WoD canon vs homebrew in Dr Bob's setting

I’m pretty much using the VTM5e setting as written, but with these differences:

  1. I’m dumping the 1 vampire per 100,000 people guideline. Because otherwise there are so few vampires in Scotland that the PCs would probably all have to live in separate cities.
  2. Instead I’m applying the 1 in 100,000 rule to urban werewolves, to explain why the Glasswalkers and Bone Gnawers haven’t eradicated vampires centuries ago.
  3. All vampires can see in the dark, the way many animals can see in the dark. If there is starlight or moonlight, you can happily charge around without crashing into trees or falling down holes. You need a light source to read a book or do embroidery, but any run of the mill task which doesn’t require seeing fine detail is ok. If it is overcast with no moon, you WILL walk into trees or fall down holes (just like animals do) unless you have the ‘superpower’ discipline which grants the ability to see in pitch black.
  4. The UK is culturally diverse, so I’m including several African (Ebony Kingdom) clans on the character gen list, and given the Ashirra names for others. I’ve modified their disciplines etc to fit in with VTM5e. If there is an official ‘Indian Subcontinent’ splatbook for VTM 2nd to 4e, I’m unaware of it. If you own such a thing and want to play a clan from there, discuss it with me. You’ll probably have to swap out the disciplines for ones which exist in 5e.
  5. I’m tending to the view that the decline of the Camarilla in Europe began a lot earlier than the official setting, and snowballed into the official setting. Mainly because there was this little thing called World War 2. Vampires aren’t immune to artillery shells or air raids. The hordes of displaced populations wandering about in the aftermath of the war would have been great for the Sabbat or the Anarchs, but not for the Camarilla’s ways of doing things.
  6. I’m happy to stick with the official canon that the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries were run by Anarchs, using the political repression to hide what they were up to.
  7. I do not own any edition of Mage, Wraith, Changeling, Mummy or Hunter, and therefore am not using anything from those books. Please don’t complain if you meet a magician or a ghost and they don’t adhere to stuff established in those books.
  8. I do own various editions of Werewolf, so might use setting stuff from that, e.g. the Pentex Corporation or abilities of various types of shapeshifters.
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I know nothing and like that. I do want to learn more as we go along tho.
My character will, therefore, also know naught.
I prefer to read info dumps than have them read to me.
Maybe there is Vampire lore on the Dark Web?

Knowing nothing is fine. I am not an expert on VTM lore, and got annoyed about all the name dropping (without context or explanation) of vampires I’d never heard of in the 5e Core Rules.

The humans have figures out that vampires use the Dark Web/Deep Web!

I have to suggest that 1. is a missed opportunity. I would love to be the Vampire Prince of Perth or Duke of Dundee by dint of the fact that I was the only vampire in the city. I could assemble a glove puppet court.
Also I live in Scotland and we do have cars, buses and trains so we could get about the quite small country. Mind you I don’t know anything about Vampire 5th edition so perhaps vampires are forbidden to get into cars, buses or trains without an invite.
Anyway I bet it is/was/will be a great game.

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Well, it’s been a while - we dropped the play-by-forum aspect of this game and played online/live instead. Here are various handouts and reference sheets.

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The writer Stuart MacBride? If so I game with his brother every week.
I know Amanda from way back. I’m the Allan who’s Grunts game she mentioned in one of your podcasts and who you kindly taught games to at TableTop.

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Yes, I pinched the Oldcastle map from the endpapers of one of his books (and stitched the two images together, thus the weird shape).

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Stuart is a nice guy I remember his fanzine work for a local fanzine.

Six Degrees, eh?

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