I'm new to tabletop games--"new" in the sense that for as many times as I've tried to get into one, the stars haven't aligned and nothing has made it past a single session--and I own the 1998 core rulebook of Vampire: The Masquerade , alongside all the D&D 5e and 3.5e books I've purchased over the years. While getting together physically with a group of tabletop gamers on an actual table in an actual room would be my ideal way to get into this game, Roll20 is my only feasible way of doing so. You don't make many friends in the real world when you venture out into the real world so rarely. How the stereotype of tabletop RPGs being played by friendless nerds ever arose is a mystery not even Sherlock Holmes can solve. Anyway. I've just completed the long, winding, arduous process of finding a new place to live, moving into it, and setting myself up here. The Internet is still patchy but I'll have set myself up on an unlimited-data Verizon hotspot by the time I'm ready to play, so no matter, no matter. What I want is to play--as a player character, not a game master (simply called a "Storyteller" in this rulebook) a campaign of Vampire: The Masquerade , from start to finish, preferably using nothing but the content of the rulebook I already owned and a competent Storyteller's direction. This is my attempt to find and organize scheduling for such a group far in advance. So, for the purposes of scheduling, my life is basically this: From Wednesday to Friday, I work in an Amazon warehouse from 7 AM to 5:30 PM (Eastern Standard), drive home, and crash in bed. On Saturday, I work in an Amazon warehouse from 7 AM to 5:30 PM yet again, drive home, but this time spend a few hours recording group game commentary for a YouTube channel before crashing slightly harder in bed. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are my Lazy Days. These are the days in which I have no actual obligations and therefore typically just stay at home doing random things between sleeping and eating. In short, if you want to play Vampire: The Masquerade and are open to play on those three days of the week, and are confident that you can reliably be present for whatever day is scheduled, this may be the priomordial soup from which the gaming group you've longed for all your life could emerge! Or just a fun group to play with in a more cynical and generic sense, as I have no control over your notions of romanticism. Either way, by all means, register your interest here! Some things to note before you do: I'm looking for a more seriously-minded game with an emphasis on character and roleplay, so if you're overly combat focused or like to do goofy, over-the-top things with your characters, I'd rather that not happen in this particular campaign. Or at least, I'd rather it not be too overbearing for serious storytelling to be associated with. Let's avoid jumping the shark, shall we? That poor shark is so confused as to why people keep jumping over it and has given up snapping at their ankles long ago. He just wants to go home and sleep. All manner of LGBT representation is welcome but overtly forced "representation" is discouraged. This isn't to say that you shouldn't play an LGBT character or that you shouldn't touch on such issues, only that you should exercise enough restraint to adopt a "The Story Comes First" mentality, as in: it may be a story in which LGBT people and happenings appear, but it is not a Story About LGBT People and Happenings. I just want to head this one off at the pass, as my limited experience has left me with a distaste for people who only want to use tabletop gaming as a platform for representation wish fulfillment, at the expense of whatever anyone else at the table may want. It's pushy. Again, please, leave that poor shark alone. You can be explicit but you should also be natural about it. Which probably means only mentioning it when a character naturally would. Erotic content should be kept to a reasonable PG-13 kind of level. I'm not exactly against people having romances or getting to know each other in the biblical sense via roleplay, but when it gets to the point of narrating the way a character undresses another character that's kind of when I mandate a fade to black. I'm here for the urban fantasy adventure, not for cheap Twilight ad-libbed sexting. I assume this is something that shouldn't have to be said, like the Inevitable Disclaimer in the handbook that urges you to remember that you are NOT a vampire. But you know. It's a game about vampires. Some people see that as a highly sexual thing for some reason. So it bears mentioning. As an addendum to the above, you should maybe not join this game because you're hoping to roleplay some fetish such as lesbianism or vampire-yaoi or what have you. If there is any romantic or erotic content at all it should emerge naturally as a part of roleplaying interactions and not be something you're spending the whole game nervously edging toward like a twitchy tween looking for chances to experiment. You should be forewarned that I intend to roleplay as a vampire who is fundamentally "good"-aligned, for whatever that means for a vampire, so take that into consideration when creating a character; if you want to be evil, you may want it to be a restrained kind of evil who recognizes when it's to his or her advantage not to kick a hornet's nest. I could probably think of sixty zillion disclaimers and preferences but these are the ones that seem important to mention at the outset, so there you have it. At the earliest I will be able to start playing on September 16th, which should leave anyone else who's interested enough time to figure out their own scheduling as well, and provide anyone time to either read the rulebook for the first time or refresh themselves on it. Remember, this is the 1998 core rulebook, simply titled Vampire: The Masquerade . It's the big green marble-textured hardcover with the single rose adorning the front. What I need: - A "Storyteller" (game master/dungeon master) - Three to five other players, not counting myself; counting myself, that will make this a four-to-six-player-plus-storyteller game, for a potential group maximum of seven people. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to offer paid DMing at this time. So if you jump in you'd best be doing so for the fun of it. Everyone please be sure you can commit before you commit! My hope is to have regular two-or-three-hour sessions on a weekly basis, with the possibility of going over that if everyone is feeling particularly enthusiastic on a given night. Apologies for the wall of text. I'm absolutely terrible at being concise.
