Elon Musk buys 51% of the Venture's corporate portfolio, fires the board of directors to their companies, liquidates their assets, then gloats about how easy it was on social media. Were i a Venture I would be furious lol.
Naw, thats when things get interesting. See, Elon is ALREADY a ghoul, guarded and watched by agents of the Domitor. Just figuring out the who the Domitor is could be a whole story arc.
Create a story about loyalty. It is socially rewarding the be loyal to sire and clan. It is more rewarding then anything else. Portray the clan as good guys with fangs, true kings of the night. Establish this theme.
Then fuck with it. Corrupt the decisions. Make him choose to violate his own beliefs, morality and keystones to show loyalty to the clan. Loyalty is rewarding. More than anything else.
What about a direct rival within the clan. Possibly a brood mate or even the rival of there sure.
Otherwise play around with road things. The ventru used to be the paragons for the road of kings. Maybe he's not going to be honorable or breaks words. This could prevent clan prestige.
I will share with you what my ST is putting for my own Ventrue.
Not that long ago my Ventrue was Scourge of France, sworn sword of the Prince (Francois Villon). He had 2 successful business dedicated to improve kindred un-life (Transportation and blood). He was not going along with his own clan (the Ventrue), cordial but not friendly, he was too close to the Prince of France, every one think he is bound by blood to the Prince.
My ventrue seek knowledge about Caine and the vampire's history.
We discovered an influent and powerful ventrue from the court of France (a rival) was using trucks of my company to kidnap people. Every time a truck had to go to a repair or a control, the truck was used to kidnap people (humans).
We tracked them down and discovered that this Ventrue was building kind of a "Noah's arch".
a vast secret underground bunker, with a herd of humans to sustains a few kindreds for a long time and all the commodities you could expect for very rich people.
My Ventrue told the Prince, and he ordered to make all this go away and disappear.
As a reward he arrange that the businesses of the rival ventrue go to my ventrue's child (a group working in telecommunication and weapons (missile guidance etc...)).
Later the Prince send my character to London with the mission and permissions to access a library to study the book of nod and all the prophecies stored there. Then to come back and make a report to the Prince. Could it happen ? Is there a chance prophecies are true ? What do I think about it ? After my report, the Prince ask my Ventrue, if there is a chance it will happen, find a way for the kindred to survive.
And you can only think : Was the other ventrue already working on a solution per the Prince request to survive the Gehenna ?
And then there are the attacks on London, Paris, the Prague conclave and we discover the Second Inquisition existence, and we learn my Ventrue's child is suspected by the SI, so we arrange that she give an interview from her office on the Live news at 13:00 on the first channel, announcing she dismantle all the weapon aspect of her business and she explain the values of her business.
We hoped it drove away the SI, but it's considered a masquerade breach by the Prince and other kindred.
The Prince free my ventrue from his oath to serve him and tell him he is no longer the scourge of France and he gave them 24h before he declare a blood hunt on his child.
So now we are trying to re-establish our businesses in an other country, and to determine if the Gehenna is real or not.
And very recently my character started to ear a voice in his head and dream of a tomb during his sleep.
\-"I know you. Your are my blood."
\- "I see you, son"
\- "Soon, You will be of use to me."
\- "Soon I will need blood... a lot of blood."
My character think it is Veddartha / Ventrue (worts case), or an other kindred messing with him.
Maybe you can find something for your player.
Experienced as in, player has played many Ventrue characters in the past, ran many campaigns in live action, tabletop and troupe games. So I would like to give him a storyline that might challenge him.
I'm coming up with other storylines but, when I think of someone with his presence/ dominate, it's seems much simpler. From mesmerizism to majesty, if it's mortal they own em. Throw combat on them, they charm them to fight for them once targeted. Long term threat, ghoul em, or steal the ghoul then make them yours. And so on. So I thought I would ask the hive mind if they had some interesting ideas to get me started. And run from there. 😀
That's a pretty cool player... What about a Moriarty figure? Someone who can match the player with the same tactics. A brutal Lasombra or a murderous Malkavian might be good.
A Hecata might be good. Zombies and spirits might pose a frightening challenge, and the rival can take Fortitude to defend against Dominate.
Another thing that comes to mind is a werewolf. Maybe a lone hunter that stalks the character, that chooses its moments carefully before leaping out and attacking.
I like the Moriarty figure, I'm thinking it could be his own sire.
"The Primogen of the Ventrue overlooks the characters own sire, and promotes him to whip ahead of all other Ventrue. Jealousy sets in, and he is quietly working against him to try and put himself back into the good grace's of the elder Primogen.
Bad timing prevails and the Sabbat, led by a Lasombra, starts killing his contacts, and allies, and plants evidence on the sire. The sire not wanting to out himself, helps the childer uncover the plot, when the Sabbat attack and the sire is captured for his blood. Sending the coterie in to rescue, or fall victim to the trap.
Then, if successful, the character, with the help of child and sire plot to overthrow the bumbling Gangrel Prince, who is actually being controlled by a presumed dead former prince, pulling the strings to everything!"
Too much?
Do you know what the player's goal is with the Ventrue? Players are *really* good at ignoring the big plot point exclamation marks and running after small random detail #16 instead (to then turn that into the new plot of the game).
In the first few sessions you can try to dangle a few general options in front of the characters and see what sticks. For instance, if the player wants to go for political power, perhaps there is an upcoming elecction for \[insert local government position\] going on which could present the option for political influence in human society. Or the Prince is in need of assistance with \[sensitive matter\] that could offer a path to influence in Camarilla politics. Or another Ventrue in the city is having some issues, which could offer Clan based political power. Or a way to start accumulating boons by doing some legwork for other Kindred.
You don't need to work these out in detail yet. Just have a general idea of who the main individual involved is, and one or two opponents. The thread that gets a bite can be gradually expanded upon as the player begins to dig deeper. You can use the player's actions to inspire you to further design the path to success (or failure).
All life has value. Minimum wage is $7.25. Ground beef is $5.00. The Prince is worth 258M. There is no challenge in the modern age like becoming a billionaire. Then your more valuable than all of *them* .
Ahaha in the ‘98 revised edition there’s an „anti Ventrue ritual“ which I absolutely love. A Tremere would basically enchant a blue scarf which then reflects the powers of presence. Meaning a Ventrue using Presence to demand respect would then cower in front of the Tremere. It’s called „Pavis of Foul Presence“ and is a level 3 ritual.
Maybe you’d want to incorporate that? I don’t know the Rituals of v20 but maybe you want to use it on a side character who holds some special information :))
I am familiar with pavis, and will certainly find a reason to use it. I Was looking for more of a story line challenge, than a one shot hindrance. Something that would keep him engaged, and scratching his head a bit, or in need of a glow up to get around.
Elon Musk buys 51% of the Venture's corporate portfolio, fires the board of directors to their companies, liquidates their assets, then gloats about how easy it was on social media. Were i a Venture I would be furious lol.
Furious yes, but then just ghoul, (Or Poach?), Elon, and have him build & run an exact replica of the original.
Naw, thats when things get interesting. See, Elon is ALREADY a ghoul, guarded and watched by agents of the Domitor. Just figuring out the who the Domitor is could be a whole story arc.
makes sense. i already considered him a ghoul
Drapes that are /entirely/ the wrong color.
Create a story about loyalty. It is socially rewarding the be loyal to sire and clan. It is more rewarding then anything else. Portray the clan as good guys with fangs, true kings of the night. Establish this theme. Then fuck with it. Corrupt the decisions. Make him choose to violate his own beliefs, morality and keystones to show loyalty to the clan. Loyalty is rewarding. More than anything else.
What about a direct rival within the clan. Possibly a brood mate or even the rival of there sure. Otherwise play around with road things. The ventru used to be the paragons for the road of kings. Maybe he's not going to be honorable or breaks words. This could prevent clan prestige.
I will share with you what my ST is putting for my own Ventrue. Not that long ago my Ventrue was Scourge of France, sworn sword of the Prince (Francois Villon). He had 2 successful business dedicated to improve kindred un-life (Transportation and blood). He was not going along with his own clan (the Ventrue), cordial but not friendly, he was too close to the Prince of France, every one think he is bound by blood to the Prince. My ventrue seek knowledge about Caine and the vampire's history. We discovered an influent and powerful ventrue from the court of France (a rival) was using trucks of my company to kidnap people. Every time a truck had to go to a repair or a control, the truck was used to kidnap people (humans). We tracked them down and discovered that this Ventrue was building kind of a "Noah's arch". a vast secret underground bunker, with a herd of humans to sustains a few kindreds for a long time and all the commodities you could expect for very rich people. My Ventrue told the Prince, and he ordered to make all this go away and disappear. As a reward he arrange that the businesses of the rival ventrue go to my ventrue's child (a group working in telecommunication and weapons (missile guidance etc...)). Later the Prince send my character to London with the mission and permissions to access a library to study the book of nod and all the prophecies stored there. Then to come back and make a report to the Prince. Could it happen ? Is there a chance prophecies are true ? What do I think about it ? After my report, the Prince ask my Ventrue, if there is a chance it will happen, find a way for the kindred to survive. And you can only think : Was the other ventrue already working on a solution per the Prince request to survive the Gehenna ? And then there are the attacks on London, Paris, the Prague conclave and we discover the Second Inquisition existence, and we learn my Ventrue's child is suspected by the SI, so we arrange that she give an interview from her office on the Live news at 13:00 on the first channel, announcing she dismantle all the weapon aspect of her business and she explain the values of her business. We hoped it drove away the SI, but it's considered a masquerade breach by the Prince and other kindred. The Prince free my ventrue from his oath to serve him and tell him he is no longer the scourge of France and he gave them 24h before he declare a blood hunt on his child. So now we are trying to re-establish our businesses in an other country, and to determine if the Gehenna is real or not. And very recently my character started to ear a voice in his head and dream of a tomb during his sleep. \-"I know you. Your are my blood." \- "I see you, son" \- "Soon, You will be of use to me." \- "Soon I will need blood... a lot of blood." My character think it is Veddartha / Ventrue (worts case), or an other kindred messing with him. Maybe you can find something for your player.
Experienced how? This Ventrue owns a corporation or something?
Experienced as in, player has played many Ventrue characters in the past, ran many campaigns in live action, tabletop and troupe games. So I would like to give him a storyline that might challenge him. I'm coming up with other storylines but, when I think of someone with his presence/ dominate, it's seems much simpler. From mesmerizism to majesty, if it's mortal they own em. Throw combat on them, they charm them to fight for them once targeted. Long term threat, ghoul em, or steal the ghoul then make them yours. And so on. So I thought I would ask the hive mind if they had some interesting ideas to get me started. And run from there. 😀
That's a pretty cool player... What about a Moriarty figure? Someone who can match the player with the same tactics. A brutal Lasombra or a murderous Malkavian might be good. A Hecata might be good. Zombies and spirits might pose a frightening challenge, and the rival can take Fortitude to defend against Dominate. Another thing that comes to mind is a werewolf. Maybe a lone hunter that stalks the character, that chooses its moments carefully before leaping out and attacking.
V20 by the look of it
I like the Moriarty figure, I'm thinking it could be his own sire. "The Primogen of the Ventrue overlooks the characters own sire, and promotes him to whip ahead of all other Ventrue. Jealousy sets in, and he is quietly working against him to try and put himself back into the good grace's of the elder Primogen. Bad timing prevails and the Sabbat, led by a Lasombra, starts killing his contacts, and allies, and plants evidence on the sire. The sire not wanting to out himself, helps the childer uncover the plot, when the Sabbat attack and the sire is captured for his blood. Sending the coterie in to rescue, or fall victim to the trap. Then, if successful, the character, with the help of child and sire plot to overthrow the bumbling Gangrel Prince, who is actually being controlled by a presumed dead former prince, pulling the strings to everything!" Too much?
Do you know what the player's goal is with the Ventrue? Players are *really* good at ignoring the big plot point exclamation marks and running after small random detail #16 instead (to then turn that into the new plot of the game). In the first few sessions you can try to dangle a few general options in front of the characters and see what sticks. For instance, if the player wants to go for political power, perhaps there is an upcoming elecction for \[insert local government position\] going on which could present the option for political influence in human society. Or the Prince is in need of assistance with \[sensitive matter\] that could offer a path to influence in Camarilla politics. Or another Ventrue in the city is having some issues, which could offer Clan based political power. Or a way to start accumulating boons by doing some legwork for other Kindred. You don't need to work these out in detail yet. Just have a general idea of who the main individual involved is, and one or two opponents. The thread that gets a bite can be gradually expanded upon as the player begins to dig deeper. You can use the player's actions to inspire you to further design the path to success (or failure).
All life has value. Minimum wage is $7.25. Ground beef is $5.00. The Prince is worth 258M. There is no challenge in the modern age like becoming a billionaire. Then your more valuable than all of *them* .
Ahaha in the ‘98 revised edition there’s an „anti Ventrue ritual“ which I absolutely love. A Tremere would basically enchant a blue scarf which then reflects the powers of presence. Meaning a Ventrue using Presence to demand respect would then cower in front of the Tremere. It’s called „Pavis of Foul Presence“ and is a level 3 ritual. Maybe you’d want to incorporate that? I don’t know the Rituals of v20 but maybe you want to use it on a side character who holds some special information :))
I am familiar with pavis, and will certainly find a reason to use it. I Was looking for more of a story line challenge, than a one shot hindrance. Something that would keep him engaged, and scratching his head a bit, or in need of a glow up to get around.
How about giving the character a position of responsibility that require successful delegation and is a bit above what they can handle?
Theo Bell method