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Nah, I'm too hairy. On a related note to the above, I just discovered the novel Olga Romanoff, which is both now in the public domain and, more importantly, has sixteen illustrations of skyships from 1897 that would be perfect for a single shot of Czar Vargo's Intervention that I can write up and include in the timeline download as a value add.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 04:37 |
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# ? May 31, 2024 06:49 |
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Jerik posted:Hey, question here for people who know more about the nWoD than I do (which is probably most people here; I have a fair amount of experience with oWoD games, but almost none with the nWoD, but some recent reviews in FATAL & Friends have really piqued my interest): The "Demon Seed Collection" is a batch of adventure hooks and campaign ideas for Demon: The Descent that includes an entry for LA / Hollywood. I haven't read it, and can't vouch for its quality... but it's only $2.24 on sale from $3, so not exactly a massive leap of faith. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/135114/Demon-Seed-Collection
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 04:47 |
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Oh, thanks, that sounds like it could be really useful. I'll definitely check it out.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 04:53 |
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nWoD by and large seems to shy away from canon, even when specific places or events are mentioned they tend to be shrouded in conjecture and / or obvious hearsay. It's one of the reasons why grogs didn't take to it so well
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 05:02 |
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Except that's not really true at all. The nWoD very clearly has canon, and doubly so if you take developer statements into account. It just doesn't have metaplot. e: and even that statement kind of depends on exactly where you draw the line between "metaplot" and "backstory", because there are tons of little subtle changes to various gamelines that could be read either as advancing the present moment forward or as retcons depending on how you look at them (especially in Mage and Vampire) Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Oct 17, 2019 |
# ? Oct 17, 2019 05:08 |
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what does distinguish the nWoD is the fact that it's consciously designed for play instead of being someone's sickass campaign log proudly displayed to the world with no regard for how anyone else is ever going to use it but this motivation only sometimes overlaps with their reticence to pick a side on questions that would make a massive thematic difference for the game line or even the entire franchise (e.g. whether the Exarchs were ever human or not -- bulk of the evidence says yes, but that makes the coyness in other places even more bizarre) and honestly a lot of the time it comes off more as a way to cover for writers not getting each other's memos than as anything positive and there's a fine line between "giving GMs room to create their own stories" and "making more work for the GM who presumably bought a commercial setting + lore book for a reason" e: in conclusion, put all the splat setting bibles up for sale Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Oct 17, 2019 |
# ? Oct 17, 2019 05:29 |
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1E clearly went for more of a "toolbox" approach, which I loved.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 06:08 |
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If I ever find out what fucker at White Wolf decided that brown on textured brown was an acceptable stylistic decision for a novel, I will beat them with every book they authorized that for.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 06:20 |
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Jerik posted:I ask because my current erratic work schedule prohibits me from currently participating in a regular face-to-face campaign, so I'm thinking of starting a PBP game of Demon: the Descent. (It wouldn't be any time soon, because I want to read through all the relevant books and really familiarize myself with the rules and the lore before starting the game.) I'm leaning toward setting it in Los Angeles just because that's where I live, so I figured I may as well make it easy on myself and use a city I'm very familiar with. But I just wanted to know if there's any canonical information on Los Angeles in the nWoD already. I know nothing requires me to stick with existing canon, but, I don't know, I always like to try to be consistent with canon if possible, even though I realize there's no real reason I have to do that. In addition to the Demon Seed Collection, Los Angeles is one of the highlighted example settings in the corebook for Mage: the Awakening Second Edition, where it is depicted as a place where the collective consciousness of humanity manifests physically, and goetia, thought-forms of the beliefs and impressions about particular people, things and ideas, occasionally possess certain residents. Re: canon, the Chronicles of Darkness are definitely a defined setting, but I think one of the main reasons its toolbox nature is exaggerated at times is that most of its books were written under a policy that the only other book a reader needs to own to make proper use of it is the respective corebook. A given Vampire supplement thus won't avoid mentioning anything that was established in the Vampire clanbooks, say, but it won't drop names from several other books unexplained and expect you to follow along, and it won't include a big writeup all about a domain dominated by a covenant of vampire Buddhists from the Ancient Bloodlines book that makes you go look up who they are and what they can do. Links between books thus either tend to be narrative sidelines that can be fleshed out through implication, or occasionally a new book will reintroduce and reprint enough about an old concept to bring it into direct play.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 06:23 |
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I Am Just a Box posted:In addition to the Demon Seed Collection, Los Angeles is one of the highlighted example settings in the corebook for Mage: the Awakening Second Edition, where it is depicted as a place where the collective consciousness of humanity manifests physically, and goetia, thought-forms of the beliefs and impressions about particular people, things and ideas, occasionally possess certain residents. That's also helpful. Thanks.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 06:34 |
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Edit: redundant post about Mage LA.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 14:33 |
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Signs of Sorcery can be purchased via print now if anyone else was waiting for that. It was probably weeks ago, but I don't pay that well attention. That and the Deviant KS is done today.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 15:00 |
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Ooooo! I just had another 1-on-1 session before this Vampire game really kicks off. We did an initiate ritual/assessment for Ordo Dracul and I got to know my Sire better. For being ancient and very intelligent, she's not as standoffish as I was expecting. She's just lived underground for so long that she forgot how to talk to people. We're hoping to do the other two embraces this weekend but people, it turns out, are loving busy all the time. My mind is racing on how I'm going to shape a Lygos Nos in Ordo. I don't have any assignments yet but my background is gadgeteer/scrapper and I'm really hoping to merge the Coils with technology in some way. Edit: Apparently the human population peaked at 3.5 billion in 1970 and never increased. No disease or big event. It just... plateaued. There is a mystery there but the characters would see it as normal. Hmmm... Inzombiac fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Oct 17, 2019 |
# ? Oct 17, 2019 17:06 |
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Jerik posted:Hey, question here for people who know more about the nWoD than I do (which is probably most people here; I have a fair amount of experience with oWoD games, but almost none with the nWoD, but some recent reviews in FATAL & Friends have really piqued my interest): I've run LA as a supernatural hotspot, with all kinds of things coming out and trying to carve up some territory. Strictly Canonically, I believe Vampire and Mage are the only ones who base a setting out of there, besides Demon itself. Vampire has the Lancea et Sanctum having taken control and essentially attempting to run LA's nightlife out of The Mission, and Mage has some kind of Goetic storm that has Gotea of famous people (read: Anyone famous enough to have impersonators) possessing people and having them act like the celebrity in question. There's, like, faction conflicts and poo poo, but that should probably be left to only being relevant if your players care. Of note, Demon the Descent - The Demon Seed Collection actually has a whole writeup of LA. It's the third section, titled "Dream Factory". Edit: Holy poo poo I must not have noticed the page turned over, this is an extremely late answer.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 00:52 |
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Spector29 posted:Edit: Holy poo poo I must not have noticed the page turned over, this is an extremely late answer. That's okay, you're the first one to have mentioned the Mission bit. Do you happen to know offhand which book that's in? Hm... I found a description of the Mission in the 2E core Vampire book, but it has the Mission based out of San Francisco (but does mention that vampires in Los Angeles are "keeping a careful eye on it")—are you sure you weren't getting it confused, or is there another source that relocates it to L.A.?
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 01:08 |
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Jerik posted:That's okay, you're the first one to have mentioned the Mission bit. Do you happen to know offhand which book that's in? Someone also made a Los Angeles fanbook for 1e. http://tomthefanboy.com/rpgdocs/mrgone/CotD_LA.pdf
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 01:26 |
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I need to fill inches in my Gazette for my LARP, and i wanna do a funny advice column. What are some questions for ann Landers but a vampire?
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 03:14 |
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Shrecknet posted:I need to fill inches in my Gazette for my LARP, and i wanna do a funny advice column. What are some questions for ann Landers but a vampire? I feel like my ghouls don't respect me anymore. I remember when they would look up to me, even ask me for advice, but it seems like lately they only come around when they want something from me. How do I make them fear me without killing all of them? - Tapped Out in Tampa
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 03:37 |
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Dear Ann, I faint at the sight of a bleeding cut, which has made life very difficult since, you know, starting the night shift. How do I manage it without needing a fellow shift worker's assistance? Dear Ann, I have a body that needs to not be here anymore. I thought I'd try the acid thing they do on TV. This was a bad idea. I now have a bathroom that stinks to high hell, a very bad drain problem that I don't know how to explain to the plumber, and a very sticky, mostly intact skeleton. I already burned my last house down (long story!) and am loathe to pull the disappearing-arsonist trick a second time. How do I salvage this?
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 03:41 |
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Dear Ann, lately I'm starting to fear I might not be a Toreador like I originally thought but actually a Malkavian.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 03:51 |
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Dear Ann, One of the Gangrel elders is really into Native Americans. How do I tell him his War Bonnet is inappropriate without him literally tearing my face off?
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 04:02 |
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Dear Ann, Is it gauche to use tanning beds and wear Hawaiian shirts to Elysium?
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 04:10 |
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Particularly off-the-wall End Times scenario has come to mind as an additional extra - the whole Age of Iron part of the KOTE metaplot, where one of the Yama Kings will rise and become the Demon Emperor of all creation, taking place only to grind to a halt because no one accounted for the presence of an actual Demon Emperor already walking the Earth. Lucifer and his legions (and maybe, depending on the PCs, even the Earthbound, in a very loose alliance of convenience) suddenly getting up in Mikaboshi's business, with it unfolding from there as a sudden twist in either a Demon or KotE end-times game - at the close, it turns out that was just the warmup and things aren't even close to settled, with a final chance to decide whether the Age of Iron breaks the wheel or finally restores it to turn properly. Demon-KotE seems like an odd cross-over but it honestly seems like it would work way better than Vampire-KOTE in terms of 'they're like us, but not, in terrifying and beautiful ways' - in both cases they're themed very specifically around escaping the underworld into reality, taking on a new body, and proceeding to chase philosophical dreams (whether of power or knowledge or sheer hedonism) while advancing both the understanding of humanity and one's supernatural self, all while grappling with the mandates of a distant and perhaps outright dead god against whom there's been a historic rebellion that was brutally punished, while trying to prevent the most monstrous among them (since half the Yama Kings were once Kuei) from further ruining creation. The Kuei-jin can even be rightfully angry at the Fallen for creating the substrate of the hell they were tortured in, setting up a natural reason for some heavy faction antagonism that isn't just the Yellow Peril trope.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 04:33 |
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Imagine the Devil-Tigers teaming-up with the Raveners.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 05:16 |
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Dear Shreknet, My sire has been really good to me, she's been teaching me some of the harder points of our clan discipline (rhymes with dramaturgy) and she's been so, so patient. Honestly, I'm so glad to have her there for me - I can't imagine showing up to the local elysium without knowing she's there for me. My problem is that, well, she's kind of a messy eater. I know that mastery of the mystic arts takes a lot of concentration but she's always leaving half-drained kine and corpses lying about our chantry. I always clean up after her, it's the least I can do to repay all her kindness. Lately though I've been feeling, well, a little peeved that she only seems to pay attention to me when she's teaching me new rituals. I sometimes thinks she doesn't even know who cleans up all her corpses! How can I get over this resentment? Oh, and how can I explain to my coterie that my relationship with her is not codependent? They're all just jealous they don't have the same kind of relationship with their sires! - Sanguinely Tethered
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 05:45 |
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Dear Advice Columnist, how do I tell my ghoul I don't need their service anymore? Edit: Dear writer, you're a Setite right? Do you know where I can score some good drugs? I need some in the next two weeks or it might spark a gang war. Contact me at Elysium if you've got the stuff. *Signature removed to protect the guilty* MonsieurChoc fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Oct 18, 2019 |
# ? Oct 18, 2019 06:17 |
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Werewolf 20th question: what is the fluff around Spirit Heritage? The book touches on it briefly, but I’m still real fuzzy. Is there a good source that goes more in depth on the concept?
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 06:42 |
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The new Paul Rudd show on Netflix (Living With Yourself) is simultaneously very Deviant and very Changeling. Loving it so far.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 19:20 |
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Thanks everyone for your help. Issue 3 of Up Against the Wall is out. (there's two versions, with two different Ventrue horrorscopes as suggested) Enjoy!
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 19:27 |
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I ride bikes all day posted:Werewolf 20th question: what is the fluff around Spirit Heritage? The book touches on it briefly, but I’m still real fuzzy. Is there a good source that goes more in depth on the concept? The idea is that either through some kind of resonance, symbology, or ancestral past nastification, you read enough as "Fire spirit" or "Tree Spirit" that spirits of that type are more likely to obey you. It's really only useful if you know you'll be dealing with a specific type of spirit quite often.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 19:31 |
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Shrecknet posted:Thanks everyone for your help. Issue 3 of Up Against the Wall is out. (there's two versions, with two different Ventrue horrorscopes as suggested)
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 19:34 |
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Kurieg posted:The idea is that either through some kind of resonance, symbology, or ancestral past nastification, you read enough as "Fire spirit" or "Tree Spirit" that spirits of that type are more likely to obey you. It's really only useful if you know you'll be dealing with a specific type of spirit quite often. If you ST is generous enough, I could see a Glass Walker or Bone Gnawer taking it for 'urban.'
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 19:59 |
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Shrecknet you're a treasure.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 20:22 |
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Kurieg posted:The idea is that either through some kind of resonance, symbology, or ancestral past nastification, you read enough as "Fire spirit" or "Tree Spirit" that spirits of that type are more likely to obey you. It's really only useful if you know you'll be dealing with a specific type of spirit quite often. So there's no real good source for lore about it?
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 20:44 |
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Shrecknet posted:Thanks everyone for your help. Issue 3 of Up Against the Wall is out. (there's two versions, with two different Ventrue horrorscopes as suggested) Omnicrom posted:Shrecknet you're a treasure.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 20:53 |
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I was initially confused because I'm pretty sure there was a merit in one of the old books that's straight up "Yes your grandfather was a spirit."
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 21:15 |
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Kurieg posted:I was initially confused because I'm pretty sure there was a merit in one of the old books that's straight up "Yes your grandfather was a spirit." Spirit Heritage is from Player's Guide to the Garou, part of a chunk of new mechanics introduced to tap into the spiritual/mythic side of the Garou. The description I gave it in W20 is about the same as it had in PGttG; there's nowhere that delved into it more.
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 22:58 |
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DigitalRaven posted:Spirit Heritage is from Player's Guide to the Garou, part of a chunk of new mechanics introduced to tap into the spiritual/mythic side of the Garou. The description I gave it in W20 is about the same as it had in PGttG; there's nowhere that delved into it more. No canon is just an opportunity to write your own story, I guess. Thanks for the info!
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 23:09 |
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Shrecknet posted:Thanks everyone for your help. Issue 3 of Up Against the Wall is out. (there's two versions, with two different Ventrue horrorscopes as suggested) This is the greatest, thank you for everything you do
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# ? Oct 18, 2019 23:55 |
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# ? May 31, 2024 06:49 |
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Some people I played with took it upon themselves to interpret Spirit Heritage as altering your physical look when in the Umbra, so more often than not it was taken for purely cosmetic and flavor reasons. Edit: I forgot that it explicitly says in the book that you’re look is altered at level 4 and above. The game I was in took it to the extreme though, and it was noticeable at all levels. Free Gratis fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Oct 20, 2019 |
# ? Oct 20, 2019 16:16 |