I have been toying on making a *World hack for World of Darkness. I have discussed this with one of my friends, but we are uncertain how to pull it off.
Making up moves is easy, there’s an abundance of supernatural powers and effects. The hard part is choosing how classes should be structured.
Our first idea was to make “Werewolf” a class, for example, and make Tribe and Auspice what corresponded to alignment and race, but this just sits bad with me.
Then I thought that “Rahu” could be a class, but then we had to design 5 classes per splat we wanted, and I fear that two werewolf classes will look very much alike due to the fact that everyone shares a large amount of powers (aka moves).
How would you guys pull it off?
I’m sorry if it’s a bit off topic.
Don’t look at the Tribes as a collection of powers, look at them as a set of unique identifiers. All Adventurers share similarities (combat ability, perceptive powers, greed) but the Fighter is the Fighter because while everyone can fight, it’s his THING to do battle.
What makes each Tribe / Clan / whatever unique?
The problem is, everyone has a supernatural splat (werewolf, vampire, mage, etc.), but there’s a subcategory you also belong to (which auspice you are born under as a werewolf, which clan you belong to as a vampire) and then you belong to a faction (Tribes for werewolves, Covenants for vampires, Orders for Mages).
I can’t make a class for each combination of supernatural, subcategory and faction. That would require 25 classes per supernatural template.
While all werewolves are warriors, Rahu are THE warriors. They get the ability to sense the relative strength of opponents, easy access to all the best combat powers and so on.
However, for werewolves, factions mostly define which kinds of powers you have easy access to. That’s why I wanted to downplay their role by making it like an alignment.
There’s no need to stick to the class-race-alignment set the way we did. Maybe “Werewolf” gets you a set of basic moves, then Auspice gives you a couple more and Tribe gives you a few more.
The way I go at designing classes, I ask a few questions;
1) What is the class about? What do I want players who play it to feel like?
2) How can I engage the player, mechanically, in the behaviours that will make them feel the way I want them to feel playing this class?
3) How can I reward the player for doing what I want?
So, let’s take the Paladin.
1) The class is about authority. Authority because god said so or because you’re too tough or scary to say no to. Authority because you are kind and good and driven. I want players to feel like they have authority over others, like they see and feel things others do not and that they can judge them accordingly.
2) See the Paladin’s moves.
3) XP is the carrot for Dungeon World. Whenever you see “mark XP” it means “you’re doing what you’re ‘supposed’ to be doing, while playing this class”
So, maybe there are some steps that need to be considered prior to class building. Like what your reward structure is? The other thing is, when building a hack that’s an homage, you have to think about “does this feel like the source material in the way I want” as a kind of step zero.
I’d make the werewolf playbook the common denominator between all tribes. I’d make them start as a human/wolf/between as their race and give them a move that reflects that upbringing/PoV. I’d make each tribe a compendium class that they could grow into if they chose to make their tribal affiliation a core part of their identity.
Marshall Miller definitely! There are levels of inherent ability to consider.
Basic Moves -> Class Moves -> Class Advanced Moves -> Compendium Class Moves
Ha. Was thinking about it just yesterday. I was going to make 5 classes of auspices and add “compenduim classess” as tribes. Not sure about breeds, maybe just drop ’em.
While you’re working on this, you really might want to take a look at Monster Hearts, another AW hack. It’s geared more towards Buffy-esque teenager games, but the use of Strings in lieu of bonds screams V:tM.
To the idea of representing all of WoD, you might do better with just one game, e.g. werewolf or vampire, or two in an interesting juxtaposition, e.g. werewolves and vampires. It would allow you to have a more consistent theme/feel and be less of a circus.
What Marshall Miller said. If you’re trying to do “any WoD splat” then that is the game to do. Otherwise, like WoD, Vampires, Mages, Werewolves, etc deserve their own game.
Not because of “party composition” or anything like that, but because you’re dealing with very different thematic stuff (and, thus player behaviour and narrative).
I’d honestly say just use Monsterhearts. It doesn’t have to be teen drama — it just has to be transitionary drama, and waking up a monster is plenty transition.
I’m not sure what else is needed for WoD that MH doesn’t have.
I disagree with the direct Monsterhearts -> WoD connection. Monsterhearts isn’t really about being a monster at all, it’s about being an outsider in your own body and in the world. Some WoD games cover that, but they don’t all do it.
Adam Koebel -> Yeah, we kind of decided to do one splat at a time, and then if we wanted, do another. But if we did, we wanted them to be compatible.
Marshall Miller -> I’m refering to nWoD, not oWoD. Simple preference.
Adam Koebel Oh, no question. I don’t think Monsterhearts is a great analogue to WoD, I just think the Strings mechanic is fantastic for any game where political manipulation is a big factor. Get your hooks into a character, and you can offer their player XP to do what you want? I think you have to look at that for the Vampire side of things, even if you throw the rest of the system away.
Also, this: http://enigmamachinations.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/undying-released/
You’d probably do best to pick one line you really like and know well, and hack that first.
Everyone gets a few moves for being werewolves, and then, say, pick one of three for Tribe and one of three for Auspice (or two of three, or whatever). And don’t Tribes have weaknesses? Those could be extra, required moves–maybe like the Harm move, where high is bad.
Carrie Schutrick-> No, werewolf tribes do not have weaknesses, not in the new World of Darkness.
I figured I’d start with werewolf, because it’s a game I like, but the system is terrible for it.
Necro’d! A pretty developed World of Darkness hack/re-skin of Apocalypse World by prolific AW hacker Pheylorn was just posted over at Story-Games, check it out: http://story-games.com/forums/discussion/17890/dark-streets-an-urban-fantasy-rpg-powered-by-the-apocalypse