As the title will tell you, the first Act of Book 1 of the Giovanni Chronicles was a success. The dinner guests are now vampires, hastily Embraced by their sires to aid in their escape. The Founders, seeking to capture the Conspiracy of Isaac, have instead captured their childer.
Suffice to say, I didn't follow the book to the letter. I didn't feel it would be right to restrict my players to it. However, they pretty much followed the path set for them. Here are some highlights and changes I made:
- The dinner guests were 13 in all: 5 of them NPCs, 5 of them PCs and the rest were companions of the latter. I didn't follow the book in choosing only those living in and around the Carpathians as I felt this would restrict my player's character concepts. Most of the players came from England, strangely enough. The rest were scattered as far off as Jerusalem. Also, I didn't make the guests individual, some came with other guests.
- Shri Yantra, played by Maricor Dumlao, was not able to join the game due to time restictions. I am hoping she can catch up in the 2nd book so I can integrate her then.
- Instead of Lothar coming in on April 3 to talk to the guests, I had him arrive on April 4. It seemed more appropriate this way rather than how it was written in the book. Though it would change certain scenes, the character still managed to annoy the PC - Mordecai (played by Karlo), specifically.
- Mordecai almost lost his invitation due to 2 reasons: his objections to Lothar's treatment of Brother Clement (as he grew up with monks) and his insistence that he bring his manservant, Khalid. Lothar's response to the latter was that there was not enough room in the carriage but "your servant may run along beside it, if you wish."
- Faolan ordering ale was...unexpected. I did not know if beer had been invented or if it were available in the Carpathians. Sigismund, the innkeeper of the Red Lamb Inn, declined his request. But later, thinking that this was in a way, his last meal, I decided otherwise. But I didn't know how to make it available now. So I thought to rename it "Pale Pilsen". This brought no small amount of laughter from the other players that resulted in the Chronicale being nicknamed "The Pale Pilsen Chronicles".
- A fight almost broke out between Faolan and Godwin, the latter was Raven's "date" to the dinner. This was due to the fact that Faolan hated the English. It was a good thing though that Faolan had been drinking way too much pale pilsen. It resulted with him having tripped and knocked off conscious.
- The 4 NPCs that rounded out the cast were characters in my other game with TROPA. I decided to use them as it would be easier for me to play them rather than create whole new characters.
- The harrowings of the characters were changed slightly to accomodate their unique histories. Raven's harrowing with Dimitra centered on the latter's discovery of Raven being a woman and her disgust at her having to hide her sex. While Mordecai was questioned about nobility by Jadviga, but using Lady Amisa's vignette. Faolan's scene with Marchetus and Wilfred's scene with Wencesalas remained unchanged.
- Lucy's harrowing in the hands of Theopana was the hardest as it did not describe anything specific other than triggering the madness. Hence, I decided to have Theopana look for Mina, Lucy's "imaginary friend". This invovled speaking in a girlish voice asking Mina to "come out and play" while inclining my head from one side to the other. Though the other players looked disturbed, Lucy's player, Joan, looked fascinated.
- My first mistake was reading Claudius' dialogue from the book. I think it would have been better had I simply said the gist of it all: "You are our dinner and now it's time to chow down." That would have made it more terifying, I think. Rather than looking to the book every so often.
- When the Founders attacked, the player characters were in the process of transforming. As soon as they awoke, most of them frenzied since they only had a blood point in them. Two characters died as a result: Godwin and Guilliame were diablarized by Raven and Wilfred. Santiago and Harad died at the hands of Milov, with more than 8 levels of Aggravated damage. Wilfred's lord, Humphrey, died while escaping.
- Raven was staked by Roderigo, Lucy and Faolan were beaten into torpor by Adana and Hardestadt, Mordecai and Wilfred were subdued by Milov. Alessandro surrendered peacefully.
I'm currently in the process of getting my players to write journal entries to chronicle what happens int he game. So far, everyone is open to the suggestion. To make it easier, I'm assigning a particular player/character to write a scene. That way, I don't have to make them write entry after entry. The only problem now is who will best be suited for the scene.
Also, Joan and Karl are pretty good artists. I'm hoping to scan some pictures online so we can exhibit their works here. I've commissioned them to draw character portraits and certain scenes - especially the memorable ones. Here's hoping this takes off and keeps flying.
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