- Pronouns
- They/Them
Oh, I sorta knew that, I just didn't know whether there was some specific chatroom they were talking about, or "Chatrooms in general."
White Wolf's World of Darkness
Oh, I sorta knew that, I just didn't know whether there was some specific chatroom they were talking about, or "Chatrooms in general."
Generalissimo
Generalissimo of SufficientVelocity
- Location
- Tropico, Tropico
Is Canada's official residence in Ireland haunted? - BBC News
Canada is having problems with Irish ghosts.
Where's a good sin eater when you need her?
Canada is having problems with Irish ghosts.
Where's a good sin eater when you need her?
Fan splat idea,
Hollow: The Soulless.
The basic idea is that you have no soul. You might have been born without one. You might have lost it in an accident. You might have traded it for something of value. You might have bet it in an ill-considered card game. How it happened doesn't matter. All that matters is that there is an empty void inside you where it's supposed to be.
To one of the ensouled, you seem off, creepy, uncanny. You scare people, though not in the same way a Promethean does, more like Charles Manson. Your soulless nature makes it impossible for you to enjoy life. You're incapable of strong emotions such as love. You cannot play music, sing, or dance, or produce any type of art. Nor can you enjoy sex. Even your vices fail you . Smoking does nothing for you. You can't get drunk no matter how much alcohol you consume and you're immune to the effects of narcotic drugs.
But there is a way to mitigate this hollow existence. You can take another soul as your own, for a time. If you are close enough to a dying person as their soul leaves their body, it will be sucked into your void and become a part of you. This arrangement is always temporary. As time passes, the soul will slip from its bonds and to its final reward. It is also always traumatic, for both you and the soul. You are filled by the emotions and desires of the soul you have taken, and will be driven by them rather than by your own motivations. Knowing that your time together is short, you will be driven to fulfill the soul's final wishes before it slips away.
Hollow: The Soulless.
The basic idea is that you have no soul. You might have been born without one. You might have lost it in an accident. You might have traded it for something of value. You might have bet it in an ill-considered card game. How it happened doesn't matter. All that matters is that there is an empty void inside you where it's supposed to be.
To one of the ensouled, you seem off, creepy, uncanny. You scare people, though not in the same way a Promethean does, more like Charles Manson. Your soulless nature makes it impossible for you to enjoy life. You're incapable of strong emotions such as love. You cannot play music, sing, or dance, or produce any type of art. Nor can you enjoy sex. Even your vices fail you . Smoking does nothing for you. You can't get drunk no matter how much alcohol you consume and you're immune to the effects of narcotic drugs.
But there is a way to mitigate this hollow existence. You can take another soul as your own, for a time. If you are close enough to a dying person as their soul leaves their body, it will be sucked into your void and become a part of you. This arrangement is always temporary. As time passes, the soul will slip from its bonds and to its final reward. It is also always traumatic, for both you and the soul. You are filled by the emotions and desires of the soul you have taken, and will be driven by them rather than by your own motivations. Knowing that your time together is short, you will be driven to fulfill the soul's final wishes before it slips away.
Isn't this just one of the types of weird nmage slave races?
Would this replace the rules for soul loss?
Yes, it would.
Personally, I think the idea of getting a new soul every week, and along with it new drives, makes for an interesting adventure generator. Today you have the soul of the greatest thief in the world, you're driven to steal the Pink Panther diamond.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Though if it's a metaphor for depression, having people dying as the only source of joy for your character is somewhat dark.
This was apparently very appreciated, so I will post the sequel to it;
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Also, how exactly are they going to fit five Orders worth of material in 220 pages?
I mean, hrm.
There's apparently a book coming that's meant to cover all five Orders in one book, and it's like, "Well... maybe?"
I mean, hrm.
There's apparently a book coming that's meant to cover all five Orders in one book, and it's like, "Well... maybe?"
- Pronouns
- They/Them
With proper editing, I guess? I mean, it's 44 pages per Order, so it certainly won't be too in depth given WW's usual writing style, but you should be able to get some useful information, especially if they group shared history/conflicts/whatever?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Well maybe. I'm mostly comparing it to the Order Books of 1e?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I actually didn't get them. I suppose they're very long and about a single Order?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yes, and several of them are absolutely amazing. There's some deadwood in even the best of them, but I still can't imagine cutting it down to 44 pages without losing a lot.
Edit: For example, "The Mysterium" is 240 pages, and I can't imagine halving that without losing a lot, let alone divided into even more.
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- Location
- England
If you are referring to Tome of the Pentacle, allow me to disabuse you of this notion.
It's not like Secrets of the Covenants, one chapter per Order - I have no desire to try to redo the Order books in hyper-compressed form, and honestly, they're mostly still fine. Various mechanics need/have already been updated, but while Requiem and Forsaken shook up the depiction of Covenants and Tribes, in Awakening 2e we went with "they are as described in the very successful line of six big books".
Tome of the Pentacle isn't about the Orders divided into five equal silos - that would leave the Seers out for a start. It's about The Pentacle. The alliance. It's about the history of the Orders, global networks of mages, running political chronicles, playing Convocations, big, hundred-mage, multiple Caucus settings like New York.
Think Guide to the Traditions rather than a compilation of splatbooks.
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UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
I kind of forgot, but is there sorcery equivalent for MtAw?
- Location
- England
Like Sorcerer Revised, linear-mages Sorcerer? Sure - they're usually called Hedge Witches or minor talents or related euphamisms, and rules-wise they're done with a variety of Merits and part-templates. The main book in 1e was called Second Sight for the Merit-based ones, and Silver Ladder for the MTAW-specific "like a mage, but only knows a set list of rotes" people the game calls Proximi. In 2e, many Second ight merits are in the corebook, and the Proximi rules are in MTAW's Appendix, which is about such supporting-cast characters.
As in Ascension, Awakening assumes that the Orders are stuffed full of such folk and other Sleepwalkers, often outnumbering the "real" mages. Awakening does a slightly (and only slightly) more consistent job of remembering it, though.
For @Omicron:
CONTRACTS OF SHED BLOOD
Blood is the life. There is a reason that oaths sworn upon blood have particular power, and why many motleys swear to be blood brothers. Yet there is also something dark and monstrous about the willing shedding of blood; darker magics and gore-soaked secrets. The Contracts of Shed Blood allow Changelings to draw and invoke power from this bloodshed - both their own and of others.
Contracts of Shed Blood are considered affinity for Ogres.
ENGLISHMAN'S BLOOD (•)
The Changeling's keen nose exceeds that of a shark or a bloodhound.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Catch: The changeling herself inflicted the damage on the character within the present scene.
Effects
Rather than relying on a roll of any kind, this clause can be used to enhance an attempt to track or detect the presence of a specific character. The changeling adds a number of dice equal to the lower of (Wits) and (number of lethal or aggravated health levels the character has taken) to the sensory roll. On a success, additionally the Changeling's player should be told the amount of lethal or aggravated damage the target character has taken, though this information is conveyed to the character as sensory input (for example, six lethal health levels of damage is 'this character smells grievously injured - he's lost a lot of blood and is close to passing out').
A PRICE FOR LUCK(••)
Shedding her own blood, the changeling shows her willingness to succeed on an endeavour - and fortune accepts and respects her determination.
Cost: 1 Glamour, 1 lethal damage
Dice Pool: Resolve + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling uses a knife that is at least a hundred years old to cut her palm or thumb
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Fortune is offended by her presumption. The changeling believes she succeeded, but in fact her next roll automatically experiences a dramatic failure.
Failure: Fortune does not care. She receives no boon or curse.
Success: Her offering of blood brings her good luck. The next non-reflexive roll she makes has the rote quality.
Extraordinary Success: In addition, she also receives the 8-Again quality.
EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE (•••)
Blood for blood. Shedding the blood of a foe, she regains some of her own lost health.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Catch: The character suffered lethal or aggravated damage in the last turn.
Effects:
The changeling may activate this clause whenever successfully inflicting lethal or aggravated damage on a foe with a Brawl or Weaponry attack. She heals a point of bashing or lethal damage. If the attack was an Exceptional success, she may heal two points of bashing or lethal damage, or a point of aggravated damage.
HAEMORRHAGIC CURSE (••••)
Touching a foe, she incites their blood to rebel and leave them. Even the slightest wound bleeds profusely.
Cost: 3 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Occult, contested by Stamina + Wyrd
Action: Instant, Touch
Catch: In the past day, the changeling has loudly and obviously warned the target of their doom in front of at least three witnesses.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The power is turned inwards. The effects of a success afflict the changeling for the next day.
Failure: The target may find their gums bleeding slightly or that they're prone to nosebleeds, but there is no mechanical effect.
Success: To activate this clause, the changeling must first touch the target with her bare skin (which requires her to grapple an unwilling and aware character) before loudly proclaiming her curse. For a number of hours equal to the successes rolled, any lethal or aggravated damage the target takes bleeds as per the rules for what happens when a character fills their health track with lethal damage. This includes even characters who would not usually bleed out, as long as they still have blood (for example, vampires and many kinds of True Fae too proud to show weakness).
Extraordinary Success: Extra successes are their own reward.
FREAK WITHIN THE BLOOD (•••••)
With a terrible scream, the changeling unleashes the monstrous force of unrestrained vitality. She becomes a nightmare figure, clawed and fanged and full of a terrible thirst.
Cost: 4 Glamour
Dice Pool: Stamina + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The character is drenched from head to foot in blood when activating this clause. It doesn't really matter whose blood it is, though.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The clause successfully activates, as per the description for a Success. However, the character is gripped by madness and indiscriminately attacks anything with blood that she sees. This lasts indefinitely, but once a scene has passed sights and characters close to her heart (such as a pleading loved one) let her spend a willpower point to end the clause.
Failure: Her flesh spasms and ripples, but the change does not last.
Success: A terrible spasm overcomes her body, transforming her into a monstrous figure of gore and dripping viscera. The character adds half her Wyrd to her Size, Speed and her Strength, and gains two points of Armour. Her unarmed attacks do lethal damage equal to half her Wyrd, and she can bite without needing to first grapple. However, her distended hands lack the manual dexterity to use weapons (or indeed other tools) that are not Tokens, and the gory transformation completely destroys any worn clothing or armour that cannot be discarded in the process of changing forms.
Obviously this form is entirely inappropriate for fine dinner parties. The character has a -5 penalty to all social Abilities, with the exception of Intimidate which gains a bonus of half her Wyrd. Many social Merits, such as Striking Looks, are inapplicable when in this monstrous form. Moreover, a sick bloodlust drives her - Resolve + Composure rolls may be required to stop her from attacking characters she hates, or trying to drink spilled blood on the ground. The Changeling remains in this form for a whole scene, and cannot terminate it early.
Extraordinary Success: The clause remains active for a whole day, and additionally the Changeling can terminate it by the expenditure of a willpower point.
CONTRACTS OF SHED BLOOD
Blood is the life. There is a reason that oaths sworn upon blood have particular power, and why many motleys swear to be blood brothers. Yet there is also something dark and monstrous about the willing shedding of blood; darker magics and gore-soaked secrets. The Contracts of Shed Blood allow Changelings to draw and invoke power from this bloodshed - both their own and of others.
Contracts of Shed Blood are considered affinity for Ogres.
ENGLISHMAN'S BLOOD (•)
The Changeling's keen nose exceeds that of a shark or a bloodhound.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Catch: The changeling herself inflicted the damage on the character within the present scene.
Effects
Rather than relying on a roll of any kind, this clause can be used to enhance an attempt to track or detect the presence of a specific character. The changeling adds a number of dice equal to the lower of (Wits) and (number of lethal or aggravated health levels the character has taken) to the sensory roll. On a success, additionally the Changeling's player should be told the amount of lethal or aggravated damage the target character has taken, though this information is conveyed to the character as sensory input (for example, six lethal health levels of damage is 'this character smells grievously injured - he's lost a lot of blood and is close to passing out').
A PRICE FOR LUCK(••)
Shedding her own blood, the changeling shows her willingness to succeed on an endeavour - and fortune accepts and respects her determination.
Cost: 1 Glamour, 1 lethal damage
Dice Pool: Resolve + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling uses a knife that is at least a hundred years old to cut her palm or thumb
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Fortune is offended by her presumption. The changeling believes she succeeded, but in fact her next roll automatically experiences a dramatic failure.
Failure: Fortune does not care. She receives no boon or curse.
Success: Her offering of blood brings her good luck. The next non-reflexive roll she makes has the rote quality.
Extraordinary Success: In addition, she also receives the 8-Again quality.
EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE (•••)
Blood for blood. Shedding the blood of a foe, she regains some of her own lost health.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Catch: The character suffered lethal or aggravated damage in the last turn.
Effects:
The changeling may activate this clause whenever successfully inflicting lethal or aggravated damage on a foe with a Brawl or Weaponry attack. She heals a point of bashing or lethal damage. If the attack was an Exceptional success, she may heal two points of bashing or lethal damage, or a point of aggravated damage.
HAEMORRHAGIC CURSE (••••)
Touching a foe, she incites their blood to rebel and leave them. Even the slightest wound bleeds profusely.
Cost: 3 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Occult, contested by Stamina + Wyrd
Action: Instant, Touch
Catch: In the past day, the changeling has loudly and obviously warned the target of their doom in front of at least three witnesses.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The power is turned inwards. The effects of a success afflict the changeling for the next day.
Failure: The target may find their gums bleeding slightly or that they're prone to nosebleeds, but there is no mechanical effect.
Success: To activate this clause, the changeling must first touch the target with her bare skin (which requires her to grapple an unwilling and aware character) before loudly proclaiming her curse. For a number of hours equal to the successes rolled, any lethal or aggravated damage the target takes bleeds as per the rules for what happens when a character fills their health track with lethal damage. This includes even characters who would not usually bleed out, as long as they still have blood (for example, vampires and many kinds of True Fae too proud to show weakness).
Extraordinary Success: Extra successes are their own reward.
FREAK WITHIN THE BLOOD (•••••)
With a terrible scream, the changeling unleashes the monstrous force of unrestrained vitality. She becomes a nightmare figure, clawed and fanged and full of a terrible thirst.
Cost: 4 Glamour
Dice Pool: Stamina + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The character is drenched from head to foot in blood when activating this clause. It doesn't really matter whose blood it is, though.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The clause successfully activates, as per the description for a Success. However, the character is gripped by madness and indiscriminately attacks anything with blood that she sees. This lasts indefinitely, but once a scene has passed sights and characters close to her heart (such as a pleading loved one) let her spend a willpower point to end the clause.
Failure: Her flesh spasms and ripples, but the change does not last.
Success: A terrible spasm overcomes her body, transforming her into a monstrous figure of gore and dripping viscera. The character adds half her Wyrd to her Size, Speed and her Strength, and gains two points of Armour. Her unarmed attacks do lethal damage equal to half her Wyrd, and she can bite without needing to first grapple. However, her distended hands lack the manual dexterity to use weapons (or indeed other tools) that are not Tokens, and the gory transformation completely destroys any worn clothing or armour that cannot be discarded in the process of changing forms.
Obviously this form is entirely inappropriate for fine dinner parties. The character has a -5 penalty to all social Abilities, with the exception of Intimidate which gains a bonus of half her Wyrd. Many social Merits, such as Striking Looks, are inapplicable when in this monstrous form. Moreover, a sick bloodlust drives her - Resolve + Composure rolls may be required to stop her from attacking characters she hates, or trying to drink spilled blood on the ground. The Changeling remains in this form for a whole scene, and cannot terminate it early.
Extraordinary Success: The clause remains active for a whole day, and additionally the Changeling can terminate it by the expenditure of a willpower point.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Missing a word or two here.
Looks like Changeling 20th Anniversary edition is going up to DTRPG tomorrow, for those interested.
EDIT: Its up. Link to the page on DTRPG.
EDIT: Its up. Link to the page on DTRPG.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
I've read the Mysterium book not that long ago, so maybe I'm just blanking on this, but for Mysterium members, do they allow people to 'check out' books, or is it more like a medieval library where you stay on the premises?
I know that outsiders who want to learn about a topic have a 'Reading Room' or the like, because actually looking through the collection directly, rather than asking the Curator if you can read about X, Y, or Z, is a privilege of being one of the Mysterium.
I know that outsiders who want to learn about a topic have a 'Reading Room' or the like, because actually looking through the collection directly, rather than asking the Curator if you can read about X, Y, or Z, is a privilege of being one of the Mysterium.
Survivor: Hail to the King.
You never believed in monsters, but that didn't stop monsters from believing in you. It killed everyone you ever cared about, but somehow you survived, and you came out of this experience changed.
Survivors might be mistaken for insane Hunters at first glance. Most of them are reclusive paranoids with excessively large weapon stockpiles who rant about monsters to anyone who will listen. But there are two real differences between a Survivor and a Hunter. First, Survivors are don't have large networks. There are no Survivor Compacts, let alone Conspiracies. Even Survivor cells tend to be rare and temporary. Most Survivors are loners, and have difficulty extending trust. Second, every Survivor has a Connection to the monster that he escaped. The Survivor draws supernatural power from this connection, making him much more than human, but this Connection also tethers his monster to him, ensuring that it cannot be permanently destroyed, and that he can never truly be free of it.
Survivor Types -
Final Girl/Guy: Final Girls and Final Guys are Survivors of Slashers. They are the most common type of Survivor and are generally considered the weakest, but this is untrue. Final Girls and Final Guys are invariably highly skilled, talented, resourceful, lucky, and extraordinarily human.
Ashes: Ashes are Survivors not of a single monster, but of a potent Artifact. Their Connection ensures that the artifact will always find its way back into their possession, but they are rarely strong enough, or wise enough, to control its power.
Dead Wives: A Dead Wife can be male or female, and regardless of gender is an object of obsession for an immortal. The term originally to Mina Harker and Helen Grosvenor, and undead monsters claiming that you're the reincarnation of their long dead spouses has become something of a cliche, though the reason for the obsession can potentially be anything. The important distinction is that, unlike other Survivors, Dead Wives were never in danger of physical harm from their tormentors, but rather spiritual and moral corruption. Most Dead Wives are not as lucky as Mina and Helen, and the majority end up being transformed against their will, eventually.
A Survivor develops powers similar to the monster that they survived, and fuels those powers through their Connection to the monster. The more strength a Survivor draws through their Connection, the more inhuman they become, and the faster their monster finds them again.
You never believed in monsters, but that didn't stop monsters from believing in you. It killed everyone you ever cared about, but somehow you survived, and you came out of this experience changed.
Survivors might be mistaken for insane Hunters at first glance. Most of them are reclusive paranoids with excessively large weapon stockpiles who rant about monsters to anyone who will listen. But there are two real differences between a Survivor and a Hunter. First, Survivors are don't have large networks. There are no Survivor Compacts, let alone Conspiracies. Even Survivor cells tend to be rare and temporary. Most Survivors are loners, and have difficulty extending trust. Second, every Survivor has a Connection to the monster that he escaped. The Survivor draws supernatural power from this connection, making him much more than human, but this Connection also tethers his monster to him, ensuring that it cannot be permanently destroyed, and that he can never truly be free of it.
Survivor Types -
Final Girl/Guy: Final Girls and Final Guys are Survivors of Slashers. They are the most common type of Survivor and are generally considered the weakest, but this is untrue. Final Girls and Final Guys are invariably highly skilled, talented, resourceful, lucky, and extraordinarily human.
Ashes: Ashes are Survivors not of a single monster, but of a potent Artifact. Their Connection ensures that the artifact will always find its way back into their possession, but they are rarely strong enough, or wise enough, to control its power.
Dead Wives: A Dead Wife can be male or female, and regardless of gender is an object of obsession for an immortal. The term originally to Mina Harker and Helen Grosvenor, and undead monsters claiming that you're the reincarnation of their long dead spouses has become something of a cliche, though the reason for the obsession can potentially be anything. The important distinction is that, unlike other Survivors, Dead Wives were never in danger of physical harm from their tormentors, but rather spiritual and moral corruption. Most Dead Wives are not as lucky as Mina and Helen, and the majority end up being transformed against their will, eventually.
A Survivor develops powers similar to the monster that they survived, and fuels those powers through their Connection to the monster. The more strength a Survivor draws through their Connection, the more inhuman they become, and the faster their monster finds them again.
- Location
- East of the Sun and West of the Moon
So this is for those "one guy and a GM" kind of games?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I have questions for someone who knows about Mage 2e:
Is Withstand as restrictive as it seems? I mean, in terms of making it hard if not impossible to actually effect anyone in any way at a low level without having to basically prep forever and use as many Yantras as possible? Because a person with a Composure of 2, that is to say an average person, means you need to take -4 to your spellcasting roll to even have a chance to effect him, which makes it out of reach of most low and even low-mid level players without, again, tons of Yantras or making it a Rote. That's at least what the rules seem to be saying.
Edit: Actually, even a basic Mental Scan has a Withstand rating that makes a lot of Mind kinda, uh, less useful? If you're trying to use it on other people. On the one hand I can understand how you want to make sure that resistance exists, but it does seem a little bit wonky. I know you're supposed to be heavily relying on Yantra, though, so maybe that makes up the difference?
Is Withstand as restrictive as it seems? I mean, in terms of making it hard if not impossible to actually effect anyone in any way at a low level without having to basically prep forever and use as many Yantras as possible? Because a person with a Composure of 2, that is to say an average person, means you need to take -4 to your spellcasting roll to even have a chance to effect him, which makes it out of reach of most low and even low-mid level players without, again, tons of Yantras or making it a Rote. That's at least what the rules seem to be saying.
Edit: Actually, even a basic Mental Scan has a Withstand rating that makes a lot of Mind kinda, uh, less useful? If you're trying to use it on other people. On the one hand I can understand how you want to make sure that resistance exists, but it does seem a little bit wonky. I know you're supposed to be heavily relying on Yantra, though, so maybe that makes up the difference?
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