What about the idea which at first looks pretty cool but end-up at worst not bringing anything to the game at worst being boring to play ?
What about the idea which at first looks pretty cool but end-up at worst not bringing anything to the game at worst being boring to play ?
I feel like the Malkavians need mechanical solutions for these problems.
On derangements: something like ‘you go mad when it’s a full moon’ is vague. I feel like it’d be easier with a just any system, for example ‘renew all Willpower during a full moon, but lose one each scene thereafter’, which encourages the player to try just about anything during that night.
Twisting the mechanics also means the player doesn’t lose agency by thinking ‘oh well, time to act crazy I guess’.
On the combat problem: I feel like this is a symptom of a larger problem with the system. Combat has a system - it has levers everywhere which do things. Nothing else does, and you can’t push buttons which aren’t there.
I’ve solved the second problem by replacing Combat rules with general ‘Contest’ rules – a single system for Extended and Resisted actions, which works for Investigations, competing companies, or snide remarks at Elysium…and sword fights, if you must.
This is how Fate works and I like the idea a lot.
I toyed with having social conflict in CofD (close relative to WoD) use the same rules as combat, but attack willpower instead of health. So screaming at someone is presence + intimidate instead of strength+brawl. Seemed like it would work on paper. Don’t have any players at the moment to try it with.
I think it’d work, though I added a little more in terms of stakes. Mostly, the stakes are backgrounds, so characters can steal or destroy others’ backgrounds.
Also, it annoyed me that the backgrounds don’t have a mechanic, so they’re gained and lost by Storyteller fiat.
There’s a short overview as a primer.
If that sounds like what you’re after, I’ve recreated the original books, and modified them, so I don’t have to reference a Google doc for house rules:
This looks like good stuff. I’m still sad requiem is a dead game line, but this is close enough I could port it over. If I had players, anyway!
I’m likely starting a game next month, so if you have any ideas, shoot them over. There’s an issue boards on Gitlab.
You can definitely port Requiem ideas with the files, though if you want 100% actual Requiem, you’re better off remaking it from scratch (took me 3 months though, so it’s not done lightly). And I’ve kept a branch called ‘original’ which has the original, unmodified books, or as close as I could make in case anyone wants to start from there (go to source files, click ‘branch’, then click ‘original’).
After you mentioned Malkavians, I started thinking about better derangement rules. I’ve just pushed a new copy up 5 minutes ago (same link, but the Derangement rules have been changed).