White Court NPCs and not being super akward

[sinker]

Ok, ok. Everyone should probably calm a bit. I don't think I've ever seen Devonapple "speak" in a harsh tone.

So once again is this the right game for his/her gaming group? Is it constructed the way to not create conflict. Right now it is sounding like it is and that can cause major issues. If the players cannot separate IRL and Gaming. Start from Scratch or run a different game.

Harsh but hey I have GMed for 20 years and sometimes as the GM you have to make those hard choices like this. The least thing you want is to tear your gaming group apart.

I think this is the bit that bothers me Remy. What is your definition of "this game"? If your definition is a game based on seduction and sexual themes then perhaps I would agree with you to an extent. Jan has clearly stated that a significant portion of his group may be uncomfortable, which leads me to believe that that kind of thing would likely be tough. In that case he might want to just run something like this off screen.

If your definition is DFRPG then I have to very strongly disagree. If that is the case you seem to have a very narrow definition of how this game "must" be played and that is the part that bugs me. To say that any game "must" be played in any fashion is to be hazy on the stronger aspects of what role-playing is. Role-playing is a hobby to be enjoyed, by anyone, in whatever fashion they see fit. I have friends that like to play D&D fourth like a board game, playing to win, with little or no separation between player and character. But they have fun. Personally I'd rather get into the character's skin, really think about who this other person is and how they react, and then be them for a few hours. I don't tell them they're "doing it wrong" just because we like different parts.

(and yes, we have all played DFRPG together. And we all had fun)

[Chris_Fougere]

.  But instead, you come off sounding like a stuck up Cam LARPer whose been playing his fantasy WoD self for too long and thinks that because he hooked up with some Cam LARP girls IC once, that he is a master of in game seduction.

Not helping your case any to make broad generalizations about other gamers.  Just sayin`

I'm not sure about your ability to do a female voice, but mine is on the far side of ridiculous sounding falsetto.  So having a villain with a Warner Brothers Cartoon voice just doesn't really seem like a great choice, thus, male villains.  It's not that it makes me particularly uncomfortable, it just sounds absurd to be threatened by Bugs Bunny's female voice.  You are correct I don't know how to run a believable seductive NPC.  My personal method of seduction involves utilizing small physical contact, flirting, and a other subtle things, and doesn't play well to a tabletop style game where the players are sitting around a table.

I`ve never once in my nearly 30 years of GMing tried to do a female voice.  Some people are great at voices, dialects, accents, etc.  I know I`m not one of them.  That doesn`t stop my NPCs from being memorable or distinct.  Its about word choice, speaking cadence, whether or not they make bad puns, if they use double entendres.  Silly voices are distracting, its what the NPC says and how they behave that`s important and giving them distinct voices and personalities will do far more than any falsetto ever will.

[Jancarius]

Not helping your case any to make broad generalizations about other gamers.  Just sayin`

Agreed, I just got annoyed and countered with a sterotype.  My apologies to any Camarilla Larpers I may have offended.

I`ve never once in my nearly 30 years of GMing tried to do a female voice.  Some people are great at voices, dialects, accents, etc.  I know I`m not one of them.  That doesn`t stop my NPCs from being memorable or distinct.  Its about word choice, speaking cadence, whether or not they make bad puns, if they use double entendres.  Silly voices are distracting, its what the NPC says and how they behave that`s important and giving them distinct voices and personalities will do far more than any falsetto ever will.

I'm fine with accents and voices, as long as they fall in the tenor-bass range.  Occasionally I can do a more upper pitch male voice, but it's often a bit squeaky.  I just find doing a female voice impossible for my range without going full falsetto. 

As mentioned, I think I'm going to go with a despair inducing WCV.  Will give him lots of motive to incite general misery in the populace without any akward seduction scene.  My question is though, what is the 'killing' factor for fear and despair vamps?  Do despair ones only feed complelty by driving targets to suicide?  How do fear ones feed?

[devonapple]

My question is though, what is the 'killing' factor for fear and despair vamps?  Do despair ones only feed complelty by driving targets to suicide?  How do fear ones feed?

Generally, it is suicide for despair, or heart attack for fear. Plenty of debate on this, though, which means plenty of room to determine what works best for you. Ultimately, something which leaves little to no trace of the predator. A supernatural investigator will eventually detect that something is off about the remnants of one these tragedies, either metaphysically or through questioning.

[sandchigger]

Go with Wrath, nothing says "mundane death" like "beaten to death by the six dudes he decided to pick a fight with."

[devonapple]

Go with Wrath, nothing says "mundane death" like "beaten to death by the six dudes he decided to pick a fight with."

"Officer, I knew the victim, and he worked with children! The most level-headed, peaceful man... he's never been to a bar in the twenty years I've known him! Why would he pick a fight with six bikers?"

And, of course, the bikers could be Lycanthropes, a supernatural menace of sorts, but in this case, the unwitting executors of the WCV's will.

[Chris_Fougere]

Go with Wrath, nothing says "mundane death" like "beaten to death by the six dudes he decided to pick a fight with."

oooohhh.... I like this idea for Wrath vamps:)  I'm so going to steal this:)

[ways and means]

Wrath vampires get serious use out of the stunt infuriate.

[Mal_Luck]

Despair/Fear is probably the way to go to avoid awkwardness. Wrath is a good choice to if you want to make a custom house.

I'm currently working on a Sloth Vampire from what I'm going to call the House Pax. Death by Laziness: dehydration, starvation, too lazy to breath, heart stop beating, brain stops firing synapses, etc.

Feel free to use the idea if you want. 

[stabbald]

Despair/Fear is probably the way to go to avoid awkwardness. Wrath is a good choice to if you want to make a custom house.

I'm currently working on a Sloth Vampire from what I'm going to call the House Pax. Death by Laziness: dehydration, starvation, too lazy to breath, heart stop beating, brain stops firing synapses, etc.

Feel free to use the idea if you want. 

I love this idea. Mostly because it's a contradiction. Death by accelerated laziness.

[Jancarius]

Right now, I'm considering a 7 sins approach to WCVs... maybe say basically, that the original 7 sins are the 7 oldest (and strongest) White Court Vampires...  Raith as Lust is easy, but fear and despair perhaps could be worked to fit the theme (as obviously, could any additional houses). 

What would be the 'initial feed' for WCVirgins from some of these other houses though?  The average WCV isn't going to want to drive some to despair or scare them to a heart attack when their hunger isn't 'in control' yet enough to force the issue.  And in the case of Wrath WCVs, you wouldn't even neccessarily have to make it fatal... if you just induced wrath on say, a person paralyzed in a wheelchair with no way to move, you could generate as much rage to feed on as you wanted without killing them (unless I guess you pushed it to a point where their heart exploded from adrenaline overload or something).

[Tedronai]

if you just induced wrath on say, a person paralyzed in a wheelchair with no way to move, you could generate as much rage to feed on as you wanted without killing them (unless I guess you pushed it to a point where their heart exploded from adrenaline overload or something).

WCVs don't ACTUALLY feed on emotions.  They feed on life force.  The emotion just serves to moderate the transfer of the energy.
It's like eating peanut butter on celery sticks.  You're not actually after the celery (well, most people aren't), you're after the peanut butter, and are just using the celery to get it to your mouth.

So it's not simply a matter of 'generating more rage' and thus the victim not suffering/dying from the feeding.  More potent expression of the emotion will, at most, hasten their death by allowing the WCV to draw out their life force faster (a bigger stick of celery holds more peanut butter).

[devonapple]

What would be the 'initial feed' for WCVirgins from some of these other houses though?  

It doesn't have to be overt. In fact, the WCVirgin won't necessarily realize it is even happening. Think about people who are drama enablers, who give bad advice, "frienemies" who claim to be a friend but secretly work to make those friends fail, feel insecure, etc.

For mundane people, these things all satisfy some need in the "bad friend": feel superior, feel needed, that sort of thing. They may or may not realize they are doing them, but they do them for a clear reason, be it conscious or subconscious.

For a WCVirgin, they may not even realize how or why they are pushing their friends/accomplices/strangers to do these things, but it feels good to them, so they do it, as subtly as they can.

For Despair, these WCVirgins may be drawn to loners, sensitive types, people with problems. And then, through advice and other subtle manipulations, they eventually drive that first person to commit suicide or hurt themselves. And then they know what is happening. So they engineer other sources of Despair, or latch onto existing sufferers. But they "killed" someone using their abilities.

For Wrath, these WCVirgins may be drawn to rebellious types, or perhaps even the opposite. Maybe they latch onto a bullied friend, consoling and encouraging, never outright planning or contributing, but subtly working that victim, fanning the embers until that first victim explodes in an outburst of pent-up rage, usually by confronting a bully figure (with disastrous consequences) or even worse, perhaps some sort of revenge scenario like Columbine. And then, as with Despair, they know what is happening, and look for victims or potential victims of Wrath. But they "killed" someone using their abilities.

Ultimately, you pick a desired emotion, find people who are susceptible to that emotion, who may be pushed to die (or die trying something) because of it. And when the instigator is a WCVirgin, they may not know why, but they know it feels good to give bad advice, to be there for the victim in a way they can twist.

But it is true that some of these seem to require a lot of bending in order to get the WCVirgin to fulfill the "kill" requirement for their full powers.

[ways and means]

I like the idea of wrath wcv who goes around being a trolling just for the satisfaction of rubbing people up the wrong.

[Tedronai]

Ultimately, you pick a desired emotion, find people who are susceptible to that emotion, who may be pushed to die (or die trying something) because of it.

It's not merely a matter of 'pushing someone to die' in an expression of the emotion, but killing them by feeding during that expression.

the condition
doesn’t truly take hold until the “virgin” White
Court vampire has killed for the first time with
his emotion-feeding abilities.