Quite different from a lot of what is posted here but I wanted to share this little game i brewed up for a player-requested ‘a one shot about vampires’.
TW: Depression/suicide
Mechanically you could call it a ‘heisted by the honey’ game but the tone is intended to be a lot darker.
Evil Unending
You are an elder vampire, so old you have forgotten most of your life, so dread that your deeds frighten even you, so powerful that you cannot be killed.
On the surface you are calm, confident, perfect. Beneath, you are torn by an eternal struggle between the mindless beast and the fragment of your mortal soul that still remembers sin.
You have two stats Ancient One and Night Terror. both start at 3.
To take an action that would tax your talents, roll 1d6. If you roll equal to or below the relevant stat you succeed without conditions. Otherwise you fail, or setbacks complicate your success.
If your Title aids you (see below) roll twice and use the lowest dice.
Roll Ancient One to plan, to be witty or charming, or to do anything human or refined.
Roll Night Terror to move like a shadow, to bite and rend and drain, or to do anything monstrous or physical.
You can move one point from Ancient One into Night Terror by draining a mortal dry of blood.
You can move one point from Night Terror into Ancient one by narrating a sudden intrusive memory of guilt, self-loathing, or of long-lost humanity
If your Night Terror stat reaches 6 you become a degenerate and mindless beast, forever lost.
If your Ancient One stat reaches 6 , the horror of your cursed existence overwhelms you, and you at last embrace the True Death falling to ash.
If you make an action and your highest die roll is 1, transfer a point into the stat you were using from the other. (this CAN put you at 6).
Roll for your Vampiric Title
1-Flesh Rider: You can bodily possess a mortal
2- The Pallid Eye: You can drain mortals to husks from afar.
3-The Rat King: You can command beasts
4-The Lord of Night : You can freely transform into a cloud of bats
5-The ashen prince : You are impossibly strong
6-Noctis Aeturnum: You can move as fast as thought
Adventure
Every century The Jester holds a Bacchanal Sanguine for the greatest vampires of the world. It is a treasure hunt, played in teams that themselves are formed over decades of politicking and intrigue. Every time the place and prize changes, but the format is always the same. Each team is given a Clue, and the night plays out in four parts (played out over 3 real world hours):
First Movement: the Dance (60 mins)
Where vampires toy with mortals, and make discrete wagers and deals for clues.
Second Movement: the Slaughter (30 mins)
Where mortals are brought in on the joke and overconfident vampire hunters are baited into action.
Third Movement: The Chase (60 mins)
Where clues are converted into keys, and secret rooms are found.
Fourth Movement: The Finale (30mins)
Where the remaining few battle it out, or haggle, for the grand prize.
Playing the Bacchanal
On the one hand this is a fast-paced game of intrigue and exploration. But really it is about broken, self-loathing psychopaths trying their best to maintain a veneer of frivolity and decadence. Be melodramatic to the point of corniness. Be cartoonishly evil to impress your peers. Consider whether the real prize is the Jester’s treasure, or succumbing to the realisation you should not exist.
Running the Bacchanal
The prize can be anything as it is just a MacGuffin. The cloak of night, allowing any to walk in the sun, is a fine choice.
What is the setting?
1 a regency-era country manor
2 a storm-lashed medieval castle
3 a private modern day island
4 an ancient Roman villa
5 A '20s long island mansion
6 a luxury orbital habitat
Designing the setting
Make a list of 12 locations that might be in the place: a ballroom, a crypt, etc. be as tropey as you want, it will help the players. Assign 1d4 obvious paths out of each room, to the most likely neighbouring locations. Then assign 1d4-2 secret paths out of each room, randomly determining where they go with a d12. The jester has had centuries to build labyrinthine tunnels and hidden rooms so do not worry about the geometry too much.
Put the prize in a new secret room, and give it 2 connections to other rooms. Now put 6 locks on your map, ensuring that no path between the secret room and the players starting location is blocked by less than 3 locks. Erase/move paths as needed to make this happen.
Now assign keys for these locks. 2 must be found, 2 are on mortal guests to the party, and 2 can be taken or wagered off vampires.
Obvious connections
1 Corridor
2 Staircase
3 Ladder
4 Open plaza
Secret connections
1 revolving fireplace
2 servants passage
3 climbable vine/pipe
4 trapdoor
5 chimney/ventilation
6 crumbling wall
Locks (and keys)
1 A locked iron door (with a massive key)
2 An unbeatable guardian (with a weakness)
3 A well-concealed path (with a distinguishing feature)
4 A strange device (and the secret of it’s use)
