Mer RPGs?

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Really? Which World of Darkness settings do you favor, Mermaid Sirena? I'd love to play some WoD (old or new, or Scion, or Exalted, or nearly any game system, really) but I'm not sure. Nobody has joined Aegir's Cove yet, and the limited rules for that are simpler than most WoD.

[Mermaid Sirena]

I've played Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse, and currently playing a home-brew game using WOD world and system for a Pirates campaign. I was only shown it about a year ago so I have a lot of learning to do.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

I especially like Changeling: The Dreaming, Mummy: The Resurrection, Werewolf: the Apocalypse (particularly the Changing Breeds subcategory), Demon: The Fallen, Mage: the Awakening, Changeling: the Lost, the new Changing Breeds, and Geist: the Sin-Eaters. You might like Scion: Hero, Scion: Demigod, Scion: God, etc (a similar to world of darkness setting by White Wolf, where you play as a modern child of a human and a god from one of the world's ancient pantheons, trying to save the world from Fate and the monstrous offspring of the Titans) or Exalted (a more high fantasy game about people touched by a bit of power from the Sun, Moon, Planets, Elements, etc in a fantasy world that is a mix of Asian and European elements).

[Mermaid Sirena]

So far I've really enjoyed the vampire campaigns I've played though this Pirate one holds promise.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Mermaid Sirena, did you see my post on Vampire: The Requiem (the game that largely took the place of Vampire: The Masquerade)? It features a bloodline of pagan marine vampires with a number of mermaid-esque elements about them. Blood-Dimmed Tides for the Old World of Darkness (Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Changeling: The Dreaming, etc) does feature Sea Gangrel and Pirate Lasombra for the Masquerade, in addition to seafaring Wraiths and details about the Rokea weresharks and changeling merfolk.

[Mermaid Sirena]

In the group I play with The Requiem does not exist, it is the unspeakable version that never happened. So I know nothing about it. Actually all the groups I've played in the second versions do not exist and are unspeakable so I really have no clue ^_^

Though that does sound fun Might have to find a way to incorporate it into the campaign. So the Sea Gangrel and Pirate Lasombra are in the Masquerade book? We've already run into Rokea -shudder- it was a bad day in game.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

In the group I play with The Requiem does not exist, it is the unspeakable version that never happened. So I know nothing about it. Actually all the groups I've played in the second versions do not exist and are unspeakable so I really have no clue ^_^

Though that does sound fun Might have to find a way to incorporate it into the campaign. So the Sea Gangrel and Pirate Lasombra are in the Masquerade book? We've already run into Rokea -shudder- it was a bad day in game.

Sigh... gaming groups can be such snobs. On the other hand, I pretended 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons didn't exist for years after it came out, so merpeople in glass fishbowls shouldn't through stones.

In summary, the new WoD stuff (Requiem, Forsaken, Awakening, Created, Lost, Vigil, Sin-Eaters, etc) has a somewhat simpler character creation option where each of the various creature types is a template added to a mortal being, turning them into a vampire, werewolf, mage, etc. It also features some form that the creature is from birth/creation (if you're bitten by a nosferatu, you will become a nosferatu, and if you were born/first changed into a werewolf on the full moon, you will be a warrior type werewolf, and if your spirit projected to the Watchtower of the Stone Book in the Primal Wild, you will be a shamanic Thyrsus Mage, and if you were kept in a pool of water and fed fish food by your Otherworldly Faerie Kidnapper, you might become a Swimmerskin Beast who resembles a koi, etc) and one character faction that represents your choice and perspective and strategies for surviving in the world of darkness (Vampires have different paths to power, including aristocracy, rebellious politics, Dracula's studies on overcoming the traditional weaknesses of vampires, dark "miracles" of the vampires faithful to the church, and pagan blood magic; Werewolves have different tribes that offer a spiritual patron and a proposed environment, including leadership, protection of nature, protection of cities, uncovering mystic secrets, and warfare; Mages have orders that cover their uses of power for secret-keeping, self-perfecting, uncovering wisdom, amassing power, and thinking creatively; Changelings have Courts that determine their strategies for survival against their former keepers and the emotions upon which they draw the most power, determined by the seasons, times of day, directions, etc) with further sub-categories and achievements for each of the two groups (a swimmerskin is a particular kind of Beast, with marine animal features, as opposed to the Windwings, who have bird, bat, or insect features that enable limited flight, or the Hunterhearts, who resemble predatory animals, or several other kinds of "Beasts" - animal changelings, as opposed to the Fairest, Ogres, Darklings, Wizened and Elementals). They tend to have fewer major types of characters (only five major clans of vampires... gangrel, ventrue, daeva, nosferatu, and mekhet), but more social/political options (the camarilla is ancient history, and vampires can follow any faction they wish), and subcategories (the brujah are a bloodline of the gangrel, as are those mermaid vampires I mentioned, the toreador are a bloodline of the daeva, the malkavians are a clan of ventrue, etc). Also, darkness and mystery and uncertainty are more prevalent in the new World of Darkness than the old one (Caine is considered the first vampire in the Old World of Darkness, but nobody knows who the first vampire(s) were... and it seems likely that the Ventrue, Gangrel, Daeva, Nosferatu and Mekhet are each separate species of vampires with separate origins, only gathering together due to the qualities they have in common).
Old World of Darkness tends to have a lot more options to start with, and offer increasing powers and abilities as the game progresses, but they're a bit less flexible in character creation (in Changeling: the Dreaming, for instance, Trolls, Sidhe, Pooka, Sluagh, Satyrs, Redcaps, Nockers, Eshu, and Boggans are fully described and detailed, but their personality, attitudes, and general appearance (aside from the Pooka, who have a variety of animal features, if mostly "cute" animals), as compared to Changeling: the Lost, which focuses on the qualities and abilities (Attractive Changelings, Animalistic Changelings, Elemental Changelings, Talented/Creative Changelings, Spooky Changelings, and Tough/Brutal changelings) and leaves their appearance and attitudes up to you). The mythology and cultures described in the Old WoD are really brilliant, however, so even if all Get of Fenris act similarly, they're cool because they're the Get of Fenris, or the Black Furies, or the Wendigo, or what have you, and while the world might be coming to an end soon, you are a supernatural being of some sort, and you can relax and be sure that you're special and powerful for that (in the New World of Darkness, however, there's always a bigger fish, and you know there are creatures out there that make even the most terrifying vampire, noble werewolf, powerful mage, or mythical changeling shudder).

Anyway, here's Blood-Dimmed Tides for the Old World of Darkness... you can get it via ebook at DrivethruRpg.com or find it on Amazon
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/produc...roducts_id=342

[Mermaid Sirena]

Well some of my groups more then others ^_^

Whoa that's a lot of info, I think I got it all. I really am interested in changeling now, maybe eventually I'll buy the book and read through it. I think one reason they like Old WoD is because of the world, we do a lot of research for our campaigns (we got sent back in time) and there is a level of detail and complexity that never ceases to astound. The WoD is tied to every random trivial half forgotten peice of history we have found (and we've search from the rise of the roman empire to the crowning of king author thus far + more) and tied in a way that it fits perfectly. The writers of the world were truly masters of history.

Thank you for the link!

[malinghi]

So, I just want to start a list of people who have expressed some interest in a mer RPG so far:
Malinghi
Joy&Raptors
Courtney
Sirena
Alveric

How many people do you think we'll need before we can do this? And are any of you interested in being DM if we try a sort of tabletop version played live over chat or voice chat or video chat?

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Generally, a good number for a live/chat version of the game is about 4-7 people (counting a game master/dungeon master/storyteller/narrator/whatever the game in question choses to call that role), so we could be good as it is. For a message board game, I've found that the more people who join in, the better the results (since, if one person isn't feeling inspired to write that day, someone else will, who will in turn inspire other people). I have a lot of books and gameplay rules if necessary, but I've only GMed/DMed/Narrated for my little cousins thus far, and it didn't go well. If you want, I could try and cobble up a starting story framework, though, as a sort of first adventure. And maybe we could rotate Narrators every adventure or so, so that everyone has a chance to make player characters as well as DM?

[Mermaid Sirena]

I agree with J&R, my long time game group has only been 7 players strong at one point normally it's 4-6 so if we went toe video route we would be set. If it's going to be a forum then it defiantly needs a lot more people to stay up and operational.

[Alveric]

I've been game mastering since the mid-1970's. It's all been face to face, however. It depends on whether I can wrap my head around the technology (and if I can find the time).

Alveric the computer challenged

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Wait wait wait, I have an idea! Kill two birds with one stone, and make the rpg part of the much-requested mernetwork challenge. Either people design games and vote on them, or we come up with a game and vote on the starting stories or favorite characters or something along those lines.

[Mermaid Sirena]

Thats an idea... not sure how it would work itself out but I see potential.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

I've been toying with an idea for an sci-fi high-tech, vaguely post-apocalyptic setting with merfolk, explaining why they need belts, hats, and sealskins to breathe underwater, etc.

[Mermaid Sirena]

Now there's a thought.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Hey guys, I've been re-reading a bunch of details about an RPG called Deliria: Faerie Tales for a New Millenium, featuring "everyday heroes", a dreamlike fantasy world touching our own in some places (and altered by our view of reality), and I think it might make an intriguing basis for our proposed mer rpg. Does anyone else know of it?

[Mermaid Sirena]

Not a clue

[Siren of the Sea]

Ok, this is ONLY for National Novel Writing Month (NaNo) members, so if you're not involved in NaNo, please don't join this (I don't want people jumping over there just for this). BUT...I am starting a mermaid RPG. So if you're a NaNoMer, check it out.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Ok, this is ONLY for National Novel Writing Month (NaNo) members, so if you're not involved in NaNo, please don't join this (I don't want people jumping over there just for this). BUT...I am starting a mermaid RPG. So if you're a NaNoMer, check it out.

I thought that Nanowrimo was in November.