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08:22, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game.

Posted by gladiusdei
gladiusdei
member, 762 posts
Fri 29 Mar 2019
at 21:50
  • msg #1

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

I've been thinking about how many games I've run on this site, and ideas that worked and didn't work.  I was curious how many people would be interested in a vampire the masquerade game that started with players in the city, in a large, fairly fleshed out vampire society, where players would be expected to be alone, more often than not.

players could connect at elysiums, maybe even form a coterie given time, but initially they'd all be doing their own unlife, pursuing their own interests.

This stands out to me because many players join vampire games with ideas of what they want to do with their character, but rarely do those ideas gel with the game story or a coterie.  So I wondered if a setup like this would allow players to do more of what they wanted before grouping up.
Arbentur
member, 120 posts
Fri 29 Mar 2019
at 21:52
  • msg #2

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

Well really its a question of how good the ST is at keeping linear time when they are dealing with 3, 6, 9, 12 different players doing different things in parallel threads at different posting speeds in a shared city and how their actions reverberate and potentially influence others doing 'their own thing' so to speak.  Depending on how large the city is, how many players there are and how big or small they go it could quickly become something that like most LARP's I've seen require multiple ST's who work in concert to smooth out the ripples and keep things all in close enough timing.

That's without getting into inner Clan politics or Affiliation politics.

Hence why you tend to have to have a more centralized plot that sweeps in everyone in and their own goals become more side endeavors unless they re-engage the main plot in some way.  If your goal is to have them group up eventually then you are setting a timer that they don't know about till they either get swept into it or continue to be a lone wolf.  Nothing wrong with that as long as the ST is fine running one or more people that don't play to the main plot and also avoid the usual clan or affiliation strings pulled to make them work together whether they like it or not at the detriment of their own pet projects.

So it might.  Or if the player is too proactive totally derail your main plot and make you scramble to either salvage it or run it more sandbox-y and depending on how important the plot idea was have them deal with the consequences of ignoring the big flashing red button. :)
gladiusdei
member, 763 posts
Fri 29 Mar 2019
at 22:07
  • msg #3

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

I think the idea would be to keep the players relatively small time when they are alone at the beginning.  a lot less reverberations.  Then, depending on how the players go, guide them to connect for bigger, more impactful plots.


just trying to figure out how to avoid the standard rpol fall out when players join, decide they don't like the plot after 1 week because it doesn't fit what they viewed for their character, and vanish.

and the idea would be for it to be a relative sandbox game at the start.  To allow players to follow their own interests.
Arbentur
member, 121 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 04:30
  • msg #4

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

It may simply delay the 'I don't like this plot' decision until it rolls around but one would hope that if the game made it that far already someone will want to stick around and effect change in game rather than drop it.

Though it also sounds like you're aiming for more freshly embraced than been around the block vampires. Neonates regardless of generation the sort that have just been released from the accounting give or take.
gladiusdei
member, 764 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 04:34
  • msg #5

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

neonates, maybe a dozen years under the belt, max.  I'm not talking big movers and shakers.  They can build toward that.

I could do it with higher experience vampires, maybe ancilla level, but I'd need to keep story elements in place that curb ambitions a bit.

but no, we're not talking an elder game or anything like that.
This message was last edited by the user at 04:36, Sat 30 Mar 2019.
Arbentur
member, 122 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 04:49
  • msg #6

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

Knowing that ahead of time will help.  Curbs the imagination to fit the time alive/time embraced.  Slightly older vampires, ala ancilla, wouldn't necessarily need additional starting xp but would open up more angles for where they began, what sort of interests they have (backgrounds) as well as actual time in torpor that helps explain the missing xp that you might expect to see on a character that old...at least initially.

Then it all comes down to what the city is like and the existing power structure.  From there the players can fill in niches and grow.
gladiusdei
member, 765 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 04:57
  • msg #7

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

oh, I'm well aware of the ways to start a game.  I've run quite a few on here, some of which were fairly successful for a while.

I'm not worried about those sorts of details.  I'm asking about whether or not there are players out there that would enjoy playing a game where they are solo for big chunks of the time, before the game groups people up.
Arbentur
member, 123 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 05:08
  • msg #8

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

Well you’d have one in me obviously cause I’ve been bantering with you about it, lol.

:-)
Surgere
member, 32 posts
Rise
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 05:22
  • msg #9

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

I’d be interested, though I don’t know much about masquerade, I can get a book though.
Dream Sequence
member, 32 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 21:33
  • msg #10

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

I'd give a look to a game of this structure, definitely.
Vulco1
member, 13 posts
Fri 19 Apr 2019
at 18:02
  • msg #11

Idea check- semi-solo vampire the masquerade game

That sounds very interesting and fun to me.
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