How do you prepare a VtM Chronicle?

[NekoJoker]

I have been reading the Blood Curse trilogy (I hope it translates that way, since my copies are in spanish) and I have fallen in love with the kindred of Atlanta, Personally i like the way the Malkavian Prince of Atlanta is portrayed, it really changed my view on the Malkavian clan.

Now I am looking forward to starting a chronicle in Atlanta using these characters, but the problem would be the theme and tone of the whole thing...

you see, my group (with me included) are not very subtle and most of us tend to go for rather powerfull discipline combinations and.... not very interesting character concepts... Long story short, we all just want to gather enough power to crush everything... i want to change this

for some time now i have ben trying to get some more roleplay into the table and less roll-play. The World of Darkness storyteller systems allows me to bring a good deal of real roleplaying into the table, but i am not sure as to how to engage my players on to this.

So I turn to the playground for advice on how to smoothly plan out a chronicle.

Should i have them start off as neonates? having zero power and influence and have theme climb up their social ranking?

or

Should I introduce them as already somewhat influential kindred with burdens and responsability among the vampires of atlanta?

Having them grow from humble begginnings is cool, but long and some times frustrating.

Having them start already somewhat powerful is cool, but can derive into some kind of arms race to see who gets the coolest powers and combination sooner...

on a side note, some players have been trying to run sabbat or independant clans on a chronicle a frind of mine is currently running they have a Lasombra, a Ravnos, a Tzimisce and a tremere running around town... they seem to enjoy sabbat related characters, should I run with it? if so, how do you run a story for a sabbat pack?


BOTTOMLINE
So, what do you guys think?
Start the game as Elder or Neonate?
Camarilla or Sabbat?

just answering those questions wil give me some insight on how to start writing something everyone at the table can enjoy

[Semidi]

VtM is really made for your players to be ancilla/neonates; elders are just overwhelmingly powerful. I mean it's possible to play elders, but it's just kind of weird as elder plots are in the span of decades, not days, and elders are generally mostly concerned with their own survival and generally aren't into doing things that make up interesting games.

Playing Sabbat is a lot like playing Camarilla except that it's about twice as dark, has far more combat, and is much more unforgiving. There's still loads of roleplay and opportunities to interact with awesome npcs. Also, Sabbat is not for anyone who is easily offended. On the other hand, it offers a roleplay experience unlike any other.

Running a game for a Sabbat pack kind of runs itself. The Sabbat get orders from the bishop/archbishop/cardinal/prisci, and they do their best to carry them out. Sabbat has the added bonus that the packs can make their own fun and set off on their own mission (hey, let's go kill a primogen or elder for prestige!). The roleplay enters with regard to the ritae of the Sabbat, and the conflict stemming from inhuman monsters on different paths being forced to not kill each other because of the vaulderie. as well there's the conflict between different political factions.

If your players are into playing beefy characters and want to play Sabbat, I'd encourage you to look into the Black Hand (mentioned in many Sabbat Guides, they have their own book called Caine's Chosen: Black Hand--don't get this mixed up with Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand). The Black Hand is pretty much the Sabbat's special forces and are the best of the best. They do the missions that are too subtle or difficult for the rest of the Sabbat.