(OOC) San Francisco by Night II: A Requiem in Fog

[Bennosuke]

Good. Just wanted to double check. Sorry for being a nudge.

[Bennosuke]

I have adjusted Anna's Blood Pool to 2/10. Holding off IC to let the other players reply.

[Erulasto]

Apologies for the brief absence. I was working double shifts to help with the launch of a new computer system for the provincial healthcare we use and it was a huge mess.

I’m back to my regular shifts and hours now.

Thanks!

[Bennosuke]

And I apologize as well, though for what it's worth, my post rate should be much improved from here through next week.

[Daishain]

In answer to the question which I'd meant to answer before, no, I will not be spending the WP. Better to go ahead and repair the damage.

[Daishain]

In answer to the question which I'd meant to answer before, no, I will not be spending the WP. Better to go ahead and repair the damage.

[Bennosuke]

UPdated Karl's character box to reflect this.

[Thundercracker]

Benno, you're letting us narrate our own feeding, right? We don't need to wait for NPCs to respond?

[Bennosuke]

Yes, to whatever extent you wish to, though I’m happy to play out characters. The point is to let you guys play out a Feeding scene the way you want. Let me know about how much Anna took from the vagabond

[Thundercracker]

Yes, to whatever extent you wish to, though I’m happy to play out characters. The point is to let you guys play out a Feeding scene the way you want. Let me know about how much Anna took from the vagabond

She would take about two or three, most likely. Just enough to take the edge off so she can move on to the main event.

[Bennosuke]

Ok, Anna's pool is up to 4/10.

[Thundercracker]

I'm ok to move to the guy's apartment. Anna's would try to convince Aisling to not attack the driver.

[Erulasto]

I'm ok to move to the guy's apartment. Anna's would try to convince Aisling to not attack the driver.

She probably wont. If memory serves, Aisling isn't that low on blood. So it's not like she needs to gorge herself again.

[Bennosuke]

You can always check the character boxes on the first page of this thread!

[Bennosuke]

Apologies for the delays in posting everyone. Post rate will be improved the next 5 days or so. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating!

[Bennosuke]

Tommy’s Joynt.

Anna brought Aisling back to her car, then parked on the street outside Tommy’s.

“Figured we could stop in and say hi to whoever is there,” Anna said as an explanation.

If there’s no objection, Anna will enter and take a look around.

Sooo, the point of this scene was just to be a group feeding scene; a chance to show some Coterie unity and replenish some blood, something that was at least partly accomplished

I know things have dragged a little. I'm totally happy to let things play out at Tommy's, though everyone has fed... if we want. But... what are we trying to accomplish? Is there anything in particular I can help the players get out of this?

[Thundercracker]

Sooo, the point of this scene was just to be a group feeding scene; a chance to show some Coterie unity and replenish some blood, something that was at least partly accomplished

I know things have dragged a little. I'm totally happy to let things play out at Tommy's, though everyone has fed... if we want. But... what are we trying to accomplish? Is there anything in particular I can help the players get out of this?

I’m ok with ending the scene and starting the next day, handwaving that we spent some time together and we’re all cool as a coterie now.

[Erulasto]

Hey folks,

Thanks for the patience and understanding. My father is doing well, all things considered (heart attacks and cardiac catheterizations aren't fun) and life has returned to some normalcy. Took a bit longer than I'd hoped, but I feel confident that his health is stabilizing to the point where he isn't going to have any major issues going forward. So long as he starts looking after himself a bit better.

Sorry once again!

[Bennosuke]

Hey all, sorry for the delays.

With the feedback I have, I will then move things on to the next scene. This will be the most laborious post for me today, so expect it to be later than my posts in other threads. Again, thank you for the patience. I should be pretty much posting all day today though.

[Thundercracker]

Regarding willpower, what are all the ways we can recover now? Dirge / mask only? Is there a way with touchstones?

[Daishain]

I have been trying to confirm that rule one way or the other. I did find someone specifically stating that 2e vampires gain a point of willpower when they rise the first time in the evening, but the cheeky bugger failed to cite his source, so I can't be sure he wasn't just making it up.

It doesn't make much sense in my opinion. With this ruling, we have a resource that cannot be recovered except for during the sorts of situations that you likely want to be spending that same resource.

[Bennosuke]

Sorry, but this is gonna be relatively short. As per my recent IC post, the only ways I see per the VtR 2E rulebook to regain WP are via Mask/Dirge, and protection of the Touchstone. Neither resting a night, nor the start of a new game session is listed as a way to regain WP (at least as far as I could see).

As per that IC post, I am happy to house rules this if everyone feels strongly.

Cheers!

[Erulasto]

From my own checking, I'll confirm that Benno - you're correct. The book doesn't state anywhere you can regain WP via any means save Mask/Dirge/Touchstone. However, the Onyx Path forum had a previous lead developer for CoD that weighed in when asked directly. I'll provide the link below, but the jist of it is as follows:

Spoiler: Forum Post C&P

Show

Rose Baily
01-19-2014, 04:07 PM
Vampires don't get Willpower back from resting by default. One of the things Willpower represents is strength of self, parallel to Humanity. You get it for affirming who you are, who you pretend to be, and what you're connected to. Being a vampire is spiritually exhausting, and you have to emphasize those things in order to regain what normal people gain from rest.

I say that with the following caveats:
When significant downtime has passed (say, you skip a week of in-character time, or conclude a significant piece of your story and pick up later), it's reasonable to just refill everyone's Willpower, making the assumption they've been out interacting with their Anchors while off-screen.
I don't think it does any harm to allow Kindred to regain Willpower from rest, it's just not the default for the reasons I expressed.

Cavaliers of Mars Creator
Retired CofD Lead

Link: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/m...3362#post53362

I'm fine with the houserule. Just wanted to weigh in as well.

[Bennosuke]

Thank you for the research. Rose was essentially the head of Vampire Development when she was in charge, and while I'm not in love with everything she did with the line, she is essentially responsible for the shift from 1st to 2nd edition. I'm actually reading her "Bite Me" book on VtR, and have purchased Bloody Dots. I think they are pretty damn good reads for the cheap price if you have a bit of time to kill.

I'm totally fine with the house rule if that's how everyone is leaning. As I already admitted, I don't feel I make much use of the Mask and Dirge Mechanics, as there are just so many different mechanics to take advantage of or keep in mind for each character (my apologies if this irks you guys)

[Erulasto]

Thank you for the research. Rose was essentially the head of Vampire Development when she was in charge, and while I'm not in love with everything she did with the line, she is essentially responsible for the shift from 1st to 2nd edition. I'm actually reading her "Bite Me" book on VtR, and have purchased Bloody Dots. I think they are pretty damn good reads for the cheap price if you have a bit of time to kill.

I'm totally fine with the house rule if that's how everyone is leaning. As I already admitted, I don't feel I make much use of the Mask and Dirge Mechanics, as there are just so many different mechanics to take advantage of or keep in mind for each character (my apologies if this irks you guys)

No apologies necessary. There's a lot to handle in VtR in a lot of ways, and really...if we think regaining a WP dot would be appropriate for an action if it fits into the Dirge and Mask of the characters, there's nothing stopping us from taking the initiative and mentioning it.



I'm fine with the house rule.

[Thundercracker]

I’m ok too as long as enemies are sufficiently reduced to account for the difference, and we get refills from time to time with time skips. I did put more into resolve and composure to have more wp to spend, so it would be good to be able to spend it from time to time.

Those two beats put Anna up to 4 xp? Or not yet? Next spend will be obfuscate.

[Bennosuke]

Not yet. Take a look at her character box.

As always though, please advocate for wp if you think you’ve hit a mask or dirge moment or as part of touchstone interactions. Anyone else wanna weigh in???

[Bennosuke]

Hey all, I've been doing some soul searching and some reviewing on the Will Power recovery mechanics for 2E games, and I want to bring up some thoughts/points and a house rule for everyone to give their feedback on.

While mundane mortals can simply rest to regain WP, Vampires, Werewolves, Changelings ect are not human and do not easily recover WP. Instead, in 2E the game has the concept of Anchors, which are comprised of Touchstones and Virtue/Vice equivalents. These are called anchors, because they are what help keep the monster tied to their prior mortality. Their mechanics are meant to encourage character driven tension by encouraging the player to put their character in uncomfortable situations as they struggle to maintain their humanity/harmony/clarity (of course this all started with vampire so it may make more sense in that context). So characters are encouraged to explore the duality of their character's monstrous nature and go out of their way to interact with their touchstones to further character/story development and are rewarded with Willpower recovery.

To clarify the rules of 2E as they exist now:
-Only mortals can recover WP with time (including a night's rest and between game sessions).
-Supernaturals can gain 1 WP by doing something that fits with their virtue/vice equivalent.
-Supernaturals can regain all WP by doing something very very dramatic that fits with their virtue/vice equivalent.
-Supernaturals gain 1 WP by "defending" their touchstone, and all WP if the act is very "damaging"
-The recovery of all WP can only occur once per game session per Anchor.

Honestly, I like the concept behind these mechanics, and I want to propose a few simple house rules to encourage their use, and make it easier to recover WP.
1. A single WP is simply gained by choosing to interact with your Touchstone. This could be anything from stalking them, to spending money on them. This stacks with the defending the Touchstone mechanic. It will be up to me as the ST to make the interaction meaningful and help drive the story forward.
- AND if we skip ahead by a few days of in game time, it is assumed
2. Characters regain all spent willpower between "game sessions"

Can I have responses as to which house rule players would prefer between option 1 and option 2?

[Thundercracker]

I like option 1 better as it is more dynamic.

[Ladorak]

Option one, same reason as TC