W5 🦇 Rage Across Mexico: Pitfall

𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐡: Multi-splat Storyteller 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞: "That doesn't sound safe. Luckily we have these safety tools!" 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐧: Gangrel 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒: 𝐑𝐄-𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋 I’ve been roleplaying and storytelling before I even knew what to call it, starting with sleepless nights through childhood making up stories and custom characters with my little brother. As the oldest of four, learning how to organize and entertain came naturally, and what started with our own stories with legos and action figures translated easily to online text formats through facebook and yahoo mail. Renn Faires, reenactment troupes, theatre groups, and roleplaying games brought a kind of structure and personality to storytelling, all before I ever touched a d10. Much like others, I’d been reading through the White Wolf wiki for years. The V5 beta packet dropped in 2017 while I was in college, and I adapted the system to fit online MMO use first, before then trying my hand at joining a few chronicles myself. When each one fell through for one reason or another, I sat down behind the storyteller’s screen myself with a group of friends in 2021. 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: 𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 It started with a Chicago by Night chronicle, followed by a sequel playing through the events of The Dying Fields. When the Werewolf corebook dropped in 2023, we jumped right back in with a custom setting set in Ely, Minnesota. I’d been working at a local zoo at the time, and once I started realizing storytelling was more my calling, I made the official switch to SPG in early 2024. One spin-off chronicle after another has slowly built out my World of Darkness universe across multiple locations including Minneapolis, St. Paul, New Mexico, Mexico City, Idaho, Chicago, and a few more. I've met so many awesome and creative people so far, some of whom you can find below, and I love getting to tell stories together about werewolves, vampires, and even stranger things. 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐒 • 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫: In 2024, I started the transition to full-time professional World of Darkness storyteller, supplemented with a part-time position until I had enough Chronicles and seats filled. Now, Storytelling is my full time job, meaning I can dedicate all my time to running these stories, preparing new content, and investing in quality storytelling. • 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: What started as an effort for simplicity and my own sanity has quickly become one of my favorite aspects of the “Professional Storyteller” role. Each and every one of my World of Darkness games are set in the same universe, same timeline, and same general time as each other. The events of each chronicle changes the world in minute or major ways, and your own actions have lasting effects. Touchstones, contacts, allies, and other SPCs may very well die or outlive you, and Player Characters can easily switch Chronicles as needed without having to re-learn anything about the setting. Players from one Chronicle or a past one might even show up as Guest Stars in the present, and cross-over Elysium and Moot events remain a possibility. • 𝐂𝟓 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠: I am slowly working on Changeling: the Dreaming for WoD5. Changelings and even stranger things are still considered canon in WoD5 content, as mentioned in all three corebooks, and even a large part of some H5 content. There are some homebrew options out there, but I am developing my own with simplicity, lore, playable Thallain and Gallain options, and balance in mind. It is in its later stages, and primarily just needs time and testing of the Cantrip system. • 𝐖𝟓 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬: Werewolf: the Apocalypse is set in a world were were-wolves are rare, but the norm compared to others, who have been almost wiped out. Many have already been re-canonized one by one in official W5 content, but not yet provided as playable beyond simple stat blocks. This homebrew project started with W5 Ratkin, which are now complete and playable. Others are in the works, and I plan to eventually have the entire roster of Fera and Mockeries available for play. • 𝐌𝟓 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐞: Yes, I am working on it. No, it is not ready. Mage is in high demand, but is the longest ongoing project of the splat projects. While fascinating, Mage is in severe need of simplification, balancing, and testing before it can be made available for play. This will likely be using the V5 system skeleton, with Hubris buildup similar to Humanity, Paradox similar to Hunger, and Rotes similar to Discipline Powers and Rituals. • 𝐖𝐫𝟓 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡: Wraith: the Oblivion for WoD5 is pretty much complete! This proved surprisingly simple, and quite similar to Vampire: the Masquerade, enough so that using the V5 system skeleton proved quick and easy. It still needs some polish, and beta testing revealed it is usable and playable, but so far inconvenient when it comes to interacting with other players in the physical world. I’ll be doing more work on it when I find the time to allow more wiggle-room for cross-splat interaction. • 𝐃𝟓 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧: C̴̮̻͕̝̞̆͑̇̀̇͆̀͆̑̅o̵̻̰̱͕̯̹̩͙̤̔̇̇͘͘m̵̨͓̥̬̟̞̗̫̀͊̌̌̊̾̚i̶͓͚͈͑n̴̨͙̑͊̂́̒́̅͘ģ̴̳̗͉̲̮͕̍̂ͅ ̶͚̔̽͛̊͛͐̚̕͠s̴̨̖̦̜̣͖̠̩̤̃̓̍̈́̽̍̾͘̚̕ơ̸͖̺̫̽͝ò̵̢̡̭͈̣̜̥̥̞̬̇̀̂̉̇͆n̸̘̙͔̖͂̑