Chronicles of Darkness Discussion

[Professor Murder]

I'm not really seeing the bloat in 2e, it has a lot fewer books and a lot of the books they do have a stuff like alternate universes or for stuff that isn't part of normal play like playing an Muthusla Vampire. 1e VtR had how many books on bloodlines alone?

To each their own.

 

[Umbran]

It's a matter of how to pull it off, not inability to do it.

Well, if "how to do it" is too difficult, it becomes "inability to do it" in a practical sense. If only some small number of GMs have the skill, I'm going to find it a poor choice.

I also find it a poor choice for other reasons, but they aren't relevant for this portion of the conversation.

Plus, many "horror" games are merely survival games with ugly threats...

I don't think of that as the "personal horror" that I was referencing.

the thing is, a game can sustain a psychological horror feel via mechanics, but only by the players knowing some deep dark fate awaits them via those mechanics.

I don't find that to be true. If the "horror" is mostly in the mechanics, I find it too abstract to be compelling.

 

[Blue Orange]

oWoD winds up being a warped form of supers or slasher flicks in most hands, because the mechanics for Rötschrek are weak and often ignored. Plus, it's always temporary; Alien & WFRP 1, the essential campaign question is "Which gets you first? Insanity or the Enemy?" In both, PCs wind up with a slowly accumulating series of disabilities... Pendragon can result in similar, albeit more player control, with passions... especially hate and fear passions (which can override the Valourous/Cowardly trait pair... and each other).

How do you feel about Call of Cthulhu, which has long had this as a core mechanic (Sanity rating) and is a horror game?

 

[aramis erak]

How do you feel about Call of Cthulhu, which has long had this as a core mechanic (Sanity rating) and is a horror game?

I don't generally discuss CoC; not a fan of HPL. Only passing familiarity.

I don't recall it imposing lesser insanities, merely, at 0 San permanent, Out of Play... which WFRP and Alien definitely provide lesser insanities - crippled but not OOP.

 

[Professor Murder]

I don't generally discuss CoC; not a fan of HPL. Only passing familiarity.

I don't recall it imposing lesser insanities, merely, at 0 San permanent, Out of Play... which WFRP and Alien definitely provide lesser insanities - crippled but not OOP.

Plenty of "lesser" debilitations that Permanent Insanity when you hit zero. Indefinite insanity can last months of in game time, with some sidelining a PC in a care facility.

 

[Campbell]

My perspective is that the systems in place in Chronicles of Darkness are not there to cause you to experience personal horror, but to reward players to work with their STs to create stories of personal horror. It rewards the player for flirting with the humanity line because that leads to sorts of stories its trying to be about.

Personally Chronicles is about even with V5 for me. V5 has less cognitive load and does many of the same sorts of things, but the overall implementation of Requiem Second Edition feels like it leads to richer stories.

 

[Haplo781]

Plenty of "lesser" debilitations that Permanent Insanity when you hit zero. Indefinite insanity can last months of in game time, with some sidelining a PC in a care facility.

I like the mechanic in Delta Green where you can shunt sanity loss onto your relationships. E.g. you lose 6 SAN and hit a breaking point, but rather than developing a phobia or something, you put a strain on your marriage.

Trail of Cthulhu has an interesting mechanic too in separating sanity (your connection to consensus reality) from stability (your ability to function in mainstream human society). So you can have someone with high SAN and low STA who's completely grounded but has an anxiety disorder or something; or you can have a cult leader with 0 SAN and high stability - seems totally normal, but sacrifices babies to Azathoth on moonless nights.