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Post by Triple 7 on Jan 1, 2021 12:00:04 GMT -8
I've been bouncing around a lot of ideas in my head and I had a question for the masses.
If you were given the chance to tell the story; what would your ideal game look like for Vampire? Additionally; would it be a Camarilla centric focus with heavy politics and stability with all the positions filled by PC and NPC alike? Would it be a contested city like we have now where paranoia and fear are the themes we lean on? Do you think you would want to tell the story where the Sabbat are barely a threat and the Camarilla are well-regulated, organized, and efficient?
Let me know! I want to hear your thoughts on the subject.
This is from the point of view that you have carte blanche. It can be anything you want but I want to know what your ideal story looks like from a narrative point of view.
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Post by iviistress on Jan 1, 2021 17:05:05 GMT -8
For me the ideal Vampire game would:
Have all of the Upper Echelons of the sects positions filled by NPCs who are older and rarely give a shit about the peasants/plebeians (the PCs) unless they upset their particular status quo and in general usually don't have time for you unless you piss them the fuck off or they need something done, not because *you* want anything unless you better have a boon to call in or some shit outside of presentation to the prince/looking to earn right of progeny/presentations of childer, etc.
The City would be 'Contested' but there would be clear lines in the sand, like in that, the west half of the city from 'x' street on is the Cam's, the east side from 'y' on is the Sabbats, and all the rest is anarch/indy/free for all zone and everyone knows where the lines are and that if you cross out of yours you're on your own, with PCs being encouraged to be made of all the sects to kick up conflict with each other.
The political things would be lower level political shit between each other and trying to get a leg up with the NPCs who barely pay attention unless you happen to manage to go piss off the balance enough that the elders who don't want to be bothered have to step in.
The paranoia and fear coming from other players who are trying to stab each other in the back for the occasional pat on the head from the leadership, and it would encourage tentative alliances with enemies trying to get that insider info or for mutually beneficial arrangements etc while neither *actually* trusts each other.
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Post by harry on Jan 1, 2021 23:18:51 GMT -8
If positions rely on players, sooner or later they will get empty. It's like an eternal music chairs game where one player leaves, the position is empty, some jockeying happens and then its filled again. So its not like you will ever have them fully filled for any serious length of time. I.e. the Camarilla will rarely if ever be truly organized, unless everything is occupied by Behemoth NPCs
As an ST, i would allow the players to get organized to the extent that they are capable, then throw outside threats at them and see if it makes them crumble or grow.
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Post by kemian75 on Jan 2, 2021 21:41:29 GMT -8
Camarilla, Contested, Anarch, Independent, or Sabbat city does not matter in my opinion. What does matter to me as a player and as a storyteller is the sense that I have a chance to have significant impact upon the chronicle. We likely will never have the numbers to fill an entire city of positions regardless of the sect that is in charge of the place so I am fine with NPC's holding significant positions of power and remaining as obstacles and as engines of plot creation.
I would like a chronicle where the players have the ability if they are lucky and well prepared and patient that allows for them to be able to nudge the chronicle.
EG: A frustrated Neonate sick of the current system start playing pranks designed to embarrass key power players to start plotting against one another causing major disruption or chaos that significantly sets a sect back 6 to 9 months in progress leaving holes for new power players to come in and fill the vaccum possibly tipping the scales to a different sect power wise.
Something that makes it feel like we aren't repeatedly running our heads against unmovable brick walls is what I would like.
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Post by becuz on Jan 8, 2021 6:29:03 GMT -8
Tabletop and Online are so very different, but my ideal game for an online setting would be:
* Camarilla held city, contested by the Sabbat or Anarch/Independent (some sort of struggle for power/stability in the city)
* A mixed court with NPCs and PCs spread through the positions with positions open and or changing hands when it fits the story. (Ex: NPC Prince, PC Seneschal, Mixed Primogen, PC Keeper, etc)
* Very minor influence from other splats. (Depending on the setting of course, but a pack or two of wolves threatening if kindred stray to far into their territory, a single mage protecting a place of power, etc.)
The balance is always the hardest part as keeping the story a struggle without it becoming an impossible mountain or an easy climb can be a matter of knowing the players/characters well.
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