(no subject)

[beccaelizabeth]

I skimmed some 90s World of Darkness rulebooks to see if there were any rules I could extract for other purposes.

Note to self: Don't. Now my brain feels vaguely grimy and kind of grey.

The rules are set up so there's no way out. It's not possible to choose between good and bad options or have a virtuous life, there's just varying degrees of screwed, driving every character into the abyss. I know there's a lot of game worlds like that but I really do not want.

I would kind of prefer players to keep their free will, and then if they screw up that badly they know they did it to themselves. Much more interesting.

Also I'm just not as into vampires as I used to be. So much moping, so much violence, oh boo hoo we're rich white men who rule the world but it's so hard knowing how much it hurts people. Great metaphor, but I'm done with a lot of specific manifestations thereof. Like, grow up and find the green option, dudes. Just be less creepy. History is no excuse.




Also also, even the GURPS Vampire rulebooks use their own game mechanics, and they don't integrate well.
So it wasn't even vaguely helpful.
Except as a list of super powers I don't ever want to give any character I have to deal with ever.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Mage: The Ascension and Changeling: The Dreaming were less horrid, though still bittersweet. And Mummy: The Resurrection was a truly beautiful game, the memory of which I still cherish. The tagline was, "Where there is life, there is hope."



If the WoD is just too much for you, you could also check out Exalted or (a favorite of mine) Scion, which also use the Storyteller System. Scion is basically "Percy Jackson meets American Gods" with some musing on free will vs. determinism.

-- Arynne

[beccaelizabeth]

I haven't seen Mummy or Changeling, but Mage the Ascension is an exciting set of possibilities.
... then I read about how they chose to go with it. blah.

Mummy sounds most interesting, I'll look out for them.