VtM Darkness over London

[Tamhansen]

Two thousand years ago, the Roman armies crossed the channel. They brought with them the roads, bathhouses forts and politics we still remember them for today. But they brought something else with them to this beautiful island. Something darker, something more dangerous. They brought with them the undead.
The kindred guided the history of the isles ever since. Steering the course of mankind to suit their dark needs. All throughout the land, their machinations can be seen to the observant spectator, but nowhere as clearly as in the capital.

London has been the battleground of hefty clan warfare for a thousand years. Hidden in the shadows the Vampires played their pawns against each other, and neither Kine nor Kindred nor any supernatural has ever been fully safe in this damned city. Nearly 70 years ago, during the second world war, a small coterie of powerful vampires made a daring grab for power and succeeded. They managed to get those with real power to come together, if only out of fear of the new power. The court of Londinium was formed, and the greater London area was divided up into eight principalities, each with their own Prince. Lording over these Princes is Queen Anne, a very old and powerful Ventrue. Assisted by yher coterie she maintains the peace, and ensures the sanctity of the masquerade. This is no easy task though in a city divided along clan, territory and a myriad of other lines. And then there's the sabbat barking at the gates.[

And now, there's the Olympics just around the corner

OoC

Darkness over London is a Vampire the Masquerade chronicle set in London in 2012. It is a dark horror/mystery game with many victorian and edwardian elements. It is a camarilla focussed campaign, but a limited number of independents are permitted. I was thinking of having players start at Ancillae level, as the blood stills runs thick in Europe. However if the group prefers another power level this is open for discussion.

I'm not really looking to waste my time adjudicating actions and mediating player arguments, so I want to give players a lot of control, and am looking for people who can handle that. If you're interested please leave your character concept here. I'll be using the V:tM revised edition As stated above I'd prefer Camarilla clan vampires, but I'm open to others as long as you have a good concept.

[AndyZ]

Absolutely interested ^_^

[Callie Del Noire]

Is that the 20th anniversary or nWoD version?

[Tamhansen]

Te one before both, but the V20th are roughly the sameas the revised rules though. Just a bit more streamlined. If people prefer those, I don't mind using those.

[Callie Del Noire]

Te one before both, but the V20th are roughly the sameas the revised rules though. Just a bit more streamlined. If people prefer those, I don't mind using those.

Well I've been itching to try out the V20 rules. :D

Not sure what type of character I want to play though.

[AndyZ]

I've got a few ideas to play around with.  A Toreador who owns a nightclub, a Ventrue who knows enough people to be able to get a little of everything, a Malkavian that can't easily be explained, the Tremere I pitched to the Milwaukee game...

I don't know London very well, but I think I can handwave it well enough.

Should we try to be fairly combat-ready with these characters?  Will it be primarily intrigue or social based?

[ivygrowth]

I'm not sure what version I have of VtM.   :-(

Would a Dunsirn member of the Giovanni be acceptable?  (This is based on the tiny bit about them in the core book (cannibalistic Scottish bankers), not sure what else is available about them)  Basically someone heavily interested in money (which would fit into London I think?), probably trying to stay on the good side of the local Camarilla without getting directly involved in any conflicts unless absolutely necessary.  May also work as a bit of a mercenary at times. 

If not, I would be interested in playing a Brujah or a Gangrel.  Though I could see a Nosferatu or Tremere being fun as well.   :o

[AndyZ]

I'm not sure what version I have of VtM.   :-(

What year was the book published that you have?

[ivygrowth]

Says it is copyrighted 1998 1999 2000, don't see a printed on date.

[AndyZ]

Says it is copyrighted 1998 1999 2000, don't see a printed on date.

That's the Revised version.  They've also put out a 20th Anniversary Edition.

You should be fine.  Some people want to do 20A but since Katataban wants to use Revised, unless that changes, question answered.

[Haztur]

Sounds interesting, I might go for a ventrue or tremere, i love both clans :P

[Tamhansen]

As said earleir, the difference between VtM revised and V20 is very small. The V20 system simply takes the rules from most of 150 or so rulebooks published for revised, and streamlines them. So if the majority goes for V20 we go with v20, and those that want to join, but only know revised, can make a character following those rules, and we'll tweak them accordingly.

@ AndyZ I'm glad to see you have a lot of ideas. If you settle on one let me know.personally, I'm not a combat heavy fan. Maybe if I decide to run a Werewolf campaign down the road. But I do try to tailor to my players, and give them as much freedom as I can, so if I end up with a coterie of Brujah and Gangrel rabble rousers they'll be facing some combat.

@ Ivy. A dunsirn can work for me, if you want more information on them you could try to find a copy of the revised clanbook, PDF copies are flying all over the net. But basically if you can build a character from the corebook that's okay too.

When it comes to rules, I follow Mark's golden rule devoutly. All rules apply only as long as they don't interfere with the game. I prefer a good written post where the character pushes the limits just a little too far, to a badly written post following the letter of the book. This is not a free pass to SHS though.

[Senti]

Could be interested I have a malk that have submitted before.

If there is room,. I know London pretty well (As I run a victorian game there :)

[Callie Del Noire]

I have a few ideas but one that I have wanted to in particular but not sure who to pm it to.

[BenedictWolfe]

Dunsirn:

The Dunsirn are a family of Scottish bankers located within the U.K. and are part of the Giovanni clan. Their Discipline spread is the same, and as one would expect from anything asscociated with the Giovanni have a bit of a dark side: the family shows cannibalistic tendencies and are related to Garou (i.e. some of them are Kinfolk), understood to be Fianna. They were not noted for their skills and developments in Necromancy but rather the control they display in the boardroom. Their accumulated wealth only stands to validate this.

Otherwise; yeah, I might be interested. I like the minute changes that came about via V20 (like the modified Gangrel clan weakness), though I can rock revised as well.
Not sure what character I would play, though.

[RubySlippers]

Okay I'm thinking about characters and a seasoned Ancilla Caitiff could be fun someone who is Camarilla but not tied to a clan and if fact survived long enough to become a player without any affiliation.

My character would be a pretty standard one relatively powerful but not in generation maybe 12th but only due to her not imprinting in the clan she was embraced into the Toreador perhaps or one of the Independents but is not a clan member.

As a concept she will be something simple a Blood Doll Manager she basically runs blood doll culture in London as in keeps names, places they go to, arranges this information to go to the Sheriff so new kindred not in town okayed will be identified and managed it so the Kindred community can maintain the Masquerade. She would have been a former Blood Doll a century ago but only a vessel not tasting vitae of a Kindred likely did do so with other humans at times.

Blood Dolls are mortals the like vampires feeding on them in the canon and formed a subculture, but this can break the Masquerade if not managed its implied though the Blood Dolls know enough to do this with such measures to avoid detection and protect the vampires.

I figure its a matter of the kindren not being able to stop it and if they tried it would go deep underground so let it happen but we will monitor it in the game. Likely she is not the only vampire but she would have a special duty as a flaw to inform the prince of blood doll activities and could have a domain over them as a reward. Anyway as a Caitiff her loyalty is to the big throne not a clan so its a sensible choice in some ways. It might be fun to make it a new appointment as well to shake things up.

I decinded her Nature and Demeanor will the Traditionalist and one merit will be Code of Honor to the Traditions so if she might break them by accident she gets a benefit in the die rolls even under Frenzy. Its that core tie to the way things are done that likely kept her around she is not going to step on toes of Elders who have clear domains or make an issue of how things are done the Prince is Prince after all and the elders far more powerful. She is happy in her place.

[Pretty in Pink]

And I'm going to follow the trend, and throw out my idea I had for the Milwaukee game!

Okay.  I'm going to go out on a limb here, and hope to the gods that you know about the Daughters of Cacophany.

Daughters of Cacophony...  Daughters for a reason.  There was a time when the Daughters allowed males, but when one of them went out of control, the Elders put an end to it, and slaughtered all of the men, making it a Clan law that no male shall EVER be Embraced into the Clan, and that to do so would be treated as the Camarilla treated unrequested Childer: death to both Childe and Sire, no questions asked.

James, however, was always a talented musician, and of course this drew the attention of one of the daughters.  The two did gigs in bars across London, performing Pro bono every time.  It was fine for a while, but then James's apartment building was shut down.  Not wanting to see him scrambling to find a place to live and let his music suffer, Elise offered to let him stay in one of the spare rooms of her small three bedroom house.

He accepted, thinking nothing of the fact that the windows were all blacked, and nothing of the fact that there was never real food in the house except for what he brought in from his day job during the week as a cashier at Walgreens/CVS/(whatever there is in London).

Things would have been fine, but he began to get curious why his new host never went out during the day, and where she went at night.  So he began to follow her, growing more and more exasperated as she continued to give him the slip.  However, one night, he was attacked by a Ravnos in full blood frenzy.  Elise slew the other vampire, but too late.  James lay dying in the street, his throat ripped out by the other vampire.  Taking the only option to save her partner and crush's life, she Embraced him, making him the first male Daughter of Cacophony in almost three centuries.

Now, he's on the run, attempting to avoid the notice of the higher ups in the city, still doing his gigs at bars and such.  However, he moves around a lot, because he knows that if the Daughters find out Elise made him one of them, it would mean her death AS WELL as his.

So... whaddaya think?

[Tamhansen]

Ok for some reason the character sheet I normally use for online groups has disappeared. So I'll just set up the character creation guidelines here. As London is a very important and old stronghold, those allowed to embrace are more potent, and the blood is less thinned than their colony counterparts.

Character builder guidelines

Attributes: 8/6/4, don't forget the free one in each attribute
Abilities:  15/11/7
Disciplines:3
Virtues: 7 + 1 free in each
backgrounds 5
freebies: 20
starting generation is 12. 

[Tamhansen]

Backgrounds and char sheets can be pm'ed to me.

@pretty. Yes I know about the daughters. I like your character concept, you might want to look up the sons of discord, you might find some nice ideas there. I'd be happy to have James along for the ride, though in London there's a lot of higher ups to dodge  >:)

@Ruby. Sure, a Caitif is always fun to have along.

[AndyZ]

Ok for some reason the character sheet I normally use for online groups has disappeared. So I'll just set up the character creation guidelines here. As London is a very important and old stronghold, those allowed to embrace are more potent, and the blood is less thinned than their colony counterparts.

Character builder guidelines

Attributes: 8/6/4, don't forget the free one in each attribute
Abilities:  15/11/7
Disciplines:3
Virtues: 7 + 1 free in each
freebies: 20
starting generation is 12.

Standard number of backgrounds?

[Narianna]

Hi, I might be interested in this game but I have a couple questions... First, will this be all text based? Or will we be rolling the dice thing on here? I've never worked with that so I'm not familiar with it... Also, is it possible to play an Assamite? I've had an idea for one for awhile but I can make a Camarilla clan if you prefer.

[BenedictWolfe]

Also, is it possible to play an Assamite? I've had an idea for one for awhile but I can make a Camarilla clan if you prefer.

After the Assamite Schism there is an Assamite presence in the Camarilla: Schismatic Assamite
I'm not sure how many of them are of the Warrior bloodline, however. I think they may be mostly Sorcerers.

[Narianna]

Hmm... I've not played anything past the original VtM. Kinda stuck in old school. I'll see about coming up with a different idea. :)

[Pretty in Pink]

*blink blink*  Sons of Discord?  Uhm....  Not familiar with that one........  *goes hunting in WoD folder on External harddrive*

[Tamhansen]

@ Andy. I knew I forgot one. Yes standard background points, edited the post to show this
@ Narianna Assamites are a possibility. Playing a schismed son it'd be easier, but if you want to play a loyalist, we can work around it. As for warriors, yes most are scholars, but among the ancillae and Neonates some warriors did defect. And yes, I'm planning to use the dicebot, but prefferably as little as possible. If it can be worked out in text, we do it in text. Only when it would cause strife in the group, we roll on it.

@ pretty. It's in the revised storyteller handbook. But it's not a neccesity, I just meant it as a tip. Your character seems quite interesting, and I'd like to see how it pans out in the campaign.


So far the following characters have been sent in.

AndyZ: Rebecca or Noelle
Senti: Millicent
Ivygrowth: Moyna (left?)
Prettyinpink: James
Rubyslippers: Avril
Callie Del Noire: Ink
Some others have sent promissing ideas.

I'm thinking of starting out with a group of five or six. If it goes well I'll consider, along with the group of course to expand it. If anyone feels like playing along please send me a character sheet and background on PM, you're welcome to post it here, but as this is a world of darkness game, I'm sure you'll have a few things you want to keep secret from your fellow Cainites. I'll start the board later today starting in an Elysium night. I'll also set up an OoC board where I'll do a bit of explaining.