doanexus
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 6
Preferred Game Systems: Any Really
Currently Playing: Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse, Dungeons & Dragons, GURPS, Another Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire LARP, Werewolf LARP, and others
Currently Running: Werewolf the Apocalypse, 20th Ed TARP (Table Action Role-playing) as opposed to a LARP
Favorite Species of Monkey: Spider Monkey
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Post by doanexus on Nov 29, 2016 14:41:58 GMT -8
Hello everyone!
Go figure my first post on the forums would be about the Tremere. I've had experience with VtM over the last twenty or so years, playing through each version of the game, and usually staying away from the Tremere. Why, you ask? Because the Clan did seem rigid in their structure, and complicated in the rules used for Thaumaturgy.
It wasn't until they released the Clanbook for Tremere, that I really took a shine to them. From charlatans, investigators, hosts of 'Is it Haunted' T.V. shows, the Clan pulls from all walks of life to fill it's ranks. Yes they have a pyramid scheme going on within the Clans hierarchy, but that just adds to the fun of playing them... if you are backstabby, and clever enough to rise through the ranks.
Not to mention the whole Clan history. Being the last of the Order of Hermes, creating Gargoyles from the Nosferatu, Gangrel, and Tzismice to protect the fledgling Clan. And finally the smear campaign against the Salubri, favored of Caine himself, to earn their rightful spot in Kindred Society.
Granted the rules for Thaumaturgy have been hit or miss... I feel that the 20th Edition VtM rules do a wonder for sorting them out. Not to mention the By Night Studios version for the LARP game does the same. It's still important to keep tabs on it, and make sure it's not being abused, though that can apply to any discipline really.
Hope this was insightful!
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maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
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Post by maxinstuff on Nov 29, 2016 17:46:27 GMT -8
As of this moment, my favorite clan is the Nosferatu.
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Nov 29, 2016 18:52:05 GMT -8
I think the Order of Hermes mages would beg to differ about that "Last of the Order" part, though.
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doanexus
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 6
Preferred Game Systems: Any Really
Currently Playing: Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse, Dungeons & Dragons, GURPS, Another Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire LARP, Werewolf LARP, and others
Currently Running: Werewolf the Apocalypse, 20th Ed TARP (Table Action Role-playing) as opposed to a LARP
Favorite Species of Monkey: Spider Monkey
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Post by doanexus on Nov 29, 2016 21:52:14 GMT -8
You are correct. I meant House Tremere, which was a part of the Order of Hermes. My mistake!
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Post by sovereigncitizenkane on Feb 7, 2017 14:36:57 GMT -8
Never been a huge Tremere fan, but I don't think that they're too "rigid" for PC play. I could type out a whole article on it, but I think Kismet covered it pretty well already. www.kismetrose.com/vtm/sc/clans/Clan34.htmlAlso, from my personal houserules, I often have the Tremere as not a Clan but as a group within the Camarilla, made up of other several clans, much like the Sabbat has the Black Hand (not True Black Hand).
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Feb 8, 2017 14:43:15 GMT -8
TBH, Tremere as a clan is... problematic, given their origins. I think of them more as a bloodline, albeit one artificially created.
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Post by sovereigncitizenkane on Feb 16, 2017 15:09:31 GMT -8
TBH, Tremere as a clan is... problematic, given their origins. I think of them more as a bloodline, albeit one artificially created. Still better than Ravnos
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Feb 16, 2017 16:40:21 GMT -8
Well, yeah. Someone at WW had a fetish for Roma and a lack of sense when it came to ethnic stereotyping. See the "Gypsies" supplement.
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Post by sovereigncitizenkane on Feb 16, 2017 17:14:16 GMT -8
Well, yeah. Someone at WW had a fetish for Roma and a lack of sense when it came to ethnic stereotyping. See the "Gypsies" supplement. Oh I remember "Gypsies" very well. My god, it was awful. The whole Clan Book: Ravnos "look there are Ravnos from India as well, so they're not all thieving gypsy con-artists, yay we're PC again" wasn't much better. I will always keep the Week of Nightmares as Canon because it warms my black heart. In the words of the immortal Samuel L. Jackson, "Yes, they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!"
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1d4cast_James
Apprentice Douchebag
Podcaster
Posts: 90
Preferred Game Systems: GUMSHOE, Fate, Cortex Plus, Dread, Mythender, Savage Worlds, L5R, and Shadowrun
Currently Playing: Whatever I can get into
Currently Running: V20 inspired by Mote of Sin
Favorite Species of Monkey: Jacker Monkey????
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Post by 1d4cast_James on Feb 17, 2017 10:29:06 GMT -8
I don't think Tremere are any more limited than other clans, especially in V20. I guess it really matters as to whose game you play in.
Being a Mage fan, they are my favorite clan and I view Thaumaturgy as the ultimate utilitarian power. You can literally do anything with it. It's not as powerful as Mage magick, but that is to be expected.
I played one in a LARP, where in his background, he was a Mage from the Sons of Ether (unlike the original Tremere). The concept was that he's a mechanical engineer. He loves to build inventions. He still had close ties with some of his Order buddies and hated the ideals of the Technocracy. His powers included Path of Conjuring and Movement of the mind. The STs even let me research and bring back counter magic, from the Dark Ages and allowed me to use it against Hit Marks and other Technocracy things trying to wipe out the Kindred in the game.
I am currently running a V20 actual play on my podcast (inspired by Mote of Sin) and I've given my Tremere player the ability to build the chantry and define a lot of the nuances of the clan. I let my players participate in the world creation :-)
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Post by Probie Tim on Feb 17, 2017 10:40:17 GMT -8
I am currently running a V20 actual play on my podcast (inspired by Mote of Sin) That's effing rad. Is there an AP specific feed? Do you have links to the show/AP?
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1d4cast_James
Apprentice Douchebag
Podcaster
Posts: 90
Preferred Game Systems: GUMSHOE, Fate, Cortex Plus, Dread, Mythender, Savage Worlds, L5R, and Shadowrun
Currently Playing: Whatever I can get into
Currently Running: V20 inspired by Mote of Sin
Favorite Species of Monkey: Jacker Monkey????
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Post by 1d4cast_James on Feb 17, 2017 10:47:03 GMT -8
I will, but went I moved my domain last year the actual play feed got deleted from iTunes because I forgot to update the URL. I'm working to get that fixed. You can get the AP specific feed straight from the website: 1d4cast.orgThe first episode for Baltimore in Darkness is here: 1d4cast.org/new-actual-play-series-v20-baltimore-in-darkness/We had a lot of technical issues with sound quality that I think will be resolve next time. Hopefully that won't run people off.
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Post by sovereigncitizenkane on Feb 17, 2017 12:18:52 GMT -8
I don't think Tremere are any more limited than other clans, especially in V20. I guess it really matters as to whose game you play in. I've seen Tremere well played, and I've seen them played terribly for the use of Thaumaturgy. I think there's a lot of factors that make them much easier to play than most people think. One is that while they do have a major link to the Tremere inner circle, just like the Inner Circle of the Camarilla, they're a pretty removed force. Another is that there's not going to be a huge amount in any city so even Tremere are pretty free to advance their own agendas. I think the population ratio in the corebook that Kindred keep to is 1:100000. I think LA County has around 10 million people so that would be about 100 vampires in the whole area, most of which would probably be Brujah, Gangrel and Toreador being that they are the major Anarch population. Lots of room for a Tremere to spread their wings. Granted it might be different in a place with a larger Chantry, but that's an easy problem to solve for a Storyteller. I am currently running a V20 actual play on my podcast (inspired by Mote of Sin) and I've given my Tremere player the ability to build the chantry and define a lot of the nuances of the clan. I let my players participate in the world creation :-) Awesome! I'm also about to start my first AP in about a week. Don't have a podcast so it will be over YouTube. The players will be a group of Sabbat shovelheads, though. I rarely do Sabbat games, but I felt like this would be a good intro since all but two of the players are new. I'm keeping some of the canon from just before Time of Judgment, having Fallen appearing in droves in LA. Both the Camarilla and Anarchs are losing control.
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1d4cast_James
Apprentice Douchebag
Podcaster
Posts: 90
Preferred Game Systems: GUMSHOE, Fate, Cortex Plus, Dread, Mythender, Savage Worlds, L5R, and Shadowrun
Currently Playing: Whatever I can get into
Currently Running: V20 inspired by Mote of Sin
Favorite Species of Monkey: Jacker Monkey????
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Post by 1d4cast_James on Feb 17, 2017 14:18:21 GMT -8
sovereigncitizenkaneI pretty much decided to ignore much of canon. I'm not making the Gangrel leave the Camarilla as a whole clan, Ravnos deosn't awaken yet, and the Tremere still exist in the Sabbat. I haven't fully decided on the Assamite curse being lifted yet. I'm pretty sure there were Assamite Antitribu in the Sabbat before that happened anyway. I also don't fully care for the population control and would let all of the players be from the same clan if they wanted to be, being set in Baltimore there is definitely plenty of room to grow. I wanted to run this game in the Sabbat, but I let the players decide and because 3 of the 5 were newish, they wanted the Camarilla experience. I also let them pick campaign enemy and they decided it should be other vampires, so I'm gonna try to go with a mix of Camarilla politics and Sabbat invasion. This is supposed to be a mini-campaign and I had an idea that I would switch the game to Sabbat after the Camarilla falls. I know that at least one player would love to play Sabbat. I love the Sabbat and am send you lots of good wishes for your game. Roll20 has V20 specific interactive character sheets which is what I'm having the players use for dice rolling. I just made a bad choice in trying to record from Roll20, we switched to Hangouts by the end of the first game and will continue to use that going forward. might try to use the "Run in Hangouts" feature in Roll20. Ran into a technical and sound issues recording from Roll20. As for playing Tremere, I found and used this information with my Tremere player: wiki.undergroundtheater.org/Tremere_PyramidIt's worth taking a look at. Not 100% sure if the information correct, but I'm trying it out.
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Post by sovereigncitizenkane on Feb 17, 2017 14:24:56 GMT -8
As for playing Tremere, I found and used this information with my Tremere player: wiki.undergroundtheater.org/Tremere_PyramidIt's worth taking a look at. Not 100% sure if the information correct, but I'm trying it out. It looks pretty decent and well researched. I keep several canon events just simply because I enjoyed them for whatever reason. I'm not a big fan of Ravnos so the Week of Nightmares is just fun for me. I prefer the Assamites to be free of the curse, etc., etc., ad nauseam for various events. There's so many its hard to keep track of.
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