VtM: Personal Horror in a group-based game?

[Schwann145]

Looking for help for VtM!
I'm having trouble with the concept of telling engaging stories that don't leave the rest of the group feeling left out.
For instance, when you're a young new vampire, part of the fun of the game is coming to terms with the change, learning how and when to feed, etc. How are these things explored as a group? When my fledgling vampire needs to eat, it's very easy to imagine that taking up a lot of story time; finding an area where an elder (at least older than you) won't mess with you, then finding a person (applies to everyone but *especially* Ventrue...) getting both you and your meal into a discreet area, and then feeding without killing them or making a mess of things.
That's a lot to do! And all of it can be very engaging! For one person. Just that one person.
Feeding as a group, at least in a non-Sabbat game, is practically unthinkable.

So... thoughts? Pointers? Tips?
Thanks :)

[Magua]

The meat of the story should include the group as a whole, otherwise there's no point for other people in the group to even be there. Although the minute details could prove interesting, they are really only of interest to you and that player. You should aim for the group experience to include things that are of interest to everyone.

In regards to personal details:

1. Don't sweat it. Move on to stuff that includes the entire group. "You feed on a wino. Gain 3 blood points."

2. Gloss over it. Ask the player a small number of quick questions, narrate a simple response, and move on. "Where are you feeding and whom are you looking to feed on?" "Ok, how much are you going to take?" Optional roll for hunger frenzy, if appropriate. "You feed on a wino. Gain 3 blood points."

3. Do it in personal scenes outside of the group time, and you can go into as much detail as you want.

---

In regards to feeding specifically, outside of the first time or two where it's a new experience that the character is needing to come to grips with, is something that vampires do multiple times a week, unless they're killing people. It is expected that the vampire knows areas where they can eat, otherwise they'd be in torpor.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

VtR 2 has a few interesting mechanics for more in-depth feeding scenes that involve the whole cast. I can't remember off the top of my head, but worth giving that a read.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Easy feedings can be done in night clubs and bars without much difficulty. It's a stereotype for a reason. Under normal circumstances you don't need to feed much more than once every few days or so, and when you do it is wise to feed from multiple people to get as much blood as you can. Depending on the pace of the story this won't come up every session and it's possible to have a feeding scene every session for a different character. The herd background goes a long way towards making feeding easier and is highly recommended for Ventrue characters. Disciplines like Dominate, Obfuscate, and Serpentis can make feeding a lot easier for you as well. Anything that controls or tricks the mind so that every feeding isn't a long game of seduction.

[Mr Blobby]

Random thoughts...

You could have dinner coming back to haunt them; from say the PC's watching the news and learns that last night's snack after regaining conciousness groggily stepped out in front of a car and was killed or them complaining to the police they'd been molested... somehow by that strange pale girl/guy.

The problem is 'don't sweat it' method doesn't even count as beige prose; this is the thing the character cares about over everything else.

You can slip in little comments here and there to show how the neonate[s] are now looking at people as food. That health-freak late night jogger? He's surely the kind who is frequently exercised, fed on only organic stuff... gotta be tasty. The store clerk? She's so fat you couldn't even get your fangs to the artery...

Personal horror isn't simply being a vampire; it's the whole thing. They are parasitic hunters who cause decay to everything they touch. A 'nice' city for a Kindred has a lacklustre police force, bloated homeless population, corrupted political scene, plenty of dark corners to hide in, a socially fragmented humanity who wouldn't give a **** about anyone but themselves made even more apathetic by mass media manipulation. Even a 'good' vampire props up this system.

If you'd like to hammer this home; get your group to destroy an upstanding and moral human who's causing 'trouble'. Like a politician who's actually earnest and honest, a crusading new senior policeman determined to end the drugs scene rotting the city or an eccentric reclusive businessman who's recently bought the local media outlets and is telling the locals *the actual truth*. All on the orders of a callous, unhuman predator for some utterly self-serving reason.

[sktarq]

as a player it can be tougher. as the ST?

firstly try to get the coterie that feeds together stays together technique.

fixes the obfuscate issue or any other party split....your Nossie and Malk have gone off to scout whilst invisible and now the rest of the party is stuck with nothing plot related to do....pass the action back and forth to each group. The scouting and a more in depth feeding scene. Also works for specialized social groups (when the Nossie and Malk may not be appropriate)

Scale the size of feeding scenes up and down over time. . . sometimes it should take 30 sec of game time sometimes 5 minutes (but usually no more than that) and give your players all of those scales over time. . . it works well as pacing technique.


Run hunting rolls in a highly co-operative and descriptive manner.
Always ask how they are trying to hunt....give extra dice/lower difficulty for good picks.

I often roll a couple of chance dice to get my brain working-irrespective of the players outcome. For example how conductive to hunting does the night feel? What else do they run into (a 2 could be lots of cops, if they are in the rack they may spot other vampires or ghouls but not interact, a 1 could be anything from a drunk frat boy spilling his drinks to ghoul of a rival sect) These dice are mostly just to get the creative juices kicking in a hurry.

Weave the larger story in where appropriate. These little vignettes can be a good place to show things like people moving in or out of neighborhoods, passing introductions to minor characters later, results from previous exploits (a nod of acknowledgement from a respected ancilla they pass in the rack having recently gained in City status and the like), a previous victim perhaps-or their wake/missing poster if they died.

take into account the story and character of the feeder. What is player looking for. should you bring up is physicality or spiruality. Sometimes focus on the victim and what happens to them, include things like how people smell or how their flesh and clothes feel, give the victim a bit of personality in their reaction (they fight the kiss, they bite their own lip, the change in breath, they ask for their number after, they understand they were just touched by a predator or whatever) sometimes how much it is an act of predation and bring out the assault aspect, sometimes about how the beast reacts, or how sensation, or the taste, or the focus of attention that comes with it, describe the difference of feeling hungry vs full, mix it up.

And then describe the result of the hunting roll as VIVIDLY as you can. You still want to be kinda quick but you want to make is visceral. Use strong adjectives and metaphors. Involve several senses-especially smell, taste, and texture. Describe a couple key details. Use proper nouns when you can.
Try to get the whole above though process down to a 2-3 min run and then practice.


Also
Don't be afraid of humour. And be willing for things to blow up and run with it as a tangent.

EDIT: Also you may remember the books often talk about theme and mood as ideas that frame individual settings and stories in the game. These kind of little hunting vignettes are great places to help build that. Weather, music choices at the club/disco/cantina, that kind of thing, but also if the victim is rather groggy are their friends takings them home just trying to get them to keep dancing or ignoring the fact that the guy a pint low is fading in and out and just going on with their night...mechanically they are no different but in terms of feel they can change the tone of the night and certainly the next scene if you can get the players engaged.

Another quick thing that can help is boiling down the scene to a couple quick choices for the players. or even a quick roll. Again pick stuff connects to the ideas you want to drive home about the character in question or the ideas you want them to play with. Ask them, do they leave their victim slumped over the toilet in the back of the club (good for stealth and an excuse for the feeling poorly) or make sure they get back to their sorority sisters (good for morality). Or if someone has had a couple frenzies over over enthusiastic feedings....Have them roll a single die and just tell you if it is higher, equal to, or below their humanity...if it is lower have them recognize the person in the missing poster as someone they fed on the on the date noted as last seen. If they fail they will wonder what they missed, if they succeed the idea that they could have failed brings the link between caring about the people they feed on and the little bubbles marked Humanity into sharper focus.

finally once you are good at it you can use the hunting stories as not just a way to fix the above mentioned obfuscate splitting the party problem but actively encourage it with little loss of pacing. This takes lots of practice before I'd recommend it but once you have it working well you can start to reward parts of the party that do specialize and once you do your players will likely respond by doing so. It will mean that you have to build scenes for such major specialties and keep them balanced time and attention wise but it opens up more space in the story if you feel you can keep the parts of the party not at the Elysium Violin Recital engaged while you put in the time to make said Elysium Violin Recital interesting and engaging