Happy Hogmanay

Plans for New Year's Eve are vague and depend on the weather. These are the best kind of plans.

Christmas

Presents have been opened! Some of a book has been read! DVDs have been tested to see if they work! Soup and chicken and potatoes have been eaten! Cake has also been eaten! A movie has been watched! Family have been phoned!

(The book is Blackwood by Evan Dorkin. The DVDs are The Expanse S1 and 2. The movie was Moana getting its first TV showing.)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, whatever form they take.

A long quiet night

Happy winter solstice!

Game group hanging out and gift sharing achieved! Game not achieved, figured it wouldn't be.

400 posts!

Hello world.

Star Wars

The Rise Of Skywalker was pretty fun except for a couple of bits which are really important.

Red Sands: Twelve

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Twelve

Louise kicks off her heels and the fresh polish on her fingernails cracks as they start to extend.

The leader of this particular anarch gang considers.

"Okay, guys, we're new in town and they knew where to find us." Simon raises hands for calm.
"Which is interesting in itself..." Jamie notes.

The anarch leader half smiles. "Okay, well, now you've heard that sales pitch, you should come by Mission Beach, Sunday night. See a proper town meeting."

The five vampires step away, all in different directions.

Jamie hands Louise her shoes back. Louise glowers but puts them back on.

"It's nice how everybody wants to invite us to things," Jacob deadpans.

At the hotel, the shoes go back in the box and the box goes back in Jamie's room. Louise showers, takes off her wrecked nail polish, gets changed, and goes to scout out the beach. She goes looking for anarch graffiti tags indicating where to go. She finds some and makes her way to look in on the nomads, and they point the way to an old scrapyard. Nobody there right now, but she can tell it's seen use recently. And one of the pits for getting under cars to work on them has been opened up, and it smells like it's been used for fighting. And there's a clear ring around it...

Red Santas

Not really an appropriate point for a Christmas special in my V5 game. Darn it. Because it's September in-game. And also the characters have been in the city for about four nights. And we did a fancy party episode last time.

Red Sands: Eleven

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Eleven

Elizabeth makes polite inquiries about each of them, and makes sure to introduce them to other local Kindred - and also to mortals that they might find useful, as a way of showing her useful contacts and the like.

One of the local Toreador knows Jamie by reputation, and his mask of polite disinterest slips for a moment.

Jacob is introduced to the court just like the vampires, though given a chance to talk to some of the clearly in-the-know mortals and perhaps ghouls as well.

Baptiste keeps an eye on all of this.

Jamie goes out for a "smoke break", and sees another vampire watching in the coffee shop across the street.

A band plays, and Simon asks Louise to dance. "Since we got all dressed up."

She smiles bashfully and takes his hand. Elizabeth and Baptiste observe. She doesn't really notice.

But on the way back out, Jamie casually mentions that the watching vampire is following them, and so are four more.

"Isn't this what these kind of parties are supposed to prevent?" Louise growls.
"I imagine they're here to prevent these kind of parties."

The five wait for them to reach the parking lot before dropping down to surround them. All of their eyes gleam reddish in the dark.

"So. Learn anything from the queen with no crown?" the leader asks, baring his teeth.

Hey, US friends, have a good day!

Red Sands: Ten

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Ten

Simon watches the ghost to see what he might do... not that he has any real way of stopping whatever that choice might be.

"So, come to steal blood from people who need it? Makes you feel less guilty than taking it from people directly?"

The lights flicker as the ghost moves closer. Simon backs up, towards a more populated ward, hoping ghosts have to hide what they do as well. The figure doesn't seem to follow, but he keeps a look out as he heads for the exit.

...

Returning empty-handed, he finds Jamie doing Louise's hair.

"So I guess we're going to this thing, huh?"

He foregoes a tie.

"So can I not wear high heels?" Louise asks Jamie as she wriggles in a little black dress.
"No," Jamie says as she adjusts her long silver satin.

Jacob does wear a tie.

...

The private gallery in Gaslamp is full of people acting like they admire the art. The three vampires can tell they're not alone, although there are still two or three people alive for every one dead.

Baptiste greets them, and brings them to an imperious-looking woman in white.

"My friends - " He ignores Louise's look as he calls them that " - may I present Elizabeth."

The vampire lady smiles not-remotely-warmly.

Yes I want to play Star Wars again.

Seattle By Night

From Jason Carl and Penny Arcade, Seattle By Night, a V5 game where the Toreador is by far the least stylish.

Red Sands: Nine

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Nine

Louise joins Simon and Jamie, with Jacob hanging back.

The vampire in the nice suit smiles graciously. "My name is Baptiste. I represent the Prince of the domain. Now, I understand that you have your grievances with Camarilla representatives in the cities you left."
"No shit," Louise says flatly.
"Quite. However, we are not our elders, and you have demonstrated your willingness to make a new start and your determination to succeed. We value such qualities, and we hope that you may be willing to hear the Prince's offer of an accord."

He leaves four invitations to an exhibition opening at the weekend.

Louise goes and picks one up. "Well gee, I don't have a thing to wear."

Jamie smirks.

Louise looks at her suspiciously, and goes to tell Simon about the clinic.

"Sounds workable in the short term, but we can probably find somewhere... friendlier."

Jamie rolls her eyes, making sure they see it.

...

During the day, Jacob scouts out the art gallery, looking over its security, ways in and out, and the exhibition site.

...

"Okay, why are we going to this Camarilla show? I mean, you're the one who ran out on the Camarilla, not just ran away from it." Louise grimaces at the boutique window.
"We want them to think we're open to the possibility." Jamie smiles winningly, and holds something black and shiny up to Louise. "Hmm. Maybe. Besides... you get to see Simon in a suit."

Louise glares at her, then takes the dress into the changing room.

...

Simon uses his knowledge of hospital procedure to scout around and look for cracks in security that haven't already been exploited by vampires looking for easy blood.

And finds himself being watched by a ghost.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is 15

Happy Bloodlines Night!

"You don't recognize me from the pictures? Gorgeous Gary Golden? Surely you didn't Pirate Town or Tap Hotel - "
"I love Pirate Town!"
"Oh, uh - "
"Can I get your autograph?"

Red Sands: Eight

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Eight

The nomads prowling the beach come and go with the seasons, but this year they're clashing with a local gang... maybe boosted by the Camarilla. Simon suggests a way to get them to back off without violence. Some of the nomads seem keen, others disappointed.

Jamie does the scaring off.

This is enough to get the new coterie access to the nomads' routes in and out of the city.

Louise asks their leader, Kiersey, about other smuggling issues. Specifically, who's in charge of the supply of waste bagged blood.

"That's the kind of thing the Tower locks down quickly. Though there are some clinics you could try."

She heads to one... and finds another vampire observing it.

She approaches him cautiously, hands where he can see them. He looks like he might run. She bites down on the temptation to charge and see what he does.

"If there's someone I can buy from, I'm happy to do that."
"Who sent you?"
"Kiersey."
"I don't know no Kiersey."
"Miguel sent me to him."
"Ah, uh, okay. Just... don't make any mess. Some of us gotta be here weekly."

She makes a note of this... maybe this isn't a good place to rely on.

But the orderly takes her money and lets her pick from bags past their use date.

She drives back to the Starlight, using a roundabout route.

When she arrives, there's another vampire waiting. This one seems a lot more confident...

Interview With The Vampire

Tonight in 1994, Interview With The Vampire came to US cinemas.

Can you tell me how to get..

Fifty years of Sesame Street! Fifty! Ah-ah-ah!

(While the Count may be a pun, vampires with counting compulsions appear in some myths.)

The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall started to fall thirty years ago.

Disney+ starts here in... March.

Well, my chances of not getting spoilers for The Mandalorian aren't very good, are they?

Heck, I don't even like my chances of not getting spoilers for The World According To Jeff Goldblum.

Red Sands: Seven

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Seven

Miguel offers information and aid, in return for information and other kinds of barter. "And I'll warn you about the Tower for free." He lays out who the threats are, like The Woman Who Would Be Prince.

"You'll be able to meet them at this thing in one of the nice old galleries. They like to act open and approachable. As long as you don't look out of place."

The gang head back to the Starlight, hoping for a quiet day. A motel with basically every other room vacant and an easily bribed manager will do that.

Louise considers making a move on Simon, now they're settled and have beds and things like that.

Come the evening, they see about meeting up with Shae to see if they can make some more contacts. This involves going to the beach. "Nomads..."

Sunday night

Sunday night, time to finish the leftover candy. :/

And watch a horror movie I have left over too! :)

(The Final Girls - it's pretty fun!)

Keeping some candy back juuuuuuust in case.

You can never be too careful when Halloween is close to a weekend.

31 Days of Horror

We had some trick-or-treaters. :)

Why did the vampire need mouthwash?
Because he had bat breath!

I did a thing on the Twitter.

Happy Halloween!

Same.

Red Sands: Six

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Six

Shae leads the group to a nightclub, which is loud and dark and dingy.

"Good so far..." Jamie says with a cold smile. "This on the Rack?"

Shae nods, and Jamie slips into the crowd like a shark into water.

Jacob suppresses a shiver.

Once Jamie returns, with a spring in her step, Shae takes the group to a booth near the back, and to a man called Lucas. He draws them a rough map of the city, noting the basics of who's where. Several gangs, a commune... and a Camarilla outpost by the port.

"Of course this varies from night to night..."

The Starlight is safe enough, being in the space between various factions. At least for now. "City's lost a leader, might be why you came. Either way, olds are going to try to move in. Too much nice beachfront property not to. They run the big shipping, keep close to the border."

A few more questions: Simon asks where's good to score bagged blood, and Jamie manages not to laugh.

Then away to talk to someone else. Miguel. He keeps watch on the border, but doesn't answer to the Camarilla representatives.

He can be found by carrier pigeon. If he feels like talking.

After an hour, a figure with a hoodie pulled down low and a heavy coat joins them. Eyes glint catlike in the light from the streets below.

"New friends. Here for business, or here to make a stand?"
"Which answer would make you happy?" Louise asks.
"I like the quiet... but I know I'm strange like that."

Red Sands: Five

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Five

Louise steals a car while it's being stolen.

Simon, Jamie and Jacob wait to see the reaction. Which doesn't take long, as two more of the chop shop crew rush out and get into a pickup and drive off to meet them.

So now there are just a handful inside. Jamie moves in, heading through the skylight to observe, and hits the fire alarm. The three inside spread out to look, then get out.

Which is when Jacob actually starts a fire.

Mariah seems to think this is enough. She steps away, waving off her men, and lets them go back to speak with Shae.

"So, ah, thank you for that."
"What next?"
"We can go and meet someone who's really worth talking to."

She leads the way out, glancing around warily, and has them follow in another car Louise has acquired. Heading into the city...

Halloween planning update

I know it's eleven days early but I'm eating these chocolate eyeballs.

Red Sands: Four

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Four

Mariah takes a seat while the mortals stand. She lays out her demands to get her to leave the coterie and Shae alone. She looks to Louise. "So I hear you're a car thief. I need you and your, ah, friends to bust up a gang of them for me. They're bad for business."
Louise narrows her eyes. "Nice to know folks around here are so up front about being crooked."
"We can do the high-falutin' courtly double talk if you like, but seems like a lot of trouble. I know what's important not to say."

Mariah glances at Simon. "How about you, doesn't offend your morals and such, does it?" He says nothing.

She watches Jacob for a moment, her mouth staying closed but shifting her jaw like she's thinking about food.

Jamie smiles ever so slightly as Mariah doesn't aim any "I know you better than you know me" comments at her.

The somewhat older vampire gives them an address, the boss's name and some numbers of people who might be at the chop shop.

With no real options, they go to check it out briefly, before crashing in a shuttered motel for the day, with Jacob going to look it over by himself. He confirms that the boss can go out in daylight as well. Which used to mean mortal, but these days who can say...?

So they head out of the Starlight to take a more thorough look. Louise follows a couple of men out, they're heading to 'collect some merchandise' and she figures she can steal it out from under them and start some trouble...

I love you, Trick or Treat Rat

"Doot-de-doo... This looks like a good spot! Oh, thank you! In it goes!"

News

Sadly, the chewy vampire fangs have not come back this Halloween. Sure, I could get the potato chip ones, but it's not the same.

Waiting for a new Crow movie is forever

Hey, that new version of The Crow with Jason Momoa is due out today!

What? Oh.

Oh well, in a month we'll get the start of another comic series.

Red Sands: Three

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Three

Jamie scowls. "Some things never change."
Shae nods. "Yeah, sucks all round. But now you're here, maybe you can help."
"So this is the part where we pay for your help?" Simon asks with a grimace.
"If you're willing. Gets that sense of obligation out of the way, right?"
Louise growls to herself.

Shae outlines what they can do to get Mariah off her back. "If you'd rather buy her off than wipe her out."

So they head over to the bar, to see if the observer is still there. He is. He smiles coldly. "New arrivals,  new friends, how nice."
"Is everyone in this city snippy?" Louise asks.
"Yes."
"Good to know."

He makes a call, and soon another vampire walks in, with two men following her.

"So, why are you all here?"

A talk show in a chat game

If I ever help run a WoD-ish chat game, or play in one big enough:

Mental note to add an in-character late night talk show to a chat game. Like the news and The Deb Of Night in Bloodlines, but with more awkward entertainment interviews.

(I'm imagining the Craig Ferguson run of The Late Late Show would port over pretty well.)

Beam me up

Star Trek: Picard and Discovery trailers, Short Treks, and Riker and Troi sniffles.

Red Sands: Two

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session Two

Jamie notices the observer. He sees that he's been spotted and just meets her gaze in a silent challenge. She points him out to the others. Jacob frowns. "He's one of Mariah's." Only Simon knows who that is - a rival to the power in the city. Hearing that, the observer gets up and heads out, with a backward glance as he gets to the door.

"If he's watching the place, and there's no sign of Shae, could be she's not coming. Either she decided to stay away, or..."

"Well, that's just perfect," Louise mutters.

Jacob steps out to try to call Shae. Simon keeps an eye on him through the window.

"Okay, let's try this again. Eleven, at the parking lot in back of the Red Circle."
"Sounds nice..." Simon deadpans.

They take two different cabs to get there. Jamie goes with Jacob. "We can get to know each other better." she says with a false smile.

And Louise notices that she and Simon are being followed.

She has the driver drop them off at a bus station, and pulls Simon along with her to lose the tail.

They manage to get to the rendezvous apparently solo, to find Jamie and Jacob there already, and Shae arrives just a few minutes late.

"Sorry for the rearrangement. I didn't really feel like meeting with Mariah tonight."
"Why not?" Louise asks.
"Oh, she's planning to kill me."

OCTOBER

IT IS OCTOBER

OUR TIME IS UPON US

Red Sands: One

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Sands

Session One

San Diego.

A Brujah, a Gangrel, a Toreador and a mortal walk into a bar...

They're there to meet an anarch contact, and she's late.

The Brujah, Simon, was a medical student in life, Embraced after a campus protest turned violent.

The Gangrel, Louise, was a street thief who tried to steal the wrong car.

The Toreador, Jamie, doesn't talk about what she was in life.

They're all here to make new unlives.

The mortal, Jacob, knows the contact, a survivor of a Caitiff nomad gang, from helping supply anarchs along the west coast.

And someone else is watching.

--

Obviously we just got started...

Talk Like A Pirate Day

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day, one of the holidays I observe.

Now, if I could just get a game where I could talk like a pirate. Savvy?

Here we go

V5! Anarchs! One of the PCs is a mortal! I don't know much else yet!

Games! Tomorrow! I Am Not Ready!

Full Moon Friday The 13th

Happy Full Moon Friday The 13th!

And 50th anniversary of Scooby-Doo!

No, seriously

I have too many game ideas already - chariot racing team drama game

Marvel at 80

Happy 80th anniversary, Marvel!

RPGaDAY 2019 roundup

#RPGaDAY2019 results

(And hi Craig, Shawn and Jonathan!)

1: First
My first game was Fighting Fantasy. I played an elf. I had a bow. But not a name.

2: Unique
The most unique game I was ever in was the hospital subgame in New Bremen. The mods would call for an ambulance and we'd log in and go ER jargon at injured player characters. Also it was haunted.

3: Engage
I've been married in a few games. Once even successfully! (We decided that in advance.)

4: Share
I got started thanks to sharing a Fighting Fantasy book early in high school.

5: Space
... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civiilizations - to boldly go where no-one has gone before.
...
Star Trek is a good setup for RPGs.

6: Ancient
How I feel when gaming with college kids.

7: Familiar
A lot of RPGs borrow styles and elements from books, comics, movies, TV, history... Trying something unusual can be fun, but so can playing in a way you know.

(One of the things I love about Vampire is how it brings together and expands on a variety of kinds of vampire from fiction.)

(And then Blade happened...)

8: Obscure
I own a copy of The World Of Tank Girl, for Masterbook, based on the film rather than the original comics.

9: Critical
Critical Role wasn't the first Actual Play as mass entertainment, but it's crazy big and can give a lot of ideas.

10: Focus
When I'm running something like Vampire I prefer to focus on vampires and mortals, not all kinds of monsters. And probably narrow it down more than that.

11: Examine
I ask for way too many "notice" rolls. Sorry, players.

12: Friendship
Some of my oldest and dearest friends come from this mutual interest. Hello!

13: Mystery
I don't really run mysteries, but I do run horror and urban fantasy where the threat might be mysterious. How to defeat a monster lets me bring in clues after the reveal instead of having to introduce them early.

14: Guide
Having an experienced player show new players the ropes can be very helpful. I try to do this at times when playing. I also often end up taking the last obvious niche in a party for the same reason.

15: Door
Doors can mess you up. Check this one out. The Haunting (1963)

16: Dream
I don't generally run symbolic dream scenes, because most of the few dreams I remember are falling.

17: One
One-shot games need a good hook, fun characters to play, and an eye on the clock so you don't miss the end.

18: Plenty
I recall New Bremen so fondly for friends made and stories told, but also it was always on and there was always something to do, at least in the Out Of Character room.

19: Scary
Horror games generally aren't really scary. Sometimes a reveal gets a "whoa" or a philosophical point can be dark, but drama is more likely. An RPG can be scary if you identify with a character and they're in danger, but anxiety isn't much fun.

20: Noble
I'd like to play a superhero game which doesn't revolve around the fighting and the zappy kewl powerz.

21: Vast
Any character sheet of more than two pages.

22: Lost
... is a great example of why you should have a few options for how to end a big mystery plot.

23: Surprise
Is it a surprise, or is it a bait and switch? The latter can be fun... maybe once.

24: Triumph
Getting a series to a proper ending!

25: Calamity
How do PCs cope with disasters and emergencies that aren't enemies to fight? And how do GMs make that fun? Steps to a goal and multiple ways to respond, using the PCs' skills and powers, can add to that. Look at games like Pandemic for examples, perhaps.

26: Idea
I usually start a campaign / chronicle / series with an idea, whether it's a plot, a mood, or who the players are suggesting some kind of direction.

27: Suspense
One disadvantage of RPGs is that if you try for a cliffhanger, the audience can chase you for answers.

28: Love
If a game doesn't have emotional connections I may get bored. Give me heartache!

29: Evolve
New games can learn from previous games, but they aren't necessarily better. New editions are often more complicated.

30: Connection
Hello, Internet! Here I am talking to the world. I've been gaming live online almost since I got my first modem, making friends from the outset. And now I'm a regular audience member of a streaming game whose fans and cast like my tweets about it...

31: Last
My last game was Mage: The Ascension this summer, and I'm keen to get back to the table. On to new adventures! Have a good September, RPGaDAYers!

Chronicles Of Darkness

Chronicles Of Darkness, nee The World Of Darkness, and Vampire: The Requiem launched fifteen years ago tonight. I've run some and even played some, but I'd like to do more with it.

Brother is here. Send help.

I love you 3000

No, you're crying at the Avengers: Endgame gag reel.

RPGaDAY 2019

RPGaDAY 2019

Twittering this.

BLADE

An Oscar-winning new Blade! Jane Foster is worthy! Shang-Chi! Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness!

I should get Marvel a thank you card.

Apollo 11

Tonight at 10.56 Canaveral time it will be fifty years since Neil Armstrong took one small step onto the Moon. We did it.

News on the radio, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday

Spider-Man! Tex-Mex! Cake! The new Sam Sykes book! hashtag birthday

Happy 4th!

Overthrow a tyrant!

Not jealous at allllllllllllll

MtA Simon's player is in three games a week this summer. Young people...!

The Sandman

Neil Gaiman (and David Goyer) to executive produce The Sandman as a series for Netflix. I will show you my hope in a handful of dust.

Listen to them, children of the night...

L.A. By Night podcast, now including the Wondercon special.

Pride

It did not rain on my parade! Unlike last week, when it did rain on the outdoor cinema weekend.

Happy shortest night! Or longest in the southern hemisphere!

I am not gaming tonight...

I am not gaming tonight. Fingers crossed for the summer in general.

What really matters...

Bloodlines 2 features dancing like an idiot.

Didi hits the road

Last session (for now, hopefully) and much ass was kicked.

And Didi tripped a guy. With magic! She is THE WORST after all.

Playing Didi has been huge fun, a licence to be snarky and at best vaguely helpful.

So, yes, a break from being the hero, highly recommended. (As long as everybody's okay with it!)

This will be FINE

Final confrontation imminent. Demon raising book stealing bad person about to have his ass kicked. Didi will be able to mark 'present'.

Lifey thing

Greetings from my dad's place.

It's quiet.

Too quiet.

L.A. By Night season three

L.A. By Night is baaaaaack! And stuff has happened in between. And the intro Q&A was lovely, not least the weird Jenga behavior.

Four out of five for Bloodlines 2

Not the Gangrel. Instead, a popular choice, the Malkavians.

Priorities

We may have gone along to make sure the date went well.

And get dressed up, and maybe meet some fancy vampires.

Cara, less sold.

What We Do In The Shadows

The LARP jokes in the What We Do In The Shadows series might as well be waving to the camera and saying "yes, we know!"

Summer Games!

Summer games! Summer games! Nearly time for Summer games!

Not that I have any ideas or anything...

Obviously I have loads of ideas, but could I get players for them?

World Of Darkness: Haunted Ballet School. One of these days.

GOTH DAY

Success!

Simon asked Book Girl to a concert.

Hello, salty goodness.

David Boreanaz is 50. Maybe not as weird as Andrew Eldritch being 60, but...

Bloodlines 2 clan guessing

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is to have five clans at launch, not the full Camarilla seven.

After the Brujah and Tremere, to hide the gaps as Brujah starts the alphabet and keep us guessing, we now have the Toreador confirmed.

So far I'm on track for my guess of Brujah, Toreador and Ventrue, the three "normal modern vampire" clans, and then probably the Gangrel as the "classic" and Tremere as the fifth as a popular playstyle, with Malkavians and Nosferatu left out as, while popular, they'd be the most work.

Although I may be wrong - Thinbloods already have "bat swarm" and "mist form" powers which step on Animalism and Protean, and the Ventrue might not want to adopt.

But as you start as a Thinblood and join a clan of your choice later, would you choose the clans most defined by their weaknesses?

(Though as Jae notes, V5 has balanced weaknesses a lot more than previous editions, but B1 fans will know them by the old playstyle-affecting versions.)

Also, "Natalie Portman as David Bowie" is a look.

Andrew Eldritch is 60

Andrew Eldritch is 60. Does not compute.

Hey now, hey now now...

Reminder: Didi is THE WORST

And what did Didi contribute this week? Advice, I guess...?

Didi goes clubbing

Jack the Ecstatic tried to impress us with his magic backstage pass when we snuck into a club to search for a demon.

"Oh honey, the security guy was a GUY."

Afterparty

Game continues! Alas, FANCY PARTY does not.

Although some of Didi's excited selfies with the super-cool vampires probably broke the Masquerade.

And she spent most of the evening asking Cara about the guys who asked her to dance, and nudging Simon to ask Book Girl out. Because Priorities.

Oh, and we fought a guy who was trying to summon ghosts for blackmail.

And by we, I mostly mean Cara.

Avengers: Endgame was great. I'll be more specific later.

I'm not crying you're crying

FANCY PARTY

FANCY PARTY

FANCY PARTY

I'm not saying I used my magic powers to steal a dress but if you were to think that I could neither confirm nor deny.

"Did you just fangirl at that vampire?"
"... No..."

So, we can probably defeat the arcane artifact theft ring and still get Library Girl to go out with Simon. Priorities.

Also, this happened to Cara. Strange.

And then guys asked her to dance. Very strange. Ahem.

Vital update

No MtA session this week. Next week: FANCY PARTY.

Santa Monica By Night

Outstar, a big VTM fan and particularly big Bloodlines-er, and Memoriesin8bit, made a short point-and-click Bloodlines homage / sequel, Santa Monica By Night.

And this week...

BOOK THEFT MWAHAHAHAHAA

Oh, Jasper. (LA By Night)

To the lifeboats! Ships sinking!

Jasper's attack where he knocks two enemies' heads together and they usually die? It works like that with relationships too. :)

The Vampyre

Today is the 200 year anniversary of the publication of the first vampire in fiction  #Polidori's 'The Vampyre' 1819.

Update from the front

Attempts to get Simon to actually ask the girl out continue.

Meanwhile, curses.

And if NB came back today...

And if I were to reboot Tanith now while keeping a close resemblance: Chloe Bennet.

(Not that I would. That girl got some history, a day one reboot would not be a good call.)

New Bremen Memories... memories

After someone (hi C!) mentioned the Mokole Godzilla Incident, I re-uploaded J's (hi J!) New Bremen VTES cards and more here, as last time I did that was to Photobucket.

Vampire Club 1892

A cheesy Gothy themed drinking society five years before Dracula came out.

Thanks to Rose Sinister for the link

The Craft recrafted?

As a fan of The Craft, the news of a reboot...

*sees director Zoe Lister-Jones's eyeliner game in this photo*

... Okay, I'm on board.

Us

Yikes.

Also, there are going to be so many Halloween costumes for this.

You got your priorities...

"Okay, we need to distract that nice Hermetic chick so we can investigate. Bonus, maybe we can get Simon laid."

"You got your priorities..."

Jeanette visits L.A. By Night

I figured Whitney Moore would do a good Jeanette in L.A. By Night. And she did!

Nose booped by an elder. Scary.

(Addendum: if I ever have Jeanette show up in a game, she's started a band.)

Bloodlines 2

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

"This city will bleed you dry."

Seattle!

"Oh baby I hear the red a-calling, torn arteries and mangled necks...2

V5 - starting as a Thin-Blood, and possibly picking a clan later. (As in V5... where it involves diablerie.)

Lots of options for body shape, style, choice of pronouns.

Apparently switching to third person for some tasks.

This party ain't fancy

Update: We did not go to a fancy party.

BUT WE WILL.

In the meantime, stopping a demon summoning frat. Gross.

Fortunately they were not generally very perceptive, allowing coincidental magic like "Hey, your shoes are untied!" to work.

Hmm.

Apparently these teaser images from Paradox Interactive may be based on real locations in Seattle.

At night. In the rain. Revealed by Tender.

Hmm.

(We don't actually know much at all about World Of Darkness Seattle... as I just checked, coincidentally. It was home to the Nosferatu Pusfinger who due to a life boon owed him by a Toreador trendsetter was able to make grunge a fashion thing. And.. that's about it.)

We're all fine here. How are you?

Villain defeated. Reality storm stopped as it started and villain kicked into it. Everyone somewhat bruised.

Request for next time that we go to a fancy party.

Slay Day

"It's Happy Birthday Buffy! ... It's Not-Happy Birthday Buffy?"

LA By Night is my favorite thing about V5. Hunger Dice are second.

Captain Marvel

Yaaaaaaaaay

Happy International Women's Day!

So, yeah, reality storm threatening.

Didi: "I use magic to score free drinks and impress boys. Can we run?"
Cara: "You can. I'll understand."
Didi: "Damn it, now I'll feel guilty!"

She sits back down. Later, as they discuss the plan:

Cara: "You weren't really planning on running, were you?"
Didi: "No... Well, not entirely..."

Simon the Hermetic came up with a way of tracking the storm stone before it gets activated, and off we went to battle.

Didi distracted some guards, in this case by siccing bats on them.

Even in the face of mortal danger, Didi is ON BRAND.

This is fine...

To the Ecstatic: "So, your mentor, um..."

In his defense, he did not deny it.

And then the Hermetic investigators came back with actual knowledge, which was more helpful.

So now we just have to stop a reality storm.

"... I need to call my mom."

No, I don't know what's going on with Tender either.

OR DO I

(no I don't)

"Air Quotes"

On being introduced to a Hermetic investigation team:

"So we 'trust' these people, do we?"

Nines Rodriguez

Nines did not disappoint this day one Bloodlines geek in L.A. By Night. Playing him as genuinely good but unwilling to lead.

300 posts

and I got Wraith 20!

I swear this setup was deliberate.

"I can ask them something only the real one would know."
"Like what? You've never met the real one."
"... Shit."

But despite this early setback, Didi's ability to open doors and hit people with them proved sightly useful and the thief was caught. Though not before stealing something powerful from the Hermetic arsenal.

This is fine.

What we lost

I really love Jason Carl's reminders of what the vampires have lost in the scene-setting for L.A. By Night, like his introductions describing the normal days that normal people had as the Kindred slept, and the description of Griffith Park by day and by night in episode 2.05.

Also, it's okay, I wasn't using that heart anyway.

Who's the fairest of them all? Me, obviously.

Identity theft via magic mirror? No way that'll get confusing!

Update: It got confusing.

Vital update

Cara the Akashic, our actual hero, fought the creepy wizard behind the artifact robberies. Didi was also present.

The new Buffy comic

The new Buffy comic (a modern reboot drawing on the entire series run) feels... like a Buffy comic. Some fun lines, an exploding vampire. Not OMGing yet either way.

(The pages in this preview actually have words in the issue. It's not Hush.)

I have many questions.

So then there was research with the Order of Hermes and Tradition mage snootiness. This went great.

Start as you mean to go on

And so we returned to Mage: The Ascension.

Didi Duvall, Hollow One and also THE WORST, hit a ghoul with a shovel.

We then had to wait for him to wake up to question him.

And now the moment you've all been waiting foooooor...

DIDI DUVALL, WORST CABALMATE AND BEST HOLLOW ONE EVER, WILL RETURN

Probably on Sunday.

I need to get in practice.

Captain Marvel

It's not my favourite Elastica song but I'll allow it.

Comment from J: That's the one we did in my cover band. They'd never heard of it.

Happy New Year!

Or new episode of Doctor Who.