Converting Old World of Darkness to New World of Darkness

[Dion of the Fraternity]

I just bought the New World of Darkness rulebook (plus Vampire the Requiem and Antagonists), and I noticed that a lot has changed, including the way how Vampire clans are treated (just 5 clans with popular other clans in VtMasq now relegated to Bloodline status). I have Mummy the Resurrection and Changeling the Dreaming at home, and I guess it won't be a huge problem to convert these old favorites of mine to the new rules as expressed in NWoD; for example, a Mummy's starting balance in the OWoD is always 1, when the NWoD rules have default Humanity/Morality/Harmony as 7. Converting the Changeling stats would be more of a problem, methinks.

Why I wrote this I dunno

[Jester of the FoS]

What are the major rules/gameplay differences that spring out?
Better or worse?

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Better or worse?

Really depends on what storyline you prefer. Unlike in D&D where there the rules bore the brunt of the changes and the storylines remained the same, it's the other way around for WoD. For example, the so-called "9-Million Clans" of Vampire the Masquerade have been removed of redundant clans and ruffled down to only five clans (Daeva, Gangrel, mekhet, Nosferatu, Ventrue). Other OWoD clans are suggested to be mere bloodlines of the five clans (e.g., Toreador a bloodline of Daeva, Malkovian a bloodline of Ventrue, Bruja a bloodline of Gangrel). The Camarilla-Sabbat conflict has been replaced by five covenants vying for vampiric supremacy (Invictus, Circle of the Crone, Lancea Sanctum, Ordo Dracul, Carthian Movement). Caine is no longer the first vampire too.

NWoD uses one Core Rulebook containing all of the important game mechanics, followed by supplements including Vampire: the Requiem, Werewolf: the Forsaken and the upcoming Mage: The Awakening. The theory is that this will stop people having to buy multiple copies of redundant information. Unlike the OWoD, the "default" race is no longer "Vampire" but human. Sorta like Ravenloft, humans explore the World of Darkness without any idea of the supernatural horrors that await them.

The NWoD rules seem much simpler and cleaned-up of other redundant rules (probably because White Wolf came out with too many books), but much still reflect the OWoD rules. Some systems such as acquiring Merits seem much like how one acquires D&D feats (many need prerequisites). The "difficulty rules" of OWoD have been scrapped, replaced by an "8-9-10" success on die rolls. A roll of 1 no longer cancels out a success except for special purposes (e.g., the Nosferatu clan weakness when it comes to social interactions). And the NWoD uses what looks like a nod to Ravenloft: a character has a starting Humanity of 7. When he/she commits an act that is deemed evil by a storyteller, the player rolls an amount of dice to prevent a lowering of humanity and the acquiring of a derangement.

In my opinion, the NWoD storytelling system is all round better than OWoD. On the downside, the new storylines do need work, and I hope that other supplements come up with good stories that explain why this is this or that is that. All in all, the NWoD is no worse than the accumulated detritus of Players' Guides and Storytellers' Handbooks that OWoD ran on.

[Jester of the FoS]

One core book and the various settings and expansions. Sounds good but part of me liked how you could buy just one book and play unlike D&D and other games that required 2-3.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

I just got MAGE: THE AWAKENING and it's really good.

[Big Bad Jack]

Personally, I much prefer Requiem to Masquerade. Much more elegant, more gothic, and more intimate in its horror. Also, the five "clans" are based on archetypes:

Daeva: Vampire as sexual predator
Gangrel: Vampire as predatory hunter
Mekhet: Vampire as shadowy lorekeeper
Nosferatu: Vampire as monstrous skulker
Ventrue: Vampire as aristocratic lord.

Also, the clan weaknesses a re much better balanced this time around. Nosferatu can be ugly as sin, but just as many could be beautiful -- but wrong somehow. There was a great thread on the WoD boards illustrating many eerie things that could be the manifestation of the Nos flaw.. Gangrel are likewise less bootstrapped to being horrific monsters; now they have difficulties with mental rolls as their minds become somewhat clouded by bestial impulse. And bloodlines are fluid, mutable, and much more elegant than fifty-million clans. I love the Bohagande bloodline of the Gangrel...

As for Changeling.. I am a huge Changeling fan. If you look though, CHangelings already exist in the NWoD...

The Ridden from Werewolf: the Forsaken. Spirits are divided into "Courts," feed on emotion, and possess bodies that they slowly warp into inhuman forms, which they can meld back into a "mortal seeming" by taking the Hidden Power add-on to their powers. Full rules for creating Ridden characters are in the Predators sourcebook, and I really can't recommend Forsaken in general enough. It's amazing. If you want further help for making Fae fit the NWoD model, I highly suggest picking up (if you can find it) Dark Ages: Fae as well. The Seasonal Courts are a very good model for the "nurture" half of possible Changeling characters, with these Archetypes as the "Clans" (in my initial thoughts on this I did before I got Predators): Trickster, Guardian, Ruler, Lorekeeper, and Terror.

[Dominique]

I just got MAGE: THE AWAKENING and it's really good.

Care to elaborate? I'm a Mage player, haven't been able to track the new one down in stores yet, and don't want to order it online without knowing whether or not I'll hate the changes.

[Big Bad Jack]

White Wolf posted a huge amount of preview material on their site. I never picked up Mage, myself, but I liked what they had going in the previews, and plan to pick it up.

[Dr Bloodworth]

One of the keys to new Mage is letting go of Ascension, by which I mean the whole Traditions vs. Technocracy thing. All the groups have been replaced by five paths of magic, kinda like how Vampire has only five clans. Like Vampire, each is a sort of archetype.

Acanthus: enchanters
Mastigos: warlocks
Moros: necromancers
Obrimos: theurgists
Thyrsus: shamans

Also there's five groups, like Vampire's five new sects. These are the Mysterium (kinda like the Arcanum of oWoD), Guardians of the Veil (magical assassins), Free Council (tech-users), Silver Ladder (magio-supremacists) and the Adamantine Arrow (martial mages).

There's several Legacies (three for each path), which are little things that give you additional powers and such. Prob kinda like Vampire's bloodlines. The Tremere are present as a Moros Legacy, as are the Scelesti (Nephandi). I also think a Hollow One is described in an NPC description.

The Traditions from Ascension would be translated over as follows:

Ahl-i-Batin: described as a Mastigos Legacy (Subtle Ones)
Akashic Brotherhood: Mastigos, Adamantine Arrow
Celestial Chorus: Obrimos, Silver Ladder?
Cult of Ecstasy: Acanthus
Dreamspeakers: mentioned as a Thyrsus Legacy
Euthanatos: Moros, Guardians of the Veil
Order of Hermes: Obrimos, Silver Ladder
Sons of Ether: Moros?, Free Council
Technocracy: Thyrsus?, Free Council or Guardians of the Veil
Verbena: Thyrsus
Virtual Adepts: Mastigos?, Free Council

[Dion of the Fraternity]

In MAGE: THE AWAKENING, the Tremere are back. As liches.

I just got WEREWOLF: THE FORSAKEN too.

The fact that the wolves now hunt spirits more than in APOCALYPSE is kinda interesting.

[alhoon]

I just got MAGE: THE AWAKENING and it's really good.

Yes it is!
Makes much more sense than Ansescion and being 400 pages full of examples makes it clearer.

Akashic Brotherhood: Mastigos, Adamantine Arrow

Mastigos? I don't think so. They are the perfected adepts.
Also the order of hermes is described as an obrimos legacy.