Thy Domain
RPG System: Vampire the Masquerade – 20th Anniversary Edition
TTRPG Module – Thy Domain
Thy Domain is a table top roleplaying game set in the World of Darkness. It uses the Vampire the Masquerade RPG and fuses it with their own board game, Prince of the City.
How to Play:
The players will select a vampire to play. That vampire or Kindred, is a member of the Primogen, which is the city’s advisory council of elder vampires. The Primogen advise the ruler of the city, known as the Prince who rules over all of the Domain, which is often divided out like medieval fiefdoms. The Primogen and the Prince work together to maintain the secrecy of their kind known as the Masquerade.
Your prince has recently disappeared, and is assumed dead. One of the players will likely replace the Prince by the end of the game, unless you all call a vote and choose to rule as a council, disband the power structure, or create your own. This can be done in a variety of ways, some of which
Bridging the Gaps:
The game can be extensible and modular, and based on setting and the location of the setting. For instance there could be modules for different cities, or this same game could be played with other white wolf systems and you could be fighting over nodes + constructs as opposed to domains…
For our current purposes the game will be set in Kansas City in the year 2016.
Thy Domain will use the cards from the board game, and fuse them with the more in depth rule set for the tabletop game. The contacts, retainers and equipment can all be used by the PCs and or their minions. The RPG’s Backgrounds and Disciplines can have an effect on the flow of the game, affecting the powers available and what kind of resources are available to the character to deal with the social and regional conflicts, that manifest as the Events that occur to challenge the characters and prove who is fit to wear the crown.
Who can accomplish what? Who can do it the best way? How do you define best? What kinds of rewards and who gets them? Threats of local Masquerade violation can lead to worse, like raising humanity’s suspicion level.
Game Features and Mechanics:
Voting. Players are encouraged to submit their own votes, that to some extent can change anything in the game, including the game itself… ?
Boons, Deals and Trades are highly encouraged, but executed on behalf of the players or council.
Backstabbing is likely to occur, and is quite common among vampires. Try and avoid taking it personally, or summon your ghouls and seek retribution, I’m not your grandpa.
Game Concept:
The players choose a character to play as Primogen and then do their best to bite, claw and charm their way to the top of the undead hierarchy to become, Prince of the City.
Finish Conditions:
- Failed State… The Masquerade is destroyed. Humans win. Vampires are slaughtered by X or Y human threat.
- Monarchy: Primogen votes to elect a prince.
- The Republic: Primogen vote to rule as a council, eliminating the position of Prince.
- Anarchy: Primogen disband the Camarilla and become a Free City.
- Write Ingenuity: Primogen unanimously votes their own governance model of choice and determines their own win conditions.
- The Prince wins by achieving certain conditions (possibilities: domains, personal prestige, Status + Influence Backgrounds, sending other characters into torpor (deep vampire sleep).
- There should always be one overarching event, possibly chosen by the GM that functions as the main plotline for the game/session. Then the other game events hopefully tie into the main plotline or add to it with few conflicts.
Playtime 1-3 hours. The number of players and the number of events you choose will be the primary factors that affect game length. The game will get longer as you increase either value, more so if you increase both.
The game is not recommended for kids 12 and under.
Teens should probably have parental recommendation and or supervision, a waiver?
Content Warnings: Lots of them.
Domains and Zones
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