I've got your no ST plot...

Mike, I will address your points individually, and why I disagree with them.

1. The randomness factor.

-You're comment of being in the wrong place in the wrong time to become a vampire - mostly false. While yes, as described by White Wolf, random Embraces can and do occur, the vast majority of Embraces are carefully thought out affairs. Consider the fact that, if you're Cam, you have to ask the Prince for permission to Embrace a Childe. In the Sabbat, you ask your Bishop or Archbishop. In the Independent Clans, you either play it very cool, or you ask your Sire. Remember, each new vampire is not only competition for food, but a potential risk to the Masquerade. Randomness rarely falls into the equation.

As for the other supernatural denizens of the WoD - the randomness is even less of a factor. Werewolves (regardless of Breed) are born that way. The fact that the Change doesn't "take" until puberty is inconsequential.

As for: "Things like mages, changelings, wraiths, and many ghouls are chosen at random. There is absolutley no reason to follow streotypes for these creatures." - no, there isn't. But there isn't any reason not to, either. Playing against the stereotype can get just as boring and old as playing the stereotype. And, again, randomness doesn't really come into the factoring, either - or, if it does, it's in an insignificant amount. Mages Awaken due to special events that take place around them - many of them are destined for it. Changelings are reborn into mortal hosts - similar to Garou. Almost all wraiths are wraiths because of some sort of driving need, not due to randomness. And ghouls are most certainly never chosen at random. No sane vampire would just pick some guy off the street at random to act as his gofer, lackey, and PROTECTION DURING THE DAY (in some cases). Hardly random at all.

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"To extrapolate: Skew the numbers so you have a 1% chance of being human (because humans suck)."

-Funny thing - if humans suck so much, why are there things like the Masquerade, the Veil, the Mists, the Fog, and the Right to Innocence? I'm sorry, but that opinion is hardly shared by White Wolf.

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"But seriously, I don't think your reasoning holds up for eliminating clans other than, 'I don't like them':"

Not so. Every Clan I mentioned falls into one of several categories (if not all):

A. Adds nothing to the game except an annoying, clunky, poor Discipline. The Setites fall squarely into this category. Serpentis is retarded, and follows no logical progression. So do the Malkavians. They're just silly, and so is their Discipline.

B. Does not follow common vampire mythos. The Ravnos. 'Nuff said.

C. Would likely soon be destroyed by logically following White Wolf metaplot. This would be Clans like the Giovanni, and the Tremere. From what I know of WW metaplot, these strike me as the next to go. Add to the fact that they are both often poorly played, and the reasons for eliminating them mount.

Besides, taking out a Clan like the Ventrue (which, btw, I find horribly boring to play, usually) would seriously disrupt the game. Justin Achilli has said that himself, when people bitch about why he killed Ravnos. Quite frankly, I want to eliminate the Clans that cause less headaches to remove. The Ventrue are not one of them, I don't feel like re-writing Vampire society.

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"Idea #3: No ST plot.

You left yourself wide open on that one. I'm sorry, I can't say it. It's just too easy."

Actually, I'd love to hear what you mean on this one. Really. Elaborate on this one. I certainly hope you don't mean that I don't have plot, or don't know what I'm doing. If that's what you think, don't bother showing up to game anymore. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I'm not wasting my time and energy on someone that thinks I'm doing a bad job when I have several players that think I'm doing a fine job. I will not deny them a good experience.

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Now, your Imbued comments. My "arbitrary" arrangement serves two purposes. One, there is the distinct possibility that players can end up in a group with people they ordinarily do not play with. This is a good thing, in my book - it's nice to be able to play with people with different styles, kind of like in fencing. Two, the Imbued tend to group together (adds to survival), but not in large numbers (they can be tracked by the monsters more easily). The drawing from a hat thing only serves to facilitate the randomness that can occur from an Imbuing. The groups may eventually meet in person, but could interact with each other via Hunter-Net or through Influences (which could be really cool - they wouldn't necessarily know who was on the other end of the Influence, y'know?)


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Now, onto a comment that simultaneously annoyed me and filled me with disappointment.

"That brings me to another point: Our characters are interacting once a week on Sunday night from 7:00 -- 11:00 PM for absolutley no reason".

Okay, this may very well be my fault for not adequately describing Garou life to you. Sadly, I didn't have the opportunity to hold "class" with you like Steve and I did with some others. The characters are at the Caern most of the time. There are several that cannot leave the Caern. It must be defended. The fact that we play on Sunday does not mean that the characters are only meeting on that day. Besides, once a month, there is a Moot, so that is a meeting - very important, no sane Garou misses one, if they can help it. The problem you describe is more inherent to a Vampire LARP - the characters are often against each other, and certainly do not hang out at Elysium all the time - so why do they do it once a week, or whatever the game's timeframe is? It's simply a suspension of disbelief that you are going to have to deal with as a player - and if you can't, then I suggest that LARP may not be your cup of tea, if that weekly thing irks you so much.

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""-Jim "I got a million of 'em" Fisher"

Then how come 'No ST Plot'? "

Dude, what's with this? Seriously, I want to know. As for that suggesting I made - when a LARP has players that put time into their characters, time learning the rules and setting, and they come up with richly detailed characters that do more that say "hey, that guy fucked with me - let's get a beat squad and kill him!", then the ST shouldn't have to come up with plot. The players will do that on their own. Not that I don't have plot, or that I can't come up with some, but that, I shouldn't have to. It's when players don't have a grasp of the rules, setting, or (most importantly) their character that the ST has to work triple or quadruple time to get them into the game in some fashion. And that work doesn't always pay off. ST's have a lot of things to worry about - the character should be the player's responsiblity to create and flesh out - not the ST's. If you think I'm joking, run a game sometime. You can see firsthand.

-Jim "Dude, I hope you were joking with most of this" Fisher