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

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>Question
How do you handle going out in public when you have a blatantly inhuman looking character? Like a high sekhem mummy or a Nosferatu who got hit with the mutant sewer dweller stick.

I wish to play as a mummy.

are you fagboys ready for the influx from /v/ and the werewolf barafags when the werewolf game drops?

Obfuscate helps Nosferatu a lot.

>How do you handle going out in public when you have a blatantly inhuman looking character?

You can get a lot done in the city with a hoodie, a scarf, and a pair of sunglasses. Especially if it's cold out. As for a high-sekhem mummy, I don't think they fuckin' care about looking inhuman.

Are there any theories on nature of Chthonians?

They are geists who aren't bound to a person, and are thus extra mean.

I had one be the ghost of an Atlantean in a Mage game, but obviously that can't be "official" canon for obvious reasons.

>How do you handle going out in public when you have a blatantly inhuman looking character? Like a high sekhem mummy or a Nosferatu who got hit with the mutant sewer dweller stick.


Wrong. The real question is what's the proper fashion aesthetic for a splat.

Vampire- Slightly out of season but chic
Werewolf- Metrosexual lumberjack or biker club.
Mage- Deranged piss soaked hobo
Changeling- Haute couture bold and paradoxically dour.
Demon- Classic urban professional. Conservative but well tailored.

etc.

>I don't think they fuckin' care about looking inhuman.
After that first bit at sekhem 10 wears off and their mind comes back I think most have the awareness to not want to cause a panic by shambling down Broadway or something.

Besides the material in Summoners, DaveB and the new developer of Geist have dropped some very minor tidbits. However, I expect Cthonians will be one of the draws of Geist, and information will only be released in tantalizing drips and drabs.

>Mage- Deranged piss soaked hobo
Hey that only covers Thyrsus and some Mastigos.

>proper fashion aesthetic for a splat.

Have you not been paying attention to the WOD/CofD.

>Vampire- Goth, with real blood stains
>Werewolf- Goth, with blood stains and bits of fur
>Mage- Seers and Pentacle - suit and tie, business conservative / Apostates - Goth
>Changeling- Goth.
>Demon- Goth by choice, otherwise whatever is appropriate for Cover

What self-respecting Obrimos, Moros or Mastigos would ever be caught dead in "deranged piss soaked hobo?"

That's a style for low-Wisdom Thyrsus and Acanthus.

>What self-respecting Obrimos, Moros or Mastigos would ever be caught dead in "deranged piss soaked hobo?"
The fashionable ones.

The obvious answer is that Mages dress like Wizards when they can, and high class people with occult jewelry the rest of the time.

>How do you handle going out in public when you have a blatantly inhuman looking character?

Well, for vampires, some manage just fine due to the fact that they've got Obfuscate and whatnot, like the Nosferatu and the Samedi.

Others manage just fine due to not actively hanging around in public and generally only interacting with humans when it's a "hungry predator vs prey" situation, like the monstrous Gangrel, the Gargoyles, the Nagaraja, etc.

>Mages dress like Wizards when they can

What do wizards dress like?

I believe Gandalf and Merlin-chic went out of style in the late 19th Century. I don't believe even Obrimos or Acanthus can pull-off pointy hats in 2017.

Obrimos can cause orgasms with a glance

Bitches love the Gangalf-style

This. Bitches love my pointy hat.

I asked a few days ago but I didn't get an answer, I figure asking the (what I call this genre anyways) magic realism tabletop people directly will be my best option: is there a skirmish-style tabletop game with an urban setting that uses vampires, werewolves, cultists, etc? if not, what are my next-best options?

Mummy- As covered in previous thread urban chic with plenty of layers with scarves and well fitted trousers.
Hunter- Edge lord. Odd mix of military surplus and hot topic bargain bin because leather "provides more protection".
Beast- Wears a fedora or trilby whatever the season with a mis-sized fake leather trench coat or duster, graphic nu-metal band or pony t-shirts, jeans, sneakers. Choses to accessories with bracelets for some reason.
Geist- Gothic Lolita.
Mummy- Classic punk.

It's not the pointy hat, it's the magic staff and golden wand. ;)

Yeah, I kinda hoped for a second source, because Summoners is Mage book, and Mages tend to explain everything through Atlantis.

Summoners is a later release, and the Atlantis references are few and far between.

Unless Book of the Dead for nWOD/Geist has any references, I believe Summoners is the only substantive source for Cthonian info.

I assume mages are not running around naked (although I wouldn't want to be the one to correct them), so what's their style?

Emperor's New clothes. Hit it dead on user without even trying

>implying anyone will play that game

l m a o

Thrysus. Unless you're really into electro-genital stimulation. Which frankly gets awkward after the first 15 minutes.

I found this passage in Summoners:
>Since the Supernal Realms were created (or at least codified) by the Oracles.
What the hell does this mean?

Prime can also probably cause a orgasmic-level revelation about the Truth(tm) of sexual satisfaction.

I always assumed werewolves, and most of the setting, dress like SNK characters.

Jesus fucking Christ. Do Mages actually become this strong? The writers were fucking fags back then.

Not all energy is visible. Muscle contractions can be caused by Forces 4

Why not both life to enhance sensation and forces for the electro-genital stimulation.

Picture the color selection option in MS Paint

The Supernal is like the advanced select screen, it covers all colours, all shades, all mixed together and separate at the same time. The Arcana mix-match-blend-separate-etc in infinite variety and forms.

The pre-selected color options are the Supernal Realms. They are stable, recognisable options that you can select without having to manually filter though the advanced screen. The Oracles "codified" the Supernal into five (relatively) stable, recognisable Realms with repeatable Major, Common and Inferior arcana.

>Applying science to Mage
It's symbolic and shit, not logical.

That's very biker chic.

Fine, then symbolically an orgasm is an "explosion" of pleasure, meaning once they're a little aroused you can use Forces 2 to influence them to a full orgasm, of Forces 4 to cause one from scratch

Terry normally doesn't dress very fashionably. I wish he wasn't wearing boot cut jeans though. Ah well.

Where is that quote from?

To be fair it's acceptable to wear boot cut if you're wearing boots.

>rolling 12 on a d10
man this meme is stupid

It doesn't have to be but some scientific know how can be hilarious if done properly.

Step 1
Forces unveiling so you can see individual atoms
Step 2
Forces Shielding to shield the nucleus of a fist sized chunk of matter from electromagnetism.
Step 3
Duck as the electrostatic repulsion sends the object flying off at ballistic velocity.

Masters of the Art page 69

Shit is crazy nuts and written by fags who should have lost their jobs. PCs shouldn't be able to do any of that.

Archmastery is like Epic level Spellcasting from D&D

It's not supposed to work with the rest of the game and is just there to demonstrate Mage Supremacy

Yeah but it's fucking stupid. Why was giving them the power to bust galaxies considered a good idea? That's bordering on actual god tier.

In MtAw, archmastery works just fine with the rest of system. You may even GM a game for archmages.

It still trivializes anything that isn't cosmic in scale.

Terry's new design has a really nice Gangrel aesthetic to it.

>bordering on actual god tier
You didn't read the last little bit.

>"Some Euthanatoi have wondered if Oblivion itself is an aspect of an Exemplar of Forces. Could it be that every force is just an emanation of the will of some ancient mage who imagined the cosmos into being?"

Mages are stripping God of his feats. Just ignore and it consider it non-canon.

This is a touch better than his jeans/red vest/forty feet of hair though.

Well, yeah. That's what archmastery is about - you are almost at the top.

>almost

user, don't be upset by their supremacy

>Mages stronger than God

Why would the writers do this? Do they like to ignore Vampire lore? The metaplot is already a clusterfuck but still.

Ascended beings are to archmages like archmages are to normal mages

The meta-plot was already a convoluted fever dream.

Exarchs, Ascended beings and Supernal Gods are still up the ladder. Sorry, Mage, but your Freedom is in another castle.

I mentioned this in a previous thread, but how? I love Imperial Mysteries (as well as Left-Hand Path which is somewhat related to this, what with the Sixth Watchtower) but how the fuck are you supposed to have actual stories using Archmages as PC, the goals of a few of them (The Pentacles, Seers and Ur-Banishers) make enough sense to use as PC motivations, but what the hell does a Siddha want to do with some schmoe on the street? What does an Aswadim care if an entire Cabal or Consilium bites it? It's just too much I think.

It's best if you split them into two metaplots, Judeo Christian one being Vampire, Demon, Wraith and Hunter and the rest in the other

Vampire lore is just a result of the Consensus in Mage. All of the complicated cosmologies of the other splats, once crossed with Mage just becomes the mass-beliefs of Sleepers that didn't need to be like that and could even change retroactively.

God Himself in Mage is potentially just a massive belief-construct aka a Spirit, albeit one backed with more gusto then any other. Werewolf even hints this might be the case.

Going from Vampire to Mage means going from a setting with a very well defined cosmology and history to a setting where that defined cosmology is just one of many, and is in any case optional.

That's a cool idea. But it's not going to stop Mage fans from masturbating over themselves due to stupid "canon". Hunter could fit in both, too be honest. Like a choice between the two.

I thought Hunters in Reckoning were empowered by God?

This, a billion times. Mage, Werewolf and Changeling function together beautifully, but as soon as the Big G comes onto the scene inherit to the other game lines just doesn't work with them.
Like, I get where you're coming form, but the thing is that it just clashes with every fiber of fluff in the Judeo-Christian ones.
It was my understanding that Exarchs are as high as it goes, that they displaced the beings that the Alienated represent in the Ententes

>Like, I get where you're coming form, but the thing is that it just clashes with every fiber of fluff in the Judeo-Christian ones

The Mage cosmology will always supersede the others. Just don't involve them. Canon material vs canon material is not going to be fun. Especially if Mages can surpass God. It misses the point of Vampire and proves the inconsistency of the overall mythology.

The Imperial Mysteries discuss it. You move up to Tiers Three (Global/Order) and Four (Cosmic/Awakened). Your enemies now other archmages and Rank 6+ spirits. The Pax Arcanum now binds you, so you can't just use Imperial Spells on every problem you have, but you can use everything else to attain your goals. Which are now also change, because you have Ascension now as final goal. And you will have to use pawns and proxies for it, because Pax Arcanum again.
Basically, you have to be the Big Good (or Big Bad, if you'd like) now.

Its addressed numerous times in the books that that is a possibility. The Celestial Chorus books go so far as to state that some CHORISTERS believe the One [God] was damaged creating the universe, and that what we call God is just the largest chunk that survived [the rest became the Avatars of Mages].

Though its worth noting in my OWN Ascension campaign right now, I'm leaving it intentionally vague on whether Big G is a spirit or the actual Absolute Reality like in monotheism [though leaning to the former] and I'm ignoring Masters of the Art entirely [the strongest Mages in my redux of the setting are Arete 6, 7, or 8 with some rebalancing of the Sphere 5s to compensate a little].

Point is no Mage could just drop the Moon from orbit on a dime.

>It was my understanding that Exarchs are as high as it goes, that they displaced the beings that the Alienated represent in the Ententes
They did, but not all of them, and Alienated archmages can return them to their home realms as part of their Ascension. In my headcanon, each such Ascension weakens power of Exarchs over Supernal and Fallen Worlds. Arcadia beings also seem unaffected.

>Point is no Mage could just drop the Moon from orbit on a dime

That's a good point when to reconsider the power levels and ignore canon. Once Mages have abilities going beyond the planet they become capable of flattening the universe. Even Antediluvians aren't above that.

Yeah, that was how they bridged the gap between the two, that the Triat was the same tripartite force that mages themselves were dealing with. In a sense you could see them as reflections of a damaged interpretation of a the triumvirate Judeo-Christian God. So you know, evil HOLY SPIRIT WYRM!
Exactly, it undermines several game points by existing, but the supremacy of Mages damages Vampire's and Demon's underlying mythology just as much as if God were supreme would damage Changeling and Werewolf.
Yeah, the Shadow War continues, only now there's an additional layer to the game, I suppose it's more a focus of cultivating allies and conditions for Imperial Spells/Ascensions to happen? I can't see it being anything resembling long-term, how does a setting have enough elasticity for that?

You don't, you would use ghouls or other workarounds.

True Fae could probably enact some world-shattering change, as could Demons if left *utterly* unchecked in some sort of Pocket Dimension or the Underworld.

I'm actually just taking what elements of the splats and lore I like and kind of building my own Mage-centric setting out of it [all the PCs are Mages so it doesn't matter]

And I've basically revamped the power levels a decent bit. Most effects only take two Spheres max, some of the Sphere 4 effects I've backtracked into Sphere 3, Sphere 5 is the highest possible, and Arete climbs technically up to 10 but the strongest Mage alive only has 8 and its possible no ones ever had higher.

And higher end rituals require RP-intensive physical materials. So in short, in my setting even an Adept could summon/build a thirty foot monster if he wanted to die horribly or blink out of existence to Paradox, but even a Master's power level ends somewhere around city-busting [which would itself be very difficult and require potentially weeks of set up]

This also means that most Spirits and Antidiluvians get bitchslapped down in power level to this scale too however.

>Werewolf even hints this might be the case.

Prove it. As in, site the book and provide a pic, the way I did here, , to show how Magefags are wrong.

None of that is comparable to the Archspheres though, that's my point. World shattering change doesn't equate to beings who can cause big bangs. Do you know how big the universe is? The Mage writers were fucking retarded.

>I suppose it's more a focus of cultivating allies and conditions for Imperial Spells/Ascensions to happen?
Yeah, you build alliances, conspirations and quietly work to change the world to your liking. It's pretty hard on GM, being the very rare and complex genre, but potentially it could do a mind-breaking games.

>I can't see it being anything resembling long-term
Ascension War can't be won in a couple of sessions, dude. Not with about half of other archmages being interested in you not winning at any cost, because it denies them their Noumenon.

>Changeling- Haute couture bold and paradoxically dour.

My Changeling always dressed in a turn-of-the-century style cream colored suit. But then, he was Spring court.

That wasn't proof. Who ever said the materiel you were looking for was even in that book?

I'm tearing up. Vampire fans, man. They're a kicker.

Are the spells enhance mind and enhance skill inherently obvious to Sleepers if you cast it on them? will they notice suddenly being better at something at something and flip have a breakdown ?

First of all, nice, second it seems like it'd have potential for M:tAw, especially now as I'm rifling through Imperial Mysteries once more, the Aswadim fucks up everybody's play, the Alienist calls upon the help of things best kept under lock and key, the Tetrarchs and the Pentacles continue their struggle, now with Masters and Rotes as their weapons instead of Artifacts and Grimoires; then when everything breaks, the Siddha shows up, gives everybody a stern lecture and patches shit back together with the Exarch of that Arcanum.

That's kind of the central theme of mage you have all these amazing abilities but at the end of the day you're kind of powerless to enact any meaningful change.

You forget about Bodhisattvas, who try to uplift humanity via magical infectious meme-viruses which spreads love and compassion.

Depends on the circumstance. If you can pass it off as them being lucky, or naturals [this last one only if its there first time at such an activity] I'd say you're good.

Soul rape for the right reasons is still soul rape.

Not if you successful. Then it is called "culture" and "civilization".

Fine, then - where's the implication? You (or someone like you) said,

>God Himself in Mage is potentially just a massive belief-construct aka a Spirit [...] Werewolf even hints this might be the case.

So, where does Werewolf hint this is the case? Where does Mage?

Stop Indulging him.

Mage implies it by its very metaphysic.

Depends if the asthmatic accountant suddenly rips a machine gun off of it's mount and fires head shot after head shot while sprinting across a tight rope? Probably.

The star member of the track team holding his own against the shaggy creature that burst through a wall?
Probably not.

Do the Black Furies not believe that God is the Patriarchâ„¢, who is an Incarna part Weaver and part Wyrm?

Yeah but that's in-universe belief, which doesn't count for shit (Followers of Set, for example)

Bone Gnawers are neat, is there a Forsaken equivalent?

> I'm ignoring Masters of the Art entirely
>Point is no Mage could just drop the Moon from orbit on a dime.

That's no fun. Why have absolute power if you can't pull wacky stunts.

Besides, there's more than enough in the setting to stop these types of shenanigans, including the repercussions of such an act and other god-tier beings, like other archmages, stopping you.

In any event, the mage supremacy meme often misses the point of mage's themes. You cannot deal with Hubris and the corruption of power unless the splat has a lot of power at its command. Moreover, mage antagonists are freakin' powerful. Mages deal with anti-reality gods, the very symbols of oppression, unspeakable horrors, and other powerful mages. They need all the power they can muster. Except in unusual circumstances or just dumb luck or idle curiosity, vampires, werewolves, changelings, etc., are not on the Wise's proverbial radar, and that's best for all parties. The existence of the handful of archmages only emphasizes the point.

>Black Furies

Militant feminist misandrist werewolves.

Sigh...

Thank god the 1990's are over.

I am going to assert that they are not 'neat' and really shouldn't be a full-fledhe tribe. Maybe a neutral, tribeless Lodge.. i mean in general the popular consensus is most werewolves look abd act like wild bikers, white trash, poor natives or old money eurotrash slavs, so bone gnawers niche is really something not particularly unique to them.

poor iron masters

iron masters = glass walkers + bone gnawers
They're the city splat

This is my preference, even better if they were a (rapidly growing) Lodge instead of a Tribe.

thematically weak owod Y splats as nwod Z splats. I can dig it

How is the conversion guide? I have thought about doing wta in nwod system but I am afraid of them being significantly weaker feeling than in W20

He's talking about Ascension archmages. Not the ones from Awakening, which are far less powerful and far more workable/balanced.