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

chapter one: society supporting of the damned cast
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parent inconsistency. For instance, if the tyrant Prince is a tall, broad-shouldered man with
crew-cut gray hair, wearing a gray silk suit, with a retinue of younger men in black suits and
sunglasses, you evoke the contemporary image of power and authority. If he looks like an
aging hippy or a young Jazz-Age dandy, you might have to work a little harder to convince
the players that their characters should fear him. On the other hand, sometimes the contrast
between appearance and reality forms the point of the character. Consider the image of a
burly man with a square jaw and a prominently broken nose. This image suggests strength
and aggression. Now make this man a member of a character’s herd and shift the image to
this powerfully built man on his knees, submitting to the Kiss from a smaller vampire. The
new image evokes the power and horror of the Kindred.
• Choose a Name: Carefully chosen names can enhance the image and role of a character,
while inappropriate names can detract form a character. Avoid names that make the players
giggle; it spoils the mood of horror. For instance, if you name the tyrant Prince Aloysius, he
sounds more pretentious than frightening. A common, abbreviated name like Tom or Billy
might make him sound too ordinary, though. A slightly unusual name such as Brandon or
Lorimer helps this important character stand out.
Before you run your chronicle, spend an hour fl ipping through the phone book. Write
down any memorable names you fi nd. Not only can you assign these names to the Storyteller
characters you’ve designed in advance, you have a supply of names ready for the Storyteller
characters who appear without warning. If a member of the coterie suddenly decides to talk
to the gangbanger instead of eating him, or chats up a clerk to gain access to city records, you
aren’t left fumbling for a name.
• Age: Both mortal age and the length of time spent undead can matter for Kindred
characters. An appearance of either callow youth or enfeebled age can lead characters to
underestimate one of the Kindred. Most importantly, however, the time since a character’s
Embrace has bearing on her attitudes to mortals and other vampires. As the decades pass,
everyone the Kindred cared about in life grows old and dies. Eventually the character has
spent more time among the undead than among the living, and her attitudes inevitably shift