World (Chronicles?) of Darkness Concepts You Would Enjoy RPing with

[Pyrephox]

I desperately want someone to play the other half of a mortal/supernatural They Fight Crime paring. Yes, yes, it is cliched as all hell. I don't give a fuck. I want to have terrifying occult adventures with a supernatural and a mortal who are both regularly in over their heads in various ways, and having that delicious tension of the supernatural still feeling the urge to hide some things, or trying to protect the mortal from all the crap that will kill them out of hand, while the mortal is both competent and dedicated and not up for being protected or being shut out of things they need to know to survive in the crawling darkness of the CoD streets. I am happy to play either side (which is why I only designate "the other half"), so long as there is equal measures supernatural-failing-at-normal amusement and pants-on-head terror.

[silentsophia]

I do enjoy many concepts, some of them quite odd. I find it's the person behind the character.

But the super serious character who gets goofed on a lot is great.

[Wizz]

Rick and Morty.

No, seriously, is City of Hope still a thing? An old-as-dirt Son of Ether mad scientist who straight up doesn't give a fuck, has like a shitty garage lab behind a Taco Bell or something and wanders through the the World of Darkness just ruining lives, with a mortal+ little buddy who desperately tries to prevent him from doing too much damage and somehow manages to make things so much worse, because they themselves are incompetent and naive.

[wanderer]

@Wizz said:

Rick and Morty.

No, seriously, is City of Hope still a thing? An old-as-dirt Son of Ether mad scientist who straight up doesn't give a fuck, has like a shitty garage lab behind a Taco Bell or something and wanders through the the World of Darkness just ruining lives, with a mortal+ little buddy who desperately tries to prevent him from doing too much damage and somehow manages to make things so much worse, because they themselves are incompetent and naive.

Oh my god yes. I would die if I saw this.

[Thenomain]

@ThatOneDude

Blah blah blah. For someone who wants there to be people taking themselves less seriously, you got pretty defensive, brah.

Me, I'm fine with any cliche as long as it's done well. I think it was @skew or @tragedyjones who pointed me at a forum thread asking what people didn't want to see in a villain in their games and it was apparently like a list of everything from TV Tropes. We're never going to escape labels, so why the hell are we fighting it?

So that's my wish. That we stop fighting the whole concept of what is or isn't fun and that we do our fucking best with it.

Oh, except Rick and Morty. I vote this idea wins.

(edit: except that Deadpool was still a shitty video game. Nothing can stop that. Nothing!)

[ThatOneDude]

@Thenomain

I got it now

As for taking myself serious you must not know me. But from your posts I'm glad we don't know each other.

[Thenomain]

@ThatOneDude

Of course I know you. That's why I bought it up. It was uncharacteristic of you to give a damn and bother to use real words to make a real point. I was surprised to see you care about something, and honestly I'm a little impressed, though because I know you I can say that it's a flash in the pan and you'll go back to spamming threads with memes that are tacitly related to any point at all.

Yeah be you. I be me. The end.

[Misadventure]

Re: Ricky and Morty -- sounds to me like the request is for other players to play victims. Not too likely.

[mietze]

I could see Ricky and Morty being fun where they run into other pcs after the same guys, or things like that. That might be fun now and then over time! But that's what I meant in my "off topic" deviation of pointing out that if that was played in a constant disruptive way very few people would be interested in playing and might be prejudiced against such concepts in the future. It only takes one time dealing with a spectacularly bad player for a lot of people to make assumptions about that concept every time going forward. In the right hands that could be super entertaining though.

Would I player like to see it? Sure, with the giant caveat that the players playing them aren't total ooc behavior blind asshats.

[skew]

It was meeeee that brought up that post @Thenomain was talking about. It was on reddit. I don't know where it went but... The topic was "what type of NPC villain are you sick of seeing?" and the answer was, taking the responses as a whole, "everything". People are sick of NPCs that are obvious, NPCs that trick them, NPCs that are too tough, NPCs that are too weak. Etc etc etc. I then got into a discussion with Thenomain about the nature of characters and concepts in RPGs. Are we, as a community, becoming jaded? Are we sick of seeing the same story told over and over? The conclusion to our discussion was, in brief, that we will never get sick of seeing something well.

It doesn't matter the trope, it doesn't matter the character. If it's played well, it can be fun. Of course, a big part of "played well", in my book, is building a character that well-rounded and whole, or, alternately, a character that is one-dimensional but well used. The getaway driver that @Anonymous wrote could be a very good one-dimensional character, used sparingly, or a character who you think is one dimensional, until you really get to know them.

So, all that said, I think I'll let my bitter realism show, and say the first concept I'd like to see is a well-concept that's actually played well. How about a Invictus Knight that's actually honorable? That actually lives the words he speaks? It still blows me away when I find one of those. Or maybe a tough guy that will actually fight anyone that challenges him (I'm looking at you, Gangrels). Maybe an underling that actually behaves like one, without resorting to being pure furniture? Ghouls, in particular, but also anyone that's new/weak/lowly in an organization falls into this. There is a way you can have a personality and enjoy playing the character without resorting to be mouthy and starting fights all the time.

Less cynically, the soothsayer fortune teller diviner types are always fun for me, especially when they can work their "magic" without actually having to roll dice. I played on one game where a guy would use a power, then ask a few questions OOC, and use it to create a fortune/reading for people. Really awesome, and generated a lot of good RP! This could fit well with @Rick-Sanchez's original suggestion.

[Misadventure]

I'd like to see more characters who are abusive, disruptive or destructive to the plain NPCs they are involved with/target.

Your vampire who casually dominates and destroys those that annoy them, your Raymond Reddington from The Black List, the messy addict and so on.

[hedgehog]

@skew

Re: the fortune-teller/diviner types - how do you suggest making this work on the new breed of WoD games where everything is PrP, and there are no overarching stories being told? It's something I'm really struggling with at the moment on City of Hope (sorry for the minor derail!).

[skew]

@hedgehog Thank you for asking! And sorry for further derail, but it's mildly on top, right...?

First, there's the tarot card reader type. One player I know has done this a few times, with OOC knowledge of how to actually read tarot cards, and an online draw generator (though others have laid out cards, IRL, and done it). Basically, you just read the fortune in game as you would out of game. This is what the cards have shown. This is what it could mean. There's nothing concrete or precise by the very nature of tarot card readings. From there, it's a matter of what people (players/characters) take from it. It's RP fodder.

The second method, as I mentioned, involves asking OOC questions. As I said, you like it to be a little creative and new, and not just a rehash of what you already know. But a player could ask about current love interests, or about recent activities. Heck, you could even ask about upcoming adventures (and PrPs). The key is to keep things specific to a character so it feels personal, but broad enough that there's room for interpretation. From there, it's up to the player.

Specific example... and I'll try to keep names obscured...!

A soothsayer-type (a changeling) read the fortune of a woman. He asked her a few basic questions, then read her wiki page, and went from there. She had a burgeoning relationship with a werewolf, and so the soothsayer talked (in very round about, mystical language) about a romance with a big black wolf. The woman was positive that it was the werewolf in question, and dove headfirst into the relationship. OOCly, mind, the soothsayer knew nothing of the real situation. Only the little snippets of information. And OOCly, the player was just as much "on the fence" about this romance as the character. It gave OOC and IC reason to pursue something new and exciting.

Of course, after being in the relationship for a bit, she finally saw him shift... and saw that his wolf form was grey and brown. Not the big black wolf. Ogod! Shortly after, the relationship went sour, and the characters were able to point to the fortune as the reason why. Of course, the woman realized a close friend of hers had a "spirit patron" that was a massive black fox. Could be that the soothsayer mistook wolf for fox, because surely he's never seen a massive black fox before!

The trick is to give fodder, and to let players come up with their own stories. Make sure the other players know that you're "cheating" a little, via using OOC information that you might not ICly know. But so long as there is trust and openness there, I think a little "metagaming" can go a long way to making a lot of fun.

[mietze]

I have really enjoyed playing with pcs that do fit the "stereotype" (honorable, stuffy invictus, scholarly OD, creepy scary Rahu). The people who tend to pick that rather than everyone wanting the exception do tend to stand out. Though there's a lot of wiggle room now esp in vampire so it's really neat to see what people do with the stereotype too.

[Arkandel]

@mietze My thing is to run more or less stereotypical versions of concepts - the core of them being someone no one would blink at when they heard he belongs to that faction - and then trying to find the twist in that core. One thing that doesn't quite add up, usually an infusion of realism, emotional baggage he can't quite rid himself of, a hangup he can't get over, a weakness or personality flow.

It usually takes me a few sessions to find the crack in the armor and when I do, I pound on it until it breaks so I can see what's beneath.

[Thenomain]

@Misadventure said:

Re: Ricky and Morty -- sounds to me like the request is for other players to play victims. Not too likely.

You would have to take the concept into the theme and setting, of course. Even being around such a comedy duo would be hilarious and as was mentioned you could use NPCs as targets. The question of why the cops and FBI aren't all over the situation would need addressed too but sure, why not.

[hedgehog]

@skew

I've done that sort of slight metagaming with telepaths I've played before, and it's fun. I'm currently kind of utilizing your suggestions right now, and they're helping. Thanks so much!

[Cobalt]

@HorrorHound said:

@ThatGuyThere said:

the great thing about a conspiracy theorist in WoD of any flavor is they can be exactly right about the conspiracies existing but completely wrong about the particulars at the same time.

Uses garlic on vampires, only learns when his arms are ripped off that, that is bullshit information.

This is such a trope in basically any urban fantasy EVER, that I wonder if any modern person would actually think: "Vampires are real! I'll ward them off with garlic!"

ETA Actually that's an interesting thought...

[Lithium]

Now I want to make a vampire game where it DOES ward them off.

[Misadventure]

It is likely related to the success of garlic repelling vermin bearing disease. Vampires were originally disease monsters, so hence the relationship.