Roleplaying VtM at the TCI board?

Maybe.. Maybe should I define what's a RPG, why and how ?

Oh Eliza, I had no idea the need for context was so important. There isn't any, other than 8people and simison are apprehensive about playing a game without being in control of their own sheets. 8people's dismissive tone and simison's regurgitation of it are indictative of hurt feelings. At least simison knew enough to check himself and say that he was acting in jest long before he took it too personally.

8people, what's a good villain without his ability to hurt feelings? You were game so long as your retort stood. You didn't expect to have it batted back. Encountering the unexpected is the goal of the entire RP experience, isn't it?

Did anyone watch the video Claudia posted? Essentially, I'm the guy who brought the beers. I'm amazed at adults' feelings being so easily hurt.

Claudia wrote:

Maybe.. Maybe should I define what's a RPG, why and how ?

Yes. Please. I have much to learn.

If you honestly think you hurt my feelings you need to really reconsider.

You took a query I had and for some reason decided that meant I was afraid as an excuse to make a completely foolish threat. My 'dismissive tone' is perhaps purely towards your attitude.

As it is my question to Claudia still stands.

I see a clusterfuck forming. I will be watching for the lulz.

8people, you're talking about the corebook as a question ? I already told that's not necessary, the information you need is already in bloodlines about clans, why, how, Camarilla and basic politic links. I'll give a quick explanation about the lite system I'll use for the forum (the charactersheet for instance, what to , what you can't write, what information needs to be given to who), and a little stick about what any basic vampire knows about the city we'll be playing in.
The corebook is about 315 pages, in which half of it is pure system, a third is the character creation and what's left is what Jack tells you in the tutorial and the conversations you get at the Last Round. The character creation will be explained AFTER you've created your BG ; don't think dots, think concepts, as an actor about your character. To think about your BG, we first need the setting, and I'm working on that right now. After seeing the setting, it'll be easier to see which clan would you like to be in, not because the CLAN, but because of the NPCs present in the clan. It's not about nationality, but personality ;-)


The little tutorial we'll use to "tie" you to the setting will also be used to explain what your character has been told about his new world by his Sire and his first days.
So don't try to put things ahead of time

z.o.o. wrote:

Oh Eliza, I had no idea the need for context was so important. There isn't any, other than 8people and simison are apprehensive about playing a game without being in control of their own sheets. 8people's dismissive tone and simison's regurgitation of it are indictative of hurt feelings. At least simison knew enough to check himself and say that he was acting in jest long before he took it too personally.

Did anyone watch the video Claudia posted? Essentially, I'm the guy who brought the beers. I'm amazed at adults' feelings being so easily hurt.

*raises eyebrow* Apprehensive, yes. Hurt feelings? No. I understand that quite a bit of communication is lost in electronic translation, but you might want to be careful about what you read into others' posts. *leans back in chair and strokes chin in thoughtful manner* Then again, unless you mention it, you might be stuck with incorrect assumptions. *shrugs* Regardless, don't worry about me. I don't hurt that easily.

No, on the previous page I asked about experience, advancing the character AFTER they are made.

I've also already iterated that I don't think in dots - I create a person.

Okay, I still can't imagine how some things are going to be done. For example we are having a conversation with the Prince.
I wanna ask him something and what I'm supposed to do? Write a one line post and wait for a one line response?
What if our group is attacked by the Sabbat? How is each of us going to make his turns? Are we supposed to write a post about each action we do?

8people :
We'll have the same XP system as in bloodlines (exponential progress according to what actions have been made and what your character has learnt), but we're not going to have as much XP as the game (you won't be able to kick the Prince's ass after a week of playing, that's just a don't).
I'm sorry I missed the questions
Of course according to certain situations, the ST of a NPC may teach you one dot or another of something, without being quite Experience, and it will happen.

Yami :
Exactly as you described. For the Prince, it'll move along quite quickly, after all it's conversation. I would like to avoid chats for this because if a player has a diferent timezone and would have interrupted the conversation out of the blue, he will not be able to. This is why we probably have the characters at two different places "at the same time", because conversation takes more time IRL than In Game. Except if it's a one on one, for that I do not mind chat (and then copy it to the board if someone has heard it, again, restraining info)

Usually, in VTM, your combat turns are determined by wits + dexterity. The players describe their actions in progressive order (the one with less dots will describe first), but the characters act the other way around (the one with more dots has described his action at last position, but his character will act first). I do not plan to use this system since it doesn't take count of how much time does each action take. I'll probably use the Scion/Exalted Battle Wheel. The Battlewheel basicly makes an order of action on a wheel with numbers to keep track of how much time it took you to act :

John (number 0)
Martha (number 2)
Camille (number 3)
NPC1 (number 4)
Kevin (number 6) (he's far away)
NPC2 (number


John acts, he runs and uses his gun to fire at NPC 2 (who's wounded). That makes him gain +3 ticks

Martha (number 2)
Camille (number 3)
John (number 3)
NPC1 (number 4)
Kevin (number 6)
NPC2 (number

Martha decides to hold on untill action at tick 3 to attack together with Camille and John (bonus to act together)

Martha (number 3)
Camille (number 3)
John (number 3)
NPC1 (number 4)
Kevin (number 6)
NPC2 (number


Martha, Camille and John made a Genkidama to throw at NPC1. All of them gained +6 ticks because it's a specially long and difficult action.


NPC1 (number 4)
Kevin (number 6)
NPC2 (number
Martha (number 9)
Camille (number 9)
John (number 9)

NPC1 curses and runs away from the scene since Genkidama wounded him badly (but he has a survival hability to flee from danger, and the guy has celerity). This takes 2 ticks, therefore Kevin cannot interrupt.

Kevin can use his action to run after NPC1 and so on.


Etc.
It's called a wheel because in the games with this system, we have a wheel (this is the exalted one ) were we put on little dice (or chips, tokens..) to determine our orders, and sometimes the wheel is hiden by the ST behind the screen because characters and players do not know what's attacking them (and how many !). And the ST announces who's turn is it.

I do not plan on putting up to the public every time some action has to be made, this is only for heavy dramatic combat.

Claudia wrote:

Of course according to certain situations, the ST of a NPC may teach you one dot or another of something, without being quite Experience, and it will happen.

Now THIS is something I can look forward to.

Tried to convince my DAV ST to give me a dot b/c I had a special, one-time mentor in-game, but he shot me down. Oh well.

Cool, thanks for the answer - was wondering who applies the dots though, as you're the one with the char sheets would you make reccomendations on where applicable increases would be? (Would stop the "I buy a dot in firearms" "But you've never used a gun yet... " in case that popped up!)

Glad there won't be as much xp as in Bloodlines was one of my biggest grudges of the game! One of my players played through it last group and then kept insisting on XP mid session! He settled down after his first meeting with a real lupine at least

About the mentoring stuff, sure, as long as it's logical and it's possible (you won't learn firearms if you can't train because there are no facilities..).

Anyway you won't need moaaar dots at the beginning (and probably during the campaign), remember, all characters are 'human", even the NPCs. There are credible, understandable. They don't have dots everywhere

The progression of Vampire characters should be about their agenda, knowledge and how they'll gain "friends" and "enemies", how they'll gain power (or not). This is not really a progression in dots and experience, but they will be able to presure some NPC, know them, manipulate them, be manipulated by them... The goal is more "social" and an ongoing intrigue that will not end until everyone's dead

Claudia, out of curiosity, how many experienced and mature players have you worked with over your RPing years?

That's a good question. I'd say "not enough" ;-)
With regular tables of about anything (scion, nWoD, oWoD, nephilim, INS/MV, Anima, Shadowrun, besm, patient 13, fanmade rpgs), I've played with about 30 good, mature and smart players/GM who had played before we played together.


Alright, what's the goal of an RPG (in general).
The players (3-6) and the Story teller (1) will reunite somewhere (a living room) around a table, after knowing which game to play (usually the ST will say "Oh i'd like to make you guys play this game", and the players will go along and show up at the time). Then, it's all according to the game. If it's dunjeons, you'll spend 3 hours making your character yourself with the 30+ books (or so XD) and the ST will start of telling you "you guys have worked together in the past to find treasures and stuff, no this guy hires you to go to that dungeon and find me this particular book". It's very different one game to another.
Then the ST will draw along the characters together (most of the time because they all were at one place at the same time when something happened, or they all have the same interests, or they are all cops), and will put them in situations where they have to make choices (running, fighting, talking, going left, going right, call the police, do not call the police, hide the proof..) See the game Heavy Rain ;-), investigate, go kill the big monster. Some of these actions will take dice rolls to determine success or failure. Sure, going down on a flight of stairs will not require a dice roll, but maybe going down a flight of stairs during a sword combat and wounded will get harder. Dice rolls are always asked by the ST when the player said what he wants his character to do. If he succeds, the ST will go on taking account of the action and describe what happened, and the same if he failed.
The story will go on until the end of a campaign (like in bloodlines)

Does this looks good as an Elyseum ?

*blinks, and takes a closer look at the screen* ...is there supposed to be a picture?

Yes there is, can't you see it ?
Here's the direct link[i]

I see it. Paris looks beautiful. The third pic looks like it's from a postcard.

What buildings are those in the first two pictures? Museums, galleries, etc.?

Edit. -- Ah, I see from the link that the 1st one is the 'Bordeaux Grand Theatre'.

By Caine, first two pictures left my mouth watering.

It's all Bordeaux

The first picture is the Grand Theatre (an Opera and theater, exposition center and stuff)
The second one is all administrative stuff (chamber of industry and stuff like that), and the old customs from the pier and port

Bordeaux has many advantages for us to play : beach is close, river is awesome, historical BG is fine, architecture is beautifull and geography is easy.

So guys, we'll be playing in this decor !

But... does it have enough food?

Let's see... (Google, Google...) Population: about 250,000 in the city proper, ~1 million in the metro area. By White Wolf standards, 10 vampires is roomy; 20 is a bit crowded. We probably won't have any more players than that, don't you think? Of course, that 1 vampire per 100,000 mortals is only a rule of thumb, and not as important as the story.

So, to bring all of the young fledglings in at the same time, perhaps there was a recent Sabbat incursion, which left a few openings in the ranks of the city's Kindred population? Or maybe the former Prince was deposed, and the new Prince owed a few favors to the Primogen who supported his/her coup... favors which were repaid by the right to progeny. Or a combination of both, or neither. No need to answer; I'm just thinking out loud.

Of course, since it's France, there are likely to be a lot fewer guns carried than Mexico City, your other possibility. Being American, that will feel like being naked. (Because here in Texas, we all own ranches and oil wells and carry six-guns on our hips, don't you know.)

The rule of 1 vampire per 100 000 inhabitants is global.. But in Africa and Asia, there are almost no kindred
Therefore the population in Europe and the American continent is higher in proportions

About the weapons, well, it's easy to get one illegally.. or with a hunter's permit

Claudia wrote:

About the weapons, well, it's easy to get one illegally.. or with a hunter's permit

Or off a dead Hunter

Feral wrote:

Claudia wrote:

About the weapons, well, it's easy to get one illegally.. or with a hunter's permit

Or off a dead Hunter

like the way you think