[WIR] Let the Streets Run Red (COMPLETE!)

[CTPhipps]

Power Prey NPC: Paul Sterry a.k.a Redwood



Type: NPC

Synopsis: Paul Sterry is a computer genius and millionaire who lost his daughter to the fangs of Walter Nash. He is now obsessed with punishing the undead.

Analysis: The central antagonist of Power Prey. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about Paul Sterry as he's a somewhat flat character but that doesn't mean he's a BAD character. He certainly works as the opponent of the Chronicle and his mono-focus on his revenge means that he's probably not going to show up as a long-term character.

Indeed, part of what makes Paul Sterry work is the fact that there's really no third option with dealing him. I encourage my player characters to often come up with unconventional and non-violent solutions to their problems. Not necessarily more MORAL solutions as blackmail, bribery, mind-control, and other things are all things I encourage them to develop as skills. As a die-hard First Edition V:TM player, I encourage my players to think in terms of the Jyhad and how they can become players themselves. If they just rip the head off of someone then they're probably not getting an "S" ranking on their score. However, Paul is a character that really is dealt with best by killing him and that would qualify as a twist in my game.

However sympathetic Paul used to be, he's now a monster and will kill vampires as well as their servants plus any collateral damage it requires for as long as he continues to live.

Recommended Change: One thing I might encourage is to play up the tragedy of Paul's life by making his daughter still alive and in a coma. Maybe Paul keeping her alive with regular gifts of vampire blood. The players might be encouraged to Embrace her to wake her up or perhaps to turn over Walter Nash to quell his vengeance. Neither of these will work, though, because it's not about his daughter anymore.

Psychologically speaking, I think what the game does well is imply that Paul is actually completely lost to the feeling of power that he gets from hunting creatures that have made him feel small and insignificant. Paul is implied to have been a conspiracy theorist and "tech bro" that was a faux alpha male before he discovered vampires exist. Basically, the sort of Silicone Valley Trump supporter that is overcompensating for his high school nerd days.

Obviously, I also think erasing his memories of the past year and his hatred of vampires should be practically impossible.

The existence of vampires challenges who he thought he was and he hates them not so much because they hurt his family but because they made him feel weak. It's why he's doing his whole "supervillain" thing because it puts vampires in his power. It's also resulted in him terrifying and abusing his remaining family because it's not about his actual LOSS but how said loss made him FEEL. It's an interesting bit of nuance.

Paul doesn't want to be a vampire because he's not jealous of the undead and is quite aware of their many curses. He's just angry that they've shown him that he's not nearly as powerful or cool as he thought he was. I do think he could be the basis for a more interesting kind of hunter if the PCs foolishly let him get away or give him to Walter Nash as a ghoul (because Nash is stupid enough to try to keep him around as a weapon). Oddly, I'd use Oscar Isaac's character from Ex Machina (see above) as a basis for him as he was just the sort of bully nerd that Paul embodies.

Paul is a hunter whose weapon is information and the keyboard, which makes him even more dangerous than your typical hammer and stake hunter.

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

How about this...

Sterry's daughter is alive, and in a coma, and Nash has nothing to do with the situation. Instead, he is a patsy. The person responsible for Sterry's daughter in actually Bobby Weatherbottom. Sterry's daughter is possibly "Amanda," Weatherbottom's lover and only food source. Or maybe Weatherbottom targeted Sterry because the two are rival hackers.

[DifferentJustin]

How about this...

Sterry's daughter is alive, and in a come, and Nash has nothing to do with the situation. Instead, he is a patsy. The person responsible for Sterry's daughter in actually Bobby Weatherbottom. Sterry's daughter is possibly "Amanda," Weatherbottom's lover and only food source. Or maybe Weatherbottom targeted Sterry because the two are rival hackers.

Oh, I really, really like that idea.

[CTPhipps]

How about this...

Sterry's daughter is alive, and in a coma, and Nash has nothing to do with the situation. Instead, he is a patsy. The person responsible for Sterry's daughter in actually Bobby Weatherbottom. Sterry's daughter is possibly "Amanda," Weatherbottom's lover and only food source. Or maybe Weatherbottom targeted Sterry because the two are rival hackers.

That is a very good one.

Puts me in mind of some adventure hooks:

1. I once had was that a Malkavian stalker of Bobby found out about his "issue" and started kidnapping Thin Bloods. She wanted to offer them as an alternative to Bobby and to help ween him off the "Whore." (Because Malkavian stalker). The thing was Bobby did become a diablerist and enemy of Thin Bloods if presented it because he thought it could be an alternative to harming the woman he "loved." At that point, his girlfriend woked up and was horrified but Bobby Dominated her into submission--making his Damnation complete.

2. Another possible plot hook based on yours is even more mind-fucked up as Sterry doesn't have a daughter at all. Instead, the whole past year of suffering and horror is the result of having it implanted in his mind by Walter Nash who put him on a rampage against his Kindred enemies (or former allies). Walter arranged all this so he could get rid of a Masquerade breach and Hunter group so that he could rebuild some of his lost prestige. Sterry in this version is imprisoning his wife and child who he thinks have been wiped by Kindred of their memories of his daughter. But his daughter never existed and they think he's suffered a psychotic break.

[CTPhipps]

Power Prey NPC: The Night's Cross



Type: Group

Synopsis: The Night's Cross was a group introduced in THE CHICAGO FOLIOS and that makes me think that the former was meant to be released first but as we see with "Debts Repaid" that there's evidence this book should have been released first. I'm curious what the planned release order was and its interesting to speculate which players or Storytellers were meant to read first.

The description of the Night's Cross in The Chicago Folios page 29 is as follows:

A hunter cell known as Night’s Cross sprung up in Aurora three months ago. Its membership comprises of mortals — mainly ex-military in background — with the group of largely far-right leaning vampire killers spon*sored by a local megachurch and a retired head of the Special Activities Division (SAD) of the CIA.

I happen to like this kind of expansion of the world and that the writers aren't just sticking with the previous NPC groups. They could have easily just made this another branch of the Inquisition but the fact it's a megachurch sponsored one makes me think this is more likely a Protestant fundamentalist based Hunter group. Having grown up in the Bible Belt, I've always felt that Protestant Hunters have been sort of missing. There's exceptions like Nathanial Borduff, who I love as a character, but I do think that it's a somewhat missing thing inside the country given the sheer amount of Christian fundamentalism that exists in the United States and surrounded the places V:TM was predominately played.

I think this is doubly true with the fact that the American Militia MovementTM is also something that lends itself perfectly to vampire chronicles. Cult-like paramilitary armies that very often have fanatical apocalyptical beliefs that make them perfect gangs of mooks to oppose vampires with. I'm surprised that we don't have more vampire hunting militias in the setting. Certainly, as we see in the past year that militias are a dangerous and persistant threat in the setting.

I've mentioned before that I tend to prefer my vampire to be Black and Gray Morality in terms of how I deal it. My PCs tend to be Humanity 5 or 6 with accidental deaths and collateral damage a thing that happens. However, I tend to make the Hunters that they encounter to be every bit as awful, if not more so than the vampires they face. To use the movie "M" by Fritz Lang as an example: the serial killer is mentally ill and cursed but the gangsters who hunt him have no such excuse. A bunch of racist fundamentalists hunting vampires makes a very interesting question as to who is the worse of the two. It's the "evil hunter vs. morally ambiguous vampires" nature of this Chronicle that makes me like it so much, I suspect. The PCs may be awful but Paul Sterry is possibly worse.

Interestingly, the leader of Power Prey's branch, Josephine Habermann, is a lesbian and that's an interesting twist given the way the Night's Cross has been described as a fundamentalist Far Right group. That isn't impossible but it makes you wonder. Josephine is notably German, a Punk, and apparently a hunter who came over here. She also has True Faith. It makes me wonder if, under different circumstances, her own life might be in danger from her supposed "allies" or if the Hunters are just ignoring her lesbianism and non-traditional ways because she's that badass.

Far Right fundamentalist hunters seem a poor fit for her.

NEXT - ANALYSIS OF THE ADVENTURE!

[CTPhipps]

Power Prey part 4: Analysis

Type: Review

Analysis: So what did I think of Power Prey? It's a really good game and probably the easiest of the four Chronicles to do. It's a straightforward mystery and basically has the qualities of a good thriller or Batman comic as stated before. The player characters are engaged in a game of cat and mouse with a hunter who knows their identities but is so up his own ass that he's choosing to toy with them rather than immediately destroy them.

As stated, I think this game could be improved a little bit. I think there was a bit too much focus on the types of Touchstones at the beginning when, obviously, you can't cover all of them. It has to be customized to the campaigns of the Players no matter what. That's a small flaw, though, and mostly only a problem because I'd have loved for even more content regarding the main characters.

Basically, I really like the game's theme of establishing a reversal of the power dynamics of vampires and mortals. The Kindred are the hunted here and dealing with something they can't use their powers on. Technology is the major evening point between human and prey and the human has the distinct advantage over them thanks to it. It is about Powerful Prey, be they Sterry or the vampires themselves.

One small flaw is the fact that Walter Nash is completely superfullous in this story and could be removed without actually changing the story at all. Indeed, making it so that Sterry's daughter was bitten by one of the PCs (or another nameless vampire) might actually make the story better because it renders the question of how many other brain-dead victims they've left behind over the years all the more potent.

There are ways to make Walter Nash more prominent in the story, though, and all of them are ones I think work well:

* Walter arranged for all of this so he could test if someone like Sterry could work against his Kindred enemies.
* Walter wants Sterry's collection of Kindred blackmail material for himself.
* Walter actually wanted to eliminate Sterry and the Night's Cross so he can reintroduce himself to "polite" Camarilla society.
* Walter actually Embraced Sterry's daughter and she's a random Caitiff running around living her life while Walter put a Dominate into his and his family's mind that she died.
And so on.

I will say that this adventure did have a kind of hilarious "Big Lipped Alligator Moment" in the fact there's an enormous battle-ax wielding gimp in the adventure, seemingly just for the sake of confusing the hell out of the PCs and upping Sterry's supervillain cred. You have to wonder what the Night Cross hunters thought of THAT.



The Night's Cross are also excellent substitute Hunters that are large enough to be a threat and a continuing battle for Chicago NPCs but also local enough that they can theoretically be eliminated. They're also portrayed as stupid enough to fight the PCs at night and think that guns are going to be enough to eliminate them. Sullivan Dane would think these guys to be a bunch of poseurs. I would also play up them as a bunch of Confederate flag waving fundamentalists.

Possible Follow-Up Adventures

* Walter Nash wants to use the Night's Cross against his enemies and then eliminate them all. He invites the PCs to help and if they refuse, he'll hand over their information to the Hunters and frame them for the crime he's doing.
* Josephine finds herself ambushed and almost killed by her fellow Hunters for the crime of being gay. She ends up getting rescued by a group of Thin Bloods or the Church of Caine. This royally screws with her sense of self but she can be used to destroy the Night's Cross if they can get their secrets from her.
* Paul Sterry mailed all of his Kindred blackmail information to another associate of his. Said associate doesn't want to destroy vampires, though, he wants to become one. He has it as insurance if they don't do it, though.
* Paul's wife and son want the protection of the players against vampires and the Night's Cross. She's willing to be their food or ghoul but is a present Masquerade breach. Is this a trap or a sincere offer?

[CTPhipps]

The Dying Fiends part 1 (overview)



Type: Chronicle

Synopsis: The player characters are sent to the town of Willerton, Illinois in order to find out what happened to a vampiric courier (like the kind in Night Road), only to find themselves mystically trapped in the town. Discovering that even here is not a refuge from the petty feuding between Anarchs and Camarilla, they are soon targeted by a local cult to a Harvest God that tries to sacrifice them. The cult has probably bitten off more than it could chew and the PCs are more likely to need to worry about getting all the vampires in town to leave rather than surviving the cult.

Analysis: I'm a fan of Children of the Corn and the original Wicker Man, though those two are hardly the only influences here. Oddly, this is a pretty good classical example of "Hillbilly Horror", though it's a more subtle version of it than most. Basically, some city slickers come to a small town with a dark secret and soon end up fodder for their obscene rites or hungers. Some other famous examples of this are HP Lovecraft's The Shadow over Innsmouth and the more contemporary Resident Evil 4.

Matthew Dawkins is apparently the primary writer on this as I understand it and his fingerprints are all over this with its homages to 70s classic horror. Strangely, the story most reminds me of is the Ocean House Hotel adventure of Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Basically, it is taking a classic horror premise and putting vampires in the position of being the terrorized rather than the terrorizer. Ocean House was the most memorable and enjoyable location of the game and often considered its high point.



The funny thing about this location is that it's fairly restrained for the kind of movie that it homages and is closer to Wicker Man than Children of the Corn. For the most part, the people of Willerton are distressingly normal and their only real bizarre trait is the fact that the Masquerade doesn't exist in the town: a fact that the PCs will undoubtedly not immediately realize. As long as the PCs don't kill people and even if they do, the population just assumes its the sort of thing that vampires do and leave them be. Those who have been fed on probably think of it as a blessing anyway since the Kiss is pleasant beyond measure unless you're a Hecate.

The real trick to this adventure is the fact that I think you, by nature, have to run it very slow and very atmospheric. When the cult actually tries to grab the PCs and sacrifice them is actually where I think the adventure will be at its weakest because that's when the tension will be broken. Also, while the PCs may not have any reason to assume an evil cult will grab them, the PLAYERS certainly will and are undoubtedly expecting it since they're genre-savvy vampires in a horror game. Instead, you have to run the game with the players wondering when the trap is going to be sprung and making things gradually rising--it requires a patient group I think if you want this to be really effective. Then again, you can also just run it short and go completely crazy cult.

Oddly, I would say this game is the one where I think the Storyteller has permission to break out the World of Darkness as a whole versus just vampires. The book doesn't say who the Harvest God is or if it even exists but this is the rare ocassion where its probably better not to have it be Kindred. If you're ever going to use Werewolf Kinfolk, Wyrm cultists, Earthbound Demons, or a town ruled by Verbena or Nephandi then this is probably the best place to do it. Even something like a Tzimisce Revenant Family might be too "normal" for what should be a profoundly WEIRD experience for the vampire involved. They have wandered out of their gameline and do not know what is going on.

I almost think the Anarchs and Camarilla in town detract from things aside from giving the PCs some people to talk to that say, "This town is great! We can feed off them and they thank us for it!" Which, of course, makes the fact that the Kindred are not the apex predators they think they are all the more delicious and perhaps why the townsfolk should perhaps be modified as something nastier than mere mortals.

I do think that the missing vampire in this town should be an NPC the players know, though, and someone they might actually want to look for, though. I love Couriers and think they're one of the better additions of 5th Edition but the PCs should be wanting to know where the hell their friend is.

Personally, I think this is an excellent "tool kit" adventure and extremely modifiable. I have some suggestions but it's more a matter of style and preference than complaints.

[CTPhipps]

Oh, FYI, I'm open to suggestions for anyone who wants to see something specific in this WIR.

[Nicolas Milioni]

i like to think the harvest is a spirit,not even a wyrmish one, who's just fucking with people for fun.

[AnubisXy]

The Dying Fiends part 1 (overview)

Just want to say, this is really cool and is putting me in the mood to run a one shot. Thanks.

[The Gentleman Gamer]

And just to confirm, I'm not the primary writer on any of the LTSRR content. I developed it all, but I'm not the single author of any one chapter.

[CTPhipps]

And just to confirm, I'm not the primary writer on any of the LTSRR content. I developed it all, but I'm not the single author of any one chapter.

Thanks for that information! I just assumed you were since it does feel like something you could also run as THEY CAME FROM BENEATH THE GRAVE.

Albeit you'd have to add a kooky band of kids in a van plus an old man warning them to stay away at the gas station.

i like to think the harvest is a spirit,not even a wyrmish one, who's just fucking with people for fun.

Very possible. I'm going to examine and suggest possible identities for it but I kind of wish that the book had presented some on its own.

i like to think the harvest is a spirit,not even a wyrmish one, who's just fucking with people for fun.

Awesome. That's my goal. This is a very tough one to review as so much of it is based on atmosphere.

[CTPhipps]

The Dying Fields part 2 [Events] part 1



Type: Chronicle

Analysis: The Dying Fields is a very different beast from Power Prey in that it maximizes freedom more than the acyual plotline. There's a trio of goals: to find Everett York in the game, avoid being sacrificed to the Harvest God by Starchild, and to escape Willerton despite the magical curse around the place. However, none of these goals really have any time frame and can even be discarded by the PCs with the possible exception of escape.

Really, I think of TDF as more of a sandbox and it's arguably a micro-version of a city sourcebook. While highly unlikely the PCs would want to run a campaign based in Willteron, you could theoretically do it. Something akin to Twin Peaks or, more likely, Midnight, Texas where the PCs are part of a much smaller locale and community. You could even justify weekly adventures because the place is at a supernatural crossroads ala Sunnydale, California.

I'm inclined to think that this Chronicle can be run as part of a larger campaign but if you want to do it as a one-shot, it would also possibly be a good thing. This seems like the kind of game where having disposable one-shot NPCs might be a good idea as well. It's a game that also can be used as a setting for just about any other sort of supernatural as well. You could use this as a werewolf, mage, changeling, or mortal game pretty easily.

Essentially, the way I think this game is meant to be played is more or less like this:

1. The players arrive in town and immediately should get a suitably creepy vibe. The locals are friendly but seem to act like they're in on a joke with the PCs. Nothing that indicates they know they're vampires but might indicate it once they figure it out. "I bet you're here for some orange juice and cookies. Certainly not here to use the bathroom!"



2. The players get the runaround and maybe get told Everett York has already left town and gone somewhere else.

3. They attempt to leave and get the Ravenloft effect where the borders are closed. They drive in circles, their car breaks down, and when they walk on foot they find themselves going back to town. It should be subtle but not so much that it doesn't make it clear something supernatural is happening.

4. The PCs return to town and either go to the Hotel Willerton or Last Chance Salloon for a haven for the night or a drink. They find themselves meeting other Kindred, either Nazeera or Robert Warrington before getting the scoop on the town. Vampires can't leave but the locals are free eating.

5. The PCs should have a chance to investigate the town a bit and maybe even go so far as to grab a local, who will admit that they know the PCs are vampires, and interrogate them that the entire place knows vampires exist. They won't clue them in on being sacrifices, though, which is more an inner circle thing. If they investigate the church, they can meet Starchild but otherwise will just meet him at the ceremony.

6. The PCs get drugged (I think all should get disabled rather than just one) and they end up being prepped for sacrifice by Starchild. They get away with their powers and either kill a bunch of people or turn them against Starchild. Maybe the ground will swallow him up or maybe if they kill Starchild then they will be rewarded by the Harvest God themselves.

7. The PCs must either get the other vampires to leave with them, kill them, or just have the curse keeping them here drop after Starchild's death (because the PCs have done the necessary blood sacrifice). The latter is just my suggestion, though.

This is just my suggestion but I think it gives a nice continuity of events for players to follow that the ST can use as a basis. As is, the write-up feels a bit meandering but freedom of choice isn't a bad thing either. As stated as a model for "Creepy Small Town by Night", Willerton isn't a bad model at all.

I have some suggestions for improving the adventure or at least how I did it that will come up in part II.

[CTPhipps]

The Dying Fields [Events] part 2



I think this is a perfectly fine adventure on its own and probably the one most different from your "typical" V:TM experience. I appreciate it also makes use of the Goblin Roads that were established in Beckett's Jyhad Diary as one of the more intriguing concepts. I should note that I actually wrote a short story for the Storyteller's Vault with them as a premise. It's available in the Darkened Streets anthology.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product...+of+the+Road++

Some basic suggestions that may or may not improve the story are:

1. I would make Willerton have about 1,500 or more residents rather than just 665, which is a bit on the nose. I would also make it so that not every member of the town is part of the Church of the Harvest God but just a large number number to do their own thing. The Branch Davidians were notable members of their community despite their very weird beliefs (like no sex except for David Koresh). Another example would be Far Cry 5 and Eden's Gate where they were insular and powerful but not the only ones.

2. I'd very much figure out what sort of tone you want to adopt for this storyline because I could see it being entertaining as VERY serious or VERY camp. Neither of which is necessarily bad for V:TM depending on your mood. Bloodlines was able to do both and if you want, you could easily have the player characters dealing with every conceivable horror cliche and trope imaginable. Crazy Ralph, having a bunch of teenagers in a van literally painted like the Mystery Machine [who will die horribly], obscenely weird locals, and everything decayed like its the 1950s. You could also play this much closer to a serious horror movie with rising tension.

3. Instead of Everett York, it might be a better idea to have the vampire be someone that the PCs actually care about. While Touchstones might be too much if run directly after Power Prey, you can maybe substitute a number of other vampires or perhaps other people they might care about. Good choices might be Lily from Bloodlines, Anita Wainwright, Evelyn Stephens, Allicia, Arthur Caldwell, or other allies. Another option would be the PCs getting approached by another Kindred to hire them to investigate. Like Damien asking to do his old girlfriend who is now a soccer mom who does a true crime podcast.

4. If you feel like the Harvest God cult isn't exactly intimidating, you could make Mariangel and maybe some other exiled Kindred into members of the cult. Starchild could be a full-fledged Malkavian (12th to 13th generation) in this version too. Basically, they plan to grab the PCs and stake them before sacrificing them to the Harvest God who they believe to be an Antediluvian (but may "merely" be a Drowned Legacy or Methuselah). This may not be very slow tension horror but might suit playstyles who want the chance to do a vampire fight in a cornfield.

5. I'm inclined to think the Loyalists and Nomads should also be grabbed by the cult (either with magic, drugging them, or staking them during the day) for sacrifice. It amuses me to think that they didn't question why the cult would let them feed so freely and that stupidity gets them fattened for slaughter. That way the PCs can witness some non-racist Temple of Doom ripping out of hearts and other vampire sacrifice to make the experience more worthwhile. A Wicker Man with burning Kindred inside is also a pretty primal fear for the undead.

6. Finally, I think the whole, "convince everyone to leave town with you" is a bit weak tea after the epic confrontation with the Harvest God. For me, a much better ending is, The PCs can only leave the town after the Harvest God has been fed. This shouldn't be a problem for PCs who kill Starchild, any of the vampire servants I suggested above, or even townsfolk. However, it might be worth exploring as a moral dilemma that they have to deal with one of their fellow survivors or vice-versa by feeding them to the tree. It demands Kindred blood and will only be satisfied by Kindred blood.

Blood for the Blood God!

Oh wait, wrong franchise.

And that's my suggestions!

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

Oddly, I would say this game is the one where I think the Storyteller has permission to break out the World of Darkness as a whole versus just vampires. The book doesn't say who the Harvest God is or if it even exists but this is the rare ocassion where its probably better not to have it be Kindred. If you're ever going to use Werewolf Kinfolk, Wyrm cultists, Earthbound Demons, or a town ruled by Verbena or Nephandi then this is probably the best place to do it. Even something like a Tzimisce Revenant Family might be too "normal" for what should be a profoundly WEIRD experience for the vampire involved. They have wandered out of their gameline and do not know what is going on.

Aside from the fact this adventure clearly should have been in Shermer (a well known center for murder, depravity, and depraved murders) this is a solid adventure. And for the reasons CTPhipps lays out here - it so utterly puts vampires outside of anything with which they are familiar. It so utterly places them in a position where they are not the local apex predator, but are hoping not to be destroyed by something they cannot classify or understand.