New CWoD MUSH Seeking Staff
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I know my way around everything NWoD well enough to drive stick except for Mage, which Juerg ruined for me in about five minutes. I still like Vampire best. It may well be that my view of Changeling is somewhat jaundiced. BUT, the point I was making is that there are arguments that can be mounted as to why anything sucks.
I like the gothic atmosphere, the chance to play something bigger than life that is an awful, bloodsucking fright--until it makes the choice to defy its own nature. There's a reason why the narrative around Dracula evolved to make him the hero as often as he's the villain--he was more compelling, and, weirdly, more human than any of his enemies with the possible exception of Abraham van Helsing.
I mean, nobody talks about what a sizzling side of peameal bacon Johnathan Harker is.
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This is true.
Only Mage truly sucks. This is fact.
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Seriously though, Dracula upsold him.
"Ima go to England and get into your frigid Victorian girlfriend's granny panties. I like a challenge. You get to stay here in my castle with my slutty brides. One of whom is Monica Belluci."
Harker's correct response should've been 'Mina? Never heard of the broad,'
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To be absolutely fair, Dracula is about, you know, Dracula. It's the title of the book. It's hardly a surprise that he's the most compelling character.
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There is such a thing as shifting sympathies. Pick up a Sax Rohmer story sometime. The cloying racism aside, you'll have forgotten his stale protagonists within about five minutes. But you will never forget Dr. Fu Manchu.
It's been a few years since I've picked up the novel -- I think I'll correct that. But the Big D is moving in the background for at least a third of the book, as I remember it -- it's an excellent literary example of a character's presence overshadowing events without them actually being around. But anyway, the novel really does mostly focus on the group hunting Dracula, not on Dracula himself. And he still steals the show.
“Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn -
The Anno Dracula series was also fairly interesting. It's a 'what if Dracula didn't lose to Van Helsing?' alternate history take on things. Dracula was kind of a dick in those though.
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@The-Tree-of-Woe
Yes, but my point was that he was meant to steal the show. It was intentional, IMO. -
@Thenomain said:
I like playing nChangeling because it offers a low-power campaign type that I miss, where what you are messes up what you want to do. Vampires are Vampires. Werewolves are Werewolves, Mages are Mages. These are their job descriptions.
Just as an aside, this is definitely true of oMage/Vamp/Werewolf, but nWerewolf-- to me, when it's played well-- definitely dials back on "I am noble monster, I fight evil" and is more "regular dude/dudette who has some bizarre part-time obligations, struggles to find a normal place in society against new and unfamiliar instincts" as well.
Really, they all have exactly as much depth as you give them.
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@Wizz Except that according to nWerewolf, you start taking penalties to dealing with humans immediately upon your First Change. And they get progressively worse pretty quickly. So that 'regular dude/dudette' thing doesn't really work at all. Once you FC, you basically lose your place in 'normal society' to become a full-time Werewolf. Sure, you CAN keep a normal job, but you can bet its not going to be something that requires a lot of facetime with people. Service industry? Be prepared for bad tips as your Primal Urge freaks people the fuck out. Customer service? Probably won't last long as you get tagged for giving off 'bad vibes' to the customers. Cashier, secretary, legal aide, receptionist, car parker, any sort of management position... they all require a good deal of interaction with the very people that don't want to be anywhere near you.
So yes, technically, there's as much depth as you want to give them. Mechanically and thematically? You are alienated from the get-go, and should be. Your new bestial nature is unsettling and humans don't want to be around you anymore.
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@Miss-Demeanor
The social penalties thing is actually changing in 2.0. But we'll continue the discussion in the other thread.
