[note]This thread is to help me build some ideas for my new V:tM chronicle. Both me and my players are new to the game, so I'm going to need all the help I can get... [/note] Although, to be fair, the Prince isn't a "fellow" to begin with. That doesn't make her any happier, though. Right now, in her very own boardroom, she has a couple of punks who have broken the First and Fifth Traditions, respectively. On top of that, just as she was going to... deal with the one who broke the fifth tradition, a Brujah burst into the room, firing off a round at the one that was about to toss somebody out a window. Although the Brujah doesn't realize this yet, the Prince knows that he was sent to kill her. All in all, it's not exactly her happiest night ever.
But... what's a Prince to do? Slaying the offenders would make for a particularly short and upsetting game, and this would be a great way to kick off a story, but I have no clue what the story is, yet...
First thing, don't call her a prince. Call her what she is, which is a princess. Exact same position, means the exact same thing, but is the correct gender.
Quote from: Stargate525First thing, don't call her a prince. Call her what she is, which is a princess. Exact same position, means the exact same thing, but is the correct gender.
Normally, I'd agree, but Vampire uses the term Prince as gender-neutral. As the rulebook itself puts it, "[t]his term can refer to a Kindred of either sex."
I see. Setting-specific exceptions obviously trump, so objection withdrawn. The only thing is, I can't contribte anything else... :cry:
Well I am not exactly sure what is going on (or sure about any story specific things that should be known). But I could see this as a chance for the prince to force all offenders involved to band together and do a task for her in order to expunge their guilt. So either they work together and do the prince's bidding, or she kills them. Just an idea.
Right, but I'm just not sure what task the Prince would have them do. There's a Gangrel killer, who tends to not really care much for the bodies he leaves, and has even made kine (human) news (although, with a MUCH smaller body count then he really has), a Brujah who's been intruding on the Nosferatu's sewers. The hitman is a newcomer to the game, and is a Malkavian with MPD. The player really works that up just a littlw too well, though, as everybody frequently has to ask just who he's talking to-- me, another player, or himself.
If it helps at all, the chronicle is in Detroit, and the Prince seems to run the MGM Grand Detroit Casino. After she talks to everybody, I intend to show just how much power she has by having her comment that "the [hockey] game" is about to start-- Redwings losing to the Oilers, of course. Surely, there will be lots of upset patrons on the ground floor.
This is a Camarilla chronicle? You mentioned a Prince, not a bishop.
Somewhere along the way I thought I heard or read that Detroit was a Sabbat city.
Maybe you can use that and combine it with the forced quest idea, like have the PCs forced to deal with mopping up some Sabbat holdovers.
By, the way, if you're using Detroit as a setting, please tell me you have either used the zoo as a story element or will in the future. I'm from the opposite side of the state.
Also, in your copious free time, brush up on your Machiavelli. Seriously - "The Prince" is the ultimate handbook on how to play one.
Really the only thing to do about the Gangrel is make his death as clear a set of lessons as possible. I recommend thE Prince summon the Malk, letting him know that she knows, blood bind him and have him kill the Gangrel in a very pointed and messy fashion in front of those who sent him after her. Don't tell anyone about the blood-binding and forbid him to tell anyone as well. Then make him Sheriff, his previous employers his deputies and send them to clean up the problem in the sewers. Swear them all to secrecy regarding their mission and then just let the Nos deal with the problem.
Just read my own suggestions. Damn, migraines can make me a mean evil bitch.
Haven't thought about the Zoo, but now that I'm getting a second Gangrel, that's not a bad idea...
Some suggestions from one of my local librarians (seriously, friendly as hell, but after hearing these, remind me never to piss her off...):
As the Gangrel seems to enjoy "marking" his victims (he only had one in-game, but he took her lipstick and wrote his name on her forehead), the Prince should likewise mutilate the Gangrel. It isn't permanent, but only the Prince can remove the scar. I'm thinking of burning a K on his forehead.
The Malkavian gets treated even worse, as his intentions were worse. No, he doesn't get slain. His punishment is worse, still. He gets chained down to a wall in a basement, beaten (all but forcing him to spend blood points), and threatened that he'll stay like that for a century. Once he works up a bit of a thirst from healing and trying to escape, the Prince returns with a glass of thick red fluid. He still stays chained for the rest of the night. I may or may not make the blood in the glass be the Prince's own, I'm not sure yet. If that's what I do, the irony of having a potential blood bond to the person you were supposed to kill hopefully won't be lost on the player.
I forget what she suggested to do to the Brujah, but I remember it was just a way to teach proper respect.
I'm not that familiar with the game, but I'd set some kind enemy group in Old Fort Wayne in Detroit.
(//../../e107_files/public/1209137274_392_FT48191_fortwayne.gif)
Seems to be only used by the historical society now. Large, and the site for it has a map of the area. Great place to play hide and seek.
Also, the Arab american national museum is in Detroit, and I was wondering if any of the participants in the areas might be seeking some orignal Arab artifacts?
Well, the killer had his head branded, and the assassin was locked away. Turns out, the Prince didn't need to do anything to the Brujah thug, as that chapter of the story was enough to scare him (I do want to mention some of the more intense points later. It was a very good session). there's also a new character, a female Gangrel, who joined after trying to pose as one of the Prince's guards. (we ran a little one-shot prelude game out of boredom, which established that thee new Gangrel already knows the Malkavian. They met in SC)
By the way, I noticed I haven't mentioned any of the PC names yet. The Gangrel killer is Crow, and the Brujah thug is Kafre (pronounced KAW-free). The Malkavian doesn't have a known name yet, though, and I forget off the top of my head the name of the new Gangrel.
I've got some ideas for my next game, whenever that may be. Before I tell what they are, though, I'd like to make a quick comment that I forget to mention. The (still unnamed) Malkavian that I mentioned is actually a retconned version of the Brujah assassin mentioned in the OP.
[spoiler=First Idea]
I'm thinking of playing up on the Malkavian's combo of Auspex and MPD. It's already accepted amongst the party that he hears voices, but it's also accepted that those voices are only in his head. Hopefully,this will allow an unseen, mysterious NPC "agent", of sorts. My original thought was that he'd quote Poe (specifically, a bit of the first paragraph of The Tell-Tale Heart), but I'm currently reading V For Vendetta, and it's inspired me to expand that Idea, having mystery-man use quotes very often. The song Sympathy For The Devil might, eventually, be quoted entirely, even if not all at once, or in order ("who the $%^&^% ARE you?!" "ah ah, use all your well-earned politesse...").[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Second Idea]
This was inspired today, when a friend of mine mentioned that she met a guy who's name is Angel. I, of course, made reference to the character Angel, and then had the idea of cursing somebody the same way Angelus was cursed. I don't know how I'd work this into the game, but I figure the best way to handle it mechanically would be to require Humanity saves as if the character's humanity rating was two dots higher then it really was. That way, they get all the penalties of a higher humanity rating, but none of the benefits.[/spoiler]
I know neither of these, in and of themselves, are really "plots", but they're elements that could add to some plots. I've even got a loose idea of a plot that I can use to introduce the first idea, although I'll post that later.
Isn't thread necromancy redundant when you're already dealing with walking dead?
The Malkavian's name is Edward, and the female Gangrel is Bella. Please, don't try to think about that too much.
Crow has apparently evolved (devolved?) from a killer to a junkie. A "random" encounter (which didn't go half as well as planned, due to Kafre being a tad too... violent) may have established that crack is Crow's drug-of-choice, but knowing the player, he probably isn't too picky...
Anyway, I'm developing more, so more comments and ideas are always welcome!
Unfortunately, I need to return the V:TM book to it's rightful owner sometime this month. I'll still have it at least until the 21st, but sometime between then and the first of next year, I won't have it any longer.
But, there's good news: I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by threatening my dealer with a golf club! I mean... I might be able to introduce my group to GURPS, and pick up a copy of GURPS v:tM, and maybe even a copy of the companion guide. With any luck, this might help us to continue this chronicle, but with any more luck, it might also really increase our gaming options, for a noticeably small amount of currency.
So here's where things stand: Kafre, quite awhile back, got ahold of his own nightclub, which has become the party headquarters. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though, aren't I? Last you know for sure, Edward was still chained up in the basement of the casino, and the Prince was about to mark Crow. It seems she has cavorted with the Tzimisce enough to learn Fleshcraft, allowing her to plunge a thumb into crow's forehead, and disfigure in a K, to let all know what he is. Kafre had managed to escape, while Bella (if memory serves me properly) inspected the building. Kafre had found an abandoned apartment, where he found a steak knife, which he still has. Crow had left, finding some store rubbing his head to hide his fresh new scar as he went to buy a bandanna; he was too afraid to return to the casino after that. Kafre, on the other hand, didn't feel like leaving the others behind, so he went back and rejoined with Bella.
While trying to evad security, the duo made some investigations that led to them discovering a hidden panel in one of the elevators, that had two extra buttons below B: C, and D. After a little thought, they hit D, and Down they went...
(more soon)
A little bit more of the chronicle later in this post, but first, I'd like to toss out a couple NPC ideas. The first one is a new Prince. Male, this time. I'm not sure what more to do with him, so I'm open to suggestions. The other is a powerful Malkavian (diablerist?) named Renfield. For those of you who aren't familiar with him at all, I suggest you read Bram Stoker's Dracula. Good stuff.
~~~
(continued from last post)
... D for Down, and as they found out shortly, D for Dungeon. They left the elevator, and entered a dimly lit corridor, with about a dozen or so doors on either side. As far as the two could tell, the corridor didn't lead anywhere at all. It just had all these closed doors. Most of these doors, although closed, were unlocked. The pair explored a few of the unlocked doors, and found that each had a different rank smell to it, although all of the odors were very easily identifiable as that of death. Of note was one room saturated with the reek of burnt dead flesh. This room had nothing but three large buckets; one with ashes, one with filthy water, and one with a branding iron buried in coals. Kafre decided that the iron might prove useful, and so he took it, before leaving the room. After some more exploring, they came upon a door that seemed heavily locked. They struggled for a bit, then finally managed to open this door, and found Edward stripped and hanging against the wall, from immense chains. He had clearly been beaten hard, and was far from top condition. The only other things in this room were a fluorescent light that had been broken, and a glass of blood in the middle of the floor...
(to be continued)
Ok, after some discussion with SDragon here is what I've come up with. I apologize for anything that doesn't make sense in the context of the game. I've never read/played/touched on V:tM before. This was mostly assembled after a quick purview of wikipedia.
[spoiler=Idea Map](http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/images/4/49/SDragons-VtM2.JPG)[/spoiler]
Alright I'll briefly explain what all the inter-connected things are.
1. Animals released from the zoo murder some kine (humans), these are modified by the New Prince agents to make it look like the Grengral PCs are breaking the Masquerade (what keeps humans from knowing about Vampires)
2. The Gargoyle, a disfigured Nosferatu Vampire drug lord, along with a small cabal of Tremere blood sorcerers has developped a new drug that alters human blood productions (maybe they stop producing blood, or produce copious excess of blood) that has the side-effect of enhancing the magical properties of their blood.
The Ventrue vampire preffered victim choice are affected by this drug so now he's pissed and is working against the Gargoyle and the Tremere sorcerers.
3. The Ventrue is also in a battle trying to keep the surrounding territory in Camarilla hands, the Sabbat have employed several spies to gain this territory for them. (These spies are the New Prince, the Old Prince and a Brujah antitribu [kinda clan-exile])
4. To win this battle in their favor, the New Prince and Ventrue are both trying to gain control of an artifact of great power from the Arabian Museum (mentioned by Vreeg). This artifact is actually the heart of a powerful Assamite vampire (6th or 7th generation). Whoever manages to gain control of this artifact could potentially win the territory conflict out-right.
5. The Brujah antitribu and the Assamite are working together to turn the city into a new Carthage (vampires lived in the open with humans).
The PCs could be drawn into the web in several ways, the most obvious is the plot to frame them for breaking the Masquerade. Running across the new drug could also bring them into the web as well. This leave them in opposition of ether the Ventrue or the Gargoyle, ether way the Sabbat infiltrators are bound to react. The Brujah antitribu is most likely known to Kafre (the PC Brujah) which will bring them into the web in that direction.
The main thing about this is that no matter what the PCs choose to do, or what happens it will have repercussions in every plot hopefully weaving a tangled web of Vampire politics.
Wow, a thoughtmap! I don't think I've ever gotten a thoughtmap for a comment! Thanks!
For those of you who don't understand, this is based off some stuff that's happened much more recently in the game, which I've told Llum about already. In short, the PCs are currently in the zoo, and all of the animals have been let loose. There's definitely more to it then that, but hopefully I'll get to that eventually.