A NOTE ON THE ADVICE

The advice given in the original Camarilla release for City Chess, whilst still quite good is a little dated.  The most obvious aspect of this being in the form of the comment about the "most recent Prince of Melbourne."  The Prince in question was Kindred Prince at the time of the release and distribution of the City Chess document, Prince Kythys of Clan Toreador.
 

DISTRIBUTION

Though real physical copies of the City Chess document were few and far between, mainly due to the costs of printing what ended up being a 12 page document for every player, the actual distribution of the file was considerably less than what it was supposed to be during the course of the game.  The obvious answer to this at the time was to file-attach it with e-mail to every member on the list of the appropriate coordinator(s), yet I know for a fact that it didn't quite manage to make it to everyone.  I'm not even sure how many did receive it.

Direct recipients of both physical (printed) and electronic (floppy disk) copies would include all Kindred and other Awakened beings of the Melbourne and Dandenong Chapters of the Camarilla between late November (the 23rd), 1997, and late January (the 25th; when I, and therefore my character, left the Camarilla in disgust), 1998.  Furthermore, careful attention had been taken to make sure that future Kindred, Kithain and others would be able to locate copies, usually via special mail drops and the like.  The sort of methods normally used by Awakened beings wishing to maintain a low profile but still gain the attention of others of their ilk.

Due partially to the source of the documents and partially to the propensity for characters, especially vampire characters, to circulate information likely to, at the very least, stir some trouble, the City Chess document did reach even further than that.  This included the Sabbatt (especially certain members of Clan Lasombra), the rulers of any Australian Chapter operating between the aforementioned period (late 1997 to early 1998) and anyone whom the Malkavians and other trouble makers (e.g. Ravnos, Setites, etc.) passed it onto.  Though many of the characters present during that period either met an untimely demise or left, there is always the very real likelihood of these documents being passed onto Childer, friends, mentors, associates or just left to be found amongst a cache of other possessions.  It's highly likely that the Justicar(s) and Archons now possess copies too, let alone the likes of the Inconnu and the Tal'mahe'Ra (aka the True Black Hand).

The distribution of the City Chess documents was done in such a manner that it would be impossible for anything short of complete, world-wide, nuclear holocaust to purge it from the society of Kindred and other Awakened beasties.  This is especially the case since some of those characters who left during the period of City Chess' initial distribution did, apparently, flee the country.  Consider for a moment that one of these was Kythys, a former Prince of Melbourne, who allegedly left because she believed that certain activities were the opening moves in a game of Midnight Chess against her.
 

TRACING THE SOURCE

For those of you who really do want to put your characters through the chore of searching for whomever was responsible for the creation, or at least for the distribution, of the City Chess documents all I can say is you have about as much chance as a snowflake in Hell.  Between the careful use of aliases, fake ID and Sovereign at the time of distribution, and the selective use of The Mists (and similar plot devices) by certain Storytellers to remove the memories of the existence of certain characters from the "sanctioned" Camarilla storyline, tracing the real source of City Chess in character is impossible.  Still, it was always intended to have been an anonymous delivery and works very well, whether as a part of the Camarilla game or some other, as such.
 

OBSERVED EFFECTS OF CITY CHESS IN THE MELBOURNE CAMARILLA

One of the most obvious things which springs to mind when one thinks of the results of City Chess the Melbourne Camarilla game is the effect it had on the Toreador Prince Kythys.  Her worry that some recent and quite messy deaths (extreme breaches of the Masquerade) were actually intended as a declaration of a game to be played against her.  Between that and the conspiring nature of those Kindred around her, especially on the parts of her council, Dr. Timothy Salisbury (Tremere Primogen), Jonathon Egan (Ventrue Primogen), Vincent Gerard (Brujah Primogen) and Michael Da Vinci (Nosferatu Primogen).  It should be noted that less than a year since the release of the City Chess documents three of these four Kindred are either dead or gone (or both) and the last is the current Prince.

Since the departure of Kythys (and her Childe, Tianna, shortly thereafter) the merest mention of the game tended to cause a stir.  Especially amongst neonates who were worried that they would become Pieces and Pawns in protracted wars between their Sires and other Elders.

This situation, in turn, was not aided by a plot initiated when a certain Cainite arranged for an anonymous delivery of a number of chess pieces to a gathering of Melbourne's Kindred.  With each piece was the name of the Kindred whom it represented, which included such cute touches as having the new Gangrel Prince, Robert Denver, being indicated as a White Pawn and the White King being the Ventrue Primogen.  They did a fair job of covering that one up, but not quite a good enough one to prevent certain people from taking advantage of it.  Some Melbourne members may have noticed some of the results of this in early issues of Bood Bound, unfortunately that particular game was never finished since both players left following the Australia Day incident.
 

THE CULPRIT: THE REAL (IN GAME) AUTHOR OF CITY CHESS

The Camarilla release was written by my character in that game (though, as previously mentioned, distributed anonymously), a nasty piece of work called Sir Peregrine ap Ailil, Knight Adversarial (AKA Sir Peregrine ap Fiona, Perry Blake).  Perry was a member of both the Unseelie and Shadow Courts.  Not to mention a member of House Ailil, though he masqueraded as a member of House Fiona.  The chess influences may have also come from his close ties with Clan Lasombra, with which he infiltrated Melbourne's Kindred by pretending to be the ghoul servant of a Lasombra pretending to be a Ventrue.  There were a lot of layers there and no one managed to get through them all before I split with that organization.  I am, however, digressing considerably, there is a time and a place for exhaustive roleplaying anecdotes and this isn't it.

Though the current Storytellers have found a way to remove (though cover-up may be closer to the mark) the Fae influence over the Camarilla storyline in Melbourne it was done in such a way that does not act adversely against the City Chess release.  Though it certainly acted adversely against me, in and out of character, but this is a matter I've already dealt with elsewhere.  As far as I'm aware, the excuse used by the Storyteller's to remove Changeling influence from their World of Vampire plots was to use the Mists to remove all memory of the Changelings from the player characters (and presumably anyone they came into contact with).  Perry, therefore, if he were remembered at all would only be remembered as either a young writer who worked briefly for a publication operated by the Ventrue Primogen or as a ghoul of "the late" Katherine Darcy of Clan Ventrue (ahem).  He would not be remembered as Sir Peregrine ap Fiona, Ambassador from the Lily Court of Astolat to the Principality of Melbourne.

Since the Mists only affect the Fae, Changelings and Chimera, and mortal memories of such, the City Chess documents would remain untouched by this.  All this particular plot device of the Mists would do as regards the City Chess documents is make them entirely impossible to trace the source of, thus making the mystery all the more fun.

Copyright © Benjamin D. McGinnes, 1998-2004