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

story functions chapter of bloodlines one: society and of disciplines
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mythology — vampire as secret master, as tragic counterculture icon, as bestial predator and
so on. With a bloodline, you can create an undead subculture that explores other aspects of
vampirism, or you can just create an interesting new Kindred group to add to your chronicle.
Bloodlines can also specialize in narrower aspects of a clan’s basic concept, throwing them
into sharp relief.
New Disciplines can play a similar role. Some players like to give their characters unusual
powers. Sometimes they do so to give their characters some edge over other characters.
Sometimes they use powers as a substitute for personality. Those are not reasons to forbid
new Disciplines, though. As Storyteller, you can help players use bloodlines and Disciplines
to make their characters individual and unusual while retaining play balance.
Bloodlines and Disciplines make the World of Darkness more mysterious. Kindred who
think they know it all are in for a shock when a new vampire in town leaves pestilence in his
wake, or he confronts them with the ghosts of their parents.
This is especially true for bloodlines from distant lands. Since vampires do not travel
much, the clans often striate into bloodlines. Just as each city has its own political structure
of covenants and personalities, so each region of the world might have a special bloodline or
two. Regional bloodlines can highlight cultural or historical elements.
As you create new bloodlines, think about where they come from and what regional quirks
they can embody. If you like, read up on a region’s vampire legends. Every part of the world
has its own stories about blood-drinking witches, ghosts and demons that can help inspire new
bloodlines. Other parts of the world, such as Africa and Asia, almost certainly include different
covenants. When characters encounter Kindred from other parts of the world, with strange
customs and powers, they realize just how little they know about their World of Darkness.
New Disciplines, like new bloodlines, expand the range of stories you can tell. Each Discipline
enables vampires to perform certain feats; a new Discipline results in a character who
does things that no one else can. Such a character can set events in motion that no one else
could, provide novel mysteries and challenges for other characters, and generally shake up
a chronicle. What happens when one character can talk to the dead? Kindred high and low
realize that secrets they thought were lost and scandals they thought were buried have become
accessible again. You could build an entire story arc around learning what a new Discipline
can do and how it shakes up a city’s Kindred.
Clan and bloodline weaknesses, on the other hand, supply a challenge to players’ ingenuity
and roleplaying. A different weakness imposes different challenges for players and Storytellers
to explore.
Storytellers can feel the same temptation as players to use bloodlines and Disciplines as
substitutes for personalities. Keep in mind that you don’t need to invent a whole new bloodline
to justify one unusual character. Many Kindred simply don’t act the way other vampires
expect from members of their clan, and vampires can learn unusual Disciplines without
belonging to a bloodline.
Watch out for “super-bloodlines,” too. You might feel tempted to create a bloodline with
the most ass-kicking kick-ass set of Disciplines you can devise. This temptation can become
especially strong if you intend for the members of a bloodline to serve as adversaries to the
characters. Resist this temptation. The Requiem presumes that all undead lineages are equally
worthy for players’ characters. No vampire lineage in this book or any supplement receives a
black hat and an “Enemy — Do Not Play” stamp along with the Embrace. We recommend that
you stick to this rule as well. If one bloodline possesses clear advantages over other lineages,
however, a character from that bloodline holds an intrinsic advantage over other players’
characters. That might seem fun for one player, but the other players will probably object.