If I Were King of OwbN - New Setting
I got really ranty and unfocused yesterday, part of it was because the day was winding down and it was time for me to go. I'm going spit out some more stuff, but try to get stupid and I'll do it in parts. Once again, this is just one dumb guy's words.
If I Were King of OwbN
New Setting
I'd make a clear break from what was published for the setting. Use the themes and concepts for inspiration, but as I commented on yesterday OWbN should have its own background and settings that are independent of the published material. The amount of creative freedom this would give the organization cannot be expressed highly enough. Also clearly stating it as OWbN's world means you can safely get away from the debate of this being cannon or not. Throw that out and just go with what is good for OWbN.
To highlight some of the positives of this approach you only have to look at the Assamites, Gangrel and Giovanni. If OWbN becomes committed to its own vision of the World of Darkness, the events surrounding those clans and the Camarilla become a lot less annoying. If the Brujah are going through a time where they are taking on the quality of the Brujah from Kindred the Embraced, well so be it. There is no heartburn to be had over it being against the way it should be. You do away with how it should be and focus on what it is becoming.
Other benefits come to include making the game world more reflect the reality of the organization. Take coordinator elections for example. Traditionally Justicars are picked every seven years (or whatever it is) yet we have elections every year. Well now you make Justicar selections every year. New person gets elected, then its a new Justicar and characters now have to deal with the power shifts. For starters you end up not having personality shifts with a character. It potentially shakes up events allowing increased intrigue as formerly established characters now have to set up their power base. Basically a lot of the fun OOC intrigue that was seen can be translated into IC. =)
Part of this approach allows more freedom in establishing OWbN's own top dog NPCs. Does the Justicar need to be a 5th generation Baali with Obeah? Probably not, but you are no longer going to hamstring yourself trying to shoehorn a book based NPC that frankly does not translate into OWbN's settings without heavy modification. Another fun aspect that it can create are things like PC justicars of all things. Seriously, Dean Famularo Brujah Justicar. Of course he would be ruled over by a much scarier Brujah NPC (the Coord level guy) who tells him when to jump, what to say and so forth. Kind of like being a PC archon only with one more status and less autonomy. Right now with OWbN straddling the line between White Wolf's vision and OWbN's vision its next to impossible to do stuff like this without causing a foolish amount of hand wringing and strife.
Now it is worth saying that I realize that this would require a good amount of effort on behalf of the organization at large to codify its setting. I also know that it would causing inbound games to adjust even further. That said though, its work that should be done regardless of if OWbN fully set its own course or not. Things have already started to push heavily away from the original setting and that information needs to be outlined. Likewise, inbound games are already going to have major adjustments. This amounts to throwing a bucket of water in a pool.
Right now I think OWbN is straining its internal logic and its causing a lot of problems. For the comicbook fans. We can accept that a teenager in high school was able to build an advanced synthetic polymer adhesive that has spider web-like properties, and widgets to shoot them from. Radioactive spider bites give cool powerz. All good. At the point that he starts flying around space....whoa, what a second. This is the point where the internal logic starts to strain and that is where OWbN is. Spidey is starting to fly through space and even if there is a reason it still hurts because we all know what Spidey is supposed to be and what he does. So OWbN needs to ask itself if it wants to be Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man or Cosmic Spider Man because being both doesn't work so good.
If I Were King of OwbN
New Setting
I'd make a clear break from what was published for the setting. Use the themes and concepts for inspiration, but as I commented on yesterday OWbN should have its own background and settings that are independent of the published material. The amount of creative freedom this would give the organization cannot be expressed highly enough. Also clearly stating it as OWbN's world means you can safely get away from the debate of this being cannon or not. Throw that out and just go with what is good for OWbN.
To highlight some of the positives of this approach you only have to look at the Assamites, Gangrel and Giovanni. If OWbN becomes committed to its own vision of the World of Darkness, the events surrounding those clans and the Camarilla become a lot less annoying. If the Brujah are going through a time where they are taking on the quality of the Brujah from Kindred the Embraced, well so be it. There is no heartburn to be had over it being against the way it should be. You do away with how it should be and focus on what it is becoming.
Other benefits come to include making the game world more reflect the reality of the organization. Take coordinator elections for example. Traditionally Justicars are picked every seven years (or whatever it is) yet we have elections every year. Well now you make Justicar selections every year. New person gets elected, then its a new Justicar and characters now have to deal with the power shifts. For starters you end up not having personality shifts with a character. It potentially shakes up events allowing increased intrigue as formerly established characters now have to set up their power base. Basically a lot of the fun OOC intrigue that was seen can be translated into IC. =)
Part of this approach allows more freedom in establishing OWbN's own top dog NPCs. Does the Justicar need to be a 5th generation Baali with Obeah? Probably not, but you are no longer going to hamstring yourself trying to shoehorn a book based NPC that frankly does not translate into OWbN's settings without heavy modification. Another fun aspect that it can create are things like PC justicars of all things. Seriously, Dean Famularo Brujah Justicar. Of course he would be ruled over by a much scarier Brujah NPC (the Coord level guy) who tells him when to jump, what to say and so forth. Kind of like being a PC archon only with one more status and less autonomy. Right now with OWbN straddling the line between White Wolf's vision and OWbN's vision its next to impossible to do stuff like this without causing a foolish amount of hand wringing and strife.
Now it is worth saying that I realize that this would require a good amount of effort on behalf of the organization at large to codify its setting. I also know that it would causing inbound games to adjust even further. That said though, its work that should be done regardless of if OWbN fully set its own course or not. Things have already started to push heavily away from the original setting and that information needs to be outlined. Likewise, inbound games are already going to have major adjustments. This amounts to throwing a bucket of water in a pool.
Right now I think OWbN is straining its internal logic and its causing a lot of problems. For the comicbook fans. We can accept that a teenager in high school was able to build an advanced synthetic polymer adhesive that has spider web-like properties, and widgets to shoot them from. Radioactive spider bites give cool powerz. All good. At the point that he starts flying around space....whoa, what a second. This is the point where the internal logic starts to strain and that is where OWbN is. Spidey is starting to fly through space and even if there is a reason it still hurts because we all know what Spidey is supposed to be and what he does. So OWbN needs to ask itself if it wants to be Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man or Cosmic Spider Man because being both doesn't work so good.