I've recently finished reading through the books after getting them from humble bundle. I noticed the main draw seems to be playing in the "Rustic Genre", which the game goes good lenghts to describe. However, I also noticed that the mechanics seem to be appropriate for a large amount of settings and genres, and the books even support this, by showing how different game styles can be incorporated.

This got me curious, what different genres and types of games have you guys run with this system? Urban Fantasy, Sci-fi, horror, epic fantasy?

I got curious to hear what different campaigns were born out of this system and how far has it been pushed since its launch (last year, I believe).

Hello guys, so I have been playing some stealth games lately, and also got into OSR. I really enjoyed the more emergent narrative games that are born from it and the wealth of stories that random tables can bring and the sheer elegance of it.

In that spirit, I have come up with a short and simple stealth mission generator for my OSR games. And I wanted to get feedback and also ideas on how to flesh out my table.

The idea is very simple:

Stealth involves concealing your presence by using opportunities and dealing with OBSTACLES.

Opportunities are circumstances that allow your character to hide in the first place.

Obstacles are impediments that would make stealth difficult or even impossible. Obstacles must be overcome, avoided, or removed. Sometimes, opportunities are hidden behind obstacles.

What I have so far includes:

OPPORTUNITIES

1. Darkness: Dim light, Shadows, dark alleys, the shroud of night
2. Verticality: Rooftops, beams, pillars, bookshelves, tall ceilings, Treetops
3. Weather: Rainstorms, Snow, Sandstorms, Floods, Infernos, Earthquakes, Crashing Waves, Being downwind
4. Vegetation: Shrubbery, Bushes, Treetops, Tall grass, Thick vegetation
5. Guests: Someone or something must enter or exit a certain place at a certain time
6. Disguise: Act in accordance to a norm to blend in and look like you belong
7. Crowds: Multitudes of people and activity makes you blend in
8. Hidden Passages: Vents, Sewers, Gutters, Old service entrances
9. Deafening Noises: Thunderstorms, Marching bands, Loud chatter, Fanfares
10. Chaos or Conflict: Fights, Battles, Crisis Responses, panicked crowds, riled warriors, large scale panic.

OBSTACLES

1. Guards: Individual groups on patrol
2. Sentries: Elite individuals with special clearance and/or advantageous positions
3. Security Systems: Alarms, Regular guard checkups, passwords, checkpoints
4. Fortifications: High Walls, Paliçades, Barred Windows, Reinforced gates, walls or doors
5. Traps: Tripwires, Bear traps, ambushes, false floors, false doors.
6. Scrutiny: Strong local cultura or xenophobia makes you stand out, strong cultural or aesthetic norm, mandatory searches, needed doccuments or clearance.
7. Beasts: Animals or other non sapient creatures that might react umpredictably.
8. Magical Protections: Wards, Constructs, Summons, Scrying
9. Barriers: Locked doors, Blockades, Impossible or Dangerous Terrain
10. Noise makers: Creaky floors, bells on windows, cluttered furniture, rusted or heavy doors.

The basic procedure is, if you want to generate a quick stealth mission, you roll a certain amount of opportunities, a certain amount of obstacles, and a certain amount of oportunities locked behind obstacles. As an example:

2 Opportunities

• 6 — Disguise
• 7 — Crowds

3 Obstacles

• 5 — Traps
• 6 — Scrutiny
• 9 — Barriers (Locked Doors)

3 Opportunities Locked Behind Obstacles

• Opportunity 2 / Obstacle 1 = Verticality locked behind Guards
• Opportunity 1 / Obstacle 2 = Darkness locked behind Sentries
• Opportunity 8 / Obstacle 1 = Hidden Passages locked behind Guards

This in and of itself tells a story. The overt opportunity being disguises and crowds imply that this might be a very social mission, perhabs a ball. The obstacles being traps, scrutiny and barriers imply that the gathering might have very bizantine etiquette, be VERY exclusive or both. Traps and Barriers imply that there might also be a reason to keep the guests in one place, maybe a high profile person is attending or an important object might be auctioned.

The other oportunities also spice things up

Verticality locked behind Guards could mean the rooftops are heavily patrolled, but offer a great vantage point if breached.

Darkness locked behind sentries could perhabs mean that there are dark rooms around the ball or maybe a courtyard and that it's patrolled by elite guards, prowling around the dark to root out interlopers

THe hidden passage locked by guards is a more straighforward description, maybe that high profile target came through here to arrive at the location.

What I like about this system is how it gives the players freedom to engage with it. Getting the documents and building a convincing disguise to enter the ball might be an entire session. And perhaps the opportunities locked behind obstacles are secret, and must be discovered through investigation.

I don't think I came up with something particularly ingineous and wouldn't be surprised if something similar existed. Wanted to share it anyways

What do you guys think? And do you guys have any sugestions?

TLDR: How would you imagine World of Darkness 100 years later? 1000? 2000? How would the setting change? Do you imagine supernaturals in space? Post apocalypse? A return to medieval fantasy?

How would you change the status quo?

To add: this isn’t meant to be a demand or wishlist for the future, I just wanted to theorycraft what the far future WoD might look like, if I were to play it in my chronicles, and also hear your ideas on the subject.

Now, on to my ideas, for those interested, World of darkness is one the richest settings in terms of lore and sheer history. Ranging from ancient times to modern days.

One of the main hooks (or gripes, for some) of these games is the overarching metaplot. I have been playing a game for a few years now of Werewolf and vampire. We alternate between the two every now and then, but they share a continuity. Therefore my knowledge is mostly through the lens of these 2 game lines.

As the storyteller I always wanted to eventually give my players the feeling of having a lasting legacy and one of the ways I would like to explore that is through big leaps of time passing. Especially in my vampire game. It would be awesome to have my vampire players be worn down after thousands of years, to be able to look back and see how much the world has changed and how they changed with it.

What makes this more difficult, however, is that currently my games are set close to our time, we are in 2021 as of right now. And it is quite hard to imagine technology and culture 2000 years from now.

And so I started to imagine how the world of darkness could look like after such a long time, and how the status quo might change.

The way I see it now, in my chronicle we have 3 major “events” to explore and resolve. Those being Gehenna, the Apocalypse, and the Ascension war and the resulting effects in consensus.

From there, I can see 2 ways the setting could progress the far future:

1. The world is changed, but not irrevocably. Technology progresses normally up until a Sci-fi space opera or Cyberpunk setting
2. The resulting wars and supernatural conflicts reduce the world to a shadow of its former self, blasting the world back to the Stone Age.

Below, are some of the plot points I would like to explore, and some ideas for how the setting could progress over the years.

Gehenna

Now this is a very controversial topic, since everyone has different views on this. But to me, I like the idea that Gehenna is a cyclical event, and that yes, the antediluvians are very, very powerful. I intend on using the week of nightmares as presented in my settings with Zapathasura waking up and ramping up the major fallout of the event. The imbued and amenti will appear and the fallen will begin escaping. The masquerade will probably take a massive hit.

The Apocalypse

To me, the apocalypse isn’t something that can be averted, only delayed or mitigated. The Wyrm is an essential part of reality and the issue stems from it being driven insane by the weaver. So to me, a large part of the war is trying to reconcile the forces of the triat, in order to achieve harmony once again.

The Consensus

That being said, the way I intend to run things, the consensus won’t remain unchanged, though I’m still shaky on this since, as I said, I’m mot entirely knowledgeable on mage. But I really like the idea that overt supernatural events can shake it up to the point where magic becomes more common. Certainly not accessible or widespread, but easier nonetheless

The rage of the Celestines and the Garou nation

Back on the werewolf side of things, there is a storyline that I would very much like to adapt. I believe it comes from one of the time of judgement books. In it, one of the the Celestines, Saturn, I believe, is angered by the rampant destruction of Gaia, and thus, hurls comets towards Earth to create a mass extinction event and basically restart life anew.

If my player succeed at stopping this, the damage will be catastrophic, still, but manageable in the long run. Now, if they fail, Luna will sacrifice her form by stopping the comet, shattering part of the moon, which will have far greater consequences for the world. Maybe even now rage works. This would probably stagnate the world for a few hundred years or so.

Now, the remaining Garou will definitely need to adapt to the status quo. I imagine a great paradigm shift. In the best case scenario, the world will be extremely damaged, and the destruction would empower the Wyrm at least initially. I imagine a great deal of lives could have been lost during the battle putting Garou in disadvantage.

Now, I can go on about what changes could come about with this, and how I would like to work them out. But basically, I would like for some of the fera to return, Gaia changing how the Garou come to be and leadership of the Garou nation shifting towards something not so foccused on the Silver Fangs, maybe Grandfather Thunder takes over as the "leader" spirit or authority and disciplina. But I could take or leave.

The Vampiric Sects and the Masquerade

I will need to read up more on V5, but I like the general idea of there being a war between the Camrilla and the Anarchs, now a proper sect, and the Sabbat becoming busy with the rising ancients and the Gehenna war (Though I feel this could have happened a bit more "on screen" than what I heard). Don't intend on changing much here, since it already does shake up the setting a ton.

The Next 50 years

• The Garou will pick up the pieces and reestablish the nation and their relations with the other Fera. Maybe even incorporating them into a single, more unified society
• One or more Garou tribes will fall or be reformed as a consequence of the war effort
• Another antideluvian will give hints of being awake
• The Masquerade takes a hit, and the resulting inquisition culls a large ammount of vampires, making them rarer and even more selct. This could open up space for new vampire sects and societies showing up
• The consensus shifts
• The world is largely damaged from the Celestine's wrath, and needs to rebuild

The Next 100 years

• The Garou nation as we know it no longer exists. Assuming the world is thrown into a post apocalypse setting, new tribes rise to prominence. Gaia makes it so certain fera no longer appear through genetics, but by being spiritually elevated from chosen individuals (Kind of like what happens in 5E). Despite how controversial the changes were, this specific change to me would be fun to explore happening in real time.
• The Camarilla are no longer the dominant sect, and is now vying for staying power as it attempts to rebuild itself.
• One or more Antideluvians are hunted down and slain with great effort. This is a result of the Gehenna war. I also like to imagine a schism happening in the Sabbat, between a faction that focusses on the slaying of ancients proper, and another faction that upholds vampire supremacy and domination. From what I read in the lore, there already seems to be something like this within the sect, I would find it fun to develop this further in my chronicles.
• At least one antideluvian is diablerized, leading to the formation of a new clan
• The breaking of the tremere pyramid leads to the creation of many bloodlines and enclaves of magic wielding kindred around the world.

The Next 500 years

• Gehenna and the apocalypse happen, in some way or another. Cain makes an appearance, as well as Lucifer and the fallen that attempt to protect humanity from the end times. Caine gets slain or redeemed, which causes a major change in the curse of all vampires. I don't know what that change might be, but I would love to see something drastic. Maybe the beast is gone, replaced by another drawback, or many vampires could be cured. The sky is the limit here.
• The world is screwed, no way to go about it here. Society will take a while to rebuild, and the consensus as we know it is largely gone. Magic "returns" to the world and the gauntlet weakens.
• Magic users and miracle workers become commonplace again. The world returns to a "mythic age"
• Some of the fallen are redeemed, and watch over the remaining humans instead of returning to heaven.

The Next 1000s years

From here on out, I would have to play and find out, really. Consensus could remain as is, and magic could remain the ruling force in the world. Or maybe the tchnocracy could retake it and make the setting futuristic and Sci-fi. Maybe a transition from one to another could work, and might be fun to play. The cycle would essentialy be Bronze age -> Middle ages -> Modern -> Scifi. Seeing that transformation again from the eyes of a vampire that survived all of this could be pretty fun.

So anyways, these are my ideas, I apologize if I got some of the lore wrong, this isn't me trying to predict the future of WoD, but just theorize what could happen in a chronicle that skips forward in time. I would be pretty happy to hear your feedback and ideas.