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Aron Times
2010-05-26, 09:47 PM
I play an elder Ventrue Dragon named Aron Times in a sandbox nWoD game over at RPOL.net. Two nights ago (game time, not real time), Aron found an unknown vampire dressed in rags and covered in blood. Her name was Alayna, and she had recently awoken from torpor. Aron led her away from witnesses and took her home, where he and his ghoul, Jenny, got her cleaned up. The next night, they went shopping for clothes and shoes and other essentials (done behind the scenes), and "tonight," Aron presented her to the Prince.

Alayna is an amnesiac, and doesn't remember much other than being Embraced in the early 15th century. She woke up to a strange and alien world where monarchy is dead and steel horseless carriages run through roads beneath impossibly tall glass towers. Aron has Academics (History) 3, and it is his job to help her adjust to the modern world.

So, how should I roleplay this? Should I just tell Alayna's player to binge read on Wikipedia and assume that Aron told her about it in hours-long rambling lectures like Ducky from NCIS? Or should I focus on the mundane, everyday concepts that would be alien to an amnesiac elder like her?

Lycan 01
2010-05-26, 10:18 PM
Everyday concepts. Wikipedia would be too traumatic. Plus, she wouldn't know how to use a computer. She'd end up on an article about tacos, the Principality of Sealand, or some other useless page.

Rather, just sit her down and give a brief history of the world since the 1400's. Y'know, the founding of America, the World Wars, the rise of Democracy and technology...

Be sure to explain the simple things. Not just things like planes and tvs, but the really simple stuff like lightbulbs, toilets, faucets, phones...

Aron Times
2010-05-27, 08:08 PM
No other replies? Damn. Is Vampire: The Requiem that unpopular here?

The Glyphstone
2010-05-27, 08:17 PM
Everyday concepts. Wikipedia would be too traumatic. Plus, she wouldn't know how to use a computer. She'd end up on an article about tacos, the Principality of Sealand, or some other useless page.

Rather, just sit her down and give a brief history of the world since the 1400's. Y'know, the founding of America, the World Wars, the rise of Democracy and technology...

Be sure to explain the simple things. Not just things like planes and tvs, but the really simple stuff like lightbulbs, toilets, faucets, phones...

I don't think that's what he meant. It sounds like he's suggesting that the new vamp's player binge on Wikipedia OOC, and everything she crosses paths with is something Aaron happened to tell her during his massive rambling lectures on everything not under the sun.

Aron Times
2010-05-30, 08:14 PM
Alayna's player and I have decided to roleplay her history lesson as a Q&A session about everyday items. Right now, we're talking about electric lights and television.

I need your help with this one. How exactly do I explain the concept of electrical lighting and television to an elder who has no memories later than the 15th century, and even those memories are quite foggy?

The Glyphstone
2010-05-30, 08:54 PM
Television - a mechanical device that can display images captured by another mechanical device at very long ranges, or images stored in special objects. The recording devices capture thousands of images in succession, and the television replays them in the same order to recreate scenes.

If she understands a flip-book, it's much the same principle. She doesn't need to understand how or why television works (I don't really know myself that well), only what it does (display images remotely).

Iceforge
2010-05-30, 09:02 PM
Firstly, I would explain those two in steps, as television is far more advanced than electrical lighting.

"So my dear, you know 'fire'? Ah yes, I know, it sound like a silly question and I am not meaning to belittle you, but you know how fire brings light to a dark room and heat to a cold one? Yes, good good, now, some smart men found out that the reason this is, is that fire creates energy, or if you have to be technical, it transforms matter into energy, but lets not dwell into the advanced aspects of this, the important part is that energy is made. Everything that heats, lights up or moves contains energy in various forms.
Some smart men found out that this energy can be turned into a storeable entity called electricity.
This storeable energy can then, through a device called a lightbulb be turned back into light, or it can be turned into heat through other devices, which is very smart, as you then don't have to create a fire each time you need either light or heat.
You understand, my dear? So the light in this room comes from the transformation of electricity back into energy; How that happens is much more complex than you need to understand.
The creativity of men know no bounds, however, and once people had figured out that energy could be stored as electricity, people began to experiment with it and create various instruments of great complexity and marvelous wonder, such as that television I showed you earlier, which displayes moving pictures of events that has already happened."

Semidi
2010-05-30, 09:54 PM
I'd start at the beginning, get to the end, and then stop. Just go through the history book since the 1500s rather than jump right to the end. Modern technology would be a lot easier to grasp if it was put into context of small little advancements over time.

Quincunx
2010-05-31, 04:08 AM
I'd agree with taking most things in order, but the very first part of each lesson ought to be about modern threats as related to the Masquerade. Memory isn't the only aid to animated recollection any more. After the dangers of motion-activated lights, CCTV, et alia have been covered, then return to the topic of harnessed lightning (try the kite experiment). After it's been impressed that everyone shares the same judicial system regardless of class, explain why (. . .you're on your own there, o kingmaker clan). After one tries and fails to control current means of transport by using Animalism, give a brief sketch of combustion (gas goes in, mechanical power goes out, it's a powerful oil lamp).

Reluctance
2010-05-31, 04:42 AM
Assuming she's not stupid, electric lighting can be explained by simple cause-and-effect with a light switch. It doesn't matter how it works, so much as that it does and that it can be controlled. You don't have to explain how basic technology does what it does, so long as you cover the simple fact of what it does. Once you cover video - and a simple demonstration with a camcorder should cover "we can record moving images, and play them back later" - the rest should be easy to explain.

The real fun will be the overturned social order; most importantly the lack of rigid social classes, the downplaying of religion in society, and the importance of the masquerade. Modes of speech and (somewhat) modes of dress will need to be covered, as will general interactions with humans. Getting her comfortable with those metal horseless carriages should be a simple matter of holding her hand and taking her to a parking lot to see that they're just another sort of tool. Getting her to not draw massive attention to herself when she goes out solo to hunt, that'll be significantly trickier.

Bharg
2010-05-31, 05:31 AM
If you are still talking the same language and she is able to read giver her a history book, a book about major inventions, a book about physics and then show her the wooorld. :D

Starshade
2010-05-31, 06:43 AM
If its been someone who's slept since 1870's or so a history lesson would explain a bit, and inventions, but 15th century? I think the would would look quite alien, something, as the printing press, could have been remembered by her, so the literary explosion, and books and papers everywhere could have been anticipated. I suggest using a library instead of wikipedia if she's curious and want to look for info on something. :smallsmile:
Its also an gentler introduction to the information age than computers, since libraries, tho private and expensive ones, already existed in the older periods. And using public libraries is a skill who modern people seem to forget, and just head to wikipedia too often tbh.. :smallamused:

I think starting with the basics, everyday things, and learning basic ideas how everything works is a good idea, then build up from there, and leave computers for later, after she masters the basics of our society.