Membership Character Scenes

A Character Scene on the After the Sunsets Games site is a dedicated, scheduled role-playing session between a player character and a Storyteller, often the Loremaster, to explore specific, in-depth plot points or personal character development that may not be feasible during regular game events.

Key Aspects of a Character Scene

Participants: The scene is run by the Loremaster, though another Storyteller can volunteer if requested by the player and agreed upon by the Storyteller.

Purpose: It allows a character to pursue specific, narrative-focused goals that require dedicated attention. The example provided is a character seeking information about the "Order of Gabriel" through role-playing at a location in Europe.

Format: The scene is typically conducted over Discord or voice chat.

Duration: Each "credit" for a character scene via membership is limited to a maximum of four hours.

Membership Tiers: Examples

Baron/Baroness level: Members at this level can request time to schedule a scene with the Loremaster.

Emperor/Empress level: Members at this level receive three Character Scenes per month as part of their benefits.

Live Event Integration: A player can also "cash in" a Character Scene as a mini-quest during a live event. This helps direct how the role-playing for that event will go, subject to the approval of the Storyteller group.

Essentially, a Character Scene provides an opportunity for a player to work one-on-one with a game master to flesh out their character's personal story and background within the game's lore, offering a more personalized and in-depth experience outside of standard gameplay. Advantages of One-on-One Play

Neonate and Veteran Benefits

First, let’s focus on the benefits for the player (the character's Neonate or protégé) and the Storyteller (Veteran).

Focused Attention

There’s something truly special about practicing being the apex predator—or the desperate survivor—of your own story. I love that the World of Darkness offers us the chance to be ruthless and cunning, to set humanity aside and go after what we truly want, answering the beast’s call or the Glamour’s pull.

A chief benefit for the Neonate in a one-on-one game is that all of the focus is on you and your PC—you’re the protagonist (or perhaps the antagonist). Being the protagonist doesn’t mean your character has to be the charismatic Prince of the City or the Alpha of the Sept. However, it is a great way to practice being actively involved in the conspiracies and to dive deep into your character’s fractured psyche. 

Additional Character Archetypes

I’ve found that one-on-one play also opens up the types of characters you can play at the table. It works well for Sabbat campaigns, if you’d like to try that out, but it also suits particular supernatural tropes that may not work as well in a group. For example, why is the Nosferatu information broker saddling themselves with a Brujah hothead and a Garou who thinks all Kindred are Wyrm-tainted when they’d rather operate from the shadows to enrich their own bloodline? For some, there’s a simple answer to this question, and it makes sense for the reclusive PC to join a desperate coterie or pack.

But other characters really would prefer to work alone, or perhaps with one other person whom they trust absolutely (a childe, a ghoul, or a sworn packmate). Playing one-on-one increases the variety of the types of chronicles—and whose chronicles—we can tell.

ST Benefits

Now, let’s turn our attention to the Storyteller (ST).

Focused Storytelling

For Storytellers, creativity flourishes within limitations. For instance, look at the ingenious workarounds that fledgling vampires manage as opposed to their elders. Limited blood potency restricts the power of their actions but sparks creative solutions for survival!

This same effect holds true in our storycrafting as STs—some challenges are better suited to a single character (or small group, with your ST-controlled companion) than they are to a larger coterie and vice versa. Lean into the PC’s clan, auspice, backstory, banes, and compulsions, and you’ll uncover some truly unique chronicle prompts, antagonists (perhaps a vengeful Elder or a persistent spirit), story complications, and more! You can read further about crafting single-character chronicle arcs here.

The Plight of the Forever ST

If you’re the person who is always running the chronicle and never playing a PC, playing in a one-on-one game can be a great middle ground for you! The PC’s companion character (or characters) needs to be well developed with motivations of their own. This helps the player to be more invested in their own character, the modern-gothic world, and the chronicle, but it also gives you unique access into the world as a character. Set aside your vast hoard of ST knowledge and escape into the mind of your ST-controlled character!

One-on-one play also gives you the chance to switch ST and player roles—maybe your supernatural associates disagree and need to part ways for a short while. The player can run a special narrative arc just for your ST-controlled companion while you sit back and take a break from the rigors of the ST’s chair!

For Both Neonates & STs

And now for all involved in the shared descent into darkness.

Secondary Characters

One benefit we didn’t expect at first was being able to pause our primary chronicle and follow secondary narrative threads. In fact, one of our favorite campaign arcs came about through developing a side story for a secondary character! Jonathan and I were both intrigued by her fierce, untamed spirit (a prospective Changeling perhaps), but she wouldn’t have fit as a long-term member of our main adventuring party. Instead, Jonathan crafted a side campaign for her between arcs in our primary storyline. The side narrative was darker than our other game and provided a refreshing change of pace while we explored a new domain and characters.

Favorite Parts of Play

This is another shared benefit between the Neonate and the ST—since there are fewer people to appease at the table, you can spend more time on the parts of play you most enjoy! Do you want to play a game of Kindred courtly intrigue where the only stabbings that take place occur from the sharpness of a glare, a carefully crafted insult, or an assassin’s untraceable blade? Alternatively, would you like to play out a long series of territorial challenges among rival packs unimpeded by the meticulous plod of uncovering an ancient conspiracy or the bore of vapid conversations with oblivious mortals untouched by the horrors of the night? So long as it makes you both happy, you can do exactly that!

Scheduling Ease

Last but not least, when you’re playing in a one-on-one game, you only have two schedules to juggle instead of however many coterie members you have! The best practices from group play and scheduling apply here as well—carve out a regular time each week, or however often you plan to play, and do your best to stick to it.

It is also beneficial to discuss how and when you will talk about the game outside of sessions, considering potential spoilers or simply setting boundaries for game discussions.