Dark Ages Vampire - Bloodlines

Game Master Dennis Harry

Bloodlines is a continuation of the now defunct table top Dark Ages Vampire game wherein the PC's have created lineal descendants throughout the ages.

Attendees seeking a seat or have a seat in the Inner Circle:

Assamite - Lord Bajazet al Nasir.

Brujah – Lady Meridie de Chancie, Lord Criatas, “Dark”Selena, Robin Leeland.

Cappadocian – Lord Benne.

Gangrel – Milov Petrankov.

Lasombra - Prince Narses the Archbishop of Nod

Malkavian – Antione le Fanu, Lutz von Hohenzollern.

Nosferatu – Cristo Petradon, Simon.

Salubri – Brian Stack.

Setites – Sadir.

Toreador – Rafael de Corazon, Francois Villon, Helene la Jouste.

Tremere - Radek, Mistress Fanchon.

Tzimisce – Myca Vykos.

Ventrue – Alyssa Gilbert, Lady Jadviga Almanov, Lanzo von Saschen, Prince Alexander.

Remember - only those listed get votes. Of course influencing their Childer can go a long way to getting a vote.

Social Combat:

Let me first thank Sir Dunstan and his excellent Game of Thrones campaign as the inspiration for this rules tweak. A shout out to Vitaliano who also does an excellent job as a player in that campaign.

Game of Thrones has a Social Combat system that, while not translatable directly, I used as inspiration for this campaign.

This is a proposed rules set and I am more than happy to hear feedback from Players before I implement it in full.

Roleplaying is still required to get your point across. However, I think a mechanical system could be beneficial for this scenario, a scenario quite unlike anything I have ever done in a Vampire game before.

Making My Case

To convince a “voter” to side with your Sire, you may roll the following set of Attributes and Abilities:

1. Against someone who is clearly NOT in your favor --- Manipulation+Subterfuge+Politics
2. Against someone who is NEUTRAL – Charisma+Expression+Politics

The difficulty of all rolls is that Cainites Willpower. You will need to score as many successes as they have Willpower to win the contest. Once you engage the voter, you will only have three rounds to make your case and can only attempt do so one time per night.

If you have Presence – Awe or Enrancement, you may attempt to use these powers in conjunction with the above roll. Each success utilizing that Discipline gives you one more success on your total roll.

Beware, failing in using Presence in Elysium can lead to Sanctions by Thomas Brexiano.

Also beware, Cainites may try to turn this system around on you…

But What if Someone Else Tries This on a Voter I just Brought to my Side?

Amount of successes is a key factor here, you will want to score as many success as you can to ensure that a rival does not try to take that vote from you!

Certain NPC’s already believe that others are in their favor and would never change their votes. Those will be the toughest cookies to break.

Note this system cannot be used on:

Your In-Clan rivals, no amount of sweet talking or bribes will change their minds they all want this position badly.

Prince Narses, he simply will not entertain such discourse. Of course, this does not mean you cannot try to get into the ears of one of his Childer to have them speak with him…

Discerning My Quarry’s Intent

How can I tell if someone is for or against me despite what they are saying?

Make a Perception+Empathy+Politics roll.

The difficulty is 10, less that Cainites Humanity score. Those closer to the Beast are much harder to read. For every Century over 300 years that Cainite has lived, the DC will be increased by 1, topping out at 10, as these Cainites have well and truly mastered this game to have existed for so long in the first place.

Once you engage the voter, you will only have three rounds to ferret out their intent and can only attempt do so one time per night. You will need to score as many successes as they have Willpower to ascertain their intent.

If you have Auspex – Read the Soul or Invade the Mind, you may attempt to use these powers in conjunction with the above roll. Each success utilizing that Discipline gives you one more success on your total roll.

How else can I make my case?

The use of Presence, while frowned upon, is much less cause for censure than using Dominate. Dominate does not work on a Cainite whose blood is closer to Caine than your own. If you seek to use Dominate to convince a voter (or perhaps one of the Childer?) to vote for your Sire, it would be best used elsewhere in the city.

Boons – the boon system of quid pro quo can also be used to gain votes. You will need to offer something of course that that voter does not have or cannot get from another candidate.

Eliminate my rivals. This one is obvious though failure to do so without detection may subject YOU to the Final Death!


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Shadow's Status

I have always thought they would be great service dogs.

The only drawback is the shit, oi, that is some serious amount of shit.


Clan Malkavian Blood Pool 19/30

Lol, they make great Balance Service Dogs. That is the general reason I was gonna apply for one specifically being a Great Dane. They would be about perfect for my height and could handle helping me up despite my weight (I'm not overweight or anything but I am however 220lbs.) so if I fall they can help me up. Then the fact that they are well known as the Gentle Giants makes them perfect for the empathy role I would also need them as to help keep me calm in case something freaks me out.


Dogs for certain, I had three but am down to just the two now....


Shadow's Status

How odd, I am also 220 on the nose.

Lot of weird RL coincidences in this thread.

Like naming Alessandro's Paramour Alyssa when his RL wife is named Alyssa.

Sorry for the loss Andrew, terrible to lose a dog, it is definitely like losing a member of the family.


220 as well... lost 30 over last year.

:)


Shadow's Status
Alessandro Khadaji wrote:

220 as well... lost 30 over last year.

:)

Hah, I put on about 10 over the last year, heavy duty weight lifting, my last days in the sun before I become an old man.


213 today, but I have been losing weight the past two weeks. Every summer I go out to the pool, get neck deep in water and jog in place....no sweat!


Shadow's Status
Andrew the Hardy, Lord of Moray wrote:
213 today, but I have been losing weight the past two weeks. Every summer I go out to the pool, get neck deep in water and jog in place....no sweat!

Put those 7 pounds back on! :-)


Clan Malkavian Blood Pool 19/30

Gained a few myself. I am hopefully back into the gym as of Monday now that I got a steroid shot in the back and in my left leg.

Hoping to trim down the pounds myself, I wouldn't mind being back down to my service weight but I think I gained too much muscle on top of fat so we shall see.


Shadow's Status

Will finish the last few updates tomorrow morning before I head to the gym, hitting the wall here!


Clan Malkavian Blood Pool 19/30

Let me know when it is time for Vitaliano to re-enter the scene to negotiate the hostage's fate.


Sorry if I'm holding anything up.

Just spending time with pup.

Catahoula look sorta like miniature Danes. Shape wise. They actually Climb trees. Leopard part.

Compact and strong with the Bulldog/Pitbull mix. Tough bugger, I have to start going to the gym for strength training just to walk her.


Shadow's Status

Vitaliano - Back in action!

Gio - Hmmmm, it seems you may well see the end of your first life and the beginning of your second very quickly!

Alessandro - No worries, you are alone in your scene. I would only be describing the sensation of the change. Nothing further for you this evening besides that.

Andrew - The power that Brian displayed in NOT a power of Valern, it is a Necromancy power :-) of course, you do not know that yet.

ALL please note that if you wish to take an OUT of Clan Discipline upon embrace that I will need to approve it. If your Sire does not posses it or is not willing to teach you, you will have to wait on it.


Storyteller Shadow wrote:

Andrew - The power that Brian displayed in NOT a power of Valern, it is a Necromancy power :-) of course, you do not know that yet.

Obviously, but Andrew would assume it is part of helping mortals pass on, just one he has not heard of yet....


<= is very light weight :)


Shadow's Status
Andrew the Hardy, Lord of Moray wrote:
Storyteller Shadow wrote:

Andrew - The power that Brian displayed in NOT a power of Valern, it is a Necromancy power :-) of course, you do not know that yet.

Obviously, but Andrew would assume it is part of helping mortals pass on, just one he has not heard of yet....

Actually with the revised V20 disciplines I had to check first to make sure ! What used to be Quiets 1 is now Obfuscate 1...


Any XP as a result of this night, embrace?


Shadow's Status

Yep but the night isn't over :-)


Storyteller Shadow wrote:
Andrew the Hardy, Lord of Moray wrote:
Storyteller Shadow wrote:

Andrew - The power that Brian displayed in NOT a power of Valern, it is a Necromancy power :-) of course, you do not know that yet.

Obviously, but Andrew would assume it is part of helping mortals pass on, just one he has not heard of yet....
Actually with the revised V20 disciplines I had to check first to make sure ! What used to be Quiets 1 is now Obfuscate 1...

that happens to be one of those out of clan disciplines I need most...either that or start dressing differently... ; )

Also what rules exist for one PC teaching another a discipline?

Former games I was in was you need at least two dots to teach someone and you could only either be teaching or learning at any one time.


Shadow's Status

You can teach a Discipline with only knowing 1 dot including the physical Disciplines.

The process in game I have never developed it is always something that has happened over downtime.


Shadow's Status

Waiting for a few players to catch up, if they do so I will post updates tonight, otherwise, I will wait till tomorrow to update.

By the end of next week I believe that I will be closing out at least half of the interactions to move on to the next day. A few of you will have some interactions the next day as they are "Meta-plot" important though they will be brief. A few others will have some "by Night" interactions. Other than those, I want to move into full downtime which I will explain further when we get there!

Full play will begin again as the first Camarilla Conclave begins...

Some of you may be thinking the Camarilla is not created for another 200 years. Yeah, I know. This game is not following White Wolf canon.


Storyteller Shadow wrote:
Some of you may be thinking the Camarilla is not created for another 200 years. Yeah, I know. This game is not following White Wolf canon.

I have known that ever since I found out Tremere got ahold of Ravnos....

Unless that is supposed to be a secret....


Shadow's Status

Nope, well not a well kept secret anyway.

Sort of a don't ask don't tell kind of thing.


Just thinking over exactly how I want to respond best for Cristiano.


Shadow's Status

No worries each scene plays out as it must. The long time players must be ecstatic with my recenrecent posting rate. In the past I have had a week go between updates. I think the game has found a nice groove lately.


That came out lame, but it was supposed to indicate trust. :)


Shadow's Status

Revise if you wish to :-) Seemed fine to me.


Stats:
BP(1/1) WP(7/7) Str(2) Dex(4) Sta(2) Cha(3) Man(3) App(5) Per(1) Int(2) Wit(3) | Alrt(1) Ath(3) Brl(1) Car(1) Emp(3) Exp(4) Ldr(1) Sub(3) | Etq(3) Mle(3) Rid(1) Perf(2) Stl(1) | Acd(1) Fin(2) Law(1) Pol(1) Scn(1) |

Sorry for disappearing for a few days. Work really went nuts.


Shadow's Status

Tis ok it happens :-)


Shadow's Status

The Final V20 Dark Ages book has created an Area of Expertise for some Abilities, for example Crafts breaks down to:

Armorsmithing, Blacksmithing, DRessmaking, Woodcarving, Architecture, Masonry. I suppose other areas could exist and we can discuss those possibilities as they interest you. If anyone does not have the books let me know and I will post all options in the Campaign Info tab when I have a moment.

Some of you I am sure have noticed that your nights have ended. A few stragglers that are out and about I hope to have wrapped up within a few days. After that a select few of you will have some "by Day" activities. A select few more will have some "by Night" activities.

Once these last few scenes are complete we will move to full Downtime.

What is Downtime?

Downtime is another term for a system Elysium: The Elder Wars coined Maturation. I will quote:

"In some cases the Storyteller may wish to conduct a chronicle lasting centuries or even millennia. Each story in a Chronicle could take place during a crucial period of a different era in history”.

The book presents two different methods of incorporating maturation into a chronicle or series of chronicles. One is Leaps in Time. I quote:

“Storytellers conducting chronicles that take place over an extended period can take advantage of a technique often used by creators of television shows, films and novels. After the characters complete a given story, the Storyteller determines how much time passes between the end of this story and the beginning of the next story”.

Where the leaps in time are large enough, extra freebie points, coined Maturation points are awarded to the characters.

Venice by Night is the third such installment though only a few of you have played through the others.

Michele Querini’s player played in the first iteration set in England during the siege of England by William the Conquerer. The Chronicle lasted 60 game years with a stint in Paris and Constantinople and the completion of Fountains of Bright Crimson set in Jerusalem and Diablerie Great Britain set, of course, in England.

Michele Querini, Xing Shi, and Michael Santo played in the second iteration set in Venice, Zara and Constantinople. That entire Chronicle was an extended version of the Bitter Crusade product. That Chronicle only last 7 game years.

At that time, the table top game fell apart. That was when I decided to resurrect the game as a Play by Post.

The characters they played and the choices they made have had a direct impact on this Chronicle. In fact, many of those characters are NPC’s in this game. Sadir, Talisman, Alejandro, Radek, and Fahdi. A few others have been mentioned by name including Angelo Giovanni. Still others have yet to be re-introduced.

What does this mean for this Chronicle and moving forward?

Your current characters will have an impact on the history of the “world” as we move forward in time. This Chronicle has lasted quite a bit longer than I would have anticipated as mortals. I did not rush it because I think the roleplaying has been excellent and you have all done a nice job fleshing the development of these characters out. Some of you are newcomers and that is ok, you have all integrated pretty nicely I think.

After the Conclave we will start (maybe) moving forward with the Leaps in Time through the rest of the 1300’s. Though I may kep things in Venice for a bit longer. Once the 1300’s are complete you will each have two options: (1) have your current character embrace your next character, or (2) play a new clan entirely.

As we move forward through the centuries, you will start to all build a portfolio of characters (unless they die of course) where you will retain control over the direction of your former PC’s (though direct control in Real Game time will be handled by me) during Downtime (Leaps in Time). You may find yourselves plotting against yourselves…

I am digressing a bit.

What this means for the current chronicle is that we will leap forward 6-8 days. During that 6-8 days you will be considered to be “instructed” by your sires. This can mean training in new Disciplines by them or their allies, further training in current disciplines, history lessons, or whatever else you would like to accomplish. Other actions and plots will move forward without specifically roleplaying those plots. This may be accomplished by a yes you can or no you cannot do that, a die roll or it may be just setting future plots in motion.

No XP or Maturation points will be awarded during this time but you will be able to take the time to spend XP or any remaining freebie points you still have available. Downtime will be handled in the Gameplay Thread. You may spoil tag your post if you believe it is prudent but I do not plan on doing so unless any of you request it of me.

Any questions?

Silver Crusade

Male Clan Gangrel, Childe of Milov Petrankov - 5'10 Eastern European Male in his early 30's - Willpower: 3/7, Bloodpool: 8/20, 4 per turn, Survivor

Nope. Sounds good to me. As a newcomer, I find the idea intriguing. I'm a long time VtM fan, but I have never had the opportunity to play minus a small handful of times that essentially amount to a single session at most. Also, I gave the game a shout out on our last episode. :P


Shadow's Status

Ah yes, the Midnight Express podcast. One of these days I should join the forums over there. Will have to give a listen.

You will have a significant amount of game time with this Chronicle. Once the Conclave begins, this will become a more traditional Vampire game.


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Shadow's Status

Experience Point Costs

Trait Costs
Area of Expertise 1
New Ability 3
New Discipline 10
New Path (Necro/Thaum) 7
Secondary Path (Nec/Th) Current Rating x4
Blood Sorcery Ritual Rating x2
Attribute Current Rating x4
Ability Current Rating x2
Clan Discipline Current Rating x5
Other Discipline Current Rating x7
Virtue Current Rating x2 (This does not increase
Traits based on that Virtue)
Road Virtues Current Rating x2
Willpower Current Rating
Road Current Rating x2

Rituals - House Rule
A Thaumaturgist or Necromancer may NOT have a Ritual with a Rating higher than their Thaumaturgy or Necromancy score.

Those without Thaumaturgy may still learn Rituals! You need to learn them from a Mentor or a Tome. The rating for rituals if you do NOT have Necromancy or Thaumaturgy is Rating x4.

A non-"magic" wielding lick may NOT have a Ritual with a Rating higher than their Intelligence score.

It made for an interesting twist in my table top game so I offer it as a House rule here for those who wish to pursue it.


Shadow's Status

If you do not have the books, please let me know and I can assist with XP expenditures.


Shadow's Status

FYI Cantor I am listening to the most recent podcast right now. The shout out was fun to listen to just to hear your perspective as to what was going on :-)

Love Mummy BTW. Never had a player play one but I did have a few Mummy NPC's in the past and I may have more in the future.


I currently do not own DA20, but it is on my list of what to get soon. However, as a veteran of almost 20 yrs of VtM and WoD in general, there is little about the game I do not know.


Shadow's Status
Cristiano Lintini wrote:

I currently do not own DA20, but it is on my list of what to get soon. However, as a veteran of almost 20 yrs of VtM and WoD in general, there is little about the game I do not know.

Some of the powers have changed slightly or more than slightly, Mytherceria is one of those powers. Let me know how many levels you plan on taking so I an let you know what Abilities and Attributes you would need the most to make the powers more effective :-)


Clan Malkavian Blood Pool 19/30

I will like the help when it becomes appropriate. The amount of differences from pretty much every other system I have played is a bit daunting. So I will be needing a guiding hand in a manner till I get my floaties puffed up completely.


Storyteller Shadow wrote:

Venice by Night – Tuesday March 11, 1309

Sir Baldemar de Frisia

As you walk the halls and floors you find that only Sir Breyard is unaccounted for. He left a missive that he was journeying to the mainland to follow up on an issue related to the Giovanni...

See you in the morning...

Yeah, already thinking on that, but needed to wait until sun up to make it happen. Where's Lord Andrew? He'll want in on this. If he doesn't answer I may have to force the door to wake him. He won't want to miss this...


tks for the xp table

For the moment i am conserving those gained :)


In the tradition of Captain America... Does Alessandro have access to Potency (Jurgen) and Celerity?


Shadow's Status
Baldemar de Frisia wrote:
Storyteller Shadow wrote:

Venice by Night – Tuesday March 11, 1309

Sir Baldemar de Frisia

As you walk the halls and floors you find that only Sir Breyard is unaccounted for. He left a missive that he was journeying to the mainland to follow up on an issue related to the Giovanni...

See you in the morning...

Yeah, already thinking on that, but needed to wait until sun up to make it happen. Where's Lord Andrew? He'll want in on this. If he doesn't answer I may have to force the door to wake him. He won't want to miss this...

Lord Andrew will be absent from the Way of Kings Inn the next day on business on the mainland :-)


Shadow's Status
Alessandro Khadaji wrote:
In the tradition of Captain America... Does Alessandro have access to Potency (Jurgen) and Celerity?

Alyssa can teach you Potence. One of her Allies would have to teach you Celerity. Though that may come at a price over Downtime :-)


Shadow's Status
Vitaliano da Riva wrote:
I will like the help when it becomes appropriate. The amount of differences from pretty much every other system I have played is a bit daunting. So I will be needing a guiding hand in a manner till I get my floaties puffed up completely.

Over the next two weeks I will update the Campaign tab will ALL Disciplines and their systems.

Vitaliano:
As you already know, Vitaliano is Clan Malkavian. Your Clan Disciplines are Dementation, Auspex and Obfuscate. You happen to have the oldest Sire by age and I believe the second most powerful just by raw Discipline power...


Shadow's Status
Finn Garrety wrote:

tks for the xp table

For the moment i am conserving those gained :)

Ok.

Finn:
You have a unique situation as you will be the ONLY player who will remain a mortal through a portion of the Conclave. Once Embraced though you may want to consider spending some of the XP built up.

Shadow's Status

Wow, 3 botched Courage rolls in the past month.


Maybe it's a sign you should stop putting us in situations that call for them, lol.

More seriously, would spending a Willpower point have any useful effect?


Shadow's Status

If I don't this will just be a Mortals campaign!

No, no need to spend the Willpower, this is not a life or death situation. Well at least not for Cristiano anyway :-)


Shadow's Status

Just a little run down on Disciplines for those of you not as familiar with the setting.

Disciplines like other checks are tested with one Attribute and one Ability. The difficulties for actions are generally set by the Disciplines specific description. In many cases blood and/or willpower must be used to fuel a Discipline.

The Physical Disciplines:
Celerity - Speed and Extra Actions.
Potence - Tests of Strength and Extra Combat Damage.
Fortitude - Toughness and Extra Soaking Damage (required to soak certain forms of damage).

Common Disciplines:
Animalism - Control over animals.
Auspex - Sight beyond sight.
Dominate - Power of the mind of another (Vampires of stronger blood than yours are resistant to Dominate).
Obfuscate - The ability to hide from others.
Presence - Power over the emotions of others.

I call these the common Disciplines as more than one Clan has access to them.

Restricted Disciplines:
Chimerstry - Power to create illusions.
Dementation - Power to induce madness in others.
Necromancy - Power over death (and in some cases the restless dead).
Obtenebration - Power over Darkness.
Protean - The power to change shapes.
Quietus - Power to weaken the blood of your foes rendering them vulnerable.
Serpentis - Corruption and the power of the serpent.
Thaumaturgy - Blood magic.
Vicissitude - Ability to craft flesh and bone.

These are Disciplines that only 1 Clan (and an occasional Bloodline)has mastery over and they generally guard those secrets carefully. Thaumaturgy is especially closely guarded by the Tremere.

Beyond these powers are others possessed by Bloodlines and Cainite Mystics. You may or may not encounter Cainites with these powers as the story moves along.


Shadow's Status

By the end of the weekend I should have all Disciplines listed in the campaign tab for ease of reference.

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