Let's Play VtM: Wild Nights - Chapter 10

[grotsnik]

Trainspotting was set in Leith, the old port area of Edinburgh, my dear Grotsbro.

Most of Welsh's novels are set in or around Edinburgh and its seedier districts. You might get more Glasgow in Alasdair Gray, for example his novel "Lanark" (advise you read if you like magic realism type stuff).

Anyway, I take your ignorance as a personal sleight and now we must duel sir.

Also, there are differences in dialect between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

'tard, c'est moi. Well, I know even less about Glasgow, then.

Although you did spell 'slight' wrong. So...yeah. Take that.

 

[ironyuri]

That was intentional.



Actually it wasn't, fuck. My brain has been melting today because of too much FPS gaming.

 

[Azael]

Move it to Liverpool, more Dubrik for the people!

 

[Storyfag]

I'll definitely wait and see the other options before casting my vote. But they'll have to be *really* cool to be more appealing than continuing with Anthony. Nothing less than a proper Tzimisce :]

Okay, what about a Tzimisce who was a patriotic defender of the holy potatoland in his mortal days, to the point where now he can only rest at night in the most fertile, potato-growing growing soil of his motherland and a copy of The Perfected Cut of The Witcher: Limited Collector's Ultimate Edition - Deluxe.

That sounds enough.

 

[Esquilax]

Move it to Liverpool, more Dubrik for the people!

As far as changing locations to Liverpool, I'm not so sure. Grotsnik is from London IIRC, and I think that his familiarity with the city has gone a long way in providing the locations we've seen with a lot of character and uniqueness. If he's able to do the same with Liverpool, perhaps, but I still feel that there's so much of the city we've yet to uncover; we haven't been to Chinatown, we don't know anything about the Centurion, and we haven't had an in-depth look at either the Anarchs or the Sabbat. There are a lot of interesting things left for us in London.

While Dubrik is a very interesting character, I kinda like having him working against us from the shadows. I suppose I like him better as an antagonist. He is a master manipulator whose motivations are unknown, so playing as him and instantly figuring out his game with regards to the Infernalist info he sent Anthony would be a little unsatisfying. It's more fun to figure out his plans and maybe beat him at his own game.

I like Anthony and I've become invested in his character and our upcoming conflict with Samantha Eames, so I feel that replacing him entirely with all those loose ends hanging might be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Perhaps we can choose a new character, but periodically switch between different POVs? The fact that Grot mentioned The Wire suddenly made me a bit more eager to choose a different character unaffiliated with the Camarilla. Organizing an extra POV might be a bit of a clusterfuck, so I would understand if grotsnik would find such an option unappealing.

If we do go for a new character, I'm picking Brujah. The character description had me hooked; I really want to know what this trick up his sleeve is. Besides, it would allow for a much different, more EXTREME collar-grabby playthrough and it would flesh out the Anarchs a bit more.

A) You have crossed oceans. Toppled governments. You watched as this city burnt, centuries ago. You watched them rebuild it. You’ve made good friends amongst the Kindred – and even those who call themselves Cainites. Most of them saw their last sunrise a long time ago; and now you wander the familiar streets of Islington, or hanging out at the Anarch meetings, listening to the young punks talk about affecting change. Most of them speak of you with little reverence, these days, saying you’re past it. A washout. A failure. You don’t care; you’ve got a plan. One final trick up your sleeve. You are Brujah.

CELERITY. POTENCE. PRESENCE.

 

[ironyuri]

Move it to Liverpool, more Dubrik for the people!

As far as changing locations to Liverpool, I'm not so sure. Grotsnik is from London IIRC, and I think that his familiarity with the city has gone a long way in providing the locations we've seen with a lot of character and uniqueness. If he's able to do the same with Liverpool, perhaps, but I still feel that there's so much of the city we've yet to uncover; we haven't been to Chinatown, we don't know anything about the Centurion, and we haven't had an in-depth look at either the Anarchs or the Sabbat. There are a lot of interesting things left for us in London.

While Dubrik is a very interesting character, I kinda like having him working against us from the shadows. I suppose I like him better as an antagonist. He is a master manipulator whose motivations are unknown, so playing as him and instantly figuring out his game with regards to the Infernalist info he sent Anthony would be a little unsatisfying. It's more fun to figure out his plans and maybe beat him at his own game.

I like Anthony and I've become invested in his character and our upcoming conflict with Samantha Eames, so I feel that replacing him entirely with all those loose ends hanging might be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Perhaps we can choose a new character, but periodically switch between different POVs? The fact that Grot mentioned The Wire suddenly made me a bit more eager to choose a different character unaffiliated with the Camarilla. Organizing an extra POV might be a bit of a clusterfuck, so I would understand if grotsnik would find such an option unappealing.

If we do go for a new character, I'm picking Brujah. The character description had me hooked; I really want to know what this trick up his sleeve is. Besides, it would allow for a much different, more EXTREME collar-grabby playthrough and it would flesh out the Anarchs a bit more.

A) You have crossed oceans. Toppled governments. You watched as this city burnt, centuries ago. You watched them rebuild it. You’ve made good friends amongst the Kindred – and even those who call themselves Cainites. Most of them saw their last sunrise a long time ago; and now you wander the familiar streets of Islington, or hanging out at the Anarch meetings, listening to the young punks talk about affecting change. Most of them speak of you with little reverence, these days, saying you’re past it. A washout. A failure. You don’t care; you’ve got a plan. One final trick up your sleeve. You are Brujah.

CELERITY. POTENCE. PRESENCE.

The benefits of London are its size. Cities like Liverpool and Manchester are similar to what London was maybe 100-200 years ago, in that they are core metropolitan areas and have not yet fully absorbed their towns, in the case of Manchester you still have separate towns such as:

Chester, Stockport, Salford, Macclesfield, etc etc etc.

London has long since absorbed towns which were once separate and as such provides a huge area for LPing, without moving action to what seem to be inconsequential towns and villages.

Also, my impression was that grotsbro was not a native Londoner, but there for work, given some comments he's made in the past.

 

[grotsnik]

Also, my impression was that grotsbro was not a native Londoner, but there for work, given some comments he's made in the past.

Indeed. Still, while I'm definitely no born-and-raised expert (I got a little depressed recently when a more informed friend said she knew where to find an occult bookshop in London. Why can't I know where that is?) I think London's probably easiest, if only because I can check stuff out firsthand and there's always a chance that I'll stumble drunkenly into a side-street containing something interesting at the weekends.

London's also easiest, not just because of what yuri said, but also because our country's hilarious media bias towards the capital means it's much easier to research apparently trivial things online. Like when I suddenly started calling the sewer water 'greasy'? I'd discovered apparently the sewer workers spend a huge amount of their time clearing out fat deposits - nine double-decker busloads under Leicester Square last year. Plus there's a great glut of modern London-loving authors who like to give tips about weird and esoteric oddities in the city (Iain Sinclair, from whom Alan Moore nicked the idea that there's something rum about the way Hawksmoor built his churches, China Mieville, Neil Gaiman...)

 

[laclongquan]

of you, Grotsnik. It's an ending to part one.

As for the next part, I have two thoughts:

Option 1: Playing as Sommers. The advantages you know.

Option 2: Play as a Torreador hitman Edgar Fellowes. I notice this collection of players has the tendency to choose actions than intrigue, tactics than strategies. So a fresh run with a Torreador hitman with lightning quick reflex seem to be in order.

We can let Anthony's efforts to rebuild his info network fade into background and let Eddie's adventure into the night life of London into focus.

EDIT: and one little mentioned character is the young Ventrue Sommers charged to prepare background facts to help the Kine incident. But playing as Ventrue again is boring. Eddie is more fun.

 

[Undead Phoenix]

The benefits of London are its size. Cities like Liverpool and Manchester are similar to what London was maybe 100-200 years ago, in that they are core metropolitan areas and have not yet fully absorbed their towns, in the case of Manchester you still have separate towns such as:

Chester, Stockport, Salford, Macclesfield, etc etc etc.

London has long since absorbed towns which were once separate and as such provides a huge area for LPing, without moving action to what seem to be inconsequential towns and villages.

Also, my impression was that grotsbro was not a native Londoner, but there for work, given some comments he's made in the past.

Benefits? I'd say that seperate towns offer new aspects that London doesn't. The main roads and countryside between towns is no place for kindred, which gives rise to independant towns being a haven for all manner or weird and wonderful creatures - as long as they don't get themselves too noticed. Whereas with London, it's harder to justify just why they haven't been turfed out or killed.

Still, positives and negatives go hand in hand, and when you write what you know then you will always create a fuller picture.

 

[Excidium]

I think VtM works better in big urban areas. In small and medium cities you only have like a dozen kindred or less, nothing much interesting happens in terms of politics. Besides, the countryside tend to be werewolf territory...and I wouldn't want to mess with Garou...plus London is an awesome city, it's probably one of the cities most fitting to the Vampire theme, I wouldn't want to leave it.

And it's not hard to justify other creatures in London, London is one of the biggest centers of occult history and there must be many supernatural entities and groups there, especially Mages and other stranger shit even.

 

[ironyuri]

The benefits of London are its size. Cities like Liverpool and Manchester are similar to what London was maybe 100-200 years ago, in that they are core metropolitan areas and have not yet fully absorbed their towns, in the case of Manchester you still have separate towns such as:

Chester, Stockport, Salford, Macclesfield, etc etc etc.

London has long since absorbed towns which were once separate and as such provides a huge area for LPing, without moving action to what seem to be inconsequential towns and villages.

Also, my impression was that grotsbro was not a native Londoner, but there for work, given some comments he's made in the past.

Benefits? I'd say that seperate towns offer new aspects that London doesn't. The main roads and countryside between towns is no place for kindred, which gives rise to independant towns being a haven for all manner or weird and wonderful creatures - as long as they don't get themselves too noticed. Whereas with London, it's harder to justify just why they haven't been turfed out or killed.

Still, positives and negatives go hand in hand, and when you write what you know then you will always create a fuller picture.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see us go outside of London. Would even have been nice to visit Castle Howard but all our problems were in London for the duration of episode one.

 

[Vibalist]

Brujah

 

[Storyfag]

I think VtM works better in big urban areas. In small and medium cities you only have like a dozen kindred or less, nothing much interesting happens in terms of politics.

That depends on whether you want to stick to the vampire population suggested in the rulebook (1 Cainite per 100000 Kine) or not. My fiancee and I did some calculations (she's a medic), and it turns out that 1 Cainite per 25000 Kine would work just fine. Assuming that every Vampire drinks 1 litre of blood nightly (they actually NEED only half a litre, but this goes up in wartime and for feeding ghouls, etc), this population ratio would result in each Kine being bitten once every 40 years. Not *that* terrible, is it? And it allows cities with populations even below 1 milion to boast a siezable amount of Cainites.

 

[Undead Phoenix]

I think VtM works better in big urban areas. In small and medium cities you only have like a dozen kindred or less, nothing much interesting happens in terms of politics. Besides, the countryside tend to be werewolf territory...and I wouldn't want to mess with Garou...plus London is an awesome city, it's probably one of the cities most fitting to the Vampire theme, I wouldn't want to leave it.

And it's not hard to justify other creatures in London, London is one of the biggest centers of occult history and there must be many supernatural entities and groups there, especially Mages and other stranger shit even.

Pfft.

Go to Whitby.

 

[Excidium]

Pfft.

Stay in London.

I think VtM works better in big urban areas. In small and medium cities you only have like a dozen kindred or less, nothing much interesting happens in terms of politics.

That depends on whether you want to stick to the vampire population suggested in the rulebook (1 Cainite per 100000 Kine) or not. My fiancee and I did some calculations (she's a medic), and it turns out that 1 Cainite per 25000 Kine would work just fine. Assuming that every Vampire drinks 1 litre of blood nightly (they actually NEED only half a litre, but this goes up in wartime and for feeding ghouls, etc), this population ratio would result in each Kine being bitten once every 40 years. Not *that* terrible, is it? And it allows cities with populations even below 1 milion to boast a siezable amount of Cainites.

That seems plausible enough, but I still prefer bigger cities, I like the freedom you have in a bigger enviroment. And there's the familiarity too, I think it's easier for Grotsnik to write a game set in London since he lives there.

 

[laclongquan]

Grotsnik, do you make a new thread about Part Two? If so you should do some intinial post of that thread.

 

[Azael]

Keep it in London then, it is a grand old city after all, with many interesting locales. I think that Sommers should be relegated to the supporting cast, his arch is pretty much played out as it is, even if it would be interesting to follow his adventures further.

I'd say that from the opening post, the Brujah, Giovanni and the Toreador sounds like the most intriguing options, but I guess you will be going with a different set of character options for Act 2.

 

[laclongquan]

Hell no. Whoever said Sommers' tale is finished? Nono. it's just he's entering the period of building up new contacts and new resources, and keep his head low for the time being, all the things that are pretty much boring to narrate and play, so we recommend new characters.

Sommers doesnt give up his dream to become the Patrician of London, you know.

 

[Esquilax]

Keep it in London then, it is a grand old city after all, with many interesting locales. I think that Sommers should be relegated to the supporting cast, his arch is pretty much played out as it is, even if it would be interesting to follow his adventures further.

I'd say that from the opening post, the Brujah, Giovanni and the Toreador sounds like the most intriguing options, but I guess you will be going with a different set of character options for Act 2.

I agree with Lac, Sommers' tale isn't finished by any means. Yeah, he may be Baron of Whitehall, but now he has to deal with Eames, who is probably the most powerful enemy he's faced. We still have yet to find out what she's planning, uncover the Infernalist and Dubrik's motivations, and stick it to those asshole Barons who think that they don't have to take us seriously. Finding out where the Nosferatu have re-based and where Erika ran off to are important as well.

In fact, I'm hoping that the Nosferatu come in contact with us soon. Hopefully saving one of their people will have established some good will between us, and maybe the girl we saved will visit us. Now we know that Oscar is spying on us for Eames; she pretty much gave it away when she mentioned how her people took Rannigan shortly after he left our home. I say we tip the Nosferatu off that Oscar is Eames' lackey and have them violently kick the shit out of him to put him in line ASAP. That way, he can feed her false information while simultaneously working for our interests.

It's clear that the Nosferatu don't like the Tremere, and Eames in particular, at all. We need to use this to our advantage. Look at the character info on Simone:

A Nosferatu explosives expert, Simone works freelance - her association with the Tremere Samantha Eames has made her something of an outcast amongst her clan.

And hey... why stop at Whitehall? Who's to say Tony can't diablerize Eames to become the rightful Prince of London and re-hire Erika? After all, can't have a Tremere on the throne.

So while I'd like to have a different character, I hope that it doesn't close the door to continuing as Anthony in the near future, either. Given the character options provided in the beginning, I'd pick Brujah. It'll show us different factions within the city and a playstyle radically different from our scheming Ventrue's. Also, the rebellious Brujah are complete opposite ideologically to the traditionalist Ventrue, so it's interesting from that angle as well. However, grotsnik might provide us with a whole bunch of Sabbat options that are cool as well. So I guess I'll wait and see what kind of other character options grot has cooked up for us.

 

[grotsnik]

I'd say that from the opening post, the Brujah, Giovanni and the Toreador sounds like the most intriguing options, but I guess you will be going with a different set of character options for Act 2.

Weirdly enough, those are the ones that I've got coming back, although their situations have all moved on a bit since the original post.

Grotsnik, do you make a new thread about Part Two? If so you should do some intinial post of that thread.

Nahh, I'll stick with this one. Might get a bit messy with all the content but it's a grand old thread, after all...

 

[Excidium]

Keep it in London then, it is a grand old city after all, with many interesting locales. I think that Sommers should be relegated to the supporting cast, his arch is pretty much played out as it is, even if it would be interesting to follow his adventures further.

I'd say that from the opening post, the Brujah, Giovanni and the Toreador sounds like the most intriguing options, but I guess you will be going with a different set of character options for Act 2.

I agree with Lac, Sommers' tale isn't finished by any means. Yeah, he may be Baron of Whitehall, but now he has to deal with Eames, who is probably the most powerful enemy he's faced. We still have yet to find out what she's planning, uncover the Infernalist and Dubrik's motivations, and stick it to those asshole Barons who think that they don't have to take us seriously. Finding out where the Nosferatu have re-based and where Erika ran off to are important as well.

In fact, I'm hoping that the Nosferatu come in contact with us soon. Hopefully saving one of their people will have established some good will between us, and maybe the girl we saved will visit us. Now we know that Oscar is spying on us for Eames; she pretty much gave it away when she mentioned how her people took Rannigan shortly after he left our home. I say we tip the Nosferatu off that Oscar is Eames' lackey and have them violently kick the shit out of him to put him in line ASAP. That way, he can feed her false information while simultaneously working for our interests.

It's clear that the Nosferatu don't like the Tremere, and Eames in particular, at all. We need to use this to our advantage. Look at the character info on Simone:

A Nosferatu explosives expert, Simone works freelance - her association with the Tremere Samantha Eames has made her something of an outcast amongst her clan.

And hey... why stop at Whitehall? Who's to say Tony can't diablerize Eames to become the rightful Prince of London and re-hire Erika? After all, can't have a Tremere on the throne.

I want to play already!! :D

 

[Breaking Axe]

I wish there was a way to hide diablerie from auspex effectively while still remaining an active political figure. Tony could rise fast and high if that were the case. Although our high generation at least keeps actual diablerists off our backs (Besides hungry elders).

 

[Orgasm]

I wish I didnt have withdrawal symptoms.

 

[SCO]

It's unusual for a university level programmer to also be a visual artist, all the ones i knew were musicians.

Do you take or took classes in both areas Orgasm?

 

[grotsnik]

Ah, fuck it, then.



Part Two


Prologue



The Inconnu looks up from his book.

He’s dressed in the full uniform of a royal steward, the jacket of which is now beginning to look just a touch creased as he slouches across the velvet chair.

“Erkenwald,” he says, smiling. “About bloody time. Where’ve you been, then?”

The new arrival, wrapped in a dripping plastic mac, closes the door of the Palace state room carefully behind him before grunting, without a great deal of warmth,

“Evening, Bartholomew.”

“Lizzie and Phil had a late appointment, you see,” Bartholomew says, indicating his uniform without waiting for the subject to be raised. “Handing out medals to heroic citizens. Well, I was bored, so I thought I’d dress up and come along with them. Did the introductions. I really had no idea,” he adds, with considerable relish, “of the triumph in their eyes when I say their name out loud. Does it matter, in the end, that they’ve been acknowledged by a so-called queen, even though she's only pretending she gives a shit that they exist and everybody knows it? Of course it doesn’t, but they lap it up all the same. Probably a moment they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.”

He sniggers.

Erkenwald, pointedly ignoring him, begins to unzip his mac.

At Bartholomew’s feet, the short, bespectacled, withered old lady in a lilac dress, coiled up on the carpet like a cat, stirs, opening her eyes, and yawns.

“I haven't touched her,” Bartholomew says, charitably, “if you’re hungry. But you didn’t tell me what you’ve been up to these past few nights, Erkenwald. I’ve been bored silly, kicking my heels round the palace by myself.”

Lizzie whimpers, in a high-pitched, nasally aristocratic accent, stroking at his calf, gazing up with apparent yearning,

“But I’ve taken such good care of you all this time, Bartie, dear…”

“Of course you have, my dear,” says Bartholomew, stroking her primped white hair, “and I appreciate it. But I think we’d all have to admit that you’re hardly at my intellectual level, wouldn’t we? And your husband, bless him, gets confused every time I try to have a half-intelligent conversation with him.
It isn't your fault, really - it's only nature."

Erkenwald steps out in front of the fireplace, and lingers there, letting the heat of the flames dry his dull Victorian suit.

Above him, in the place of a long-removed mirror, hangs a faded tapestry; blood-red, and plain. At its heart, intricately woven, is a depiction of a decapitated stag’s head, pierced through from top to bottom with the tip of an iron spear. On the beast’s forehead rests a crown of ivy.

In spite of himself, he raises a hand to touch the tapestry for good luck.

“You know,” Bartholomew whines, from behind him, “I really think you might-”

“I’ve been out in the city,” Erkenwald snaps back, without turning. “Watching. Monitoring. Our duty, Bartholomew, one you continue to neglect.”

Erkenwald stalks back across the room, treading water into the priceless Persian carpet, and slumps into the nearest easy-chair. Lizzie gives him an enraptured smile, raising a wrinkled hand to stroke at his knee.

Bartholomew asks, almost coyly, like a child that knows it's been naughty,

“Find out anything juicy?”

Erkenwald feels a sudden, unexpected tremor of hunger. He rarely needs to feed, not these days, not since Golconda…but there’s still pleasure to be found in the sharp, sweet taste of the vitae.

He leans forward and begins to fumble at the buttons on Lizzie’s sleeve.

“The Camarilla is…stable, for the moment,” he says, quickly, rolling the cloth back. “Samantha Eames’ political bloc is powerful enough to dominate the council, but it won’t last much longer than the summer – August at most, I should think. One or two of her allies already distrust her, and they’re beginning to scheme themselves. And Eames is getting herself into a tangle. She thinks she has one of the Fallen under her control, Caine help her.”

“And does she?”

Erkenwald snorts, making a sharp, indicative movement with his head.

“The Anarchs are, as ever, hopelessly divided,” he continues, running his fingers down the assorted pock-marks criss-crossing the old lady's wrist. “Meanwhile, the Sabbat has let caution fly to the winds – it’s begun to entice outsiders into the city to bolster its ranks. But their presence won’t be enough; it may even weaken the unity of their organisation. The Cardinal knows it, but he also knows that the packs will expect to retaliate against the Camarilla once autumn comes and the nights begin to lengthen once again. When they do attack, it'll be an outright disaster, one that may force them into the shadows for as long as a decade." He takes a breath. "There is a foreigner in the north-west selling doctored blood. Oh – and last night, a group of Kine workmen hid a medium-sized incendiary device beneath the foundations of the Olympic stadium in Kensington. I suspect it’s unlikely to be found in time to prevent the intended deaths. Anyway, I’ll type it all up and get it sent back to the Council for tomorrow night.”

He dips his head to Lizzie’s exposed wrist, and begins to feed.

Bartholomew chuckles merrily to himself, kicking his feet up into the air.

“Oh, London,” he says, with a smile that’s just a little tender. “Sweet bloody London. City of shadows, city of rain. Forever changing...and always the same.”