Masquerade Ball Puns

>!The Masquerade has been a feature of the Dresden Files since the start. However, after “Battleground” and “the Good People”, it will be impossible to keep the Masquerade going. This will be due to the reaction of ordinary people and the analysis of the damage done in Chicago by professionals.!<

>!Ordinary people:!<

>!The death toll in Chicago was 60,000, with 100,000 refugees. There were more injured, and the families of the dead and severely injured were also hit hard. All of these people want an answer. Terrorism has long been the go-to, but people are going to want to know how terrorists could cause that much damage. Who are the terrorists, where did they come from, how are we going to retaliate. !<

>!Jim has hinted (through Marcone) that the Masquerade is going to still work in most of America, but not Chicago. That makes no sense to me. We are talking about an attack that is orders of magnitude above 9-11. I have read that the cost is 1 trillion. And, that would be reasonable, given the widespread damage. !<

>!But, the economic fallout would not be limited to Chicago. The market would tank. Until the government came up with a good explanation, folks would be scared, waiting for the next attack. And, Congress would be demanding answers. !<

>!In Battleground ,the idea of isolating Chicago was raised. Why would Congress pass such a law? If the President did it, it would have to have big holes for food to go through. The cost to the area would be enormous…even with that. I submit that a president could not do this. !<

>!And, among ordinary people are survivalists. They will have ham radio gear in iron boxes, to use after a nuclear attack puts out a big EM wave, destroying electronics. There would be a lot of communication after the big pulse. And, ham gear is as old as Harry’s cars…it would not be destroyed by magic. !<

>!So, the nation would know a big unknown hit Chicago. I cannot imagine reporters not being able to get news out…even if they had to go back to film. The nation would be quite aware that something happened. !<

>!Then there is “Good People”. Given how families of the dead got gifts, as well as refugees, we’re talking about > 200k getting presents from “The Wizard of Chicago.” This is an amazing Christmas story that the media would keep in play for weeks. Harry is going to be a celebrity, and there are going to be a lot of people who see him as a wonderful person. He’ll

Content Warning: This post deals with themes of Nazis, homophobia, and the murder of LGBTQ+ people.

This isn't recent drama by any means, but it's recent to me. I found out the other night why White Wolf is no longer the publishers behind Vampire: the Masquerade and it's the kind of story this sub thrives on.

##Background

If you're not familiar with them or the game, White Wolf Publishing is a company well known for putting out the World of Darkness universe, a group of fantasy roleplaying games based around different types of supernatural creatures. They're probably best known for Werewolf: the Apocalypse and Vampire: the Masquerade, but there's also games based around fae, mages, demons, and more. You might have heard of the hit game "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines" a few years ago, or the recent news about a sequel being in the works. Back in 2015, White Wolf was acquired by Paradox Interactive, a video game publisher, but they continued to operate alongside each other and without much oversight.

In 2018, White Wolf released a new edition of Vampire: the Masquerade, called v5 or Fifth Edition. They put out a core rulebook in August, followed in November by a book about the Camarilla sect of vampires and a book about the Anarch sect of vampires. These latter books are dives into the current edition's lore about how the sects are run, as well as guides to how to deal with sect politics in your game.

In the Vampire universe, the Camarilla is a group of vampires ('kindred') bent on maintaining the "masquerade", or the illusion that they don't exist. They keep themselves separate from normal humans ('kine') as much as possible, hiding their activities and running their schemes completely covertly. This is in stark contrast to the Sabbat, another vampire group bent on enslaving humans and ruling the world. While the Camarilla may hold positions of influence in government and business, they don't seek to openly subjugate mortals. This has been the lore of the vampire world essentially since the beginning.

##"The Abrek Blight"

Cue the v5 Camarilla book and its chapter "The Abrek Blight", which opens with this summary:

*"Chechnya is the one place on this earth we can truly call our own, over which we rule unchallenged. It is a terrifying place for mortal breathers, but the most thrilling oriental garden of delight that has ever existed for beings such as us. We finally have a homeland, and it is only thanks to Abrek that we possess it. It’s exi

Hi there,

Please excuse me if this is an obvious question, I'm really not knowledgeable about history at all!

I read a lot of books in which the protagonist is a princess or similar, who will attend a masquerade ball but be otherwise put forward for an arranged marriage.

I was wondering if there was a period of history where a royal could feasibly experience this in their lifetime, or if it is just in fiction?

A friend suggested 1604-1702, but not sure if this is correct!

Thank you!

for the life of me i cannot find out who won the masquerade ball at san diego comic con special edition last week. i had to leave before they announced it. anyone know?

You can't see their face, you don't know who they are...it's mysterious and sexy. Looking for slow burn with lots of heat but beggars can't be choosers and it's not a deal breaker if it's not.

What automatically comes to mind is the movie Eyes Wide Shut.

It would also be pretty hot to read about meeting somebody at a costume party.

Any ideas?

We wanted to do something fun and SPOOKY for Halloween! Come dressed up and with a masquerade mask and we’ll all take them off at midnight after the party!

We are planning on serving some fun finger foods like canapés, stuffed mushrooms, spinach crab puffs, and chocolate mouse, but please bring whatever you would like, or nothing at all! 🥰

We will also have some spooky themed adult drinks like candy corn Jell-O shots, and poison apple martinis! This’ll be our first party hosting together, I’m so excited!! It’ll start at 9! Let me know if you can make it!! 👻🎃🕯

and the main character moves to a small house in the area and then finds that out and goes to one of these masquerades (i think maybe despite being uninvited?) i also think there was some really famous male actor in this movie. it was definitely released after 2000. there was also a pool

I'm going to a (vaccinated only) formal event for the first time in a very long time. I have a very small budget, and a choice of two hand-me-down vests from my dad and two button-up shirts.

I am wearing:

• black suede shoes
• black trousers
• stainless steel crow ring
• crow mask

I need help choosing:

• blue or black paisley vest (they kind of look like this)
• black or white button-up (the black is a little better quality)
• tie or bowtie, and what color/pattern?

Thank you!

So recently my players have done a big thing by doing a mission for a powerful noble, this noble is one of many nobles that rule over a port city that has a city of thieves Egypt vibe. This noble is called duchess Ma’reeb, she’s a gnoll and a dutchess who married into the royal family that used to rule before having then disposed of and taking control. she rules a section of the city, very vain and self centered not really caring about the general population but intends to keep her section under law and good trade relations to make it a good and safe place, but don't expect love or empathy from her, it's mostly to ensure the place runs smoothly and issues are dealt with, and money runs smooth, just make the place look clean and welcoming.

she often gloats about how great her territory is compared to the others and her work force is a means to end for her, everything is a board game and she’s always winning. She hired the players to obtain a powerful necklace in some ancient sand swept yuan ti city, her last expedition did not make it back and hopes the players could pull it off, long story short they got the necklace and it turned out she didn’t just want it cause it was pretty, but because it was a legendary artifact that gave crazy power and charming abilities, she recently used this power to start a civil war in the city with another noble and easily took over his territory.

Now that she has this powerful item and successfully pulled off a power play, she wants to throw a massive masquerade and the players are invited, the players feel horrible for all the death they caused giving her this power and are pissed for being used but know they can’t oppose her, she is aware of this and insinuates and flexes her power over them.

How should I run this masquerade to symbolize her power, wealth and vain arrogance, keep in mind she is known for her vain mannerisms and debauchery, her palace is a bath house for the wealthy and will be where the party is held in the bathes themselves as well as the main hall, how should I handle this and make this feel real? I really need help and hope you read all this to get a good feel of what I’v decide to take on, thank you.

Yeah scenarios are Doomed but Doomed states "when it leaves the battlefield", Vilgefortz will move it straight from hand to the graveyard. If so this sounds very dumb and I can't wait to try it.

Apparently, I was the only attendee this year - you can see me in costume as u/hijabjessdear. Several people detected something amiss; two guessed correctly! (You know who you are 😶)

So anyhow, that's the explanation, if anyone was wondering. It was a spoof on tragicomic Dear Muslima from the MITAball sub.

Hi folks, looking for some tips for some fun encounters here and I'm drawing a blank.

My party have been organising a big party / ball for the rich folks of a city to gain favour. They have everything done & ready for the next session. What kind of events could I add there to make it a really awesome experience? I was thinking typical management stuff like:

• people getting too drunk / fights starting that they need to act as security for
• people trying to sneak in
• assassination attempts?
• dance battles?

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!!

I saw this scene (not the whole film) about five years ago, so my memory is fuzzy. I recall people in elegant bird-like costumes (masquerade ball aesthetics) and some more wide-angle and close-up shots. I recall it being eerie, dream-like, gold/white colors, and somewhat baffling/difficult to understand. It seemed somewhat new-ish in film quality, not low-budget, potentially post-90s. I believe the scene lasted quite a while, 5+ minutes, and there were no visible human faces (there were masks) and potentially no dialogue. I think there was dancing, maybe waltzing? (I watched the clip muted as part of a montage, so I can't be sure on the no dialogue.) The source of the scene is potentially on the very obscure side -- the montage had a bunch of B-movie and I think horror clips, and was put together by someone who works at a local video shop that has a huge assortment of obscure films (and was muted to allow for an improv scoring). Thanks!

The party will be attending a masquerade ball soon and it's supposed to be the fanciest, wealthiest, most extravagant event they've ever been to. They've seen a lot at this point so they can be hard to impress, a ride on a unicorn or a wyvern steak won't be enough... There's going to be dancing, food, some kind of treasure hunt party game, and social encounters, but I'm looking for more, ideally very excessive and as interactive as possible. It's a high magic setting so ideas involving spells are very welcome as well!

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I've set up a scenario that's turned out to unintentionally be pretty much The Sexy Brutale; a time loop murder mystery set at a masquerade ball.
To make the time loop more interesting, as the clock progresses I want events to happen around the manor so they'll see different events based on what rooms they're in at certain times. I've already done all the events related to the actual murders, I just need some 'filler' events now, stuff around the party that could just be fun to see or engage in its own right.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful to hear them.
If it helps, the prominent rooms available to the players and the other guests are the foyer, ballroom, dining room (set up like a buffet), and the gardens.
There's obviously more to the manor, but pretty much the only other things the guests are allowed into are a couple of hallways and a bathrooms, the rest of the house you'd have to sneak past security to see. Obviously if you have anything particular special that comes to mind for those other areas I'd like to hear them too, but for the most part I'd like to focus on the rooms that are open to the public.

In any case thanks for reading, and in advance for any responses.

Don’t really know where to inquire so I’ll try here. Anyone know of any sexy masquerade parties or balls coming up? Doesn’t necessarily have to be a lifestyle event. Prefer Texas, or Florida but will consider traveling to others

I saw that this is coming up at Nick's Old Pub (this year is the 5th annual) and was interested but can't find any pictures of previous years' event to get the vibe for it, and see if I'm actually interested. Would anyone be able to direct me to any such sources, galleries, etc?

Built by Basilakes family when they returned to Sordland in the hills outside of Conriat, the mansion which hosted the ball was built in a traditional Châteauesque-style to emulate the wealth and power of the old monarchy. When guests arrived they were greeted individually by a servant who would take their coat, and escort them to the lavish main ballroom, where golden walls, marble statues, elegant paintings seemingly enchanted guests. The floors were freshly polished and on the main dance floor, a small orchestra off to the side played classical Sordish and Markian toons, while servants off to the side waited at buffet tables in order to serve the other guest. Off to the other side imported velvet furniture and luxurious lesepian carpets decorated with intricate patterns befitting their guest.

Florence had prepared for this occasion since she decided to run. Her mask featured a central blue diamond, and gilded gold used for the bells. With a pearl necklace and a matching blue puffy dress, she stood at the stairwell to greet her guest as a proper host would.

Everyone likely to be given a seat(So all players) would receive an invitation with a gold leaf B sealing the letter and would be expected to show it in order to attend the ball. It is a masquerade ball it was hoped that they could overturn political boundaries and get to know each other better by leaving reputations behind.