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Karnius
2014-02-15, 10:02 PM
Hi all. This is a request for some advice on a World of Darkness game that I'm in. I'll set out a little context first.

The game is centred around a nightclub: the PCs are either performers or patrons of the club and the club itself is integral to some kind of supernatural plot. There are four players: I play a performer (a mime artist) and there's another performer (an athletic dancer) and two frequent visitors to the club. My character is a Mortal whilst the other performer is a Reynardi were-fox and the other characters are a Mage and a Sin-Eater.

Now, we've been playing for a few sessions and the plot is moving along - I think - but I've run into some difficulty with getting involved with the central plot. As I said, the main plot is supernatural in nature: all we know so far is that supernatural creatures are all being drawn to this club by Fate for some reason. This makes it difficult for my totally unaware Mortal to get involved, as he can't sense the lure, and on top of that the other PCs have revealed nothing about the lure or anything of their own supernatural nature. Nor are they likely to do so as our characters haven't really become friends or even really acquaintances and have no real reason to do so (the exception being my performer and the were-fox, who are somewhat friendly but still don't share any intimate secrets).

Obviously my being a Mortal is a bit of a problem, and I'd like to say that I had no idea that being a supernatural creature would be important for the game - I was encouraged to play a Mortal by the GM and the were-fox player was originally playing a Mortal too but decided that his character would undergo the First Change later.

It's not necessary to play a supernatural, but I am feeling like I should consider Awakening/Embracing/other verbs my character. Aside from the plot, I'm concerned about character balance (hence the title). This isn't a combat-oriented game but it's not so much about combat ability as ability to do things in general. The Mage, the Sin-Eater and the Reynardi all have more to do in the game as a result of their various powers and the supernatural communities they're a part of. Additionally, they can actually interact with the supernatural effects going on in the club, like the lure I mentioned earlier.

Now, I CAN work on mundane side-plots and such, but I've pretty much already gotten everything that my character wants: he's a great performer and is getting plenty of praise (and extra money), and he's made some good friends at the club. There really isn't anything else that I can do without leaving the nightclub (it's kind of a crappy place but the regulars are nice), and that would be counter-intuitive considering the main plot is centred on the club. I'm trying to think of more character goals and that's where I run into trouble, because the only thing I can think of is to stop the Sin-Eater from buying the club, because I heard him (IC) talking about getting rid of the current clientèle and (presumably) the current staff, but then my sole purpose is PC conflict (a conflict that I'll never win, incidentally). The GM has told me that he has some ideas for my character but that is worrying rather than reassuring as the GM's plans for my characters in the past have tended to be rather railroady. It's possible that he's planning to have me turned into some kind of supernatural, but then I doubt I'd get to choose and I imagine it'd be disadvantageous (there are vampire NPCs running around and I can see myself becoming their Dominated servant).

So, what should I do? I really don't want to just resort to having a supernatural character: it seems like that'd be a cheap way to resolve the issues I'm having, and I really wanted to play a nice, fairly average, hard-working guy in this game (and to play a Mortal for once). But it's possible that my character concept as it stands just isn't suitable for the game I'm playing in. Any thoughts?

Relinara
2014-02-15, 10:11 PM
A DM who encourages you to play a mortal in a WoD game probably secretly hates your guts.

A plot where the main adventuring party has no reason to speak to one another or be remotely friendly sounds like a recipe for disaster too. I really never understood why so many DMs try to set up campaigns where the players start as borderline hostile strangers.


So, what should I do? I really don't want to just resort to having a supernatural character: it seems like that'd be a cheap way to resolve the issues I'm having, and I really wanted to play a nice, fairly average, hard-working guy in this game (and to play a Mortal for once). But it's possible that my character concept as it stands just isn't suitable for the game I'm playing in. Any thoughts?
It's really a game about supernaturals and you'll never really catch up as a plain old mortal. Even sticking purely to supers Mages tend to outpace the competition. They'd blow a mortal out of the water.

That said the biggest problem if you're ok with that imbalance is that your character has no hook that ties him into the metaplot right now. If he's not even aware of the supernatural it'd be hard to get him engaged even barring his weakness.

If you really want to stay a mortal you might wanna go look at Hunter material. Vigil hunters, unlike oWoD hunters, are pretty much straight mortals unless you're in a tier 3 campaign and while it still leaves you weaker than the competition at least giving yourself some Hunter background would give you a lead into the game and SOME tools you can work with.

Kesnit
2014-02-15, 11:42 PM
Pick a Supernatural before your ST picks one for you.

nWoD Mortals games can be interesting - but only when everyone is Mortal. With other Supers, you're so so far outclassed it isn't even funny. Especially with another player playing a Mage, which are the most powerful Supernatural in nWoD.

Suddenly becoming a Changeling would be hard to explain. (They are supposed to have spent time in Arcadia, which you're PC hasn't.) Have a First Change. Get Embraced. Awaken. I would not recommend becoming a Hunter, since their power comes either from being with other Hunters, or from being in a Tier 3 Conspiracy. (It could also be hard fluff-wise to explain why a Hunter is working with Supernaturals for an extended period.)

Zavoniki
2014-02-16, 12:55 AM
Yeah you probably need a supernatural splat, or at least start looking into the Hunter stuff.

The only splat I know of that plays well with Mortals is Changeling, and that's because you can give Mortals 30-40 Merit Dots with Pledges, which both lets them compete a bit on the power level scale and helps encourage plot lines(depending on what Tasks and Forbidances are part of the pledge).

The problem I see here is that your character is unaware of the Supernatural, which is completely unrelated to the respective power level of Mortals vs Splats. I would talk to your GM OOC about what path you want to set your character on and what path he was considering.

squiggit
2014-02-16, 02:38 AM
Suddenly becoming a Changeling would be hard to explain. (They are supposed to have spent time in Arcadia, which you're PC hasn't.)
There's a few instance in the Lost book that describe characters who are sent to Arcadia for years or decades and then come out pretty much only a few minutes or hours after they left. Sort of a stretch but possible.


It could also be hard fluff-wise to explain why a Hunter is working with Supernaturals for an extended period.)
Working with supernaturals considered less dangerous to take out a greater threat is in the Hunter fluff too. Though weirdly enough their section on changelings doesn't have any of that and amounts to pretty much "kill them now"... which I always found kinda odd.

Still you're right, a hunter wouldn't play very nice with a mage. Even a tier 3 hunter.

icefractal
2014-02-16, 03:04 AM
Awakening as a Mage could be a good way to go. In many ways, Mages are the most "human-like" of the supers. They still live, eat, breath, do normal things. While you can go all mystery-wizard and live in the shadow realm scrying on things, you can also play a pretty down to earth Mage who lives life much like they did before, but with some magic in their corner when they need it.

One issue is that the others will know your true name, unless you've been using an alias this whole time. However, if the characters are just non-allied rather than actually antagonistic, this could be a good way to link the characters together a bit. And potentially, so would the other Mage acting as a mentor.

Admittedly, I say this as someone who really enjoys Mage, so take it with a grain of salt.

Karnius
2014-02-16, 09:38 AM
Pick a Supernatural before your ST picks one for you.

nWoD Mortals games can be interesting - but only when everyone is Mortal. With other Supers, you're so so far outclassed it isn't even funny. Especially with another player playing a Mage, which are the most powerful Supernatural in nWoD.

Suddenly becoming a Changeling would be hard to explain. (They are supposed to have spent time in Arcadia, which you're PC hasn't.) Have a First Change. Get Embraced. Awaken. I would not recommend becoming a Hunter, since their power comes either from being with other Hunters, or from being in a Tier 3 Conspiracy. (It could also be hard fluff-wise to explain why a Hunter is working with Supernaturals for an extended period.)

I've run a Changeling game where a couple of the players had characters who were in Arcadia for only a few hours of real-time, but it would be unusual to do that. The Mage is actually pretty restrained at the moment, though with Fate 4 and Mind 3 I have a feeling he'll dominate the game if he is pushed hard enough.


A DM who encourages you to play a mortal in a WoD game probably secretly hates your guts.

A plot where the main adventuring party has no reason to speak to one another or be remotely friendly sounds like a recipe for disaster too. I really never understood why so many DMs try to set up campaigns where the players start as borderline hostile strangers.


It's really a game about supernaturals and you'll never really catch up as a plain old mortal. Even sticking purely to supers Mages tend to outpace the competition. They'd blow a mortal out of the water.

That said the biggest problem if you're ok with that imbalance is that your character has no hook that ties him into the metaplot right now. If he's not even aware of the supernatural it'd be hard to get him engaged even barring his weakness.

If you really want to stay a mortal you might wanna go look at Hunter material. Vigil hunters, unlike oWoD hunters, are pretty much straight mortals unless you're in a tier 3 campaign and while it still leaves you weaker than the competition at least giving yourself some Hunter background would give you a lead into the game and SOME tools you can work with.

I was told about the game a few weeks before it actually started, and at that time it was described as a game that would favour Mortals. I turned up with a Mortal and found that two players were playing supernaturals (and the other quickly decided to follow suit). It was an unfortunate failure of communication between the players, I think, but now we've played a few sessions and we're all set on our characters as they are.

Becoming a Hunter is a nice way to get my guy to be aware of the supernatural whilst not forcing me to apply a supernatural template, and it might give him a bit more of an edge (compared to where he is now). I am concerned that that would just push him further away from the other characters though!


Yeah you probably need a supernatural splat, or at least start looking into the Hunter stuff.

The only splat I know of that plays well with Mortals is Changeling, and that's because you can give Mortals 30-40 Merit Dots with Pledges, which both lets them compete a bit on the power level scale and helps encourage plot lines(depending on what Tasks and Forbidances are part of the pledge).

The problem I see here is that your character is unaware of the Supernatural, which is completely unrelated to the respective power level of Mortals vs Splats. I would talk to your GM OOC about what path you want to set your character on and what path he was considering.

I don't want to ruin whatever surprises the GM has lined up for me but I think I will ask him whether or not he intends to make my character a supernatural, just so I know where I stand on that.


There's a few instance in the Lost book that describe characters who are sent to Arcadia for years or decades and then come out pretty much only a few minutes or hours after they left. Sort of a stretch but possible.


Working with supernaturals considered less dangerous to take out a greater threat is in the Hunter fluff too. Though weirdly enough their section on changelings doesn't have any of that and amounts to pretty much "kill them now"... which I always found kinda odd.

Still you're right, a hunter wouldn't play very nice with a mage. Even a tier 3 hunter.

Yeah, I can imagine the Mage (who is a Guardian of the Veil) might not get on too well with a Hunter, and I'm fairly sure I know who would win if conflict broke out. Plus, there are other Mages hanging around the club (and, come to think of it, a plethora of other supernaturals given that the club is drawing them to it).


Awakening as a Mage could be a good way to go. In many ways, Mages are the most "human-like" of the supers. They still live, eat, breath, do normal things. While you can go all mystery-wizard and live in the shadow realm scrying on things, you can also play a pretty down to earth Mage who lives life much like they did before, but with some magic in their corner when they need it.

One issue is that the others will know your true name, unless you've been using an alias this whole time. However, if the characters are just non-allied rather than actually antagonistic, this could be a good way to link the characters together a bit. And potentially, so would the other Mage acting as a mentor.

Admittedly, I say this as someone who really enjoys Mage, so take it with a grain of salt.

I also love Mage, and although I'm playing one in another game the option of Awakening my character here is tempting, particularly because of the reasons you've described. Right now I see my main options as becoming (in no particular order) a) a Hunter, b) a Mage, or c) a Changeling.


EDIT: Fortunately my GM has revealed that he won't be forcing me into becoming any kind of supernatural creature, so I'll have time to decide on my own course of action.