[V20] Kapten pitches Giovanni Chronicles - Nuova Malattia

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Devil Kindred... Necromancers... Masters of the Dark Soul. Names and epithets falling fearfully from the tongues of vampires who deride us. They pretend that we are of no consequence, that we are weak and have no influence.

Tell me, then, oh great lord of the night: How is it that a clan of independents, hated by every other childe of Caine, has managed to survive through the years, regardless of your terror and persecution?

Take heed, princes and priests - were you ever to see the truth, you would blind yourselves in order never to look upon it again. And in your blindness, we would consume you.

Boston, Massachusetts, 1929. With prohibition entering into its tenth year, bootlegging and organized crime has flourished. The Giovanni, the Kindred Clan of Death, the Necromancers, see the American Mafia as a perfect tool for their pursuit of lucre and souls. Andreas Giovanni, Capo of Boston, is growing his clan's influence, snaring new, capable agents with his lures of vice and blood, of power and respect.

You are about to step into the red night.

Nuova Malattia is a Vampire chronicle in four acts, spanning seven decades. It is a story of organized crime, vampiric intrigue with a dash of the ghostly. The players start out as mortal men and women with ties to the Giovanni, transformed into ghouls in service of the Boston Giovanni and dragged deeper into the webs of organized crime. Those who succeed will themselves become Kindred. Those who fail will either remain ghouls, half-damned forever in service to the Necromancers, or face death. With the Giovanni however, death is not always the end...

Nuova Malattia is also a story about ghosts. The Giovanni are a clan of necromancers, binding and compelling the souls of the dead. As the story progresses, the ghosts of the clan's past become unearthed, and the players have the chance to put one of the ghosts haunting the clan to rest. Or, they can let the clan's past sins catch up with it.

What do I need to play?

You don't need to be a veteran player of Vampire the Masquerade to play the Giovanni Chronicles. The story takes the character from mortal to ghoul, ghoul to fledgeling, fledgeling to neonate, allowing new players to learn with their character. To play Nuova Malattia you need to at least be familiar with Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition. While there are some additional resources to be considered useful reading, these are not strictly necessary.

Ghouls and Revenants will be useful as the characters will begin their service as ghouls.

Lore of the Clans has a chapter on the Giovanni that delves into who the Necromancers are and how they operate. As the characters will begin on the periphery of the clan's reach, not knowing the finer points of the clan will not be a setback. Clanbook Giovanni Revised is also a good companion source to Lore of the Clans.

Rites of the Blood is useful for players wishing to explore the discipline of Necromancy more in-depth. The book offers additional Rituals, a look at different paradigms, and generally exploring the ”flavor” of Necromancy.

Theme

The major theme of Nuova Malattia is desensitization. Throughout the story, the characters are in some cases asked and in others demanded to commit some obscene acts against their fellow humans (at least, while they themselves are still human). That said, during character creation, an important question to consider, and one best asked of the players is what their characters’ moral limits are. Does the character consider murder acceptable under certain conditions? What about torture? Has the character ever been a victim or practitioner of rape or abuse? How does the character’s Humanity reflect this? Is he grimly resigned to his fate? Has his Humanity started to crumble at its foundation? Bear in mind that during the first two acts of the story, women’s independence was just beginning to take form, and many people still held to the “woman-as-servant” ideal. There were no special hotlines to call, and most victims of incest and abuse grew up repressing their hatred, only to inflict it upon their own families later. A character who grows up in that environment might think it normal, or at least inescapable, and feel no real remorse about causing pain to others.

Along the same lines, what would the character do to survive? To get rich? What is the most important thing to the character? Whatever it is, it is about to be replaced by vitae. Mothers have sold their children for a hit of crack, and vitae is even more difficult to resist. How far will the character go, knowing that to turn back means death at best, and Clan Giovanni’s disfavor at worst?

Just as important, especially considering their domitor, are the characters’ views on sex. Andreas is very interested in human sexual desire and what happens to it after the Proxy Kiss – the Giovanni's name for ghouldom. Andreas is himself amazingly seductive, and has no problem seducing men; after all, his actual sex drive is gone, and everything else is only acting. This may touch upon some sensitive issues among the players, and certainly the characters. After all, until the modern era, homosexuality was usually classified as a mental illness. Are any of the characters secretly (or openly) gay or bisexual? Does the very idea horrify them? Is the housewife character married with an increasingly boring sex life that she wishes she could enhance, or has she been taught that sex is nothing more than a burden she must bear? Depending on the characters’ answers, they may find themselves with alien feelings as the Blood Bond takes hold, or find their libidos
amplifying terribly.

This story echoes the core theme of Vampire perhaps more strongly than many chronicles prior to it. Humanity and morality by nature come to the fore — this is not a story about amassing Disciplines and slaying foes. Even the political angle serves to illustrate the depths to which a character must sink to achieve prominence. A character (or several) may very well drop to Humanity 0 over the course of the tale — such is the price of power.

As a final note, I will never push the theme on a player who has grown uncomfortable. Vampire, while not necessarily a comfortable experience, is nonetheless a game, and if a player cannot enjoy herself under the circumstances, it is the troupe’s responsibility to respect that person’s mores. There is no shame in this — this story may simply not be her cup of tea.

Mood

The mood of Nuova Malattia can best be described as forced civility. Consider: The Mafia is a highly complex, very social organization. “Respect” is a serious consideration, as not showing it to one’s superior can be fatal. Meeting with an enemy boss is often done over a meal. This kind of casualness should be very unnerving for the characters at first; not only do they have to kill people, arrange brutal fights, sell drugs and find prostitutes, they have to remember to be polite while discussing it! As the characters get more used to the rules of conduct that accompany the Mob, however, this forced civility may eventually become something they force on others, perhaps their own ghouls or childer. This, of course, plays back into the theme of degeneration.

A second mood is one of New England mysticism. It is one of confusion, tension and madness, the mysterious and the eerie. Insular families hide their dark secrets behind polite facades, séances and Ouija boards reveal glimpses of the unknown, and the past always comes back to haunt the living. As Necromancers, the Giovanni are more in tune with these forces. Does this awareness make them safer, or does it only serve to speed their degeneration?

I am definitely interested.

I've never played VtM or oWoD at all, but I'm willing to try.

Formally expressing my interest here!

I see we're starting as humans, in 1929 Boston. Standard V20 mortal character creation?

I'll post character creation guidelines tomorrow It will be standard mortal character creation, with some useful info to get you into the swing of things.

Character Creation Guide

Step One:
Character Concept
Choose concept, Nature, and Demeanor.

Step Two:
Select Attributes
Prioritize the three categories: Physical, Social, Mental (6/4/3). Your character automatically has one dot in each Attribute.
Rate Physical Traits: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina
Rate Social Traits: Charisma, Manipulation,
Appearance
Rate Mental Traits: Perception, Intelligence, Wits

Step Three:
Select Abilities
Prioritize the three categories: Talents, Skills,
Knowledges (11/7/4).
Choose Talents, Skills, Knowledges
No Ability should be higher than a 3 at this stage.
Note that the Computers Knowledge is substituted by Bureaucracy

Step Four:
Select Advantages
Choose Disciplines. Characters may assign one dot in a Discipline that Andreas Giovanni possesses. All ghouls also obtain 1 dot in Potence, regardless.
Choose Backgrounds (5) and rate Virtues (7) All characters automatically gain one dot in each Virtue.

Step Five:
Finishing Touches
Calculate and record Humanity by adding Conscience and Self-Control together.
Record Willpower, which is equal to Courage. Ghouls may not take a Path of Enlightenment.
Spend Freebie points (21).
Optional: Choose Merits and Flaws. The sum of your Flaws cannot exceed 7 points.

Freebie Points
Trait and Cost
Attribute - 5 per dot
Ability - 2 per dot
Background - 1 per dot
Virtue - 2 per dot
Humanity - 1 per dot
Willpower - 1 per dot

Eagle-eyed players will note that the freebie cost for Humanity is lower for ghouls than for vampires. This is intentional. For all their monstrousness, ghouls are still among the living.

Also note that Attributes at 4 dots and above receive one free Specialty related to its use.

HELPFUL TRAITS
The following Abilities should be represented in the group. Given that the characters will be immersed in the subculture of the Mafia immediately after the Proxy Kiss is granted them, the usefulness of most of these Traits should be evident:
Streetwise (A character who begins with this Talent has a head start)
Subterfuge (Useful for second-guessing clients, ferreting out snitches and day-to-day survival around Andreas)
Etiquette (With a possible specialty in Mafia. As organized crime has its own rules of conduct, it would behoove the characters to know them)
Firearms
Security (Cracking safes, stealing documents, etc.)
Bureaucracy
Finance (Someone should have a rating of 2+ ideally)
Investigation (As much for covering the group’s tracks as anything else)
Law
The Language Merit (Someone should probably know Italian)
Occult (Not an uncommon trait; in 1929, spiritualism is a popular pastime)
Also, the Awareness Talent would be applicable. (It should be noted, however, that this gives a very loose sense of the mystical, and it is certainly no substitute for Auspex or Necromancy.)

Character Creation Guide and Ghoul Systems

When designing characters for the game, two things are worth taking into account. First, is your character in good standing with the Giovanni, or has she earned their ire? Ironically, both are equally valid reasons for Andreas to make them into his ghoul. Either your character is being "promoted" by being elevated above the herd, or she's being punished by being snared by the blood bond. The characters can come from virtually any background. The only common thread must be the Giovanni. A character with a “foot in the door,” i.e., who already works for the family in some capacity, be it soldier, mortician, researcher, city official, is perfectly acceptable, as
is a housewife whose family owes the Giovanni money, or an accountant who does some of their books.

Second, it is important that some relation to a Giovanni family exists. This could be the “main” branch (and at least one of the characters probably should be), or from one of its smaller families. For Nuova Malattia these families are as listed: the Scottish Dunsirn, a family of bankers with rarified tastes in food - human flesh; the Meso-American Pisanob, tomb robbers and necromancers; the east Asian della Passaglia, merchants with inroads to the silk and opium trade; the sub-Saharan Ghiberti, who got rich off of the triangle trade, as well as uncovering the secrets of African necromancy; the Sicilian Putanesca, a family of thugs and gangsters. On top of these, the Giovanni also has some minor "breeding families" they use to keep inbreeding from crippling their stock. These are the St. John (a cabal of English Masons), the Li Weng (a family of Chinese geomancers based in San Francisco’s Chinatown), the Hidalgo (Spanish-Mexian necromancers) and the Beryn (a family of Flemish merchants operating from Luxembourg with African influence like that of the Ghiberti). While some of these choices may at first sound odd from a geographic point of view, with the massive displacement of people after the Great War, a member of one of these families showing up in Boston in 1929 is not too "out there." Just keep things within the theme and mood of the story and it should work out fine.

Of course, the characters should know little (if anything) about their family’s supernatural habits; they should be distant enough relatives to have escaped the perversion so common to the Giovanni upbringing (this is important; see Theme and Mood in the first post). However, as long as some trace of Giovanni blood runs in their veins, Andreas can justifiably consider them for the Proxy Kiss and, later, for the Embrace.

Disciplines - As Andreas' vassals, you will get to pick a Discipline he possesses as your ghoul's second discipline. Here we can go about it two ways: either you get to pick it, or I choose it for you based on your character's nature and actions, making it a surprise reveal in-game.

Backgrounds - When picking out Backgrounds for your character, some Kindred-specific Backgrounds will be disallowed, some for more obvious reasons than others:
V20 - Black Hand Membership, Domain, Generation, Herd, Retainers (that's you guys), Rituals, Status.
Ghouls and Revenants - Domitor (everyone shares the same domitor, Andreas. No need to pay for him), Family Elder (Revenants only), Majordomo (Your characters will be out doing work for your domitor, not managing his estate)
Lore of the Clans - Spirit Slaves

Merits and Flaws -

V20 provides numerous Merits and Flaws for vampires. Despite this comprehensive list, not all of them are appropriate for ghouls.

The following Merits and Flaws are recommended for ghouls in Nuova Malattia:
• Physical: Acute Sense, Ambidextrous, Bruiser, Catlike Balance, Friendly Face, Daredevil, Huge Size, Hard of Hearing, Short, Smell of the Grave, Tic/Twitch, Bad Sight, Disfigured, One Eye, Addiction, Deformity, Lame, Lazy, Slow Healing, Disease Carrier, Deaf, Mute, Blind
• Mental: Coldly Logical, Common Sense, Concentration, Introspection, Language, Time Sense, Useful Knowledge, Code of Honor, Eidetic Memory, Natural Linguist, Calm Heart, Iron Will, Precocious, Impatient, Nightmares, Shy, Soft-Hearted, Speech Impediment, Unconvinced, Amnesia, Lunacy, Phobia, Short Fuse, Vengeful, Weak-Willed
• Social: Harmless, Natural Leader, Rep, Sanctity, Dark Secret, Expendable, Incomplete Understanding, Mistaken Identity, Sympathizer, Enemy, Failure, Old Flame, Uppity, Narc, Overextended, Laughingstock
• Supernatural: Deceptive Aura, Magic Resistance, Lucky, True Love, Nine Lives, Cursed, Oracular Ability, Deathsight, Dark Fate

These Merits and Flaws are disallowed for use when creating a ghoul in Nuova Malattia:
• Physical: Blush of Health, Early Riser, Eat Food, Efficient Digestion, Enchanting Voice, Fourteenth Generation, Fifteenth Generation, Dulled Bite, Infectious Bite, Vulnerability to Silver, Open Wound, Child, Glowing Eyes, Monstrous, Permanent Fangs, Permanent Wound, Thin Blood, Flesh of the Corpse, Infertile Vitae
• Mental: Computer Aptitude, Light Sleeper, Deep Sleeper, Prey Exclusion, Stereotype, Territorial, Thirst for Innocence, Victim of the Masquerade, Conspicuous Consumption, Guilt-Wracked, Flashbacks
• Social: Elysium Regular, Former Ghoul, Prestigious Sire, Sabbat Survivor, Boon, Bullyboy, Old Pal, Lawman's Friend, Open Road, Scholar of Enemies, Scholar of Others, Friend of the Underground, Mule, Rising Star, Broken Bond, Clan Friendship, Primogen/Bishop Friendship, Botched Presentation, Infamous Sire, New Arrival, New Kid, Recruitment Target, Sire's Resentment, Special Responsibility, Bound, Catspaw, Former Prince, Escaped Target, Masquerade Breaker, Hunted, Rival Sires, Disgrace to the Blood, Hunted Like a Dog, Sleeping with the Enemy, Clan Enimity, Loathsome Regnant, Probationary Second Member, Blood Hunted, Red List
• Supernatural: Healing Touch, Inoffensive to Animals, Medium, Spirit Mentor, Additional Discipline, Hidden Diablerie, True Faith, Cast No Reflection, Cold Breeze, Repulsed by Garlic, Touch of Frost, Beacon of the Unholy, Eerie Presence, Lord of the Flies, Can't Cross Running Water, Haunted, Repelled by Crosses, Grip of the Damned, Light-Sensitive, Unbondable


These Merits and Flaws found in Ghouls and Revenants, while appropriate to ghoul characters, may or may not be appropriate to Nuova Malattia

Recommended:
• Physical: Albino, Light Sensitive, Hemophiliac, Seizures
• Mental: Black and White, Fixation, Duplicitous
• Social: Obsession, Squeamish, Under Surveillance, Loose Lips, Self-Preservation, Problem with Authority
• Supernatural: Pale Aura, Clear-Sighted, Blood Flaw Immunity, Unbondable, Offensive to Animals, Romantic Notions, Vitae Sink
• Asset: Occult Library

Disallowed:
• Physical: Vicissitude Modifications, Cannibal
• Mental: Loyalty
• Social: Benevolent Domitor, Groomed for Embrace, Isolated Upbringing, Domitor Pariah, Turncoat, Blood Feud, Hunted, Fugitive
• Supernatural: Poisonous Blood, Virulent Strike, Finicky Palate, Artificially Aged


These Merits and Flaws appear in the Giovanni Chapter in Lore of the Clans

Recommended:
• Physical: Inbred
• Supernatural: Consanguineous Resistance

Disallowed:
• Physical: Cannibal
• Supernatural: Mortuario, Sanguine Incongruity, Shadow Walker

My draft for my character. Background will follow.

Name:      Eleonora Giovanni          Domitor Clan: Giovanni
Nature :   Visionary                  Demeanour: Confidant

Physical           Social             Mental         
Strength:      2   Charisma:      3   Perception:    3
Dexterity:     2   Manipulation:  3   Intelligence:  3
Stamina:       2   Appearance:    4   Wits:          2

Talents            Skills             Knowledges         Specialties
Alertness      0   Animal Ken     0   Academics      0   Appearance (Photogenic)
Athletics      0   Crafts         1   Bureaucracy    2   Empathy (Motives)
Awareness      2   Drive          0   Finance        2   Craft: Fetish
Brawl          0   Etiquette      3   Investigation  1   
Empathy        4   Firearms       0   Law            1   
Expression     0   Larceny        0   Medicine       1   
Intimidation   1   Melee          0   Occult         3   
Leadership     0   Performance    0   Politics       0   
Streetwise     0   Stealth        0   Science        1   
Subterfuge     3   Survival       0   Technology     0   

Languages: Native Italian, American

Disciplines:
Dominate       0
Necromancy     1   Path of the Sepulchre 1 (Ritual (Knowing Stone)
Potence        1


Background:         Allocation:
Resources         3
Memento de Morte  2
Contacts          2

Virtues                       
Conscience:       2   
Self-control:     4   
Courage:          4   

Humanity:         6
Willpower:        7

Merits:                            Flaws:
Language +1                        Black and White -1
Occult Library +2                  Romantic Notions -2
                 
FB: 0

Spent points
Willpower +3  (3)
Contacts +2   (2)
Empathy +1    (2)
Subterfuge +2 (4)
Perception +1 (5)
Appearance +1 (5)

Everything looks on the up and up at a first look-over. I see she's a native Italian speaker, so I'm guessing she's old country She she will need to pick a Necromancy ritual eventually, but we can leave that open for now.

What I would consider is maybe lowering her Willpower by a few dots and maybe put some of them into her Humanity, given the Theme of the chronicle. A Willpower score of 10 is pretty heroic, especially for a mortal or ghoul. Looking forwar to seeing the backstory

Maybe not so much old coutry as having grown up in an immigrant area where the main language is still italian.

I will make the requisite changes for the sheet.

Wraith Character Creation

Step One: Choose concept, Nature, and Demeanor.

Step Two: Select Attributes. Prioritize three categories: Physical/Social/Mental into Primary (7 points), secondary (5 points), and tertiary (3 points). Each Attribute starts with one free dot.

Step Three: Select Abilities. Prioritize three categories: Talents/skills/Knowledges into Primary (13 points), secondary (9 points), and tertiary (5 points). No Ability can be higher than 3 dots at this stage. Replace Animal Ken with Meditation. Replace Computer with Law.

Step Four: Select Advantages. Choose Arcanoi (5 pts) no Arcanoi can be higher than 3 points at this stage. Backgrounds (7 points), Passions (10 points), and Fetters (10 points).

Step Five: Finishing Touches. Record beginning Pathos (5 + Memoriam) and beginning Willpower (5). Spend freebies.

Freebie Point Cost
Attribute - 5 pts/dot
Arcanoi - 5 pts/dot
Willpower - 2 pts/dot
Abilities - 2 pts/dot
Passions - 2 pts/dot
Backgrounds - 1 pt/dot
Fetters - 1 pt/dot
Pathos - 1 pt/2 dots

Step Six: Shadow Creation.

Shadow Creation

Step One: Archetype. Choose a Shadow Archetype.

Step Two: Angst. Roll a number of dice equal to Wraith's Willpower, difficulty 6. Result is Shadow's Permanent Angst.

Step Three: Dark Passions. Select Dark Passions (7).

Step 4: Freebie Points. Spend Freebie points (10).

Freebie Cost

Dark Passion - 1 pt/dot
Temporary Angst - 2 pt/dot
Thorns - Special cost per Thorn

What is a wraith?
A wraith is a person who died and left something unfinished, something important enough to keep them from moving on to their final reward.
Wraiths are guided by their Passions. These passions are part goal, part emotion. For example a wraith might have the Passion "Protect my children (Love)". By pursuing their passions or being in the presence of powerful expressions of emotion related to one of their passions, they harvest Pathos.
Wraiths are bound to the lands of the living (the Skinlands) via Fetters. A fetter might be an object, location, or even person. When a wraith slumbers inside their Fetter, they recover their damaged Corpus. A wraith without fetters cannot enter the Skinlands, instead sinking deeper into the Underworld.
Pathos is the Wraith equivalent of Vitae, and is made up of pure emotional energy. Wraiths do not drain Pathos from people, rather when a wraith experiences a passion they generate Pathos. Wraiths use Pathos to heal damage, travel the Underworld, power their Arcanoi (Wraith Disciplines) or power Artifacts.
Corpus is a wraith's health. They don't suffer health penalties as mortals or physical beings do, and losing their last dot of Corpus does not necessarily destroy the wraith.
Every wraith has a Shadow. The Shadow is the wraith's worst impulses and cruelties, self-destructive tendensies and dark desires, the things they were taught to supress when alive - and it has become self-aware and given a voice in the wraith's head. The Shadow knows the wraith's every secret - the Shadow is the wraith after all - and uses that knowledge to try and drive the wraith to Oblivion.

What do wraiths want?
Wraiths want to Transcend. By resolving their Passions and Fetters, and making peace with their death, the wraith can move on to their final reward, leaving the Underworld forever.
Wraiths want to protect their loved ones and the Fetters. Wraiths have a hard time interacting with their Skinlands, and find that there are a multitude of threats to their earthly connections, from mortals to other wraiths looking to harm them.
Wraiths want to defeat their enemies. Wraiths have many enemies, from people in the Skinlands who harmed them in life, to rival wraiths who want to stop them from achieving their goals. The Heirarchy have laws forbidding wraiths from interacting with the living, the Renegades defy the Heirarchy's tyranny, Heretics apply mortal religious beliefs to the realities of the Underworld, often earning the enimity of Heirarch and Renegade alike. On top of this, each wraith has their own worst enemy in their own head, where the shadow tries to drag them down into Oblivion, reshaping the wraith into a murderous Spectre. Wraiths need allies in their struggles, simply to endure. The rare ones even thrive.

What do wraiths do?
Wraiths haunt the living, harvesting Pathos, protecting Fetters and Relics.
Wraiths conspire with fellow wraiths in Circles, seeking strength in numbers against the horrors of the Underworld and the threats of the Skinlands.
Wraiths ally with necromancers, trading services. A wraith might spy for the necromancer, and in return the necromancer protects their haunt from being demolished. Unlucky wraiths find themselves at risk of being enslaved by the necromancer, while the necromancer is at risk of having an eternal enemy they cannot see or touch.

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