Game News Bloodlines: Antitribu Mod Announced

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

A bunch of modders have <a href="http://www.moddb.com/mods/bloodlines-antitribu">intriguing plans.</a>
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">Antitribu literally means "anti-tribe," or "against the clans." The term is used to describe a division within a vampire clan which opposes the main body of the clan in terms of Sect loyalty. Since philosophical divides are one of the definitions of a bloodline, and antitribu factions are generally described as such.
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The stereotypical antitribu bloodline is a branch of a Camarilla clan which has joined the Sabbat. While all seven Camarilla clans certainaly have antitribu representation within the Sabbat, the term also applies to factions within three independent clans (and one bloodline) which have joined the Sabbat and, in one case, a branch of one Sabbat clan which has joined the Camarilla.
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Hopefully this thing gets finished in a playable state.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/97472-bloodlines-antitribu-mod-announced.html">GB</A>

 

[Bloodeyes]

Mod Announced

*yawn*

Chances are small they actually complete this thing.

Also I thnk they fucked up the lore a bit there, there aren't any antitribu Tremere because Tremere blood is stolen Tzimisce blood, used in some kind of arcane ritual by wizards to create a new clan. Not sure if the blood itself was altered by this, if it wasn't then I guess the Tremere could be considered antitribu Tzimisce, but that still makes a lie of "all seven Camarilla clans" having antitribu representation in the Sabbat. Because of the enmity between the Tremere and Tzimisce I find it highly unlikely it would be possible for members of these clans to switch sides. Also I'm p. sure the Tzimisce would go out of their way to kill any member that went over to the Camarilla, I read... fuck, somewhere that that just doesn't happen. Also the idea of Assamites joining the Camarilla doesn't sit with me given the Camarilla's position on diablerie.

That being said I wouldn't give a fuck, anything that breathes new life into Bloodlines is welcome in my book, and playing a "bad guy" clan like the Tzimisce would be really fucking sweet. I'm not gonna waste any time following its development though, its a mod. If the thing does get released then I'll be fucking surprised. Pleasantly of course, but it's just not going to happen, what they're talking about is too ambitious.

PS: Unless they're adding enemies that obfuscate themselves then the Assamite Vizier clan is pointless. You get the same disciplines as the warrior, except instead of Obfuscate you get auspex, which is (near as I can tell) completely useless in Bloodlines. Seriously wtf are you supposed to use it for? The only time it would have come in handy was when Gary was taunting you, but you couldn't use it then because it's elsium (a rule I would have happily broken, given the choice).

 

[Fafnir]

Mod Announced

Also I think they fucked up the lore a bit there, there aren't any antitribu Tremere .

No sir!
That's not correct. There was a Antitribu. But Tremere fried them when they stopped serving his purpose. It's like the Antitribu Giovanni. They existed only because their master wants it.
But I am to lazy to actually check out 1st ED Tremere clanbook.
Also there are Tremere that doesn't actually carry Tzimsce blood. Unless my VtM lore has completely failed me. Which is a large possibility.

But yes it will most likely fail and become forgotten within a year.
And their "leader" was called Gotrix and was Tremeres second in-command.

EDIT: It seems Tremere ate all the Antitribu because he wanted to GAIN POWAH when Salout kicked him out of his old body.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

lorewhat

 

[Fafnir]

lorewhat

You know that crap that was so messed up not even White-Wolf knew what the heck was being written nor said.

 

[roll-a-die]

Thus why VtR was created along with the Neu W0r|d of Dahknezz.

 

[Fafnir]

I'm sorry sir, I suffer from attacks of Nerd-rage when I speak of VtR.

But on a more serious tone. Is VtR any good then? I own the book but I was so discouraged by how the new Merit system worked and how hitting and damaged became one dice-pool making it shitty bad in combat. Even worse than old Dorkness.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Goratrix & others left House Tremere and joined the Sabbat, thus are Tremere Antitribu. In one of the endings where Tremere loses the century long mental fight vs Saulot and loses his body to Saulots soul, Tremere posesses Goratrix and diablerizes all Sabbat Tremere to regain his power etc

 

[Havoc]

I'm sorry sir, I suffer from attacks of Nerd-rage when I speak of VtR.

But on a more serious tone. Is VtR any good then? I own the book but I was so discouraged by how the new Merit system worked and how hitting and damaged became one dice-pool making it shitty bad in combat. Even worse than old Dorkness.

No Malkavians. Well... they're some, but their insanity isn't something mysterious anymore... only like AIDS. Nothing more. So nWoD sucks. End of story.

 

[roll-a-die]

I'm sorry sir, I suffer from attacks of Nerd-rage when I speak of VtR.

But on a more serious tone. Is VtR any good then? I own the book but I was so discouraged by how the new Merit system worked and how hitting and damaged became one dice-pool making it shitty bad in combat. Even worse than old Dorkness.

It's decent, in that it's more noob friendly and that it's very streamlined. It's noob friendly in that you don't have to be brought up to date on 10 years of compounded lore and meta-plot at the first game. Nor do you have to spend $300 or so trying to find the books that that lore took place in, "Oh great that event took place in the dark ages there goes another 25 dollars.". Also the STs no longer have to keep certain NPC's alive for the sake of the meta-plot.

Streamlining(IE dumbing down) is also pretty strong in nWoD. Not much more to say other than that.

They also emo'd up the storylines and creatures. Everything is now even more of a curse. The 5 playable vampire factions are Camarilla stand in Invictus(Oooh you can feel the goth in that name). Anarch stand in The Carthian Movement who are basically vampire noobs and communists mostly. The studious Ordo Dracul, who seek to better understand the vampiric condition and can be portrayed as anything from Mengele-ish super torturers to doctor mcninja-ish super doctors. Then there are the Circle of the Crone, vampiric pagans with just as many varying beliefs and imagery. Finally we have Lancea Sanctum, the catholic foil to the Circle, vampire catholics, yummy. For clans you have vampire as ugly creature of the night(Nossies), Vampire as creature of the Dahknezz(Mahks), vampires as sluts(Daevas), Vampire as nobs(Ventrues), and vampire as bestial creature(gangrel).

It's decent in that you can still get "some fun" out of it. Kind of like oblivion is "kinda" fun. Your better off playing unknown armies though. WoD jumped the shark long before nWoD.

 

[Rod Rodderson]

This thing was started a while ago, actually, so that it's still going is a fairly positive sign. I sort of had a go at the creator on a different forum because his grammatical skills were comparable to that of a primary schooler.

[...] there aren't any antitribu Tremere [...]

There may be. Almost all of them died at some point in... '98 I think, but some may have survived (Maior did, though not very whole), and there was nothing beyond the strict clan structure preventing any other Tremere from joining the Sabbat. But when they have a vial of your blood... you don't do anything to piss them off. Imagine what a centuries' old warlock can do with that.

[...] antitribu Tzimisce [...]

(I'm taking this a little out of context, but...) If they existed at all, there'd have been about enough to count on one hand. Tzimisce were Sabbat or Old Clan pretty much exclusively. It's not so much that they'd kill defectors as that there were no defectors. They are not the sort of clan to gel with Camarilla ideologies. And the Old Clan just doesn't give a fuck (when every member predates the sects, it's a side-effect).

[...] Also the idea of Assamites joining the Camarilla doesn't sit with me given the Camarilla's position on diablerie. [...]

Actually, that was well into happening before VtM ended. There was a group of Assamites (the Schismatics) who wanted to join the Camarilla after a bit of a fight with the powers in charge (ur-Shulgi, one of those pants-shittingly powerful vampires you occasionally hear about). It was never official, but since cities are governed on a separate basis, some had seats on the Primogen council or served as Archons. The Tremere were the biggest opposition to them joining, as they're afraid that the Assamites are still a little pissy about the whole "anti-diablerie" curse (that ur-Shulgi helped break after he woke up).

[...] auspex, which is (near as I can tell) completely useless in Bloodlines. [...]

Works well when you raise it, Perception, and Ranged to 5 each. You maximize firearm damage. Not necessary, but neat.

Also there are Tremere that doesn't actually carry Tzimsce blood. Unless my VtM lore has completely failed me. Which is a large possibility.

The clan wouldn't exist without the Tzimisce blood. All Tremere have it. Not all Tremere have Salubri blood, though; only those sired by Tremere (post diablerie) and his descendants.

 

[Excidium]

nWOD > oWOD.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Also I'm p. sure the Tzimisce would go out of their way to kill any member that went over to the Camarilla, I read... fuck, somewhere that that just doesn't happen.

A turncoat in a world of backstabbers would need to be extra hardcore, anyway. They'd deal with it.

 

[roll-a-die]

nWOD > oWOD.

You do realize the little one eats the bigger one don't you? So you are saying nWoD is greater/better than oWoD.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

You do realize the little one eats the bigger one don't you? So you are saying nWoD is greater/better than oWoD.

nWOD > oWOD.

means he thinks nWOD is better than oWOD, yes. But if the little one EATS the bigger one, it should be better, no?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Personally, I'm a little conflicted between the two Vampire games. On the other hand, I do believe that the more streamlined VtR system is better (I for one love the merits) and it does have the advantage in leaving a lot of the world details and backstory open. One of the major problems of Masquerade was that it was literally drowning in backstory, with it being a rule rather than an exception that there was this one thing a player wanted to include in the Chronicle that the GM never heard about before (usually those fucking Succubus Clubs).

Meanwhile, the Masquerade does have a much better setting and atmosphere, should you go into the whole global conspiracy thing.

Though I guess Masquerade wins by proxy in my case, since I consider Victorian Ages and the Dark Ages to be the best WoD vampire games. But nWoD does have the best WoD games overall (Promethean, Slasher and the new Changeling).

 

[GarfunkeL]

Uh and who forces the GM to tightly adhere to all the "lore" and backstory in oWD anyway? The few times I've played we couldn't care less about specifics, only about the atmosphere.

 

[roll-a-die]

You do realize the little one eats the bigger one don't you? So you are saying nWoD is greater/better than oWoD.

nWOD > oWOD.

means he thinks nWOD is better than oWOD, yes. But if the little one EATS the bigger one, it should be better, no?

The crocodile eats big things is how I learned it. Basically it's how you teach <, > and = signs along with basic number sense to kindergartners. So the little one is less than the big one. Therefore the mouth is facing towards the larger number.

I've also seen it taught as "the big one covers, or points to, the little one."

How do they teach number sense in Brazil?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I've also seen it taught as "the big one covers, or points to, the little one."

I remember learning this one. I particularly didn't care much for it because I already had a system of my own to remember it - the > is basically a ":" and a "." connected by lines, right?

no

Whatever, my child logic accepted that premise. So the ":" is longer, therefore stands near the bigger number. The "." is one point instead of two, so it stands next to the smaller one.

About your way, it's just that to me, bigger animal eats smaller one (usually), so the mouth pointing towards the bigger one feels weird.

 

[Archaeon]

fuck off!!!! FINALLY I get to play as Tzimishce! :D

 

[Azrael the cat]

you get auspex, which is (near as I can tell) completely useless in Bloodlines. Seriously wtf are you supposed to use it for? The only time it would have come in handy was when Gary was taunting you, but you couldn't use it then because it's elsium (a rule I would have happily broken, given the choice).

Auspex is the single most variable skill in the game in terms of its usefulness. If you are playing a ranged character, then the cheap activation, hugely long timer and +perception makes it the most common discipline you'll use - in my playthroughs I leave auspex turned on for the ENTIRETY of the combat dungeons - i.e. the whole sewers, end-games etc - it is easily affordable and the bonus to ranged attack and defence is just a no-brainer.

Having said that, you've got to EITHER go all the way to auspex 5, or don't bother at all (and just pump perception and wits manually). The reason is that the 4-5 bonus is twice as good as the early ones, as by giving you +3 to both perception and wits it represents a +1 to BOTH stats for that last point. That doesn't sound like miuch, but it makes pumping auspex considerably more cost-effective than maxing ranged and defence/hacking by boosting perception and wits directly. So you leave perception and wits at 2 each, and then max out auspex (which you always turn on during combat) to boost them to 5. That gives you a bunch of saved points that you can spend elsewhere.

So as a ranged character, maxing out auspex gives you extra xp to put elsewhere (compared to the ordinary way of maxing ranged) PLUS a really neat bonus to defence and hacking. For a melee character that defence and hacking bonus just isn't enough to cut it by itself, so yes for a melee character it royally sucks. If a character has auspex as a discipline, the class is designed for ranged combat - end of story.

 

[The Wizard]

If a character has auspex as a discipline, the class is designed for ranged combat - end of story.

unless of course he has celerity, then you just pump a few points into melee and defeat everything even faster and easier with the added bonus that you will never run out of ammo and can level social skills.