chaotic-leopard

[chaotic-leopard]

New photos just dropped

I was on a walk again and got some pretty photos! I was able to capture some nice brutalist architecture

Since there was a park nearby, I encountered ｆｌｏｗｅｒｓ

I also managed to capture a pretty magical place nearby

A more garden-like section of the park was another photo-worthy location

[chaotic-leopard]

✧.* VtM SPC ask game

I thought it would be fun to think about all the SPCs our OC get to interact with and build relationships with during a chronicle or that we make during character design!

Send me a number and i'll tell you about:

One of my OC's touchstones

An SPC my OC looks forward to seeing

An SPC my OC dreads seeing

An SPC my OC knows of, but has yet to actually meet face-to-face

An SPC my OC considers/considered a close ally

An SPC my OC has/had romantic feelings for

An SPC my OC has been or would be intimate with

An SPC that my OC respects

An SPC that my OC might go to if they needed information

An SPC that my OC might go to if they needed help

An SPC whose safety my OC worries about

A dead SPC

An SPC that my OC wishes were dead

An SPC that my OC is always on guard around

An SPC that my OC should probably be more careful around

An SPC that my OC is terrified of

An SPC that my OC is unsure how to feel about

An SPC that my OC is indebted to

An SPC who is indebted to my OC

A kine SPC that could handle being embraced well

A kine SPC that would not handle being embraced well

A random SPC I haven't gotten to talk about yet!

dividers by @.cafekitsune!

tagging some mutuals who may be interested: @diableriedoll @sarahrune @obtenebrate @girlnextvore @theporcelainvampyr

[chaotic-leopard]

To all my indecisiveness fams

[chaotic-leopard]

How to create a character that you can naturally role-play as?

Beginner TTRPG players often struggle with accurate portrayal of their characters during sessions. From what I could have seen so far, it often stems from what kind of character they created.

The main tip is to balance the similarities between you and the character you're creating.

It can't be too similar because that may become a self insert. If that happens, you'll not only like your character, but you'll heavily identify with them, which is an unhealthy relationship during play.

You might excessively shield them from the consequences of their actions, or avoid certain actions that would lead to trouble, but also more interesting stories being told. This may also lead to inter-player trouble; if there is a conflict between characters, you may take offense over things that happened in the game.

On the other hand, unexperienced players should not create characters that ale wholly unlike them. If you create someone who is totally opposite to who you are, you might struggle during dialogue or when important choices are presented to you.

I see this issue as a lesser than creating a self insert, since it less likely to lead to emotional struggles. But it is not one to be understated either because it can still lead to you having less fun during the sessions.

How to approach balancing these things? While you're still sketching things out, try to imagine your OC in a dangerous or otherwise difficult situation. If you feel overly protective of them or have no idea what they might do, the balance may be off.

[chaotic-leopard]

do you have any pets? if not, what animal would you keep as a pet?

The only pet I currentlt have is my fiancée /j

Jokes aside, I'd like to have a cat and a dog. I'm an animal person, so it'll probably happen sooner rather than later, but I have to figure out certain stuff that's going on in my life.

[chaotic-leopard]

Max, my Toreador OC, blood bonded Tom, a then Anarch gay Brujah punk.

We recently had one steamy scene where he tried to seduce Max while he was feeding him.

How did it happen?

Well, it was an accident! Max was a fledgling in the Camarilla and once, while doing a job, his coterie encountered a similarly unexperienced Anarch.

A quick fight ensued, and the Anarch got heavily wounded. But since they wanted information, they decided to let him heal. Without being aware of potential consequences, Max gave him his vitae.

Turns out that got him addicted. He started working for the coterie as a spy. Unfortunately the Anarchs quickly found out and nearly killed him. We managed to rescue him, and took him under our wings.

After that he became a sort of a retainer for Max. He sometimes brings him people to feed on, runs errands for him, helps out in fights.

Max on the other hand is trying to get him into the local Camarilla, since currently he is hated by the Anarchs, but the Ivory Tower doesn't recognize him as one of their own.

hi hello vtm fandom. please tell me all about the blood bonds that your ocs are/were in

[chaotic-leopard]

I went on a photo walk today and got some nice photos again.

The dog's name is Adele.

[chaotic-leopard]

haaaave you read pride and prejudice? if you did, neeeeed opinions and thoughts about it.

(also coming off of anon)

Unfortunately, I did not read this book. But I'll consider buying a copy and reading it ;)

[chaotic-leopard]

Me, starting my therapy session:

"You know, there's this Lenin quote, that sometimes there are decades when weeks happen, and there are weeks when decades happen. For the last 5 days, how do you think my life was? Weeks? Or decades?"

[chaotic-leopard]

Keep a journal to role-play better

There are many good tips out there for getting better at role playing, but the majority of what I've seen are related to what I'd call the technical side of role playing. The standard stuff like "Yes, and", adding quirks to your characters, allowing yourself to make mistakes. These, or vague, tips to think about your character. You know, putting yourself in their shoes.

But what does it actually mean? I had trouble doing that in depth, besides the most superficial layer. I tried thinking about it, but I always drew blanks. Then one day, I got a random idea in my head – what if I wrote a journal entry from their perspective?

This was my breakthrough. Words just poured out, and they were full of insight from my character. He didn't like that person because of a weird thing. That event that happened unexpectedly? Turns out he liked that for a reason.

My main issue was that I couldn't figure out my character because I was always thinking about them in a vacuum. But they have an existence in a world, with relations to other people in there! This helped me realize what kind of person they really are, what they think of others, how they plan their next move and what they feel when things go wrong.

[chaotic-leopard]

A peek at our VtM session we played recently. @comfyhell was our Storyteller

[chaotic-leopard]

you said programming is your source of sustenance, what exactly do you program?

I can't just say what I program because the current state of affairs is a bit complicated, since I'm currently switching jobs. My leave period ends at the end of this month, and I took all my remaining days off just to have a buffer period between jobs. I'll be starting at a new company in July.

The project I worked on until recently involved websites for real estate people (🤮) and I'll be moving to a company working on software related to insuring homes (🤮).

You may wonder – how did someone with my views on the world end up working for real estate? Well, the first thing is that I started working there before I became a socialist. The second thing is that I am the only working person in my household, so I need a good source of income. I'd prefer working on, I dunno, my country's electronic platform for citizens, but it doesn't really pay well :/

[chaotic-leopard]

sorry i just like knowing about other peoples political pov 😭

(i was the one that asked about all the political stuff)

No problem, no reason to be sorry about, I was just surprised that someone was so interested in my opinions about politics lmao

[chaotic-leopard]

do you think we're in the brink of a war?

Will my blog be mostly politics? 😭😭😭😭 (this is partly a joke, don't be afraid to ask me about politics)

I'll assume you mean a global war that would be called the third World War. If you are asking me about any other war, please clarify. If you're asking me if there will be a civil war in the US – as I said in the previous post, I don't have that much knowledge about the internal situation of the US, so I can't really tell.

With that out of the way: I think we may be, but it is hard to tell concretely with these kinds of things.

Firstly, let's ask: when did the World War II start? Ask citizens of different countries, and they'll give you different dates. This is because while World War II was a thing that happened, it had different ramifications in various regions of the globe.

Secondly, there's a lot of military tension in the world right now, but it may just blow off. This may seem unlikely, but weirder things have happened before.

I think that if the Iran–Israel conflict escalates, the result will be at least a global proxy war, i.e. the US bloc against the China bloc. Things may escalate further, though; the US was already preparing for a potential war with China in the next few years, and its leadership can be bloodthirsty, so this is not out of the question.

(see more from me on this topic under #leopolitics)

[chaotic-leopard]

Isn't it exciting to be the bad guy?

Well, this is what Vampire the Masquerade is about! You are the villain, a parasite sustaining itself on the life of humans around you.

I think this is why I dropped L.A. by Night; the story was cool, but the longer it went on, the main characters appeared less and less as monsters, and more as humans with superpowers.

This brings me to the session I played yesterday (@comfyhell was our Storyteller). It was full of certified banger moments, one after another. You know why? Because it challenged the humanity of the monsters we play as (and because there was a lot of player interaction, there is a lively world and other things, but shhhhh).

Doing all that was fun, but I was morally hung over.

It was fun because it is exciting to just let yourself go wild, to do fucked up shit and face no consequences in a game, where no real people are hurt.

I was morally hung over because I still played the part. For a few hours, I was a smug motherfucker that only cares about himself, and will not back off even from something horrendous.

↓ For the detailed description of what happened, take a peek below the fold ↓

CW: fucked up shit that happened during the session below. Bodily harm, manipulation, gaslighting and more.

We found an old Sabbat crypt. While we were trying to get through it, we encountered a hostile ghost that blocked our path. Turns out we knew the ghost – we've seen a photo of that man!

A few nights before, we found a body of a girl missing a whole arm, killed by someone trying to open the crypt. She had a few photos of her family members in her wallet, and the ghost is her grandpa. He disappeared around 40 years ago, never to be found again.

Luckily, we encountered a Hecata that was willing to help us get rid of that ghost. To do that, we'd need someone from the ghost's family.

So we go to the bar that the guy is operating, and we tell him we found her. We get him under our discipline powers to follow us underground.

At first, everything was going smooth, but this was only the human part of the world under the city, the usual sewer and water infrastructure. But the moment we stepped towards the crypt entrance, our spells broke.

He started screaming and tried to run. So we had to drag him inwards, while he tried his best to escape, clawing at anything, losing nails, and screaming so much, his voice gave out, and he could only grunt intelligibly, broken by the nature of that place.

When we arrived at the place, he was already beyond saving. The madness had overtaken him, he was weak and voiceless, but he still tried to get away in any way possible. We didn't let him. We restrained him and watched him suffer while the Hecata did a ritual inviting the ghost to possess his body.

After that happened, we just killed him, getting rid of the ghost.

And my charming Toreador (named Max) was totally okay with it! He didn't even flinch. You know why? Because he is an evil being. The Sheriff ordered him to explore the damned place, so he was going to do that. After all, this was only a mortal. His life means nothing.

This wasn't even the only fucked up thing he did that night!

The night before, he noticed that his usual fan club was missing one person – Lena. She is his favorite one and has been missing for a week already. So he decided to go meet her.

Knocking at the door of her flat, he felt this was going to be difficult. She opened and tried to cut the conversation short: she's going back to her husband.

But my Toreador can also be scary. He used his powers on her to get her to back off and get into her home. And she wasn't lying! Max noticed partly unpacked boxes, the husband's things, a photo of them together.

Sensing, that he can't just keep her tethered to him with his powers only, so he decided to change direction. He told her that she was happy with him, and if she changed her mind, she knew where she could find him.

Then, the next night, he found her husband in a bar. The man wanted to confront him, and Max did his best to get him as angry as possible. He lied to him that he visited his wife and implied that they had sex.

After that, he mocked him, threatened to hurt him and scared him away. The husband stormed out of the bar, humiliated and angry. You can probably see where it leads.

A few hours later, while at the club, one of the employees comes to Max to notify him that Lena is here. The husband has beaten her heavily and she ran away. Max gave a great show of care and help and ordered someone to get her to his home. But inside, he was just happy to get his toy back.

[chaotic-leopard]

Making out session with a friend after she slept over >>>>

[chaotic-leopard]

I took some photos on a night walk today. I got my first camera yesterday, so they are not the best, and I can't really master the photos, but hey!