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

My wife has me binging pic related. Can I run Hunter: The Vigil for something like it? I'm thinking of using a quickstart to introduce my group to it since they don't ever seem to want to play anything besides D&D.

With Vicissitude, anything is possible.

Hunter: the Vigil was directly inspired by Supernatural, so yes, actually. It might be the best one for it.

Often, yes. Since that's one of few ways to break the obsession.

I think the Embrace works too...

>theonyxpath.com/werewolf-there-wolf-monday-meeting-notes/
Wrong Monday meeting

...Gomez? Which one is that? It's way too long since I played Bloodlines.

Oh yeah shit, a new Monday happened since then didn't it?

>I can't believe that its canon now that a single SJW could take down an archmage
Wat?

The group I've played with for now years is full of lovely, amazing roleplayers. They make brilliant characters and play them really well, and most of them are far more interested in intrigue and non-combat stuff. They absolutely adore a well-told story and they love delving into game settings and really immersing themselves in them.

Their only problem, really, is that they're awful at taking initiative. Regardless of the game, they seem completely lost unless someone provides them very clear rails. They're also kind of bad at thinking outside the box, occasionally getting paralysed when there's no obvious way to solve a problem.

Regardless of these faults of theirs, should I run Mage for them? If yes, what kind of a campaign should I aim for?

It's a shame about the mod who kept banning him for bullshit reasons. Nigger contributed regularly, sourced his stuff and came up with interesting material.

And yeah, left unattended he'd come up with shit like that build. And now he's in jail getting fucked by turbojews or something because he got caught pirating WOD and WOTC books.

But it's fine. We haven't got any project progress at all.

Once played a mage who ended up spending the better part of 200 mana, over the course of about a week, stealing liberally from several local hallows, to correct an itsy bitsy misunderstanding where he used magic to steal a wallet and fucked the roll. And the person who did it turned around and decked the actual mage standing behind him. Who tried using magic. Who got a manifestation paradox. Things sort of spiralled from there until a magical 9/11 happened in downtown Prague. I think the devestation was eventually blamed on militant anti-vaxxers.

The conspiracy theorist who calls Deb a few times.

Deb is cute
CUTE!

Supposedly Cursed Necropolis: Rio is inching forwards. Maybe it'll finish before the sands consume all of our works and time grinds us to dust!

>nd now he's in jail getting fucked by turbojews or something because he got caught pirating WOD and WOTC books.
what?

You know how you buy a book in PDF form and it has a watermark? He did that, torrented it out and forgot to remove the watermark.

I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of how it turned out, something I read in the later threads when people were still talking about his disappearance.

If they're lost in a regular game they're going to be super lost in Mage (I assume you mean Awakening). There are tons of ways to get shit done, and even with just the listed spells your players might be overwhelmed by all the options. Throw in Creative Thaumaturgy and who knows how they'll react.

On the other hand, maybe it'll help them to flex their creative muscles. Not to say that Mage can't have rails, but other shit is going on besides whatever dangerous mysteries you cook up for your players. If they don't get proactive they'll suffer for it, and maybe that'll get them to start taking initiative.

As for the campaign, just cobble some shit together from the books. It would suck if you went to all the trouble of providing them with a unique story if they wind up not being able to hack it.

Anyone got a list of "The things each sphere can do" at X level for Mage: Ascension? Or a link to?

>Regardless of these faults of theirs, should I run Mage for them?

No.

For better or worse, Mage is a game where you can do nearly anything you want (within reason, obviously, but still).

For players who have no idea of how to take initiative and can't figure out new solutions to problems (whether old or new), Mage is a bad setting.

It's probably just going to end with them getting bored, confused or ending up disappointed with themselves because they can't figure stuff out.

This. If you want to run CofD for them or WoD pick a game which has a lot more GM lash to incentivize peopl to do things

They didn't vanish or go to jail. You know they've been back, right? They just don't play much WoD anymore, they've more or less converted to Powered by the Apocalypse and Strike! They were back when Mage 2e came out to talk about rules and that led to a clusterfuck for a few threads.

I didn't know. There were those very public bans, and then the assorted court documents being posted, then: Nothing.

One of my favorite characters was more or less based around being petty and cruel.
Naomi Ramsey, a South-facing, Yin-aspected Devil-Tiger - but mainly a former half-employed loser who rode the coattails of the "geek girl" wave for easy friends who she didn't have to compromise on anything for. She failed at that, went to Japan for a semester to "find herself" and ended up kicked out of school, on the verge of losing her visa and completely covered in spaghetti.
She ended up dying on a desperation-fueled bender - but the Deathlords of Madness and Happenstance couldn't agree on whether it was suicide or accident, and Yu Huang nabbed her soul while they weren't looking.
She still had names in her old revenge notebook to cross off, though, and ended up tearing herself back from Lanka and getting back to SF by pure luck that she chalks up to her own skills.
After this, it was straight back to San Francisco and shack up with a bunch of other supernatural freaks (mainly a Mountain Guardian Gurahl biker, a fried Mokolé Striker and an Unseelie Satyr on smack) and rake in little bits of underworld power while trying not to let being a childish, petty ass get in her way.
Highlights include using Ghost-Flame Shintai 1 to scare kidnapped random bank functionaries, Demon Shintai/Black Wind to edge-massacre a Caucasian mafia chapter (and to kidnap the Gurahl's prospective wife from the zoo), intentionally shooting herself in the heart to scare the mafia members into following along and of course killing a high school bully after eight years because of pettiness (and having it recorded on camera by the bully's current porn instructor who was very happy to back out and leave the film rolling).
All in all, a selfish arse who wanted friends but couldn't square herself with that she was supposed to do something for it - and then ended up using her powers to have violent, gory revenge to drown out the doubt that these people might never have been wrong in the first place.

They might be better suited towards Hunter or maybe even Promethean, games where there's a very clear and set cycle of play.

One of my favorite characters was more or less based around being petty and cruel.
Naomi Ramsey, a South-facing, Yin-aspected Devil-Tiger - but mainly a former half-employed loser who rode the coattails of the "geek girl" wave for easy friends who she didn't have to compromise on anything for. She failed at that, went to Japan for a semester to "find herself" and ended up kicked out of school, on the verge of losing her visa and completely covered in spaghetti.
She ended up dying on a desperation-fueled bender - but the Deathlords of Madness and Happenstance couldn't agree on whether it was suicide or accident, and Yu Huang nabbed her soul while they weren't looking.
She still had names in her old revenge notebook to cross off, though, and ended up tearing herself back from Lanka and getting back to SF by pure luck that she chalks up to her own skills.
After this, it was straight back to San Francisco and shack up with a bunch of other supernatural freaks (mainly a Mountain Guardian Gurahl biker, a fried Mokolé Striker and an Unseelie Satyr on smack) and rake in little bits of underworld power while trying not to let being a childish, petty ass get in her way.
Highlights include using Ghost-Flame Shintai 1 to scare kidnapped random bank functionaries, Demon Shintai/Black Wind to edge-massacre a Caucasian mafia chapter (and to kidnap the Gurahl's prospective wife from the zoo), intentionally shooting herself in the heart to scare the mafia members into following along and of course killing a high school bully after eight years because of pettiness (and having it recorded on camera by the bully's current porn instructor who was very happy to back out and leave the film rolling).
All in all, a selfish arse who wanted friends but couldn't square herself with that she was supposed to do something for it - and then ended up using her powers to have violent, gory revenge to drown out the doubt that these people might never have been wrong in the first place.

You didn't have to post it all over again just because you forgot the picture, user.

What does it matter, you'll lose your memory of it on your next descent into Duat. It will always be released and always forgotten, eternally. The sands will claim it in the end and it will be as if it never existed.

Yeah, they were still around, they just gravitated to PbtA, Strike, and I think Pathfinder. 2e Mage came around and they were here for old time's sake, back when the Big Mage Argument was over Awakening's Temporal Sympathy instead of Ascension's Archmages vs Caine, and busted open the game a bit using a single, vaguely worded Fate spell.

This led to at least four or five threads about RAW vs RAI, and one of the general regulars nearly blew a gasket trying to get them to leave.

I don't have to, but that's how I do it. It's just a lot easier to keep track of when the picture and the text are in the same post.

>he thinks that's for forever!
>laughingheretic.jpg

Pretty much. I refuse to play Mage because I've noticed that I just don't know how to take advantage of that flexibility.
I can get creative with the fixed powers in other splats precisely because they're limited. Give me a bent spoon and a nail clipper and I'll have fun going McGyver on the problem, give me unlimited budget and time and I'll freeze up because I have absolutely no idea how to approach the problem.

>I can get creative with the fixed powers in other splats precisely because they're limited. Give me a bent spoon and a nail clipper and I'll have fun going McGyver on the problem, give me unlimited budget and time and I'll freeze up because I have absolutely no idea how to approach the problem.

Same here, really.

...

It's not that bad. Yes, magic is ridiculously versatile and you can achieve a lot with just a little initiative, but it's not like you can do ANYTHING. You'll be more inclined to work with your ruling Arcana to save Mana, and that cuts down the field of possibilities from ten branches of magic to only two. You'll also probably have a decent amount of dots in a third Arcanum after a while, with a smattering of dots in others. But even then the scope of your abilities won't be too wide to cope with, provided you stick with simple approaches. Got a locked door? Unlock it with Matter! Don't have Matter? Use Forces to break it down! Don't have Forces? Use Space to blink past it! Don't have Space? Use Death to become a living shadow and go under it!

You get the idea. Those can all be achieved with the listed spells. I was also intimidated by how much can be done with magic in Mage, but I got used to it after a couple of games.

If they would stick to stuff listed as examples in mage book they should be alright IMHO. I use this stuff for mage npcs and it works fine.

Latter on they can start simply listing stuff they can do with this or that when they get at least some idea about what they are doing?

Why didn't you support Voormas in his quest to murder Death's face off?

As a tzimisce masquerading as a member of the camarilla, what are some pitfalls to watch out for?

No one had the Death Sphere

Voormas had a big pointy trident and the Sphere That Would Be Death In nWoD. You could go apologise to him, since he's apparently survived into this incarnation of the universe as a horrible abyssal abomination.

>Wasn't she vampire or ghoul?

Deb of Night? Well, she could be just a regular human... but given the way she had to "take care of something" right after Andrei called and started talking about the "Final Nights" does imply to me that she's a vampire. Plus, there's the whole "immediately dismissing vampire rumors and ridiculing them", even while she still bothers to listen to all the other whack-job theories and conspiracies.

Probably a Toreador to boot, given how annoyed she got with that dude who called himself a writer and whatnot.

I guess being a sultry and witty radio host isn't a bad way to spend eternity.

You're in a uniquely bad position where you want to avoid the Tremere like the plague and eliminate them whenever convenient but you can't because it would make people suspect that you're Tzimisce.
Other than that, I guess you shouldn't go around fleshcrafting people and try not to exhibit any disciplines that don't fit your assumed identity in general (Auspex/Animalism is a fairly rare combination for example.)

Hey we're already dealing with the Nasa made UFO that dropped onto Africa with the 'human' alien Irritum Ipsum Order

Stat him.

>Elaborate plot to get more Mages in your hut

I'm on to you, Old Man.

What clan is your faux identity? Hiding that you're a tzimisce itself should be easy with the hard part being pretending to be something else.

Also your clan weakness is pretty specific.

>Diablerized

IN THE HUT OR IN THE SACK. I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY.

Probably a 7th/8th gen with no more than 5 dots in vicisstude who spends a lot of time asleep.

I find myself inclined to call the PC starting off as the standard 8th gen, but having his generation sort of half-lowered by TaxiCaine - abilities made more potent, and development accelerated, but actual generation left unchanged.

As a Siddha, I highly disapprove of this. I will not do anything about it but I really want you to know that I highly disapprove of it.

Not confirmed yet, it's an in-progress character

Toreador or Gangrel seem the obvious picks

I'm pants-on-head retarded when it comes to statting stuff.

Only thing I can think of is him having at least Vicissitude 5, I guess.

>Other than that, I guess you shouldn't go around fleshcrafting people and try not to exhibit any disciplines that don't fit your assumed identity in general (Auspex/Animalism is a fairly rare combination for example.)

Learning new disciplines is a thing, though, so it's not the biggest hurdle to overcome.

In Anarch territories (whether they're full Anarch or just Cammie places with a heavy Anarch presence) it's even more common to see a greater variety of disciplines since Anarchs often share such things with other vampires for paltry favours (or even for free)... at least common disciplines like animalism, auspex and the physical disciplines.

Physical disciplines in particular are the easiest to learn as well, since it's just a matter of forcing your body to become stronger, tougher or faster. You don't need a teacher to get 'em or anything.

Even thinbloods can learn at least the bare bones of physical disciplines in months, sometimes even weeks.

Do you think you could actually get away with it without being found out? You're still have to mess around in LA for a bit before you even have the choice to bail.

The first time you kick his ass, that's when the other Kindreds should really have started to wonder what the hell is up with your powerlevel.

So you're saying that you're the Old Man.

>Do you think you could actually get away with it without being found out?

Well, the easiest way to get around it? Have the "Hidden Diablerie" merit, which won't let Auspex-users see black streaks in your aura no matter how many souls you devour.

Aside from that, there's also the fact that if we assume the PC *did* diablerize Andrei and people found out, then that doesn't change shit, because (s)he'd still be the biggest player in town. A neonate that would have almost singlehandedly wrecked the Camarilla/Lacroix, the Anarchs and the Kuei-Jin by themselves.

The remaining vamps, whether they love or hate the neonate/fledgling, would probably still keep their mouth shut, and would instead bide their time or just wait for the fledgling/neonate to move on, provided the fledgling didn't try to start any shit.

Because hell, who wants to piss off the guy/gal who wrecks entire factions by themselves? No one, not unless they had plenty of backup... So, yeah.

>The first time you kick his ass, that's when the other Kindreds should really have started to wonder what the hell is up with your powerlevel.

Probably an 8th Gen, considering the limit of the player's disciplines and their bloodpool. Plus, it makes sense since the player has no other backgrounds to speak of besides a possibly high generation.

Even then, it's still really impressive.

If you like animalism and plan to use vicissitude in battle, Gangrel is the obvious choice specially if there's not a lot of actual Gangrels present in the game. The Sheriff in Bloodlines was (probably) an african Tzimisce yet it's easy to assume he's Gangrel.

Toreador has the problem that the lack of Presence and Celerity is pretty obvious. Obviously an Appearance 5 dude (thanks to vicissitude) doesn't really need presence most of the time, but I still think it will be easy to spot that you're not a Toreador.

If you're gonna main Auspex maybe you could disguise yourself as a Malk and pretend that the fact that you have earth on your pockets is part of your madness. Just make the earth not the only weird thing he has on his pockets and it should work. Also people assuming you will be a weird can save your ass if you do a minor fuckup that could otherwise betray that you hide something.

It's kind of funny to think that if Mercurio hadn't fucked up and Bertram and Voerman had gotten their shit together before you came, you would have headed straight to the warehouse and probably died, just a footnote in the history of intrigue of the city.

Especially since the game can't have taken all that long.

>It's kind of funny to think that if Mercurio hadn't fucked up and Bertram and Voerman had gotten their shit together before you came, you would have headed straight to the warehouse and probably died

Why tho?

I don't see how finishing the business at the warehouse earlier would be worse than finishing it later.

Well the beachhouse, the Ocean House Hotel, Gallery Noir, you could easily consider that those all acted as training wheels.

Otherwise the fledging would only have what Jack told them.

>A neonate that would have almost singlehandedly wrecked the Camarilla/Lacroix, the Anarchs and the Kuei-Jin
Yeah, I suppose the time between those and Andrei's final fight is very little.
>The remaining vamps, whether they love or hate the neonate/fledgling, would probably still keep their mouth shut, and would instead bide their time or just wait for the fledgling/neonate to move on, provided the fledgling didn't try to start any shit
Makes sense. Given their likely generations, they don't really have reason to really fear a diablerist of your generation anyway.

It wasn't much of a training, to be honest. You can easily talk your way out of the beach house and the other thugs, while the hotel is mostly about following the spooky ghost.

Anyone got a good link to VtM:Bloodlines mods? I got the one to make the game run on my comp but I've held off from installing cut content/better faces/what have you because I prefer trying to go as vanilla/raw as possible for first run through of popular games.

>Well the beachhouse, the Ocean House Hotel, Gallery Noir, you could easily consider that those all acted as training wheels.

True. Still, the Warehouse can be completed (ableit with some added difficulty) via just regular stealth that you get at character creation, and if it is you don't even fight any vampires until the Sabbat tracks you down and beats you over the head, at which point Nines would still elect for saving you regardless, I reckon.

So it'd be more difficult, but not impossible. Plus, if the PC *is* 8th Gen, then that extra blood-spending per turn gives them a really solid edge that all the other vamps in the Warehouse lacks.

Malk would fail as soon as they found another malkavian, surely? Since they wouldn't ping on the Madness Network

>Anyone got a good link to VtM:Bloodlines mods?

Best place to find them would probably be through here:

planetvampire.com/

Thanks!

Wesp's Unnofficial Patch Plus is the definitive one.
Clan Quest Mod is a curiosity (though the custom content is pretty mediocre), and otherwise it does a good job at integrating a lot of mods together. The next version looks vaguely promising:
youtube.com/watch?v=EIbfMjpZ9bM
Companion Mod is good for fetishes, but requires an older version of the Unnofficial Patch.

The rest is trash.

I'll check it out, thanks a million as well.

Don't you need dementation to enter the Madness Network? A malk with no points on the discipline would not ping if that's true.

Also, aren't most Malks unable to use the network and can only receive messages from the few elders that actually kinda know how it works?

>Wesp

Praise be unto his name, for he saved Bloodlines. Truly, he has the favor of the Dark Father.

I met a sweet and loving Thyrsus but she uses sensual tantric massage therapy to cast healing and bolstering spells as a ritual. She's slept with everyone in the local caucus. How can I love a Mage who is the local Conselium bicycle?

Deb.

/v/ seems to be a fan of that True Gold patch.

Is tonight a rerun?

>Don't you need dementation to enter the Madness Network?

I don't think so, no. All who share Malkav's blood are rumored to be part of the network, whether they like it or not.

That said, nobody (not even the oldest of the Methuselahs) understand 100% how it works... the elders can manipulate the network slightly, but most regular vamps rarely hear the whispers of the network more than once or twice a year or so, IIRC.

Long-term it's not a good idea to hang around Malkavians anyway, but short-term it *could* work...

Deb.

the supernatural shaming merits from hurt locker wreck anyone's shit.

YOU ARE BEING RECORDED

Seeing as there is no defense, does this mean Archmages are defeated by it?

yes

[Post it

What would the Malkavian PC's nickname for Deb be?

Siren?

Deb.

Hey, Andrea...

...

Can Vampires be recorded now too? 1e seemed to have some hickups preventing it.