Cross-Genre Interactions in oWoD White Wolf

[kniedzw]

...are remarkably messy. I just finished a first draft (barring a few bits about geographical concerns) of a document aimed at storytellers who want to introduce Changelings into their oWoD game. The working title, of course, was "Why You Shouldn't Use Changelings In Your Game, But What You Need To Know When You Ignore This Advice."

Comments

[danimagus]

I've seen the work you've done so far, Kyle, and, as you know, I love it and I think you're doing an amazing job of making sense of something nonsensical. As an ex-ST of a cross-over OWoD game that was primarily Changeling, I have to give you much applause. It's insane trying to figure out how Changelings, obscure Mokole Gifts, Theurge Gifts used by an Enchanted Garou, and so on work together.

I just purchased the (very cheap) new Masquerade <-> Requiem conversion document, which is in part historical and reflexive; in the introductory section, White Wolf looks back at the changes in overall paradigm. Obviously, the OWoD genres do not play together well, and White Wolf insists that in the OWoD those genres were not reaaaally meant to coexist from a rules or genre standpoint. (But aren't there Balor with BSD bodyguards? And Isle of the Mighty, which is mostly Mage with a few lackluster Changelings tossed in there?) In NWoD, everything was designed to be able to coexist and cross-over more neatly. They say that, in OWoD Vampire, they

[kniedzw]

Yeah. It's sort of shoveling against the tide, frankly. ...but I definitely agree that your approach is the saner approach for most STs. The real problem I had, however, was STs who had no idea how to run Changeling thinking that they should drop them wholesale into their Vampire game without even beginning to think through the specifics.

Overall, I feel it was a useful document to put together, which is being reviewed presently by various other coords.

[danimagus]

Oh dear. Well, I'm sure those STs started to see the error of that thinking pretty swiftly. Personally, I thematically love to combine fae with vampires, given they are so at-odds in many ways. (But I can think of dozens of ways Seelie and Unseelie alike would resonate very harmoniously with various Clans.) But for the sake of sanity, and out of respect for what White Wolf was trying to do with Changeling: the Dreaming, I'd prefer to just make fae more in line with my tastes and the particular story at work. Which works great for a troupe/tabletop game, but not for an org game like One World where a cross-genre, shared reality is fundamental. Though as a result paradoxes are everywhere -- not just in Mage