Play Report for Vampire: the Masquerade

 Son #4, Nick, offered to run a few V:tM sessions and we said 'yes'. Last night was the first session.

Players and Characters-

Me: Juan, an 8th generation Brujah. Dressed like a high-end lawyer he is very political but remains a Brujah killing machine.

Jack: Miles, 10th generation Malkavian. Focused on mystical knowledge and his manic-depression, dressed like a business manager, excellent marksman.

Alex: Stanton, 10th generation Tremere focused on magical powers. Dressed as an Anglican priest from the 800's.

Sam: Ratboy, 10th generation Nosferatu. Dressed like a 1930's stage magician in a velvet tuxedo. Rich from money-laundering and information brokering.

We had all been briefed aforehand and had been gathered together on the orders of the local Elder of the Nosferatru, a quite influential kindred in the city of Antioch, where we lived. We were to track down how and why a werewolf had attacked longshoremen at the docks.

We decided to go lateral and went to meet a kindred who was an info broker for that area. Along the way we encountered a group of drug dealers who attempted to attack us, but we made short work of them, topping off blood as a result.

The Toreador broker gave us more details and things were not adding up - gunfight and werewolf at the docks breaking up a black market deal? The werewolf found staked and decapitated 2 days later? No one claimed credit for the kill? A group of 15th+ generation clanless kindred, anarchs, and outcasts found the werewolf? And someone was seen fleeing the scene with a box of - something? 

Next night we went to the docks to meet the stevedores that had been there. Using my Presence I sat down with a witness, claiming I was from the union higher ups. Under the influence of Awe he told his story and, - no werewolf. But he DID see a creature that could only have been a ghoul that no one else seemed to notice.

Using my knowledge of politics and the local clans I realized none of them had a ghoul that powerful with Obfuscate, so it was an outsider. I also realized they had to belong to the gang of kindred castoffs following Antonio, a clanless kindred "with backing" that swept up these leavings for his own use. We went to find and talk to the group of kindred that found the werewolf.

Unsurprisingly some were already missing or dead, but we got to thee survivors and, again, I used Presence/Awe to speak to them. They admitted that they had been ordered by Antonio to be silent but one of them had run to the clan elders. Quizzing them at length it became obvious the ghoul belongs to Antonio's mysterious backer. I convinced the two survivors to take refuge with the Brujah.

As we were leaving Miles' auspex revealed a powerful presence and, being spotted, the ghoul stepped forward and simply attacked.

The ghoul slammed into Miles, but Miles shrugged most of it off. Juan triggered Celerity and struck with his sword multiple times, crippling the ghoul. It took the strength of Juan (with Potence), Ratboy (with Potence), and Stanton (with telekinesis) to prevent the ghoul from tearing out its own throat. 

Once subdued we broke for the night.

NOTES:

On thing I can never convey is just how funny the session was. As gamemaster Nick would occasionally launch into 3-5 minute soliloquies about how tormented we were to be predatory creatures of the night doomed to wander the earth for thousands of years yet trapped in a culture that was about being the popular kids in high school.

We play games like this for the roleplaying aspects and there was a to of in-character interaction all around the table.

Nick runs a tight game.