[WIR] Beckett's Jyhad Diary - The Big book of Metaplot

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

Who is in the picture on page 60?

The references to established characters come so fast and furious it can be difficult to keep up. I had to look up Jaroslav, and Guil.

Bell: White Wolf developed the archon’s character before the release of Django Unchained, but the characters of Bell and Django posses some similarities. At the very least, I can imagine Bell walking into night wearing the suit of some elder he just dusted.

Has it been established why Bell and Jaroslav hate each other?

@CTPhillips is correct – the account of the attempted burglary of the Sabbat haven is both funny and reads like an account of a PC party failing to do even the simplest things. It is worth noting that Bell has to finesse to rip a door off its hinges without tripping an alarm. Tomb robbing, Indian Jones wanna-be Beckett… not so much. The only way the debacle could have gone better is it had been accompanied by yakety sax. We can always hope someone (Vyokos, Vitel, Guil, whomever) got security recording of the event and had the music dubbed in.

The chapter never identifies the woman described in the redacted police report – I wonder if she is the surviving Black. Not to throw any Shade at @TheGentlemanGamer, and I don’t and to leave anyone in the Dark, but Vitel had two “daughters,” only one of who is thought to have survived the Sabbat attack.

In any case, the level of redaction to the police report is probably what the Masquerade looks like in action. Unfortunately, the fully blacked out text is just gibberish. You can highlight and copy it in the PDF, but is just “Ad mil ma et quunduciam non cus aribus verrum reped quunt earum qu*ostes…”

Tally: He is around, doing Tally things.

Vitel: The main event…

There are a number of superficial questions around the return of Vitel, such as how did he escape his “death,” and how did he return so smoothly. He is likely the finger puppet of the Lasombra Founder, so those questions are almost trivial. He escaped death and returned because the Founder made it happen. His reappearance suffers a bit in his having to make a Villain Speech as an elevator pitch.

That said, whatever he is attempting is interesting. Should it be even nominally successful, it will be massively disruptive to the Camarilla, the Sabbat, and even the Anarchs. This is probably why the Lasombra Founder set these events in motion by returning Vitel to the world.

It is easy to see how he would quickly pull into his orbit many Kindred. These would be vampires seeking status, and a chance to prove themselves, in ways inhibited by the major Sects. Vitel, who in life finessed his way into serving as the right-hand man of a Roman Emperor, would understand such a system. And he would know how to exploit it as well.

The flaw in the set-up, from a meta-game perspective, is the question; why does he not simply dominate the president into launching the missiles? Logistically he could do this quickly and easily, given his power set. During his Princedom, he ostensibly held off to avoid tipping his hand. But back then he could have acted before the Camarilla could have stopped him. This should be a non-issue now. So what is to stop him from at least attempting to control an entire administration?

[The Gentleman Gamer]

Who is in the picture on page 60?

The references to established characters come so fast and furious it can be difficult to keep up. I had to look up Jaroslav, and Guil.

Bell: White Wolf developed the archon’s character before the release of Django Unchained, but the characters of Bell and Django posses some similarities. At the very least, I can imagine Bell walking into night wearing the suit of some elder he just dusted.

Has it been established why Bell and Jaroslav hate each other?

@CTPhillips is correct – the account of the attempted burglary of the Sabbat haven is both funny and reads like an account of a PC party failing to do even the simplest things. It is worth noting that Bell has to finesse to rip a door off its hinges without tripping an alarm. Tomb robbing, Indian Jones wanna-be Beckett… not so much. The only way the debacle could have gone better is it had been accompanied by yakety sax. We can always hope someone (Vyokos, Vitel, Guil, whomever) got security recording of the event and had the music dubbed in.

The chapter never identifies the woman described in the redacted police report – I wonder if she is the surviving Black. Not to throw any Shade at @TheGentlemanGamer, and I don’t and to leave anyone in the Dark, but Vitel had two “daughters,” only one of who is thought to have survived the Sabbat attack.

In any case, the level of redaction to the police report is probably what the Masquerade looks like in action. Unfortunately, the fully blacked out text is just gibberish. You can highlight and copy it in the PDF, but is just “Ad mil ma et quunduciam non cus aribus verrum reped quunt earum qu*ostes…”

Tally: He is around, doing Tally things.

Vitel: The main event…

There are a number of superficial questions around the return of Vitel, such as how did he escape his “death,” and how did he return so smoothly. He is likely the finger puppet of the Lasombra Founder, so those questions are almost trivial. He escaped death and returned because the Founder made it happen. His reappearance suffers a bit in his having to make a Villain Speech as an elevator pitch.

That said, whatever he is attempting is interesting. Should it be even nominally successful, it will be massively disruptive to the Camarilla, the Sabbat, and even the Anarchs. This is probably why the Lasombra Founder set these events in motion by returning Vitel to the world.

It is easy to see how he would quickly pull into his orbit many Kindred. These would be vampires seeking status, and a chance to prove themselves, in ways inhibited by the major Sects. Vitel, who in life finessed his way into serving as the right-hand man of a Roman Emperor, would understand such a system. And he would know how to exploit it as well.

The flaw in the set-up, from a meta-game perspective, is the question; why does he not simply dominate the president into launching the missiles? Logistically he could do this quickly and easily, given his power set. During his Princedom, he ostensibly held off to avoid tipping his hand. But back then he could have acted before the Camarilla could have stopped him. This should be a non-issue now. So what is to stop him from at least attempting to control an entire administration?

Interestingly, I wrote that chapter and can say the redacted parts were written. I suspect they were made into gibberish for space reasons in the final version of the PDF.

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

Can you share the original text? I am curious...

[CTPhipps]

Thank you both for your participation, it means a lot.

The Long Game

I am a big fan of RPG deep dives (can you tell?) and this book is especially up my alley. I used to do a lot of these on other websites with the Candlkeep forums (Forgotten Realms) being a place where I had conversations with Ed Greenwood and the other good folk there about the intricacies of the Forgotten Realms. Stuff like the necessity for Alusair the Princess to marry a PC or the various sword styles prevalent in the North. Two of my fellow forumites, Ulff Lehmann and Michael Suttkus would eventually become fantasy authors with me as well as work at Crossroad Press. Later, I'd make friends with Richard Knaak and a few other authors whose work I admired too.

[Note: Richard's newest creator-owned books, Black City Saint and Rex Draconis are great, FYI. People should check em out.]

Ed was a great guy who educated me a lot about world-building and was a major influence on helping me realize just how important getting little details about the individual personalities ready for immersion. I bring this up because Ed also helped me by introducing me to the concept of the "Long Game" which is that way back in the early 2000s he was already saying that NPCs could be someone you could spend decades with. Notes from previous games could and should be kept as the story never really had to end if you had the "big personalities" down.

When I was about 23 in 2003, I never thought I would be continuing to roleplay for decades to come in roughly the same games or that it would serve as an influence for what eventually became my writing career. The differences between writing novels and writing a campaign being a matter of scale (as Ed himself would say). Ed continued to keep his notes and ideas about gaming as well as forming a community around himself from the time he was submitting his notes constantly to Dragon Magazine up until now where he continues his engagement with the fans.

My first best-selling novel (the 3rd book of the Supervillainy Saga, Secrets of Supervillainy) took a lot of the ideas I had from Ed Greenwood and Steve Kenson (who made Mutants and Masterminds so awesome in part because of Freedom City, IMHO, that made it feel like a 70 year old Comic Book Universe rather than a "new" one). I had been told to build up my social media fanbase as part of a trick to becoming a successful indie author and the best way for that was engagement with a fans about the characters as well as the world on webpages.

There's about 1000 pages or so on the old Atomic Think Tank and Ronin forums about my superhero world HALT EVIL DOER! that led directly to the Supervillainy Saga with mountains and mountains of notes about side characters as well as fictional history casual readers will never know. While the PCs/protagonists were always the stars of a fictional story, you only truly got them in your hand when you had them asking you about the history of background PCs on Twitter or Facebook. That's when you know you've made it.

Characters like Beckett, Lucita, and Anatole getting updated was the difference between really enjoying a game and loving it. I think it may actually be part of the reason why Requiem was my 2nd favorite of the two Vampire Storyteller systems despite a superior system (as well as really good writing), IMHO. I just had bonded with the personalities of the OWoD too much. People should never underestimate the value of a continuing gaming story or its protagonists. Characters once engaged with are always somewhere in the back of your mind and never leave so books like this will always find an audience if they can tap into that. Look at the people who will never give up on Mara Jade or Jacen Solo.

Which is a long way of saying, this book changed me from really interested in the V20 line to semi-fanatical (much to my wife's annoyance).

[CTPhipps]

Who is in the picture on page 60?

The references to established characters come so fast and furious it can be difficult to keep up. I had to look up Jaroslav, and Guil.

Don't feel bad, I remember Jarsolav as Paseck but I barely remembered him otherwise as anything other than "Theo Bell's boss." Madame Guil is a character I remember because she was an NPC love interest of my character in a Transylvania Chronicles playthrough.

Bell: White Wolf developed the archon’s character before the release of Django Unchained, but the characters of Bell and Django posses some similarities. At the very least, I can imagine Bell walking into night wearing the suit of some elder he just dusted.

I always admit to having Theo Bell as the in-universe Blade equivalent. Humorless, angry, and fully ready to exterminate the vast majority of Neonates as well as Sabbat shovelheads to techno-music.

Has it been established why Bell and Jaroslav hate each other?

I get the impression it's mostly just the fact that Bell has very little patience for bureaucracy or being ordered around in general. However, on Paseck's side, he is a fanatical Puritan and seems to believe that Theo Bell was every bit as corrupt as other members of the Camarilla. I'm not sure I'd include racism as a possible motivation but it might be a little there. For me, Paseck and Bell just are a dedicated reformer to a die-hard loyalist. The irony being that Bell broke first.

@CTPhillips is correct – the account of the attempted burglary of the Sabbat haven is both funny and reads like an account of a PC party failing to do even the simplest things. It is worth noting that Bell has to finesse to rip a door off its hinges without tripping an alarm. Tomb robbing, Indian Jones wanna-be Beckett… not so much. The only way the debacle could have gone better is it had been accompanied by yakety sax. We can always hope someone (Vyokos, Vitel, Guil, whomever) got security recording of the event and had the music dubbed in.

It was a well-appreciated bit of humor in a so-far dark book.

The chapter never identifies the woman described in the redacted police report – I wonder if she is the surviving Black. Not to throw any Shade at @TheGentlemanGamer, and I don’t and to leave anyone in the Dark, but Vitel had two “daughters,” only one of who is thought to have survived the Sabbat attack.

It was a dark part of the shadowy history of the Black family.

In any case, the level of redaction to the police report is probably what the Masquerade looks like in action. Unfortunately, the fully blacked out text is just gibberish. You can highlight and copy it in the PDF, but is just “Ad mil ma et quunduciam non cus aribus verrum reped quunt earum qu*ostes…”

I would love to know what the original stuff was myself. I do admit, I love Talley's subtle dig at the racism of the police with, "A tall black man in Washington D.C."

Tally: He is around, doing Tally things.

I always imagined Aiden Gillan as Talley. Just the side snarkiness works well for me.

There are a number of superficial questions around the return of Vitel, such as how did he escape his “death,” and how did he return so smoothly. He is likely the finger puppet of the Lasombra Founder, so those questions are almost trivial. He escaped death and returned because the Founder made it happen. His reappearance suffers a bit in his having to make a Villain Speech as an elevator pitch.

To be fair, he's an Elder vampire. Villain speeches are what they do.

But I tend to think of the TV show Forever Knight, which brought back the vampire La Croix. "I am far too old and powerful to die, Nicholas."

That said, whatever he is attempting is interesting. Should it be even nominally successful, it will be massively disruptive to the Camarilla, the Sabbat, and even the Anarchs. This is probably why the Lasombra Founder set these events in motion by returning Vitel to the world.

It is easy to see how he would quickly pull into his orbit many Kindred. These would be vampires seeking status, and a chance to prove themselves, in ways inhibited by the major Sects. Vitel, who in life finessed his way into serving as the right-hand man of a Roman Emperor, would understand such a system. And he would know how to exploit it as well.

He's the kind of guy who could build a American sect around himself.

The flaw in the set-up, from a meta-game perspective, is the question; why does he not simply dominate the president into launching the missiles? Logistically he could do this quickly and easily, given his power set. During his Princedom, he ostensibly held off to avoid tipping his hand. But back then he could have acted before the Camarilla could have stopped him. This should be a non-issue now. So what is to stop him from at least attempting to control an entire administration?

Well, Washington D.C. by Night talks about how the fact that Marcus Vitel wasn't interested in beginning nuclear war until he had completed his bunker and made it so that he could survive to rebuild his New Enoch. Given that 50,000 people are the bare minimum of people for a viable genetic population, that's a logistic problem by itself.

There's also the fact that when Richard Nixon was about to be impeached, the United States military actually made an effort to remove his security clearance for launching nuclear weapons. So it's not really just a case of the President launching the codes. It's setting up the entire circumstances of a nuclear war and everyone being willing to go along with it.

I don't think Vitel has ever been 100% on the nuclear war plan unless he was absolutely certain it would work too. He's not a man who leaves much to chance.

Also, Kupala DID stop a nuclear in the Transylvania Chronicles.

[The Gentleman Gamer]

Unfortunately, I've just checked and have discovered (to my horror) that I no longer have my original Word files. They must have been on my previous laptop and never carried over.

Those paragraphs shall remain a mystery!

[Haquim]

The Vienna Chantry is getting all the attention as an example of the Second Inquisition's super-effective hit squads. So is the Fall of London (with its own supplement).

But I understand the Giovanni skyscraper, the only one of its kind in Vienna due to being architecturally impossible (and a huge Masquerade breach ala La Croix tower in Los Angeles ala Bloodline), was also hit by the SI. So badly, in fact that it decapitated the Clan and is part of why it's now the Hecata.

Augustus Giovanni's body disappeared during this event.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Japeth reclaimed the Clan's Blood or brought Uncle Auggie to the Black Monastery to be repossessed by Cappadochius.

I believe the thing you are thinking about is the Mausoleum in Venice, which is NOT Vienna but a completely different city, in a completely different nation... (Vienna is the capital of Austria while Venice is located in the northeastern part of Italy on the shores of the Adriatic Sea).

[CTPhipps]

Unfortunately, I've just checked and have discovered (to my horror) that I no longer have my original Word files. They must have been on my previous laptop and never carried over.

Those paragraphs shall remain a mystery!

This is exactly what an Evil Elder would do, you realize.

Ventrue: Oh, I'm sorry, I DESTROYED THE ART YOU'VE BEEN SEEKING ALL ALONG!

Toreador: *gains derangement*

Such a shame.

I believe the thing you are thinking about is the Mausoleum in Venice, which is NOT Vienna but a completely different city, in a completely different nation... (Vienna is the capital of Austria while Venice is located in the northeastern part of Italy on the shores of the Adriatic Sea).

Nope. I didn't make a typo at all. Don't know what you're talking about. No edits.

:whistles:

[CTPhipps]

Chapter Four: The War across Dixie

I'm really fond of this chapter but it's also the first chapter that's a little out of my wheelhouse. As amusing as it may be, being from the Deep South, I've done my very best to avoid gaming anywhere near it.

This is doubly humorous because Vampire: The Masquerade (as the awesome World of Darkness documentary talks about) was created in the counter-culture district of Atlanta, Georgia.

This chapter seems to be a follow up for the Metaplot of the Clan Novels and more specifically that of the Sabbat Crusade up the East Coast. All of the chapters seem to be following up on a specific part of the metaplot and while this should be self-obvious, it took until this chapter for me to realize it wouldn't be just specific places rather than plots. Here, Beckett heads down to the South to meet with Fatimah Al-Faqadi only to be ambushed by some Black Spiral Dancers, only for them to be killed by a sniper. Beckett is not happy about the fact he was used to kill a trio of Lupines but he's rushed to meet with Jan Pieterzoon who is hosting a war council on the continued effort to drive the Sabbat out of the Southern United States.

There's a brief bit discussing New Orleans and I'm going to admit, for once, I am going to be completely at a loss compared to the author because I have never read New Orleans by Night and know none of these characters. Apparently, the Prince of the city was killed along with half the population by Hurricane Katrina (my best friend was living there during that and lost his house--we put him up for a few days until he went home to his mother). Also, an incompetent Tremere marked for death by the Council of Seven is now Prince--protecting himself from their retribution for now.

That dude must be the Tremere who MOST thanks his unlucky (red) stars that the Council is gone.

There's also apparently an alliance of Voodoo practicing Cainites in the area that have formed a loose alliance ala the Church of Caine. I'd love to hear more about these people--Cult of the Blood Gods perhaps?

Interestingly, this section of the book discusses how Baltimore's Sabbat presence is being overwhelmed by its Anarchs with Jan dismisses it as well as the rumors of Vitel being alive. I bring this up because I just finished reading Clan Novel: Ventrue and reviewing it for Booknest.EU. So this chapter has some characters that are fresh in my mind. My review: http://booknest.eu/reviews/charles/1580-ventrue

Baltimore's prince is Isaac, the childe of Garlotte who was notable for being considered dull and uninspiring as a Sheriff let alone his sire's replacement. The Baron of Baltmire's Anarchs is Katrina, a lesbian woman embraced by Garlotte to replace his wife (yikes). Garlotte killed her two lovers and childer to punish her for disrespect and that's clearly not improved her mood. Katrina is secretly in cahoots with Marcus Vitel. Katrina is hateful toward the Ventrue for obvious reasons and wants Vitel to kill Theo Bell and Isaac both.

I like Katrina as a character because she really has an incredibly good reason to be as pissed off and vengeful as she is--but it has the twist that the object of her abuse is long dead.

We get another hilarious story that has Beckett strip-searched by Jan Pieterzoon's goons being told in screenplay format by new character (as far as I know) Alex Silverson, Prince of Birmingham. Silverson writes it as Jan and Beckett smoldering with love for one another and it's amusing due to the fact they genuinely hate each other. Shoves are not hugs and all that. We also get a story that Jan attempted to have Beckett burned alive by being left for the sun, feet first. Jan tells Beckett that it wasn't personal but that he was spreading Noddist propaganda and needed to be dealt with.

I've liked the idea that the Book of Nod is a proscribed book and believing in Caine is actually enough to get you killed in certain parts of the Camarilla--all the while as the Founders are completely aware Antediluvians like Cappadochias were real. It makes Jan a more interesting character and Noddist stories more interesting. "Forbidden" lore is always more valuable.

Jan hires Beckett and promises the Camarilla won't make his life a living hell if gets something from Atlanta, Georgia for him. Beckett speculates that Hardestadt has entered torpor and Jan is acting in his name so that he can wield the power of a Founder in his absence.

Obviously, this doesn't last--though I've heard some theories that the Hardestadt killed in the Convention of Prague was actually Jan in disguise.

We also get introduced to Randall "Randy" Hopkirk who is an Assamite member of the 1st Edition Thousand Meter Club that requires a Dexterity 5 and Firearms 5 to become a member.

Randy is an interesting character given that he is a fundamentalist Christian, former (presumably) KKK member, and veteran of WW2 that was recruited into the Banu Haqim against his will. He's since adapted and is pretty much how someone like Chicago's Balthazar SHOULD have developed. I prefer my Elders to not be racist and misogynist jerkasses because, well, I just don't like that kind of talk at my table.

My view is most Kindred become very cosmopolitan and shed their mortal prejudices--mostly because I deal with enough RL racism in my normal life. When I want to do stories about racists in my games, I generally use Thin Bloods.

Randall states the Revised-era Assamite Schism hasn't happened YET but is starting to in this chapter.

We get a fascinating bit here talking about the Southern Lords that is probably the first time I might actually be interested in using the Confederacy outside of Deadlands in my games.

I run my Confederacy in Deadlands a bit different--effectively as the equivalent of Nazis in an Indiana Jones game. The player characters have free permission to kill any and all Southern soldiers and my entirely Southern players gleefully do it.

Apparently, a number of Methuselah from the Dark Ages came to the Deep South to make themselves able to relive the glory days of serfdom and Roman slave plantations. They've since sunk into torpor underneath the country and Silverson is afraid the shedding of Kindred blood on the ground will awaken them--as was hinted in the Time of Thin Blood supplement. It's a fairly terrifying concept and very Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

While I have mostly avoided the Confederacy in my games, this does remind me of my book Straight Outta Fangton where the protagonist's sire was an escaped Haitan slave who spent much of the American Civil War murdering the vampires living among plantation owners in a sort of pseudo-Anarch uprising. So this is up my wheelhouse as my only issue with using the Confederacy is that I refuse to have any part in a game that doesn't treat them as every bit as evil as Nazis and the shame of the South.

Which, given this fucking Tuesday, the TN Governor honored war criminal and terrorist Nathan Bedford Forrest is apparently still a THING--ugh.

We then meet the newly awakened from torpor Bedelia, sire of the awful Prince Benison (originally detailed in Wraith: The Oblivion I believe rather than a vampire supplement but killed in Clan Novel: Toreador). She's a elderly black woman who proceeds to rise up and smash the Sabbat of Atlanta with an army of the ghostly dead. Presumably, in one swift stroke, taking the city back from the Sabbat. While I wonder why she Embraced a Confederate general, Malkavians gonna Malk and it's not like hate isn't as common a reason to turn someone as love.

Adventure Hooks

This is an interesting section because it's one of the few that Beckett has absolutely no idea of what is "really" going on. We also have some story hooks that are fascinating but sadly get dropped by V5. The adventure section explains that Jan Pieterzoon has actually broken through some of his Dominate Conditioning by Hardestadt and remembers things he shouldn't. So he's started setting up a power base in America that will allow him a bit more leeway than being Hardestadt's Herald (what I assume his official title is despite the fact Hardestadt has never been a Prince).

Obviously, with both their deaths at the Convention of Prague, that is a story that has fallen to the wayside but it's possible Jan might have survived. After all, V5 has resurrected some characters thought to be dead and Marcus Vitel is just one example.

It's Jan's hope that he can convince Bedelia to leave Atlanta, Georgia and go down to take over New Orleans while she's planning on retaking Atlanta instead. Since there's over a hundred Sabbat present, this is unlikely but the upcoming Sabbat Civil War (let alone the Gehenna Crusade) means she probably can wait it out.

There's also a group called the Enrathi that are a Tal'Ma'Ra revenant family that is using the Ventrue Marianna Thatchett. The Black Hand's destruction was reversed by V20 with the group revised to be a Gehenna cult versus more "The Illuminati above the Illuminati" so I don't mind them or hinting at how awful they are compared to their "save the world" rhetoric.

Here, Polonia planned to turn Atlanta into his fortress for the "True Sabbat" and make himself Regent of a breakaway sect--obviously, with the Gehenna Crusade, that didn't happen.

Thoughts

I've always had mixed feelings on Jan Pieterzoon because he's a very effective character with a horrifying weakness but I do wonder, really, whether it's a good idea to have your most prominent Ventrue as someone who preys on the sexually vicitimized even in a horror game. I can't help but wonder if that's part of the reason why he's been implied to have met the Final Death.

I'm currently running a Florida-based Anarch game so this is somewhat useful to me as a chapter. I think they managed to capture the peculiar mixture of history, civilization, rural-ness, and superstition in this story. Covering New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Richmond is a hefty task that this more or less pulls off.

I also like Bedelia and hope she's the new Prince of Atlanta. It's kind of funny that I actually had a elderly black woman Necromancer as the Prince of Atlanta in my games.

I'm not a fan of Isaac the Prince of Baltimore and much preferred his sire Garlotte but I'm interested in the character of Katrina and think she'd be an interesting one to take a more prominent role in the Anarch movement. While all Neonates generally know something of Elder oppression, she's someone who has every reason to want to burn them to the ground ala Agata Starek.

[The Gentleman Gamer]

This is exactly what an Evil Elder would do, you realize.

Ventrue: Oh, I'm sorry, I DESTROYED THE ART YOU'VE BEEN SEEKING ALL ALONG!

Toreador: *gains derangement*

Such a shame.



Nope. I didn't make a typo at all. Don't know what you're talking about. No edits.

:whistles:

I remember it had to do with the obvious descriptions of Discipline use, the identification of some of the participants, and maybe a Vozhd getting loose? I think the woman cited was Tabitha Prester, based on her 'Vikings' leather jacket.

[CTPhipps]

I remember it had to do with the obvious descriptions of Discipline use, the identification of some of the participants, and maybe a Vozhd getting loose? I think the woman cited was Tabitha Prester, based on her 'Vikings' leather jacket.

It was a funny experience recognizing Tabitha by her Knights jacket description from your short story in The Endless Age. That really was a creepy short story and I'm fully intending to steal it as a quick and easy one shot (as serial killing Kindred are very good for that).

I love the idea of a Malkavian killing and replacing the mother of families to recapture the one she lost.

I will say the Sabbat letting vodhz run around Washington D.C. *MAY* have contributed to the Second Inquisition's rise.

I'm just saying.

[The Gentleman Gamer]

It was a funny experience recognizing Tabitha by her Knights jacket description from your short story in The Endless Age. That really was a creepy short story and I'm fully intending to steal it as a quick and easy one shot (as serial killing Kindred are very good for that).

I love the idea of a Malkavian killing and replacing the mother of families to recapture the one she lost.

I will say the Sabbat letting vodhz run around Washington D.C. *MAY* have contributed to the Second Inquisition's rise.

I'm just saying.

Maybe. Maybe.

[CTPhipps]

*Inside the Project: Firstlight vaults, a 20ft foot long monster growls in its cage*

"What the hell is that? Is that the creature from Alien on steroids?"

"We call it Tiny."

[CTPhipps]

Chapter Four: War across Dixie notes

1. Jan Pieterzoon is listed among the KIA of the new edition but he's one of the Elders I want to read about the fate of most along with Lucita, Anatole, and Karsh. I'm not a big fan of Jan Pieterzoon as a protagonist but I think he's a fascinating character that deserves to be written out (if he is) in a suitably epic way like Hardestadt. Sort of like Joffrey, love to hate him or hate-hate him, he's a guy you want to know the story of.

2. Calbularshi is a character I bought the NObN book solely to look up and he's quite entertaining. Basically, he managed to Embrace two individuals without the Council of Seven's permission, including one they'd marked for death. He's a mercurial Tremere and one that I could easily see declaring House Calbularshi given he has the arrogance to do so as well as no one to stop him.

3. I like Prince Silverson and Bedelia because I'm always a fan of Malkavians who are neither fishmalks or dark and twisted psychopaths. It's my favorite clan but I tend to think it's the one that is the easiest to get "wrong" (as much as a value judgement like that can be). So, these two are much appreciated in a way Prince Bension was not. Mostly because I can't get behind a Malkavian who wants the South to rise again.

4. I like when the Black Spiral Dancers make alliances with the Sabbat. I don't think even the BSD would seek out becoming an Abomination (because they know they will reincarnate to continue the Wyrm's work while that's not necessarily the case with a Kindred). I do think that ghouled BSD are not necessarily even uncommon in my games. Generally, no vampire can keep a ghoul Blood Bound, though. They're more likely to tear open their master and eat it than obey.

5. As mentioned, I really like the character of Katrina and hope we'll see more of her either in an update to Washington D.C. by Night or in some other work. There's a Cersei Lannister-esque quality to being Embraced by a Kindred that you can never return the affections of and never would want to. Also, she had two lovers she cared for but were destroyed as a power display by the late Garlotte. A man that can never be revenged on.

6. The Southern Lords are a group that I think could easily be a unique adventure basis. Even if you don't want to make them as actual villains in the games (and why wouldn't you), I'm imagining a creepy plantation where things are full Antebellum South with Mass Dominate and ghouldom. A HUGE Masquerade breach that the player characters must play along to until they can burn the place down Django Unchained style. While I would never do it due to taste issues, I could see Theo Bell wanting to exterminate guys with the Anarchs.

7. I think it's better to have Atlanta as under the control of the Camarilla or a disputed territory due to the Southern gentry feel. Mind you, it's the basis for Black Dog Games and I'm curious if they've been bought out by the Pentex video game company (and it was, Politically Corrupt Productions) with Death Lord Games that is apparently the Onyx Path Publishing equivalent.

[Bluecho]

1. Jan Pieterzoon is listed among the KIA of the new edition but he's one of the Elders I want to read about the fate of most along with Lucita, Anatole, and Karsh. I'm not a big fan of Jan Pieterzoon as a protagonist but I think he's a fascinating character that deserves to be written out (if he is) in a suitably epic way like Hardestadt. Sort of like Joffrey, love to hate him or hate-hate him, he's a guy you want to know the story of.

This is why I have problems with V5's "kill loads of characters and let the players sort it out" mentality. Sure, there are some stories that can come out of a character's death. But they are categorically fewer in number, by nature of definition, that stories that can arise while a character is alive (or unalive, as the case may be). A character's very presence creates the potential for action and drama. And their involvement complicates the character arcs and plans of every character they come into contact with.

You could have done anything with Jan. Instead, you can do nothing with him, because he's dead.

Concerning Jan himself, I liked him as a character (though not necessarily as a person) because of how well he perfectly encapsulates Clan Ventrue. He's proud, fastidious, professional, diplomatic, holds the party line, is a complete tool of his superiors (both in the Camarilla and Clan Ventrue), and despite all pretensions of nobility is still a monster. His feeding preference is fascinating BECAUSE it's problematic. It leaves us without any doubt that he, like all Ventrue, is still a parasite and abuser, gathering and cultivating PEOPLE in order to satisfy his particular taste. Even willing to stoop to reprehensible lows, when he gets desperate enough for a drink. That is Clan Ventrue in a nutshell, and why Jan Pieterzoon works as their face.

3. I like Prince Silverson and Bedelia because I'm always a fan of Malkavians who are neither fishmalks or dark and twisted psychopaths. It's my favorite clan but I tend to think it's the one that is the easiest to get "wrong" (as much as a value judgement like that can be). So, these two are much appreciated in a way Prince Bension was not. Mostly because I can't get behind a Malkavian who wants the South to rise again.

I don't know, maybe I'm just weird. But, like with Jan, I find myself more tolerant of horrible people in fiction than I ever would be in Real Life. Maybe I'm just drawn to the charismatic ones, or I can appreciate their awfulness as having value in a narrative and character sense.

I mean, one of my favorite Homestuck characters is Vriska Serket, for example, and she is, to put it mildly, controversial. To put it in more memetic terms, she's a Huge Bitch (Bluh Bluh). But I can't help wanting to see her in action. (That she is a complex and multi-faceted character, with hints of "humanizing" qualities, only helps).

For that reason, I'd be more willing to have a southern vampire - Malkavian or not - who explicitly wants the South to rise again. Hell, I wrote up one over in the 1001 Interesting Characters thread a while back. They're not the sort of person I'd want to hang out with, and I certainly wouldn't show them as "heroic", but they would make great NPCs. Because their desires - even terrible ones - make them catalysts for action.

6. The Southern Lords are a group that I think could easily be a unique adventure basis. Even if you don't want to make them as actual villains in the games (and why wouldn't you), I'm imagining a creepy plantation where things are full Antebellum South with Mass Dominate and ghouldom. A HUGE Masquerade breach that the player characters must play along to until they can burn the place down Django Unchained style. While I would never do it due to taste issues, I could see Theo Bell wanting to exterminate guys with the Anarchs.

Going back to an earlier point, the Sourthern Lords are why I dislike V5, and specifically the Beckoning. We need MORE Methuselahs in the Jyhad, not FEWER. Especially ones that haven't been up and active in a while.

One of the abiding themes of Beckett's Jyhad Diary has been that of Cyclical Jyhad as a byproduct of ancient vampires rising up and upsetting the current status quo (this is also why I like the presence of the Drowned Legacies). Maybe they kill a bunch of folks, maybe they die, maybe both. It's interesting because it multiplies the pieces on the board and forces the new power imbalance to resolve itself, one way or another. The Southern Lords don't just represent a return of literally Antebellum evil, but the coming of forces that, for good or ill, will ROCK the South. A single Methuselah rising from Torpor and "asserting themselves" is enough to drive a whole chronicle. A large group of Methuselahs, each with their own quirks and powers and expectations, will cause untold chaos. And it would be GLORIOUS.