Santa Monica Vampires - a Vampire the Requiem Game

Session 8 - Retrospective

2010-08-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Session 8 - Plateux

2010-08-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Session 7 - Retrospective

2010-08-07T06:28:00.001-07:00

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 >.>

Session 7 - Loose Ends

2010-08-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

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!

Session 6 Retrospective

2010-07-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Session 5 - Discord

2010-07-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Session 5 Retrospective

2010-05-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Session 5 - Ressurectionists

2010-05-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

A month has passed since our last adventure. During this time, David has been working hard at translating his sire's journal, and managing not to demolish the hotel during renovation. Flora has uncovered her sire's haven, and found a message left on cassette tape for her - including an ominous warning, "Do not trust..." with the rest tragically lost. James has spent his time becoming more involved with the Sanctum, studying their rituals, learning what he can, and taking part in a brutal strike against the hunter cadre from our previous escapade. As a result, most of the hunters died, but Joshua Waites survived, claimed as a victim enthralled to James' bidding.

What dastardly deeds await our dynamic... umm... group?

Rafael Pope was a powerful vampire almost a hundred years ago, a charismatic cult leader who had abandoned the Sanctum, making him their enemy. Now, the Sanctum has information as to his whereabouts, and have tasked their new disciples to find him. But why should the group trust them? Flora especially has no reason to trust them; the vampire who brought her across was a priestess, a heretic in a cult that now brands Flora a traitor to her blood. Or did she have an ulterior motive in joining this escapade?

Soon, the party arrived at Arkwright Cemetery, carrying with them a note containing clues to Pope's resting grounds, and a large metal box which they had been told by the Bishop not to open until they had found Pope.

Almost immediately inside the cemetery walls, they realised they were being followed. Catching their tracker, they discovered that he was a ghoul hired by the Circle of the Crone, tasked with following them and taking Pope after he had been resurrected. With a well-placed use of Jude's ability to command the minds of mortals, the party sent the entire cadre of ghouls on their way home for dinner.

And so the search began, tracking across the ruins of the cemetery, until with very little effort they found Pope's tomb. Entering, and with very little difficulty, they located his dessicated remains, and opened the box. Within the box, they found the sacrifice that would be required to lull Pope back to the realm of the living; what was left of Andre, Flora's main contact with her mother's Circle and the offspring of the high druid.

At which point, Pope snapped awake, his dessicated corpse scrambling across the floor, ready to feast on his offering... Only to be met with a hail of bullets, ka-blam. Well, that was easy, off home for tea and biscuits.

Or not quite, because if there's one thing our party excel at, it's cleaning up after a mess. Bubbling with anger at having been used by the Sanctum (again), they were shocked to learn that Andre, scarred and mutilated though he was, was still barely alive. With proper care, he would live; although the quality of life would be questionable. Determined to make the best of the situation, they called the Circle, hoping that they would not be held responsible for Andre's condition.

Thankfully, and by a very narrow margin, the hand-off went according to plan. Andre's body was returned to the Circle, and Flora and David were thanked for removing a dangerous pawn like Rafael Pope from the chessboard. James didn't escape unscathed either; Bishop Blackwell was not at all happy to learn of the failure to recover Pope, and although James lied through his teeth very convincingly and played the savagery of the Circle's hired hitmen at the graveyard, he was firmly informed that failure wouldn't be tolerated. Therefore he was given an order; to find the rat who was leaking Sanctum information, and terminate them.

Can James fulfill that order without letting slip that he himself infiltrated the church only to feed information back to the Prince? Will Flora be able to find safety in the damaged Circle, under fire as it is? Can David continue to play the part of an unaffiliated observer, and not be caught between two warring factions? Can Jude ever find a break?

Those answers will have to wait, because when our party retire to their haven that night, they are met with none other than Sheriff Kyle - who firmly informs them that all four are under arrest for breach of the masquerade!

Session 4 Retrospective

2010-05-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight's theme was about predators, in case you weren't sure.

I was a bit unsure on this game going in, as I didn't have a whole lot of time to prep it, and didn't have an ending planned out. I knew I wanted to give a real sense of threat to the antagonists, someone who could really be dangerous to the party for a change, if they were careless.

The hunters here, you'd assume, shouldn't be quite as tough as they come across. I mean, there were only three of them, and one of them very nearly managed to climb into a moving car to take down one of the vampires. But then again, they're vampire hunters; there's something noble about them, something heroic. I think that's kinda what's tragic about the Waite brothers; they're not bad people. Yes, they sell tainted heroin to gang-members in the hopes that they'll be able to kill our favorate vampiric pack, so they're perhaps heroes who have gone a step too far. But they could be heroes. And most of them have lost important people to them because of vampires and other things in the dark.

A good chunk of this session was done in investigation. The gang were able to put the contacts they've made to good use, work their skills, and find out who was leaking the poison into the streets. The problem came with how they confronted them; sending one person alone, with very little information about the brother's histories. There were a lot of possibilities here; they could have dug further into the brothers and found enough hard facts to convince the Sheriff to head in, or they could have approached the meeting from a position of greater strength in the hopes to deter any violence from the vengeance-obsessed brotherhood. But I think in the long run, it was a good thing that they came up against someone they couldn't easily brow-beat into submission, even if it meant they had to flee and lick their wounds.

The theme of this session was predators. It starts with the baptism, with Longinus' teachings that vampires are 'wolves among the sheep' of humanity. They encounter humans who have turned into predators against those 'wolves'. And Dan got to run into a man who hunts his fellow man. At the end of the game, the Sheriff is preparing to turn predator on the hunters. It kinda forms a mobius strip of predator/prey relationships.

I liked this session a lot, because we touched on some very deep themes, and because we all had a great laugh with it. Stephen's character lost another point of humanity, which may mean that he's going to be struggling with his position as something no longer entirely human quite soon. Jane got a lot to do, and got a hint of her abilities growing to another level, along with the hint that it may not be quite as under control as she thought. Dan got his character's ass kicked a bit, which was a shame but such things happen, and also got a chance to relocate his Sire's body which will become important as the game progresses.

And myself, I'm starting to feel more 'evil' as a GM; letting the players walk into a meeting with three brutal vampire-killers without warning them that they were unprepared? Who knows where I'll stop now, mwa-hahaha!

Session 4 - Predators

2010-05-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

Our night's story opened at the hotel, when a frantic James stumbled into the hallway, wounded and spattered with blood, declaring that Jude was close to death.

No, there hadn't been a sudden gunfight, although nobody knew that the night would end with one. James had just returned from his baptism into the Lancea Sanctum; a ritual which involved both the scouring of the flesh, and the literal bathing in blood. Unfortunately, the ritual was interrupted by several other vampires, helping a wounded Jude into the church, writhing in agony.

Soon, the party were on the case of uncovering the source of Jude's affliction. The Sanctum helped Jude, nursing him back to health over the night, whilst Bishop Blackwell confirmed that Jude's current condition appeared to be the result of a chemical that caused a vampire's undead body to reject its unlife-giving blood. The chemical, Blackwell explained, had recently been employed in Boston during a conflict with local magi groups.

But what was such a thing doing in Santa Monica?

With the help of her ghoul, Flora was able to track down Crash, the local junkie vampire last seen some months ago. Crash confirmed what the group suspected, in exchange for a bottle of absinthe; that the chemical was most likely passed along intentionally through a batch of tainted heroin.

But first, it was necessary to understand the church. The Sanctum prizes the teaching of Longinus, the Roman centurion, and preach of the vampire's place at the top of the food chain. To the Sanctum, humans are but cattle. Their intention in aiding Jude was not simply as a favour for their new officer James, but in furthering recruitment into their ranks. In many ways, the Sanctum are divinely-mandated predators.

At Jude's feeding ground, Flora's use of her auspex skill grew to a new level as she witnessed a vision of the past, seeing Jude claim blood from his victim. The path was simple; find the victim, find the tainted drugs. A quick visit to the local hospital, and it was unveiled that the victim had passed away. But the assistant at the hospital confirmed that the victim was a member of a local gang, and accidentally let slip that other gang members were also being treated in the hospital.

With some quick thinking and the wily use of some unattended hospital uniforms, the three vampires gained entry to the hospital wards and located one of the gang members. The gangster they found, however, was especially tight-lipped, and certainly did not want to give away details on who he purchased his heroin from, and was more concerned with recovering from his stab wounds.

So James tortured him for information.

Now, what we need to remember is that humans are but cattle to vampires like James and his companions, who stand above them as perfect predators. Or at least, that may be the justification, but David and Flora certainly didn't buy into it. No, they managed to hold on to their humanity whilst James didn't quite notice his own start to quietly slip away...

Maybe it was worth it, as the gangster confessed his dealer's name; the Waite Brothers.

Crash was able to inform some details on the brothers, explaining that some of their friends had recently passed away quite suddenly, and that the brothers had never been involved with dealing drugs before.

At this point, however, the investigation stalled for a while, until the decision was made to contact the brothers directly and arrange a meeting. It was decided that David would meet the brothers in private, whilst James prepair to trail them following the meeting, with Flora standing ready for a quick get-away. If only they had read more onto the Brother's histories, or arranged to meet them as a group rather than alone and vulnerable, things may have turned out differently.

It was indeed bad luck. Joshua and Michael Waite, and their friend Gilgood, met David alone in an abandoned warehouse. And through sheer bad luck, David had forgotten one very important thing; vampires don't appear immediately human. They don't breathe, for example. Things were going badly, and the group had no idea just how badly. For you see, dear reader, the two brothers and their friend were a Brotherhood. A cell of dedicated and loyal friends, who had set their aim in life to take back the night from those who stalked in the darkness and prayed on humanity.

Hunters are dangerous, because they are not afraid to fight back. In some cases, they are heroes. But David was alone with them, and they attacked as a pack of predators.

David was lucky to get out alive. Sporting a brutal shotgun wound in his back, he leapt into Flora's waiting car, with Credence in hot pursuit. Fueled by her righteous anger, Credence kept a grip at the window of the car, stabbing at the fleeing vampires with her blowtorch, before she eventually fell, half dead. James, alone in the Brotherhood's jeep, quickly made the best chance to steal their vehicle and flee into the night.

In short, it was a bit of a mess.

But did our group learn anything? They feed on humanity, but perhaps now have learned on some level to fear them.

The next night came, and it was time to feed. James drank from criminals as he is want to do, extracting revenge on two assailants in the bad side of a city park. David, however, had little luck with his hunt; he instead found another type of predator. Following a suspicious gentleman who carried a suitcase with a definite scent of blood, David made hesitant contact with the gentleman, who discretely offered to show the vampire his collection of severed human limbs. David left the man, refusing to feed from him, and instead turned him over to human law enforcement. A predator who, unlike vampires, feeds on his own kind.

Our night closed with a phone call from the Sheriff, asking if the group wished to be part of a tactical group to take down the Hunter Brotherhood. Flora and David explained that they would not, that it was not their place to do so. But really, when the prey turns on their predators, who can say whose place is what?

Crimson Sunset

2010-04-23T02:37:00.000-07:00

Jane has created a rather fantastic leaflet for the opening of our cast's new joint venture, the Crimson Sunset hotel. I'm still weighing up how much exp and resource dots it's going to take to get this going, but this is definitely counting towards the marketing due to the sheer awesome!

And you'll notice it doesn't say anything about vampires feeding on you as you sleep, nope, that's definitely not gonna happen, nu-uh!

I really love this leaflet, and it's just so awesome when your players get so into the game.

Session 3 Retrospective

2010-04-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

Several things stand out for me when prepping and running this session.

It was quite probably the hardest session thus far to prepare for. Several reasons for this;

# There was a large amount of written text to go through to cover a month and a half worth of downtime. In-game, I think this was performed alright without it becoming too much like listening to a story though.
# I made a lot of extra NPCs. Most of them didn't appear in the game, but were made 'just in case'. In future, I'll stick to only making NPC cards for central characters.
# A lot of handouts. Probably more than any other session beforehand. My printer is now precariously low on ink.

The session was written expecting the characters to choose a 'side' in a brewing Sanctum/Circle conflict, and I suppose in the end this was accomplished. The characters were also able to get what they wanted out of it; Flora got the info she needed about her Sire, James got an 'in' into the Sanctum, and David got some hints at further developments concerning his own secrets.

I want to push the tension between these two covenants for a session or two, before having it come to ahead. When it does, it'll be the PCs who, through their action and choices (knowingly or otherwise) redesign the map of power in the Santa Monica vampire community. So let's hope that how they played it this time was to their advantage, eh?

The last point to highlight here is that the crew have pretty much decided to take the 'free haven' offered to them, and turn it into a business. This suggestion went down great during the session, and I don't think I've laughed so hard for a long while. I wasn't expecting it, and I certainly won't make it easy for them to turn a run-down hotel into something that'll work as a viable profitable business; it'll take both roleplaying and investment of experience points in order to even just get the place up to code. But it's just such an awesome idea that I'm definitely not going to rule it out as impossible. Go, Hotel Blood!

Session 3 - Crisis of Faith

2010-04-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

Or at least, that would have been the title, had the crisis not been entirely averted by the party.

In Santa Monica, there exist two cadres of piously religious vampires. The Lancea Sanctum exist as a dark mirror of the catholic church; their faith in God is absolute, as is their faith in their own divinely appointed position as spiritual guides of the kindred community. The Circle of the Crone are a far older, darker and less cohesive network of the most ancient of pagans, bonded together by their blood-fueled worship of the Goddess. And as you can expect, peace between the two is brittle at the best of times.

When we last met our protagonists, they knew nothing of these groups. Now, almost two months on, they are familiar not just with the nature of their being as vampires, but with the community they are now part of. David has spent much of the time researching, and put his considerable skill into the art of discovering answers wherever they may be found. One such answer explained that his own Sire previously held a position of respect in the local community, one that would allow David access to information on the comings and goings of kindred affairs.

Flora, meanwhile, had her trust in her new friends established when the Prince requested that she meet with an old friend of his at the bus station, and deliver to him a certain suitcase. Uncertain at first, she pulled the group together for mutual security, and delivered the suitcase, unknowing that it contained an antique violin, to the visiting vampire. In return, the group were given tickets to the Russian philharmonic orchestra performance, in which the visiting vampire played a beautiful performance.

James filled the time with what may best be called 'handling the local gang problem'. On the trail of a violent gangster, he struck fear into the hearts of the victims (well, except for when he fell into the garbage dumpster), ensuring that the whispers of a dark vigilante now fill the nights of the criminal underworld of Santa Monica. Jude, of course, spent most of the nights partying, kicking back and having a great time. But really, what else is new?

This all came to ahead some nights later, when the Prince requested that the four friends find a way to infiltrate one of the religious covenants for him, and work as his eyes and ears within. He explained, tensions between the two were escalating as the Lancea Sanctum tried to flex its muscle in the region, and the Circle were liable to meet aggression thricefold. Infiltration of either organisation, the Prince explained, would allow him to keep an eye on their conflict and ensure blood doesn't hit the streets.

And before long, the group were invited to attend a local Conclave, a meeting of all regional vampires. The meeting was a cold and formal affair, with young vampires left to gather mutually whilst elders discussed personal business. Dave took the honoured position of his Sire, and opened the gathering with the announcements of local news and affairs around the city. Having done so, he took the time to spend a good while with some acquaintances, including one of his online internet buddies (a geekish young vampire who uses the online name 'Galvatron').

Meanwhile, Flora encountered someone quite startling; a dark-eyed vampire, who she had seen in a dream only a few nights before. Could this vampire, who told her that his name was Andre and that he was an acolyte of the Circle of the Crone, have answers as to the identity of Flora's mysterious Sire? Yes, of course he did. Meanwhile, James was taking the time to discuss matters of faith with Padre Callahan, a priest of the Lancea Sanctum who holds midnight mass at a local cathedral, which James had regularly been attending. Perhaps he could gain admittance into their inner circle?

The word held that to ensure admittance into the Sanctum, a vote would be required. To ensure that vote, an offering (certainly not a bribe!) would be considered. The gift that would most benefit the Sanctum was a Statue of Saint Alessa, an important and revered figure in vampiric lore. The statue was being auctioned in a most peculiar manner, in a strange fashion that the old Padre couldn't grasp; on something called an 'eBay'.

After the gathering had concluded, the plan was set; the party would procure the statue. David took the immediate lead here, but tragedy struck when fate (in the form of a painfully 'oh, so close' dice roll) meant that the statue was won by another. But not to despair, because David called in every skill and hacker contact at his disposal to find the name and identity of the winning bidder; a wealthy mortal businessman by the name of Charles Denroth.

And so, the party came up with a plan. A very elaborate plan. An astonishingly elaborate plan to which there was simply no way that anyone could have either expected, guessed, or planned for. The plan went like this;
- Flora would call Denroth, and warn him that previous owners of similar statues experienced grave misfortune.
- James would slip quietly into Denroth's estate, and use his vampiric abilities to permeate the area with an aura of dread and fear. (and certainly not 'just smell a bit')
- Flora would visit Denroth, and convince him, based on the sense of dread the mortal was experiencing, to give them the statue. Or sell it.

And it was all going so well, too. Denroth was keen to hear what Flora had to say, although as a grounded and realistic man with a history in business, he was skeptical. James had managed to infiltrate the estate undetected, even managing to overcome the party's old adversary- a high fence. The meeting with a nervous and uncertain Denroth was going well, too... Until Flora sensed the presence of another vampire nearby. And sure enough, that vampire had snuck into the estate with the same intention - to recover the statue, but by theft.

Having knocked Denroth out, a fight ensued; one in which David was badly carved up by the thief's blade. James, having made a dramatic arrival on the scene, quickly lost track of the thief due to use of the obfuscate discipline, but David caught sight and brought out of hiding with a hail of bullets. A few bullets more, and the thief was laid into a torporous state. Following a quick clean-up of the estate, the party made their getaway with the statue, and with the thief's catatonic body. It was at that point when the identity of the thief was revealed; Andre, from the conclave.

And now, what to do? Andre was Flora's only link with the Circle, and therefore the only way she could find out about the identity of her Sire. David wanted revenge, having been seriously injured, and hoped to put Andre out of commission permanently, but Flora insisted calmness prevail. Donating her own blood to do so, Andre was awakened from torpor long enough to give answers.

The Circle, it turned out, also wanted the statue. They stated that the statue was of Alessandra, a vampiric goddess of ancient Sumeria and an aspect of the Crone. The statue was a relic of great significance to them, and they would be damned if they were going to let the Sanctum, who they claimed had already bastardised by adapting the legend of Alessandra into one of their own saints, take possession of the statue.

So, what were they to do? This statue could win them favour and membership in one of the sects; but which one? James had already set his heart on the Sanctum, but the Circle was the only way Flora could find out about her Sire. Quite a conundrum, right?

Well, as it turned out, it wasn't much of one. After an application of Jude and his Dominate ability, the party soon had Andre placing a call to one of the druids of the Circle. Druid Samael was firmly informed that the statue was not being given to them, but that they were being given Andre back, live and well, and they should be thankful for that. In a last-ditch attempt to barter for the statue, Druid Samael gave Flora a hint at information; her Sire's name, Lucille Desoto, and confirmed that Desoto was a great and powerful seer, and with the Circle's help Flora's own skill could become even greater. A great temptation? Maybe.

And so, the statue was turned over to the Sanctum, and James was told that they would arrange his baptism. If that sounds ominous, it should. The party now had their 'in' with one of the local covenants, and although they cannot call the Circle 'friends', Flora now has some sense of where her mother came from. As for David? Well... his own Sire's resting place may not be as secure as he thought.

And what favour does the Prince grant for such work? Well... a small hotel had long been abandoned on the seafront, one that would well serve as home and safe haven for the party. He gave this to them as a gift, and...

and...

the party elected to refurnish the hotel, and reopen it as Santa Monica's only vampire-run hotel.

Yes, that's right. We'll see how well that venture goes.

Session 2 Retrospective

2010-03-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

I found this session pretty hard to run, especially given that it'd been plotted out as being pretty straightforward.

It started off with hitting the characters with a whammy of Majesty discipline, meaning that when the Prince was shown to be lying, it'd be a bigger plot point than it really was; I mean, of course he's a manipulative bastard, he's the Prince after all. But making it a plot point as opposed to just something that was bound to happen anyway was something that was pretty important.

In retrospect, there were a few too many 'steps' in this puzzle. It leads from the prince to the club, then to crash, then to the graveyard before finally to the final piece; and after that, there's the moral question to consider. That's a lot to balance, and by the end of it I could tell that time was dragging for the players. Next time if part of the game requires an ethical dilema, I suppose it'll be important to set more time aside for it; perhaps this game would work better in two parts. Something to consider for next week's session, after all.

The Prince really does come across as a despicable character here, and he should. Unfortunately there's not really much that the characters can do about him yet; he's going to keep them in his power for a little while longer, during which time the characters get to build up what they need to take the guy down a few pegs. It's a 'your boss is really your enemy' type of scenario, I suppose.

The problem with that is, I really was worried at points that the characters were going to up sail and bolt out of town. And while dramatic enough to do so, I've absoloutely no plans for that type of reaction, so I'd have had to wing it something fierce if that had happened. At some points I got really worried that the plot was just going to crumble down entirely. But then, when do I ever run a game and not panic about that?

Much of that previous concern stems from a worry that there's very little, at this point, to hold the group together. They are still a group of disparate strangers, and at points they were quite ready to pull apart. It's the old problem of "Why should we work together?" and that's a recurring problem with any group in which the PCs haven't really worked before.

It's a real big problem, and it's one that can't be so easily resolved. It is, however, part and parcel of when you're gaming with good roleplayers. Inexperienced roleplayers will charge into battle with any enemy you wave at them. Experienced roleplayers will tend to crunch tactics to max out their combat potential. But good roleplayers will say "Wait, why should we fight this monster in the first place? Sod that. Why am I even hanging around with a dwarf and an elf anyway?" It comes down to keeping the PCs motivated. Sometimes that comes down to offering them rewards and loot, at other times the threat of horrible suffering, and at times it hinges on party loyalty.

So next session, I need to prep some major rewrites of the planned scenario in order to do everything I as GM can do to make sure the characters have all the motivation they'll need to stick together and go forward as a team. Or so help me, I'll kill 'em.

Session 2 - Blood Hunt

2010-03-28T13:41:00.001-07:00

Our night began immediately following the previous, with our assembled cast standing at the marina to meet the Prince, Carlos Santiago. The man they met was utterly charming, in no small part due to his commanding ability which gave him supernatural charm. He offered the young vampires a drink of his blood, and invited them to stay within the city. He did, however, state that the right to feed within the city would be a favour, one that he would extend only if they would do a small favour to him as proof of loyalty.

The Prince explained that one Raymond Korvus, a young vampire of Santa Monica, had committed diablerie. As a result, Santiago wanted Korvus brought to justice, with a vengence. With some grudging, the gang complied, and set off into Santa Monica.

Their first stop, a seedy goth bar called 'The Velvet', where humans hang out in the hopes of catching the eye of prowling vampires. These people get high from drinking vampiric blood, and it wasn't long before Flora had found one; a young woman called Jasmine. Working her natural skills in gaining other's trust, Flora convinced Jasmine to tell her of a vampire named Crash. Crash, a junkie in his mortal life, now exists by getting high from the blood of intoxicated humans; and in the heat of Mardi Gras, it was like a banquet for Crash. Finding the junkie was easy enough, and Flora bravely paid the requested price in blood to Jasmine in return for directions.

Crash was significantly less forthcoming. Slouched in an alleyway and buzzing on stolen drug-filled blood, the gang struggled to get any word about Korvus from him. But in return to fetching a young blond party-goer for the predator to feed on, Crash told the characters that Korvus had his own gang who kept to themselves down at the cemetery.

Korvus' gang were rather hard to track down. They were indeed in the cemetary allright, but once the characters had got there, they met their most dangerous nemesis of all - a tall fence! A fence that, if the WoD system still had a "1s equal a botch" rule, would have killed the entire party right there and then. This fence meant business.

But yeah, once they got over the fence (through methods including abseiling), they located Korvus' gang and earned their trust. They told them that their friend was in hiding, in an abandoned ghost train in the fairground on the pier. They also told them something very important; that Korvus had been seeing someone lately. A human woman, a ghoul.

In the abandoned fairground, inside the empty and desolate ghost train, the group found Korvus, who admitted that the ghoul he had been seeing was in fact formerly Santiago's ghoul. He was no diablerist, he had simply dishonoured the Prince by taking what was his. It seems the Prince wasn't to be trusted after all - who'd have thought!! Either way, the moment he caught a scent that the group knew the Prince, he jumped to the conclusion that they were Santiago's hit squad, and charged in for the kill. Shame really, as both Dave and James opened fire on the frenzying Gangrel and put Korvus straight into a bullet-ridden torpor.

Searching the catatonic Korvus' secret haven inside the ghost train, the crew uncovered a secret document; a biblical transcript detailing the life of Longinus, the Roman centurion whose spear pierced the side of Christ as he hung on the cross. Had Korvus taken an interest in divinity? What would a lapsed Catholic like James feel about such heresy?

Either way, now wasn't the time for such things. Dave had uncovered the full extent of the Prince's deception here. A moral quandary hit the group; what would they do with Korvus, knowing that he was an innocent man? A hard question, and one they debated strongly for a long while, until eventually they decided that the best thing to do would be to come clean to the Prince and be ready to whether the storm.

Yet, thankfully, there was no storm. Their first point of call was Kyle, the Sheriff, who was unaware of the Prince's story concerning Korvus' supposed diablerie. Satisfied that the catatonic Korvus would lay in state for some years, and feeling that this was apt justice for the theft of the Prince's ghoul, Kyle congratulated the team on a job well done. It was a bitter victory.

Meeting the Prince back on his yacht, the group were once again stunned by how noble, generous, confident and honest Santiago is, and not at all capable of lying or manipulating them, honest guv. In gratitude for their work, he designated to each of them a small area of town (no more than a few streets) from which they may feed, as well as access to the 'common areas' such as the red light district, the nightclubs, and the seafront. Let's just hope there's no strings attached there, eh?

Experience Points - One each for finding Korvus, one for making contact with other vampires in the city, one for performing the Prince's favour, and one for getting Korvus out alive. The last two are -meant- to be mutually exclusive, but as they technically managed to do both, total of 4exp each.

Session 1 Retrospective

2010-03-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Session 1 - Last Sunset

2010-03-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Well, let's introduce our victims.. uhh, the cast. Yeah.

Marsten - The GM.

Dan - David Scott, Gangrel. Wanted to be a soldier, but didn't cut it in the try-outs. Since spent his life digging into the dirt on politics, and becoming involved in conspiracy theories.

Jane - Flora Rizzo, Mekhet. Came to LA with hopes of making it big in Hollywood. Like most, didn't succeed. Now works as a fortune teller, quite aware that it's all a hoax.

Steve - James Adams, Nosferatu. Former Irish Republican paramilitary specialist, emigrated in order to start a new life. Currently employed as a dock worker.

N/A - Jude, Ventrue. College drop-out and self-styled surfing bohemian. Jude is our fourth party member, and I've made him to be controlled by the party in general. His purpose is to help out when they need it, such as "Jude, attack that ghoul", "Jude, research ancient Russian lore", and "Jude, hold that door to stop the werewolf getting through while we run away." Also, "Jude, give me some of your blood, I'm thirsty", no doubt.

As our game began, none of the characters had met one another. The purpose of this session is to bring the group together, and give them a 'rebirth' to their new vampiric world. Each start as mortals going about their day-to-day life.

Santa Monica is preparing for Mardi Gras. The celebratory atmosphere is thick in the air. Students on their holidays are enjoying the beach and the surf. But three people are about to experience their last sunset.

David Scott got off lucky. Pulling a late night researching away at an internet cafe, he eventually decided to walk home when he was accosted by three muggers. Naturally he didn't really stand any chance here, given that the nWoD system is absolutely brutal when it comes to being outnumbered. But thankfully that's what was all scripted to happen. At the last moment, he was rescued by a dapper gent, who dealt with David's attackers in a most brutal and bloody fashion. "You'll die if you don't accept my help," said the gent, "drink."
David woke up in a silk bed in a palatial Russian mansion. His benefactor, Vitaly Sergai Rozenko, spent an evening regaling him with tales of imperial Russia, and gently broke the news to David that he was no longer human. Sergai fed the young one on his own blood, over the course of three days, forming a blood bond between them. He taught David how to harness blood to fuel his abilities, and explained the dangers of his new unlife.
On the third day however, Sergai told David the reason he had saved him. The elder explained that he was old, his blood too strong, and that only rest could subdue and thin his blood. He lead David into the family crypt, and there he interred himself in a coffin beneath the earth. Upon leaving the crypt, David discovered that the mansion was nothing more than an illusion created from the elder's memories, and that his Sire rested beneath a secured basement of an apartment block in Santa Monica. Swearing to check on his Sire's resting place each week, David gave his oath that he would revive Sergai in a hundred and fifty years. In exchange Sergai left him with eternal life, and a mysterious journal written in Russian.
It was not long before David encountered Santa Monica's Kindred sheriff, Lucius Kyle. Panicked by his first encounter with another vampire, David fled in a mad frenzy. Once calmed, he gradually began to talk with Kyle, who explained that all young and uninitiated Kindred are to be brought before the Prince to be introduced.

James' introduction to the night was considerably less pleasant. Injured while at work, he was waiting in the ER when he first encountered his Sire. Posing as a doctor, surgical mask and all, the Sire escorted James into the dark recesses of the hospital, where he subdued the dock worker. James awoke in a basement room, on a stone floor etched with emblems sketched in human blood. There, his Sire informed him of his fate; that he would play a part in an experiment into the nature of vampiric kind.
James had no intention of being a pawn in anyone's experiments, and struggled bravely, setting alight to his Sire's notes, and spitting into the vampire's face. This only infuriated the elder Nosferatu, who killed James without a second's thought, force-feeding him the Kindred vitae that would reanimate him. When James awoke, his Sire proclaimed his offspring to be nothing but a worthless failure. His experiments to produce Kindred offspring who were not tormented by the Beast would have to continue with another test subject.
Rather than kill him, the Nosferatu left James chained in an isolated basement. There James met two others; Lance, another 'failed experiment', weak and starved for blood. And a female Kindred who was overtaken by the Beast, ruled by feral impulses, who lurked in the dark and had consumed the other experimental subjects. Carefully, James was able to pry his way free of the basement, and with Lance's help they escaped into the hospital morgue.
There they met Kyle, sent to investigate suspicions of the elder Nosferatu's actions and enforce kindred law. James watched in awe as the sheriff commanded the feral vampire in the basement to 'sleep', and agreed that if the stranger was truly looking to bring justice on James' Sire, he'd trust him.

Perhaps the most skeptical of all to her new life was Flora. As someone used to fleecing others for their money, she didn't consider her new client on that night to be particularly unusual. A little pale, perhaps, but not unusual. The woman who asked for her fortune to be read was very interested in what Flora had to say, seeming to judge her psychic abilities.
When Flora seen the woman in a bar later, they started to talk, and the stranger confessed that she felt that she had the ability to see others' destinies. Soon they both were walking on the beach, Flora growing more and more apprehensive. The two paused by a bonfire on the sands, and it was there that the stranger told Flora that she had seen that she would give Flora a gift. I think we can guess what that gift was, eh?
When Flora came to, the stranger tried to tell her more, but Flora was too scared to listen. Sadly, the stranger confessed that she had forseen that too, before she walked into the bonfire. Much of the wisdom that the stranger had to pass along, sadly, was lost in Flora's panic; as was Flora's perception of the fact that her own heart was no longer beating.
By the time the ambulance had arrived, Flora's Auspex had flared up quite involuntarily, and the blazing auras of the celebrating humans had convinced the fledgling Kindred that the night was nothing but the result of a bad drink. She went back home, where she slept, until awakened by the blazing sunlight penetrating through the curtains. Stumbling into the windowless bathroom, her arms burned, Flora slept in the bathroom that night.
That evening, newly waking, Flora found no reflection in her mirror. She was interrupted by a knock on the door, encountering a strange man called Kyle. The man explained in slow and patient terms to an unconvinced and skeptical Flora that she was no longer human, explaining why food turned to ashes in her mouth, why the sunlight burned her, why her face did not show in the mirror, and why her heart was no longer beating.

Kyle had a long night that night. Escorting first Flora, then David, then James to a local Cathedral, he left to gather the fourth of their fledgelings. The three talked eagerly amongst themselves, discussing their shared experiences, the strange people they had met, and their new condition. Soon they were joined by a fourth, Jude, who explained that after an extended necking session with a woman in the back of an alley, he had been drained of blood, only to be saved from death by one of the woman's friends who had seen a 'certain something' in him. Together the group boarded Kyle's landrover, and were driven in relative luxury to Santa Monica Marina.

There, at the end of one small pier, between the boats on either side and overlooking the endless dark waves of the sea, the four fledgling Kindred met Carlos Santiago, Prince of Santa Monica.

Experience points - Everyone got 3 EXP for this session, enough to get them a head-start for next session, which will be their first real adventure together.

Santa Monica Vampires - Intro Post

2010-03-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

My name's Marsten Eccleston, and I'm going to be using this blog to document our current game of 'Vampire: The Requiem', titled 'Santa Monica Vampires'.

I'll be posting Actual-Play reports every fortnight or so, detailing each adventure our cadre of fledgeling Kindred get up to. You can read along, and if you enjoy the various shenanigans, you can leave comments. If you want to run a game similar to this one, I can also give advice and suggestions.

The first part of the game, which should play out roughly over 12 weeks or so, will start with our characters as lowly mortals. They are then turned into newly-reborn vampires in the first week's game, whereupon they grow to be players in the local scene. By the end of the first part of the game (which should occur roughly at that 12 week point), the players should have defeated their big bad, and become major players in the Vampire society of the area.

Santa Monica is a real location, a district of Los Angeles, which neither myself nor any of the players have ever visited. Major (and I do mean major) liberties are taken with the location, and is used here to represent a clean 'canvas' onto which we can wreak considerable havoc and so forth. Any similarities between the game and real things are coincidental, and all that guff.

So without further ado, I'll post this and get ready for our first session.