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I was theorycrafting a player's character with him over discord. His idea was a Private Eye. A raincoat wearing, whiskey drinking, private dick with fedora (I nixed the fedora) and of the Banu Hakim clan.
His character was embracing all the cliches; caught up with criminal gangs; turned a woman on the inside of it into an informant; of course that meant trouble — lethal trouble — for her; law enforcement couldn't help, etc.
This was all to get the ball rolling on a campaign with someone who's not played Vampire the Masquerade before. At one point the player said, "This is starting to sound like a proper origin story." Which as anyone involved with creativity and GM'ing will know is an absolutely beautiful thing to hear.
I know people can have a lot of difficulty opening up creatively. Despite no harm coming from it there's a lot of hesitation around creativity, about being vulnerable and being judged. In line with that I wanted to reward the player for opening up, and so offered him a choice of free specialties related to his PI character; specifically related to his whiskey swilling characteristic.
Performance (Whiskey) — You look like you really fucking enjoy your whiskey. You swirl it around your glass and sniff at it, and appear to drink it even if you don't take other merits about a vampire actually drinking drinks. But only for one or two sips in the company of the person you're with; you still don't actually drink it without utilising other mechanics. This is merely a performance.
Persuasion (Whiskey) — You can argue and talk with bartenders and fine spirits retailers, especially. Anywhere that serves a fine selection of whiskies you get a little bit of an 'in' with the bartender, sales staff, manager, etc. If she isn't busy or too occupied. Or distracted by bar boors and drunks.
Streetwise (Whiskey) — You connect with serious whiskey drinkers. Find a real whiskey afficionado and they'll be spilling their guts to you. At least about whiskey. Who knows where this leads? This applies to both the highest of high society with €300 a shot whiskies, drank while sitting on deep and old leather, among aged mahogany, as well as the lads having a party on the street with a cheap bottle of gutrot.
Science (Whiskey) — You know some of the 'lore' and theory behind whiskey. This is an amalgam of all the other specialties, granting the benefits of the other specialties, at least when it comes to the technical aspects of whiskey. However, with the right equipment you might also be able to make your own stuff. Maybe it's time to get a bathtub?
So there are some ideas for a private dick who slugs back, and sometimes even deigns to sip on a whiskey. Maybe applicable to Vampire the Masquerade, maybe useful with another game. If you do find them useful let me know on Bluesky.
This is me on Bluesky, Pebble Sucker.
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