Is it feasible to hack 1st ed to be like the Underworld series?

[TheScottishFianna]

So I just watched Blood Wars tonight, and it reinvigorated my love for that series. And I got to thinking "If I wanted an RPG of this, Requiem 1st ed might work". What is your opinion on the subject? Is it doable, a bad idea, or just kinda silly?

[Charlaquin]

I haven't seen the new one (or any of them after 3, for that matter), but I would think CWoD would be your best bet for emulating Underworld, since it was originally a thinly disguised CWoD fan fiction.

[TheScottishFianna]

Hm. I was mainly thinking the less substantial metaplot (and blood potency) could work, I'm curious, why do you think CWoD would work better?

[glamourweaver]

I haven't seen the new one (or any of them after 3, for that matter), but I would think CWoD would be your best bet for emulating Underworld, since it was originally a thinly disguised CWoD fan fiction.

I don't know. Most of the things they "borrowed" from continued into Requiem - except the built in enmity with werewolves, but that's easy to add if you're borrowing setting elements from Underworld. If anything Requiem borrowed back (though not with the stealing a particular plotline from an earlier sold short story, so no copywrite issues) with the cyclical dynasties concept.

I think the only thing VtM could give you that Requiem doesn't necessarily is Marcus's monstrous-man-bat form. But you wouldn't want to necessarily give him the rest of Vicissitude anyway, so you could probably hack together a Protean-based Elder Devotion to do it in Requiem.

The big thing to add for vampires would be the relationship between memory and blood-consumption.

For werewolves if you want to make them playable, Forsaken is better than Apocalypse, but it's still not a great fit because Underworld werewolves aren't spiritual entities.

[TheScottishFianna]

Hm. I'd probably have to write Lycans almost completely separate.

[MercSet]

I think the only thing VtM could give you that Requiem doesn't necessarily is Marcus's monstrous-man-bat form. But you wouldn't want to necessarily give him the rest of Vicissitude anyway, so you could probably hack together a Protean-based Elder Devotion to do it in Requiem.

You don't even need to try that hard. Protean 4 Unnatural Aspect. Wings are a viable option

[Shawarbaaz]

Underworld was HEAVILY inspired by the first World of Darkness, if you want to play a game with the same theme your best bet is going classic.

[Elfive]

You don't even need to try that hard. Protean 4 Unnatural Aspect. Wings are a viable option

They're not 1st ed though.

I mean, 2nd would probably work just as well or even better, but the OP probably specified 1st for a reason.

[TheScottishFianna]

I specified 1st because 2nd is not a system I'm as familiar with, and that doesn't work as well with my preferred gaming medium.

[Heavy Arms]

I think the best argument for WoD over CofD is the system not the setting/themes.

CofD combat (1e or 2e) is brutal. It's not a system that wants to do big cinematic fights, and it is hard to tune to that purpose. The WoD baseline combat system is much easier to do action movie fights in. It's still more lethal than you might want for Underworld, but you can much more easily create "high level" combatants that will get into big fights that will trade lots of blows and such, and "low level" combatants for them to mow down with ease.

[Dataweaver]

For werewolves if you want to make them playable, Forsaken is better than Apocalypse, but it's still not a great fit because Underworld werewolves aren't spiritual entities.

Note that it's fairly easy to hack Forsaken 2e into a form that's a reasonable fit for something like Underworld, unlike Forsaken 1e and Apocalypse. The way I'd do it would be to ditch the Uratha and focus instead on the Wolf-Blooded, with the Daughters of the Wolf having access to Wolf Gifts and the Sons of the Moon having access to Shadow Gifts.

[nofather]

Do werewolves even have magic powers in Underworld? Seemed like they were just big brutes. You could have Uratha sans Gifts, just use senses and forms. Essence is gained by rest or eating people.

[glamourweaver]

Do werewolves even have magic powers in Underworld? Seemed like they were just big brutes. You could have Uratha sans Gifts, just use senses and forms. Essence is gained by rest or eating people.

Well most "wolf gifts" for Uratha generally are passable as just extreme versions of physical werewolf abilities, so including them is conceivable.

[nofather]

Well most "wolf gifts" for Uratha generally are passable as just extreme versions of physical werewolf abilities, so including them is conceivable.

I guess. Underworld werewolves didn't strike me as having that extreme of power. And you would still have to trim the wolf gifts of things like Lunacy affliction and giving Death Rage to your totem.

[Elfive]

They're really more like the Cursed from the storyteller's guide, if you go with the option of them having a universal silver weakness. Just need to add in the capacity to induce the transformation without nearly killing themselves.