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[Bluecho]

I'm not really willing to take a retraction of an accusation, made after settling a defamation suit out of court, at face value. It doesn't tell me the women were lying. It tells me one side had more money to throw around in a case than the other, making it financially advantageous to settle.

I generally prefer to believe the women in cases involving alleged sexual misconduct, as a general rule. Nor do I have much confidence in the court system to actually see justice done.

[Bluecho]

We don't HAVE to presume anything about the man. No criminal charges were brought, and the defamation suit ended in out-of-court settlement. Legally, nothing has been established either way.

The COURTS must presume him innocent. WE don't need to. WE can make whatever judgements we like.

[Bluecho]

My gut instinct is if you don't invest in Duration, an Effect can only be effectively concentrated on until the end of the scene. Unless you have some other Effect (probably Mind + possibly Prime) that lets you concentrate longer.

However, I'm not inclined to commit to that answer, as I'm not convinced it's worth being so restrictive.

I definitely think you can't concentrate on a spell if you're asleep (again, except with a Mind Effect to keep a splinter of consciousness running). So the normal upper limit for a Mage's concentration is gated by how well they roll Stamina...

[Bluecho]

I like the idea that when a Bane Mummy travels out of the realm of Apothis, it's literally crawling through the bowels of the serpent itself. Not sure how it would affect the process mechanically or narratively, but it's a harrowing image nonetheless.

[Bluecho]

Travel guides are good for this, as they're designed to give you a truncated examination of a city's most notable features. There are plenty of things it leaves out, of course, but it's another perspective on the city.

Even places that largely serve as tourist traps by day can still act as neat backdrops to scenes by night. Shoot-outs in the football stadium. Elysium at an art gallery. Clandestine meetings behind a war memorial or inside a historical society building.

Don't discredit the value of "outdated" travel guides, either. Setting aside period piece campaigns...

[Bluecho]

The "Violence" entry on the first table has me imagining a Bane Mummy that is an ancient warrior. Drawing more on Set's identity as a war god, than on his tempting or desert aspects.

His primary followers - the "stable" set - create subsidiary cults that are made to believe the Bane Mummy is a powerful avatar of war, who if resurrected will lead the cult into glorious battle. The cult is taken from the ranks of the military, law enforcement, and various adrenaline junkies. Their desire for strength, purpose, and violence exploited for the mummy's own ends.
...

[Bluecho]

There's a tension between Capitalism-as-System and Capitalism-as-Ideology. The Ideology of Capitalism - the one sold to the public to trick them into accepting their exploitation - is that small numbers of people owning the means of production is good because Competition. But as a policy matter, as an outgrowth of how Capitalism works when unfettered, it inevitably trends to Monopoly. Capitalism is, by its nature, ANTI-Competition. It will get as close to Feudalism as it is allowed to. That's not a bug, but a Feature. It's why the wealthy and powerful adopted it as a system in the wake of violent...

[Bluecho]

I imagine the Progenitors would like universal access to healthcare. If not for the ability to help more people, then because jumping through hoops of privatized healthcare and insurance is a pain in the ass that also costs way more. There are probably also a lot of other Technocrats who'd love things to be done about Climate Change and other systemic issues.

The main problem is that Union is also married to the interests of the Syndicate, the most unapologetically Capitalist group in Mage, if not WoD in general. Only Pentex comes close, and even then not by much. "Capitalism"...

[Bluecho]

(Emphasis Mine)

I like the idea that this branch of the Setites, that directly deals with and uses Amam, probably has its own dedicated resources for transporting the Bane Mummy. That is, transporting him secretly and safely. Private jets, private cars on rail lines, ships with cargo containers, and armored trucks. Things that can sufficiently contain Amam until he reaches his destination. All disguised to look like something innocuous, possibly under a specific holding company.

If the PCs do research and connect this holding company to Amam's presence, they could potentially...

[Bluecho]

While all well and good, one must not confuse "officially forbidden" with "impossible", either.

Yeah, Setites aren't supposed to worship Apothis. Such heresy is supposed to be rooted out and expunged. Doesn't mean it doesn't still happen. Those that do just need to be more circumspect about it.

Imagine, if you will, a secret conspiracy of Followers of Set who have taken to worshiping Apothis "directly", as they might say (not that they'd admit it openly, of course). From a certain angle, it's not an illogical or internally inconsistent choice....

[Bluecho]

I originally developed some ideas for Bane Mummies to be adapted to D&D, as a kind of monster even "regular" mummies feared.

One idea was something inspired by a boss from Bravely Default 2, called "Night's Nexus". (I only ever saw still images of his model in boss fights. I first looked up who the original character was for this post. I just saw two stills and was inspired). Basically, a mummy in black bandages, whose arms are bound, with only a shriveled mouth exposed. Swathed in shadows.

My idea was that of a major antagonist who was bound to...

[Bluecho]

One bit of imagery for Bane Mummies I've had connects them to Duat, the dark river that the unpreserved dead are consigned to. Blood Sacrifice used a bit of that as part of a sorcery Path.

I'm imagining a Bane Mummy's bandages soaked with the murky black waters of Duat, in which they are consigned when not inhabiting their body. Leaving oily footprints where they walk, and causing water in their presence to stagnate. Becoming a breeding ground for insects and waterborne illness.

If threatened, they can cause this dark water to bubble up from the ground, walls, or ceilings....

[Bluecho]

A good comparison to this would be like if in Vampire, every character was a Caitiff. Or if in Mage, every character was an Orphan, whose Focus had to be cobbled together by the players.

The option to have total freedom in Character Creation is nice. Having NO direction or default choice is kind of overwhelming. Some people, especially new players and new Storytellers, benefit from having standard templates. Groups with long-standing histories, lowercase-t traditions, and group identities. Something one can slot into easily, and justify involvement in plots. These, then, can be deviated...

[Bluecho]

You know what it is? MtR's version of the Bane Mummies seem a lot more like the named character goon squad of an ACTUAL Bane Mummy. The kind of lieutenants that are permitted to have gimmicks and personality, so the Big Bad can remain solidly in the shadows and mysterious. The PCs learn about the Bane Mummy through these guys as proxies, who give clues as to what their master wants and establish how beguiling/threatening they are.

Before the character is nearly defeated, and a voice croaks out from nowhere, saying, "you have failed me for the last time". And then they turn...

[Bluecho]

It's not that I dislike the MtR descriptions of the Bane Mummies as antagonists. I just feel they're insufficient as THE Bane Mummies.

Bane Mummies are corrupt immortals inundated with unclean spirits, wielding the darkest magics of antiquity, that are so terrible and potent that even an Antedeluvian couldn't control them. They're a blight on the world, their very existence a transgression, and the only solace to be had is they're blessedly few in number.

The MtR versions are disappointingly mundane. Femme fatales, hungry idiots, and folks with inferiority complexes....

[Bluecho]

I like the idea of people without Thaumaturgy being able to perform Rituals. They'd need to pay XP for it per Ritual, as opposed to those with proper dots in Blood Sorcery who can learn Rituals with time alone.

As I recall, DAV20 did something like this, albeit to a limited degree.

It just seems like there's a lot of powers common to vampire lore that are locked up into Blood Sorcery, when they should be more common. Like the ability to crawl along walls, a classic Dracula staple.

Moreover, it kind of makes sense that, especially prior to the rise of the...

[Bluecho]

I've personally always liked the idea that the "original" Setite religion, as established by Set himself in the mists of prehistory, far more resembled the Conan, Thulsa Doom style snake cult that was the original portrayal of the Followers of Set. And that all the stuff about Aeons and Egyptian gods is stuff the Clan accumulated (read: stole) over the millennia. Possibly with Set's blessings.

(My basic view of Set, the founder of the Clan, is that he was, first and foremost, a stone age Con Artist. He wasn't ever particularly great at Occult or Religion, although he probably...

[Bluecho]

Indeed, the Followers of Set already have a heavily Norse inspired subsect running around, called the Children of Loki. A group that combines Set doctrine with the eponymous Loki's monstrous progeny: the Midgard Serpent, Fenris, and Hel.

One could, if so inclined, expand this apocalyptic cult beyond merely Scandinavian Setites (Jormangandr). With the Children recruiting Wyrm-tainted Get of Fenris (Fenris, natch), and groups of Specters (Hel).

Bonus points, the Scandinavian Setites that the Children of Loki sprung from were a group of vampires who spent most of the centuries...

[Bluecho]

On the subject of First Changes potentially starting later in life, I'm all for it. I'm on record saying "all else being equal, more potential stories > fewer potential stories".

It's not like you'd be disallowed from running a traditional "child soldier" Garou PC. No one is suggesting that just disappear. All that's being suggested is maybe players should be allowed to run PCs who lived full lives before being drafted into the Furry Wars, if they want to. Like, they should be allowed to do this, regardless of the reasons why.

Whatever the reasons...

[Bluecho]

It does seem like a good way to keep things interesting and complex. Which is why I have no faith W5 will actually do that, or even acknowledge Camps and Fellowships were even a thing. WoD5 is the edition of flattening the game lines in the name of being "newbie friendly" and "street level"....