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Ferrinus posted:Ehhh - if there's an experience point (or a fraction of one) on the line I still don't think it's much of a choice. I'd as soon do away with it all together and just make dramatic failures more common if we actually want to see them more often. "At least one 1, no dice come up higher than 5" or something. What if we just eliminated undramatic failures?
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Oct 14, 2015 17:55
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Attorney at Funk posted:What if we just eliminated undramatic failures? What gives me cold feet about increasing dramatic failure frequency in general is the idea that it might give players cold feet about using their stats do stuff - I like to hear "Can I roll Occult to see if I've heard of this?" a lot more than I like to say "roll Occult to see if you've heard of this", and the more using a skill has the inborne capacity to bite you in the rear end the less often people are going to volunteer for that kind of thing. I like the opt-in nature of the default dramatic failure rules for this reason - whether to roll a chance die isn't always up to you, but there are cases in which you know you're reaching and that you could get really badly hosed, but you decide it's worth the risk anyway. So what seems ideal to me is to offer bribes for risking dramatic failure, and to have those bribes appeal to characters rather than to players. Of course, we've already got willpower points in the game, so a separate "I'm putting extra stuff on the line for this for some reason" might be weird or hard to distinguish. Edit: Some kind of "if you spent WP already, but failed the roll, you can make one more shot with JUST the 3 willpower dice but if THOSE fail-" thing...??
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Oct 14, 2015 18:03
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Ferrinus posted:Edit: Some kind of "if you spent WP already, but failed the roll, you can make one more shot with JUST the 3 willpower dice but if THOSE fail-" thing...?? What if the Hunter WP-betting rule was just standard issue?
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Oct 14, 2015 18:10
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My group has a house rule for dramatic failures: If you get a failure and the number of 1s are 1/2 of the dice or more, it is dramatic. It comes up infrequently enough to be exciting but not often enough to be a huge concern. My cyber freak with the base roll of 15? It's happened to him once in a year and it turned the angle of the story. It really was dramatic and tense.
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Oct 14, 2015 18:43
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gtrmp posted:I wouldn't be surprised if that was originally a part of a present-day VtM character's backstory in an earlier book (probably one of the German-language ones that touched on the area), and the Dark Ages Europe authors copy-pasted that backstory in without a second thought. I'd say so, yeah. It's just so drat lazy that it causes a lot of problems with the book's own internal consistency.
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Oct 15, 2015 02:51
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Loomer posted:I'd say so, yeah. It's just so drat lazy that it causes a lot of problems with the book's own internal consistency. Most of the European and Dark Ages sourcebooks all suffer from this. Half the time they can't even get basic geography right and that's one of the things there's no excuse for.
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Oct 15, 2015 13:10
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Pope Guilty posted:If nothing else changing it to "the ST can offer a dramatic failure for a Beat" rather than "the player can choose a dramatic failure for a Beat" would help. Yeah, I use this hack in my games. PC: "I sneak into the abandoned factory." Fails roll Me: "Just as you are jumping the rusty chain-link, headlight beams come around the corner and slide across you. Now - is the car just a driver that might be a witness later if people ask around, or is it a patrol car that's going to stop and investigate right now?" Etc. I like it because it lets me trigger things that I might have planned anyway, and lets me ignore rote/non-interesting failures. And, it eliminates the difference between my shy and outgoing players. But, I've got the luxury of being able to be picky about players, so my main obstacle is shyness / uncertainty, not XP-Obsession. The players do freely decide in each case and there isn't that kind of peer pressure to always accept. I'd say they take the beat about 2/3rds of the time. As always, mileage varies per group dynamic.
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Oct 15, 2015 16:41
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Most of the European and Dark Ages sourcebooks all suffer from this. Half the time they can't even get basic geography right and that's one of the things there's no excuse for. And let us not forget NOLA's extensive network of subway tunnels, basements, and other non-flooded underground chambers.
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Oct 15, 2015 16:46
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I'm thinking of running a Orpheus Haunted Hosue one-shot for Halloween. I wish I could find the mission briefings at the end of the books in hand-out form.
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Oct 15, 2015 18:16
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Loomer posted:And let us not forget NOLA's extensive network of subway tunnels, basements, and other non-flooded underground chambers. NOLA's a long way from Atlanta. You can't expect them to know everything about it.
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Oct 16, 2015 02:23
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:Most of the European and Dark Ages sourcebooks all suffer from this. Half the time they can't even get basic geography right and that's one of the things there's no excuse for. The VtDA book sourcebook Three Pillars described how medieval society historically functioned, with a focus on how it worked specifically for the Kindred, the titular three pillars of society being the peasantry, clergy, and nobility, plus a fourth chapter on Italy's burgeoning proto-capitalist class structure. The appendix to the book was a list of heads of state in the time period, and was directly copy-pasted over from the Ars Magica 3e sourcebook Mythic Europe with all of the flagrant errors intact, the most notable one being a table listing the Emperors of Rome that had all of the Western Roman Emperors under the Eastern Empire's heading and vice versa. gtrmp fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Oct 16, 2015 |
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Oct 16, 2015 02:43
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Ran my first game of this session. Mostly everyone had fun, my friend who really, really wants to play a werewolf just kinda skimped his way through and eventually fell asleep on one of my couches while I had everyone go through a typical, normal day. One guy's character plays MtG so he goes into a card shop to find cards and runs into a mage who buys a 2011 booster pack and then proceeds to make it disappear. And then I pulled a 2011 booster out of my NPC box acting all surprised that I found it. They thought it was pretty funny. We didn't get far enough to actually delve into the supernatural too much. I just taught them how rolls were determined and whatnot. I hope we play again, because I really enjoyed the simplicity of ST'ing.
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Oct 17, 2015 17:04
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Sometimes I hate being one of the only GMs/STs I know. I have an nWerewolf game I really want to play, but I don't know anyone who might run it. I just think that a bunch of werewolves based out of an inner city community center, fighting gentrification, urban decay, organized crime and evil spirits would be really fun. Forsaken, I think, works best when the pack is trying to build and defend a community that few others care about - dying rural areas, inner city slums, immigrant communities...
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Oct 18, 2015 01:22
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Mors Rattus posted:Sometimes I hate being one of the only GMs/STs I know. I have an nWerewolf game I really want to play, but I don't know anyone who might run it. I'm right there with you. Werewolf's focus on the extended pack being part of the story really helps get across that you're building something.
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Oct 18, 2015 02:46
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Not Werewolf but yeah; I not only want to play, though, I also want my GM to also be me, so it's pretty much going to be impossible.
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Oct 18, 2015 11:22
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Has there been any word on when Changeling 2e is gonna drop?
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Oct 21, 2015 06:10
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Mors Rattus posted:Has there been any word on when Changeling 2e is gonna drop? It's scheduled for Winter, but it's been in Redlines for quite a while so we'll see.
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Oct 21, 2015 12:21
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Trip Report: Your Geist giving you a Keystone in the form of a Classic Motorbike is the best loving thing ever
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Oct 22, 2015 09:33
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Solus posted:Trip Report: Your Geist giving you a Keystone in the form of a Classic Motorbike is the best loving thing ever Death-racing muscle car speed cults are one of the things I dearly wish we'd gotten into Geist. Which is to say that you are absolutely correct, yes.
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Oct 22, 2015 15:16
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I need help and suggestions! This Halloween I will be running my usual 6 hour game but there are some unusual things: 1) This will be a one-shot story so I'm looking for a splat or short story you can suggest that I can turn into a fun adventure. Maybe there is a mansion that locks them inside and they have to fight ghoooooosts! I dunno. 2) It will be the last session for the crazy cyber freak. The player has a new work schedule and can't play anymore. He's fine with having himself killed off but I'd like to give him a wonderful exit. Any particularly nasty or interesting monsters you can think of (they don't have to be in any WoD book).
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Oct 22, 2015 23:42
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Inzombiac posted:I need help and suggestions! There's not really a shortage of horrible monsters that can kill the poo poo out of someone in a rather spectacular manner, so let's narrow it down. What sorts of things do your players really go for, thematically? What kinds of monsters have they gotten used to? What's something they're not good at fighting?
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Oct 22, 2015 23:51
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Soonmot posted:I'm right there with you. Werewolf's focus on the extended pack being part of the story really helps get across that you're building something. That's exactly what I'm doing with my Uratha PC and his pack on this MUSH I'm playing. We're based in the temple district of a crumbling, drug and crime-riddled Chinatown in this fictional city in Northern California. Most of the characters are from the area, and are interested in dragging the neighborhood back from the brink of total spiritual desolation. Right now, we're targeting the worst criminal elements (human trafficking, the most brutally violent gangs, and the like) for uncompromising slaughter. At the same time, though, we're trying to inject money and protection into the nearly-extinct folk animistic religion, renovating the temple to Mazu, and trying to unite the community around something besides fear of cops and gangs. Our Alpha, a Blood Talon Cahalith of Cantonese origin, is heading up the public front, while my PC, a Bone Shadow Elodoth, is trying to keep the one non-rear end in a top hat spirit Court in the area from being swamped by Despair and Loathing-spirits. It's been pretty fun so far!
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Oct 22, 2015 23:54
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Daeren posted:There's not really a shortage of horrible monsters that can kill the poo poo out of someone in a rather spectacular manner, so let's narrow it down. What sorts of things do your players really go for, thematically? What kinds of monsters have they gotten used to? What's something they're not good at fighting? They are good at taking down meat sacks with a lot of HP but not armor. They haven't fought anything supernaturally fast yet or something that can turn into mist or teleport. The first vampire nearly killed all three of them but it was the first hunt so it was expected. I made up crab-men called "Skitterlings" that they liked fighting. Using swarm rules (attacking the group with each roll) I had a lot of fun flexibility and they seemed to enjoy it. One element I forgot to mention: They are currently protecting a young girl that controls fire. They have also been losing parts of their memory as a group. What they have yet to figured out is that the former causes the latter, even to herself. It's a lot of fun and they immediately roleplayed an investigation over and over because of memory loss without breaking. It was great.
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Oct 23, 2015 00:31
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Inzombiac posted:They are good at taking down meat sacks with a lot of HP but not armor. They haven't fought anything supernaturally fast yet or something that can turn into mist or teleport. A ghost or a spirit should gently caress them up comprehensively if they're used to physical threats. They can't be touched in Twilight without powers that let them do so, or unless the thing manifests. Reaching lets them use powers from Twilight before manifesting to gently caress them up if necessary, and Influences can do a ton of damage. Let it loose where it can abuse its mobility and environment.
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Oct 23, 2015 00:59
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That's a really good idea. None of them have the tools to fight a ghost or Twilight but I could have them locked in an area with with a cult. The ghost jumps between members with a very subtle tell. Killing a posessed cultist shaves some of the ghosts HP down by a maximum of 50% while they try to get to the main ritual site. They could then accidentally give the ghost form and have to deal with its power that is affected by how many cultists are left. It really helps to talk these things out!
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Oct 23, 2015 01:36
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I'm going to be running Demon soon and I want to get some stuff clear: when are angels in Twilight and when are they manifested? Do all angels have human Covers, or are some just biomechanical monsters? Does the biomechanical form only exist in Twilight, and those that have a human cover appear human rather than monstrous when they manifest?
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Oct 23, 2015 02:52
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Kellsterik posted:I'm going to be running Demon soon and I want to get some stuff clear: when are angels in Twilight and when are they manifested? Do all angels have human Covers, or are some just biomechanical monsters? Does the biomechanical form only exist in Twilight, and those that have a human cover appear human rather than monstrous when they manifest? Angels are in Twilight until they Manifest (unless they're inside a God Machine facility, in which case they're always Manifested). Depending on the angel's mission, it might have a human form, a biomechanical horror form, or both--either way, they can Manifest in whatever form they have. Angels can have Covers a lot like demons, but since they're hooked directly into the God Machine (and lack the free will to break it anyways), it's not something that's tracked mechanically.
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Oct 23, 2015 03:05
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Isn't "Manifest" an in-between state in which an angel or other entity remains in Twilight but is perceptible to normies and able to use its powers, while "Materialized" means being completely solidified and able to bite you?
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Oct 23, 2015 03:09
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GimpInBlack posted:Angels are in Twilight until they Manifest (unless they're inside a God Machine facility, in which case they're always Manifested). Depending on the angel's mission, it might have a human form, a biomechanical horror form, or both--either way, they can Manifest in whatever form they have. Thanks. So: even if a given angel has a human form, they still need to Manifest, they're not just in the material world all the time. And Falling shunts the new demon fully into the material world, human cover and demonic form and all.
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Oct 23, 2015 03:10
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Ferrinus posted:Isn't "Manifest" an in-between state in which an angel or other entity remains in Twilight but is perceptible to normies and able to use its powers, while "Materialized" means being completely solidified and able to bite you? "Manifestation" is the broad term for all the various powers that let ephemeral entities interact with the physical world (possession, lettering, etc.) and Materialize is the one that makes the being solid and physical. You're right though, I should have said Materialize. Kellsterik posted:Thanks. So: even if a given angel has a human form, they still need to Manifest, they're not just in the material world all the time. And Falling shunts the new demon fully into the material world, human cover and demonic form and all. Yep. Remember that angel's require access to Infrastructure to Materialize and it only lasts a few hours, so they'll have to return to base periodically. I believe the Storyteller Guide is going to have more options for angels and their Manifestations, but I don't know exactly when that book is due out.
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Oct 23, 2015 03:20
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GimpInBlack posted:Angels are in Twilight until they Manifest (unless they're inside a God Machine facility, in which case they're always Manifested). Depending on the angel's mission, it might have a human form, a biomechanical horror form, or both--either way, they can Manifest in whatever form they have. On this track, are Angels capable of using Embeds and Exploits, or are those a Demon-only thing? I seem to recall their possessing Numina and Influences like any ephemeral entity, but I was curious if they had access to Embeds as well.
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Oct 23, 2015 03:33
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If you like gonzo monsters that put your players on an off foot, Jiangshi are fun. Looks so silly ; is actually terrifying.
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Oct 23, 2015 03:41
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Many angels probably spend their whole time in the material world. I always thought Angels were creatures that could sometimes pass into Twilight but only if their jobs require it. Otherwise they operate right here in the physical world, or in spacetime pockets of it, as demons and Infrastructure do.
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Oct 23, 2015 03:42
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MC Smoke Sensei posted:On this track, are Angels capable of using Embeds and Exploits, or are those a Demon-only thing? I seem to recall their possessing Numina and Influences like any ephemeral entity, but I was curious if they had access to Embeds as well. Angels use Numina; in theory, they know enough to use Embeds (and thus Exploits, too) but generally don't because it's against God-Machine directive.
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Oct 23, 2015 03:49
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MC Smoke Sensei posted:On this track, are Angels capable of using Embeds and Exploits, or are those a Demon-only thing? I seem to recall their possessing Numina and Influences like any ephemeral entity, but I was curious if they had access to Embeds as well. Embeds and Exploits are demon specific things--they represent demons' "back doors" into the Machine's occult protocols. Angels don't need back doors, they already have user access in the form of Numina, Influences, and Manifestations. (All of which is to say you can use Embeds and Exploits as models for angelic powers, but they'd still be Numina and operate within those rules.) GimpInBlack fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Oct 23, 2015 |
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Oct 23, 2015 03:49
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Shattered Dreams kickstarter is up. They've seriously raised shipping costs for non-US backers. 50USD to Australia now, which is loving ridiculous.
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Oct 23, 2015 04:22
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So, question. Why were Ghost Wolves included in Werewolf 2e? There are is literally no benefit whatsoever to ever playing one - they get one less starting Renown and one less Gift, in exchange for... ... ......
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Oct 23, 2015 05:15
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...in exchange for being something that should reasonably exist in-setting and deserve coverage? That's like asking why unaligned vampires, orderless mages, and courtless fae should be covered.
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Oct 23, 2015 05:18
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They reveal what the immediate material benefits of joining a Tribe are (and show you how to make a character who hasn't joined a tribe yet and might decide to in-game). The Ghost Wolf rules explain why no one really elects to be a Ghost Wolf without a really compelling personal reason.
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Oct 23, 2015 05:19
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Also because despite being mechnically inferior, Ghost Wolves are cool. Their chapter in... Tribes of the moon? The one with the optional quest to create a sixth tribe. That was good.
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Oct 23, 2015 05:39
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