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[Dataweaver]

That still fits the notion that it's “merely” a matter of Focus, as Focus begets Resonance — and Quiet; specifically, Morbidity.

To be fair, Book of Madness 1e defined Qlippothic Entropy rank by rank the same way that the Technocratic Sphere variants are defined rank by rank; and it's possible that Book of the Fallen will do the same. If it does, it's further possible that a close reading will reveal subtle differences in what sorts of Effects each rank allows.

[Dataweaver]

To clarify, I'm not suggesting anything about getting the spaceship up to faster-than-light speeds; according to modern physics, that's not even possible. I'm just looking at near-light speeds (which are impractical, rather than impossible — unless you have Forces, which can make the impractical practical).

Again, it's not the time dilation effect I'm interested in: it's the relativity of Simultaneity: two events that take place at the same time from the spacecraft's frame of reference take place at different times from Earth's frame of reference. So once I'm on board the spacecraft...

[Dataweaver]

As a student of Relativity, I'd love to apply Space magic to something moving near the speed of light. Not because of the time dilation effect, per se; but because of the related Relativity of Simultaneity: what counts as “at the same time” depends on your frame of reference. That would be a reason to get into a spaceship moving near lightspeed relative to Earth: it would let you leverage your Space magic to reach through time.

[Dataweaver]

In other words, the Spheres aren't Qlippothic; the Focus is.

[Dataweaver]

Actually, the Nephandi want to bring about the end of the world, too: I think they'd tend to view Voormas as one of their own rather than try to stop him.

[Dataweaver]

Reading through the history if the Wraith setting, the Dark Ages were a very interesting time: you had a Great Maelstrom triggered by the Black Plague (one of the first Great Maelstroms, if I recall correctly), and this was the timeframe when the Fishers set sail for the Far Shores. Meanwhile, the Guilds were still an open part of Underworld society.

Any chance of getting a Wr20 supplement covering this time period?

[Dataweaver]

For the fans of DtF: which supplements would you suggest I get, and why?

[Dataweaver]

My thoughts on the various options:

• KotE20, no. KotEV5, probable. As mentioned earlier, the revisions that OP and WW would want for this are too much for a commemorative edition, but not necessarily for a V5. As well, WW had stated their intention to shift OWoD away from an America-centered property to one that's more global. Sooner or later, this will require dealing with vampires of the East.

• H20, maybe. Hv5, probable. Hv5 cannot stick to the status quo of the Imbued being largely ignorant of the supernatural world (aware, but ignorant). A generation has passed...

[Dataweaver]

Well, the other thing that Mummy is big on is stories that span history. That's easier to do when you can have recurring characters that span history, too — which is the other use that non-Iremite immortals serve. And I mean that in the broadest sense, including the likes of vampires as well as Blood Bathers, Body Thieves, Purified, and others. And not just as foils, but also as allies.

One thing that I remember the original writer of Mummy saying once was that he wanted the game to be about more than just the Arisen. That's what the chronicle Frameworks were supposed to be about:...

[Dataweaver]

We're up to four gamelines using the Storypath system: Scion, Trinity Continuum, They Came From Beneath the Sea, and Dystopia Rising. We have nowhere on these boards to discuss the latter two. Could we maybe collect the Scion and Trinity forums as subforums of a broader Storypath Games forum?

[Dataweaver]

I've recently mentioned it elsewhere, but I figured I'd mention it in the Mummy forum as well: I wouldn't object to mummy-like immortals derived from other cultures being introduced into Mummy 2e — though I'd probably leave toward doing so in a Night Horrors supplement rather than, say, the core book or the Player's Guide, just to highlight that they're not really intended to be player characters (though, like some of the other kinds of vampires found in Wicked Dead, there might be enough to allow them to be played if someone wants to) but rather as antagonists such as rivals. The Purified, for...

[Dataweaver]

Eh. As much as I disagree with Ben Linus about putting Andean mummies into Dark Shards, “why mummies, specifically, and not something else?” is easily addressed: first, it's not an either/or decision. You can do Andean mummies and something with other gamelines to spotlight South American culture. Heck, if they wanted to, Onyx Path could do something similar to old White Wolf's Years of the Lotus and the Scarab (which focused on the Far East and Egypt respectively) with every gameline contributing something to the effort. I don't think they're going to; but it's not an impossibility.
...

[Dataweaver]

Don't get me wrong: I have no problem with rules hacks; check my sig for an idea of how much I love them. But I'd rather see them in the various gamelines' Storyteller Guides, the way the Demon Storyteller's Guide included system hacks. Dark Shards shouldn't be about system hacks; it should be about alternate settings.

[Dataweaver]

Have you read Sorcerer? By that, I mean World of Darkness: Sorcerer, the Hedge Magician's Handbook, not Sorcerer, Revised. The latter had superior crunch, but its fluff left a lot to be desired and was inferior to the former's fluff. And it is primarily on that basis that I say that Prometheas is essentially correct: the whole point of the fluff in Hedge Magician's Handbook was that sorcerers are not mage wannabees; they are their own thing, as separate from Mage's “Enlightened Will Shapes Reality” metaphysics as vampires are.

I'm happy to talk about SR where crunch is concerned;...

[Dataweaver]

By the way, something else to consider: there's a big controversy over on the MtC board about non-Egyptian mummies. In principle, I don't object; there are, after all, at least three different kinds of beings in the Chronicles of Darkness that are explicitly referred to as “demons” (the rebels against the God-Machine; the intruders from the Inferno; and the natives of the Supernal Realm of Pandemonium). So why not have more than one kind of mummy?

Mind you, there should still be only one type of Arisen, just as there's only one kind of Unchained. And the Arisen were all created by...

[Dataweaver]

So what are you doing here, instead of working to get it to us?

But seriously, this is great news; thanks for sharing, and I'm eagerly looking forward to getting this book.

Now back to work!

[Dataweaver]

All the better. If something's already there, a Shard that features them is more a shift of emphasis than a change in the splat's basic nature — which IMHO is a good thing: Dark Shards shouldn't be about rules hacks.

[Dataweaver]

My main problem with new Refinements is that it messes up the Pilgrimage: each one after the tenth means one Refinement that's not needed to achieve the Perfect Ending.

But then, there are a number of ways in which 2e is surprisingly rigid and averse to expansion…

[Dataweaver]

Basically, yes; they're kind of like Terra Incognita in Scion: occult places existing just outside of regular geography.

[Dataweaver]

It's a modern fantasy Shard that adds hidden lands and cultures existing in the Shatter, a parallel reality that's separated from the regular world (a.k.a. the Corpse) by the Wound, and connected to it by Woundgates. The Shatter is very disjointed, and its inhabitants use the Corpse to get from one part of the Shatter to another.

Realms within the Shatter include such places as the Wild Lakes (a Shatterland designed for sword and sorcery style fantasy, where modern technology fails and dragons roam the land), Undergotham (a series of small Shatterlands in New York City designed for...