White Wolf's World of Darkness

The Laurent · Jan 16, 2016

rikalous said:
Or if you balk at that, they could get some cancer cells in water and whip up a homeopathic remedy. Less chance of flubber and it makes the Progenitors sad.

Oh, and the Nephandus gets a demon to take your cancer out and put it in your kid.
That'd be a vice of impatience, yeah?

Yep. Vice of impatience. Though I could imagine patience as a vice if it led to them not realizing that politics moved fast and that sitting around and waiting means you lose opportunities. But I meant impatience, good catch.

Estro · Jan 16, 2016

The Laurent said:
So *takes a breath, arm is hurting a bit* are you ready to try

Ok. I'll give it a go.

So, first is concept, yes?
Concept: Scitziophrenic Banker. He knows where the money is. Just not where reality is in relation.

Next is my virtue and vice, what I'm good at, and what I fold at occasionally because it feels good. Hmm.
Virtue: Meticulous. The ts will be crossed, the is will be dotted, and the margins will be precisely one inch.
Vice: Inconcentration (cant think of the antonym) Getting him to sit down and do one thing is a tangible effort.

Now stats. Primary is mental (Super!Banker, y'all), Secondary is Social (the continuing reign of the Super!Banker). Last is physical (Super!Banker=Squishy banker).
Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, makes him a weak, human durable, but can thread needles easily.
Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2, So he's intelligent, quick thinking, and fairly tenuous.
Presence 1, Manipulation 4, Composure 2, so he is a bit of a wet noodle, but knows all of those little things you buckle on, and doesn't get super easily annoyed.

Fair enough?

The Laurent · Jan 16, 2016

Estro said:
Ok. I'll give it a go.

So, first is concept, yes?
Concept: Scitziophrenic Banker. He knows where the money is. Just not where reality is in relation.

Next is my virtue and vice, what I'm good at, and what I fold at occasionally because it feels good. Hmm.
Virtue: Meticulous. The ts will be crossed, the is will be dotted, and the margins will be precisely one inch.
Vice: Inconcentration (cant think of the antonym) Getting him to sit down and do one thing is a tangible effort.

Now stats. Primary is mental (Super!Banker, y'all), Secondary is Social (the continuing reign of the Super!Banker). Last is physical (Super!Banker=Squishy banker).
Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, makes him a weak, human durable, but can thread needles easily.
Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2, So he's intelligent, quick thinking, and fairly tenuous.
Presence 1, Manipulation 4, Composure 2, so he is a bit of a wet noodle, but knows all of those little things you buckle on, and doesn't get super easily annoyed.

Fair enough?

I can buy that, mostly. Banker who is off his schizophrenia meds and really needs to see a doctor but can't because our American Health Care system and our culture's stigma towards the mentally ill is disgusting.

Got it.

.

More seriously, please wait patiently, I'm going to be doing skills next.

The Laurent · Jan 16, 2016

Estro said:
Ok. I'll give it a go.

So, first is concept, yes?
Concept: Scitziophrenic Banker. He knows where the money is. Just not where reality is in relation.

Next is my virtue and vice, what I'm good at, and what I fold at occasionally because it feels good. Hmm.
Virtue: Meticulous. The ts will be crossed, the is will be dotted, and the margins will be precisely one inch.
Vice: Inconcentration (cant think of the antonym) Getting him to sit down and do one thing is a tangible effort.

Now stats. Primary is mental (Super!Banker, y'all), Secondary is Social (the continuing reign of the Super!Banker). Last is physical (Super!Banker=Squishy banker).
Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, makes him a weak, human durable, but can thread needles easily.
Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2, So he's intelligent, quick thinking, and fairly tenuous.
Presence 1, Manipulation 4, Composure 2, so he is a bit of a wet noodle, but knows all of those little things you buckle on, and doesn't get super easily annoyed.

Fair enough?

Now, Skills work combined with Attributes to make the dice-pool.

Attribute+Skill=Number of dice you roll, and you'd want an 8 or better on the roll. Each dice higher than 8 on a d10 you roll, that's a success. One success is enough for most things in an uncontested roll, but an extended roll might need more, and etc.

So skills are the other half of things.

You CAN use skills untrained, but at a penalty. -3 for Mental skills, -1 for Physical or Social, because especially for the latter, if you made a -3 roll, you'd make it so that a person can't possibly talk to another. So, let's say you have no skill with using guns, but want to try. You have a Dex of 3. 3-1=2, you have only two dice to roll. But that gets into combat, right now, guess what.

The primary, secondary and tertiary strike back!

Because, again, there are Mental, Physical, and Social skills, and you assign 11, 7, and 4 skill points depending on category.

Now, here a slight divergence, because I think the Granny problem that, I believe, MJ12 Commando put in is partly (understandable) garbage-in, garbage-out.

A 1 in a skill, while it's nothing in chargen, is actually a more significant investment than we think. Nobody should have a 1 in Weaponry, for instance, without actually having knowledge.

So, here's the five point scale again, but clarified for skills.

1=Novice, or, being more specific and blunt, hobbyist. The person who builds model trains in between their stressful life as a tax accountant might have Crafts 1 (Model Trains)*, and this is almost a place that mechanically calls for Skill 0 specialties, but eh, granularity has its advantages and disadvantages.
2=Practitioner. Someone who has been doing this for a while. This is not average, but it's sorta the bottom bar of something you do for a living.
3=Professional. The lawyers on this forum *might/probably* qualify as a 3 in their chosen profession. Here's where I'll note later that there is a lack of granularity that can be explained here. Basically, 3 dots, while again still not incredibly expensive (it's getting there though) is narratively a big deal. Someone with 3 dots in brawl is a total asskicker. If they have that and boxing, they could go pro, or at least coulda been a contender. Someone with 3 dots in Academics if they also have good Int is really good at college. Etc, etc.
4=Exceptional. A great artist, an amazing lawyer, a black belt who can kick your ass with one hand behind your back. These are really, really rare. Both in general "Has 4 dots in a particular skill" and even within the category of "Has dots in a particular skill.
5=Best a human can get. Smartest scientist, quick-draw artist, Can Sell Snow to Eskimos in the Middle of a Blizzard, Knows Crime. All Crime. Forget rare, this is fucking hard to meet, hard to encounter, and special. But then, PCs *are* special snowflakes, but even for them, 5 dots is a huge investment that requires a skill category to be primary or secondary, and then for the PC to dump loads of stuff into it.

Now, oWod has a weird system that I'll ignore, but I'm bringing it up for one thing. It also has approximately five-hundred million alternative talents and the like, and while nWoD does have a few alternate skills, especially for settings in the past or such, it tamps down on that such. Each skill here is meant to be something that could be narratively relevant relatively frequently, and anything lower than that can be roleplayed. So there is no 'housecleaning' skill. And so on. So each of these is meant to be significant, though of course in different sorts of games you might be having car chases more or less often, or so on.

Also one thing people will criticize, and let me note here that I totally understand this, is that they are broad. There's not as much granularity as some would like, and so the person who is good at running is also incidentally good at shot-put, at least in terms of dice (things like Merits can change that.) The most egregious ones would be things like Crafts and Expression (Singers and writers both use the same skill, which means that a world-class author could also be a very damn fine singer automatically), but to a certain extent, it's very much 'If we separate out all skills, it gets clunky.' So, in what is a reasonable and sane decision, but which can be done better or not, they Keep It Simple.

Physical Skills:

Athletics: This represents physical training, and can be used in any situation wherein a lot of agility, handeye coordination, or prolonged physical exertion is required. Jumping across roofs, climbing walls, running after someone for a long time. For throwing weapons, it's combined with Dexterity, though I've not seen thrown weapons used much. Depending on edition, it also gates some Defense-improving things based on being really athletic to dodge or avoid being hurt.

Brawl: One's prowess at physical combat. One doesn't get high up on this without having either gotten into a lot of fights, or trained at a dojo. It's not really something that comes out of nowhere, narratively at least, but if you want to put a fist to a face, it's Strength+Brawl that does it for you. Or a knee. Or whatever else you want.

Drive: No, you don't have to take this! It is assumed that everyone above 16 in the World of Darkness can drive under normal conditions. This is for driving through the rain while assassins in a van try to shoot your car with a rocket launcher. This is for car chases and off-road escapes. Or being a race-car driver. I've seen tons of games where this never comes up. I've also seen one setting that ended with a super car-chase and then a brutal fight.

Firearms: Operating and identifying guns. Anything up to machine guns here. A 1 would be the basic firearms safety/"I shoot at the range so that makes me Rambo, right?" Police Officers *might* have a higher score in this (you'd be surprised), or criminals (again, some criminals are shitty shots), and soldiers especially might be pretty good at this. Always a neat skill to have, though there are plenty of things that laugh at bullets, and shooting someone tends to often make them dead. You roll Dex+Firearms for the shooting.

Larceny: Picking locks, shoplifting, pickpocketing and even dealing with security systems. Yeah, tends to be something you learn the hard way as a criminal, though I suppose someone could pick it up as a hobby.

Stealth: Sneaking around. Being solid snake. Boxes need not apply. Dexterity for moving stealthily, Wits for, say, hiding, or slipping through a crowd unseen, that sort of thing.

Survival: You are great at surviving the not-so-great outdoors. You can forage for food, hunt and fish, identify which plants will make your insides turn themselves into outsides, all of that good stuff. Again, I admit it can *sometimes* be situational, but other times it's a life-saver.

Weaponry: That's not a knife! Pick a weapon. That's what this skill governs. Again, a bit broad, but the alternative would be eight or nine different skills and people pointing out that THOSE are reductive, and that not all swords work alike.

Mental Skills:

Academics: One's experience at higher education. That doesn't mean a college graduate necessarily has a certain level. Maybe they lucked through, maybe they cheated, maybe they were smart enough to make up for just not paying attention. One represents some level of knowledge, more than some High School dropout or the like, certainly, about academic topics, while 2 is more average, 3 is getting into good, and beyond that, well, damn son.

Computer: No, you don't have to take this. You can use the internet even without Computer, but this is what you'd use for hacking, for knowing *exactly* where to find something you want on the internet. Like if you need a gif real fast, son.

Crafts: yeah, this is a bit broad, but artists, repairpeople, anyone who constructs something by hand or tool uses this skill, and so it's pretty useful, and somewhat easier to justify a dot in than some stuff, since, "I made sculptures as part of my pottery therapy" and the like is easily believable.

Investigation: Okay, I'll just quote the book, "Investigation is the art and science of solving mysteries, examining seemingly disparate evidence to find a connection, answering riddles and overcoming paradoxes. It not only allows your character to get into the head of a killer to grasp his motives or plans, it allows her to look beyond the mundane world to guess at answers to mysterious problems, or to have a "eureka" moment that offers insight into baffling circumstances."

Medicine: The knowledge of physiology and current medical techniques that can allow one to treat wounds. One or two dots is basic first aid or the like, while levels above this are more reserved for Doctors than anything.

Occult: Knowledge of the legends and lore of the world. Now, I like how this is houseruled/ruled to be within reason. A muggle with Occult 4 doesn't suddenly know the deep secrets of vampires if she's never met them. But she would know a LOT of lore about all sorts of things. Occult represnets your knowledge of magic, both real and fake (but mostly fake if you're not magical) and your knowledge of the magical world's secrets if you're something spooky.

Politics: A familiarity with bureaucracy, electoral politics, or even just the way the system of a company works. A person skilled at this knows the issues of the moment, knows how the electoral system works and who to bribe, and more.

Science: Again, this is a bit broad, but for a game that's okay, though narratively I'd make someone pick something and focus on it. But, this covers *all* of scientific knowledge. The alternative, again, is crazy fragmentation, at least without one of several interesting hacks that have been done of World of Darkness, but that's another matter.

Social Skills:

Animal Ken: Animal whispering at its finest, this can extend to knowing zoology, knowing about animal habits and thought processes, or even, yes, just having that 'way with animals.' Sometimes this gets rarely used, and sometimes it's used ALL the time. There are definitely jobs or positions that use this quite a bit, certainly.

Empathy: Intuition for people and reading their emotions. Looking at body language or what they say, or maybe seeing something deeper, a person with a high Empathy skill can sniff out emotions, peg someone's personality, "Now that there is someone who always wants to be in charge", or figure out why someone is doing something.

Expression: Music, Acting, Dancing, Jouranlism, Writing, Poetry...all of that falls under here, which makes it an important skill for all sorts of builds, but not used as much for others.

Intimidation: Persuading others through intimidation, whether physical or social. Interrogating people, bullying them, or otherwise forcing them around in a rather unsubtle way unlikely to make them your friend.

Persuasion: Convincing people of something. The difficulty can often vary based on what sort of convincing is going on, but that's basically what it is. Making other people come around with your honeyed words. Or not so honeyed, with a low Presence. It also covers fast-talk and cutting deals, making bargains. And seducing people.

Socialize: Social etiquette and skill, this is what allows you to mingle, to know the customs of a formal soiree or figure out exactly how to 'get jiggy with the kids' as they say.

Streetwise: You know the streets, yo. You know how to gather info, make contracts, buy and sell drugs, all of the shady shit. You can work the black market and you know what the gang sings mean. Oh god, you wish you didn't...but you do.

Subterfuge: Lying. Ironically this is listed as a common skill for teenagers. Go figure. Lying convincingly and recognizing when you're being lied to. This also is relevant for con-jobs and work with disguises.

So now, how you do things is simple. 11 in the Primary category, choose what it is wisely. 7 in the secondary, 4 in the tertiary.

Now, skill specialties will be real quick, so let's add that on. Choose three in any category (3 total, spread across any skills you have), and you can put multiple on a skill. These are areas where you are better. Like, let's say Tweed McPerson is a great academic, Int 4, Academics 4. But their real love is translating and interpreting French Literature. So that's their specialty, French Literature.

So, when they roll for that, they roll 4 (Int)+4 (Academics)+1 (Specialty.)

A specialty has to, of course, be special or specific or not come up all the time, but those are the only rules and you are free to make up your own.

Edit: Oh wow that was an hour, sorry if you're no longer here, this has no time limit, don't worry.

FourthWall · Jan 16, 2016

rikalous said:
Or if you balk at that, they could get some cancer cells in water and whip up a homeopathic remedy. Less chance of flubber and it makes the Progenitors sad.

Dude, it's the Etherites. everything ends in flubber. Flubber and steampunk.

Estro · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
Now, Skills work combined with Attributes to make the dice-pool.

Attribute+Skill=Number of dice you roll, and you'd want an 8 or better on the roll. Each dice higher than 8 on a d10 you roll, that's a success. One success is enough for most things in an uncontested roll, but an extended roll might need more, and etc.

So skills are the other half of things.

You CAN use skills untrained, but at a penalty. -3 for Mental skills, -1 for Physical or Social, because especially for the latter, if you made a -3 roll, you'd make it so that a person can't possibly talk to another. So, let's say you have no skill with using guns, but want to try. You have a Dex of 3. 3-1=2, you have only two dice to roll. But that gets into combat, right now, guess what.

The primary, secondary and tertiary strike back!

Because, again, there are Mental, Physical, and Social skills, and you assign 11, 7, and 4 skill points depending on category.

Now, here a slight divergence, because I think the Granny problem that, I believe, MJ12 Commando put in is partly (understandable) garbage-in, garbage-out.

A 1 in a skill, while it's nothing in chargen, is actually a more significant investment than we think. Nobody should have a 1 in Weaponry, for instance, without actually having knowledge.

So, here's the five point scale again, but clarified for skills.

1=Novice, or, being more specific and blunt, hobbyist. The person who builds model trains in between their stressful life as a tax accountant might have Crafts 1 (Model Trains)*, and this is almost a place that mechanically calls for Skill 0 specialties, but eh, granularity has its advantages and disadvantages.
2=Practitioner. Someone who has been doing this for a while. This is not average, but it's sorta the bottom bar of something you do for a living.
3=Professional. The lawyers on this forum *might/probably* qualify as a 3 in their chosen profession. Here's where I'll note later that there is a lack of granularity that can be explained here. Basically, 3 dots, while again still not incredibly expensive (it's getting there though) is narratively a big deal. Someone with 3 dots in brawl is a total asskicker. If they have that and boxing, they could go pro, or at least coulda been a contender. Someone with 3 dots in Academics if they also have good Int is really good at college. Etc, etc.
4=Exceptional. A great artist, an amazing lawyer, a black belt who can kick your ass with one hand behind your back. These are really, really rare. Both in general "Has 4 dots in a particular skill" and even within the category of "Has dots in a particular skill.
5=Best a human can get. Smartest scientist, quick-draw artist, Can Sell Snow to Eskimos in the Middle of a Blizzard, Knows Crime. All Crime. Forget rare, this is fucking hard to meet, hard to encounter, and special. But then, PCs *are* special snowflakes, but even for them, 5 dots is a huge investment that requires a skill category to be primary or secondary, and then for the PC to dump loads of stuff into it.

Now, oWod has a weird system that I'll ignore, but I'm bringing it up for one thing. It also has approximately five-hundred million alternative talents and the like, and while nWoD does have a few alternate skills, especially for settings in the past or such, it tamps down on that such. Each skill here is meant to be something that could be narratively relevant relatively frequently, and anything lower than that can be roleplayed. So there is no 'housecleaning' skill. And so on. So each of these is meant to be significant, though of course in different sorts of games you might be having car chases more or less often, or so on.

Also one thing people will criticize, and let me note here that I totally understand this, is that they are broad. There's not as much granularity as some would like, and so the person who is good at running is also incidentally good at shot-put, at least in terms of dice (things like Merits can change that.) The most egregious ones would be things like Crafts and Expression (Singers and writers both use the same skill, which means that a world-class author could also be a very damn fine singer automatically), but to a certain extent, it's very much 'If we separate out all skills, it gets clunky.' So, in what is a reasonable and sane decision, but which can be done better or not, they Keep It Simple.

Physical Skills:

Athletics: This represents physical training, and can be used in any situation wherein a lot of agility, handeye coordination, or prolonged physical exertion is required. Jumping across roofs, climbing walls, running after someone for a long time. For throwing weapons, it's combined with Dexterity, though I've not seen thrown weapons used much. Depending on edition, it also gates some Defense-improving things based on being really athletic to dodge or avoid being hurt.

Brawl: One's prowess at physical combat. One doesn't get high up on this without having either gotten into a lot of fights, or trained at a dojo. It's not really something that comes out of nowhere, narratively at least, but if you want to put a fist to a face, it's Strength+Brawl that does it for you. Or a knee. Or whatever else you want.

Drive: No, you don't have to take this! It is assumed that everyone above 16 in the World of Darkness can drive under normal conditions. This is for driving through the rain while assassins in a van try to shoot your car with a rocket launcher. This is for car chases and off-road escapes. Or being a race-car driver. I've seen tons of games where this never comes up. I've also seen one setting that ended with a super car-chase and then a brutal fight.

Firearms: Operating and identifying guns. Anything up to machine guns here. A 1 would be the basic firearms safety/"I shoot at the range so that makes me Rambo, right?" Police Officers *might* have a higher score in this (you'd be surprised), or criminals (again, some criminals are shitty shots), and soldiers especially might be pretty good at this. Always a neat skill to have, though there are plenty of things that laugh at bullets, and shooting someone tends to often make them dead. You roll Dex+Firearms for the shooting.

Larceny: Picking locks, shoplifting, pickpocketing and even dealing with security systems. Yeah, tends to be something you learn the hard way as a criminal, though I suppose someone could pick it up as a hobby.

Stealth: Sneaking around. Being solid snake. Boxes need not apply. Dexterity for moving stealthily, Wits for, say, hiding, or slipping through a crowd unseen, that sort of thing.

Survival: You are great at surviving the not-so-great outdoors. You can forage for food, hunt and fish, identify which plants will make your insides turn themselves into outsides, all of that good stuff. Again, I admit it can *sometimes* be situational, but other times it's a life-saver.

Weaponry: That's not a knife! Pick a weapon. That's what this skill governs. Again, a bit broad, but the alternative would be eight or nine different skills and people pointing out that THOSE are reductive, and that not all swords work alike.

Mental Skills:

Academics: One's experience at higher education. That doesn't mean a college graduate necessarily has a certain level. Maybe they lucked through, maybe they cheated, maybe they were smart enough to make up for just not paying attention. One represents some level of knowledge, more than some High School dropout or the like, certainly, about academic topics, while 2 is more average, 3 is getting into good, and beyond that, well, damn son.

Computer: No, you don't have to take this. You can use the internet even without Computer, but this is what you'd use for hacking, for knowing *exactly* where to find something you want on the internet. Like if you need a gif real fast, son.

Crafts: yeah, this is a bit broad, but artists, repairpeople, anyone who constructs something by hand or tool uses this skill, and so it's pretty useful, and somewhat easier to justify a dot in than some stuff, since, "I made sculptures as part of my pottery therapy" and the like is easily believable.

Investigation: Okay, I'll just quote the book, "Investigation is the art and science of solving mysteries, examining seemingly disparate evidence to find a connection, answering riddles and overcoming paradoxes. It not only allows your character to get into the head of a killer to grasp his motives or plans, it allows her to look beyond the mundane world to guess at answers to mysterious problems, or to have a "eureka" moment that offers insight into baffling circumstances."

Medicine: The knowledge of physiology and current medical techniques that can allow one to treat wounds. One or two dots is basic first aid or the like, while levels above this are more reserved for Doctors than anything.

Occult: Knowledge of the legends and lore of the world. Now, I like how this is houseruled/ruled to be within reason. A muggle with Occult 4 doesn't suddenly know the deep secrets of vampires if she's never met them. But she would know a LOT of lore about all sorts of things. Occult represnets your knowledge of magic, both real and fake (but mostly fake if you're not magical) and your knowledge of the magical world's secrets if you're something spooky.

Politics: A familiarity with bureaucracy, electoral politics, or even just the way the system of a company works. A person skilled at this knows the issues of the moment, knows how the electoral system works and who to bribe, and more.

Science: Again, this is a bit broad, but for a game that's okay, though narratively I'd make someone pick something and focus on it. But, this covers *all* of scientific knowledge. The alternative, again, is crazy fragmentation, at least without one of several interesting hacks that have been done of World of Darkness, but that's another matter.

Social Skills:

Animal Ken: Animal whispering at its finest, this can extend to knowing zoology, knowing about animal habits and thought processes, or even, yes, just having that 'way with animals.' Sometimes this gets rarely used, and sometimes it's used ALL the time. There are definitely jobs or positions that use this quite a bit, certainly.

Empathy: Intuition for people and reading their emotions. Looking at body language or what they say, or maybe seeing something deeper, a person with a high Empathy skill can sniff out emotions, peg someone's personality, "Now that there is someone who always wants to be in charge", or figure out why someone is doing something.

Expression: Music, Acting, Dancing, Jouranlism, Writing, Poetry...all of that falls under here, which makes it an important skill for all sorts of builds, but not used as much for others.

Intimidation: Persuading others through intimidation, whether physical or social. Interrogating people, bullying them, or otherwise forcing them around in a rather unsubtle way unlikely to make them your friend.

Persuasion: Convincing people of something. The difficulty can often vary based on what sort of convincing is going on, but that's basically what it is. Making other people come around with your honeyed words. Or not so honeyed, with a low Presence. It also covers fast-talk and cutting deals, making bargains. And seducing people.

Socialize: Social etiquette and skill, this is what allows you to mingle, to know the customs of a formal soiree or figure out exactly how to 'get jiggy with the kids' as they say.

Streetwise: You know the streets, yo. You know how to gather info, make contracts, buy and sell drugs, all of the shady shit. You can work the black market and you know what the gang sings mean. Oh god, you wish you didn't...but you do.

Subterfuge: Lying. Ironically this is listed as a common skill for teenagers. Go figure. Lying convincingly and recognizing when you're being lied to. This also is relevant for con-jobs and work with disguises.

So now, how you do things is simple. 11 in the Primary category, choose what it is wisely. 7 in the secondary, 4 in the tertiary.

Now, skill specialties will be real quick, so let's add that on. Choose three in any category (3 total, spread across any skills you have), and you can put multiple on a skill. These are areas where you are better. Like, let's say Tweed McPerson is a great academic, Int 4, Academics 4. But their real love is translating and interpreting French Literature. So that's their specialty, French Literature.

So, when they roll for that, they roll 4 (Int)+4 (Academics)+1 (Specialty.)

A specialty has to, of course, be special or specific or not come up all the time, but those are the only rules and you are free to make up your own.

Edit: Oh wow that was an hour, sorry if you're no longer here, this has no time limit, don't worry.

I may have had to go to sleep, yes. Now, let the reign of super!Banker continue. So, to fit with the concept and the way that my previous stats were, I'll have mental be the primary category, social be the second, and physical be that last. Bankers don't fight. They bank. And do comparative economic analysis between different Economic theories so as to try and produce a representative model of the macro economy. Bank sounds simpler.
So, physical. 4 points. Drive 1, Larceny 1, Firearms 1, Stealth 1. He has experience driving in the icy mountains of Scotland to see his mother. He knows how to pick a lock as an odd hobby (I know how to, and I ain't a criminal. There are even fairly popular YouTube channels based of it like BosnianBill), can sneak around decently because of field exercises in the Air Cadets, which is where he also learned how to shoot a gun.
Now, the meat of this character. Mental. 11 points. Academics: 5, Computer: 2, Investigation: 2, Politics: 2. He is the Super!Banker. God of banks. If there is a problem in the economy, he will be doing well. He knows how to manipulate a computer due to Secondary School experience and later options in setting up models of the macro-economy which automatically takes figures from sources when they are released and does predictive analysis upon them. Investigation as sometimes it is really hard to find the data you want to finish your analysis of the housing market (Housing market is one of the single most annoying macroeconomic analysis's to do. Everything has a different elasticity. One house may be inferior, its neighbours a usual positive YED. I'm ranting, aren't I. Ooops.

) Politics because lets face it, banks and politics are pretty firmly wedded.
Now, Social skills. 7 points.Intimidation: 1, Persuasion: 2, Socialize: 2, Subterfuge: 2. He has skill in the way of talking, but threatening isn't his best skill.

Now, specialities. Intimidation (Blunt truths). He is better at threatening you, when he is abandoning all tact and deception. Academics (Banking). He's super banker, waddya expect? Drive (Classic Cars). He likes classic cars. He is used to driving classic cars. He does spend an hour or to a day meticulously polishing them.

The Laurent · Jan 17, 2016

Estro said:
I may have had to go to sleep, yes. Now, let the reign of super!Banker continue. So, to fit with the concept and the way that my previous stats were, I'll have mental be the primary category, social be the second, and physical be that last. Bankers don't fight. They bank. And do comparative economic analysis between different Economic theories so as to try and produce a representative model of the macro economy. Bank sounds simpler.
So, physical. 4 points. Drive 1, Larceny 1, Firearms 1, Stealth 1. He has experience driving in the icy mountains of Scotland to see his mother. He knows how to pick a lock as an odd hobby (I know how to, and I ain't a criminal. There are even fairly popular YouTube channels based of it like BosnianBill), can sneak around decently because of field exercises in the Air Cadets, which is where he also learned how to shoot a gun.
Now, the meat of this character. Mental. 11 points. Academics: 5, Computer: 2, Investigation: 2, Politics: 2. He is the Super!Banker. God of banks. If there is a problem in the economy, he will be doing well. He knows how to manipulate a computer due to Secondary School experience and later options in setting up models of the macro-economy which automatically takes figures from sources when they are released and does predictive analysis upon them. Investigation as sometimes it is really hard to find the data you want to finish your analysis of the housing market (Housing market is one of the single most annoying macroeconomic analysis's to do. Everything has a different elasticity. One house may be inferior, its neighbours a usual positive YED. I'm ranting, aren't I. Ooops. ) Politics because lets face it, banks and politics are pretty firmly wedded.
Now, Social skills. 7 points.Intimidation: 1, Persuasion: 2, Socialize: 2, Subterfuge: 2. He has skill in the way of talking, but threatening isn't his best skill.

Now, specialities. Intimidation (Blunt truths). He is better at threatening you, when he is abandoning all tact and deception. Academics (Banking). He's super banker, waddya expect? Drive (Classic Cars). He likes classic cars. He is used to driving classic cars. He does spend an hour or to a day meticulously polishing them.

Very well, allow me to tally it all up, and then we'll get into the gamelines.

Name: (Fill in later)
Concept: Banker off his meds.
Virtue: Meticulous. The ts will be crossed, the is will be dotted, and the margins will be precisely one inch.
Vice: Inattention.

Attributes:

Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Presence 1, Manipulation 4, Composure 2

Skills: Academics 5 (Banking/Economics), Computer 2, Drive 1 (Classic Cars), Firearms 1, Intimidation 1 (Blunt Truths), Investigation 2, Larceny 1, Politics 2, Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Stealth 1, Subterfuge 2.

So, how's that look so far? Now we're going to blow this whole joint up by starting with...the splats.

So, I'm going to make the most honest and also relatively short pitch I can for each of the gamelines I know about, and then whichever one you choose, I'll lead you in making a character of it. I'll note difficulties and also ways you can take the character you made and apply it.

The Danse Macabe

Embrace eternity. You have been inducted into the all night society. You must feed on humans and animals, drink their very blood to survive each night, and the sun is your enemy. But not your only enemy. Others feed in the shadows, vampires that have no reason to be your friend, and creatures even stranger than that. But there is also a society. Vampires have Clans, each of which has a different ancient origin, and access to different powers to start with, and Covenants, groups of vampires gathering together for a common purpose, such as ruling and controlling the world from the shadows, or promoting order among vampires through fear of god, or researching and mastering their condition...

There is a thin layer of civility over the ultimate brutality that is the life of a vampire, and one's very humanity is often anchored to a few things, a few touchstones of what you once had. You cling all the stronger to them, because it's all that will keep you from being dragged into hell. Embraced by your Sire, thrust into a world you might not have chosen, there is still power, there is still blood. You can triumph or you can fall, but most of all...can you survive?

This with the banker would be interesting, because vampires can't hold down a lot of day-jobs, so he might be forced to quit as a banker/go private with people willing to accept 'only works at night' as a condition for his work. Since banks mostly work during the day. So, story-wise, he could be losing everything, and that could even explain him going off his meds. His life's falling apart and he has to make a new one as a creature of the night.

Werewolves...

I'm going to be completely honest and say that while werewolves as an idea are really cool, I just don't understand them and they make my head spin, so it's going to be hard for me to do much with them.

Mages

Awaken to the Truth. There are lies in this world, secrets and deceptions. There are dark masters, a world of spirits and a world of ghosts, there is much out there that is not included in our philosophy. The Lie, it says you are a MERE human, as if there is anything mere about you. About a person who can Awaken to the Truth, who can become a Mage, a Wizard, a being who works his or her mighty will upon the world.

There is nothing mere about being a human, but there is much dangerous about being a Mage. Hubris threatens, the powers you gained are not unique to you, and there are many monsters and beings out there for you to struggle with, control, or die to. The Abyss waits, and so does the madness of your own mindscape, the dangers of the spirit world, the strange monsters present on earth...there is much to do, but also much to learn. For at the center of the Mage's story is knowledge and investigation. Knowledge is not simply power. No, knowledge is everything.

For with this knowledge, and with the carefully trained skills of a Mage, the world can be yours, if you can simply not overreach. For Paradox lurks behind each failure. Because in each human still asleep, each man or woman who has not Awakened yet, rests a bit of the Abyss. By viewing your magic, magic that cannot exist, that the Lie says MUST not exist, they can unravel it, can make it backfire, can stop it from working.

Just as the Exarchs, the divine *things* which govern our fallen world's very nature, and their slaves on earth the Seers of the Throne, would have it.

But there are groups that wish for more, that band together to create a Mage society not wholly dominated by dark masters, Lies, and the enslavement of mortals (though damned if plenty of them are still assholes to mortals or the like anyways.) The Mysterium which seeks to gain and hoard knowledge, the Adamantine Arrow which sees all life as conflict and war, even when it isn't violent (a great lawyer could be an AA, and so could a soldier, it's about conflict, about Warrior-Sages that guide the world through these conflicts), the Silver Ladder seeks to build a Mage Society and guide it towards an ultimate end, the Guardians of the Veil, mysterious spies and traitors who seek to tamp down hubris, to prevent abuse of magic and fight their own wars in the shadows, and the Free Council, which many here do not like, but focuses on 'less rules, less worship of the past, more technological magic' but in exchange for some pretty big blind-spots.

The Mage thing will begin with choosing an Order (and I'll give a good overview of each of them in turn), and a Path. For you Awaken in one of five paths, with two Ruling Arcana (that is classes of magic you are specially good at) and one Inferior Arcana (a type of magic you tend to have trouble understanding and using.)

This one will allow you to keep your life, but might indeed lead to some huge complications!

There is Beauty in Madness

What do you do when the worst has already come and passed? For there is truth in the old fairy-tales, the old stories, and in the shadows beings lurk that are as far from the helpful fairy godmother as anyone could imagine. One of these beings took you away, made you into a slave, and more than that, made you into something less than human. Something bestial or something wizened, something big and strong and brutal, or something weak and delicate. Maybe even made you into nothing more than scenery. What matters is that they denied your humanity, denied your agency. What matters is that YOU ESCAPED. The True Fae are immortal, strange beings whose very existence is a fairy-tale perfection, and yet you escaped from your Keeper. But you are marked by your time, by what you were made to do.

You are a Changeling. Hidden by a Mask that hides all of the supernatural appearance changes, you stumble back into a world, perhaps years later, perhaps five minutes after though it felt like decades of suffering, in which you weren't missed. But in the cruelest twist, your Keeper left behind a Fetch, a fake person to take your place. YOUR place. It belongs to you, but to reclaim it you must kill, must take back your liferight.

And there is more than that. For your new powers grant new opportunities, new ways to live, and new fears. For while your Keeper *might* not stretch out his hand to grab you up again, to reclaim you...he or she also *might*. That fear drives Changelings together to try to make a new life, to exploit the magic they have and the realm between Earth and distant Arcadia, the Hedge. All these different types of people, making Courts based on ideals or their understanding of what will beat back the True Fae, creating Freeholds designed to stand up against any incursion. Making new lives for themselves any way they can.

There is madness in them, and there is power, there is danger and there are beings out there that could harm them, would harm them. But there is beauty too, in a world of fairy-tale beauty and fairy-tale danger.

...yeah, I love Changelings, but I tried to keep it relatively short.

The banker could have just stumbled back and have to deal with his Fetch to reclaim his wealth and lifestyle, he could have reclaimed it long ago, or even abandoned it for a new, different life.

Monster Hunter!

I said it before, there is nothing *mere* about Mortals. For some humans strike back. They hear of vampire attacks, of stranger monsters lurking in the shadows, of magic-users stealing minds and souls, and they say no. They say they will not accept this. They will fight it, by whatever means they can, whether in small groups, larger compacts and organizations, or even global conspiracies. They are not passive actors, they are not 'NPCs' for supernatural beings to toy around with. The hunters, the supernatural assholes, can become the Hunted.

A hunter, though, doesn't have to work directly. Wealth and power are their own weapons against the power that the supernatural reads. For vampires have their manipulations, and so do plenty of other creatures. Manipulations that can be discovered, fought against. And certainly money is good for outfitting allies for the direct hunting of such beings.

Hunter: The Vigil is the most freeform in some ways of the options presented, because a lot of the time you'll be facing custom monsters and the like, but there are definite advantages to be had, and despite still just being vanilla mortals, there is a layer of character creation still to come. Professions.

But yeah, among those four choices, choose one to proceed with, please

Estro · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
Very well, allow me to tally it all up, and then we'll get into the gamelines.

Name: (Fill in later)
Concept: Banker off his meds.
Virtue: Meticulous. The ts will be crossed, the is will be dotted, and the margins will be precisely one inch.
Vice: Inattention.

Attributes:

Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Presence 1, Manipulation 4, Composure 2

Skills: Academics 5 (Banking/Economics), Computer 2, Drive 1 (Classic Cars), Firearms 1, Intimidation 1 (Blunt Truths), Investigation 2, Larceny 1, Politics 2, Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Stealth 1, Subterfuge 2.

So, how's that look so far? Now we're going to blow this whole joint up by starting with...the splats.

So, I'm going to make the most honest and also relatively short pitch I can for each of the gamelines I know about, and then whichever one you choose, I'll lead you in making a character of it. I'll note difficulties and also ways you can take the character you made and apply it.

The Danse Macabe

Embrace eternity. You have been inducted into the all night society. You must feed on humans and animals, drink their very blood to survive each night, and the sun is your enemy. But not your only enemy. Others feed in the shadows, vampires that have no reason to be your friend, and creatures even stranger than that. But there is also a society. Vampires have Clans, each of which has a different ancient origin, and access to different powers to start with, and Covenants, groups of vampires gathering together for a common purpose, such as ruling and controlling the world from the shadows, or promoting order among vampires through fear of god, or researching and mastering their condition...

There is a thin layer of civility over the ultimate brutality that is the life of a vampire, and one's very humanity is often anchored to a few things, a few touchstones of what you once had. You cling all the stronger to them, because it's all that will keep you from being dragged into hell. Embraced by your Sire, thrust into a world you might not have chosen, there is still power, there is still blood. You can triumph or you can fall, but most of all...can you survive?

This with the banker would be interesting, because vampires can't hold down a lot of day-jobs, so he might be forced to quit as a banker/go private with people willing to accept 'only works at night' as a condition for his work. Since banks mostly work during the day. So, story-wise, he could be losing everything, and that could even explain him going off his meds. His life's falling apart and he has to make a new one as a creature of the night.

Werewolves...

I'm going to be completely honest and say that while werewolves as an idea are really cool, I just don't understand them and they make my head spin, so it's going to be hard for me to do much with them.

Mages

Awaken to the Truth. There are lies in this world, secrets and deceptions. There are dark masters, a world of spirits and a world of ghosts, there is much out there that is not included in our philosophy. The Lie, it says you are a MERE human, as if there is anything mere about you. About a person who can Awaken to the Truth, who can become a Mage, a Wizard, a being who works his or her mighty will upon the world.

There is nothing mere about being a human, but there is much dangerous about being a Mage. Hubris threatens, the powers you gained are not unique to you, and there are many monsters and beings out there for you to struggle with, control, or die to. The Abyss waits, and so does the madness of your own mindscape, the dangers of the spirit world, the strange monsters present on earth...there is much to do, but also much to learn. For at the center of the Mage's story is knowledge and investigation. Knowledge is not simply power. No, knowledge is everything.

For with this knowledge, and with the carefully trained skills of a Mage, the world can be yours, if you can simply not overreach. For Paradox lurks behind each failure. Because in each human still asleep, each man or woman who has not Awakened yet, rests a bit of the Abyss. By viewing your magic, magic that cannot exist, that the Lie says MUST not exist, they can unravel it, can make it backfire, can stop it from working.

Just as the Exarchs, the divine *things* which govern our fallen world's very nature, and their slaves on earth the Seers of the Throne, would have it.

But there are groups that wish for more, that band together to create a Mage society not wholly dominated by dark masters, Lies, and the enslavement of mortals (though damned if plenty of them are still assholes to mortals or the like anyways.) The Mysterium which seeks to gain and hoard knowledge, the Adamantine Arrow which sees all life as conflict and war, even when it isn't violent (a great lawyer could be an AA, and so could a soldier, it's about conflict, about Warrior-Sages that guide the world through these conflicts), the Silver Ladder seeks to build a Mage Society and guide it towards an ultimate end, the Guardians of the Veil, mysterious spies and traitors who seek to tamp down hubris, to prevent abuse of magic and fight their own wars in the shadows, and the Free Council, which many here do not like, but focuses on 'less rules, less worship of the past, more technological magic' but in exchange for some pretty big blind-spots.

The Mage thing will begin with choosing an Order (and I'll give a good overview of each of them in turn), and a Path. For you Awaken in one of five paths, with two Ruling Arcana (that is classes of magic you are specially good at) and one Inferior Arcana (a type of magic you tend to have trouble understanding and using.)

This one will allow you to keep your life, but might indeed lead to some huge complications!

There is Beauty in Madness

What do you do when the worst has already come and passed? For there is truth in the old fairy-tales, the old stories, and in the shadows beings lurk that are as far from the helpful fairy godmother as anyone could imagine. One of these beings took you away, made you into a slave, and more than that, made you into something less than human. Something bestial or something wizened, something big and strong and brutal, or something weak and delicate. Maybe even made you into nothing more than scenery. What matters is that they denied your humanity, denied your agency. What matters is that YOU ESCAPED. The True Fae are immortal, strange beings whose very existence is a fairy-tale perfection, and yet you escaped from your Keeper. But you are marked by your time, by what you were made to do.

You are a Changeling. Hidden by a Mask that hides all of the supernatural appearance changes, you stumble back into a world, perhaps years later, perhaps five minutes after though it felt like decades of suffering, in which you weren't missed. But in the cruelest twist, your Keeper left behind a Fetch, a fake person to take your place. YOUR place. It belongs to you, but to reclaim it you must kill, must take back your liferight.

And there is more than that. For your new powers grant new opportunities, new ways to live, and new fears. For while your Keeper *might* not stretch out his hand to grab you up again, to reclaim you...he or she also *might*. That fear drives Changelings together to try to make a new life, to exploit the magic they have and the realm between Earth and distant Arcadia, the Hedge. All these different types of people, making Courts based on ideals or their understanding of what will beat back the True Fae, creating Freeholds designed to stand up against any incursion. Making new lives for themselves any way they can.

There is madness in them, and there is power, there is danger and there are beings out there that could harm them, would harm them. But there is beauty too, in a world of fairy-tale beauty and fairy-tale danger.

...yeah, I love Changelings, but I tried to keep it relatively short.

The banker could have just stumbled back and have to deal with his Fetch to reclaim his wealth and lifestyle, he could have reclaimed it long ago, or even abandoned it for a new, different life.

Monster Hunter!

I said it before, there is nothing *mere* about Mortals. For some humans strike back. They hear of vampire attacks, of stranger monsters lurking in the shadows, of magic-users stealing minds and souls, and they say no. They say they will not accept this. They will fight it, by whatever means they can, whether in small groups, larger compacts and organizations, or even global conspiracies. They are not passive actors, they are not 'NPCs' for supernatural beings to toy around with. The hunters, the supernatural assholes, can become the Hunted.

A hunter, though, doesn't have to work directly. Wealth and power are their own weapons against the power that the supernatural reads. For vampires have their manipulations, and so do plenty of other creatures. Manipulations that can be discovered, fought against. And certainly money is good for outfitting allies for the direct hunting of such beings.

Hunter: The Vigil is the most freeform in some ways of the options presented, because a lot of the time you'll be facing custom monsters and the like, but there are definite advantages to be had, and despite still just being vanilla mortals, there is a layer of character creation still to come. Professions.

But yeah, among those four choices, choose one to proceed with, please

Hmm. I don't know whether it is my love for Lovecraft and odd myths, or the things of yours that I've read on them; but I would like to do Changeling, thank you.

One question. I've tried to read Panopticon Quest once or twice, and I was under the impression it was part of WoD, yet the technocracy wasn't in the list provided. Was I mistaken or something?

Crawling Chaos · Jan 17, 2016

That's oWoD also part of the Mages rather than a separate spat.

Scia · Jan 17, 2016

Estro said:
Hmm. I don't know whether it is my love for Lovecraft and odd myths, or the things of yours that I've read on them; but I would like to do Changeling, thank you.

One question. I've tried to read Panopticon Quest once or twice, and I was under the impression it was part of WoD, yet the technocracy wasn't in the list provided. Was I mistaken or something?

Different edition which includes a complete change of how the world works and what happens. They are basically two different universe which are related by a shared lable.

Estro · Jan 17, 2016

Scia said:
Different edition which includes a complete change of how the world works and what happens. They are basically two different universe which are related by a shared lable.

Ahh. Thank you.

Crawling Chaos · Jan 17, 2016

Between the two I prefer oWoD in terms of splats, but nWoD definitely has the better mechanics.

The Laurent · Jan 17, 2016

Estro said:
Hmm. I don't know whether it is my love for Lovecraft and odd myths, or the things of yours that I've read on them; but I would like to do Changeling, thank you.

One question. I've tried to read Panopticon Quest once or twice, and I was under the impression it was part of WoD, yet the technocracy wasn't in the list provided. Was I mistaken or something?

It's oWoD. Old World of Darkness. The first, weirder version, and it was the enemy faction (it's a bit complicated) in the old version of Mage.

Also, god, oWoD is weird. Like, I'm trying to make a character in it, and it's like I don't even function and what is this shit and I'm so confused. Talk about Changelings is incoming, though, Estro.

Okay, so, people are not taken to Arcadia for no reason. Now, the reason might be shit, but once they're there, they have to fulfill a certain role, do a certain task, or even just survive in a certain area in order to stand any chance of ever escaping. This marks them in major ways, and so contrary to what might be done in character generation otherwise, since you clearly have a banker character all made out, I'm going to start with Seeming and...not Kith yet. Your idea of your Durance, which is to say, the time you spent a slave, seven years or otherwise.

So first, the Seemings, the general categories.

Beasts

Those who were made into animals. Red and tooth and claw, or meek as housecats. But more than just being made into animals can fit within the label of the beast. Being made like an animal, being made into some half-human hybrid, being made to act like a mere animal when you're a man. A person with hopes and dreams, subsumed by the instincts and fears of the world. You might have been a pampered house pet, a terrified rabbit hiding from the hawks, a wolf-man or a hunting hound. Either way, having lost something of humanity, you still escaped and became a man yet again, but with animalistic traits, bits of appearance, and the like.

They get two blessings for being Beasts. They get 8-again on all Animal Ken rolls (basically, reroll all successes until you stop succeeding so hard), and one free specialty in Animal Ken with the animal they most resemble.

The second is animal magnetism. They can spend points of glamour (their magical fuel), to add, on a one to one basis, dice for rolls involving Presence and Composure. Basically, yeah, animal magnetism can add some...allure to their actions.

But they also get curses. Instead of -3, they suffer -4 to untrained Mental Skills (that is, those they don't have dots in), and they don't reroll 10s on Intelligence rolls. Both of these have to do with being unused to some human thought patterns, rather than just 'they're stupid' or anything like that.

Darklings:

They looked too deep in dark, out of the way places, and these places looked back at them. Plunged into a dark and grungy world of shadows and alleys, or a forest with no escape, or made to act as a thief, a pickepocket, a grub crawling through dark tunnets, the darklings lived, quite simply, in the dark. Whether the dark of the dusty library or of the crowded streets filled with strange beings, or the forests or tunnels, or as spies or assassins...darkness and myth are their surfeit, and there are several Kiths (not going to get to them yet) that directly imitate some aspects of urban legends and old fears. For that's what they are closest to. Fears and the darkness, that at last they have escaped.

They can spend glamour to increase rolls involving Wits, Subterfuge or Stealth, and get 9-again on all Stealth rolls.

But since they are beings of the dark, they get -1 to activating their magic when it's day, and -2 if they're trying to do so right directly under the beating sun.

Elemental:

The living flame or the bonzai tree, the wind or a man made into a marionette, the elementals are defined by being made into something nonhuman. Nonliving. Not all were made immobile or nothing more than elements, some kept a human form or acted as nymphs, will-o-the-wisps, or other such things, but all had their humanity compromised by nature. But not the nature of the animal, but the raw, pure nature of the environment. It is even less familiar than that of the animal, as one might guess, and it has shaped them, greatly, as one might imagine. It's made them hardy, and it's made them hard. But also it has sometimes made them distant.

This hardiness is represented by being able to spend a point of glamour, once per day, to add their Wyrd to their Health dots, temporarily. Wyrd is one's magical strength, how far one is wrapped in the magic and stories of arcadia, or something like that, starting at 1 at character creation, and increasing all the way up to 10, though at a definite price. So it's a pretty powerful ability.

And yet. Humans are strange, hard to understand. They don't get 10-again on dice-pools involving Manipulation, Empathy, Expression, Persuasion, or Socialize.

Fairest

Mirror mirror, who are they? They are the ones made beautiful, the ones turned into lovers or warriors for the True Fae, into princesses in the tower and more than that. Because pain comes with pleasure. When he is happy, he is so great, but when he is not, when he scorns her, she is made to sleep on a bed of thorns, tearing at her. Great pain and pleasure mixed together. The dancer forced to dance until her legs give out, the Muse who has to inspire the incompetent Fae artist, the playmate of the "little" Fae boy who is beaten if they do not always smile, or the statues and beautiful objects there for the pleasure of their owners. Beauty is their right, often enough, but so is madness. They can be arrogant, they can think they are destined and born leaders, but their own flaws, their own insanity, are liable to creep up on them.

Their blessing is Fairest of Them All, and they can spend glamour to improve dice pools involving Presence, Manipulation and Persuasion, and instead of -1 on untrained social skills, they instead suffer no penalty.

But, and here is where Clarity, sanity, comes in. They roll one dice less on any roll to avoid losing sanity. This can *quickly* add up, as you might guess.

Ogres

They ARE the brute squad. Made to do backbreaking labor or murder and kill and eat to survive, they have been through much, and marked by violence they have to figure out how to either not use violence now that they are in the world, or how to control themselves and their violence. Often strong and powerful (so maybe not a fit for your guy) their Contracts and magic can make them even stronger, yet there are costs and prices, and losing oneself in rage is a thing to fear.

They can add dice to Strength, Brawl, and Intimidate, but keeping their temper is hard. They don't get 10-again on any composure roll except one to notice an ambush, and they get -1 towards using it as a defensive stat, such as social defense or the like. Again, you wouldn't like them when they're angry.

Wizened

Made into a lesser by being made into a servant, these beings served. They cooked, they cleaned, they smithed, they acted as lawyers or perhaps money-changers, or soldiers...they did jobs. They were reduced to a role rather than being a person. "The maid will clean it up." Does the maid have a name? Does she matter? No, no she doesn't. If she thinks she matters, we can teach her better. Just as Fairest are dehumanized by being brought away by humanity, Darklings by being introduced to quiet brutality, beasts by being made into animals, Ogres by being made into monsters, and Elementals by being made into *THINGS* so too is a Wizened Seeming partially defined by what makes them lesser. Service. Craft.

Again, pick a profession, and there is probably a Kith for it, and they are shaped and remade to be that job, to function for it. Are they too tall? That can be fixed. Too short? Too distinctive, too pretty? And constantly outwitted, mocked, made the butt of pranks or made to think they escaped only for it to be pulled away from them. It has made them fast, and fast to avoid harm.

They can spend a point of glamour to get 9-again to all Dexterity rolls for the rest of a scene, and they can spend a point of glamour to add Wyrd to dodge for the rest of the scene. As Elementals survive by enduring, Wizened survive by not being where the attack is.

But, social skills are hard when you've been a social inferior, a job-slave. They don't get 10-again on Presence rolls, and the untrained penalty for Social Skills is -2 instead of -1.

*****

So, pick a Seeming, and then come up with a concept for a Durance. Remember, the True Fae are tricky and cruel, and so often any job has its barbs. Even the seemingly nice one. Enjoy being a lawyer in a kangaroo court in which if you are found guilty your body parts are chopped off and replaced one by one. Enjoy being the Princess in the tower...but oops, we forgot to bring any food. The True Fae are as creative as you want them to be. You don't have to sketch out the whole Durance, just, like, a sentence on what you were made to do, and also your Seeming, and I'll go from there in finding/making a Kith for you!

Estro · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
It's oWoD. Old World of Darkness. The first, weirder version, and it was the enemy faction (it's a bit complicated) in the old version of Mage.

Also, god, oWoD is weird. Like, I'm trying to make a character in it, and it's like I don't even function and what is this shit and I'm so confused. Talk about Changelings is incoming, though, Estro.

Okay, so, people are not taken to Arcadia for no reason. Now, the reason might be shit, but once they're there, they have to fulfill a certain role, do a certain task, or even just survive in a certain area in order to stand any chance of ever escaping. This marks them in major ways, and so contrary to what might be done in character generation otherwise, since you clearly have a banker character all made out, I'm going to start with Seeming and...not Kith yet. Your idea of your Durance, which is to say, the time you spent a slave, seven years or otherwise.

So first, the Seemings, the general categories.

Beasts

Those who were made into animals. Red and tooth and claw, or meek as housecats. But more than just being made into animals can fit within the label of the beast. Being made like an animal, being made into some half-human hybrid, being made to act like a mere animal when you're a man. A person with hopes and dreams, subsumed by the instincts and fears of the world. You might have been a pampered house pet, a terrified rabbit hiding from the hawks, a wolf-man or a hunting hound. Either way, having lost something of humanity, you still escaped and became a man yet again, but with animalistic traits, bits of appearance, and the like.

They get two blessings for being Beasts. They get 8-again on all Animal Ken rolls (basically, reroll all successes until you stop succeeding so hard), and one free specialty in Animal Ken with the animal they most resemble.

The second is animal magnetism. They can spend points of glamour (their magical fuel), to add, on a one to one basis, dice for rolls involving Presence and Composure. Basically, yeah, animal magnetism can add some...allure to their actions.

But they also get curses. Instead of -3, they suffer -4 to untrained Mental Skills (that is, those they don't have dots in), and they don't reroll 10s on Intelligence rolls. Both of these have to do with being unused to some human thought patterns, rather than just 'they're stupid' or anything like that.

Darklings:

They looked too deep in dark, out of the way places, and these places looked back at them. Plunged into a dark and grungy world of shadows and alleys, or a forest with no escape, or made to act as a thief, a pickepocket, a grub crawling through dark tunnets, the darklings lived, quite simply, in the dark. Whether the dark of the dusty library or of the crowded streets filled with strange beings, or the forests or tunnels, or as spies or assassins...darkness and myth are their surfeit, and there are several Kiths (not going to get to them yet) that directly imitate some aspects of urban legends and old fears. For that's what they are closest to. Fears and the darkness, that at last they have escaped.

They can spend glamour to increase rolls involving Wits, Subterfuge or Stealth, and get 9-again on all Stealth rolls.

But since they are beings of the dark, they get -1 to activating their magic when it's day, and -2 if they're trying to do so right directly under the beating sun.

Elemental:

The living flame or the bonzai tree, the wind or a man made into a marionette, the elementals are defined by being made into something nonhuman. Nonliving. Not all were made immobile or nothing more than elements, some kept a human form or acted as nymphs, will-o-the-wisps, or other such things, but all had their humanity compromised by nature. But not the nature of the animal, but the raw, pure nature of the environment. It is even less familiar than that of the animal, as one might guess, and it has shaped them, greatly, as one might imagine. It's made them hardy, and it's made them hard. But also it has sometimes made them distant.

This hardiness is represented by being able to spend a point of glamour, once per day, to add their Wyrd to their Health dots, temporarily. Wyrd is one's magical strength, how far one is wrapped in the magic and stories of arcadia, or something like that, starting at 1 at character creation, and increasing all the way up to 10, though at a definite price. So it's a pretty powerful ability.

And yet. Humans are strange, hard to understand. They don't get 10-again on dice-pools involving Manipulation, Empathy, Expression, Persuasion, or Socialize.

Fairest

Mirror mirror, who are they? They are the ones made beautiful, the ones turned into lovers or warriors for the True Fae, into princesses in the tower and more than that. Because pain comes with pleasure. When he is happy, he is so great, but when he is not, when he scorns her, she is made to sleep on a bed of thorns, tearing at her. Great pain and pleasure mixed together. The dancer forced to dance until her legs give out, the Muse who has to inspire the incompetent Fae artist, the playmate of the "little" Fae boy who is beaten if they do not always smile, or the statues and beautiful objects there for the pleasure of their owners. Beauty is their right, often enough, but so is madness. They can be arrogant, they can think they are destined and born leaders, but their own flaws, their own insanity, are liable to creep up on them.

Their blessing is Fairest of Them All, and they can spend glamour to improve dice pools involving Presence, Manipulation and Persuasion, and instead of -1 on untrained social skills, they instead suffer no penalty.

But, and here is where Clarity, sanity, comes in. They roll one dice less on any roll to avoid losing sanity. This can *quickly* add up, as you might guess.

Ogres

They ARE the brute squad. Made to do backbreaking labor or murder and kill and eat to survive, they have been through much, and marked by violence they have to figure out how to either not use violence now that they are in the world, or how to control themselves and their violence. Often strong and powerful (so maybe not a fit for your guy) their Contracts and magic can make them even stronger, yet there are costs and prices, and losing oneself in rage is a thing to fear.

They can add dice to Strength, Brawl, and Intimidate, but keeping their temper is hard. They don't get 10-again on any composure roll except one to notice an ambush, and they get -1 towards using it as a defensive stat, such as social defense or the like. Again, you wouldn't like them when they're angry.

Wizened

Made into a lesser by being made into a servant, these beings served. They cooked, they cleaned, they smithed, they acted as lawyers or perhaps money-changers, or soldiers...they did jobs. They were reduced to a role rather than being a person. "The maid will clean it up." Does the maid have a name? Does she matter? No, no she doesn't. If she thinks she matters, we can teach her better. Just as Fairest are dehumanized by being brought away by humanity, Darklings by being introduced to quiet brutality, beasts by being made into animals, Ogres by being made into monsters, and Elementals by being made into *THINGS* so too is a Wizened Seeming partially defined by what makes them lesser. Service. Craft.

Again, pick a profession, and there is probably a Kith for it, and they are shaped and remade to be that job, to function for it. Are they too tall? That can be fixed. Too short? Too distinctive, too pretty? And constantly outwitted, mocked, made the butt of pranks or made to think they escaped only for it to be pulled away from them. It has made them fast, and fast to avoid harm.

They can spend a point of glamour to get 9-again to all Dexterity rolls for the rest of a scene, and they can spend a point of glamour to add Wyrd to dodge for the rest of the scene. As Elementals survive by enduring, Wizened survive by not being where the attack is.

But, social skills are hard when you've been a social inferior, a job-slave. They don't get 10-again on Presence rolls, and the untrained penalty for Social Skills is -2 instead of -1.

*****

So, pick a Seeming, and then come up with a concept for a Durance. Remember, the True Fae are tricky and cruel, and so often any job has its barbs. Even the seemingly nice one. Enjoy being a lawyer in a kangaroo court in which if you are found guilty your body parts are chopped off and replaced one by one. Enjoy being the Princess in the tower...but oops, we forgot to bring any food. The True Fae are as creative as you want them to be. You don't have to sketch out the whole Durance, just, like, a sentence on what you were made to do, and also your Seeming, and I'll go from there in finding/making a Kith for you!

I'll choose fairest. And for durance... There is a fae who loved the sky, the shifting, unpredictable clouds and all that defended from it. So crafted into a sky was the banker, essence torn into a million wisps and forced to flow around in New creative ways, the disparate parts of her self never touching. But if the fae thought the sky was repeating she was thrust into raw chaos in an attempt to have that random unpredictably ingrained upon her.

That work?

The Laurent · Jan 17, 2016

Estro said:
I'll choose fairest. And for durance... There is a fae who loved the sky, the shifting, unpredictable clouds and all that defended from it. So crafted into a sky was the banker, essence torn into a million wisps and forced to flow around in New creative ways, the disparate parts of her self never touching. But if the fae thought the sky was repeating she was thrust into raw chaos in an attempt to have that random unpredictably ingrained upon her.

That work?

Interesting. That's almost Fairest by way of Elemental, sort of. Turned into a lovely sky. Now, here's where we talk about differences. Each Seeming has a set of Kiths within their category, and you have to pay merits to get Kiths from outside your category. So if you want the Runnerswift (to represent horses, cheetahs, fast animals) you have to either be a Beast or pay for it. Now, I have complaints about Changeling 2e, but divorcing Kith and Seeming is a neat idea, so why not do that?

So have some options:

Airtouched: The Elementals of wind, cloud, smoke and sky, who can be as healthy as a fresh breeze or as pestilent as the miasma that surrounds the dead. Their blessing is Velocity of the Zephyr: The player can spend one point of Glamour to add the character's Wyrd to her Speed or Initiative (player's choice) for the rest of the scene. This blessing can be invoked once for each Trait per scene.

Artist (Modified): They were the art. They learned to stay beautiful and stay changeable, strange and different. They constantly expressed themselves and through this, through spontaneity, they learn to deal with the world. Even if it makes them flightly. They gain 9-again on all Wits rolls, and can spend a point of glamour to reroll failed dice once in an Expression roll.

Scenery Manager (I made this up on the spot, might not be 100% balanced): They are the shapes and sights of Arcadia. They are the scenes themselves, the sky at one moment, or, more than just 'a tree' they are the scene of the trees swaying together. The stage managers, almost, it can be said. They are thus good at seeing patterns in others, and get 9-again on all Investigation rolls, and can spend glamour to improve their dice pool for Perceiving things.

How does one of these three sound? If none are good, I could make some more, and if one of them works, we can move onto the next step.

Also, as a Changeling, you can choose a Skill Specialty in either Brawl, Athletics, of Stealth. You only have Stealth, so that'd be the obvious choice...

However, I'll let you put a specialty into one of the others with an Asterisk. Basically, it doesn't count yet, but whenever you get a dot in one of those skills, the specialty also would then kick in. Just to give you a variety of choices.

This specialty represents the sort of things you had to do to survive in Arcadia.

MJ12 Commando · Jan 17, 2016

I also realized I should probably homebrew something for the Traditions. Fortunately, @Quantumboost was kind enough to give me inspiration:

[16:54:12] <+Quantumboost> making Strength a "you must be this high to use weapon X" actually gives it meaningful combat value
[16:54:21] <+Threat_Null> "you must be this high to use weapon X"
[16:54:22] <+Threat_Null> brb
[16:54:26] <+Threat_Null> creating Cult of Ecstasy weapon

The Berserker's Requiem (8 pt. wonder)

This well-worn, pitted battle-axe looks like nothing special, but the emotional weight its former users have imbued on it is so powerful that even Sleepers may notice. Simply being around the axe gives an uncomfortable feeling of dread. Forged by a Ecstatic who found joy only in battle from the remnants of a weapon used by one of the original berserkers, the Requiem has passed from user to user. Strong enchantments on the weapon ensure that when wielder dies, it will end up in the hands of someone worthy of using it as a tool to fight the enemies of the Traditions-useful, given that its wielders tend to have very, very short and excitement-filled lifespans.

The Requiem has the following benefits:
The weapon deals Str + 5L damage and reduces the difficulty of attacking with it by -3.
While wielded, the character must spend 1 Willpower to take any defensive action, but may soak lethal and aggravated damage with full Stamina. The wielder must also pay 1 willpower or violently and lethally attack anyone who angers or opposes them.
While held, the wielder is completely immune to wound penalties and penalties from drug use, but not death from drug overdose. The wielder merely stays 100% functional until he falls down dead. The wielder gains all benefits of drugs used.
While intoxicated, the wielder gains +2 to all physical attributes and 3 additional -5 health levels.
The wielder of the Requiem gains 1 extra action if on her -1 health levels, 2 extra actions on her -2 health levels, and 3 extra actions on her -5 health levels.

If the wielder dies, an Entropy 1/Correspondence 2/Matter 2 effect ensures that the weapon will somehow find its way to someone whose personality and circumstances will likely cause them to wield it against the enemies of Ascension.

It basically rewards you getting high as shit, throwing yourself in the middle of a battle, cutting people's heads off, and then dying of drug overdose.

The Laurent · Jan 17, 2016

In other news, among several ideas for a Quest (that I'm not going to do right now because I'm too busy but I might do prep work for) involving playing as Brienne of Tarth, one of them was Mage. I mean, one of them was being born Force Sensitive, and Jedi are cool, but since another involved Mages, well, thought I'd share that part:

[] Awaken: Yes, a Mage: The Awakening Quest in ASOIAF. This totally has the potentially to break the setting in two, but there are a few factors. First, it'd begin at birth, and continue until Awakening and afterwards, so there'd still be difficulty early on, with building a character and relationships. Second, learning magic is fucking hard. The starting character creation for M:tAw is for someone who has spent a year learning magic in a world and system in which there are people who know everything about magic spoonfeeding it to them. Well, at least, everything about the low-grade, easy to understand stuff. So whatever she Awakens with, she'll have no idea of Yantras and Rotes, or focuses or anything else, and she doesn't know what Unveiling is as opposed to Seeing, etc, etc, etc. And few ways to find out, since while this will be a sort of fusion, Mages are really going to be incredibly rare. So she won't be getting to Sphere 3, or even 2, without a lot of work.

Which still makes her incredibly powerful and potentially world-changing. Except, well, there are others with Magic out there with her, and so she's not without a challenge, but at least in theory, her end-game state will break most of the setting into pieces...if she can survive that long.

*****

More specifically, I'm curious what people think about the idea that in a world in which 'What the fuck is Magic' is not as understood, or magic is rare enough that meeting someone else who does magic (because it's going to be something of a slight fusion/crossover thing) doesn't happen often, Reaching, say, two dots is actually a huge deal and not something you just 'buy' with a few XP.

I just imagined a world where a Mage didn't know what Paradox was, didn't know what the spheres were, didn't know what Rotes were, hadn't ever heard of a focus...

And the best case scenario seemed to be 'she took it slow and it took forever to her to actually become super-powerful.'

Since the worst-case scenario is 'she gets eaten by a grue on week two.'

Estro · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
Interesting. That's almost Fairest by way of Elemental, sort of. Turned into a lovely sky. Now, here's where we talk about differences. Each Seeming has a set of Kiths within their category, and you have to pay merits to get Kiths from outside your category. So if you want the Runnerswift (to represent horses, cheetahs, fast animals) you have to either be a Beast or pay for it. Now, I have complaints about Changeling 2e, but divorcing Kith and Seeming is a neat idea, so why not do that?

So have some options:

Airtouched: The Elementals of wind, cloud, smoke and sky, who can be as healthy as a fresh breeze or as pestilent as the miasma that surrounds the dead. Their blessing is Velocity of the Zephyr: The player can spend one point of Glamour to add the character's Wyrd to her Speed or Initiative (player's choice) for the rest of the scene. This blessing can be invoked once for each Trait per scene.

Artist (Modified): They were the art. They learned to stay beautiful and stay changeable, strange and different. They constantly expressed themselves and through this, through spontaneity, they learn to deal with the world. Even if it makes them flightly. They gain 9-again on all Wits rolls, and can spend a point of glamour to reroll failed dice once in an Expression roll.

Scenery Manager (I made this up on the spot, might not be 100% balanced): They are the shapes and sights of Arcadia. They are the scenes themselves, the sky at one moment, or, more than just 'a tree' they are the scene of the trees swaying together. The stage managers, almost, it can be said. They are thus good at seeing patterns in others, and get 9-again on all Investigation rolls, and can spend glamour to improve their dice pool for Perceiving things.

How does one of these three sound? If none are good, I could make some more, and if one of them works, we can move onto the next step.

Also, as a Changeling, you can choose a Skill Specialty in either Brawl, Athletics, of Stealth. You only have Stealth, so that'd be the obvious choice...

However, I'll let you put a specialty into one of the others with an Asterisk. Basically, it doesn't count yet, but whenever you get a dot in one of those skills, the specialty also would then kick in. Just to give you a variety of choices.

This specialty represents the sort of things you had to do to survive in Arcadia.

I did not see this until now, alert system screwed me over. Sorry bout that.

The modified artist seems most appropriate to for the kith, given my durance. And I'll choose stealth, as she tried to hide from the fae in infinte variations of blue sky. Which sounds oddly poetic.

Crawling Chaos · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
More specifically, I'm curious what people think about the idea that in a world in which 'What the fuck is Magic' is not as understood, or magic is rare enough that meeting someone else who does magic (because it's going to be something of a slight fusion/crossover thing) doesn't happen often, Reaching, say, two dots is actually a huge deal and not something you just 'buy' with a few XP.

I just imagined a world where a Mage didn't know what Paradox was, didn't know what the spheres were, didn't know what Rotes were, hadn't ever heard of a focus...

And the best case scenario seemed to be 'she took it slow and it took forever to her to actually become super-powerful.'

Since the worst-case scenario is 'she gets eaten by a grue on week two.'

While I'm not too familiar with Mage not knowing about Paradox is a really major thing from what I understand which is going to mess her up bad. She won't know what causes it at first nor how to stop it which leads in all likelihood leads to experimentation to no doubt tragic results. You should probably giver her something to let her know the very basics so she doesn't wind up dead to fast or worse. That aside, I'd honestly prefer another character as the PC like Tyrion or Jon Snow* for example.

*Hmm, I wonder how he'd work as a Changling? It'd be interesting if the Great Other was a Fae who decided to snatch Jon when he crossed the Wall the first time and leaves a fetch behind.

The Laurent · Jan 17, 2016

Malkavian said:
While I'm not too familiar with Mage not knowing about Paradox is a really major thing from what I understand which is going to mess her up bad. She won't know what causes it at first nor how to stop it which leads in all likelihood leads to experimentation to no doubt tragic results. You should probably giver her something to let her know the very basics so she doesn't wind up dead to fast or worse. That aside, I'd honestly prefer another character as the PC like Tyrion or Jon Snow* for example.

*Hmm, I wonder how he'd work as a Changling? It'd be interesting if the Great Other was a Fae who decided to snatch Jon when he crossed the Wall the first time and leaves a fetch behind.

Jon Snow, honestly, struck me as almost a bit too generic as a possibility in general. The bastard son who is sorta...good at things without being too impressive and winds up knowing nothing. His journey is one of growth, but as a starting character he's a little...he seems way too easy for me to write in as SV Stand-in Protag.

Tyrion, well, the difficulty is writing him well, since I actually love Tyrion, but I'm not sure if I and SV would be up for the difficult challenge of doing so.

Legend of Ruina · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
In other news, among several ideas for a Quest (that I'm not going to do right now because I'm too busy but I might do prep work for) involving playing as Brienne of Tarth, one of them was Mage. I mean, one of them was being born Force Sensitive, and Jedi are cool, but since another involved Mages, well, thought I'd share that part:

[] Awaken: Yes, a Mage: The Awakening Quest in ASOIAF. This totally has the potentially to break the setting in two, but there are a few factors. First, it'd begin at birth, and continue until Awakening and afterwards, so there'd still be difficulty early on, with building a character and relationships. Second, learning magic is fucking hard. The starting character creation for M:tAw is for someone who has spent a year learning magic in a world and system in which there are people who know everything about magic spoonfeeding it to them. Well, at least, everything about the low-grade, easy to understand stuff. So whatever she Awakens with, she'll have no idea of Yantras and Rotes, or focuses or anything else, and she doesn't know what Unveiling is as opposed to Seeing, etc, etc, etc. And few ways to find out, since while this will be a sort of fusion, Mages are really going to be incredibly rare. So she won't be getting to Sphere 3, or even 2, without a lot of work.

Which still makes her incredibly powerful and potentially world-changing. Except, well, there are others with Magic out there with her, and so she's not without a challenge, but at least in theory, her end-game state will break most of the setting into pieces...if she can survive that long.

*****

More specifically, I'm curious what people think about the idea that in a world in which 'What the fuck is Magic' is not as understood, or magic is rare enough that meeting someone else who does magic (because it's going to be something of a slight fusion/crossover thing) doesn't happen often, Reaching, say, two dots is actually a huge deal and not something you just 'buy' with a few XP.

I just imagined a world where a Mage didn't know what Paradox was, didn't know what the spheres were, didn't know what Rotes were, hadn't ever heard of a focus...

And the best case scenario seemed to be 'she took it slow and it took forever to her to actually become super-powerful.'

Since the worst-case scenario is 'she gets eaten by a grue on week two.'

With Malk on Paradox being a huge problem. Especially if she listens to the wrong Manifestation. Because that's how Scelesti are made. Admittedly that would be up to the players, but the Abyss can offer some cool stuff and Wisdom isn't too heavily important... right? I mean lowering just makes your friends stay longer.

The Laurent · Jan 17, 2016

Joebobjoe said:
With Malk on Paradox being a huge problem. Especially if she listens to the wrong Manifestation. Because that's how Scelesti are made. Admittedly that would be up to the players, but the Abyss can offer some cool stuff and Wisdom isn't too heavily important... right? I mean lowering just makes your friends stay longer.

I do have some ideas on that front. Though it'd be less 'Paradox theory' and more 'being told never to show her magic to other people. Which, no, is not exactly how her magic works, but Brienne seems the sort of person who'd be a cautious child. Rule-follower.

Tyrion would be more willing to experiment, but again, there's the problem of writing Tyrion.

Estro said:
I did not see this until now, alert system screwed me over. Sorry bout that.

The modified artist seems most appropriate to for the kith, given my durance. And I'll choose stealth, as she tried to hide from the fae in infinte variations of blue sky. Which sounds oddly poetic.

Oddly poetic is good.

Name: (Fill in later), note, female.
Concept: Banker off her meds.
Virtue: Meticulous. The ts will be crossed, the is will be dotted, and the margins will be precisely one inch.
Vice: Inattention.
Seeming: Fairest
Kith: Artist
Wyrd: 1, Glamour: 10/10

Attributes:

Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Presence 1, Manipulation 4, Composure 2

Skills: Academics 5 (Banking/Economics), Computer 2, Drive 1 (Classic Cars), Firearms 1, Intimidation 1 (Blunt Truths), Investigation 2, Larceny 1, Politics 2, Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Stealth 1, Subterfuge 2.

Now, this is the last easy day. The stage after this will be long and hard to do, because Contracts are where the magic opens up.

To explain the new things. Wyrd is your magical power. Like in all nWoD games, it governs both good and bad things, and raising it tends to fuck you over in some areas in exchange for getting more overall magical power and dice to roll for activating magic. You start out with Wyrd 1, which includes the fact that you can hold 10 glamour (magical fuel you can refuel by harvesting emotions or other things) at a time, and spend one a turn in combat.

Now, Changelings form organizations. These often differ, but one of the most common, and thus the default we'll be going for, are the Seasonal Courts. Four monarchs leading four courts that in each Freehold rotate control. Because the True Fae don't understand seasons. They don't understand the idea that a person would GIVE UP POWER.

Each Court is focused around an emotion that they harvest and believe is the secret against the True Fae, and as with any system, there are all sorts of differing philosophies attached to each. I'll try to be relatively brief.

Spring Court:

The Emerald court, the court of Desire. Its power is the power of stealing back what the True Fae thought they'd owned. Joy, happiness. When their Keepers come looking for broken shattered husks hiding in dark alleys, they will look right past the dancing men and women, the people who know that joy and desire are the center of life. Rejoice, for you have come back from hell, and do not deny yourself the pleasure that was denied you.

Live life with beauty, with grace and wit and most of all, LIFE. And their emotion of desire, which is not just physical but often is interpreted by others and members themselves as being so, ties right into this. They are stereotyped as hedonists. The lazy courtier or courtesan, the dabbler artist doing drugs, and while these find their home there, so do people for whom desire is more than that. For the saying is, "Your desires are your own." A love of freedom, a love of the power of desires, many things can drive one into Spring and keep them there. For Spring has its warriors, sages, and spies. But its warriors are esctactics, or they make fighting look as simple as dancing, or they are the knight in shining armor that leaves a trail of hearts behind them. Their sages speak the wisdom of the beat poets, or dance through the wilds of the Hedge picking rare fruits, the eccentric genius to the core. Its spies understand the humans are a landscape, a place of hiding. That spying on people is spying ON PEOPLE.

The downside is that this revelry, this forgetting, can often be denial. It can hide weakness and self-delusion, can cover for real and meaningful issues that perhaps they should have dealt with.

In the Freehold, they often make up the courtiers, the society such as it is. The people who give a reason to fight. But sometimes they forget that there's more to a Freehold than just its revels.

Summer

The court of wrath. The Gentry took everything from you, fuck them. Take their magic, take their power, and fasten it into a weapon so that if they ever come to take you, you'll spear them through. You don't always have to be a fighter. Wrath can be social, it can be the intellectual raging at those who do not see the truth. And more than that, it's a brotherhood. At its best, it's a group of people, a whole Court, that tries to devote itself to protection the Lost, the Changelings, from those who would destroy them. Goblins and humans and the True Fae, oh my.

Anger is a thing to be stoked, to be carefully controlled, and used so that others, that friends and loved ones, might sleep safe at night, knowing Summer is protecting, that their wrath is turned against evil. Yet the same anger, the same fire that is righteous can burn. Can burn out the courtier, can burn other people. The act of being in Summer is keeping the fire aimed in the right direction, and keeping it from getting too low and guttering, or rising too far and burning the Changeling alive.

A diplomat from Summer is blunt, but their words strike true. A summer sorcerer is a Battle Mage. There is room for those who cannot fight, as said before.

They often make up the backbone of the Freehold, the hard spine that keeps it alive and going, a duty that sometimes spurs ambition far greater than they should have.

Autumn

The court of Batman. No, actually, the Court of Fear. Fear and Magic. Are you afraid of the True Fae? Good. Because you need to use that fear. The Fae have magic that you cannot match if you do not study it, if you do not learn how to use it. Fear is a weapon. A weapon that you use and can be used against you. Master the weapon, master the magic, and you will gain the power that the True Fae used to so totally dominate you. But more than that, more than a weapon, magic is...well, let's be blunt here, it's magical. It's amazing, and for all that Arcadia was horrible, people who join Autumn aren't the people who reject magic and hide in a corner. They're the people that take up the right so forcibly given to them.

Their warriors use fear as a weapon, ambush and lies, deception...whatever it takes. Their courtiers are terrifying and they know what makes you tick. They know how to take you apart. Their sorceror's are terrifying, giving up part of their humanity in order to gain the strength they need, and their spies are brutal and deadly.

They provide the magical know-how to the Freehold, and they harvest fear. There's even Halloween rituals they have.

But of course, fear can go too far. Fear can consume someone, and then they become a shitty Batman villain.

Winter

The Court of Sorrow knows that the way the fox survives the hounds isn't to fight. It's to hide. Arcadia was horrible, and the Keepers are brutal. Hide, wait, know the Ice Law, the laws of banding together against all outsiders, and you can survive. They talk in code, they make safe-houses, they practice lying and dissimulation. In the human world, they avoid drawing attention, they are 'just some person.' Some call them cowards, but they know the truth. Arcadia was horrible, and they're not going to accept going back. They know that everything has a price, and everyone has a place. Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter have their roles, and Winter's are the spies, the assassins, the secret keepers of knowledge and lore that keep it from the enemies. A Winter warrior is a murderer. A person who doesn't fight fair, who thinks fairness is a lie. A winter courtier hides and slips around the corner, a winter sage knows far more than he'll ever tell.

They stay in the background, whether in life or court leadership, they are silent partners and seemingly normal housewives, they are everywhere and they are prepared for everything.

Touched by sorrow, touched by despair itself, knowing the Keepers might yet take them back, theirs is the smart and watchful path. But the costs of vigilence are high. Sorrow is not something you can hide from forever, is it?

Courtless

Or you could be someone who looked at all four and didn't fit in/didn't want to join any of them. There's no real advantages to it, banding together exists for a reason...but you can totally do it!

Omicron · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
In other news, among several ideas for a Quest (that I'm not going to do right now because I'm too busy but I might do prep work for) involving playing as Brienne of Tarth, one of them was Mage. I mean, one of them was being born Force Sensitive, and Jedi are cool, but since another involved Mages, well, thought I'd share that part:

[] Awaken: Yes, a Mage: The Awakening Quest in ASOIAF. This totally has the potentially to break the setting in two, but there are a few factors. First, it'd begin at birth, and continue until Awakening and afterwards, so there'd still be difficulty early on, with building a character and relationships. Second, learning magic is fucking hard. The starting character creation for M:tAw is for someone who has spent a year learning magic in a world and system in which there are people who know everything about magic spoonfeeding it to them. Well, at least, everything about the low-grade, easy to understand stuff. So whatever she Awakens with, she'll have no idea of Yantras and Rotes, or focuses or anything else, and she doesn't know what Unveiling is as opposed to Seeing, etc, etc, etc. And few ways to find out, since while this will be a sort of fusion, Mages are really going to be incredibly rare. So she won't be getting to Sphere 3, or even 2, without a lot of work.

Which still makes her incredibly powerful and potentially world-changing. Except, well, there are others with Magic out there with her, and so she's not without a challenge, but at least in theory, her end-game state will break most of the setting into pieces...if she can survive that long.

*****

More specifically, I'm curious what people think about the idea that in a world in which 'What the fuck is Magic' is not as understood, or magic is rare enough that meeting someone else who does magic (because it's going to be something of a slight fusion/crossover thing) doesn't happen often, Reaching, say, two dots is actually a huge deal and not something you just 'buy' with a few XP.

I just imagined a world where a Mage didn't know what Paradox was, didn't know what the spheres were, didn't know what Rotes were, hadn't ever heard of a focus...

And the best case scenario seemed to be 'she took it slow and it took forever to her to actually become super-powerful.'

Since the worst-case scenario is 'she gets eaten by a grue on week two.'

1) That sounds great, though I have trouble reconciliating the esoteric nature of Mages with the physicality and down-to-earthness of Brienne of Tarth. Which only makes it sounds more intriguing.
2) Dammit now I want to do another Quest. And there is already one I need to pick up again...

The Laurent · Jan 17, 2016

Omicron said:
1) That sounds great, though I have trouble reconciliating the esoteric nature of Mages with the physicality and down-to-earthness of Brienne of Tarth. Which only makes it sounds more intriguing.
2) Dammit now I want to do another Quest. And there is already one I need to pick up again...

Yeah, Tyrion would definitely be the more "Subtle and Quick to Anger" choice, wouldn't he?

It's between this and "Brienne of Tarth as a Jedi."

If that helps clarify choices. Well, 'born as a force sensitive' but you know she's going to go light side unless the voters are idjits.

Legend of Ruina · Jan 17, 2016

The Laurent said:
Courtless

Or you could be someone who looked at all four and didn't fit in/didn't want to join any of them. There's no real advantages to it, banding together exists for a reason...but you can totally do it!

Courtless does have the one advantage that they're able to draw from any of the emotions your GM is running as viable equally. A Court member gets a boost at theirs and a slight boost to another at the cost of a large penalty on the opposed and a small one on the remaining one. Honestly though it's not that great.

White Wolf's World of Darkness

Sassy Bitch Stargazer

May The Sun Never Blind Your Eyes

Sassy Bitch Stargazer

Sassy Bitch Stargazer

Sassy Bitch Stargazer

Sassy Bitch Stargazer

Shadow Cabal Barristerminator

Sassy Bitch Stargazer

Growing eyes on the inside

"I already have dragons, I do not want men."

Growing eyes on the inside