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>Mage 2e Errata
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>Question
How does your game deal with pre-history? Like, was the first Vampire a Neanderthal? Are you running that Dark Era Mage/Werewolf setting? etc....
MAGES
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The Principle dun goofed
Every time it tried ti fix it's mistake, new monsters and magics kept appearing.
In the end it gave up and decided to start over - hence Prometheans.
The first vampire was Caine, even in CofD. I like to spice up VtR with bits of VtM lore.
I ran 1e CofD pre-history as a CAS/Howard influenced horror fantasy setting that shifted to a pre-history similar to what we know after the simultaneous events of The Fall, The Rite of Return, and the Death of Father Wolf. I had a lot of fun making that setting.
Now I stick to the Dark Eras takes, since it creates a more explicit timeline.
that sounds pretty cool
My vampires were people possessed by the strix when the gauntlet fell. Pulling the strix out forcefully left some 'strings' behind, turning them into revenants. Eventually these early vampires would find a blood ritual that restores the mortal mind, turning them into an early neglatu bloodline. When perfected, the ritual is passed down the embrace allowing for all the kinds of vampires we know today. Of course, the drained who rise again are still revenants, some of them neglatu, and this ritual works on mortals to an extent to create blood bathers. Every 'the first vampire' story is correct, just depends on what kind of proto-vampire you mean.
Oh, that's really neat! I've always liked it when the Strix are involved with a possible Vampire origin.
>that picture
Clearly the artist has never seen what the inside of a man's head looks like with the eyes removed. come to med school, they said, see all the fun stuff!. Super props to getting the eyeballs out so nice and round, though. That's pretty skillful. The murderers around Baltimore could use some lessons.
Anyone willing to share the final Mage PDF with errata and index? Thanks.
Stop being a cheapskate
People in the forums seem to be mad and Dracula and co dissing CofD and praising oWoD.
And where's the evidence of said diss? What forum are you talking about?
I wish the rules in VtR were more setting agnostic so that I could more easily use them in my SMT-styled God's-fucking-pissed apocalypse chronicle.
The official ones. Someone posted a video from Grand Masquerade.
Oh, the keynote speech? I watched that and didn't find anything controversial as as a CofD fan. Got a link to the thread?
That' wasn't a dis. That was Shane being Shane and commenting on the design of the worlds. Which, to be fair, is pretty accurate. WoD is built around the world as the primary modus, CofD is built around the game as the primary modus. This doesn't mean anything other than they have different dsign goals.
>people in the forums seem to be mad
>share link
you must be autistic if you thnk they're mad
>People on Veeky Forums
>Autistic
Say it ain't so.
Yeah, if that's all it's not a diss. Like, I know "but it's so Gamist!" is thrown around like an insult but. Focusing on the game is never a bad thing.
>Focusing on the game is never a bad thing
Especially when what you end up focusing on instead ends up as utter tripe
Would you know if I buy the pdf of Mage if Ill get discounted of I buy the book in the future?
... I don't see any reason why they'd discount a hard copy just because you've bought the right to hold a copy of some bytes.
i don't think so
Maybe? They often offer a discounted PDF+POD combo for stuff. Sometimes they've went through and retroactively made the cost for both, separately, into the combo cost. I'd message them and see.
Not always.
though if you bought the Pre-Errata PDF then yes. Then they send you a link then to buy the book at the discounted price, I rather like doing that. Buying the book early then when the final edit comes along I get that book (of course) as well.
What are Lodges in Werewolf?
Cults.
One day I'm going to do that, I've never been able to justify purchasing a physical copy of anything these days.
Oh, I see. They are like Cabals then?
My english sucks.
no, cabals are more like packs
they're like legacies
they dedicate themselves to a lodge totem and dedicate their hunts (or way of hunting) to it
Thank you user.
How can lizardmen be justified in cofd?
God-Machine experiments.
Irresponsible Mages.
Claimed.
"They just exist, and always have".
Just to name a few off of the top of my head.
Adding to what Said
Demon created servants to not call attention to its self.
shape shifter variety.
Doctor Who like ancient Lizard people from the dinosaur era who escaped extinction by going deep under ground and hibernating. Global warming? That's them terraforming the planet back to an environment they can make use of and conquer.
Stupid Hunter Organization made something to help them fight supernaturals by taking their hunter soldiers and injecting reptile DNA into them to give them lizard powers. They done goofed.
They sound like run of the mill Cryptids.
Weird races of humanoids already exist in the CofD. It's easy to just add one more.
There are actually lizardmen in Demon: the Descent's corebook.
Variable Form means they can shapeshift, Occluded means they're hard to notice.
Is this your subtle bragging about being in med school?
okay, I'm going to ST my first M:TA game. I'm worried I don't have everything accounted for despite the fact I've read the book probably three times now.
What are common mistakes people make playing/ST-ing Mage?
Playing Mage the Ascension
Worrying too much about having everything accounted for.
It's a game about magic. Lay out a basic framework for the story(a start point and a couple of endpoints, maybe an important scene or two in between), then let your players go through it on their own. Even if you read every single spell in the book, they're undoubtedly going to be able to come up with a solution to a problem that you didn't consider, and you should just roll with it(as long as it's actually possible in the rules).
>EG: I started my players off dealing with an android from the future. I figured they'd probably just straight up try to kill it, or send it back where it came from. Instead, the Moros liquified its joints, then the Obrimos cut its power, and they took it to their Sanctum to study it.
Granted, it re-activated itself right after they walked it over the threshold, but they still managed to take it down in only a couple of turns with a couple of choice Forces spells.
shit
is that what that shortens to
I meant Mage The Awakening
Technically it's MtAsc, but since Ascension was first, it commonly becomes MtA. Awakening's always been MtAw for that very reason.
My ST underestimated just how dangerous 2000 decibels of sound could be.
n my defense so did I.
I honked a novelty car horn that played the same tune as the Dukes of Hazard car and then used Forces to amplify the sound, and rolled an exceptional.
You can bet that spell paradoxed.
The Sound Cannon will forever live in infamy in my group.
>Anyone willing to share the final Mage PDF with errata and index?
Seconded. It's odd how the advanced pdf was shared almost immediately, but the new one is still nowhere to be seen.
... At what point does a spell cease to trigger Paradox, and instead trigger Dissonance?
Say to use the example here If you enhanced the sound of a Horn to such a ludicrous degree that everyone in the city heard and it deafened nearby individuals, would that be Dissonance or Paradox?
If the horn was blown a good half a minute after the spell, then it could no longer be Paradox, but what about simultaneous casting and blowing?
Does Paradox occur in the instant in wuich it would have immediate effect?
To use another example, blasting a Sleeper with fire which you are directly controlling.
If their back is turned to you while casting, and then within the same round, you smash the blast of fire shaped like a T-Rex into them that would be Dissonance?
What if you cast the spell while they were watching, then waited at least a second beofre enacting your control over the fire in order to avoid Paradox, instead dealing with dissonance.
Even at the moment you cast it, there's no obvious use of Supernal power.
Only when the flames take unnatural, mystical shape, does the Sleeper become aware.
Dissonance is when Sleepers, using their 5 basic senses, become aware of something impossible. If they see the fire t-rex, they will disbelieve it and evoke dissonance, if they don't and just feel themselves catching fire because it bit them from behind (and they didn't turn round because of the heat) then it doesn't.
Paradox is if you reach to make the t-rex instead of a velociraptor, and over-extend your magical abilities
Okay, perhaps I phrased that wrong.
At what point do Sleeper witnesses provide bonus Paradox dice?
Simultaneously
Neat, so if at the moment of the casting, you do not create an instantensouly and evidently Magical effect, then Sleeper witnesses will not cause the creation of Paradox dice.
Correct.
What's the most depressing thing to have happened to your vampire?
His embrace and being taken away from everything he knows and loves.
His apprentice who he trained and protected out of true compassion killed his touchstone right in front of him.
Then fucked off with her Mage sugardaddy.
Why did that happen?
Think teenage rebellion, but with joining the Crones and running off with a Thyrsus bad boy.
So you didn't blood bond your disciple well enough I see. That's why blood bonds exist friend. That way she doesn't go off to be with a sugar daddy. Because she needs to be with you, always with you, never without you. She has to have you. That way you don't have to worry about things like what happened to you.
When you're casting the spell.
If you summon a Trex in full view of a bunch of Sleepers, you get an extra die (plus a dice trick) on the paradox roll. If you summon Barney anyway (and they survive) they cause a Dissonance roll at the end of the scene.
Summon him in peace and quiet, no paradox. Go rampaging down main street with him, and at the end of the scene he'll be hit by Dissonance.
Gonna repeat a question from last thread here.
How do you deal with werewolf territories in your games, anons? What sort of guidelines do you use for deciding how big they are? Do you work with standard physical area (in both normal and shadow worlds), the number of loci under control, other places or features of importance?
Thanks in advance.
>5 basic senses
>People still think proprioception, thermoception, nociception, and equilibrioception don't count.
Knowing the position of where your arm is even when you can't see it is sensory data, guys. Now, clearly sight is of greater salience to humans than other senses (our poor olfactory bulb kept getting squashed by the evolving frontal cortex), but still, that's a bit of a silly comparison.
Well I try to look at what the pack hunts, and look at what a prime territory would be for hunting that, and competition. For example Chicago has smaller packs that control smaller areas, because that's vampire country. Go two hours north though and the werewolf Protectorate is huge, covers a state and vampire's are paying off werewolves to allow them to operate in their territory meetings happen behind closed doors between pack leaders, and Invictus leaders with Mages and/or Beasts acting as moderators because they can be trusted to be impartial by both sides.
Long and short I make a supernatural underworld ecosystem because that is the only way everyone maintains their secrets.
It's when someone gets greedy and tries to upset the ecosystem that Masquerades get blown, Werewolves are exposed, Heroes start waking up, and Paradox gets thrown around like it's body glitter at a club.
What're some reasons for characters of different supernatural origin to go around and party together?
speaking of ecosystems, how many Mages do you guys prefer in your settings?
Personally, I like to have far fewer Mages than described in MTAw, with maybe just a few dozen in an entire Order for a fair-sized country. Certainly less than the "100 non-ascended archmages in the world" that Imperial Mysteries would suggest. It makes discovery and magical spelunking a bit more risky when fewer have walked down that path before and much more is unknown.
>If you summon Barney anyway (and they survive) they cause a Dissonance roll at the end of the scene.
Wait, so does that mean that sometimes Guardians bearing a Mask that permits murder for the cause, may sometimes try to kill Sleeper witnesses before they trigger Dissonance?
Alternatively, can you erase all the supernatural memories from their minds so there's nothing left for the Abyss to scourge, saving them from the Breaking Point, and yourself from a more severe Act of Hubris?
I like to have Mages interacting with Mages, which necessitates a fairly healthy population size for each individual city.
Enough to fully populate the various roles in the Orders, and the Consilium.
Why do you guys dislike old world of darkness? Did you not like the original lore?
If it's just for the rules, I find that a pretty weak reason. Your table your rules, after all, and the manuals are guidelines.
Mutual protection from a bigger threat. If you think about it various nations and groups have banded together to deal with something either one couldn't handle on their own.
So the Chicago Mafia-esque Vampires might suddenly need a favor dealing with a God on a rampage that risks turning Chicago into a hellscape and since they can't reach the Shadow on their own to deal with this they make deals with their fuzzy neighbors to the North in the form of Guns, Drugs, Money, what ever they want within reason for Aid.
Mages, Beasts, Giests I can see as willing to Freelance in areas where their populations are particularly low. A mage in a Prince's court grants him a certain air of respectability. A beast on a leash is quite the pet like a South American king and his pet Jaguars.
>Wait, so does that mean that sometimes Guardians bearing a Mask that permits murder for the cause, may sometimes try to kill Sleeper witnesses before they trigger Dissonance?
That does sound like more extreme Guardians to me, yes.
Depends if we are playing Mage, Mixed, or something else. And in what city. All major cities have at least 100 active mages in them. So when you consider Albuquerque has 500,000 people that is 1/500th of the population. I think the odds are better to win a $5,000 prize from the lottery.
>oh bait, how much I've missed you
>Did you not like the original lore?
It's sometimes okay (even if some of it is a bit preachy), but it can be oppressive. Just as rules, lore can be a guideline, but when the metaplot starts to logically constrict on player/ST actions (particularly when themes clash or are not suitable to a particular outlook), then it's a bit less comfortable.
Having a more flexible ruleset can be a boon, especially for plopping down bits and parts of the rules into other settings.
WtA or WtF and why?
Forsaken. No Eco-Warrior bullshit.
Can I be a shark or giant spider in Forsaken?
If you build them with the other changer rules in War Against the Pure from 1e or reskin wolf stuff. Otherwise no.
>Then fucked off with her Mage sugardaddy.
Damn mages...
However, why would a Thyrsus be at all interested in a young vampire other than a passing curiosity or annoyance?
Because she was good in the sheets maybe?
Playing a UK game right now, that means guns are illegal and really hard to get a hold of. What are some roleplay reasons for having 3 dots in Firearms?
No. Werewolf is about werewolves.
Military service.
Police Training.
Organized Crime Connection.
Landowner/farmer/groundskeeper. Rifles and shotguns of petty much all types. Or you lived in Northern Ireland, where handguns are also legal.
Or you grew up on a council estate in Brixton, where every dealer can also get guns for you.
As long as you're not using automatic weapons or a grenade launcher, prerty much anything else is viable.
me and my friends are looking for a story teller / gm for a game of vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition on roll 20 we have about 4 players all we need is a dm
add me on steam or Skype if interested
Skype- matthew.edwards757
Okay
I want a Thyrsus to specialize in Plant Magic, but I'm having trouble picking rotes, ideas?
Life 3
Spirit 1
Fate 2
>tfw you gotta have a baali curse your players to keep things balanced properly
>The character protects an area from supernatural effects used by anyone other than the character and up to a two dozen specific individuals named when the warding is created. Even if he is not present inside the warded area, the purified can reflexively make a Wits + Occult + Chi roll as contested roll against any supernatural ability used on anyone or anything inside the warded area. If the attacker does not win the contest by at least one success, the ability fails to affect everyone inside the warded area.
Holy shit
Why the fuck doesn't that just use the Clash of Wills rule?
Because it didn't exist when it was written
So a couple of months ago some guys were talking about making Manipulation a skill instead of an attribute. Does anyone here remember all the details and did anyone playtest it?
>WtA or WtF and why?
WtA.
I like the complicated (to put it lightly) relationship the tribes have with one another, and how so much of their story is about how their ancestors fucked things up and now *they* have to fix it, except most of the time they never get anything noteworthy done or they just spend all that time blaming each other. Add in the Wyrm and all that stuff, and it makes for a pretty interesting stories, in my opinion.
Then again, I've always preferred Old World of Darkness over New World/Chronicles of Darknes. I grew up with OWoD, so I'm far more invested and immersed in that lore than with Chronicles/NWoD.
Is Mass: The Effecting CwoD 1e or 2e?
Being a farmer who uses a shotgun to keep his livestock safe/protect his fields from crows/game shooting.
Shit I should have scrolled on a bit to see this response.
Is 2e really much better than 1e?
I want to run a game and I already have a good grasp of 1e, but don't know if it's worth it to look at the second editions or even what all is significantly different or improved.
I think so but I don't have much exposure with 1e. I almost gave up on it though due to a bad experience with it but I felt the rules and setting were so good. Everything flowed so well and I didn't want to give up on it. Then I played beast and I felt like I found a good match, and werewolf I told would feel better and I think I am looking forward to playing a mage.
You can get Anyskin (or something)t hat lets you change into a shark or spider instead of a wolf
WtF
Much more fun game
All about the hunt
No moral law to stick by (there is but you can break it)
Can fuck other werewolves
Tribes are groups of like minded wolves, not bloodlines that don't make sense
Bad guys much better and less ridiculous
Much more variability in the kind of werewolf you can be
Technology isn't evil
Civilization isn't evil
1e, I beleive.
Can you heal resistant damage with legacy attainments?
Yes, one of the Seer attainments lets you heal resistant damage with pattern restoration.
>Can you heal resistant damage
no