Is WoTC borrowing to much from WW?

[Kevin O'Reilly]

I didn' realize that Urnan Arcana was Urban Fanatasy...now i must buy...

I agree that this is isn't really "taking" from white wolf, but from the same sources, DeLint, Anthony, and general "witch" based beliefs.

Sounds damn cool

 

[hong]

What I found to be very changeling in Urban Arcana ( which I like a lot) is the way that only a small amount of the population know that there are elfs, dwarfs, and magic in the world. Also, they explain this by way of "shadow" which cloudes the minds of most the world. People explain away anything magical in a mundane way, no matter how silly the mundane explaintion would be, kinda like in mage.

I take it ghost walk isn't bleak like wraith?

As I understand it, Ghostwalk isn't bleak at all. Basically it builds on the usual D&D assumption that death is just an inconvenience, due to the presence of raise dead and resurrection spells. Since death is just another state of being, there's no reason why you can't incorporate it into your game, like going to the Abyss or Sigil or whichever exotic otherplanar setting takes your fancy. Thus you get rules for adventuring as a ghost, including ways to kill (?) ghostly monsters and take their ghostly treasure, gain more XP, and ways of getting over your ghostliness.

Of course, I may have it totally whacked, but that's the impression I've got of it so far.

 

[Vocenoctum]

That would be SKR, Bruce had nothing to do with Ghostwalk.

You were right on the points about their familiarity though.

Bah, I knew I'd pick the wrong author.
But the book was so far away!

 

[Vocenoctum]

As I understand it, Ghostwalk isn't bleak at all. Basically it builds on the usual D&D assumption that death is just an inconvenience, due to the presence of raise dead and resurrection spells. Since death is just another state of being, there's no reason why you can't incorporate it into your game, like going to the Abyss or Sigil or whichever exotic otherplanar setting takes your fancy. Thus you get rules for adventuring as a ghost, including ways to kill (?) ghostly monsters and take their ghostly treasure, gain more XP, and ways of getting over your ghostliness.

Of course, I may have it totally whacked, but that's the impression I've got of it so far.

The game is centered around the city of Manifest. It's a juncture between Here and There
when a person dies, 10 (ish) minutes later, their ghost forms in the astral. It then heads to the gate if they want to or something of the sort.
In the city, ghosts are forced to manifest (hence the name) and are basically physical beings. You can only gain levels in a Ghost class, but when you are raised (with no XP penalty or anything) you can turn those levels into "normal" levels.

The setting is neat in some ways, but I'll probably never use it.

I do like the idea of a person dying in Manifest, forming as a ghost and dragging their corpse to a church to get it raised though, the image is just amusing

 

[Particle_Man]

Wotc stealing from WW?

Well, Basic D&D, Expert D&D and Advanced D&D had magic-users and vampires and werewolves and wraiths and mummies and undead and elves and pixies and sprites wayyyy before WW, so if anything, the crime would have to go in the other direction, with WW ripping off TSR. The only thing that WW added was angst.

But seriously, both rpg games, in all their incarnations, simply "rip off" the existing fiction around them.

Now, there might be a case for TSR having ripped off stuff from Tolkein, but the lawsuit of the Tolkein estate vs. TSR failed, so that is that.

 

[DarkSoldier]

There was a D&D Web Enhancement not too long ago that detailed vampire thralls, basically people who consumed a vampire's blood and gained power from it, but then took penalties to resist the vampire's dominate.

When I read it, I had one word to say: "Ghoul!"

 

[William Ronald]

Dark Soldier wrote:

There was a D&D Web Enhancement not too long ago that detailed vampire thralls, basically people who consumed a vampire's blood and gained power from it, but then took penalties to resist the vampire's dominate.

When I read it, I had one word to say: "Ghoul!"

Correct me if I am wrong, but has not such a concept already been used in several horror stories predating the Vampire:the Masquerade game?

I suspect that some similarities will exist when both companies are drawing on many of the same sources: literature, folklore, and legend.

 

[Wolfspider]

There was a D&D Web Enhancement not too long ago that detailed vampire thralls, basically people who consumed a vampire's blood and gained power from it, but then took penalties to resist the vampire's dominate.

When I read it, I had one word to say: "Ghoul!"

Link?

 

[Umbran]

When I read it, I had one word to say: "Ghoul!"

What you should have said was "Penfeld". The "vampire thrall" dates back to Bram Stoker, at least.

 

[Darkness]

What you should have said was "Penfeld". The "vampire thrall" dates back to Bram Stoker, at least.

Wasn't he called "Ren(s)field?"