Is there a guide to updating OWOD stuff for NWOD? Are the two games similar enough to try and wing it? I have both OWOD and NWOD books, but I haven't had the opportunity to use them. I just read the fluff (World of Darkness fluff is excellent). Let's say that I was considering whipping them out and using them, but there is OWOD and NWOD stuff I want to use, so I can't choose a system. Specifically, I want to be an OWOD mummy, but I like some of the stuff in Vampire: The Victorian Age. I also want to whip out stuff from the NWOD armories (both of them), Dogs of War, and Tales from the 13th Precinct. What do I do?
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The game mechanics are somewhat similar, similar enough you could with a little work convert stuff from one to the other. The big change is in the setting or campaign fluff. So I would say choose the setting that you like the most and use those as the main rules, then import the rules you like from the other one and convert them.
Is there a guide to updating OWOD stuff for NWOD? Are the two games similar enough to try and wing it? I have both OWOD and NWOD books, but I haven't had the opportunity to use them. I just read the fluff (World of Darkness fluff is excellent). Let's say that I was considering whipping them out and using them, but there is OWOD and NWOD stuff I want to use, so I can't choose a system. Specifically, I want to be an OWOD mummy, but I like some of the stuff in Vampire: The Victorian Age. I also want to whip out stuff from the NWOD armories (both of them), Dogs of War, and Tales from the 13th Precinct. What do I do?
WW is working a Mummy book for the nWoD right now, or at least soon. The nWoD tends to be less gonzo or punk than the old, and one thing they really reduced was the direct power that supernatural creatures had over the world. Ordinary or near-ordinary humans are players too, particularly in groups - a mortal conspiracy may be more effective than the smaller supernatural ones.
I'd say that the oWoD was much cooler and best played by ignoring the rules.
nWoD is much lamer but the rules work.
Remember how Forgotten Realms was changed between 3rd and 4th edition?
Many OWod players would say that it was far worse than that.
That is a very up in the air thing. Some people like oWoD; some people like nWoD. Some people like both for different reasons. I'm in the last camp. When I ran nWoD my campaign had elements of the old storyline.
Interestingly, one of the things I preferred in nWoD was the lack of uber-NPCs. Forgotten Realms, like the oWoD, has a bunch of powerful characters driving the storyline that PCs can't touch (in a canon game). My experience with oWoD was also affected by the munchkinism of some of the gamers I interacted with then, so perhaps I have a skewed perspective. nWoD seems less prone to that abuse. But the absence of a deep mythology in nWoD means I had to create my own. I enjoyed riffing off and reading about the oWoD storyline back in the day.
You might find the Vampire Translation Guide useful. You can update Old to New and add New to Old. It's cheap and it has a lot of good reviews.
Forgotten Realms, like the oWoD, has a bunch of powerful characters driving the storyline that PCs can't touch (in a canon game).This is the exact opposite of my experience. In a game set in the real world with sniper rifles, bombs, and semi-trucks that transport flamable materials, uber-npcs had many more challenges in their life than they do in games where your options are sword, axe, or bow.
To me, the OWoD had an amazing story line. It was what kept white wolf running strong. NWoD and its lack of a strong story line is what has run white wolf into the ground and turned it from one of the biggest names in the pnp rpg industry to a pdf only company who can't even break into the top 5 for sales.
Maybe it was the way it was run - I wasn't the GM most of the time for oWoD. But Vampires with Fortitude and Celerity raised up high could pretty much ignore modern weaponry. Then again, when I did run oWoD the Hunters did use explosives and ambushes - which seemed logical to me - but the players were very, very upset. There is a certain tendency in the Sabbat-Camarilla war for the combat to be unbelievable in terms of not destroying the Masquerade. Playing that thoughtfully also meant that my short stint GMing it had a fair amount of fallout from the PCs using extravagant weaponry and brazen tactics against their enemies. Also, this ticked them off. I think maybe they wanted to play Vampions (superhero undead), rather than Vampire.
Is there a guide to updating OWOD stuff for NWOD? Are the two games similar enough to try and wing it?
I think you can wing it. The storyteller system isn't really about balance anyway (even if the nwod does a much better job of aproximating it)
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I much prefere oWoD (or WoD) to the nWoD, but that's just me. I really don't like the mechanics of the nWoD much, though many people swear they are better, I find them worse and less meaningful. I also really hate Requiem, and love Masquerade, so that does color my opinion a bit.
nWoD does have a Mummy book, sort of. nWoD: Immortals allows for different types of mummy-like creatures, and the next alternate setting is for Changling the Lost, which just happens to be Victorian Age. Another possibility to look at for nWoD is Promethean, which both includes Mummy-like creatures, or could easily be adapted to them, as could the Vampire line (loose all the fluff and just say they are Mummies).
Dogs of War (I really loved this book) and 13th Precinct are both fairly setting neutral, and work pretty easily in WoD as nWoD. Armory, you will need to do some conversion, but keep in mind that the WoD was not balanced the way nWoD is. I should also point out, if you really like the forst two books, to look into WoD: Mirrors, Ghost Stories, and Mysterious Places. They are all along the same lines of ST hooks and ideas.
I should also point out, if you really like the forst two books, to look into WoD: Mirrors, Ghost Stories, and Mysterious Places. They are all along the same lines of ST hooks and ideas.
I already own all of those.
Mirrors is awesome, and I shall be using it. I have decided (based on conversation in the White Wolf forums) not to use the OWOD or NWOD settings, but to use homebrew which Mirrors is great for. As for which game to play, it'll be NWOD. I'll play a mummy some other time. For now, I'm playing the Changing Breeds book (it's about non Urathra shapeshifters, including an alternate werewolf and and a bunch of other animal forms).
I own Dudes of Legend. It is hilarious.