I've been fake running a fake adventure in my fake World Of Darkness fake MMO fake Twitter account for fake Halloween for the past couple of real weeks.
It's about a supposedly haunted sightseeing cruise which is of course totally haunted.
A ship is a great setting for a horror one-shot, as a contained location that you can't easily leave, isolated from the outside world, unfamiliar, full of strangers and commanded by strangers, and prone to lurching around unexpectedly while you're trying to move and sinking when something goes wrong.
A ship is like a hotel that you can't walk out of. It's like a plane except without the risk of falling out of the sky... but to balance that out, it can be a lot bigger and easier to get lost in, and you can be on one for weeks.
There are ship-based adventures for Call Of Cthulhu, Ravenloft (the second in the series when it became a full setting) and more. The Ferrymen are a vital part of Wraith: The Oblivion, and there's Blood-Dimmed Tides as well, and MES held L.A. By Night 2013 on the Queen Mary.
If you're on a ship in an RPG and it doesn't just get you from A to B, expect either pirates or something creepy. Maybe both.
Thursday 27 October 2016
Nightclubbing: 3: We're An Ice Machine
Veronica follows the guy who leaves in a hurry to avoid Hall. He goes to a payphone and makes a call. She can't get close enough to hear his side, but she can tell he's scared.
He talks pretty quick.
"There's this clinic, buys blood, no questions asked as long as it's clean."
Hall and Veronica already know where it is. It sells as well. None of the vampires in town want to see it shut down, so they'll have to approach quietly.
The orderly who sells knows they can't touch him, so he goes straight to fishing for money. Veronica gives him a car key from Billy's collection. He gives her an address.
It leads to a cheap motel... to a body.
Not Cindy. One of the previous missing runaways.
"Heroin. Was she a user?" Veronica asks.
"I don't think so..." Karen shakes her head.
"Nah, just one mark. Someone dosed her." Billy grimaces.
"And took her blood." Hall shares a look with Karen.
"Can we find out who?" Karen asks.
"And then what?" Hall asks her.
"Make sure they don't do it again."
He talks pretty quick.
"There's this clinic, buys blood, no questions asked as long as it's clean."
Hall and Veronica already know where it is. It sells as well. None of the vampires in town want to see it shut down, so they'll have to approach quietly.
The orderly who sells knows they can't touch him, so he goes straight to fishing for money. Veronica gives him a car key from Billy's collection. He gives her an address.
It leads to a cheap motel... to a body.
Not Cindy. One of the previous missing runaways.
"Heroin. Was she a user?" Veronica asks.
"I don't think so..." Karen shakes her head.
"Nah, just one mark. Someone dosed her." Billy grimaces.
"And took her blood." Hall shares a look with Karen.
"Can we find out who?" Karen asks.
"And then what?" Hall asks her.
"Make sure they don't do it again."
Wednesday 19 October 2016
Nightclubbing: 2: We're What's Happening
They ask around, by night and by day, getting a picture of the girl's last known movements. Her name is... or was... Cindy.
"She came to Hollywood to be famous. Of course." Veronica glowers.
She wasn't streetwalking or doing drugs. In fact, all four runaways to disappear so far have been clean.
Hall suggests keeping watch on the bus station. See if somebody goes straight to the source.
There's a vampire there, sure enough, but he claims he's not involved and the way he folds under questioning suggests he isn't lying.
"So whoever's doing this wants them desperate."
Next port of call is the shelters. Karen doesn't want to go in, too many crosses and people trying to be helpful.
"Do crosses really bother you guys?" Billy asks.
"They bother me."
Nobody that will talk to Hall has heard anything. But Veronica can sense that someone who wouldn't talk to him has...
...
Yeah, 70s L.A. is skeevy and horrible. We'll have some glamour to contrast with the grime next session, possibly.
"She came to Hollywood to be famous. Of course." Veronica glowers.
She wasn't streetwalking or doing drugs. In fact, all four runaways to disappear so far have been clean.
Hall suggests keeping watch on the bus station. See if somebody goes straight to the source.
There's a vampire there, sure enough, but he claims he's not involved and the way he folds under questioning suggests he isn't lying.
"So whoever's doing this wants them desperate."
Next port of call is the shelters. Karen doesn't want to go in, too many crosses and people trying to be helpful.
"Do crosses really bother you guys?" Billy asks.
"They bother me."
Nobody that will talk to Hall has heard anything. But Veronica can sense that someone who wouldn't talk to him has...
...
Yeah, 70s L.A. is skeevy and horrible. We'll have some glamour to contrast with the grime next session, possibly.
Tuesday 18 October 2016
Wednesday 12 October 2016
Nightclubbing: 1: We're Nightclubbing
July 1974.
Hall came back from the Vietnam War broken. He shipped back into Los Angeles and never went home. He didn't sleep much, he drank to help that. He was on his way to an early grave when a vampire stopped him staying in it. She needed a fighter.
Karen was a runaway, fleeing a bad situation, bad enough she'd rather live as a pickpocket. She tried to steal from the wrong woman, and she made her a monster. She wasn't the first monster she'd known.
Veronica was going to be a star. Hollywood would be her playground. Then some creep at the wrong party in the Hills had to go and kill her. But a dead man was at that party too, and thought letting her bleed out would be a waste of talent as well as blood.
Billy's still alive. For now, anyway. He knows there are vampires in L.A., and he'd prefer they didn't know him, but he knows Hall and Karen from fencing goods as well as stealing cars so he's stuck with them for now.
...
L.A. was the site of some great vampire revolution thirty years ago. Now it's just a mess. No bosses, no real elders, whole neighborhoods out of bounds. Good for some. Not so much for others.
Karen's the first to notice runaways disappearing. She wants to know why. Hall, Veronica and Billy aren't what you'd call happy to help, but help they will...
Meeting at the Whiskey A Go-Go does nothing to help their mood. Billy's the only one who remembers when it was the place to be, and now it's a shell of what it was.
Karen has one clue, where the most recent victim slept.
"Good thing I brought a pair of shoes I don't mind throwing away..." Veronica tuts.
And arriving... "Yeah. One of us did this..."
Hall came back from the Vietnam War broken. He shipped back into Los Angeles and never went home. He didn't sleep much, he drank to help that. He was on his way to an early grave when a vampire stopped him staying in it. She needed a fighter.
Karen was a runaway, fleeing a bad situation, bad enough she'd rather live as a pickpocket. She tried to steal from the wrong woman, and she made her a monster. She wasn't the first monster she'd known.
Veronica was going to be a star. Hollywood would be her playground. Then some creep at the wrong party in the Hills had to go and kill her. But a dead man was at that party too, and thought letting her bleed out would be a waste of talent as well as blood.
Billy's still alive. For now, anyway. He knows there are vampires in L.A., and he'd prefer they didn't know him, but he knows Hall and Karen from fencing goods as well as stealing cars so he's stuck with them for now.
...
L.A. was the site of some great vampire revolution thirty years ago. Now it's just a mess. No bosses, no real elders, whole neighborhoods out of bounds. Good for some. Not so much for others.
Karen's the first to notice runaways disappearing. She wants to know why. Hall, Veronica and Billy aren't what you'd call happy to help, but help they will...
Meeting at the Whiskey A Go-Go does nothing to help their mood. Billy's the only one who remembers when it was the place to be, and now it's a shell of what it was.
Karen has one clue, where the most recent victim slept.
"Good thing I brought a pair of shoes I don't mind throwing away..." Veronica tuts.
And arriving... "Yeah. One of us did this..."
Tuesday 11 October 2016
Thursday 6 October 2016
Coming soon: Nightclubbing
It's 1974 and the American Dream is dead.
And so are you.
Four players.
A Vietnam veteran Brujah.
A street rat Caitiff.
A slinky Hollywood Toreador.
A car thief mortal.
We'll see what happens.
And so are you.
Four players.
A Vietnam veteran Brujah.
A street rat Caitiff.
A slinky Hollywood Toreador.
A car thief mortal.
We'll see what happens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)