World of Darkness: Chicago - Crisis of Fate

[Fatespinner]

I am currently gearing up to begin running a game for my group using the new World of Darkness by White Wolf Game Studios. Having purchased numerous supplements and rulebooks from this very website, I find myself entrenched in the lore and mechanics of this new setting.

My gaming group consists of five players. Two male, three female. The characters have been made and, now that I know what I'm dealing with, I have begun the arduous process of creating the storylines that will be played out over the course of this campaign. Due to long player hiatuses coming up, the actual game itself will not be starting until late July/early August but I have the luxury of running preludes and solo side-stories for the various characters leading up to the actual beginning of the game.

This is not your garden-variety World of Darkness game, either. The game is set in modern-day Chicago, centering around the University of Chicago where all but one of the characters is presently attending classes there. The characters are ALL MORTALS with NO exposure to the truths of the World of Darkness. It's almost like a Call of Cthulhu game. Here's the roster so far:

• Jared will be playing the role of Jacob Eisling, the CEO of a local computer software corporation called 'DataPulse' and son of the company president. While he is significantly underqualified for his job, his father appointed him to the position in the hopes that he would 'grow into' it. He is attending college for a degree in Business Management and has been told by his father that if he begins to fail his classes, he will be removed from his position at the company. His Virtue is Charity, his Vice is Pride. Notable Traits: Resources 4, Status (Corporate) 3
  
• Sasha will be playing Jamie Martinez, a first-year medical student pursuing degrees in Psychology and Chemistry with hopes of becoming a psychiatrist to help others who have suffered like she has. As a young teenager, Jamie's carefree attitude and extreme attractiveness landed her in the world of amateur child pornography and threatened to destroy her life. After coming clean with her parents, Jamie spent several years in councelling before finally determining her goal in life. Her Virtue is Hope, her Vice is Wrath. Notable Traits: Striking Looks 4, Willpower 6 (Highest in the group.)
  
• Ali will be playing Gillian Lux-Pax, an accomplished artist pursuing a degree in her field of expertise. After spending several years studying Art in France (and acquiring fluency in the local language), she has returned to Chicago to finish out her schooling. She is a free thinker and embraces the concepts of witchcraft, hauntings, and magic as inspiration for her work. She spends much of her free time reading books on the occult and can often be found in a local metaphysical bookstore engaged in idle banter with the store's proprietor when she is not in her studio putting paint to canvas. Her Virtue is Hope, her Vice is Sloth. Notable Traits: Occult 2 (she's the only character with any dots in this skill), Language (French) 2, Unseen Sense (Ghosts)
  
• Marissa will be playing Michiko, an extraordinarily bright and talented Asian-American actress pursuing a degree in theatre. While she is certainly very gifted on stage and in class, Michiko has few friends thanks to her somewhat selfish nature and unwillingness to settle for anything less than perfect. Her Virtue is Fortitude, her Vice is Pride. Notable Traits: Intelligence 4, Expression 4, Language (Japanese) 3
  
• Marvin will be playing a character who is presently unnamed. A high-school dropout who entered the military service at age 18 and has since returned from active enlistment in Iraq, Marvin's character has set himself up with local criminal ties and works as a Union enforcer to protect worker's rights in an unforgiving city. His military training has made him into an ideal recruit for the criminal interests he serves and he has more than once found himself in situations where violence was the only option left to him. Still, his interests remain somewhat more altruistic than his associations might suggest and his goal is truly to champion the middle class. His Virtue is Justice, his Vice is Wrath. Notable Traits: Firearms 3, Combat Style: Combat Marksmanship 3

Little do the characters (or even players) know, but they are about to be thrust headlong into twists of fate that boggle the mind. My major plot tool for this campaign is a deck of Tarot cards which will serve both mechanical and story purposes throughout the campaign. Allegiances will shift as Death brings change. The Tower represents a great calamity upon the horizon. The characters represent the Wheel of Fortune.

A dark future lies ahead for our hapless heroes. Will they succeed in surviving the horrors of the night and glean new power from the wisdom they discover? Will they fall victim to unseen monsters and be written off as simply more victims of Chicago's harsh environment? Whatever the future holds, it's all in the luck of the draw...

[Fatespinner]

As I said before in this thread, the game was not set to begin until late July/early August. That time has come, and the first session was last night. Prior to our kick-off session, however, I worked with several of the players to hammer out stronger concepts (which resulted in several changes, some cosmetic, some mechanical). Now, the "set-in-stone" roster consists of the following:

• Jared is playing Jacob Marshall, a junior executive at his father's security software corporation (called "Sentricom"). His character's life is filled with activity, maintaining a 30-hour work week at the office in addition to his substantial coursework, but he takes everything in stride and perserveres against all odds. He is otherwise unchanged from the description above.
• Sasha's character is essentially the same, but she decided to change her name to Soledad Martinez or "Sole" for short.
• Marissa's character also endured a name change. She is now 'Kimiko'.
• Ali's character Gillian is completely unaltered.
• Marvin's character has changed substantially. His character is the son of a nondescript Missouri couple who operate a service station/restaurant near a major highway there. His father is of strong Irish extraction and his mother is one-half Shawnee Indian. Having dropped out of high school due to a lack of academic interest, he pursuaded his father to allow him to enter the military at age 17 and was sent to Bosnia in the late 90's to serve in the peacekeeping operations going on there. He finished his 4 years of service, having obtained a military equivalent to a GED, and decided to enroll at the University of Chicago for a major in Forestry. After many nights spent talking about the 'old ways' with his Grandfather (on his mother's side), he had taken a strong interest in the natural world and wanted to do his part to safeguard it. His name is Connall and he's currently working as a campus police officer to pay the bills (much of his tuition is covered by his G.I. Bill).

[Sebastian]

What's the general arc? Are they all going to be embraced? Do they know each other? What is your evil plan, oh horned one?

[Sect]

Fatespinner wrote:

Marvin's character has changed substantially. His character is the son of a nondescript Missouri couple who operate a service station/restaurant near a major highway there. His father is of strong Irish extraction and his mother is one-half Shawnee Indian. Having dropped out of high school due to a lack of academic interest, he pursuaded his father to allow him to enter the military at age 17 and was sent to Bosnia in the late 90's to serve in the peacekeeping operations going on there. He finished his 4 years of service, having obtained a military equivalent to a GED, and decided to enroll at the University of Chicago for a major in Forestry. After many nights spent talking about the 'old ways' with his Grandfather (on his mother's side), he had taken a strong interest in the natural world and wanted to do his part to safeguard it. His name is Connall and he's currently working as a campus police officer to pay the bills (much of his tuition is covered by his G.I. Bill).[/list]

You know... Connall being a quarter Native American, he COULD get even more Tuition Assistance...

But, yeah, University of Chicago's a damn expensive school for a college drop out: GI Bill and TA can barely cover it, though the IVG might. Don't know enough about it, since I'm from Indiana...

::shrug:: Nitpick, nitpick... Looks like fun, though.

[Fatespinner]

The characters were grouped together by their Sociology professor for a group project dedicated to an analysis of diverse social attitudes within an established group. He intentionally grouped students with widely varying majors and personalities and told them that he wanted them to develop a presentation on how different attitudes affect the ability of a group to perform adequately towards a common goal. Soledad, as a graduate student, was the Teacher's Assistant for this class and was not actually part of the group. Nonetheless, when she went to the local coffee shop (Uncommon Grounds) for her afternoon studying, she discovered the rest of the group working on their project and discussing the local news.

Of greatest interest in the news was the recovery of a young woman's body who had disappeared 3 days earlier from the University campus. Connall, as a member of the local police, knew a few more details of the recovery but the Metro police had remained quiet about the cause of death pending an official report from the coroner's office. After a largely uneventful evening, an exuberant young person came upstairs bearing flyers that were good for a free tarot reading from Madame Lorna, a local reader/psychic whose store was set to open the following day.

The group reconvened on the next evening to continue working on the project and decided to attend the psychic's shop as a group. They were surprised to discover that Madame Lorna had arranged exactly five chairs for each of them in anticipation of their arrival. Gillian could feel the presence of an unseen entity in the room with them (thanks to her 'Unseen Sense' merit) and they settled in for a surprisingly accurate tarot reading.

The first thing Madame Lorna did was to 'define' them. She selected a card from the Major Arcana to represent each of them as individuals.

• Connall - The World: Reflects strong endurance and inner strength. In-tune with nature and well-travelled.
• Jacob - Strength: Reflects a strong personal drive and discipline. Inclined to stability and determination.
• Gillian - The Heirophant: Gifted with extraordinary knowledge and wisdom. Possessed of spiritual strength.
• Kimiko - The Hermit: Distant and aloof. Someone possessed of themselves and full of introspection.
• Soledad - The Fool: Given to spontaneous action and possessed of a lack of foresight. Also someone who has much to learn about the world and is possessed of creative energies.

The group proceeded to ask Madame Lorna questions which she answered via the tarot, providing uncanny insight into their motivations, personalities, and even their past. Even the skeptics (which was everyone but Connall and Gillian) were somewhat unnerved by the accuracy of her statements. She predicted that Connall would be faced with a trial soon, something that would test his resolve, and that Gillian would provide uncommon insight to aid in the resolution of this trial. She also predicted that Jacob would face some physical threat in the near future, one that Connall would be instrumental in saving him from, and he would discover his inner strength immediately thereafter. None of the other characters wished to question the reader at this point, and so she dismissed them.

The group returned to their work on the class project, strongly disturbed by the reader's statements but attempted to play them off as superstitious nonsense. Regardless, very little work was accomplished due to distractions. Another day rolled by and Connall found himself on his usual night-shift beat patrolling the park to the west of the University when he received a report of several individuals carrying firearms nearby. He called for backup and discovered the three men in question meeting another pair of men in the middle of the park. The police surrounded the group and the three thugs took off, leaving the other two men behind who surrendered willingly. One of the thugs produced an automatic weapon and fired a full volley into the oncoming police, wounding Connall and nearly killing another officer. A retaliatory burst of fire from the police dropped the perpetrator but his accomplices managed to escape.

The perpetrator was discovered to still be alive (only barely) at the scene and was quickly taken to the hospital along with the downed officer. Connall was treated on the scene and was given the okay to continue his activities pending a visit to the ER and a few stitches (he suffered 2 levels of lethal damage). The two individuals who were arrested on the scene were interrogated and provided minimal information, citing that they were part of the "Blood Brothers" and had arranged to meet these thugs to purchase illegal firearms. One of them (a clean-cut white man) was a corporate attorney who claimed that he did not have to reveal anything to the interrogator at this time. Connall witnessed the interrogation and was surprised at how stoicly the first interrogee (an Arab man) answered the questions.

Following the interrogation, Connall went to the hospital to have his own wounds treated and also visited the injured perpetrator. He was laid up in intensive care, being administered drugs by IV (he had suffered 8 levels of lethal damage). Connall discovered a strange scar on the man's right shoulder and could not identify it as any known gang symbol. On a hunch, he called Gillian who was able to identify the icon as a pre-Celtic rune of uncertain origin. She felt that the rune had something to do with the moon but could not pinpoint the significance.

And that is the first session in a nutshell. :)

[Fatespinner]

Sebastian wrote:

What's the general arc? Are they all going to be embraced? Do they know each other? What is your evil plan, oh horned one?

I have players on the board who might stumble across this thread, but I will fill you in on my evil plan.

Attention My Players: Do Not Read the Spoilers if You Want This Game to Stay Mysterious and Spooky

Okay, that said:

Spoiler:

The Tarot card that was chosen for each character represents their fate. I assigned each card of the Major Arcana to correspond with a certain type of supernatural creature that they are destined to become. The characters do indeed know each other, as indicated by the previous post, but they have no idea that they are destined to become something 'more than human.' I intend to start things out slowly, building up to the characters' metamorphosis into something else over time. I plan to slowly involve them in the supernatural world but I wanted to start dropping hints right from the get-go that something was not right in the world. Also, Madame Lorna is an insanely powerful mage who was drawn to the area by strong eddies of Fate and discovered that the PCs are the source of it. Due to various reasons I won't go into here, the Mages and Vampires of Chicago are at each others' throats and both sides are trying to draw the Werewolves over to their side. The PCs are going to be instrumental in preventing all-out supernatural war from tearing the city of Chicago apart. Some of them are fated to become Mages, some are fated to become Werewolves. I intentionally left Vampires out of the loop because I didn't want to force players to work against each other (and there's the fact that Vampires can't operate during the daylight hours which would leave some players completely out of many scenes).

Oh, and:

Spoiler:

FYI, the Major Arcana that got pulled decided the following:

• Connall - Mage, Thrysus Path (Dreamspeakers analog, for you old-schoolers)
• Gillian - Werewolf, Ithaeur Auspice (formerly known as Theurge)
• Jacob - Werewolf, Rahu Auspice (a.k.a. Ahroun)
• Kimiko - Werewolf, Irraka Auspice (Ragabash)
• Soledad - Mage, Acanthus Path (this one lacks an old WoD analog... I guess a cross between Verbena and Cult of Ecstasy?)

[Fatespinner]

I'm planning on getting in contact with my players via e-mail this week to establish some downtime weirdness. Things are going to start getting interesting in Chicago...

[Fatespinner]

The second session began with Kimiko suffering from a nightmare which woke her from sleep, startling her roommate Gillian in the process. In the dream, she envisioned herself being pursued by a hulking, beastial figure through the commons area at the campus. Everything was dark and vague, except the gleaming eyes of the monster that bore down on her relentlessly until her strength gave out and the creature overpowered her. She shook her head when Gillian questioned her, saying that it was "nothing" despite the sweat on her brow. Getting back to sleep that night was impossible.

The next day after class, the group reconvened to continue working on their class project. Still thinking about the thug in the hospital and curious about the significance of the scar he bore, Connal decided to pay another visit to Madame Lorna. Through her cryptic Tarot reading, Madame Lorna discerned that the symbol was a mark of change (signified by the Major Arcana of Death) and that the man who possessed it would offer Connal great power but at great cost. After this line of questioning, Madame Lorna let him know that he had taxed the loom of fate enough and to question his future further could fray the threads of destiny. After this revelation, Connal decided to pay a visit to Farouq, the Arab man who had been taken into custody.

During his conversation with the Arab, Connal alluded to the fact that he knew something was up with the guy in the hospital. Connal told Farouq that he wanted to keep more people from getting hurt and that he was willing to make a deal if Farouq could point him in the right direction. Farouq told him that, if he truly wanted to keep people from getting hurt, he needed to make sure that the wounded man in the hospital was unattended or things would get very ugly. Connal did not ask any questions, he simply nodded. He also gave Farouq his cellular number and told him to keep him abreast of any further developments in this "gang war" so that he could make sure it was kept quiet.

Following that conversation, Connal then travelled to the hospital and pursuaded his partner, Dan, to go get them a cup of coffee while he watched the door. While Dan was away, Connal attempted to stir the wounded man and tried talking to him as well but got no response. Finally, the decided to close the door and leave the room, going down the hall a bit. A minute later, several doctors and nurses made their way to the room, yelling about a Code Blue, but when they opened the door, they discovered the EKG was flatlining... because it was no longer attached to anyone. The window had been broken out and the wounded man was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that the window was three stories up. After some angry words between Connal and the physicians (who claimed that he couldn't have escaped if Connal had been "doing his job"), Dan returned with the coffee and a shocked expression on his face. Connal called for a search team and promptly went home.

The following morning, Connal received word that Farouq and his accomplice, the clean-cut British lawyer named Luther Hurley, had simply vanished in the middle of the night. Their cells were still locked from the outside when they were discovered empty.

Meanwhile, the other members of the group were having problems of their own. Kimiko's nightmares persisted the next night as well and Jacob had come down with a rather severe flu, preventing him from joining the group to work on the project. He e-mailed his research notes to Connal and told him that he was deeply sorry to be an inconvenience. (Jacob's player was actually horribly sunburned and beginning to show the signs of a severe cold, so he stepped out early and went to bed.) Soledad spoke to Kimiko about her nightmares and, at Gillian's insistance, revealed the nature of her nightmares to the entire group. Soledad's psychological theorizing did relieve some of the stress from her mind and even Gillian agreed that it was probably stress from the project deadline. Connal offered to take her over to Madame Lorna's for an analysis, but Kimiko vehemently refused, claiming that she didn't need more of the "creepy lady's mumbo jumbo" to tell her that she was just stressed out.

(more to come from this session...)