Interest Checks - World of Darkness

That is interesting. My approach so far has been to first create/pick/adapt all/most important NPCs and then work out what these characters are up to - what plot threads are they involved in, what ideas they hold and if they belong to any group/agenda. So kinda working backwards.

Do you have any particular approach to the random NPCs that players sometimes (often?) end up dragging into the fray? Do you keep a few generalized templates for such events or just improvise on the spot?

What I described was the minimum I'd recommend doing (most important parties, imo, no stats - which clearly needs to come along eventually, etc). But I don't see the result of what you describe as being particularly different from a relationship web.

The components of the web (motivations and views of each other/relationships) tell you a lot about what each group (the Cam Court, each clan, etc) might be up to.

And without further definition (which can take a lot of work to develop), I would rely heavily on clan tropes and stereotypes draped upon the "bones" or scaffolding of the web to define "ideas they hold" and groups and agendas and things. There's little value in me re-inventing/working things that are already established by the greater lore, I'll use that work as much as I can.

A web is maybe kind of like the difference between "writing a plot" and "writing a situation".

A relationship web gives you a broad situation for them to play around in, and a framework to adapt the story to whatever they choose to do with that.


Writing out specific plot threads only gives you plot threads. What happens when the threads snap?

That's the hope/idea/philosophy for me, the execution may not be so smooth ofc.
Good question. I'm maybe not 100% sure what you're referencing, but the most common NPCs that players tend to drag into the story are those associated with Backgrounds, right?

And I probably tend to view and handle those very mechanically.

In that; I'm not going to "write them into" the story. That's the players job right? They're certainly their, somewhere, commensurate to the number of dots that were allocated to them, but they're living their own (un)lives, telling their own stories, and they only come into ours as the resource that they represent. The player will get the value (and narrative) out of them such as is demanded by, again, the dots allocated to them.

But they're not going to be ever present, or an integral part of the story (unless ofc that is what their dot allocation demands - Retainer). Often un-statted - they are the stat. They're like an ability or attribute, they come into play when the character calls them into play, the player rolls the dice they represent, and the player gets out of them the XP they have invested in them.

🤷

If you're talking about more narrative-based ones ("I'm a vampire now, but my mom still lives in this city. I go to visit her sometimes.")? Yea, those can just stay narrative, until they can't, then yea, probably improvise any dice pools needed. Not even on a attribute/ability basis, just: "oh yea, mom has probably just 4 dice in that"...

Nope, I actually was referring to regular people/supernaturals that players love to latch on to. The DnD equivalent of "we took in that random goblin child and raised him throughout the campaign, naming him Gobby. He survived most of the campaign, dying heroically in the battle with the Big Bad. We all cried." You know, when the player feeds on some random pedestrian/club goer, and then continues to stalk them after the fact, ghouling them or otherwise dragging that poor sob into the web of Cainite intrigue. Random people who witnessed the PCs doing something crazy is another example. Generic NPCs that players show sudden interest in and insist on bringing them in and along.

Yea, so those would fall into the category of "just narrative until they can't remain just narrative" (when they're feeding on them in the club, they're just narrative, they have and need no stats at that time - the vampire is testing against a situational Difficulty, not an opposed check).

When they can't remain just narrative is when they continue to stalk them. Then I'm improvising a pool, as needed, case by case basis. If they fit loosely with a template in the books, then I'll use that, or riff off that.

Then when they ghoul them, then they're getting stats and a character sheet.

So I assume it's too late to get in on this. But I would be very interested in joining if it isn't

There are four active WoD game on GP, as far as I know. 2 public, 2 private.

Public are:

Let the Streets Run Red - a V5 chronicle currently on pause.

It's a Kind of Magic - M20 chronicle which suffered some setbacks, but still endures, courtesy of @emsquared

Private are:

Yours to Keep - a C20 jumpstart chronicle.

Buried Shallow - my V20 Sabbat chronicle. There have been a few exits, so we might look for 1 or 2 more people soon-ish. I'll post here if/when that happens.

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Feel free to add any chronicles I missed.

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There aren't that many WoD games around, I agree. And while I do understand the desire to play in one, it might be good to think about maybe trying to ST your own little thing? @Kingo @TechnocratSloth15 Be the change you want to see and all that. That's how I started and I gotta say it is pretty fun storytelling. Just a thought.

Damn it, I have a very soft spot for Mage, and it's so rare to see one in the wild...

The problem with WoD is that there's far too much back and forward to work well for pbp. So I roll attack, the ST rolls Dodge, then I roll Damage, and the ST rolls Soak. And then if we're lucky, something happens and we can move on to the next person who makes the same kind of rolls!

Obviously it can and has been done, but it doesn't make it any easier.

I would be very interested in the mage chronicle. But I see the applications are closed

You are not alone with the soft spot for Mage. I feel that in PBP there are room to expande on your characters paradime.

But you are right, with the roll and counter rolls mechanics its a clonky system for PBP

In WoD games I played (mostly Werewolf and Vampire) we would roll attack and damage, and the target responded with dodge and soak to cut the interactions in half. And the target would only have to roll immediately if the damage potentially caused incapacitation so the game could keep rolling.

Outside of combat, which yes does have a lot of back and forth rolling, the ST system is truly excellent for pbp, imo

In part because lots of important things (like Backgrounds) can act as as a rating that just tells you what a character can or cannot do without rolling. And beyond that, the dice are just powerful/can convey a lot of narrative with a single roll.

And for combat...

Chronicles of Darkness as well as the WoD5 lines have rules for one roll combat that is recommended to be used when combat doesn't/shouldn't really carry the risk of death for the characters based on the opponents/circumstances (which is frankly most combat in Chronicles, in my experience), which completely eliminates the earlier critique mentioned here.

The full combat rules are still there ofc for combat that should shape the course of the campaign.

But again the dice are powerful in the ST system and it doesn't require that you roll a lot most of the time if you don't want to.

I would happily put up with this to get to play my Man in Black NWO agent

I mean... it just so happens that our player who rolled up a Techno has... seemingly disappeared from the forums.

(Anyone know if MaJunior is okay, btw?)

There's a number of caveats that would have to come with an invite...

1. You would be playing a Techno who is teamed up with two Traditions Mages.

2. I am a former player who has taken over this Mage game when the ST had to bow out.

3. This is the first Mage Chronicle I've ever ran. I've played a Dark Ages Mage and ST'd for a Mage in mixed-splat Chronicles, but that's about it. My Mage-lore isn't super strong.

4. Pretty much only planning on this being a one shot. Personally I wouldn't have made some of the choices that the ST who kicked this off made. And I'm basically just doing this because it was a convenient opportunity to get my feet wet with Mage STing (and I just wanted to see some good ol' Sphere-work!). So... be aware of it's limited scope.

But...

If none of that is a deal breaker for you?

I've held this spot for Ma WAY longer than I normally would for anyone, cuz we were kind of counting on him being there. And if there's someone who conveniently is looking to play a Techno?

It's a little too good of an opportunity to not slot you in.

So.... how does all that sound to you?

1. For that, I would see him as a former Technocrat. Maybe he figured out the Union had Nephandi in it and ditched them?
2. Totally fine!
3. I am pretty new to Mage too, so it’s fine!
4. Disappointing, but still good.
I would absolutely love to join!

RE: 1. I made up some narrative artifice for it to be at least kind of plausible. But you can take it in whatever direction you want really.

We've started play and so the easiest thing to do would be to just drop your PC into the shoes of the other Techno and just say it was you all along.

But if you find that unpalatable, we can retcon whatever.

I actually been thinking of maybe taking over once you're done with the story you've set up. You know, make it a "round table" (I think that's the saying..) of STs/players. That way we can all (or at least me and you) try STing and get a chance to play.

I've bumped the recruitment thread for the Sabbat game, but just in case you missed it:tl;dr - have an open spot or two in the Sabbat shovelhead game.

After watching some gameplay of the upcoming Vampire Bloodlines 2, I could see a character who was trying to figure out what kind of person he/she would be as a vampire. They would be trying out different styles, goth, techo, elitist, occultist, risque...
That kind of character is not a shovelhead

That's kinda a hodgepodge of words, not sure how any of them relate to the struggle of adjusting to your new existence as an undead being. I think someone cycling through all of those things is figuring out themselves as person, not a vampire.

Oh I totally agree, figuring out how to feel about drinking blood is first on the list.