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Old 03-29-2016, 05:54 PM   #1
swarmyard
 
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Default Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

My fellow Kindred... Pardon me. I've been wanting to run a vampire character using the GURPS 3rd Edition supplement for over 4 years now, but have refrained from doing so because a lot of the traits seemed too ambiguous for a game like GURPS where almost every effect has a mechanic, or point cost. Currently, I am trying to incorporate the setting into a futuristic cyberpunk world where metahumans (supers) are not uncommon. I want to build a decently potent character (about 500 points in GURPS 3rd) but the supplemental rules seems unbalanced. I've already looked over this thread: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=2082. It has some ideas, but I was curious if anyone had other advice or suggestions for rules conversions, or house rules they've had luck with. While I tend to prefer flavor over mechanics, I mostly prefer balance.
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Old 03-29-2016, 07:51 PM   #2
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

I played the official 3e conversion about 15+ years ago. The GURPS books were really well written but the point costs were ridiculous. You could build a really powerful vampire using 500 points but a werewolf of similar ability would cost 800-1,000 points. Mages also seemed to be relatively overpowered compared to werewolves.

I tend to favour the easy way of doing things. If I was going to run a world of darkness game again I would just use the old conversions but add a large unusual background cost (at least 100 points) to vampires and mages to balance them against werewolves and regular folk. Do you have access to the old books?
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Old 03-30-2016, 06:35 AM   #3
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

I'm running a 4e update right now. Instead of trying to preserve the costs, I just translated the individual abilities into 4th ed. For the meta-trait, I translated each part.

I did make a few other major changes, one of which takes it farther from the WW source material.

I declared each discipline to be a "Power" with the attendant -10% cost modifier. In-clan disciplines increased the discount to -20%. I then threw the linear nature of them out the window. I always thought it was ridiculous that anybody who can turn into a wolf can meld with the earth or that anybody who can change their face can vanish from sight. Each power then had an associated talent for anything that may require rolls. This returned a lot of mystery to the vampires and simplified the system. Now each ability just has to be statted as an advantage, and there are no arbitrary ratings in each discipline.

I removed the activation costs for the enhancing disciplines. Potence is just buying extra ST! with a discount. Side-effect powers like super-jump are bought separately with the same discount.
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Old 03-30-2016, 06:46 AM   #4
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

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I declared each discipline to be a "Power" with the attendant -10% cost modifier.
What were the effects of the power modifier?
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Old 03-30-2016, 07:44 AM   #5
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

I wrote an article about this in 4E.

http://www.rpgjutsu.com/2016/02/08/g...he-masquerade/
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Old 03-30-2016, 08:23 AM   #6
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

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What were the effects of the power modifier?
I don't have Powers with me, but this is the discount for making an advantage part of a power. No additional game effect is necessary.
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Old 03-30-2016, 08:40 AM   #7
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

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I don't have Powers with me, but this is the discount for making an advantage part of a power. No additional game effect is necessary.
That's not how Power Modifiers work. Every Power Modifier has some mechanical effect, and that effect determines the price of the power modifer, the prices in Powers for power modifiers run from +50% to -25%.

What are the disadvantages that justify that -10%? E.G. Super -10% faces Neutralize and Static – as wild advantages and as part of various anti-powers (-5%) – and weird-science devices built by gadgeteers can block them or even steal them (-5%).

Can gadgeteers negate vampire powers with weird-science devices?
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Old 03-30-2016, 08:46 AM   #8
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by khorboth View Post
I declared each discipline to be a "Power" with the attendant -10% cost modifier. In-clan disciplines increased the discount to -20%.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NineDaysDead View Post
What were the effects of the power modifier?
Quote:
Originally Posted by khorboth View Post
I don't have Powers with me, but this is the discount for making an advantage part of a power. No additional game effect is necessary.
After glancing at Powers, pp. 25-28:
Typically, a Power Modifier indicates a means of countering the Power. For instance, "Magical, -10%" is commonly defined as "ambient energies that can be blocked (-5%) and subject to Anti-Magic abilities (-5%)"; likewise "Divine, -10%" is "energy from an outside source where the wielder must follow the precepts of the granting divinity, commonly a -10 point Code of Honor, or have it taken away (-10%), but unless the deity is a real prick won't take it away if this would endanger you (+5%), but to get it back you'll need to seriously atone for a month, perform a major quest, or suffer serious harm (-5%)".

A power modifier with no drawbacks or benefits other than "Power Talents add to the Skills used in the Power's abilities" is a +0% power mod, which is entirely legal. If there are countermeasures, those are -5% each for esoteric, supernatural, or technological (e.g. power-dampening shackles or various drugs) countermeasures, or -10% for purely mundane ones (water putting out fire, fire melting ice, etc). A required disadvantage is basically treated like a Temporary Disadvantage, and it's entirely legal to wrap "Costs X FP/ER/HP" into a power modifier (like Biological and Nanotech do).

Clear as mud?


BTW, I don't know the oWoD (or even the nWoD) vampires and their disciplines, but doing the disciplines as a Power or a Style seems quite valid. We're just curious as to how you're defining the drawbacks of the -10% and -20% power modifiers.
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Last edited by Phantasm; 03-30-2016 at 08:50 AM.
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Old 03-30-2016, 09:05 AM   #9
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

Disciplines are probably -5% in VTM.
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Old 03-30-2016, 09:10 AM   #10
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Default Re: Yet another Vampire the Masquerade thread

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Disciplines are probably -5% in VTM.
Out of curiosity, can you explain how you arrived at that price? (As I said before, I don't know what a discipline in a VtM sense entails, so some help in understanding it would be great.)
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