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Overview:

This VSS is a guide to the style and feel of the game being run at MesCon 2024. This is the presiding VSS Document for this event, along with the Universal VSS.

Venue Lead Storyteller: Kevin Tapper – anst@masq.modernenigmasociety.org

Venue Second Storyteller:

Theme & Mood

The Collapse of Boundaries and the Cost of Power.

The rigid structures that once defined the Kindred world are crumbling. The Sects, once bastions of exclusivity, have opened their ranks, ushering in an era of chaotic transformation. With the Beckoning drawing Elders away and divine and infernal forces offering new paths to survival, the lines between ally and enemy blur. This game explores the consequences of unchecked ambition, the allure of forbidden power, and the sacrifices made in the pursuit of self-preservation and dominance.

Dark Intrigue and Unsettling Uncertainty.

The atmosphere is tense and fraught with hidden danger. Power struggles play out not only behind closed doors but also in the public eye, where manipulation, betrayal, and deception are commonplace. Every interaction is layered with ulterior motives, and trust is a rare commodity. The looming presence of the Gods and infernal entities casts a shadow over the Gathering, creating an ominous sense of foreboding. As Kindred navigates a world where the rules are rapidly changing, the mood teeters between paranoia and desperate opportunism, with no clear path to safety.

Setting:

Invitations to the premier party of the year have gone out far and wide to all Kindred. The authorities and movers within the Camarilla, the Anarchs, and the Independent Alliance have spared no expense to ensure this event is a night to be remembered. Set at the renowned Imperial Hotel and its adjoining Hikari Convention Hall, the event is a grand celebration of Kindred power and influence in the heart of Tokyo.

Beneath the veneer of opulence, the night is charged with ambition. Public recruitment efforts are in full swing, as each Sect vies to strengthen its ranks and secure new allegiances. In shadowed rooms and secret meetings, backroom deals are brokered—some with promises of influence, others with threats that could destabilize entire domains. Rumors swirl of powers greater than the Kindred themselves, and whispers of ancient Gods watching from the darkness have left many uneasy.

The stakes are higher than ever. With the Sects competing for dominance and old enemies resurfacing, the presence of infernal forces or even the Gods themselves is not out of the question. The gathering teeters on the edge of chaos, and one wrong move could unleash a storm none will escape.

Players may portray only ONE PC each night of the convention. You may select different PCs to play on Thursday and Saturday nights or you may play the same character both nights.

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Experience Points, VIP & Volunteering:

You will earn 4 Event XP for all your Masquerade characters for attending MESCon 2024 – even the ones you don’t play!

Storytellers, NPC players, anyone who forgoes playing their PC in order to volunteer for the event also receive Event XP on their PCs for the game they otherwise would have played.

We encourage you to volunteer to play an NPC if you do not wish to play your own PC at MESCon 2024!  We also need lots of NPC players!

Venue Specific Storytelling Mechanics:

• Pre-Casts: We encourage you to submit your Precast Form.   The Precast Form can be used for a wide variety of powers, merits, flaws, and general scheming, so please review and when in doubt, fill it out!
  • While early submission is no guarantee of plot, the sooner you submit the more likely it is we can help you tell interesting stories tailored to your PC!
  • If you miss the deadline or need to modify your form, there will be a Precast table where your PC can register their actions before the game.
• No proxies.  You must portray your own PC in person.
• Character Conflict Resolution & Character Death:
  • All lethal Character Conflict Resolution must be registered in advance and will not be run if not pre-registered.  If you even think combat might erupt, register it!
• Character Sheets:
  • See the Universal VSS.
• Travel Risks:
  • The hosts have arranged safe travel for all who wish to attend.
  • As per the Universal VSS, characters are assumed to arrive on Thursday and depart on Sunday if attending both events.  PCs may not travel ICly on Friday night between the events – your PC is confined to the convention VSS for all 3 nights.
  • If attending only 1 night, your PC is assumed to arrive on game night and depart immediately after sunset the following night.
• Feeding & Willpower

  • Every PC comes in at full at the beginning of each game night.  This means every PC will come in with 1 Beast Trait unless you specifically check in with the STs if your PC’s feeding method by-passes Beast Traits.

  • Every PC comes in at full Willpower unless your Willpower is temporarily depleted due to a downtime action (such as teaching a discipline), quest consequence, or similar effect following your character from their local game.  Check with your Venue Storyteller if you have questions about your PCs willpower before the convention games.

  • Conventions STs may modify starting blood and willpower for PCs as a response to their Precast form.

  • All blood, willpower and Beast Traits will be marked and tracked with beads.  No bead, no fuel.

• In-Character Spying and Alt IDs

  • There are no VSS restrictions on in-character spying into meetings not your own.

  • We are very unlikely to have the staff needed to play things like stock wraiths.

• Cell Phone/Tech Use

  • Using a cell phone or other device OOC to simulate IC things – such as being in telepathy with a PC in another room and trading text messages between players – must be registered with an ST or Narrator.

Character Conflict Resolution:

All character conflict resolution that could result in a character’s torpor or death must be registered in advance with the ANST, or will not be run.

VSS Scale Descriptors:

   0    Never Present         ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

   1    Rarely Present        ⚫◯ ◯ ◯ ◯

   2    Sometimes Present ⚫⚫◯ ◯ ◯

   3   Often Present           ⚫⚫⚫◯ ◯

   4     Usually Present      ⚫⚫⚫⚫◯

  5      Always Present       ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫

Setting specific focuses

Domestic Focus & Manners

• How much time each PC needs to spend managing their social etiquette and peer pressure?

• ⚫⚫⚫◯◯

Scale of Stories/Drama

• How epic are the plots and NPCs?

• ⚫⚫⚫⚫ ◯

Enigmas/Mystery

• How much mystery and investigation is there?

  • ⚫⚫⚫⚫◯

Graphicness/Darkness

• How intense is the blood, violence, and evil? Will there be situations and plot lines that may be too extreme for members with delicate sensibilities?

  • ⚫⚫⚫⚫◯

Tragedy/PC Corruption

• How dark and bleak does it get? Is this a big adventurous fight where PCs march from one victory to the next or is every win tainted by horrific moral quandaries?

• ⚫ ⚫⚫⚫⚫

Action

• What level of PVE combat should players expect from this game?

  • ⚫⚫⚫◯◯

Intrigue

• How much political negotiation and scheming is expected?

• ⚫⚫⚫⚫◯

CVC

• What level of CVC (character combat or death) does the ST Expect to occur in this venue?

• ⚫⚫⚫⚫ ◯