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

so they're doing that to save money or what? because it's really jarring and books have zero artistic consistency nowadays compared to before cofd. I may not have LIKED all the art styles that came before, but they sure as fuck made each game line visually unique.

Ah man I can't wait to start sucking the brown eye with my fellow magecucks

>What are some historical settings you would recommend to individual game lines or what period setting you'd LIKE to run at some point?

My tip for everyone would be to read Dark Eras and Dark Eras Companion. What I'd like to run? Requiem for Rome basically, but my group has zero interest in it.

Because it was new, you had nothing to compare it to, and your brain edits out all the terrible, terrible shit that came out of the WoD.

I fucking love Awakening books, but whoever approved that yellow/gold color scheme on white paper needs to be shot. Add elaborate cursive fonts into the mix and I just skip all the flavor fiction.

I'll play it fggt, lets go.

>What are some historical settings you would recommend to individual game lines or what period setting you'd LIKE to run at some point?
Jerusalem after the first crusade and before the fall as Ascalon. Make it a mini-American dream for the disenfranchised and ambitious Cainites of Europe. Those who come and swear fealty to the newly self-proclaimed Baron of Jerusalem(I'm thinking a 5th gen lasombra) are given domains in the newly purged regions en masse and ordered to keep up the fight against the remaining local Cainites.
Between the Baronies of Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa, Damascus, Aleppo and Mosul + Alamut influencing from afar there should be plenty of opportunity for a pretty active War of the Princes.
The only thing I feel bad about is that there aren't really Europe-style fuckhuge forests around so I could have the big scary lupines too.

I have said it before and I will say it again.

Celerity is a hard counter to any mage. They can't react fast enough to something faster than a speeding bullet.

KotE was a mistake.

>The only thing I feel bad about is that there aren't really Europe-style fuckhuge forests around so I could have the big scary lupines too.

You wanna stick Wolves in the mountains, I don't think anyone's gonna complain.

Have you even read Mage 2e?

Many of the most basic Mage Armors will provide Defense against attacks as fast as a speeding bullet (and most of the rest provide actual Armor). The apply the various Arcana that can hard counter to super-fast attacks, including Time, Forces, Space, etc., and Celerity is downright laughable.

To add insult to injury, the Mage equivalents to Celerity, Time Mage Armor and Time 3 Acceleration, are demonstrably superior.

Also, mages with the multiple Arcana that can readily counter or mimic Celerity, can also use those same Arcana is vast multitudes of creative ways besides just going fast.

>They can't react fast enough
They most certainly can react fast enough!

Celerity can't interrupt Reflexive actions such as Mage Armor and the replication of the Discipline, Acceleration.
It does not garner you extra instant actions and can't override others on a basis equal to its dots.

Forces can effectively render you immune to all kinetic assaults, making Celerity all but useless. Fate ultimately decrees a massive 'nope' and sways the Kindred aside. Time, never even happened to begin with and Space will distort the vampire and its surroundings before he/she can even reach and instigate an attack.

It's a very difficult matter when trying to surprise a mage, no less a prepared mage.

>it's another splat vs splat shitfling

Why do you do this? Every single goddamn thread.

They were never fucking meant to interact in that kind of ways. They're pretty much separate worlds unto themselves, 99% of time.

So I will take a shoot at theme songs for various splats and templates in CofD. Lets start with vampire

Lancea Sanctum
youtube.com/watch?v=4XBB8CNHs4U

Circle of the Crone
youtube.com/watch?v=r2JH8SFQ9RY

Invictus
youtube.com/watch?v=8tAT_A71WOs

Carthian Movement
youtube.com/watch?v=DwbzxemJZIc

Ordo Dracul
youtube.com/watch?v=5i8GWLuuusE

>They were never fucking meant to interact in that kind of ways. They're pretty much separate worlds unto themselves, 99% of time.

In oWoD, yes. Not so in CofD.

What the fuck is CofD anyway? Is that just the new name for nWoD? Or is that something different?

It's nWoD, SJW-edition.

Try not to shit yourselves too hard, CofD-vampires

CoD wasn't meant to mix splats, they're not even remotely close to working together

VtR as whole
youtube.com/watch?v=zU95hrkSDew

Belials Brood
youtube.com/watch?v=kR5GD3LzjqA

Now let me try mage
Praetorian MInistry
youtube.com/watch?v=7ejsM0VF-Os

Obrimos
youtube.com/watch?v=IDFjvw_7Vks

Paternoster
youtube.com/watch?v=Mx6CZoRD_3g

Hegemonic
youtube.com/watch?v=EObpFkHosGQ

Panopticon
youtube.com/watch?v=VsqzwhO_Z2o

Sure they do, nWoD 1e-splats work together with no issues, at least (I'm not big on 2e/CofD)

WoD as a whole, regardless of edition

youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM

>What are some historical settings you would recommend to individual game lines or what period setting you'd LIKE to run at some point?

For Vampires - China during the opium wars : lots of money involved, unusual folklore to abuse of, drugs...

For werewolves - Viking Age during their long travels : lots of ressource management, weird discoveries, Kraken and America before it was ruined.

For Changelings - Middle Age France, circa 1100 : pagan folklore is definetely still a thing but the Inquisition isn't far, lots of wilderness, Burgondy still mainly owns the place but Francs are beginning to recover

This is what happens when you try to implement everything that you find in the books
youtube.com/watch?v=G5KxZ5Lc_YA

I would love Mage in the USA during the 1980's, sort of a New Age Requiem for Wizards.

Computers, cell phones, media, ostentatious wealth, mirror shades, trench coats, katanas, Cold War, ...

I think for Mages it would be business as usual more or less considering shit has been changing super fast since the turn of the century.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were definitely Seer Ministers or Tetrarchs in the CofD.

I don't enjoy Mages much but I'd play it in current years South Korea.

Is beast revenge fantasy porn or some otherkin bullshit? I've been out of the wod game for a while but I'm back. Aware me on this beast shit.

Seems to be basically cringy revenge porn for transgender SJW's, so basically both of those things you mentioned. I've read some of the in-book fiction and holy fuck is it cringy.

Why does WoD cater to SJWs and PC retards so well?

because by and large it's written by them.

What are some good causes and reasons for a zombie apocalypse?

I´m working on building a chronicle with Chronicles and Hunter: The Vigil, including maybe Geists as antagonists.

What kind of zombies do you plan on? Vampire putting in some work can create army of larvae with are mindless zombie-vamps.
Could be Death magic backfireing horribly for normal romero zombies

How do you guys approach Changelings ?

I love this game, it probably is my favorite in WoD/nWoD/CoD, but I can't seem to find anyone that plays it regularly or even takes it half seriously.
I personally think it is the best setting to develop characters, root them into the universe and give them actual motives. With my campaign, we've been roleplaying outside of the usual table just to explore stuff that couldn't fit into a regular scenario (personal relationships and stuff like that)
I also find it pretty great to build groups that work well as a whole, because they're different enough from each other to be individuals but always tied, not only by their nature but also by their traumas.

(still me)
I've seen groups of Vampires with one Malk completely rejected because, eh, he's mad we can't understand him. But with Changelings, if there is a guy with hallucinations or PTSD, the others get it : they've been to Arcadia they know it can leave an impact and they understand why.

I wanted something like the traditional ones, maybe spreading first thanks to some sort of virus.

How similar are the larvae to the classics? Are they more closer to vampires?

Larvae are more like feral vampires(think 28 days later or Strain) so they could be quite a challange for Hunters

Hmm you can also take a look at Infected(if I remeber correct) minor template from Hurt Locker

I just don't like to play changeling because I don't want to play a PTSD-ridden rape-victim constantly huddling in fear from my captors who are now hunting for me. It's just not my idea of a fun time.

Then don't play a Winter Court Fairest. There's a bunch of other Seemings that probably weren't raped unless you want them to be (in fact even with the Fairest you weren't raped unless you want them to be) and a bunch of other Courts with philosophies and methods of dealing with the Fae outside of burying their heads in the snow.

If you were to be making a Vampire: The Masquerade video game and had to adapt some of the more OP disciplines into the video game format, how would you go about it? I mean, Vicissitude alone for the Tzimisce is equivalent to opening up a character creation screen every time you feel like it. And that's just the most benign use of it.

I think he's using rape in the more metaphorical sense as just an overall term for being forced against your will into traumatic situations.

Kinda unrelated, but do you know any good play-by-post WoD forum games?

Acanthus can make great allies to changelings. Make your Chronicle interesting and throw one in. They have meta control over aspects of the Wyrd.

You don't have to play someone crippled by insecurities and traumas. Changelings rebuild their lives that's the whole point. Also as a GM I tend to use True Fae as little as possible. The city in which my group lives is relatively safe even in most parts of the Hedge because of the founders of the organized community that welcomes new Changelings.

DON'T LISTEN TO THIS user IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU

Never played changeling but after some reading I kinda liked Grandfather Thunder NPC from Miami freehold.

Do you have any ideas for NPC changelings that could pop up in VtR game?

I mean... not who you're responding to, but I can't really see why I'd want to play changeling if I didn't want to explore the trauma and struggles of rebuilding a life.

If you just start the game out with your shit together it just seems like you're missing a huge chunk of the game.

Not sure, but there's a Covenant called the Children of the Thorns who are connected to a True Fae called Bloody Mary.

Actually this is a good question.

How would the Acanthus work with Changelings?

An amazing ally and a terrifying enemy.

There's one hobgoblin in Autumn Nightmares which is maybe what happens when an Acanthus gets the Arcadias mixed up and the Gentry try to make a Changeling out of him.

DaveB assumed that there are 'Changeling Experts' in the Orders, being both Acanthus & Mastigos.

Also made mention that they personally deal with Freeholds and explore the Hedge.

Spore-chargen minigame as viccisitude.

Yeah, but why play it when I can play a vampire or werewolf instead? It's just never clicked for me. Promethean I 'get' somewhat, I can't say the same for changeling.

I'm running my first Changeling game in a while, and I'm mildly intimidated by the setting as a whole. I'd like to run a game built around political intrigue in the courts that slowly escalates into a Hedgefire War as a True Fae's army closes in to wipe out the Freehold if nobody can defuse the situation, but I'm not really sure where to go from there. Do you have any advice for coming up with compelling political intrigue between the Courts?

The Fate Arcanum can quite literally defy the Hedge and the Wyrd that powers it. Mages proficient in it can force their way in-and-out of it.

Also I have to know. Why did the Mastigos and Acanthus not have Fate and Prime as their inferior.

The Mastigos generally find Fate terrifying because they learn how much they truely are bound to things which is antithetical to their ethos of scourging

And the Acanthus' mercurial nature making them view magic as far more chaotic and fluid which conflicts with the raw structure that Prime gives to the magical world.

Always just felt weird that the subtle arcanum are easier to understand to a mastigos than fucking rocks (yes that's hyperbole, don't sperg at me too much plz).

Exploration of the world and what Darkness lies beyond, fighting against a foe of some kind, take revenge on the True Fae... I mean, just usual scenarios. You can play Changeling without the theme of reconstruction and it's still a really fun game. With dreamweaving, token crafting, hedge and dreamfighting, you can always find good stories to put your players into.

>theoretical magewank

No you fucking can't. You are signing a contract when you enter the Hedge and can't just leave.

Yeah it's probably alright. I've always wanted to run an oWoD Wraith-game myself.

I enjoy Matter being the Inferior Arcanum for the Mastigos. It makes 'mind over matter' so much more worth it when you take it as your third Ruling Arcanum.

You're about to get steamrolled with citations.

I understand that.

But just for my personal taste I think changeling benefits best from having that underlying pathos in everything. Sure that spring courtier is lively and spontaneous but it's just a coping mechanism to get them through the day. And hey, one day they might just forget that trauma in the indolence but that means they're probably going to lose a good chunk of themselves in the process (but maybe that's worth it?)

Wraith is a gem of the Old World and while the setting is absolutely depressing and the Shadow Mechanic potentially group destroying, it's one of the few games where you can actually have a happy ending.

I may be of some help here.

Some good base for conflicts are :
>The good old Loyalist hidden in plain sight, whose reveal causes chaos because paranoia ensues
>A sudden fall in Clarity suffered by one of the leader
>The Red Badge fucking everything up because they always do
>Old Court King dies in some way or another and is replaced by a less experienced member of the Court, causing other Kings and Queens to not trust him and his own Court not following his decisions

Why were Wraith, Demon and Mummy so good? Because they were among the last games released for the setting or something? People tend to ignore Orpheus even more than Wraith.

I'd guess my biggest issue with it is do I focus the conflict on one particular court, or do I have things going wrong everywhere?

niche, demon notwithstanding to a certain degree. those generally go to one extreme or the other.

Isn't Orpheus just Wrath "spin-off"?

Do each Court fall, one by one, each consecutive disaster weakening the system as a whole, then end on outright war.

I get that and I mainly play it like that. My last antagonist was based on the simple fact that he looks and acts sensible, if a bit excentric, and keeps helping the players, so much so that they routinely forgot that he's a delusionnal terrorist and that HE was the one putting them in danger almost everytime.

Except you can.

Not exactly. It's a separate campaign that takes place after Wraith has had it's personal Time of Judgement.

Most of the story doesn't touch on Wraith directly, and you could certainly run all of it without ever knowing Wraith. It's got a little more depth later on if you do know Wraith, but that's about it.

Not getting the same flood of content as Vampire and the rest probably helps, ironically enough. Tighter focus.

>You are signing a contract when you enter the Hedge and can't just leave.

There no such thing as an iron-clad (ha, ha) contract when it comes to any mage proficient in Fate, and changelings and anything Fae-related are truly shit out of luck when dealing with such wizards.

Per DaveB:

forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness/changeling-the-lost/1009776-how-do-changelings-and-mages-feel-about-each-other?p=1010107#post1010107

"Acanthus are both terrifying and uniquely useful to changelings for the same reason they are so to Demons: With sufficient Fate magic, oaths, pacts and contracts become optional.

Need a friend who can no-sell an enemy changeling's contracts, or rewrite a soul pact's terms? Go get an Acanthus. But they can do it to you, too, so it's a last resort."

It doesn't matter. This is the Wyrd we're talking about here. The very essence that supports and upholds the Hedge and Arcadia. Not even a mage can escape it, I doubt even an archmage will fare much better.

DaveB has explicitly stated that Masters of Fate can create Irises in and out of the Hedge with a Making spell.

And open a Gate in and out of the Hedge without paying its price with Fate 3. Or possibly Prime 1, Fate 1.

...

>It doesn't matter.

You are free to houserule anything you wish, but the actual game rules, as confirmed by the mage developer, say otherwise.

The CofD second editions (and most definitely late in the first editions such as in Imperial Mysteries) eliminated any splat balancing and similar rules and exceptions. The Wyrd, Hedge and anything else might be powerful, but they are not immune or otherwise some exception to mages' control of Fate, no matter how much it might screw changelings in any hypothetical crossover.

>questioning the capabilities of archmages

You just went full flat fucking retarded.

Hilarious. Fate 9 is enough to enable a respective Archmage to unravel the entirety of the Wyrd.

It would be a massive violation of the Pax, but the super-wizards are more than capable of fucking up the top tier players of Changeling.

Heck, an archmage can make a changeling human again.

>Archmage with Fate 9

That is one scary archmage.

>Fate 9 is enough to enable a respective Archmage to unravel the entirety of the Wyrd
You could also remake it however you liked.
Such as by redefining it as "the causal force which ensures that Vampires are pushed into conflicts with Mages who could easily turn them into Lawn Chairs".

Pity that Quiescence for Fate 9 spells is impossibly rare.
One example is "a fallen Watchtower".

Quintessence, rather.

You were all warned but you had to start it again.

It's worth it though. While Transfiguration cannot be extended, the effects it produces can be absolutely permanent if you so wish.

Create a god killing doomsday weapon for instance. It's there forever.

10 dots is Assumption, which is purportedly infinite Transfiguration and is essentially the power of an Ascended being on Earth.

True, but just imagine what a mage with Fate 9 can casually, and without paradox, accomplish with just the standard Practices.

For example, he could cast a Fate 5 Making/Unmaking spell with five free Reach, employ Imperial Factors, and have a huge enough dice-pool to increase his Factors much further.

Auto winning on Clash of Wills is also rather monstrous, along with their uncounterable / undispellable magics.

Implying Bauhaus wasn't just mindbendingly weird

The whole "seperate species" thing was raw bullshit. The rest was OK.