Chicago by Night (V5)

Game Master Talomyr

Wondering if there is interest out there for trying out a V5 game.

This game would not kick off for another month or so, and would be set in present night Chicago.

Starting power level for the game is fledglings/neonates who have been among the undead for 5 years or less.

I would be looking for 2-4 more players. Feel free to come up with an initial concept, but ultimately would like to construct the characters together to form a nominally cohesive coterie to start the game.

DOT to keep along with this thread.

EDIT: As discussed, going with Tremere.

Made a few Nosferatu, never got a chance to really play. Wouldn't mind actually giving World of Darkness a shot.

Dotting to keep up--very interested as per our PM discussion. I am most interested in the Brujah clan, but I can adjust to mesh well with others.

Made a few Nosferatu, never got a chance to really play. Wouldn't mind actually giving World of Darkness a shot.

Hi Kazmanaught!

The Nosferatu you have made in the past, were they for V5 or a previous edition of the game? Not a judgement either way, just trying to gauge familiarity with the system/setting. I am happy to welcome players of any experience level for this game.

For example:

Shadow is a rather experienced storyteller/WoD player, but I don't believe he has a lot of experience with V5 (please correct me if I'm misspeaking).

feyriel is a newbie to both V5 and the WoD in general, but not a novice when it comes to RPGs.

In terms of my experience with the World of Darkness and Vampire in particular, I have been playing as both a PC and a ST since the days of V:tM 1st ed (1991) and have experience with most of the game-lines in the WoD.

ST Talomyr What sort of posting rate will you be looking for?

Ideally, I would like to see at least once daily during the week. Weekends tend to be a bit slower, so I'm not so concerned about the once a day rate there.

All that being said, if posting rates of the players dictate it, I'm not opposed to more frequent posting.

You are correct ST, I have zero experience with V5, in fact I just pulled out the book last night so I can peruse character creation over the weekend.

Like you, I have been playing/STing for a while in this setting, since 1992 or early 1993.

How old would it make you all feel to know that you all have been playing in this setting since I was a baby/toddler? (I was born in 1990 ;P)

My dad was a big TTRPG guy. Ran his own AD&D homebrew games, GURPs, all sorts of stuff...it runs in the family. :)

How old would it make you all feel to know that you all have been playing in this setting since I was a baby/toddler? (I was born in 1990 ;P)

My dad was a big TTRPG guy. Ran his own AD&D homebrew games, GURPs, all sorts of stuff...it runs in the family. :)

My wife tells me all the time that I'm still 12 so I'd say I feel 12 ;-)

I might be interested. I’m familiar with V1&2, and played a little V20 Dark Ages on these boards under the illustrious Storyteller Shadow. I’ll pick up V5 this week and give it a read. Traditionally I tend to gravitate towards Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Malkavians, but maybe 5th edition will pique my interest in something new :)

Also interested.

I've played other editions, but I don't think I've done V5.

Oh man, Malkavs....

Has everyone played the sequel to the video game, V:tM Bloodlines? One of my favorite lines ever spoken is in that game.

*uses power in a conversation to make the NPC start laughing uncontrollably.
*laughs along with them.
*Players starts laughing too. Of course*

NPC: "Uh, why are we laughing?"
PC: "Does one need a reason?"

I might be interested. I’m familiar with V1&2, and played a little V20 Dark Ages on these boards under the illustrious Storyteller Shadow. I’ll pick up V5 this week and give it a read. Traditionally I tend to gravitate towards Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Malkavians, but maybe 5th edition will pique my interest in something new :)

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on a potential character.

Also interested.

I've played other editions, but I don't think I've done V5.

Oh man, Malkavs....

Has everyone played the sequel to the video game, V:tM Bloodlines? One of my favorite lines ever spoken is in that game.

*uses power in a conversation to make the NPC start laughing uncontrollably.
*laughs along with them.
*Players starts laughing too. Of course*

NPC: "Uh, why are we laughing?"
PC: "Does one need a reason?"

Atlas2112, does this imply that you would be interested in a Malkavian, should your interest continue?

So far...

Storyteller Shadow - Tremere
feyrial - Brujah

Expressed interest:

Kazmanaught - Nosferatu?
goodwicki - Gangrel, Nosferatu, Malkavians, or maybe something else should interest be piqued.
Atlas2112 - Malkavian?

Those character creation rules are quite different than oWoD. Interesting though.

The Coterie portion is pretty neat.

Do you have a preference as to where we are from? Do we choose our Sires from among "canon" characters or do you want to assign them to us for story purposes? Based upon the storyline changes in V5 not sure if I want to start in Chicago or be a transplant that fled from a city where the Second Inquisition hit the Tremere.

No strong preferences, perfectly fine if you want to be a transplant.

Given that Generation is still a thing, but Blood Potency is far more important, as you are thinking about your characters consider your Generation to be 12th or higher (i.e. 13th etc.).

I'm guessing everyone will be 12th or 13th, as I haven't seen any expressed interest in playing a thin-blood.

I'm up for giving V5 a go. I like the new Hunger mechanic vs tracking blood pools, and the changes to fluff are interesting. I'll be traveling internationally the first half of April, so as long as proper gameplay doesn't start until after April 15th, I can commit to the posting rate.

ST Talomyr Do you want all characters to belong to a specific sect, ie Camarilla or Anarchs? Seems like the two solid characters proposed, Tremere and Brujah, could go either way.

I would like the characters to all be part of the same sect, but whether that is Anarch or Camarilla I leave up to the players to decide. Anarch would be a more difficult game, given the political (vampiric) climate of Chicago proper, but there are opportunities either way.

I was envisioning Camarilla based background, though a Tremere Anarch would be interesting and possible based on the new plot direction for the Tremere.

I'm pretty happy to switch things up if majority isn't interested in anarch! Brujah is my IRL vibe as a person, so I gravitated toward it since stuff I relate to can be easier in a new system.

I'm not locked into anything :)

There are still a few Brujah in the Camarilla, so no real need to switch that if the group goes the Cam route.

Sounds perfect to me!

I've got two ideas I like - a Malkavian literati with a focus on social conflict, and a Nosferatu campanologist decent at stealth and combat. If either of these (admittedly broad-stroke) concepts seems a better fit for the existing characters, let me know. Both could be played as either Camarilla or Anarchs, really just depends on what kind of game we all feel like playing. My experience with VtM has mainly been small-scale homebrew type games rather than published 'X by Night' settings, so I'm not steeped in much game lore beyond the main rulebooks, if that makes any difference.

ST Talomyr Do you prefer preliminary character concepts/sheets by PM, or can I post up here? I note others have gone the PM route, but not sure if it's because they pre-date this recruitment thread or because it's your preference. Or if they're being secretive because VtM ;)

This applies to anyone making a character for this game:

Feel free to do either. Neither of the other players have presented much more than a clan preference, but with the idea of building a cohesive coterie (at leasr at the beginning of the game, we'll see what happens in game), feel free to post here. If there is something you would prefer stay under wraps, feel free to PM me.

I need to look through the V5 book before I decide on my final background, hoping to get to that tonight (assuming the baby cooperates).

** spoiler omitted **

Looks like a good start. Embraced a bit earlier than I would have liked, but understandable give the backstory and the timing of the demise of the Vienna Chantry.

Now to your quesions:

1) That is correct, 15 XP.
2) Also correct. All increases are New level time a multiplier. So for a clan discipline that you are purchasing the first dot in, it is 5 XP. Likewise for an out of clan would be 7 XP for the first dot.
3) Correct, just one unless you can give me a hell of a good reason.
4) The Osiris predator type requires you to take 2 points in flaws either Enemy or Mythic Flaws. That can be a single 2 point enemy, two 1 point enemies, a 1 point enemy and the folkloric bane flaw, or the folkloric block flaw, etc.

Later during character creation you will select 7 points of merits and two more points of flaws.

With an Elder I could probably draft a compelling enough story to take 2 Loresheets but not so much with a Fledgling.

Storyteller Shadow wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

Looks like a good start. Embraced a bit earlier than I would have liked, but understandable give the backstory and the timing of the demise of the Vienna Chantry.

Yep, slightly older but not so old that it shifts a power balance or would create more XP under character creation rules.

Once I heard the Tremere were not what they were, I figured a displaced Tremere made sense and then I saw Nicolai was out in Chicago it all made sense enough to me.

My idea is that he would generally live in the Chantry as a haven but we can explore that as the game begins.

Holding off on Coterie creation until we are all approved as a firm set of characters.

I, admittedly, have quite a busy week this week, so I am hoping to have bullet-point ideas about my character before the end of the weekend.

Grades for 3rd quarter are due tonight and I have 55 essays to grade. >_> Why do I do this to myself?

I'm trying to launch my 2e Kingmaker game (finally) this weekend as well, so it's busy in my house. :P

I, admittedly, have quite a busy week this week, so I am hoping to have bullet-point ideas about my character before the end of the weekend.

Grades for 3rd quarter are due tonight and I have 55 essays to grade. >_> Why do I do this to myself?

I'm trying to launch my 2e Kingmaker game (finally) this weekend as well, so it's busy in my house. :P

No worries.

As happens, my initial character ideas have transformed into something quite different. After a few days with the rulebook, I’m now very interested in making a thin-blood character. Most basic concept is a street-level criminal trying to hustle and grind their way into the sect’s good graces, hoping to carve out a niche for themselves by leveraging their variant abilities; sort of like the coterie’s hyper-ambitious intern.

ST Talomyr If you think this is viable, I should be able to write up a précis tonight. Also, will we be doing communal coterie creation more or less as presented in the core rulebook?

I suspect that is viable. Could be a stretch for a Camarilla associated Thin-Blood, but I suspect that could be an interesting thing to roleplay.

Also, with the Thin-Blood Alchemy, I could certainly see Edwin (Storyteller Shadow) being interested in that character - trying to understand how Thin-Blood Alchemy works.

Yes, it is my intention to do the communal coterie creation once everyone has a base concept down.

Also, with the Thin-Blood Alchemy, I could certainly see Edwin (Storyteller Shadow) being interested in that character - trying to understand how Thin-Blood Alchemy works.

Absolutely, considering he was a hedge mage trying to make magic work as a Mortal before the Embrace, no doubt he would find pseudo Mortals actually doing it interesting.

I suspect that is viable. Could be a stretch for a Camarilla associated Thin-Blood, but I suspect that could be an interesting thing to roleplay.

Great! I’ll work up a treatment tonight.

ST Talomyr wrote:

Also, with the Thin-Blood Alchemy, I could certainly see Edwin (Storyteller Shadow) being interested in that character - trying to understand how Thin-Blood Alchemy works.

Absolutely, considering he was a hedge mage trying to make magic work as a Mortal before the Embrace, no doubt he would find pseudo Mortals actually doing it interesting.

I can definitely pick up a rank in Thin-Blood Alchemy if it helps explain why other PCs tolerate my presence :)

Yes, it is my intention to do the communal coterie creation once everyone has a base concept down.

Also great! I’m excited for this aspect of character creation - my past experience as a player has basically been ST dictated coterie setups/purpose.

The coterie creation portion of character building is one of aspects of V5 I like the most, particularly as a ST.

I'm also quite fond of how Willpower works and the Hunger system in this edition.

Wasn't sold on the Hunger system until I actually saw how it worked.

I think my experiance was 20th anniversary edition? I have a copy of the 5e rules, but I don't think I've ever played it.

Apologies for the delayed response, I lost my window where I keep my recruitment page open, and forgot about it because it wasn't in my active campaigns tab.

Still interested in a Nosferatu, I'll try and hash out a few more details shortly!

In terms of experiance, I've only been playing RPG's since 2012. Incidentally, that means I've been playing since I was 12. I'm 23 now, so I feel like that's a long time, but I totally get if that makes me the newbie! Systems I feel I have a strong mastery of are Pathfinder 1e, Mutants & Masterminds, and D&D 5e. Systems I've played before are GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, AD&D, a couple of completely homebrewed systems, Villians & Vigilantes, Edge of the Empire, and probably a few others that I've forgotten about at this point, so I like to think that I'm well rounded.

As far as character concepts go, I must admit that I am rather partial to the intelligent fighter type. However, we've already got a Brujah, who probably will have a lock on brawling and the like, and I do not want to step on anybody's toes! I'd like to play a nosferatu information broker who is capable of throwing down if the need arises. I like to emphasize that the Nosferatu are some of the most understanding/empathetic of the canites, due to their hideous physical nature. As far as predator types, I'm looking at bagger, consentualist, and blood leech. Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

So far...

Storyteller Shadow - Tremere
feyrial - Brujah
goodwicki - Thin Blood
Kazmanaught - Nosferatu

Expressed interest...

Atlas2112 - Malkavian?

I think I have enough folks to make it work, but I think I would like to add one more definitive player. Atlas2112, you still interested?

With an Elder I could probably draft a compelling enough story to take 2 Loresheets but not so much with a Fledgling.

** spoiler omitted **

Just had a chance to review, looks like you've over-spent XP (easily understandable given the change from current level * X in previous editions to new level * X in V%). Blood Potency 2 would have cost 20 XP.

So that brings you back down to 5 XP spent. If you wanted to optimize the XP spend, switch your dot gained from the Osiris predator type to a third dot of Blood Sorcery, and spend 7 XP on Presence 1 - leaving you with 3 XP to spend.

Also pick a Blood Sorcery Ritual for each dot you have.

I got tremere and ventrue mixed up in my head. We don't have a dedicated mind bender, and charisma is my favorite stat in PF. I'd be happy to roll up with one of the more dominate/presence flavored clans as well, especially if it would help avoid overlap with feyrial!

I'm assuming that we don't need to have anything in stone yet? I've been pouring over the rules, but there's a bit to take in!

No, you don't need anything set in stone. Just work up a general concept and we can go from there.

As far as discipline mix goes, Shadow's Tremere has both Dominate (clan) and Presence (out of clan) as constructed.

feyrial is thinking Brujah and would certainly have Presence as an option, given the clan disciplines of the Brujah.

Long story short, come up with what sounds fun to play - the traditional "party roles" that you see in fantasy TTRPGs don't necessarily apply to Vampire (or the WoD in general).

I am brand new to this system, so when I have something together (this weekend), feel free to offer critiques and ways to fit in a little better with party makeup!

Storyteller Shadow wrote:

With an Elder I could probably draft a compelling enough story to take 2 Loresheets but not so much with a Fledgling.

** spoiler omitted **

Just had a chance to review, looks like you've over-spent XP (easily understandable given the change from current level * X in previous editions to new level * X in V%). Blood Potency 2 would have cost 20 XP.

So that brings you back down to 5 XP spent. If you wanted to optimize the XP spend, switch your dot gained from the Osiris predator type to a third dot of Blood Sorcery, and spend 7 XP on Presence 1 - leaving you with 3 XP to spend.

Also pick a Blood Sorcery Ritual for each dot you have.

Ah so each DOT for Blood Potency costs that # * 10, wow, that's a steep XP cost!

Sounds good, I will make those changes ST and create an Avatar this weekend. Thank you!

Ah so each DOT for Blood Potency costs that # * 10, wow, that's a steep XP cost!

Sounds good, I will make those changes ST and create an Avatar this weekend. Thank you!

Yep. Definitely a steep cost. Blood Potency has variable minimums and maximums based on generation, but baring something for a very specific game, PCs will have a BP of 0 (Thin Blood) or 1 (Most vampires generation 14-10)

My week unexpectedly got hectic there - I’ve put together some bullet points for my character. Leaving precise details open for now in case we want to fill in with links to pcs/npcs during coterie process. I’ve assumed we’re Camarilla (“C”) below for clarity, but can easily flip sects.
Background:

I am considering changing from Brujah to Toreador. I have a clearer character idea for this - an up-and-coming artist/poet Embraced by a Patron. Any thoughts on who that Patron could be, etc.?

Still has Presence at the forefront and all.

I am considering changing from Brujah to Toreador. I have a clearer character idea for this - an up-and-coming artist/poet Embraced by a Patron. Any thoughts on who that Patron could be, etc.?

Some random general ideas. Patron is…

I’m really into bullet points today.

I am considering changing from Brujah to Toreador. I have a clearer character idea for this - an up-and-coming artist/poet Embraced by a Patron. Any thoughts on who that Patron could be, etc.?

Still has Presence at the forefront and all.

Two established kindred in Chicago come to mind. The first one would make you 11th generation, but that's not a deal breaker still would be starting with blood potency 1. The second one would make you 13th generation.

I guess the real question is what sort of relationship do you see yourself having with your Sire?

The first one would be Kathy Glens, a relatively high humanity vampire who leads a local band of some note, Baby Chorus. She would have been seeking you out as either an additional musician or perhaps a lyricist, depending on what your chosen art form is.

The second is Mateo Garcia, a party-boy who was always looking a good time. Your art caught his attention as someone who's art could keep him attending the in-event parties. Mateo is selfish and hot tempered, willing to do anything to get ahead.