Session 1 Retrospective

The theme of our first session was family. It wasn't intended to be, but it rather turned out that way. I suppose that's bound to happen. I figured that by starting the characters off as mortals and taking them through the most important event of their un-lives, it'd give the players a strong sense of who they were. As a result, they also met their Sires.

Sires are an important part for any Vampire. Often they're played as shadowey, unimportant figures, distant and uninvolved. But why is that? They're, in many ways, the most important person that the characters ever meet. They 'birth' the characters into their new world. They are the closest thing to parents that the characters have now. I knew from the start that I didn't want characters' Sires to be an active entity in the game, someone they could turn to constantly for advice, so instead I had the idea that the Sire's shadows would extend over the characters from the start. They're family, after all.

The way that was done was through what I've dubbed 'Sire Quests'.

For Steve, his character James' Sire quest has a theme of 'Revenge'. In many ways it's the most straightforward of the concepts, but as a result it's also one of the most emotive from the start. James is rejected by his Sire (a figure who, as I've mentioned before, is rather synonymous with family). One of the themes that you'll find in literature is the idea of 'acceptance' and 'reconciliation', and while those are good, it's not so much in keeping with the theme of vampiric monsters. As a result, I pushed James' Sire to the monstrous extremes, to the point where he is no longer a father, but an attacker.

For Dan's character Dave, the exact opposite is true; his Sire Sergai is kind, gentlemanly, and outwardly very trusting. But a gift like that comes with a price, and Dave may not have realised just what a steep price it's going to be. His Sire's quest's theme is 'Conspiracy', which is perfect for a conspiracy theorist character. It's also the quest that will play out slowest over the course of the campaign, as various pieces of the puzzle (to which we laid the ground pieces in our first session, whether they've taken root as pieces or not) slide into place; rather like the narrative structure of 'The X-Files'.

Jane's character Flora is going to encounter that the theme of her quest isn't something that one can pursue, but rather one in which you need to decide how to deal with, and act upon. Her Sire chose Flora carefully and for a reason, and seemed to believe that the 'gift' of vampiric nature was predestined. Accordingly, Flora's Sire quest theme is 'Destiny', and although I can't give too much details on the things that wait ahead for this (what a surprise!), much of it will focus around the question of whether Flora is ready for the destiny that her Sire believes she seen for her or not.

There's several 'missions' and 'quests' which may play out over several sessions in our campaign, but the Sire quests are ones that will create an underpinning on the characters. They give the players something to do between 'proper' quests, and give a scope of range which, if it all works, should be really neat. I do hope they go down well.