Hi all! First time posting here. I'm 2 sessions in to STing my first VtM Chronicle using V5. I have 3 players, and it's all their first time playing VtM as well, though we all have a lot of prior experience with various TTRPGs.
So far it's going well, but one thing I'm struggling with is PC Ambitions. My struggle is that all of the PCs have very different motivations and goals, and I'm struggling with creating plot hooks that reasonably allow them all to pursue their Ambitions each session. I'm using Chicago by Night as a basis for our Chronicle, and the PCs are a Vehme Coterie who were hand-selected for their various skill sets by Sheriff Damien as extra muscle as he prepares for things to go south when the Lasombra attempt to join the Camarilla.
The Coterie consists of:
- A Nosferatu hacker/conspiracy theorist who lives in the sewers. He has discovered that a former CIA operative involved in human experiments has been Embraced and still lives as Kindred. His Ambition is to find him and send him to his Final Death.
- A Tzimisce stockbroker whose Sire owns several real estate companies in Chicago. His Sire is extremely elusive and has been a thorn in the Ventrue's side for a long time. The PC is acting as a liaison, and his Ambition is to leverage his position to gain an informal seat on the Primogen Council (similarly to the Minister Marcel).
- A socially awkward Toreador musician whose Sire is a music biz executive. His Sire has promised to help launch a career for him if he performs well under the tutelage of the Sheriff, which is beginning to involve way more danger and violence than the PC bargained for. His Ambition is to have a successful music career, and right now working with the Coterie is a means to that end.
The part I'm struggling with is providing opportunities for the PCs to take initiative on pursuing these goals without it constantly bringing the game to a halt for the other players. I have plenty of ideas in mind for how these Ambitions could be pursued individually - for example, the Toreador has an important gig to play, but his obligations to the Sheriff are causing scheduling issues. His bandmates are Kine and also his Touchstones, so having their music sponsored by his Sire puts them dangerously close the the Camarilla.
But how should I go about introducing these hooks without the PCs having to constantly go off on their own? I can conceive of ideas to keep the other PCs involved at times, but continued involvement in every scenario related to one another's Ambition feels forced. I'm okay with having individual scenes that don't involve all Coterie members here and there, but I don't want to have two players waiting an hour for their character to become relevant to the scene again be the norm.
I recognize this may have been an error during session 0 on my end. Since it's all our first time, I wanted the players to have a lot of freedom in character creation, but we ended up with some wildly different PCs whose Ambitions are difficult to tie together.
Any tips on balancing attention placed on PC Ambitions and tying it all together?
Thanks all!