World of Darkness

Changeling the Dreaming question

quinabl@earthlink.net — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:34:05 GMT

I'm getting ready to start up a new C:tD game after not playing any oWoD for like five years. My players have all made characters and a few of them have taken treasures on their characters. The problem is the description of treasures is not very useful on how they function. The way it is written it seems pretty open ended. I know the typically a treasure duplicates one level of a cantrip. What I'm not clear on is does it take any Glamour to use? Does it affect all realms with it's cantrip or is it's function more specific than that? One of there examples is chalk that does Portal Passage. If it requires no Glamour and works on any surface that is a very powerful item for only 3 background points. Any clarification would be helpful.

Miniatures

quinabl@earthlink.net — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:58:08 GMT

Perhaps this is a shot in the dark, but would anybody know where I can find something like "modern miniatures"... if such a thing exists? I'm planning on running a Vampire: the Masquerade game soon, and I'd like to have a few mini's for my battle map. I have plenty that I use for Dungeons & Dragons, but Vampire loses a little something when you use "Gar the Dwarven" (or something) to represent your Toreador.

A Werewolf: the Apocalypse adventure for your use and enjoyment

quinabl@earthlink.net — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:23:28 GMT

Because some folks seem to really dig the stories I come up for with my Werewolf: The Apocalypse game, and I have a plan for a bit of an adventure I've got in store which I'm quite excited about, I figured I would share this one with you good folks. Comments and criticism is more than welcome.

The setup: In a remote fishing village, a corpse washes up on shore, riddled by bullets. He's a crewman on a family-owned fishing boat whose captain and most of the crew are kinfolk. The boat hasn't been seen or heard-from in days, and foul play is suspected. The family of the missing kinfolk ask the player characters to investigate, and to either rescue their missing family members... or exact justice from the culprits.

This story is set in my game in northern Canada, on Hudson Bay, but it would work with certain adjustments in almost any coastal area which is sufficiently remote and sparsely-populated. I could easily see it working well in Scandinavia with Get of Fenris or Russia with Silver Fangs. For my purposes, the local garou population is a mixture of Fianna, Red Talons and Wendigo.

With this said, some setting background:

The story revolves primarily around the almost-entirely fictitious towns of Blue Harbour, Manitoba and Crawton, Ontario. Blue Harbour is largely based upon the actual town of Churchill, Manitoba, though Blue Harbour is about five times as populous. Similarly, Crawton is based loosely upon Moosonee, Ontario, though with a more heavily-caucasian population and further north. Both communities, just as in real life, have no road access whatsoever to the rest of civilization; planes, trains and boats are the only means to reach either community, which lends considerably to their respective characters.

Blue Harbour

Blue Harbour's primary industry is fishing, with a port which services a considerable fishing fleet for the region; there are two fish packing plants, which exports for sale their catch via the rail lines and port. This forms the backbone of the local economy, and is the primary reason for the size of such a remote community. About five years ago, things began to change there, and not for the better. The captain of the town's largest fishing trawler, the Boreal Shark, Michael Saunders started to go a little bit "off". At first, only a few members of his crew noticed his increasing fixation upon his work. Within a few months, though, his recklessness in pushing his ship and his crew to their limit time and time again became obvious; many were the times that his fishing expeditions lasted days or even weeks longer than planned. Even so, nobody could seem to gainsay him; his crew was terrified of his terrible and growing wrath whenever he was questioned about his judgement. Even so, the next time his boat set out from port, they would inevitably all be on board once again.
What nobody then knew was that "Captain Mike" had, in those long days out at sea, attracted the interest of Vorus, the Urge Wyrm of Greed. Though Vorus is not in the business of sharing power with Maeljin Incarnae, a few fomori here and there is another matter... Michael was a selfish and driven man, and one whose drive to make as much money as possible, even at the expense of the health and safety of his crew made him a perfect receptacle of a bane of greed, and in those long arctic nights at sea, he became something other than what he was. His every demand became irresistable. His every word was like a whip upon a naked back. The wills of those he dealt with were readily broken, leaving everyone in his midst something akin to a battered spouse; ready to accommodate someone who takes and takes and never gives, without daring to say a word against it.
It wasn't long before the voracious captain began to explore the range of his abilities, and found them to be broad indeed. The local authorities, businessmen, and civic leaders soon found themselves cowed to him, incapable of denying him anything he demanded loudly enough. He set up a number of the town's less reputable citizens as his liutennants in-town; "Captain Mike" had a vision for Blue Harbour. The tourist trade was already on the rise in the region. Just imagine how much more money the town could make on tourism if there was a booming prostitution and drug trade in town for tourists to enjoy during their stay... With the local law enforcement officials cowed into obedience, and very few police coming in from the outside world, his ambitions were all but unquestioned.
Within a few years, the majority of the town's population were in one way or another making money for "Captain Mike", be it through drug dealing, prostitution, protection rackets, loan sharking or other criminal practicing. And it didn't stop there. The voracious and increasingly megalomaniacal captain decided to increase the scope of his reach; bringing in roughnecks from outside to "patrol" the local waters for any boats which weren't part of the program. Pirates, essentially. A few conversations between Captain Mike and the local coast guard officials made sure that no ill would com of this for him. Even in waters as vast as Hudson Bay, the thought of ANY other boats "stealing" "his" fish was an insult to his sensibilities. Speed-boats with a handfull of heavily armed and vicious thugs set out to police "his" waters for him. And this could be the point where Captain Mike's ambitions finally outsrip his means. For it is one thing to be a big fish in a small pond, but it is quite another to wish to be a small fish in a very large bay...
Today, Blue Harbour is a hellhole in every sense of the words; banes of despair, of fear and of hatred, greed and toxin run rampant. There is a miasma of anger and bitterness which prevades the community, and though the townsfolk try to keep up a brave face for eco-tourists and such, the increasingly-common sex-tourists get a clearer view of the true face of the town. "Captain Mike" lives in a manor house which he's had built for himself on a small island a way off-shore. It's reachable only via boat, and has one small dock. He spends most of his time there when he's not on the mainland twisting arms and breaking wills. The basement of this manor contains, among other things, a shrine to Vorus, which is piled high with hundreds of thousands of dollars in loose bills and many times as much in treasures of all varieties. A rare few of his most trusted goons are brought here, where they too become fomori; he and his patron see this not as a sharing of power so much as a sort of pyramid scheme; the lesser fomori are entirely beholden to their island lord, and entirely subservient to him and his pursuit of wealth. Some few of them man his pirate ships, others are among the city's police force and organized crime figures. The Captain is in contact with a number of "friendly" banes in the area, and should he come under attack, he could, with just a few moments' notice, call upon them to defend them. They don't actually like or respect him, but they know where their next meal is coming from; keeping him alive keeps the party going.
Crawton
Crawton is a small community to the south of Blue Harbour, and across the Ontario/Manitoba border. It is situated within hiking distance of Polar Bear Provincial Park. This is no coincidence; much of the population of Crawton is kinfolk, and Polar Bear Provincial Park contains a major caern; the Sept of Seagull's View. The two have a symbiotic relationship, with much of the caern's homid kinfolk and garou finding a home (to one degree or another) in Crawton, and the Sept seeing to it that the people of Crawton are left in as much peace as they like. The local garou population is largely Fianna, with a smattering of Red Talons, a handfull of Children of Gaia, and a few others. Though there are a number of Wendigo septs in the region, they do not co-exist easily here; more than a century of intermittant strife between the two populations has seen to that. Though at present the two populations are at peace and might even come to one anothers' defense in times of trouble, the peace is a fragile one. The Sept is centred around a caern of endurance located atop a sea-side cliff over which a waterfall spills deep in the park. Lupus and homid garou are both well-represented here, which is reflected in the rugged and little-adorned nature of the caern; no artificial structures more substantial than a few log cabins exist, and there is no electricity or running water to be had. The grand elder of the sept is an Elder Lupus Philodox of the Fianna named Tide Runner, who has presided over the sept for some twenty years. Because of the harshness of the climate and terrain, many of the homid members of the sept spend a certain amount of their time in Crawton proper among their homid families, though the usual vagaries of garou life and the Curse prevent most of them from being anything like full-time residents.

And with that established, on to the story proper...
A Family Crisis
The chracters are assumed to either be residents of the area or at least have some ties to it; perhaps they're visiting local family or somesuch. They're also assumed to have some homid interest among their group.
Where the story begins is in the streets of Crawton. It is early spring and there is a cold rain this evening. One or more of the player characters spots a Fianna kinfolk named Billy Sullivan stumbling away from the Trail's End Pub. He is plainly very drunk and very upset. Dressed in a t-shirt and blue jeans, he is also plainly not taking very good care of himself; he risks hypothermia in this driving cold rain. He is an aquaintance (and optimally family member) of at least one of the garou in the group. Upon spotting the characters, he staggers over to them, shouting at them angrily, and without very much regard for the veil. Though not altogether coherent, he wishes to communicate to the characters that his brother Darren (also kinfolk, naturally) is dead, and where were you fucking werewolves when he needed you?
This comes as news to the player characters, who may wish to press him for further details and also get him out of the rain and out of earshot of any of the townsfolk who are NOT kinfolk. How they do this is up to them. One option is to take Billy home. Another is to take him down to the docks, where his family has a boathouse where they can warm him up and get some coffee into him.
Once Billy has calmed down a bit and maybe sobered up a little, he can communicate his story a little more fully: His family owns a small fishing boat, which had gone out to sea a few days back. It's hardly unusual for them to do so, but two days back, they lost radio contact. Earlier this evening, Billy - while on the beach with his girlfriend Laura (who is not kinfolk) - happened to notice something in the surf. It was the body of one of the crewmen of the boat; a friend of the family named Ron Clyde, who was, in addition to being frozen and bloated, shot through with five bullet wounds. "Why the hell would anyone shoot Ron", Billy blubbers, "he was just a fucking fisherman! Why would anyone do this? Who the fuck would even be out there to do something like this"? This is a valid question: Crawton is remote enough in and of itself, but the chance of one boat even encountering another ranges from slim to none. Billy puts forth his suspicion that everyone on the boat is dead, and it doesn't seem like an unreasonable supposition. Indeed, if anyone in the group has the Sense of the Prey gift and uses it to track any member of the crew, they will find no sense of any of them, save one: the most recent member of the crew: Sam Reid.
Billy puts forth the idea - regardless of whether or not anyone mentions Sam - that Sam is most likely to blame. Not only does nobody know him very well, he's a rough-seeming customer, and if anyone was likely to bring a gun aboard the boat, it's this guy. Maybe he killed everyone else on the boat and made off with the craft? Regardless, Billy demands of the player characters - especially if one of them is family to him and by extension his missing brother Darren - that they find out what happened, rescue the crew if they're alive, and exact justice if they're not. If the characters decide to consult the elders at the sept about this (as they likely should), they'll be advised that, yes, this is a good thing to do. You've got to take care of the kinfolk. They're given a handful of talens and told to consult the Caern totem, Seagull, who sees much of what happens out at sea.
Such a consultation will bring mixed results; Seagull did not see the event happen per se, but he has a good SENSE of things going on out at sea, and he senses that the answer to their questions is somewhere to the north, along the coast. Seagull will keep an eye out and let them know if anything important catches his eye up that way.
If the characters decide to investigate Sam Reid, they'll find he came to Crawton from Blue Harbour, which has lately taken on a bad reputation in the area; lots and increasing crime up there, and a generally poor moral character. Nobody really knows why Sam left Blue Harbour; he'd been notably cagey about his background there, though not necessarily unfriendly otherwise. Just a sort of unsavoury kind of guy. Anyone using Sense of the Prey or the rite of the Questing Stone or other, similar means to supernaturally track him will indicate that he is somewhere to the northwest, which coincides with the location of Blue Harbour.
All signs pointing in that direction, the characters are likely to set off in that direction. How they do so is up to them; both communities have airstrips which they could make use of, if they have the cash. There are also boats which they might, with some effort, get access to. Rail is not out of the question. On-foot, it's around 1,000 kilometers, so while it's not impossible to get there on-foot in lupus form, it would take about 48 hours of continuous movement (which is to say, several days with time spent resting, hunting, etc). There are no friendly caerns in the area which the sept shares any moon bridges with, so that's right out.
Arriving in Blue Harbour
If the characters arrive by air, they're going to attract some attention; most of the people who arrive by air are wealthy tourists, and it's unlikely the characters will look terribly wealthy if they're, you know, werewolves. What's more, most of the people in Blue harbour have pretty low willpower, and high rage characters will immediately draw attention to themselves when the friendly greeters at the airstrip go to meet them. Arriving by sea presents similar problems, though to a lesser degree; large numbers of people come and go in cargo ships and such, which they could lose themselves in the crowds of. Arriving in any personal craft will raise some eyebrows, though: it's a long way to come on a pleasure craft, and the docks are busy day and night. This is relevant simply in terms of the issue of characters raising a ruckus in a small town which lives under the watchful eye of a paranoid, megalomaniacal and supernatural overlord: Any time they make too much of a scene, word may get back to the powers that be that there's trouble brewing in the form of these out-of-towners-who-aren't-tourists.
If they decide to arrive via the umbra for whatever reason, or peer sidewise at any time, they'll find a city which is significantly more twisted and terrible than they might reasonably expect; banes of many varieties run rampant, and the usual stagnation and stasis of the weaver seem tinged here with a quality of dull despair and sorrow. This will likely raise some questions in the minds of the player characters.
They have a number of options here; there are a few bars and such where they can ask around about Sam. Some people will know his name, and they might even encounter some of his old friends. Like many small-townies, they'll be suspicious about outsiders asking about one of their fellow locals, and won't be very forthcoming. If their arms are twisted in whatever way (alcohol, bribes, drinks, threats, etc), they may learn that Sam had left town some months ago, leaving his wife, Donna, and son, Sam Jr, behind. He had gotten in some financial troubles, and it's suspected he had fled because of it. What kind of troubles? Well, if you must know, he'd gotten into heroin dealing, and some deals went bad, and he ended up owing some money to some very bad people. Which people? Well, I wouldn't know, but I could make some calls... These calls could (depending upon any number of things, including the Storyteller's whim) result in contact with Sam's wife Donna (more about which below), his drug lord, Paul Cotton (also more about which below), or perhaps not so much contact with Paul Cotton as violent interruption BY Paul Cotton, if the characters are too nosey or intrusive.
The Wife of a Wanted Man
They might take the direct approach and simply look up his name in the phone book. Sure enough, his name is listed along with an address. This address is a run-down one-story house in the middle of town. Pretty much any time of day or night they call, they'll find that Sam's wife and son are there; Donna has no steady job and Sam Jr. doesn't go to school, in spite of being just twelve years old. If the characters call, Donna will have very little to offer about Sam; he disappeared a few months ago, though he seems to have been depositing cash regularly in her bank account, so she knows he's alive out there somewhere. She doesn't even seem that upset about him having abandoned them (although he was the primary breadwinner); she seems more to envy him having escaped Blue Harbour, and hopes he's doing okay for himself wherever he is. The fact is, Donna and her son are both so completely broken and ruined by their lives that almost any strong emotions are foreign to them at this point. Like many in town, they are little more than property to the local crime bosses, and both of them are being pimped out to tourists by a man named Paul Cotton. This is their life now, and they feel they have no hope of escape. Successfull perception+empathy rolls and/or gifts such as sense wyrm or sense magic will reveal there is something abnormal and indeed supernatural about this malaise of spirit. Donna will gladly have guests over (she so seldom has visitors), and will indeed invite the characters over if they call.
If they visit Donna, they'll find a not-unattractive 26 year old woman who nevertheless bears the mark of despair and weariness that so many in this town do. Her home is a humble and somewhat squallid two-bedroom afair. Her son will be playing an out-of-date video game system (perhaps a Super Nintendo) in the living room, which may seem odd if it's the middle of the day on a school day. During the course of their conversation (if the characters have attracted attention to themselves), or as they're leaving (if they haven't), they'll be intercepted by Paul Cotton.
Paul Cotton, Fomor.
Paul Cotton works for Captain Mike, and sees to a number of his criminal dealings in town. Paul is a fomor, though you wouldn't necessarily know this at first glance; he's a big guy, and well-dressed, relatively speaking. The specifics of his fomor powers are best left to the storyteller's sense of what would be challenging to the player characters, but ought to revolve around the concept of greed and dominance. His most noteworthy taint is a second head on his lower back. He keeps it muffled by many layers of heavy clothing, but it occasionally shouts loudly enough to be heard. It's not friendly to Paul in the slightest, and not very bright; it's motivated by all of his greed and none of his self-preservation, and wants nothing more than to see Paul's head cut off so it can be in charge of his body and thus enjoy all the benefits of his position. This is obviously insane, but if the characters discover it before they kill Paul, they might be able to bribe it pretty easily into giving them some valuable information about who he works for, what's happened with Sam, and other related facts.
Paul will be arriving with a couple of goons (human, but capable, and with high enough willpower that if exposed to the delirium, their reactions will be violent rather than fearfull). If word has gotten out that she's having some gentlemen callers without his permission, he's there to point out that he owns this girl, and she'd better not be doing business on the side. If the characters have arrived descreetly, they're there to pick her and her son (!) up for an appointment wit a customer at a local hotel. This will almost certainly result in combat with the player characters, and if and when things get serious, Paul will whip out some obvious and horrible fomor powers to save his skin. This may be the player characters' first sign that more is going on than is obvious here... If they keep Paul (or his second head) alive, or either of his goons for questioning, they'll learn that Sam Reid is being held in a garage near here. He was rounded up by some of Paul's friends a while ago, and is now paying for having run out on his debts.

Finding Sam Reid
If the characters decide to employ Sense of the Prey or Questing Stone or whatever to find Sam, they'll find that they have some difficulty; it seems Sam is now hiding, and his criminal backround gives him a decent dice pool to resist Sense of the Prey. If the player characters DO manage to track him, they'll find him inside of an out-of-business garage. Specifically, they'll find him cowering in the corner of a cage, beaten bloody and toothless, naked in the cold, unheated building. He will be badly injured, and very fearfull when the player characters arrive (though he MAY recognize the player characters from around town, depending upon the degree to which any of them are living locally in Crawton as humans). If he recognizes them, or it becomes clear that they're not here to hurt him any more, he'll beg them to help him. He wants to escape, obviously, he wants protection from Paul Cotton and everyone he works with and for. If any promises are made along these lines, he'll be pretty helpfull. He'll tell them all about how he grew up in town, and was doing okay for himself before he got hooked on heroin, and then forced to deal it for Paul Cotton. He worked for him for a few years, before deciding he couldn't take it any more. He snuck aboard a freighter and made his way to Crawton. He planned on working for a couple of months, making an honest living, saving enough cash to get to family in Toronto, and then send for his family. He doesn't deny he was cowardly to leave them behind, but he defends himself by pointing out they'd slow him down and he DID send them a portion of every cheque. He just didn't want Cotton or the people he works for to be able to track him... But then, when he was out at sea with Darren Sullivan's fishing boat, they were attacked by pirates. They couldn't believe their eyes. Nobody on-board had any weapons. Everyone on-board was killed except for Sam, who their leader, Ralph Wilson (another fomor belonging to Captain Mike), recognized as having run out on his debt to Captain Mike's people, and Darren's 13 year old daughter Becky, who was taken as a slave. Yes, in this day and age, these people take slaves; white teenaged girls fetch top dollar from rich businessmen in third world nations and/or military dictatorships...
And who does he work for? Who's responsible for all of this? The same person everyone in town works for: Captain Mike. Michael Saunders. Businessman. Crimelord. Latter-day baron. He owns everyone. The police. The coast guard. The boats, the packing plants, everyone. How? Nobody knows. Some say he made a deal with the devil. It seems crazy, but anyone who's had Captain Mike stare them down will tell you that it doesn't seem so nuts... He lives out at sea somewhere, they say. On an island. Only his closest advisors (which includes Paul Cotton, though Sam doesn't know this for sure) know where this island is.
Sam can help them out more, but only if the player characters promise they'll get Sam and his family safely out of town. He's glad to hear they want to deal with Paul Cotton (or that they HAVE dealt with him) and/or Captain Mike, but he has no confidence than anyone CAN deal with them; he just wants to flee. To start over elsewhere. To be safe. Far from here, beyond Captain Mike's reach.
The Hunt is On.
If the characters have secured Sam Reid's help and advice or asked the right questions to Paul Cotton, or perhaps simply searched the umbra for the most wyrm-tainted part of town, threy'll find their way to the docks. Doing so in the umbra will result in an attack from toxic banes from the water around the boats, as well as a number of spirits of greed, of rage, of pain and others. This should not be a small attack, either. Feel free to throw so much at the player characters that they'll need to flee after a wave or two; this area of town sees a lot of human slavery, a lot of murders, a lot of drug deals, forced prostitution and polution. This place is a terrible nightmare, and staying in the umbra without some overwhelming force, fetishes or gifts should simply not be possible.
Depending upon how much of a ruckuss they've caused, they may very well be watched-for when they arrive. If so, the pirate Ralph Wilson and his crew may spot them and decide to make some phone calls and then confront them.
Pirates!
Ralph is by no means a stereotypical 18th century sea captain, and should not affect any of the mannerisms of that sort of character; he's a hardened and modern criminal; a vicious thug, murderer, rapist, and - oh yes - fomor. Like most of the fomori in town, his taints aren't obvious; if they were, Captain Mike would keep them on his island as guards where nobody but him would see them. Ralph is crazy as a bag of cats, though, and vicious as a rabid dog. Again, his powers should be tailored to what would be a challenge for the player characters. If there's a lot of them, or they're very experienced, then making a couple of members of his crew ought to be fomori as well; their powers ought to be blunt and violent. Again, if any of the fomori are left alive to be questioned, they can be coerced into squealing about the location of Captain Mike's island retreat. Mind you, Ralph and company will gladly confront the player characters in open view of anyone on the docks (knowing that everyone there, for the most part, is in Captain Mike's pocket and not going to make a stink about this), and this presents some problems. First, these guys won't use powers like acid breath or anything, but superhuman strength and extra speed are likely, and not obviously supernatural. The player characters will have less options: Going crinos out here would be very bad, but not doing so could get their asses kicked. It's up to them how they deal with this. They may want to flee and pick their battle elsewhere later. Doing so provides its own problems, though: these guys will have more backup and heavier weapons later on. Even a win in a straight-up fist-fight on the docks could go poorly: Word WILL get back to Captain Mike's people about this (and Paul Cotton, if he's still around) about this ruckus, and there will be nowhere in town the player characters can go without being hunted then.
Their best-case scenario will have them taking down most of the pirates out of the sight of the public, with one of the non-fomor pirates being questioned and forced to pilot a boat for the player characters there.
Island of Captain Mike
The island is a mile or so off-shore, and contains two buildings: a three story manor house and a much smaller boat house by a well-maintained dock which is fit to receive boats of a variety of sizes. At present, there's a yacht moored there (named "The Golden Shark"), and any approach to the dock by a boat will attract the attention of armed guards who have not been told to expect anyone, and who will treat anyone arriving as hostile. Some of these guys will be fomori as well, and some of them obviously so; these are the guys who came and prostrated themselves before the altar of Vorus and found his gifts to take away as much as they gave... The players will be in for a fight, and things won't get better from there.
The characters have a number of other options; one is to swim ashore, which gives them a slightly greater chance of getting in un-noticed. There are some bushes they can hide between if they choose to advance on the back of the house. Approaching via the umbra means that the human guards won't see them at all, but you'd better believe that this island is thick with banes connected with greed, pain, fear and such. The sight from the umbra is a peculiar one: The house is one of gold and jewels, but hardly arranged in a pleasant manner; every edge and corner of the structure is curved inwards like gnarled, grasping claws.
Many of these are here because they've been attracted by the mistreatment and suffering of the slaves which are being kept and trained here. Even Captain Mike isn't so far-gone that he doesn't know that slave trafficing is so taboo that even the people of his town would raise alarm bells at this. Some have been taken through piracy, some have been bought or bred from women in town who owed him a bit too much and were willing to concede to his monstrous offer to mitigate their debt at the cost of their children. These slaves are in a number of rooms of the house (and yes, one of them is Darren Sullivan's kinfolk daughter), as well as trainers and such.
The house does have electricity, thanks to a gas-powered generator out back, and the ample barrels of gas nearby might give some particularly havok-minded player characters some ideas. It doesn't have phones, but it does have a radio, which is powered by the generator. If this were cut off and trouble were afoot on the island, the only other means to contact the outside world would be to use the radio on the yacht down by the dock.
Entering the house is a little tricky; the doors and windows are alarmed. This will likely strike the player characters as insane on such a remote island, and they'd be right; Captain Mike is quite mad, but in this case, his paranoia pays off. There are gifts which can be employed to get them inside, and as always the umbra exists as an option, but either carries risks; the slaves - all of them under the age of sixteen, and of both genders - are well-trained enough to raise an alarm if they see strangers sneaking in, and will - horribly - be very, very loyal to their captor here. Stockholm syndrome writ large. They're being trained to serve masters in whatever capacity they desire of them. The plan is to be sold out in international waters aboard the Captain's yacht. They mostly just hope to be agreeable and pretty enough to win the favour of their future masters so they'll be treated well. Most of them are here because they were bought from their mothers when they were children, though some of them - the youngest of them - were plainly born here within the past four years. Any one of them over the age of eleven has had sexual training, and if you feel that your players can handle it, they may catch one of the "trainers" in the process of administering this training when the player characters arrive. This should provoke rage rolls from most any player character, possibly resulting in them entering frenzy at the sight of this monstrosity. Frenzying garou are likely to kill the trainers, and possibly the children - boys and girls - being trained. Even if they don't, they'll have some serious problems to deal with as pertains to these kids afterwards.
The umbra of course is thick with banes, though if they can be dealt with, they at least will not raise an alarm.
Any successfull means to locate Captain Mike and/or Becky Sullivan will give the same results: They're downstairs.
Under the Manner
Down under the manor is at least one and maybe as many as three sub-basements. Make this as dungeon-crawley as you think the players will enjoy; some players are more into endless combat than others. Regardless of the particulars of the layout of the basement levels, it shouldn't appear dingy, dirty or poorly-lit; Captain Mike is motivated almost entirely by greed, and his home reflects this; everything is fancy, clean and opulent. Tiled floors, stainless steel doors, recessed lighting, everything should give the impression of someone who wants everything connected directly to himself to glorify himself as much as possible.
Along the way, a few possible encounters, as it were, suggest themselves:
A room with a heavy steel door branches off from the hallway. Inside is a pair of monstrosities. Absolute monstrosities. These are fomori who are too terribly warped - both physically and mentally - to even be allowed to patrol upstairs among the other fomor guards. Perhaps the worst part about this is that, while their bodies are twisted and horrible, their faces are still essentially human, and what's worse, they don't even snarl with rage or any such thing when they see the player characters; it's not that they don't experience rage, it's just that they lack this range of expression. Their faces are placid, smooth, and seemingly serene, almost giving the impression of being separate from the snarling monster that is their bodies. This has no bearing whatsoever upon their behaviour as they savagely attack the player characters if they try to enter the room they're in. Behind them is a bank-vault-like room containing considerable wealth, all of which is terribly wyrm-tainted. The player characters may take cash, jewels, bearer bonds and such if they like, but if they do, they'll have creeping corruption from the urge of Greed to contend with in the days to come...
Another room contains a nursery with a woman breastfeeding a newborn. This woman - once attractive, now wan and wasted - was considered to have good genes, and was brought here to breed bright and attractive children for sale. The babe she has with her is her fourth; she's been here for over three years. This youngest one is apparently Captain Mike's son, and bears considerable wyrm-taint. What's to be done with him? He stands little chance of growing up to be anything but a monster without considerable intervention. And then there's the "doctor" and "nurses" who are employed by the Captain to oversee this nursery and the other kids in "training"; these people are 100% human, but utterly devoid of humanity, more closely resembling nazi death camp doctors than medical practitioners in any conventional sense of the words. They can be cowed into not raising a stink, though, in return for their lives. Are the player characters willing to make that deal, or are they going to take more drastic means to ensure their silence?
The players may at this point be topped up on horror. If so, move on to the big finish.
Captain Mike
The bottom-most level of the basement literally has a red carpet - a spotless, red velvet carpet - leading up to it. Broad, mahogany double doors lead up to it. Player characters with high levels of occult or any Wyrm lore may recognize markings and symbols carved into the door connected with demon worship and with the urge wyrm Vorus specifically. Sense Wyrm, Sense Magic, and Sense Silver will all yield a big affirmative here. The door is securely locked from the inside, but it's not impossible or even very difficult to open it with the appropriate gifts or sufficient brute force (say, a swift kick from a couple of crinos-sized feet).
The room inside is literally a shrine to the very concept of greed. A large silver and gold altar in the form of Vorus dominates one end of the room, and all about the floor of the room is scattered literally millions of dollars in cash, jewelry, objects of art, and other items of material wealth. There's a certain amount of silver in there, mostly in the form of jewelry; necklaces, rings and such. Characters outside of their breed form (or metis) who enter this room will have to roll wits + athletics (difficulty 6) any time they move in order to avoid stepping on something silver and thus taking aggravated damage to the soles of their feet. There's nothing classy about this room whatsoever; nothing majestic and nothing regal. This is unto affluence what a pig's trough is unto a gourmet meal. This impression is added-to by the sight of Captain Mike himself, who will be entirely naked inside of this room.
Captain Mike is intimidating. Standing six foot three and weighting well over three hundred pounds (as much muscle as fat), he is covered in thick black body hair (though not to a supernatural degree), with a long, curly black beard and moustache and a balding pate. His only articles of clothing as such are heavy necklaces and many rings on his fingers. This last is of some concern to garou: A number of them are silver, which means that he can do aggravated damage by punching or grabbing werewolves in combat. He doesn't know this; he doesn't know anything about werewolves, and this will honestly be a rude shock to him. He just likes silver. It costs a lot and looks nice.
Again, he should be given powers which are appropriate to the game you're running, but must obviously include some kind of will-sapping mind-control powers. I would reccommend the following :
Captain Mike rolls manipulation + intimidation while talking to a target. He makes a demand or reproach of some sort (which can be no more than four words per action/round), difficulty of his target's willpower. For every success he gets he can cause one of three effects: (1) The target loses one temporary willpower, (2) The target loses one temporary rage, or (3) the target must spend one round obeying a single command. If the target's temporary rage or willpower reaches zero, he can instead destroy one PERMANENT willpower per three successes. Obviously, this has a swiftly cumulative effect, and is the means by which he's broken the wills of the community so completely. The player characters ought to shut him up really fast or suffer the consequences...
Aside from that, giving him superhuman stats in the physical and social areas would be appropriate, and giving him some rage and/or extra actions per round ought to keep things interesting.
If the characters have somehow amazingly gotten to this room without attracting attention to themselves, they will find Captain Mike performing some horrible analogue to a baptism over one of his trusted lieutennants here, anointing one of his goons in blood freshly-spilled from one of his slave girls (who now slumps lifelessly in a cage suspended over a shallow pool which this goon is being immersed in). As they watch, this man will emerge from the pool of blood in a frenzy, frantically and animalistically squiggling out of the pool of blood, shrieking hungrily as he writhes towards the piles of wealth, which he then, horribly, begins to swallow in great handfulls; cash, coins, jewelry and all. Captain Mike makes no effort to stop him, but proclaims that "You will repay me for this feast many times over, you mark my word!" as the man changes; his flesh distends and stretches with a popping and snapping of skin and sinews, and he becomes something significantly more menacing than he had been mere moments before. Agan, the specifics of this are best left to the storyteller, but it should be something very impressive; this is Final Boss time, and Captain Mike needs some capable help here.
If they have raised an alarm on the way down here, Captain Mike will have more hastily adorned his new fomor, and they will both be hiding when the player characters enter; Captain Mike will have buried himself under a pile of cash and such (a successfull perception + alertness roll, difficulty 9 will reveal his breathing underneath causing the pile to rise and fall). His new fomor will be laying in the pool of blood, mostly-immersed and faking dead. A similar perception + alertness roll (difficulty 7) will unveil this ruse. The plan is for them to lunge upon the intruders from their places as soon as they've entered the room fully.
Regardless of whether they've surprised the inhabitants of this room, the room will also contain 13 year old Becky Sullivan, bound, gagged, naked in a cage, also suspended over the pool of blood, in a separate cage from the other poor girl who has already been sacrificed. Becky was simply too rebellious and Captain Mike wearied of breaking her will, and decided to put her to other uses. Even now, she struggles to get free. If she sees garou enter, even in crinos form, she will not react with terror but excitement; the cavalry has arrived. She is kinfolk, after all, and this is old family legends come to life.
Combat will probably begin right about now.
If things immediately start going badly for Captain Mike (as in, it looks like he's going to die in a round or two of combat), banes should begin to materialize to protect their meal ticket. Again, the nature and number of these should be left to the storyteller, and based upon what will challenge the players.
Captain Mike will speak every single round in addition to any fighting he does; he can do so without splitting dice pools for multiple actions. He will focus on getting the player characters to turn on one another using his mind control, which will be a rude surprise to many players, as the strength of their group is turned against itself. Any command which involves attacking a fellow packmate (if they've performed the rite of the totem or equivalent) should be at plus two difficulty for him, though.
When he receives his final wound, he'll take a few moments to stop moving; not because he's not dead (he is), but because the bane which has so long motivated him will continue to animate his corpse briefly. By this time, however, it will be beyond fighting; it will have reverted to the basic drive to OWN things, and will begin to pathetically gather cash and such to its chest, hugging it tightly while weeping and sobbing spastically. Any further injury at this point will destroy the bane utterly, and it will vanish from the physical world with a woosh of foul air.
Aftermath
The player characters will have some cleanup to do. There may yet be living guards upstairs, though they should be easy pickings by this point. The remaining banes will lose interest in this island once Captain Mike is gone; the party is over, and it's time to move on. Not the most satisfying of conclusions for the player characters on that count, but the World of Darkness seldom provides entirely happy endings. Becky Sullivan is alive, and extremely grateful to have been rescued (and will be even more grateful if someone were to give her some clothes to wear), and will, quite aside from breaking down in tears, react by kicking and insulting the corpse of Captain Mike furiously. She's strong, and will be able to get past this horrible experience, though the loss of her father - when she allows herself to think about it - will hit her hard.
The slaves upstairs are another matter; many of them have been there for years, and not a one of them has the sense of self-worth or resolve necessary to lead their own lives. It's going to be a hard row to hoe for them, and if they've seen the player characters' faces, there could be extra problems, if they're exposed to the police and asked about the events of the past day or so. After all, there's going to be a few corpses to be accounted for. But how do you deal with all of these kids without involving the police? Difficult choices...
Then there's the cash and treasure. Millions of dollars worth. All of it terribly wyrm-tainted, as with the goods in the vault, above. Theoretically, rites of cleansing could be used to clean it up a bit, but the taint is strong. A lot of good could be done with it, if it could be removed from the island safely... but to what end? There's a ruined community about a mile away which could use some cash to rebuild, if anyone there could be trusted with it. On the other hand, the garou nation is in the midst of a war, and all of that money could do a lot of good. Decisions, decisions...
And then there's Blue Harbour. The king is dead, but there's a lot of spiritual harm done there. The people there have grown used to dishonest work and rampant criminality and such. They're not all going to turn over a new leaf overnight.
And then there's Sam and family, if they've survived. There may be people looking for revenge against them, partly because of the player characters' involvement.
There's a lot of loose ends here, which could be used to fuel all sorts of additional stories.

Friday the 13th Sale

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:13:35 GMT

White Wolf - Friday the 13th Sale!

Electronic Coupon for 20% off some of the core World of Darkness titles.

Blood across Florida

quinabl@earthlink.net — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:20:13 GMT

Blood across Florida is an Old WoD Vampire: the Masquerade game set in Miami, Florida in the year 2000. It revolves around the Sabbat occupation of this city and the players play young Sabbat vampires that are looking to prove themselves worthy of the title. The game will focus largely on opposing the Camarilla and other many foes of the Sabbat, both in outright combat and spy hunting. Between these major events the Cainites will be able to take part in blood rituals and violent games, preying on the human occupants of the city and terrorising, brutalising and just plain murdering them for fun. More politically-inclined Cainites can spend this time working behind the scenes, building up their influence and establishing a power base or joining the Black Hand and discretely watching for corruption amongst their peers.
The style of the game is brutal and dangerous, player characters will run the risk of destruction on a regular basis but this will only serve to sharpen the taste of victory. I classify this as a Black Dog game in that it contains graphically descriptive depictions of violent acts and the true horrors of the Sabbat, something often missed in many supposed Sabbat games.

Old WoD Vampire / Mage / Mortal Game

quinabl@earthlink.net — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:41:29 GMT

Welcome to WoD Sanfield Rock. We offer multiple venues for roleplay with an active forum and private chatrooms.

Sanfield is a bustling city in a mountainous region of Georgia. The city itself is divided into three parts. A large downtown section complete with nightclubs,bars and an arena. A sprawling slum district complete with last chance churches, crack-houses and the infamous rape street park. And last and perhaps least is the small, sleepy suburbs with a mall and the hospital. The City has been under seige by the Sabbat for quite some time and the Mages are facing a Technocratic nightmare.

The game will be a crossover of Mage and vampire. There will be no segregation of the two groups. Vampires come from both Sabbat and Camarilla sects but the Mages are restricted to Tradition mages only.

The Vampire Game is off to a great start so i will no longer be accepting elder characters.

Ancillae powered vampires are still available in the following clans: Brujah, Ventrue, Toreador.

Neonates are open for all clans.

INDEPENDENT CLANS are now being introduced. Both Setite and Giovanni will be used but for now are to be played by invitation only.

Games We Offer

Mage: The Ascension.
Vampire: The Masquerade.
Mortals, Ghouls and Sleepers.

Websites - Forum (Feel free to Browse, We don't mind Lurkers)

Game Site (with Rules, Character Creation, and a bit of History thus far)

Any advice on running games online?

quinabl@earthlink.net — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:39:06 GMT

I'm trying to get a Werewolf: the Apocalypse game going with some friends. Unfortunately, two potential players are moving away. A third one is pregnant, and is working weekends (the best time to play) to make up for the time she'll be losing on maternity leave. So I had the idea of running the game online. Get the group (or the majority of it) to meet in person at least once before the two move away at the end of this month, then run it via email or the forum that my gaming group has.

I haven't had any experience with playing (much less GM'ing) a game online. Has anyone here done so? How do you handle dialogue, and how is combat handled?

A little extra info on the group.

The players and I are all college graduates. The average age probably figures to be about 30. The characters reflect that a bit; all are quite late in their First Change, save the lupus character - but he's just as odd, because meeting up with the other characters will probably be his first encounter with other werewolves. The others changed at about college-age.

I'll be running the Rite of Passage; they are technically starting as cubs. Probably going to at least base it on the Rite of Passage sourcebook.

Characters:
Homid Philodox Fianna, just returning from Iraq War and a horrible First Change there
Homid Ragabash Glass Walker, a businessman or something similar
Homid Theurge Black Fury, a medical intern (OOC, pregnant and due in Spetember; may not be playing long)
Homid Philodox __________ (can't remember off the top of my head, might be Get of Fenris), convinced his powers are God-given and made to protect and judge
Lupus Ahroun Get of Fenris, Changed alone, outlived his pack, got fed up with deforestation in his native France and has hopped a boat to NYC (and he hates modern technology)

Vampire the masquerade rescources

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:56:41 GMT

New to the community, hope this is a good one for the masquerade.

My group and I despise the newest set of rules for vampire, so we still use the outdated but awesome Revised 2.0 rules from White wolf (product 2300). Although hard to find materials, we believe these are the best rules out there. They are flexible enough to make playing/running easy, and yet detailed enough to be a true role playing tool.

In that respect, I am looking for excellent sites which have good masquerade resources.

I love this site: http://www.patman.org/wod/disciplines/disciplines.asp for disciplines, it's pretty easy to use even though the damn thing insists on resizing my window. Other than that, I have found few helpful sites. Does anyone have online resources that truly help, especially with roleplaying hints for different clans, but also with paths, alternative ways of thinking, etc. specifically for the masquerade or revised?

Also, since I'm new to the community, do you guys typically discuss philosophies and concepts of the game, as well as share memorable experiences?

Sabbat Civil Wars

quinabl@earthlink.net — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:29:01 GMT

Hey folks,

Anyone have the dates for the Sabbat Civil Wars handy?

When were they and which, if any, major things (creation of Panders, etc) happened because of them?

Thanks,

Matt

Symbol question

quinabl@earthlink.net — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:14:10 GMT

Could someone help me figure out where this symbol is from, for some reason my friends and my own's memory is drawing a blank but we both know we know it. I believe its Egyptian, if i remember that much right, but I can't remember much more than that.

Changeling Problems

quinabl@earthlink.net — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:05:30 GMT

Well, there are a few things that create this problem. 1st, I was to set on a story that I wanted to tell in the first place, it might have worked if I didn't decide to make the group fresh out of the hedge (literally fresh out of the hedge, the first session was their escape from the hedge). Second are some of my gamers. They are brash and don't think of what might become as a result of their actions, its kinda like you give a loaded gun to a child and they shout "hey cool, look at this." Gamers can't be helped to much, I'm trying to get the WoD stuff out their more into the gamer community up here in the my area region, so I'm running WoD games at my local game shop (I'm running a changeling game and a friend of mine is running a Mage game) so I can't be picky about who I choose for my game, and I also feel, as a gamer who's been doing more the RP and less of the Hack and Slash crap, that its my reasonability to help teach these other gamers how to get into it. The gamers aren't all THAT bad, they all have their flaws and its also that their not use to this gaming style.

Anyways, I'm really trying to figure out ways to make the plot interested characters happy. I am trying to do more of that the player does something and something happens, yet the players want something to happen then they act. I don't want to loose the feel of the World of Darkness with having things seeking them out, but I don't want to have them just sit around all day long and go... dah, what should we do?

Dark Ages Fae and Mage LE on eBay

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:19:45 GMT

Hey folks,

I've just listed a handful of Dark Ages and other books up on eBay:

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmatt-m-mcelroy

More will probably go up this weekend as I continue packing up the office and sorting through my collection.

Regards,

Matt

Iraq War Fomori: A W:tA story concept

quinabl@earthlink.net — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:37:25 GMT

I've had a great idea for a storyline I won't be able to use for half a year or so, since I have too many things lined up in my garou game, but I love too much not to share with someone.

This works anywhere in the US, any time more than a year or so after the beginning of the Iraq war (obviously this requires you to push our apocalypse date some years past canon).

In broad strokes: A group of American soldiers in Iraq are involved with one atrocity too many. Maybe they were there for some prison rape. Maybe they took part in the US assault on Fallujah, where US forces used chemical weapons on civilian population centres. Or, it being the WoD, maybe something even worse. None of them were decision-makers; just young, patriotic kids who signed up believing they were serving their country. But like so many soldiers in real life are coming home with severe mental disorders from their experiences, something BROKE inside of these guys.

They become possessed by spirits of violence, hatred, cruelty, or whatever. None of them in immediately obvious ways, but enough to set them apart. Maybe superhuman agility. maybe telepathy or X-ray vision. And discreet enough taints (mental disorders, sores, that sort of thing) that they don't stick out like a sore thumb and get rounded up by Pentex "civilian contractors" working in Iraq. They gain small but useful powers, among them the ability to sense supernatural beings. This is how they find each other. They do very well in Iraq; their new powers keep them alive, and they have no trouble satisfying their wyrm-enhanced-urges.

They eventually get sent home, some of them rotated out, some of them facing court martial for their roles in various atrocities. They manage to avoid serious charges and none of them face worse consequences than dishonourable discharges. After all, they're young patriots doing their jobs.

They don't know they're fomori; they don't have that knowledge. They believe that they were affected by 'Saddam's secret biological weapons', but now the joke's on him: They now have the ability to take the fight home to the 'Islamo-fascists' back in the US and the 'traitorous' liberals who 'want to protect them'.

Shortly after the beginning of their war at home, they attract the attention a small pack of Bone Gnawers. Their first confrontation with garou goes poorly; they lose one of their own, and another is terribly injured as they make their escape. The survivors talk afterwards about what the fuck it was that they saw. The word "werewolf" is impossible not to speak out loud. They include the scope of their war at home to include these "enablers". Subsequent experiments with silver ordance proves very promising. Though werewolves are never the main thust of their mission (after all, there's a Global War on Terror to win!), they are a part of their strategic planning from that point forwards.

These kids - nineteen, twenty years old- genuinely love their country and want to protect it. But they're killing innocent muslims, civic-minded and progressive folks, and garou. What do you do?

These guys use military tactics, and are smart and hard as nails. They travel around, fighting a 'counter insurgency' against the muslim and liberal targets they see as enemies of the state. A number of ways to introduce them suggest themselves:

1) they get involved in a local militia group who they think will be sympathetic. On the whole they are, but someone blabs, and then turns up dead. The hunt is on. How much do these militia types know about garou thanks to their fomori allies? Do they know why they've been asked to start making silver bullets?

2) One of the fomori - less subsumed by his bane than most - goes to a veteran's centre to seek counciling. He knows there's something wrong with him. One of the workers there is or has ties to kinfolk, and reports back to the local garou about this. Soon after, the young man seeking help vanishes...

3) A prominent liberal politician is assasinated by the fomori. They make it look like an IED, and the right-wing media eats it up. ''You can't think the muslims don't hate you too just because you want out of iraq! They hate you for your homosexual agenda and secula ways...'' Tension rises. Public beatings begin. Hate and cruelty are in the air. The wyrm thrives...

And of course, eventually Pentex will become aware of these guys and offer them jobs as 'civilian contractors'...

And even if the garou try to understand the threat, even if they drive out the banes, what do they do with driven young patriots who would do this based upon their warped understanding of the world to begin with, and who now know what they do? The veil shall not be lifted, right?

X-posted over here

Open Source NPC project

quinabl@earthlink.net — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:13:16 GMT

An idea I've had swimming around in my head for a little while now.

Every so often, my game will take the players to a location they've never been before... or there's some family history... or a tale being told... and a bunch of NPCs will need to be generated on the fly.

Case in point, my characters recently traveled to San Fransisco. It was necessary to the plot. No gripes. Their first priority was to find the local sept and do some business with them. This meant I needed to create a whole crapload of NPCs I was unlikely to need in a little while. What a bother!

Now, I've got about sixty garou NPCs I've fleshed out, and I suspect many of you do, too. What I would like to suggest is that we come up with a shared list of our NPCs... Name, deed name, pack name, and a handfull of traits for each. Enough that we can at need scan the list and say ''Okay, I need a Fianna pack, a Silver Fang Pack, and a mixed pack with at least Get in it. Check, check and check! Ready for game!''

Heck, we can even include PCs if the players don't mind. It's all just for little local games, right? Who cares?

If anyone else is interested in taking part, let me know and I'll see about making this happen. Maybe a wiki or something.

NKG Sale

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:37:32 GMT

Anyone looking to complete their oWoD collection should check out the Moving Sale at Noble Knight Games.

Just about everything is on sale, 10 to 50 % off.

Dracula: A Rock Opera in NJ!

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:00:51 GMT

High Tech High School Musical Theater Department presents
DRACULA: A ROCK OPERA

We are very excited to be presenting a new musical based on the chilling Bram Stoker classic. This would be our 8th spring musical and the students are so excited to be putting it together in the last 7 months. Much rehearsal and planning has been underway with choreography, sets, costumes, lighting and good ol’ stage magic that will hopefully awe the audiences in a re-telling of the Bram Stoker classic.

This is director Alex Perez’s 9th year as director of the musical theater program.
“after 18 productions, stints Off-Broadway and overseas, you would think it would get easy. But every year is a brand new challenge with brand new students and the job only gets more exciting and there are always challenges that come our way.” “ People love to compare shows, but I see them as separate entities, a tattoo if you will, separate chapters and of course, we always choose material that is different and sets us apart from the normal high school musical choices.”

The students this year have been so focused and so commanding, that audiences truly need to see their work. This is why we are excited to add an extra weekend for the first time ever. Another first is that all the music is set to classic rock of the 70’s thru now..so it gives a little bit of something for everyone. And of course, another first is that we are doing a dramatic passionate love story. There is quite a lot of romance on stage and the students are truly working hard to make the love relationships involved captivating. Practicing kissing scenes and hunger for blood needs to be right, otherwise Dracula will not be believable. The students are willing and ready to make it happen.

DRACULA: A Rock Opera is also music directed by Rod Shepard with an all-student band that is stronger than ever. The HTHS Music Theater Dept. has been involved in the Papermill Rising Star Award Program for excellence in High School Musical Theater. In 6 years, they have been nominated 15 times and won 10 awards including Best Direction, Lead Actor and Actress, Lobby, Costumes, Hair and Makeup and Production all for different productions throughout the years. Recently they performed in Scotland over the past summer.

DRACULA: A Rock Opera
May 2,3,9,10 @ 7pm
May 3,4, 10, 11 @ 1pm

Tickets are $15
Call 201-854-2903 for more info

HTHS Black Box Theater
2000-85th ST (Tonelle Ave)
North Bergen NJ 07047

Of worthwhile mention is that the show will contain various songs by Depeche Mode, Siouxie, and Nine Inch Nails! This is no ordinary Dracula Musical! haha.

Motivational Posters... for Vampires.

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:50:13 GMT

I saw this picture on randompictures and I just -had- to make a fake motivational poster for it. I hope you all enjoy:

Artwork.

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:28:33 GMT

One thing I've noticed about White Wolf, especially in some of the recent books, is they do NOT skimp on the artwork. Some of their past books have had some great pics and the newer stuff is fantastic too(check the Scion series.) My question for the community is do you have a particular picture from a WW book that stands in your mind and if so what is it? My all time favorite for sheer "fun to look at" value is the pic in Hunter: The Reckoning of the little old man shoving a spoon through a crinos werewolf.

Later

Cuddles

Midnight Roads/The Harvesters Bundle

quinabl@earthlink.net — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:58:24 GMT

I just noticed a cool bundle of Midnight Roads and The Harvesters at RPGNow.

I picked up both of these when they were first released and highly recommend them. So, if you haven't checked them out yet, the Bundle is a pretty sweet deal.

Online TT Game

quinabl@earthlink.net — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:44:39 GMT

There is a great online TT Vampire/Mage game that is play by post and a bit of online chat if you are interested. I have had a blast and they are still looking for many more players. Set in a fictional town in Georgia, Sanfield Rock.

http://radiationjunkie.angelfire.com/sanfieldrock.html

http://sanfieldrock.aceboard.com

If you are bored, surf the net a bit, and are needing a quick fix it might be just right for you

White Wolf GM's Day Sale

quinabl@earthlink.net — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:01:27 GMT

Some of the items included in the GM’s Day Sale at RPGNow are:

The Harvesters (World of Darkness)

Blasphemies (Werewolf)

Belial's Brood (Vampire)

And even a few oWoD items:

Berlin by Night (Vampire)

Artisans Handbook (Mage)

Plenty more on the GM’s Day Sale Page at RPGNow

Harvesters

quinabl@earthlink.net — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:38:09 GMT

The new SAS adventure, The Harvesters went live today. Interestingly enough, it is a companion toor "inspired by" Midnight Roads.

I think it is pretty cool that WW can explore more options related to specific product releases like this. Chicago Workings makes a pretty good companion to Ghost Stories for example.

It will be interesting to see if future SAS products are tied to other games/books in this style.

Favorite Horror Game Contest!

quinabl@earthlink.net — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:51:40 GMT

Stop by the Flames Rising website to take part in a new contest!

Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest!

Tell Us About your Favorite Horror Game

In one paragraph (250 words) or less, tell us what your favorite horror game is and “why.” By “game” we mean role-playing game, card game, computer/video game, or board game.

So, World of Darkness fans, what is your favorite horror game?

"What Are You Afraid Of?"
http://www.flamesrising.com

The 1911's they dont cut it

quinabl@earthlink.net — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:41:00 GMT

Playing a Glass Walker, in our prelude went hunting with a member of my pack. We fought some animated corpses. I learned a number of things that day
1) I can not roll for cr#@!; epic fails on rolls, hopefully that will pass
2) Normal 1911 ACP only did 5 damage and these critters soaked just about every time (when I hit and did damage due to #1).
3) I need better guns or freak ammo

So I ask the combined knowledge of this group what recommendations for a Philodox with a firearms 4 (pistol) easy get to improve killing the Wyrm to the esoteric and possibly illegal/hard to get do you all have?

thank you kindly!