Posts made by The Tree of Woe

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.

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,'

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.

I could give you a whole academic rundown ranging from exploration of the taboo to repressed sexuality to Dracula as an indictment of the masculinity of men in Victorian England.

Why do some people like NChangeling? I find them to be horrifying, manipulative emotional parasites. I don't want to play one.

It helps that the Covenants work better in 2nd Ed. Invictus oaths keep the covenant functional and make living under Invictus rule palatable, even desirable, for members of other covenants.

The authority of a lot of the particular positions in the Ordo Dracul is more clearly defined and in many cases backed by a merit. For instance, if a Dragon Judge catches wind of forbidden research, they can tell the Axe-Sworn "bring his ass in" clear as... well, night.

@Bobotron If you do it, I'll play a Vizier. Not even a sorcerer.

I'll swear up and down, right and left, that the schism was the best thing that happened to Camarilla genre. The Gangrel were a non-entity, and are better as independent individualists who join the Camarilla if they feel like it but usually can't be arsed. The Assamites bringing a huge fraction of their sorcerers to the Camarilla, on the other hand, meant the Tremere don't have a bullshit monopoly on mojo, forcing them to be competitive. Which makes them much more interesting to play.

And the Shredder kicks all the mutant ass. All of it. Dude's a beast.

Why not go full Rifts? Giant robot fighting a Tyrranosaurus, handguns that can turn an unarmored human into a fine red mist, stormtroopers with skeleton-masks insanity.

Apropos of nothing, I hate the term "Sphere." I wonder where it came from.

I prefer "genre," though I know that's not really the best word for it either.

Message delivered. Jack's been tipped off to this thread and that you're trying to get in touch.

Unless you're throwing in fresh corned beef, I'm allergic to queues.

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This is a pure Sabbat MUX looking to explore both the subtleties of living your un-life within an ecclesiarchy that expects, nay demands you to throw out your humanity like a used condom, where the hypocrite may be your only hope in the face of the true believer.

The year is 2015, and the Sabbat has suffered tribulation in the wake of the False Gehenna, as a emboldened Camarilla lashed out to give it a black eye, and its own internal politics nearly tore the sect apart from within.

Temoch the Jackal has emerged from obscurity to claim the Regent's seat, and his ecclesiastical reforms are shaking the Sabbat to its foundations. The Harbingers of Skulls have emerged into the light, taking childer at an astonishing rate as they step up their war against the disgusting Giovanni.

Sascha Vykos is dead. Whether the Inquisition's accusations of diabolism were truth or politics, the legendary Ronin Priscus is just another gravestone in Francisco Domingo de Polonia's garden. With its death, the Tzimisce are forced to confront five centuries of history, and the notion that perhaps they entrusted too much of their clan's dark hopes to the creature now ironically called Caine's Angel.

The game allows the standard array of Lasombra, Tzimisce, and the Antitribu, plus Serpents of the Light, Salubri Antitribu, Harbingers of Skulls (!)... everything Sabbat except for Kiasyd, Blood Brothers, and Telyavs is okay, pretty much.

For those looking for that sweet, sweet Sabbat candy, Serpents of the Light are Thaumaturgy and Necromancy-OK. Koldunic sorcerers will be coming down the pipe before too long.

The game is also Mortal-OK, though as a personal aside, I always wonder about the masochistic streak of anyone who'd play a human on a Sabbat game....