#i want to make this a thing if i ever do dm that vtm game i want

[nuka-rockit]

I love it when nosferatu and toreador are friends Like a toreador throwing on his tailored coveralls and Gucci waders and heading into the sewers to see his pals

its been roughly ten million years since I got this ask but yes I agree. we love contrasting yet wholesome friendships ESPECIALLY if they involve the undead and/or supernatural

[keyleth-clay]

Just for funsies, and because literally nobody asked me to, I present

KC’s Top 5 CR One-Shot Wishlist

(starting with my most wanted)

Number 1. A game using an older edition of DnD – especially if it’s, like, ADnD or 2nd edition. I was honestly hoping we’d get this with Calamity, especially considering that Matt had Halas (an archmage from the Calamity) know spells from 3rd edition that don’t exist in 5th edition. Brennan stating that Vespin was a Malconvoker just added fuel to this particular fire. I’ve never actually played DnD in my life, and everything I know about it comes from watching actual play series & reading up on info in between episodes, but even I know that there’s some crazy stuff in older editions, and since most of the cast have only played 5e, I think it would be super fun to see them see where this game came from. And, because the vast majority of actual play use 5e – which makes sense, as it’s the most recent edition of the game, and the edition that actively has new books coming out for it – it would be cool to see that just because these are older editions doesn’t mean that they can’t still be played and enjoyed.

That being said, this one would probably need to be a miniseries (Exandria Unlimited or otherwise), just to give them enough time and space to be able to experience the ins and outs of said older edition(s).

Number 2. Critical Role: The Next Generation. Okay listen.

Listen.

This is actually my absolute-number-1-most-wanted one-shot, but I knocked it down a spot because I know that it’s super unlikely to ever happen. I want a one-shot of Liam’s and Sam’s kids playing DnD – and I want Liam to DM it. He’s already DM’d for his kids, and I absolutely love his DMing style and I miss seeing him running a game. And between the handful of snippets that he’s given us of his daughter’s game with her friends, and the fact that Sam’s daughter came up with Nomen L. Frenno in The Nautilus Ark, we all know they’d come up with some incredible characters. AND if it’s set in Exandria? The cherry on top.

Also, DnD actual play series tend to be… not family-friendly, what with the swearing, alcohol, sexual references, blood & guts – none of which I have a problem with, btw, but I know that there are people who do, and I know that there are people who would love to introduce Critical Role or DnD to friends or family members, but can't because of said friends/family members' opinions of such things. I think it would be a great way to combat some of the stereotypes that certain folks have about DnD and TTRPGs in general, and also show that anybody can enjoy this game.

But, as I said, I know this is super unlikely. Sam and Liam have made it a point to not post photos or videos of their kids online (Sam has only recently started doing so) – which I completely understand and fully agree with – and they don’t even refer to them by their real names in videos – which, again, is the right decision. THAT BEING SAID, if this one-shot ever happened, I would ascend to a higher plane of existence from sheer joy.

Number 3. Adventures of the Darrington Brigade 2: Electric Boogaloo. Matt ended the one-shot with the blatant implication that these dumbasses would return at some point, and I love them so goddamn much. Where’s the AotDB sequel, Mercer?

Number 4. Literally any horror one-shot run by Taliesin. The Thursday By Night two-shot wasn’t exactly my cup of tea (I’m just not a big fan of VtM), but Shadow of the Crystal Palace was SO FUCKING GOOD. I’d love another CoC one-shot, especially because the cast has previously and would continue to go ham with the cosplay and the set design and the props, but any spooky/creepy/horrifying story with Taliesin in the GM’s seat would be amazing. Bonus point for being around Halloween.

Number 5. Obligatory M9 post-campaign epilogue one-shot. I mean, VM got their 3 epilogue one-shots (Search for Grog, Search for Bob, Dalen’s Closet) to tie up the remaining couple of loose ends from the campaign – we need The Mighty Nein, one year after C2 ended, all level 20, taking to the seas once more and taking down Uk’otoa (Uk’otoa) once and for all.

Honourable mentions go to an Exandria Unlimited series set in either Blightshore or the Shattered Teeth, but since we don’t know yet where Bell’s Hells journeys will take them (bc while M9 didn’t travel far from Wildemount, VM were quite the globe- and planetrotters), I decided to leave those off the wishlist.

[tzimiscecore]

Hey I'm running a campaign soon and ive never been any kind of dm/storyteller but im very familiar with lore and gameplay and all my players are new to vtm, do you have any advice for helping them/how to get into the flow of being an ST?

My advice is run a sabbat game and end of story so you don’t have to explain anything.

Kidding (it has been done though! sorta) . Here’s the long version :P   

I would say if you are familiar with the gameplay and basic lore your homework is half way done... I think first thing is to make sure they understand the vibe of the game so the know what they are getting into. I can't put this in a more appropriate way... it's supposed to be f-up. Life and unlife suck, and and then you meet the sun, and all. If you have a general idea of the plot, you can just tell them, this will help them decide if they are interested or not. This is what most people do in their "looking for players" posts on Discord.

I think the flow is basically understanding that you start the chronicle (building the scenario, the city, some of the NPCs, or getting them from a sourcebook), but everything else is a story that you and your players create together. You need to remember there's a reason it's a "storytelling system". But whenever I play I prefer to get to the roleplaying part as early as possible. As a ST, most of the pre-game work is of course yours. If they are not familiar with the system, I would wait to explain the game mechanics only when you're getting into the actual campaign. 

For introducing players it depends on what you want to do. If it's a one-shot or short campaign, you may just ask the bare minimum from your players - perhaps have them answer a quiz to figure which clan their desired character would fit into, and another for disciplines. This is better than having them read through all the clan description pages (some of them will, some of them won't, and this can make the difference about getting someone to play or not). If it's a one-shot you may bring the sheets almost ready to go and only give them the option to pick the attribute sets they like better. If it's a longer chronicle, especially if they are entering the game as fledglings / neonates, they can figure things out as they go. I know I wouldn't read over 50 pages of clan descriptions and features just for a few hours of actual gameplay. [Aaaand yes this is my shovelhead head talking] These videos (this is Jared Logan in the Stream of Blood YT channel)  explain my point better than I ever would, I think (about lifepath character creation and the random approach)

Having defined which clans and which disciplines your players want to have (either by having them choose or just interviewing them), you can just explain to them the basics of how to use them (the dice pools and all) so that they can fill the rest of the sheets. If you want to engage them from the very start, you can make a session just for that, where you narrate the last days of each of them as a mortal, and use the stories they come up with to fill in the sheet skills for them. This of course will not allow for maxxing out disciplines but hey, that's not usually the point. If you're particularly generous, after filling out those sheets you can let them make some modifications if they wish. IMHO this is the best way to introduce a person to a ST game, because that makes it very clear how different this is from other systems.

I hope this helps!

[hell-guild]

🦄 UPDATE: May 2, 2019!

Hey Howdy, Hellions! It's May, and that means we may want to give y'all another Guild Update! Let's get right into it!

Applications will reopen soon! 🏳️‍🌈 [HELL] closed applications to the public in November of last year, giving us time to help our new friends settle into our community. Now that we've weathered a Wintersday & mingled with Moto, it's high time we look to bring a new batch of buddies in! Applications will go open sometime in Mid-May. Don't worry, we'll make a post when that happens too!

Spring Cleaning in Discord! 🌻 Our Discord was getting pretty funky, what with all the sparsely used ranks and channels lying about! As such, we've been tidying it up! Some disused ranks (such as #vtm and #vtm-dm) have been pruned, and some channels have been archived/retired (RIP #wildstar). We've also added a new "dungeoneers" rank, which you can ping when looking for more players for dungeons & fractals! Full "patch notes" should hit the #bulletin channel sometime soon ("soon" being the operative word!).

We've picked up Final Fantasy XIV! ⚔️ Make no mistake: Guild Wars 2 is and will remain our main game & the crux of our little community! However, we're currently in the lull between content patches in GW2. So we're playing other stuff together, such as FFXIV! Our Free Company is Hellion Brigade <heck> and is on Mateus! You can check us out on the Lodestone Right Here! And finally...

IT'S (almost) OUR ANNIVERSARY! 🎉

While [HELL] has existed for a Little Minute as a guild, we first opened our doors to the public as an LGBT GW2 Community in May of 2017. It's been a bizarre little journey, but honestly..? We are truly, genuinely so humbled by what this guild has become over the last two years.

We've conquered almost 100 weeks of Guild Missions, downed dozens of Raid Bosses, and have died trying to do countless skips in Twilight Arbor. We've built friendships (and relationships!) that span across Tyria & the stars! Hellions hang out everywhere from Southsun Cove to MBMBAM shows and hail from just about every corner of the globe. Y'all are such colorful, varied people, but the one thing y'all have in common... you are some of the kindest, most compassionate, and welcoming people I have EVER gamed with.

I've gotten to know so many of you and have had the distinct pleasure of seeing you grow. Y'all have helped one another conquer so many obstacles, both in and out of game- y'all have helped me in the same way. I don't think there's a day that goes by I don't laugh at something in our Discord. You guys are the BEST.

I'm sure there will be tooons more sentimental posts from officers on the blog this month, but from me, Stag, your goblin friend... I love y'all SO MUCH! Thank you for an incredible 2 years- and keep your eyes peeled for some anniversary shenanigans! See ya starside! 🌈 

[pussyandpetrichor]

Lost the question prompts but heres a thing:

1.) Game Master, Player or both? Why?

I play both, but I'm willing to GM, so I GM pretty often

2.) When did you start role playing? How old were you?

I started roleplaying when I was yet able to read playing 3.x

3.) What was the first role playing book you ever owned?

Something in the 3.x range of Dnd

4.) Describe the first game you ever ran or played in.

I dont think I literally could, but one of the earliest I *can* I was playing a Drow Sorcerer in 4e who would eventually develop into one of my main player characters a Drow Ranger/Cleric multiclass called Eilthaea Waeglyl. It was a very rotate in and out sort of game because it was mostly an excuse to go over a friend's house in high school and smoke weed. The game itself was secondary or even tertiary to just hanging out

5.) Which system did you grow up with?

I grew up with DnD 3.x. We had a couple of 2e books we used with no distinction. But it was just my siblings and I playing action figures with a little bit of random chance and basic math thrown in.

6.) Which system do you play now?

I am currently playing Pathfinder 2e and Vampire the Masquerade as well as a couple very loosely ruled play by post rps

7.) Longest campaign you’ve run or played in?

A nonsense descriptor. I bring aspects of old stories into new ones at any time. Tommy Baker/McDonnell has a huge story across multiple game systems and genres. But most of my games are generally pretty short

8.) Where did you meet your current gaming group?

Vamplr. Both my current Pathfinder and VtM games are with the same general group of people

9.) Strategic combat or dramatic plotlines?

I like both. When I DM, I often leave the drama to the players because my DM style is basically to have fun playing a war game but when I'm a player I often prefer to do dramatic plotlines

10.) Favorite RPG genre?

I like some fantasy/horror. I would really like to play a gaslight fantasy game in Pathfinder with maybe some cosmic horror elements, but I dont think I could DM that. If anyone wants to run something like that, hmu

11.) Your first character.

A human rogue who always wanted to talk the monsters down. It never worked

12.) Your favorite character.

Hard choice... I think in a lot of ways I've outgrown Tommy, but he has been a lot of fun to play. I also really like a Half-Drow Oracle I made for PF1 who didn't port very cleanly to PF2, but I don't think I ever actually got to play her in a game so I don't know if she counts.

13.) Your most ridiculous character.

Gohma Waeglyl. Eilthaea's Spider Animal Companion blessed by Eilistraee and transformed into a Drider Paladin who picked up where Eilthaea left off when he got killed in a den of Vampires. She has a 6 intelligence (which is fucking genius for a spider, by the way) and she's a lesbian (does spider have puspuss?)

14.) The best in-character line you’ve ever had.

I don't know, but I remember bringing my brothers to tears a couple of times.

15.) Your most epic death.

Eilthaea holding off a group of Vampires in a cave during a TPK allowing his animal companion and an NPC (who became the new party) to escape and continue the mission (after some time where the NPC awakens as an Oracle and the spider animal companion goes into a cocoon and metamorphoses into a Drider

16.) Your most disappointing death.

Probably generic human rogue #84 dying yet again because he tried to talk to a goblin

17.) Something that shouldn’t have worked, but did.

Oh, probably something from the Tampa by Night Chronicle... instance after instance of "we shouldn't have survived" exacerbated by a failed homebrew merit that just kept making bad shit happen

18.) Something that went hilariously awry.

When we tried to have a pool party with the Lasombra Primogen and our coterie's Lasombra frenzied and tried to deathroll the chap

19.) Your most memorable in-character moment.

Plenty of memorable moments between Tommy and Hazel... but honestly Eilthaea's death has to take the cake

20.) The coolest item you ever got and how you came to possess it.

My games never have a huge focus on items and gear.

21.) Your favorite NPC and how the party reacted to him/her

MEEPO and adopting him (oh actually I did get to play Ghuanerel once. But she was a little nerfed. Unable to be deaf as she should be)

22.) A game you wish you could run or want to run someday.

That Gaslight Fantasy Cosmic Horror game lbr

23.) Something you made up on the spot.

I made up an on the spot consequence for getting multiple crits taking down the cursed tree at the end of Sunless Citadel (when I ran it) where the tree and its roots completely disintegrate taking the entire citadel down around them (they had all recently earned a boon from Pharasma so they had a 1up in the bank.)

24.) Your most successful game.

Probably the PF2 game currently (ish) going on. I need to get that back up and running (one of my player characters got a small dose of brain cancer and we had to go on hiatus for a bit)

25.) Your least successful game.

When I tried to be a PC in sunless citadel

26.) The craziest thing your players have ever done, and how it affected your plans.

I ran a chronicle where my players fled the city and went to England to avoid the BBEG of the chronicle and I had no idea what to next and had to end the game

27.) Your favorite setting or game location.

I really like Golarion/the Pathfinder setting and I want to play some games in Absalom

28.) Your creative process when you plan a game.

Right now, I'm kind of playtesting the Pathfinder 2e rules a bit so I took existing modules and strung them together using player backstory as hooks.

29.) The best / worst character concept you’ve ever heard.

Vegan Carnist (House Carna Tremere with the Farmer predator style. That's the whole concept)

30.) What makes GMing fun for you.

Seeing my players excited to find out what's happening next

[avinox]

Just a few hours ago, a player from my Chronicle (the same one that DMs the campaign I talked about the other day) confronted me publicly in our vtm groupchat saying he thought it was "a bit of an overkill" that I gave him a Stain when he got a Messy Critical on a Wits + Awareness roll.

I think he did it at least partly because he was mad at me because of our previous conversation (the one where I told him the way my character had lost almost all her agency was making me uncomfortable). What's making me think that? He raised the same points I did.

He thought it was unfair that he got the one stain. His character has 6 humanity and plays a selfish character, so I thought it fit his character, plus it's in the rules, it's the very first option. By the way, what I ruled that what his character did was to knock down a child in a crowded place. Is this too much? I even based it in a personal experience. Also, he has 3 dice to do the Remorse roll and only needs 1 success.

He disagreed with me so I asked him which other thing he'd do. He didn't respond. Minutes later he gave me the same thing that had happened but it was a Masquerade Breach. "But of course I had more time, which you didn't." He based his version on the fact that vampires are stronger than humans (they really aren't unless they're buffing themselves or using Disciplines, which his character doesn't have, in fact she has 1 dot in Strength). Still, I could've done that I guess, but considering it was crowded and the SI is already on their track I thought it'd be kinder in the long run.

I think he only did that to emulate how I had given him other ideas on how to deal with my character's relationship with her patron so that she doesn't bend the rules to revoke her warlock levels (which I honestly thought was unfair considering that those very powers are the thing she bargained for, making the Patron the one breaking the pact and having to suffer the consequences).

Then he disagreed on more rules like the thing about vampires being naturally stronger. I showed him the rules. He still tried to be right even with the rules in front of him. Like I literally showed him the manual.

Idk, I feel like he was just doing it as a way to get back at me for the other day. We didn't really fight or anything but he did tell me I was trying to play without consequences which hurt me a bit, cause I was asking him to make the consequences worse (my being silenced and unable to cast spells vs his losing 1 level) and that I understand she deserved a punishment, I just wanted the Patron to be bound by the same rules I had to abide by.

At this point I just feel (and still do) like a slave to that patron, who's supposed to be a good god and a celestial. I told him I felt uncomfortable multiple times and he ignored it, but I tried to keep calm because I want to make this work.

This person is known to always want to hog the spotlight in games and was kicked out of his brother's game for calling him a bad DM after he complained to him about his character not getting development (mine hasn't as well but the DM promised us we all will get our moment in time). I'm saying this cause at least I know he can be like this and maybe I'm not overreacting. Or maybe I am.

The possibility of having this player also complain to me that I'm not giving his character a proper development sort of worries me, especially when he doesn't want to volunteer any more information about her when I ask him directly. But if he ever questions my skills I'm kicking him out no hesitation.