The Old World of Darkness is a Dying Whore

Okay, so aside from my terrible attempt at a music reference, I think the topic of this little rant is obvious.

Well to those who know what it is.

Anyhow... it's been quite a few years since the World of Darkness ended with a bang (or a whimper, depending on how you played the final scenarios out) and the die hards are still around. People still play it, of course, but that is not the real topic. I have personally ensured at least one of the White Wolf staff got a paycheck month to month for many years now. My collection is primarily from their publishing house, after all.

The real topic is directed towards the online gaming community. The play by posts and the play by chats.

Back when they announced the demise of the Old World of Darkness line, people revolted. I found it odd because the over arching theme of the entire game line was that 'The world's gonna end sometime next week'. I mean... every game had it as a major plot-line that the World as They Knew it was crumbling and falling down. The Apocalypse is coming, Caine's gonna rise up and eat us all, Reality is falling apart around the Magi, Winter was knocking on the Fae's doorsteps and so on and so forth. We're all gonna die. Each game was like a ticking time bomb... yes, that ticking could be slower or faster as you needed but it was still ticking.

Then they said "Oh yea, by the way... here are the books that will help you run that ending" and those books were (overall) Quite Good. They answered most of the pressing questions we all had... I on more than one occasion cried out "I KNEW IT!". But the die hards of the online gaming community grumbled and griped. "They're abandoning us!" "This isn't fair!" "You owe us!"

First of all... and this goes for a great many things... DLC, Gaming etc... They don't Owe you SHIT. You are not entitled to these people giving you free shit, I promise. These people have families to feed, bills to pay and the company itself has things that require money.

Aside from that? The line had gone stagnant, it had become fat and overweighed in its own Metaplot. It had become constrained within the boundaries they had set for themselves. As a storyteller, I know I often felt tied down to what was published as canon. The only major issue was that there was so much of it, you often would have someone create a character or history that you had no idea about... you then question about it and they'd scoff "It's a perfectly acceptable bloodline and discipline introduced in the Hoboken after Dusk sourcebook. You don't HAVE That? pfft.. and that background is in the Ancient Blood and Dark Rituals book. It gives me 3 extra level five rituals per dot, regardless of my skill level because it's a dark library granted by Demons"

So you had quite a bit of issues with that there. Was the history interesting? Overall, yes. Was it sometimes convoluted, confusing and contradictory? Hell... Yes ~cough cough Mage cough cough~.

Anyhow. This is not about me deconstructing the old WoD. This is about my statement of... Maybe it's time we move on?

I mean, I'll still run tabletop (or online TT style games) of VtM and DtF but I think the time for online OWoD has run its course. There are still sites out there but they are coming and going faster and faster. It is still the same stable of players jumping from site to site. I refuse to acknowledge the idea of "Cliques" because that's just plain stupid. We all like playing with certain people... if you couldn't get into the "Clique"? Maybe it wasn't their fault... maybe you just suck. Thats not the truth ALL the time but that's what I've noticed a lot.

Those sites that are still out there though... they've grown a little stagnant. I see the same stories and same characters. I see the same PCs being recycled time after time (I'm as guilty as anyone on that, you like a PC so you keep playing them). The books are now near impossible to find unless you download the PDF editions. I feel as though we're all folks sitting on the bow of the Titanic, refusing to notice that the water is rising around us.

And damnit, that water is cold!

Does the New World of Darkness have its flaws? Yes. Is it Perfect? No. Do I like some of the things that they did? Most Assuredly so.

My stance? Let's get on that lifeboat and head over to the new unsinkable ship. Sure, it'll hit an ice burg but hey... at least we'll have fun until then.

It was fun while it lasted, we all had the characters that will stay with us. The stories that we will recount again and again. But I think it is time we put those stories where they belong, in our memories and personal tabletop groups.

I might write about this again sometime but that's what I have for now... anyone else have an opinion? A story from a favorite character? C'mon... Share!

Oni
Out

Internet "Culture"

The internet is a cesspool of idiocy and quickly degrading social ability. There's a certain equation that I feel honestly describes most popular websites out there. It's adapted from an equation describing X-Box Live from Penny Arcade. I've expanded it to better describe most people on the internet.

Person with Self Esteem and Self Worth Issues + Anonymity + Audience of like minded individuals = Douche-bag

Now this equation is self sustaining, you must understand. These mouth breathers feed off of one another and take things to new heights. Let's review some of their mantras.

"If you're offended over what I'm saying, then you should just lighten up"
-Bullshit. When a person reads terrible things written about them from multiple sources, then they're going to get offended. It's natural. You can only laugh off being called out by a group of Basement Dwellers for so long

"If it wasn't true, then you have no reason to worry"
-Bullshit. Because it isn't true, people should be upset and enraged. When one of these self haters lashes out at someone with hearsay and outright lies with the explicate purpose to incite people to Hate someone personally, the Lies hurt the most. I've read a lot of horrible stuff about a lot of people. Granted, I normally needed to headbutt a door jam for a half hour or so, just so my IQ drops low enough to be able to decipher it all. When I read this terrible shit, I don't normally see any HARD evidence to support their claims. What evidence there is is usually easily doctored or severely out of context. They run with an idea and slander someone, usually by simply being the loudest. If you scream loud enough (proverbially speaking, of course), then people will believe you.

Granted, the people that believe you are "people" JUST like you. So those folks take up arms and scream more until Evidence comes out of the woodwork on the Demon of the Week. Luckily for their targets, these Trolls have a very short attention span and tend to attack attack attack and then move on to their next object of hatred. Or their mom tells them to clean their room and they GTG.

What I propose is this... the Internet Douchebag Vigilante Squad.
The problem with these Mouthbreathing Trolls is that in real life, if they said anything like they do online, they'd be beaten within an inch of their worthless lives. I propose that we do just that. Simple premise really. Find, Beat with Socks full of Nickels, leave.

Okay so that falls under "Assault and Battery" but these dumbasses need to learn that actions have consequences. The internet doesn't make you immune and the internet isn't a Magical land of having no Identity.

Freedom of Speech gives you the right to say something... it never gave you the right to tell me I can't be offended by it, nor does it say that you are required to say it.

To any Trolls who read this and get all butthurt? If it wasn't True, you shouldn't be offended.

Oni
Out

Getting to Know your Misanthrope

Alright. So I made a Blog. Nobody really cares what I think and that gives me a certain degree of freedom. I mean, if nobody is going to read it then I won't have to worry about what anyone says, right?

Here's the deal. Those who're reading this? Probably know me. So really, there's no reason for this post..so... fuck it