This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)

#1 | Back to Top03-13-2007 05:45:39 PM

tohubohu
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Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Oh, this is long.  Sorry.

Over the years, I've contemplated a lot of different formats in which some retelling/version of SKU could be played out in a tabletop game.  (Utena LARPs are comparatively thick on the ground; compared, that is, to extant tabletop games.)  I recently found the comic "Order of the Stick" and started having bits of comics involving first edition DnD characters based on SKU characters start cavorting in my head.  (I do not, alas, have the time to execute such comics at this point.)  However, I started thinking: if I were going to run a 1st ed DnD game with the SKU characters, what would the characters look like, and what would the campaign look like?

Characters:
Utena - level 0 cavalier; Lawful Good
Juri - level 2 cavalier; Neutral Good
Touga - level 2 fighter; Chaotic Neutral
Saionji - level 2 fighter; Chaotic Neutral
Miki - level 2 bard; Chaotic Good
Nanami - level 2 cavalier; Neutral Evil
Anthy - "level 1" druid/mage; Neutral
Wakaba - level 1 thief; Chaotic Good
Kozue - level 1 bard; Chaotic Neutral
Shiori - level 1 cleric; Lawful Neutral
Keiko - level 1 assassin; Neutral Evil
Aiko - level 1 assassin; Neutral Evil
Yuuko - level 1 assassin; Neutral Evil
Mitsuru - level 0 cavalier; Lawful Neutral

Ruka - level 10 cavalier; Neutral Good

Mikage - level 20 mage (lich); Lawful Evil
Mamiya - level 25 druid/mage; Neutral

Akio - level 25 fighter/mage/thief; Lawful Evil

The Campaign:

Akio, of course, is the misleadingly "nice" guy (has some kind of magic item that conceals his true alignment) who wants the treasure from the deepest level of the ruined Nemuro Castle.  He sends his sister in with the primary party and their NPCs, ostensibly for her to "build levels" and "gain renown."  Every level of the castle is inhabited by 100 duelists who manifest in different ways and provide different tests for the characters.  After a few levels, the characters encounter a big mirror that captures some essential part of each of them, and after that, some levels end in a big boss battle in which they're attacked by this captured (and much enhanced) part of someone.

Mikage was originally the keeper of the castle, a wizard known as Nemuro, but over time, Akio has corrupted him so that he's become the confused and determined lich Mikage, whose role now is to winnow down the party to those most likely to be able to retrieve the treasure, with the help of Anthy/Mamiya.

There are hints all over the dungeon, of course, that Akio isn't so nice, but Anthy does her level best to hide those, and so does Touga, who got the group into this in the first place.  If the party doesn't manage to clue to Akio's true motivation and returns to give him the treasure, well, of course the world ends.


Then I started thinking about other game settings.  Like Werewolf (second edition).

The Characters (all homid):
Utena -- Child of Gaia ragabash cub
Juri -- Black Fury ahroun Rank 1
Touga -- Shadow Lord philodox Rank 2
Saionji -- Get of Fenris ahroun Rank 1
Miki -- Silver Fang galliard Rank 1
Nanami -- Shadow Lord ahroun cub
Anthy -- Uktena theurge (Rank unknown)
Wakaba -- Child of Gaia philodox cub
Kozue -- Silver Fang galliard cub
Shiori -- Get of Fenris philodox cub
Keiko -- Shadow Lord ragabash cub
Aiko -- Shadow Lord kin
Yuuko -- Shadow Lord kin
Mitsuru -- Shadow Lord galliard cub

Ruka -- Silver Fang ahroun Rank 2

Mikage -- Glass Walker philodox Rank 3
Mamiya -- Uktena theurge (Rank unknown)

Akio -- Stargazer theurge (Rank 4)

The Campaign:
Werewolf actually, oddly enough, lends itself pretty well to an Ohtori campaign.  I didn't realize that until I started thinking seriously about the content of the campaign.  Think of all the illicit love!  (Garou aren't allowed to fall in love with each other.)  Think of the charaching that would occur!  (Charach: someone who engages in forbidden sex with another Garou.)  Akio, the caern alpha, has apparently been corrupted by the Wyrm and is hiding it really well.  Well, except for the whole "boinking his adopted Garou sister" thing. 

The caern is based at a school in the middle of a city (with a big wilderness, of course!) and it, naturally, has a Moon Bridge up to an arena-like place where the Garou do their challenges and rituals and such like.  Most of the students are clueless, but many are Kinfolk (so they don't get driven off by the "dangerous predators live here" field that Garou supposedly put off).  The duels are Challenges and practice bouts and whatnot, and Utena is a new cub brought in and faced with her Rite of Passage and all the other Garou weirdness.

They all have to maintain the purity of the caern (which, oddly, keeps being endangered) and eventually try to find the old Caern Guardian Spirit, the Rose Bride.  There's a lot of knocking around in the Umbra, a lot of internal politics, and the eventual need to overthrow the immensely powerful caern alpha, who keeps managing to break apart any packs that might form so that the only stable "familial" format in the caern is his paternal influence.  It's the only way to avoid the Apocalypse, after all.


And, of course, old-guard Vampire (second edition).

The Characters:
Utena - Salubri 8th gen
Juri - Ventrue 9th gen
Touga - Brujah 9th gen
Saionji - Brujah 11th gen
Miki - Toreador 10th gen
Nanami - Malkavian 10th gen
Anthy - Brujah (true) 4th gen
Wakaba - Gangrel 12th gen
Kozue - Toreador 10th gen
Shiori - Ventrue 11th gen
Keiko - Malkavian 11th gen
Aiko - Malkavian 11th gen
Yuuko - Malkavian 11th gen
Mitsuru - Ghoul
Kanae - Ghoul

Ruka - Ventrue 8th gen

Mikage - Follower of Set 8th gen
Mamiya - Brujah (true) 4th gen

Akio - Malkavian 4th gen


The Campaign:

Akio, is, of course, an immensely powerful, completely mad, 4th generation Malkavian Prince of a small city, and he rules it with an iron fist, carefully controlling and manipulating those who come and go.  His main tools are his "sister", who is more powerful than he is, being a 4th generation True Brujah (with their time manipulating abilities).  He's got her blood-bonded, naturally.  In fact, all really powerful vampires who want to come into the city must agree to a blood bond, which keeps most of them out.  Mikage, in his former guise as Nemuro, did not decline, and has gone just a little mad being bound to a really powerful Malkavian.

Utena comes into the city, newly turned.  She looks like any usual Caitiff, and believes herself to be that uninteresting.  Because she's young and silly and, apparently, weak, Akio allows her to hang about.  In the course of the inevitable vampiric politicking, however, it starts to come out that she's really one of the 8 Salubri.  This makes her incredibly dangerous and incredibly powerful, and the temptation to use her to achieve Golconda (or even just as a snack for one of his underlings should she prove less manipulable than she looks) overcomes Akio.  There's all sorts of attempts by Akio to seduce her.  Other people working against him on the sly.

Meanwhile, there are little sideplots, like Ruka, Juri's Sire, returning to town and accepting Akio's blood bond in order to save Juri from being manipulated and controlled by Shiori (who is the Childe of a rival Ventrue).

This thing wouldn't need a set plot.  The vampiric politicking would fuel nearly everything.



Of course, one probably wouldn't want to run any campaign so directly mirrored on SKU, but one *could* run a game that was based on it, with pregenerated characters named... something else.  Anything else.  And with other touches thrown in for fun.

Anyway.  That was all a very long-winded way of getting that all out of my head and bringing us around to the important question:  How would YOU reimagine SKU as a game campaign in a completely different setting?

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#2 | Back to Top03-13-2007 06:33:17 PM

Yasha
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From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 10-15-2006
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

I will have to put some thought into this one. Slate me for a Changeling reimagining after I have time to review my books.

I did have a question, though-- Why Touga as Brujah? The rest of the clans seem to fit the characters well enough, but the whole hedonistic backbiting rumor/powermongering socialite Toreador seems to fit him to a tee.

Then again, I'm a huge Torrie fan, and a huge Touga fan, so maybe I'm just biased...


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#3 | Back to Top03-14-2007 01:05:09 AM

angelicreation
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

tohubohu wrote:

Then I started thinking about other game settings.  Like Werewolf (second edition).

The Characters (all homid):
Utena -- Child of Gaia ragabash cub
Juri -- Black Fury ahroun Rank 1
Touga -- Shadow Lord philodox Rank 2
Saionji -- Get of Fenris ahroun Rank 1
Miki -- Silver Fang galliard Rank 1
Nanami -- Shadow Lord ahroun cub
Anthy -- Uktena theurge (Rank unknown)
Wakaba -- Child of Gaia philodox cub
Kozue -- Silver Fang galliard cub
Shiori -- Get of Fenris philodox cub
Keiko -- Shadow Lord ragabash cub
Aiko -- Shadow Lord kin
Yuuko -- Shadow Lord kin
Mitsuru -- Shadow Lord galliard cub

Ruka -- Silver Fang ahroun Rank 2

Mikage -- Glass Walker philodox Rank 3
Mamiya -- Uktena theurge (Rank unknown)

Akio -- Stargazer theurge (Rank 4)

I am a HUGE Garou fan and I have to diagree with your tribe/auspice.rank assessments here.  that's not saying your version couldn't work, but I feel you aren't giving some of the cast enough credit and also I think a few are off.  I think:

Utena - Child of Gaia, Ragabash Cliath (rank 1) - pretty good asessment there, but I think having her a cub is underpowering her.  Cubs aren;t allowed out on their own and she most definitely is out and about as she pleases.

Seitokai:

Juri - Black Fury Galliard Fostern (rank 2) - She's most definitely a BF, but she's more passionate in her motives and reactions than she is straightforward rar, i will kick your ass, thus making her a Galliard.  Out of all the Seitokai, she's the one that uses stories to teach lessons (in a way) at the end with her tale of her sister drowning.  Also, galliards are much more ferocious than Ahrouns when something they are passionate about is threatened.

Touga - Shadow Lord Ragabash Fostern (rank 2) - Touga will make deals with the devil to get the power he wants, put himself in compromising positions if he feels he'll benefit in the end while trying to manipulate everyone else around him.  This explains the Shadow Lord very well.  As for Ragabash, he is decisively dishonorable and shady in the tactics he uses.  Instead of relying on his own swordskill, he uses underhanded methods to give him an edge.  Presumably he could take Utena on in a fair fight, but he thinks "where's the fun in that?"  he understands the rules, but he purposefully twists them to his own devices to win - classic Ragabash.

Saionji - Get of Fenris Ahroun Fostern (rank 2) - you pegged him well here.  His anger, his need to fight, his misogynistic views, his intolerance, yet he is whole-heartedly dedicated woth what he believes is right, even if no one else does. 
   
Miki - Silver Fang Galliard Fostern (rank 2) - High breeding, artistic inspiration, family expectations, bright future, Silver Fang all the way.

I made all of the Seitokai Fostern because they are much more knowledgeable in the ways of Ohtori than the others, having been exposed to much more and also given responsibilities/training for leadership positions.  They are more than "children", they are "youths".

Other Duelists:

Nanami - Shadow Lord Philodox Cliath (rank 1) - Nanami wants to be like her brother, idolizes him as well as rules the social roost at Phtori.  Her methods are also underhanded and selfish, but she's Philodox because she rarely does the fighting herself.  She understands the rules, in an odd manner, and sends in her henchwomen to take care of matters for her.  You could argue that Nanami's tendency to get caught up in things and take them past where they should end makes her an Ahroun, but in her duel with Utena, she continues because what she was fighting for wasn't the Rose Brride.  She really didn't want to be in the duels, she just wanted to kick Utena's ass for what she believed was right.  just because her rose was goner didn't mean that Utena was going to stop doing what Nanami believed was wrong.

Ruka - Fianna Ahroun Adren (rank 3) - Ruka had been in the duels before he got sick, from the implications given, presumably the year before when Juri wasn't on the Seitokai.  He's not nearly so noble to be a Silver Fang, thus I place him as a Fianna.  Fianna believe that malady of the body is malady of the spirit.  Ruka's health was failing for reasons we're never told.  He comes back, when he knew his body wasn't going to be able to handle it, to free Juri.  In the scope of Garou, I see this as Ruka dwelling on the fact that his body and therefore his spirit was weak and fading away.  he had one last chance before he returned to Gaia to show everyone, including himself, that he wasn't lost, that he still could give meaning to his existence and thus deny the weakness of his spirit.  Fianna are generally weakwilled when it comes to something that means a lot to them, family and love being the two biggest, and it shows in Ruka.

Black Rose Duelists:

kanae - Silver Fang Philodox Fostern (rank 2) - The hairman's daughter, she's got high class breeding and great expecttions.  She's almost graduated, so she's up there in rank a bit, just about ready to be an "adult" with an intimate knowledge of what's right and what's wrong.  She's just a bit of a doormat.

Kozue- Shadow Lord Galliard Fostern (rank 2) - Kozue has moved along with her brother, just in the shadows by choice.  She may have had Silver Fang pure breed, just as her brother does, but she turned from the path her family wanted for her, deciding she couldn't be like her brother and stepping into the darker places.  This is why she's Shadow Lord instead of Silver Fang.  Kozue flaunts the things she can do, chooses to be underhanded and also chooses her battle grounds to control Miki without him realizing it.  This makes her a Shadow Lord.  I'm also placing her as a Fostern instead of a Cliath because she's advanced like Miki has, just through vastly different means.

Shiori - Bone Gnawer Theurge Cliath (rank 1) - Shiori is plain, overlooked and ordinary that grew up latching onto a more powerful, respected friend.  Yet, she believed Juri was only her friend out of pity for the "less fortunate, plain girl" and whereas Gnawers wll use such pity toi their advantage when it suits them, overall they hate being pitied.  Gnawers like to collect stuff, things that make them, in their own minds, better than those around them.  The boy from her childhood with Juri was just another form of "stuff".  She's a theurge because Shiori sees the world in a way that no one else does.  Plus, if we factor the movie in at all, she talks to dead people aka sprirts.

Wakaba - Child of Gaia Philodox Cliath (rank 1) - Wakaba's so nice, earnest and undeniably fair.  She's willing to help out anyone that appeals to her good sense.

Keiko - Shadow Lord Ahroun Cliath (rank 1) - in the same pack with Nanami, keiko is actually the "beat stick" of that pack (Nanami and her Henchwomen).  When Anthy needs a little slapping, Keiko's the one to do it.  She devotely follows her pack alpha and when she focuses on something that her alpha has claimed, she effectively loses her temper and goes about solving her problem in a way that wasn't the smartest.

Tsuwubaki - Silent Strider Galliard cub (rank 0) - On the verge of his Rite of Passage, Mitsuru is almost as obsessed with Nanami as she is with Touga.  Mitsuru, though, is still learning who he is and where he is called to.  He eventually feels like his work isn't being apprecieted and, almost, like Nanami is unreasonably tying him down once things are pointed out by Mari.  You take a Silent Strider and chain him down and you have one Garou that's ripe for the pickings.

Mikage - Glass Walker Theruge Adren (rank 3) - I'd actaully consider Mikage to be a highly corrupted, if not fallen, GW.  He's got the science thing going on and he uses spirits, that have also been corrupted, to posses the Black Rose Duelists.  He has a vision of what things were like and how to keep them that way, but keep them with the times as well.

Puppetmasters:

Anthy - Uktena Philodox Anthro (rank 4) - Her brother came into his power as Dios well before she found hers, Anthy is the keeper of the ways.  She's not a Theurge, because she's not questioning the way her broother does things, looking for more and more answers, she moves about, chronicling them in her mind's eye and does her best, even if it's subconsciously, to allow things to run smoothly.  She facilitates the Black Rose by becoming Mamiya.  She prepares the duels as a Master of Challenges.  With all her magic, one would think she'd be a Theurge, but Philodox are more than capable of using rites to their advantage, sometimes being even more powerful because htey understand balance, unlike the Theurges. 

Akio - Black Spiral Dancer Theurge Elder (rank 5) - Akio might have been good at one point, back in the days of Dios, but he fell to his own corruption and chose the path of darkness and evil.  He's trapped in his own little world or his own creating believing, with delusions of grandeur, that he can recapture the power he lost when he fell and Gaia forsook him.  A master manipulator, he uses all his gifts to try and corrupt others, bring them into his fold, only to use them to get what he thinks is rightfully his.  Family ties mean nothing to him, friendship means nothing, and love is simply a toy to use to further play with his prey.  Why do all the work when they can do it for him, becoming more like him, more locked into his world, with each step further down the spiral.


You know, this kind of turned into an analysis.  Unfortunately, I only think it's useful to those that also understand the Werewolf: the Apocalypse game.


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#4 | Back to Top03-14-2007 02:39:35 AM

Yasha
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Holy crap. I've actually played one session of Werewolf, and I actually understood all that. Not enough to question, but enough to understand.


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#5 | Back to Top03-14-2007 08:20:14 AM

tohubohu
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Yasha wrote:

I did have a question, though-- Why Touga as Brujah? The rest of the clans seem to fit the characters well enough, but the whole hedonistic backbiting rumor/powermongering socialite Toreador seems to fit him to a tee.

Then again, I'm a huge Torrie fan, and a huge Touga fan, so maybe I'm just biased...

I was thinking more along the lines of really wanting to revolutionize the world, the amount of crap he stirs up, that sort of thing.  I could see him as a Toreador too -- a poseur who tries to do everything all artfully. emot-smile

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#6 | Back to Top03-14-2007 08:28:31 AM

tohubohu
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

angelicreation wrote:

I am a HUGE Garou fan and I have to diagree with your tribe/auspice.rank assessments here.  that's not saying your version couldn't work, but I feel you aren't giving some of the cast enough credit and also I think a few are off.  I think:

Utena - Child of Gaia, Ragabash Cliath (rank 1) - pretty good asessment there, but I think having her a cub is underpowering her.  Cubs aren;t allowed out on their own and she most definitely is out and about as she pleases.

I like a lot of your version!  It's been a while since I played WW-standard werewolf (I used to play on GarouMUSH, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away), so a lot of my thinking was colored by my extensive later revision of the system, I think.

I had Utena as a cub because she's completely clueless in the ways of the Garou/Student Council.  Over the course of the series, she gets moderately more clue, but she doesn't actually realize most of the serious behind-the-scenes stuff until quite late.  So I would set her Rite of Passage as being the locating of the Rose Gate, which doesn't happen until the end of the series.  One expects that after opening the Rose Gate, she'd be a full-fledged Garou, understanding a lot more about the fundamentals of what's going on around her.

Of course, I'm a fan of long, baroque Rites of Passage. emot-smile

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#7 | Back to Top03-14-2007 12:14:08 PM

Lightice
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Akio a Malkavian? I would have expected a sneaky Lasombra or perhaps Setite...
And Gangrel Wakaba? I'm sure there's an interesting reason behind that - I demand to find out what it is!

Incidentally, does anyone have any clue what our favourite characters would be under the new WoD system? From what I've heard of it, it's not as grossly overdone as the original WoD - though with enough time I'm sure it'll be able to compete. Never gotten to play with it, though - it's been ages since I've gotten to play a tabletop RPG...


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#8 | Back to Top03-14-2007 01:04:43 PM

angelicreation
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Yasha wrote:

Holy crap. I've actually played one session of Werewolf, and I actually understood all that. Not enough to question, but enough to understand.

I was wondering if I was precise enough with my wording.  emot-dance  You get a cookie, Yasha.  And you should play more Garou - it rocks if you ahve a good storyteller.  Not so much if you don't unless you have an amazing group to pe your packmates.


Life is short: break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile.

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#9 | Back to Top03-14-2007 01:09:25 PM

angelicreation
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

tohubohu wrote:

I had Utena as a cub because she's completely clueless in the ways of the Garou/Student Council.  Over the course of the series, she gets moderately more clue, but she doesn't actually realize most of the serious behind-the-scenes stuff until quite late.  So I would set her Rite of Passage as being the locating of the Rose Gate, which doesn't happen until the end of the series.  One expects that after opening the Rose Gate, she'd be a full-fledged Garou, understanding a lot more about the fundamentals of what's going on around her.

Of course, I'm a fan of long, baroque Rites of Passage. emot-smile

I would see the last scene more as a rank challenge than as a Rite of Passage.  Cliath barely know enough to keep their fur on their backs.  If we think of Ohtori as a sept, yes, Utena might not udnerstand the specific ways of the sept, but she does understand the basics of Garou society.  She sees wrong-doing and challenges Saionji.  She uses her gifts to her advantage.  Naiive, oh yes, but totally clueless like a cub, I disagree.  She simply doesn't understand the interactions between the different packs at the sept and being a Ragabash, feels the need to question and poke at everything she sees, especially if it doesn't make sense and she thinks those particular Garou need to open their eyes/change.


Life is short: break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile.

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#10 | Back to Top03-14-2007 03:03:28 PM

Yasha
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

angelicreation wrote:

Yasha wrote:

Holy crap. I've actually played one session of Werewolf, and I actually understood all that. Not enough to question, but enough to understand.

I was wondering if I was precise enough with my wording.  emot-dance  You get a cookie, Yasha.  And you should play more Garou - it rocks if you ahve a good storyteller.  Not so much if you don't unless you have an amazing group to pe your packmates.

Well, Werewolf never appealed to me in the same way that Vampire did. That busted my RP cherry, so I've got a major soft spot for it. etc-love

Since then I've desperately wanted to become involved in a Changeling game, or a Wraith, Demon, or Mummy game, but no one else is ever interested. emot-gonk Werewolf was all right, but it didn't catch me the same way. Neither did Mage. They're good games, and I could see how they'd be a lot of fun to play if you had the right ST, but in my groups Mage generally devolved into a twinkfest with no plot, and I didn't gel with the one group I played Werewolf with.


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#11 | Back to Top03-14-2007 03:30:14 PM

tohubohu
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Lightice wrote:

Akio a Malkavian? I would have expected a sneaky Lasombra or perhaps Setite...

I thought about Lasombra or Setite, but I came down on the side of "batshit crazy, but like a fox".  My own personal quirk.

Lightice wrote:

And Gangrel Wakaba? I'm sure there's an interesting reason behind that - I demand to find out what it is!

I suppose it's just because she always seems fairly alone, except around Utena.  I could've made her a Caitiff, I suppose.  In the end, I opted for Gangrel because it's my favorite clan. emot-smile

Lightice wrote:

Incidentally, does anyone have any clue what our favourite characters would be under the new WoD system? From what I've heard of it, it's not as grossly overdone as the original WoD - though with enough time I'm sure it'll be able to compete. Never gotten to play with it, though - it's been ages since I've gotten to play a tabletop RPG...

I haven't even looked at the new WoD.  I've heard vague things about it, and none of them encouraged me to go forth and start giving WW my money again.

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#12 | Back to Top03-14-2007 03:37:14 PM

tohubohu
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From: Boston metro area
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Yasha wrote:

Since then I've desperately wanted to become involved in a Changeling game, or a Wraith, Demon, or Mummy game, but no one else is ever interested. emot-gonk Werewolf was all right, but it didn't catch me the same way. Neither did Mage. They're good games, and I could see how they'd be a lot of fun to play if you had the right ST, but in my groups Mage generally devolved into a twinkfest with no plot, and I didn't gel with the one group I played Werewolf with.

Have you ever looked at Steve Jackson Games' In Nomine?  Angels and demons and whatnot.  It might appeal to you, and you might find more players.  As I understood it, Wraith never really took off, and Mummy was mostly made for one-off PCs and NPCs (unless they've done something more with it since).  (I didn't honestly think Wraith was going to take off.  I read through one of the early drafts while I was writing a section of the Haunts book, and I just wasn't grabbed.  A game with Angst as a stat should've really grabbed me at that point in my life.  Alas.)  I think the era of Changeling is mostly over -- it was very popular for a while.

Werewolf didn't grab me until I hit the MUSH.  Tabletop was ennnh.  And I love Mage, but when I ran games I completely jettisoned the house system, and that improved things vastly.  Which is odd, because I enjoy the heck out of Ars Magica, which was the first house system thing that Rein-splat-Hagen was involved in.

Then I reached a point where the WoD bugged the heck out of me and I completely rejiggered it to run my own MUSH.  Had a lot of fabulous RP there before it tanked.  Now, alas, I pretty much run house mechanics in house settings, although I just ran a nostalgia Vampire game for my birthday and a bunch of people enjoyed it.  I forgot how much fun it could be.

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#13 | Back to Top03-14-2007 03:39:14 PM

Yasha
Bitch Queen
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 10-15-2006
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

tohubohu wrote:

I haven't even looked at the new WoD.  I've heard vague things about it, and none of them encouraged me to go forth and start giving WW my money again.

Oh god, same. Also I'm nursing a grudge because they had a burn order on the unsold books from the old editions. MAJOR RAGE. I didn't want to go to the new system, it sounded boring. And they got rid of my favorite clan!

/whining


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#14 | Back to Top03-14-2007 10:55:57 PM

angelicreation
The Breast Saviour
From: Denver, CO
Registered: 10-16-2006
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Requiem is shit.  Forsaken and Mage are questionable.  I used to be a memeber of the Camarilla (WW's fan club) and even was a regional Garou storyteller, but NWoD left such a bad taste in my mouth I haven't played it. 

Werewolf tabletop is really only good with the amazing storyteller, but my love of Garou is in LARP.  I've LARPed Vampire, Changeling, Mage and Garou and Garou is the only one that really appealed.  Werewolf is all about body positioning, psoturing, eyecontact, tone of voice and more.  That's where werewolf hooked me.  And I'm very much looking forward to larping it again.  emot-dance

EDIT: As for your favorite clan, Yasha, they actually made a Daeva bloodline in Requiem that were the old school Torries.  They made a lot of bloodlines to appease the old school players.  Most of them they actually got from Camarilla memebers in the damn approvals database.  So not happy with WW.  i will just play my old games.  Oh, and I've tried Demon.  it can be fun, but it's best to start brand new with everyone instead of jumping into an already ongoing campaign.  Demon is not particularly friendly toward that.

Last edited by angelicreation (03-14-2007 10:58:15 PM)


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#15 | Back to Top03-14-2007 11:58:01 PM

ShatteredMirror
Yaoi Pet #1
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: 10-22-2006
Posts: 8858

Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Yasha wrote:

tohubohu wrote:

I haven't even looked at the new WoD.  I've heard vague things about it, and none of them encouraged me to go forth and start giving WW my money again.

Oh god, same. Also I'm nursing a grudge because they had a burn order on the unsold books from the old editions. MAJOR RAGE. I didn't want to go to the new system, it sounded boring. And they got rid of my favorite clan!

/whining

That's the truth there. I love second edition Werewolf - it busted my roleplaying cherry (at the tender age of eight, no less - that was how the neighborhood babysitter kept us all busy, she ran Werewolf games) and it's still my favorite. New Werewolf stuff? Can't stand it. Dark Ages as a whole different thing rather than just taking the same system and turning back the clock a few hundred years? Doesn't cut it for me. I'm less familiar with Vampire so it doesn't bother me as much, but still.

Oh, and angelicreation you were absolutely spot on. Excellent stuff.

I was going to do the D20 Modern classes for everyone but I don't own the books, I just borrow them from friends and as such I can't think of all of the advanced and prestige classes that would apply to people. I mean, I know Touga would be a Dandy Swordsman and Juri an Archaic Weaponmaster, but beyond that...


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#16 | Back to Top03-15-2007 09:16:34 AM

tohubohu
Precious One
From: Boston metro area
Registered: 11-02-2006
Posts: 289
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Yasha wrote:

Oh god, same. Also I'm nursing a grudge because they had a burn order on the unsold books from the old editions. MAJOR RAGE. I didn't want to go to the new system, it sounded boring. And they got rid of my favorite clan!

*facepalm*

It sounds like The New Powers That Be at WW really wanted to wipe the slate and put out their *own* special unique snowflake of a game system.  I suppose that after 14-15 years of the game being on the market, it was time (if you go by major comic book series time) to reinvent it, or "update" it, or something.  But still.

Oh, gods.  Vampire's been out for 15 years.  I remember running my first game of it within a week of the book coming out in stores.  I feel so old.

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#17 | Back to Top03-15-2007 12:09:40 PM

angelicreation
The Breast Saviour
From: Denver, CO
Registered: 10-16-2006
Posts: 1323
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

ShatteredMirror wrote:

I love second edition Werewolf - it busted my roleplaying cherry (at the tender age of eight, no less - that was how the neighborhood babysitter kept us all busy, she ran Werewolf games) and it's still my favorite.

Did you ever play third edition Werewolf?  it's much superior to second edition in game mechanics and they updated the overall werewolf storyline.  I've got Wyld West Werewolf too, which is so much fun.  *grins*  I love to run a Wyld West campaign in a camp style where we don;t pay much attention to the overall plot of the setting.  Besides, some of the gifts make more sense and they actually gave the Children of Gaia a real disadvantage to them that fits.  If they had kept it through into Apocalypse, the Coggies wouldn't have caused so much damn problems. emot-rolleyes


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#18 | Back to Top03-15-2007 02:05:36 PM

Mai_Kanzaki
Ohtori Paramouri
From: Left of Nowhere, Ohio
Registered: 02-18-2007
Posts: 93
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Meh I want to rebuild Ohtori in WoD style but all I have are a few random pdfs a friend burned copies of for me...
Though I am so tempted to make Akio the Lucifer he claims to be. school-devil
Aside from that Mage seemed to be the best fit for the duels and the whole Ohtori is a closed world dealy.
I liked the pre-Apocolypse WoD. All those Biblical connections and what not gave it a really unique grit.


Being a DnD fan as well I keep picturing our happy little band dropped into the middle of a Drow raid. Juri, Touga and Saionji strike me as being particularly kicking ass. Aside from Utena and Anthy that is...


emot-gonk THINK MUN-KEY!

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#19 | Back to Top03-15-2007 02:14:50 PM

tohubohu
Precious One
From: Boston metro area
Registered: 11-02-2006
Posts: 289
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

angelicreation wrote:

Besides, some of the gifts make more sense and they actually gave the Children of Gaia a real disadvantage to them that fits.  If they had kept it through into Apocalypse, the Coggies wouldn't have caused so much damn problems. emot-rolleyes

Which problem with the CoGgies are you referring to?  I don't remember them being a particular problem.  (But then, GarouMUSH developed its own "fanon" for tribes and whatnot.  The favorite problem child there was the Lupus Ahroun Stargazer for sheer twink value.)

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#20 | Back to Top03-15-2007 10:01:06 PM

ShatteredMirror
Yaoi Pet #1
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: 10-22-2006
Posts: 8858

Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

angelicreation wrote:

ShatteredMirror wrote:

I love second edition Werewolf - it busted my roleplaying cherry (at the tender age of eight, no less - that was how the neighborhood babysitter kept us all busy, she ran Werewolf games) and it's still my favorite.

Did you ever play third edition Werewolf?  it's much superior to second edition in game mechanics and they updated the overall werewolf storyline.  I've got Wyld West Werewolf too, which is so much fun.  *grins*  I love to run a Wyld West campaign in a camp style where we don;t pay much attention to the overall plot of the setting.  Besides, some of the gifts make more sense and they actually gave the Children of Gaia a real disadvantage to them that fits.  If they had kept it through into Apocalypse, the Coggies wouldn't have caused so much damn problems. emot-rolleyes

I tend to play a hybrid of second and third edition (my favorite character to play now is my male metis Fury) but I don't like the stuff that's post- Year of Revelations. It doesn't really click with what I like to run in my campaigns. I started running a game where I took a pack into Malfeas via the Last Junction in Scar in the hybrid system and it was amazingly fun before one of my players' parents told her she couldn't game until she started applying herself more in school.


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#21 | Back to Top03-15-2007 11:44:27 PM

angelicreation
The Breast Saviour
From: Denver, CO
Registered: 10-16-2006
Posts: 1323
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

tohubohu wrote:

Which problem with the CoGgies are you referring to?  I don't remember them being a particular problem.  (But then, GarouMUSH developed its own "fanon" for tribes and whatnot.  The favorite problem child there was the Lupus Ahroun Stargazer for sheer twink value.)

If you take the coggie gifts and give them to somene that is a manipulator, twinkie, you get a nasty garou since the cog gifts can be very overbalancing to game play if one uses them the right way.  Also, the cogs have some of the nastiest rites, like the one that reduces a Garou's PERMANENT rage.  If they had the Wyld West disadvantage instead of the weaker veil (which is a load of crap, really) there would be some mechanic keeping them in check.  Again, I come from the Camarilla where I watched a group of coggie players abuse theit power and ruin a global game.  The thing is, if a coggie is played right, true to the tribe, this isn't an issue.  So many people don't play true to the tribe.   To many people want to be unique fucking snowflakes.


Life is short: break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile.

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#22 | Back to Top04-27-2007 01:51:41 AM

Yasha
Bitch Queen
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 10-15-2006
Posts: 6031
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Finally!

A reimagining of SKU, Changeling style. By the way, if anyone wants to play a slow-paced game, I'm not averse to taking a hack at running this one, with the SKU characters as NPCs. Different storyline, of course, but pieces of this one might run in the background. I have the materials to play, so if anyone wants, they can pm me. If there is enough response, I will make a character call thread. Remember, slow paced! I can't keep up with this the way others can.

I don't mean any of these to reflect the actual ages of the characters, but more their personality. For those not familiar with Changeling, here are a few definitions:

Childling - up to 13 years old, more attuned to magic (glamour), full of wonder.
Wilder - 13-20 years old, average with both glamour and banality (the absence of glamour), often rebellious and self-indulgent.
Grump - 20+, more attuned to banality, the most responsible, but also the most cynical and drained.

Seelie - The good guys. Love, honor, glory, courage, and all the beauty of dreams.
Unseelie - The bad guys. Sneaky, underhanded, often malevolent and violent-- nightmares.

Boggan - Think hobbits. Very homey types who like to help people.
Eshu -  Travellers with a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Storytellers.
Nocker - Cynical creatures with a passion for building and creating.
Pooka - Playful tricksters with animal natures.
Redcap - Violent, nasty, intimidating bastards. Their caps are said to be dyed with the blood of their enemies.
Satyr - Passionate in music and love, and tend to look like the satyrs of legend.
Sidhe - The aristocrats in exile from the true heart of the Dreaming.
Sluagh - Creepy, spidery things that know all the best gossip and are fascinated by decay.
Troll - Honorable warriors, each one bound by a geas. Also, they're blue.

Wakaba - Seelie Boggan childling
Utena - Seelie Sidhe childling
Anthy - Unseelie Eshu grump
Touga - Unseelie Sidhe wilder
Saionji - Unseelie Nocker grump
Juri - Seelie Troll grump
Ruka - Seelie Sidhe Grump
Miki - Seelie Sidhe childling
Kozue - Unseelie Satyr wilder
Shiori - Unseelie Nocker childling
Akio - Unseelie Eshu Grump
Counselor - Seelie Redcap grump
Kanae - Autumn Person
Nanami - Seelie Pooka childling
Mitsuru - Seelie Troll Childling
Mikage - Unseelie Sluagh wilder
Mrs. Ohtori - Unseelie Satyr wilder
Mamiya - Unseelie Sluagh childling

The Campaign: Someone has started a rumour that Utena, the newest Sidhe childling sworn to House Gwydion, is in fact the reincarnation of House Gwydion's founder. The chimerical sword she wields, as well as some of the deeds she has performed with it, have lent enough credence to this that people are starting to wonder about her. One person is not wondering, however. Anthy has placed a legendary geas on her; Utena must find one impossible deed and perform it. Even though, as everyone knows, an impossible geas cannot be cast, this one has been, and though Utena does not talk about it she has felt its touch already. Some are speculating that the impossible deed is to find Arcadia itself, the home of all the Kithain. Others believe that the deed is closer to home, and a bit more personal to Anthy.

(Roughly following the storyline of the show, but with different challenges and more politicking amongst the Seitokai. The impossible deed that Utena has to perform is to turn a grump into a childling again, and Akio is the one masterminding it, even though Anthy performed the geas.)


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#23 | Back to Top04-27-2007 01:55:09 AM

ShatteredMirror
Yaoi Pet #1
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: 10-22-2006
Posts: 8858

Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

I've never played a good Changeling game. This makes me want to try.


Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source.

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#24 | Back to Top04-27-2007 01:56:02 AM

Yasha
Bitch Queen
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 10-15-2006
Posts: 6031
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Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

PM, dammit. emot-tongue


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#25 | Back to Top04-27-2007 02:05:16 AM

ShatteredMirror
Yaoi Pet #1
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: 10-22-2006
Posts: 8858

Re: Reimagining SKU in Different Settings (game geekery)

Well I don't know how well it would work...

Actually looking at that again, I'd peg Nanami as Unseelie rather than Seelie, just because she's so petty. Unless of course I'm not recalling correctly and White Wolf has actually defined the Seelie Court as the "good guys" and the Unseelie Court as the "bad guys."


Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source.

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