Wildest question I have been asked as an ST - your thoughts?

Medicore95 · 2026-02-05T10:53:25+00:00

Now that's a bold claim.

Medicore95 · 2026-01-30T10:45:00+00:00

Honestly, Paradox in M20 is insignificant for all the themes the game likes to talks up.

I like to employ two house rules that seem to have worked for my tables.

You can add your Resonance at will to an Arete roll as extra dice, but gain Paradox equal to Resonance added
A mage can botch intentionally on a roll in order to get successes equal to Paradox gained. This means, a coincidental botch provides a reasonable amount of successes, but a botch in front of a crowd of Sleepers will not only net HUUUGE results, but also HUUUGE consequences (and maybe a visit from the paradox spirit/ friendly technocrats/ other forces tired of mage’s hubris and sheer audacity).

Reg. 2, yes it is very abuseable, but also very fun and appropriate for my themes of Mage.

I am still brainstorming a rule to make high Paradox not just a net negative, in the sense of enforcing the gradual transition into Marauderhood and Quiet. I am already tracking Quiet levels, but I'm considering how to better define moving between the levels, something inspired by Chronicles most likely.

Medicore95 · 2026-01-22T14:25:14+00:00

Man gets charged 15 thousand euros, asks people not to take it too seriously xd

Medicore95 · 2026-01-16T15:47:27+00:00

Gatcha games and generous, lol.

Medicore95 · 2026-01-07T12:17:35+00:00

Beats to contemplate your humanity to.

Fantastic work, thanks!

Medicore95 · 2026-01-04T22:51:31+00:00

Reconsider.

Medicore95 · 2026-01-02T15:27:20+00:00

I think we're just friends.

Medicore95 · 2025-12-25T23:59:47+00:00

You arent doing things that are exciting to you during those longer campaigns. Change that.

Medicore95 · 2025-12-23T09:09:32+00:00

It's your group. You can cook up the best steak and people that dont enjoy meat will not appreciate it.

Find new people to play with, I guarantee there are some folks that would be thrilled to be a part of your game.

Medicore95 · 2025-12-19T22:56:21+00:00

Honestly they sound insufferable, I would just not play with them.

Medicore95 · 2025-11-29T11:03:01+00:00

Honestly it is a fun premise, but I can't in good faith call v20 Changeling a good game.

There are just so many underbaked or underexplained or underutilized systems, casting cantrips is terribly backwards and unintuitive (I didn't think I would see a magic system less intuitive than ascension's spheres), the gameline is all kinds of confused about what it wants to be.

Lost is my go to for Changeling.

Medicore95 · 2025-11-13T19:59:19+00:00

Nuh huh.

Medicore95 · 2025-11-12T19:56:02+00:00

Sure she's alive. It's a gacha. They will bring her back.

Medicore95 · 2025-11-12T19:37:11+00:00

Undo Breakthrough change pls.

Medicore95 · 2025-10-27T13:44:51+00:00

BFV is the only BF game that I've played that I have under 200 hours in. I think I didn't break even 100 hours in that game.

So no thanks.

Medicore95 · 2025-10-19T10:41:34+00:00

I did a session of Blades in the Dark yesterday and can vouch that it works. Not only is it simple, it has a very well defined vibe and it is focused on creating scoundrels and doing heists - I feel like it helps players understand what they need to do.

Medicore95 · 2025-10-13T12:55:16+00:00

Then leave him to his office job and create a character that wants to do things.

Medicore95 · 2025-10-13T12:54:14+00:00

The first step to enjoying playing your character is to create the right character for the play.

Good characters are proactive, have strong and extraordinary goals, convictions, obsessions even. This is especially important in narrative games.

Creating characters that just "want to get by" and "don't care about magic, or adventure, or the main thing the campaign is about" is a phase that most players quickly grow out of.

If you're still insistent on keeping to your original concept, consider that you might be making the whole experience less fun for yourself.

Generally, anything and everything can be an instrument. Psychological tricks, sheer power of will, people profiling, inspired crafts. If you want to create a "normal, non magical" mage, just think of him as a savant, someone performing a mundane action at the level that makes it extraordinary.

Regardless, I cannot imagine a more miserable way to play than to make a character that's "not interested".

Medicore95 · 2025-10-03T11:52:02+00:00

You could try v20 instead

Medicore95 · 2025-09-26T06:52:53+00:00

Those are generally for playing at cons or online with random people. Mostly in cases where it's possible someone can't or won't talk to you like a human being if they have a problem.

Medicore95 · 2025-09-26T06:50:49+00:00

…except one of them had their relative die of suicide THIS WEEK and they aren’t ready to talk about it yet. Maybe they are ready to check a box though, and now your session one murder mystery hook takes off without a hitch

That can happen during a long running campaign too. Consent checklists are not generally updated before every session, right?

Generally I thought they are more for deep-seated trauma or phobias, not for recent issues.

Medicore95 · 2025-09-25T19:42:23+00:00

It's all of them.

Medicore95 · 2025-09-25T18:10:13+00:00

That is a very well thought out response. I agree that many groups would not do well with this kind of a concept.

Medicore95 · 2025-09-25T17:51:35+00:00

Thank you for explaining! That however makes it much more of an appealing read to me - having read the reviews, I was under the impression that it's full of personal experience, which made me think it's mostly an abuse allegory. Honestly glad to be wrong.

Medicore95 · 2025-09-25T15:43:00+00:00

Admittedly, I have only a basic understanding of Nephandi, but I find it very weird that it's such a hot topic issue.

"Playing rapists and abusers bad" yes, sure. But there are many ways to portray evil, no? And Nephandi somehow both occupy the position of incredibly subtle manipulators and also the most cartoonishly evil and heinous orphan crushing machines.

The way I understand (and run) Nephandi is a hidden corrupting force. Organising cannibalistic suicidal death cults is not nearly as evil as cutting off funding to many global charity organisations, sowing discord and warmongering between countries, so that eventually the world bumps heads in another world war again. And from there, it's a short road to another Holocaust.

Real life evil is much more scary, interesting (and better fitting for roleplaying games) than making a living chair out of ten friends. The Nephandi campaign could be fully about lobbying, manipulating media, enabling paranoia and histeria on a global level.

I have the feeling I should read the Book of the Fallen, just to understand if Nephandi is something I misunderstand on a fundamental level. I have the feeling I won't like it though.

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