Reply to Tyler, from Barney
Oct 24, 2013 18:50:07 GMT -8
Post by The Barney on Oct 24, 2013 18:50:07 GMT -8
Reply to Tyler, from Barney
Back ground for others. This is in reply to questions Tyler asked after my email was read on S10 E19 @ 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Tyler “… how do you run a Vampire table top game after playing a LARP?”
I never thought I would be able to play the table top game after all the great nights of politics and back stabbing, but playing it 90% online is really making the difference. I’m a big fan of the feel of the game and love trying to show that to my group, none of whom ever played in a Vampire LARP.
One member of the group had a strong idea for his character (A former Mob underboss from Italy embraced by a Venture. I know… If I only had a dollar for every one of those I’ve seen.) So I let him roll it up under the condition that he was a neonate who would just be being released from the accounting during the intro.
During the intro he was asked if he wanted to work with the Ventrue directorate, or go his own way. He opted to work for the clan and was given the task of leaving Germany, where he lived with his sire, and going to Denver Colorado to discover the fate of the Ventrue in the city. There had been no contact for 5 years and people were starting to wonder.
At this point his sire encouraged him to put together a coterie of vamps he could trust before leaving and the other 2 players in the group had to make characters that fit into that mold. One made a Ventrue who specialized in personal security, and the other made a boot licking Caitiff that had been serving the sire for several years.
Together they went to Denver (Where I did my years of LARP long ago.) It’s a great spot for a game. The mountains to the West. The great plains to the East. Long stretches of not much to the North and South make it a death trap, or a great launching off point for an army, depending on your strength and inclination.
I like the way that this gives them no support structure so they are forced to rely on each other, but I still make sure that I do things to keep them from getting too trusting of each other.
Example: Whenever one of them lies, I make a roll for each character based on his stats and send the player a private message “Your character knows X is lying about Y.”
That makes for a good start for keeping the group on their toes. After that it was just a matter of making sure the current occupants of the city started using the PCs in their plans so they would get dragged into them.
It was very impressive to me how organically the politics grew out of their interactions with the other vamps.
Back ground for others. This is in reply to questions Tyler asked after my email was read on S10 E19 @ 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Tyler “… how do you run a Vampire table top game after playing a LARP?”
I never thought I would be able to play the table top game after all the great nights of politics and back stabbing, but playing it 90% online is really making the difference. I’m a big fan of the feel of the game and love trying to show that to my group, none of whom ever played in a Vampire LARP.
One member of the group had a strong idea for his character (A former Mob underboss from Italy embraced by a Venture. I know… If I only had a dollar for every one of those I’ve seen.) So I let him roll it up under the condition that he was a neonate who would just be being released from the accounting during the intro.
During the intro he was asked if he wanted to work with the Ventrue directorate, or go his own way. He opted to work for the clan and was given the task of leaving Germany, where he lived with his sire, and going to Denver Colorado to discover the fate of the Ventrue in the city. There had been no contact for 5 years and people were starting to wonder.
At this point his sire encouraged him to put together a coterie of vamps he could trust before leaving and the other 2 players in the group had to make characters that fit into that mold. One made a Ventrue who specialized in personal security, and the other made a boot licking Caitiff that had been serving the sire for several years.
Together they went to Denver (Where I did my years of LARP long ago.) It’s a great spot for a game. The mountains to the West. The great plains to the East. Long stretches of not much to the North and South make it a death trap, or a great launching off point for an army, depending on your strength and inclination.
I like the way that this gives them no support structure so they are forced to rely on each other, but I still make sure that I do things to keep them from getting too trusting of each other.
Example: Whenever one of them lies, I make a roll for each character based on his stats and send the player a private message “Your character knows X is lying about Y.”
That makes for a good start for keeping the group on their toes. After that it was just a matter of making sure the current occupants of the city started using the PCs in their plans so they would get dragged into them.
It was very impressive to me how organically the politics grew out of their interactions with the other vamps.