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White Wolf's World of Darkness

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As per Shadows of the UK:

There have historically been quite a few ghouls in the House of Lords in the UK and several ghouled MPs (it mentions the last one lost their seat in 1997, but it's a thing that happens).

The British civil service and intelligence agencies and police are, at the mid levels (ie, the levels where the actual implementation of things is controlled), lousy with Seers and Guardians. The Seers of the Night Cabinet are all mid-ranking servants with influential positions who are slowly methodically choking out the Consilium of London, massaging the British establishment against their foes and... ahem, "influencing" their nominal superiors.
 
The Laurent said:
Actually, that's a question. In the nWoD as it is set up, what's the highest a supernatural whosit is likely to rise? Like, could you imagine a Changeling elected mayor of a small town? State Senator? Are there Governors of states out there that might have been a little bit...Magical?

Like, clearly this isn't oWoD in which supernatural forces actually run the entire world and all five of the normal humans in it with an iron fist.
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For a Barret Commission game it's reasonable to have all players running Senators in Congress.
West Wing: Hunter Edition is plenty fun.
Of course it usually ends up more on House of Cards: Hunter Edition end of things.
Yes Minister: Hunter Edition is what happens if you group of parliamentary hunters are incompetents.
 
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Now i see, Donald Trump is a confused and very disoriented Nosferatu which is trying to become president and Hilary is an Barret Commision Hunter failing at her job.
 
Paulie Romanov said:
I used to own that book on PDF, it is indeed awesome!
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Only thing I don't like about Elysium: The Elder Wars are wacky elder conspiracies.
If only a fraction of princes & elders know about said factions. . .
. . . and multiple of these groups exist. . .
. . . there really shouldn't be ancient vampires enough for supporting any formal organization.
Armchair number crunching has elder conspiracies memberships numbering four to six each.
That's really not much of a conspiracy.
It's barely a club!

D'SOMS said:
Now i see, Donald Trump is a confused and very disoriented Nosferatu which is trying to become president and Hilary is an Barret Commision Hunter failing at her job.
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Let's avoid real world politics?
That being said. . . .
. . . Hillary is obviously establishment Seer!
Donald Trump is a Barret Commission hunter who vaulted over Vampire Republicans but lacked endgame afterwards.
That's what happens when you allow Suits to play Quorum's game.
Quorum Rocks, Suits Suck, and Five Stars are ok!
 
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On a random fun thematic note, one cool thing about high-Wyrd I always liked is that some aspects of it can start to come out as personality.

Like, the Snowskin might feel cold to the touch...or people might think that she's an ice-Queen bitch when she politely asks for a glass of water.

Or, a guy with flaming hair says, "Can I please have a cup of coffee" and all of the mortals are like, "Jesus christ, stop sounding so angry."

Yes, tucked away in one of the books is that little gem, just waiting for plot ideas. :p
 
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The Laurent said:
On a random fun thematic note, one cool thing about high-Wyrd I always liked is that some aspects of it can start to come out as personality.

Like, the Snowskin might feel cold to the touch...or people might think that she's an ice-Queen bitch when she politely asks for a glass of water.

Or, a guy with flaming hair says, "Can I please have a cup of coffee" and all of the mortals are like, "Jesus christ, stop sounding so angry."

Yes, tucked away in one of the books is that little gem, just waiting for plot ideas. :p
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Mummy has something like that, with Sekhem where a Mummy who is low on Sekhem looks fatigued, diseased, and maybe slighty like a cancer patient.

Like, you can see the rings beneath their eyes, and the repressed desire when the possibility of sleep comes up, because they need to go back to the slumber between the Sothic Turns.
 
ManusDomine said:
Mummy has something like that, with Sekhem where a Mummy who is low on Sekhem looks fatigued, diseased, and maybe slighty like a cancer patient.

Like, you can see the rings beneath their eyes, and the repressed desire when the possibility of sleep comes up, because they need to go back to the slumber between the Sothic Turns.
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It has to be used in a limited manner or it gets cheap and a little silly, but it is an interesting aspect to add to the 'How Changelings might be different' playbook. As their Wyrd increases, they more and more embody their Kith and Seeming, and some of the ways they do might to outsiders not be merely physical.
 
The Laurent said:
It has to be used in a limited manner or it gets cheap and a little silly, but it is an interesting aspect to add to the 'How Changelings might be different' playbook. As their Wyrd increases, they more and more embody their Kith and Seeming, and some of the ways they do might to outsiders not be merely physical.
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I definetely agree with this.

I can imagine how Blackwell would ask for a glass of water and people would think "jesus dude, this isn't work, you can have some humanity in your voice." Or how he might run a stretch and people would look at him and think "why does every step he takes look so calculated?".
 
ManusDomine said:
Nononononono, you have it all wrong.

Trump is a Seer.

Hillary is a Seer.

Bernie is a Seer.

It's Seers all the way down.
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Pretty much! The Seers book does say that the Seers might not be able to directly choose the president of the US, but they can ensure that every candidate is someone who's acceptable to them.

Hence, the current affairs in the US are probably a clash between the faction of Hegemon that likes the current world order, and the faction of Hegemon which is just like "Fuck Mammon, let's push humanity back to factionalised and broken nations which can't support an international trading structure".
 
EarthScorpion said:
Pretty much! The Seers book does say that the Seers might not be able to directly choose the president of the US, but they can ensure that every candidate is someone who's acceptable to them.

Hence, the current affairs in the US are probably a clash between the faction of Hegemon that likes the current world order, and the faction of Hegemon which is just like "Fuck Mammon, let's push humanity back to factionalised and broken nations which can't support an international trading structure".
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Which faction is like "Dude, where's the nuclear war. We were promised a nuclear war? What the fuck do you mean the Soviet Union collapsed?"


Generalissimo said:
Only thing I don't like about Elysium: The Elder Wars are wacky elder conspiracies.
If only a fraction of princes & elders know about said factions. . .
. . . and multiple of these groups exist. . .
. . . there really shouldn't be ancient vampires enough for supporting any formal organization.
Armchair number crunching has elder conspiracies memberships numbering four to six each.
That's really not much of a conspiracy.
It's barely a club!
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That's a problem that every oWoD group has.

The True Black Hand is worse. They're a tiny and ultra-elite secret conspiracy inside a tiny and ultra-elite secret conspiricy.
 
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hyzmarca said:
That's a problem that every oWoD group has.

The True Black Hand is worse. They're a tiny and ultra-elite secret conspiracy inside a tiny and ultra-elite secret conspiricy.
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If you're joined a ten-vampire-strong Elder conspiracy five of them probably have formal conspiracy unto themselves.
Of the five perhaps two have a subfaction within the subfaction! :p

On a more serious note what's point of having trappings of a cabal for maybe half dozen conspirators?
Deligation is easy for that few people so why bother with formalized bureaucracy?
Titles and ranks don't matter in what's practically an extracurricular hangout?
Worse still wasting centuries of plotting to kill for utterly toothless rankings and titles.
You're going to kill 1/4 the folks you're hanging out with. . .
. . . to acquire something that barely matters exclusively to people in the room? :confused:
 
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Generalissimo said:
If you're joined a ten-vampire-strong Elder conspiracy five of them probably have formal conspiracy unto themselves.
Of the five perhaps two have a subfaction within the subfaction! :p

On a more serious note what's point of having trappings of a cabal for maybe half dozen conspirators?
Deligation is easy for that few people so why bother with formalized bureaucracy?
Titles and ranks don't matter in what's practically an extracurricular hangout?
Worse still wasting centuries of plotting to kill for utterly toothless rankings and titles.
You're going to kill 1/4 the folks you're hanging out with. . .
. . . to acquire something that barely matters exclusively to people in the room? :confused:
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White Wolf Writers can't do math, basically. It's as simple as that. White Wolf Writers can't do math.

It works out best if you assume quantum vampires and the number of vamps at your level of play is always in the low hundreds. So, the average city has a couple hundred vampires in it. And the average Elder Conspiracy has a couple hundred vampires in it. And the entire Sabbat has a couple hundred vampires in it, total. And the True Black Hand has a couple hundred vampires in it. Every Clan has a couple hundred members on the entire planet and a couple hundred members in every city. Every obscure bloodline has a couple hundred members on the entire planet, and a couple hundred members in every city.

Quantum vampires.


Or you could just assume that 90% of all mortals are actually Cappadocians using Gift of Life.
 
hyzmarca said:
White Wolf Writers can't do math, basically. It's as simple as that. White Wolf Writers can't do math.
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And worst of all:

White Wolf writers believe that they can do math.

See: Halta.

hyzmarca said:
It works out best if you assume quantum vampires and the number of vamps at your level of play is always in the low hundreds. So, the average city has a couple hundred vampires in it. And the average Elder Conspiracy has a couple hundred vampires in it. And the entire Sabbat has a couple hundred vampires in it, total. And the True Black Hand has a couple hundred vampires in it. Every Clan has a couple hundred members on the entire planet and a couple hundred members in every city. Every obscure bloodline has a couple hundred members on the entire planet, and a couple hundred members in every city.
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This totally works fine and cannot ever go wrong in any way.

hyzmarca said:
Quantum vampires.
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Is totally a band name.


hyzmarca said:
Or you could just assume that 90% of all mortals are actually Cappadocians using Gift of Life.
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"So you thought I would just let you enter this nightclub and feed like it wouldn't have consequenses?"

"Think again! Everyone in the nightclub unveils fangs and grows claws!"

"Fooooolish players!"
 
hyzmarca said:
White Wolf Writers can't do math, basically. It's as simple as that. White Wolf Writers can't do math.
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ManusDomine said:
And worst of all:

White Wolf writers believe that they can do math.
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What's exactly what makes Elder Conspiracies nonsensical.
Ignoring the misstep Elysium: The Elder Wars can be plenty fun.

You've taken nine dots in Politics [American]: Specialization Democrat Party
(still completely reasonable numbers for a higher leveled Elders game)
Enjoy being the party establishment.

Other player took nine dots in Politics (American): Specialization Republican Party
(completely reasonable numbers for a higher leveled Elders game)
She's enjoying being the party establishment.


Running both parties in America sounds awesome. . .
. . . until you're up against Elder with ten dots in Politics (Russian): Specialization Union of Soviet Socialist Republics :p
 
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Generalissimo said:
What's exactly what makes Elder Conspiracies nonsensical.
Ignoring the misstep Elysium: The Elder Wars can be plenty fun.

You've taken nine dots in Politics [American]: Specialization Democrat Party
(still completely reasonable numbers for a higher leveled Elders game)
Enjoy being the party establishment.

Other player took nine dots in Politics (American): Specialization Republican Party
(completely reasonable numbers for a higher leveled Elders game)
She's enjoying being the party establishment.


Running both parties in America sounds awesome. . .
. . . until you're up against Elder with ten dots in Politics (Russian): Specialization Union of Soviet Socialist Republics :p
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That's the real reason the USSR fell. We did it just to screw over this duchebag.

ManusDomine said:
And worst of all:

White Wolf writers believe that they can do math.

See: Halta.
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I'm not familiar with Halta's problems.
 
hyzmarca said:
I'm not familiar with Halta's problems.
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Halta is a nation in Exalted, which...

I'll leave this here:

Aleph on Spacebattles said:
Oh, it's better than that. They control an area the size of the Realm without access to the ground. Anyone who knows anything whatsoever about the dependence of a large society on agriculture will instantly, instantly call bullshit on that one.

And then yes, they're a super special snowflake barbarian culture who live in trees but have advanced bureaucracy and high rates of literacy and good health and they're liberal and accepting of beastmen and they have gods and First Age Lunars on their side and the Linowa are fighting them with Realm aid so they're (one of) the LONE UNDERDOG(s) STANDING UP AGAINST THE REALM, and...

... it's nauseatingly Mary Sueish, frankly. Not to mention completely fucking stupid. At best, you should have disparate groups of "Haltan tribes" in the same way that you have "Amazonian tribes" - no unification, just a common environment, with thaumaturgic wards on their villages (often but not always arboreal, because that makes them easier to defend even when the wards don't work) that make them fairly safe from the raksha bands native to the area. They're not at war with Linowa as a whole, because there is no whole, but the tribes near the Linowan border attack them and are attacked in turn, and while they're less advanced they have guerilla supremacy in the forest - rather like the US in Vietnam. There should certainly be none of the "enlightened and accepting", "talking animals", "high literacy", "advanced bureaucracy" crap going on (though beastmen are, frankly, their own problem), because that's just Mary Sue on top of Mary Sue.

And hey, with the monopolity that is Halta broken, there's space to look at real-life historical "high latitude forested cultures" - parts of Russia, Sweden-Norway-Finland, maybe bits of Canada, the northern-most bits of Japan, etc - and put a few kingdoms and realistic societies down in that region. Ones that, you know, don't suck.
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