/CofD/ &/wodg/ Chronicles of Darkness and World of Darkness General

That just makes it better

...

It seems to be moving along, though I still wouldn't expect it till 2017.

Yea. The updates roll in, but every once in awhile, I remember its not done.

The worst part is that I literally have no use for it, but LOVED the setting.

I'd play New Wave if I had a group.

Wraith 20 has overshot so hard it's now killed Kindred of the East 20, Mummy the Resurrection 20 and Sorcerer 20. At this point they should just call it Wraith 25 and take advantage of another few years to get organised.

Also, Changeling 20.

How's this for a stretch goal - actually getting the goddamn book out on time? Mage 20 was two years late and, although it allegedly had an editor, I refuse to accept that given the appalling quality of the editorial work.

Does anyone have the Mage 2e pdf with the errata? Tahnks.

I do, but I'm not going to give it to you because you're a whiny, demanding prat.
Buy it yourself.

>Dark Eras or Dark Ages, Which did Shinning Knights better?

Praise the knights of the lower leg!

Can ghouls regain vitae by swallowing kindred blood on their own?

I want to say both no and yes.
No would reinforce the dependency.
Yes would give the settings feral ghouls who hunt vampires for blood. Individually weak, of course, but in a pack...
...
...
I just realized we have Larvals for the latter.

So no.

Yes; this is why independent ghouls are a thing, such as the leader of the Malleus Maleficarum.

Don't see why not.
Make for an interesting Vampire Hunter concept.
Feed off of the parasites.

To answer an user:

>Could a werewolf Thrall happen?
Yes, it could. But some werewolves (especially the Shadow Lords) have Gifts (werewolf magic, essentially) that can "lolnope" the Blood Bond, so its risky at best, especially considering the werewolves as a whole are already on a "kill on sight" basis with vampires. Furthermore, Garou (werewolves) often have allergic reactions to vampire blood when ingested, so they'd have to fight to keep the blood down in order to properly "infuse" the blood into their body.

>Would the werewolf be able to gain disciplines?
Yes, as any other ghoul, the werewolf would be able to learn disciplines up to the first dot (if the vampire domitor's generation is 8th-13th) and would immediately gain the standard "Potence 1" and a secondary one dot in a discipline from the vampire domitor's clan/bloodline as a "reward" for becoming a ghoul.

>Would feeding off a werewolf get you anything special?
Yes, while a werewolf's body holds only physical room for ten blood points, the blood is so concentrated and potent that each blood point taken is worth two to a vampire. So if a vampire drinks one blood point from a werewolf, his blood pool actually fills up by two points. However, due to the Rage of the werewolves, they'd also get a +1 difficulty on Frenzy checks for each blood point the werewolf loses.

So if a vampire guzzled two points from a werewolf (and thus filled up his bloodpool by 4 points), he'd get a +2 frenzy difficulty while the blood was still in his body. Even if frenzy is resisted, they almost always become paranoid and short-tempered as long as the blood remains, and some vampires have also recieved derangements from it, temporary and permanent. There are also rumors that feeding on werewolf blood can grant temporary levels of Potence and Celerity, but these rumors haven't been verified, and might depend on the whether or not the werewolf is pure-bred or some other quality.

So, In 2e, all splats can also be wolf-blooded.
All splats ARE sleepwalkers.
Shouldn't that mean that all splats can be ghouled?

Half templates right?

>Vampire players wasting exp on blood potency, devotions and flashy disciplines
>meanwhile the ghoul has an average of 7 in all physicals, 10 willpower and could probably kill the sheriff

HELP

If a Coiterie manages to piss off every single Vampire institution in the city, as well as every Mortal one by committing massive property damage and killing Hundreds of people in an explosion that levelled a Skyscraper, how much skull-fucking is justified?

So I have a rules question. In CofD the status merit slows a character to start of as a too business men or drug kingpin but 5dot in status would leave you with only one dot to put in resources, which seems illogical as it would make it impossible to make a highly successful businessman be wealthy, so how do status and resources interact?

>although it allegedly had an editor, I refuse to accept that given the appalling quality of the editorial work.
But the thing you guys keep bitching about isn't even an editor's job. The director is the one who handles content. The editor doesn't say "alright, Phil, that's too many philosophy jerk off sessions", the editor corrects the spelling and grammar of them.

>Yes; this is why independent ghouls are a thing, such as the leader of the Malleus Maleficarum.
Just quoting you all and highlighting this user. There are rogue ghouls in the setting (VtM, VtR1e, and 2e), and in 2e the section on ghouls has a lot of talk of how some vampires fear them getting too much power.
And of course in Hunter the head of the Malleus is one such ghoul.

That doesn't really follow. Sleepwalkers aren't the ghoul equivalent in Mage; Proximi are.
Wolfblooded are also just a few merits with baggage.
Being a ghoul is the only of the three you list that's an actual "Template".

You could be well respected in a community without having much actual pull in that community.

For example somebody with Status 5 (Drug Dealers) Resources 1. Could be like a priest who hears confession from drug dealers, a retired gangster laying low with encyclopedic knowledge of law enforcement, or the beloved family member of a major player.

I can barely understand your post, but I'm going to take a crack at it all the same.
> but 5dot in status would leave you with only one dot to put in resources
Two, actually, and it's almost as if certain concepts don't work at character creation. I also can't be "the peak of human physical capability" at character creation.
>how do status and resources interact?
Technically, they don't. You can be Status 5 in a business and Resource 0. Status means how much people respect you. It's just that if you're a businessman, you're likely to be wealthy. Resources measures how much cash you have that's liquid, i.e. on hand. You can be a rich person and have Resources 0, because you're not able to spend it, it's all tied up. Someone with Status 5 and Resources 0 is someone who's adept at spending other people's money. I'm sure we can all think of... somebody like that.

Resources doesn't measure pull, Status does. I wouldn't say that a priest is ever going to have Status 5 with Drug Dealers without, you know, being at the head of them. Although I guess he *could* probably have the personality and appreciation that he could ask things of them and try to straighten people out, but that probably would be better handled by some other merit. Like one of those "You don't have Status but people respect you" merits that a lot of the supernatural groups have for cross-faction stuff.

Ah, a scarily competent ghoul. Lovely.

Have the ghoul kick their ass as a reminder of practicality over supernatural shenanigans.

Wait, can ghouls really raise their attributes above 5?

>Shouldn't that mean that all splats can be ghouled?
a wolf-blooded is not the same as a ghoul
so no

splats keep their wolf blooded tell, thats it

no
but som physical disciplines can do that sorta

The Ghoul can only spend a handful of vitae (7 at most, though Resilience isn't supposed to allow for more vitae), can't regain it on their own, and has no hope of resisting Predatory Auras.
Also they have flashy Disciplines and Devotions and the Ghoul presumably doesn't.

Having high Physical traits means nothing.

You can raise Strength and Stamina to 10, if you get five dots each of Resilience and Vigor in 2e. Celerity just adds to Defense.

It says "the storyteller *may* require the character to lose any Wolf-Blooded Merits she has to reflect her disconnect from Father Wolf and Luna". That's not necessarily a requirement, and The Pack gives a few examples of non-Werewolves who nevertheless act in part of a Pack.

So the ghoul in question has lots of physical disciplines and is (or was) bound to a few different vampires? Sounds risky.

Wait, can't Ghouls raise the physicals on their own any more?

They can raise those from their regnant's clan only without help, IRC.

>The Pack gives a few examples of non-Werewolves who nevertheless act in part of a Pack.
has nothing to do with splats becoming ghouls, stop trying to drag people into arguments

i was just throwing it out there as a possibility
white rooming it ghouls have no reason not to get every discipline they can
in actual play a vampire would be stupid to let them and if a ghoul started getting uppity they'd kill/stop feeding and get a new one

yes
but you start with just a couple of your masters disciplines you would need to get blood from more moasters to get more disicplines

They cap out at 5, but Resilience and Vigor give bonus dots as part of their static effect.

>has nothing to do with splats becoming ghouls
I'm just correcting user.

>white rooming it ghouls have no reason not to get every discipline they can
There are plenty of them they don't even benefit from.

>They cap out at 5, but Resilience and Vigor give bonus dots as part of their static effect.
Yes, I know that.

I asked if they can no longer raise the Physical Disciplines on their own.

That's the power of padded shoulders, user.

Has anyone run any Requiem game using the Requiem for Rome book? If so, how did it go?

>having high physicals means nothing
Until they respond to your attempt to give them -2 dice on rolls unrelated to cutting you in half by cutting you in half with thirteen dice plus vigor.

Anthony?

>If a Coiterie manages to piss off every single Vampire institution in the city, as well as every Mortal one by committing massive property damage and killing Hundreds of people in an explosion that levelled a Skyscraper, how much skull-fucking is justified?

If they fucked up that badly, they're probably on *everyone's* kill-list just to keep them from screwing up the near-universal "we gotta hide from humans and not draw attention to ourselves" plan, and said coterie will probably end up as a universal foe that all the vampiric institutions will band together to destroy. Teach the coterie that actions have consequences by sending every single vampire in the city after them.

They either get the hell out of said city and leave all their belongings, vassals and resources behind to start anew somewhere else and only have to deal with the occasional assassin (or group of assassins) sent after them... or they stand their ground and fight EVERYONE ELSE.

If they *SOMEHOW* win, they're damn lucky, and it probably won'e be the end of their troubles. If they don't win, tell the players "that's what happens when you piss everyone off in a stupid manner".

I'd say VALKYRIE rolling in and destroying every single vampire that doesn't have them in their pockets is justified.

All of it. They're endangering the masquerade in a beyond the pale scope, so all the vampires will want them. They've killed a ton of people in the worst US terror attack in years, so the FBI and other intelligence agencies will be crawling all over. Other supernatural beings live in town and may give a shit that a place was just blown up, and fear for their own security. Hunters from TFV, werewolves, a vampire bloodhunt, mages, whatever the fuck is at hand.

Attributes are a huge EXP sink. Blood Potency is a trap option. Even so, the Vampires probably have entire trees of disciplines purchased by now.

>PC murderhohos 911ed
yeah pretty sure those players hate you

basically this. They're going to attract immediate, overwhelming and massive attention, not just from the local supernaturals(assuming you're running crossover and assuming they have a vested interest in the town NOT having a spotlight shone on it) but also from pretty much every three letter organization.

My PC murderhobos 9/11'd. But it was more of a result of not doing significant research rather than direct intent. They fucked up a piece of infrastructure that was shielded from outside detection via...basically not existing in its present location, by disabling it they disabled the "anchors" that kept it where it was, which happened to basically create a giant sink-hole under a sky scraper. It was sold as a "Terrorist attack" by the GMC friendly government and used to enact martial law for quite a while.

>scripted event

Well Actually user. Sudden sink holes in the middle of cities is something that has happened

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Guatemala_City_sinkhole

If you don't want to lay it down as heavy, just have a few scientists come out and proclaim it to be a sink caused by earth movement and pollution of the local environment. Getting labeled as criminals is something that happens from time to time with players. getting labeled as terrorists is something you can't come back from. Otherwise it feels very much like the DM pulling a dick move. and you come off as THat GM

Supernatural evidence should still point to the active event, but normies should still have to jump through hopes. Labeling them as terrorists kills social interaction with normies

I recall a google doc filled with creative thaumaturgy that Veeky Forums came up with. Does anyone have a link?

They didn't exactly get caught. To their credit, they had basically been planning to interrupt the activation of this occult matrix for months and months. The only real wrench that got thrown in their plan is that a party member who was known to be part of it(as a sacrifice.) was taken before they could mount their assault, so they were short one person. But masks, heavy armor and weapons and a few dead guardians later, they managed to accomplish their goal, while only letting some of the other sacrifices die.(most of them.)

They're still going to be enemy #1 for so many people, and a lot of powers don't give a shit about masks being worn at the site of the crime. Unless some Demons like their style and decide to help them out, those vampires are fucking dead.

On the other hand, congrats, you now have a potential hook in for a Demon/Vampire crossover in your city if an Agency decides to help them out.

terrorism is terrorism. bringing it in is a bad idea. lowball the setting event, otherwise the wider world looks less real, and they'll have more excuses to go even more and more gonzo. Just look at owod. gonzo and secrete conspiracies swallowed that setting. Plus lots of people dying in a very public manor is the quickest way to get the rep as a disaster magnets

>Blood Potency is a trap option
Lol wut? It allows spending more vitae per turn, boosts physical dice pools in frenzy, improves most resistances when contesting enemy rolls and predatory aura

Hi guys, I recently signed up for a Mage 20 game and I have never played any darkness game before

Do I have to read through the entire book to get the basic gameplay? And if not, where should I be looking?

I'm finding it really confusing so far, the character creation section does not list anything about how many points to spend on each attribute or anything else

The background isn't too necessary because the game just uses the system AFAIK

kote20, changeling20, sorcerer20, hunters hunted 20, demon20

these would have been much better games than wraith20

disciplines are unreasonably expensive for ghouls. so hes focusing on the stuff he can actually focus on.

They aren't in 2e.

>mage
>first darkness game

play it like Shadowrun, don't play it like dnd

no? they are in v20 & revised. those are the only ones ive played.

are you simply giving out too much xp? you can get very lrge dice pools in wod games, given sufgicient xp

I thought we were talking about Requiem 2e.

Meaning some sort of row row fight da powah dealio?

The setting is ww2 (ish) if it helps, I wanna be a punch wizard

oh, could be. original post
didnt give much hints

Well, blood potency is from Requiem, which leaves only 1e and 2e as possibilities.

A vampire who increases his speed by giving himself speed holes.

oh, youre right. wasnt reading carefully enough

I don't see why Force of Nature wouldn't allow a vampire to heal bashing and lethal wounds like a werewolf in garou.

It's basically a plot device tier power anyway.

Aside from the V20 line and clan books what would you say are "must read" Masquerade book.

cuz vampires need blod to heal

>Sleepwalkers aren't the ghoul equivalent in Mage; Proximi are.
Wrong.
Mage 2e states Ghouls are to Sleepwalkers what Revnants are the Proximi.

Your only limits on magic is your own paradigm basically. Remember that you're not playing to win, you're playing to be a zanny ass crazy wizard.

>you're not playing to win

Maybe you're not

That's really all you need.

VtMB is a must though.

Why bother with Wraith when the superior product is right there?
mega.nz/#F!u9UQjQwb!4HgecF6CpQTcgWQVLxi6RA

>you're not playing to win
I thought that was the entire point of the Ascension War?

Lie.

'Fraid not
Had I read this at the time, you'd be chuffed to know that's exactly what happened.

Three of the six players made it out alive, two of them sold out the location of the other four and have been taken in and are being kept on a leash and a stern eye. One of them did a runner for it and got out of the city ASAP, the other three were dealt with by a coalition of every Kindred in the city co-operating with Ghouls and fringe Hunters who isolated the Coiterie's den in the middle of the day, and as soon as night fell some Hunters armed with Flamethrowers ran in and torched the place.

In modern times the war is over. It's pretty much impossible for the world to be changed.

Force of Nature?

No it doesn't. Ghoul shows up three times. Twice in a passage about Deep Information, once about what creatures might be effected by Tokyo's Beacon effect. The Sleepwalker section says "drinking a vampire's blood doesn't make you a sleepwalker" unless you actually develop powers from it (i.e. become a ghoul), but that's not saying that they hold the same function in society, or that their nature is mechanically comparable.

I wish there was a CofD version of Orpheus. I like the setting but I'm not a fan of the rules.

Okay, my bad.
It was said in a post on the development page by DaveB
>"The third section is about the Proximi; Awakening‘s equivalent not to ghouls (that’s Sleepwalkers) but to revenants. Proximi are Sleepwalkers (and may take Sleepwalker-only Merits) that are have Supernal powers, drawing from one of the five known Realms. Some Proximi are born spontaneously, but most come from long family lines of magical heritage called Dynasties, protected, nurtured, and employed by one of the Orders."

I'm not sure I'd agree. There's not really that much of a comparison there. And certainly not mechanically.

not sure if first user

This user expanded the setting info

>Aside from the V20 line and clan books what would you say are "must read" Masquerade book.

You don't really need much else, since V20 pretty much gives you everything you require to run a wide variety of games... but I also suggest giving "Time of Thin Blood" a read-through. Just ignore all the usual pre-V20 "WAAAAH, ALL IS SHIT, LET US WILLINGLY DIE IN PAIN AND MISERY AND SADNESS FOR THE APOCALYPSE IS COMING, WAAAAH!"-depression wankery, though.

The book gives advice and tips on including Thinbloods in your stories, and also tips and the systems on dhampir (half-human/half-vampires).

The "Inceptor" bits are particularly interesting, since inceptors are vampires that create new disciplines (or re-discover lost ones) and are really rare, yet the thin-blooded produce enough of them to warrant including one or two in a story.

I've run a story including only Thin-blooded players once, and it was pretty fun! You really notice that Thin-bloods are so much weaker than regular vamps, even early on in the game. Very "underdog" in tone and theme... but that just makes the scene of the underdogs winning all the more sweeter, when they *do* manage to pull stuff off.

But yeah, aside from that, just grab the V20 stuff. "Anarchs Unbound" and "Rites of the Blood" are among my favourites... I'd say that the best V20 book produced is "Hunters Hunted II" though.

Sleepwalkers are the "retainer" part of the splat, and Proximi are the half-baked full-splat.

Fairly straightforward.

>Why bother with Wraith when the superior product is right there?

W20 will also include Orpheus though.

But Sleepwalkers don't have powers, and Revenants are more like Banishers if anything.

There's a rough 1e conversion somewhere on the internet.

What even *is* Orpheus?
From what little I know of it, it sounds like they'd be ghost focused Hunter Conspiracies.

X-files+Sixth Sense

>I'd say that the best V20 book produced is "Hunters Hunted II" though.

>the best book for Vampire is the book that's not about playing vampires

I mean Hunters Hunted II is great, you're not wrong there, but still...

I'll look for it, thanks user.
It's not a bad assumption to make.