jachilli.bsky.social
Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Studio Hermitage | ex-WoD, ex-Ubi, ex-etc. | shoe enjoyer | he/ him
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Oh, I dunno, I feel like the results are mostly already in.
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Primogen auto-corrected itself again, dammit
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Yes, the game needs to make its conflicts clear. They're a lot of what prompts the players' characters into action.
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Oh, yes, definitely. Once you've curated your specific group, it dismisses 99 percent of what I'm talking about here. But we're also talking about two different things: running a house game vs. preparing a fictional world for publication and use across a huge swath of player types and venues.
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Well, it's not my place to do anything about it, so keep on chewing off faces or whatever it is that lets you rise from the grave each evening.
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Maybe I've played TOO MANY public games, demos, etc. but there is often a blind acceptance of what's written as fundamentally true, and it even spills outward into lore videos, forum assertions, discord dogma, etc. "This faction does this!" Well, probably some of them do, but individuals prevail.
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HEY, don't think I didn't see that. ;)
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So long as it's an odd number, seven or fewer, I'm good.
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Even the primogen! This particular structure of vampire politics was stated to be Chicago-specific, with Gary, IN in its shadow, but the it became the template for every city and even every cityBOOK. Here are the primogeniture, here's a weak or strong Prince, and everything cascades from there. :(
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So even when you do what the game says to do — have other possible points of origin for vampires — the abundance of canon tells you, "That's nice, Lilith-believer, but here's how it actually is." Once it's in print, unreliable narrator notwithstanding, the audience tends to believe it.
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Take the example of the Caine myth in Vampire, which is literally described as one of the possible explanations for the Kindred condition, but has become incontrovertible fact in the game world, even to the point of having systems support it (Generation).
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From my design-priorities perspective, what helps a player most is "context." The idea of "canon" frames that context as universally true, even if it's delivered by an unreliable narrator. For as much setting material as I've written, I try to be as canon-resistant as possible.
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Violence is all we know. It's the foundation of our economy.
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Happy to oblige!
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...the local-scale horror story. It's about the nightly travails of being a vampire in a territory with more-established vampires. It makes available plenty of Vampire's dials that the troupe can turn to emphasize their own favored Masquerade themes and events after bootstrapping some context.
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Importantly, this all fits in the context of the neighborhood domain. That is, it's specifically set up to be the incubator of local, street-level dramas of violence and horror that pave the way into the grander stage of Kindred politics. But it doesn't have to take that on if the players enjoy...
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This is usually a conflict, and that's good: The players get their answer/ favor/ recognition, and then the two other vampires take issue with it, or can help get them out of botching it, or can use them in vendetta against the other triangle-Kindred. Interacting with one "activates" the other two.
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Once the others in the triangle learn of the relationship, that informs how -they- perceive the coterie. So you get the challenge of whatever it was that brought the coterie into contact with their "benefactor," they become associated with that individual when word spreads (however it does).
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...the Saint might be able to answer a eerie question or offer insight into vampire metaphysics. Whatever the case, that interaction creates the basis for a relationship. It's up to the players' characters to grow or sabotage that relationship (or pretend to do one while doing the other).
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The function of this triangle is that eventually, through making mistakes or by proactively seeking help in the vagaries of being a fledgling vampire, the players' coterie will bump into one of these neighborhood figures. Gavran might help, Bossferatu might demand obeisance then offer support...
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...the seeming ghoul or servant who attends the head, brings it in on a pillowed cart or tray, etc. When I use this version, it's to teach new players "don't always believe what vampires tell you" while keeping things grounded in the neighborhood, not a grand conspiracy in scope.
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The Saint is the X factor. Rumor has it the Saint is a Banu Haqim or Tremere. The Saint is only an animate head preserved by the Curse and Blood Sorcery. The Saint is there to ramp up themes of weird/ spooky shit and occult horror. Sometimes when I run chronicles, "the Saint" is actually...
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Gavran runs a neighborhood brewery that's popular with mortals and a place where young Kindred can learn to pull prey discreetly. She's predisposed to help new, young vampires partly as a way to sustain Humanity, but as the chronicle develops, you introduce prestation. (Favors are initially free...)
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There's enough there to tease the greater sect hierarchy, which lets the players and Storyteller progressively agree on where the chronicle should head and what setting elements bear more spotlight. And it also gives a structure to oppose, justifying "going Anarch" or opting out of sect obligation.
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Bossferatu is the Scourge. He's a stupid, cruel Nosferatu granted title by [offscreen Prince] and recognized as the claimant to the domain. He's there to bully young vampires and serve as an object lesson in acknowledging Kindred power. It's not even sectarian in that fledglings fear him by default.
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The setting is just a neighborhood in size, several blocks by several blocks. It doesn't matter who the Prince is, or even if there is one, or what the city is. This is so that whoever uses this can easily drop it into their home chronicle or start one with minimal adjustment.
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I remember years ago, working retail, and moving through the service hallways pushing carts and shelves, imagining, "This neighborhood is Clan X domain," but then that felt limiting when I actually tried to do anything with it, like writing down every fact that could be true was gilding the lily.
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I wanted that years ago, but not for when I actually ran the games. For when I run/ play, I want tons of space left undefined to have the story emerge unconstrained by efforts to predetermine what 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 be a good direction for it.
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Why don't you grow up and marry a nice Dracula like your sister did, look how unhappy and deathless she is.
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Stockholm 𝘪𝘴 real nice. I have no idea if they have any openings. I know they had listed my old position a while back but I don't know if they filled it.
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You have banned four of the best ones, FOR SHAME.
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North Carolina:
470,000 people expected to lose health coverage
375,000 people expected to lose some or all of their food assistance
20,332 clean energy + manufacturing jobs at risk. #ncpol
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Beware the perils of overdevelopment!
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It’s pronounced “lesser Ventrue,” so heavens, no.
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NO DEAL
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have you tried not being demented narcissistic diablerists drunk on your own power and the Blood of others
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And those core seven have the broadest room for concepts while still having distinct identities of their own.
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stupid autocorrect of caern
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Doesn't even have to be a physical object; can be a place. Perfect for Vampire or Werewolf: The players' characters somehow (its own compelling situation) claim a domain or cairn that more established Kindred or Garou covet. Now they have to justify their claim, defend, -and- seek their own goals.