38
votes
Accepted
Why keep your own Paradigm as a Mage?
Because of confirmation bias
The act of Awakening is not described as a coherent, logically sound philosophical reasoning that leads the Mage to believe in his paradigm over ones of his peers. ...
- 16.9k
35
votes
Accepted
Why is Magic so hard?
Because the world is broken and it's your job to fix it.
The rules are meant to suggest a world where the Technocracy has locked down magick hard — mages are supposed to take every advantage they can,...
- 51.6k
31
votes
Accepted
Getting laid in the Dark Ages
There's an online article on the homepage of the University of Rochester's River Campus Libraries titled "Sex, Society and Medieval Women by N. M. Heckel" (NSFW reading, obviously.)
It is a rather ...
- 38.7k
31
votes
Accepted
How can I make an overbearing government's unwelcome attention convincing without it dominating screen time?
The Government has no time for small fries like you
Technocracy appears to be a monolithic Big Brother, spying on everyone at all times, but the truth is that their goals can leave even the best ...
- 16.9k
30
votes
How do all the World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness RPGs connect?
Connections and Lack Thereof
World of Darkness (Classic) and Chronicles of Darkness (formerly unofficially known as 'new' World of Darkness) are a spiritual predecessor/successor pair, not part of the ...
30
votes
Is there any canon lore reason why urban werewolves haven't destroyed vampires (or vice versa)?
Vampire Elders are more powerful than the most powerful Werewolves.
While PC werewolves are much more powerful than PC vampires, the upper end of their power scales are very different - even before ...
- 12.5k
29
votes
Accepted
Is there any canon lore reason why urban werewolves haven't destroyed vampires (or vice versa)?
The werewolves are likely to win almost every battle, but the vampires would likely win any full scale war.
Overall they aren't likely to care too much about each other. The vampires have every ...
- 30.5k
28
votes
Accepted
Are Old and New World of Darkness the same or different worlds?
Despite the many similarities, they are different games with different systems and settings.
nWoD is a reimagined oWoD. The relationship between the two is much like that between 1970s Battlestar ...
- 13.8k
27
votes
Accepted
Is there a vampire/population ratio stated in the books?
As a rule of thumb, assume that there is one vampire for every 100,000
mortals. (...) The cities could certainly hold more Kindred, but there
are legitimate fears of discovery. (...) Despite this, ...
- 38.7k
25
votes
Accepted
Can we ignore or keep playing after the Apocalypse and keep canon?
Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition.
The sourcebook explicitly tells that there is no "fixed" canon history, you can play as you want to (the Avatar Storm didn't happen etc.), but it does ...
- 2,140
25
votes
Accepted
Why do the antediluvians want to consume their spawn?
Because they can't eat anything else.
A vampire's (effective) generation has a significant effect on their power level in a variety of ways. This includes the maximum amount of vitae they can hold, ...
- 53.9k
24
votes
How can I handle a player who seems to utilize skills their characters don't have?
The leadership scenario is sometimes inevitable depending on the players you have. It's natural for more experienced players to fall into a leadership role because they have more experience and newer ...
- 777
24
votes
Accepted
Where do the symbols for the Spheres in Mage: the Ascension come from?
As Guybrush McKenzie’s fine answer notes, Wikipedia claims these are alchemical symbols depicted in Symbols, Signs, and Signets by Ernst Lehrer, 1950. However, I haven’t been able to find a copy of ...
- 321k
23
votes
Accepted
Does the appearance of a vampire remain the same forever?
Explicitly so.
As said on page 16 of the 20th Anniversary rules:
Once a vampire is Embraced, her looks are frozen in time. Her skin will be unnaturally cold to the touch and become paler as she ...
- 51.6k
23
votes
How do I handle a character bent on diablerie of an Antediluvian?
Why do you have to "handle" this?
The player has agency. You can give him information that says that facing an antediluvian is a bad idea. You can telegraph all kinds of ways that should the ...
- 32.9k
21
votes
Is there any canon lore reason why urban werewolves haven't destroyed vampires (or vice versa)?
Numbers, for one thing.
There's about a tenth as many werewolves as there are vampires, and those are divided among thirteen tribes. (One estimate sets the number of Glass Walkers and Bone Gnawers ...
- 51.6k
21
votes
Accepted
What factors led to the poor reception and early cancellation of Wraith: The Oblivion?
Wraith was challenging to run, and didn’t offer the same social rewards as Vampire, Werewolf, or Mage.
As an "oldbie" of the era, Wraith was my jam. I remember going and acquiring it the day ...
- 51.6k
20
votes
How to balance Celerity against other powers in 20th Anniversary
I'm going to copy from another answer of mine regarding changes between Revised and the 20th Anniversary edition.
Potence and Celerity have been significantly altered. Each now adds a passive bonus ...
- 51.6k
20
votes
Does the appearance of a vampire remain the same forever?
Generally speaking, yes, but there are some exceptions
Hair, beard and other features return each dawn to the state they were when the Embrace. If a vampire cut his hair or shave himself, the next ...
- 17k
20
votes
Accepted
How can I entice my tactical players to embrace cinematic combat?
Stunt Dice
This comes from Exalted. Give them a bonus of +1 to +3 dice when they're:
Trying things that they haven't done before
Describing their actions with flair and flavor
Do not give the bonus ...
- 3,502
19
votes
Accepted
How to tackle heavy sphere redundancy?
What's missing here is an application of paradigm. Every mage believes with absolute clarity and certainty that the world works in accordance with the laws of magick as described by their tradition (...
- 51.6k
19
votes
How Do I Assassinate a Vampire or Garou?
Only material I know that deals with this theme is The Hunters Hunted ©1992 by White Wolf.
There is newer edition of it. I don't own it, don't have access to it, so what follows is based on the old ...
- 20k
19
votes
Accepted
Can diablerie be performed on a vampire who has just met their Final Death?
Vampire the Masquerade rulebook on Committing Diablerie (p. 225) states the following:
A vampire seeking to commit diablerie must drain all the blood from his Kindred victim. Following this act, ...
- 638
19
votes
Accepted
Can you use a power lower than your number of dots?
Yes, Having the level in a discipline allows you all the powers of that level or under, so at level 4 in a discipline you have the powers listed under 1,2,3 & 4. Evidence for this case in abscence ...
- 266
19
votes
Accepted
How can you convey that the majority of the world isn't supernatural?
Don't show more than you have to
Unless you have a very good reason not to, keep appearances of the various supernatural creatures very rare. For example, in a VtM game you have, by default, an ...
- 6,202
19
votes
How to protect my human from vampires
Some ideas :
The easiest thing to do is to misdirect your enemies by giving them the impression that the human is under the influence of an elder vampire of the city - someone they wouldn't dare to ...
- 417
18
votes
Accepted
Can a vampire use mental disciplines while staked?
A vampire immobilized by a wooden stake "is conscious (and may use perception powers, such as those in the Auspex Discipline), but may not move or spend blood points." (p.280, V20)
So, Auspex is ...
- 51.6k
18
votes
Accepted
Restoring a Vampire to mortal life
Maybe.
Rumours speak of a sacred few who have escaped the Curse of Caine and
become mortal again. Such stories of Redemption have existed for
centuries, as have tales of eternal Damnation. If ...
- 4,100
17
votes
How Do I Assassinate a Vampire or Garou?
Garou: Find them in their breed form and kill them from surprise.
Werewolves in their breed form (that is, human shape for homid and wolf shape for lupus) can't soak lethal or aggravated damage with ...
- 51.6k
17
votes
Accepted
What are the risks when a character drinks blood?
There are two systems to look at for this.
Too much blood loss
Each point of blood that's consumed deals one level of lethal damage to the victim. A strong, healthy vessel can take two or three ...
- 6,202
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