Thousand Year Old Vampire posted:

The Prompts in Thousand Year Old Vampire are not necessarily geared toward complex political machinations between factions of immortal beings.

Gothic Rite posted:

B + E + Silk Weaver

Gothic Rite posted:

B + E + Silk Weaver

Gothic Rite posted:

B + E + Silk Weaver

Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:

A merchant from far away who wishes to buy something we made.

quote:

Our father; after his most recent scandal, we finally disavowed him rather than risk losing our own position.

quote:

Dong no-last-name, the local degenerate alcoholic with a heart of gold.

character sheet posted:

Xiao Ximu (1021 CE - ?)

Memories

1. I am Xiao Ximu, a silk weaver from the Imperial court of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty; even among the other court weavers, my work is known for its delicate beauty.

Mortals

Dong: A local degenerate alcoholic with a heart of gold; he taught me how to ride a horse and do other activities restricted to men, in return for me bringing him bottles of baijiu from the imperial cellars.

Symeon: A trader from distant Byzantium, pressuring me to sell him silkworms to bring to his homeland; wealthy and arrogant.

Li Shao Ren: My father, banished from the royal court after losing face in front of the emperor; lives on the outskirts of Kaifeng as a bandit now.

Immortals
?

Skills
?
Resources
?
Marks
?

TYOV on Skills posted:

Skills describe the capabilities
and characteristics of your
vampire. They indicate what
your vampire can do and what
they might do. Swordplay,
Relaxing Banter, Operate Heavy
Machinery, I Do Not Blink The
Sand Away, and I Teach the
Nanissáanah are all acceptable
Skills. When instructed to record
a new Skill you should relate it
to the content of the Prompt.

What will it feel like for a
vampire to use a Skill tied to a
Memory that has been long lost?

Some Prompts will instruct
you to check a Skill. To do
this, place a checkmark (*) next to
that skill on your record sheet.
Mechanically, this indicates
that the Skill has been used.
Narratively, a checked Skill gives
you something to flavor your
answers to later Prompts.

If unchecked Skills are what your
vampire is capable of, checked
Skills are what they have done.
They are a part of your vampire’s
being—they are who the vampire
is. Of course, it is entirely
possible that your vampire might
have Skills that you do not want
to check. Instead of fighting
this, revel in the plight of your
humane vampire when they go to
help a friend out of a bureaucratic
jam and find that the only Skill
they can check is Rage and Kill
.
You may only check a Skill once.
If you are instructed to lose
a Skill, strike it out—it is gone
and no longer influences the
way your vampire moves through
the world.

TYOV on Resources posted:

Resources are assets or
structures that are useful to your
vampire, or items that they value.
Knightly equipage, a loyal imp,
a diamond tiara, the Castle
Umbrecht, a business empire,
a lucky penny, a screened-in
charabanc, a Roman legion, the
silvered key to the potentate’s treasure
vault, a carboy of acid, a box of
tallow candles—all are acceptable
and engaging Resources.

In the Prompts there will
occasionally be reference made
to Stationary Resources. These
are possessions that cannot be
physically hauled away with the
vampire when they leave the area.
Examples might be a haunted
cave, an elephant-sized statue of
Set, a chandlery, a hidden pit house,
a hereditary title to land.

When a Prompt instructs you to
create Resources, be sure to create
Resources that are contextually
appropriate—even if this leads to
Resources that aren’t necessarily
the most exciting or most useful.
When a Prompt causes your
vampire to lose a Resource, strike
it out. Leave the entry legible
because lost things might come
back in time.

Let your available Resources
flavor how you write your
Experiences. Curry your horse,
ply your whip, command your
submarine. Let Resources figure
prominently when you are made
to strike them out; don’t just lose
your mansion but burn it to the
ground, or at least describe a
fierce legal battle over the deed.

Don’t limit your vampire’s stuff
to the Resources listed on the
record sheet when answering
Prompts—of course your rich
Flemish vampire will have a
fencing foil if one is needed, it’s
just not a Resource which can be
spent to satisfy the mechanical
needs of the game. If tools or
homes or tombs are needed for
narrative color you may create
them as needed, just don’t write
them down

quote:

Courtly Intrigue

quote:

Weaving

quote:

Horsemanship

quote:

Hidden Book of Dirty Secrets

quote:

Profitable Silkworm Farm

quote:

A Prosperous Boarding House and Stable

TYOV posted:

Then, create three more
Experiences—with one
Experience each being entered
into a separate Memory. Each
of these Experiences should
combine two of your vampire’s
traits. If your vampire has the
Longship Bøkesuden as a
Resource and the Character
Gundar, a Viking jarl, like a father
to me, you might write an
Experience like Gundar takes me
on my first voyage aboard the
Longship Bøkesuden; his touch
calms me when we first leave
sight of land.

Xiao Ximu (1021 CE - ?)

Memories

1. I am Xiao Ximu, a silk weaver from the Imperial court of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty; even among the other court weavers, my work is known for its delicate beauty.

2. My father, Li Shao Ren, is exiled from the Emperor's court after he is caught receiving bribes, spared from death only by my pleas; in return, he leaves me his journal, with all the secrets I need to blackmail those who might threaten me.

3. The silkworm harvest is bountiful this season, leading to great profit; Symeon, a trader from Constantinople, offers me a fortune in gold for the secrets of our silk production, but I spurn him.

4. Kaifeng's well-to-do frequent my boarding house; with access to strong drink and to their riding horses, it is a simple matter for me to manipulate the powerful to my ends.

5. ?

Mortals

Dong: A local degenerate alcoholic with a heart of gold; he taught me how to ride a horse and do other activities restricted to men, in return for me bringing him bottles of baijiu from the imperial cellars.

Symeon: A trader from distant Byzantium, pressuring me to sell him silkworms to bring to his homeland; wealthy and arrogant.

Li Shao Ren: My father, banished from the royal court after losing face in front of the emperor; lives on the outskirts of Kaifeng as a bandit now.

Immortals
?

Skills
Courtly Intrigue
Weaving
Horsemanship

Resources
Profitable Silkworm Farm
Hidden Book of Dirty Secrets
Prosperous Boarding House and Stable

Marks
?

TYOV posted:

Immortals, on the other hand,
are supernatural beings for whom
time has little meaning. They
might be other vampires, angels
or demons, ghosts, scientific
experiments gone wrong,
forgotten deities, underground
lurkers, meddlesome ancestors,
invisible shamblers, softly-spoken
animated corpses, household
gods or sprites, disembodied
heads enduring cursed existences
under bell jars, or anything else
suitably bizarre.

TYOV posted:

A Mark is a visible indication
of your vampire’s undying state,
or any other thing that sets
them apart from mortal people.
An ever-bleeding wound on
the throat, eyes that are blank
and white, a trailing specter, a
ferocious scar, a hollow abdomen
full of rats. A Mark is something
your vampire carries for their
entire existence.

When creating a Mark, consider
whether your vampire conceals
it, and how.
Example Marks include:

A pair of great bat wings—
I cut them off with a saw but the
stubs remain;

My eyes are hypnotic so I must wear
smoked glasses,

A dark halo I cover with
tall military hats;

Under the Moon my shadow takes
the shape of a jaguar;

Animals fear me, children cry;

I can become a wolf or a rat;

I have hands with the fingers bent
into backwards claws, I wear long
sleeves to cover them from view.

Zybourne Clock posted:

Chen Tuan - a Taoist sage who - due to studying internal alchemy - lived on as an immortal spirit after his bodily death. I died far, far away from home on business, and he raised me from the dead so I could hop back to my family tomb. Little did he know I had other plans.

Zybourne Clock posted:

Chen Tuan - a Taoist sage who - due to studying internal alchemy - lived on as an immortal spirit after his bodily death. I died far, far away from home on business, and he raised me from the dead so I could hop back to my family tomb. Little did he know I had other plans.

Gothic Rite posted:

Mark: Strange Hands, often hidden under silk gloves.

Zybourne Clock posted:

Chen Tuan - a Taoist sage who - due to studying internal alchemy - lived on as an immortal spirit after his bodily death. I died far, far away from home on business, and he raised me from the dead so I could hop back to my family tomb. Little did he know I had other plans.

Zybourne Clock posted:

Chen Tuan - a Taoist sage who - due to studying internal alchemy - lived on as an immortal spirit after his bodily death. I died far, far away from home on business, and he raised me from the dead so I could hop back to my family tomb. Little did he know I had other plans.

Gothic Rite posted:

Mark: Strange Hands, often hidden under silk gloves.

Blasphemaster added: Strange hands. But this is a bit mild, given the listed examples. I suggest also adding additional knuckles halfway along the palm and the fingers separate to this point, which is even with the thumb split. So replace pinky with thumb, shorter index and ring fingers being split from the middle finger another inch or so where there is another knuckle line.

character sheet posted:

Xiao Ximu (1021 CE - ?)

Memories

I. 1)I am Xiao Ximu, a silk weaver from the Imperial court of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty; even among the other court weavers, my work is known for its delicate beauty.

II. 1)My father, Li Shao Ren, is exiled from the Emperor's court after he is caught receiving bribes, spared from death only by my pleas; in return, he leaves me his journal, with all the secrets I need to blackmail those who might threaten me.

III. 1)The silkworm harvest is bountiful this season, leading to great profit; Symeon, a trader from Constantinople, offers me a fortune in gold for the secrets of our silk production, but I spurn him.

IV.1)Kaifeng's well-to-do frequent my boarding house; with access to strong drink and to their riding horses, it is a simple matter for me to manipulate the powerful to my ends.

V. 1) While horseback riding into the wilderness to warn my father of treachery on the advice of Dong, I am thrown from my horse into a ravine; the immortal sage Chen Tuan, taking pity, reanimates my corpse with forbidden Daoist alchemy so that I might return to my family tomb.

Mortals


Dong: A local degenerate alcoholic with a heart of gold; he taught me how to ride a horse and do other activities restricted to men, in return for me bringing him bottles of baijiu from the imperial cellars.

Symeon: A trader from distant Byzantium, pressuring me to sell him silkworms to bring to his homeland; wealthy and arrogant.

Li Shao Ren: My father, banished from the royal court after losing face in front of the emperor; lives on the outskirts of Kaifeng as a bandit now.

Immortals

Chen Tuan: a Taoist sage who - due to studying internal alchemy - lived on as an immortal spirit after his bodily death. I died far, far away from home on business, and he raised me from the dead so I could hop back to my family tomb. Little did he know I had other plans.

Skills
Courtly Intrigue
Weaving
Horsemanship

Resources
Profitable Silkworm Farm
Hidden Book of Dirty Secrets
Prosperous Boarding House and Stable

Marks

My hands have warped into claw-like appendages that I hide under silk gloves.

TVOV: Playing the Game posted:

To play Thousand Year Old
Vampire, you answer a series
of Prompts. Answer these
Prompts to learn about your
vampire, experience their
travails, and be surprised by
their doings. Responding
to the Prompts in satisfying
ways is the joy of this
game. After you’ve played
through a few times you can
find additional Prompts in
Appendix I.

You can answer Prompts
either in writing, like a
journal, or just aloud to
yourself. This book is
designed so that you can
write your responses directly
onto its pages, if you are
brave. Number your
entries to keep the
chronology straight.

In the process of answering
Prompts, you create, lose, and
alter your vampire’s traits as
instructed. Every time you
answer a Prompt you must
create an Experience and
add it to a Memory unless
instructed otherwise.

Roll your d10 and d6, and
subtract the result of the d6
from that of the d10. If the
result is a positive number,
move forward that many
Prompts; if it is a negative
number, move backwards
instead. A 0 means you
encounter the same Prompt a
second time.

Let us imagine that I have
just answered Prompt 11. I
roll 7 on the d10 and 4 on the
d6, which means that I move
forward three and end up
at Prompt 14. However, if I
rolled 4 on both dice, I would
answer Prompt 11 again.

You will notice that Prompts
have second and third entries.
These are encountered the
second and third times you
land on a Prompt. If you
land on a Prompt and have
already responded to all the
entries, move along to the
next Prompt.

TYOV posted:

If you are instructed to check
a Skill but have no unchecked
Skills available, lose a Resource
instead. Likewise, if you cannot
lose a Resource when instructed
to do so, check a Skill. When
either of these substitutions
occur it indicates that things
have gone very badly for
your vampire—narrate the
worst possible outcome. Only
Skills and Resources may be
substituted for each other.
You may not choose to lose
Characters, Memories,
or Marks in place of a
Skill or Resource.

If you must lose a Skill or
Resource and you have none,
then your game is over—
narrate your vampire’s demise
using the Prompt
for inspiration.

TVOY: The Game Ends... posted:

...if you are unable to check or lose a Skill or Resource when
required to do so, or if a Prompt tells you that the game has
ended.

Gatto Grigio posted:

9a) You develop a system for feeding. What is it? What happens to those who die? Create a Skill that reflects this.

quote:

9a) You develop a system for feeding. What is it?
What happens to those who die? Create a Skill
that reflects this.

Blasphemaster posted:

A

We know all to well how quickly secrets can be discovered and exploited. It is best to minimize the secrets that can be used against us. We use our new affinity for all things Blood, with our skill with threads and now stupidly nimble hands to take up Wound Treatment. We patch up injured citizens, soldiers, even perhaps the poor to be virtuous. Then we wring out the bloody rags for sustenance. The blood is from a living human, who now only has good stuff to say about us. Plus we leave no bodies or missing persons, so we keep ourself safe.

character sheet posted:

Xiao Ximu (1021 CE - ?)

Memories

I. 1) I am Xiao Ximu, a silk weaver from the Imperial court of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty; even among the other court weavers, my work is known for its delicate beauty.

II. 1) My father, Li Shao Ren, is exiled from the Emperor's court after he is caught receiving bribes, spared from death only by my pleas; in return, he leaves me his journal, with all the secrets I need to blackmail those who might threaten me.

III. 1) The silkworm harvest is bountiful this season, leading to great profit; Symeon, a trader from Constantinople, offers me a fortune in gold for the secrets of our silk production, but I spurn him.

IV.1) Kaifeng's well-to-do frequent my boarding house; with access to strong drink and to their riding horses, it is a simple matter for me to manipulate the powerful to my ends. 2) Taking advantage of my new condition, I start providing wound treatment services at my boarding house as well; I can sip blood from the living and drain the dead and dying at my whim, and no one is the wiser (P:9a).

V. 1) While horseback riding into the wilderness to warn my father of treachery on the advice of Dong, I am thrown from my horse into a ravine; the immortal sage Chen Tuan, taking pity, reanimates my corpse with forbidden Daoist alchemy so that I might return to my family tomb.

Mortals

Dong: A local degenerate alcoholic with a heart of gold; he taught me how to ride a horse and do other activities restricted to men, in return for me bringing him bottles of baijiu from the imperial cellars.

Symeon: A trader from distant Byzantium, pressuring me to sell him silkworms to bring to his homeland; wealthy and arrogant.

Li Shao Ren: My father, banished from the royal court after losing face in front of the emperor; lives on the outskirts of Kaifeng as a bandit now.

Immortals

Chen Tuan: a Taoist sage who - due to studying internal alchemy - lived on as an immortal spirit after his bodily death. I died far, far away from home on business, and he raised me from the dead so I could hop back to my family tomb. Little did he know I had other plans.

Skills
Courtly Intrigue
Weaving
Horsemanship
Wound Treatment

Resources
Profitable Silkworm Farm
Hidden Book of Dirty Secrets
Prosperous Boarding House and Stable

Marks

My hands have warped into claw-like appendages that I hide under silk gloves

By popular demand posted:

13a. After Dong at last managed to drink his way to the coffin (after a lifetime of failed attempts, you're certain he would say) you discover he had estranged family of sorts which you 'adopt'.

Raising and training a small clan of castoffs and petty criminals into a proper family of caretakers and hoteliers is not without it's hardships and the worm farm didn't make it past the first generation, a younger Dong with an appetite for food almost as vast as Dong Sr.'s thirst for booze had eaten all the silkworms.

Thankfully that's all in the past and these days House Dong are the well respected and successful hosts to some of the most prominent travellers in the region.

By popular demand posted:

13a. After Dong at last managed to drink his way to the coffin (after a lifetime of failed attempts, you're certain he would say) you discover he had estranged family of sorts which you 'adopt'.

Raising and training a small clan of castoffs and petty criminals into a proper family of caretakers and hoteliers is not without it's hardships and the worm farm didn't make it past the first generation, a younger Dong with an appetite for food almost as vast as Dong Sr.'s thirst for booze had eaten all the silkworms.

Thankfully that's all in the past and these days House Dong are the well respected and successful hosts to some of the most prominent travellers in the region.

By popular demand posted:

13a. After Dong at last managed to drink his way to the coffin (after a lifetime of failed attempts, you're certain he would say) you discover he had estranged family of sorts which you 'adopt'.

Raising and training a small clan of castoffs and petty criminals into a proper family of caretakers and hoteliers is not without it's hardships and the worm farm didn't make it past the first generation, a younger Dong with an appetite for food almost as vast as Dong Sr.'s thirst for booze had eaten all the silkworms.

Thankfully that's all in the past and these days House Dong are the well respected and successful hosts to some of the most prominent travellers in the region.

By popular demand posted:

13a. After Dong at last managed to drink his way to the coffin (after a lifetime of failed attempts, you're certain he would say) you discover he had estranged family of sorts which you 'adopt'.

Raising and training a small clan of castoffs and petty criminals into a proper family of caretakers and hoteliers is not without it's hardships and the worm farm didn't make it past the first generation, a younger Dong with an appetite for food almost as vast as Dong Sr.'s thirst for booze had eaten all the silkworms.

Thankfully that's all in the past and these days House Dong are the well respected and successful hosts to some of the most prominent travellers in the region.

character sheet posted:

Xiao Ximu (1021 CE - ?)

Memories

I. 1) I am Xiao Ximu, a silk weaver from the Imperial court of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty; even among the other court weavers, my work is known for its delicate beauty.

II. 1) My father, Li Shao Ren, is exiled from the Emperor's court after he is caught receiving bribes, spared from death only by my pleas; in return, he leaves me his journal, with all the secrets I need to blackmail those who might threaten me.

III. 1) The silkworm harvest is bountiful this season, leading to great profit; Symeon, a trader from Constantinople, offers me a fortune in gold for the secrets of our silk production, but I spurn him. 2) In the year 1072, the indulgence of Dong’s found family (a band of miscreants and criminals) destroys the silkworm plantation, but they repay me with generations of loyal service. (P: 13a).

IV.1) Kaifeng's well-to-do frequent my boarding house; with access to strong drink and to their riding horses, it is a simple matter for me to manipulate the powerful to my ends. 2) Taking advantage of my new condition, I start providing wound treatment services at my boarding house as well; I can sip blood from the living and drain the dead and dying at my whim, and no one is the wiser (P:9a).

V. 1) While horseback riding into the wilderness to warn my father of treachery on the advice of Dong, I am thrown from my horse into a ravine; the immortal sage Chen Tuan, taking pity, reanimates my corpse with forbidden Daoist alchemy so that I might return to my family tomb.

Mortals

Dong: A local degenerate alcoholic with a heart of gold; he taught me how to ride a horse and do other activities restricted to men, in return for me bringing him bottles of baijiu from the imperial cellars. (d. 1069 CE. Cause of death: alcoholism)

Symeon: A trader from distant Byzantium, pressuring me to sell him silkworms to bring to his homeland; wealthy and arrogant.

Li Shao Ren: My father, banished from the royal court after losing face in front of the emperor; lives on the outskirts of Kaifeng as a bandit now.

Immortals

Chen Tuan: a Taoist sage who - due to studying internal alchemy - lived on as an immortal spirit after his bodily death. I died far, far away from home on business, and he raised me from the dead so I could hop back to my family tomb. Little did he know I had other plans.

Skills
Courtly Intrigue
Weaving
Horsemanship
Wound Treatment

Resources
Profitable Silkworm Farm
Hidden Book of Dirty Secrets
Prosperous Boarding House and Stable
Servitors of the Lineage (Dong family)

Marks

My hands have warped into claw-like appendages that I hide under silk gloves

TVOV posted:

Answer Prompts in a way
that feels natural.

Never force things. If relationships
between existing Traits or past
events relate to a Prompt, work
them in. You do not need
to answer every question in
the Prompt.


Prompts will often combine
to tell stories.

If a helpful Character was introduced in
one Prompt and the following
Prompt has the vampire
acquire a new Resource, find
the relationship between them.
Any amount of time can pass
between Prompts, so several
Prompts might join together
to make a story arc that lasts
days or decades.

Cede control to the game.

Prompts are sparks for creativity
and connection. Feel free to
gently reinterpret answers to
earlier Prompts to better make
sense of current situations.
But you should not try to tie
everything together, it’s not
necessary. Your vampire will
live for a thousand years, and
many small, unresolved events
will occur during their existence.
Sometimes a Character will
appear and then leave the game
without accomplishing anything
of note, or a Resource will go
unused, both of which are fine–
that’s just how life, or un-life, is

Overthinking it is
unhelpful.

Not every Prompt
needs to be important. You
do not need to explain every
decision you make while
answering a Prompt. You can
let some of it wait until
later. Let the game bring back
what matters.

Be uncomfortable.

Your protagonist is a vampire,
even if you try to keep them
decent and humane. Terrible
and delicious things are
going to happen. You should
have moments of discomfort
as Prompts combine with
constrained resources to result
in your vampire murdering
loved ones and performing
strange deeds. This is a
strength of the game, so let
darkness fall where it may.

Prompts are opportunities
to learn about history
and the real world.

Turn to Wikipedia and read about
the different types of Turkish
nobility if you need to.

The game will wait.

Slaan posted:

19A

Symeon came up with one last scheme before he died. He heard of the alchemists of the East and offered to pay me handsomely to steal the hermit Chen Tuan's book of formulas. I succeeded in stealing the secrets and memorized the formula to a love potion.

Alas, I died during my escape when my horse threw me from its back. Chen Tuan raised me from death using his recovered tome and sent me to curse my family's tomb for my crime against him.