Monte Cook's WoD--we'll be playing

[jefgorbach]

1) any thoughts regarding his treatment of Mages?
2) being d20 based, any thoughts on crossovers with other d20 material?

 

[Skywalker]

1) any thoughts regarding his treatment of Mages?

The magic system is being praised very highly and a number of people are considering using it as a basis for magic in other d20 games.

It sounds partially freeform in that you can construct variations to certain spell efects.

2) being d20 based, any thoughts on crossovers with other d20 material?

It seems almost 100% compatible to most d20 products. There are a few changes that despite being significant do not seem to impact on compatibility.

I think it would be good for a Ravenloft system, or even a Dark Ages WoD game.

 

[Particle_Man]

There is comic potential in the fact that it's abbreviated McWOD (McDarkness?), but sadly Monte's probably made a book that's too good to warrant it, so the clever moniker will go to waste.

I like how Monte uses that abbreviation within the book itself.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

1) any thoughts regarding his treatment of Mages?

This is probably one of the best approaches to spellslingers that I've every seen for a d20 game. Mages still have limited casting resources (# of components per day), but it's a lot more flexible since you can decide to either use a few big spells or lots of little spells during the course of the day. And you're not stuck with either a small selection (D&D Sorcerer-types) or pre-set types of spells (D&D Wizard-types). And I couldn't help but thinking how well this system would work for a Potterverse-based game.

2) being d20 based, any thoughts on crossovers with other d20 material?

The only inherent problem is that compared to other d20 games, MCWoD characters start at the equivalent of 4th level, and have plenty of ability score boosts right out the gate, as getting an ability score above 20 is not difficult if you make the appropriate choices. Of course, then there's all the little extras such as racial abilities and class powers, most of which make a d20 Modern character's talents pale in comparison.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I got the book, and so far I must say I like a lot of it. I am not sure I would really want to learn all the spell system and special abilities if I am the only one in my group mastering it.
But it is already a source of so many great ideas - I really like it a lot, and even if I never play it, I still think it was worth it.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Played a one-shot with some friends this past Friday, and it was quite fun. Have to say that those were some of the most powerful "1st level" characters I've ever seen in action. The mage ended up being quite a headache for the player, especially when trying to put together spells on the fly. A werewolf OTH is much more straightforward

Dunno if we'll ever play this again, but it was a nice break from the current D&D and SW campaigns.