Post originally by jeroen at 2004-09-24 06:33:30
Converted from Phorums BB System
"it is quite possible that you could end up with one die or less in your dice pool. In that case, you still get to make a chance roll of one die"
iirc, you only roll a chance die if your dice pool is zero or below. A one-die dice pool is just that, a one-die dice pool, no chance for a critical failure.
Post originally by bastion korupt at 2004-09-24 13:26:56
Converted from Phorums BB System
The old and even revised ST system took soooo long to play a combat. If focusing on combat wasn't your thing, you still had to wade through what could be an hour or two of play in order to resolve the conflict.
Not so in the new Storytelling system. I sat down with a friend and played out a combat between two 75 xp Vampires in about 20 minutes (which would have easily taken an hour with the old or Revised system).
Additionally, the ability to combine attributes for some rolls (wits + composure) and -then- add a skill (say streetwise) makes the system more dynamic and better able to handle bizarre situations.
Additionally, the attributes are more realistic, the skills are organized by atrtribute type (Mental Physical and Social) rather than by arbitrary Talents Skills and Knowledges...
And lest I forget there is a one-stop reference two page spread in the beginning of the World of Darkness book that tells you almost every mundane mechanic you may need. The system is so simple they could distill it into a cheat sheet.
There are changes, but they were all for the better. The grognards holding fast to the old system are just clinging to nostalgia. This system (AND setting) is much much better.
Post originally by Jamie Herbert at 2004-09-24 17:21:50
Converted from Phorums BB System
Here here! I gotta agree. I gave up on the old WW as it became too silly. less horror more super powered mystic types. The setting of the new W.O.D. is much more realistic horror rather than modern fantasy with monsters. Then there is the system. sleeker faster and much more refined. IT's also more unified than the old WW system.
Post originally by Nawara at 2004-09-24 21:56:32
Converted from Phorums BB System
I think the problem is that making combat quicker could have been done in other ways.
Instead of compressing accuracy and damage into one number, it would have been a good idea to give every weapon a set damage value (number of health boxes lost), and have extra successes add to the number.
It wouldn't take any longer, but combat wouldn't be simplified to the point where a cannon and a sniper rifle have the same effect.
The cannon issue is really my main complaint... there are some weapons that aren't very accurate, but do tremendous damage if they hit (most firearms fall into this category, really)... the original combat example posted on the official website a long time ago showed this problem: once you did all the adding and subtracting, the chick took two health levels from a gunshot wound. That kind of grazing wound is much more unusual than it ends up being in the new system.
Other than the compression of accuracy and damage into a single modifier, making languages a super-expensive merit (I'm glad to see that someone else was bothered by it), and the lack of freebie points*, I like the new system.
But those are three unacceptable flaws, when you consider that they are inferior to the oWoD's handling of those issues.
-Jeff
(IRL, assuming that each dot beyond 2 is worth 2 Standard Deviations, I have 2 in all attributes except Composure 3, Wits 3, Intelligence 4 (Clinical IQ 147), and Resolve 3. That's 7/4/3, not 5/4/3. I need 11/7/5 in skills, not 11/7/4, and 8 dots of merits, not 7. So I need 13-15 additional freebie points to make myself. And I'm a *college student*, not a player character.)
(And, yes, I can make house rules. But, hell, I can also make my own RPG system and not have to buy someone else's.)
Post originally by Nawara at 2004-09-24 21:59:26
Converted from Phorums BB System
The setting is great... no qualms here. The system is mostly an improvement, but mostly
I'm far from your typical internet new-stuff hater. I was the guy telling everyone to wait for the game to come out before knocking it, and I was looking forward to it.
I'm slightly disappointed by the system itself, to be honest. My complaints are small (see my previous post), but they're so integrated into the structure of the new game, it's hard not to be bothered by it.
Post originally by Conan at 2004-09-25 05:02:44
Converted from Phorums BB System
The only thing I take issue with is everyone's complaint about the language merit. The game makes the assumption that you don't need a merit for your native language.
These are meant to be average people, not experienced collegiate professors - knowing multiple languages is a real talent - not a skill. I think that making language a merit rather than a skill is a *good* thing. And it should be expensive - learning to be fluent in a foreign language takes a lot of time and dedication. Yes, some people take to it like a duck to water - but given the benefit in a game like WoD, I think it is a reasonable balance.
Post originally by Haerandir at 2004-09-25 10:30:09
Converted from Phorums BB System
Conan wrote:
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These are meant to be average people, not experienced collegiate professors - knowing multiple languages is a real talent - not a skill. I think that making language a merit rather than a skill is a *good* thing. And it should be expensive - learning to be fluent in a foreign language takes a lot of time and dedication. Yes, some people take to it like a duck to water - but given the benefit in a game like WoD, I think it is a reasonable balance.
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By that logic, the game shouldn't include any Mental skills at all, they should all be 3-point+ Merits. Unless you're seriously trying to advance the position that spending an hour a day for a year or two learning Spanish in high school represents a greater investment of time and effort, and provides greater utility, than a broadly-defined skill such as Science or Academics?
I'm not saying that divorcing languages from Skills is necessarily a bad idea (the old Linguistics rules gave me a headache), but for the opportunity to communicate clearly with, realistically speaking, one or two NPC's over the course of an average chronicle (or whatever the current WW lingo for 'campaign' is), I'd spend 1 Merit point, tops. And if you're in a chronicle where command of foreign languages is vital, then it's even more important to make multilingualism easily available, IMHO.
Post originally by Eduardo Penna at 2004-09-25 10:33:44
Converted from Phorums BB System
It's a bit expensive at character creation, I agree, but after that it's quite cheap, since acquiring/increasing Merits with XP is cheaper than doing so with skills (new level x2, as opposed by new level x3).
Linear Mode
