Sunday, March 27, 2011

Prepping for the game; D&D 4e / Vampire: the Masquerade re-skinned


I have accumulated a sizable gaming library through the years. Though my current group of players are pretty much genre purisits, I can sneak in a cross-genre reference or two without breaking the suspension of disbelief - if I carefully reskin the presentation and hide the origin point.


Two weeks ago, our brave Heroes of Greyhawk fled from the dragons invading the town of Dyvers; they fled because they knew they could not defeat an entire flight of hundreds of dragons. They went to a place near Dyvers, called the Halfling Warrens; a third of which is on the surface, the other two-thirds are below ground, a series of subteranean rooms, meeting halls, warehouses, dormatories, printshops, etc. Now the heroes are bravely fighting Argentum the Werewolf Lord. One hero is down and has failed two Death Saves already. I anticipate about 50% casualties, but a win for the surviving party members.


They don't realize it yet, but they are in the Shadowfell and having decided against hiring a guide to get them back to the surface... they are lost! Now the fun begins.


While perusing my old game collection I happened upon my worn first edition copy of Vampire: The Masquerade. And I thought, yeah, vampires in the Shadowfell, that's exciting - an entire fortress of vampires, and ghoul servants and several pens of surface dwelling "cattle" captured as they fled from Dyvers. I decided to create several vampires in D&D 4e stats. First, I created a list of all the clans in that book a paltry seven clans, if you don't count the Caitiff. And really, who counts the Caitiff anyway? Then broke down a list of the Disciplines most closely associated with each of those clans. Working from that list, I crafted an undead creature, using a Monster Builder vampire as my template.


While listening to Pandora last night, I discovered Molok, and named the vampire fortress after them. I'm putting finishing touches on the map now and still have stat out the Gangrel and Brujah defenders as well as the Toreador Prince and his entourage. I think this will be a good time.

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