Quote: "Vampire players greatly prefer real, modern metropolises."

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So I was reading this:

http://www.vtm.kismetrose.com/sc/storytelling/Storytelling23.html

When I came across this:

Ask gamers this question: "Which would you rather play in, an existing city or a fictional one?" Of course you'll get a mix of answers. But ask them whether they're normally a player or a storyteller and you might find that their answers divide along these lines: players want an existing city and storytellers want a fictional one.

The reasons are fairly obvious: the players want something recognizable and the storyteller wants something new, something that's 100% her creation. Like choosing when to set the chronicle, many players will be put off by anything other than the norm. How many chronicles are set in 11th century Turkey, in comparison to how many are set in current year L.A.?

To some extent, you have to appeal to your audience, and I can tell you from experience that Vampire: the Masquerade players greatly prefer real, modern metropolises. So if you choose something different, be prepared to sell your idea to the players.

(Emphasis on 'real' and 'modern' as distinct criteria for this discussion.)
Does that jive with your experience? I haven't run a fictional modern city yet, but I intend to someday.
 
I've written Vampire campaigns set in fictional modern cities such as Liberty City and Empire Bay before.
 
I don't have a preference either way, but I can say that the few times I've been a player in a game set in a city I knew, I did notice it was an incredible aid to immersion and just the flow of the game in general, as I was able to instantly understand, picture in my mind, and respond to the area described without the need for extensive information or questions of the GM.
 
Most players, I think, from my experience, like a setting they can "grok" more than one they have to learn. So yeah, that makes perfect sense to me. I wouldn't throw my PCs into "Post-Phoenician, Pre-Hannibal-era Carthage by Night" without testing the waters.
 
Unlike your average Internet expert, I can only speak for the groups I've played with. :smile:

As a ST I feel big cities give you more leeway to introduce a large cast of NPCs.

Being grounded in the real world is fun because Earth is the richest, craziest, best documented "setting" there is, and stitching the fantastic on the mundane is a fun part of WoD/CoD prep to me.

That being said — a real world city that's unfamiliar to the players is no less "alien" than a fictional one. Our last V:tR game was set in San Antonio, Texas, a city I happen to have visited but most people in Brazil have no idea even exists.

Of course, being a real city means there's ready-made history and culture to pilfer from, but if you're an imaginative enough guy you can flesh out your imaginary city to a good degree. Conversely, without diligent research even a real city can feel like a Potemkin village.
 
Yeah, if a GM runs Moscow by Night, I'm going to feel a fish out of water, despite having read a ton of Cold War spy novels. I'll adapt, but I won't have the instant buy-in of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, etc...
 
Modern cities = easier job for GMs because of so much readily-available maps, locations and ease of creating NPCs.

However, I have a mortal fear of the 21st Century: mobile devices really cancel out a lot of classic storytelling tropes. I'd rather do a game set in the previous century, honestly.
 
However, I have a mortal fear of the 21st Century: mobile devices really cancel out a lot of classic storytelling tropes. I'd rather do a game set in the previous century, honestly.

My take from playing a techie Mekhet Carthian in a recent modern-day V:tR game is man, fuck mobile devices.

They sure come in handy when you need to confer with your sire or each other, but they also (1) make Masquerade breaches harder to contain and (2) make you very easy to track.

Our coterie was on the receiving end of both. #2 was particularly infamous as no one saw it coming and it's how VASCU sprung the local SWAT on us and strong-armed us into betraying the Prince (just as the Strix intended).

I'm sure an enterprising GM can think of other ways to screw PCs over.
 
My take from playing a techie Mekhet Carthian in a recent modern-day V:tR game is man, fuck mobile devices.

They sure come in handy when you need to confer with your sire or each other, but they also (1) make Masquerade breaches harder to contain and (2) make you very easy to track.

Our coterie was on the receiving end of both. #2 was particularly infamous as no one saw it coming and it's how VASCU sprung the local SWAT on us and strong-armed us into betraying the Prince (just as the Strix intended).

I'm sure an enterprising GM can think of other ways to screw PCs over.

Yeah, no kidding. I can imagine a coterie of young tech-savvy kindred whose job it is to clean up after a Roman Patrician vampire who doesn't understand the modern world at all. If they fail...well the Prince isn't going to order the death of an ancient vampire who could be a huge part of his power base. :grin:
 
However, I have a mortal fear of the 21st Century: mobile devices really cancel out a lot of classic storytelling tropes. I'd rather do a game set in the previous century, honestly.

Tell me about it, the crime caper and espionage genres have really had to twist themselves into pretzels to work under the constraints of current technology while remaining entertaining.

The masquerade was already very improbable, especially with the high population of vampires WW insisted on designing around. Now it seems like a second inquisition is not only inevitable but pretty much the most logical campaign arc.
 
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