Should auld acquaintance be forgot

So I had seven things to go to for Halloween and one for New Year's. What does this say about me and my circle of friends? Hmm...

Happy Holidays!

May have already read first book and watched first DVD.

Star Wars

New Star Wars makes me want to run or play Star Wars. (Not with the new system with the funny dice though. Ew.)

We Are Wish You A Merry Christmas

We Are The Night session 11...


A day early because of something happening.

Michael burst in and seized the vampire, fighting and forcing him out.

"Why are you doing this?"

The vampire vanished, laughing.

Michael called Laura to watch the room.

Talbot denied all knowledge of this vampire. Was he telling the truth?

Still at court, Laura was approached by one of her clan, a Crone witch.

"The girl does not know what she knows..."

Chronicles Of Darkness

New WOD, new name. (Classic WOD, classic name.)

We Are Young, No One Can Tell Us We're Wrong

We Are The Night session 10...


Michael and Laura cornered the man. Laura turned on the charm and he told them he's been working for Mr. Talbot to find out more about a murder. He didn't seem to know about vampires. Laura sent him on his way. Michael looked at her questioningly.


"Better not harm him. I would like to know what Talbot wants with her, though..."

Mary got up before dawn, waited till the sun is well up before going back to her room to get ready for her day.

She didn't spot the man watching her.

As night fell, Laura came to her room and told her what had happened.

"Why would your prince be so interested in me?"
"I have one idea. You're not going to like it..."
"Tell me."
"Your grandfather had enemies, maybe more than he knew. Now they're ours. I don't know if he's with them or against them, but right now he wants to know what you're doing."
"But, why would vampires care about me?"
"Maybe to spite Simon, or his line. Or maybe you have something, or know something, they want?"
"I don't. I don't!"

Laura left in silence.

And at night another vampire came a calling...

We Are There For You (When The Rain Starts To Pour...)

We Are The Night session 9...


Jo called the police.

Michael crept close to scent the air, then withdrew, not feeling like answering those kinds of questions.

The police probably weren't as helpful as they might have been if Mary didn't have to lie about her grandfather being murdered, what with him having been officially dead for decades.

Mary stayed with Jo. Steve slept on the couch. Michael and Laura watched from across the street.

"What we can do for her is find the man following her." With that, Laura left. After a moment, Michael followed.

They had little trouble finding him. Answering to the Prince.

(And there was some discussion of shipping Mary and Jo, as the only character who isn't totally into her.)

Black Friday, I'm in love

The streets are filled with ravenous, remorseless hunters. Not vampires. Shoppers.

Cleanup on every aisle. Please send help. We beg you.

Shop till someone drops.

Tales From Black Friday 2015

We Are The Not Sure About This

We Are The Night session 8...


Laura shadowed the stalker, who proved to be a human. She suspected, not unreasonably, that he was working for a vampire, so got that bit closer to listen in as he made a call.


Mary hit a couple bars with Jo and Steve, having roughly zero much fun due to her grandfather dying and the whole issue with vampires.

Michael followed Mary, staying out of sight. He spotted the man tailing her, and Laura as well. I'm sure this won't be awkward.

The stalker's conversation was vague in a sinister way. "She's in sight, out with friends... no, nothing like that..." He headed off.

Some guys hit on Mary and Jo. Steve got defensive, telling them Mary wasn't interested. Not really his call to make even though she wasn't, as Jo pointed out. One of the guys looked like he was considering a swing at Steve. Laura intervened, far enough away that Mary didn't see, and one look in her eye made him back right down.

Steve walked Mary and Jo home, with Michael shadowing at a distance. When they got there, they found it had been ransacked...

We Are The Nightlife

We Are The Night session 7...


A dingy basement nightclub in the Village, home to a small stage, domain of Julia. Laura tried not to look out of place. Michael didn't bother.

Mary stayed away, on campus, in brightly lit areas with lots of people.

"So, her defenders... Let me assure you that I have no interest in the girl herself, only in her grandfather's holdings. A shame to let it all lie fallow, wouldn't you agree?"

Unconvinced but with nothing more to go on at that moment, they split up. Michael said he would look over Simon's land while Laura returned to the Rack. He lied and went back to campus to keep an eye on Mary. Laura, in turn, called Mary to check in.

"It's Friday night, you should be out... I can be there to make sure you don't get any unwelcome attention..."

Vampires lying to each other. This will go well.

And sure enough, this was when Laura noticed someone following Mary.

One year later

I started this blog thing a year ago, and in that time I've run most of one game and started another, grumbled about other games, made some jokes, passed some stuff on and even had some comments. We've also seen VTM 4 and CTD 20 announced and White Wolf sold to Paradox Interactive. Things be happenin'. Who knows what next year will bring? (Probably some gaming.)

How far can I take a joke? At least a year and counting.

WoD Happens is one today.

We Are You And Me And Them

We Are The Night session 6...


We know how Mary got mixed up with vampires... how did our vampires get here?

Michael sat with Mary at a cafe just off campus, slowly sipping water as she worked through a sandwich and cappuccino.

"It, uh, doesn't bother you, right?"
"It's fine..." he said, not entirely honestly.
"How long has it been?"
"Six years, give or take."
"That's not actually all that long... How did it happen?"
"Wrong place at the wrong time."
"It's okay, you can tell me. If you want."

He considered this, and told her. He'd been travelling for work, and not finding much, for a year or so when it happened. He hasn't seen her since.

"That's terrible."
"You deal."
"How? How do you...?"
"Animals, mostly."

He looked uneasy. She put a hand on his.

Naturally, that was when Laura came in.

She discussed what she had found about the woman with blue eyes - her name was Julia, and her preferred feeding ground and possible domain was a late night club in the Village - and her "enemy" - which wasn't much really. She suggested taking Mary to see her, and that Michael could come as well...

Coincidental magic. With trucks.

In the gap between Halloween and the Bloodlines anniversary, imagining Mage: The Ascension from an outside POV at WOD Happens. It wouldn't be big and flashy, it would look like accidents...

The quiet week between Halloween and the Bloodlines anniversary where - oh, Mages at war. #WorldOfDarkness weather is coincidental lightning

When I grow up I want to be a Hollow One. Not that I'm going to grow up.

From an outside POV Mage battles are running, shouting and then someone getting hit by a reversing truck.

And then the Tremere are all like "look, I'm shooting fireballs, no Paradox for me!"
And then there's another truck.

There are always more trucks.

Mage war is less obvious than vampire or werewolf war. Unless you own a rare book store or a server farm.

Or, of course, a truck.

We Are What We Are

We Are The Night session 5...


The Blue Eyed Woman was another vampire, a Daeva, older than Simon. There to see the Prince about Simon's hunting ground.

"So why tell us?" Michael asked.
"She is my enemy..." the man said, and stepped away.

"Are you all like this?" Mary asked, not unreasonably.

Next day she returned to class, reasonably confident that she was safe while the sun was out. She headed to the library, looking up local history... and unsolved murders.

Her studies were interrupted by friends, Steve and Jo. Hanging out reminded her how strange Laura and Michael were... while also reminding her of them in another way, as Steve would have liked to be more than a friend, but...

Another night, and Laura was waiting outside her dorm. "You should be safe enough on campus, and with friends..." She pointedly glanced to a dark side path. Then she stood up, approached... paused and looked over as Michael stepped out of a shadow nearby.

(There was also research, but we're here for the awkward...)

I has candy. Yeaaaah.

This is Hallowe'en, This is Hallowe'en

Hallowe'en, Hallowe'en, Hallowe'en, Hallowe'en
(Hallowe'en, Hallowe'en)

So... plans?

Paradox Interactive buys White Wolf

Look in on the White Wolf page...

We Are The People Your Parents Warned You About

We Are The Night session 4...


"So is this a fancy vampire party?"
"This will be a quiet session behind closed doors, but still, Prince of the city and all that." Laura shrugs.
"Prince? Really?"
"Yeah." Michael growls under his breath.

Laura helped Mary find an outfit that wouldn't draw attention to her. Or her neck.

"Hair down, dark colors, sensible shoes. No cross jewelry - too on the nose. We'll do the fancy vampire party at the weekend. Promise!"
"... You don't have to on my account!"

Talbot, the Prince, attended the meeting at one of the Plaza's restaurants, with two humans who looked like a bodyguard and a P.A.

"Miss Danvers, an honor to meet you, so sorry it is under such circumstances."

The Prince relayed some of what he knew about Simon's recent dealings. Nothing that he couldn't have told Michael the night before. He spoke softly. Laura and Michael both notice how Mary didn't seem scared by him like she was by every other vampire, including them...

On the way out, they saw a woman with eerily blue eyes watching them at the bar.

Once outside, Michael bared his teeth as someone else approached.

"Did you see the woman?" he asked.

We Are The Problem, Not The Solution

We Are The Night session 3...


The guy selling discard AB blood was curious why Laura was buying. "You haven't found religion, have you?" She paid extra for him not to be.

Michael headed to Mary's university campus to check for other vampires. A few. "There are always some. Kids away from home for the first time, access to drink and drugs. Almost too easy."

One of the ringleaders approached to a polite distance, asked what he was doing there.


"Making sure it's safe for this girl."
"Simon's? Sure, we can keep on steering clear." She smiled like this was an act of great generosity.

Mary discreetly tested whether vampires show up in mirrors, and on camera.

"We know we're being reflected like you know when you're being watched." Laura pointedly fixed her lipstick in the mirror once she figured out what she was doing.

On his way back, another vampire approached Michael, at a closer than polite distance.

"You are looking into the death of Simon Lucas. Might I ask why?"
"Of course. It's a family matter."
"Not looking to take over his holdings?"
"No..."
"There will be a meeting to discuss the matter at the Plaza tomorrow evening. Bring the girl."

Michael nodded low, and the Prince walked away.

(Yes, the Prince is pretty. This is deliberate.)

STAR WAAAAARS

STAR WAAAAARS

Crimson Peak

Crimson Peak is sooooo pretty. Not much of a story though. (And for not-very-horror-y people there's one bit like the bottle in Pan's Labyrinth.)

Still wanting to play Victorian Age Vampire.

The Park

I can imagine a World Of Darkness computer game working as standalone adventures, like The Park, a spinoff from The Secret World where you play a scared single mother instead of a monster-hunting Chosen One. The character and her goal could make it pretty grim, as the developers note.

We Are The Nightmare

We Are The Night session 2...

The three broke into Simon's haven. Michael went first, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. Laura looked through Simon's collection of antiques and books, concluding that he must have had more storage space elsewhere. Mary found faded photos of her parents and grandmother, pictures of herself as a child... and more recently, taken on the street without her knowledge.

"These were taken during the day..." Laura pointed out.
"So?"
"He couldn't have taken them. So who did?"

Simon had no ghouls, as far as they knew. Not that they knew him that well.

Laura heard a noise outside, Michael ran off to look. Another vampire, a thin face and a cold smile. He stared the intruder down, baring his teeth when she noticed the scent of a mortal inside.

Having a mortal in the group really changes the feel of even a small possible combat.

She withdrew. They'd know her if they saw her again.

Michael decided it would be a good idea to be at full blood just in case. Having a mortal around affects that too, as he somewhat awkwardly went looking for rats. Laura made some calls about accessing past-its-sell-by-date blood at a hospital.

Are they both trying to look good in her eyes...?

Yes, things are already getting awkward...

Finally, due to DVD rental changes, watched Cowboy Bebop.

You could have warned me about Edd.

We Are The City

We Are The Night is set in New York, as Gotham, chrome skyscrapers and brick warehouses, lurid clubs and dark alleys, subways and rooftops. But it's also a real working city with real working people, to contrast with the version that vampires see. Each side gets to see a different view of the city, and the world. The vampires are powerful, scary... and lonely.

The kids are unaligned, so there'll be lots of other solitary vampires pursuing selfish concerns, and the covenants will be gangs or cults, creepy and alienating. There will be Nosferatu in the sewers because there have to be, even though there will also be human-looking Nosferatu strolling around up top.

They'll need a formal Elysium (though they don't have a visible Prince) and the city has plenty of options. And an informal neutral ground in the Rack - I'm tempted to call it the Succubus Club for old times' sake.

We Are The First Night

We Are The Night starts with a murder. Start as you mean to go on.

Mary had met Simon a few times, as he hadn't been as subtle in watching out for her as he might have been. And now he was dead, and turning to dust right in front of her. He had his enemies... and now he was gone they were her inheritance, because she was his granddaughter. So now she knows vampires exist... and vice versa.

Laura had never met Mary until Simon, her sire, directed her to protect her in his final message. "You're the only family you have left."

Michael didn't want to get involved. He had a feeling he'd be saying that a lot over the next few nights. But he'd seen Simon watch over her, and seen a value in her.

Mary wants to do the right thing. Laura wants to protect Mary. Michael wants to punish those responsible.

This is going to be messy.

Carmilla Season Two

On the subject of people and the vampires who love them...

We Are The Night

Two vampires and a human walk into a bar...

Michael was a Gangrel with a lean and hungry look. Laura was a Daeva with a broken heart. And Mary was the only human descendant of Laura's sire, hunted by the vampire who killed him.

Oh, these kids are gonna be in so much trouble.

Keeping the number of vampires around fairly low, so every one is a big deal.

I haven't decided who or what the Prince is, assuming there is one. There's definitely a creepy Lancea et Sanctum group around, and a creepy Circle of the Crone group too. And some corrupt cops (again) and a suave vampire running a Goth club (because of course) and a Nosferatu elder who doesn't look hideous but still makes you want to run away (because Requiem). Not sure what else yet.

And our heroes may already be planning romantic tension.

Anybody with a spare plot hook lemme know. :)

Vampires and the people who love them

So, yeah, Vampire game. Requiem Second Edition, partially for the more varied Humanity (which I'd totally import to Masquerade), mostly for the rules about playing mortals closely connected with Kindred. Hopefully someone will go with that.

Take me now, baby, here as I am, Hold me close, try and understand...

Plans, of a sort

Welp, nobody running WOD games at the local society this academic year. (To be fair, there's like twelve games across three sessions. Nobody's running D&D or Pathfinder either!)

Looks to be a shortfall on Wednesday, so I might bring a Vampire book...

Gaming begins again... what to do...

What indeed.

While I like the group dynamic, Walking Alone ended so conclusively that bringing it back wouldn't work. I'd need to introduce a new Big Bad and after the demon who nearly killed the city it gets to be a stretch to bring in a suitable threat.

There's always Vampire, of course.

Dirty cops in The World Of Darkness

Something I borrowed from a friend and stole from Person Of Interest, featured a bit in Walking Alone, and have been doing for a few days now in WoD Happens because, hey, the news is not exactly failing to give me ideas.

"Massive police corruption exposed. How to silence a particular corrupt cop so he doesn't rat out the Camarilla...?"

"In the police evidence lockup and, hey, there's a wraith hanging out by the murder weapons."
"It's never one thing. So, solving a wraith's murder. Let's see what the Giovanni want to help..."
"Back in the precinct and, oh, losing evidence in a murder trial. Don't mind me."
"Corruption, scandal, murder. Kinda like reading the news, but with more ghosts."

And of course, the really fun bit... playing dirty cops.

Although on the other hand:

As my hearing recovers from going out...

Ever gone to a gig in-character? Without having it interrupted by plot?

Bring me cake, books, DVDs and toys!

For lo it is my birthday!

I now have Oculus and Housebound on shiny disc, Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning on paper, and some leftover pizza.

A break in the gaming drought

Walking Alone is over, Star Wars fizzled, but I did get to play a WoD mortal one-shot.

I died.

Following up on disappearances in a housing estate. I was one of two trying to hold a door shut as shadows swarmed out. Didn't go so well.

"So apparently Etsy just banned magic items?"

Actually Urban Fantasy is just adorbs.

"Tried Snapchatting with this vamp girl, but all I got were pics of her mirror."

Beast: The Primordial interview

Here, Matt McFarland talks to Gamer XP about the new New World Of Darkness game.

Walking Away

Tonight on the final episode of Walking Alone... who will survive?

A big monster fighting season finale didn't really fit the style of the game (I have a Buffy rulebook for that) so our Puny Mortals! had to use their ingenuity to prevent the demon getting loose. They had to ambush the cult leaders and stop the ritual.

Based on what they'd learned they found a cult lair, where among other things they found patchy surveillance files on themselves. (This included a photo of a photo taken of Sarah in 1888, the original apparently in a museum upstate... so she could give Donnelly her best "told you so" look.)

This lead our happy few to an abandoned hospital out of town that the cult used as its base,

Doyle and Connelly kept the cult busy by ambushing one guard successfully and another less successfully, starting a running gun fight, in the dark of course. Including one animated corpse who set himself on fire for a temporary tactical advantage.

Meanwhile Sarah, Jim, Mike and Amanda sabotaged the ritual site, got the generally hysterical hostage/sacrifices out, freed the possessed victims and dragged them away unconscious...

The demon arose. They dropped the building on it.

Did they stop the cult completely? Maybe, maybe not. Hard to tell in a maze of dark rooms while being shot at.

It felt climactic. Everybody seemed pretty pleased with how it went.

Tanith Lee

Rest in peace and thank you to Tanith Lee, from whom I took my name.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

I celebrated World Goth Day watching an Iranian-American black and white vampire romance. I feel I have done my part.

Walking Out In Style

Tonight on Walking Alone, our Puny Mortals! made their list, checked it twice... found out about the demon lord's ultimate plan... got slightly distracted by a vampire turf war... and Jim and Connelly killed Kendrick.

Sarah agreed that Kendrick was an evil bloodsucking monster who deserved to be destroyed, but questioned their timing right before having to stop the demon rising, and resented the implication she couldn't take care of herself.

Next week, the end. It's gonna be emotional.

Crimson Peak trailer 2

Extended squee.

Walking The Edge

Tonight on Walking Alone, our Puny Mortals! made plans, argued, and rescued some runaway kids from a demon cult cell.

Doyle: "Looks like they're getting desperate."
Jim: "Well, that's good news in a way..."

The surviving leader of the corrupt cops rather irritably helped make the evidence go away.

"You really need to disappear this body? He's been dead for a month, nobody's gonna suspect you killed him tonight just because he was walking around before you cut his head off."

Meanwhile, Kendrick tried to take over the vampire crime syndicate, which at least kept him occupied.

And Amanda got a vision that left her in a panic attack. When Sarah and Mike managed to talk her down, she described a black cloud hanging over the entire city as it burned - riots and murders, the dead rising...

Oh, and on top of everything else, Sarah and Mike's parents visited. Because I'm just mean like that. So they had to take them out to dinner while preparing to stop an apocalypse.

Mrs. Carter: "So, how is everything?"
Sarah: "It's, um... college is... not like I imagined."

Walking The Beatdown

Tonight on Walking Alone, the Puny Mortals! managed to kill Elina the vampire gangster instead of getting into a full-on war with corrupt cops. Because there's nothing like punching out the lead corrupt cop and then dragging him away from a gang of annoyed vampires to make him happy to forget the whole thing.

Doyle got to do the "cool guys don't look at explosions" moment and everything when he firebombed Elina's club.

(Kind of wish I'd brought the corrupt cops in sooner because they've proved to be a pretty interesting problem for Doyle in particular. Yay for stealing from someone else stealing from Person Of Interest!)

Sarah talked with Amelia the token high-Humanity vampire about her wish to be human again, because obviously we needed to complicate the simple moral issue of destroying vampires. She also talked to Amanda about how Jim is a gigantic idiot but means well, but that may not be enough.

And we're two sessions away from the end of the run, I think, so better work out what to do about the demon and its plan to free its true form and go Smaug on the city. Who lives, who dies, who gets their heart broken? Stay tuned!

A long time ago in a World Of Darkness far, far away...

DARK WARS

Episode IV: A New Generation

It is the War of Ages. Anarch coteries, striking from a secret base, have won their first victory against the evil Camarilla...

"Hardestadt Elder. Only you could be so bold. The Inner Circle will not sit still for this. When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic -"
"Don't act so surprised, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several emails were sent to this phone by Anarch spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I am a member of the Primogen on a diplomatic mission to California -"
"You are a part of the Anarch Free State and a traitor. Take her away!"

"The Succubus Club. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

"Noddist religions and ancient Disciplines are no match for a good stake at your side, kid."

 (I'm done. Happy Star Wars Day!)

Walking Down

Tonight in Walking Alone, our Puny Mortals! found another lead back to the demon leader's final plan, and then had to escape from some corrupt cops working for Elina's vampire syndicate. So now Doyle wants to wipe them all out.

"Hey, I'm only going to shoot to wound the cops. Put them in hospital while I kill the demons."

So that could get messy.

(squee)

I've seen Avengers: Age Of Ultron already! Hooray for inexplicable regional release dates!

Walking In Bloody Puddles

My 100th post!

And in Walking Alone, our Puny Mortals! attempt to exorcise a vampire with hilarious consequences. And by hilarious, I mean horrific.

Kendrick trapped one of Elina's goons and Dr. Connelly thought it would be worth trying. Fortunately the vampire was restrained at the time as he went directly into frenzy with no sign that he might ever come out again, so they were able to escape and lock him in the old warehouse until Doyle could come and throw Molotov cocktails at him.

Amelia the nice vampire who was kind of hoping this might be a cure for vampirism didn't exactly take this news very well. So that was unfortunate.

Kendrick added "get Connelly to kill Elina and/or kill Connelly" to his to-do list.

(Sure, the vampire could have just dropped into torpor but that wouldn't be much fun... and if the exorcism had really worked he'd probably have turned to dust, but that would be too useful...)

At least Amanda can see again. And she and Mike are totally a thing.

Which makes Sarah and Jim doubly awkward.

Star Wars; Session VI: Return Of The Funny Dice Complaints

Just about used to the original funny dice now, but a fight with one bounty hunter and four security droids still took two hours and left half of us unconscious. That seems... a bit much.

Also we now have Destiny points - random amounts of good luck that we and the GM get, generated by another kind of funny dice which serve no other purpose. That seems... a bit much.

I'm thinking this is not my Star Wars game.

Walking The Dead

Tonight in Walking Alone, vampires rudely interrupt a non-Vampire game. 

Amelia the high-Humanity vampire who wants to stop Kendrick vs. Kendrick the shifty vampire ally of convenience vs. Elina the vampire smuggler who wants them both dead.

Because the Puny Mortals! didn't have enough problems with the demonic cult trying to kill the whole city.

And Sarah sussed out that Jim sided with Amelia because he doesn't like Kendrick. To be fair, Kendrick is giving serious thought to turning Sarah into his vampire bride. Which might put a guy off a guy even if he wasn't into Sarah as well.

But they're working together for the moment. See how long that lasts...

Since it's shareable again...

"Is it raining ashes from the sky or is it dying angels?"
Estrangel, Communion (Angels Fall)

Might drop it into Walking Alone next week... ;)

Dark Days

The World Of Darkness MMO shut down a year ago. Still kind of hoping for further news. (And making weak jokes and throwing out the odd plot hook on Twitter.) In the meantime, yay Onyx Path for new books and support for analog RPGs!

Star Wars: Session V: Strikes Back At The Empire

It took five sessions, but our Star Wars game got to the point of shooting some Stormtroopers.

They're a bit tougher in this version. One of us actually got shot in return.

And that fight with six Stormtroopers took up pretty much the entire session. We're not getting a lot faster with the peering at little abstract symbols on dice.

Walking Past The Graveyard

More trouble with vampires for our Puny Mortals! in Walking Alone as Kendrick calls in their marker to try and eliminate some rivals - a slick Invictus organized crime group - and the not-so-evil vampire who approached Connelly to warn him about Kendrick tries to intervene, and he listens to her backed by Jim for possibly personal reasons.

So now the kinda-evil vampire who has been on their side might have finally betrayed them. Or might not. We'll see...

Play politics with vampires. That's always a good idea.

Sinking

Yeah, terrible aquatic things in enclosed spaces and the chance to blow everything up to save the day and die in the process.

People play one-shots a bit differently. My regular Puny Mortals! are pretty self-sacrificing, but it takes a one-shot adventure (or a final session) for everybody to agree to blow up the oil rig they're on to save the day.

Lore Of The Clans

Lore Of The Clans, now on Kickstarter for V20, is basically Clanbook Everybody.

Walking Hand In Hand

This week in Walking Alone, Jim finally kissed Sarah.

Also there were monsters and stuff.

Yeah, nothing like a little vampire-induced jealousy to finally get a boy to admit his feelings.

Anyway, powerful creepy psychic sorcerer guy was able to revive the comatose possession victims. They had no memory of their time under remote control, but you can't have everything. At least they could remember bits and pieces about the location of the demon's lair.

Not long now before horror and pain the exciting conclusion!

Star Wars: Session IV: A New Dope

Still liking the dice for complications in addition to genuine success or failure, but it still feels like playing a dice game rather than getting out of the way. And we had one of the third set of symbols come up, after four sessions. There was a pause to look it up.

Finally met some Stormtroopers. Couldn't blast them.

It gets better...

I mention the scary fortune cookie post on Facebook and The World Of Darkness page sends me this:

I feel so loved.

That's comforting...

I made a joke on WODhappens about fortune cookie messages in The World Of Darkness... then Googled "scary fortune cookie" and found the one I imagined in the third suggested picture.

It's probably just an error in cutting the strips.

Probably.

Walking The Red Carpet

This week in Walking Alone, which Puny Mortals! get to go to a fancy party and which ones... don't?

Kendrick the totally trustworthy vampire got Sarah and Jim invitations to a fancy cocktail party in an art gallery that may or may not be Elysium, to meet with a sorcerer/psychic contact on neutral territory. And also to lavish Sarah with expensive gifts and possibly lay the groundwork to try and seduce her.

"Not that you could blame him..." as Jim's player noted.

Star Wars field report

Funny dice still funny.

Still fighting Gamorreans and stuff instead of Stormtroopers.

Walking Barefoot

Tonight on Walking Alone, Amanda assured the Puny Mortals! that she could now see a big light blur instead of a big dark blur.

Comatose possession victim, still comatose. Well, that's awkward for our heroes.

Oh, and Doyle had to fight a possessed cop. So he was actually pretty glad of the coma-inducing exorcism power considering the alternatives.

Still, might be good to talk to a sorcerer before trying that on someone you need to wake up...

Complaining about funny dice

Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion session two:

"No, hang on, that's an explosion, not an advantage."

Could have done with inking the symbols different colours?

I like the separation of success and complication in theory, but the highly rare third symbol seems an extra thing too far, especially when multiple successes or complications are also there on the dice and a bit hard to read on some.

Well, makes a change from complaining about dice because they keep rolling badly.

"Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness."
Sir Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms

Walking Widdershins

Tonight in Walking Alone, our Puny Mortals! tried the experiment to force a demon out of its host, based on the previous trick to sever mind control. This left the subject in a coma and Amanda blinded, both hopefully temporarily. So not a hundred percent successful then.

Pyew Pyew Pyew

Star Wars is go, and I'm a scoundrel. I'm pretty badass.

Kinda like this.

But not a princess. Darn it.

The curse continues

Just had a PBP game fizzle before reaching the end of the first scene. Took twice as long to set up than it ran. :/

More one-shots

Another couple months, another convention, another need for World Of Darkness one-shots. This time there's some prior advertising time, so I can do a specific game and expect to get some familiar-ish players.

But for the sake of simplicity, let's go with Puny Mortals. The convention theme is nautical, so let's strand them on a ship or an oil platform or something. And have something dreadful emerging from the depths. Just needs deck plans really.

Alternatively, pirate vampires.

Walking Back To Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Tonight in Walking Alone, our Puny Mortals! were somewhat less than delighted to meet rival demons who were mind-controlling people to use as cannon fodder against the demon boss. Because being human cannon fodder is their job, obviously.

Jim and Sarah argued with Doyle over what to do about the controlled people, because they're nice and he's not really. They found a way to cut the demons' connections off before Doyle killed anybody, but it was closer than they would have liked. So now there's an extra level of conflict and friction just when the group need it least.

Meanwhile, Dr. Connelly met another vampire. Because another reminder that Kendrick can't be trusted is always helpful.

In related news, Werewolf: The Forsaken Second Edition.

A WOD Blog that isn't mine

Painted Corners for creepy things suitable for ruining the PCs' day.

Use The Force, Carmilla!

Looks like we'll be playing Star Wars for a few months. I'll have to resist the temptation to be a Goth Jedi.

Probably better avoid the Force altogether, as (a) the temptation to wear black and be gloomy about the fate of the universe is undeniable and (b) it usually breaks games.

Princess or Scoundrel?

Live long and prosper.

Walking On Sunshine

Tonight, Dr. Connelly concluded that Sarah must have been the victim of hallucinations caused by some psychic force. He didn't go full Scully on her but he did say pretty firmly that time travel is impossible. And it fits with the Terminator hypothesis since she didn't manage to bring anything back.

I think he's just jealous.

Seeing a photo of Sarah with her hosts in 1888 might help, but what are the chances of one of those turning up?

Ahem.

In other news, Doyle fought some gangsters supplying a branch of the demon cult with drugs. Naughty gangsters.

That could have been expensive...

The Dark Eras "buy a stretch goal" pledges went quickly. This is good for my bank balance.

What would I have gone for?

1890s Vampire: The Requiem of the existing pitches.

And if I'd had a spare thousand bucks to propose a whole new one...?

Probably a Roaring Twenties setting for... maybe Vampire, maybe Geist, maybe both?

Or 1930s China Hunter? Or Napoleonic Egypt for Mummy? Or Mongol Werewolf? Or...

We are the Hollow Ones

I guess if I was to do monster-of-the-week Mage, I'd go with Awakening rather than Ascension due to the smaller rules headaches. But I'm Hollow One 4 Life.

I know it was like WW going "okay, fans, have your own splat!" but it worked for me.

Shall we play a game?

My only current game as a player has come to a sort of conclusion. (Things blew up.) So I don't got game.

There'll be another one along in a few weeks, after some pitching and arguing and so on. I'm not about to offer, as it's nice to play and running two games a week can get a bit much. Even if I were, it's a pretty casual group, not a good fit for horror and vampires and angst and stuff.

Maybe one of the Mage games, where you can go a bit weirder and more monster-of-the-week and things can blow up, maybe with a very monster-of-the-week setup, but that's still STing and not playing.

Likely options from the rest of the group include Star Wars (because Star Wars is always a likely option - even I've run Star Wars) or 13th Age or something superhero-y. I wouldn't mind any of those, but I'd have to work to be The Keen Player.

Last time any of them STed a WOD game was a whole WOD ago.

Wish me luck.

Walking Alone Moving Around

Because why not...

Walking All Alone

Okay, after the dress showoff with Sarah and that gag about Jim, the whole Walking Alone crew:

Walking Back In Time

A split session of Walking Alone, with Jim and Doyle (and Amanda and Mike) looking for Sarah, and Sarah looking for a way to return home after being thrown back to 1888...

But the life she finds herself trapped in is rather appealing, as a wealthy family takes her in and the handsome son of the household takes a shine to her. Time to learn some waltz steps and to have a ballgown made for her as she tries to work out a way back... and if she wants that.

"I have to go home..."
"Must you?"
"Um... well, it's not... urgent..."

While in the present they look for a way to reopen the breach that caught Sarah, and Jim finally admits he has feelings for her, because this is the worst possible time to do so. Boys.

"Do you think I should have said something before she fell into a time vortex?"
"... Don't make me hit you, Jim."

Being a hero, Sarah prevents the murder that would create the time slip when she arrives, then catches the killer at the ball before he can try again and thus ends it, which sends her back to the present. And of course the last thing she hears is the son calling her name as the door closes...

So we have Sarah nursing a broken heart and Jim hiding his love to spare her further pain. Nice to have players who know how to make their characters suffer.

(And she didn't even get to keep the dress! She returned in her normal clothes. I'm so mean.)

Overall I'd say the session was a success. Sarah's player enjoyed playing at being a lady, and being too modern and confident and complaining about corsets. Jim's player got to top up his angst supply. Doyle's player got to knock out a murderer from a century in the past. Everybody seemed to have fun, mostly at their characters' expense.

Next week: I dunno, monsters or something.

Mardi Gras

"Popular practices on Mardi Gras include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, debauchery, etc. "
Wikipedia - love the "debauchery, etc." at the end.

I'm thinking Mardi Gras is a more World Of Darkness version of Shrove Tuesday than Pancake Day. Pancake Day certainly never featured in a Candyman sequel.

V20 Dark Ages

The Dark Ages rulebook for Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition (a year before the 20th anniversary of Vampire: The Dark Ages...) is out to Kickstarter backers.

Like V20 it tries to keep fans of both previous editions happy - in this case by moving the setting further forwards and out of the War Of Princes era, while covering everything needed for the first edition now a few decades earlier.

Liking the diversity in the clan character pictures.

Playable Nictuku are weird.

Salubri generally represented by glowing blue circles on foreheads (Caste Marks?) rather than actual 3x3 Eyes. I'm okay with this.

I want to play Crimson Peak.

Now please.

I suppose I can wait till the film comes out, but...

Planning a biggish session

Happy Friday... the Thirteenth!

So, yeah, I sent one of my Walking Alone PCs back to 1888.

Obviously this is not the sort of thing I do to just anyone, but Sarah's player is keen and happy to bring the angst. And there will be angst to spare, methinks. There will of course be a dashing young gentleman in 1888 for her to develop feelings for even as she tries to work out her way home...

This is kind of a "setpiece" adventure to drop into the regular flow of the Puny Mortals getting in trouble in the present, so I've prepped it more than usual.

I already established plans of the house and suitably aged photos of the dashing young gentleman and some of his family in the previous session as they investigated the haunting (actually a time slip) so she has some clues about the initial murder to work with.

And we may have found an actor as the visual reference for Sarah who has done some period dramas...

Meanwhile for the boys left behind, Dr. Connelly's player will be away and Doyle's will be late, and Jim's will have spare angst to deliver. Mwahahaha.

Jim and Our Psychic Friend Amanda will be able to hear 1888 fleetingly, and interact with it a bit due to ripples in time - enough to distract a killer at a vital moment, for instance.

So we've got the angstiest players, quite a lot of visual stuff in place, and some nice dresses for our hero to wear...

Walking The Wrong Way

A call from Our Psychic Friend brings the Puny Mortals to a supposedly haunted house at the edge of town. Cue a bunch of classic ghostly things... like doors opening by themselves, mirrors showing something other than a normal reflection, glimpses of movement and whispering voices, a stopped clock striking midnight...

... and Sarah getting pulled back to the time the haunting began.

1888.

Yes, I went there.

I'd hinted that supernatural powers could affect the flow of time before - the Demon can appear and disappear at will for one, and the sorcerers can alter the speed of time for another - but going back in time is kind of a big deal. And Sarah will have to figure it out if she wants to go home.

Which might be a bit more of an "if" when she meets some of the locals.

Victorian Age Vampire Sale

There's a week-long 20% off sale on Victorian Age Vampire PDFs should you feel inspired by my interest. Give me a chance to brood by gaslight and hide my smile behind a fan...

Dark Eras I'd be up for

Besides Victorian Gothic, and the Middle Ages, Renaissance... and the 1980s...

Musketeer-type France - that's the initial Changeling Dark Era.

The Roaring 20s, but with vampires instead of Adventure! - this one's being talked up now.

The Great War is won. America is "dry" under Prohibition. Russia is locked in a grinding civil war. Weimar Germany just censored a film called Nosferatu, perhaps encouraged by a word or two from Uncle Ventrue since it gets a few too many of the facts right. But all these troubles are far from us. So tonight - and every night - we party like there's no tomorrow. There has never been a better time to be a vampire.

Caring about the game as a player

My only current game as a player is winding down. I ain't offering to take over, the group isn't very WOD-ish and I have Puny Mortals! to take care of. I would like to be fairly engaged in the next game though, not just show up and shake dice and eat snacks.

It seems that gamers generally end up GMing / STing the games we care about, and playing whatever someone else happens to be up for running. The last time I really felt keen as a player was an SF game a couple years ago, where I got to be captain of the ship and actually feel captain-y.

And the ultimate form of caring is getting emotional about a game. I haven't done that in a long while. It needs the right mix of players - unrequited love is easier to arrange than requited, for example.

(Another reason to miss New Bremen, where plenty of us cared... often slightly too much... :D )

I'd say two of my Puny Mortals! are keen - Sarah and Jim's, both pretty big WOD fans - and the other two are having fun but not as engaged. This is better than a lot of games, I guess.

Allies and Agendas

The Puny Mortals! have one real ally in the supernatural world, and he's not to be trusted. Because, hey, he's a vampire.

And not a nice conflicted high-Humanity vampire like I'd generally play, either.

(Although I have an idea for our heroes to meet a nice conflicted high-Humanity vampire... who isn't a big fan of their ally. That'll be awkward.)

Nope, Kendrick is pretty open about the fact he's using them to advance his own agenda and doesn't trust them either. But right now, their agendas parallel. More or less.

And he isn't as bad as the demon. Not quite.

I had to make it pretty clear he was withholding information, because players rely on the ST to give an accurate view of the setting and it can often bleed over into NPC dialogue - NPCs lying is actually pretty unusual...

I don't know, he seems trustworthy to me...

How much can the PCs in your games trust NPCs? Or each other?

Walking Not Quite Alone Enough

Don't you just hate it when vampires call in favors? Our Puny Mortals! sure do.

Dr. Connelly had to "misplace" a John Doe and sign a death certificate for someone he knew was walking around. While also dead. But this does mean he knows a bit more about the Mortals' shifty vampire "ally" Kendrick.

Detective Doyle checked out a crime scene with occult-type symbols on the walls. Which might just be the work of a crazy mortal. (Which is different from a puny mortal.)

Sarah and Jim spent some time hanging out with Mike. Nothing terrifying happened.

BSG LARP takes over a warship

If you're going to LARP, you may as well go all in.

One-shots - the exciting conclusion!

So in the end there weren't so many players that I had to run anything.

Oh well, I have some spare character sheets for next time.

Of course I won't be able to find them again by then.

Representation

I'm looking forward to the new Ghostbusters. I'm pretty sure it can be better than Ghostbusters 2 at least.

Can we have a female-fronted Crow movie next? Or finally get a damn Black Widow movie already? (How many other SF action horror movies can Scarlett Johannson make while she waits?)

(And now I'm picturing her doing The Crow. Works for me. Although I'd go for Emily Blunt.)

Dark Eras

World Of Darkness: Dark Eras is on the Kickstarter.

Stretch Goal Fight!

Oh, and the complete pre-editing text. For free.

NPCs being helpful, but not too helpful

Okay, slightly more content. Following previous thoughts on helpful NPCs in horror, I considered what the psychic could do. I decided having someone with genuine supernatural power on the PCs' side feels a bit much, out of keeping with a game about people fighting back. So she just gets bad vibes and the occasional might-be-helpful nightmare. And will get them in trouble at some point in the near future.

By comparison Dr. Connelly's new Contact in the city ER will be quite useful at times, because he paid XP for her.

Fifty posts!

I feel like I should say something momentous.

Um.

I like monsters.

Walk Through The Fire

"Kill it with fire!" doesn't work when it's made of fire.

This week in Walking Alone, the Puny Mortals! found a group of students kidnapped by a demon with a bit of a fire theme going on. Since its stolen body was long dead, they were able to drown it in a drainage tank without moral complications, just practical ones.

This week's special guest star, once he went Flame On. Borrowed from a Walking Dead figure, so expect an ick factor.

Possible one-shot idea

Art theft with added curse.

Stealing art from Elysium. That's a bold move. Even if the art isn't cursed.
Me on WOD Happens

I would go see that show.

New art show, statuary from destroyed churches. Making a point about how even ideas set in stone are transitory. Also, a buffet.
Me on WOD Happens

That kinda works.

Especially if there were a buffet.

A solution, of sorts

Have a few adventures I can more-or-less run. Something for Puny Mortals (fighting a cult, borrowing from Walking Alone) and something for vampires (I'll work on that one...).

Also a card game and something for regular groups in case that's all that actually happens.

Don't Go In The House

(Reposting and expanding from LJ since I mentioned it)

"Don't Go In The House" - a World Of Darkness one-shot. "DON'T" for short.

A representative of the owners (looking to sell from a nice safe distance) and a group looking into the possibility of supernatural activity, a la The Haunting Of Hill House.

I didn't go full Cabin In The Woods - the PCs had solid reasons to go in the house. Despite the title.

None of them were good enough to justify staying in the house once everything started, but by then they were inside...

For a convention World Of Darkness game I didn't stay ambiguous about whether there was something strange happening or not. The house itself manifested the PCs' fears.

Naturally, everybody had a big playable fear (fire, the dark, that kind of thing) on their character sheet.

Some of the PCs made it out, Breaking Points tested. Some... didn't.

"Sounds pretty diabolical for you. I approve." Jae

World Of Darkness One-Shot Games

Looks like we're expected to do one-shots again next weekend due to a games day happening at rather short notice. (But hey, for charity!)

I might have another go at my World Of Darkness Puny Mortals! one-shot "Don't Go In The House" if nothing else occurs to me.

The Vampire games don't seem to make for good one-shots. Do you start with the Embrace to help new players, explain a bunch of the setting, and then, er, do something? Or start with more experienced vampires, dropping a mass of jargon and ideas on them? And either way how do you sum Vampire up in one game? How much action, how much politicking, how much brooding? (I demand some brooding.) And yes, I could do "the Prince has been murdered" again...

Anyway, urgh, Puny Mortals are much much easier. As previously noted, I don't have to worry about any of the PCs being around for another session...

Or I could just mess with people and run Victorian Age Vampire. They're stuck in there looking for games...

Walking Alone Weekly Announcement

Brought in a psychic (one of the people they rescued from the demon's cult) who can help them spot demons in hiding and ghosts. I'm sure that will go great for everybody. For the moment she's helping them look for other missing people. The demon's planning something that needs a lot of victims...

Vampire style advice

This might be a bit much.

What do you think?

How did I get here?

I didn't actually start with The World Of Darkness. I started with yer basic fantasy RPG.

I played an elf. She had a bow. But not a name.

I liked the idea, but was not hugely wowed by the execution.

(I could probably do more with her now. If nothing else, give her a name. And better miniatures are available.)

And then some years of playing during the summer later, Vampire: The Masquerade came out.

I suppose there are worse things to be bad at

Tonight was Other Games with the local games society.

Dr. Lucky died. The werewolves were run out of Miller's Hollow.

I wasn't much help in either case.

Hanging out in-game

"Another advantage of vampirism - not having to line up outside clubs." Me on WOD Happens.

Just hanging out in clubs is something vampires do more than most WOD character types - including humans. Chicago By Night gave several pages to the Succubus Club, and then it got a book to itself soon after. (As well as a general book on social scenes named after it, and the real club at Grand Masquerade and By Night conventions.) World Of Darkness online was at one point going to be about 1/3 "the coffeeshop", a social game. Elysium in LARP and tabletop and chat is mostly hanging out (and the occasional presentation to or attempted assassination of the prince) and how long did we spend clubbing and being snarky at our booth at Faust in New Bremen?

Vampires in nightclubs are a thing, of course - and they always have something to do, picking up likely victims.

Having just been out tonight... it's usually more fun to do than play, unless you have something to do in-character.

The most fun hanging out in-game tends to be conversational. So homes, pubs and coffee shops... somewhere you can hear the other PCs. And often, hey, where you're playing for real!

Alone In The Dark

Friendly NPCs, or the lack thereof, in horror games.

As the name implies, Walking Alone has the PCs pretty isolated. Sarah's brother (and Jim's roommate) Michael is about the only actually friendly NPC we've had, apart from the occasional other person they've rescued. Police and medical personnel are less than helpful. Their most reliable ally is a vampire, who kinda has to have his own agenda really.

So I'm wondering if I should do something about this. Then again, isolation is good for the mood.

So maybe a semi-reliable source of information, who might be psychic. Maybe one of the people they rescued from the cult, so it feels like they've earned the help.

(Edit: A comment!)

Thoughts on non-book monsters in Walking Alone

The demons' (and angels') powers are more "paranormal" - mind reading, telekinesis (with added pyrokinesis) and the like. The vampires are sort of similar, picking and choosing from Requiem 2nd edition. And humans can have a few of those too, naturally or through empowering magic, though the Puny Mortals don't.

Humans: living bodies with their own souls.
Vampires: dead bodies with their own souls.
Ghosts: dead souls without bodies.
Demons: living or dead bodies with something else in charge.
Angels: something else without a stolen body.

The special guest werewolves are here a kind of magic, people with a beast spirit as well as a soul.

The time-warping power I've been thinking about to throw one of the Puny Mortals into the past might fit ghosts better than demons.

Walking Alone again

The Puny Mortals! are back for more. Suckers.

Our hero now has her brother back, so we spent some time dealing with that. What he knows (not much) and whether he knows anything about the other missing students and locals (not much) as well as some emotional fallout, not least his tendency to wake screaming in the night and not know why.

Having broken up a demonic cult (following the advice of a vampire) they now have a demon who isn't a big fan of theirs. I don't plan to go full God-Machine here but I might borrow some ideas, like their way of splitting time. Why yes, this might lead to a period costume episode. Ahem.

World Of Darkness: Something Really Obscure

What's the weirdest niche game you ever played in a big setting?

One of the things I miss about Old New Bremen was that the size of the player base meant that some pretty niche games could and did happen. And I don't just mean niche groups with books like Mummy: The Resurrection or Clan Giovanni here, although I had fun with those too. I mean medical drama with added monsters, spoiled blood going missing on the way to proper disposal, highly suspect promotions... Just about every location on that list had its own PCs, from the police department (with its own chat icon) to the hospital to the high school ever so slightly influenced by Buffy to the City Hall rife with corruption.

My main character (you know her name) got absorbed into sort of high society and high Fame through friendship and love, and that was a different view of the setting as well.

I'd happily pick up the Central Hospital chronicle and run it now, if I could get enough keen players. Or the high society Vampires. The tightish focus and different genre clashing with the familiar really made it stand out.

Tabletop Audio

I don't generally use music or background ambient sounds much because I'm too damn quiet at the best of times, but Tabletop Audio would certainly make it easy.

Wraith

Wraith 20 got kickstarted at just under $300,000, and I'll be getting a big scary copy in due time. Despite never having actually STed Wraith, and having played it a grand total of one time. Ghosts are one of the classics, and the rules cover everything you'd need for them. And then a bunch of other stuff as well. It brings in ideas like the Shadow, your Thanatos instinct being played by someone else at the table, and everything in the underworld being made from ghosts so your coins cry at night. I'm not 100% on the Shadow and I'd definitely lose the crying coins - it just doesn't seem to add much except squickiness.

Victorian Gothic

Pictures from Crimson Peak, Guillermo Del Toro's Victorian Gothic Ghosty Romance movie starring Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska (so that's half the vampires from Only Lovers Left Alive) as well as Jessica Chastain and Charlie Hunnam (and Doug Jones as a monster) would almost certainly have my attention even if it wasn't all super-Gothic-ed up Victorian.

Bustles! Frock coats! Top hats! Veils!

Between classic novels, 80s Goth and BBC Dickens adaptations, I might not want to live in the late 19th century but I certainly want to play there.

I have never had a chance to play this.

But it seems like the only games anyone around here runs set in the 19th century are about airship pirates. Which are fine, but not what I'm after. I want brooding, people!

When and where would you like to play? Any supplements you've always wanted to use?

Horror with a recurring cast

Horror series and games have a lot of the same tools as other kinds of horror story - monsters, risk of death, creaking doors, that kind of thing - but they generally can't do the total downer wipeout ending where the heroes' struggles are for nought and the evil wins outright. I could do a story about an evil mirror in my current World of Darkness series but I couldn't do Oculus. That's one scary thing you can't generally do if the characters have to come back next week.

TV shows often get around this by having sympathetic recurring characters killed off instead of the leads, but that can be overdone, and while it can give a feeling of "no-one is safe" it doesn't work if some of the characters obviously are. See The Walking Dead for lots and lots of examples. Or basically any female character in Supernatural. :P

One trick in gaming is to do a one-shot about an unbeatable horror, with one-shot PCs and maybe a system like Dread that encourages awful things happening to them... and then introduce it in the regular game. Mwahahahaaa...

Cheating Monsters

One of the smaller TV Christmas specials here was "The Haunting Of Radcliffe House", aka Altar, in which an artist's ghost in an old house starts to take over the father of a family moving in, and the kids see the ghost of the artist's ritually murdered wife, and things escalate a bit to the point where...

New Year

Happy New Year! Here's hoping this year will be better.

I've done a few Christmas episodes of games, but not for New Year. It doesn't have as many stories and traditions attached, even though it's more significant in a lot of ways.

(The Puny Mortals might have a few drinks. Maybe get stuck in the middle of a street party... and see some monsters moving through it...)