Line #29 Headscratchers/OldWorldOfDarkness


1	* Why do the Setites have their hands on anything that ever happened? The inquisition, the Anarch revolt, the fall of Rome, The sacking of Byzantine, the enlightenment, and the French revolution. Just to name a few of the things they're apparently secretly behind. Hell, they're partly responsible for an entire other game line. (Mummy)
2	** Don't forget ''Werewolf'', where Sutekh screwed over both the Silent Striders ''and'' the Bubasti werecats, both tribes with bloodline curses that still hold strong to this day. And no, the books never explain how Sutekh pulled that kind of power out of his ass.
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4	* Did White Wolf ever describe what would happen if a vampire managed to embrace a werewolf or changeling (assuming the werewolf doesn't rip the vampire into shreds)?
5	** TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness, later editions? The werewolf ''usually'' dies. Sometimes they survive to become an abomination, but since the Sam Haight fiasco, those are all fated to become ashtrays, and very rare to start with (there are about two other abominations in canon and at least one is heavily suicidal, being kept out of the sun only through mind control by uber-elders). Changelings go insane and have their fairy soul go permanently pop, so they just become crazy vampires (or in the case of Malkavians, craz''ier'' vampires).
6	*** It varied depending on the target. Most shapechangers would either die or rarely become Abominations. An Embraced Kitsune (werefox) immediately goes up in a pillar of fire, taking the vampire with it. Nuwisha (werecoyotes) die immediately if a vampire tries to embrace them. Embraced Ratkin (wererats) decompose until their bodies can no longer function. Corax and Mokole (ravens and reptiles) had it worst; since they were both tied to the Sun, they would die by the next sunrise. Corax generally just spiraled into depression; Mokole spent their last night in a permanent, mindless frenzy. Bastet (werecat) abominations bleed Gnosis constantly until they have none left.
7	*** It's unknown what would happen with an Ananasi, Guhral, Nagah or Rokea, but, considering their rarity, it would be a philosophical exercise or a VERY insane game.
8	*** Ananasi (werespider) just die. Guhral (werebears) and Ajaba (werehyenas) are the same as Garou but lose gnosis. Nagah (weresnakes) die, making the necessary rolls to become an abomination just makes it take longer for them to die. Rokea (weresharks) become an abomination but lose all their gnosis and frenzy, prioritizing vampires in a crowd and diablerizing when possible.
9	** If memory serves for werewolves, they roll Gnosis at the point of Embrace, success means they die quickly and peacefully, failure means they die slowly and painfully, only a botch "successfully" creates an Abomination. They retain shapeshifting and all Gifts, though learning new ones is very difficult since most spirits don't like vampires. They don't gain Humanity, but risk their Gnosis on Degeneration rolls. The only way to stop this is to give what's left of their souls completely over to the Wyrm. If they do that, they no longer risk losing Gnosis, but can't so much as "tie their shoes" without direct instruction from the Wyrm.
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11	* Is there ever a slightest glimmer of hope, or one happy ending just so I can smile at the end of a session.
12	** Essentially, if you get a group, including the GM, who want a fun game more than they want a game that feels as GrimDark as the game designers intended, then yes.
13	** Only if you convince your ST beforehand to let you EarnYourHappyEnding. Alternately, [[LargeHam release your inner hog]] and start ''forcibly'' (but smartly/cautiously) pushing things in the "worse" direction so that you increase the crapsack quotient. I have this theory that the [=WoD=] (and a few story tellers) aren't so much "pro-crapsack world" as they are "anti-let the PC's change things". So if you actively work to destroy things, they'll start getting better! ... and if I'm wrong, then at least you'll have at least succeeded at [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]] to boast about.
14	** There's technically nothing that says you can't make a slow-but-steady improvement in your game, or even achieve a happy ending. Granted, it won't last too long unless it's an endgame scenario, but it's doable. If your Storyteller isn't too high on the power of being such, he/she should let you achieve your goals so long as they aren't improbable (i.e., 'rescue my ghouled relative' is doable, 'create world peace by eliminating all supernaturals' is best reserved for an end-of-days event). All gamelines have something you can latch onto to create a lighter or happier resolution: Vampires have their Humanity (especially the younger ones), Changelings can successfully inspire Dreamers to better things, Mages can make headway against their enemies or even team up with them against Nephandi, Horrors from Beyond, ect; Hunters can see that their little part of the world is safe, and even start working together as part of a larger Hunter group to start clearing a city, county, or even just making positive ties with other supernaturals. The World of Darkness should live up to its name, but there's absolutely no reason your [=PCs=] can't be glimmers of light.
15	** At least two of the Time of Judgment books have happy endings achieved at great cost (the first scenario in ''Gehenna'' and the eponymous scenario in ''Ascension''). Alternatively, there's ''TabletopGame/MummyTheResurrection'', which leans towards being an "occult superhero" game a la ''ComicBook/WerewolfByNight'' or Vertigo comics. And, of course, any Storyteller can choose to tell a more lighthearted game: ''Vampire'' as a politics among the immortals, ''Werewolf'' as (again) occult superheroes, ''Mage'' as freedom fighters vs. tyrants, or ''Hunter'' as ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. (There's no redeeming ''Wraith'' or ''Changeling'' without a massive overhaul, since darkness is built into their base mechanics.)
16	** The "Wormwood" Gehenna scenario is also pretty hopeful, with the players and a few others being chosen to attempt to earn true forgiveness and become human again, while all the rest of vampire kind is wiped off the face of the Earth.
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18	* Which being created the universe; God (who is mentioned in the Vampire and Hunter games), Gaia (mentioned in Werewolf), some combination of both? Did Caine becoming the first vampire happen before or after the Weaver created the gauntlet and split the physical world from the spiritual?
19	** Yes.
20	*** Which is to say, every World of Darkness game had its own mutually exclusive universe creation myth. ''And'' every ''single'' one of them was ''literally'' true.

Context Headscratchers / OldWorldOfDarkness