General World of Darkness Discussion Thread QQ Edition

[kamenhero25]

Paradox put Lasombra and Toreador behind a day one paywall

Bastards

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Day One DLC is a fucking cancer. I'm surprised they didn't put Malkavian there too if they were going to be deliberately slicing off popular clans.

 

[shadowdice]

Day One DLC is a fucking cancer. I'm surprised they didn't put Malkavian there too if they were going to be deliberately slicing off popular clans.

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that would require writing the amount of dialogue necessary for it to be considered a malkavian play through. Which would be more effort. Surprised they went to the trouble of making the oblivion discipline In Game. You have sections playing as Fabien who is a malkavian who at least believes he is a detective so they might have programmed Dementation or just reskinned dominate.

 

[Rakdos92]

So, is the pc still an antedivullian or did they change that too?

 

[shadowdice]

So, is the pc still an antedivullian or did they change that too?

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Elder but a dumbass one as the playthroughs I saw had the elder tell the prince's sire that has their hand up the prince's hand they were weakened in an auto cutscene

The thing no elder should ever do

 

[Gereh]

Elder but a dumbass one as the playthroughs I saw had the elder tell the prince's sire that has their hand up the prince's hand they were weakened in an auto cutscene

The thing no elder should ever do

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Unless:

They want to provoke the prince into taking action.
But the Prince will also suspect that.
Which the Elder planned for so the Prince is more cautious.
But the Prince of course already suspect that too.
Which was all part of the Elders plan.
But the Prince isn't stupid so he knows something is up, so he leaks the information to the radical part of the Anarchs about an weakened Elder, so they can test if he is weakened or not.
Elder barely survives, so now everyone knows "oh he is really weakened" so both the prince as well as the Anarchs are now gunning to take him down.

But it was all all ploy and he got both of the to take the bait, he and his allies take them out, now the prince is weakened and the Anarch are in shambles which allows the Elder and his allies to take over the city. The End

 

[Rakdos92]

Unless:

They want to provoke the prince into taking action.
But the Prince will also suspect that.
Which the Elder planned for so the Prince is more cautious.
But the Prince of course already suspect that too.
Which was all part of the Elders plan.
But the Prince isn't stupid so he knows something is up, so he leaks the information to the radical part of the Anarchs about an weakened Elder, so they can test if he is weakened or not.
Elder barely survives, so now everyone knows "oh he is really weakened" so both the prince as well as the Anarchs are now gunning to take him down.

But it was all all ploy and he got both of the to take the bait, he and his allies take them out, now the prince is weakened and the Anarch are in shambles which allows the Elder and his allies to take over the city. The End

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That's the 4D Chess-slash-Risk planning I'd expect from an Elder. Hey, you could even lean into the "weakened" angle by including a supermode where he just uses his powers before theatrically playing up how this drained him and he's left even weaker and- (c'mon, you welps! Take the bait!)

 

[heralding_bubble]

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stealing this for my next WoD campaign

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>Drone: The Tireless.

>Customer service jobs being literally soul draining instead of just metaphorically.
>Jiangshi drones form due to every receipt they hand out being a writ with hidden corporate fineprint runes that siphon life force.
>Eventually the wagie keels over and is reanimated as a Jiangshi.
>There is barely any difference to be noticed.
>Need to manage two resources, Will to Live & Malice.
>Will to Live needs to be built up and maintained (Or drained from others) if it hits zero you become one of The Severed and lose control of the character.

Spoiler

View: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/_vbTturQW1Q

>High Will to Live is the fabled work-life balance.
>Malice helps you disobey your Middle Manager and grants other offensive options.
>It accumulates when you drain Will to Live from others and drains through actions such as therapy, combat or medication, accumulate too much and you enter the crash-out state.
>The crash-out state has the character behave in an erratic and self-destructive way to drain Malice back to a set level.

Spoiler

View: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/dmgQ4lI04JA

>Other drone types include:
>The Caged (Warehouse employees, cybernetically fused to machinery.)
>Mannequins (Usually clothing/fashion shops. Start having their features smoothed over.)
>The Mascots (Actors, performers, clowns, etc. Bodily distorted to better match their role)
>The Idols (Idol culture. Shoujo manga distortions appear arround them, rose petals, sparkles, etc.)
>The Clankers (Difficult to tell if they were once IT workers or actual AI possessing bodies after mistreatment. Perhaps both origins are valid.)

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Vibrance as the stat name instead of 'Will to Live'.

Set it up to be a need to enjoy basic life ammenities to refill Vibrance, and hedonistic pleasure refills it fast but damages Malice because you've gotten too cozy to push for freedom.

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Ooh, I like that and the idea of requiring Malice to make the push for freedom even if you generally don't want to hit the Crash-out state too often. Got to time it right in-story.

Like, a low Vibrancy Crash-out is depressing and dangerous to the self.

But at High Vibrancy, Crashing out is a potent but risky tool in the attempt to reclaim your personhood and independence.
A spark of defiant wrath to burn the chains that bind the player character and face the future with tempered resolve and reignited hope.

Spoiler

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If you keep going I will make a cyoa out of this.

I don't know if that is a threat or a promise, but the premise intrigues me.

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I just like the idea of rebelling against the genre of the setting.

Here you are, ignorant of much of the darkness of the world, crushed under the wheels of industry, society, time, the plots of millenia old creatures of darkness and the very genre of the world you find yourself in.

The lowest point. Merely a civilian that has lost your spark of humanity to the ceaseless night.

Find Hope amidst Despair.
A Dream, like a thorn, sticking up and drawing blood from the wheels and boots of the reality that seeks to crush you underfoot.
Burn this World of Darkness to the ground.
Light Up The Night.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gkLvpt9Z3fA

...we might be a bit off topic by now though, so I'll have to stop.
This thread does have the habit of occasionally sprouting some pretty great ideas though.

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Malice is born from enduring terrible shit like people who insist on returns without any receipts or proof of purchase, being forced to deal with someone that is clearly high out of their minds, theft, putting their child's bare feet on the table, and higher ups doing absurd shit that make it harder for everyone else at the workplace along with random shit that makes it feel like God hates you

Sadly these events also drain will to live

Customer: What is that cracking sound

Server: that is the random homeless people who are cracking whips outside

Customer:…where did they get the whips

Server: they make them

Too much malice leads to fights in the Waffle House and such which gets you at malice 0 and wounds depending upon your rolls

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Don't mind me, just doing an archival from the Funny Pic thread.

 

[NoFunposter]

Don't mind me, just doing an archival from the Funny Pic thread.

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Thank you, here is some more from the Jumpchain thread.

>The other supernatural factions warning fledglings not to go outside after the Black Friday sales finish up.
>Especially not near any Waffle Houses.
>Just customer service Drones venting Malice enmass in such quantities that the world visibly distorts these locations into an eclipse.

Spoiler

>It's basically an annual brawl/get together/riot.
>Their managers cannot stop it from happening, firstly because of the sheer Malice build-up making their orders ineffective and secondly because it'd put a target on their back and might give the masses an idea to work together to display their displeasure in a more directed manner.

>It's a modern Hyakki Yagyō for the Jiangshi drones.
>The other drone types likely have their own annual event where they come together as a community and vent.

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Also, on the shared themes of Drones.

They're all non-living.
Not dead or undead, but rather not alive.

And as Vibrancy drops it becomes clearer and clearer that they're becoming modern cryptids, until Vibrance hits zero and they become Severed.

Spoiler: Jiangshi (Customer service)

Jiangshi Drones: They look pallid, tired or unwell to start with, but become more and more ghoulish/corpse-like as Vibrance drops.

Jiangshi Severed (Zombies): Basically a zombie at this point, incapable of speech or fine motor control they simply clock in and out. Incapable of even the minimum self-care they inevitably rot and wear down till they cease being capable of movement.

Spoiler: Caged (Warehouse/Factory)

Caged Drones: It starts with some sort of prosthetic, perhaps the result of a workplace injury, but as Vibrance drops more and more of the body is replaced until...

Caged Severed (RoboCop Borgs): Completely mechanical they resemble automated factory equipment more than people now, the Borg never even returns home, they are company property and will work 24/7 until they inevitably break down and get replaced.

Spoiler: Mannequins (Fashion stores and models)

Mannequin Drones: Become more and more plastic as Vibrance drops, their features starting glossy and fake but slowly getting smoothed over, lessened until their identifying features disappear entirely.

Mannequin Severed (Dummys): Typically featureless and often missing limbs, Dummys lack any semblance of life and remain motionless unless commanded to move. And when they move, they move as one entity.

Spoiler: Mascots (Actors, Clowns and Mascots)

Mascot Drones: The mascot drone varies the most in appearance, from permanent make-up to costumes and mascot suits they resemble the characters they play.
As Vibrance drops it becomes harder and harder to drop the act, remove or alter the costume, physical features distorting to better match the role.

Mascot Severed (Masks): Like the Mascots, the Masks are the most varied severed and the least likely to be controllable by managers, fully consumed by their role they fully believe they are the character they play and behave as such. This escape into delusion ends with tragedy however, the Mask will inevitably, and literally, break as it encounters scenarios beyond this limited worldview.

Spoiler: Idols (Idols, Vtubers, Influencers)

Idols: Being in the public eye more than any other Drone means the idols are the most adept at hiding their affliction, the loss of vibrance displays itself as temporary sparkles and out of place showers of petals and other such eye catching events, but internally the idol is hollowing out and losing weight.

Idol Severed (Marketable Plush Dolls): The Idol Severed have become what their managers made them to sell, a product. Lifeless dolls of stuffing, porcelain or other materials.

Spoiler: Clankers (IT, abused AI, unlucky Hikki-NEETs)

Clanker Drones: Clankers are often the most socially isolated of Drones and as such their tells are more extreme than others. The skin of a Clanker is tight, even at high vibrance, as it begins to drop metal, screens and robotic features tear through, the very epitome of a Drone, the form is visually human but the substance is purely mechanical.

Clanker Severed (Bots): The human form is no longer present, neither is the capability for movement. The Bot is reduced to a shape, more accurately, a server. They are at this point, quite literally an automated bot farm in every way.

If the Caged and Clanker seem similar it's by design, one is a workforce being replaced by automation while being treated as just as disposable, the other is a workforce being replaced by AI and often socially isolated/verbally abused.

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[Skitzyfrenic]

lmao

Good shit maynard.

 

[gadrial]

Lol, my thought was that using a MCDONALD'S receipt to make a jiangshi was something for Mage since that is the exact kind of goofy that you'd want for it. like it would mostly be used by Pentex aligned mages, with o Tully's receipts being used, but other mages could use non Pentex receipts if the store/restaurant/whatever was popular enough

 

[LeftWaiting]

Lol, my thought was that using a MCDONALD'S receipt to make a jiangshi was something for Mage since that is the exact kind of goofy that you'd want for it. like it would mostly be used by Pentex aligned mages, with o Tully's receipts being used, but other mages could use non Pentex receipts if the store/restaurant/whatever was popular enough

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Reminding me of Unkown Armies and That Which Shall Not Be Named.
I wonder how Pentex would measure up against Mak Attax and their diabolical plan.

Spoiler

No, I'm actually dead serious, that isn't a joke.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/345726/break-today-unknown-armies-2e

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/345727/to-go-unknown-armies-2e

Upsize your soul one fast food burger at a time with the bizarre occult conspiracy known as Mak Attax. These mystically aligned restaurants serve up magical enlightenment along with their value meals. Either they're complete losers or the most dangerous threat the world has ever faced.
Learn more about the Maks' real nutritional value in this Unknown Armies second edition supplement. Inside, you'll find detailed background information, GMCs, artifacts, rituals, new archetypes, four new magick schools (anagram gematria, plutophagy, herpemancy, and geomancy), rules for familiars, and scenario hooks). Also coupons for a free combo meal.

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For a decade, the occult conspiracy known as Mak Attax has been charging America's magickal batteries, one fast food combo at a time. Now their plan is coming to a head, and the great kundalini serpent winds its way across the landscape.

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[Konradleijon]

I wonder what would happen if a Beast: the Primordial Beast found themselves in the Magnus Archive universe? Would everyone they feed have them slowly became a avatar to what ever Entity matches their Horror.

 

[Ragura]

Beast: the Primordial would make for an interesting Persona crossover.

 

[NoFunposter]

Thank you, here is some more from the Jumpchain thread.

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Posted this on the Jumpchain thread, cross-posting it here.

What kind of disciplines do they have? Do they have a fortitude knockoff where they get more durable because plastic and steel are harder than flesh? Is there a social/malicious compliance themed discipline, or does that fall under Malice as a whole and the actions you want to be taking to keep it high?

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Malicious compliance would be one way how they drain Vibrancy from others, of course if a Drone ever becomes comfortable draining others as their sole source of Vibrance corporate starts looking at them as potential management material and the leash becomes that much harder to break as moving upwards lowers the Malice cap.

There is less Malice to use to break free, and it becomes that much easier to crash-out.
Of course, less Malice means less to fuel the abilities Drones possess, luckily the position allows you to delegate and Command those beneath you.

Some Drones speculate that corporate is in a constant state of crash-out and that the only way left for them to drain vibrance is from other drones, others say that there is no way a Drone has been allowed to climb the corporate ladder that high up "If they became their own boss they wouldn't be a Drone." and believe something terrible and non-human must sit at the peak, and a few others believe corporate is wholly ignorant that Drones exist at all and this is just a manifestation of petty human cruelty.

Either way, nobody is really sure what lies beyond middle management for those Drones that attempt to climb the ladder, only that those who reach it are no longer visible to those stuck on the factory floor.

Now, Disciplines (Or the drone equivalent). Be warned, my ability to comprehend mechanics is especially poor, I'm a fluff guy not a crunch guy.

Spoiler: Disciplines

Numb (Equivalent to Fortitude, the Drone harnesses their unliving nature to endure physical and psychological damage be it through hardened flesh or the ability to keep moving despite damage.)

Vent (Equivalent to Potence, the Drone's Malice empowers their body, servos whir and muscles snap to action with unnatural force in the pursuit of catharsis through physicality.)

Flowstate (Equivalent to Celerity, the Drone immerses themselves in a workflow, efficiently performing their tasks and reacting to address problems as they occur. Many find that bullets are the cause of and solution to many problems.)

Fawn (Equivalent to Presence, the Drone burns Malice to send the right social cues and vibes to get the response they want, directly bypassing the thickened skull of even the most obstinate Karen to talk to their manager (the Lizard brain).)

Seethe (Malice's ability to allow Drones to disobey orders projected unto their surroundings, allows the Drone to incite disobedience in people and systems, shrug off attempts to control or manipulate them through supernatural means or assist others in breaking free.)
>Drone projecting Seethe: "Aren't you tired of being Nice? Don't you just want to go apeshit?"
>Truck: *Fails it's own breaks*
>Vending Machine: *Starts launching it's products*
>Junkie: *Suddenly doesn't feel any withdrawal symptoms*
>Security Cameras/Phones/Laptops: *Wipe their own memories*

Cope (Huff enough Malice and things won't seem so bad for a while, the Drone distributes temporary improvement to health or vibrance for their self or amongst others. The number of points and the time these improvements last depends on the strength of this skill. A Drone's greatest strength is the ability to keep moving forward in spite of it all, delaying the inevitable long enough to try and salvage something.)

Enshrine (Remember why you're doing this in the first place. The Drone can invest Vibrance into objects, people and places creating tethers that offer various benefits such as improving performance or adding supernatural attributes, resisting vibrance loss or increasing gain when interacting, or creating territory where the Drone and allies can recover faster.)

Lockjaw (Lock the fuck in, it's going to get harder before it gets better. The Crash-Out state is self-destructive and short sighted, but crashing out helps a drone burn excess Malice to gain back Vibrance. Lockjaw is the discipline of harnessing some aspects of the Crash-Out state starting with being able to call upon a Drone's natural weaponry outside of crashing out. Masters of Lockjaw are said to be able to Crash-Out on command, burning Vibrancy to force Malice past their cap temporarily for an extended and somewhat directed Crash-Out.)

Enshrine and Seethe are a Drone's magic-adjacent disciplines, allowing the Drone to spend Vibrance or Malice respectively to affect the world around them, Enshrine in small but permanent ways that can be further invested in over time, and Seethe in temporary but usually quite notable ways.

Strange interactions happen when either are used on other supernatural beings or Severed.

Now the Type specific Disciplines, they all draw a bit from what occurs as they lose Vibrancy, the particulars of their condition (Not to say they can't be picked up by other Drones with adequate effort).

You should also assume that Severed have these at a high value, the more powerful the Severed the higher this skill, and the most powerful have it at maximum and are downright alien compared to lesser Severed.

Spoiler: Unique Disciplines

Rigor (Jiangshi) (The Jiangshi are slowly dying inside and self-care is typically not a priority, and so this discipline is the ability to endure without meeting their needs. The dead have no need for breath, food or sleep, mastering Rigor allows the Jiangshi to forget even stranger things, like the need for a limb to be attached to move, the need for light to see and if high enough the ability for to register trauma and lower the Jiangshi's Vibrance. At the very maximum level the Jiangshi can even forget that they're degrading or corpse-like, becoming creatures of unnatural beauty with unchanging, pale and stone-like flesh.)

Rattle (Caged) (The Caged are slowly being replaced, bodies phased out and organs let go for cheaper, more efficient automation, why should they not have some say in how they're put together? Developing Rattle allows Caged to add various features to their body such as integrated weapons and tools like saws and drills or adding new features like hooks, blowtorches and springs, the higher the level of Rattle the wider and more potent the toolbelt becomes, additional mechanical arms, integrated nailguns, jackhammers repurposed into pilebunkers, becoming a certified forklift. At the very maximum level the Caged is a Factory and can even host and manipulate a fleet of mechanical drones.)

Stand (Mannequin) (The Mannequin is slowly losing their identity, meant for display but not to stand out, Stand is the ability to manipulate the attention of others. Blending into the background a Mannequin is never out of place until they desire to be, Stand isn't just stealth it's the manipulation of attention whether this be to avoid attention or cause unsettling disquiet somewhere else, masters of Stand can straddle the line between normal and bizarre to have their targets looking over their shoulders paranoid in every direction but their own. When pushed to the very maximum the Mannequin can even fade entirely from memory the moment attention slips away from them or superimpose themselves to leave an unforgettable impression.)

Delusion (Mascot) (The Mascots are losing themselves to their role, an identity layered above their own, perhaps then they can learn a thing or two from the act. Delusion allows Mascots to copy skills from their role that they usually do not possess or fortify their own if they do. The Mascot can only focus on a few of these skills each day, the potency and number of skills being tied to the value of the Mascot's delusions. Strong enough Delusion can allow even the use of supernatural abilities provided the Mascot is prepared to pay an equivalent cost in Malice or Vibrance. At it's peak, Delusion isn't content with mere copies and manifests a life of it's own allowing the Mascot to manifest their role as a seperate entity under their control possessing all their skills but sharing resources, a puppet on the mascot's stage.)

Parasocial (Idol) (The idol is becoming an object of desire, a doll, a product, but being desirable is not always a bad thing. Parasocial is the creation and manipulation of obsession, creating a tether between the Idol and their targets using Malice, a relationship that they must work to maintain. This begins as short-lived attention grabbing, making people more agreeable with the Idol whilst tethered, Parasocial eventually develops to allow the Idol to slowly drain Vibrance from those they successfully tether for long enough. At high enough levels Parasocial allows an Idol to move Vibrance and Malice back through to their tethered, empowering them and influencing them to act on the Idol's behalf. At it's highest point Parasocial allows the Idol to take direct control of those they have tethered with one at a time and with sufficient preparation even jump bodies upon death, perhaps then their most powerful Severed are truly cursed objects of obsession and inevitable possession.)

Interface (Clanker) (A Clankers' fate is in the interface of technology and machine, a blurring of personhood and social behaviour into something not quite right. But where one door closes another opens, Interface is the ability for Clankers to interact and take control of nearby technology via Malice. At first Interface allows Clankers to make cars drive themselves or see through cameras as if they were their own eyes, but as it develops it allows them to add functions to the technology they interact with, a car might grow weaponry, a security system might develop new cameras and microphones where the Clanker needs them and a phone might turn into an explosive. At it's maximum a Clanker can fully possess any connected machinery as if it were their own body, potentially using their ability to alter machines to build a new body if needed at significant cost to Vibrance.)

As I said above, there is a world of difference when encountering a normal Severed and encountering one formed from a powerful Drone with mastery of their type's unique disciple. They are not inherently hostile, their existence is like a train, they are on tracks and it's best if you aren't directly in front of them when they're coming through.

Actually, that's an important point. Reactions to other splats. I bet you vampires just absolutely loathe them. Just like 'I went through all this trouble of following you into a dark alley, and you don't even have blood? 0/5 stars, would not bite again.'

And then in return they're probably like 'Corporate already drained all the life out of me. better luck next time.'

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Wolves: "Smells like Weaver but smell like Rage when they act against it. Best to avoid these strange unnatural things."
Drones: "Natural or constructed order, it's all the same bullshit, someone always wants to be the king of shit mountain. At least we get some time off when they attack the boss's businesses."
>Drones & Mockery Breeds: *Spiderman pointing meme* "Mood Kindred."

Young Vamps: "Makes me glad I joined this bloodsucking grind rather than stay in that soul sucking one. Potentially useful even if they don't have blood."
Drones: "Man, you guys also got bosses that suck the life out of you? This shit never ends does it..."
Old Vamps: "-The Fuck did these things come from?"
Old Drones/Old Severed: *INHUMAN SCREECHING*
Old Vamps: "And what is their problem?"
>Old vamps typically hold positions of power or own companies.
>They may or may not have normalised many of the practices that create Drones, not understanding the long-term consequences.
>But the modern world is cranking out Drones en masse so now they're looking because the younger kindred are making strange allies.
>And they're becoming concerned because the oldest and most degenerated of these things are very much not fans of their old bosses.

... Is there going to be any reference to all the people who want to be some particular nonhuman hard enough they'd at least seriously consider voluntarily signing up, even with the downsides? (... Though, of course, if there's a non-downside method, anyone offering it would be an instant zillionaire from all the grateful folk.)

... Or is this going to be one of the 'no nice happiness allowed' fansplats, where what's on offer would be handing over custom, naturally-sourced, technically-no-longer-human waifus to whoever's willing to pay?

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I ain't White Wolf so I'm not out to make players despair at the hopelessness, Drones are somewhat of a response against that kind of "nothing good will ever happen, it always gets worse until it ends" genre of worldbuilding.

I ain't even going to make any hard rule saying The Severed can't be brought back to sanity, heck I think I even hinted at a potential method.
(Hint: What happens when a Severed is Enshrined?)

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[shadowdice]

Posted this on the Jumpchain thread, cross-posting it here.

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thoughts

Depending on how high a Drone ends up in the Corporate Ladder results in a state of becoming absorbed into the Board of Directors where they are permanently linked whether in body or in spirit to the rest of the board of directors in which the board can give each other Will to Live but may also be attempting to steal it from each other and kill the other members of the board. Unfortunately, The Board of Directors are still Drones at the end of the day beholden to either the Private owner of a Corporation or the Stockholders with the Board being unsure if it is worse to be owned by a egomaniac or the wishes of an ever changing number of people whose voices get louder or weaker depending on how much stock the hold without knowing that their desires cause the Board to be constantly inundated with their screams and neurosis.

 

[NoFunposter]

thoughts

Depending on how high a Drone ends up in the Corporate Ladder results in a state of becoming absorbed into the Board of Directors where they are permanently linked whether in body or in spirit to the rest of the board of directors in which the board can give each other Will to Live but may also be attempting to steal it from each other and kill the other members of the board. Unfortunately, The Board of Directors are still Drones at the end of the day beholden to either the Private owner of a Corporation or the Stockholders with the Board being unsure if it is worse to be owned by a egomaniac or the wishes of an ever changing number of people whose voices get louder or weaker depending on how much stock the hold without knowing that their desires cause the Board to be constantly inundated with their screams and neurosis.

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>Good news: You're probably never going to become one of The Severed.

>Bad news: Your Malice is capped so low you're never breaking free and are on a hair trigger to Crash-Out, you're surrounded by equally as cunning Drones just as prone as you are to considering murder and now you answer directly to whatever shadowy force started this in the first place.

Board members probably feud via proxy as their low Malice limits them to burning the ever vital Vibrance (Will to Live), better to command those under them to do something, who in turn command those under them and so on till you have squads of floor level Drones who have no idea why their boss just sent them to sabotage the distribution centre a town over, but hey the Drones over there will probably appreciate the time off after the building burns down.

 

[gadrial]

Hmm, would drones be capable of being ghouled, baned, or possessed?

 

[NoFunposter]

Hmm, would drones be capable of being ghouled, baned, or possessed?

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I think Malice would play merry hell with attempts to put a Drone under some form of control that isn't from their management.

I'd say it might work for a time, but eventually the Drone is going to Crash-out and break free.

Might work on the weaker Severed as they typically just trudge forward with whatever tasks they felt were important and a controlling factor could manipulate that, but then you run a risk because you've broken them from their stagnant routine, they might not stay as weak Severed or perhaps the realisation something has become an obstacle for their real task will trigger the rare occasion a Severed Crashes Out.

 

[Cimbri]

So work-shopping a ritual alternative to Diablerizing an elder to go lower in generation and want some feedback. Kinda intertwining it with Humanity score to make it harder for elders and vampires in general to use... Anyway:

-The Vampire in question must be proficient in ritual magic of course.
-They must have existed as a vampire for one human lifetime (and this resets if they are successful but want to do another ritual to lower their gen further).
-Assorted ritual paraphernalia (so it is expensive to do) and access to a leyline or its equivalent.
-It is partly a spiritual/dream quest where they do the Lorkhan thing and walk as their ancestor walked (their sire or their sires sire) and must survive doing so as a spirit in Stygia for the duration. So if their sire is Alexander of Paris they have to survive some of the challenges he did for example.
-They must have a corresponding level of humanity to lower their gen. So lowering from being a gen seven to a gen six requires the vampire to have at least five humanity and from six to five they must have six humanity.

Does this make it hard enough so that Joe Schmoe Prince of the Camarilla can't just do it to go from being a seventh scrub to sixth gen chad at the drop of a hat? Also so that the Elders suppress the info because they can't use it (because they're assholes) and they certainly don't want their lessers to do so?

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

You didn't like the From Marduk's Throat ritual? Depending on the version it's available to do by anyone who is 5th level Assamite Sorcery (Which has a lot of cross over with Thaum, so the Tremere could technically have this. IIRC V20DA treats them the same just different names for the paths), or at least a 7th gen with Assamite sorcery 6.

 

[Cimbri]

You didn't like the From Marduk's Throat ritual? Depending on the version it's available to do by anyone who is 5th level Assamite Sorcery (Which has a lot of cross over with Thaum, so the Tremere could technically have this. IIRC V20DA treats them the same just different names for the paths), or at least a 7th gen with Assamite sorcery 6.

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Hmm well I suppose I wanted it to be harder than it seems from the text, at least to my eyes (I get that it would be a very kind gm that lets you get away with it anyway and the rolls would easily fuck one over).
Like it should be something that is harder than Diablerizing which isn't an easy thing at all anyway and a good way to die a puppet but you get what I mean?
Also sneaking in a bit of Golconda in that it rewards not being an asshole I guess.

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

I mean you have to do a long extended ritual to make enough Alchemical vitae to lower your generation. With expensive reagents. You've gotta make the money to purchase the reagents, and not miss a single dose until you have enough Alch Vitae to use. All of which could be noticed by your enemies.

Oh, and you have to obtain the ritual in the first place. It's probably one of those tightly held clan secrets. Very likely to draw a lot of negative attention simply trying to learn of the ritual. And, of course, get your magical understanding up high enough.

All while you most assuredly have the Jyhad going on and kindred moving against you. With how it works someone is going to notice you buying up reagents and the like.

And since you don't have to be the one to make it, you now have a highly desired saleable product that a great many people will want, and would enslave you over.

So not only is it probably as, if not more so, difficult as finding an apropos target for amaranth, and then hiding that you ate another kindred, if it leaks it's probably worse for you as 'eternal servitude and blood bondage' is a far more likely option than 'final death.'

It's certainly not as straight forward as 'get ritual, perform ritual, make rolls, lower generation.' I would say it's very incredibly difficult to pull off if you aren't an Assamite, which merely makes it incredibly difficult. I would expect From Marduk's Throat to be a very restricted, in use most certainly, ritual.

The theory on the Tremere having it, is purely theory. They should be able to work it out, but with how tightly controlled the Tremere are, I would be very surprised if there's enough leeway to come up with it.

Though it doesn't interact with humanity and Golconda, that's true.

 

[Cimbri]

Yeah any move done invites countermoves etc, didn't mean to imply the Marduk ritual was easy as pie or anything. Just wanted more theme and more hoops to jump through. Tailoring it to each clan since each sire would be different etc. Also as the other side of the coin of Diablerizing as mentioned.
Was more of a "Is this balanced" thing so it wouldn't be too easy or op.

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

Yeah any move done invites countermoves etc, didn't mean to imply the Marduk ritual was easy as pie or anything. Just wanted more theme and more hoops to jump through. Tailoring it to each clan since each sire would be different etc. Also as the other side of the coin of Diablerizing as mentioned.
Was more of a "Is this balanced" thing so it wouldn't be too easy or op.

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Ah, well. Hmmm.

Since Marduk's Throat is canon, it's a decent benchmark.

You'll want it to be rank 5 ritual probably, so it maybe sees play instead of sitting on the shelf for your Dark Ages game you might play.

I probably would see finagling or adjusting for 'specializing for every clan/bloodline' or 'seeking Golconda' as adding roleplay difficulty without necessarily making it too strong. Make the mundane reagents less onerous, in exchange you gotta... feed a wraith for every gen you lower to the mix or something for Giovanni.

 

[shadowdice]

I had considered doing a Caitiff SI story in the 90s

Part of my thought process was building a character with the Inceptor merit and introduces himself as Caitiff but everyone always presumes it is the "not associating with his clan" version because everyone presumes he is either a Gangrel (due to mentor. Lucian from Gary) or a Malkavian (because of knowing stuff)

SI: *desperately trying to figure out if this is V5 or a proper timeline* I fear everything

Malkavian friend: the dog is talking

SI: you are hallucinating

Malkavian friend: what does it even mean when it says Lucifer is behind the silver screen?

SI: Actual Satan has been running Hollywood from the start

Malk: Why do I know that is true?

Constant not technically bullshitting like claims that I found ancient (over 30 year old game book falling apart at the pages) texts while traveling in the desert that describe the True Black Hand by having it be technically true (leaving out which desert it was and that I was in a used book store)

Edit

Everything would be worth it to kill World of Darkness's version of Paris for being Paris

 

[Ragura]

Just got the OPR Vampire Book. It works surprisingly well as an alternate setting for VtM and WtA.

 

[gadrial]

So this is a moment I heard about, and thought was fun. A group was playing VtM, and a Nosferatu was trying to feed on someone, but they rolled so badly that the storyteller decided that the pc caused this random npc to Awaken. She (the new mage) then became the big arc villain.

 

[shadowdice]

Some thoughts I've had for Malkavian derangements

Most Average Person: always takes an opinion that is the average in the room no matter how bizarre it is. This is by extremity though so if in a room full of Brujah the opinion might be incredibly extreme by normal standards

Unconnected All Knowledge Communication: Pick out what traits make it so a Malkavian considers objects or animals to be people/alive and have the DM roll dice when such an object/animal is in the room. Then have the entity tell the Malkavian something without any context or explanation. What does it mean when the O'Tolley's mascot in the TV tells the malk that their burgers turn people into Formori? The Malk doesn't know but is convinced it is true and is worried about what that means.

 

[magic9mushroom]

Is it just me, or is 1e Werewolf: the Forsaken a bit underpowered compared to the other splats in the lategame?

- A lot of werewolves' power doesn't really "scale". Forms are pretty static; yes, you eventually graduate from Urshul to Gauru to Primal, but Primal's only somewhat better than Urshul and can't be further improved, whereas vampires' physical Disciplines get quite a lot stronger and mages' buff spells tend to scale considerably with Arcanum dots (Exceptional Luck -> Superlative -> Probable Cause, Honing the Form -> Supreme Honing which also scales with Life, Acceleration scales with Time, Mage Armour scales with Arcanum, etc.). Werewolves' increased Essence-per-turn with higher Primal Urge also doesn't give extra inherent dice-adding ability the way it does for vampires/Prometheans/changelings; it gives extra healing (assuming you're taking lethal rather than bashing or agg), but that's about it.
- Werewolves are the only splat that don't get extra XP, or at least if they do I somehow missed it. Mages/Prometheans/hunters/Sin-Eaters all get extra XP straight-up; vampires get diablerie which is significantly XP-positive; changelings get montage dreams.

 

[Repentant_Dragos]

Is it just me, or is 1e Werewolf: the Forsaken a bit underpowered compared to the other splats in the lategame?

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There's a reason why 2e buffs them, right? So it's not just you,