Here's our discussion/character and chronicle creation thread for the game. Since Vampire is driven by character as much as by plot, I'd like to work together with you guys to put together the chronicle. The central theme is that you are Camarilla kindred (Anarchs included) carving out places for yourselves in New York City and the boroughs. A fragile peace has fallen over the city and the dominant mood is one of guarded optimism- even the youngest kindred can make a place for themselves if they're canny and careful. More of the political and social landscape will fall into place as we talk about characters (and how involved you are in both). Rather sandboxy with that basic premise, but once your coterie's goals and relationships develop we'll get a clearer idea of where we're going to go.
Another option is that you are all Hounds for the Sheriff- this is a more procedural structure where he sends you out on the tail of those that have flaunted the Traditions, to arbitrate disputes or to investigate other matters besetting the city. Not the most glamorous job and it carries certain risks to your continued health and humanity, but it's a concrete position where you can show your capability to the kindred community as well as to the existing Camarilla power structure.
I prefer characters that fit into the major Camarilla clans- Brujah, Gangrel (though what standing they had as a clan is reduced), Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere and Ventrue. But if there's another clan or bloodline that fits and you're dying to try it, I'll hear you out of course.
While I mostly prefer to play Sabbat or Independent, I have a concept that could fit quite nicely here: A youngish Tremere whose either recently embraced(last 20 yrs or so) or whose older but managed to stay up to date tech wise.
As such, he'd be a Technomancer, which I can't recall if that ended up in V20 or not. I want to say it did, since I know current tech was a big deal for the book.
If possible, he would also have a bit of Conjuration.
I have sort of the beginning of a personality, but not really anything that plugs right into the Vamp world yet.
The basic idea is that he's a nice boy, a sweatervest-wearing, polite young man so easy to forget that he might as well be invisible. He does his best to be helpful, loyal, and dependable. The sort of guy you'd probably think of more as a good ghoul candidate than a vampire. He pretty much was that guy as a mortal, but now it's his survival strategy. He wants to make himself too useful to dispose of or easily brush aside.
I know it's a bit of a cliche, but I like the idea of him as a medical examiner. It's a great cover, but he actually sought it out as a career. He wanted to work with dead bodies, put in time as a volunteer at a body farm, etc. He's not a particularly morbid guy. He just finds the subject interesting and the implied quiet, sort of solitary lifestyle appealing.
His personal goals are a bit nebulous since he's new at this and at being more or less on his own among vampires. I imagine he'd be very curious about the vampiric condition and the history of his new species. He's the kind of guy who would be curious about when and where his sire's sire was embraced, etc.
Considering he's a little bit of an atypical candidate for the embrace, it might have been a rushed or irregular affair. Maybe someone saw him and decided he would make a great ghoul, but a rival stepped in just to deny his would-be sire out of spite or he inadvertently stumbled into the crossfire of some vampire politics that changed plans quite a bit. ("Aw crap, the guy you just killed is the one that knew where the autopsy reports went to!")
Clan-wise, I'm leaning a bit Tremere but not married to it. I'm a little agnostic about thaumaturgy. It looks like a great toolbox for giving out favors but one that comes at a fairly high price.
I have sort of the beginning of a personality, but not really anything that plugs right into the Vamp world yet.
The basic idea is that he's a nice boy, a sweatervest-wearing, polite young man so easy to forget that he might as well be invisible. He does his best to be helpful, loyal, and dependable. The sort of guy you'd probably think of more as a good ghoul candidate than a vampire. He pretty much was that guy as a mortal, but now it's his survival strategy. He wants to make himself too useful to dispose of or easily brush aside.
I know it's a bit of a cliche, but I like the idea of him as a medical examiner. It's a great cover, but he actually sought it out as a career. He wanted to work with dead bodies, put in time as a volunteer at a body farm, etc. He's not a particularly morbid guy. He just finds the subject interesting and the implied quiet, sort of solitary lifestyle appealing.
His personal goals are a bit nebulous since he's new at this and at being more or less on his own among vampires. I imagine he'd be very curious about the vampiric condition and the history of his new species. He's the kind of guy who would be curious about when and where his sire's sire was embraced, etc.
Considering he's a little bit of an atypical candidate for the embrace, it might have been a rushed or irregular affair. Maybe someone saw him and decided he would make a great ghoul, but a rival stepped in just to deny his would-be sire out of spite or he inadvertently stumbled into the crossfire of some vampire politics that changed plans quite a bit. ("Aw crap, the guy you just killed is the one that knew where the autopsy reports went to!")
Clan-wise, I'm leaning a bit Tremere but not married to it. I'm a little agnostic about thaumaturgy. It looks like a great toolbox for giving out favors but one that comes at a fairly high price.
Being (literally) the guy that knows where the bodies are buried, you could be a Ventrue. Malkavian or Nosferatu might also be options, though they take the character in a different direction.
I'd love to play a Salubri, but I understand that probably not going to happen.
I would otherwise like to play a
Gangrel drifter type
Malkavian insightful prophet type (or Thin Blooded).
Yeah, I'm sorry but I don't see the Salubri working too well if three of the PCs are talking about coming in with Tremere. Both of the other possibilities have promise, though. Gangrel are my personal favorite clan (not that it should sway you one way or the other) and one of the few titles officially appointed in New York besides Sheriff is the Scourge, so there could be some good conflict there if you went with the thin blooded type.
While I mostly prefer to play Sabbat or Independent, I have a concept that could fit quite nicely here: A youngish Tremere whose either recently embraced(last 20 yrs or so) or whose older but managed to stay up to date tech wise.
As such, he'd be a Technomancer, which I can't recall if that ended up in V20 or not. I want to say it did, since I know current tech was a big deal for the book.
If possible, he would also have a bit of Conjuration.
Technomancy is in there and definitely an option. However, I would say that it shouldn't be your primary path since it's so new and controversial with the elders of the clan. My POD copy of V20 didn't have the page with the Conjuration break down, but since I still have a previous copy of the book and it's a simple enough discipline, shouldn't be too tough to break down. If Conjuration is your primary path rather than the Path of Blood, please give me an explanation as to why- or you could purchase it with freebie points.
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I figured, so no worries.
I love the Gangrel, so I'll probably go that way with the way others are leaning, I will probably be less a mental character. I would like to be on the path of Golconda, (if it exists or not). It seems Samnell might bring the Intelect, Monk-G can be the arcane, and I could bring the spiritual side? Besides being hounds (I like), how else do we know each other. Or rather how well do we know each other? What is going on in the world (NY)?
Oh, I forgot, another two major things that changed in the V20 system is that tey barrowed from Dark Ages in allowing the Coterie to both purchase group Backgrounds ((probably Status and Haven in our case) and also that Paths of Enlightenment offer benefits/penalties for having high and low ratings.
For Samnell, I would suggest maybe looking at Dr Netchurch. A MAlkavian, sort of first and foremost world wide of the Kindred medical condition. You could easily have him have been a mentor, if not being a decendant. Otherwise I might suggest either Toreador, whose devotion is science and experimentation, a Ventrue or Malkavian also might be a nice fit. Caitiff, might also work.
For Monk-G, if we are going with any of the NY By Night and Sabbat/Cammy war just prior to Gehenna material, the 5 Burrows was hit pretty hard, but managed to pull through, so a fairly new Tremere in the area wouldn't be unheard of, particularly as there are not many Tremere in the area, (depending on the time frame). Alternatively, a Giovanni might also work well here, with a little tweeking.
Checking in. Like I said in the recruitment thread, I'm in the midst of traveling for business purposes, and really won't be able to put much flesh on a bare bones concept until I get home Thursday.
That being said, first thoughts for clan were Tremere and Nosferatu. With so many other looking at the Tremere too, I may lean toward the Nosferatu. That is unless you are wanting to run a game that is tied closer to Clan Tremere.
Being (literally) the guy that knows where the bodies are buried, you could be a Ventrue. Malkavian or Nosferatu might also be options, though they take the character in a different direction.
I'll give the Venture consideration and spend some time with their clanbook. I think the character will appreciate hierarchy a bit and be a relatively traditionalist sort, so they might fit. I'm debating if he grew up in a military family or in some other strong authority environment where coloring inside the lines was strongly expected of him.
As for Malkavians I think I'd have trouble playing a convincingly, consistently insane character that didn't just share my own hangups without going comical or getting really, erm, icky. I'd rather avoid both. I suppose I could swipe the gimmick that Dr. Netchurch from Beckett's post has but that feels a bit cheap.
Nosferatu are just the one clan I don't like that much. :)
I was doing research and found a neat panorama of the NYC morgue, or at least a big examination room thereof. Seemed neat enough to share. :)
The New York by Night book lays out the situation, which I'll summarize since we're all familiar with the sects and everything so neonate ignorance won't keep everything in the dark.
After a six day war with the Sabbat about two and a half years previously, the Camarilla have the run of NYC and the Sabbat are licking their wounds. The Nosferatu Calebros has stepped down as Prince after his self-imposed two year term, without ever appointing Primogen- only the Sheriff and the Scourge to keep order. There are Harpies, though it's an informal title. Several kindred are working the angles, trying to get enough support to take the Princedom for themselves- it's far from decided, however.
The Anarchs have been pushed to Staten Island and control the ferry as part of their domain. It's pointless besides as a gesture, since the Veranzano bridge is open 24 hours and they can't possibly stop that up. Regardless, though, during the winter when the ferry runs after dark (briefly) any non-Anarch is going to be sent packing if they're on that boat.
While Gehenna didn't come in 2000 when the superstitious thought it would, the anxiety many elders felt hasn't abated- especially since 2012 is the next big "Apocalypse Year". Thus, some seek to forestall the times of prophecy by fighting the symptoms and resurrecting the position of Scourge to cull the Thin-Blooded.
New York as it stands in kindred society is a mess- no Prince, no Primogen and it's difficult to really pin sectarian allegiances on all the Licks you meet. And while the Sabbat has largely been kicked out, who knows what Packs might still be hiding under the radar?
The Tremere still maintain a strong presence in the city, since they were so instrumental in both maintaining the sect's foothold during the Sabbat years and in finally driving them out. Still, they were the first target for the Sword of Caine and the ranks aren't as full as they normally would be.
And apparently the Gangrel Justicar saw something that spooked him and withdrew the clan officially from the Ivory Tower- while plenty of the Outlanders still call the sect home, the damage has been done. Calebros appointed Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx as "Gangrel territory" following the battle- but it was received as a backhanded gesture and none of the beastly kindred call the park home. They are quick to assert their claim if they find someone else hanging their hat there, however.
Of the independent clans, the Giovanni and the Followers of Set are heavily entrenched in areas of New York- and played important roles in loosening the Sabbat's grip. They may still remain fair weather friends, but that loyalty only goes as far as their bottom line...
The largest issue in most Camarilla kindred's minds however remains the Princedom and those empty Primogen seats- along with the privileges that come with them.
I was doing research and found a neat panorama of the NYC morgue, or at least a big examination room thereof. Seemed neat enough to share. :)
Nice find!
I'll dig around a bit, and see if I can't find some cool ways to tie my character in to the city's unlife and power structure.
Checking in. I'm gonna look over some books tonight to try to conjure up a few ideas.
I'm actually kind of liking maybe being a mix of Anarach and Camarilla, sort of a go between for the two.
Are we using the basic character creation rules? Any house rules?
Yeah, this is my first game running Vampire so I'm sticking with basic character creation rules with no house stuff.
Are we okay with the Hounds idea or should we look at other options?
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I'm cool with it. I'm honestly just sort of waiting for other people's ideas, before I get too much into my ideas. Is the Golconda aspect or the nuetral go-between character an issue for anyone?
I'm thinking of trying to maximize Sta, Wits, and either Occult (Theology) or Accademics (Theology). Not being terrible at Social, but more of a quiet, loner type (outside the coterie, at least). I love Protean, and probably going for some Fortitude and minimal Animalism, with higher Humanity and Virtues.
Are we okay with the Hounds idea or should we look at other options?
That would work fine with my guy. He'd already aimed himself at a career that's related to law enforcement, I suppose probably more so in the WoD than in our world even, so the kindred equivalent is a small enough step.
I started running numbers to keep my imagination in check a bit and came on a few questions. Maybe some of them are obvious but I think I've gone so far as to make a Vampire PC all of once before, and that poor guy never saw play. :)
Should we be buying the Status background to reflect our standing as the Sherrif's hounds, or would that just be assumed and not come out of our points? (Or would status even be broadly applicable in such an unsettled setting?)
In the aforementioned role, should we be planning for some basic combat ability even if the character isn't otherwise a fighter? Right now I've got an almost purely intellectual guy.
Would basic resources cover a typical living space suitable for a kindred with that level of income, or should one look into some kind of Domain on top of it?
And also I'd love some advice on Disciplines/Abilities/Backgrounds that would be good picks for a Kindred who wants to be especially useful to other Kindred? I've already got some Resources down but my gut feeling is that cash alone isn't exactly a scarce resource (heh) and probably wouldn't make him much more useful than anybody else. I've got Freebie points and I'm not afraid to spend them. :)
Thinking about Status- it may make sense to give you an automatic point while you're Hounds just to indicate that you're "Known" but it's also a measure of how important your Sire and your Sire's Sire was.
Some basic combat ability will be useful. Hounds sometimes have to get hands-on performing their duties, especially if a Sabbat pack surfaces or a rival's ghoul thinks you were looking at her funny. On the other hand, if it makes more sense for your character to lack combat ability- go with it. Anyone can raise their physical attributes by spending blood points and if the Masquerade isn't in danger, there's always disciplines to turn to.
Resources will help determine the quality of your haven- at least, cosmetically. Domain mostly helps with hunting rolls since you're familiar with the ebb and flow of your neighborhood's nocturnal traffic. It also indicates formal claim to an area; points can also be allocated to Domain in a separate pool to determine security. A one dot geographic area with two dots in security may be small- likely your character's apartment building- but you'll have good odds of knowing who's coming and going announced or otherwise.
You can't go wrong with Allies, Influence and Contacts if you want to be helpful; the city morgue probably has some extra blood bags laying around after the corpses are drained, access to NYPD databases can help with a lot of things. Someone gets careless and leaves claw marks in a cadaver, you can hush that up for them to protect the Masquerade. Technology can be helpful in getting the Elders' gratitude- being able to set them up with a simple security system or communications hub is worth a favor or two.
Quick question on character creation:
Officially, you can't raise a stat higher than 4, unless you spend freebie points(I think), but I have never run it that way, and think it's kind of silly, though I guess it sort of makes sense.
What's your ruling here?
Edit: Are Merits and Flaws allowed(those are officially optional, I believe) and I suppose we have to use Humanity huh?
No Ability higher than 3 with your base points; you can raise them to 4 and 5 with freebies.
I'll allow merits and flaws- as many merits as you want to purchase, but a maximum of 7 points of flaws.
As Neonates, you've been a vampire for 25 years or less and being part of the Camarilla you maintain humanity either because it's familiar or because it's the best cover from humans. No Paths of Enlightenment.
Thinking about Status- it may make sense to give you an automatic point while you're Hounds just to indicate that you're "Known" but it's also a measure of how important your Sire and your Sire's Sire was.
Ok. I bought him some Generation so I'll try to find a dot or so somewhere to fit with it.
You can't go wrong with Allies, Influence and Contacts if you want to be helpful; the city morgue probably has some extra blood bags laying around after the corpses are drained, access to NYPD databases can help with a lot of things. Someone gets careless and leaves claw marks in a cadaver, you can hush that up for them to protect the Masquerade. Technology can be helpful in getting the Elders' gratitude- being able to set them up with a simple security system or communications hub is worth a favor or two.
Hm... How much Ally would an old college friend who now works in the mayor's office be? Not a decision maker, but someone in middle-management or something of that sort?
Would Contacts or Influence in the morgue be used to represent his on-the-job pull? Or would the latter entail more "He solved us that one big case, so we'll cut him a break?" situations?
Do we know what clan the sheriff is? Would it be possible to have him/her be my sire? I was hoping to do Brujah, but if this is a possibility for a background, I can go with whatever clan you already assigned to the sheriff.
Also, yeah the sheriff's hounds thing seems really cool.
Thinking about Status- it may make sense to give you an automatic point while you're Hounds just to indicate that you're "Known" but it's also a measure of how important your Sire and your Sire's Sire was.Ok. I bought him some Generation so I'll try to find a dot or so somewhere to fit with it.
You can't go wrong with Allies, Influence and Contacts if you want to be helpful; the city morgue probably has some extra blood bags laying around after the corpses are drained, access to NYPD databases can help with a lot of things. Someone gets careless and leaves claw marks in a cadaver, you can hush that up for them to protect the Masquerade. Technology can be helpful in getting the Elders' gratitude- being able to set them up with a simple security system or communications hub is worth a favor or two.Hm... How much Ally would an old college friend who now works in the mayor's office be? Not a decision maker, but someone in middle-management or something of that sort?
Would Contacts or Influence in the morgue be used to represent his on-the-job pull? Or would the latter entail more "He solved us that one big case, so we'll cut him a break?" situations?
Influence would be a bit more like bankrolling a city official or someone in a similar position, from the way I've read it. Someone that you can make "helpful suggestions" to before election season to get something you want passed. Though it could easily be a trusted friend that has the mayor's ear and could make a case for you.
Just one point in Allies will get you someone of moderate influence that can do the occasional favor for you. Contacts is more about the flow of information- knowing people that know people- again, even one point will net you someone that can do something significant and a handful of passing acquaintances that can do a little thing here or there like make a phone call on your behalf during business hours, find you a moving van on short notice and other small things.
Do we know what clan the sheriff is? Would it be possible to have him/her be my sire? I was hoping to do Brujah, but if this is a possibility for a background, I can go with whatever clan you already assigned to the sheriff.
Also, yeah the sheriff's hounds thing seems really cool.
Spoiler- Jam412:
Edit: You could also just as easily put a point or two in Mentor and Status to reflect being the Sheriff's trusted protege (or, less charitably, underling) and be a different clan from him.
I've got my concept pretty well fleshed out, just need to put him down on paper.
James,
Would it be ok to PM, I have something that I want kept totally private.
PM away.
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I've PM you the link to my character. For freebie points I spent
7 points on extra Discipline
4 on extra Backgrounds (and might switch it up if we get free Status/Mentor, adding more Contacts and Allies)
2 on extra Virtue
2 on Extra Willpower
2 on Extra Skill
I had 2 points in Merits, and 4 in Flaws, se an extra 2 Freebie Points.
I'll take a look tonight when I'm not posting from a smartphone and I have my books together.
Keeping it straight-
Beckett- penitent Gangrel
MonkeyGod- Tremere technologist
Samnell- Tremere or Ventrue mortician/autopsy expert
Talomyr- Tremere or Nosferatu
Jam412- Sheriff's childe, Toreador
Yep, that's right for me. On a related note, I got home and started to dig through my Vampire books to find my Toreador Clan book. I realized that must have been the only clan book to not make the trip with me when I moved out of my parents house years ago. Drat.
Yep, that's right for me. On a related note, I got home and started to dig through my Vampire books to find my Toreador Clan book. I realized that must have been the only clan book to not make the trip with me when I moved out of my parents house years ago. Drat.
I hate losing books. :( It's available in [url=http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=88]PDF[/ur], though.
Oh, so yea
White-Wolf's entire library is going to eventually be available via Print on Demand :)
Not being passive-aggressive or anything, but I was wondering if we want to trust each other with spoiler tags or go with PMs now that they're available for behind the scenes type stuff? I can go either way and I'm fine with PMs for character back story stuff but once we get into the game I could go either way.
Like what I'm seeing, please do take your time- if things go well, the game will last a year or more so there's no rush to get started.
Personally, I would rather post on the thread with spoiler tags for most stuff. I guess if something is super duper secret and it would spoil other people's fun, a PM may be the way to go, but I'd hate to see our thread get stagnate from using the PM system too much.
I agree with Jam, use PMs when you have stuff that needs or should be kept off the boards. Spoilers for everything else.
PMs would be best to resolve or discuss any personal OOC stuff that the player feels is important to him/her, but doesn't wanna clog the threads.
Yep, that's right for me. On a related note, I got home and started to dig through my Vampire books to find my Toreador Clan book. I realized that must have been the only clan book to not make the trip with me when I moved out of my parents house years ago. Drat.I hate losing books. :( It's available in [url=http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=88]PDF[/ur], though.
Good idea! I may just do that. Actually, I ordered the V20 PDF from drivethru yesterday and wow it's pretty.
Personally, I would rather post on the thread with spoiler tags for most stuff. I guess if something is super duper secret and it would spoil other people's fun, a PM may be the way to go, but I'd hate to see our thread get stagnate from using the PM system too much.
Seconded. Or thirded or fourthed. I'm bad with math. :) Even if we're not opening spoilered posts they let us know that things are still going on.
Speaking of, here's a draft backstory for my character. It's a wall of text. Feedback is welcome.
Bradley Florian Maurer was born to Michael Maurer and Maria Lehmann, a German exchange student he met in college. They delayed having children until Michael completed medical school. Education saved him from the draft. He was the eldest of three children, the other two being his sister Kelsey and brother Wolfgang.
Brad grew up not knowing much about his extended family. Once in a while there would be long, expensive phone calls in German but his mother’s parents were of modest means and couldn’t afford to visit. Around his birthday every year he would speak to them briefly in his limited German.
His father’s family were simply not mentioned, except in occasional overheard conversations about sending letters or cards. When asked, his father mentioned past disagreements and did not elaborate. Michael’s own childhood was kept just as vague. He and his wife raised their children to be loyal, honest, and take school very seriously. They kept a fairly conservative, middle class household and hewed to relatively casual Catholicism.
In 1985 Brad’s younger brother was deemed old enough to travel and so preparations began for a long-awaited trip to Germany. The family went out one night to celebrate finalizing the plans and on the way home a drunk driver ran a stop sign and plowed into the family car. The children in the back seat escaped with cuts and bruises but their parents died almost instantly, as did the drunk driver.
The accident happened in the late evening on a deserted stretch of road between two subdivisions. For hours Brad and his brother and sister were trapped in the car, crying and holding one another.
After a while Brad got some control over himself and realized what had happened. His parents always told him that if something happened, he should look after his brother and sister. Something had happened. They needed help. Brad managed to get a window rolled down enough to painfully wriggle out and then help his siblings. Carrying Wolfgang on his back, he led Kelsey down the road about half a mile before a car passed by and spotted them.
After a week or so of uncertainty, the Maurer children were shipped off to the care of their father’s brother, Uncle Brian. In so doing they overturned his carefully managed life and badly complicated his career.
Uncle Brian’s duty to the children came entangled with their unchallengeable duty to him. Unlike Michael and Maria, he had absolutely clear and firm expectations. The boys would be aggressive, outgoing, athletic all-American youth who were patriotic to the point of fanaticism and plan their lives around their eventual enlistment in the Marine Corps. They would take orders from their uncle and abide unfailingly to his standards of discipline. For Brad and Wolfgang, home life became domestic boot camp. Kelsey was not to be a Marine, but a future Marine wife.
That, Uncle Brian told them, was the family tradition. Every physically fit male Maurer had served in the Marine Corps every generation since Ezekiel Maurer joined up and served in the Seminole Wars. His son went with Commodore Perry to open Japan and served in the blockade of the Confederacy. After the Civil War he hunted down and shot a cousin that had joined the Confederate Marines in a fair duel and claimed the bones of the confederate Maurer’s trigger finger to take back to his father as proof it was done.
Brad’s grandfather had served in World War II, being the only one of his five brothers to survive the conflict. After the war he married and fathered his first child before the Korean war erupted and he promptly re-enlisted. Afterwards he had two more sons, Brad’s father and his surviving uncle. The eldest of his father’s brothers, sainted in Uncle Brian’s eyes, died in Vietnam. Brad and Wolfgang were expected to memorize the entire martial history of the family and recount it, word for word, on command.
Brad did his very best. His parents had raised him to place great stock in family and be the loyal and dutiful son. The discipline was difficult to take and Uncle Brian’s punishments were uniformly humiliating, painful, or both. He began drinking heavily after the first year or so, and when he’d had a few he went beyond the ordinary level of brute force into terrifying and near-murderous, though he could also be warm and supportive within certain limits. But Brian was in charge now and he was their uncle. Their job was to be what he wanted them to be.
Barely five when their parents died, Wolfgang adjusted and quickly internalized Uncle Brian’s way. Kelsey frequently chafed under the limited role she was permitted, but was able to largely keep her objections to herself and find spots where she could be and do as she wished without getting caught.
Brad had the most memories of their parents and was always dutiful, but never quite the person Uncle Brian insisted he be. He could respect and admire the military, but he never wanted to be a Marine. He was patriotic, but never quite enough. Brad never felt it deep down in his bones like he was supposed to. Uncle Brian’s stern, austere church was a weekly chore. Still he made himself appear as enthusiastic and committed to Uncle Brian’s vision of his future as he could. When he couldn’t make the cut for football or wrestling, Uncle Brian’s favored sports and where Wolfgang was already in youth leagues, he picked up swimming.
The ensuing beating was when Brad finally learned the full details of his father’s estrangement from his uncles. Michael Maurer worshiped his older brother and saw him off to Vietnam with the wish that he kill a few Commies on his little brother’s behalf. When the eldest Maurer boy returned in a box, which they were strongly advised not to open, military glory fell off Michael’s agenda. He went to medical school in part to avoid the draft, married a foreigner, converted to her religion, and in the eyes of Uncle Brian turned his back on every single good thing in the world. He’d betrayed the family, broken faith, abandoned all its sacred traditions, and now his oldest son was following his example.
Brad carried on, taking his beatings in silence. He excelled at school but kept quiet and inconspicuous, easy to miss and easy to forget even when he was in your group and doing all the work that would get you the A on the big project or getting the top score on the big test. He was never a distinguished athlete, but always the one who came early and stayed late to help the coach or put in a little extra practice.
Towards the end of high school, Uncle Brian took great satisfaction in telling Brad that there was no money for college and he was out the door the day he turned eighteen, just a month away. So there was only one place for him to go: the Marines. They’d make him a man after all.
Bradley had expected as much and spent the previous three years squirreling away money from summer jobs and quietly chasing scholarships. His answer was to respectfully thank Uncle Brian for everything he’d done, emphasizing how he could never repay the man for all those years. He then produced the letter of acceptance to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a full pre-med scholarship.
Brad spent the last months of his seventeenth year in the home of a sympathetic teacher, but he was extremely careful to never let a hint of the abuse he’d suffered slip. Uncle Brian was still family and Kelsey and Wolfgang still needed him.
College was the first time Brad had seen a dead body since the night he lost his parents. He expected it to be very traumatic and had spoken to his instructor about possible arrangements if he needed to take some time. The professor was sympathetic, but understandably firm that he needed to get over being around corpses if he intended to be a doctor.
The day Brad met his first cadaver, he had just the opposite of the reaction he expected. Instead of dredging up horrible memories, it was just a cold thing on a slab. In fact, it was full of all kinds of fascinating things and he could do so much and learn so much with it. Far from being an awful experience, Brad found himself having so much fun he had to restrain himself to keep the proper decorum. Everything about cadavers fascinated him.
It was a morbid interest, but a healthy one. Brad was careful not to get into too much detail when discussing what he was cutting open, examining, or any of that. It was far from proper dinner conversation. Other people were squeamish. He volunteered at the university’s body farm, even staying up all night to take delivery of a donated cadaver that was delayed in transit when the graduate student who was supposed to be there broke her leg and couldn’t make it.
Medical school passed in almost no time. The work was hard and demanding, but Brad was used to that. He had a gift for memorization that went a long ways and pathology was not as competitive a specialization as some others so Brad could relax a little bit. Residency proved just the opposite. Living patients were much harder for Brad to stay interested in.
Brad didn’t hate the living and was always kind and professional, but the unfortunate fact that he couldn’t just slice them open and poke around frustrated him after the freedom of work with cadavers. Brad never wanted to do a patient harm, but he really wanted a job at a big city morgue with a steady supply of mysterious deaths that would require his special skills to yield their secrets. The living were a stepping stone.
Armed with new contact information, Brad wrote to Wolfgang and soon the Maurer children were planning a reunion. Their conflicting schedules postponed it for two years while Brad finished his residency and Wolfgang went to Iraq, but eventually they all spent an often tearful weekend in his tiny apartment.
Finishing his residency, Brad won a fellowship to complete his training as a medical examiner on the job. With that done and his credentials all in order, Brad applied to just about every major metropolis in the country and put special effort into the applications for cities with high murder rates where he hoped to get the most interesting cases. To his considerable surprise, the New York City morgue made him a wonderful offer and Brad happily packed up his small life to move north. That his friend David had moved there after finishing law school seemed almost gratuitously fortunate.
But Brad didn’t solve them all. Now and then a body came through exsanguinated, often without any wounds to explain the loss of blood. Others arrived the same way but with what appeared to be animal bites, except not matching any animal one was likely to find in New York City. Brad began keeping files on the corpses despite the sometimes bizarre official causes of death. He didn’t share the fact with his coworkers, but they saw him carrying around the same file often enough to start calling it his Little Black Book. He said it was cold cases. Though it grated on his sense of loyalty, he discretely said a few words about it to a friendly detective in the NYPD and then, after learning that the detective’s inquiries got him stonewalled and reassigned, to a reporter.
The reporter didn’t believe Brad at first, so he invited her to the morgue to show her the file and one of the bodies, late at night when everyone else would be gone. Brad waited all night and she didn’t arrive. So the next day he called her again and she told him that he had called and cancelled. Brad remembered no such call, but it did appear on his cellphone bill.
Brad pleaded with the reporter and she finally agreed to meet him two nights later. He assembled an abridged version of his Little Black Book and walked into a seedy restaurant that otherwise he’d never have set foot in. After a few minutes, the reporter had the whole file spread out and started quizzing him about details. Then she abruptly stopped and made her excuses in a flat voice. With Brad’s permission she gathered up the files and walked out, asking him to remain behind for a while so people didn’t see them leave together. Eager to preserve his anonymity, Brad agreed. He ordered some food that didn’t look too much like it would be full of health code violations and started playing with his smartphone while he waited for it.
A man settled into the booth opposite him moments later. Always polite, Brad greeted the man and apologized because he certainly wasn’t the person the man must have planned to meet. He started to offer to move to another booth and the words died on his lips as he met the man’s eyes.
Brad’s memory resumed hours later, past midnight. He and the man from the restaurant sat in a warmly lit hotel suite. The man apologized for the way he’d brought Brad there, but insisted they had matters to discuss. Brad tried to move and found he could not, then tried to yell for help and found his voice would not rise above an ordinary conversational tone. He tried to scream anyway for several minutes before getting control of himself.
The man then introduced himself as Maximilian Jakoby and explained his great interest in Brad’s Little Black Book. He produced the genuine article from a suitcase and laid it out before Brad, complementing him on the thoroughness and attention to detail. He questioned Brad thoroughly about its contents and his suspicions as to the cause of the strange deaths. Brad realized he might not leave the room alive, but maybe he could keep Maximilian talking and draw things out long enough for someone from the cleaning staff to arrive or something like that. It wasn’t much to go on, but Brad knew he was out of his depth and it was all he had to work with.
For an hour Brad explained his theories, including the problems with each one. Maximilian brought matters around to the simple fact that many of the exsanguinated bodies had no wounds at all. Where could their blood have gone? They were alive with it, certainly. So how did it leave their bodies so that they died? Such a thing must be impossible.
Brad respectfully disagreed. While it might be possible that he would miss a single needle mark, even if the victims were drained with phlebotomy kits it would have taken hours and they had no signs of being sedated in any way or restrained by force. Who would sit quietly by while all their blood was drained? One might be a very strange suicide, but not a dozen.
Maximilian repeated that it was impossible, but Brad stood his ground. The bodies were there. He’d examined them. Others had examined them. They’d been found in situ and documented with full chains of custody right up to the morgue. He’d received three himself. Either they were real or a great many people with no particularly close associations were having identical hallucinations and even in that case the bodies were far from a typical hallucination that might be inspired by popular culture, common religious beliefs, or other such elements one might expect otherwise independent witnesses to share.
Then how could they be explained? Brad didn’t know, but there was an explanation and he meant to find it. The bodies would yield it eventually. With the right tools the dead could speak.
Maximilian laughed and complemented Brad on his persistence and refusal to dismiss the unexplained on reflex or take the path of least resistance and pretend he imagined the bodies. Then he grew fangs in his mouth, bit his thumb, and showed Brad the bleeding wound. He licked the wound and it vanished.
Then the mysterious man offered Brad the chance to hear what the dead had to say, but warned him that if he continued on this path there would be pain and horror. He would have to endure much and walk in the company of those who would kill him for the slightest misstep. Maximilian left then, giving him the night and day to consider but not telling him what would happen if he refused.
Brad found himself able to move half an hour after Maximilian left and fairly threw himself at the suite’s door, overturning the chair as he went. His hand closed on the knob and suddenly he was seated calmly in the chair again. Brad tried to throw the chair at the door, going from lifting it above his head to sitting calmly on it once more. He tried the windows, but all were modern high-rise windows sealed in place with layers of silicone and steal. All the suite’s phones had been removed. His cellphone, its screen shattered, sat at the bottom of the toilet bowl.
Brad ransacked the room, growing more and more desperate. Several more times he found himself seated back on that same chair. He found a pad of paper, but no pencil. Grimly resolved, Brad fished his broken phone out of the toilet, picked a shard of the shattered screen, cleaned it as thoroughly as he could in the bathroom sink, smeared the whole bottle of antibacterial soap over it and his hands, then carefully slashed open his index finger. Brad washed his hands and spelled out HELP ME in his own blood on two sheets from the pad of paper, then took both to slide under the door.
He found himself back on that chair again. The notes where nowhere to be found, but Brad found some drops of blood on the toilet and realized they’d probably been flushed. Somehow. And the only person who could do that was him. In a last ditch effort, Brad began throwing things around the suite. Maybe he could get someone to complain and security would come.
After about fifteen minutes, security arrived in the form of a uniformed man who let himself in and closed the door behind him. Brad tried to charge out of the room and landed back on the same chair one more time. The guard explained that there was no way he would leave the room without permission and even if he somehow did, the guard would be waiting down the hall to shoot him dead.
Thoroughly trapped, Brad let himself panic for a while once the guard left. He scoured the room for an escape route but found nothing, just as before. Calming himself, Brad resolved to give the door one final try. He imagined himself walking across the room, turning the handle, and stepping out. He rehearsed it in his mind dozens of times. He rose from the chair and did five practice runs, each time coming just short of touching the door. He had to do it. He had a duty to do it. If he didn’t do it a killer would come back and do who knows what to him. If he had to take a bullet from the guard, he could do that. Better get shot than just sit around waiting to die.
Brad marched himself up to the door, slammed his eyes shut, and focused on imagining he was opening some other door. The door to the freezer at work that he’d opened hundreds of times. It was nothing. He could do it. There was a body in there he needed to work on. A killer was loose and the dead needed to tell their secrets. Bradley Florian Maurer, MD, was the man who would hear them and help the police catch the bad guy before he could kill again. Before he could hurt someone like Kelsey or Wolfgang. He wasn’t about to let some stupid door stop him!
Brad’s hand closed around the door handle and his mind went fuzzy. He heard Maximilian’s voice telling him that he would go directly back to the chair and sit down. He would not move again until he was completely calm once more. The image of doing just that rose in Brad’s mind and fought with the image of him bursting free. He imagined gunshots on the far side of the door and the picture of the door opening began to fade as mortal terror gripped him. If he went out there he would die. It was safe in here. He couldn’t face gunfire. Brad wasn’t that person, Uncle Brian’s voice told him. The litany of Maurer military history flooded through his head and at the end of it Brad the Nobody. Brad the worthless coward. Brad the traitor. His father’s son.
Brad felt his head begin to droop and his hand loosened on the door. The chair waited for him. He could almost feel it on his thighs already. Tears filled his eyes and Uncle Brian’s voice screamed that he was his father’s son.
The son of his father who died in a car when he was ten and he got his brother and sister out of there and carried Wolfgang on his back, crying with blood from Mom and Dad all over them with the hand that wasn’t holding Wolfgang holding Kelsey’s hand as the went for help. The son that got between Kelsey and Wolfgang and drunk Uncle Brian more than once. The son that spent years carefully preparing his escape from that man’s house and that man’s plan for him.
Brad was his father’s son, all right. And Michael Maurer raised his boy to be what he wanted, not what some drunk a!$#~$% planned for him and not what some serial killer wanted.
Brad’s hand clamped down on the handle and wrenched the door open. He thrust one foot out the door and then the other. If he died there, he died there. Turning into the dimly-lit hallway the pull of the chair began to lessen. His whole body trembling from the effort, Brad made himself take one step. Then another. Another. He wouldn’t stop until he was out of the hotel and surrounded by police. He didn’t think about the guard with the gun. Seeing the sign for the elevator down the hall a ways, Brad started for it. Each step was easier than the last.
As Brad drew near, he heard the elevator make its little ding and the door slide open. He smiled fiercely and took five quick steps, reaching the door just as Maximilian Jakoby stepped out.
Brad’s captor congratulated him and with a feral cry Brad launched himself past the man. Something as hard as marble seized him, lifted him off his feet, and hauled him into the elevator.
Maximilian closed the doors with his free hand and punched a button before releasing Brad and informing him that further struggle would be pointless. Then as the elevator descended he politely asked Brad if he wanted the answers he had sought or not.
Pushed far past his limits, Brad said he’d rather take them from Maximilian’s dead body. Maximilian was silent until the elevator let them out into the hotel’s basement, a deserted maze of concrete, plumbing, heating, and industrial laundry machines.
“I promise you, you will have your answers from my dead body,” Maximilian laughed and descended on Brad. Something hot and wonderful then crossed his lips and everything changed.
Maximilian was apologetic again for all the theatrics. The guard really was supposed to kill Brad if he got out of the room, but someone must have removed him in the hopes that Brad would put Maximilian in a compromising position.
The subsequent nights of explanation went a long way. Maximilian was not the killer, but rather cleaning up for the killers. Brad’s dedication impressed him, though he wasn’t sure until he saw Brad in the hall struggling against his compulsions that the medical examiner was what he wanted in a childe. The day in the hotel room? A sincere attempt to give Brad time to think things over.
Despite the circumstances, Brad found himself taking a strong liking to Maximilian. Once the initial stress was over he adjusted well to being one of dead. In his own way, Brad’s sire was even kind. In turn, Brad was a dutiful, loyal childe who took his Tremere Oath seriously.
Brad kept his job at the morgue, but only worked nights now. Since it was just him and the janitors, his actual hours became extremely flexible and permitted him ample time to begin his new program of study and eventually earn acceptance as a full citizen New York’s nights. Realizing that, as he had been before, Brad walked among dangerous creatures who would think little of killing him he worked hard to make himself useful and to cultivate the kind of resources that other kindred would benefit from. He’s still nice, dutiful, loyal Brad...carefully building his new future just like he built his old one. He’ll decide what future that is one night, but there’s no rush. Forever is a long time.
How old are you?
Bradley is thirty-seven, born on June 15, 1975. He was embraced the night of December 4, 2007 and has been a vampire for five years. His appears to be in his late twenties or early thirties.
What was unique about your childhood?
Orphaned at age ten and moved to an unfashionable suburb of San Diego to live with his uncle from ten until nearly eighteen. Then nine years of college, medical school, and a one year fellowship in and around the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill. Details above. :)
What kind of person were you?
Brad was invisible by choice. He was always polite and respectful to adults and rarely any worse with his peers. He was easy enough to like but didn’t form close friendships. He had several jobs in high school that he worked in around swimming and school, his favorite being working nights at a movie theater. In college he again worked at a movie theater but also did work study time in various university libraries.
What was your first brush with the supernatural?
The mysteries exsanguinated bodies Brad came across working in the NYC morgue were the first time he became aware that something odd was happening, though he thought it was bizarre but natural until he met Maximilian.
How did the Embrace change you?
Brad used to be extremely inhibited when it came to physical aggression. It helped keep him off wrestling and football and thus gravely disappointed Uncle Brian. The Embrace was painful and radically changed his priorities. He still cares about his brother and sister and would make arrangements to see to Uncle Brian’s needs if it came to that. He’s still relatively patriotic, conservative, and loosely religious but the space in his life that used to be the domain of flags and family is now being shared out with Sire, Clan, and Sect.
Brad had mixed feelings about Maximilian immediately after being Embraced, but he’s since warmed to his sire greatly. In a way Maximilian is the replacement father figure that Uncle Brian should have been. He tries to keep in mind that Maximilian is a killer like every other vampire but it’s easy to forget. They’re on generally good terms.
Who was your sire, and how did he treat you?
Maximilian Jakoby, childe of Torsten Weibeler, childe of either Philipp of Augsburg or Elsbet of Pressburg. (Torsten told Maximilian both at different times.) Maximilian has generally treated Brad well, but can be distant and always expected much of him. Being accustomed to high expectations, Brad didn’t much mind. It’s a bit of a sore spot that Brad has not taken to Thaumaturgy yet, but he’s dutifully working on it.
Brad stayed with Maximilian for two years before striking out on his own.
How did you meet the others in your coterie?
I don’t know yet. :)
Where is your haven?
Brad currently rents an apartment in a high-rise which is a little bit better than someone of his income would normally be able to afford, but not by a great deal. Some of the money he doesn’t spend on food and the like has gone to rent.
Do you retain any connections to your mortal life?
Brad still pretends to be alive and continues his mortal life for the time being. He’s slowly working on his planned death but wants to leave his brother and sister some inheritance, plus set up a college fund for Kelsey’s newborn son and any further kids she and/or Wolfgang may have. He takes an interest in their lives and has seen both of his siblings since his Embrace, but only briefly. He tells them work is too demanding and his boss doesn’t let people take much time off due to budget cuts so he can’t spend the day and can only meet them at night.
Brad still works at the NYC morgue and intends to do so for as long as he can without drawing suspicion. He suspects that his lack of visible aging will become a factor sometime in the next decade, when he should be nearing fifty.
What are your habitual feeding grounds?
Brad prefers to hunt in crowded areas, but does not especially like hunting in the usual clubs. He prefers to hunt in various businesses and hang out in bathrooms or isolated spots to Dominate someone into coming somewhere private for a little drink, after which he wipes their memories. He killed the first time he fed, but has not since. He regrets it because it was sloppy and disposing of the body required a lot of effort.
What motivates you?
Brad’s main priorities are staying alive and providing seeing to it his siblings and any nieces or nephews are set through college. He’s very reconciled to being a vampire and rather likes it much of the time. He doesn’t have any specific vampiric goals aside a desire to master thaumaturgy at some point and to generally learn more about Kindred history and nature. He sees the whole murderous shepherd thing as a neat origin myth but the idea of Caine as a real person still seems a bit silly to him. He doesn’t really believe in Gehenna.
Question for ya:
I plan on spending my Disciplines points in just Thaumaturgy, but I would like at least one dot in Technomancy. How should I purchase this, and at what cost?
Edit: Could I take Computer Hacking as secondary Knowledge?
When you place points in Thaumaturgy, you choose a primary path (usually Path of Blood). When you put a point in Thaumaturgy, your primary path increases as well. You may take a second path after you've placed two points in your primary- secondary paths must be one step behind your primary path.
So you could put two points in Thaumaturgy and one point into the Technomancy path with your three base discipline points. But to reach level two of Technomancy, you will need three points in Thaumaturgy first.
I'm not sure what you mean by a secondary knowledge. Wouldn't it be a specialty of the Computer knowledge?
It could yes, but notice how at the end of each area that describes the abilities, it lists a catch all, like Hobby Talent or Professional Skill? That's a secondary ability/skill.
Its like an ultra speciality, like diplomacy, throwing, gunsmithing, computer hacking, etc..
Wanna make sure I'm understanding this right, I have Thaum 3, and my paths could be Conjuration 2, Technomacy 1, just by spending my normal three Discipline points?
Never played a Tremere before, especially one where I needed to be this exact, so sorry for the questions..
No Ability higher than 3 with your base points; you can raise them to 4 and 5 with freebies.
I'll allow merits and flaws- as many merits as you want to purchase, but a maximum of 7 points of flaws.
As Neonates, you've been a vampire for 25 years or less and being part of the Camarilla you maintain humanity either because it's familiar or because it's the best cover from humans. No Paths of Enlightenment.
Okay, I'm probably just missing something, but don't you have to go over three on whichever grouping you assign seven points to?
Edit: You're talking about abilities not attributes. Duh. Sorry.
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Wanna make sure I'm understanding this right, I have Thaum 3, and my paths could be Conjuration 2, Technomacy 1, just by spending my normal three Discipline points?
I am less familair with Thaumaturgy, but I'm pretty sure that
1.) you need to have over 3 in your Primary path before you can begin a Secondary Path(s), and your Thaumaturgy rating is the same as your Primary Path.
2.) As a Tremere, your Primary Path (in V20) is always the Path of Blood, as the Tremere require you to be proficient in it before teaching anything else. (I could be wrong here).
Wanna make sure I'm understanding this right, I have Thaum 3, and my paths could be Conjuration 2, Technomacy 1, just by spending my normal three Discipline points?I am less familair with Thaumaturgy, but I'm pretty sure that
1.) you need to have over 3 in your Primary path before you can begin a Secondary Path(s), and your Thaumaturgy rating is the same as your Primary Path.
2.) As a Tremere, your Primary Path (in V20) is always the Path of Blood, as the Tremere require you to be proficient in it before teaching anything else. (I could be wrong here).
Went back and looked at V20 and...
"As mentioned before, the first path a character learns
is considered her primary path and increases automatically
as the character advances in the Discipline itself.
Secondary paths may be learned once the character
has acquired two or more dots in her primary path, and
they must be raised separately with experience points.
Furthermore, a character’s rating in her primary path
must always be at least one dot higher than any of her
secondary paths until she has mastered her primary
path. Once the character has achieved the fifth level
of her primary path, secondary paths may be increased
to that level."
"Almost every Tremere studies the Path of Blood as
her primary path. It encompasses some of the most fundamental
principles of Thaumaturgy, based as it is on
the manipulation of Kindred vitae. If a player wishes to
select another path as her character’s primary path, the
Storyteller may require additional reasoning (though
choosing a different path is by no means unheard of)."
Now that aside, I'm back from my business trip and can actually start working on a character.
Beckett- penitent Gangrel
MonkeyGod- Tremere technologist
Samnell- Tremere or Ventrue mortician/autopsy expert
Talomyr- Tremere or Nosferatu
Jam412- Sheriff's childe, Toreador
Is that coertie make up still acurate? I'm not real sure where I will go for a character at the moment as Monkeygod's Techno-Tremere kind of straddles the line between the two thoughts that I had already, and really makes the nosferatu concept redundant for this group. *laughs*
I'm think thinking I will still go Tremere, but be more of the opposite side of the coin from Monkeygod and be more of an occultist than technologist.