GST Masquerade Review of Chronicle setup

This is a quick dump from my several iterations of a GST in setting up Chronicles, dealing with Addenda's, and other rule set ups.

This page's observations related to Masquerade - but many observations can be applied in any Chronicle set up.

Rules Addenda

Absolutely Critical that this be finalised before chronicle start!

Thaumaturgy: A solid review of the Thaumaturgy source books and exactly what will be sanctioned is a must, along with rituals.

• Potential to assign a couple of “aGST: Thau review” to sort this.
  • Obviously these aGST’s must be solid in Thau knowledge

Notable changes in the 2014-2017 chronicle, and the GST’s opinion on them:

• Background - Influence: initially not using Dark Epics rules – the loss of attack/conceal/boost did appear to detract from the influence game.
  • Whilst Dark Epics has too many actions available, loss of the entire set was a negative impact, particularly the “grow” function… which is critical to the influence game not being an xp sink.
• Influence levels x2 seems balanced – both in this and previous chronicles.

• Discipline – Fortitude: Intermediate Fortitude was changed from downgrading damage on a win, to downgrading damage on a win or a tie. This is a far stronger and robust change, and puts the Intermediate Fortitudes far closer in parity to Celerity and Potence. Recommend for future iterations.

• Discipline approvals – Protean: Keeping Protean at High approval is sound, and stops it being abused by player cliques.

• Discipline interaction – Obfuscate vs Auspex: This change made the powers both far more dynamic and valuable. I’d err on keeping this type of mechanic.

• Disciplines – General: Overall, the changes and clarifications to the disciplines I thought were very solid. I’d be reticent to change any that are in the current addenda, though I’d feasibly add some further clarifications.

• Negative Traits – Auto bid on applicable challenges: Not exactly a popular introduction, but one that I felt was still positive. Stopped negative traits being a gravy train of free xp, and people heavily considered if they were going to take negs at all.
  • As stated – not popular, with some players feeling it overpowered the worth of negatives, or neutered powers that uncovered negative traits. Some players didn’t take negs for this reason, which I feel is a bit “twinky” sheet focussed.
    • Overall, I feel better about that though, than having a gravy train of xp with little to no impact on the characters.
      • Other alternatives are:
        • Remove the xp gain, and penalties, from Negative Traits. Having them solely as a roleplay reflection of the character. Not to be applied to weapons, for obvious reasons.
        • Limit negative trait xp gains to a maximum of 3.

• Background – Free Lores with justification during play: Seemed suitable and didn’t notice any rampant abuse of the policy. Approval levels probably helped curtail any abuse.

• Camarilla Status:
  • Acknowledged: Clearing up the difference between a Prince granting hospitality/acknowledgement in the Domain to that of Acknowledgement in the sect is crucial imo.
  • Having a mechanic to strip/increase Social Class was a valuable addition and something I’d recommend in future iterations.
  • The range of generations able to branch across Social class I’m less certain of. Even though it wasn’t common, I’m not sure it was the right feel for the genre. Players tended to go as old as possible, with a prevalence towards 10th Gen (either neonate or ancilla).
  • Justicars: Justicars should have a defined set status traits, just as every other position in the Camarilla. Having them open just creates ambiguity. The camarilla is not about ambiguity. It is about structure.

Character sheets

The game needs workable character sheets at Chronicle start that contain ONLY approved items/powers/rituals available to select.

This sheet needs to be vetted and checked before Chronicle start to ensure correctness (such as morality scores calculated correctly) and alignment with Addenda. A check list of what needs to be checked is recommended.

This is also why a thorough Thaumaturgy review and ritual review are also important before chronicle start.

• In line with this, the History of Clan Tremere needs to be reviewed and decided.

Protocols of the Camarilla document

Whilst the game can function without these, they are necessary to add certain national level or canon affecting positions. They’re also necessary to clarifyon certain positions scopes. These need to be vetted and checked for both internal consistency and consistency with the rules addenda.

• Need to be formalised before Chronicle start!

Notable changes in the 2014-2017 chronicle, and the GST’s opinion on them:

• Consideration needs to be given to what composes a Symposium, and if it is feasible in the current game. It has previously (and currently) been based on a Prince quorum. Meaning that there was never going to be enough games for a Symposium. Perhaps a better suggestion is for a Prince to be able to call one with the Justicar’s sanction (i.e. to be a Conclave game)?

• Further thought needs to be given to the section under Primogen, where they can force a Prince to consider a vote. Currently, it adds nothing and is ambiguous as to how it affects game. Recommend removal, imo... seems very against general Camarilla doctrine... but can understand trying to implement a political option to deal with Princes.

• A frequent issue – every chronicle – is Primogen attempted removal of a Prince, or a contested Praxis. I’d err against allowing explicit removal of a Prince by the Primogen... as this goes to the point above about going against Camarilla themes. Added text around contested Praxis in the Protocols - I think this is sufficient.

Lores

Need to be formalised before Chronicle start. Current Lores should suffice.

A review of exactly “what” Lores encompass could be worth it… but, probably not a huge return on investment. Still, some review from an aGST could be beneficial.

MC linked to Generation

The disbanding of this link proved to be both less painful and less worrisome than first thought.

• It is critical, however, that generation population spread be addressed in VSS’s to ensure that Elder generations maintain both:
  • appropriate rarity; and
  • can be supported by the domains game population.

Notable changes in the 2014-2017 chronicle, and the GST’s opinion on them:

Current GST policy of 1 PC Elder per clan, and approximate spread of 1:10 ratio for population appears balanced and supportable.

Elder Play Style document

With the changes to MC being linked to Generation, it is critical the players interested in playing Elder generation PC’s know what is required of them both IC and OOC. Whilst the Elder Play Style document addresses and denotes a very specific type of Elder game, the GST – on review and watching it be played during chronicle – believes this is absolutely validated that this is the correct style to engender.

The elephant in the room being that White Wolf has, canonically, basically almost every Prince in every domain be an Elder. And whilst that is the case, that play style isn't conducive to the game setting.

Notable changes in the 2014-2017 chronicle, and the GST’s opinion on them:

• Keeping PC Elder gens to either 7th or 8th Generation appeared to be a positive outcome.

• Consideration needs to be given to context *outside* of the Camarilla setting, however. Such as Independent, Sabbat or Anarch Elders and how they interact with their genre’s. They have less codified ways of being able to interact with their settings in order to drive the Jyhad game. Sabbat Elders need specific thought, to ensure they do – in fact – play the Jyhad and aren’t just beat-sticks.
  • Obviously such consideration only need be given if such venues look to be in play.
    • Frankly, the GST thinks Sabbat should remain an antagonist NPC genre. IF a PC venue does get up, there has literally been never any good ever of having an open setting between Camarilla and Sabbat games. A firewall is necessary to keep both games in separate worlds.

Custodial Player Characters (CPC’s) – 6th Generation Progenitors

This initiative had mixed results, but not because of the concept itself. The initiative ran into problems with several custodians maintaining verbal commitment, but not supporting this with actual action. This led to the replacement of several custodians after Chronicle start, resulting in a lag with those CPC’s and their Clans... and their interaction with the Jyhad game in general... some of which never recovered or were achieved.

• Those custodians that were committed yielded significantly positive results both in terms of the game and the jyhad… particularly the Ventrue/Toreador rivalry.

Thought needs to be given to actual CPC numbers, as seven - one for each clan - is not necessarily the optimal idea. 3 at minimum would be need - and thought needs to go how not having one for each clan might disadvantage clans without a CPC.

Notable changes in the 2014-2017 chronicle, and the GST’s opinion on them:

• I think this initiative yielded positive results, both by engendering a jyhad game on the PC Elders, and by having 6th Gen ancients be aloof from the game.

• You must have committed custodians before Chronicle start! If someone can’t dedicate to action, replace them as soon as possible. In all honesty, fuck treading on toes.

• As chronicle bore out, the lag on some CPC’s definitely affected Clan flow – especially Tremere.

National level NPC's

The Justicar, and possibly their Archons, should be considered for CPC status… albeit in a more restricted capacity. Their interactions will have to be under the direction of the GST in all occasions, and have a clear charter and play guide.

• BUT, having someone (custodians) occupy these roles permanently, the characters will have a great depth and organic feel.

National plot

In general, plots to drive personal revelation for PC’s I found to be positive. Having this plot available for use at the volition of the VST’s was also a positive (i.e. not forcing the VST’s to take it up, but having it available non-the-less).

• It is imperative the limitations of such plots be specified in the plotkit.

"Red Star" end of world plots should probably be avoided this time round - they have been done to death and players don't engage.

• Possibility to actually have multiple end of world plots run during chronicle, that are all interactible by PC's. Action allows the plot to be stopped, inaction lets the plot proceed.

Global Story Arc term

The AMST/GGST came up with a rough complete chronicle arc from start to finish.

• One word: Awesome.
  • This was a great a deliverable and I’d encourage it for future AMST’s/GGST’s. It also allowed the GST to map out their own chronicle guide lines to that of the Global one, and to have a workable and integrated chronicle arc

Character Creation Document (CCD)

A valuable tool, but it needs to strike the right balance between enough detail for character development vs. overly administrative minutiae that drowns the PC.

• I am not convinced the CCD developed for this chronicle hit this balance.

Genre Style Statement (GSS)

A positive outcome – it can detail what a GST expects from both players and VST’s in terms of approvals, and is public platform for the GST’s vision and setting for the Genre. Again, should be formalised at Chronicle start

Wiki – Masquerade Wiki page

I consider this an almost mandatory initiative – it provides a place where players can link in and put down information, in an easy to use and easy to access environment. Also a great and accessible repository for game rules such as the Elder Play Style / Protocols / etc.

The "Masquerade Places on the Map" was used generally, but was useful for CPC’s, Elder PC’s and interested Ancilla to form background ties. Also useful for bulk “dark places on the maps” notifications.

The "Masquerade Timeline" page was probably under-utilised by the player base, but necessary to highlight the differences between Canon setting and our Chronicle setting (given we were running V20 over LoTNr).

Clan Pages – were especially useful for furthering Clan structures/organisation... however, fell out of use the longer chronicle went on. Investigate an alternative to a table of active PC’s though.

Personal PC pages – Wiki pages add to the richness of the setting, facilitating background ties, rumours and beneficial snippets on PC’s. Offering an incentive, such as overcap XP, results in good outcomes.

In Character

Lineages – PC’s tying into the CPC lineages was very good for the game. Gave younger / newer players a lineage to belong to and play with, and a more tangible link for the CPC’s to play the Jyhad with.

Boons – I suggest a National (possibly international) “Boon pot luck”. Where every PC in game puts in upto a maximum of 3 boons (denomination of their choosing). However many boons put in, is how many boons the PC pulls out. This would be very good for creating background links, and National reaching links between domains.