{Vampire: The Masquerade - OOC} New York by Night

[Ashrem Bayle]

*sigh*

I fail to see how I am dodging my flaws.

The Mark
Every Tremere I meet will instantly have a distrust of me, assuming they don't attack on sight. If a Tremere from somewhere other than NY encounters me, they will attack first and ask questions later. I tend to think of this as a bad thing, hence - flaw.

Bound to Council
If I understand your post correctly, you are saying that by fully binding myself and in effect making my clan weakness three times worse than it already is, I am sidestepping the weakness all together.

There is a difference between role-playing within your clan weakness and buying a merit that gets rid of it.

Gabriel is a slave to his clan. If he disagrees with his superiors, he is screwed. He is a tool. A machine of the clan. He doesn't even really have the option to disagree. I tend to think of this as a bad thing, hence - flaw.

You make a Tremere that agrees wholeheartedly with the Elders, so Bloodbound Flaw isn't really a hindrance

I did? Let me give you a simple example to illustrate my character. I am VERY loyal to my country. Do I always agree with congress? BWAHAHAHAHAA!!......no

There is a difference between loyalty and agreement.

pet of the most powerful Tremere in New York, and a favored, accepted status

Accepted. Not favored. Aisling likes him, but she still watches him like a hawk. He is not treated with any favoritism.

That sounds to me like the only vampire in New York that can possibly be affected by your 4 point Flaw (huge, in game terms) is Nikolai?!

What about the other 10 or 12 Tremere in the city?

All of that is far more than your character currently knows. If you want any more details, you are going to have to find out IC.

 

[Jemal]

OK, first off..
PLEASE STOP THE ARGUING!
This is EXACTLY how the game died the first time around. It starts off as people doing what they feel is 'helping', other person responds, and in the end looks something like this:
"This is just getting past your flaws. Plus that part doesn't work."
"no it's not, I'm doing this, and I've changed that."
"Yes it is, and you should do this.."
No
yes
no
yes
etc
GAME OVER
(BTW - that's not a good thing)

Second - Shal, I haven't been posting as much recently b/c this week is bad luck, so I have to keep my count down a bit. I'll go do it now, but I probably won't post again for another day.

Third - I think it's best if catulle remains in over-all control, as i have little experience in V:TM. I'm more here for my PbP experience, and unless I have some different ideas, etc, than what he's doing (Or I happen to see the thread needs updating, and I'm good for it at that time), I'll just leave it up to him (will keep talking to him/you here and IC and via e-mail, though.

 

[Shalimar]

Second - Shal, I haven't been posting as much recently b/c this week is bad luck, so I have to keep my count down a bit. I'll go do it now, but I probably won't post again for another day.

Third - I think it's best if catulle remains in over-all control, as i have little experience in V:TM. I'm more here for my PbP experience, and unless I have some different ideas, etc, than what he's doing (Or I happen to see the thread needs updating, and I'm good for it at that time), I'll just leave it up to him (will keep talking to him/you here and IC and via e-mail, though.

Okie doke, thanks for the heads up. Totally understand Time constraints.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

OK, first off..
PLEASE STOP THE ARGUING!

You are absolutely right.

The storyteller has my background and my character sheet. If he has a problem, I will change it no questions asked.

If another player has a problem with my character.... well.... sorry. Take it up with the Storytellers.

If anyone, as a player, doesn't understand my character, look at it this way, neither does your character. Find out the answer to your questions through IC discussion and role playing.

I'm more than happy to entertain legitimate questions about my character. Calling me a hypocrite when you don't have all the facts will not be entertained. It will be hence forth ignored.

I think it best to leave the character critiquing to the Storytellers.

Sorry all. This is the last thing I'll say on this subject. My sincere apologies. It will not happen again.

 

[reapersaurus]

jeez, guys - relax.
don't yell.

I'm just trying to understand what Nikolai's knowledge of Ash's character is.

In case anyone doesn't understand me, let me be clear:
I am NOT an expert at Vampire.
I do NOT know all the inter- and intra-dealings of the clan(s), and more importantly, how they will be approached in this story.

I am asking for advice from you, and others, in how to approach your character, since I don't understand how your specific Merits, Flaws, and un-disclosed background will affect my character.

These OOC questions are a substitute for In- Character actions:
specifically, from the way that I read it, Nikolai would be viewing Gabriel as a traitor who should be immediately killed.
That was my immediate reaction to seeing your very-high Betrayer Flaw.
In my understanding of the game, there is no such thing as a Betrayer Tremere living amongst "loyal" Tremere.
Therefore, as the only Tremere in attendence at the party, I am trying to decide what his reaction to the Mark would be.
As far as I'm aware, it would be his responsibility to act, as any good Tremere would, against the Betrayer trying to pass himself off as a normal, clan-loyal Tremere.

So you've put me in a bind here, Ash, and the only personal point I'll say is, I don't appreciate you using all this background knowledge of the history of the clans and their social ramifications. I wish you'd kept it simple.
But now I have to figure out what a somewhat-new Tremere, fairly new-to-town would do to a new Betrayer in town.
I don't understand how Aislinn (who Nikolai has studied with her Chantry to learn the Ritual) wouldn't inform her Tremere of this spectacular and unprecendented of vampire in town.

So here's my quandry:
Do I have Nikolai act as a typical Tremere would and act against Gabriel upon learning he's Sabbat slime in the midst of the city's best and brightest?
Or just let it go, so as not to cause waves?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

React however you want to.

I do think that all the acknowledged Tremere in the city would have at least heard of Gabe before. It seams reasonable that Aisling would have passed the word around to keep the other Tremere from killing him on sight.

I guess it depends on how much Nikolai trusts Aisling's judgement. *shrug*

 

[Catulle]

I think the prime reaction should be in the roleplaying, here. Tension is expected. What Nikolai knows is:-

1) The High Regent, Aisling, has been absent for a little while, occupied with some matter the details which the clan, at large (though perhaps the Regents) are not aware.

2) Eugenio Estevez (Nikolai's regent) hasn't told him anything out of the ordinary.

3) A Tremere with the Mark of the Betrayer is in the room, as is the Prince, the Sheriff, other Kindred and at least one mortal.

4) It's Elysium.

Can we please close this subject for a moment and get on with the game. If you want to continue this with me (and each other) through e-mail, that's fine too, but I think it's taking up a little too much bandwidth right now.

Regards,

Barry


[Edit - I haven't given folks experience, have I? Everybody can have 1 more, except Max and Vych, who can have 2. Sound reasonable?]

 

[reapersaurus]

I do think that all the acknowledged Tremere in the city would have at least heard of Gabe before. It seams reasonable that Aisling would have passed the word around to keep the other Tremere from killing him on sight.

I think it's reasonable to assume that Aisling would have warned other Tremere, as well....
That's the way I'll roleplay it - It's too dangerous to roleplay it that Nikolai is completely surprised that the Betrayer is at the party (and besides, I "want to react" that way).

Re: Eugenio Estevez :
could someone email me info about my character's regent, if there is some (or just direct me to New York by Night, I can read it)?
I have no info about him, or the Chantry, etc - am I supposed to make up all that? (just want to know what my responsibilities are in this regard)

edit: Ash, you mentioned there were 10-12 Tremere in NY?
I thought you mentioned that there were around 30 vampires in NY... how do those numbers work out?

re XP:
can you use XP whenever you want, to enhance your vampiric powers?
Or must it be between scenes, or whatever those breaks are called.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

edit: Ash, you mentioned there were 10-12 Tremere in NY?
I thought you mentioned that there were around 30 vampires in NY... how do those numbers work out?

Yea. I did say that. NY by Night is a little wishy-washy on that point. It says that there aren't that many Kindred (I got the impression it was about 30 or so), but it also says that about 10 or so of them are Tremere. I know the majority of the population can't be Tremere.

That was my mistake.

Perhaps our Storyteller could give us better numbers.

 

[Catulle]

Hiya folks,

The book indicates 'over 200' vampires in one part of the book, far less in others;

To keep things sane, we'll assume there's a 'native population' of about 30 (30 Kindred with Status, that is...). Obviously, the PCs aren't part of this 30 figure (nobody has status... yet) though their sires generally are, nor are Sabbat (hiding) anarchs (come and go, for the most part) or transients (independents, temporary residents, those that don't come to Elysium, those that have yet to announce themselves). Sound reasonable?

I'd pencil in about a dozen Tremere, of which three run the clan; High Regent Sturbridge, Regent Estevez and Regent Wainwright. ~Sturbridge~ has said nothing, if you want to run with ~Estevez~ having alluded to the newcomer, by all means do so if you wish. In any event, I'll mail you about him, Reaper (shall do in a few minutes, in fact).

As to the XP thing, let me know if you're spending Xp and have a pretext for spending it (preferably on something you've had a chance to develop in-game, though I grant disciplines, as supernatural, often prove the exception to the rule).

Regards,

Barry