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So to be clear, that kind of farcical disregard for narrative coherence is acceptable so long as the PC that's principally involved comes to next session with an effective 3 or 4 fewer XP than everyone else?
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Jun 24, 2022 19:10
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Ferrinus posted:So to be clear, that kind of farcical disregard for narrative coherence is acceptable so long as the PC that's principally involved comes to next session with an effective 3 or 4 fewer XP than everyone else? I mean, I think it's farcical to say 'sure, last week I had obfuscate that let me rescue the entire party from the clutches of the evil whatever, but now it turns out I actually had animalism the whole time. Oh, wait, we're doing a heist? Hang on, I want obfuscate back.' I think that some of the best stories come from adversity and needing to find solutions with the tools you brought, not simply rewriting everything on a whim. But that's just me. I think 'narrative coherence' comes from choices having consequences, and things you want coming at a cost. But hey, we can both have our own ideas, mate. For the record, I liked your analysis of hunger dice, but I'm starting to see why people seem to be rubbed the wrong way by you.
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Jun 24, 2022 19:17
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TheCenturion posted:I mean, I think it's farcical to say 'sure, last week I had obfuscate that let me rescue the entire party from the clutches of the evil whatever, but now it turns out I actually had animalism the whole time. Oh, wait, we're doing a heist? Hang on, I want obfuscate back.' But, again, this problem is best resolved by making sure the Obfuscate-when-convenient guy has less XP. Your experience with people wanting to respec is that it's largely an attempt to hot-swap capabilities because they have forewarning of an upcoming game-mechanics challenge, and this hot-swapping is actually fine so long as it permanently debilitates the character doing it.
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Jun 24, 2022 19:42
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Right; "here is a cost you can pay to do the thing" is not how you signal that you shouldn't do something. It's how you signal that you should budget for and strategize around it as an opportunity cost. It's the exact opposite of the ostensible, proposed goal. Conversely "infinite respecs within first 3 sessions," "one trait / power retro per level", "full respecs but it requires your character to undergo a lengthy narrative arc at the GM's supervision" -- this sort of design prevents or at least bounds the use of respecs as a strategic decision while not permanently and harshly punishing people who got cold feet or found they didn't enjoy their theorycraft in practice.
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Jun 24, 2022 19:47
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I actually think it'd be kind of cool to formalize the ability to buy a power for a discipline slot with a +50% XP surcharge specifically to grant yourself the meta-power of swapping different powers into that slot night by night.
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Jun 24, 2022 19:49
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Ferrinus posted:I actually think it'd be kind of cool to formalize the ability to buy a power for a discipline slot with a +50% XP surcharge specifically to grant yourself the meta-power of swapping different powers into that slot night by night. sounds like a coil
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Jun 24, 2022 19:50
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TheCenturion posted:Right, so there's multiple ideas here. I mean, I agree in general with "restrictions can create fun," like if I didn't believe that I wouldn't voluntarily submit myself to rules during my leisure time at all. I'm still encouraging you to use different restrictions because the one you presented to the class here does not, I think, accomplish your aims. What you have set out is that flexibility is permitted but at extremely dire long-term non-narrative cost, which makes sense if the non-narrative power of flexibility were incredibly powerful (something I doubt in WoD but that's a separate argument). It's something I would find cool in a roguelike - sacrificing HP for skillpoints or something. But for a TTRPG I'm kind of hesitant about it because it really signals to me that the important part of your table is non-narrative. Which is not necessarily a slam mind you, I don't play Infinity or 40k or poker for narrative. But it doesn't really minimize the weaknesses/maximize the strengths of WOD. But the question pretty much everyone has been asking indirectly but I guess I'll put it to you directly is: what do your players think about this? Have you discussed with them how, as a table, you'd like to handle such issues? Because the players might agree with you, or they might take the read I do that it's about prioritizing systems mastery over character exploration, or they might find it even more embittering than that, or they might think its really cool, or they might think its not strict enough and they'd prefer no respeccing whatsoever. But I think regardless of what you end up going with, I think it'd be best to give the players a chance to have some input, since it is their table too. e: lol TuxedoCatfish beat me to the best points anyway
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Jun 24, 2022 19:51
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If the purpose of Respeccing is to allow someone who is unhappy with their character, and thus gameplay, to become happy again. Then putting them permanently behind everyone else is not going to solve either of those issues. If someone is metagaming and using Respeccing as a way to invalidate encounters that's a player issue, not a gameplay issue.
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Jun 24, 2022 19:51
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While I generally appreciate and try to write formal, in-character respec rules of the "swap one spell per level" or "retrain a discipline dot by meditating at a wyrm's nest" mold (among other things these can serve as valuable setting information), it's important to bear in mind that these rules are never going to cover every eventuality of a player being unhappy with an in-game decision they made, whether that decision involved spending XP to buy character traits or involved IC behavior in the sense of making a deal or killing a particular NPC or whatever. It will, eventually, come up that someone is unhappy with what just happened or happened last session or happened in their prelude or whatever and would like everyone in the game to please agree with them that something different happened instead, and that's only ever going to be resolved through some sort of negotiation and reestablishment of social consensus, not reference to rules sidebars. A nice benchmark to use is like, what if someone new was joining the game and just making a new guy? Shouldn't existing players who are unhappy for whatever reason have at least that much leeway? You've got to trust that they care as much about the integrity of the game as you do, or else why are you playing with them at all?
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Jun 24, 2022 20:08
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Ferrinus posted:You've got to trust that they care as much about the integrity of the game as you do, or else why are you playing with them at all? Well, they wrote all these respec houserules...
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Jun 24, 2022 20:09
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If you want a respec to have a meaningful cost, that cost doesn't have to be a permanent debilitation that makes the character worse overall than the rest of the coterie. You could impose a temporary penalty, like "you're down one die on tests involving the thing you just respecced into for the next session because you're still adjusting." Or a strictly narrative cost, rather than a mechanical penalty, where the character has to spend time or some other ephemeral resource on training or doing favors for the person who's teaching them a new Discipline or whatever.
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Jun 24, 2022 20:12
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gtrmp posted:If you want a respec to have a meaningful cost, that cost doesn't have to be a permanent debilitation that makes the character worse overall than the rest of the coterie. You could impose a temporary penalty, like "you're down one die on tests involving the thing you just respecced into for the next session because you're still adjusting."
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Jun 24, 2022 20:16
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Hi, sorry to intrude, I've given up on catching up with the entire thread when I'm 3000 posts behind or so, and I have a question. I love reading Werewolf source books. I've read a bunch of oWoD Werewolf and nWoD Werewolf, and this game is the closest I've gotten to anyone writing cool werewolves having their own society and mythology and codes and fighting evil creatures. My questions are: - Are there any sourcebooks in any of the Werewolf (or WoD) lines that I should go look at? I don't mind being told to reread Hammer & Klaive, for example. - How's the newer stuff? I last read Werewolf stuff around the 1e nWoD stuff. I have Thoughts on the reboot and mixed feelings on it, but the idea of Sons of Anarchy: but it's werewolves now with a more hostile spirit realm is interesting. - Are there other games / books / video games / whatever I should be looking for? I adore werewolves, I adore having a spirit world to interact with, I love gonzo violence/horror, I love the having a pack to care about, I love the human/animal culture-clash/dynamic they explore. I don't love hopeless nihilism, I don't love the werewolf form only being for combat, I don't love White Wolf completely loving up depicting native peoples. I don't know if I'll ever actually play a game, but WoD stuff is about the most fun I've ever had reading a tabletop gameline, and Werewolf remains my favorite.
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Jun 24, 2022 20:26
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StrixNebulosa posted:- Are there any sourcebooks in any of the Werewolf (or WoD) lines that I should go look at? I don't mind being told to reread Hammer & Klaive, for example. quote:- How's the newer stuff? I last read Werewolf stuff around the 1e nWoD stuff. I have Thoughts on the reboot and mixed feelings on it, but the idea of Sons of Anarchy: but it's werewolves now with a more hostile spirit realm is interesting. quote:- Are there other games / books / video games / whatever I should be looking for? I adore werewolves, I adore having a spirit world to interact with, I love gonzo violence/horror, I love the having a pack to care about, I love the human/animal culture-clash/dynamic they explore. I don't love hopeless nihilism, I don't love the werewolf form only being for combat, I don't love White Wolf completely loving up depicting native peoples. Uhh.. Okami?
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Jun 24, 2022 20:39
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I'm torn on Werewolf 2E. The premise and concept is really compelling: shapeshifting demon hunters patrolling the spirit world. The actual mechanical execution leaves a lot to be desired. It's just so god-dang clunky and fragmented. Keep track of shifting between five different forms, each with their own special modifiers to attacks and attributes AND effects on Lunacy. Keep track of your Harmony. Keep track of your Renown. Keep track of your auspice. Keep track of Gauntlet Strength. Keep track of Lunacy effects. Keep track of Essence expenditure. Keep track of Death Rage. Oh, Death Rage also has two sub-categories to keep track of. Keep track of Gifts and their facet modifier conditions. AND you have to cross-reference all of that with Conditions, the effects of which are in a separate appendix. AND all the key terms are in a made up fake language. AND you have to keep track of this poo poo: And that's before you even engage with all the other non-werewolf game systems like equipment, initiative etc. None of it feels streamlined in the way Vampire or Hunter does, which is a shame. Spirits, hosts, idigam, and the Pure are all really great antagonists, some of the best in the nwod. for me it's a game that always makes me want to play until I have to actually read the rulebook tatankatonk fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Jun 24, 2022 |
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Jun 24, 2022 21:15
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And it doesn't help that WtF has some of the most impenetrable jargon in CofD. Spirit stuff all being in Sumerian is a really neat touch, but when all your important gameplay mechanic names are in Sumerian it all just blurs together. Also, if you want an update on what's happening with Werewolf: The Apocalypse, here's a quick and dirty update: the anniversary edition has had a decent amount of new books made for it (other people can comment on the quality), but there hasn't been an official fifth edition yet. That sounds like it'd be surprising, since there was a big push for it when V5 was first announced (including a bad video game). But... Well, the original head of the Paradox White Wolf relaunch was a horrible edgelord, and I assume there's a whole team of writers trying to figure out how to make a new edition of Werewolf that hasn't aged like milk in 2022.
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Jun 24, 2022 21:56
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Broadly, I would say Werewolf 2E improves on A) making more Gifts appealing and B) thinking harder about what packs look like as social units. Otherwise I actually prefer 1E, which gives you the same setting but with way less mechanical cruft. If anyone's confused about the 2E spirit rules, I always direct them to read the WtF 1E appendix about spirits and the spirit world, because while the web of interlocking conditions is in fact logical and internally consistent, it's not really clear what it's even trying to do unless you already understand that spirits work like this, sometimes they anchor themselves to things or people, sometimes they fuse with those things or people...
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Jun 24, 2022 22:28
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TheCenturion posted:Right, so there's multiple ideas here. I mean, yes? In the changeling game I played my character started out as a Beast that just wanted to run away and was very fearful, but half way through our prelude I decided that wasn't a very fun character to play and created a mama bear Fairest instead. With a change that drastic, it was just straight up a new character. If I was running a mixed chronicle that included both gangrel and rokea and one of my players came to me saying how they weren't feeling their character and wanted to change, yeah, I'd let them reroll. WtF chat: All that stuff becomes instinctual after a few sessions. It looks more confusing than it actually plays. Except the spirit condition flow chart, I always had to have that on hand for reference when running my game. Soonmot fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Jun 24, 2022 |
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Jun 24, 2022 23:29
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If letting people spend XP on respecing means they're suddenly at a disadvantage compared to the other players, do you also not give out bonus XP awards for good RP, good ideas, and so on, because then the characters wouldn't all be even?Soonmot posted:I mean, yes? In the changeling game I played my character started out as a Beast that just wanted to run away and was very fearful, but half way through our prelude I decided that wasn't a very fun character to play and created a mama bear Fairest instead. With a change that drastic, it was just straight up a new character. If I was running a mixed chronicle that included both gangrel and rokea and one of my players came to me saying how they weren't feeling their character and wanted to change, yeah, I'd let them reroll. Well, we're not talking about rerolling, we're talking about retroactively changing major facets of the existing character.
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Jun 25, 2022 00:08
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TheCenturion posted:If letting people spend XP on respecing means they're suddenly at a disadvantage compared to the other players, do you also not give out bonus XP awards for good RP, good ideas, and so on, because then the characters wouldn't all be even?
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Jun 25, 2022 00:29
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Chernobyl Peace Prize posted:The books frequently offer group beat rules for this exact reason: Good play elevates everyone. Also, the fundamental reward of good play and good ideas is you have a memorable and significant impact on the game. You get to shape the story the table shares. You get to make your friends happy! Why do you also need to get more ink on your character sheet? On some level, rules about tight-fisting people's access to XP based on how much they please you seem like they're designed for games where you don't actually like the people you're playing with. At which point, like... why are you playing a game which is composed entirely of their thoughts and imaginations? e: I mean I guess you could be really desperate for a captive audience to hold down and make admire your worldbuilding, or plotting, or intricate mechanical design... but I think we're all better than that. Too old for it, for sure. Attorney at Funk fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Jun 25, 2022 |
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Jun 25, 2022 00:55
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TheCenturion posted:If letting people spend XP on respecing means they're suddenly at a disadvantage compared to the other players, do you also not give out bonus XP awards for good RP, good ideas, and so on, because then the characters wouldn't all be even? Switching splats would be creating a new character, which is what going from gangrel to wereshark would be
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Jun 25, 2022 01:12
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TheCenturion posted:If letting people spend XP on respecing means they're suddenly at a disadvantage compared to the other players, do you also not give out bonus XP awards for good RP, good ideas, and so on, because then the characters wouldn't all be even? I do not, specifically because that creates a disparity.
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Jun 25, 2022 01:18
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TheCenturion posted:If letting people spend XP on respecing means they're suddenly at a disadvantage compared to the other players, do you also not give out bonus XP awards for good RP, good ideas, and so on, because then the characters wouldn't all be even? I already said that part of the appeal of having uneven XP amounts is that it reflects what they've done. It's not like the previous arguments about it being unfair stop applying when you shift from "the party has earned X experience, but you have lost Y because you changed your mind about some mechanical decisions" to "you personally have earned X experience, but-". This is why retraining should either have a mainly fictional cost (time spent, mentors gained, etc) or the out-of-game cost of making sure your entire group is on the same page about how much retraining is acceptable in your game.
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Jun 25, 2022 01:19
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Lurks With Wolves posted:I already said that part of the appeal of having uneven XP amounts is that it reflects what they've done. It's not like the previous arguments about it being unfair stop applying when you shift from "the party has earned X experience, but you have lost Y because you changed your mind about some mechanical decisions" to "you personally have earned X experience, but-". This is why retraining should either have a mainly fictional cost (time spent, mentors gained, etc) or the out-of-game cost of making sure your entire group is on the same page about how much retraining is acceptable in your game. Aren't we all playing with friends? Why would you need to give out special good boy stickers instead of everyone just knowing who the especially strong RPers in the group are? And why would you need to make rules for respeccing when you can just talk to your friends and come up with a reasonable solution if they're unhappy? Or tell them frankly that you want them to metagame less if you feel like that's what they're doing? Group beats work fine
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Jun 25, 2022 01:44
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We get a flat 2xp per session, which makes poo poo a little tight. But there's three ways to get more. - RP Reward, which is voted on by the players. You then roll a d6 from a rotating list of bonuses (+2 to an Investigation/Brawl/Persuasion roll, etc) with +1xp always being on there. - ST's Choice, which is just that. Same roll, different list. Still has +1xp, but also includes a social faux pas having the opposite effect ("the balls on this guy!"), having a can of New Coke appear in your haven, or a nutella sandwich appearing in your pocket. No one's gotten the sandwich yet but it apparently makes you as smart as a baby dolphin. - Trivia Challenge; basically the ST asks someone what their Hunger/Health/Willpower is currently as a way to encourage folks to do proper book keeping. +1xp, with the person asked rotating (but won't be whoever got either of the other two rewards). citybeatnik fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Jun 25, 2022 |
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Jun 25, 2022 01:45
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Kurieg posted:Blood of the Wolf is interesting for a rather crunchy scientific look at what it would be like to have wolf and human biology trying to share the wheel of a single being. It's somewhat out of date since in 2e the way to handle that kind of stuff is "It shouldn't be important unless it is in which case you can handle it how you want." Players Guide to the Garou and Players Guide to the Changing Breeds were really good Revised books, the 20th anniversary replacement for those two books is also very good. On the list, on the list... Thank you! Awesome to hear about 2e! Was not a huge fan of how literally everyone in 1e hated each other. Like, there's hostile and then there's no point to fighting for the setting because no one will care about you, even your allies. Okami is so good I 100%ed it on the PS2 as a teen, and I'm happily replaying it on the PC. Good stuff. tatankatonk posted:I'm torn on Werewolf 2E. The premise and concept is really compelling: shapeshifting demon hunters patrolling the spirit world. The actual mechanical execution leaves a lot to be desired. It's just so god-dang clunky and fragmented. Keep track of shifting between five different forms, each with their own special modifiers to attacks and attributes AND effects on Lunacy. Keep track of your Harmony. Keep track of your Renown. Keep track of your auspice. Keep track of Gauntlet Strength. Keep track of Lunacy effects. Keep track of Essence expenditure. Keep track of Death Rage. Oh, Death Rage also has two sub-categories to keep track of. Keep track of Gifts and their facet modifier conditions. AND you have to cross-reference all of that with Conditions, the effects of which are in a separate appendix. AND all the key terms are in a made up fake language. AND you have to keep track of this poo poo: I'm not gonna lie. I've only ever been in one tabletop RPG session and it was for D&D and even that was a little too clunky for me when I just wanna roleplay. So it's fascinating reading the rules in these things, but you can't pay me to play GURPs or Shadowrun, and the dots system in WoD is just wonky. Lurks With Wolves posted:And it doesn't help that WtF has some of the most impenetrable jargon in CofD. Spirit stuff all being in Sumerian is a really neat touch, but when all your important gameplay mechanic names are in Sumerian it all just blurs together. Makes me sad there's no new wolf stuff.  Makes me happy that the edgelord got kicked out - didn't he put in some incredible homophobia or something in a Vampire book that pissed off a whole country?
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Jun 25, 2022 02:12
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StrixNebulosa posted:On the list, on the list... Thank you! He sure did! Well, I don't know that Swedracula wrote it himself as there was some rumblings at the time that good old M.R.H may have written it. The latest word on W5 is it's next up on the docket with Hunter 5e out now.
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Jun 25, 2022 02:21
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I really like that 2E focuses a lot on "the moon landing is a big deal for people who get their power from the moon." I just think that's neat. I do not think it is neat that the choice of colors hurts my eyes. The spirit chart is a mess and though I have not played Forsaken2 I did play a spirit Thyrsus in a mage game and as a GM I made spirits a major feature of my promethean game and you know what? We just loving punted on those rules. Spirits do spirit poo poo, gently caress it. They're semi-sapient ephemeral beings who are motivated by gaining essence and can be harmed with their bane & ban, that's about it.
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Jun 25, 2022 02:23
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tatankatonk posted:Aren't we all playing with friends? Why would you need to give out special good boy stickers instead of everyone just knowing who the especially strong RPers in the group are? And why would you need to make rules for respeccing when you can just talk to your friends and come up with a reasonable solution if they're unhappy? Or tell them frankly that you want them to metagame less if you feel like that's what they're doing? Group beats work fine Because sometimes you don't want to play a game where your characters are a single unit. Would I play with it? No. But it's not like Apocalypse World is a universe-shattering mess because individual characters that different XP amounts. Individual beats are, on a vague conceptual level, fine. (Also the point was that individual XP tracks don't justify spending XP on changing mechanical choices, not that individual XP tracks are a good idea. Relax.)
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Jun 25, 2022 02:30
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StrixNebulosa posted:Makes me sad there's no new wolf stuff. Also, it wasn't written directly by him, but a Vampire book did say that Chechnya's anti-gay purges were organized by vampires behind the scenes to draw attention away from themselves, which pissed off literally everyone and caused a diplomatic incident. EDIT: Okay, I missed that joylessdivision already answered this question. At least you have plenty of context for why this thread had a knee-jerk hate response for the new WoD books until... this year, basically. Lurks With Wolves fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jun 25, 2022 |
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Jun 25, 2022 02:36
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Forsaken 1e has some killer supplements. Predators will give you antagonists to use for years, and not only for Werewolves. I used the Rat Hosts as enemies for a mage campaign once and it worked frighteningly well.
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Jun 25, 2022 02:55
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GetDunked posted:I think one thing we can all agree on is we need more campaign trip reports, of any edition Well, you asked for this. I don’t know if this’ll be interesting to anyone but me, but I figure I’ll  and ask for forgiveness later.Here’s the first of too many words about my ongoing Mage game. The game is set in the Southern Cross Consilium, the (in the loosest sense) organised Mage society covering the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Though most of the cabals are based in Auckland, the Hierarch and her cabal, and a handful of others, are based in Wellington. The Consilium is about a decade old, and was formed after a long conflict with the Seers led to the dissolution of New Zealand’s previous consilia and the deaths of dozens of mages on all sides. Mansfield, (Silver Ladder Obrimos) Hierarch of the Southern Cross, is in charge because nobody else really wants the job. The number one rule is to keep your heads down and not draw the attention of the opposition. Most Orders keep quite separate, and cross-order Cabals are rare. Consilium gatherings are infrequent, knowledge and resources are hoarded, and connections are frayed. None of my players have played much World/Chronicles of Darkness, and so this is just sort of a wide-ranging game, almost monster of the week style, where I tour them around the setting and show off poo poo that I think is neat. I also bought a second-hand copy of Reign of the Exarchs not long before I started running the game, so I’ve worked a bit of that into it, but it’s not the main thrust of the campaign. The PCs are a cabal of recently Awakened Libertines, who have recently finished their apprenticeship with Rose (Acanthus), keeper of the Free Council Lorehouse (a small, well-protected room in the back of her antiques shop). They named their cabal “Equinox”, and loosely themed it around the transitions between seasons. The cabal consists of: Ariadne: Mastigos. Before her Awakening, she was an online goth-GF instagram personality. Since Awakening, she’s kept it up, though it suddenly seems a lot less interesting. Still, it never hurts to have hundreds of people know and love you(r fictional persona), especially when you're fascinated by sympathy links. Merits include Allies (Army of Simps). Fortune: Acanthus. A shifty bogan from Wainuomata. Before he Awakened, he’d been sleepwalking his way through a CompSci degree at University, but chucked it all in after his trip to the Supernal. These days he spends his time hanging out in lovely pubs, bringing good and bad luck to people who he thinks need it and generally acting like a weird urban cryptid. Merits include Occultation and Hypervigilance. Heliotrope: Thyrsus. She has a big heart, big biceps, and big knowledge about bees. Before Awakening she was a beekeeper, and has kept it up since. She still gets called up every so often by her old colleagues when they’ve got a particularly major bee crisis that needs sorting. Merits include Familiar (Bees) and Imbued Ally (Bees). Iosefka: Moros. Former medical student, Awakened during a late night under-the-radar dissection session in the mortuary. Doesn’t remember much of their Awakening, but they came back from it with an artifact where their left eye had been, which they can now use to see people’s souls. Merits include Artifact (hosed Up Magical Eye) and Ghost Familiar (Bearded Vulture named Prometheus). Session One begins with them hanging out with Rose, who’s found information in the Lorehouse about the location of an old hidden sanctum that's been abandoned since before the Consilium was formed. It belonged to an old cabal, Dawn Watch, who died in the fighting with the Seers. She’s pretty sure it’s somewhere in the Wellington suburb of Mount Victoria (lovely, cold, leaky homes, but close to the city. The kind of place everyone wants to own an investment property, but nobody wants to live if they can avoid it). The PCs make their way from Auckland to Wellington (because they’re wizards and can just sorta do that), and start looking. They wander up and down the streets, using their wizard eyes, and eventually work out there’s a house that’s trying really hard not to be seen. They work their way through the other defences (a very heavy door, a frictionless hallway with a rug enchanted to trip you up, some hexes), and start exploring the house. There's a library, a kitchen, some bedrooms, and a meditation room. No sign of any of the Mages who used to live here -- according to Fortune (and his friend, the Time arcanum), it's been abandoned for nearly a decade. Upstairs there’s a capped hallow, and when they cast magic at it, it reactivates and a weird spirit of decay -- sort of like an eel made out of black mold -- emerges and lashes out at them. Its first attack catches Fortune, dealing some bashing damage and draining away some of his mana. Heliotrope uses spirit sight to work out what its banes are (pure sunlight, fresh warm water mixed with soap), Fortune chucks hexes at it to prevent it from doing much more damage, Ariadne opens a portal to the kitchen and grabs some soap, and Iosefka uses a matter spell to turn the ceiling into one big skylight. They manage to make it discorporate, and everyone felt very clever and magical. CofD combat isn’t the most straightforward, but the newbies got really into it, and I think it managed to strike the balance of being weird and challenging, and encouraging them to think about what they can do with magic. Later on, Wakefield the consilium Herald shows up and goes through the motions of getting them officially declared members of the Consilium, and so on. They then spend the rest of the session fixing up the sanctum, working out what of the Consilium rights they’ll hold to, and so on. Heliotrope brings in some huge beehives, and installs them in the hallow upstairs. Since one of them took the hallow merit, this means they now have a reasonably steady supply of Tass Honey, and a couple of swarms of quite unusual bees. They find a weird door in the basement, which seemingly leads to a long shadowy corridor that spits them out on a street in Central Auckland. They're a bit confused by this, but it seems useful, and who looks a gift mystery in the mouth, right? Session 2 was when I started to introduce some of the Reign of the Exarch stuff. Rose asks them to go pick up an artifact that she's bought from some weirdo Silver Ladder cabal whose sanctum is in Karori. I think I ripped the general shape of this off of DaveB’s Broken Diamond, but I can’t be sure. So Rose sends her sleepwalker assistant, Mal, down to Wellington to go with the cabal, carry the tass payment and bring the artifact back to the Lorehouse. The Ascendants feature later on in the Reign of the Exarchs, but I wanted to introduce them early in the game so they didn’t come out of nowhere. They’re polite but cold towards the PCs, real dismissive assholes towards the sleepwalker, and spend a lot of time poo poo-talking the Hierarch for being weak and not willing to provide the strong direction and leadership that any proper Silver Ladder-led Consilium deserves. The leader of the Ascendants hands over the Eyes of Salt, two stone orbs that are clearly magical but don’t actually do anything, to Mal, smugly implying that of course the Free Council want it because they don’t have any proper artifacts and so are desperate for anything they can get their hands on. Iosefka rolls their one eye, because the weird and powerful artifact in their other eye socket doesn’t roll too good. Some mana settles into Mal’s pattern, unnoticed by all except Fortune, who happened to have Prime sight up because he was casing the joint out of habit. Shortly after they get back to their sanctum, there’s a knock at the door, which is pretty unexpected because the door is hard to spot unless you know it’s there. On their doorstep is an injured man who is very surprised when he’s met by Equinox and not Dawn Watch. He asks for sanctuary anyway, and they let him in. This is Gawain, another Reign NPC, who just… shows up and gives them an artifact? It’s a bit awkward, but whatever. He explains that he’s on the run from some Seers who are hunting him, but he’ll be on his way before they have a chance to track him down so the cabal is in no danger. They heal him up, befriend him, and let him stay for a few days. He vanishes suddenly one morning, but he leaves them a note and an old bell, which the note explains is the Ring of the Dethroned Queen. On that momentous revelation (which doesn’t mean a lot to them, but is intriguing enough that they want to investigate further) we break for the week. The first two sessions were pretty slow, and not that action-packed when I write them down like this, but I think it was the right way to ease the new players (and characters!) into the sort of poo poo you do as a cabal of mages. I’m running 2E, but I think it’s unavoidably influenced a bit by 1E -- the way the consilium is organised being the big one, but there’s a few others. The nice thing about nobody knowing anything about the setting is that I get to pick and choose what to focus on, and nobody can wave an obscure setting book at me to say I’m wrong. Not that my players would do that, they’re great, but I’ve been burnt by WoD LARP before, so it’s a refreshing change. Anyway, I realise that was a hell of a lot of words, but if people want to see more I can keep ing as the rest of the campaign goes on.
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Jun 25, 2022 02:58
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MonsieurChoc posted:Forsaken 1e has some killer supplements. Predators will give you antagonists to use for years, and not only for Werewolves. I used the Rat Hosts as enemies for a mage campaign once and it worked frighteningly well. Dude: same. The Hosts are just great material.
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Jun 25, 2022 03:13
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MonsieurChoc posted:Forsaken 1e has some killer supplements. Predators will give you antagonists to use for years, and not only for Werewolves. I used the Rat Hosts as enemies for a mage campaign once and it worked frighteningly well. I used an idigam in my Mage game and the players fuckin loved it.
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Jun 25, 2022 03:14
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MonsieurChoc posted:Forsaken 1e has some killer supplements. Predators will give you antagonists to use for years, and not only for Werewolves. I used the Rat Hosts as enemies for a mage campaign once and it worked frighteningly well. Yeah, werewolf antagonists are just so versatile. In the Vampire game I'm running for someone Werewolf stuff features heavily, and I'm interested in porting some Delta Green stuff over for new takes on idigam.
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Jun 25, 2022 04:18
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cptn_dr posted:Anyway, I realise that was a hell of a lot of words, but if people want to see more I can keep Looking forward to hearing more about your game!
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Jun 25, 2022 06:11
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cptn_dr posted:Anyway, I realise that was a hell of a lot of words, but if people want to see more I can keep Awakening is for whatever reason the one game I've never clicked with, so absolutely keep posting updates because this sounds killer. Love the PCs.
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Jun 25, 2022 14:41
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I'm glad people are enjoying it! Here's part two. We pick up again with Equinox examining their new artifact. Fortune scrutinises it using Prime and Fate, trying to work out what it is and how it works. Heliotrope just picks it up and starts swinging it around, trying to make a noise, but there’s no clapper so it's totally silent. She eventually whacks it against the table, and Fortune, again with Prime, notices a new spell appearing on her pattern as a deep, ominous sound rings out. The spell has very complex symbolism, and nobody can work out what it does. Heliotrope then activates her Mage Sight, and the spell takes effect. Instead of her usual mage sight, she instead sees weird visual echoes around people and objects, some more intense than others. The echoes around most of the cabal are reasonably subtle, but Iosefka appears to have more of them than anyone else. When they take off their eyepatch, the artifact underneath is very intensely surrounded. Everyone is weirded out. Iosefka, who is quite private, has never told anyone much about the eye. They explain to the rest of the cabal that after their Awakening, they found that their eye had been replaced with the artifact, and that they don’t remember much else. They occasionally dream about skeletal angels, though, which might be related? Fortune jumps on the Free Council internet and sees if he can find anything out about the ring. He finds some scraps of information, that apparently the Dethroned Queen is some weird Seer heresy about an Exarch that fell or quit, and there are legends that she left a set of artifacts. Nobody is quite sure what that actually means -- are the Exarchs even people? Does it work that way? -- and there’s not really any answers they can find with the resources they have to hand. Gawain’s note included a couplet about the ring, though, and Fortune tracks down the entire poem. By Her grace She leaves this Ring So we might find the Truth we seek. She leaves this Robe of mystic night So we might dwell beyond Their Sight. This Scepter drawn She leaves for all To brush aside Their distant calls. She leaves to us this Crown of souls To twist Their thralls toward our own goals By Her grace She leaves this last A Throne whose seat will let us pass Everyone is intrigued by the idea of a set of magical artifacts, and -- as Free Councillors -- like the implications of what sounds like a bunch of stuff designed to evade the Exarchs (as new Mages in the Southern Cross Consilium, they’ve all been duly warned of the dangers of the Servants of the Lie), but they are also wary of anything that could cause the Seers to come down on their heads. Life on the run didn’t seem to suit Gawain, and nobody from Equinox much likes the idea either. Eventually the cabal decides they should get in touch with Rose, who comes over via the weird cellar door portal. Rose also takes a look at the artifact, pulling out her magical tool (a calligraphy pen) and prodding and poking the thing. She casts the spell, and is just as perplexed as the rest of them. She suggests they set up a vault, and keep the artifact there. No good comes of leaving mysterious, possibly evil, artifacts out in the open. They agree, and she heads home again. Everyone in the cabal then uses the ring and casts the spell. Fortune fails his wisdom save, and loses the first point of wisdom in the game! They spend some time thinking and discussing, and decide that it seems like a reasonable assumption that the spell shows the influence of the Exarchs, or at least something like that. They don’t have any Servants of the Lie around to test their theory on, though, and everyone is a bit worried about the implications of Iosefka’s eye being more tainted than anything else in the room. The cabal use the artifact to teach themselves Ring Sight, and head out into the neighborhood to have a look around and see if they can confirm their suspicions. The things with the kinds of oppressive Exarch-type symbolism seem to attract more of the taint, so they take that as confirmation. Everyone remains very concerned about Iosefka's eye — especially Iosefka. A couple of days pass, and Rose gets in touch to pass on a request for help. The Mulgan Street Hunters, a Mysterium cabal whose obsessions are all around cryptids, have run across a weird situation with some bees, and Rose thought Heliotrope might be able to provide some advice. So Equinox saddle up and head off to West Auckland. They meet the Mulgan Street Hunters at a cafe in Titirangi. The Hunters are: Wolf (Thyrsus): A tall, broad woman with a severe undercut, sunglasses, an unbuttoned white shirt, lots of tattoos, and leather jacket. Big smile on her face, though. Perched on her shoulder is a big ol’ owl. (Her familiar, a Laughing Owl). Hel (Mastigos): If Ariadne is an elegant goth GF, Hel is sort of a sketchy death metal gremlin. She's not wearing corpse paint, but she would definitely look right at home with it. Axl (Obrimos): Tall, blond, square shouldered. Very clearly used to play rugby. There's always a cigarette between his fingers. Incredibly friendly, incredibly knowledgeable about hydroponics and forces magic, and a total dropkick otherwise. A reminder that even though most Mages are giant nerds, they're not all geniuses. Drives a Holden ute. Everyone hits it off pretty quickly, and the Hunters explain the problem. Bees have been dying off across the region, and even if it's from natural causes it's likely to be impacting the Shadow, so having an actual awakened bee expert take a look at it would be great. Heliotrope, stoked to have the chance to do Bee Magic, agrees to investigate and so they all head off to the most recent site of mass bee death. Though the sign out front says that it's a Family Establishment, it's been bought out by a conglomerate of big-business honey producers in the last couple of months. Apparently this particular megacorp has been buying up a lot of the local honey producers. Heliotrope is well aware of them, and is not a fan. Once they arrive, Heliotrope leaps into action and questions the person on duty about the bee death, while the rest of the cabal checks out more magical signs of trouble. Iosefka checks the Twilight and realises there's absolutely no ghosts anywhere. Usually there's a low-key buzz of spectral insects at places like this, especially if they've seen a lot of death at once. The bees have been dead for a couple of hours, and it looks like they were killed with common pesticides. But the beekeeper on duty swears up and down that nobody has been spraying, and a quick check with matter sight corroborates it — despite the fact they were killed by pesticides, there's no residue anywhere. Fortune pulls some fate magic and works out where the next die-off is going to be, so that's their next stop. As they arrive, a human figure comes shambling out of the bush and starts to try and kill all the bees with ghost numina/dread powers. A combination of spells (death, fate, time, mind) reveal that this is the corpse of Henry Purdue, honey farmer. His family farm got bought out by the massive conglomerate, and he wandered off into the busy and shot himself. His disturbed ghost hung around his body while a hive of bees formed in the chest cavity of his decaying corpse. Eventually it gained enough metaphysical weight that he could possess it and wreak his vengeance, so he set out to destroy all the farms owned by the megacorp. Another fight scene ensued. His bane was a particular kind of pesticide and his ban was that he had to obey the directions of a queen bed, but ultimately the cabal just sort of beat him down and exorcised him. Henry was violent, but he was still just an angry low-ranked ghost. The cabal dealt with him without toooo much trouble (death magic, fate hexes, space fuckery and a Thyrsus who knows about bees make quick work of the problem), but then sat around wondering about the morality of it all. Henry, in life, did nothing wrong, he just had the bad luck of getting in debt and being bought out. Was destroying his vengeful ghost actually right? Or did it just make the honey conglomerate's job easier? But the moral questions don't linger too long. They'd solved the problem, and so head back to the Mulgan Street Hunters' sanctum, out near Piha beach. Axl shared the weed he'd grown in their hallow, and everyone in Equinox became an instant fan of manajuana. Before they return to Wellington, Rose lets them know that she's organised a Free Council Assembly, where all the cabals from the area can get together, catch up, and talk about wizard poo poo. Nobody feels particularly confident in themselves,but they do look forward to formally meeting up with other members of the order. So instead of going back home, they all head to the apartment Iosefka still pays for, even though they spend most of their time at the shared sanctum. Everyone crashes pretty hard, satisfied at a job well done, looking forward to getting to show off at the Assembly meeting tomorrow. (In my non-Mage life, I'm a public servant, and this session was inspired by a report I came across at work. If you have any interest in New Zealand's honey production scene, boy have I got the link for you!)
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Jun 25, 2022 15:03
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Dawgstar posted:Awakening is for whatever reason the one game I've never clicked with, so absolutely keep posting updates because this sounds killer. Love the PCs. This exactly. On my end of course as soon as I talk about my Jojo game elsewhere, one of the players mentions they may be MIA for a bit (Paranoid Android is taking a break) and another is off on vacation for a few weeks, right as we were building up to the next enemy stand user. Really hope this doesn't kill momentum. Anyone got any pointers on keeping the momentum and excitement at least in stasis during a break, or how to recap in a way that will rekindle things? This is an asynchronous pbp on discord.
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Jun 25, 2022 15:04
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