The State of the Chronicles of Darkness

[tragedyjones]

Hey folks (but mostly @EmmahSue and @Glitch) - http://theonyxpath.com/ascension-mage-the-awakening/

Mage is now done development and in editing.

[Bobotron]

Hopefully related to the future of this topic.

Wish me luck guys. I'm sending in my freelancer stuff submission packet for review this week to OPP, after my friend who writes for them does a first read for me. I'm sending in some 'after the Withering' post-Gehenna setting information for my fluff section, and a combo Discipline for the crunch stuff that I need.

[Coin]

@Bobotron said:

Hopefully related to the future of this topic.

Wish me luck guys. I'm sending in my freelancer stuff this week to OPP, after my friend who writes for them does a first read for me. I'm sending in some 'after the Withering' post-Gehenna setting information for my fluff section, and a combo Discipline for the crunch stuff that I need.

Are you actually freelancing for them or are you submitting something in hopes of..? Either way, good luck.

[Bobotron]

@Coin
Submitting in hopes to do so, I should have totally been more clear.
And thank you very much. I'm hopeful on it; my friend who writes for them seemed to think that doing the setting-based fluff would go over well, as he hears from people that a lot of things like bloodline writeups and such come in for the fluff sections.

[Arkandel]

@Bobotron Good luck! The wishes of a thousand MSBers and WORAites are with you. With that kind of karma coming your way what can possibly go wrong?

[Bobotron]

@Arkandel
WHY YOU CURSE ME?! AAAAAAAH!

In all seriousness, thanks. It's been something I've been considering, and when your plot writing for LARP orgs gets props from players who are also developers and writers, it is something of a confidence booster.

[tragedyjones]

Not much in the way of news this week, but here is some Changeling stuff for y'all to enjoy

http://theonyxpath.com/changeling-the-lost-second-edition-inspirations/

[tragedyjones]

A beefier update: Some 3/4 or so of the Kiths in CtL 2E:

http://theonyxpath.com/changeling-the-lost-second-edition-kiths-2/

[BallisticOrange]

The kiths seem to be having the issue they did in 1E, which is to say some serious bonuses to one or two and a few others that look a bit dodgy by compare.

[Thenomain]

@BallisticOrange said:

The kiths seem to be having the issue they did in 1E, which is to say some serious bonuses to one or two and a few others that look a bit dodgy by compare.

In other news: nWoD's water is probably as wet in 2e as in 1e.

[Pyrephox]

@BallisticOrange said:

The kiths seem to be having the issue they did in 1E, which is to say some serious bonuses to one or two and a few others that look a bit dodgy by compare.

The gulf seems to be narrowed, though. Looking at those, I can't think of any that I couldn't find a character concept that would love it, even if some are beefier than others.

[tragedyjones]

I reviewed the Kiths revealed alongside @Coin, primarily in regards to using them on Dust2Dust, and none of them are heinously broken, though I have issues with a few for either being too similar or having far too narrow a scope.

[Miss Demeanor]

I still have a hate on for the Dancer Kith's bonus. Hate that Kith SO MUCH.

[tragedyjones]

@Miss-Demeanor said:

I still have a hate on for the Dancer Kith's bonus. Hate that Kith SO MUCH.

The new one or the old, and why? Thematic or mechanic?

[Miss Demeanor]

Both and mechanic. Same stupid bonus to dance-related rolls. Having played a Dancer for years, I can tell you just how little it actually comes up. >.> Or matters.

[HelloRaptor]

@Miss-Demeanor said:

Both and mechanic. Same stupid bonus to dance-related rolls. Having played a Dancer for years, I can tell you just how little it actually comes up. >.> Or matters.

Needs more Persuasion Spec (Seductive Breakdancing).

[Coin]

@Miss-Demeanor said:

Both and mechanic. Same stupid bonus to dance-related rolls. Having played a Dancer for years, I can tell you just how little it actually comes up. >.> Or matters.

This seems more like a problem with the concept of a dancer on a MU and how much actual dancing you'll be doing to make a mechanic practical and viable, than any actual problem in the theme or mechanic of the Kith itself. >.>

[HelloRaptor]

@Coin said:

@Miss-Demeanor said:

Both and mechanic. Same stupid bonus to dance-related rolls. Having played a Dancer for years, I can tell you just how little it actually comes up. >.> Or matters.

This seems more like a problem with the concept of a dancer on a MU and how much actual dancing you'll be doing to make a mechanic practical and viable, than any actual problem in the theme or mechanic of the Kith itself. >.>

Does it? That was rhetorical, because no, it really doesn't.

[Coin]

@HelloRaptor said:

@Coin said:

@Miss-Demeanor said:

Both and mechanic. Same stupid bonus to dance-related rolls. Having played a Dancer for years, I can tell you just how little it actually comes up. >.> Or matters.

This seems more like a problem with the concept of a dancer on a MU and how much actual dancing you'll be doing to make a mechanic practical and viable, than any actual problem in the theme or mechanic of the Kith itself. >.>

Does it? That was rhetorical, because no, it really doesn't.

It really does, though. There's nothing stopping someone from running a game in tabletop wherein a character with the Dancer Kith can make exceedingly good use of their Blessing. Especially considering that the new version provides the effect of making it really hard to notice anything else when a Dancer is performing in your presence--the possibilities for your friends are many.

What's the difference between "Dancer" and "Author"? Hell, in MUs where you can just hold events and have people dance as a performance piece, a Dancer seems like they're going to get to play their profession a lot more than an Author, whose profession is largely solitary and involves maybe rolling dice and then putting up a bbpost that says, "I wrote a book about [subject]. 27 successes. Super popular!"

Concepts are viable if they get play; if they don't, it's likely a problem with the medium or storyteller, not the concept itself. Sure, you can hyperbolize and find concepts this isn't true for, but in this case? Not really. if you make a dancer, chances are you want to roleplay dancing--and if you want to roleplay dancing, you should be looking for reasons to do that, and if you can't find them, it's not really an issue with the concept, but with the game/story.

[HelloRaptor]

@Coin

There's nothing stopping someone from running a game in tabletop wherein a character with the Dancer Kith can make exceedingly good use of their Blessing.

And if there were a Zerbert Kith that got +10 dice when zerberting the bellies of small children, there'd be nothing stopping someone from running a game in tabletop wherin all conflicts would be with rowdy babies who need to be entertained.

What's the difference between "Dancer" and "Author"?

Uh, the difference is that even in the absence of its particular schtick, this:

• Also, she can read and interpret anything written in a mortal language.

Is still a pretty goddamn useful ability in any number of situations.

Concepts

There's nothing wrong with concepts, but a Kith blessing like the Dancer gets is pretty fucking narrow in scope. How about instead of Author we look at another performance-based Kith, like Minstrel?

• The changeling can never fail on an Expression roll. She gains one automatic success on any Expression rolls. When using Expression in an attempt to harvest Glamour, she achieves exceptional success on three successes instead of five.

Hey, look at that, some shit that's useful outside the pretty explicit name of your Kith.

Even other similar Kiths with similar blessings get more useful shit than Dancer. The Nightsinger's blessing is only related to their singing, but they get

• A nightsinger can play powerful haunting melodies. He gains the 8-again quality to all rolls to perform music. If he spends a point of Glamour, he can draw listeners' darker feeling to the surface. The nightsinger makes a Wits + Expression roll, Resisted by listeners' Composure. If the nightsinger wins, he can impose the Deprived, Guilty, or Shaken Condition on listeners, or other Conditions with Storyteller discretion. Listeners can only be affected by one of these Conditions from a single nightsinger at a time.

That's got some utility, instead of some nebulous 'where movement is involved' shit, and the rather dubious utility of inflicting Obsession.

The fact that a good Storyteller can make a shit writeup work if they try doesn't make something any less shit as a baseline, and Dancer's pretty shit.