Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

chapter one: society getting of the damned started
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maintain some moral standard when no mortal law can bind them and the Beast constantly
goads them to assault and murder? If they do chose to give in to their dark urges and throw
away all sense of conscience, what will be left to keep them from sliding down into a feral
state that renders them no better than a rabid animal? Even if characters can affi rm their
humanity this time, well, there’s always tomorrow night, the night after that, and the night
after that…
Forever.
Getting Started
As Storyteller, you create a dark refl ection of the real world for the players’ characters to
inhabit, including all the other people they meet and the locations they may visit. You also
help guide the stream of events that these characters will fi nd themselves confronted with
and present the challenges they must inevitably overcome. This can sometimes seem like a
daunting task given how much effort can be involved. Fortunately, you don’t have to create
it all at once.
The Requiem presumes that most stories take place within one metropolitan area. This
location serves as the launching point and active staging ground for your stories. So in the
beginning, you don’t have to worry about Kindred, mortals or other supernatural creatures
elsewhere in the world. For now, you only have to concern yourself with the little pieces of
the world that affect the characters involved in your game setting — and for Kindred, that’s
a lot less than it is for most mortals.
Even more fortunately, your players can help. Once a chronicle begins, every choice the
characters make has consequences, good and bad, that can spark new stories. If you’ve managed
to fully engage the players’ interests, they’ll move beyond reacting to situations you create, to
initiating stories themselves. It’s when this interactive element comes into play that a chronicle
truly becomes a shared work of Storytelling — and, very probably, the most fun.
Building the story that serves as the framework for your chronicle starts with discussions
with your players. What sort of chronicle do they want? Personal horror and a modern-gothic
setting permit a wide variety of different plots and styles of play. A Requiem chronicle can
range from a desperate struggle against implacable, marauding Lupines to elegant intrigue
in Elysium. Do the characters want espionage, mystery, love stories, black comedy? Do they
want to play neonates (the default chronicle), elders among the Primogen or something else?
Does any aspect of the game or setting especially appeal to them? There’s no point in running
a chronicle that bores or irritates your players.
PLAYER SURVEYS
When attempting to write a Requiem chronicle, one of the fi rst things to consider
is what type of game your players would prefer. There is no sense in preparing a
chronicle centered around murky conspiracies and political intrigue if most of your
players are looking to explore the morality of undeath or throw down against some
rival Kindred. So how does a Storyteller get a sense of what the players are looking
for? As discussed in Mind’s Eye Theatre, one method is to hand out a survey. It is a
simple and reliable method of learning what your troupe wants without having to
sit down and interview each player. There are many different types of stories that can
be covered in a Requiem chronicle, and while you can’t please everyone, you can at
least get an idea of the sort of game your players are expecting.