Hecatoncheires
un jour je serai de retour près de toi
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"Where we are,
There's daggers in men's smiles.
The near in blood,
The nearer bloody."
- William Shakespeare, 'Macbeth'
In your defence, it probably wasn't your fault.
You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Wrong shortcut. Wrong alley. Wrong party. Wrong date. Doesn't matter. Just because it wasn't your fault doesn't mean you can't suffer for it. One moment, everything was hunky dory.
Next moment, you're waking up in a mass grave amidst a burning building, trying desperately to figure out what the fuck is going on and why you have a thirst like the Devil's own.
You might be thinking that this is the worst moment of your life. And you may very well be correct in that thought. But let me tell you, friend: the night is still young. Things are going to get so, so much worse for you.
Call it a disease. Or even a curse, if that makes you feel better. In a world of blood-transmitted horror, you got the shortest straw possible: you've just become the monster's monster. In the eyes of the beasts that made you, you're a combination of leper and harbinger of the end times. A Thin-Blood. Dead yet not. A monster with half their foot still precariously hanging over mortality. Don't expect a warm reception. Except from the flames currently consuming the building you're lying in.
You don't know it yet but you've just been dumped, naked and afraid, into a world that exists beneath the one you used to call home. A world of shadows and blood, of ancient monsters and terrible secrets mankind was made to forget. A world of bloodlines and alliances forged in times so ancient they make the biblical flood look contemporary. A world of hierarchies, and be assured that you're at the very bottom of every single one of them.
Only saving grace is that you're not alone. There's a whole bunch of bodies in this mass grave, after all, and some of them are still breathing. Metaphorically speaking. Your new comrades in catastrophe, unified in just how universally fucked each and every one of you are.
So get up. Get moving. Because there's far worse than flames coming for you at this moment in time. If you survive long enough, you might just make some sense of the mess you've just been thrown into.
And if you're very lucky? You might have a chance to get even with the bastards that did this to you.
INTRODUCTION
GM APPROACH AND RESOURCES
RULES AND EXPECTATIONS
STORY EXPECTATIONS
CHARACTER CREATION
CHARACTER SHEET
CHRONICLE GOALS
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"Shovelhead"
noun
1. An informal term for an especially brutal form of Mass Embrace, most commonly practised by the Sabbat, in which victims are abducted, drained, forcibly embraced and then dumped in a mass grave. Those who can claw their way out, often through their fellow victims, are then deployed as expendable shock troops in the underground wars raging between the Kindred.
'Shovelhead' is a Horror RP about receiving the shortest end of the stick possible, set in the world of 'Vampire: The Masquerade'. Players will take the role of a group of ordinary people awakening to discover that they have been transformed into Thin-Bloods, a diluted form of vampirism that marks them as pariahs in the undead world they are about to be thrown into. Assuming they can scramble out of the mass grave they find themselves in before the building they are in burns down. Trapped in a city they do not know amidst forces that either want to use them, abuse them or see them dead, they must band together in order to survive and find a way out of the horror show they have found themselves in.
Yet the world of the Kindred is as cruel as it is esoteric. The newly minted Thin-Bloods will quickly find themselves being pulled in different directions as they are caught up in power struggles and wars that have been raging for centuries. Ignorance of the rules is no protection from them, and bad luck can be a capital offence in these dark nights.
There will be no happy endings. -
First, a disclaimer. A warning, even. I am a lousy fucking Games Master. This isn't me trying for a humble brag, or an attempt to beg some sympathy: my track record proves it. I have a tendency to overthink, underplan and get myself in way, way over my head. The result has been a whole host of failed projects that I've crashed out of in spectacularly awkward fashion, and though I do think I've improved over the last year or two there is no guarantee that it won't happen again.
All of this is to stress that if you're planning on joining this game? You're not just making a character.
You're probably making a mistake.
Self-deprecating warnings aside, I've spent the last year or two actually reading up on the process of RPs and the running of them thereof (turns out "just wing it" isn't always the best approach), and I've taken a fancy to a philosophy put forward by Justin Alexander over at his blog. One that I think might help with a game such as the one I'm proposing here. With 'Shovelhead', I'm not prepping a plot: I'm prepping a situation. Rather than trying to anticipate everything the players might do and overstress myself, or else forcing you all down a very specific path I don't want you to deviate from, I've instead worked to create a series of situations and characters with specific agendas that the characters will bounce off.
My hope is that this will create a reactive and engaging narrative that you have a great deal of agency to steer and develop. It's a style that I believe will reward the active, engaged players who want to get their teeth into the business of figuring things out and telling a cool story. You know, roleplaying. The thing we do here.
SOME RESOURCESAs soon as someone like me breaks out the metaphorical dice and starts rattling them menacingly, there are a lot of people who tend to get nervous. And I get that. Tabletop RPGs are more popular than ever, but they still can be a little intimidating if you haven't played one before. That intimidation factor only increases when the weird guy rattling dice (me) informs you that he's not proposing something that people have heard of like D&D, but instead some weird urban horror thing popularised by goth LARPers back in the 1990s.
But trust me. If you've ever bounced off D&D before, or if you fear that all the maths and systems involved in it might slow down the story you want to experience, I have good news. Vampire: The Masquerade is probably a better game than D&D for actually roleplaying.
To help reduce any anxieties, and to aid people who may not be familiar with Vampire or the World of Darkness it belongs to, I've compiled a few videos and resources to help you all get a feel for what all this is and how it plays.
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- 'Shovelhead' will make use of 'Vampire: The Masquerade' Fifth Edition, the most recent edition of the game (and one that I hope will be well-suited to a 'Play By Post' forum format).
- Having access to the rulebook is handy, but not necessary for play. I will be providing breakdowns of rules as and when they are required, and many of the core systems have kindly been provided over at Paradox's official Vampire wiki.
- Players will take the role of ordinary people who have recently been abducted and infected with a lesser strain of vampirism, known as Thin-Bloods, before they escape out into an unknown city.
- I actively dislike the concept of posting expectations and will personally fight anyone who throws around the term "literate" like it's a badge of honour. All are welcome in this RP.
- I will aim to keep things moving and encourage people along when it comes to posting/making decisions, and ask players to help with such endeavours.
- The goal of this RP is to be brutish, nasty and short - like a good hanging. I have several 'end states' in mind for the story, but how we might get there is very much going to be in the hands of the players.
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- Themes: 'Strangers in a strange land', 'underdogs', 'personal horror'
- I'm deliberately remaining vague about the city this story takes place in, and the Kindred the Player Characters will encounter within it. At this point, about all I can really say is that it's a city on the North-Eastern coast of the USA (think Massachusetts sort of region). My goal is to get you guys in the mindset of a bunch of people very much down and out in an unknown location, and I figure the best way to do that is to chuck you all into a fictional city.
- Credit where it's due, I'm using a fictional city from a web serial I'm a fan of. Because I am a lazy bampot and make no apologies for this.
- The 'world of darkness' (ie. the world 'Vampire: The Masquerade' takes place in) is essentially our world through a morbid, gloomy looking glass. Picture the gothic cityscapes from movies like 'The Crow' or 'Blade', and you're on the right track in terms of vibe. Imagine the places you know but just a little bit more twisted and dark, then populate them with a whole host of monsters, horrors and abominations that lurk in the gloomier recesses.
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CHARACTER CREATION (A SCUFFED GUIDE)1. CORE CONCEPTSDecide who your character was, prior to the moment they woke up in a mass grave with a craving for blood. List the following:
Name: (Please also list any nicknames your character might have.)
Age: (People aged 16 and over seem to have been the ones chosen for whatever you've been caught up in.)
Appearance: (Images and pictures are preferred, if not then brevity is appreciated.)
Five Words: (Give five specific words that encapsulate the nature of your character, and don't elaborate on them further.)
Prior to Kidnapping: (Give a brief description, 1-2 sentences tops, of what your character was doing in the immediate lead up to their kidnapping.)
2. CLAN(LESS)Your character is a Thin-Blood, one of the Duskborn shunned by wider vampire society (as they're quickly about to find out). They have no clan, for none want them. By default:
- They take damage like mortals. When Mending Damage they can remove one point of Superficial damage per Rouse Check.
- Their Bane Severity is 0 since they lack a clan, and thus also lack a clan bane.
- They cannot create Blood Bonds, perform the Embrace with certainty, or create ghouls.
- Only supernatural means can drive them to frenzy.
- They take only one point of Superficial damage per turn in direct sunlight.
3. ATTRIBUTESAttributes represent your character's core capabilities, and are seperated into the three types of Physical, Social and Mental. They combine with Skills to create the dice pools you'll roll during tests. You choose Attributes as follows:
Take your best Attribute at 4
Take your worst Attribute at 1
Take three Attributes at 3
Take the rest of your Attributes at 2
SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES
Based on the above, also calculate the following:
Health: Stamina + 3
Willpower: Composure + Resolve
4. SKILLSYour character's learned and natural aptitudes, representing everything from how well they can fight to how good they are with technology.
A single dot in a skill represents passing familiarity with it. Two dots represents a solid knowledge of it. Three dots represents a professional level of experience. Four dots means you are truly talented in this area. Five dots means you're one of the best in the world at it.
First, choose a Skill Distribution:
- Jack of All Trades: One Skill at 3; eight Skills at 2; ten Skills at 1
- Balanced: Three Skills at 3; five Skills at 2; seven Skills at 1
- Specialist: One Skill at 4; three Skills at 3; three Skills at 2; three Skills at 1
With your chosen distribution, decide on your character's skills.
SPECIALITIES
A specialty represents a particular expertise in one aspect of a Skill. This is a field where a character may be especially practiced, have a special aptitude, or be engaged in deeper study.
You receive one free Speciality in any skill your character has at least a dot in during character creation. In addition, the following skills (Craft, Academics, Science and Performance) come with an automatic Speciality if you have at least a dot in them, representing the specific area of focus your character has.
Choose from the sample specialities listed with skills, or concoct your own.
5. MERITS AND FLAWSMerits and Flaws represent deeper aspects of your character's background, as well as ties to the mortal world. A full list of them can be found here. Bear in mind that a number of these are not thematically appropriate for a Thin-Blood who has only recently found themselves in the world of the Kindred: exercise common sense in your choices.
Spend 7 points on Merits, and 2 points on Flaws.
THIN-BLOOD MERITS AND FLAWS
Your character is something of an anomaly amongst vampires, and can choose from unique Thin-Blood merits and flaws at character creation (listed here on the Paradox Wiki). You must choose between 1 and 3 Thin-Blood Merits, and then choose a corresponding number of Flaws. Thin-Blood Merits/Flaws are chosen in addition to standard Merits/Flaws.
6. CONVICTIONSConvictions are the guiding principles that help your character cope with the awful situation they find themselves in and the shitty things they must do to stay alive. They allow your character to justify difficult decisions and ward off Stains (the aftermath of bad choices that, if left unchecked, can result in your character's Humanity lowering).
Examples might include: 'Killing is fine in self-defence/fair combat', 'none may control me', 'all is fair in the search of knowledge', etc.
Select one to three Convictions for your character.
7. HUMANITY AND CHRONICLE GOALAs a newly Embraced Thin-Blood, your character begins the story with a Humanity score of 8.
Chronicle Goals represents what your character is aiming for in the course of the story. I've put forward three options, but I am open to others that you may wish to put forwards. By working towards their Chronicle Goal, a character can recover a point of Aggravated Willpower damage at the end of a session/sequence.
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Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Five Words:
Prior to Kidnapping:
ATTRIBUTESPHYSICALStrength: ■
Dexterity: ■
Stamina: ■SOCIALCharisma: ■
Manipulation: ■
Composure: ■MENTALIntelligence: ■
Wits: ■
Resolve: ■
Health: [ ] - ( [X] indicates Aggravated Damage, [/] indicates Superficial Damage)
Willpower: [ ] ( [X] indicates Aggravated Damage, [/] indicates Superficial Damage)
Humanity: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [ ] [ ] ( [X] indicates a dot, [O] indicates a Stain)
Hunger: ■
SKILLSPHYSICAL[Sample Skill] [Specialisation]: ■SOCIAL[Sample Skill] [Specialisation]: ■MENTAL[Sample Skill] [Specialisation]: ■
DISCIPLINES[Discipline]: ■
[Discipline Description]MERITS & FLAWS[Merit]: ■
[Flaw]: ■THIN-BLOOD MERITS & FLAWS[Merit]: ■
[Flaw]: ■
Convictions:
- [Sample]
Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Five Words:
Prior to Kidnapping:
[CENTER][SIZE=20px][FONT=IM Fell English SC]ATTRIBUTES[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER]
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]PHYSICAL[/FONT][/CENTER]
Strength: ■
Dexterity: ■
Stamina: ■[/TD]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]SOCIAL[/FONT][/CENTER]
Charisma: ■
Manipulation: ■
Composure: ■[/TD]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]MENTAL[/FONT][/CENTER]
Intelligence: ■
Wits: ■
Resolve: ■[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Health: [ ] - ( [X] indicates Aggravated Damage, [/] indicates Superficial Damage)
Willpower: [ ] ( [X] indicates Aggravated Damage, [/] indicates Superficial Damage)
Humanity: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [ ] [ ] ( [X] indicates a dot, [O] indicates a Stain)
Hunger: ■
[CENTER][SIZE=20px][FONT=IM Fell English SC]SKILLS[/FONT][/SIZE][/CENTER]
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]PHYSICAL[/FONT][/CENTER]
[Sample Skill] [Specialisation]: ■[/TD]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]SOCIAL[/FONT][/CENTER]
[Sample Skill] [Specialisation]: ■[/TD]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]MENTAL[/FONT][/CENTER]
[Sample Skill] [Specialisation]: ■[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]DISCIPLINES[/FONT][/CENTER]
[Discipline]: ■
[Discipline Description][/TD]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]MERITS & FLAWS[/FONT][/CENTER]
[Merit]: ■
[Flaw]: ■[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][CENTER][FONT=IM Fell English SC]THIN-BLOOD MERITS & FLAWS[/font][/center]
[Merit]: ■
[Flaw]: ■
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Convictions:
[LIST]
[*][Sample]
[/LIST]
Chronicle Goal: -
A story needs an ending. A character needs an arc. Credit where it's due, the goth LARPers who wrote this edition of Vampire understood both of these facts and incorporated mechanics to help foster them. 'Chronicle Goals' are what will (hopefully) drive the characters' stories towards a satisfying finale. By pursuing your character's goals, you can also regain Willpower throughout the game (mechanical incentives to play your character well are cool and fun and more RPGs should use them).
Since this is something of an introductory game, and since a lot of the setting/story remains deliberately obscured at the outset, I thought it might be wise to provide some Chronicle Goals that I believe will fit the vibe I'm going for. You will find these listed below. However, I'm not against players having their own ideas for their character's Chronicle Goal. If you have some ideas, feel free to message me and we can hash it out.
CHRONICLE GOALSINVESTIGATE"This wasn't an accident. Someone is responsible for this. Someone took you and turned your world into a screaming horror show, turned you into a bloodsucking creature that can't stand the sight of the sun. You want to know who. You want to know why. There has to be some meaning behind this madness, and you won't stop until you find it."
Your character seeks to solve the mystery behind their transformation into a Thin-Blood, and track down the person responsible for it all. They regain Willpower by following up on clues, discovering revelations, and striving towards truth.ESCAPE"You never asked for this. You had a life before all this happened to you. A family, a job, friends and responsibilities. Sure, it wasn't much. But it was yours. If you can get back to it, you can get yourself to a doctor. Leave this insanity and the horrors behind. They can keep their secrets and their powers, their conspiracies and their hidden wars. You want out."
Your character seeks to find a means to untangle themselves from the world of the Kindred and find a way back to the world they know. They regain Willpower by seeking contact with their old life, searching for routes out of the city, and striving towards freedom.CURE"It's the hunger that you can't stand. The hunger that gnaws at you every waking moment of the night. The hunger you cannot satisfy unless you're willing to compromise yourself in ways that will make you something less than human. Make you a monster. But if someone made you into a monster, surely they can make you human again. Maybe it's a long shot. But you don't intend to give them a choice."
Your character seeks to purge themselves of the terrible curse that has been inflicted upon them, and return to their mortality. They regain Willpower by following up on rumours, learning more about their condition, and striving towards humanity.EMBRACE"The others don't get it. Not like you. They think this is a curse, something to be rid of or solved. But you aren't so naive. You can feel the strength that seeps through your body now, you can feel the rush of exhilaration as you satisfy the hunger inside. And all this? All this is just the beginning. Fate has brought you to the edge of a vast ocean, but you're just dipping your toes in. You've had a taste of vampirism, but a taste isn't enough. You're going all in."
Your character seeks to delve further into the world of the Kindred, and leave behind their humanity for the life of a predator. They regain Willpower by discovering more about the vampiric underworld, pursuing means of true Embrace, and striving towards inhumanity.
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