Why?
Why did they do the Arts and Realm split like they did? Well...I don't know. I wasn't at the meetings. But from what I can read between the lines, there was a definite goal to it.
First and foremost, to represent the difference between fae and the other races. Vampires had a straight line of powers. Werewolf had a swiss army knife--a huge mass of very limited options that you could pick and choose, almost Vancian in its applications. Mages were the big boys--you bought huge swaths of control over fundamental things. It also spun the world and powers out of control, I think, but...
But Changelings. They're magical creatures, right? There made of belief, of creativity (right Tink?). So they needed a magic system that was creative. The concept of using X abililties on Y things only was a great concept. But...
First, OWoD never felt like they really playtested the powers to me--or at least, they played in a way that wasn't like I played (see the Transylvania chronicles last of a bloodline: "We're sure your players will be slavering over the many demands for this little lady..." No. I'd prefer to protect her, if you don't mind...). This gave us newbie mages turning antedeluvians into lawn chairs and the fact that four starting changelings can destroy Sam Haight.
Second, the descriptions were odd. My rewrite of Nature I think leads down a fairly progressive path. The realms were strange, the arts were sometimes poorly written, and worst of all, some of the powers (create element) were there for filler.
What's my beef with create element? Simple--everyone's got that power. Werewolfs, Changelings, Mages, even a good Tremere can make earth, air, fire, water. Now seriously--most PC's only make fire. Secondly, it's not magic because everyone can do it. It felt like this would be the test in WoD if you were a REAL supernatural: "You wanna join the club, huh? fine--fill this bucket with elements, bub!"
As for the Arts--they're fine, but it always feels like they were a bit limited by other factors in the WoD, even though you weren't supposed to play with the other kids (like anybody followed THAT rule). You couldn't have Changelings be as obviously powerful as the Mages!! You couldn't have a Redcap be as terrible or a Brujah or a Silver Fang!! You just COULDN'T!!
Well, I don't have that problem...
2 comments:
Neat? I guess I should say: Well what would you have done?
Me, I would have given them dynamic magic and put them on par with mages but kept the Banality limitations and perhaps also made it difficult to make permanent changes, durations that cap out at until dawn or dusk...that sort of thing.
I did like Arts and Realms to some extent. I liked the idea of being the Lord of Animals, or trickster of men. However balance is hard. It leads to hopscotching someone's pants instead of them.
I feel like you should buy arts that work will all realms by default, but have the cheaper option of buying the art only for your house realm or more expensive any one realm.
This would also fix my gripe with sovereign. Satyrs should be able to command nature. Pooka should be able to command humans/animals. Commanding fae can be restricted to Sidhe.
Post a Comment