This session is probably the most disappointing for me yet.
All the issues, problems and struggles from previous sessions were present in this one.
With only their previous work together and no prior history, characters who were overly secretive and unwilling to open up to their coterie-mates made it rather clear that even though the game emphasises mistrust and suspicion, those points just cripple the actual party. It occured to me that the only reason the characters restrained from actively backstabbing each other was simply for plot convenience.
I'm still unsure about what it is that's wrong with the system, but the combat-to-danger ratio just doesn't sit right. Players have always been aware that they are easily-injured, and as a result just don't want to risk getting their hands dirty. That was really emphasised this session, when the players opted to use NPCs for the 'adventure' elements of the game, even though it ultimately meant that their characters were no longer the center of the game's focus.
Aside from 'revenge' and 'claim back what is yours', it was evident that there was no real drive to tackle this. Yet again I'd been unable to give the characters any reason to feel involved or care about the whole thing.
The real killer was that yet another of the 'dramatic twists' I'd hoped would work with the story, came across in practice as being trite, boring and stupid. It serves really to show that I'm just not an especially good GM, I suppose. The players sat through the rest of the game, but it was clear that their enthusiasm was gone and the game was dead. It's probably best that I leave these attempts at 'shocking and dramatic twists' alone entirely. Or perhaps just forget the whole GMing thing; it's evident I've just not got whatever it is that makes people good at this.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Session 8 - Plateux
In the buildup towards halloween in Santa Monica, our vampires planned to strike back at the false prince. They constructed a plot to frame the false prince as a heretic, hoping to turn the Sanctum members of his cult against him.
The plan worked fine. But the bishop's strike against the false prince was interrupted by the advantageous treachery of the Circle of the Crone. Tyranda took advantage of the meeting of the Sanctum and the false prince's gathering to lure a pack of werewolves into the haven.
The characters managed to diablerise both the prince and the bishop, and escape with their unlives intact. They had accomplished all their desires, but having discovering the arch druid's treachery, it was a bitter victory as they were thrust into the larger world of Los Angeles.
The plan worked fine. But the bishop's strike against the false prince was interrupted by the advantageous treachery of the Circle of the Crone. Tyranda took advantage of the meeting of the Sanctum and the false prince's gathering to lure a pack of werewolves into the haven.
The characters managed to diablerise both the prince and the bishop, and escape with their unlives intact. They had accomplished all their desires, but having discovering the arch druid's treachery, it was a bitter victory as they were thrust into the larger world of Los Angeles.
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Session 7 - Retrospective
Two things didn't work with this session.
The first, is that so much of it could (and should) have been covered in downtime. I've nobody to blame for that but myself.
The second was that this session was planned to end with the characters sneaking back to their hotel, upon discovering the Prince's grasp across the city. Upon doing so, they were to have met Crash, who would reveal his membership with the secret cabal and offer aid to the characters.
What instead happened was that the characters announced themselves publicly in the middle of the grand conclave, leading to them being chased down the street in a very cartoon-ish fasion by around 170 vampires. Realistically, they should have died there and then, but I tend to dislike characters dying pointlessly stupid deaths like that. If this had been a one-off or a convention game, I'd have been happy to have them torn apart as a result for such face-palming choice of actions. But for a campaign which has just hit its third act, it's just such a hassle to kill them off, introduce new characters with reasons to be involved, and so on.
So, if the GM has a convenient bout of very-specific amnesia concerning the end of the last session, don't abuse it. He's just a bit of a pushover >.>
The first, is that so much of it could (and should) have been covered in downtime. I've nobody to blame for that but myself.
The second was that this session was planned to end with the characters sneaking back to their hotel, upon discovering the Prince's grasp across the city. Upon doing so, they were to have met Crash, who would reveal his membership with the secret cabal and offer aid to the characters.
What instead happened was that the characters announced themselves publicly in the middle of the grand conclave, leading to them being chased down the street in a very cartoon-ish fasion by around 170 vampires. Realistically, they should have died there and then, but I tend to dislike characters dying pointlessly stupid deaths like that. If this had been a one-off or a convention game, I'd have been happy to have them torn apart as a result for such face-palming choice of actions. But for a campaign which has just hit its third act, it's just such a hassle to kill them off, introduce new characters with reasons to be involved, and so on.
So, if the GM has a convenient bout of very-specific amnesia concerning the end of the last session, don't abuse it. He's just a bit of a pushover >.>
Session 7 - Loose Ends
Lots of things have happened lately.
David, trying to find the identity of his Sire's hunter, has uncovered a secret cabal of five vampires who are dedicated to preserving Santa Monica from the false Prince's influence. Consisting of Tyranda, Crash, Forsythe, Dagwood and newcomer Caprica, the five work to recruit our companions. Caprica offers to arrange a meeting for David with 'The Ancient One', who can give him information on the hunter creatures.
Flora has been forging a closer friendship with Tyranda. The druid's teaching of meditative and ritual means, the same that Flora's vampiric mother used, have allowed her to better harness her visions. As a result, Flora has been welcomed into the Circle of the Crone, although she is still unwitting to their darker edge. Even so, Flora has been able to enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done, as she overseen the grand opening of the hotel. Decked in true prohibition-era decor, and attracting an eager and impressed crowd, the opening was a great success.
James, after being unable to locate a traitor within the Lancea Sanctum to bring to the fire upon the Bishop's demands, has been excommunicated. James was glad to be free of them; especially considering that there was no traitor in the first place, outside of the Bishop's paranoid fears. He has been free to pursue a lead to his Sire's potential locations; Caprica (a member of the Ordo Dracul) asked for a movie to be recovered, a rare piece of cinematic footage said to contain image of a vampire that the Order wishes to study. After seeking information from Saemus (a vampire who creates faked snuff movies for mortal crowds), James has found that the movie will be showing as part of UCLA's rare movie screenings next month.
The good times ground to a halt, however, when the group heard that a grand conclave had been called, which all kindred in Santa Monica were expected to attend. Sneaking along carefully and sticking to the back rows, they witnessed a shocking sight; the return of the false Prince Carlos Santiago, wounded and scarred but very much alive. There, he was placed as head of the Sanctum in the city, and greeted his loyal cabal of followers; almost a full 3/4ths of the city!
David, trying to find the identity of his Sire's hunter, has uncovered a secret cabal of five vampires who are dedicated to preserving Santa Monica from the false Prince's influence. Consisting of Tyranda, Crash, Forsythe, Dagwood and newcomer Caprica, the five work to recruit our companions. Caprica offers to arrange a meeting for David with 'The Ancient One', who can give him information on the hunter creatures.
Flora has been forging a closer friendship with Tyranda. The druid's teaching of meditative and ritual means, the same that Flora's vampiric mother used, have allowed her to better harness her visions. As a result, Flora has been welcomed into the Circle of the Crone, although she is still unwitting to their darker edge. Even so, Flora has been able to enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done, as she overseen the grand opening of the hotel. Decked in true prohibition-era decor, and attracting an eager and impressed crowd, the opening was a great success.
James, after being unable to locate a traitor within the Lancea Sanctum to bring to the fire upon the Bishop's demands, has been excommunicated. James was glad to be free of them; especially considering that there was no traitor in the first place, outside of the Bishop's paranoid fears. He has been free to pursue a lead to his Sire's potential locations; Caprica (a member of the Ordo Dracul) asked for a movie to be recovered, a rare piece of cinematic footage said to contain image of a vampire that the Order wishes to study. After seeking information from Saemus (a vampire who creates faked snuff movies for mortal crowds), James has found that the movie will be showing as part of UCLA's rare movie screenings next month.
The good times ground to a halt, however, when the group heard that a grand conclave had been called, which all kindred in Santa Monica were expected to attend. Sneaking along carefully and sticking to the back rows, they witnessed a shocking sight; the return of the false Prince Carlos Santiago, wounded and scarred but very much alive. There, he was placed as head of the Sanctum in the city, and greeted his loyal cabal of followers; almost a full 3/4ths of the city!
Monday, 26 July 2010
Session 6 Retrospective
Sorry for the delay in updates.
The game's been a little disorganised in terms of schedule for a couple weeks, due to me having moved flats. We now game in a lovely loft apartment, which means I can play up the decor with some candles and drapes. I'm kidding, we don't do anything quite so silly. I don't have any internet connection at the flat right now though, so these updates come when they come for now.
The last session was a big one. Lots of things happened, only about half of which was even slightly scripted. The part that was scripted included hunting the spider-creature and the big reveal that the prince and sherrif were frauds.
The spider-creature was, of course, a massive red herring. I gave them a rather chunky backstory about an ancient pre-human empire, cult worshippers, the monsters' awareness 'slumbering' within the human genetic code, and all that. None of it was intended to be a big part of the game, but it was intended to -sound- like it would. That way, the big reveal is all the bigger. Corny, I know, I learned it from Joss Whedon, who would do the same thing every season on Buffy. No, really, check it out, he does.
My favorate part in running a game is when players do something totally unexpected, yet utterly devious and perfect. So when Dan asked me to one side and said "I'm going to discretely diablerise the Sheriff", it was just one of those moments I'd never anticipated and was completely shocked with. It was dramatically perfect. Devious, cunning and brutal; just what Vampire should be.
One thing I need to watch myself for, is that quite often when an NPC is doing a 'catch-up' with the information the characters have, we roleplay it out. This is useful is the players want to hide something, but if they're telling the NPCs everything, may as well skip the roleplay and get on with things.
I'm anticipating that the campaign will be wrapping up in four more sessions, although that largely depends on what the characters do. At this point in the game, there's no specific 'next mission' set up for them. Each character has their own personal arc they've got to explore; and depending on how sadistic I'm feeling, the main plotline may push forward either when they've had time to expand on those, or even earlier.
What I really do love, though, is that by the end of the campaign, the characters will all be in specific positions; they really seem to be sliding into those places quite perfectly. Although naturally I can't go into too much info due to spoilers and all, it's just rather creepily magnificent how they're all seeming to take their predestined roles and positions and coming to them naturally.
Sadly though, I have some bad news. In the move from my old flat to the new one, I accidently left a whole bunch of old notes behind. I've drafted the important ones back up again, but the names of several characters (I've never had a good memory for names) have had to be reinvented from the ground up. At some point I'll go over the old entries and update them all with the newly-invented names, but for now we'll just settle for a brief re-introduction. That should clear things up. Or confuse them more. Either's good.
The game's been a little disorganised in terms of schedule for a couple weeks, due to me having moved flats. We now game in a lovely loft apartment, which means I can play up the decor with some candles and drapes. I'm kidding, we don't do anything quite so silly. I don't have any internet connection at the flat right now though, so these updates come when they come for now.
The last session was a big one. Lots of things happened, only about half of which was even slightly scripted. The part that was scripted included hunting the spider-creature and the big reveal that the prince and sherrif were frauds.
The spider-creature was, of course, a massive red herring. I gave them a rather chunky backstory about an ancient pre-human empire, cult worshippers, the monsters' awareness 'slumbering' within the human genetic code, and all that. None of it was intended to be a big part of the game, but it was intended to -sound- like it would. That way, the big reveal is all the bigger. Corny, I know, I learned it from Joss Whedon, who would do the same thing every season on Buffy. No, really, check it out, he does.
My favorate part in running a game is when players do something totally unexpected, yet utterly devious and perfect. So when Dan asked me to one side and said "I'm going to discretely diablerise the Sheriff", it was just one of those moments I'd never anticipated and was completely shocked with. It was dramatically perfect. Devious, cunning and brutal; just what Vampire should be.
One thing I need to watch myself for, is that quite often when an NPC is doing a 'catch-up' with the information the characters have, we roleplay it out. This is useful is the players want to hide something, but if they're telling the NPCs everything, may as well skip the roleplay and get on with things.
I'm anticipating that the campaign will be wrapping up in four more sessions, although that largely depends on what the characters do. At this point in the game, there's no specific 'next mission' set up for them. Each character has their own personal arc they've got to explore; and depending on how sadistic I'm feeling, the main plotline may push forward either when they've had time to expand on those, or even earlier.
What I really do love, though, is that by the end of the campaign, the characters will all be in specific positions; they really seem to be sliding into those places quite perfectly. Although naturally I can't go into too much info due to spoilers and all, it's just rather creepily magnificent how they're all seeming to take their predestined roles and positions and coming to them naturally.
Sadly though, I have some bad news. In the move from my old flat to the new one, I accidently left a whole bunch of old notes behind. I've drafted the important ones back up again, but the names of several characters (I've never had a good memory for names) have had to be reinvented from the ground up. At some point I'll go over the old entries and update them all with the newly-invented names, but for now we'll just settle for a brief re-introduction. That should clear things up. Or confuse them more. Either's good.
Session 5 - Discord
Much has happened to our crew since we last seen them, being placed under arrest by the prince. Suspected of masquerade violation, they were placed under lock and key aboard the prince's personal yacht; all except David, who chose to wholeheartedly resist arrest, and was instead treated to imprisonment at the bottom of the waters of the bay, far beneath the sun's rays, with the aid of a chunk of granite.
Four days later, they were gathered together and brought before the prince, who explained that each were under suspicion due to a series of dead bodies that had been found drained of blood around the bay area. Each victim had a loose connection to the party, often very loose, but enough to shift suspicion onto them. Still, the prince handed them each a drink of his own blood, conferred that they were free from suspicion, and offered a toast.
For David, James and Jude, that was their third drink of the prince's blood, and this curiously bound them to him. For James and Jude, the prince suddenly seemed genuinely appealing; charismatic beyond belief, a natural leader. David, despite having drank, was immune to such an effect; his loyalty was already bound to another, the vampire who had brought him across. Flora, though, was not comfortable enough to drink, rendering half of the crew unbound.
Would the half that were bound and loyal to the prince tear the group apart, or would they free themselves from the prince's charming chains before then? Certainly seemed the latter would be the case for a while. The group were 'volounteered' to assist Kyle with his investigation into which vampire was leaving the dead bodies laying around; under the clear intonation that this was -not- a request.
Finding their way into the local morgue (which was unattended for a few minutes; fire alarms are wonderous things), Flora confronted the body of one of the killer's victims, a former customer of hers at her fortune teller store. Here she attempted to divine the last night of the victim's life with her second sight. It was a troubled reading; she was unable to 'see' through the victim's eyes without making physical contact with the body's eyes. But Flora, always the most human of the vampires, resisted desecrating the body and instead managed to extract an aural reading; finding eventually over the hush of chatter the killer's home base; Luxor hotel.
The luxor was a prestigious hotel in downtown Santa Monica. Under Kyle's escort, James and David hit a quick investigation and found (with Jude's patented brand of mind trickery) the killer's suite at the penthouse. Carefully, they entered, only to be surrounded by darkness. Darkness, and drained, dessicated bodies. And the thin, sticky webs that coated the surfaces of the room. The killer struck, gigantic and vicious, eight-legged and venemous. Bullets were useless against its chitinous hide; leaving a desperate Kyle to hurtle the creature through the panoramic window, with himself plummeting afterwards.
Kyle and the creature managed to crash quite spectacularly onto his jeep parked outside, in which Flora was keeping readied to make a fast getaway. Thinking fast, she collected the sheriff's gun and drove the creature away, as James and David hurried down in the elevator. James gave chase after the creature on foot, into the screaming crowds.
Meanwhile, David ate the sheriff's soul. Oh yes, he did. Kyle, wounded and shattered, would surely have taken days to heal. Ushering him into the back of the jeep, out of prying eyes, David did the unthinkable, the one true dark forbidden act for any vampire; diablerie. His might grows considerably, the older vampire's blood and soul nourishing his... but wait, for as David consumed Kyle's soul, he is absorbed by the victim's memories; including his mortal life. In the 1970s. Why, this supposedly ancient vampire from the pioneer days was no more than forty years old. What new mystery was this? And how would his friends react if they discover David's new penchant for cannibalism?
But no time for that; Jude manages to aquire a new car (a suspiciously pretty soft-top 1960s lightning blue Thunderbird) and the crew give chase after James. They pick him up, and they follow on; Flora puts in a phonecall to Druid Samael of the Circle of the Crone, who tells her the dark secrets of this creature they chase; that he is an ancient evil from before the dawn of man, far beyond the might of even these young vampires. He pleads with them to follow it to its secondary lair, promising to send backup as soon as possible. That lair, they discover as they follow the trail, sits in the bowels of an abandoned lunatic asylum outside of town.
Little did they know that they were not the only ones in pursuit of this monster.
Once there, David and James foolishly rushed right into the bowels of the asylum. Or maybe it was genuine, true heroism. For inside, they discovered the creature's nest. Thousands of eggs, each growing and readying to hatch and devour Santa Monica within their webs. Meanwhile, Flora (the gang's resident getaway driver) realises that they are not alone, as she catches sight of another entering the asylum, and chooses that moment to give David a call to warn him. Inside, David's crazy frog ringtone chimes, and the giant spider creature attempts to bite David in two.
At that point, Lucius Kyle shows up and starts to deliver a truly vicious beatdown on the spider thing. But wait, didn't the sherrif die a short while ago? And as they watch, James and David realise that this creature is -not- the Kyle they knew; he is bigger, mightier, far more ancient, far more vicious, capable of tearing a powerful spider creature apart with his own brutal claws.
They stagger from the asylum, having set it alight to consign the eggs to the flames, their minds reeling. The pieces fall into place; the man they knew earlier could not be the real deal. This man before them now, striding off into the darkness, answers in a gruff tone that he is "Lucius Kyle, Sheriff of Los Angeles." Protector not only of Santa Monica, but of the entire LA area. And for our young heroes, their worlds crack and shatter.
The dead Kyle, a fraud, pretender to the position. But why? And if he were an imposter, could the same apply to Prince Carlos Santiago? The same Prince who never goes to public meetings, who seems to hypnotise and charm people with casual sincerity, with an ease unseen since the times of Raphael Pope? Kyle was loyal to the prince, could it be... that the prince the party have known and feared all this time is but an imposter, a cult leader using the title to bind others to him?
Yes, of course that's what was going on. But one couldn't expect James or Jude to accept such, could you? The crew ask Druid Samael to tell them about the Prince; and sure enough, the Prince that the old druid tells them about sounds nothing like this imposter. "Take me to him" asks Samael. And they do.
The night was about to end in a most unexpected way, a way that would change each of the young vampire's unlives for a long time. They escort Samael to the Prince, and the pair talk, in private. Finishing the discussion and leaving Samael in his study aboard his yacht, the prince seems saddened to hear of Kyle's passing; the gang are careful not to mention the presence of the -real- Kyle. By this point, even James has grown suspicious; but the Prince lulls him back to his side with the offer of a special position in what will be a new form of governing that will unify all of Santa Monica under his grasp.
Flora quickly takes a moment to excuse herself, to talk to Samael. After only five minutes alone with that man, the old druid's story has changed utterly. "Yes," explains Samael, "That man is Carlos Santiago, Prince of Santa Monica. I love the Prince." A rushed, incomplete job, yes, but it was plain to see that Samael had been hit with mind control of a considerable power; power not seen since Raphael Pope. But Pope had no children; did he?
Eitherway, Daniel has grown tired of the pretense; he aches to throw off the shackles that bind the party and now threaten to grow to bind all of Santa Monica. The false prince offers a toast; "To family. For we are all one great family." Angered at the betrayal and loss of Samael's will, Flora hurtles the wine glass at the Prince, shattering across his face. She dives overboard to freedom, and the moment that she is clear, Daniel also hurls something; a discretely carried molotov.
The fire erupts, and James is hit with frenzy. Exploding in panic, he flees into the study, as the prince starts to hurtle around the deck, igniting the yackt. The ship starts to buckle, and soon it is sinking. The party are divided as the ship sinks. Desperately, James tries to find his way to the prince, the last vestiges of loyalty binding the two together. But the false prince is badly burned, and needs blood; any blood. And as he tries to claim the blood of the man who has swam out to help him to the surface, James sees the prince for what he really is; a brutal, vicious, horrific monster. The bond that ties the two shatters, and James stabs the false Prince in the eye before the two are swept apart by the sea's waves.
You'd think that the night would end there. But no, for we left our companions on a real cliffhanger. Jude, you see, remains loyal to the false prince, needing to be subdued and tied to a chair in the hotel basement. Flora sought sanctuary by turning to Tyranda, and eventually learned that the rest of the group were (aside from Jude) no longer bound by the prince's control. James, feeling overcome with the prince's violation, unleashed his rage on some mortal gang members.
But for David, the following night took a vicious turn when he heard a scream from the hotel basement. There, he found Jude wounded, and an unknown creature examining the area. The creature seemed like a thin, dessicated human, naked and sealed with its eyes and lips sewn shut, tasting the air as it sought what could only be the location of David's sire. Upon sensing him, the creature fled into the night; leaving the worrying realisation that the creature was a vampire just like David himself; but what manner of vampire is that? Seeking answers to that, Flora opened her second sight to get a sense for the creature; only to find herself assailed by a series of visions containing more memories than she could ever imagine.
Where one finds answers, one often uncovers only more questions as well.
Four days later, they were gathered together and brought before the prince, who explained that each were under suspicion due to a series of dead bodies that had been found drained of blood around the bay area. Each victim had a loose connection to the party, often very loose, but enough to shift suspicion onto them. Still, the prince handed them each a drink of his own blood, conferred that they were free from suspicion, and offered a toast.
For David, James and Jude, that was their third drink of the prince's blood, and this curiously bound them to him. For James and Jude, the prince suddenly seemed genuinely appealing; charismatic beyond belief, a natural leader. David, despite having drank, was immune to such an effect; his loyalty was already bound to another, the vampire who had brought him across. Flora, though, was not comfortable enough to drink, rendering half of the crew unbound.
Would the half that were bound and loyal to the prince tear the group apart, or would they free themselves from the prince's charming chains before then? Certainly seemed the latter would be the case for a while. The group were 'volounteered' to assist Kyle with his investigation into which vampire was leaving the dead bodies laying around; under the clear intonation that this was -not- a request.
Finding their way into the local morgue (which was unattended for a few minutes; fire alarms are wonderous things), Flora confronted the body of one of the killer's victims, a former customer of hers at her fortune teller store. Here she attempted to divine the last night of the victim's life with her second sight. It was a troubled reading; she was unable to 'see' through the victim's eyes without making physical contact with the body's eyes. But Flora, always the most human of the vampires, resisted desecrating the body and instead managed to extract an aural reading; finding eventually over the hush of chatter the killer's home base; Luxor hotel.
The luxor was a prestigious hotel in downtown Santa Monica. Under Kyle's escort, James and David hit a quick investigation and found (with Jude's patented brand of mind trickery) the killer's suite at the penthouse. Carefully, they entered, only to be surrounded by darkness. Darkness, and drained, dessicated bodies. And the thin, sticky webs that coated the surfaces of the room. The killer struck, gigantic and vicious, eight-legged and venemous. Bullets were useless against its chitinous hide; leaving a desperate Kyle to hurtle the creature through the panoramic window, with himself plummeting afterwards.
Kyle and the creature managed to crash quite spectacularly onto his jeep parked outside, in which Flora was keeping readied to make a fast getaway. Thinking fast, she collected the sheriff's gun and drove the creature away, as James and David hurried down in the elevator. James gave chase after the creature on foot, into the screaming crowds.
Meanwhile, David ate the sheriff's soul. Oh yes, he did. Kyle, wounded and shattered, would surely have taken days to heal. Ushering him into the back of the jeep, out of prying eyes, David did the unthinkable, the one true dark forbidden act for any vampire; diablerie. His might grows considerably, the older vampire's blood and soul nourishing his... but wait, for as David consumed Kyle's soul, he is absorbed by the victim's memories; including his mortal life. In the 1970s. Why, this supposedly ancient vampire from the pioneer days was no more than forty years old. What new mystery was this? And how would his friends react if they discover David's new penchant for cannibalism?
But no time for that; Jude manages to aquire a new car (a suspiciously pretty soft-top 1960s lightning blue Thunderbird) and the crew give chase after James. They pick him up, and they follow on; Flora puts in a phonecall to Druid Samael of the Circle of the Crone, who tells her the dark secrets of this creature they chase; that he is an ancient evil from before the dawn of man, far beyond the might of even these young vampires. He pleads with them to follow it to its secondary lair, promising to send backup as soon as possible. That lair, they discover as they follow the trail, sits in the bowels of an abandoned lunatic asylum outside of town.
Little did they know that they were not the only ones in pursuit of this monster.
Once there, David and James foolishly rushed right into the bowels of the asylum. Or maybe it was genuine, true heroism. For inside, they discovered the creature's nest. Thousands of eggs, each growing and readying to hatch and devour Santa Monica within their webs. Meanwhile, Flora (the gang's resident getaway driver) realises that they are not alone, as she catches sight of another entering the asylum, and chooses that moment to give David a call to warn him. Inside, David's crazy frog ringtone chimes, and the giant spider creature attempts to bite David in two.
At that point, Lucius Kyle shows up and starts to deliver a truly vicious beatdown on the spider thing. But wait, didn't the sherrif die a short while ago? And as they watch, James and David realise that this creature is -not- the Kyle they knew; he is bigger, mightier, far more ancient, far more vicious, capable of tearing a powerful spider creature apart with his own brutal claws.
They stagger from the asylum, having set it alight to consign the eggs to the flames, their minds reeling. The pieces fall into place; the man they knew earlier could not be the real deal. This man before them now, striding off into the darkness, answers in a gruff tone that he is "Lucius Kyle, Sheriff of Los Angeles." Protector not only of Santa Monica, but of the entire LA area. And for our young heroes, their worlds crack and shatter.
The dead Kyle, a fraud, pretender to the position. But why? And if he were an imposter, could the same apply to Prince Carlos Santiago? The same Prince who never goes to public meetings, who seems to hypnotise and charm people with casual sincerity, with an ease unseen since the times of Raphael Pope? Kyle was loyal to the prince, could it be... that the prince the party have known and feared all this time is but an imposter, a cult leader using the title to bind others to him?
Yes, of course that's what was going on. But one couldn't expect James or Jude to accept such, could you? The crew ask Druid Samael to tell them about the Prince; and sure enough, the Prince that the old druid tells them about sounds nothing like this imposter. "Take me to him" asks Samael. And they do.
The night was about to end in a most unexpected way, a way that would change each of the young vampire's unlives for a long time. They escort Samael to the Prince, and the pair talk, in private. Finishing the discussion and leaving Samael in his study aboard his yacht, the prince seems saddened to hear of Kyle's passing; the gang are careful not to mention the presence of the -real- Kyle. By this point, even James has grown suspicious; but the Prince lulls him back to his side with the offer of a special position in what will be a new form of governing that will unify all of Santa Monica under his grasp.
Flora quickly takes a moment to excuse herself, to talk to Samael. After only five minutes alone with that man, the old druid's story has changed utterly. "Yes," explains Samael, "That man is Carlos Santiago, Prince of Santa Monica. I love the Prince." A rushed, incomplete job, yes, but it was plain to see that Samael had been hit with mind control of a considerable power; power not seen since Raphael Pope. But Pope had no children; did he?
Eitherway, Daniel has grown tired of the pretense; he aches to throw off the shackles that bind the party and now threaten to grow to bind all of Santa Monica. The false prince offers a toast; "To family. For we are all one great family." Angered at the betrayal and loss of Samael's will, Flora hurtles the wine glass at the Prince, shattering across his face. She dives overboard to freedom, and the moment that she is clear, Daniel also hurls something; a discretely carried molotov.
The fire erupts, and James is hit with frenzy. Exploding in panic, he flees into the study, as the prince starts to hurtle around the deck, igniting the yackt. The ship starts to buckle, and soon it is sinking. The party are divided as the ship sinks. Desperately, James tries to find his way to the prince, the last vestiges of loyalty binding the two together. But the false prince is badly burned, and needs blood; any blood. And as he tries to claim the blood of the man who has swam out to help him to the surface, James sees the prince for what he really is; a brutal, vicious, horrific monster. The bond that ties the two shatters, and James stabs the false Prince in the eye before the two are swept apart by the sea's waves.
You'd think that the night would end there. But no, for we left our companions on a real cliffhanger. Jude, you see, remains loyal to the false prince, needing to be subdued and tied to a chair in the hotel basement. Flora sought sanctuary by turning to Tyranda, and eventually learned that the rest of the group were (aside from Jude) no longer bound by the prince's control. James, feeling overcome with the prince's violation, unleashed his rage on some mortal gang members.
But for David, the following night took a vicious turn when he heard a scream from the hotel basement. There, he found Jude wounded, and an unknown creature examining the area. The creature seemed like a thin, dessicated human, naked and sealed with its eyes and lips sewn shut, tasting the air as it sought what could only be the location of David's sire. Upon sensing him, the creature fled into the night; leaving the worrying realisation that the creature was a vampire just like David himself; but what manner of vampire is that? Seeking answers to that, Flora opened her second sight to get a sense for the creature; only to find herself assailed by a series of visions containing more memories than she could ever imagine.
Where one finds answers, one often uncovers only more questions as well.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Session 5 Retrospective
White Wolf don't write very good adventures.
I know that sounds rather condemning, but frankly it's true. Their writers tend not to consider a lot of things when they put together their modules, such as the fact that players tend to think outside the box and tackle things in the most direct, easiest and least life-threatening way.
For instance, this week's session was run as-is from the White Wolf adventure module 'The Ressurectionists'. I added scenes at the start and the end to bookend them, and by the end of the session, everyone in the group was confident that those bits worked best. Maybe that's because I've got the best vampire group ever.
The adventure as it comes starts in a graveyard, and hops to a flashback. And it really is a hunt-and-seek type of an adventure, going from region of the map to next region, figuring out some pretty simple clues as to where to go next. The clues aren't especially hard; "2am at the rabbi's grave" tends to be rendered insultingly obvious when you realise that the rabbi's grave has a clock-face on it, for instance.
The adventure also comes with some encounters we never even got to. For instance, a group of homeless had set up home in the cemetery, and our group never got to meet them, simply due to the fact that they were placed outside the map region we'd been near. Why they couldn't have been placed at the same region is a total mystery; in fact, why the map had quite so many regions when the point of exploring them was rendered so pointless by the simplicity of the puzzles is another real problem.
Which brings us to the ghouls; sent by a rival faction, they were complete pushovers in terms of statistics, and had utterly no method to help them against Jude's use of Domination. I mean, each of these minions had a walkie-talkie with them; all that my players needed to do was dominate one of these ghouls into telling the entire team that our party had cleared out, and that was the entire obstacle rendered mute. Which is exactly what happened.
Anyway, the good points.
Dan made a few very good points today, that nWoD vampires are pretty squishy. They don't take damage without flinching anywhere near as well as they did in oWoD. That's true, and it applies to all characters in nWoD, regardless of their supernatural leanings. So when it came down to blasting away at Rafael Pope before he could draw blood from the sacrificial Andre, I had no problem asking for no dice rolls. Who's going to win anyway, a dried corpse or a vampire wielding a hunting rifle? nWoD is much more narrative-structured; if it helps the story and the plot is cool and dramatic, it's best to go with it. So when Dan's Gangrel wants to pop Resiliance and march through a hail of gunfire, I'm going to be opting for the cool factor, rather than micro-managing the combat dicepools.
The adventure worked pretty smoothly in terms of offsetting the power balance in the game. The best reaction in the entire game was when I revealed that the victim in the box was in fact Andre, and the look on Jane's face when I did that was genuine shock. This game simply wouldn't have worked without that impact; it established that the Sanctum are monsters (of course, so are the Circle; but the characters don't know that yet) and ushers in the oncoming storm. Big things are now ready to happen in Santa Monica, and this adventure filled the atmospheric gap between them; especially at the end, where both Druid Samael and Bishop Blackwell came across as deeply suspicious, fiercely powerful and relentlessly merciless.
This chapter in the campaign is all about our four heroes growing to become rulers of Santa Monica. They will accomplish that, I've no doubt of that. But they will need the power of one or more of the covenants to do that. I'm just really keen to see which one - especially after they finish next session's twist ending.
I know that sounds rather condemning, but frankly it's true. Their writers tend not to consider a lot of things when they put together their modules, such as the fact that players tend to think outside the box and tackle things in the most direct, easiest and least life-threatening way.
For instance, this week's session was run as-is from the White Wolf adventure module 'The Ressurectionists'. I added scenes at the start and the end to bookend them, and by the end of the session, everyone in the group was confident that those bits worked best. Maybe that's because I've got the best vampire group ever.
The adventure as it comes starts in a graveyard, and hops to a flashback. And it really is a hunt-and-seek type of an adventure, going from region of the map to next region, figuring out some pretty simple clues as to where to go next. The clues aren't especially hard; "2am at the rabbi's grave" tends to be rendered insultingly obvious when you realise that the rabbi's grave has a clock-face on it, for instance.
The adventure also comes with some encounters we never even got to. For instance, a group of homeless had set up home in the cemetery, and our group never got to meet them, simply due to the fact that they were placed outside the map region we'd been near. Why they couldn't have been placed at the same region is a total mystery; in fact, why the map had quite so many regions when the point of exploring them was rendered so pointless by the simplicity of the puzzles is another real problem.
Which brings us to the ghouls; sent by a rival faction, they were complete pushovers in terms of statistics, and had utterly no method to help them against Jude's use of Domination. I mean, each of these minions had a walkie-talkie with them; all that my players needed to do was dominate one of these ghouls into telling the entire team that our party had cleared out, and that was the entire obstacle rendered mute. Which is exactly what happened.
Anyway, the good points.
Dan made a few very good points today, that nWoD vampires are pretty squishy. They don't take damage without flinching anywhere near as well as they did in oWoD. That's true, and it applies to all characters in nWoD, regardless of their supernatural leanings. So when it came down to blasting away at Rafael Pope before he could draw blood from the sacrificial Andre, I had no problem asking for no dice rolls. Who's going to win anyway, a dried corpse or a vampire wielding a hunting rifle? nWoD is much more narrative-structured; if it helps the story and the plot is cool and dramatic, it's best to go with it. So when Dan's Gangrel wants to pop Resiliance and march through a hail of gunfire, I'm going to be opting for the cool factor, rather than micro-managing the combat dicepools.
The adventure worked pretty smoothly in terms of offsetting the power balance in the game. The best reaction in the entire game was when I revealed that the victim in the box was in fact Andre, and the look on Jane's face when I did that was genuine shock. This game simply wouldn't have worked without that impact; it established that the Sanctum are monsters (of course, so are the Circle; but the characters don't know that yet) and ushers in the oncoming storm. Big things are now ready to happen in Santa Monica, and this adventure filled the atmospheric gap between them; especially at the end, where both Druid Samael and Bishop Blackwell came across as deeply suspicious, fiercely powerful and relentlessly merciless.
This chapter in the campaign is all about our four heroes growing to become rulers of Santa Monica. They will accomplish that, I've no doubt of that. But they will need the power of one or more of the covenants to do that. I'm just really keen to see which one - especially after they finish next session's twist ending.
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