Narrativist Vampires

[Bailywolf]

As for the Rededication...

I was thinking in terms of the whole dance of destruction...

The inital stages of counting coup, of testing, of Opening strategy.

The middle, the manipulation and hostilities, the plots and schemes gradualy bringing the two packs into tighter and tighter physical proximity... at first making eye contact across hotel lobies, high ways, pool rooms... then the first skirmishes of actual physical conflict, as the enemy pack tries to single out the weakest members of an the enemy, to test their strength, to torture or kill them to both reduce the strength of the enemy and to send a clear message:  we are coming for you.

End Game.  When all is said and done, vampires are physical.  When the games are done, the final waltz of death must begin.  Both sides will try and make this happen on their own terms, in their own territory, and against the weakest possible competition... and the tension leading up to this bloody make-or-break climax must be enormous...

I could make my players sweat bullets during this; make them curse me for ending a session before resolution, making them wait another week to play again...

Join me in my dance of death!


It isn't the actual slaughter of the elders or the destruction of the enemy pack which allows for Rededication, it is the whole dance, the whole process of dynamic destruction culminated in either death or and bloody orgasm of violence and camradrie.  The blood only seals the deal.

This kind of thing is meant as the climax for a major story arc.  Characters will recover Resolve, sweare new Oaths, and the netire group dynamic can change radicaly; the underdog might become the alpha wolf.

[furashgf]

Some excellent stuff here.

"Can you maintain your principles in the face of meaninglessness?"

I think this, from an earlier post, may have been meant humorously, but it's a pretty sweet way of handling the whole Vampire/Humanity/Angst thing w/ a Narritivist premise.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

"Can you maintain your principles in the face of meaninglessness?"

I think this, from an earlier post, may have been meant humorously, but it's a pretty sweet way of handling the whole Vampire/Humanity/Angst thing w/ a Narritivist premise.

This reminds me of a Camus quote I used for Schism.
"We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes, and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and in others."

Sounds t'me like that's a premise, tho' not in question form.

[Mike Holmes]

Yep, actually that premise is very similar to my tweak of the standard Sorcerer premise for Sorcerer & Space (which I continue to make slow progress on).

Well, Mr. Wolf? Got enough for a write up? Something you can slap in the library so we can all have a reference to play? Your description of the rededication rationale convinced me, at least. Sounds like a great game. No longer is the killing just for wish-fulfilment, now it has a much deeper meaning. It steels your resolve, and gives meaning through Oaths. I wanna play!

Or is something still missing? Ah, yes, title again. I like your phrase "Waltz of Death". Evokes the Revolution, the waltz indicated repeating cycles. Death for destruction and vampires. Very evocative. Very Austrian Counts. The wheels go around; time to kill again. Anybody else like that? Or have a better idea?

Mike

[Bailywolf]

I was monkeying around with titles...

'Oaths' (with variations; 'Blood Oaths' etc)

'The Politics of Wolves' (or PoW to the net-savy game crowd... problem is that, while it sounds cool, it evokes werewolves...)

Shame 'Endless Waltz' is taken up by that Gundum movie... that is one of my favorite titles I wish I'd come up with.

Or something a bit pretentious... like 'bloody revolution' in latin or something (or 'Blood Oaths' in latin perhaps?  let me grab my dictionary...).

Ok, how about Iuro Cruentus... I'm not sure about the grammer, but basicly it's "To Make a Bloody Oath".  

Is latin too hokey?



Let me hit you with some simple mechanical refinements; nothing thematic, just system monkey stuff.


>  Traits are rated with d6's.  Roll em and add.  
> Successes are determined by the margine by which a roll beats the oposing roll (or fixed difficulty) as follows:

Greater = 1 success
Double = 2 successes
Tripple = 3 successes
etc.

I roll a 12, my oponent rolls a 4, this is a tripple success.  

>  When vampire aspects enhance mundane actions, they simply provide an automatic level of success based on the difference in the oposing aspects.  A vampire with a Power of 3 has an automatic tripple success against any human in a physical contest.  Against another vampire with power 3, he must make normal Vitality rolls.

> In combat, Vitality is lost based on the number of successes scored.  Vamps can make short work of humans, but fight one another on more even terms.  Combat tends to be fast and deadly.  The type of damage determines how long it takes to recover from it.  A punch in the gut might be overcome by stumbling back out of combat for a round or two and making a Recovery roll, while gunshot wounds will take months for a mortal to recover from (if at all).  Weapons don't inflict any more damage; they just inflict a different, more persistent injury.

Vamps get to laugh at most injury; mortals have sod all chance to actualy hurt a vamp unless they can bring one of his Banes into play.  Vamp to Vamp, things even out or one vamp gets bitch slapped.  But no one said you had to fight fair, right?



I'll hammer out a basic system, theme, and premise document this weekend.  Work out the internal conflict mechanics, Oaths, Pack Status and metagame structures.  

It won't be terribly pretty, but then neither am I.

[Mike Holmes]

First, as always, I am a fan of the "all opposed rolls" rule. Then, even if you're just rolling one die on each side, you still get a curve. I can explain why I like it more, if need be, but consider it.

Anyhow, what happens on a tie? I like narration of continuing action and rolling again, but there are other options.

I like keeping successes rolled as rolling bonuses to your die roll. So, instead of cashing in on a single success, I can just roll another die next "round". So, for instance in combat, a success can be used to add one die to your combat pool, narrated as getting the better of the opponent positionally, or whatever. Perhaps you have to get a triple success to take out an opponent, or you can wound him for a double. Then it becomes very important to continue to accumulate successes in order to get the desired wounds of finishing blows. This gives you dramatic combat that builds to the sudden kill. Not short, but not boring. I'm stealing this concept from Paul Elliot's (Mithras) Zenobia combat.

So, instead of one success, two successes, etc. have Incremental Success, Sucess, and Complete Success, all which can be recognized as bonus dice.

Just some ideas.

Mike

[Bailywolf]

Consider that stolen!

I love it... and allows for each die throw to be narrated