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View Full Version : Too unfair (WoD)?



White_North
2010-02-05, 12:11 PM
Hey y'all.

So I've been runnning a mortal WoD game for about two sessions now, and I dare say it's been going better than expected. The first session had them dealing with the ghost of a homicidal priest and I managed to have them be actually very spooked by him, which is good in my book. However, the situation has changed and I feel like they're just not that afraid afraid anymore. Like, They sure are scared that their characters will die, but that's not the kind of fright I'm looking for. Now, before I go into more details, you people from Montreal potentially playing a mortal game set in New Orleans, please abstain from reading the spoiler section.

So, the players have been investigating a street gang called the Sons of Job who have the nasty habit of murdering people who get in their way in particularly unusual ways. The gang is actually headed by an ex-Tonton Macoute who came over from Haiti in the 80s. He is a vodoo-practicing vampire who, when he needs it, turns his best lieutenant into a zombie, using him for murder before undoing the spell and burying him in a crypt which holds all those who gave their lives for the gang.

Now, the players have been playing it very safe so far, never poking their noses out of their very well-fortified hideout after dark. Their investigation has attracted the attention of the Sons of Job, however, who have tried scaring them away using bags of human teeth, butchered dogs and other such scare tactics. But, at the end of the last session, the players went to the gang crypt, which they had previously visited, to investigate further. With the session drawing to a close and me feeling stuff wouldn't happen without stimulation, I ambushed them with the zombie. They did well and I had him run away.

So, that's the situation so far. Problem is, while the atmosphere is somewhat tense, I feel like I messed up by having them being attacked by the lone zombie. They did pretty well in the fight and they're starting to be confident in their battle ability to invest the gang hideout, which they wil no doubt do during the day, and take care of business. This bothers me somewhat because I want them to be scared of this gang, not just see it as another encounter. So, I planned for the Baron Samedi, the vampire leader of the gang, to take matters into his own hands. I want to have him walk into their hideout, using Carrefour and Obfuscate Disciplines, drink them a little and capture one of their members, with the intent of turning him into a zombie. Right now, their HQ is their ''safe spot'' and they always feel supremely secure when inside of it. I figure that having someone walk in there, ''taste'' all of them, kidnap one and walk out without even waking them will set a chill in their bones and make them feel like the hunted. Plus, it'll face them with a hard choice: to go try to rescue their friend in the middle of the night, or to leave him to die, if they're too afraid to proceed.

However, my D&D experience has taught me that a split party is harder to run properly and, while I want them to be scared, I don't want it to be overwhelmingly unfair for them. So, yeah, I guess what I'm asking is: Is this too unfair? Do you guys have any advice for a better way to run this?

Also, sorry for the wall of text. I tend to be too accurate at times.

Dimers
2010-02-05, 10:46 PM
Fair or unfair, it's not a wise move (in terms of the playing group getting along OOC) unless one of the players agrees ahead of time to allow his character to be kidnapped. It'll force that player out of the game for quite some time, with their character possibly dying and returning as an abominable tool of the enemy, and you shouldn't take a step that drastic and play-altering without the player's prior agreement.

Beyond that? Sure, it's fair. It'll remind them that fear of the unknown is what the World of Darkness is all about, particularly when the characters are all mundanes.

storybookknight
2010-02-05, 11:06 PM
I don't think that the average vamp is going to waltz into a hunter hangout. Most vampires who survive for a little while tend to be risk-averse. Also, giving the players no defense against that sort of thing is very hard to do without DM fiat and coming across like a total jerk.

If you want to scare the players, have someone throw a molotov into their front window. Just one, mind; quick reactions will probably keep the house from burning down - but it's a very 'we know where you live' sort of feel. If you *don't* want to run firefighting scenarios, you can go with a brick, or better yet a dud grenade with the pin still in.

A housebreaking is another way to make characters feel 'unsafe' without making them feel like they have no chance. Perhaps your Baron sneaks in and takes drivers licenses, passports, and personal photos. Maybe hairbrushes and personal items are gone, to be used in voodoo fetishes later. It ups the creepiness factor severely without being so overt. Maybe as the players search to see what went missing, it appears obvious that the culprit entered and left from a 3rd floor window. It's always better to leave the players wondering 'what did this?' in a WOD game when possible. It saves on the special effects budget ;) and lets the players imagine things.

I'm guessing that it'd get people mad enough about the invasion of privacy, and reduce the 'safety factor' of their house, enough to make them more serious about bringing the fight to the enemy. Try to drop little asides to remind them that there could easily be an ambush waiting for them when they get home, now that their place isn't secure.... stuff like that. That's how I would do it, anyways.

White_North
2010-02-05, 11:49 PM
Well, this place isn't exactly a hunter hangout and they're not exactly hunters (as in Hunter: the Vigil). It's an old church they converted into an hq, complete with a panic room, a lab, insanely reinforced front doors and individual rooms. The characters themselves are more or less normal people with a lot of resources and a very paranoid attitude. The Baron Samedi himself has personal reason to take the fight to them. They've ignored warnings and defiled (and I mean defiled, as in they made a point of savaging them) the tombs of his lieutenants. Those people are pretty much the closest who are to him, being akin to sons. So, when they defiled the tombs, it seemed logical for the Baron to become much more agressive. But yeah, the kidnapping part is probably a bad idea.

What I could do, on the other hand, is have the Baron hunt them in their own church. They made a point of reinforcing every window with bullet-proof glass, to transform the front door into a literal wall of steel, and basically make the place impregnable. However, the Baron has a Discipline called Skeleton Key, which allows him to open any door and automatically bypass any alarm that would be otherwise triggered. But the more interesting aspect is that he can use it to lock any door so that the only way to open it is to literally break it down. So, how about this instead: I have the Baron walk in, lock the door and wake one of them. Suddenly, they're victims of their own paranoia as they're trapped in their own HQ with a Vampire hunting them. And if they go into the panic room, the skeleton key can open that as well. Heck, I may not even have the Baron attack them, or even remain there at all. They just need to think he's still there and find themselves scared half to death of an unseen ennemy who might not even be there.

Beorn080
2010-02-05, 11:58 PM
Is the baron the serious type, or can he have a flair for the dramatic? If he has a dramatic flair, leaving fake booby traps everywhere for when they wake up could really freak them out. Writing on the mirror in the shower room that appears when it steams up, dead body falling out of the closet, fall into a shallow pit as they walk out the front door, preferably with a tombstone of with their names written on it. A bit of comedy, which might be out of place, but also the completely serious aspect of Holy carp, he's so strong he is just playing with us now.

White_North
2010-02-06, 12:04 AM
Is the baron the serious type, or can he have a flair for the dramatic? If he has a dramatic flair, leaving fake booby traps everywhere for when they wake up could really freak them out. Writing on the mirror in the shower room that appears when it steams up, dead body falling out of the closet, fall into a shallow pit as they walk out the front door, preferably with a tombstone of with their names written on it. A bit of comedy, which might be out of place, but also the completely serious aspect of Holy carp, he's so strong he is just playing with us now.

That's a pretty good idea! Yeah, he is a very dramatic type, being especially attached to poetry. The characters have been discovering bits of poems throughtout their investigations, such as poems by Lapman and Dickinson. The idea was that the Baron is very aware of his damned state and the poetry he leaves behind always relates to his past and his road to damnation after having everything taken from him. Having The Rime of the Ancient Mariner be scattered about the place would be a great mood idea. Now, I just have to find a way to work it in properly

MickJay
2010-02-06, 04:42 AM
The Baron could even do something as simple as leaving traces of his presence on a few separate occasions, proving that the whole system (and hunters' attempts to improve it) is completely ineffective. Move a book, or a table, make the signs of presence more conspicuous each time. This could drag on for some time, though, and would require Baron to be patient. Locking the hunters inside their hideout (after they've further made it more "secure"), without means of opening it, is another idea (though make sure the players have some way of getting out the Baron did not foresee).

Iceforge
2010-02-06, 06:17 AM
That's a pretty good idea! Yeah, he is a very dramatic type, being especially attached to poetry. The characters have been discovering bits of poems throughtout their investigations, such as poems by Lapman and Dickinson. The idea was that the Baron is very aware of his damned state and the poetry he leaves behind always relates to his past and his road to damnation after having everything taken from him. Having The Rime of the Ancient Mariner be scattered about the place would be a great mood idea. Now, I just have to find a way to work it in properly

Now, if your player likes props, then you could take "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", print it out in a gothic or simuliar font, coat it in a bit of milk or some other technique for artificially making it look old, and tear it up in maybe like 10 or 20 pieces (I do not know how many pages that poem would be, but each size should contain several words), and tear it up so they are relatively easy to fit back together again as they initially was placed.

Put those pieces into a small bag and take it with you to the next session.

When the instance happens, ask all the players to leave the room momentarily as they are about to wake up in their bunker.

Spread the pieces around the gaming room and invite them back inside for the sight they encounter as they wake up in their home

Dust
2010-02-06, 06:19 AM
A spin on Beorn's idea to have a darker, scarier tone. Have them wake up to poetry written in perfectly regal script - in blood - across the wall or floor of their church. Perhaps one of the following;

And being exceedingly mad against them, I
persecuted them even unto strange cities.
- New Testament: Acts, xxxvi, 11.


Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
My life-blood seemed to sip!
- Coleridge, The Ancient Mariner. Pt. iii.


He who curbs not his anger will wish undone
that which vexation and wrath prompted.
- Horace, Epistles. Bk. i, epis. 2, l. 59.


It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood.
- Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act iii, sc. 5, 1. 122


As the party studies this, unsure what to make of it, have the Obfuscated vampire placed his hands around the neck of whichever character is in the far back and can't be seen by the rest of the group, blocking off their ability to scream or fight, take them completely by surprise. You'll know you achieved the proper level of fear if everyone at the table starts metagaming. (ie; I turn around and ask Brian what he thinks this means, and see him acting like he's beeing strangled...!) Have the Vampire stick around just long enough to drag his tongue over the character's neck or whisper a 'Don't expletive with me.' before dropping them to the ground and managing a hasty escape. You'll leave your players completely at a loss without forcing them into a situation where the party gets split or you forced them into something potentially 'unfair.'

hewhosaysfish
2010-02-06, 08:56 AM
I like storybookknights idea of stealing documents and personal effects. Make wax impressions of keys too, to that minions who don't have your Skeleton Key can come and go from the "secure" hideout.

Or if you think they're likely to change the locks, you could hire a locksmith for them. Tell him you need the locks changed on "your" house, that you have other things to do right now but your "housemates" will meet him at the property (with all the necessary ID and proof of address that an honest locksmith would ask for). Tell him it needs to be done as soon as possible, so that "we can feel safe in our own home again". Pay him up front.

When the PCs are turning their house upside-down trying to work out whats been stolen and how you got in, maybe wondering if anything has been bugged or booby-trapped... the locksmith turns up on their doorstep.

The message is clear: This is how little I care about your "security" arrangements. Go ahead and try to patch it up, I'll even hire a professional to help you. And next time, I'll just walk straight through it all again.

:smallamused:

Chineselegolas
2010-02-06, 09:10 AM
A spin on Beorn's idea to have a darker, scarier tone. Have them wake up to poetry written in perfectly regal script - in blood - across the wall or floor of their church. Perhaps one of the following;

And being exceedingly mad against them, I
persecuted them even unto strange cities.
- New Testament: Acts, xxxvi, 11.
Without anything else, this gets a vote for creepiness. A quote from the Bible written in blood inside their locked church. That would bring some fear...

If you want to do something like splitting the party, make sure you pick the right character and player. Nothing worse than taking a parties planner and the rest standing around going "I dunno".

Or another path, do these characters have family?, have their houses tossed and looted. The Baron's 'family' has been targeted, why not reply in kind? No action is in isolation, there are always repercussions