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!


1,551 to 1,600 of 2,837 << first < prev | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | next > last >>

Shadow's Status

Social Combat Reposted - Note it is now in a link at the top of the page for easy reference!

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!


Shadow's Status

To refresh your recollection - 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.


Shadow's Status

Social Combat Per Player:

Alessandro:
You have made a case with Simon. Though only initial probing.
You have also begun the process with Lord Bajazet but a gaffe gave you a setback.

Andrew:
No need to politick, Brian is secure. The Road of Heaven influence that appears to have captured Narses may cause others to seek Brian’s vote and by extension, your ear.

Bagrat:
You do not have a horse in this race but as you move closer to Narses, some Cainites may want to get to know you better and not just to taste your blood!

Dunstan:
Lady Meridie is keeping tight lipped about support with the exception of the Ventrue where she wants to support Alyssa and by extension Mithras but quietly. Perhaps she wants to see what you think instead of influencing your decisions?
You spent a great deal of time with Bajazet, you doubt the other Brujah will do so, though you did not make any rolls so no guarantees there.
Initially Ranerius seemed on your side now he seems aloof. Certainly, Rafael and his Childe Bassanio are courting your vote!

Lorenzo:
You are a King maker not a contender. As such others must Court you! Lord Benne has shown that he is perhaps the most powerful Elder present next to Narses, you will likely be popular the next few nights.

Michael:
You are currently speaking with Narses, after that you are going to have to start making nice with some Vampires, much like Game of Thrones, you win or you die in this scenario.

Michele:
No one wants to talk to Serpents. That being said, they will have to come to you sooner or later, Sadir has a vote and he just showed some Influence as well. You will want to push for support for Michael and Radek though your own power and influence are directly affected if they win over Fachon.

Onfroi:
You have not made any rolls as of yet. Petradon wishes to support the following Cainites: Brujah - Dark Selina (this will keep the Brujah weak and disorganized), Toreador - Helene though you should continue to Court Francois if they seem to believe you are on their side - she is the most qualified, Malkavian - Antoine - the more sane of the two options, Tremere - Mistress Fanchon - Cristo cannot abide by a renegade, Ventrue - Lady Jadviga Almanov - it would not do to have a Methuselah directly in indirectly making decisions on this Council.

Ranerius:
You believe that you have successfully swayed Lady Meridie to your side!
You have not made any further rolls on anyone else though you have interacted with others, most notably Lord Benne and Lord Bajazet.
Francois wants Alyssa (with Alexander as a back-up plan) for Ventrue, Lady Meridie for the Brujah, Le Fanu for the Malkavians but he still would like your input on that one. For Tremere you have not discussed it yet as this madness just blew up!

Vitaliano:
You have made some headway with Rafael though you are not certain you have been 100% successful in doing so perhaps another hard push will get you there.
You have created a bond with Alexander which you assume will extend to voting.

Xing you are apolitical and just don’t care one way or another.

Luca and Durdona, soon enough you will be embroiled in this one way or another!


Shadow's Status

Now I will start the actual In Game posts.


Shadow's Status

A quick reminder. All discussion I/C unless explicitly stated to be otherwise is in Italian.


Shadow's Status

Not bad 20 posts in 80 minutes.

I'll be back and posting again on the 6th.


DM:
i figured as much :) I rather take the long road to the climb anyway :)


Did we lose Giovanni, Bajazet's childe? Does Alessandro see Bajazet?


Shadow's Status
Alessandro Khadaji wrote:
Did we lose Giovanni, Bajazet's childe? Does Alessandro see Bajazet?

Giovanni is now an NPC, you can interact with him and yes Bajazet is there.


Nice, guess it's social combat any time soon.


Shadow's Status

Big update tonight, life has been busy!


Shadow's Status

Updates tomorrow.


Storyteller shadow

Spoiler:
I intend to vote as the elder or as Brian directs, do you see any problem with that?


Shadow's Status

Yep Andrrw, slight problem, you get no vote! :-)

Remember, only your Sires get votes. Of course you can all influence and be influenced by your Sires and other attendees. Your recommendations will bear weight but ultimate decisions are being left to the Elders.

After all, don't they know better? :-)

Or is this all a facade as some here have already hinted at if not outright stated - Robin Leeland comes to mind.


Shadow's Status

Updates tomorrow night.


Gangrel Blood Pool 13/10

Not sure if any you are interested, but seeing as this is a Vampire game, thought some might be interested.

Vampire the Masquerade Humble Bundle Deal


Clan Malkavian Blood Pool 19/30

Hmm...I don't even know what to say about that roll...? I mean is a failure?

I still am not a 100% sure on how successes are counted. (Well, I shouldn't say that, I mean anything on the die above the DC which I won't know what the target is on this such thing but do 1's remove from successes? And if so, does it remove tens first? If I use a point of Willpower, does it count as a 10 or a 7?)


Shadow's Status

Another big update tonight.


Need anything from Alessandro, before the update? Don't want my short sighted-ness or absent minded-ness keep us from moving along.

^V^


Shadow's Status

FYI, I will be off of the boards on Wednesday and likely Thursday due to my daughters impending surgery. Likely I will be distracted with hospital visit and aftercare those days.


I hope all goes well for her.


Clan Malkavian Blood Pool 19/30

I too hope as well, and will likely be off board till you return due to no internet for a few days while myself and the wife setup our new place


Best wishes!


Gangrel Blood Pool 13/10

You have my thoughts.


Shadow's Status

Thanks guys! I will try to get one last update out tonight if I run out of time it will be Friday.

Soon a call will come to gather for the lecture of Brian on the Road of Heaven so you will all be pulled into the same scene for a bit (well except those of you who play hooky!)


Good luck to her DM


Male Nosferatu 6th Generation; BP 28/30, xp saved: 0, spent 155

Well I never! Hooky is such an affront, I would rather it be called creative outsourcing to a seperate task by the seneshal.


Shadow's Status

Wow, you guys did some serious posting while I was out of action, updates forthcoming!


Shadow's Status

I won't be able to get to all of the updates tonight. I will finish the balance of those I do not get to tonight, tomorrow.


Cool, here...


Shadow's Status
Durdona Checheg wrote:
What's the roll for init? I'm away from my book.

Note that I have some rules on the Campaign Info tab, if you are away from your books you can check there to see if a rule has been posted, that one I posted as it is VERY different than it used to be! Note as well that ALL Discipline systems are there as well, linked through profile I created to warehouse that information.


Shadow's Status

Updates Thursday to give everyone a chance to catch up to my latest rounds of posts.


Clan Malkavian Blood Pool 19/30

Apologies, part of life caught up with me and it's been difficult to get around to the posting and such. I thought I had posted but maybe the internet gobbled it up or maybe it was a hallucination. Either way, apologies for not posting sooner.


Shadow's Status

NO worries Vitaliano, my wife was sick all weekend so it limited my posting as well.

I will do a big update tomorrow. This heat has been sapping my energy late at night lately!


Shadow's Status

As you can see, I am gathering most of you together to be in the same scene for some time.

A few of you will or have, gone off alone with Elders. Madness I say Madness! :-)


Male Italian (Toreador)

Apologies folks, this weekend we had surprise guests for a few days.
And today, the internet went down and did not want to return in our area. I'll try catch my Toerador up tomorrow


Male Nosferatu 6th Generation; BP 28/30, xp saved: 0, spent 155

I would rather get manipulated and mind screwed by a methuselah then attend a lecture on the road of heaven...

Wait was that my outload voice?


Onfroi wrote:
I would rather get manipulated and mind screwed by a methuselah then attend a lecture on the road of heaven...

The time has come!


Shadow's Status

Big update tomorrow night.


Freakin'... HUGE! :)


Shadow's Status

The guests that would not leave struck again last night. Updates tonight.


You had guests, that's good! Life is better with guests!


Shadow's Status

Mid-day Magic Tournament then my wife's friends were over and over-stayed their welcome!


Life is better with guests, that you don't have to remind them they are guests and overstay their welcome :) just had one for the weekend...


Shadow's Status

FYI, I will be packing and moving and then unpacking again over the next 35 - 40 days so if I have intermittent unexplained absences from the boards this is why.


Shadow's Status

Barring some catastrophe, updates tonight!

Oh and you each earn 1 XP for the night so far.


Storyteller Shadow wrote:
FYI, I will be packing and moving and then unpacking again over the next 35 - 40 days so if I have intermittent unexplained absences from the boards this is why.

Or at least what your Methuselah overlord wants us to think....


Family vacation, 3 generations... Herding cats!


Shadow's Status

Don't worry Bagrat, I will get back to you soon I just want to push some of the other scenes forward first!


Take your Time DM... i am in no hurry :)

1,551 to 1,600 of 2,837 << first < prev | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Online Campaigns / Play-by-Post Discussion / Dark Ages Vampire - Bloodlines All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.