Darkness Emergent Dev Blog 4

I'm pleased to announced that your DE storytelling team is already hard at work building our event for Las Vegas! We're in the final days of our first writing sprint, and we've decided on the overall concept and structure of how the event will function. Last time, I talked a bit about the challenges of taking our game to a 2-night format, and in the time since, the writing team and I have discussed several new ideas and different ways of building our stories that can broaden participation.

More salons
After reviewing our feedback, the Thursday night VIP game came back very highly rated. When I wrote that session, I intended it to be something like a cocktail party with discussion topics, or really, a salon in the vampire sense. The structure allowed people to feely mix and socialize, while offering optional content to discuss, and the chance to share viewpoints with NPCs. BJ did a similar concept with his storyline on Saturday night as well. I think they offer a lot of bang for the buck, keeping people engaged without having to set limits on involved players, and they don't require STs to step away to do side scenes. We'll be adding some of these in addition to the usual sorts of stories we develop.

More plots like the QR codes
One of the pieces of feedback that keeps making its way back to us is how much people like BJ's Red QRestion plot. In particular, people appreciate that we have some story offerings for those who may not feel like being social for whatever reason. As a storyteller, I usually try to do a plot that motivates people to explore the side, and I also like the notion that people can take part in the game and advance their story without having to find or wait for an ST. Of course, we don't want to do all QR code plots, so I proposed a couple of concepts to the writing team that I think will work well for us.

More time for factions
When we first debuted the factions in San Antonio, I was pretty sure they'd work, and I've been impressed with how people have really attached to them. In the beginning, they were intended to solve a problem: tabletop vampire is centered around coteries, groups of friends of various clans, while very typically, larps tend to gravitate around clan-centric play. And while that's often fun, one of the most important concepts for Darkness Emergent is that you should get to play with your friends. We don't want to pull apart your coterie by having separate Malkavian, Tremere, and Toreador meetings where you spend half the night.
The question we're trying to figure out now is how much time do people want to spend with their factions? Looking at the clan channels, some are very active, such as the Arsene Society, and others are a bit more quiet, which is totally fine. With the added time, we have the possibility of having a longer faction meeting the first night, or having a short faction meeting at the start of each night. Of course, we won't stop anyone from meeting informally, but if we know all of the factions are going to be meeting, we can structure content accordingly. 

What to bring back vs. when to innovate
We've had a pretty good success rate when it comes to introducing new concepts. Despite that, twice now I've found myself with last minute doubts. For example, right before we opened the doors in San Antonio, BJ, Aaron, and I were arranging the offrenda, and I found myself wondering if anyone was going to add to it. Of course, the table was full by the end of the night, we had to chase people down to return some of the items. I had the same thought when putting up the Beef Board in Chicago (credit to Paul for that great idea!), and immediately turned around to see a line of people ready to post things. For Las Vegas, I've got a new concept I'm developing, and I'll probably be wondering the same thing right until the last minute. We'll see how it works! We may also bring back the Beef Board since we styled it as a new Anarch tradition. Let us know if you'd like to see it again!

Previews are coming soon!
In the coming weeks, we're going to send out previews that will fill you in what has happened recently in Las Vegas, and who is going to greet you there when you arrive. These will likely take the form of social posts, written in the style of the game materials published in the event booklet. We as storytellers may also feel inspired to share a little extra here for our Discord community.