Running the Giovanni Chronicles [Dark Ages Vampire]

[fishyfishyfishy]

Hello playgrounders!

I'm going to be running the Giovanni Chronicles for Vampire the Masquerade for my table top group. I've got until the 6th of January to familiarize myself with the uniqueness of the 20th Anniversary edition of Dark Ages Vampire, which we will be using for the rules.

Is there any advice you can offer for running this specific story line, or Dark Ages Vampire in general? For character creation I am following the general guidelines presented in The Last Supper (part 1 of the Chronicle), so they get to start as 7th generation Kindred of one of the 13 high and low clans, but I'm open to hearing why some of the backgrounds or Disciplines shouldn't be allowed at the start.

I’ve never run an official story for Vampire before, do they all have this much monologue?

[comicshorse]

A general problem I've found in Dark Ages is that that their are less people, less towns and cities are much smaller. Be sure every P.C. has thought about how they are going to hunt and has the skills/disciplines to pull it off.

[fishyfishyfishy]

I'll keep that in mind. It could make for an interesting story for the characters to struggle adapting to kindred life. They are human at the start after all.

[Bulhakov]

My main memories from playing/running a few DA games:
- woods are a very dangerous place (werewolves, other supernaturals, cold)
- societies are much smaller and more superstitious, so it's more difficult to keep up the masquerade
- on the other hand it's easier to get away with murder as law enforcement is virtually nonexistent
- there are open fires everywhere (candles, torches, fireplaces)
- I think DA vampires had slightly lower fear of fire than the modern WoD ones, but still should feel uneasy around all the flames
- lots of animals that get easily spooked by vampires (horses, dogs, chickens)
- vampires were much more territorial, a small city could safely support only 1 or 2 (some may welcome temporary guests, but most would not like new neighbors)
- many more priests (and witches) with true faith

[Lady Tialait]

I've run this chronicle before a few times. I have a few tips that I found useful.

Firstly, have a way to isolate the players themselves. A second room to take them aside during their Harrowings, any secret planning and such they want. Make sure not everyone knows what other do, fragment information and keep it secret.

Secondly, be sure to make all the Elder Vampires terrifying, but don't just torture everyone all the time. It can be exhausting for the players to be tortured every two seconds, but that is how the Last Supper is written.

Thirdly, don't be afraid to rush parts through, some of the parts of the story are really boring for players. If they don't engage with a part of the Chronicle, rush it.

Hope these help.

[fishyfishyfishy]

We're actually playing over discord using voice chat. Makes it easier for people with kids or who live across town. I can probably ask them to leave the chat for a bit if necessary.

[Mr Blobby]

Three things not mentioned:

#1: To remember kine life is much more geared to sunlight hours than we are now. From shopping to talking to people, being a Kindred is much harder. Ghouls are much more vital then than a modern chronicle.

#2: With few exceptions, the world is much more isolated, insular and ignorant. Most villagers wouldn't have travelled further than the next one over the hill. Strangers would have been immediately spotted and watched. City X some 50 miles away might as well as be on the moon, and knowledge about said city would be less than we know of the moon. 'Educated' generally means 'can read and write'. Supersitions are rampant. There are vast tracts of wilderness out there; forests, marshes and mountains which hide... things. Travel is rare, slow and has danger.

#3: I highly recommend that you [as ST] give the Merit 'Common Sense' for free to all players. This will allow you to advise your players on the setting and period etc.

[fishyfishyfishy]

We ended up with the following characters;

Court jester who's Lord has died and is looking for new work since the Lady kicked him out. She never liked him and suspected her husband of having a homosexual affair with him. He has bi-polar disorder, and upon his embrace into clan Malkavian it will intensify greatly.

Daughter of a minor Egyptian noble/merchant in Cairo who was forced into an arranged marriage with her cousin. On the night it was to be consummated she murdered him and covered it up. She did such an excellent job covering her tracks and misleading everyone for months into believing he was either busy or traveling that she was able to get away with moving his wealth around and skipping town. She was later tracked down by a bounty hunter, but instead of bringing her back she was recruited and trained to be a killer for hire. She will be embraced into clan Assamite (warrior caste).

Former Janissary in the Turkish army. As a young boy he was taken into slavery and forced to serve the Sultan and convert to Islam. Firearms are slowly becoming used on a mass scale and he showed great skill at crafting these instruments of death and their ammunition. After receiving the invitation to the manse of Lord Giovanni he sought permission from the Sultan to go, and it was granted (to his surprise). He will be embraced into clan Ravnos and will develop a curious mutation and have Serpentis as a clan Discipline (he's taking the merit for it).

Young noble lady sent off by her family to the Church to serve god as a nun. There she spent a great deal of time reading and learning hidden occult lore that was confiscated by the Church, and came to hate the organization and the patriarchy. After her embrace into clan Lasombra she will fully devote herself to vampirism and see this as a path to divinity.

Last character is a Mongol slave trader turned Tzimisce. Idk anything else about the character as the player was unable to make the character creation session.

[Chen]

Only thing of that I have some concern on is the in-clan Discipline for Serpentis. That discipline is extremely rarely taught outside of the Followers of Set. I'd definitely attach RP implications to manifesting that power where others can see it. The discipline itself is also VERY strong both in and out of combat.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Only thing of that I have some concern on is the in-clan Discipline for Serpentis. That discipline is extremely rarely taught outside of the Followers of Set. I'd definitely attach RP implications to manifesting that power where others can see it. The discipline itself is also VERY strong both in and out of combat.

Yeah, he wants to portray a very monstrous character after the Embrace. He will probably have some involvement with them after they have a chance to get introduced to the various clans in more depth.

I'm thinking ahead to the scene where my players get to confront their sires after they've been embraced in Giovanni Chronicles. Seems like a good point to knowledge dump some clan specifics through in game exposition, like Assamite lineage. The Assamite in the group is warrior caste, who it seems are descended from Sha'hiri - still around at this time too since it's 1444. Sha'hiri only has one childe, Thetmes, who in turn only has 2 childer.
So maybe Bajazet Al-Nasir (the Sire in the scenario) is the childe of one of those two, and Diablerie got him to 6th? I could just say Thetmes has a third childe I guess, but Diablerie is more dramatic. Thoughts?

If anyone had chosen Ventrue I'd be doing the same, but no one was interested in playing one.

Edit: it seems that Jamal is also a likely candidate at the progenitor of this particular Assamite. Who spawned the Viziers I wonder?