Hello
Welcome to the Mycroft Journals. Before we begin, I believe an explanation is in order. One of the many aspects of gaming that I enjoy is role-play games, particularly Vampire the Masquerade. I have dabbled in various others, and enjoyed most of them, but the Storyteller System and World of Darkness setting is by far my favourite. Players take on the roles of Vampires and are introduced to a world of cutthroat politics (often literally), dystopian society and monsters that don’t always appear to be monstrous. It is a game that asks questions of the players, such as, “What would you do with eternity?” and “Will you fight to retain your humanity, or embrace your bestial nature?” Also imagine a world that is more unfair than you imagine this world to be. Might is right, the oldest rule, and the oldest get older. Imagine a world where all the jobs are taken, no one ever dies of old age and the only way to raise in esteem is to get rid of someone. And that someone has been here for a long time and is immeasurably more powerful than you.
I currently run two of these games.
The Mycroft Journals are going to be an in character written record of a character I will be playing in a friend’s game. The friend in question runs Purple Ferret Gaming Facebook page, where I guest post. You can find it HERE.
He is running a Dark Ages campaign, which will hopefully leapfrog to the present over the course of many games. (Many, many games if I am to achieve everything I want…). Mycroft is the name of my character, and I have to admit, it was based on the Mark Gatiss portrayal of Mycroft Holmes in the BBC production, Sherlock. I wanted my character to be the person who knew the secrets, and pulled the strings.
However, I also realise that in an RPG, you can’t really start that way. Besides, it is going to be fun getting there. The game is set in the Year of our Lord 1086, in Cardiff. By this point, Mycroft (known by another name to everyone – the reason for which will become clear over the journal), has been a vampire for approximately 16 years.
Disclaimer – Good RPGs try to be faithful to the setting, in this case history, but the purpose of an RPG is to tell a story. Sometimes the players and the Storyteller will veer off in the name of a good story. Some of the themes will be of an adult nature. I don’t necessarily mean there will be gratuity, but some of the things that happen that Mycroft refers to will be inhuman. He is a vampire. He is a Nosferatu vampire, and his story very much is about what it means to be a human. Or a monster.
I need to Credit Barry Martin with the excellent Artwork used as the banner. You can see more of his work here
I recommend both the Vampire the Masquerade book (available HERE)
and
I recommend the Vampire the Dark Ages book (available HERE). Note, both these links go to Drive Thru RPG, of which I am an affiliate which means if you follow them, and purchse anything, I get a small commission.
You will be able to find a list of the Mycroft Journals searching the categories on the homepage, when you visit or clicking The Mycroft Journals underneath Blog Posts.
Otherwise, enjoy.
First post live HERE
