The Camarilla and LARPing in General

Started by LunarSage, April 16, 2012, 08:35:17 AM

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Callie Del Noire

I'm getting very nostalgic seeing all this talk. Of course at least a couple of my gamers in the NC oWoD game played in that. :D

Silverfyre

I've got my Sabbat character, who is a 8th generation Nosferatu Antitribu computer hacker/Noddist who just might be a Black Hand member, a Brujah Anarch who is the prominent renegade childe of a high-profile Prince and is one of the diplomatic scholars of the Movement, and a Ravnos who was lured into the Setite cult after the Week of Nightmares.  Heh, I just got Road of Sin approved for him and it's been fun playing his corruption at the hands of a rogue Setite who believes Set is the incarnate of Chaos.  Toss in rebuilding the shattered mind of his broodmate/ex-lover and you have a really rocky road to role play.  It's a lot of fun.



TheGlyphstone

Jasper omnomnomed his way to 8th Gen? Congratulations. :)

Silverfyre

Yeah, I hit MC 9 a few months back and the opportunity came up during a Black Hand proxy.  The Dominion handed me the captive NPC and my character dragged her back to town.  The RST handed me a bib and said, "Bon appetit!"  It was amusing. 


LunarSage

So I'm apparently the ADST (Assistant Domain Storyteller) now, handling Influences for the domain.  I should hopefully also be taking up the mantle of AVST (Assistant Venue Storyteller) for our Sabbat game soon as well (love me some Sabbat).  I'm not sure if I can earn monthly prestige for both jobs but if I can, I sure won't turn the prestige down.  Not that I wouldn't help out even if I only earn prestige for one... but that would be some nice cake icing.  :-)

My goal is to reach MC 9 within 2 years or so.  Unlikely I know, but I'm gonna give it my all.

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LunarSage

I was looking through my old files and found a bloodline I had created years ago for V:tM... the Scions of Khepera.  I should really elaborate on the background (as the one I wrote was very simplified), but I always thought it was an interesting idea.

I'm not sure how balanced the new discipline is, but it sure sounds cool to me.   ;D

The Scions of Khepera

In the days of the second city, there was a mortal man who lived out in the desert known as the Hermit of the Desert who would periodically come to the city to use it's library, being known as a man who thirsted for knowledge of any kind.  One of the childer of Set was conducting research in combining the blood of his clan and that of the Gangrel's to create something new that he and his sire could use to obtain more power.  In doing so, he kidnapped the Hermit as a mortal that no one would miss and subjected him to a great ritual involving the blood of a Gangrel and his own blood.  The result was the creation of a new vampire, though unlike any the world had seen before.  Before the Hermit could be used for the Settite's own ends, he escaped into the desert.  Afraid of what would happen if his sire discovered he had conducted the ritual only to let the Hermit escape, he went into the desert to find him.  The sand based abilities of the new vampire proved too much for the Settite to handle, however... the Hermit knew the desert well and in his own element with the desert at his beck and call, the Settite was quickly defeated and drained.  Now no one remained who even knew of the ritual.  After that, the Hermit never returned to the city, content to seek knowledge in his own secluded way.  To this day a small number of this bloodline exists, hidden in the deserts.

Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Khepericus

Weakness: Any promise of new substantial knowledge requires a self control roll for the Scion to resist pursuing by any means necessary.

Clan Advantage: One free trait of Academics and Occult

Khepericus:

1st Basic: Path of the Sidewinder: The Cainite who uses this discipline is not hampered by sand in any way, and moves as though traveling on flat solid ground with no tests needed.  Use of this discipline also gives a free retest for traveling on any other tricky surface such as snow, ice, mud, ect.

2nd Basic: Sandmeld:
As Earthmeld but with sand.

1st Intermediate: Sahara's Blessing: A Cainite with this potent discipline may transform his entire body into soft sand.  While in this state, the Scion retains his humanoid shape and mobility, but most physical attacks do no damage whatsoever.  Knives and bullets pass harmlessly through his sandy body, but damage which disperses large portions of his body such as explosions will damage a Scion with this Discipline, though only dealing half damage (round up).  This may reduce a Scion to torpor until such time as he is able to recover and heal himself, gathering his sand particles back together.  Fire and Sunlight do normal damage, though fire can fuse the Scion's body to glass.  This power comes with one key weakness in that water deals unsoakable lethal damage based on it's volume, dissolving the sand.  A squirt from a cheap water pistol may deal 1 health level, while being hit by a garden hose would deal 3 health levels.  A hydrant stream or fire hose deals 5 health levels and total immersion in water deals 6 health levels a turn.  System: The Scion spends 3 blood points and makes a static mental test vs 9 traits.  Retest is Occult.

2nd Intermediate: Sandstone: As the Gargoyle Discipline Armor of Terra, but 1 blood point must be spent.  In addition, the Scion may spend an additional blood point to further solidify himeslf, gaining an armor rating equal to 1/2 his Khepericus rating (round down) usable against all forms of damage, even sunlight.  This additional use of the discipline however, only lasts one round per blood point spent.

Advanced: Passage of the Hourglass: The Scion may now manipulate his sandy form, traveling through keyholes, up walls, under doors, etc.  As well, the body or parts of his body may be manipulated into nearly any shape, and then hardened via Sandstone.  In this way, an arm could become a wicked blade of incredible hardness.  The player should make a static Mental test vs 9 traits with Occult as a retest.

Elder: Chariot of Horus: The Scion may stand on any amount of sand large enough for both feet to touch, and activate this discipline.  His body immediately turns into soft sand and collapses into a pile of mundane sand, while the Scion appears some distance away where there is more sand.  The Scion need not see his destination, for he can sense where a sufficient quantity of sand lays within range via this discipline, though he is not aware of what is around that sand.  The Scion spends a variable amount of blood points, making a static Mental test vs 12 traits and refers to the chart below.  Note that this discipline is hampered by large bodies of water.  A river would necessitate an extra two blood points, while a sea or large lake would require an extra 5 blood points.

1 BP: Up to 500 yards
2 BP: Up to 1 mile
3 BP: Up to 5 miles
4 BP: Up to 50 miles
5 BP: Up to 100 miles
*Each BP after the 5th adds 100 miles

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Elias

Can you guys please explain what you're referencing, I am a table-topper and online forum rper and adore OWoD but you all seem part of a group I would love to join. If you have a link to this huge group (Barring its not something local and I have misunderstood) please info would be awesome.   ;D

TheGlyphstone

Well, unless you live on Mars or the Moon, it counts as 'local' (The Cam/MES is a global organization). :D

Main Website: http://www.midnightdance.org/
Prospective Players Page: http://www.midnightdance.org/prospective-players/

Elias

This purely LARP or is it across multiple venues?

TheGlyphstone

What do you mean by multiple venues?

In Cam-lingo, 'Venue' means the gameline that's being played. Currently, there are active chronicles of all the NWoD gamelines except Hunter and Promethean, plus OWoD Masquerade. After July of next year, there will also be an OWoD Apocalypse chronicle.

Star Safyre

Quote from: Elias on April 22, 2012, 01:52:05 PM
This purely LARP or is it across multiple venues?

From my understanding (but not my own personal experience), there's sanctioned games that are LARP and also some that occur via IRC.  I don't have any more information than that though.
My heaven is to be with him always.
|/| O/O's / Plots / tumblr / A/A's |/|
And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I've written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones

TheGlyphstone

#36
Quote from: Star Safyre on April 22, 2012, 02:07:15 PM
From my understanding (but not my own personal experience), there's sanctioned games that are LARP and also some that occur via IRC.  I don't have any more information than that though.

The Four Winds chapter is for the 'none of the above' players, I believe - people who live in really remote places too small to host a chapter of their own and too far from an established chapter to travel to games, and is purely IRC-based.

Aside from that, there are sanctioned games all over the place, and plenty of activity that takes place over email lists or via IRC channels.

Silverfyre

The IRC games are actually sanctioned games as well and are not just part of the "Four Winds" venue.


TheGlyphstone

#38
Quote from: Silverfyre on April 22, 2012, 02:25:36 PM
The IRC games are actually sanctioned games as well and are not just part of the "Four Winds" venue.

I didn't mean to imply that. House of Four Winds is a legitimate domain of its own (I think its theoretical physical location is in New Jersey somewhere) - it's as sanctioned as any other recognized domain or chapter, the only difference is that its games are 100% IRC and the physical players behind its characters are all over the country.

EDIT: Yeah, it's Atlantic City, NJ.

Elias

OK so if there's nothing here there is still IRC rp. Great, thanks guys!

TheGlyphstone

Yup - . And as a bonus, if you find a local game to play in (or DotFW if you can't), you can probably talk some of us here into forging IC ties with your new PC.

Though it looks like the website's list of domains is offline...well, if you get approved, we can probably solve that via PM.

RecklessRapscallion

I wanted to get more involved in Owod Vamp/ Werewolf larp's but the ones that were in the city I was in were very exclusive and they either single outed my new characters or were heavily favored against staff. Werewolf got so bad to the point where game consisted of I show up, the largest pack which are all Bone Gnawers kidnap my character toss me in front of a mob they angered due to changing in front of humans and then when it comes to cracking of the bone I lost wisdom for calling them out. Vampire I played one of the few influence characters (I know right!? 0.o) everyone else were specced to just kick ass and the ST's would not let me do anything.

There is a separate larp group that does NWOD in my city and I have had the opposite issues, though one of the larps that goes on is badly run and claims to be open Sand-Box but they don't let you do anything. I had the most fun in a Mage The Awakening Larp, and I currently staff a Changeling: The Lost  LARP.
"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash Williams
O/O's - Under Construction

LunarSage

Apparently most of the corruption in Cam was weeded out.  Nowadays you can't bring your buddy or girlfriend in and have them get to play an elder just because you have a Storyteller position.  Yeah, that crap actually happened in days gone by.  Our domain is drama free and is very welcoming of new players.  In fact, there's an unwritten rule that says it's really not cool to screw over newer players.  We want them to come back, after all.

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Star Safyre

I sometimes call out local game "the weenie brigade", not because of any unaligned ratio between guys and ladies, but because the majority of our local players have MC 4 or less.  There's, I think, maybe two players with an MC in the double digits, but most of our folks only joined up in the last two years.
My heaven is to be with him always.
|/| O/O's / Plots / tumblr / A/A's |/|
And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I've written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones

TheGlyphstone

Quote from: LunarSage on April 28, 2012, 12:47:20 PM
Apparently most of the corruption in Cam was weeded out.  Nowadays you can't bring your buddy or girlfriend in and have them get to play an elder just because you have a Storyteller position.  Yeah, that crap actually happened in days gone by.  Our domain is drama free and is very welcoming of new players.  In fact, there's an unwritten rule that says it's really not cool to screw over newer players.  We want them to come back, after all.

As far as I can tell, it's the same thing around here. The MC system deals with the XP total/gen favoritism for the most part - there's still potential for approval-based favoritism, but that means making friends in high places, not just your local ST. A few of the people around here were playing back in the days of the 'dark Cam', and also say it used to be really bad but has been cleaned up over the years.

Our domain's actively trying to recruit new players because of our low game size, so we're trying to make it easy on them too. We've got an MC12, a couple of MC6's, and a whole bunch of people at MC4 or less. The US National Coordinator visits our game pretty regularly, but since he's from the domain next door, that doesn't count.

Silverfyre

What Lunar says is dead on.  (And by the way, I loved that bloodline you created.  Very neat and flavorful!)

The Camarilla or "Mind's Eye Society" actually has rules about new players and how they are to be treated.  They are in the membership handbook and each venue or game has what's called an "addendum".  Most of them have provisions for newer players and allows them six months to do a character re-write as they feel out the character and get experience with the gaming system.  It is actually really nice how it is being handled these days.


LunarSage

#46
Quote from: Silverfyre on April 28, 2012, 01:01:52 PM
What Lunar says is dead on.  (And by the way, I loved that bloodline you created.  Very neat and flavorful

Thank you.  :-)

Ooooh by the way... I'm going to be STing my first Sabbat venue Cam LARP game on the 5th.  I need to make some NPC ghouls but I can't find a ghoul sheet creator that has the capacity for above 1st Intermediate Disciplines.  Can all Cam/Sabbat ghouls in MET have up to Advanced disciplines or is that just Revenants?

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Silverfyre

Best of luck on your upcoming game.  It can seem daunting to ST for the first time but once you get in the swing of things, it goes quickly and can be a lot of fun.  As far as ghouls go, here is a link to the Ghouls Guide via the Cam wiki.  It is pretty much the "be all, end all" to ghoul creation for both PCs and NPCs.  The addendum says so.  Heh.

http://wiki.white-wolf.com/camwiki/index.php?title=Revised_Ghouls_Guide

Per the guide:

Learning Disciplines

QuoteIt costs 4 XP to learn a Basic Discipline, 8 to learn an Intermediate Discipline, and 12 to learn an Advanced Discipline. Ghouls may learn up to advanced Disciplines in their domitor's In Clan Disciplines.

Ghouls may only learn the basic levels (1-2) of Disciplines which are not in clan for their Domitor. Should the ghoul's domitor change to a domitor of a different clan, excess discipline dots are lost without a refund until such time as the Ghoul's Domitor once again possesses them as In Clan Disciplines.


TheGlyphstone

Quote from: LunarSage on April 29, 2012, 08:24:19 AM
Thank you.  :-)

Ooooh by the way... I'm going to be STing my first Sabbat venue Cam LARP game on the 5th.  I need to make some NPC ghouls but I can't find a ghoul sheet creator that has the capacity for above 1st Intermediate Disciplines.  Can all Cam/Sabbat ghouls in MET have up to Advanced disciplines or is that just Revenants?

According to the Revised Ghouls Guide, the document used for making all Cam/Sabbat sanctioned ghouls, Ghouls can have their Dormitor's in-Clan disciplines up to Advanced, and any others up to Basic. Similarly, Revenants can learn their family's disciplines up to Advanced, and any other discipline up to Basic with a teacher.

And...Silverfyre has more dots in Celerity than I do. ;D

Silverfyre

Elder levels of it... on the internet at least.  O8)