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BY NIGHT STUDIOS, LLC

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PUBLICATION TEAM
PRINCIPAL WRITER:
Juhana Pettersson

WRITER OF THE CHAPTER ABOUT ONLINE ROLEPLAY:

Gaia Lambruschi

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Curty Backiss Volk, Charles Wheaton, Xavier, Mateusz “mejt” Zieliński

BENEDICTIONS, DEDICATIONS, AND APPRECIATIONS

This book is dedicated to all World of Darkness™ fans. We are eternally grateful for your support. The
night is better with you in it. Embrace the darkness.

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE™ CREATORS:

Mark Rein•Hagen with Steven C. Brown, Tom Dowd, Andrew Greenburg, Chris McDonough, Lisa
Stevens, Josh Timbrook, and Stewart Wieck

SPECIAL THANKS

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Picket, Reverie Studios (http://reverie.studio/), Mark “Mr. Rat” White, Rachel J. Wilkinson (www.
racheljwilkinson.com)

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 WAR OF AGES TABLE OF CONTENTS

Be My Sin For The Evening 1 ▪ Sweeper 48

▪ War Leader 49
Chapter One ▪ Ideologue 49
Intrtoduction: 4 • Example The Domain
• Enter a World of blood 4 • Berlin 50
• The World of Darkness 5 • New Orleans 53
• Nashville 56
Three Decades of the Dead 7 Contested Domains 59

Chapter Two Interlude: Notes From an Execution 64

Vampire Society 11
• Why Do The Anarchs Chapter Five
Hate the Camarilla? 16 Camarilla Centric LARPs 67
• Why Do Those In The • Playing the Prince
Camarilla Hate the Anarchs? 18 (And Other Camarilla Officials) 70
• Night to Night in the Anarchs 21 ▪ Prince 71
• Night to Night in the Camarilla 24 ▪ Seneschal 71
▪ Primogen 72
Chapter Three ▪ Sheriff 72
Small Events 27 ▪ Keeper of the Elysium 73
• Swimming With the Sharks 29 ▪ Scourge 73
• At The Fireside 32 ▪ Heralds 73
• Dive Bar 34 • Example Domains
• Give Up Everything 37 ▪ Warsaw 74
▪ The Quad Cities 78
Interlude: Boytoy 39 ▪ Helsinki 82
• Domain design as LARP 86
Chapter Four
Anarchs Centric LARPs 42 Interlude: Don’t Fuck with the Sabbat 90
• Playing the Baron
(And Other Anarch Notables) 45 Chapter Six
▪ Baron 46 Sabbat in LARP 91
▪ Gang Boss 47 • LARP Concepts 98
▪ Emissary 48
Chapter Seven Chapter Twelve
Ghouls in LARP 102 The Boons 175
The All Ghoul Larp 110 • Quid Pro Quo 180
• How to Spend Boons 183
Chapter Eight
Ashirra 113 Interlude: Storage 185
Ashirra Character in LARP 118
Chapter Thirteen
Interlude: Enough with the Filth 120 Praxis 188
• Playing for Praxis 191
Chapter Nine • Designing for Praxis 195
Big Event LARP Concepts 122 • Changing of the Guard 198
• The Veneer of Sophistication 125 Outro: Dee’s Home Movies 202
• The Tunnels Underneath 128
• The Power and the Blood 131 Chapter Fourteen
• The Flower of Humanity 134 LARP Resources 208
• Blood Rave 138 • The Vampire LARPer’s cheat sheet 208
• Kneel in Prayer 141 • Loresheets 209

Interlude: Siege Warfare 145 Chapter Fifteen

Collaborative Vampire LARP 216
Chapter Ten • Concepts 220
The Second Inquisition 147 • The Tool Box 225
• An Existential Threat 149 • The Workshop 231
• The Inquisition and LARP 150 • Collaboration 233
• The Spook Show 154 • Design 236

Chapter Eleven Chapter Sixteen

The War of Ages 158 Online Roleplay 241
• Choosing Sides 162 • Guidelines for Storytellers 247
• War as LARP 166 • Guidelines for Players 250
• The Grand Pageant of Diplomacy 171
Backers 254

Index 259
BE MY SIN FOR THE EVENING
Praxis.

Is it possible for a young vampire to win the War of Ages and become Prince of the city?

Can I seize praxis?

It’s bizarre to think that not so long ago, I was worried about getting stiffed by a website for the
pay I was owed as a freelance journalist. Now, I’ve become something else.

One of the dead, introduced into a society of monsters deluding themselves into believing they’re
still basically normal moral people. Just like me.

“You do realize I’m taking a risk for you right now?” Annika whispered as we walked to the hotel’s
reception. It was a fancy place, the kind I’d sometimes use to conduct interviews.

“Miss Wall, this way please,” an older, well-groomed functionary said as he intercepted us. I watched
as Annika straightened her back and an expression of disdain settled on her delicate features.
Ordinarily, Annika looked like she would break apart if someone said a cuss word, but I’d seen her
tear the windpipe out of an unfortunate mugger who gravely misjudged his prey.

That incident was my first introduction to the brutality hiding under the veneer of the civilized
“Kindred”.

“Why are you helping me anyway?” I whispered as we waited for the elevator.

“I owed a Boon to your sire, Deja. After this, it’s settled.” Annika seemed satisfied, like an accountant
balancing her books.

“Wait, so you do know who my sire is?” I asked. I’d resolved to be cool and composed but I lost all
that the second it sounded like I could finally have answers. I glimpsed us in the mirrors behind the
opening elevator doors. A wisp of a Scandinavian blonde and a Black New York journalist.

It was creepy how much I still looked like the person I had been before my Embrace.

“Yes. I never said otherwise,” Annika replied nervously.

It was a short ride in an enclosed space, but I felt like I was going to explode from all the questions
I had. Still, I forced myself to be cool. Annika was the only vampire who’d helped me. Found me
and told me about the clans, the Prince, the Camarilla, the Traditions. Saved me from the Second

1
Inquisition before I knew what that was.

The elevator ascended to the top floor and the doors opened with a cheery “pling”.

“Oh Annika, so wonderful you could join our little soirée!” an intensely magnetic, elegant woman
said, kissing Annika quickly before turning her eyes to me. “Why hello there, little thing. My
name is Victoria Ash. Are you the new promise everyone has been gossiping about? The one
who’s going to make a play for becoming the Prince?”

I couldn’t speak. I just couldn’t.

“No, Mrs. Ash. It’s actually... I mean, they say that I’m the one who’s planning...” Annika
stammered, clearly scared, and offended in equal measure.

We’d emerged from the elevators onto the hotel’s penthouse floor. Important, well-dressed
people were clinking glasses, some looking curiously at us. None of them mattered. Victoria was
everything. When she smiled, I felt like my heart came alive again.

“This is my friend Deja,” Annika said, rallying herself. “She’s new in town. A very promising
young Ventrue.”

“How delightful! I apologize for my confusion, Annika. Of course, I know that you plan to be the
Prince,” Victoria said. She took me by the hand and pulled me towards the guests milling by the
bar. “I must introduce you to my friends! I love new blood!”

I looked back at Annika. Her expression was completely blank, as if she didn’t really see me, or
anyone else. She had her ambitions, but she also knew Victoria could break her in an instant.

“Now, before I make introductions, I have to ask a few questions,” Victoria said casually, her hand
still on the small of my back.

I was worried. Annika had warned me about this. An unknown vampire with no sire to protect
her was going to have a hard time, Ventrue or no.

“You’re a journalist and I know your work of course. Do you mind if I bring that up?” Victoria
continued.

“What?” I asked, like an idiot. It had never occurred to me that anyone among the Kindred would
know my work, much less someone like Victoria Ash.

“Oh, don’t look so stupefied!” Victoria admonished me and laughed. “What kind of a host would
I be if I didn’t know a little something about everyone?”

2
“You knew I’d be here?” I asked, hating how Victoria made me feel like I was doomed to play catch up.

Victoria gave me a smile of understanding. “Well, this once I’ll let you know how it’s done. My servant
took your photo downstairs and ran a quick facial recognition search. There were plenty of results. I
decided I’d make you into my little sin for the evening.”

“Oh,” I said, like the street-smart veteran of the city’s dying alternative press that I am.

“We’ll have a little dalliance. A fling, or perhaps a friendship. Whatever you like. You’ll show me beautiful
things in the world of the kine, and I’ll help you become the Prince. Then I’ll abandon you and you’ll
feel an ache for my memory in your heart for ever and ever.” Victoria sounded satisfied, as if she’d done
this many times before.

“I’m not planning to become the Prince. I barely know what it means!” I protested.

“You’ll know what it is. And you’ll want it,” she said, pulling me to a circle of people. “Thomas, Cedric,
let me introduce you to my friend Deja! She’s a very promising young Ventrue!”

3
Chapter One

INTRODUCTION
ENTER A WORLD OF BLOOD

Damned by the ancient blood welling inside you, you try to hold onto the last
scraps of your humanity as you sustain your degenerate unlife on the blood
of mortals. You are a vampire, existing in secret among the ignorant horde of
ordinary people.

The only ones who really know what it is like are the other vampires. They are
your loyal allies and treacherous enemies. Unfortunately, it is often hard to
tell one apart from the other.

For many young Kindred, the most

important moment of their early unlife
is the night they are introduced to others
of their kind. If it goes well, they have
new allies in others who have experienced
the same troubles they are experiencing.
If it goes badly, they get used as a pawn
or destroyed as a pointless liability. The
Embrace makes them vampires but entering
Kindred society makes them members of a
community, whether at the extravagant
cocktail parties of the Camarilla or the
dingy bars of the Anarchs.

4
The World of Darkness
In a Vampire: The Masquerade LARP, you walk
into this world. You assume the role of a
vampire and experience their joys and terrors.
A small LARP can model a tiny corner of a
bigger World of Darkness while a long-running
chronicle or a big urban LARP can bring a
bigger slice of it into existence.
You can try to make your political ambitions
into reality or fall in love with an ancient
monster. You can carve a niche for yourself in the
society of the debased or seek their destruction.
Whatever happens, your story is your own.
You decide how your experience of Vampire
takes shape while helping and supporting other
participants to realize their own narratives.
As you do so, you become part of a global
community of Vampire LARP extending from
the U.S. to Brazil, from Turkey to Finland.
Using this book as inspiration, you can put
together your own Vampire LARP or chronicle
and start building your own take on the World
of Darkness.
Players And Organizers
This book is intended to give both players and
organizers of Vampire LARPs tools and ideas to
bring the experience to life.Or unlife.
For players, it details the world your character
inhabits. Who are your allies and enemies, what
are the ancestral loyalties you are expected to
assume? What does something like the Second
Inquisition or the Camarilla look like from the
point of view of someone who has just come
into this world?
5
For organizers, this book presents ideas
you can use to enhance a LARP; concepts,
locations and frameworks that work as the
setting for the kind of events that make good
LARPs. There are ready-made concepts that
you can lift and run with or adjust with your
own modifications. Additionally, there is
information on how to use different kinds of
antagonists such as the Second Inquisition and
the Sabbat.
After reading this book, you will know what
it is like to be a vampire in the World of
Darkness. The next step is to find a LARP or
organize one and make the experience real.
War of Ages
A Vampire’s world is one of generational
conflict. Older vampires seek to use their
progeny to carry out their dark plots and
insulate themselves from consequences. The
young want to carve out space for their own
and make sure they will have the opportunity
to enjoy the fruits of an unageing existence.
When these goals clash, the War of Ages rages.
This conflict is embodied in two great sects
of vampires: the Anarchs and the Camarilla.
The rebels and the establishment. In recent
decades, the Camarilla has retreated into its
bastions of power, leeching off great mortal
institutions and pretending they direct the
course of history. Meanwhile, they have ceded
control of the streets to the Anarchs, young
vampires forming their own communities,
burrowed deep into the lives of ordinary
mortals.
Of course, this is just the most common
configuration of the War of Ages. Perhaps
in the city of your LARP, the Camarilla still
reigns supreme, its leaders scared to death over the rumors of how even great domains like Berlin or
London have fallen. Or maybe the Anarchs staged a revolution and drove out the Camarilla, only to
find that managing the Masquerade is not quite as easy as the Princes of old made it look.

Perhaps you decide that in this city, neither sect holds power. The domain is controlled by local forces
of your own design.

Your World of Blood

The World of Darkness is for you to make of it what you will. That is the beauty of LARP and roleplaying
games. When you enter a LARP in-game, your character is the main character of your story. Their
tragedy and terror are yours to chart out according to your vision while everyone around you is doing
the same.

As a LARP organizer, you will build experiences that your players will remember for years to come.
Your World of Darkness is the one they have experienced first-hand.

Cities And Domains

Through this book, cities such as Berlin or Nashville appear as examples of how vampire domains can
be constructed. Their purpose is to demonstrate the variety in the setting and provide models you can
draw inspiration from.

These descriptions are not the official truth on what’s real in the world of Vampire. This is especially
true if you happen to live in one of these cities and want to make your hometown LARP different from
what we describe here.

You should design your event the way you like it. These examples are not canon and you do not need to
follow them if you are planning something different.

6
 Three Decades
of the Dead
The first LARP book for Vampire: The Masquerade was released in 1993, just two years after the
initial publication of the first edition of the roleplaying game. It was called The Masquerade and
laid out rules and mechanics for how to play Vampire as a LARP.

It is fair to say that the impact of Vampire LARP in the 1990s was explosive. In a few short years,
Vampire became the second most popular LARP genre in the world, after fantasy. Vampire LARP
was everywhere, brought a lot of new people into LARP and roleplaying, and became satirized in
popular television shows.

Looking back at the history of

Vampire LARP, it is striking
how quickly it became popular
outside U.S. borders. Although
traveling abroad to LARP was
even less common in the 1990s
than it is now, in just a few short
years from its introduction
in 1993, Vampire LARPs were
already being organized in
different European countries.

7
Making It Your Own
The way LARP works is that individual organizers
take a game like Vampire: The Masquerade or a
system like Laws of the Night and use it to run
their own events. As they do so, they necessarily
make their own interpretations and changes to
suit the tastes of their player base.
Because of this, since the start there was variety
in the way Vampire LARP was played. The source
material may be the same but differences in style
still abound. In the U.S. the most common style
of making Vampire LARP is Mind’s Eye Theatre,
hewing close to the mechanics published by
White Wolf and now By Night Studios. It has
been enormously popular, providing thousands
of players with the opportunity to engage in the
Eternal Struggle.
Other styles have developed in many different
ways. Sometimes an individual organizer has
decided to change the system provided in Laws
of the Night and make it their own. In other
8
cases, simple misunderstanding has accidentally
prompted the development of a new style of play.
This has been the case when Vampire LARP has
migrated across sharp cultural and linguistic
divides.
This means that today the field of Vampire LARP
is rich with many different takes on a shared
subject. This is a wonderful thing because it
means that it is easier for different players to find
a way to engage with Vampire LARP that suits
their own tastes.
By Night Studios publishes material mostly
for the Mind’s Eye Theatre rules but this book
is system neutral so as to be useful for as many
different styles of Vampire larp as possible. In
addition, this book details online LARP and
Nordic Larp, each of which apply different design
principles to create engaging types of Vampire
LARP that can supplement each other.
Vampire Culture

Three decades is a long time; long enough for a subculture of Vampire LARP to grow, develop and
establish itself. This ties back to one of the enduring qualities in Vampire: The Masquerade. In many
vampire stories, especially older ones, vampires are solitary creatures, or a small brood as in Dracula.
Vampire: The Masquerade presents an entire society of the undead, a global network of vast sects like the
Anarchs and the Camarilla and clans which organize the vampires into recognizable types.

Community is one of the building blocks of Vampire, so it should not be any surprise that it has lent
itself exceptionally well to the formation of communities of play.

In a Vampire LARP, you can literally walk into the World of Darkness, or at least a fictional facsimile.
However—and perhaps even more importantly—you can be one of the types of vampires which inhabit
this world. You can be a Tremere or a Toreador, a Brujah or a Ventrue.

These archetypes have proved to have immense power. They make the LARPs accessible by providing
social shorthand that makes the world easy to understand. They allow for the exploration of identity
through fictional personas that interact with each other in the setting of the LARP.

9
An Embarrassment of Riches
Vampire LARP is flexible. There are a few common formats that showcase the breadth of options.

The chronicle is a series of Vampire LARPs in which the story continues from event to event. Some
events can be small, others big. Usually all take place in the same domain, such as a city. A chronicle
can go on for years.

An individual LARP is of course the basic unit of Vampire play. These can be small events of twenty
players or large spectacles of hundreds or more. The difference between a one-shot and a chronicle is in
how players approach their characters. You get attached to the character you play in a chronicle, but a
one-shot LARP means your character does not need to survive the night.

You can also make very small Vampire LARPs, perhaps of just a few players. You get together with
friends, make yourselves characters and sit down in a local cafe, playing an Anarch pack. This too is
LARP!

10
Chapter Two

VAMPIRE
SOCIETY
At the Elysium:

Annika Wall: At least we don’t have to worry about that one.

Salomé Diaz: Deja? I’m not worried. She’ll be entertaining. But she has a hunger for power deep inside
her. I can tell.

Annika Wall: Oh God, don’t you start on that too! Victoria Ash already said the same.

Salomé Diaz: She has good judgment. Some neonates are like this. They’ve spent their lives in the margins,
on the outside looking in, and convinced themselves there’s virtue in it. Now they’re dead, they realize
that they can just take power if they’re clever enough.

Annika Wall: Were you like that?

Salomé Diaz: Me? Oh no. I was born to power. The Embrace merely made it easier to hold onto it.

11
A SOCIETY
OF BLOOD
L ARP is not an individual artform. LARPs are always about groups and
communities. It could be a dozen characters or a hundred, but every character is
important, the protagonist of their own story and experience. Just as every character
is equally important, every player is afforded the same chance to experience the
best the event has to offer.

Differences in in-game status only mean that the play experience is different too.
The player of a Prince must manage a teetering regime beset on all sides by ravenous
monsters pretending to be allies while the player of a ghoul has nothing to lose in
their quest for immortality or death. When they interact in the LARP, the magic of
the event comes alive, and things start to happen on their own.

Since LARPs are about communities, it makes sense to ask what kind of a
community is formed by the Kindred?

Vampire: The Masquerade is a roleplaying game of personal horror. Its focus is often
on the internal experience of the player character, the horror of the Blood inside
you, the Hunger, the need for blood directing your actions and your thoughts. As
Humanity ebbs away, only a monster remains.

LARP provides an opportunity to look at the horror of Vampire from a wider

perspective. The horror in a Vampire LARP is personal, but it is also the horror of
having to spend your nights as a member of a society of blood. You may manage to
hold onto your morals, but does it matter when you are surrounded by murderous
creatures who do not care for your values or ideas?

And worse, will associating with them eventually lead to you becoming one of them?
Something less than human, good only at justifying your own moral degeneration.

12
Backstabbers One And All

If all Kindred are traitorous monsters who turn
on you the moment you turn your back, why
would anyone spend time with them? Why
do not all vampires disappear into the crowd,
content to hunt alone?
Of course, some Kindred do become solitary
hunters, avoiding the company of their kind.
However, these vampires tend to make terrible
LARP characters because LARP is all about
connecting with others.

There are many reasons but the most

obvious one is that nobody is all bad. The
idea that monsters are monstrous all the
time is a comforting lie. Sometimes they
are perfectly pleasant. The same goes for the
Kindred. They have allies, friends, loyalties
and loved ones the same as mortals do. It
is just that the inescapable pressure of the
Hunger tends to eventually pervert close
relationships, turning friendship into
exploitation and love into pain.

A LARP is an event where you can see

what that looks like from a community-
wide perspective. Few among the Kindred
specifically set out to be evil, yet most
become so because their very sustenance
depends on hunting the blood of mortals.

Another reason to seek the company

of one’s Kindred is that only a vampire
understands what it is like to be a vampire.
Among mortals, the Kindred wear a mask,
pretending to be someone they are not. It
gets exhausting after a while, and it feels
good to talk to others who know what it is
like to meet your childhood friend and the
only thing you can think of is what their
blood tastes like.

13
 Making Yo
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d. nd confu es end u
sed with p lost
no idea
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14
Eternity
Eternity is a really long time. Eventually most
Kindred come to realize that these are the
people they will spend decades, centuries,
and even millennia with. Mortals die but the
undead endure. Everybody knows everybody,
and everybody has allied with, betrayed,
and tried to hook up with everybody. Petty
resentments go back for longer than borders
and social structures have existed.
This shapes the texture of Kindred society.
Many ancillae and elders are interested
in the young only because they bring the
possibility of something new. This is one of
the ways a Camarilla neonate’s introduction
into Elysium can go: they find themselves
courted by a gaggle of creepy ancients
hungry for something young, fresh, and still
connected to humanity.
Eventually, unlife’s infinite seductions get to
you. You feel like you accumulate victories
against your enemies and lift your peers but
in reality, you only replace one monstrous
elite with another, seeking to suppress and
savage the next generation of neonates who
enter the Elysium after you.
Perhaps you even resent how principled and
naive they are. How dare they seek to hold
onto their dreams when you had to give up
your own for the sake of security, power, and
gratification!

For many Kindred, the trouble with

Elysiums and Anarch parties is that they get
to meet others who share their predicament,
but those same people are also the enablers
of their worst behaviors. Many things that
would seem shocking to a mortal become
commonplace to a vampire who sees their
peers behave horribly at Elysium every
Friday.

This is one of the most poignant tragedies

that you can play out during a chronicle,
especially if you start out as a principled and
naive neonate. You want to change the world
for the better, fight against your vampiric
nature and resist the corrupting influence of
the society into which you have been thrust.

15
WHY DO THE ANARCHS
HATE THE CAMARILLA?
I’ve been at this a while, from the birth of the L.A. Free States to the Anarch resurgence of the modern
nights. It’s not just what the Camarilla has taken from me personally; it’s what they have taken from all
of us, every Anarch who walks the streets at night.

There’s been so much pain and loss through the years. Blood Hunts called on spurious grounds, hapless
neonates staked and tortured, Anarch domains destroyed....

Most of all, there is the simple fact that the Camarilla betrayed us to the agents of the Second Inquisition.
They purposefully leaked key information about Anarch Havens which were then raided and burnt. So
many of us died in just a few short nights of fire.

Once something like that happens, how do you pretend that anything is okay anymore? The Second
Inquisition is an existential threat and the Camarilla saw it as a tool to exterminate us.

Every time I attend a meeting between the Camarilla and the Movement, I know that across the table
are Kindred who prioritized murdering us to their own survival. Sure, they pretend that they wanted us
to take the heat instead of them, but the truth is that all the agencies comprising the Second Inquisition
were emboldened immeasurably by capturing and killing so many Anarch vampires. In the end, that
hurt the Camarilla too because now all these different secretive organizations have real experience in
exterminating Kindred.

It’s no wonder many young Camarilla

vampires realized that what happened
to us could happen to them. In fact,
the Movement has seen more new
members from the Camarilla and the
remains of the Sabbat than ever. They
too have their own reasons to hate the
Ivory Tower.

— Salvador Garcia, the author of the

Anarch Manifesto

16
I guess the Prince just didn’t like my face. We’d
come to town real quiet-like, not making too
much of a fuss. Just parking my trailer at a local
camping site, my boys standing guard during
the day.
I didn’t even have a chance to flee. The Prince’s
ghouls shot up my darlings, leaving them for the
cops to find, and torched my home. Everything I
owned went up in flames. My clothes, keepsakes
from years past... just everything. My whole
past, destroyed.
My boys were such a lovely bunch. So dedicated.
It took me years to replace them; to replace
everything I had. And you know it’s true what
they say: “You can replace a ghoul, but you can’t
replace the last memento of your mortal life.
That’s gone forever.”
The Prince was a sneering sadistic bastard.
Younger than I expected. Younger than me, I
realized as he gave me his little speech about
honoring the borders of a domain and all that
crap.
It was bad. I’m not going to give you all the
details. Torture, keeping me so hungry I almost
yielded to the Beast.... They like their power
games, those Camarilla do. They want to feel
like they control you. It gets them off more than
the Blood, more than anything.
Well, Auntie Juniper is not without a trick or
two of her own. I let him think he had broken
me, made me fall in love with his power. Real
Stockholm syndrome shit. I slipped away while
he was preparing to introduce me to his domain
as his childe.
17
Never went back to that little garbage town. Let
the Prince stew in the juices of his tiny domain.
If I heard one day that it had been razed by a
pack of militant Anarchs I would raise a toast
with my boys.
— Juniper, a nomadic Anarch
A friend once asked me what’s the worst thing
the Camarilla has ever done to me. Well....
I guess I’m visible. They know who I am, they
know I’m an organizer. That protects me to
some degree. They fear that if I’m killed, there
will be more Anarch violence.
Still, they do what they can.
I’ve been kidnapped twice; escaped once, was
freed by my friends the other time. A Brujah
Sheriff once threw me to the floor in an Elysium
and told everyone who fancied a drink to have
a bite. They’ve tried to frame me for all kinds of
crimes: betrayal, murder, diablerie, and so on.
The bottom line is it’d be easier to like the
Camarilla if they weren’t constantly trying to
tear us down.
— Rudi, Gangrel neonate
I don’t hate the Camarilla! Not at all!
Why, I find Ventrue boys to be cute and tasty.
Nothing can compare with the delightful little
sounds they make as you suck ‘em dry.
— Agata Starek, Brujah ancilla
WHY DO THOSE IN THE CAMARILLA
HATE THE ANARCHS?
Why do I hate the Anarchs? That’s a fucking
mystery. What did they ever do to me... except
burn down my home, try to end me, and murder
everyone I cared about?
I was just a research assistant, in life and in
undeath. I worked at the Chantry, helping the
older Tremere with their studies. I know there
are serious schisms in our clan but my Chantry
was always very traditional, very Camarilla
oriented.
18
That was the problem, I guess.
I was at work correcting translations from
Aramaic when I heard screams downstairs. I
rushed down to see this huge monster of a man
force a wooden stake through the chest of the
caretaker of our building, old Mr. Wozniak.
I remember thinking: “What a fucking idiot!”
Mr. Wozniak was a ghoul. What was the point
of staking him?
The man realized his mistake when blood started
to pool at his feet. He yanked out the stake and
looked straight at me. He said: “My bad. Let’s
see what happens when I try the same with you.”
I tried to run back up the stairs but he was just
so fast. Probably a Brujah. He knocked me down
to the floor and crunched the stake through my
back.
I’d never had that done to me before. I was in
agony, paralyzed and helpless, watching out
of the corner of my eye as more Anarchs ran
past me and poured gasoline all over the shelves
of our library. So many unique books, rare
editions... all going up in flames.
The Anarchs laughed as they ran from the
building. The flames licked my face, singeing
my hair.
If poor old Mrs. Wozniak hadn’t dragged me
down to the vault and locked us both in, I would
have died in the conflagration.
— Jiao Liu, Tremere neonate
I don’t advertise it but once I was one of them: an
Anarch. You know how some Ventrue Embrace
for skill, ability, and talent? I like to tell myself
that my sire did that too.... But he didn’t. I was a
young actress, he was feeling disconnected from
humanity, and he projected his feelings onto me.
I was a doll he wanted to keep in his Haven
and pretend to love. Once I understood what
had happened to me, I escaped and fled to
the Anarchs. I desperately needed friends and
believed the hype: “Anarchs take care of each
other, fighting against the rule of the aged to
establish their own unlives.”
19
My new friends killed my sire using the
information I gave them; just staked him in his
Haven, and sat him down facing the windows
to the east.
Betraying my sire... surely that’s enough? What
more do you need to do to prove yourself to the
Anarchs?
It turns out that they didn’t care about me.
They just wanted a pretty little trophy—a pet
Ventrue they could make fun of when they were
too scared to actually go against the Camarilla.
My sire told me that he was a powerful and
respected vampire. That was just another lie.
He was a nobody, a minor functionary in the
local Ventrue machine. The Anarchs killed him
because he was easy. When it came to those
in the Camarilla with real power, they turned
chicken.
I didn’t want to spend my eternity with these
useless fools who didn’t respect me. Lineage
matters among the Ventrue and once I found
my sire’s sire, I went to her and introduced
myself. I confessed everything I’d done.
She forgave me. I cried from relief when I
realized I was where the real power was: among
the Camarilla.
— Annika Wall, Ventrue neonate
I just hate what the Anarchs did to our clan.
Being a Brujah in the Camarilla is so much
worse now that Theo Bell had his little temper
tantrum and murdered Hardetstadt.
Pretty much everybody in the Camarilla now
regards our clan as traitors to the cause, the
ringleaders and the demagogues who caused
domains to collapse into chaos. I’ve personally been insulted by former friends who could no longer see
past my clan!

The Brujah are supposed to be the clan of philosophy, wisdom, and learning! Our roots go back to
antiquity! Our history is one of reasoned debate, not bloodthirsty barbarism!

We have always struggled with the smears other clans have inflicted upon us but now.... It’s impossible
to deny that the Brujah really did betray everything that was good and proper in the world of the
Camarilla.

Every Final Death—every lost Haven in recent years—is a result of the juvenile Anarch desire to riot,
steal, and murder instead of building something of their own. I will never forgive them for tempting
my proud clan into becoming the scum they are now.

— Roman Delgado, Brujah ancilla

20
NIGHT TO NIGHT IN THE ANARCHS
Rudi, Gangrel community organizer:
Maybe you were chosen randomly or maybe
the person who Embraced you was someone
you thought you knew. It doesn’t matter.
What matters is that one day you were
living a life. You were a student, employee,
parent, spouse, child, you had a place in the
society around you. You had a role, prospects,
worries, joys, and sources of stress.
21
The Embrace cut you off from all of that.
You’re still here, perhaps you even try to hold
onto the life you led, but now everything is
different. When you hug your boyfriend, you
feel the blood coursing under his skin and
wonder what it tastes like, what it would feel
like to sink your teeth into his body and just
drink and drink and drink....
Some adjust quicker, for others it takes
more time. Whatever the case with you, you
realize you’re part of an invisible society of
predators. Your problems are not yours alone.
Your existence is impacted by other Anarchs,
young Kindred like you.
You learn about hunting territories, rules and
limitations, punishments and opportunities.
You learn about the Masquerade.
As you settle into Kindred society it becomes
harder to maintain your connections to your
old life. Your mortal friends wonder at the
change that came over you. You struggle to
pay your rent and wonder if you should turn
your landlord into a ghoul now that someone
explained how that worked.
After a year of unlife, you no longer make
rookie mistakes on the hunt. Anarch business
takes more and more of your time whether
you like it or not. You’ve grasped that great
secret forces like the Camarilla, the Sabbat,
and the Second Inquisition will simply not
leave you alone. And then you learn about
werewolves; yip, they’re real too.
There are choices you can make. You can try
to maintain a mortal existence, pay your bills,
pretend that you’re still alive. It’s possible for a
decade or two but as time passes you must put
more and more work into it.
Or you can just let go. Many Anarchs make
so many mistakes in their first few months as
vampires that there’s no repairing the damage.
They become Nosferatu who live in the sewers
or Brujah toughs whose night-to-night existence
is not so different from a mortal criminal gang.
The vast majority of Anarchs are neonates.
Ancillae are rare and elders even rarer. Many
older Anarchs choose to keep themselves apart
from the mainstream of Anarch society. It’s
easier to be a legendary Anarch if people don’t
see you at the bar every night.
I’ve done so much to help others I forgot to
help myself. I suppose that’s the irony of trying
to hold onto your humanity by trying to be a
good person. I’ve always felt that good is not
something you are but something you do. If
your acts help others, you’re fine.
For us in the Anarchs, humanity is always right
there, at the distance of touch. Sometimes it
feels like this only underscores the fact that
we’re not human. I wonder if it’s easier for a
Camarilla vampire dwelling in their luxurious
Haven to maintain the illusion that they’re not
so different from the human they used to be.
Here’s what I always tell our neonates: hold
onto your mortal life as long as you can. Maybe
it’s hard to keep your job but at the very least
you should still visit your grandmother in
the hospital. Make up a story about health
problems, a new job... something that lets
you keep contact with at least some of the
touchstones of your mortal existence.
22
You can’t live the life you led before, but you still
need a place to live, money, somewhere to hunt
for blood. The best way to have all those things
is to live close to people, night-to-night. They
keep you human and stop you from becoming
an animal.
Some Kindred say that we are poison, that our
touch contaminates everything. We should
forget those we loved because as Kindred we
can only hurt them.
I’ve seen plenty of evidence that this is true yet I
refuse to accept it. Our blood is not our destiny
and we can become the better people we want
to be. This is not a solitary pursuit: as Anarchs
this is what we should strive for, together.
Every night is a struggle, but every night is also
an opportunity to improve. This is not a grand
project but a series of nightly choices. Are you a
monster whose existence brings pain or a secret
friend who protects the community?
The couple of decades I’ve been a vampire is
not much by Camarilla standards but from
the perspective of recently Embraced neonates
it’s an eternity. I never realized how far I’d
drifted from their experience until I heard the
nickname they gave me.
They called me “The Melancholy Man”, for
believing things they think are impossible and
that can only bring sadness. I don’t care. I still
believe in our better natures. Even if I lost all
connection to my own human life in the throes
of our fight to protect ourselves.
Bian, nicknamed “Bian the Bloody” by her fellow Brujah:
I don’t care about who you were, or what you now think is important. Those are luxuries for when
nobody is trying to kill you.

Being an Anarch is a battle against impossible odds. Looking at what’s happened in the last few years,
you might imagine that we’re doing well. Camarilla domains are falling, Anarchs are resurgent.

It’s all an illusion. Camarilla negotiators accept our demands even as their masters hire Banu Haqim
assassins to murder our kin. There are no easy victories. The enemy is never completely defeated, not
even when you stand victorious over the ashes of a Prince.

Welcome to the War of Ages. This is your war even if you never signed up for it. Your elders are seeking
to control you, toy with you, suppress you; your only choice for dignity in unlife is to fight back.

You had a wife or husband when you were still mortal? Congratulations. Prepare for the night when the
Camarilla or Second Inquisition murder or kidnap them.

You have a child, a cause you believe in, a community you were part of? All liabilities, all future losses
in this war.

Yet... we have no use for you if you can’t control yourself. You have to be able to go through your nights
discreetly when the situation calls for it. You have to have something that keeps you sane even if you
have cut yourself off from everything that could be used against you.

Believe in us. Your compatriots. Your Anarch comrades. The only Kindred who will ever look out for
you.

Trust me when I say it matters why you kill. The Camarilla took everything from me, but they never
managed to take my humanity. Or at least, not all of it. I still have things I cherish, that remind me of
why we fight. One night this war will be over. We will be free to do as we like.

I know the war seems eternal and I know I have so much blood on my hands I shouldn’t be talking of
hope... yet the idea of something better is the only thing that keeps any of us going.

23
NIGHT TO NIGHT IN THE CAMARILLA
Salomé Díaz, Ventrue heiress:
You started to feel like something was wrong
long before your actual Embrace. It felt like
shadowy figures seemed to always lurk in
the background, watching your every move,
evaluating and planning.
The nature of your Embrace depended on how
your sire wanted to conduct such an important
event. Perhaps he was a Toreador romantic who
drained you dry of blood on a bed of roses. Or
maybe she was a Nosferatu, jaded and cynical,
who unceremoniously Embraced you in a
disused service tunnel.
Whatever the case, suddenly you saw another
layer of reality; a new world into which you
24
could step. The doors of an exclusive secret
society opened just for you.
Perhaps it was less stressful when you were
ignorant and naive. Before you grasped the
dangers in your path and the threats behind
the smiles.
The Camarilla always talks a good game about
how they’re there for their Kindred.
A year in and you’ve learned that if you make a
mistake on the hunt, they might just kill you for
a Masquerade breach. That if you fail to follow
the will of the elders you will be punished but
also, they won’t tell you what the will of the
elders is. You’ve become conscious of the fact
that you were inducted into the first level of a
secret society but there are many, many more.
You know that if you just manage to persist for
decades, centuries, or even millennia, you will
slowly make your way into ever more exclusive
hidden centers of power.
There are many neonates in the Camarilla, young
vampires like you. The most visible wielders of
power tend to be ancilla, sometimes defined
as Kindred whose very last mortal relation has
died.
Once you’re old enough to be an ancilla, you find
yourself in a difficult position. You have to keep
the machinery of the Camarilla running such as
the Elysiums and business empires. You know
every neonate dreams of taking your place. Yet
you’re not really free. The elders, reclusive–
perhaps disappeared–still cast a long shadow.
As you make your moves, it’s worrying to think
what happens when a long-lost elder suddenly
shows up.
Exist long enough and you become that elder.
The mortal world becomes increasingly
confusing, and the world of the Kindred is little
better. Most neonates are every bit as baffling
as the generations of mortals they’re Embraced
from.
This makes most elders reclusive, temperamental,
and prone to grandiose intricate plans of control
and domination. What’s worse: they have the
power to pull it off. The fact that they disappear
into the Beckoning or enter torpor just makes
it unpleasant because then their plans are left
unfinished, dangerous forces loosed upon the
world with no control or oversight.
25
Henry Thomas, Gangrel Sheriff:
Some nights, this feels like a dream. Growing up
I knew our family had secrets. We were not rich,
and we were spread all over, relatives in Mexico,
the U.S., Guatemala, Colombia.... Strange
relatives I saw at family events, whispering their
business.
The tradition was that the Gangrel bloodline
embedded into our family for centuries
Embraced one childe each decade. The best and
the brightest of that generation.
I don’t know what happened last year when
my generation’s turn came up. My sire, an old
Spanish Gangrel, chose me as his successor and
then he left. I’m not the best or the brightest but
now I live in a mansion, I have servants, money,
access. Everything was just given to me for free.
Still, I don’t like it when the Anarchs criticize
us for being Embraced into the easy life. I had
a steep learning curve. Managing a staff of
servants is no easy task, especially since many
of them are ghouls. Keeping the herd organized
is a lot of work, and so is representing the clan
in Elysium.
My sire didn’t leave me with many instructions,
but he did tell me that I must always project
the strength of the clan. If the Kindred of the
Camarilla see me smiling, looking good at their
little parties, I will be left alone. If they smell
weakness or fear, they’ll take everything I have.
The truth is that I am weak. It’s not so long
ago that I thought vampires only existed in the
movies. Now I am one and I know there are
so many terrors in the night waiting to tear
me down. Sometimes I wonder what kind of
thoughts my butler has about me. Does he want
to use my blood to cheat death too?
It’s no use falling into paranoia. It’s just another
type of weakness. The only thing that keeps me
going is the other recently Embraced Kindred
I’ve met in Elysium. Talking with them, I’ve
realized I’m not alone.
Sometimes this is a nightmare. Nobody really
talked to me about how hard it is to keep hold
of my humanity when everything around me
suddenly changed and every servant obeys my
whims. I look at them, the maids, gardeners,
and drivers, and I wonder what they taste like.
I know there will come a night when I lose
control.
It’s all we can do to keep the lights on. The
Anarchs eat away our territories with the
defections of whole clans, mine included.
The Second Inquisition is everywhere and we
can’t really hit back at them. Then, in the dark
corners of the city, whispers of more insidious
threats carry on the wind.
The Camarilla is the best hope we have for
making our kind into something more than
monsters. To create a legacy. Our enemies seek
to destroy all that by turning our strengths into
weaknesses and their losses into victories.
I suppose my sire found it logical, in his own
way, to Embrace a sheriff for the role of a
Camarilla Sheriff. The trouble is that the small
town where I lived and worked had some
property theft, people got rowdy at the bar on
Friday nights, and maybe there was a murder
once every ten years....
None of that prepared me for what I have to
deal with now. Sabbat psychos leaving strangely
sculpted corpses in their wake. Anarchs
firebombing our Havens. Worst of all, our own
elders are disappearing and leaving us to keep
everything together.
26
That’s the promise of the Camarilla as it was
explained to me: I’d be part of this ancient
power structure; a secret organization where
powerful vampires would steer our destinies.
We’d have no freedom, our nights ruled by the
whims of our elders.
It was dark, sure, but I also took comfort in it:
I thought there was a plan that we could follow
and orders we would implement.
I didn’t realize that in so many domains,
neonates like me are the inheritors who fight
night-to-night to keep the demons at bay. We
have no one to tell us what to do. So many
elders just left!
There’s only one thing that made it easier for
me: I realized that when I look at all the liars
and poseurs at the Elysium, I know that deep in
their un-beating hearts they are just as scared
and lost as I am.
When they feel threatened by all the dangers
the night throws at us, they look at me to
protect them. The question is, who will protect
me?
I know that the night will come when I’m
called to investigate, and it will be something
new that will consume me. If not in the form
of a violent death, then because I will give in
to the temptations of the Blood inside me and
degenerate into just one more killer.
 Small Events
Chapter Three
Where the
Kindred Congregate

At an Anarch bar:
Aisha az-Zahra: The vampire is a lone predator, Sebastian! You must accept the
darkness within. You will always remain separate from the common herd.

Sebastian: We’ve been seeing other Kindred every night. Literally every night.

Aisha az-Zahra: Of course. Who but others of our kind can really understand
the struggle we go through?

27
Sebastian: Out of respect for your age and position I will only say that I thank you for your wisdom.

Aisha az-Zahra: Out with it! You know I detest the trappings of status, the groveling, those eager to
please just because of my age.

Sebastian: It’s just... sometimes your advice is inconsistent. You talk to me about being alone, self-
sufficiency, but you yourself have a great hunger for company. Especially the company of the young.

Aisha az-Zahra: Insolent whelp! You should know better than to point out the hypocrisies of your elders!

Sebastian: Yes, Ma’am. I apologize.

Quick and Easy

This section features four quick and easy scenarios you can make into a LARP. The basis for a LARP is
always a social event. This can be a wedding or a funeral, or as is the case here, typical social gatherings
from the world of Vampire.

Since these are common events in the setting of Vampire, you do not have to justify why these characters
are here. Rather, you can focus your energies into coming up with the minutiae of characterization and
plot. What kind of tensions and conflicts come to the fore during this event?

Fortunately, the Kindred are a fractious lot so it is not difficult to explain why they are at each other’s
throats yet again.

Generating a LARP Concept

If you want to get a LARP going quickly, here is a checklist you can go through to make a small Vampire
LARP for a single evening:

1. Location options. What kind of possibilities do you have when it comes to the venue? Are you running
the LARP at a convention or are you renting a bar or a ballroom? Do you have great open-air options
nearby? Do you have personal connections that make a specific interesting venue available to you?

Based on what you come up with, you can see if any of the options presented in this section make
sense for the locations you have available. The Toreador salon and the Brujah bar are especially flexible,
suitable for being set in many different environments.

2. LARP concept. Who are the characters and why are they here? This section presents four different
LARP concepts that are easy to use. Feel free to come up with your own.

Decide whether this gathering is Kindred only, or whether there are ghouls present. Perhaps there are

28
unwitting mortals, forcing the vampires to operate under the Masquerade and allowing for hunting to
become part of the play.

3. Sketch out actions and conflicts. What do the characters do at the LARP? What generates conflict?
The answer to the first question should be baked into the concept but it is useful to elaborate on it some
more. For example, if the characters are Gangrel who have come together to tell stories, it makes sense
to think what else they can do. Fight each other, make deals, settle grudges, etc.

As to conflict, fortunately the setting of Vampire provides a lot of opportunities. The young against the
old, insiders versus upstarts, Camarilla versus Anarch, and so on. It pays to exaggerate these conflicts to
make sure the players do not resolve them too quickly.

4. Make a LARP. At this point, you should have everything you need to know regarding what you and
your players should be doing. Find a location, get players, write characters or ask your players to make
them themselves. Whatever works best for you. And after that, run the LARP and have fun!

SWIMMING WITH THE

SHARKS
I met the most delightful young man today, a
Brujah if you can imagine. They are fun to play
around with and this young gentleman was no
exception. His name was Sebastian, but I told
him that was no good because I already know a
Sebastian. I decided to call him Doudou because
as long as he didn’t speak or do anything, he was
quite cuddly.

It was the opening of a new art gallery called The

Craving. Some of the younger members of my
clan were associated with it, perhaps even one of
my descendants. Who can track them all?

Mortals, ghouls, Kindred, all united by their

appreciation of beauty. Some elder vampires fall
into the embarrassing trap of regarding all art
created after their Embrace as inferior. This is

29
just one of the ways in which they showcase their
inability to exist in the modern world.
Me, I appreciate everything. Though I might
space-out when a beautiful young artist explains
their ideas to me but in my defense, I’m taking a
moment to appreciate the play of veins on their
neck.
The funny thing about Doudou was that his
friends had told him to come to the opening to
get acquainted with our clan. Such a prank to play
on a poor defenseless childe! Surely, they knew
that this pack of piranhas would tear him apart!
And sure enough, that’s what was happening
when I made my entrance. They were swarming
around him, insulting him in ways he could not
comprehend, insinuating, seducing, betraying...
all in the space of just a few minutes, like we are
wont to do.
I found it unsportsmanlike, so I decided to bestow
him my favor. I went up to him and asked what
he thought of a video installation of a screaming
weatherman. This is really the funniest part: he
didn’t know who I was, or that I was one of the
Kindred. He tried to hunt, you know, me!
I let it happen, of course. It was priceless to see my
poor Camarilla compatriots so confused! It was
when Doudou drank my blood that he realized
his error. I told him it was okay. I wouldn’t kill a
pretty thing like him!
Well, not tonight.
- From the diary of Victoria Ash, Toreador elder
30
LARP Concept
The salon is the quintessential gathering for
genteel Kindred who enjoy the arts. It can
take many forms, from an actual literary
salon held in the Haven of an elder Toreador
to the opening of an art gallery or a private
late night rendition of a performance that has
been making the waves.
Camarilla sophisticates are famous for their
cattiness, and social games. Fashions come
and go at a dizzying pace and it is difficult
for someone not attuned to the clan’s culture
to keep up.
The small gatherings of Camarilla high society
make for great small LARPs. They can be set
in a wide range of venues and the choice of
location can be explained by the latest trend.
Art galleries and hotel suites are obvious but
if the fashion suddenly dictates that the clan
must congregate in the most rancid dive bar
imaginable, then that is what the clan does.
Design
To get the most out of the social games of the
vampires, the participants must have an idea
of what is cool right now and what is already
hopelessly outdated. Because members of the
clan are prone to excess and bizarre fashions,
you can spice up the LARP by making up a few.
Perhaps there is a sudden trend for having a
Nosferatu paramour? Maybe the members of
an artist collective become a must-have item
as a ghoul, but there are just four of them?
It is very common for fashion-conscious
Kindred to mingle among mortals even when
they get together. They enjoy fooling the
mortals and playing strange games
with them. From the perspective
of a mortal, this can be fraught
because the chances of getting killed
are balanced by the possibility of
a surprise Embrace by a Toreador
overcome with emotion.

Characters at a Kindred salon must

include the hosts and a good selection
of fashionable vampires. Apart from
that, the characters can be from all
walks of unlife. Most will be young of
course, with a few ancillae. Toreador
elders enjoy demonstrating they can
still blend with the mortals even if
they cannot really mingle with their
own clan without making everyone
afraid of their new whimsy.

A salon works as a type of event in

an ongoing chronicle. Many of the
characters present will probably be
Toreador but it works best if there
are others as well, to provide nuance
and variety.

31
At The Fireside
“Come on, that’s bullshit,” one of the neonates said, a young French woman called
Cyra. “Just ridiculous.”

“I swear on my sire’s ashes,” Lukas protested with

mock sincerity. “It’s all true! Gangrel Valkyries really
did assassinate Olof Palme! This is the proud history of our clan!”

“Whatever,” Cyra muttered, shaking her head. “Does

anybody have a story that isn’t like super dumb?”

Rudi sighed and looked around the circle of faces gathered around the
fireside. Since when had he become the enforcer of clan traditions?
Despite his misgivings, he said: “Play nice, Cyra. This isn’t about the truth. This is
about telling a good story. We’re all Gangrel here. We’ve gathered to spend the night telling stories
for millennia. Camarilla or Anarch, our stories endure.”

“I have a story for you, Anarch boy,” Cyra said, the firelight making her face a malevolent mask.
The forest was silent beyond the circle of illumination, black trees silhouetted against a black sky.
Much of Europe had been cleared of its old forests centuries ago but here, in the north of Sweden,
civilization was still far away
.
Rudi felt a weight settling on his shoulders; it was the knowledge that whatever tale Cyra chose to
tell would be an unpleasant experience for him. This too was part of the tradition: telling stories
about those who are present to air grievances old and new.

Some of the older and more bestial Gangrel would react to such a provocation with violence. But
not Rudi. He fought for Anarch freedom, but not over social spats and slights.

“This is a story about a young Gangrel, just recently Embraced into the clan,” Cyra began.
“The young Gangrel is you,” Lukas interrupted, laughing. “Let’s not be pompous!”

“Fuck you,” Cyra growled, and Lukas shifted uneasily. He was not a brave man despite his propensity
for joking at the expense of others.

“Go on, Cyra,” Rudi said softly.

“The Gangrel were leaving the Camarilla,” Cyra continued, “retreating from the shadows of the
Ivory Tower. The great and good of the clan were fading away into their hideouts and secret places...
but no decision among the Kindred is ever unanimous. This was true here as well. My sire didn’t

32
want to go. He had spent all his unlife building the Tower and protecting it from threats big and small,
so why would he go?”

“That was his right,” someone said. “We don’t force people to leave.”

“I wanted to leave! I didn’t want anything to do with the Camarilla!” Cyra shouted. “I escaped my sire
and sought out the famous Rudi, the Anarch organizer, the terror of the Camarilla establishment. From
what they said, I thought Rudi would surely help me; that he would shelter me and that his Anarchs
would take care of me and keep me safe from my sire and all the other monsters.” “Sometimes they’re
just too powerful,” Rudi muttered.

“That’s right,” Cyra said, staring at Rudi. “My sire came to the Anarchs, to their hideout, and said he
would take me back. And none of these cowards lifted a finger.”

“Come on, give him a break!” Lukas laughed again. “Your sire is Karsh, the Warlord of the Camarilla.
How is anybody supposed to fight against him?”

LARP Concept young, a few old, and perhaps a ghoul or two.

Gangrel come together to meet as a clan, to
sit by the fireside and exchange stories. It is a
simple, functional concept for a small LARP of
five to 15 participants. A duration of three to six
hours works well.
Since the Gangrel are not known for their
expensive lifestyles, the LARP can be organized
in a variety of settings. The most atmospheric
choice is to organize the LARP in an actual
campsite during a summer night so that the
participants feel the wind in the trees and the
night on their skin as they tell their stories.
Other options are possible as well such as
renting a section of a bar or using the corner of
a room at a gaming convention.
Design
The LARP works best with a wide variety of
Gangrel characters. We suggest that most be
Some predominantly city-dwelling Gangrel
should be present, but the bulk should be
nomadic or more country dwelling. The majority
of the characters should know each other but
there can be visitors from other domains as well.
After all, along with the Ravnos, the Gangrel
are the biggest wanderers among the Kindred.
Since most Gangrel have left the Camarilla,
most characters are likely Anarchs or unaligned.
Players should know in advance that they are
expected to tell a story in-character. These can be
tall tales of clan exploits but also used to create
drama. Perhaps a character uses the opportunity
to reveal the ill deeds of a respected clanmate or
tries to get revenge for perceived slights?
It is easy to fit this LARP concept into an
existing chronicle as long as there are enough
Gangrel characters to make it work. In that case,
it is a mini-LARP meant for the Gangrel only,
featuring a few guest characters from further
away and perhaps allowing a few non-Gangrel
to sneak a peek at the clan’s culture.

33
 DIVE BAR
“I suppose I should warn you,” Dee
said, stopping just as she was about
to open the bar door. “You gotta be
tough. If they think you’re a wimp,
they’ll make mincemeat out of you.”

Sebastian scowled and looked Dee

up and down. His guide did not cut
an imposing figure. Dee was short
and shifty, hardly a model of Brujah
power.

“If that’s true, how are you still here?”

Sebastian asked.

Dee laughed. “I have talents you

don’t. Let’s go.”

The bar was a dingy affair, with a

filthy illegible sign and brick walls
that looked like someone’s head
got bashed into them every night.
Inside, a cloud of stale cigarette
smoke would have been a blessing.
Without it, every grimy surface was
uncomfortably visible.

“You owe me a boon, Dee. I intend to

collect,” a tall biker called from the
pool table.

“I’m good for it! Honest!” Dee said

unconvincingly and led Sebastian to
the bar. The patrons stopped staring
and went back to their beers.

“Who are you supposed to be?”

34
Sebastian turned slowly to look at the woman who had spoken. She had a broken nose and wore a
leather jacket. She was leaning on the bar, an untouched beer in front of her; details that hinted to
Sebastian that she was one of the Kindred.

This was the moment. Dee’s warning echoed in Sebastian’s mind. They would peg him as someone to be
reckoned with or a weakling who could be bullied and bossed around.

Sebastian took the stranger by the greasy hair and smashed her face into the bar. He felt the broken nose
giving in against the surface of the bar. Blood spattered. He still was not used to his newfound strength,
the gift of supernatural power from the Blood of his clan.

“Anyone else want to make a thing of it?” Sebastian asked loudly, turning around to look at the bar.
Dee was staring at him, eyes wide. So was the barkeep and the other patrons.

“What did you do that for?” Dee asked, checking on the unconscious woman, her face still on the bar.
“Haha, this is a human! You just bashed in the face of someone’s ghoul!”

“Dammit, you told me to...” Sebastian started but then quieted down. Eyes in the bar had turned
towards the pool table. Two people were playing, a man and a woman.... She was blonde and shorter
than Sebastian in an oversized flannel shirt that looked like it had belonged to someone else.

“That was my ghoul you just knocked out.” Agata Starek did not sound particularly angry. “I’ll make
you a challenge. Come play against me. If you win, you walk away. If you lose, I’ll rip your throat out.
But don’t worry. I’m terrible at this game.” She laughed at her own joke, not really looking at Sebastian.

“Hope you know how to play,” Dee whispered as he walked to meet his fate.

LARP Concept

Vampire low lives, criminals and revolutionaries have their hangouts in almost every city. Many of
them are Brujah. The clan is big, unruly, and largely composed of young Anarchs who want to get
rowdy. If you want to make a LARP out of a night in a vampire dive bar, you can take the literal route
and use an actual bar as the venue. Alternatively, you can use any place that could sensibly host an
“illegal” in-game party.

You can also run this LARP in a convention, assuming you have a private space and players who can
imagine themselves in a dive bar.

Sometimes the vampire dive bar has mortals too, in which case the Masquerade is in effect. These

35
mortals are drifters, lowlifes, drug dealers, and similar types. It can be fun to make them predators too,
eager to hustle the vampire characters. The player of a Kindred character then has to choose whether to
go along with it for the sake of the Masquerade or use vampiric abilities.

Such a bar can also be for Kindred and ghouls only, at least for one night. In that case, vampires can
fight openly among each other. This is good because cracking skulls is part of the fun of playing dumb
and violent vampires.

Design
The dive bar works when you have 20 to 50 players. Most of the characters should be young Anarchs,
often Brujah. You can have a few Camarilla characters in there as well. Perhaps they are slumming,
or here to act as envoys. Whatever the case, they provide a little spice to the social dynamic of the
situation.

Before you run the game, it is good to make sure players know that among the regulars, fights do not
always have to be life and death. You can hit somebody in the face and then laugh and share a vessel
with them. It is no big deal. This makes it possible for players to have fun with the violence inherent in
the clan without escalating the situation too much.

36
GIVE UP EVERYTHING

This is just a quick note letting you know I did
like you told me to. I’m not sure I should be
doing favors for you but they tell me Victoria
Ash doesn’t like getting a “no” for an answer.
The Ministry. This was the dodgiest place I’ve
ever been to. You told me to go check them out
and that’s what I did although I’m not sure I
managed to scout out any secrets.
The way to access the temple was through the
back room of a massage parlor. There were stairs
leading down, incense in the air, red and green
colored lights....
Once we’d chatted for a bit and I’d poked my
nose everywhere I could, people started to show
up. Zhala and Elin welcomed them and told
them to kneel as they waited. They talked in
these soft murmurs that made even me feel like
I was being hypnotized.
I wanted to stay for the ceremony but I
remembered what you said: it would be a bad
idea... that I might enjoy it a bit too much.
— A note from the Ventrue Deja to Victoria Ash

They figured out I was one of the Kindred and

they were surprisingly welcoming, considering
I’d never met them before. Two women, they
said their names were Zhala and Elin, members
of the Ministry. They were very open and offered
to take me on a tour of the premises.

I accepted of course. There was an altar with a

naked man lying on it. They said he was a ghoul
engaged in religious devotions. They also told
me to have a sip if I wanted. I was thirsty so I
did. The energy in the man’s blood was not what
I expected. He felt so happy.

I was thrown by that, so I didn’t ask questions

about all the paraphernalia. The ritual knife, the
cheap-ass statues of various gods and goddesses,
the jumble of cultural symbols, the sound
system they’d rigged up, the music they played.

It all looked so cheap, but I thought that just

can’t be all there is to it. I couldn’t get the taste
of the man’s blood out of my mouth. They told
me he was a judge.

37
LARP Concept
The Ministry specializes in building cults of
mortals to act as herds, vehicles of influence,
and buffers against the troubles of the World of
Darkness. It is not difficult for an experienced
Ministry vampire to abandon their cult, escape,
and rebuild in another city. After all, there
are people seeking meaning for their lives
everywhere.
The great advantage of a Ministry cult as the
basis of a small LARP is that cult ceremonies are
excellent content. Because Ministry vampires are
often happy to use whatever spiritual framework
works best for their intended targets, you have
a lot of leeway on how to design the experience.
Although a Ministry cult LARP offers a lot of
Design
A good Ministry cult LARP features 15 to 40
players, most of whom should be mortals with
no conception of vampires. They believe they
belong to a secret religious group that grants
access to real truths about the world. Of course,
in reality they are members of a vampire’s herd.
Just going through the rituals of the cult
provides plenty of interesting LARP action,
from the initiation of new members to collective
affirmations of the faith. Sacrifices can play a
part, where mortal members are symbolically
sacrificed, requiring only a small bite from one
of the cult leaders.
To make the LARP more complex, you can
38
options in terms of venue, it requires more props
and scenography than the other three clan-
based LARP ideas presented here. A ritual space
must look the part, after all. One consideration
to keep in mind is the religious sensibilities of
your players. If it is okay for them, you can draw
inspiration from real religions and cults, but
you are generally safer making it more fictitious.
After all, members of the Ministry are not
particularly concerned with the authenticity of
the religious front they build for their gullible
herds.
add non-Ministry characters and give them
conflicting motivations and plans. Perhaps the
Ministry is in danger of getting run out of town
and they invite Camarilla and Anarch vampires
to witness their ceremonies, hoping that they
become so enamored of easy blood that they
withdraw their objections to the Ministry’s
presence.
One or two of the mortal characters can be
relatives and friends of a former victim of
the Ministry cult, here under false pretenses,
seeking to find the right moment to have their
revenge. Or perhaps they are ghouls abandoned
by another vampire, desperately seeking for a
fix.
 Interlude:
BOYTOY

“I won”, Sebastian insisted. “I won

and you promised I’d be okay.”

Playing pool against Agata

Starek had been nerve-wracking
but Sebastian had won handily.
Either Starek was just playing
with him, or she genuinely did
not know how to play.

Only his victory did not free

him. Instead, Sebastian had
been dragged along when
Starek left the dive bar.

“Stop whining”, Starek said.

“I’m going to make a man out
of you yet. You look too pretty
to be credible. It’ll help if you
have blood on your hands.”

Sebastian was a good-looking

man and he knew it. It had rarely
been a liability before but somehow
he started to feel that maybe with
the Anarchs it would have been
better to look rough and violent.

“Hey, look, I appreciate...” Sebastian did

not get further because Starek grabbed

39
him by the throat and pushed him against the
fence of the estate they were skulking around.
“I’m doing you a favor, little boytoy”, Starek
said. “I want to see you stick around. You need
a rep.”
The estate was a grand neo-colonial affair, with
dogs prowling the grounds in the dark and the
discreet eyes of security cameras tracking every
intruder. Sebastian had heard it was associated
with the Camarilla that everyone was warning
him against.
“Look, I don’t want to get into trouble”,
Sebastian managed to say despite the pressure
on his throat.
“The weak and the useless die. Those who make
a mark get to go on”, Starek said and dropped
Sebastian to the ground. She tried the iron bars
of the antique fence, then yanked one of them
free and let it clatter on the asphalt. “Follow me.”
Sebastian tried to emulate his guide’s grace as he
pushed his way through the opening in the fence
when he suddenly heard a tearing, wet sound. A
breath, like a bark that failed to find purchase.
Mouth open, he saw Starek tear off the lower
jaw of a black Doberman and toss the carcass on
the wet lawn.
“I abhor cruelty against animals”, Starek said.
“It’s just that it would have made noise.”
“Why are we here? What are we doing?”
Sebastian said, trying to follow Starek’s route.
Surely the security cameras would have spotted
them by now. Why wasn’t she concerned about
that?
“We’ll send a message and you’ll get to sign it”,
40
Starek whispered as she yanked open the kitchen
door, its lock breaking surprisingly quietly.
***
During the day, the gallery room must look
magnificent, Sebastian thought. Such huge
windows!
It did not seem like the Kindred whose Haven
this was would appreciate such things, however.
Spots illuminating the paintings and the
sculptures lit up as Starek switched on the lights.
“Why are we not worried about cameras?”
Sebastian finally snapped, half fearing that
Starek would hurt him again.
“Let me tell you a story. Once there was an
old vampire who modernized all his security
systems. The cameras recorded everything and if
there was an alarm a signal went to an external
security contractor.” Starek spoke as she looked
through the paintings one by one. They were
in a wide variety of styles. Clearly a personal
collection, not a curated exhibit.
“One night, an Anarch broke in to piss blood
onto his porch. The cameras recorded the use of
vampiric strength, the Second Inquisition tap
on the security company’s systems flagged it,
and the next day a strike team turned the old
vampire into ashes.” Starek stopped to look at
Sebastian. “That’s one of the intricacies of the
Masquerade. It’s not enough to protect yourself.
Sometimes you have to protect your enemies
too.”
“So, you assume that the image from those
cameras is seen only by very few people”,
Sebastian said uneasily.
“Yes. Salomé Díaz, the Ventrue who’s Haven this
is, is not a fool. Nor is Victoria Ash, who’s here
as a guest”, Starek said and stopped to regard
a painting. It looked old, a portrait showing a
Spanish gentleman. “Now, Sebastian. You’re
going to deface this painting with your blood.”
***
“I still feel like I don’t understand anything”,
Sebastian said, feeling the hunger coil inside
him. He had spread blood on the painting and
then mended the wound on his wrist. He was
driving, Starek on the passenger seat looking
satisfied with herself.
“You know why I did this?” she said. “Many
Camarilla vampires are bored. They want
something exciting to spice up their long nights,
41
so they take an Anarch lover. The moment I
saw your pretty face, I knew you were a prime
candidate for getting turned traitor for the
privilege of amusing some degenerate Ventrue
socialite for a decade or two. Now, that won’t
happen. You’re too toxic.”
Sebastian could feel his unbeating heart sink.
He was being manipulated into becoming a
soldier in a war he did not care about.
“What was the painting?” he asked weakly.
“Salomé’s sire when he was still living. She feared
its destruction more than she’d fear anything
connected to herself”, Starek said.
Chapter Four

Anarchs
A BLOODY, BLOODY BEAT
“We’ve totally failed to infiltrate this place! Look at you! You don’t fit in at all!” Deja shouted, both
in anger and in an attempt to be heard over the beat of the thundering music that was drowning out
conversation even in the filthy unisex bathroom.

The walls were covered with scrawled messages, the toilets blocked ages ago. The only light came from
a single unbroken yellow bulb hanging overhead.

“Have you seen how these animals treat new licks?” Annika asked, checking her make-up one more
time. Being a vampire, she didn’t have to worry about her sweat smearing her eyeliner but she had just
drank from the young groaning man now collapsed on the dirty floor, so better to be sure.

Deja considered herself pretty worldly but having to touch that floor with anything except the soles of
her shoes seemed pretty vile, to say nothing of rubbing one’s cheek into it as the man was doing.

“No.... This is my first Anarch party,” Deja admitted. She could guess what Annika meant. She’d learned
that Camarilla Kindred loved playing status games and there was no reason to suspect that their Anarch
brethren were any different, despite their rhetoric.

Deja had always felt like an outsider in Camarilla get-togethers but now she realized she had adopted
some of their values without acknowledging it. Like the fact that being a vampire makes it possible to
have nice things. Wallowing in garbage was not necessary if you played your cards right.

Of course, some, like Annika, liked to wallow in garbage from time to time. She turned to look at Deja
and said: “When you’re an Anarch and you date a Ventrue, you want her to look the part. You want to
show her off to your friends. That’s part of the fantasy. It doesn’t work if she’s as grimy as the rest of the
licks in this club.”

“Isn’t that...” Deja started to say when the door of the bathroom crashed down, hinges breaking, wood
splintering. An enormous Chinese man stood in the doorway, fangs out, the beat of the music suddenly
louder. He had an incongruously neat mustache and a t-shirt barely able to contain his bulging upper
body.

“You! Camarilla princess! I don’t care who you fuck or suck. You don’t play with my brother,” the man

42
screamed, looming over Deja and Annika, filling
out the stained bathroom with his presence.
Deja glanced down at the man on the floor.
He did indeed bear a resemblance to the
approaching giant. Smaller, clean-shaven, older,
but otherwise the same.
“Okay, let’s take it easy. The WWE tryouts are
next week,” Deja said, raising her hands palms
out to placate the Anarch.
The man was lightning quick. He grabbed Deja’s
arm, lifted her, and smashed her through the
door of a toilet stall. Deja felt things breaking,
whether inside her body or another wooden
door, she wasn’t sure. She’d landed upside down
on the remains of the stall door and the toilet
seat, sliding down to....
Deja caught herself before her face hit the
floor. The beat of the music was so powerful, it
43
drowned out all other sounds. It took a moment
for Deja to straighten herself before she realized
the giant was pummeling down on Annika, hit-
by-bloody-hit. Annika tried to keep upright
against the sink as the man’s blows rained down.
Looking around for a weapon, Deja noticed a
fractured piece of wood from one of the broken
doors lying on the floor. A stake. She picked
it up and realized someone was watching
them. A Latino man, young, rakish. He looked
alarmed but Deja knew he wasn’t a mortal. She’d
developed an instinct for it. But he was too
handsome to be just another Anarch asshole.
Too well dressed.
Annika’s lover.
“Chao, please,” the man said in a pained voice.
“She’s had enough for whatever she did.”
Chao turned around, fists bloodied. “Sebastian.
You should know better than to play with the
Camarilla. They’ll just use you; make you betray
us. They’re already walking around here like
they own the place, leeching off our humans.”
Deja noticed Annika straightening herself as
Chao’s back was turned. Annika’s face wasn’t so
broken anymore. She was already mending, the
splintered cheekbone now intact and the nose
as delicate as ever.
Making a gesture to Deja, Annika said: “Hey big
guy.”
As Chao turned, Deja threw her improvised
stake to her.
“Kneel,” Annika said, locking eyes with the
giant.
Chao knelt on the grimy floor, his face strained
with the effort of trying to resist the command.
Annika held the stake with both hands and
thrust it down at his face, stronger than she
looked, the sharp wood piercing his flesh
somewhere in the vicinity of his mouth.
Deja heard a strangled groan over the beat of
the music as Chao struggled upright, trying to
pull the stake from his face.
“That’s not how you use a stake,” Deja said. “They
told me you strike the heart, not the face.”
“Come on, have you ever staked anybody?”
Annika said, stepping out of the Anarch’s way.
“No...” Deja admitted.
“Then stop trying to give me advice!” Annika
snapped and smiled at Sebastian.
“Let’s get you back to the party,” Sebastian sighed
and stepped aside to let them pass. He took one
44
last look at Chao, now with a bloody stake in
hand, looking at his gaping facial wound in the
mirror. “Jesus,” Sebastian muttered before he
followed Annika and Deja.
A short corridor led to the bar and dancefloor,
packed with Anarchs and their mortal
hang-arounders. Deja was not sure how the
Masquerade worked in a place like this. Perhaps
it was like a blood cult, with dependent ghouls
sworn into secrecy. Or maybe the Anarchs
handled it some other way.
Just before they emerged into the throng, Annika
pushed Sebastian to the wall and breathed in his
ear: “Have you fed recently? I’m feeling thirsty.”
“Yes...” Sebastian replied.
Annika bit into his neck and his expression
turned into that of reluctant ecstasy, the effects
of a vampire’s bite doing their job. For a moment,
Deja watched awkwardly until it became clear
the sharing of blood would go on for some time.
Annika had not cleaned up after her fight with
the big Anarch and her face was still bloody, if
intact.
Deja decided that worrying about Annika’s
appearance was not her problem and walked
into the dancing crowd. It was hard to navigate
for someone used to the genteel dignity of a
Camarilla party. Here, people jumped half
naked, sweating, shouting, crying, laughing....
There was something very attractive about it.
Something that made Deja feel like she wanted
to know more. After all, the Camarilla was not
all there was to the world of Kindred. She had
to get with the program and learn more about
the Anarchs, whether she liked their sticky
nightclub floors or not.
“Hey…” someone shouted in her ear. As Deja turned, she saw a girl in an oversized t-shirt staring at
her. She might have looked innocent except for the unmistakable look of hunger in her eyes. Deja
recognized her from the Elysium. Dee.

“What do you want?” Deja warily, worried now that Annika was not with her.

“Can I have a bite?” the girl drawled. “Don’t worry. I won’t drink much. You remember, like last time.”
Deja realized she was not in danger. At least, not physically. She decided to play the game. “Sure. But you
have to do something for me first. Show me around. Make some introductions for me.”

“Fine,” Dee whined. “Whatever you want.”

PLAYING THE BARON

(AND OTHER ANARCH NOTABLES)
Trying to figure out the local Anarch hierarchy
is so difficult. It goes like this: first everyone
tells you that there is no hierarchy. All are equal.
Sounds good, right?
Then when you hang around with your new
Anarch buddies, you start to hear words like
“Baron’”. You wonder, what does that mean? It
sounds suspiciously like the Prince, but that’s a
Camarilla thing, right?
Treasure this moment because it’s the last time
you feel things are uncomplicated among the
Anarchs. Once you start to understand how it
really works, nothing will be simple anymore.
— Sebastian, Brujah Neonate
Anarch domains have even less standard models
of organization than Camarilla ones. In some
domains, a Baron rules much like a Camarilla
Prince and the domain is unified. In others,
there is no centralized authority. Instead, the
leaders of different Anarch gangs try to keep
things peaceful among themselves.
From the perspective of LARP design it is good
if the Anarchs have some internal organization.
This makes it easier for both the players and the
organizers of the LARP to see what is going on.
The basic unit of Anarch organizing is the gang.
Not all Anarchs belong in gangs but most do,
and from a LARP design perspective it is good
that even those characters who have no gang
still belong to an equivalent social unit. This
way, everyone has a social group they can always
go to if they have nothing else going on.
As to authority figures among the Anarchs, you
can use the ones provided here or invent your
own. The Anarchs have a lot of variety.

45

THE BARON
S ome Anarch domains are ruled by a Baron who
keeps the peace and makes the rules. Some Barons
are relaxed and hands-off, essentially figureheads
without much real power. Others are Camarilla Princes
in all but name, ruling their domains with an iron grip.
A Baron’s position is precarious, crucially different
from that of a Prince in one important regard: the
attitude of the Kindred in their domain.
A Camarilla vampire knows that most domains are
ruled by a dictatorial Prince. In contrast, Anarchs
46
assume they will get to be free.
A Baron who wants to maintain
a grip on power has to at least
pay lip service to this ideal. This
makes it difficult sometimes for
an outsider to understand how an
Anarch domain really works. There
might be authoritarian structures
of power in place even as everyone
pretends there are not.
Playing a Baron, you must figure
out what kind of a Baron you want
to be. A benevolent if toothless
symbol or a ruthless player of the
game of realpolitik?
- A Baron must be accessible to
their people. You cannot
sequester yourself away from
the other characters in the
LARP. You should avoid
secret meetings and private
gatherings, instead seeking to
make sure as many of the
others see you as possible.
- You can play on the
hypocrisy inherent in the
position of the Baron.
Make beautiful speeches
on the importance of freedom
and equality even as your rule
epitomizes anything but. This
may cast you as a villain and you
might end up deposed but it will
be in service of the core themes
of playing an Anarch Baron in a
Vampire LARP.
 GANG BOSS

M ost Anarch gangs have a boss.

The gangs tend to be from six
to ten Kindred in size, which is also
conveniently the ideal gang size for
LARP design purposes. Big enough
to have complex internal dynamics,
small enough to still be a single
social unit.

Anarch gangs vary dramatically in

style. Some are loose collections of
desperate urban Kindred huddling
together for protection. Others
are violent groups of aggressive
Brujah who will hit anyone who
disrespects them in the face.

The nature of the gang also

dictates the nature of its
leader. As with the

balance ideals and rhetoric
with the practical realities
of rule. For all their vaunted
ideals, many Anarchs are
not much better than rabid
beasts and that means that
sometimes rough measures are
needed to keep things under
control.
group are doing okay. You
should assume they are, but if
someone looks lonely or like
they have trouble connecting
to the LARP, you can actively
include them in more scenes.
Perhaps even deputize them
to go with you to important
meetings.
silver-tongued demagogue
makes the case that all the
city’s Anarchs would be better
off under the rule of a single
Baron but you know better!
Avoid sensible solutions and
stick to principle. This keeps
the dynamics of conflict in
the LARP running.

- As an Anarch gang boss, - Stir trouble with other gangs

you are well placed to check and never let anyone trample
whether all the players in your your rights. Perhaps some

47
Emissary
Anarch domains are complicated. There might be
several different gangs all with their own small
territories, along with a neighboring Camarilla
domain and other independent domains all
demanding attention from an Anarch leader.
Contrary to a common cliche, many Anarch
bosses are deft diplomats and they have to be,
considering how complex the political network
of their domains often is.
Because of this, Anarchs have plenty of emissaries:
Kindred whose job it is to represent a leader
or a domain in another. Because emissaries by
definition are not on their home ground, they
work best if they come in pairs or small groups,
unless they are very well embedded in the social
fabric of their new community. This way, there is
less danger of them being shut out of the action
of the LARP.
There are many different types of emissaries. For
example, the representative of a Ventrue Prince
is a patrician, high class vampire disdainful of the
barbarism of the Anarchs. Similarly, an emissary
can be a low-status character, representing a small
nomadic pack seeking residence in the domain.
Sometimes a truly monstrous vampire decides
not to appear at a gathering of their Kindred and
send a representative instead, someone disposable
and terrified who does not really understand the
situation they are in.
Playing an emissary, you can:
- Hint at a wider world beyond the LARP. By
design, you represent something beyond the
ordinary unlives of the characters present. Do not
over-explain yourself. It is better to have a little
mystery while still making sure everyone knows
where you are from!
48
- Make dangerous promises and new
temptations. This is also a possible way for
a character to exit a chronicle. The emissary
demands that a counterpart be sent to their
domain and the character of a player who is
going to leave volunteers.
Sweeper
The most brutish and least liked of all official
positions in Anarch domains, the Sweeper
is rare but sometimes Barons feels they are
a necessity. A Sweeper’s job is to sweep the
domain clean of undesirable Kindred. For
example, Anarch packs who are not part of
the local system, undesirable cults, young
Caitiff who just sprouted from somewhere,
etc. Essentially, they kill excess population.
Playing a Sweeper can be tricky because you
might be a badass feared by all but it can also
lead to a situation where other characters do
not want to interact with you. To stop this
from happening, make sure you know where
your sweeper’s mandate comes from. The local
Baron? A group of gang bosses? No Sweeper is
going to survive the night if it becomes known
they are alone, with nobody powerful in their
corner.
A Sweeper is often a temporary office, set
up and then discarded after the immediate
problem has been resolved.
Playing a Sweeper, you can:
- Intimidate others like there is no tomorrow
because it is possible there is not... for them
or for you.
- To drive home the impact of the Sweeper’s
murderous role, you can ask organizers to
make sure there are several Caitiff or thin-bloods
you can murder during the LARP, supporting
characters whose job it is to communicate what
you really do to the others.
War Leader
When war comes, a war leader often emerges
to lead the Anarchs until the fulfillment of a
particular objective. This can be a revolution, a
counter-revolution, driving undesirable vampires
out of the domain, staving off a Sabbat siege, or
dealing with werewolves. Something that requires
the participation of all the domain’s Anarchs and
effective, dynamic leadership.
It is not unusual for a war leader to be someone
with no political ambitions, and in fact many
Anarchs prefer it that way. After all, they do
not want their general to develop delusions of
authority after the crisis is over. Anarchs are also
more open than usual to being led by an older
vampire since it is assumed they know better how
to deal with serious supernatural threats. Because
of this, a war leader can be a grizzled Anarch elder,
long since sidelined from the nightly business of
running the sect.
The Ideologue
The Anarchs are big on ideas. There is no official
ideology, just competing systems of thought.
Some are more popular, some less. The most
famous Anarch ideologue is Salvador Garcia,
the author of the original Anarch Manifesto,
but there are many, many others.
Playing an ideologue, remember you can crib
shamelessly from actual anarchist thinkers
and other political writers, just giving their
ideas a vampiric bent. You are not expected to
shoulder any actual responsibility so you can
safely demand others dedicate their unlives
to the fulfillment of the beautiful ideas you
espouse!
- Ideologues are fun if there are at least two
competing ones. You can denounce your
competition!
- Demand, push, motivate other characters.
Stick to principle and avoid real world politics!

If you play a war leader, it is obvious there is a

war, revolution, or crisis you must fight. Your
fate is tied to how successfully you prosecute your
campaign.

- As the war leader, your role is to task others.

Delegate everything until you have nothing to do
yourself.

- Consider what kind of play you want in the

war’s aftermath. You can make a bid for becoming
a Baron, possibly necessitating another war to get
rid of you led by someone else as a war leader.

49
 BERLIN
I’ve heard the stories, sure. It all blurs together. Things like Caine, the Second City, the Prince, the
Anarch Revolt. That last one apparently happened just a few years ago. They say it’s the night when I
was Embraced but who knows.

These things sound so remote. What do any of them have to do with me?

What I know is this: I was at a party in Friedrichshain. I was taking a leak by the dumpsters when a
guy hit me in the face. Three vampires drank me dry. I didn’t understand it then but that’s what it was.
I don’t know why but they gave me blood and I became a vampire too.

I made all the mistakes. Got accidentally burned by the sun. Posted online and had my home stormed by
Second Inquisition hunters. Turned my best friend, mom, and the girl I had a crush on all into vampires.
Now they hate me.

Am I the only one having a hard time with this? Are there others out there suffering as badly as I am?
I wish I could find someone to talk to about it all; someone else like me. I don’t care about Princes or
Barons. I’d just like to talk to someone who has shared this experience.

— A Brujah neonate

The Domain
Berlin is a shattered domain of roving Anarch gangs hunted by the Second Inquisition. Many of them
have only a tenuous connection to Anarch culture at large. The recent Anarch Revolt in the city led to
the destruction of the Camarilla Prince and the fall of one of the most important Camarilla domains in
the world but it also left the Anarchs in tatters after the public violence attracted the Second Inquisition.
For the Anarchs, victory was bittersweet. They rid themselves of the oppressor but have to hide from
the threat of technologically enabled hunters combing the city for every trace of the undead.

That does not mean that Berlin is free from vampires. There are plenty. The social structures that
normally limit Embracing have frayed to such a degree that Kindred who themselves have only spent
a month or two as vampires are already making progeny as they desperately try to understand their
condition.

A LARP set in the Anarch domain of Berlin features disparate gangs coming together, trying to survive
and make sense of their new unlives. Among them there are a few survivors of the old order, more

50
experienced Anarchs haunted by how quickly
the giddy heights of the Revolt devolved into
running from the Second Inquisition. Fewer still
are those who used to belong to the Camarilla.
They were first hunted by the Anarchs and
then the Second Inquisition. Most of them fled
the city but some could not bear to leave and
joined the Anarchs instead, strange relics from
a bygone era distrusted and respected by the
uncomprehending new Kindred who have only
known the current era of Second Inquisition
oppression.
The layout of the city is important if you are
making a multiple location urban LARP. If
the distance between the locations is too long,
players will spend too much time in transit and
arrive at new locations tired and frustrated.
Some cities have a compact, walkable center
with a number of excellent venues in close
proximity to each other. In these cases, the
center is the obvious area for the urban LARP.
In Berlin, the city is sprawled over a large
geographical area, meaning that if you are
making an urban LARP, you should choose a
specific neighborhood and communicate to
the players that nothing will happen outside it.
This way, they will get the feel of a big city game
while still keeping distances manageable.

Developments
The desolation of Berlin provides an opportunity for young Anarchs to build their own society of the
dead. Unburdened by tradition or elders, they have to figure out how to thrive under the shadow of the
Second Inquisition.

Although Berlin’s Kindred are young, they are often disconnected from their mortal lives much more

51
than Anarchs tend to be in other cities. The
reason for this lies with the lack of guidance
and help a newly Embraced vampire gets in
Berlin. Thrust into the night with nobody to tell
them what to do, many make grievous mistakes
that make it impossible to associate with their
friends, family, or colleagues. It is common for
an intelligence agency to figure out that a certain
mortal identity is now a vampire, making the
switch into unlife hard indeed. Many new
Anarchs are effectively homeless, trying to find
ways to keep a Haven while unable to pay with
a credit card.
This means that stories of Berlin Anarchs
are often about groups of Kindred and their
relationships with each other on the margins of
mortal society. The Nosferatu are famed for their
sewer Havens but in Berlin vampires of other
clans are often finding it difficult to influence
mortal society to any great benefit.
Paradoxically, this has also helped protect
Berlin’s Anarchs from the Second Inquisition.
Since they live outside the system, they cannot
be tracked by the methods that have snared
Kindred of other cities.
Here are a few developments which can occur in
a Berlin chronicle:
SECOND INQUISITION CORRUPTION.
The local Second Inquisition presence grows
corrupt, fat off the success of being able to
report the deaths of so many Kindred. Addiction
to vitae spreads among Second Inquisition
officers and individual Anarchs make inroads
into corrupting the Second Inquisition death
machine. At the same time, an agency sends
agents to infiltrate Anarch gatherings to find
out why they keep Embracing new Kindred at
such a quick rate.
52
FRIENDS OF THE PRINCE. Once upon a
time, Berlin had a Prince, the Ventrue Gustav
Breidenstein, an authoritarian monster whose
ideas of domain and tradition came from the
late Middle Ages. His reign was long but it
ended in blood, as they so often do. Now some
of his old friends and supporters creep back into
the city, trying to find any sign of the domain
they once knew. They can be villains seeking
to re-establish Camarilla control, or just a sad
reminder of a status quo that has long since
passed into history.
ANARCH AGITATORS. Berlin is an Anarch
domain, but a very unorganized one. The city
has high status in Camarilla circles and more
established Anarchs wish to solidify the sect’s
hold over the domain to make it their crown
jewel in the heart of Europe. Committed Anarch
ideologues and agitators come to town to tell
the locals how they should organize their city
and live their unlives. Some greet them warmly,
happy that someone is finally explaining what
this vampire stuff is all about, while others view
them as a hostile force.
MYTHS OF OLD, ALIVE ONCE MORE. The
undead inhabitants of Berlin are ignorant even
by the standards of Anarch neonates. They know
little of the established lore of the Kindred,
handed down from sire to childe. This means
the city is fertile ground for Kindred faiths such
as the Church of Caine or the Bahari. The local
Anarchs can come up with strange mythologies
of their own. What is more, some of them
might actually be true, much to the surprise of
experienced Camarilla and Anarch visitors who
came prepared to laugh at the ignorance of the
local thin-bloods. In a city as chaotic as this, even
an ancient rewoken into the modern nights can
disappear into the crowd, only to stand revealed
when locals start to worship them.
NEW ORLEANS
I had a lovely time when I was at Saturnalia. Sometimes it gets competitive among
the elders. Who’s going to go as the most abject, powerless neonate? That’s the
point, after all. The one time during the year when you get to be a nobody!

To be honest, this is a game I love so much that I do it on my own sometimes.

At Saturnalia, the fun is in seeing some of my oldest friends and enemies try
the same. Some of us age gracefully, while others lose their humanity. They can
pretend but they always seem off.

Even at Saturnalia.

— The Toreador elder Victoria Ash

53
The first few times I was at Saturnalia I just enjoyed lording it over all those Princes and elders. A rare
bit of fun! But then I realized what going to New Orleans really meant for me: transformation. Trying
out who I could be. Some of those experiments never led to anything. Others become part of who I am
now.
— The Anarch ideologue Salvador Garcia
The Domain
New Orleans is technically a Camarilla domain
but the reality is different. The Prince does not
tend to stay in power all that long and the
Camarilla is not capable of controlling domain
access. Anarch gangs come and go pretty much
as they please and for the majority of local
Kindred, underneath the Camarilla facade this
is really an Anarch city. The Prince has a court
but they understand that they do not have the
muscle to enforce their dictates.
Some Anarch domains are ruled by Barons of
such authority that they essentially become
Camarilla in all but name. New Orleans is the
reverse; technically Camarilla but free in a way
that is rare in the sect.
The domain is defined by numerous festivals,
the vampire festival of Saturnalia the most
important among them. The undead population
of New Orleans fluctuates more than in any
other North American city as Kindred come
to celebrate and leave after they have had
their fill. The city is not big enough to support
hundreds of vampires but fortunately visitors
tend to prey on tourists or arrive already sated
so as to avoid any undue Masquerade breaches
caused by excessive hunting.
Because of all the festivals, many Kindred
have a soft spot for New Orleans. They have
had transformative, important experiences
there. That is why in the few times the city
54
has been under attack from the Sabbat or the
Second Inquisition, its Kindred have received
much more assistance than is usual in the self-
centered world of vampires.
Historically, New Orleans has had an unusually
big Hecata and Ministry presence. Both clans
have waxed and waned along with the city’s
Kindred population but their unique brands of
death and corruption have always found strong
purchase here.
Saturnalia
In many ways, the domain of New Orleans
is defined by Saturnalia. Once every three
years or so, Kindred descend to New Orleans
in droves to lose themselves in a celebration
both modern and ancient. Modern because
the vast majority of the Kindred who
participate are young; ancient because the
tradition itself goes back to the time of the
Romans and beyond.
Or that is what older vampires tell their
childer.
Saturnalia has been organized in different
domains for centuries but in North
America the most famous ones have been
in New Orleans. During the festival, all
ordinary hierarchies of power are reversed
and ordinary titles rescinded. The Prince
becomes the pauper and the lowliest neonate
the king.
Many Kindred use Saturnalia as an opportunity
to try identities, personas, and ideas not part
of their ordinary nightly existence. In this way,
Saturnalia can serve two opposing purposes,
depending on the individuals present:
1. It can let neonates blow off steam so that they
will be more docile and easier to govern the rest
of the time. This is one of the big reasons the
Camarilla likes Saturnalia. If younger Kindred
get to feel important every once in a while, they
will stay in line.
2. It can let Kindred try things out in the liminal
space of a festival before taking them into the
real and dangerous world of actual vampire
unlife. In this way, Saturnalia foments discord
and revolution. This is not the purpose the
Camarilla intends for the festival but it happens
anyway when young Kindred feel free of their
usual constraints and start to ask why they
should give that up after the festival is over.
One reason many elders turn a blind eye to the
destructive effects Saturnalia can have on their
own rule is that they have many fond memories
of the festival, making them unwilling to
suppress it.
Developments
The festivals held at New Orleans—Saturnalia
the most important among them—are great
material for LARP. If you want to organize a
LARP in the actual city of New Orleans, you are
in luck. There are plenty of venues suitable to an
urban LARP, and people generally understand
the sort of unconventional attire and acts that
LARP tends to entail.
When you design a vampiric festival for the
55
purposes of LARP, consider what you want
the players to get out of the event and then put
those elements into the cultural makeup of the
in-game event.
For example, if you want the LARP to be all
about somber reflection, you can use this:
The Night of Memory. Kindred have cheated
death but that does not mean they cannot die.
Violence takes its toll. Since the Masquerade
makes it difficult and dangerous to keep written
records of vampire culture, much of it is held in
the memories of elders and ancillae. When they
meet their Final Deaths, those traditions are
lost forever. The Night of Memory is dedicated
to passing on Kindred history, culture, and
practices in different sects, clans, and cults.
Here are a few more festivals, each with their
own theme that can be used as basis for LARP:
Palla Grande. A high point among the Sabbat’s
annual festivals, it is also sometimes celebrated
by ex-Sabbat packs who have since joined
the Anarchs. Rumors of Palla Grande being
celebrated in a domain is a surefire way to
make everyone suspicious that the ex-Sabbat
are in fact infiltrators. Palla Grande is held
on All Hallows Eve and features extravagant
blood feasts culminating in the re-enactment
of a legend from vampire history as an ersatz,
semi-improvised theater play.
The Vows. An old-fashioned festival from the
nights before the Camarilla even existed, The
Vows are an annual reaffirming of the loyalty
the Kindred of a particular domain feel for their
Prince. During the festival, they make vows of
loyalty and ritually celebrate their submission
to the Prince’s authority. The festival has not
been part of the Camarilla mainstream since
the first Anarch Revolt but sometimes a Prince
decides to bring it back to the consternation of
their domain’s inhabitants.
The Blood Wedding. A wedding celebration
between two Kindred, usually involving a mutual
Blood Bond. For ordinary Kindred this can be
a smaller ceremony but when two important
Camarilla elders or Anarch celebrities get
married, it can become a full-blown festival,
sometimes lasting for many nights. Often a
Blood Wedding prompts Kindred to consider
their humanity, love and romance, all difficult
topics for the bloodsucking undead.

NASHVILLE
Q: How do I tell which
of them are
VAMPIRES?

A: This is the music business. They’re all vampires.

— A joke often told among Nashville Anarchs

56
The Domain
Nashville is an Anarch domain where visiting
Kindred often have a hard time finding any
local vampires at all. The Anarchs have held
the city for a long time and they are thoroughly
embedded in local mortal society. Most
Nashville Anarchs maintain a mortal identity,
often complete with a job and a family. They
are deeply embedded in the city’s famous music
industry as well as tourism, theater, sports, and
other sectors where crowds regularly provide
fresh hunting.
It would be wrong to say that the local
Anarchs control Nashville, any more than
a particularly influential music producer
might control the city. They are part of mortal
networks of power, influential but essentially
parasites in a system much larger than they
are. The key is that a Nashville Anarch does
not set themselves apart from the society; they
inhabit it. They are right there, often recently
Embraced enough that their friends marvel
at their youthfulness but have not yet started
asking uncomfortable questions.
The city has a Baron, Carrie Strait, who used
to be a country singer of minor renown before
she was Embraced into the Toreador. Her
presence is rarely felt in the unlives of local
Anarchs except if they break the rules she has
set for the city.
They are:
1. The Masquerade does not mean just hiding
from the mortals. It means becoming one of
them, maintaining a flawless mortal identity,
in all ways pretending to live just as they do.
2. Each Anarch gang is allowed one Embrace
57
each decade in addition to replacing lost members
with newly Embraced ones.
3. Hunting must focus on tourists, newly arrived
hopefuls who want to make it as performing artists
and other transients instead of the local population.
Although the Baron has set down the rules, most
of the city’s Kindred associate them with Nashville,
not who rules over them. They take the Masquerade
so seriously; Kindred gatherings are extremely rare.
It is much more typical to have a mortal event
where local vampires come to surreptitiously
conduct their business while they celebrate a new
artist’s first gold record.
The Nashville domain is perfect for LARPs where
mortal characters play a big role. They might
comprise even the majority of a given LARP so that
their stories of ambition, backstabbing and music
business desperation intersect and interweave with
the traditional greedy grasping of the undead. In
a LARP like this, you might not know who is a
vampire and who is not until it is too late. What is
worse, sometimes the mortals are more dangerous
than the bloodsuckers, if only because they get
underestimated.
Does it matter who stakes you and leaves you for
the sun, a Brujah or a veteran of the Nashville
Sound? In both cases, you will burn.
Population Breakdown
The biggest clans in Nashville are the Toreador
and the Brujah. The Ministry has always been
well represented. By vampire standards, the city is
overpopulated, maintaining its numerous Kindred
by strict control of feeding habits that make it
possible to stay under the radar.
The city’s Anarchs are inhospitable towards nomad
gangs. The requirement to have a fully realized
mortal identity is hard for many transient
Anarchs, especially those who failed to hold
onto the ones they had before the Embrace.
Because it is difficult for outsiders to settle in
the town, transients who have done so form
the biggest opposition to the city’s established
system.
The Kindred in Nashville mostly came to
the city as mortals and were Embraced here.
However, surprisingly many of them were
born somewhere else, usually in various
towns and cities across the American South.
Transient in their mortal lives, the Embrace
rooted them in the fabric of Nashville and
made them local.
Developments
The way to make a Nashville LARP work is
that you have to make human stories that are
as compelling as those of the vampires. Think
about how the LARP works if a player never
interacts with a vampire.
Here are a few ideas for mortal play:
The young wannabe superstar. A talented
young artist comes to town in search of fame
and fortune. The most sordid elements of the
local music business descend on them, trying
to snatch them up before their rivals manage
to do the same. This type of a story is great
for reminding players that the vampires are
not necessarily the worst creatures prowling
the night. Sometimes you lose your soul by
signing a predatory record deal.
Civil war. Two or more production
companies, artists, or families of artists
decide that they cannot share the town. One
must reign supreme while the others fall! This
is the same kind of a dynamic as that fostered
58
by clans and sects for Vampire, transposed to the
mortal setting. The reasons for the conflict can be
anything from greed to pride, love and hate. The
important thing is that the conflict still allows all
the characters to interact in the same social space
the same way vampires do at Elysium.
Hidden monsters. There are savage predators
prowling in the shadows. The only thing is, they
are not vampires. Instead, they are perfectly
ordinary exploiters and extortionists. With a
suitably monstrous mortal character, even a
vampire might get exploited without the mortal
even realizing just what they are playing with.
For Kindred, there are many different directions
the city can go:
The Masquerade fails. Local Kindred place a
premium on the Masquerade but they also live
very close to humanity. Slowly, vampire by
vampire, the secret of the Masquerade starts to
fray as mortal friends and family members figure
out the truth, or a vampire exposes them to it in
a moment of weakness. Soon the insiders know
that there is a supernatural evil creeping among
them, in their families, workplaces, and houses of
worship.
Mortals and vampires at war. Local Kindred are
deeply enmeshed with music venues, organized
crime, production companies, and other mortal
institutions. When such groups go to war with
each other, the vampires follow. Sometimes they
prey on those who get caught in the crosshairs
but other times they can get so invested they try
to make their side win. A mortal hitman can get
lucky planning the assassination of a vampire
without even knowing why their target went up
in flames the moment they crashed through the
window at noon.
Families. Nashville Kindred live close to mortals.
You can emphasize this by focusing on what it
looks like when a vampire is part of a mortal
social unit. What does it mean when the bride
at a wedding is a vampire, the groom a ghoul?
Do people working for a vampire boss wonder
why they are never seen during the day, even if
the business is a nightclub? Vampires tend to
degrade everything they touch and looking at
the nuances of this dynamic in a mortal context
can be highly compelling.

CONTESTED DOMAINS
The stories of vampire unlife interwoven through this book are set in a contested domain. They are
domains which are not decisively controlled by the Camarilla, the Anarchs, or some other entity.
Instead, multiple sects seek to gain power for themselves and find advantages over the others.

In the tumultuous atmosphere of modern nights, it often feels like most domains are contested one way
or another. The Prince or Baron may rule tonight but that is no guarantee of their position tomorrow.

59
Note that having a few Anarchs hiding in a Camarilla domain does not make it contested. It requires a
real balance of power; the wealth and supernatural might of the Camarilla challenged by the numbers
and mortal aptitude of the Anarchs.

For a Vampire LARP, and especially a LARP chronicle, the contested domain is the most fruitful setting.
It makes it possible to run two types of events at the minimum–Camarilla and Anarch–and it means
there is a dynamic interplay of power. No character can ever feel too secure in their accomplishments.

One of the peculiarities of a Kindred’s existence is that vampires are perfectly capable of being in a civil
war with each other yet also meeting at Elysium and clinking champagne glasses full of blood. This is
fortunate for the LARP designer because it allows for high-stakes conflict while still making possible
the kind of social encounters and events LARP consists of.

Contested Chronicle
Here is an example of a LARP chronicle featuring a contested domain:

First Event: The Old Prince
The Old Prince of the city has recently risen from
torpor, assuming rule from the Seneschal who
ran affairs in their stead for decades. The Old
Prince imagines that they can just continue the
same as before they went into torpor, ignoring
all developments that happened in the interim.
The Old Prince believes that the Camarilla is as
unassailable as ever and hosts a reception at the
Elysium where they high-handedly condemn a
number of Anarchs to final death for various
breaches of the Traditions. After all, a returning
Prince must show their power!
Second Event: Revolution
The Anarchs rise up, provoked by the thoughtless
brutality of the Old Prince and the breaching
of the accords struck with the Seneschal while
the Prince slept. The event itself is a victory
celebration as the Anarchs have destroyed the
Prince and sent much of the Primogen into
exile. Other Camarilla members have decided
to take their chances with the Anarchs, despite
the lowly position they have in a conquered city.
Third Event: The Government in Exile
This can be a smaller event in a different venue.
The remnants of the city’s Camarilla have sought
refuge in a neighboring domain. They are treated
to the hospitality and the scorn of the locals,
making it possible to feature colorful one-shot
characters. The Camarilla survivors decide on
their internal organization, making sure all the
roles at the Prince’s Court are filled, and plot
revenge and reconquest while attempting to
talk important allies from other domains into
helping them.
Forth Event: Stagnation
Meanwhile, those Camarilla members who
elected to stay behind and risk the mercy of
the Anarchs are still there, living much like

60
they did before. It turns out that it is no easy
task for a Brujah tough guy to take over the
Prince’s holdings in mortal media and the police
department. To make it all work, they need the
help and support of the low-level Camarilla
Kindred who actually handled all those affairs.
It becomes evident that secretly, much of the
old deeper Camarilla power structure in the
mortal world is still intact, only superficially
taken over by the Anarchs.
The event is a party held by the Anarchs. They
are driven by internal squabbles concerning
the division of the loot from the Camarilla.
Many of them do not have any idea what to do
with influence operations or financial holdings
and those who do are cowed by their more
violent compatriots. Meanwhile, the Camarilla
holdovers keep their heads down and plot to
hide their best assets from their conquerors.
Fifth Event: Failed Reconquest
The event is a negotiation between the Anarchs
and leaders of neighboring Camarilla domains.
The Anarchs bring a large retinue and many
of the Camarilla characters are present in the
entourages of neighboring leaders. The leaders
themselves present another opportunity to play
fun one-off characters.
The Anarchs start defiant but as the evening
progresses it becomes clear that the Camarilla
is intent on restoring a Prince to the city and is
willing to hold all their instruments of mortal
influence hostage to do it, including the media
control required to maintain the Masquerade.
61
Yet if the Camarilla were really sure of
their position, they would not bother with
negotiations at all; they would just attack
Anarch Havens. The truth is that neither side is
strong enough to control the domain, forcing a
compromise.
Sixth Event: Peace Accords
The Kindred of the city come together in the
Elysium of the new Camarilla Prince, with
the city’s Anarchs as honored guests. All old
animosities have been buried and everyone
rejoices at a new era of peace and prosperity. Or
at least, that is the official line.
In reality, junior Anarchs are already plotting to
replace their leaders, now seen to be in bed with
the Camarilla. Meanwhile, the supporters of the
deposed Old Prince plot and scheme to eradicate
the hated Anarchs from the city once and for
all, no matter what the weak compromise of a
new Prince says.
Of course, as you run the chronicle, player
actions might require updating your plot.
Perhaps the Anarchs decide not to execute the
Old Prince, leading to a situation where the
city is divided three ways between the Anarchs
and two separate Camarilla factions one with
their own Prince consisting of the Old Prince,
and the other with the Seneschal who has now
decided to claim praxis for good.
 Winners And Losers
Decisive victories are rare in the world of the
Kindred. The Anarchs discover that the Camarilla
was rooted much deeper than they thought after
a supposed victory. The Camarilla finds out that
the Anarchs seem to replenish themselves faster
than they can be stamped out, no matter how many
Anarch Havens are leaked to the Second Inquisition.

This is also a good state of affairs for a LARP designer.

Every time a conflict is resolved, the seeds of the next one
are already sown. If the LARP is a one-off, an ambiguous
ending is more suited to the World of Darkness than a clear-
cut one.

The animosity between the Camarilla and the Anarchs is an eternal

engine of grievances that motivate the next round of conflict. The
Camarilla hate the Anarchs for the threat they pose to the established
order and the Anarchs hate the Camarilla for oppressing them and
limiting their prospects, to say nothing of more personal humiliations.
In this way, the eternal War of Ages where the old and the young among
vampires fight to attain freedom or hold onto their privileges is the
motor that keeps generating more action for your LARPs. Resolutions
where every side is permanently satisfied are impossible.

Breaking Down a City

The limits of Camarilla and Anarch power in a
divided city can break down in many different
ways. Geographical domains are common,
some strongly held by a single sect and others
contested.
For example, the Anarchs hold the central party
district, the docks, the slums, and the poorer
suburbs. The Camarilla controls the affluent
neighborhoods and the administrative center
as well as wealthy suburbs. Some of the city’s
parks have become no man’s land; areas where
you can hunt with impunity if you are willing
to risk being attacked by someone on the other
side of the divide.
If you want to go for a realistic feel for your
LARP chronicle, you can try to use real-world
venues that are in line with who holds which
domain in the city at any given moment. Thus,
when the Anarchs sweep their way into ruling
over City Hall, you can hire a venue in that
area for a Anarch game to demonstrate their
newfound reach.
The domains can also be broken down in a more

62
abstract way. This has the advantage of making
the LARP more flexible in terms of physical
space. You do not have to explain why the
Brujah are hanging around City Hall if physical
territory is not important to begin with.
Instead, domains are broken down according
to spheres of influence. Thus, the Camarilla
controls the traditional levers of power in mortal
society: municipal politics, major businesses,
etc. The Anarchs maintain an iron grip on
all nightlife, crucially important for Kindred
seeking to feed. Thus, their influence is more
limited in the mortal world but significantly
higher in the world of the undead.
Beyond the War of Ages
It does not have to be just the Camarilla and
the Anarchs. In a big city, it is possible for two
Camarilla Princes to fight over the control of
63
the same domain, complete with rival courts.
Anarchs can do the same, with different gangs
holding onto their own areas and seeking to
destroy the others.
After all, in the World of Darkness those who
are almost like you but not quite are hated
with much more passion than those who are
completely different.
The domain can also be under attack from the
Sabbat or an independent Prince who rejects
Camarilla affiliation. There can be even stranger
creatures contesting the rule of the undead,
from werewolves to mages. Who knows what is
really behind all those mysterious challenges to
a vampiric domain?
Of course, since you are running a LARP, the
best enemies are those you can put into your
LARP as player characters.
INTERLUDE: NOTES FROM AN EXECUTION
From Deja’s notebook:

After a while you get lulled into a false sense of security. I suppose that happens to
everybody but with all that happened to me, I really thought I was being careful and
understood the world I was in.

I mean, seriously! I had been Embraced. I’ve seen people beaten and bloodied, hunted
and seduced. I’ve been told that if I make a mistake, they’ll kill me and this time it’ll
stick.

The weird thing is that nothing happened to me. It was just one more Camarilla party,
like any other. I’ve been to so many in a short time that I didn’t even think about it.
That’s what we do in the Ventrue, apparently. Go to each other’s parties and pretend to
be human.

At some point, there was a buzz in the crowd. I knew that often happened when they
brought in humans for us to feed from. Such an extravagance, we don’t have to hunt
because someone does that for us. Eager humans who want the thrill but don’t understand
what they’re in for.

Only this time I recognized the people we had our hungry eyes on. I’d seen them many
times, opening doors, driving cars, managing finances. They were ghouls, servants of
different Camarilla Kindred.

Everyone says that ghouls are hard to train and if you have a good one, it’s worth
holding onto. They also say that if you’re not strict in your training, your ghoul might
start getting ideas above their station.

Annika was there; Salomé Diaz as well. She did a whole speech about loyal service and
how we knew how to reward those who proved themselves worth it. Some of the ghouls
cried. They’d served at the whim of undead monstrosities for decades and now finally
they would be made into vampires. They would become truly immortal, free from service.
Perhaps they could have ghouls of their own.

Everyone applauded. It was all very touching. People dressed up, used to casual wealth,
congratulating themselves on their excellence.

They said that the Embrace must be a special event. After all, it was when these ghouls
would finally become fully fledged members of the Camarilla. Real vampires. A second
birth.

64
There was music, a string quartet. The ghouls knelt in a circle, baring their necks,
knowing the familiar bliss to come. The Kiss that would usher in their new existence.

We know how this works: you drink a human dry, then give them your own blood. They
become us. It’s not that long ago this happened to me.

The Ventrue and the Toreador, the odd Brujah or Tremere all circle the ghouls. They lean
in and drink, from one after another. Slowly the humans become depleted, enervated,
dry. They slump on the floor, dead.

I thought they must have arranged beforehand for each sire to Embrace their childe
at the conclusion of the ritual. That didn’t happen. Instead, Salomé clapped her hands
and said that now that we’ve enjoyed our refreshments, we should go out to the garden
where she’d had some of her recently acquired sculptures displayed.

The crowd relaxed, the ritual feeding now over. They walked out in pairs and small
groups, leaving the unfortunate ghouls to lie dead on the floor.

65
When I think back to the betrayal, there are small details that stand out. One was how
comfortable the Camarilla were with letting their servants see the spectacle. You’d think
that if you were going to betray your longtime ghouls and make mockery of the promises
you’ve given them, you’d at least do it in secret. None of that here! Many surviving ghouls
saw what happened, and in a few nights they would have gossiped about it to every
vampire servant in this city.

Didn’t the Camarilla Kindred care? Are they so comfortable in their superiority that
they don’t need to worry about what their servants think? Or did they do it on purpose
as a warning? Don’t think you can ever become us. I don’t know! I can’t make it out. It
doesn’t seem smart but they just didn’t seem to care at all.

The second thing is even worse. I keep thinking about how my fellow Camarilla members
talked about what had happened. They said it was a mercy! They painted themselves
as great humanitarians. Some even got emotional about it, a little teary-eyed at how
much they cared and what wonderful people they were.

They said that many ghouls wear out and become unreliable. At that point, they’re so
old that withdrawal from our blood would kill them or cause them to age decades. The
best thing to do is to tell them a beautiful lie so that they can die happy, like a dog that
gets a treat just before you put it down.

I can’t take this anymore. I just about accepted the cynical plots and betrayals but when
these same creatures start constructing a story about their uplifting moral principles,
I’m out.

66
Chapter Five
CAMARILLA
ELYSIUM
“Are you sure I can just go into Elysium? I’m an
Anarch,” Sebastian said, watching the throng of
people outside the opera entrance. They looked
exactly as you would expect. Some were dressed
well, others looked like art students. The only
unusual detail was the low number of elderly
people, usually well represented in high culture
audiences.
“Sure! Of course! Just put on your best suit and
walk in!” Dee said, punching Sebastian in the
arm. “Don’t be a coward!”
“Is that your best suit?” Sebastian asked,
glancing at Dee. She was wearing ratty sneakers
and an oversized t-shirt with the faded image of
her own face.
“No... But they know me. They don’t know you.
Make a good first impression!”
Dee didn’t stop to listen to Sebastian’s reply.
She walked in confidently, saying hello to some
of the other guests. Some humored her, others
recoiled.
“Are we going to see the show? Or is there a
secret party somewhere?” Sebastian whispered
as they walked up the red carpeted stairs. The
opera staff bowed, nobody asking to see a ticket
or even for them to give their names.
“Of course we’ll see the show!” Dee replied.
67
Half an hour later, Sebastian sat on the balcony,
watching as a young Japanese soprano sang in a
language he didn’t understand. The audience was
sparse, locked in their small cliques. Sebastian
did not feel like he could join any of them and
Dee had disappeared somewhere. How did you
get to know anyone in a setting like this? Surely
it was not only about watching the performance
in a half-empty opera hall?
Sebastian decided to find his guide. He sneaked
back into the crimson-carpeted corridors,
making his way down the stairs and towards
where he imagined the dressing rooms to be.
Something told him that this was where he
might find the people he had wanted to meet.
The Anarchs were not all bad but Sebastian was
drawn to power. Surely instead of griping about
the Camarilla he could deal with them? So
many of his Anarch compatriots seemed small-
minded, locked in their tiny mortal concerns.
He did not want to join the Camarilla but he
admired their grander perspective.
Sebastian found his way to an unadorned,
echoing staircase opening from a door marked
“employees only”. The smell of a dressing room
guided him forward, soft voices murmuring,
laughter surfacing from underneath the
grandeur of the music.
The dressing room was long and well-used,
mirrors with lights fronted by make-up tables
lining one wall. He recognized some of the
performers, one flirting with an ancient
Ventrue matron. Dee was there too, crawling
on all fours, licking blood from the floor as
the Camarilla Kindred around her laughed.
Sebastian waited uncomfortably until the
ancillae had had their amusements. Nobody
paid him any mind. Dee rose to her feet,
wiping blood off the side of her mouth and
asked: “What? Why do you look like that?”
“You’re an embarrassment to all Anarchs
everywhere,” Sebastian muttered.
68
Design
For the purpose of making Vampire LARPs,
the concept of Elysium is a blessing. In the
Elysium, even bitter rivals must co-exist. To
do otherwise would be to risk the wrath of
the Prince. It means that wildly antagonistic
characters can interact without escalation into
violence, making it possible to create a wide
variety of interesting LARP scenes.
Not every Camarilla LARP has to be set in
Elysium but many will be.
As a setting, Elysium works best if participants
play their characters, so they take Elysium
seriously. If there indeed is violence, there will
be repercussions, and everyone understands
that. The reason why it is best to play it this way
is that while Elysium is an in-game concept, it
also has a design function to allow different
characters who would not otherwise interact to
come together.
One of the dangers of setting a game in Elysium
is that it becomes too much of a default choice.
“Where are we?”
“At the Elysium, same as always!”
The LARP has more nuance and character if we
always know whose Elysium it is, what kind of
rules are in force, whether it is temporary or
permanent, and so on. The Elysium itself can
become a character in the story of the LARP.
Permanent Elysiums
The Prince’s Mansion is always considered
Elysium, or perhaps the city’s Kindred meet
at a local theater every Friday night and these
meetings are granted the protection of the
Primogen. Whatever the case, permanent Elysium
means that the rules of Elysium are in force at the
given location either all the time or following a
regular schedule.
As an in-game location for a chronicle, the
permanent Elysium is especially useful if the
LARP has a standard venue that is easily available
for use. For production reasons, it makes sense to
have that venue be the Elysium and to organize
LARPs there.
To have variety, a chronicle with a permanent
Elysium benefits if some games are held at other
venues. Perhaps between two LARPs set at the
home of the Prince we see a game where a Brujah
coterie is the host, using a bar or a nightclub as
the venue.
Temporary Elysium
Temporary Elysium means that someone, usually
the Prince, has declared a specific place Elysium
for a short period of time, usually just one night.
This makes sense when the local Kindred come
together at a one-off event that would not be
repeated. This can be the case both in-game and
off-game, the production realities of the LARP
mirroring the plans of vampires.
Since temporary Elysiums tend to be one-off
events, they can be strange and idiosyncratic.
Once players have internalized the basic rules of
an Elysium, you can change them or introduce
new ones for the sake of variety.
Perhaps the temporary Elysium has been declared
by a visiting elder, someone so powerful the local
Prince cannot say no to them even when their
edicts and ideas go against local norms. Or maybe
69
a member of the Primogen hosts a one-off
event seeking to garner support for a bid at
Princedom.
Strange Rules
The personality of the host is reflected in the
nature of the Elysium. A corporate Ventrue
Prince has a modern, slightly impersonal
Elysium while a Gangrel Prince might decree
that only outdoor venues count.
Sometimes elders used to have their every
whim catered to institute bizarre rules such
as demanding that all guests must wear red
or Nosferatu are not allowed to hide their
faces. There might be a reason for such a rule,
shrouded in antiquity, but its real purpose as
a LARP designer is to offer a bit of variety to
the game experience.
After all, if everyone wears red, the LARP’s
aesthetics will be very specific and if all
Nosferatu must show their faces the players
of those players can show off their make-up
skills.
In this way, you can use the irregularities of
the elder mindset to subtly introduce LARP
design into your event. It does not matter if
one or two characters rebel against such rules.
The important thing is the collective aesthetic
effect.
Another choice is to imply events in the story
of the chronicle by hinting at them in the form
of rules. The Keeper of the Elysium conveys
the Prince’s dictate that the Sabbat, and
especially the war with the Sabbat, cannot be
talked about under any circumstances. A rule
like this will make characters curious: why
is it needed in the first place? What’s really
going on with the Sabbat?
PLAYING THE
PRINCE
(AND OTHER
CAMARILLA
OFFICIALS)

Playing a character with an official

role in the local Camarilla comes
with power, but it also means your
choices can have a significant
impact on the LARP experience
of your fellow players. This is why
the more power your character
has, the more you should also
consider how you can build
a great LARP experience for
everybody.

Of course, it is rare for a single

Camarilla domain to have all
of these roles present. Many
domains have their own,
unique official positions. This
is by necessity an overview
of the most commonly seen
functions.

70
The Prince
The Prince tends to be the single most
powerful vampire in a Camarilla domain, if
not supernaturally then at least politically.
Typically, this power is what grants the Prince
their position. The Prince rules the city and
its Kindred, safeguarding the Traditions of
the Camarilla and making decisions on who
gets to sire childer or which hunting grounds
belong to whom.
In reality of course it is a rare Prince who
can wield all this power at their whim. Other
powerful forces in the city provide a check to
the Prince’s authority, perhaps even conspiring
to depose the Prince if they are provoked
enough.
In Vampire LARP, events have a tendency to
revolve around the Prince. Becoming the Prince
is the ultimate win condition for politically
minded characters so it is not unusual for the
holder of the title to change fairly frequently in
a long-running chronicle.
If you play the Prince, here are a few things you
can do to improve the game of all around you:
- Delegate. After all, you are the Prince.
Why would you do anything yourself? LARP
dynamics may conspire to bring every little
thing to you, but you can fight against this
phenomenon by delegating relentlessly.
Delegate to the Primogen, to the Sheriff, to
random members of the local Camarilla who
just happen to be there. If someone brings you
a problem, delegate solving it to them.
- Avoid long meetings in rooms closed off
from the rest of the LARP. You can say: “My
people need to see me!”
71
- Try to steer the political action in the LARP
towards big scenes with lots of characters. If you
are called to judge a criminal, make the scene
open to all. If you have to decide the fate of the
domain, make it into a public hearing of all the
Kindred under your rule. You are the dictator
still, but this way the spectacle of your authority
also becomes LARP content for a large number of
other characters.
- Avoid being a “good Prince”. Sure, your character
might imagine themselves to be a benevolent, just
ruler but generally your position generates more
action in the LARP if you are unreasonable and
petty. Of course, this might mean you get deposed
soon.
Finally, if you really do get deposed, make a
spectacle of it if you can. It is easy to make a Prince
into a villain, and if you do, make sure it is fun
to beat you! Promise revenge. Threaten everyone
with eternal doom. And of course, your successor
can soon do the same....
The Seneschal
A Seneschal helps the Prince run the city,
often taking care of practical matters while the
Prince focuses on the big picture.
The role of the Seneschal is a great way to
distribute the usual responsibilities of the
Prince for two players, making it easier to
avoid the congestion of people wanting to take
their problems to those at the top. For this
reason, it is a good idea to arrange it with the
player of the Prince that the Seneschal is able
to make independent decisions without always
checking with their boss.
Much of the same advice given for the Prince
also works for the Seneschal, with the added
possibility of contributing to the general milieu
of conspiracy that tends to infest Camarilla
Elysiums. For prospective palace coups, the
next Prince the plotters want to install is often
the current Seneschal. After all, they already
have a good idea of how the city works.
Primogen
The Primogen are a council of the most
powerful vampires in the domain, advising the
Prince. Often they are the eldest Kindred of
each dominant local faction or clan. In some
domains, the Primogen are collectively more
powerful than the Prince, although they still
take a back seat to the nightly running of the
city.
A Primogen council should have from five to
seven members to be useful in a LARP; enough
to have lively discussions but not so many as to
bog the meetings down.
What to do as a Primogen player:
- Avoid getting stuck in long meetings behind
closed doors. For many Vampire LARPers, the
meeting of the Primogen is the archetypal scene
where powerful characters seclude themselves
from the rest of the LARP, causing a lot of the
action outside to grind to a halt. Avoid this by
making meetings short and public.
- Embrace the use of representatives or whips.
If you do not have time for a meeting of the
Primogen, designate another member of your
clan to go instead. For the player of a neonate
this can be a thrilling experience! You can
brief them in advance and give them goals to
achieve.
72
The Sheriff
The Sheriff is the Prince’s main tool for keeping
order in the domain. The Sheriff investigates
breaches of the Traditions and punishes those
who break them. A good fit for martial, physically
capable characters, the Sheriff is often one of the
most feared individuals in a Camarilla domain.
As the Prince’s enforcer, the Sheriff is often tasked
with dealing with the Anarchs, interrogating
suspected thin-blood sympathizers or digging up
criminals holed up in the sewer domains of the
Nosferatu.
Playing the Sheriff, here are a few ways you can
improve the LARP for your co-players:
- Form a posse. If you have a difficult task ahead,
try to drum up volunteers to help you and make
deputies. This means more characters will be
involved in the scenes ahead. This can extend to
interrogations and other social scenes. Perhaps
you feel that someone who personally knows the
target is better suited to digging up secrets than
you are.
- Embrace strategic incompetence. What this
means is that sometimes it is better to be bad at
your job if the LARP would suffer from extremely
efficient law enforcement. If the Anarchs never
get their insurrection in motion, the game will be
boring. You can justify this as an in-game thing
too: perhaps your character feels that it is best to
capture your targets after they have played their
hands so that their guilt is clear.

The Keeper of the Elysium
The Elysiums are the backbone of Camarilla
social life and the most common setting for
Camarilla LARP. The Keeper of the Elysium
can be a very central character, not in terms
of power like the Prince but in terms of social
prestige. After all, the Keeper is often the host
of the in-game event.
This means that playing the Keeper has some
elements you should consider in terms of how
your actions affect the LARP as a whole:
- In-game the characters are your guests; off-
game they are players in a LARP. This means
that it is hard to throw anybody out of the
Elysium since it would mean the end of their
LARP as well. If someone insists on breaking
rules, other types of punishments work better.
- Embrace the role of the host. Flit from one
party to the next, ask people how they are
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The Scourge
The Scourge has a very similar function as the
Sheriff, except maybe a bit darker and more
violent, more focused on ridding the domain of
undesirables. If the domain has both a Sheriff
and a Scourge, there is a great potential for
conflict between them. Otherwise, if a new
Prince comes to power, fires the Sheriff and
installs a Scourge, that is a clear signal for how
things are going to be in the domain.
A Scourge can be a good villain character,
brutalizing the domain until they get overthrown
by a concentrated effort by the other characters.
A particularly obnoxious Scourge might work
best as a supporting character.
doing, gossip.... This means you will always have
something to do and it keeps the LARP’s social
dynamics moving.
- Spot players who seem lost or lonely. Talk to
them the way a good party host would. Introduce
them to someone else.
The Heralds
The Heralds are gossipers and enforcers of social
standards among the Camarilla. Their status may
be official or unofficial but it works best if there’s
a gaggle, five to seven, so that they can collectively
cast judgment on the hapless residents of the
domain.
The Heralds are essentially high school mean girls,
keeping the social dynamics of the Camarilla
suitably dysfunctional, stirring up trouble if
things are too quiet. Perhaps the Prince keeps
them around because they distract attention
from real issues or maybe they represent a
counterforce to official authority, subverting
the establishment with innuendo.
In a LARP, their function is to keep information
flowing and prodding other characters into
action. As you play a Herald, keep in mind:
- It is better to deal in truths than lies. Lying
in a LARP is ridiculously easy and it is hard to
tell the difference between something made up
for the fiction and something made up inside
the fiction. Because of this, it works best if you
make yourself into a dependable gossip.
WARSAW
S o, I will sacrifice and offer to my dear
motherland, my body and life, my possessions
and my blood; I want to give myself completely.
— King John III Sobieski, the once and future
Prince of Warsaw
Only when the land is pure, will He return.
— A hopeful member of the Royal Cult
Warsaw is a city of death and rebirth. In
the 16th and 17th centuries it was one of the
most important cities in Europe. During the
partitions of Poland and the World Wars it
suffered greatly, leveled to the ground in World
War II.
74
- It is good to gossip somewhat destructively.
If you think the Brujah will go nuts if they
hear what the Ventrue are saying about them,
make sure they get the info. It probably leads
to trouble, but in a LARP that just means more
action.
- Provoke people. If the Brujah does not react
to being insulted, you can ask them: “Are you
really going to let them talk about you like that?
In front of everyone?”
And after all the destruction, rebuilding and
reconstruction.
The terrors of history haunt nearly every street.
All this death has never quite managed to erase
old memories of more prosperous times. This
is especially true among the Kindred, some of
whom still remember how it used to be. Of
course, for a vampire the world was a simpler
place back then. You could still imagine yourself
ruling over the mortals from the shadows. For
many among the undead, such fantasies were
dashed in the tumult of the 20th century as
vampiric motivations shifted towards mere
survival.
Jan III Sobieski was the king of Poland in life and the Prince of Warsaw in death. He disappeared
during the World Wars and might well have perished, a fact about which many in the city are in
complete denial. There is a Royal Cult which longs for the return of Prince Sobieski and that judges all
subsequent Princes in terms of whether they are good stewards in the old Prince’s absence. The Cult is
one reason no Prince has managed to establish a long, stable rule since the wars.

The Factions
Warsaw is not a unified domain with a single Kindred ruler. It has splintered into a number of smaller
domains which are sometimes in conflict with each other.

The Camarilla. Perhaps if you squint, you can pretend that this is still a Camarilla city. There is a Prince
(currently the Tremere Tobias Geist but how long will that last?) and centuries of Camarilla tradition
so surely the current splintering is just a phase that will soon be corrected. Various Kindred faiths and
cults are gaining currency among the Camarilla creating internal discord.

The Anarchs. The Anarch Revolt has caused turmoil in countless domains across the world, Warsaw
being no different. Recently, the city’s Gangrel defected from the Camarilla en masse, leading to the
creation of a new Anarch Barony, one of the three in the city.

75
Nosferatu. The Nosferatu have their own Anarch Barony. The Camarilla has never been a comfortable
fit for the clan and dissatisfaction resulted in the creation of their own domain in the undercity below
city streets.

The Second Inquisition. Poland is a strongly religious country where such influence is felt everywhere.
The local Second Inquisition hunters have two internal factions: the professionals who come from
intelligence agencies and seek to eradicate Kindred using modern technology; and the old school
inquisitors whose ideals and tactics harken back to Society of Leopold traditions. The two factions do
not always get along but both are well funded and very motivated.

The Autarkis. Some of the Kindred in the city are unaligned. The number of competing domains makes
it possible for individual vampires to stay out of all of them. The most important group among the
Autarkis are the Hecata, with their own agenda currently outside any power structure.

Locations
Here is a list of actual Warsaw locations that have been used as venues in
a multi-location urban Vampire LARP:

- Kolejowa Street, Dworzec Zachodni. Anarch territory. The

biggest biker bar in the city is close by, as is the big West Warsaw
train station. Busy and loud.

- Zofiówka Sanatorium. A haunted, derelict old mental health

facility. It’s well known among local Kindred that good things
rarely happen here.

- Łazienki Królewskie. A big garden and park complex, its construction

began when King Sobieski was still a mortal. There are many tourists
but also numerous hidden places. The Tremere Chantry is known to be in its vicinity.

- Palace of Culture and Science. A known Kindred “no go” zone that should always be avoided. The
rumor is that the Second Inquisition is watching the area.

- Opera Club. A club and the Camarilla Elysium.

- Wilanów Palace. A former royal palace and the meeting ground of the Royal Cult.

- The Undercity. Warsaw has a lot of tunnels and underground construction projects ranging from
forgotten passages used by partisans to fight invaders during the World Wars to rumors of complete

76
underground luxury apartments built during the Communist era. All of these are under the control of
the Nosferatu.

-St. Augustine’s Church in Nowolipki. A church which survived the destruction of the past wars. It
used to have vampire connections but now it is strictly Second Inquisition territory.

- The town of Kirsztajnów near the Kampinos National Park. Gangrel grounds and the territory of the
Gangrel Baron.

- The Soho factory. An old factory, now a place for shopping and restaurants. An Anarch stronghold
and a very lively place.

- Jabłonna Palace. A palace used as a Camarilla Elysium.

The Stories
Nosferatu supremacy. The Nosferatu have not been treated well by the city. They were persecuted
under a prior Prince who sought to clear them out entirely and this has left its mark in their attitude
towards the city. There is a rumor that the Nosferatu have kidnapped Tremere for the purposes of
trying to gain their occult power and further strengthen their defenses in The Undercity, preparing for
a takeover of other domains.

The domain of Praga. There is a saying in Warsaw that the best thing you can find in the district of
Praga is getting your teeth punched in and your phone stolen. There is a discrepancy between what the
district looks like to mortals and the Kindred now that the Gangrel have established their own Anarch
Barony of the “Iron Branch”. Most of its members have been Anarchs only for a few years, having
defected from the Camarilla. As a result, they still see things in Camarilla terms.

Because they split from the Camarilla in moral disgust over its corruption and turpitude, they seek to
handle their own domain with the utmost correctness, making it the best run and most law-abiding
of all the city’s domains. Yet discontent is brewing among the Kindred of the Iron Branch. What is the
point of being an Anarch if you have to stick to the Traditions? The Camarilla is none too happy about
being upstaged either.

The Consumptionists. The city is awash with cults, especially among the Camarilla. The Nosferatu
have a cult of their own, although it is not a religious one. Born of the atheism of their Baron, it is
a philosophy built on the idea that the role of vampires is to consume. They drink blood, they suck
mortals dry. They do not produce, they use. It is a destructive cult, especially now that the first whispers
of the word diablerie have been heard among its members. After all, that is the ultimate in vampiric
consumption. Who says the mortals are the only legitimate targets?

77
THE QUAD CITIES
Dear Friends,
I’m sorry I could not attend your little party.
Prior engagements with my own have called me
away at the last moment. These things can be
tedious, and deadly, as some of you know. But
alas, duty calls. Apologies for that.
As for all of your dirty little secrets. I will not
divulge them. You are all safe... in that regard
anyway.
Enjoy your city and your power. Have faith,
dear friends! I will come back to see how you
are all doing. Someday.
Your Benefactor,
— Ira
Not all Kindred domains are individual cities.
The Quad Cities metropolitan area is home
to 400,000 people in the intersection of three
78
interstates and the Mississippi River in the
U.S. It consists of an interlocking series of
urban areas in Iowa and Illinois. Originally
there were the Tri-Cities of Davenport, Rock
Island, and Moline. The name changed with the
incorporation of more areas. Today there are
five cities but the name got stuck at Quad.
The Beckoning has made it possible for younger
Kindred to hold power in major Camarilla
domains. In smaller areas, this has been true
for much longer. The Quad Cities domain is
controlled by a coterie who moved in when
Davenport was founded in 1839. They were
originally marginal figures in Kindred society
but the recognition of an emergent domain made
it possible for them to establish themselves.
As former outsiders become established, they
gain the sort of history that always plagues
those who claim praxis. Among the Kindred, it’s
never possible to account for every loose end.
The bodies never stay buried.
The Betrayal
The original coterie who
made the Quad Cities into
a proper domain consisted
of Ira of the Ministry, the
Ventrue Eli, the Toreador
Sasha, the Tremere Darius,
and the Brujah Mary. Ira led
the coterie but eventually
the others turned on him,
ousting him from his role in
an internal coup.
He managed to escape and
hasn’t been seen since
the 1920’s.
Since then, the other
members of the
coterie have settled
into familiar roles.
Eli is the Prince and
Mary the Sheriff.
They have had luck
in maintaining the
domain free from more
powerful Camarilla
players because of its
geographical location
and the presence of a
werewolf pack. It takes
skill and experience to
evade the werewolves,
something that
Kindred with designs
on the domain usually
do not have.
Despite keeping away
from the spotlight,
Ira has always been
there, influencing his former
domain and plotting a
comeback. Since the 1950’s,
the main vehicle for his efforts
in the mortal sphere has been
the purposefully quotidian
The Northern Illinois Leisure
Center which organizes
and runs street festivals
and carnivals and produces
television promotions. They
also own restaurants, bars,
and nightclubs.
79
Under the surface, the
Center also deals in drugs
and prostitution, providing
ample blackmail material for
the vampires who oversee its
operations.
COVID-19-related lockdown
measures have made feeding
increasingly difficult for
many Kindred. Ira has chosen
this moment for his return,
banking on his enemies being
distracted by their
own difficulties.
He has also floated
the promise among
Ministry allies that
were the Quad
Cities to fall, the
new regime would
be much more lax
in terms of feeding
restrictions.
Of course, he knows
that this could lead
to a Masquerade
breach and a Second
Inquisition hunter
operation in the
domain but he has
judged the risk to
be worth it.
The Domain
In terms of its Kindred population, the Quad Cities is a long-time Camarilla domain. When it was
originally founded, the Anarchs were at low ebb worldwide and the coterie who made this their own
domain sought to assume the privileges the Camarilla granted to those in power.

For external enemies, smaller domains are harder to infiltrate. Local Kindred know the area well and
the occasional Anarch scout sticks out, making it easy to eliminate them. Or leak their presence to the
local werewolf pack who rarely mind destroying a vampire.

Now, for the first time in its history, the Quad Cities are facing a concentrated Anarch attempt to
establish themselves in the domain in the form of Ira’s Ministry cult. Unlike previous contenders, they
have the advantage of significant local knowledge and support from Ira’s assets in the area.

The NILE Group has provided new arrivals with Havens, prey and useful roles they can take in local
operations. Because of this, Ira has managed to establish himself fairly well in the domain before anyone
has noticed.

The obvious setup for a LARP chronicle is to make the main characters the Camarilla of the Quad
Cities, slowly becoming more and more aware of the trouble in their midst. However, you can also
make Ira’s Ministry cult into player characters, running them as a parallel smaller chronicle until they
start to merge with the main chronicle.

A Camarilla vampire can find their way to a meeting of the cult or the Ministry may join the local
Camarilla under a false identity.

Stories
The core conflict in the domain is between the Camarilla and the Anarchs but with atypical inflections.
The Camarilla elite used to be downtrodden outsiders before they got together and founded their own
domain. The Anarchs are either Ministry or followers of the Ministry, giving their activities a decidedly
cult-like bent.

Because the original impetus to form the domain came from Ira, the Ministry has been in the Quad
Cities since the beginning. Indeed, they argue that they are just claiming what belonged to them all
along.

The Center for Light and Wellness. The Center is seemingly a mortal quasi-cult focused on personal
growth and wellbeing. You can walk in, learn breathing exercises, and enjoy the communal love until

80
it becomes time to tithe the Center
for all they have done for you. In
reality, the Center is another front for
the Ministry. In a chronicle, you can
create an event entirely built around
the Center, with mortal supporting
characters, chronicle regulars from
the Camarilla seeking to convert its
members into a herd and Ministry
vampires scheming in the wings.

Social sabotage. The ministry has

sought to subtly undermine the mortal
influence held by Prince Eli and his
court. Methods include covert support
for rivals in business, government, and
crime. For the purposes of organizing
a LARP, another form of sabotage
concerns public social events, galas,
and gallery openings. Each represents
a financial stake in the city’s wellbeing,
but also the court’s continuing project
to insert themselves into the fabric
of the city. You can make a LARP
event out of a gallery opening, with
undercover Ministry Kindred seeking
to turn it into a fiasco.

A new generation of werewolves.

Strict avoidance of local werewolves
has been a tenet of faith for the
Camarilla since the domain’s
inception. Werewolves live short and violent lives and they can go through multiple generations in the
time a vampire truly settles down into a new domain. Ira’s Ministry has covertly provoked the local
werewolves, trying to get them to attack the Camarilla. Some of their younger members have started
to wonder whether the war with the vampires really serves their purposes. They seek to make contact,
to the terror of the local Kindred. Warlike werewolves are scary enough but how to deal with one who
wants to talk?

81
HELSINKI
Xenia Kozyreva: Come on, I have to see the
Prince. I have to plead for mercy.
Laura Tokka: Yeah, that’s not so easy. I’m
sorry.

Xenia Kozyreva: Please, you have to help me!

You’ve been here all your life. I’m a newcomer,
I don’t understand why everything is so... I
don’t know, shady. Invisible.

Laura Tokka: What did you do

anyway?

Xenia Kozyreva: I
think I Embraced
somebody. I made a
few ghouls.

Laura Tokka: How

many is few?

Xenia Kozyreva:
Maybe ten, fifteen?

Laura Tokka: The

Unseen Assassin
will get you.

Xenia Kozyreva:
Come on, don’t talk
to me like that! You’re
just a slacker, what do
you do here anyway?
Aren’t you supposed to
be an Anarch?

82
Laura Tokka: I guess.... It’s a good cover.
Nobody finds it strange if someone like me plays
videogames all night and covers her windows.
Xenia Kozyreva: You’re a disgrace to our Blood.
We’re supposed to be fighters, not sniveling
losers who fear urban legends nobody has even
seen.
Xenia Kozyreva: I.... The people I care for are
better for it!
Laura Tokka: *snort*
Xenia Kozyreva: Really, they are!
Laura Tokka: You’re being evasive.

Laura Tokka: Prince Bobrikov has a reputation
for cruelty. I don’t want to cross him.
Xenia Kozyreva: Okay, real talk: have you ever
seen him? The Prince?
Laura Tokka: No, he doesn’t maintain an
Elysium. Or maybe the Court has something
like that but I’ve never been invited.
Xenia Kozyreva: Yeah, okay. I’m scared too. I
am. It’s the disappearances. Somebody talks
revolution and then they’re just never heard of
again.
Laura Tokka: It’s... I’ve lost friends too.
Xenia Kozyreva: So, you understand why I need
to see the Prince.

Xenia Kozyreva: So, we’re just a bunch of scared
losers with no idea how to stand up for ourselves.
Laura Tokka: Look at you. You’re a real predator.
You take over the lives of mortals and make them
your servants. You literally live in the house of
an entire family who’ve become blood addicts.
Why don’t you make a revolution? You’re much
tougher than me!
Laura Tokka: I don’t know how. There’s a way
to contact the Prince’s ghoul but I don’t think
anybody’s gotten a reply in months. Or years.
Xenia Kozyreva: Fuck. So, I’ll know they caught
me breaking the Traditions when the Unseen
Assassin comes for me?
Laura Tokka: That’s pretty much it, yeah.

The Domain
For an average Helsinki vampire, the Camarilla is both distant and terrifying. Ostensibly the Kindred
of Helsinki are ruled by His Eminence, the Nosferatu Prince of Helsinki Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov.
In practice, there are loose groups of Brujah Anarchs and Toreador trying to hide among the mortals
comprising maybe 30 or 40 vampires in total. If they still exist, the old elite would number 15 vampires
more. It is unclear if anyone really knows all the vampires in the city.

The old Camarilla elite of Ventrue and older Brujah and Toreador has always been remote, but since
2003 they have become so reclusive, they could well be invisible. The old vampire villas in Sipoo have

83
been sold and the townhouses in Ullanlinna
stand empty or have been newly occupied by IT
millionaires.
Old Bobrikov never liked to deal with anyone
except his closest advisors (and handsome young
Brujah, whom he adored), but the last anyone
had seen him was 20-years ago. Still, his laws live
on. Feeding in Helsinki is controlled extremely
tightly. The areas of Ullanlinna, Kaivopuisto,
and Eira are reserved for the Prince only. The
rest of the city has been parceled for his oldest
friends and confidantes, none of whom is seen
on the streets today. Only small areas in the
center and the suburbs built after the 1990’s are
free.
Nothing prevents a young vampire from
breaking the law and feeding to their
heart’s content in the shadow of the
trees in Kaivopuisto. Sometimes
when you do that, nothing happens.
Other times, you disappear.
84
Other Camarilla rules seem to be enforced
with varying degrees of laxity. Breaches of the
Masquerade seem to be taken seriously. Making
new vampires seems to be okay, unless you make
too many. One has not gotten anyone destroyed.
Making two in five years has, but not always.
The only concrete proof of the existence of
Prince Bobrikov is a phone number that
ostensibly reaches his office. You send an SMS,
and sometimes you get a reply. Sometimes it is
silent for months at a time.
There is a story about what happens when the
Camarilla decides to execute a vampire who
does not follow the rules. They say that
Bobrikov has a right-hand man, a
Nosferatu well-versed in the arts
of supernatural concealment. If
someone breaks old Bobrikov’s
commandments, the Unseen
Assassin will find them, and
they will never know what
ended them.
If a young Brujah Anarch feeds in
the correct place, the Camarilla
and its rules have only a
minimal impact on their unlife.
Unfortunately, the feeding
restrictions are pretty severe, and
the possibility of integrating into
the vampire elite of Helsinki seems
to have quietly disappeared. The
only prospect a young vampire has
is to eke out a meager existence in
fear of breaking an arbitrary rule
and being made to disappear.
Developments
The domain of Helsinki has been designed to be a tenuously controlled Camarilla city persisting solely
on inertia. All playable characters are neonates, most of them so young they have been vampires for less
than a decade. They are getting used to the world of the Kindred and scared of the monsters in the dark.
During a LARP chronicle, it is possible that the Camarilla domain of Helsinki becomes an Anarch
city instead, its vampire inhabitants finally casting off the fear of the Prince and fighting for their own
liberation
.
As the chronicle progresses, they unearth many of the secrets of the domain and have to deal with the
remnants of the Camarilla:

- Is the Prince still in the city or has he left for the Beckoning?

- Is the Unseen Assassin real, or is he just a legend meant to scare young Kindred?

- How will feeding territories be divided under the new rule?

- The remaining Ventrue try to hold onto their privileges but they are all young Kindred as well,
outnumbered by the Anarch underclass. Do they manage to adjust to the new regime or will they lose
their unlives?

- As the Anarchs develop a better understanding of the city and its history, they realize that some of the
disappeared elders and ancillae had ghouls who now operated independently. They kidnapped young
Kindred for their blood, trusting the others to ascribe the disappearances to the Unseen Assassin.

- One of the old vampires of the domain, perhaps Prince Bobrikov’s sire, wakes up from torpor. Can the
Kindred of the domain maintain the pretense that all is well and they are still a good Camarilla city or
does the situation escalate into a fight?

85
DOMAIN DESIGN AS LARP DESIGN
W hen you think about what kind of a
domain you are going to set the chronicle
in, you must think like a LARP designer. Not in
terms of what would be “realistic” or what are
your favorite Vampire elements, but in terms of
what kind of a domain will produce the LARP
you want.
The parameters of the domain gently guide
the action of the LARP. If you get this right,
your players will naturally gravitate towards
the desired kind of interactions and dynamics
without you ever having to push them. Such is
the magic of LARP design: players will have a
sense of freedom even as they fulfill the design
of the LARP as intended.
The core of domain design is to think of the
LARP or chronicle in terms of character groups.
Ideally you should rarely think of individual
characters, instead focusing on groups. There
are two important reasons for this:
1. Less work for you. If you come up with a great
concept for a group, it is easier to follow with
the internal breakdown of the group. Or let
the players come up with their own character
concepts within that wider group concept.
2. Less lonely experiences for players. Ideally,
every single player character belongs to a social
unit they can hang around with during the
LARP. This way, there is less danger of players
being left out and feeling lonely.
86
The setting of Vampire has much of this design
inherently in place. A standard Camarilla
LARP features vampires from different clans,
providing ready animosities and home groups
for players to hang around with. The standard
organizational unit among the Kindred is the
coterie, a common group united by an idea or
a purpose. If your characters have both coteries
and clans, they already have two different axis
on which to relate to other characters.
Make sure that this method of thinking about
characters and groups extends to every single
character in the chronicle. No exceptions.
Cases where it is easy to create characters who
end up lonely are mysterious envoys, traitors,
and ghouls. If you have a strange visitor to the
domain, it works better if they come as a pair,
or even a three-person group. That way, the
mysterious envoys can always hang together
if they find it difficult to penetrate the social
fabric of the local vampire scene.
A traitorous character is in danger of being
ostracized by their home group. If a Nosferatu
betrays their coterie, who are they going to hang
around with? It is not impossible to come up
with answers; you just need to make sure there
is something. In this case, perhaps they divulged
clan secrets to an Anarch coterie, who now form
their social home base.
Conflict
The domain should have a strong, fundamental
conflict baked into it straight from the start.
Ideally, it should be something essentially
irresolvable so that it will keep giving characters
motivations to go at each other in perpetuity.
The prime conflict of this type is naturally
the War of Ages. The old seek to retain their
power and privileges while the young chafe at
the restrictions on their unlives and potential.
As individuals, young vampires will eventually
become elders but by then, new generations of
neonates have taken their old roles as rebelling
firebrands.
Ideally, the core conflict of the domain can then
be extrapolated into all the individual conflicts
that happen between characters. This way, you
will have less work since you do not have to
think up conflicts character by character.
87
Conflict can be thematic, ideological, material,
cultural, supernatural, etc. Ideally something
where the issues at hand are hard to reconcile
because there is no way everyone can have what
they want.
An example of a bad conflict would be that
The Ministry and the Ventrue hate each other
because of an ancient grudge. It makes it too
easy for the players simply to bury the hatchet.
If instead Ventrue and Ministry vampires both
seek to control the drug trade in the domain,
and the loser will suffer catastrophic loss of
income, then the conflict is based on something
material and much harder to resolve peacefully.
Of course, it can still be initially presented as
an ancient grudge so that player characters can
learn about what is really at stake during the
LARP.
Social Groups
Conflicts should break down along the lines of
social groups. That makes it easier for the players
to figure out the landscape of the LARP. That
the local Toreador hate the Ventrue is simple
but it also works and is easy to grasp.
All characters should belong to at least one
social group. Especially in a longer LARP or
chronicle where it is fun to shift between social
groups so you might want to come up with two
or even three layers of social contexts for every
character.
In practise, this could mean:
1. The clan. For some, such as the Nosferatu and
sometimes the Tremere, the clan is the most
obvious and visible social group. If there are
Caitiff in the LARP, there must be at least four
so they can form their own group.
2. Position on the War of Ages. A domain
could be split four ways, with a hardcore
entrenched Camarilla power elite, younger
more disadvantaged Camarilla Kindred,
downtrodden Anarchs cruelly treated by the
Camarilla establishment, and secret Anarch
revolutionaries who seek a violent overthrow
of the established order. Characters in all four
groups have reasons to trust each other and have
differing agendas regarding members of other
groups.
3. The secret group. Everyone in the LARP
belongs to a secret group, whether a conspiracy,
a cult, a cell of Sabbat wannabes, or something
else. Belonging to a secret group is inherently
fun and you can make sure that everyone is in
one at the structural level.
88
This way, a single character can go to a Ventrue
coterie meeting, then hang around with fellow
Camarilla neonates until it is time to slip away
to the secret meeting of the Church of Caine.
The choice of whether your domain needs one,
two, or three levels of groups depends on how
much other content there is. If the players are
expected to create their own action, it is good
to have three levels of groups. If there are plenty
of things happening all the time, they might be
better served with only one or two.
Roles
Vampire’s domains tend to be replete with
characters holding office: Princes, Sheriffs,
Primogen, etc. These are a great way for you to
set up conflicts, injustices, and other problems
that will then generate action.
When you design how such roles are set up in
the domain, your goal is to make the system
dysfunctional on purpose. This will generate
action in the LARP.
For example, both the Prince and the
Primogen argue that they hold ultimate power
in the city. Technically they rule together but
in reality, they are constantly sniping at each
other’s power base. Meanwhile, the Sheriff and
the Scourge hate each other and sabotage each
other’s operations. On the Anarch side, two
Barons both claim domain over the whole city
while various would-be revolutionary leaders
cripple the movement’s efforts at change by
attacking each other.
If official roles have overlapping functions and
the distribution of power is contested, player
characters who are not directly involved can still
try to play various officials against each other.
Another positive side effect of creating roles
with overlapping functions is that it reduces the
risk that the player playing an office-holder is
stuck playing the role instead of their character.
After all, the player of the Sheriff might want to
deal with the personal issues of their character
instead of just doing Sheriff stuff the whole
LARP.
What’s Happening?
Big, important things must be happening right
now as the LARP begins. If you have a chronicle,
they must keep happening so it helps to think
in advance what kind of change the LARPs can
document.
What is the old status quo, and the direction it
is changing into? Perhaps a Camarilla city is on
the cusp of an Anarch revolution. Alternatively,
perhaps it is an Anarch city in danger of a
Camarilla counter-revolution. You could have
a small domain surrounded by the Sabbat, in
danger of being subsumed both by the external
threat and young Kindred who start to emulate
Sabbat ways. An old guard of survivors of Second
Inquisition hunter attacks feel dismayed that
young neonates do not take the danger seriously.
These are all domain-level vectors of change. You
can also have events built around more specific
things and individuals. For example, a Justicar
will arrive in the city to root out infiltrators
once and for all, providing an opportunity for
everyone to frame their enemies and get them
destroyed.
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Or perhaps local Princes from neighboring
domains hold a summit in the city, during which
it becomes apparent they are planning to take
over the domain and distribute its assets among
themselves. Can the old Prince escape, and do
the inhabitants of their domain want them to?
The goal is to give the players the feeling that
this is a dramatic, interesting time in the domain
and the unlives of their characters. They should
understand where they are coming from and
where they are going, as a community and as
individuals.
This does not mean you cannot establish a
seemingly static domain if the goal is to then
break that status quo during the LARP. More
than one chronicle has started with the Prince
getting assassinated in the first LARP, thus
thrusting everything into turmoil.
When thinking about the crisis engulfing the
domain, it is good to start with ideas that affect
every single character. This way, you can be sure
the drama of the LARP will catch all players.
After these elements are in place, you can then
work towards smaller crises that affect only a
portion of the characters.
INTERLUDE
Don’t Fuck With the Sabbat
Sebastian: Some of the other Anarchs at the
bar were talking about something called the
Sabbat? I think? It sounded....
Agata Starek: No.
Sebastian: What do you mean, no? The way
people were talking, I got the impression that
the Sabbat could be a useful ally in our war
against the Camarilla.
Agata Starek: One more word about the Sabbat
and I will punch you in the face.
Sebastian: Okay, please don’t punch me. But
I just got to say, you can’t threaten me with
violence every time I ask a difficult question.
I mean, it worked the first few times but I’m
starting to see that you do it just because you’re
not ready to....
Agata Starek: No. If the choice is to talk about
the Sabbat or my feelings, I choose the Sabbat.
Sebastian: So why shouldn’t we at least talk with
them? We have a common enemy!
Agata Starek: Let me tell you about the Sabbat.
Sebastian: Yes. Please!
Agata Starek: Compared to us, they are as we
are to the kine. They’re killers of course, but
they don’t kill because they’re hungry or scared.
Or even so they could feel powerful. They kill
because it’s as easy for them as faking human
breath is for us. They don’t have a conscience
to rein in their impulses. Some say they want
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to take down the Antediluvians. Find them, kill
them and take their power.
Sebastian: Aren’t the Antediluvians....
Agata Starek: Yes, the third generation. I’ve
heard it said that the Sabbat believe the
Antediluvians still control us, their progeny.
Sebastian: That doesn’t sound too implausible.
I mean, every other Anarch is telling me
Camarilla elders secretly control everything
we do. This is just the same thing, but larger in
scale. And they’re doing something about it.
Agata Starek: No. The Sabbat say they do it for
freedom, to be liberated from the machinations
of the Antediluvians. But they’re not free. They’re
monsters shackled by their base impulses. We
have a lot more freedom than they do.
Sebastian: I’ve never seen you like this. It almost
feels like you’re scared. The mighty Agata Starek,
the Killer of Krakow or whatever title you made
up for yourself this week.
Agata Starek: Are you making fun of me?
Sebastian: No... I’m not. Sorry.
Agata Starek: Haha, it’s okay! You should make
fun of me more often. Anyway... just one thing
you need to remember.
Sebastian: What’s that?
Agata Starek: Don’t fuck with the Sabbat.
Chapter Six SABBAT
The Sabbat are antagonists. Their purpose is to give
your LARP an external enemy; someone to frighten,
threaten, and oppress player characters. The Sabbat
can be everywhere and nowhere. Its infiltrators can
subtly threaten the stability of a Camarilla domain
while its war parties decimate the ranks of the
Anarchs.

The Sabbat is a domain-level threat. The danger they

pose is not confined to individual Kindred but affects
everyone present in the city. If one Camarilla neonate
is kidnapped by the Sabbat, it is likely that others will
be too.

The Sabbat always escalates. This is why the war against them must be fought with everything the
characters have. The trouble is that the Kindred are a fractious lot. There are traitors in every domain.

The Sabbat
A common myth among vampires holds
that they are all descendants of the biblical
Caine and the bearers of his curse. The
Sabbat holds Caine to be their Dark Father;
a semi-divine figure who has directed his
Black Hand to free the world from his
traitorous grandchildren, the Antediluvian
third generation of vampires.

The Sabbat are organized into packs of

intense loyalty and dedication, with Priests
acting as commissars who keep members in
line. They follow Paths of Enlightenment,
various alien mindsets that shape Sabbat
culture much the same way the clans do in
the Camarilla and the Anarchs.

Because the Sabbat has abandoned Humanity and holds themselves to be superior to mortals in all
ways, they tend to come across as inhuman, cruel, and deranged—at best.

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The Sabbat does not respect the Masquerade
except as a practical necessity that should be
discarded as soon as feasible. Most packs are
composed of recently Embraced Sabbat Cainites
because Sabbat casualty rates are astronomical
compared to the other sects. There are Sabbat
elders who direct the war effort against the
Antediluvians and their pawns but they are
rarely glimpsed by outsiders. Sabbat ancillae are
quite rare.

Outside Perspectives
The Camarilla has had an extremely frustrating experience with the Sabbat. In recent years, great
gains have been made in terms of territory. Sabbat domains have fallen left and right, and the Second
Inquisition operations have mopped up the rest.

Once Camarilla Archons and Princes recovered from their smug celebrations of victory, they noticed
that somehow Sabbat-related violence only seemed to increase with each loss. Freed from the demands
of holding territory, the Sabbat could focus on what it did best: terrorizing those it deemed tools of
the Antediluvians.

In the Anarchs, knowledge of this new status quo came earlier, sped up by the Sabbat packs defecting
to the sect. They could tell their new comrades what was happening: experienced Sabbat crusaders
focusing on their holy war, leaving much of the less committed rank and file to fend for themselves.

Sabbat Characters
Sabbat present in your LARP should be supporting, organizer-directed characters. Their function is
to provide an antagonistic experience for the players. The Sabbat should be portrayed as inhumane,
something that is easier to do for effect in short bursts because you do not have to get into the head of
the character to do it. Possible organizer-controlled Sabbat characters are:

The envoy. The Sabbat sends a representative to communicate with the local Camarilla or Anarchs. The
envoy can make threats, demand concessions, or just propose immediate surrender. They present a great
opportunity to demonstrate the alien and strange nature of the Sabbat. Perhaps the envoy is a recently
Embraced brainwashed shovelhead with no greater conception of what being a vampire even means. Or
maybe they are an intellectual, lost in the labyrinthine twists of the Paths of Enlightenment.

A good rule of thumb with envoys is to introduce them in pairs or small groups so they can support
each other.

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Prisoners. The local Prince has managed to capture Sabbat
members and wants to display them at the event to shore up
the Prince’s personal authority. The local Camarilla
members come to gawk at the feral and violent
Sabbat. Does the Prince get what the Prince
wants? Does everyone marvel at the Prince’s
might after bringing such monsters as
trophies or does the Prince’s rival decide
to sabotage the display by freeing the
captives?

A war party. The Sabbat attacks. Sabbat

Cainites pour in to assault the gathered
Kindred. This can be very effective but
only do it if you are confident that your
combat mechanics will carry the day and
your players enjoy scenes of violence.

There are also exceptions to the organizer-

controlled Sabbat characters where the event has
a Sabbat player character or a player character
who is heavily involved with the Sabbat while
not actually a member.

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Examples are:
The infiltrator. The Sabbat has sent an agent to
infiltrate the Camarilla or the Anarchs. They
are in it for the long term, cultivating influence
and collecting information. Because the Sabbat
are so inhuman, it is hard for them to infiltrate
groups of more humane Kindred without
getting caught. Nevertheless, some exceptional
individuals manage it, playing the long game
and waiting for the right moment to strike. A
perfect infiltrator is boring since their Sabbat
plotline only really enters the game when it
is revealed. Because of this, even a talented
infiltrator should trip or reveal their hand at
some point.
Victim of blackmail. The Sabbat found a
character’s Haven and threatened to murder
that character and all their loved ones if they
did not cooperate. The character is terrified but
what can they do? With this character concept,
the Sabbat’s influence is there but the character
is not Sabbat per se. They can betray their
friends to the Sabbat or strive to break free, or
both.
The (Wannabe) Traitor. Both the Camarilla
and the Anarchs have their share of bitter
Kindred who dream of finding a way at getting
back at those who slighted them. What could
be better revenge than betraying their domain
to the Sabbat? Typically, these plots end badly
for those who instigate them as either they are
found out and executed by their comrades or
they succeed and are destroyed by the Sabbat.
Nobody likes a traitor.
Ex-Sabbat. In recent years the Sabbat has
imploded with peripheral low-level packs who
weren’t really part of the Sabbat proper defecting
to the Anarchs. In Sabbat terms they may have
been unusually humane but many have found
it difficult to adjust to their new unlives. Their
fellow Anarchs are scared of them and they have
trouble controlling their Beasts. Ex-Sabbat can
wax nostalgic about the freedoms they enjoyed
in their former sect or thank the twists of fate
for giving them a chance to escape its relentless
brutality.

Themes
Internally, the Sabbat is strongly connected to a common vampiric origin myth. Because of this, it
allows the exploration of big questions like “where did we come from” or “what is our purpose?”

For example, the Sabbat attacks the chronicle’s domain. Sabbat prisoners are present in a LARP
and player characters interrogate them. They learn about the Sabbat’s ideology and understanding
of vampire history. They do not have to believe everything these Cainites tell them but it serves to
introduce the topic.

Even if the Sabbat is lying or misinformed the original questions remain: do vampires have a grand
purpose? Is there an original sin that must be atoned for? After all, the Mark of Cain is often understood
to be a sign of divine disfavor but the Sabbat holds that the original sinners are the Antediluvians who
turned against the Dark Father.

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Modern Kindred might be tempted to dismiss such ancient fables but there is one incontrovertible
piece of evidence that something supernatural must exist: the Kindred themselves. Given that they are
here, what else could be true?

To develop these themes further in a LARP, it helps if there are other perspectives besides that of the
Sabbat. For example, worshippers of Lilith have an entirely different view of where vampires come
from and what it all means.

Repression in the Name of Safety

The Sabbat can affect your chronicle even if no Sabbat are ever seen in person.
Perhaps the Prince uses the threat of the Sabbat as justification for repressive
new measures. For example, the Prince decrees that each Camarilla vampire
must report to the Sheriff once a week and that feeding must be tightly
controlled to maintain the Masquerade. As the repression intensifies,
members of the Prince’s court start to wonder whether the Sabbat threat is
real at all. Maybe the Prince just made it up to justify more control.

In the Anarchs, an unscrupulous Baron faces a challenge to their

leadership, so they start accusing their rivals of being Sabbat moles.
The anti-Sabbat campaign gets out of hand as everybody with a
grievance starts accusing each other of being Sabbat members.

As demonstrated with these examples, the Sabbat does not actually

have to do anything to cause chaos in an enemy domain. Their
r e p u t a t i o n does the work for them, making Kindred of other sects
lose control and make decisions with terrible
consequences.

In the unlives of ordinary Anarchs and

Camarilla members, this is the most common
way the Sabbat affects them, by far.

When the Sabbat actually do attack a city torn

apart by paranoia and false accusations, it comes
as a relief. Finally, a real, physical enemy to fight!

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The Sabbat LARP
The Sabbat are antagonists but that does not
mean you can not build an unusual LARP
experience explicitly around them. The Sabbat’s
communal ritae are highly evocative and
function well in a LARP setting since you can
perform the ritual for real (or at least real-ish as
it is better leave any actual blood-sacrifices to
the world of make-believe).
Inverting the earlier idea about prisoners of
war, the Sabbat has conquered the domain. They
have murdered many of its residents and taken
the rest prisoner. Now the Sabbat is holding
a victory ceremony where the remaining
Camarilla or Anarch Kindred have a choice: will
they hold true to their ideals and get executed?
Will they join the Sabbat or will they find a way
for a counter-revolution?
In small games, the Sabbat LARP is difficult
to pull off because you need a lot of supporting
Sabbat characters. However, it can be fun to play
even if you are playing an organizer-controlled
character who is there to provide a concrete
spectacle of evil.
The main challenge with a Sabbat-focused event
is that they are inhuman to a degree that makes
them hard to portray. This means that for those
who play the organizer-led Sabbat characters,
it is better to focus on making a spectacle of it
rather than story or character play.

FOR THE LOVE OF CRUELTY

Some experiences are so
terrible you can not talk
about them with your
mortal friends because you
do not want to break the
Masquerade. You can not
talk about them to other
ghouls or the Kindred
because the greed in their
hearts would propel them
towards the very same fate
you only barely escaped.
So instead I will write here
and then I will burn this
notebook.
She was Korean I think,
here to study and then be
Embraced so she could
never go back home. Or so
she thought at least. My job
was to look after her because
the others were worried she
was too inexperienced to
know how to hunt or keep
from being discovered by
the Second Inquisition.
Her name was Ji-a. They
were right to worry about
her. She couldn’t accept that
so much of her new vampiric
condition was unknown, so

96
she took to talking to some of those ex-Sabbat
freaks who pretend that they’re now good,
ordinary Anarchs. I’ve never trusted those fucks
and what happened proved me right.
I visited Ji-a’s Haven to see if she was alright
and she wasn’t there. She had a roomie whom
she’d made into her ghoul (never make your
friends into ghouls... but I suppose everyone has
to learn that lesson the hard way) who told me
that she’d slipped away at sundown, furtively,
like a teenager sneaking to a party without the
knowledge of her parents.
Following a premonition, I drove to where I
knew the ex-Sabbat pack had their communal
Haven. They’d tried to keep it a secret but news
travels.
I suppose I imagined myself running in guns
blazing, saving the girl, killing the bad guys and
making a triumphant exit.
Well, no.
I saw some of it from a hiding place. The red
THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD....
The Sabbat has distinctive qualities that make
it great for bringing certain setting elements in
Vampire to the fore. Trying to hold onto your
humanity is a core concept and the Sabbat
embodies what it looks like if you give up on
that and choose to accept vampire supremacy.
The temptation can make the sacrifices a vampire
makes to stave off the Beast more meaningful.
The Sabbat demonstrates that becoming an
absolute monster is a feasible choice. As an
97
light. What they did to her body, changing it.
The killing, the blood, the sacrifices.
Somehow I’d assumed that she was a victim
and they were leading her on like a lamb to
the slaughter. Perhaps she was a victim. But
she wasn’t the one being sacrificed. She was
initiated. They were practicing Sabbat, they’d
used the laziest infiltration method imaginable,
and they’d gotten their recruits.
I’ve known Anarchs who kill in anger and
Camarilla who kill with cold, impersonal cruelty.
These Sabbat fuckers made a celebration out of
it. Just blood spraying everywhere and she was
right there, laughing and mutilating with the
rest of them in a mad frenzy.
She didn’t really need answers and explanations.
She just needed someone to tell her that it was
okay to heed the voices of cruelty and terror
whispering in her blood.
- A page from a half-burnt notebook in the Anarch
ghoul Szymon the Sad’s home
element in a LARP, they can be used to show
concretely what it means when vampires simply
let go.
Another setting element that can be
demonstrated through the Sabbat is the mythic
level of Vampire: Antediluvians, Methuselahs,
Gehenna, Caine, and so on. These concepts are
remote from the unlives of ordinary Anarchs
and Camarilla members but to the Sabbat they
are forces that shape what they do every night.
The average Kindred knows little about this side
of the Sabbat but they can learn about it from
the mess the sect leaves behind. The tortured
ramblings and confused messages strewn around
in a former Sabbat lair can paint a picture that
makes little sense but hints at a lot.
These concepts are not the sole province of the
Sabbat, of course. Many in the Camarilla have
great faith in them and there are cults like
the Church of Caine whose theology greatly
resembles Sabbat ideology.
Domains in Confusion
In the nights of old, strong Princes ruled their
domains fairly and justly, making sure everyone
benefiting from their benevolence was safe and
prosperous. Or at least this is what some nostalgic
Camarilla Kindred say.
Many modern domains are nothing like that. It
would be a mistake to even call them Anarch or
Camarilla because the truth is much messier. In
such unstable conditions individual Sabbat packs
can hide in plain sight but more importantly
Sabbat ideas and concepts spread even without
any real connection to the sect.
Here is one idea of what such a domain could
look like:
Technically, this is a Camarilla city, ruled by a
Prince and their Primogen, and perhaps in the
fantasies of the Prince this is true. However, the
reality is that the Prince is pretty much holed up
in their Haven with little influence over mortal
matters in their domain and the Primogen
consists of a few fractious ancillae who hate each
other and feed lies to their liege.
In other circumstances a city like this would fall
98
to the Anarchs. However, they are scarred from
an earlier failed attempt at a revolution leaving
most of their leaders and ideologues dead or
disillusioned. Because of this, newly Embraced
Kindred do not really have anyone who could
authoritatively explain what’s happening to
them.
The lack of stable power structures has
fostered a chaotic undergrowth of cults and
idiosyncratic packs. The Church of Caine has
established itself in town but the ideas they
speak about sound exactly like Sabbat dogma.
An Anarch pack argues that the Sabbat has
some good ideas and the Masquerade was a
mistake anyway. Individual Kindred declare
themselves Cainites and make ignorant
attempts to follow a Path of Enlightenment,
only to fall to the Beast because they have no
idea what they are really doing.
Maybe there is a real Sabbat presence in the city
but it is not necessary. Sometimes it is easier to
explore Sabbat concepts when there is not an
actual war party mass Embracing vampires left
and right.
LARP Concepts
The Kids Are Not Alright - Local Camarilla
and Anarch leaders become aware of the fact
that many of the younger Kindred in the
domain start to adopt Sabbat ideas of vampire
supremacy. It feels like the ambient humanity
of the young is dropping, instances of brutality
directed at mortals are increasing, and rhetoric
becomes violence. The trouble is that past
failures have left local leaders with a crisis of
authority. The neonates do not listen to them
anymore.
Worship the Dark Father - The local Church of Caine is gaining adherents. A Church ceremony makes
for a great LARP event. Perhaps they hold an open doors night for the purpose of finding new converts
among the local vampire population. The trouble is, the particular brand of faith preached at the Church
veers towards an apocalyptic interpretation that sounds like what the Sabbat believes in. The Church
of Caine has always been suspected of secret Sabbat loyalties but this time it might be true. Or not.
Perhaps local Church leaders have independently arrived at the same conclusions the Sabbat adopted
centuries ago.

Cargo Cult Cainites - Based on hearsay and rumors, a local Anarch pack has decided to “join the Sabbat”.
They have no actual connection to the sect but try to emulate Sabbat practices and rituals on their
own. It is all in good fun when it is only about sacrificing pets in ersatz rituals but trouble arises when
the Anarchs try to purposely extinguish their own humanity and follow the Paths of Enlightenment,
vague concepts they know almost nothing about beyond the promise of becoming somehow more true
vampires.

LARP CONCEPT: THE TRIAL

A Camarilla Prince feels threatened by the
prospect of an Anarch insurrection in their
city. Together with the Primogen they concoct a
plan to make it seem as if the city is under siege
from terrible forces with the Prince as the only
defense.
The Prince decides that instead of summarily
executing the faux Sabbat pack there will be
a trial at the Elysium. All the Kindred of the
domain are invited to witness the Prince’s
power and wisdom. The Prince hopes that this
will shore up their faltering authority.

What could be worse than the Sabbat?
Fortunately for the Prince, an Anarch coterie
has recently taken to calling themselves a Sabbat
pack and boasted of membership in the Black
Hand.
The truth is that the Anarchs are young idiots
who imagined that pretending to be in the
Sabbat would give them a fearsome reputation.
For the Prince it is a blessing because it will
cause a fracture among the Anarchs.
The trial is rigged against the accused, of course,
and they do themselves no favors. The faux
pack’s members do not understand that if they
are found guilty they will be left to the sun.
They boast and brag of their nonexistent Sabbat
connections until slowly, as the proceedings
continue, they will start to figure out that they
are going to be destroyed.

99
Faction Breakdown
The domain’s characters belong to a number
of different factions who all have their own
perspectives and goals for the trial.
The Prince and the Primogen - The leading
lights of the domain have committed themselves
to the deception. Publicly they talk about the
threat of the Sabbat and the danger of allowing
its influence to fester among the Anarchs.
Privately they know it is all bullshit. Some of
them might even privately admit as much. These
characters provide an opportunity to play up
the hypocrisy of the Camarilla.
The Accused - A “Sabbat pack” consisting of
four to eight members. They were all dumb
violent assholes even when alive and becoming
100
vampires has not improved their temperaments
any. They are not particularly sympathetic,
boasting and bragging of things that will get
them destroyed. These characters provide an
opportunity to stay in the spotlight and have
fun with playing dumb fucks.
The Anarchs - For ordinary Anarch characters,
the trial is confusing and scary. This particular
domain is ruled by the Camarilla and they
are subject to the Prince’s edicts despite their
Anarch affiliation. There has been a lot of talk of
revolution and killing the Prince but the threat
of Sabbat assault is a great cause for concern. If
the Sabbat are really coming, maybe everyone is
better off under the protection of the Camarilla?
Some Anarch characters are on good terms with
the accused, others hate them. These characters provide the most humane perspective on the themes of
the LARP. The Anarchs have to figure out what is true and how they feel about it. Even if they realize
that the whole trial is a fake, it still pays to get rid of an annoying rival Anarch group. Or maybe the
revelation that everything is fake launches the long-awaited revolution.

Former Sabbat - Among the Anarchs is a coterie of former shovelheads who got a glimpse of the real
Sabbat before they were left behind to fend for themselves. This is a closely-held secret and none of
the other Anarchs know about it. These former Sabbat are alarmed at the idea that their original sect
might be coming after them but they also have the best chance to figure out that the accused are just
dumb braggarts and not real Sabbat at all. These characters provide the chance to explore choices that
place them into various kinds of danger. If the characters reveal what they know, they might also end
up revealing their own background.

Setup
The LARP works best if it is set up like the sort of trail we all know from tv. The Prince stands for the
judge of course. There is a prosecutor who is a Camarilla hardliner who lays out the case against the
accused. An Anarch representative defends them but it is clear that this is just a Camarilla stooge.

To make sure that the LARP plays out properly, it should last for a single evening with a number of
breaks to allow the characters to mingle, discuss and plot.

When possible, the traditional roles of the courtroom should be distributed so that more than one
character serves each function. Thus, the prosecutor has an assistant or two and so on. This connects
more characters into the courtroom drama.

Outcomes
There are several different outcomes possible within this framework.

In the most cynical, the accused are found guilty of being Sabbat and executed. The Prince’s power base
is strengthened and the Anarchs are cowed. This can come about as a result of Anarch characters taking
this opportunity to make individual private deals with the Camarilla, becoming turncoats or stoolies.

Another outcome is messier: The assembled Kindred realize the accused are just idiots, not Sabbat.
The Prince senses the changing attitudes and decides to showcase their infinite grace and wisdom by
giving the faux Sabbat over to the Anarchs with an exhortation to make sure they would not cause more
trouble.

In a third ending, the Anarchs become so incensed at what is happening that the situation devolves into
violence. If not immediately, then immediately after the LARP has ended.

101
Chapter Seven

GHOULS
Glorious Immortality
Sebastian fidgeted in his seat, looking out of the car windows without stopping to process anything he
saw. Suddenly he twisted around to look at the man driving the car.

“Szymon, you’re not a servant. I want you to know that. You’re my friend. I just asked you to drive
because I’m worried about what will happen. I broke into her Haven....” Sebastian’s voice had an edge
of anxiety. He had yet to fully acclimatize to the cruel hierarchies of vampire unlife.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry about it,” Szymon said wearily. He had served the Anarchs for three decades as
a ghoul. In that time, he had learned that some of them preferred to pretend that there was no power
imbalance between them, that Szymon did menial tasks for them out of friendship and not because he
needed their blood.
“Look, please don’t tell the others that I’m visiting Salomé Díaz. They wouldn’t understand. To them
she’s just a Camarilla Ventrue but she sent me an invitation and I had to accept. I felt guilty about
desecrating her Haven with Agata Starek.” Sebastian was babbling, his nervousness getting the better
of him.

“I know how to keep quiet,” Szymon said. It was one of the secrets of his long employment among the
Anarchs. He never took sides in their internal squabbles and he never snitched.

“Good, good…” Sebastian muttered; the reflection of his handsome face visible in the car’s window. They
emerged onto the driveway of the Ventrue Salomé Díaz’s mansion. “Can you wait here? It shouldn’t be
too long”, Sebastian said, stepped out and disappeared into the building.

Szymon parked the car and settled in to wait. It was not the first time he was outside while his undying
masters and mistresses were handling business.

Someone knocked on the car window. Szymon was startled, putting away his phone and looking up
to see a casually but expensively dressed girl in her twenties. At first he thought it was the mistress
of the house herself, Salomé Díaz, but then realized that while there was a strong resemblance, her
demeanor was completely different. When Szymon had glimpsed Salomé, she had been the very picture
of privileged wealth but this woman was more animated, knocking again when he did not react fast
enough.

Szymon unlocked the car door and the girl slipped inside to sit next to him. “You’re an Anarch ghoul,
right?” she asked and Szymon flinched. It was a rule in his usual circles that Kindred terminology was
never to be used in public.

102
“I came with Sebastian,” Szymon said, trying to
see if the girl was a vampire. She was too lively
for him to be comfortable but that did not mean
she was alive.
“You’re his guard dog,” the girl said and nodded.
“I guess the Anarchs need servants too, right?”
“Now, listen....” Szymon started, regretting
letting the girl into the car. He should have
stepped outside to talk with her. Whoever she
was.
“Don’t worry,” the girl said, placing her hand on
Szymon’s arm. “I’m just like you. A blood junkie.
I know what it’s like.”
“You do?” Szymon had been played around by
vampires more times than he could count but
usually his fellow ghouls were easier to manage.
With this one, he felt continuously out of depth.
“Yes I do. I’m Valentina Díaz. Salomé is my
sister. Mortal sister I mean. She’s a vampire and
I’m just....” Her voice trailed off and suddenly
she seemed subdued and small.
103
“Yeah, it sucks,” Szymon said morosely. “They’re
all assholes no matter what they pretend.”
“They call you Szymon the Sad, right?” Valentina
said, looking at him. He realized that this was
not a random meeting between an Anarch and a
Camarilla ghoul. She had sought him out.
“I don’t care for the nickname,” Szymon
grumbled. He had acquired it after losing too
many people, mortal and Kindred, who used to
be close to him. He was never sure whether it
was being used in sympathy or mockery.
“I think it’s cute. Soulful.” Valentina sounded like
many Kindred Szymon had known. Sympathetic
but only as a facade. She would go far in the
night. As she continued, Szymon had the
familiar feeling that he was being manipulated.
“Salomé made me into a ghoul because she loved
me. That’s what she said. She didn’t want me to
grow old so she gave me glorious immortality.”
Being around Kindred and ghouls for so long
had attuned Szymon to the tell-tale signs of
when someone was jonesing for blood. With the
Kindred it was because they were Hungry. With
ghouls, it was more about the addiction and the
fear of losing the privileges granted by vitae.
“Let me guess. Your sister has cut you off,”
Szymon said.
“Don’t be mean!” Valentina replied, hitting him
lightly on the arm. “But yes. She did. She said I
couldn’t drink her blood every night. I needed
discipline. Can you imagine that? Discipline!
My own sister said that!”
Szymon could not imagine it because his
thoughts had gotten snared at an earlier part
of her confession. “You used to get blood every
night?” he blurted in amazement. How could
any ghoul be so privileged?
“Well, yeah,” Valentina said defensively. “I know
it’s a lot but I need it, you know?”
One of the downsides of being a ghoul in the
Anarchs was that sometimes they simply forgot
to give Szymon blood for weeks. It was not rare
for him to be only a few nights away from the
point where his body would go into withdrawal
and start aging. Only once had he gone over that
point.
“What do you need?” Szymon asked.
“Blood. Their blood. I need it. Do you have any?”
Suddenly Valentina’s face was inches away, the
need naked in her eyes.
Szymon’s rule was to never play the games of
the Kindred but something in Valentina’s raw
desperation weakened his resolve. Maybe he
could make a play, get something.
“Yes I do,” he said and Valentina almost stopped
breathing. “You know the Kindred traffic in
boons? If I give you blood, you’ll owe me. And
104
I’ll come calling sooner than later.”
“Whatever. I don’t care. Yes, I accept,” Valentina
said, her mind already in the ecstasies of the
Blood.
By the time Sebastian returned, Valentina was
long gone and sunrise was teasing its appearance
in the horizon. The vampire looked drained and
confused, a smaller man than when he went in.
They sat in silence as Szymon drove the car out
of the estate’s grounds and started making his
way towards Sebastian’s Haven. They would be
there in time, but only just.
Finally Szymon asked: “How did it go? What did
she want?”
“What? Oh yeah, Salomé...” Sebastian sounded
unhappy, helpless in the face of the world’s
cruelties.
For a fleeting second Szymon considered
revealing that he had acquired a boon from the
Ventrue’s ghoul sister but decided against it.
That belonged to him and him alone, not to his
Kindred masters.
“She saw right through us,” Sebastian continued
forlornly. “She saw right through Agata Starek’s
game. Maybe.... As a killer Agata is the best but
the Ventrue are manipulators. Salomé said that
she forgave me for defacing her painting, that
it was not the original anyway. She said that I
could make up for it by....”
“By what?” Szymon asked after a moment of
silence.
“Becoming her boyfriend,” Sebastian finished.
“She said I looked pretty. That I’d looked good
when I was dating Annika Wall.”
Servants in a Palace of Blood

Ghouls do not have it so bad. They still get to breathe, eat, watch the sunrise.... Sure, they are addicted
to the Blood, but so are we. If a vampire gives them a taste of the good stuff every now and then, they
are good. We have to hunt every night!

I think we are all in this together, all trying to survive the night and hold onto our humanity. In the
Camarilla, we don’t abuse our ghouls. They’re essential parts of the machine that allows us to exist in
some comfort.

I have a few ghouls myself helping me with taking care of the city. They can go to places I can’t and I make
a point of telling them how valuable their contribution really is. One of them has a cancer diagnosis
and he’ll die without the Blood I give him. Not tomorrow or in a year but sooner than a mortal would.
What’s a few nights of service every now and then compared to the fact that you get to live?

— Henry Thomas, a Camarilla Sheriff

You should never stoop to having intimate relations with the help. Not even when they’re gorgeous
and you’re feeling nostalgic and long for a reminder of what it felt like to lust for something other than
blood. It makes them think they hold something over you and it’s awkward and tedious to disabuse
them of such notions.

Why, I once had a ghoul who believed he was my boyfriend! How absurd.

I admit I’ve made this mistake once or twice but that doesn’t mean you have to do it too. Learn from those
who came before you. If you have to fuck a mortal, choose someone who isn’t a ghoul and doesn’t know
you’re a vampire. Such mortals have a virginal innocence I find quite charming, especially compared to
the grasping greed of the ghouls.

I once knew a Ventrue who would only feed his ghouls vitae from a dog bowl. That might have been
extreme but he surely didn’t have the same kind of embarrassing problems I’ve suffered from.

— Victoria Ash, Toreador elder

I don’t like it when people talk about ghouls like we’re all servants. I for one am not and I think it’s
harmful to all of us to reduce everything to one stereotype. You know what I’m talking about, the ghoul
butler who loyally looks after his Camarilla mistress and silently deals with all the abuse heaped upon
him because he needs the Blood.

Of course, my sister Salomé has a ghoul like that, old Barnaby. That’s not the name he was born with but
Salomé wanted a British butler so she told him to change his name and fake an accent.

I don’t know how we’d ever survive without him! I think he just enjoys serving.

105
My role is different. I’m Salomé’s sister and she
keeps telling me nothing has changed between
us, that we’re still the same. I know it’s not true
and it breaks my heart but that doesn’t make
me into some kind of an awful Renfield-type
creature.
I have all the privilege and wealth I’m entitled
to, with just the small unfortunate fact of blood
addiction.
— Valentina Díaz, a Ventrue ghoul
Is this the life I would have chosen for myself?
Of course not. I had hopes and dreams like
everyone else and instead I was reduced to a
servant tending the needs of spoiled immortal
brats.
One of the earliest lessons I learned in service of
106
the Díaz family was that the vampires demand
to be lied to. They detest the truth and savor
falsehoods. They want to believe that you enjoy
serving them, that you love them, that this is
what you were meant to do with your life.
When you feed them the lie they want to hear,
they’re satisfied. Tell them the truth, that you
hate them with every fiber of your being, and
they become angry and hurt you. They’ll grab
your face, look you in the eyes and say: “You
don’t really hate me.”
The Blood and their horrible abilities mess with
your head. You don’t know which thoughts
belong to you and which to them. Maybe it
doesn’t matter. I’ve been a butler so long, I don’t
have any hope of another life.
Sometimes I see younger ghouls who don’t
understand what the Blood will do to them.
They think it’s a gift. Who doesn’t want to be
strong, healthy, and immortal? The trouble is
that no matter what the vampires say, in time
they will come to see you as a lesser creature.
Maybe not today or tomorrow but the night will
come that they’ll tell you to do something and
Less Among Equals
Being a ghoul in the Anarchs is not so bad. Hell,
sometimes I think I’d be happier as a ghoul! All
the benefits of being a vampire with none of the
drawbacks. Immortality, strength, and you still
get to see the sun.
Sure, sometimes things can get a little rowdy
at a Brujah rave. I know sometimes ghouls can
fall victim to roughhousing. But I’ve also seen
Brujah tough guys apologize afterwards and give
the poor ghoul some extra Blood to mend up. So
you know, it’s all good.
The important thing is that we’re all equal in the
Anarchs, vampire and ghoul alike. Nobody is
better than any other. We all have our strengths
and weaknesses and we should support each
other.
This is why Blood Bonding ghouls is sometimes
frowned upon but really, what can you do? They
need the Blood and eventually it’ll happen for
sure. The important thing is to treat them with
dignity.
— Sebastian, a Brujah vampire
Immortality sure sounds better in the abstract.
As a ghoul... all of us learn that we need to be
able to secret a bit of vitae away if at all possible.
107
you’ll do it because you don’t want to jeopardize
your blood supply.
From that moment onwards you’re a servant.
— Old Barnaby, a Ventrue ghoul
They don’t always remember to give it to us and
the results can be terrible especially I’ve you’ve
been a ghoul for decades.
They talk about equality but it’s always a lie.
Even if they don’t realize it themselves.
You can have a young Brujah or Toreador very
earnestly telling you that they’re not like the
other vampires, that they’re not seeking to
subjugate you. You’ll be taken care of. That’s
what the Anarchs are all about!
I’m here to tell you that there are no good
vampires. Even the most considerate vampire
will fail you when it’s convenient for them. They
might apologize afterwards, but more likely
they’ll tell you no harm was done and give you a
bit more of their Blood.
Would I make the same choices I made before
if I’d known this was the price of immortality?
Yes. I would.
Despite everything, all the petty humiliations of
being an Anarch ghoul, I don’t want to die.
— Szymon the Sad, a ghoul
It’s a game. If you play it successfully, you can
have everything the licks have, with none of the
drawbacks. If you fail, you become a servant
besotted with their master.
I play poker for a living. I’m used to risks, mind
games, surviving against long odds. There’s a
thing that we do before we play, to desensitize
us to the money we win or lose. We flip a coin,
with ten-thousand-dollars on the line. Do that
five or six times and you lose the fear of money.
That’s the only way to be an Anarch ghoul. You
can’t fear the licks. If you do, you start acting
desperate. Servile. You start to keep things
bottled up inside you and just hope they’ll give
you what you need to survive another night.
No.
Make them forget you’re a ghoul. Treat them like
108
they treat each other. Steal Blood from them
instead of having them give it to you. Never
drink twice in a row from the same vampire.
Make them think you’re doing them a favor, not
the other way around.
What are your odds?
I can’t tell. That’s up to you. I know I’m happy
with mine.
— Soo-jin Choi, poker pro and Anarch ghoul
At the end of the day, a vampire is just a sack of
blood. If you get lucky, you can squeeze enough
vitae out of a single lick for all your buddies
before you kill them. The Blood Bond doesn’t
matter much if they’re dead.
Sure, you can be careful. Take a vampire prisoner, avoid drinking straight from the vein. Make sure
the Blood becomes inert out in the air before ingesting. Only the thing is, you’ll eventually fuck up.
Vampires can be charming little fuckers. They’ll tell you a sob story, and promise to always give their
blood. Or you get sloppy and drink from the vein and then you’re bonded.

Squeeze them dry, kill them. It’s the only way to keep your head straight.

The Blood Bond is some fucked up shit. The vampires are not brooding lords of the night. They’re sordid
little pushers who want to chain you to the product they sell: their own Blood. With the Bond they do
just that.

I don’t pretend to kill vampires out of a sense of justice or duty although it’s probably a net good for the
vile world we live in. I do it because I want to live and live free.

You can do that too. The only thing you need to do is to let go of the fantasy of the vampire as a
romantic figure.

— Nayla, an independent ghoul

109
ABOUT GHOULS
In Vampire: The Masquerade, ghouls represent
a special niche of the setting where themes of
addiction, dependence, and power imbalances
really come to the fore. Having to make do
without the more extravagant Discipline powers
or other advantages of the Kindred and being
highly susceptible to the Blood Bond, or at the
very least a crippling addiction, the ghouls get
the short end of the stick in the quest to cheat
death.
The All Ghoul LARP
If you want to make a World of Darkness LARP
with a more down to earth focus, where the
desperate scramble for a few crumbs from the
tables of their betters, then the all ghoul LARP
is your best bet.
If Kindred are present, they are supporting
characters. All the players characters are ghouls,
keeping the LARP’s focus squarely on the ghoul
experience. It also makes it possible to keep
the vampires under strict organizer direction,
making sure that they are suitably awful, high-
handed, and vicious.
Whether Camarilla Kindred who have subtly
corrupted their mortal families by making them
into ghouls or Anarchs who preach equality
while subjecting their ghouls to a thousand
small indignities, the role of the vampires in a
ghoul LARP is to represent the system that is
keeping the player characters down.
110
Many vampires keep their ghouls in line by
promising that loyal service would be rewarded
with full vampiredom. Unfortunately, vampires
are inveterate liars and most ghouls end up dying
abandoned by their masters and mistresses
instead of being Embraced into the world of the
Kindred.
Indeed, some vampires actively avoid Embracing
ghouls. To them, it feels like the ghouls are
eternally tainted by their servile position.
There are different themes and metaphors
you can go for: if you want the LARP to be
relentlessly grim, play up the ghoul’s need for
vampire Blood and the capricious cruelty of
the Kindred in doling it out. If you want the
characters to feel more powerful, you can
emphasize the cluelessness of older vampires
concerning the modern world. They rely on their
ghouls to maintain their networks of power and
this means that the ghouls often know far more
about their business than their master does.
The Social Landscape
A ghoul LARP works best if the characters are
broken down into factions, opposing ideologies,
and groups that have conflicting goals. The
design of Vampire already breaks down the social
map of vampire characters along these lines
with the clans, sects, and so on. How do you do
the same for ghouls?
The relationship of the ghoul to the Kindred
creates a key distinction:
Friends and family. Sometimes vampires seek to
help their mortal friends and family with the
gift of blood. It keeps them in better health,
maybe even preventing life-threatening disease!
No matter how selfless the original impulse,
the result is that from that point onwards, the
ghoul is dependent on the vampire. In some
ways, this is the easiest way to be a ghoul. You
can even pretend that you are truly equal with
the vampire who is giving you their blood.
Servants and staff. The traditional role of
the ghoul in vampire society, and especially
Camarilla society, is that of a servant. The ghoul
is stronger than an ordinary person and loyal
to boot. The conditions of employment vary
wildly. Some of the luckier ghouls are basically
employees with extra perks. Their masters tend
to be younger, more modern Kindred who want
to build a functional organization. At the other
end of the spectrum are ancient Tzimisce who
consider it entirely reasonable to fleshcraft
their servants into identical doppelgangers just
for the aesthetic effect. Serving such masters is
miserable, with little chance of rebellion.
they served an elder who was called away by the
Beckoning, leaving them to fend for themselves.
In such a situation, some fail and die but others
manage to make themselves indispensable to
Kindred society.
Hunters. Being a ghoul does not mean that you
have to wait for vampires to give you blood. You
can take it. Some of the ghouls in this category
started as servants, developed a hatred of their
masters, and rebelled despite the blood bond.
Others were hunters first, trying to improve
their abilities with a little illicit ingestion of
vitae. Whatever their origins, these ghouls
know that as long as you keep your blood
supply varied, there is no reason to bow down
to vampires just because you need their blood.
In an example all-ghoul LARP, a group of
hunters could be masquerading as unaffiliated
ghouls, all the better to find new sources of
blood. Perhaps some of them secretly yearn
for the life of a kept ghoul, hoping it would be
easier than being constantly on the hunt.

Unaffiliated ghouls. Especially

common among the Anarchs,
some ghouls manage to navigate
Kindred society without
becoming chained to any
single vampire. They often
fulfill a useful purpose and
get their blood from many
different sources. A typical
origin for such ghouls is that

111
Ghoul LARPs
Here are a few example concepts for an all-
ghoul LARP:
The staff party. The city’s ghouls have a traditional
get-together where they complain about their
masters, share tips, and just generally support
and backstab each other with others who
share their unique predicament. The evening’s
atmosphere is relaxed until a group of young
Camarilla vampires crashes the party, amusing
themselves by humiliating the ghouls. Can the
Kindred have their fun and then leave or does
one of the ghouls lose their temper, causing an
incident in which one or all of the vampires get
destroyed? For a less confrontational version
of the same idea, perhaps a couple of Anarchs
join the party, figuring that surely the ghouls
think they are okay! Awkwardness ensues as the
ghouls pretend to like the vampires.
Tables turned. A small group of young vampires
are having a get-together which gets attacked
by a group of bloodthirsty independent ghouls.
In this setup, the vampires are all supporting
characters, technically superior but in reality
victims to the ghouls’ whims because of their
small numbers. The ghoul player characters
112
revel in their power, intimidating the vampires,
making threats and having fun, their internal
dynamics complicated by the fact that some of
them are blood bound to the Kindred present. If
they reveal themselves, they risk being destroyed
by their compatriots but they still want to keep
their masters safe in some way.
Upstairs, downstairs. This concept combines
a stately Camarilla LARP with a ghoul LARP
by keeping them largely separate. The Kindred
have their intrigues in the salons and the
dining rooms while the ghouls interact among
themselves downstairs in the kitchens and other
servant’s spaces. The fact that the ghouls serve
vampires makes this easier because they are
spared the logistics of making and serving food.
Victory party. A group of ghoul hunters have
managed to find, exsanguinate, and kill three
young Kindred. They are flush with their success,
roaring with blood and glory. Servant ghouls
end up at the party and the hunters do their
best to convince them to turn on their masters.
After all, the servants of the Kindred get treated
terribly. The trouble is that no city can sustain
too many independent ghouls. There is only a
limited number of vampires and the older ones
tend to be too wily to trap.
 Chapter Eight

ASHIRRA

113
Remembrance of the Ancients
From the diary of Salman Hariri, a Lasombra
traveler:
It must feel peaceful to know that monsters
millennia old are unlikely to slumber under the
tarmac of a shopping mall parking lot. Sure,
there are rumors of Methuselahs who have
traveled to America and made this their home.
Perhaps one or two can be found somewhere,
sleeping or pretending to be hapless neonates.
Still.... the U.S. is huge. The ancients are rare.
Few here have ever witnessed one face-to-face.
I have. I suppose that’s why I returned. There are
many monsters still sleeping under the sands of
Egypt. I didn’t believe in them at first. I lived
my mortal life in Pittsburgh but I wanted to
get in touch with my heritage. I had become
one of the undead and I needed to know what
it all meant. I traveled to Cairo seeking for
something, anything that would let me know
why I was here. Now I’m just a scared dead
man, escaping back across the ocean, to try to
alleviate the destruction our forefathers will
cause when they wake.
I thought both my mortal and undying ancestors
came from Egypt. I was right on both counts.
My mortal family was perfectly happy to see
me. Unfortunately, so were my Kindred among
the Ashirra.
The Englishman who started all this had no idea
of the repercussions of his act of thievery. Of
course, he thought himself an archeologist, a
researcher digging through layers of history. An
excavation in 1877, a looted tomb the contents
of which now grace private collections all over
the world... and a methuselah who will wake
114
without the comforting remembrances of her
past.
Will their recovery keep her at peace, perhaps
willing to return to her deathless slumber?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. It’s a vain hope but it’s the
one I cling to.
One of our local Ventrue, Salomé Diaz, has
acquired a small child’s toy carved from rock;
a little toy elephant from three-thousand-
years ago. I don’t know its significance to the
methuselah but I do know she likes it. Diaz
seems entirely unaware of the connection. To
her, it’s just an ancient bauble.
I was there the last time the methuselah woke
and asked for it. I didn’t understand her words
but her will pierced my mind and I knew her
desires. Blood and comfort, something from the
time when things still made sense to her. She
had a sadness to her, even if I failed to appreciate
it because she was covered in the blood of my
friends and compatriots, having drunk them
dry to slake her own thirst.
I understood why the Ashirra preferred me to
be the one to deal with the methuselah instead
of themselves. They had been dealing with the
monsters sleeping in the ruins of other times
and other ages for decades, centuries. They
figured they could always throw a dumb traveler
to the wolves.
The methuselah was beautiful in the way of the
ancients. The memory still makes me weep as
I settle to sleep for the day, unable to escape
yearning for something I know will kill me.
Even if I manage to steal the toy from Diaz and
return it to Cairo.
THE FIRST AND THE LAST
Most Kindred in North America and Europe know two of the great sects: The Anarchs and the
Camarilla. If they’re unlucky, they might have had personal experience with a third, the Sabbat. Yet
there is a fourth sect, the Ashirra, with whom the Princes of the Camarilla have recently joined in a
grand alliance sealed with the Vermilion Wedding.

A Camarilla Kindred knowledgeable in the matters of the great sects might believe the following:

The Ashirra consider themselves the first Kindred sect, rooted in the Arabian and North African
homelands where all vampires originate, at least if the stories of Caine and Enoch are to be believed.
According to legend, the Ashirra was founded in 622 by an Arabian Lasombra called Suleiman bin
Abdullah who envisioned it to be a vehicle for bringing Islam to his fellow Cainites. Such religious
fervor is long in the past for the Ashirra of modern nights, a conservative sect that sees itself as a
precursor and a model for the European Camarilla that was to be founded much later.

Of all the sects, the Ashirra is most defined by the weight of history. Its origins resemble those of the
Sabbat and the Anarchs in that it started as a revolutionary movement among the Kindred with the
goal of bringing the word of the Prophet to the undead. Before the Ashirra was established, North
African domains were organized much like those in Europe and elsewhere, as individual cities and
territories controlled by powerful vampires who often warred among each other.

With the establishment of the Ashirra, a modicum of cooperation, tradition, and organized culture was
established.

Perhaps because of this, Ashirra domains managed to escape some of the worst depredations of the
Inquisition and other vampire hunters that decimated the ranks of European Kindred.

Of course, verifying any of this would require traveling to the Ashirra homelands, a perilous prospect
for most Kindred. This is why knowledge of the Ashirra is mostly in the hands of the elders and travelers
of various levels of trustworthiness.

The Weight of History

For the Kindred of the Camarilla and the
Anarchs who know the Noddist legends of
vampire mythology, it is difficult to separate
the stories about the Ashirra from the tales
taken from the Book of Nod.
From this perspective, the Ashirra are defined
by the mortal and vampiric history of their
homelands at least as much as it is by faith.
The Ashirra established itself on lands where
vampires had prowled for ten-thousand-years,
from the earliest nights of recorded history and
before.

115
The rare vampire traveler who manages to meet
the Ashirra in their own domains talks about
how they feel like they exist on borrowed time,
their unlives always in danger of being cut short
by a ravenous Methuselah who emerges from the
sleep of the centuries.
Vampire legends from the time when the
Antediluvians walked the earth feel more
immediate and relevant when you can meet
someone with memories that span millennia,
although it is unlikely that you will survive such
an encounter.
This history may also explain why real knowledge
of the modern Ashirra is still so spotty among
Kindred of other sects. When faced with a
legend and a fact, they choose the legend.

Ashirra Across the World

Like the Camarilla, the Ashirra has spread its closer relations with the Camarilla, symbolized
influence across the world from its original especially by the aforementioned Vermilion
North African and Middle Eastern domains. Wedding between the Toreador elder Victoria
Unlike the Camarilla, vampires of the Ashirra Ash and the Banu Haqim ancient Tegyrius.
have not been focused on claiming new
domains or fighting the Anarchs for territory. This also means that the Ashirra have been a
Rather, they have seemed content with subtle topic of conversation in Camarilla and Anarch
influence and advantageous alliances, allowing domains to a greater extent than in centuries
them to remain discreet and unobtrusive. past. Sometimes you may even meet an Ashirra
emissary, or more likely someone pretending
This position of studied neutrality has been to be one.
challenged in the last two decades as
Sabbat packs have significantly ramped
up their war efforts in the Middle East,
the countries where they believe many
of the Antediluvians to sleep. The
Sabbat’s holy crusade is understood
to have been deeply unwelcome to the
Ashirra making their havens in these
domains. They see the actions of these
Sabbat packs as an unwarranted,
violent, and destructive incursion
into their territories by a fanatical
foreign enemy.

To combat the Sabbat, the leaders of

many Ashirra domains have sought

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The Final Witness
If the stories are to be believed, the Ashirra are
the oldest of the four sects. Some of the more
mystically minded among the Noddists of the
Camarilla and the Anarchs assume that they
will also be the last sect, still here after the
upstarts in the Camarilla, the Sabbat, and the
Anarchs are long gone.
It’s unclear whether this focus on the vast
gulfs of time is an actual Ashirra quality or
something projected onto them by members of
the other sects. It is said that vampires of the
Ashirra are prone to an expansive historical
perspective, a view that extends thousands of
years into the past and projects a millenia into
the future. They have witnessed the rise and
fall of empires both mortal and Kindred and
know that they can always just wait until their
enemies are no more.
After all, it seems to work for the monstrosities
who slumber under the sands of Egypt, Libya,
Saudi-Arabia, and elsewhere. The only trouble
is that the creature who will one night rise from
their grave and wreak vengeance does not seem
to bear much resemblance to Kindred who still
seeks to hold onto their humanity.
It is rumored that the Ashirra have managed to
hold onto their humanity better than members
of other sects thanks to the community of faith
provided by Islam but this may just be wishful
thinking.

FAKES AND FRAUDS

How to use Ashirra vampires in a LARP? In most cases, characters presenting themselves as Ashirra
will be fakes and frauds, liars who have no real connection to the sect. They merely wish to assume its
aura of strength and wisdom for their own short-term benefit.

This means that the present Ashirra, whether real or fake, will be a minority in a principally Camarilla
and Anarch event. Their role can be compared to that of the Sabbat in that they are often best used
as a setting element giving context to the events in your domain.

The Sabbat are adversaries and enemies; nightmares who haunt the unlives of ordinary Camarilla
and Anarch characters. In contrast, ostensible Ashirra are potential allies who might provide a refuge
to those in need or act as neutral arbitrators in a conflict when there is nobody else to trust. Of
course, when the presumed Ashirra turns out to be a con artist, their arbitrations will lose whatever
legitimacy they might have had.

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Ashirra Characters There are a few rules of thumb to remember in
how to make this work at your event.
Traditionally, the Ashirra are a North African
and Middle Eastern sect. However, like all
1. Usually it is always better to have a small group
vampire sects, they too Embrace people of all
of Ashirra instead of a single representative, if
races and ethnicities, according to the needs
the size of the event allows it. It can be lonely
and whims of individual sires. Although the
to play an outsider and it is easier if you have
majority of Ashirra are Arab Muslims, there
friends.
are plenty of exceptions, especially outside
their traditional homelands.
2. There should be points of contact with the
local Kindred. The Ashirra elders who sent their
This means that if you decide to feature actual
childer to the city may be old friends with local
Ashirra characters in your event, they may be
eminences, seeing the Camarilla and their own
of any ethnic background.
sect as siblings in the war against the Sabbat, or
the Ashirra may sympathize with the Anarchs
As a sect, the Ashirra place a lot of importance
finding common ground in the closeness they
on the Islamic faith, or at least their vampiric
have with mortals.
interpretation of it, and sometimes Muslims
Embraced originally to the Camarilla or the
3. Neutrality gives the Ashirra their distinctive
Anarchs decide to seek out the sect as they see
quality but it should not hamper stories. Some
it as their own. These individuals form another
Ashirra may take their neutral role seriously
category of extraterritorial Ashirra: they have
while others may use it to cover for their self-
decided they are part of the sect despite having
serving activities, cheerfully taking sides while
little real communication with old Ashirra
pretending not to.
domains.
Finally, envoys and emissaries should have
Of course, there are non-Muslim Ashirra
a concrete purpose. They should not just
too. A secular Lasombra Embraced in Egypt
represent the Ashirra, but a specific interest
is a member of the Ashirra the same way the
of an individual or a smaller group, ideally
majority of European and North American
something that causes controversy among
Kindred default to the Anarchs and the
the other characters. For example, an Ashirra
Camarilla whether they believe the stories of
domain may seek the rendition of a Camarilla
Caine or not.
elder for crimes committed centuries ago, on
another continent.
Envoys and Envoys Of course, if the Ashirra characters are actually
charlatans, they can pretend to have a mission
A common role for both actual and fake Ashirra
and powerful backing when in reality it is all
characters is to act as envoys or emissaries for
made up.
their sect, representing the interests of their
elders and domains. They become almost like
an embassy; a purportedly neutral force in a
city where everybody is at each other’s throats.

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Refuge
The Ashirra can provide refuge to Kindred persecuted by other sects. This can lead to interesting
situations. For example, the Prince declares a blood hunt on a local Anarch leader who subsequently
petitions the local Ashirra representative for safety. The local Ashirra take the Anarch in, refusing to
give them over to the Prince.

What does the Prince do? Do they want to aggravate the local Ashirra? Do they attempt a trade, finding
something the Ashirra vampires want in exchange for the Anarch?

And what about the other Anarchs? They may discover a sudden love for the Ashirra, romanticizing
their commitment to humanity through religious practice because they so clearly stood behind their
values.

What happens when local Kindred discover that the “Ashirra” giving shelter to fugitives are not Ashirra
at all?

Like Hecata, the Clan of Death, the Ashirra are often understood to maintain a position of neutrality
in domains far from their own, and that can create interesting story opportunities. Another possibility
is that local Kindred ask the local Ashirra for arbitration on an important issue because they are seen
as powerful, yet disinvested in local conflicts.

For example, the Camarilla Court argues that the nightlife district is their territory while the Anarchs
say that they do all the work of actually cleaning up Masquerade breaches resulting from hunting
accidents. Because the sects of the city are equal in power, a local Ashirra is called in to hear both sides.

Of course, both the Camarilla and the Anarchs resent such outside interference in their business so the
situation can be delicate for the Ashirra vampire in question, especially if they are not actually Ashirra
at all. Being the center of attention often means that powerful members of other sects make it their
business to find out all they can about you.

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INTERLUDE: ENOUGH WITH THE FILTH
A letter from Sebastian to the Anarchs:

Hey,

I’m telling you all this in a letter for a reason. Remember when that Gangrel started
badmouthing the Anarchs and telling everyone she’d join the Camarilla? She was
young, much like me.

You beat her up and staked her. Maybe you even ended her. I don’t know.

Point is, I’m not going to have that happen to me. I’m joining the Camarilla and you
will have to deal with it. Next time you see me, I’ll have protection.

I don’t want to be an asshole about this. If everything was up to me, we’d remain friends
and all would be good. There’s no reason for you to hold a grudge just because I didn’t
fit in and made a different choice.

Okay, cards on the table. I was offered a choice. The Ventrue Salomé Diaz offered me
membership in the Camarilla. I’m not going to lie to you, or to myself. She said it was
because she thought I had a pretty face and she wanted to bring her lover to Elysium.
It’s not more than that.

I know it won’t last but once she gets tired of me, I’ll still be a member of the Camarilla.
I wasn’t born rich, back when I still breathed. I guess I was good at pretending to be
richer, better educated, more sophisticated than I really was but the truth is that for
most of my life I had nothing.

Then, the Embrace! Once I got over the shock I became aware of the possibilities. I saw
the Kindred of the Camarilla carve out vast empires of wealth for themselves.

Only I wasn’t Camarilla. I was a poor Anarch Brujah, expected to exist discreetly among
the kine and pretend to be one of them.

Seriously, what are we doing? What is immortality if you can’t even make yourself
comfortable? Among the Anarchs who make this city their home, I know a guy whose
Haven is the back room of a bar. Auntie Juniper hunts out of a camper van! And don’t
even get me started on the Nosferatu. A sewer? That’s just nasty.

Being one of the Kindred is hard. Not to see the sun, not to see daylight, to be a danger
to everyone you ever knew in life. Some nights I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to exist like

120
this. I miss so many people but I don’t want to get them killed. I know that every Kindred
is a poisonous presence. I’ve seen that enough times already. The Anarchs are good for
learning that lesson because so many of us choose to continue our old lives as if we
hadn’t become undead parasites. You know as well as I do how that tends to work out.

Maybe, just maybe, we could accept that the Camarilla is right on this one. Let’s make a
clean break with our mortal lives, accept that we’re undead creatures and make some
money to allay all the angst and suffering. I don’t know about you but I find it easier to
wrestle with my demons in the suite of a five star hotel.

You know what made me do this? It’s been simmering for a while but I admit there was
an incident. Something happened.

I was at the usual hangout, doing what we do every night. Griping about the Camarilla,
sitting on our asses, doing nothing. Some of the older Anarchs were there, Agata Starek
and Auntie Juniper. They said we should all go hunting together.

Sure, I said yes. I was bored. I figured maybe I could learn from them because they’re so
much more experienced than I am.

During that night, I saw Starek murder some poor bastard because she said he was a
Ventrue ghoul. Was he really? I have no idea. Did he deserve to die? Maybe. But I don’t
think so.

Auntie Juniper stopped a young man at a gas station and decided to take him on the
spot. He was her type, young, dumb and hot. The way her ghouls always look like, as if she
had a gym in her camper van.

I suppose he had a life. Maybe he had ambitions, loved ones, desires.... None of that
mattered. Now he’s just a servant to Auntie Juniper, another toy in her collection of
Blood Bound, Presence-addled pretty boy dimwits. He’ll die in a few years in some violent
incident down the road, just like they always do.

We’re not more moral than the Camarilla. We’re not the good guys. We’re monsters just as
they are, only our crimes are small and petty. We sell our souls for nothing, table scraps
when we could live like kings.

You’ll hate me. I know you will. Still, I hope that once I get established in the Camarilla,
I’ll be able to pull some of you along with me.

Your friend,
— Sebastian

121
 BIG
Chapter Nine EVENTS
A HOUSE
FULL OF DEVILS
There’s no upper limit on how big a Vampire LARP can be, at least
in theory. Experience shows that LARPs for 10 to 40 players are
fairly easy to produce. Beyond that, scale generates new issues.
Here are some of them:

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- The size of the player base. How many participants do you believe the LARP can attract? If you have
a potentially small player base, you may struggle to fill your LARP. If you have a big player base, you
may end up with more people who want to play your LARP than you can accommodate.

- The venue. How many people can your venue accommodate? If the venue is too small, your players
will feel cramped and out of options. If too big, your LARP will feel empty. Fortunately LARPs are no
different from other events such as weddings in terms of figuring out how many people fit into a venue.

(When choosing a venue, the best ones have a number of separate spaces like side rooms, nooks, and
crannies. They also have a few bigger common spaces. This makes it possible to have big scenes and for
players to hold secret meetings, unexpectedly stumble into one another in the side rooms, and for the
social map of the LARP to become more nuanced.)

- Sleeping arrangements. If the LARP runs for multiple days and the players are expected to sleep on
site, does the venue have enough beds for the participants? If players take care of their own sleeping
arrangements, are there enough hotels in the area?

- Food. If you plan to have food at the event, can the venue itself feed your players? If not, are there
restaurants in the area?

- Bathrooms. Vampires might not need them but your players do. Make sure there are spaces where
players can put on their make-up and costumes and answer the call of nature if necessary.

As can be seen from this list, a lot of the issues that affect the maximum size of a LARP are practical
production questions. When you bring a lot of humans together, you need to see to their basic needs.
Once those are satisfied, they are ready to LARP. Not before.

Big Ideas
A big LARP needs a big idea that can govern a very large group of characters through a unified concept.
You can design a LARP of ten players through interesting bespoke character concepts that intersect in
a fun way. As the number of players goes up, the complexity of the social map increases and it becomes
more labor intensive to handcraft every character and interaction. As your writing and design team
grows, there is a danger that the production becomes unwieldy and stressful for the organizers.

You can avoid a lot of this labor by using three methods that reduce the workload. They are: (i) carefully
chosen big ideas; (ii) group-based design; and (ii) interaction engines.

“Carefully chosen big ideas” means that some LARP concepts inherently generate action. In the official

123
Vampire: The Masquerade LARP Enlightenment
in Blood played in Berlin in 2017, action flowed
from the core concept of revolution. This word
immediately tells you what to do. If you’re a
member of the establishment, you’re trying to
survive; if you’re a nobody, you join the joyous
destruction of the old order.
Because the concept inherently suggests action,
the LARP does not require quite so much pre-
created individual content.
The opposite of this would be a LARP that’s a big
get-together of the Camarilla of a few different
cities with no specific overarching goal. Such a
LARP is inert until animated by individually
created plots and character motivations.
The possible pool of big concepts can be limited
but these concepts can be recycled to make
very different LARPs. Other similar organizing
concepts are war, exodus, and festival.
These are big events that affect an entire
community.
Groups and Engines
Group-based design means that instead of
crafting individual characters, you should
conceptualize the LARP on the level of groups
Fortunately, Vampire: The Masquerade does a lot
of the heavy lifting for you because the game
already has numerous factions. When you think
of in-game events in terms of the Toreador and
the Brujah or the Camarilla and the Anarchs,
you are already doing group-based design.
If you say that the local Toreador and the Brujah
are at war, you have created a motivation for
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action for all of your characters in those two
clans.
An interaction engine is a mechanism set in
the game that automatically generates action
as the characters encounter it. A good engine is
a simple mechanism that allows the players to
generate ideas and actions themselves without
organizer input.
Here are a few simple examples of interaction
engines:
- The timetable. If the players have an in-game
timetable available to them, they can structure
their play around it. This works whether there
are ten players or 200.
- The magic item. A cursed item travels the
LARP, causing the bearer to act erratically and
then pass the item on causing the next person
to suffer similar effects and then pass the item
on, and so on.
- The tournament. The Prince declares that
in honor of the centenary of their rule, any
Kindred who wins ten duels against their peers
will gain a spot on the Primogen Council. As a
catch, you can only challenge those of similar
age as yourself or older. Neonates can challenge
elders but elders cannot challenge neonates or
ancillae.
THE VENEER OF SOPHISTICATION
A memo from the Ventrue Salomé Diaz to her staff concerning a planned soirée at the Elysium:

Servants gossip. That’s unavoidable so I know that the emerging unrest hasn’t passed you by. You know
that some among the Kindred are making moves, that the Anarchs are restless and our elders increasingly
distant.

In a situation like this, it’s more necessary than ever to show that we are not afraid. They have not rattled
us. The power of the Camarilla holds, and Elysium is as sacred as ever.

We will hold Elysium and we will do it as expansively, generously, and openly as we can. Our doors will
be open to all Kindred, barring those who have violated the Traditions. We will see whether our would-
be opponents will make the mistake of violating the peace of the Elysium.

Perhaps they will, but I suspect not.

Many Kindred like to talk about the revolution, fighting in the streets and assassinating their enemies.
Still, even among the Anarchs, when things get serious many of them don’t actually have what it takes
to thrive in open war. They talk big and then slink back into their holes.

As we hold Elysium, we call their bluff. We invite them to walk up to us and look us in the eyes and see
who blinks first.

Everything must be perfect. Some of you have been serving the Camarilla as ghouls since before I was
Embraced. You know how this is done properly. Even the mangiest Gangrel must be welcomed into the
Elysium, the grand stage on which the greatest political moves of our kind are played out in a genteel,
civilized atmosphere only possible thanks to centuries–no–millenia of tradition.

After all, tradition and the weight of ages is on our side.

The Elysium is neutral ground. From a LARP

The Concept
The Elysium is the most common, traditional
setting for a Vampire LARP. It is the baseline
against which all other Vampire LARP concepts
set themselves. The exact rules in force at the
Elysium vary domain by domain but the most
commonly understood one is that Kindred are
prohibited from attacking each other while there.
perspective, this is highly convenient because
it makes it possible to organize a large social
event in which there are characters and groups
who are violently opposed to each other.
This is why it is a good idea to communicate
this Kindred culture so that everyone respects
the sanctity of the Elysium, even the most
hardened Anarchs and high-handed elders. The

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in-game idea of Elysium as a neutral space makes
the LARP itself possible.
The traditional Elysium LARP is an event hosted
by the Camarilla, often the Prince and their court.
There can also be a separate official, the Keeper of
the Elysium, who is in charge of making sure that
the rules are followed and no conflict escalates
into violence.
The Elysium is essentially a party or a reception,
a chance for all Kindred in the domain to meet.
The Venue
The classic Elysium venue is fancy, befitting the
Ventrue and Toreador who often organize these
events. If you have the production capacity
and budget for it, you can rent a mansion or a
similarly striking space.
Sometimes it is possible to rent museums for
private events, or art galleries. These also make
for fine Elysiums.
In a sense, the task of a LARP organizer who is
looking for a venue is very similar to that of a
ghoul servant told by their Toreador domitors to
find a good place. In both cases, you need to check
out what is available within your budget range,
subject to the limitations and requirements of
event design.
Since budgets are often limited, you can also
get creative with what is an Elysium. Vampires
have eclectic tastes and a Prince or a Keeper can
designate anything from a city park to a parking
garage as Elysium if they so choose.
An unusual choice of venue can be connected
to an ongoing story in the chronicle. Perhaps
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the usual venue for Elysium was raided by the
Second Inquisition, forcing the Kindred into
making alternate arrangements.
The Characters
Every vampire in the domain can feature in the
Elysium LARP. Indeed, it is often fun to have
wildly disparate groups of characters present.
The Ventrue and Toreador in their sophisticated
finery, the Brujah and the Gangrel feeling out
of place and alienated.
You can take advantage of the rules of the
Elysium by introducing characters who want
to murder each other. This can play out on the
individual level: perhaps the Tremere Primogen
just had the mortal boyfriend of a Ventrue
Harpy killed “to protect the Masquerade”. From
a higher vantage point, the mutual hatreds of
the clans and other Kindred social groups can
fester and boil because the LARP would not
descend into all-out physical combat.
It’s a good idea to avoid overplaying how strange
it is for the Anarchs and similar outsiders to be
among the Camarilla. Stressed too much, it is
possible to create the feeling that they should
not be here at all, and it would make sense
for their characters to leave the LARP. Such
a situation points their characters in a useless
direction.
It is better if the assumption among local
Kindred is that the Anarchs, the Brujah, or
other outsiders are always there. They can gripe
about it and feel unwanted but next month,
they will be there again.
The Stories
The Elysium is a great place for traditional
Vampire LARP stories. Here are a few examples:
- Deposing the Prince. You decide that the
Prince should be replaced, preferably by you.
Get together a coalition of other Kindred, line
up powerful backers and organize a palace
coup. In some domains, a powerful Prince rules
for decades while in others the office changes
hands all the time.
- The veneer of sophistication. Camarilla
Kindred are good at maintaining a civilized
aura even when their actions are horrifying and
barbaric. The Elysium is where they uphold the
facade and you can play on this contrast. Perhaps
local Kindred must discuss which mortal assets
to use as cannon fodder in the war against the
Sabbat or snipe at each other by assassinating
mortal relations of members of rival clans.
127
- A forum for personal stories. You will have
as many personal stories as you have player
characters. Each has their own motivations,
dreams and hopes. Elysium is a good place for
the players and their characters to further their
personal goals because all relevant characters
are there. A Camarilla vampire is considering
defecting to the Anarchs? They can talk to a few
Anarchs about it at the Elysium. Kindred who
are normally difficult to reach are there if you
need them.
- Social games. The Elysium is the domain of
the Heralds and the Toreador, the pettiest and
most cliquish tastemakers among the Kindred.
The Elysium is the place where the social
butterflies execute their plans and hunt their
prey, playing games out of boredom or because
they know that under the trivial veneer, their
actions have real consequences.
THE TUNNELS
UNDERNEATH
“I’m new to this!” Deja said,
instinctively touching the wall
to steady herself. It felt cold
and chalky. She looked at
her hand. It was stained
with a black residue.
She considered
wiping it off but
she didn’t want
sewer filth on her
clothes either.

“You’ll
get
used to

it,” her guide said in his bubbling, strained
voice. “There are advantages to living like
this.”
Deja was about to make a biting remark but
held her tongue. She was the one looking for
sanctuary. Qiao and the other Nosferatu were
providing it for her.
The sewer tunnels were not all filth and
grime but the deeper they went, the older
the tunnels got, and with age came repellent
encrustations of moldering, indecipherable
substances.
Eventually they emerged into a maintenance
room with a low ceiling and white, glaring
halogen lights. Someone had managed to
bring in a ratty sofa and a surprisingly new
television. Two other Nosferatu were watching
a reality show. Like Qiao, they were grotesque to
look at, their flaking flesh somehow seemingly
more alive than you would expect from one of
the living dead.
“Is this where you hang out?” Deja asked,
looking around. It was not as bad as the tunnels
but there was brown dirt flaking on the floor.
“Where do you sleep?”
“Oh, we’re not so formal around here. Just
anywhere you want, basically. This space has
been decommissioned and it’s not on the sewer
plans. This is one of the safer havens in this
town,” Qiao said and leaned against the sofa,
the other Nosfertau glancing curiously at Deja.

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“There’s a lot of space here,” Qiao continued. “You’d be surprised how many people forget basements,
sewers, access tunnels, even whole metro stations. We claim them and make them disappear from city
plans. There’s a lot of us living here, mortals too.... Once you’re settled in, I’ll take you to meet some
folks.”

Deja was still standing in the doorway. She realized she was being rude and forced herself to walk into
the room. “Thank you. So during the day, I’d sleep....”

Qiao laughed, an unpleasant sound like his throat was not meant for it but was trying to mimic genuine
emotion. “I know it’s a lot. We’re not so glamorous down here. But just remember, your pursuers will not
find you. To make it easier, you can take the sofa. Me and the boys will sleep on the floor. What does it
matter anyway? We’re all corpses here.”

The Concept
The Nosferatu tend to have their havens in the tunnels underneath
the city. It is difficult for them to move among mortals because of
their appearance so they favor abandoned spaces. In vampire
society, the Nosferatu tend to be outsiders, apart from the
Elysiums of the Camarilla and the hangouts of the Anarchs.
Even a Nosferatu who belongs to one of the sects can find
themselves on the periphery.

This LARP is set in the underground world of the

Nosferatu. It can feature characters of all clans but the
Nosferatu are at the center of it, the characters with the
highest status and most power. In other places, the rest of
the clans dominate. Underground, it is the Sewer Rats.

In a chronicle, this concept works best if it is not the first

event. Once the players have gotten used to a status quo
where most events are held at Elysium at the pleasure of
the Ventrue and the Toreador, you can shake it up with
a game set underground or in an industrial wasteland.

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The Venue
The venue has to sell the concept. To make
the LARP work, you need an industrial space,
an underground space, or something equally
gritty. You may get lucky with sewer museums,
decommissioned metro stations or the like. In
some cities, there are such spaces available for
rent.
Sometimes disused factories or other industrial
spaces are available for parties or other events
and that should work for LARP too. There is a
balance there with how much filth is too much.
This also depends on your players and play
culture. Sometimes you can find an abandoned
factory that is available very cheaply and has
the right atmosphere but will also cover all
participants in actual grime.
The main things to look for is whether the
venue has bathrooms, places where people
can sit, and whether it is physically safe. Some
decommissioned buildings are hazardous
because of neglect. The liability you have in
such situations as an organizer changes from
country to country.

The Characters
You can make this into a big LARP by including all sorts of outsiders inhabiting the World of Darkness;
all the recluses who might share an underground habitat with the Nosferatu. Exiled vampires might
have found refuge in the sewers, the Prince’s bloodhounds unwilling to brave the
filth and unknown darkness. Some characters might not even be vampires at all,
but instead Ratkin or Bone Gnawers.

There are surprising alliances to be made among the outcasts and

traditional hostilities might not necessarily break down along
their usual lines.

The most important division between character types is

those who live here and those who are just visiting. For the
Nosferatu, this is home. For the Toreador, it’s a disquieting
adventure into a thrilling and scary new environment. What do the
locals think of Camarilla ancillae who think they are slumming?

The Stories
The local characters in this LARP know they
are at the bottom of the totem pole. Some
might resent those who live among humanity
indistinguishable from them, while others are
resigned to it. For a few, this could even be the
superior way to exist as a vampire.
The LARP works well if there is a twist in
ordinary power relations giving the sewer
dwellers the edge. Perhaps the Sabbat has
attacked the city, forcing the Camarilla elite to
seek refuge underground. The Nosferatu relish
the opportunity this provides, as the Kindred

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who usually snub their noses at them suddenly
have to bow and scrape.
Another possibility is to use the LARP to
flesh out the culture and milieu of the city’s
downtrodden. The Camarilla resides in wealth
and luxury while the Anarchs integrate
themselves into the lives of the mortal
population. Both ignore the fact that many
cities effectively have a third sect, a nameless
group of Kindred unable to exist unnoticed if
they are surrounded by mortals.
If this is the basis of the LARP, then for
Nosferatu, and perhaps Malkavian and Gangrel
characters, this is their moment to shine. They
THE POWER AND THE BLOOD
SEBASTIAN: Wow. It’s so quiet here. It’s like
the walls just absorb all sound.
SALOMÉ DIAZ: Stop gawking like a yokel.
You’re my lover now. Act like it.
SEBASTIAN: Okay, okay.... It’s just that I’ve
never been to the Tremere Chantry before. I
didn’t know Kindred had places like this in the
city.
SALOMÉ DIAZ: I can see that. Now, be a good
boy and follow my lead.
SEBASTIAN: Before we go in, I have a question.
SALOMÉ DIAZ: What?
SEBASTIAN: How come this is safe? What if
Second Inquisition hunters find this place? It’s a
big neoclassical building with occult runes and
everything. Not exactly discreet.
131
can figure out how their characters actually deal
with things among themselves. For characters
among the other clans, it is a chance to step into
a world they did not really know even existed,
or which they steadfastly ignored.
From a more personal perspective, this LARP
concept heightens the differences between the
haves and have nots. Individual Toreador and
Nosferatu see their different privileges and
advantages in stark relief as the action moves
away from its usual genteel context. It is a chance
for Anarch characters to realize that perhaps
they are not at the bottom after all. There are
others more unfortunate than them.
SALOMÉ DIAZ: Did you bother to look out of
the windows of our limo when we arrived?
SEBASTIAN: No, I guess not.
SALOMÉ DIAZ: This is the university library,
or the oldest of the several library buildings.
We’re at the campus. The Tremere have a lot
of influence here and they’ve secreted their
Chantry in a building that’s visited by hundreds
of students every day.
SEBASTIAN: Oh. That’s clever.
SALOMÉ DIAZ: The Tremere may be
desperately unfashionable but they’re not dumb.
Now, your job is to look pretty and not embarrass
me. Do you think you can do that?
SEBASTIAN: Sure. I guess.
SALOMÉ DIAZ: Good. Let’s go.

The Venue
This is a LARP concept that requires due
consideration to find the right venue. Since it is
supposed to be the Tremere Chantry, it should
be a building where the Tremere could plausibly
have their libraries and Havens.
In ideal circumstances, you would have an
occult library; a ritual space and the private
chambers of clan members, decorated in dark
wood and perfected by a cabinet of curiosities.
Unfortunately, such ready-made venues are not
easy to find!
132
The Concept
Many domains boast a Tremere Chantry; a
building occupied by the Tremere, used as a
central repository of knowledge and often also
a communal Haven by some or all of the clan
members. The building is a landmark on the
mental map of local Kindred because few clans or
other Kindred organizations have such a clearly
defined headquarters.
This means that a LARP can easily be set in the
Tremere Chantry. Perhaps once a month, the
Tremere host a reception for members of other
clans. Or maybe the event is more unusual,
prompted by recent events in a chronicle.
The focus in a Chantry LARP is obviously on the
Tremere, their plans, culture, and practices. It
works best if characters in other clans are curious
about the Tremere so if you insert this concept
into a chronicle, you may want to build up the
mystery of the Tremere a few events in advance.
Who knows what is happening behind the walls
of the Chantry? Now is your chance to find out!
If you want a venue that fits the traditional Tremere
atmosphere of erudition, scout local universities,
libraries, or other places of knowledge. Sometimes
they will have spaces that you can rent with the
appropriate atmosphere of history. Then you can
make it so that the Tremere do not want to let
outsiders into their inner chambers and limit
their visitors to these more public spaces.
In modern nights, the Tremere have fragmented.
They are no longer a monolithic organization
dedicated to the aesthetic of Hermetic wizardry.
This means that if the majority Tremere faction
in your city is the followers of Carna or some
other splinter group, the Chantry can also have
a different vibe.
The clan has traditionally spent a lot of resources
on maintaining imposing and impressive
Chantries. In the age of the Second Inquisition
it is possible that the old Chantry has been lost
and suddenly the clan has had to adapt to new
circumstances.
All this means that you can decide whether you
want to create the traditional Tremere Chantry
experience (limited by practical realities) or
if it feels more interesting to look at other
options provided by changes in the clan and
the threat of hunters. In an ongoing chronicle,
an event held at the new, improvised Chantry
of Tremere who have just been forced to leave
their traditional home can be interesting.
The Characters
This concept works best if there are enough
Tremere in the city for the clan to have internal
politics. Since the Tremere will be hosting the
event, it is more interesting if there are visible
cracks in the unified front presented by the clan.
The Tremere must have a reason to open their
doors to members of other clans. Perhaps they
are looking for allies, or maybe they are worried
about recent negative rumors swirling around
the clan. After all, everyone knows the Usurpers
are devious blood magicians seeking to control
you through the very vitae that makes you into
a vampire.
In an ongoing chronicle, the reason for the event
can be more specific and related to ongoing
storylines. For example, if the city has acquired a
new Prince, the clan can host a reception in their
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honor to show their loyalty and commitment to
the new rule.
Other characters can be anyone the Tremere
have invited. It is not strange to be curious
about what is happening behind the walls of the
Chantry so even characters antagonistic to the
Tremere have a simple motivation for visiting.
Outside visitors to the Chantry should have a
variety of motivations regarding the Tremere. A
Caitiff wants to ask for their help to determine
their true lineage while Anarchs wonder how
committed the Tremere really are to the rule of
the Ventrue Prince.
The Stories
The most dramatic story you can implement
through a Tremere event is the further
splintering of the clan. Perhaps there are rumors
of internal division among the Tremere and the
Regent decides to fight them by hosting a public
event that is meant to show the clan’s unity and
purpose.
Instead, the internal divisions among the clans
flare up and followers of Carna or even a new
splinter faction destroy the seeming hegemonic
unity of the Pyramid by declaring independence.
What does this mean for the remaining loyalists
among the clan? They find themselves suddenly
weakened, in sore need of allies. As for the newly
independent Tremere, they too find themselves
alone in a hostile world. Do they go with the
Anarchs or seek protection from the Prince?
The Tremere are famous for blood sorcery and
this makes for a good subject for smaller stories
in a Chantry LARP. Here are a few ideas:
- The Prince says they are a Ventrue, but are they really? Perhaps the Tremere can find out if someone
manages to acquire a drop of the Prince’s blood.

- The Anarchs have heard rumors that the Tremere Chantry features a “library of blood”, where samples
of vitae from all kinds of Kindred are stored. Some Anarchs want to steal them for their own uses, while
others just want to taste them. There could be blood from a Methuselah! How often do you get to drink
that?

- The Tremere have been developing a new ritual that sounds suspiciously like the Vaulderie of the
Sabbat. The Sheriff tries to discreetly get to the bottom of the matter while pretending to be an ally of
the Tremere.

THE FLOWER OF HUMANITY

From a police interview tape:
Detective Fakhoury: Can you describe what
happened at the nightclub?
Lloyd-Atkinson: I’ve lived here for a few months.
I’m an exchange student from Leeds. It’s in the
U.K.
Detective Fakhoury: What’s their relationship
to you?
Lloyd-Atkinson: They’re just friends from the
uni. They invited me along.
Detective Fakhoury: You arrived at the club at
eleven, right?

Detective Fakhoury: Yes. Lloyd-Atkinson: Yes. Roy got us drinks while I

went dancing with Emma.
Lloyd-Atkinson: I just wanted to go out. I
haven’t had a chance to do that while I’ve been Detective Fakhoury: Were illegal substances
here. involved?

Detective Fakhoury: It’s okay. Did you go alone? Lloyd-Atkinson: No... I mean....

Lloyd-Atkinson: No, I went with friends. They Detective Fakhoury: Your friends have
asked me along. disappeared. It’s best if you tell me the truth.

Detective Fakhoury: Would that be... one Lloyd-Atkinson: Roy and Emma were using
moment.... (Papers shuffling.) Emma Martinez something, they were high.... But I don’t know a
and Roy Bryant? lot about that stuff.

Lloyd-Atkinson: Yes. Both. Detective Fakhoury: You didn’t use anything?

Please, it’s important.

134
Lloyd-Atkinson: Maybe a little LSD.
Detective Fakhoury: Considering the timeline
of events, would it be fair to say you’re still
under the effects of the substance at the present
moment?
Lloyd-Atkinson: ...yes.
Detective Fakhoury: Okay. Time may be of the
essence so we will continue with the interview
despite your current state. Can you describe
the first moment when you felt something was
wrong?
Lloyd-Atkinson: Roy and Emma are a couple
and they’re pretty monogamous. But I saw
them dancing and they were making out with
strangers. A girl was kissing Emma’s neck and
she was really into it.
Detective Fakhoury: Can you describe the girl?
Lloyd-Atkinson: I don’t know... I don’t remember
it so well. She was Black. Older than us.
Detective Fakhoury: That’s not much to go on.
Lloyd-Atkinson: I’m sorry. I was so confused.
Detective Fakhoury: Did you engage in intimate
activities while dancing?
Lloyd-Atkinson: Yes. Yes I did. I don’t even know
who it was. It felt so good. I was so...
Detective Fakhoury: Please, Ms. Lloyd-Atkinson.
Collect yourself.
Lloyd-Atkinson: I’m sorry. It’s just that the
memory is very strong. Vague but strong.
135
Detective Fakhoury: Vague but strong?
Lloyd-Atkinson: I can’t explain it.
Detective Fakhoury: At which point did you
realize you had lost your friends?
Lloyd-Atkinson: Back at the dorm. I don’t even
know how I got there. Everyone was feeling so
good....
Detective Fakhoury: At the dorm?
Lloyd-Atkinson: No, at the club. People were
making out all around me, dancing, moving, and
I felt so loved.... I lost all sense of time.
Detective Fakhoury: You realize this is serious,
right? We’re investigating the disappearance
of your friends. Anything you might give us is
helpful.
Lloyd-Atkinson: I understand.
Detective Fakhoury: So....
Lloyd-Atkinson: One guy was a monster but he
was also human, like both at the same time, and
he bit me I think.
Detective Fakhoury: A monster bit you…?
Lloyd-Atkinson: Yes. But it felt good. So good....
Detective Fakhoury: Okay. I think we’re done
here. This is going nowhere.
The Concept
Vampires are defined by their need for blood. A vampire hunts. To make that possible in a vampire
LARP, you need a lot of mortal characters and a setting where the Masquerade is in force. A nightclub,
a rave, or a party are all good settings for this kind of LARP. For mortal characters, it is an ordinary
night out. For vampire characters, it is a chance to go on the prowl and satisfy their need for sustenance.

This concept goes to the core of what vampires are all about. Hunting and being hunted. Both can be
a fun experience. From the standpoint of a mortal character, it means being seduced by a mysterious
stranger and perhaps even accidentally turned into a vampire in the middle of the party.

The LARP works best if the vampire characters are young Anarchs, not too good at controlling their
impulses or maintaining the Masquerade. Of course, the Masquerade is more robust when everyone is
drunk and high, prone to ignoring troubling signs all around them.

The Venue
Organizing a LARP like this is very similar to organizing an actual party, with the added work of
creating characters and stories for them to play out. That means that you can exploit existing nightlife
infrastructure. Rent a nightclub or some other venue that is regularly used for parties anyway and you
are good to go. The same goes for DJs and other requirements.

The choice of venue affects the atmosphere of the event. A nightclub has a different vibe than a
warehouse party. You can explore the options for partnering with professional party organizers since
they already have the expertise for this sort of an event, sans the LARP parts.

A good goal to consider is whether this would be a good party if it did not have any of the LARP
elements. If the answer is yes, you are going in the right direction.

The Characters
The majority of the characters should be mortals who do not know anything about vampires. This
means that you should consider the experience of the players of those mortal characters first, before
you think about how the LARP is to play as a vampire. What is it like to go out in the World of
Darkness, into the sordid nightlife of a decaying city where everyone knows they have no future?

What is it like to be hunted by bloodsucking monstrosities?

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Mortal characters should have their own cliques and rivalries, motivations and goals that keep their
LARP running whether there is vampire contact or not.

The Kindred should represent a minority of the characters, perhaps only 10%, and they should be only
marginally removed from the human experience. They can be neonates with only a few years as Kindred,
a motley bunch who do not have all that much trouble blending in among the mortal characters.

The Stories
This concept is best suited for doing the kind of stories about hunting and being hunted that are
difficult when most characters are Kindred. Ideally the fact that the Kindred need blood and are here
to hunt will in itself generate interesting interactions and dynamic action. How do they hunt while
maintaining the Masquerade? It is fun if the vampire characters are less experienced, forcing them and
their players to come up with new hunting tactics that fit their circumstances.

You can complicate the scenario by giving some of the mortal characters the opportunity to hunt
vampires, turning predators into prey. Perhaps there are disgruntled ghouls or even actual Second
Inquisition agents among the partying throng.

That could be a funny scenario in itself: a team of Second Inquisition agents have a night off and decide
to go out. At the party, they start to suspect that the undead might be preying among the crowd. Are
they just imagining it–the pressures of the job getting to them–or is it real?

You should consider what to do if the Masquerade is truly broken during the LARP. This could be how
it ends, with inexperienced vampires making a mess of it, leading to panic. Or maybe everyone is too
high to really trust their own sense of reality.

137
BLOOD RAVE
Deja: Okay, I got to ask. What’s with all the
parties? I understand that sometimes you want
to have fun. That’s fine. But you spend so much
time organizing these things.
Dee: Me? You know, I’m not really an organizer
type... I’m all about the vibes.
Deja: Not you personally. The Anarchs!
Dee: You’re an Anarch too. Didn’t you defect?
Deja: Yes. I did. Let’s stick to the point.
Dee: Yeah, so…. Look at that guy! I bet he tastes
good.
Deja: You mean that guy who looks like a
lecherous creep? I mean... he doesn’t look very
appealing to me.
Dee: You got to look inside his veins. Feel the
taste of his blood. I promise, it’ll be good.
Deja: How can you tell?
Dee: You develop an instinct for these things.
Look at those veins on his neck.
Deja: That’s one advantage of pale skin, sure.
Brings out the veins.
Dee: Yeah! Anyway, I call dibs.
Deja: Feel free. I’m not touching that guy. But
you didn’t answer my question. We’re at a
warehouse rave in the middle of nowhere. Why
do we, the Anarchs, spend so much time on
party organizing?
138
Dee: You sound like a schoolteacher. It’s that
patiently exasperated note in your voice.
Deja: Dee...
Dee: Okay, fine. It’s because of the Blood. We
want to have fun with our prey, drink when we
like and forget the Masquerade for a few hours.
It’s here out of town because the Camarilla hogs
all the best feeding territories and because there
are no bystanders to see us drink blood on the
dancefloor.
Deja: We’re breaking the Masquerade?
Dee: No. This is an Anarch party. Vampires,
ghouls and blood dolls only.
Deja: If the Camarilla knew about this, they’d
claim these feeding areas too.
Dee: They sure would. But it’s useless. It’s not
about the territory. It’s about cultivating a herd
and bringing them together so we can have a bit
of fun.
Deja: This is... actually very smart.
Dee: Hey, look at that guy!
Deja: Is he vomiting blood?
Dee: Yeah! What a waste of good blood. Although
if you’re desperately hungry…
Deja: You know what? Let’s just drop this subject
right now.

The Concept
The Anarch rave is big, chaotic, and bloody. This
is where the Kindred can let go without having
to worry about being seen or making mistakes in
front of their compatriots. Even the undead can
feel the beat in their bodies as the Kindred revel
in their unageing resilience, surrounded by their
adoring herds and resentful ghouls.
Where the Camarilla’s events tend to be genteel
and sophisticated, an Anarch party is loud, crass,
and energetic. You can dance, feed, and brawl
to your heart’s content, knowing that everyone
around you is there for the same reason.
The strength of the rave is in the tenacity of the
Anarchs themselves. More than a few raves have
been raided by Second Inquisition hunters or
shut down by the Camarilla for threatening to
breach the Masquerade but new ones will always
pop up. There are plenty of young Anarchs with
the skills and connections to make them happen.
As a LARP concept, the rave works best when
you really stress the contrast from other, more
Camarilla focused events. Here the Anarchs do
not have to be outsiders that are barely tolerated
as young ingrates who do not know how to act
or behave. This is their element, their party, and
it is here that they make the rules.
The Venue
You can use any venue where there is a dancefloor
and where you can get loud music pumping. It
is best if the dancefloor is slightly too small for
the crowd so that it looks packed.
If you have a big LARP with a hundred or more
players, you can go for maximum authenticity
139
and try to find a warehouse or industrial space
similar to the kind that gets used for real raves
on which the event is modeled.
Considering that the Anarchs’ need to uphold
the Masquerade coincides with your need to
make sure the owners of the venue and their
neighbors are happy, this is a loud LARP that is
best organized somewhere people do not mind
a bit of noise late at night.
The Characters
You can break down the characters in this
LARP into four broad groups:
1. The Anarchs. This is their home tuft and
they know it. They are relaxed and having fun
among their own kind. They are mostly Brujah,
Toreador, Gangrel, Malkavian and Nosferatu,
with a smattering of other clans present as well.
2. The Camarilla. Many Anarch raves are open
to all Kindred but when a Camarilla vampire
shows up, it is clear they are outsiders and
certainly get treated as such. For a Camarilla
neonate, an Anarch rave can be a disorienting,
threatening, and exhilarating event. Older
Camarilla members remember their youth,
when they were not quite as jaded as they are
now.
3. Ghouls. The Anarchs have plenty of ghouls,
often the friends and acquaintances of
individual Kindred who have become part of
the Anarch Movement through osmosis. Your
friend gets sick and you decide to help them get
better by supplying them with your blood. The
next thing you know, they are blood addicted
servants. Many Anarchs maintain romantic
views about their ghouls that are not exactly
mirrored by their mortal lackeys.
4. Blood dolls. It is a dirty secret among the
Anarchs that the Masquerade is leaking at the
bottom of the hierarchy. Individual Anarchs
accumulate herds of blood dolls so that hunting
becomes easier. The mortals often become
essentially vampire groupies, hanging around
Anarch haunts in the hope of experiencing the
Kiss and its pleasures. They come to Anarch
raves in droves and it is then that you see how
many of them really are out there, and how
loosely they are controlled.
For the LARP to succeed it is important that
all four character types have an equally fun
experience. They do different things from
different standpoints but there must be
something interesting for everybody. Ideally,
the Anarchs get to party, the Camarilla get
to be scandalized and tantalized, the ghouls
get to hatch and execute plots against their
supposed betters, and the blood dolls get to
lose themselves in the debauchery.
The Stories
The Anarch rave is the best arena for stories
about Anarch characters. This is their home
140
domain; the area where the dramas of the sect
are played out. Relationships between Anarch
gangs, disagreements about who gets to
Embrace and who does not, and debates about
the tactics of the entire Anarch Movement all
play out to the steady beat of the music.
If you can imagine an Anarch story, you can
put it here.
If the LARP is part of a chronicle, this is where
you can draw out the map of local Anarch
society. What are the power structures? Is there
a Baron who is respected or reviled? You can
also look at it from the perspective of a visiting
outsider. What would they see? What kind of
conflicts could they observe?
The biggest difference from a Camarilla event
is the presence of so many mortals. From their
perspective, the Kindred are painfully cool,
and hold the secret of immortality in their
desiccated veins. Some mortals may go quite
far to get their hands on that secret.
 KNEEL IN PRAYER
The Blood of Caine is within all of us. Each of us can trace our
lineage all the way through the centuries until we reach the Dark
Father himself. His blood–his sacred vitae–makes us what we
are!

His blessing!

Elevating us from mere

mortals to a higher level.
We’ve been chosen to
wrestle with the Blood, with
the urges constantly tempting us
to destroy, defile, and consume.

I won’t lie to you. All those things are a result of the Dark Father’s blessing and how could I hide
them? You experience them every night, same as me.

We are being tested! The Blood’s blessings carry a price that we must be able to pay. Sacrifice is
not easy but when we have been chosen for a divine purpose, we know we must give everything
we have.

You and I.

All Kindred are one, united in the purpose given to us by our Dark Father!

— A priest addressing a congregation at the Church of Caine

141
 Temples, wedding chapels, etc.; really anything
The Concept that has the right layout to suggest worship and
devotion.
The role of the Church of Caine varies from
domain to domain. Sometimes the Church is
Experience has shown that churches have
a major force of the establishment, backing
widely varying attitudes towards the idea of
the Prince and enjoying the full privileges of
Vampire LARP on their premises. While many
a quasi-official religion. In other domains the
expect churches to react negatively, you might
Church stands apart from local hierarchies
be surprised at what is possible if you just ask.
or even faces persecution from authorities
Just be honest with what you are going to be
uncomfortable with a challenge to their rule.
doing to avoid problems later.
The role of the Church in the domain strongly
If an actual church is not possible, you can
influences the nature of LARPs built around it.
have the same effect by copying the layout
Here are two options:
with chairs facing the altar in the front. If you
do this, make sure you also have spaces where
The Prince is Caine incarnate. The Church
characters can mingle and interact. The front-
supports the local Prince, arguing that each
facing traditional church layout is great for
Camarilla ruler is a representation of Caine on
ceremonies but bad for more interactive play.
earth, imbued with a divine mandate. Going
to Church means bowing at the feet of the
If you can swing it, religious paraphernalia
local establishment, making religious services
invoking Caine goes a long way. Candles and
fraught for Anarchs and other malcontents.
eldritch books in Latin are always great. You
can even make a cloth backdrop with the
The Church is a refuge for the dispossessed.
Cainite symbol or a big physical version out of
For whatever reason, the Church is not popular
wood.
among local elites. Perhaps the majority of the
domain is Bahari or its ruler’s distrust religious
authority. The result is that the Church
is popular among Anarchs, thin-bloods, The Characters
Nosferatu, and others who tend to get a raw
deal in Kindred society. The most important distinction among
different character groups is in terms of their
In any case, the LARP is built around a religious relationship with the faith.
service conducted by the Church. It explores
themes of faith, redemption, and divinity in The inner circle is the core of the local Church
the context of vampires doomed to exist as of Caine, consisting of the officials and the
parasites subsisting off the blood of others. most devout followers who do not have to
prove their dedication to the cause. They are
The Venue privy to the innermost secrets of the Church,
its clandestine connections, and its malignant
The most obvious venue for a Church of Caine agenda. If the Church is really allied with the
ceremony is a church, whether deconsecrated Sabbat or planning to resuscitate a Methuselah,
or not. Other options include Masonic these are the Kindred in the loop.

142
The faithful are the ordinary members of the
Church. They are Kindred who find meaning
and community in its tenets but have other
interests as well. This is probably the biggest
character group. They look up to the inner
circle as religious authorities and seek to find
their own meaning in the teachings of the
faith. Their stories connect to the Church
but also usually relate to secular matters from
their nightly unlives.
The seekers are new to the Church. They
might be skeptics who have come to see what
the Church is all about or pilgrims who are
dissatisfied with their vampiric existence and
hope that the Church can give them answers.
They often have strange ideas that may not be
entirely compatible with the teachings of the
Church. They bring baggage that can cause
trouble for the congregation but they are also
necessary if the faith is to prosper and grow.
The role of the Church in the city has a
huge impact on who the characters are. If
the Church is a staunch supporter of the
Prince and their regime, the congregation
is composed of Ventrue loyalists. If it is a
refuge for the dispossessed, there are plenty of
Nosferatu, Brujah, and Malkavians. You can
create interesting hierarchies by playing on
the compositions of the different categories
of Church members. For example, if the inner
circle consists of Nosferatu
and Malkavians but the
143
faithful are mostly Ventrue and Brujah, the
Church will have a different vibe than a typical
Elysium event.
The Stories
On an individual level, the Church is a great
setting for stories of faith, doubt, the search for
meaning, and the importance of community.
Being in the Church means something for
everyone there and the LARP works best if all
characters take it seriously. After all, why else
would they be here?
The Church as a whole provides ideas for
different stories:
The Schism. Two (or more!) rival factions in the
Church each espouse their own interpretations
of the faith. Their followers start to get into
fights with each other and the acrimony
threatens to tear apart the congregation. Is there
any hope for religious unity? Typically, this sort
of schism is ostensibly about a theological issue
but in reality has to do with material questions.
For example, one faction says that Caine still
walks the night while another claims Caine
has ascended to a higher plane, perhaps even
Heaven. Behind the scenes, the real fight is
about whether the Church opposes or supports
a new claimant to praxis.
Holy War. The Church of Caine and the Bahari
cannot exist in the same city. They hate each
other’s guts. Because the Bahari are nevertheless
there, the Church is becoming increasingly
shrill, dogmatic and militant. Some characters
want to save it from itself. Others want to use
it to destroy their enemies by claiming they are
Bahari. And of course, there might be a few
among the faithful who have secretly become
converts to the Bahari cause.
The Prophet. A mysterious new vampire arrives in the city, claiming to be an ancient from the
time of Caine. They have just recently risen from torpor, having slept for millenia. Most among the
Church think the prophet is a fraud but some wonder if they might learn true wisdom from someone
who actually met Caine himself. To make things more complicated, the Prophet appears genuinely
unworldly, unaware of modern developments or struggles.

144
INTERLUDE: SIEGE WARFARE
As per your request, here’s my report on the first six months of the Ventrue Deja’s joining the Anarchs. I
expect payment in blood and money through the usual method. The Anarchs are not good at maintaining
their ghouls. That makes tasks of infiltration taxing, although it certainly helps to avoid any unpleasant
blood bonds.
— Yours, X
Initial Impressions
Deja did not make a good initial impression
among the Anarchs. She evidently believed that
she had a lot in common with them because
she’d felt like an outsider in the Camarilla and
because she was young enough to maintain an
easy connection to mortal life. Some of her
mortal relations are still alive and she keeps
tabs on them.
After she was initially sponsored by the
Nosferatu Qiao, she visited an Anarch party
with the goal of introducing herself, with
disastrous results. I’m speculating but it’s my
belief that the Nosferatu intentionally set her
up to fail so that they could take the credit for
helping her when nobody else would. This was
a good gamble in light of future events.
After being physically attacked at the Anarch
party, Deja again sought sanctuary among the
Nosferatu.
Gaining Trust
I’m not entirely sure why, but in the weeks
after that first introduction, the perception of
Deja among the Anarchs shifted. Perhaps they
felt like she had paid her dues by being beaten
145
up and residing in the Nosferatu tunnels,
an unpleasant prospect even for an uncouth
Brujah. Next time she participated in Anarch
social activities, she had numerous contentious
exchanges with Anarch ghouls and the Brujah
but these didn’t lead to violence.
Instead, they seemed to be part of the usual
flow of Anarch interactions.
The basis of Deja’s relationship with the
Nosferatu remains something of a mystery
because infiltrating their havens is not possible.
Or, I suppose I could try but chances are they’d
catch me before I got very far.
The Incident
One night, many Anarchs were hunting at a
mortal party held outside on the outskirts of
town. They had punk bands playing, barrel
fires, and a lot of drugs that also inevitably
affected the Kindred feeding from the mortals.
Deja was there too when she was spotted by the
Brujah Agata Starek. She started goading Deja,
talking about the taste of Ventrue blood.
(I agree with Starek’s assessment of Ventrue
blood, if not with her methods of obtaining it.)
Eventually other Anarchs were able to guide
them away from the party and mortal witnesses
because the discussion was obviously escalating
fast. Deja argued that Starek was doing the
Camarilla’s work by fracturing the Anarchs.
Starek didn’t like that and throat-slammed
Deja to the ground with the obvious intent of
draining her dry.
Starek’s clear physical superiority may have
played a part in what happened next. It didn’t
look like a fair fight and the Anarchs are always
suspicious of anyone who’s too old. And Starek
is not quite young anymore.
The gathered Anarchs, most of them Brujah,
started jeering and insulting Starek. It’s the
first time I’ve seen this happen because Starek
is both feared and respected due to her ability
to inspire terror in the Camarilla.
As a result, Starek started arguing with the
crowd and Deja was able to slip away.
Subsequent Developments
Surviving an encounter with Starek significantly
boosted Deja’s popularity among the Anarchs.
It was at this time that Deja started talking
about change. How the feeding grounds in
the city were distributed unequally with the
Anarchs forced to hunt in suburbs while stodgy
Camarilla relics hoarded the nightlife district
for themselves.
146
She talked about Camarilla weakness and how
many elders had left, leaving a lot of Camarilla
assets unprotected, tended to by ghouls who
were starving for blood. She suggested that
Anarchs should take over these assets in secret
and starve the Camarilla of the influence it has
enjoyed so far.
The strategy she proposed was one of siege
warfare, where the Anarchs don’t necessarily
seek to destroy Camarilla Kindred but rather
corral them into increasingly narrow domains
while they themselves enjoy everything the city
has to offer. In the end, the Camarilla may still
have its Elysium but it would be functionally
irrelevant in mortal affairs.
This strategy is in direct opposition to
the methods older Anarchs such as Starek
have proposed, where the goal is to start
by murdering Camarilla Kindred and then
proceed from there.
Recommendations
In her short time among the Camarilla, Deja
was able to learn a lot. This may be because of
her professional training as a journalist and the
observational abilities she has developed. Her
ability to gain significant influence among the
Anarchs makes her a threat to the Camarilla.
I recommend her to be terminated. She is
young and without a Camarilla sponsor so this
solution should be possible without stepping
on the toes of anyone who matters.
Chapter Ten

SECOND INQUISITION

147
Making Things Up
INTERROGATION TRANSCRIPT 22TH OF
OCTOBER 2020 SITE [REDACTED]
INTERROGATOR: Before we start, do you
need something? I know you’ve been here for a
while.
SUBJECT: Fuck you. Your goons have been
beating me for days.
INTERROGATOR: I’m sorry about that.
They’re not from my department. Interagency
problems.... But that’s not your concern. Point
is, I can help you.
SUBJECT: How?
INTERROGATOR: If I can show results, I can
make sure they won’t get to you.
SUBJECT: What is this, good cop bad cop?
INTERROGATOR: Does it matter if it’s true?
SUBJECT: Maybe it doesn’t.... I could have a
cup of coffee if you don’t mind.
INTERROGATOR: Sure!
(Sounds of coffee being served.)
SUBJECT: You want to hear about the....
INTERROGATOR: Blankbodies. Yes. Can you
explain your relationship with them?
SUBJECT: Blank Bodies.... Okay. I’m what you
might call a retainer. I help them and they give
me blood in return. What I really want to know
is: can you get me some of that blood?
148
INTERROGATOR: Blood?
SUBJECT: Yes. I’ve been here for a few weeks.
Bad things will happen if I don’t get my fix.
INTERROGATOR: I’m not sure I can arrange
that.
SUBJECT: I won’t be much use to you while I’m
dead.
INTERROGATOR: I’ll see what I can do. It
helps if you can give me something. I’m not
your enemy here. The more I can show to my
superiors the better it will be for you.
SUBJECT: Okay. Fuck. I used to have one
boss but he died so now I’m a sort of general
busybody. Just hustling to stay alive, the same as
anyone else....
INTERROGATOR: What kind of things did
you do for them?
SUBJECT: I was a driver, mostly. Cleaning their
messes. Disposing bodies. Just organizing things.
INTERROGATOR: Organizing what sort of
things?
SUBJECT: Someone needs to clean up the
clubhouse.
INTERROGATOR: Because there are dead
bodies there?
SUBJECT: That too. But mostly because these
vampires don’t pick up after themselves.
INTERROGATOR: Are you trying to be
funny? It doesn’t help your case.
SUBJECT: Okay. Fine. It’s because of all the
crimes. Murder. Drugs. Taking the Lord’s name
in vain.
INTERROGATOR: Tell me more.
SUBJECT: They’re vampire blood wizards.
INTERROGATOR: Okay. If this is going to
work, you have to stop lying to me.

INTERROGATOR: You’ll be here many SUBJECT: I’m not lying!

months more if you don’t change your attitude.
SUBJECT: Fine, fine.... It’s just that after
you’ve been brutalized by undying predators for
decades, this setup you have here doesn’t feel so
bad.
INTERROGATOR: We can easily make this
worse. So far, you’ve been given the friendly
treatment.
INTERROGATOR: Vampires who are also
wizards? Come on. You’re making this up.
SUBJECT: No I’m not!
INTERROGATOR: This is useless. I’m tired of
you giving me the runaround.
(Sound of a fist hitting a table and a coffee cup
crashing to the floor.)

SUBJECT: Like when those goons...? Whatever. SUBJECT: No, please...

It doesn’t matter. So, there are a few of these
clans. The Anarchs, the Tremere... INTERROGATOR: We’re done. Let’s see if this
is going to get better in a few days.
INTERROGATOR: The Tremere?
SUBJECT: Fuck....
SUBJECT: You haven’t heard of them?

AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT
I find it funny sometimes... when they say that vampires are susceptible to fire. So is every other creature!
Mortals are quite vulnerable to fire too!

That’s one of the things I remember from the Burning Times. We burned. So did the mortals. Many,
many more of them than us. I was young then, traveling in Europe as a neonate. Perhaps that’s what
saved me. I was an outlander, but I was young enough to blend in as people were burned all around us
by the witch hunters: The Inquisition.

Mortals smell different when they burn. A vampire is more acrid. Don’t know if you knew that.

Now it’s the time of the Second Inquisition and the Burning Times are here again. Only it’s global

149
and not just a European problem. Havens get raided during the day all over the world. It helps to be
a nomadic soul like me. It’s not good to get attached to things the modern-night Inquisitors can take
away from you.

— Aisha az-Zahra, an Ashirra elder

The Second Inquisition is what vampires call the realization that intelligence agencies around the
world have become aware of their existence and are moving to destroy them. The expression refers to
the first Inquisition; the conflagration that gave birth to the Masquerade and caused the destruction of
an untold number of Kindred in the late Middle Ages.

Of course, the world has changed a great deal from those times. In some ways, it is much easier for a
vampire to hide now that the mortal population numbers in the billions. You can just blend into the
crowd, disappear among the teeming multitudes. A vampire hunter can no longer simply head to the
most menacing looking old castle to find their prey.

On the other hand, modern times have brought modern surveillance. Intelligence agencies are able to
leverage all the tools of the modern state to track vampires, from algorithmic analysis of data patterns
to straight up electronic spying. This creates enormous difficulties for those wishing to hide when one
can be caught by someone sitting in a cubicle half the world away.

In this day and age, a Second Inquisition analyst can flag a suspected vampire Haven and ask local law
enforcement to raid it without even telling them that there might be vampires inside. An unwitting
SWAT team bursts through the doors and the sunlight they let in causes Kindred to burn, leading to
stories of terrorists who set themselves on fire as police came in.

Of course, behind the scenes, the picture may be very different. Second Inquisition agents trying to fight
something they don’t understand, seeing threats everywhere, and making terrible mistakes that end up
costing the lives of innocent people. But their prey doesn’t see that. From the vampire perspective, the
Second Inquisition is a monolithic awesome force.

The Inquisition And LARP

In a Vampire LARP, the Second Inquisition is mostly a shadowy force that characters fear but that does
not manifest itself visibly in actual events. Its impact is felt subtly. The threat of the Second Inquisition
shapes how the Kindred go about their nights. It affects their plots and plans, their fears and hopes.

The most obvious and common use for the Second Inquisition is as a background force informing
character play and influencing in-game events without making itself visible at a LARP event itself. For
example:

- Two members of the Primogen have just had their Havens eradicated by Second Inquisition hunters.

150
This presents local Camarilla with a conundrum: are they destroyed or in hiding? Should others try to
take over their domains?

- A Herald is rumored to have leaked information about her rivals to a Second Inquisition agency. How
do other vampires feel about this? Is it true or a rumor that has been seeded by someone else?

- Second Inquisition agents are combing through local law enforcement agencies, seeking to root out
vampire influence. Should the Prince terminate their agents in the police preemptively or hope that they
will escape detection?
If they terminate their agents, does that mean another vampire can take the risk and
move in?

Events instigated by the Second Inquisition can also inform the LARP event
in a more direct way, as something that has just happened. For example:

- One of the characters has narrowly escaped their burning Haven

the very night of the event. They come to the Elysium to warn the
others and beg for a place to sleep during the day.

- The LARP is supposed to be the

first event hosted by the
new Prince, but the Prince
fails to show up to their
own party. As the night
goes on to become clear
they were snagged by the
Second Inquisition.

- In the middle of the event,

characters receive reports or a
supporting character arrives
bearing the news that a
neighboring domain is being
cleansed of vampires in a
massive operation right now.
More terrible news and details
come as the night progresses.

151
You should take care with this sort of drama
because if the Second Inquisition threat seems
too immediate, The player should always feel
that participating in what happens in the LARP
fundamentally makes sense for their character.
If it feels like the Second Inquisition is going
to charge in any second, the players will feel
like their characters should be escaping, not
engaging in light banter.
Getting Swatted
If you have the resources to do it, a Second
Inquisition raid is a dramatic ending to a LARP.
Perhaps the agents choose to attack during the
night because they fear they will lose track of
their prey if they are allowed to leave the venue?
Lights go out. Doors bang open. Shouted
commands, chaos, flashlights… A surprise heavy
police raid is a terrifying, impressive spectacle.
152
A lot of the equipment needed to make it look
good can be found surprisingly cheaply in
military surplus stores and sometimes players
have appropriate gear in their closets already.
If the scene is designed to end the chronicle, you
do not have to worry about the story implications.
Vampire characters are destroyed or carted off
to unknown fates. The more common scenario is
that the chronicle is assumed to continue at the
next event. How then to deal with the deadly
implications of such a raid?
Here are a few possible scenarios:
- The raid causes a melee to erupt, with some
vampires escaping and others choosing to
fight. The chaos of the LARP determines what
happens, with even a total vampire victory as a
possibility. If you choose this option, you have
to have players who enjoy big combat scenes.
- The Second Inquisition team is unprepared for
the supernatural abilities of the Kindred present.
Many will escape, a few will be captured or
destroyed. These latter could even be arranged
beforehand so their players know what will
happen.
- Camarilla notables get advance warning of
the raid, allowing many characters to discreetly
escape. The question is: do they tell everyone?
Or is it better to leave low-ranking, disposable
servants and lackeys for the Second Inquisition
to find? This probably works best if there are
supporting characters that can be sacrificed for
effect.
Safe Swatting
There are some practical safety considerations
when it comes to organizing a cool-looking
police raid in a LARP. If not done with care
this can result in an egregious safety blunder,
so here’s a few tips:
- Do not brandish real-looking gun props
while in public. This sounds like a no-brainer
but LARPs have been raided by the police for
real because of this.
- Be careful with gun props in general. Make
sure the general LARP environment is okay
for their use. If local laws or culture make
their use inadvisable, do not use them. When
using gun props, make sure an organizer with
relevant experience checks every single prop
at the venue for safety, especially if some are
brought to the venue by players.
- If the LARP is visible to the public, consider
informing the local police department about
the event in advance. This is helpful in case
a concerned citizen decides to call the cops,
since it means the police will know what
is actually happening. They might still feel
obliged to come, but it will go better.
- Consider your player base and local culture.
For some players, getting subjected to a
realistic police raid may not be the experience
they want to have in a LARP. If you suspect
this to be the case with your players, you can
either make a Second Inquisition raid more
abstract or move it to something that happens
between events.
153
The Ingredients of a Raid
If you want to stage a showy raid, here are some
of the items you can use:
- Police sirens and lights outside the windows.
However, you need to take precautions to
ensure that outsiders will not confuse this for a
real police action.
- Megaphones you can use to shout things like
“Surrender peacefully and you won’t be harmed!”
and other lies.
- Gun props. (See the “Safe SWATing” heading)
- Military or police uniforms. Because the
Second Inquisition often draws from various
clandestine units and agencies for its agents, it
is fine if the uniforms do not bear insignia and
are not appropriate for any specific police unit.
- Balaclavas, ski masks, or other headgear
designed to expose only part of the face, usually
the eyes and mouth.
- Uniformed police or soldiers commanded by
agents in civilian clothes.
- Plastic cuffs. (Again, remember safety and
never put these on too tight!)
- Big intimidating flashlights.
- Laser pointers for pretend sniper rifle sights.
Because a good raid scene happens very fast,
you can create a strong impression with less
than realistic gear! Players get quick visual
impressions and their imaginations fill up the
rest of the scene.
THE SPOOK SHOW
There are shadowy entities controlling mortal
society, influencing their every decision, driving
them on a path to chaos and destruction. All
at the service of their secret masters, immensely
powerful creatures who’s privilege and wealth
must never be questioned.
And that’s just us in the intelligence services!
The vampires are worse. Well, a little bit worse.
Okay, it really depends on the day. Or night.
Anyway....
— Andrea McKinney, a disillusioned former CIA
agent
The Second Inquisition are usually antagonists
in a Vampire: The Masquerade LARP but you
can also build an experience where they are the
protagonists instead. The players play Second
Inquisition agents and staff, and vampires are
relegated to the role of a shadowy threat.
This kind of a game can be a fun interlude in the
middle of an ongoing chronicle. What would
the actions of the usual characters look like
viewed from the outside? Naturally, the Second
Inquisition would be scarily well informed on
some issues and get others wildly wrong. Just
like real-life intelligence services.
From the perspective of the Kindred, the
Second Inquisition is a scarily effective; single-
minded machine of death, rooting out Havens
and murdering neonates by the score. The
vampire sees SWAT teams, special agents, and
coordinated strikes. Ordinarily, the vampire
never sees what really goes on behind the scenes.
From a LARP design point of view, it is good
that the Second Inquisition is also a fractious
154
collection of various agencies who only barely
manage to cooperate across departmental and
international lines. For a Second Inquisition
LARP to work, they need internal power
struggles, ideological conflicts, corruption, and
personal issues.
Fortunately, in the World of Darkness these
things are not exactly unknown.
To start with, a Second Inquisition LARP needs
a framework for who the characters are, where
they are, and what they’re doing.
Who?
The Second Inquisition is what the Kindred call
the collective phenomenon of various intelligence
agencies figuring out that vampires—or
blankbodies in Second Inquisition lingo—exist.
From the perspective of Second Inquisition
agents, the picture is much more complicated:
an international mess of secret departments
and programs organized under various national
agencies with their own histories, motivations,
and idiosyncrasies. The Vatican’s old Inquisition
standard-bearer Society of Saint Leopold is
there too, advising and providing a link to
vampire hunts of the past, but they by no means
control the operation. In a sense, nobody does,
although various operations conducted under
the Second Inquisition umbrella naturally have
their own directors.
What this means is that the geography of your
chronicle matters a whole lot in terms of who
the characters are going to be. If the LARP
is set in the U.S., it makes sense for them to
be DIA, NSA and CIA agents tasked to the
FIRSTLIGHT Special Access Program, perhaps
supplemented by a few FBI agents from the
Special Affairs Division.
Organizational paranoia has many Second
Inquisition agents worried that their colleagues
are actually vampire spies or that various
politicians are controlled by nefarious undead
interests (which they are, of course! Getting
program funding yanked has been one of the
more effective tools the Camarilla has against
Second Inquisition).
Other stakeholders who could be present at a
FIRSTLIGHT command post include Society
of Leopold members and its current mother
organization, the Vatican’s secret service known
as the Entity, as well as the British service S013.
They are consulting American organizations
and providing their own expertise, perhaps on
specific Kindred thought to be in the area.
If the LARP is set elsewhere in the world, it
makes sense to have local secret services in the
lead, such as France’s DGSE. In each case, a mix
of local agents and consultants from the outside
helps to create tension. You can take your cues
from cop shows replicating the themes of local
police annoyed that the FBI has swooped in and
claimed jurisdiction. The same dynamics work
here as well.
For a different dynamic, the Second Inquisition
agencies can also conduct an operation illegally.
Perhaps non-American agencies are chasing
after vampires on U.S. territory without
informing the locals or asking for permission.
Or Americans can do the same in the U.K.,
Germany, or Brazil. Obviously, they get busted
in the middle of the LARP, but it is not clear
what happens then. After all, ridding the world
of vampires serves the common good!
155
Where?
The great thing about FIRSTLIGHT agents
and other Second Inquisition members is
that at the end of the day, they still work for
the government. This means that their base
of operations does not necessarily have to be
particularly fancy. Of course, if you have a
production team that can whip up a convincing
action movie-style high tech space, go for it! If
not, a rented office space works fine.
The concept of a temporary command center
makes it possible to run a Second Inquisition
LARP virtually anywhere FIRSTLIGHT agents
might be imagined to set up. And after all, the
agents must go where the vampires go, so they
can be anywhere: an university campus, a private
apartment, a company’s building complex, etc.
If you have the capacity for some production
value, technical gear, weapons props (unless
inadvisable under local conditions), and other
“cop stuff” helps create the right mood. A big
whiteboard where you can create a convincing
conspiracy map helps build the right vibe and
also acts as a fun visual touch for players who
find their regular vampire characters displayed
there.
The Ops Center
Here is a concept for a Second Inquisition
LARP:
FIRSTLIGHT has taken over an office space,
building an improvised command center. The
agents in the room have radically different
ideas about how the blankbody threat should
be dealt with. Some advocate burning them
out with fire while others suggest capture and
medical experimentation. A lone voice might
even propose that they could be cured.
As the night progresses, news of an operation
currently in progress comes back to the room,
agents on mission return and leave (you can
play out these missions tabletop style in a
separate room) and high-ranking officers call
in to demand results. At the end, vampire
prisoners are brought into the ops center after
it has been revealed that local law enforcement
might have been compromised by the enemy.
Why?
The concept of the typical Second Inquisition
LARP is that a command center has been set
up in the area of the chronicle and the agents
investigate local Kindred while also having
conflicts and disagreements with each other
over different issues.
For example:
- FIRSTLIGHT and the FBI’s Special Affairs
Division both maintain this is their operation.
Before the question of who leads the operation
is resolved nothing much gets done. The
conflict is complicated by the fact that
both sides suspect the other of having been
infiltrated by vampires.
- Society of Leopold agents are fanatical
but experienced old grumps, distrustful of
technology and all these newfangled methods.
Why? Well, when they were hunting vampires
back in 1952....
- Scientists drafted to work on the blankbody
problem, uneasy about the ethics of their work
but aware that if they complain too much, bad
things will happen to them.
156
It’s possible to make other types of Second
Inquisition LARPs as well, especially if it is a
standalone event and not part of a chronicle.
Here are a few ideas:
- A global symposium of agencies working to
counter the blankbody threat. There can be a
comedy element here too as bizarre suppositions
are mixed in with actual facts about how the
Kindred operate. After all, vampires are prone
to mythmaking and they are terribly unreliable
sources of information, even about themselves.
- A team of Second Inquisition agents have
captured a number of vampires and are holding
them in an improvised command center. It is
less than ideal, especially since they can not rely
on support from local law enforcement, but it is
okay because their superiors will send help soon,
right? During the LARP, the agents realize that
no help is coming and soon the vampires figure
it out too.
- So far, the various Second Inquisition agencies
have had the upper hand. The Kindred have been
slow to grasp the enormity of the threat. They
have leaked information to hurt their enemies
without regard to the problems it causes down
the road. But now some enterprising vampires
have successfully infiltrated a Second Inquisition
command. Some of the agents are under vampire
control or are even vampires themselves. Others
suspect that something is wrong.
Second Inquisition agents are always on a
mission. They have a task to do–their job. This
directs how their motivations are structured. An
individual character does not necessarily agree
with their orders but that is just one more site
for interesting conflict that will enrich the game.
It is important to note that individual agencies
can give out conflicting orders. Here are a few
things agents can be tasked with:
- Destroying blankbodies no matter what.
- Destroying blankbodies discreetly.
- Rooting out blankbody influence in other
agencies.
- Spying on other agencies.
- Capturing blankbodies.
- Collecting information on individual
blankbodies.
- Mapping blankbody networks.
- Interrogating blankbodies. (This is rare and
quite dangerous because of the confusing
abilities the enemy sometimes manifests.)
- Experimenting on blankbodies.
- Capturing blankbody prisoners from other
agencies.
- Sabotaging other agencies because of
interagency rivalries.
- Asserting jurisdiction.
157
Possibly the most dangerous and closely
monitored assignment is making deals with
blankbodies. There is a lot of superstition
about what vampires can do among the Second
Inquisition but the idea that sometimes benefits
can be gained by talking to the enemy has not
been completely abandoned. After all, vampires
can be used as sources of information.
The temptation offered by such information
is tempered by an intense fear of the mental
powers the blankbodies sometimes manifest.
They cause a lot of paranoia among agents from
various Second Inquisition agencies, causing
them to engage in extensive protective measures.
The worries Second Inquisition agents have
about vampiric abilities are not entirely
baseless. There is a good reason they prefer to
talk to the enemy in controlled conditions but
unfortunately sometimes that’s not possible.
This is the mechanism through which hubris
leads to infiltration: an agent decides to make
a deal of their own with the enemy, the enemy
blood bonds them, and suddenly allegiances are
much more complex than before.
Chapter Eleven

WAR OF AGES

The War
“How do you maintain the Masquerade when you’re existing like this?” Qiao asked,
opening the door of the custom-built fridge and looking inside. He had never seen
anything like it. Vials of blood stored in what looked like a cross between medical
equipment in an expensive kitchen appliance. Cold bluish light bathed the blood
but the scent was still perceptible.

At least if you had a vampire’s instincts.

Deja watched Qiao. It was touching, in its own way. The Nosferatu was so out
of his element. He and his clanmates were so cool and composed in their own
environment, the derelict abandoned spaces of the city. Transplanted into the
midst of luxury and he looked like the permanent outsider he was.

158
“You’ve never visited before?” Deja asked gently.
They were exploring the kitchen of Salomé
Diaz’s mansion, more out of curiosity than
need. Diaz had already escaped and Deja did not
expect her to have left any particularly damning
secrets behind her.
“No. Sometimes Nosferatu are invited but I was
always afraid that....” Qiao stopped and picked
up a vial of blood. “Is this vitae?”
“Maybe. Give it a taste,” Deja replied. She knew
Qiao was worried he would be laughed at
because of his appearance. She did not have the
heart to tell him that he would probably have
been laughed at because of his poverty, youth,
and lack of status, not because of his clan curse.
Elysium was a cruel place, and Salomé Diaz had
done her best to make sure it was even crueler.
Qiao drank the contents of the vial in one
go, stopping to feel it in his mouth before
swallowing the coagulating, thick liquid. Deja
was about to tell him that usually Salomé
would let the blood warm and breathe for a few
moments after taking it out of storage because
that improved the flavor but decided against
it. She did not want Qiao to feel uncultured.
He and his clan had done a lot for Deja. Not
without compensation, but still. Cultivating
friends was what power was all about.
Deja had realized that she could be a nobody,
waiting to become old enough that her
supernatural power would enable her to protect
herself. Or she could leverage the discontentment
of the Anarchs and especially the Nosferatu and
become a player in the War of Ages. She knew
the Camarilla was weak, self-absorbed, and
preoccupied with its own internal drama.
That meant someone could walk in and take
power.
159
“You have the instincts of a good vampire
revolutionary. Always ransack the blood storage
first. There are some real delicacies there and
they spoil if you don’t drink them.”
Deja turned around slowly to see who was
talking. She had a sinking feeling of the kind
that she thought had gone from her unlife with
the last pulse of her heart. She had hoped she
could execute her plan without involving any
of the older Kindred. After all, she knew from
experience with the Camarilla that the nightly
affairs of the sect were handled by younger
members like Salomé, not visiting dignitaries
like Victoria Ash who was casually leaning on
the kitchen door, improbably in an evening
dress as if one of Salomé’s soirees was taking
place outside.
“I just thought...” Deja babbled. What did she
think? That this would be easy? She had always
seen herself as an observer. That was her job
when she was still alive. And now she was making
power plays like in some gangster movie.
Victoria laughed, and for a moment she looked
like the young perfectly mortal woman she
often pretended to be. Her age and predatory
nature disappeared under a well-cultivated act
that made Deja relax.
“Yeah. Waste not, want not,” Deja said with
more confidence. Qiao had frozen, looking at
Victoria.
“The Nosferatu. Such a loyal clan if you treat
them well,” Victoria said, looking Qiao calmly
in the eyes
.
“I had a Nosferatu lover once. A wonderful
individual.”
Deja understood what Victoria was telling her.
She could make her bid for power but if Deja
tried to go against Victoria, the elder Toreador
would take it all away from her. Deja could
manipulate the Nosferatu but Victoria would
do it better.
“I... Aren’t you Camarilla?” Qiao finally
managed to blurt, his voice sounding even less
human than usual.
“Sure I am,” Victoria said, stepping closer, past
Deja to caress Qiao’s cheek... And then Qiao’s
corpse was decaying on the floor, his head
severed neatly from his body by the razor-sharp
blade Victoria held casually in her hand, as if
she had just discovered it.
“What... Why...” Deja babbled, unable to keep
up with events.
“I did you a favor. Your revolution needs a
martyr. It needs to be more than just a power
grab. It needs to be about ideas, emotions.... The
Nosferatu are your biggest allies and if one of
them meets final death at the hand of Salomé or
her minions, they’ll be all the more committed,”
Victoria explained reasonably, picking two vials
from the fridge and slipping them into her
purse.
“But you destroyed him,” Deja said, trying to
will herself into any sort of reasonable response.
“Is that the story you’ll tell?” Victoria asked,
her voice quiet, intimate. “If you tell them I
destroyed your friend, they’ll want revenge. It’ll
be a true war of the young against the old. Are
you prepared for that? Coming after us is not
as easy as cheating these Camarilla neonates of
their meager holdings. If you keep this a secret,
then I’ll owe you a boon. Why, you’ll be able to
ask me to do anything! I’ll be at your mercy!”
160
As she finished speaking, Victoria placed her
hand on Deja’s shoulder, leaning in so Deja could
feel the closeness of her body and its hidden,
blood-blessed power.
“What do you choose?” Victoria whispered,
teasing, her hand touching Deja’s cheek.
Deja had grown to like Qiao. He was so innocent
despite being a vampire and a Nosferatu. He
had been protected from the worst of the power
games the undead amused themselves with. And
now he was gone, ended by Victoria Ash.
“I’ll call in that boon soon enough,” Deja said,
her voice thick with suppressed emotion. Rage,
sadness, resignation. She was a monster, the
same as Victoria. Better act like it.
No Neutral Ground
A lot of Kindred believe that they can remain
neutral in the War of Ages. Neonates figure
that they have no stake in this conflict; that the
world is big enough so that they can feed outside
the territories proscribed by the Camarilla.
Elders may delude themselves into fantasies of
invincibility, believing that centuries of secrecy
and hidden power make them the masters of the
game, unthreatened by mere novices.
Yet the war had a habit of pulling everyone in. It
is the engine that keeps vampire society running
and its conflicts fresh with a nightly spectacle of
new tragedies.
This is why the war is also the engine for creating
conflicts in Vampire LARP. It can never truly
be resolved and those who imagine themselves
outside it can easily be pulled back in. All it
takes is to be reminded of the stakes.
The Stakes
Why can’t we all just get along? others. On the other hand, to give up power and
accept a more equal society is to leave yourself
It is common in Vampire LARP that the issues open to the whims of a bloodthirsty mob. Or
at stake in the War of Ages are not tangibly at least that is how the privileged elders of the
present at the LARP event itself. It’s easier to Camarilla tend to feel about it.
make peace with your enemies when it feels like
the stakes do not matter all that much. Surely - Power in mortal society. Do you have the
the Prince can make a few concessions? connections needed to spring yourself from jail
before sunrise? Can you influence what gets
To make sure that the stakes matter, it is good printed in newspapers? Many Kindred cultivate
to keep in mind what the characters are fighting mortal influence and use it to keep themselves
for. safe. These domains of power get contested when
new Kindred arrive, threatening the holdings of
- Feeding territories. This is a big cause of conflict those who came before.
in the War of Ages. Vampires drink blood and
hunting is a nightly pursuit. Preserving the - Progeny. Many, if not most Kindred, want
Masquerade means that only a limited number to make more of their kind. Perhaps they have
of vampires can hunt in a given territory and fallen in love with a beautiful mortal and imagine
these territories are typically that they could have the
closely guarded by those love story of their romantic
with power. Young vampires dreams if they only could
become disgruntled because give the gift of undeath.
they do not have access to Or maybe they want to
good territories, or possibly increase their own power
any territories. base by making a childe.
Whatever the motivation, it
- Power in Kindred society. tends to irritate others that
Who gets to make the rules? only the Kindred in power
Who decides how Traditions have the right to decide
are interpreted? Who drafts who gets to create progeny
the invite list to the new and when. This is especially
Elysium and who calls a true among the Camarilla
blood hunt when someone where virtually all Princes
breaks the law? Issues of flagrantly abuse this right by
power range from the favoring their cronies and
trivial to the all-important ignoring younger Kindred,
but nobody wants to be to say nothing of Anarchs.
subjected to the whims of

161
CHOOSING SIDES
I suppose this is one of the upsides to being dead,
Sebastian thought. If I was still alive, my heart
would be racing, I’d be sweaty, all this stress and
uncertainty showing itself in my body. Now I
can be cool and collected, just an animated
corpse that doesn’t show the terror I’m feeling
within.
During his time as the lover of the Ventrue
Salomé Diaz, Sebastian had learned a lot about
the Camarilla. They were not particularly hard
to find, if you knew how to navigate the world
of privilege and wealth they were accustomed to.
Perhaps that was one of the greatest drawbacks
to the Anarch plan for a coup: they did not
have that knowledge, not even the leader Deja.
Sebastian did not have it either but he had
seen enough in recent nights to make out the
contours of this world.
“Everybody’s flocking to her now,” Valentina
Diaz said, looking bored in the discreetly dimly
lit hotel corridor. Sebastian stopped uncertainly.
Valentina was hard to make out. It felt like she
flirted with Sebastian purely to spite her sister.
Then again, Salomé had made her into a ghoul
but refused to Embrace her so perhaps she was
entitled to her spite.
“You mean I shouldn’t go in?” Sebastian asked,
feeling foolish. He had panicked when he had
heard that things were heating up between the
Anarchs and the Camarilla. Nobody seemed
sure what the right word was. Revolution?
Rebellion? Coup?
At least so far, it had not escalated to open war
between the sects but Sebastian had rushed to
Salomé’s haven only to find it occupied by a few
Anarchs and ghouls he knew. Sensing danger, he
162
had bolted before they managed to see him. He
knew that there was only one hotel in the city
luxurious enough for Salomé so he headed there
and took the elevator to the top floor and the
most expensive suite. Judging from Valentina’s
presence, his instinct had been correct.
“What I mean is... you knew we were here. You
could have betrayed us to your Anarch buddies.
Told them that you’d been undercover all along.
Redeem yourself.” Valentina seemed to take
great pleasure in her words. Sebastian was so
terrified of what was happening in the city
and Valentina looked so smug, like she enjoyed
seeing him squirm.
The Blood roiled inside him. This will not stand!
Later when he remembered this moment, the
most shameful part of it was that Sebastian
knew he lost control with Valentina because
she was no threat to him. He was a coward even
when the Beast took over.
The carpeting was almost white, seemingly
designed so that it would have to be cleaned
incessantly. Valentina’s blood formed an
archipelago of crimson spatters climbing up on
the wall and joining in the whirls of color in an
abstract painting.
There was an intriguing familiarity in the taste
of her blood, similar and yet so different from
that of Salomé.
Sebastian stared at Valentina’s corpse in
desperate terror. She was dead, awkwardly
splayed on the floor, one leg up on the chair she
had been sitting in.
Without thinking, Sebastian knelt by Valentina’s
head, opened his wrist with one extended
incisor and pressed it against her mouth. His
blood dribbled in. The carpeting and the decor
were designed to eat up sound. If Salomé had
company, nothing could be heard through the
doors of her suite. She did not have a security
guard outside. It would have been useless
against the Anarchs anyway.
Valentina twitched back to life. Or unlife.
Her eyes opened and she stared at Sebastian, a
smile creeping on her lips.
“You did it. Thank you,” she whispered.
Sebastian did his best not to think about what
he had just done. Salomé would kill him. He
had Embraced her sister! Her ghoul!
“Oh God... Why am I so thirsty? Fuck. I
need... I need something. To bite something,”
Valentina said. “Blood. Please, I need blood.”
Conflicting Loyalties
For some characters, the side they are on in
the War of Ages is a done deal. They support
either the young or the old, and that is it. They
will never do anything else. Examples of such
characters are Brujah ideologues subjected
to the Blood Hunt for their traitorous ideas
or Camarilla elders who have held a grudge
towards the Anarchs ever since the first
Anarch Revolt in the 15th century.
Conflicting loyalties are good play. That is why
it makes sense to try to create a situation where
between these two extremes there is a large
group of characters who might swing one way
or another depending on the circumstances.
It also means that winning the War of Ages
becomes a game of influence and persuasion,
trying to get everyone on your side.
163
Well, almost everyone! A canny elder can
sabotage the revolution by pretending to
support it and then acting in a divisive way to
split the resistance.
If loyalties and allegiances are not clear cut, it
also makes themes of betrayal more complex and
interesting. If an ancilla chooses to go against
their sire and support the oppressed neonates,
are they disloyal to their lineage or loyal to their
values or both at the same time?
Allegiance can be factored on a number of
different ways:
Clan. Many Kindred are loyal to members of
their clans. Family is family after all, even though
the clans are not organizations but just lineages
of blood relations. This works especially well
in single-event LARPs where clanmates have
not had much time to backstab each other and
the LARP benefits from a clear-cut social map.
Which clans are for the establishment, which
for the revolution? Are some clans split?
Sect. It is extremely common for the War of
Ages to be a Camarilla vs. Anarchs conflict, with
Kindred loyal to their own sects. You can create
complexity by having Kindred with grievances
towards their own sect as well as outsiders such
as the Ashirra.
Ideology. Many Kindred still believe in some
big ideological idea, often from their mortal
days. Freedom is a common rallying cry among
Anarchs. They are loyal to whoever furthers
their cause. Many in the Camarilla believe in
the Masquerade, a common tenet of vampiric
ideology. Some ideas have nothing to do with
the Kindred. A New York vampire Embraced
in the 19th century may believe in Manifest
Destiny and choose vampiric allegiances based
on who is likely to further the cause.
Faith. The Beckoning, the Gehenna War, the
Second Inquisition.... All the tumult of the last
two decades has caused a resurgence of faith
among the Kindred. The Church of Caine,
the Cult of Set, and the Bahari all have their
adherents both among the young and the old. It
is not unusual for a devout individual to choose
faith over sect or clan.
Personal connections. Many Kindred are loyal to
their sires and seek to protect their childer. They
help their friends. Often personal connections
turn out to be more important than any other
affiliation: The Prince protects a rebel leader
because they are secretly childe and sire. The
Anarch revolutionary helps a Toreador ingenue
because they are in love.
Material interests. Sometimes Kindred are even
motivated by their actual concrete material
interests. These are things like hunting grounds,
security from the Second Inquisition, and
enforcing the Masquerade.
It is not impossible for a single vampire to
have conflicting allegiances in each of these six
categories.

Rising Tempers
The War of Ages is a constant conflict in the world of Vampire.
Sometimes it runs cold, other times it is more of a simmering
presence under the surface of nightly affairs. When the war
starts to heat up, tempers run hot. The war can be a matter of
survival for a neonate even as the elders view it as
an entertaining diversion, at least until the anarchs
firebomb their haven.

Typically questions of allegiance become

fraught when tempers rise. When everything
is chill or the domain is united by the threat
of the Second Inquisition, the important
thing is for every Kindred to pull together.
When that feeling of togetherness frays, when
the fundamental issues that cause the War of
Ages rise to the surface, suddenly it matters a
great deal who is on which side.

This influences how certain character stories play out. People who have carved a niche as go-betweens,
fixers, and other figures who traffic in the gap between the sects suddenly find their maneuvering space
much reduced.

164
The consequences of belonging to the wrong camp can be fatal once everyone is angry enough. When
your Anarch friends figure out that you have been maintaining a backchannel with the Toreador
Primogen, they may accept your explanation that you did it to get intelligence or they may tear you
apart in a frenzy of blood.

Bad Choices
Sometimes there are no good choices in the War of Ages. When that happens it is a good moment to
consider what you want out of your LARP experience. You can try to win the war for your side, or you
can try to benefit as much as possible personally, or you can play for maximum drama. The last option
is great if you have grown tired of your character in a chronicle or are playing in a one-event LARP
where your character is not expected to exist after the night is over.

You can make bad choices on purpose too, messing up your character’s allegiances so badly that there
is no untangling them. This will surely lead to the death of your character but the road there can be
great fun. What is more, you will be generating boatloads of action for every other player in the LARP.

165
WAR AS
LARP

T he War of Ages is the best,

most comprehensive generator
of conflicts and action in Vampire.
Because the interests of the young
and the old will never be reconciled,
the conflict is doomed to go on
forever.

For a LARP designer, it is a very

useful tool because it gives characters
things to do. It provides motivations,
and goals. It also comes with a few
difficulties of its own that you will
have to consider to make it work.

166
What’s Cool?
The theme of the War of Ages provides a fertile
ground for different types of cool LARP scenes
to emerge. These are some things you can try to
nurture through design:
The Anarchs storm the Elysium. Unhappy with
the way they have been treated, the Anarchs storm
the Camarilla Elysium demanding better terms
between the sects. An Anarch leader marches up
to the Prince backed by their followers, making a
speech about how this world is for the young, not
the decrepit and the lost relics of the Camarilla.
Camarilla Kindred scramble to accommodate
the invaders out of fear of physical violence.
This can be a dramatic event in an Elysium event
that is organized as part of a chronicle. The
Anarchs should storm in one hour after play has
started so the Camarilla characters have had a
moment to settle in.
Loyalty oaths. The Prince decrees that all
neonates in the domain, Camarilla or Anarch,
must swear a public oath of loyalty or be
subjected to a blood hunt. How do the Anarchs
react? After all, the Prince should not have any
authority over them.
What about neonates in the Camarilla? Do they
side with the Prince or does the new dictate
cause revolutionary unrest?
Betrayal. The Prince’s childe goes publicly against
their sire in a great act of betrayal, giving hope to
the downtrodden young of the domain. Only...
is this a double-betrayal? Has the Prince tasked
their childe to become a pretend revolutionary?
Vampiric powers and the Blood Bond further
muddle the issue. How do you deal with
167
someone who betrayed you when it was not their
fault? Can you trust your friends when they have
proven to be susceptible to mind control?
Repression
The young feel alienated from the structures of
power because they are constantly repressed,
their unlives made intolerable by endless edicts.
To get the War of Ages going, this repression
has to be tangible and concrete. If you are
running a chronicle, it has to show at the events
themselves.
There is a bit of complexity here, design-wise.
Your Anarch characters should feel like they are
being repressed and find motivation to fight
against their elders but at the same time many
players do not really enjoy getting humiliated all
the time.
Having the worst of the oppression happen
between events is the obvious solution but it
also makes it less visible at the actual LARPs.
Here are a few ideas for this:
Limit feeding areas to a ridiculous degree. The
Prince decrees that neonates are only allowed to
feed in the harbor area, and only during the last
two hours before sunrise.
Go after ghouls, touchstones and mortal
contacts. The Prince keeps abducting, terrorizing
or killing the servants, friends, and loved ones of
neonate vampires. The argument is that this is
done to protect the Masquerade but it looks like
a ploy to limit the influence younger vampires
have in the affairs of the city.
During the LARP, repression can be done
without targeting individual player characters:
Oppress supporting characters. The Prince
executes three newly found thin-bloods at
Elysium. They are supporting characters
specially created to die as piteously as
possible.
Nominally exclusive events. The Keeper
of the Elysium declares that no neonate is
allowed in the Elysium during a special night
of celebration. In-game this is exclusionary
but you can remove the problem by running
two parallel events, one for older characters
and one for the young. All players are treated
fairly and get the same amount of play even
as their characters are discriminated against.
Ideally of course the neonate event is used
to foment aggression against the ancilla and
elders.
Revolution
If things escalate enough, the end result of
the War of Ages is open revolution. In some
cities, such as Los Angeles, this has resulted in
the creation of Anarch Free States–domains
completely outside Camarilla control. Many
cities have experienced similar uprisings in
recent years, Berlin being the most famous
example. The Beckoning and the Second
Inquisition have resulted in a weakness in
Camarilla rule exploited by the young and
the furious.
More commonly, an Anarch revolt leads to
a city where the two sects have to co-exist
side-by-side. The Anarchs are out of the
Camarilla power hierarchy but pretty much
every Prince will try to subject them to their
authority anyway. If not directly then by
treaties concerning feeding territories.
Revolution is a powerful, dramatic event in
any Vampire LARP or chronicle. To make it
happen, you can design for it in the following
ways:
168
The Camarilla is despicable. The enemy of the
revolution is reasonable compromise. In LARP,
this happens because it is easy for those playing
characters in power to make concessions because
it is all make believe anyway. This in turn robs the
revolutionaries of their energy.
To combat this, the Camarilla should be
unreasonable, proud, and monstrous.
The Anarchs are radicalized. There should be no
moderate voices among the Anarchs. If even the
mildest have suffered grievously under Camarilla
rule, the revolution will continue. This does not
mean there can’t be dissent, just that the dissent
should not be about whether to have a revolution
or not. Rather it can be about whether the Prince
should be exiled or executed, or what form will
domain rule take after the revolution.
There’s a path to revolution. It is important
that the players of the Anarchs feel like there is
a concrete set of actions they can take to achieve
revolution. It helps if the organizers clearly signal
that a revolution is an acceptable outcome. Some
players are shy about pushing for such dramatic
changes to the setting because it feels like it breaks
the LARP.
Since the revolution will have a dramatic effect on
the fates of many Camarilla characters, it can be a
fitting end to a chronicle or possibly a beginning
with Camarilla characters then forced to find
new ways to exist in an Anarch domain.
War Is Hell
Have you ever participated in mass combat in
a LARP, run with detailed game mechanics?
Experiences vary but they tend to run less than
smoothly and take hours to resolve.
This is why the War of Ages works best if
it is a war of influence, politics, plots, and
counterplots, instead of open warfare with gangs
of vampires trying to murder each other. You can
have physical fights but consider carefully how
the system you use to handle combat actually
works. Is it fun enough to use a lot? Does it scale
up?
If no, try to design the LARP so the focus is
on other types of conflict. The Masquerade
is a great tool for this purpose: maintaining
the Masquerade conveniently motivates the
characters towards actions that are more LARP-
friendly than mass combat.
Another reason violence is difficult in LARP is
that it may lead to character death. It sucks if
your character is destroyed or taken out of play
five minutes into the LARP. This is why you may
consider planning your LARP so that if violence
does occur, it happens near the end. That way,
if someone’s character gets removed from the
game, they have still had a full LARP experience.
Of course, this makes sense for dramatic reasons
as well. Things escalate towards the end and the
adrenaline surge of a big fight is hard to come
down from, but that would not be a problem if
that is also when the LARP ends.
169
The difficulty of running combat, and especially
bigger fight scenes, can be alleviated by changing
the mechanics. Generally, the bigger the fight
you expect, the faster the combat rules have to
be. You can take inspiration from fantasy LARP
where dynamic, physical combat rules make
bigger fights feasible.
The Anarchs
It is easy to see the War of Ages as a conflict
between the Camarilla and the Anarchs.
However, the War of Ages also makes sense
inside the Camarilla, as the power held by the
elders weakens because of the Beckoning and
neonates hunger for power.
The Anarchs wield a lot of egalitarian rhetoric
and the overwhelming majority among them are
young so at first glance, they feel less susceptible
to the War of Ages. In reality, underneath the
surface, the same tensions simmer as in the wider
Kindred society.
There are leaders among the Anarchs, such as the
famous ideologue Salvador Garcia. These leaders
are lightning rods for the controversies pulling
the Anarchs apart, always accused of nepotism,
complacency, and corruption. They might be
young by the standards of the Camarilla of old
but in the Anarchs someone who has spent 70
years as a vampire is a venerable relic of a bygone
era. After all, if your ideas of the world came
from the 1950s, it is hard to fit in the modern
nights.
The Anarchs are often more ideological than
Camarilla members. This brings its upsides
and downsides. For the luckiest Anarchs, it has
helped their community of Kindred to remain
more humane and hold onto their moral
principles. For others, ideology becomes a
bludgeon they can use to carve a power base
for themselves.

It is not unusual for a new generation of

Anarchs to attack their sires, who themselves
may only have ten or twenty years of unlife
behind them. The failings of the vampires
in their immediate vicinity have more
immediacy than the monolithic and distant
power of the Camarilla.

170
THE GRAND PAGEANT OF DIPLOMACY
The Toreador Victoria Ash at Elysium:

Politics can be such a bore! You have a good fight coming along. Everyone has done their work perfectly.
The enemy has been painted as the ultimate evil, every transgression by our own side has been excused.
There’s a gorgeous selection of strapping young warriors ready to prove their worth in physical struggle.

If we win, there will be a grand celebration and there is a special kind of enjoyment in having one or
two of those victorious warriors entertain you in your bedchamber.
If we lose, why... it can be quite thrilling! Whatever will they do to a helpless ingenue like me?

But then the worst happens. Diplomacy!

Instead of the young and the beautiful dying for your honor, you are consumed by endless meetings,
speeches, discussions, and proclamations. It can get unbelievably tedious.

Yes, of course I know all the arguments in favor of diplomacy. It protects the Masquerade, avoids
unnecessary death and so on. All very sensible.

The truth is that sensible is just another word for boring. I would have succumbed to the various
maladies of the old and the powerful long ago if I wasn’t able to enjoy the embrace of a victorious
gladiator covered in the blood of their enemies!

The Excitement of Diplomacy Fortunately, there are many ways to avoid

this dire fate. The War of Ages plays out in a
multitude of different ways and that means you
Done properly, diplomacy makes a great
can stack your LARP full of conflicts and drama
basis for a LARP event. Done badly, it can be
without making it all about meetings even if
extremely tedious.
diplomacy is the substance of the game.
A failed game of diplomacy strands the players
The best approach is to consider what kind of
in endless meetings where they do not have a
play is fun and interesting for the participants
clear idea of the stakes they are negotiating for.
and then try to make that happen. Sometimes
Everybody sits around a big table and dies of
you can use methods that are quite crude: if you
tedium while someone makes a limpid speech
decide that meetings are awful and have no place
trying to cover for the lack of real issues.
in your LARP, the Prince has declared that no
Character play and personal conflict fall by the
meeting shall run longer than ten minutes to
wayside as everyone reverts to their off-game
avoid important Kindred getting trapped when
work personas and just tries to muddle through
they should be mingling and solving problems.
the situation.
It is artificial but also works.

171
If you feel that there is a type of play that may
happen but is not fun, then you should do your
best to stave it off. Sometimes you can take this
out of the fiction entirely and just tell your
players to avoid certain types of actions because
they are not interesting. It depends on the
scenario whether such simple instruction works
or not. Your players may play accordingly, or
they may fall into boring patterns because of
habit.
The Concept
What is the LARP event about? What are the
issues discussed and who are the characters?
There should be distinct sides to the conflict,
a credible threat of escalation that would hurt
everybody, seemingly irreconcilable differences,
and clear stakes that are hard to resolve.
Here are a few example concepts:
The Anarch Revolt. This used to be a Camarilla
domain but now the Anarchs are rebelling,
threatening to take over the city and drive
Camarilla Kindred to exile. At the last moment,
Camarilla and Anarch leaders convene a grand
convocation for the purpose of trying to avoid
outright war. The Camarilla wants the revolt to
end and the Anarchs to return to the fold, while
the Anarchs want their freedom and an end to
Camarilla rule.
Camarilla Intrusion. Traditionally, the domain
has always belonged to the Ashirra but now
there has been a powerful influx of the Camarilla
related to cooperation between the sects in the
Gehenna War. Supposedly we are all allies here
but the Ashirra have come to suspect that the
Camarilla is trying to take over their domain.
At a supposedly casual soiree, they do their best
to forestall such an event before war flares up
between the two sects.
172
Anarch Civil War. Two or more distinct
camps of Anarchs are on the verge of going
to war with each other over ideological and
material differences. Some feel that the whole
domain should be one open hunting territory
while others want to give each gang their
own area. The Baron tries to hold onto power
while their enemies accuse them of being a
Camarilla stooge. It is all even more difficult
because there is no protocol for how to handle
something like this.
The Dueling Princes. This is a Camarilla
domain. The problem is that there are two
Princes who both claim praxis. Neither is
willing to submit to the other and a full-scale
influence war seems to be on the horizon. As a
last resort, an unaligned Toreador elder invites
everyone in the domain to her haven, widely
seen as neutral ground. Is it possible to resolve
the issue when the interests of so many of the
domain’s inhabitants are tied to one Prince or
the other? One possibility is that the would-be
Princes fight it out by proxy in some sort of
a staged competition which tends to require
local Kindred to demonstrate allegiance one
way or another.
Sabbat Survivors. As the Sabbat repurposed
itself for the Gehenna War, it left behind a
large number of less important packs who had
only paid lip service to the ideology to begin
with. Now they want to join the Anarchs or
the Camarilla in the local domain. The only
trouble is, there are so many of them it would
effectively double the domain’s Kindred
population and there is worry that it would
amount to a Sabbat takeover. Advocates for
the Sabbat survivors host a party to reconcile
these differences but old troubles have a habit
of resurfacing.
 Secret Agendas
The event must have as many conflicting Importantly, many of these goals should be
agendas as there are characters. There should ones that are best realized through private
be betrayals aplenty, characters deals, backroom negotiations and subtle
changing sides, treachery influence games. The purpose here is to
revealed, and surprising provide as many things as possible that can
twists and turns as boons not be done in official negotiations,
are called in. Ideally, every requiring characters to interact in
single character has public other ways.
goals and private
goals, often in Ideally, this leaves the most official
opposition to and publicly diplomatic forum
each other. to be the place where all the
plans and plots are
revealed in fairly
dramatic but quick
scenes.

The Characters
The characters should be duplicitous double-dealers who are always trying to further their personal
agendas at the expense of the common goal and their own side, whatever that is. In short, they should
be vampires.

There is a common pitfall in LARP character design that you should be wary of. You may think that if
most characters are lying backstabbers, wouldn’t it be good to have a few honest and straightforward
characters in the mix to provide contrast?

This works if the substance of the LARP is something other than double-dealing and devious plotting.
If sordid betrayals are what is fun in the LARP, they should be available for every single character.
There should be no honest Joes because they are boring to play if you are stuck being the righteous
person watching everyone else backstab to their heart’s content.
If an honest person is absolutely needed, they should be a supporting character players can enjoy
fooling.

173
It helps if none of the characters are rational That is why you need event types that direct the
and reserved. Everyone should have their own flow of action in the LARP into other, more
obsessions and weird compulsions; hatreds and interesting avenues even as the diplomacy also
loves that motivate them to make political plays happens. Here are a few examples:
that are dramatic and surprising. They may have
an aura of sophistication and reason but given The Prince’s Hunting Party. The Prince has
cause, the Beast emerges in one way or another. been hunting for Sabbat stragglers with their
cronies and organizes a celebration for their
The Event victory. They invite the Anarchs for diplomatic
talks, looking to negotiate from a position of
power.
Diplomacy does not have to be handled in great
conferences and meetings. The Kindred are more
Saturnalia. At the annual Kindred celebration
subtle than that. It can take place at dances,
of excess and personal transformation, it is
weddings, and parties. The Vermilion Wedding
easier to make deals and redraw the diplomatic
sought to unify the Camarilla and the Ashirra
map because everyone is freed from their usual
through the Blood Wedding of the Toreador
social positions for one night.
Victoria Ash and the Banu Haqim Tegyrius.
While ostensibly a tale of romance, most
The Warrens. The Nosferatu host a meeting
Kindred understood the Vermilion Wedding to
of all the domain’s Kindred every year, held
be all about the need for a united front against
at their underground warrens. It is a filthy
the Sabbat in the Gehenna War.
spectacle but also a great place to conduct
discreet negotiations with enemies because the
The best events have something obvious to do
Nosferatu are very strict about their neutrality
that helps give the players an idea of how the
and the rules of the Elysium. They also forbid
social situation is structured. A wedding is great
diplomacy but that only means it has to be
for this because everyone knows how to act in a
sneakier.
wedding. A diplomatic meeting is terrible, for
the same reason: everyone knows that at such
meetings, you are supposed to sit and be as
boring as possible.

174
Chapter Twelve

BOONS

175
What You’re Owed
At the Haven of the Ventrue Annika Wall:
Annika Wall: No no no please don’t kill me,
please, I’m not going to.... Is this an Anarch
revolt? Like in LA?
Deja: Maybe. Although to be honest I’m more
interested in becoming the new Prince.
Annika Wall: Okay... please... could you tell
your goons to stop ransacking my home? That
painting...
Deja: Okay. Fine. Boys, please wait outside. I’ll
have a little discussion with my clanmate here.
Annika Wall: Thank you.
Deja: Your Haven was pretty easy to find, you
know. You should....
Annika Wall: Okay, what the fuck? What are
you doing? One minute you pretend to be one
of us, then you’re an Anarch, and now you want
to be the Prince? They’ll put a Blood Hunt on
you! And I don’t blame them!
Deja: I’ll say this only once, Annika. My boys
are getting antsy. I’ve promised them that once
I become the Prince, they’ll get the best feeding
grounds in the city. They’re very motivated and
they don’t like defectors like you.
Annika Wall: I’m sorry. Please, I don’t want to
die.
Deja: I’ll give you three choices. You can oppose
me and die. You can stand aside. Or you can
help me and I’ll owe you. A boon from the
Prince is no small thing.
176
Annika Wall: What?
Deja: Play the game, Annika.
Annika Wall: But I wanted to be the Prince.
Deja: That’s tough. To be the Prince, you need a
base. You need people who back you up. I have
that.
Annika Wall: Fine. What do you need?
Deja: Make yourself useful or I can tell my boys
to come back in here and stake you so I can be
sure you won’t be a threat.
Annika Wall: No, no... that’s not necessary.
I’ve been accumulating boons. You know, for
my own bid to become the Prince. I can call
in a few favors for you. I can ask some of the
other Camarilla members to stay neutral. But in
return I want something more than just a boon.
Deja: Do you think you’re really in a position to
make demands?
Annika Wall: No. But you’ll need a loyal
Seneschal who understands how the city works.
A Seneschal who you’ve assured will never
suffer the indignity of having those brutes in
her drawing room again.
Deja: You’ll betray me the first chance you get.
Annika Wall: Maybe. That’s the game.
Deja: Okay. Fine. It’s a deal.
At the temporary haven of the Toreador elder
Victoria Ash:
“Oh, Annika, so good of you to come visit me!
I was just thinking about going out tonight.
Perhaps we could go together? I’ve heard there
are exciting things happening among the
Anarchs and I’m in the mood for an Anarch
lover. Somebody young, dumb, and violent. It’s
always so touching when an Anarch kills one of
their friends to avenge an insult to your honor. I
love it when they do that. So charming!
Yes, I do remember granting you a boon. You
helped me when I came to the city. I’m never
stingy with boons! That’s the mark of a bore.
177
And now, you’re calling it in.
Are you making a play, little neonate? You
should be careful. There are dangerous people
prowling in the night, much more dangerous
than you. The boon you have from me is the
most valuable you own.
You’re supporting somebody else? That’s wise.
I haven’t been a Prince more than once or
twice. Or maybe thrice. It’s so tedious! Better
let someone who owes you carry the burden.
That way, you don’t have to listen to people’s
grievances all night long. Although seducing a
Prince is often fun. You can make it into a game:
who seduces the new Prince fastest? Although
these nights with so many young Princes, it’s not
as interesting as it used to be.
Too easy.
You want me to stay out of the affairs of the
city when the Ventrue Deja makes herself the
Prince? That’s fine. I’m a visitor here, anyway.
But like I said, I’m not stingy when it comes to
boons. I’ll give you a bit of advice on how to use
them. You’ll ask me to host a party and invite
the Prince, your friend. I’ll do so, and why not!
I can’t be expected to know the intricacies of
local power struggles in every town I visit.
At the party, I’ll have a pleasant chat with the
Prince where everybody sees it.
And that will be that.
When her opponents consider deposing her,
they’ll think back to that moment. Was it just an
innocent chat? Or will they make an enemy of
me? They will hesitate and that will be enough
for your new Prince to retain power, at least for
a little while.
You know, I’m proud of you, Annika. You’ve
finally accepted who you are. You’ve never been
the main character in your own story but you’ll
make a fine supporting actor when someone else
takes the stage. I know you won’t resent your
Prince or try to depose her. You used to be just
a toy and now you’ve become a tool for others
to use. That’s plenty of personal growth already!
Who needs more?”
The Anarch Dee explains a scene at the Elysium:
“I was right there, I was in the middle of it! Okay,
not in the middle because I was hiding under the
bar. You know I’m going to be an elder one day
and there’s only one way to do that: by staying
alive... or dead... well undead.... Anyway, I was
prudently avoiding the risk of violence. Right?
So many of us just throw our weight around like
we’re super badass, talking about how once Deja
is the Prince we’ll all be Camarilla and this will
be our place, not theirs.
Maybe that was a mistake. You know, some of
the other Brujah don’t have the well-developed
political acumen that I possess!
The Camarilla guys, they started asking what
Deja intended to do, drive all of them into exile
or kill them? Could they trust her as the Prince?
Which, you know, is a fair point because Agata
Starek was there too and she was talking a lot
about diablerie. That makes people worried.
You know, me and Agata are very much alike.
We’re both Brujah, we both like Ventrue blood....
Although she prefers diablerie and I just drink
it in any form I can. It would be so cool if she
was my sire. Nobody would mess with me then!
Anyway, I was hiding because it was escalating
178
quickly. The Camarilla don’t look tough but
some of them are pretty scary when they get
mad. One Toreador had a sword cane! Can you
imagine? So cool.
Deja said that Agata had promised her one boon
to help with her coup. Agata agreed, like yes,
she’d promised that. Deja said she was calling
it in. She needed to reassure the Camarilla
that if she became the Prince, she wouldn’t just
turn them over to an Anarch mob. She’d be a
uniter, bringing the Anarchs and the Camarilla
together in the city.
So, to do that, she needed to make a symbolic
gesture, and Agata symbolized some of the
Anarchs’ most destructive qualities.
Agata was looking pretty stone faced at this
point, by the way. She’d been having fun
terrorizing people but now things we’re moving
into an uncomfortable direction for her.
Deja said that since Agata enjoyed Ventrue
blood, she was using her boon to ask Agata
to allow the Camarilla in Elysium to taste her
blood in turn. Not to excess of course, but just
so their curiosity would be satisfied.
Things got super quiet. Agata was staring at
Deja. I thought there was going to be a destroyed
Camarilla Prince before she even became a
Prince.
But a boon is a boon.
“Well then. Come and get it.” That’s what Agata
said. She spread her arms like she was inviting
people to bite her.
Nobody did. They were too scared of her.
I’m a coward and I’m not ashamed of it. Like I
said, I intend to become an elder. But I was also crawling under a table right next to Agata because I
wanted to see better and her shins were right in front of my face. I know Deja said Camarilla and I’m
not Camarilla but I bit in. I just wanted a taste! Agata is so cool and famous!

Once I started, the others dared too.”

At an Anarch bar:

Salman Hariri: How many boons do you owe when you’re the Prince?

Deja: A few... including to you. Is that bad?

Salman Hariri: No. I’ve never been a Prince of course, but I’ve observed a coup or two. What you want
is to owe the right amount of boons. Too many and you’re pulled into every direction. Too few...

Deja: What’s the advantage in owing people? That feels like a liability.

Salman Hariri: A boon from a Prince is worth more than a boon from an ex-Prince. If you owe someone,
they’re invested in your rule. They want to keep you on the throne at least until they get a chance to call
in the favor.

Deja: I don’t like owing people.

Salman Hariri: Too late, my friend. In ancient times you could be a powerful vampire Prince just ruling
over everybody. Not anymore. Tonight, the Prince needs backers.

Deja: Like you and the Ashirra.

Salman Hariri: Oh no! The Ashirra are neutral. I just like you, that’s all.

179
QUID PRO QUO
The Kindred exchange money and goods, the same as anybody else. Still, when you are an undying
parasite, there are situations where mortal means are inadequate. That is when boons enter the picture.
They are favors promised, to be cashed in at the recipient’s convenience.

Boons are the lifeblood of the vampire economy. The Kindred help each other out, incurring debts that
must be paid with services of equal value.

When a vampire says: “I’ll do it but you owe me one,” a boon has been incurred. The responsibility for
keeping track of boons lies with the character and player who received the boon. They must know what
kind of boons they can call and on who.

It is also probably a good idea to keep track of what you owe to others, but if someone forgets that you
owe them a boon, it is on them.

Boons and LARP
The purpose of the boon system in terms of
LARP design is to create an in-game economy
of transactions and obligations that can be
leveraged by players and characters to attain
their various goals. Ideally, the system should
provide opportunities for dynamic play and
surprising events.
the situation when the boon was incurred. You
should ask: is this favor of equal value to when I
was granted the boon?
If you got a boon from the Prince because you
saved their skin, it is different than if you did
them a routine political favor.

A longtime friend betrays you because someone

Acceptable and Unacceptable
called in a boon. You get the Prince to back you Boons
up because they owe you a boon.

Boons work best when characters grant them
and use them at a steady pace. When you use
a boon, you are compelling another character,
but on the player level you are also extending
an invitation to someone to participate in your
story.
If you wish, you can further differentiate the
boon system so that there are major boons, lesser
boons, etc. The easier solution is for each player
to adjust the favors they ask for according to
Some favors work well as boons, others not so
much. As such, the questions of what works
in a LARP and what makes sense in-game
intertwine. Here are a few examples of boons
you can not ask for:
- A vampire to destroy themselves or do
something suicidal like walking in the sun.
- A vampire to genuinely risk their mortal loved
ones.

180
- Specific emotions or intimate relationships.
You can not use a boon to make someone your
lover or to be your friend.
In addition, there are some types of boons that
you could ask for inside the fiction but would
have a negative effect on the game of another
player:
- Guard this door for the night. This is just
boring. Who wants to guard a door for an entire
LARP?
- Follow me on all fours and bark like a dog.
Depending on the type of LARP you are
attending, this may be inappropriate. Make
sure you have a solid grasp on local play culture
and leave an out for the other player before
considering seeking things like this.
- Stay out of the city’s power struggle. This
is another tricky one. It depends on how
important the power struggle is for the LARP.
If it is a peripheral concern, you can ask for this
boon. If it is the core theme of the LARP and
the main source of play, you should not ask for
this boon because it would make it impossible
for the other player to meaningfully engage
with the LARP.
Some boons are great for LARP. Here are a few
examples:
- Calling in boons to support your bid for power,
social recognition, etc. If you are making a big
play at Elysium, it is great if you can involve a
lot of other players in it and boons are the tool
you use to do that.
- Open-ended requests that leave a lot of room
for interpretation. These are fun for the other
player and allow them to take care of their
boundaries. For example, you can use a boon to
181
ask someone to sabotage the plans of the local
Brujah or make the Prince hate them. The
latter is an obviously hostile use of a boon but
leaves the victim in charge of deciding on the
particulars.
- Using a boon to create a scene. A Toreador
ancilla widely known to be an awful singer
uses a whole load of boons to force others in
Elysium to listen to them perform. This kind
of boon use is not about plots or plans but
building character and creating interesting,
fun situations.
How to Make the Boon
System Work
What if my character just ignores the boon I
am asked to perform?
This question breaks the boon system. There
is no all-encompassing system of enforcement
that would cover every single character type
from the Prince to a Nosferatu Anarch. Sure,
the Camarilla and the Anarchs frown upon
those who go back on their word but in a
LARP, it is hard to maintain a punishment-
based mechanism for keeping people in line.
A boon-breaker is ostracized and this can be
lethal over the long term but in a LARP, such
effects may not have time to manifest properly.
The solution to this is for players to respect the
boon system when they play their characters
and treat it as inviolate.
You, as a player in a Vampire: The Masquerade
LARP, must respect the system. That way, it
will work. If you do not respect the system and
do not play by the established event rules and
agreed upon parameters, it will break down.
The boons work as a meta-level mechanism
as much as an in-game system. They are both
something that exists in the game world and as
a game mechanic, and thus require all players to
treat them the way they would treat any other
game mechanical rule: with respect.
This also means that you should not play into
a direction that makes the boon system break
apart. For example, if you cash in a boon and
demand that a character do something obviously
suicidal, this means they will be forced to either
ignore the boon and break the rules of the game
or fulfill the boon and get destroyed. That is a
terrible choice because it forces the other player
into conflict with the design of the LARP.
For this reason, you also should never try to cheat
the boon system in other ways. For example, you
should never lie that you hold a boon if you do
not. In a LARP, lying is easy and the fabric of
the fiction starts to break down when others
have to start doubting your word when it comes
to boons.
182
Failing to Fulfill a Boon
Sometimes you fail to fulfill a boon through no
fault of your own. You are compelled by a boon
to assist in an attempt to oust the Prince but
get staked before you get to Elysium.
These kinds of situations are fodder for in-game
controversy and discussion. Some Kindred
think that an honest attempt is enough while
others consider such failures unacceptable.
A failure to fulfill a boon tars you, makes
you seem untrustworthy and unreliable even
if it was not your fault. This means that you
have to take steps to repair your reputation.
Perhaps you can grant a few boons and then
ostentatiously fulfill them to demonstrate that
you are a vampire of your word!
HOW TO SPEND BOONS
What's the use in accumulating boons if you do not use them?
Every unused boon is a freebie you did for someone else. You only
get what you are owed if you actually call them in.

Boons have a tendency to expire, especially if you do not have the

power or the status to hold onto them. An elder might be able to
call in a boon incurred a hundred-years ago but most Kindred are
dependent on their compatriots and peers remembering why the
boon was granted in the first place. Tarry too long and nobody
will care anymore.

Sometimes boons are dangerous. They tie two Kindred together

in ways that are not always advantageous to the recipient even if
on the surface it seems so. For example, a Brujah
neonate has been granted a boon by the
Prince. This makes other Anarchs suspicious.
Can they really trust a Brujah who seems to
be in such good favor with the Camarilla?
The only way the Brujah can allay the rumors
is to cash in the boon quickly.

Boons As Invitations
When your character uses a boon, you as a
player are extending an invitation to play.
You are proposing action to another player and their character. You are suggesting something that
could happen and be interesting to play.

There is an in-game component to this as well. A common use for boons is to facilitate the devious plots
of the undead. Your character can use a boon to effectively invite someone into their schemes. This is
an effective way to motivate other characters. Why would they help you to get rid of the boon you are
holding over them?

Because the boon is an invitation to play, you need to know what you want out of the LARP and what
kind of scenes you want to play before you start using your boons effectively. For example, if you are
interested in political plots and schemes, you should use your boons to make those happen. After all, a
single boon can be more effective than any Discipline power if used in the right way.

If you want strong social scenes, you can use boons to stir up social controversy and invite people to
participate in your melodrama.

183
Boons As Status Symbols
Conspicuous consumption is a thing in the
world of the Kindred as well. What better
way to flaunt your influence and power than
calling in boons for frivolous or demonstrative
reasons?
A boon is a power trip. You did something for
another character and now they have to repay
you. Because you are so much more powerful
than they are, or want to appear as such, you
can spend your boon on something ridiculous.
Of course, this works best with an audience.
Here are a few examples:
- Cash in your boon with the Prince and ask
them to hold a ceremony in your honor
. A common way to pull off plots is to
- Use a boon to ask someone to get you a drink.
- Ask someone to wear a t-shirt with your face
on it.
- Tell someone that the boon you have over
them is annulled but they must thank you
publicly to make it happen.
Boons As Stories
You can use boons to inject story elements
into a LARP. For example, you are playing in
a chronicle and your character has a mortal
ward who will be introduced as a player
character at the next event. Why not use a
boon to ask another vampire to look after
them between events so that when the new
character is introduced, they already have one
more contact? At the same time, you involve
another vampire character in the story of you
and your ward.
184
In a LARP, everything tends to work better
if it is shared with other players. If you are
blackmailing the Prince, you can use a boon
and ask another character to hold your secrets
in case something happens to you. In this way,
your blackmailing plot now involves another
person and there is a chance it leaks, leading
to new and interesting developments.
You can also use boons to trip up other
characters. Use a boon to make them
participate in your plot, only the whole thing
is a lie to make them implicate themselves in
something that is sure to anger the Prince.
They might even realize you are doing this but
still feel compelled to fulfill the boon.
Grand Plans
accumulate boons, then use a whole bunch of
them at once. This way, your sudden tsunami
of influence gets you the effect you want. For
example, you want to swing the vote among the
Primogen. To do that, you use every boon you
have on members of the Primogen themselves,
and some on their clans as well, to make sure
that they are on your side.
Things get interesting when two or more
vampires try to do this at the same time. The
iconic scenario is when there is a fight over
who is going to be the Prince. All contenders
fling boons around trying to get enough
backing to succeed.
If you realize you do not have enough boons to
sway the Primogen, perhaps you can use your
other boons to get their members replaced
with those in your pocket? That is one way
to increase the value of a boon: make sure
the person who owes you is as successful as
possible.
Coercion
Like many Discipline powers, boons are
fundamentally coercive. They allow you to
make other characters do things they would not
otherwise do. This means that when you call
them in, you have to consider both what your
character wants, what makes a good LARP, and
what works for other players.
Sometimes a boon that’s dangerous for the
character is also fun for the player. For example,
you use a boon to ask a Brujah ancilla to back
you up when you go to challenge the Primogen.
It’s a risk for the ancilla but also a chance for the
player to see something they wouldn’t otherwise
have been a part of.
During the Event or Af-
terwards?
One important question when you cash in a
boon is whether the other character has to
perform a task during the LARP event or after
it? Obviously, there are a lot of boons that
only make sense if the character performs the
required actions after the event is over. They can
still be part of the story, just not scenes that are
actually played out.
For example:
- Help me steal police evidence that endangers
the Masquerade.
- Let my childe stay at your spare Haven.
- Don’t feed in the city center.
There are advantages and disadvantages to
asking for a boon that will be performed only
185
after the LARP is over. You can ask for things
that are awkward or boring to play but you
also miss an opportunity to generate action
in the LARP. For this reason, it is a good
default to focus on asking for boons that are
realizeable during the LARP unless there is a
specific reason to do otherwise.
One possible reason is if you have a big
collection of boons you want to get rid of. In
that eventuality, you can use some for tasks
during the LARP itself and burn others on
things that do not require anybody to waste
too much LARP time on them.
Interlude: Storage
How could it have gone so wrong?
Sebastian always knew that it wouldn’t
last. He had been invited to Camarilla high
society because it amused the Ventrue Salomé
Diaz. She wanted to have a Brujah boyfriend
to show around until she grew bored and
switched to something else. If he had been
older, more substantial, the story could have
gone differently: a Blood Wedding, eternity
as partners in ambition and treachery. As it
stood, he had expected to be discarded in a
few years.
Just not so soon. And not like this.
Salolmé was not all that good at pretending
she was mortal. She grew tired of the pretense,
her predatory nature showing. She did not
have a lot of empathy and she delighted in
small cruelties.
Sebastian knew all that. Perhaps he should
have realized that something was amiss when
a few of the visitors to Salomé’s salon looked
at him with pity in their eyes. Still, he did not
expect her to stake him on her bed as soon as the
last guests had left. She kissed his paralyzed face
and gave him to her servants to put in storage.
She explained her plan to them quite matter-of-
factly, giving instructions as if he was not there.
And in her world he wasn’t. He had ceased to
matter the moment she decided it was over.
He was to be put in a secure storage, fed blood
by a ghoul just often enough that he would not
fall into torpor. He would be ravenously hungry,
unable to move, just lying in the darkness for
years, decades...
until Salomé would host a party where she
needed an amusing diversion. She would dress
him up in some hilarious outfit and let him
loose among her guests. His sanity would be
long gone by then of course. Perhaps he would
have to be in restraints to make sure he would
not bite the guests. Or maybe it would be funny
if he did bite them. She would think about it
later.
To his shame, Sebastian cried in his confinement,
the stake sticking out of his chest as tears of
blood streaked his cheeks. He wanted to pretend
he was crying for himself and his sorry fate but
the truth was he had allowed himself to love
Salomé. She was quite lovable when she was not
making someone’s life a living hell.
Sometimes he felt a trickle of blood enter his
mouth. Human blood, animal, even Kindred.
Time passed and he grew attuned to the
darkness and its sounds. The insects scurrying
over his face disgusted him at first but then they
started to feel like company. It was nice to have
someone there.
186
“Fucking hell,” Szymon the Sad said, shining a
flashlight into Sebastian’s face. Sebastian had
been aware that someone was approaching but
he had thought it a dream. He had had such
fantasies many times in the past.
Szymon pulled on the stake with both hands,
steadying himself on the mortuary table
Sebastian was lying on, until the wooden shaft
came loose.
Sebastian felt unsteady. The hunger was a roar
in his ears, his eyes swimming towards Szymon
who was full of blood.
Blood entered his mouth. It tasted disgusting.
Pig’s blood. Cold. Better than nothing. Sebastian
drank from the bottle Szymon was pushing
against his lips. The weak, rancid blood entered
his body, invigorating him.
“Where are we?” Sebastian croaked.
“It’s a decommissioned mortuary. They store
some of their secrets here, like you,” Szymon
explained, gesturing around him. Walls the
color of toothpaste. Medical tools decades old
were scattered about.
“Are there others here? Staked?” Sebastian
looked at the bodies on the tables, covered
by plastic sheets. He’d had one such sheet
haphazardly covering him too. It was lying on
the floor now.
“Yes,” Szymon replied. “I checked a few of them
before I found you. But we don’t have time for
them. Let’s go.”
“But...” Sebastian protested. He had vague
thoughts of rescuing others who had suffered
like him but the Blood inside him said to forget
it. What did they matter to him? He was not “She’s making plays against her sister. There’s a
mortal. He was a vampire and he had suffered lot of things you hear when you’re a ghoul, that
like one. you bloodsuckers miss,” Szymon said.

“No buts. I got the location of this place from “Do I owe her?” Sebastian asked and noticed
Salomé’s ghoul. Her sister, Valentina. I don’t a small red light glaring at him from under a
trust her,” Szymon explained, helping Sebastian table. “We’ve triggered surveillance for sure.”
to his feet.
“Yes, you owe her,” Szymon replied, pulling
Was Valentina still pretending to be a ghoul? Sebastian along.
Sebastian had Embraced her by accident. Hadn’t
Salomé realized? He had wondered if that had
been the reason she had decided to dispose of
him.

187
Chapter Thirteen
PRAXIS
At an Anarch bar:
Sebastian: So what happens now? Will Deja
become the new Prince and the divisions
between us and the Camarilla disappear?
Szymon the Sad: Maybe.
Sebastian: You don’t sound too convinced.
Szymon the Sad: You spent some time in the
Camarilla. Do you think they’ll let the rabble
in so easily?
Sebastian: But Deja...
Szymon the Sad: Deja is one of them. She’s a
Ventrue and her sire is the former Prince.
Sebastian: What?
Szymon the Sad: Oh yeah, she may not know
that. Sometimes the Ventrue do this to test
their childer, Embrace them and then force
them to make their own way to toughen them
up.
188
Sebastian: But if she doesn’t know this and the
Camarilla doesn’t know this... how come you
know all about it?
Szymon the Sad: Some in the Camarilla know.
They’ve watched her, assessed her, wondered
if she’s up to assuming the legacy of her sire.
They wanted to see how it played out.
Sebastian: Yeah, but...
Szymon the Sad: I know about it because
ghouls talk. We always talk and nobody ever
listens to us.
Sebastian: I’m listening to you.
Szymon the Sad: You’re no different than the
rest.
The transcript of a speech given by the Ventrue
Salomé Diaz at the Elysium:
Kindred!
This is a difficult time for any city. Our beloved
Prince is gone and we’ve had to accept that
they will not be back. That’s the reality of the
Beckoning, as many of our kind have come to
realize in domains across the world.
Why, I myself have felt the stirrings of the
Beckoning in my Blood...
(Jeers: “You’re not old enough!”)
Quiet, you! Let me speak!

We need a new Prince. That much is clear. Yet
we also need continuity. We need stability. Of
course, we all know that I’m making this speech
because my fellow Ventrue Deja is making a bid
to become the Prince. So perhaps we should let
her?
I say no!
She paints pretty pictures with her talk of
redistributing old feeding territories abandoned
by Beckoned elders and ending the conflicts
between the Camarilla and the Anarchs. She
promises we can return to how things used to
be, with one Camarilla city where the Prince
rules over all and the Brujah and the Gangrels
as our loyal compatriots.
She makes it sound like she’s looking to return
us to the old ways but that is mere rhetoric.
She may be a Ventrue but she’s not one of us.
She’s an Anarch through and through and this
is nothing less than a coup; an attempt to make
this into an Anarch domain in everything except
the name. She will take your feeding territories
and redistribute them to her friends among
the rabble. You’ll find yourselves booted out of
your Havens, pushed to the edges of the city, in
suburbs far from prime feeding areas.
She wants to take everything we have and she
thinks we’re so stupid, we’ll thank her for the
privilege!
No.
We need a Prince who understands the
importance of the Camarilla in this city. The
work we’ve put into maintaining the Masquerade
and keeping the mortals in line. The Anarchs
are welcome to join us at Elysium when, and
189
only when, they understand the meaning of the
word “responsibility”. As long as they don’t do
the work of maintaining our rule, why should
they benefit from its fruits?
(Shouts: “You want to be the Prince! Admit it!”)
Yes I admit it! Make me your Prince and I
promise your privileges will stay intact! You
know me. I’m one of you and I will look after
you!
The transcript of a speech given by the Ashirra
Salman Hariri at the Elysium:
Dear members of the Camarilla!
First of all, I must thank you. You have welcomed
us into your domain and shared the fruits of
your territories generously. We have never been
bereft of blood to wet our lips.
Now, I have no wish to intrude upon matters
as important as the ascension of a new Prince!
This is your domain, not mine, and we shall not
meddle.
I merely wish to bring up a few details that may
have escaped some of you. As you’re aware, the
Beckoning doesn’t make your elders vanish into
thin air. They go to fight a war that may end up
making all of the decisions you make here null
and void. But that happens over our heads, yours
and mine. I make no claims at understanding
the specifics of the Gehenna War.
Your Prince has made the acquaintance of a few
of the Ashirra, as our sect and the Camarilla are
partners in this war. They are well looked after,
I assure you.
In conversation, they have casually mentioned
their interest in what happens in the domain
they used to rule for so long, and of their childe
who now seeks the position of the Prince.
(Noise from the crowd.)
Yes. Deja is the childe of the Prince. I suppose
they must have had their own reasons to elide
that fact, even from Deja herself. But I hope I’m
not confusing matters too much by mentioning
it now.
That’s all I wanted to say. I wish prosperity and
peace upon this domain!
At a garage owned by the Brujah March Davis:
Dee: This is going to be great! Deja will become
the Prince, we’re all going to be Camarilla
and there will be plenty of Ventrue blood for
everybody. Well, me at least.
March Davis: Nothing is going to change.
Dee: Come on. Don’t be like that. Have a little
faith!
March Davis: In what? The good nature of the
Ventrue?
Dee: Deja is not just a Ventrue. She’s....
March Davis: An Anarch, like us?
Dee: Yeah!
March Davis: I don’t know. Maybe her time
with us will save her from being co-opted by
the Camarilla system. But I doubt that. They’re
good at corrupting people. That’s what vampires
do.
190
Dee: We’re vampires too.
March Davis: Yes. We are. That’s how I know.
Dee: I choose not to believe you! She’ll open
the doors of the Elysium to everyone. We’ll
be Camarilla too, all sharing the best hunting
grounds. Deja said she wouldn’t reserve any for
herself. Did you hear that? She’d hunt the same
as anybody else. That’s revolutionary!
March Davis: You’re not naive, Dee. You know
how the world works. Don’t be stupid.
Dee: I don’t want to spend my eternity puttering
away in a garage, fixing people’s cars the way
you do.
March Davis: This is a 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda.
It’s mine. Restoring cars from when I was still
breathing is a hobby.
Dee: Did you ever fuck anybody in that car? Or
suck I guess, after the Embrace?
March Davis: Dee.
Dee: Come on. It’s an innocent question!
March Davis: Yes I did.
Dee: Before or after the Embrace?
March Davis: Both.
PLAYING FOR PRAXIS
Your character can have many goals when
playing in a Vampire LARP but becoming the
Prince of the city is a classic. Rule the domain
and all who call it home, at least until the next
upstart begins to eye your throne.
In some domains, the same Prince rules for
decades or even centuries. The cities depicted in
LARP chronicles tend to be of the other kind;
chaotic domains where the Prince changes often.
Playing for praxis makes more sense in an
ongoing chronicle where you have more time to
set up your plans and execute them than in a
single-event LARP where stories of ruling and
being ruled do not really have time to develop.
Still, if you are fast enough and if it fits the
theme of the event, surely you can topple a
Prince even during a four-hour mini-LARP!
Tactics
There are a couple of common strategies for
becoming the new Prince. It used to be that you
would first have to depose the old Prince but
now as the Beckoning ravages domains across
the world, it happens more often that a Prince
abandons their post and the domain’s Kindred
are forced into a power struggle, sometimes
much to their surprise. Absent a vacancy, here
are some ways to claim the chair:
Force. You can take over a domain using
violence and vampiric Disciplines. Just beat
everyone into submission and Dominate the
rest. This is possibly the most difficult way to
become the Prince and the worst if your goal is
to retain control over the domain for the long
191
term. You need to be personally exceptionally
powerful, have strong and violent allies, and
reckon with the fact that after your victory
absolutely everyone will hate you and seek to
undermine your rule.
Despite these issues, this is a classic tactic for
becoming the Prince, especially for very old
Kindred who’s instincts for seizing praxis were
formed sometime in the Middle Ages.
Trickery. Lie and cheat your way to victory.
Abuse the rules and traditions of your domain.
Use every trick in the book to gain power before
anyone notices what you are doing. Considering
that vampires tend to be skilled in social games
and plots, this is a surprisingly unpopular tactic.
The trouble lies in the weakness of the power
base thus formed. At some point, the inhabitants
of the domain will realize that the Prince is
weak and full of shit. At that point, a trickster
Prince’s nights in power will be limited.
For LARP purposes, trickery can nevertheless
be fun especially if you are not all that interested
in actually being the Prince. The chase is the
fun part, after all. You can maneuver yourself
to praxis and then lose control as others realize
what you have done.
Politics. You negotiate, build a coalition, and
find allies until your power base is strong
enough that you become the Prince. When the
Primogen backs you up and your friends in
the Anarchs, Ventrue, and Toreador consider
you their candidate, you are set for a long and
prosperous rule.
The main difficulty with the political approach
is that everybody wants something and you
have to make all kinds of promises to gain their
support. This becomes even more difficult if
you have a rival; someone else who also wants
to become the Prince and makes promises to
the same people you are talking to.
The most common bone of contention is
domain, whether that be physical feeding
territories or areas of influence such as the
police or the healthcare system. Your potential
vampire allies can always be trusted to want
more than their share and to do their best
to undermine each other. Thus, the political
method for gaining praxis can become an
exercise in trying to stave off chaos long enough
for you to attain the throne.
Fortunately, this is good practice for the chaos
you will have to manage once you actually
become the Prince.
Selling your soul. There are many entities,
individuals, and organizations in the World of
Darkness who can make you the Prince. The
only thing you have to do is to become their
minion, subject to their whims.
Sometimes you can play this to your advantage
by using the backing of some powerful entity
and then reneging on the deal you made,
turning against them. This is a dangerous move,
however, but with the backing of your domain
and position, maybe you are the Prince who
makes it work.
So who will you sell your soul to? There are
many choices. The important thing is to make
it someone so powerful as to allow you to skip
the usual quid pro quo of politics. Instead of
being beholden to everybody in your domain,
you will have to answer to just one backer.
192
The most dangerous and difficult choice is the
Second Inquisition. If you somehow manage
to make a deal with an implacable enemy of
all vampires, they can clean out the city and
you can start afresh as the Prince of an empty
domain. Of course, it is likely they are just
playing you and will kill you in the end. Another
possibility is a Methuselah so powerful, they
can ignore night-to-night Kindred politics.
Of course, they might also be so powerful that
they can just take over your will and leave you
a witless husk of a puppet.
The Sabbat is another option. Of course, they
want to destroy your domain but perhaps you
can have a few good years as they use your city
as a staging area for the Gehenna War.
Creating Play
Ideally, making a play for becoming the Prince
is a major story within the chronicle which will
create action for dozens of other characters.
Here, fortunately the motivations of your
character and the considerations of good
LARP design coincide. Your character wants
to become the Prince which is easier if you
have a strong coalition of backers behind you.
Conveniently, that means that you will have to
make sure as many other characters as possible
have a stake in your being the Prince.
A Prince without any support is no Prince at
all. There are no institutions certifying vampire
rulers. You are a Prince if the Kindred of your
domain accept your rule, usually out of fear.
If they do not, you are just another pretender.
This means that any plot to become the Prince
will start with you telling people that you
intend to become the Prince. You can gauge
support, keep it a secret from those who would
oppose you, scope out potential rivals, and make promises to your allies. You will try to butter up
important people in the domain and perhaps even make a strategic enemy, getting someone who is
universally hated to come after you so you get sympathy points.

Having a rival makes becoming the Prince harder but it can be great fun in a LARP. The rival can be
the existing Prince who tries to suppress your ambitions or another character with the same goals as
you. With a rival, you have someone to rail against, and someone to vilify publicly to make yourself
look better.

The Anarchs
What if you are an Anarch? It does not make sense to aim for becoming the Prince if you do not believe
in Princes to begin with.

Leadership structures among the Anarchs are more complicated and the strategies for getting to the
top are different than in the Camarilla. Nevertheless, you can become an Anarch leader if you set your
mind to it.

Anarch domains have a lot of variation when it comes to power structures.

The Baron. Some domains have a single Anarch Baron which acts as a Prince-like figure by setting the
rules and maintaining control over the domain. Barons typically come under a lot of internal criticism
because many Anarchs feel that they just replicate Camarilla power structures. Because of this, being a
Baron can be a thankless job: you have less power and authority than a Prince and half of your people
feel compelled to defy your every edict out of principle.
Becoming a Baron is easier than becoming a Prince because it is a less of a contested position. In some
domains, nobody wants to be the person in charge and you can adopt the position as long as most
Anarch gangs do not actively hate you.

The Camarilla is full of wily old bastards who have spent centuries learning how to play political games.
Although many Camarilla Princes were caught by surprise each time the Anarch Revolt experienced a
resurgence, in some domains the local Camarilla elite were able to contain the situation by propping
up a puppet Baron.

This is how an Anarch can sell their soul to become a leader: be the secret proxy of the Camarilla while
pretending to resist their rule.

Anarchy. Many Anarch domains do not have any sort of a centralized power structure. They are a
collection of gangs where nobody really asserts authority. On the face of it, it is impossible to gain
praxis in these conditions, but appearances can be deceiving.

193
Older, more powerful and established gangs tend
to be respected by their peers. A charismatic
individual in such a gang can have a lot of pull
even when officially they are not an Anarch
leader.

War and similar crises provide

wonderful opportunities for
popular authority. This is why it
pays to hype up the threat posed
by enemies such as the Second
Inquisition, the Camarilla, and the
Sabbat. Once your whole domain
is gripped by fear and hatred for
an insidious, dangerous enemy,
you can make yourself into a war
leader and assume dictatorial
powers.

What is best, your

enemies are not going
away anytime soon
so you can maintain
an atmosphere of
heightened agitation
indefinitely. Of
course, there is the
danger that you will
then have to actually
lead Anarchs into
war.

194
DESIGNING FOR PRAXIS
Some Vampire LARPs are designed for power
games where characters can make the attempt
to become Prince of the city. Others are not.
Before you start designing, you should decide
what kind of a chronicle you want to make.
If you want power struggles to play a central
part in the experience, make them meaningful.
If you are interested in some other aspect of
Vampire, make the role of the Prince peripheral
so that attaining Princedom does not feel like
an interesting use of player time.
If you want players and characters to struggle
for Praxis, you need to ensure that being the
Prince means something. The player who gets
that role must be able to make changes that
affect the chronicle in a meaningful way.
What is more, players should have a path to
Princedom and the Prince should feel like
someone they want to topple
The Role of the Prince
What does the Prince actually do in the
chronicle?
If the Prince is a person who sits on a fancy
chair at the Elysium but does not do much
else, toppling the Prince will feel pointless.
What would it change? This is why the role of
the Prince must be designed so that it creates
as much friction with other characters and
political factions as possible. This way, a new
incoming Prince can make promises that the
tension and friction will end and everybody will
be happy, only to then fall into similar patterns
as the old Prince.
195
Here are a few examples of how a sitting Prince
can make unlife difficult for the inhabitants of
their domain:
Unjust distribution of feeding rights. The
Prince hogs the best and easiest hunting
grounds for themself and their allies, relegating
certain clans and political enemies to hunt in
the suburbs and industrial areas.
Capricious grants to make progeny. How
do you get permission to sire a childe? Who
knows! Sometimes the Prince grants the right
to progeny to their closest allies, other times
to random neonates. It all seems to depend on
random whimsy.
Rank nepotism. The Prince clearly favors their
allies, clan, and progeny. On every issue, they
get the best options and everyone else has to do
with less.
Unfair and heavy-handed justice. The Prince
calls blood hunts on their enemies based
on flimsy, fabricated evidence of treason.
They inflict serious punishments for minor
infractions, dabble in collective punishment,
and enjoy lording over their lessers. You can set
up supporting characters specifically to take
the roles of neonates who get executed by the
Prince.
Prejudice. The Prince just hates the Brujah, the
Tremere, the Anarchs, or whoever. Can’t stand
them. As a design element, this hatred should
only be based on supernatural characteristics
from the Vampire setting such as clan or sect
affiliation, and never on real-life demographics.
At the start of a LARP chronicle, the Prince
can be a supporting character who behaves as
obnoxiously as possible so they get removed
from power by a player character. After that
happens, the player character Prince discovers
why it is so hard to be a just, well-loved leader
in a city of bloodsucking monsters.
Rules and Structures
It is enormously helpful for players who want
to play on Camarilla power struggles if the
domain has traditions, rules, and structures in
place regarding how to become the Prince. If
the Prince is an autocrat and there is no system
for determining who gets to be in that position,
it is very hard for players and characters to
challenge the current office holder. They have
to foment a violent and total rebellion to get
there.
In the setting of Vampire, autocratic powerful
Princes are not all that rare but in a
LARP the should be used only when
the goal is to keep playing for praxis
out of the scope of the event. A weaker
Prince beholden to a powerful Primogen
offers more opportunities for play. If there
are rules such as these in the domain, the
question is who made those rules and why. In
the case of these examples, the answer would
be the Primogen who would then have
enough power to enforce their will.
Here are a few examples of rules you
can design into the domain to foster
power plays:
The Prince is chosen by the
Primogen. If the domain has a
tradition whereby the Pimogen
can collectively install a new
Prince if they so choose,
that provides an avenue
of political influence for
196
an interested character. They can lobby the
Primogen to become Prince. Or even better,
they can join the Primogen, elect a weak
Prince and rule through them.
The Prince has to fulfill certain obligations
to stay in power. For example, the Prince
pledges to keep the Sabbat out of the city and
the Masquerade in place. The reason this is
helpful for potential aspirants is that it makes
it possible to delegitimize the Prince. You can
argue that the Prince has failed to protect
the Masquerade and must be removed or you
can orchestrate events to make it appear the
Prince has failed!
The Prince’s power is conditional. Everybody
in the domain knows that the Prince will
remain in power only as long as they enjoy the
trust of a powerful Methuselah, the Ventrue,
or whoever. A weak Prince might even be
beholden to the Anarchs; as long as they are
happy, there is peace and the Prince can stay
on their throne. If the Anarchs become
unhappy, a war starts and the Prince
loses their legitimacy.
The Prince has symbols of power. As per
tradition, the Prince always holds the city’s
parks as their personal hunting ground,
carries a scepter made of iron and is
the only one allowed to dress in
purple in Elysium. The purpose
of these types of social and setting
rules is to make it clear who the
Prince is. In a LARP, things
can become muddled in
the fiction sometimes, so
it helps if the position of
Prince is extremely clear.
The important thing about
rules is that everybody
knows them. It is of course helpful if the Prince has secret weaknesses that characters can exploit but
the purpose of rules known to all is that players can use them to orient their play. The existence of the
rules guides them in thinking about their tactics and how they want to approach their bid for power.

Being the Prince

Being the Prince should be fun, the same as any other character role in a LARP. If it looks like the player
of the Prince is relegated to sitting alone on a throne while everyone else is enjoying themselves, it does
not seem very appealing to strive for Princedom.

The core to this is that there should be meaningful choices and actions the Prince can make, whether in
consultation with others or alone.

The Prince makes decisions concerning social events. This can be something utterly trivial. For example,
is the color scheme of the Elysium purple or red? It can be slightly more meaningful if the Prince makes
decisions about which clans get preferred treatment or how new childer are introduced to the court.
While trivial in the fiction, these kinds of choices are very visible in a LARP, further establishing the
Prince.

The Prince gets invited into fancy meetings. The Prince and their aides get to meet visiting Archons, the
Princes of nearby domains, or Ashirra diplomats. Essentially, they get to make foreign policy decisions.
Of course, this requires the chronicle’s domain to have a wider setting context.

The Prince takes center stage at rituals. Perhaps the local Church of Caine invites the Prince to take
an important role at their rituals, standing in for Caine himself... or the Heralds regularly stage a play
making fun of the Prince and their politics.

197
 CHANGING OF
THE GUARD
What does it look like when ambitious
Kindred seize praxis? Fortunately
examples are plentiful. After all, it is
in the nature of the vampire to cheat,
lie, and murder to serve the goal of
attaining power.

Unclaimed The President

The great thing about claiming praxis
over a domain, even a small domain, is
how it changes the way people see you. That
was the lesson the thin-blooded Tremere
neonate Vita Varnas learned after making the
previously abandoned town of St. Joseph, near
Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan, into
his domain.
Originally from Australia and still pursuing
a career as an actor thanks to the advantages
of being of the 14th generation, Varnas has
tried to maintain ambiguity over whether he
is Camarilla or Anarch. Better each sect thinks
he is one of them so he is a Prince or a Baron
depending on who he is talking to.
St. Joseph may be small but praxis is praxis. It is
something to build a reputation on.
“Fake it till you make it” is a common phrase
of advice but the Ventrue Cassius Dunn took
it further than most. The son of a preacher
studying for a business degree in life, he was
violently inducted into the Sabbat and thrust
into an unlife of violence and horror.
Dunn’s Christian outlook persists even as
a vampire. He knows he is serving infernal
powers and he knows it is wrong and that he
has to save himself and those around him.
To this end, when Sabbat territories started to
collapse in the face of the Second Inquisition,
he took his motorcycle gang–the Sons of
Amaranth–and joined the Anarchs. By
human standards, the Anarchs are not exactly
pinnacles of morality, but by Sabbat standards
they are angels on earth.

198
The Second Inquisition dealt Dunn another blessing as well, although it was as a consequence of horrific
events. The Kindred of the domain of Las Vegas were exterminated, leaving a power vacuum that could
be filled with enterprising souls.

The president of the Sons of Amaranth was not willing to take over the entirety of Las Vegas and make
himself and the people closest to him into targets for every ambitious lick around. Instead, he claimed
a smaller domain nearby and made himself into an Anarch Baron.
To survive in the Sabbat, Dunn had to fake being a tough guy. Now to take his next steps on the road
of redemption, he has to find a way to shed that persona.

Peace Talks

These are not the best times for the Ivory Tower. The Camarilla has had some of its most important
domains fall to the Anarchs and the Second Inquisition and its elders have been called away by the
Beckoning to an unknown fate.

These concurrent crises have also made it possible for the sect to revitalize itself, and for old ossified
power structures to gain flexibility with the introduction of new ideas.

One such example is the attempted Anarch takeover of Pittsburgh where the Camarilla Prince Sebastion
Tyler saw the city and its self-styled Royal Family threatened by an insurrection of the underclass.

Prince Tyler saw his end when the Anarchs successfully assaulted the physical symbol of his power,
a grand edifice called Bastion Tower. His death also had another consequence, unintended by the
revolutionaries: the end to local Camarilla weakness.

Prince Taylor may have been weak but he was also politically connected. The Archon Lucretia Wright
was a veteran of suppressing Anarch insurrections in different domains and was a member of the
Prince’s court, his Royal Family. When she arrived at the city, it was on the edge of complete Camarilla
surrender.

Wright successfully neutered the Anarch insurrection through what she called her “Peace Talks”,
ostensibly to avoid unnecessary violence and bloodshed. At their moment of truth, the Anarchs faltered
and accepted a position on the Primogen so they could take up their grievances directly in the halls of
power. The city remained Camarilla and the key Anarch figures had been subsumed into the existing
power structure.

Just as Wright had intended.

199
The War Leader

War creates opportunities. Generals become peacetime leaders too, with mortals and Kindred alike.
The war against the Sabbat created such an opportunity for the Nosferatu Carrick Driscol. He started
as the Camarilla Warmaster of Alberta and became the Prince of Calgary.

As so often happens in the world of the Kindred, an external war became an internal one after Driscol
realized that increasing setbacks in the conflict were probably caused by a mole. Allying with the
Ventrue and the Tremere because the Sabbat were not known to be keen on these clans, he conducted
an aggressive mole hunt which also laid the basis for his later claiming of praxis.

In the end, four Kindred were found to be Sabbat agents and executed, starting with the Toreador
Harpy Bastien Sprski.

The violence of the war attracted the attention of the Second Inquisition, making the situation even
more difficult to navigate. The Second Inquisition was hurting the Sabbat but could also cause all of
Alberta’s Kindred to burn.

In response, Driscol adopted the strategy of total lockdown, using the crisis to become Prince and
forbidding the use of communications technology. He also made maintaining the Masquerade the
primary focus of his rule. This strategy of caution was successful, leaving the Sabbat scattered, its
power broken.

200

Elite Enclave
The city of Madison, Wisconsin may have been
small but you would not guess if you only
knew who among the Kindred spent their
nights there. Some towns become the havens
of Anarchs and lowlives while others are elite
enclaves and refuges from the ravages of the
Gehenna War.
The Prince of Madison, the Gangrel Jean
Nicolet, was facing heavy odds indeed the
night the praxis was challenged at the meeting
of the Primogen. Against Nicolet stood an
august personage of eminent lineage, a childe
of Francois Villon of Paris, formerly a member
of the Prince’s court in London: the Toreador
Alistair.
201
The Gehenna War may rage on as the Second
Inquisition breaks down the doors of Havens
all across the world, but the elders of the
Camarilla still held fast to their courtly games.
Alistair used boons masterfully to cause the
Primogen to annul the praxis of the Prince. Just
as Alistair had made his own claim to power,
the Seneschal of the domain–the Tremere
Jacques Laverdière–seemed to claim praxis as
well but was quickly stared down.
The detail many remembered from the night is
an incongruous yet telling one: Alistair wore a
jacket commissioned from the Toreador artisan
Samira Kadir. Among the Primogen, sometimes
style does win over brutality.
 OUTRO: DEE’S HOME MOVIES

TITLE: Dee’s Home Movies

EXT. LIMOUSINE - NIGHT

WE ARE inside a limousine driving down rundown city streets. In the

back, DEE and SEBASTIAN. Both are in their twenties. DEE looks sordid
despite her babyface. She wears an oversized hoodie. SEBASTIAN is
a lean, handsome man, like an actor playing a bad boy. DEE points a
handheld camera at SEBASTIAN’s face.

SEBASTIAN
Dee, Dee, stop. This is going to get us destroyed.

DEE
It’ll be great! The camera will capture the beauty and terror of the
undead.

SEBASTIAN
Dee, we are the undead. Somebody sees that video and the Second
Inquisition will be on us so fast...

DEE
Nah. They’re a bunch of losers. Now, smile, you’re on camera.
SEBASTIAN, what do you expect to happen at this vampire party?

SEBASTIAN
Fuck, Dee, not the V word!

DEE
Sebastian, please, you must refrain from using profanity! Think of
the viewers at home!

SEBASTIAN sighs, exasperated.

SEBASTIAN
I’m not sure they’ll let me in anyway. I escaped from Salomé.
She won’t like that.

202
 DEE
She’s old news! Didn’t you hear? She fled the city after her
attempt at a counter-coup failed. Don’t worry, nobody remembers.

EXT. MANSION - DRIVEWAY - NIGHT

STAIRS LEAD up to the magnificent doors of the mansion. A few guests
mill outside, friends greeting each other. They are in evening dress,
making SEBASTIAN and especially DEE look out of place as they step
out of the limo. ANTOINE, a nervous-looking, handsome and very well
dressed young man, stands by himself.

DEE
(to Antoine)
You look like a condemned man.

ANTOINE
I’m not sure I should talk to you.

DEE
(points the camera at Antoine’s face)
Wait... are you one of those people who got Embraced because
you’re so good looking?

ANTOINE
(panicking)
What? Put that away!

SEBASTIAN
I’ve tried to tell her. She won’t listen.

ANTOINE
Listen, I’m waiting for a friend. Please. I don’t want to get into
trouble.

DEE blows ANTOINE a kiss and DEE and SEBASTIAN go past the
doorman. A young, smug woman, VALENTINA DIAZ, joins ANTOINE and
they too head inside.

INT. MANSION - ENTRY HALL - NIGHT

THE MANSION has an extravagantly appointed entry hall. White
marble, statues, stairs seemingly built only so that someone can make
an entrance walking down. Elegantly dressed, visibly wealthy people mill
around. There is a predatory, malicious air to them.

203
SEBASTIAN and DEE look around as they enter. They are clearly not
used to these kinds of surroundings. DEE still has the camera in hand.

DOORMAN
Please, Miss. You can’t bring a camera inside.

DEE
Victoria told me it’s ok.

DOORMAN
You mean Miss Ash?

DEE
Yeah. Her.

The DOORMAN is left wondering whether DEE is lying. She is.

VICTORIA ASH makes an entrance coming down the stairs. All eyes
are on her. She’s a fashionably dressed, perfectly coiffed young woman,
radiating the easy confidence of the powerful. Behind VICTORIA ASH
walks DEJA, a recently hardened woman trying to get used to stalking
the halls of power.

VICTORIA ASH
(speaking to the crowd)
Dear friends, Kindred. It’s so lovely to see all of you here. There
are so many threats looming over us, it’s important that we can forget
our worries and celebrate who we are. At least those of us who are
worth the Blood.

ANTOINE and VALENTINA fidget nervously. SEBASTIAN stops DEE

from shooting video of VICTORIA ASH.

VICTORIA ASH
(speaking to the crowd)
I was just chatting with the Prince. This is such a lucky
city, to have someone like her in charge!

VICTORIA ASH turns to smile at DEJA and DEJA smiles back.

DEJA
Thank you, Victoria. You’re too kind.

VICTORIA ASH

204
 (speaking to the crowd)
Now, to the entertainment we have for the evening. Executions are a
grim business but sometimes we have to cut down on our numbers. We don’t
want any ill educated childer endangering us all, do we?

SEBASTIAN
(whispering to Dee)
Wait... Executions? She doesn’t mean us, does she?

DEE
(visibly excited)
No. Victoria likes me. Honest.

SEBASTIAN glances nervously at the doors, now guarded by DOORMEN.

ANTOINE and VALENTINA hold hands.

VICTORIA ASH
(speaking to the crowd)
Let’s have a little fun, shall we?

VICTORIA claps her hands theatrically. Suddenly older, more distinguished

guests growl and attack people in their midst, seemingly at random. Guests
try not to panic and look up to VICTORIA for assurance. VICTORIA smiles.
SEBASTIAN is about to run but DEE grabs hold of him, keeping him in place
and shooting video of older guests jumping on VALENTINA, tearing out her
throat and reveling in her blood.
ANTOINE stands still, eyes closed, shaking, tears of blood forming in his
eyes.
SEBASTIAN stares as VALENTINA, his childe, is destroyed.
Standing next to VICTORIA ASH, DEJA watches, stone-faced.
It becomes apparent that the violence was directed at just five individuals,
now being drained of their blood by gaggles of older guests. Both Anarch
and Camarilla vampires are among the killers, and among the dead. Those
guests not joining in the violence stand nervously, terrified of what will
happen to them.
VICTORIA walks down the stairs and stops in front of ANTOINE.

VICTORIA ASH
(to Antoine)
Clever boy. They would have ended you if you had tried to run. Who
Embraced you anyway?

205
ANTOINE
(voice trembling)
My girlfriend. Valentina. You destroyed her...

Also emotional, SEBASTIAN glances at DEE, realizing DEE saved his

life by preventing him from running.

VICTORIA ASH
(to Antoine)
You’ll get over it. Stick around. I might have a little fun with you
later.

VICTORIA walks away. ANTOINE looks after her with desperate hatred.

DEE
(to Antoine)
Awww... Don’t look so sad.

ANTOINE looks down at VALENTINA’s bloody corpse, now abandoned

on the floor.

ANTOINE
(mutters)
They can’t... She was...

DEE
(to Antoine)
Nobody here cares about the backstory of you and the girl. Later,
Victoria will want to fuck you and if you shrivel and cry, she’ll end you
too. Pretend to have fun with her and you’ll live to see another night.

SEBASTIAN stares at DEE. ANTOINE nods slowly and walks away.

SEBASTIAN
(to Dee)
He’s going to suffer the same fate I did. Why did you help him
anyway?

DEE
I’m a morally upstanding individual.

SEBASTIAN
No you’re not. But okay.

206
DEJA approaches DEE, picks the camera from her and ejects the memory
card, pocketing it. People around her look at her with respect and fear.

DEE
I was going to give that to you, Your Honor! Your... Princeliness?

SEBASTIAN
(quietly)
Shut up, Dee.

DEJA walks away, her eyes on the corpses on the floor.

DEE
What is she going to do with it? I don’t get it.

SEBASTIAN
It doesn’t matter.

207
Chapter Fourteen
THE VAMPIRE LARPER’S CHEAT SHEET
Here is a series of questions you can ask yourself
before, during, and after a LARP.
Before the LARP
Do I understand my character and what they can do
in this LARP?
It is a lot easier to play in a LARP if you have
things you can do. If it feels like your character
is irrelevant, sidelined, or without a clear
direction, that should be addressed. Note that
this does not necessarily correspond to in-game
power at all. A young Brujah Anarch has a lot
to do: rebel, challenge authority, get in people’s
faces, etc. A Prince can be directionless if it
feels like the only thing expected of you is to be
a figurehead.
Do I know who are the people I can hang out with in
the LARP if I have nothing else to do?
It is not good to feel lonely in a LARP. We are
all social creatures! Normally Vampire LARPs
give you a social group such as your clan. If
your character is a Caitiff or something similar,
make sure you are not accidentally left alone.
You can talk to other players about this before
the LARP starts.
Have I considered my boundaries, whether the
LARP is likely to impinge on them, and how I
can I maintain them?
It is a good idea to mentally prepare for things
that could overstep your boundaries so you
know to police your limits as needed. For
example, if you expect the LARP to feature
romantic content and you know you are not
208
LARP RESOURSES
comfortable with highly emotional love scenes,
you can decide in advance that you will limit
your romantic play to light flirting.
During the LARP
What can I do to improve my own LARP experience?
If your game is going extremely well, this
question is unnecessary. If you are having a
lackluster experience, consider what you need
to improve it. For example, your character is
very moral but you want to be included in
scenes of depravity. As a solution, you ask a
co-player to trick your character into coming
along to such a scene.
What can I do to improve the LARP experience of
my co-participants?
Do you see someone who seems lonely or
struggling to engage with the LARP? Why
not involve them in your plans! Do you see a
player struggling to portray a character with
authority? Play them up! If everyone looks out
for each other, everyone benefits.
After the LARP
Have I checked in with other LARP participants
with whom I had emotionally fraught interactions?
LARP can get intense! Whether you have
had an intimate conversation or screamed at
someone, it is good to check in after the LARP
and normalize your relationship, reminding
each other that you are participants in an event
and not really the characters you play!

How To Use Loresheets
The best use for Loresheets is when the players
create their own characters for the LARP. You
want them to be connected to the LARP’s
themes and ideas so you create a series of
Loresheets or pick some of the ones presented
here. Then you allow the players to add perks
from the sheets to their characters. For example,
each character gets to choose one perk and no
two characters can have the same one.
This means that although the characters are
player-created, they’ll also feature elements that
tie them to the larger themes of the chronicle.
It depends on the LARP or the chronicle and
its creative goals whether all characters should
209
LORESHEETS
Each loresheet is built around an idea, an
organization, a character or some other unifying
theme. One or more of the Loresheet levels can
be added to empower a player character in line
with the theme. How many characters, if any,
should have such powers or privileges depends
on the LARP.
Many of the individual Loresheet perks require
collaboration from organizers or other players
to function properly.
For the purposes of LARP, a Loresheet works
best when it’s localized to the immediate setting
of the event or chronicle. This is why some of
the Loresheets presented here as examples are
also more local than the ones created
for the tabletop roleplaying
game version of Vampire.
have perks, whether perks should be duplicated
among characters or not, and how many each
character needs.
In a smaller event, perhaps with 10 to 30
characters, it’s easier to have unique perks for
everyone. As the number of participants goes
up, you may want to start duplicating perk
levels or accept that not every character will
have one.
For example, let’s say that the collapse of the
Sabbat and the introduction of many former
packs into the Anarchs is a major theme in your
chronicle. To drive this home, you create two
Loresheets:
The Sabbat. This Loresheet denotes a
connection to the Sabbat. Depending on
the perk chosen, it can mean you’re a former
member, an informant among the Anarchs or
even a famous Sabbat hero. (Or villain. It’s the
Sabbat after all!)
War Heroes. The war against the Sabbat is
bloody and vicious. This Loresheet is all about
the veterans of that war, Anarchs who have
fought hard to keep the Sabbat out of their
domains. A perk might mean that you have
bragging rights from being present at a famous
battle, or even that you’re one of the heroes
of the war, famed for taking the fight to the
enemy.
Since both Loresheets are about big trends
and organizations, you decide that multiple
characters can have the same perks. They
don’t need to be unique to a single character.
However, you don’t want every single character
in the LARP to be intimately connected with
the war, so you decide that half of your 40
player characters will be able to choose perks
from these two Loresheets. Perhaps you make
a few more Loresheets for the rest of the
characters, based on other themes you want to
explore.
Creating Loresheets
When you come up with your own LARP,
you can complement it by creating your
own Loresheets players can then use when
they create their characters. First, you need a
concept. This can be an organization, a theme or
even an important single supporting character.
The introduction to the Loresheet is a good
way to impart relevant setting information.
Players tend to read character creation options
more attentively than they do other briefing or
setting materials.
210
After you have the concept, you can make three
to five perks derived from it. You can look at the
perks in the example Loresheets in this book for
inspiration. The most important thing is that
the perks must be actionable in the LARP or the
chronicle. They must also lead to something cool.
A perk giving you in-game status or membership
in a cool group is good. A perk that allows you
to commandeer sailing boats is bad unless your
LARP takes place on the sea.
Here are a few examples of different perk types:
A boon. You have a boon from an organization
or an individual.
Membership. You’re a member of a group or an
organization.
History. You were part of an important event
and can talk about it with authority.
Status. You’re considered to be important by an
organization or a group.
Between events. This only works in a chronicle,
not in a one-off event. It means that you have
something that benefits your character between
LARPs. It’s important that this is something
genuinely consequential, more than just the
ordinary influence and ability every Kindred
wields.
Organizer support. These perks mean that
the organizers provide something cool for the
character. This can be a bodyguard or an assistant
who’s a supporting character, or a cool scene
specifically underlying something important
about the character.
One question to ponder is whether Loresheet
perks extend to relations between player
characters. If the Prince is a player character, can
you pick: “Favor of the Prince?”
Glittering Lights as an unofficial envoy, conveying messages
between Princes. The organizers of the LARP
can provide you with such messages, or even
The chronicle or LARP is set in an area close
allow you to make them up on your own.
to another, much bigger domain. This can be
a storied Camarilla stronghold like Paris or
Slumming It. You spend most of your time in
recently conquered trophy in the war against
your big, important home domain, deigning to
the Sabbat like Mexico City. Or for Anarch
visit the smaller domain of the chronicle every
characters, it can be Berlin or Los Angeles, a
now and then for a social gathering. Although
domain with no real Camarilla presence. What
your sense of superiority annoys the people
matters is that the domain is big, important,
around you, they’re wary of acting against you
powerful and in the hands of your sect.
because they fear retaliation from a much more
powerful domain.
This Loresheet gives you connections to the
important neighboring domain. It means you’re
The Political Exile. You are the subject of a
not just a local vampire who has never traveled
Blood Hunt called in the neighboring domain.
out of your neighborhood but someone with
For whatever reason, your Prince or Baron has
contacts outside the sphere of the LARP’s usual
decided that you must die. The leaders of the
activities. This means that you can’t be controlled
chronicle’s domain have chosen to offer you
like those with more limited prospects. You
protection for reasons of their own. Although
have a point of comparison in another domain
everybody around you thinks you’re doomed,
and you can aggravate your friends by making
there’s a certain cachet in being the declared
endless comparisons.
enemy of such a powerful, important and
glamorous domain.
“Actually, when I was in LA...”

To make this Loresheet work, you should adapt House Alea

it to the specific circumstances of your own
LARP or chronicle. Obviously, if your event is
set in the biggest domain around, this Loresheet
won’t make much sense.
Perks:
Escape Hatch. You have allies in the neighboring
domain and they will shelter you if you need
to escape. The domain is so powerful, it will
not care about the Blood Hunts and similar
inconveniences declared by lesser domains. Your
character is difficult to imprison between events.
Unofficial Envoy. You have no real position
in either domain but everyone knows you’re
connected. Sometimes those in power use you
The fracturing of the Tremere has led to
the creation of many smaller groups, guilds,
coteries and bloodlines who have rejected the
traditional hierarchy and joined the Anarchs
instead. House Alea is one of these. Some of
the members of House Alea are descendants
of the founders Simon Apollonius and Owen
Liakos, but not all. Other Tremere have joined,
looking for something less restrictive than what
is usually offered by the clan.
Joining House Alea requires participation in a
ritual the true meaning of which is known only
to House leadership. Supposedly, it purifies the
blood of members from the sins of the clan and

211
returns them closer to a mythical Salubri origin.
To pick this Loresheet, you have to be Tremere.
If your allegiance to House Alea is known,
you may get negative or hostile reactions
from traditionalist members of the clan. The
Loresheet works best if there are a number of
characters with access to it at the LARP.
Perks:
Follower of Athena. The founders of House Alea
are both originally Greek and follow a revival
of the ancient Greek faith with a particular
affinity for Athena. You subscribe to this faith
as well, speak Greek and have participated in
the religious observances of the House.
Saulot’s Heritage. For most, the ritual performed
to initiate new members into the House doesn’t
change them physically. For you, things are
different: the Blood of the Salubri surges inside
you and you have a third eye. This means you’re
212
in danger of being hunted for ancient grievances
against the Salubri but also revered because the
ritual affected you more strongly than most.
Ritual Expertise. You know many of the key
rituals of the House, including the one used at
initiation. Discuss with the organizers of the
LARP whether you should receive instructions
or create these rituals yourself. The initiation
ritual requires blood from a Salubri vampire to
function properly. You’re also known as a ritual
master among local members of the House and
expected to run rituals you perform together at
events.
Inner Circle. You’ve been with the House from
the beginning, or almost. Whether you have
an official position or not, you’re respected
within the House and expected to mentor new
prospects and help younger Tremere escape the
Pyramid for something better. Your voice tends
to carry in discussions of what the House should
do and what it means to be a member.
Keeper of the Heralds
The Toreador elder Kateline Nadasdy declared
herself the Keeper of the Heralds because of a
philosophy of structure, order and humanity. In
her view, the social hierarchies of the Camarilla
are the only thing keeping Kindred from
descending into ravenous beasts. Without that
framework for behavior and thought, Camarilla
Kindred would be no better than animals.
In many domains, the function of the Herald
has been subsumed under the authority of
the Prince, becoming just another function
of Princely power. To Nadasdy, this was
unacceptable. The Heralds are needed to keep
the sect’s social structure intact, a goal more
important than the petty and transient rule of
an individual Prince. To this end, she has sought
to enshrine the function of the Heralds in
Camarilla tradition in as many domains as she
can, creating a legacy she hopes will allow the
sect’s social structure to survive these turbulent
times.
After all, it’s the only way for the Kindred of the
Camarilla to retain their humanity.
Perks:
Hot Goss. You know a lot of Heralds in this and
other domains and you’re usually always up to
date with the latest gossip. You can give other
players in the LARP the opportunity to spill
their secrets to you in advance or receive extra
information from the organizers. Whatever the
method, you know what’s what.
Protected By the Network. Nadasdy knows a lot
of Heralds in different domains. Her informal
network is unparalleled in the Camarilla and
for some reason, you are in their good graces.
213
Perhaps you protected Heralds against Princely
overreach of power or maybe they just like your
face. Whatever the reason, the whisper network
always whispers in your favor.
Member of the Network. You’re a Herald in
your domain and a personal friend of Nadasdy.
This means you have a level of autonomy with
the local regime. If the Prince comes after you,
it’s certain their reputation will be tarnished
in other domains. It’s a rare Prince who wants
to risk that because it strikes directly at their
vanity. Who wants to be known as a two-penny
despot?
Connected. Whether you’re a Herald or
otherwise in good graces of the Network, you’re
extremely well connected in the social sphere of
the Camarilla. You can name-drop half a dozen
Camarilla socialites and a few famous names
you’ve met at important events. You get invited
to exclusive gatherings few in your domain
normally get to attend. The organizers should
provide you with names to drop or let you make
up your own.
Mr. Hellquist’s Shadow Cabal
For some mortal mages, the Tremere represent
not only a curse but also a chance to escape
their own wars of power and ideology. Richard
Hellquist was one such mage, blessed with a
wider perspective on what magic could be before
becoming first a ghoul and then one of the
Tremere. Because of this, he sought to expand
his social circle between the usual machinations
of the undead.
Always something of an uncomfortable fit among
the hierarchically minded Tremere, Hellquist
was originally a member of the London branch reminder to those in the Tremere who used
of the clan. Since the 19th century, he has to possess real magic of what they lost in the
traveled and is currently the Tremere Regent of Embrace.
Warsaw, Poland, trying to hold his clan together
in a fractious domain. There he put together
a small society, a salon of his own where like
Perks:
minded Kindred with a focus on maintaining
The Mystic Expert. You have a personal
their humanity and searching for occult power
connection with Regent Hellquist that you
could come together.
can call upon either locally if you’re in Warsaw
or through a courier or similar secure method
The fall of the Pyramid wasn’t entirely
of communication. Between events, you can
unwelcome to Hellquist because it allowed
ask for information concerning mysterious
him to focus on the traditional Enlightenment
artifacts, events or phenomena.
values he sought to foster in the dark world of
the Kindred. For many of the Kindred visiting
“Blessed evening to you.” You’re a member of
Hellquist’s gatherings, the most wondrous guest
the Cabal. It has a credo: “You stand for what
was his lover, the mortal mage Bajaraka. Her
you believe in. No matter the situation, you
existence is
don’t lose yourself to the flow of the night.” One
a bittersweet
per night, you can calm down a fellow member
of the Cabal from the edge of Frenzy.

214
Former mage. You were a mage when you were still mortal. You still remember something of the strange
perspectives you had while alive, before the Blood changed you forever. This gives you unique status
among the Tremere, because the clan was founded by ones such as you. Furthermore, some of the
magical resonance in your blood still remains despite the Embrace, giving your vitae an exotic taste.

A Cabal of Your Own. Inspired by the Cabal run by Regent Hellquist, you have put together a Cabal
of your own. It has made you well known in the domain, someone sought for your wisdom, power and
connections. This perk works best when other characters have the option of being members in the
Cabal by choosing the “Blessed evening to you” perk.

The Old Regime as the world changes into new, unrecognizable

forms. You can redeem a boon from any official in
the old Prince’s court.
Many Vampire chronicles start with the death or
disappearance of the Prince. It’s a good way to
I Used To Be Somebody. You were a member of
kick off the power struggle. Who will gain praxis
the Primogen or a Herald, a Seneschal or a Sheriff.
now that nobody is in charge of the domain?
The Prince trusted you to do their bidding and
This Loresheet is for characters connected to
backed you up when the going got tough. You
the old regime, the rule of the Prince who until
were not powerful or popular enough to trade
recently upheld the Traditions.
your old position into power under the new rule
but people still remember you.
In one way or another, you’re connected to the
old system. Perhaps you were one of its officials,
Old Enemies. You hated the Prince and the Prince
a beneficiary or even an enemy who hated the
hated you. You were persecuted and oppressed and
Prince so much you can’t let go even when the
the change in the regime came as very welcome
fight is over. Whatever the case, in the brave
news indeed. Still, you’ve not ready to let bygones
new world of the future you’re still looking to
be bygones. You know one or more secrets about
the past.
members of the old regime and can use them
against them, whether through blackmail or
To function properly, this Loresheet requires
public disclosure.
a chronicle-specific story of who used to rule
the city. Was the old regime lax or draconian,
Prince or Pauper. You are the old Prince,
traditional or bizarre? Are Kindred nostalgic or
believed to be dead by most in the domain. You
relieved now that it’s gone?
are disguised in a new identity but at a suitably
dramatic moment you can reveal who you were
Perks: all along. Or keep the lie going a little longer.
Whatever seems best. Your reasons of abdicating
A Loyalist of the Old Order. You were loyal to the and faking your own death depend on the needs
Prince, God rest their soul. You believed them to of the chronicle and can range from trying to
be the best steward of the domain and members escape an assassination attempt to the monstrous
of the old regime remember your loyalty even ennui of the aged.

215
 Chapter Fifteen
COLLABORATIVE VAMPIRE LARP

216
Collaborative LARP
Nordic Larp, or collaborative LARP as it is also
known, has its origins in the late 1990’s LARP
scenes of the Nordic countries of Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. LARP came
to all these countries independently in the late
1980’s and early 1990’s, often with multiple
distinct scenes emerging in the same country.
LARP and Larp
In Nordic Larp communities, the acronym
LARP is usually treated as a simple un-
capitalized word: Larp. To respect the
community and tradition being discussed here,
we use the same formulation for Nordic Larp
as is used in the Nordic Larp community.

LARP has emerged separately in many Nordic Larp Emerges

countries across the world, often based on
rumors or stories of similar events based in
In the early years, there was no such thing as
the U.S. The process of starting a local scene
Nordic Larp. However, as people started to go
tended to happen in a haphazard manner,
to LARPs in different countries and ideas were
with local organizers making things up as they
shared across borders, a common identity as a
went along. Because of this, LARP cultures
Nordic Larp community started to emerge. An
vary so much from country to country.
important moment was the 2010 publication
of the photo book Nordic Larp, which
In 1997, LARPers from the four Nordic
documented important or interesting Nordic
countries got together for the first time at
Larps from different countries. It solidified
the Knutepunkt conference in Norway to
the idea that Nordic Larp existed as a unified
learn from each other. In those early days, the
community.
differences between the various scenes seemed
massive and almost insurmountable.
The Knutepunkt conference is the annual
focal point of the Nordic community,
LARPs based on Vampire: The Masquerade and
rotating between Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
other World of Darkness games have been
and Finland. In addition to these Nordic
played in the Nordics from the 1990’s. At the
countries, there are attendees from numerous
height of the popularity of Vampire LARP in
other countries including but not limited
the late 1990’s there were over ten concurrent
to Germany, Russia, France, Italy, Spain,
chronicles running in Finland, a country of
Portugal, the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Canada,
five-million-people.
Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, and
the Czech Republic.
Many of the Nordic Vampire games used
Mind’s Eye Theatre rules, adapted to local
Each year, the conference is accompanied by a
cultural conditions. Many of the people who
book of articles collecting documentation of
ran and played those games continue to play
new LARPs, new theory ideas, and new design
an important part in the Nordic Larp scene.
writing. The books are made available for free
as PDFs.

217
Although it was not so clear at the time, the
LARP cultures meeting at the Knutepunkt
conferences had a lot in common. They were
all built on a collaborative playstyle where all
players seek to contribute to the common goal
of having a great collective experience. If we all
help each other, we will have a good time...
…or a bad time, but on purpose. Some of the
best known Nordic Larps are about very dark
subjects, such as oppression, war, prison, and
the refugee politics of the Nordic countries. In
Nordic Larp parlance playing these LARPs is
often referred to as “Type 2 Fun”. Type 1 Fun
is what we generally understand by the word
“fun”. Type 2 Fun is when you have a difficult,
harrowing experience that feels profound and
meaningful. You can say: “It was a great LARP,
but totally Type 2 Fun.”
International Influence
As Nordic Larp became more established and
better documented, its ideas spread into other
countries beyond the Nordics, cross-fertilizing
with local traditions. This often happened
because of designers from Italy, Spain, the U.S.,
or other countries who had visited Knutepunkt,
read the books, and decided to use these
ideas in their own way, for their own LARP
communities.
The main attraction of the Nordic style for many
has been extremely simple game mechanics (a
single page of mechanics is often considered a
lot), the willingness to experiment and come up
with strange, new ideas, and a low threshold for
entry, especially in LARPs that do not require a
lot of costuming and propping.
In 2016, the new owners of the World of Darkness
roleplaying games–Paradox Entertainment–
218
wanted to demonstrate that they were going
to actively work to release new material. Since
LARPs are faster to produce than videogames or
roleplaying games, the very first release of what
would be the 5th Edition era was the LARP End
of the Line, played in Helsinki, New Orleans, and
Berlin. It was followed in 2017 by the officially
licensed Vampire LARPs Enlightenment in
Blood in Berlin and Parliament of Shadows in
Brussels, played partially inside the European
Parliament building with two Members of the
European Parliament playing themselves.
All of these LARPs drew on Nordic Larp ideas
for a back-to-basics approach where the idea
was to look at what made Vampire LARP fun.
In a larger sense, the confluence of Nordic Larp
and Vampire was not as new since many Nordic
Larp designers themselves had a Vampire LARP
background in the first place. Many Vampire
LARPs and chronicles with a more Nordic
design style have been created and run in the
Nordics since the 1990’s.
Nordic Larp Now
Nordic Larp is a community but it has also
become a marketing term. Many LARP designers
far beyond the Nordics use it to communicate
to potential players what their LARPs are all
about and how they should be played.
At the end of the day, Nordic Larp is what the
people who design it, play it, and write about
it make it out to be. There have been different
fashions and contradictory design ideals. Some
LARPs have embraced the 360-ideal where
everything you see must conform to the visual
look of the LARP world while others work in
the Black Box idiom where the LARP is set up
like minimalist theater scenography.
Sometimes Nordic Larp means tightly packaged scenarios for six people lasting just a few hours. Other
times they are mass events for a big crowd in a Polish castle, building a whole magical world around
them.

Typically it has been difficult to determine the nature of future fashions before they arrive but change is
inevitable. Tomorrow’s LARP will be something completely different, whether it flows from the Nordic
tradition or something else.

It is important to note that Nordic Larp is just one design tradition. It is well-loved in the Nordics
where it originated and its ideas have been embraced by LARP designers in other parts of the globe
but it is also designed to produce a specific kind of experience: emotion-driven, drama-focused, and
collaborative.

If you want other types of LARP experiences, you need to design them according to different ideals,
using another set of tools. Nordic Larp is not the only way to make LARPs even in the Nordics, where
other, less internationally well-known strains of design also flourish.

When you look at the toolbox of Nordic Larp, consider what works for you and your players. Take what
you need, experiment, and make it your own. Eventually your own ideas will shape the tools and the
concepts so much that it is not Nordic Larp anymore but something entirely new. This is a beautiful
thing.

219
CONCEPTS
Here are some of the core concepts of Nordic Larp.
These are the ideas Nordic design revolves around.

220
Collaborative Play
In Nordic Larp, the goal of the players is to
create a great LARP experience for themselves
and each other. The play is fundamentally
collaborative: the players look for opportunities
to enhance the collective play experience.
The opposite of collaboration is competition.
Nordic Larp is fundamentally non-competitive.
The goal is to have powerful, interesting LARP
scenes. Whether someone’s character wins or
loses is irrelevant from that perspective.
Because a collaborative approach is so
important, sometimes this style of play is called
simply Collaborative LARP.
Magic Circle
The magic circle refers to the temporal and
spatial limits of the play experience. A typical
LARP has a play area and a certain time during
which players are in-game. This means they are
within the magic circle and subject to the rules
and conventions of the LARP. Sometimes these
contravene the assumptions we normally have
about how to behave.
The most powerful example of the magic circle
comes not from LARP but the world of sports.
In the boxing ring, you can hit a person in the
face. Outside the ring, this is frowned upon and
often illegal.
In LARP, we understand that if a character
betrays another, that should not be taken as an
act of betrayal between the players. It is all part
of the game.
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Bleed
Bleed means the way emotions that affect our
character also affect us and vice versa. It is the
primary mechanism through which a LARP
emotionally affects us as players. Obviously,
LARP is not in any way unique as an artform
in this: we cry while watching sad movies and
laugh while reading a funny novel. What makes
LARP unusual is that the emotional response to
the fiction tends to be experienced through the
lens of the character.
Of course, this is not automatically the case.
Sometimes the themes of the LARP affect us
emotionally regardless of our character, or
we witness another player do something that
creates a response in us that has nothing to do
with the role we play.
Nevertheless, the main vector of emotion in
LARP remains the character. Bleed happens
because although we intellectually separate the
fiction of LARP from real life, on a simpler level
we directly experience all the situations our
character is in. We are there, whether fictionally
or not.
There are ways to design to increase bleed and
to decrease bleed. Typically if the LARP plays
close to home, there is more bleed. This means a
modern day setting in which the characters are
much like ourselves. When something happens
to them, we have a strong emotional response
because their circumstances are so emotionally
plausible for us.
If you want to decrease bleed, you can make
the LARP more fantastical or engage in
artificial distancing techniques such as abstract
scenography or talking through scenes instead
of acting them out. It is often good to give
players tools to do this themselves if necessary
so they can calibrate their own experience. For
example, a player might realize they are not up
to playing an intense one-on-one interrogation
scene. Instead, they can purposefully decrease
bleed by asking the other player to talk it
through with them instead.
Bleed is an important concept for Nordic
Larp because it is such a big part of why these
LARPs are played in the first place. People
want to feel big emotions, good and bad. This
is sometimes called bleed-hunting; playing so as
to purposefully maximize one’s bleed, meaning
emotional response to the LARP.
360
One of the foundational aesthetic ideas of
Nordic Larp is the 360-illusion. What this
means is that everywhere you turn, what you
see should look exactly like it does in the world
of the LARP. The scenography, costumes, and
other visuals should be the same in-game and
off-game. This creates a powerful sense of being
in the world of the LARP.
Emergence
Sometimes a LARP spontaneously produces
surprising events and situations. This is called
emergence: when a complex system produces
unforeseen events. In a sense, emergence is the
opposite of plot. Instead of pre-planned events,
the LARP produces its own organically.
A lot of Nordic Larp design revolves around
trying to foster emergence. The magic trick
of good LARP design is to create a complex
system that automatically produces the kind
of emergence you want. The players will feel
free to control the event but the LARP still
functions as intended.
Vampire has a few features that automatically
promote emergent play. One is the animosities
between the clans and sects. If you put a Brujah
and a Ventrue in a room, something
will happen. That is designing for
emergence.

As a result, the players always know where

they are and what they see. They have that
information directly from their senses.
The desire for the 360-illusion shapes what kind
of LARPs are possible. A contemporary LARP
set in the same city you live in is easy while a
spaceship is hard. Because of this, many genre
LARPs within Nordic Larp are great feats of
physical set production.

Note that although a desire for a compelling

360-illusion is common in Nordic Larp, it is
not the only way LARPs are created in this
tradition. Black Box LARPs take place in an
empty, neutral space in the style of the Lars
von Trier film Dogville, aiming to take away
everything except the players themselves.

222
Affordance
An affordance is a possibility for action on part
of the player. For example, a hammer has the
affordance of hitting nails. Its presence creates
that possibility for action.
In LARP design, it helps to create affordances
for players to engage in different kinds of action.
For example, if the LARP is about deposing the
Prince, there should be affordances that actually
make it possible for the characters to do so.
A car is a prop or a piece of scenography. A car
with the key in the ignition is an affordance.
Agency
When a player has agency, they have things to
do, they can affect events, and their actions
matter. They can do stuff. When players have no
agency, their presence is irrelevant to the flow
of the LARP.
Ideally, players should have as much agency as
possible. Removing agency from players must
only be done with very good reasons, when the
benefits outweigh the cost. Creating a story
that is pleasing to the organizers of the LARP is
not a good enough reason.
Note that agency is most relevant in terms of
the core actions and experience of the LARP.
If the LARP is about the intimate relationships
between local Anarchs, the wider story
framework can consist of pre-planned scenes
and a sequence of events. On the other hand, if
the LARP is about whether the Anarchs or the
Camarilla win control over the city, that should
be up to the players and their actions.
223
Alibi
Alibi is an excuse to do something you want
to do anyway. LARP is great for providing the
alibi to do fun things that players can not do
in ordinary life. For example, being conniving,
decadent, bloodsucking monsters.
Alibi can be a tool of LARP design when you
identify something players need an extra excuse
to do. Often this involves taking risks, playing
villains, or engaging in other behaviors that are
destructive in normal life but create a lot of
dynamic action in a LARP.
Pre-written characters are one of the easiest
ways to provide alibi. You can write that a
character is vindictive, flirtatious, and prone
to blurting out what they really think about
people. The player will read that and think:
“Well, if it’s in the character, I guess that’s what
I’ll do!”
Since many players need alibi for destructive
actions, it is worth noting that they are fun to
play because they lead to dynamic, dramatic
LARP scenes. They are made possible because
consequences vanish as the LARP ends and
because of the active upkeep of consent enabled
by calibration and safety tools.
Play to lose
“Play to lose” is a common Nordic Larp slogan
that requires some unpacking to be properly
understood. Basically it means that sometimes
it is fun to purposefully play so that your
character fails to achieve their goals. The reason
this is fun is because it can lead to dramatic,
striking, and emotional scenes.
Example situations for when it is
fun to play to lose include:

Leaking secrets. Secrets tend to

matter only if they are revealed
in a dramatic manner. Perhaps
your character has just committed
diablerie in the war against the
Sabbat. You purposefully let this
fact slip even though your character
wants to keep it secret, causing you
to be dragged before the Prince and
accused of the unthinkable. In a
great, dramatic scene you plead that
your victory against the Sabbat was
more important than the resulting
stain on your soul.

Love triangle. You are in two

relationships with Kindred who
do not know about each other.
Although your character wants to
keep it that way, as a player you
purposefully let slip the nature of
the situation because it leads to
more fun drama.

Playing someone up. The Archon is

supposed to be a terrifying badass.
You challenge them to a duel and
then lose to build up their character.

Playing to lose does not mean that you always need to go for failure. Rather, it means keeping an eye
out for when failure is interesting.

There is an alternative slogan to “Playing to lose”, which is “Playing to lift”. It means playing to help
other players realize their characters and scenes to the fullest extent. When everyone does this, the net
effect is a lot of good LARP.

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THE TOOLBOX
Collaborative, Nordic style LARP is based on the idea of bespoke design. You use the techniques,
mechanics, and tools that are right for the specific LARP you want to create; for the next LARP you
might use a completely different set of tools.

In Nordic Larp, these tools are called “meta-techniques” and are designed to make various types of
intrusions into naturalistic LARP play. In Vampire: The Masquerade, a very common use for these
techniques is when you need to model Disciplines or other supernatural effects. One technique that
works very well both in Mind’s Eye Theatre and Nordic Larp is to use “arms crossed in front of your
body” to signify the Obfuscate Discipline.

The LARP organizers must communicate to the players which techniques are in use and how they work.
It is common in Nordic Larp to create variations of a technique for a specific LARP. Fewer methods is
always better than more methods so if in doubt, leave it out.

Really Really power Drawing Out the Beast.

This mechanic was invented by LARP designer
Bjarke Pedersen for the Nordic Larp End of the
Line. It works with vampiric Disciplines being
expressed as statements that begin: “You really,
really…”.
The words “really, really” tell the target that a
Discipline power is being used so they know
to react appropriately. For example, a Presence
Discipline power could be enacted against a
target by saying: “You really, really like me.”
This approach works best for low-level social
Discipline powers such as Presence and
Dominate. Here are more examples:
● “You really, really fear me” can be
utilized for the Presence power Dread Gaze.
● “You really, really want to forget what
just happened” can be used for the Dominate
power The Forgetful Mind.
● “Your Beast is really, really getting out of
control” can be used for the Animalism
● “You really, really want to tell me how you
feel” can be used for the Auspex power Scry
the Soul.
The purpose of the mechanic is to make Discipline
powers as unobtrusive as possible. They become
part of conversation. This approach requires
breaking down traditional Discipline effects
into statements that work in the “really, really”
framework so they end up being somewhat
different than the Discipline powers in the
tabletop roleplaying game.
End of the Line is a street-level LARP where most
characters are ordinary mortals and the vampires
maintain the Masquerade. Because of this, it
makes sense to have a Discipline mechanic that
is not obtrusive or obvious from a distance.
In End of the Line, the “really, really” powers always
worked and there was no defense against them;
however, each time a vampire used a power,
they needed to recharge by drinking blood.
The reason was to give the vampire characters
a running motivation to hunt during the LARP.

225
A core concept of collaborative LARP play tying
into how “really, really” works is that the victim
of a power decides how they want to play it. This
means that when you use a power on someone,
you are making an invitation for them to engage
in a scene with you. However, they can also play
it their way. This can happen for many reasons.
For example, you use the Presence power Majesty
on another character by stating “You really, really
love me.” However, for whatever reason they do
not want to play that kind of attraction, so they
decide to react to the power by being so bashful
and shy by the love they feel for your character
that they remove themselves from the scene.
This principle means that you cannot use the
powers to make other players engage in scenes
they do not want to play, but you can use them
to create fun or interesting situations with the
character you are asking to participate.
Up-Or-Down
A method used in some Nordic Vampire
LARPs, Up-Or-Down is a very specific use of
Dementation-style Dominate powers where the
power either heightens or dampens the current
emotions of the target. The use of the power
is signaled by either lifting or lowering your
hand as if you were trying to signal someone to
change the volume on a stereo.
In practice, Up-Or-Down works well in LARPs
because the target player can react to it however
they wish. They can use it as an invitation to
go overboard with highly emotional play or
do something more subtle, according to their
reading of the scene.
226
Violence
Simulating physical violence is a very
common use for meta-techniques. There are
several different methods that have been used
in Nordic Larp. The specific method utilized
should reflect the things that you want to
happen in the LARP. The methods are:
Planning the Scene. In this method, the
players whose characters get into violent
conflict step aside and quickly figure out
what they think would happen in an informal
off-game chat. Typical considerations are
what would make sense given the characters’
power levels and what would be cool for the
characters involved, the story overall, and the
onlooking players. Then the players return to
the play area and act out the violent scene.
Obviously, this method requires that none
of the players are approaching play with
a competitive mindset. It is very rare for
anyone’s character to get destroyed with this
method.
Combat Score. All characters have a combat
score consisting of a simple number. In a fight,
a higher number wins. If the scores are equal,
it is a draw. This obviously does not generate
very nuanced fight scenes but it makes it
possible to resolve combat very quickly.
The Nordic Larp Enlightenment in Blood
used a version of this method where the
combat score ranged from one through five
and could be communicated by holding up
fingers. The scale was as follows:
1. Ghouls and mortals;
2. Ordinary vampires;
3. Vampires from clans with physical
Disciplines, such as the Brujah;
4. Vampires with unusual fighting ability; You can also use music and lights to signal which
5. Werewolves. act is in progress.

In that LARP, the fighting score of a character Slo-Mo. With this method, the players act out a
was reduced by 1-point after every fight. The violent scene but in slow motion so that nobody
purpose of this was to discourage needless fight gets hurt and there’s no force in their blows.
scenes and to make sure characters engaged in The scene is improvised. This works better with
combat only when necessary. brawls rather than fights where somebody is
really trying to kill another character. It’s also
No Fighting. With this method, combat is better if the slow motion brawl is fairly short.
simply ruled out-of-bounds for the LARP.
There can be scuffles but no serious combat that
would result in real physical injury. This method
is best employed if combat would not benefit
the LARP in any way and there is no reason for
combat to be a LARP element.

Act Structure. Many Nordic Larps have

used an “Act Structure” where the LARP
changes depending on which stage
of the LARP or “act” is in progress.
The Nordic Larp Inside Hamlet had
an act structure affecting how to play
violence. In the first act, there was no
serious physical conflict. In the second,
all conflicts lead to non-lethal but still
visible wounds or other consequences.
In the final act, all conflicts were lethal.
Obviously, this resulted in a serious body
count at the end of the LARP.

The Act Structure method is useful

because it allows those running the
LARP to make sure no character
is removed from play before the
player has had the chance to
experience the LARP. It does,
however, tend to create a
bloodbath at the end. The acts
do not have to be the same in
duration. For example, a lethal
final act could be just an hour.

227
Hunting and Drinking Blood
Vampires drink blood. That’s one of their
defining qualities. How to do that in a LARP
so that it plays out well? Here’s a selection of
techniques from Nordic Larp:
Scents. In End of the Line, one of the goals was
to make random mortal characters into highly
desirable targets for hunting. Vampires would
think that a mortal had particularly tasty blood
and gossip about it among themselves. How
to make that happen since all blood drinking
must obviously be simulated?
The solution was to use three obvious, clearly
distinct scents for all players. One was coconut
and some vampire characters had particular
affection for this flavor. Thus, when the vampire
player moved through the LARP, they could
smell coconut on someone. That simulated
the vampire’s instinct that this mortal seemed
unusually attractive for hunting purposes.
Miming. You want the act of a vampire biting
someone’s neck to look natural but don’t want
to have players actually bite each other. What
to do? A common solution is to tell players
to mime biting each other. This means that
the vampire player acts as if they were biting
their victim but they don’t actually touch skin.
The victim’s player then plays the reaction
accordingly.
Biting the Hand. This is a more tactile version
of the Miming method. The vampire player
places their hand on the body part they’re
biting, and then bite the back of their own
hand. This can be done fairly quickly and the
pressure of the hand and the movement of
the bite communicate a lot to the victim even
when the bite does not actually connect with
their skin at all.
228
The Black Box
A very common meta-technique in Nordic
Larp, the Black Box is a room designated
specifically for this purpose separate from
the rest of the LARP. The ideal Black Box is a
theater-like space with black walls, a couple of
chairs and easily adjusted lighting and music.
In practice, Black Boxes have been created in a
wide variety of available spaces.
Most memorably, the Battlestar Galactica
-inspired Swedish LARP The Monitor Celestra
had a real-life decommissioned submarine next
to the Swedish navy destroyer that served as
the primary venue. The submarine, although
impressive, was relegated to the role of the
Black Box.
The purpose of the Black Box is to play out
scenes outside the normal spatial and temporal
limitations of the LARP. For example, maybe
you’d like to play out the fateful night when
you were Embraced. You can do it in the Black
Box while the rest of the LARP runs outside.
Often, the Black Box has a dedicated game
master who runs scenes and plays different
supporting characters. Sometimes players
draft other players to play their characters or
supporting roles in whatever scene they have
in mind.
The Black Box can be used to play small scenes
in the past, the future, and sometimes even
alternate futures. You can use it to play out
different versions of something that would
happen after the events of the LARP. The great
strength of the Black Box is its versatility.
As a player, to make the best use of the Box
you should have an idea of the scene you want
to play when you go in. If the Black Box is
especially popular, there can be a queue outside,
creating a weird disturbance in the fabric of the
LARP.
For the organizers, the Black Box can be almost
like a service provided to the players: They’ll
make whatever they will with it. You can also
create pre-planned scenes and invite players in
according to a schedule. Whatever works for the
LARP.
An example:
An Anarch makes a deal with the Tremere where
the Anarch will surrender and confess to their
crimes against the Camarilla and in return the
Tremere will stop harassing their comrades. The
player of the Anarch character suggests that they
go to the Black Box to play a scene where they’re
interrogated by the Tremere. In-game the scene
happens after the events of the LARP but off-
game it’s played in the middle of the LARP.
The Monologue Box
This technique works so that the player makes the
shape of a square in front of them with their hands
and then says what their character is thinking in
a short monologue. It’s great for LARPs where
courtly politeness prohibits characters from
speaking their minds.
For example:
A Toreador courtier: “I so adore these parties you
put together, my dear Prince!”
The Toreador’s player makes the monologue box
gesture and continues: “I’ve done my absolute
best to turn everyone against you!”
What happens here is that the player of the
Toreador character purposefully communicates
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meta-level information to the player of the
Prince. This can be done for many reasons.
Sometimes it’s fun for its own sake but it can
also help other players calibrate their own play
appropriately.
Here’s another example:
A proud Gangrel: “I don’t need anybody! A
vampire is a lone predator!”
The Gangrel’s player makes the monologue box
gesture and continues: “I’m desperately lonely.”
Now that the other players know that the
Gangrel character is lonely, they can play on
that in different ways. The player of a socially
astute Toreador can decide that their character
figures it out while another player can use the
information on the meta-level by making their
character obviously twist the knife by talking
about how admirable the solitary Gangrel have
always seemed to them.
Fate
Sometimes called fateplay, this method features
specific fates that have been pre-designed for
the characters. The idea is that the player knows
their fate from the start and should actively do
their best to make it happen. This means that
the LARP will run along a predetermined path
but there can be a lot of freedom within those
constraints.
Here are a few example fates:
You will die by the end of the LARP. Note that
the player is left to decide how their character
will die.
You will fall in love. Here too the player has
some freedom.
After the Prince has made their speech, you will attack them and fail. This is a very specific Fate created
to engineer a specific scene.

If someone offers you the role of the Sheriff, you will refuse. This Fate is designed to account for a
specific situation the organizers feel would cause problems for the LARP.

You can use Fates in two ways, to make sure that certain types of scenes happen during the LARP and
to engineer specific plot events. Note that the more specific the Fate, the higher the chance of LARP
chaos causing the web of pre-planned actions to fail. Generally you can build Fates using if/then clauses
but complexity makes the event chains fragile.

A good use for Fates is to reduce uncertainty and confusion from the LARP. For example, if your LARP
is about the coronation of a new Prince, you can use Fates to make sure the coronation happens and is
successful. The point of this is to free the players to focus on other things that are more interesting. They
don’t have to stress whether the core structure of the LARP will happen or not.

A bad use for Fates is to try to force a pre-planned narrative of events for its own sake. This reduces
player agency for no benefit.

Actions
Actions are a tool you can use in character creation to give players options for what
they can do during the LARP. They’re not commands or superpowers but rather
suggestions meant to help the player to come up with things to do especially in
the early part of the LARP.

For example, you could write these three Actions into a character:

Seduce someone you hate.

Spill your most important secret.

Make a terrible mistake.

The player doesn’t have to do any of these things but having them written on the character will guide
their thinking into a specific direction. It helps if the Actions are provocative and of a type players
might not come up with by themselves.

Actions also have the function of providing alibi. A player might feel unsure whether they’re supposed
to spill their secrets but if the character has it clearly spelled out as an Action, they’ll feel more
comfortable doing so.

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THE WORKSHOP
Workshops that happen before the LARP are a
standard feature of almost all Nordic Larp. Even
short, small LARPs for just a few people often
feature a quick half hour workshop.
Workshops serve several purposes:
Creating a cohesive social unit. The better the
players are able to trust each other, the better
they read each other socially, the better the
LARP works as an ensemble. After a good
workshop, the players will feel comfortable with
each other, they have a good sense of each other’s
boundaries and they feel relaxed and supported.
Imparting skills needed in the LARP. The
LARP can feature specific techniques, scenes
and situations the players should be prepared
for. Perhaps in a certain scene, all characters are
expected to join together in song. It makes sense
to rehearse that song a few times. Or maybe
there is an unusual mechanic for violence that
players should try out before the LARP actually
starts.
Building the world. The workshop can be used
to determine details in the world of the game
and impart information about the fictional
milieu to the players. This can mean just an
organizer explaining things to the players but it
works better if it’s co-creative in some way.
Making the LARP unattractive to problem
players. Experience has shown that players
who are not into collaborative, consent-based
LARP also dislike touchy-feely workshops.
Communicating the nature of the workshops in
advance can help such players avoid the event.
Here are some specific workshop techniques:
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Warm ups. It’s better to have the players
physically move around at regular intervals to
stay energetic and warm. It’s a good idea to have
a few exercises right at the start of the workshop
for this purpose. There’s a wide selection of good
warm up exercises available that can be lifted
from other fields such as theater.
Status line. This method asks your players to
form themselves into a line according to some
specific criteria. The name derives from the
original use of the method: Highest status on the
left, lowest status on the right. The players are
left to figure out themselves how the hierarchy
works.
The great thing about the status line is that
it requires physical movement and it’s very
concrete in that it allows players to visually
see the LARP’s social map. You can use it for
virtually any social distinction that breaks down
between two extremes.
For example:
Violent vs. peaceful.
Camarilla vs. Anarch.
Rich vs. poor.
Scripted scenes. The players play out short,
scripted scenes from their characters’ past while
the other players watch. This takes a lot of time
but works very well in creating a sense of shared
history for a community.
Example scenes could be:

That time years ago when the Toreador
Primogen first came to Elysium and embarrassed
themselves.
A meeting of the Primogen when a disastrous
decision was made.
The execution of the Tremere Regent which
caused a rift in the local Camarilla.
What do you need? The players arrange
themselves into a circle. Each in turn tells the
other player what they need from them to have
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a good LARP. This is when you say things like:
“I’m playing a Primogen but I feel unsure of
myself. Could you play me up?”
You can use the same arrangement to have
players answer other questions too, starting
with: “How do you feel right now?”
When doing rounds like these, answering
should always be voluntary and players should
know they can pass the turn to the next person
without saying anything if they feel like it.
COLLABORATION
Collaborative LARP works best with the
inclusion of a robust set of calibration tools.
Their purpose is to enable participants to
control their own experience, maintain their
boundaries and get out of situations they don’t
want to be in.
Sometimes these are called safety mechanics but
their utility is broader than that. The mechanics
make it easier for players to have the experience
they want to have.
When choosing the mechanics for your event,
remember that there are three categories of
safety that you have to consider:
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Physical. This means making sure your venue
doesn’t have hazards that can hurt inattentive
players and other, similar issues of preventing
bodily harm.
Mental. Dynamics, themes and events can be
difficult to process or unpleasant to handle for
some participants. It’s often hard to predict
what will cause trouble, and sometimes these
issues will be surprising even to the people
affected themselves. This is why the goal is
to empower your participants to take care of
themselves during play.
Community. Are the players safe in the context
of the different communities they live in? An
example of a community issue would be that
a player pretends to do drugs in the LARP.
Somebody takes a photo and it circulates on
the internet, losing its original context.
You should analyze your LARP from the
perspective of these three categories of safety
and consider what you can do to minimize
potential problems.
One thing to bear in mind when selecting
the calibration tool to use is that players have
a limited amount of mental capacity, as all
humans do. Because of this, it’s possible to have
too many tools that the players then forget. It’s
best to only use a few, carefully chosen ones that
you can be sure people remember, and that you
have time to practice during the workshops.
Prevention
There’s a lot you can do to make your event
safer and enable your players to control their
experience even before it starts.
Communication. You should communicate
clearly what your event is about and what kind
of things people can expect to see and do there.
This way, people can make an informed choice
whether to participate or not. A great tool for
this purpose is an ingredient list. Here’s an
example of what such a list could contain:
• Occult rituals.
• Partial nudity.
• Shouting.
• Fake blood.
• Crying.
You should avoid misrepresenting the basic
nature of your event. A surprise genre switch
is hard to make work well when your players
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have consented to an entirely different kind of
experience.
Avoiding problem players. You can analyze
your event from the perspective of what kind
of a player would disrupt it or cause problems
for others. A common example would be a
player who doesn’t respect boundaries.
Once you have figured out who you want to stay
out you can try to tailor your communications
so that the event doesn’t appeal. to them. This
way, they self-select out and you never have to
deal with them.
Experience has shown that messaging in
advance about workshops focused on consent,
calibration tools and touchy-feely community
building tend to repel people who don’t like
collaborative approaches to play. This is good.
Out of bounds. You can rule specific themes
out of bounds at the event. These are not to be
played on. Here’s an example of what such a list
could consist of:
• Sexual violence.
• Homophobia.
• Insults based on a player’s physical body or
heritage.
• Sexism.
• Racism.
This means that players should not make
any of these part of their play and should
actively strive to move away from them if they
accidentally appear.
At the Event
Here are a few tools you can teach the players
so they can use them during the event itself:
Look down. The way this
works, the player places their
hand over their eyes as if they
were shading them from the
sun. It’s used to signal that
the player wishes to leave the
scene. A player who uses the
signal should leave the scene
and the room and go elsewhere
while the other players seek
to normalize the situation in-
game. They should not make
a thing of it but just try to
proceed as if nothing had
happened.

Ribbons. The larp features
ribbons which indicate that
the wearer is okay with specific
types of play. For example, if a
player wears a white ribbon,
they’re okay with light physical
play such as pushing and
shoving. Once the player takes
off the ribbon, it means they
no longer wish to engage in
such interactions.
Safeword. The typical use
for a safeword is that when a
player says the word, the others
should stop the scene. The
person who used the word will
then leave or explain what they
need to continue. Bear in mind
that people use the safeword
for very different reasons, from
small to serious. The safeword
that’s easiest to remember is
‘safeword’.
Tap-Out. You double tap on
your co-player, yourself or
even a wall or a floor to indicate that the scene should stop until
something that is causing you trouble can be addressed. The tap-
out has the same function as the safeword but often it’s easier or
more intuitive for players to use.
Meta play. You can mandate that for safety reasons, specific types
of play such as violence or sex should be discussed out of character
instead of played physically. This works best with small scenes of
just a few characters. The participants talk out what happens.
Tapped Out
What do you do when someone taps out or a problem appears?
Experience suggests that most players prefer to deal with situations
affecting them quickly. This means that if someone taps you out,
listen to their concerns, address them when possible, and move
on. This makes it easier for people to use the tools in the future
as well. They know using the tap-out will not cause a huge scene.
You can designate a specific safety person for your event. Their
job is to listen to the players and talk to them as necessary during
the larp, possibly in a specially designed safety area or room where
people can go take a break. Often it’s helpful for players just to
have someone to listen to.

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DESIGN
How to design collaborative LARP?
One of the most important words when you
work in the Nordic style is “bespoke”. It means
that when you make a LARP, you make every
design choice purposefully to suit the vision
of that LARP. The next time you make a
LARP, you might use an entirely different set
of tools and methods to make sure that a new
experience is realized.
Here are a couple of questions you can ask at
the start of the LARP creation process:
What do I want the players to experience?
What kind of actions can they do at the LARP?
What do I think is cool?
The first two questions are about the play
experience. In practice, you often have a vague
idea of what the answers will be, but it will
get clearer and clearer as the design process
progresses.
The third question has more to do with your
own motivation and why you make the LARP
in the first place. It is good to keep in mind
why you are doing the project so you can keep
yourself motivated. What is more, we are all
more creative and better at coming up with
cool stuff when we work on something we like.
If you love the Toreador and their social games,
it makes sense to create a LARP about that.
While doing that, you should also remember
that LARP is a co-creative medium. You need
cool ideas that you love that also work for
LARP. For example, if you want to create a cool
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story you may be better served writing fiction. If
you want to give your players the experience of
plotting and scheming in a World of Darkness
where anything might happen, and does, LARP
is your medium.
Basic Ideas
Sometimes the idea for a LARP can be extremely
simple. When the Vampire LARP End of the Line
was created, the idea was to make a LARP where
vampires could do vampire things like hunt and
drink blood.
Sounds extremely basic, right?
From that simple idea, a lot of design choices
emerged. Most characters should be mortals since
that would enable the hunting and the drinking
of blood. The LARP needed to be interesting for
the players of the mortal characters as well so
being hunted by a vampire should be thrilling in
and of itself.
The setting chosen for the LARP was an illegal
techno party where the mortals had no idea
vampires were prowling in their midst. It was
chosen to be a dynamic, chaotic environment
where vampires could prowl discreetly.
Characters ranged from ordinary partygoers
to vampire hunters. The goal was for as many
characters as possible to be both the hunters and
the hunted.
The best LARP ideas tend to be simple. You can
create a LARP where everyone will have the
same fundamental core experience or lay out a
few different modes of play. In both cases, all
characters must be able to access the activities
that make the LARP fun or interesting in the
first place.
An example of a failure mode would be to create
a LARP where the idea is to give players the
opportunity to play degenerate, vile monsters.
The LARP would then feature a few noble, good
characters to stand in contrast with all the sordid
filth around them. From a conceptual standpoint
this makes sense but from the perspective of
the players of the good characters this would be
terrible because they would not have access to the
core activity of the LARP.
To make it work, it could be tweaked slightly
so that good characters are expected to suffer a
moral fall. This would grant them access to the
LARP’s baseline activities.
Since a single LARP can feature multiple play
experiences, you should take care to see that all
of them are meaningful. For example, if there
are werewolf characters in a vampire LARP,
they need to have their own fully designed and
functional werewolf experience.
Transparent vs Opaque
Transparent design means that players have
access to all the information about the LARP,
including things that their character does not
know about. The most common example is
making all characters available for all players to
read.
The advantage of transparency is that players
will have a better feel for the creative vision of
the LARP as a whole and are thus able to adjust
their own play accordingly. It means players are
able to make informed choices.
The LARP End of the Line was not transparent,
opting instead for the opposite strategy of
making the LARP opaque. This means that
237
secrets are possible so that not even the players
know everything. This choice was made so
that the players of mortal characters would be
unaware of who was a vampire and who was
not.
From an organizer standpoint, transparent
LARPs are typically less work-intensive to
make than opaque LARPs.
Design And Production
After you have a good core idea in place, it
is time to design the LARP. This process is
intimately tied with practical production.
After all, design informs production and
production can inspire design.
The most important single aspect of
production is choosing the venue and making
all the necessary arrangements from a rental
agreement onwards. A flashy, fancy venue is
great because it immediately makes the LARP
more memorable. This is what fuelled the
“castle LARP” trend in Nordic Larp, where
LARPs were organized in castles primarily in
Poland. A venue like that has an inherent wow
effect.
Still, you can have a fancy venue that sucks for
LARP. A lot of the questions about whether a
venue is good revolve around extremely basic
human needs:
- Are there enough bathrooms?
- Can people sit?
- Is the temperature good?
- Is the venue accessible?
Some more LARP specific questions are:
- Does the venue have enough nooks and
crannies that separate social situations can
develop?
- Is there a good space for workshops?
- Does it fit your creative vision?
One of the advantages of Vampire is that since
vampires are fundamentally parasites in the
body of mortal society, there is leeway in terms
of what kind of venues make sense for different
events. An Elysium set up in a strange place can
represent an attempt to fly under the radar and
maintain the Masquerade.
When you consider your design, focus on the
core elements of your basic idea and use the
parts of Vampire’s setting that best fit them.
Whatever game mechanics you choose should
fit the LARP. If something is not part of the
LARP’s idea, there is no need to have mechanics
for it. A common example is combat. A refined
salon game might not need combat mechanics
at all.
The great thing about Vampire is that it
supports many different LARP concepts. There
are a number of examples through this book
and you can see the breadth of possibilities in
just the core clans. After all, a Toreador LARP
is very different from a Brujah LARP.
Deadlines
LARP production involves four important
deadlines:
1. Announcing the LARP. To do that, you
need a website, marketing copy about what
the LARP is, and basic details like price and
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venue. You need to know what it is that you are
announcing.
2. Opening the sign up. You have to decide what
the sign up process will be like and make sure
players know what kind of an experience they
are actually signing up for.
3. Characters. If the characters are provided by
the organizers, getting them ready and in the
hands of the players is a significant milestone.
4. The event. At the start of the LARP, everything
has to be ready.
Characters
How are the characters created for the LARP?
In Nordic Larp, it is typical for the organizers
to write and design all characters and then cast
players so that each has a character they like.
These character descriptions include details
on personality, history, vampiric powers,
connections, and group affiliations.
Other methods are possible as well. The Berlin
Vampire LARP Enlightenment in Blood used
a bespoke character creation system that
broke characters down into their essential
components, allowing players to pick and
choose the ones they liked best. Sometimes
characters are workshopped together with the
organizers.
Outside Nordic Larp, it is also common
for players to make their own characters. A
common setting such as Vampire, known to all,
makes this easier.
All characters must be able to access the core
experience of the LARP. This is especially
important if the players create their own
characters wholly or in part. A player can
accidentally create an unworkable character
because they do not have a good top-level view
of the LARP.
For example, the LARP is focused on the
street-level experiences of recently Embraced
Anarchs. A player makes a Tremere elder. The
character may be cool but would not provide a
good play experience because it is disconnected
from the design of the LARP.
Runtime
Nordic Larp is designed so that it runs on
minimal organizer intervention. A typical
player will never need to consult with an
organizer during the LARP.
The way this works is that the design is
front-loaded. Players get all the information
they need from their characters, pre-LARP
communication, and the workshops. Armed
with all this, they are able to play collaboratively
so that conflicts are resolved according to what
would be cool in the scene.
Organizers can still contribute to play during
runtime, of course. Sometimes a LARP requires
supporting characters, organizer-played roles
that are not suitable for players because they
do not have freedom of choice, they are too
boring to play, or because they are present
only for a single scene. For example, an envoy
from another domain who drops in to deliver
a message and then leaves would make more
sense as a supporting character rather than a
player character.
The organizers can also stage set pieces, make
sure the rhythm of the LARP flows smoothly
239
and play contacts outside the LARP’s play area.
For example, the Prince has a direct line to the
city’s Police Chief. They can call their contact
and an organizer playing that role will answer.
One technique is to have a dedicated organizer or
organizers playing these roles so that players can
call anyone they want by choosing the organizer
number on their phones. The conversation goes
like this:
- Player: Hello, I’m Luke, I’m calling my
sister Rose!
- Organizer: Hello Luke, this is Rose!
Of course, this requires improvisation on part
of the organizer player and for the players to
communicate what they need effectively.
Handling the rhythm of the LARP is often
connected to the timing of set piece scenes.
For example, if there is a Sabbat attack on the
Elysium, the organizers can walk through the
venue and get a vibe for the general energy level
of the LARP. Once it starts to lag, they initiate
the attack.
Collective Experiences
Nordic Larp places more of an emphasis on
collective experiences rather than individual
ones. It makes sense to design characters
in groups, providing them with common
backstories and easy social connections. You can
always go back to your group if you do not have
things to do in the LARP.
This is also why so many Nordic Larps place a
lot of emphasis on rituals. A well-designed, fun
ritual is a great experience in itself. Fortunately,
Vampire provides fun opportunities to do such
scenes. Perhaps when a new Prince is crowned,
there is a coronation ceremony during which
each clan has to swear allegiance according to a specific formula; that is a type of engaging ritual.

The Tremere can have sorcery rituals and the Church of Caine and the Bahari have their own rites. All
of these can be enjoyable to play out in full. Of course, this means they have to be designed. A good
LARP ritual involves all present in a collective action such as chanting or dancing, with different stages
so it does not become boring.

The Sabbat is a great source of rituals. Although the Sabbat are antagonists, their rituals can still feature
in a LARP. For example, a LARP can be about a domain overrun with the Sabbat who force local
Kindred to participate in their rituals. The question is, will the characters fight to overthrow the Sabbat
or will they switch their allegiance?

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Chapter Sixteen
ONLINE ROLEPLAY
The Basics
Vampire LARP does not necessarily have to
happen face-to-face. Online Vampire play has
boomed in recent years, becoming its own
vehicle for play alongside tabletop roleplaying
and LARP. Through an online medium, a
Vampire game can be played with no rules, 5th
Edition tabletop rules, Mind’s Eye Theatre rules,
or some homebrewed rules.
Here is some guidance on playing, designing,
or running an online Vampire experience on a
digital platform.
User Comfort
One of the primary concerns with online
spaces is accessibility. Roleplay servers and
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websites are communities that, unlike classic
tabletop roleplaying games or LARP groups,
rely entirely on their online presentation and
organization to attract potential members. As
an aspiring online community administrator,
before you can open the doors to your roleplay
servers, you will want to ensure that your
interface is user friendly. As the community’s
calling card, it is important to keep in mind a
few basic principles:
• Keep information easily accessible and
clearly labeled;
• Distribute and name your channels and
links intuitively;
• Repeat information; and
• Keep aesthetics subordinate to readability.
Your users must know where to click first.
Quickly understanding where to start and how
much time it takes to do so may make or break
a potential player’s engagement. For instance,
if a user cannot find your server’s information
and rules–perhaps because they are hidden in
a submenu–it is likely that their confusion will
drive them away from your community.
Be certain to organize your links and channels
in decreasing order of importance with general
information and guides on how to play in the
venue at the top followed by links to facilitate
character creation (such as a guide and a blank
character sheet) and general setting information,
and then supplements and other community-
specific material. If rules of conduct do not have
a separate page or channel, they should still be
placed second in the organization.
It is also important to clearly state what your
server is about. Is it an online roleplay server
with a minimum paragraph requirement, set in
a certain city? If so, you need to say that and
provide clear guidelines or examples of how to
roleplay (i.e., minimum words or paragraphs
requirements, where to head to start a scene,
where to organize with your fellow players, etc.).
By clearly stating how to engage with the forum,
you may gain a fresh player intrigued by what you
offer, even if they stumbled into your community
by chance.
Users benefit directly from the repetition of
information. Make sure to refer often to where
a user can access specific information if it is
not immediately available in the section they
are reading, and remember to make use of your
platform’s features. For example, some online
forums permit you to pin messages; this feature
provides a great opportunity to describe and
reiterate what a channel is all about, how to use
it, and whether special rules apply.
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For example, the popular online game Seattle
by Night links the server’s website in the server
information channel. Within the website, the
character creation guide has its own page,
within which users may find links to homebrew
materials and server rulings. These are linked
twice at opportune intervals, once to remind
users where to find useful server material
to create their characters, and again when
further details are necessary for the choice of
Loresheets and other Advantages. The very
same link, however, can also be found in the
very same channel where the website and the
character creation guide are themselves linked.
A cycle of easily accessible information is thus
created, no matter where a user is looking for
it.
Finally, the primary medium of roleplay servers
and websites is writing. The visual accessibility
and readability of your community must be of
paramount importance, even on platforms with
standardized formatting. This means ensuring
that the background and text contrast does
not reduce readability (a dark gray and a soft
light gray will always be preferable to black
and white), that your font is clean and large
enough, and that commitment to aesthetics
(such as the use of decorative formatting in
writing) is not an impairment for your readers
and players. This may also mean that your
channel names will not employ any special
characters, or that your titles’ color will not be
a sanguine red against dark blue.
Kickstarting Interactions
After you successfully drew your users in
and provided them with methods to orient
themselves on their own, it is time for the next
step: helping them to become active players.
Even though directions on how to play can
and should be added to your community’s
general information, making the jump between
awareness and practice can be a considerable
stumbling block for new players who are less
familiar with the format.
You have several tools at your disposal to rescue
your players from uncertain beginnings. For
example, once their character is approved, you
can send them a message from the staff greeting
them and offering them ways to get started. This
primer will considerably lessen the amount of
“what do I do now?” questions that you will have
to answer.
Do you have a board where players can seek
roleplay partners? Use this opportunity to
point your newbies towards it. Are there game
channels that provide an easy way of finding
people for a first interaction, such as an Elysium?
If so, list them. Are there coordination channels,
or exclusive sect and clan channels where anyone
can seek connections out-of-character? If so, list
those too. Do you think your own character
would mesh well with a new arrival? Offer a
scene and show them the ropes yourself.
Playing with new users as a staff member is
worth expanding upon. It fosters a welcoming
atmosphere, where Storytellers and moderators
bring people into the fold and, in doing so,
break the illusion of any hierarchic wall between
themselves and regular players, or between
established crowds and new arrivals. Smaller
groups of interaction will inevitably form when
managing a large user base: your job is not to
discourage veteran players from gathering with
their favorite writers, but rather to ensure that
these groups of like-minded characters and long-
time friends remain accessible, especially if they
come with a veneer of prestige, like moderation
roles. Breathing room for your game brings
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creativity and avoids the formation of locked
cliques.
Another potential wall between new players
and effectively getting started is access to the
Vampire: The Masquerade materials, such as the
core rulebook. Facilitating the participation
of these users by providing resources will
minimize the risk of piracy. A character
creation guide and a channel or page to answer
basic mechanical questions will save you time.
A small compendium of the simplest rules for
play can improve your players’ knowledge, as
well as prove a useful tool for veteran players
seeking a quick and easy answer.
For example, in Seattle by Night the staff gathered
basic mechanics and the most frequently asked
questions in a primer document, organizing
its sections in alphabetical order. From the
“B” of “bestial failures” and how to roleplay
their compulsions to the “W” of “willpower”
and its uses, each reference cited the relevant
core rulebook page for further details. This
document helps users who are unfamiliar with
all the details of the 5th Edition.
Staff Presence and Behavior
One of the cornerstones of a server of any
kind is the behavior of its staff. It is assumed
that, before proceeding with opening a
roleplay community to the public, a founder
and administrator will already have a tight
and well-briefed core group of moderators.
This step is doubly important when these
moderators will likely double as Storytellers,
becoming responsible for shaping the fiction
and aiding players during their game time.
Staff members greeting and playing with
people old and new helps to foster a healthy
atmosphere. This interchange is likely
mandatory during a community’s early
stages, when the user base is still limited, but it is Here is another useful tip: spread staff so
a rule of good behavior to keep in mind even for that each member can cover different time
established and larger groups. zones. Doing this is useful for communities
with worldwide participation and where play
For example, in Seattle by Night whenever a continues actively without pauses.
character sheet is approved, the staff member who
processed it will give the new player a shoutout in Server Safety
the general chat, welcoming them to the roleplay.
They will then proceed to ping the new player
The first step to guaranteeing a safe
on the relevant clan channel, pointing them to
environment on a roleplay server, or indeed
functions and rules of the channel in pinned
in most communities, is to offer an easy way
messages. This introduction to the community
for users to report misbehavior and, above
will foster easy connections.
all, to have their concerns heard. However
banal this may sound, community rules and
Let us expand on the concept of atmosphere!
especially the people who enforce them may
The kind of jokes a moderator will make in
have blind spots and you need to have a
conversation channels will shape the sort of
mechanism in place to hear about them and
humor that users will consider acceptable and will
adjust your procedures as needed.
emulate. Similarly, the way conflict is handled
will also determine whether users perceive a
It is one thing to state that a server has a
server’s staff as curating chat atmosphere or as
no-tolerance rule for, to name one, racist
interventions to fear.
statements; it is another to notice this
behavior in action and timely respond.
Make sure to establish and routinely reassess
Remember that however much a community
how your staff behave on the server. Address
may strive to include people from different
concerns about their attitude honestly and give
backgrounds in its roster of moderators,
them a chance to correct it if needed. Be certain
the founders of a server are often a group of
that a hobby does not become a burden and allow
friends. If these founders do not endeavor
your moderators to take pauses to decompress.
to diversify their crew as their community
A healthy approach to these roles ensures that
grows, blind spots are bound to remain
the entirety of a community’s staff is ready and
unchallenged.
present enough to answer user questions, be they
mechanical or relating to server etiquette.
What staff might not catch, or not handle
properly, will almost always be noticed by
For example, in Seattle by Night an official
an affected or more attentive party. And the
“Torpor” role for Storytellers and moderators
larger the player base, the more likely it is
came with considerable technical advantages.
that there will be an affected party.
Players knew that the staff member in question
is off-duty and the moderator was not pinged by
It is therefore important to provide methods
role mentions. Organization chat for Storytellers
to report worries and offenses that maintain
will also be invisible to those in Torpor, though
privacy or a semblance of anonymity, rather
their moderation privileges will not be removed
than forcing users to air their issues in a
entirely.

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public channel or board, where stressful and
antagonistic discussions are bound to happen.
Privacy may be achieved via e-mails, or bot
systems that open private channels where a user
may talk directly and solely with staff.
For example, at Seattle by Night the use of a bot
not only allows users to open a private channel,
but also permits the changing of settings so
that only certain members of staff will be able
to see its contents. This way, any concern can be
escalated between moderation groups, all the way
to limiting access to the sole administrator. This
facilitates communication, even if a player has
issues with other members of staff.
What community rules cover in theory is then
enacted in practice, without ever excluding the
possibility of a corrective action even against
a member of the moderation team and always
keeping in mind how the team can mediate
between affected individuals. Take any such
occasions as an opportunity to grow, both
personally and as a community.
Can broad guidelines be applied to active play?
This is a question best answered by one of the core
mechanics of the Vampire tabletop roleplaying
game: chronicle tenets. Even though communities
with such a large player base may often lack the
direct oversight that a small group’s dedicated
Storyteller benefits from, the use of chronicle
tenets will shape the game of every single user.
A server that declares “Uphold the Masquerade”
as one of its tenets will offer a very different
experience from one that upholds “Do not harm
the innocent”.
Of course, what is feigned and allowed in play can
be drastically different from what is permitted
between users. Nonetheless, a chronicle that does
not give stains for acts of murder and torture
245
shapes expectations for the stories of its
characters, and your potential users will be
able to gauge whether this is a kind of story
they would like to tell with you.
For example, Seattle by Night’s chronicle tenets
have gone through a few more or less subtle
changes. When a tenet about intentional
and unintentional Masquerade breaches was
included, it was the Storytellers’ response to
a lack of care for the first Tradition of the
Camarilla among characters. This addition
brought into sharp focus how this behavior
needed to be redressed for the safety of the
domain. When we realized that stains for
accidental breaches were no longer viable for
entertaining stories, the tenet was carefully
edited and, with order brought back to the
city, eventually removed as obsolete.
Initiatives
You have got your community all set up, you
have your Storytellers and moderators, and
even a solid group of players. Now it is time
to diversify their play experience beyond their
day-to-day interactions.
Since the majority of roleplay on servers
is built by players interacting with one
another, drawing the focus on interpersonal
relationships and, often–on introspection–
one of your best bets to provide something
special and unique for them is building short
term chronicles, or “campaigns”, that have the
direct oversight of a Storyteller. These will be
structured with specific goals and potential
outcomes in mind, matching more closely
how a small tabletop chronicle would play out
and, perhaps even more importantly, allowing
players and their characters to leave a more
consistent and relevant impact on the metaplot of
the server.
The overarching plot of your community may be
built upon through these campaigns and will also
give a sense of narrative cohesion to your shared
world.
For example, Seattle by Night has benefited from
the many prompts Vampire: The Masquerade gives
that may be used to affect an entire domain
and bring action to the characters’ doorsteps.
The server’s first large story was all about a
Masquerade-breaching group of thin-bloods who
used the Second Inquisition to attack Camarilla
locations and institutions. The following blood
hunt led to many weeks of intense roleplay. More
recently, a shortage of blood provided by the
Circulatory System in Seattle–capital of the blood
trade–encouraged characters to group together
and investigate how and why transport vans were
attacked, so as to restore the comfortable “blood
on tap” available at Elysium. Afterwards, the
Prince often called court, updating the domain
and asking for action, or thanking those who put
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themselves at risk for the Camarilla—a good
occasion for player characters to interact
with important pillars of the city.
Both small campaigns and server-wide plots
that affect the wider narrative require the
Storyteller’s full attention. They are often
rewarding but charged roleplaying sessions.
To unwind, organize instead easy events,
intended for meetings, conversations, and
building new connections.
At Seattle by Night, the server organizes
similar events on special occasions: the
community’s anniversary, for example, or
two weeks of low-effort gatherings during
winter vacations, all the way through new
year, when daily gatherings and obligations
tend to minimize activity both for our staff
and our players. Tradition calls for a ball the
first week, with a gifts raffle, and wintery
activities like ice skating the second week.
Both times, Hunger-slaking drinks are on
offer.
GUIDELINES FOR STORYTELLERS
A concept borrowed from the tabletop
roleplaying version of Vampire: The Masquerade,
the Storyteller is someone who narrates the
world and the consequences of actions for player
characters
The Team and Its Approach
The larger the player base, the more difficult it
will be for Storytellers to actively follow every
scene as it is happening, and the more arduous it
is to create ad hoc stories without disrupting or
contradicting what has already been established
elsewhere in the server’s history. Their
availability further decreases if Storytellers are
also players who write their own characters—
and, although staff members who are dedicated
solely to Storytelling may put greater focus on
that activity, often enough people who are newly
brought into the role were first evaluated as
active players and remain so afterwards.
Outside the scope of campaigns, then, the format
of a large community calls for a team, which in
turn calls for cohesion of approach.
Recruiting members to the role of Storyteller
may be done via server-wide open calls or by
approaching trusted members. Whichever the
preferred method, it is important that you brief
them on your expectations for them, as someone
who will shape the game for others. It is
recommended that this briefing and guidelines
are easily accessible for reference.
And what is expected of them? Is a Storyteller
handing out consequences, or are they helping
the story along? Especially when a player acts in
a way that is detrimental to their character, the
line may be blurred. Striking a balance ideally
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merges maintaining an action-outcome logic and
crafting roleplay that enriches the experience
for the player. Often, interpreting a character
in distress can be an opportunity to flex one’s
writing muscles: the Storyteller’s work is also to
ensure that the opportunity is not understood as
a stressful punishment by the players.
Transparency with mechanics and decisions is
often key, and so is the tone with which results
and consequences are delivered. Do not talk
down to your players if they make mistakes or
ask for their next actions as if you are delivering
orders.
There are more chances to achieve balance if
the team is used to giving each other input, so
that too harsh or lenient approaches are evened
out. Asking a second Storyteller for input
minimizes the possibility of unfairness and
contradicting decisions, especially when the rules
allow for personal flair and more or less strict
interpretation. Instead, it is better to answer a
player with a group-approved approach than
with a single person’s opinion that might have to
be overruled afterwards, disrupting play.
Here’s an example from Seattle by Night: the
practicalities of the Storytellers’ team day-to-day
activities pass through a channel aptly named
#ask-the-st, where players may fill out a form
and send in requests pertaining to their scenes.
Does a user want to obtain a new Merit, or a level
from a Loresheet? Did a dice roll result in a messy
critical in a crowded area? Are two characters
engaging in a conflict and unsure about what to
roll? All questions of this type are submitted to
the channel and timely discussed by the team in
appropriate threads before offering a ruling or a
way forward.

Fair
“Fairness” is difficult to define in the realm of
roleplaying. Seattle by Night applies a principle
of equity whenever possible—a new and less
experienced player will be afforded more
leniency the first time the character missteps.
For example, a vampire who breached the
Masquerade via phone might well be flagged
down by agents of the Second Inquisition. Will
this put the character on the path to gaining the
Known Blankbody flaw, or even to final death?
If the vampire is a recidivist or should know
better, implying that the player has been warned
before about the dangers of breaches through
technology, or was caught before, perhaps so.
If this is barely the first week of play for a
new arrival, it is more likely that they will
only receive a warning from the Storytellers,
and perhaps a helpful Nosferatu from the
Camarilla will scrub the internet of any traces
of their mistake—this one time. It is “fairer”,
on occasion, to be charitable with a player
and account for inexperience, foregoing more
realistic consequences.
Adapting Mechanics
If you are using the mechanics of tabletop
Vampire for your online roleplay, are there some
among them that do not work when your “table”
is dozens of people rather than only the four or
five of typical face-to-face roleplay?
Unsurprisingly, the answer is “yes”. Even though
online written roleplay does not suffer from
the visual restrictions of LARPing (you can
absolutely control a swarm of rats, unlike in real
life), limitations and contingencies will become
apparent the more paths are explored by players
and brought to your staff’s attention.
248
In the online communities that use the full
Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop rules, where
players will often interact with each other
without direct oversight, some things do not
work or need extra steps to be used appropriately.
One example is Predator Type standard pools
(core Vampire: The Masquerade rulebook p. 307).
The Predator pool for Farmer is Composure +
Animal Ken. A player may suggest that their
character would instead lay traps around and
let them do the work, then return later, and the
Storyteller may choose to roll with it and give
an alternate pool, perhaps Dexterity + Survival.
This standard sort of exchange between player
and Storyteller may become quite a burden
when, instead of a single Farmer, you are dealing
with fifteen of them.
Your team should then choose whether to limit
Predator pools to what the rulebook offers,
handle each hunt individually, or adapt the
mechanics, either by downplaying the aspect of
Hunger on the server (which will make hunts
less frequent and pressing) or by expanding the
number and type of standard Predator pools
available to players (which will significantly
lessen the need of oversight while maintaining
flexibility).
Here’s an example from Seattle by Night: how
can Lasombra and Hecata raise the discipline of
Oblivion if the Vampire core rulebook chart on
page 228 that assigns numbers to temperaments
and Resonances does not account for blood
empty of Resonance and the vampire cannot (or
does not want to) drink from corpses or blood
bags? It soon became apparent that Storytellers
on the server could not engineer a new ad-hoc
scene every time a character seeking to buy dots
in these disciplines needed to find the correct
Resonance. So, Seattle by Night adapted the
randomized roll chart to include Oblivion. At
Seattle by Night, a d10 that lands on a one for
its temperament roll no longer results in a mere
negligible resonance; rather, the vampire is lucky
enough to have found someone whose blood’s
humor is so flat to be empty, detached, perfect
to feed the needs of the Abyss. This fulfilled our
player’s requests for a more streamlined method
and kept a low incidence of this rare non-
Resonance.
Keeping things exceptional is another difficulty
of big environments such as an online roleplay
community. What should be so rare that only
one or two characters, playing or otherwise,
should have access to it or even know of its
existence, cannot logically be present on several
sheets at once. Applying a first-come-first-
served principle, however, would penalize new
players and diminish their options; once again,
then, these mechanics must be adapted and, at
times, even banned from play.
Some of the more peculiar, exceptional, and
certainly exciting things the 5th Edition has to
offer are Loresheets. The process of combing
through every merit from every Loresheet
to decide what can be permitted, what must
be adapted or restricted, and what must be
prohibited is a heavy and meticulous task, but
it’s only alternative is to exclude these merits
from play altogether.
A good rule of thumb is asking how realistic it
would be for more than one vampire to have
access to a merit—such as a vial of the blood of
Zapathasura—and whether the entire Loresheet
is linked to distant locations that cannot be
adapted to a new setting. Be cautious and judge
your staff’s availability also when handling
Loresheets that call for the intervention of or
direct interaction with a famous Kindred as
they always require additional focused attention
from Storytellers.
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Documentation
The creation of up-to-date documentation
collecting rulings, common rolls, previous
decisions and adapted mechanics is of great
importance when Storytellers must work in
a group and account for previous decisions to
maintain fairness in their rulings.
Making extensive use of shared spaces such as
online storage, easily accessible by everyone
in the team, helps everyone in the long run.
Any Storyteller-controlled characters and
antagonists may be fully developed, and their
sheets saved for later use. Extended tests to
gain merits or purchase new dots in skills
may be listed, tweaked, and used again when
players make similar queries. Factions in play,
be it Camarilla and Anarchs or factions within
the Camarilla, will have fluid relationships,
changed and rebalanced by characters’ actions: a
document to keep track of this history will help
with plot consistency.
Save any text that is copy-pasted often such as
welcome and introduction messages, common
policies and storytelling notes, the setup for
recurring events such as Camarilla court
settings and rules, templates for submissions,
and guidelines. Bringing in any new members
will be simpler if you bring them up to date with
existing material.
There are several methods to save information
and character sheets. Seattle by Night uses a shared
online drive account, where all documents,
sheets, and other miscellanea are stored in neat
folders, where each update is recorded by the
revision history. Any rulings and interactions
with players that happen directly on server in
private channels are logged by our bots in .txt
files that the staff may download, search for in a
designated channel, and reference at a later date.
GUIDELINES FOR PLAYERS
How do you play in an online Vampire game, have fun and keep things respectful with other players?

Consent and Etiquette

There are unique ways in which consent can be punch might think that
explored and managed in large online settings. it would be exciting if
When a scene is not overseen by a Storyteller, it landed.
players must personally establish their own
lines of comfort and those of their partners. In these situations, a
Likewise, Storytellers must be able to oversee player can always
the development of a scene so that they may choose to lose
intervene when needed. a roll, to let the
other character
It is crucial for online communities to have at catch the lie, or
least one public channel that is intended for take that punch. This
roleplay coordination. The public nature of negotiation can
scene organizing prevents ambiguity should any greatly enhance your fun
conflicts arise: having negotiations on record and help with leading
avoids a large part of “but-they-said” confusion the story where you are
or intentional misdirection and lessens the envisioning it; the
chances of coercive convincing or manipulative perception of collaborative storytelling
strong-arming of consent. This is particularly between two people will also help with feelings
important for new players, who may be swept of having “lost” or “won” a conflict, replacing
into an environment they aren’t yet equipped to them with satisfaction over a rewarding scene.
navigate properly.
This, of course, does not always happen,
The conventions of Nordic Larp are useful especially if the player’s goals heavily differ and
for players even on servers and other online rolls become necessary. In an unmediated scene,
communities. It isn’t uncommon for players to players always ought to state what they are
“plan” a scene in broad strokes, especially when trying to achieve, state their pools, and agree on
they aim to hit specific narrative notes. Doing so what happens if either character loses.
in writing rather than in person does not make
it any less emotionally intense, even though it Other courtesies of communication are
certainly is less physically taxing. To reach the necessary due to the peculiarity of the writing
maximum fulfillment of dramatic potential, you medium. A common term in online roleplay
may want your partner’s character to understand communities is “metagaming”. Metagaming
that your vampire is lying; or perhaps you would occurs when a character acts as if they were
like your vampire to take a punch despite their aware of thoughts, hidden occurrences, or
dodging—or, conversely, the one throwing the intentions that they are not privy to. A vampire

250
who behaves suspiciously around another
because the player knows that their character’s
buddy is a traitor is metagaming—acting on
their player knowledge of the game beyond the
character’s perceptions.
In games where all actions are on record and,
depending on the style of play, the writing
out of thoughts and emotions is allowed, this
can become more of a problem than in voice
games, where instead the scope of knowledge
is often comparatively narrower. It is also the
responsibility of Storytellers to mediate such
instances, but politely pointing out to your
partner that their character would have no
awareness of a specific detail can help with
establishing a boundary.
Asking beforehand when about to describe
or include in the scene something potentially
upsetting (such as body horror, cockroaches,
terminal illnesses, just to name a couple) is
also good etiquette. A large player base often
prevents implementing consent methods such
as fillable forms on a large scale—this means
that anything not expressly against community
rules or chronicle tenets may be considered
fair game. But no two players are equal in
their levels of comfort with specific and varied
topics. Opting in with questions is preferable
to editing an upsetting post after the fact, and
creating an environment where comfort lines
may be altered even during a scene is of primary
importance.
Here is an example from Seattle by Night: rolling
a Bestial failure just before a character must
participate in a packed meeting at court could
disrupt plans, especially when the Compulsion
involved is dominance. A quick chat between
the two players in the #rp-coordination channel
first established expectations for the behavior of
one of the two characters and laid out options to
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play the scene out without excessively disturbing
plans for the court setting. As the second player
confirms she is happy with letting actions and
reactions proceed naturally, without planning
for them beforehand, more involved emotions
can be brought into the writing and enjoyed by
the players despite the tense situation. Seattle
by Night also requires players to always warn in
advance if, for example, a vampire is about to
sell information about another character, so that
no player is blindsided by sudden betrayals.
Information Gathering
However tempting it may be to enter the main
chat of an online roleplaying community and
ask how to start roleplaying, more often than
not servers and similar platforms will have step
by step guides that will lead you through the
process of becoming an active player.
Begin from server information, then follow
introductory channels and resources as they are
presented to you. If the community’s design is
intuitive, channels and links will be arranged
in decreasing order of importance: seek out
instructions on how to create and submit a
character and ask for a pointer if you cannot see
them. If community channels and pages have
pinned messages or descriptions, make sure to
read them for any additional information. Soon
you will have an approved sheet and a setting to
explore. During the approval process, there will
often be a window to ask questions directly to
the staff: make use of this opportunity to clear
any doubts about the next steps.
For example, in Seattle by Night in addition to
a welcome message with pointers that every
new player receives when their character is
approved for play, the #v5-mechanics-questions
and #roleplay-advice channels exist to solve and
clarify problems any players, new and old, may encounter. The server has rules on gathering
your own knowledge, so that players will enter scenes with as much awareness of rules and
circumstances as possible—when in doubt, however, channels of this sort exist to dispel
ambiguities and offer quick answers.

Furthermore, a newly introduced feature on the server is an additional role

that players may pick for themselves that represents their level of knowledge
of 5th Edition rules. From fledgling to elder, picking these tiers helps the
Storytellers with determining how well-versed any given player is in the
technicalities of the game’s mechanics. Knowing how comfortable a player is
with the system determines how many warnings, and of what kind, a Storyteller
ought to give about any declared course of action. In absence of such roles as a guide,
only clear communication can help clarify your familiarity with the rules.

Asking for guidance from Storytellers before undertaking any actions is often vital
to ensure that what you’re doing is in line both with the game’s rules and with your
specific community’s expectations and guidelines. If there is a format to ask for
approval, follow it. If not, the more information is offered upfront, the better it is
for the Storytelling team. Never hide your plans from those who are meant to guide
your character through the story: if you do not trust them to fulfill their role, it will
be doubly difficult for them to judge a plotline and help it along.

Finally, more often than not the answer to a question is in the books. If it’s hard to find, check
whether your community has F.A.Q. or a document with summaries of the mechanics

Beginning Play
Once a character sheet is approved, everything that is left to do is start playing. For users unfamiliar
with a community’s format, it is advisable to first check how other people do it, banal as it may sound.
Open a channel where an active scene is ongoing and read.

Each community has conventions and lingo, which will presumably be explained in their guides, but
seeing these conventions in action can always clear doubts for the more practically-minded.

Seattle by Night uses headers, a short string of text that each player must place at the top of their
character posts. Headers mark the character’s name, a feature that is particularly useful for players who
write more than one, then the specific location within the channel, such as [Downtown, Atrium Dance
Floor], whether they are using Blush of Life, and crucially, they mark with “A” and “NA” whether the
character is available or not for interaction. This conveys at a glance whether a new player is welcome or
not to join an ongoing scene, and where exactly the scene itself is taking place. Then, the users involved
in the scene may be tagged in our coordination channels to ask how to best interact with their ongoing
roleplay.

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If the community provides a board to search for writing partners, check out the posts and threads
already present before making one yourself. You may well find that someone else is already seeking for
the kind of plot you could offer.

The plots that are explorable in a sandbox setting have the advantage of great freedom and the
disadvantage of having to be conjured up by the players’ own minds, at least outside of the hooks
provided by Storytellers in campaigns and specific stories.

If your vampire can’t start out as the Prince’s personal Scourge, or can not claim to be the designated
cleaner of Masquerade breaches in town, focus instead on what is on your character sheet. Merits
and flaws are an excellent way to bring in complications to otherwise more linear scenes. Does your
character have a stalker? Are they infamous with the police? Do they have a Loresheet, and are trying
to buy a new level? Are they a cobbler? From these starting points, several stories can be built. Perhaps
another vampire needs a mask, or is just the right person to seek when trying to lie low. Negotiate these
opportunities with boons, discuss how a favor could be repaid in the future, or point to a third party
who has exactly the skill that will save the night.

Soon, a web of interactions between characters will naturally grow and link vampires to other vampires.
The kind of relationship map that a small table builds at the start of a chronicle is virtually transferred to
a number of player characters, each with their own goals and ambitions; the actions of some will ripple
through the map and generate more play for fellow users, all without, for example, inconveniencing
important Camarilla authorities. In other words, lean into the personal aspect of horror. And if the
authorities are inconvenienced and the Storytellers step in, take the opportunity to add a thread of
outside influence to your plots.

Creating characters with an outwards focus, or reasons to interact with the world around them, gives
therefore an advantage. Generating stories yourself, which you don’t necessarily have to do in play
contexts where the Storyteller engineers ways for a character, even a loner, to be dragged into the plot,
necessitates an outward push that must come from the character. This doesn’t mean that you can’t play
a loner: even a vampire that seeks solitude by design might feel in danger and wish to find trustworthy
coterie candidates.

The main delight of online communities, the same as in LARP, is often that the plurality of players and
characters lends liveliness and dynamism to the setting. The exchange of ideas and possibilities often
responds better to a proactive approach—but the scope of a server may be intimidating.

Seattle by Night, in addition to greeting newly approved characters in the main chat, has introduced clan
channels for inter-clan organization, where group meetings may be arranged with a Primogen. These
channels also provide an easy point of commonality between any two characters, and a smaller space of
coordination, encouraging new users to get started with easy directions.

253
 KICKSTARTER BACKERS

A Godat Allison Campbell Arcanus Wolf

Aaron Gomez Alratan Archbishop James
Aaron Mouritsen Alysa Brice Arielle Cormier
Abby Estes Alzuule Arienna
Adam Grant AmeliaChn Arkady “Wolf” Volkov
Adam Malkmus Andara Shadowfang Aron Hoskins
Adam Rivas Andrea Beduschi Artemio Astolfo Antonacci Magno
Adam Tomplait Andrea Brock Arthur of the Rose
Adam. H. Andreas Öggesjö Aubrey Richardson
Adenak Raven Andrew Cummings Avery Corvus
Adrian Ward Andrew Sayman Avgvst
Adriano Nudo Andrew Wilson Azrael Von Braunschweig
Agnieszka Rogowska & ya Warsaw by Andy - Midian Gaming B.B. Hale
Night Angel d’Argy BA Flowers
Ahrimus of Jericho Angel Sorayama Becca Marshall
Aira Vehaskari Annie Blitzen Ben Haedrich
Alaina Almeida Ann-Kathrine M Ben Parrish
Alek Anole Ben W.
Alex Cresswell Anth Benjamin Claybruke
Alex Thomson Anthony Howe Berber Wierda
Alexander Octavian LeMont Anthony N. Bert “SilentBob” Sanders
Alexander Ward Antoine Boivin Bill Imber
AlexanderTF Antonio Di Luca Billy Littlepage
Alexandra Frund Clinton Apostolis Dousias Bjarke Pedersen
Alfisol April & Jack Björn Butzen

254
Björn-Ole Kamm Cian McCarron Dorian Mae
Blayke Strae Civyl Lovey Doug Laflin
Bob Claire A. Malette Dove “Sun-Seed’s Sword”
Bob Monkman Clayton Gaughran Dr. Reinhardt
Bob Ooton Cliff Stornel Dr. Ryan Blackstock
Bob the Tzimisce Cody Shadley Drake White
Brad Pasmeny Corrigan E. Cassidy Drakenova
Brandon Daniels Cory “Rook” Williamsen DrkDruidProductions
Brandon Landin Cosmogonies Dustin “Ratking85” Varrel
Brianne Markovic Court of Moravia Ed “Finan” Schmalz
Brittany Schoen Craig Anderson Edouard Contesse
Bryan A. Ellis Craig Wrenn Eduardo Ambrosio
Bryan Ballard Criss Walker Edwin Wessels
Bryan Himebaugh Crüjen A Geist Eeyore Page
Bryan Jonker Curty volk Eidolon
Bryan Lee Briggs D. E. Wright El Sobrino
Bumbalachacha Stan Dacar Aria Arundottir Elaine de Mor
C. Hulvey Dakota Poore Elektra Diakolambrianou
Callum Turner Damiano Solletico Eli Irvin
Camarilla Italia Damon Edwards Eli Ramsey
Carey Clevenger Dan Hughes Elke Norman
Carlos Ovalle Dan Rowland Ellijah Burgos
Carolyn Penelope Knowles Dane Carll Jr Elmer Gilbert
Casey Corbin Daniel “Illuminos” Persson Elon G
Cassiopeia Eagle Daniel Atson (Storyteller) Elyn Fritz-Waters
Cassius Kennedy Daniel Fresco Elzo Tovani Benza
Cathi Gertz Daniel Ley Emma Singer
Cattaveria Salvatore Daniel M. Stelzer Eric
Chad Jacobs Daniel Peterson Eric “Vinshalya” Schuler
Charles and Ashley Oliver Daniel Tan Eric Charette
Charles Bacon Danny Roullier Eric Hadley
Charles MageST Campbell Dave “Victor Thorns” Desgagnes Eric Mattson
Charles Wheaton Dave P. as Hoturi Masaki Escapistportraits
Charlotte Svolos Dave Valcourt Eternal Dream Productions Troupe
Chell R David Ashby Etienne d’Espinasse
Chipotlechris David Fuller Evie Kay
Chrifu Bernal David McInteer Eve
Chris “Glacialis” Brinkley David Ongley @evilzug
Chris (UnemployedWriter) David Peters Fae Wilde
Chris ‘eChryxius’ Wai David Petro Fatebender
Chris King David Romako Father Krump
Chris Murphy David Schwartz Felipe Eduardo
Chris Sauter Deena Whelan Felix Vincent
Chris Williams Dennis A Appell Finch
Christine Lutes Derek Guder Flavio Kendi Hiasa
Christopher Bishop Devillok Florian Enaud de la Matelotte
Christopher Campione Dimitri Vladescu Flux
Christopher Michael O’Neill DJI Forbathian & Palies
Christopher R. Wain Dmitry Aveliate Frankie Mundens
Christopher Rowe Dmytro M.A.G. Kustov Fransz Murphy
Christopher T Gibbs Don Diego Santiago Cabrera Delarosa Frédéri “Volk Kommissar Friedrich”
Christopher Wolverton Blackthorne POCHARD
Chuck Poppell Donnie Baker Frederik Symons

255
Gabe and Lexi Villagomez Jacob Tessendorf Jon Munger
Gadesc Jake Nugent Jon Pam
Galcian of Seattle by Night James Andrews Jonathan Feeney
Gandalf the Wookie James Foster Jonathan Patterson (The White Knight)
Gareth Owings James Walther Jonathan S
Garett Kopczynski Jason “Crash” Morton Joonas Iivonen
Garth Westphal Jason Brown Jordan McCain
Gaza El-Diablo Jason Goldsmith José Fabregat
Genghis Pawn Jason M. Joseph Moon
George Dolby Jason Smith Josh Bewley
George Mavroidis Jason White Josh from Tabletop Journeys
Georgii Perepechko Jay (Salvitus) Wright Joshua Burrus
Gideon “Gids” Hawthorne Jay Haller JP Nilson
Giovanni ‘Gio’ Hernandez Jay Page Jukka Särkijär
Giuseppe “Giude” De Lellis Jazz Tattersall Julia Madrigal
Glasgow By Night JD Dos Passos Juse
Glen “Dr. North” Anglin-Ingersoll Jeanne Batiste-LaFayette Justin “Juice” Staley
Grace Black Jeanne I. Justin Pulsipher
Grash Uriza Jeff Szappan Kaalia Raine
Graspiloot Jeffrey Osthoff Kaera Elaina Orphanatropos
Greg Berry Jeffrey Polly Kai Schiefer
Gregory Eburn Jen Kuiper Kallen C
Grymm Jennifer Fuss Kalvelis
Gumborrah Jennifer Fuss Kamo
Gustavo “Brujah” Mattioni Jer DuBois Kari Kvittingen Djukastein
H MacKiernan Jeremy Cottrell Kat Smith
Hao Zhang Jeremy Miller Katie Staton
Heather “Not-A-Seeker Seeker” Bryson Jerome DeFelippo Ken
Heather Minerva Harte Jesse Gennrich Ken Kimbrough
HeftyYeti Jessica Totten Ken Pickering
Heinrich Krebs Jesus Alberto Barrios Lopez Ken T.
Helen B. Jim Flood Kevin Corrie
Henri Jim Glass Kevin Cyr
Henrik Sturesson Jimmi Brown Kevin P. Harris
Hraefn cz Jimmy Reckitt Kevin Thomas Schluter
Hugh Montgomerie JJ Seeley Kevin Zernel
HunteRose Joachim Mander Kim Hosmer
hyppolite Delacourt Joacim Hedin Kimberly Morris
Ian Rugg Joe Burgos & the Vampire Wednesday’s Kisaki & Kravenov
Ian Smith Troupe Kit McManus
Ian Stickles Joe Edge Kit Wickliff
ianLovecraft Joe McNamara KJninja
Ibon Presno Joel MacMahon Klil H. Neori
Ice & Dice Joel-Herustari Underwood Kniqui Hackborn
Idleknight John B. Kość w Eterze
Illara Sunsurn John Ingram Krinnson
Inshara Rafastio John Long KrisP
Iris Rohrh John M. Osborne Kunekunos
Isara John Thomas Kuromaru
Ivo Goudzwaard John Vikør Green, og kattene Sin og Kyle “Vortex” Chapman
J. R. Foster Sofia Kyle Clement
Jacob Bieber John Wells Kyle Luhrsen
Jacob Giovanni John-Paul Diamond Lady Jessica Lilith Darke

256
Lance Larsen Matthias Hofmann Octavian Düm
Lauren Black Matthieu de la Loire Orangebringer
Laurent Wandrebeck Maurizio de Galleani Darkness Ascending: Orlando by Night
Lawrence Cicchetti Max Metzger Oskar “Swedelicious” Mattsson
LeAnn ‘Ellyham’ LaFollette Mazi Melton Owen Alea
Leo Giannoni MB Owen Parsons
Leon Yarwood Megan Dunn OyToy
Leonard Helding Meghan Kuschner Paige ‘Morgue’ Yarrow-Ballinger
Lew Pearce Meghan Mattsson McGinnis Pamela McKinley
Lex Blackthorn Methodius of Macedon Patrick Cossel (307 RPG)
Liam Keptner Micah Hadd Paul Evangelista
Lily Armadou Michael “Milan Mechislav” Brosens Paul Grayson
Lindsey Morse Michael A. Kvam Paul Vlasta
Liselle Awwal Michael Curtis Pericuolo Narr
Liz Clark Michael D. Smith Pete H
Lord Crossbower Michael Day Peter C
LTC Sir Glennwood Justis, Knight of Michael Hawkins Peter Hag
the Blood Michael Kanaris Peter ‘Malkira’ Lennox
Luc Teunen Michael Nason Petri Wessman
Lucas L. Michael Neal Phil Louch
Lucian “Spike” Zantosa Michael Walsh Ventrue1399 Philip W Rogers Jr
Lucian Shadow Scomparsa Michele Tani “Bless” Philippe Molosse Bernatchez
Luke M Mike & Brian Goubeaux Phillip Bailey
Luna Lapine Mike Bosma Pierre Toutain
Lunar Mike Brereton Pip Padden
M. Alan Thomas II Mike Longley Porl Bowdler
Maarten Geirnaert Mikel Ryskiewicz PotentialRain
Magikarp Mirko Schroeder Prince Alianna, Elder of Clan
Magpie Mister Lococco Toreador, Childe of Prince Villon
Manfredi Mangano, Serena Fioretti, Mitsuki/Ilka Prince Lucretia Wright
Giulia Cursi Mlovessxw Quentin A
Marcus Taylor Monty Montgomery Quilliec Thomas
Margaret J Hauck Mord4k R. Herzog
Marinda More local games Raimar Lill
Mario Kellert Morgan Duty “Magnus Cross” Ralph Lacy
Mark “Thunderhowl” Brunsdon Myrtle C. Wells Randall Crawford
Mark Cockerham Nadja Mozdzen Rantimus
Mark Duske Natasha Drake Raven Aviral
Mark Scheid Nathan Kiser Raymond Sweetsir
Mark White Natty Struble Rayni McCollum
Martin B. Wagner Nawguthion Rebecca Catan
Mary Doolittle Neal Blooflat Red
Masud “Maz” Mendez Nederby Renato Gonzalez de Medeiros Junior
Mateusz “Maeliraeth” Rusin Nels von Ralho Renatus “Wren” Ausper
Mathieu Dazé NephthysNile Renee Ritchie
Matthew Carroll Nicholas Chan Rev. Phillip Malerich
Matthew Costa Nicholas Fortugno RexCelestis
Matthew Jones Nicholas Macula Richard Chilton, UEL
Matthew Lynn Nick Julius Richard Steele
Matthew Priestley Nicolas “Dak” Brouet Rick Gower
Matthew Sanderson Nicolas Villatte Riley
Matthew Sharp Nonna Emilia Rioxis “Rocky” Sardonis.
Matthew Wasiak NtsDK

257
Rob & Whitney - 10 Year Anniversary - Simon Hall Tomás Ribeiro
Met at LARP Šimon Kravár Tome Wilson
Rob and Sabrena Hambright Simon Legault Tommie Boatwright
Rob Brockway Skylar Nazar Tommy Johansson
Rob Nunley Snays Tommy Svensson
Robert “Luca” tuc SOL Torge Schepers
Robert Eichler Solene Balezeaux (and his family) Travis Alvarez
Robert L Villafane Solitude Travis Hartland
Robert Recckia Soren A. Hjorth Trent Schulze
Robyn Hackett Stacey “Rie” Marie Trevor J.J. Sherman
Rocco Marando Steals-the-sun Tuula Vilva
Roger Beam / NA / Jochei Stephen “Eddington” Near Ty Storie
Romain Moreau Stephen Whitehead Tyler Bryan
Roman Lanzarotta Steve Stroud Tyler Nafe
Rory Hughes Steven Collins Tyler Rose
Ross Thomas Steven Doyle Tyne Arnold
Ryan of Toronto Steven Splint Vacantfanatic
Ryan Omega Stryk Redkite Valerie Palmowski
Sage Blackwood Stuart Davies AKA Ebonblade Vedic St. Claire
Sam Damon Suvi Korhonen Velvet Alicia Lilith~Victoria Azshara
Samuel Harverton Sven Raabe Divine
San Antonio Yellowstone bani Tremere SwiftOne Veri
Sanpat Suvarnadat T Hansen Victor Inominae
Scarlett Letter T.C. Moore Victoria Donovan
Scott “Oz” Milner Talita Amaral, “Setheus” Ville Uusivuori
Scott Braem Tamara Persephone Johanna MacIntyre Vincent Sharma
Scott Kuban (Auburnt_Amaranth) Vitas Varnas
Scott McIntosh Tc Vivianne Violette
Sean McKay Teagle W. Steven Carroll
Sebastian Tremmel Ted Ludemann Wat3rm0le
Sébastien Côté Teemu Salminen Wayne Hintergardt
Sébastien Mary Teranz Weaver
Selena Victoria Knight Terrence Patrick TERENTIUS Joseph Vekah & Wesley McKeown
Serafina Kunert Micheau William “Jack” Gallagher
Seth C. Polansky, Esq. Terry E Roberts William O’Berry
Seth Taggart Thai Nosferatu William Springer
Shane “Marcus Alistair” Sylvia Thanius William Verheyden
Shane Stimson The Vampire Interpreter Wiz
Shawn “Sutekh” Glass The Virraszstò Xamiel “Xile” Markov
Shawn D. Ulmer, PC-Dorian LeBois Thiago Ribeiro Xavier Aubuchon-Mendoza
Shea Anderson Thunaree Xzay
Sheldon Wales Tiffany Korta Yuri Capadócio
Shimon Klein Tim & Mitzi Gousie Yuria The Witch
Shoshana Kessock Tim Chanting Z Going
Shun & Zami Tim Ryan Zachary DeFoor
SIGIFREDO ALANIS Timothy “Redwulfe” Adams Zachary Thomas Tyler, Ashirra Gangrel
Silja S Timothy Brachtel Zebediah Walker
Simon “The Vampyre” Blackbourne Timothy Snyder Zoly
Simon Dietsch Tinker Tales Studios

258

0 - 260
360 222
A Chapter Sixteen 241
A Bloody, Bloody Beat 42
about ghouls 110
Acceptable and Unacceptable Boons 180
Actions 230
Adapting Mechanics 248
Affordance 223
After the LARP 208
Agency 223
A House Full of Devils 122
Alibi 223
Anarchs 42
An Embarrassment of Riches 10
An Existential Threat 149
Artists: 2
Ashirra 113
Ashirra Across the World 116
Ashirra Characters 118
A Society of Blood 12
At the Event 234
At The Fireside 32
B Creating Play 192
Backstabbers One And All 13
Bad Choices 165
Basic Ideas 236
Before the LARP 208
Beginning Play 252
Being the Prince 197
Be My Sin For The Evening 1
Benedictions, Dedications,
and Appreciations 3
Berlin 50
Beyond the War of Ages 63
Big Events 122
Big Ideas 123
Bleed 221
Blood Rave 138
Boons 175
Boons and LARP 180
Boons As Invitations 183
Boons As Status Symbols 184
Boons As Stories 184
Breaking Down a City 62
C Emissary 48
Camarilla 67
Changing of the Guard 198
Chapter Eight 113
Chapter Eleven 158
Chapter Fifteen 216
Chapter Five 67
Chapter Four 42
Chapter Fourteen 208
INDEX
Chapter Nine 122
Chapter One 4
Chapter Seven 102
Chapter Six 91
Chapter Ten 147
Chapter Thirteen 188
Chapter Three 27
Chapter Twelve 175
Chapter Two 11
Characters 238
Choosing Sides 162
Cities And Domains 6
Coercion 185
Collaboration 233
Collaborative LARP 217
Collaborative Play 221
Collaborative Vampire LARP 216
Collective Experiences 239
Concepts 220
Conflict 87
Conflicting Loyalties 163
Consent and Etiquette 250
Contested Chronicle 60
Contested Domains 59
Cover Art: 2
Creating Loresheets 210
Credits 2
D I
Deadlines 238
Design 236,30,33,36,38,68
Design And Production 237
Designing for Praxis 195
Developments 51,55,58,85
Dive Bar 34
Documentation 249
Domain Design As LARP Design 86
Domains in Confusion 98
Don’t Fuck With the Sabbat 90
During the Event or Afterwards? 185
During the LARP 208
E K
Editors: 2
Elite Enclave 201
Elysium 67
Emergence 222
Enter a World of Blood 4
Envoys and “Envoys” 118
Eternity 15
Example Domains 4
F LARP Concepts 98
Faction Breakdown 100
Failing to Fulfill a Boon 182
259
Fair 248
Fakes and Frauds 117
Fate 229
For the Love of Cruelty 96
G
Gaining Trust 145
Gang Boss 47
Generating a LARP Concept 28
Getting Swatted 152
Ghoul LARPs 112
Ghouls 102
Give Up Everything 37
Glittering Lights 211
Glorious Immortality 102
Grand Plans 184
Groups and Engines 124
Guidelines for Players 250
Guidelines for Storytellers 247
H
Helsinki 82
House Alea 211
How to Make the Boon System Work 181
How To Spend Boons 183
How To Use Loresheets 209
Hunting and Drinking Blood 228
Index 259
Information Gathering 251
Initial Impressions 145
Initiatives 245
Interlude 90
Interlude: Boytoy 39
Interlude: Enough With the Filth 120
Interlude: Notes From an Execution 64
Interlude: Siege Warfare 145
Interlude: Storage 185
International Influence 218
Introduction 4
Keeper of the Heralds 213
Kickstarter backers 254
Kickstarting Interactions 242
Kneel In Prayer 141
L
LARP and Larp 217
LARP Concept 30,33,35,38
LARP Concept: The Trial 99
LARP RESOURSES 208
Layout Artist: 2
Less Among Equals 107
Locations 76
Loresheets 209
M Sabbat Characters 92
Magic Circle 221
Making It Your Own 8
Making Things Up 148
Making Your Debut 14
Models: 2
Mr. Hellquist’s Shadow Cabal 213
N Social Groups 88
Nashville 56
New Orleans 53
Night to Night in the Anarchs 21
Night to Night in the Camarilla 24
No Neutral Ground 160
Nordic Larp Emerges 217
Nordic Larp Now 218
O V
Online Roleplay 241
Outcomes 101
Outro: Dee’s Home Movies 202
Outside Perspectives 92
P The Basics 241
Peace Talks 199
Permanent Elysiums 68
Photographers: 2
Players And Organizers 5
Playing For Praxis 191
Playing the Baron
(And Other Anarch Notables) 45
Playing the Prince
(And Other Camarilla Officials) 70
Play to lose 223
Population Breakdown 57
Praxis 188
Prevention 234
Primogen 72
Principal Writer: 2
Q The Keeper of the Elysium 73
Quick and Easy 28
Quid Pro Quo 180
R The Power and the Blood 131
Really Really 225
Recommendations 146
Refuge 119
Remembrance of the Ancients 114
Repression 167
Repression in the Name of Safety 95
Revolution 168
Rising Tempers 164
Roles 88
Rules and Structures 196
Runtime 239
S The Stakes 161
Sabbat 91
Safe Swatting 153
Saturnalia 54
Second Inquisition 147
Secret Agendas 173
Servants in a Palace of Blood 105
Server Safety 244
Setup 101
Small Events 27
Special Thanks 3
Staff Presence and Behavior 243
Stories 80
Strange Rules 69
Subsequent Developments 146
Sweeper 48
Swimming With the Sharks 29
T
Tactics 191
Tapped Out 235
Temporary Elysium 69
The All Ghoul LARP 110
The Anarchs 169,193
The Baron 46
The Betrayal 79
The Black Box 228
The Characters 126,130,133,136,139,142,173
The Concept 125,129,132,136,139,142172
The Domain 50,54,57,80,83
The Event 174
The Excitement of Diplomacy 171
The Factions 75
The Final Witness 117
The First and the Last 115
The Flower of Humanity 134
The Grand Pageant of Diplomacy 171
The Heralds 73
The Ideologue 49
The Incident 145
The Ingredients of a Raid 153
The Inquisition And LARP 150
Themes 94
The Monologue Box 229
The Old Regime 215
The Ops Center 155
The President 198
The Prince 71
The Quad Cities 78
There But For the Grace of God.... 97
The Role of the Prince 195
The Sabbat 91
The Sabbat LARP 96
The Scourge 73
The Seneschal 71
The Sheriff 72
The Social Landscape 110
The Spook Show 154
260
The Stories 127,130,133,137,140,143,77
The Team and Its Approach 247
The Toolbox 225
The Tunnels 128
The Veneer of Sophistication 125
The Venue 126,130,132,136,139,142
The War 158
The War Leader 200
The Weight of History 115
The Workshop 231
The World of Darkness 5
Three Decades of the Dead 7
Transparent vs Opaque 237
U
Unclaimed 198
Underneath 128
Up-Or-Down 226
User Comfort 241
Vampire: The Masquerade™ Creators: 3
Vampire Culture 9
Vampire Society 11
Violence 226
W
War As LARP 166
War Is Hell 169
War Leader 49
War of Ages 158
War of Ages Table of Contents 4
Warsaw 74
What You’re Owed 176
What’s Cool? 167
What’s Happening? 89
Where? 155
Where the Kindred Congregate 27
Who? 154
Why? 156
Why Do The Anarchs Hate the Camarilla? 16
Why Do Those In The Camarilla
Hate the Anarchs? 18
Winners And Losers 62
Writer of the Chapter
About Online Roleplay: 2
Y
Your World of Blood 6
 “Welcome to the War of Ages.
This is your war even if you never signed up for it.
Your elders are seeking to control you, toy with you, suppress
you; your only choice for dignity in unlife is to fight back.”

– Bian the Bloody, Brujah Anarch

Welcome to the night.

Damned by the ancient blood welling inside you,

you try to hold onto the last scraps of your humanity as you
sustain your degenerate unlife on the blood of mortals.

You are a vampire,

existing in secret among the ignorant horde of ordinary
people.

This is the role you embrace

when you join a Vampire: The Masquerade LARP and by
making that choice you become part of a global community
of Vampire LARP extending from the U.S. to Brazil, from
Turkey to Finland.

In this book you find:

~ Inspiration to create your own Vampire LARP

~ Concepts and framework for large & small LARP events
~ Guidance on the use of antagonists in LARP
~ Boons in LARP and to spend them
~ Tools for collaborative Nordic LARP style play
~ Guidelines for running a successful online LARP

ISBN: 978-0-9911312-7-3