Lords of Thunder Chronicle - Vampire: The Requiem

Group Brainstorming Session?

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 22:45:12 GMT

*sweeps away some of the dust*

I'd like to get everyone together some time this week to go over character concepts, motivations, handle any stat questions, try to figure out a good time to schedule the games/how often we should have them.

If I can get information on what time is good for everyone for this group meeting, it'd make things a good deal easier. :P

Character Equipment

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:02:53 GMT

Character equipment may be drawn from the World of Darkness core rulebook, or from the Armory book. Discrepencies of the latter in rules text to chart will be handled on a case by case basis, unless official clarifying errata is brought to my attention. Merits from Armory are pending further examination.

I'm going to be fairly lenient about equipment cost in relation to Resource dots, since Graham City is largely out of touch with legal purchase methods, and most acquisition is based in black market trade or outright theft. As long as backstories provide reason for the equipment to be held by the character, I'll likely allow it (for example, no dragonsbreath rounds, for obvious reasons).

As far as melee weaponry is concerned, bear in mind the usual concerns with carrying something lethal around, as characters will likely get called on such things fairly often. Even in a city thrown into chaos, people still look at swords strangely, and that's attention that dissidents generally don't want drawn to themselves.

Firearms, in particular, ought to be considered carefully. Not only for cost, but also for durability, reliability, and whether it fits the background the character comes from. If a character could reasonably save up for it to purchase legally or illegally, I likely won't disallow the desired firearm. Naturally, I ask that you bear in mind cost ratios for things such as ammunition, as well as rarity of a given type of round, because once the game begins, you will be on a buy or find basis for reloading those magazines. For example, a Desert Eagle's .50 rounds that work strictly in that firearm will not be commonly available, and cost roughly five times the amount of standard 9mm Luger rounds.

Kindred Demographics in Graham City

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:32:30 GMT

City-wide NPC demographics by Clan:
57 Ventrue, 54 Gangrel, 42 Nosferatu, 48 Daeva, 41 Mekhet

The Court of the Black Curtain
Also known derisively as the Cagers, the Court of the Black Curtain is almost exclusively comprised of the Invictus and Lancea Sanctum. While they lack numbers compared to the Court of the Unclean, they have the strength of better organization, have more resources at their disposal, and are generally better armed.
Prince: Reginald Roberts, Ventrue (Invictus)

Invictus: 50 (30 Ventrue, 10 Mekhet, 6 Daeva, 3 Gangrel, 1 Nosferatu)
- Judex: Cedric Malkian (Ventrue)
- Black Suits: (This is perhaps the greatest mystery in the city. Who are the 10 Kindred known as The Black Suits?)
Lancea Sanctum: 40 (21 Ventrue, 9 Mekhet, 7 Daeva, 3 Gangrel)
- Bishop: Alistair Alexander (Ventrue)
- Inquisitor: Vincent Alfonso (Daeva)

The Court of the Unclean
Also known colloquially as the Rebel Clans or Rebel Covenants, the Court of the Unclean are the upstarts that the Coterie will be working alongside primarily at the beginning of the Chronicle. While the Unaligned are listed alongside this group, they lack organization or guidance, and so power does not lie with the majority.
Ur-Prince: Andrei Dravnikov, Nosferatu (Ordo Dracul)

Carthian Movement: 35 (15 Mekhet, 8 Nosferatu, 6 Gangrel, 3 Daeva, 3 Ventrue)
-- Prefect: Anthony Morrow (Mekhet)
-- Myrmidon: Melissa Anderson (Mekhet)
Circle of the Crone: 15 (8 Mekhet, 3 Nosferatu, 3 Gangrel, 1 Daeva)
-- Heirophant: Svetlana Eruskovich (Gangrel)
Ordo Dracul: 11 (8 Nosferatu, 2 Gangrel, 1 Mekhet)
-- Guardians: Herekova (Nosferatu), Markavich (Nosferatu)
-- Kogaion: Musevni (Nosferatu)
-- The Sworn: Kerraia (Nosferatu, Sworn of the Axe), Allinka (Nosferatu, Sworn of the Mysteries), Russo (Nosferatu, Sworn of the Dying Light)
Unaligned: 99 (Gangrel 37, Daeva 31, Nosferatu 22, 6 Mekhet, 3 Ventrue)

These are merely the common knowledge names for characters who have contact with the Covenants in question. Covenant members may receive additional information, dependant upon the Status of such characters. Also, note that demographics listed to not include the Coterie itself, PC or NPC. Holders of non-Covenant titles within each court will be announced as soon as possible.

The Requiem behind the Danse Macabre

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:16:33 GMT

As part of my process of enhancing the creative process where possible, and a way of helping everyone get a good feel for the characters' personalities and attitudes, I've come to this:

Personal Soundtracks.
I would appreciate each character having a list of five songs that personify their outlooks in one way, or another, as follows:

?'s Theme: ?
---- Sub-theme (Motivation: ?): ?
---- Sub-theme (Anchor: ?): ?
---- Sub-theme (Clan: ?): ?
---- Sub-theme (Conflict): ?

Motivation: The prime factor that leads the character to press on against the oppressive nature of the Requiem.
Anchor: Some aspect of the character's (un)life that gives them a reason to remain human, something that helps them resist the lure of the Beast.
Clan: Simple enough - how the character views their own Clan.
Conflict: Also quite simple - how the character deals with confrontation.

I'll be doing soundtrack sets for the Coterie NPC set as well, and will post them as they are finalized.

Character Creation

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:08:57 GMT

Characters for Lords of Thunder are up-and-coming vampires Embraced within the last fifteen years (2030-2045). Use the method described for Vampire: The Requiem to create your starting character except as follows. You may spend up to 35 experience points to improve some of your character's traits, reflecting the events of their life or unlife that have changed them. Pending Storyteller approval, you may reduce Humanity by 1 point to gain an additional 5 experience points if such is justifiable through character history, though you will suffer all associated drawbacks of a lower Humanity.
Characters must have relatively mundane backgrounds (no former military or otherwise extraordinary training that would place a character well beyond their experience cost limits), and details of how they came to Graham City. Origins are not limited to locales within the continental U.S., and may involve any place on Earth with sufficient background information. Characters younger than eighteen years of physical age will not be accepted.

This part is not news.

For the four (five, counting Jon's future entry) characters that I have not received, a tracking list of how XP are spent will be much appreciated. As per usual procedure (or maybe not so usual, I'm a hardass storyteller, so it's going to be usual procedure for me), I'll help optimize and streamline xp curve where possible to make sure that everyone gets the best footing to start with for their concepts (not that I'm expecting to need to do this, so far I've only managed 2 point swings into the positive, so :-P).

Questions and comments on the character creation process can be left here if desired to make communication easier.