Welcome to a new installment in my work for DeVita Excessum and the benefit of all the players of White Wolf’s World of Darkness system. Over the next few months I will provide this e-zine’s readers with tutorials and hints on how to create chronicles or simply improve the ones they already have going. This series will cover the formats of MET (Mind’s Eye Theater), TT (Table Top) and even Online role-play. This month (September) we will start with a few basics on working the beginnings of a chronicle.
Every story requires one thing – characters. And those characters in the WoD are brought forth by a myriad of players. How does a Storyteller go about finding players? Most often it’s a group of friends that game together normally. But sometimes it isn’t.
When without a troupe of players, a Storyteller must set out to find players that will fit his criteria. You heard me, criteria. A fundamental step for all Storytellers is to make sure that a player can handle the game he/she is planning to present. In my times of creating chronicles I often interviewed the player to find out if they would work out for the games I had planned.
How does one go about this though? First you let the player know what you’re planning to play (system-wise) and a few possible settings. Then make sure to let that player know of limitations and expectations you will have for each player within this group. Find out how this would effect the player. Don’t just take "I think it’ll be cool" for an answer. Get some genuine insight intothe player’s motivations and why he role-plays the White Wolf systems.
Now you have players, so what now? You get the players together to talk and discuss. Throw some ideas out that you have for a chronicle and allow the players to discuss them. Take notes, find out what will make this group of players feel challenged and most important – have fun.
For the October issue I will address areas on how to create a chronicle and what steps to take in formulating a workable format for said chronicle.