[VtR] [OOC] Born into Darkness

[Graf]

The most recent post is not intended to cut off possible reactions to
Beth saying she knows Biggs (if there are going to be any)
Diego asking Beth a question
Biggs returning to the conversation.

Just roleplay them out as you see fit and once you've finished Nice will pick up with his little spiel.

 

[industrygothica]

For flavor...

Credit forhaud​

 

[Graf]

Great Picture.
(It may be my sleep deprived state but I felt really bad for the teddybear... missing his eyes no?)

I've been thinking about this for a while and I think I'd like to give an xp to people for getting character portraits. Photos, drawings, whatever. I'll try to drop in mentions of character's key appearance details (Biggs' height, Archer's throat wrappings, etc) but pictures are worth a 1000 and all that.

Also, if you catch me making a serious rules mistake I'll give an xp. (Lots of reasons for this, but the biggest is that I think it'll improve game quality).
In that vein there is one XP for anyone who can identify the two rules mistakes I made during the frenzy scene outside the mansion.

[not that we're at the point where people can spend xp yet; though I suppose, since the characters are still fairly undefined, you could just squeeze it into your background...
I just remembered... I speak russian!]

 

[Graf]

Why do you keep making all these "social rolls"

I blame Bioware.

Seriously. Combat related rolls get made all the time in games. But social stuff is much more uncommon. Which penalizes people for having social scores (effectively). Naturally I'm not going to roll for PC on PC stuff (it never really works anyway).
But one way to reward people is to let them roll vs NPCs and get information.

Much like Bioware does in their games, the people with higher social scores get more and better choices for how to interact.
In theory this should make them "better with people" in general (even if the intergroup interaction doesn't support their relatively superior scores).

I am having similar thoughts about mentals. But we aren't at a point where serious thinking is going on yet.

 

[Graf]

Wits vs. Manipulation

Arguably, from looking at the book, "reading" a scene and so forth should probably be Wits + Empathy.

My policy now is to use Manipulation + Empathy. Why?

• I'd rather use Social Attributes for social rolls (i.e. there might be a situation where an academic uses Int + Presence to convince another academic of something but generally socail stuff should be social).
• Manipulation doesn't do anything. Wits is already a good stat that effects combat.
• If Presence is convincing someone to do something through social strength (raw charisma) then Manipulation is, to my mind, figuring out what that person wants (or thinks they want) and then trying to make them think you're going to give it to them. I.e. if you can manipulate someone then you know what they want.

I'll hear arguments for and against of course. If there are any. Conveniently, characters with high Wits seem to have Manipulation within a dot of the Wits. Making this a fairly academic discussion.

 

[Graf]

Want to give "team freezer" a chance to do stuff if they're inclined. Will post again tonight or tomorrow.

 

[industrygothica]

Great Picture.
(It may be my sleep deprived state but I felt really bad for the teddybear... missing his eyes no?)

I hadn't really payed it much attention, but yes, it appears to have a safety pin shoved through its eye. Tragic indeed.

Also, if you catch me making a serious rules mistake I'll give an xp. (Lots of reasons for this, but the biggest is that I think it'll improve game quality).
In that vein there is one XP for anyone who can identify the two rules mistakes I made during the frenzy scene outside the mansion.

Fat chance of that happening for me. Rules are beyond me in this game; I'll just have to trust you. I'm sure I'll get more familiar with them as time moves on.

 

[industrygothica]

I'm on the road right now so I can't link effectively. All these rolls are on invisible castle under [VTR] Predator's Taint.

Anyway things are a mess right now.
Cole is frenzying at Beth. Beth at Archer. Biggs at Cole.

Do people want to spend willpower points for extra dice?

Not sure of the rules here, and it's probably easier to ask than to look it up at this point: What exactly does it mean to spend a willpower point? Obvious advantage is that it gives you extra dice. What are the drawbacks, and are they permanent?

Sorry for being stupid.

 

[Festy_Dog]

You have at your disposal a number of willpower points which cap out at equal to your willpower score (equal to your resolve + composure). Presently I think everyone has their willpower -1 in willpower points.

There are no drawbacks to using them beyond having one less willpower point, and you earn them back by completing character goals, and acting on your virtue/vice. More or less like WoD's own kind of action points.

Spending willpower dots reduces your maximum willpower as you're burning your actual willpower stat, it's different to spending points and it's the one with the big drawback that you might have been thinking of. It's applications are limited though. I think one scenario that requires it is in the creation of childer.

 

[Graf]

what festy said basically.
Its like action points (or vitae/blood points really). It's resource management. If you're ever curious about how much blood / will you have just check out the condition tracker spread sheet on the character page.

Honesty since you get back one a night plus others from vices and virtue its not huge... But beth doesn't have a lot, and it's a bit of a negative choice... Nothing interesting happens because you don't frenzy.

I'm not loving how predators taint is working right now.