Just about time to start talking about the first big plot I had in mind. I wanted something that could start things off not tooo crazy...
Well, I'm not sure about that. Anyway, I have a short list of "big" plots, so any time you have an idea for a gamewide plot you'd like to share, please do. I'm big on collaboration for plot and on other people being clever so I don't have to be.
The first thing I have planned centers around the Church of Eternal Life. Long story short, non-master, and young vampires have to have a blood oath to another, more powerful vampire in order to have the power to rise at night, and it keeps them in line. It's a combination of metaphysical jumper cable and, eh, leash and choke chain and briefly detailed over
here.
The Church of Eternal Life around the country has been violating that tradition and necessity by not blood oathing its members and providing only the weakest link to make sure they rise at night. It's a matter of principle to the Church, but "sane" vampires realize that this is a disaster in the offing. Without a strong master to lay down the law, these Church vampires can run amok without someone to yank the choke chain, and they're vulnerable to a more powerful vampire forcing them to take the oath.
Over the next six weeks, the Church's vampires are going to start losing it as an outside influence starts co-opting them, pushing them into behaviors they would normally avoid because of Church teachings or because of personal morality.
For you, this means that your characters can have assumed or played out encounters with vampires during the next six weeks that can escalate in intensity until two weeks prior to Halloween, at which time there are going to be a rash of vampire-committed murders.
I'm outlining a few things that can come of the escalating weirdness in the vampire world, but anything you want to add to it, drop me a line here or grab me in IM and I'll probably go "Awesome! Go for it!" except in rare cases where it actually violates game world mechanics.
- Want a stalker? Perhaps a Church vamp takes an obsessive interest in your character. Thanks to a game mechanic that's kind of hard to find at times (homestead laws) at least you know that the vamp can't just wander into your house while you sleep at night. This can be NPCed (advance notice is great so I can draft some of our NPC volunteers, or you can ask and I'll give you the password to the NPC vamp account,
epicentric_vamp.) - Perhaps your character witnesses a vamp feeding on someone and their agreement to the act is questionable at best.
- Please don't actually start finding bodies until October 17 and later, but noticing people with unexpected vampire bite marks in obvious places is totally on the table.
- Being one of those people who gets bitten with dubious consent is definitely an option. Perhaps your character wakes with bite marks and no memory of the night before.
- If your character is affiliated with the police, they'll certainly be hearing more about these bites and stalkers.
- As the next couple of weeks go by, the newspapers will start editorializing against vampires and against supes in general. Those of you of a non-human persuasion can start experiencing heightened prejudice. You supe haters can feel vindicated. ;)
I'm sure there are a myriad of other options to deal with a city with 300 non-oathed vampires. I'm giving you a bucket of tinkertoys, what you build with it is up to you.
If your investigator characters want to talk to the vampire leadership, Diodor will stonewall, Millicent (the city's church head) will be paranoid.
I would like to wait until the two weeks prior to Halloween to detail what's going to happen from there. The events will actually segue into the next game plot and I think two weeks will give you guys time to think about what you'd like to do with it.
On a related note, the big game plots will cycle through the various groups, so it'll be a while before another vampire-centric plot comes up. Next is Nevernever/demon, and I haven't decided which comes next. I would prefer to usually only do them once every two-three months. As a heads up, I do want to do plots with Three Eye, Denarians, the Harlequin, and scary shifter halfway houses. If you have suggestions for others, I would be more than delighted to hear them.
Addendum: If you have been considering playing a vampire character, you can play a Church vampire either during or after this plot. Hit me up and I can give you some pertinent character-creation details.