Children of the Revolution is a rogue’s gallery of those Embraced “in interesting times,” to use a euphemism. In times of upheaval and turmoil those who join the ranks of the Damned can’t help but be shaped by the chaotic events around them. The transformational disruption that occurs in the world remains indelibly with the Kindred Embraced in that moment, marking him as an agent of change among Kindred society in some capacity.
One example might be the Anarch Tyler from Chicago by Night, Embraced in the throes of active rebellion and forever characterized by her opposition to tyranny. The Lasombra Gratiano, Embraced by his clan’s progenitor, committed diablerie on that sire, forming the Sabbat in the crucible of that betrayal’s aftermath. The inscrutable Inconnu Dracula, playing one sect against the other while defending his homeland against the Turk incursions. All of these are excellent examples of the sorts of Kindred who could be considered “children of the revolution.”
Now it’s your turn. Examine an old chronicle of yours or describe a favored character’s backstory. Show us, in practice, the vampires who emerge from the interesting times of your chronicles or in your consideration of the World of Darkness. Delve into the secret history of Vampire, into the War of Ages and among the bloody annals of the Jyhad. What events in Kindred or mortal history shaped the vampire you propose?
Here’s how this is going to work. Propose a concept here on the Children of the Revolution Concepts page. We’ll go through the proposals and single some out, whereupon we’ll collaboratively craft the details and hang some flesh on these Kindred’s bones. As part of the Open Development process, we’ll be looking for your input on the most exciting periods of upheaval in World of Darkness history as well as ways to represent those events in the form of individual characters. Any feedback will help, whether you want to craft a loose idea or a paragraph of history or even a complete writeup. I make no promises that something written will be used, and ultimately this is going to be collected, polished, and probably rewritten. We’ll give proper credit where it’s due and ample opportunities for player feedback.
As character writeups approach completion, I’ll post them like I’ve done for chapters and excerpts previously in the Open Development process where the group’s collective eyes can consider them and offer more input. When we’ve finally hit or project scope size (about 60,000 words), we’ll send the thing off to the editor and get it assembled in layout.
Here are some guidelines as to what I’m looking for, conceptually and practically.
Be dynamic: These are the Children of the Revolution, vampires whose Embrace came in times of tumult. That can be upheaval in the mortal world, a disruptive event in Kindred history, or any creatively defined situation that changed the course of history forever afterward. Whereas many Kindred, especially Elders, are static and slow to change their ways, the Children of the Revolution are better able to adapt to — and even create — the moments that affect the flow of Kindred culture.
Be concise: Sixty thousand words sounds like a lot, but it isn’t. I think the individual writeups here would fall between 2,000 and 6,000 words each, including Traits. We’ll hit the high notes for the character, gild the concept with moody, exciting details, define the character in game terms, and then move on to the next.
Leave stones unturned: You don’t have to exhaustively define every detail in your Kindred’s tale. In fact, you shouldn’t. Leave a few gaps so that Storytellers can fit the character into their chronicles readily, and leave enough questions so that the character still has some issues to resolve in troupes’ chronicles. When you’re done describing the character, the Storyteller’s response shouldn’t be, “Well, that’s all wrapped up, then.” It should be “Aha, I can use this vampire in the troupe’s nightclub/ Sabbat war/ mystic artifact search/ whatever.”
Hooks: This is a game book, so the character you introduce should have plenty of opportunity for introduction into chronicles. Give us an interesting backstory, but give us a broad variety of ways to introduce the character into the stories we’re telling. The characters in Children of the Revolution shouldn’t be tableaux, they should be plug-and-play, ready for story sessions.
Invoke the Kindred condition: Remember that these characters are vampires, and their wants and needs as well as the circumstances of their Embraces need to play an important role in the character’s story. Why does this vampire do what she does? Why does she want what she wants and how does her being a vampire shape that agenda?
Plan for a complete Trait block: Again, this is a game book, so give us the systems descriptions we need to introduce these characters into our chronicles. Know where to leave things unsaid and where to call out a new combo Discipline in a sidebar, for example. That said, you don’t need a new combo Discipline to make the character interesting.
More isn’t necessarily better: Super-badasses with every score at generational max need not apply. Whether your Kindred is set up to be a protagonist or antagonist, take advantage of the idea of primary, secondary, and tertiary realms of competence. All-fives doesn’t make for an interesting character, it just makes for big dice pools, and if a character is great at everything, he doesn’t have a flaw or weakness for enterprising players’ characters to discover and exploit (or protect…).
Use V20 as the operative edition: Just so it’s said. We didn’t make a huge volume of changes, but bear in mind how the Disciplines have been cleaned up, how we present the setting, and the minor systems tuning.
You get the picture. Cool character, functioning systems, ways to drop them into chronicles with a minimum of fuss. Okay? Whaddya got?
Comments
9 responses to “Children of the Revolution Outline”
Are recent revolutions fair game? Or asked rather directly what about stuff like the overthrow of the Schah in Iran? Occupy Wall Street? The Arabellion?
Absolutely. One of the main efforts behind V20 is to update the setting to have a more immediate, current, “present” feel, so all of these are legitimate Revolutions in context. Great question!
Justin, when you say “story hooks”, do you want actual sidebars with story hooks for the Storyteller to dish out to his players, or do you want to fit it into the flow of the character background?
Don’t break them out into a separate text box. The character background itself should contain the hooks, in that it should describe the activities the Kindred is up to and thus provide opportunities for interaction. “Brooding lone vampire practicing with his katana every night in his apartment,” for example, has no hooks. “Vampire who was Embraced during the Spanish Civil War and now sees all forms of government as antithetical to the Kindred condition,” by contrast, has plenty of opportunity to fit into a chronicle somewhere.
Brilliant! I’ll get started then.
Can we try a classical old wod theme? i mean, it has been a while since the game has changed for a more fantasy game, not just out of metaplot for individual horror/ history,like some people think, but by definition! things have changed a lot and some of those changes were great, but, i will love to see some tales in way we played in the first vampire books, thats why for example i played the game ever since! thats what i knew first and what keeps the game fantastic for me!
So i am wondering if, this ill happens or we are going to see some more fantasy based characters and storyteller concepts!
The new sistems do not make a problem for that, it is just the way me and my group of friends see the game anyway, so i think i will give a try! a more realistic concept! and of course, i english review!
nice book and thanx for all the new stuff for wod!
Can you give me an example of what you’re looking for, Felipe? Are you wanting something “fantastical” meaning something more mythical or resonant? Or are you looking for something “fantastical” meaning out-there and bizarre?
I’m trying to incorporate a broad spectrum into the book, so a little more specificity on what exactly you’re expecting would let me know if some of the characters are heading that direction.
Sure,
Like i said, as a oldschool player i feel along those years that WOD has turning into a more fantasy based rpg not the realistic approach we saw in the start, as a example i can give you the novels, they are honestly a little childsh and even silly – the mind and personality pictured on the novels, the context – like lucita for example – those cant be vampires, they are closer to the vampire tv shows we have this days (not talking about twilight) – vampire diaries almost! But when we read the books we can find some good characters like Ambrogino Giovanni, Fabrizio Ulfila, Al- Ashrad, Hardestadt the elder ( this is a true revolutionary dont you think?), Camilla of clan Ventrue, Augustus Giovanni, Vasantasena, dr. Douglas Netchurch, Baba Yaga, Zelios the master mason, or even the cappadocian antediluvian!
All the above characters have the deep realism in they aspiration and political involviment. When we look for them we can believe they breath and walk among us, they can be vampires that – if vampires were real- should exist, and in different ways – all of them are revolutionaries because they changed forever the kindred society!
To finish the long post, its not the concept by itself, but the way we create it! We can have a mythical or bizarre approach and I do love both! but those specific vampires above, have achieved a lot without be published in every freaking book, like Vykos whose death should’ve happened a long time ago for less than half he did, or Lucita and Anatole that looks like two teenages walking around a war without fear of nothing! These last storylines had turn vampire into a more fantasy / less realistic kind of game!
My point is about the vampire condition, not necessarily about the story, but about the mood! Give us some deep personality that changed the world of darkness by his ideas, not just with a sword! someone that have saw the future, with a deep insight of the kindred society! So, why not a vampire from the camarilla’s inner circle, that truly believe that the sect is the best vampire can or should achieve? Or a powerfull mathusalem that awaked up in the final nights and thought that, things should be like the old times when the curse meant something else? Doesn’t matter, they all can be great characters, but preserve the realism – the deep meaning of being a vampire! There is no problem in a group of 13th generation vampires to kill a elder experienced in the ways of vampirism, like you wrote, thats great, but give us some insight about being a vampire, rather than just open a way into times of war and flames, thats basicly a matter of taste of course, and you helped to create WOD, so you know what i mean, when i say to focus on the vampire condition,For example. Kill another vampire is a serious business for a lot of reasons! we dont trivialise those kind of things. So i dont know if my point is a valid one or if i am a conservative kind or player, and in your reply your already show that you’re trying to incorporate a little of all, so the book can be great for guys like me and my friends or for players that like more fantasy based games! Its in the way players imagine WOD and play the game, but for me – and i know- for some others, approach the vampire condition and what can be made of it, in one of the characters presented, will be great! we can have the story of a vampire that create a path of enlightenment, help to create the sect ideology, the classic golconda theme, or that just cant exist being a vampire and questions the essence of what he is, important is to look for the soul of those vampires!
let’s hope i have helped, even because thats the only concerne i have, since i do love the overall vampire story!
so thank you again,
Felipe
me again,
Justin, i know its strange to ask, but as far as i know, the Kiasyd are the most “Want to know more about” bloodline in vampire, so can you risk to give us some more information maybe with a great vampire presented in the CoR?!
They are great to use in storytelling, as storyteller characters, so great we always wanted to play with one! But is quite hard coz we have just a little info about them. Like the faerie mechanics, what is that (great stuff)?! Necromancy, is only out of date, because its great for the bloodline! (i know its odd).
Maybe a example, telling us more about this vampires? CoR is focused like Most Wanted book or so, right? But reading the forums we always find people asking for kiasyd!
If the bloodline companion is somehow around… give us some good info about them, and dont miss the faerie mechanic thing! :O and if you thing it’s right, keep necromancy as a bloodline in the bloodline! i do love the classical original edition more darker stuff!
thank you again (again),
Felipe Moulim