RPGaDay 2026 1&2

 

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I forgot this was coming up, but even when I remember I usually do the "daily" posts. It's always interesting to read other people's responses to the prompts when I can find them as well.  

1. Discipline

Naturally, when it comes to TTRPGs, the first idea that comes to mind with the word "Discipline" is the range of supernatural abilities possess by the kindred in "Vampire the Masquerade". So, the next thing that I thik of is the bizarre range of disciplines possessed by the unusual clans and bloodlines in the game. Vicissitude for the Tzimisce, allowing them to transform into horrific demonic forms...Valeren for the Salubri, with the twin paths of the warrior and the healer. 

So yeah, I was really annoyed with the changes made to the 5th edition of Vampire which culled all of those fun powers and stripped all the abilities down to the core Discipline paths, then made everything else a clan specific combo effect from the core paths. I can kind of understand why it was done, but it killed one of the m ost fun things I found about the game. 

I haven't had a chance to look at the new 6th edition play-test kit that's come out. However I really hope that the old disciplines come back. 

(hang on a second...)

Hmm...OK, I've now had a look at the play-test kit. Vicissitude looks like it's back...we'll see.

2 Stature

For stature, I'm thinking of a character's significance in the world. How do the NPCs regard them? How much agency do they have in the community that surrounds them?

This links into a lot of the ideas I've recently been writing about the three-way tension (and I'll get back to those posts shortly), but the idea I'm aiming toward here is something that most TTRPGs gravitate towards. The player characters are special people in the setting, they have the potential to make a signnificant change to the world, certainly more than the NPCs in the settimg, if other people had more agency in the setting we'd probably be telling their stories instead.