Nerfing Characters in nWoD

[Jif T94]

So I've been running a nWoD Campaign with a few friends, and I've noticed lately that it becomes a pissing contest of whose more powerful than who, rather than whose the best roleplayer.

To remedy this, i'd like to nerf my players back to near-beginning stats. I would, however like to roleplay it and have a good reason as to why. That's where I'm stumped. They are Vampires, so i'm thinking either Torpor or some similar in game mechanic. Thoughts?

 

[wingsandsword]

In my experience, supernatural characters in any WoD game, New or Old, get like that, or can easily get like that.

I like Old WoD as a setting, I like New WoD as rules, but I hate high-powered games for long-term play in either.

In my experience, if you want a good long-term game the most supernatural power you can give PC's is being "halfway" like Ghouls/Sorcerers/Psychics ect. Still squishy enough that they can be brought down fairly easily by mortals (if your PC's have no real fear of a SWAT team, they are too strong IMO), but with enough power to satisfy PC's needs to be special.

Personally, I'd tell the players point blank that the game is too high in power for comfort, and you want to play a lower-powered game. I'd suggest retiring the PC's and creating a party of new characters. The PC's can be ghouls of their old players (maintaining a sense of continuity, and leaving the door open for cameos by old characters), or they could be psychics/sorcerers.

 

[Jif T94]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll probably have to do that. The problem is that the only books I have (besides the core Rulebook) are Changeling, Geist, and Vampire - which is what we're playing now. I have absolutely no experience with Geist either, so I've been sticking with what I know. I know I have to Nerf them, but I don't want my players to suddenly lose connection with the characters they've come to know so well. The ghoul idea does solve a lot of these problems, so I may just give that a shot.

 

[Stormonu]

Vampires are the superheros of the nWoD, literally*. Bullets do little to them, they have superhuman abilities, etc.

Did the players build their characters up to this level of power? Did they get XP faster than you desired? I'm not attempting to blame you, but if the power got out of control too fast, you might want to look at how that occurred so you can try and avoid it the next go-around.

If they've put all their points into combat abilities, a Ventrue prince with Dominate can really cause a problem - not only by directly taking over the vampires in question, but all their undead friends and stuff. Just about every build in the game I found has some counter or weakness, if you want to spend the time looking and setting it up.

If it's the power level has gotten beyond what you desire, as others mentioned Torpor (or retirement to NPC) might be the answer, possibly letting the players select a Childer or a ghoul to act in their stead until they can return...and then something unforeseen occurs and they just play "the Replacements".




* In our last Vampire game, one of the characters made a punch-drunk NO vampire called "The Saint" (and lived under the superdome), who really thought he was a superhero, gifted with the power to fight crime.

 

[Jif T94]

I think i'm just going to play out a death for the characters and have them start anew. a little change never hurt anybody and I think that the change in pace will help keep the players interested in the game. Plus it will force them to RP a new character, which is always extremely fun, as i discovered when I switched from a total bad-ass ex football player Vampire who had 5 dots in strength and all the Nosferatu clan bonuses to a Cop from New Orleans whose more mental based. The change in accent is always a blast too

 

[Jhaelen]

They are Vampires

There's your problem!
Imho, if you're interested in a true storytelling game in nWoD, the players should play normal human beings as described in the nWoD core rules.