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Thursday, October 3, 2013

VtM 30 Day Challenge: Day Three – Your Favorite Non-Camarilla Clan



            Most of the games that I have played or run were set in Camarilla cities; so, I don’t have much experience with Non-Camarilla Clans.  When I first started playing Vampire the Masquerade, I had a lot of bad experiences with power-gamers playing Assamites.  They played the kind of murderous sociopathic characters that I wouldn’t allow in my games now.  They tried to diablerize (in Revised) their way through the city’s hierarchy, and if they got the scent of a character with a lower generation than them, that character was going to meet his or her final death very soon.  Playing an Assamite for them was an excuseto do whatever they wanted because they could claimed that they were just playing their character, when in reality they were only working for their best interests. 
            However, I have recently begun using Assamites as antagonists in my Chronicles.  They are great villains for a story because players are already frightened of them and their abilities.  Quietus, Obfuscate, and Celerity are all powerful Disciplines that when paired to the Assamite’s philosophy and goals makes for a remorseless and nearly unstoppable killer.  The first level of Quietus creates a bubble of silence around the Assamite.  Using the Discipline loudly announces the existence of a nearby Assamite, but simultaneously that knowledge is terrifying to the players because they can’t see the Assamite thanks to his or her use of Obfuscate.  Celerity is usually considered the most powerful physical Discipline because it gives the character extra actions. 
By setting the scene in a burnt out tenement building that is crumbling and creaking, the players will be as frightened as their characters when you say “You try to talk but you can't even hear yourself.  You hear nothing, nothing at all.”  The players panic because they know only an Assamite’s Quietus has that effect.  An Assamite, a member of a clan known to hunt and kill other Kindred for their blood, is in the building and the PCs can’t hear him/her, can’t see him/her, can’t do anything but wait. It's a great moment and I really enjoy watching the players squirm as they try to figure out what to do. 
Despite my early bad experience with them, the Assamites are my favorite non-Camarilla Clan because they are useful as a tool when I’m the Storyteller.  I don’t think that I would ever play one because their attitudes and goals could be disruptive to the group.  If I was to say which non-Camarilla clan I would most like to play, I would have to say True Brujah, despite their reputation and the reputation of people who play True Brujah (those who want to be unique, beautiful snowflakes).  I have wanted to play a True Brujah since I first read Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand, and I still haven’t played one.  Hopefully, I’ll get a chance in the near future.    

4 comments:

  1. I see different Bloodlines from Clans.
    For a Bloodline i would say, Tlacique, i bought the book where they were firstly presented and i liked see them. They are really scary like NPCs and full of stories to PCs. And they could be the key about some true origin for Urbane Gangrel...
    For true Clans, i have doubts. I've played some Ravnos, without Rom thing, and i've learned taht many people play Malkavians just like Ravnos, counfunding frightning behaviour with derangment and madness. I like the witty Beast that all of them carry and how they are prone to fall cause that.
    But i want play one Giovanni soon. They have one really Powerfull and partially unique Discipline like Necromancy, but too one easy and on some extent fair Weakness (just like the Ravnos, the Lamia's Curse make them very prone to lose their Humanity), along two usefull Discipline. I have companions players that they don't see usefull Dominate. Potence is usefull with no argue. Other thing, their "bloodlines" or minor families are very prone to be playable, and they help to make many and very different concepts. from the Greaverobber to the "Cleaner", and to the Shark-Brokker or the Prince Councellor. Yes i say Giovanni. His Necromancy is the second more owned Discipline beteewn, or the first from the Signature Disciplines (Protean and Obtnebration together are not on all the same numbers of Bloodlines), so that make them not the only "snowflake" for that. Yes, i would play one on Modern setting.

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  2. Ravnos are on the short list of clans that I would like to play, especially after reading their clanbook. Honestly, I'd like a chance to play just about every clan and bloodline as long as they made sense in the setting. I don't know anything about the Giovanni other than what's in the main rule book. I hope their 1st/2nd Edition clanbook is as good as the Ravnos book.

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    1. I think that i've never seen it or too time ago at least that i picked up, i think that could be not bad... But i didn't like it too much the Ravnos 1st/2nd book, i felt that almost every clan made their ancestorship pre-Antediluvias/Third Generation. And, I like play non-Rom Ravnos after all.

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    2. You are right, too many of the clans did try to claim their ancestor was something special rather than being a 3rd Generation Antediluvian. Everyone wants to think they are special. I can understand why you didn't like the Ravnos Clanbook because it does have a negative opinion on the Non-Rom Ravnos.

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