Chimerical Realm

For my upcoming game of Vampire, I'm thinking of doing something different with combat. I've never been terribly in love with the standard Storyteller combat system. I've always felt it was a bit clunky and awkward. Since I tend to run fairly combat lite games anyways, I'm thinking of giving the “narrative combat” from the Storytellers Handbook a whirl. Naturally, I'm going to tweak it a bit, though. I think some of this is similar to the New World of Darkness combat, but I'm not sure, as I haven't played a game with that system in several years now. In any case, here’s what I've come up with. Initiative Rolling initiative is not necessary for every fight--in some cases it's obvious who should go first, assuming I even bother with turns. In those situations where it's not obvious, initiative will be determined by the following:       Standard Initiative roll is Wits + Alertness, difficult 4; highest n...

An old friend of mine is starting up a new AD&D campaign, here are the initial thoughts: General theme This setting (as yet unnamed) is one that rethinks the hackneyed genre of D&D campaign settings. We have become used to a particular feel in campaign settings, ones where fantastic worlds increasingly look like our own. Fantasy cities are places where half-orcs rub shoulders with halflings in ways that we wish various cultures did in our world today (much less in a previous time). Heroes with glittering magical swords stroll peaceably in full plate mail through city streets, and magical spells are routinely cast in a shower of colored lights. Taking a cue also from computer RPGs, disposable monsters pop up in creepy settings to be dispatched over and over again. But if we return to fantasy literature, none of this  feels  right. Tolkien is the inspiration for most of us who are fantasy fans – indeed, the Fellowship of the Ring feels like most adv...

Now that I have my basic idea for the first adventure—a “Bug Hunt”—it’s time to work out some details. Years ago one of my friends played a really interesting character based on The Metamorphosis . The basic concept was a man turned by a Nosferatu who just could not deal with the change and ended up going a bit nutty. In the game we played, two of the other characters had befriended him and were trying to help him come to grips with the change and restore his Humanity. Taking that idea, I decide to twist it and turn him into the villain of the piece. So, the background is that Gregory Samsa (yes, I am a hack when it comes to names) was an average salesman, working at the Greenline Paper Company. He was laid off two years ago, and the company went under soon thereafter. Unable to find a new job, he began drinking heavily and sank into depression. One night, while he stumbled home, he was attacked by a vampire and turned.  He struggled home and hid. The next few nights were t...

The first story is always a bit tricky when starting a new game, but particularly so for games like Vampire. Since so much of the game is dependent on the characters, it is almost impossible to come up with “generic” stories that will fit any coterie, and yet when creating the first story you are working with a blank slate. Since my players haven’t created any characters yet, I have no convenient hooks (like missing sires or desires to discover a cure for their unfortunate condition) to rely upon. And yet, I need to come up with something, as I don't want to spend the entire first session just creating characters, nor do I want to rely on just “winging” it and run the risk that the game might fall flat. First off, let’s review my outline, and what I’m hoping to accomplish at this stage in the game development process: 4 First Story    4.1   Develop a basic first story to kick the game off    4.2   Keep it flexible enough to handl...

One of the joys and dangers of creating a setting is the desire to just KEEP creating. As I finished up my major NPCs, each one seemed to call out for a host of others—enemies, childer, sires, rivals, allies, etc. But, I'm trying to keep to the “ don't create more than I have to” mantra, and so I'm putting the brakes on creating any more NPCs for now. But, in the process of creating them, new facets of the city started to come to light. As such, I've gone back over my initial notes and ideas for the city and began bringing them together with both more detail and in a way that will help make it easier to run the game. Much like the major NPCs, I've gone back and given each of the major areas of the city a one page write up. The reason why I try to keep each thing to one page, and each having their own page, is for ease of use in the game. I'm not really a huge fan of having a computer or a tablet at the gaming table, s...

So, as I was thinking about Charleston this morning, I realized that I had forgotten a key element in the War of Ages—the anarchs!  How could I possibly have a teeming, violent city on the verge of all-out war and NOT have a group of desperate young Kindred just waiting for the chance to burn the place down?  Truly, this was a terrible oversight on my part. Now, I’m not generally a fan of the later treatments of the anarchs as a global “sect” struggling against the Camarilla and the Sabbat. I prefer my anarchs more locally focused—those who are fighting to save THIS city or take down THIS prince. So, I’m going to ignore most of the works on the anarchs, and instead focus on those solely from Charleston, and how they fit into the great drama that is unfolding. The majority of Kindred political leanings are divided between the two great factions, the Prince and the Lords Proprietors. Depending on which side one falls, one either believes the city needs a strong central...

I was able to get some of my NPC's detailed so far. The Court and the Lord's Proprietor are done, and while I still have the "powers that be" to work on, I'm fairly happy so far. Of course, as I create each one, at least one or two (and sometimes several) other NPC's spring to mind, but I'm deliberately NOT going to work on those yet. I want to wait and see what kind of characters my players come with first before I start creating any new ones. Now, as I mention in a previous post , I don't worry too much about "statting" up these characters. For one thing, most of them are pretty old and powerful, and could probably wipe the floor with new PC's. But also, the stats can easily come later as needed--what's more important for the game is who they are, what they want, and what they heck they are up to. I'm not going to post all of them, as that would be a huge post and rather boring. Instead, here's a sampling of what I have ...