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The Malkavian PC doesn't use Dominate on people - it uses Dementation. Minor quibble. I -really- like Tung's voice actor. What I like less of is that random goth girl in white bumbling about in the background while you're talking to the gal you send off to the blood bank - she just looks so drat goofy.
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Jan 14, 2014 09:41
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I just finally caught up. Really love that LP. And this game. I just wanted to add a little bit of trivia. For those who don't know, the "Elizabeth Dane" is the name of the ghost ship in John Carpenter's The Fog.
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Jan 14, 2014 12:59
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gatz posted:
The "Hmm? Oh, nevermind. That warehouse though -" was a response to Malkavian PC saying "I seek a strange house of wares, o Nasty Dude!"
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Jan 14, 2014 13:38
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Sounded to me like Tung had been expecting you to ask something else and you threw him for a loop.
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Jan 14, 2014 14:14
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gatz posted:The abandoned gas station is straight down the street from the Asylum. It's been impossible to get into until now. It's possible to pick the lock at various points before ending the feud. Tung just isn't there since he's in hiding and all that. I think picking the lock is the only way to get access to Tung's computer since you don't seem to be able to dig through computers of some characters when they're in the room (Therese/Jeanette).
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Jan 14, 2014 14:34
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Doctor Tog posted:It's possible to pick the lock at various points before ending the feud. Tung just isn't there since he's in hiding and all that. I think picking the lock is the only way to get access to Tung's computer since you don't seem to be able to dig through computers of some characters when they're in the room (Therese/Jeanette). E: Nevermind, you're correct. Update edited. citybeatnik posted:The Malkavian PC doesn't use Dominate on people - it uses Dementation. Minor quibble. Fixed, thanks for pointing it out. gatz fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Jan 14, 2014 |
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Jan 14, 2014 14:45
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gatz posted:3) Tung's computer cannot be interacted with That could very well be because he's there. While I don't have the game installed to check, I went on GameFAQs and checked the computer password list, and it gives two passwords for Tung's computer, so it seems that you can check it out at some point in time. What that point is, I don't know.
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Jan 14, 2014 14:48
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TheMcD posted:That could very well be because he's there. While I don't have the game installed to check, I went on GameFAQs and checked the computer password list, and it gives two passwords for Tung's computer, so it seems that you can check it out at some point in time. What that point is, I don't know. I just rechecked, and Doctor Tog is actually correct on everything he says. You can check out Tung's computer before he spawns there. poo poo, you know what, I think I'll do that Malkavian runthrough of Santa Monica after all, if not just to show off what I missed.
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Jan 14, 2014 14:52
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gatz posted:When playing as a Malkavian, you occasionally have special encounters that make use of a Malkavian's "fabled insight". This is the dialogue when speaking to Jeanette for the first time: I think you mean every conversation in the game or something like that. The Malkavian PC clearly has access to the game's script and is probably better described as that guy that loves to hide spoilers in plain sight dressed in clever word choices; for example Janus Bifrons (two-foreheaded) is the roman god of gates, commonly represented as a dude with two faces, one on the back of his head, so by calling Jeanette his daughter he announces the plot twist aloud without it being completely obvious.
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Jan 14, 2014 15:35
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Omobono posted:I think you mean every conversation in the game or something like that. The Malkavian PC clearly has access to the game's script and is probably better described as that guy that loves to hide spoilers in plain sight dressed in clever word choices; for example Janus Bifrons (two-foreheaded) is the roman god of gates, commonly represented as a dude with two faces, one on the back of his head, so by calling Jeanette his daughter he announces the plot twist aloud without it being completely obvious. Yeah, that part about Janus is obvious, the game explains it well enough. But it's not every conversation - much of the Malkavian dialogue is just stupid non sequiturs that offer no foreshadowing.
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Jan 14, 2014 15:37
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gatz posted:Yeah, that part about Janus is obvious, the game explains it well enough. But it's not every conversation - much of the Malkavian dialogue is just stupid non sequiturs that offer no foreshadowing. I'm convinced that at least half, if not more, of the Malk dialogue is circuitous foreshadowing, flimsy puns, or obscure commentary.
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Jan 14, 2014 16:09
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The new blood for Vandal quest was really boring. Not quite the complicated puppy-eating evil I was expecting.
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Jan 14, 2014 18:25
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This poster loves police brutality, but only when its against minorities!
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DeusExMachinima posted:The new blood for Vandal quest was really boring. Not quite the complicated puppy-eating evil I was expecting. You are trapping someone into being bled out as slowly as possible so you can buy blood. It's very cruel.
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Jan 14, 2014 18:56
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gatz posted:
How does it feel to have a reader-base that's so addicted to this game they can correct dialogue errors?
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Jan 14, 2014 19:08
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You do it because you're vindictive and jealous.
And you deserve it!
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Doopliss posted:I think you're missing an "I only do it for attention, and out of love" on Jeanette's part. I was wondering where that line had gone, but I figured it was something to do with trust levels or dialogue choices.
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Jan 14, 2014 21:50
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Tehan posted:I was wondering where that line had gone, but I figured it was something to do with trust levels or dialogue choices. The plus patch is my guess.
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Jan 14, 2014 22:24
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I like when you first meet Tung as a Malkavian and your character constantly refers to him as Nasty Dude since thats what Knox called him.
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Jan 14, 2014 23:28
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And Knox gets pissed off at first before he realizes that you're a Malkavian then he just rolls with it.
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Jan 15, 2014 09:13
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Sorry about the wait. The next update is already partially finished. I've just been busy moving back into the dorms. It will be posted either tomorrow or Monday.
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Jan 19, 2014 02:48
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Just as long as you keep us updated, otherwise discussion devolves into dark mutterings about the Curse.
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Jan 19, 2014 03:46
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   I'll have some questions for you when I get back. Let's go.With that, we're transported to the warehouse area.  You can actually get more experience if you do the entire quest without being detected.  But that's not easy for a character that hasn't put any dots into stealth-related skills. With a vampire that can use obfuscate, this quest is a breeze.  Our main enemy is this generic looking thug. He and his 40 twin brothers populate this area.  Remember that they're working for the Sabbat.  So don't feel that bad that we have to...  ...kill them.  Eventually we come to this homeless guy. Nothing special about him.  Just past him, we can overhear a conversation between two thugs. quote:Yo, what the gently caress is going on here tonight? Marcus is on everyone's face and poo poo!  Marcus must be the boss around here. We take out those two and move on.  There's a lock on one of these train cars, and inside of it there's some .38 ammunition.  Out the other door, we can eavesdrop on those thugs playing cards. quote:You're gonna bet or what?  After taking them out, we can get into the warehouse from down here, but there's a more interesting way on the other side.  Which requires a little sneaking, if you don't want to be caught.  There's a ladder upwards, guarded by a thug that can be drained dry easily. We'll take the ladder up.  We're above all the thugs on the ground, here, but we still have to be quiet to stay undetected.  There's some steelwork we can walk on, which eventually takes us to a walkway we can drop down on to.  It's easy to drop down and be caught immediately, if you don't do it in the right spot. Drop down on the lamp, then down to the floor on the left.  Now on the walkway, there are two doors that lead to our objective. The first is on the left -- the door you can see. The other door is on the right, which requires that you go past the window. The problem with that path is that there are two thugs looking straight out the windows, and they'll doubtlessly see you unless you've got dots in stealth. Even if you get past them, the astrolite can only be planted in the room to the left.  The door is locked, but the skillcheck isn't anything special. There are some conversations to listen to here, but they're not very interesting. Let's get down to business. This is the room that we need to plant the astrolite in. The problem, then, is that we have a 3 minute time limit to get out. With our poor stealth skills, that means we'll have to fight our way out. That being the case, it's a better idea to take out everyone in the warehouse before planting the explosives. Exiting to the left...  The guy in the suit must be Marcus.  Even though he has a shotgun, he's not too much trouble. Neither are the two thugs he has with him.  There are two thugs to take out in the room to the right of where we entered. Now we'll take out everyone on the ground floor.  I won't bore you with the details... the short story is that we take everyone out. Fortitude works wonders.  It's always a good idea to end a fight by draining the last guy standing. Now we'll plant that explosive.  Which can only be done near the desk. This is more or less the center of the place.  3 minutes to get out of here. Shouldn't be too bad.  Just gotta--  Sabbat!  He deals aggravated damage with his claws. One Sabbat, one vampire, is more of a challenge than that whole group of humans we took out.  But he's not too difficult. Ironically, the door he bashed down is now the only way out.  Eventually, we're lead to another door.  Inside, there are a couple of traincars and railway tracks.  Ambushed!  This time the encounter is much easier. Now we'll head through the door...  ...and eventually find our way back to the beginning. This should be a safe distance.  Oh, we had a minute left, but the astrolite exploded anyway.  PS, this probably isn't the right clothing to wear when you're blowing up a warehouse.        This guy's eyes... there's something strange about him. If he's Sabbat, we might be in trouble. We could lie, but what good would that do? A vampire walking away from the scene of the crime, just in the nick of time -- it's obvious that it's us. Yeah, that was me. Hopefully no Sabbat saw you escape - they can be somewhat antagonistic.So he's not Sabbat. Who is he, then? And why is he here? Who are you, and why have you been following me? Places. Plural. Remember this: Part 4 posted:That was Beckett, it seems. Tell me, have you by chance seen or felt anything strange since your Embrace?We've seen many strange things, though whether they're strange to Beckett is another matter. I saw a ghost at a local hotel. A ghost? Hmph. Quite ordinary. I generally pay wraiths no mind. All but a few are willing to give up their secrets.The Malkavian version of that line is "I SEE DEAD PEOPLE." I met some Kindred on the beach that didn't seem like Kindred. Beckett seems to be a scholar of sorts. The Santa Monica baron has a split personality. She's undoubtedly Malkavian. Or should I say, they are undoubtedly Malkavian.Hmmm, I suppose nothing we've seen qualifies as strange. Other than that, I really haven't seen anything extraordinary. Beckett knows we're recently embraced. What else could he know? What could he be hiding? [Listen] Pleasure meeting your acquaintance, but there are rumblings for me to discredit. We shall, I'm certain, meet again. Or never again. Goodnight, young one... and be careful, you're very likely being hunted by the Sabbat.We've eliminated the two Sabbat we've run across, and that explosion should have taken care of any others in the area. There's always a chance, however. Night... Beckett. Beckett runs off...  ...and we're taken back to the Santa Monica streets, to this beautiful sight in front of us. He should be pleased.  Tung is a Nosferatu, he's bound to have some information on who this 'Beckett' character is. Thanks. Do you know someone named Beckett? Beckett? I know of him. Why? I spoke with him. No kidding? Huh. Must be something major happening if HE's in town. Sound like an interesting person to have a conversation with. Too bad he ran off so fast. Now, the following dialogue with Bertram is completely optional, but nevertheless it's still interesting to hear what he has to say. Hmmm. Bertram... I have some serious questions for you. Whaddaya need?Many things, though information about that asian vampire comes to mind, that ordeal with Knox. I met your ghoul Knox. I know ya did. Sharp kid; can track like a bloodhound. I watched him work for a while before I approached him. I had no idea how... eager he would be to help. You knew I did? I knew you would. I had him watching you-know-who for me; it was inevitable you'd pass through her joint. I told him to keep an eye out for ya, gave him the lines to feed ya, the whole bit.Feed him lines? We were played? But he needed my help. I killed an Asian vampire who was stalking him. No, you helped me remove a spy without revealing myself or getting my hands dirty. Heh, pretty good actor, that Knox, huh? Haha. That's not very nice. No doubt. I wanted to ask about someone else. What do you think of Prince LaCroix? What am I gonna say? He's the boss now.Some would call that a pragmatic answer. I call it a defeatest one. Yeah? What about that guy who decapitated my sire? He's LaCroix's iron fist. No one "knows" the sheriff, really, except LaCroix. No one even knows the guy's name. There's lots of rumors about him though. I heard LaCroix picked him up in Africa over a hundred years ago. Obviously, they work well together.It was only through the actions of Nines Rodriguez that we we're saved that night. Who is Nines? What about Nines Rodriguez? From what I hear he's a likable sort, and that's a problem. Nines Rodriguez is the kinda guy you want on your side and more Kindred go anarch every day cuzza him. What can you tell me about the anarchs? The anarchs... yeah, I respect what they do, strenuous liberty and all that jazz, but they're kidding themselves. Wherever there's an ounce of power to be had, there'll be people dickin' each other over. You think the Camarilla invented that?We've already seen that the anarchs do not preach strenuous liberty. What an actual anarchist response would be to Tung's latter statement is that it ignores the role that institutions and values within a society play in determining individual behavior. Mikhail Bakunin posted:Do you want to prevent men from ever oppressing other men? Arrange matters such that they never have the opportunity. Do you want them to respect the liberty, rights and human character of their fellow men? Arrange matters such that they are compelled to respect them--compelled not by the will or oppression of other men, nor by the repression of the State and legislation, which are necessarily represented and implemented by men and would make them slaves in their turn, but by the actual organization of the social environment, so constituted that while leaving each man to enjoy the utmost possible liberty it gives no one the power to set himself above others or to dominate them, except through the natural influence of his own intellectual or moral qualities, which must never be allowed to either convert itself into a right or to be backed by any kind of political institution. [Michael Bakunin: Selected Writings, ed. Arthur Lehning, pp. 152-153] As a side note, I thought of titling the forthcoming anarch-specific update "Real Anarchism or Kindred Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm", but that's just a little too silly. Moving on, what does Tung have to say about the other sects? What do you think about the Camarilla? The Camarilla works. When you let vampires run wild, you wind up with Caitiff frenzying in the streets, thin-bloods blowing the Masquerade, and hunters sniffing around. Law and order is the Kindred's friend.No anarchist would disagree with what Tung is essentially saying here: that if you let people "run wild" (meaning there are utterly no rules), you'll wind up disorganization, chaos, and likely some sort of facism to take the void. Of course we need rules, if by the word one means guidelines for behavior. The question to be asked, however, is who makes the rules? Who are the rules benefitting? At whose cost? What are the punishment for breaking the rules? These type of questions -- of supreme importance for anyone to ask themselves -- fly over Tung's head. Tung mentioned Caitiff, and we haven't really heard about them. What's a Caitiff? Caitiff are just riff-raff vampires who don't know anything about vampire society, don't know their clan; mutt vampires: what I suspect you were perilously close to becoming if LaCroix hadn't intervened.We know so little about our Sire that what Tung is saying is a leap of faith, at least it is for us. We can't ask him about our Sire. When talking about the Camarilla, Tung mentioned thin-bloods. Let's hear what he has to say about them. What do you mean "thin-bloods"? Theory goes that the farther down the bloodline you are from Caine, the weaker the blood is. So if you're, say, fifth generation, the blood is strong. If you're fifteenth generation you barely qualify as a vampire; a thin-blood. Sounds like the bottom of the barrel. Hmm... it is a sad state. They're weak, their powers watered down, most of them are Caitiff, and there seems to be more and more of them. Many Kindred think it's a sign of Gehenna. Gehenna?We know what Gehenna is, but this was the only dialogue option. Gehenna: The day we all die, when our sleeping forefathers rise and bring about the end of the world. Many believe we are living in the Final Nights.Tung also mentioned "hunters" when he spoke about the Camarilla. You mentioned hunters before. Who are they? Hunters: humans who hunt vampires. Most are half-cocked yokels who also say they've been abducted by UFOs. The real hunters are trained by secret societies, holy orders of the church that have existed since the Middle Ages. Fear them.Also fear those horrible Hunter: The Reckoning video games. One other sect to ask Tung about, the one whose warehouse we sent sky high tonight. I want to know about the Sabbat. Y'ask me, the Sabbat makes no sense. They couldn't care less about the Masquerade, and they seem to care even less about themselves. It's like, "Hey! Let's all spread hell on earth so we can feel big and bad - oops! I'm dead! Now, how did that happen?"I know so little about the Sabbat, I'm not sure if this depiction is accurate. It may be a caricature, or it may be dead-on. If you've played Redemption, you know that the reasonable Wilhem (and Ecaterina) both joined the Sabbat in the modern times. That's what makes me doubt what Tung is saying. Vampire: The Masquerade veterans, feel free to chime in. We can also ask Tung about each Camarilla clan. I wanted to ask you about a clan. Hmmm. Clans are just bloodlines, you know, a common root shared and passed on from sire to childe. Tell me about the Brujah. They're a bunch of malcontents. They get pumped up by rousing the rabble they keep around them, like that's hard. Nothing breeds faster than contempt, and that's what the Brujah are all about. Jealousy and contempt.If you're playing as a Brujah: quote:MC: Will your head be jealous when I put my foot up your contemptible rear end? Tell me about the Gangrel. They fancy themselves loners and drifters, running around the countryside and barking at the moon. Hmph. It's all just an act. Gangrel can walk upright, they just choose not to.If you're playing as a Gangrel: quote:MC: Did you get to choose how you look? It's no different. Tell me about the Malkavians. Malkavians are, uh... interesting. There's something to them. Learning to sort the wisdom from the bullshit can be some work and, uh, not all of them are worth listening to, but, uh, they're all good fun if you ask me.Not sure what the Malkavian response is, here. Tell me about the Nosferatu. The Nosferatu are drat good at what we do; no one even argues that. If you need to know, if you want it found, you come to us. We're indispensable; not a bad place to be in the afterlife. Lucky you."Lucky me" if you're a Nos. The Nosferatu stick together, pool resources. We have more going on than anyone could guess at. Our web blankets the night. Are the Nosferatu part of the Camarilla? I'm loyal to the clan, loyal to my primogen, and therefore loyal to the Camarilla. Do you like them? The Nosferatu are the eyes and ears of the Camarilla, so they take care of us. They value our services... or, uh, don't want to be on our bad side. Either way, no one bothers us.That didn't really answer the question, but let's move on. Tell me about the Torreador. Hmph. I don't rub elbows with the pretty bloodsuckers much, but I've seen them work people like puppeteers and that's admirable. Now if only they'd get off their slimy asses and put their talent to some use besides feeding their egos.If you're a Torreador: quote:MC: Astute observations made from the safety of a rat hole. Tell me about the Tremere.  Mages. I don't have any reason to trust 'em. They're creepy and I think they like it that way. But to be honest, I don't hear much about the Tremere. There's a few in LA but all in all there's not that many of them.If Tremere: quote:MC: There's one right here for you not to trust. Tell me about the Ventrue. They get a bad rap if you ask me. Everyone likes to take shots at the man in charge, but when it comes to getting the job done, the Ventrue know how to step up. They can take the heat. Are you just saying that because I'm Ventrue? Yeah right. I'm talking about the powerful Ventrue - you're just a pup.We can ask Tung about the murders that have been happening around Santa Monica. Remember, we saw that guy strung up on the pier. Have you heard anything about the serial killer? Those murders are definitely the work of Kindred. Probably some Caitiff getting revenge on everyone who made fun of him in High School. Once the sheriff tracks this guy down they're gonna make one hell of an example of him.Lastly, we can ask Tung about the matter that brought us to him. What was the deal with you and Therese Voerman? That was just silly vampire politicking, cupcake, no more. You get used to that kind of thing. Sounded pretty vicious to me. Of course it did. As if vampires and women both weren't insecure enough, get them together in one Malkavian body and look what happens.Casual sexism. Well, nobody's perfect. Did you know she and Jeanette are the same person? Uh - I had my suspicions. What an interesting specimen... but a pain in my dead rear end for sure. I think you have a thing for drama queens. Yeah, no kidding. Now that the Camarilla has moved into LA, Therese wants the title of Prince of Santa Monica. I guess she saw me as a threat. Funny thing is, I could care less. What man is not attracted by fame and power?Power can be spoken of in two contexts: either in an abstract, individualized sense, or in a social sense. The latter sense, being social, should not be viewed as simply power over others. We can easily imagine a situation where one wields social power, i.e. the means to influence decisions, while at the same time never having 'social power', if by 'social power' one means power held by a minority, while the majority has their decisions being made for them, the majority thus held to either ratification, or lacking a decision-making role at all. In this sense, anarchists are just as attracted to power as anyone else, just not 'power' in the sense of dominating others. In fact if you go read the works of actual anarchists, you'll find that power over others, i.e. social power that permits exploitation and domination, is their main source of criticism. It's one of the things that separates them from orthodox marxists, and what has and continues to be the source of most disagreements between the two sides. I wouldn't want to be the Prince of Terre Haute. I leave that headache to the Ventrue. Besides, there's only like four vampires in all of Santa Monica. Hmph. Some kingdom.That's really all we can get out of Tung. It's time to go. I'm outta here. You better get back downtown. Prince LaCroix's going to want to hear all about this victory.Yeah, but let's stop by our apartment one last time.  First, there's an update on a story we previously heard.  An update on the Elizabeth Dane: The ghost ship was towed into county waters off the port of LA, where police are searching for evidence of the crew and whether the ship was being used in drug- or terrorist-related smuggling. Coast guard search parties are still patrolling the area where the Dane was first spotted, though the fate of the crew is still unknown.Technomancer posted:I just wanted to add a little bit of trivia. For those who don't know, the "Elizabeth Dane" is the name of the ghost ship in John Carpenter's The Fog. And something else... A massive explosion rocked Santa Monica tonight, sending several fireballs into the sky and prompting a lockdown of the warehouse district where the explosions took place. Early reports suggest that the warehouse destroyed in the explosion was being used in a weapon smuggling operation, and that the source of the detonation possibly came from a military grade explosive being stored at the site. Authorities say it is still too early to speculate on whether there is some terrorist connection to these events, though they have not ruled out the possibility. Stay tuned to Channel 3 for further updates.We also have one new email:  Hmmm... Now it's time to go.  Just drive. Downtown here we come... Appendix A - The Sabbat citybeatnik posted:The Sabbat kinda sorta not really follow the Masquerade - one of their tactics is to let loose the idiots in to the city to raise hell so that the Camarilla has to cover it up, but when you get down to it the sect really doesn't want humanity to know about them any more than anyone else does. It's just that where the Tower would blackmail or intimidate someone in to being quiet/prevent a story from going out, the Sword'll just kill them. Almost all Elders are basically the same, clan be damned. And I believe I mentioned previously that the Anarch Revolt kinda sorta predates the "modern" use of the term anarchism, but that's the team trying to backfill in the fact that, well, they were club kids from Georgia and had equated anarchism with bikers and what not. AnAnonymousIdiot posted:While the Camarilla secularizes all vampire history and 'religion' - including Caine and the Antediluvians - the Sabbat wholeheartedly believes in them. They call themselves, 'The Sword of Caine' and believe themselves to be Caine's army against the Antediluvians. Arguably the Sabbat's goal is to destroy the Antediluvians, and by consequence avert Gehenna. The bestial mentality may just be a by-product of the Lasombra and Tzimisce pushing their beliefs on every other Cainite - the former's predatory and Darwinist nature more than the alien mindset of the latter. Taking such anomalies in mind, if one could isolate the Doctrines from the Lasombra and Tzimisce from a pack or branch, then you could in theory get reasonable Sabbat members. citybeatnik posted:
Ephemeron posted:Tung's impression of the Sabbat as a self-destructive horde of mindless idiots is rather common among Camarilla vampires. That's because most of the encounters with the Sabbat that Kindred have (and manage to walk away from) are with frontline grunts and freshly Embraced shovelheads, neither of whom are known for subtlety or caution. Appendix B - Hunters MJ12 posted:Let's talk about Tung and his Hunters, because those are cool too. There are a whole bunch of Hunter types in existence in the World of Darkness. Most of them have ties to other, higher powers, which is part of the reason they're so scary. gatz fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Feb 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 07:17
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The Sabbat kinda sorta not really follow the Masquerade - one of their tactics is to let loose the idiots in to the city to raise hell so that the Camarilla has to cover it up, but when you get down to it the sect really doesn't want humanity to know about them any more than anyone else does. It's just that where the Tower would blackmail or intimidate someone in to being quiet/prevent a story from going out, the Sword'll just kill them. Almost all Elders are basically the same, clan be damned. And I believe I mentioned previously that the Anarch Revolt kinda sorta predates the "modern" use of the term anarchism, but that's the team trying to backfill in the fact that, well, they were club kids from Georgia and had equated anarchism with bikers and what not. I recall one of the patches adding in an extra bit of dialogue at the warehouse, where you have some of the mooks complaining about being hungry and wanting to order pizza and the boss shouting at them about how -stupid- that would be. The voice acting was -terrible-. Beckett's voice acting, meanwhile, is not. Beckett just comes off as such an insufferable -prick-. And it's -glorious-.
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Jan 21, 2014 07:43
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gatz posted:
While the Camarilla secularizes all vampire history and 'religion' - including Caine and the Antediluvians - the Sabbat wholeheartedly believes in them. They call themselves, 'The Sword of Caine' and believe themselves to be Caine's army against the Antediluvians. Arguably the Sabbat's goal is to destroy the Antediluvians, and by consequence avert Gehenna. The bestial mentality may just be a by-product of the Lasombra and Tzimisce pushing their beliefs on every other Cainite - the former's predatory and Darwinist nature more than the alien mindset of the latter. Taking such anomalies in mind, if one could isolate the Doctrines from the Lasombra and Tzimisce from a pack or branch, then you could in theory get reasonable Sabbat members. However the Sabbat make a point to force everyone to embrace their Beast for the war against the Antediluvians. For a newbie - or shovelhead - it's almost impossible; if you get out of your Embrace without going mad then their doctrines, their many rituals like the Vinculum, and fellow pack-mates will ensure your Humanity is no more. If you're a Camarilla wanting to be Sabbat, you may likely get killed, but if you're lucky they'll try to force the same things onto you. With the two characters from Redemption, I think they got lucky by joining early before they got radicalized and maintained their beliefs before the Lasombra's an Tzimisce's. Then again, my experience with the earlier game is kinda small, so there may be things I'm not privy to.
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Jan 21, 2014 07:51
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AnAnonymousIdiot posted:With the two characters from Redemption, I think they got lucky by joining early before they got radicalized and maintained their beliefs before the Lasombra's an Tzimisce's. Then again, my experience with the earlier game is kinda small, so there may be things I'm not privy to. Anyone being able to challenge someone for the right to prove themselves sounds great, but your ability as a street level grunt or even paladin/ductus pales in comparison to what a bishop let alone archbishop can accomplish. While you might have a few True Believers out there, most of the Cardinals and what not are still just playing the same petty game the Justicars are, they're just more likely to use fire.
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Jan 21, 2014 08:03
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Your title's missing. Here's a note about Beckett: Beckett is a Gangrel, and the Gangrel clan weakness is that for every frenzy (frenzies are more and more common the further down the Humanity ladder you go) you pick up an animalistic feature. Despite being a few hundred years old, however, Beckett is still very much human beyond the eyes. That's a good indication that in spite of everything Beckett is a pretty nice guy.
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Jan 21, 2014 08:05
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gatz posted:
Of course, if that was all there was to the Sabbat, the sect would have perished long ago. The Sabbat has plenty of devious strategists, patient assassins, high-minded scholars and Machiavellian puppeteers among its ranks. Most Camarilla vampires who meet one of those do not get to unlive and tell the tale. gatz posted:
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Jan 21, 2014 08:39
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You might wanna do some linebreaking for the quoted thug dialogue by the way. It runs together like a mess right now.
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Jan 21, 2014 12:03
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Hoo boy, Beckett. Certainly a tricky character - in my first playthrough, I didn't buy the "harmless researcher" bit at all. He's a vampire, and therefore he's a manipulative dick just like me, it was just a matter of finding out where he's trying to gently caress me. Later, he then presented me with something I thought would lead to me getting hosed, so I went against it. I was wrong. So wrong.gatz posted:
I think the way this is supposed to be interpreted is that he knew Therese and Jeanette were Malkavians, but didn't know they were the same person. As an aside, you've spelled "Ventrue" as "Venture" a few times. A pretty common mistake.
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Jan 21, 2014 15:25
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TheMcD posted:Hoo boy, Beckett. Certainly a tricky character - in my first playthrough, I didn't buy the "harmless researcher" bit at all. He's a vampire, and therefore he's a manipulative dick just like me, it was just a matter of finding out where he's trying to gently caress me. Later, he then presented me with something I thought would lead to me getting hosed, so I went against it. I was wrong. So wrong. Clearly, you forgot a sage piece of advice. Or just didn't connect it.
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Jan 21, 2014 15:57
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Elfface posted:Clearly, you forgot a sage piece of advice. Or just didn't connect it. Odds are, I simply forgot. I mean, the oracle saying that you can trust "the lone wolf" doesn't leave many options open. Seems to me that disregarding the oracle at the beach makes for a more fun game, because re-reading it does seem to almost spell out a few things that are very important.
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Jan 21, 2014 16:19
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TheMcD posted:Later, he then presented me with something I thought would lead to me getting hosed, so I went against it. I was wrong. So wrong. Oopsie.  Full-on engaging the Oracle as a Malk is a wonderful bunch of spoilers-in-hindsight and crazy talk.
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Jan 21, 2014 17:15
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quote:Hunters: humans who hunt vampires. Most are half-cocked yokels who also say they've been abducted by UFOs. The real hunters are trained by secret societies, holy orders of the church that have existed since the Middle Ages. Fear them. Let's talk about Tung and his Hunters, because those are cool too. There are a whole bunch of Hunter types in existence in the World of Darkness. Most of them have ties to other, higher powers, which is part of the reason they're so scary. There are, of course, the type seen in Hunter: The Reckoning, the Imbued. Those are guys who have been given edges against the supernatural to fight the supernatural. If you believe wacky oWoD ~metaplot~, they are basically the broken-up bits of Solar Exalted ground up and given to a ton of people, which explains why they generally glow gold while doing this kind of bullshit and why they're so weak (the last time they tried giving people god-killing superweapons to make things right, the world kind of got hosed). They could be, and are, dangerous, but they die like any other mortal and it's very easy to get overconfident. Then you have the church-like groups who hunt vampires, as he mentioned. I don't recall too much about them, but they can Religion so hard they hurt vampires, which is pretty awesome. Some of them are also Celestial Choristers (who are basically a pan-religious monotheist magical tradition), which means some of them have True Magic and will gently caress your poo poo up real hard. It is very, very hard to tell between the two. There are mundane witch-hunters too. However, here the church isn't very good at this, because it is basically impossible to figure out True Magic if you aren't already a mage. Even those who are have difficulties finding true magic users, which is why the Technocracy hasn't kicked everyone's rear end. There are guys in the NSA who think an organization (read: The Technocracy) have infiltrated government and also hunt mages. They are basically completely taken over by Technocrats and Virtual Adepts. That's the problem with mundane witch-hunting (versus vampire hunting). Werewolves have their own hunters. A corporation called DNA tries to capture them for study to provide new advancements in medical science, there's another one (CyberSolutions, I believe) that deploys cyborg shock troops, Pentex funds and hires werewolf hunters, and werewolves generally have it out for the Technocracy so the Technocrats often have it out for them. Finally, there are two special groups who are largely Asian, because ~Asia~. SF0 and the Shih. The Shih are kung-fu rear end-kicker monks who exist to maintain a balance between humans and the supernatural. They have this old mandate from heaven and ridiculous kung-fu which lets them do things like jack their physical attributes sky-high, take multiple actions, punch people for aggravated damage, set supernatural things on holy fire, and other Fun Things. They're basically wandering face-kickers. SF0 is Supernatural X-COM, backed by a shadowy multinational Council (read: The Technocracy). They have things like powered armor, cyborg augmentation, psychic powers, and a broad license to kill. They also have no idea what they're facing, are the pawns of the Technocracy which is more than willing to throw them at threats that outmatch them because their own agents are far more valuable ("sure, we could send a HITMark, but a HITMark is expensive and SF0 Rookies aren't"), and most of the world doesn't respect SF0 at all. Not like the rest of their anti-supernatural units are much better (again, the NSA anti-supernatural types are basically 100% run in a shadowy war between Traditionalists and Technocrats). But, you can get a fist that adds +5 to your strength to punching and has a vibroblade on it. So SF0 is awesome like that.
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Jan 21, 2014 17:39
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Beckett's a bit of a celebrity. He's well-connected, well-spoken and well-thought of, and he's well received most anywhere he goes, since he never really aligns himself with anyone and is fairly free with historical tidbits. He's also drat powerful - he's 7th generation, and beyond his mastery of the Gangrel disciplines, he's also dabbled in Celerity, Auspex, and even Thaumaturgy. Though WW had a habit of giving Thaumaturgy to everyone just to prove how ~awesome~ they are - Smiling Jack has it in his charsheet in LA By Night - in Beckett's case it's actually justified. Also his two BFFs are a 7th generation Lasombra antitribu (have we mentioned antitribu? Someone from a Sabbat clan in the Camarilla, or vice versa) and a 6th generation Malkavian diablerist. That's why he hasn't been squashed like a bug or brought to heel despite not giving two shits about modern-day politics. What he does is be a goddamn vampire Indiana Jones. He's a historian and archeologist and is rather infamous among the kindred for his theory that Cain and Able is a metaphor for the conflict between hunter-gatherer and farmer tribes in human prehistory - the tract him and his adoptive Sire worked on (available to you fine folk as the Book of Nod) was distributed to all and sundry after it was intercepted by a member of a rival group of Noddist scholars. Whenever poo poo goes down and Beckett's there to stick his nose in, you can be pretty sure poo poo is about to get weird. As for Tung and Knox leading you about by the nose, if you pass a skillcheck (Inspection 3 or greater, or be Malkavian) you can badger Knox into admitting he's trying to trick you into killing the Cathayan for free. Nets you a couple XP and there's a great moment where Tung tries to be smug about tricking you into doing but then you tell him that you knew about it and did it anyway and he just deflates.
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Jan 21, 2014 19:08
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I find it amusing that Therese/Jeanette explicitly told us not to reveal their/her secret and yet here we are, mentioning it to every vampire we come across.
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Jan 21, 2014 19:55
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Samuel Clemens posted:I find it amusing that Therese/Jeanette explicitly told us not to reveal their/her secret and yet here we are, mentioning it to every vampire we come across. It's very naive as that information, like all info in the WoD, must be worth something. Why someone would tell that to a Nosferatu, of all people, for free, is beyond me.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:02
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citybeatnik posted:Beckett's voice acting, meanwhile, is not. Beckett just comes off as such an insufferable -prick-. And it's -glorious-. I added in a link to listen to one of Beckett's lines. Now others can hear what you're describing. Bobbin Threadbare posted:Your title's missing. I felt the need to put the update up before I went to bed last night, and that's what had to be sacrificed. Cooked Auto posted:You might wanna do some linebreaking for the quoted thug dialogue by the way. It runs together like a mess right now. Sorry, I've been reading too much Selby. It takes some getting used to. Fixed. Ephemeron posted:No, he's just being casually misogynistic there. TheMcD posted:I think the way this is supposed to be interpreted is that he knew Therese and Jeanette were Malkavians, but didn't know they were the same person. You're both correct. I totally misread that. TheMcD posted:As an aside, you've spelled "Ventrue" as "Venture" a few times. A pretty common mistake. I copied those lines with the misspelling of Ventrue straight from the dialogue files. Weird, huh? I didn't even catch that misspelling before you pointed it out. MJ12 posted:Hunters   Awesome. I'm gonna add that and the Sabbat discussion as an appendix to the update. Tehan posted:That's why he hasn't been squashed like a bug or brought to heel despite not giving two shits about modern-day politics. What he does is be a goddamn vampire Indiana Jones. He's a historian and archeologist and is rather infamous among the kindred for his theory that Cain and Able is a metaphor for the conflict between hunter-gatherer and farmer tribes in human prehistory - the tract him and his adoptive Sire worked on (available to you fine folk as the Book of Nod) was distributed to all and sundry after it was intercepted by a member of a rival group of Noddist scholars. Whenever poo poo goes down and Beckett's there to stick his nose in, you can be pretty sure poo poo is about to get weird. I've heard of that interpretation of the story of Cain and Abel in real life, but I had no idea that WW took it and applied to to Vampire. As flawed as Daniel Quinn's book, Ishmael, is, (read: an overly simplistic and reactionary view of civilization and ecology. See Murray Bookchin's work on social ecology for more details) using the story of Cain and Able as that same metaphor was an interesting part of the book. gatz fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Jan 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 20:10
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mortons stork posted:It's very naive as that information, like all info in the WoD, must be worth something. Why someone would tell that to a Nosferatu, of all people, for free, is beyond me. Melissa was a Virtual Adept before her Embrace, duh. Information wants to be free.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:11
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MJ12 posted:Melissa was a Virtual Adept before her Embrace, duh. Information wants to be free. Or she is a stupid Childe who hasn't learnt the rules yet.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:19
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Tehan posted:As for Tung and Knox leading you about by the nose, if you pass a skillcheck (Inspection 3 or greater, or be Malkavian) you can badger Knox into admitting he's trying to trick you into killing the Cathayan for free. Nets you a couple XP and there's a great moment where Tung tries to be smug about tricking you into doing but then you tell him that you knew about it and did it anyway and he just deflates. Doing this as a Tremere causes Bertram to go on an angry rant about how you're a thieving blood mage rear end in a top hat and that thankfully your kind is "going the way of the Betamax." I think a Ventrue who sniffs it out will also draw a comment along the lines of "You Ventrue always have to be on top of everything."
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Jan 21, 2014 20:29
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| # ? May 25, 2024 16:10 |
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I couldn't stand Beckett in this game for the most part, mostly down to the character's delivery and essential WoD qualities. The first is that everything is in this smuuug droooning vooooice that makes them seem like they're vamping it up just because they've been around a bit longer; like the promised 'jackass with a week of seniority on you' that Jack mentions, except because it's WoD this jerkoff actually is some super-powered and extra special snowflake. Pretty much every NPC I can remember off hand in this game has a character, some with more layers than others, but Beckett always comes across as someone putting on a pretentious act.
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Jan 22, 2014 02:36
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