Vampire the Masquerade idea: The Real Play

[On filming an actor without his giving permission to be filmed]

Robert K. Bowfinger: Did you know Tom Cruise had no idea he was in that vampire movie till two years later?        Bowfinger (1999)

  A Real Play is when a vampire directs other Kindred to create a semi-improvised story in real time, similar to a story you would see in cinema or at the theater, with one or many mortals as unwitting participants. The public will be composed of vampires hidden via Obfuscate, either by their own power or by vampires with the Discipline high enough to mask the spectators.

  The Real Play genres can be varied and can last from a single night session to weeks or even months of story. It is often frowned upon by the Camarilla as being risky, which draws many rebellious neonates to it, but even they will make sure their Real Plays do not endanger the Masquerade. They are nevertheless very cruel plays. A romantic-themed Real Play might involve a handsome Toreador courting a mortal woman for months, helping her in her life through countless difficulties (many which will have been arranged by the Director) and finally ending like many romantic stories would end, with popular choices being a promise of moving in together or matrimony. That is normally considered the end of the story, and then the Director, Actors and Obfuscators move on to their next project for the enjoyment and entertainment of the Kindred Spectators. The fact that the mortal woman's life actually continues with her wondering what happened to her beloved fiance just isn't a concern for most of the cruel vampires who participate in this 'art form'.
  It could have been worse for this theoretical mortal though. As you're about to read, the Sabbat handles it a bit differently.

  Sabbat vampires, as is to be expected, are much more extreme in their Real Plays. Vamprie Disciplines can, for example, re-create very easily a Haunted House scenario. The Obteneration Discipline of the Lasombra can prove particularly interesting for those. A vampire with good Fortitude and Potence can play the role of a Slasher to perfection. Technically, as long as they don't reveal themselves to be vampires and don't expose any actual Kindred weaknesses, they're not breaking the Masquerade, so while Camarilla elders would fall down hard on the participants of such a Real Play, the Sabbat elders will probably overlook it.

  In any case, while a Camarilla Real Play might end with the vampires leaving the mortals to their lives (Sometimes leaving the door open for a 'sequel' with the same 'protagonists'), Sabbat ones will often celebrate the end of a Real Play by feeding on the protagonists, so even in the event of a risky Play outright breaking the Masquerade, it changes little in the end.

  If the mortals behave in such a way that it leads to an unsatisfying or anti-thematic ending, the Director and/or Actors can lose face, either for having chosen the wrong mortals to involve or for not having done their job properly. Everyone's a critic, a no one likes to critic more than a Kindred at the Elysium.

 

Vampire The Masquerade - Generation House Rule

  The news of a fourth edition of Vampire: The Masquerade coming in 2016 has me pretty excited. So excited that I grabbed my 20th anniversary edition and started re-reading it, and it really put me in the mood for playing it again. (Especially now that we're in October!)

  That said, one thing that cannot be denied is that the rules for a vampire's Generation at character creation are broken. There's no reason not to max out that background, as it makes you so much more powerful. I remember reading one of the books in the early 2000's that discussed this, and the argument that the book had was that someone who put all his points in Generation would have no allies, no contacts, etc. That they would be sorely missing in other backgrounds. And I remember thinking how false that rang with the existence of bonus points.

  Vampire: The Requiem has fixed the problem since then by using Blood Potency instead of Generation. But we're talking about Vampire: The Masquerade here, where Generation is a strong story element. Changing Generation basically changes the very lore of the setting.

  Making Generation cost more points could be the simplest solution, but that's boring, let's make the solution more interesting here. (And all the while keeping an 8th Generation vampire just as accessible as it would normally be during character creation!) A player who chooses that background has to take a supernatural Flaw for every dot he puts in it, without getting any bonus points from those Flaws. You want to put three dots in Generation? O.k, but your vampire won't be able to cross running water, will be vulnerable to silver and will cast no reflection in a mirror. (Just a quick example, the book has plenty of other flaws which make this house rule very viable, it wouldn't run the risk becoming repetitive anytime soon.) Or to make things more interesting, the Storyteller could choose them, or they could be picked at random. (While of course dismissing choices that would break a character concept.)

  I wouldn't apply that rule to Generation lowered from Diablerie since that comes with its own drawbacks, the first of which is that you actually have to manage to do it to another vampire.

  Expect more Vampire posts during the month of October and as always feel free to leave some feedback!

Zombie LARPing Taken to Insane Levels in Spain

  So we've all heard of zombie LARPs, but we can agree that this one from Spain takes it to a whole new level of insanity, as they do it in actual streets at night... It's all in Spanish but you can still get the gist of it by watching what happens.
  They filmed the whole thing, then edited it and put some cinematic bits at the beginning and along the video to make it into a story that can be watched, which is also pretty cool.

What the Coins Were For

  One of your players has stolen the coin purse of a random NPC. What were the coins for?

Roll a d4

1. The coins were to pay a doctor to save a sick family member. The NPC doesn't have enough to pay the doctor a second time and the doctor is Lawful Neutral, so he won't help without being paid.

2. Why, hookers and ale, of course! This NPC spends almost all of his weekly pay in the local brothel... To the point that when the brothel owners hear he was stolen and thus could not spend it all at their establishment this week, they send thugs to go looking for the thieves!

3. The NPC was going to rip off someone with his FAKE COINS...

4. The coins were for a local charity and the NPC is well-known for giving them a lot of money... Except the NPC has a deal with the charity manager and is actually recovering the money afterwards, it is all to avoid the King's taxes!


In conclusion: Remember that the players might never learn about any of it unless it makes sense in the context of the story. Or they might just learn parts of it and react according only to the information they have, which is like a funny secret joke for the GM.

Help Jim Ward

 From the Go Fund Me page: As many of you know, Jim Ward has been in the hospital for several weeks.  He has had some problems with his insurance and his bills are rising.  It sure would be great if we all pulled together and helped him out as much as we can. 

Click Here to Help a Veteran RPG Creator

Cruel RPG Idea: The Thief's Moral Dilemma

  As soon as a thief-like character is not entirely good, you can bet the player of said character will sooner or later declare he's picking some pockets in a public place. It's often done in a very nonchalant way. The PC won't really think much of it, just something to make some quick gold, or even to pass the time, or look for trouble. It's what Thieves and Rogues do, right?

  But what of the consequences? And I don't mean by that what about City Guards who might catch the PC, or the victim noticing and maybe putting up a fight. What if the coin purse is successfully stolen? That NPC will have less gold than expected, that has repercussions in his/her life!

  Every time a PC steals a coin purse from a commoner NPC, roll a check of the percentage of your choice. If the check succeeds, it turns out the victim was on his way to find a doctor to save his dying child. The doctor (magical or otherwise) is Lawful Neutral and will not be swayed by the fact that a child is dying, he will only get involved if he's paid for his troubles. There is no way for the victim to make enough coin again before it's too late for the child. (The child could have 1d4 days left, up to you.)

  Do the PCs even hear of this? And if they do, do they hear about it in time to do something about it should they wish to? Hey, it's your game, not mine. But the death of a child might certainly make even the most chaotic of Chaotic Neutrals reconsider their life choices, and all that without shoving a mandatory fight scene as the only possible outcome to pick-pocketing.

  As a side-note, I'll soon post a random table for 'What the Coins Were For'. I just wanted to showcase this specific outcome first, because it feels like GMs will often try to punish Thieves with violence instead of making them face the consequence of their actions. (Which also gives the Thief some great opportunities for role-playing and/or character development instead of a random fight with an under-geared and under-leveled NPC. Even if the PCs decide not to do anything about it afterwards, that's a very serious life decision right there if they just let a child die.)

Inspiration Is All Around You

  Here's a little exercise in creativity that should also help you prepare your next games. During preparation time, instead of browsing countless books and taking notes the good old way, let's try something more chaotic. Admittedly this works better in the city because by default there's more stuff surrounding you, but it should work anywhere given enough time and imagination.
  You'll still need to take notes in some way or another, I recommend a camera/cell phone but there's no reason why you can't write it down or simply take mental notes of what you see if you have a good memory.
  O.k, enough set-up.
  Go outside and take pictures (or notes) of anything that even remotely reminds you of the game you're running. So for example if you're running D&D, take pictures of anything Fantasy-related.

  Here are the pictures I collected, taken from trucks, graffiti, store windows and a liquor store:

 An Oriental Dragon.

A Kraken.

Just by the title I'd say I'd include a Magic-User, but that's a demon. 

So a fireball-spewing demon.

A Gnome, sure. 

He's looking at the ground, so let's say he's Tracking. 

A Ranger.

 A knight. No wait, two in a row, knights.

Two knights.

A skull of some important significance? 

An undead? A representation of a poisoned bottle?

As this parodies Game of Thrones, I could have almost decided not to use it. 

Too obvious. But this is a Gnome KING. 

I'll be using that instead of anything GoT-related.

 A raven. So much for avoiding GoT influences.

  So now that I have my chaotic collection of inspirational material... I have to use it all! 

  This is what I came up with:

  A Gnome King has witnessed a Demon Imp turn into a raven within the King's domain and fly off with the skull of his grandfather, stolen from its resting place. The Gnome King sends his best Ranger after the Demon Imp, fearing the blackest of magics and overall insulted at the desecration of his grandfather's tomb. The Ranger initially had a squad with him, but they were all killed during an ambush set up by two corrupted Human Knights (brothers) hired by the Imp. (The Imp mostly watched the fight from the branch of a tree while spouting orders at the Knights and the occasional Fireballs at the Gnomes!) The Knights are very competent and take full advantage of their riding skills when they have enough room. They did seem in a hurry though, which is why they left the Gnome Ranger for dead instead of taking the time to confirm their kill. 

  Following the tracks to a human city with a port, the Gnome Ranger learned that the knights left for a boat heading to the Asian continent of your setting of choice. Having no time to wait for back-up from other Gnomes, he sends a message to his King to keep him updated and hires the Player Characters to help him.

  From there they all take a boat heading for the same place as the Imp and the two Knights. On the way they fight a Kraken, of course. Once they all reach the Asian continent, they face off against the Imp and the two Knights, as well as the evil mastermind behind it all, an Oriental Dragon! 

  (Quick reason off the top of my head, the grandfather of the Gnome King was part of a group of adventurers who once showed up in the same land the dragon lives in and thwarted his plans. It took the dragon many decades to find out the identities of all the adventurers involved and in the case of the Gnome, since the original adventurer was already dead, the dragon decided to settle for his closest living relative. The skull would have been used to curse the bloodline.)

  Feel free to comment on this idea of preparing games and/or to share your own story based on those pics!