Let's Play VtM: Wild Nights - Chapter 10

[grotsnik]

Only if it involves the VASE somehow

Right, that's it.

Spoiler

The builders work slowly, lazily, chatting with one another about the football results. Occasionally one of them will wander off into one of the adjoining rooms and admire the opulence of the large, well-lit Primrose Hill home of the famous pop singer (“I’d do her”, one of them confides to his mate).

“Right,” the foreman says, stretching his arms out as if emerging from slumber. “Get the drill in, Ahmed. May as well get through that concrete sooner or later.”

The drill roars, driving cracks outwards in all directions through the thick grey concrete. The walls tremble, and shake.

Next door, in a slightly larger house held under the name of Anthony Sommers, an ancient-looking, faded, phallic Mesopotamian vase wobbles precariously on its stand, then topples.

It strikes the ground. And shatters, the clay shards spilling out in all directions across the floor of the vault.

Then a cupboard falls on it.

If it could ever have had any relevance to any of the events happening in London, it’s surely lost it, along with whatever powers it might have held.

Also, it can’t be stuck back together again because it’s magic, or something.

 

[Storyfag]

awesome

 

[CappenVarra]

Noooo, anything but the Vase ! :cursetheheavens:

Seriously, I just spent two and a half days reading this LP from the start (despite not knowing that much WoD lore), and I must say - excellent work, grotsnik!

The first part was especially , I think mainly due to a good character choice - there is something inherently codexian about the scheming, politicking Ventrue and the crazy plots people came up with. And I love how grotsnik manages to create a proper WoD sense of imminent failure: Anthony achieved some pretty big successes (like getting rid of Angelos) by playing to his strengths, but that came at the price of doing and learning fuck all about Hob, Ogham, the Centurion, Kuei-Jin, the Setite, ... all of which could come back and pretty much undo his success in a single update.

There's just too many angles to the story to cover, and that works great to keep us paranoid (and aliveundead). And while it's been hinted that the Centurion and Hob might just cancel each other out in the end, it's far from certain - and gambling like that doesn't sound very Ventrue... I keep wondering how this mess will end (and smelling smoke from an upcoming Great_Fire_of_London++).

So far, I think Joan is not working out as well, but I guess it was to be expected. Her only strengths are a) access to Thaumaturgy (which she's neglected completely so far) b) the sheer audacity of her situation makes her less suspect (since I'm under the impression only a neonate would consider such a suicidal approach). Too bad that the choices so far seem to all make her increasingly suspect (whatever the hell Argyll is doing, the encounter with the Malk seer in front of Regentia, her easily verifiable lie about visiting the Whiplash, the so far pretty asymmetrical bargain with the Samedi, ...) While I'm sure grotsnik will come up with fair and interesting choices, I guess I'm too pessimistic to expect her achieving anything more than dragging as many fuckers along for her sunbath... But we'll see

Anyway, I just might join you distinguished gentlemen in future voting

 

[laclongquan]

There goes one of our treasure. Its value lost to the vandalisms of players and the whimsical whims of story teller. Poor Anthony! When it rains, it pours. It's not as if he's a major wealthy Old Money or anything, that can afford burning money like paper.

 

[Excidium]

Dubrik's gonna be mad.

 

[Breaking Axe]

Will we have monetary compensation?! Did we have house insurance?! We need to get Nosferatu surveillance of the incident ASAP. Forget Hob or whatever, we're down a priceless antique. Those builders will PAY...

 

[ironyuri]

Gentleman, welcome to "Vampire: The Masquerade - Home and Contents Insurance".


Has someone called those meerkats? I hear they do it seemples.

 

[Orgasm]

Grot, got any idea for a semi decent rendered illustration? Play art director. I wanna try to do a real picture.

 

[Esquilax]

I don't want to put any words in grot's mouth, but I think we can all agree that the best idea for an illustration would be a horrified expression of despair on Anthony Sommers' face as he looks upon the shattered vase and realizes that all is lost.

 

[Storyfag]

I don't want to put any words in grot's mouth, but I think we can all agree that the best idea for an illustration would be a horrified expression of despair on Anthony Sommers' face as he looks upon the shattered vase and realizes that all is lost.

 

[Orgasm]

I don't want to put any words in grot's mouth, but I think we can all agree that the best idea for an illustration would be a horrified expression of despair on Anthony Sommers' face as he looks upon the shattered vase and realizes that all is lost.

Is that a 1man1jar reference?

 

[laclongquan]

Naaah. That look more like Oscar or at best Eddie.

For Anthony it must look more

 

[ironyuri]

Anthony upon finding out about the destruction of the vase

 

[laclongquan]

Codex is revolting

 

[Excidium]

Indeed.

I don't wanna sound too demanding but we still didn't get our choice.

 

[Gondolin]

The masses need their opium fix.

 

[Storyfag]

Yes, yes we do :dizzy:

 

[Esquilax]

Riots first, and if grot doesn't update in 48 hours, we send in the Lithuanian Hitmen.

 

[Orgasm]

While grot is absent you can read this

http://www.themorningnews.org/article/t ... s-the-high

Morning News publishes all kinds of essay and shorts.

 

[laclongquan]

Potato death squad~

 

[Esquilax]

It's been weeks since the last update. Shit, I really need to switch to something less addictive, like heroin.

Anywho, I've just come up with a plan that might be p. cool. Not anything vase or vaulderie related, but still pretty good. We've probably got a few Nossies in the Warren sympathetic to Tony after our last trip in the Warren, right? And our main problem with the Gangrel is that they're apathetic and they don't give a fuck about the Jyhad.

I propose this; since we're among Gangrel at the moment, we keep our eyes on their people, where they usually stick around to patrol and hunt, any areas where they might be vulnerable to getting attacked, etc. Then, we come in contact with the Nosferatu via Bob Griddle's man inside the Warren to find individuals sympathetic to Anthony Sommers. Then, we hire them out to initiate a false-flag operation: they will Obfuscate themselves and appear as known associates of Eames (i.e. Tinker, her head of security) and ambush and kill a few Gangrel.

After we stage this attack, we'll tell Grandmother Faa that Eames has gone power-hungry and insane from dealing with Infernalist powers, and that neutrality simply isn't an option any more. If they believe our lie (and I think that they will, Anthony has proven to be a hell of a liar) we will have a powerful ally firmly on our side. It would also provide some good training for our ghouls before shit hits the fan; just dress them up in ski masks and they won't be recognized.

Thoughts?

 

[Excidium]

Sounds too risky for my tastes.

 

[CappenVarra]

While definitely Machiavellian enough for a Ventrue, that plan has a lot of potential fuck-ups: if it succeeds, we get some Gangrel muscle (which doesn't seem to be any good against Hob); if it fails, we are set to lose the (few!) friendly Nosferatu, reveal (and possibly lose) our super secret elite ghoul squad, convince the Gangrel that they were perfectly right to distrust anybody from the Camarilla - and possibly make them hostile as well. While Ventrue are compulsive schemers, gambling with such odds seems way too plebian for Anthony

We need an update so we can scheme properly! M:

 

[laclongquan]

We dont even have any decision lately.

:sleep:

 

[CappenVarra]

Warning: off-topic nonsense while waiting for the update...

It was all dreadfully, unnecessarily complicated, but upon reflection, Vykos came to the conclusion that most Cainites of her age or older simply didn't know any other way to be. The simple and direct died simple and direct deaths; only the devious and elusive endured.

I've been replaying VtM:Bloodlines with a Malkavian last week, and remembered grotsnik saying how writing a Malkavian would be lots of work. I agree completely - if the Malk is like the Bloodlines protagonist, a gibbering madman of obvious dementia whose every second sentence is an obscure pop reference or an obfuscated prophetic spoiler. However, "regular" Malkavians are interesting when they are somewhat like Grout from the game - relatively normal-ish personalities with a particular twist. And wouldn't that be much easier to write? For example:

Mac Boone Cleveson, 13th generation Malkavian

* Attributes *

Physical
-------------------
Strength 3
Dexterity 2
Stamina 3

Social
-------------------
Charisma 1
Manipulation 3
Appearance 2

Mental
-------------------
Perception 2
Intelligence 4
Wits 4


* Abilities *

Talents
-------------------
Brawl 4
Athletics 3
Alertness 2

Skills
-------------------
Melee 3
Survival 2

Knowledge
-------------------
Computer 4
Science 4
Occult 3
Politics 2


* Disciplines *

Auspex 1
- Heightened Senses: Raise one of your five senses to superhuman levels.
- Add 1 to Wits; reveal auras of all within a short distance.
- Special / Flavor: Instead of hearing voices (as Malkavians usually do), the character believes that he's the last in line of a long history of individuals chosen to write a grand tome of knowledge (known only as "The Grimoire"). Engages in public interaction with this non-existent book (can be seen flipping pages in the empty air and seemingly reading for hours at a time if undisturbed). Auspex powers involve "reading" or "looking something up" from the book, if appropriate.

Dementation 2
- Hysteria: The victim is temporarily incapacitated with laughter. 
- Passion: Amplify or dull emotions present in the victim, increasing the difficulty of frenzy, Virtue, and other rolls.
- The Haunting: Inflict maddening visions upon a victim.
- Mass Hallucination: Anyone nearby suffers mild hallucinations, causing them to suffer penalties to their actions.
- Special / Flavor: Can use all hostile Dementation powers over the Internet; only subjects willingly reading his online writings (email, chat, forums, blog, ...) are affected.


* Other *

Humanity 6

Willpower 6 

Merit: Ubermensch 
-------------------
Strength, Stamina and Intelligence cost 3 points x level to increase (instead of 4).

Flaw: Non-Sapiens 
-------------------
Charisma, Manipulation and Appearance cost 5 points x level to increase (instead of 4), and can never be raised above 3.

Merit: Lightning Calculator
-------------------
Your character can perform complex mathematical equations in his head instantly with little error at the speed of a computer. You as a player can use a calculator during play at any time, even when your character is fleeing for his life. 

Flaw: Shy
-------------------
Large groups of people make your character uncomfortable, and although he doesn't necessarily panic and flee from  crowds, he has trouble dealing with such gatherings. Your character has trouble speaking and presenting himself when the world's watching. Any time your character interacts with strangers or becomes the center of attention for a group of three or more other people, you suffer a difficulty penalty of three on all social rolls.

Derangement: Untouchable 
-------------------
If the character engages in direct (skin to skin) physical contact with Kine or other Kindred outside of combat, he must spend Willpower or fall into torpor within half an hour (or just long enough to retreat into nearest available shelter). For example, the character always wears gloves when shaking hands, prefers to drink blood from plastic containers instead of directly from victims, etc. The duration of the torpor is X nights per Intimacy level (1 = a handshake or a pat on the back, 3 = feeding or hugging, 5 = kissing or sex), and avoiding it costs X points of Willpower.