New Vampire the Masquerade 20 Campaign

So, I have offered my Friday night gaming group, and they accepted, starting a VtM20 campaign. I used to have tons of Vampire stuff, but got rid of all of it years ago. Recently picked up the Vampire 20th anniversary edition. It is slightly modified from the old 3rd edition rules, and includes all of the clans, bloodlines and sects. A one stop game. Plus I got a copy of New York by Night, since the old Vampire story-line "kinda" ended there.

My master plan is to advance the dead story line from the last published book - 2001, just before 9/11, to the present nights. I am not sure all of what would have changed, although (spoiler) the Antediluvian in New York was "hurt" by the 9/11 attack, but not killed.

The general plot arc begins with the characters being turned by a depleted Sabbat Pack and thrown into combat with a small coterie of newly arrived Camerilla entrepreneurs - hence the Campaign Opener Title of "Cannon Fodder"

Here is the opening cut scene:

{everyone close your eyes}

You awake in darkness. Are you dead? Can’t be…you are awake. But…you feel no rise or fall of your chest…you are not breathing. You try to sit up, but hit your head. You kick your feet and hit the sides, and the bottom and the lid of the wooden box you are in. You can tell that it is wood, an old waterlogged pine from the smell. Pull your fists up from your side and hit the lid before your face with your fists. It is so loud…you are screaming…when did you start that? But you are not alone. Oh, no. You hear the cries of the other damned around you, they scream as well. You panic, no…you are way beyond panic. Berserk? Frenzy? Looking up, you clearly see your bloodied fists beginning to break through the old pine. Isn’t it pitch dark..? How…but you can no longer think. And it is not just the panic. It is the hunger. But that is a poor substitute for what you are feeling. A complete fulfilling long life, well lived, wealthy in love, friends, and favor, distilled into a dirty shot glass…no even that is just a taste of what you long for.

Scratching at the lid has stripped the flesh from your fingers to the bone. But that is good, for the bone is hard and makes progress against the dead wood. Soon the wood splinters, as you claw two handed – cat like – at the shredding boards. Then it breaks and wet earth falls through covering your face. Yet you do not stop, you don’t need air now, and the smell, the smell is driving you on…that shotglass of life, so clear, so terrified, so delicious. Moving through the earth, upwards, you manage to get your feet beneath you and PUSH.

Magically, you break through the surface, opening your eyes, blinded by the intensity of a dying florescent bulb. You Cough the earth from your throat even as you crawl forth, quickly shaking your head to clear the dirt from your eyes, ears and nose, letting out a howl to Heaven, Hell, Valhalla, or just to clear the last of the earth from your throat, you don’t know or care. The source of the delicious nectar of your desires is before you, hidden in that quivering bag of flesh…you move towards it ravenous, your tongue hanging from the side you your mouth…oh, so slow! To others you seem a blur, but for you…an eternity…until you are there.

Your teeth tear the bag and you plunge your face into the warmth, the completion of all of your desires. There is other screaming now, all around and from right in front of you, yet still you sup. Flushed with life, you come aware

Of the horror, of what you have done. Your loved one lies in pieces, ravaged as if by an animal, before you. Shredded…by you.

{You can open your eyes}

Comments and ideas welcome.