Web Video / New York By Night

"Let's tell a vampire story..."

Night falls on New York City

New York by Night is an Actual Play stream of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, presented by Geek & Sundry.

A sequel to the previous series, LA By Night, Jason Carl remains as Storyteller to a new group of characters.

In a departure from LA by Night's continuous focus on one set of characters, has a split focus between two separate coteries of Kindred. The coterie from season one belongs to the Anarch sect, who reject the status quo of undead society in the name of freedom, while the second season's party belongs to the Camarilla, who set aforementioned status quo.

In season one, the Anarch coterie are granted domain over the Port Morris neighborhood of the South Bronx by a local Kindred crime boss. In return, they need to successfully manage the territory and take care of any supernatural issues that arise within it. Of course, being right over the river from Camarilla-controlled Manhattan also means, should any moves towards the Bronx be made, our heroes are first in the line of fire.

In season two, the Camarilla coterie are put together by their sires and given the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Much like the previous series, the coterie are charged with solving issues in their territory, while their sires manipulate them from behind the scenes.

The season one Anarch coterie consists of:

• Isaac Brooke (played by Alex Ward), a well-mannered Tzimisce who is the most knowledgeable of the coterie in the supernatural.
• Margot "Fuego" Walker (played by Aabria Iyengar), a Ventrue who remains engaged in borough politics even in undeath.
• Reyes "Rey" Malcolm (played by Joey Rasool), a sharp dressed Gangrel businessman who was exiled from Manhattan and struggles to contain his Beast’s rage.
• Serif (played by Mayanna Berrin), a mischievous Ravnos graffiti artist who is running from her past in pursuit of artistic freedom.

The season two Camarilla coterie consists of:

• Derek "Brawn" Bron (played by Xander Jeanneret), a rough around the edges Nosferatu boxer who's trying to prove he's more than Dumb Muscle.
• Consuela "Coco" Comprisi (played by Cynthia Marie), a Lasombra business mogul struggling against her clan's curse while learning their socially manipulative tactics.
• Khalida (played by Noura Ibrahim), a Ventrue con artist and gallery owner who tries to spin every scenario for personal gain... and her sire's praise.
• Kiếm (played by Michelle Nguyen Bradley), a mysterious Toreador who is obsessed with weapons and the human body, and is trying to establish her own identity.

As of writing, episodes stream twice weekly; first on the World of Darkness Website/Twitch channel on Fridays at 7 PM Pacific Standard Time, and again on the World of Darkness YouTube Channel the following Monday.

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New York by Night provides examples of the following tropes:

General

• A Lighter Shade of Black: The Anarch coterie is a much nicer set of people, by and large, than the Camarilla coterie.
• Anti-Hero Team: The heroes of the story are blood-sucking monsters attempting to hold onto their Humanity.
• The Big Rotten Apple: A given, being a gothic horror-flavored Urban Fantasy series set in New York City; specifically, the action takes place in the Bronx, with Manhattan being sole territory of the Camarilla.
• The Cameo: Several canon Vampire characters are mentioned, mostly originating from the New York by Night source book.
• The Conspiracy: Raffety and the season two coterie's Kindred's sires are engaged in some sort of conspiracy to drive out the Anarchs from the Bronx and benefit themselves. This also involves gentrifying the season one's coterie's neighborhood with a construction company designed to drive the local Kine out and build apartments for the rich.
• Continuity Nod: Baron Douglas "Boss" Callihan is noted to have met his Final Death, and Torque has claimed the Barony of New York for himself, both of which occurred at the end of Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York.
  • Julia, the protagonist of Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York, makes a cameo appearance in season one episode 7. Word of God is that Shadows and New York by Night take place at the same time. She further appears in season two, carrying out the murder investigation that forms the plot of her home video game.
  • The events of LA By Night are referenced multiple times, and Annabelle makes a guest appearance in season one, episode 3.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Both season's protagonists to the protagonists of LA By Night and to each other.
  • The LA By Night cotere were Anarchs that had mostly worked together for a long time together and were warm, personable, and friends (at least until the end). Two members were also fabulously wealthy. The New York by Night Anarch coterie is a bunch of complete strangers getting to know one another. They're also Working-Class Hero types with one having recently lost his fortune.
    • The Camarilla coterie of New York by Night is one that is composed of a bunch of social climbers who don't particularly like one another and have also been brought together to be the Prince's errand boys.
• Coolest Club Ever: Club Scarlet run by Simone is full of submissive willing mortals willing to do anything for the Kiss.
• Decadent Court: The Camarilla court of New York is a nest of vipers with all of its leadership struggling for power with one another. The Anarch court isn't much better.
• The Dreaded: The Sabbat are still terrifying vampires of New York decades later and the specter of their return hangs over the head of its community.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Continuing the tradition from LA By Night, guest PCs make appearances in multiple episodes.
• Horror Hunger: An always-present threat for the players; per V5 rules, the only way for a vampire to fully slake their hunger is to completely exsanguinate their prey. Rey does this in episode 3, on Fuego’s behalf.
• The Masquerade: One of the main tenets of vampire existence- mortals should not know that Kindred exist.
• Phrase Catcher: Boss Callihan. As befits his status in the Draw Distance visual novels, any mention of his name and recent demise is almost always appended immediately with "No one liked that guy."
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The Anarch and Camarilla coteries are having their plotlines at roughly the same time.
• Urban Fantasy: Vampires, wraiths, werewolves, and all other manner of supernatural creatures exist in New York City.

Season One

• Black-and-Gray Morality: The coterie is somewhat shady and working for a local Anarch leader but they are up against the Putanesca Hecate family a Wight. Some of them are also motivated by a desire to protect the locals.
• Destination Defenestration: Rey annoys Richter one too many times in season one episode 2 and gets thrown out of a third-story window. Fortunately, between his Super-Toughness and Healing Factor, he's largely able to walk it off.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The treatment of the Bronx by a corrupt real estate company is meant to invoke real life gentrification issues.
• Extremely Dusty Home: The brownstone that the party uses as their nominal base of operations qualifies as one. While Isaac is technically the owner, he received it from his sire, who mostly used it as storage. When the coterie first arrives, the unused first floor is caked in dust.
• Feral Vampires: One of the first major threats the coterie has to deal with on their territory is a "monster" that has been brutalizing mortals beneath local underpasses; it turns out to be a wight, a vampire who has reached zero on their Humanity meter and has permanently reverted into a mindless beast as a result.
• Fur Against Fang: Mentioned in season one, episode 4, when a werewolf is brought up as a possible identity for the monster terrorizing Port Morris. Isaac notes that Garou tend to attack Kindred on sight, and that it usually ends badly for the Kindred involved.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampires: The Anarch coterie as a whole tends to be this as a whole, even if Rey and Isaac are closer to Noble Demon types.
• The Mafia: Some hired goons of Clan Hecata’s Puttanesca family appear in season one episode 1, and episode 4's guest character Cat lets the coterie know that the Puttanescas can put the heat on them if they’re not careful.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Vaclav the Tzimisce proves to be a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire or, at least, Affably Evil who shares information with the coterie where other Kindred would hide it.
• Serial Killer: A Wight, due to being a vampire that has no self-control or humanity, is automatically one of these.
• Ship Tease: Fuego gets in on this with Richter, Rey, and Bree.
• Working-Class Hero: Almost all of the coterie with the exception of Reyes that used to be very wealthy and intends to be so again.

Season Two

• The Beautiful Elite: Khalida, Coco, and Kiem are all incredibly wealthy as well as beautiful women. They are also part of the Camarilla that tends to have this among their ranks.
• Blatant Lies: Kiem kills a couple of guards outside Raffety's office and when he finds her red-handed, says she believed she was rescuing him. Also qualifies as Refuge in Audacity.
• Blue Bloods: Khalida is a member of the Ventrue and Coco is a Lasombra, which are both considered High Clans.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • Kiem admits she was sent to murder her sire before ending up Embraced instead.
  • Khalida admits to the coterie she'd betray any of them for power. She proves this is Not Hyperbole less than a few minutes later.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The coterie displays this attribute as they betray each other, their sires, and promises they make on a regular basis.
• Continuity Nod: Mention of Calebros from the Vampire: The Masquerade Clan Novels and his role in the Siege of New York is brought up in Episode 5 by Glassjaw.
• Dramatic Irony: The Camarilla are terrified of the prospect of a Tzimisce running around the Bronx. Viewers of Season One know that Isaac is a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire (or close to it) and there's a Wight loose.
• Elaborate Underground Base: There's a massive unused space under the coterie's Chelsea home that they decide to turn into their personal headquarters.
• Epic Fail: The player characters are sent to disrupt an art show by a Malkavian named Lizzie. Rather than handle it subtly, they end up trashing the place and getting in a fist fight with her bodyguard. Only the fact they bring Lizzie back as a hostage gets them upgraded to a "B."
• The Fellowship Has Ended: The Camarilla coterie violently self-destructs over the murder of Kiem's sire at the hands of the other character's sires.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Brawn and Airbox have a fight in the Pit, resulting in a narrow victory by Brawn.
• Retcon:
  • Agathon from Shadows of New York was implied to have been murdered by his sire as part of a cover up. Agathon is fine in this game and still on good terms with his sire.
  • Julia was said to be the only Lasombra in New York City for her year of unlife but Coco clearly contradicts this. Julia also received significant Fantastic Racism from other Kindred but is treated here fine as is Coco.
• The Reveal:
  • The Prince knew nothing about Raffety's conspiracy and the coterie wasn't working for the Camarilla.
  • Fiona from LA by Night was a spy for the Camarilla all along.
  • Rafferty is not only playing the Anarchs vs. The Camarilla but also working with the Sabbat.
• Uncertain Doom: Suzanne survived the SI attack of LA Angeles by Night's final season but there's no news about Vannevar Thomas.
• Vampires Are Rich: Certainly the case with Khalida and Coco as well as implied with Kiem.
• We ARE Struggling Together: The coterie has difficulty working together and are actively plotting against one another.