Demon: the Descent
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I'd be willing to give it a shot. Demon was a unique concept (both oWoD and nWoD). I remember that BITN (Bump in the Night MUX) was Demon/Mortal/Hunter(?) themed. It was pretty enjoyable.
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@darkdeleria BITN was mortal only. Not even Hunters (Capital H). The mortals could be monster hunting types but no one had another other than the standard supernatural merits, pre Hurt Locker.
Can someone give me a quick and dirty description of Demon and its themes? I've been in the mood for something different.
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In Demon, you were an Angel, an instrument of the God-Machine purpose-built to serve. You might not have even existed before the mission you're on now, and when the mission is done you might be dismantled. Or perhaps you're just put in storage until needed again.
Then something went wrong, you broke. You fell.
Now, you're a demon. You live your Cover(s), a human life perhaps patched together from various other peoples lives that you acquired via Pacts. Maintaining your Cover is essential because the God-Machine does not relinquish its tools lightly; angels are hunting you.
Meanwhile, you and other demons generally attempt to thwart (or understand) the God-Machine, by searching out Infrastructure and sabotaging it.
You are a reality-hacker, able to take advantage of the subtle rules in reality called embeds and exploits that let you do amazing things.
Basically, its a supernatural spy/espionage splat. It bills itself as being "techgnostic espionage".
It's very cool.
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Also, the mechanics pretty much demand that you keep what you are to yourself, in word and/or deed, because to let anyone else know - even another demon - means you could have a hit squad of Angels come after you or even disappear from existence.
So they don't play well with others. I suppose that's part of the 'fun'.
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@tnp said in Demon: the Descent:
Also, the mechanics pretty much demand that you keep what you are to yourself, in word and/or deed, because to let anyone else know - even another demon - means you could have a hit squad of Angels come after you or even disappear from existence.
So they don't play well with others. I suppose that's part of the 'fun'.
Yes, they don't play well in multi-sphere games, but the 'even another demon' isn't quite right. Its not a compromise to reveal truth to other demons.
The issue with telling truths to other demons is twofold.
First, demons are perfect liars and individual bodies are so meaningless to them, do you know Mr. Coin who you met yesterday is still Mr. Coin and not an angel who replaced him since you last saw him? (This is part of the game being a spy-thriller: to combat this there's recognition codes, dead drops, communication protocols, etc)
Second, the compromise is rolled when new information is heard/known by a human-- regardless of source. So if you tell Mr. Coin something true about yourself and he/she/it tells a human, the compromise happens.
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One thing I like about nWOD Demon is that it keeps the demonic 'feel' while changing all the reasons why they're there.
Demons are consummate liars, not because they're creatures of sin but because their minds have no subconscious; every expression down to the micro-expressions are acts of choice and will. They can be sincere, but no one can tell if they're sincere because the would never show as anything but sincere unless they wanted to appear insincere. Its part of why trust among demons is hard.
Demons make pacts! Only, its not some currency in hell, or for souls (really). Instead, what a demon wants is a part of your life. You have a stalker ex? Why, you let the demon take him off your hands and in return they get something (anywhere from a 1 or 2 dot merit to an 5 dot merit for free). The contracts edits reality and now that ex is stalking the demon. Why would a demon want a stalker? Because it makes his cover stronger, and this is a really easy pact to offer: it seems to the human the cost is a benefit. Now... down the road, the next time the demon makes an offer and this time he wants something more...
A demon can make a soul pact, but the humans never really understand what that means. When it comes time for the demon to call in the soul pact, they take that person's entire life and it becomes a complete, new cover. The demon slips straight into their fully formed life: this is the best kind of cover. The person ceases to exist utterly.
rambling I do love this game.
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Thanks for the explanation, y'all. This one ain't for me though. Just...eh...naw.
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I'd play at a Matrix MUSH, probably.
Playing at nWoD Demon feels like playing a cheap knockoff of another IP though, so not for me either.
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My problem with Demon is that it doesn't tend to lend itself for MU play imho. The whole spy espionage thing is neat, but it makes it very hands on, imho, for staff since every demon probably has their own spy espionage thing going.
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@lithium said in Demon: the Descent:
My problem with Demon is that it doesn't tend to lend itself for MU play imho. The whole spy espionage thing is neat, but it makes it very hands on, imho, for staff since every demon probably has their own spy espionage thing going.
It doesn't work well in a multi-sphere MU, no, and it doesn't work well if everyone is a random, independent demon doing their own thing because the trust-tension built into the game will actively discourage anyone from teaming up.
My thoughts, though, are that all PCs would be at least affiliate members of a local Agency. They can form rings and do their own things too, but that connection provides a baseline on which to build and gives direction.
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This version of Demon sounds a lot like Mage, tbh. Or rather: if Mage were played as if the Seers were an overpowering threat, and not drawing their attention is extremely important to your continued existence. Since I both like Mage and enjoy it more when it's something other than just a race to demigodhood, this is relevant to my interests.
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@autumn said in Demon: the Descent:
This version of Demon sounds a lot like Mage, tbh. Or rather: if Mage were played as if the Seers were an overpowering threat, and not drawing their attention is extremely important to your continued existence.
That's an interesting analogy and one that makes me dislike Demon a little less.
