General World of Darkness Discussion Thread QQ Edition

Rakdos92 · Jul 2, 2022

Repentant_Dragos said:
Yes, it is. Note that while it's a good idea, its two versions have problems of their own.

(Dream has really bad mechanics while I've had disagreements with Vocation's creator that would violate Rule 8 if elaborated on.)

And both don't want Princesses to be as powerful as Mages.

What are these disagreements?

Repentant_Dragos · Jul 2, 2022

Rakdos92 said:
What are these disagreements?

Please don't ask.

gereh · Jul 8, 2022

Has anyone picked up the new Mage Book "The Operative's Dossier" yet? From the description they have online I'm not all that sure on that one and I was wondering if it was worth picking up.

And since the Trove was taken down, it has been becoming difficult to get a look at them before buying. So I was wondering if someone around here had the book and could tell me if it's worth it's money or not.

While we are at the topic of new releases and if they are worth it: Anyone had time to check out the first episode of "New York by Night" yet?

Maragas · Jul 8, 2022

gereh said:
Has anyone picked up the new Mage Book "The Operative's Dossier" yet? From the description they have online I'm not all that sure on that one and I was wondering if it was worth picking up.

And since the Trove was taken down, it has been becoming difficult to get a look at them before buying. So I was wondering if someone around here had the book and could tell me if it's worth it's money or not.

While we are at the topic of new releases and if they are worth it: Anyone had time to check out the first episode of "New York by Night" yet?

The Operative's Dossier is a decent book. A great one if you are a Technocracy player. Though it does have weird points which I talked about in SB.

Here are some example rotes/procedures from it.

And a new device that quickly become one of my favorites;

There are also good bits on Digital Web and Construct/Chantry creation, which is fun.

As for the weirdness...well.

Maragas said:
It is kinda weird because Operative Dossier is inconsistent even with itself. It has both SPD and SISD aka the guys who replaced SPD after they left the Syndicate, at the same time.
Though methods are fine. You can't really remove Pentex without replacing it, otherwise the economy of the world will basically mimic a plane diving into a canyon within canyon and cause suffering of millions if not billions. Outselling, outgrowing and outmarketing Pentex is the safest route to it. And something only the Syndicate sponsored organizations can do it in the whole WoD.

But yeah, the fluff part of Operative Dossier is definitely the weakest. Because it assumes many different things, some contradictory. With weird things like the Technocracy knowing just enough to know about the Black Spiral Dancers but not enough to know...say the Wyrm and the whole business.

Maragas said:
And it is very, very weird. Because the last time I checked while SISD was tasked to protect SPD when it was created, when SPD left they were tasked with investigating it, finding out what happened and making sure no one in the Technocracy is aware that a whole methodology just straight up left the Syndicate. And they were literally left in the dark.
Not this...in cahoots thing. Yes, they were supposed to hide the details of the SPD accident, but not to the point of this.

Also, there are now, according to this very book, operatives that legitimately connect with nature. And Technocrats who created Anti-Vampire saline because they wanted to replicate superstition "True Faith" effect. So there would be Technocrats who would at least research Changing Breed beliefs seriously.

Lastly, If the Technocracy knows about BSD, like this book tells us, they could easily learn more. Especially since even in Revised the Technocracy was willing to hear shapeshifters when they weren't murderous idiots.

Maragas said:
There is a difference between having conflicting information and/or not enough information and fricking name dropping "BLACK SPIRAL DANCERS" with the Technocracy at large knowing about them and how SPD and by extension Pentex extensively used them. Even calling them "bloodthirsty monsters"
If they even know 1% of the actions of the Black Spiral Dancers there would no longer be SPD nor Pentex. Because last time I checked, unnecessary violence let alone murder (let alone all the things Black Spiral Dancers do) gets your status removed.

Not to mention you are telling the guys who thanks to all the interrogation and torture learned how to tell who is going to become a Werewolf, Vampire, Changeling, Mage or Wraith, don't actually have information about Black Spiral Dancers. Especially when we know canonically they do have talks with Glass Walkers?

The main reason why SPD and Pentex as a whole evaded the Technocratic gaze was that their whole BS wasn't known by large, with the Syndicate making sure even half of their own guys didn't know the shit that was going on with them.
This on the other hand is...very weird metaplot.

Like, Operative Dossier is based on a very...strange setting. Ascension Truce, Avatar Storm/Dimensional Anomaly and this whole weird SPD, Pentex, SISD and EnPointe square. Which makes it weird with Wraith the Oblivion 20th Edition, since the Underworld is fine, and VTM 20th Edition, since the Week of Nightmares is assumed to not have happened and optional.
So after reading through it one last time, I give it 7/10, would have been 8/10 must-have for Technocrats like me if it wasn't for the plot weirdness but the actual material in the book is very very good. From Adjustments to Digital Web to Construct Creation.

gereh · Jul 8, 2022

Maragas said:
-snip-

Thanks that was really helpful .

Maragas said:
Which makes it weird with Wraith the Oblivion 20th Edition, since the Underworld is fine, and VTM 20th Edition, since the Week of Nightmares is assumed to not have happened and optional.

Oh god, I just had a horror scenario in my mind, what they don't use the other 20th Edition but the 5th one for their future mage releases? Thankfully that is pretty unlikely

Repentant_Dragos · Jul 8, 2022

Maragas said:
The Operative's Dossier is a decent book. A great one if you are a Technocracy player. Though it does have weird points which I talked about in SB.

Here are some example rotes/procedures from it.

And a new device that quickly become one of my favorites;

There are also good bits on Digital Web and Construct/Chantry creation, which is fun.

As for the weirdness...well.

I heard it turned NaValon/The Harbingers of Avalon into white supremacists who are also Anti-Welsh (okay, kept them that way instead of Retconning that nonsense out).

Which is bad as I made a Welsh NaValon Character for a game which I then left.

Maragas · Jul 9, 2022

Repentant_Dragos said:
I heard it turned NaValon/The Harbingers of Avalon into white supremacists who are also Anti-Welsh (okay, kept them that way instead of Retconning that nonsense out).

Which is bad as I made a Welsh NaValon Character for a game which I then left.

To be honest, I don't really bother reading much into Operative's Dossiers faction/group write ins since like I said, it's in a very weird place.
Let's take Navalon for example. They say, in the Dossier, the Technocracy executed all the OG members of the group. And the remaining members are leaving the Technocracy because to quote their own words, Minimize harm, share information and make friends.

But...the Technocracy in the Operative Dossier is already halfway to their ideals. It's Ascension Truce, they are working together with the Traditions.

Like...why the hell the Technocracy execute their OG members, why the hell are they leaving and why the fuck wouldn't you use the current events to boost your faction's influence within the Technocracy.

So really, my advice would be to forget about Operative Dossier's plot options for the factions you want to play as and continue with what the Technocracy Reloaded or Revised material said.

Repentant_Dragos · Jul 9, 2022

Maragas said:
To be honest, I don't really bother reading much into Operative's Dossiers faction/group write ins since like I said, it's in a very weird place.
Let's take Navalon for example. They say, in the Dossier, the Technocracy executed all the OG members of the group. And the remaining members are leaving the Technocracy because to quote their own words, Minimize harm, share information and make friends.

But...the Technocracy in the Operative Dossier is already halfway to their ideals. It's Ascension Truce, they are working together with the Traditions.

Like...why the hell the Technocracy execute their OG members, why the hell are they leaving and why the fuck wouldn't you use the current events to boost your faction's influence within the Technocracy.

So really, my advice would be to forget about Operative Dossier's plot options for the factions you want to play as and continue with what the Technocracy Reloaded or Revised material said.

Thanks, Mar!

Lucidum · Jul 13, 2022

Lately, I've been looking into the Toreador and encountered their Nephilim Bloodline in the DAv20 Companion and how many of their number are on the Path of the Archangel.

The Hierarchy of Sins seems vague, so I was wondering if anyone could answer a few questions or give their own view on the Path.

https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Path_of_the_Archangel

Sin 1/7 - "Refusing to make a Major Sacrifice" / "Refusing to make a Minor Sacrifice"
Is this 'Sacrifice' meant to be relative to the character on the path and what they consider a major or minor sacrifice?

Sin 4 - "Indulging in temptations of the flesh"
Is this meant to be a complete cutoff of sexual/bodily activities or is this referencing more casual encounters (Sex/Drugs/Blood just for the explicit purpose of pleasure) without long-term reasons/emotions for said actions such as love? or is this instead referencing to overindulgence to the point that it becomes a vice?

Sin 6 - "Leaving a fellow Toreador to languish unbaptized"
I'm presuming this is meant as a best-effort sort of deal to try and get other Toreador onto the Path of the Archangel?

Sin 10 - "Indulging in any temptation"
What does this even represent? Following your base urges into doing things that aren't in your long-term best interests for short-term benefits? or is this similar to what I brought up for Sin 4 with it not being the character's actions but the overindulgence of their actions?

The Rationale for this isn't very helpful either, "True Katharsis purges all passions", which makes it sound like the end result of the Path of Archangel is to turn you into a discount True Brujah which I don't believe is the intent.

gereh · Jul 13, 2022

I will give my interpretations here:

Lucidum said:
Sin 1/7 - "Refusing to make a Major Sacrifice" / "Refusing to make a Minor Sacrifice"
Is this 'Sacrifice' meant to be relative to the character on the path and what they consider a major or minor sacrifice?

Yes

Lucidum said:
Sin 4 - "Indulging in temptations of the flesh"
Is this meant to be a complete cutoff of sexual/bodily activities or is this referencing more casual encounters (Sex/Drugs/Blood just for the explicit purpose of pleasure) without long-term reasons/emotions for said actions such as love? or is this instead referencing to overindulgence to the point that it becomes a vice?

As the path follows the "traditional" christian teachings, I would presume it's the equivalent of the celibate. So completely cutting of any sexual acts.

The celibate isn't a "traditional" practice, it wasn't something that was practice in the early days of Christianity. It was first offical established in 1139 even if the whole argument goes back a while. But it isn't even a unified practice inside the catholic church e.g. the "Eastern Catholic Church" does allow for married priest.

Also Michael who the Path was designed after famously had lovers so, not sure how well that "sin" fits.

Lucidum said:
Sin 6 - "Leaving a fellow Toreador to languish unbaptized"
I'm presuming this is meant as a best-effort sort of deal to try and get other Toreador onto the Path of the Archangel?

Depends what "best effort" means, I don't think you are allowed to go "I tried my best" and let off, you can go easy for a while on them but you can't let off.

Lucidum said:
Sin 10 - "Indulging in any temptation"
What does this even represent? Following your base urges into doing things that aren't in your long-term best interests for short-term benefits? or is this similar to what I brought up for Sin 4 with it not being the character's actions but the overindulgence of their actions?

The Rationale for this isn't very helpful either, "True Katharsis purges all passions", which makes it sound like the end result of the Path of Archangel is to turn you into a discount True Brujah which I don't believe is the intent.

The "end result" of the path is to become a tool of god's divine will (or at least what you believe is god's divine will) as such you aren't supposed to feel any passion (besides maybe the passion for spreading god's divine will). You can now make philosophic arguments about how much of person is still there after you got rid of all it's passion, but I will not be getting into that.

Or in short, they are group of christian fanatics, who want to become a empty shell of a person that only exist to do gods work. Also there are probably some Lasombra laughing at them.

Lucidum · Jul 13, 2022

gereh said:
As the path follows the "traditional" christian teachings, I would presume it's the equivalent of the celibate. So completely cutting of any sexual acts.

The celibate isn't a "traditional" practice, it wasn't something that was practice in the early days of Christianity. It was first offical established in 1139 even if the whole argument goes back a while. But it isn't even a unified practice inside the catholic church e.g. the "Eastern Catholic Church" does allow for married priest.

Also Michael who the Path was designed after famously had lovers so, not sure how well that "sin" fits.

Yeah, this was honestly the one that stuck out as the most awkward due to Michael's history and how the path is meant to emulate him. It was also why I was asking since it seemed odd that the path dedicated to Michael would cut off sexual acts entirely.

I honestly might just headcanon it, Celibate but allowed "Marriage"

gereh said:
Depends what "best effort" means, I don't think you are allowed to go "I tried my best" and let off, you can go easy for a while on them but you can't let off.

That makes sense, similar in practice to other religious organizations when trying to convert someone.

gereh said:
The "end result" of the path is to become a tool of god's divine will (or at least what you believe is god's divine will) as such you aren't supposed to feel any passion (besides maybe the passion for spreading god's divine will). You can now make philosophic arguments about how much of person is still there after you got rid of all it's passion, but I will not be getting into that.

Or in short, they are group of christian fanatics, who want to become a empty shell of a person that only exist to do gods work. Also there are probably some Lasombra laughing at them.

Ah, I figured they were closer in philosophy to the Path of Divinity for the Road of Heaven due to their perspective of Michael as a Christ-like figure and them taking up the mantel of guiding angels for mortals.

Which, the other tenants of the path doesn't really work well towards this Sin either, by the end, you should be performing creative works every day, being willing to make any sort of sacrifice, and inspiring those in need. But then you get not "Indulging in any temptation" because "True katharsis purges all passions". So you can't be passionate about your creative works or while inspiring others. It just feels like a weird thematic conclusion for the path.

Overall, thank you for the response. If nothing else it's given me a clearer idea of what exactly the path is and what it's trying to do.

shadowdice · Jul 13, 2022

Celibacy as a concept has changed over time (like chastity) where it originally meant keeping it in your marriage and limiting the ways one has sex so I rule it as staying faithful and not weird in bed

tempations of the flesh I go with no drugs, alcohol, so on

Temptation in general I rule through the Christian lens of Sinning with the intention of the path being to become a saint and Kartharsis as their term for Golconda

gereh · Jul 13, 2022

Lucidum said:
Yeah, this was honestly the one that stuck out as the most awkward due to Michael's history and how the path is meant to emulate him. It was also why I was asking since it seemed odd that the path dedicated to Michael would cut off sexual acts entirely.

I honestly might just headcanon it, Celibate but allowed "Marriage"

If you look up Paul Bathalos one of the founder of the Nephillim you can see where the idea comes from. He believed some weird stuff, but most importantly he feared that Michael would turn into a fallen angel because of their relationship.

From what I remember the early "celibate" and "marriage" weren't exclusive, it's more like you could live in celibate while being married, just keep it in your pants. Also it helps to keep in mind that those Christians really believed that the end of the world would be coming soon, as in, that it would happen in their lifetime, so there was an argument for not siring children, if you read a lot of the earlier stuff christian are supposed to do and not do with that in mind, it paints a bit of different picture of the whole "you shouldn't indulge" parts you find in a lot of the letters of apostles. Because if you are a fat drunk lazy dude you will not become an able fighter in the army of Christ.

Lucidum said:
So you can't be passionate about your creative works or while inspiring others. It just feels like a weird thematic conclusion for the path.

I think you can, they probably would say thinks like: "While you are doing it, you are just an instrument of god divine will, so the passion you feel isn't your passion, it's just the divine will flowing through you." As such it's okay to passionate when doing "your job" as it's not "your passion".

shadowdice · Jul 16, 2022

I am thinking about writing a dark ages story from the view of a fledgling but am not sure about what clan I might want to use

My main thoughts are Tzimisce, Ventrue, Giovanni, or maybe Caitiff

gereh · Jul 16, 2022

shadowdice said:
I am thinking about writing a dark ages story from the view of a fledgling but am not sure about what clan I might want to use

My main thoughts are Tzimisce, Ventrue, Giovanni, or maybe Caitiff

If you are looking for help deciding: I'm personally biased towards Tzimisce as they are my favourite clan after all, but I guess it depends mostly on what kind of story you want to tell. Also a Tremere would make for an interesting choice.

shadowdice · Jul 16, 2022

gereh said:
If you are looking for help deciding: I'm personally biased towards Tzimisce as they are my favourite clan after all, but I guess it depends mostly on what kind of story you want to tell. Also a Tremere would make for an interesting choice.

I am thinking about what clan to use, my general thought is that the clan of origin should be secondary

The general idea is of a young (relatively) vampire that runs the day to day of an adoptive sire that is old and new to the medieval British isles.

The stat block I ended up making is of a not himbo (really high strength attractiveness 3 int 3) who manages to come off as one due to having man 1 and not bothering any attempt at trying to socially manipulate others.

Just, one of many sons of a noble who wasn't going to inherit anything so he became very good at Sword and economics/running a house so he got turned into a vampire by an elder who ran afoul of Mithras and got ganked when "I am totally a sun god" came back to London, so he started working for a different elder.

Straight up an ancient several thousand year old elder and their "adoptive childe" looking out the window while everyone plots and schemes before closing the blinds and trying to avoid other people's messes.

(Strength 5 Melee 4 is a good deterrent on top of having Legerdemain/dex to hide a stake on one's person)

No law, no politics, but has some academics/enigmas for general things and the only stats above 2 are melee and commerce. But has lots of ones and twos in others for an overall generalist build that can take his adoptive "Sire" around to do things.

Etiquette 2, ride 2, occult 2, legerdemain 2 because weird noble

gereh · Jul 16, 2022

shadowdice said:
I am thinking about what clan to use, my general thought is that the clan of origin should be secondary

Oh I read that wrong than, but on the topic of Tremere: British Isles, Dark Ages, you have to put Meerlinda in there. She is supposedly looking for the holy grail at that point in time, just think of all the Monty Python jokes you could pull.

shadowdice said:
I
The general idea is of a young (relatively) vampire that runs the day to day of an adoptive sire that is old and new to the medieval British isles.

The stat block I ended up making is of a not himbo (really high strength attractiveness 3 int 3) who manages to come off as one due to having man 1 and not bothering any attempt at trying to socially manipulate others.

Just, one of many sons of a noble who wasn't going to inherit anything so he became very good at Sword and economics/running a house so he got turned into a vampire by an elder who ran afoul of Mithras and got ganked when "I am totally a sun god" came back to London, so he started working for a different elder.

So we talking around 1160 than I assume.

In general not many Tzimisce on the isles, their clan curse doesn't really lend itself all that well to traveling long distances especially in medieval times. But there are the Lhiannan, a druidic off-shot of (probably) Clan Gangrel, which could make for great antagonist or just a weird force that sometimes come into play. I personally would add them just because they are unique and kind of cool. If I had to pick four clans to focus on it probably would be:

Ventrue - because Mithras and British Isles
Torreador - because conflicts between British Ventrue and French (only "born" there now "living" on the isles) Torreador makes good background conflict
Tremere - because young Clan that tries to find it place in the world, casually destroying the "status quo" by just existing
Lhianna - because they are cool and there is potential for conflicts with Tremere "Ogham vs Blood Sorcery"

I think with that four clans there could be a lot of conflicts in the background allowing for a lot of possible story treats.
(Also there is a Dark Age book about the British Isles, I personally don't own it so can't tell you much about it, but it may worth a look. But I guess you already knew that, still wanted to but it out there just in case you somehow missed it)

shadowdice · Jul 18, 2022

gereh said:
Oh I read that wrong than, but on the topic of Tremere: British Isles, Dark Ages, you have to put Meerlinda in there. She is supposedly looking for the holy grail at that point in time, just think of all the Monty Python jokes you could pull.

So we talking around 1160 than I assume.

In general not many Tzimisce on the isles, their clan curse doesn't really lend itself all that well to traveling long distances especially in medieval times. But there are the Lhiannan, a druidic off-shot of (probably) Clan Gangrel, which could make for great antagonist or just a weird force that sometimes come into play. I personally would add them just because they are unique and kind of cool. If I had to pick four clans to focus on it probably would be:

Ventrue - because Mithras and British Isles
Torreador - because conflicts between British Ventrue and French (only "born" there now "living" on the isles) Torreador makes good background conflict
Tremere - because young Clan that tries to find it place in the world, casually destroying the "status quo" by just existing
Lhianna - because they are cool and there is potential for conflicts with Tremere "Ogham vs Blood Sorcery"

I think with that four clans there could be a lot of conflicts in the background allowing for a lot of possible story treats.
(Also there is a Dark Age book about the British Isles, I personally don't own it so can't tell you much about it, but it may worth a look. But I guess you already knew that, still wanted to but it out there just in case you somehow missed it)

In lore there is supposed to be a pack of Tzimisce doing weird shit with a local nature spirit because Tzimisce.

With the Ventrue you have the the Romans who stuck around on the islands (most are dead), Normans who came along with William the conquerer and spread out. Then there is Mithras and Tiamat

When it comes to Tzimisce, the way to get around the curse is as old as Dracula (lots of boxes of dirt)

Disciplines wise, Ventrue would likely be the best for the type of character but an off brand Tzimisce who has the whole Old World Hospitality and actually being that friendly is kind of funny "Yes, this sword is that guy I was sent to capture but not kill, do you want a test swing?"

But, there is always caitiff (with all the baggage that comes with)

Toreador with the type I'm going with feels a bit too stereotypical

I know about the British isles book

Lucidum · Jul 18, 2022

shadowdice said:
Disciplines wise, Ventrue would likely be the best for the type of character but an off brand Tzimisce who has the whole Old World Hospitality and actually being that friendly is kind of funny "Yes, this sword is that guy I was sent to capture but not kill, do you want a test swing?"

Tbh, the off-brand Tzimisce sounds pretty hilarious, especially if they have Arsenal of Flesh and Bone and were to just give every shmuck in Britain an Agg Sword... but nobody ever takes them up on their offer. M~~aybe they were out swimming one day and some perv was watching so they threw a sword at them~~.

gereh · Jul 18, 2022

shadowdice said:
In lore there is supposed to be a pack of Tzimisce doing weird shit with a local nature spirit because Tzimisce.
[...]
When it comes to Tzimisce, the way to get around the curse is as old as Dracula (lots of boxes of dirt)

I'm fully down with anything that gets us Tzimisce, just wanting to put out there that the whole "boxes of dirt" method wasn't as practical in the dark ages as it would be today, as shipping was a lot more difficult. Still possible but not as practical.

Also the whole thing would be a non issue for the MC, if he was part of the clan.

shadowdice said:
Toreador with the type I'm going with feels a bit too stereotypical

Don't have to be the MC clan, they could be an antagonistic force or something. I just thought they would make a good force that could combat the Ventrue on the political stage.

shadowdice said:
I know about the British isles book

Thought so (if you own it, is it any good?)

shadowdice · Jul 19, 2022

gereh said:
Thought so (if you own it, is it any good?)

from what I remember it is good so I am debating whether to get a copy

Getting my group into vampire was hard enough, dark ages is another matter and I already have a lot of books I'm probably never going to get to use

gereh · Jul 19, 2022

shadowdice said:
[...] Getting my group into vampire was hard enough, dark ages is another matter [...]

Easy get them into Crusader Kings and from there into Prince of Darkness mod and before they know they are heads over head into "dark ages"

shadowdice · Jul 30, 2022

I'm pretty sure I never mentioned this before

back when I was originally trying to figure out V5 I made a bunch of test characters to work out the system

one of them was female Japanese Giovanni mobster whose parents had worked very hard to fit in with the Giovanni to the point of dressing up as stereotypical gangssters, making her only ever speak in Italian when at home, and eating pasta every day

she hated every part of this and was thankful about becoming a vampire because it meant she had an excuse to not eat pasta anymore and set up her place of work in Chinatown despite being Japanese, specifically to avoid anything Italian outside of when dealing with the Giovanni.

Just tiny five foot tall vampire that obfuscates due to sitting at a table in a chinese souvenir shop that she keeps a workshop underneath, making fake identities for fledgelings of every faction in the city, making cheap single use guns, and other not great but serviceable tools that she exchanges for money and favors

Giovanni: You see, we have a deal with the camarilla of noninterference, so if you really need help you can stop by here for a bit. What exactly did you do? Oh, so, I'll just write down in this notebook, Life Boon

all wrapped up in a perky goth exterior

Maragas · Jul 31, 2022

shadowdice said:
I'm pretty sure I never mentioned this before

back when I was originally trying to figure out V5 I made a bunch of test characters to work out the system

one of them was female Japanese Giovanni mobster whose parents had worked very hard to fit in with the Giovanni to the point of dressing up as stereotypical gangssters, making her only ever speak in Italian when at home, and eating pasta every day

she hated every part of this and was thankful about becoming a vampire because it meant she had an excuse to not eat pasta anymore and set up her place of work in Chinatown despite being Japanese, specifically to avoid anything Italian outside of when dealing with the Giovanni.

Just tiny five foot tall vampire that obfuscates due to sitting at a table in a chinese souvenir shop that she keeps a workshop underneath, making fake identities for fledgelings of every faction in the city, making cheap single use guns, and other not great but serviceable tools that she exchanges for money and favors

Giovanni: You see, we have a deal with the camarilla of noninterference, so if you really need help you can stop by here for a bit. What exactly did you do? Oh, so, I'll just write down in this notebook, Life Boon

all wrapped up in a perky goth exterior

Sounds like someone had too much spaghetti.
Jokes aside, that sounds like it will backfire since it makes her look two faced.

shadowdice · Jul 31, 2022

Maragas said:
Sounds like someone had too much spaghetti.
Jokes aside, that sounds like it will backfire since it makes her look two faced.

No, completely open about what she does, but is a perky goth

Neonates: Why are you soaking corpses in gasoline? We paid you to give us new identities!

Giovanni: To burn and fake the deaths of your current identities, otherwise there is going to be a missing persons case and all of that. It is part of the Silver Package. I had to drill their teeth to match your current dentals.

shadowdice · Aug 7, 2022

on another note, I have some of the newer v5 books in case anyone wants to know about the contents (Trails of Ash and Bone/Forbidden Religions)

Nervaqus987 · Aug 7, 2022

shadowdice said:
on another note, I have some of the newer v5 books in case anyone wants to know about the contents (Trails of Ash and Bone/Forbidden Religions)

Are they as shit as the rest of V5?

shadowdice · Aug 7, 2022

Nervaqus987 said:
Are they as shit as the rest of V5?

So so

Trails of Ash and Bone has the problem V5 keeps having of wasting the space and money on random pieces of artwork throughout the document that don't really do anything instead of having ones for the NPCs. it basically has a bunch of different scenarios involving cults (including Bahari)

The main problem I would point at that is that they are all in wildly different locations (Copenhagen, Atlantic city) and I'm just kind of looking at that thinking that the Storyteller is going to need to do legwork to set it somewhere else if the players didn't start there or travel is a large part of the game.

The Atlantic City one is focused on cult politics instead of what players are probably going to do (Casino Heist) which the book acknowledges before just saying that it should be difficult.

Britain's is obvious Salubri scenario where the problem of How Much Info Do Elders Know makes it confusing how the entire thing wis happening.

Forbidden Religions adds some ready made lore for different clan ancestors you can use and groups. \

Militant Ventrue that keep shortspears on them and are very big fans of 300 that are on an Indiana jones style adventure across the world trying to find their ancestor's torpid body and protecting it while hunting down other cults and diiablerists. Nosferatu that decide that they must BECOME the Nictuku and hunt down their own members. A group of Assamites that didn't fall into the new Banu Haqim umbrella and acknowledging that the entire clan is a blood cult dedicated to older vampires.

Problem with the Assamite one is that v5 is rolling back and going "Oh, Ur Shulgi is gone now, he walked off on a pilgrimage" when the entire basis of the Assamites joining the Camarilla was based on them being batshit terrified of him. but it gets you the canon of an Assamite that believes it is their holy duty to find thin bloods and aid them in diablerizing the unworthy to become true vampires.

Ventrue: Dissing demons, hurting heretics, inspecting inquisitors and killing the whole lot of them is my job.

Assamite: Hey, hey you Duskborn, listen to me now, look at me in the eye. You are a son of Haqim now.

overall mixed bag, but Forbidden Religions is at last better than most of the v5 books

gereh · Aug 7, 2022

shadowdice said:
overall mixed bag, but Forbidden Religions is at last better than most of the v5 books

Also it introduced a group of Tremere that believe that some councilors have survived the fall of the Vienna Chantry, which is kind of strange, cause if the whole council wasn't taken out before they could react, there is no way the Inquisition should even be able to have a chance. But I guess that just them having to work with the existing V5 lore and there isn't really a chance of making sense of the whole Vienna situation.

But yeah, Forbidden Religion is in the top three of the V5 books for me (not really a high hurdle to cross), together with Companions and Chicago by Night.

shadowdice · Aug 20, 2022

As a general question?

Shouldn't this thread be in creative writing instead of off topic?

Or do we just not generally talk about making stories enough? (WOD of any form is fairly rare in the fics and quests sections)

General World of Darkness Discussion Thread QQ Edition

Goosh Goosh

Experienced.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Versed in the lewd.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Experienced.

Versed in the lewd.

Experienced.

Verifiably Bored

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Verifiably Bored

Connoisseur.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Connoisseur.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Connoisseur.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Connoisseur.

Verifiably Bored

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Connoisseur.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Connoisseur.

Versed in the lewd.

Connoisseur.

Connoisseur.

Well worn.

Connoisseur.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Connoisseur.

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