[Vampire: the Requiem 2E Roll20] Written in Red

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Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

I thought we were still choosing from tuesday or monday and I have plans for tonight already. I have started with the book tho :\

# ? Jul 9, 2018 22:33

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# ? Apr 20, 2024 04:18

IPlayVideoGames: Nov 28, 2004; I unironically like Anders as a character.

Is this still happening tonight, in that case?

# ? Jul 10, 2018 02:02

kaynorr: Dec 31, 2003

If Barbed Tongue's friend can make it, I'd like to proceed. Everyone has been cool with the postponements up until now but I want to create a little forward momentum.

# ? Jul 10, 2018 02:12

pynladfysh: Jul 9, 2018; *establishes eye contact*

I'm Barbed's +1 and I'm interested and up for tonight.

# ? Jul 10, 2018 02:32

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

home finally, I hope everything went wonderfully.

# ? Jul 10, 2018 09:13

Barbed Tongues: Mar 16, 2012

Herr Tog posted:

home finally, I hope everything went wonderfully.

John Dyne was also a no-show, so we postponed again.

I am also available tonight if the stars align, otherwise next week is pretty open for me.

# ? Jul 10, 2018 12:06

kaynorr: Dec 31, 2003

As mentioned, we had an unexpected no-show so our secret history is yet unwritten. Unfortunately I'm unavailable tonight.

I would like to make our fourth, and hopefully final (in a good way) attempt at worldbuilding next Tuesday, July 17th at 7 PM PST. If you cannot make it, please post in this thread as soon as is convenient. If you can make it, please post in this thread as soon as is convenient. There is plenty of time to reschedule (probably to Monday) if we need to.

# ? Jul 10, 2018 15:20

IPlayVideoGames: Nov 28, 2004; I unironically like Anders as a character.

I can make Tuesday.

# ? Jul 10, 2018 15:38

Barbed Tongues: Mar 16, 2012

Good for Tuesday

_{Monday as a backup works, too}

# ? Jul 10, 2018 17:40

John Dyne: Jul 3, 2005; Well, fuck. Really?

Barbed Tongues posted:

John Dyne was also a no-show, so we postponed again.

I am also available tonight if the stars align, otherwise next week is pretty open for me.

Sorry, had some family poo poo come up and it slipped my mind!

# ? Jul 10, 2018 20:20

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

John Dyne posted:

Sorry, had some family poo poo come up and it slipped my mind!

I hope you are still well!

Tuesday works perfectly!

# ? Jul 10, 2018 23:15

pynladfysh: Jul 9, 2018; *establishes eye contact*

I'm good for both Tuesday and Monday.

# ? Jul 11, 2018 16:51

John Dyne: Jul 3, 2005; Well, fuck. Really?

Herr Tog posted:

I hope you are still well!

Tuesday works perfectly!

I am, but the situation is worsened by the fact that I have come to realize I could have made it, since everything was calmed down by 9 PM CST. :downs:

I blanked on it being 7 PM PST.

# ? Jul 11, 2018 20:58

IPlayVideoGames: Nov 28, 2004; I unironically like Anders as a character.

Edit: nevermind, still good for Tuesday

# ? Jul 17, 2018 03:42

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

IPlayVideoGames posted:

Edit: nevermind, still good for Tuesday

yaaay! Discord?

# ? Jul 17, 2018 04:55

kaynorr: Dec 31, 2003

We are a go for worldbuilding, so help me Longinus. See everyone tonight, July 17th at 7 PM PST. If you can't think of anything good for the Palette, don't sweat it. We'll go around the table and if everyone has contributed everything they want to, we'll move right into playing Microscope.

It's been a while getting set up and I appreciate everyone's patience, but I think we're finally moving forward!

# ? Jul 17, 2018 15:23

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

Thank you everyone, I learned lots and am PUMPED

# ? Jul 18, 2018 05:12

John Dyne: Jul 3, 2005; Well, fuck. Really?

Y'all ain't ready for Sasquatch.

# ? Jul 18, 2018 14:12

kaynorr: Dec 31, 2003

For reference, here is an outline view of the history so far:

Palette:

other supernaturals
robust Cacaphony
late 19th century influence
San Diego domain bounded by LA to the north, encompasses Tijuana to the south
backgrounds are important
mages lack influence in California
ethnic diversity in vampires
Mormons of Ventura
old Mesoamerican religions
covenants are grey at best
No ultra grimdark

First Prince of San Diego (~1850):

Gold rush caravan lost to vampires
Who is responsible for the lost caravan? The Circle of the Crone
Western Kindred wrest control from native undead
Who drove out the natives? Lancea et Sanctum
First Prince declares Whaley House to be Elysium

Construction of the San Diego rail spur:

Kindred in Los Angeles oppose a rail line to San Diego. SD community fights back, influence war ensues
Kumeyaay get pushed out of San Diego altogether
Why did the Kumeyaay lose? Double-crossed by the Prince of Los Angeles
John Henry was a Kindred, met his Final Death laying track

Tourmaline Praxis struggle (~1880s):

Wyatt Earp founds the Stalwart Order of Lead and Smoke
Old Town San Diego burns
San Diego Free Speech riots is used as cover for an Invictus/Carthian street war
David Malcom Renton is ghouled, goes on to design numerous buildings used as havens or Elysium
Bobby Hill, a mage of the Silver Ladder, mediates an end to the struggle

San Diego Goes To (World) War (Two):

Why are mages so weak in California? Committed everything they had to ending WW2, left them vulnerable and have never recovered
Destroyer escort for a troop transport is lost near Catalina Island. Most think it was the act of mages, but Kindred blame the Kumeyaay
Masquerade comes under strain as San Diego's population booms, Invictus mobilizes in response
Haunted Trail of Balboa Park becomes notorious

Port of San Diego is open for business (~1960s):

Kindred Richard Gutierrez orchestrates the opening of the San Diego port district and holds domain there
Ordo Dracul cement control of San Diego's military/industrial complex
A group of Prometheans receives carte blanche to operate out of the port from Gutierrez during July 1969. What they paid for this is never known.

Hunters siege San Diego:

Kindred rumor posits that Promethean disquiet is responsible for the LA riots
Kindred leak secrets of the All Night Society to hunters, specifically to Hiroshi Sugimoto
Who helped the hunters? The Ordo Dracul.
The Prince names Catalina Casino as an Elysium.
The hunters learn the nature of Catalina Casino.
Mesoamerican mystery cult comes to prominence.
Who ended the siege? A pack of werewolves loyal to the Kumeyaay.

A New Order Rises (2015):

The first Native American Prince comes to power
The existing Sheriff, a member of the Stalwart Order of Lead and Smoke, pledges fealty to the Prince
Where do the Prince's loyalties lie? He is a closet Carthian.
What covenant supports the Prince's agenda? Invictus.
Decrease in changeling sightings. Known freeholds are found to be empty.

Legacies:

Kumeyaay as a Kindred faction (Gangrel bloodline)
Whaley House is a spiritual hotspot
Werewolf mercenaries
Longstanding grudge between Kumeyaay and Lancea et Sanctum
Sasquatch is out there and they are crazy

I'll clean up the page in roll20 as well so it's a little easier to read for next week. Beware the sasquatch.

# ? Jul 18, 2018 15:46

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

Thank God for Bobby Hill

# ? Jul 18, 2018 18:50

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

So I am still down for next week Tuesday and I want to know if we really want to go into Tijuana as our expanded area of operation.

# ? Jul 19, 2018 02:44

IPlayVideoGames: Nov 28, 2004; I unironically like Anders as a character.

We should definitely expand on Tijuana.

# ? Jul 19, 2018 05:39

Barbed Tongues: Mar 16, 2012

Made .png files for all the current Periods/Scenes/Events, uploaded to: Google Drive

Tried to guess at whether some were Light/Dark - trivial effort to change the ones I got wrong.

@Kaynorr - I've been tooling around with Roll20 decks, and think I have working versions that would let you or everyone draw blank Light/Dark Periods/Events/Scenes to place on the board. But - I don't see a way to make dynamic text fields on the cards, so you'd still need to gently caress around with layers to add details (until I can image them fully).

Here's the Link to the Test Game I set them up in if you want to poke around: https://app.roll20.net/join/3452036/7VUv7A

# ? Jul 19, 2018 15:05

kaynorr: Dec 31, 2003

IPlayVideoGames posted:

We should definitely expand on Tijuana.

In my head there is an event "The 'Prince' of Tijuana gets his poo poo pushed in and goes for a dawn walk on the beach". TJ is a pretty choice bit of domain for certain purposes - loose law enforcement combined with the kind of tourists who won't call the cops if they have a night they can't remember and are down a pint or two of blood. Plus access to the Mexican side of any border smuggling operating which is lucrative and can be co-opted to smuggle all kinds of things. Those same qualities make it a bad place to want to have your haven, so I imagine there are a lot of night trips across the border if you have a means of getting there.

While we're talking about the border (and that the game starts in January of 2016), I'm just going to say now that there are no ICE detention facilities anywhere in the region. Maybe they're farther east in Arizona / Texas, maybe the Chronicles of Darkness are a little better than the real world on this one front, but it sounds like that's a degree of current events that no one wants to engage with. There are still 13 reservations holding what's left of the Kumeyaay people, though.

Barbed Tongues posted:

@Kaynorr - I've been tooling around with Roll20 decks, and think I have working versions that would let you or everyone draw blank Light/Dark Periods/Events/Scenes to place on the board. But - I don't see a way to make dynamic text fields on the cards, so you'd still need to gently caress around with layers to add details (until I can image them fully).

I played around more with the cards yesterday and came to much the same conclusion - having the individual graphical elements as drag & drop onto the page is pretty easy, but they don't want to have text where we need them to have text. The good news is that I'm a little more proficient with the interface and it's pretty easy to add a card, type in the text for that card, then group them together so they move as one. I'll have everything converted over into Microscope cards by next week so the timeline should look and handle better as we insert more and more elements.

# ? Jul 19, 2018 16:08

John Dyne: Jul 3, 2005; Well, fuck. Really?

Also, if we need or want a Discord channel to just bullshit around in, I have a server or we can probably ask Fuego Fish for a channel.

# ? Jul 19, 2018 19:53

Kiesman: May 6, 2016

Is this still open to recruitment? Or is the party filled?

# ? Jul 21, 2018 03:55

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

how long are we thinking of going tomorrow? I have a coworkers going away function that night at a local bar is all. I am still HYPED for vampires.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 00:33

kaynorr: Dec 31, 2003

Kiesman posted:

Is this still open to recruitment? Or is the party filled?

We are currently full, but I can let you know if any openings occur.

Herr Tog posted:

how long are we thinking of going tomorrow? I have a coworkers going away function that night at a local bar is all. I am still HYPED for vampires.

Our next dive into the Secret History of San Diego is tonight Tuesday, July 24th at 7 PM PST, but we can wrap up whenever there is consensus. We'll probably explore the tragedy of the Kumeyaay, the politics of Tijuana, and beware the sasquatch.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 15:16

IPlayVideoGames: Nov 28, 2004; I unironically like Anders as a character.

What about the dark secret of Disneyland?

# ? Jul 24, 2018 19:51

kaynorr: Dec 31, 2003

IPlayVideoGames posted:

What about the dark secret of Disneyland?

That is almost certainly the Prince of L.A.'s problem. What happens when Walt finally rises from torpor will probably need to be a joint effort amongst all the southern California vampires, though.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 20:53

John Dyne: Jul 3, 2005; Well, fuck. Really?

kaynorr posted:

That is almost certainly the Prince of L.A.'s problem. What happens when Walt finally rises from torpor will probably need to be a joint effort amongst all the southern California vampires, though.

Eh, I think that's a Florida thing.

I look forward to fleshing out the baron of Tijuana, because like gently caress the Camarilla are gonna be able to keep more than a scraping fingernail hold on fuckin' Tijuana of all places. It's like a white dude in a cowboy get up in the middle of Compton.

# ? Jul 24, 2018 22:51

Barbed Tongues: Mar 16, 2012

John Dyne posted:

Eh, I think that's a Florida thing.

I look forward to fleshing out the baron of Tijuana, because like gently caress the Camarilla are gonna be able to keep more than a scraping fingernail hold on fuckin' Tijuana of all places. It's like a white dude in a cowboy get up in the middle of Compton.

No such thing as Camarilla* / Anarchs / Sabbat in Requiem. The five Covenants all share some aspects of the three old school sects, but there's a lot more overlap between them, and a lot less open warfare in general. You can have anarcho-capitalist Invictus, and/or fascist Carthians, and/or Sabbat style rituals in the Sanctified or Circle, etc.

_{* There was an international Vampiric Order called the Camarilla, but it fell in the old Roman Days.}

# ? Jul 25, 2018 01:03

John Dyne: Jul 3, 2005; Well, fuck. Really?

Huh. Didn't know that! I haven't done much with Requiem so I didn't know what might have changed.

For what it's worth, most of my experience has been through the videogames or second-hand from a buddy who plays Mind's Eye Society V:tM, which is the LARP ruleset and world. Apparently they're going for ol' Walt being a kindred there as well, and Tijuana belongs to the Sabbat.

Related, Walt Disney's a malkavian.

# ? Jul 25, 2018 01:51

Barbed Tongues: Mar 16, 2012

Requiem was built specifically with a more sandboxy ruleset in mind. Each city is more isolated, and politics are much more local than the global organizations of Masquerade. Still, many of the same themes apply, though they've been condensed distributed differently. Clan/Sect designations evolved into Clan/Covenant, both set at 5 Major (there are some Minor Covenants and Lost Clans, because Onyx Path still likes weird one-off things).

The Base Five Clans are now predicated on vampiric archetypes:

Gangrel: Feral/Wild Vampires (Protean Discipline: Animal Traits and Shapechanging)
Daeva: Sexy/Alluring Vampires (Majesty Discipline: Charm Person and Social Juice)
Mekhet: Occultic/Mysterious Vampires (Auspex Discipline: Telepethy)
Nosferatu: Monstrous Vampires (Nightmare Discpline: Illusion and Fear)
Ventrue: Noble/Lordly Vampires (Dominate Discpline: Mind Control)

The Covenants are your chosen political group:

Carthian Movement: Vampires whoare attempting to utilize modern government and power systems to gain prominence. Bonus Power - Carthian Law, think metagamey cheat codes for enforcing their laws.
Circle of the Crone: A conglomeration of neo-pagan and marginalized religions banding together. Bonus Power - Cruac, think the sabbat bloodletting and fire rituals.
Invictus: neo-feudal powerbrokers, just as at home in Victorian Guilds, Union movements, Board Rooms, Mafia Dens. Wherever power accrues, they adapt. Bonus Power - Invictus Oaths. Blood contracts that enforce their provisions and grant bonuses.
Lancea et Sanctum: Judeo-Christian monsters cursed by god to be the wolves against the flock of humanity. Bonus Power - Theban Sorcery - Religious Thaumaturgy.
The Ordo Dracul: Aleister Crowley combines magic and mad science. Bonus Powers - Mysteries of the Dragon, inherent bonuses that seek to turn the natural weaknesses of Vampire into strengths and abilities.

Traditionally, the Invictus and Carthians are at odds, while the Circle and Sanctified are at odds. Though there are many examples of these dynamics being turned upside down from Praxis to Praxis.

# ? Jul 25, 2018 02:58

Herr Tog: Jun 18, 2011; Grimey Drawer

I vote we bring characters and see what could be tweaked or if it untenable as a group. Then work towards group theme.

I kind of don't want to be a neonate as it doesn't sound like I have cool poo poo or can be a proper rear end in a top hat. But I could be wrong.

After reading the book a bit and not reading bloodlines or conditions yet, I was thinking Mekhet with the Invictus

# ? Jul 25, 2018 05:54

Barbed Tongues: Mar 16, 2012

Totally Left-Field Idea - For unknown reasons, the last will and testament of the just slain Harpy names as beneficiaries: [The Player-Characters]. As a second twist - This trove of random boons, favors and secrets may only be cashed in by a 3/5 majority of us. (The actual favors are the macguffin that always get us in trouble, or if we want to get more scooby than political - a stipulation that we have to solve the Harpy's murder, etc.)

Thoughts for my character, I'm leaning Ventrue Circle of the Crone.

# ? Jul 25, 2018 06:33

pynladfysh: Jul 9, 2018; *establishes eye contact*

I've been leaning towards Nosferatu Ordo Dracul. Specifically, I was inclined to do a Mexican Kindred moved to San Diego recently, either Calacas or pre-Calacas. But I'm flexible and may change my mind to fit with the group better if needed.

# ? Jul 25, 2018 22:11