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being a wizard is cool
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Feb 20, 2017 07:32
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Attorney at Funk posted:What if God was real and he hated you and you couldn't tell anybody but other deranged obsessives? Loomer posted:What if you were able to literally change the world with nothing more than the raw force of your own willpower? Foglet posted:Hunter (the Vigil)'s appeal is "sure they are faster and stronger and have fancier tricks, but like hell we're going down without a fight (oh, and sometimes we got our own tricks)." I guess I'm jaded from already doing that in Exalted, a lot, and in some other games. I DO like Doctor Strange.... but I feel like the majority of players would push for some kind of Dresden Files urban fantasy affair instead of being the SORCERER SUPREME keeping the multiverse in order and diverting threats from annihilating earth. I'm told you don't even care *that* much about Sleeper society in Awakened? and that Seers/Exarchs already fulfill the multiplanar Wizard-cop role.. only they are NPCs and they hate you??? I'm more familiar with Ascension which is exactly why I've avoided Mage for so long.
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Feb 20, 2017 08:11
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Loomer posted:What if you were able to literally change the world with nothing more than the raw force of your own willpower? Something something join the Silver Ladder something.
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Feb 20, 2017 08:12
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You know how there are all these enduring cultural myths that exist to explain and justify mankind's lot in life? The Garden of Eden and the Fall in the Abrahamic religions, the mad scientist from a 50's horror movie causing disaster because he reached for "that which man was not meant to know," Prometheus stealing fire for humanity and foretelling the doom of the gods and being punished eternally for his efforts, Gilgamesh or Maui reaching for immortality and coming within a hair's breadth before failing, Hugh Jackman's character in The Fountain snapping "Death is just another disease!" so that the movie can characterize him as bitter and shortsighted? Mage is the game about taking the moral of those stories and flipping it the bird. You're still going to have to deal with the consequences when you reach for apotheosis, but it just goes to show that nothing worthwhile is easy. That's why it appeals to me.
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Feb 20, 2017 09:30
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Mage is about solving a mystery or rewriting history.
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Feb 20, 2017 09:38
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MonsieurChoc posted:Mage is about solving a mystery or rewriting history. a woo-ooh
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Feb 20, 2017 09:46
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I can't believe I didn't hear about the Vampire: the Masquerade slot machine until just yesterday.
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Feb 20, 2017 12:26
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Strength of Many posted:I guess I'm jaded from already doing that in Exalted, a lot, and in some other games. Exarchs are baddies and Seers are enemies and NPCs. You could be Seer PCs if you really wanted and they're in the Mage 2e corebook as a full writeup now, but it's more the better to suit them as antagonists. Diverting multiplanar threats on a regular basis (as opposed to a whole story arc focused on one) is more master-level stuff when Mages will mostly be around the the 3 or 4 dot level which isn't quite so powerful. The main MO of the Exarchs and Seers is basically keeping humanity in drudgery and keeping all the magic to themselves, while maintaining control. The more they can stop people enlightened, the fewer problems they have to deal with. At their absolute best, even the kindest Seers want to make the world something like the ship in Wall-E - keeping humans in a safe but infantile state incapable of comprehending higher truths. At its core as a player-Mage - mages are addicted to mysteries. Magic needs field experience to grow. And mages basically have merit: Unseen Sense (everything). A werewolf in human form just casually walking past a mage can make the mage go "wtf was that" and look around and follow things and get in over their head.
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Feb 20, 2017 12:33
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I can't believe I didn't hear about the Vampire: the Masquerade slot machine until just yesterday. *commits diablerie* heh jackpot.
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Feb 20, 2017 13:07
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I'm starting to get the feeling that Voivode Groins-blood doesn't really like video games. Like, maybe he liked the idea of the MMO as a vehicle for LARPing, but so far he's done these CYOA things (Probably as an excuse to write more garbage), a Werewolf game announced the day development began, and a drat slot machine. These don't sound like the actions of someone who cares about the property they're running.
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Feb 20, 2017 13:31
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I recently posted about starting a Hunter group with my friends. Whoever suggested the Horror Recognition Guide was spot on, it was a great read. I have a couple of questions though about one of the stories that involved the Seers of the Throne. I've read Mage some but I'm a bit confused how their possession of people worked. Specifically how, if a Mage is possessing someone and that person is killed, does that kill the Mage?
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Feb 20, 2017 14:45
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crime fighting hog posted:I recently posted about starting a Hunter group with my friends. Whoever suggested the Horror Recognition Guide was spot on, it was a great read. Depends on how the possession is done. They could be using Mind magic to puppet the person, in which case (if I recall correctly) killing the body does nothing but the mage can't easily cast spells via the body. Alternatively, they could be using Death magic to temporarily steal the body and shove their own soul into it, in which case they can use all their wizard powers in situ but if the body dies they die.
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Feb 20, 2017 15:05
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crime fighting hog posted:I recently posted about starting a Hunter group with my friends. Whoever suggested the Horror Recognition Guide was spot on, it was a great read. If this was done by Seers they're almost certainly using a Profane Urim, a vile miracle/fashion statement of the Exarchs. It's a robe that lets you puppet Sleepers, and in that case killing the Sleeper does nothing to the Mage. In fact it's noted that some Seers use the Urim to engage in risky activities for their jaded pleasure by proxy. Hunters who want to deal with such a thing might try destroying the robe itself, as well as assassinating the wizard. Destroy the Servants of the Lie.
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Feb 20, 2017 16:51
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So, question: How common are thaumaturges? By that, I mean those folks from Second Sight who can do ritual magic. Alright, actually, that's a stupid question. How common should they feel to give a setting a given feeling? So, for example, if I want to give a sensation of an occult underworld, how common should people who can do real magic be? How easy should it be for them to communicate? How well should they know each other? That kind of jazz. I'm on a Sleepwalker kick lately and want to try and get into their perspective.
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Feb 20, 2017 20:55
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Can other supernaturals, like Vampires or Werewolves, Clash of Wills against a Mage? I'm not sure I understand this section but I only gave it a cursory reading during downtime at work.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:46
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Strength of Many posted:Can other supernaturals, like Vampires or Werewolves, Clash of Wills against a Mage? I'm not sure I understand this section but I only gave it a cursory reading during downtime at work. Yes, other supernaturals can enter into clash of wills with a mage. It happens anytime two supernatural effects come into conflict as I understand it. For example: Mary Mastigos is rooting around in someone's head to get information on someone, that someone just happens to be a Demon who used the Never Here embed to scrub the victim's memory. The mages Gnosis+Mind would clash against the Demon's Primum+Resolve or Composure.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:51
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Anyone who magically contests a Mage's spells induces a Clash of Wills. For example, if a Mage has a Mind Shielding spell up that protects them from mental influence and a Vampire uses Dominate, that'd trigger a Clash.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:52
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"All of the people saying Zak should be off the game because he hates trans women are the ones who actually hate trans women!" If I had to look at this with my own two eyes, so do you. Also I'm running a VtM campaign set in the american southeast in 2005 in the immediate aftermath of hurricane Katrina, and it's going great. Especially considering the most experience most of my players have is a couple short rounds of DnD a few months ago.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:55
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Axelgear posted:So, question: How common are thaumaturges? By that, I mean those folks from Second Sight who can do ritual magic. I take the approach that those who use fallen magic (second sighters) are communicating via New Age shops, online message boards, and general occult outlets. So there's probably some variation, and nothing that approaches well organized. If I'm running a game that's going to deal with that area of magic, I dial it up to where there are maybe a handful of covens of minor magick ability and an equal or greater number of individuals who can do a few things, but aren't organized about it for whatever reason. So if thaumaturges are considered to be doing real magic, I'd give it a number that makes sense for the game/area/ambiance you're shooting for. I'd guess if you're doing a lot in that area, there should be a lot of them that are being noticed and at least communicating, but not super organized to give each coven or group a different feeling. Maybe the sort of organization that comes with mid-seasons Buffy via the Magic Shop. People know each other, and there are rumors, but no one's in charge, but maybe there's a potluck once a month to trade (steal) ideas. You could dial it up to a totally different level of occult underworld too and just go full "Bar where the denizens of the world meet to drink safely" sort of thing. Toss all the different varieties of supernatural creature into it if you want. It might be a little campy, or Dresden Files, but I don't see any reason why it can't work. It would certainly put a different spin on an antique collector character concept. I've dealt with sleepwalkers in a couple ways in the past too. First is the "you're connected to X mage or Y order". They get information and work from the mages that they're connect with, but are doing the odd jobs that snowball into something more complicated, but not so much that it requires powerful magic to accomplish, just maybe a magic item that they can go acquire. I like this method because it's easier to give a lot of balance to the social/mental/physical challenges. Might run differently for you, but that's my experience. The other option I've used is just a Sleepwalker free for all. They're loosely associated with the mages, but tend to get mired up in cryptopolies and shadow cults as eventual leaders of them and as the go-between for Fallen and Supernal magic users. This way ends up a little more socially focused, which depending on the group can be a good thing.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:00
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Axelgear posted:Anyone who magically contests a Mage's spells induces a Clash of Wills. For example, if a Mage has a Mind Shielding spell up that protects them from mental influence and a Vampire uses Dominate, that'd trigger a Clash. Strength of Many posted:Can other supernaturals, like Vampires or Werewolves, Clash of Wills against a Mage? I'm not sure I understand this section but I only gave it a cursory reading during downtime at work. Oh okay, so they need some form of magic that would counter it. What about an Uratha's death rage or shape changing? I don't recall them having any Gifts that would explicitly counter things like mind-control.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:03
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That stuff is generally just normally resisted. Pretty much everything with a mind control effect has a resistance roll. Clash of Wills is when something that isn't resisted otherwise but logically opposes a magical effect enters the picture. So if someone has an effect that makes them burst into flames, well, generally that isn't resisted. If a Mage has an effect that dampens all fire, well, *that* isn't usually resisted either. When the fire man walks into the effect of the fire dampening field though, you have to ask "Well, what the poo poo do we do now?". And so we are given a simple out: The Clash of Wills. Both sides pit their mystic strength against each other, and winner gets to use their magic.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:11
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Strength of Many posted:Oh okay, so they need some form of magic that would counter it. What about an Uratha's death rage or shape changing? I don't recall them having any Gifts that would explicitly counter things like mind-control. Mage spells are Withstood, not resisted, when it's something like Mind Control - the mage has to pump the spell potency up higher than the resisting stat, but it's not a Clash of Wills.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:12
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bewilderment posted:Mage spells are Withstood, not resisted, when it's something like Mind Control - the mage has to pump the spell potency up higher than the resisting stat, but it's not a Clash of Wills. And in the case of trying to mind control a Uratha in the grips of Death Rage, or similar mechanics?
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Feb 20, 2017 23:22
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I see the attempt at spin has begun. That whole 'no YOURE the transphobe' spiel might work if our only objection was to Zak's weird scene, but since it isn't... Oh, and there's the part where no one, at all, seems to have a problem with Hollocks. I know my letter of boycott named Zak specifically, not her.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:34
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YellerBill posted:"All of the people saying Zak should be off the game because he hates trans women are the ones who actually hate trans women!" If I had to look at this with my own two eyes, so do you. Seebs is cancer.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:40
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Yeah I was just about to say it's seebs and you can safely ignore literally everything they say. They were a screechy little poo poo during the 5E fiasco too.
Reene fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 20, 2017 23:53
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He pulled the "i can't be racist, my tv is colored" defence.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:57
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Reene posted:Yeah I was just about to say it's seebs and you can safely ignore literally everything he says. He was a screechy little poo poo during the 5E fiasco too. The kind of tribalism that builds up in fandoms for a single person is kind of disgusting. But I suppose if they had any self-awareness they wouldn't be running defenestration on behalf of ZakS. Saying they aren't another one of his sockpuppets.
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Feb 21, 2017 00:02
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It's a weird logic, because I don't think anyone is saying Zak is transphobic in the 'oh ew ladies who had/have penises!' sense so much as he's a transmisogynist. So the whole 'he has too many trans friends for that!' doesn't work as a proof either way - we all know plenty of misogynists with more than a few female friends, right (or even the inverse, though it's a little less common since misandry is both less common and seems to be more consciously associated with the kind of radical/seperatist feminist politics that precludes making many male friends on ideological grounds than the often 'default state' of ignorant-poo poo misogyny)? Misogynists who vocally love women (and usually, in their own kind of warped way and with whatever weird baggage they're carrying around, actually do love their specific, narrow idea of women), would never think of 'hating' women, but who nonetheless harbour all kinds of weird anti-woman belief and sentiment. On the evidence, Zak isn't the former. The latter though may still be in the picture.
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Feb 21, 2017 00:05
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Zak's number one concern is whether people are willing to say nice things about him. Trans people who come to his defense are not only Great People with Good Opinions, they offer him a person to tokenize as "evidence" that he's a good guy - and boy oh boy is Zak obsessed with fallacious proofs for his arguments. I likewise don't think that he's really primarily motivated in attacking people by minority status; it's just that marginalized people on the whole make way easier targets - fewer support structures in place - than straight white dudes, so... In any case, the only way anything's going to get done on this is if the pressure keeps up in a visible way on Paradox for weeks and months to come. I encourage everyone to keep writing people over there and making noise about this.
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Feb 21, 2017 01:36
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Kavak posted:I'm starting to get the feeling that Voivode Groins-blood doesn't really like video games. Like, maybe he liked the idea of the MMO as a vehicle for LARPing, but so far he's done these CYOA things (Probably as an excuse to write more garbage), a Werewolf game announced the day development began, and a drat slot machine. These don't sound like the actions of someone who cares about the property they're running. He probably doesn't care much about it outside of certain parts of the property, given the slot game. That is 100% par on par with the skeevy "pump the setting for all the cash you can get and dump it" tactics that some companies go into when they want to shelve a property. Like Konami. They just released an updated version of MGS3 recently that boasts modern graphics...On a pachinko game that shows Snake maneuvering through the game in cinematics. Though maybe there's some deal they had to follow. Or maybe he just has no business sense. Who even knows at this point. If you're going to roleplay though, you had might as well cast off all pretensions of having a sense of shame and go full bore with it. And out of all the possible settings Vampire would be one of the MMO's out of there to cater to that community. It wouldn't work otherwise. Hell, speaking from a decade plus of experience of watching MMO communities come and go, it's not like they aren't by far one of the most dedicated subsets of a given community. They can't always keep a game alive on their own but if they're into it you have repeat or dedicated customers for years at a time, provided the game isn't total trash. And they'll gladly become whales in the cash shop so long as you keep putting out pretty customization's or ways to expand on their ideas. You could do a lot worse than to have someone that has an interest in that field reviving the MMO. Vampire simply won't work as a traditional MMO. The community would probably rebel against it even if they tried. There has to be way more inter-personal and sandbox/open world interaction above and beyond the level of EVE's contentless sandbox sort of politics or WoW's themepark content. And a vital part of Vampire is really the roleplayed elements via the characters and how they react to the setting and what they are. Otherwise it's just a bunch of gothy dudes with superpowers beating the snot out of each other and teabagging corpses with their undead nuts. Mind you, i've got...Minimal faith that Swedish Dracula is the guy to pull that sort of project off. And certainly not in a way that's actually faithful to VtM or VtR. He comes off as being an enabler of some really skeevy people and ideas. Archonex fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 01:39
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Loomer posted:It's a weird logic, because I don't think anyone is saying Zak is transphobic in the 'oh ew ladies who had/have penises!' sense so much as he's a transmisogynist. So the whole 'he has too many trans friends for that!' doesn't work as a proof either way - we all know plenty of misogynists with more than a few female friends, right (or even the inverse, though it's a little less common since misandry is both less common and seems to be more consciously associated with the kind of radical/seperatist feminist politics that precludes making many male friends on ideological grounds than the often 'default state' of ignorant-poo poo misogyny)? Misogynists who vocally love women (and usually, in their own kind of warped way and with whatever weird baggage they're carrying around, actually do love their specific, narrow idea of women), would never think of 'hating' women, but who nonetheless harbour all kinds of weird anti-woman belief and sentiment. Engaging with that argument in the first place is a mistake, because it's a pretty transparent attempt to move the conversation away from extremely salient patterns of behavior that no company should want to be associated with into the murky and sophistic waters of determining who has sufficiently Correct Opinions.
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Feb 21, 2017 01:42
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Seebs is trash. Also a "they", not a "he", unless something changed since the last time their dumb rear end got up to defending Zak, but it's worth mentioning. Pulling the same bullshit Seebs (they misgendered me while (inaccurately; I was careful here) accusing me of misgendering them back in during the 5e thing) and Zak do isn't good, regardless of who the other person is. And yeah, regardless of his friends or not, Zak's harassed, stalked, and abused numerous people, including women and trans people, and he used their marginalized status against them when doing so. Whether or not he's "actually" transphobic is irrelevant. (He is, of course, in the same way that Milo is racist for things like his racist, occasionally genocidal rhetoric and his harassment campaign against Leslie Jones, even if he also has sex with black men, but still, his actions are bad regardless of whatever he may try to say about his character, so trying to debate that just bogs the argument down.) Roland Jones fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 01:57
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I think White Wolf is doing what it is because I wouldn't be surprised if they have a relatively limited budget. Something like the slot machine costs them nothing and fills the coffers, and in theory acts as a (very limited) advertisement for their brand. I think slot machines are an awful thing to associate yourself with, but YMMV. Similarly, World of Darkness: Preludes is relatively cheap to make and is a way to raise brand awareness more than establish a game franchise of any sort. But White Wolf is seemingly only four people wide (smaller than most TG game companies!) and probably doesn't get that much from support from Paradox. Yes, Paradox Interactive isn't coming down on them over you-know-who, but it's also curious that they seemingly aren't willing to bat for them, either. I was going to point out that they seem to have money for expensive press events, but then I realized that might be coming out of Cyanide Studios' pockets, not White Wolf's. I get the impression that White Wolf is pretty much just having to prove the purchase of IP's moneymaking power on the strength of the brand and not the deeper pockets of Paradox. I could be way wrong, of course. But I get the impression that they simply don't have the resources to make a major game release internally. The fact that the slot machine was first speaks volumes for that hypothesis, I think. Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 02:06
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I've been churning over ideas for my first Hunter session with my new group. I've narrowed it down to three options: 1. Cancer cell: A neighboring Hunter cell disappears off the grid unexpectedly. Each member stops posting on the local neighborhood forum, relatives and bowling buddies inquire where they went. Hopefully without railroading my players, they would have a natural curiousity to track down the missing Hunters, leading to their cabin-in-the-woods safehouse that was breached, and find clues showing the cell may have been taken down from the inside. Incredibly cheesy I know, but it seems like a good mix of investigation, socializing and eventually some fists and guns near the end. It could also be a good way to drop more story hooks in as they search through the group's notes. 2. MENergy: Lately, testosterone replacement clinics are popping up like weeds, promising awesome results for dirt cheap treatments. Some of the clinics are "legit" while others are using newer, revolutionary means to "help" their patients. A spike in the population of gym buffs and swole dudes becomes noticeable as the City enters a MENaissance . But violent crime spikes as well, with some patients newfound strength leading them to one man riots that seem to have an underlying purpose. Side effects may include sick abs, burstin quads and murder for foul gods beyond our ken. This is my more lighthearted option as the players would investigate what these drugs are, which is why I inquired about the Seers earlier wanting to dominate people's brains. (Why dominate a schlub when you have more wannabe Mr. Olympias walking around?) 3. [color="blue"]House[/color] of Leaves. Much, much more straightforward investigation into a spooky [color="blue"]house[/color] where people come in and don't come out the same. Or at all. Except for a twist I'd think I'd have the [color="blue"]house[/color] more sentient than in the books, even to the point where it moves around when it isn't being observed. It used to be at 1905 Fifth street, now it's at 1907 Fourth Street, etc. Probably a good way to heighten the paranoia levels of the game. I realize I'm just spitballing here. I imagine the last idea has been done to death before but it'd be new for my group.
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Feb 21, 2017 02:42
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crime fighting hog posted:2. MENergy: Lately, testosterone replacement clinics are popping up like weeds, promising awesome results for dirt cheap treatments. Some of the clinics are "legit" while others are using newer, revolutionary means to "help" their patients. A spike in the population of gym buffs and swole dudes becomes noticeable as the City enters a MENaissance . This would be a good way to drop a hint or two leading towards Cheiron if you wanted to go that route as well.
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Feb 21, 2017 02:47
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crime fighting hog posted:I've been churning over ideas for my first Hunter session with my new group. I've narrowed it down to three options: I like this one. Yeah it's cliche, but cliches are cliches for a reason - they work, they're satisfying, and they're not difficult to execute. In my experience it's always best to stick with more straight-forward narratives with a newer group, everyone is still figuring out the social order and a more classic story is a good way for everyone to sound out their position in the group dynamic.
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Feb 21, 2017 03:11
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Kai Tave posted:This would be a good way to drop a hint or two leading towards Cheiron if you wanted to go that route as well. Absolutely. Each hook I think of can split so many different ways. It's Cheiron performing more experiments on an unwitting populace. It's a vampire conspiracy to enslave humanity. It's Seers, Strix, or just plain ol' big shadow government goons. One of my players made a character who is a hipster trashy socialite who's "in" with everyone worth being cool with in town. The twist, he's an avid truther, infowars.com bumper sticker Illuminati seeker. It's almost too easy. The Unlife Aquatic posted:I like this one. Yeah it's cliche, but cliches are cliches for a reason - they work, they're satisfying, and they're not difficult to execute. In my experience it's always best to stick with more straight-forward narratives with a newer group, everyone is still figuring out the social order and a more classic story is a good way for everyone to sound out their position in the group dynamic. Ultimately it's most likely what I'll go with. Could be a decent way to explain some of the facets of the game in a show, don't tell way.
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Feb 21, 2017 03:35
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crime fighting hog posted:Ultimately it's most likely what I'll go with. Could be a decent way to explain some of the facets of the game in a show, don't tell way. Yeah, a werewolf pack would be great for this. Or hell, maybe a Demon if you really want to gently caress with them.
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Feb 21, 2017 03:40
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Both pretty tempting options. I'm thinking of making it either something that's the tip of a larger conspiracy, perhaps tied to TFV having a particular vendetta against the now destroyed cell using it as a opportunity to send out a skin changing, brainwashed assassin posing as a fellow hunter. I read a lot the last few days about MKULTRA and holy poo poo.
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Feb 21, 2017 03:58
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