Feed The Night (Closed)

[Top Cat]

Feed The Night by Prozzak - theme music

It's time
For you
And me
To have a little fun

Refrain
Come on baby, feed the night
Come on Simon, feed me
Loosen if you feel uptight
Milo, you so crazy
Would you like a lover's bite
Why you always tease me
Cos we want to
Cos we love to
Cos we need to feed the night

Feed the night with lover's moans
With overtures and undertones
With booty bounce and saxophones
Come on, come on and feed it
Feed the night with neon lights
With taxi cabs and weekend flights
With miniskirts and megabytes
Come on, come on and feed it

Your bod is so delicious
Your kisses are nutritious
Your buns are bubblicious
I fancy your design
I've got to make you mine

It's dark
It's hot
The light is coming
Ready or not

Refrain

Feed the night with motorcars
With super dates and pin-up stars
With photo flash and candy bars
Come on, come on and feed it
Feed the night when pleasure calls
With microfilm and mirrored balls
With party girls and bathroom stalls
Come on, come on and feed it

It's dark
It's hot
The light is coming
Ready or not

Refrain

"Oh my god, she's gorgeous."
"Let me handle this."
"I've got designs on your interior."
"Pardonnez?"
"Let's decorate, baby."

Your bod is so delicious
Your kisses are nutritious
Your buns are bubbilicious
I fancy your design
You're mine, you're mine, you're mine

It's hot
It's hot
It's hot
It's hot
It's hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot

Refrain x2

Setup/Background

Feed The Night is a group game set in a popular night club called Nocturne. It plays heavily with vampire themes, and caters to a wide range of customers - from the upper floor, that is simply a bar and dance club, to the lower floor, which is a BDSM club, to the inner sanctuary, which is a very private home to its employees.

The world that Nocturne exists in is one very much like ours. Big corporations, presidential elections, minimum wage jobs, cell phones, tablet computers - you know it as well as the one you're sitting in right now. And just like here, there are no vampires, werewolves, mages, technomancers, trolls, or any other type of supernatural ongoings...

Well, as far as most people know, that last sentence is true. But they're wrong. The world is crawling with hideous beasts, monsters, and even people who just aren't normal. Some of them want to have humans for lunch. Others understand that fighting humanity is a losing battle, and have set up other ways to coexist. Nocturne is one of the latter. As far as the outside world is concerned, vampires don't exist, and the denizens of Nocturne want to keep it that way.

Nocturne is located in a suburb of Los Angeles, and is owned and worked by a coalition of vampires. This coalition is run by a very old vampire named Tobias. He has a somewhat sordid past, but has come to realize that if the vampires kill humanity, the rest of eternity would be a pretty shitty place for his unlife. So he started working with several other vampires, some non-vampires who were willing to stop and talk rather than engaging in fights to the death, and built a place of safety and security. Vampires are welcome to come in and live and work in Nocturne, but there are a few rules:

1.) No predation. It's better to drink sips from willing fangirls and fanboys than to drink to excess and kill people.
2.) Provide proper after-care for all scenes. This applies in all respects - vampire feeding, BDSM recovery, and so on. Customers should have a desire to return, and a choice of whether or not to.
3.) No "breaking the Masquerade," as some famp-fans call it. As far as any customers get to know, you're pretending to be a vampire.
(There may be other rules that I can't remember at the moment)

Vampires who live below Nocturne are not required to work there, but working there, like working anywhere else, leads to paychecks for some of the finer luxuries in life, and some other benefits. But all residents are required to follow the rules, or there will be... consequences.


Character Roles

The world of Feed The Night is a very wild Urban Fantasy setting, but the beasts that live in Los Angeles (and most other major cities, for that matter) have, for the most part, learned to keep their heads down. Better for the people to be clueless and unaware than angry and carrying pitchforks, holy water, and so on.

As a player in Feed The Night, you can play a variety of roles, and you are entitled to play more than one.

• Vampires who live and work in Nocturne. There are somewhere around 50 vampires who live in Nocturne, with an expected evening employee count in the 15 to 20 range. The rest can play with guests, sleep, or leave to go outside for a while.
• Normal Human guests of Nocturne. You come to Nocturne for the dance club, the vampire theme, the BDSM fetish, or any of a dozen other reasons. You think that vampires are just a popular fiction fad, but you enjoy it (or at least tolerate it) while it lasts.
• Awakened Human guests in Nocturne. Some small percentage of the population (less than .1%) is aware that the supernatural exists, and some of those have come to accept the idea of places like Nocturne existing. You could be a Medium, a wizard, a technomancer, a "Weird Scientist," or even just someone who survived an unplanned revelation of just how strange the world is.
• Supernatural guests. There are many and sundry different types of people out in the world. Werewolves (and other weres), faeries, mermaids (male and female), elementals, demonic and angelic beings, succubi and incubi, rakshasa - the list is seemingly endless. If you're willing to pay the price of entry and maintain a polite level of peace while within or near Nocturne, you're welcome, provided you play by the same rules as the staff - no predation, no revealing your true nature to the normals, and take care of the normals when you're done with them.

At start, I'd like for there to be 15 or so active players involved, with more "guests" than "staff." Guests can entertain each other, after all, but the staff rarely wants to play with other staff, for obvious reasons.

Pre-existing Characters

• Tobias - Tobias, the owner of Nocturne, is the epitome of "Tall, Dark, and Mysterious." Nobody - not even the other Staff - knows where he comes from or how old he is. He looks to be in his mid-30's, and often walks the halls of Nocturne to make sure that the guests are enjoying the place. His body is toned like a quarterback, but he has the casual stride of a playboy. He generally looks serious, but can be made to smile fairly easily. Played by Top Cat.
• Viktor - Viktor is the outside Bouncer of Nocturne, the man who decides whether you get to enter or not. Standing 7 feet tall and built like Frankenstein's Monster (without the bolts and scars), Viktor likes to play up his Eastern European origin, exaggerating a "Romanian" accent when it amuses him. Viktor can smell the age of humans in line, and has only once let a minor in - for a very specific reason. Played by Top Cat or other GMs, as needed
• Angellica - Short, perky, and almost always smiling, Angellica is the cashier and accountant for Nocturne. The one minor who was let into the club, Angellica had (technically, has) a rare brain tumor that was killing her - she was expected to live to be 22, at most. She talked her way into Nocturne, explained the problem to Tobias, and was given a choice of a different path. After she grew visibly old enough to be believable as an employee in a sex club, she was given the curse of eternal life, for which she was extremely grateful. Angellica is the epitome of a "perky goth." Reserved for Stella Maris / Played by Top Cat or other GMs, as needed
• Felicity - Felicity is one of the Managers for Nocturne, and can usually be found walking around the club socializing, particularly when Tobias isn't. As the oldest known vampire in the Nocturne association (although many believe that Tobias is older), Felicity has lived in the world since before a certain young carpenter sacrificed himself to save his friends. She considers herself a rival of Tobias, and plans to take over from him some day... if she can ever defeat him, anyway. She looks to be in her mid-20's, and dresses like an upscale fashion model or businesswoman, depending on her mood, and carries herself in the haughty, semi-snobbish fashion that earns her the label of "bitch" quite often. She does care for Nocturne and what it stands for, however, and tries to take good care of its guests. Pre-claimed
• Elise - Elise is the Hospitality manager for Nocturne, and can usually be found in the Recovery room, making sure that people get food, drinks, and rest after an exciting night in Nocturne. Pre-claimed

We are now accepting character Applications.

Code Select Expand

[u][b]Character Application Sheet: Please fill this out![/b][/u] Feel free to give as much extra details as you like for each point.

[b]Character name[/b]: _________________
[b]Nickname (if any)[/b]: _________________

[b]Age (actual and apparent)[/b]: ________

[b]Race/Supernatural Type[/b]: _______________

[b]Gender[/b]: ________

[b]Job[/b]: __________________________

[b]Sexual Orientation[/b]: ______________
[b]Sexual Experience[/b]: ______________
[b]Sexual Preferences[/b]: __________________________________________
[b]Sexual "Offs":[/b] ____________________________________________

[b]Basic personality[/b]: _________________________________________________

[b]A description of your character[/b]: _____________________________________

A picture of your character - feel free to use anime characters, artwork characters, fantasy book characters, or real life pictures, whatever you prefer. You'll also want to make a 150x200 mini-pic for your character for when you post.

If you have difficulty getting pictures, please feel free to post here and ask for help.

- - - - - - -

As an example:


Character name: Tobias (no known last name)

Age (actual and apparent): Appears to be in his mid-30s. Actual age unknown
   
Type: Vampire

Gender: Male

Job: Owner and Manager of Nocturne

Sexual Orientation: Hetero-leaning Bisexual
Sexual Experience: Enormous
Sexual Preferences: Oral, vanilla, D/s
Sexual "Offs": Former food, former people. Will not "Submit" to anyone.

Basic personality: Tobias is usually serious and a touch moody, but he enjoys watching other people have fun, and can be coaxed into playing "host" and entertaining people himself now and then. When drawn into sexual encounters, he tends to be playful and teasing more than dark and demanding, despite still being Dominant.

A description of your character: Standing 6'3" tall, Tobias is best described as "tall, dark, and mysterious." His dark-brown hair looks black in the club lighting, and his grey eyes are often called "mesmerizing." Tobias seems to be well-built and athletic, but not "ripped."

[bubby]

I'd be interested in the role of Felicity if this gains interest. 

[Twisted iN Tux]

I have two characters in mind, a father and son, with one being a vampire employee and the other a client. I'm thinking the son doesn't know about the father. Oh, and free-form is fine with me, too.

[Gypsy]

I would be potentially interested in playing a normal human client -- perhaps a neglected wife who is looking for revenge and a little excitement, something to stave off her own boredom and ever encroaching mortality.

A freeform game would be my preference as well.

[Top Cat]

Three players, four characters, a good mix of client and staff. This is a good "first day" indeed. =^_^=

Bubby: If we get this going, we'll need to talk privately about Felicity. While most of who she is and what she wants from the world is adjustable for your preference, since she's such a major character we'll need to make sure that we're on the same page.

[bubby]

Three players, four characters, a good mix of client and staff. This is a good "first day" indeed. =^_^=

Bubby: If we get this going, we'll need to talk privately about Felicity. While most of who she is and what she wants from the world is adjustable for your preference, since she's such a major character we'll need to make sure that we're on the same page.

I totally understand and absolutely not a problem! My PM box is always open!

[Rook Seidhr]

I…might play. I'd really prefer a rules-light system like FAE, or even something sketchier like "you have Mind, Body, Spirit stats each 1-100, roll under on d% to do something difficult," to straight freeform.

If I play it would be as a normal human guest. No idea that anything's weird about this place or that the supernatural is real, just likes the vibe and the resident DJs.

[bubby]

I forgot to add that I too would prefer freeform.

[Sirian Eve]

I would like to play Elise. :) Freeform is also good for me.

[Silver]

I'm intrigued, might think of a normal human or angelic being.. and would like this as freeform... 

[Top Cat]

Riveda: Given that I prefer free-form over structured for this sort of game, and everyone else seems to want free-form as well, will that change your interest level to "no thanks"?

If not, we're now at 6 players, 7+ characters. Definitely getting more ladies than men here so far, which is not a bad thing... that'll attract more guys sooner or later.

Some more information on vampires and werewolves in this world. As you may have guessed, this isn't a world that I'm creating out of whole cloth - Stella Maris and I have written private stories about Nocturne and the world it's in for several years (and although she'd love to play in it some more, her Muse is being fickle, so she's been off E for a while).

Vampirism is very close to "classic" vampirism. Takes damage from sunlight, can't cross running water (well, strictly speaking, can't move into or through running water, and if they're forced to, it causes damage similar to sunlight, but can't kill them - just incapacitate), holy water and holy ground cause serious problems, and anointed garlic as well, and so on. The catch is that with enough power, vampires can overcome and ignore these limitations. Directly facing one of their weaknesses (standing out in sunlight, walking onto properly anointed ground, swimming in the Mississippi) costs power, and can drain a vamp if it continues for long enough. Drained far enough, they stop being able to block it, and will start suffering the appropriate consequences.

Vampires gain small amounts of power from drinking from humans, and a bit more power by drinking the last (basically, consuming the person's "essence"). They can gain more power by draining another vampire, but as you might expect, very few vampires trust another vamp enough to let that happen - it's usually the consequence of a fight between vampires, and usually results in the drained vampire's death. Felicity has been drained to less than half of her power level twice from challenging Tobias, and after the second time, he told her in front of the rest of the Nocturne coalition that if she tries to fight him for power again, it'll be her last. Vampires use a very small amount of power in order to live a fairly normal life - without boosting strength, flying, or any other supernatural feats, a vampire needs to drink a Nocturne-permitted level of blood around four or five times a month (or, out in the wild world, drain one victim to death once a month). Most do drink more often than that.

Becoming a vampire, however, is somewhat different from the tales. It's a deliberate, conscious act by the draining vampire to cause the victim to rise again as a vampire, and it takes a bit of power. The draining vampire gains some awareness of the victim for an indefinite period (which can be maintained with power, naturally, but once it's broken, it's very hard to get back), but does not control the new vamp in any supernatural way - fear, lust, and devotion are the methods of control most often used. "Blood Dolls" do exist, but it's not a case of the vampire controlling the minds of someone he/she has drunk from... it's more about manipulation and psychological control (plus, frequently, more than a small amount of vampire fetishism on the part of the blood doll).

Which is not to say that a vampire can't control the mind and body of another person... but it's not directly connected to the drinking of blood at all. It is, when you get right down to it, a corrupted form of blood magic (as is vampirism itself). A vampire could drink blood from Bob (gaining power in the process), and then use that power to hypnotize or memory-blur Jerry, who's standing five feet away, even though she hadn't drank from Jerry.

More on this later - feel free to ask questions.

As for werewolves (and all other were-forms), this is something entirely different. They are not an infected curse, a different species, or any of the traditional stories. Weres are normal human people with a very rare, highly recessive gene. Many people holding the were gene live normal lives, and never transform. Many of them have improved reflexes or senses, but never know why. But traumatic events can cause the gene to activate, turning them into a beast of dreams and nightmares - they take the appearance and strengths of a creature that they have a close affinity to and/or feared the most - the animal that was most frequently in their mind (or, the animal that they were thinking about when they first morphed). The were gene is also associated to a "berserker" gene, which is why weres seem to be uncontrollable machines of destruction in combat.

The idea that being a were is infectious is the direct result of two unfortunate circumstances. As mentioned before, the stress of being attacked by wildlife can make a were who hadn't awoken yet suddenly turn into that same wildlife; likewise, a non-awoken were being attacked by another were would be likely to result in the same sort of were-form. Needless to say, many, many weres in modern life never "awaken" at all, and go through their life without ever knowing that they (and, obviously, their family) had this potential ability. Different species of were have been dominant at different times and different places in the world. Also, many weres who DO awaken are scared enough by the entire experience that they unconsciously put in mental blocks to prevent themselves from ever doing it again.

Once a were awakens, they can change at will, and how much it affects them depends on the individual. The idea of them being controlled by the lunar cycle is a myth, as are the ideas of being vulnerable to silver or immune to poisons.

The shapechange of a were is typically limited to 10% more or less than their human mass, but it's fairly common for weres to learn some natural (unconscious) magic to increase or decrease their mass along with the change. It happens because they believe that's "right" or "proper" and will themselves to make the change, essentially.

As with the vampires, feel free to ask questions. =^_^=

[Rook Seidhr]

Riveda: Given that I prefer free-form over structured for this sort of game, and everyone else seems to want free-form as well, will that change your interest level to "no thanks"?

Afraid so. I just have a cognitive block when it comes to group freeform.

Have fun, everyone!

EDIT: Top Cat is being kind enough to explain things to me in PM, so assuming I can pass Monday's quiz I will probably join up playing the "guest" character I mentioned.

[Top Cat]

Understood, and sorry that this wasn't a good fit for you. Good luck in finding a game that suits your needs! =^_^=

[Top Cat]

As Riveda said in his post edit, he and I have discussed freeform group games via PM, and he's willing to give it a try after all. =^_^=

So, yes, we're still at 6 players, 7+ characters at this point. Hoping for 15 at the start is probably shooting high, but if we can get that, we stand a much better chance of the game surviving if a few end up dropping out.

[Twisted iN Tux]

Any thoughts on a character sheet yet?

[Top Cat]

Still working on it. Need to get more interested players first.

[Twisted iN Tux]

Well then. I'm just gonna have to get a

little artsy

while we wait. So there.

[Lynnette]

I know I said in PM I wasn't too sure if I had time, but I think I've changed my mind I'm interested in Felicity as of now, I couldn't see anyone else having claimed her at least.

EDIT Okay nevermind, I saw first now that Bubby had stated interest. i'll see what I can come up with :) Would suggest updating the front page though!

[Top Cat]

Thank you, Twisted (Should I call you Twisted? Tux? TiT?), those images are awesome, and very useful.

Welcome aboard, Reaper. =^_^= I've updated the Front Page as suggested.

I'll start writing up a character sheet dealie today so that everyone can get some idea of the other characters, and see who they want to play with. I'd still be much happier if we doubled the player count before we get started.

Last but not least - I'll definitely need 1 or 2 co-GMs to help run this. Any volunteers? If so, please PM me... I'd prefer some experience in GM-ing group games or co-GMing, if possible, but it's not a hard requirement.

[bubby]

*Snickers at  ' TiT ' *

I like that choice.

[Twisted iN Tux]

Thank you, Twisted (Should I call you Twisted? Tux? TiT?), those images are awesome, and very useful.

Welcome aboard, Reaper. =^_^= I've updated the Front Page as suggested.

I'll start writing up a character sheet dealie today so that everyone can get some idea of the other characters, and see who they want to play with. I'd still be much happier if we doubled the player count before we get started.

Last but not least - I'll definitely need 1 or 2 co-GMs to help run this. Any volunteers? If so, please PM me... I'd prefer some experience in GM-ing group games or co-GMing, if possible, but it's not a hard requirement.

I prefer TNT - hence the capital N and lower-case i - but Tony will work just fine, too, seeing that that's my real name. Glad ya like the art. Use it. Don't. Totally up to you. I get bored from time to time, so I make pretty things. If you'd like something different, I'm more than happy to whip whatever up. I'm also a bit of a map maker/lover. So if you'd like a layout of the bar, I can probably make one of those as well, you'd just have to let me know the what and where of it all.

Cheers,
Tony

[Sirian Eve]

I'm excited for this and very nice banners! 

[Top Cat]

@TNT: I'll probably talk with you about drawing up a map of the public areas of the club a bit later, then. =^_^=

A couple of people have asked me about character images, so I'll get that out of the way right now. First, there's several different preferences for character images - some people like real people, some people like fine art, some like self-drawn art, and some like anime screenshots. All of these (and many more ways of expressing yourself) are all valid in my book. I simply request that your character image be a decent representation of what your character looks like. The clothing doesn't have to match perfectly, the attitude could be different than the current scene, and so on - it does not have to change to perfectly represent your character right now, and more importantly, as the next point, I'd rather you didn't.

I've been in games where players change their character image pretty much any time they change scenes - Go take a shower and change clothes, new image. Get in a fight and are now banged-up, new image. Get pissed off and are about to tell off someone else, new image. It's a new (rl) day, new image. With larger games, this gets confusing. A picture may be worth 1000 words, but a lot of the time, most of those 1000 words are irrelevant! And some people (including me) use the character image as a visual reminder of which character they're dealing with, so changing the art makes it seem like it's a different character. Which is not to say that you can't change your character's image, but please do so sparingly. And, also importantly, if you do change your character's image, please do so in the Character Index as well as the storyline posts.

Next up: Image size. I used to be very lax with this, but then I had someone who made screen-size-large character images, which is disruptive (at a minimum!) and comes off WAAAY too much as a "look at me! Not them, just me!" maneuver. So, since my last few games, I've made a hard requirement of image size.

When posting in-game, your character image should be 150x200, or less than 1/3 of the page size (which, of course, varies based on your browser's screen resolution). Also, it is ideal for your Storyline posts to be approximately a bust-view, not a full-character shot. That's not a mandatory thing, just what I believe to be better overall. Keep the full-body shots for the Index post for the character.

For example, if you wanted this to be your character:

You'd never believe he was a vampire, would you?

That's a good image for the Character Index, but way too big for storyline posts. So we resize it a bit, and trim it to the relevant parts...

A new you!

Note that this is very important when you're running more than one character!

If you're feeling creative, consider that giving just the bust view can give a completely different idea for the character than the full image:

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Look at her. So lovely.


And so naughty!


(Yes, there's too much white space above her head. It was a quick image mod. Shush.

There's more than just the character image to discuss - I'll explain more about the Character Index and the Storyline Post Header in a later post.

As usual, if you have any questions, just ask. =^_^=

[Top Cat]

General character ideas for anyone who might be inspired by them (based on actual characters from the previous stories in this world):

• Staff Member: Female bouncer/Dominatrix, keeps the public BDSM stages under control
• Staff Member: Male Bartender: Always mixes the drinks just the way you like them, and always seems to suggest new drinks you never thought you'd like, but do!
• Normal Guest: Female Receptionist: Works for a company that is even more boring than it sounds, and needs a place to really let loose once in a while
• Awakened Guest: Male Vampire Hunter: Has learned that not all Vamps are bad, and is still exploring the idea of not killing them on sight

Edit: And for those who are unfamiliar with the theme song at the top, have a listen. 

[Ixy]

I may be interested in playing a client who is to be 'inducted,' in a sense.  I have this notion of a woman with a "buried wolf" in her heart-- a lycanthrope who is unable to shift by her own control, and struggling to balance her occasional "outbursts" with measured control.  Werewolves recognize that she's a threat, and may have bandied around the idea of destroying her before she destroys herself in a rampage that would risk alerting hunters, hurting or killing innocents, and exposing the werewolves' true existence. 

She would need a Mentor... one with the power to draw out or subdue the beast in her before it goes haywire, to teach her control of it.  Extreme rage, the use of high-powered stimulants, and extreme sexual arousal are her triggers for transformation, and with it she loses all conscious control.  Her Mentor would ideally be a supernatural who can control her beast through supernatural means.  She would have agreed to seek their services as a last-ditch effort to learn control.

Image