Favorite Storyteller system?

[mmu1]

No given game is right for all people - for example, from the sound of it mmu1 should have been playing Hunter, not Mage.

Perhaps, although the section on role-playing in Hunter in which they explain how the proper initial resonse to something horrible and supernatrual is to be so traumatized you crap your pants kinda turned me off.

The biggest flaw of the various Storyteller (or World or Darkness, more accurately) games for me is that most have mechanics built in to help make the characters endlessly agonize and moan about how unfair life is - and if you don't pay enough attention to that, you'll loose your character. It makes Alignment look non-restrictive...

 

[Umbran]

Perhaps, although the section on role-playing in Hunter in which they explain how the proper initial resonse to something horrible and supernatrual is to be so traumatized you crap your pants kinda turned me off.

Yeah, well, considering the nature of the WW universe, and what most of those supernatural critters are, it's also entirely realistic.

The biggest flaw of the various Storyteller (or World or Darkness, more accurately) games for me is that most have mechanics built in to help make the characters endlessly agonize and moan about how unfair life is

That's one way to think of it. The other is to say that it has mechanics to enforce the fact that the WW universe actually is unfair. This gives folks who like agonizing and moaning a viable reason for doing so. It also gives folks who don't like to do so a solid reason to feel superior, so it evens out.

And, about paying attention to it - if you don't pay enough attention to an orc, or a blizzard, you lose your character, too.

 

[Zappo]

Let's make a precisation. The storyteller system is the mechanical system which is common to all of the games set in the World of Darkness. I don't like the storyteller system for a variety of reasons. It uses too many dice; it has a quirky statistical model; it doesn't provide enough differentiation in skill levels (ie, skills mostly just go from 1 to 5 so you only have 5 possible levels); and the actual effectiveness of skill and attributes don't even closely match the flavor associated to them. Thinking about it, it's so bad that maybe it was done so on purpose to discourage players from relying too much on mechanics.

Among the settings, I dislike Vampire 'cause I don't like goth, but I like Mage. Again, the mechanics for magick in Mage are wonky, extremely confused, and as a result the GM has to pull out rulings constantly. This makes it very tough to maintain even a modicum of balance and consistancy. Still, the setting and feeling is great. As for the rest of the games, I haven't played them enough to judge.

 

[Zappo]

An addition... I sorta agree with mmu1. The storyteller games enforce certain types of character behaviour that fit their genre. I don't like the idea of mechanics telling me how I should roleplay; they are *my* characters and hopefully they are somehow more complex than what simple rules can describe. What's worse, most of those mechanics use dice, and with the funky statistics of the system, sometimes you get very weird things. I recall me and a friend spending the entirety of a Vampire session literally running around, alternately crying and raging, while we laughed like idiots at yet another botched roll. And anyway, if a player can't roleplay, the mechanics won't do much.

 

[Azlan]

My favorites, in order

1. Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade
2. Vampire: The Dark Ages
3. Changeling: The Dreaming

I like to read some of the sourcebooks for Wraith: The Oblivion, but generally I find that stuff way too grim and nihilistic. (Goes great with Nine Inch Nails as a soundtrack, though.)

I don't much care for the modern-day versions of Mage and Vampire. They're simply not my cup of tea.

However, if I were to run a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign, I'd probably have all the players playing characters similar to Blade, i.e. good-aligned vampire hunters who are themselves a form of vampire. Personally, I find the idea of player characters similar to the villains in the Blade movies (i.e. a cadre of anarchistic, jaded, and depraved vampires prey upon mankind like cattle) distasteful and depressing.

 

[Afrodyte]

I have just about all of WWG's major gamelines, but from greatest to least, I like the following:

1. Wraith
2. Hunter
3. Changeling or Mage (a tie here)
4. Exalted
5. Werewolf
6. Vampire

 

[VorpalBunny]

I'm not a huge fan of the Storyteller system, for many of the reasons Zappo laid out. However, as a setting I think (and I'm suprised I'm the only person so far) that Adventure! is a great game in spite of the system it uses.

I'm also not a big fan of the WoD, but I think Werewolf: The Apocalypse is the best game in that setting.

 

[Impeesa]

I've never played any of them, but from the ones I've read through I like Werewolf the best. Lots of potential for something really deep, but I think it would take a bit more GM skill than usual to really bring it out above the hacking and slashing.

--Impeesa--

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Exalted is the very best, though it is a slightly different system.

Aberrant and such had its advantages, though again a different system.

For strictly storyteller I would go with Werewolf, Mummy, and then Mage.

Though I agree with many other that Mage has terrible mechanics.

 

[Welverin]

My only problem with Exalted is that it tends to suffer from the "Buckets O' Dice" syndrome in combat, but I've found a way around that.

What, you don't like rolling thirty dice at once?

However, if I were to run a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign, I'd probably have all the players playing characters similar to Blade, i.e. good-aligned vampire hunters who are themselves a form of vampire. Personally, I find the idea of player characters similar to the villains in the Blade movies (i.e. a cadre of anarchistic, jaded, and depraved vampires prey upon mankind like cattle) distasteful and depressing.

Then you would want to check out Time of Thin Blood, it has exactly what you you would be looking for.