the world of darkness.

self biased · August 22, 2004, 23:42

i was the first on my block to pick up the new world of darkness from white wolf. at first glance they've tweaked just about everything and scrapped all of their history and started from sractch. i've got the core world of darkness rulebook, and the vampire: the requiem book. looks like it'll be a trip.

your thoughts?

discuss.

ravagon · August 23, 2004, 00:06

The only things I know about the new VtR come directly from the 'teasers' on the WW website of late.

To put it bluntly VtR looks like a lemon - reducing the number of clans from 13 (+) to 5, with at least 3 of them being virtually identical with regard to their disciplines, roles, and even down to the clan name (as far as I can tell at the moment anyway), doesn't bode well IMO.
Without a wealth of new content and an amazing setting to make up for this I can't see it doing nearly as well as the previous WoD.
The only bright side I can see is that VtR may be better integrated wrt the rest of the new WoD this time around.

It only just arrived here in the online stores this weekend so I'm awaiting reviews before I'm even going to think about picking up the new one.

Happily though it's sparked a number of very good value sales as online stores try to get rid of old stock.

self biased · August 23, 2004, 01:07

some of the old 'clans' were turned into bloodlines, the malkavians, and the brujah, for example. the whole politicking scene appears to be much, much deeper than the old camarilla/sabbat thing.

self biased · August 23, 2004, 23:13

we have no other roleplayers here?

SnowFire · August 23, 2004, 23:50

Haven't read it yet. It just came out, you know... I said some very dumb things about 3rd edition D&D when there was a thread on it, and I hadn't even read the book yet. I'm not making the same mistake again.

FlameFlash · August 24, 2004, 00:21

Waiting to buy the core book once I find a gameshop in town that sells it. (Moved to a new place, haven't found out where it is yet.) As long as they sell equal to Amazon I like buying locally instead, you know, help the little guys.

Once I familiarize myself with the core book, and can build mortals maybe I'll pick up the V:tR one. I'm a Mage player myself, and still insensed that while Vampire and Werewolf got cool new names Mage just got "the Awakening".

That's too close to other things in the original for my tastes, just hope the game itself is as fluid as the last edition of Mage.

I'm glad to hear there are more politics and they're more complicated though. I tire of just running around killing things. A little thought and mystery are always good to add to a chronicle, after all.

Nostromo · August 24, 2004, 00:36

I used to be play pen and paper RPGs eons ago. I'd love to play, but I simply don't have the time anymore. These days, I get my roleplaying fix by playing CRPGs. BTW, Troika is developing a Vampire CRPG. It should be good, since it's from the guys who gave us Fallout. And it should look sweet, since they're using the Half-life 2 engine!

Snotty · August 24, 2004, 02:04

What happened to Wraith and Changeling? I understand they were not as big sellers, but the Wraith ruleset was pretty essential to me if I wanted to create a rounded world. You have to be a bit more careful who you snuff out if they can still screw you over from beyond the shroud. I loved the whole premise of supernatural creatures existing because of their driving passions.

FlameFlash · August 25, 2004, 00:53

Wraith, in the metaplot, was ended during the Reckoning (1999). Where they then introduced the game Hunter.

Changeling just stopped getting air time until their end times book that ended off all the other misc. game lines.

self biased · August 25, 2004, 16:40

snotty, unfortunately both wraith and changeling were not only polar opposites to each other, they were difficult to intergrate. you can still do it under the new rules, and i'm sure they'll come out with supplements concerning both, to flesh out the universe...

but wraith was bleak even by world of darkness standards. there was also the fact that wraiths had difficult time at best interacting with any non-wraiths. as for the Fae... your character started to die if he or she was being boring...

the world of darkness book does give you more flexibility, though... and bear in mind that this is a brand new universe, and many things have been altered.

DarkCloud · August 28, 2004, 09:40

Originally posted by self biased
we have no other roleplayers here?

sorry, I don't play white wolf games

Although I did enjoy mage somewhat, they just can't hold a handle to Dungeons and Dragons

[I prefer roleplaying in a semi-medieval world to a 'modernistic or realistic' world

]

FlameFlash · August 28, 2004, 23:09

Well, you can easily play WoD in semi-medieval, just get the Dark Ages books. Haven't tried them myself.

Oh, and Wooo! Another Mage fan!

self biased · August 29, 2004, 11:34

the whole world of darkness system is one of the most flexible i've yet seen. i was at one point going to do a story set in the SMAX universe.

FlameFlash · August 29, 2004, 19:14

Originally posted by self biased
the whole world of darkness system is one of the most flexible i've yet seen. i was at one point going to do a story set in the SMAX universe.

Amen to that... already thinking on a post-apocolypse setting myself...

self biased · August 30, 2004, 12:26

hm. we'll have to keep in touch and share ideas.

FlameFlash · September 19, 2004, 11:10

Just tracked down a copy and flipped through it, didn't buy, just because Amazon sells it much cheaper and I might as well help out 'poly then, but what really impresses me is that you can play as a troupe of mortals.

WW is even planning a mortal sourcebook about ghosts, since those are your main adversaries if you don't have any of the other core books (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage).

It just opens the possibilities so much, especially if you incorporate some WoD 1.0 stuff such as pshycics to the mix. Not as playable characters, mind, but as NPCs.

self biased · September 20, 2004, 00:08

yeah. i was thinking the same thing. i might try to run my alpha centauri game under the new system.

FlameFlash · September 20, 2004, 21:21

The Vampire Demo is fairly decent too, if you haven't downloaded it yet, while I haven't read through the whole thing yet, it is a good starting point for newbies. I like to read what the newbies are getting introduced to system-wise too.

self biased · September 21, 2004, 00:49

i can't wait until the werewolf and mage books come out. i want to see how the three systems are going to intermingle.

FlameFlash · September 21, 2004, 23:16

That's one thing I'm really looking forward to too. I just hope the Mage book isn't delayed too badly, especially since Vampire, Mortal, and Werewolf (by that point) will have at least one supplement, Mage is going to get third fiddle yet again.

It's not obvious that I'm a WoD 1.0 Mage fan at all, is it.

self biased · September 22, 2004, 02:28

not at all.

FlameFlash · September 25, 2004, 00:37

On a positive note, as I've just gotten the two first books in my hot little hands (Amazon.com undersells the local bookseller by way too much to not just go and help 'poly) I'm very impressed with the possibilities of a good mortal campaign, only to be switched to one of the supernatural ones when it looks like things are starting to become routine.

After all, what's a better story arc then the mortal characters who fall into the darker realm of their world than to suddenly become part of that darker realm?

Keeps the game going fresh, without the need for new characters hopefully... Now I just have to find a local troupe...

self biased · September 25, 2004, 00:53

do you have a local gaming store, FF?

FlameFlash · September 25, 2004, 01:12

Yes, though I haven't been there yet, just got the address from the WW site, why?

FlameFlash · September 26, 2004, 22:13

Say, just finished a perl script die-roller. Haven't read the whole WoD 2.0 core rulebook yet, but it covers everything up to chapter 6...

EDIT: ...updated for initiative possibilities (added the Total line at the end).