Buried Shallow is a Vampire the Masquerade game using 20ed/revised rules. The players will assume role of a group of the so-called Shovelheads - disposable Sabbat shock troops. Violently seized, drained of blood, Embraced against their own will, hit over the head with a shovel (hence shovelheads) and finally buried - only to claw their way out amidst a mass of fellow abductees - confused, terrified, ravenous. The main themes of the chronicles are horror (at what you became), survival (as a monster amid other monsters) and adaptation (for failure means death).
The Sabbat is a Sect of vampires that actively shuns the Path of Humanity. For the chronicle that mostly means that a gamut of adult themes and topics will be present. I'm looking at it as fictional portrayal of horror, not realistic depictions of despicable acts. Just as movies like "Saw" are not the actual footage of horrific brutal acts, neither will be this story. I have no interest in torturing the troupe, nor do i view the game as my own personal fetish satisfaction fiction. And neither should you. It is one thing to roleplay slow degeneration into the dark world of vampirism and another to use the game to satisfy your own fantasies. Such players will be removed from the game.
That being said here are some topics that will likely be present: excessive violence and cold blooded murder - strong survive in the Sabbat and many members are way to far removed from Humanity's normal ethics codes to care; body horror - the Tzimisce art of "fleshcrafting" provides ample opportunities to witness the grotesquery of inhuman minds; physical and emotional abuse - for the militant sect that prizes Strength of body and will, these things are the "tough love" type of training and care. What i'm not planning on giving much if any attention to are the topics of sexual nature. Such things interest vampires not and neither do they interest me. In general, this is an [b[ Adult[/b] chronicle, and should be treated as such.
Note on the mind affecting Disciplines - i'm not planning on taking away autonomy from players by using stuff like Dominate on characters. I expect you to extend the same courtesy to your fellow players.
While i'm not making any grandiose plans, i'm hopeful that if the game comes together and the group jive well, we get to experience a long and satisfying chronicle. As for
Post Frequency.. Not a fan of setting hard posting rules, as at the end of the day real life comes first. We all play games for fun, so when you're not feeling it, it can be hard to find inspiration to write a thoughtful and composed response. That being said, the nature of the game will likely mean that the group will be staying together the majority of time, which means a lot of back and forth between the player characters. With that in mind it would be prudent to join if you can post at least once every 1-3 days, to not stop the momentum to a crawl. Again, stuff happens, so if you're absent for a 6+ days, i will probably just do a quick post from your character perspective to move the game along - something like "she will nod and follow everybody" or "julius receives an important phone call and has to take it", and then you can just pick up when you're back in action.
Setting. The game takes place in the present. The working idea is that you'll be Embraced in Chicago for an attack on locals and then taken back to Detroit. Relevant Metaplot things - Week of Nightmares happened, Tremere
antitribu are still operational. Metaplot stuff that probably won't come up - Tzimisce Eldest and Lasombra are either dead or have already achieved their nebulous goal of transcending vampirism in some way. So no Antediluvian coercion or influences for either clan. Anything else is undetermined for now.
Note on Final Death and PVP - the lives of Cainites in the Sabbat are turbulent and filled with violence. That goes double for shovelheads. You are
NOT expected to survive. I will not be actively trying to kill your characters, but giving them "plot armor" will defeat the purpose and undermine the horror of their situation. So i will be leaning on you - players - to support each other and to keep each other safe. While the Sabbat is very much "dog eats dog" type of organization, PVP i would leave behind completely. It's fine for your characters to disagree and argue, but at the end of the day i hope they will become a cohesive unit, a family bonded by grief and loss of their new existence.
The game will be played here, without any additional tools - so no roll20s or discords. Beginners to the VTM and WOD are, of course, welcome. Looking for about 4-6 players.
Applications. For an application i would like you to PM me with your character idea and a short blurb about them. Write as much as you want - you don't need to do a novel, but i will read one. Sheets are not needed at this point, we'll hammer the details out in the "session 0" type thread later. Preference will be given to the more "normal", mundane concepts. It can be enticing to create a character fitting their future role in the Sabbat - the lone wolf veteran survivalist who'll easily adapt - but i'm actually looking for the opposite. Regular people with little to none supernatural connections prior to Embrace. Those, for whom such violent change is truly horrifying. I would also like to learn what you want out of this chronicle - what aspects you would like to see more of and what less and what not at all. How do you see your character adapting and actually surviving the shovelhead process? Anything else that is important to you can and should be mentioned as well.
Clans. To simulate the shovelhead experience better, we'll be rolling for clans. All of the
antitribu are up (including Tremere), Harbingers and Blood Brothers are out, Kiasyd and Ahrimanes maybe in. We'll probably weight dice up for more numerous clans - Lasombra, Tzimisce, Brujah, Panders, and down for more rare ones - Salubri, Tremere, Kiasyd. Will discuss it in more detail in the session zero thread - including excluding certain clans for certain people, merits/flaws to add, thin-blood custom Disciplines if someone rolls one,etc.
EDIT: To expand on rolling - meaning that you will make a dice roll (as in d100 for example) that will determine the clan that your character has been Embraced in. Random, not chosen. That's the idea.
I think (hope) that is all. If you have questions, feel free to ask them in the IC thread or via PM.
Good Evening.
