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

more Kindred it can sustain. The size of the city and the amount of players in your story,
therefore, has implications for you’re where you are choosing to set your chronicle.
Vast urban conglomerations such as New York, London or Mexico City might hold hundreds
of Kindred, with every offi ce of vampire governance fi lled. Every clan and covenant
has well-developed social structures with their own offi ces. No Kindred can claim to know
all other Kindred, though. The politics of the undead start to resemble old-time mortal
machine politics, with infl uence brokers promising the support (or enmity) of whole groups
of Kindred, in return for largesse from the leaders. The characters must work to stand out
from their fellows. On the other hand, they may be able to hide out or forge an alliance with
a whole new faction if their current situation becomes too dangerous.
There are some grand advantages to maintaining a large city as the center of your story.
The Storyteller can always justify some new character appearing in her chronicle. He just
moved from across town, or the characters just didn’t happen to meet him until now. Of
course, the characters don’t know if that stranger is telling the truth… unless they investigate
the stranger’s claimed background, which could be a whole story in itself.
Second-tier cities such as Houston or Toronto sustain fewer Kindred, so the social structures
are sparser. A large percentage of the Kindred claim some sort of title, or else many offi ces go
unfi lled because they aren’t needed (this is often the case in smaller chronicles). Even if every
clan and covenant fi nds representation, the numbers of Kindred within each group might be
low enough that clans and covenants need little internal organization. Individual personalities,
grudges and infl uence can matter just as much as clan or covenant allegiance.
Middle-sized cities offer suffi cient scope for Byzantine Kindred intrigue, while not overwhelming
the players’ characters. It’s easier to make a name for yourself when your coterie is
itself a noteworthy interest group. On the other hand, if every coterie is worth cultivating for
its support, every coterie is worth crushing, to deny its support to one’s rivals. The characters
also have little trouble learning about other Kindred in town.
A third-tier city such as Las Vegas or Venice can support only a few dozen Kindred. Such cities
might not contain members of all the clans and covenants, which can make their societies highly
idiosyncratic. Actual clan and covenant politics hold little sway, however, compared to the personal
relationships between the Kindred. Everyone knows everyone else. This type of setting is an excellent
choice for placing restrictions on clan or covenant in relation to character creation.
In a small city, the players’ characters form a major demographic of the Kindred population.
This keeps the characters in the center of plots, but the setting could feel constricted in
play. If the players want to explore constantly evolving relationships between a limited cast
of characters, though, a small city can work just fi ne.
Give thought to the city’s age, too. In the New World, many major cities are less than a
century old. The fi rst Kindred to settle in the city probably still dwell there and most other
Kindred are their descendants within two or three generations. The alliances and rivalries
between those founding Kindred probably still dominate undead politics.
In the Old World, by contrast, many cities are very old indeed. London and Paris have been
metropolises for several centuries (and signifi cant towns long before that). Rome and Alexandria
have fl ourished for more than 2,000 years; Baghdad is only the latest city in its location, in a
series stretching back to ancient Babylon. Equally long Kindred histories can generate local
bloodlines, bizarre customs, elaborate traditions, ancient secrets and vendettas whose origin
is lost even to Kindred memory. Having younger Kindred begin their unlife in such a location
provides them with a plethora of story ideas, as they learn the secrets and histories that surround
them. Players who are new to the Mind’s Eye Theatre experience, however, might fi nd
themselves somewhat overwhelmed by too much background material all at once.
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mind’s chapter eye four: theatre: storytelling requiem