Debating a New Game

Started by Vandren, February 02, 2006, 01:47:53 PM

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Vandren

Alright folks, I'm thinking about starting up a new game here.  Seeing as I'm not running any at the moment but have several ideas in various stages of completion.  Here're my top three ideas, to gauge interest.  Once one reaches five confirmed players I'll put in an application for a board:

1) WoD Sanctuary
Founded in 1721 by a joint Camarilla-Sabbat partnership, made up of individuals fed up with the war between the two factions, Sanctuary grew up on the borders of northern West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania, and western Maryland.  The basic requirement and rules of the city were that nearly anything goes.  The only exception is that the violence between factions not get out of hand.  Over time, Magi, Changing Breeds, and Changlings gravitated toward the city to rest from the all consuming battles between their kinds.  The two founders of the city ultimately became the Camarilla Prince and Sabbat Archbishop of Sanctuary, they hold these positions to this day.

Does this mean that all the species and factions get along with each other?  No.  Not by a long shot.  But, at least the amount of blood flowing in the streets is minimized.  Occasional fights break out, key leaders try to assassinate other leaders, and politics run rampant.  The relative truce remains, however.  The in-fighting continues, in a sort of cold war situation.  Somehow, outsiders in all of the factions have remained ignorant of the purpose of the city, to date.  Should they discover what is really going on, though, the proverbial fan’ll be working overtime.

(This is a WoD game, character sheets preferred, but not required.  Think of Sanctuary as a Casablanca for supernaturals.)

--Note-- I'm debating between using the World of Darkness system, or going freeform and just using the setting.  I'm open to suggestions there.  :)  Currently I have everything for Shapeshifters, Kindred, and Mages set up, though next to nothing on Changlings (I don't own any Changling material).  So, if someone wanted to play a Changling (s)he'd have to help out with developing that part of the city.

2) <Untitled> (title in progress)
Several thousand years ago, Colocyn was a wild world ruled by barely Human petty regional warlords.  This state had existed for several centuries, since the dawn of civilization, such as it was.  That is, until the first wizards came.

Initially, they were greeted as wise women and councilors.  They rapidly achieved positions of power within the marginal power structures that preceded them.  Within a year of their first arrival, though, wizards were ruling all of the tribes, clans, septs, and proto-city-states.  By the end of the decade, the wizards had marginally increased the state of civilization.  At least they organized it somewhat better.  Even at this point, the average person didn’t pay much attention to the wizards.

A few decades later, they had cause to regret that inattention.  That was when the wizards began raiding villages and other settlements to acquire their first “volunteer” servants.  Many of these initial abductees were subjected to bizarre experiments.  The results of these experiments were classified as Human, Anthro, and Hybrid.  Other servants were constructed or summoned.  Ultimately, the servants directly attached to wizards fared better than their relatives in the fields and villages.  Those left behind were treated barely better than animals, overseen by trusted Constructs and Demons.  At least the ones chosen as servants and experiment subjects got to leave the squalor of the fields.  They were taken to individual strongholds at first.  After a century or so, the wizards built Ackrin, a floating castle roughly centered on the largest continent.

This ushered in a new era.  The wizards gathered at Ackrin, leaving their chosen territories to be administered by the Constructs and Demons bound to unflagging loyalty.  In the castle, they met, ate, reveled, experimented, politicked, and conducted social affairs (including procreation of the next, miniscule, generation) far from the reminders of their territories.  Their power has been unchecked, except internally, for thousands of years.  The wizards and witches themselves are virtually immortal, though none of the original “colonizers” remain (the casualties of political in-fighting) there are still several who remember the early days of their rule over the land.

--Note-- This will be freeform with a very very small set of numbers to govern magic a little bit.  Alternatively, it could be adapted for GURPS 3rd ed. within the week.

3) Kaires 7
This is very much a SF work in progress.  I don't even have an intro put together for it yet.  But, think of it as a mix of inspiration from 1984, maybe a little Star Wars cantina, and a few other things.  Basically a city-based SF setting, aliens run most everything, hierarchized society, based on a former trade port and its satellite/station.  Open to innumerable races and types of characters.

--Note-- I'm currently thinking freeform here, but within 2-3 weeks it could be adapted to GURPS 3rd ed. if anyone would prefer that.
"Life is growth.  If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead." -Morihei Ueshiba, O-Sensei

Creeper

Game number 1 might be fun...
Ons and Offs, yo: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=4370.0

Too tired to post Wednesday night. Posts on Thursday!

Vandren

Quote from: Creeper on February 02, 2006, 04:27:08 PM
Game number 1 might be fun...

Would you be more interested as freeform or with the system intact?
"Life is growth.  If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead." -Morihei Ueshiba, O-Sensei

Natalie C. Barney

Game number 1 but I was curious could a player be an immortal uning the Highlander WoD rules they are not official but could be fun. And I would prefer the rules- after all sooner or later the immortal will meet other in battle for their Quickenings in the end there may be only one!

And no vampires cannot feed from Immortals their mystical blood is not able to give nutrients to the Undead. And her blade empowered with her quickening does aggrevated damage- and very few would know anything about her kind they are rarest of the immortal races after all.

Ok I love Highlander and they are cool.

I will play a vampire if I have to go that way, maybe a Setite.
"Why should a woman dress like the enemy."
Natalie Clifford Barney

D&D Shadows & Shades: ~Yeskarra, Bard~
Serenity-Tales of the Chasseur ~Saranii Jannu, Registered Companion~

Jefepato

I like #1, and strongly disapprove of making games unnecessarily freeform.

Um, Natalie, the Highlander rules seem pretty insane.  The only thing keeping them remotely balanced is the fact that they need to kill other immortals to increase Quickening, and they can seriously kick ass even at low levels thereof.

Especially since nobody knows how to kill them.

(I was going to ask what kind of crack the author was smoking when he made immortal blood useless to vampires, but I guess that's so vampires don't tie immortals up and use them as a never-ending source of food.)

Creeper

Either is good, but I'd like a system much better. I'd probably be a mage.
Ons and Offs, yo: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=4370.0

Too tired to post Wednesday night. Posts on Thursday!

Rin

1 would be fun, and I'd like the system.
"Which means we're born to lose?"
"It just means we have to live to win."

Natalie C. Barney

Quote from: Jefepato on February 02, 2006, 09:06:30 PM
I like #1, and strongly disapprove of making games unnecessarily freeform.

Um, Natalie, the Highlander rules seem pretty insane.  The only thing keeping them remotely balanced is the fact that they need to kill other immortals to increase Quickening, and they can seriously kick ass even at low levels thereof.

Especially since nobody knows how to kill them.

(I was going to ask what kind of crack the author was smoking when he made immortal blood useless to vampires, but I guess that's so vampires don't tie immortals up and use them as a never-ending source of food.)

Well I often INSIST they be food but add that as part of the RULES OF THE IMMORTALS any vampire forcibly taking an immortal for food will bring the wrath of all immortals in Quickening Shot (laugh) on the city that the outrage happened in. So they can but might end up with a dozen immortals good and evil united in a hunt. And any vampire might be targeted that gets in the way and Elders are likley to send their grunts in first. I usually add the Carthage incident that it was not a vampiric attack but immortals that destroyed the city when a Elder captured one immortal for food and several found out and the Elders know enough not to risk it on either side. As for being tough they ARE literally the rarest of the immortals and I would assume enough Elders would know how to kill one to be a problem. Save that such interference might very well bring immortals in to teach the given Kindred a lesson. And they have hunters against them to likely not as bad as Vampires but the Inquisition would know about them and the Watchers of course some of them also hunt the Immortals but are renegades among their faction. Not to mention Mages you know how much energy a Quickening will generate. Remember immortals are not immune to bullets, poison and bombs they just can recover faster and more than once in the series a bullet or thrown knife won the day for an immortal.

Remember immortals maintain a Masquerade as well, of course through the use of the ARCANE background.

We can make their blood worth 3 Blood Points per point taken so they would be tempting just a bad idea to try against their will. After all they are deadly swordmen (or any other sharp weapon they fancy) and can do aggrevated damage plus would call out to their peers who would set aside their differences to exact revenge. Evil ones likely for other reasons.

One other rules change I added was they get 1 xp a game period but when the take Quickenings get a good dose of 1 xp per Quickening so they generally have to kill others to get more skilled and the like. This tends to make them advance slower unless they hunt alot or get into fights often (like Duncan or Connor) or are really old like Methos.
"Why should a woman dress like the enemy."
Natalie Clifford Barney

D&D Shadows & Shades: ~Yeskarra, Bard~
Serenity-Tales of the Chasseur ~Saranii Jannu, Registered Companion~

Siegfried

I always seem to recall that Duncan and Connor had people chasing them the entire time, and not hunting for anyone.  It also seemed that most of their old friends were the ones trying to lop off their heads.  I guess you really do only hurt the ones you love. :D

Natalie C. Barney

Quote from: Siegfried on February 02, 2006, 10:16:10 PM
I always seem to recall that Duncan and Connor had people chasing them the entire time, and not hunting for anyone.  It also seemed that most of their old friends were the ones trying to lop off their heads.  I guess you really do only hurt the ones you love. :D

Friends, most were enemies or evil immortals- take the Kurgan for example!

And Renegade Watchers did hunt Duncan and his friends, in a flash back the Catholic Inquisition finally figured out how to kill them after trying lots of things from burning alive to boiling in oil to eventually decapitation. So it happens the Inquisition might also be a concern. My point is they should gain xp and the like mainly from taking heads and if a Vampire makes one into a larder they will pay. How many Elders would tolerate a young Kindred or Sabbat Pack doing that if it will cause an Immortal Hunt in their midst. Mortal Hunters are bad enough but five or six IMMORTALS would be a nightmare.

One other rule I dropped was the BONUS ATTACK one it was stupid. What I do is allow for IMMORTAL TECHNIQUES or special fighting moves costing FP or XP like a Discipline [7 points/10 points] but they get 3 Free as they were trained. These can add an extra attack or some other benefit- and can be innate powers. Example: They might have a technique that when fighting with a sword against another immortal or creature using a weapon they can do a block and get a free attack so can make a roll to parry then do an attack. Example: An immortal might be really good at acrobatic dodges like Fasil and get a free DODGE roll and make an attack in melee combat. Would have a name and might be know to a hunter so they could anticipate it since techniques could be formed to counter a know one for a duel. Example: Master's Knowledge- you studied the current immortal negate one SPECIAL TECHNIQUE when used with one of your own.

Otherwise they are just wickedly skill MORTALS for doing dice pools.
"Why should a woman dress like the enemy."
Natalie Clifford Barney

D&D Shadows & Shades: ~Yeskarra, Bard~
Serenity-Tales of the Chasseur ~Saranii Jannu, Registered Companion~

Jefepato

I'm not sure I understand how other immortals would know that the one had gotten turned into a vampire's Golden Corral.

But really, why add immortals to the World of Darkness at all?  There are already so many supernaturals that I'm not sure where the normal humans even fit in, and although I'd need to see them in play to be sure, they don't look remotely balanced with the rest of the WoD (even considering how unbalanced the WoD is anyway).

Vandren

#11
I'll address a few things:

1) Which one? - Seems to be overwhelmingly #1, the WoD board, thus far.  I'll start polishing that one in the afternoon (there're stil la few rough edges I'd like to smooth out a little)

2) Freeform v. System - Seems to be leaning toward system.  I should explain, though, why I've been debating.  For something like WoD where the system and setting go hand-in-hand, it's difficult to remove the one from the other.  That said, freeform games tend, in my experience, to gather more players and last longer.  Thus my dilema.  But, the masses of interested folks are leaning it toward system, which is fine.  :)

3) WoD Immortals - <insert emphatic emoticon> No.  Never.  Not at all.  I'd expressly forbid anything gathered from an unofficial source.  I've seen too much WoD stuff floating around online that's absolute . . . suffice to say, I wouldn't allow anything unofficial (note - I may allow one or two things from official magazines, such as Pyramid and White Wolf's magazine, on a case-by-case basis).  Revised ed (pre-name changes), since those are the books I have.  While I have a fairly wide range of V:tM, W:tA, and M:tA books, I'm nowhere near everything, so some things may need to be explained to me, but that'll be a case by case basis.

4) Plot Stuff - While I have some plotline ideas in mind for each game, I'd prefer to set those up as optional and include player oriented/created plots as well.

5) Numbers - Looks like roughly the right number on #1, not sure what to make of Siegfried's post.  :)
"Life is growth.  If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead." -Morihei Ueshiba, O-Sensei

Natalie C. Barney

Ok- can't blame a girl for trying.  :-*

So official sources that means the core books, other sources like the Clan Books and the like, right. So lets see that leaves some nice options. Any limit of SECT like just Camarilla or just Sabbat? I assume Independants are around as well.
"Why should a woman dress like the enemy."
Natalie Clifford Barney

D&D Shadows & Shades: ~Yeskarra, Bard~
Serenity-Tales of the Chasseur ~Saranii Jannu, Registered Companion~

Anathanasia

I'd be pretty interested in the WoD one myself, if it's a system.

I agree that it's kind of hard to seperate the system from the setting in the case of WoD, and especially with the potential power levels I think it's better to have a mechanical form of resolution. Mage vs. vampire is always a pissing contest at best, freefrom it'd easily become frustrating from all the arguments.

I'd love to play a lasombra vampire myself. I just love obtenebration; it's all about the shadow-step and the tentacles for me...  ;)

I'm wondering, however, how you would intend to run it? Would be like a classic RPG with a GM running stories and the PCs essentially being a 'party' (even if they don't get along personally), or more like a moderated sandbox?
A Special Craving: Rookie Cop has a Bad Day

My Cravings & Desires: Six Ideas in Search of a GM, Solo System RPs


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Muse

Well, i've got some time now, and I'm always eager to play a mage. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Elvi

All three are appealing, but guess what I am going to say?
(big snogs for first one to answer correctly)
It's been fun, but Elvi has now left the building

Rin

Quote from: Elvi on February 03, 2006, 04:37:47 AM
All three are appealing, but guess what I am going to say?
(big snogs for first one to answer correctly)

Number 1?

*needs snogs*
"Which means we're born to lose?"
"It just means we have to live to win."

Elvi

*sigh*
No Rin, thats not what I am going to say.......
But as you sound so desperate......
*snogs*
It's been fun, but Elvi has now left the building

Rin

Hurrah! I feel loved!

My first guess was #2.. Any closer?
"Which means we're born to lose?"
"It just means we have to live to win."

Elvi

Laughs!
No what I was going to say was ......."not the numbers *shudders* please not the numbers"
It's been fun, but Elvi has now left the building

Natalie C. Barney

"Why should a woman dress like the enemy."
Natalie Clifford Barney

D&D Shadows & Shades: ~Yeskarra, Bard~
Serenity-Tales of the Chasseur ~Saranii Jannu, Registered Companion~

Elvi

*pokes Natalie hard in the ribs*

Don't you swear at me young lady!
It's been fun, but Elvi has now left the building

Muse

::chuckles::  Isn't it cute how Elvi-megami-sama is so afraid of number?  :p 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Elvi

It's them things in funny shapes and dots on them that get to me.....*shudders*
It's been fun, but Elvi has now left the building

Vandren

Just on briefly from work (I'll do IC posts in an hour or three after I get home and eat something - maybe after errands too).  But a few answers:

1) Sects - no limit on those (though I expressly forbid any True Black Hand characters).  There will be some clan/tribe/breed limits, but those should be fairly straightforward and common sensical - no True Brujah, Nagaraja, White Howlers, Bunyip, Nephandi, etc.  :)  Some types will be limited to a certain number rather than banned - for example the Giovanni and Assamite will be limited to 2-3 characters each, while Gangrel and Ventrue, for example, will be unlimited.  Red Talons are obviously limited as well, due to the urban setting.

2) Style - Ideally, I'd like to do a "sandbox" style, but I'm adaptable and can easily edit it into a troupe-style play.  If it ends up being troupe-style, I'll be much more strict on what's allowed for characters due to the necessity keeping them from ripping each other apart within the first five minutes of game time.  Obviously, in terms of experience, a troupe-style means relatively regular XP awards.  I've got a system in mind to cover them in "sandbox" style as well.  I don't envision it being a system game where there're dice rolls every other post, but having the system there to resolve major conflicts and introduce an element of chance is nice.  :)

3) Last Note - I do use some optional playtested homebrew things as well.  Most notably the way that Influence works.  Rather than having a single "Influence" Background, I divide it up into different areas, such as Law Enforcement, Bureaucracy, Occult, Education, etc.  Each one acts as Influence, but is limited to its sphere of control (though it would be intersting and possible to try using one's Occult influence to speed up the processing of bureaucratic paperwork . . .)  That's the biggest homebrew thing I use (probably the only one).  This worked out really well in a 4+ year game I used to be involved in.
"Life is growth.  If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead." -Morihei Ueshiba, O-Sensei