Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition Interest Check - Still Recruiting! Ignore post count.

[Necroes]

I'm considering starting a VtM campaign, acting as the storyteller, for the guild. We would be using the core rulebook for the fifth edition as the primary source material.

If there is enough interest in the system alone, I will open a thread for the roleplay and we will go from there. As it stands, I'm looking for four players, no more, and I'd start with three.

Feel free to ask questions; I'll do my best to answer.

Edit: My game is not designed to let you be super heroes who are vampires. Actions have consequences, the world is full of things that can kill you in a heartbeat, and you're the second from the bottom on the totem pole. You've got some neat tricks to keep you alive, but you're gonna have to make damn good use of them.

[Dark Cloud]

@Necroes How well would you like for a player to know the rules?

[Necroes]

@Necroes How well would you like for a player to know the rules?

@Dark Cloud

Reasonably well. I'm requiring owning your own copy of the rulebook, either physical or pdf. If rules do get called into question, I'll be supplying and expecting page numbers. That said, the system is one designed to rely more on roleplay than mechanics, so people not being masters of the system is by far not a deal breaker.

That said, I do recommend being familiar with the setting. Unlike D&D or Pathfinder, VtM very much has a preexisting setting that the game expects you to be using.

[Cu Chulainn]

I'd be interested potentially. I'm going through life things atm, but the last VTM campaign I was in ended up falling flat in the end. Do you have plans for us to play as the Camarilla or Anarch, or are we going for something unique? I wanted to play a Clan Hecata for a good bit after that book was released, but I'm fine with anything, really.

[Necroes]

I'd be interested potentially. I'm going through life things atm, but the last VTM campaign I was in ended up falling flat in the end. Do you have plans for us to play as the Camarilla or Anarch, or are we going for something unique? I wanted to play a Clan Hecata for a good bit after that book was released, but I'm fine with anything, really.

@Cu Chulainn

The framing would be as a new cotorie, joined together by the Camarilla. The Anarchs will be present, and the players will have to decide which faction to side with, though the Camarilla will have a stronger hold in the city from the outset.

As I do not have full access to most of the newest material, I'm going to be restricting clans, abilities, etc. to the core 5th edition book. As time goes on, that may change, but for now that's my decision on the matter.

[Cu Chulainn]

That's fine then. Will we all be playing Neonates in this case? I'd assume this isn't a Thin-Blood campaign from the outset.

[Necroes]

That's fine then. Will we all be playing Neonates in this case? I'd assume this isn't a Thin-Blood campaign from the outset.

@Cu Chulainn

Yes, you'd all start as neonates. While the entire cast isn't going to be thin-bloods, the mechanics are in the core rulebook I have, so I would allow a player who wanted to play one to do so. That said, they would be suffering all the usual stigma, and I'd have to speak with the player about why they have not been hunted down.

[Cu Chulainn]

I think I will step out of my comfort zone a bit and play a Toreador, in this case.

[Necroes]

@Cu Chulainn Sounds good to me. I'll mark you down as interested. Need at least two more.

[pugbutter]

VTM rules aren't particularly concrete, and thus aren't very interested in forcing us into resource management stuff. So I'm curious how you will handle abstracted rules like, for example, EXP acquisition, when the by-the-book wording (paraphrased) is "earn 1 EXP per session attended." What will "a session" mean in a play-by-post forum context?

Also, if you're taking votes for the Session Zero meta, here are mine:

Sect: Camarilla

City: A lot of options here, but my top three would be Miami, Philadelphia, and, for outside the US ... uhh, let's say Tokyo.

Coterie Type: Nomads (assassins sent behind enemy lines to silence uncooperative nobles? blood-hunters who track and kill the city's worst traitors? being crime scene investigators specialized in bringing still-warm evidence to the Prince would be awesome.)

Coterie Age: Neonates (Embraced 1940-2000, +15 EXP, Blood Potency of 1-2 depending on whether we're using the Companion errata)

[pugbutter]

Yes, you'd all start as neonates. While the entire cast is going to be thin-bloods, the mechanics are in the core rulebook I have, so I would allow a player who wanted to play one to do so. That said, you will be suffering all the usual stigma, and I'd have to speak with the player about why they have not been hunted down.

@Necroes

Actually, I just caught this part, and this concerns me more than the other things. Ignore my previous post.

First of all, since you say we're following V5's mechanics, you should know it's impossible for a Kindred to be both a Neonate and a Thinblood. For the simple reason that for one to be a Neonate, he must be (at the youngest) from the 12th Generation. Anyone from Generation 12+ is a "Fledgling" by the book's nomenclature, which does overlap the Thinblooded (from Generations 14-16), but anyone from Gen. 13 or lower is considered a full-fledged Kindred.

Page 137

As you can see, it's impossible for us to be from Generations 12-13 and 14-16 simultaneously. So I'm confused as to what you want us to play. Is our blood the blood of vampires, or are we half-breeds? Are we allowed to choose Clans or are we all Thinbloods? Because there's no such thing as (for example) a "Thinblooded Ventrue." The Thin Blood by definition is so diluted and weak that it hasn't manifested the strengths and banes of any one bloodline.

Secondly (if I'm understanding correctly that you want us all to be Thinbloods⁠—please ignore if not), choosing our Clans for us is, by all accounts, a very bad idea. By making us all the same Clan you're basically assigning us the same niche within the group, because we all have the same Discipline spread to choose from at character creation: Thinblood Alchemy, and then whatever blood just happens to be available to us within the Scene. You're also hobbling us by making sure we can never go higher than 2 dots in any Discipline except Thinblood Alchemy. Or at the very least that it will take months, maybe years, to accumulate enough EXP to raise our Blood Potency to 1, then start buying Out-of-Clan Disciplines at the higher price.

Page 113

For example, if I want my Thinblood to reach level 3 Protean so he's somewhat viable in Brawl-based combat, he will need to spend 10 EXP to raise Blood Potency to 1, then another (7+14+21) EXP to bring an Out-of-Clan Discipline to 1, 2, and 3 dots respectively. That's 42 EXP. Instead of simply letting me play a Gangrel from the beginning of the game, you want me to spend most of a year shaping a Thinblood into an inferior version of the character I could've been playing from square one.

It's also a bad idea for the simple reason that ... this is a tabletop RP, where we want to distinguish ourselves within our coterie, and be the best in the group at something, and have our talents and weaknesses complement each other in interesting ways while we progress in this story. And by telling us what Clan we must choose at character creation I believe you're taking most of the fun out of this creative process.

I'm sure you have a strong idea of why you want us all to play Thinblood and how that group dynamic will best benefit your story. But I hope you will reconsider this choice because a tabletop RP isn't only your game; it's your players', too. And I can guarantee you that I'm not the only one who wants to play another Clan.

[Necroes]

@pugbutter You went a very long way to pointing out that I typed 'is' instead of 'isn't.' My wording was terrible, I wrote this at fairly late in the day for me. I admit that, you have my apologies for the confusion.

Now to answer the questions you asked:

While we cannot do a proper 'per session' experience gain, I have a number of ideas for how to distribute experience. Of course, this is somewhat open for debate from my players, depending on how they feel about it. We could do a somewhat even distribution, where all players receive experience per scene. That mechanic already exist within the game, and as long as I don't feel like the players are abusing it, I think it could work. Another option I have in mind would be more lump-sum experience gain, where players receive a fairly large chunk of experience at the end of each story arc. That option would be much more staggered and lurching, but I think still workable.

I'd considered the companion errata, but I won't lie, I've never played with it myself. One of the reasons I'm limiting this game, at least at the beginning, to the core rulebook is because my experience with the game as a whole is through a limited play group. My LGS is where I've mostly played this, and I'd be lying if I said it was the primary game of choice there. Thus, my actual experience with anything not in the core rulebook is basically non-existent.

And, strictly speaking, it's possible to be both a neonate And a thin-blood. It just means that your character being a thin-blood is more of a dark secret from their past, than actually relevant to the game's mechanics. Thin-bloods can commit diablerie and 'ascend' (for lack of a better term) to full vampire status, gaining a generation of 13 and a clan in the process. However, if a player wanted to play as a thin-blood proper, then I had planned to let them start with the bonus 15 exp but not the higher generation level.

If that shatters everyone's perception too greatly, though, I could just make you all start as fledglings. Hadn't planned on it, but far be it for me as the storyteller to not enable my players to be as pathetic and worthless as they want to be. Fairly easy fix from a story telling perspective, now that I think about it. Makes a few sticking points just go away.

So, actually, @pugbutter. Everyone will be starting as fledglings now! I like your thinking. Any more oddly specific questions about my poor spelling?

[pugbutter]

I apologize if anything I said came off as something so trivial and petty. It never would have occurred to me that that was a typo, and so I was responding, in earnest, to what I perceived as a game design flaw. I did not intend for anything I said to come off as long-windedly mocking any error, and certainly not one in the spelling department.

I would still like to join your game, if I'm welcome, but also understand if that post soured your good will.

[Necroes]

@pugbutter Not at all. You're perfectly welcome to join as a player. It seems like you have a firm grasp of the rules, and I could use that kind of mindset around to proffer advice where appropriate. Not that I'd take all of it, of course, but it's still nice to have the option.

That said, I feel like it would not be within the spirit of the game if I, as the storyteller, did not perceive slights against me as a player loudly declaring their masochistic desires. I'll admit, I hadn't thought the mind games would start in the interest check thread, but I'll be damned if I'm not excited about it. Welcome aboard, @pugbutter! It's good to have you.

[pugbutter]

You are most gracious. Thank you for having me.

I know the rules a little, but only because my V5 game started back in June and has been running steady since. Those players have been my guinea pigs as I trial-and-error my way into semi-competence lol

Hmm, I did wanna play a Neonate (Embraced ca. 1970's) but everybody starting with the same EXP value makes sense. I'm in a New Orleans game where the GM let people join as Fledglings, Neonates, and Ancillae and it's led to some resentment as some characters are just objectively better than others.

[Necroes]

@pugbutter I actually have an idea in mind for folks who want to play as a bit older, even though you'll be starting as fledglings. No, I'm not letting people start at different levels; no offence to your group, but that's just asking for trouble.

@Dark CloudIf you were interested, you would make three and we could look at getting things started. If not, that's fine, too.

For anyone wondering: This game could very well hit lulls in activity, with bursts of extreme excitement. A small cast of players in a relatively complex setting, along with myself having a day job, means that I wouldn't be surprised if we saw months with a handful of posts-even an entire week without any posts at all-only to be followed by a burst of multiple posts a day. A lot of what will happen in this game will likely be behind the scenes, and while a small group will make it easier for me to organize all that, DM-loading will very much be a thing that happens. So, if anyone is worried they won't have time to post in a TTRPG at a hyper-regular rate, that should not be a concern.

[Dark Cloud]

@Necroes The problem is I can't access PDF's & don't own any rulebook's, so I don't know how you could help me learn the game. I am extremely intuitive at picking up on how to play TTRPG's.

[Necroes]

@Dark Cloud While the game system is actually extremely easy to learn, I'm really not sure how I could teach it to you without the source material to work from. There are a number of free apps you could download that would let you make a character, but all the information it provides would mean nothing to you without reference. Unfortunately, this is just one of those games where the rulebook is less of a tutorial for the game, and more of the controller.

I'd love to have you take part, but I feel it would be somewhat irresponsible of me to do so. Something akin to letting someone play tennis without a racket, or paintball without ammunition. I'm sure it could be done, but I'm just not sure how, without massively handicapping you.

[Cu Chulainn]

@Necroes I do have a question regarding certain things such as Stains and Willpower, which are calculated in some ways after sessions. Considering this is a PbP, will doing things such as rolling for Humanity happen on a nightly basis?

[Necroes]

@Cu Chulainn Much like with experience, likely I will have to do this on a scene-by-scene basis. While this may cause problems, we can adjust it on the fly as needed. Since actual stains, humanity rolls, willpower, and the like are all done on a fairly arbitrary (based on game sessions) rate to begin with, I think this will work out fine.