The United Federation of Charles: Ten Real-Life Inspired Chronicles for Kindred in 2020

V5 Chronicle Tips

The year 2020 has been a bad one for a lot of people across the globe. It has utterly upended the lives of the majority of the populace, claimed far too many lives, caused international outrage over police brutality, undermined confidence in institutions, and also led to massive weight gain due to my new diet of junk food. It is a year that very few people would want to roleplay through.

However, roleplaying games are an outlet for a lot of us. We do the things we would never do and be the people we could never be. It is also an effective stress reliever for those who need to vent their anger or darker side on fictional characters that catch our ire. Vampire: The Masquerade has certainly been a comfort to me during the past year and I admit to having let loose my inner Sabbat a few times. I've also had my characters play saintly heroic vamps more than I've ever done before.

Having experienced firsthand Covid-19 and worried for relatives who have it, this list is not meant to undermine or diminish the real-life suffering that it has brought about. It also doesn't attempt to trivialize any of the events that have marked a real pear of a year. Instead, if your players are comfortable with it, it is a list of adventure hooks for people who want to possibly explore some of the ramifications of real-life events in-game.

If your players don't want to get reality in their game or it hits too close to home, don't feel bad. Throughout the year, the last thing I wanted was to get reminders of how bad things had gotten or real-life suffering I could nothing about in my undead power fantasy. However, as it approaches its end, I've been curious about exploring how some of my player characters would have dealt with the past year's events.

Here's a list of ten adventure hooks and ideas that Storytellers might be interested in drawing from for their Vampire: The Masquerade chronicles.

1. Feuding over Domain

Vampires are social predators and their traditional feeding grounds are bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, brothels, and other anonymous gathering places. It should go without saying how badly a lot of these places were hit by quarantine. Many vampires who once had prime feeding territory find themselves not only bereft of business but also lacking a place to hunt safely. Undead with less traditional hunting places like gas stations, rest stops, essential businesses, hospitals, hospices, retirement communities, and apartment buildings will find their value increasing considerably. Player characters who previously might have had "worthless" territory may soon find themselves overwhelmed with poachers or those determined to seize it from them.

2. Breaking and Biting

One of the obvious solutions to the problem of feeding is for vampires to simply go after their food directly in their homes. Unfortunately, this has the potential to go catastrophically wrong if you aren't up on your Security or Stealth skills. Those with Obfuscate will have a much easier time carrying it out but even they might not be well-versed in the finer habit of getting into a home without alerting the residents. Player characters may soon find out that their home city is deluged with a sudden spike in feedings gone wrong, Masquerade violations, or accidental murders. Hard choices may have to be made whether to help cover up these Dracula-esque assaults or deal with the clumsy vampires unused to having prey that resists.

3. Mad Science and Magic Fixes Everything

The dangers of Covid-19 may result in Banu Haqim, Tremere, Tzimisce, and scientifically minded Kindred seeking a supernatural solution to their problem. Experiments in creating animal blood that can nourish lower generation Kindred, cloned blood, or causing test subjects to produce far more excessive amounts of vitae are all valid experiments for the sufficiently determined Kindred. Animalism may become a Discipline many Kindred wish to learn from Gangrel and Nosferatu to make the blood of lesser beings more palatable. Others might seek out the legendary Children of Osiris and see if the mythical power of Bardo holds the key to survival.

Alternatively, Kindred may actively seek to cure Covid-19 for their own selfish desires. Perhaps the slightest bit of vitae is enough to strengthen the immune system to drive out the disease. Others may throw large amounts of resources into a fool's errand to cure the disease rapidly with a mix of the scientific and supernatural. Players may find "scientific trials" are actually a decent cover for extracting blood for Baggers as well.

4. Enough is Enough

An act of police brutality in the player character's home city results in massive protests and demands to reform the police. This proves problematic for the local Kindred because the police are particularly scummy and corrupt because of undead influence. The police have knowledge of the local vampire hangouts, criminal organizations, and quite a few murders committed by their public identities. They don't know their patrons are vampires (don't be ridiculous) but they know they're rich criminals with connections to one another.

The crooked cops expect their patrons' aid in shutting down any public demand for change and charges against its officers. They also make the mistake of implying they have a great deal of leverage they could turn over to the FBI Special Affairs Division (or similar institution). This poses a threat to the Masquerade from both sides. Worse, the protestors have attracted the attention of a group of idealistic Anarchs who have decided to take down the corrupt police structure in the city both to strike at the Camarilla as well as a desire to "do something good" with their powers.

5. The Blood Trade

Blood is more expensive than wine. The shortage of blood is something that hits a lot of Kindred hard in 2020 and those who are willing to provide it find themselves with an abundance of influence. With so many Kindred businesses destroyed, money may be more valuable than favors, though. For many Kindred, the best way to provide blood is an incredibly old institution of slavery. People who can be readily disappeared are and are sold to vampires to be fed off in safety. Less ruthless is "renting" people for the evening with door-to-door service like prostitution, except with an even higher chance of being killed by a predator. Farms like the scene in Blade 2 where brain dead subjects are kept hooked up to IVs are other possibilities as are isolated cults or dungeons. Can the PCs step in to shut their local version down? Will it end up making things worse?

6. Prince of Fools

The player characters are roped into visiting a neighboring city's Prince or Baron to deliver a message. Almost immediately, they find the place in disarray as the city has exceptionally nasty numbers of flu deaths as well as simmering social anxiety. For once, the mortals are scarcely at fault because the ruling vampire used all of his influence to force things open and a return to "normalcy" in order to keep his failing businesses open. Dominate, Presence, ghouldom, and exceptional amounts of cash have been expended to cover up the disaster that is leading to the exposure of numerous Kindred herds as well as businesses to infection. The players soon find themselves involuntary "guests" as the Sheriff, police, and others refuse to let them leave. The Prince and Baron wants to make sure that they share only a rosy picture of perfection and are not easily convinced the players will.

7. The Red Conspiracy

An Anarch has co-opted the message boards of a popular social media site to begin spreading rumors and piggy-backing on more famous conspiracy theories to create horrifying Satanic stories of blood-drinking as well as weird occultism with the Camarilla's Elders. This is a solid violation of the Masquerade and will result in at least some of their accusations leading to vampires being discovered. Unfortunately, what follows is a blood path as already unstable individuals start killing Blood Dolls, hanging Goths, and going on shooting sprees at Hot Topics. The Camarilla and Anarchs both want this conspiracy "leaker" shut down with extreme prejudice and the entire movement discredited. However, how does one discredit lunacy?

8. The Plague Bearer

For once, Thin Bloods pose a serious threat to Kindred society. It turns out that Embracing a Thin Blood with Covid-19 can result in them rising from the dead with the virus still in their system. Worse, it's a particularly virulent form that has an even higher fatality rate than the original. The only reason it hasn't spread farther is it kills faster. The CDC has a very large interest in the sudden deaths and apparent mutation of the virus. The PCs need to track down this plague bearer and cure or destroy them. It doesn't help the Thin Blood has passed his condition onto other members of their lineage.

9. Alternative Facts

All Kindred are liars, but some liars are better than others. The player characters run into this when a disaster strikes close to home with the death of several Kindred and perhaps a mortal Touchstone. The player characters have a vested interest in finding out what happened but every single witness has a different story, all of them mutually contradictory, with even those who know the truth actively denying even the most basic of details happened. Who is covering up what? Who is just lying out of habit? Does the truth even matter when everyone agrees what happened didn't?

10. The Bail Out

The economic devastation of the pandemic has seriously compromised the Camarilla. To prove their continued relevance, the Camarilla's leadership arranges for a federal bailout to all of their businesses regardless of whether any of them have any essential status or need [Note: Sadly, this is just flat out true]. This includes several businesses that exist only on paper but will receive tens of millions of dollars in Federal funds. The player characters catch wind of this and the fact that at least some Second Inquisition forces are also investigating it. They can attempt to stop the Inquisitors, sabotage the bailout to hurt the Camarilla, or divert the massive amounts of funds to themselves.

An additional series of ten minor adventure hooks too:

1. The player characters witness the police chase down and murder a man. They have the potential to intervene and save the man's life or deal with the stains. The irony being the police may attempt to intimidate them if they think they're involved or outright murder them.

2. An associate of theirs is dying of Covid-19 and is on a ventilator without much chance of him making it through. Embracing him would be out of the question but his or her spouse knows enough, too much in fact, that they want to have the player make their loved one a ghoul. This comes with its own responsibilities.

3. A particularly scummy vampire is using the Covid-19 crisis to kill as many humans as they like, knowing it will be attributed to the virus. They're rapidly descending to wightdom as they can't control their Hunger know that they've fully indulged it. This is apparently a somewhat common trick of vampires during influenza outbreaks of old.

4. The player characters get pulled off by a police officer who, frankly, just seems to be determined to give them a hard time. It escalates rapidly until the point the PCs are forced to defend themselves. Was this the result of an enemy sending the cop against them, prejudice, or just a bad night? It's caught on the police car's camera.

5. Covid-19 parties in the area are actually being organized by vampires to get access to the precious vitae that they would otherwise be denied. Unfortunately, these things are so irritating that a video of them is being widely distributed with a number of Kindred faces on it. How bad is this and how far will it spread on the net?

6. The player characters' or an associate of theirs has a ghoul who had a child before their bonding. Said child was in the protests and they went to pick them up, only to get arrested for "rioting" and are being railroaded by the cops. Can they get them out of the system without drawing attention from the Second Inquisition? Before they need their next fix (and they were due for their next not too far from their rest)?

7. An Elysium gathering of judges, crooked politicians, and businessmen with the Ventrue results in an outbreak of Covid-19 that kills several of them as well as leaves others disabled. At least one Elder's entire network collapses and he becomes vulnerable. The player characters can help him try to rebuild it or take advantage of the imminent Blood Hunt to get some Elder vitae. They may also help his enemies or acquire the vacated influence sphere themselves.

8. An asshole Malkavian has decided to go around town spreading misinformation, using Dementation, and rousing the crowds against the local government as well as restrictions. Buildings have been broken into, police precincts burned down, protestors run over, doctors threatened, and more. The governor is about to send in the National Guard but this is probably part of his plan to make things even worse. Why? Because it's fun.

9. The Ventrue owner of an ailing Magadon pharmaceutical subsidiary has decided to up its stock to the millions by pretending their livestock vaccine is the cure for coronavirus. He's used vitae to help cure numerous people and is risking the Masquerade to reverse his fortunes that were devastated in 2008. Unfortunately, the CDC examined it and now the city is crawling with the Second Inquisition. He's now even ready to make a deal with them to keep touting his snake oil as he'd rather be a traitor than broke.

10. A very weird situation emerges as a large number of theaters, bars, and restaurants come to the local Kindred for money to get them through the situation. They believe them more to be mobsters than vampires or at least shady businessmen but it's preferable to losing everything (or so they think). This is a great opportunity for them to expand their influence across the pandemic but potentially going to bite them in the ass if it keeps going. After all, what would a vampire do with a cruise ship?

The United Federation of Charles

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Ten Real-Life Inspired Chronicles for Kindred in 2020

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