Zen and the art of Fleshcrafting

[Oner]

Soo.. My RP group decided it's time for some variety, so we'll play some Vampire after a year or so. Yours truly will be playing a Tzimisce and during brainstorming I had an idea: What if I turned my haven into a makeshift Genius Loci? Have some eye motif carvings above windows, which would hide real eyes, all connected to a poor creature that would essentially be the walls of my room (and some arms hidden behind curtains, in case some moron tries to attack me). One thought followed another and I realized, I'm not sure how fleshcrafted creatures exactly work.

Would a monster like that survive without food? Would it survive on my blood alone? Does it even need it's intestines?

 

Input would be much appreciated.

[Walsingham]

I presume you got this idea after a hard night eating welsh cheese?

[Oner]

I have an affinity towards the Tzimisce mindset. Which I guess means I'm prime Hitler material.

 

While you're here, can you recommend any places in/around London where one could have a mansion in relative solitude?

Edited October 5, 2010 by Oner

[Walsingham]

Crikey, I dunno. Have a look on a house price engine for homes worth more than a million in London, and check the postcodes south of the river?

[Oner]

Aw, thanks anyway.

[Raithe]

Hm, as I recall.. Tzimisce FLeshcrafting...

 

If you've got Vissiccitude at a high enough level, there's an ability that lets you conglomerate several different people/creatures into one being.. (there's also a Ritualised version using Koldunic Sorcery that does the similar).

 

If you ghoul someone/thing by feeding them blood, they still need access to regular food, but they will start to get an appetite for more..bloodier things. Generally turning a little more predatory. But remember, the bigger the creature is..the more blood its going to require from you regularly to keep it ghouled...

 

There was a Tzimisce Methusaleh who created the Cathedral of Flesh over millenia that sounds like what you want to do in a smaller scale.. and that actually fed by catching/eating animals/insects etc that wandered in... but that's going to be a little harder to try in London.

I'm guessing you'll be playing in the modern day setting? The Victorian London is quite fun as well and had a few useful London maps..

 

Also one point to consider, if you're planning on really playing around with fleshcrafting in that sort of sense beyond the casual "yank and tuck" approach.. you will need to put some skill points in medicine to get a grasp of anatomy and such.. You can stretch the flesh and viscera, bone and sinew all you want (and it can be fun) and while the supernatural resilience of ghouldom helps.. you still need to keep some form of organs working... It's just that in mass-monsters you can have multiple hearts/lungs/stomachs etc all connected up in one big glorious mind-bending creation...

 

 

Oh and since you're going Tzimisce, remember you could have access to the Revenant families.. (ghoul bloodlines the Tzimisce have cultivated over millenia...)

[Oner]

Thanks for the help.

 

I usually play Tzimisce, so I know most of the stuff you mentioned (the Vozhd crafting is a combined discipline of 6-6 points Vicissitude and Animalism). Guess it was too long since last I played, 'cause what you said sounds familiar.

It'll be modern day, and I'm going to be a mafia "plastic" surgeon. Generation won't be so high (9-10) so no Vozhd-like huge things unfortunately.

Unless I diablerize some poor sod, but sssh!

 

[Walsingham]

OK, you're both scaring me now.

 

Surely the logical thing to feed it in London would be rats?

 

And as for a location, what about an abandoned 1940s civil defence shelter? Then you can put it anywhere you like.

[Oner]

I'm not gonna be powerful enough to make one, so don't worry Walsh, England is safe for now.

 

I found a nice place on google maps. Cannon Hill Common, that'll be good.

 

Rats wouldn't be enough for the beast anyway, but I got the food covered.

[Raithe]

Some years back I played a Tzimisce in a campaign that went from the Dark Ages to Modern day.

The GM used the Transylvanian Chronicles with his own twist. He even mixed in some elements from the Giovanni Chronicles as we went along..

 

That was.. quite epic..and disturbing.

[Oner]

We had a campaign like that too, but the GM lost interest after the Dark Ages.

[Raithe]

Keeping a campaign flowing for a couple of years can take some enthusiasm...

[Oner]

More like 2 months.

[Raithe]

Now that's a bit shocking...

 

2 months is like.. a couple of adventures.. at that. Barely qualifies as a mini-campaign.

 

Sure, there's a time and a place to run something short but still....

[Oner]

Yeah we have a lot of campaigns that never get finished 'cause he wants more variety by running two simultaneously.

And by simultaneously I mean playing one, never continuing the other.

[Raithe]

We used to combat the long haul by alternating.. one session would be the long-term campaign, and then one session would be something different.. several different short term things, not even playing the same system.

 

That might be worth a try, or at least talking him into trying it to keep the long haul going.

 

Used to know a AD&D gm who was great for low-level campaigns..but he was never interested in fleshing things out when you got to over 8th level.. so he'd basically start another 1st level campaign every time we reached that plateu in his games..

[Oner]

We used to combat the long haul by alternating.. one session would be the long-term campaign, and then one session would be something different..

Technically that's what we're doing now. In practice, not so much.

 

Well okay, we did play one session to the end, but that was because of a party wipe.

..Sort of. I got fired from the inquisition (the character couldn't have been happier), the paladin I inquisited got executed, and his sorceress companion left the country. Oops.

[Raithe]

But yes, to return slightly to the original aspect of this thread.. one of the troubles with tzimisce is keeping an eye on that blood budget and keeping the fleshcrafted minions and revenant servants ghouled....

 

.. and Minions are so darn useful...

[Oner]

You can suck 3 points from one guy but they need only one point to stay ghouled, where's the problem?

[Raithe]

Keeping that regular supply line going when you have a handful of servants, then throw in blood bound fleshcrafted creations.. especially if that house plan takes off.. you'll need more then one body to stretch around there....

 

It all starts adding up... which makes hunting more important.. which can attract more attention...

[Oner]

Yeah but you can get ~3 points from one servant. You give one blood point, wait a bit, drink 3. And you only need to do hat once a month.

[Raithe]

That's always seemed a bit dodgy to me.... technically it's accurate.. but that's just turning you into a catalyst.. drink his blood, filter it through your system...then let him have some of it back.

 

It depends in just how you wrap up the spirit of it.. I guess it doesn't have to be quite as..clinical a relationship between Kindred and Retainer as it sounds.

 

Edit:

There's also the factor that if the ghoul uses any disciplines / blood abilities that require that blood point.. they're going to need you to replace it again quicker. If they don't do anything beyond the normal they only need the 1 in their system to stay "ghouled". So if you want them to be useful beyond the background.... It's going to turn you into a blood factory.

Edited October 13, 2010 by Raithe

[Oner]

Hmm, true. You got me there I guess. D:

[Raithe]

There's a reason it's easier to be a Tzimisce with a horde of ghouls, revenants, and fleshcrafted schlactza in the dark ages then in modern day....

[Oner]

I can always craft a Vozhd with a big throne in it and use it as a mecha with animalism.