Vampire the Requiem - Social Maneuver (Important Read)

Alright, folks ...

I am going through the new material and reading it with a fine-tooth comb in one hand and cup of coffee in the other. There are more than a few matters I want to bring up, but only a few that I feel are actually pressing or need to be addressed. One of the largest ones being our general lack of Monthly Gatherings and the other being a new 'mechanic' in the book called Social Maneuvering.

In the past we have considered making a monthly gathering sub-forum, where the characters can wine, dine, and do the things that are normally associated with kindred gatherings (blood orgies, mud wrestling daevas, mekhet and nosferatu creepers, and all that). The thing is, handling a monthly meeting on a forum is exceptionally hard—given time constraints, schedules, and real life. It is likely that by the time we finished one, we would be two months past the start date and trying to catch up.

Is this something people would still be interested in? If so, I may have an idea that allows us to explore this avenue. Before you panic in glee and think the solution is a live-game; no. I'm not opposed to a live-game at all, and that can happen, but the solution I have found may be in this new mechanic called 'Social Maneuvering'. The Social Maneuvering is a mechanic in the 2nd Edition book that is intended for players to use on non-player characters. For those of you who want to read about it, in depth, you can find the Social-Maneuvering mechanic on page 173.

In short, Social Maneuvering allows you to convince, or force, an individual into a specific act through etiquette, manners, or lack there-of. An individual has a certain amount of 'doors' that have to be 'broken-down' before you achieve your goal. If you manage to 'break down the doors' and get them to comply, you succeed in your goal and intentions.

If anyone is interested, we can definitely work something out.

In essence, each character would get a certain number of posts (1 - 5) and that is ALL. Once those posts are gone, they are done for the Social Gathering (these would be narrative posts, not our normal posts). This way we could be done with a social gathering in a few days or week, and people would get a chance to be a bit more devious and show more of their 'Social Power'.

Let me know what people think. We can just scrap it altogether as well.