I've been away...

... and when I got back, I found that all the evening games at my local games society were overstuffed, but then the excess players seemed to have vanished with about one exception. Which is a bit annoying, as I had some games in mind...

As a result of going to The Grand Masquerade, I was galvanised to run Vampire The Requiem.

Hell is a city much like London.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Peter Bell The Third

Hear the call of the blood. The call to war.

Play up the conflict with a struggle for control in the offing, the gothic gloom with a vast city with mediaeval buildings within walking distance of gleaming empty office blocks, the isolation with the sheer size of the city and so many Kindred all pursuing their own ends, and the grime with unflashy combat.

I'm thinking of cutting together a trailer with no guns, for example. (Very different from this perfectly nice example, f'rex. Maybe more like this, ha ha.) Foot chases, gang beatings, and of course a bit of biting. All in dark shadows and rusty browns. No familiar faces - indeed hardly any faces seen at all based on the clips I have in mind. Cut to a drum track rather than a song. (I'm thinking Bear McCreary.) Even if the game doesn't happen I'll consider making it anyway, because I think it would be pretty cool.

Various factions, from the status quo to the not-officially-existing, vying over resources and willing to threaten the Masquerade as they do, a potentially self-defeating conflict.

Humans among the cast of characters, a frequent presence, something to tread around lightly.

VII functioning like the first edition Masquerade Sabbat (the only version I really liked), an unknown boogeyman unless someone goes turning over the right (wrong?) stones.

So plenty of room for Power, Danger and Mystery. Not so sure about Romance; it would depend on the players to bring it out as more than a background feature. I'm always up for a glimmer of light in the gloom (and the potential to make the gloom all the worse) and happy to borrow from Being Human and Never Let Go along with other influences like The Godfather, Hawksmoor, Near Dark, The Downward Spiral chronicle all those years ago, Gangs Of New York, the thrown-in-with-no-knowledge start of The Bourne Identity...