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The Malkavia-as-a-disease from the Ventrue clanbook led to my gaming group cooking up a Requiem version that we all really enjoyed. It's basically written for 1E rules but has some 2E inspirations: https://the-act-of-hubris.obsidianportal.com/wikis/malkavia-and-lucidity
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Oct 13, 2021 06:16
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i've seen some good takes on Malkavians but none of them in official supplements, mostly just people here or in similar communities coming up with alternate bloodlines that broadly involve language, the senses, or prophecy without just being "ha ha i'm a crude stereotype of a schizophrenic"
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Oct 13, 2021 14:07
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Dawgstar posted:Shadows of New York had one. It was nice to see a few different malk portrayals across that pair of games. There was Hope, her sire, and Adelaide - the clingy stalker from Coteries. Hope was by far the closest to the goofy malk stereotype.
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Oct 13, 2021 14:40
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The v20 Malkavian i'm playing was made more as a way for the ST to slip in hints to drive the narrative along than being wacky which is why I think it works as well as it has. Focused more on the fractured seer aspect than the crazy, with his OCD derangement being more about me taking copious notes of what's going on. It probably helps that there's a method to what he's talking about when he's ranting about aliens and various conspiracies, where you can tell which group he's talking about based off of his word choice. Part of the game involves conflict with the technocracy so you end up with him going on tangents about the Martians (VE), Venusians (NWO), and Plutonians (Syndicate). Plus whatever humor he generates is more from his actions than him as a whole.
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Oct 13, 2021 14:52
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ritorix posted:It was nice to see a few different malk portrayals across that pair of games. There was Hope, her sire, and Adelaide - the clingy stalker from Coteries. Hope was by far the closest to the goofy malk stereotype. Hope's Sire is from New York by Night and has been part of the Lore for 20+ years. https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Carter_Vanderweyden
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Oct 13, 2021 15:21
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Fuzz posted:Hope's Sire is from New York by Night and has been part of the Lore for 20+ years. Coteries of New York really had a lot of nods for people who played/read New York by Night. I sure appreciated it, though I didn't care for the ending. Shadows of New York was great though. Re: Malk chat. I am playing a good Malk who hears voices, it is good, I swear! Actually a Salubri who diablerized her sire on his command and now has him as a mentor inside her head. She just pretends to be a Malk because there are very few of them in the city and gives her a pass if she displays any eccentricities such as arguing with her sire. ZearothK fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Oct 13, 2021 |
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Oct 13, 2021 17:24
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The Vampire comic from Vault Comics started its new volume with some werewolves so it might be a look into what Woof 5E could be if folks are interested. It's a pretty good read anyway.
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Oct 13, 2021 20:29
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So I was listening to some VtM podcasts and ended up trying "20 Years of VtM". In one of the episodes they were talking about how, if you were playing the game the "right" way, then you shouldn't be using your powers much at all. As in, if you are an established kindred (like an elder), using your powers is a personal failure because you should be able to surmount any circumstance with sheer roleplay. Maybe I misunderstood them but I don't think I did. As someone who played the "wrong" way when I was playing, I was wondering, is this a common attitude? I only ask because apparently the guys who do (did?) the podcast are pretty knowledgeable about the lore/setting and seem to be at least somewhat known in the scene. I know the real answer is to just play how you like, but this has been rolling around in my brain any time I see VtM mentioned and I figured you guys were the people to ask.
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Oct 13, 2021 20:42
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My take is that you are not a real VtM player unless you've gotten addicted to using Dominate to solve everything. [edit] People who talk about the "right way" to play anything are usually asshats
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Oct 13, 2021 20:43
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HoboTech posted:So I was listening to some VtM podcasts and ended up trying "20 Years of VtM". In one of the episodes they were talking about how, if you were playing the game the "right" way, then you shouldn't be using your powers much at all. As in, if you are an established kindred (like an elder), using your powers is a personal failure because you should be able to surmount any circumstance with sheer roleplay. Maybe I misunderstood them but I don't think I did. I can kinda see it, does Jeff Bezos personally deal with every legal threat and hr complaint personally or does his money, political power, etc have people do that for him mostly? That said, I don't think I'd ever want to play a game where direct personal combat never happens. ZearothK posted:[edit] People who talk about the "right way" to play anything are usually asshats
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Oct 13, 2021 20:54
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That seems kind of weird and asinine. Partially because to my ear "pure roleplay" would mean "without resorting to mechanics," and that's not the same as "without using supernatural powers." For one thing a lot of the supernatural powers have their best effects be...at least less mechanical, and for another WOD has a lot of mechanics that lack supernatural elements. Anyway the big problem to my mind is, if I wanted to do roleplay without using mechanics and in particular without using Vampire Powers, why would I learn and play Vampire? There are plenty of other options. I understand the impulse to want powers to be used sparingly - it feels cool to have big dramatic moments where powers turn around otherwise impossible situations. But I mean, we all showed up here for a reason, and it wasn't to just swan around pretending we're goths that can't turn invisible or eat bullets.
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Oct 13, 2021 21:01
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They're vampires, not Jedi.ZearothK posted:[edit] People who talk about the "right way" to play anything are usually asshats Yes.
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Oct 13, 2021 21:07
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To clarify, these guys also refer to DnD derisively as a "beer and pretzels" game and don't seem think it's possible to actually roleplay while playing it. Again, maybe I misunderstood them, but I don't think so. Maybe they just really hate rolling dice?
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Oct 13, 2021 21:13
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HoboTech posted:To clarify, these guys also refer to DnD derisively as a "beer and pretzels" game and don't seem think it's possible to actually roleplay while playing it. Again, maybe I misunderstood them, but I don't think so. Maybe they're just the kind of player you don't really want to play with because it's never exactly what they want. But what they really want is for it to not be up to their standard so they have something to complain about. If all they want is a performative role playing game, then they should play the LARP versions of them. WoD games have never been entirely that, which is what all the mechanics and dice are there for. Or maybe... ZearothK posted:[edit] People who talk about the "right way" to play anything are usually asshats
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Oct 13, 2021 22:42
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Even by the gatekeepery standards of the most scoldingly one-true-way mechanics and essays published in actual oWoD books, that would be a bullshit attitude if that's what they really meant. White Wolf put out a boatload and a half of pretension over the years, but they rarely fell into "roleplay not rollplay" horseshit.
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Oct 14, 2021 00:16
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That Old Tree posted:White Wolf put out a boatload and a half of pretension over the years, but they rarely fell into "roleplay not rollplay" horseshit. How else were they going to sell 100 new Backgrounds worth of books? 
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Oct 14, 2021 00:17
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HoboTech posted:So I was listening to some VtM podcasts and ended up trying "20 Years of VtM". In one of the episodes they were talking about how, if you were playing the game the "right" way, then you shouldn't be using your powers much at all. As in, if you are an established kindred (like an elder), using your powers is a personal failure because you should be able to surmount any circumstance with sheer roleplay. Maybe I misunderstood them but I don't think I did. As someone who played the "wrong" way when I was playing, I was wondering, is this a common attitude? Grognards have weird attitudes about games. And really, they are missing out. Powers can influence the narrative in chaotic ways that pure roleplay can't do or would actively avoid. Those mechanics can in turn make the roleplay less predictable than it would have been if freeform. I'll give an example from a game last week - Scene is an Anarch Rant. An ex-Sabbat Fiend player is trying to join the movement, but has an attitude. They were a big deal in the Sect Wars, they might have done a few murders, they get easily insulted by 'lessers', they start arguing, etc. The baron, who is super busy and has an important speech to give, orders her muscle to handle things, by softly saying the name of another PC. So far, pure roleplay. Now the mechanics come in. The muscle was a Nosferatu PC hidden next to the fiend (Unseen Passage vs Auspex check), who gained a surprise bite attack. With Brutal Feed. The troublemaker went from badass to max Hunger, with agg damage, and grappled in a split second. The only question left was 'will you pass the frenzy check?' The check passed, the fiend maintained control and relented. The baron gave an entire speech while the PCs sat there in a bite grapple, everyone expecting it to end with "finish him!" Instead there was mercy, the fiend found someone they could respect (the Nos), and went off hunting with the Nos later to deal with that maxed hunger. And the cool thing is it could have gone *lots* of ways, including final death, or the fiend spotting/defeating the baron's muscle, or a hunger frenzy, but this is what happened thanks to the mechanics, and the narrative benefitted.
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Oct 14, 2021 00:23
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It sounds like these podcasters are taking the idea that using your powers on other kindred is rude and crass and somehow expanding it into how you're actually supposed to play.
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Oct 14, 2021 00:39
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It almost feels like they took the old joke, "The World of Darkness incentivizes roleplaying by making combat so awful for everyone involved, everyone's forced to solve things through talking," as an actual guideline for play. Which is kind of funny to me. A game where anyone could throw down with their superpowers and solve it with violence, but players legitimately don't want it to come to that. So they just bluster, threaten, and cajole to get what they want while the Sword of Damocles that is the combat mechanics dangles over them.
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Oct 14, 2021 02:10
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"Only loser Vampires have to rely on their powers" *is* a thing... ... in character, at least. I know that's something that's beaten into any Ventrue that survives the Agoge. It's yet another bit of bullshit that Elders tell neonates because *every* Elder has gone full HAM at some point. It's just wild to see it still exist as an OOC opinion, since the whole "it's roleplay not rollplay" crap was thick in the New Bremen days online.
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Oct 14, 2021 02:35
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"Using overt displays of force to get what you want is uncouth and silly and frankly, beneath you. Please ignore how we all got up here." is a time-honored tradition among the ruling classes throughout history, so it makes sense that in-universe it would be a thing elders say. Players, on the other hand
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Oct 14, 2021 02:41
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I believe the traditional response to a cry for decorum like that from the power structures that dominate and control your existence without your consent is to use your powers on it (e.g., a molotov cocktail or a guillotine).
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Oct 14, 2021 03:19
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V5 people: You should all watch LA by Night. It is cool and good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFyQtOghqwA
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Oct 14, 2021 03:42
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TheKingslayer posted:It sounds like these podcasters are taking the idea that using your powers on other kindred is rude and crass and somehow expanding it into how you're actually supposed to play. Honestly, yes. This is how I read it. I've tried to listen to that podcast but after a few episodes, I gave up. One guy in particular just seems completely uncritical of those books in a way that even my high school self would cringe at.
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Oct 14, 2021 04:05
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TheKingslayer posted:It sounds like these podcasters are taking the idea that using your powers on other kindred is rude and crass and somehow expanding it into how you're actually supposed to play. That sounds likely to me. It reminds me of arguments about things like Humanity or the Oath of the Moon, that miss the fact that there being consequences or taboo around an action in character aren't an out of character instruction that the action is not meant to occur in play. It's rude and offensive to use your powers on other vampires. Vampires are monsters who pretend not to be rude and offensive.
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Oct 14, 2021 11:15
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Precambrian posted:It almost feels like they took the old joke, "The World of Darkness incentivizes roleplaying by making combat so awful for everyone involved, everyone's forced to solve things through talking," as an actual guideline for play. Maybe it's partly the way people I know adjudicate stuff, but vampire combat abilities mostly seem... pretty weak compared to the less fighty ones. Obfuscate and Dominate are big strong.
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Oct 14, 2021 13:35
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WoD Brand Update just dropped https://www.worldofdarkness.com/news/world-of-darkness-brand-update -W5 is still on, more on the twitch show tonight -HUNTER THE RECKONING V5 IS HAPPENING AND THE BOOK HAS FINISHED DEVELOPMENT, also more tonight
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Oct 14, 2021 13:54
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ElNarez posted:-HUNTER THE RECKONING V5 IS HAPPENING AND THE BOOK HAS FINISHED DEVELOPMENT, also more tonight 
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Oct 14, 2021 13:56
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I did not expect H5, but I am very happy about H5.
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Oct 14, 2021 14:02
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No mention of Imbued, or powers at all. In fact "Hunters are fighting back against the terrors that go bump in the night, giving humanity a fighting chance against impossible odds. Hunters also position themselves in opposition to larger hunting orgs, which are often the tools of an unjust status quo." Sounds more like Hunters Hunted, or Vigil.
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Oct 14, 2021 14:30
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ElNarez posted:WoD Brand Update just dropped Hunter the Reckoning making a comeback was not what I expected but hopefully it manages to not be "Info Wars: The game"
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Oct 14, 2021 15:03
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lmfao that Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition is coming out before Mage and Werewolf I wonder how updated the combat is in comparison to V5. V5's combat fine when you're doing the three rounds and done narrative conflict thingie, but doing a full proper combat is just miserable.
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Oct 14, 2021 16:31
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It wouldn't really be Reckoning with out the Imbued though. The lack of the Imbued is one of the reasons I never got into Vigil, though it seemed like a fine game.
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Oct 14, 2021 16:39
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ZearothK posted:lmfao that Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition is coming out before Mage and Werewolf So just like previous editions?
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Oct 14, 2021 16:46
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ZearothK posted:lmfao that Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition is coming out before Mage and Werewolf This fact is giving me hope that they went ahead and set fire to Ericsson's notes/drafts.
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Oct 14, 2021 16:48
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While there's still some stuff in Reckoning that needs a fresh coat of paint from a fluff perspective, it's probably not as hard to hammer out the dents as it is for Woof or Mage.
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Oct 14, 2021 17:18
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https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1176514858 Here's the big update, if anyone's interested. It seems like the new edition of Reckoning will not carry over the Imbued, and they're not directly connected to the Second Inquisition either. Since they're going with, "the old editions are still there" regarding playable Imbued, my guess is that Reckoning is going to be an World of Darkness take on Hunter: the Vigil: street-level hunters with the factions of Hunters Hunted who haven't joined the SI (i.e pretty much just the Arcanum and perhaps a redeemed Children of Osiris if they remember those people exist) serving as the equivalent of Compacts and Conspiracies. Also it looks like the Umbra is actively rejecting Garou, and it'll only focus on 11 Tribes. Considering how 5th Edition prefers to be pure street-level and highly focused on the concept of "political horror" as a philosophy, none of this comes off as too much of a surprise. It almost feels like a double down on Revised in a lot of aspects. I'm still left wondering why they didn't just do a hard reboot on the metaplot, though. At this point if you're writing around the elimination of an entire central game character from their splat, you might as well just start fresh. Or, at the very least, develop a brand new game line with World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness elements fused together, since at this point 5th Edition is quickly becoming very different from the previous four editions of WoD and obviously CofD itself.
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Oct 14, 2021 18:19
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Once again if W5 isn't basically "The Adventures of the Bone Gnawers And We Guess These Other Jack-offs If We Have To Include Them" i fail to see the god drat point.
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Oct 14, 2021 19:23
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Fuzz posted:This would be how I'd run it, yeah. Also would happily play. I'd be down, too. I miss playing VtM.
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Oct 14, 2021 21:44
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I need to go back and read the old Reckoning books. I remember them being a lot of fun because of how weird they were and how deranged some of the imbued were in the forum posts excerpts.
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Oct 14, 2021 22:18
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