Like you, I'm a major WoD fangirl, though I prefer old WoD. But I do like the nWoD version's of Hunter and Changling more. I can understand your feelings on SJW stuff in the games. It was a groaner when they had this side section on gender in the v20 Mage: The Ascension and "How Did You Do That?" that validated those alternate gender identities and mentioned how the Technocracy is accepting of these things. When in reality they would be laughing their asses off at such notions. Also, despite their best efforts, Heroes in Beast: The Primordial (otherkin the RPG) are still more likable than the Beasts are (even after the massive edit, the Beasts still come off as douchebags).
Otherwise, I would be interested in 1st edition V:TM game session (though I'm more used to 2nd and revised).
Beast is a fantastic example of a game that simply shouldn't have been made in the first place. Literally no aspect of the game isn't done better by other books, or is a particularly well executed.
For a game that's focused on being a crossover book for the other WoD games, it doesn't bring much to the table. Hell, the fact Begotten are basically special snowflakes who are totes buddies with every other line barring Demon and Hunter is fucking stupid at best. On top of that, they don't really
bring anything to the setting.
They're just... there.
The Begotten themselves could've been interesting. They're eldritch beasts crudely reincarnated into a mortal guise, and in order to survive they have to feast on the suffering and nightmares they inflict on others (which in turn creates Heroes to slay the Beast).
Then they made the Begotten sympathetic. You're supposed to root for these souls who must battle between living their life normally, and their primal nature to feast. There's two problems with this.
One, why play this game? Everything you can do in Beast can be done with a mix of the other books. There's no real
identity to Beast, other than how fuckin' smug it is. A dedicated fan will have no use for Beast, since it brings nothing new to the table. The average newcomer to nWoD will most likely be turned off by how smug and reliant on the other lines it is.
Two, the Begotten are fucking
terrible people at best. But we're supposed to root for them- not the Heroes, who consistently come off as more sympathetic, compelling characters than the Begotten. I think it was Conquering Heroes or whatever the new splat was called that literally featured a Hero as a socially conscious college girl who was being raped in her sleep/nightmares by a Begotten she'd become friends with.
So y'know, obviously you're gonna want revenge. Hence why she killed that Beast, and uses her vlogs and shit to spread word about Begotten Lairs and all that to other Heroes. But we're not supposed to root for her- we're supposed to feel bad for the Beast she killed.
The justification was 'but she never really knew if he
intended to inflict nightmares on her!! uwu', and that she was a misguided altruist who believed Beasts spread chaos and misery to everyone. Which is, y'know, literally what Beasts do. She's right.
But don't you know, Beasts are still sympathetic because shut up. That's one of the things that really makes Beast so terrible- it creates these creatures that're genuinely terrible, and... then passes the blame for all the horrors they inflict as 'IT'S NOT THEIR FAAAAAAAAAAAULT, THEY HAVE TO SURVIVE'.
which is, y'know, the point of Vampire. Survival vs holding onto humanity. Why not just play that, which is a substantially more interesting game than Beast? Certainly gives you more to work off of than Beast does.
