Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
What do people think of MAge the Awakening (2e, in particular)? I'm trying to decide if I want to jump back into 1995 with Mage the Ascension (which I loved) or give MtAW a try even though it looks like the sort of game that really wants players to be into mysticism given the intensity of terminology
 
I have MtAw 1st ed and that - like the rest of the Nwod stuff - is much more tightly focused and mechanically sound but lacks that spark that the OWoD had. Given my experience with Changeling 2nd ed. and the rules vomit, I'd advise trying to get a read through before you pay for anything.
 
The cards were a really good idea (maybe the best in first edition), explained HORRIBLY, and confused by the terrible terrible decision to release "official" cards in CCG-style random packs.

Honestly the use of cards in RPGs is one of those things that I love that gets a bit shat on because it feels too "gamey" even when it isn't. I do it all the time for equipment. Because then it is easy to hand back and forth between players, or for GMs just to hand over an equipment card, and with consumables like potions, they can just toss it to the GM when they use it and it is even easier than marking it off on a character sheet.
 
Bloody hell, they only gave free copies of their 20th anniversary games away last year!

Talk about late to the party.

I must now mope
 
Last edited:
I have MtAw 1st ed and that - like the rest of the Nwod stuff - is much more tightly focused and mechanically sound but lacks that spark that the OWoD had. Given my experience with Changeling 2nd ed. and the rules vomit, I'd advise trying to get a read through before you pay for anything.
Yeah, the Atlantean origin and semi-gnostic approach to how magic and Paradox worked meant that magic had one singular, hermetic-looking vibe, as opposed to oMage saying that Hermetics and Wiccans and kung fu masters and Weird Scientists were all mages. That was because they were trying to present the idea that "reality" was a word only to be used in quotes and anyone's approach to magic was as good as any other, which I guess made sense because they all ended up having to use the same game mechanics.
So yeah, NWoD Mage is more consistent but less flavorful.

JG
 
What are people's thoughts on Vamp Dark Ages 20th?

I've always liked the look of VtDA, but it always seemed something that benefitted from a GM who knows the period to really flesh it out. I never bought the alternate timeline books although Sorcerer's Crusade (aka Ars Magica) was really appealing. Wraith the Great War...notsomuch!

But 20th has a lot of content.
 
What are people's thoughts on Vamp Dark Ages 20th?

I've always liked the look of VtDA, but it always seemed something that benefitted from a GM who knows the period to really flesh it out. I never bought the alternate timeline books although Sorcerer's Crusade (aka Ars Magica) was really appealing. Wraith the Great War...notsomuch!

But 20th has a lot of content.
Mage: The Sorcerer’s Crusade is really nothing like Ars Magica. Different era (Renaissance), different tone (wildly ahistorical) and different themes (reality wars).
 
Although, I’d say that Vampire: Dark Ages has at least something in common with Ars Magica, oddly enough.
 
Well I've just plundered DTRPG's GM celebreation sale for the following:

C20 = Players guide + freeholds book
All the 2e nWoD/COD books (they have the core rules included which I think is a good move) except Beast the Primordial. Now controversy aside it looks intriguing, but a bit limited in scope. I'm not big on cross splat games, ymmv.
A couple of 2e supplements, fortunately there aren't that many.

I would like more of the 20th anniversary stuff, even though I'm not sure it's aged taht well. It's an interesting way to restart/kickstart those lines once again, which seems to be the point, as they are continuing to receive support. The books are huge, but post-sale still expensive.

Except Wraith. That's the line for me I think. I doubt I could find players responsible enough to play each other's shadows without it descending into madness :grin:

Plus any game that calls me a "tumorous excrescence" can fuck right off :grin:

Currently reading Changeling. I missed out on it the first time around, I think Banality overcame me and at that point I'd checked out of the WoD. I was also between groups having just left a group that were right up their own arses (said the WoD fan). I'm glad they've kept these old games alive.

I'm also taking notes for prepping ideas. I even started a blog on my experiences and ideas getting back into the World of Darkness. The weird part is that I've never been a fan of horror or vampires especially. Yet these games are a lot of fun. Hopefully still are.

As you were
 
Just picked up Werewolf 20. Werewolf is a game I owned but never ran. It's nuts, I love it.

Thanks to those that took a look at my blog. It's not so impressive yet...

Could someone change(ling) the title of this thread as it's really a more generic WoD/nWoD/CoD discussion at this point. No need to start different threads.

To that end, I'm considering V5. I don't really like how they've handled the supplements, but I like the look of the core rules and the changes do make sense. Apart from the Second Inquisition, because if the government really did know the Kindred's existance they'd surely be much more effective at wiping them out. But I haven't read the rulebook. I do have Vampire the Requiem, and Vampire 20 is pretty through, if a bit anachronistic in terms of the rules, which is my only gripe with the anniversary editions, otherwise they are great. Massive and pretty through. A curious way to restart the oWoD.

What a time to be undead
 
To be honest I thought Unisystem Witchcraft / Armageddon was what a combined world could look like. But all the different powers. Yeesh.

It is particularly bad with WoD stuff. Vampires, Garou, Changeling all have similar but slghtly different powers. Why? It just adds bloat to it, and I see no requirement for it. I would honestly keep it simple, and have powers like in M&M or Savage Worlds.

At worst have Dread Powers from Hunter which all splats choose from; or magic which is separate. Nowadays I like simple.
 
To be honest I thought Unisystem Witchcraft / Armageddon was what a combined world could look like. But all the different powers. Yeesh.

It is particularly bad with WoD stuff. Vampires, Garou, Changeling all have similar but slghtly different powers. Why? It just adds bloat to it, and I see no requirement for it. I would honestly keep it simple, and have powers like in M&M or Savage Worlds.

At worst have Dread Powers from Hunter which all splats choose from; or magic which is separate. Nowadays I like simple.
Well, the WoD games were all different games with different themes and concepts, albeit in a shared world. They weren’t trying to just create a generic game system.
 
Well, the WoD games were all different games with different themes and concepts, albeit in a shared world. They weren’t trying to just create a generic game system.
It was a generic system though, with different powers in each splat.
Many of said powers were similar or the same but granted slightly altered bonuses. E.g Potence & Gift of Strength. Same damn thing really. No need for two powers.

Which is my point, Dread Powers has this covered.
 
It was a generic system though, with different powers in each splat.
Many of said powers were similar or the same but granted slightly altered bonuses. E.g Potence & Gift of Strength. Same damn thing really. No need for two powers.

Which is my point, Dread Powers has this covered.
Well, in terms of the various powers for each splat, it evidently wasn’t a generic system. This was intended - Vampire’s Disciplines were not designed to replicate the concepts behind Mage’s Spheres for example.
 
Well, in terms of the various powers for each splat, it evidently wasn’t a generic system. This was intended - Vampire’s Disciplines were not designed to replicate the concepts behind Mage’s Spheres for example.

Spheres are notably different from everything rlse so the analogy is flawed. Yet power similarities remain in garou, changeling and vampires. I believe there may have been a rule in a Mirrors book about learning alternate powers
 
I have MtAw 1st ed and that - like the rest of the Nwod stuff - is much more tightly focused and mechanically sound but lacks that spark that the OWoD had. Given my experience with Changeling 2nd ed. and the rules vomit, I'd advise trying to get a read through before you pay for anything.
I had a conversation online w/ Rose Bailey - one of the original NWoD, CoD deveolopers and the complexity was kind of an accident - she'd rather that they had a lighter system for it.
 
Spheres are notably different from everything rlse so the analogy is flawed. Yet power similarities remain in garou, changeling and vampires. I believe there may have been a rule in a Mirrors book about learning alternate powers
It’s not an analogy. It is a crystal clear example of why two different games have different systems.
 
It’s not an analogy. It is a crystal clear example of why two different games have different systems.
And not the ones I was using, as you clearly cannot refute my point. Fact is you do not need all of these powers and it could be streamlined quite easily.
 
Last edited:
And not the ones I was using, as you clearly cannot refute my point. Fact is you do not need all of these powers and it could be streamlined quite easily.
Well, they are all trying to different things. The Werewolf’s Gifts from Gaia and Changeling’s Glamour based Cantrips are all different concepts to Vampire’s Disciplines. Consider yourself utterly refuted on every single point.
 
Well, they are all trying to different things. The Werewolf’s Gifts from Gaia and Changeling’s Glamour based Cantrips are all different concepts to Vampire’s Disciplines. Consider yourself utterly refuted on every single point.
Again no I have not, as Dread Powers prove otherwise, such that even a normal supernatural could get ratings in gnosis
 
Again no I have not, as Dread Powers prove otherwise, such that even a normal supernatural could get ratings in gnosis
Yep, I’m not even sure what tree you are barking up now.

Each supernatural ‘power’ is distinct. They do not represent the same things.
 
Wasn't a big fan of Hunter: The Vigil. Characters' "Kewl Powerz" basically made them cats' paws of some unknown supernatural entity and weren't all that great to boot. They would have been better off playing Inquisitors or hunters from on of the earlier books.

JG
 
Yep, I’m not even sure what tree you are barking up now.

Each supernatural ‘power’ is distinct. They do not represent the same things.

Yet Dread Powers gets all different splat powers, puts them under one banner removing need for excessive powers.
ah, that was one of the original WoD games I never read. I think the cover put me off
You are thinking of Hunter the Reckoning, not the Hunter the Vigil which was nWoD.
Wasn't a big fan of Hunter: The Vigil. Characters' "Kewl Powerz" basically made them cats' paws of some unknown supernatural entity and weren't all that great to boot. They would have been better off playing Inquisitors or hunters from on of the earlier books.

JG
What do you think Changeling, vampires or all the other splats had...cool powers.
 
Yet Dread Powers gets all different splat powers, puts them under one banner removing need for excessive powers.

You are thinking of Hunter the Reckoning, not the Hunter the Vigil which was nWoD.

What do you think Changeling, vampires or all the other splats had...cool powers.
Excuse me, upon reflection, Vigil wasn't the game I was thinking of. I was thinking of the Hunter: the Reckoning thing.

JG
 
Yet Dread Powers gets all different splat powers, puts them under one banner removing need for excessive powers.

You are thinking of Hunter the Reckoning, not the Hunter the Vigil which was nWoD.

What do you think Changeling, vampires or all the other splats had...cool powers.
Dread powers, or whatever they need to be called, are boring though. They remove any theme, identity or circumstantial differences from each respective game. The original WoD games were all thematically distinct, albeit in a shared setting, and much of the themes of the games came through the ‘power’ systems. They were not attempting to create a singular generic game system for powers.
 
Dread powers, or whatever they need to be called, are boring though. They remove any theme, identity or circumstantial differences from each respective game. The original WoD games were all thematically distinct, albeit in a shared setting, and much of the themes of the games came through the ‘power’ systems. They were not attempting to create a singular generic game system for powers.
Nightlife worked with that approach.
JG
 
Nightlife worked with that approach.
JG
But Nightlife tried to do the whole setting in a single book, and barely registered as a successful game line by comparison. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done that way, but you do have to consider that strong themes and independent games was a hallmark of WoD games.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top