The Night Shift

THE NIGHT SHIFT Created by Dan Wright US2002021042

The Night Shift is a Setting for the Camarilla Mortals Venue. It takes place within a series of Hotels purchased by a company that has restored historic hotels worldwide. The purpose of the Night Shift is to focus on completely mundane mortals in a World of Darkness who are mostly ignorant to the world around them. This Setting provides a lot of story possibility with room for discovery for the PCs or simply remaining in the Dark. Games can range from the comedic to the dark discovery of the World of Darkness. Player Characters may possibly take on the roles of employees, regular patrons, or any other PC type from the Mortals venue.

A FEW POSSIBLE

PLOT HOOKS FOR THE

NIGHT SHIFT:

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Haunted Hotel: Many historical hotels have their share of ghost stories. Researching local folk lore about Hauntings can give a good amount of Inspiration for plot.

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Organized Crime: Often Crime Syndicates would operate out of hotels in order to help keep from being detected by the authorities. As long as they pay enough money, the hotel is commonly obliged to look the other way.

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The Freaks come out at Night: All kinds of strange people are known to be seen mostly at night. These types could be Vampire, Werewolves, Mages or even other strange types. The Employees may not know the details of their guests, but certainly have to put up with them and often, clean their messes.

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Places of Power: The Hotel may be the built on a Ley Line, or a Hallow of some kind which attracts a number of supernatural powers to the area. These Nexuses of Spiritual power are great ways of getting PCs involved in the World of Darkness, while having to balance their mundane lives.

GAME PREMISE IDEAS The normal game would usually be a typical Weekend at the hotel. This is normally when the strange events or guests would take place. Player Characters will have reason to get together as a typical work day. Staff Meetings, Conventions, and other events can occur to help make the venue interesting.

PLACES • •

FOR INSPIRATION:

Four Rooms Hotel Babylon 1

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The Lost Room

THE HOTEL CHAIN In this setting, the Hamilton line of Hotels is known for their restoration of historical hotels all over the world. Often using their old stories as Marketing Strategy for getting Guests to stay at their hotels. They offer experiences that other hotels cannot. They are often between 3 and 5 star hotels. (Though, storytellers should be careful about approving 5 star hotels, as they are often hard to maintain). Storytellers may use this chain of Hotels as the setting of their Night Shift style venue or they may decide to do something more unique to their game. Whatever the storyteller decides, the overall Night Shift venue can easily connect with other Venues outside of their local area through. Hotels are about perfection and catering to the Hotel Guests. Guests come to the Hamilton Hotels for that perfection and an experience like no other. It is important that PCs within the Company maintain this.

HIRING

AND

FIRING

Bringing a new PC into the Night Shift setting is as easy as hiring a new staff member. Most every hotel staff has openings for new blood. Managers can interview new potential employees and hire them. As such, PCs can be fired as well. This does not mean they are no longer part of the venue, but rather need to find a new way to be fit in. Such ideas could be guests, a spy for other hotels, etc.

STATUS Night Shift setting games that make use of the Hamilton Hotel Chain may use the Hamilton Status trait. This Trait costs nothing to the player, and represents your level within the company. Every Player Character who is an employee of the company has at least one dot of Status. Status is gained through Promotion or simply doing your job well. Status is awarded and removed entirely by the Storyteller. The below status levels are examples of Status in the hotel. The storyteller may adjust these levels as necessary. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Cook, Housekeeping, Janitor Receptionist, Bartender, Bellhop Concierge, Night Manager Hotel Manager Hotel Owner

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Status is almost always universally known by other members of your hotel, usually symbolized by Name Badges. When outside of your home Hotel, your status is at one less. (Example, A Concierge with status 3 visiting another Hamilton Hotel would have an effective status of 2).

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TEMPLATES Within the Hotel are a number of Player Character Archetypes that could easily fit into the Night Shift Setting. These are certainly not the only PC types that are appropriate to the setting. For Employees, Job requirements are Attributes, Skills and Merits that are required for that position in your venue’s Hotel. The Storyteller may make adjustments to these requirements. These are examples for positions that should exist in your Hotel. These are not by any means the only positions that are available. Storytellers should feel free to make up additional Templates for their games. Other ideas could include: Security Guards, Bartenders, Area Vagabond and Ghost Hunter.

EMPLOYEES In the hotel business, there are a number of Employee positions to help make the hotel run. Hotel Employees never enter the building through the front. This is only for the guests. Some positions such as Housekeeping, Janitors and Cooks are usually not allowed to interact with Guests unless directly approached by the guests.

NIGHT MANAGER “Just make sure we don’t have any dead hookers tonight. We don’t want a repeat of last time.” Night Manager assists the General Manager in the administration of the hotel during off-peak hours by directing the hotel's team efforts toward guest satisfaction, associate productivity and the hotel's profitability. The Night Manager is considered the Manager on Duty, and is responsible when General Manager is not on the property.

JOB REQUIREMENTS: • • • • • • • •

Intelligence 3 Presence 3 Computer 3 Investigation 2 Intimidation 3 Socialize 3 Staff Merit 3 (Ghouls page 74) Resources 3

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CONCIERGE “Here are the tickets to the concert that’s been sold out for months. It was no problem at all, Ma’am.” In hotels and certain other facilities, a concierge assists guests with various tasks like finding taxicabs, restaurants, and interesting places to visit. In upscale establishments, a concierge is often expected to "achieve the impossible", dealing with any request a guest may have, no matter how apocryphal or strange, relying on an extensive list of personal contacts with various local merchants and service providers.

JOB REQUIREMENTS • • • • •

Presence 4 Manipulation 3 Contacts Varies (underworld, high society, and other areas useful to the guest) Allies Varies (Police, Media, Underworld, High Society, Arts and other areas useful to the guests) Resources 2

BELLHOP “May I help you carry your Carpet to your car, Mr. Soprano?” Helping Guests with their bags to their rooms and again to their cars, Bellhops are often seen as the lower class members of the Hotel Staff, just above those in positions like Housekeeping and Cook. Dealing with the Guests directly, they often find themselves in interesting situations. While this position may not provide a lot in the way of status, it certainly can be one of the most interesting during gameplay.

JOB REQUIREMENTS • • • •

Presence Strength Dexterity Resources

2 3 3 1

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HOUSEKEEPER “Sir, we expect some amount of mess in our Guests rooms, however, I must draw the line at cleaning hookers from the bathtub.” The Housekeeper helps clean the rooms every morning. Normally there would be a minimal Housekeeping Staff on duty overnight for those Guests who require such. Often speaking little to no English, they aren’t seen very often by Guests. Expected to clean the room to perfection without any question, the Housekeeping staff is the heart and soul of the Hotel.

JOB REQUIREMENTS • • •

Stamina Language Resources

3 Native Language (Spanish, Russian, etc.) 1

GUESTS Below is a template of one type of Guest who may stay in the hotel regularly and may be part of the venue without being an employee. Being that they are a guest, most employees will pay their wishes a great deal of respect. However, there is usually an invisible line that must not be crossed, or the hotel may ask them to leave.

ECCENTRIC GUEST “Room service? Yes, can I have three pounds of bacon, two cans of caviar and a woman sent to my room? Thank you.” Each hotel often gets their very own Eccentric Guest who either lives in the hotel or is a regular guest. Normally asking for strange items from Room Service and leaving huge messes for Housekeeping to clean, they are the staple guest for any Night Shift setting. These Guests have high demands and tip well.

SUGGESTED TRAITS • • • •

Resources Staff Vice Retainers

4+ Varies (Ghouls page 74) Greed Varies

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CREDITS Concept and Layout Dan Wright Additional Concept Michelle Rogers Robert “Spaz” Sanders Kristina Brummet Emmanuel “Tito” Betancourt Editing Additional Content

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