Campaign Style: Streetwise

The elite prosper from the red harvest they reap from bottom of society. The poor sign Commercial Internment contracts with the Lamiary industry. They've got witchkind relatives hiding in the slums, hoping nobody will turn them in for a fast reward. They're the ones that fugitive vampires feed from -- and kill, to hide their tracks. But these situations aren't the worst things about being poor -- being poor is the worst thing about being poor.

In this campaign, characters live hand to mouth, balancing crushing labour with the next dangerous con or get-rich-quick scheme where they cross paths with the supernatural world. One is an up and coming rust dealer who's looking to move up the supply chain. Another's a small time enforcer, hooked to the mob for blood and v-plants. A third's taking action against the state and business interests that encourage them all to trip into an early death.

Advantages: Locally oriented, so you can flesh out a community. Wealth matters; it makes a big difference to the characters. Problems can't be solved with favours or overwhelming force because the characters don't have either. At the same time, characters can change the tone of the campaign with a few smart moves. There's plenty of room for intimate stories. A Streetwise game is about who's on the steps and in the court. You can define these NPCs and keep characters coming back to them. You can also shift from this style to another pretty easily -- there's nowhere to go but up.

Disadvantages: There's a smaller scope until you hook the local scene up to large-scale events, at which point it's not really the same campaign. There's not much room for high end style. If the characters make a wrong move, powerful people can crush them.

Campaign Style: Streetwise

The elite prosper from the red harvest they reap from bottom of society. The poor sign Commercial Internment contracts with the Lamiary industry. They've got witchkind relatives hiding in the slums, hoping nobody will turn them in for a fast reward. They're the ones that fugitive vampires feed from -- and kill, to hide their tracks. But these situations aren't the worst things about being poor -- being poor is the worst thing about being poor.

In this campaign, characters live hand to mouth, balancing crushing labour with the next dangerous con or get-rich-quick scheme where they cross paths with the supernatural world. One is an up and coming rust dealer who's looking to move up the supply chain. Another's a small time enforcer, hooked to the mob for blood and v-plants. A third's taking action against the state and business interests that encourage them all to trip into an early death.

Advantages: Locally oriented, so you can flesh out a community. Wealth matters; it makes a big difference to the characters. Problems can't be solved with favours or overwhelming force because the characters don't have either. At the same time, characters can change the tone of the campaign with a few smart moves. There's plenty of room for intimate stories. A Streetwise game is about who's on the steps and in the court. You can define these NPCs and keep characters coming back to them. You can also shift from this style to another pretty easily -- there's nowhere to go but up.

Disadvantages: There's a smaller scope until you hook the local scene up to large-scale events, at which point it's not really the same campaign. There's not much room for high end style. If the characters make a wrong move, powerful people can crush them.

(no subject)

It'll be McCain vs. Clinton. McCain will win and be a one term president.

(no subject)

It'll be McCain vs. Clinton. McCain will win and be a one term president.

Perfect Creature

It's a NZ movie with a quasi-Catholic vampire church in a steampunk world where genetic engineering started during the Enlightenment. It's fantastic worldbuilding, but falls flat as a movie once the burden of entertaining us moves from atmosphere to plot. Half the cast is just a *bit* miscast. But it was worth a rent.

It also made me reflect on the nature of game settings a bit. They tend to be overstuffed because every new bit provides another tool for story creation, and because the setting itself is an object to explore in play. But in non-interactive fiction the emphasis is on serving the plot. Settings that don't do that are usually tedious unless they're really, really well done.

Perfect Creature

It's a NZ movie with a quasi-Catholic vampire church in a steampunk world where genetic engineering started during the Enlightenment. It's fantastic worldbuilding, but falls flat as a movie once the burden of entertaining us moves from atmosphere to plot. Half the cast is just a *bit* miscast. But it was worth a rent.

It also made me reflect on the nature of game settings a bit. They tend to be overstuffed because every new bit provides another tool for story creation, and because the setting itself is an object to explore in play. But in non-interactive fiction the emphasis is on serving the plot. Settings that don't do that are usually tedious unless they're really, really well done.