Moment of... Darkness?
Jan 15, 2018 10:29:53 GMT -8
Post by Probie Tim on Jan 15, 2018 10:29:53 GMT -8
When I joined Happy Jacks, I came with the reputation as a play-by-post GM; I had successfully run a couple of VtM PbPs, a few D&D PbPs, and assorted other PbPs. It wasn't too long after that I relaunched LA by Fire, which had been the biggest and longest-running PbP I'd GMed. The story there is well documented, but basically I took on too much with the relaunch and burned out most spectacularly; I handed the game over to someone else and set about never again mentioning it on Happy Jacks media out of embarrassment.
That embarrassment has stuck with me. I've since put together half-hearted PbP games to make up for it, but nothing has really worked out. Well, I don't make New Years Resolutions, but with the New Year I decided it was time to get over my failings and reclaim my legacy as Happy Jack's premiere PbP GM: I am putting together a World of Darkness influenced PbP game using Stu's own Moment of Truth system. The game will be set in Arkham, MA, and in the game you'll be able to play a vampire, a werewolf, or a demon fully integrated into its human host. I want this game to feel familiar to WoD players, but to be my own spin on a nighttime world filled with monsters.
I chose Moment of Truth because the core mechanic is very similar to WoD - it's a dice pool based on stat+skill - but it's much more free-form in pairing up the stats and skills. It's also a much lighter system, and I really like what Stu's done with skilled vs. unskilled attempts, and talents. The only problem is that in the core rules, there aren't any rules covering vampires, werewolves, and demons, so I have to write all of that up. Here's my first stab at writing up vampires:
Vampires
Once, you were a living, breathing person. But then the vampire found you; it took an interest in you, followed you, learned about you. Maybe it befriended you, or courted you, or maybe it just watched you from the shadows. At some point the vampire made a choice; it seduced you, or it tricked you, or it beat you over the head and drug you into an alley... regardless, the vampire bit into your neck and drank all of your blood; as you lay there dying, it ripped open its wrist and dripped just a few small drops of its own blood into your mouth. You died, but later you awoke with a hunger like you'd never before experienced and all that would satisfy it was the blood of a living, breathing person... just like you used to be.
As a vampire, you are a creature of the night; the light of the day will set your undead flesh aflame, and the daylight hours themselves will leave you sluggish and exhausted, as if the day was a poignant reminder that you should not exist in the first place. Under the right circumstances, however, it is possible to brave the daylight hours for a short while.
Lineage
As a vampire, your bloodline is important. The vampire who sired your line commanded special powers which have trickled down to you from sire to sire to sire. You must select one of three progenitors, which opens up specific supernatural skills to your character. The three progenitors are Dracula, Count Orlok, or Carmilla.
Vampires of Dracula's line tend to be confident, charismatic, and commanding. They tend to value accomplishments, success, and status, and usually consider their lineage - both immortal and mortal - of high import. Dracula's descendants can often take the form of wolves or bats, and with but a word can heel even the most headstrong mortal. Dracula's children can learn the Dominate and Protean supernatural skills.
Count Orlok's descendants, on the other hand, tend to stay in the shadows, sneaking about their business, much more content to be the puppet-master behind the throne, so to speak. Vampires of Count Orlok's line can often command the birds and beasts, and can move about unseen or even in the guise of another. Children of Count Orlok can learn the Animalism and Obfuscate supernatural skills.
Those vampires who descend from Carmilla tend to be alluring, sensual, and sometimes even hedonistic, focusing on enjoying the finer points - and people - of their unlives. Carmilla's descendants tend to know things - things they shouldn't know - and with but a word or two can draw the attentions of - and virtually enslave - those around them. Carmilla's children can learn the Auspex and Presence supernatural skills.
Statistics
As a vampire, you receive a +2 bonus to Endurance and a +2 bonus to either Strength or Agility. This bonus is applied after all other statistics have been purchased.
Need
As a vampire, you are driven by the need to feed on fresh blood from a living, breathing being. Every night you must feed; while you can feed from animals, it is only the blood of humans which truly satisfies. If you do not feed from a human at least once a week, the very scent of a living, breathing human will send you into a feeding frenzy from which you will not escape until you drain the very life out of some poor human who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What do vampires generally think about...
...mortals? "Pawns. Playthings. Food. Definitely not our equals. Should we find one that shows true promise? Kill it before the beasts or the devils get it. Or turn it."
...werewolves? "Ugh, the beasts. You know that feeling you get, way down deep, when you have not feasted on human blood for a while? That urge to kill and drink until you can drink and kill no more? That must be how they feel all of the time. Best to smile, nod, and direct their rage elsewhere."
...demons? "True reminders that we may be damned after all. The devils lie and deceive for the sake of lying and deceiving; they have neither our purpose nor the beasts' focus. Regardless, they can be effective allies if you don't enter into any formal agreements with them. Thankfully, they don't seem interested in what remains of our souls."
So first off, gone are clans and generation. Instead, you pick one of the first three known vampires from whom you descend. That bloodline gives you access to certain "supernatural skills", which are basically disciplines in MoT format. Also, I'm doing away with blood points and humanity and willpower and all that, because I think they're unnecessary systems that should just be worked out between the GM and the player. However, each "species" will have a need, and if that need is not met as dictated, bad stuff happens.
Here's a quick shot of what I'm doing with supernatural skills:
Supernatural Skills
Supernatural skills are unique to Arkham by Blood; they are not a part of the Moment of Truth core rules. As such, they work a tad bit differently than do normal skills: where normal skills require 2 successes, supernatural skill rolls are considered a success if even 1 die shows a 5 or 6. To achieve specific results, a minimum amount of successes is required as described in the supernatural skill description. The supernatural skill success descriptions are guidelines, any similar effects of an equal potency should be allowed.
Generally speaking, supernatural skills will always require a skill roll and you cannot take a failure, a critical failure, or a setback to obtain a Moment of Truth when using supernatural skills. In addition, there are no unskilled supernatural skill rolls; if your character does not have a specific supernatural skill at a minimum 0 level, they cannot use that supernatural skill in any way.
Animalism
This supernatural skill gives the vampire power over the birds and beasts. Normally, animals of all types shy away from vampires, and often run in fear; a vampire with even a zero level of Animalism finds animals much more accepting of his or her presence.
1 success: sooth an angered animal, or incite rage in a calm animal.
2 successes: call for a specific type of animal, which act in defense of the vampire, with the number responding being equal to the character's skill level plus any additional successes.
3 successes: issue specific commands to an animal (or animals) that will be understood and followed to the best of the animal(s) ability. A number of animals equal to the character's skill level plus any additional successes are affected.
4 successes: completely possess the body of an animal the vampire touches until the next sunrise; the vampire's body goes limp, but the vampire is in complete control of the animal.
Basically... disciplines become special skills, and how many successes you get on the roll indicates how much you can do with it. You don't have to worry about buying it up to a certain level to do something; you just roll and if you get enough successes you do it. Now, that said, need figures into it as well: if you don't "feed your need", you take a penalty to any supernatural skill rolls for each night you don't. So if you don't feed for 2 nights, you'd be at a -2 penalty on your roll.
Werewolves and demons will be setup similarly, but unique to them. The goal is to make them easy to run, without as much bookkeeping and overhead, but with the same styling as WoD. Also, to bridge the gap between them, so that werewolves and vampires and demons can all be PCs in the same game. Of course this means that werewolves will be changed to be more monstrous - in this game they're not protectors of Gaia who hate vampires because Wyrm... they're monsters who hunt and prey on humankind just like vampires, only they're not dead.
Anyway, that's that. I'd love to get feedback on what I've posted and thoughts and the like.
That embarrassment has stuck with me. I've since put together half-hearted PbP games to make up for it, but nothing has really worked out. Well, I don't make New Years Resolutions, but with the New Year I decided it was time to get over my failings and reclaim my legacy as Happy Jack's premiere PbP GM: I am putting together a World of Darkness influenced PbP game using Stu's own Moment of Truth system. The game will be set in Arkham, MA, and in the game you'll be able to play a vampire, a werewolf, or a demon fully integrated into its human host. I want this game to feel familiar to WoD players, but to be my own spin on a nighttime world filled with monsters.
I chose Moment of Truth because the core mechanic is very similar to WoD - it's a dice pool based on stat+skill - but it's much more free-form in pairing up the stats and skills. It's also a much lighter system, and I really like what Stu's done with skilled vs. unskilled attempts, and talents. The only problem is that in the core rules, there aren't any rules covering vampires, werewolves, and demons, so I have to write all of that up. Here's my first stab at writing up vampires:
Vampires
Once, you were a living, breathing person. But then the vampire found you; it took an interest in you, followed you, learned about you. Maybe it befriended you, or courted you, or maybe it just watched you from the shadows. At some point the vampire made a choice; it seduced you, or it tricked you, or it beat you over the head and drug you into an alley... regardless, the vampire bit into your neck and drank all of your blood; as you lay there dying, it ripped open its wrist and dripped just a few small drops of its own blood into your mouth. You died, but later you awoke with a hunger like you'd never before experienced and all that would satisfy it was the blood of a living, breathing person... just like you used to be.
As a vampire, you are a creature of the night; the light of the day will set your undead flesh aflame, and the daylight hours themselves will leave you sluggish and exhausted, as if the day was a poignant reminder that you should not exist in the first place. Under the right circumstances, however, it is possible to brave the daylight hours for a short while.
Lineage
As a vampire, your bloodline is important. The vampire who sired your line commanded special powers which have trickled down to you from sire to sire to sire. You must select one of three progenitors, which opens up specific supernatural skills to your character. The three progenitors are Dracula, Count Orlok, or Carmilla.
Vampires of Dracula's line tend to be confident, charismatic, and commanding. They tend to value accomplishments, success, and status, and usually consider their lineage - both immortal and mortal - of high import. Dracula's descendants can often take the form of wolves or bats, and with but a word can heel even the most headstrong mortal. Dracula's children can learn the Dominate and Protean supernatural skills.
Count Orlok's descendants, on the other hand, tend to stay in the shadows, sneaking about their business, much more content to be the puppet-master behind the throne, so to speak. Vampires of Count Orlok's line can often command the birds and beasts, and can move about unseen or even in the guise of another. Children of Count Orlok can learn the Animalism and Obfuscate supernatural skills.
Those vampires who descend from Carmilla tend to be alluring, sensual, and sometimes even hedonistic, focusing on enjoying the finer points - and people - of their unlives. Carmilla's descendants tend to know things - things they shouldn't know - and with but a word or two can draw the attentions of - and virtually enslave - those around them. Carmilla's children can learn the Auspex and Presence supernatural skills.
Statistics
As a vampire, you receive a +2 bonus to Endurance and a +2 bonus to either Strength or Agility. This bonus is applied after all other statistics have been purchased.
Need
As a vampire, you are driven by the need to feed on fresh blood from a living, breathing being. Every night you must feed; while you can feed from animals, it is only the blood of humans which truly satisfies. If you do not feed from a human at least once a week, the very scent of a living, breathing human will send you into a feeding frenzy from which you will not escape until you drain the very life out of some poor human who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What do vampires generally think about...
...mortals? "Pawns. Playthings. Food. Definitely not our equals. Should we find one that shows true promise? Kill it before the beasts or the devils get it. Or turn it."
...werewolves? "Ugh, the beasts. You know that feeling you get, way down deep, when you have not feasted on human blood for a while? That urge to kill and drink until you can drink and kill no more? That must be how they feel all of the time. Best to smile, nod, and direct their rage elsewhere."
...demons? "True reminders that we may be damned after all. The devils lie and deceive for the sake of lying and deceiving; they have neither our purpose nor the beasts' focus. Regardless, they can be effective allies if you don't enter into any formal agreements with them. Thankfully, they don't seem interested in what remains of our souls."
So first off, gone are clans and generation. Instead, you pick one of the first three known vampires from whom you descend. That bloodline gives you access to certain "supernatural skills", which are basically disciplines in MoT format. Also, I'm doing away with blood points and humanity and willpower and all that, because I think they're unnecessary systems that should just be worked out between the GM and the player. However, each "species" will have a need, and if that need is not met as dictated, bad stuff happens.
Here's a quick shot of what I'm doing with supernatural skills:
Supernatural Skills
Supernatural skills are unique to Arkham by Blood; they are not a part of the Moment of Truth core rules. As such, they work a tad bit differently than do normal skills: where normal skills require 2 successes, supernatural skill rolls are considered a success if even 1 die shows a 5 or 6. To achieve specific results, a minimum amount of successes is required as described in the supernatural skill description. The supernatural skill success descriptions are guidelines, any similar effects of an equal potency should be allowed.
Generally speaking, supernatural skills will always require a skill roll and you cannot take a failure, a critical failure, or a setback to obtain a Moment of Truth when using supernatural skills. In addition, there are no unskilled supernatural skill rolls; if your character does not have a specific supernatural skill at a minimum 0 level, they cannot use that supernatural skill in any way.
Animalism
This supernatural skill gives the vampire power over the birds and beasts. Normally, animals of all types shy away from vampires, and often run in fear; a vampire with even a zero level of Animalism finds animals much more accepting of his or her presence.
1 success: sooth an angered animal, or incite rage in a calm animal.
2 successes: call for a specific type of animal, which act in defense of the vampire, with the number responding being equal to the character's skill level plus any additional successes.
3 successes: issue specific commands to an animal (or animals) that will be understood and followed to the best of the animal(s) ability. A number of animals equal to the character's skill level plus any additional successes are affected.
4 successes: completely possess the body of an animal the vampire touches until the next sunrise; the vampire's body goes limp, but the vampire is in complete control of the animal.
Basically... disciplines become special skills, and how many successes you get on the roll indicates how much you can do with it. You don't have to worry about buying it up to a certain level to do something; you just roll and if you get enough successes you do it. Now, that said, need figures into it as well: if you don't "feed your need", you take a penalty to any supernatural skill rolls for each night you don't. So if you don't feed for 2 nights, you'd be at a -2 penalty on your roll.
Werewolves and demons will be setup similarly, but unique to them. The goal is to make them easy to run, without as much bookkeeping and overhead, but with the same styling as WoD. Also, to bridge the gap between them, so that werewolves and vampires and demons can all be PCs in the same game. Of course this means that werewolves will be changed to be more monstrous - in this game they're not protectors of Gaia who hate vampires because Wyrm... they're monsters who hunt and prey on humankind just like vampires, only they're not dead.
Anyway, that's that. I'd love to get feedback on what I've posted and thoughts and the like.
