James Keegan's page

The effort to show diversity in artwork is more than just to try to replicate a specific real-world spread of various races in a given location. It's to provide people who may not identify with a particular gender or race to have a better chance of seeing art with which they can identify with in a given product.

I'm a straight white male, so I can't relate to not seeing something I can relate to in, well, just about everything from movies to books to gaming materials. But for women, folks with a non-heterosexual identity, or people of color, seeing an aspect of one's self represented in a non-stereotypical or non-patronizing way in media can add a connection to that material. And that's what we want to do as a brand and as a community: be welcoming, accepting, and affirming of diversity so that everyone can see this as a game and a community that they can join and call their own.

James Keegan wrote:

Congratulations Bill, Greg and Chuck! 2 years and 71 books is a hell of an accomplishment!

Let us not forget that we've had James Keegan at the helm of the Slumbering Tsar art from the inception of the company. We couldn't have done it without you, James!

James's art is creepy-awesome!

Congratulations Bill, Greg and Chuck! 2 years and 71 books is a hell of an accomplishment!

Let us not forget that we've had James Keegan at the helm of the Slumbering Tsar art from the inception of the company. We couldn't have done it without you, James!

That was some great advice Matthew! Because I can't sleep, I'm going to add a few things I usually do for a game. It's mostly rudimentary type stuff, but typing is better then lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

I tend to do most (but no means all) of my WoD stuff as sandbox games.

I usually pick a city and populate it with some kindred. Unless I'm using one of the By Night books I focus on the main power players, the ones that want to be the power players, and those stuck at the bottom.

I then do a quick relationship chart for them. (Pretty much all of the By Night books use these, and I've found them quite helpful. In case you're not familiar with them it's just a simple flowchart that says things like: Vampire A fears Vampire B. Vampire B took Vampire C's place in the Primogen, and Vampire C knows Vampire A's dirty secret). Of course not every vampire in the city feels strongly enough about every other vampire in the city to warrant this. Just stick to the ones that you think would play well off each other.

Once I get a good idea of the climate of the city, I come up with at least one big event to use as a backdrop for the game (For example, A Justicar has come to the city for a "vacation" after a particular difficult hunt. Is he really there to rest, or is it just part of a bigger plot? Either way, his presence throws the entire politics of the city into chaos as half the kindred try to curry his favor, and the other half avoid him like the plague. Meanwhile everyone is trying to bury their secrets deep) I don't always introduce this from the start, and sometimes I never use it at all if the players are having fun and keeping me busy with their character's actions. They're just good to have to shake things up if you feel like it or to use as an unexpected monkey wrench. (and they're just tons of fun to think up)

You'll probably want to put social, political, and combat types of characters/events into the city, so you can plan for what the players want once they're are done creating their characters. (That being said, if you have specific type of game in mind, but sure to let the players know before they start making characters)

Once I get all of that lined up, I get my players together and make characters. It's nice to have all of these ducks lined up in a row before character creation, because then you're prepared to say to someone who wants to play a Nos, "Sure, but just to warn you because they lack a Primogen member, they've gone on "strike". They're not dealing any information, regardless of payment. So they're not very well liked right now. Even more the usual."
Concepts for characters is crazy important, imho. It gives you guide lines for asking questions during character creation. If the character was a truck driver before he was turned, why does he have points in Medicine? The reason you want to know this is because it makes the players think about it and it puts a story behind the dots. Every little story makes the character a little more real.

Really focus these questions on Backgrounds and Merits & Flaws (if you use them) because this is where a lot of your story seeds are going to come from. The character has a Contact that's a lawyer in the DA's office. How did they meet? What deals have they already done for each other? How can you use the Contact in a story, what use does she have for the character?
The simple fact that the player choose a lawyer to begin with tells you something about what the player wants from the game. It means she probably wants something political, and she's either gearing up to make a play or she's preemptively trying to protect herself from getting played.
If a player choose a crazy gun-nut survivalist with a bomb shelter as an Ally, that tells you that he's expecting to need to go underground and disappear at some point during the chronicle. The same thing applies to Merits and Flaws.

Finally after character creation is done, have a list of Twenty Questions. The rule books lists a bunch of these, but you don't need to ask all of those ones. Tailor a few of them to your chronicle. If you're feeling really ambitious and can think fast on the fly, you can replace a few of your original questions with new ones based off the info you just got. Pretty much the one question I recommend always asking is "What is your character's goals?" It's a simple and blatant way to get an upfront answer as to what each player wants out of your game.

The players are choose to answer you questions the way they did, picked their Backgrounds, Merits and Flaws for a reason. Once you find out those reasons and learn the story behind each choice, and you start to find the threads the players are giving you to weave into the stuff you've already set up. You find the place where their police contact fits into your Prince's hold on the Commissioner. Where your missing Harpy intersects with their Infamous Sire. You find out if they want a gritty street level drama, a cinematic ride with bullets and fangs, or a dark slide from man into beast.

And that's where you start to find your story.

Some rules to build into your game.

Neonates are ignorant
If your players are new to OWoD, then tell them almost nothing about the game. Let them learn from what their characters see. NPCs should lie to them about such simple things as the existance of the sabbat, tell them nothing of the independent clans. If they are experienced players, mess with the set up of the WoD. Make the Tzimisce or Lasombra into camarilla or independent clans, have the brujah be the leaders of the sabbat, turn the tremere into an organisation like the black hand at the heart of the camarilla rather than being a clan. Most importantly of all, do not tell the PC about diablerie.

But let them piece a kind of truth together. Let them feel like they know what going on, let them identify the camarilla clans, their strengths their weaknesses, their archetypes. Let them develop prejudices.

Vampires do not kill one another very often:
Vampires are loathed to kill one another. Their unlife is precious to them, and when the feuds and enmities that drive vampire society turn bloody, even elders can die. Play up intrigue and proxy conflict, don't try to kill the PCs, have their havens threatened with demolishion, destroy their herds, take their resources. But most of all have a kill limit say, I will kill no more than 5 NPC vampires at the hands of other vampires, and stick to that through out the campaign.

Have a fixed cast:
Decide how many vampires there are in the city, give them all backgrounds(and get an idea what stats they should have), and then stick with that as your vampire cast. New vampires are made rarely, and vampires don't die that often

Vampires don't travel well:
keep the game local. If one outsider vampire enters a city in a campaign, that is about right.It is just to difficult for vampires to travel any distance, to dangerous to welcome strangers into your domain, and the rewards just arn't enough to justify it.

Focus on the blood
Every waking moment should become about vitae for the PCs, play through every hunt, make them worry about where their next feed will come from, describe the rush of pleasure, describe the fear, and the fighting back, and then the release as the pray succumbs to the kiss. Make it sexual, and make it unclean.

Now put the cat amongst the pigeons

The sabbat break all the rules the players think they have learned.

The sabbat are right about g'henna, they know enough about the world to try and change it, they kill other vampires, they engage in mass sireings, they shatter the masquerade, they travel from city to city. 1/3's to 1/2 of the way into a chronicle, once the PCs have started to understand the rules above, hit them with the Sabbat.

See what happens when they realise they are suddenly fighting for their unlives against monsters even worse than they are. But hold this back, you can only do this once and have full effect.

Sort of related question: I've never been super sure on how to run a game of Vampire (I've tried with varying degrees of success). Does anyone have a good adventures to suggest? I'd like to see how certain staples of the game should work. Like how do you make roleplaying spending the evening in Elysium or some nightclub any fun?

It's been a while since I've picked up a tube of d10s...

Adventures, start small. I ususally set my games in Columbus or Newark, since I know the former ok, and the later very well. If you're starting the 'default' Camerilla game, then the characters are not going to be the big shots.* So you can play up the night to night. Pick an area you want to use as 'The Rack' where the low ranking vamps go to feed. Also make them flesh out those backgrounds. Assuming you're in the US, check your wallet. How much cash do you have on you? ($33 and change for me right now, but that's unusually high) so how are they maintaining resources or other backgrounds?** For antagonists, I prefer mortals, with a little help. Let the players get grounded before they encounter the rest of the WoD.***

Social encounters: Yeah, this requires a lot of role play, you're playing a cast while they're playing one character each. Emphasize the non-combatant nature. Maybe by showing a vamp goaded into frenzy being destroyed in 'self defence'. If you have more than the character's sires in the city, put the vampires in different ages in clothing from their time. (Elysium is where they can be themselves.) Maybe that Vetrue is wearing a 1930's style suit, while the toreador is dressed as a 20's flapper and the Tremere is dressed in his labcoat. But also tweak it up. That flapper might be a neonate trying to play an older part, or that Ventrue may be 200 years old, the 30's is where he just stopped trying to keep up with mortal fashion. Show how social power is more important than physical power.**** Try to get your players immersed in the favor exchange early. Especially if they have high backgrounds or are lacking them completely. "Mr. Neonate, may I snack on your herd? I'll give you X." "Miss Neonate, you look famished! Here, take a blood doll of mine. Oh, don't worry, I'm sure I'll think of something you can do to repay me..."

Long term, I'd start by playing up the inhumanness of the vampires. The casual disregard for life and humanity, show someone fighting until the Kiss hits, point out how no one is breathing. At the same time, play up the humans activites. Describe their sounds, scents, sights etc. As the game advances, allow the other vamps to seem more normal, while the humans get less and less detail, unless they're focused on. When you subtly go from "A young couple, maybe in their 20's clearly in love by the way they hold hands, her smile, the scent of orchids in her perfume," to "a couple of people, maybe a man and a woman, walking down the street. She's smiling," to "A pair of humans, oblivious to your presence. Come to think of it, how many BP do you have left?" and the players don't realize it, you've hit on one of the horror themes of Vampire.

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Setting votes;
Seattle +5
Denver +/-1

Morality scale votes;
Light side 0
Morally ambivalent +2
Grey scale +2
Dark side -2

Players;
James Keegan (Kikuchiyo)- pop culture samurai
Fraust - Infiltrator
Pixel Cube (Moses Blake) - down and out smuggler
Jonasty1031 - infected teen hater
Arknight - sneaky troll
Roidrage - Decker or spellslinger
Lanse (Crow of A)- elf face/thief

Fraust, Jonasty1030, Arknight and Roidrage how're you doing on character creation? Give a shout out if you're still in.