All Things World of Darkness

Honestly what it comes around to for me is, I'm trying to think if I've ever heard of an explicit prohibition of the use of Disciplines in Elysium.

It's been... decades since I've read any older reference book on the subject, and I just checked, I couldn't find any such rule amongst the Kindred listed in V20.

Absolutely there's a prohibition on harm or aggression and especially violence.

But I've had a storyteller that had the Prince use Auspex on me in Elysium (seeing my Diablerie veins), same ST different campaign had a Harpy use Auspex in Elysium on the group after we had moved on some Ventrue earlier, a Sheriff that used Potence to put on a physical display punching a statue bust (albeit as a threat, to maintain order amidst flaring tempers), I've had a PC that used Obfuscate in Elysium.

I understand the prohibition to be against violence, you're ensured protection from harm in Elysium.

I don't think I've heard it phrased as a prohibition on Disciplines.

Yeah, just checked as well and there is no mention of the "no Discipline" rule in the V20 core, nor in Revised core. I thought - was this another "rule" that I pulled from somewhere thinking it was in-canon (possibly from Bloodlines, where you couldn't use Disciplines in "Elysiums")? Few checked books later, I finally found a confirmation - in the Revised "Succubus Club" book - though, I'm pretty sure that is not where I got it from. Maybe one of the older V1 or V2 Chicago books, where I think the concept of Elysium first appeared?

Anyway, here's the relevant bit:

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Also, on the examples:

>Prince uses Auspex in Elysium

Smart one would've done it somewhere else, but assuming this Prince holds a tight grip on the city, Primogen, Elders in general, they'd probably be able to get away with it.

>Harpy use Auspex in Elysium on the group after we had moved on some Ventrue earlier

If found (considering said Harpy is probably gawking at a group, reading auras and what not, that seems likely), that'd be the end of that Harpy's tenure for sure.

>Sheriff that used Potence to put on a physical display punching a statue bust (albeit as a threat, to maintain order amidst flaring tempers)

It is part of the Sheriff's job to work security for Elysium, but depending on the crowd, such an unsightly display may loose that Sheriff some points. Not to mention there was another couple of rules that they broke that way - keep the Masquerade and not to destroy any works of art.

>PC that used Obfuscate in Elysium

That's the worst one by far. Considering your regular Elysium goer is often times an Elder, spotting an Obfuscated Kindred is less of a possibility and more of a certainty. Getting caught doing that would probably bar you from all Elysiums in the city, at least, if not exiled. That's how young ambitious neonates become pariahs.

Yea, so the Succubus Club is one Elysium in one city.

I don't think that makes it a universal rule. Particularly if it never carried through to be mentioned in later publications.

That's the original Succubus Club in Chicago, which was more or less shut down after the events of "Under the Blood Red Moon" crossover book, with the Succubus Club becoming a moving attraction later (as detailed in "Night of Prophecy). The first edition "Succubus Club" (1 or 2 edition era) book is about that particular Chicago club, while the Revised "Succubus Club: Dead Man's Party" (the one I quoted) is a supplement about vampire parties/social affairs in general, thus it talks about all the Elysiums, not just the one that used to be in Chicago.

Edit: though I would agree that supplemental material is more optional, even if it is technically "canon". It does makes sense though, I think.

I'm not trying to make you source/reference the notion, and I don't think it's a bad notion either - if it weren't largely unenforceable, but also one niche publication/book does not make it a universal rule for the kindred. Canon publication or not.

If it's just in one niche book about one niche thing, most players will never see it.

So that tells me it's not that important to the lore and possibly even just something that a single writer liked the notion of and/or put it in there because they needed it to reinforce the metaplot of that particular book.

And the editors didn't hate it and so didn't axe it.

But they didn't carry it through into later larger publications.

If the publishers thought that was "real"/important they would have written that into the basic description of Elysium.

The ST whom I really learned about and who finally helped me "get" VtM's social dynamics was/is a massive VtM ... "fan" (an inadequate word here). Played since the first ed (I started with WtA in like '01, never played VtM until like '09), LARPed MET for years, ran games that were hyper-focused on the social and political dynamics (Boons were HUGE and often what everyone was gaming for and around), and was just a vast well of knowledge of the clans and the lore, and...

Yea, don't recall once hearing this rule. He's the one that most of those things I talked about happened under.

So...

That's all I'm saying.

It's not a bad idea.

But it's a very specific take that isn't universal.

And, to me, the whole point of having it as a rule, would be to dance around it.

That's just the kind of game that I understand VtM to be.

If you're following the rules that the Cam and Elders impress upon you, you're doing it wrong, and you're going to die because of it.

Starting 2026 with a WoD game pitch! See new Tavern thread. (Credit to runekyndig for planting it in my head a year ago!)

And thanks everyone for keeping this thread as a discussion for all things WoD!

Always great to see new WoD games appear! Not really feeling the "teenage years" vibe myself at the moment, so I'll settle in an observer role and cheer you on (and read along if the game is public). Good luck!

So as we do get occasional newbies who are interested in WoD stuff (with unfortunately low retention rate), I figured I might do a list of all/ the WoD games going around. As far as I know there aren't any active nWoD/CoD games running on GP (though I could swear I've seen some old ones for Demon and something else). If you know of any old/dead games - please provide the link and I'll add them in, since there is no searching for retired games. Likewise, as the "search" option for forums is currently not working, so if there were any interesting things - IC's, discussions, etc that you managed to bookmark - do share. It's always good to have more material to look/study as a new ST. I'll to keep the list updates as I'm able.

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Update: Added ems^2' old VDA20 game.
Update: Lazarus is live and closed.

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I've contemplated making a public WoD/CoD "repository" game to pool resources in, like char/shared NPC sheets, art/music, maps, rules, homebrew and discussions, but I'm not sure if it's needed, if it'll be useful to anyone or gain any traction. My own stuff is in too much disarray to bother atm. Thoughts?

I've played in a ... V20(?) game a few years back, that... maybe Qrolloq... ran? I may have had to leave that one due to Life.

Also created a character for a V5 game that I don't think ever really got off the ground. And also made a character for a 20th Edition Mortals game that I don't think ever saw play.

And I ran a V20DA game that ended a couple years back:
https://gamersplane.com/games/4141/
https://gamersplane.com/forums/10336

GP has a decent history of WoD games. But they do suffer from the frailties of all pbp games.

I've ran nearly a dozen White Wolf games here, including W:TA, Mage (Ascension and Awakening), V20, and V5.

Four or five are public so I'll share those links.

Yesss I would be very happy to join any of the options !!!

Anyone ever run/played in crossover chronicles? How did it go? What worked and what didn't? Any lifehacks or interesting anecdotes?

I've ran and played crossover WoD games but that was a long, long time ago. Sane group of players, different games, that eventually crossed over. I feel like it was easier back then, before the avalanche of splat books fur every separate WoD game line flooded the market.

We'd started out with V:tM and branched into a separate (but located in the same area bc I wasn't about to juggle two games with wholly separate settings) chronicles as we added W:tA to our game rotation.
W:tA was absolutely not my idea but the players were friends of mine so I reluctantly obliged. Eventually, the two chronicles plotlines began to entangle and a crossover was inevitable. So I gave them one... Wrangling the differing systems was a headache and definitely needed some house rules laid out beforehand to smooth the operation. Crossovers are do-able but a headache for the Storyteller. New WoD might have a bit if the bumpy rules things smoothed out but idk that much about new WoD, tbh.

We have one spot opening in my Werewolf game- we are just about through the Prologue.

This is a game that takes place in three timeliness in a kind of momento style revelations game.

Due to the composition of the group, you would be limited to specific auspices to replace the departing characters (Galliard in Dark Ages, Theurge in Wild West, and Ragabash in Modern).

Tried some crossovers in the earlier days. Some of them are truly hard to crossover, notably Mage with anything else, because the powers are so wildly flexible compared to the other games. Vampire and Changeling was weird, it felt that the characters had very different agendas. Did not try it with Wraith. My most successful was Vampire vs Werewolf really, in the era when this was such a big thing, with half my players as kindred and the other half as garou. It had to be a one shot because of the adversarial nature, with a few sessions, big fight at the end, good fun!

I've been reading along with your guys' WtA game and I gotta ask - is that amount of combat a normal occurrence? It seems like you're mostly rolling dice over there. Or is that just because it is the prologue bit? @Alordis

Come to think of it, it is a interesting question in itself. How often does combat happens in your WoD games? Do you embrace it's clunky system or try to avoid it as much as possible? Does it slowdown the game (irl vs. pbp) much? Do you run combat RAW or more narratively?

Yeah- the prologue was supposed to be three quick "get your feet wet" combats, but I overturned the "boss" one and forgot how much PBP combat can drag.

I do probably run more combat than typical for WoD games, but not nearly that much!

We're all at the mercy of the dice.. Looking forward to reading chapter 1!

How often. When I GM (only irl), about every third to fifth scene, I think.
Slowing down. Rules as written, it slows down the play considerably, so I try to limit it to situations where it's meaningful.
Running combat RAW. I use a houserule to speed up combat, where the defensive rolls (dodge/block & soak) are fixed values, so combat needs half as much rolls and only from the offensive side. Now a conflict needs only a third of the time versus RAW.

Can you share what their concept is for each time line? nobles, barbarians, wanted bandits? or marshal, town folks, Native Americans, immigrants in the old west? and modern?