Antagonists

[MonkeyMann]

Who are your favorite antagonists in a VtR game and why?
Whether they'e vampires, strix, hunters or something else doesn't matter. Not does it matter if they're from an official VtR book or if they're characters of your own creation.
I'm interested in your experiences at the table with said antagonists. Who are they? How did you use them? And what made them work?

[Orzhov]

Depends on what I need them for. I do like using human mob and slashers as filler villains because they can be quickly disposed off and no one will lose daysleep over them.

If I would have to chose I would say Belials Brood and VII because I can still give them some reasonable motivations(or make them deliciously evil). This is where Strix kinda fail for me because they are just random monster manual monsters that don't even drop nice loot. Same with Draugur/Larvae

[Charlaquin]

Depends on what I need them for. I do like using human mob and slashers as filler villains because they can be quickly disposed off and no one will lose daysleep over them.

If I would have to chose I would say Belials Brood and VII because I can still give them some reasonable motivations(or make them deliciously evil). This is where Strix kinda fail for me because they are just random monster manual monsters that don't even drop nice loot. Same with Draugur/Larvae

I disagree about the motivations of the Strix. I find them quite compelling, and they're my favorite vampire antagonists when used sparingly. That said, a little Strix goes a long way and they get dull when overused.

[21C Hermit]

Normal mortals for cannon fodder, experienced hunters for shaking things up a little, other vampires for political intrigue, Strix for both petty evil and exploring the vampiric condition, Belial's Brood for exploring human sin, and other supernatural splats for throwing curve balls.

[2ptTakrill]

So far my best Vampire antagonists are a group of my own creation heavily ripped off of what I've read about the Masquerade, I even borrowed the name San Giovani. In this case they are a dynasty of Vampires obsessed with the veil of Death and with flesh crafting. In the past they masqueraded as a powerful Italian Trading House who helped bankroll Hitler's war machine in exchange for open access to the Concentration Camps, where they performed their death and flesh crafting experiments without reservation or restraint.
After Hitler's fall they escaped notice, reinventing themselves as a modern corporate conglomerate (loosely modeled after the Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil). Their obsessions remain the same but are now hidden behind medical research labs and third world dictators. Their ultimate goal (other than becoming Gods in the flesh) is to find a way to mass produce the perfect undead, flesh crafted armies, they are researching using highly virulent viruses to affect the changes.
As a conspiracy they are insanely wealthy, brilliant, immoral and not the least bit restrained by the limits of sanity. They have a global reach and point of view, meaning that when they work behind the scenes in Vampire society they don't care who sits on the throne, as long as they can ensure the security of their own possessions. They also have members recruited from all of the clans.
Just for fluff they have a secret cadre of enforcers who still play at being the SS, complete with German Boar knives. One of my players made a game of collecting those knives.

[LokiRavenSpeak]

The one i invented was something i feel lacked from Requiem, the sabbath. Not the whole sabbath with everything that entails but the narrative function the shovel heads served. An disposable enemy the PC can kill off by the truckload to take a break from all the politics and human drama. So the character who has vigor 4 or 5 and celerity can vent a little.

So i modified the Brides of Dracula as a Carthian anarchist experiment gone wrong, who were a minor nuissance until they raided a Wyrm nest and got that ritual from the ordo dracul for mass embrace, and then they became a present danger ala sabbath. I even use Count Motherfucking dracula as construct created by the brides for figurehead, who instead of mind he has a narrative he follows (and is also why he reffers to himself in 3rd person) as the player who diablerize him found out.

How i used them? For one i used them as the unifying factor for the other covenants to at least pretend to play nice. With the Carthians and Ordo focusing in hidding their asses from the mess they think they created (each dont know the other had a part on them) as quickly as possible. And the lancea gaining power playing crusaders while the Invictus is confused as to why everything seems fine and on-fire at the same time.

For another is used them to empathize the dangers of "leaving the city". And finally i used them as the chaos factor, the thing that unexpectedly shakes the plots & plans of the elder vampires.

Why they work so far? For one as i said before, they give a contrast to all the politics and drama. By taking a break from it to have some fun just killing a bunch of Briders with lots of ultraviolence or smart thinking makes them energized to coming back to deal with the plots of humanity or politics. They are never a central part but a healthy filler to gain some breathing room. For another they serves a mystery to solve, upon their second appearance in the game i made sure for the players to see that something was not quite as it seems with them.

[atamajakki]

I adore the Strix because they so powerfully back up Requiem's core themes: they're the monster lurking just underneath the surface of every single one of the Kindred, a stark look into what the Beast looks like when not chained by Humanity. That would be harrowing enough on its own, but the paranoia aspect - they could be among you, and their runaway cruelty really doesn't look all that different from how the undead already act until it's too late - is both rich narrative material by itself and also helps to explain why Kindred society is so vicious and mistrusting. They remind the undead that no matter how scary they pretend to be, the real horrors are out there, and they're much, much older than the eldest among them.

[Orzhov]

double post

[Orzhov]

quadruple post

[Edgar McAlister]

Together with my friends we tend to play in a way each NPC is a potential antagonist or a friend. One ST created a character sheet for each vampire in a very big domain. More or less 25 characters, each has his or hers own character sheet with banes, aspirations and even a short description and a history. The most important retainers and foes have their own too.
It gives a huge potential for a political chronicle, since the ST could improvise each time, but this way every single character in the domain has his own secrets, friends and enemies.
Players may decide do they want to play in separate covenants as a potential enemies or play more friendly style for instance in one covenant and try to take over the city.

As it comes to the antagonist Strix are a great tool for a ST, because almost every single vampire fears them. It makes Kindred feel that they are not on the very end of the food chain. I have a feeling that in CoD Strix took VIIs place as the most dangerous enemy. The Strix can be very chaotic in its plans, it might pretend to be a vampire for fun or just create chaos all the time. Who knows maybe the prince is possesed by the powerful Strix since 1900s.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfein]

Together with my friends we tend to play in a way each NPC is a potential antagonist or a friend. One ST created a character sheet for each vampire in a very big domain. More or less 25 characters, each has his or hers own character sheet with banes, aspirations and even a short description and a history. The most important retainers and foes have their own too.
It gives a huge potential for a political chronicle, since the ST could improvise each time, but this way every single character in the domain has his own secrets, friends and enemies.
Players may decide do they want to play in separate covenants as a potential enemies or play more friendly style for instance in one covenant and try to take over the city.

Only 25 Vampires? That is a SMALL domain. Wow...
I think that on last count there were 130 vampires in the campaign I have working. And that is just for the Kindred of the Domain. Does not include the Mages (about 40 or so), Werewolves (close to 50), or Changelings (52 or so) that are tromping around there.

[Tessie]

The average number of vampires in any given domain varies wildly from one table to another, depending both on how many vampires is considered realistic per capita, and how populous a big domain is considered to be by the players.
If we were to use "1% of 1%" as a rule of thumb only three cities in the entirety of Sweden would be able to house more than 15 vampires, in contrast to London which would house over a thousand vampires using the very same rule.

[Edgar McAlister]

Only 25 Vampires? That is a SMALL domain. Wow...
I think that on last count there were 130 vampires in the campaign I have working. And that is just for the Kindred of the Domain. Does not include the Mages (about 40 or so), Werewolves (close to 50), or Changelings (52 or so) that are tromping around there.

1. We play in the XIX century, so cities are much smaller.
2. The chronicle is rather not so supernatural in terms of number of other supernatural beings (at least the vampires think that way).
3. The ruling vampires don't like newcomers too much, since it can change the balance of power.
Tessie assumed as a rule of thumb that 1% of population can be supernatural. We use a different rule. I'm not sure if it was in Vampire Requiem 1st edition or Masquerade, but there was a rule 12 vampires per 100 000 city population.

To sum up, the domain is relatively big. Ofc there are bigger domains, but the rule "12 vampires per 100 000" makes sense, due to the 1st Tradition. The Prince or ruling vampires shouldn't overpopulate their domain with unnatural beings, but it's only my opinion you guys can rule differently.

[Tessie]

1% of 1% was just an example. My first point was that different tables use different population rates since there's, to my knowledge, no published population rates in CofD in either edition. 1% of 1% is just a rate I've seen pop up a few times in this forum, but people can (and has) changed it an order of magnitude in either direction to fit their own games, and that's quite fine.

[nofather]

There was in first edition but it's been left by the wayside. People keep trying to insist upon one.

25 can seem small but it can be just right. Do what's good for the story.