Latest / Story Games / Episode 27: Thousand Year Old Vampire pt 5
Transcript
- 27 Podcast TYOV Ep 5: Friends, and welcome back to Story Games, a podcast all about your favorite narrative-driven games. My name is Momo, and I will be your host. Today, you guessed it, we are continuing our playthrough of Thousand Year Old Vampire. If you have not gone back and watched the previous episodes, I do recommend doing so, otherwise, you might be lost. We are really into the gameplay now and we are charging forward. I can't wait to see where our vampire takes us next. So, without further ado, here is Thousand Year Old Vampire. The Dear Nicorn friends and welcome back to another episode of Thousand Year Old Vampire. We are fully in the game now, so if you have not gone back and watched the first few episodes, make sure you do that, otherwise, you will be totally lost. But welcome back. We are going to play more thousand-year-old vampire today. We're gonna see where one of your story goes next, and I'm really excited about it. I'm having so much fun playing this game with you guys, so I hope you guys are enjoying it too. So last episode we switched things up a bit in the way that we're actually playing. So I have a lot less written down. So let's see how good my memory is and if my bullet points are enough to trigger my memory of what actually happened. So we got a resource. We got Sabine's glasses because that's right, Princess Sabine found us on the road after the whole stuff with Alice went down. And she notices our blood red eyes and said she'd commission a pair of shaded opera glasses for us to hide our eyes with. Because she has taken it upon herself to hide our identity and take care of us. that's right. And then we killed Sir Noel. Right. Okay, so we were out hunting one night when Sir Noel stumbles upon us, immediately knows what we are and says he's gonna turn me in to be put to the stake. says I tell him no one's ever gonna believe him. Mm-mm-mm-mm. and I call the guards, claiming Sir Knoll is a vampire, actually, and that he attacked me. And then Cernole was arrested and promptly executed because we needed to preserve ourselves, which is unfortunate, but it had to happen. then we created a new mark and a new mortal character. people around town start to notice a dark, sinister aura about me. That is the mark that we got. Alan, Cernole's brother, especially notices. he is very suspicious of us, so we have a new mortal character. And then the people of my town begin to call me a name I I have written down and I have forgotten how to pronounce because it's Welsh. but it means darkness. Okay, so then moving on, we gained a skill and we went down our method for hunting, which is we leave the palace, we go into town, we find a drunk or a criminal, we lure them with seduction. I wrote. I forgot about that. we we attack them and then we leave their bloodless body to be found eventually, maybe, is what I wrote down. Fantastic. That's right. Guinevere uses her feminine wiles to kind of lure drunk men out and attacks them. but it's fine, it's fine. Okay, so on the next one, we actually lost our opera glasses, and we gained servitors of the lineage. So this is when we're kind of moving forward in the timeline a little bit. I say, Sabine's royal family has served me dutifully all these years. This is because I've been feeding them blood to keep them in power. I forgot about that too. So it's kind of like a a tit-for-tat situation. Sabine's daughter Sybil did not know of this until now, and on her deathbed, Sabine passes the torch to Sybil. So, yes, we gained servitors of the lineage. we lost the opera glasses, I guess it says, I think we lost the opera glasses. Let me check. Yes, lost the opera glasses, but gained servitors of the lineage. Maybe the opera glasses broke. I can't remember how I weaved that narratively into the story. we got a diary because our memories are filling up. fantastic. Okay, cool. So that's where we're at. Where we're at is Sabine is on her deathbed, if not already past, but her daughter Sybil is taking up the mantle. and they're kind of keeping me hidden-ish. I imagine the town kinda knows what's going on, knows there's this some kind of entity in the castle. but I mean, what are they gonna do? They're they're peasants. And I'm royal. That's speaking from Guinevere. That's not how I feel. That's how Guinevere feels. anyway. So, yes, that's where we're at. And then Sabine's family is continuing to look after me and care for me and provide me what I need, provided I also give them some of my blood to keep them powerful. Not full-fledged vampires, but definitely more powerful. Maybe they have more sway over people, they're stronger, they live longer lives, stuff like that. So, okay. I also wrote down the prompt numbers this time, which was very helpful. Because I know exactly where to pick up. So we're going to put the journal aside for a minute and we're going to roll for our next prompt. And to recap, we subtract a D6 from a D10 and move that many prompts. A positive number moves you forwards, a negative number moves you backwards, a zero keeps you on the same prompt, and when you land on the prompt again, you resolve the next prompt. So we were at 13.1, so we're going to roll. And we got a three and a six, so. Six minus three is or wait a second. That's backwards. Does that mean it's a zero? Cause if I subtract the six from three, I get a negative three. wait. Have I been playing this wrong the whole time? I have been playing this wrong the whole time, friends. I made a mistake. A positive number moves you forward, and a negative number moves you backwards. In my brain, I was reading that as an odd number moves you backwards, and an even number moves you forwards. I'm so embarrassed. I I bet so many of you are screaming at me in the past, being like, that's not what that rule meant. And I'm just, it's like, what episode? Like six. Or seven before I actually read the mechanic correctly. that's embarrassing. no. Okay, well, we're going to continue. We're gonna play correctly this time. I got a negative number, which moves means we move negative three spaces, three prompts. One, two, and three. goodness. wow, okay, well. Here we go. The stars pinwheel above you in the night. The seasons are a blore. You are as an automaton, unconscious of the passage of decades. A century passes, strike out a memory, strike out all mortal characters. Wow, okay, okay, okay. So I'm going to open up my journal and I'm going to write down the prompt number, which is 10.1. And for the sake of my sanity, we're gonna forget that I've been playing this game incorrectly this whole time, okay? Okay, cool. Thanks. So it says we're going to strike out a memory and strike out all mortal characters. Okay, so narratively, so since we're striking a memory, I don't believe we get a new experience doing this, is how I'm going to read that. But striking out a memory is brutal, because that memory is full of the experiences that we have had. So that's pretty that's pretty brutal. and strike out all mortal characters. Okay, so let's do those mechanics first, and then we will weave that into the narrative of the game. So we're going to strike out. Okay. So it says strike out. I'm just gonna write dead. and maybe I'll take a pencil and strike it. Yeah, I'll do that. I don't want to strike it with a pen because I want to be able to read underneath. and then we're gonna strike out a memory as well. So memory one is I am Guinevere, and about Sabine. That feels important. We've got memory two in the journal, so memory two is actually open, so there's nothing to strike out. Memory three is about Charlotte, which does feel important, but maybe not super important. Memory four. I drink human blood for the first time a sacrifice given me to given to me by a band of devoted vampire worshippers. That I can definitely strike out. That one's fine. And then the one is about Dimitri, which I do also want to keep. I would like Dimitri to come back at some point, and I would like them to have some kind of conflict. because a big motivation for Guinevere is the motivation to keep going to get back at Dimitri, so I do want to keep that. So I think I'm going to strike out the stuff about the devoted vampire worshippers. Okay, so I have forgotten about the vampire worshippers. However, in my journal, I do have. Okay, so I have forgotten about the cabal, the secret cabal of vampires, but I do have in my journal about Alice still. So Alice is still somewhat in my memory, but the secret cabal of vampire worshippers who ended up turning on me, that I have forgotten, which honestly may be for the best. Okay, so I'm gonna write down all mortal characters are dead. All mortals I once knew are dead, actually. A century has passed, and I do believe that the succession of the monarchy that we're kind of dealing with in this honestly fantasy world, like it's not rooted in reality. Just suspend your disbelief with me for a minute. the the monarchy of this make-believe place that I'm calling Wales. Is still in power. So I like to believe that maybe after Sabine's death, actually, Sabine was kind of the last mortal that Guinevere felt connected to. So after that, a century passes just basically in the blink of an eye. She doesn't really get close to any other mortal characters in this palace. She kind of becomes this recluse, maybe even, just kind of hiding away in her tower. her very beautiful, elaborately decorated tower, but almost like a gilded cage almost, because she just leaves to hunt and then returns to her tower and just kind of wastes away in this castle for a century. That is what I'm going with. So I'm gonna write down some bullet points. Okay, so I wrote down that all mortals I once knew are dead. After Sabine's death, I let a century pass without thought. Sabine was the last mortal I was close to. Without her, I become untethered to mortality. I become a recluse, only leaving my tower to hunt. So that's where we're at. Let's move on to the next prompt. And I'm going to play correctly this time, I promise. Seven minus four, four, five, six, seven. We're gonna move forward three. One, two, three, which We land on the same prompt that we have already gotten, so we're doing 13.2 this time. And 13.2 says, your servants are numerous, enthusiastic, and sometimes useless. Create a skill based on a memory. This is the skill you use to control them. Ooh, okay, so we're gaining a skill. Let me write this down. We've got thirteen point two. We could based it off memory one, which is that I am Guinevere. Sabine helps me conceal my vampire nature, and Sabine passes the torch of carrying me to her daughter Sybil. we could build a skill off of that. But what skill would that be? Let's see. Memory two is about Alice. Memory three is about Charlotte. I don't have anything in memory four. And memory five is about Dimitri. Ooh. Dimitri proposed my hand in marriage, and when I accepted, he cursed me by attacking me with his teeth and nails until I too became an immortal vampire. He fled when I became murderously enraged. I awake to find myself bloodthirsty for the first time. I kill and eat a rabbit. we could base the skill off of that, make it more vampiric, or we could base it off of the Guinevere and Sabine to be more political. I think I want to do it based off memory one. So to let's see, and that's how I control them. I control them through court politics. I'm gonna write down court politics as a skill. Cause I did write down gossip and strategy, but I think court politics is gonna be a little bit different. And I think that includes maybe the kind of back and forth that we have going on where I'm giving them the blood and they're kind of, you know, protecting me because of it. So for this one, I think I'm just going to reiterate the fact that I am exchanging blood for power and for control over these people, and also they're kind of like getting something out of it. and I think I'm gonna create an experience too. I think this should be an experience creating moment. And I do have memory four open, so I think I'm just gonna write it there in memory four so I don't have to cross anything out. Okay, so the memory I have written down is I keep control of my servants and the Welsh aristocracy by feeding them some of my blood, just enough to keep them in power in exchange for their servitude and protection. So I'm going to write down some bullet points. Okay, so I wrote down still a control of my the Welsh aristocracy via feeding them my blood to my loyal if stupid servants. I also believe at this point in time. Guinevere is starting to really make that shift into othering herself from mortals. Maybe up until this point she could kind of kid herself into just being different, but now she's beginning to look down on the mortals that are around her and see herself as above them and as othered. like we are we are different now because she's lost all of the mortals that she once knew and cared about. And she's reclusing herself more and more. So she's beginning to really kind of feel this this othering, this alienation from other mortals, because she's not mortal anymore. and she's starting to kind of get that superiority complex that I feel like vampires might have. Yes. All right, let's move on to the next prompt. Three minus one is two, so we are going to move forward. Two spaces. One, two. Okay, some mortals have banded together to hunt you, well armed and wise to your tricks. How do you defeat or evade them? Create a mortal hunter related to one of your checked skills and check a skill. Okay, okay, this is fun. Ooh, I like this one. So this is prompt 16.1. So the mortal. Hunter related to one of your checked skills. So let's see what skills we have checked. We've got gossip strategy, horseback riding, and hunting as our checked skills. So how can we incorporate that into a mortal vampire hunter? Mm-hmm. Okay, so for hunting, maybe the obvious choice is our vampire hunter, mortal character, is the descendant of someone that I hunted, right? someone that I hunted, maybe he was important of some Important somehow that I didn't realize at the time. Maybe he or she was a prominent figure in the community. and their grandchild at this point, because it's been a hundred years. I guess it doesn't have to have been a hundred years. Okay, but I want to say their grandchild. Okay. Their grandchild knew that they died under very suspicious circumstances. Their body was entirely drained of blood, like There is never a murderer who was ever found. And honestly, at this point, it was probably incredibly swept under the rug. I imagine that the governments here, the aristocracy, kind of has the police force also in their pocket. or police force, the g the knights, the guards, whatever you want to call them, the law enforcement, kind of has them in their back pocket. So anytime someone dies under these very mysterious circumstances of being drained of blood. just kind of get swept under the rug. They're like, it was an animal attack. And then this vampire hunter always grew up knowing that was wrong. And honestly, probably most of the townsfolk also know that's wrong, but what can they do about it? but this person in particular grew up knowing that their grandmother or grandfather died under these circumstances, probably due to a vampire attack, and made it their personal mission in life to hunt vampires because of it. Not the most original, but it's what I came up with. And it's related to hunting. So let's see, we're going to create a mortal character now. Who should this person be? I love the idea of like a badass lady vampire hunter, a Van Helsing type character. but a woman, I think, could be really fun. so I think I'm gonna go with something like that. But what should her name be? What should this vampire hunter's name be? I found the name Eleanor, and I love the name Eleanor, so we're gonna go with that. Our vampire hunter's name is Eleanor. Okay, so I've wrote down Eleanor Mortal Vampire Hunter, and let's see. Ooh, okay, there is a story that goes along with it too, because it says some mortals have banded together to hunt you, well-armed and wise to your tricks. How do you defeat or evade them? And then we create the vampire hunter. So, how does this work narratively into the story? So, okay, I think I was out hunting one night, doing what I always do, my method of Seduction, finding someone who's inebriated, and then attacking them. I think maybe instead the person that I targeted to hunt, like the most inebriated person in the tavern that night, ended out to be part of this gang of vampire hunters. And they kind of tricked me actually, because maybe at this point I'm like. One of ear is going through the motions, you know? She doesn't really care. And she's just kind of doing routine just to feed herself because again, she's kind of lost that tether to mortality and she's just letting time pass. so she finds the most inebriated person at the bar who ends up being one of these vampire hunters. And maybe they've even tried for like a few weeks to get picked, right? There's maybe like a few of them who are these like. Honey pots, for lack of a better word, in the bar, just waiting for Guinevere to put her sights on them. So I think that they kind of lure her out. They like stumble out of the bar. This guy, this drunk guy, drunk guy, stumbles out of the bar. And Guinevere follows him, and she's like, Yes, this is my target for the night. And instead, Guinevere gets lured into an alley instead of the other way around, and then she's surrounded on all sides by vampire hunters. And they are armed with stakes, they're armed with daggers, they're armed with, you know, they're armed to the teeth with vampire hunting stuff. Okay, here's my idea. I think the way that we evade this vampire hunter, Eleanor, because I think, like, okay, there's the they're surrounding her on all sides. Eleanor steps out and she's like, Finally, I found you. You killed my grandfather, and now it's your turn to die. And I think as she goes in to stake her, she pauses because she doesn't realize how beautiful Guinevere is. She's expecting this old, decrepit, ancient, crumbling kind of vampire. But Guinevere is still a relatively young vampire, so she's still got that freshness about her. She does have the aura and the red eyes, but I think the beauty strikes her for a minute. And I think Eleanor pauses for just a second, just long enough for Guinevere to wrestle out of the grasp of the other vampire hunters and flees into the night. and maybe there's like a fun enemies to lovers thing happening is kind of what I'm thinking. or at least a will they, won't they, at least some kind of struggle of like I wanna kill you, but also you're really pretty. That is what I want. That is what I want going into this character. So I'm gonna write down some bullet points and come back. Okay, so here's what I wrote down. While out hunting one night, my target turned out to be part of a band of vampire hunters. I'm surrounded on all sides, and then outsteps Eleanor, the leader of this gang of vampire hunting mortals. Just when I'm about to be staped through the heart, Eleanor pauses, and unknown to Guinevere, I wrote, It's because Eleanor was struck by her beauty. And then I wrote down I have just enough time to escape and flee into the night. So now we have to create an experience and check a skill. So we do have seduction. So I think that is the only skill that makes sense to use here, even if it was unintentional. So we've got that checked, and then we're going to create an experience, which we're going to have to cross out a memory again. No, I wanna keep Dimitri. memory two is actually also available because I put that memory into a journal. So we're gonna do this. Okay, so I wrote down, I meet Eleanor, leader of a gang of vampire hunters. I killed her grandfather, and she's made it her life's mission to kill me, but she hesitates when she gets the chance to stake me. I wonder why. Okay, that's fun. I hope this goes somewhere, but knowing this game, the next prompt a century could pass and it goes nowhere. So let's see what happens next. Roll our dice. Seven minus one is six. Uh-oh. This does not look good for Eleanor. We're moving six prompts. One, two, three, four, five, six. Ooh, create a mortal character. You have shaped them from infancy to be exactly what you want. Lose a resource. Interesting. Ooh, okay, so we have a jewel necklace. So maybe we lose our jewel necklace by giving it to this. mortal character who we have shaped since infancy, it says. Like how does that work? Cause I've started to lose my humanity. So how do I get maybe it's just like one servant I for whatever reason Ooh, maybe she reminds me of Sabine. Maybe it's one of Sabine's ancestors who just looks very much like Sabine. So I decide, you know what? I'm going to raise that one. Not maybe not even raise, but I'm going to be like an aunt to this one. I'm gonna be more involved in this this person's life than I have been in the past. And I'm going to mold them to be exactly what I want. Exactly what you want. So maybe she reminds me of this humanity I once had. So I wanna raise her to be like Sabine. But I'm also maybe giving her some unwise, not unwise, but I'm giving her some life advice that only a vampire could give, you know what I mean? So she's not going to turn out exactly like Sabine, because I'm giving her kind of an edge. I'm giving her like you can't trust people, you have to do what you need to do to survive, that kind of advice, which obviously growing up makes her not as kind-hearted as Sabine was. And I think I'm going to give her my jewel necklace. To kind of show her that I care about her in a way that a vampire could by giving her a very elaborate necklace. So, gosh, now we need to create another character, which means another name. my gosh. Okay. So let's go to our characters page. Which our characters page I didn't realize was gonna fill up as quickly as it has. I did give myself two pages in between that and Mark's, so I do have. another page, but I'm worried I'm gonna fill this up quicker than I anticipated, which is fine. Ooh, okay, I found the name Theodora. I love the name Theodora. That's beautiful. So we're gonna go with that. Okay, I have written down a child is born that reminds me so much of my beloved Sabine that I helped raise her. Her name is Theodora. Alright, and let's continue on to the next prompt. Roll our dice. Okay, I've got six and three. Six minus three is three, so we're moving forward. Three prompts. One, two, and three. Your methods for acquiring victims are no longer effective. What has changed? Lose a resource and create a skill, which describes your new feeding techniques. Ooh, okay, okay, okay, cool. So we've got 25.1. And then lose a resource and create a skill. So my methods of seduction, which makes sense because I did lose the seduction skill. No longer works, so I can't lure I think people are just getting wise to the fact that I do this after a century, you know what I mean? they know not to follow story strange woman out of the bar into the night into an alleyway. Like obviously that's gonna that's not gonna work after a certain amount of time. So we are going to lose a resource. Ooh, we're losing a lot of resources. This isn't great. I'm gonna say we lose our bone letter opener. because maybe we use that to kind of, you know, help threaten people or like get people out into the alleyway. So we're gonna lose that and we're gonna gain a skill. And the skill is gonna depend on how we hunt now. So okay, maybe we instead go to people's houses that are on the outskirts of town. And instead of luring people out with seduction, we lure people out by mimicking something. Ooh, mimicry is fun. That's cool. And then the skill will be mimicry. Ooh. Maybe after so much time we've been able to like Mimic people's voices. So maybe she stakes out houses and then mimics their loved ones' voices calling for them out in the night, lures them outside and then attacks them. I really like that. I think that's cool. And that's like more monstrous than just using seduction. I think that's more of like that's like creepier, you know? Like the idea of like staking out someone's house, learning what their loved ones sound like. mimicking that and then using that to your advantage is like a really scary thought. And I think that that's really creepy and that it it's more vampiric that way. It's more monstrous. So I like that. I'm gonna write down some bullet points. Okay, here's what I have written down. people in town have gotten wise to my hunting techniques, so I switch it up, I stake out people's homes, learn what their loved ones sound like, mimic their voices crying out in the night to lure my victim out, and then I attack. E, okay, I love that. So now we need to create skill of mimicry. Alright, let's move on to the next prompt. I think I have time for one more, so let's do one more prompt. Alright, roll those dice. Five minus or nope, two minus five is minus three. One. One, two, and three. Ooh, okay, so we got the same prompt as twenty-two. So we're doing twenty-two point two. No, your diary is lost or stolen. Lose the diary and all memories it contains. If you have no diary, lose one resource. Create a character who you wrongly blame for this loss. No. that's tragic. that's tragic. That actually really sucks. my god. Okay, so... Twenty two point two twenty two point two. Lou's diary. Create character. man. Damn, that sucks. So we're gonna go to our memories and anything that's in the journal we are going to cross out. Everything about Sabine. Dam and everything about Alice. Damn, so we have forgotten about Alice. That sucks. That sucks. So we have forgotten Alice gifts me a beautiful jewel necklace to celebrate my coming of age. I, Momo, actually forgot that the jewel necklace came from Alice that we gave to Sabine's ancestor, so that's on me. But anyway, we forgot that now. when I became a vampire, Alice accompanies me on my journey to a new life, once again promising her love. Alice is lord or turned into a horrible creature, a vessel for the god Balthazar. That's all gone. That is gone. And then Sabine helps me conceal my identity as a vampire by gifting me a pair of shaded opera glasses. Sabine passes the torch of caring for me to her daughter Sibyl and all of her family beyond her. I've forgotten about Sybil and Alice. That sucks. That really sucks. God damn. So that was diary number one. I don't know if I'll get another diary. Oop. Yeah. I don't know if I'll get another diary or if this is kind of it, but damn that sucks. That sucks hardcore. And then I go to resources and I lose the diary in there too. Ooh, I am low on resources. god. Ooh, that's scary. So it's lost or stolen. Lose a diary in all memories. If you have no diary, lose one resource. Create a character who you wrongly blame for this loss. probably some kind of servant, right? I blame one of my servants. So let's create a servant character. we don't have a lot of men characters, and all the men characters I do feel kind of bad, have ended up being like not great. I guess Sernol didn't do anything wrong. He just tried to kill me. Anyway, we're gonna create a male servant. And we are going to name him Cedric. How about that? Maybe Cedric was the one in charge of cleaning my bedchamber and I am out for a stroll one day with Theodora and when we come back my journal is gone and I blame Cedric. Okay. Okay, so I wrote, I'm out for a walk one day with Theodora, and when I return, I immediately notice my diary is missing. I blame Cedric, the servant boy who cleans my bedchambers. I'm not sure if I do anything to Cedric. I'm I'm sure I punish him somehow, right? I throw him in this in the I throw him in the dungeon. Okay, so that is what I do, and now I have to write an experience. let's see, where can I slot this? Loss. Don't want to lose Eleanor. Maybe the Charlotte one, because Charlotte hasn't really come back. Alright, I wrote my diary is stolen by a servant boy named Cedric, who I then throw into the dungeon. And that is going to be that. So it does say wrongly blame, so maybe it'll come back up that he was falsely accused of something he didn't do. But we will see where that goes. We've got lots of lots of ties now, lots of like threads that we can weave. and I'm wondering if any of them are gonna kind of come back together, so we will see. But I think that's going to be it for me today, my friends. I hope you enjoyed playing Thousand Year Old Vampire with me again. I do hope you like this kind of more fast and loose method of playing. I'm still having a great time. I really, really love this game. I love kind of creating all these different plot points for our vampire, and I'm just I'm excited. Alright, well, that is going to be it for me today, guys. If you would like a copy of Thousand Year Old Vampire for yourself, you can get one through our website. The link will be in our description. And I hope you join me for the next episode. I'm not sure how much longer this is gonna take. I am about halfway through this journal, which is kind of funny. but we've still got tons of prompts here in the book. And yeah, we'll see. Cause I've got, I've got. Quite a few characters. I've got only two resources though, but I've got four skills. So once we start losing resources and checking those skills, it's gonna be close to our vampire. So we'll see where that takes us. But I hope you will join me along for the ride. Alright, thanks guys, and I'll see you next time. Bye, friends.