History YMMV / ShadowsOverTheSouth

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: It used to be that almost nobody took Melee or Brawl unless they have things that specifically require them to roll it. The reason for this was that Martial Arts in ''[[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Mage: 20th Anniversary Edition]]'' is objectively superior in nearly every way. If someone was a combat-centered character in this game in 2019, there's a very good chance that they took Martial Arts (especially [[DanceBattler Snake Step]]), unless they were centered solely around Firearms or their own splat's abilities. In late 2019 and early 2020, however, the STs tried to remedy this by buffing other alternative fighting styles (such as Dirty Fighting) to make Brawl and Melee more attractive choices.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Almost nobody takes Melee or Brawl unless they have things that specifically require them to roll it. The reason for this is that Martial Arts in ''[[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Mage: 20th Anniversary Edition]]'' is objectively superior in nearly every way. If someone is a combat-centered character in this game, there's a very good chance they took Martial Arts (especially [[DanceBattler Snake Step]]), unless they're centered solely around Firearms or their own splat's abilities.

** [[OmnicidalManiac Valkyrie]] topped them both. An utterly insane Imbued who was too crazy even for the Society of Leopold, he intentionally tried to cause not one, not two, but ''three'' mass-casualty biological attacks, for no other reason than because he wanted to bring about the Biblical End Times. His enemies, his own men, innocent bystanders, not a single life mattered; the more casualties and collateral damage, the better, as every death was, in his view, just another step toward Armageddon. Though he may have tried to dress up his OmnicidalManiac tendencies in religious language and [[PutThemAllOutOfTheirMisery claims of being for the greater good]], it was painfully obvious to every character in the game that he was just another sadistic mass murderer. When even the ''Technocratic Union'' was willing to risk inadvertently aiding their enemies to deal with him, you ''know'' he's bad news.

* TierInducedScrappy: Martial Arts; see ComplacentGamingSyndrome above. A character with high levels of Strength, Dexterity, and Martial Arts, especially when combined with certain powers like [[SuperSpeed Celerity]], [[SuperStrength Potence]], or [[TouchOfDeath Cauldron of Blood, Decay, or Holocaust]] can and will curb-stomp nearly any other kind of character and most of what a Storyteller will throw at them without resorting to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim deliberately trying to kill the character]]. Eventually, when characters started getting pidgeon-holed into taking Martial Arts just to stand a fighting chance against other characters and began asking for a nerf, the Storytellers, caught between a MortonsFork of either {{nerf}}ing Martial Arts or doing nothing, decided to TakeAThirdOption and instead drastically buff the other fighting styles, including Kailindo and Dirty Fighting... but ''not'' [[PurposelyOverpowered Do]].

** Violet Lombardi, a.k.a. "V.V." Several PlayerCharacters are unironically fans of her music in-game, and were heartbroken to find out the Technocracy got to her first.

* TheWoobie: Geoff Ramsay. Already a ShellShockedVeteran, his first husband committed suicide, and then he ends up Imbued, with all of the [[BrokenMasquerade problems]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow that]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation go]] [[DoomedMoralVictor with]] [[HopelessWar it]]. Just when it looks like he has a chance at happiness with Dante, a Mage, he's accused of being a CategoryTraitor for revealing what the other Imbued were doing behind the Starke Council's back, and as if that wasn't bad enough, Dante is nearly killed (left with only single health point left following one scene) right when Geoff is trying to settle into his new role outside of the Imbued... and then [[DroppedABridgeOnHim died of cancer]], only to be brought back as a Mummy, one of the very supernaturals he was supposed to fight as an Imbued. Poor guy just can't catch a break.

* EvilIsCooled [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. While it is absolutely possible to play an evil character, and plenty of players do (though some are certainly more AmbiguouslyEvil than others), it's extraordinarily difficult (if still theoretically possible) to play an AxCrazy OmnicidalManiac and get away with it for very long before the other, more virtuous player characters find out, and come for your head.

* TheWoobie: Geoff Ramsay. Already a ShellShockedVeteran, his first husband committed suicide, and then he ends up Imbued, with all of the [[BrokenMasquerade problems]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow that]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation go]] [[DoomedMoralVictor with]] [[HopelessWar it]]. Just when it looks like he has a chance at happiness with Dante, a Mage, he's accused of being a CategoryTraitor for revealing what the other Imbued were doing behind the Starke Council's back, and as if that wasn't bad enough, Dante is nearly killed (left with only single health point left following one scene) right when Geoff is trying to settle into his new role outside of the Imbued. Poor guy just can't catch a break.

* ScrappyMechanic: The now-infamous 'epiphany' system circa October 2018. It was scrapped a month later, and pretty much nobody misses it.

** Few villains in the game have had as much notoriety as [[TheCaligula Judas Illyrium]], the Camarilla Prince of Jacksonville and Starke. Being ultimately responsible for the deaths of several player characters (some of which were their players' own fault, granted), Judas has on multiple occasions proven himself to be the consummate [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabber]], betraying not just any player character dumb enough to trust him, but the ''entire Camarilla'', callously sacrificing his own court, along with countless innocents in Gainesville, in an attempt to kill any Sabbat in Gainesville who knew of his true identity, while at the same time intentionally trying to get the other player characters killed in the process, leaving him the sole power in the area. He cares nothing for anyone or anything except his own ego, and the only reason the player characters haven't gone all-out to kill him is because, despite his nature, he's still recognized by the Camarilla as the rightful Prince, so even if they ''did'' manage to defeat him and his legions of lackeys, they'd be starting a war by doing so.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Gabriel Martinez was built up as being a ridiculously powerful, sixth-generation Ravnos Elder whom the players shouldn't even ''attempt'' to fight without major backup. He died in one and a half turns after two players scored a [[CriticalHit crazy number of successes]] on their rolls against him, and then he [[EpicFail botched]] on his own turn.

** Few villains in the game have had as much notoriety as [[TheCaligula Judas Illirium]], the Camarilla Prince of Jacksonville and Starke. Being ultimately responsible for the deaths of several player characters (some of which were their players' own fault, granted), Judas has on multiple occasions proven himself to be the consummate [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabber]], betraying not just any player character dumb enough to trust him, but the ''entire Camarilla'', callously sacrificing his own court, along with countless innocents in Gainesville, in an attempt to kill any Sabbat in Gainesville who knew of his true identity, while at the same time intentionally trying to get the other player characters killed in the process, leaving him the sole power in the area. He cares nothing for anyone or anything except his own ego, and the only reason the player characters haven't gone all-out to kill him is because, despite his nature, he's still recognized by the Camarilla as the rightful Prince, so even if they ''did'' manage to defeat him and his legions of lackeys, they'd be starting a war by doing so.

* AdventureFriendlyWorld: A one-time criticism of the game, but one that is reflecting the nature of the game, with repeatable raids, plots built more on stopping an evil force than choosing the lesser of two evils, the [[EnergyEconomy instituted trade in tass]] as well as the chantry offering services for it, the game is setting more to have a [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons DnD]] atmosphere rather than a [[TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness WoD]] atmosphere. Which leads us to...

* HardLevelsEasyBosses: Most bosses are rather well statted to prove a challenge to even the diversity of powers in the game, [[LightningBruiser Altair]] was designed to survive in a [[DeathWorld much more]] [[EverythingTryingToKillYou difficult setting]] and can usually stomp them hard. This has lead into such especially in the Blood, Drugs, and Magick and The Lady of Discord plotlines, where actually getting into a fight with the bosses was hard, but they did not last more than a turn.

* GameBreaker: Wonders as produced by [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Mages]], as well as their equivalents in other splats such as ''TabletopGame/MummyTheResurrection'' and ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'', have the potential to become this, since they allow for an insane amount of soak dice and easy access to aggravated damage, and certain player characters both past and present have been known to churn them out like factories and hand them out like candy. If it gets bad enough, the Storytellers reach for the {{nerf}} bat, and have done so in the past.

** Sofia Gómez was easily the most well-liked character from the Blood, Drugs, and Magick plotline, to the point where she made a cameo appearance as a Wraith later on, where she was posthumously redeemed.

** Gabriel Martinez of Clan Ravnos. Coming up with the frankly ingenious idea of using a Mage to alchemically synthesize vampiric vitae into a pill-based club drug, he concocted a plot to saturate the surrounding areas in drugs based off of his own blood, thus turning everyone who got hooked into his own blood-bound slaves. When the player characters caught on to his scheme, what did he do? What else but brutally slaughter an entire tenement full of innocent people, and then do it ''again'', only the second time, the player characters were ForcedToWatch. While Judas may be the game's most long-running villain, for the one-off plots, Martinez might very well have been the [[HateSink most hated]] overall.

** Few villains the game have had as much notoriety as [[TheCaligula Judas Illirium]], the Camarilla Prince of Jacksonville and Starke. Being ultimately responsible for the deaths of several player characters (some of which were their players' own fault, granted), Judas has on multiple occasions proven himself to be the consummate [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabber]], betraying not just any player character dumb enough to trust him, but the ''entire Camarilla'', callously sacrificing his own court, along with countless innocents in Gainesville, in an attempt to kill any Sabbat in Gainesville who knew of his true identity, while at the same time intentionally trying to get the other player characters killed in the process, leaving him the sole power in the area. He cares nothing for anyone or anything except his own ego, and the only reason the player characters haven't gone all-out to kill him is because, despite his nature, he's still recognized by the Camarilla as the rightful Prince, so even if they ''did'' manage to defeat him and his legions of lackeys, they'd be starting a war by doing so.

** Gabriel Martinez of Clan Ravnos. Coming up with the frankly ingenious idea of using a Mage to alchemically synthesize vampiric vitae into a pill-based club drug, he concocted a plot to saturate the surrounding areas in drugs based off of his own blood, thus turning everyone got hooked into his own blood-bound slaves. When the player characters caught on to his scheme, what did he do? What else but brutally slaughter an entire tenement full of innocent people, and then do it ''again'', only the second time, the player characters were ForcedToWatch. While Judas may be the game's most long-running villain, for the one-off plots, Martinez might very well have been the [[HateSink most hated]] overall.