You have already learned about the schedule for the game. The following will go into greater detail about what to expect and play towards when, and what special rules may apply as the game progresses.
You have already learned about the schedule for the game. The following will go into greater detail about what to expect and play towards when, and what special rules may apply as the game progresses.
The first night of the game is split into separate scenes of up to two hours each.
They are meant to ease you into your role and give you an opportunity to get acquainted with the players and characters you will probably interacting with the most during the second night.
These scenes chronicle events that have happened in the recent past but not immediately prior to the game. The Kindred, having heard of the Lady's portentous Eastertide invitation, meet with their various allies and connections, to discuss what is awaiting them and to make plans for the weeks ahead.
You will receive guidance on what to do with your preludes and how you can use your time to establish together what your group is like beyond the descriptions on your character sheet.
No Kindred or Ghoul truly chooses their clan. They are chosen and often they aren't even asked their consent before they are recruited. The blood of the clan comes with tremendous powers and strange compulsions that shape one's behaviour.
The influence of the clan is what passes for venomous nurture in addition to the poisonous nature of the blood. Hierarchy vs autonomy, conformity vs ambition, survival vs expression.
Clans are the pressure under which mortal hearts and minds are twisted into jagged little diamonds.
This scene is meant to give you a feeling for what it was like being socialised in a family of undead malcontents.
The Kindred have a dual nature, solitary and predatory, but with a human need for warmth and contact. Hell may be other people, but the Kindred need some people they can even trust a little, who make them feel not so dreadfully alone.
Therefore they tend to band together in small, like-minded groups who labour under an unspoken pact to bear each others’ unpleasantness so all are able to pretend to have meaningful relationships.
A coterie is obsession and blackmail elevated to the level of love.
Your character sheet will tell in detail you who these special Kindred in your life are. As you will quickly notice, absolutely no one's romantic interests, feelings of familial affection or even friendship align as neatly as they should for healthy, functional relationships to work.
Your coterie has lived in this state for years and in a mostly stable manner as well. These characters, horrible as they are too each other, are all they have got, because everyone out there is a potential enemy. This scene will get all players a chance to get to know each other and develop their relationships as they are at the beginning of the game.
The rite of Prestation is based on the premise that when a vampire receives an important gift or favour, a boon, they are beholden to its bestower and honourbound to return it. The greater the favour, the greater the debt.
Until they pay back the obligation in kind, they are in debt to the bestower, who rises in social staion in comparison to the receiver until the favor is returned and the balance of status is restored.
A clever Kindred can milk the respect gained through prestation for far more than the original favor was worth. They can keep other vampires in their place, and can even lord it over higher-status vampires.
Prestation gives predators a way to interact as a society that is not openly hostile.
A vampire is no more bound by their word. No one will kill them for oathbreaking, but the friends and clan of the aggrieved vampire may make their life difficult. Refusing to honour a boon generally enrages all vampires.
Prestation a great tool to quickly connect characters who might otherwise never have had a personal reason to interact. It's also a surefire way to complicate things just deliciously for yet more emotional predicaments and unexpected story-line complications.
Your friend asks you to side with them against the one who threatens them but you owe that person and it would mean your ruin in society to default on that debt? Instant drama. The possibilities are endless.
All characters are involved with the Prestation system as is detailed on your character sheet. You can use the time allocated towards the end of the first night of gaming to play out little vignettes with those whom your character is connected with through boons.
The second night of the game begins the main event. It is set in the present and will follow a continuous progression of events, following the dramatic unities of time, space and action.
This night is split into two acts of approximately three hours each. Each act has some special rules that apply to it, which you will find below.
The theme of the first act is the power of tradition. Kindred laws stand unchallenged, society works as intended. The elders rule unchallenged, the young seek to curry favour while trying to keep each other in place so they alone may rise.
The first act is meant to ease you into the game. Characters arrive and introduces themselves to each other. They can mingle and explore the location. They may meet old allies or rivals, or eye newcomers with suspicion. This is a time for gentle banter with small flashes of the Beast lurking underneath the surface.
A special rule for the first act is that there will be no violence. Characters may use their disciplines on each other and verbal sparring may certainly hurt more than even some physical blows, but there will be no altercations that disturb the Prince's peace.
This act will end after a very important official announcement by the Prince.
The theme of the second act is the signs of collapse. The Camarilla is based on oppression of dissent on a communal basis and the repression of one's needs and wants on an individual basis. Keep the screws too tight for too long and cracks will start to appear in the facade.
The second act is meant to escalate the tension. Characters can engage in open conflict. The Forever War will begin to manifest itself in more direct forms. Though most strictures of the etiquette will still be obeyed, true allegiances begin to manifest and the ugly face of the Beast begins to shine through the thin mask of civility.
A special rule for the second act is that although there may be violence, no character death is possible. Characters may fight, chaos my break out, but the laws of the Prince will stand unbroken, even if behaviour is unruly. There can be no permanent killing of a Kindred and no unsanctioned Embrace of a Ghoul during this act.
This act will end after a disaster serves as an ill omen, giving rise to speculation.
The third night of the game continues the action of the second and concludes the narrative arc of the game with an explosive final act.
The theme of the third act is the the end of everything. The Kindred believe themselves immortal and above the ant-like mortals. That is a self-serving lie and it ends tonight. In their darkest hour, as the system breaks down, all characters will face who they truly are.
The third act is meant to provide a cathartic resolution. Characters will give up all pretense and pursue their agenda in dispair, try to save themselves and their loved ones or give up and spiral down. Tradition and status are thrown to the wind. Everything is unpredictable. No one is safe. In the end, Gehenna will come for all.
A special rule for the third act is that everyone can die. In the final hours of the game, the stakes are impossibly high. Childer can be embraced, ancients destroyed, all bets are off.
This act will end to some special effects culminating in our off-game coda, a final dance of the Damned.
These rules may not always be in play but when they are they can alter the flow of the narrative.
The presence of the Sheriff serves as the in-game reason for the off-game rules concerning the act structure of the game (see: Structure).
Everyone is afraid of the Sheriff. When they say "In the name of the Prince I command you..." (to disperse, to stop this fight, to kneel before the Prince etc.), their command must be followed by anyone who is not the Prince, the Lord, or the Lady. They cannot be compelled to turn against the Prince or the Traditions. They cannot be stopped from carrying out their duties. They can even interfere with and break up fighs.
The Sheriff is otherwise a regular character and their power will not be a permanent hindrancein the game. They will help to sell the perfect, oppressive, and quite brittle order of the Ivory Tower and lift the authority of the Prince for a thematically appropriate duration. Once their power is are gone, the seeds of rebellion can flower.
All characters of a certain age and Blood Potency will be subject to the Beckoning, an altered state of mind through which they experience an intense desire to leave for somewhere in the East, the nebulous cradle of Kindred existence.
While no Kindred knows exactly what the reason of this psychic lure is - and those affected often do not talk about it for fear of showing weakness -, they, that is, their players, will inevitably have to make a choice in the course of the game.
Those who decide to give in to the Beckoning will retain all their power but will find their entire being focused on a single minded purpose to settle their affairs for good, so they can move on as quickly as possible. Their Compulsions will be permanently on from that point.
Those who decide to go against the Beckoning will find themselves drastically diminished, becoming subject to the Withering as resisting the overpowering psychic directive takes a great toll on them.
Characters falling prey to the Withering can retain their mental faculties and continue to pursue their agenda or even take advantage of the choices of others. However, their Blood Potency will drop, rendering them no more capable of besting others than mere neonates, a fact that might cost them their unlives if anyone notices.
To summarise, the power dynamics between older and younger characters will shift completely half-way through the game, but it will play out differently for each individual affected.
From time to time characters, especially Malkavians, may receive visions of what happened in the past or even what is to come in the future. These will refer to main events or personal concerns but all are geared to enhance play or add crucial information.
Memoriams are opt-in offers of the storytellers to players. If you agree to do such a scene, you will be taken out of the main game area for roughly ten minutes to a secluded area, where you will get to play through a black box scene with a storyteller NPC or other player characters.
Your character is considerered to be resting in a secure location for the duration of the Memoriam and will return to the regular game once your scene is done.