The Noble Stars

Community Game ideas
#1

Hello Garth here

I am hoping to run a monthly LARP which will be using a mixture of the Blood and Tears Larp Rules made by John Wick
Here is a link to those Rules. housesoftheblooded.net/downloads/B&TPreview.pdf

It would be set in a Quasi Future/Classical greek/medieval world where after a post-apocalyptic event a galaxy spanning empire died and the nobility rose from the dirt. The technology that surrounds them is held in some sort of awe with the Dirt (Non Nobles) fearing it and the nobility supposedly fighting against it to some degree (Cause that is what brought down the old empire) but using it any way especially the dark secrets hidden in the old shiny crypts.

Character creation will be open so you can create any type of character you want and the games will be centered around political intrigue and character stories.
The modifications allow a boffer dual and boffer mass murder.

I am doing this so i have some idea how many people are interested and answer any questions that may arise.

#2

Hi Garth, long time no see.

So let me put this in perspective… in the deep dark future, humanity has risen and then fallen in some sort of cataclysmic event (involving technology) and a new order arose, with the Nobles who have reclaimed some of the old technology (power) and the dirt, the common folk who fear it (and are thereby controlled by those with power).

And the theme of the new regime is that of a futuristic neo-classical greek type culture. Or? What am I missing here? What you describe above sounds kind of like a futuristic feudal system, which sort of resonates with the Warhammer 40K setting for humanity (which also includes a rise of technology and then a fall and then a sort of dark re-emergence but which has worlds which vary from futuristic to feudal or even more primitive).

Am I right so far?

I had a look at the ruleset preview. Without looking at the rules and going from the small preview I would suggest a simpler system to be used. Intrigue and character stories don’t need rules, they just need a good background (setting) from which to hang ideas. Have a look at other systems being used here on this forum and compare them and think what do you actually need for the game to work, not what would be neat to have (a trap I have fallen into myself).

#3

I will take a bit longer to look into the rule system but here is the setting as it stands.

The cataclysm is unknown by even me, it is their simply as a macguffin to allow some feasible explanation for the current world.

Technology is present and acts similarly as what you have stated but in the aspect of because the nobles have the technology they rule over the dirt. They rule because “They have conquered the flame that is to be human and can wield it” and with this they justify keeping the Dirt in the lower reaches of society and the nobles in the upper part while limiting education, resources and power to the Dirt and yet again showering it upon nobles.

With this power the nobles formed their family houses across space, but to help keep the peace they instituted two laws that are maintained by the first law.
Firstly each Star Sector must have a council lead by an elected noble who has a holding in that Star Sector. This Council is their to both enforce Senate laws (Get to that soon) and Sector laws that that particular council has recognized.
Secondly that twice each standard year each council will send their elected leader to the Centre system to take part of the senate where Galaxy wide legislation is attended to.

Currency is a major problem with paper being kept as a valuable resource with barely enough nobles dedicated to paper production to keep it useful, no one truly understands computers so credits would be few and sparse and valuable metals being to heavy and useless to be carried around as currency in spaceships so most people trade and barter the basic resources with other nobles along with trading contracts and favors.

Lastly one of the only pieces of technology that any of the people understand is the tAhU machine, which after it’s first experiments proved it could transcend people from the material plane to something larger, grandeur. But after repeated uses the tAhUM (people who used a tAhU machine) became harder to contact till now when they are near impossible to contact and harder still to see their once great power. But still, in rare instances, they can be felt, and when they are felt, they leave near total destruction or almost complete creation. however you interpret that.

And yes the culture is heavily influenced by Greek culture with a fare spicing of Nordic.

#4

Ok what I really want to know are the fundamentals:

What are the roles they will be playing?

Is this a game focussing on the Nobles and the Star Senate and politic intrigue? Will people being playing Dirt characters? You say almost any character concept is possible but you need some sort of basis for them to create against. More information will help.
What is the physical setting? You mention a galaxy spanning empire but WHERE in all that will the action take place? In a spacecraft? On a particular planet?

I guess what I am getting at is that I don’t see the starting point for any character…

I’m expecting something like this (example only):

An Intro to the Stars
In the distant future mankind has risen to unimagineable technological heights, spreading their wings from Earth and expanding into space, into the extremes of the galaxy. But mankind rose too high and fell, their reliance on technology became their undoing. They fell amongst the stars.
But humanity is resilient. The cunning and adaptable rose from the ashes of the old empire, they seized power, reclaiming in part the mantle of technology left before them. They became the Nobles for “They have conquered the flame, that is to be human and can weild it”. The frightened masses are held in awe of technology and its new masters. They are the Dirt, the weak, the powerless and the Nobles rule them through the power they weild.
In time a new Empire has risen, styling itself on ancient culture of the home world, a mimicry of the age of philosophy and reason.
The Nobles reclaimed travel between the stars, seeking out new worlds. With new contact came new conflict as the Nobles factions sought control over others, with some seeking to remake the old empire for their own. After years of conflict escalated into a stalemate and eventually the factions saw reason, carving the galaxy into sectors ruled by the most powerful and forming the Star Senate.
Deep within the galaxy spanning Star Empire lies the planet Oniss Minor (or whatever), near the centre of power of the Onissian sector. The Magistrate for Oniss Minor has had reports of trouble in the southern hemisphere where Overseers for the local Dirt population have noticed some anomalies.
The Dirt babble on about the ruins they working in, nonsense about the ghosts, ghosts in the ruins. It is thought a valuable “tahU” machine lies buried here, one of particularly novel design. And now the Dirt refuse to enter the ruins, not to mention several Overseers have dissappeared. Their Noble families are demanding answers.
Magistrate Weld has been given authority to investigate as he sees fit and has begun calling in favours and you have been called upon to assist… prepare to leave for Oniss Minor at once.

So thats just my example of what I might use as a teaser for the game. It details some of what you have mentioned and gives some perspective. It gives some clue as to the cultural aspect “age of philosophy is classical greek” and the Senate fits in well with that. Personally I can’t imagine the scope of the galaxy, so by focussing on a single world and event you reduce details down to manageable chunks. The bigger scope you have the more detail you will need and too much detail becomes a very big logistical headache. So simpler is better.

In the above example you also get a sense of something happening and who might be involved. The Nobles might send some of their capable sons and daughters, who may have knowledge and skills in some areas. They might have loyal dirt workers and guards. And it gives characters an initial reason to work together even if they are from different factions. It also leads that once this happening has been investigated that those involved will need to report to the Senate and be dragged into intrigue and politics. Their could be power struggles for what was found or a great consequence stemming from it.
An enemy might emerge. Players this kind of hook to buy into a concept.

#5

Thanks Jared, i will send a Intro in later but for now here is the rule set as i have scraped it down to.

Each character has a starting style based on participation in construction/deconstruction, attire and role playing.

you can use Style as a sort of currency to state things that are True, Not False. Note that you have to pay the player who has domain over the thing you want to influence. I.E. the Owner of an Estate, the closest PC of a non NPC character, the NPC for the NPC and a GM for anything else.
-Example: I am playing Hyporia and i approach Thesis, “Is it true that i have had an illicit affair with your sister (a Not in Game Character under Thesis’s control)” as i show him a style. “No, She is to high class for you.” I show him two style points and say “Are you sure”, “Actually i think you are right.” says thesis as he takes the two style points.

if you desperately need something to be true then you can Insist which forces you to lose all style points you have offered and start seeing who is willing to spend the most style points between the two characters. Each player will have 2 aspects that if it has some use like a master spy trying to make a secret he knows or a renown playboy trying to bed someone they can spend 1 style point Once to count as 3 in a Insist.

Lastly Combat. the first strike to a limb will make it useless for the fight, a second strike to a limb will make it useless for the event and a third strike will make it useless period. Torso strikes will not do anything till the third strike which will incapacitate the character and a fourth strike will kill them. As usual a strike to the groin, neck or head will not count A and B will will give you a warning the first time, second will see you out of the fight and third will see you out of all of this event’s fights.
But i am thinking that this will mostly be a talking, planning and scheming game with maybe one dual average each game.

Any CnC with the rules or setting would be appreciated plus notes of interest from other players, thanks.

Edit:
thought i would also put down the ways to earn style.
You start with 3 style + any style above 3 from last time. so 5 would add 2 to this while 1 would add nothing.

Costume-
-No Costume = 0 Style
-Partial Costume = 1 Style/ i would assume a partial costume to be throwing a tunic over your pants and shirt or some over half good job
-Complete Costume = 3 Style/ A Complete Costume would be all the way but it doesn’t have to be confined to what i write down so if you want a oriental taste to your Noble House don’t let me stop you to much.

Donating Food to the Event-
-Pop Drinks = 1 Style
-Junk food = 2 style
-Healthy or In Character Food and Drink = 3 Style

Cleaning-
-Sweeping = 1 style
-Moving Furniture and Other heavy or laborious work = 2 Style

Role Playing-
-For every good piece of role playing or Style Expenditure that adds to the world or story = 1 style (Acting in character and making Drama)
-For every Grand piece of role playing or style expenditure that adds to the world or story = 2 style (Adding a Huge and grand plot twist or forcing a life or death dilemma or Huge Drama) Example: back stabbing, Standing to your Ideals, self sacrifice, Etc

#6

I like the concept of getting style points for helping out - positive behaivour reinforcement at its best.
When were you thinking about starting up, and any idea of game venues?
I haven’t read through the rules fully, but is there stuff that happens in-between the games?

#7

Style points seem somewhat redundant in a larp, where you can perform all the social functions of style points just by influencing others in the game through your own actions and conversation. You can influence people through your actions and conversation to believe the things you want them to believe, whether they are fact or fiction.

#8

I have to agree (with Tetrajack) that I don’t see the need for Style to promote RP. I am not sure why you would need to convince someone of something in that manner. Why can it not be achieved with pure RP? I admit its novel and interesting but what is the purpose? And is it relevant when I get sick of you and stab you in the chest?

As to the combat system. For a duel it is probably ok but in my experience, people have trouble counting their 3 hit points, let alone tracking seperate hit locations. And to be perfectly honest, its not really necessary to make combat complex. It does add some severity to wounds (one assumes there is some sort of healing). But the first thing that I ask is, what happens when you add armour? Does that mean that arms are now more durable?
One step simpler would be to say limbs have OHP and being hit makes them useless till healed and the chest has 3 HP (maybe with a finishing blow).
Or you could just have 3 HP full stop, when you hit 0 you drop to the ground and die with a finishing blow (which makes it a deliberate act).

A wise woman once told me that rules do not make a larp, its the players experience within the game. Focus on what you want the players to achieve and how and makes your rules reflect that. If you have a rule for something that isn’t going to add anything to the game experience, then take it out. I’ve been larping for a long time and its taken me a long time to realise that. Of course, on the other hand, if the players like your game they will put up with whatever rules there are (as long as they don’t hinder the roleplaying).

#9

It’s fair to say that the Houses of the Blooded rules are intentionally quite different to most larp rules. They’re part of a different tradition than live-combat fantasy rules, Mind’s Eye Theatre, and abstract pregen larp (freeform/theatre-style/etc).

Instead of attempting to simulate characters and abilities, they’re the spawn of a more recent “Indie” RPG community that’s most visible in places like story-games.com - Although the author may not necessarily be a fan of those RPG sites, the influence is pretty clear.

There was a discussion of the game on RPG.net forums recently, it’s here:

forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=542776

I would say HotB appears to be more about telling a story together than about trying to achieve your character’s objectives. It’s “Narrativist” (again, John Wick may not like the term, but that’s how I see it). It bears some resemblance to improvisational theatre in terms of being able to invent backstory on the fly and impose it on other players (but with more rules for how this happens than most improv). Likewise, there are similarities to Jeepform. It seems reasonable that a different goal like that may be helped by a different approach to the rules. Whether the HotB approach are good for achieving that goal or not I dunno, haven’t read them closely or played them. But it’s worth giving different ideas a chance, especially if they’re intended to help achieve a different result.

(Note that I’m just talking about the HotB rules themselves that allow you to change other character’s “truths” on the fly, not the live combat rules that are being added on here.)

#10

Hanna-
For venues i have done a small look around right now and i have three ideas, a old club i was part of rented out a room in a community centre for about $2 a head with maybe 10 people showing so that sounds good for both expense and to make the scene inside.
Two other ideas are finding a public park that a fair amount of people can get to easily the only problem with that is it sort of ruins the idea of being in a castle or spaceship or what ever for i think it will mostly be indoors with a few adventures out into the wilderness.
Secondly if someone had the room and was happy with us coming we could use someone’s house or garage or what have you, the only problem is finding someone who has a place like that and i might enforce the help tidy up stuff but still give the extra style points
In the original rules for B&T and HOBT you could play the same character in both and changes would be simple to move between them. I was hoping to run a rpg version on tuesday but with the limit’s of how many can play in that and other restraints it would give those players a advantage over the other players so i wont be doing that as of now.

Tetrajak & Jared on Style-
That might be true sadly i haven’t had much experience with heavy social larps but of what i have seen and heard i see where you are coming from but style allows Meta Gaming actions that would allow the story to become more then what a single person could make it. Also it is not just for social actions. (Didn’t explain this good enough sorry)
Lets say you are trying to sneak around somebody you could also use style instead of or after being spotted being stealthy yourself.
And a more in-detail example of before. before i asked Thesis about if i had an illicit affair with his sister he might not of had a sister or something else. i hope that explained the meta gaming of style points.
If a lot of people are of same mind we could start without style points but i think first we might just see how i goes, and no style points don’t stop someone from stabbing you unless you are already sneaking around then it would go with the Insist rules.

Jared Combat-
that is a point i hadn’t considered. Maybe for mass combat 3+ or assassination attempts, you are hit once in a limb and you lose it for the event and if you are hit in the chest you are incapacitated, a second blow to either will make you lose that limb or die. for armor i would say that all armor would fall under one of two categories.
Light armor- this would be leather or chain and would mean you can’t lose that limb permanently but you can still be killed
Heavy armor- this would be half to full plate and would mean you A) can’t lose any armored limb and B) it takes two hits on your limbs to rend them useless and four torso hits to bring them down lastly C) you would lose 3 style for wearing Heavy armor cause only a dirt concerned with his bare existence would wear it (Also to keep the game balanced cause i don’t have an economy system yet though i might change this later to compensate for how expensive it might be)
But i would be leaning towards no rules for armor unless their was a demand for them.

Ryan, i am in complete agreeance with you. Houses of the blooded plus it’s several spin offs are less about the players being the characters and more about the players collaborating together to make a grand story. The only reason i would have rules is for two reasons, A) so that their is some order and not a few pioneering people leading the entire thing and B) so that their is away to reward people for both good Role Playing Especially when it doesn’t help their character or the group but it does help the story and general stuff like helping before and after the game along with some preparations

All in All these are not the rules that are carved in stone and i am more then willing to change some or most of it depending on how the game goes, it might take time for the rules to be perfect but only through actually playing will we have any solid idea how well it will go and lastly we might not even go with any rules at all if it doesn’t hinder the game but some etiquette will most likely be created so not to overburden the GM’s and to help non forceful players to have their own way around forceful players if that makes any sense

#11

Here are my thoughts on combat:

  1. This game probably isn’t really about crunchy combat, so keep the basic rules very simple. A number of global hits per person, nothing locational.

  2. This game is all about the Style Points, so use THEM to give combat any extra spice you think it needs. Spending a Style point could be used to disarm people, wound a limb so they can’t use it, and other effects like that. Style Points shouldn’t be used to do Hit Point damage in combat (that’s what the foam swords are for), but to do other interesting things that foam swords can’t achieve. Spending one point on an effect like this may significantly increase the chance of winning the combat. I dunno if HotB has extra-expensive 2 Style Point effects, but those could be used for something like Knock Out that pretty much makes winning a certainty. Style Points are a limited-resource trump card.

  3. Instead of fussing about with how PCs get more hit points or armour, just let them spend Style Points on buying Hit Points before the game. Those extra Hit Points might represent toughness, armour, whatever the player decides. That way combat is made up of two simple mechanics: Hit Points that can be depleted with foam weapon combat, and Style Points that can be spent before game to make yourself tougher or during combat to deal out special effects. You may need to allow one Style Point to buy multiple Hit Points, because Style Points might be quite powerful in combat.

#12

I feel like even that isn’t quite there in following the Style Point logic.

The idea is that most interactions are consensual between players. So if you defeat a PC, it’s because the defeated player kind of accepted it and took your offer of Style Points (they may have been forced to accept if you Insisted). It’s a bidding system used to create consensual story.

I’m trying to think what the best way to combine that philosophy with the fun of foam weapon combat is.

What can you do to a PC that you’ve defeated using live combat? Should you still have to pay them Style Points to do it, and defeating them has just won you the opportunity to do so? How do PCs usually kill each other in these rules, if at all?

#13

Usually combat is a dual and the winner is right in the argument.

things that happened in the PnP game is that wounds counted as extra style for your opponents if they were willing to spend a style so if you have a injury lvl3 you can spend 1 style to count as 3. but that is to crunchy for a larp.

other things that you touched on were they had maneuvers in the PnP that acted a bit like R.P.S. with counters and bashes and parries maybe we can bring some of those back into the larp as aspects that you can use in a combat like disarm etc. also with a really defeated enemy you could cause a scar on them that would give bonuses to you.

write down more later

#14

Combat and Aspects-
If you are hit in the arm or leg you can’t use it, hit in the torso you are incapacitated. if while incapacitated someone purposefully strikes your torso you die. If someone purposefully strikes a limb you gain a scar. you gain use of your limb at the end of the day.
Scar’s give your opponent a +1 style for the dual or insist
A player can use an aspect to gain 2 maneuvers here is a list of maneuvers for players to be able to use.

Bash-spend a style when your weapons clash (can’t be caught on a shield or flesh) and force your enemy to stumble and falter
Trip-spend two style points when your weapons clash to force your enemy to the ground
Bind-spend a style point when your weapons clash to make them stick to each other till you say other wise
Disarm- spend two style points when your weapons clash to force them to drop their weapon
Recover- spend a style point to cancel any bash or trip maneuvers and disengage for a few seconds
Parry- spend a style point to cancel any bind or disarm maneuvers and disengage for a few seconds
Dodge- spend two style points to cancel any tag on your body
Tough- you can spend a point before the dual to cancel any tag to the body or Bash, trip, bind or disarm maneuver can’t get it back if not used.
Coup de Grace- you can gain a style for not counting a strike to your opponents flesh as a proper hit
Spiteful-you spend two style points to make any hit a scar

Each character will have a number of points from 3-6 (Haven’t decided yet) which can be spent to gain:
An Aspect, pay a style during a insist to count as 3 style
A Vassal, a free style in any relevant insist
Bonus Style, add this to your starting style every game (Might question about wether to add this in to the 3 for brining style from previous games over)
Two Maneuvers, two of any maneuver’s from above
Domains, need to find a simple economy system for this

And here is the Intro for the first game.
The Noble Stars
We are the Nobles. The purest form of humanity that took hold of the flames that put us above the animal’s and the dirt and used it to carve out a name for us and our families after the great event nearly 20,000 years ago. since then the nobles have fought with each other, reasoned, married and fought some more over domains, titles, honor and Fortech. The forbidden power that brought our ancestors to the stars, yet this powerful and rare power is still not well understood and those few who understand it or more, know how to replicate it, are held in high awe. You are the Lord of your Free House, the lowliest rank of nobility, but that wont stop your rise, and maybe, eventual fall. You will grasp with both hands your grand destiny and make it yours, be it ill or fortuitous, so that your name will stand the test of time and you will be a revered tAhUM and live forever.
But for now you still have just inherited the Families house, and your Liege has just given you leave to investigate a cult of Remberers (those who take care of the tAhU Machine that takes the mind and transcends it) who in recent history have given sage advise from tAhUM Elisa, tAhUM of the Senate and political power, the last time she gave advise the Free House Yuric stopped their nomadic nobility and for a brief but great moment became the strongest house in the entire galaxy conquering more domains and planets then anyone could have thought possible. And she has spoken again.

#15

Here is the first idea of a domain system though it might be to clunky

Domains will be a region with holdings on them.
each Domain can produce 1 out of 2 resources offered by the region
The Regions are
Mountains-Stone or Metal
Plains-Food or Industry
Forests-Food or Wood
Hills-Wood or Stone
Village-Industry or Trade
River-Food and Power
The Resources do
Stone- used to make advanced holdings and upgraded holdings. 1 wood + 1 stone create and advanced holding while 2 stone create an upgrade
Metal- used to create fortech (If you can) and arm armies. 1 food and 1 metal create 1 army
Food- used to feed armies and vassals. 1 food to keep a vassal and a army
Industry- used to create works of art. if you have an appropriate aspect you can spend X industry and X Seasonal Actions to create a X art in X months. you gain X style on completion plus X-Y every other game where Y is how many games before you have shown this piece of art.
Wood-used to create basic holdings and advanced holdings. 2 wood for a basic holding and 1 wood and 1 stone for an advanced holding
Trade-spend a seasonal action to trade 1 resource you have for any other type of resource
Power-used for some holdings
Each Character has 2 Seasonal actions used to expand your domain
The Holdings
Mill-1 wood 1 stone-1 extra resource/can’t be on a mountain or used for stone
Bailey-2 wood-defender only looses half casualties
Trade Network-2 wood-produces 1 trade for an action
Fort-2 stone-defenders win’s ties/must be built on a bailey
Castle-2 stone-defenders can win if the lose only once every year/must be built on a fort
Water Wheel-2 Stone-double production/must have a river and mill/can’t be used for stone
Husbandry-1 wood 1 stone-gain 1 food
Mine-2 wood-gain 1d3 metal and stone a turn/must be built on a mountain or hill
Diverge river- 1 wood 1 stone-makes a river/one of your domains must have a water source
Academy- 1 wood 1 stone-spend a action to gain 1 manuever/must be built in a village, fort or castle

CnC is appreciated

#16

i have found a good venue
The Onehunga community centre has a room that can fit 50-100 people and has a courtyard, toilet and kitchen and it only costs $17 an hour for communities so if we got ten people each giving four dollars we could get it for two hours and with the idea that everyone brings something for the eating we won’t have to worry about making people pay for that so it looks to be really cheap. though if someone knows some place better i am happy to listen and investigate.

Also one crazy idea i probably wont use but would be cool is if someone built large wall sized canvas frames with art canvas on them and painted them up as Frescoed walls we could make hallways and rooms within the hall, though it would take time both creating and setting up the walls and it would cost a fair bit something tells me but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.

#17

Alright so three things

A) Rule changes.
Upon longer looking at the rules domains and vassals are just fluff that can be role played and as such will be left out of the rules unless other wise stated or requested so i will also decrease the number of starting points players get from 6 to 4.
In a Insist if a aspect would be hindering like a sneaky guy trying to convince someone they can give them a style point (Which they will receive after the insist) and gain 2 points against the hindered player.
We might want to make some etiquette for insists so we don’t force players into situations they aren’t comfortable with. So far i would just say a player can just say they don’t feel comfortable with the insist and be done with it, but you should say this when they first offer you style just to save people’s time.
Lastly it costs 5 style to scar someone with out the spiteful maneuver and they must be incapacitated.

B) a character to get the ball rolling.
Name:Prince Photios Zarl of Free House Zarl
Aspects:
I am of The Fire/A bonus when having passion for love or hate would be useful/a hinderance when staying calm and in control is better
Naive Puppet-master/A bonus when making people bend to your will/a hinderance when keeping an eye open to what others are doing
Subtle Interrogator/A bonus to find out peoples secrets/a hinderance because he suspects everything
Maneuvers:
Parry
Spiteful
Background:
Born hearing the tales of the Once powerful Zarl house when Lord Hyporia, Lord Thesis and Lord Wesley rules over the entire planet of Es Ca Pa De and under Wesley’s reign every planet of import in the Ateh UkIL (Star Sector of Life).
With the early death of his mother he has vowed to claim the power his ancestors once had and with the wisdom of the tAhUM of Hyporia and Wesley he will avenge his mother also.
Now if only his father would die and give Photios the power.

Lastly again please speak up if interested

#18

Alright seeing no one seems interested in playing would you mind if someone told me what’s wrong with the idea or is it timing or display etc etc etc so i can try again later
Thank you

#19

This might sound weird, but I think that a lot of getting people to a game is usually about whether they know the people running the game, or know someone who is already going. Especially if you’re running something a bit out of the ordinary like this, where it’s hard for people here to know what it’s going to be like. Larping is as much about communities as about games.

If you’ve seen someone around at games, seen them roleplay, gotten to know them, maybe heard that they’ve run a good game or whatever then you’re probably more likely to commit to a game.

If you were running something that people were familiar with, or you (or your team) were more familiar and people know you could deliver an interesting game, or you had materials making it clear what they game is, then it would be easier to get traction. For a lot of players it’s a big commitment to attend another game, so you’ve got to get people over that hurdle.

Chimera in August is a good exception to this. There you get 80+ people, all wanting to try new stuff and meet new people. They’ve already committed to playing games all weekend so it won’t matter so much if one or two aren’t what they were hoping for. And they’re more likely to be able to drag mates along. That might be a good place to run a game like Houses of the Blooded, because you’ll get people there specifically wanting to try something different. For Chimera the GMs have to run a one-off scenario and write all the characters.

#20

For me, there’s some interesting things going on in the rule system and setting, but I’m in completely the wrong city. Also, my long term tabletop group plays with the Fate system which is in the same family, so I’d love to see how the ideas around Aspects and Style points (called Fate points in the rules we use) would work in a live game. It would be pretty cool to have this at Chimera so I could see it in action.