[KoE] For Tenshi, My Thoughts On Kindred of the East.

[atolnon]

(tiny work thing) I had a good day today. Played with rats, hung out with Frank and Lisa until I had to go into work. Early into the evening, the sky clouded over and a light drizzle precipitated. I enjoyed it - I didn't imagine that the pleasent light rain I enjoyed indicated that multple counties had been totally knocked out of power again. So I've been busy. It's been a pretty non-typical night with a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that I don't actually have to deal with for once. (/tiny work thing)

My buddy nagarerutenshi seems to have been hoping for a clearer look on the Kindred of the East setting then I provided, (or maybe Exalted, which I'll likely get to in the future) which is totally fair, since the setting is typically the more interesting of the two when it comes to it and mechanics. Of course, asking about the setting of Kindred of the East is a lot like asking someone what Asia is like. You might get a brief about the really influential economies, you can't avoid talking about China and Japan, and you'll probably get a generalization about family honor or something. You can get away with a bit more because even if it's based on real, modern nations with real cultures, you're still dealing with mind-bending revenants, magicians, and wolf-people among others. Locationally, you just have to assume that the setting is the region, and is as accurate as the research as the ST and players are willing to do.

Really, though, most of the relevant information on our revenant pals to the east can be found from a quick search on wikipedia. The real issue, since it's my journal, is my opinion on the vampire related setting in general. Because it lumps so much territory in all at once, I was initially pretty leery of the possible racism-through-exoticism issue which eventually I considered to be a little much. It's true that eastern vampires are a seperate breed from western ones (they're more akin to revenants, really), and there's a lot of in-game misinformation thrown around in the 'fluff', but they're neither 'inferior' or 'superior' to the western vampire line, and honestly, Asia is bigger then Europe but recieved much the same treatment. Except that Asia was concentrated on for a full year while the standard lines maintained development for much longer, leading to more in-depth treatment. 

The truth is, I really like the setting. It really doesn't feel like a thin layer of new powers over your standard Vampire frame. To dip into mechanics just a bit, the differentiation of power sources derived from the same source (flesh, blood) and the different types of powers was nice. The different creeds (dharmas) which influence your characters development I thought were ok in the core book, but the splats treat them very nicely. The focus on completly different aspects of the world while still tying into the greater plot of the WoD was well done too. In general, I'm a fan of the line. Like standard Vampire, it's not my favorite, but I think I like it more because, honestly, the powers are a little fiddlier. Truthfully though, like Vampire the Masquerade, I've never played a paper and pencil game of KoE. So there's a lot more I could investigate.

Comments

[nagarerutenshi.livejournal.com]

Well, I understand the complaint, but Paths aren't just "now I can do whatever I want", it's more like "I'm not capable of being human anymore, I have to find another way".

There are still rules to be followed, but now you're being judged by different standards, but the internal conflict is still there. It's just not between Humanity and the Beast anymore, it's between the Vampire and the Beast.

[atolnon.livejournal.com]

I always liked Paths, or Roads, or whatever because I thought they were interesting. I also thought that, done right, they really underscore the inhumanity of a certain character but at the same time, if we consider Humanity to be all embracing, then we also must acknowledge that what we're being asked to accept as human is both rooted in a certain culture.

Roads from, say, Dark Ages like Road of Kings and Road of Heaven are both paths of morality that an individual mortal might take up. In fact, a mortal might take any of those, and seem odd or fanatical, but stranger things have happened. All vampires started with Humanity, as far as I can tell,* since I assume they've been stricken with a Judeo-Christian curse, they've all been stricken with a Judeo-Christian morality system.**

Anyhow, I think Path of Whatever I Was Going to Do Anyhow is really more of a dig at how players tended to treat Paths as opposed to what they were good for. Even vamps with a Path didn't tend to have high ones (demonstrating that kind of zeal is fantastically difficult) and most vamps bottomed out around 4 Humanity, with 6 being the upper average, and a couple hanging around 2 or 3. So that dude or lady with an 8 (Humanity or anything, really) is really going to stand out as exceptional.


* Can anyone refute that? It's been a while.
** Even if it's not the only game in town, as far as other splats assume, it's the curse they're stuck with.

[nagarerutenshi.livejournal.com]

I remember reading (not in the book itself) that in Dark Ages, Humanity was a Path like any other, and it wasn't even more popular than the other options. I think through history, as it became more necessary to hide their existence, the Camarilla created a consensus of having it as their "default" Path since it is easier to blend in with human society that way.