|
Hello again! It’s me, back with another recap from our New York City campaign. It’s a bit shorter this time, as a lot of time was spent on planning stuff, since I’m a kind GM who doesn’t like interrupting the players’ brainstorming (although I am also a rude GM who frequently reminds them that there will always be unknowns that make their plans useless and it is a waste of time). As usual, our coterie consists of Thomas the Triad Tremere and Benedict the GOP Ventrue. The coterie has some trouble heading their way, as well as some personal business they want to take care of. They are aware that they are being followed, but Benedict wants to reconnect with his mortal family, having been staked in a fridge for the past few months. So Benedict travels to New Jersey where his family lives, while Thomas follows him from a distance, to see if he can spot someone following Benedict. And indeed Benedict is being followed by two non-descript businessmen, one of whom Thomas recognises works for Ken Vincent. Ken Vincent is the childe of the Malkavian Primogen, and has informed the coterie that he has been tasked with causing grievous harm to them. So Thomas shoots a text message to Benedict about the situation and Benedict returns to their haven, not wanting to risk his family. The two stalkers set up a stake-out spot in a nearby cafe and the players ponder how to deal with this. As previously established, they were aware that they were being followed, but had assumed that it was the FBI Special Affairs Division and this was a grim reminder that they are on more than one shitlist. At this point one Walter Nash drops by for a visit. Nash was the focus of the very first adventure we played in the campaign and has been featured occasionally thereafter. He is in Camarilla’s periphery, a social outcast trying to reform himself, but also openly opposes the current Prince due to sexism. He is a terrible person, but also considers the player characters friendly. And with the soft-coup in the previous session, he feels that it is time for action. The Prince has clearly lost the backing of the Primogen Council, now it is to show that Prince Panhard can’t protect her assets. And what better way to do that than burn down a gallery she owns (for a vampire, Nash is quite comfortable with arson, and he has connections to the fire department to make sure firefighters don’t arrive in time). Nash assumes the players will join him in this. Which is clearly a bad idea, but it could also be an opportunity. The players promise to get back to him and spend the rest of the session figuring out a plan and visiting associates for advice. Specifically they drop by Massif Bass Central, the newest Elysium in the city and the one run personally by Portia, the new Keeper of Elysium. Portia is not there tonight personally, as she has to make sure the other Elysiums are running smoothly and to pay back debts accrued to make her the Keeper. But her coterie mates are there, who are not aware of Nash or his plans, nor are they intending to escalate any conflicts in the city. They suggest the coterie talk to Uncle Smelly, who would most likely be able to answer the player’s questions. Uncle Smelly, also at the club, is willing to talk to the players, and boasts a golden VIP pass to this club, which the player coterie gave him a few months ago. Uncle Smelly still doesn’t like or respect the player characters, but he dislikes them less than most other Kindred, so he is willing to explain to them how the game of politics is played and what moves have been made. In our campaign, there has been a conflict in the background between the Clan Nosferatu and Camarilla, with Nosfetatus demanding that all of the underground belong to their clan. There have even been rumours that the Clan is about to defect to the Anarchs. Uncle Smelly explains to them that if they defected to the Anarchs, they’d just be one defecting clan among many. Now they are the one clan who didn’t defect, and can demand frequent compensation for their loyalty. In exchange for supporting Portia’s bid, they’ve received Madison Square as an Elysium. So, for now, the conflict is resolved, the Clan has gained something they didn’t have before and it didn’t cost them anything. The player’s don’t mention Nash or his plans (since it would look bad to be associated with him) but manage to pry that Uncle Smelly has no desire to see the Prince Panhard replaced, he prefers a middling Prince who keeps most of the riff-raff in check but can’t interfere with stronger, subtler Kindred plans. The players considered if they should ask Benedict’s sire, Tarasov, for advice, but I had to inform them that it is getting late, I’d like to see this situation solved before we end this session and that they’ve asked a lot of NPC’s for advice, I’d like for them to make a decision on their own instead of indirectly asking the GM for a solution. They knew Nash’s proposition was bad, but tried to find some angle for benefit, even suggesting to lure Ken Vincent’s agents into the fire, because it would make the Malkavian Primogen look bad, if his childe’s ghouls were kind of involved in anti-Prince activities. Maybe. Eventually they decided to inform the authorities, aka Sheriff Qadir al-Asmai, that Nash was planning an attack on the Prince’s property. Qadir responded that they are not the first source he’s heard about this from (letting the player’s know that they dodged a huge bullet!), now they have enough information to act on. Prince Panhard wastes no time invoking Lex Talionis and calling a Blood Hunt for Walter Nash’s destruction. Prince Panhard thanks the players for their information and expects them to participate, but gives them nothing. And that was our previous session. I was fully prepared to let the players roll with Nash (and I let the players know this). This would have led to a lot of trouble. The players were not the only source Qadir had for Nash’s plans, Nash’s own coterie had sold him out. So instead of two coteries burning down a property, it would have been Nash and the players ambushed by Sheriff Qadir, Prince Panhard, and their goons. Bullet dodged.
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 13:41 |
|
|
# ? Apr 29, 2024 15:49 |
|
Soonmot posted:BLOOD! AT THE DISCO! Ah, I see you, too, are a gentlebeing of culture who understands that the MCU started in 1999 with Blade. (ba ba dump ba da bum bum bum bum)
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 15:42 |
|
moths posted:Did I miss a particularly Zionist Kickstarter update? It was this: https://www.patreon.com/login?ru=%2Fposts%2Fracism-and-onyx-39912924%3Fimmediate_pledge_flow%3Dtrue Which was pretty big news at the time as Khaldoun Khalil is pretty well known in the industry and won an Ennie recently for the Dune RPG book, which he wrote a sizeable chunk on (and wrote an entire article about how he was forced to de-Arab Dune, which you can read here: https://inkstickmedia.com/erasing-arabs-from-dune/ ) He's also Palestinian and the crux of the racism he dealt with at OPP specifically centered around his status as being Palestinian and Muslim, with a specific very loved white writer at OPP going so far as to tell him his culture was a sham and didn't exist. So yeah, you'll excuse me if I never buy anything from OPP again since they've both failed to address the issue and from my dealings with that white writer on multiple Discords, he hasn't even denied the things he said and instead has chosen to take an aggressive stance that the minority guy is being overly sensitive and couldn't take a joke.
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 16:34 |
|
Fuzz posted:It was this: that link demands i log in, is there a breakdown elsewhere?
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 17:57 |
|
Mister Olympus posted:that link demands i log in, is there a breakdown elsewhere? quote:Khaldoun Khelil
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 18:40 |
|
https://www.patreon.com/posts/Fracism-and-onyx-39912924 stripped the login prompt out of the URL
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 18:46 |
|
Ghost Armor 1337 posted:well it could be summed up in four words somehow Albrecht is canon. For what it's worth, that was established in the W5 corebook. The section on Talismans points out the Silver Crown as a legendary Talisman belonging to the "Albrecht lineage" which, given that Lycanthropy is no longer directly tied to genetics in this version of the setting, probably makes the idea of a lineage existing at all a huge deal. Considering that and a few other callbacks, W5 seems like it's taking more of a Ultimate Marvel-style approach to rebooting the setting when it's not taking a few pages from Werewolf: The Forsaken First Edition: a whole lot of familiar names, recontextualized as necessary.
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 20:56 |
|
As part of the GM Day sale Wraith 20th is $18 for the PDF and that is well worth it.
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 21:37 |
|
Fuzz posted:He's also Palestinian and the crux of the racism he dealt with at OPP specifically centered around his status as being Palestinian and Muslim, with a specific very loved white writer at OPP going so far as to tell him his culture was a sham and didn't exist. I'm curious who the writer in question is, unless it's just one of the people mentioned by name in the Patreon article, none of whom I would personally call well-loved writers though I'm sure they have their fans. If it's who I'm guessing it is, that guy's been all over in the past few years and I think he's been a pretty drat bad influence.
|
# ? Mar 6, 2024 21:48 |
|
Free Cog posted:For what it's worth, that was established in the W5 corebook. The section on Talismans points out the Silver Crown as a legendary Talisman belonging to the "Albrecht lineage" which, given that Lycanthropy is no longer directly tied to genetics in this version of the setting, probably makes the idea of a lineage existing at all a huge deal. Considering that and a few other callbacks, W5 seems like it's taking more of a Ultimate Marvel-style approach to rebooting the setting when it's not taking a few pages from Werewolf: The Forsaken First Edition: a whole lot of familiar names, recontextualized as necessary. Well one worry I have is that renegade might start to crowbar in old lore into the setting without thinking about how it's affect things both narratively and mechanically, since either A) as a reaction to the negative fan reception of W5 core and/or B) renegade writers have run out of ideas so they have to mine old W20 material to pad out they book, hell I seen mentions on onyx path of a supplement called Scent of Decay which centers around a bane corrupted company that may or may not be pentex...
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 01:34 |
|
I'm not entirely sure how we'd reach the conclusion Albrecht was anything but canon. Also, the Khelil post sucks but affirms my decision to walk away from supporting both OPP and WW a couple of years ago, though now I need to make a particular note of not buying new Mage stuff too.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 01:39 |
|
Ghost Armor 1337 posted:I seen mentions on onyx path of a supplement called Scent of Decay which centers around a bane corrupted company that may or may not be pentex... Pentex is also in the W5 core rulebook, they have a large section of the antagonist chapter that even covers how to use them in a three-act structure, starting small and building up to First Team responders, who are also in the setting again. Anything in the setting that also appeared in the original editions that makes it to the books on the shelves is something Paradox wanted there; just like how OPP's WoD books had to go past PDX, so do Renegade's. Being a reboot or a re-imagining doesn't mean you don't use the things the brand is known for, after all...unless your name is Hunter: The Reckoning, I suppose. Even then, terminology like Creeds and Edges are there because you gotta use them. If you don't use it, you might lose it.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 01:52 |
|
Free Cog posted:a Ultimate Marvel-style approach to rebooting the setting YOU THINK THIS GLYPH CARVED INTO MY FOREHEAD STANDS FOR FRANCE!?
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 02:07 |
|
Free Cog posted:Hunter: The Reckoning, I suppose. Even then, terminology like Creeds and Edges are there because you gotta use them. If you don't use it, you might lose it. Talking about Hunter I remember mentions of a supplement that runs counter to the intend tone of the core book so I'm guessing it's org splatbook or it involves the imbued. Ghost Armor 1337 fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Mar 7, 2024 |
# ? Mar 7, 2024 02:09 |
|
The core book goes so far out of it's way to not say anything concrete about the setting, except for the occasional tidbit that's a nudge and a wink, like with the mention of the Albrecht Lineage. Achilli was so adamant about separating W5 from the legacy editions, but he left the World of Darkness team a while before the release of W5 and he made mention that some additional development had been done after his tenure, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was something put in last minute. (Also wouldn't be surprised if this was also when they slipped in a chunk of Rites that are almost word for word identical to their W20 write ups. I don't see any W20 writers credited FYI) If they want to keep selling supplements they're going to HAVE to crystallize some elements. Might as well be Albrecht I guess, since the Silver Fangs whole schtick kind of relies on pedigree, and I found their tribal write-up a bit confusing with the lack of it.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 02:34 |
I don't know if they steered hard enough away from the Pure Breed stuff to make it so that Garou arise essentially at random, however you could easily have an adoptive lineage.
|
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 02:46 |
|
I always vacillate between “I don’t know Khaldoun very well but I do bloody well respect him and think he of all people knows Islamophobia when he sees it” and “I’m pretty sure they’ve treated various white people exactly the same way”. EDIT - with a side note of knowing for a fact that at least one Dev was trying to *hire* him when it happened and had not been told of any blacklist. Which I chalk to standard organisational chaos. Morbidly interested in who mystery racist author is, just in case it’s one of the, like, two friends who still freelance at OPP. Dave Brookshaw fucked around with this message at 08:01 on Mar 7, 2024 |
# ? Mar 7, 2024 07:58 |
|
V5 question. Potence 1 lets you deal agg brawl damage to mortals and Brutal Feed lets you slurp down non-vampires like a Capri Sun... Do Garou count as 'mortals' for the former and would you similarly let a vampire go HAM on a werewolf with feeding or are they supernatural enough to not count for the first and too tough for the latter? Nessus posted:I don't know if they steered hard enough away from the Pure Breed stuff to make it so that Garou arise essentially at random, however you could easily have an adoptive lineage.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 15:36 |
|
Thanks for that blog post. Holy poo poo. I get why he wouldn't describe the racism/Islamiphobia. It only invites the overshadowing argument of whether or not his examples were "sufficiently bigoted." A person knows when they're being discriminated against. But even without discrimination that's still scummy and unprofessional enough behavior to be done with them. (Which is easier now that they make nothing cool, but still.)
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 15:48 |
|
Given how Paradox treated Sambrano it feels unseemly on the whole to support anything vaguely WoD-related.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 15:51 |
|
citybeatnik posted:V5 question. They don't. Mortals are just normal human juiceboxes.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 16:02 |
|
moths posted:(Which is easier now that they make nothing cool, but still.) It certainly doesn't entice me to engage with "CofD heartbreaker made by the people who pushed everyone I like out of the industry" or whatever the gently caress Curseborne turns out to be under the ARG fuckery.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 16:04 |
citybeatnik posted:There's no Pure Breed or its equivalent (nor Past Lives that i can see) so adoptive lineages would be the best bet. Which is cool sounding to me.
|
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 16:07 |
|
Loomer posted:Also, the Khelil post sucks but affirms my decision to walk away from supporting both OPP and WW a couple of years ago, though now I need to make a particular note of not buying new Mage stuff too. Interestingly, he wrote V5 Sabbat for Renegade after all of this and still freelances for Paradox as a whole. I actually asked him about the Karim stuff with Sambrano, since he's obviously dealt with the guy, and yeah... I've never met Karim, but after hearing some play by plays of interactions with him, it would not entirely surprise me if he is somewhere on the autism spectrum, and I can't help but wonder if a lot of the tone and miscommunication type issues basically circle back to that. For what it's worth, Khalil said the guy is extremely blunt to the point of being rude pretty often, but overall from his years of experience working with the guy on the V5 Core and onward, he's actually been a pretty fair and not racist boss TO HIM (Khalil). Karim seems to have severe issues with his affect and communication. Fuzz fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Mar 7, 2024 |
# ? Mar 7, 2024 16:09 |
|
Dave Brookshaw posted:I always vacillate between “I don’t know Khaldoun very well but I do bloody well respect him and think he of all people knows Islamophobia when he sees it” and “I’m pretty sure they’ve treated various white people exactly the same way”. Matt Dawkins being dropped as one of of the potential sources didn't really surprise me, but my first reading of it was also 'We've heard stories of them treating white people the same way.'
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 16:14 |
|
Dave Brookshaw posted:It certainly doesn't entice me to engage with "CofD heartbreaker made by the people who pushed everyone I like out of the industry" or whatever the gently caress Curseborne turns out to be under the ARG fuckery. Same, especially knowing that at least one of the folks involved in it is part of why I no longer write for OP myself.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 16:26 |
|
Kurieg posted:Matt Dawkins being dropped as one of of the potential sources didn't really surprise me, but my first reading of it was also 'We've heard stories of them treating white people the same way.' The bullying stuff they definitely have done to basically anyone. The racism stuff was very specific and targeted comments, though, on top of their usual poo poo.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 17:34 |
|
MoonKnight posted:They don't. Mortals are just normal human juiceboxes. So one couldn't use Lethal Body to deal Agg to ghouls either? The main thing with Brutal Feed is that you deal additional Agg up to your Potence / Sate a level of Hunger rating to "mortals" as you crush and tear internal organs to get at the good stuff. Against Kindred your effective Potence is halved (rounded down) and you only deal Superficial on top of increasing your target's Hunger because it's drat hard to force out vitae. But could the same be said of a werewolf? Unless I misread what you meant re "they don't" and that was specifically directed at Lethal Body. The upcoming game's set in Anchorage and my questions are more a thought experiment in case my Lasombra gets a chance to tombstone piledrive a lupine and feed.
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 19:51 |
citybeatnik posted:V5 question. I would say no to werewolves counting as mortals, that's super straightforward. Don't know enough about the new stuff to have any opinion on the later question. moths posted:Thanks for that blog post. Holy poo poo. yep, after reading that, just imagine i posted the jerry leaving the theater gif cuz gently caress
|
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 20:07 |
|
citybeatnik posted:
This should happen regardless, because that poo poo would be
|
# ? Mar 7, 2024 23:22 |
|
citybeatnik posted:So one couldn't use Lethal Body to deal Agg to ghouls either? Yeah, the book isn't 100% clear on interactions (I guess they're not expecting most players to want to treat a werewolf like a juice box). Ghouls and regular animals are still mortals, not supernatural creatures. Werewolves are fully supernatural creatures. So anything that says 'a mortal' like Cauldron of Blood kills a mortal, wouldn't kill a werewolf, Lethal Body wouldn't do agg, but you'll have to probably make some personal rules for things in other powers. For Brutal Feed, I'd probably treat it like doing it to a vampire: deal Superficial damage rather than agg (because of their toughness) and do the half feeding actions, since Werewolf blood already counts for double. It stays within the normal use of Brutal Feed on vampires without being 'oops I agg-drank it to death' which is anticlimactic for 'the Great Enemy'. MoonKnight fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Mar 7, 2024 |
# ? Mar 7, 2024 23:30 |
|
Double post - ignore.
MoonKnight fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Mar 7, 2024 |
# ? Mar 7, 2024 23:30 |
|
citybeatnik posted:Do Garou count as 'mortals' for the former and would you similarly let a vampire go HAM on a werewolf with feeding or are they supernatural enough to not count for the first and too tough for the latter? White Wolf and its successors have had a long history of saying the word "mortal" and meaning "non-supernatural human." And a long history of being ambiguous and inconsistent whether various lesser touches of the supernatural like ghouling count as being this kind of "mortal" or not.
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 01:23 |
|
It all just makes me even happier to work on my own terrible mechanical system.
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 02:29 |
|
citybeatnik posted:So one couldn't use Lethal Body to deal Agg to ghouls either? Ghouls, Mages, and even regular Thinbloods without Kindred Resilience would count as mortals for damage purposes, so Lethal Body would do agg to them. Werewolves are supernatural and have their own rules.
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 06:04 |
|
I found out Malcolm Sheppard apparently had a WW heartbreaker called Opening the Dark around 2008 that has unfortunately been mostly scrubbed from the internet.
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 14:45 |
|
joylessdivision posted:This should happen regardless, because that poo poo would be Seconded. The vamp vs. werewolf thing in WoD is usually so stacked towards werewolves. I like the idea of a Lupine pouncing on a vampire thinking “easy prey” and then getting absolutely bodied
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 18:57 |
|
Gatto Grigio posted:Seconded. Someday I'll run the dumbest WoD/Wrestling crossover game. Just yell "WHAT?" whenever the Prince says something, Stone Cold Stunner fools left and right. Narrate all combat as Jim Ross. "AS CAINE AS MY WITNESS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF!"
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 21:17 |
joylessdivision posted:Someday I'll run the dumbest WoD/Wrestling crossover game. Just yell "WHAT?" whenever the Prince says something, Stone Cold Stunner fools left and right. Narrate all combat as Jim Ross. https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Extreme_Wrestling_Warfare quote:
|
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 21:42 |
|
|
# ? Apr 29, 2024 15:49 |
|
FMW meets the supernatural. It's beautiful
|
# ? Mar 8, 2024 22:31 |