the odometer on my car.The guy leaves, and Dennis turns back to us...   We're sucking on Dennis' neck and sending him into shock or whatever happens to someone in that daze they're in after we feed on them.  Dennis none-the-wiser, we steal the astrolite from under his nose and exit the area.  But not before running into this dog.  This little guy is added to the game if you install the plus patch. He doesn't serve much purpose unless the NPCs in the area become hostile to you, and then he'll attack you on sight. Even then, he's buggy as gently caress.    Anyway, let's see if Copper has come up with the money.  I have the special chewing gum for your teeth for $100. Uh... o-okay. I-I guess. Here. And here's the stake. You have $100? Well, what should we say? Who should sic Copper on? gatz fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Feb 17, 2014 |
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Nov 22, 2013 07:31
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Rolled a dice. Let's sic 'em on LaCroix.
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Nov 22, 2013 07:48
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Send him after the President. I wanna see if he makes the evening news.
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Nov 22, 2013 08:05
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If this is set in 2004, why does our computer look like something Strong Bad would use? I think that we should just be nice to the poor dumb thin-blooded vampire. That is a useful vote to make, right? 
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Nov 22, 2013 08:10
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 This is one of the very few gay men in the game. A female player with points in seduction will see a seduction line to go meet in the alley, but the guy will brush her off. A male with seduction will be successful in luring him into the alleyway. That brings me to a pet peeve about this game: the seduction skill. Y'see, if the player character is female, Seduction is a very useful dialogue skill. Many male npcs will have seduction dialogue options, and many female npcs also have seduction dialogue options (you might say that many women in this game are bisexual). However, if the player character is male, then seduction is nigh-useless, because it can only be used succesfully on female npcs and 1 guy; this one.
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Nov 22, 2013 08:18
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AnAnonymousIdiot posted:Rolled a dice. Let's sic 'em on LaCroix. Just because you're forced into being LaCroix's errand girl doesn't mean you have to take it without a token protest.
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Nov 22, 2013 08:21
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Let's sic 'em on LaCroix.
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Nov 22, 2013 08:26
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A Gabriel Knight reference in update 2? Wonderful. Let's send him after the president and check the news while laughing villainously.
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Nov 22, 2013 08:38
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President Obama is a vampire! Called it!
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Nov 22, 2013 08:38
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Have LaCroix say hello to our little friend! I'll hold off on the thinblood rundown until the game has a chance to explain a bit more, but I will say that some of the unlucky SOBs do get oracular abilities like the lady with the odd accent here. Guess Troika couldn't resist pulling that old chestnut out when given the chance...
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Nov 22, 2013 09:02
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EphemeralToast posted:If this is set in 2004, why does our computer look like something Strong Bad would use? Because, much like the apartment and everything in it, it was probably something LaCroix or his goons found in a dump somewhere. Also, if this game is set in 2004, then the president would be George H. W. Bush. The guy is definitely some sort of Malkavian hivelord. Sic the thinblood on the President.
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Nov 22, 2013 09:04
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Huh, so that's what it looks like when you don't massacre everyone in the Astrolite house. Send Copper after LaCroix. The music in this game is really, really good at setting the tone. It's up there with Thief and Hitman's soundtracks. It's also inspired some decent (depending how into goth/industrial you are) music replacement mods. There's minor location spoilers if anyone in this thread has actually never played this game, in which case what the hell's wrong with you? http://www.moddb.com/mods/vtmb-music-mod/downloads/vtmb-music-mod-10 http://www.moddb.com/mods/gabriel-onuris/downloads/collide-soundtrack-mod
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Nov 22, 2013 09:23
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This poster loves police brutality, but only when its against minorities!
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Oh my goodness that dog is so adorable! What are you talking about, he's not bugged at all!  Anyway, I vote for President. Sending him after our new boss doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
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Nov 22, 2013 09:50
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Umbilical Lotus posted:Because, much like the apartment and everything in it, it was probably something LaCroix or his goons found in a dump somewhere. While our computer is a remarkable example of an artists' desire to unify nature with technology by strategic placement of lichen (or is that mold?), the way that computer works is identical to other computers in the game. Very text-adventure-y double nine fucked around with this message at 09:59 on Nov 22, 2013 |
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Nov 22, 2013 09:51
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Crying Woman in the Mercurio seen is a pretty good example of why I'm really not a fan of the Plus Patch. It tends to add a bunch of questionable poo poo in the name of the modders VISION, which I have no real interest in and frequently makes no sense. There is just no reason she would be there 
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Nov 22, 2013 12:11
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Man why you gotta be a jerk with poor Cooper, that's super lovely
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Nov 22, 2013 12:34
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V. Illych L. posted:Man why you gotta be a jerk with poor Cooper, that's super lovely I know, but that's really the only interaction we're allowed to have with him. 
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Nov 22, 2013 12:52
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