One Wrong Move & The Field Will Explode With Bacon

He/They Slowly trying to come back from the dead… emphasis on slowly.

[crownedinmarigolds]

A coterie sketch for @confusedwithglitter who has been graciously bringing my activity to life on Tumblr today!! Good luck team!! :3c

[r3drubix]

"5. What unique Merits, Flaws or Discipline powers do they have? What ability or issue makes them stand out?" Which of your character[s] do you think you made the most interesting choices for their Merits/Flaws/Disciplines? :o I'd love to hear about what you like most about your character[s]!

EDIT: I AM SO SORRY THIS IS AS LONG AS IT IS HAHAHAHA

So gonna answer this with my Caitiff, Leon Frost, first. 

He’s always been a perceptive person (an awareness speciality of his), which only meant good things when he was able to get his Auspex maxed out (due to good connections). 

So far his solution to problems has been scanning entire building plans for a heist (using Clairvoyance) and sending that to his coterie with telepathy (which fun fact, you can just spam your thoughts to other people no rolls required), or just asspulling the answer using premonition (like security keypad codes, and finding forbidden libraries by accident).

Though his main use for Auspex has been the amalgam you get with a point of Fortitude, Panacea, which lets you restore the willpower of a target and calm their nerves (it’s typically a Salubri thing, which funnily enough is what his sire is). He found this to be effective against people having breakdowns… including Malkavians, both neonate and notably older in blood (he may have used all his willpower to succeed for the latter haha). 

More personal issues he had to navigate came down to his family and unpacking that he knew NOTHING about them until now (relatively speaking), as he had no clue that all 4 (6 if you count an aunt and Remmy) were Kindred and raising him together as a Coterie. Having to learn of his currently deceased (bio) dad’s unlife through other people and how much of an intriguing Tremere he was, gives people the expectation that Leon would be much the same now that he also is a Kindred. There is one upside to Leon’s family history, being that nobody knows (with very few exceptions) what clan he is, as he had so many options for sires:

Tremere - From father (if people believed Leon was embraced prior to his final death)

Salubri (not publicly known) - From adopted father #1 (is the actual Sire)

Brujah - From adopted mother

Toreador - From adopted father #2

Lasombra - From “aunt” (we no longer like her so much gabjkfedgfrkt)

As well as anyone who could have been closely connected to any of them, expanding the options further. This gives Leon enough wiggle room to avoid being outed as a Caitiff to anybody who may have a bias against the clan.

In terms of Merits (Not counting Haven stuff cuz that was a group effort), he’s got Unbondable, a boatload of money. More interestingly though, he can make false ID,s which he almost had to follow through with to save one of his dads (Toreador) from an elder (before we broke into his house and stole his shit, and two people).

His flaws don’t tend to come up as their own thing, more that his prey exclusion is to do with his sexuality (he is gay, doesn’t feed on mortal women), and his stalker flaw is something that (because I know some spoilers from my ST) may have already come up and it just had not fully occurred to me. A less mechanically based flaw is that his social stats are p low and due to him coming off as cold/reserved (he is just shy), he actively has someone (another player) fluent in how he talks… he also has been banned from talking to important people/elders because he has almost screwed the Coterie over a few too many times.

Well, that was 558 words for the shorter answer… now for the kids (collectively known as Foster), Harper and Corbin (not gonna talk about Scruffy as they’re more NPC than PC rn). Also, all the kids here do use they/them, so I will be extra careful to specify which kid I am referring to to avoid confusion. 

So, something to address off the bat is that these kids share the same body/headspace - it’s not entirely D.I.D., but to an extent, it functions as the same when any of them try to explain it to others. The short of it is that Corbin’s first sire (an unhinged Behari Gangrel) used a series of elaborate applications of mental disciplines to overwrite their personality with a caricature of her long-dead child (daughter, I believe), Harper Trauel, at 10 years of age. Harper then lived with their “mother mother” (sire) and “uncle uncle” (Corbin’s older brother who the sire also yoinked) for roughly a week before their entire little life got turned upside down by the other players and their now adopted fathers. The kids are working together as they all have been sired into a different clan (don’t worry about it that’s a whole other thing) and trying to navigate growing up (Thin-blood alchemy, again, don’t worry about it) with an entirely unique set of circumstances. 

Being a part of a newer clan (Taeglach, homebrew by ST made with the blood of other supernaturals) comes with unique skills and stigmas, having multiple new weaknesses and strengths that can be very exploitable if the info were ever to be leaked. One perceived flaw is the enforced lack of numbers within the clan to keep peace amongst the others within Kindred society (30-40 at the maximum), this in reality, works to maintain the philosophy of the clan itself (being family) as well as having close-knit networks to help raise Foster and monitor their “situation” a little more closely (but never too close). 

Both Corbin and Harper have access to Blood Sorcery (4 for Corbin, 3 with Harper) as well as a little piece of Oblivion (Shadows), Animalism, and a discipline unique to their clan (only in 1 level for all); however, Corbin also holds 4 dots of Fortitude and used that as a basis for a ritual of their own where they make edible flowers that give extra health until the points are lost - it reflects their humanity (9, from a combo of being a kid and having the farmer feeding type), but unfortunately there were circumstances where the ritual was vital in more grim circumsatces. Harper, on the other hand, had only a couple of points in Protean, and otherwise built up their skills in combat to protect themselves and their family (as they had learnt how merciless the nightlife can be to even children)... they may have their dex/firearms maxed because I thought it would be super funny, not going to lie to you!

As far as their merits go (Unbondable, Golconda, and a reflavored Stunning to “Adorable”)… objectively the most interesting one is the full loresheet of Golconda (blame my ST who showed me haha) as it meant feeding less and even the chance to walk into the sunlight, even if it involves eating a mouse whole come nighttime. All the merit points they both have, to some extent, help with blending into mortal society effectively, making them into menaces both day and night as they grow to their teens (15 at the time of the second campaign). 

Being somewhat stubborn children with humanity 9, they both tend to clash with the Kindred around them in terms of ideals. Though Harper has more of an understanding of the nuance of caring vs carelessness, Corbin has made a few chips in the largely considered stone-hearted folks to grow their patience/tolerance levels around others (if only a small fraction). 

There are some perks with H9 that are a little unexpected, as I had to ask the unsettling question to my ST: “What counts as a liquid?” 

Did it matter to the story? God no. Was it funny to include a list of items they can/cannot consume, including raw eggs, that have them under strict supervision inside any kitchen? Absolutely! 

Now for the flaws, for which there are quite a few - surprising for kid Kindred, I know! /s

Being a Farmer feeding type already puts a few restrictions on the collective of Foster, so making a Prey Exclusion (humans) felt like an easy mandatory flaw point that added to the idea that they are intolerant to regular mortal blood, even if this was originally based on me misunderstanding the Vegan flaw, haha. 

The other flaws either were “forced” upon me, (I like the drama) such “Angsty Teen” or taken from outdated versions of the game that caused confusion when i was making my first VTM PC, like “Short” (they are 4ft 6in at age 15 haha) and “Phobia (cats)”. We still worked around these less-than-to-the-rules flaws on top of the issues caused by fighting for your life since 10 years old (their therapists, yes plural, make BANK), and an irrational (not really) fear of Gangrel. 

A pair of kids riddled with scars that are only mental for the most part, trying their best to spread their humanity and kinder mentalities to others is something that will ALWAYS be interesting to have in character talks with PCs and NPCs that even slightly entertain their words for a minute; they sometimes have the cynics (like one of their fathers) almost hoping that they both can make the night a better unlife for others like their ambitions tell them to do. 

If you made it this far holy shit thank you for your time rambling haha (it is 2am as i finish this off lmao)

[relleytrots]

"5. What unique Merits, Flaws or Discipline powers do they have? What ability or issue makes them stand out?" GIMME THEM GOOD YAPS AND LORE

*cracking my knuckles*

This might take a while. Dividers by @diableriedoll and I'm gonna need them.

Sorcha is neither one thing nor the other. She was born, raised and groomed to be Kindred, figured out her family's internal Masquerade before her thirteenth birthday, and was planning her mortal life around being Embraced before her thirtieth. And then she overdosed and died and came back thin - except she sees so much potential and camaraderie in being thinblooded. Duskborn got Duskborn. She's made so many (hot) (clever) (brave) (amazing) friends outside the family that her loyalties are - not torn, but definitely divided.

Her biggest projects are gaolbreaking ceremonial necromancy so it can work through alchemy, and sponsoring a safehouse network for thinbloods in sect war hotzones: she is also her father's daughter, her sire's child, heiress to the Gorbals barony and would-be pupil of a Giovanni anziana. Woe betide her if she ever has to choose. She'll probably go mad.

Alistair says it best himself. Other Kindred may have been around longer than him, but he's lived longer than them. The Embrace was his retirement present, his golden handshake. He lived a full, awful, horrid human life. He was sixty-four years old when he died, and he has none of the unfinished personality baggage of the eternal teens and twentysomethings that make up much of the all-night society.

It's not that he's without angst - he spent the 1980s in prison because, in several ways, he wanted to atone for spending the two previous decades actively making the world a shittier place, and he thinks his life was worth living because it produced Sorcha. He has a world's best dad complex like you wouldn't believe. It's that he's at the other end of his original journey, and that gives him the unshakeable confidence of your boomer dad who was also a second generation hardnut. Just don't call him a boomer. He was born in 1935.

Santino is really, really shit at being a Giovanni.

He has the emotional damage, the problematic relationship with his sire, and the practical necromancy down pat. He's a bit of a sadist. He should be very good at this. But he doesn't like spoiling some random person's night, he's not big on slavery, and he made all his money when it was still possible to make all your money out of music. He would honestly rather just rock out, and despite his vague claims about how his musical projects romanticise death and enable the famiglia's goals through soft power, he's kinda full of shit about that.

He was a no hope, dead end, dropout disgrace to the family before Luciana decided she wanted to fuck him (and mould him into a beautiful metaphorical stiletto for her own personal use).

Luciana is, if I break kayfabe here for a second, a studied attempt to deconstruct and explore the Giovanni's "incest and necromancy, spaghetti and corpses" stereotype through the lens that I think it's best read through, to whit eighteenth century Gothic novels with nefarious Italian antagonists who practice black magic and molest their own daughters. Except she's leaning into it, doing it better than her sire/husband ever did, and perpetuating the cycle on her own childer.

In terms of abilities: she's the greatest necromancer of her generation. She is proof positive, to the elders' eyes, that single blood is best blood, that marrying cousins and even siblings does keep the magic strong.

In terms of issues: she has a rare form of muscular dystrophy, one of her lungs has half collapsed, she can barely walk unaided and she was going to die before her fortieth birthday.

I wanted to experiment with a character who was elegant, educated, erotic, deviant, disabled - hot as hell and honestly signalling a whole different batch of mummy issues to the mummy issues I actually have.

Penelope is infuriated by her own bloodline. She was Embraced antitribu, defected to the Sabbat, almost came back again before she was tapped by the (False) Black Hand. She's a Bletchley Park gel and an OG phreaker, a black hat through and through, but she can't get through a revolving door or use a touchscreen.

Also, she's really supposed to be dead. She didn't think she'd survive her first chronicle. I didn't think she'd survive her first chronicle. She's in the "future antagonist" box now.

Riley is the character I never thought I'd play, and that's why they stand out. Their actual issue - they're a woman living as a man and possibly regretting it but also profiting from it and giving girls funny feelings under their petticoats - is only the top layer of their secrets. Underneath that is the delight of the alternate clan bane, and the reinvention of the Ravnos it enables. I've already written about this today so I'mma keep it short: I like them as almost devilish or faerie type Kindred, if you know their true name they have no power over you, and I'm leaning into that with Riley.

Also, their broken-ass build. Presence 3 on top of Siren? Enough Dex that they're a capable fencer? Check the Trunk / Side Hustle so they always have a Background for any situation that might need one? Mmh. MMM!

The irony is, my ST knows I'm squishy for Bahari, and put the bait right there in the chronicle, and Riley is not the sort of person who'd rush into joining a cult. Squaring the circle of her gender, his masque, their whole deal as a person has to come first. If they survive the Victorian Era, I can see them living it up in Soho as a drag king and butterfly Bahari, but they're not there yet.

[graysonwildemere]

"8. What annoys them the most about other vampires? How about specific clans or sects (specify)?" P interested in this question for any of your vamps as I know it's the sorta topic I could yap for days on lmao

vtm character ask game

Oh boy where do I start? Okay so Pearl is a queer woman who grew up in Washington DC in the 1960s, and is now a Malkavian who went from being in a Sabbat pack of mostly Malkavians where she was the pack priest's only childe and favorite, to escaping and living as a nobody in a Camarilla city, to joining the Anarchs and now being the fiancée of the Baron, so she has experienced many different parts of kindred society. I think because of that, she doesn't have a lot of generalizations based on clan or sect left in her, but she does have a few, so this might mostly be an exploration of those biases:

Never met a Toreador she likes, not a single one. No one can piss her off like they do. Fuck all of them

She has definitely met Brujahs that she likes, but their tempers and frequently self-righteous attitudes do kind of grate on her nerves sometimes.

She also by default doesn't really trust anyone who wants to lead a movement (who are not always Brujahs, but the Venn diagram overlaps quite a bit) because there is enough history of people who are major figures in movements with noble causes who end up being shitty people behind the scenes. Sometimes also in front of the scenes.

That starting level of distrust goes double if they're a man, which has nothing to do with kindred, but is just how Pearl is due to general life experiences and also her sire

This is part of why she doesn't like Theo Bell. Wouldn't've trusted him from the start, but she has met him one time and his behavior was honestly pretty fucking terrible and very emblematic of some of her beef with kindred– especially older kindred– in general. Regular human beings can be very good at turning their empathy on and off in accordance with their own biases, but kindred often take that to an extreme, and the consequences of that lack of empathy can also be severe. Part of Pearl understands, having been Sabbat and knowing how easy it is to just not care, but having had to claw her humanity back and now clinging to that with everything she has is how she avoids backsliding, so she can't allow herself to not care anymore. Part of her resents them because she thinks their lack of empathy is callous and cruel, the other part resents them because she misses how easy things used to be.

[sadokelevra]

"6. What does their Haven look like? Is it creepy or luxurious?" If Darz doesn't have one it could be what sort of one would he desire haha

Ohhh thank you I love this question! DarZ's haven has shifted over nine sessions lol. First session, his Haven was his mother's house. He spent ten years somehow managing to repress his vampiric nature to stay living with her, a mortal... the house they shared was small, run down, rented, and the only home he knew for decades. It's all very old architecture, unkempt from a structural standpoint, but very clean and organized. His mother, Estelle de la Vega Negroni, is a head nurse at the local hospital and she cares a lot about cleanliness and order, passing that on to Darcy to some measure. Her home is also very... interestingly decorated. She's not a particularly religious person, but she is a Puerto Rican Catholic, and their home reflects both the cultural and religious ties, as well as a clinical focus on efficiency. That is to say, they don't have television, but they do have internet, because she needs internet for job reasons but sees no point in spending on television. DarZ isn't broken hearted about that, he cares more about his various arts and about wandering the city. However, after he was.... put in a tight spot and had to run away from his mother's home, I think its fair to say he's sharing a Haven with a... problematic older Gangrel he met, Fenrir. Fenrir's got five Haven points dedicated into well-stocked work van with disguise possibilities, because Fenrir is technically a serial killer, a little more so than your average vampire [Fenrir makes "art" out of his kills]. For main plot reasons they ended up attached to one another, and now DarZ lives in Fenrir's van with him, the humanity he so carefully preserved while living with his mother slowly being chipped away by gaining friendship with Fenrir - and the rest of the campaign's growing coterie, lmao.

[pantwardowskimoved]

making my own vtm character ask game because im autisming ok hello

1. What are their physical signs of being undead or otherwise supernatural (if any)?

2. How do they usually hunt? Are there any unusual things about their methods of procuring blood?

3. What is their Ambition? How are they planning on achieving that goal?

4. How do they treat mortals? What is their opinion on killing them?

5. What unique Merits, Flaws or Discipline powers do they have? What ability or issue makes them stand out?

6. What does their Haven look like? Is it creepy or luxurious?

7. What are some of the most evil and fucked up things they've done? Was it a big deal for them?

8. What annoys them the most about other vampires? How about specific clans or sects (specify)?

9. What is their opinion on fledglings/ancillae/elders?

10. Which Discipline would they most like to learn? Why?

11. Have they ever committed diablerie? Would they do it again?

12. Do they pretend to be mortal or try to stay on the sidelines to protect the masquerade? Or do they not care about it and breach it a lot?

13. (For older vampires) Do they like modern stuff like music or technology? Did they adapt with ease or is it hard for them?

[lizardsister]

it's a moral failing to still be a harry potter fan

[lizardsister]

if you ever worry to yourself that still liking harry potter makes you a bad person it's because it does

[javaxzun]

✨ Just you and me with the universe

ink - comyet / mye bi

error - thecrayonqueen

[srune]

only thing that comes to mind today.

[cactusique]

getting ready to kick some tremere ass

[crimsonender]

Misogyny.

[stealingpotatoes]

i hauve a cold

[stealingpotatoes]

[stealingpotatoes]

[dropofmidnight]

the tremere researcher [oc]

[nostalgebraist]

Man, I love glitch Pokemon

Precious gibberish children

[nostalgebraist]

Another notable glitch Pokemon is named

She (?) looks like this

and, at 80 feet and 3 inches, is tied with another glitch Pokemon for tallest of all Pokemon.

When encountered, she begins to play an endless glitchy song, which continues until the player resets the game (you can hear it here, but don’t listen with headphones because it includes high-pitched noises)

[gamemakerm]

I’m glad there is a lesbian pokemon glitch who only wants to sing to us forever

[femonologue]

If you read this, please take a moment to appreciate the fact that breaking this game in a very specific manner causes you to encounter an 80-foot spire of crimson light that draws you into a pocket of frozen time and surrounds you with eerie music for eternity

[ouijatxtremade-deactivated20180]

Singing lesbian glitch

[gaylor-moon]

THIS POST IS BACK, YES, GOOD

[ablndfsh]

RAAAHHHHHHHHHH

[mothiepixie]

Question for Boysen:

Could I get a copy of his dating handbook? For research purposes, of course.

[erineas]

I GIVE YOU ALL MY CREDIT CARDS IF I CAN HAVE YOU INSTEAD, PLEASE?

[mothiepixie]

[r3drubix]

Wanted to put the extra pics I did here to avoid cluttering the other post

Also gives an extra spotlight to characters I obviously have no bias for /s

So the deal with Foster (to put it shortly) is due to both trauma and heavy discipline brainwashing, one child has become three each fighting for the P1 controller to pet the dog. Foster is the name they all use collectively but each have their own name and sense of self (Harper, Corbin* and Scruffy going from left to right).

After a while though it did accidentally evolve into a game of "how many other weird things can be put onto this character during play before my ST stops me?" Spoilers: He's throwing more things at me even after the original Chronicle has ended hsujafekdgbrf

Though they are identical** in appearances, they each present themselves differently within a shared mental space that they can communicate and interact with one another subconsciously (you know how the emotions in "Inside Out" have their shared control room? A lot like that in terms of how it functions).

Mentally (and how they may appear as visuals for readers) the three differ their looks a lot more, which I made into a bonus picture below (totally not me liking this specific piece too much what do you mean).

I put a few other details and disclaimers under the Read More tab below, likely not too important but still wanting to mention it here for transparency.

I felt a personal need to be super careful as to not call what Foster has going on as D.I.D. as:

I have no personal experience with the disorder nor done full research prior to playing them in the TTRPG at the time (and thus run the risk of it being considered misleading representation).

Given the context of how Harper specifically came to be, which was less splitting from Corbin (*The "Host" to put it loosely) and more a whole person's worth of memories being put into a different individual.

2/3 of the Foster Kids have only ever known being a Supernatural (with one small exception), so making the way they operated in the one body as to be more fantastical/fictional in nature rather than something grounded in a real dissociative disorder felt more in theme with the setting and character.

**In terms of making a more finalised design for them, I wanted to figure out a way of being able to visually distinguish which one of the three is in the driver's seat at any given time. After thinking on it for a little I decided to make notable (but not off-putting) tweaks in their eyes and noses, which would help emphasise the differences further through more obvious things (like dialogue, facial expression, and body language).

Only other thing I sorta want to mention is that I am aware of certain spaces being iffy with WOD content that deviates from the norm (or source materials), to the point I have been actively warned as much. I wanna say in regards to that is Foster was my first PC in the system that got me to loving Vampire (and the world my ST created) in the first place, perhaps even solidified my general love for TTRPS even! If you want a place to avoid that, I’m willing to provide a space for folks. Not trying to be high and mighty about it, I’m just aware that WOD is more niche a space compared to systems like DND due to info content being harder to find (and I want to talk to peeps about the stuff I like lol).

[confusedwithglitter]

me, reviewing my players' mechanics: oh right, i forgot, she has potence, that's fun

me, remembering the fuckery I used to get up to when I had potence: oh god she has potence