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View Full Version : Help me choose a clan [V:TM]



Froogleyboy
2009-08-10, 02:47 PM
Okay, I'm joining a Vampire: The Masquerade game and I can't decide what clan to play (and don't say Caitiff, I don't wana die) So . . . The easiest way to fix this is present the pros and cons of your clan.

What I'm lookin' for :

I'm wanting to be a hippie
No Sabbat
Loyalty amongst its ranks

Myshlaevsky
2009-08-10, 02:49 PM
Be a Ventrue hippy. Polar traits for the win.

Yora
2009-08-10, 02:49 PM
I'm not an expert on Vampire, but shouldn't be the clan of the other characters be one very important factor?

PLUN
2009-08-10, 02:50 PM
For clans that openly embrace hippie archetypes, i'd say Brujah or Gangrel. Maybe Ravnos dependant on setting.

Which is why i'm going to suggest Ventrue.

Burnt out vampire accountant for a big cheese like a Prince who joint the Summer (nights) of Love and went native.

Seriously, the clans are your oyster, all clans could have that character. Stereotypes are handy for seeing what style of play they lean towards, but go nowhere beyond that really. A Nozzy hippie would look and feel pretty awesome. Awesomely horrifying, like, i'm picturing a decomposed Willie Nelson, but there you go.

LibraryOgre
2009-08-10, 03:09 PM
Okay, I'm joining a Vampire: The Masquerade game and I can't decide what clan to play (and don't say Caitiff, I don't wana die) So . . . The easiest way to fix this is present the pros and cons of your clan.

What I'm lookin' for :

I'm wanting to be a hippie
No Sabbat
Loyalty amongst its ranks


With those, I'd go Gangrel or Nosferatu.

A Brujah hippie would be somewhat against type, but not unreasonably so, especially with a Presence Brujah. However, they don't have a lot of loyalty within their ranks.

Ravnos are internally loyal and not Sabbat, but gypsie =/= hippie.

Nosferatu could have been a hippie in the past, and are very loyal to their own. However, you're ugly, and only Obfuscate is going to save you from that.

Gangrel are loyal within their own ranks, though your hippie would more likely be the hiking granola hippie than the drugs and dropping out hippie.

Others that might work, to varying degrees:
Toreador; little in-clan loyalty, but fits the hippie concept.
Malkavian; they have an odd sort of in-clan loyalty, and there's no reason you couldn't be someone who did too much LSD and started tripping more or less permanently.

ZeroNumerous
2009-08-10, 03:10 PM
Malkavian. Malkies never turn one another. They can't. No one trusts them as much as they trust themselves(sometimes literally in certain cases).

GoatToucher
2009-08-10, 05:11 PM
Nonconformist "Damn the Man!" Hippy: Brujah
Granola Back to nature Hippy: Gangrel
Commune Dwelling Hippy: Nosferatu
Hippy-Chic: Toreador
Cult Leader with a big-ass harem of followers Hippy: Also Toreador
Far-out psychedelic Hippy: Malkavian
Corrupted "Dead-head sticker on a Cadillac" Hippy: Ventrue

Kurald Galain
2009-08-10, 05:32 PM
I'm wanting to be a hippie
No Sabbat
Loyalty amongst its ranks


Brujah, most likely. They're (perhaps surprisignly) the most hippie-like among the Camarilla.

Nos could also work; they're probably the most internally-loyal clan around.

Altima
2009-08-10, 06:05 PM
If you're allowed to go antitribu, that opens up some of the sabat clans without being a sabat.

And when you mean loyalty within its ranks, could you be more specific. Do you mean within the clan, within their organization (Camarilla, Anarchs, etc), or a combination?

A little sidenote: if you're planning on being in a camarilla coterie (which it sounds like), keep in mind the timing. The Gangrel clan officially left it in '99.

Also: Wiccan Empowerment Hippie=Tremere.

comicshorse
2009-08-10, 06:43 PM
The obvious 'peace and love' Clan would be the Salubri but you said you don't want to die so forget them.

In the whole 'brujah smash' thing people forget the Brujah were a Clan of Philisophers ( and European Brujah still tend to that) so I can see a Brujah embracing the varied philosphies of the hippy movement.
The Brujah do tend to stick together as they well aware of the Camarilla's liking to pitch them into any battle they need fighting.

If you want to go the evil route. The Setite's would be attracted to any situation which involves drugs, sex and lots of young, impressionable people. You could have your own little cult in no time.
You don't even have to treat them badly as long as you can steer them to the worship of Sutekh you're superiors should be happy.

Typewriter
2009-08-11, 01:29 AM
Malkavian.

You can do anything with one of them.

I played a female character who drove around in an ice cream truck that used its freazers to hold blood, and her powers were based entirely around out of body experiences and the like.

And she sold ice cream if any kids were out and about late at night...

kestrel404
2009-08-11, 06:53 AM
Seriously, Froogle, just choose a clan and ignore the naysayers. Every clan has is advantages. Every clan has it's disadvantages. And everyone who's ever played V:tM has their favorite and least favorite clans.

Just because you're in a clan doesn't mean that you'll get protection from that clan. Just because you're caitiff doesn't mean that everyone will pick on you and no one will help you. Caitiff isn't a bad choice.

Just because you're a Gangre it doesn't mean you have to be a loner or an outsider in Vamp society.

Just because you're a Brujah it doesn't mean you have to be a big tough fighting machine that guns down everything in its sights.

These are all stereotypes. Yeah, there are reasons for it, but every character in Vampire is unique. Unlike D&D, a Caitiff doesn't have the "Class feature: Outcast", and Brujah are not "Fighters with fangs".

You're thinking about this too hard. Picking a clan in Vampire is more akin to picking a Race in D&D, rather than a Class. You don't get a Class in V:tM - or maybe your class is Vampire so everyone is the same class as you.

So what I'm saying is, choose something you'll have fun playing. Malk is always fun for the crazy. Toreador is fun to play as an artsy, stuck-up snob. Ventrue will probably get you dragged into politics, which a lot of people considder fun. Caitiff will let you play the (political/social) underdog but it also means you won't be considdered a threat by most vamps. All of the clans have their moments and themes. Pick one and don't let anyone else tell you different.