The New York Chronicle, subtitled Gotham by Night, was a live-action Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle that ran from April 2009 through June 2010. It was played as a LARP (live-action roleplaying game) in various locations, including parking garages, bars, and personal residences, and through occasional live chat and forum avenues. It was a fully open game, allowing any and all players to participate as long as they followed reasonable roleplaying etiquette.
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Theme
The themes of Gotham by Night revolve around largely political and social conflicts in New York City, one of the most powerful vampire cities in North America, wielding worldwide influence while constantly under siege by the Sabbat.
Themes explored in this game include:
| The Devil's Due The Devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs; you will give the Devil his due. |
Characters must struggle with powers greater than themselves that wish to maintain a status quo and ask hard questions about who deserves to wield power. |
| Ecosystem Unbalanced We are the monsters, we say; it is true to the minnows and meaningless to the leviathans. |
Characters must learn about a supernatural world that is much larger than mere vampire society, and find their place within it (or be extinguished if they fail to do so). |
| Finding Faith I talk to God but the sky is empty and below there are so many darknesses. |
Characters must confront their own spiritual and moral centers and make difficult decisions about their beliefs and to what lengths they are willing to go for them. |
| Human Supremacy There is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted men long enough and liked it never care for anything else after. |
With the rise of human technology and understanding of the supernatural, characters must face a world in which they may soon change from the hunters to the hunted. |
Plot
The Domain of New York City, New York, under the control of the Nosferatu Prince Calebros, is the central location and power bloc around which events of the game revolve.
Politics
New York is a city at war and has been for many decades now. A constant battleground between the Camarilla, who control Manhattan and much of Long Island, and the Sabbat, who launch offensives from their territories in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, it has long been considered the ultimate prize by Sabbat leaders who believe that its defeat will take the rest of the eastern half of the country with it. Its Prince, Calebros, is unwilling to hold the position, desperately searching for a more powerful replacement even as he fulfills his battlefield promotion after the death of the last ruler; meanwhile, its Archbishop, Francisco Domingo de Polonia, fights internally against other members of his clan who would happily topple him to take his seat even if it damages their chances of vicory. The eventual object of the East Coast Offensive, the city has known no peace for at least a century, adding to its outright warfare the additional factions of the local shapeshifters of the Sept of the Green attempting to hold the line against vampire incursions, various Changeling forces independently trying to prevent the city from sinking them in Banality, and a few Anarchs holding down a small foothold on Staten Island.
Over the course of the game, ancilla coteries formed and reformed in an attempt to create coherent power blocs in the chaos, contests over vacant Primogen seats caused sect loyalties to shift, the Tremere chantry was forced to fight off a psychic invasion and lost several members, magical forces infected vampires with motivations to serve other powers, and severe Masquerade breaches occurred as famous landmarks were destroyed. The city continues to exert significant power over events even after the end of its live-action portion, particularly in regards to events in Washington, DC, its sister city and only major east-coast rival.
Social & Supernatural Plots
Social plots are complex and often rely on the established alliances and relationships among the vampires in residence. Among other things, Ventrue Primogen Marcus Aurelius and his brood now occupy a prominent political place in the city and have become involved in multiple relationships and plans coming out of Washington, DC, while vampires fleeing from other dangers have used the city as an opportunity to leave their troubles behind and dangerous Autarchs with allegiance to no one arrive for their own personal reasons and throw a wrench into the political maneuvering of others around them.
The surprising amount of supernatural activity in the city is mostly the result of the local werewolves and their powerful totemic protectors, as well as the Changelings that seem to have an unusual interest in the local vampires and especially the new perfumes and drugs being offered by the local Followers of Set. Members of the elusive Kiasyd bloodline have also been sighted, further suggesting some buried link in the area between the undead and the glamored. A rising number of Hunters have also risen out of the chaotic bloodshed of the vampiric war, appearing without warning and targeting all sides indiscriminately.