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Is this the thread where I post my goofy homebrewed V20 Thaumaturgy paths? One friend was inspired by Little Witch Academia so we worked on a thaumaturgy path that would mimic some traditional "magic girl" tropes. Looking for feedback, I want to start freelance writing for RPGs, so I sent in a submission packet to Onyx Path with some updated material from blood magic: secrets of thaumaturgy which hadn't seen a V20 re-release yet.
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Mar 23, 2018 17:28
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One player wanted to do bloodbending so I took a look at Neptune's Might and got fucky with level 4. We didn't have a single player with more than two dots in any combat abilities, so this was designed to address that gap: Neptune's Might 4: Bloodbending Regarded as a thaumaturgical mutation at best, and evidence of infernal meddling at worst, the curious art of Bloodbending is known to only one, and they have shown themselves to be unwilling, or unable, to discuss its origins. By manipulating the fluid in a creature's body, the thaumaturge is capable of holding them in place, tossing them about like rag dolls, or even disrupting the flow of blood itself. SYSTEM: This power costs two willpower, in addition to the standard point of blood. Each rolled success freezes one mortal in place, halting all actions until the thaumaturge releases control. Ghouls and vampires roll Stamina (+ Fortitude, if applicable) to resist, difficulty 8 for ghouls, 4 for kindred. Thaumaturge allocates successes before resist rolls, and can freely choose specific targets from a crowd. Once control is established, the thaumaturge has a number of options available. HOLD: The thaumaturge can continue to hold their victim, robbing them of their action. This can be maintained for a number of rounds equal to successes rolled during activation. To take a mundane action the thaumaturge can make a Willpower roll (diff 6) with the required successes equal to the number of subjects controlled. Failure on the Willpower roll indicates a number of subjects escape equal to the difference between required and rolled successes. (Eg, rolling 3 successes against 5 victims means the 2 most powerful subjects escape.) If successful, the thaumaturge can take one mundane action while maintaining the power. They may move half their total speed, dodge an incoming attack, or any other normal activity which does not require focus or heavy thought. They may not activate a Discipline, but they may spend blood to heal. SHOVE: With a mighty gesture, the thaumaturge can push the fluid in a creature's body any direction they desire, like the moon manipulating the tides. By rolling Strength, the thaumaturge can move their subject in a straight line one yard per success. Mortals cannot resist, but ghouls and vampires can roll Stamina (+ Fortitude). The thaumaturge allocates successes between chosen subjects before rolling resistance, and each success rolled subtracts from the distance thrown. The thaumaturge can choose to throw one, some, or all of the subjects under their control. To throw only some, the thaumaturge must roll Willpower, with the target success number equal to the number of subjects not thrown. Thrown subjects must roll Athletics to land on their feet, otherwise they land prone. Characters who succeed in resisting the shove must still roll Athletics, or they are knocked off balance and fall prone. Shoving releases a subject from control. WRACK: This power functions similar to the 3rd level power "Blood to Water" except physical contact isn't needed. Thaumaturge rolls as normally, dividing successes between subjects. No roll to resist, to maintain control of non-wracked subjects, thaumaturge must roll Willpower as above. Wracking a subject releases it from control. I've got a few portions on the exact effects for characters who want to combine this with elemental mastery/spirit manipulation/conjuration too but who cares Vulcan’s Forge Developed in the early 80s by a rogue team of Anarch Tremere living in a van, Vulcan’s Forge proved indespensible to deep-cover agents and saboteurs who couldn’t risk carrying an entire sack of monkey-wrenches across enemy lines. Beloved by gearheads and nomads, these powers can keep the Chantry’s motor pool in tip-top shape, or keep a heavily guarded convoy rolling through dangerous terrain. Higher levels allow the thaumaturge to will wards and rituals into an object without the time-consuming pomp and hermetic circumstance, which has saved more than one ill-prepared magus from a well-timed ambush. Depending on the object created or effect desired, players may have to roll Firearms, Computers, Craft, or Technology. Objects created with this path have a reddish hue, and are rudimentary in their construction. These powers can be combined with Path of Conjuring and Spirit Manipulation to create more lasting, enchanted objects. These powers fail when applied to living matter. 1: MacGuyver’s Trusty Toolkit Named after the West Coast’s most sought-after roadster, Janice MacGuyver was the public face of Vantastrophy, the Anarch coterie credited with developing Vulcan’s Forge. By spending a blood, the thaumaturge creates the exact tool they need for the situation. The object lasts for the scene, though characters who roll 5+ successes on their Thaumatury roll finds the tool especially well suited to the task, which lowers the difficulty by 1. 2: Li’l Buddy By spending one blood and one willpower, the thaumaturge creates an automated assistant, capable of following orders. The complexity of the orders increases with mastery of this path. The specific design is up to the Thaumaturge to decide, but specific rolls may be required for complex or technological designs. For example, creating a Buddy with specific tools for limbs would call for a Crafts check. 2 dots- Buddy follows one order until completion, will repeat action for remainder of scene. 3- Buddy can change order mid-completion, follow conditional orders, and channel user’s Auspex. 4- Buddy can channel user’s mental disciplines, be summoned with active rituals, and acts as conduit for touch-based powers. 5- Buddy develops Mental stats equal to creator 3: Auto-Ward Through a massive expense of will, the Thaumaturge can quickly imbue an object with a Ritual they are familiar with. This does not remove the need for physical focii or material components, it merely shortens the time necessary, at the expense of a foreshortened duration. By spending 2 Willpower, the thaumaturge may apply any Ward or Warding Circle they know to any object they touch, including objects created through thaumaturgy. Non-ward rituals cost 3 Willpower, but not every ritual can be utilized like this. Burning Blade and Flesh of the Firey Touch are frequent choices. Player can only use ward levels at or below their mastery of Vulcan’s Forge. Eg, Ward against Lupines (level 5) can’t be used by a thaumaturge with level 3 Vulcan’s Forge. 4: Hammerspace Using the rules above, the player may draw forth a weapon or tool already blazing with enchantment. Tools created in this manner last for the duration of the scene, and can be re-used. They are designed to perfectly suit the thaumaturge who made them, applying a -1 bonus to the difficulty of any rolls their creator makes with them. Rolling 5+ successes during creation boosts that to -2. Weapons created with wards active last for one round or use. Users may not “save up” warded strikes, or delay the onset of a ritual, all rituals are active when the object is created. Creating complex devices may require a seperate creation roll, but unless the caster is attempting to recreate a specific artifact, the roll is not required for objects that lack moving parts. If the creator wishes, the object can glow, and casts as much light as a torch. The creator decides how this glow manifests, and in what colors. (eg, Constance wants to create a scythe and knows the 2nd level ritual Burning Blade. By spending 3 blood and 3 willpower, she rolls Intelligence + Occult for the ritual. She gets three successes, which means the ritual lasts for 2 strikes of her scythe.) 5: Build Team Capable of pulling together impressive structures with nothing but grit, determination, and whatever’s on hand, masters of Vulcan’s Forge have proven themselves capable of shaping a stack of aluminum ingots and crates of bullets into a formidible minigun. Janice MacGuyver is rumored to have escaped a pack of Gangrel antitribu by breaking into a barn and melding together two tractors with a combine and chain thresher, which made messy work of her pursuers. This power affects an amount of inert matter equal to 100lb times the successes rolled. Depending on the object created, the Ability used will vary. Furnuture can be shaped into a barricade with Crafts, homebrewing a server out of a stack of Goodwill desktops would require Computers or Technology, anything with guns uses Firearms. This power costs two blood and two willpower. At the end of the scene, the built object collapses into a pile of its component parts, which remain warped and misshapen. Forensic research could potentially recreate the object transmuted, unless the thaumaturge takes care to cover their tracks. This power cannot violate the laws of physics, as they are understood by the user. PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Mar 23, 2018 |
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Mar 23, 2018 19:48
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Missed that one, I had also noticed I transposed the difficulties for vamps & ghouls resisting bloodbending as well.
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Mar 23, 2018 22:25
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I was thinking of staging an encounter where a necromancer gives my tremere players a Tempest Prison, and asking them to go sweep up all the wraiths in a nearby Spooky Basement in exchange for favors. Considering making the prison more of a contested willpower effort to amp up the drama, but I'm also curious for ways to keep a wraith encounter tense, without falling back on throwing a bunch of old souls with Lure of Flames at them. Ideas I had: - Chimestry/Dementation a short scene where a character relives the first time they overfed and killed a mortal, only to realize they've wandered into traffic. - One character hallucinates that another character has been possessed - Have spooky "ghost sounds" playing softly from some speakers, which get louder during the encounter - Character with sanguinary animism realizes that vampiric essence is just a wraith trapped in blood, and touching or being near the prison will result in their entrapment as well - A Risen nearly causes a masquerade breach - High-Auspex character cursed with lingering Deathsight - Two players trade sheets - everything is on fire?? - someone gets Haunted, now has to deal with the possibility that a cranky spirit has moved a manhole cover or storm drain grate and is projecting an illusion into their brain, Athletics to avoid falling in. Oh no, sewers are filled with phantasmal vitae-thirsty rats! Why do people play in my games? No one in the party has any disciplines which would let them directly interact with the shadowlands, but one player has a ghoul with Medium, so I want to avoid having them go directly toe-to-toe with the wraiths cause I think that'd just be frustrating. I know I'm basically asking them to be Gothic Punk Ghostbusters but I don't think they'll have an issue with that.
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Mar 25, 2018 18:07
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Addressing the question about the death of an Exarch, it seems like a lot of the "worldview apocalypse" fears assume that the death would play out instantaneously across the world. What if the symbol faded slowly, only to be replaced by something similar? I haven't read any of the new mage books, but could one argue that major social changes are reflected at the Exarch level? Oligarchy replaced by representative democracy didn't happen overnight, and the underlying symbol of "rule by few" didn't transform all that much, it just manifests in a different way. Similarly, the way prejudice manifests in America is changing as well. It's less predicated upon race and ethnicity than it used to be, but still extremely class-based. One symbol takes over for another, but the nature of the hierarchy remains unassailed. I think it'd be fun to run a game where it's revealed that a string of nationwide lawsuits against prominent sexual predators was kicked off when a high-ranking Seer successfully deposed the symbol for rule-through-sexual-intimidation.
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Mar 26, 2018 20:15
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If I had to work it into a scenario, I'd probably make it a fairly late-game revelation in order to underscore the "deep weirdness" of the world. Maybe the players are paid by an elder vampire who fears someone they've wronged in life is orchestrating this movement against them, only to discover that the cause of this social upheaval is something far more vast and unstoppable. What would other mages do if one of their own succeeded, only to be co-opted by the forces they struggled against? Would the players seek to prevent others to do the same, or would they seek to hide that information again? So much of what the pentacle struggles for almost seems hypothetical, an undeniable confirmation of that hypothesis would force a lot of mages into a crisis of faith, either they redouble their efforts given this evidence of potential success, or they realize the monstrous nature of what they're doing. Likewise, what happens to the exarch faithful if an outsider replaced one? Would they submit to that new authority, or would they rebel? Would turncoat seers use their powers to out and discredit the abusers who empower this new symbol, leaking names and evidence to journalists in a bid to undercut its power? "Mages squabble over who gets to be the new god of coercion" might make for an interesting conflict to throw some Beast characters into. It's definitely the kind of detail which player characters wouldn't necessarily have a lot of ability to change, unless you're running a high power chronicle. Is it obvious I've mostly read oWoD?
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Mar 26, 2018 21:11
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Absolutely, I've always played WoD games as slow burns, I feel like experiences which start off firing on all cylinders lose emotional depths when they don't explore a fuller thematic spectrum. It would also help to parallel more human themes of loss of authority or a sudden loss of social invulnerability, so the idea of a disempowered divinity has precedent in the game.
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Mar 26, 2018 21:58
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Archonex posted:Now i'm wondering how hosed up a Werewolf would get if they ate nothing but essence of a certain type for a decade or so. I would play Beast if there was a family based off of the Killdozer.
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Mar 29, 2018 15:40
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Mack gently caress, Gearhead Edgewalker of the Road Dimension.  Lair is an umbral Canadian Tire, he and his army of corrupted Roadster spirits have nicknamed their coterie the Blacktop Spiral Dancers.
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Mar 29, 2018 16:05
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Lurks With Wolves posted:Part of the Mekhet aesthetic is that they get more and more obsessed with patterns and mysteries and all that as they get older, which kind of ties into them getting more banes faster in 2e. Make an old Romanian noble that's obsessed with numerology and everyone might not even notice. Requiem also has the crazy Ventrue bloodline Malkovian, a reference to the zany Malkavians from Masquerade. http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Malkovian
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Apr 2, 2018 19:47
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So there's Malkovians, the bloodline, and individuals who are afflicted by Malkavia, whom can be any clan or bloodline since it's a communicable disease. Does Requiem draw from any of the Viccissitude-as-infernal-parasite the V20 Black Hand touches on? I'm using an Asakku as a big bad in my current game, and this seems like kind of a flip on that.
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Apr 2, 2018 20:52
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Hey, who was it that said that Onyx Path moved away from bloodline-specific disciplines? Y'all lied, some of this stuff is fascinating. EDIT: okay so i checked this one out but i don't understand what it has to do with socialist professors? PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Apr 3, 2018 |
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Apr 3, 2018 00:43
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Meddling with fate sounds like the perfect opportunity to start getting Monkey's Paw with chronology and timelines. Maybe they start having really elaborate dreams wherein they experience the timeline they avoided, or extended dissasociative episodes where fate changes (or appears to change) for them but noone else. It's not entirely out of WoD character if stunts work in the quick a handful of times, only to result in greater complications shortly after. I don't know the mechanics too well, but I bet you could work out a way that each casting of that fate spell results in increased difficulty or even outright catastrophy later. The luck's got to come from somewhere, right? (no, but, it's a fun idea) You could even compel them to start having to "steal" luck from random passers-by, in order to avoid the repercussions of their meddling. Alternatively, don't let them wait 3 seconds. Are "time spirits" a thing? Maybe every time they try the fate trick, they get caught in a stable time loop that resets every time they use their magic, compelling them to Groundhogs Day their way through the scene magic-free. If they're pulling that trick on a lot of mundane challenges where it clearly isn't needed, I'd try something like that. What are some examples of times they've abused this? This is something I'd address in-game rather than mechanistically, you could slap them with a bunch of paradox for relying on this one trick too much but I think you can find something a bit more engaging than that, plus then the player would have something nigh-useless weighing down their character sheet. How would you like to see this resolved? What would make your game more exciting?
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Apr 3, 2018 16:06
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I think a fun recurring protagonist would be the vengeful avatar of a mage who WOULD have awakened, had their abuse of Fate spells not intervened. Seconding the call for throwing bigger bullshit at them, the idea of a magickal Wargames scenario where they are compelled to push through challenges as subtle as possible would suit the flavor well. Edit- Addiction/dependency would be another fun way to do this, if the challenge for mundane tasks is ramped all the way up by repeated dramatic use of that Fate spell, how does that affect their out-of-game lives? Every meal burns, constantly cut themselves shaving, frequent slip-and-falls in the bathroom. That takes a toll on a mortal, even a Mage is going to start falling apart if they can't brush their teeth without fundamentally tweaking the balance of the universe. Now they need a dice pool of 15 to even drive to the store. What would detoxing look like? PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Apr 3, 2018 |
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Apr 3, 2018 16:55
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So I thought of the phrase "Mageachusetts vs Rageachusetts" and now I want to run a head-to-head Mage vs Werewolf game, based in Massachusetts. I'd definitely use CoD 2e rules since I think it's more designed with this kind of cross-chronicle use in mind. I haven't read the GMC book yet, so this is all still very theoretical, but I think it would at least be a decent idea for a podcast. Have any of you ever cross-pollinated Forsaken and Awakening before? Forsakening? If I'm reading this right, mages and wolves are both in competition for areas of heavy Spirit/Supernal energy, right? Wolves want to banish spirits, while mages can use them for spells or enchantments? In that case, I'd probably run two games in the same map, and let them share the same pool of story leads. Someone mentioned that Pentex just got a book, I bet they would make for a good antagonist. It would be fun to have them working side-by-side to take out smaller targets before collaborating on a larger assault. The wolves take out a secret formori guard post, next game the mages are able to waltz into the building and pilfer it for clues and Forbidden Technology.
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Apr 4, 2018 18:39
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The book I was thinking of is W20, not Forsaken, my mistake. I think it'd be possible to worldbuild an all-consuming corporation that threatens both mages and wolves, maybe a piece of Infrastructure gone haywire, to represent the God-Machine trying to dominate an area.
PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Apr 4, 2018 |
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Apr 4, 2018 18:53
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I bribe players with XP for bringing snacks, writing character fiction, fanart, bringing in new players, helping out other players with rides, and bringing in sweet mix CDs to play softly in the background while we play Magic Goths at each other. For me, it works because all the players are Tremere and Thaumaturgy is an XP sinkhole. My players are all differentiated well, so no one outshines anyone else. How quickly do you want your folk adding dots to their sheets? Do they roll 10 dice often? How much room do they have to grow, and how much plot do you have left before the climax hits? edit- Wraith also addressed the Holocaust with the Dark Kingdom of Wire.
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Apr 6, 2018 22:13
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Xiahou Dun posted:You seem cool and good but are you time-traveling from 1998? no but thank you for complimenting my John Titor cosplay Xiahou Dun posted:Like I reward players for bringing snacks by saying, "O hey Adam I see you made those wonderful ham and cheese croissants , those are always a hit" instead of in-game power upgrades. And then we have a beer. Maybe a hug???? I use this system for this group because they're all new to roleplaying and it fits the chronicle setting. I wouldn't use this if we were running Mage because it would make everyone demigods but we're not running Mage. The characters are all balanced against each other and the world still presents challenges they have to think and work to overcome. If they were invulnerable blood-tanks you'd have a point but the chronicle just needs this kind of power curve. Plus we're only meeting biweekly so it'd take several months of in-game roleplaying to get the XP for something like Path of Conjuring 4, which just enables you to unmake anything from Path of Conjuring 1-3. Thaumaturgy is weird.
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Apr 8, 2018 21:30
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Oh it's absolutely weird, I'm not denying that, but so far it hasn't been as unbalancing as I'd expected. Not all the players have taken advantage of it, and those that have don't go overboard. Because these are new players, I'm using XP as a prompt to think about how they can get more involved in the game. More experienced players with a better idea of character optimizing, yes they'd wring this system for all it's worth, but that hasn't been an issue yet. edit- So, the V20 Black Hand book includes a brief description of a Tal'Mahe'Rah cult known as the "Adoptive Childer of Malakai," referencing a theoretical sister to Malkav, even more insane than her brother. They're a plot point in my game so I designed some Malkavian Thaumaturgy which might be useful in-game. What do y'all think of this one: Ants in your Pants, Bug in your Butt (lv 2 ritual) Favored by insectiphiles and the eternally puerile, Bug in your Butt allows the thaumaturge to develop a nesting cavity within their own bodies for their (hopefully non-human) ghouls. System: Obviously, space constraints are a major consideration here. At the conclusion of the ritual, the ghouls physically chew themselves a nesting space in the body part of their choice, inflicting anywhere from one point of aggravated damage for a swarm of insects, to two points of aggravated for a rat, all the way to a theoretical maximum of 5 points for a wolf or large dog. For a good approximation, each point in the ghoul’s blood pool equates to one level of damage. Exceptionally large characters could theoretically accommodate larger ghouls. Each point of damage inflicted restores one point of the ghoul’s blood pool, bypassing the normal 50% maximum concentration rule. Furthermore, any ghoul resting in its master is immune to negative environmental effects, including supernatural effects like the Shadowlands. Bystanders can attempt a Perception+Alertness (or Awareness, diff 7-damage levels inflicted) roll to discern that something unusual is happening, opposed by Manipulation+Subterfuge, difficulty 5+damage levels inflicted. This ritual can be cast on a restrained, unwilling target, but the target can resist each level of damage by rolling Stamina+Fortitude, opposed by Strength+Brawl. Obviously, use of this ritual on unwilling targets should result in the potential loss of Humanity, barring extremely eventuating circumstances. On the other hand, this ritual is a favorite of Lilin seeking to inform ungrateful men of the myriad sacrifices of motherhood. PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Apr 8, 2018 |
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Apr 8, 2018 22:05
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PantsOptional posted:My next character concept is literally just “a Ventrue who owns Airwolf” now. A Bone Gnawer with Power Object Fixation: Car Stereos (Owns No Car). The name's Showbiz. Totem of the Tequiza Twister.
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Apr 10, 2018 20:00
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I would be okay with Samuel Haight coming back if he killed Cartilage Head just on principal. Like I dunno if that thing is just a formori or part of the cathedral of flesh but it needs to be taken down.
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Apr 10, 2018 21:13
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I am The Technocracy But For Performance Art, I confess. I'm not sorry, you're welcome.
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Apr 10, 2018 21:22
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Which system is more likely to have a cult of swishy-shirt vamps who force-feed 14 month old babies buttery, decadent steaks? Can we talk about how Dr. McNinja has mastered the art of taking a one-off gag and reworking it into a major plot point? That's one of my favorite things as a GM, getting witty with the players and having it pay off. I name all my NPCs after bands the players have been in, because i love & support my pals. love & support your pals too, today. and every day.
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Apr 11, 2018 15:07
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Why would you ever take XP from a player when you could instead set their character sheet on fire as a demonstration of why not to gently caress with The Powers That Be. edit- did none of you keep a large aluminum coffee can your players nicknamed "The Burn Bin" when y'all was running Illegal Basement LARPs at college?
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Apr 11, 2018 20:00
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Daeren posted:Imagine if it was the opposite, though. 15 Minutes: A Game Of Social (Media) Horror. Elder Influencers hold sway over the fabled LOLMarkets, Memefarms, and Content Mines, doling out miserly tidbits and retweets to their faithful. Do young up-and-coming Rising Stars have the wits to dethrone them and grasp the reins of content generation into their own sweaty palms? No but seriously I think there's legs to this idea. Rank is decided by Ties to your life pre-fame, they negatively affect your ability to devote yourself entirely to your pursuit, but at the same time they can be used to help you out in times of trouble. Players with the most Ties get the most game-time, because trying to juggle real life and career is Where The Drama Is. Stunts can be attempted to gain followers, but tasteless or failed Stunts might result in Blowback, which can cost you financial security. Make the players compete for a limited pool of Endorsements which are hoarded by the high-XP players but easily won by newbies able to capitalize on timely Blowback. Is that the kind of theme you're going for? Ferrinus posted:Beware the ST who micromanages your behavior with XP rewards, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. I also use snacks. 
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Apr 11, 2018 23:58
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Does the book have anything on Australia's hellish problem with invasive species? Cause I want to run a game where a bunch of wolves hijack a jeep spirit to go four wheeling through a swarm of enormous puffed up Bane Toads. If they're blood drinkers, would that make them Caine Toads? I'll stop.
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Apr 14, 2018 01:01
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is it true that cane toads enjoy climbing into toilets in order to make their ribbit mating calls? my wife claims the deep outback has to have special Toadproof Toilets in order to stop the horny idiots from climbing in and getting crapshatted on, cuz they bloat and clog the pipes apparently? "Shatted On Dead Toad In Cabin Toilet" is my headcanon Beast family, telling you all now makes it official.
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Apr 14, 2018 01:09
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They eat trees, Yawgie! TREES! Strip the bark right off them and girdle the whole majestic thing. They're monstrous, I think Australian rabbits are actually on par with domestic cats as far as destructive capacity is concerned, the rabbits graze so heavily that the area becomes barren and eroded. Frankly, "tribe of spirit rabbits depleting the spiritual ecology of an area" would make a solid mage OR werewolf plot, depending how you approach it. I think it'd be great fun seeing a bunch of apex predators realize the inefficiency of hunting invasive pests one-by-one.
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Apr 14, 2018 01:15
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One thing I can't figure out is, is there a concerted effort to move away from drawing inspiration from real world indigenous practices post-God Machine Chronicle, or are the authors just drawing from sources I don't immediately recognize?
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Apr 16, 2018 18:51
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That's a really complex in-game explanation for having tinnitus but you know what? Run with it, see where it goes.
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Apr 18, 2018 17:14
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Is there a thing in any of the White Wolf/Onyx Path canon where a mortal gains supernatural power by rotating their head 180 degrees? Like, physically turning their head to face the other direction. I have the vague idea that that's thing where Paradox corrupts a mage by spinning their head around, but I think it was also somehow related to necromancy, and how the head represents gazing back at everything that's already gone by? I know it's a plot point in "I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The Attic" but I thought I remembered encountering the idea earlier. It also showed up in the Perdido Street Station books, they had mirrored sunglasses so they could still see where they were going. Any ideas?
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Apr 19, 2018 06:46
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This is cool as hell and definitely good reading but what I'm thinking of is something that happens to an adult, in exchange for some kind of false enlightenment. this is something the Tremere would make posted:The invunche is a deformed human with its head twisted backwards, along with having twisted arms, fingers, nose, mouth and ears. The creature walks on one foot or on three feet (actually one leg and two hands) because one of its legs is attached to the back of its neck.
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Apr 19, 2018 07:26
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I'm 90% convinced it was Inferno I was thinking of, so thanks a lot moths! this is a Good Thread.
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Apr 19, 2018 14:50
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I could definitely see something like the Imbunche acting as the "dark inversion" of sorcerers & mortals with Numina powers, basically a mortal made vassal and corrupted by forbidden knowledge. Likely to show up in areas of heavy Marauder/Nephandi activity, maybe even a type of Formori.
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Apr 19, 2018 14:58
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I had the idea that since these things need to be raised from children, that there's the potential for something like the Westminster Imbunche Show, where nephandi parade their creations through an obstacle course and obedience test. Later on there's a cosplay contest, but everyone just wants to dress up like the chimera from Fullmetal Alchemist. A cosmetics portion where the back (front facing) of their head is shaved, and a simulacra face painted on with makeups. i can't tell if any of that is more or less cruel than baby vs dog.
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Apr 19, 2018 15:30
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You're playing nuWolf, right? Here's what it says in the V20 book: this is the closest i can get to helpful posted:Packs and Swarms
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Apr 19, 2018 23:08
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Seems like the lack of soak rolls, damage dispersal, and knockdown effects would be pretty simple to port across systems. Advanced levels of Animalism and Daimonium allow a vampire to incorporate swarms into their body , but as mentioned Demon probably has more thorough rules. What might be neat is picking an extra effect related to the creatures in the swarm. Maybe some kind of drain effect on characters caught inside it, or checks against being nauseated, something similar. Characters with more than X ranks of damage get infected wounds that require special treatment, which could spawn more swarms if ignored for too long. Y'know, really kick them when they're at their lowest.
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Apr 20, 2018 00:33
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I keep thinking that Beast would be cool if the player had to balance maintaining a humane mortal center vs indulging in evil in order to gain supernatural power. Like, just enough havoc and larceny that you can get through your life with the ability to maintain an umbral meat cocoon for weekend retreats, but that's not really what it's all about, huh? It would be good to see a story where the weird isolated loner has their community turn on them because they're corrupting it, where the Heroes are justified because of the PCs are bargaining with evil beyond mortal ken, rather than the PCs being special snowflakes in TOOL shirts getting picked on by Dumb Jocks. Does the game actually explore the ramifications of being a social predator? How storming about angry all the time creates more problems for oneself? The cyclical justification for violence, that's beastly enough to warrant attention, I think.
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Apr 22, 2018 17:37
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Is there a community effort to rewrite it as something less abuser-friendly? I'd kick time into making that a thing. If games are going to make abuse a theme, instead of just window dressing, they need to address all sides. Figure out mechanics for something like "umbral EMDR therapy," where the system is informed by actual treatments for overcoming trauma.
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Apr 22, 2018 17:59
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Yeah it really doesn't make sense to have a party full of beasts. I think it'd be compelling to play a coterie of newly-awakened Heroes confronting a Beast, having to undo the human wreckage they leave in their wake, without indulging in the same violence and destruction that marks the Beast. Maybe even make the relationship fully cyclical, Heroes arise in response to Beasts, who are just fallen Heroes who choose convenience and personal power over their community.
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Apr 22, 2018 18:04
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