|
 They say Shibuya Ward lights up even brighter at night than it does during the day. Seeing as you haven't seen the sun in ages, you could well believe that. Even more so when you stand in the scramble crossing on a green light, as the crowds pour and shuffle on by without regard for one another. Neon lights and huge video screens beam down from nearly everywhere, an ever constant stream of flashing technology and information. No other place in Tokyo moves faster, herds in more people, shines brighter. Perhaps that's why it's here, out of all the districts in Tokyo, that the shadows run the deepest. The capital of Japan belongs to no vampire covenant, to no prince. In their place, the Kindred have established powerful organizations known as zaibatsu that run Tokyo's society at night. The zaibatsu have taken hold of corporations, crime syndicates, even parts of the government, a massive conspiracy underneath the urban glass and steel. The Danse Macabre plays behind gambling halls, night clubs, and boardrooms. The Kindred compete and kill with corporate politics, with hails of gunfire and blood, with a metaphorical (?) knife at the back. Same as anywhere else. Three major zaibatsu exist... and begrudgingly, a fourth. A fourth established by a mortal who ran afoul of vampire politics, who dug in deeper and leaned on mysticism to purge his interests from the Kindred. A zaibatsu run by humans, who know the masquerade and hold it hostage over the zaibatsu, who compete with the Kindred and threaten their holdings. From the glass skyscraper in Shibuya, the Hototogisu have set-up a five-year plan to unite Tokyo under a single power and remove the "monsters" from power in the process. That plan is now at it's fifth and final year. This is the world you live your unlife in. You haven't been part of vampire society for very long, but you've made your way well enough. Lived under the shadow of your sire (or alone), made some friends, formed a small band that did small jobs for the zaibatsu when they needed deniable muscle. Now, an executive from the Maeda Group has contacted you for a very special job in Shibuya. The assignment's simple enough, the pay is very good (a feeding ground of your own), but what caught your eye was the implication that this was as much an initiation as an assignment. The Maeda zaibatsu is recruiting. And it looks like you're about fall further into the neon abysss with them. __________ Information: Hello. I've read the latest Vampire: the Requiem corebook, and while there was a lot of stuff I liked (and didn't like) from it, the Tokyo mini-setting (Three and Four Diamonds) was the one bit that grabbed me the most. So, now I want to run a Play by Post about sexy Japanese vampires with katanas and pinstripe suits.   The game is set in the Tokyo Metropolis, focusing on Shibuya Ward and the neighboring areas. Your PCs are neonates, small-time yet independent vampires soon about to enter into the power plays of the zaibatsu and Tokyo as a whole. I'm taking a fair bit of inspiration from yakuza movies, particularly those leaning on the themes on family and betrayal. It's a treacherous, bloodthirsty world out there and as you climb to the top of the cannibal ladder, your coterie are the only people you can really trust. Or are they? Let's play to find out. I'm new to GMing Storyteller and World of Darkness in general. If I come up with any mistakes, let me know. Character Creation: You will need Blood & Smoke: The Strix Chronicle to play, particularly for the rules and in case you want an overview of the Tokyo mini-setting (p. 265). Just follow character creation as listed there. I'm open to any concepts if you can make it work with a group of Kindred, so surprise me. Leave Covenant as blank for now; the idea is that you've been an independent group of vampires about enter into the fold of the Maeda zaibatsu. That said, you can buy Status merits in other zaibatsu/covenants and gain their benefits if you have a good story reason for it. Might turn out to be an interesting hook. Just don't go overboard with it. The only exception to this ruling is for the Hototogisu Status merit (can't get that). I recommend reserving one or two Aspirations for later; if you get picked, I will ask you to use them to relate to your fellow coterie-mates. After that, I would like you to answer questions based from the steps in Climbing the Ladder (p. 282). This is so you and I can get a better handle of your character and we can place some Storyteller characters you can care about into the city. When that's done, I might ask you to answer a few more questions depending on which part of your character I want to know more about. • Tell about the time you hit rock bottom, the time where you were most open to the supernatural and the Embrace. At your lowest point, who did you end up leaving out in the cold? • Who is the vampire you identify with the most? This may or may not be your sire, but this is the vampire you look at a model to compare other Kindred against. • What is about the vampire curse that scares you? Excites you? Tell me about another Kindred in this city who exemplifies everything you're afraid to become. • Someone knows your secret, part of it at least. You either told them, or you allowed too much of nature to slip for them to ignore it. Who are they and why are they still part of your life? • Outside the protection of the zaibatsu, how do you survive your day to day hours? Who keeps you safe when you sleep, whether they know it or not? • How did you first come in contact with the Maeda Group? Who did you have to impress to get the zaibatsu to notice you? The recruit will run from now until April 21st. Other Things: If you need to reach me for questions, I'm in synIRC through #redhandofdoom or #trixchronicle. Beats will work as listed in the book, though I'll also copy from recent nWoDs and award beats for posts detailing excellent RPing, meaningful interactions, and significant acts of character development. Instead of a free beat at the end of a session, you get one for consistent posting throughout each week. I might use the Group Beats rule (everyone's beats go into single pot, which get distributed after some significant downtime), to encourage the group to help each other realize each other Aspirations and otherwise work together (even in an OOC sense) to get Beats. Let me know what you think about that. Also, 50 things to do in Shibuya.
|
#
¿
Apr 11, 2014 06:03
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:34 |
|
|
Yeah, don't sweat the details. This is going to be the Hollywood version of Tokyo, so aside from landmarks feel free to come up with your own things as you go. I don't think anyone will mind that much. 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 11, 2014 08:02
|
|
|
Plutonis posted:I have a really silly idea in mind. Coming back as soon as i grab my corebook and get my hands on this Blood and Smoke thing... Blood and Smoke comes with all the updated rules, so you just need that book. Yamtaggler posted:I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in this, but I know nothing of the Mystical Land of Nippon or the World of Darkness. Sourcebook is good reading, though, so maybe I'll whip something up. Would you be opposed to my character being foreign? That's fine. If your sire is from Tokyo, they probably had a very good reason to Embrace you. Mitama fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Apr 12, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2014 01:16
|
|
|
Yeah.... I'm not familiar with oWoD, unfortunately. But if there's anything from VtM you want to throw in, let me know and we can work it out. I'm glad there's a lot of interest! Gonna be thinking up of some extra questions for the apps I have later (much later, it's game night).
|
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2014 06:49
|
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:I meant nWoD / Requiem, whups. I gave up caffeine yesterday; loopiness has been a running theme since. Don't got time for that old, busted WoD. Oh! Yeah, B&S kind of stands on its own and if we're talking mechanical bits, I think the Requiem stuff would need some conversion to match with the GMC update. Again, if you got anything there you want to port, we can work it out. TehWarsmith posted:Do you folks think I'll be fine just using the Blood and Smoke book, or should I seek out the God-Machine Chronicle too? It keeps getting referenced. Also, does this book just replace the core Requiem sourcebook as far as Merits and Disciplines and whatnot goes? You can check out the God-Machine Rules update, it is a free download. And yeah, a lot of Merits and Disciplines have been changed from Requiem.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2014 07:15
|
|
|
Man, the week just caught up to me. I'm also surprised by the number of So FYI, I'm going to be gone for like, four days on vacation, possibly without internet. I decided I'm gonna save the questions I'm going to ask for after the picks and during the game itself. I'm enjoying the applications so far, but if anyone's still thinking to app though don't hesitate to do so! I'll be reading over everything again on the 21st and make my choice by then. EDIT: I made a spreadsheet. Probably missed some of you making updates, but it should be more or less accurate. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q9rVs2LlyZrHdO4UdmhG_yTNqfE3Zzs951vw01AkVcE/edit#gid=0 Mitama fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Apr 16, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2014 07:25
|
|
|
I know some people are still working on apps, so fair warning:
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2014 17:51
|
|
|
Ok, closing apps now. Gimme a bit to make a post on picks.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2014 04:45
|
|
|
So... here is our cast for Sexy Japanese Vampires: Kanaoka Kei (Clipperton), Midorikawa Reiko (GoatLord) Jou Tanaka (mistaya) Sasaka Daimon (Archer666) Mizuno "V-Yako" Miyako (Alien Rope Burn) Thanks for your interest, everyone. I'm still surprised that I got a lot of applications for this (really good ones too!). I hope other folks make more nWoD/B&S games since the interest is clearly present and I feel really bad for those I had to cut out (I kinda wanna play myself!). Those who didn't get in, please hold on to your sheets, as I will most definitely pick from you guys if anyone drops. For those who are in: give me some impressions about your fellow coterie members. I'm assuming you guys met each other through your various contacts, and have been working together long enough to pull a few jobs for the zaibatsu (as "independent contractors"). The start of this Chronicle will detail your big break as a coterie into the Maeda Group. If you want to suggest names for your Coterie that would be neat too. There is one more thing I want you all to do, but I'm gonna put it down in another post after this one. Thread will be up by Wednesday, ideally. EDIT: Now is also a good time to finish up your Aspirations. Take someone from the group and write an Aspiration around them. It can be positive or negative, but it should be something you need to work together on to fulfill. Try to make sure everyone has a connection with at least one other person.
Mitama fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Apr 22, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2014 06:01
|
|
|
So, following the parts of Climbing the Ladder that I omitted until now, let's take all these PC-on-NPC relationships and connect them into a web. Of drama. By answering the questions earlier, we brought in a good number of NPCs into the city. Now that we know who our cast members are, I want you to add a little extra something to your answers. Question 1 asked about who you abandoned in your lowest moment. Now, find another human character already present, then tell me how they connected after you left your abandoned behind. Question 3 asked about the vampire that exemplifies what you fear most about your curse. Find a mortal already connected to you, then tell me what that vampire wants from them. Put the mortal in peril. Question 4 asked about a mortal who knows your secret. Find another Kindred who suspects that mortal of breaching the Masquerade. Question 5 asked about the one who keeps you safe while your sleep. Find another character, mortal or vampire, who is pressuring or threatening them (and therefore, your haven). Question 6 asked about your contact in the Maeda Group. Find another Kindred who they are rivals with, whether political, business, or simply through a blood vendetta. (I will personally take Question 2, which asked about the vampire you identify with the most. I'm gonna take that vampire and see what Kindred they identify with the most.) I know some of you have NPCs answering multiple questions (or no NPCs at all), so you don't need to answer everything. However, I expect everyone to make at least three connections across our little web. During the game, I'll be asking more questions from the steps and, bit-by-bit, add more and more connections until it gets really messy and wonderful. Here is a visual map of the PCs and NPCs thus far. Let me know if I missed anyone or if you want to add / change up NPCs.  You guys might want to coordinate on this, so again: we're at SynIRC through the channel #trixchronicle. EDIT: Updated image with Jou's Maeda recruiter and Reiko's touchstone. EDIT2: Updated Kei's NPCs a bit. Also colored mortal names black to make them easier to identify. Mitama fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Apr 22, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2014 09:22
|
|
|
 Well, that was an interesting exercise. god what have i wrought Gonna work the OP this weekend. Mitama fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Apr 24, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2014 15:18
|
|
|
 Thread is up! That took longer than it should have, I'm sorry about that. Yes, your Requiem is the Kill Bill soundtrack.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2014 16:19
|
|
|
Just some few things to mention, going forward. I took some ideas from ritorix and his nWoD game, so kudos to him. Beats + Experience! Story beats! They're good things to get. Five Beats give you one point of Experience. You can get Beats through many ways. • Fulfilling an Aspiration gets you a Beat. I hope you took some short-term Aspirations to go with your long-term ones! (Short-term being things you want to do a single "session".) • Resolving a Condition (or not resolving them, in certain cases) gets you a Beat. • If you fail a roll and turn it into a Dramatic Failure, you get a Beat. • If you take lethal damage (not bashing damage) in your last health box, you get a Beat. • Any time you must make a detachment roll, you get a Beat. • You get a Beat per week for consistent posting. • If you make an awesome post, whether through decisive action, meaningful interaction with other characters, or just a great moment of character development, you get a Beat. I'll decide if a post is awesome, though I also encourage everyone to nominate each other for great posts. Absolutely let me know if you think you should get a Beat, but I missed it. We're using the Group Beats rule, so everyone's Beats will go into a pool and will be distributed evenly amongst the party every month (or after some significant IC downtime, whichever happens first). Ideally, this should encourage everyone to help each other fulfill Aspirations, get into character moments, and otherwise make a lot of Beats. We'll see how it goes! Scenes! Anyone can elect to close a scene. Just say so in the OOC thread or the IRC, and if any other player agrees, we'll resolve the scene and move on to the next one. I'll have the final say about it, but the idea is to keep things moving into the stuff you guys want to act out. Japanese Conventions! This was a topic in the IRC a while ago, so might as well lay it here straight. I'm personally assuming that everyone is talking in (not terrible) English subtitles anyway, so no need to use honorifics or any of that stuff. Same goes for any Japanese terms that probably already have an English equivalent, just go ahead and use the latter. Some terms I leave untranslated, though. They might be important. Mitama fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Apr 29, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2014 14:26
|
|
|
ARB: I didn't forget your roll, it's just there weren't any more interesting people to meet at that point.  I'll let you carry over that roll for later, when other important groups become relevant to the Chronicle.
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2014 12:22
|
|
|
Go ahead and add two dice.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2014 05:43
|
|
|
Everything alright, Archer?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2014 14:35
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:34 |
|
|
Actually, I think I'm going to call this game. No one's fault but mine; I gave it a slower start than I should have and it got really harder to stay interested. I don't think nWoD is my thing after all. I'm sorry to everyone for taking up your time.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2014 16:54
|
|