My first WoD game... and I'm the Storyteller. Help a newbie out with their story?

[Odessa333]

Hi! Thanks for stopping in.

So as the topic line says, I'm about to run a Vampire game, and I've not done anything in the WoD before. I played the Vampire: the Masquerade video game, so I know a little (and the key world is little). From what I've been reading so far, Vampire: Requiem is generally considered the better system mechanically to learn, so I 'think' I'm going to try to learn that system... which means what I know counts for even less! Awesome, right?



That said, I was hoping to get some advice on setting the board, as it were. My first draft has the long standing Prince of a major city (I picked Boston at first) is acting strange, suspiciously so. The clans suspect something is up, but don't want to openly question/defy the Prince. It could be a trick, it could lead to death, war, etc. In trying to get some answers, some clans will make some new vamps who are not known and not obviously connected to anyone. These expendable saps are our PC's, set out with little information to work on (if they don't know anything, they can't reveal anything if they are captured) going out to explore a new world without knowing who their allies are, or if they even have any.


How does this sound? When asking my group what they wanted, WoD and 'political intrigue' were the most requested aspects. I thought it might be interesting for them to not know much of thier own clans/factions, having to find thier allies on their own, and wondering who is a friend and who's just paying lip service. Still, don't know if it works well, or if I should make them slightly older vampires with more information on the clans, history, etc. Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice?


The other idea I had that I thought might be fun? Seeing if I could get some of you reading this to help create some NPC's for them to meet. I want a truly tangled web of intrigue for this game, and what better for making up a lot of different people with different goals than asking for different people's input? Donate an NPC idea or two (or more!) here, and I'll do what I can to incorporate them into the story/world I'm building. I think this has a lot of potential for some insane scenarios, so I'm eager to see your ideas.


Thank you all for your time spent reading this. Your help/tips/ideas/resources/etc are all appreciated!

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Well, first off the political structure of Requiem is totally different than Masquerade. Clans are normally not independent political bodies, but are CULTURAL bodies. "Covenants" are your political bodies. They don't really match up well to Masquerade groups at all. The Carthians seem the easiest to line up with the Anarchs, and the Invictus with the Camarilla (in fact, in the Requiem universe, the Camarilla was the parallel Kindred Roman Empire, and the Invictus claim descent from it!), but the others are... different. The Circle of the Crone are pagan bachanalistic "celebrate the monster in you" type group, and the Lancea et Sanctum are Christian religious zealots, both taking some inspiration from the Sabbat, and the Ordo Dracul are occultists, philosophers, and scientists, combining I guess aspects of the Tremere and several similar clans?

Now, you CAN run Requiem using Clans as your primary political bodies, and indeed one of the sample settings in V:tR 2e has that, the Welsh setting. But the default is Clans are "what you are", and Covenants are "what you do".

That raises another question; are you running Requiem 1e or Requiem 2e? Both have their benefits and drawbacks, though for learning the systems I would recommend 2e: most of the benefits of 1e are that it has had more years of development, with lots of extra books with bloodlines and goodies, but 2e is a smoother game in my opinion.

[sktarq]

Firstly Second what Gwyn said (except I'm a fan of VtR 1e over 2e)

As for your basic idea of a plot. Sounds fair enough for start but think about these ideas.

Why don't the PC's know the local politics? Are they so new-but if so why are they not attached to their sires learning from them instead of this high risk way? Are they out of towners? Are they a remaining effect of a previous event that has left them in poorly defined social place (say a nomad group swung in had an embrace party and got driven out those fledglings who were made with them but hadn't joined in their bad behavior became the party as an example but have fun with it)

One thing is that making a new vampire costs quite a bit for the sire (ex. a willpower DOT). Very few do so lightly. It happens as insanity is common but that there would a bunch of so new as to be unknown and expendable vampires around is unlikely outside the biggest of metropolises. So build a reason.

How will you motivate the players? Being new and all with no connections to the powers that be sounds great as a setup but (like amnesia) can make it harder to find drives and goals and personality for the players to work with. So why do they do the high risk work of figuring out what's up with the prince? Having mentors and allies and relationships with tenurial domain holders that can extract A Red Tithe (labor rent for hunting rights) all help you the storyteller give the PC's a push. It also gives you conduits to feed info to the party. Otherwise the political intrigue of the various groups trying to control Cambridge may be more interesting to the PC's than the prince and if you're not ready it can go quickly pear shaped.

Also Boston. I sketched up a Boston option for my players once (they picked a different city in sesion zero) so I get there interesting things about the place. But make sure you dive into "why Boston". What stories work there better than anywhere? I know I saw the Puritian founding members (and the vampires embraced then now being elders) vs the student-very liberal culture of today. The very Protestant founding era vs the waves of Catholic immigrants that have come to define much of the image of Boston today. The Route 128 and Tech Power base vs it's deep history of religious devotion. Its pained relationship between powerful families and it's egalitarian self image. The split between its highly nationalist and highly internationalist traits. Becon hill Southie. The big dig-the corruption and also options of waking up all sorts of stuff long forgot. So yeah Boston has lots of stuff to work with but could quickly become flat if you don't engage with it clearly. Pick themes and moods that work well with how you see the city of Boston at night.

[Odessa333]

Right now, the group is leaning Requiem 1E, so we'll see if that sticks. And yes, I should have used 'covenants' instead of clans. Told you what I knew wasn't helpful! lol. Oh well.


sktarq, I have to say thank you. I HATE amnesia games, and hadn't realized just how similar this is. You helped me dodge a bullet there. That will have to change. The main idea was that they are essentially going to be spies, and the Covenants wanted those who couldn't be traced back to them easily, to have plausible deniability if they screw up. I'll have to do more reading and brainstorming, see what I can make work.


Also, the ideas you give for Boston are quite interesting. I've lived here nearly all my life, so seeing someone else mention Route 128 and the like is fascinating.

[Duff]

As far as the sires wanting their agents not to know anything I suggest:
The PCs have a "handler" who is some combination of expendable, disguised and protected. The handler acts as a "foster sire" giving introductions as needed to the social network, training, intelligence and instructions (and maybe a cavalry bail out if you want to).

[sktarq]

Really the structure you come up with is going to depend on what the political structure of the city is. "The covenants" don't do anything, individual vampires do. Or the primogen do. Or... you get the idea. Also unless something very weird is going on the prince will have a base of support that will also exist in the Covenant structure-which would argue against that group spying on him (as an official stance-individuals well could be).
Also why would these various parties all agree to spy as a block? Especially if they cross covenant and clan lines the way most parties do. It would normally make more sense for them to each try an get their own personal spy in. Now it may be that a social group includes their sires/mentors/etc that is non-obvious (like a chess club or tasting club or even they all came from the same neighborhood over a 100 year stretch) but understanding who they are spying for and whom they spying on is kinda key here. That will tell you what you options are in linking them back to each.

Also a classic spy would be working for the prince and feeding info to their handlers/masters etc. Is this what you are planning or are you more planning "investigators" acting more as cops or Woodward/Bernstein types?