Vampire: The Dark Ages

[Nicolae]

I'm gauging interest on a game of Vampire: The Dark Ages (or Dark Ages: Vampire) set in Jerusalem and surrounding cities during the Third Crusade (think King Richard the Lionheart and Saladin). The players would be neonate vampires with less than ten years having passed since they were sired. The players can choose their clan from among those that will become the Camarilla (except Tremere), and I have no preference between high clans and low clans, as long as there are members of both in the group.

Just to be clear, the Camarilla did not yet exist, and the Clan Tremere had only existed for less than a century, having been House Tremere, mages of the Order of Hermes, previously. The Tremere are hated by nearly all Kindred and hunted by the Tzimisce, but they are still fairly weak as they have not yet diablerized Saulot by this point.

I'm looking for four characters, and I'm going to be very selective about the type of character that I accept. As such, I'll be working with anyone who submits a character idea to develop a character that fits well into the setting.

So, anyone interested in playing a vampire during the Dark Ages? ;)

[TheHangedOne]

I'd like to play a Salubri, if possible. Warrior or Healer caste.

I have questions, though. Are the vampires crusaders? How big of an impact is the whole everybody-killing-everybody-else-over-religion going to be affecting the game?

[bubby]

*FLAILS*

Another vampire game based on Masquerade!  :'(

[AndyZ]

Interested. Using the Dark Ages Vampire book, right?

[Lord of Shadows]

Is Cappadocian ok? They are one of the high clans in the era just not really what normally is considered "standard Camarilla clans"... well not so strange maybe.

[TheRaven]

I'm in with a Nosferatu.

[Imogen]

Oww..I shouldn't.. I really shouldn't... but DA is one of my old loves. Consider me tentatively interested for a Tzim or Assamite.

[mayovagn]

I will be very happy to play a Malkavian or Lamia if this goes ahead.

[Nicolae]

@TheHangedMan: They could be crusaders or natives or travelers, merchants, etc. who had the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Crusade going on at the time won't be too devastating on the Kindred, but they'd certainly be willing to use it to take out a rival. A bit like the original Assassin's Creed. A Salubri, hmm? Pitch me an idea.

@bubby: Are you a Requiem fan? Or DnD?

@AndyZ: Yes, among others. The rules will be more from the V20 book, but the setting will definitely be DA:V.

@Lord of Shadows: Hmm, Cappadocian? Pitch me an idea.

@TheRaven: Sounds good, got an idea for the character?

@Imogen: Assamite sounds very interesting. Pitch me an idea.

@mayovagn: I could see either of those working fairly well. Pitch me an idea.

[mayovagn]

PM sent your way Calrond.


M.

[Nicolae]

And replied. ;)

[TheRaven]

My particular concept is a French petty thief grabbed during a sojourn to Paris' even seedier underbelly to avoid the attention of the law. He still does a lot of his criminal work, but instead of working for what's left of the Cour des miracles, he's working for the clan.

[Lord of Shadows]

 And replied.

[Trilogy]

I might be interested, always wanted to play a Dark Age game (though I only have experience with nWoD. I do have the V20 book.) I'll send you a pm sometime this evening? Probably thinking a Tzimisce, but I'll have to look at what options I have available when I'm not at work ;)

[AndyZ]

@AndyZ: Yes, among others. The rules will be more from the V20 book, but the setting will definitely be DA:V.

Ah, sadness.  I wanted to try out some of the DA:V variants on Disciplines like Dementation and some roads.

I have some ideas for both a Setite brothel madam and a Ravnos Romani traveling dancer if either of those would fit.  If there's too many chars outside the conventional Camarilla, though, I can try to narrow it to them.

[mayovagn]

So this is going to me mainly NWOD rules? I have no experience with that, just the original stuff. Is that likely to become any kind of issue?

[Nicolae]

@TheRaven: Sounds really interesting. Can you pitch me anything more specific and detailed?

@Lord of Shadows: I like what you've got so far. Any idea why your character would be in Jerusalem?

@Trilogy: Tzimisce can be very interesting. Pitch me an idea if you like.

@AndyZ & @mayovagn: I'm not married to the V20 book. If it's going to be a problem, I'd happily go full Dark Ages: Vampire ruleset for this game. I'm not as familiar with it as I am the V20, but the last thing I want to do is disrupt the Dark Ages theme or potentially over-complicate things by trying to mix and match the two rule books (and make the game less fun for all of us in the process).

[BenedictWolfe]

I would really love to join in, though I'm questing for a good character. Are you okay with an Anda? And how do you feel about Road and Paths of Enlightenment from the earlier editions?

[Lord of Shadows]

@Lord of Shadows: I like what you've got so far. Any idea why your character would be in Jerusalem?

Quite easy, being a priest he came originally to Jerusalem to be in the Holy Lands.

[Nicolae]

@BenedictWolfe: An Anda would be fine as long as you've got a good explanation for why he's in the Holy Land instead of the Far East. And I like most of the Roads and Paths. Which one do you have an eye on specifically?

@Lord of Shadows: Sounds good. You can go ahead and start working on a sheet as soon as you want.

[BenedictWolfe]

@BenedictWolfe: An Anda would be fine as long as you've got a good explanation for why he's in the Holy Land instead of the Far East. And I like most of the Roads and Paths. Which one do you have an eye on specifically?

Road of the Yasa - It is detailed in full on page 75 of "Wind from the East - The Mongols".

A good reason for his presence in the Levant is the tricky bit. I would have him be a Kipchek out of the Kimek Khagante and I thought he could have followed a band of warriors into the Caucasus and even Armenia to raid, where he would easily come into contact with stories about the wars taking place to the south-west. I might have to think harder on more solid reasons why he would break off from the band to go to Jerusalem.

[Nicolae]

The Road of the Yasa works for me.

[AndyZ]

Can we please get a running tally of what we have so far, so as to make sure that we don't go for something already grabbed?

[Silk]

I'll pitch up interest for this as well, won't send the idea until I know there's space available :)

[Nicolae]

So far I haven't actually gotten a sheet from anyone, and the most I've got is a very fleshed out idea of a Lamia from mayovagn and a basic description of a Cappadocian from Lord of Shadows and an Anda (Gangrel) from BenedictWolfe. Other than those, I have mainly been asking for more detailed character ideas and getting little to no replies. At this point, I wouldn't consider any role "filled", so you can go with what you want to play.