Princes of the City: Anyone Want to Bite?

Shady314 · Post by **Shady314** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 12:11 pm

The biggest drawback of joining the Cam is getting bossed around and this scenario seems like it will minimize that so it seems the benefits of being Cam outweigh the negatives. Ive got no problem being a cape.

I think ingame and out we should make a compact against any internal fuckery. Id rather we fall to barbarians at the gates than internal dissent.
Since we all know Thaumaturgy is the shit and Im sure we all intend to take at least some then that can be the glue that binds us together. We all know Tremere Thaumaturgy which we probably want to keep secret from Clan Tremere and any Tremere members are complicit maybe even being the ones that taught us. That's a good reason to stick together. An aracane coterie if you will.

Is pooling Backgrounds a thing in Revised and do we want to do that?

The Council thus far: Focusing on Disciplines, Backgrounds and Merits. Skills are useful but getting skilled mortals isnt as hard as getting the magical powers and such.

Koumei as Suzanne: Daimonion 2 Sense the Sin is a hell of an information gathering power. Fear the Void is a great way to take out people non-violently. Dominate is low for now but her leadership rolls are great. Eventually can mind wipe people. Obtenebration is another way to terrify somehow and enhance her stealth. Possibly could learn abyss mysticism?

Has the most mortal power by far. She can supply the money, has a number of properties, contacts, aides and a small army.

Prak as Kel: A small military force of blood thirsty animal spies. Thaumaturgy but no path yet. Can disguise himself, sprout aggravated claws, see in the dark. Can also do disgusting things to flesh and bone while possibly maxing his own appearance trait. I guess he's the bogeyman.

Whipstitch as Max: Focus Mind is a great Path that makes Max better at everything and immune to rotschrek and frenzy. Even better he can use Presence twice in one round. He can feed on the same addicts as Suzanne. Seems like our best PR guy. We can be certain he won't fly off the handle in public and everybody will hang on his every word even if it's a protest.

Possibly Nebuchadnezzar as Zantosa: A Toreador with tribal affiliations. Toreador means in clan celerity auspex and presence. Tribal Liason?

Possibly radm4 also as a Gangrel.

Me probably as a Tremere.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:39 pm

I'm picking Tremere as I'm going to be a technomancer instead. Being able to mindsurf the internet and remote hack anything sounds cool. Life's a bit chaotic at the moment, but I'll try to sit down and build a sheet soon.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 5:49 pm

Kel's Thaum paths are Biothaum and the Green Path (once I figure out the points involved for that...) So basically one of his retainers will be an immense ghouled bear with extra muscles and shit, and one of his personal favourite combat maneuvers will be using Vic. to sheer limbs off.

Shady314 · Post by **Shady314** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:04 pm

radthemad4 wrote:I'm picking Tremere as I'm going to be a technomancer instead. Being able to mindsurf the internet and remote hack anything sounds cool. Life's a bit chaotic at the moment, but I'll try to sit down and build a sheet soon.

That's great. The conspiracy needs someone that can handle the technological side of things. We can have you own a tech company headquartered in Juneau. They could supply things like wi-fi and high speed internet to the city as well as experimental new tablets. Purely out of the goodness of our hearts.

We'll have to get you some drones too.

Edited once to add thoughts on the rules:
The six traditions seem good.
Masquerade: You cannot tell non-supernatural creatures what you are. Ever.

Domain: The city is our domain as well as a distance around the city to be determined. The rules of the city cannot be superseded by any sub domains within it. Koumei can do whatever he wants in his nightclubs unless it breaks one of our higher laws.

Progeny: Sire only with permission of one's elders. Yes. We all have to live with these assholes.

Accounting: Until childer are released, their actions are the responsibility of their sire. Yes. Responsible parenting.

Hospitality: Honor the domains of others, and present oneself to the ruler of any domain you visit.
Be respectful. We should devise penalties for rude behavior and guidelines for suitable behavior. Visiting kindred must introduce themselves and swear an oath to abide by the rules of the city. Probably want to put a time frame on that. Before feeding definitely. To just wander into another's home is the height of rudeness. Also this is where we make them aware of any laws.

Destruction: The right to kill Kindred is reserved for the Elder of a community. Only an elder may call a Blood Hunt.
Yes.
I'd like to take it a step further. No killing ANYTHING without approval of the council. Humans, ghouls, faeries whatever. This approval/forgiveness may be granted retroactively but you must submit yourself for judgement. Failure to inform us of the slaying of a creature is punishable. Severity depending on judgement of the council.
My thinking is any dead bodies are breaches waiting to happen or a group possibly pissed off. If a visiting kindred kills a werewolf or something that's easily forgiveable but we should know a werewolf was even around. Likewise with humans. Accidents happen but we need to know about it and if a kindred is making a habit of it.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:10 pm

Vampire morality rules, man, just.... Vampire morality. *sigh*

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 1:48 am

Speaking of which, you're allowed to use Paths/Roads instead of Humanity if you want. Just nothing homebrewed, please, the existing sins are enough of a mess. I don't expect it to come up much, but it is part of the game.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 1:56 am

Yeah, I picked Path of Lilith. I just... wow. The shit they say about humanity/paths/morality. I'm pretty sure the only really "alien" part of, say, Path of Bones' ethos is the last part about "hastening death." And even then, I'm sure there are assisted suicide advocate medical examiners who would essentially perfectly fit the ethics of such an "alien" path as Bones.

Oh, and Kel is provisionally complete. I'm over a point of flaws, but I only spent 7 points worth. If I had that extra point, it would probably just go into Generation or Status.

Shady314 · Post by **Shady314** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:45 am

Having now read through most of the paths many seem completely unplayable for PCs. Path of Lilith (got from the wiki so maybe it's not accurate) has shunning pain or anguish as a level 1 sin. Level 2 is FAILING to dispense pain and anguish. There is not a second of the day (well night) I could not be making someone miserable. Wouldn't any time you heal yourself be shunning pain?

Path of Blood Level 1 is act against another Assamite. Wow do Assamites just never fight?

Path of Bones Level 3 is inconvenience yourself for anothers benefit. So you never gain favors on the Bone Path. It sure does seem to bone you. Level 1 actively prevent a death?! Like your own or an allies?

Path of Night Level 3 is Aid Another. How do these guys get anything done?

Path of Metamorphosis seems playable just never say anything that sounds compassionate.

Path of Paradox below Level 6 (and who cares about above 5?) seems playable.

Path of Typhon seems fine if everyone is down with resurrecting Set. Probably doesnt come up much anyways.

Did White Wolf see DnD alignment and think "we can make this way fucking stupider?" And yes game designers need to stop claiming shit is "inhuman and incomprehensible" when it isn't that outrageous at all.

Road of the Hive seems to do the best at promoting teamwork. That shit should be the default for Kindred wow.

I'll probably follow the Path of Vulcan the Scorched Heart.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 6:14 pm

I don't have much familiarity with Vampire, but I do have this idea for a slacker vamp who watched 30 Days of Night and thought that was an awesome idea.

Who also has a blender and prefers to mix his blood with a bag of Cheetos.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:40 pm

Make sure to take the merit "Eat Food." I wanted to, but other stuff was more important (though I'd be totally cool with being able to spend my extra Flaw point on an entirely useless fluff merit). Because I kind of wanted my 300 year old vampire millennial to be eating pizza rolls and shit at his computer.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:43 pm

I glanced at the Paths and decided they were stupid (and also most of them were very specifically "Humanity replacement for this clan"). No word on how humane I'll end up being, but then again, most corporate evil seems to get a pass. I can't steal shit, but I can totally buy it on my own unfair terms I've engineered (and then rent it out at crippling prices).

The masquerade is always the biggest rule - even if we weren't going Cam, we'd still want to uphold it because of the problems involved in not doing so. Mostly, and as others have already said, we should take care of it by:
1. Having a good spy network so we know about potential breeches before they become actual breeches
2. Going for an approach where we try not to kill anyone and enforce it on guests, because "a lot of people are dying all of a sudden" draws attention
3. If someone does breech it, we burn their house down. While they're still in it.
4. As necessary, controlling the media, but honestly it shouldn't reach that point.
5. If it starts to become obvious that there is "some kind of supernatural thing", we very obviously do our best to either discredit it (with hoaxes, paying someone to dress the part of a vampire and keep victims in his basement so he gets caught and it's "all a fake" etc.) or to shift the blame so people accept the existence of werewolves (and try to kill them all), but not vampires.

3-5 are "after the fact" and damage control. Just being firm with 1-2 should see us a good way through. If our first vampiric guest decides to push his luck, we'll set fire to him and make sure all future guests understand this. "You see this statue of a cock? That's Bob. He thought he could expose himself in public, so we mixed his ashes into concrete and made it into a giant wang. There is room for more, and we could make them smaller and flaccid."

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:08 am

Toreador Neonate: Though I am aware of rumors to the contrary, I can assure you that I have not ever violated the Masquerade.

Camarla Elder: "You announced that you're a vampire on national television. You've bitten dozens of groupies on stage. You transformed into a bat during the Superbowl half-time show. How does any of that not violate the Masquarade?"

Toreador Neonate: *Points to poster of Robert Patterson* "I wear glitter."

Shady314 · Post by **Shady314** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:42 am

There's Handling the media and there's Controlling the media. If we have control of it we don't have to spin things as they will never be stories in the first place.

If there's an explosion but the media never reports on it that's even better than the gas leak.

"You announced that you're a vampire on national television.
Drugs are a hell of a thing.

You've bitten dozens of groupies on stage.
What rocker hasn't?

You transformed into a bat during the Superbowl half-time show.
Meet my friend the stage magician. He'll walk you through how I did it.

Ultimately it was a big publicity stunt for my new movie where I play a vampire!

Nebuchadnezzar · Post by **Nebuchadnezzar** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:05 pm

RE: pooling backgrounds
I took a hint from Koumei, and saved a Holding towards Elysium. For potential locations, since my dude will play somewhat to stereotype and be artsy, I suggest the Juneau Arts and Humanities Center, if for no other reason than its being a decommissioned National Guard Armory.

Nebuchadnezzar · Post by **Nebuchadnezzar** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:31 pm

Name: Constantin Szantovich (Stan for short, known among mortals as Stanley Willis)
Clan: Toreador (born Zantosa revenant)
Generation: 8th
Concept: Callous Archivist
Nature: Bon Vivant
Demeanor: Chameleon
Statistics:

Attributes:
Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Charisma 4 (instills trust), Manipulation 3 , Appearance 3
Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 3

Talents:
Empathy 3, Expression 3, Intimidation 3, Steetwise 1, Subterfuge 3

Skills: +2
Bodycrafts 3, Performance 3

Knowledges:
Academics 1, Investigation 1, Law 2, Linguistics 3 (native:Russian, French, English, Mongolian, Tlingit), Occult 1, Politics 3

Backgrounds: +10
Generation 5, Retainer 7, Allies 3

Disciplines: +21
Clan: Auspex, Presence, Vicissitude
Presence 5 (can add 2 dice to the below whenever he uses his voice)
-Awe (7 dice, difficulty 7)
-Dread Gaze (7, TN Wits+Courage)
-Entrancement (6, TN permanent Willpower)
-Summon (7, TN 4-8)
-Majesty (Willpower point, Subject makes Courage roll w/difficulty 7)
Vicissitude 1
-Malleable Visage (Self: 6, TN 6, Other: 6, TN 8)

Virtues:
Conscience 2, Self-Control 3 , Courage 5

Humanity: 5
Willpower: 10 (+5)
Blood Pool: 15

Merits/Flaws: -3
Holdings (+1)
Soothing Voice(+3) Your voice is calm and soothing, almost entrancing. You may add two dice to all rolls that directly include use of your voice: Singing, preaching, leadership, etc.
Prey Exclusion (-1) Stan refuses to feed on musicians, and doesn't look kindly on anyone else trying it either.
Twitch (-1) Stan cracks his knuckles once every couple of minutes, which is often the best way to pick him out in a crowd.
Infertile Vitae (-5) All those you try to Embrace die. No matter what you do, you may not create any childer. However, your blood can still be used in the Vaulderie or for any other vampiric need, including making ghouls.
This is primarily a concern in that Stan would very much like his retainer Alan to be Embraced, yet doesn't want that Sire to have any influence.

Backstory:

Born 1830 in Bessarabia, Stan was subjected to the usual torturous childhood found in Tzimisce revenant families. After quietly rejecting the Sabbat, he was embraced at the start of the Crimean War by Vidal Jarbeaux after candidly revealing his political leanings and what secrets he knew, including the basics of Vicissitude. The two went east to St. Petersburg, where Stan became a fixture in the city's burgeoning musical community, while Vidal traveled more extensively. Stan and Vidal finally parted ways in the 1890s, shortly before Vidal adopted the persona of Rasputin.

Following the Russian Revolution Stan held minor political appointments under various identities for the next 45 years. Increasingly chafing under the tenets of Socialist realism, he took solace in the Soviet glorification of traditional musics. After meeting Alan Lomax in 1964, Stan accepted a new position in the Tuvan People's Republic, where he became fascinated with Tuvan throat singing.

The fall of Communism left Stan disaffected, and he began traveling northeast in a desire to physically test himself. Once he ran out of land he decided to give the U.S. a shot, crossed the Bering Strait, and over the next couple of years made his way to Juneau. Upon establishing himself there he made contact with Alan and started a regular correspondence. Visiting Alan in Florida once in 2000, Stan decided to reveal his nature to him, take him as a ghoul, and shortly thereafter fake Alan's death so that they may continue his work in secret.

Description:

Stan is staid in his manner, content with his relatively modest power base, and is mainly interested in shepherding Juneau's cultural scene from afar while grooming Alan as a suitable adopted childe. He is a frequent attendant of evening events at the high schools, and puts in some time as a booster to that end.

Appearance: When at school/church: 5'10", pale bronze complexion, apparent age 45, dresses well without being ostentatious, otherwise subject to frequent change.
Stan has used Vicissitude to discreetly modify his larynx and sinuses so as to improve his facility with overtone singing. Being able to use two fundamentals simultaneously allows his Khoomei to approach the flexibility of full four-part harmony without having to consider inversion.

Stan's main residence is on Douglas Island, across the Juneau-Douglas Bridge from mainland Juneau, and is close to the Perseverance Theatre. He also has access to a small hunting lodge in the south of Admirality Island, roughly 60 miles from Juneau.

People and Places:

Sire: (Note: Stan and his sire haven't had contact for 125 years)Vidal Jarbeaux (:1768)Progeny of Margaret d'Hautmont. Sire of Christianne Foy. Madame Guil's renard. Chief archon; master of disguise and the first Kindred to disguise himself as Rasputin, beginning a legend that spun far out of his control. Rasputin may have never existed, and his identity is used by Justicars and archons for their dirty work.

Retainer: Alan Lomax met Stan in August, 1964, when he traveled to the U.S.S.R. to receive recordings of traditional music curated by then-ghoul Anna Rudneva. The two began a correspondence when Stan came to Alaska in the 90's, and in 2002 the two faked Alan's death, whereupon Stan made him a ghoul and used Vicissitude to give him the appearance of an Alaskan Native man in his 40s. Given a false identity via calling in some favors, Alan was made a shareholder in Sealaska and spends much of his time traveling under the auspices of the Sealaska Heritage Institute recording local music. Alan and Stan have collaborated on a number of articles published pseudonymously in most major ethnomusicological journals. Alan has hit a wall, however, regarding access to songs considered tribal property by the individual ḵwáans in the region, and is conflicted over whether having Stan force the issue crosses a line.

Retainers: Clay and Steven Hightower, brothers, ex-military, serve as Blood-bound driver/bodyguards.

Retainers: Over the last 20 years Stan has abducted 4 people from the Alaskan Panhandle and driven them sufficiently fanatic that they abandoned their identities, now believing themselves to be living extensions of Stan himself. Fleshsculpted into Stan's image, they enact his will during the day, with pains taken to only have one in public at a time. Usual duties for the group include part-time work at the Alternative High School, making appearances at local extracurricular events, and negotiating red tape, the last the province of the proxy with a law degree.

Holding: Stan established a comfortable bolthole underneath the Juneau-Douglas High School Auditorium (where the semi-professional Juneau Symphony often performs), which lies ~100 meters from the Alternative High School.

Ally: Heidi Vogelsburg, Principal of Juneau-Douglas High School. Blood-Bound. She provided Stan a part-time instructor job at the next-door Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi Alternative High School, and has given sufficient introductions that his presence at either location is not untoward.

Ally: Charles Yazzie, Priest-in-Charge, St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church. Blood-Bound. Stan has kept Charles in his position as acting head by convincing any Rectors newly assigned to Juneau to reject the office. In exchange, Stan runs the occasional Thursday night Akathist to St. Herman of Alaska, and the "discussion group" following.

Ally: Anthony Mallott, son of lieutenant governor Byron Mallott and current CEO of Sealaska, the regional Native corporation for Southeast Alaska. Has been subject to repeated Presence, but has not yet been ghouled.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:12 pm

Things to remember when filling out your character sheets: please specify what generation you are, and who your sire is. (This may or may not come into play.)

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:43 am

Alright, I updated with the above taken into account. I also edited his flaws and fluff sections to account for a Vengeful Childe instead of a generic Enemies trait and added a missing sire to his backstory/important people section. I also threw in a job as a rehab counselor at the local hospital to account for his modest income.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:18 am

FYI, as potentially interesting background, there are a whole bunch of tech companies owned by Alaskan tribes. There was some thing in the past few decades where various tribal bodies were getting huge investment portfolios (see: Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act), and some of them sunk that into owning companies. So you get things like Chugach and ANT.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:42 am

Updated as well.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:29 am

I updated my sheet to state generation, I'll have to come up with a name or something for his Sire.

AH, if you're cool with me using the extra point from flaws for a bullshit fluff merit (Eat Food) rather than just losing it, that'd be cool, and if not, eh, it's a bullshit fluff merit, so I'm not fussed about it.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 6:42 am

The alternate abilities seem to have quite a bit of redundancy.

There's a Computer Hacking knowledge in Guide to the Camarilla even though the player's guide presents hacking as an Intelligence/Wits + Regular Computer. Vampire Storytellers Companion has Research as a skill, though Investigation says it also includes 'an ability to do research and follow leads'.

I will be taking Intuition (Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 17), Scrounging [ Guide To The Camarilla -- Page 68 ] (would Investigation include this?), Instruction [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 16 ] and Enigmas [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 29 ] though.

Since Codebreaking is listed as a computer specialty, should I bother putting points into Cryptography [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 29 ]?

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:24 am

I vote we skip alternate skills/abilities/talents. Magical powers at least expand the suite of character concepts available by offering up up crazy shit that people wouldn't normally assume is already covered by core skills. By contrast new talents, abilities and skills typically just ends up as a stealth nerf. For example, I really can't think of a way to treat Scrounging as a full-fledged skill without seriously infringing on Survival and Investigation.

radthemad4 · Post by **radthemad4** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:40 am

Actually, yeah, core only would be less expensive pointwise. I'll vote for it too.

Shady314 · Post by **Shady314** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:20 am

Most of the secondary skills are crazy stupid. Masquerade?! Style?!
But I was planning on taking meditation.
They arent all bad. We should just take the ones that seem ok.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 3:15 pm

Prak wrote:AH, if you're cool with me using the extra point from flaws for a bullshit fluff merit (Eat Food) rather than just losing it, that'd be cool, and if not, eh, it's a bullshit fluff merit, so I'm not fussed about it.

Sure, what the hell. Eat Food is now a 1-point merit. That applies to all PCs and NPCs.