mind, which will clash once the game comes to- A few of the official characters tend to be too

gether and some are disappointed that the game
has taken unexpected turns.
The definition of a Vampire: the Masquerade
game is just too broad to be able to give everyone
the same mental image of what a game looks like.
complex and stretched out, as the result of having
so many different authors who wrote them in the
different publications. Official characters are
meant to be non-playable characters, and should
be discarded as any sort of deeper inspiration for a
player’s character. Your own will always be better!

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When the theme, set and tone has been agreed
on and consensus was reached in terms of expecta-
tions, then your job as a player begins. What kind
of character could be involved in such a story?
A character in an RPG

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A good character that is flexible enough to be the
An Australian academician focused on linguis-
tool for your nightly fun needs to be easy to define,
tics and archeology will have absolutely no place in
in terms of broad concepts. A few keywords should
a shoot-them-up style story taking place in a me-
suffice, and a ten to fifteen line paragraphs in
dium sized all-American Bible belt city. This will
terms of background should be enough to describe
result in frustration and no fun for anyone in-
their agenda, belief systems, internal logic, person-
volved, and trying to bring in any element that
ality and history. If you cannot focus on the core
would call on this character’s themes will feel
definition of your character in half a page, it cer-

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forced or out of place. As a player, your duty is to
come up with a playable character for that kind of
story.
tainly means the character is better off as a fanfic-
tion character than a playable character.
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14 BE A HUMAN
 A group game what the character expresses, and what the charac-
ter thinks they want, need and are expressing can
It’s clear that many players and many storytellers be different (only to add more depth).
have forgotten the profound nature of what a RPG
is: a group game. All characters involved need to Feel free to map out “what the character wants,
have a reasonable reason to be working together, what the character thinks they want, what they say
however they do not need to be friends. Coteries they want, and how they express it”, near Nature

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(and packs) tend to form for a vast variety of rea- and Demeanor.
sons, forming alliances of circumstances, by affin- In terms of role and character depth, it is all
ity, or as a task group, but each individual has a about how the character perceives and under-
reason to be working along with the others. Of stands their actions and wishes, all while being

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course, the classical “the city boss sent us all on a more or less aware of their true goals, what truly
mission together” can be the main idea, yet the drives them. You, as a player, may know things the
World of Darkness offer so much more it would character may have misinterpreted, have fun with
be a waste to not use it. that!
Loners tend to be fairly bad playable characters,
at least when taken just as loners. It just isn’t fun A character’s environment
to be stuck with the ever whining unwilling unco- Your character is inevitably grounded in their en-

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operative character that just doesn’t want to be
there and doesn’t want to be involved. Give your
character reasons to be involved, and give hooks to
the storyteller so the character has to be involved
vironment, by all means it is what has defined
them. It could have been defined by adhering to
the codes of their local communities, or in opposi-
tion to such codes, but nothing is created in a vac-
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even if they do not want to. uum.
Do not hesitate to build your characters as a It is extremely important to discuss with the gen-
group in order for them to be a potential match eral setting and ambiance with the storyteller in or-
already. They don’t need to know everything about der to create a character that fits in that narrative.
each other, obviously everyone has their secrets, In which country, in which timeline are you play-
and some may even end up betraying their fellow, ing? Even similar concepts will render very differ-
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but overall, a much better ambiance is met around ently depending on the environment.
the table when the players have their characters
A small scale drug dealer in mid-2000s Venezuela
compromise, cooperate, and have reasons to work
will certainly not have the same implications and
together. It just isn’t that fun to spend half of the
stakes as a small scale drug dealer in Chicago in the
session trying to convince another PC to come
mid-1980s or a small scale drug dealer in Berlin in
along and Do The Thing.
the late-1990s. As a storyteller, if I announce we
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are playing in the 1960s London, players will cer-

A character’s goals
Your character’s goals to be involved in the story
can be of all sorts. Those goals can be of course
kept secret from other characters, misunderstood,
or plain fake. A character seeking recognition and
power may not claim those are goals honestly and
directly, but they may frame it (and even perceive
it themselves) as a search for justice for their city or
community. In terms of general philosophy, what
the character wants, what the character needs,
tainly not come up with the same kind of charac-
ters that if we were playing in 1999 Hong-Kong.
These examples are very much on the bold side,
but these differences also translate in more subtle
changes (as such a club owner in Santa Fé and a
club owner in Cincinnati imply more than a cou-
ple of differences, even if just in the laws of each
State).

Secrets of the Masquerade 15

 Three ideas
With a clear idea of the feel of the story, it is eas-
ier to build a proper character concept. Three ideas
should be enough to draw broad simple terms that
would be a fair definition of the character. Three
are enough, and they represent what is important

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to the character. Here are a few broad ideas, some
of which work in specific environments only by
definition:
 Ambitious financial expert

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 Corrupted syndicalist in the automobile indus-
try
 Tortured broke sculptor
 Tortured rich singer
 Left-wing class-action oriented lawyer
 Nationalist royalist criminal
 White BLM social media activist

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 Indian tutor to a rich British family
 Holocaust survivor who owes her survival to un-
speakable actions
 German scientist who moved to the US with
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Operation Paperclip
 WWI “broken face” poet-soldier
 WWII female ex-worker in the American
weapon industry who refused to “go back to the
kitchen” when the men came back
 Troublemaker teen with sick Math talents
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 Conspiracy theory journalist.

 Town hall secretary to urbanization who wants
to oust the current mayor
 Same secretary, but who wants to influence the
mayor in the “right” direction
 Ex-anthropology teacher turned devout San-
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teria practitioner
As a player, do not hesitate to work hand in hand
with your storyteller to flesh out a character that
has useful links to the setting the story will be de-
veloping in, as it creates situations that are worth
being involved in. The Foreigner concept is only to
be used when the issue in the story is that the cur-
rent establishment cannot take action due to their
hands being tied.

16 BE A HUMAN
 A newly arrived character with no ties whatso-
ever has very little to no stakes in the setting/story,
has no direct agenda that is involved in what has
been prepared, and as such, it will feel forced for
the character to be involved. Coordinating with fel-
low players is also highly recommended, as it
would create a certain pre-established group dy-

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namic that will evolve over the games and as secrets
are unveiled. What if the characters were friends,
but were embraced by rival sires?

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Keep it simple, but not basic
Try to keep your concept as simple and realistic
as possible. Make sure the character could exist,
and is fairly close to home. The more average and
daily, the more amazing it’ll get. This also includes
paths, clans, disciplines, nationalities: why choose

e the fancy shiny gadget tool, when a good old ham-

mer works as well, if not better?
However, make sure your character has that little
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“something” that would make them a good candi-
date for the Embrace. That something can be very
subjective or unlikely, as Kindred can embrace out
of passion, or with a plain misunderstanding. Mis-
takes happen, more often than they’d like to ad-
mit! The Sire doesn’t usually know every single de-
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tail of the mortal life of their Childe, sometimes

they don’t get it right, sometimes they get it com-
pletely wrong. As your mortal concept crosses the
path of kindred, when the embrace happens, the
characters are changed. They have been killed, de-
stroyed, their life was shaken to the fundamental
of their beliefs sometimes. They have been given
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new roles, agendas and goals they may not want to

take upon, and their own expectations changed.
These now have to walk a flawed, different path
than the one they expected to go about in their
lives. For better or for worse.
If you can’t describe your character in a para-
graph, then it’s not a Playable Character. If their
concept and history is too complicated and already
set, like the stories of Sasha Vykos, Anatole or Lu-

Secrets of the Masquerade 17

 cita, then it is not playable. They may be good char-
acters for a fanfiction, they might be useful NPCs,
but those characters are far too stuck in their own
situations and such rigidity doesn’t allow them to
be a player’s tool. There is no place for improve-
ment, maturity, discovery, shock, horror… And
most importantly, such characters will be not fun
more range of action in terms of their develop-
ment.
Be a masochist. Give your storyteller all the
whips, the tools, the scalpels so they can torture
your character in the most delicious manners (with
your consent, obviously). This will allow your char-

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acter to be more integrated into the setting you’ll
to play with as there will be too many instances of be playing in. You’ll be sired locally, you’ll start
“my character wouldn’t do that”. with a foot inside, you will have the Sire’s personal
Merits and Flaws, as optional as they may be, or vision (and agenda), and if your storyteller has

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any choices of the character sheet, shouldn’t be their ducks in a row, you will already be part of
shopped for. Do not build a character thinking of some interesting plots. Maybe your wife happened
a peculiar mechanical combo, the World of Dark- to be the lover of the Toreador Primogen, your son
ness system just isn’t that great. Merits and Flaws was killed to become a shovelhead, your missing
should emerge naturally from the three core ideas aunt was actually ghouled to serve the local sene-
of your character concept. Why give catlike balance schal…
to my Operation Paperclip scientist? It will cer- By making sure you have loops in your character
tainly make balance rolls easier, but couldn’t one history, your character will be more flexible. But

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put those points in things that make more sense to you don’t need to add in special details and im-
the character’s core concept? Everything your char- probable twists into every single aspect of the char-
acter invests in heavily has to be key elements of acter’s life (regular childhoods are fine, as well as a
the character. Their importance cannot be under- normal marriage).
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mined in anyway. A character who has plenty of
Occult but has nothing to do with any occultist cir- Finally, about the character’s personality, try to
cles makes little sense. The Merits and Flaws need place them on all the spectrums: the political spec-
to be vital to a characters persona, if possible, and trum, on the religious spectrum, on the socio-eco-
not be added for min-maxing purposes. A martial nomic spectrum and make them have an opinion
artist being ambidextrous makes sense, of course, on all controversial subjects that are relevant to the
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but is it vital to the character? Has the Merit really setting you will be playing on. They don’t need to
made a difference for them in their career and rep- feel strongly about each subject of the chosen de-
utation? bates, and they don’t need to be activists, but “pro-
life”, “pro capital punishment”, “socialist”,
An incomplete character “golden boy vegan”, “left-wing syndicalist” and
“right wing nationalist” all have a meaning, and
A Playable Character built for a Vampire: the you must be informed so you can get how your
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Masquerade story cannot be complete at creation, character perceives things. This way, your character
after all, this character’s story is just starting, and will be credible, believable, close to home, and not
that works for the character regardless of their age. a caricature. They can have stereotypical elements
Your character needs aspirations, places you want in terms of why they stand on the issues in ques-
them to reach towards, and the path they will try tion, and their reasons can be very basic (after all
and take to fulfill that quest. The character must we are the products of our environment, so either
be incomplete, as they have things to do, to dis- by adhering to the codes or fighting them fero-
cover, their world views need to be shaken, and ciously), but avoid mocking caricatures at all costs.
perhaps a change of heart to be had. I cannot ad-
vise enough that one should make a character’s
starting situation a status quo, to give you, player,

18 BE A HUMAN
 Simplicity to build multidimensional
situations: RPG classes and races
Avoid telling your storyteller “I’d like to play a
Brujah”, but tell them something like “my charac-
ter is a divorced corrupted policeman who had a
drinking problem and was embraced by an ambi-

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tious Ancilla because of his contacts and how well
he can gather intel, because of this new oppor-
tunity my character wants to build a safer world for
his children to grow up in”. Would that make a

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good Brujah? Certainly, but think of the possibili-
ties. This concept embraced by a Nosferatu, a
Ventrue, or a Tremere would have very different
takes on unlife, and still be amazingly enjoyable,
create interesting dynamics, all while using the me-
chanical tools given by being embraced into one
clan or the other.

e This also includes bloodlines, disciplines, flaws

and merits and scarce features such as True Faith,
True Love, Supernatural Companion, displaced
heart and what not. Don’t pick bloodlines, hell, let
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your storyteller decide your clan or give you sire
options. Let us be honest: a “well educated, high
society Brujah” is far more intriguing as a concept
than some random odd Bloodline. Why play a reg-
ular boring Salubri when you can play an amazing
Gangrel nurse with the exact same core concept?
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Why play a Lhiannan when you can play an eso-

teric Toreador? Wouldn’t their embrace be more
intriguing and create a character that is more in-
volved in the scenario that will lay before the
player, by picking a “why not?” route with a classi-
cal clan rather than an improbable embrace by
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scarce and unlikely to happen weird bloodline?

The clan is nothing more and nothing else than
skin color or nationality: the character can’t help it
and it doesn’t define them, it can have a more or
less important place in their existence, but it is part
of who they are. A different sire, a different clan
for a same core character concept can create dras-
tically different paths and developments of a char-
acter, paths which can turn out to be much more
intriguing to play, taking the character to unex-
pected and pleasingly surprising places.

Secrets of the Masquerade 19

 Character example be asked to the storyteller, this to be able to have a
better foot in the story ahead (contacts, allies, in-
Now that the mandatory theory has been dealt fluences, fame… they’ll come in more naturally this
with, let us run it through an example of a charac- way). Perhaps my character will already know some
ter creation, starting from a human concept. places and characters of interest. “Oh, you’re the
gal who outdrank me last month..” says one
The setting

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ghoul with a nod of recognition.
Let’s say the Storyteller has told me we were go-
This work of integration of the character is very
ing to play a City-centered game of politics and
important for new characters joining a game of any
dirty secrets, in the United-Kingdom, with a cer-
sort, so please try to talk to the storyteller about

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tain level of epic power-up planned. The ambiance
certain places, then maybe you’ll end up deciding
is going to be dramaturge worthy with some action
that your character already knows some secrets of
and the players will have the keys to change the fate
the setting or some facts or “living reputation” of
of our city of choice. I purposefully not bother
certain kindred. It’s also going to help you create
thinking about official elements and build from
links between your character and other characters,
the ground up. After concerting a little with my fel-
for extra dynamics and fun. Notice the introduc-
low players, we agree that I should play a character
tion of elements (underlined) that are basically
with some Social strengths and a set foot in the
ammo for the Storyteller…

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(mortal) world. I take a moment to read a little
about UK trends. It does not take me long to read
about hooligans, alcohol (binge drinking trends),
some elements of politics (political geography, cur-
My binge drinker, let’s call her Jane Collins,
likes to hang out in the Blue Bear, a club who
happens to be, thanks to my storyteller, a known
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rents events, etc…) and society facts.
hunting ground for local kindred. It’s even prob-
After reading more about binge drinking and able Jane was a one night stand-prey to one given
sociological repercussions as well as some strong Kindred, but anyway she’s had so many black-
headlines about the phenomenon (guys get outs already, so it is not something she may have
pushed in the subway, kids get beaten to death, remembered. This will leave some room to find
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people get sued their arses, and other legislation
about it), I take the first idea as a basic concept:
“Binge Drinker”. It will be the concept as the
core being of the character. The character will be
a girl, aged 17-23. She’ll be low class but high
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out what the NPCs and PCs are looking for in a
potential Childe, and leave enough plot hooks
and holes for my Storyteller to fill in with ele-
ments such as “oh here, that one night, you went
out drinking with this colleague from the fast

maintenance, fairly uneducated, relying on her food where you used to work, but haven’t heard
looks to get by and with a short-term, comfort- of him since..”. I can then flesh out her routines
oriented vision. She had to retake a few exams. and daily life.
My very own human Now I’ve tackled a bit of the character’s daily rou-
tine and hobbies I can flesh her out a bit more,
Now the general concept is a little more contex- while looking at the character sheet. What traits
tualized, in this case an English binge-drinker party are mandatory for her to work as a character? It’s
goer with an attitude, I can dig a little deeper into also a good time to put words into her Nature and
her past and start tying in some of my Storyteller’s Demeanor, and start thinking about her peculiar
setting elements. Her parents, siblings, school (if circumstances as a mortal.
any), friends, contacts, social media. Names are to

20 BE A HUMAN
 Judging from this basic skeleton, Jane probably
has very low mental traits, which makes her a
Social-Physical-Mental character, and Talent-
Skills-Knowledge due to her lack of education.
Jane’s main traits should be Appearance, Cha-
risma, and Wits, while her most interesting Abil-
ities would be Alertness, Streetwise, and Subter-
fuge. Due to her out-going and carefree life, I will
go with Celebrant/Bon Vivant as a nature and
demeanor couple for now as well. I’d add in Driv-
ing (she likes tuning customization and nice cars,
perhaps, even if she can’t afford her dream one...)
and Performance/Acting/Expression depends on
your edition of the game. Depending how many
points I am left with, I’ll probably add some Lar-
ceny, Computer, or even some Science (if she hap-
e
pens to make some Xtasy for her friends to keep
up her high maintenance life..?). A dot in linguis-
tics may be due to her contacts, telenovelas, or
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even because she is binational.
I cannot recommend the first two pages of Mr.
Gone’s Q&A enough for this exercise (you can
find this QnA at the end of this book if you cannot
access the link). There is no need to add something
larger than life to every question of course, so you
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can just answer “nothing special” or “nothing in
particular” to some of these events.
I’ll go with something like “[relative, maybe
Dad] died in Thatcher’s sending the military
against the Strikers of the coals” + “craving at-
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tention from men” + some alcoholism in the fam-
ily (but Jane isn’t like “them”!). Choosing this
one particular Historical Event will help the Sto-
ryteller involve his setting into the background of
my character (maybe he wasn’t killed, but
ghouled, and the death was just he cover for the
Masquerade? Perhaps Jane will find out who re-
ally benefited from this and want vengeance?). It
also sets me with a time frame that’s useful: If
Secrets of the Masquerade
dad was killed in the 1984 events, Jane was born
in the 70s or 80s, which makes her embrace be
more “likely” between 2000 and 2005 (-ish).
She’s not too old nor too young for a neonate in
a modern day (2018) campaign.
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This then leaves me with the finishing touches to
give flavor to the character. Backgrounds and Mer-
its and Flaws (if applicable) will give a better foot-
ing for the character in the setting and with the
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help of the Storyteller, they will come to life.
Again, keep it simple, and pick only what is worth
to enhance the character’s role and make sense in
their history, not because they make a good combo
or give extra dots here or there.
Finishing touches help with the overall balance
of the character, and eventually taking the abilities
more reflective of the change and the tutoring the
character went through after their embrace; some
is lost, some is gained or refined, after all.
Jane needs Contacts and two dots in Resources
(or a sugar daddy.. hmm.. a sugar daddy could
be an interesting plot hook, contact, resource pro-
vider or just plain bait, would the storyteller
agree). Friendly Face seems like a good Merit for
her as she’s tied contacts and entrance all over
the city’s clubs and overall lives the good life. I’m
also thinking she may have a Guardian Angel of
some sort, if there are enough points, it could ex-
plain why nothing bad has happened to her yet
(that sugar daddy again, maybe?). As a Flaw, I’d
give her an illness of some sort, perhaps one she
had gotten due to her carelessness and isn’t aware
of. Hepatitis or some retrovirus might have some
interesting consequences once Jane is embraced!
You now have a pretty good idea of who the char-
acter was and what they had as a mortal, just prior
to the embrace. You may have ideas of which clans
would suit best your character, and that is fine, you
can even have your sire and the reasons behind the
embrace already thought of, but in my case I much
rather leave the choice to the storyteller (as long as
21
 my character fulfills the role I build them for), attributes and abilities, I did not spend freebies nor
bringing in even more interesting plot hooks to get did I verify Merits and Flaws cost at this point. I
that much more involved. will however raise her Intelligence up to 2 with the
Below is Jane’s not-yet-embraced character sheet, extra experience, as 1 is really not enough for her
with the vampiric 7/5/3, 13/9/5 distribution in sheet to match who she truly is.

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22 BE A HUMAN
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Secrets of the Masquerade 23

 The Background of the character should explain
You get a Childe! the choices on the sheet. It also gives that little
It is now the time to wonder about who em- “humpf” that makes the character attracting
braced your character and why, with the help of enough to get Kindred attention beyond a simple
your Storyteller, and taking into account every- meal, beyond a simple one night use of them. It
one’s wishes for the game’s ambiance and theme. also reflects the more or less strong schism between
The rest of Mr Gone’s Q&A will be handy as well. the life of the human and the life of the fledgling.

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I had to think of all potential options for my char-
The Embrace and the first few months/years as
acter, and I had to consider reasons why she could
Vampire will shape the character’s mindset about
have been picked for an embrace instead of simply
Kindred, Society, Politics, and the first impressions
ghouled. I also kept those concepts very broad as I

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they’ll get of the Others. Answer pages 3 and 4 of
did not have the cast of NPCs handy, and by giving
Mr Gone’s Q&A, but also wonder about the
the different ideas, the Storyteller looked at their
nightly regular unlife of your kindred. How do
cast to gather which of them could have had a Mo-
they hunt? What do they think about blood? Have
bile, the Opportunity and the Means to Embrace
they met other kindred? In what circumstances?
this character.
How were they embraced? Out of love? Passion?
Jane may draw attention from just about any- Careful choice? Just chance? What about permis-
one, except people who have good taste and high sions? Were they presented properly?

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society in mind. Maybe a Feminist Brujah,
maybe a Nossie willing to punish/use this fairly
trashy girl for her vanity and carelessness, maybe
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a character needing some link to “the people”…
to gain influence in those circles? Or maybe
through bizarre misunderstandings.
First let’s tackle Nosferatu; if they embrace
Jane, she’ll lose all of her Appearance; de facto,
m
What makes a great “Vampire Background”, to
me, are the little flaws and interpretations the char-
acter has made on what they encountered and
heard of. This Fledgling life is what I love the most
out of creating characters. It also makes the prel-
ude that much important in terms of character
building.
Follow up with pages 5 and 6 of the Q&A, they
are the Agenda, the general goals, and the “cur-

Social will be second: CHA 4 and MAN 3. So
she’ll get two extra points in her Physical, making
her PHY-SOC-MEN (making Mental first just
wouldn’t make any sense at this point).
Apart from the Tremere and Ventrue, who
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rent” situation, the life of the Neonate as the player
takes control of them.
Freshly embraced Toreador because her sire
grew a very temporary passion for her (due to
their ghoul claiming she is the best pearl of the

city, ghoul having been the sugar daddy), Jane

tend to favor mental traits and higher society, all
ended up exploring her own liking for what she
other Camarilla members are likely to embrace
considers to be “art”. Of course this created some
her without much change to her current reparti-
tensions with other Toreador who have a more
tion of dots: freebies will be assigned to show her
“elitist” taste. Jane would argue that what’s pop-
transition from mortal to vampire (I’m thinking
ular is good. Her Sire quickly went on to another
Generation, Occult, Intimidation, Brawl/Me-
passion, leaving her up to fend for herself.
lee/Firearms…). She could end up being the
childe of just about anyone who was interested Presence is the discipline she is most attuned
enough in her. to, two or three dots could directly go towards it,

24 BE A HUMAN
 and the freebies will probably polish some abili- the easy luxury being kindred can give her…
ties to display what she has learnt as kindred (et- Quite hypocritical isn’t she?
iquette, maybe politics), and give her the back- However, her having been embraced by a
grounds Herd, Fame, Influence and/or Allies to Nosferatu would have created such weird and in-
give her more footing in her areas. teresting branches for her character to develop fur-

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Jane’s agenda will to push forward in Kindred ther. Don’t hesitate to let yourself be surprised
Society. Eventually she’d aim to become Harpy. and enjoy new unexpected twists and turns!
She’s also probably going to grow ambitious and
start enjoying being on “top”, getting addicted to

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Secrets of the Masquerade 25

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26 CHARACTERS