NorWesCon Event

Hey folks...we are going to be doing one after all.

What I need from people at this point in time is volunteers to help run the game and help bring "refreshments" for the party.

So far the volunteer list to help ST the game is Myself, Clay, and Darrin.

I would like at least 2 more volunteers for full time ST's for this.

I would also like 3 to 4 volunteers for people to be assistant's who play key roles, know some of the plot lines, and are there for players to help them out.


A quick outline of the plot.

Los Angeles, CA. The night Seattle fell. A small party is being held for those not at Seattle's big shindig. Some of low standing are here, some anarchs, hell even some of high standing to spite Seattle...but when the word comes down as to what is happening in Seattle...everyone is scrambling to jockey for information and position.


OOC:
There are two goals of this game.

1. Have fun. We will be reducing tests drastically and playing it more as a murder clue mystery game. There will be combat, but it will be based off of pre generated numbers for each character and a few tests, nothing in depth and complicated. We want to have alot of RP, not alot of chop throwing. Vampiric powers will pretty much be "one use" special items that you have that allow you to do certain things. For example...telepathy: please see a story teller. That ST will steal one clue for you from any person you specify. One use only. Or Entrancement: One use only. Any one player must abide by one fair request of the ST's discretion. OR Majesty: Please see an ST when this card is used. Cancel's any combat that this player is involved in. Stuff like that to speed up things and not bog tests down.


2. Recruitment. We want to get the people who enjoyed this to come and play in our game. Testing system and everything can be explained to those who are curious about it, but in this event we do not want to bog down the "fun" with tests. We need to get the players involved with the pre generated characters, get them into the plot lines of all this fun, and then move forward with the night. Hopefully they will love this and come and join us.



Those who wish to be involved in any storyline plotting or STing for this game need to post here ASAP or PM right away.

Our first meeting is going to be this Saturday or Sunday once I find a location. Please post here with any suggestions you have. Thanks much.

Sounds great. I would like to help, but i dont know the battle/rolling system very well yet. Also, i wont be able to go to the meeting this weekend because i am involved in another scene, and i have to work on sunday. So if there is any way i can help just let me know, and i will try my best.

we could totally use anything you want to put forward man. Probably place you in a key NPC position that is very heavy on story reliance and attendance.

Ok i should be able to do that. Are we going to be doing stuff both days or just one? Ans what time?

At this point in time I have three volunteers willing to aid in the story telling aspect of this event.

I need 2 more solid people willing and capable of aided in the story telling section of this event.

The current set is Darrin, Josh, Clay, and myself.

I also need 5 more volunteers to aid in key NPC roles for the event to be a success. These are the NPC roles that will have many plots cordinated through these players actions. They are not all in a position of power, but they are all NPC's that the game will need a player to be there for and have a high amount of trust in.

The ST group needs to be able to meet 3 times in the next week to get our story cordination down and set up our core plots.

All of those who have thus volunteered for the ST positions please contact me ASAP through PM on these boards or by phone so we can set up a place and time to meet.

This is very important, if we cannot meet the above requirements then I will not host a half assembled game.

is this being held in the area that sean has rented out???

I believe so, I was told we have a space.

Yes, it's on Saturday when we have nothing going on in the afternoon.

I figgured as we have the space allready set up for a cub, why the hell not.

I'm thinking that story wise it might be easier to do a "One night at the Rack" (makes a hard man humble, not much between blood and ecstasy. LOL) light on plot and heavy on RP kind of story.

This is just my suggestion though.

~Sean

That is the plan actually, it's a night in LA based upon the night Seattle feel. The party was there to spite the masquerade ball, and about 30 minutes to an hour into it the news will hit, information will be passed out quickly to all players like clue cards saying what they know, and each PC will have a small card of objectives they need to pursue.


FOR EXAMPLE

Each player will be able to participate at any level of their choosing. From childer level (new players to the game, just your clans goals) to Elder (1 or 2 players, unique goal, first come first serve basis). Neonate and Ancilla are also available. Basically a scale of 1 through 4 of how familiar you are with the game.

All players will have 4 to 8 rumors based upon their clan, age and character concept. These will not all be the same rumors for each clan, however each clan will have one rumor that the "clan" knows.

Each player will have 2 to 6 boon tokens. These will represent positions within camarilla society, character age (neonate/elder), and special things for individual characters. You should not end the night with less boon tokens then you started with. I am also considering putting on the back of each boon token who the characters name is and their clan.




All tremere will have the goal "Obey those in station above you"
The tremere "in charge" will have a goal "Scape goat one tremere by the end of the night with a suicide mission to Seattle"
A few tremere will have "Protect the secrets of all information regarding secrets of the clan. Either pay people to shut up, or pay for people to disappear."

along those lines...

Brujah might have

All Brujah "No one calls brujah cowards. Intimidate or convince those who suggest any brujah who left Seattle are cowards to rethink their position."

Brujah Primogen/elder "Gather information regarding any brujah who fled. Be prepared to punish any who are found out publically."

Brujah Primogen/elder "Do not let any neonates make rash decisions. In time the brujah will cordinate to move back into Seattle, do not let any of your ilk make a foolish rush up there now. Convince them to let the dust settle."

Few Brujah players "Them ventrue/malkavians had this planned all along. Find out what they know...just remember...the 7th Tradition applies: Don't Get Caught."

One Brujah neonate "You've been waiting for this moment. An important city falls and your within striking distance. Get together a coterie willing to go to Seattle. You want the glory...perhaps there are some rumors others would like to...investigate for their own personnel goals...leverage is the key to teamwork, and your fists alone won't do it. Gather at least 4 others."


Toreador clan "The ruling class always is to blame, and your the one to point the finger. Make sure everyone knows the failings of those in charge."

A few Toreador "Spin spin spin. Leverage people for making certain information public, and hiding other information, ofr a price of course. Collect at least (4 to 7) boon tokens by the end of the night."

Toreador Ancilla "There are many rumors surronding Seattle...and right now information is the strongest weapon you have to weaken your opponet's position. Find a point of contention with one of the other elders of a clan and exploit them for it. Either get them to call your bluff while your rumor is knowingly true...or extort them with a false rumor that you have heard or made up. Do not let this opprotunity slip by."

Toreador Elder "Seattle has many pieces of art that may disappear in such a disaster! And you really care about such things! Well...outwardly at least. You had a meeting with a known diablerist in an art gallery in downtown Seattle. He was to provide you with the final piece of your humanity left to you...your violin from when you were a child...a mortal child. Convince at least 6 others to escort you to Seattle, one of them must be able to obfuscate you, and help you achieve this goal."

Um...

Shouldn't the plot details be left up to the ST?

I would think that what you should be focusing on is getting the people together who you'll need to run this. People for logistics, site people, ST's for check in and who'se on duty when.

THat kind of stuff.

Leave the story to the ST's as they're the ones who are best left to guage what needs to be done.

~Sean

Sean...the ST's are not the ones running this. They never were from the start.

This is not a normal game of DRC. This is a one shot...this is a highlight of the community of players, not the IC game itself.

For all intensive purposes, this game has no bearing on our game as it stands.

From day one of the concept of running an event AT norwescon this is what it has been. From talking to Jason about it, to now.

If it has been discussed to be changed...that's awesome. Please fill me in. Untill then the ST's are more then welcome to be players in this game. We are taking volunteers to help facilitate the one shot as ST's and play key NPC roles that require alot of player trust and capability to ensure the success of the basic storyline.

This game is a chance to recruit players into our community, the best way to do that is to highlight the three things I think we do best.

1. Player community. We we're founded by a group of friends wanting to have a fun game.
2. Consequences are for hero's, victory is for villians. This is the world of darkness, you will not escape forever what it is you create.
3. Dots =/= victory, role play and politics do.

The things I think our game does badly in terms of killing fun and enjoyment.

1. Our dice system. While straight out of the books conversions into LARP are awesome, they bog down everything...mostly combats. We need to avoid that bog down stuff without avoiding combat.

SOLUTION FOR THE ONE SHOT: Players will be issued "Combat Ratings" that take into account many different factors. They can spend blood to raise this, which will be punched out of their character sheet. You cannot regain blood unless another vampire gives it to you...and that's where the fun begins.

2. Rules interpretations. We have a very diverse group of players who view rules VERY differently from one another. Incorporeal passage time anyone?

SOLUTION FOR THE ONE SHOT: The basic system we use will be suspended. We are breaking it down into a red herring who'd dun it deal. Rules for dice roles and all that are going to be broken down into very few tests. There will be some testing...but there will not be a pleothera of it.

3. Combat heavy. We have been, it's great fun for alot of us, not so much for others. This story will have some combat potential for those who really wish to pursue it, but the cost will be accordingly high.

SOLUTION FOR THE ONE SHOT: The choice to engage in combat should not be willy nilly, there will be several abilities that fuck with people who wanna go straight combat and not role play...for example Animalism 3. The reward for succeeding in combat will be useful, but no where near the social backlash that will occur if you are discovered.


Instead of having successes based pools for our tests to determine what happens, how many you go up or go down will aid your character.

For example...aura perception.

Neonate toreador can use this ability twice in this night. That's it (for game balance.fun purposes). He can use it to help discern some of the emotions surronding a person when they speak of rumors. (When a player reads off one of their rumors, any player with this ability may call for an ST. They make their "tests" to see how effective the power is.)

For the neonate:
2 wins: The target's statement is either true as they know it, or false as they know it.
1 Win: The target's source for what they are saying is either trusted, suspect, or rumor.
Tie: The target is concerned/not concerned about this rumor. (Does it tie in with one of their objectives)
1 Loss: The target has apathy or empathy regarding what they are saying. (Is this their primary objective)
2 Losses: Your unable to discern anything from this.

For the Elder: (1 use only)
2 wins: The target's statement is either true as they know it, or false as they know it.
1 win: The target's statement is either true as they know it, or false as they know it.
Tie: The target's source for what they are saying is either trusted, suspect, or rumor.
1 Loss: The target is concerned/not concerned about this rumor. (Does it tie in with one of their objectives)
2 Losses: The target has apathy or empathy regarding what they are saying. (Is this their primary objective)



Those are just rough examples, and by no means a final draft of it. I plan on having the following basic powers included for PC's to use.

Aura perception
Telepathy
Quell The Beast
Throw the beast (animalism 5)
Dread gaze
Entrancement
Summon
Majesty
Blood Thaum and select rituals. (Pavis...etc)
Dominate 1, 2, and 3
Obfuscate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5


The combat capabilities will just give you special benefits in combat...for example...mist form will allow you, if you spend blood, to dissapate into nothingness and avoid all attacks...effectively ending combat. Beast form will increase your CR at the cost of blood, but risk the masquerade. Quietus 3 will allow you to do 0 to 3 points of damage to someone without comparing CR's.

Blood will depend upon your clan...gangrel will probably have around 8 to 10 blood, while brujah may only have 6. Ventrue will have between 4 and 5, while Nosferatu may have between 5 and 6. Toreador will probably have 6 to 8...etc etc.

Willpower will not exsist. Complicates matters way too much.

The whole point of this is simplicity by providing every rule on a 3 x 5 card handed to the player of each character. 3 paragraphs about their character, and a name, their goal sets, their blood pool that can be stamped out on the punch card style sheet, and 3 to 6 boon tokens that they write their NPC name on. Status beads...and there ya go.

Building the objectives is the hardest part of it all...hence why I need to hear from all ST volunteers ASAP so we can meet and cordinate and write down all this good stuff