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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Catulle" data-source="post: 748899" data-attributes="member: 9942">And thus begins what I expect will be a veritable barrage of language on my part ahead of my sneaking off to a three day live Vampire game (yes, I know, desperately sad). But the bar stays open for, like, forever.So, first up with the verbal shotgun, in the style of a 'game review to date':-We're in a process of winding down the first scene, and that involves two things (mechanically) first, experience points and second setting up the next scenes. I have plenty of things in mind, and my main idea was to post the skeleton of where the cast was, at the start of scene 2 (parts a-c) contextualise the set-up and let you folks do all the 'set dressing' yourselves - should keep you busy over the weekend, right? I'm of a mind to get a little ambitious in terms of split scenes, nonlinear timelines and (gasp) take you good people off Elysium... I'll post these in the morning (about 11 hours from now) in a seperate post if that's okay.That said, I like the overall shape of the game so far; we've had good, solid, characterisation all round with the advantage (for me) that I think I know all of the PCs much better than I did when I took over (perhaps I'm stating the obvious here).Nevertheless, there have been some 'humps' which have rattled things form time to time. Usually, these have been down to disconnects between 'game reality' and 'real reality', the World: of Darkness syndrome, as my house calls it. Real world models won't necessarily serve you well in defining the fictional one, just as you don't try to navigate London with a copy of Neverwhere in hand. There are some pretty fundamental differences in the setup of the game world which will trip up the casual observer, rules of etiquette are different, as fits the basis of the (fictional) world - Kindred society mirrors (and shapes, though to a lesser extent) that of the mortals, so you'll tend to find archaic notions at work more frequently (as befits a static vampiric society with its roots deep in the Western-European Renaissance era dug parasite-deep into modern society). To this end, if confused or uncertain, either just ask me or use your character's skills as a guide.I've played a bit with different writing styles throughout (I hope that was apparant), for example keeping the melodrama high about the Toreador/Ventrue and the intrigue thick about the Brujah/Tremere. I think I've even seen people responding to that style (e.g. Kit and Vych posting in a more exaggerated, 'gothic melodrama' style in similar increments as the posts I was doing for Carrick and Nathan), I hope I did. Did I? I suspect it connects in to my own preferences in the way I relate to the world through language (you guys seem pretty musical, more so than I), so I'd like to get your thoughts on how I approach scenes in the future. While a style might 'work' in one scene, it may fall apart in the next (though melodramatic combat could be interesting as a concept, I think it'd be too labour-intensive to be worthwhile). A little less gothic and a little more punk is in order, I think. What do you?Of especial note in the style for the future is the growing emphasis I hope to place on the unknown, mystery and horror aspects of the game. While the 'narrative view' has worked great in setting up a central perspective for an introductory scene, and has helped the characters hook up, I'd like to see a shift away from that in later scenes, focusing inwards - what are the characters ~thinking~ at each turn? I like the italicised thought-processes when I see them (as I do the explainations for action), I'd love to see more of that to bring out the 'personal horror' since it's so core to the game theme, and since it comes up rarely in tabletop play and almost never in live (due to the... well, internal nature of such things). Let's play to the strengths of our medium, yes?How does that sound; too long? Too pretentious? Let me know in either case. Even if you want me to stop writing these essays all over the thread.Regards,Barry</blockquote>

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