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Vampire: The Long Night (V:TM 20th)


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Vampire: The Long Night

 

Game: Vampire: The Long Night

System: Vampire: The Masquerade 20th (Old WoD)

# of Players: 2-6

Genre: Gothic-punk Horror

 

With most RPGs, there is a period early on where the game is full of wonder and mystery. The Core Book and the Player's Handbook (or equivalent) provide enough rules and setting to play without issue, but they are filled with tiny mentions of other things, a single paragraph or seven sentence alluding to bits lore or rare abilities, and cryptic hints as to the origins of things and the fate of others.

Then, over the next several years, the game gets flesh out, sometimes to the most minute detail. History, abilities, lore and so on are explained and even become common knowledge of players. In a sense, the game looses a good bit of it's magic... it's aura of mystery... and anxious fear of the unknown.

With this game I seek to return to that wonderfully magical period BEFORE a a game is buried under a mountain of lore books, expansions and fluff. My aim is to recapture that magic, aura of mystery, and anxious fear of the unknown for you, the players.

 

To achieve this, I will be doing several things:

- Almost all of the books will be tossed out, including their history, lore, fluff and so on (though I MAY keep a tidbit here or there). 
  - The same goes for the other types of supernaturals, if not more so. Do not assume ANYTHING from Werewolf, Mage, Wraith, Changling, and so on is in ANY way accurate, even at the most basic level. 

- The only valid books will be the V20th.
  - Clans/bloodlines (including their basic history) from other books can be used with GM approval, but virtually all of the other information will be discarded. 

 

 There are a few minor changes to the setting as well:

 - The Camarillia, Sabbat and so on, as they are written in the books do not exist. It is more like Dark Ages, where the Sects had not formed yet. Well in this setting, they just never formed.

 - Many (but not all) cities have a Prince (or equivalent), Primogen and so forth (as set out in the Core book), but it is out of simple tradition that the majority of vampire clans have come to accept rather than belonging to some multi-continent spanning governing body.

 - Members of Clans may bend knee to higher powers within their own clan that reside outside of the city in which they live, but those are purely internal clan matters. There is no higher power/governing body for vampire society in general (like the Cam or Sabbat).

 - The Masquerade is followed (more or less) by virtually all vampires out of common sense and for survival. 

 - The Traditions are obeyed in general as just that, traditions. In some cities they are vague guidelines and social exclusion keeps Kindred in line and in others a Prince may enforce them to varying degrees, even from tradition to tradition.

 - Many clans are renown for their proficiency with a specific Discipline. As such, most clans my have access to exclusive alternate/additional abilities with a discipline.

 - The horror aspect of the game is almost always forgotten, utterly skipped or at best glazed over. That will not be the case here. So it may be somewhat graphic at times. We are all adult though and perfectly able to handle it.... I hope. Hehe.

 

Location:

This is a modern nights game set in the city of Berlin, Germany. Berlin is a very cosmopolitan and international city (average borough is 30% non-German decent). One is just as likely to hear English, French, Spanish Russian and other languages being spoke as German. PCs need not be of German origin by any means. The city is ruled by a Prince of Clan Ventrue and is also very popular with the Toreador due it's many fine museums, theaters and generally artistic culture.   

I will post more information about Berlin in general and the Kindred of the city shortly.

 

 

Character Generation 

The PCs are starting above newly minted Neonates. Characters can be almost any age, but should be limited to roughly 100 years of activity. PCs will likely be known among their clans in the city and likely have a degree of respect. 

As far as activity, age and torpor, there are meany reasons to enter torpor. Being staked, injury, lack of blood and various disciplines and such can even force a torpor state. Kindred can also enter torpor by choice and many do when they get bored of the world, are waiting for things to die down (like wars) and so on. So you could be centuries old if you like, but with large bouts of torpor mixed in.

 

- Starting Generation: Starting Generation is 12th (with the option of buying up to 7th Generation with the Generation background)

- Attributes: 8/6/4

- Abilities: 15/10/7 

- Backgrounds: 7 dots (No Black Hand Membership or Rituals)

- Disciplines: 4 dots for Clan Disciplines + 3 Dots for Clan Disciplines OR Non-Clan Disciplines (excluding signature disciplines)

- Virtues: Unchanged, except that to keep things simple, everybody is using Humanity

- Willpower: Unchanged

- Freebie Points: 18

 

 

Current House Rules:

Rolling and Botches
 - Difficulty numbers are the same as they are listed in the books (i.e. the minimum result you need on an individual dice you need for a success).
 - 1's DO NOT cancel out successes. You only botch if the result of a roll is no successes AND at least a single 1 is rolled.

 

Learning New Disciplines

- A kindred does not any instruction to learn or advance their Clan Disciplines (though it can expedite things)

- To learn a new out of clan discipline, the kindred needs a teacher and much drink from them once to establish a mystical link with the new discipline. 

- The only exceptions to the above rule is that any kindred can learn the three common physical Disciplines (Celerity, Potence and Fortitude) on their own, without a teacher and without drinking blood to establish a mystical bond to the discipline. These three are inherent to all kindred, to some degree. It is slow to learn without a teacher and potentially deadly (especially Fortitude), but a teacher can assist, even without drinking their blood. Blood will only expedite things. 

 

Blood Bonds
- Blood Bonds take more effort to make. They are not made 'accidentally' nor is one 'tricked' into a blood bond.

 

Damage and Healing
 - Bashing damage is healed easily, 2 per blood point spent (instead of the usual 1 per blood in the book).

 - When soaking Bashing damage, if a vampire's Soak dicepool is at least double that of the damage dicepool, the soak is automatic.

 - Each dot in Fortitude counts as an automatic success when rolling to soak Bashing Damage.

 

I may add more house rules, but if I do they will be minimal.

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A few notes on character generation based on questions I have been asked.

6th dot - IF you bought down to 7th gen, then a 6th dot CAN be purchased in things as long as it is with freebies. but keep in mind, if you are going for a 6th dot in a skill, then you are better than any human master of that skill ever, so why the hell are you -that- good?

Status background - Status is a thing, though nor more than 1 or 2 dots and how much you can buy is based in large part on your background. Most can take 1 dot if you have been in the city for some time. If you want to take a 2nd dot, let me know and I will tell you if the background justifies it.

Secondary Abilities - If they are not listed in the book (i might have mixed up books) I will post a list of them shortly.

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