Demon: The Descent

Demon: The Descent
RPG published by White Wolf / Onyx Path
Rule System	Storytelling System
Authors	Dave Brookshaw et al
First Publication	2013

The very first gameline created explicitly for the 2nd edition of the New World of Darkness. It abandons the explicitly Christian themes of Demon: The Fallen for a much more unique setting of "techgnostic espionage".

See, the World of Darkness has a thing in it called the God-Machine. Essentially, it is a mechanical demiurge - an extraordinarily powerful supercomputer that takes Clarke's Third Law to its logical extreme. It may not be a true god, but it's certainly the closest thing the World of Darkness has to one, and it's strongly implied that the current status quo is all a part of its incomprehensible plan.

That's not to say it's particularly invested in mortals, though- it can only view the universe in terms of inputs and outputs, and humans (and other supernatural beings at that matter) are only important to it when their presence either poses a threat to its infrastructure or when they are required for one of its designs to function.

This God-Machine is so powerful that it can create sentient quantum reality computer programs, called Angels. And sometimes, these Angels get corrupted. Usually this occurs when an Angel starts to take an interest in humanity and the physical world around them, but it may also occur in a situation where the orders that the God-Machine gives them are impossible to carry out. These Angels gain their free will and Fall, burning out their connections to the God-Machine and becoming independent entities, called Demons. These demons then have to form Covers to hide their true forms from reality or risk being discovered by the God-Machine's loyal angels and mortal servants. If they do end up being exposed to their creator, they will either have their minds erased or be dismantled so their parts can be used to build new angels. Luckily, they retain just enough knowledge of how their creator works to hack reality in their favor.

The end result is awesome; spy-thriller themes against a religious horror meets mad science verneer.

The first gameline in the NWoD to completely abandon the traditional Morality system; instead, Demons have Cover, which is how well they stay in character for their human guises and how well those guises blend into reality. For example, a demon whose Cover is low might live in the basement of a building that doesn't have one, or drive a car whose make doesn't exist anywhere else- it gets the job done for a short time, but unless they can strengthen it even a little bit of investigation by mortals will make it clear that something's not right. There's nothing mentally wrong with burning a Cover out (and in fact, "going loud" gives you a temporary but potent boost in power for when staying unnoticed isn't an option)... but it does make you an easy target for the God-Machine's lackeys and will likely get you killed if you don't get more Cover right away.

Demons are defined by their Incarnation (what they were created for by the God-Machine; Destroyers, Guardians, Messengers, Psychopomps and, as of the Storyteller's Guide, Analysts) and the Agenda (what they seek to do now that they're free; Inquisitors hunt for knowledge, Saboteurs want to destroy the God-Machine, Tempters want to indulge in mortal pleasures, and Integrators want to find a way to go back to the God-Machine on their own terms). They can actually belong to two Agendas at once, as well.