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Ferrinus
Jun 19, 2003

i'm finding this quite easy, i guess in part because i'm a fast type but also because i have a coherent mental model of the world

Gilok posted:

I mean I know we should have consistent and thorough systems but I kind of accepted that we were only going to get so much of that from WoD a long time ago. If a guy shows up to your game with "Firearms(Pistol, Against Humans, Against Right Handed People, Against Brown Haired People, Adequate Lighting, Breathing Air) just tell him no like any sane GM.

Except that you wouldn't have to do this at all before. The system actually became less consistent and thorough than it used to be, and more likely to induce metagaming tugs of war between different gameplay incentives, for no real reason.

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Gerund
Sep 12, 2007

He push a man


Ferrinus posted:

Except that you wouldn't have to do this at all before. The system actually became less consistent and thorough than it used to be, and more likely to induce metagaming tugs of war between different gameplay incentives, for no real reason.

And the reason it hasn't come up before is because we (and the writers of the rules) are so familiar with the previous system and why it worked that way that we hadn't considered using the rules that Onyx Path is charging money for in the way they are written.

If you, Gilok, are arguing against the consequences of badly-written rules existing, you're actually arguing for the producers to either write better rules or stop charging money for their work.

Communist Thoughts
Jan 7, 2008

Our war against free speech cannot end until we silence this bronze beast!


Mors Rattus posted:

Hey, new guy, do you have any more questions? That is way more fun the Ferrinus Hates 2e, Episode 48.

What are the best Merits to give someone who wants to be a vampire pirate?
I gave him cut-throat, fame and resources (i.e. treasure!!) already. Also his dirge is Junkie (treasure and grog addict)

He also wants a vampire parrot but I'm not sure thats possible. Is it more likely that he'd have a ghoul parrot or could I have it be a vampire trapped in the shape of a parrot after a protean mishap? Don't really give no shits bout balance.

Ferrinus
Jun 19, 2003

i'm finding this quite easy, i guess in part because i'm a fast type but also because i have a coherent mental model of the world
Animalism 2 should produce a zombie ghoul parrot, unless they changed it since I looked at it last.

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

Acguy Supremacy

nopantsjack posted:

What are the best Merits to give someone who wants to be a vampire pirate?
I gave him cut-throat, fame and resources (i.e. treasure!!) already. Also his dirge is Junkie (treasure and grog addict)

He also wants a vampire parrot but I'm not sure thats possible. Is it more likely that he'd have a ghoul parrot or could I have it be a vampire trapped in the shape of a parrot after a protean mishap? Don't really give no shits bout balance.

Striking Looks is a good merit if he wants his character to always leave an impression on people who see him. The merit doesn't necessarily mean he's a pretty pirate, just that there is something memorable about his appearance that sticks in people's minds.

Communist Thoughts
Jan 7, 2008

Our war against free speech cannot end until we silence this bronze beast!


Kibner posted:

Striking Looks is a good merit if he wants his character to always leave an impression on people who see him. The merit doesn't necessarily mean he's a pretty pirate, just that there is something memorable about his appearance that sticks in people's minds.

yeah i would have taken that but the aztec punch vampire character already has that, shes also a super peaceful nice lady and shes in a group with an actual serial killer with the monster dirge and a shapeshifting masochist whose touchstone is Bear Grylls and his Assorted Shows

Ferrinus posted:

Animalism 2 should produce a zombie ghoul parrot, unless they changed it since I looked at it last.

Thanks I was under the mistaken impression it only lasted a day

Communist Thoughts fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Feb 24, 2016

Daeren
Aug 18, 2009

YER MUSTACHE IS CROOKED

nopantsjack posted:

yeah i would have taken that but the aztec punch vampire character already has that, shes also a super peaceful nice lady and shes in a group with an actual serial killer with the monster dirge and a shapeshifting masochist whose touchstone is Bear Grylls and his Assorted Shows

If anyone ever tells you you're playing World of Darkness wrong, it is in fact them who is wrong.

Seriously, I adore when new players come in with the most insane :krad: concepts because grognards haven't tried beating the funhaver out of them yet. Never let that spirit die.

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

nopantsjack posted:

yeah i would have taken that but the aztec punch vampire character already has that, shes also a super peaceful nice lady and shes in a group with an actual serial killer with the monster dirge and a shapeshifting masochist whose touchstone is Bear Grylls and his Assorted Shows

...Please tell me you mean this literally and he's actually an extremely deranged werewolf who's human harmony touchstone is sitting down and binge watching man vs wild?

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

Acguy Supremacy
My understanding of the various rages for Werewolves. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Gauru Rage:
  • Must attack an active opponent within striking range each turn
  • If an opponent is out of reach, move toward or throw things at opponent
  • If no opponents exist, attack anything in reach
  • If doing anything else, roll Resolve + Composure or fall into Kuruth (Death Rage)

Death Rage:
  • Split up into two phases: Wasu-Im (Soft Rage) and Basu-Im (Hard Rage)
  • Normally, encountering a Death Rage trigger starts a Soft Rage
  • If in Gauru form before entering Death Rage, skip to Hard Rage

Soft Rage:
  • If Gauru form is taken while already in Soft Rage, skip to Hard Rage

  • Uses modified form of Gauru Rage with the following exceptions when trying to take an action other than attack:
    • Failure: skip to Hard Rage
    • Success: allows for one turn of lucidity
    • Exceptional Success: may end Soft Rage

  • If the Soft Rage hasn't ended by the amount of time specified in the table on p. 105 in the core book, skip to Hard Rage

  • May skip to Hard Rage at any time

Hard Rage:
  • When entering Hard Rage, immediately shift to Gauru form and remain in that form for time specified by table on p. 93 in the core book. This happens even if Gauru was already taken earlier in the scene and ignores normal time limit on using the form.

  • Ignore wound penalties

  • Any attempts to influence, intimidate, or otherwise change the werewolf's course of action by mundane or supernatural means suffer twice the werewolf's Primal Urge as a penalty. This is over and above any Supernatural Tolerance (p. 160 in the core book) applied to supernatural powers.

  • Werewolf packmates who are within 10 yards and can see or smell the Hard Rage werewolf fall into Hard Rage after a turn. They can attempt to resist with a Resolve + Composure roll, needing one success per character in the scene currently in Hard Rage. This roll must be made every time a packmage falls into the Hard Rage

  • Uses modified form of Gauru Rage where everyone is considered an opponent except other werewolves in Hard Rage. If no opponents are left, causes property damage until a new opponent is found or Hard Rage ends.

  • After Hard Rage timer runs out, collapse into Hishu. Character has no memory of what happened while in Death Rage. Likely to suffer a breakpoint towards Spirit if he learns the terrible things he did.

----

It's a lot of rules but more clear to me now that I wrote everything out. I think the constant use of Kuruth, Wasu-Im, and Basu-Im in the book confused me when reading the rules.

e: Thanks for answering my previous questions, GimpInBlack.

Kibner fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Feb 25, 2016

I Am Just a Box
Jul 20, 2011
I belong here. I contain only inanimate objects. Nothing is amiss.

nopantsjack posted:

What are the best Merits to give someone who wants to be a vampire pirate?
I gave him cut-throat, fame and resources (i.e. treasure!!) already. Also his dirge is Junkie (treasure and grog addict)

Safe Place and Staff. Pirate's gotta have a ship, ship's gotta have crew. Swarm Form (school of piranha) optional.

Magnusth
Sep 25, 2014

Hello, Creature! Do You Despise Goat Hating Fascists? So Do We! Join Us at Paradise Lost!


So, the first Official Whitewolf Larp. This is for A Week in Finland, a week-long series of nordic larps up to Solmukotha, a large nordic larp conference, this year in finland. This is the blurb for buying the ticket:

quote:

END OF THE LINE
You know you have made it if you are on the guest list for the 'The Line'. Elusive. Illegal. The club is the place to be in the Helsinki nightlife. These are the parties you only hear rumours about. The rich and the poor mix with the criminal and the insane. Here are more drugs, weirder sex, cooler dance moves and better music than most can handle.

The club moves from location to location to elude the police. This time it will be held at a closed insane asylum in the centre of the city.

The Line has two simple rules:
If you want to do something, do it!
If you hold back, you will not be invited again!

So you better make sure you give everything this night.

You know The Line is a dangerous place. It looks like a squat. All guests might not leave the party alive. But that does not matter. The only thing that matters is that you are on the list!

You cannot wait. This will be the most exciting night of your life.

EXPERIENCE THE FIRST LARP FROM WHITE WOLF PUBLISHING
End of the Line is a vampire larp designed from the ground up to utilize the best elements from Nordic Larp, to give you an intense personal experience. You will be cast as either one of the Kindred or a mortal and step into a World of Darkness that just might be the world we already live in.

Life is not easy in a world filled with undead monsters, and when every risk brings a sweet reward, you might think that survival is overrated. One thing is certain: You will hunt or be hunted. The question is, how do you know?

End of the Line will be quite physical. You, of course, set your own boundaries and always have the option to opt out of a scene. However, it's possible you might witness actions such as kissing, nudity or face slapping.

This larp is an experimental exploration of White Wolf's new direction for vampire larp. Together, we will try out new mechanics and methods to simulate classic vampire things blood drinking, sex and supernatural abilities. No previous knowledge of Vampire: The Masquerade is needed.

Now, before anyone goes off on this, let me just repost what i said about it in the RPGNET thread.


First, this is for Solumko.. Sulomkota? Knutepunkt, whatever. It's the Nordic Larp con Du Jour, and everyone at Knutepunk already knows about nordic larping. This isn't, as far as i understand, meant for a general public. This is for adults who are already well acquainted with the tropes and traditions of Nordic Larps, know and have followed the various discussions on physical and emotional safty, know how to handle heavy bleed in and bleed out, etc. etc. While i can certainly see how it sounds uttery wierd, incredibly 90's or just plain unsafe, that's not how it reads to the people actually going to Knutepunkt. There'll be workshops before the actual larp - by friend going to knutepunkt confirmed that, but i'd have bet money anyway- establishing stuff like proper boundaries, safewords, what sort of play people are interested in and so on and so forth. I doubt any actual sex is going to happen - though it does at some nordic larps, sometimes by design - but if it does, the people involved will be safe and consenting, i'm sure. If nothing else, knutepunkt has actual talks and workshops about sex and the treatment of sex in larps.

That said, i think this is an hilarious misstep and not really a best-foot-forward thing.

GimpInBlack
Sep 27, 2012

That's right, kids, take lots of drugs, leave the universe behind, and pilot Enlightenment Voltron out into the cosmos to meet Alien Jesus.

Kibner posted:

It's a lot of rules but more clear to me now that I wrote everything out. I think the constant use of Kuruth, Wasu-Im, and Basu-Im in the book confused me when reading the rules.

e: Thanks for answering my previous questions, GimpInBlack.

You've got it! The First Tongue vocabulary in Forsaken is definitely something of a barrier to entry. Probably would have been better to keep it to a muinimum and use plain English for most of the rules, in retrospect.

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
Weirder sex AND better dance moves? Well hot diggity dog, sign me up.

Magnusth
Sep 25, 2014

Hello, Creature! Do You Despise Goat Hating Fascists? So Do We! Join Us at Paradise Lost!


Kai Tave posted:

Weirder sex AND better dance moves? Well hot diggity dog, sign me up.

It's going to be photo-documented, so there almost certainly won't be any sort of sex going on except the ars armandi kind.

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

Acguy Supremacy

GimpInBlack posted:

You've got it! The First Tongue vocabulary in Forsaken is definitely something of a barrier to entry. Probably would have been better to keep it to a muinimum and use plain English for most of the rules, in retrospect.

Good to know I understood it correctly when my werewolf entered hard rage in my groups session this weekend!

As for as the First Tongue is concerned, I like that it exists because it is nice flavor. I just wish that it stayed flavor instead of mixing in with rules. Which, honestly, is my biggest issue with all the WoD books. I love the D&D 4e style of rule book where rules are more cleanly laid out with flavor coming before or after.

The only place I think it would work within rules is if it is used for a concept that is unable to be expressed in a couple words in plain speak. Idigam is a good example.

Luminous Obscurity
Jan 10, 2007

"The instrument you know as a piano was once called a pianoforte, because it can play both loud and quiet notes."

Kai Tave posted:

Weirder sex AND better dance moves? Well hot diggity dog, sign me up.

Where I come from they are one and the same.

I Am Just a Box
Jul 20, 2011
I belong here. I contain only inanimate objects. Nothing is amiss.

GimpInBlack posted:

You've got it! The First Tongue vocabulary in Forsaken is definitely something of a barrier to entry. Probably would have been better to keep it to a muinimum and use plain English for most of the rules, in retrospect.

That happens in a lot of other places in Werewolf, but I felt like Kuruth was one of the stronger in-world terms. It was a single First Tongue word that was used pretty consistently, so it was memorable enough. Splitting it up into Wasu-Im and Basu-Im muddied that recognition value, making it another category of multiple pseudo-Sumerian terms. Similar to how it's easy to remember the spirit world is called the Hisil, because the text commonly uses a single word rather than breaking it down into different terms for different places in the Shadow Realm, but it's hard to remember what spirits themselves are called in First Tongue, because you have to keep track of which are hursihim, ensihim or diharim, instead of there being a consistently used word that encompasses all of them.

Also because every time the text discusses Wasu-Im or Basu-Im, it's wasting yet another precious opportunity to use the phrase :black101: Death Rage

Mendrian
Jan 6, 2013

On the whole I think I'd prefer weirder dance and better sex moves but then I'd be playing Apocalypse World.

Luminous Obscurity
Jan 10, 2007

"The instrument you know as a piano was once called a pianoforte, because it can play both loud and quiet notes."
someone go as a gangrel with feathery trex arms and a cowboy hat

Mendrian posted:

On the whole I think I'd prefer weirder dance and better sex moves but then I'd be playing Apocalypse World.
:rimshot:

Communist Thoughts
Jan 7, 2008

Our war against free speech cannot end until we silence this bronze beast!


Kurieg posted:

...Please tell me you mean this literally and he's actually an extremely deranged werewolf who's human harmony touchstone is sitting down and binge watching man vs wild?

he's a gangrel but otherwise yes you are entirely correct. Also if he comes up with a way to track and find Bear Grylls himself I'll shower him with exp (bear grylls will probably be some kind of ninth generation vampire or werewolf)

Staff and safe place sounds pretty good for a boat and his crew or first mate can be his touchstone. I'll have to move the campaign space a little to the Texan shore. We're brits usually playing English or Scottish settings but now its time to play around with dollars, guns and bad accents, YEEHAW! I'm going to keep setting up situations where the gangrel can shapeshift into a cowboys horse hes trying to use to escape.

I assume Texas is about 30% cowboys.
e:

Daeren posted:

If anyone ever tells you you're playing World of Darkness wrong, it is in fact them who is wrong.

Seriously, I adore when new players come in with the most insane :krad: concepts because grognards haven't tried beating the funhaver out of them yet. Never let that spirit die.

Also thanks a lot buddy, the single vampire the masquerade session I ran with a mostly different group a while back was probably the funniest game I've ever run and I've been itching to return for a while, a couple of my group are pretty apprehensive since they think its going to be serious and gothy but I think the dicepools are fun and they're gonna really get into it when they start drinking blood and throwing powers around.

I like games to be fun and incredibly flexible, if the characters decide to ignore all the quests and do their own thing thats fine but I think maybe that makes me a really annoying player sometimes since I'm always chomping at the bit for agency.

Only concern I have is I have one player who wants to resolve everything without combat and one player who really needs some combat to have fun. Theres the whole beast-off system but does anyone have good tips for running a game with friendly competition and at-odds goals without it blowing up?

Communist Thoughts fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Feb 25, 2016

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.

Magnusth posted:

So, the first Official Whitewolf Larp. This is for A Week in Finland, a week-long series of nordic larps up to Solmukotha, a large nordic larp conference, this year in finland. This is the blurb for buying the ticket:


Now, before anyone goes off on this, let me just repost what i said about it in the RPGNET thread.


First, this is for Solumko.. Sulomkota? Knutepunkt, whatever. It's the Nordic Larp con Du Jour, and everyone at Knutepunk already knows about nordic larping. This isn't, as far as i understand, meant for a general public. This is for adults who are already well acquainted with the tropes and traditions of Nordic Larps, know and have followed the various discussions on physical and emotional safty, know how to handle heavy bleed in and bleed out, etc. etc. While i can certainly see how it sounds uttery wierd, incredibly 90's or just plain unsafe, that's not how it reads to the people actually going to Knutepunkt. There'll be workshops before the actual larp - by friend going to knutepunkt confirmed that, but i'd have bet money anyway- establishing stuff like proper boundaries, safewords, what sort of play people are interested in and so on and so forth. I doubt any actual sex is going to happen - though it does at some nordic larps, sometimes by design - but if it does, the people involved will be safe and consenting, i'm sure. If nothing else, knutepunkt has actual talks and workshops about sex and the treatment of sex in larps.

That said, i think this is an hilarious misstep and not really a best-foot-forward thing.

Paradox to LARP goers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKfupO4ZzPs

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

Acguy Supremacy
I assume the Texan shore is the Gulf Coast, which means New Orleans and voodoo is just a stone's throw away!

Kurieg
Jul 19, 2012

RIP Lutri: 5/19/20-4/2/20
:blizz::gamefreak:

Magnusth posted:

So, the first Official Whitewolf Larp. This is for A Week in Finland, a week-long series of nordic larps up to Solmukotha, a large nordic larp conference, this year in finland. This is the blurb for buying the ticket:


Now, before anyone goes off on this, let me just repost what i said about it in the RPGNET thread.


First, this is for Solumko.. Sulomkota? Knutepunkt, whatever. It's the Nordic Larp con Du Jour, and everyone at Knutepunk already knows about nordic larping. This isn't, as far as i understand, meant for a general public. This is for adults who are already well acquainted with the tropes and traditions of Nordic Larps, know and have followed the various discussions on physical and emotional safty, know how to handle heavy bleed in and bleed out, etc. etc. While i can certainly see how it sounds uttery wierd, incredibly 90's or just plain unsafe, that's not how it reads to the people actually going to Knutepunkt. There'll be workshops before the actual larp - by friend going to knutepunkt confirmed that, but i'd have bet money anyway- establishing stuff like proper boundaries, safewords, what sort of play people are interested in and so on and so forth. I doubt any actual sex is going to happen - though it does at some nordic larps, sometimes by design - but if it does, the people involved will be safe and consenting, i'm sure. If nothing else, knutepunkt has actual talks and workshops about sex and the treatment of sex in larps.

That said, i think this is an hilarious misstep and not really a best-foot-forward thing.

Even if they handle this with the utmost care and consideration this seems like a strangely desperate gambit. This is their first official larp to "set the tone", and they don't want people who have experience with Vampire, they want people who are comfortable with having sex and doing drugs and all sorts of other debauchery in public. Apparently because they want media attention and photos.

Do they expect that there's this hidden mass of oWoD fans who have only been waiting for sexy vampire larps to come surging out of the shadows?

Mendrian
Jan 6, 2013

Kurieg posted:

Even if they handle this with the utmost care and consideration this seems like a strangely desperate gambit. This is their first official larp to "set the tone", and they don't want people who have experience with Vampire, they want people who are comfortable with having sex and doing drugs and all sorts of other debauchery in public. Apparently because they want media attention and photos.

Do they expect that there's this hidden mass of oWoD fans who have only been waiting for sexy vampire larps to come surging out of the shadows?

I have no idea what the European LARP scene is like, which is where I assume this is aimed but - I know in the US this is exactly the kind of thing we try to avoid in our LARPs. And I think that's been the case with WoD LARPs everywhere for many years.

I really hope that this isn't a continuation of the 'holding back is for squares' vibe I've been getting.

Magnusth
Sep 25, 2014

Hello, Creature! Do You Despise Goat Hating Fascists? So Do We! Join Us at Paradise Lost!


Kurieg posted:

Even if they handle this with the utmost care and consideration this seems like a strangely desperate gambit. This is their first official larp to "set the tone", and they don't want people who have experience with Vampire, they want people who are comfortable with having sex and doing drugs and all sorts of other debauchery in public. Apparently because they want media attention and photos.

Do they expect that there's this hidden mass of oWoD fans who have only been waiting for sexy vampire larps to come surging out of the shadows?

honestly, i think it's just that Martin Elricsson likes this sort of Social Extremesport (as Nordic larping has been called), and therefore that's the first thing he does with WW. And again, sex, probably not actually happening, just meta-techniques to simulate it somehow. But yeah, they should've lead their big Larp push with something blockbuster larp of some sort, i think, not this. Then again, it's likely that they never exprected anyone to actually know about this except the participants of solmukotha.

Magnusth
Sep 25, 2014

Hello, Creature! Do You Despise Goat Hating Fascists? So Do We! Join Us at Paradise Lost!


Mendrian posted:

I have no idea what the European LARP scene is like, which is where I assume this is aimed but - I know in the US this is exactly the kind of thing we try to avoid in our LARPs. And I think that's been the case with WoD LARPs everywhere for many years.

I really hope that this isn't a continuation of the 'holding back is for squares' vibe I've been getting.

There are many different, semi-overlapping Larps Scenes in europe. That said, i've never encountered a 'no touching' rule in any of them. That said, this is on the pretty, hm 'extreme' side of nordic larping, but i don't actually think there's even the slightest thing to be worried about here, just a PR misstep. The general larping guidelines or rules or whatever likely won't be anything near this far on the 'social extremesports' sliding scale.

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib

Kurieg posted:

Do they expect that there's this hidden mass of oWoD fans who have only been waiting for sexy vampire larps to come surging out of the shadows?

Based on the Brand Architect's Q&A session earlier I imagine this is exactly the case. Dude can't wait for it to be 199X all over again.

Tsilkani
Jul 28, 2013

nopantsjack posted:

I assume Texas is about 30% cowboys.

As an Oklahoman, I think you might be lowballing it.

Communist Thoughts
Jan 7, 2008

Our war against free speech cannot end until we silence this bronze beast!


Tsilkani posted:

As an Oklahoman, I think you might be lowballing it.

So to find my campaign texan town I clicked the first texan town randomly on the map, it was Brady, the "heart of texas" eh eh eh? That seemed pretty apropriate but its not on the coast so now I gotta change it if I want a vampire pirateship in the mix.

The first coastal city I click on randomly is called Corpus Christi!

What is it with Texas where every city is an amazing sounding vampire setting?

E: I'm having a little trouble making the Mekhet PC interesting. The player is a lady who is pretty drat new and unsure around RPGs, she liked the sound of a stealthy vampire so I made her a Mekhet but I'm finding it hard to write anything interesting about them. "You are hard to notice and love gossip" only goes so far. Any ideas?

Communist Thoughts fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Feb 25, 2016

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Member are natural pattern-seekers who suffer occult pareidolia. Everything is an omen, everything is rife with occult significance. They are shadows that see the future in everything.

Usually, it is meaningless.

Sometimes, it isn't.

The Mekhet collect secrets not out of need, but because they can't help it. Secrets are everywhere, and they see all of them, plus many that exist only in their own minds. They need to learn to tell which are real.

Give her some weirdo occult powers and just throw omens at her, like a living plot twist generator.

(Auspex is a great weirdo occult power.)

Soonmot
Dec 19, 2002

Entrapta fucking loves robots




Grimey Drawer

nopantsjack posted:

So to find my campaign texan town I clicked the first texan town randomly on the map, it was Brady, the "heart of texas" eh eh eh? That seemed pretty apropriate but its not on the coast so now I gotta change it if I want a vampire pirateship in the mix.

The first coastal city I click on randomly is called Corpus Christi!

What is it with Texas where every city is an amazing sounding vampire setting?

E: I'm having a little trouble making the Mekhet PC interesting. The player is a lady who is pretty drat new and unsure around RPGs, she liked the sound of a stealthy vampire so I made her a Mekhet but I'm finding it hard to write anything interesting about them. "You are hard to notice and love gossip" only goes so far. Any ideas?

My made up Texas Port town was named Santa Sangre because why not?

I Am Just a Box
Jul 20, 2011
I belong here. I contain only inanimate objects. Nothing is amiss.

nopantsjack posted:

E: I'm having a little trouble making the Mekhet PC interesting. The player is a lady who is pretty drat new and unsure around RPGs, she liked the sound of a stealthy vampire so I made her a Mekhet but I'm finding it hard to write anything interesting about them. "You are hard to notice and love gossip" only goes so far. Any ideas?

Mekhet and Nosferatu both have Obfuscate, which is the real key to being stealthy. If the Nosferatu are the lurking monster in the dark, terror threatening to crush you, then Mekhet are ghosts and echoes, a presence so thin that you know it only by its deeds. Mekhet are haunting. They see right through you and disappear as if they had never been there. The Beast within the Mekhet is a cold, crawling thing, not the bloodthirsty disaster waiting to crack the Gangrel's shell. It's a thing in the pit of your stomach that makes you suspect that maybe you really did die when you were Embraced, and this is just ragged pieces of you, carrying on by instinct. Mekhet disappear so well they disappear from themselves.

Mekhet are for players who enjoy knowing more than the other characters, and harrassing and confounding NPCs who have no hope of figuring out who they really are or what they're really up to. Play up how detached and otherworldly they are. Feed them hints that more is going on than it seems on the surface; they're good for distributing breadcrumbs of plot to the rest of the party. Dream Visions is a fun Merit for that. Maybe give the player latitude to narrate little supernatural omens and SFX that follow her character or punctuate her deeds, using her clan bane as inspiration. Mekhet are the vampires who cause milk to curdle in their presence, around whom shadows warp in the corner of your eye.

Or maybe she's not really going for that angle and she just likes being Solid Snake or Batman. That's fine too. Nosferatu might be as good a candidate for that. Remember, clan Nosferatu meant to be more broad than its Masquerade counterpart. Their clan bane isn't necessarily that they're deformed or pitiful or inhuman in appearance. It's that they're uncanny. There's something about their presence, that could just be their carriage or body language or the intensity of their glare, that says "trouble is afoot, this person is not normal."

Ironslave
Aug 8, 2006

Corpse runner
Yeah, a workshop before I play pretend vampires with a bunch of other people on how I might possibly encounter the other players loving in public and how to deal with it in-character sounds like a great first foot forward. That'll totally sell me on playing Vampire and/or Vampire LARPs and not make me write them off as a bunch of creeps with an infantile obsession with fantasy.

I am so thankful the CofD lines are being left the gently caress alone right now.

Axelgear
Oct 13, 2011

If I'm wrong, please don't hesitate to tell me. It happens pretty often and I will try to change my opinion if I'm presented with evidence.
Y'know, I made a joke about needing experience with slots when I read about the position for the new metaplot editor earlier today, but this wasn't what I expected when I said it.

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

Crion posted:

why in the world would I buy a product just to troll players of another product, something I'm fully capable doing already without gross and pervasive abuse metaphors and encouraged in-play abuse

I'm sorry what :stare:

this was why I posed the question in the first place, please expand

e: or if someone else already has, share a link, because what the gently caress

Daeren
Aug 18, 2009

YER MUSTACHE IS CROOKED

LORD OF BUTT posted:

I'm sorry what :stare:

this was why I posed the question in the first place, please expand


For real, go read those links. Or click the ? under my name and read the first page or so of my post history in the thread.

It should be noted that most of this is from its first reveal, and they walked back quite a bit of stuff after public reaction was...conflicted, let's say. The final product still has some gross stuff in it, but not the level it was when we were talking about it.

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

Daeren posted:

It should be noted that most of this is from its first reveal, and they walked back quite a bit of stuff after public reaction was...conflicted, let's say. The final product still has some gross stuff in it, but not the level it was when we were talking about it.

This would make sense. I took a decently long break from WoD and seemed to miss its initial reveal, and am only even passingly familiar with the final product (which, like I said, doesn't look like a lot of fun to play on its own, but could provide really neat NPCs for other lines).

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Daeren posted:

For real, go read those links. Or click the ? under my name and read the first page or so of my post history in the thread.

It should be noted that most of this is from its first reveal, and they walked back quite a bit of stuff after public reaction was...conflicted, let's say. The final product still has some gross stuff in it, but not the level it was when we were talking about it.
Didn't they rather inconsistently walk things back and there's a couple of things that only really make sense if you know what the initial reveal was like?

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
The tl;dr of Beast is you play an abuser whose actions are vindicated by the authorial voice telling you that your abuses are good ones, also you're a stand-in for minorities? Which makes you the good guys! Except you abuse people, like poisoning Halloween candy or maybe just psychologically abusing people. Also if you think Beast is bad then you're a fedora-wearing MRA shitlord who should literally go kill yourself. One of the sample NPCs is (was?) the disembodied astral form of a teenage girl who hunts down and kills Beasts after one broke into her home to teach her some kind of (presumably abusive) lesson, but remember she's the bad guy here and if you don't believe that then you're literally Hitler.

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Bedlamdan
Apr 25, 2008
I still think that, with a bit of touching up, there is definitely a market for rpgs like Beast, where the purpose of the game ends at pandering to people's belief systems and giving them an attaboy.

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