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[Bluecho]

I'm going to agree with Haquim. A 14th Gen Ventrue is hard to justify, given Clan Ventrue's culture.

But not impossible.

Consider this: the fledgling's sire was destroyed secretly by his Clan in order to hide an illicit Embrace. But, finding the PC too potentially useful, their grandsire has passed them off as their own. The PC being a filthy high gen isn't a problem if no one knows the difference, right? That's the plan, anyway. Whether it will work, or come crashing down on their heads, is another matter.

[Bluecho]

153) A new death cult has sprouted up in the area, called the Circle of the Brimming Well. They take to heart the saying, "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth". Brimming Well cultists believe that, with the explosion of population in recent centuries, the underworld has filled to capacity. The flood of souls being poured down is simply beyond the capacity of the earth to hold. In short, "the well overflows". They see the rising tide of undead in the world as a clear and obvious result, the earth disgorging the dead in order to make room. The Circle...

[Bluecho]

Honestly, I find it funny that WotC were concerned about making playable races Large, but didn't have any problem making Centaurs count as Fey rather than humanoids. Like, wouldn't changing a playable race to a completely different class of creature mess with game mechanics more? There are a bunch of spells and other game effects that specifically target Humanoids, and others that target Fey.

Just picking a spell at random from the PHB, Crown of Madness affects humanoids specifically. Not "creatures", like many other spells. Or how about Dominate Person? Same thing, affects...

[Bluecho]

562) Bot Spam [Flaw]: A Paradox manifestation seen mostly by Virtual Adepts, though other mages active on social media can experience it too. In response to the Effect that garnered Paradox, the mage's accounts are inundated with thousands of spam messages from an equally numerous series of obvious bots. The trick being that between their transparently formulaic and repetitive messages, is their attempt to berate the mage for their crimes against Reality. Their messages are hate-filled and as vulgar as the magick that spawned them, frequently accompanied by offensive memes and ridiculous insults...but,...

[Bluecho]

152) A Wight has been spotted operating in the city as of late. The locals wouldn't have thought as much, though, since while the Wight is inarguably animalistic in bearing (as multiple Kindred can attest from brief run-ins with them), they seem to act with unusual purpose. They have little to no personality left, but something other than the Beast is driving them from night to night. Sending them forth to accomplish, in their stumbling and inelegant manner, some goal beyond mere survival. Which troubles local Kindred authorities; the Wight has all the disregard for morality and Masquerade that...

[Bluecho]

I am by no means an expert on the subject, so take this with a heap of salt. But if I had to guess, I'd suggest the motivation for not getting OPP in on the ground floor was Legal in nature.

Which is to say, every time two business entities collaborate on a project, they co-own the products of that project. Sometimes. At the very least, if WW and OPP both worked on V5, that would mean that V5, to some extent, was the product of Onyx Path's efforts. Every time something new needed to be added to V5, OPP (and their lawyers) would need to be consulted. If WW wanted to reprint V5 material,...

[Bluecho]

This is also true. If the fear of Caitiff merely lay in them being threats to the Masquerade (because of their ignorance), education is the obvious answer. But of course, 1) the hatred of Caitiff is far less rational than any Kindred would admit (no Camarilla wants to imply they believe in Gehenna, and no Sabbat wants to imply they fear Gehenna), and 2) no Kindred in power is really interested in having ANY other vampires around than is strictly unavoidable. I say "unavoidable" rather than "necessary", because Kindred selfishness would have them prefer that no vampires besides...

[Bluecho]

I like it when City sourcebooks give insight into the other supernatural residents of the locale. I don't mean you should fully map out every splat in detail (though I kind of wish one could). That would make the books too long and take too much work, unless you were actively wanting to run cross-splat games. Which is always a dicey prospect.

No, I just mean having a couple NPCs to represent other splats, and/or a broad understanding of what these other supernaturals are like in the city. If the vampire PCs step out past the city limits, are they just going to encounter generic Lupines?...

[Bluecho]

I mean, I would imagine it's just as much (if not more) a problem of Storytellers failing to make the flaw have teeth. It's the same sort of issue as with Toreador or Tremere (pre-V20): their Clan flaws require the Storyteller be on the ball when it comes to making said flaws matter. If the Storyteller never has a Toreador player roll to resist being entranced by beauty, or never has the Pyramid get all up in the Tremere's business, then it can also seem like they don't have a flaw.

Yes, the players need to be willing to roleplay their characters, but the Storyteller has a responsibility...

[Bluecho]

Not gonna lie, that would be a pretty sweet idea for a VtM game. At the very least, a solid sequel to Bloodlines.

You could break the plot up into three sections.

Part 1, the player runs around Gary, dealing with the hollow machinations of the two broken residents of note, as well as anyone else who happens to be around. In many ways, a primer for the larger Jyhad, as it plays out the ideas of Camarilla versus Anarchs in miniature.

Part 2, the player heads into Chicago proper, becoming embroiled in Primogen politics. Maybe with one or more factions finally...

[Bluecho]

Well, first of all, there's the Scourge. A Camarilla position whose primary job is to exterminate Caitiff and Thin Bloods. Not even necessarily because they've done anything, but simply because they're there. The Scourge existing is an atrocity, because it marks anyone the Elders in power don't like for death. A Camarilla city is considered liberal and permissive if Caitiff and Thin Bloods are given the "privilege" of not being actively killed on sight.

These groups often join the Anarchs for no other reason than because they would be hunted like dogs otherwise. Caitiff...

[Bluecho]

Oh, I never said the Anarchs were flawless in their ability to create new systems. Merely that there is an appeal in wanting to TRY to create a better system.

Moreover, regardless of whether the Camarilla system functions, that doesn't mean it's ideal or moral. It's a system that concentrates power, wealth, and the right to feed into the hands of a select few individuals, who then parcel out or hoard these things as they see fit. There's no accountability, no objective law, and no option for regress of grievances, save those that can be taken or extracted through political power plays....

[Bluecho]

Problem is, if you go along with the Camarilla, you're playing their game. Even if you're trying to tear down the Prince and Primogen, you're just going to end up taking their place. This is what the Elders want. Even if, individually, power players rise and fall, the System remains in place, because it encourages the young to buy into it. Until eventually Neonates become the new Elders, in both age and mentality.

The Anarchs have appeal because they aren't just avoiding the Camarilla's games. They're trying to disrupt them. To tear down the whole corrupt, self-serving apparatus of...

[Bluecho]

82) Twinkle Starseek [Rock Gnome, Diviner Wizard]:
A former apprentice studying at a provincial wizard's tower, Twinkle hoped to use his knowledge of astrology to eventually make money. Oh sure, he found the work itself stimulating and fascinating, but he never denied that going into Divination was, first and foremost, a financial decision. Diviners have long enjoyed the patronage of the wealthy and powerful, so pursuing this school of magic was a pragmatic decision.

All this changed during the later years of his apprenticeship, when he research stumbled upon a book that referenced...

[Bluecho]

Thank you, No One of Consequence, for such an exhaustive, itemized summery of a magazine's history (or at least its WoD material). Cannot have been easy to put together....

[Bluecho]

Never thought I'd say this, but I agree. I mean, it'd probably be bad if he achieved virtual godhood, but it's kind of an ignoble end to his schemes, if not his unlife....

[Bluecho]

163) In life, he was a mechanic and underground motorcycle racer. He lived for the thrill of the chase. Until one night, that is, when his bike was sabotaged by a rival motorcyclist, and he went careening off a bridge to his death. One spectator did not wish to see his talent disappear, though. So he was embraced as a Brujah.

Since then, he's traveled cross country, continuing to pursue his love of technical mastery and great speed. For a time he was content participating in underground street races, as he'd always done. He soon bored of this unlife, however. He needed a new thrill....

[Bluecho]

Agreed with Thoth. I'm going to need to know what the Chantry's primary purpose is, before I can start considering what sort of magic its inhabitants would use. The Pyramid, constantly at odds with the rest of the vampiric world, doesn't establish a Chantry for no reason, after all. There's going to be a function it serves, even if it's only to maintain a foothold in a city. That foothold needs to be maintained because Clan Tremere values its power base there.

[Bluecho]

162) A former district attorney, turned Assamite Vizier, this woman acts as an itinerant advocate within the Anarch movement. She travels from territory to territory, acting as a lawyer in Anarch courts, where cases are judged with what passes for "fair justice" among the rebels and the damned. Her personal mania centers itself on the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to local Anarch law and movement-wide precedent. Whenever she enters a city, before even having secured shelter for the day, she busies herself with learning the letter and spirit of local custom. If there was a ruling...

[Bluecho]

And, of course, there are the more militant Revelation Preppers, who operate more like mortal Preppers. Complete with hidden bunkers with caches of weapons, defensible structures that can hold out against angry mobs and police forces, and plenty of space for holding captured mortal vessels. All in the event that they need to dig in against a hostile world. I imagine such extremists would also not be above ghouling mortal Preppers, forming an extremist blood cult around themselves.

Naturally this group and the previous ones do NOT see eye to eye. The one's efforts sort of undermining...