In my latest Vampire the Masquerade
session, one of the players did something so clever and so brilliant that I was
surprised at how simple, how effective, and how obvious it was. Usually, the beginning of each session starts
as the player characters awake just after sunset. “You wake up.
Spend a blood point. What do you
do after you wake up?” Is how I being
many sessions of Vampire the Masquerade.
And the most common task that players complete first is hunting. Each character has his or her own methods for
successful hunting. How a character
hunts for sustenance is an important aspect of his or her personality.
Arcterus,
a Gangrel con artist, prefers to visit bars in the bad parts of Baltimore where
he attacks people in the men’s room when they are at their most
vulnerable. He waits for someone to go
to the bathroom, follows them in, and bites the mortal while he is taking a
leak. Arcterus leaves with his thirst
satiated, and the mortal is left sprawled passed out on the bathroom floor
where most people will think that he just had too much to drink. It’s quick and simple, and this method
doesn’t risk breaking the Masquerade.
Annie,
a 12 year old Gangrel, uses her youth to effectively hunt. She wanders around Downtown Baltimore and
asks passing women to help her find her mother.
With her big blue, teary eyes, Annie uses her skills in manipulation
when she finds a potential victim.
Grabbing the victim by the hand, she leads them into an alley where she
latches on with her sharp fangs and drinks her fill.
Both
of these methods are really good for hunting.
They don’t require much time to complete, and usually I arbitrate them
by having the players roll dice just once.
Arcterus rolls Dexterity plus Stealth, and Annie rolls Charisma plus
Subterfuge. I don’t think that there is
any reason to stretch out a hunting scene unless it moves the story
forward. If the player character was
exceptionally short of blood or if he or she was hunting in another’s domain,
then I would require some additional dice rolls and make hunting a complete
scene.
However,
even though I don’t make hunting a big deal for players, sometimes they
surprise with me how clever or foolish they can be. Players will often look to make hunting a
non-issue because they don’t want to risk their characters on what is
essentially a bookkeeping issue. If a
player doesn’t buy into the setting and tone of the World of Darkness, then
that’s all hunting will ever be for that player: a way to refresh his or her power points to
fuel his or her abilities.
To
that end, I have seen players look for a way around hunting. In almost every instance, the player thinks
that he or she can just go to the local blood bank to get the needed
blood. The methods used can vary from
player to player, but the two most commonly used methods that I have seen are controlling
the blood bank or robbing the blood bank.
Neither of these two methods is very smart to be honest.
A
new player character in a city is not going to be able to take over a blood
bank because established Kindred already control that resource. Why wouldn’t someone already own it? It’s an obvious source of blood that is only
limited by the vampire’s self control.
It’s such an important resource that I would expect that only a truly
powerful Elder would be able to maintain his grip on this resource since so
many other vampires would desire this resource as well. Because it’s such a desirable resource, a
blood bank would be well protected against other Kindred trying to control
it. A neonate would have almost no
chance to wrest control of the blood bank away from this Elder. In fact, he would probably bring down all
kinds of trouble onto his own head and the heads of his coterie.
On
the other hand, breaking into a blood bank could be a possibility for a player
character that was clever and stealthy or had Obfuscate. The problem arises when the player character
has successfully stolen the blood. Blood
is well tracked because it’s such a valuable commodity for both mortals and
Kindred. Missing blood packs are going
to be noticed even if the vampire goes unnoticed during the burglary. A lucky
or smart vampire could be successful, once or maybe even twice, but after that,
security is going to tighten. Once the
Elder who controls the Blood Bank notices his private stash is being pilfered,
he’s going to come looking for the culprits with a vast array of
resources.
With
all that in mind, sometimes players really surprise me with their
ingenuity. During my latest session, the
players had just awoken. Each set out to
hunt. Arcterus went to a bar, and Annie went downtown looking someone to help
find her mom. Fitz, a Gangrel computer
hacker, ordered pizza. At first, I was confused
because I had no idea what Fitz had planned or why he would order a pizza. Then it dawned on me. He’d just got take out delivered to him. I was shocked at the simplicity and
effectiveness of calling someone to come to your door and bring you blood. He drinks some of the delivery driver’s blood
and sends him off with tip in hand. It’s
also perfectly in character with Fitz’s back story. He is a computer hacker who before his
embrace lived on energy drinks and take out.
Everything about the who scenario is brilliant, and although use of this
hunting strategy over the long term could draw some unwanted attention to Fitz,
I was really impressed.
When
it comes to hunting in Vampire the Masquerade, players should develop hunting
tactics that fit their character. Young
Annie uses her childish appearance.
Arcterus assaults people in barroom toilets. Fitz orders out pizza. Each strategy fits with the PC’s personality. Rather than looking for the easiest way to
hunt or a method of hunting with no risk, these three players have used their
wits to develop a fitting hunting strategy for their characters. Players
should keep that in mind when designing their characters. Answering “How Do I Hunt?” helps define a PCs
entire personality.
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