OSSR: Promethean: The Created

[Prak]

Prometheans can also power themselves electrically, because absolutely all of them are “like Frankenstein's Monster” in every fucking way that counts. The rules for this are incredibly complicated, but the low down is that if you have any source of electricity at all (even a 9 volt battery), you can be fully healed of any amount of damage and totally fine with no downsides at all in a few seconds. It's not quite fast enough to use in combat unless you're throwing big power sources around, but it's fast enough that you can fully recover from near life ending wounds with nothing to reveal anything weird had happened during a commercial break.

More than this, it means that a car battery in a backpack with wires hidden in a camelbak straw is enough to give any promethean fast healing.

Well, you wouldn't want to do that normally, because every second you spend actually doing that makes mortals around you freak out as if you had just used one of your powers that makes mortals freak out (because healing from electricity is one of those powers). But while you're hooked up, you heal 4 bashing or 2 lethal every 3 seconds. Which is twice as fast as Vampires regenerate while they are spending Blood. Also, you can just kind of stand there while people shoot you with shot guns if that is what you want to do.

In general though, you can wait to lick a car battery for a moment that there are no mortals in line of sight. The time you spend freaking out any mortal who can see you is measured in seconds, so you could shock yourself back to full health in the bathroom without giving anything away.

-Username17

I was thinking in combat, since it also gives you a touch range electrical field if you're at full health. But yeah, that's why you put the leads in a straw, rather than just hooking them straight up to you.

[Username17]

Chapter 4:
Storytelling and Antagonists

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[/img]

So this is the 4th (6th) chapter out of 4 (8), so it's the last (third to last) chapter and has to have everything that is left to say (except what gets put in the appendices or epilogue). So just to begin with, this chapter is called “storytelling and antagonists”, which is pretty thoroughly two separate things. So as you might expect, this chapter is a sprawling mishmash of ideas that were left over when the other three chapters were buttoned down. Indeed, this chapter is seventy pages long. No joke: seventy pages. Of course, it still literally begins with an incoherent one-page story in p22 Da Vinci Forward Regular and a one-page picture that is largely irrelevant, and a long public domain quotation that literally has nothing to do with anything in this book (it's an Oppenheimer quote about the similarities between art and science). Then and only then can we get down to what this chapter is really about: a collection of disconnected essays jammed into the “optional” chapter in order to push up page count.

The first couple of essays are about the right way to play Promethean. Which is that you have to follow their incredibly formulaic script of a character's life as described earlier in this book. But now we have atrocious advice for the storyteller on how to actually make that happen. Basically, the players are supposed to be on an overarching quest to turn into real boys, and along the way they have to meet certain completely arbitrary milestones that are defined by the Storyteller. It is difficult for me to convey how demotivating this shit is. First of all, the end-goal is just “stop playing the game and get on with your life as a regular human just like you already were before playing this fucking game”, which is like those 80s arcade game where getting to the end “rewarded” you by simply not having any more levels to play. But secondly, the intermediate goals are totally arbitrary and don't do anything except mark off time before the game ends. I'm not sure why they thought any player's reaction to this was going to be anything other than:

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[/img]

This is also where they talk about getting XP. In this splat, XP is given an “alchemical” feel by naming it “Sulfuric Acid”. Actually, it's named “Vitriol”, but in an alchemical context that is “Sulfuric Acid”. I don't actually know why your XP is named sulfuric acid, it doesn't really make any sense. It's just one of those dadaist things about Promethean. Note: you still get normal XP, you just also get a certain amount of XP that are called “sulfuric acid” instead. My best guess is that this entire multi-page rant is some sort of stealth errata to the official standard nWoD XP accumulation rate. Or possibly there was just a completely different alchemical advancement system at some earlier date in the design process and they hacked it back into the normal XP-driven advancement system in editing but never bothered to actually remove this completely superfluous concept from the book. One way or the other, just reading this mini-section is like gazing into the whirlwind: a cacophony of different design sensibilities struggling to be heard only to drown each other out with the noise of their incoherence.

This book maintains a hallowed tradition of stuff from White Wolf of shitting out amazingly bad Latin. This goes all the way back to before White Wolf even existed and the company was called Lion Rampant and made Ars Magica. In any case, mini sections are called shit like “Attaining the Lapis Philosophorum” and “Mysterium Conjunctionis”. Those are not jokes, those are the actual names of headings of mini sections. I know I've said that the advice on crafting a story is extremely bad and relies extensively on the players having bought in to the goal of “stop playing the game” so hard that they are willing to make sacrifices to achieve this end within the game (rather than the knot cutting approach of simply walking away from the table). But I have to bring it up again because this chapter brings it up again. Within the chapter it has some essays about Promethean story structure, then it wanders off and talks about XP and shit, and then it's back to talking about Promethean story structure again. And that's not even counting the fact that there was a pretty long essay about this very thing in the Setting chapter. A lot of the same ground is tread and retread, so I'm guessing that more than one author submitted an essay about how to structure a story in this abortion of a game, and rather than try to merge them or decide which one was better they just stuck 'em all in edgewise and interspersed other essays on other topics to try to keep the reader from noticing.

Special props go to this advice that I will leave without comment:

Use a unique font for each character.

One thing that is weird about this game is that despite not having any motivations that any player would ever conceive of identifying with, they have actual rules for “winning”. You roll some dice, become a real boy, and win the game. The game seriously has a beginning, middle, and end, all of which have been pre-scripted. I don't even know why this is a role playing game. Seems like it would have made more sense to make a board game or computer game, where the player wouldn't have to buy in to the protagonist's motivations and the one-true-wayism of the story structure wouldn't feel as dickish and contrived.

The chapter is also theoretically about antagonists as well as their extremely detailed but Rashomon styled description of exactly how your story is supposed to go down as told by several unreliable narrators who don't wholly agree on key issues. Mostly, this is about how you should probably make up some antagonists for your story. You'd think that a 284 page book with over two hundred thousand words in it could flesh out some bad guys that you care about, but instead we're left with such helpful hints as “Storytellers can devise all manner of individuals, groups and institutions whose main purpose is the study and control of Prometheans”. Because why bother actually listing some antagonists, when you can spend several pages telling the Storyteller to do it his own damn self?

The alchemical metal association dealies aren't really in the right place to begin with. They are a character generation choice, and you'd think they would be next to the identically meaningless choice of what lineage of stitched together animated corpse you happen to be from. Which as it happens is in the character section. But for whatever reason, those writeups were in the Setting chapter instead. I think this was to keep the list of player's options from “looking too long”, because every metal and lineage has a shitty font, a weird background color for the page, and a bunch of rambling bullshit that make it take a couple of pages despite not actually conveying any information you care about. The reason I bring this up, is because there is actually an extra alchemical material you can have called “Flux”, which is for bad guys, so it's in the bad guy chapter. Which means that the alchemical materials are in almost every chapter except the one they actually belong in. Because fuck you. Anyway, the bad guy material isn't actually “bad” in any meaningful way, and it's kind of hard to see why you'd care one way or the other. They don't consider themselves to be humans and um... that's objectively true but admitting it makes you bad or something.

And you have the Pandorans. There is a lot of text here. Heck, there's a lot of text about the Pandorans all over the place in this book. Pandorans are like Promethean Spawn, to use an After Sundown term. They are weaker and shittier and crazier versions of Prometheans who don't have a power stat. Because it's White Wolf, they have their own list of Transmutations and Bestowments. And these are listed in the Storytelling and Antagonists chapter because White Wolf. And you can totally learn these powers if you want because they aren't actually different from the ones in the player character sections because White Wolf. But learning off their lists dicks you over slightly unless you decide to be Flux element and then you get to avoid even that limitation. Because White Wolf. Some Pandorans are basically just people who need to be fed Pyros by other Prometheans in order to not suck (much like those poor dumb fuckers who chose Gold Element and can only get their power points back by sleeping in Fort Knox). Other Pandorans are just monsters that you have to fight and kill and not feel bad for killing because they are even more sub human than homeless people.

Also, there is a writeup of an extra flavor of angel called the Qashmallim who are totally different from spirits, angels, ghosts, or whatever the fuck other supernatural Steves happen to be in any other book. These bad boys are made out of Promethean-flavored Divine Fire, which is specifically totally different from Magic Fire like a Forces Mage might use (or the entirely different kind of magic fire that a vampire sorcerer might use, because that is how White Wolf rolls). You know, because whatever. These guys are divided up into multiple opposed choirs and I honestly can't give a shit because these assholes aren't considered important enough to really talk about in the fucking setting chapter.

[Ancient History]

Well, they had to keep a few shovelfuls for the next books.

[PoliteNewb]

In this splat, XP is given an “alchemical” feel by naming it “Sulfuric Acid”. Actually, it's named “Vitriol”, but in an alchemical context that is “Sulfuric Acid”. I don't actually know why your XP is named sulfuric acid, it doesn't really make any sense. It's just one of those dadaist things about Promethean.

Haven't read the book, but is it possible they meant vitriol in the more metaphoric sense?

virulence of feeling or of speech

[Chamomile]

If they did, then isn't the real path to power just to sit on the Den and hate things all day?

[Prak]

Well, I get it. They're trying to be thematic by tying XP into the whole alchemy theme.

This being NWoD, they of course fucked it up. I would have made a character resource called Aqua Regia or something.

...but then I would have also used actual fucking alchemy.

[Chamomile]

If it were me I would not have tried to base an entire game around nothing but Frankensteins. Surely it wouldn't have been too difficult to come up with something where a Frankenstein is a unique (or at least mostly unique) creation and the other characters play something else? Like, maybe you have the theme of your book be "fugly looking corpses" and you have ghouls and zombies and mummies and Frankensteins, and they're all vaguely similar in that they're reanimated dead things which are not vampires but you still have a complete playable game where only one person is a Frankenstein.

And yes, I know Frankenstein is the name of the doctor and not the monster but everyone calls the monster Frankenstein and I'm past the point of trying to fight the consensus on this one. Alternative names are just much less convenient.

[Prak]

Honestly, there's a better base for artificial people in NWoD than Vampire. I know that WW had a limp, bloody floppy one for vampires, but, as Frank pointed out, the entire point of Frankenstein is that Adam is the only one of his kind. That speaks to a game of Steves trying to find community and a place in the world, ie adapting the Changing Breeds "make your own shapeshifter" rules and adding themes more akin to OWoD changeling where you are empowered by discovery and exploration.

[TheFlatline]

If it were me I would not have tried to base an entire game around nothing but Frankensteins. Surely it wouldn't have been too difficult to come up with something where a Frankenstein is a unique (or at least mostly unique) creation and the other characters play something else? Like, maybe you have the theme of your book be "fugly looking corpses" and you have ghouls and zombies and mummies and Frankensteins, and they're all vaguely similar in that they're reanimated dead things which ar0e not vampires but you still have a complete playable game where only one person is a Frankenstein.

And yes, I know Frankenstein is the name of the doctor and not the monster but everyone calls the monster Frankenstein and I'm past the point of trying to fight the consensus on this one. Alternative names are just much less convenient.

Well, WW *used* to create splat books with sub-rulesets to play different shit back in oWOD. You had Risen, aka The Crow, where you probably were expected to leave Wraith behind and join a Vampire game (where you fucking stomped on everyone and could actually learn vampire disciplines), you had Kindred of the East (shudder), you had all the changing breeds books in Werewolf, etc etc... Hell you even had Hunters Hunted where you were straight up mortals one bad roll from turning into strawberry jam on the walls.

Promethean *probably* would have been an interesting 120 page sub-mage splatbook that sort of slutted around in both Mage and Vampire, but all those weird sub-splat books make for a clusterfuck of epic proportions, so I guess WW decided they were only going to release core book lines instead of soft cover one-off splats (at one point WW *only* released hardcover books early in the nWOD publishing line, so instead of a 20 dollar splat book it was actually more like 40 JUST BECAUSE HARDCOVER!).

Really, the entire nWOD product line was an example of how fast you could fuck up a relatively profitable company. They changed business models, changed publishing models (the core blue book for nWOD was supposed to drop the cost of the hardcover cores by 10 bucks according to the publishers but actually was intended to dip into that sweet sweet multi-core book thing D&D had going on), decided to at the time only print hardcovers, even for their LARP rules, because shoving a hardcover book into your coat pocket is *so* much easier, and a list of other things so mind-bogglingly stupid in such a short period of time (maybe 8 months) it's like they all decided to go on a heroin binge and just roll with whatever came out of that drug-fueled stupor.

[Grek]

If it were me I would not have tried to base an entire game around nothing but Frankensteins.

I think you could easily have a game where you play Frankensteins, as long as the cast was:

Dr. Frankenstein
Igor
Adam Frankenstein
The Bride of Frankenstein
Some Sort of Evil Robot
The Brainwashed Constable

It would play like Ars Magica, where you take turns playing Dr. Frankenstein in his various poorly-thought out attempts to create life. Everyone who isn't Frankenstein this adventure is either one of the Monsters, an assistant or some guy helping the Doctor in his quest to create/capture/control his latest creation.

[Desdan_Mervolam]

In oWoD it was totally possible to play what nWoD calls Prometheans. You can be forgiven for thinking you couldn't because the rules were pretty sparse and often had to be read between lines, and you can be forgiven for thinking the rules were crap because they were.

The most playable way to play a Frankenstein Monster was to have been created by a Mage, and when you became alive your custom-crafted Avatar awoke. You are a mage with a paradigm of "I am a Frankenstein Monster". Congratulations. Anything about being a Frankenstein Monster that would not be handled by being a bog-standard mage, you need to hack out with your Storyteller.

You could also use the rules from The Bygone Bestiary, but that has its own problems, like the fact that you are literally allergic to modern reality, or the fact that the system was made to create talking dogs and not animate statues. (Confession: I actually really like TBB, but the rules still suck because it was put out by White Wolf and rules have never ever been their strong suit)

[Username17]

In this splat, XP is given an “alchemical” feel by naming it “Sulfuric Acid”. Actually, it's named “Vitriol”, but in an alchemical context that is “Sulfuric Acid”. I don't actually know why your XP is named sulfuric acid, it doesn't really make any sense. It's just one of those dadaist things about Promethean.

Haven't read the book, but is it possible they meant vitriol in the more metaphoric sense?

virulence of feeling or of speech

No. they literally mean sulfuric acid. It's described as a "caustic substance" that condenses and accumulates in cysts inside your body. And it's your XP.

-Username17

[Voss]

Didn't Mummy: 'We Had to Because Anne Rice Had That Other Book' cover what is more or less the Osirans? But with different rules for their own special snowflake sorcery and extra souls and shit?

I know they more or less dropped Mummy somewhere between various revised editions, but it did exist, and it was, I believe, much more Mummys as immortals than the rags and bandages horror movie stuff.

[Username17]

Didn't Mummy: 'We Had to Because Anne Rice Had That Other Book' cover what is more or less the Osirans? But with different rules for their own special snowflake sorcery and extra souls and shit?

I know they more or less dropped Mummy somewhere between various revised editions, but it did exist, and it was, I believe, much more Mummys as immortals than the rags and bandages horror movie stuff.

Mummy has always been the most contentious line. There was Mummy, which they basically retconned out of existence with World of Darkness: Mummy, and then retconned away again with Mummy: the Resurrection. And that's all oWoD. For nWoD, we have the Osirians in Promethean, the Purified in World of Darkness: Immortals, and of course we have Mummy: the Curse, which is an internet thing that they kickstarted to write a nWoD book with a lot of essays literally taken off their web forums rather than bothering with hack freelancers for all of the shovelware content.

Even without counting the various mummy-themed groups of mages and vampires, I'm counting 6 official and wholly incompatible takes on Mummies. I could very well be missing some.

I honestly can't be fucked to keep all the different mummy flavors straight, but I think most of them were basically mages, in that their shtick is that they have reincarnated magic souls next to their regular souls giving them access to sorcery in their current bodies. But of course, this time it's Egyptian themed instead of... whatever the fuck Mage is supposed to be.

The Promethean ones in particular are just stitched together corpses that are animated by magic. That magic is water and snot based, but they are still healed by electricity because go fuck yourself.

-Username17

[Username17]

Appendix (Totally Not a Chapter)
Athanors and the Water of Life

This is a drawing of an actual Athanor, which unsurprisingly has absolutely nothing to do with what Athanors are in this game.

After running through all four of the official chapters, it was noticed that there were still pieces of the nWoD formula that weren't in there yet. So naturally, they need an extra not-chapter chapter to cover that. The chapter is laid out exactly like the other chapters, including having a shitty one-page story in p22 Da Vinci Forward Regular followed by a one page scribble doodle followed by a completely tangential quotation from a public domain source (in this case: Paracelsus). The quotation in question was originally about how more research was needed, but in the out-of-context way they've cut it in, it looks like a tirade against book learning in general.

So the first thing they talk about are the things that work exactly like Bloodlines. These have been given the essentially random alchemical name “Athanor”, which is a kind of heating element also called a “tower furnace”. There's a really tortured metaphor about the inner fire furnace being transmuted with sulfuric acid so that it changes you, but this metaphor was actually tortured to the point of death. I really can't figure out what the fuck they are talking about, and the bottom line is that your thing that works exactly like a Vampiric Blood Line is called a [Random Alchemical Name]. It could just as easily have been the “Graduated Cylinder of your Soul” or whatever.

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[/img]
This is the “Athanor of the Mind” engraving, which would have almost made sense as a metaphor, we'll just pretend they did that instead of what they actually did.

These literally work exactly like Blood Lines, despite the fact that you don't actually have any blood or parents or anything. Still, if you get a high enough potency stat (called “Azoth”), you can make your own Blood Line Athanor and don't have to worry about what your lineage did or did not do. The first thing Athanors want you to do is a whole lot of accounting. See, an Athanor lets you sequester your sulfuric acid in it, which creates a parallel set of reagent dots that go in your reagent pool. These then allow you to make and spend reagent points that are also in your reagent pool. It's really complex and takes most of a page to explain extremely poorly, but the bottom line is that you don't give an actual fuck because what all this shit does is let you add 1 die to one test each day. And not even important tests, just a few specific tests that you are almost certainly going to fail anyway. The entire reagent accounting thing is a phenomenal waste of time. I assume it did something useful at some early point in the design process, but was nerfed into oblivion later on. As is, it's not worth the ink they spent on describing it, let along the mathemagics required to actually keep track of whether you are currently able to buy a single die on this particular magical resistance test (which you have almost no chance of making in any case, because this is nWoD and the attacker rolls a fuck tonne more dice than the defender and with any good attack spell they get full marks for getting even a single extra hit over the defender and a good roll by the defender won't even stop them from getting an extraordinary success effect).

The actual effects of joining a specific Blood Line Athanor are incredibly minor. You pick a totem animal (that does absolutely nothing); you gain a “boon” (that is so minor that you mostly don't care, probably the best one allows you to add +1 to a skill of your choice each scene); and once you stop being a Promethean (and presumably, stop playing the game), you “believe” that you get to keep a bullshit tinier version of your Athanor boon. Given the amount of ink wasted on this subsystem, I can only cry to the heavens in frustration. It really makes one question what these fucking things are even for.

More than increasing points or powers, however, Athanors
provide permission for roleplaying.

Ohhhh... that clears everything up.

By the way, in case you were wondering, “permission for roleplaying” means that if the Storyteller thinks you aren't roleplaying your totem animal correctly, they are free to take your sequestered XP away until you start playing your character the way he thinks it should be played. Because White Wolf. Also because fuck you. These two justifications are related. All in all, Athanors is 8 pages you can't get back.

The remaining 13 pages of this “not a chapter” is taken up with a sample adventure. Unlike other splats, Prometheans don't get their own city writeup. This sample adventure takes place in Chicago, which already had its own book, which this book plugs. The actual adventure is in three acts, and is kind of amazingly terrible.

Characters who watch the process witness the alchemist working fervently for hours. First, he suspends the eye of Thoth over the laboratory. Next, he passes the aspect of the ibis through the breath of life or death. He heats the vitriol in the alembic’s retort over its green flame, then dissolves the aspect of the ibis in the vitriol, which bubbles and churns. Through the distilled colloid, he sends the light from the dead star, at which point, the center of the fluid becomes a vibrant blue and seems to ebb and flow like a body of water in which a mighty tide holds sway. At the end of the process, Calogero pours the essence of the aqua vitae into a vial and seals it.

The people writing this book were on such an alchemy kick that they think describing your character watching an alchemist heat things in an alembic until they change color constitutes cooperative storytelling. The entire adventure revolves around getting a potion that will give you a bonus to your “ending the campaign” roll if and when you actually play long enough to make one of those. Um... that's basically it. The introductory adventure is a mini-quest to get a rather large bonus to the roll to stop having adventures.

Epilogue (Totally Not a Chapter)
My Hideous Progeny

The final not-a-chapter-chapter is a six page story. It's in p22 Da Vinci Forward Regular, so I will not bother trying to read it and tell you what it contains. Fuckery like that should not be rewarded. And that's basically the end of the book. There is an index and some cheat sheets, but essentially the book is over.

Reading through this piece of shit, I am stunned and saddened by what a phenomenal wasted opportunity the nWoD was. Here they were, sitting on what had recently been the biggest name in RPGs, with an entire fanbase willing to give them a free pass on ditching or keeping absolutely anything in the whole setting with a ground-up reboot. They had an unprecedented opportunity to clean house, being able to launch a number of interlocking modern horror games over a period of years with a guaranteed audience and unlimited access to freelancers, distribution channels, and playtesters. And they had a huge backlog of art, and a bunch of magic words that they could write on a piece of advertising copy and make a hundred thousand dollars of development money appear.

They had dozens of people willing to put in thousands of man hours and the ability to sell dozens if not hundreds of hard cover books with print runs in the tens or hundreds of thousands. All they had to do was keep a consistent and usable design and development vision, and the rest would have literally just written itself and rained money on them.

Instead, they kept an iron grip on parts of the formula that served no purpose but to make the system feel formulaic (every type of supernatural has two kinds of groups that they belong to and each of those group types is a set of five choices), while letting every part of the setting that actually could have been consistent and playable drift off into who-knows-what-the-fuck. For fuck's sake, there are literally two different planes of existence with faeries in them that are both called “Arcadia”. I don't know how many different kinds of souls people have, I lost count around six or seven.

And this shit could have been hammered out in a week. You could have put the design team together in a room with a bunch of coffee and some white boards and have them decide how many Twilight Worlds and Abyssal Worlds and shit they had, and how one interacted with them and stuff. Seriously, a week. And then they could have written up their planar map and given design mandates to all the people writing different things and it would have worked fine.

When I think about what could have been done with After Sundown given those kinds of resources, I have nothing to do but shed tiny tears of impotent rage. Seriously, I'm talking about six different games with 5-7 supernatural types in each game that were fully transparent and mix-n-matchable at will. I'm talking about whole books given over to the Dark Reflection and the Dreamlands, with full beastiaries for each. My goodness, it could have been beautiful. But instead we got... this... horse shit that no one liked and couldn't be played.

The thing is that by the time Promethean came out, it was all still kind of salvageable. People were still chattering away on message boards that they liked oWoD more for flavor but liked nWoD more for rules. That alone should have told them everything they needed to know about how they were going in the wrong direction. nWoD has actually pretty terrible rules, but at least it's clear what you roll and whether you succeed. That's all people were ever really asking for from the rules to these fucking games. They just wanted a story you could interact with and which motivated you to give a fuck and actually do so. Promethean was a step in the wrong direction on both counts.

[Chamomile]

So I guess in the end nWoD succeeded in causing genuine psychological horror. Go team.

[Voss]

So I guess in the end nWoD succeeded in causing genuine psychological horror. Go team.

I don't think 'put the books down and walk away' is psychological horror.

[Ancient History]

Good review, Frank, but I'd add one addition to the general design clusterfuck: they built up a system to churn out meaningless shovelware products, and in that regard they succeeded admirably. Seriously, the average word count per splat in nWoD is obscene compared to the oWoD books...and these are shelfbreakers, all hardbound and glossy stock. What a waste of trees.

[Chamomile]

Wait, guys, I've figured it out. The Shadowrun guys are behind everything. At first I thought that White Wolf had intentionally created a terrible game to make Frank weep impotent tears of rage, but then it occurred to me that they don't have any particular vendetta with Frank that would justify burning down their entire company to avenge. But who do we know who does have such a vendetta? The Shadowrun guys, of course! They eliminate one of their rivals and hurt Frank in one fell swoop. And if they have the infiltration chops to pull that off, then they're probably the ones behind Mike Mearls' ongoing employment at WotC! In a few years Shadowrun's latest edition will squeak into being an industry leader because the competition have all been turned into something even worse by a sinister conspiracy. And why are the current Shadowrun team so reluctant to put any kind of conspiratorial or other traditional Cyberpunk missions in their latest material? Because they're afraid of letting the FBI in on their methods, of course! Publishing proper Shadowrun material would be like publishing a handbook to their own corporate sabotage techniques!

This explains everything!

[Corsair114]

Wait, guys, I've figured it out. The Shadowrun guys are behind everything. At first I thought that White Wolf had intentionally created a terrible game to make Frank weep impotent tears of rage, but then it occurred to me that they don't have any particular vendetta with Frank that would justify burning down their entire company to avenge. But who do we know who does have such a vendetta? The Shadowrun guys, of course! They eliminate one of their rivals and hurt Frank in one fell swoop. And if they have the infiltration chops to pull that off, then they're probably the ones behind Mike Mearls' ongoing employment at WotC! In a few years Shadowrun's latest edition will squeak into being an industry leader because the competition have all been turned into something even worse by a sinister conspiracy. And why are the current Shadowrun team so reluctant to put any kind of conspiratorial or other traditional Cyberpunk missions in their latest material? Because they're afraid of letting the FBI in on their methods, of course! Publishing proper Shadowrun material would be like publishing a handbook to their own corporate sabotage techniques!

This explains everything!

Pass the Kool-Aid, please.

[Username17]

The weirdest part is that they did exert editorial control. It was just on shit that didn't matter. The editorial board was deathly afraid that somewhere, somehow, someone was going to have a halfway decent physical attack. Every time things even hint at maybe going in that direction, the editors walk it back.

Perhaps the strangest example is right here in Promethean. Unholy Strength is the basic transmutation you get for having an Abby Normal brain. And first of all, that particular transmutation is a "Bestowment", so obviously there were two flavors of disciplines at some point in the design process. But also what it does is to give you "9 Again" on your Strength checks. But then the editors came down and mandated that the 9 again not apply to punching people.


And now of course the power is totally incoherent, because what exactly is "like a feat of strength" but also totally not like "punching a dude"? But more damning still, that doesn't make any difference. Anyone who give's a tinker's damn about melee combat in nWoD uses an ax - because it gives you 9 again on your attack rolls. Even if melee combat wasn't a total sucker's game in nWoD, letting people actually use their super strength to punch people super hard wouldn't have hurt anything. Hell, it basically wouldn't have mattered in the slightest.

They were constantly worrying about things that simply weren't problems. Meanwhile the whole "I don't even know whether the Fairie Kingdoms, the Lands of Chaos, and the World of Dreams are different places or not" problem was basically hard coded from the get go.

It defies understanding. Why not spend a week or even a month at the beginning and have a grand council of Nicea where they decided how many souls people had and whether or not the Stygian Depths were distinct from the Great Abyss? I understand that nerfing Celerity combat was a design mandate, but there are a lot of positions between "totally dominating" and "actually worse than not using it", and it would have been trivial to select one.

-Username17

[TheFlatline]

In oWoD it was totally possible to play what nWoD calls Prometheans. You can be forgiven for thinking you couldn't because the rules were pretty sparse and often had to be read between lines, and you can be forgiven for thinking the rules were crap because they were.

The most playable way to play a Frankenstein Monster was to have been created by a Mage, and when you became alive your custom-crafted Avatar awoke. You are a mage with a paradigm of "I am a Frankenstein Monster". Congratulations. Anything about being a Frankenstein Monster that would not be handled by being a bog-standard mage, you need to hack out with your Storyteller.

I believe these were called HIT Marks in Mage, and they were typically deployed by the Technocracy. They're famous for having a chaingun fold out of their shoulders and hosing down everything with lead.

[TheFlatline]

The weirdest part is that they did exert editorial control. It was just on shit that didn't matter. The editorial board was deathly afraid that somewhere, somehow, someone was going to have a halfway decent physical attack. Every time things even hint at maybe going in that direction, the editors walk it back.

Perhaps the strangest example is right here in Promethean. Unholy Strength is the basic transmutation you get for having an Abby Normal brain. And first of all, that particular transmutation is a "Bestowment", so obviously there were two flavors of disciplines at some point in the design process. But also what it does is to give you "9 Again" on your Strength checks. But then the editors came down and mandated that the 9 again not apply to punching people.


And now of course the power is totally incoherent, because what exactly is "like a feat of strength" but also totally not like "punching a dude"? But more damning still, that doesn't make any difference. Anyone who give's a tinker's damn about melee combat in nWoD uses an ax - because it gives you 9 again on your attack rolls. Even if melee combat wasn't a total sucker's game in nWoD, letting people actually use their super strength to punch people super hard wouldn't have hurt anything. Hell, it basically wouldn't have mattered in the slightest.

They were constantly worrying about things that simply weren't problems. Meanwhile the whole "I don't even know whether the Fairie Kingdoms, the Lands of Chaos, and the World of Dreams are different places or not" problem was basically hard coded from the get go.

It defies understanding. Why not spend a week or even a month at the beginning and have a grand council of Nicea where they decided how many souls people had and whether or not the Stygian Depths were distinct from the Great Abyss? I understand that nerfing Celerity combat was a design mandate, but there are a lot of positions between "totally dominating" and "actually worse than not using it", and it would have been trivial to select one.

-Username17

I only own the core blue book and Vampire & Werewolf, but one of the things I saw, repeatedly, that turned me off was the repeated default to "fucking come up with it yourself you lazy storyteller prick!"

At first I thought it was their severe epipen level of allergy to metaplot (how can you have metaplot when you have no setting?) but now I think it was just plain laziness.

WW always put "conflicting" information into it's games so that MCs could be sadistic that way and also to shape the campaign to what they want story wise, but nWOD took it to a new level with a reluctance to commit to anything. Like, in the Vampire book, the reluctance to actually define any antagonists other than a really vague description. At least in the core of oWoD Vampire you didn't need additional splatbooks to run Sabbat antagonists, and even Cam antagonists from other cities or higher up the food chain. Even then, they had what I considered interesting splatbooks like Guilded Cage and Succubus Club and Midnight Siege, which dealt with vampire society and how groups of vampires got their war on (hint: rarely physically), that for 40 or 50 bucks provided a rich setting to play in without having to worry about metaplot. All that's gone in nWOD.

But that smells an awful lot like work and setting design. And fuck that.

[hyzmarca]

It its core, the nWoD system seemed like a good idea. Create one unified res set so that you can mix and match your splats without having to waste time with stupid house rules and balance them better so that a werewolf, a vampire, and a mage in the same party doesn't default to the mage declaring that he wins everything forever.

Create a unified system so that there won't be any incompatibilities between the different splats and you can play Monster Squad without an insane kludge of house rules, an admirable goal that is.

At yet, it seems that somewhere down the line they just completely lost the point.

[Whipstitch]

The Flatine nailed it. Several of the shovelware books are written like they don't even want to presume what books you have outside of the eponymous nWoD book, resulting in tremendous wastes of time and paper.