A Month Away From Onyx Path Con 4 [Monday Meeting Notes]

From here until mid-June, we’re all-in on getting things set up for the 4th year of the Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Con! 4 years! The little convention that could, born out of the Covid quarantines, half put together by wanting to play and half because we just hadn’t seen our community for far too long, is going to be four. Wowser!

So, we have a month to get things all wrapped up, and prep our contingency plans for when those original plans fall flat on their metaphorical faces. Today we reviewed our teases and reveals – of new and upcoming games! Jeez. Most of the panels and things are pretty well scheduled, but just what we’re going to announce or hint at, or hint at announcing, is what we needed to nail down.

Pretty sure we have it, at this point. There should be enough for folks who are looking forward to news. And News, even! But not so much that we over-announce and get caught with some disappointed folks if we have to change plans. We’ve all been there with projects we were looking forward to, so your gang here at Onyx Path tries to balance the hype with the “mostly going to happen”!

Tending the Flame art by Tilen Javornik

Don’t take it from me, here’s TV’s Travis Legge, who is setting up our set-up:

As the 2023 Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention draws near, we’re in the process of finalizing a full weekend of panels at the Onyx Path Twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath). In addition to mainstays like the Opening Ceremonies, What’s Up With Onyx Path? and the live Pathcast, we have a ton of discussions planned to cover our various game lines both old and new! We’ll have Q&A sessions, a few interviews with exciting partners discussing upcoming events, and big announcements that you won’t want to miss!

Speaking of partners, the Bodhana Group (https://www.thebodhanagroup.org/) is once again our charity of choice! Our friends at StartPlaying (https://startplaying.games/) are joining us to provide coordination so attendees can set up games through them for the weekend with all proceeds going to the Bodhana Group!

In addition to panels, we’re providing hours of actual play programming so you can see our games in action! This year we’re joined by partnered channels Dork Tales (https://www.twitch.tv/dorktales), Plastic Age Plays (https://www.twitch.tv/plasticageplays), Rolling Nomads (https://www.twitch.tv/rollingnomads), and Simulacra TV (https://www.twitch.tv/simulacratv). These partnerships give us ample room to showcase our various game lines, and we’re in the final stages of locking those schedules down. Be sure to follow those partnered channels, and keep an eye on this space for official schedule releases!

Tome of the Pentacle art by Luis Sanz

In non-convention news, the They Came From? crowdfunding campaign is still coming, and we recently resubmitted the campaign page to Kickstarter, who had some changes in terminology they needed us to make. So, hopefully they will re-review it quickly. Quick enough!

The KS for They Came From? starts Thursday the 25th at 2pm Eastern US Time!

And you can go here and sign up on the pre-launch page to be notified immediately as it goes live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/they-came-from-the-rpg-anthology-tabletop-roleplaying-game

For more info on just what’s in the book itself, and maybe even some clues as to the title and the…interesting…nature of the crowdfunding campaign, you can listen to this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast on your favorite podcasting venue!

And if you missed last Friday’s deep dive into the abyss with the gang’s look into The World Below, you can still catch that and learn about our newest fantasy game featuring Storypath Ultra, our newest system! Also, last Thursday the powerful force that is Kaos magic was the topic of Thursday’s World Below teaser blog!

Different topic entirely: for those of you who were concerned about the security status of our website, the recent update/upgrade enabled Impish Ian to successfully upgrade it to fully security compliant. So you shouldn’t see any more unsecured website messages! (And don’t worry, we still haven’t had any security breaches!)

Like, nobody ever monkeywrenched us. How’s that for a long-time Werewolf: The Apocalypse reference?

Which is only fair, since I was there when we created first edition, but even moreso because yesterday it was 10 years since Werewolf: The Apocalypse‘s 20th Anniversary Edition was published! That is just so hard to believe – it seems like just yesterday I was reaching out to Bill Bridges and Ethan Skemp about following up V20‘s success with a deluxe edition for WtA. And that I was reaching out to the ol’ art crew like Ron Spencer, Steve Prescott, and RKF.

It’s so cool that folks are still enjoying it, and immersing themselves in the compiled lore of the Garou! It’s even cooler that we are still able to work on a couple of W20 projects after all this time – thanks, Paradox!

So, to celebrate, there’s a sale on W20 gameline PDFs on DTRPG going on right now: 50%! https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4261/Onyx-Path-Publishing/subcategory/8329_20631/Werewolf-20t

Tending the Flame art by Tilen Javornik

Well, once again we have had a rollickin’ good time talking horror gaming in the Comments section of this very blog! Hats off to the creativity and insight our posters have shared this last week as we talked about just which supernatural PC types they’d like to see in a new urban dark fantasy/horror game. Lots and lots of great ideas!

To kind of spin off of that, as well as some prior weeks’ posts about how folks like to keep their horror personal, I’m wondering just what is it about certain supernatural creatures that makes our community want to play them? Is it their respective aspects of personal horror, like a werewolf’s uncontrollable rage, or the angst of returning from the dead with unfinished business? The fear that you’re not actually human for a promethean, or the body-horror of Deviant?

Or, do you play a vampire because you always get VIP treatment in nightclubs? Is it knowing you can rip into your enemies, take their best shots, and stand back up and go again (a whole bunch of our supernatural PCs). Is it your access to the obscure, hidden, arcane, secrets of the world?

These are all good reasons – what really grips you and makes you say “I want to play…THAT!”?

If you get a chance, the phone lines are open and I’d love to hear what compels you to be a monster! Pop onto the Comments below and sound off. 🙂

We’ve all done it, in some game, somewhere, on one of our:

MANY WORLDS, ONE PATH!


BLURBS!


KICKSTARTER/CROWDFUNDING!

The KS for They Came From? starts Thursday the 25th at 2pm Eastern US Time!

And you can go here and sign up on the pre-launch page to be notified immediately as it goes live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/they-came-from-the-rpg-anthology-tabletop-roleplaying-


Onyx Path Media!

This week:

Dixie and Matthew do a deep dive into the mysterious new They Came From… game coming to crowdfunding soon!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/


Onyx Path Media now has its own blog on Tuesdays! We’ll continue posting our highlight of the week here, but Tuesday will be the day to visit if you want to catch up on actual plays, interviews, deep dives, and other assorted Onyx Path media!

Please check out our attached media schedule for the videos on our Twitch channel this week! In particular, keep those eyes open for our Storypath Showcase, where we give an excellent profile of our various Storypath games and how to play them!

MEDIA HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:

See below:

The Onyx Path News discusses recent and upcoming releases! Matthew is out today, but says: “I’ll do this week’s episode on Wednesday.”


Virtual Tabletop!

NEW!
They Came From Beneath the Sea! on Roll20 VTT!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/22308/they-came-from-beneath-the-sea

Here are some more shots from the They Came From Beneath the Sea! Compendium!

And there’s also the Scion Jumpstart, all ready for Roll20 VTT fun!

https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/21165/a-light-extinguished-a-jumpstart-for-scion-second-edition

More news and links when we have them!

The Scion: Origin and Scion Hero Compendiums are now available on Roll20!

https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/1716/onyx-path-publishing

Scion is just the start! They Came From Beneath the Sea! and other
Onyx Path RPGs are in development for Roll20 virtual tabletop!

The first of our official Scion sheets designed for Foundry VTT are
now available!

Direct Link: https://foundryvtt.co

Looking for more virtual tabletop resources? We have a selection of
Tokens, Encounters, and more available now at DriveThruRPG!

Get ’em here: https://bit.ly/3SnrNJ7


Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to provide our traditionally printed books out into your local game stores. Game stores can order via their usual distributors, and can also contact Studio2 directly. And individuals can check out our projects via the links below!

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books, dice, and screens? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles in PDF and PoD versions at DriveThruRPG.com!

50% Off W20 PDFs at DTRPG this week:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4261/Onyx-Path-Publishing/subcategory/8329_20631/Werewolf-20th-Anniversary

Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

five fiction books

Check out Melody Through the Mirrorshade Lens and Facets of Truth , as well as Trinity Continuum: Terat and The Hollow Courts on Kindle in the Kindle store!


On Sale This Week!

Magically, the Advance PDF of the Tome of the Pentacle for Mage: The Awakening 2e pops into five-fold existence! Advance PDF on sale this Weds on DTRPG!

And on Roll20, in honor of the 5th birthday of Pan’s Guide, the VTT Token Pack for Pan’s Guide for Pugmire goes live!


Conventions!

As we are slowly returning to attending conventions in person after the current COVID-19 outbreak, keep an eye out here for more physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!

UK Games Expo (June 2nd – 4th) is almost here. Matthew and Eddy will be running games along with a couple of our awesome developers. Leisure Games will have a small selection of our books for sale at the show. We’re also making business cards with a QR code linking to our catalog on DTRPG.

Onyx Path Virtual Convention (June 16th – 18th) We’ll be focusing
primarily on Storypath, Exalted, and Pugmire, but any OPP game works! As well as tons of panels, games, and other events, we’ll have slots opens for folks to run games, so start making your plans now!

Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at Start.Playing is the last Friday of every month! Come play some They Came From! in celebration of the upcoming They Came From…? KS! (But any of our game lines are welcome all day long!)

Please spread the word about GMing games as much as
possible. Details on how list a game are at the bottom of the page in
the FAQ:

https://startplaying.games/event/game-night-onyx-path


And now, the new project status updates!

Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out April’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-april-2023/

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY

Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:

Final Draft

Scion – Scion: Divine Inspiration

  • Matthew: Hallo gov’ner! Gorblimey! This book is bloody brilliant, wot!

Manuscript Approval

TC: Aether – Aether Audiobook

  • Eddy: The script for this enhanced audiobook has been revised and reviewed, and is now in the capable hands of the approval team!

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

  • SCION Titans Rising – Signed off a couple of sketches.
  • TC: Aegis – Signed off on a couple of sketches.

In Layout

  • TC Anima
  • W20 Apocalyptic Record Screen & Booklet
  • HTV Tending the Flame – Missing symbols and splats a goin.
  • TC Assassins VTT Adventure – I have the initial layout about ready to go to proofing.
  • Wallpapers for Essence, Adventure, Apocalyptic Record

Proofing

  • W20 Howls of Apocalypse – 2nd proof. Once that’s back in to me, I’ll fix it and get it over for Paradox approval.

Indexing

  • Exalted Essence

At Press

  • TC Adventure Storyguide Screen and Booklet
  • They Came From! Tasty Bit Compilation – PoD proof on the way.
  • Ex3 Surface Truths – PoD proof on the way.
  • TC Stampede of Justice (Adventure JS) – PoD proof on the way.
  • TC: Adventure! – Trad printing files prepping. Awaiting specs from Printer.
  • W20 Apocalyptic Record – PoD proof on the way.
  • MtAw Tome of the Pentacle – Advance PDF on sale Weds on DTRPG!

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

As noted above, Sunday was Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition’s 10th birthday! And tomorrow is the 5th birthday for Pan’s Guide for Pugmire, the intro book that led all sorts of good doggos to adventure!


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30 responses to “A Month Away From Onyx Path Con 4 [Monday Meeting Notes]”

  1. Nicolas Avatar
    Nicolas

    Why do I pay each supernatural denizen?
    Let’s go
    Vampire: I love the myths surroundeing then,the predation,their powers it’s all awesome
    Werewolves: their powers,their abilities as hunters are all awesome. But the thing that got me the most is the ANIMISM I fucking love the idea that everything has sentient behind it and werewolves deal with spirits
    Mages: the fact that any sorta of human of human practitioner of any sorts of mystical arts of any point human story can be played and have awesome powers based on their practice

    Changelings: I love the way the fair folk s embodies myths. Their magic has fascinating me since I was a child

    Demons: I love playing a an outcast but only sometimes.

    Ghosts: Ah the memories.. ghosts are great stories because they are the spookiest.

    Promethean: the philosophy and introspection this splat encourages

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Very cool- It’s interesting that you have pretty specific elements that draw you in for all the supernaturals you’ve listed except for vampires. 😉 Thinking that maybe, at the end of the day (or night), it’s because vampires are cool. That hard to put a pin in, but what we always come back to, quality that folks really relate to when it comes to vampires.

  2. danielxcutter Avatar
    danielxcutter

    It’s simple, really – whatever I play, what I enjoy the most is having the power to do good and punch systemic evil in the face. In many ways you are indeed more than a mortal – and if feasible, I think it’s laudable to use those to handle problems mortals can’t.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      How much does the setting for your punching of evil come into the equation? Do you enjoy it more when the setting is all bleak and ground down because of the influence of that systemic evil?

  3. Wes Avatar
    Wes

    I gotta say, I like werewolves because of their focus on the hunt, the chase, and then the kill. But also you can delve into more of the warrior element too. The rage aspects certainly have a place, but I think Forsaken’s take strikes the perfect balance. Rage in that game is not as easy to fall into, but when it happens, it’s guaranteed bad news for bystanders unless the other packmates can stop the one who lost control. Unleashing animal fury, fusing human cunning with animalistic ferocity, is a huge draw for me. We humans often look to animals for inspiration. For thousands of years there have been cultures who assign values to animals and in some cases try to emulate them. You see potential hints here and there that the wolf was one example of this in many cultures. Sometimes the values were paradoxical! In Norse mythology, Odin is accompanied by two wolves, and he may have had his “wolf warrior” berserkers, but he is killed by a giant wolf at Ragnarok and two wolves devour the sun and moon.

    To sum up my thoughts on werewolves, I like their Hunter, Warrior, and, obviously, Animalistic aspects, there’s something so freeing about that. Being a werewolf can be a horror experience, but I actually don’t find them horrific but, to use a sophisticated description, cool as hell, even if they are dangerous. I touched on this before, but for me horror is about loss of control in the face of something horrible and stronger than you. But what happens when YOU are the beast? The expectation flips. Sure, I do see the cool drama and horror of what you can do to others you do not mean to harm, but that’s not all werewolves are to me, and I like them actually being more heroic and helpful to the world around them. To be a monster who uses the power of the Wolf and who can go head-to-head against other monsters is just one of the coolest concepts to me.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Are you into Hulk or Wolverine in the same way outside of the horror game genre? For a lot of their storylines, it seems like they are the sort of monsters who defend against even worse monsters theme I’m picking up from your thoughts on werewolves. And I could be off-base, there, too.

      1. Weston M Anderson Avatar
        Weston M Anderson

        Those are concepts I definitely like! Though I don’t specifically have a particular excitement for a lot of superhero characters, but those two have my sympathy. For a favorite example of mine, and a character also played by Hugh Jackman coincidentally, the end of the 2004 Van Helsing movie (cheesy though it may be) where Van Helsing uses his werewolf curse to absolutely shred Dracula. Van Helsing has lost control and is cursed in a way, but finally we see a creature that can directly challenge Dracula, who loses his prior nigh-invulnerability at last, and in a way the werewolf is a vehicle to bring Dracula to justice for his crimes.

        1. richt Avatar
          richt

          Not a great film, but an excellent use of that plot element – I agree!

  4. Nicolas Avatar
    Nicolas

    RichT. is it possible that Scion:Titans Rising will receive a Crowdfunding campaign later in the year of 2023?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Answer hazy, ask again later.

  5. Mediocrites of Socrates Avatar
    Mediocrites of Socrates

    Well! Looking forward to TotP! And well-timed for me, personally.

    That aside, to try and answer this week’s question… I think the thing supernatural creatures provide is access to emotional intensity, at least for my groups and myself. Whether it’s the grandeur of the Awakened holding a piece of heaven or a vampire’s more-alive-than-the-living elan vital, it all comes back to riding a skein of emotion. People want to *feel* the moment, and supernatural creatures and entities are more alive, more vivid, than us mere mortals, at least in our imaginations.

    Trinity taps into this to a great degree with Talents, incidentally. Talents rarely even show any supernatural ability in an overt sense, but their lucky coincidences or preternatural planning allow them to be grand and larger than life in the way action heroes often are.

    I play a mage (or far more often run a game about mages) because I love magic and wonder and the uncanny. For vampires, it’s because they are an excuse for grand, ridiculous emotion; seeking extremes to satisfy their jaded souls and make eternity worth unliving. For changelings, the sense of wonder and terror that go hand in hand standing in the middle of a storm epitomizes the sensation of Arcadia.

    Ultimately, it doesn’t have to be monsters that go bump in the night. These things work with any great Romantic characters. Supernatural things just make it easier to tap into grandiosity, and setting it in modern nights makes it more accessible still, because we all know what a microwave is and don’t need to explain what this strange heating box is that the character is using to reheat leftovers.

    Hope that helps!

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      So you’re not into a game of Cubicles and Coffee-breaks, then? 😉 Seriously, I do take your point and it’s one that I do feel is one of the magic areas of TTRPGs overall. Had a crappy week? Can’t get that raise and the criteria makes no sense to you? You can play your favorite TTRPG and live larger than life lets you, and have the rules right there in the book to make sure it happens. Going to the extremes you just can’t do in real life can feel great, whether that’s a physical exertion, a tough fight, an emotional outpouring, or even just the act of imagining all that!

  6. Apromor Avatar
    Apromor

    As someone who is really eager for more 3rd edition exalted stuff the last few weeks have been pretty rough. Looking at everything up to but not including “at press”; this week ten things moved, none of them Exalted 3e, last week 23 things none of them exalted 3e, two weeks ago 22 things again without any exalted 3rd ed, in the mix,

    You still have my support. I like the books you have managed to put out. I’m a big fan of the game. It’s just hard to see no visible progress week after week.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Hang in there, the lull in the post-text phase is pretty much directly tied to that big ol’ Essence book, so a lot of EX3 projects have progress that isn’t listed as they aren’t making a big jump yet. And if the weekly updates bum you out, step away from them and just keep an eye on the Wednesday releases.

  7. Zilaenor Avatar
    Zilaenor

    Across games, I play three archetypes: elemental mage, master manipulator, genius problem-solver

    Manipulators and intellectual problem-solvers allow me to turn any encounter into a puzzle, to use leverage where I’d lose on force. I can play this in almost any game — a drow bard, Changing Breeds feral, and Scion of Athena/Hephaestus stand out from many such PCs. Really, I just need a game other people are willing to play, but it can be especially interesting when I have to worry giving into a monstrous nature and falling past “my way, everyone gets what they want” –> “these are bad people who deserve the pain that is my gain” –> “the weak-willed/stupid have no moral weight and are lucky to be my pawns.” This superiority complex goes naturally with fey, vampires, and tainted-source mages, but can also be interesting with traditionally more sympathetic types that just fail to identify with humanity (vs nature [shifters], some fundamental logic [constructs], inhuman sires [scions, outsider-touched], etc.).

    Elemental magic is just *fun*, gives a lot of flexibility, and lets me steal from my favorite media. In a horror/supernatural setting, I’d go mage or something fey(-touched) and lean into the tension between modern urban settings and primal force. Fey myths especially have always spoken to me.

    I put hunters, ghosts, outsiders, and vampires on my list last week more to fill in the world and roster than as species I personally would select over the others.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Fair enough, it’s a wise person who knows what playstyle they enjoy!

  8. Louis Garcia Avatar

    For the World/Chronicles of Darkness supernaturals, what has made them appealing is each of them seemed to focus on some aspect of human behavior, sometimes darker human behavior, which made them fun and safe to explore.

    Vampire was about the dark impulses balance againt humanity
    Werewolf was the anger
    Mage was about hubris
    Changeling the Lost is about past trauma and building anew

    When I was college aged, while the mystery and intrigue was fun to play, safely exploring those darker emotions was vital for me at that age. Now that I am older, I explore those games in a different way, I ask how do your actions for better or worse affect the place where you are?

    So it’s always some aspect of human behavior that each supernatural explores that make them fun for me to play.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      So does your older perspective change which supernaturals you want to play? Like are there any you just have phased out of?

  9. JackM Avatar
    JackM

    Excited to see Tome of the Pentacle reach us at last. Sad that it marks the end of support for my favorite RPG.

    1. Rob Avatar
      Rob

      Did they say that?

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      I think “end” is way too finite for these game lines, as history has shown. Right now, we aren’t getting approved for CofD books, but that’s right now.

  10. Tom Murr Avatar
    Tom Murr

    Reasons to play/run:
    Werewolves: I find the animism very endeering. Furthermore it is the combination of being aware, that the world is so much richer, navigating the realms, being challenged in wisdom and wits and on the other side the very physical part of the nature of werewolves. I have kept my anger caged up in my heart for a very long time and in my eyes the wolf path is a good way the find access to my feelings and stay empathetic and kind. As others have stated before: it is karthatic.

    Mages: I want to throw fireballs, very sneakily though. I want to bent reality but not being catched by paradox. I want to feel smart and creative in my solutions. And last but not least I want to uncover mysteries.

    Fae: I want to tell dark and twisted faery tales ripe with symbolism and hidden meaning. I want to witness the power of emotions. See people stuggle, heal, find a new home. Carving out a place in a world, which doesn’t provide any for them anymore. See very diverse communities grow and watching out for each other. I can enter wonderland through my npcs and test the waters as I put my own character traits turned to eleven into the game. Changeling has an inate beauty (as the subtitle affirms), basically everything is broken and seems hopeless. Yet this pile of shards and pieces pulls together, and creates something magnificient.

    Vampires: I choose vampires, if I want to tell a story about dangerous snacks.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Very nice and on-target. Does playing a different shapeshifter like a were-lion, or were-raven, do anything for you like the werewolves do?

      1. Tom Murr Avatar
        Tom Murr

        I think differed were kin open the scope and range of emotions. Since we have learned to associate different qualities with different animals the focus would shift towards certain emotions repressed by ourselves and our environment. The were facet is something that we are hiding and moments of need/danger or honesty lead to the transformation. Ultimately it would be a story about self acceptance and probably revolution against a restrictive, controlling environment.
        There is an aspect of personal horror in it, since the characters are denying their were persona for good reasons too. You can’t always rage against everything dear wolf, you can’t always show everyone that you are smarter than them dear fox, you can’t always be the center of the world dear cat. And you put so much energy in creating your life and world and what would happen if people you need would see you in all your colours? It is this very moment I realise this is amongst other things a coming out story.
        Were personas are not inherently “good” or “evil”. A bbeg can very much be a shifter, since they are hiding their sceming foresight of their owl aspect from their prey.

        1. richt Avatar
          richt

          So different types of animal shapeshifters allow for different kinds of play based on our perceptions – almost the mythology – of the animals. In offering these for folks to play, the creator of the game is walking the tightrope of making sure they resonate emotionally, our myths about an animal, ie: foxes are clever, and the science of them, ie: there are no alpha wolves in packs in the wild. Too much of the “science” and we lose the emotional pull that brings people out to play them, to much of the myth, and we lose the the real-world simulation of just what they can do in the rules.

  11. Magic Avatar
    Magic

    It’s the fun of playing the politics of the gameline, but in the context of what is essentially a simulator for that supernatural creature with lots of little nooks and crannies to inhabit– like the relative charm of playing a Dhampir or being able to take the Oath of Abstinence, or the lost clan bloodlines. There’s so much definition in that stuff.

  12. Red Avatar
    Red

    The reason I liked the World of Darkness boils down to one thing. You were the monster trying to deal with being the monster. The things that were the antagonists got flipped to being the protagonist and those protagonists had to struggle with the thing that made them the antagonist of most horror stories.

    I loved them all. And wanted to explore each within the game. The thing I didn’t like was I couldn’t explore them all because each game line focused on the single supernatural type. I would much preferred to be able to choose my personal horror in a setting that allowed players the flexibility to choose. Unfortunately in the real world because they were separated by game line if you wanted to explore a character struggling with their unbridled rage or hubris or hunger you had to find a game that was playing that game line. It was too hyper focused and all characters had similar struggles.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      It really seems like there are two significant ways of looking at presentation and they are the folks who like a hyper-focused individual monster to go deep into, and those who want to have several types existing in the same setting for more breadth of play. And smaller subsections of folks who could appreciate just a tad more in either direction. No wrong answers, of course, it’s just a question of whether a game creator can find a way to satisfy both! 😉

  13. JonOfDevon Avatar
    JonOfDevon

    For me, whether in the old WoD or the CofD, the horror elements were key. If I wanted to play urban fantasy, and be a heroic monster, then I’d play Dresden Files or another game that tilted that way (and for the record, I love the Dresden Files RPG – I’m certainly not knocking a lighter urban fantasy approach!).

    But going through each of the game lines, and thinking back, it was the horror of the situation that really appealed to me in the “of Darkness” games. For example:

    – Vampire the Masquerade: the tagline, “A monster I am, lest a monster I become” kinda nails it for this one. You *are* a monster – you hunt in the night, and drink the blood of mortals – people who were no different to you before your Embrace. Your need to feed isn’t just a dietary requirement – it’s a necessity, to prevent yourself from becoming an even greater fiend than you already are. Slowly, inevitably, your attachment to humanity will erode, as you see centuries pass, the world around you change, and yet you remain the same. What lengths will you go to to maintain your survival – and what price will you pay for those lengths?

    – Werewolf the Apocalypse: while you were the protagonists of the game, I was never convinced that the Garou were the good guys. I mean, they were ecoterrorists – the clue is in the latter part of that word! For me, WtA was all about fanaticism, and slavish devotion to a belief system, leading to characters doing terrible things in the name of a cause they claimed was the “greater good”. While the battle against the Wyrm and its minions may indeed have been a just one, does that truly justify the actions taken by the Garou – not just throughout history, but in the present times, as well?

    – Mage the Ascension is a game all about hubris. Both sides of the Ascension War (discounting the Nephandi and Marauders) are convinced that they are the best way forward for humanity, but they also consider themselves to be above the Unawakened. Not only that, but the Traditions bicker amongst themselves as to which paradigm is the “correct” one. Going through life, knowing that you can literally bend the universe to your will – that will inevitably change your perception of the world, and your place within it.

    – I’m not sure I need to go too far in explaining the horror within Wraith the Oblivion. I remember a review of the game when first edition came out, that said something along the lines of, “in most RPGs, you start out weak, low-powered, you don’t have a clue about your place in the bigger picture, and everyone is out to get you. In Wraith, you start out weak, low-powered, you don’t have a clue about your place in the bigger picture, everyone is out to get you – *and you’re dead!*” I think that just about covers it. 🙂

    – Changeling the Dreaming was possibly my favourite gameline from the old WoD. I know a lot of people found the colour artwork by Tony DiTerlizzi, and the fiction within the books somewhat “twee” or “cute,” and didn’t see the potential for really heartbreaking stories to be told in the game. Imagine being someone who can literally see the mystical reality all around them, but you’re faced with the certain knowledge that it is all fading away – not just in general (the coming of Winter) but also on a deep and personal level, as you transition from childling to wilder to grump, and then gradually lose your memories to Banality. I always saw CtD as an analog of conditions such as Alzheimer’s or ALS, where you can feel yourself, and your connection to the world around you, slowly and inexorably slipping away. I can’t think of anything more horrific than that…

    So that’s my takes on the classic (main) gamelines – if I haven’t dored you enough already, I might take a stab at the gamelines within CofD that I’ve dabbled with, as well. 🙂

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Fantastic takes- thanks so much for sending in your insights!