A Requiem for Atlanta

This is where you’ll find the basic chronicle template, based on the format found in the Requiem Chronicler’s Guide. Look here for some of the basic, foundational stuff on the setting, so you can understand what’s what even if you came in halfway through the show, so to speak.

Note: This part of the page is still being updated and finished. Be sure to check back soon for the complete chronicle template.

Chronicle Template

We first introduced chronicle templates in the Requiem Chronicler’s Guide. These simple brainstorming tools help cement the gist of a chronicle’s overarching story and setting into a quick guide for Storytellers and players alike. I’ve waited a while to share this chronicle’s template with my players, ’cause I wanted to save one big twist for later in the game, when we played out something that might be thought of as a second “pilot” for the chronicle. With that story’s major shift in the setting, we end up with something like a whole new chronicle, the real chronicle I’ve been planning to run all this time — the chronicle described here.

Theme:
Mood:
Atmosphere:
Setting:
Character Creation: We used the standard Vampire character-creation rules, with just a few small alterations. First, because I’ve arranged the Ordo Dracul as a secret society within the already-secret society of Kindred, membership in that covenant doesn’t preclude membership in others. In my Atlanta, the highest-ranking members of the Ordo Dracul are also members of the Invictus. In play, this means the Merit Covenant Status: Ordo Dracul can rise above three dots without threatening one’s Covenant Status in other covenants. To balance that out a bit, characters have to jump through certain hoops in play to even qualify for Status in the Ordo Dracul.

The basic power level of the game has been wrinkled a little bit, though, by a nearly complete change of characters from 2005 to 2006. Fred had a kid and Phillipe moved to Canada, so we had to find a couple of new players to fill out the ranks. Oscar and Jeff joined up with new characters in 2006, while Mike kept his same character from last year. This made Mike’s character, Eric, a little more powerful than Oscar’s and Jeff’s, but that’s not a deal-breaker in this game.

Oscar and Jeff have both never played Vampire: The Requiem before this chronicle, but Mike was involved in its development from day one, so we’re just translating their levels of familiarity directly into the game: Mike’s character is a Regent, a vampire with his own territory in the city, while Oscar and Jeff’s characters are his vassals and, to differing degrees, his students in the Danse Macabre of Kindred society. Likewise, Oscar and Jeff are learning about the game’s fictional world through Mike, at the same time that their characters are learning from Eric.

In practice, this has been maybe a bit frustrating for Oscar and Jeff, whose characters just aren’t as statistically impressive as Mike’s, but it’s been a valuable experiment. In the long term, as Mike’s business-travel schedule takes him away from the game table now and again, the gap in the characters’ power level is slowly closing. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationships between these characters change as they close the experience-point gap.
Antagonists:
Story Concepts: (See also, “25 Vampire Stories”)

Players to Date

Because it amuses me, here’s a rundown of everyone who’s taken a character at the table for one or more sessions, and what they played.

Mike Tinney — Mike’s the President and CEO of White Wolf, and the only player who’s been in the chronicle since the beginning. His character, Eric Torillo, owns Club Prohibition, which is sort of the primary hub for the chronicle’s stories. If this were a TV show, Club Prohibition would be our standing set.

Fred Yelk — Fred was part of the original trio of players, along with Mike and Phillipe. His conspiracy-theorist Mekhet character, Calvin, got captured and burned to death by Carthian revolutionaries in the very first game session. Since then, Fred’s been occassionally playing a rich Ventrue with some inherited political connections among vampire society.

Phillipe Boulle — One of the original three players in the chronicle, along with Mike and Fred, Phillipe created a character that he must’ve known would be close to my heart: a former homicide detective named Lou Parker. This Invictus Mekhet was a contact of Eric Torillo and served the Prince’s court as an investigator. He also had the absolute worst luck I’ve ever seen. He was a great character. But Phillipe eventually moved on to green pastures in Vancouver, and his character went missing. His fate has not yet been revealed.

Eva Stotz — Eva swings by and plays in the chronicle now and again, when she can find the time. Her character is the Regent of a vampire territory next to Eric Torillo’s; she serves as a kind of colleague and foil for Mike’s character.

Oscar Garza — Oscar’s the Organized Play Coordinator for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, so he’s well versed in stuff from the old Vampire game, but was completely clueless about both storytelling games and Vampire: The Requiem when he joined the chronicle. His character, though, is a classic. Dr. Jarod Walsh was only a passable human being when he was alive, and in undeath he’s found himself free to be the coldly curious monster he truly is inside.

Jeff Montgomery — Jeff’s played a few RPGs, but he’d never played Vampire: The Requiem until he joined this chronicle. His character, Archie, is a former low-rent drug dealer who, like Dr. Walsh, was a pretty lousy person is life and isn’t getting much nicer in undeath. Jeff’s walking a fine line with this character, whose loyalty is never quite clear, and it’s been a heck of a ride.

Jeff Holt — You might know Jeff Holt’s name from World of Darkness books back in the day or from Vampire: The Eternal Struggle cards. He’s been painting stuff for White Wolf for years. Yet he’d never sat down to play the new Vampire game, so he came by to give it a try. His character’s still new, so we don’t know much about him yet except that he was a gin-runner back in the Prohibition, which gives him a charming little thematic connection to Mike’s character now.

Reynir & Kari — Reynir and Kari sat it on one of our games while we were still toying with the idea of marrying White Wolf and CCP. (Actually, Reynir had played in a one-shot game with us before, too, so this was his second Vampire game at our table.) They played the Circle of the Crone vampires in Rain of Blood, and had a great time screwing with Mike and his character. The best way to appreciate what they did is to just read the rundown on that session.