Quote from: Mishihari on October 09, 2024, 02:32:44 PMI wonder what happens now?  Do we go back to the old thing?  Strike a balance?  Switch to another theme for our primary entertainment?  I don't much care as long as it's entertaining.

If its WW we are talking about then whatever they come up with will be worse than what came before.

Quote from: Omega on October 10, 2024, 12:32:21 PM

Quote from: Mishihari on October 09, 2024, 02:32:44 PMI wonder what happens now?  Do we go back to the old thing?  Strike a balance?  Switch to another theme for our primary entertainment?  I don't much care as long as it's entertaining.

If its WW we are talking about then whatever they come up with will be worse than hat came before.

They haven't existed as a company since about 2010.

Paradox, the current owners of the IP, have acknowledged they have no faith in it anymore. When Bloodlines 2 predictably bombs, they're most likely gonna retire it forever. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/paradox-wants-to-get-out-of-the-rpg-business-if-bloodlines-2-god-willing-is-successful-bloodlines-3-will-be-done-by-someone-else/

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 10, 2024, 04:04:35 PM

Quote from: Omega on October 10, 2024, 12:32:21 PM

Quote from: Mishihari on October 09, 2024, 02:32:44 PMI wonder what happens now?  Do we go back to the old thing?  Strike a balance?  Switch to another theme for our primary entertainment?  I don't much care as long as it's entertaining.

If its WW we are talking about then whatever they come up with will be worse than hat came before.

They haven't existed as a company since about 2010.

Paradox, the current owners of the IP, have acknowledged they have no faith in it anymore. When Bloodlines 2 predictably bombs, they're most likely gonna retire it forever. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/paradox-wants-to-get-out-of-the-rpg-business-if-bloodlines-2-god-willing-is-successful-bloodlines-3-will-be-done-by-someone-else/

In that article, they are talking about getting away from computer RPGs. They have been busy adding several lines to their tabletop RPG portfolio.

Quote from: HappyDaze on October 10, 2024, 05:03:57 PMThey have been busy adding several lines to their tabletop RPG portfolio.

Like what?

I think linking blood points to a real world unit of measure was a mistake.  It just allowed people to do the numbers and see that they didn't work at all. 

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on September 26, 2024, 08:18:24 PMemogoth vomit

Yes!

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 10, 2024, 05:43:10 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on October 10, 2024, 05:03:57 PMThey have been busy adding several lines to their tabletop RPG portfolio.

Like what?

Sorry, I was confusing Renegade Game Studios (the ones that put out the WoD 5e titles as well as GIJoe, Transformers, and a few others) with Paradox.

In any case, I imagine that Paradox isn't gonna renew the license when it comes up. There's an opportunity for another publisher to swoop in and corner the market. So if you were making your own urban fantasy game, then what would you do?

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 11, 2024, 08:13:39 AMIn any case, I imagine that Paradox isn't gonna renew the license when it comes up. There's an opportunity for another publisher to swoop in and corner the market. So if you were making your own urban fantasy game, then what would you do?

Except Paradox doesn't have a license, they bought it outright. They would instead be the ones offering a license to a third party and WoD will go the way of all licensed IP's... if it actually gets successful they'll keep hiking the license fees until it fails, then license it to someone else and repeat until no one wants to touch the property again.

This is why you're ALWAYS better off owning your IP.

If WoD5e fails, it needs to stay buried. If it's actually dead then the better details can be re-imagined in other settings without an extant company looking for excuses to send C&D notices at anything remotely similar to their IP.

Ex. In the cosmology of my HotD setting, Cain probably IS the first of the Damned, simply because he was the first murderer, but at present I have no plans to include that simply because of VtM. It doesn't matter that in my setting first doesn't actually mean most powerful and Cain has long since been surpassed by more wicked figures (and the Damned's power comes from their devotion to sin)... it's close enough that I wouldn't want to risk it.

Quote from: Chris24601 on October 11, 2024, 10:12:33 AM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 11, 2024, 08:13:39 AMIn any case, I imagine that Paradox isn't gonna renew the license when it comes up. There's an opportunity for another publisher to swoop in and corner the market. So if you were making your own urban fantasy game, then what would you do?

Except Paradox doesn't have a license, they bought it outright. They would instead be the ones offering a license to a third party and WoD will go the way of all licensed IP's... if it actually gets successful they'll keep hiking the license fees until it fails, then license it to someone else and repeat until no one wants to touch the property again.

This is why you're ALWAYS better off owning your IP.

If WoD5e fails, it needs to stay buried. If it's actually dead then the better details can be re-imagined in other settings without an extant company looking for excuses to send C&D notices at anything remotely similar to their IP.

Ex. In the cosmology of my HotD setting, Cain probably IS the first of the Damned, simply because he was the first murderer, but at present I have no plans to include that simply because of VtM. It doesn't matter that in my setting first doesn't actually mean most powerful and Cain has long since been surpassed by more wicked figures (and the Damned's power comes from their devotion to sin)... it's close enough that I wouldn't want to risk it.

What I mean is that Paradox will probably retire the IP after it bombs rather than continuing to let anyone publish new official products for it, once the current contracts expire.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 11, 2024, 01:04:33 PMWhat I mean is that Paradox will probably retire the IP after it bombs rather than continuing to let anyone publish new official products for it, once the current contracts expire.

Ah, I guess I misread it as, what would you do if you were working on a project and then the opportunity to get WoD's IP dirt cheap came up. So, to try it again...

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 11, 2024, 08:13:39 AMThere's an opportunity for another publisher to swoop in and corner the market. So if you were making your own urban fantasy game, then what would you do?

As I already explained my setting conceits, let me move to the more practical bits.

First things first is that's I'd aim for something with a bit more of a mechanical spine than WoD has ever used and I think I'd try to make it a system that uses only a relatively small number of d6s for its resolution. I'd also aim for something not exactly rules light, but with an extremely simple core mechanic.

For modeling skills in modern and more grounded settings I've become rather enamored of Silhouette's mechanics. Your attribute is a modifier of -3 to +3 (though in practice -2 and -3 are essentially crippled so for players its effectively -1 to +3) and skills are rated 0-5 indicating the number of d6 you roll (if the skill is 0, you roll 2 dice and take the lower). For the roll result you take the highest result of those rolled and add your attribute modifier and any situational modifiers to it). If the highest result is a 6, then each extra 6 adds 1 to the result (ex. 6, 6, 3, 1 would be read as 7... 6 + 1 for the extra six).

The reason I like it is I feel it better models actual performance a bit better... low skill tends to produce erratic results, high skill tends to be more consistent and on the higher end and the occasional instance of exceptional results and raw talent on its own only gets you so far (lower of 2d6 + 3 will usually be less than best of 5d6 + 0).

Combat is opposed skill checks with damage based on margin of success and weapon used. Since the rolls for really skilled combatants will often be close, combatants will need to leverage situational modifiers to achieve success against an evenly matched opponent.

Attribute spread is basically a measure of Power, Precision and Speed in the categories of Physical, Mental and Spiritual tasks. In testing I've found that merging Strength and Constitution while splitting Dexterity into two categories largely solves the God-stat problem that Dex has in many systems.

Spiritual stats are used for checks related to supernatural abilities.

Which abilities are available depend on the type of Hunter archetype you choose;

- Called spend their Spiritual stats for extra non-supernatural advantages (allies/contacts, rank, resources, special training, cyberware, etc.)

- Chosen gain supernatural gifts based on their chosen virtue.

- Children gain supernatural powers based on their Damned parent's type (Cambions being the default for more traditional fantasy spellcasters), but they fuel them with Providence instead of Damnation.

- Cursed gain powers associated with their curse (typically weaker versions of the actual Damned) and have to balance their use with earning Damnation they must purge with acts of virtue.

Not playable, but built along similar lines, are the Damned themselves whose power grows as they increase their Damnation (current major types are Vampires, Shapeshifters, and Witches/Warlocks).

Also not playable, but built on different rules entirely, are Ghosts, Angels, Demons, Fae, and Cursed Beasts (animals lack the reasoning needed to deliberately sin, but can be corrupted into monsters by the Damned and their allies).

I can't constrain myself to a single setting, so I have loads of ideas.

I had this idea for a generic non-cthulhu mythos paranormal investigation and monster hunting game, inspired by the likes of Chill, Tabloid!, Bureau 13, Dark•Matter, Conspiracy X, Necroscope, Hunter: The Vigil, etc. You can play as secret agents, psychic superspies, reluctant vampires, chosen slayers, sons of Satan, alien hybrids, scions of the Jesus bloodline, cyborgs, mutants, frankensteins, etc. These characters are generally human, but may have something extra that comes in handy in a pinch. I'd provide a variety of organizations, but by default you're expected to be part of one that accepts a variety of origins and pays full time. These would include the private think tank who studies the paranormal for pure research purposes, the ancient chivalric order that fights evil, the tabloid journal that wants lurid stories to get eyeballs, and the cursed repo agency that needs to repossess cursed antiques, damned souls escaped from hell, etc.

It seems like wod 5e is doing fine. Reddit and discord are active, lots of fan materials,  kikstarter things do we
L

Quote from: PencilBoy99 on October 12, 2024, 03:29:28 PMIt seems like wod 5e is doing fine. Reddit and discord are active, lots of fan materials,  kikstarter things do we
L

5e doesn't use kickstarter and never did. The kickstarter is for Curseborne, a new IP made in direct competition. It met its goal within a few hours of starting. It's pretty obvious that WoD no longer has staying power and fans will readily drop it for something else that looks sufficiently pretty.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 12, 2024, 06:01:27 PMfans will readily drop it for something else that looks sufficiently pretty.

Thats been a thing with RPGs and board games and probably video games for ages.