World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings

Tinuviel

@jennkryst And not in a position to kill you either. That's an important one.

Coin

@jennkryst said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

@tinuviel said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

@sg Open immigration, universal healthcare, disarming the police force...

... this upsets me, because it's one of those obvious-but-not things. Gotta keep your food source healthy and not killing eachother.

***NSFW content***

click to show

Lithium

@coin Spoilers tag, jeeze, some of us aren't that far into The Strain

I mean that seriously!

I am slowly making my way through the show still.

Coin

@lithium said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

@coin Spoilers tag, jeeze, some of us aren't that far into The Strain

I mean that seriously!

I am slowly making my way through the show still.

Yep. Sorry.

Lithium

@coin Danke.

Jennkryst

Stupid Hulu takes forever to add shows in full.

Tinuviel

@jennkryst But it always takes its time to show ads in full.

Ganymede

So, there's movement here. Honest. I'm working slowly but steadily. What we've got is a Dark Ages Vampire 2E game brewing, with some twists based on the supplements that have been released.

Not Lords and Ladies: Sorry, but this will be a Dark Ages game. There will be knights and politics, but there will also be monsters and terror. The game will be set around 1250 in Terra Mariana, a.k.a. Livonia.
Actions: There will be an action system in the game, which will be used to power the political side of things. Characters have a limited number of actions daily, so plan accordingly. With those actions, players can complete tasks and missions to achieve status in factions and covenants.
Factions: Vying for status in human factions is important, as the ebb and flow of human politics has a substantial effect on vampires. Factions will include: the Holy Roman Empire; the Livonian Order; the Hanseatic League; and the Old Livonia peasantry.
Covenants: Of course, vying for status in Kindred factions -- the Covenants -- is important, but, in the Dark Ages, over half of the presented Covenants don't exist. On this game, Covenants will include: the Lancea et Sanctum; the Invictus; the Vedmak (local pagans, like Acolytes); and the Legio Mortuum (that's right).
Clans and Bloodlines: As can be expected, there will be bloodlines for Clans, adapted on our own with inspiration from 1E and other pre-2E sources. I won't go through all of the lines we've got simmering, but the Clans will include the traditional five, plus the Julii and the Pijavica.

So, we're working on things, and I'd expect it would take another couple of months of active work at least before we have our wiki ready for viewing.

Suggestions based on the above are welcome.

Lisse24

@ganymede I like it! Will you also be implementing a +clue-like system for plots?

Ganymede

@lisse24 said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

I like it! Will you also be implementing a +clue-like system for plots?

Not really, if you're referring to Arx's clue system. I think it's a little too secretive. I envision plots and tasks working like open +requests, but I haven't mapped out the system. On the other hand, there will be an investigation system that will work similarly to CoD's Clue system, which will be what a player can use to discover the IC extent of another PC's political/economic assets.

Part of what I need to work on:

Social systems: Per my earlier, several posts on the issue, the social system is opt-out on the part of the target. There will be some outlining of how to handle short-term, quick social rolls (bribing an official for a quick favor), open scene challenges (social combat, as from the Danse Macabre), and long-term influence gaining (convincing someone to vote a certain way on a council on an important issue, using Doors).
Mental systems: As above, but for mental things: short-term, quick mental rolls (figuring out where a person keeps his alcohol in his office); open mental challenges (mental combat, as from the Danse Macabre), and long-term mental challenges (out-maneuvering an opponent in order to grab one of their assets, or investigating the extent of a PC's or NPC's assets).

Once we get an outline of the bloodlines out of the way, these are the next steps because the Devotions each bloodline will have may have an effect on how these systems work.

Lisse24

@ganymede I actually agree with you. I like the concept behind Arx's +clues system more than I like it's implementation. Which isn't to say it's implemented poorly, I'd just love to see people iterate on the idea. So, if you're doing something similar, although not exactly the same, that checks the box that I was looking for!

Wizz

@ganymede said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

Not Lords and Ladies: Sorry, but this will be a Dark Ages game. There will be knights and politics, but there will also be monsters and terror. The game will be set around 1250 in Terra Mariana, a.k.a. Livonia.

Wherewoof?

Pls?

Pretty pls?

Ganymede

@wizz said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

Wherewoof?

No. This is a political Dark Ages game. Werewolf just doesn't fit in, other than as NPC antagonists.

Sorry.

Wizz

@ganymede said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

Sorry.

YOU SHOULD BE

Mr.Johnson

See what I really want to see is a Dark Colonies game. That was my jam back in the day when I used to play vamp with my buddies at the game store. Love the idea of trying to survive colonization with limited blood supplies to go round.

Thenomain

@ganymede said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

@wizz said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

Wherewoof?

No. This is a political Dark Ages game. Werewolf just doesn't fit in, other than as NPC antagonists.

My mind went straight to "Upstairs Downstairs".

Or how conquering the dark areas of the world was a drain on everyone.

It doesn't fit with the politics, no, but it does fit with the times.

Ganymede

@thenomain said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

My mind went straight to "Upstairs Downstairs".

Or how conquering the dark areas of the world was a drain on everyone.

I'm not following you; explain?

Thenomain

@ganymede

Upstairs Downstairs was a long running British show about the separation of the lords of the manor and the servants. I want to say around the early 1900s but can’t recall.

The idea is that for every politic there are a hundred barbarians, as the Romans called them, trying to storm the gates.

Or in (before, after) the Dark Ages, just trying to live their lives under their own system, and getting conquered, and then having to be managed by the new politicians. I imagine the amount of money and fruitless effort of the Romans taking over Gaul cost about as much money as us trying to stabilize Afghanistan.

What I mean is that while I agree that ther is probably no place for werewolves in the political side of things, ignoring them while trying to control the land probably was quite foolish.

Jennkryst

@thenomain said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

@ganymede

(Wordz)

Something along the lines of 'the reason why POLITICS has to keep happening and always fails so quick is because certain critters are never invited to the negotiating table.'

Ganymede

@thenomain said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:

What I mean is that while I agree that ther is probably no place for werewolves in the political side of things, ignoring them while trying to control the land probably was quite foolish.

I understand what you mean now, and I concur with you on principle.

For the sake of keeping the workload of the anticipated small staff down, however, I believe we have to keep werewolves out. Similarly, Beasts are out, Mummies are out, Demons are out, and Mages are (most fucking definitely) out. Having to integrate multiple power sets into what promises to be a complex code request seems like more trouble that it is worth.