Tatters of the King Conversion Overview

Naturally, this article contains spoilers about the Tatters of the King campaign.

Tatters of the King is a Call of Cthulhu campaign set in the 1920s that follows a group of investigators as they try to untangle a cult that worships the King in Yellow.  It's a high investigation campaign with relatively low levels of violent action and it leads the investigators around England and across Europe into Tibet.

You can read the blurb of this campaign below:

It is October 1928.  London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race.  The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation.  How fragile things are.  What ignorance there is.

There are those who engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.

Over this winter its taint emerges: the sensitive and the weak feel it first.  Few know the source, but some welcome it unconsciously - finding in it an unexamined thrill.  Artists' work is strangely influenced, and they mine this vein of creativity.  Many exhibitions this season feature similar images: a social gathering gripped by repressed panic; a lake or marsh cloaked in mist; a presence just off-canvas.  New fiction and theatrical releases offer scenes of upheaval and confusion that never reach a climax.  Seances and mediumistic exhibitions bring untoward results and end in disruption.  Others feel new lines of communication opening; some claim God is talking to them.

All feel the lure of the stars.

So there'll naturally be a few changes to make it fit into the James Tyler campaign I've been running thus far.  The location is fine as I've given the vampire cause to leave America and the resources (namely a doppelganger called Peter Walsh to play his daytime persona on the cruise) to do so.  I've given him a reason to attend the play at the beginning (an invitation by his Daeva Aunty, Joy Tyler) and a reason to go visit Alexander Roby (Joy Tyler is an eminent psychologist that Dr. Highsmith respects despite her gender).  Still, there's had to be a few changes.

For one, it's the late Autumn of 1954.  This doesn't change very much, in truth, but it does encourage me to add little details about bomb damage and relatively recent architectural repairs due to the Blitz, the occasional weary or snide comment about Germany when that country comes up (which is rare), a higher frequency of paved roads which makes it easier to drive to the various towns themselves rather than being forced to take a train (which would generally be a death sentence for vampires).  Tuminardo may still be a fascist but he is no longer in a fascist city, Nepal's borders reopened in 1951, and there's an increase in telephones (they can call most people directly rather than leaving messages - one of the letters may well be changed into a phone call).  It will also change a few Famous Faces met in the campaign, of course, as they won't be able to meet Tolkien as a professor in the university. 

As it's World of Darkness, I can still include Aleister Crowley as as a Famous Face and bit player.  There are quite a few things in the World of Darkness that could extend his age.  He could be possessed by a Whisperer (little demon from Inferno that whispers in his ear and slowly corrodes his will).  Or perhaps he died from a respiratory infection he came back again as a Sin-Eater (a mutated ghost rests inside him and will keep him alive and dealing with ghosts until he reaches the end of his natural lifespan, which would likely be soon).  Or perhaps a vampire thought he'd be a lot of fun and he was Embraced (your choice of Clan or Covenant).  Even if you know nothing of World of Darkness, VOTE in the Comments box below for what you think would be the best bit of NWoD colour to keep him around.

The other changes I need to make involve integrating the Cthulhu mythos with the World of Darkness.  Now I could just adopt the Cthulhu mythos entirely.  After all, there are already non-Mythos occult creatures in Call of Cthulhu.  Still I want to steer clear of an actual cross over of the two worlds as it wouldn't create the kind of consistency in vibe that I'm going for.  I want to use Call of Cthulhu elements but I want to make sure that it's very much coming out of the World of Darkness.  So I decided to take a look at the different creatures, entities and places already existing in the World of Darkness and see if I could find some parallels.

The three main entities that work well with Tatters of the King are, to my mind, the True Fae, Abyssals, and the Earthbound from Demon: the Fallen (Demon is from old World of Darkness, but oh well, I like it).  There will be a number of entities and locations I need to convert within the campaign.  You may not agree with all of my choices but I hope you find it interesting and thought-provoking.  I don't have space in this article to go into all such conversions but there will be articles upcoming on Hastur, the King in Yellow, Carcosa, and much much more.

I hope you enjoy it.

You can find more articles on this topic over here.

True Fae Tale: The Red Queen & the Snow Princess

I've been having fun doing some world building in London for my James Tyler campaign.  You can read more about it and see the other articles on the subject over here.  I'm quite proud of myself as normally I can't really think up True Fae or Arcadian Realms (which are quite tricky feats of imagination to make them work). Take a look at the tale of two Fae (or perhaps a Syzygy).  These two rule a land where massive sprawling gardens meet rose encrusted ice. 

The Red Queen & The Snow Princess

This is how the story goes.

Once upon a time, the Red Queen met a dashing King who had been crowned from another kingdom and fell very much in love.  Some say that he may have even been the King of Summer but the Summer Courtiers will not be pleased if you mention that side of the story, so please take care.  This King ailed from a terrible illness and as her baby girl swelled within her belly, he slowly wasted away before finally dying and being placed within the family tomb deep within one of the many flowering gardens that surround the palace.  So sad was she that she cried tears of blood and tore at her breasts, and screamed to the stars that she wanted him back, for she was an emotional and passionate woman.

Her daughter, however, when finally she was born was quite different.  Born of sorrow, her heart was frozen in her icy core.  The passionate Red Queen found her baby girl difficult to understand as whenever she screeched with anger or simpered with devotion, her daughter would simply watch her impassively with an insectile grace.  The Red Queen believed that she had been cursed and that the baby had stolen her beloved King’s life as she grew and swelled within her mother's womb.  She vowed revenge.

The Snow Princess fled the Red Queen’s wrath to the other side of the land to forge a palace of frost and snow where a garden of ice sat above an icy rose-encrusted lake.

The Red Queen was not finished with her daughter, however.  She called forth all of the young men of the land to compete with action and social graces to bring warmth to her daughter’s heart, hoping that her daughter would find someone to love so that the Red Queen could tear him from her daughter.  Then she could devastate her daughter as she had been devastated.  

This night of competition and seduction came to be known as the Night of the Red Gala and there is always a rash of disappearances in our world during the months leading up to that night as the Red Queen captures and refashions human beings into different designs, sometimes even kidnapping escaped Lost from other Fae, or even stealing them right out from under the noses of her enemies to ensure a distinct design.  

And thus the Red Gala will show the gardens and the entertainment areas of the palace filled with nervous Lost re-taken from Earth, Fairest performers, shy Darklings attempting flirtation, Ogres and Beasts competing at challenges, Elementals creating dazzling displays and everything in between.  Even the occasional True Fae visitor may come to compete to gain some advantage or simply to watch and observe the show.

The Snow Princess cares little for the men who are brought to woo her but she will always attend the night of the Red Gala.  Those who capture her attention are lured away to her realm at the end of the night.  The lucky ones are left as cold corpses on the borderlands between her home and her mother's.  The luckiest are the ones who find their way out.  The unlucky ones are purposefully reforged into sentinals as the cold enters their very bodies and they move as though reanimated corpses to feed upon the flesh of the frozen dead.  Those who are doubly damned retain their previous personalities and are forced to forage, hide, and die on the lakes.

On rare occasions the Red Queen will capture a man of such warmth and vitality that it will melt the ice surrounding the Snow Princess’ heart and allow it to beat.  For those brief, rare moments she becomes almost child-like in her innocence and treats this rare individual with such love and attention that it is as though nothing in the world matters.  

It is said that Jack Frost was once such man whose sheer cheerfulness and childlike mannerisms warmed her heart for a few weeks before the Red Queen trapped him within ice sustained by her daughters' tears.  He did not die, however, as he was born from cold, or perhaps he came to imbue it through this trial, and so when the Snow Princess forgot her care for him - as True Fae are wont to do - the ice did melt and he burst free from it to return to the place from which he had come.

Those who fail to garner notice from the Snow Princess at the night of the Red Gala have a few short nights to make good their escape while the Red Queen spies on her daughter but once she has returned to her palace, they are lost.  They will be killed or, more often, traded by the Red Queen.  Perhaps a few might remain as curiosities to entertain her in her castle or keep it clean.  Perhaps but not likely as she can always trade for a fresh crop of slaves.

The Red Queen's Hunts

It is said that during the Red Queen's journeys onto Earth to seek out new Changelings for the Red Gala, she seeks also a new husband for herself but will take for herself no other than a Changeling crowned by the season.  

It is said that she will not care if this Changeling is male or female, only that they are crowned, and that she will steal them away to Faerie to birth another child - if such a deed were even possible. 

It is said that if she comes for you, should you offer to take her to her new King she will listen and let you lead her but what would be the price for such treachery?  Would she even let you, who betrayed her new King, ever leave?

----------------------

What do you think?  The sort of Keepers you'd like to have had?  Be careful or they just might be.

You can find a list of Changeling articles like this one (among many others) over here.

James Tyler (nWoD Vampire) Meet Tatters of the King (Call of Cthulhu)

Some of you may have followed the antics of James Tyler, wannabe Hunter and conman Daeva, as he traveled America to slay evil supernaturals with his plucky pal, Peter Walsh.  If you haven't, you can see the adventure summaries of this solo campaign over here.  I haven't bothered with an Actual Play because a lot happens in a short amount of time and I have far too many Actual Plays on the go already.  Therefore, I decided to do it a little differently and share with you all of the materials that I'm using for the next campaign arc.

I've been wanting to use the Tatters of the King campaign for awhile and after having success running Delta Green adventures with James Tyler, I figured to give this one a go.  It helps that it's set in late Autumn / Winter in England where it gets light quite late in the morning and dark quite early in the evening so appointments can be arranged at those two times with other people.  It still takes some work to come up with reasons they can visit folk nocturnally but as Peter Walsh can do things during the daytime, if it's not too interesting, I have him do it while the player character sleeps.

So anyway, Tatters of the King is a campaign by Chaosium that is set in the Call of Cthulhu mythos.  That mythos isn't true in my New World of Darkness (NWoD) but with some fancy footwork and the inclusion of Demon: the Fallen into the NWoD canon, I feel pretty confident that I can piece together something that both allows me to run the campaign largely unchanged while still justifying it in NWoD ways.  As the campaign involves some pretty Changeling-prone elements like the artistic reaction to the Hyades, the stranger, and perhaps even Carcosa itself, I thought I'd interweave a few elements into the background in preparation for a later campaign following a resurgence of heavy True Fae incursions in London.  This will only really hit the ground once Tatters of the King has been concluded, but it's always worth doing some early grounding. 

So what are the articles you can look forward to seeing?

Well, on Mondays you can find articles on Tatters of the King:

The Investigating Team

Tatters of the King Campaign Coterie

Tatters of the King Conversion NPCs Statistics
Chapter 1 NPCs Conversion
Chapter 2 NPCs Conversion
Chapter 3 NPCs Conversion
Tatters of the King Conversions
Tatters of the King Conversion Overview
Spell Conversions: Free Hastur,  Flesh Ward, Hands of Colubria, and Send Dreams, 

Call of Cthulhu Monster Statistics
Byakhee
Unspeakable Promise & the Unspeakable Possessor

Advice for running Tatters of the King with a Vampire
Tatters of the King Worthy Links

The True Meaning of Carcosa, Hastur and the King in Yellow
King in Yellow, Hastur, the Wyrd, and the Origins of the True Fae
Visiting Carcosa

Good Uses for Props

On Wednesday, there will be a short run of Vampire posts before returning to your usual programming about Game Translations post-my-wedding:
Special Events on the Kindred Calendar
The Sweet Salon

Important Vampire NPCs
Vampire Spotlight: James Tyler
Vampire Spotlight: Joy Tyler
Masquerade Breach Spotlight: Charlotte Adams
Vampire Pseudo Sire (Custom Creature): Peter Walsh
Invictus Groom & Auction House
Custom Coils, Merits & Devotions

Coil of the Core

Court, Coteries, and Covenants
An Unusual Ordo Dracul Coterie
Vampire Sheriff Set-Up

Props & Sensory Maps

Thoughts on the Campaign

Vampire Superheroes or Noir Vampire

Vampire Noir Adventure Creation: Themes
How It Feels To Be A Vampire

On Fridays, you can find articles on the Changeling side of the London game:  

History of the Azure Eye Freehold

True Fae Stories
Jack Frost

The Red Queen and the Snow Princess
Pied Piper

True Fae Spotlight
The Red Queen Summary, Actor, Prop, Wisps, Locale.
The Snow Princess Summary, Actor, Prop, Locale.
Jack Frost Summary, Actor, Prop, Wisps.
Custom Tokens, Hollows, Ceremonies & Pledges
Autumn Court Festivals 
Changeling Advice
The Ghost Road becomes the Road to Arcadia

Props & Sensory Maps

Feel free to re-visit this article as all of the posts will be linked here as they come up. 

Insylum - Levels of Crazy Summaries

Rather than type up each day of the Insylum campaign arc of the James Tyler campaign since so very much happened, I'm going to post up some summaries instead.  Please read and enjoy.  This is for Vampire: the Requiem.  You can find more information on this campaign over here.

Insylum – First Level of Crazy

James awoke in an asylum with no idea of who he was although his personality was intact, as were his associations (vampire emotion is more association-based memories than true emotion).  Despite staff attempts to convince him that he was simply schizophrenic, he soon came to believe that he was a vampire being held in some sort of underground facility for some bizarre reason.  He was fed ‘meat shakes’ (really, blood) as apparently he had an eating disorder where he would only eat liquefied foods.  Once night, he awoke in a different form of the asylum which was more of your typical hate-filled world of darkness mental institution.  It only lasted a night as it rapidly devolved into a violent outburst with James sneaking around the asylum and almost escaping.  He was drawn back only by the need to save a patient, Hester, who had strangely fallen ill a few nights beforehand.  He was stopped by a strange man (with Dominate).  During this period he also slowly pieced together memories and though he couldn’t remember Walsh, he started remembering Charlotte, his ‘daughter’ (at the time he thought she was his born daughter).  The staff led him to believe that he could see his ‘daughter’ when his memories stabilised as he kept having episodes that wiped his memory.

Insylum – Second Level of Crazy

James spent some time in the regular asylum before awakening to the sound of something chipping away at the floor beneath his bed.  When he peered down there, he spotted a hole that led into a Silent Hill-esque version of the asylum.  No people, just clues as to the sources of their insanity, weird puzzles, and the occasional monster or other threat, such as a room that started to melt around him and a strange entity hiding beneath the clothing.  He ran into a huge man with a big axe and a gas mask who was more solid than most of the enemies, and who seemingly killed a man in front of him (actually a vampire slammed down).  James hid in the pool in the dark until the threat passed him by.  Finally, he came across him again in a mirrored room (required a few puzzle locks on the door to get in) where he faced the man again.  He lost the battle and dropped to 1 blood.  He slammed into a strange state where he found himself entering a room where Charlotte and Hester were chained to a wall and he was ferociously hungry.  At first, he frenzies and consumes them.  Then he’d back in the room, still hungry, and he batters himself against a wall to prevent himself from attacking them.  This causes him to frenzy and he consumes them.  Next he comes out of the opposite side of the room and sees himself enter through the other door.  He attacks himself and fails.  The fourth time he comes out through that door again and then attempts to consume himself and succeeds.  Thus he learns the first dot of Coil of Beast.

Insylum – Third Level of Crazy

James awakens with no memory of anything that had happened to him but his Beast is more controllable.  Strangely enough, he feels nothing.  He is a sociopath, though not a violent one, and he toys with the other patients a bit but is otherwise relatively compliant.  He is led through hypnotic technique and Dominate into believing that he is a schizophrenic vampire whose sire (Jeremiah Tyler) is slowly teaching him while keeping him there.  He reads books on Tyler techniques and goes out to nightclubs where he is taught how to seduce (though no further).  He then meets his alleged wife (Joy Tyler) and after a couple of weeks is allowed to go home for Christmas to meet his wife and daughter.  Joy meets him at the door and there’s an awkward conversation as James accuses her of being a puppet or a liar.  When he goes to leave, the lights go out and Joy disappears.  He hears a scream upstairs from a little girl but when he rushes up, there is no one.  He finds the dining table set with goblets of blood and, hungry, he feeds from them.  He then hallucinates dreadfully (glamour-soaked hedge blood) and feels the great strength of that particular emotion.  After an hour of this, he is lured into the basement where he finds himself in a long corridor with mannequins of people who swap facial expressions and body language.  He duplicates them, each one, though they get more difficult with each time before reaching one at the end which grins at him.  The stress, strain, and changes wreaked upon him teach him Coil of Souls 1.

Insylum – Hidden Crazy

James is then put through the Coil of the Core training where he is bound to a table and fed glamour-infused hedge blood to bring him to the heights of a particular emotion, while an Ordo Dracul Ventrue called Wilhelm Wintringham shows him colours.  Again and again, he is taken through this.  We don’t play through this until later on as this memory is repressed.  I just spend the next few sessions in the next adventure arc describing colour by emotion (“The flower is Red like Anger”).  The harsh part of this training is feeling the emotion drain away at the end, revealing to the poor young Daeva of the falseness of his emotions.

NB: Coil of the Core is a custom coil that you will be able to read soon.  The link will appear on this page once everything is complete.

Release

James finds himself cross-legged before a mural of a rainbow in an abandoned factory.  He remembers only what he had learned in the asylum as well as both sets of time in the asylum.  He doesn’t remember the ‘Hidden Crazy’ information nor does he recall anything of the past nine months.  He manages to find his home where he is called by an Ordo Dracul and advised to come to the Chapter House – there’s bad news.  Turns out his foster sire, Jeremiah Tyler, is missing and presumed dead after a warehouse he owned (later discovered to be a blood farm that James emptied of victims) and his primary haven (a large mansion) were both burned to the ground.  James is a suspect for a few people but no one has any proof.  James discovers he has a Slave, a rather normal-seeming Mekhet, and is tempted to stick around but when things come to a head and four people from the asylum plus a BBC presenter arrive to kill the woman he had handcuffed in his spare room, he starts to have second thoughts.  It turns out that the apparent victim was a demon (Lamashtu – Demon: the Fallen ‘demon’) rather than a victim and she had started grooming him to replace the deceased Jeremiah.  She was hoping to get an Earthbound up and awake.  James kills her but not before knocking out the so-called ‘patients’ due to terrible miscommunication, and then kidnaps the ‘patients’ to the factory where he manages to extract the truth.

Jeremiah had blood bound and torpored James, sending him overseas to a specific London Ordo Dracul chapter house so that he could have his personality replaced, be taught a few coils, and then shipped back.  The London coterie had become famous for their quick and successful teaching methods and Jeremiah had kidnapped someone important to Wilhelm Wintringham.  Wilhelm had fashioned James into the perfect weapon to despatch Jeremiah, freeing the girl, and getting a way to slay the demoness as well. 

The so-called BBC presenter stuck around after the others left and pretty soon James pieced together something interesting about him as well.  You see, in Jeremiah’s haven there was a concrete-topped dirt hollow where an Iraqi-looking kindred had been found.  James didn’t recognise him (his face was different from James) but he did look similar.  There was a hole in the back of his mouth leading up into an emptied skull, yet the corpse still gave off the sensation of a Beast.  James followed the leads.  It turned out that something had crawled out of the skull and burrowed through the dirt sides of that hollow, ate a couple of dogs, grew wings, startled a homeless man, ate a bunch of pigeons, became the size of a large dog, was taken into the pound, ate all of the dogs, stole a lab coat and ID and some painkillers to make it look like a burglary.  The trouble was it also stole the facial identity of one of the men at the pound.  A man who looked suspiciously like the alleged BBC presenter yet didn’t recognise James at all.

James confronted the alleged presenter, whose mannerisms and demeanor reminded him of Peter Walsh (he was regaining more memories with each passing day).  There were always a lot of things that didn’t add up about Walsh:

·         He was rarely seen to feed.

·         His reflection was blurred in a different way.

·         He never seemed to fear the sun or frenzy.

·         He was such a sook about pain and injury.

·         He just never really seemed like a vampire.

So James confronted him and discovered that the alleged presenter was indeed Walsh who also happened to be the Songbird.  They collected Charlie and kept going.

Changeling: The Lost Custom Token Guide

Well I was searching around the Internet and I found this neat little Custom Token Guide on Google.  It's designed for the Camarilla (probably why it notes Camarilla Distribution Only though I'm supposing since its online and on Google they must have changed their minds) so the rules may not be right for tabletop but it's still worth a look for those of you trying to create your own tokens for your games.

Anyone made any custom tokens lately?  If so, what'd they do?

Dystopic: Meeting The Court

Three players couldn't attend this session but that was easily excused.  We simply stated that Nomad 6 had taken Leningrad and Oxford out to pick up a supply of books from New York.  The remainder of the team were chilling out in their bookstore, doing what they do, awaiting the very rare customer when a dark-skinned woman in a beige coat sized for concealing a handgun walks in, followed by a big guy who looked kind of like a bouncer.  They soon find out that this was Jackman (the woman) and Garrand (the man) who were from the Lions Ministry.  The duo stated that Minister Garcia would like to meet them.

The PCs were rather cautious and suspicious, as you'd expect.  The Lions Ministry duo were rather tough and in charge.  Tokyo tried to pretend she wasn't there.  Miami and London tried to contain the situation.  London couldn't help but try and rub the two people the wrong way at least a little.  Finally the two Fallen newcomers told them to meet Minister Garcia at a particular pizza joint in two hours time.  They were to leave their guns in their vehicle.  Then the two left.

There was a brief meeting of the minds where Miami and London couldn't quite decide which one of them would be the main speaker and Tokyo told them she'd stay silent and she hoped one of them would speak for her.  Tokyo also gave them a little bit of the information on the Fallen Court that had been provided to her by Prometheus.  Then the trio left the bookstore in Dallas' hands (Changeling NPC they rescued a few sessions ago who now helps mind the store) and went down to the pizza parlour.

In the pizzeria, Lions Minister Garcia sat in the corner booth while another man who seemed human cleaned the counter.  Jackman and Garrand stood near the booth.  The team were invited to go over and sit down, which they did, and Minister Garcia grilled them on why they were there.  They stuck to their story of having escaped the pit together as friends, found each other again topside, and then come to help with Miami's bookstore (they used his human last name, Ortega) as he had the best location. 

Tokyo remained silent throughout this conversation and London and Miami had to take turns fielding all questions directed toward her.

Minister Garcia mentioned that the Minister of Aurochs is also called Ortega.  They asked Garcia a bit about the other Ministers but she had little to say and little time to say it in when Dragon Minister Chang walked in.  There was a bit of political wrangling as Minister Chang said he was surprised to hear that new Fallen were rounded up by her ministry rather than sent toward his Ministry and that he had to hear of their arrival from the Eagles Minister.  Surely it's the Dragon Ministry's job to introduce them?

Dragon Minister Chang then guides them out to a limousine with steel skull hub caps (which makes London mistakenly believe Chang is a Slayer) and the group have a conversation where Chang asked them to fetch some socialite's diaries from an Auction House in Venice.  Apparently the Tyrant is big into parties and celebrations that the entire court ais required to attend (apologies and non-RSVPs to be directed to Minister Chang and they need to be backed by good excuses).  She wants to have a level of realism to the balls and so wants this seventeenth century set of diaries.  He asks them to procure them, offering his goodwill in exchange.  He seems to be circumspect about the Auroch Minister and that's saying something as he doesn't say much about the other ministers.

The team are unconvinced of the value of his goodwill.

The limousine engages some kind of magnetic locomotion as they reach a skyscraper and they slide onto a set of tracks that leads them up to the roof.  At the very top, they get out and are led up to a balcony where they're allowed a few minutes to deliberate on their own (Tokyo loops previously recorded conversation through the Ministry bugs that she locates and hacks).

Then the Tyrant arrives by helicopter with the Minister of Aurochs, Ortega.  Ortega has a silver gun at her hip which, to Awareness, reveals a pattern of Lore of Death, Lore of Longing, and Lore of Forge etched into it.  Garcia enters with Eagles Minister Khosravi.  Dust Minister Medina comes up alone and otherwise stands quietly ton one side.  The Tyrant opens up a quick ceremony with the ministers encircling the poor trio and each one of the trio is told to select the Ministry they wish to join.  The Tyrant states that the official welcoming ceremony will occur at the next court gathering.

London selected the Ministry of Aurochs - Minister Ortega.
Miami selected the Dragon Ministry (hoping to deal with supernaturals) - Minister Chang.
Tokyo selected the Eagles Ministry - Minister Khosravi.

Lions Minister Garcia looks obviously cross at having been brought out here for nothing.  Medina simply quietly leaves.  The Tyrant heads inside for refreshments and then one by one each character is taken inside to be interviewed by their relevant minister while the other two characters get to spend some time alone together (with Tokyo still messing with the bugs).  I figured that'd be the best way to keep them in character.

Firstly London spoke with Aurochs Minister Ortega who told him that she didn't brook questioning as she believes that's what lost them the war against God.  Lucifer shouldn't have allowed the other legions to break away as they did.  Total law and obedience is the only thing that will save the Fallen.  London, quite intimidated, fell into a "Yes, ma'am" / "No, ma'am" pattern, all the while thinking about how he might need to assassinate her to get out of his predicament.  To his Lawful Good mind, she was the antithesis of everything he stood for.

Secondly, Tokyo spoke with Eagles Minister Khosravi who managed to put her mind at ease.  She started off near silent but his good-natured advice and pointers on how she needs to keep her head down to stay safe worked to pull her out of her shell a little bit.  She admitted to being a hacker and he stated how useful that would be.  He also told her in a diplomatic way that if she were to find herself in trouble she should hide behind Minister Garcia (Lions Minister), basically stating that he lacked the power to protect her - without coming outright to say it.  He also advised her to watch herself around London, as he was now a member of the Aurochs Ministry.  London would be beholden to betray any secrets to his new boss - whether he wanted to or not.

Finally, Miami had a rather disappointing meeting with Dragon Minister Chang.  Miami was hoping to deal with vampire courts, other fallen courts, and the other supernaturals, but soon learned that the Dragon Ministry here was a glorified set of party planners who occasionally attend other gatherings mostly out of diplomatic necessity to do damage control rather than forging bonds.  He found it rather disappointing.

Then the trio were released back to their bookstore.  They had a conversation about what to do and London argued that they needed to assassinate the Aurochs Minister before she dragged him down the Torment trail.  He also stated that the Aurochs Minister was a mad tyrannical figure, the power behind the throne, likely to execute him if he so much as looked at her funny.

I certainly did a good job having her put the fear of God into London with that little encounter with Ortega considering this later conversation.

Referring to NPCs When The Player Doesn't Know Their Name

This can be a tricky little thing.  It's easier, of course, then having to refer to an unnamed character in a novel because you don't have to use narrative descriptions as often but it may still come up often enough to become annoying.  Especially when you have to re-introduce them after they've left the group and returned.

You could drop a reminder of when you last saw them: "That man who threatened you at the pub yesterday approaches...."

Or you could describe them with a piece of back history: "That snotty kid who doesn't like your sister approaches you...."

You could use a physical indicator: "The dark-haired vampire approaches you....  The dark-haired vampire draws his gun...."  Just make a point to use short, sharp and shiny descriptors that are also distinct from any other unnamed NPCs in the scene.  If one is dark-haired, the other could be blond.

Or you could use a description of their personality: "The brash idiot comes up to you...."  If you're going with this option, it's best to use descriptors that the player or character uses as your descriptions are meant to be either factual or are meant to reflect the player characters' perspectives, where possible.  If the player character thinks the brash idiot is awesome, then they'll be annoyed at you calling them a 'brash idiot'. 

Also be aware that your descriptions will influence their opinions of the character, so that otherwise unknown character might now be considered a 'brash idiot' even though they originally didn't have much of an opinion.  This is why you should always use neutral terms when describing an unnamed player character, as even if the other PCs think of him as a 'brash idiot', it's really not a good idea to reinforce it or else the players won't be able to think of him as anything else.

My partner is quite good at giving characters some depth very quickly.  Of course, he's one of those rare Storytellers who can do a convincing job at multi-character conversations by utilising vocal tone and body language.  Even so, he'll often still need to throw in a description to indicate when an unnamed NPC comes into the conversation for the first time.

The other trick is not to vary your descriptors too much.  If it's the 'dark-haired vampire', he shouldn't later be the 'fat vampire', the 'macho vampire' and the 'vampire in the Metallica T-Shirt'.  The whole point of the descriptor isn't to draw a picture for the PCs but to give them a brief line that can be used instead of the characters' name for awhile.

So what do you use to refer to nameless NPCs?  And do you have a really funny example that either you or someone else used to refer to someone?