Vampire: The Danse Macabre (The Final Nights of Pendros)

Game Master Goblins Eighty-Five

"Life's not a song. Life isn't bliss, life is just this, it's living. You'll get along, The pain that you feel, you only can heal by living. You have to go on living,"
-Spike, Once more with feeling


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Setting Synopsis:
Located deep in the Rocky Mountains is the town of Pendros. Long ago it was known as Silvertop, a silver mining town primarily made up of Mexican and Chinese miners. It was almost lost to history when the United States no longer supported the Silver Standard, had it not been for an inventive miner named Lorenzo Pendros, who perfected a method using magnets and heat to purify the surrounding mountain's considerable Zinc deposits. This saved the mining town, and was renamed Pendros in Lorenzo's honor.
In the 1940's a considerable amount of Uranium was also found near Pendros. In addition to bringing in more business to the town, Pendros's mayor, Alex Runner, opened up a University dedicated to mining, refining, and researching the material. To encourage growth, he was able to pass an initiative to allow gambling within the city. The tax revenue was invested into the school, and even though gambling was outlawed again in the 1970's , Pendros University had established a name for itself.

Tonight, in the year 2038, Pendros is now known for being the place for the growth of the cybernetic industry, home to both Barkovia Industries and Thinkbest. (BI makes cheap cybernetic devices and software, and also specializes in transportation technology. Thinkbest is like the Apple of cybernetics, and is sleek, expensive, and overly hyped.) Pendros is also known for it's Casino scene, reopened in 2024, nightclubs, college, and tourism related to the outdoors. It also more well known because it lies on an huge ley line intersection, making it a number one destination for the supernatural world. It's most notable feature is that the city is located on top of miles and miles of natural caverns, the largest and most developed section of these caverns are known simply as 'Underpendros' where the people of the supernatural world can live without the masquerade.

The city's dark ruler is a Vampire Queen who came into power in 2009. While her real name is unknown, she goes by Sasha Fierce, a name that elects a giggle from those who know the reference, but do not know of Sasha's power and influence. Sasha, a Zelani Carthian who overthrew the previous vampire prince, Alexander Runningwater, she lives it up in the city's nightclubs, and is actually known for allowing quite a few breaches of the old laws to go unpunished. Meanwhile, the Kindred rule the city, and even the least powerful vampire has some sort of economic control. And they have the supernatural population in their grasp, using werewolves as hunters and bodyguards, changelings as servants, mages as their grand architects, sin-eaters as pest control, the list goes on and on. And as for the Kine, they are now zombies to corporate control. They live in corporate housing, go to corporate schooling, live and die by private law. The public sector is virtually non-existent.

This is the way it is, and this is the way it has been for many nights.

Many say that this cannot continue. Many say that a change is coming. Many say that soon, the Kindred must pay for their abuses.

But the Kindred laugh and just take another sip.

"I remember it like it was yesterday, before our current sadness, before the dead wouldn't rest, before the end of days. Back when the night was a time of eternal bliss, back when we all 'lived' in prosperity. But those were the final days of prosperity, those were the final days of joy, those were the final days of our 'innocence'. Those...

Those were the Final Tales of Pendros,"

This is the recruitment thread for Final tales of Pendros. It uses a rules variant on Vampire: The Requiem using WoD hacks, and pulls elements from Vampire: The Masquerade using the Vampire Translation guide's suggestions on mechanics and storylines. I won't be using bloodlines in this game; yes, Zelani are a bloodline normally, but this game won't be using that particular mechanic. See campaign information to learn how to make your character.

Here is a quicklist of the Clans available to play. I will list how they interact with the setting in campaign information.

Clans:
Vampires belong to one of a number of clans. While an individual vampire does not choose her clan, the clan that she belongs to make certain assumptions and statements about her. The stereotypes about clans extend to what sort of person a given vampire might Embrace, and are reinforced by the clans&rsquo; weaknesses and selection of innate Disciplines. The history of the clans is fragmentary as best. Each has several myths about their own origins, and these myths usually suggest that each clan is a different, if similar, kind of monster. The common origin of the Kindred is that they all come from humanity, rather than a single supernatural force.

The Clans:
*Brujah-Passionate, outspoken, and individualistic. Nicknames: The Rabble, Warrior-Poets
*Daeva-Emotional, sensual and desirable. Nickname: Succubi, Addicts
*Gangrel-Primal, hardy and savage. Nickname: Savages, Outlanders
*Giovanni-Respectable, genteel, and necromancers. Nickname: Necromancers, The Family
*Malkavian-Prophetic, psychotic, and adaptable. Nickname: Lunatics, Oracles
*Mehket-Quick, discreet and wise. Nickname: Shadows, Rogues
*Nosferatu-Quick, discreet and wise. Nickname: Haunts, Sewer Rats
*Pastularii- Wannabe, glamorous, and unbearable. Nickname: Posers, Admirers
*Toreador-Artistic, hedonistic, and visionaries. Nickname: Patrons, Degenerates
*Tzimisce-Rational, scientific, and inquisitive. Nickname: Fiends, Modders
*Ventrue-Regal, commanding and aristocratic. Nickname: Lords, Blue Bloods
*Zelani-Lucky, impulsive, and ambitious. Nickname: Lucky Stiffs, Blessed


Here is a quicklist of the Covenants available to play. I will list how they interact with the setting in the Campaign information.

Covenants:
Vampires are not solitary predators.

Oh, they like to think they are. Hell, some of them are downright proud of it:the lone survivor, the rogue hunter, the wild animal stalking the veldt.

It’s b@!%$+!#. Vampires need one another, whether they like it or not. (Hey, the Danse Macabre isn’t much of a dance when you have one pathetic vampire shaking his money-maker in the middle of an empty warehouse.) It’s why vampires gather in coteries. It’s why they engage in the political process in the city.

And it’s why they join covenants.

The Covenants
* The Circle of the Crone venerates a variety of female figures as an amalgamated creator of vampires, the Mother of all Monsters. Nickname: The Acolytes
*The Camarilla are concerned with maintaining the Masquerade and keeping Kindred society as a whole safe. Nickname: The Inquisitors
*The Carthians seek to reconcile Kindred society with modern governmental structures and social systems. Nickname: The Young Turks
*The Children of the thorns believe that all vampires came from a powerful Fae known to them as Bloody Mary, a spirit who never was truly alive, and never truly died. They travel to her realm through the use of mirrors. Nickname: The Cryptwalkers
*The Invictus is the aristocracy of the night. Nickname: The First Estate
*The Lancea Sanctum seeks to influence Kindred society with the strictures of Longinus, who believe to have been turned into one of the Damned by the very blood of Christ. Nickname: The Sanctified
*The Lasombra, like the Sabbat, believe that all vampires are descended from Cain. The difference is that they do not give into the beast, nor do they reject it. They believe that vampires are destined to rule the night, and all of humanity, and that the embrace is Caine’s blessing. Nickname: The Keepers
*The Ordo Dracul commands rituals and mystical knowledge that allows the Kindred to transcend their vampiric states. Nickname: The Dragons
*The Tremere believe that all vampires are descended from mages, who were cursed for their excessive and irresponsible use of magic, and that they know how to tap into this ancient power. Nickname: The Warlocks


Dott :-)

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Alright, if I do this again (taking all night to type out documentation) during the holidays, she'll kill me. So, character creation is up, but more specifics about the setting might take some time. Please feel free to ask me any questions about the setting, because it will help me flesh out those elements my players will find most important to them, and I can either ignore or only lightly touch on those elements which my players don't care about.


Can vampires use cybernetics? What if they had devices implanted before they were embraced?

How does the occlusion effect of the masquerade impact a vampire in 2038? If there's the ubiquitous surveillance common in most cyberpunk settings, then vampires will be very obvious. What about use of everyday technology? For a modern example, a vampire would have a difficult time using a kinect with the rules as written. What happens when most social interactions involve motion capture and augmented reality?


IFL. :)

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loimprevisto wrote:
Can vampires use cybernetics? What if they had devices implanted before they were embraced?

For the price of a single Vitae, the vampire's cybernetic devices work for an entire scene. Vamps with devices before the embrace have no problem keeping them, vamps that get them installed afterwards must spend a permanent dot of willpower (and vitae) to have them 'take'; one dot per device installed. Most people in this setting have ocular implants, subcutaneous cell phones, and vehicular control devices, and such things became commonplace about three years ago, and were about as common as smartphones are now 6 years previous to that.

loimprevisto wrote:
How does the occlusion effect of the masquerade impact a vampire in 2038? If there's the ubiquitous surveillance common in most cyberpunk settings, then vampires will be very obvious. What about use of everyday technology? For a modern example, a vampire would have a difficult time using a kinect with the rules as written. What happens when most social interactions involve motion capture and augmented reality?

We change how occlusion works. The image capturing devices do pick up an image of the vampire, but don't permanently record them. Also, the Carmilla work hard to keep the Masquerade under wraps, and most security firms are controlled by them. Additionally, Barkovia industries, whose CEO is a Ventrue, has most of the city's security needs under their hat.


Alright. A ton of reading later, time to get started on the char creation. I wont have time tomorrow (obv) but should sporadically over the weekend.

Mind elaborating more on the cybernetics? Its not in any of the materials, so is this just off-the-cuff stuff? As long as we keep it reasonable?

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Volty wrote:

Alright. A ton of reading later, time to get started on the char creation. I wont have time tomorrow (obv) but should sporadically over the weekend.

Mind elaborating more on the cybernetics? Its not in any of the materials, so is this just off-the-cuff stuff? As long as we keep it reasonable?

WHAT? Unacceptable! :p

Seriously though, tell ya what, I'll put the information up for the Cyberpunk Device merit, albeit without edits, under campaign information. If it isn't something game breaking, like the aforementioned ocular implants, subcutaneous cell phones, and vehicular control devices, (another is a microchip that contains their driver's license and credit card information and, as long as it was installed in the last ten years before their embrace, doesn't even cost Vitae to use.) you don't have to have it with the merit's cost. On another note, the popular item that people use in the setting is the 'computer gauntlet' that should be self explanatory, but can project simple holographic images, or link to the ocular implant, can contain tons of data, can link using both a physical interface or wirelessly.

Another note about cybernetic stuffs, the two competing companies, Barkovia Industries and Thinkbest are separate for these reasons:
Barkovia is cheap, well, cheap for the average user. The battery power lasts a long time, because it uses hardwired connections and doesn't waste resources on design (looking pretty).
Thinkbest is easily the Apple of Cyberdevices. It is sleek and expensive, and sometimes, you can't even see them upon/in a person. They use wireless connections, making them easy to use, but they use battery power quickly.


From step 7:

Quote:
Additionally, you can put ranks into your Masquerade and Requiem when you purchase merits or through spending experience points.

What does this mean? What is the effect of ranks in these?


Quote:
Select Skill Specialties, your character’s focused areas of expertise: Take 4 Skill Specialties of your choice. You can assign each how you like, whether each to a separate Skill or all three to a single Skill. There is no limit to how many Specialties can be assigned to a single Skill. You can also stack these on top of each other up to three times, giving you more dots in the specialty.

Should we pick 3 or 4 specialties?

Quote:
Guile (the lowest of Wits or Manipulation), Nerve (Composure + Highest Social Skill), Dominance (Presence + Manipulation)

I guess I'm behind the times when it comes to WoD... what are these new derived traits?

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from phone, fyi:

Q 1: I will post these up, albeit editless, with cyberdevice merit.

Q 2: think of these as dots; you get 4 specialty dots; you cannot put more than 3 dots into any one specialty, although you can spend all four specialty dots in the same skill.

Q 3: these work for social conflict (aka social combat). think of them as, in order: defense, initiative, health.


Done with all of the numbers side except for the traits. I'm going to sleep on it and see what I can come up with tomorrow.

Is there room in the city/clan hierarchy for high status dots? Could I grab a 3/4 dot job in either or both, or are those positions spoken for by NPCs?

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Queen Sasha's administration is clumsy; the only positions not open is Senchal (sp?), Primogen of the Invictus, Master of Elysium, and Sheriff. Venture have no clan cohesion/loyalty so that isn't much of an option, although that could make an interesting character goal. I haven't filled in the other positions yet.

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I have done what I said I'd do


I think I'm going to blow my trait dots on status, with 4 each in Requiem and Masquerade and one in Invictus. On the mortal side of things, he's a media mogul with his finger on the city's pulse and at least a passing acquaintance with most people of influence. Amongst the vampires, he's working his way into the court's good graces. He has made himself indispensable to several middle-level functionaries, and rivals the Harpy for influence.

That doesn't leave very much for the trappings of status, I figure a single dot in sanctuary. A string of bad investments forced him to declare bankruptcy recently, and his prestige with the invictus suffered as a result. He already has plans in motion to get back what was lost (and then some). Richard has his eye on the Bruja, and if he finds out his setback was the result of someone's deliberate actions against him... well, Ventrue never lose.


I'd like to play a Toreador Carthian.

I've owned WOD books for a long time now, and I have both Vampire: the Masquerade and Vampire: the Requiem, but I have yet to have the opportunity to use them, and I've mostly read the fluff but not the rules. To create my character, what stuff do I have to do different than with a normal NWOD character?


Check out the "Campaign Info" tab at the top of the thread. Normally I'd sat to make the mortal from the core book, then apply the changes of the vampire template and the campaign bonuses... but there's enough of a difference here that it's best to just take things step-by-step as Goblins 85 presented it


Richard Twidwell wrote:
Check out the "Campaign Info" tab at the top of the thread. Normally I'd sat to make the mortal from the core book, then apply the changes of the vampire template and the campaign bonuses... but there's enough of a difference here that it's best to just take things step-by-step as Goblins 85 presented it

How did I not notice that?


This is Kelsey MacAilbert. I have my character completed. All the information is on my profile. Is it all right that I got her fighting styles from the Armory and Armory Reloaded?

I decided to make her a Gangrel, not a Toreador.

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@Richard:

I may have missed something, but I believe your Initiative should be 4, not 5.

This is my bad for listing it with character creation incorrectly, but it is Humanity, not Morality.

For politics (local), choose either Kine or Kindred local politics. Either is important to the game, but are diffrent enough from each other they need definition.

I'm not sure what you're asking me as far as merits go, so why not just purchase them, and we can go from there.

I also need a paragraph of description and a paragraph of background, but it looks like you have something in mind.

Natasha, you're next!

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@Natasha:

Gangrel receive an extra dot in either Composure or Stamina. Since you took Combat Style (Combat Marksman), without the needed 3 dots in Composure, you could bump up that one, and you'd be golden.

Make Academics [Russian and Canadian Military History] just Academics [History] or Academics [Tactics].

Another specialty I'm wondering about is Athletics [long distance marching]; I think that'd be better stated as Athletics [Endurance].

One last specialty: redefine Empathy [Recognizing stress related mental issues] to Empathy [Psychiatric assessment]

I know I've broadened those for you, but they were so specific before that I doubt they'd get used. I'm viewing this with the lens of a television show: your training in a field gave you incredibly broad knowledge instead of the more realistic specific knowledge such training would give in RL.

Defense is the LOWEST of Dex or Wits. Change it to a 2.

As I told Richard, this is my bad for listing it in character creation incorrectly, but it is Humanity, not Morality.

Alright, looks good otherwise!


Here's my submission (volty).

G85, take a look, let me know what I messed up, lol.


I fixed my character. I also switched out Iron Stamina for Quick Draw (melee weapons). This is so that I can floor an opponent with Aikido and then follow up with a knife strike or whip out a weapon when suddenly forced into close combat.

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I'm just letting you know now Natasha, for the most part, (note: Most Part) any combat you get into in this game will be on your own head. Unlike Masquerade, which was a bit more action/mission oriented, this game is really more of your own initiative and social; sandbox all the way. I guess that there are indeed missions (favors and action portions), but you'll even have to snoop out those on your own. That said, it'd be good that at least one person is good at Combat.
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On the long way home without internet, I jotted down the queen's laws, persons of interest in Pendros (I wasn't sure what you'd like to know, so I left most of them pretty blank) and population numbers. I'll get those up soon.

Volty, I have some things to do, and then I'll review your character.


That's cool. I don't plan to go out looking for fights. I just want to be prepared if violence ends up occurring.


@Volty: One thing I noticed, it looks like you missed the free specialization from your masquerade role.


I thought I might have missed that. I had one more and then thought I made a mistake.

@Natasha - my char is somewhat battle oriented so if you want to pit pts into something else feel free. or not if it fits your bg. :)

ill update when I get home.

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Threw the Queen's Laws up.

I think the titles are giggle worthy.

If you are wondering, the whole game is pulled from a previous one I ran in 2009 where the players sought to overthrow the prince. The player of Sasha Fierce was/is way into Gaga, so thus, she named all of her own laws.

After pop songs.

Pendros in 2038 is what I imagine almost 30 years of such a vampire's reign looks like.

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@Natasha:
Seeing the flub on specialty assingment with Thomas, I suddenly remember you not having enough specialties as well; you get one more. Throw that on up!
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@Thomas:
You have one more skill point to assign, and as was mentioned, you are missing one more specialty; since you already assigned a specialty to one your masquerade skills, you can place it anywhere.

Your masquerade gives you both of the listed skills as assests

Your plugin would be (Wits+Composure), or any (Wits+Relevant skill) made for Perception. See page 45 of the core book for more rules on Perception.

Okay, this sounds REALLY picky, but Guile, Defense, and Dominance aren't dot based advantages. And fast reflexes grants a +1, not a dot.

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@Everyone: I feel like a silly billy; I forgot to ask for a character goal, and when you were embraced. If you aren't sure, then that's fine, but if you do have one, throw it on up. Additionally, Natasha and Thomas, you've made, in some ways, similar characters, though it looks like Natasha is going more combat and Thomas might go more...well, let's be honest, more Tzimisce. I don't mind, I just don't want anyone angry if someone steps on another person's toes. That said, a great coterie tie might be that Natasha is working with Thomas as an EMT. How Richard ties in, I'm not as sure. But, as long as you guys work out your characters kinks, you're all approved! After we bang out the last dents in yer characters, I'll open a discussion thread and gameplay thread.

Recruitment IS still open, should anyone else care!


Natasha's a fledgling, and her current goal is to figure out her place in vampire society.

I could see Natasha allying with Thomas if not necessarily working for him. The party should be able to handle two medics, and he's more mental while she's more combat due to her military training. Simply put, she saw combat and all it's related horrors during her time in the military, and while she was a medic and not a riflewoman, she did fire her weapon in battle. She may be a fledgling, but she'd seen blood and death and taken people's lives (as well as saved quite a few) before she was embraced, and that experience gives her an edge over fledglings who hadn't seen battle before becoming vampires.


Will edit now. Finally home.

I know they're not dots, but I had the little symbol on ctrl-v and got a little excited.

As to char stuff, I didnt even look at yours lol dumb. Mental is a good way of putting it. Tom's had 3 years since the embrace, and he spent those learning his combat skills the hard way, trial and error, with some very weak tutoring from the one who turned him. Prior to that, aside from some time spent in the boy scouts, no training at all. Kinda geeky.

I dont mind turning that less combat & changing the requiem bit.

[edit]Done! Threw up an avatar too. Alright, heading out. Let me know if anything else needs editing.

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@Thomas:

*Giggles* Where Natasha was too specific, now you're too general! Saying you have a specialization in the internet in 2038 is like saying you specialize in computers, in computers. You'll need to be more specific; Site Design? Advertising? Research? Administration? Policing? Hacking? Add internet in front of any of those. Or come up with something I haven't thought of. Also, the internet in 2038 more closely resembles Reboot or Tron than anything we have now, although the RL modern format is still widely used as well.

For your requiem, you listed medicine twice for healer; it's Empathy and Medicine.

Also, I think you might need this:

Vicissitude:

Vicissitude can be found on p. 185-187 of Vampire: The Masquerade. Many uses of this Discipline use the Engineering Skill, but the character requires a
specialty in Body Engineering to make full use of it. Using Vicissitude without this Specialty imposes a –2 penalty on the appropriate roll.
Alterations resulting from Vicissitude are permanent. Vampires can heal these alterations as though
they were aggravated damage, while mortals require
corrective surgery. Uses of this power to inflict dam-age do heal, but leave noticeable scars. A Tzimisce
can make a Nosferatu look more human, but this
wears off an hour after the work is completed.
• Malleable Visage: Changing the vampire’s form
requires a roll of Dexterity + Engineering + Vicissitude and
the expenditure of one Vitae per body part changed.
Impersonating another person requires a Wits +
Subterfuge roll. The character can grant herself the
Striking Looks Merit using this Discipline. Doing
so requires the expenditure of a Willpower point,
and imposes a –2 or –4 penalty depending on which
version of the Merit she is trying to gain.
•• Flesh Crafting: Using this power in combat re-quires the character to grapple the target (p. 157
of the World of Darkness Rulebook), and this
makes fine manipulation impossible. The character
can disfigure a character fairly easily, imposing a
–2 penalty on Social rolls depending on physical
appearance. The character can also inflict organ
damage, using this power as an attack inflicting
lethal damage. Given time, the vampire can shift
flesh and muscle, reordering a target’s Physical At-tributes as she sees fit.
Using this power for quick and dirty alterations is
an instant action (Dexterity + Engineering + Vicissitude
– Stamina). Using it to bestow Striking Looks or
reordering Attributes is an extended action using the
same dice pool (each roll is one hour of work, three
successes per dot moved or level of Striking Looks
bestowed). The power requires one Vitae.
••• Bone Crafting: The character can alter the tar-get’s bones. Used as an attack, the roll is Dexterity
+ Medicine + Vicissitude – Defense, and inflicts
3L damage. The character can also cause a target’s
rib cage to move inward, piercing the heart. This
imposes an additional –5 to the roll, but instantly
kills a mortal target. Against vampires, it halves the
target’s Vitae pool in addition to inflicting lethal
damage normally.
Used to alter, the character can give a target (or
himself) bony spikes on his knuckles or quills from
anywhere on the body. Either application inflicts one
point of lethal damage. This requires an extended
action (one hour per roll, target is three success for
knuckle spikes or five for quills). The roll is Dexterity + Engineering + Vicissitude – Stamina. Knuckle spikes
inflict 1L damage, and quills inflict two points of
lethal damage per turn during a grapple, or one point
of lethal damage to anyone making a barehanded
attack on the character.
Clever players will doubtless come up with other
uses for this power, and the Storyteller should use
these systems as a guideline.
•••• Horrid Form: The player spends two
Vitae to awaken the horrid form. All Physical Attributes increase by two, while any Social actions
other than Intimidation automatically fail. The
character also grows bony spikes from his hands,
which inflict 2L damage.
••••• Bloodform: The character can liquefy his
physical form, turning part or all of it into a pool of
blood. If the character changes part of its body into
a pool of blood, the player determines how many
Vitae points that part is “worth.” The blood can
move on its own, and the vampire can see through
the blood, manipulate objects as though the blood
had Strength 1, and slip into the mouths of sleep-ing individuals to create a Vinculum. If the pool
is destroyed, the vampire can regrow the missing
part by expending Vitae equal to the amount that
the part was “worth.” If the vampire liquefies his
entire body, he can move and behave as described
for Tenebrous Form, above. He is likewise immune
to physical damage, except for damage caused by
fire or sunlight.


Quote:
I'm not sure what you're asking me as far as merits go, so why not just purchase them, and we can go from there.

I was giving some background on the story reason why I don't have the dots in resources or sanctuary. Resources are the first thing I'll be acquiring once play starts.

I finished the background and description... I went over one paragraph. Sorry! I generally only have a few nebulous ideas about my character's personality and background, it doesn't "click" for me until I write it down. Also fixed the initiative, humanity, and specialization.

Richard has been getting by with a variety of electronic gadgets and accessories for the past few years, but he can see the writing on the wall and will probably end up burning the willpower and vitae for at least an occular implant. If he's going to do it though, he's going to do it right. What could a top-of-the-line 5 dot occular implant do? Could I apply the same cost advantage to this that I apply to resources?

Is the willpower+vitae drop permanent, or can it be bought back with experience later like in Mage?


Edited again. Sorry for being too general, I was using the book for examples lol lazy.

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@Richard:

"shaving it off every morning," *Snort laughs* You mean every night, yeah? However, I'm really ammused at the idea that, after a night of 'children' giggling at him, he shaves it off as the sun rises, wondering how he looks now, and being unable to do so, only to have the catepillar grow back the next night, and the night after that, and the night after that...

The Vitae is easy to get back (om nom nom nom). The Willpower dot costs 8 XP.

The only thing I'm waiting on is for you to spend your 10 points on Merits.

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@Thomas:

I think everything looks good here Volty. *Sigh* I'm not sure what happened to that other game, but I think it's dead.


Weird, I thought I had already posted the merits. Guess I was editing things in too many tabs at once. Everything should be where it belongs now. And yes, I did mean every night- funny image though :)

I wasn't sure if you meant it permanently reduced the vitae capacity, or just cost a point to have it installed.

The Masquerade merit gives a number of retainers. I jotted down the basic theme for them, do you want to write them up or should I? If you leave it to me, I'll write them up like the examples in the back of the core book- with a brief blurb and a dice pool for the relevant abilities.

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loimprevisto wrote:
Weird, I thought I had already posted the merits. Guess I was editing things in too many tabs at once. Everything should be where it belongs now.

Um...it, it isn't there...


Third time's the charm... apparently the internet hates me at the moment.


Yeah, its a shame. It was moving along so well as I was slogging through character creation, then... nada. Excited for this though, a change of pace.

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@Richard: I was working on this; I just found out my mother is in the hospital. Will finish later.

Very exciting stuff! Very exciting.

Silver Ladder Mages will be useless to you in this setting; there are only 12 known mages in the city, none of them are silver ladder or mysterium. There are 6 Apostates, 2 Adamantine Arrows, 2 Guardians of the Veil, and 2 Free council mages; the mage pairs have all been 'inserted' into the city, the 6 Apostates are all Pendros natives. Mitch Robertson, the Mage on the Masked Council, (the Council of supernatural beings who advise the Queen) is an Apostate, and advised the Queen in 2012 to remove any foothold the silver ladder, mysterium, or seers of the throne have over the city. The pairings of the Silver Ladder and Mysterium that keep getting sent keep getting rejected. Of course...those two silver ladder representatives could be who you know...not much of an inner circle though.

How’s this for retainers:

Lawyer: Zack Hawkins. "Someone must represent the accused," Zack isn't just a good lawyer. He is also a good man. He represents, happily, anyone who is accused of crimes. He takes the best paying cases only a few times a year so that he can do pro-bonos the rest of the year. Richard hired him as his attorney mainly because Zack is married to the District Attorney, the perfect in. Or, that is, it was. It became public information only a few weeks ago that they were separated. Even though there are accusations of a mistress, Richard knows that Jennifer left Zack because the lawyer represented, successfully, Nikos Maximoff against a whole list of crimes, but mainly a murder charge. Zack seems to know the whole truth about the city’s supernatural status, but chooses to ignore it.
Academics[Legal] (7 Dice), Investigation (5 Dice), Persuasion/Oratory (9 Dice)

Techie: Sam “Do you know how many words there are in Klingon for f@~! me?” The changeling

Bodyguard/Butler: Iranis “I baked almond cookies!” Ex-Vatican assassin/hedge mage


I picked autumn court and silver ladder since they seemed his natural counterparts amongst the other awakened societies. It makes perfect sense that silver ladder mages wouldn't be allowed in the city though... what about the werewolf storm lords, do they have a presence?

I like the retainers, very colorful. I'm making a mental note to spend a trait dot on language: Klingon with the very next character it would be appropriate for.

Dark Archive

So, I don't have much time to review it more thoroughly, but I think Richard is good to go, except for one thing:

Blood Potency 1.

Here is a bite out of Page 99 of VtR:

A vampire’s Blood Potency increases by one every 50 years. In
torpor, however, it decreases by one every 25 years.

and a bite from page 175 of VtR:

Humanity----Base time Spent in Torpor
10 One day
9 Two days
8 Three days
7 One week
6 Two weeks
5 One month
4 One year
3 One decade
2 Five decades
1 One century
0 One millennium

Considering his age, he should have a Potency of 3. And the torpor needs to be consecutive to drop it, meaning that he either:

Had a humanity of 2 and went into torpor for 50 years.

or

?

You did say he knew mages. Maybe they did something to him before their exodus in 2012?


I had forgotten that rule... I figure that after a close brush with McCarthyism in the 50s he kept his head low for a while and took a very behind-the-scenes role. Eventually he got caught up in one of the Nixon administration's scandals and a rival team hunted him down, staked him, and buried him. He crawled back to consciousness in the 90s and as best he can piece together (from a will and an ill-omened séance) his Acanthus ally blessed his misfortune with a 'silver lining' and his torpor ended in some wildly improbable manner.

Born 1889
Turned 1923
Torpor 1971
Woke 1998

Dark Archive

This works for me.

I won't have time to add detail to your retainers (working on a paper) until later, but if you're okay with that...

Richard
Thomas

where would like to start?


Quote:
I just found out my mother is in the hospital. Will finish later.

No hurry, family trumps gaming every time. My wife was in the hospital over Thanksgiving, I know how stressful it can be.

Quote:
where would like to start

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, I think the next step is to work out what our coterie is doing together; what are long-term goals or common ground? One thing that comes to mind is Richard's recent change in living conditions... he might team up with some younger vampires so we can watch each other's backs.


Thomas right now is just starting to come to some sort of understanding about what's going on in his life. The last 3 years were about survival and assimilation, and now that things are stable, he can think about the future. He might gravitate towards Natasha just because they have several similarities, and he's pretty alone.

Why would they have run into some old fart who likes politics? ;) And an Invictus, no less. He'd be using them for something... Living situation, ok... where to go with that... They're both enforcers? Healers? Dunno.

Dark Archive

Richard Twidwell wrote:
I'm not sure exactly what you mean, I think the next step is to work out what our coterie is doing together; what are long-term goals or common ground? One thing that comes to mind is Richard's recent change in living conditions... he might team up with some younger vampires so we can watch each other's backs.

Smart man!

Alright, you guys power that out, I can help after.... I have a paper I've put off, so I can't post till Wend.

Dark Archive

Had a dream about it, just post it really quick:

Richard did something to irk the Queen, and as punishment, was told he had to make a Coterie with Thomas and Natasha, and teach them how the world works. I'd say she's a little irked at Thomas and Natasha because they continue to operate, more or less, as they did as humans, something she despises (Being a Vamp is fun! Revel a little!) and thinks an old timer will teach them to be a bit more in tune with the beast, unaware that the tie to his humanity is still quite strong. To her, being Embraced in the 1920's makes him an Elder.

I think you guys have picked up on it, but if you haven't, the idea behind the game is that Pendros is a wonderful supernatural city...built out of Jenga blocks. Few in the game can see the writing on the wall, but something somewhere in the city must fail, and the city must fall.

Okay!

*Beats self*

Bad Eugene! Bad! Get back to your assignment! You have less than 12 hours!


Not bad. Fits with my character, who is trying to live his life like he used to, and poorly adapt to his new life. The enforcing thing is a job he has to do, not a vampire calling. Likewise, hunting is an unfortunate necessity, although he does get a thrill.

Works for me. :)


Anybody? Vampire Bueller? ;)

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