June 14, 2019

Compelling Storytelling with Robert Batton of 25 Years of Vampire: The Masquerade - A Retrospective

1 hour 2 minutes

Robert Batton, co-host of the 25 Years of Vampire: The Masquerade - A Retrospective podcast, has been running Vampire Chronicles from the intimate tabletop environment to the grand LARP for nearly 25 years. Recently, he’s added Mage: The Ascension to his offerings. Hear this veteran podcaster and Storyteller’s advice for your Mage Chronicle, reminders of what makes the game unique, and find out what really makes Mage the sexiest game involving wizards.

Show Notes

Time-Life Books’ Mysteries of the Unknown series.

Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - The current tome of Vampire.

HoL: Human Occupied Landfill - If you’ve played this, then you're officially a WW fanperson.

Fiasco - One end of the “how structured is your game” spectrum.

Shadowrun - A cybermagic future where people are actually out at night.

The collected works of Stephen King - Guy’s written a loooooot.

Shadowguiding.

Wraith: The Oblivion - Listen to our Worlds of Darkness: Mage/Wraith Crossovers episode.

Call of Cthulhu RPG.

Cthulu prop guild, Propnomicon.

The Baali - Demon worshipers of Vampire.

The Beast.

Mage does not need a morality system as the world functions as a morality system.

Mage is the game where you get to be the genie.

The idea of a power structure is daunting, if you can change reality, why would you listen to anyone?

If you run into a character that doesn’t know what to do, work through it with them, ask what their options are and help them pick one. If they can’t and it keeps happening, maybe it's not their game.

One of the most terrifying things you can do as a Storyteller is just let a player do what they want, even if it’s overpowered without batting an eyelash and giving them the subtle knowledge that something is going to come stomp their face in.

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