So with the Fall of London chronicle book we got a really nice set of pre-generated characters for use in the chronicle. The book does also give the option of using custom characters, but it notes this may prove harder to do and will definitely require more work from the ST and the players.
My question is do you think you’ll run with the pre-gens or some custom characters? If the latter, how will you go about making them to fit the chronicle? Be you the ST or a player.
Personally I think my usual players would want to play custom characters, so I’d be interested in seeing how that could best be achieved whilst not compromising the set-pieces and themes of the chronicle.
I normally GM, so I’m really looking forward to playing this, but…
I hate pre-gens, and having to play one is a dealbreaker for me, particularly if the game anything more than a short one-shot. I’d rather play my own character and risk being less involved in the metaplot, than play a character designed for scripted scenarios where I bow and scrape to the writer’s pet NPC.
As I’ll be playing, I have only lightly skimmed the book, so I don’t know how much work adapting to custom characters will be.
Since this would be a one shot game for me, I will probably run using the pre-generated characters. We currently run a CbN game and London would not fit what our character do and running it as a memorium would also not fit.
We want to run the module but it will be something we do as a break rather than a min game for us.
I am getting ready to run London, and the majority of my players will not play pre-gen characters.
So I used the included characters as “Guideposts”, for creating unique PC’s with my players. This does basically require a session zero, if you will, but it helps all my players accept the setting and story.
As they storyteller; I made notes of which new character would replace the pre-gen character, and changed names accordingly. Though the new characters may not be able to accomplish their goals, in the same ways, it just adds a little more improv into the story.
This is the approach I’m tempted to take, but I was wondering which elements did you pick out and re-assign in particular?
Normally I give players a lot of freedom with their characters you see and this sounds more like having to give them a checklist to meet in addition to the regular rules.
Clans are probably the most important hold over. Otherwise it just doesn’t make sense…
I tried to get my players to match discipline groups as well. Just to try to make sure that, mechanically, the characters should be able to succeed…or not…
Side note from the Fall of London pg.239:
“If you and your group decide to create new characters, just use the rules in the Vampire corebook. These characters are abducted by the Cult of Mithras and forced into the blooding. The ritual bestows upon them the memories presented in the story and connects them to Mithras and his Cult as the original characters are. The ritual partially erases their memories but doesn’t sever their relationships to their Touchstones.”
This makes perfect sense to me, why not abduct and use fodder to achieve your goals instead of risking important kindred?
Plus this let me add a few fun scenes, where vampires are being abducted, by unknown agencies. But I tend to run my games more horror/survival, any suspense you can create is always appreciated by my players.
See I reckon clan is gonna be the tricky bit… I can probably sell them on Toreador, Tremere, maybe Hecata, but others are much more into the Ministry and the Lasombra than the Brujah say.
I guess the memory re-write via the blooding makes sense, I do remember reading that. The issue is whether that’s too forced… I guess… whether or not that stops players being creative.
I’m a big fan of the Ministry and La Sombra as well, so I can see the issue. In my opinion, a Minister could easily replace the Brujah. Ultimately it’s your game, and you know your players. As long as they get the information they need, does it really matter how they complete a task?
As far as forced memories go, it’s all in how you present them. Note cards passed out in particular moments of recall -vs- reading the memory out loud for everyone to hear -vs- any other means of getting info out there.
I prefer to slip in information, and allow the characters to share as much or as little as they choose. Plus this allows the player to flavor the memory, better to suit their character! It also allows a player to keep their own goals going in the background, without giving up too much information.
Am currently preparing for this chronicle and I never had any intention of using the pre-gens.
I will have a Toreador, a Brujah, a Malkavian (amnesiac!), a Banu Haquim and a Ventrue (NPC as I never run with more than 4 players).
I’m planning on having them kidnapped on the 25th December 2011 (Mithras’s birthday) and then starved until they reach the required hunger level, before being put through the ritual.
Each player will get fragments of memory (on little cards) and I am deliberately leaving out information that they should know about London so that when the realize the absence of it I can explain it as overwritten memory.
I will also be giving them memories of using abilities they no longer posses and an cost reduction if they use exp to learn these skills and embrace the new memories as their own.