|
Yeah that's honestly what's stopped me from running a game, but it seems like that "suddenly wake up a Fractal" twist y'all posted about earlier itt would be a good way to ease new players (and a new GM) into the game? I think I bought one of the Demon pregens during last September's sale.
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 00:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 07:32 |
|
|
The Unlife Aquatic posted:Demon GM here - If anyone's thinking of running it pacts are the biggest headache. You really need to work out a good way to cut down on the writing associated with them. Keeping all the covers straight can be a job onto itself as well. Absolute hardest part tends to be coming up with things that can actually threaten a demon. With the right embeds and exploits they can be a stacking doll of empty faces, make themselves disappear from a scene retroactively, and temporarily halt time. I find it helpful to think of it less Le Carre and more Hideo Kojima. They're all halfway to being MGS bosses anyway.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 00:51
|
|
|
PHIZ KALIFA posted:Yeah that's honestly what's stopped me from running a game, but it seems like that "suddenly wake up a Fractal" twist y'all posted about earlier itt would be a good way to ease new players (and a new GM) into the game? I think I bought one of the Demon pregens during last September's sale. Yeah, Fractals are honestly more powerful than some full on supernaturals but not quite as confusing as a Demon.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 01:10
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Hrrrrgh Colonel I'm trying to make a statement about paranoia and the commoditization of identity but I'm dummy thicc and the clap from my rear end cheeks keeps alerting the God Machine Oh my god.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 01:11
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Hrrrrgh Colonel I'm trying to make a statement about paranoia and the commoditization of identity but I'm dummy thicc and the clap from my rear end cheeks keeps alerting the God Machine So is that Persistent Condition, or...?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 01:36
|
|
|
Jonas Albrecht posted:My character in Vampire is a Glass Walker. Psh, call me back when your vampire character is just straight Art Bell. Not supernatural, just plain ol' Art Bell.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 01:58
|
|
|
Loomer posted:Psh, call me back when your vampire character is just straight Art Bell. Not supernatural, just plain ol' Art Bell. That's... really good.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 02:03
|
|
|
The Unlife Aquatic posted:Demon GM here - If anyone's thinking of running it pacts are the biggest headache. You really need to work out a good way to cut down on the writing associated with them. Keeping all the covers straight can be a job onto itself as well. Absolute hardest part tends to be coming up with things that can actually threaten a demon. With the right embeds and exploits they can be a stacking doll of empty faces, make themselves disappear from a scene retroactively, and temporarily halt time. I find it helpful to think of it less Le Carre and more Hideo Kojima. They're all halfway to being MGS bosses anyway. If you want to threaten demons, threaten the things they care about.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 02:17
|
|
|
Advice/lore suggested: So as a basic mage mystery to investigate for players new to the game they went to an apartment building that had a Hollow Mekhet in it who was basically using it for free feeding. They caught it in the act, it frenzied, they killed it (as far as they can tell). They had some brief interactions with its 'reflection' too. I'm not holding especially tight to 'canon' lore/mechanics for vamps, it was just for inspiration. Anyway, this thing was only noticed because it was feeding too often on way too many people. I was running with the idea that whoever embraced it basically left it to roam loose for whatever unspecified purpose and if some newbie mages get involved, whatever, it's a write-off. Still, though, I need some interesting reasons for why a newbie vampire coming to grips with their condition might be feeding way more often than it needs to. Having fun with new powers? Creating a bunch of ghouls in order to... ? Wacky blood ritual? Especially good answers if it's reasons for mages to poke their noses in further. The cabal seems particularly interested in souls and awakenings, so a Hollow Mekhet seemed a good idea since their reflection is often interpreted as their detached 'soul'.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 03:38
|
|
|
Might make them a revenant. 'Each night upon waking, they lose all their stored Vitae, and awaken starved. Often, the loss of Vitae takes the form of sweating out their stolen blood as they sleep.' They aren't usually hollows, or members of a clan, but if you're not sticking close to canon (and you haven't introduced them as 'Vlad the Hollow Mekhet,' might be an easy way to go. Plus they're created pretty accidentally.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 03:56
|
|
|
bewilderment posted:Still, though, I need some interesting reasons for why a newbie vampire coming to grips with their condition might be feeding way more often than it needs to. Having fun with new powers? Creating a bunch of ghouls in order to... ? Wacky blood ritual?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 04:15
|
|
|
Nessus posted:Maybe something else was taking the blood. There's a Invictus Contract called the "Red Tax" or something that siphoned some of your Vitae to your landlord, right? Sounds like a decent starting point.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 04:22
|
|
|
nofather posted:They aren't usually hollows, or members of a clan, but if you're not sticking close to canon (and you haven't introduced them as 'Vlad the Hollow Mekhet,' might be an easy way to go. Plus they're created pretty accidentally. Revenant could work if I don't want my characters to go too deep into vampire politicking. The sum total the characters know about the being are: - It sucked people's blood (confirmed via postcognition), to the point that multiple people in the block were looking sickly/tired - It had an independently mobile reflection (that could appear 'in the real world' though partially insubstantially to the player that punched it) that seemed slightly at odds with it, but wanted to keep it alive, and which 'died' at the same time - It had the power of Obfuscation - or some other sort of "don't notice me" effect - When caught by surprise, it freaked out, frenzied and became incoherent. They haven't actually gone inside its apartment yet, which gives me a lot of wiggle room, and figuring out some way to dispose of its corpse (and also do something with the guy it sucked 6 vitae out of when they spooked it into needing food urgently). Making it a revenant who happened to also have a Hollow-style reflection is an easy answer if I don't have anything better, especially if they investigate its apartment and find the bed soaked in blood.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 04:51
|
|
|
So, I don't know how many of you will have ever read Inphobia 52. We like to talk a lot of poo poo about the weird sex stuff added into Werewolf under ParaWolf's lead and in Children of Gaia, but waaaay back in 95 White Wolf decided it was a good idea to publish an article by Jim Parks - yes, the guy who did artwork for Witch Girls Adventures and design work on Conspiracy X - with the name of 'Doggy Stylin''. Yeah. The highlights, since I just had to reread it as part of the pre-99 publication review for the timeline: "The black furies are a study in misandry... Though Bone Gnawers are looked down upon by other tribes, few could hope to find more passionate - though malodorous - lovers... Possessiveness is not a trait of the Children of Gaia; multiple partners are common. The ease with which Glass Walkers handle multiple partners is surpassed only by the Children of Gaia... Red Talons whose hatred of humanity is mixed with a sadistic temperament may seduce or rape humans and kill them during the act... When a Shadow Lord's lover no longer serves a purpose, he is discarded or eaten... The Silver Fangs are among the most sexually active of the tribes... Stargazers practice sexual techniques as an art, drawing on Tantric practices, Kundalini, and the Kama Sutras... Garou share a belief that sex is central to their lives. Romance, love and sex can and should play as much a part in Werewolf as they do in Vampire." Followed, of course, by an article on sex and anime. Apparently that's a quality article for an issue published on Valentine's day?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 14:08
|
|
|
Loomer posted:So, I don't know how many of you will have ever read Inphobia 52. We like to talk a lot of poo poo about the weird sex stuff added into Werewolf under ParaWolf's lead and in Children of Gaia, but waaaay back in 95 White Wolf decided it was a good idea to publish an article by Jim Parks - yes, the guy who did artwork for Witch Girls Adventures and design work on Conspiracy X - with the name of 'Doggy Stylin''. Yeah. Thanks, I hate it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 14:25
|
|
|
I mean, feeding feels good for a vampire. Maybe the newbie vamp was just enjoying it too much and the equivalent of a junkie.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 15:20
|
|
|
If you want to go weird, IIRC there's a thing in Intruders that is basically an Abyssal manifestation that is the vampire equivalent of a tapeworm. It lives inside vampire blood and brains and eats away at them from the inside, slowly corrupting them with Abyssal influence and also eating the blood they eat.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 15:22
|
|
|
The tapeworm leads to fun deeper plot threads, but what if there's no secret behind this vampire? It's sire released it before really introducing it to undead society, so now it's just heedlessly engorging itself because that Feels Good. Maybe it's got one of those derrangements related to eating disorders. It doesn't have to be complex to be spooky. edit- Or, maybe it diablerized the sire and didn't absorb any of the memories. Or it was an impulsive rear end in a top hat in life who now has no self control.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 16:35
|
|
|
Honestly, my favorite way to ST a situation like that is to not actually come up with an answer and just leave the players to ask questions which drives the answer they get. There's nothing wrong with having it be X or Y, but I feel like we get stranger things and a less complete set of answers if they have to compose the hypothesis themselves. So it's really great to have a whole bunch of incomplete ideas or a handful of stranger things that are happening somewhat infrequently but present consistently and then let them stumble on pieces of it along the way with everything else. My favorite part of using Awakening for STRANGE is that you legit don't have to always know why, you just need to know what. Sometimes when it gets strange, there just is no answer to Why? It leads to fun parts of sessions where the mages debate causality, which gets even better when the Acanthus just starts messing with time and causality, and then they sometimes use it to cover their tracks in unpredictable ways.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 16:45
|
|
|
Jhet posted:Honestly, my favorite way to ST a situation like that is to not actually come up with an answer and just leave the players to ask questions which drives the answer they get. There's nothing wrong with having it be X or Y, but I feel like we get stranger things and a less complete set of answers if they have to compose the hypothesis themselves. So it's really great to have a whole bunch of incomplete ideas or a handful of stranger things that are happening somewhat infrequently but present consistently and then let them stumble on pieces of it along the way with everything else. Don't ALWAYS do this, your players will catch on and feel cheated. But it is a great move to throw in now and again to keep them invested as well and making things more fun for yourself, reacting to their actions almost as if you were a player.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 16:56
|
|
|
Soonmot posted:Don't ALWAYS do this, your players will catch on and feel cheated. But it is a great move to throw in now and again to keep them invested as well and making things more fun for yourself, reacting to their actions almost as if you were a player. Truth. This really only works when it's something that they can't just ask them why about. So it works great for crazy monster of the week type things, or other weirdness that comes into and out of the other deeper meta storyline that they're working through. And every great while, some of the random unknowable crazy shows up in a scene with that other storyline just to keep it a little more confused. Then it's just window dressing though, to make things just a little more complex and not something they really need to even interact with. Sort of a callback to something they've already crossed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:10
|
|
|
Heya folks, a question: how prominent is Seattle for either Vampire 5th ed or Requiem? Paradox is teasing a lot of images of the city in their upcoming videogame, and I want to check out what is out there in terms of setting. I doubt it is going to be a Requiem game, but who knows?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:23
|
|
|
dead gay comedy forums posted:Heya folks, a question: how prominent is Seattle for either Vampire 5th ed or Requiem? Not terribly unless it got a big push in 5E. It never got a lot of mentions in either line or a By Night book or anything.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:34
|
|
|
In Requiem not very. There's a short story set there but I don't recall much else. It's the default setting for Demon.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:35
|
|
|
There's a bunch of homeless there that the powerful corporations try to hide and ignore and repress as much as possible, so that could be a good plot point.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:37
|
|
|
Kibner posted:There's a bunch of homeless there that the powerful corporations try to hide and ignore and repress as much as possible, so that could be a good plot point.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 17:42
|
|
|
In nWoD, Seattle is Demon's. That said, Paradox's thing is very clearly referencing oVamp and oHunter above all, so it's not a Demon thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:11
|
|
|
PHIZ KALIFA posted:The tapeworm leads to fun deeper plot threads, but what if there's no secret behind this vampire? It's sire released it before really introducing it to undead society, so now it's just heedlessly engorging itself because that Feels Good. Maybe it's got one of those derrangements related to eating disorders. It doesn't have to be complex to be spooky. The Night Horror book for vampire is full of almost-vampire like gribblies to use. It's good! Well, one of them: the other is full of meh-to-amazing Vampire NPCs with badly edited stats (none of the vampires in the book have the requirements for their own devotions).
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:28
|
|
|
I am so down for a oHunter revival.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:28
|
|
|
The only thing that I am aware of about the locality in terms of Classic is that the Sabbat was basically going full speed at it, taking advantage of the Camarilla being clusterfucked by Kuei-Jin and spillover conflict from the Anarchs of the former Free State. And Washington wasn't a particularly strong base to begin with because heyooo it was pretty much werewolf shop due to the low urban density. IIRC, the Sabbat manages to take the city without a lot of effort. I don't know how are things currently in that sense for 5th ed, though 
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:29
|
|
|
Not official material, but there's a LARP that used to meet at the Masonic Temple on Queen Anne, so they may have more stuff on their website. It's just not canon of course, but they had Masquerade and Requiem iirc.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 18:48
|
|
|
Lord_Hambrose posted:I am so down for a oHunter revival. God45 did nothing wrong.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 20:37
|
|
|
Spector29 posted:There's a Invictus Contract called the "Red Tax" or something that siphoned some of your Vitae to your landlord, right? What if a Vampire created a childe specifically to feed their superiors in the Invictus? Or even better: What if a Vampire created a childe who is metaphysically the same person as the sire, now the target of all contracts, blood rituals, etc. What if it's vampire tax evasion? How would you make a person metaphysically the same person as you to avoid becoming the target of magic?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 20:58
|
|
|
There is a covenant that's a bit like that, the Brethren of the Hundred Faces, which is described as a pyramid scheme. The vampires at the top (the hundred faces) teach methods for newer members to avoid frenzy by falling back on these other personalities. But as they fall on these methods more and more, the personality of the hundred faces starts co-opt their own, to the point that they start to physically resemble the vampire.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2019 22:10
|
|
|
I’m going to get my hopes up so they can be dashed. I mean I’m already borderline with the vampire ARG conspiracy site having a clearly winking oWolf poster, earth mother poo poo and all. Ughhhh
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 00:49
|
|
|
Mendrian posted:How would you make a person metaphysically the same person as you to avoid becoming the target of magic? This is literally a core book ritual in Unknown Armies. I’ll grab my copy later and check but IIRC there are a handful of ways to do it, including having a child that you’ve specifically conceived and prepared for this purpose.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 00:58
|
|
|
It's called proxying and there's like a hundred uses for it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 01:16
|
|
|
That's pretty much a major plot point in Twin Peaks: The Return.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 01:16
|
|
|
dead gay comedy forums posted:Heya folks, a question: how prominent is Seattle for either Vampire 5th ed or Requiem? Most of this noise traces to Paradox acquiring Harebrained Schemes last year (people who did Shadowrun: Hong Kong) so I would neither be surprised if it was anything or it turned out to be something, depending on how that relationship works. Lore wise, Seattle avoided the metaplot by & large. There was the nos justicar during the free state period knocking around but no real big events.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 01:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 07:32 |
|
|
Gerund posted:Lore wise, Seattle avoided the metaplot by & large. There was the nos justicar during the free state period knocking around but no real big events. Yeah, Petrodon's big thing was Anarchs. This caused the semi-free city of Vancouver to keep an eye on Seattle but that's it as far as I know.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2019 02:00
|
|