Nosferatu favours to trade?

[Braininthejar2]

I'm DMing a campaign in which a player is playing a freshly embraced Nosferatu.

The player is also fresh, and is getting the hang of how to play one. So far she has been learning how to investigate stuff, and where to look for personal info.

Now, she would like to learn more, and she's seeking training from other kindred, some of them from other clans. She needs to make herself useful to them to trade favors.

So, what could she do for other vampires as a beginner Nosferatu with some experience in hacking, and in city hall paperwork concerning historical buildings?

Particularly Tremere (quite stereotypical) or Brujah (criminals, mostly protection money - the Prince is a Brujah, so they're not as anarchic as expected)

The setting is Lodz, a Polish city of less than a million inhabitants, which has been transforming for decades after the textile industry fell along with the communism, looking for a new identity (no matter how tough the crisis, there is always something under construction there - the last adventure was a series of accidents on a construction site, where a man gravely injured due to neglected safety regulations came back as something weird and started hunting the foremen.)

The other player is a rich and not entirely sensible Malkavian, who is trying to make a vampire-themed pub in the city centre. What could get complicated there that would require the Nosferatu to help her out?

[LibraryOgre]

Well, on a basic level, your Nos might be able to help smooth out any of the licensing problems that come up through a combination of knowing the paperwork and knowing how to apply pressure (i.e. "Yaroslav in Permits is giving us problems, but we can buy him off if we can get a case of this Romanian beer that he likes... alternatively, we can ghoul his daughter and she'll beat the crap out him, because she's been wanting to.") In the case of knowing historical buildings, my thought is, if it's anything like the US, a historical designation could protect some buildings, and removing that designation (through trickery or law) can expose them. Is your ancient enemy in Torpor under the Opera House? Well, I can make it so we remove the Opera House from on top of him. Want to sleep for a decade? How about we arrange for you to have some space under the Opera House? (Over time, this will literally make you the one who knows where the bodies are buried).

Now, for the Tremere and Brujah, a lot of these also apply, but consider that a hacker could help adjust shipping manifests and inventories... things fall off trucks, or get delivered to the wrong place. "Ooops, your shipment came to our warehouse, Mr. Too Good to Pay Protection Money. If you don't want it to be 'damaged in handling', maybe you should consider playing ball, hmm?"

[Braininthejar2]

Finding stuff on old buildings is how she got vamped in the first place - she was an employee in the historical buildings office in the town hall, and while making sure the new train station construction, which involved a plan to dig to the other station across town won't disrupt any historical buildings in the center, she dug up too much from the archives, and found some cellars Nosferatu had added unofficially.

There are definitely better hackers than her... but that means she's the cheapest. Thanks. It does work.:smallsmile:

[JeenLeen]

I think Mark Hall's specific advice is very good, but here's a general advice: as a newly Embraced, you know the modern world a lot better than some (most?) of the other vampires in the city. This depends on if the DM is on board, but just knowing the modern stuff well is itself a utility. Maybe one of the more experienced vampires doesn't like the internet, so just having you on retainer to do some basic research is something to trade. ...though I guess most would use ghouls for that, or their own newly Embraced from their clans.

Getting a ghoul or two of your own in city hall, or the police bureaucracy, could also help with what Mark Hall advised: your PC figures out what needs doing, and have the ghoul do the stuff during daytime. At least, assuming you aren't stepping on anyone else's territory by doing so. I forget whether you need the Prince or Primogen's permission to create ghouls.

[comicshorse]

Getting a ghoul or two of your own in city hall, or the police bureaucracy, could also help with what Mark Hall advised: your PC figures out what needs doing, and have the ghoul do the stuff during daytime. At least, assuming you aren't stepping on anyone else's territory by doing so. I forget whether you need the Prince or Primogen's permission to create ghouls.

You need the Prince's permission to create Ghouls but provided you're a sensible Kindred its usually not that big a deal. (I.E) He'll probably only demand a minor favour from you

[LibraryOgre]

Getting a ghoul or two of your own in city hall, or the police bureaucracy, could also help with what Mark Hall advised: your PC figures out what needs doing, and have the ghoul do the stuff during daytime. At least, assuming you aren't stepping on anyone else's territory by doing so. I forget whether you need the Prince or Primogen's permission to create ghouls.


You need the Prince's permission to create Ghouls but provided you're a sensible Kindred its usually not that big a deal. (I.E) He'll probably only demand a minor favour from you

I'm guessing your in the same group, Comicshorse?

However, I agree with Jeen... Ghoul a couple people, if you can, in the right places, and your job becomes a LOT easier. "Oh, I called my ghoul friend up. When he gets to work tomorrow, he'll process your application immediately, my Prince. Oh, tickets for the two of us to the Opera? In your private box? Thank you, my Prince, I am sure he'll be pleased with your largesse."

[comicshorse]

I'm guessing your in the same group, Comicshorse?



Actually no, I'm just going on what I remember from reading the books

[Braininthejar2]

She has only ghouled her cat so far. She might be sensible, but she's a fledgling - and ghouls are a security risk. She will be a allowed one or two at best, so she's in no hurry with the choice.

She would like to get some mortal agents though - possibly by doing someone a big favour or making it so that they need a big favour.

Which is a nice idea for a side-quest, but here I'd also like some ideas.

[comicshorse]

Which is a nice idea for a side-quest, but here I'd also like some ideas.

The Prince is Brujah right ? A particular police inspector is interfering with their rackets. Killing him will just cause more heat, Dominate is too much of a blunt tool and he seems immune to the Blood Bond. (This was discovered in embarrassing fashion and so he must be handled even more carefully least he breach the Masquerade).
"So.... you. Neonate. You understand the modern world, get him off our backs. Should you succeed, you will be rewarded. Should you not succeed....Well If I was you, I'd succeed "

The situation with the Inspector makes dealing with him through supernatural means inadvisable so its up to you. Dig up blackmail on him, dig up dirt on his loved ones, get him promoted to another city, fake a scandal, the Prince doesn't care how you do it. Just do it

[Bulhakov]

First of all, hi from Lodz! :)

As for favour/subquest ideas:
- find all properties owned by a XIX facory owner - he was a rich collector of art/relics/books and someone is looking for his pre-WW2 stash
- alternatively someone knows the stuff was in one of the factor-owner palaces (e.g. the current Technical University's recotrate building) and they want records of all the previous owners
- plot underground/sewer routes across town
- the Tremere want to perform some city-protection ritual, they need a stone from the oldest man-made building in the city, a bone from the oldest grave and a branch from the oldest tree
- plant remotely activated electronic jammers/taps on all cell-phone towers in a city district for future emergencies (if smart, the players will make a backdoor to use the system themselves)
- a young new priest in the main cathedral might be a true-believer and has seen a young vampire feeding (maybe even one of the players?) - find out how much he knows, bug his computer and phone (may lead to a second quest - intercepting his communications with the Vatican, and putting on a show that will lead the priest to believe he killed the only vampire in the city)
- jews or muslims want to build a new synagogue or mosque in the city, it's your job to make sure the city only gives them a permit for a plot with the least magical laylines going through it (Tremere don't want believers getting any real "faith" power), maybe it'll lead to a subquest of getting rid of a Lidl market or some ONR protesters, or maybe the current permit proposals are exactly for plots with the most magical intersections, which will be very suspicious and require investigation into who suggested them (maybe there's a true-faith witch in the city hall? or the Assamites want to set up a new safe-house in Eastern Europe?)

[Braininthejar2]

First of all, hi from Lodz! :)

Hi. When you take a good look around, Lodz is a surprisingly interesting place to put a WoD campaign in. It even has an abandoned amusement park for some climactic confrontation :smallsmile:

Just don't try to enter umbra anywhere near the Burned Factory.


The Tremere ritual sounds interesting. Especially since the Malkavian player is technically here to spy on the local Tremere (sent by her paranoid sire from Cracov. In reality, she's tired of his paranoia and is just using the mission as an excuse to make herself a home here).

But what would they need the ritual for? It's not anything secret, or they wouldn't sub-contract the reagent hunt. But at the same time, it must be something pretty important, especially if the oldest tree turns out to be in Łagiewniki, right next to the local caern.

The synagogue idea... the Lodz Nosferatu primogen is a Jew, and actually lives under the community. And my friend's werewolf campaign for Lodz established some Get of Fenris appear on ONR events. Will the idea still be feasible under these circumstances?

[Bulhakov]

Personally I like to use large foreign cities in my adventures, due to the elasticity and vagueness. I then can easily substitute familiar regions for building specific scenes (e.g. move the Lodz Cathedral to Houston TX).

For the ritual ideas:
- it will reveal the history of all supernatural beings living in the city
- it will allow magical scrying into the past (as far back as the reagents go)
- it will protect the city from a foreign magic influence (Russian mages? Vatican Giovanni?) that wants to awaken some spirits, affect the mood of all citizens, maybe to swing the election or implant some suggestion
- it will make all mortals in the city more susceptible to Dominate or Presence
- it will allow the Tremere to plant suggestions in the inhabitants

Since you have a strong Jewish presence already, I'd go with the mosque idea and bring in an Assamite sorcerer as a future villain. You could even have the players try to sick the ONR werewolves on him somehow in the future. It's how I usually like to introduce new hooks - start innocently and let the players themselves reveal the intrigue - find out where they want to build the new mosque and if it's not on any "power points", the players find out all suggestions are exactly on the "power points" and thus need to investigate further.