If you want to learn how to write role-playing games for a living – and get PAID for it – then you need to check out this post at Men with Pens on theGamer Lifestyle Exclusive MwP Offer.
The Gamer Lifestyle course is one we’ve seen with our own eyes. It’s quality stuff, guys – and it’s damned good. The material clearly and easily walks you through exactly what you need to do to go from being a casual gamer or creative writer to someone who writes for places like Wizards of the Coast or World of Darkness.
What’s in the Gamer Lifestyle course? This program is all about helping you make money writing on something you already enjoy doing – namely, roleplaying, creative fiction and gaming. Learn more about it in this post or head straight to Gamer Lifestyle and sign up today or grab their free 70-page ebook.
The two creators of this course, Johnn and Yax, have both earned some pretty serious money doing just that already. Between them, they’ve founded a role-playing gaming company, written for gaming publications like Wizards of the Coast and Dragon Magazine, written nine books, and host three incredibly popular websites, RolePlaying Tips, Campaign Mastery and Dungeon Mastering.
The Gamer Lifestyle course is only open for a couple more days before the doors are shut and the offer ends. And we know for a fact – slots fill up fast.
Oh, and Johnn and Yax guarantee you’ll earn your first dollar using the Gamer Lifestyle in just three months, or your money back. Do you know what that means? That means in three months, you’ll be getting paid for your roleplaying talents.
That’s awesome. We’re in. How about you?
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a second chance at life? Let’s say that at the very moment of your death, someone came to you with an offer you couldn’t refuse – would your will to live be so strong that you had to accept, despite the cost?
White Wolf’s new release, Geist: The Sin-Eaters gives players that exact opportunity. Well, not literally. You don’t have to have to die to play – although over the last year, many avid gamers have been dying to get their hands on this eagerly awaited book.
Geist is a re-issue of one of the popular World of Darkness older systems, Wraith: The Oblivion . Some might say that Geist is a blend of Wraith and another White Wolf system, Orpheus, which involved human characters playing against the supernatural in an X Files style of setting.
Geist reminds me of Demon: The Fallen as well, in that you have a single human character that shares his or her body with another entity – in this case, the spirit of the deceased.
What Is A Sin-Eater?
Sounds nasty, doesn’t it? Or extremely noble, depending on how you view it. The term “sin-eater” comes from the Medieval era. People would perform a ritualized eating of sins for the deceased, partaking in eating bread and drinking wine over the body to cleanse its soul and give the departed a more easy transition into the afterlife.
For the purposes of Geist, the ritual takes on a more literal sense. Your character (called “The Bound”) agrees to host the spirit of a deceased individual. The two meld together. The Geist becomes part of the Bound.
Now, this isn’t a possession. The Geist doesn’t take control over the Bound’s body. The Geist sits in the background, like a little voice in the back of your character’s mind.
If your character isn’t in tune with its Geist, he or she may very well believe there’s nothing wrong. The character may remember some crazy dream of making a bargain when it nearly died and chalk it up to one of those near-death experiences everyone talks about.
For others who are more aware, it’s a different story. Their Geist may be a figure that only they can see, or a voice they hear in the static on TV, for example.
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
The most intriguing and challenging aspect of running a Sin-Eater is the dual nature of the character. Not only do you play your initial human character with his or her own background, concept and personality, but you have to play that of the Geist as well.
You also have two deaths to work with, two returns to life, and you must figure out how these two personalities end up getting along.
Not every Geist is pleasant, either. Many are angry, many are out of control, and nearly all of them have unfinished business here on earth. For the Geist, all it knows is that this business is what it must do. It follows old patterns it had in life. What it does isn’t intentional, and a Geist isn’t good or evil.
A Geist is driven by compulsion like instincts drive an animal’s behaviours.
This could make life very interesting for your character. Will your character fight these impulses? Will he or she totally give in to the Geist and indulge in reckless abandon? Will your character strike a balance, using the Geist’s obsessions for good? Or will your character try to help the Geist tie up loose ends and move on to the release of Afterlife?
The potential for moral exploration and other aspects of character development are endless – but that also makes a sin-eater one of the most difficult character types to play. It requires you to have a firm grip on both personalities, that of the Bound and the Geist.
In some ways, it’s like you’re constantly playing against yourself.
Beyond Your Average Ghost
Geist: The Sin-Eaters is definitely a good read in itself, with more than enough ideas to keep you toying with character concepts for a while. There’s far too much in the system to touch on in a single post, and acquiring the book is a good idea, if this type of character interests you.
For the fun of it, think about your own current character and his or her history. If your character got a second shot at life and all he or she had to do was host a Geist, would the character accept? What would he or she do with that second chance at life?
Source books, other forums and even other gaming systems all offer valuable information for gaming, creative writing and developing your character. These resources also provide material to replenish your creative well. You’ll enjoy inspiration and fresh ideas.
If you want to add new depth to your character, learn more on how to rpg in the system you prefer, or if you want to understand the rules of the role-playing game better, here are a few resources to start with:
The World of Darkness: The System We Love
White Wolf has developed many different games and systems, and their site is an excellent resource for role players and creative writers.
You’ll find every book WW has ever published, each core rule book for the World of Darkness game series, forums for each game, news and upcoming events, new releases and much more.
A quick note: If you’re planning to buy any World of Darkness books, you can get them cheaper from Amazon. Click here to view their selection.
DriveThru RPG: Save Money with PDFs
If you don’t want to spend money on hardcover books and don’t mind reading off a screen, try DriveThru RPG.
DriveThru RPG works in affiliation with White Wolf Publishing and other game system developers and publishers to sell their gaming resource books in digital PDF format. You can save substantial money, since there’s no physical product or shipping costs involved.
Also, sometimes books go out of print – but DriveThru RPG probably still has a PDF copy for sale. Click here to search the site.
Save More Money with Used Books
If you still need to save more money, check out our recommended book list and search for used books on Amazon. You can often get great-condition books for just a couple of dollars. Click here to search Amazon for used books now.
Shadownessence
Looking for online gaming communities? Shadownessence is one of the oldest and largest RPG forums around. With 6,338 members and over 455,000 posts, it’s one valuable resource for gamers and creative writers.
Shadownessence has discussion areas for every subject in the World of Darkness gaming system, including classic versions and Mind’s Eye Theatre (the LARP system). There are also areas for game development, art galleries, downloads, creative writing and more.
RolePlay Gateway
Another very large RPG site is RolePlay Gateway. This site has forums, chats and directories to many other role playing sites around the web.
In their forums, you’ll find sections for several different RPG genres including fantasy, modern day realistic, futuristic and anime based fiction. They even have a forum solely dedicated to combat.
One forum of particular interest to new or struggling role players and gamers is the Role Play Academy forum. Ask questions about role playing, character creation, combat, and anything about role playing you want to know.
The Role Play Academy
If the forums on RolePlay Gateway aren’t enough, check out The Role Play Academy.
Some posts in their archive include: Building Mood Through Perception, Flexible Collaborative Writing, Turning a Simple Sentence into a Paragraph, and Roleplay Dynamics – Hooks and Entry Points.
And If That Isn’t Enough…
Of course, you can always get a copy of our ebooks, How to Create a Believable Character and How to Get What You Want Out of Role Playing. They’re written with creative writing and role-playing in mind to help you hit the ground running in your new rpg adventure.
There are many more resources for creative writing and RPG games. Do you have any favorite resources you’d like to share? Let us know!
I used to be a Werewolf: The Apocalypse fan. Big time. As far as I was concerned, there was no other game worth playing. Then White Wolf decided to put an end to the old World of Darkness system and came out with the new World of Darkness system, and I loved it.
Werewolf: The Forsaken was fantastic, and Vampire: The Requiem made more sense to me than the old World of Darkness Masquerade ever did. Mages and Changelings baffled me, but I never cared for those types of characters to begin with, so it wasn’t a big loss.
I missed Demon: The Fallen, though. They were character types not included in the new WoD system. Ever since the new World of Darkness system was released, I had hoped White Wolf would release an updated version of the Fallen.
Angels and Demons
The Fallen had been some of the most complex characters I had ever had the pleasure of playing. Based on the concept of Lucifer and the fallen angels, the Fallen were tortured souls returned to the world through a crack in the Abyss. They would inhabit the body of a human whose soul had vacated it, and then the demon would begin its long road back to redemption.
These characters were a challenge to play because of the juxtaposition of the demon’s personality and that of the human host. A player had two backgrounds to create, two personalities to work with and two sets of memories to recall. The player also had the added challenge of a being present at Man’s creation, a being that at one time cared very much for humanity and now had to deal with a world that was nothing like it used to be a millennium ago.
The religious theories and implications behind the game – Does God really care? Did Lucifer just get bad press? – were almost as mind-blowing as contemplating the paradox of time travel.
Meet The Infernal
White Wolf finally decided to revamp the Fallen and present them to the world in the new WoD system’s Inferno. I was excited. I also knew that new systems changed much about old systems and required approach of an open mind. Unfortunately, an open mind wasn’t enough to save Inferno.
Inferno classifies demons as spirits, and in the new WoD system, these spirits are the manifestation of vices. They creep into the world from theirs through the gaping holes that the seven deadly sins create and wreak havoc on the souls of men – supernatural or human.
This change was extremely disappointing. Inferno demons had been reduced to nothing more than spirits with no real inner turmoil or humanity.
Hell and The Other Factions
Inferno describes how various supernatural factions view and deal with demons.
There doesn’t seem to be much of interest as far as vampires go. The only Kindred Covenants that make a serious attempt at studying demons are the Ordo Dracul, Lancea Sanctum, and Circle of the Crone. Only one Covenant, Belial’s brood, claim a direct Bloodline to Satan.
The Forsaken view demons as abominations, a force so dark and a spirit so far removed from nature that it shouldn’t exist. But the force does exist and often causes disastrous results. Some demons, called Whisperers, plant doubts in the minds of young werewolves. The demon herds the new shifter down the path of vice, saying that the morality of humans no longer applies to this new life.
If the cub gives in and believes the demon, he or she has just set paws on the road to becoming a Bale Hound.
The Bottom Line?
The Fallen had a shred of humanity in them that made playing such a character a pleasure. Could the Fallen eventually redeem himself? Would he be able to overcome his torment and reach enlightenment? It helped make the character real.
The Infernal lack soul (no pun intended.) They seem like disposable characters, the kind you add to a chronicle to stir things up and create chaos. There are still pacts to be made with the Infernal, and they can still possess other characters, but they have no higher purpose like the Fallen.
The Infernal exist on pure want, whether born of greed, lust or pride. There’s no other reason for them to be around.
Don’t get me wrong; you could probably get good mileage on a plot by tossing in an Infernal character, but as far as using them for player characters… not likely.
The Rage, the player’s guide to the Forsaken, is the how-to-be-a-werewolf guide that the core rulebook of The Forsaken doesn’t provide. It offers detailed answers to in-depth questions on what makes a Forsaken werewolf tick.
Want to know about werewolf physiology? Want to know more about the motivations of a Blood Talon? Want to know how werewolves think, feel and behave, or what Storm Lords look for when recruiting a new cub? You’ll find all that and more in The Rage.
Part One
The first section of The Rage addresses each of the five tribes, giving detailed exposes on how the tribes think, behave and feel. It includes how the various Auspice rolls fit with each tribe and how each individual might view his or her identity when dealing with other tribes.
At the end of each Tribe chapter are Gifts that you won’t find in the core Forsaken rulebook.
Part Two
The second section of The Rage gives you more goodies and a few interesting options for fleshing out your werewolf character concept.
New merits are very detailed, providing you with both an effect and a drawback for each merit. A new list of flaws balances out these new merits.
More Gifts continue in Part Two of The Rage, those that aren’t Tribe specific, such as Gifts for battle, subterfuge, pack and many others. New rites enhance the deeply spiritual side of the Forsaken.
Next are fetishes and cursed items. Fetishes are items that have been bound with certain spirits for specific tasks. A fetish can be as simple as a jar of dead bugs that, when activated and opened, releases a swarm of insects at the enemy. It might be as elaborate as a Klaive, a type of sword forged with as much ceremony as the finest katana straight from Japan.
This second section of The Rage also covers how to form or join a pack, pack tactics, dealing with spirits and finding a pack totem.
Part Three
This section of The Rage helps players understand Forsaken society as a whole. It begins by covering the various types of alliances that Forsaken packs might have, the operations of these alliances and various rules that the Forsaken follow.
Part three then moves to deal with various types of cultures as well as how packs might induct new members and the ways a Tribe may vary from city to city or country to country. Blood Talons in rural Quebec will be very different from their Talon brethren in the city. The Storm Lords of the United States will have major differences from the Lords of European countries.
Should you get this book? If you enjoy werewolves, or are a Forsaken player, then yes. It’s a very good resource for any player’s gaming library.
While perusing White Wolf’s website looking for news and other tasty tidbits of gaming information, though, I ran across one bit of news I hadn’t expected: After only a year on the shelves, The Rage, the player’s guide to the Forsaken, has gone out of print.
Just because The Rage has gone out of print doesn’t mean can’t still get it. You can still The Rage until it goes out of stock or get in PDF form from Drive Thru RPG.
I mentioned a little while back that Hunter: The Vigil would be released this month. I figured I would wait for the release before ordering some other White Wolf source books I had my eye on, namely two of the new Clan books for Vampire: The Requiem.
A few days ago, I realized that GenCon was now in full swing. No doubt, many a World of Darkness fan now had Hunter in their hot little hands, so I toddled on over to Amazon to see the reviews.
Why did I choose Amazon and not the White Wolf store? White Wolf and I have a love/hate relationship.
I love the World of Darkness system. Always have; always will. But White Wolf doesn’t treat their fan-base very well. I’ve had quite a few bones to pick with them over the years, and so has James. Their customer service is terrible. Their books are less expensive on Amazon, and if I have to buy books to support my habit, I’m certainly not going to give anyone more money than I have to.
But that’s for another post on another day. I digress.
Of Ventrues and Daevas
Back to our regularly scheduled program:
I enjoy when the Vampire or Forsaken books go into detail on tribes, clans, lodges, and covenants. It’s a peek behind the curtain and helps me flesh out other aspects of my characters with a little bit of supernatural history.
In the past, these source books have been very well done. The Werewolf tribe books were great. They all followed the formula of a history of the tribe, new gifts and merits for each auspice, and a few more interesting goodies at the end of each book.
Last night my Ventrue and Daeva clan books
The covers were impressive. Both were a nice combination of sleek gloss and silky matte finish. (I’m a sucker for that matte finish). The stock they used for the paperback covers was impressive; it was nice, thick cardstock to withstand the rigors of LARP or tabletop gaming.
Visual Overload
This is where tranquility ended. I opened Daeva: Kiss of the Succubus
White Wolf often offers a few pages of short fiction stories at the beginning of many of their source books highlighting the content of the book. As I began flipping through the pages, I wondered where the story ended and the source material began.
It was much the same as Scion: Hero
It was the same with my new books. In addition to the 112 pages of clan information interwoven with story, there was enough graphic bling to make even Liberace roll his eyes. Some pages looked like a graphic novel; others looked like handwritten notes with paperclips holding them to the page. Still more were written in the dreaded Courier font, one that looks like it came from a typewriter to simulate that… Well, that the page came from a typewriter.
It gets worse. Other pages had four or five different fonts all on the same page and still more pages written with mock handwriting.
Make It Stop, Please!
I’m sorry. I would love to give you a review of the actual contents of the book as far as mechanics and my opinion, but I can’t get past the graphic chaos.
In the past, the clan and tribe books used some of the graphic elements here and there. The designers sprinkled them like spice. It was just enough to make the books beautiful.
I feel like someone in the White Wolf art department ran in and said, “Okay, boys! We’ve got an order for one with everything on it. The works!”
No. No. I repeat, no. I like pretty, but I like information too. I don’t want to read page after page of a Ventrue’s personal diary or be blasted with horrible graphics. I mean, sheesh, if the writers at White Wolf are so hard up on putting out fiction novels, then do it already!
(Yes, that was sarcasm. White Wolf has fiction novels based on the games. We won’t go there today.)
But That’s Not The Worst Part
The worst part is that I’m an obsessive collector of series. When I have one, I must have all. Like a train wreck, I’ll eventually dive back into these books simply because they’re there, taunting me and egging me on to discover the information within.
So, I have to buy the next book, Savage and Macabre: Gangrel, slated for release in September only because my beloved Cole Morrison has the clan roots in his bloodline.
What’s a fan to do, I ask you? Maybe someone out there has been brave enough to read these books. If so, I’d like to hear your take on them.
Every year, White Wolf releases a major gaming system at GenCon, the be-all-and-end-all of gaming conventions in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The first year I attented GenCon, the big release was Vampire: The Requiem. The second year, the released system was Werewolf: The Forsaken. They remain my favorite systems today.
In the following three years, White Wolf released Changeling, Mage and Promethean.
I wondered what White Wolf would release at this year’s GenCon. I had hoped for a re-release of Demon: The Fallen, but alas, no such luck.
Instead it looks like the big to-do will be about Hunter: The Vigil.
Roots in The Reckoning
Like many other WoD releases, Hunter: The Vigil has roots in the old World of Darkness gaming system. The original Hunter system even bore much the same name… Hunter: The Reckoning.
I never got into Hunters. The only time I picked up a Hunter book was for White Wolf’s medieval version of the World of Darkness system called The Dark Ages. It was more fun to play a supernatural than hunt them.
This time, I may have to get my hands on this book when it comes out (and this year, gaming books are tax deductible for me!).
The Story So Far
The World of Darkness is all about…well, darkness. Their old system relied on the ever-present threat of the Apocalypse, but the new system hits closer to home. This game is all about the real things that scare you.
The theme of Hunter: The Vigil is what White Wolf calls “the light in the darkness”. The Hunters are those defending humanity against threats from the supernatural realms.
The theme is also about general humanity and that there is far more strength in numbers than one individual standing alone against impending darkness. These new Hunters know the meaning of teamwork. They might just put a few Forsaken packs to shame.
Hunter: The Vigil is also about characters learning to open their eyes to some frightening truths about the world they live in.
Let’s face it; being a human in World of Darkness means getting the shit end of the stick. Humans are food, breeding stock, unlimited sources of emotional energy, and offer other resources for most supernaturals.
A Hunter has witnessed these things firsthand and decided to take a stand.
Yes, yes… Buffy was a Hunter.
Whether Hunter: The Vigil will be any good or not, I can’t tell. As always, there’s a lot of hype and high expectations from the fans on the White Wolf forum boards. There are those who defend the old system to the death and others, like myself, who keep an open mind and approach the new system as just that – a new system.
Knowing me, I won’t be disappointed. The old werewolf system, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, was the only system I knew inside and out, and the new version is much better than the old one.
At any rate, I’ll know for sure whether Hunter is worth it on August 14th, when White Wolf makes its release
Stay tuned.
