Oh, haha, nooo, the descriptions are lovely! Keep it up 
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ALSO!
I’ve just added a new feature, “Easy Mode.”
Easy mode doesn’t change the difficulties (maybe I need to change the name?) but rather indicates what the TEST is going to be.
The logic here is that, when you ask a Storyteller what the difficulty is, they’ll tell you, “oh, it’s a Strength + Athletics roll,” and you’ll know your chances ahead of time. This “Easy Mode” reflects that feedback loop.
I’ve only implemented it for chapters 1-4 (Pattermuster’s Hospital), but I’m really curious to know what you think.
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I think that’s a fantastic idea, and it was something I was considering myself. I haven’t had the time to test in-depth, but from what I’ve seen this is an extremely welcome change that actually makes it feel more like a proper tabletop game.
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New draft posted! v20586
- “Storyteller Mode” is now implemented through Chapter 6.
- Hunger rules smoothed out in the first four chapters.
- Numerous bugs squashed based on reports over the past 48 hours.
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New draft posted! v20606
- Reduced difficulty by 1 point throughout.
- You should now be able to increase all your disciplines, even ones you started with in chapter 1. (There was a weird little bug preventing you from doing that before.)
- Now, if your haven is destroyed, the real estate office is also compromised, and you have to track down a new realtor. (Which is actually more exciting than it sounds, I think.)
- Crufty hard-coded fix should prevent the looping bug in the race-to-the-airstrip mini-chapter. Hopefully this has not caused more bugs than it solved.
- Added NPC list to Journal.
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New draft posted. This is a hotfix to address some issues with money.
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Already in my whislist!
Like some of you I’m also hungry for more vampire the masquerade games, since I’ve played all the pc games, and I’m familiar too with pen&paper editions.
Good luck with the project!
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New draft posted! v20703
- You can now find yourself Blood Bound to Julian. It requires playing as a Banu Haqim and then a series of incredibly bad decisions on your part but it can technically be done.
- Added several extra minor choices per playtester request: a chance to decide the fate of Stercorius the Nosferatu at St. Basil’s Hospital (if you catch him), a chance to ruminate on the fate of various doomed explorers in Biosphere Zero, a few more.
- Added one more Giselle choice in the recruit-Vani-as-a-ghoul section
- Capturing St. Basil’s Hospital for Julian now nets you a small, regular stipend.
- Fixed various minor bugs.
- Added a few more #choices throughout to aid role-playing, per playtester request. Note that this next update is probably your last chance to add extra #choices to aid your role-playing, so if you find yourself thinking “I wish my character could say this ,” tell me now!
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Probably gonna try another run with the new changes! I’m amazed that you can end up blood bonded to Julian haha, I really wonder what the amazingly bad choices to end up there need to be.
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Working on a finishing up a first draft for a writing project then I’m going to attempt another play-through. I’d like to survive at least once.
I’ve actually survived in both my playthroughs! I think Storyteller mode incredibly helps with that; knowing your odds in advance helps with really playing to your character’s strengths.
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I’ve done 3.5 playthroughs. One I signed in on my laptop which locked me out of my game on my phone so I’m counting that as the .5. First playthrough was not on Storyteller mode and I died in a 2nd Inquisition raid (completed 2 trips), second playthrough I made it to the final chapter before dying, third playthrough I died from a 2nd Inquisition raid the same way I died the first playthrough (2nd time being raided in that playthrough.)
I appreciate it, Mara, but it’s ok. We’re wrapping things up, and there aren’t any real spoilers here.
I think it might be almost necessary. It’s the most difficult CS game I’ve tried to play through for stats.
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I don’t have many terms of comparison to judge difficulty, though I actually think that the game does a pretty good job at making you use what you’re good at and not just average at. And ST mode is a lifesaver there because not all options are immediately intuitive re: knowing what stats they’re going to test. I think “normal” mode, without stats on display, would however be a pretty nice challenge once you’ve familiarised yourself with the game, like trying a nightmare mode in a videogame lol
I believe that depends on the Masquerade variable? I’ve always tended to its upkeep religiously, though it required me to sink quite a lot of money in it the first round.
I haven’t found a total success too hard to achieve with ST mode on, my first playthrough was a relative success on every mission (I say relative cause there were some deaths lol, but generally speaking what I went out there to do I still achieved successfully). In the second one I only failed one mission in the first half, and I largely suspect it’s because I picked a discipline option when my stat in that discipline was too low.
All depends on how do you play. I roleplay, I take this game from the perspective of someone that has played the pen and paper and is role-playing not mix maxing stats. So far in 10 playthroughs, I have not reached end once and I don’t think I will ever be able to beat the game. I accepted it as a session with a very difficult storyteller where my character always dies.
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I also roleplay but it’s really not hard to do that and also pick what you’re good at. In fact, a character who knows what their own strengths are is going to go for their best stats, not otherwise. If I choose to play a bookish character it’d make zero sense to go like “ah yes let me employ my combat prowess and slam my way in” instead of “let me research what X’s weaknesses are”.
Following that logic, it’s not hard to pick choices that employ what the character is built for – and for that purpose, a mode that makes this stat checking feedback easier is hardly minmaxing, it simply emphasises wanting to experience the story with a little more ease instead of risking getting frustrated by it, potentially ruining your experience. It’s a great feature, things don’t have to be difficult to count as roleplaying.
That is pure mix maxing not role play. If you choose in base on numbers and numbers alone you aren’t role playing.
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