[oWoD] Need Campaign Idea for Louisiana in the 1850s

[Sunfall]

Hey guys! Bit of a DM's block here... Let me explain.

Fate has decided that we need another campaign to run alongside our regular 7th Sea gig, and somehow I find myself with the enviable task of DMing the thing. Now I’ve got a setting and my players have got characters, but for the life of me I can’t think of an encompassing plot that could tie together the several sessions to come. So if you let me pick your braaaaains :smallbiggrin:, maybe we'll come up with some cool ideas...

Setting and Characters

We did a bit of brainstorming and settled on Vampire: The Masquerade (old WoD) in 1850 in the Southern USA. We still have a few years to go until the Civil War starts. I decided on playing in Louisiana, because I wanted the Mississippi delta and, of course, New Orleans.

Character-wise, we have

a free African-American Vampire (possibly Brujah) with ties to the Underground Railroad
a Southern-Belle-style Ventrue running a vast cotton plantation but secretly in love with one of her slaves
a kleptomaniac Malkavian (I think it’s a manic psychosis with kleptomania as a symptom, for you psychology buffs out there) who hoards her treasures in a creepy abandoned mansion out in the swamps

Interesting topics might be

slavery and abolitionism
Voodoo
pirate treasure (Jean Laffitte just passed away 25 years ago – who knows what he left behind?)
a Mississippi steamer full of unsatiable, hedonistic vampires (think George R. R. Martin’s “Fevre Dream”)

The source material provides me with
the ongoing feud between the two vampire elders that came here first (a Ventrue and a Brujah, the latter currently MIA) – there are not many other vampires in the vicinity at the moment
werewolves and Black Spiral Dancers infesting the swamps
the Technocracy setting up shop in the vicinity (Steampunk, anyone?)

So you see – I have quite a few elements down, but I can’t combine them into a compelling plot that might carry us a few sessions. I would like to focus on the Underground Railroad and the Voodoo mythology, but I’m open for ideas.

Speaking of ideas – you got any for me? :smallredface:

[subject42]

See if you can find and read the novel "Fevre Dream", by George R. R. Martin. It does a good job of showing how vampires could function on the Mississippi river during that time frame.

[Sunfall]

Thank you! I love that book! :smallbiggrin:

Incidentally, Fevre Dream was one of the reasons why I proposed that setting in the first place. The plot is compelling and there are some really cool NPC ideas in this, but I can't keep more than one or two sessions running on this. I thought about a Mississippi steamer full of hedonistic vampires coming to town and wreaking havoc from time to time, but obviously they can't stay for very long...

[comicshorse]

In an Elder game I'm currently in my Nosferatu choose to settle in New Orleans when driven out of Europe and so I have a few ideas that have come up in that game. All the ideas here are from our game, unless otherwise stated, and not official WoD background.

VODOO: The Haitian revolt lead to many fleeing to Louisianna both white owners and ex-slaves. Among the immigrants were a sizeable contingent of Setite's fleeing the conflict and looking for a new land to corrupt.
These Setite's also seem to have developed a new form of Setite sorcery based around Vodoo (indeed its possible that they founded the religion) while this gives them strange powers and a power base centered in the Vodoo cults it doesn't seem to have endeared them to the bulk of their clan and they are seeking allies to help establish themselves from any attacks by their Clan (of course this isn't to say they won't try to corrupt these allies they are Setite's after all).

REVENGE: The battle of New Orleans in the war of 1812 was a humiliating defeat for the British. It is entirely possible that some old British Ventrue still harbor resentment and wish revenge. Particularly intresting for the Southern Belle Ventrue will she side with her countrymen or her Clan. Or try to play both against each other

WEREWOLVES: Officially in the WoD the native Werewolves of America did little to opposse the vampires because they were engaged in a war with European Werewolves who came with the settlers to seize new lands and Caerns. This doesn't mean that either side aren't going to have a go at the undead if they cross their path. Or particularly if they try to expand their territory into Werewolf lands.
Also the american werewolves maintained many Caerns to hold Wyrm spirits in check. Perhaps the Malkavian begins to dream of a place where treasure can be found, items of great age and power. ( Items that if removed may unleash the Wyrm spirit held there)
Just stealing these items will be an adventure, caging the freed spirit however is going to be a lot more tricky.

[Caliphbubba]

oooh awesome locality for a game!

off the top of my head I think this place would be ripe for a "House of 1000 Corpses" type Zanatossa Revenant household out in the swamp. maybe it is rumored to be a stop on the Underground Railroad, but for some reason the escaped slaves never seem to make it past that particular stop....

Maybe one of the free'd slaves is related by mortal blood to the brujah...

Maybe the Ventrue owns the mortal relation of the Brujah...what if the slave she is secretly in love with is the Brujah's father!?! or Brother? Sister?

on a completly unrelated note: What if the pirate you mentioned wasn't killed 25 years ago? but instead Embraced.... The stereo-type for Lasombra Antitribu pirates fits pretty well here. Or maybe a Mariner Gangrel?

How do you feel about hunters? For a different take on the Voodoo angle, what if the Voodoo practitioners are escaped/regentless ghouls trying to preserve their powers by abducting Kindred and surrounding it with Voodoo-symbolism. Maybe they're not regentless after all, but are working for the nascent Serpents of the Light/Haitian Setites the other poster mentioned...

[subject42]

Hm, what about something like this?

The Atlantic slave trade was effectively dead by the 1850s. That said, human trafficking still occurred. New Orleans was a common port for this because the sheer volume of shipping made it hard to thoroughly inspect everything that came in to port.

Consider for a moment what would happen if a single vampire spirited himself onto a slave ship from Africa, South America, or the Caribbean and performed a mass embrace en route.

At the very least, it would keep your troupe busy while they protected the masquerade.

[comicshorse]

Hm, what about something like this?

The Atlantic slave trade was effectively dead by the 1850s. That said, human trafficking still occurred. New Orleans was a common port for this because the sheer volume of shipping made it hard to thoroughly inspect everything that came in to port.

Consider for a moment what would happen if a single vampire spirited himself onto a slave ship from Africa, South America, or the Caribbean and performed a mass embrace en route.

At the very least, it would keep your troupe busy while they protected the masquerade.

Now that is a great idea for a Sabbat attack on New Orleans, a whole horde of shovelheads pouring off the ship to drench the waterfront in blood.

[Sebastrd]

I was totally intrigued until I read "Vampire". Then I put two and two together and got "meh".

[Tankadin]

I was totally intrigued until I read "Vampire". Then I put two and two together and got "meh".

Too bad posting in threads you aren't interested in is compulsory, eh?

Another thing to have going on in the background is that there were expeditions to Cuba, Nicaragua, and other Central American countries to pretty much overthrow their governments, declare independence, and then ask to be annexed by the United States.

The expedition leaders were usually colorful characters--polymaths, escaped revolutionaries, glory-hounds--could be interesting on the NPC front. You might even have some agents of the Spanish crown trying to sniff out these filibusters ahead of time to prepare a military response--maybe the PCs are hired to help investigate a plot that's being backed by the wealthy merchants and plantation owners that want to add new slave states to the Union. Those plantation owners are likely to be enemies of the party anyway...all plot hooks lead to the guy with the goatee and accent, right?

[Sunfall]

You see, that’s why I love this forum so much :smallbiggrin: So many great ideas, thanks guys!


@comicshorse:
I’m particularly intrigued by the werewolf caerns holding an evil spirit – that might be a great subplot for the Malkavian. Oh boy, won’t she be in trouble…


@caliphbubba:
The 'House of a 1000 Corpses' sounds like a great tie-in with the Underground Railroad-theme, especially with the character motivations that lie therein… I also wanted to to something with bugs, multitudes of bugs... :roach: That might just be the place to do it!

Furthermore, comichorse’s Voodoo Setites didn’t really click with me until you mentioned a ghoul ‘cult’ abducting vampires in the name of the faith… hmmm…

And Jean Laffitte as a vampire sure is a formidable idea for an NPC.


@subject42:
Ooooh, just imagining that gives me goosebumps. Drenching the waterfront in blood, indeed. Might make a great final battle for the campaign, although I’m not yet sure how any of my player characters are gonna survive that… Maybe they hear something through the grapevine and get the opportunity to prepare themselves? Forge alliances with some of the other parties mentioned? Maybe the Malkavian has a few really uncomfortable dreams?


@Tankadin:
See, that was something I didn’t know about the period. I’m going to do a little research. More great NPCs! With goatees! :nale:


What's more, I’ve come up with a title: I’ll call it ‘When it’s Sleepy Time Down South’. Provides me with some great opening and closing music, too :smallbiggrin:

[Caliphbubba]

Glad to be of assistance.

I, for one, would be interested in reading how the game goes.

good luck, and happy gaming! :smallwink:

[Sebastrd]

Too bad posting in threads you aren't interested in is compulsory, eh?

Then let me be a little more constructive.

If you're discussing Vampire, Mage, Changeling, etc., putting oWoD or nWoD in the thread title is misleading. Any of those add-on systems fundamentally change a WoD game.

To me, a base WoD game set in 1850s LA sounds interesting, but a Vampire game set in 1850s LA sounds like an Anne Rice ripoff.

Then again, you could always combine two ripoffs and make an original campaign. H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu-verse vs. Anne Rice's Lestat-verse.

Have your vampire PCs keep running afoul of the occult and strange alien beasts.

[OldFart]

Most of the old standards I've used in the past have already been hit, so let me just add a few.

Don't forget the original Native American population. The Natchez tribes built burial mounds, which are wonderful sites for re-interpretation into whatever supernatural-nastiness-from-long-ago you want to throw at the party.

Place rumors about a vampire or mystic treasure being hidden deep in the swamps. Being hidden there in part specifically because it's an area where even the werewolves don't go. Of course, maybe a better hiding spot might have been chosen if someone had known the reason was the were-gators - yes, oWoD had them, and what better place to use them?

And at some point, the setting pretty much demands that you juxtapose immortal vs. mortal evil. You just have to. Here's an outline on a clumsy way to do it, that you can maybe clean up into something decent:
Really wealthy vampire owns a plantation. There's a nasty disease at the plantation, that causes anemia. (S)he even has to purchase new slaves to replace those that are passing away. What's really happening - (s)he's draining slaves, which are herd, and has worked out a deal with them - after x time, they "die" and are placed on underground railroad to freedom. But of course, some "escapee" gets caught by hunter who must put down the abomination and restore the "natural order" of the "peculiar institution" of the law of the land.

Hope this helps.

[subject42]

I was drilling through the Wikipedia article for the decade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1850s) and you could probably use some world events to your advantage.

The formation of Romania: Displaced Moldovan and Wallachian vampires begin emigrate from their home countries and end up in Louisiana. How do these foreigners with their strange customs mix into the Melting Pot of the Delta Culture?

Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species is published: Vampires + Darwinism == the scariest kind of Eugenics. What happens when immortal, inhuman creatures realize that they can alter the course of humanity just by being patient and killing or aiding people with the traits that they like?

The 1850s were the height of the Highland Potato famine emigration. Poor, starving, displaced people have to go somewhere, and eventually desperation will drive them to do things they never thought possible. Someone without a conscience could use this to their advantage. Think tent revival.

The Mormon uprising in Utah should be ending poorly by the point that your game starts. Was it just caused by religious strife, or something more sinister? If the latter, could something similar happen somewhere else?

[Caliphbubba]

If you're discussing Vampire, Mage, Changeling, etc., putting oWoD or nWoD in the thread title is misleading. Any of those add-on systems fundamentally change a WoD game
.

yeah, the old world of darkness doesn't really work that why to my knowledge. There was no stand alone World of Darkness with "add-on" systems. It's perfectly valid to call a Vampire game an [oWoD] game, especailly since it seems likely other elements (werewolves seem likely in this case) are making an appearance.

[Sunfall]

My, this is really picking up speed! I’m listening :smallbiggrin:

@Sebastrd
Caliphbubba’s right – there is no 'core' oWod. It all started with the first edition of Vampire, followed by Werewolf, Mage, Changeling and whatnot from second edition on. The whole shebang went through three editions. Mind you, these were core books, not add-ons (and they weren’t really meant to mix). 'World of Darkness' (now the old WoD) was just an umbrella term for those systems.

Playing humans simply wasn’t intended (though you could if you adapted the rules - it just wasn't part of the overall concept). The idea of having mundane player characters amble through a strange world with mostly deadly things in the shadows and making that the centerpiece is only a very recent addition. They started that one with the nWoD.

So if you see a thread with an oWoD tag, you can mentally prepare yourself for the situation that the system you will most possibly encounter within is Vampire:The Masquerade, followed by Werewolf (Apocalypse), Mage (Ascension) and Changeling (Dream), roughly in that order. Glad we cleared that up :smallwink:

And incidentally, ‘H.P. Lovecraft meets Anne Rice’ perfectly describes the tone I’d like to set with this. I’m quite good at combining rip-offs...


@OldFart
I remember the were-gators. Mokolé, I think they were called. Unfortunately, I have an intense dislike for them, so I’d rather stick with werewolves... Wyrm-infested crocodile monsters, however… :belkar:

The Natchez - another thing I've learned today, thanks! And why not have this protected caern that we mentioned up there connected to a Natchez mound? I think, my players would love to explore something like that...

And then, there's this:

Really wealthy vampire owns a plantation. There's a nasty disease at the plantation, that causes anemia. (S)he even has to purchase new slaves to replace those that are passing away. What's really happening - (s)he's draining slaves, which are herd, and has worked out a deal with them - after x time, they "die" and are placed on underground railroad to freedom. But of course, some "escapee" gets caught by hunter who must put down the abomination and restore the "natural order" of the "peculiar institution" of the law of the land.

That is so brilliant, I don’t even… I’ll talk to the Ventrue player. This would fit perfectly into her background!


@subject42
Wow, you’ve been really putting some work into this! I'm going to work some kind of midnight canival into the campaign, maybe I can use some of this to create an eclectic mood...


Thank you all, guys!

[Caliphbubba]

Just for refferance the 1850 census of Louisiana put the population at around 520,000 and the 1860 population at around 710,000. That's a pretty significant growth in ten years.

I'm not exactly sure how this could figure into a game, but I expect that a theme having to do with huge influx of people arriving could be suitably horrible...


as a side note:

August 10, 1856, Hurricane One (Category 4) made landfall at Last Island, Louisiana. The 25-mile (40 km) long barrier island resort community was devastated by being split into 5 separate islands, and over 200 people were killed. maybe useful as a background type event.


at first I thought the one of the Sabbat Civil Wars was going on in about your time period, but after looking it turns out it was closer to 1800. Still for much of the country it's more likely to have Sabbat than Camarilla Kindred. in my mind that makes the 'House of 1000 Corpes' dealy even more likely.

[Sebastrd]

Caliphbubba’s right – there is no 'core' oWod. It all started with the first edition of Vampire, followed by Werewolf, Mage, Changeling and whatnot from second edition on. The whole shebang went through three editions. Mind you, these were core books, not add-ons (and they weren’t really meant to mix). 'World of Darkness' (now the old WoD) was just an umbrella term for those systems.

Playing humans simply wasn’t intended (though you could if you adapted the rules - it just wasn't part of the overall concept). The idea of having mundane player characters amble through a strange world with mostly deadly things in the shadows and making that the centerpiece is only a very recent addition. They started that one with the nWoD.

So if you see a thread with an oWoD tag, you can mentally prepare yourself for the situation that the system you will most possibly encounter within is Vampire:The Masquerade, followed by Werewolf (Apocalypse), Mage (Ascension) and Changeling (Dream), roughly in that order. Glad we cleared that up :smallwink:

And incidentally, ‘H.P. Lovecraft meets Anne Rice’ perfectly describes the tone I’d like to set with this. I’m quite good at combining rip-offs...

Regardless of the semantics, I see from your newest thread that you at least understood what I was getting at; and it's much appreciated, by the way.

Also, I hope you didn't take the "rip-off" comment as a criticism. The entire hobby is based on ripping off popular fantasy/sci-fi/horror literature. My only point was that I don't find the Anne Rice rip-off particularly interesting, and putting Vampire in the thread title would have warned me off and not gotten my hopes up.:smalltongue:

Although I vastly prefer the oWoD settings to the new ones, I have to say I'm a big fan of creating a core system for normal human PCs and then adding rules onto that to accommodate the supernaturals.

I don't particularly care for Vampire or Werewolf, as my perception has always been that players choose those settings for heavy combat and gore scenarios. Mage has always been my favorite, because it seems to be the most cerebral of the bunch. Changeling seems interesting for the complicated emotional situations it creates, and I've always had a soft spot for golems and other magical constructs (Promethean).

I don't doubt that some great role-playing can occur in Vampire games, but the only stories I hear from players I know sound similar to 3.5 D&D powergaming masturbation.

[Caliphbubba]

[QUOTE=Sebastrd;10536769]I don't doubt that some great role-playing can occur in Vampire games, but the only stories I hear from players I know sound similar to 3.5 D&D powergaming masturbation[QUOTE]

Like anything it largely comes down to what the troupe and the storyteller want the game to be. When you phrase it like that I can see why it would be boring for you. I don't particullarly like combat/gore heavy games of Vampire or Werewolf either. Most of my Table Top experiances with both of those sub-systems have been more oriented toward political manouvering and/or the internal conflict of becoming a monster with an emphasis on personal horror and tragedy.

[Sunfall]

Thank you all so much – I have a consistent concept now which will keep us going for long enough. Yay! \:smallbiggrin:/

@Caliphbubba:
Alas, I’m really bad at keeping up with journals and such, and this campaign will only be played very sporadically anyway (once every few months, I’d guess). I’m sorry. I could send you a rundown of the plotline as I have it now via PM, if you’d like.

@Sebastrd:
I don’t mind. I’ve always thought that ripping a story off well is much better than telling an original one badly. And don’t they say that every story has been told already anyway? :smallcool:

A few more thoughts regarding systems:


Although I vastly prefer the oWoD settings to the new ones, I have to say I'm a big fan of creating a core system for normal human PCs and then adding rules onto that to accommodate the supernaturals.

I know, right? The Second Edition was fresh out when I started playing WoD and somehow it still is dearest to me. But I also think that starting with humans in a cthulhoid setting was a brilliant idea, so you might say they did it right the second way around. I just think that maybe they should not have chased the systems through three full editions, adding more and more stuff (good and bad) just to bring out the New And Improved version one year after the last one updated. It just made you (as a player) feel like an idiot with particularly deep pockets. :smallyuk:


I don't particularly care for Vampire or Werewolf, as my perception has always been that players choose those settings for heavy combat and gore scenarios. Mage has always been my favorite, because it seems to be the most cerebral of the bunch. Changeling seems interesting for the complicated emotional situations it creates, and I've always had a soft spot for golems and other magical constructs (Promethean).

Hmmm, I’ve never played Promethean (after my time), but I understand your fascination with Mage. You really have to put some careful thinking into your powers for them to work. I also just love Changeling. I think it’s the best oWoD system out there, but the deeply ingrained melancholy makes it a very tiring setting to play. It’s so sad, it’s like every session were a rerun of Pan’s Labyrinth. :smallfrown:


I don't doubt that some great role-playing can occur in Vampire games, but the only stories I hear from players I know sound similar to 3.5 D&D powergaming masturbation.

Ah, you see, it depends on how you play it. My players hated Vampire on sight because they had a storyteller who played it in just the fashion that you so colorfully describe :smallbiggrin: I hauled them through a ferocious Masquerade one-shot based on the Ninth Gate (see – rip-off :smallcool:) and they’ve been hooked ever since.

As Caliphbubba already pointed out, Vampire has quite some potential for drama and intrigue without sliding neither into Anne Rice territory nor into pure hack-and-slay. Violence should never be encouraged as a solution. (Guess that's why I'm such a bad DM for D&D.) I for one have always liked to explore the horror and mystery angle. You know, that kind of storyline where the players find themselves thinking: ‘Wait a minute – wasn’t I supposed to be the monster in this setting?’

I also like the personal tragedy thing Caliphbubba mentioned – e.g. having them see how life goes on without them, how their loved ones take others into their arms or how they just die after some time. Making them wonder if they really made the best choice (if it was a choice).

And with me at the wheel, there will always be some really weird, zany stuff going on as well. It can be quite unsettling when combined with the rest :smallwink:

[Sebastrd]

...based on the Ninth Gate...

I absolutely love the Ninth Gate. Something about the blending of mystery, the occult, and old books just does it for me. I can't explain it. It's one of the most "Lovecraftian" movies I've seen.

[archon_huskie]

White Wolf had released a setting for the Victorian Ages for Vampire. You might consider looking in that book for ideas.

It is called Victorian Age: Vampire.