Gizmoh4's page

Hey guys,

Apologies, I'll post ASAP - stupidly busy at the moment.

Cheers.

Hey mate,
That's awesome! I'm just waiting for Ash to drop us a line and we should be ready to go!

Cheers,
MC

Hey dudes, now at the stage of moving in (our carpet and flooring ended up getting put in a week earlier than initially thought) so will be pretty busy this weekend.

Shouldn't be a problem to get on and do some posts though, except that I'm unsure of the internet situation - we have a plan and a modem but haven't actually tried to 'plug in' yet, so it's possible I won't really have access until work on Monday.

Feel free to kick things off though, and I can jump in a bit later.

Hey mate, no stress - I'm just seeking confirmation from Moth and Ash and we can get started. I'm beginning to get very busy with work as well so the original suggestion of checking in every couple of day should work well anyway.

Cheers!

Hey guys,
We are becoming super-busy at work. I'll still post during the evenings most likely but it's also unlikely I'll post every day. Apologies for the delay.

I'll post as I can, do bear with me - From November to Xmas in the toy industry is brutal and it only eases around very late December/Early Jan.

Cheers,

I'm thinking my character will be a more recent convert to un-death, having been turned as a young man in the late 70's and a local of the area. He initially tried to resist the unnatural thirst and deny his new life, but ended up feeding on (and killing) an old school friend he ran into (thus Sanguinary Animism weakness)

Old friends and acquaintances, or even family, can still pop up (I'm thinking he was a smaller town boy just outside of Gary) which can make for some awkward situations, and add to his struggle of trying to retain his human interests and values in his new form.

Will obviously flesh things out much more, but any major issues with this so far Giz?

Hey mate,

Sounds awesome, love it.

Once you guys feel you have a reasonable grip on your character back stories we can start but I'd love to start by this Saturday night if that suits you guys?

Also a reminder to try to use the forum dice roller for all rolls if you can. The dice expression is as follows:

{dice=Perception}1d20 + 5{/dice} - except use square brackets: [ ] instead of { }

So:

[dice=Perception]1d20 + 5

not a prob!

Is there a minimum amount of time that a vampire must spend with their sire before they are freed? I'm trying to get an idea of when is the earliest my character would have been born (i.e. would a vampire stay with their sire for 10 years minimum before they are freed? Or is it 20 years, or 50 years, or 100 years, etc?)

I will make a big difference on the background (e.g. born in the 20th century at the earliest, the 19th Century).

Hey mate, as per Moth's post there's no strict time as such. It would likely depend on the invented storyline that explains your embrace to become a vampire. In other words, you're free to choose as you see fit. It's probable though that a vampire that didn't stay with a sire long would potentially have a level of 'awkwardness' towards how they hunt, or perhaps even socialise with other kindred as they are simply unfamiliar with such interactions. By the same token, perhaps they are then more apt at convincing humans they are human as well as they've had to spend more time around them.

The possibilities are limitless os feel free to decide on what you like as we've discussed though, you're each neonates (as this is important to the storyline) but other then that the sky's the limit.

Hey Giz (yes, I am sticking with that nickname haha)

Will get onto the character background now. Have a basic concept in my head buy haven't fleshed it out yet. The questions above help.

Roughly how long would it have been since we were sired originally? I.e. how long would we have been under the protection of our sire's? Just need to know so I can work out roughly what era I would have been born into?

Cheers,
Marty

Haha, yep, roll with it!

No problem! Each of your characters does share something in common at least - you've only been 'free' of your sires for no more then about 50 years and more likely, less (though at least 10 years). This means you're described as the 'rank' of a Neonate - in the Elder's eyes, you are yet to prove yourself as players in the game that all Vampires participate (wether they invariably like it or not) called the Jyhad.

Cheers mate, no stress at all.

With all three characters almost done, I'd encourage you guys to consider the following questions to complete the final flesh out of your characters and help you during the roleplaying (no need to actually answer these questions here unless you want to, but consider how they may affect your characters morals, choices, etc);

Who was your sire? Do you still see him/her?
Do you hold any connections to your mortal life?
How did the embrace (being turned into a vampire) change you?
How did you if at all, meet the other player characters? Does any relationship exist?
Where is your haven (Safehouse)?

Let me know when you feel ready and have had any conversation with one another you wish.

Cheers!

Hey dude, sorry for lag, will work on a character background this week.

No stress!

Cheers.

Ok, Gizmoh is close to finished his character, and I have been in contact with Flash – he has narrowed it down to three specific concepts!

I’m waiting on Ash to make some tweaks, Brashen to finish equipment, Tinkergoth to decide on a drawback and Chubbs to confirm cleric or oracle. Once locked in I’ll do final reviews.

Heya moth,

Appreciate the last second change to Samurai (to cool to miss out on that!) as well.

Hey man, is there any (or all?) aspects of our characters you would like us to keep secret from the other players at this stage? Conversely, do you want us to have some sort of shared background? Or are we just kind of thrown together by circumstance?

Hey mate good question. Whilst there's no rule about this, to make our first foray simpler, I would prefer you are familiar at least with one another in some capacity or another and your characters are at the start of the story's east, committed to upholding the masquerade and maintaining a reasonable level of humanity(none of you need to be saints, you do feed on blood after all!) but this will help in our first game and for the opening story. You don't have to be best mates but here's some ideas;

Gary has a low vampire population so it's probable you know one another from hanging out at the same safe havens.
Perhaps you've hunted together.
Perhaps you were asked by the prince, möbius previously to tackle a small job.
It's up to you guys as you've see fit though.

It should be noted vampire goes into much detail about your characters from a story point of view (creating a character is easy from a stats view, explaining who he is,why he's there, What he likes, what he doesn't though can take longer!) so consider the answers to the following questions to help;
Who was your sire?
How we're you embraced? (made into a vampire)
What does your character like/not like?
Feel free to answer these queries as we play, I'm generally easy and you are always welcome to run by what you feel as appropriate to your character. It's more important to me you guys can visualise and enjoy the role playing then saying your idea about background is 'not allowed', etc

Brasher, you're most completed in terms of character creation, are you comfortable sharing your characters story?

Hey chaps,

Starting equipment/possessions we'll tackle upon you completing final character creation - which despite me telling Brashen he was all done will be the on thing he'll need to do, heh.

Starting equipment/materials/weapons (if any!)/clothing/etc I'm generally happy to hear what you want. There's no set 'budget' as such and provided it's reasonable and fits your character's concept, expect it to be ok'd. Do consider it's the 1990's in terms of available tech but you could have of course inherited older clothing or weaponry from your sires/professions/jobs/any other explanation you can really think of.
Within reason, the key with this element is fitting your character.

Shoot through your details on it when you reach that stage.

Cheers!

Hey moth,
Cheers for the catch-up, I'm almost finished and will email through my character for a quick reveiw on Monday night.

Cheers!

Hey guys,
Continuing the introduction/refresher of how VTM works.

Whilst the premise of Vampire has you each roleplaying supernatural creatures that are of course, capable of generally a bit more then you're average human, it's important for you to understand the 'currency' of blood during the game (being fairly, integral to a Vampire's being after all!)

Each of you as shown on the character sheet has a blood pool - representative of how much of the vitae is literally in your system at the time your character joins the story. This is equal to the roll of a D10 at the start of a game.

Each 24 hours, 1 blood point is always spent in the no different a way to how a human burns calories and will be deducted from your character sheet.
As your character runs lower and lower on blood, he will need to feed to replenish his stores through feeding (though many vampires, particularly those with high humanity scores resist feeding on humans and instead attempt to feed on livestock or other animals) or worse, perhaps even entering an extreme emotional state known as frenzying that can lead to you striking out against freinds and allies.

This 'currency' of Blood though is also the fuel through which your Vampire can heal normal damage (for example, being hit with a blunt weapon, or being shot), fuel certain Discplines or to temporarily increase your character's attributes (feats of strength and speed, etc)
Certain actions may also require your character to spend blood - if you are attempting to pass yourself as human to an individual and need to make your character appear to be breathing, of flush his cheeks as examples, blood will be spent to achieve this. This all varies on your situation and your character's humanity score.

Thanks for the summary dude, as you mentioned I think my character is pretty done, though will double check that and have a think more about a background.

No stress mate, enjoy - yeah you're all good to go with no additions needed. Feel free to consider and discuss the background of your character, though not all Vampires are of course so willing to share their histories - I leave that to you guys!

Finally, here's the story start...

The city of Gary, Indiana, USA, December 31st, 1991.

Years ago, on every New Year’s Eve, The Prince of Gary, Modius would host a gathering of all the Kindred of the city. Immediately following sunset, all the Kindred of the city were expected to show up at his home and enjoy his hospitality and conversation. He has not held this party for some time, but has decided to do so again this year and word has spread among the vampires of Gary.

Gary, Indiana is a small city on the shores of Lake Michigan somewhat between Chicago and Fort Wayne. Gary has the somewhat dubious claim to fame of being the birthplace of Michael Jackson, as well as the other members of the Jackson family. It was once a prosperous industrial area, but the steel mills that comprised the main tax base closed in the 1970s. Things went downhill very quickly from there, and the area lost about 50% of its population. Only those who cant afford to live anywhere else call Gary home now, with a population hovering just over the 100,000 mark as of about 1991. These days, practically the only reliable employment to be found is substandard or minimum wage, mostly working on the docks or similar labour based roles.

Abandoned buildings and shopfronts are common with residents joking that such abandoned buildings 'outnumber the living' - a joke perhaps in poor taste considering the low Vampiric population of Gary.
Better known for it's output of Steel and whilst some factories remain in business, there is a large rusted expanse of abandoned steel mills and decaying warehouses known as the Wasteland situated within the city's boundaries. This place knows no law, not even the law of the Prince, Modius and no one knows what goes on there after the sun sets. Lupines are said to roam there, and even vampires fear to antagonize the gangs that live there.

Your Vampires are of 'Neonate' rank -you've each only semi-recently (within the last 20 years) been released from the tutelage and protection of your sire (which you are free to explain how that happened yourselves) and are expected to attend Mobius' party, each receiving a deliberately hand-delivered invitation (can't have that going through the mail!) to your residence of choice.
Feel free to discuss your character's going's on before you arrive and if you'll arrive together (or even know of one another before this gathering).

Cool mate, it's been a long while since I've played Vampire, I will need to refresh my memory of character creation!

Heh - no worries mate, I know the feeling (and my playing experience was very, very limited!).

If you have a particular character type in mind as well, just shout - I have all the revised clanbooks for each Camarilla (the grouping of clans dedicated to upholding the Masquerade) clan, including Brujah. It may help to provide more scope then starting from scratch.

If you have any specific questions, let me know - I can call this Sunday as well to chat one on one and take you through the process in better detail.

Ok, let's talk Vampires.

Playing a Vampire is perhaps a bit different to roleplaying Dwarfs, Humans and Elves so I thought it would be useful to portray what it's like being a Vampire and what you are each capable of.

Facts about Vampires in our campaign;
1. You are immortals and do not age, but are not invincible and can be killed. A certain level of distance from mortality is normal, but ultimately all Vampires fear the final destruction.
2. You feed on blood and will be asked to explain how this occurs for your character at intervals.
3. Feeding on a human doesn't automatically create a vampire - siring a progeny is a process in itself and permission is required from the Prince of Gary (the 'leader' of your hometown).
4. Every Vampire struggles against the monster they are and the humanity they had. This usually takes the form in game of fighting off frenzying when hungry for blood or facing moral dilemmas.
5. Sunlight will kill a Vampire (though some of the eldest are allegedly resistant or even immune to it's effects)
6. Vampires are not repulsed by garlic, running water or holy sigils though if an individual of extreme faith were to wield such a holy relic with conviction, it's possible it could have ill effects upon a Vampire.
7. Vampires do not die from being staked through the heart, though such an act will paralyse the beast so it can be killed.
8. Your Vampires are of a lower Generation (the 11th) which means you are generally, faster, stronger and more capable then your average human but do not think they are of no concern to you or incapable of harming you.

Depending on your choice of Clan, your bloodline will give you inherent disciplines (akin to spells I suppose) that your character can use (think of them as being encoded in the very blood that sustains your character). For example, the Brujah clan has access to the Celerity Discipline which allows them to spend blood points (more on that later) to gain additional actions during combat. This is the sort of power a Vampire would use to move with unholy speed during combat or perhaps even go 'matrix style' by running up walls to attack from the cieling, etc.
Meanwhile the Malkavians have access to the Dementation Discpline, allowing them to literally channel the madness that pervades their blood into other's minds, inducing paranoia, pyschosis or perhaps, just passion.

You'll choose these Discplines upon character creation but as we're still quite new to this, I'm happy to 'tweak' in time if needed and it suits your play style/character.

Hey guys, if you've been invited to this Vampire the Masquerade Campaign thread, this is the discussion area you can chat about your character and I can provide 'starter' info for the game for you to access.

I'd like to get this campaign moving at a reasonable pace but appreciate we're all busy - as mentioned ideally checking the posting roughly every 3 or so days is probably ideal but of course, if you need to step away just shout!

being my first play-by-post RPG and my first RPG game in a loooooooong time it's plausible I'll add my own delays to this process anyway so I'm not stressing provided we're keeping it going.

A few Rules tidbits as I'm fairly sure you're each fairly new to VTM. The second post will portray what being a Vampire is all about so you understand your new uh, 'powers' inherent to your characters.

VTM is run purely on D10 rolls (no other dice are used). No more then 10 of these should really be needed and it's probable fewer will be fine as well.

To understand your character's competency in the various Attributes and Abilities that define your character use the following;
Zero dots; Abyssmal
1 dot; Poor
2 dots; Average
3 dots; Good
4 dots; Exceptional
5 dots; Superb

VTM uses a 'Difficulty' check akin to most RPG's when your characters perform the various actions including attempting to strike an enemy in melee, manipulating or cajoling another into giving you information, picking a lock, hacking a computer and much more. This Difficulty rating is determined by myself, as is the relevant Attribute and Skill involved and then the relevant player rolls enough D10 equal to dots they have invested in the appropriate attribute and skills being employed to determine success. Every D10 roll equal to or higher then the task's difficult is a 'success' - the more success indicates the more successful you completed the task (or perhaps, with more fliar, skill or with unexpected bonuses!)

Example;
Two of your characters are in a car being chased by the police (they are firing on you from their vehicle). One of you is driving, the other is in the back seat firing at them with a gun through the broken windscreen.
The Driver hits a wet patch in the road and attempts to keep control of the car at high speed. I decide the Difficulty of this task is 7 (it being fairly challenging to keep control of a high speed car in the wet whilst being shot by police!) and that the relevant Attribute and Skill involved is Wits and Drive (though perhaps under other circumstance it would've been Dexterity and Drive, etc).
You reference your character sheet and have a combined 5 dots in Wits and Drive th. You roll 5 D10 and score a 2 , 4, 5, 6 and a 9 - meaning three successes.
Based on your roll, I inform you that you manage to keep the car on the road without losing control but the drive is still bumpy imposing a higher difficult to the other player as they fire from the back seat. You're in no danger of losing control of the car though!
If you had rolled a 7, 8, 8, 9 and a 10 though I would likely say you not only keep control of the car but do it in such style and ease that you are able to avoid bumps in the road and not only does the player character in the backseat find it easier to hit the police car with their shots, but you are able to 'lead' the pursuing vehicle into the variety of potholes, bumps and other obstacles on the road in an attempt to cause them to collie.

This is purely an example and it gives you an idea of the possible scope of outcomes the game can produce. How many successes you get will demonstrate the margin between just how successful you really were.

Note that any roll of a '1' cancels out one of your success results as well!

Just like Pathfinder, there's the possibility of automatic success - this usually being the case where I decide it appropriate or you find that your number of dice exceeds the difficult rating before you even roll. Stressful situations and combat invariably never meet with these automatic successes.

Combat when it occurs does begin with rolling inititiave (which is 1D10 + Dex + Wits) with whoever rolls highest being first.

Cheers,

Gizmoh4 wrote:

hey mate, I'm in!

I want to play a Dwarf Ranger. That suit?

Welcome on board dude.

Dwarf Ranger is cool.

Sweet, cheers mate!

hey mate, I'm in!

I want to play a Dwarf Ranger. That suit?