[@pugbutter] Come on, now, friend. This is a VtM game we're talking about! If I didn't make my players regret the things they say, am I really living up to the role of story teller? Punishing players for their actions is, quite literally, my job in this game.

But, seriously, you're all starting as basic fledglings. I wasn't being mean about it, that really does make the plot a lot simpler on my end. Moreover, this isn't the kind of game where a 'lower level' character is inherently less fun. Bringing you all down to the lowest level gives me a good buffer for trying out this system in a forum context (which is a very new thing for me) while also limiting the amount of explanation I need to do if our third and/or fourth players are more new to the system.