[OffWhite Knight]

Hello all,

First of, the Requiem game seems shaky...too many people leaving. Including the Prince, which means that six months of politics went down the drain...but this isn't about all that.

Another game started by another friend is a One World By Night chronicle. It's an Anarch game set in the Free States in Southern California.

Now, I understand Requiem MET. I know the mechanics, I know the genre.

But I don't really get Masquerade MET. I don't quite know the mechanics other than throwing chops and I don't understand how things like Influences exactly works.

What should I know about the Old School MET that isn't in Requiem? What are some things, mechanically, that I should know to help my PC and the game succeed?

Thanks all!

This post has been edited by OffWhite Knight: 06 October 2006 - 11:00 PM

[Dolston]

I haven't been around for a very long time and I am sorry to see no one has answered this for you.

The biggest difference is that Clan, in V:tM, is often analogous to Covenant in V:tR. It doesn't to be this way but many bad games do it that way and, unfortunately, I can not help you with that.

Influence simply represents a character's sway over part of mortal society. It is generally used in downtime to try to accomplish larger goals.

Hope this helps.

[_vamp]

And when it comes to rules, you have to think dumber... like rock-paper-scissors.

[OffWhite Knight]

Okay, some response.

So far, in the anarch game, it really does seem an odd mix of gangs, baronies, clan and the overarching anarch cause. As in, my barony seems to stick together against other baronies, though nearly all of us are Brujah which makes it easier. But even then, when it came down to ashing some Sabbatt, we threw out the clan/barony differences and went to work.

But I'm still unclear on Influences. How analogous are they to Allies and Contacts? What does is mean that someone is "blocking" an influence of mine?

As for the game itself, it's freakin' fun. But that's mainly a matter of who is playing and the fact that my character is 180 degrees different from not only my Requiem Bishop, but pretty much any character I've ever played.

I just have to stay out of chop fights with my wife; she regularly beats me (about 75% of the time) and she seems to have an edge over most of the players in that regard...

Tomorrow is off to GenCon to play there...I'm sure I'll file a report just as an FYI if nothing else.

[Saint Michael]

I think most of us at SnE play TT.
I never could figure out the MET rules myself.

[zenten]

But I'm still unclear on Influences. How analogous are they to Allies and Contacts? What does is mean that someone is "blocking" an influence of mine?

It means that they're using their influence to prevent your influence from working.

[Dolston]

Hey,

Aliies represents people you are friendly with. They are generally willing to do things for you so long as you are willing to return the favor.

Contacts represent people you know who know stuff. They will do nothing more than provide you with information. For example, at Contacts 2 or 3 they will know somewhere you can go to buy a gun while an Influence at that level would actually get you the gun.

Someone "blocking" your influence means that your troupe is using the Dark Epics rules or a variation of them. What it means is that someone is using their influence to make it harder to do something within that influence field. If does not prevent the actions from going through, it just menas that to get your action through would require additional points of influence. For example, Health 1 allows you to get 1 trait of blood. If I but a 2 pt block on getting blood with Health Influence you uld have to spend 3 traits of Health influence to get one blood trait.

[Arius]

I just have to stay out of chop fights with my wife; she regularly beats me (about 75% of the time) and she seems to have an edge over most of the players in that regard...

Rock-Paper-Scissors/ Rochambeau/Janken is not random, it is a skill. My brother has an excellent sense of psychology, and this lets him win more Throw-downs than you might imagine would be statistically accurate. I can only beat him if he's drunk. Your wife probably also has similar insight.

I think most of us at SnE play TT.
I never could figure out the MET rules myself.

Yeah, LARPing is weird and creepy.

[Dolston]

Yeah, LARPing is weird and creepy.

I can sell a non-gamer on my LARP easier than I can a TT game. MET captures non-gamer's imagination because of the theatrics and pagentry of the game. Those are two things no table top game can match.

[zenten]

Also, you can explain it like theater (not so geeky), versus the equivalent being a complicated board game, or "like D&D" for tabletop (geeky).