Deja Venue

So after breaking down my Characters in each Venue in New York, I decided it was time to go through the Venues.

Now for those of you tuning in from the Non-Larping world...boy, you really took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. But in all seriousness, a Venue is what we call the different games that exist in the World of Darkness. So when I say "The Mage Venue" I'm referring to the game that we're playing in. For full effect, I am the Venue Storyteller, or VST for the Mage Game in New York City. So that means within the boundaries of New York, I control everything involving Mage.

Yes, I do love saying that. Why do you ask?

Anywho. December will mark my second anniversary with the club, and I'm only now getting the full hang of things. So before we begin I'm going to give a brief rundown of the Setting.

The Bronx is Up, the Battery is Down

New York City prides itself on the town that' been there and seen it all. Broken down into 5 boroughs and several islands, there is a lot of ground to cover. There is also a lot of history. This was native ground before the colonials bought it almost 400 years ago. In a world where characters can be that age or have access to the information through magic, that's a lot of potential ground to cover. Not to mention you have varying neighborhoods of varying temperaments and cultural backgrounds. You have 200 separate languages being spoken every single day, you have the highest of the high and the lowest of the low. You have the powerful and destitute, the famous and the infamous. It's trite but it's true, we're the center of the universe in the new millennium.

And that factors a lot into our games. Many of our players have contacts to the rest of the game on a Regional, National and Global level. Many of the locations we use as settings run the risk of requiring National level approval because potential damage would be that widespread.

So, let's get cracking. I'll be breaking it down in order of the Venue I started in. I'll give the setting, my interpretation of the venue, my pros and cons for each individual one and my overall opinion on it. Note: This is my opinion of the New York Venues. This is not fully indicative of the Here goes:

Vampire the Requiem

Setting:
Requiem is the story of the Beautifully Damned, Vampires. Blessed with Strength, Immortality, and Power over the Body and Mind but Cursed with the thirst for blood, an aversion to the sun and fire, and enslavement to the whims of the Beast that lurks in their soul. Vampires are now the top of the food chain, Predators amongst sheep, with only themselves as their worthy rivals. There are five clans of Vampires and most hold allegiance to one of five Covenants.

Fuck Mortals, I'm a Vampire!

The Clans
- Mekhet: Adepts at hiding and finding things, be it information or their prey.
- Daeva: the Social elite. The seducers and natural politicians.
- Ventrue: Born to power and rule, capable manipulators and commanders.
- Gangrel: Rougher than the others, and closer to their Beasts. Even the more genteel are dangerous.
- Nosferatu: The physically or subconciously repellant. Nocturnal stalkers and hunters.

The Covenants:
- The Invictus: The old Nobility of Kindred Society. Often the ones running things, or at least thinking they run things. They value Power and the Strength to wield it.
- The Lancea Sanctum: Religious Group founded on the teachings of Longinius, who stabbed and was cursed by Christ. Representing the Western Abrahamic Traditions. They believe God cursed vampires as a test of redemption
- Circle of the Crone: Religious group founded by the myriad pagan religions not affiliated to the Lance. They believe being a Kindred is something to revel in.
- Carthian Movement: The Progressives who feel that Kindred society can blend more into Mortal Society.
- Ordo Dracul: Academic group founded by Vlad Tepes and his Brides after their miraculous Embrace. They believe in change and transcending the Curse of Kindred.

My interpretation:
Without argument or question, Requiem is the flagship game in New York, Mind's Eye Society and White Wolf. You will very rarely see as many players in this game as you will the others, or players who come to play solely Requiem. This is the top of the list.

The game is Control. Vampires are the top of the food chain, they control the mortals and can feed on them at will. The only thing that stops them is each other and their own will. With the Beast always in the background. As such you get to see about every form of combat you can think of as everyone vies to get their agenda through.

As such, this is one of the more politically active games. It's very easy for people to get picked up into plot simply because of their usefulness or because they add number to a Clan or Covenant, and therefore the opportunity for Status. However, if you do not fit into a specific mold, i.e; have anything clear that can be brought to the table or haven't established your character as being useful, then you can look forward to a few sessions at what is effectively the kids table until you're no longer involved.

And this can be a wait. With many people, this is their first venue, and some characters may be years old and then some, with added history and ties that unless you've been playing as long for, you will never know or hope to crack. As such, there tends to be a distinct sense of what people call "the 'ol boys" club, where the veterans tend to hold all of the power and plot and let the junior players hit a form of Glass Ceiling. I've seen cases that both support and refute this in New York. As my character celebrates his Second year in play, I've only just felt like I've cracked into relevance, but compared to others I'm still far out of my depth.

Overall, I think out of the sanctioned games we have, this is the most mechanically simple. The disciplines are clearly spelled out and easy to understand (for the most part) and the Clans and Covenants are distinct enough to add flavor without being too generic. Some people may experience The Glass Ceiling while others flourish. My suggestion is to make the best of it and create your plot. I created a sister who wanted Taglia dead simply to have some plot, and it worked out.

Pros:
Comparitively Simple Mechanics, stories spanning the globe. Great Political and Social game.

Cons:
People may have a hard time fitting in, or hitting The Glass Ceiling.  

Fuck Reality! I'm a Mage!

Mage: The Awakening
Setting:
You know Reality? That thing that tells you that you aren't special, that the world is nothing special, that there is no such thing as Magic? Well, guess what. You're dead wrong. Mage is the game of people who have Awakened to the Truth of things, that the world was once beautiful and full of Magic but had Fallen. People as a whole have become innately infected with this Lie that magic isn't real, and because they think it isn't, it has a harder time of working. Mages are the grand-Hackers of Reality, able to effect the world in major ways. Need to Curse someone into having the world's worst luck? No problem. Need to summon up Ghosts or Spirits? Can be done. Need to create the sunlight during the night? If you learn it, you can do it. Even the world's worst Mage has the potential to make a lot of lives very difficult.

The game is made up of five Paths, Mages who derive their Magic from different Realms. There are also five separate Orders, factions that serve different functions for Mages. There are Ten different Arcana. While each Path are experts in two specific Arcana, they can potentially learn all of them.

Arcana:
Fate: Mostly deal in Probability and Conditions. Luck, Oaths, and Probability.
Time: Premonitions and Postcognition, able to control the flow of time.
Mind: Telepathy, Thought Processes, Astral Projection, Empathy, Mind Control, Possession.
Space: Remote Viewing/Scrying, Teleportation, Small on the Outside, Larger on the Inside. MC Esher Geometry.
Death: talking and controling Ghosts, Shadows, Illness.
Matter: Creating and controlling Solids, Liquids and Gases. Alchemical alterations.
Forces: Controlling, Harnessing and manipulating Light, Sound, Heat, Energy, anything that would have been covered under a Physics curriculum.
Prime: Pure, unadulterated Magic. Prime magic helps in replenishing and controlling Mana, which fuels spells.
Life: Health, Body Functioning, Shapeshifting.
Spirit: The ability to see, control and talk to Spirits, and possibly enter their realm.

Paths
- Acanthus: Derive their power from the (possibly) Faerie Realm of Arcadia. They are Enchanters, and are adepts of Time and Fate magic.
- Mastigos: Derive their power from the Nightmare Realm of Pandemonium. They are Warlocks, and control the powers of Mind and Space magic.
- Moros: Derive their power from the funereal Realm of Stygia. They are Necromancers/Alchemists who control Death and Matter magic
- Obrimos: Derive their power from the heavenly Realm of The Aether. They are theurgists who control Forces and Prime.
-Thyrsus (some people call it THRYsus): Derive their powers from the Primal Wild. They are shamans who control Life and Spirit.

Orders
- Silver Ladder: The Political branch of Mages in the City. They are often the Leaders, Ambassadors and Policy makers
- Adamantine Arrow: The Military Branch. Often the security, police and Army of the City.
- Mysterium: The Researchers and Relic Hunters. Often the historians and investigators.
- Guardians of the Veil: The Secret Police. They make sure that Paradox (what happens when Reality no longer likes it when you fuck with Magic) happens little or at all.
- The Free Council: Progressives who try to blend Magic and Technology.

My InterpretationMage is a game of Wisdom. You have access to the forces of Creation and Reality. What the hell do you do now? Do you control magic or does it control you? This leads to most conflicts being more about ideology as people than as political factions.

This is made easier considering that in New York, there really isn't much of a political game going on. Of course as I say that, one is under way, because I forget to knock on wood. One of the major reasons for the lack of political game is because Mage had the smallest attendance numbers of the other venues. That's changed now, as our numbers have doubled. So the chances for political fuckery have now begun.

Mage as a game is my favorite venue. I love it so much, I wanted to become Storyteller for it (and I am...God help me and the poor bastards who play for me). One of my reasons for liking it revolve around the fact that these are both the most powerful and most human characters out of the venues. You're still physically human, for the most part. A gun will kill you just as dead if you get shot enough times. You can live, grow old, marry, have children (other venues make that last one very difficult) and die naturally. Mages aren't immortal, and those who try end up becoming monsters.

One of the precedents of Mage coming in was that the journey of each player is a personal one. As you gain in power, your soul becomes more attuned to the Universe. This can lead to wonderful, terrible scenes where your character is not only the focus, but the plot itself.

One of the problems with Mage in New York, or at least my biggest tiff with it, is that the there is a sense of informality about the venue. There is only one real meeting location, one real core group. Where Changeling and Requiem have different political bodies, and they all have their own private holdings for gatherings, there is only really one for Mage and it is a guarded secret. This leads to the interesting notion that visitors coming into the city either need to be brought in or have to come to the attention of others by chance or occurrence. This becomes a challenge to keep the setting from not being static, while also allowing things to not be contrived.

Of Course, this is a game where Fate is an active Power in the game. Contrivances is part and parcel :D

Mechancially, Mage is one of the more complicated games. Whereas in Changeling and Requiem, a specific dot in an ability denotes a specific skill, in Mage it means a specific range of skills. While it's true that you can specialize, you effectively have access to dozens of abilities, with some of them being used conjunctively. This adds a level of "you really need to know what the hell you're doing" as you play.



Pros:
Wide Range of Abilities. The Powers don't matter as much as the characters. Able to do very intense personal scenes.

Cons:
The setting can be static. You need to know precisely what spell you're using

Fuck Sanity! I'm a Changeling!

Changeling the Lost
Setting
Lost is the story of the Beautiful Broken. Changelings are humans who, for various reasons, are abducted by Fae into the realm of Arcadia (whether it's the same Arcadia as the one the Acanthus Mages work off of are completely different is unknown) where they are changed at the whim of their new Keeper and then subsequently escape back into the mortal world.  Too wierd to live, to rare to die.

Changeling is a game about Surviving. Every single one of the characters has escaped (or are working for) extradimensional captors. That has lead to a lot of scars physical and metaphysical. As such, the Changelings try to cope by banding together, but in many ways take on the strangeness of their abusers. Changelings are made up of individual Seemings and Courts, more Noble House than Political Bloc.

Seemings:
- Fairest: The Beautiful People. From the outwardly flirtatious to the Beautiful and Terrible. They are blessed with beauty and grace.
- Ogres: The lumbering brutes. They are the muscle, the giants and trolls. They are the most fascinated by Oaths.
- Darklings: Creatures of the living night. They take on the more dark and overtly nightmarish qualities.
- Beasts: Changelings made to resemble animals, creating strange hybrids.
- Wizened: Changelings press ganged into serving specific jobs and functions while being lessened in some way.

It should be noted that each Seeming is broken down into a Kith, a specific sub-section that explains precisely what. These Kiths range in the dozens.

Courts
- Spring Court: The Court of Desire. Many see the Court as hedonists. Revered Healers.
- Summer Court: The Court of Wrath. Often the more aggressive characters will gravitate towards them. The militaristic inclined.
- Autumn Court: The Court of Fear. The Academics, if teaching out of Miskatonic U.
- Winter Court: The Court of Sorrow. The Formal Traditionalists. Keeper of the Forms and Ways.

other Courts include
- Dawn Court: Representing Hope. A Rare court that few belong to.
- Dusk Court: Representing Fatalism.
- Day Court: Representing Shame, believers in Order
- Night Court: Representing Disgust, agents of Chaos
- North Court: Ascetic Order, representing Suffering
- East Court: Wealthy Order blending in Mortal Society, Representing Envy.
- South Court: True Hedonists, representing Ecstasy
- West Court: Virtuous Warriors, Representing Honor.

Interpretation
I have a strange form of ambivalence towards Changeling. I love the venue, and I fully believe that out of all of the venues we're playing in New York, Changeling is by far the most tragic. In Requiem, Vampires have the potential for Golconda, that mythical transcendence out of Vampirism and Mages have the ability to ascend to the Supernal Realms where they belong. Changelings don't have that. There is no endgame. When all is said and done, they are still runaways, and the next day is another chance to survive. That leads to very interesting dynamic.

I've said it before in an another post, Changeling has been the one venue that has left me tearful as you're a member of a group of trauma survivors. It's tragic and it's wonderful to be a part of.

Lost's main strength is it's weakness: Variety. With the various Seemings, Kiths, Courts, and Entitlements, the combinations are the largest than they are in any other game. However, sometimes those combinations will lead to fruitless choices, or are merely there to add flavor. This is where the other side of my ambivalence comes from. Either you're useful, or you aren't in this game.

Changeling in New York is known for it's strong Worldbuilding. With numerous Courts and entities running around, it has the most distinct lines drawn as to where everything is. It also has a large assortment of NPCs belonging to various Courts, each one adding to the depth of realism into the world. When I look to worldbuilding in a LARP, I look to Changeling.

In short, Changeling is a lot like Requiem in that it's one of the go-to games. I actually recommend this game to first time Role Players. Memory loss is a common occurrence for those escaping Arcadia, so it's normal for a new Character to not know anything. It's also more communal, where people are actively trying to help one another, this lends to a less hostile environment to learn and grow in

Pros: Beautiful Concept, rich world and cast of characters. More communal nature allows people to get involved in plot, Easy to start in.

Cons: wide a range of abilities can make some combinations redundant and unnecessary.






That's my views on the venues in a nutshell. For further details, just ask.

Later.