Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)

Credits
By Night Studios Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Partner, Lasombra, Creative Direction Masquerade Development Team
Shane “Panama” Defreest, who gave Elissa’s car
a proper name (and license plate holder). Jason Andrew, Developer

Partner, Brujah, Marketing  Kevin Millard, Developer

Elissa “Hashtag Brujah” Ayadi,
who hasn’t lost a frenzy test yet. Ree Soesbee, Developer

Partner, Ventrue, Operations & Development  Jennifer “Loopy” Smith, Editor

Jason “The Eldest Elder” Carl,
who Dominated the Neonates off his lawn.  Katrin Auch, Book Design

Partner, Silver Fang, Events  Authors

Ric “Roll” Connely, who is never gonna give
you up, never gonna let you down.
Partner, Tremere, General Legal Counsel
Robert “Boy in Brazil” Ellis, for testing
the waters (and drinks).
Vampire: The Masquerade Creators:
Jason Andrew, David Bounds, Jason Carl, Martin Ericsson,
Jess Heinig, Shoshana Kessock, Danielle Lauzon, Kevin
Millard, Jimmy Reckitt, Alex Rushing, Jen “Loopy” Smith,
Ree Soesbee, and Peter Woodworth
Mark Rein•Hagen with Steven C. Brown, Tom Dowd,
Andrew Greenburg, Chris McDonough, Lisa Stevens,
Josh Timbrook, and Stewart Wieck

© 2014 CCP hf. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission
of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for
blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White
Wolf, Vampire, World of Darkness, Vampire: the Masquerade, Mind’s Eye Theatre,
Mage: the Ascension, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and Changeling: the Dreaming
are registered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. Storyteller System, and
Storytelling System are trademarks of CCP hf.

All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by
CCP hf.

CCP North America Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCP hf.

This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and
supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This
book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.

Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com/

Check out By Night Studios online at http://www.bynightstudios.com/

B Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)

 Table of Contents
Introduction by Jason Andrew and Jason Carl................................................................................................2

The Economy of Cool by Jason Andrew.........................................................................................................5

The Storyteller Toolbox by Ree Soesbee........................................................................................................11

Roleplaying by the Numbers by Kevin Millard..............................................................................................18

It’s Alive! Tips for Creating Dynamic NPCs by Jen “Loopy” Smith............................................................ 25

This Mortal Coil: Making More Out of Mortals in MET: Vampire The Masquerade by Jason Carl......... 32

The Dirty Secrets of Running Convention Games by David Bounds......................................................... 39

A Guide to Encouraging Community Building by Jess Heinig.....................................................................44

Proper Care & Feeding of the Undead by Peter Woodworth.......................................................................49

“Yes, and…” How to Improve Your Storytelling Through Application

of the Rules of Improv by Jimmy Reckitt.............................................................................................55

Monsters and Mayhem: How to Run Adult Content in Your World of

Darkness Game by Shoshana Kessock.................................................................................................62

Using Nordic LARP Techniques in MET: Vampire The Masquerade by Martin Ericsson..........................68

The World is a Stage: How to Stage Your World by Danielle Lauzon.........................................................75

Breathing Life Into a Clan by Alex Rushing.................................................................................................80

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 Introduction
By Jason Andrew and Jason Carl

A magician invites the audience to participate in a performance, organizing a chronicle, creating a setting, and developing plots
to speculate with their minds and to imagine in their hearts and scenarios. There is advice for tackling difficult subjects,
that perhaps, just perhaps, the magic is real and they’re lucky such as player agency, dealing with disruptive players, and
enough to catch a glimpse of it, brightening the mundane. creating an inclusive game.

Good Storytellers encourage their troupe to ignore what they
know to be true—that everything is just a game—and to feel
the raw emotion of the moment and experience by proxy the
terror and delight of the World of Darkness.
Mastery of this subtle art is a slow process born of tireless
work and experimentation, and it begins with Chapter
Eight: Storytelling of Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade. Reading through that chapter provides a solid
educational foundation to help a new Storyteller begin a
journey mastering storytelling. It provides guidelines for
But it is just the beginning.
It is said that a good magician never reveals his secrets. Once a
trick is revealed, it is forever robbed of its mystery, killing the
enjoyment of the performance. Of course, the sole exception
to this taboo is teaching the seekers who wish to become
magicians themselves.
Skilled Storytellers have much in common with magicians. They
need to understand their audience and play with their perceptions
in order to fully immerse them into the story. Storytelling for

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 a LARP is doubly difficult, as the Storyteller must conquer the
limitations of the fundamental laws of reality and, worse, dealing
with budget, time, and scale restrictions.
LARPing is a community-driven artform, and learning
to storytell takes experience and mentoring within that
community. It can be a daunting responsibility to weave an
immersive story for your friends, and rarely will it go exactly
as planned. Each session is a learning opportunity to advance
your skills and master your craft. By Night Studios can’t
individually assist every Storyteller in the world, but we can
pass along some advice and secrets of the trade. In these pages,
we reveal secrets and tricks from a wide berth of Storytellers.
We have gathered essays from past and present Mind’s
Eye Theatre writers. We’ve included noted Storytellers
of experience and unique perspectives from different
organizations. Each essay in this anthology represents a distinct
approach to storytelling that can help you make the best use of
your strengths and weaknesses as a Storyteller.
• “The Economy of Cool” by Jason Andrew expands upon
that eponymous theory and how it plays out in Mind’s
Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade. This essay
focuses on the merits and flaws system and how it helps
each character be special and unique.
• “The Storyteller Toolbox” by Ree Soesbee discusses useful
techniques that Storytellers can use to run a Vampire
The Masquerade chronicle.
• “Roleplaying by the Numbers” by Kevin Millard reveals
a number of the design philosophies that form the
foundation of Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade.
• “It’s Alive! Tips for Creating Dynamic NPCs” by Jen
“Loopy” Smith details methods to craft multifaceted and
interesting NPCs for your chronicle.
players behind a successful game and how to keep that
community happy and healthy.
•
“Proper Care & Feeding of the Undead” by Peter
Woodworth reveals excellent roleplaying tricks that a
Storyteller can utilize to help players feel immersed in the
game.
• “‘Yes, and…’ How to Improve Your Storytelling Through
Application of the Rules of Improv” by Jimmy Reckitt
details how a Storyteller can leverage improv techniques
to increase player agency and investment in the chronicle.
• “Monsters And Mayhem: How to Run Adult Content
in Your World of Darkness Game” by Shoshana Kessock
discusses how a Storyteller can introduce sensitive and
adult topics into a chronicle while being respectful and
aware of the community’s limits.
• “Using Nordic LARP Techniques in MET: Vampire The
Masquerade” by Martin Ericson presents an alternative
method of running games in the Nordic LARP style.
• “The World is a Stage: How to Stage Your World” by
Danielle Lauzon showcases techniques that a chronicle
can use to improve a play space and heighten players’
immersion in the game.
• “Breathing Life into a Clan” by Alex Rushing focuses
on how a Storyteller can use individual clans’ source
material to create stories that delve deep into the history
and culture of said clan.
Whether you are a novice or veteran Storyteller, we hope that
you’ll take inspiration and encouragement from these essays.
Welcome to Storyteller Secrets—Guidance and Advice for
MET: VTM Storytellers.

• “This Mortal Coil: Making More Out of Mortals in MET:

Vampire The Masquerade” by Jason Carl showcases
methods that a Storyteller can leverage to improve their
chronicles by using the mortal world, contrasting the lives
of humans and vampires.

•
“The Dirty Secrets of Running Convention Games”
by David Bounds explains best practices for running
and managing a Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade convention game.

• “A Guide to Encouraging Community Building” by Jess

Heinig reveals the importance of the community and the

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 The Economy of Cool
By Jason Andrew
“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what
we share with someone else when we’re uncool.”
— Lester Bangs, Almost Famous
A thriving economy revolvesround the tension between the
scarcity of goods and services versus the demand for them.
Many LARPs share a common fallacy—assuming that game
economy is based on the earning and spending of XP and the
gaining of additional power.
This misconception is shaped by an unconscious acceptance
of the Hero’s Journey trope. Coined by Joseph Campbell in
his legendary book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” the
theory of the Monomyth opines that important myths from
around the worldhave shared a common default structure
for thousands of years. Traditional roleplaying games tend to
strictly follow this narrative structure.
Imagine a thrilling gaming session about a callow youth who
unexpectedly receives a strange call to adventure from a wise
mentor who will show him the wonders of the universe. The
hero endures increasingly dangerous tasks and trials to prove
his worth, until he masters his destiny to achieve a decisive
victory against evil. Should the hero survive, he is offered a
choice to return to the mortal world with special insight or to
improve the world with what he has learned.
This archetypical story could have been inspired by the tragic
tale of King Arthur, the cunning legend of Odysseus, or
perhaps the adventure of Sinbad the Sailor. Or from a modern
perspective, this story can be seen reflected in many recent
classics, such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or the Matrix.
The perspective of the Hero’s Journey presumes the
fundamental story is about the adventure and evolution of the
title character. This narrow focus unconsciously encourages
selfish, and sometimes destructive, behavior from players as
they begin to see their own character as the most important
and all other characters as less important. This mentality
results in hyper-aggressive behavior and an obsession with
XP as the metric by which the game measures progress and
success.
This perception fails to take into account the LARP
environment. Players in a Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade game do not directly compete with each other to
earn XP. Earning XP is not a zero-sum game; the XP gained
by one player does not detract from other players’ earnings.
All players who attend a game have the innate potential to
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earn the maximum XP. Characters in networked games may
have a cap to balance out monthly XP earnings across multiple
games. However, clever players can earn extra XP for games
that they have missed via downtime scenes, background
reports, or email roleplaying, with Storyteller approval.
A LARP is an organized social contract designed to provide
enjoyment to every player involved. If the LARP is a stage,
then the hidden economy of the game environment is time
on center-stage. In this system, all of the LARP’s players are
consumers and producers of that unknowable quality known
as cool.
Some players with natural charisma and force of personality
seem to always create interesting characters that become
magnets for the spotlight. Other players discover that their
characters fizzle stillborn despite an extensive history and
powerful character sheet. The answer lies within the subtle
dance of the Economy of Cool.
The basic principle of the Economy of Cool is that there
is a finite level of cool in any given moment in a game.
Players naturally accrue social cool points over time, and the
investment of said cool points can determine how well they do
in the game and, more importantly, how much fun they have.
The Metrics of Cool:
The Merit System
Poets have argued and debated for centuries about two aspects
of the human condition: love and the ephemeral nature of
cool. For the purpose of this essay, cool is defined as the ability
to partake and share in the story of the LARP in such a way
that it is fun and interesting for the people involved.
Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade provides the
Storyteller with an easy means of moderating the Economy of
Cool via the merit system. Previous editions of Mind’s Eye
Theatre used merits as simple advantages that a player could
purchase to add flavor to a character. By limiting players to only
7 points total in merits, MET: VTM leverages the Economy of
Cool, forcing players to make fundamental decisions about
the nature of their characters.
Let’s imagine that a troupe decides to create a chronicle based
on the Knights of the Round Table as Ventrue. Some of the
characters might take the following merits:
5
 •P
 rince Arthur: Paragon (3 point merit) and Regal •M
 erlin: Loremaster (1 point merit), Oracular Ability (2
Bearing (4 point merit) point merit), Thaumaturgic Training (4 point merit)

•L
 ancelot: Path of Chivalry (3 point merit), Unyielding (4 The limitation on merits forces the players to make essential
point merit) choices about their characters that forge memorable
experiences and force them into the Economy of Cool.
•P
 ercival: Golconda Seeker (5 point merit), Code of
Honor (2 point merit) Prince Arthur is primed for leadership with his merits, but he
will certainly need to lean on Merlin for advice and insight.
•G
 awain: Ambidextrous (2 point merit), Calm Heart (1 This partnership will create opportunities for roleplaying and an
point merit), Daredevil (2 point merit), Lucky (2 point economy of weaknesses and strengths. If Arthur’s player could
merit) simply buy those merits when he had the appropriate amount of

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 XP, why would he need Merlin? By limiting the amount of cool
in the game, the importance of both characters increases when
the spotlight turns towards their individual strengths.
The differentiation of merits allows characters to explore many
different iterations of the same general concept. Many consider
Lancelot to be the archetypical knight who eventually fails for
daring to endulge in love. Percival seeks to use the framework
of being a noble knight to pursue enlightenment, whereas
Gawain seeks out adventure to test himself. Each of these
knight concepts allow the players a unique means to roleplay
together without overstepping onto each other’s concepts.
For more information about the mechanics behind the costs
of merits, see the essay “Roleplaying by the Numbers” by
Kevin Millard on page 18.
Jumping the Shark:
When the Economy is Broken
The expression “jumping the shark” describes the moment in
a story when the original concept has been so diluted that it
effectively becomes a parody of itself. The trope’s name was
inspired by the ultimate King of Cool from my childhood.
Can you guess who? Did you guess the Fonz from Happy
Days? Correctamundo!
In the early seasons of the television show “Happy Days,” the
Fonz was part of the ensemble cast. This cat was cool. He
defined cool. He could start a jukebox by punching it and
summon forth hot girls by snapping his fingers. And yet, a
good portion of his time was spent helping or being helped by
the rest of the cast. Richie and his friends mingled with the
cool guy. If this show was a LARP, you could argue that these
characters went along on each other’s adventures.
But, alas, the Fonz undermined the show when he jumped
the shark. Suddenly, he could do everything all of the other
characters could do, but better. He became a mechanic, a
businessman, a school teacher, and family man. The other
characters shrank away, and the economy of cool died.
Why? The Fonz quit investing his cool. Richie was a nerd who
owned his funky pre-hipster geekness. When the Fonz cared
about his friend’s adventures, he invested cool points into his
friend. This investiment was paid back, and the cool factor
magnified both of them. The Fonz only became a joke later,
when he forgot the first principle of the Economy of Cool:
cool shared is cool magnified.
Imagine that Prince Arthur from the previous example was
able to keep purchasing merits with XP. He would quickly
surpass the need for knights or mystical advisors. The rest of
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the troupe would eventually sit around and wait for Arthur to
resolve every problem without getting involved.
Investing in Cool: A Technique
to Prime the Cool Economy
A Storyteller can leverage the existing rules to encourage
her players to prime the well for the Economy of Cool.
The accumulation of XP sometimes can be a problem when
encouraging players to actively participate in the Economy of
Cool. Aside from merits, a character can eventually acquire
anything she wants via spending XP. Once she has attended
a few games, she can spend her points on purchased like a
pimped-out G-5, influences that control the police, or mastery
of the Computer skill.
If allowed to proceed unchecked, players can buy whatever they
need at that moment, killing the Economy of Cool. Encourage
your players to trade with other players in ways that acknowledge
and share the cool, allowing others to shine.
Imagine that a player wants her character to build and open
a hot new nightclub during her downtime. She spends her
saved XP on the Haven and Resources backgrounds, expends
some influence and downtime actions, and then writes an
interesting downtime report. Bam! The player created an
instant nightclub, which failed to include anyone else and will
likely be ignored by the rest of the troupe, because it isn’t real
to them.
How much fun was that?
Now imagine that the Storyteller decided instead to make this
alteration to the common sandbox of the city into a challenge
for the player. Some of the possibilities include:
• What if the property was owned by the Ventrue primogen?
•
What if the local Goodfellas needed to be properly
motivated to ensure that there weren’t any “accidents?”
What if the local underworld were controlled by the
Giovanni?
• You can build a nightclub, but you can’t presume that
the mortals will automatically attend it. What if the local
Toreador have a lockdown on the hipster crowd within
the city, and their blessing is required to build buzz for
the club and help book the hip acts?
• Are there musician characters in the troupe? Imagine the
synergetic relationship that could develop between the
two characters as they form connections that share the
spotlight.
7
 • Is there an architect character in the troupe? Imagine how
strong of a tie that player would feel to that club if he
designed the building.
• What if the club owner hired some of the street- thug
characters to make sure that criminals didn’t harass the
patrons attending the club?
A simple background story can entertain the entire troupe
by encouraging a single player to include her fellow players.
These players invest their own cool points into the story of
their fellow players, making all of their characters feel more
real and connected to the chronicle’s story. These players are
going to remember and have an interest in that nightclub,
and it will eventually become a common set piece for the
chronicle. Slowly, that nightclub becomes a little bit more real
as characters have meetings there and start to include it in
their history and their roleplaying.
(For more information about this sort of technique, see the
essay “‘Yes, and…’ How to Improve Your Storytelling Through
Application of the Rules of Improv,” page 55.)
Cool is a Dangerous Game
Players often forget this important secret after they have
experienced the thrill of Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade for a while. New players want to risk their sheets to
experience the visceral danger of the game. They don’t want to be
excluded from an adventure because their sheets may be more
fragile than the veterans’.
The worst thing that a Storyteller or a player can do to halt
the Economy of Cool is to exclude new players to protect their
characters. A coterie of combat ninjas might want to protect
a new player from being horribly murdered by a Sabbat raid,
but that really only isolates and disappoints players seeking to
participate. Encourage your veteran combat players to bring
new players along and to teach them the rules. By helping
the new players, Storytellers and players help create and share
stories.
Find out what the new players want to do with their characters,
and search for a way to include them in the current scenario
or partner with existing character concepts. Here are some
examples:
• If a new player wants to be a poet or socialite, encourage
a veteran to hire him to be a herald.
• If a new player wants to be a bodyguard, encourage a
veteran to hire her, even if she doesn’t really need
protection.
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• If a veteran is planning an important meeting, encourage
her to take along a new player. Imagine a hoary elder
teaching a neonate the art of politics and war. Allow the
new player to witness and understand the dynamics of the
moment. Explain your complex political and social games
to the new player, so that he might understand that level
of the game. Occasionally, this method will backfire, and
said new player will betray the veteran, but that’s good for
the drama of the game.
Storytellers set the vision for the chronicle, and if they believe
in the Economy of Cool then the players will strive to achieve
these goals. Here are a couple of methods to help you spread
the cool around your chronicle:
•
Help place new players into the thick of the story by
encouraging them to create neonate pawns for one of the
local elders. Ask the elder players to pit their neonate pawns
against their rival’s neonates. This scenario allows new
players to test themselves against other players of similar
experience. Encouraging the veteran players to recruit new
players into their lineages invests in new players and injects
more cool points in the future of the chronicle.
• Elder and veteran players have a responsibility to watch
out for the health of the game. Storytellers should monitor
the flow of the Economy of Cool, and if a single player
is hoarding the cool and abusing new players, you have a
responsibility to get involved and stop it. Every situation
is going to be unique. Don’t be afraid to talk to players
and see how they feel.
Selling the Cool
Viewed from a certain perspective, professional wrestling may
be considered a type of LARP. Wrestlers take on personas
and maintain the story by strictly staying in character. This
method-acting is known as kayfabe, and a big component of it
is selling the cool of the other wrestlers.
Players and Storytellers must sell the cool of the other
characters. Here are a couple of examples of selling the cool
from a character sheet:
• If a wrestler’s story is that he was burned horribly and has
returned from Hell to defeat his enemies, his opponents
will flinch with fear when faux-hellfire fireworks light the
arena. In MET: VTM, if a vampire has the flaw Eerie
Presence, other characters should react to that flaw with
fear and trepidation. Failing to sell this flaw will disappoint
the flawed character’s player and discourage him from
selling the interesting things about other characters.
 • When a wrestler strikes another wrestler, it is expected that
the faux-injured party will sell the strike to the audience,
especially if it is a signature or finishing maneuver. In
MET: VTM, if a vampire possesses Puissance (Potence
5), her targets should sell suffering through her attacks.
This helps both players feel the intensity of the scene and
makes the both of them experience the cool.
• Wrestlers generate interest, known as heat, via their feuds
against their rivals. When a storyline has enthralled the
audience, the wrestler strives to keep the heat alive for
as long as possible to benefit both sides of the conflict.
In MET: VTM, the trick is to capture the mindset of an
immortal monster while fulfilling the needs of an excited
gamer. Killing your enemies is a waste of an interesting
story. This balance requires that both players agree to
certain ground rules and maintain good conversation
outside of play. It is hardly fair if one player is out for
blood and the other player is seeking to extend the story.
• Wrestlers are expected to sell their feuds while avoiding
the disruption of kayfabe. This involves attacking each
other with violence, clever insults, and political dirty
deeds while battling over a championship belt. Off stage,
they are coworkers and collaborators trying to tell the best
story they can for the audience. In MET: VTM, players
should actively sell the pains of maneuvers in the jyhad.
When the harpy tags a rival with the negative status
Warned, both characters should play the scene to the hilt.
Ignoring the power of status kills the scene’s energy and
downplays the players’ contributions. Once the scene is
over, the players should meet together and break kayfabe
to congratulate each other. Occasionally, players might
suffer through bleed, where the emotions of the scene
and their characters linger in the consciousness. It is
important to have a clean break, celebrate the story, and
remind everyone that a game is a team effort and that in
the end the health of the chronicle greatly depends upon
a mosaic of characters.
The urge to win is strong in the gamer perspective. Our culture
encourages us to master the game and achieve victory over our
rivals. Society has trained us to think of excluding others as a
form of control and power.
The truth is that winning pales in comparison to sharing
experiences. A short-term victory is a gilded cage that offers
no real satisfaction.
The real immortality is becoming part of a story that is told
with bated breath by a player sharing her first experiences with
Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade. Imagine your
name spoken in whispers and your tale told at local greasy
spoons for decades as an example of fun. In the end, isn’t that
what we’re all looking for?
Jason Andrew has been a contributing writer to such RPGs as
Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, and Vampire: The Masquerade.
In addition to his work as a developer for By Night Studios
on Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade, his most
recent projects include Hunters Hunted 2, Anarchs Unbound,
Blood Rites (The Onyx Path) and Atomic Age Cthulhu:
Terrifying Tales of the Mythos Menace (Chaosium). His
fiction has appeared in Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic
SF (Harper Collins), Frontier Cthulhu: Ancient Horrors in
the New World (Chaosium), and IN SITU (Dagan Books). In
2011, his story “Moonlight in Scarlet” received an honorable
mention in Ellen Datlow’s List for Best Horror of the Year.
Yes, the Kickstarter funded and yes, he bought his wife a pug.

Conclusion
The Economy of Cool depends upon a spirit of cooperativeness
and the players’ willingness to leverage their own self-
enlightened interest to put the health of the game ahead of
their own short term gains.

When players freely share their personal cool with their

fellows, they lift the spirits of everyone involved and increase
the total fun of the entire chronicle. The return on the initial
investment of effort and cooperation is infinite in terms of
goodwill, chronicle growth, and the potential of future stories.

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 The Storyteller Toolbox
By Ree Soesbee
At its core, running a LARP is like writing a story, one in which
the readers (the players) are contributing authors of the tale. In
writing, you need certain tools: a command of grammar, an
understanding of characterization, and a keen sense of plot and
timing. Running a LARP requires similar forethought, and
using the right tools can make a Storyteller’s job easier.
For ease of reference, I’ve grouped these ideas into three general
categories: physical, mental, and social. First, I recommend a
tangible Storyteller Toolbox filled with administrative items
and resources for LARP sessions. There are mental tools to
encourage creativity, from building a world, to creating plot
foundations, to suggestions for generating and using player
buy-in. Lastly, a Storyteller needs to create social structure,
encourage roleplay, streamline the running of the game, and
ensure that players feel rewarded and appreciated.
The Physical Toolbox
It can be extremely useful for a Storyteller to compile a physical
toolbox, tackle box, file box, or some other simple, portable
container with compartments in which to keep paperwork,
index cards, and administration items critical to running a
game. Stock the toolbox with the following:
• Pens and pencils, index cards in different colors, 2”x3”
name stickers, and a few legal tablets.
•
Pre-generated character sheets for new players. Each
pre-generated character sheet should include short
descriptions of any relevant mechanics for that character.
Immediately involve these characters with in-game events
or player-character backgrounds, so that the players can
start roleplaying right away.
• A small notebook in which to record plot events, short-
or long-term character goals, downtime actions, and
important scenes. Rereading these notes between games
can spur plot twists or provide information for roleplay
later in the chronicle.
• A three-ring binder containing descriptions and images
of common in-character game sites, as well as notes
about any security measures taken by player-characters to
keep those locations secure. Some Storytellers maintain
a binder with updated copies of player-character sheets,
although Excel or other programs can be used to keep
databases of such information rather than printing out
hard copies.
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• A list of random names for spontaneously created non-
player characters (NPCs), or to suggest to players making
new characters. You could even have a few such lists,
organized by culture or geographic location.
• Pre-generated weapons, armor, vehicles, and other items,
constructed with the By Night Studios (BNS) equipment
qualities. Because the BNS rules are very flexible, having a
few pre-gens on hand will save time when players acquire
“standard” items during a game.
• Mini-encounters: two- or three-sentence scenarios written
on index cards. When you have an idea for an evocative
scene that isn’t tied to the overarching plot, write it on an
index card and toss it into the Storyteller Toolbox. When
you find an evening’s game lagging, or when a few players
want to “go find trouble” in-character, you can run them
through a quick and interesting event.
NPC File Cabinet
One useful resource to have in the physical toolbox is an NPC
file cabinet. When you spontaneously create an NPC at game,
write the name and basic stats on an index card. Include three
adjectives describing the NPC, and place that index-card box
within your toolbox. Try to re-use these named NPCs when
you can, rather than creating an entirely new individual.
Having background characters reoccur from time to time
(even an irascible beat cop or chipper IT tech) makes the world
feel more alive. A few quirks for these bit-part characters can
develop the chronicle in unexpected and interesting ways, as
player-characters take an interest in their lives.
You can also fill the file cabinet with Stock NPCs of varying
levels. If you are overwhelmed during a game, you can hand
one or more Stock NPCs to an assistant narrator and let her
run small scenes on your behalf while you attend to the larger
issues of plot.
Cellphone Applications
Storytellers can also load and use useful cellphone apps to
assist in running the game. Here are a few recommendations:
• Texts can help a Storyteller keep tabs on players who have
moved out of sight. It’s important to be able to contact
players for plot or when others are affecting them with
long-distance powers such as Presence: Summon or
Auspex: Telepathy.
11
 • Find an online map of the in-game area (Google Maps is
useful), or upload a PDF of the location to your telephone.
Mark locations that are important, from local Elysiums
to the Rack, as well as any feeding territories claimed by
local clans or important city individuals so that you have
the information readily available.
• Obsidian Portal is a wonderful wiki site where Storytellers
can coordinate character backgrounds, in-game locations,
vampiric lineages, and important events, keeping that
information accessible to your players.
• There are several RPS generators available for use on
cellphones. Keeping one available can help ensure
randomness in Storyteller challenge throws or defuse any
accusations of bias.
• A PDF copy of BNS’s Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire
The Masquerade book is a handy thing to keep on your
phone or an electronic tablet. Being able to double-check
a rule or look up details on a power can save a lot of
headache during combat or other tense scenes.
Computer Programs
The more organized you are, the less panicked you will be
when you have to run things. It’s a good idea to use computer
programs to keep character and chronicle information updated
and accessible, especially between games.
• Word, Excel, Outlook, and Office are obviously useful
programs; most computers come equipped with some
version of these items.
• Scrivener and Evernote are intended for writers organizing
novel chapters or research theses, but they are also great
for organizing your chronicle and structuring ongoing
plots. Scrivener allows you to link images to specific write-
ups. Scrivener also has a random name generator, which
can be very useful.
The Mental Toolbox
Storytelling a LARP involves more than compiling physical
props and keeping up with administrative recordkeeping. To
be successful, the Storyteller must develop a realistic world,
create detailed plots, establish realistic NPCs, and be prepared
to roll with unexpected player actions. She keeps plots visible
and mutable, and encourages players to interact with each
other rather than constantly seeking narrative attention.
These things are integral to the Storyteller’s mental toolbox.
Analyze the Sheet
A character sheet is more than a measure of relative power-level
within the world. It helps define the concept, and purchased
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items indicate a player’s interest in the character’s historical
elements. A character’s history should explain high attributes
(or low ones), describe the methods by which the character
learned skills and developed backgrounds prior to the start of
play, and explain merits and flaws.
Each item on a character sheet is a visible manifestation of
the player’s investment in the game. When a player chooses to
purchase a high Influence level, or puts points in a Retainer,
she is telling the Storyteller that these items motivate the
character. By affecting the character’s Influences or initiating
roleplay with their Retainers, the Storyteller can leverage that
buy-in to get the player quickly and emotionally invested in a
plot. If a lot of characters in your game possess a certain merit,
flaw, influence, or other common investment, you can create a
plot that hits on the specific theme, and character interest will
develop quickly and naturally.
However, a Storyteller must use this investment gently.
Constantly kidnapping a character’s Retainers, making her
Influences useless, or causing players to feel that a particular
merit is constantly detrimental to roleplay will cause the
Storyteller to lose player trust.
Let Your World Do the Work
Contrary to popular belief, the most important part of telling
a story isn’t running a plot; it’s creating a world. Building a
setting and populating that world with believable, motivated
NPCs can have strong emotional effects and generate more
intense roleplay than any manufactured plotline.
A Storyteller should look at most NPCs as opportunities
to educate players about the setting. A setting should be
understandable, predictable, and believable. How an NPC
acts provides solid clues about “normal” behavior within the
world. If NPCs are presented as well-rounded individuals
with morals, flaws, and goals, there is a better chance
that players will act rationally toward them, and therefore
behave properly within the world. If NPCs are presented as
throwaway cardboard cut-outs, players will treat the setting
with very little respect. Interacting with NPCs helps players
become emotionally invested. Without that investment, player
characters will not act realistically or behave with a natural
self-preservation instinct.
Unless they have realistic interactions with the world, players
can forget there is a setting outside the player-character-on-
player-character rivalries within a LARP. This is a tremendous
loss; the Masquerade is a critical part of Vampire, and the
gothic-punk world that surrounds the game is integral to its
theme. Interactions with NPCs show characters that there
are world-based consequences, and that roleplay matters even
when no other players are involved. This sense of pressure, the
feeling that the world is watching, adds an important dimension
 to the game. The World of Darkness is neither forgiving nor
benevolent. If players think they can act without concern for
the setting’s norms, or that dangerous consequences can be
ignored if they don’t originate from other players, they will
not feel an emotional response. Stories in the game will not
have impact.
Pacing
Remember that drama comes from evolution and change.
Properly done, a dramatic moment will change the characters
involved and might even change the world in which they exist.
To create emotional risk, the situation must directly threaten
the goals, loyalties, or morality of characters participating.
In the most climactic cases, the situation may threaten the
characters’ unlives. To be truly meaningful, these situations
should involve choices that significantly alter the flow of a
story. The best choices force a character to choose between
equally beneficial things or equally hurtful things, offering
both benefit and punishment regardless of the final decision.
Save your lover, or rescue your best friend? Destroy the bomb
that endangers the hospital, or find a way to prevent the villain
from escaping? Characters must have limitations, and those
limitations cause turning points that force difficult and even
desperate choices—and therefore, dramatic moments within
the story.
It is critical that a Storyteller pose interesting and engaging
opportunities, seeking to make the decision as difficult as
possible, but the final choice must belong to the player. The
Storyteller sets the pace of the game, pushes characters into
conflict and crisis, and describes the consequence of player
actions, but she can’t – and shouldn’t – plan out the end
of plots. Players must have the freedom to choose whatever
resolution they find best. Otherwise, your players will be
frustrated, sensing that their actions and choices have no
meaning. Don’t be afraid of your players; the plot resolution
is a time for you to be the audience and listen to the story that
your players want to tell.
Remember that no plot survives contact with the players. They
will think of things you didn’t consider, call on NPCs you had
forgotten, and focus on aspects of your chronicle that you’d
barely defined. Sometimes this means the end of a plot will
take a sharp left-hand turn. That’s alright. Simply think about
their choices in the context of your chronicle’s setting, and tell
them what happens. Don’t panic, and don’t consider this a
slight against your carefully arranged plans.
Be flexible. Be prepared. Enjoy the ride.
LARP is a Multiplayer Game
A LARP plot provides reasons for players to interact, whether
through teamwork or in competition with one another. If a
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plot causes players to interact with the Storyteller more than
with each other, then it is not a good LARP scenario. LARP
plots should be open and accommodating, able to incorporate
a large number of players (or develop with only a few). Unlike
a novel, there is no “protagonist,” nor should one character
receive the lion’s share of attention. Storytellers must take into
account the game’s multiplayer format, integrating characters
with variable levels of power and providing different catalysts
for involvement. Plots should cause characters to seek each
other out and discover strengths (and weaknesses), engaging
the players in constant roleplay.
Good plots should continually push players back to the main
populace of the game. Use common threats or isolating
situations to forge unusual alliances within your player group.
Give players reasons to roleplay with individuals they don’t
know well out of character. Keep an eye out for political blocs
and in-character factions as they develop, and don’t allow one
group of players to control in-character power in the game.
In the same vein, it’s a bad idea for a single clan (or lineage)
to overpopulate the game, or for the most charismatic or
experienced players to form an impenetrable alliance. Such
things throw a chronicle out of balance and cause players to
lose interest.
Struggling toward such a bloc is a wonderful in-character goal,
but it is not beneficial for a single group of players to dominate
a game. A player should strive toward her character’s goals,
but a Storyteller should realize that achieving those goals could
be disruptive. Storytellers should actively create obstacles,
cause in-game conflict and mistrust, and build divisions or
break down alliances within the game. Creating this sort of
interactive environment is critical; properly motivated players
with conflicting goals will entertain one another (and most
importantly, will do so without constant attention from the
Storyteller).
The Social Toolbox
Now that you have props and physical tools assembled, and
you’ve spent time readying plot and building a living, flexible
environment, you’re ready to create the third toolbox: social
mechanisms. Live-action roleplaying is an intensely social
environment, and Vampire: The Masquerade is a game
with emphasis on political structures and interpersonal
maneuvering. As Storyteller, you need to facilitate your players’
political machinations and power-grabs. At the same time, you
need to keep your friends entertained, cooperative, and eager
to play again. That’s a tall order!
Earn Trust
There is a critical adage of LARPing: If there is no trust, there
is no game.
13
 The most important thing a Storyteller must do is earn (and
keep) the trust of her players. If a Storyteller is trusted, she
can make rules errors, run a tedious plot, or drop the ball
on downtime actions—yet her players will still work with her
to develop fun games. If a Storyteller isn’t trusted, she can
do everything else perfectly, but her players will question and
argue every step of the way. The game won’t be fun for anyone.
Remember that players see only small pieces of a large and
interconnected game. They don’t know one another’s actions,
motives, or choices. Vampire: The Masquerade thrives on
political scenarios with labyrinthine motives and hidden
knives. It is integral that a Storyteller remain trustworthy.
Her players must feel assured that all interpersonal character
conflicts are occurring within the scope of the rules. If the
Storyteller isn’t trusted, interpersonal character conflicts will
quickly become out-of-character arguments.
Storytellers walk a fine line between creating intense scenes
and respecting personal boundaries. Players want a sense
of emotional risk, but to create this, the Storyteller must be
worthy of emotional trust. Don’t kill characters arbitrarily.
Warn players when deadly situations are approaching, and
remind them that the World of Darkness does not balance
threat to character ability. Listen to player concerns, and be
open with anything that troubles you. As Storyteller, you must
constantly strive to be above doubt. This means providing as
much transparency as possible, and having frank and open
discussions with your players.
A Storyteller must also admit when she is wrong, and seek to
correct those errors whenever possible. She must be willing to
revise rules calls when they don’t work for the troupe. It is also
important to have a good sense of humor, to give others the
benefit of the doubt, and to always encourage players to bring
their A-game. A Storyteller’s attitude is essential to her ability
to build and keep trust.
The Visible Plot
Vampire: The Masquerade is a subtle game and encourages
sneaky political maneuvering from players. However, as
Storyteller, you must ensure that plots come to the attention
of every player. It is a game that relies on drama, conflict,
and showmanship, and vampires thrive on public displays of
power. Plot information and major events should be shared,
and significant actions should occur at the center of the game,
in front of the majority of players, rather than hidden in a side
room. Such situations should provide wide scale opportunity
to react, respond, and promote roleplay. Yes, vampires are
paranoid and secretive, but they are also creatures of high
drama and courtly (i.e. public) intrigue.
When players say they’d prefer to hide their backstabbing,
political coups, or other activities, they are really saying
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they don’t want to risk losing in these gambits. While that’s
understandable in a game you are playing to win, Vampire:
The Masquerade has no “winning” or “losing.” It should be
played for melodrama and significant emotional moments.
Encourage players to be ostentatious, perform their social
attacks, relish their victories, and rue their losses as publically
as possible. If necessary to facilitate public spectacle, ask other
players to hold their actions until the moment of drama is
complete. Find a compromise between player agency and public
showmanship. Remember, the game belongs to everyone.
To help keep every player involved in the chronicle, a
Storyteller should take pains to show plot events openly. Avoid
encouraging small groups to run off and solve issues alone,
and encourage players to use critical information rather than
keeping it hidden. It is one thing for vampires to want the
most advantage out of their sneaky, underhanded activities,
but entirely another to have a game stall out or feel boring
because players won’t share or include others.
The First Fifteen Minutes
Once players have developed characters and costuming, and
the Storyteller has readied NPCs and world events, it is time for
everyone to gather and play the game. LARPers are notorious
slackers, prone to arrive late and spend the first chunk of time
at a game chatting rather than roleplaying. Unfortunately, this
can set the tone for the rest of the evening, and cause events
to feel uncomfortably rushed or passionless. Players will slip
into and out of character, trying to decide if everyone else is
“in-game” or not. They will stand around chatting, waiting for
answers to downtime actions or trying to organize the coterie
with whom they want to enter, and before you know it, half
the night’s passed by without anything significant occurring.
Once this has happened a few times, it starts to become a
standard pattern of the game.
An entire evening can turn on the first 15 minutes. Kicking
the game off swiftly and keeping people in character are critical
skills to master, and they can mean the difference between
a great game and two hours of rushed-feeling or lackluster
roleplay. The Storyteller should take steps to start the evening
right, and pay special attention to encouraging those crucial
first few minutes of the game.
•
Before the game, deal with downtime actions or
preliminary feeding issues. If you need to do so, arrange
for an assistant to handle minor check-in details while
you get the game started. Remember—if you aren’t on
time, the players can’t be held to that standard, either.
• Specifically take time to talk to any players who tend to
be late, and give them in- or out-of-character reasons to
be on time.
 • Call the players together just before the game starts, and
speak with them as a group. Read a description of the
setting, or take a moment to talk about the themes and
emotions you hope to incorporate into the night’s game.
Be enthusiastic and smile, but keep distractions and
joking around to a minimum, as they are disruptive to
the emotional setting you’re trying to create. The more
you allow players’ attention to waver, the harder it will be
to set the scene and help players get into character.
• Take a moment in your before-game announcements to
note any new players and thank them for coming to the
game. Ensure that more experienced players go out of
their way to make sure new people feel welcomed and
encouraged to get immediately involved.
• Counting down from three may seem like child’s play, but
it is an excellent tool to alert players that roleplay is about
to start. Counting down from three gives players a moment
to stop kibitzing, slide back into character, and fall into
roleplay. Calling out “Okay, game on!” doesn’t give players
this preparatory breath of time, and the countdown makes
beginning roleplay feel like a more unified endeavor. It’s a
bit of a psychological trick, but it works.
If your game has already fallen into the habit of slow-starting,
there are some unusual methods you can try in order to break
those bad habits. Think of ways to shake your players up,
and give them reasons to believe the first half-hour of game
will have interesting events, unique roleplay opportunities, or
critical plot moments.
• When you are ready to begin, have the players arrange
themselves around the gaming space as they might if
they were in character, creating a frozen tableau. Tell
them to close their eyes for a moment and mentally get
into character without moving from their pose. Use this
moment to dim or change the lighting, start background
music, or otherwise change the game environment in
some small way, as a sign that the in-character portion of
the night is about to begin. Then, count down from three
and tell them to start gameplay as they are.
• Depending on the night’s premise, you can start the game
in media res of a dangerous or critical circumstance.
Open the game’s metaphorical curtains onto a dangerous
battlefield, a difficult parlay with contrary NPCs, a grand
procession, or formal announcement by prominent
NPCs (or PCs), or some other visible plot activity. Players
can immediately invest themselves in the political, social,
or combat-related action, address the issues involved, and
have something to talk about and build on during the
rest of the game. This sort of game opener works well at
the very beginning of a chronicle, when players aren’t as
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familiar with their characters or your setting and require
an additional push into roleplay.
Teach Through Rewards
Roleplaying is a hobby, and like any activity, people will continue
to come so long as they are enjoying their time in the game.
That’s why it’s important to provide each player with a great
moment in each session—not a moment of victory or an easy
benefit, but a fun roleplay moment: something the player can
think about and enjoy for days to come. Regardless of whether
a player is new or a veteran, young or old, a spotlight is always
thrilling and immensely satisfying.
Learn to recognize a player’s interests, and guide that player
into turning those interests and character specializations into
part of the night’s game. Even if it is a small thing, like a fun
combat scene, an interesting way to approach the plot, or a
clever idea, everyone wants to feel included and celebrated.
A little bit of encouragement or a few minutes of personal
attention can make the difference between a player having
a great time or feeling bored and lackluster. Bored players
eventually stop coming to the game.
If a player puts extra effort into a performance, plan, or action,
or if their character accepts a particularly painful consequence
or makes a concrete sacrifice, the Storyteller should do
everything she can to reward that moment with roleplay.
These moments are investments in your game, and you should
always take the time to make such things important, even if
they weren’t initially included in plot planning. The more
a Storyteller goes out of her way to reward and encourage
cleverness, creativity, or emotional roleplay, the more often
these things will occur. Divulge an extra clue, reveal part of
your plot that you’d planned to keep secret for a while, or give
the player and her allies a minor advantage that relates directly
to the player’s actions.
As a Storyteller, think about the lessons you are teaching your
players. If you always punish a player when she is creative, she
will stop using her imagination at your game. If you ignore a
character’s emotional moments or sacrifices, your players will
stop trying to have such moments. If every interaction with
NPCs becomes a combat scenario, the players will learn to treat
NPCs like a set of statistics and nothing more. Take the time to
reward positive contributions to the game, so that your players
will look for such opportunities and actively pursue them.
Encourage your players to provide positive examples of roleplay
and interaction. Players should be glad they came to the game
and feel as if they received fun and entertainment in exchange
for their investment of time. That’s one important way to get
the players to be active, interested, and return for the next
session of the chronicle.
15

Recaps
After a combat, the Storyteller should quickly summarize what
happened, providing a brief synopsis of the scene to everyone
who witnessed the events in character. The VTM system is
designed to make combat swift and intuitive, but players
don’t usually pay attention to a combat if they aren’t actively
throwing tests. A quick recap ensures that the players are on
the same page about the scene that has played out before them.
After the game, call your players together and give a brief
recap of the night’s events. Don’t provide “spoilers” of hidden
information, but do be certain that everyone at the game
understands the meaning of any plot events or public scenes
and what those developments might mean for the chronicle.
Encourage your players to share short descriptions of intense
or meaningful scenes that were less obvious, and take time to
thank new players for trying out your game.
Conclusion
A good Storyteller is an organized Storyteller, prepared to
handle many difficult situations and to coordinate a large
number of players in a flexible and decisive manner. The
more work you put in ahead of time, the more fun you (and
your players) will have at the game. Although every troupe
(and every Storyteller) is different, the right set of tools can
be integral to ensuring a successful chronicle and a happy,
enthusiastic player base.
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The last tool in the Storyteller Toolbox is for the Storyteller
to use on herself: Know when you’re not having fun. Measure
your reactions from time to time, and be honest. If you aren’t
having a good time as Storyteller anymore, your ennui will
influence the whole game, eating away at player enthusiasm,
too. Don’t force yourself to be Storyteller if you are burned out,
no matter how much you want to live up to that responsibility.
Instead, pass these tools to your successor and take a well-
earned vacation as a player. The game will be better for having
a fresh, enthusiastic viewpoint on the world, and you’ll have
earned a period of rest.
Ree Soesbee, Associate Developer for By Night Studios, is an
award-winning writer, game designer, and author of more than
16 novels in a wide variety of fantastic worlds, including the
ever-popular Dragonlance saga. Ree has been nominated for
multiple Origins Awards. She is currently a Narrative Designer
for ArenaNet on the internationally-acclaimed MMORPG
Guild Wars 2. In addition to her work on Mind’s Eye
Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade, she was a contributing
author to Clanbook: Lasombra, Clanbook: Tremere, House
Tremere (Dark Ages), and the MET Sabbat Guide. Ree holds
a Masters’ degree in Myth and Literature, performed her
doctorate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, and hopes one day to
diablerize Mithras, Prince of London, after a series of insanely
one-sided monomacy challenges.
 Storyteller Secrets 17

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 Roleplaying by the Numbers
By Kevin Millard
Roleplaying and rules are often thought of as diametrically
opposed forces. Some players hate it when their roleplay
is interrupted for the purpose of throwing tests or using
mechanical effects. Others feel that the mathematical and
tactical challenge of rules is more exciting (and more “fair”)
than relying on dramatics. A great LARP must strike a balance
between the two.
The best game systems are those in which rules support and
reinforce roleplaying and the story of the setting. This theory
can be seen in the mechanical composition of the Mind’s Eye
Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade (MET:VTM) system.
Rules should support roleplay; roleplay should build from (not
be hampered by) the rules.
This essay covers how we designed the rules and the story to
work together to produce the best possible game system and
personal roleplaying opportunities.
Why Rules Are Important to Story
So, why are rules important? If a chronicle is run by a good
Storyteller, the game will be fun even if the system is terrible.
On its surface, this is a fine argument, but in truth, a poorly
created rules set causes a number of subtle problems. These
issues wear down even the best Storytellers, deeply affect
player trust, and can eventually ruin a chronicle.
• S toryteller Workload: Every time the rules fail, a Storyteller
must solve the initial problem, create a rules-fix,
maintain any precedents created, and keep careful track
of adjudications and systems additions. This burden
becomes exponentially difficult in a large or long-running
chronicle. If a Storyteller is constantly dealing with such
issues, it is difficult to allocate time to devising plots,
encouraging character development, or running stories.
• Limited Game Size: A poorly written or badly balanced
system requires a large number of Storytellers per capita.
These volunteers are needed to judge ongoing issues or
educate new players about “house rules.” This situation
requires more and more players to volunteer their time
shepherding the rules rather than playing the game.
• Player Trust: Even if a Storyteller works diligently to
maintain rules balance, it is inevitable that difficulties,
arguments, and simple errors will occur. With an
unbalanced core system, Storytellers must constantly put
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a strain on player trust, hoping that each new change or
addition to the rules will be seen as impartial and fair.
Even if the Storyteller has the best motives, constant
mechanical alterations will cause accusations of bias or
cronyism, driving players away from the game.
A good Storyteller can build a fun game on an unstable
foundation, but imagine how amazing that chronicle could be
if that Storyteller built the chronicle on a solid and balanced
set of rules! A strong mechanical base allows a Storyteller to
keep her focus on stories, rather than bureaucratic minutia,
accusations of mistrust, or constant rules arguments.
Balancing the Rules with Story
Although no rules system is perfect, the MET: VTM mechanics
are designed to be as reliable and balanced as possible. It was
playtested in massively populous, interconnected chronicles
and also by smaller, independent troupe games. Design
choices were made to facilitate Storytelling and to make the
game easy to learn and easy to run. To understand the game’s
mechanical design, it’s important to explain a few of the
design pillars inherent to the system.
•M
 erits vs. Experience: A character’s power level in MET:
VTM is represented by experience points, used to
purchase powers, abilities, and other advantages that
give the character an “edge.” In this manner, characters
that have survived many games have more experience
points and are more powerful than newly created
characters. Merits, on the other hand, are universally
limited to seven points, no matter how new or how
senior the character in question. This double-pronged
system of advancement rewards older characters by
assuring them a breadth of purchased items, while
allowing new characters the opportunity to be useful
and distinct from their first night in game by purchasing
an unusual merit. A recently made character must not
feel entirely outgunned, otherwise new players (and
experienced players replacing initial characters) will
have no incentive to join a game in media res. Both
systems, and their limitations, are necessary.
•O
 nly Important Tests: With very few exceptions, tests
to activate powers or rituals are only necessary if the
mechanic targets another character. If a player spends
hard-earned experience to purchase a power or ritual, she
should to be able to rely on that item’s basic functionality.
Performing tests every time a character wants to use
 a power on herself is needlessly time consuming, and
wasting resources (Blood or otherwise) on an item that
randomly fails to activate simply isn’t fun.
•D
 on’t Waste the Storyteller’s Time: The MET: VTM rules
are designed to be self-sufficient and not require the
constant attention of a Storyteller. Storytellers have a
lot to do at game and cannot constantly pay attention
to every power activation or ability use. A Storyteller
can roleplay a character’s Nightmare flaw if it is a plot
point or creates an important character moment, but
merits, flaws, and powers should be impactful even
if the Storyteller doesn’t have time to throw pre-game
challenges with everyone.
•R
 ules Enforce Theme: Brujah are described in story as
being very loyal to one another; therefore, their clan’s
1-point merit offers an advantage when they fight as a
group. Nosferatu are described as information-gatherers
and spies; therefore, Nosferatu merits and powers
help them perform such functions in game. Offering
advantages to characters that reinforce story-based themes
will encourage players to portray those archetypes, while
still allowing non-stereotypical characters to exist (though
they may be less efficient) for the purposes of roleplay.
Every Game is Different
Whether handling an independent troupe game or a massive
international chronicle, every Storyteller runs things a little
differently, and every game has unique requirements. The
MET: VTM system provides a mechanical base, but it is
also designed to allow Storyteller customization to meet the
needs of her specific chronicle. You can see this flexibility
in the various settings described in the core book (Anarch,
Camarilla, and Sabbat), which add custom items and limited
systems additions or changes. Through creating a setting
document, Storytellers can tailor the base systems of MET:
VTM to the needs of their chronicles.
The settings in the base book flesh out the traditional Vampire:
The Masquerade environments and provide templates for
Storytellers who want to integrate custom systems appropriate
to a chronicle’s theme and storyline. Still, before adding new
mechanics or changing inherent systems, a Storyteller should
carefully consider the possible pitfalls.
•G
 ame Balance: Each time a Storyteller adds, subtracts,
or changes the rules, she alters the fundamental game
balance and impacts the play environment. If diablerie
becomes easier or more rewarding, more players will
choose to diablerize. Therefore, the game’s player-
versus-player conflicts will potentially increase, as
players seek to exploit those new rules. Like water
Storyteller Secrets
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
rolling downhill, players will typically follow the course
of least resistance (or greatest efficiency). Be sure to
plan for the storyline and roleplay consequences of
any mechanical change.
•B
 arrier to Entry: Most new players learn a new system
by reading the published books. When they arrive at a
game, they expect the rules to be familiar. It is difficult
for players to remember custom rules, particularly when
they must memorize an entire compendium of changes
or additions. With each alteration, the Storyteller makes
it more difficult for new players to join her chronicle. If
changes are truly necessary for your story, make sure that
each one is well thought out and easy to understand, and
be sure new players are made aware of these changes (and
are given a printed copy).
• P erception and Trust: Player perception can be as important
as game balance. By allowing some players access to an
item, but disallowing others from buying it, a Storyteller
can be perceived as having a bias even if her motives are
pure. It is better to raise costs, but keep the item available
for purchase by all players, if you wish to limit an item’s
rarity in your game.
Custom Rules
Custom rules can be powerful tools to make a chronicle feel
distinct, but used unwisely, such items can raise the barrier to
entry and create serious game imbalances. Before you create
custom systems, make sure they are necessary and impactful.
If possible, Storytellers should rename or add distinct story
changes to existing systems and items, rather than creating
something entirely new. Perhaps the Black Hand in your
game is an order of Seraphim; perhaps all vampires take
aggravated damage from gold. Such changes have minimal
impact on the rules, but can provide a distinctly unique feel
to a chronicle.
Mechanics that are restricted to a particular group (such as
clan or setting-specific merits) are intended to define the
stereotypes of that group. Allowing characters outside that
group to possess such items will cause significant imbalances,
especially if only a few characters (Sabbat refugees, perhaps)
are allowed to purchase those mechanics. No matter how
compelling a character’s background or history, this kind of
unequal access will imbalance the game and create a strong
perception of Storyteller favoritism.
That said, we can offer a few suggestions for Storytellers who
find customization necessary. Once you understand the pillars
of rules design, you’ll be much more confident tweaking
things for your chronicle’s needs!
19

Attributes
The MET:VTM system of attribute dots allows characters
to begin with an equal foundation. As the character spends
experience (initial or earned), the system offers the player
concrete choices that will specialize the character, making it
better at certain tests or in distinct situations. Bonus attribute
dots are granted with the purchase of Generation, providing
a tangible benefit to that background, which are carefully
balanced against the experience cost of techniques, skills, and
elder powers (among other things). This system touches every
opposed test between two characters, determining victory and
offering advantage if one character has a significantly higher
attribute.
Current System Design
•C
 hoice: By allowing players to decide where to place bonus
attributes, the system allows for a Neonate to potentially
defeat an Elder in an attribute comparison—depending
on the relative allocations. Players can choose for their
characters to be utterly focused in a single attribute, or to
create a well-rounded attribute set.
•A
 lliances: MET: VTM utilizes a thematic rock-paper-
scissors randomizer for more than just throwing and
resolving challenges. Different character types (and
different powers) work better against some targets and
less well against others, giving items both strengths and
weaknesses. Attributes figure into this balance strongly.
Because a single character cannot have a completely
20 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
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maximized attribute in all three categories, alliances are
necessary in order to “cover all the bases.” Creating (and
betraying) alliances is a critical part of a MET:VTM game;
no character should be able to stand alone or the game
loses a critical aspect of interpersonal connection and
reliance.
Simple Customizations
•A
 dditional Attribute Bonuses: A Storyteller could provide
a different number of bonus dots per Generation.
For example, a Storyteller might give two bonus
attributes instead of one. This change would create a
play environment where Elders are significantly more
powerful than Neonates. Before you make this change,
plan for a larger percentage of your player base to gravitate
towards the Elder generation in order to capitalize on this
mechanical advantage.
•R
 emoving Attribute Bonuses: Another potential setting
option is to remove all attribute bonuses, so that all
vampires (regardless of Generation) have a maximum of
10 in each attribute category. In this scenario, merits like
Skill Aptitude become much more powerful, and players
will be more inclined to portray Neonates or Ancilla.
Merits and Flaws
The merit system may be Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade’s most important cornerstone. Altering the cost
of merits and flaws (or creating new ones) can provide a great
 deal of customization, defining a setting’s unique distinctions.
However, because the merit system is so integral to the balance
of the rules, altering the system itself or raising the merit cap
can cause significant problems. Merits are carefully balanced
in cost, ensuring that no character can possess two 4-point
items. Further, the merit cap of seven points is built into the
system to ensure that characters must make choices and that
no single individual can possess all of a clan’s stereotypical
advantages (thus letting everyone be distinct and useful).
Lastly, maintaining a strict merit cap helps new players feel
that they can contribute in a unique manner from their very
first game, providing small advantages not possessed by even
the most long-played characters in the chronicle.
Caveat nuntius.
Current System Design
•B
 alance: Merits are specifically designed to be more
powerful than an ability or discipline with a similar point-
cost. A 4-point merit may provide an advantage equal to
the expenditure of 20-30 experience. Raising the merit
cap allows players to buy even more of the most efficient
mechanics in game, and that can significantly skew game
balance.
•C
 lan Archetype: Clan and setting-specific merits outline that
clan’s major story themes and stereotypes. Ventrue merits
encourage those characters to interact with the mortal
world of influences and retainers, and so forth. These
merits support the stereotypical image of that clan.
• S ense of Fair Play: Portraying a member of a rare clan or
unusual bloodline is innately powerful. Such a character
has access to unique disciplines and merits, and even if
those abilities are not overpowering in themselves, their
rarity will create tactical advantages. Rarity merits ensure
that other players know that anyone could play the same
character type, provided they were willing to spend their
limited merit points in the same way.
Simple Customizations
•U
 nilateral: Providing all characters a single flavorful merit
for free (all vampires in this chronicle have one Acute
Sense), or requiring that all characters take certain flaws
(all vampires in this chronicle have catlike eyes, and must
take the Eerie Presence), can be a very good tool to alter
the feel of a chronicle. By utilizing the merit system in
this way, a Storyteller can promote unusual aspects of her
setting without unbalancing the game’s mechanics.
• S ub-Organizations: Some merits define subgroups like the
Black Hand, Josian Archons, or legendary Anarch heroes.
Storyteller Secrets
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
These sub-organization merits provide special background
items with minimal mechanics. Merits can indicate that a
character participated in a decisive battle, manipulated or
mentored a famous kine, or performed some unique duty
for her sect. Because players must choose to spend their
limited merit points on these background highlights,
story items such as these can be fairly rare (and very
prestigious).
•F
 lavor: A Storyteller could use the preexisting cost and
mechanics for a merit, rewriting only the flavor of that
item to make it feel more appropriate for her chronicle.
This can allow a significant amount of customization
without impacting game balance.
•C
 ustom Mechanical Merits: If the Storyteller wishes to create
merits unique to her chronicle, these new merits must be
made available to all players at character creation, or there
will be the perception of bias. The best way to point-cost
a merit is to overestimate; if players look at the merit and
say dubiously, “I’m not sure if that merit is really worth X
points,” then you’ve correctly estimated the cost. Players
should feel as if they’re making a difficult choice, and
it’s better to adjust a merit’s cost downwards rather than
upwards if you later feel you have incorrectly evaluated the
item’s capacity.
Skills and Backgrounds
Skills and backgrounds provide a great deal of flavor, helping
players flesh out character histories as well as prodigal talents a
character possesses. Fields of study further reveal a character’s
interests and occupations. Backgrounds detail a great many
aspects of a character’s interaction with the mortal world, and
these items can help a Storyteller can flesh out the environment
of her game.
Current System Design
•L
 imited in Number: VTM’s skill list is deliberately limited.
This is to ensure that players and Storytellers don’t have to
memorize long lists of obscure items, and also because each
skill now provides minor mechanical benefits—benefits
that can add up very quickly! Rather than creating a new
skill, try offering new uses for existing ones, expanding the
scope without increasing the overall number.
•B
 readth vs. Specialization: A character with many skills at
low levels will have access to a significant number of minor
mechanics, providing a great deal of utility. A character
that instead specializes in a few skills and purchases
them to maximum levels will have an advantage when
using those skills in static and opposed challenges (both
offensively and defensively).
21
 Simple Customizations
•F
 ields of Study: Creating a list of specific fields of study for
preexisting skills can help a Storyteller portray the scope
of her game. For a chronicle set in Rome or the Dark
Ages, a list of fields of study such as Herbalism (under
Medicine) or Cavalry Tactics (under Leadership) might
help players grasp the feel of the chronicle and tune their
characters to that theme.
• S pecialized Backgrounds: Storytellers can highlight a
particular background by allowing players to choose from
a list of minor bonuses each time they purchase a dot.
The Haven background is a good template for this type
of enhancement.
Powers and Techniques
Elder powers are static things, created by ancient and powerful
vampires over centuries of research. Techniques, on the other
hand, are idiosyncrasies, formulated (or stumbled upon) by
thin-blooded vampires (usually Caitiff). Players commonly ask
the Storyteller to allow custom powers, justifying an item’s
creation with a character’s “long history of study” or “strange
mix of disciplines.” Storytellers should be aware that custom
powers and techniques can significantly imbalance a chronicle,
both because of the new item’s power level and simply because
the item is tactically unusual. Further, custom powers can
become cartoonish and feel out of place within the gothic-
punk theme of the game, harming immersion and roleplay.
Lastly, allowing some players to create custom powers can
make a Storyteller appear biased, providing one player access
to an item that others cannot purchase (even if they otherwise
meet the requirements). It is better for a Storyteller to give
the power a visual or theme-based customization without
changing the mechanics, if there is a genuine need.
Current System Design
•F
 ocus on Common Powers: Don’t allow players to make
custom powers involving the disciplines of rare clans and
bloodlines. Those unusual character types already have
an advantage. If the chronicle is genuinely in need of a
unique item, that item should be accessible to the largest
majority of characters.
•T
 ransparency: Publish any custom rules in your settings
document, and make sure that all players are aware of the
item’s capabilities out-of-character. This may lessen the
feeling that the item is a “neat surprise” for the creator,
but it will go far toward ensuring that other players
understand the item’s limits, and maintaining Storyteller
trust from the rest of the player base.
22 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
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Simple Customizations
•
Change the Feel: Storytellers can give already-existing
powers a visual or theme-based customization without
changing the mechanics, if there is a genuine need. A
character or NPC that is intended to be “spooky” may use
the mechanics of the Thaumaturgical Path of Weather
Control, but the visuals may depict the effects of haunted
house rather than environmental anomalies.
•R
 equirements: A Storyteller who wishes to incorporate a
certain technique or elder power more broadly in her
campaign might alter the requirements of the preexisting
power. If your chronicle requires all vampires to potentially
teleport through shadows, the Storyteller might give the
elder power Shadowstep an appropriate experience cost
and make it available for purchase by all characters. So
long as the power is openly accessible, game balance will
be generally maintained.
Sect Status
The status system is specifically designed to promote the ideals
and tenets of a specific sect of vampires within the setting,
providing in-character punishments to characters who do
not properly adhere to the sect’s social doctrines (even the
hypocritical ones), and rewarding those who are willing to
promote those ideals or support the sect hierarchy. Giving
status (or imposing a new status ban) allows a Storyteller
to communicate and enforce vampire society’s ideal of
“appropriate” and “inappropriate” behavior.
Current System Design
•D
 iscourage Collectors: The core of the status system is in the
flow of earning and spending status. Characters should be
encouraged to maintain a fairly constant flow of temporary
status, not to hoard an accumulation in order to have “the
most.” A character’s number is not important; it’s the use
of status, and how it alters political situations, which makes
these mechanics meaningful. Spending and regaining
status is an important tool to encourage players to roleplay,
making them actively create and maintain alliances.
Storytellers should avoid giving weight to the number of
status traits a character possesses, because this will cause
the status system to stagnate.
Simple Customizations
• S tatus Bans: A sect’s status bans help enforce a sect’s
views in the social setting of a chronicle. If a sect places
a ban on the possession of certain merits, disciplines, or
backgrounds, it sends a strong statement about that sect’s
 ideals, values, and fears. Adding or removing status bans
during the course of a chronicle is a way to show that
leadership is changing hands or to indicate that powerful
vampiric authorities are paying attention.
• I n-Character Prejudice: Many of Vampire: The
Masquerade’s themes revolve around prejudices and
bigotry (such a hatred of Caitiff in the Camarilla setting),
but responsible players have difficulty portraying these
prejudices, especially if it means avoiding fun roleplay
or treating a friend’s character badly. To help with this,
Storytellers can build setting-appropriate bigotry into
a chronicle’s status system. Such bans might include
limiting certain status traits to “acceptable” character
types or allowing the expenditure of other traits to only
affect “disreputable” clans or bloodlines. This kind of
customization helps players portray the setting’s bigotry
and prejudice, supporting players who are trying to play
to these biases without actually asking them to be mean
to their friends.
Custom Rewards
When players provide exceptional roleplay, solve extremely
difficult tangles in creative ways, mentor new visitors or
otherwise provide a tangible service to a chronicle, it’s a
wonderful idea to reward them for that effort. However, giving
extra experience (or allowing a character’s experience total for
the month to go over the game’s general cap) can cause an
imbalance in the game’s power scale.
• A free influence specialization, useable for the next month
Conclusion
The ability to make customizations to a game system is the
privilege of the chronicle’s Storyteller. A Storyteller can alter
the flavor description of items, increase or decrease cost, or
otherwise modify the systems in her Setting Style Document as
is appropriate for her chronicle. However, altering foundational
mechanics can cause a game system to fail, resulting in more
work for the Storyteller or in significant player discontent.
Be cautious about such alterations, and always keep in mind
what’s best for your entire game, not just the interests of a few
players. Good luck!
Kevin Millard, Associate Developer for Mind’s Eye Theatre:
Vampire The Masquerade, is a professional RPG, CCG, and
MMORPG game designer, Kevin’s credits range from Stargate
SG1 and Spycraft to the popular MMORPG Guild Wars
2. He’s been a professional game designer for more than a
decade, lending his talents to games such as 7th Sea, Brave
New World, Deadlands, and d20 source books for AEG
Publishing. He’s been a Mind’s Eye Theatre Storyteller for 15
years, and we’re not entirely sure he’s mortal.

There are ways to reward individuals without giving a

permanent mechanical advantage. By doing so, the Storyteller
provides all players an opportunity to learn from and emulate
the positive actions of an individual being rewarded. Ideas for
exceptional player rewards could include:

• A free downtime action

• A feeding chip, useable for one immediate refresh of the

character’s Blood pool during game

•
An information chip, exchangeable for one piece of
unique or advanced plot information (ask the Storyteller
one question)

• An involvement chip, useable to insert your character

into one scene that she would not otherwise have access
to (assuming that scene has no possibility of player vs.
player conflict).

•
A “gold star player” spotlight each month on the
chronicle’s web or wiki page

Storyteller Secrets 23

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 24 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)

 It’s Alive! Tips for Creating Dynamic NPCs
By Jen “Loopy” Smith
“When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands,
I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in
which I should employ it.
Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation,
yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it,
with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles, and veins,
still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labour.”
— Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus,
by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
It’s not easy, making a monster—just ask Victor Frankenstein.
Blessed with genius, imagination and the ability to take
painstaking care in the fabrication of his own creature, he failed
to consider its place in the greater world and, for that reason,
Frankenstein’s story did not end well. In the end, Frankenstein’s
monster destroyed everything the doctor loved and led him on a
long chase that ended only with the doctor’s death. The monster,
having outlasted his creator, was doomed to exist in exile.
Victor Frankenstein created a monster for his world, but he
did not create a place for his monster within that world. If he
had, perhaps they both would’ve met a more satisfying end.
Similarly, you can help guarantee the success of your own
“monsters”—your non-player-characters—by carefully planning
their role in your own game world.
Creating NPCs can be challenging for Storytellers, particularly
when introducing recurring or high-profile NPCs intended to
make several appearances in your game. Thankfully, there are a
few tried-and-true ways to not only ensure your NPCs are vibrant,
unique and well-rounded, but these tips can also help you avoid
common pitfalls that often occur once an NPC encounters
your players. Through a little experimentation and a little game
“science,” you’ll soon be making unforgettable, dynamic NPCs
to enhance your game and elevate your players’ stories.
The Bare Bones:
Identifying an NPC’s Purpose
As a Storyteller, you are not only responsible for the
administration of your game, you also serve as the architect,
gatekeeper, and interpreter of the game world, providing both
an immersive setting and a wealth of potential plotlines for
your players to explore that world. NPCs are one of the most
powerful tools Storytellers can use to achieve multiple goals—
but it’s important to identify those objectives, before you can
make characters to help you meet them.
Storyteller Secrets
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
Setting goals will provide the foundation for your NPCs, and
they will inform the majority of your choices as you proceed
in the NPCs’ creation. Think of it like choosing the skeleton
upon which you’ll build the rest of your creature—these
objectives will provide both the foundation and direction for
the rest of the decisions you’ll make.
Here are a few of the common reasons why a Storyteller might
wish to use an NPC:
• To introduce or continue plotlines, such as two rival
elders who seek to use the player-characters to their own
ends
• To reinforce or highlight an aspect of the setting, such as
introducing a Nosferatu spy-master to showcase how that
clan can thrive in its stereotypical role
• To enhance the realism or vibrancy of the game, such as
the introduction of a character who is closely attached to
a real-world figure important to your setting
• To provide challenges or introduce obstacles for PCs to
attempt to overcome, such as a powerful Sabbat antagonist
for a Camarilla game
• To embody or react to story elements generated by players,
such as an Archon who responds to a Masquerade breach
caused by player-characters
And it’s possible for an NPC to serve more than one purpose
too—in fact, the best ones do—but it is critical to lay out all
of the various reasons why you’ll use an NPC before you
introduce it. Remember, these NPCs are often the “face” of
your game—the channel through which players directly interact
with your setting and plot. If you don’t have a clear idea why
you’re using these NPCs, neither will your players.
Avoid the temptation to create an NPC based on an in-
character task, such as “embarrass the Prince,” or “depose the
Harpy.” At this phase, it’s best to keep your objectives wholly
out of character. While your NPCs might take on the above
tasks, in keeping with the NPC’s motivation (see below), if your
NPC exists only for one task, you may find yourself without a
reason for the NPC to change tactics or be affected by player-
characters’ actions. If you have a clear set of out-of-character
goals for the NPC’s use, it’ll help you keep your stories from
feeling like they’re “on rails.” (For more information about
25
 avoiding “rail” plots, see Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade, Chapter Eight: Storytelling, Player Agency and
the Railroad Plot, page 344.)
Example:
Let’s imagine that you’re Storytelling a game with a large
population of Toreador characters. Their players have banded
together and formed an in-character clique; they hold several
positions of power in the game, and they tend to snatch up the
best rumors and plotlines and pursue them without involving
the rest of the game. This situation is bogging down the game,
especially for players of other clans.
You might consider using NPCs for a few reasons in this
situation, including providing more challenges to the
Toreador players as well as the rest of the game, to provide
some alternative perspectives on how Toreador characters can
interact with your game world, and to pull some elements out
of the Toreador characters’ backgrounds and bring them to
life in your game.
Flexing Some Muscle:
Identifying the NPC’s motivations
Once you’ve determined the out-of-character reasons why you
need an NPC, it’s time to bridge the gap between intention
and action by outlining some reasons why this NPC is
motivated to interact with player-characters. This step is a little
like adding muscles to the skeleton you laid out earlier—they
give your creature the ability to move.
Determining a character’s motivation is a technique often
used by professional actors to make their own performances
more believable—try using the same technique with your NPCs
to provide clear motivation and enhance both your actors’
portrayals and the player-characters’ reception to your NPCs.
Ask yourself the following questions:
• What is this NPC trying to achieve?
• Why does the NPC care about this situation?
• What does the NPC stand to gain, or lose?
• What might cause this NPC to change its mind or alter
its tactics?
Motivations can and should change as your players react
(or fail to react) to the NPC’s own actions. Periodically, you
should ask yourself questions to the ones above, and see if you
need to make adjustments.
26 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
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Example:
Knowing that your NPCs will exist for purposes related to
the large clique of Toreador in your game, you consider some
stereotypical allies and antagonists of Clan Toreador. Since
you are hoping to provide some challenges, you consider
traditional enemies—such as a Nosferatu, who will probably
dislike Toreador, or a Sabbat Toreador antitribu, who may
hold a grudge against clanmates from years before. Looking
through your players’ character backgrounds, you notice that
one of them used to be a Nosferatu ghoul, who was poached by
and then Embraced into the Toreador clan. This connection
gives you the ability to meet more than one of the goals you
outlined earlier, and you make the choice to use a Nosferatu
antagonist to offer your players a greater challenge.
With this spark of an idea in mind, you work through the
questions outlined above:
•W
 hat is this NPC trying to achieve? This Nosferatu wants
to make the Toreador—and her allies—pay for poaching
the ghoul.
•W
 hy does the NPC care about this situation? He feels
something precious was not just stolen from his clan, but
also turned into something he despises.
•W
 hat does the NPC stand to gain or lose? If he succeeds, he
gains the satisfaction of revenge; if he loses, he damages
the reputation of his clan in the city.
•W
 hat might cause this NPC to change its mind or alter its
tactics? If he becomes convinced that other vampires, not
of the Toreador clan, were responsible for poaching the
ghoul, he may focus on another target.
Showing Some Skin:
NPC Inspirations and Backgrounds
At this point, you may be tempted to simply give the NPC
a name and run with it—“after all,” you might think, “how
much more do you need for a stereotypical NPC?” Resist this
temptation—you’re just getting started. There’s much more you
can add to this character to not only make it more dynamic,
but to also equip it for success—and remember, success is
measured not by whether the NPC “wins” or “loses,” but
whether you meet the objectives you outlined in step one.
Although your NPC should not need a background as fully
fleshed out as a player-character, it should still have enough
of a background to make it feel like a character, instead of
caricature. At a minimum, you should identify the relative
 power level of the character and the resources it could bring to
bear to reach the goals set by its motivations.
Ask yourself the following:
• How powerful should this character be, relative to the
average Experience Points (XP) of your game’s characters?
• How powerful should this character be, relative to the in-
character resources possessed by your game’s characters?
• What makes this character uniquely itself, as opposed to
a simple stereotype?
• What methods does this character use to meet its aims?
• Are there aspects of the setting you can reinforce in this
character’s background?
• Are there aspects from player-character backgrounds that
could be tied into the NPC’s background?
• Are there any roleplaying quirks I can give this character,
to help guide my actor’s performance?
Consider for a moment how these questions will inform your
choices about the character. For example, while you may
wish for your Nosferatu character to present a considerable
challenge, you can easily make your players feel powerless to
affect the story if you make it too powerful.
Tip: Power Balance
You can often balance the power level of an NPC, relative
to your game’s PCs, by giving it powerful in-game resources,
without giving it a large quantity of XP. For example, if an
Archon comes to your game to investigate, but the Archon
doesn’t have a significantly high amount of XP, that Archon
will likely be forced to build alliances and hire player-
characters to assist it with its task. One of the character’s
motivations may be preventing the PCs from discovering
that it is not particularly powerful in combat. This will not
only help your actor portray a more complex character, but
it will also give your players more opportunities to become
active participants in the story the NPC generates.
Tip: Draw On Local History
In Vampire: The Masquerade, characters can be inspired
from nearly any period of history, and using real-life past
events almost always helps a character feel more real, assists
you and your actor identify unique roleplaying opportunities,
and enhances your game’s setting. Do a few minutes of
research on the history of your setting and see if you can
find an anchor for a vampire character there. For example, a
character from Las Vegas may have been Embraced during
Storyteller Secrets
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
the hey-day of the mob; a character from Chicago may
have lived through the infamous Chicago Fire and have
Derangements triggered by fire.
Take the time to write some detailed notes about the NPC’s
background. Even if the character isn’t slated for many
appearances, you may find it helpful as inspiration when
you’re working on related stories. Your actors will also find
your notes very helpful as they prepare to portray the character.
Example:
Considering your Nosferatu antagonist, you spend some time
researching your locale’s real-life history. Since your game is set
in Hawaii (lucky you!), you draw on the attack at Pearl Harbor
for inspiration. You decide that the character used to be a Navy
mechanic, who was badly injured during the attack, particularly
across the face, and even after his Embrace into Clan Nosferatu,
you can still see the distinct scar marks that crisscross his face
from that injury. Because he dealt with the social stigma of
his scars during his mortal years as well as his vampire ones,
he bitterly hates attractive people—a hatred he often channels
toward Clan Toreador. Additionally, you check your characters’
backgrounds again, and confirm that the time frame works
so that this NPC can also be the Nosferatu domitor of the
character who was poached as a ghoul and Embraced into the
Toreador clan. Now he has two reasons to desire revenge on the
clan of roses.
Making these decisions will help shape some of this character’s
other attributes and will help you determine the resources he
might use when he acts on his motivations. For example, this
character has been Embraced for about 70 years—he is not
an elder. As a former mechanic, he’ll likely be comfortable
working with technology. As a former military man, he likely
knows how to fight, and so forth. You decide that he’ll be of
Ancilla generation, and you focus his Skill purchases in Brawl,
Melee, Computer, and Crafts: Engineering.
The Breath of Life:
Foibles, Flaws, and Falsehoods
At this point, your creature’s shape is nearly complete—it may
even look perfect—but the human (or vampire) condition is
never flawless. Even Doctor Frankenstein could not see his
own creation’s horrific qualities until he gave it life. In order
to give your character a touch of realism, now’s the time to
introduce some defining weaknesses and really give that NPC
a spark of vitality.
Defining your NPC’s flaws is just as important as defining its
strengths and resources. Without weaknesses, not only will the
character lack authenticity, it may also present too daunting of
a challenge to players. Give your NPC a few limitations that
27
 can be exploited—and make sure to introduce flaws that mesh
well with a few different types of play styles. For example, if you
design an NPC who is physically weak in combat but has no
weaknesses that social roleplayers or downtime-action masters
can use, you narrowly limit not only the types of players who
can be involved in its plots, but you also restrict the strategies
that can be employed against it. Take a variety of play styles
into consideration as you build your NPCs.
Example:
You’ve established that your Nosferatu antagonist hates
attractive characters, and since this is a defining characteristic,
you want to represent this quality as an actual mechanical Flaw.
You give him a Destruction Derangement with the trigger
“attractive people,” but this Flaw is one-dimensional, so you
consider your players’ tactics and look for other weaknesses to
introduce. You decide that although the character’s Computer
and Crafts skills could be very useful, he lacks money and
equipment to utilize them to their fullest potential. You opt
to give the character zero dots of the Resources background,
nor does he possess any Equipment to boost his technical
skills. This means that before he can fully realize his plan to
act against the city’s Toreador, he’ll need to find other allies
who might compensate for those obstacles. Now you’ve not
only established a flaw the Toreador might exploit, but you’ve
also given this character a new secondary motivation (obtain
resources)—complete with a related task (find allies)—to act out
once it’s portrayed at game.
28 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
Braaaaains: Selecting
an Actor to Portray the NPC
There’s one more important thing to consider before you can
allow your NPC to encounter the players—who will portray
it? Think of this step like choosing the right brain for your
creature.
Often, Storytellers feel they don’t have a sufficient pool of
people—or the time to properly prepare those people—when
considering potential actors. But even the most theatrically
skilled Storytellers can’t portray every NPC, and splitting your
time between NPC portrayals and Storyteller duties often
results in lack of time to do either role justice.
There’s also an additional benefit to selecting an actor to
portray your NPC—they frequently add their own flourishes to
those characters, giving them new angles and hidden depths
you would never have conceived on your own. This not only
adds further realism to the characters, but they also help your
NPCs avoid feeling routine or predictable to your players.
Even though having an actor provides many benefits, it can
feel tough to find actors sometimes. Consider the following
people when looking for someone to portray your NPCs:
• Former players who left your troupe on good terms
 • On-again, off-again players who are too time-challenged
to routinely attend game on a long-term basis
• Current players whose characters seem to be stagnating
• Experienced players from other games in your area
• Potential new players—ideal for groups or teams of NPCs
led by a knowledgeable player
It’s important to consider those actors’ strengths and
weaknesses when casting NPC roles. Some players may be
experienced with the game mechanics, but aren’t personally
eloquent. Others may have unique skills, such as costuming or
real performance skills, that will enhance a given role.
Once you’ve selected an actor, provide him or her with your
character notes as far in advance as possible, and invite the
actor to suggest additions or modifications to the NPC—
particularly modifications that help the actor play the role
using her own personal strengths. This collaboration will not
only help you provide a unique and realistic character, well
suited to its purpose, but it will also help the actor prepare for
and feel comfortable in the role.
Opening Your Eyes and Ears:
Maintain Player Agency
After putting all this work into your NPC, it is natural to
become attached—and if the NPC becomes popular, your
players will seek out ways to encounter it as much as possible.
This is good—it means you’ve built your NPC well—but it can
also lead to a slippery slope in which the NPC slowly steals
more and more spotlight from the PCs. After a while, the
players may come to believe that their actions don’t matter
as much as the NPC’s, and this can damage the health of
your game.
Remember, NPCs are merely a tool to enhance the story the
players are telling—the NPCs are supporting cast, not the
stars of the show. Every time an NPC appears in game, you
should make sure that both you and your actor reinforce the
importance of the players’ actions in the course of the game’s
events. This can be done directly—such as by having an NPC
make a public announcement praising a character’s actions—
but you can also introduce subtle ways of making players feel
empowered to affect the course of the story. For example,
your NPC could simply ask, “What do you think we should
do?” This straightforward question can go a long way to help
maintain players’ sense of agency.
It’s also important to periodically revisit the purpose you
established for the NPC in step one. Have you achieved your
Storyteller Secrets
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
objectives? Maybe it’s time to allow the NPC to fade back out
of the story. Perhaps alterations to the story have created a
situation where the NPC cannot possibly meet the objectives
you laid out for it—this may be the time to script a dramatic
death. Are the players relying on the NPC too often? Maybe
it’s time to have the NPC fail spectacularly, to reinforce the
fact that it is fallible. When you create the character, make
sure to estimate the amount of appearances it may have, as
well as how long it will be available as an offstage resource for
your players—and revisit this information when you reconsider
the NPC’s purpose.
Sample NPC:
Franklin Stein, Nosferatu Antagonist
•P
 urpose: Provide challenge for large population of
Toreador players; Reinforce game setting utilizing local
history; Encourage alliances between smaller groups of
non-Toreador.
•M
 otivation: Character desires to get revenge on the
Toreador clan for poaching his ghoul—he wants to see
the clan humiliated and to tangibly lessen their power.
Secondary motivation is to increase personal resources
and build alliances to support the primary motivation.
•B
 ackground: Former Navy engineer, injured during
WWII attack on Pearl Harbor. NPC has military
knowledge and experience, harbors grudge from
disfiguring injury towards those he feels are attractive.
•R
 elative Power Level: Moderately challenging—20% more
XP than average player-character; Ancilla generation.
•R
 esources Available to this NPC: Physical prowess, local
area knowledge, computer and engineering skills.
•R
 oleplaying notes: Unreasoning hatred of attractive
people, regardless of whether or not those people are
vampires or of a particular clan. Uses slang appropriate
to the 1940s.
•E
 stimated Timeframe for Use: Three months—scheduled
to appear for four games—two back-to-back games the first
month, and then once every other game for another two
months.
•P
 ossible Exit Conditions: Successfully embarrass or cause
to harm to multiple Toreador; Suffer significant social
embarrassment or public condemnation; Convinced
to target another opponent who is not a PC; Character
death.
29
 •P
 ossible Exit Conditions: NPC is expected to be
Alternate Sample NPC: discovered and destroyed; possibility exists that NPC will

Victoria, Toreador Antitribu
What if we’d chosen the other option we considered at
the beginning of this exercise and opted to use a Toreador
antitribu antagonist instead? Here’s how this antagonist NPC
might look:
•P
 urpose: Provide challenge for large population of
Toreador players; Reinforce the cold war between the
Sabbat and the Camarilla as dictated by the default
game setting; Encourage players to explore the roleplay
opportunities presented by juxtaposing Humanity against
Paths of Enlightenment.
uncover one of the two Volgirre PCs and will attempt
to abduct them and bring them to Mexico with the aid
of her pack (likely to result in pursuit and combat). If
NPC is not uncovered and does not succeed in finding a
Volgirre in four games, NPC’s pack will insist they depart
and return to the mainland U.S., at which point the NPC
will deliver the information she’s collected (to be used in
future plotlines).
The Bride of Frankenstein:
Preparing for the Sequel

•M
 otivation: Character desires to punish the Toreador of
the Volgirre bloodline for leaving the Sabbat; Character
seeks to infiltrate the Camarilla and obtain information
useful to the Sabbat.
•B
 ackground: Although not of the Volgirre bloodline,
this NPC used to have a Volgirre member of her pack—
the NPC considers the departure of the Volgirre to be
a personal betrayal as well as treason against the Sword
of Caine. The NPC came to Hawaii only a few months
ago; she is previously from a nomadic pack ranging the
American Southwest and northern Mexico. Before her
Embrace, she was a driver for Mexican drug cartels—
she is a Neonate, familiar with modern customs and
technology. Her pack—the Desert Scorpions—has come
with her and routinely checks up on her to ensure she
remains loyal during her infiltration.
•R
 elative Power Level: Extremely challenging—75% more
XP than average player-character; Neonate generation.
Once you’ve had the opportunity to build and observe your
creations in game, you’ll see how a well-crafted NPC can
not only enhance the game’s richness and excitement for
your players, but you’ll also be better prepared to build even
better monsters in the future. Perhaps your creations’ stories
will live on past your tenure as Storyteller, much like Doctor
Frankenstein’s monster surpassed his creator’s infamy and
lives on to capture our imaginations to this day.
Jen “Loopy” Smith has more than 15 years’ experience as an
editor; her credits include working as the editor and a developer
for Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade. She’s
a life-long gamer and has been playing Vampire since 1994,
primarily as a member of One World by Night, where she’s
held a number of global administrative positions, including
Camarilla Sect Coordinator and Toreador Clan Coordinator.
She has a favorite punctuation mark—the dash—and she’s not
afraid of semi-colons.

•R
 esources Available to this NPC: Physical prowess,
assistance of her pack (which includes a Coyote, a Brujah
antitribu and a Tzimisce), skilled at tracking, survival and
subterfuge, possesses an established Alternate Identity as
a Camarilla Toreador.

•R
 oleplaying notes: Integrates Spanish slang into
casual conversation, follows the Path of Cathari and
has difficulty concealing her desire to indulge in vice.
Possesses Camarilla lore, but not all of her information
is correct, will occasionally make awkward mistakes of
understanding.

•E
 stimated Timeframe for Use: Two months—scheduled
to appear for four games.

30 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)

 Storyteller Secrets 31

Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)

 This Mortal Coil: Making More Out of Mortals
in MET: Vampire The Masquerade
By Jason Carl
Players in Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
chronicles tend to forget easily that their characters are in the
minority. When every other character in the game session is
also a vampire, the player has no incentive to remember or
care that the world population is overwhelmingly mortal, and
that those mortals are important and dangerous. You, the
Storyteller, can and should use mortals more prominently in
the chronicle, both to reinforce its core themes and to provide
strong, interesting story opportunities for your players. Mortals
are too often overlooked or ignored in MET: VTM, except as
sources of plot information or blood. They’re seldom either
portrayed as individuals or as the very real threat they represent
to the characters. This is doubly true in chronicles where all
the important action happens at game sessions. And while
there is certain inevitability in this—there are only so many
hours available in any given game session in which to engage
in roleplaying—Storytellers can bring a greater dimension of
personal horror to the experience by reminding players about
the vital role that mortals play in the chronicle.
Hunt or Be Hunted
The very name itself—Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade—reminds us that hiding from mortals is a
foundational element of the game. Historically, there is a
good reason that the Masquerade exists: the First Tradition is
intended to preserve and safeguard vampires against mortals,
whom most elders consider an enemy far more dangerous
than the most aggressive lupine or vengeful ghost. Elders who
endured the horrors of the Inquisition remind cocky neonates
that the truth is merely simple math: the human population
outnumbers vampires by many, many orders of magnitude.
The elders know what happens when mortals decide to hunt
vampires: they saw it happen, and they remember the high
price they paid for ignoring the threat.
The Inquisition, which led directly to the formation of the
sects, seems today like an event that could never happen—the
organized religions that do acknowledge the existence of the
supernatural mostly give it lip service as a way to illustrate
what they define as morality and good and bad behavior.
Genuine belief in vampires, demons, ghosts, and werewolves
as malevolent supernatural entities that should be hunted
and destroyed has been until very recently the province of
small sub-sects and offshoots larger religious organizations,
small private groups, or lone hunters who couldn’t afford
32 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
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to risk institutionalization or incarceration by sharing their
convictions with others, and who are therefore more effective
if they remain as hidden as their prey. In the broader sense,
individual mortals may pose relatively little threat to a
vampire character, but the technology that mortals possess
could enable them to locate and wipe out most vampires
with shocking efficiency, should they ever discover and share
convincing proof of their existence, and it is this possibility
that underscores the necessity of constant secrecy.
Hunters in Your Chronicle:
A new hunter threat emerged during the Nights of Turmoil,
striking with shockingly lethal efficiency, and nobody knows
whether it was religious or secular in nature (see MET:VTM
pages 34-41 for more about these mysterious new hunters
and how their activities have forced vampires to once again
contemplate the possibility of utter destruction at the hands
of mortals). And today’s hunters are better equipped, better
informed, and better resourced than ever before, and they
are scoring victories that alarm all but the most foolish or
ignorant vampires. Entire domains have been wiped out by
these hunters, and their threat is made all the more terrifying
by the fact that their origins, motivations, and identities have
remained hidden.
The most obvious way to emphasize the immediacy and
danger that mortals pose to your players’ characters is to run
a hunter plot that endangers the veil of secrecy the vampires
have constructed around their societies. Regardless of whether
the setting of your chronicle is Camarilla, Sabbat, or Anarch—
or something unique—the hunters represent danger that can
drive external and internal conflict.
Running a hunter plot requires making a few key decisions
before setting it in motion:
•W
 ho are the hunters? The MET:VTM core book
offers some information on three hunter groups—The
Inquisition, The Arcanum, and Project Twilight (see
pages 291-293 for details)—that each make worthy
adversaries for the characters. Your hunters may be from
one of these groups, or they might be mysterious hunters
that now threaten vampires everywhere. If you opt to use
the latter, you’ll need to give them an identity that works
for your chronicle.
  he hunters aren’t part of any organized faction.
T S everal years ago, a vampire murdered the only child
Instead they are a small group of city employees—clerks,
accountants, data analysts—who have started to notice
weird and unsettling patterns and anomalies in zoning
law changes, tax payments, street closures, and other
seemingly mundane activities. Investigating, they traced
one such anomaly to a careless vampire but, realizing
that nobody would ever believe them, decided to kill
the monster themselves. Now they’re looking for more
of these horrible parasites and intend to destroy every
one that they can find.
 he hunters are all professional soldiers of fortune
T that all the stories about living forever are true, he will
employed by a wealthy patron specifically to hunt
down and destroy vampires. Essentially a team of
mercenaries, they can rely on their patron’s money
and influence to keep them well-equipped and well-
informed; they receive information about a possible
vampire threat, requisition the appropriate gear, and
conduct a covert operation to find and kill their target.
 his lone hunter was merely an unlucky victim,
T it will: even the most tactically-minded players and
someone who had a chance encounter with a vampire
and survived the experience. Maybe a vampire fed from
him but didn’t succeed in covering up the truth, or
possibly he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time
when the Sabbat and some Giovanni clashed. Regardless,
he is aware of the truth and wants to learn more.
•
What do they want? Most hunters want to destroy
vampires, and their collective motivation is quite clear.
Their desire to wipe out the undead enemy creates direct
conflict, and this plot is likely to end in violence. (The
motivations of the individual hunters, however, can be
varied and interesting in their own right: see The Human
Touch, below). A few, like the Arcanum, want to study
and understand them. Motivation is key to determining
how your plot will begin, and probably where it goes,
though once it is in motion, the players will have a strong
impact on its outcomes. Hunters who wish to observe
and document the supernatural aren’t likely to pose an
immediate threat, but their accumulated knowledge can
be as devastating as any True Faith-wielding Inquisitor if
it falls into the wrong hands.
 he hunters won’t stand for it. They simply cannot
T experience. But they will.
bear to sit idly by while the vampires leech the very life
from the city. They feel that they are duty-bound to
fight these things, even at the risk of their own lives.
And they wake up terrified every day that their families
or friends might accidentally encounter one of the
undead and become its next meal—or, worse, that the
vampires might learn who the hunters are and target
their families deliberately.
Storyteller Secrets
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
of a wealthy investor residing in the city. Maybe it was
a feeding gone bad, or perhaps it was deliberate killing.
Regardless, the investor didn’t believe the police or
coroner’s reports, and she’s spent a lot of her money
and time tracking down the real cause of her son’s
death. Now that she has finally discovered the vampires
responsible, she’s financing a small but very lethal group
of dedicated hunters to seek out and destroy them.
 he hunter wants desperately to find a vampire for
T
his own very selfish reason: immortality. Convinced
do absolutely anything to preserve his youth and good
looks forever. Bribery, arson, murder—all are acceptable
if he can convince a vampire to make him immortal.
•W
 hat do they know? The plot has to start someplace.
A good method of initiating a hunter plot is to first
decide on the above two points early in the chronicle,
and then wait for an opportunity to present itself. And
their characters make the occasional mistake that risks
the rules of secrecy, and sometimes random chance or
bad luck results in an error. Maybe the hunters have
an operative or two in your chronicle’s city, and they
regularly monitor the TV, radio, print, and online news
for activity that might point to the presence of vampires.
Or maybe they have their own Allies, Contacts, and
Influences in the city that can provide them with
information that launches an investigation into possible
vampire activity. Once they have a place to start, the
hunters can begin their work.
 he hunters know more about the vampires’ local
T
activities than they do about vampires. Thanks to good
investigative research, they have a handful of names, a
few of the properties the vampires own, a half dozen of
the places where they like to hunt, and perhaps one or
two of their significant influences. But they have yet to
penetrate any of the deeper secrets of the undead—they
don’t know about clans or generations, for example,
or about disciplines. They presume that vampires can
do some of the things they’ve seen in movies or TV,
but they haven’t yet verified any of it through firsthand
 he hunters possess a lot of detailed information about
T
a very few specific vampires. Names, havens, preferred
hunting grounds, vehicles, maybe even the name of their
clans. They have evidence of some common vampiric
powers (probably Dominate, Celerity, Potence, and
Fortitude) and are prepared for them. While they guess
or assume that their targets are not the only vampires
33
 in the world, they don’t know anything about greater
vampire society, yet.
 he hunter knows almost nothing about vampires yet,
T refresh mechanic; it’s merely a shorthand for what makes an
except that they exist, and that they can sometimes be
found in a few specific locations in the city.
For more help with the basics of plot construction, see Chapter
8 of the MET: VTM core book.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind:
The Human Touch
Vampires do not exist solely among their own kind, but it
might often seem that way. An MET:VTM game session
represents part of a single evening in the characters’
eternal existences, and when the characters aren’t
interacting directly with one another, the chances are very
high that they are interacting with mortals. Many of these
mortals will be known personally to the characters and
even helping them achieve their goals: Allies, Contacts,
Influences, and some Retainers are all mortals, and
they are not mindless automatons. They have their own
thoughts, hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears, and while
they may do a character’s bidding, they usually have lives
outside that function—lives that their vampire associates
impact in usually negative ways. These people may suspect
or even know the true nature of the vampires in their lives,
but most of them will say nothing, either because it’s too
dangerous or too advantageous to keep silent about it.
When mortals are encountered at all during an evening’s
play, too often it’s generic, undifferentiated sources of power
fuel or plot information during hastily-narrated side scenes.
The most important thing about these scenes, to both player
and Storyteller, is to conclude them quickly so everyone can
get back to the “real” game. And that’s understandable; the
demands of managing a MET:VTM game session don’t leave
the Storyteller with much opportunity to explore the details
of every interaction with mortal NPCs. And that’s a shame,
because each of the people who represent backgrounds—the
criminals and cops, the socialites and social workers, and
everyone in between—is a story waiting to be told.
Fortunately you can infuse these side scenes with a bit of
verisimilitude that will remind players (and their characters)
that their mortal associates aren’t mindless robots. The more
detail that you provide for mortals, the more genuine they’ll
seem to your players. Mortal NPCs who seem to have real
personalities, hopes, fears, and idiosyncrasies feel more like
people than cardboard cutouts who are standing around just
to feed the characters the next plot clue.
34 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
Every mortal who represents a background, meal, or threat
has a motivation. This shouldn’t be confused with Archetype,
which is a foundational character trait related to the Willpower
NPC tick, and helps to make your side scenes more believable.
It has no mechanical effect. Take 30 seconds before starting
any side scenes and decide what that motivation is, and make
it the foundation of that NPC’s interactions. Some examples:
•A
 ddiction – The mortal NPC is hooked on drugs, vitae,
or an emotional experience, and will do anything to
satisfy this craving. The vampire represents a means of
obtaining his next fix.
 odrigo is an ambitious young attorney who has a bad
R
cocaine habit. He’s been buying his coke from Lewis,
a ghoul who serves Callie, a Brujah neonate. Lewis cut
Rodrigo off because the lawyer can’t pay this week.
 onnie loves the Kiss. He’s been a meal twice now, and
D
he can’t wait to give up his blood again. The physical
pleasure, the emotional high: it’s all he craves now, and
he’ll do anything to experience it again.
 aria served her domitor Timothy, an academically-
M
minded Kindred, for several years. Now he’s missing,
maybe dead, and without his blood she’ll revert to a
normal mortal again. But worse, she misses the sense of
purpose being in Timothy’s employ once gave her. She
needs to feel that again, to give her life meaning.
•V
 engeance – A thirst for revenge against a rival drives
this mortal relentlessly. She sees the vampire as a means
of pursuing her vengeance.
 nly the vampire has enough Influence to help Samuel
O
crush the rival industrialist who is threatening to
destroy his small business.
 he pack of near-savage vampire warriors who hang out
T
sometimes at the old freight yard are exactly the kind of
threat that Wilson needs to make sure the cops don’t
come near his meth lab again.
 iving up some of her blood in exchange for a favor that
G
only a vampire can provide seems to Karen like a small
price to pay. Next week she plans to ask Theobald if he
can make sure that her ex-boyfriend pays for cheating
on her.
•R
 eward – This mortal is motivated primarily by the
rewards available to him. He views the vampire as a
source of gain: praise, money, material possessions,
advancement, power.
  nne has been working hard toward promotion all year,
A of the mortals the characters encounter during the period of
but it went to a coworker who has some kind of dirt on
the boss. She’s willing to spill all the company secrets if
she can move up the corporate ladder.
 reg is jealous of his sister’s new Jaguar and wants a
G to subplots or even full plots when they involve descriptions
cool new care of his own. But he can’t afford it, or that
new set of premium golf clubs he’s been coveting. Or
a motorcycle, he’d really like one of those. And a boat.
Maybe it’s time he called that dude his brother is always
telling him about, the weird, pale guy who always seems
to have a lot of cash to loan at low interest.
 ne kind word from Robert is all that Eric needs to stay
O
motivated for an entire week. Just one pat one the back,
one compliment, one nod of approval, and Eric is ready
to do or die for his domitor. And he wants all the other
ghouls in the haven to know it.
•C
 uriosity – The lives (and unlives) of others are endlessly
fascinating to this person, and she often makes poor
decisions when her curiosity gets the better of her. Who
is more fascinating than a genuine vampire?
 tto has always gotten his kicks from observing other
O
people. He’s got a huge collection of digital photos
that he’s taken of his neighbors doing everything from
washing their cars to having dinner. Now he’s found
the most interesting voyeuristic opportunity ever: a
vampire! He cannot wait to rush home from work every
night to take more photos of the extraordinary creature
living in his own neighborhood.
eslie can’t remember when her burning curiosity
L
wasn’t getting her into trouble. That’s how she ended
up in jail that one time, and how she’s suffered through
more bad blind dates than any person ought to ever
endure, and how she managed to find herself becoming
a willing member of a vampire’s herd.
 ertrand is a biologist at the top of his game, but he’s
B always means that mortals will be involved. Allies and
been intensely bored at his research firm for a couple
of years. It’s been a long time since he’s had a genuine
challenge. Now one has dropped into his lap completely
by accident: a vampire. The creature must be studied,
of course, and preferably detained so that proper
experiments may be performed. And what’s wrong with
that? It’s not like a vampire is a person, after all.
Storytellers blessed with enough available time can also bring
the mortal world to life during downtime. The core book’s
section on Downtime Actions (see MET:VTM pages 307-308)
covers the mechanics of how a character’s downtime happens,
but these actions can be further enhanced by describing some
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time between games. Few Storytellers have the time needed
to make every downtime action into a new mini-story, and
that’s not necessary to achieve the desired contrast between
vampires and mortals. Any of these downtime actions can lead
of mortals.
•C
 rafting – While building or repairing things is often
a solitary activity, the materials or supplies the vampire
employs have to come from somewhere. Sometimes, they
come directly from mortals who sell or provide them,
maybe for a price or in return for a favor.
• Feeding – The most obvious chance to contrast a
vampire with a mortal is the simple but terrible necessity
of obtaining fresh blood on a regular basis. Avoid the
temptation to allow players to think of feeding merely
as a way to “power up” their characters—every feeding
activity can be a means of reinforcing the game’s main
themes, and not merely a tactical activity in service to
intra-character competition. Try making a feeding action
more meaningful for at least one player every month by
describing from who they fed, and what happened.
 he vessel resists, violently. He kicks, punches, bites,
T
screams, and begs for mercy, not for himself but for his
children who depend on him. “Don’t do this! Darcy
and Bobby need me!”
 our pack is licking its fingers and going through the
Y
wallets of your slaughtered victims, looking for a little
cash, when they find an FBI badge and ID card. Oops….
 s the last thread of the victim’s life is cut by the feeding,
A
she breathes a single, whispered word: the name of the
vampire’s clan. What the hell did you just do?
• I nvestigation – Snooping often involves employing a
character’s backgrounds to dig up clues, and that almost
Contacts might want something from the vampire in
exchange for their information, leading to opportunities
to illustrate the individuality of mortals in the vampire’s
personal story.
“ Yes, I can definitely trace the owner of that warehouse.
I’ll look at the last bill of sale and work up a portfolio of
information for you. But I won’t be able to get around to
it until that street gang stops selling crack in front of my
mother’s apartment. You can take care of that, right?”
“ The guns are being smuggled into the city through the
docks, but not in regular freight shipments. I could find
35
 out more for you, if you want, but I’ll need some cash Kevin Millard (see “Roleplaying by the Numbers,” page 18)
for bribes. And a thousand dollars for my trouble. I got pulls back the curtain on the design philosophy behind the
two kids in college, that gets expensive.” Humanity system, providing invaluable insight into why it
exists and why it functions as it does.
“No, I don’t think I can get that done by tomorrow
night. But I know who can! He owes me a favor. And to Previous morality systems (both in LARP and in more
cash that in, I will also need a favor, from you; let me traditional tabletop versions of the game) have attempted to
borrow your limo and driver next Saturday night, okay? represent two separate ideas: the struggle between a vampire
I want my date to be impressed!” and her Beast and whether or not the vampire is a good or
bad person. While both of these are important, it is difficult
•P
 atrolling – While the intent of this downtime action to represent both of these ideas with the same mechanic.
is to spot trouble, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the After considering the most important aspects for mechanical
character wanders the streets solo, observing silently. design, we decided to focus almost entirely on representing the
Interacting with the mortal population can be an struggle to keep the Beast at bay, and allow players to determine
important part of securing a territory. Asking questions, whether their character is “good or evil.” After all, the fight
making small talk, and showing an interest in the nightly against a vampire’s Beast is not a true indicator of good and
lives of the local people can help the vampire recognize evil; a good person can be forced to do bad things (feeding the
when something is amiss later. Beast each time), and an evil person can use intermediaries or
find political methods to commit her schemes without directly
 agda has been hustling on the corner for months.
M strengthening her Beast.
She knows exactly who spray-painted “Eat salt, Brujah
dirtbag!” on the side of your building. She doesn’t This struggle is one of the central themes of Vampire: The
know what it means, of course, but she can finger the Masquerade. In design, we center on this struggle with the
little hoodlums for you. Beast because it is an abstract concept, a semi-self-willed
creature that acts outside of the character (player’s) intention.
 scar runs a junkyard that specializes in the disposal
O Conversely, the concept of being a good or bad person is
of abandoned, wrecked, and unwanted automobiles. something we can all easily understand, and is entirely in the
His loves his pet Rottweiler more than life itself, and control of the player.
together they see and know everything that happens
north of the river. In previous systems, there were plateaus where the mechanics of
the struggle against the Beast no longer mattered; a character’s
The only thing that Wilbur doesn’t remember is who actions no longer provoked the Beast, and the player could all
he is. And he doesn’t much care about that—all he but ignore the danger of wassail. The system mechanically
cares about is where his next meal is coming from and encouraged a character to drop to Humanity 2, where they would
where he’ll sleep tonight. Apart from that, his eyes and no longer have to deal with this aspect of the vampiric condition.
memory are sharp, and nobody ever pays attention to In our design team’s opinion, there should be no such plateaus.
the homeless. A vampire’s struggle with her Beast should always be a major
consideration of her unlife, and we chose to reflect this ideal in
the MET: VTM morality mechanics.
Human Nature: Humanity as Drama
Players frequently imagine that their vampire characters are In order to heighten drama and provide tangible risks (and
better than mortals. And in some ways this is true: in a direct consequences), most systems have a certain amount of
comparison of capabilities, vampires have powers that few randomness within their mechanical design. However, hinging
mortals can withstand, and they have access to decades or huge, persona-changing (and possibly ultimately destructive)
even centuries of experience. This thinking tends to encourage moments on a single test can make a game feel arbitrary, and
players to devalue or even forget about mortals except as losses seem anticlimactic. Instead, the By Night Studios team
elements of the game’s tactical side. The Humanity system built a system where a character must deal with morality and
is a powerful reminder to players that there are significant the Beast in a form of give-and-take, letting the character risk
downsides to being a vampire. Re-read the Humanity herself and feed the Beast in small ways, but knowing when
section in the MET: VTM core book (pages 299-307) before to slow down or stop before risking permanent morality loss.
proceeding; it cannot be emphasized often or strongly enough This further encourages a player to act out the Beast’s current
that how vampires cope with the Beast is vital to how the game strength as it grows stronger over the course of a night, lending
lands emotionally with the players. to better all-night roleplay.

36 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

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 When a vampire commits a sin, she makes her Beast stronger,
rousing it from dormancy. An awake and alert Beast has a
better capacity to take control of a vampire’s actions. Before
a character commits sins, her Beast is asleep and there is
no chance the vampire will frenzy. Every time the vampire
sins within a single night, her Beast gets more powerful.
A character’s odds of frenzy go up, and you get closer to a
permanent loss of morality. Vampires can feel their Beast
rousing, and they know how strong it is within them due to
their actions. This means that a vampire must carefully plan
out her sins, avoiding those that will cause a permanent loss,
and actively working to restrain the Beast’s rage over the course
of a night.
voices—present to offer a contrast, the vampire may forget that
the Beast is waiting to devour the unwary and unwise.
Conclusion
Mortals make a richer, stronger, and more memorable
chronicle, not only because they make formidable antagonists
and provide good sources of stories, but also because they
help secure the vampires’ precious grip on their Humanity.
Whenever your players seem to be treating mortals as a mere
inconvenience (something they can use, abuse, and forget)
it’s time to remind they by building mortals more firmly into
your story.

Gaining Beast traits can cause a character to change her Don’t let the characters forget that they, too, were once
desired actions during a game. The character may have to mortals.
avoid killing a hated enemy—for today—because she already has
Beast traits, and does not wish to risk further loss of morality.
On the other hand, the vampire can make longer-term plans Jason Carl has been managing game projects and properties
to kill her enemy on a night when she is not inflicted with for a couple of decades: at Wizards of the Coast, Microsoft
Beast traits (or has prepared some way to soothe the Beast Game Studios, and Young & Rubicam Group. He’s also been
despite the killing). These “Beast management” strategies are a contributing writer to Mind’s Eye Theatre books, including
part of vampiric life; they are a fundamental consideration Laws of the Night Revised, Laws of the Night Camarilla
for a character living night to night with a ravening, hungry, Guide, and Laws of the Hunt, as well as Dungeons & Dragons
enraged spirit permanently infecting her soul Third Edition. Although he oversees book development for
the By Night Studios team, there is no truth to the rumor that
Consider the vampire character who has gained 3 Beast he has approved a new Brujah clan flaw that requires the aid
traits; situations that were dealt with easily when she had of an inflatable [redacted by the Ventrue Council].
only 1 or even 2 Beast traits become much more challenging.
Let’s presume the vampire started the night’s game session
with 1 Beast trait and gained 2 more over the course of the
evening, and she decides to leave to avoid being tempted into
actions that might risk gaining even more. On her way down
the street to her car, she runs into a street gang of mortal
thugs—a common enough occurrence in this part of town,
and usually not a serious issue, but now it’s a big problem
because her Beast is closer to the surface. If the gang attacks
and inflicts just 2 or more points of damage on her, she must
attempt to resist a rage frenzy. If she fails to resist, things will
quickly get ugly.

The same vampire who has gained 4 Beast traits can barely
interact with mortals at all; she must attempt to resist frenzy
if she so much as sees mortals—she can’t even walk down
the street outside her haven without risking losing control
completely! Before the vampire can return to her haven where
her ghoul retainer is waiting patiently to carry out her wishes,
she must first deal with her Beast traits and regain some
measure of her eroding Humanity.

Using mortals in this manner helps reinforce the idea that

Humanity is a precious and vital aspect of every vampire
character. The Beast whispers in the vampire’s head and heart
every moment of every night, and without other voices—mortal

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 38 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

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 The Dirty Secrets of Running Convention Games
By David Bounds
You find yourself standing in a room with more than a
hundred other people. Some you know, some are complete
strangers. Every single one of these people is looking to you
to establish a cohesive environment, reason for attendance,
and their entertainment for the next five to six hours. If you
succeed, you will be remembered as a legend and coopted to
do this on a regular basis. If you fail, your failure will be on
display for hundreds of your peers.
No pressure.
Running a convention game can be an intimidating prospect.
Even Storytellers who have dozens of games under their belt
sometimes shy away from the concept of facing hundreds of
players in a single location, all of whom are looking to the
Storyteller for their focus and entertainment.
Rest assured that you are not alone and, using the tools
available to you, you will not be unprepared.
This guide is intended to cover the range from multi-location
“keystone” games, often used as semi-annual events to draw
players together with in-character and out-of-character reasons
for gathering, all the way to large multi-national trade shows
that can be used as recruitment and retention events.. This
essay shares the planning steps and best practices that have
been learned from (what feels like) a lifetime of running
events large and small.
To prepare for your event, you must first consider your position
on a grid, with one axis being player advocacy and the other scope.
Player advocacy is the degree to which player-characters will be
able to influence and change the world around them. Games
with little advocacy might be one-shot games with pre-gens
run at a trade show. The characters are free to take setting-
appropriate actions, but their choices will not have lasting
impact on the world beyond the night. Games with total
player advocacy might be a yearly convocation event that is
the culmination of player-character actions and machinations.
Running low-advocacy games allow you to focus on a specific
theme or story with a low chance of deviation or surprises.
High-advocacy games place the reigns in the hands of the
players and, while they might miss out on your carefully crafted
plans, can enable players to immerse themselves more deeply.
Scope is the range at which the event will take place within the
setting. On the other axis, games with small scope might be
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set in a single city block, fighting off hunters to try to make
it to the morning. Games with large scope may influence the
course of the entire game world as a whole.
Running a small-scope game allows you to focus on the details
of a setting, narrowing your focus to the events surrounding a
city block. Players may have more of an opportunity to see their
actions have immediate effect in a small-scope game. Large-
scope games involve more non-player-characters and influence
more of the setting itself, meaning that the player can have an
effect on the world itself, but represents a greater strain on the
Storyteller to make sure these effects occur through the prism
of the core setting and themes themselves.
Setting your place on these two axes define the type and amount
of work necessary to prepare for your upcoming game.
Please note, these scales and requirements are not absolute and
they are not immutable. They are intended to be a method to
plan your event. If you find the need to modify or reject their
guidance, then you are not making a mistake.
The Advocacy Scale:
• Low Advocacy – The Planned Event
Increased workload for the Storyteller
 repared non-player-characters and pre-generated player-
P
characters
Prepared interactions between all player-characters
Prepared central, branching storyline
Prepared learning curve for newer players
• High Advocacy – The Framework
Increased Storyteller presence to allow for unplanned
player actions.
 tory arcs ready/prepared with adaptation in response
S
to player actions.
Increased pre- and post-event work to prepare
Games with smaller advocacy require that you prepare goals,
behaviors, pre-game build-up, and rivalries. Games with high
39
 advocacy require that you paint with broad strokes, as it were,
creating the atmosphere that the player machinations move
within. The scope axis is similar, with smaller scope allowing
you to focus on shorter-term stories and quick payoff, while
large scope requires strict research on your chosen setting,
the background canon, and follow-through to ensure that the
changes to the setting are communicated to the affected games.
Once advocacy and scope have been determined, you will
have a firm idea of the areas in which you will need to focus.
Next you’ll need to determine is your expected attendance.
For trade-show games, this often can be estimated by games of
similar setting or ticket sales, and for yearly chronicle-unifying
games, you can estimate based on other similar events or
previous events. Getting an idea of possible attendance will
give you an idea of both necessary narrators as well as density
of stories available. You will want to keep a ratio of about 1
assistant narrator to every 10 to 15 players. This is a greater
number of helpers than a local game, but remember that these
larger games tend to be where players resolve their own plans
and strive for resolution of larger goals. You can also enlist
players who can be used as subject matter experts, ready to
assist other players with their questions.
Best Practice:
Large-scale or problematic combat scenes are often taken to
the side or to separate rooms, commonly called “killboxes.”
Allowing a killbox can prevent a combat scene from derailing
your event, especially if it occurs within your main play
space. If you decide to allow these at all, make sure you have
a team that is very familiar with the rules and empowered
to run a complex and potentially emotional scene as quickly
and fairly as possible.
Best Practice:
Identifying your staff will assist players in getting the help
they need. A bright-colored bandana tied on a costume
works well.
Next, you should consult your advocacy-scope scale to
determine the lead-in needs of your event. As much as you
and your team will spread the word amongst players, you
must also ensure that the characters are informed, enticed,
and motivated to attend. The biggest opportunities for lead-
in stories are the characters themselves and the history of
the chronicle. Don’t be afraid to talk to the players and ask
what their characters would be interested in. Just as in the
local games, often the histories written by the players for their
characters and the history of the chronicle itself are rich for
story aspects that maximize buy-in.
Once you have the Setting Style Document ready for players
to review, you can release it, barring any synchronization with
events running at the same time that need coordination.
40 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
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Remember that the Setting Style Document can be used as
its own tool to release information, and it can be updated
based on the setting and lead-in stories. Your Setting Style
Document should be where your scope, advocacy, and any
clarifications on actions, such as feeding, that players will need
to know are kept.
Best Practice:
Consider items that players will commonly ask about, such
as any feeding restrictions, permitted pre-cast rituals, or
limits on clans, when creating your Setting Style Document.
These provide not only an opportunity to allow your players
to get into game faster, but also a chance to enhance the
story and chosen themes. Blood shortages, unique effects,
and prepared responses to things like Contacts and Allies
can go quite a way towards setting the stage for an event.
For networked chronicles, one of the concerns is providing
lead-in stories to local Storytellers that give away sensitive
plot elements that need to remain secret. The urge will be
to withhold these elements from the local storytellers, but
put yourself in their shoes when the truth comes out. Any
Storyteller will want to be aware of the full ramifications of
the stories they agree to run. You can either be up-front that
aspects of the plot are missing or withheld, or you can release
the elements, understanding that there will be an amount of
information bleed.
You can also use a small duration and scope type of plot
kit called a “teaser.” These are often found in the form of
information distribution or limited data exchanges. Couriers
give out invitations, rumors spread, or posts appear on social
media regarding your upcoming event. Make sure to consider
using player-characters as the foci for these kits. Non-player-
characters are easier to plan for, but player-characters can have
a significant improvement in interest and dynamism going
into your event.
Best practice:
Sharing sensitive information with the local Storyteller
teams, despite the high risk that some of the story for your
event will the spoiled, is better than keeping information
from those same games. Often sharing some of the “secrets”
about an upcoming game with the players can also increase
player interest.
When preparing your lead-in stories and teaser plot kits,
consider all types of media to assist with your preparation.
In-game videos loaded to hosting sites (YouTube, Vimeo),
recorded sounds (YouTube, Soundcloud) or open documents
(Google Drive, Scribd), can have significant effect on the
interest in your event. Props at the event can also improve
immersion, from a ritual chalice to a crown or even a scepter
can assist with player focus and direction.
 Best Practice:
Designate a Stage Manager who can be assigned the
responsibility of coordinating props, set dressing, visual
themes, and even non-player-character blocking/timetables.
Best practice:
When using physical props, have item cards ready for players
to take instead of the item itself. These cards can detail any
information or mechanics associated with the prop and can
be destroyed after use in the case of single-use items.
Once the day of your event arrives, you will want to make sure
you have walked your event space, working out placement of
your props, furniture (if any), and NPC blocking (where they
will enter and where they will move). Make sure your players
know where to arrive and when you will begin your welcoming
announcements.
In your welcome announcements, you will want to cover
your event description (having flyers for this is a bonus), your
feeding methods, and how to interact with your Storytelling
staff at a minimum during your opening announcements.
Optionally you can point out your NPC players, identify your
player helpers, or share elements of the upcoming stories of
which the players should be aware.
Best Practice:
Designating a Storyteller staging area and table can help
both your team and your players to make sure everyone
knows where to go for more information. Helpers can stage
here by default so that players with questions can know
where to find help. You can have a list of storylines ready
for bored players and a computer or tablet ready for rules
review.
Throughout the evening, you will want to initiate your
planned stories, spreading them out to ensure you have a
smooth building to the climax and epilogue of the evening.
You should also have a number of spare unassigned stories
ready to deploy, to adjust and react to changes in the setting
and player reactiveness to the presented stories.
Best practice:
You can have an assortment of small story seeds that can be
used to engage players who are bored. The Storyteller who
takes the seed can fill in the rest of the details and work with
the player to craft a side story that is compelling.
When running larger games, reacting to players and pacing is
where many Storytellers have the majority of their issues. From
“railroading” stories that ignore player reactions altogether or
permitting the non-player-characters to take the focus away
from the players, the method that you use to implement stories
and how well that method reacts to player actions will define
Storyteller Secrets
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
the success of your event. You will want to make sure there
are enough stories to keep the players occupied, but ensure
that any stories that intrude into the main game space, force
characters to stop what they are doing, or keep the focus on
non-players stay direct, have a clear purpose, and return the
focus back to the players in a timely manner. It is very easy to
fall into the trap of allowing non-players to take center stage
given that their actions are directed and planned. Resist this
temptation, and accept that even if the carefully laid plans you
have worked on for months take a background role, allowing
your players to see their genre- and setting-appropriate actions
will result in a much higher player satisfaction.
Remember that the pacing of your stories is key here. A careful
review of Chapter Eight: Storytelling from MET: Vampire
The Masquerade and, in specific, Pacing of a Scenario (page
338) can assist you.
Of course none of this is to say that you are an order-taker who
is required to provide the result from any and all player-based
actions. One of the main roles of an event Storyteller is to
make decisions for what will meet the needs of your attending
players, even if that includes telling a player that her actions are
not suitable for the session. This issue can come up often with
combat scenes, or killboxes. These scenes can often add to
the tension and setting of your session, and they allow players
from different locations to play their characters through a
combat session. Be careful, though, that these combat scenes
do not take a disproportionate amount of resources away from
your players. It is perfectly acceptable to tell a player that her
killbox would take half the game away for hours while it is
resolved, and it cannot be run. The player may be dissatisfied,
but the game as a whole will not suffer for it.
Best practice:
Remember that your event will run on economies of
attention and cool. Players want their characters to have
more of the cool-economy (which is different to each
character) and there is only so much currency in the form of
Storyteller attention to go around.
It is almost a guarantee that something will go wrong during an
event. Your NPC staff will go off-script, players will completely
ignore your stories, a fight will break out (in or out of game),
or the host character won’t bother to show up. No matter what
goes wrong, the most important thing is to remember that the
players are watching you for their cues. If you become visibly
agitated and upset, the players will mirror your behaviors. If
you remain calm, adjust as needed, and keep the focus on
the player-characters, then the game will run smoothly. The
biggest thing to remember is that the game runs at the pace
you dictate. Players will push as much as they can for speed
and immediacy. Resist the urge to automatically accelerate
your behavior to match. It is much more effective to ask for
41
 a moment, consider your choices, explain your reasoning, and
then deliver a decision, than to give a quick answer that you
may regret later.
One of the last considerations for your event is the climax and
epilogue. Climax does not mean explosions or epic fights (but
those are not necessarily bad options), but is the payoff for the
characters attending. As much as having a demon burst forth
from the flooring is grand in scale, consider how much the
actions of the player-characters have impacted the game and
how much the players, as well as the characters, get to interact
during the event.
An effective climax is planned, but molded by the events
leading up to your event and the actions of the players at
the event. Consider the reveal of a player-character’s true
affiliations, the combination that leads to an understanding of
an upcoming adversary invasion, or the chill of discovery that
accompanies finding out that the players may have been on the
wrong side all along. These events are not explosive, but keep
the focus on the players and avoid locking your main room in
a narrated or mechanic-heavy event.
Whatever you choose, be prepared to run a wave of investigatory
challenges to find out more about the climax. Characters will
use oracular, occult, and plain investigation challenges to see
if they can be more informed than the common character.
Having responses for these ahead of time will save you time
and energy. Even in low-advocacy events, you will want to
make sure that the decisions the players make at the event have
a realistic impact on the outcome. Even if it means your plans
do not unfold as you envisioned, showing impact from player
actions can go a long way to improving satisfaction.
Best practice:
Players have become increasingly aware of tropes in all kinds
of media, including LARP. The ten o’clock monster is often
used negatively, but you can also use those expectations to
your advantage. You never want to make the players feel
foolish, but keeping what the players expect and, separately,
what the characters expect, in mind can help you with your
pacing.
Following the climax is the epilogue. Far from a time to slow
down, this is a time to maximize satisfaction for a range of
players who have not gone off to their own designs or are
lagging behind on their character goals. The last few hours of
your event will start to naturally slow in pace, allowing you to
focus on smaller groups of players. Make sure you have a few
small closed-ended stories to seed or lead in to events in the
future.
42 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)
Best Practice:
The epilogue is the perfect time to drop a few hints about
a later event, even those happening months later. You will
have to provide closure, but having a few outstanding
questions and unsolved mysteries can be a strong motivator
for players. Be prepared to handle investigation after the
event.
Immediately following your event, you will want to extend
your thanks to the volunteers who helped you. In addition
to the gracious thing to do, it will make it easier for you or
other Storytellers to get help for your events. If your gaming
organization provides benefits for service, make sure those
are turned in quickly. You will also have a number of after-
event reports to pass to the local and administrative Storyteller
groups in an ongoing chronicle setting. Again, finishing these
quickly will ensure that the ongoing chronicle runs smoothly
and your fellow Storytellers are not caught by surprise.
Running a large event can be one of the most stressful,
demanding, crazy, and rewarding experiences in a Storyteller’s
career. Despite the enormity of the task, remember than your
fellow players are your best resource. Designing your plan,
focusing on your players, adapting to events on-site, and
staying true to the themes of the source material will allow
you to craft a setting and a story that can keep players coming
back for more.
Rely on your community, your support network, and your
fellow players and you will have an event that will be talked
about at “afters” for years.
David Bounds is a member of several gaming organizations
and has run local and global events for the last 15 years. When
he is not running LARP events, he works in IT. David lives in
Atlanta with an old pug and the grumpiest cat in the world.
 Storyteller Secrets 43

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 A Guide to Encouraging Community Building
By Jess Heinig
Live-action game groups deal with all of the pitfalls that any
social group must confront, be it favoritism, rival cliques,
or competition for attention. Fortunately, game groups can
benefit from the same techniques that help other social groups
to thrive.
Players in live-action games don’t have to be enemies, nor
should they be. A game is a hobby and a craft, and players
should feel that they receive fulfillment from their investment
of time. It’s up to the organizers of games to develop the
structure that allows people to enjoy the game and feel that
their time is well-spent.
While many players believe that the most important way to
promote fun is to create a solid set of rules, rules alone cannot
tell you how to have fun. Following all of the rules for chess
will not guarantee a good time playing if your opponent is
abrasive, abusive, and determined to make sure that you don’t
enjoy yourself. By the same token, the rules of a live-action
game can’t protect players from participants who’ve decided
to treat other players as adversaries. That means that shutting
down bad behavior relies on the game community, and it’s up
to you, the organizer, to create that community.
The First Step
The earliest step in building a community is a simple one:
make friends! People naturally form social groups out of
families and friends. Groups that form around friendships
allow people to play the game from a position of mutual trust.
Without that trust, different groups become adversaries and
compete with each other for fun, for victories over each other,
and for the spotlight in the game.
Playing with friends affords the opportunity to engage in
reciprocity—the trading of favors in a constructive fashion.
Playing with people you trust means that you trust those
people to give you opportunities and to play with your fun
in mind, instead of treating you as a means to the end of
their personal entertainment. Playing with adversaries causes
negative reciprocity to appear: players attempt to cheat each
other, or try to take more play opportunities than they give,
because they don’t trust the other players to give them a
chance to enjoy themselves.
If you can’t make friends with the people with whom you’re
playing a game, why are you playing with them?
44 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
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Reciprocity: The Back-and-Forth
Reciprocity is the anthropological term for the trading of favors
and gifts among members of a community. In small groups,
people often engage in positive reciprocity, in which they give
gifts to each other because they have a vested interest in helping
other people out—the group as a whole benefits, and you never
know when you’ll need someone else’s help and approval. In
very large communities like cities, people engage in negative
reciprocity, in which they try to take advantage of one another
and then vanish before retribution comes to pass. Somewhere
in the middle lies neutral reciprocity, in which you give and get
in equal measure, because you need to at least be tolerable to
the people around you if you don’t want to be kicked out of
the community.
This concept features in live-action game groups because your
players are trading an important commodity: fun. Players
engage in a give-and-take of who will feature in the spotlight of
a given scene, and it’s up to you, the organizer, to decide who
to feature, when to shift the spotlight, and when to step in and
arbitrate a change of pacing.
More important than setting this pacing, though, is setting
a good example for your players. Instead of waiting for your
players to engage in reciprocity—letting them approach other
participants and ask, “Hey, do you want to be in this scene?”—
you need to promote this behavior. Tell your players in advance
that you want them to engage other players. Tell them that the
problems you’ve presented aren’t there to be solved alone. Tell
them to give other players a chance to shine and to ask for the
same favor in return!
Without guidance, the natural habit is for players to compete
for dramatic space. Everyone wants to snatch up as much fun
as they can have and nobody wants to trust anyone else to give
them that time to shine. Experienced players may have learned
that the give-and-take of gameplay works best when they bring
other people into their stories and everyone at the game has
a good time. After all, when other players have a good time,
they come back to play again, and that’s a key to a successful
chronicle. As a Storyteller, though, the burden falls upon
you to train other players into this behavior. Players will be
naturally suspicious of the motives of other players, especially
in antagonistic games like MET: Vampire The Masquerade.
Part of your job is to teach them that it’s acceptable to work
with other players even if that’s to further a story that works
against each other’s characters.
 That’s the point of talking about reciprocity. It’s not enough
just to set a game in motion and tell the players “These are
the rules and this is the setting.” You need to also give them
guidance in how they interact with each other, which means
setting expectations for behavior. Your players need to know
not only what not to do—“don’t be that guy”—but also what
they should do. That means reminding your players that they
should try playing well together, by giving each other leeway,
story hooks, and character time.
Some examples of ways to encourage this cooperation include:
• Reminding players that their characters should act as
mentors for other new characters. You can reinforce this
behavior by providing valuable social credit—status, boons,
positions, etc.—to players whose characters serve as mentors
to new characters.
• Encouraging players to talk to their characters’ competitors
and stage their antagonism beforehand. Instead of springing
a surprise on another player and relying on rules and traits
to resolve the conflict, have the players meet beforehand
and decide what kind of dispute they want to play out and
when they’re going to do it. This way, both players have
their opportunity to participate, without anyone having
the conflict “sprung” on them and derailing their evening’s
entertainment. As a Storyteller, you can promote this by
creating plotlines in which you invite players beforehand to
stake out how they want to participate via public discussions,
rather than managing lots of secret side-conversations. The
characters might not know what their enemies are doing, but
the players are working to build a story that’s satisfying to
everyone.
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• Working out ways to provide closure for characters
who’ve been in the story for a long time. Characters played
for an extremely long time amass so many resources that
their mere presence shuts out participation by other players.
It’s important to give other characters their chance to be
involved in the game, and that means encouraging very
powerful, very settled characters to step aside and let the new
blood play a part of the scene. You may meet with resistance
from the players of older characters about this, but when it’s
your game, it’s your opportunity to make sure that everyone
has a good time—not just the one player who’s played the
same character for ten years, amassed every possible power,
and dominates every scene in which she participates by
sheer weight of experience.
The Contested Resource:
The Economy of Cool
Almost everyone in a live-action game is competing for the
resources necessary to have fun. Different players enjoy
different aspects of the game, but most commonly, players want
to interact with other players, to take part in the story, to use
their characters’ abilities, and to feel like their participation
was meaningful. Players will chase this satisfaction by using
their character abilities and their own force of personality.
For some players, the contest for fun is a zero-sum game: “In
order for me to have fun, other players cannot.” This kind of
adversarial play will drive away other players who can’t find
or make their own opportunities. To overcome this, a game
community needs to focus on three principles.
45

Characters are Adversaries, Players are Not
Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade games often
focus on the politics of dysfunctional social systems—Kindred
engaged in cutthroat competition for blood, territory, and
influence. As a game organizer, it’s key to recognize that this
kind of adversarial relationship is in the context of the game,
not an excuse to play out rivalries between players. This means
that players should be encouraged to play out their rivalries
with the advice and consent of the rival. Making a secret plan to
overthrow the Prince of the city may satisfy the goal of “I want
to be Prince,” but approaching another player and working
out an idea for a conflict between the Prince and an upstart is
a means to satisfy the goal of “I want everyone to have a good
time.” If a player’s satisfaction comes solely through trumping
other players via rules mastery, this behavior will drive away
anyone who doesn’t approach the game the same way. For the
health of the game as a whole, it’s important to focus these
types of play in constructive directions rather than destructive
ones, by making sure that players always interact with the goal
of promoting enjoyment for everyone involved in their scenes,
not just for themselves.
A corollary to this principle is that organizers must be ready
and willing to eject players who are damaging the enjoyment
of the rest of the game. Adversarial players will eventually
drive out everyone but their own friends or people who are so
heavily invested in the game that they would rather have a bad
time than leave. This includes players whose only recourse is
escalation—pressing every dispute into a rules-moderated battle
to the death—and players whose excuse for bad behavior is “I
was just doing what my character would do!” These players
are placing the burden of reaction to their bad behavior on
everyone else in the game, and as the overseer of a game, it’s
your job to recognize that kind of antagonistic behavior and
put a stop to it.
Players Come in Many Forms
While many players simply want to enjoy participating in the
story and using their characters’ abilities, some players have
fun through other avenues. Costuming, pageantry, pursuit of
immersion, and playing against type are all equally valid ways
to pursue fun. Building a successful game community means
finding ways to foster those forms of engagement. Players need
to feel that their choices for entertainment are valid. This
task falls on the Storyteller, to make sure that these goals are
recognized.
Conversely, it’s important to establish what your game is not,
so that players don’t come to the game expecting something
that they’re not going to get, and so that they don’t try to
change the game in ways that might be difficult for other
players. Letting players know what they’re getting from the
game up front makes sure that the players who show up have
46 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade
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reasonable expectations. It also lets players know that if they
do something you don’t want in the game, they’re going to be
asked to change their behavior or find another game!
Learning what your players want goes back to another facet
of anthropology: observation. It’s fine to poll your players and
ask what kind of game they want to play, but keep in mind
that self-reporting is unreliable; players may feel pressured
to report with answers that they think are cool or socially
acceptable, or they may not recognize what they actually enjoy
and mistakenly report, or they may simply lie. (The latter case
is common among problem players, who will happily report
that they come to games for “story and camaraderie” when
they actually come to games to “defeat other players and prove
my superior rules mastery.”) Instead, you need to watch what
your players do, how they react, and to what stimuli their
characters respond. Don’t just throw out an antagonist and
then ask the players what they’re going to do. Listen in on
the players’ conversations and focus on what the characters
are trying to get or trying to avoid. Watch how they treat one
another and what abilities they use. Read their character
sheets and see where they’ve spent their points—chances are, if
a player’s spent a lot of points on something, the player wants
to use it. This is a lot of work, but nobody said that being a
Storyteller was going to be a gig that you could sleep through!
Once you have an idea of what interests a player, you can craft
story elements that will engage this player. This in turn helps
you to build your game community, because you can create
elements that will give every player a chance to engage in the
game. When no single player can monopolize the spotlight,
everyone has an incentive to give-and-take with the other
participants in order to share the chances to develop their
character stories and take part in the action.
Get ‘em Early
It’s easier to create a culture for a game community at the
outset than to change a community’s culture later. The
Storyteller organizing the game sets that tone through written
documents, announcements, and the choice of how to run
and enforce the game. Establish your desired gameplay
early; announce what you expect before you run a game,
write it down in a game charter, and create characters and
storylines designed to showcase what you want. If you wait
for the game to take off on its own, the players with the most
forceful personalities will shape the game culture, and they
will drive the game toward what they want. Once the players
have expectations about the game, it’s difficult to change those
expectations without alienating people.
If you build a culture early for a game, participants will
spread that culture to new players. The game will establish an
unwritten set of mores—behavioral codes—that are transmitted
by players interacting with new players. If your initial player
 base has absorbed the culture that you want, they’ll pass it
on to new players. If your player base has already fallen into
adversarial behaviors, they’ll pass that on too, probably to the
detriment of the game.
When you recruit new players, make sure to impart your game
culture to them early on. Your experienced players will do so
simply by helping them to make characters, bringing them
into the in-game social structures, and interacting with them
in play, but you can nail down your expectations by talking
to the new players when they first show up to join. Don’t just
send them off with a staffer to make characters and jump into
play; take a few minutes to explain your expectations about
how they should behave, and also about what they should
expect from your game. That way, they know that if the game
isn’t going the way you’ve explained it, they should speak up
instead of assuming that “it’s just how the game goes.” This
is especially important when a large contingent of new players
all show up at once. Groups like this will bring their own
dynamic and they can represent a large culture shift if they
bring their own style of play to the game. When a group shows
up, make sure to set aside time to deal with them en masse so
that you can give them all direction, rather than letting them
divert the style of your game based on their own assumptions.
Visitors present a special case for your game. Visitors to your
game may not understand your local game culture. Set out
your expectations early and make a priority of letting visitors
know what’s accepted and what’s not; otherwise, they may
bring bad habits from other games that disrupt your story.
Visitors are especially prone to falling into negative reciprocity
(as described previously), because what consequences will they
face? If several visitors show up, murder their way through the
characters in your story, and then leave that same night, never
to be seen again, there’s no consequence for their antisocial
behavior, but your game has to bear the brunt of it. You need
to set the expectations from the start that you won’t tolerate
that behavior from visitors, but conversely don’t let anyone
blame you when someone else behaves badly. The blame lies
with the offenders, and they should never get a pass simply by
pointing a finger at you and saying that it’s your fault for not
saying “no.”
The Ten O’Clock Monster
You’ve set down your expectations, explained to your players
what behaviors you consider constructive and what you
consider antagonistic, and familiarized yourself with your
players’ character records so that you can tell what they want
to be able to do. Unfortunately, you already have four different
cliques in the game, and they’re all scrapping for supremacy
(and for the chance to be at the head of the table when that
juicy, delicious plot arrives). How do you bring them together?
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Now it’s time to deploy a little bit of social psychology dressed
up as a game. In the famous Robbers Cave experiment, social
psychologist Muzafer Sherif brought two groups of young
boys to summer camp and gave them group identities and
bonding activities. When the two groups finally met, conflict
ensued; the groups competed for resources and established
separate identities, with name-calling, derogatory songs, and
flags to symbolize their claims to territory in the camp. Sherif
attempted several means to bring the groups together with
shared activities, but discovered that the groups only came
together once they had a superordinate goal—a goal that they
could only achieve by working together.
Enter the ten o’clock monster (or puzzle, or plot, or…). You can
bring your cliques together by pitting them against a problem
that they can only solve by working together. Naturally,
they’ll attempt all manner of clever solutions to get around
this—but if your Vampire: The Masquerade story involves
an enemy force that will ruin the city unless it’s confronted
with Thaumatugical rituals, hard-hitting Potence, and a lot
of Obfuscated spywork, your players will have no choice but
to go to various groups for the pieces of the puzzle (unless
there’s a player whose character has all of these powers, but
you already know that this is a problem, right?) Putting your
players in a position where they must work together to achieve
their goals isn’t just sensible. According to realistic conflict
theory, it’s the best (and possibly only) way to get them to
cooperate between groups.
Of course, there’s one final problem with this: You are then
a new antagonistic group. The players are pitted against you.
Fortunately, that’s your goal; you introduce the story, and the
players take it and run with it. As long as you’ve established
the basis of trust with your player group, they’ll accept that
your goal is to give everyone a good time, and they’ll chew up
the challenges that you craft while thanking you for it.
Vampires have no reason to trust each other—but their players
do. That trust, and the bond that allows the players to form
a mutually-satisfactory game, is more important than any
antagonism that should exist solely in the World of Darkness
and never slip over into the world of gaming.
Jesse Heinig is a long-time storyteller with experience as
a White Wolf developer, a video game designer, and a
LARP organizer. His current LARP focus is in bringing
interdisciplinary knowledge to live-action game design.
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 48 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)

 Proper Care & Feeding of the Undead
By Peter Woodworth
While Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade is
definitely a game, with all kinds of rules to help resolve disputes,
simulate supernatural abilities, and provide other ways to interact
with the fictional world of the story, it’s important to remember
that it’s also a theatrical experience as well. Some players shy
away from this aspect, saying things like “I’m no good at acting,”
but the reality is that you don’t have to be an ace actor to learn a
few tricks for getting in—and staying in—character.
Opening Ceremonies
There’s an old pre-show tradition, shared by many theatrical
troupes, where the company gets together to say a few things
immediately before the curtain rises: words of encouragement,
necessary reminders, some group bonding, etc. It’s a very good
habit for LARP troupes to develop too, as having a specific
game-on ritual helps get a game started right by organizing
players, distributing essential information, and then giving
participants a moment to focus on getting into character.
Step One: Gather the Players
Ask all the players to gather around: no exceptions. If anyone
is using the restroom, adjusting a costume, texting a friend,
getting a beverage, or is otherwise absent or multitasking, wait
for them to finish and join the group. Request that everyone
put away their phones, tablets, laptops, rule books, and other
distractions for just a couple of moments.
Step Two: Ask for Silence
Request that everyone be silent, and wait until everyone settles
down. It’s great for a game group to get together, and you’ll
probably want to let people socialize for a little bit so they’re
not tempted to break character later. This request for silence
signals that the pre-game time is over and gets players ready to
become immersed in the game.
Step Three: Ground Rules & Recap
Begin with a welcome and remind the players of the basic rules
of Mind’s Eye Theatre—not the nitty-gritty mechanics, but
the universal ones, like the no-touching rule. If your troupe
has its own house rules, including any owner’s requests or
safety concerns about the play area, this is the time to bring
those up as well. Try not to drag out this part, but make sure
everyone has the basics down, as even veteran players can get a
little lax after a while and might need a reminder.
Once the rules reinforcement is finished, this is also a good
time to briefly recap important events that have recently
happened in game (at least those that everyone knows about)
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and to spread any rumors, breaking news, or other common
information for the current session. Again, don’t draw this
out too long, or it will lose its impact, but make sure the
essentials are covered. You can even foreshadow events if you
like, though make sure you don’t ruin any plans the players are
working on in the process. Think of it as the “previously on”
opening of a long-running show, perhaps with a bit of a “next
time on” trailer, too. You can and should make it engaging,
but don’t make it so long that players lose track of everything.
Step Four: Ask Everyone to Close Their Eyes
Ask everyone to close their eyes for a few moments. Encourage
them not to peek. This technique is more effective if you don’t
inform the players why you want them to be quiet and close
their eyes. If you also use the Game-Off Ritual (see below),
this is a good time to ask players to call up the impression they
saved at the end of the last session.
Step Five: Set the Stage
Dim the lights, start the music, light the incense, and finish
making the game area ready. Ideally this space should be
mostly set up in advance, so that you just have to push a
couple of buttons and flip a few switches. There’s a surprising
dramatic payoff to closing your eyes on a normal room and
opening them to see a changed space.
Step Six: Call Out the Mortals
Now ask that everyone who is portraying a mortal—including
ghouls—open their eyes and look around. Remind them
of their differences compared to the vampire characters. A
sample speech is provided below, but as with anything else on
this list, feel free to customize it to suit your particular style:
“Look around you. Look at everyone who still has their eyes
closed. Look; look carefully. This is the only time that you
can look at them in relative safety: while they sleep. They are
vampires. You are not. They’re dead; you aren’t. You love
them, hate them, fear them, maybe even want to become one
of them—but you are not them. Not tonight. Tonight, your
heart still beats, your lungs still fill with air without conscious
thought, and your body knows the little aches and pains of
normal fatigue. Treasure this, or loathe it, but accept it, and
remember: you are mortals. Now please close your eyes again.”
Step: Seven: Remind the
Vampires of What They Are
Finally, speak to the vampire players. Again, a sample speech
is provided below:
49
 “Vampires...please open your eyes now, and look around.
Regardless of your clans, your goals, your hopes, rivalries, or
bitter hatreds, you all share one fundamental, inescapable
trait: you’re all vampires. And tonight, all of you—some earlier
or later than others, perhaps—opened your eyes suddenly and
looked around. Just like you did now. Right up until that
moment, and for many hours before it, you slept. You slept
like the dead, because you are dead. You have stepped outside
the normal rhythms of life and remain suspended somewhere
in the outer darkness. Your eyes don’t blink, your heart
doesn’t beat, your breath doesn’t steam in the chill night air,
not unless you will it. Look at the mortals: you resemble them,
but you aren’t them. Not anymore. They are alive, and you are
not. You are vampires.” <Pause> “Game on.”
Step Eight: Exit and Re-Enter
If you prefer to not launch immediately into play, one good
technique to help establish setting and get people into
character is to ask everyone to leave the play area and then
re-enter in character. (A host character or others who would
already be on site may remain, naturally.) This process allows
people to get any last-minute rules questions out of the way,
finish that last cigarette, tie up some between-game loose ends
with their fellow conspirators, and otherwise handle any out-
of-character matters out of sight, so that when they enter, they
are really stepping into a game-only space.
Hunting & Feeding
How characters obtain their Blood points provides one of
the biggest roleplaying opportunities. It’s often overlooked
in many games, and yet it is something that helps enhance
immersion. Incorporating story and character immersion into
the experience of feeding makes it a fascinating part of the
story, rather than simply a mechanical aspect of the rules, and
it goes a long way to remind the players exactly what kind of
monsters they are portraying.
Make Blood Points Real
One simple, but surprisingly effective, way to remind players
that Blood points are not an abstract “power source,” but
instead represent the real lifeblood of a person or animal, is
to use some sort of token to represent them. Small glass beads
are cheap and available at most craft stores, and they can be
pocketed easily in most costumes; alternatively, raffle tickets
or small index cards can be carried anyplace that will hold a
character sheet. If there are concerns about players cheating,
rotating through different color tokens, having a Storyteller
sign them, or other simple measures are generally sufficient to
discourage abuse.
Whenever a player spends Blood points, they should hand
the beads to a staff member or tear up the papers, giving the
process a real physical cost they can feel. After all, it’s one
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thing to know in an abstract sense that you started the night
with 9 Blood points and now have 3; it’s quite another to
watch your supply actually dwindle in your hands!
Hunting During Play
A standard feeding interlude is 15 minutes, during which the
player is considered out of game while their character hunts
for suitable prey. This is a lot of time when weighed against
the length of an average play session, and if not properly
utilized, such a long interlude can actually be a a momentum-
killer. Fortunately, with a little preparation, it can also be used
to really help players imagine what their characters are doing.
When a player chooses to have her character feed during play,
it’s best to have her check in with a staff member to report
the activity for rules purposes and then move to a designated
out-of-game space while they wait. Once they’re there, let the
player take a few minutes to relax and perhaps tend to a few
out-of-character needs like using the restroom, checking her
phone, or grabbing a snack. LARP can be tiring, after all,
particularly during long sessions, and allowing players to use
this pause as a chance for a quick break is a great idea.
However, before the player comes back into game, help them
imagine the feeding experience and also get them back into
character. Leave some index cards or a notepad and pen in the
out-of-game area, and ask the player to jot down a few basics
of her hunting scene:
• Where did she go?
• On whom did she feed?
• Name one other notable thing the vampire remembers
from the hunt.
A few words or a brief sentence will suffice for each question;
just encourage players to be specific. “Out; some guy; he
was tall,” is perhaps a bit too vague for this sort of exercise;
compare those answers to the still-succinct, “McGillan’s
Pub; cute blonde; in her old Camaro,” which is much more
evocative without having many more words. (If players desire
secrecy for these notes, envelopes can be provided, or the
entries taped shut for staff to open later.) These details cannot
have mechanical effects—the vampire can’t name another
character’s Contact as her target and drain it dry, for instance—
but they are intended to make the time spent feeding feel less
like a “time out” and more of a roleplaying experience.
As a note, while using these moments to build a real,
immersive world is good, it’s important that staff members
not use the information on these cards to penalize a character,
unless someone invokes the appropriate downtime mechanics
or other rules to do so. Players are asked to be creative and
 evocative in these moments; if they are used against them
without good cause, they’ll simply stop doing it, or give vague,
defensive answers. So as tempting as it might be to decide
that the new chief of police lost his daughter to a “mugging”
behind McGillan’s Pub, thus putting that character in the
hot seat, it’s probably best to not create such obstacles for the
character, or the players are going to feel a bit betrayed for just
following instructions.
The point is to make the moment of feeding feel real, regardless
of whether the character is stalking a target, breaking into a
blood bank, or doing something else entirely.
Putting a Face on Herd
It’s important to remember that the Herd background
represents a relationship that the vampire regularly exploits for
her own benefit in a very intimate and physical way. In order
for the player to really feel that connection, it’s important to
take steps to flesh out and define exactly what those victims
look like—and make no mistake, they are victims, the willing
ones perhaps most of all.
The simplest way to add details to a Herd is to ask the player
to get a set of index cards, at least one per dot of Herd. For
each dot, write down the player’s name and then attach a
picture representing someone related to her Herd. (A simple
image search will turn up a wealth of available photos to use
for this exercise.) After there’s a face attached to it, give that
person a name, or failing that, a simple description like “bored
socialite” or “drunk beneath the Passayunk Avenue Bridge,”
which the player can use to remember the victim. Leave plenty
of space after adding the picture and the name, however—more
will be coming.
Place these cards on the Storyteller table at the beginning
of each session, and every time a vampire with the Herd
background wishes to refresh her Blood points during play,
she must choose one of these cards to represent her convenient
victim. These are not true NPCs and don’t normally require
mechanics, but if it becomes important for some reason,
any individual in the Herd counts as being a Rating 1 Stock
NPC. Even if a vampire has 5 dots of Herd, no one member
of the Herd is particularly talented or useful—if they want
such capable followers among their feeding stock, they must
purchase other Backgrounds, such as Allies, to reflect those
exceptional individuals.
During the 15-minute break required to use Herd for feeding,
the player should write one new fact she’s learned about her
victim on the card. It needn’t be elaborate or mysterious—
always puts on Vivaldi before I feed” is just as good, if not
better than, “bears a mysterious tattoo on his lower back
perhaps signifying membership in an occult society” when it
comes to humanizing a victim. Note that these facts cannot
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simulate skills or backgrounds that have not been purchased
through other means, nor can they be used to take downtime
actions or have other mechanical game effects without also
using the appropriate rules for such situations. It’s also worth
noting how the experience goes if the character has any flaws
or other qualities that result in Beast Traits for the vampire or
in exceptional pain or other effects for the victim—this is an
excellent way to make sure the character feels the full brunt of
those drawbacks, rather than simply shuffling them off to the
side most of the time.
As time goes by and the vampire feeds more and more, she will
come to know these victims and have a sense of an ongoing
relationship—even if the mortal is a hapless cultist only too
glad to give up his blood to his dark master, learning that he
also has college loans to pay off and an addiction to bad sci-
fi paperbacks makes him a compelling small character. He’s
not just a faceless source of blood, he’s a person. This sort of
attachment makes actions that damage or destroy a vampire’s
Herd rating that much more personal in her aggression—
watching the cards she’s developed over time be taken away,
along with dots of Herd lost, is an excellent way to provoke
feelings of violation, outrage, and fury that such assaults would
stir up in a vampiric heart.
In most cases, these cards will represent individuals from
whom the vampire directly feeds, though if their Herd
background represents something like access to a blood bank,
animal shelter, or other unusual source, it might represent
security guards, receptionists, volunteers, or other mortals she
encounters (or avoids) while making use of the location. Or,
with Storyteller permission, the player could use a picture of
the location itself and add facts about it and its operation;
this is less effective for putting a face on the feeding process,
but does give the player a strong sense of territoriality and
familiarity that can serve a similar purpose for this exercise.
So long as she’s getting attached to her Herd, then it’s working
the way it’s intended.
Players will inevitably ask if they can toss aside a Herd member
card and start a new one. The answer, of course, is certainly—
they simply have to describe on the card why the old Herd
member is no longer one of their victims and give it to the staff,
along with the new replacement. Even then, actually having to
discard a “person” a player has developed on a card and may
have knowledge of or ties to is far different from simply stating
mechanical changes to a character sheet.
Beast Traits & Frenzy
Roleplaying a character’s struggle to master the Beast—or at
least not lose herself to her primal side—is a major part of the
Vampire: The Masquerade experience, and thus deserves
some special attention. Many players find it challenging to give
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 up control of their characters, perceiving Beast Traits and the
frenzies that accompany them as a break in roleplaying rather
than a chance to accentuate it. The following techniques
should help remedy that situation, turning the slide toward
the Beast into a unique and memorable experience that hooks
directly into a player’s roleplaying.
And All the Pieces Matter
Each time a character gains a Beast Trait during play, she’s
sliding a little closer to the edge of doing something truly
terrible—the mask of humanity, of rationality, that she has
is slipping away and revealing the Beast lurking underneath.
One way to effectively convey is to develop a particular
habit or mannerism that your character only demonstrates
when she has acquired Beast Traits, one that becomes more
pronounced as the numbers of traits rise. Think of it as a
coping mechanism, if you will, an outward expression of the
turmoil brewing in your character’s undead heart.
For example, one common but very effective “tell” of Beast
Trait accumulation is growling and snarling in a feral,
animalistic fashion. At 1 Beast Trait, this behavior might
be barely noticeable: a low growl at the end of a sentence,
perhaps, or a slight snarl when addressing a rival. At 3 Beast
Traits, the character might be growling and snarling almost
continuously, softly sometimes but increasingly loudly as she
goes on, perhaps even to the point where it interferes with
speech unless she takes a moment to focus on what she’s
saying. At 5 Beast Traits—assuming she doesn’t enter frenzy,
which is a very near thing—the character is capable of very little
speech, having reverted almost entirely to savage growling,
hissing, and snarling to communicate.
It’s important to remember that this mannerism or “tell”
doesn’t have to be something so feral, of course. A few
years ago, I saw a very good representation of this concept.
A Ventrue player was the very image of the clan stereotype:
neat suit, perfect hair, commanding smile—a modern big shot.
You could always tell when his Beast started rearing its head,
because he would reach into his pocket, take out a coin, and
start flipping it. The more often he flipped it, or the more he
grabbed it out of the air with anger, told you exactly how close
he was coming to his breaking point. It was a wonderful tell,
because it was still very much in keeping with his character,
and yet it also gave him a way to express how close his Beast
was rising to the surface.
And when he put the coin away again, well, you knew all that
stress was about to go away.
One way or another.
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The Mask and the Monster:
Making Frenzy Real
Playing a character in the grip of frenzy is another challenge,
and one that many players shy away from—they see it as a loss
of control, but that’s only partially correct. The character
has lost control, true, and some options are limited in terms
of what the character can do, but the player still gets to use
this moment as an opportunity to put her own spin on the
situation. After all, going out of control is a wonderful excuse
for a character to indulge some of her darkest desires and lash
out at their enemies.
One useful technique to help players get into the mindset of
frenzy—as well as signal to other nearby characters that the
frenzying vampire is out of control—is to use “frenzy masks.”
These are not actual in-game items, just simple masks that
players put on as an out-of-character signal that their characters
have entered frenzy. The exact style of mask doesn’t really
matter—it can be a plain domino mask, a simple surgical mask,
a full hockey mask, or other style of mask, so long as it’s easy
keep on hand during play.
It may not seem like much, but psychologically even a simple
mask adds a layer of disconnect from on the action, allowing
the player to distance the actions taken during frenzy from
how she normally feels about her character, and to heighten
the sense of “it wasn’t me, the Beast took over” when the
frenzy subsides. It also has the added benefit of dehumanizing
the frenzying character for others around her—they no longer
see the vampire they know, but something else instead.
This practice can take a little getting used to, but it can help
players sharply mark the distinction between the vampires
and their Beasts. Of course, if players are interested in making
their own frenzy masks, that prop can add a very personal and
engaging twist to this practice. Some players may even become
fond of the time they spend behind the mask. After all, the more
time you spend behind a mask, the more it comes to fit you….
Game-Off Ritual
One commonly overlooked part of encouraging good
roleplaying is the ending moment. All too often a game will
simply cut off, which can make for a rough transition back to
reality and leave players feeling like the story was arbitrarily
cut off, rather than reaching a more natural conclusion.
Sometimes this can’t be helped, of course, but whenever
possible it’s a good idea to have a game-off ritual.
Step One: Gather the Players
Just like the beginning, call everyone together. No cell phones,
no removing makeup, no last-minute tests: just bring everyone
together for a few minutes.

Step Two: Share Stories and Wrap Up
Once everyone’s together, it’s a good time to share some
stories—so long as they don’t spill any secrets people wanted
kept under wraps—and perhaps even narrate some off-screen
action to foreshadow coming events, show consequences, or
tie up loose ends. Encourage people to share funny moments,
revel in a good dramatic twist, or otherwise bring up what
made the session special. Keep it moving, but give anyone who
wants a chance to chip in.
Step Three: Spend a Final
Moment In Character
Once everyone has shared stories and decompressed a little
bit, ask them to quiet down and close their eyes again for just
a moment. Tell them to focus on where their characters were
at the end of the night—how they were feeling, what they were
planning, what they gained, and what they lost. Let them fix
those impressions in their minds, develop them as clearly as
they can so they can easily recall them next time, and then tell
everyone to exhale slowly and open their eyes again. Game off.
Step Four: Thank You and Clean Up
This is also a good time to thank everyone for coming out
and playing, as well as thank the hosts for providing a game
space (where applicable). If there are special post-game cleanup
instructions, make sure to share those too—hosting is a tiring
task, but it should never be a thankless one!
suggestions, but don’t like others, feel free to toss what doesn’t
work and go with what inspires you. For that matter, if these
ideas don’t work at all, but inspire something totally different
that encourages strong roleplaying, go for it! The point is to
find ways to enhance the experience for everyone—and if you
make that effort, you’ll find it pays off handsomely in the long
run for everyone at your game.
Peter Woodworth is a New Jersey native and resides there
still, happily teaching English at a small local college. He is
the author of the Dead Heroes survival horror trilogy, and his
short fiction has appeared in anthologies such as The Ministry
Initiative, Gimme Shelter, and The Lost, as well as on websites
such as Terrible Minds and 365 Tomorrows. Working for
White Wolf, Evil Hat, Eschaton Media and others, he has also
written a stack of roleplaying books for both tabletop and live-
action play, most notably serving as a writer and developer
for White Wolf’s legendary Mind’s Eye Theatre line. He even
enjoyed working as a rock journalist until his newspaper
finally caught on that most newspaper readers are over 50 and
do not know or care about Flogging Molly. When he isn’t
grading papers or writing novels, he reads a lot, runs too many
RPGs, is seriously addicted to Fantasy Flight board games, and
LARPs whenever he can swing it. You can find him online at
peterwoodworth.com.

Moving Forward
It might seem odd to spend as much time on starting and
ending the game sessions as you do on game mechanics like
feeding and frenzy, but on closer examination, it makes sense.
With all the emphasis on rules, tests, and other mechanics,
it can be a little too easy to think in terms of numbers and
forget that the game is also about creating a real, dramatic
environment where everyone can immerse themselves in their
characters.

One of the best ways to encourage immersion is to create

that environment by having a structured process for starting
and ending the game in order to encourage the sort of
focus that roleplaying requires. By adding roleplaying and
character development elements to moments normally ruled
by mechanics, such as feeding and frenzy, you allow players
to recognize those mechanics as a chance to move their
roleplaying forward rather than set it aside while they resolve
the rules involved.

Ultimately every gaming troupe is different, and what works

for one might not fit well for another. If you like some of these

Storyteller Secrets 53

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 54 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

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 “Yes, and…”How to Improve Your Storytelling
Through Application of the Rules of Improv
By Jimmy Reckitt
The title “Storyteller” is something of a misnomer. After
all, though the writing of the story is certainly within your
purview, in the course of your duties, you’re really working
with the other participants to direct it. If you were solely in
charge of the actors, you would be doing theater and not
LARP, and you’d be a director and not a Storyteller. It’s a bit
of nomenclatural irony that Storytellers provide direction, and
directors dictate stories.
That’s not to say that one tradition can’t borrow from the other.
Indeed, LARP has much in common with improvisational
theater, where the stories portrayed are the product of
everyone acting out their characters. And just as LARP has
rules to resolve disputes and keep the action moving, there are
some commonly upheld rules of thumb for improv that keep
things moving in a positive direction as well. By applying some
of these rules to your storytelling style, you can avoid some of
the common storytelling pitfalls and even enhance the flow of
creative energy within your game.
Rule 1: Don’t Deny
Avoiding the practice of denial is perhaps the most important
rule of improv. It’s defined as the act of negating the direction
of a participant by declining their attempt to advance story.
When denial happens, it runs the risk of depleting the creative
energy of the scene, as participants have to work to re-engage
themselves. This can lead to prolonged and awkward pauses,
which disrupt the flow of things until story resumes.
Keeping a positive flow is important in LARP as well. It helps
make the experience more immersive and more enjoyable for
all participants. And while it’s certainly important that players
do their best to avoid denying one another, it’s also important
for Storytellers to avoid denying their players. However, the
typical Storyteller isn’t always aware of the ways the players are
being denied.
Perhaps the most direct form of denial comes in the form of
mechanics. It’s the Storyteller’s job to uphold the rules, and
in the course of action rules calls can be disruptive to creative
flow. Here are some examples:
• “That just wouldn’t work.”
• “Your contact doesn’t know anything.”
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• “The elder isn’t available tonight.”
• “You cast the ritual—nothing happens.”
While these occurrences may be necessary and/or true,
these sorts of answers deny the actions of the players without
offering any new avenues to pursue or giving anything
meaningful to react to in character. This is very frustrating to
players (especially the new ones!), and it can lead to breaks in
the action, which in turn detract from the mood of the game.
Avoiding these moments is important to help keep everyone
engaged and focused on their actions.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t tell players no.
Sometimes whatever the players are trying simply wouldn’t
work, or the circumstances of the scene or the story are
such that the players wouldn’t succeed. From a storytelling
perspective, this is perfectly acceptable, and in some instances,
it can add to the scene.
When you have to tell a player no, try to give them something
else. Offer them context and additional structure in a way that
adds to roleplay, helping them steer the game back on track.
This is an application of “yes, and…”—the famous rule of
improv theater. Following this practice helps keeps the players
engaged in the game and increases their feeling of agency.
Here are some examples:
• “That course of action isn’t going to work. However, I see your
PC has a number of levels of the Science skill. It occurs to you
that it might work to try….”
• “ You reach out to your contact in the shipping industry, relaying
the details of the antiquities shipment the Prince is looking for.
A few minutes later, you receive an email—no one at the port
authority seems to know anything. Strangely, there hasn’t been
a vessel from Cairo in weeks.”
• “ You send a text message to your mentor’s ghoul, asking for a
visit to seek her council. ’The elder isn’t available tonight’, is
the reply you receive. The ghoul’s reply strikes you as unusually
curt—perhaps there’s a reason for it?”
• “ You begin the invocation for Illuminate the Trail of Prey,
focusing intently on the photograph of the mysterious stranger.
55
 As you reach the ritual’s completion, nothing happens.
Uncertainty begins to creep in. What manner of creature can
avoid Thaumaturgical pursuit?”
It’s also possible to deny players with NPCs in a variety of ways.
Sometimes players will want to get rough with NPCs vital to the
story or act out against NPCs you want them to respect. While
certainly frustrating, you may feel tempted to bring them to heel
forcefully, making the NPCs more powerful such that they can
resist or even domineer over the PCs.
This is another form of denial. While the Storyteller is certainly
under no obligation to make every encounter for the PCs a
walk in the park, it’s important to allow the PCs to interact
with NPCs in ways that allow them to feel that they have an
active role in the story, and avoid attempting to negate their
actions so directly. Just as the players respect your storytelling,
so too should you respect the agency of their characters in
creating their own stories.
Enjoying some degree of power is an important theme
of portraying a vampire and part of what makes them so
appealing. While the cliché goes, “There’s always something
bigger than you in the World of Darkness,” the mystique and
superiority of being a vampire quickly fades if every homeless
person the players feed on is suddenly a werewolf. For that
reason, consider giving the PCs some leeway. On most
nights, there’s nothing wrong with letting the PCs Dominate
and Presence their way out of speeding tickets and past club
bouncers, and should they beat on the occasional vagrant get
hit in the head with Puissance, well…these things happen.
While it seems permissive to let players finesse or brute force
their way through most conflicts, it serves to make those
moments where the story asserts itself with tougher challenges
and stronger foes that much more horrifying and compelling
for the participants. But until those moments come along,
avoid making the NPCs unstoppable.
To that end, it’s important not to deny with your NPC
portrayals as well. While antagonists are certainly an exception,
it’s no fun for PCs to constantly interact with characters
who remain stoic and flat despite their attempts to interact.
This is especially true of ordinary or stock NPCs, the flat
characters that serve a specialized role, such as a limo driver
or convenience store clerk. If the PCs are looking to push the
local snitch around, let them! Whenever possible, allow for
the personalities of the NPCs to be influenced and defined
by the PCs’ actions, and consider that the dynamic Storyteller
can advance a plot by building upon the actions of the players.
This is another application of the improv rule “yes, and….”
Denial can come into play in other ways. Throughout the
course of gameplay, players will often dream up complex or
perhaps fantastical solutions to the problems they face, which
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to the Storyteller will seem implausible. When that happens, it
can be tempting to outright deny the players, dismissing their
actions as impossible without allowing them to play out. This is
a very frustrating form of denial for the players, especially when
they’ve put time and effort into their planning. While not every
scheme on the part of the players should be hand-waved to
a successful outcome, finding ways to work with your players
instead of refusing them can help maintain a positive energy.
A great way to do this is by allowing the players to make the
attempt at whatever it is that they’re trying and integrating
the attempt into the story. If for example, the players were
looking to pay off a Giovanni loan shark by robbing a bank
after hours (with no plausible means of doing so), let them
make their attempt. While you may not be able to allow them
to achieve their goal outright, seek to keep them engaged
through narrative. With a little creativity, their attempt can
help advance the story.
For example, “The Dominated security guard opens the front
door, and the first part of your plan is successful. You’re led
past the row of kiosks and through a door into the back area.
Stopping at the vault door, the guard gestures. ‘That’ll open
at 6 a.m.,’ he explains. Standing there, with over a ton of steel
blocking your path, it occurs to you how upset Don Michael
gets when he’s kept waiting. As you ponder what he might do
to you, you receive a text message. ‘DON’T BE LATE,’ says an
unknown number.”
Ultimately, the good Storyteller is a nimble one. She finds ways
to work with her players and support their actions, and finds
ways to roll with the punches when they engage the storyline
in unforeseen ways. By taking care not to deny, the players stay
engaged, and the positive energies flow.
Rule 2:
Avoid Open-Ended Questions
Imagine walking into a scene with no script, preparation, or
background, and suddenly having the burden of maintaining the
dialogue placed upon you. You’d likely find it very difficult. It’s
already challenging to be creative in the span of a few seconds,
and it’s immensely difficult with nothing with which to work.
Now imagine you sat down at a restaurant and were simply asked
what you wanted to eat, instead of being shown a menu. You’d
likely find that a difficult decision as well. You’d have no idea
what the chef was prepared to make or what ingredients were
on hand. Perhaps you could name something that the kitchen
could prepare, but it probably wouldn’t be the house special.
These are difficulties that happen when asking questions that
are too open, another improv taboo. Whereas freedom of
 choice is a good thing, open-ended questions offer no context
as to how to proceed or what sort of answer might lead to
more story. They’re also create a strong sense of pressure and
can disturb the flow of a scene by placing all of the onus on
one party as to what happens next. In a game environment, we
often do this to one another without realizing it.
Some examples:
• Player: “What’s going on with my influences?”
•P
 layer: “What does my clan’s elder want me to do tonight?”
• Storyteller: “Where are you holding Elysium?”
• Storyteller: “What are your characters doing tonight?”
A great way to avoid this issue is to ask for and offer structure
as part of your questions whenever possible. This involves
giving some background or a set of parameters to help the
other party answer your question. As a Storyteller, you’re
justified in asking for some structure from your players, just as
they should from you. These questions engage the other party,
the better for the two of you construct a story.
For example,
• Player: “What’s going on with my influences?”
• S toryteller: “They’re working people, so they’ve got a lot going
on. They do call you from time to time with various deals and
opportunities. Let’s go through your list together, and maybe you
could tell me about your relationship with each of them?
…and…
• Player: “What’s happening in the city tonight?”
• Storyteller: “The city remains a busy place after sundown. But
what’s happening depends a lot on perspective. Is your character
looking for entertainment, or for profit, or maybe for ways to get
into trouble?”
Another great way for Storytellers to offer structure is to
summarize the events leading up to the present moment. This
practice can help remind the players of the points that led
them to their current choice, as well as adding drama and
meaning to the current choice.
For example:
• S toryteller: “In the wake of last week’s hunter attack, you’ve
gotten the distinct impression that the Prince is in no mood for
another disruption and considers privacy and security essential
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for the next gathering place. However, a number of Toreador
dignitaries are rumored to be passing through town and are
likely to scoff at a location with a Spartan aesthetic. As the
Keeper of Elysium, the choice of location falls to you. Where do
you hold Elysium?”
In the case of more immediate choices, Storytellers can avoid
an open-ended question by setting the mood as part of their
question.
• S toryteller: “The mood in the city is light and festive. The
evening air is uncharacteristically lively, and a surprise upset
earlier in the evening has earned the [local sports team] a
playoff spot. The rack is packed and lively. Where are you as
the evening begins?”
Rule 3:
You don’t have to be funny epic!
In improvisational theater, it’s understood that sometimes
putting too much effort into being funny can have the opposite
effect. It can be difficult enough to keep a scene progressing,
and the added pressure of trying to set up jokes can be too
encumbering for even skilled performers. While everyone
certainly wants to be funny, it’s understood that humor
is something that’s going to happen as a result of everyone
playing their parts.
In a LARP environment, while the players aren’t necessarily
looking to be funny, they are looking to have a compelling and
immersive experience. For the Storyteller, it can be especially
tempting to craft especially epic plotlines to help make stories
meaningful. As a story evolves, it’s very common for threat
levels to escalate. Eventually, you may find the players working
together to save the world, a sure sign that things have gone
too far.
This escalation is something you want to avoid. Epic stories
can certainly be entertaining. They’re useful for keeping
players engaged, and they’re great for intensity. However, it’s
not necessary to keep your players engaged. While some degree
of scale and grandiosity can serve as a great tool in many
situations, ultimately, the players will find ways to make their
struggles meaningful and dramatic on their own. Attempting
to add additional depth to stories by making them too epic
can actually be counter-productive to story.
One reason for this is that stories that are too grandiose are
often too morally polarizing. After all, if the future of the world
is at stake, it’s pretty easy to categorize everyone as either a
good guy or a bad guy. When that happens, many of the moral
shades of gray, which are so important to Vampire canon,
are lost. The PCs will tend to follow predictable patterns
57
 of behavior, working to prevent the end of the world. Over
time, the PCs will become conditioned to act as superheroes,
unlikely to initiate story or conflict on their own, lying in wait
between adventures for their next epic struggle to begin.
Plots that are too epic also tend to de-emphasize the characters.
If the external threat is strong enough, lesser conflicts will fall
to the wayside while the players unite to deal with the threat.
Differences in ideologies, after all, tend not to matter very
much when the city stands to be destroyed. Against a common
foe, fights over shared resources seem petty by comparison,
and conflicts between players are often suspended. Player goals
and backgrounds are easily overshadowed as well. Pursuing
tangential or personal objectives becomes immensely
difficult when the urgency of the main plot is so high. This
is unfortunate, as it’s often these lesser stories that provide
contrast to make larger plots more interesting.
Keeping external conflicts small helps keep the focus on the
characters. By allowing players some leeway to pursue their
individual stories, they better establish their own unique
motivation. This brings depth to their characters and
ultimately adds meaning to larger conflicts.
When beginning plots, consider the following:
• I s the plot hook too large? Plots that begin with
immediate and pressing “trouble in the city,” such as
bomb detonations and Masquerade threats, tend to pull
everyone away from whatever they’re doing. Consider a
less-direct means of introducing things. Maybe the players
could come across plans for a bomb or catch wind of an
upcoming press conference?
•A
 re the NPCs involved the right size? It’s easy to paint
oneself into a corner when using too large of an NPC,
such as a injecting a Justicar or Cardinal into the story.
Introducing a high-level NPC leaves the Storyteller very
little room to escalate or backtrack if the plot demands
it. Archons and Templars can carry the authority of their
employer and are much more disposable. Consider one
instead.
•A
 re you using the right quantity of NPCs? If, for
example, the Storyteller wishes to use werewolves as
chronicle antagonists, it would be much more in-depth to
create a single well-established pack, complete with names
and histories, than to use a nearby city with a nebulous
lupine population.
Naturally, some degree of intensity can be very compelling
to players, so allow them some time to cool down after a
particularly intense plot is resolved. This may involve a
game session or two of lower activity to allow their repressed
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impulses, goals, and conflicts to come to the surface. Rather
than ushering the PCs to their next adventure, consider the
following:
• Allow the conventions of sect life to take center stage for
a little while. These are great times for Princes to hold
formal court and give speeches and for Archbishops to
give sermons and conduct city-wide vaulderie. This time
gives the players an opportunity to jockey for position
and for conflicts to form.
• Shift your focus to personal plots and downtime-related
actions. Some of the more important themes of being a
vampire are seldom explored, such as how the PCs feed
regularly and the sort of havens they’ve made.
• Allow the city to react to large-scale events. This reaction
can take the form of an increased police presence or
a change in the overall mood of a city as it reacts to a
disruption.
Remember, you don’t need to make big stories for the players
to feel important. Any plot is ultimately a series of integrated
choices, and your players will communicate the stories they
wish to be a part of through the actions of their characters.
Knowing when to stand back and allow those to happen can
lead to a truly immersive experience.
Rule 4: You Can Look Good if
You Make Your Players Look Good
LARP is like theater in that its participants often relish
their time in the spotlight. This circumstance often leads
to players competing for the opportunity to participate in
plots, sometimes at the expense of others. Likewise, it can be
tempting to advance the story at the expense of the players,
pushing along a course of events in spite of their actions.
However, in all cases, nobody looks good if there isn’t some
degree of give and take.
Fortunately, the opposite is true. As a Storyteller, while the
plots you write are important, they’ll appear all the more
impressive the more you can help your players shine. By
creating scenarios that allow the participants to succeed based
on the qualities of their characters, you give your players a
heightened sense of accomplishment and involvement.
One way to achieve this feeling is by finding ways to reward
the players for the areas of expertise they’ve chosen for their
PCs. Certainly, every character is unique, and characters are
often uniquely defined by their aptitudes and interests. As a
Storyteller, you have the opportunity to create scenarios that
bring those aptitudes into play. By reinforcing those areas
 where the PCs are exceptional, your players will feel rewarded
for their choices and feel a greater sense of agency within the
game. There are a variety of ways to go about this.
In storytelling, narrative description is a useful tool, and changing
the way you describe scenes to players is a great way to reward
characters who have chosen mental abilities. For example:
• The Investigation skill allows players to automatically detect
weapons when they use their action to scrutinize someone.
Considering going beyond this, offering additional
physical clues and potential avenues of exploration in
scenes to those PCs who are especially adept.
• The Awareness skill touches upon the supernatural. Set
aside a few minutes and work with a player to determine
how this manifests itself, whether it’s a tinge in their spine
or a stomach ache. Instead of saying, “Your Awareness
skill goes off,” describe the stimulus to them (“You feel
a tingle behind your ears”). This description can be a
subtle means of letting a single player know what’s going
on without alerting the group.
• Fields such as Science, Academics, and Lore represent
a great deal of study. Pointing out opportunities to
use these skills to understand what’s going on can be
especially helpful to those PCs who may not have the
same expertise out of character. This can be as simple as
asking, “Is anyone specialized in…?”
Storytellers can also highlight and reinforce the unique social
qualities of PCs through their NPCs. Just as relationships
differ from one person to the next, endeavor to have your
NPCs interact with each PC in a different way. If a PC wants
to be a Toreador seducer, a Gangrel bully, or a Ventrue
businessman, treat them accordingly! Supporting their core
concepts through roleplay is very validating, and it works in
accordance with the rule of “yes, and….”
For example:
• The Empathy skill involves the ability to connect with
others. Where appropriate, allow NPCs to act more open
and accommodating to those PCs with higher levels of
this skill.
• PCs with high Intimidation are not typically attacked by
low-level NPCs. Give them a little extra mileage for their
skill selection by having NPCs give them a wide berth.
• The Subterfuge ability covers deceit. Allow your PCs
some leeway when it comes to duplicity, with those PCs
with a knack for Subterfuge more likely to be believed by
most NPCs.
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Backgrounds are an important character dimension as well.
Consider creating challenges or opportunities to reinforce the
PCs’ background choices.
Examples include:
• Fame can be both a blessing and a curse. Consider having
PCs with Fame recognized from time to time. This can
take the form of accommodating admirers, the nuisance
of overzealous fans, or the frustration of internet trolls.
• Allies and Retainers make great helpers, but sometimes
that’s a two-way street. Perhaps they have issues for which
they need the player’s help.
• Class distinctions remain a factor even in undead society.
NPCs, especially elders, may associate positive or negative
stereotypes depending on a PC’s perceived level of wealth.
• A s any homeowner will tell you, maintaining an expansive
Haven bring a whole new set of challenges. Perhaps the
PC with several dots in Haven has some bothersome
neighbors to deal with?
Ultimately, factoring in the unique qualities of the PCs into
your scenarios makes players feel more connected to their
characters, which helps immerse them into the storyline.
When it comes to storytelling, it’s best to share the spotlight.
Making your players look good makes you look good.
Rule 5: [Allow the characters to]
Tell a Story!
Theater, like LARP, is about telling a story. It’s intuitive, after
all—if everyone’s gathered together, something is supposed to
happen. But unlike theater, roleplaying games are especially
involving, because the outcomes to those stories aren’t
predetermined. As a Storyteller, your involvement in this
process is especially important. But while you control the stage,
so to speak, it’s important that you avoid exercising too much
control over the story. In fact, there’s much depth to be found
in working to involve your players more.
This process begins by giving the players control of the plot
whenever possible. While providing direction is important,
strive to keep plot outcomes a function of player choice rather
than predetermining their outcomes or swooping in with
NPCs to settle them. Stories that end in a fixed outcome have
a way of invalidating the choices that led to them. Players
find this experience especially souring, and it runs the risk of
greatly diminishing their agency.
59
 In the course of storytelling, keep in mind that the inner
conflict that takes place within a character can be equally
compelling as the outer conflict. Challenge or tempt the PCs
to act in ways contrary to their core concept and/or nature.
This conflict allows your players the opportunity for their
characters to evolve or for them to better define themselves
along their chosen direction.
Examples:
• A PC built as a Fanatic is presented with a crisis of faith.
Does she abandon her beliefs in the face of adversity or
remain devout?
•
An aspiring businessman and Architect is given the
opportunity of a lifetime at the expense of his morality.
Does the end justify the means?
• A PC who’s always gotten through life as a Survivor
must risk himself to save his friends. Where do his true
priorities lie?
It’s also important to introduce storylines that affect the
relationships between characters. You can do this by
introducing events that will affect the characters differently,
ones which will benefit some players while hindering others,
possibly due to differing backgrounds or motivations. Use this
choice to challenge their established structures of friendship
or rivalry so as to better define them.
and if yours do, it’s not a sign of bad design. When the PCs’
interests or motivations take them elsewhere, let them follow.
It’s possible that the natural progression of their characters lies
in a different direction than the plot you envisioned, in which
case, great! They’re still active and engaged. In fact, they’re
saying “yes, and…” to you.
As an exercise in collaborative storytelling, LARP is at its
best when all parties are actively immersed and engaged, each
working from a place of agency in tandem with the other
participants. Although your role as a Storyteller is to provide
structure, you are at your best when you remain open and
flexible. Through their actions, your players will tell you the
stories they wish to be a part of, and the themes that matter
most to them. Learning to listen to what they’re saying and to
say yes to it makes for a more engaging game, and ultimately,
a better collaborative experience. So, in the course of telling
your stories, don’t tell your players no; tell them “yes, and.…”
Jimmy Reckitt is a former Head Storyteller of Chicago: Dark
Requiem, a founding chronicle of One World by Night.
He’s been hooked ever since he attended his first LARP
in Rockford, Illinois, in 1999. In his spare time, he enjoys
yoga, weightlifting, and meditation. His spirit animals are the
elephant, the bear, and the giant squid.

Examples:

•
The city council is holding a vote to demolish a
longstanding housing project, relocating the residents
to outlying suburbs. This project could be beneficial
to Ventrue real estate interests, but detrimental to the
Brujah with ties to local community organizers. Politics
can be a messy business, sometimes.

•
A recently discovered hunter cell is rumored to be
dangerously on the verge of discovering the location of
the Tremere Chantry. Any civic-minded Nosferatu would
do their due diligence and alert the domain officers—
wouldn’t they?

• An up-and-coming local artist and satirist has offended

the sensibilities of an Assamite elder. However, any
Toreador worth her salt can recognize his talent. It seems
the gallery where next month’s Elysium will take place
has an unexpected vacancy….

In the course of storytelling, don’t be afraid if the characters’

actions take the story off the beaten path you envisioned.
Any of the above scenarios can go in a variety of directions,

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 Monsters and Mayhem: How to Run Adult
Content in Your World of Darkness Game
By Shoshana Kessock
The World of Darkness is a twisted reflection of the worst
aspects of our world. When your players step into your Mind’s
Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade game, they come
prepared to enter a setting where monsters battle monsters
for control over the mortal world. They will expect games full
of elaborate power struggles and the chance to play creatures
struggling against their own inner demons. Due to the nature
of the World of Darkness, those game experiences can
include content that television or film would consider adult
content, material rated R for violence and/or sexual situations.
That kind of content can lead to some intense storytelling and
roleplaying experiences, and the responsibility lies with every
storytelling team to consider how they handle that difficult
subject matter. How a game handles adult subject matter
can mean the difference between a rewarding storytelling
session and a possibly troubling, uncomfortable, or damaging
experience for a player. The trick to handling that content is
recognizing what it can do in your story, what affect it can
have on players and staff, and implementing structures in your
game to help deal with the more troubling content should it
become too much.
Caution: Cannibalism Inside! (Or,
How Much Caution is Necessary?)
You might be asking yourself: is this kind of content monitoring
really necessary? After all, as we started out discussing at the
top of this essay, this is the World of Darkness. The setting
itself is meant to be a terrible world, where the shadows run
long and blood can fill the streets in wars between immortal
vampires and their horrifying enemies. There is a baseline
understanding that games like Vampire: The Masquerade are
not for children and, perhaps, not for the faint of heart.
All of that is mostly true. World of Darkness games are set in a
realm where things go bump in the night and are often exactly
as awful as your nightmares suggest. Still, while players go into
these games expecting to interact with intense situations that
could terrify them, they also come to the game for a good time.
There is a line between being chilled by a frightening, even
gruesome event in game and being honestly disturbed out of
character. Players opt into the game, choosing to attend and
interact with the game content, and should the subject matter
step on lines they would rather not cross, not only will the
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Storytellers potentially lose players, they may also bring harm
to someone who came to their game for enjoyment. That, at
the end of the day, does not a healthy game make.
The level of comfort of each group should always be assessed
by the Storytellers. For some player groups, their threshold for
R-rated content might be high, but the old adage really does
apply: you’re better safe than sorry. A player who experiences an
intense, horrifying experience in character may feel so affected
by what happened in game that they carry those feelings of
discomfort into their everyday lives. That psychological effect,
termed bleed, can cause harm to a player and violates the idea
that games should be safe spaces for enjoyable experiences.
You, as the Storyteller, are responsible for creating those safe
spaces and maintaining their integrity. It is important to
remember that you hold the reins to the carriage; your foot is
on the gas. You set the pace for the players and they trust you
to create that safe environment for play. You are in charge and
lead by example. That is a responsibility that should always be
kept in mind.
By following a few simple steps, you can put safeguards in
place to make sure you’ve done due diligence in at least trying
to prevent stepping over any out-of-character lines.
Warning: Dismemberment!
(Or, What Content is Considered
Adult?)
First, let’s address what can be classified as adult content. The
fact is, the answer isn’t a simple one. There isn’t a magic list of
topics that are considered problematic, since every game group
is different. What might be considered troubling content for
one group of players might be completely alright with another,
and the same can be said for individuals. Content considered
problematic to an individual might range in severity too,
starting out at simply distasteful or objectionable to the
downright psychologically harmful. For example, A Storyteller
might have an entire game gung-ho about exploring a Tzimisce
crypt where people are skinned and made into chairs, only
to have one player think that flaying people alive steps over
their comfort line. Now unless a player has had some personal
experience with vivisection, their objection might be a simple
 case of distaste. The player might think a vampire using
someone as an armchair is awful and doesn’t want to engage
with the idea, even though it has no personal stake for them.
Some content, however, can dredge up a player’s memories of
a previous life experience and cause discomfort by association.
Most players, for example, wouldn’t consider a high-speed
chase resulting in a devastating car accident that bad, but for
a player who lost a loved one in a bad accident, the roleplay
could bring back terrible memories. That kind of reaction to
content is not based on abstract distaste for an idea, but on
associations that are very real and can be deeply troubling.
That instance, when a storyline element causes a person to
experience emotional or psychological distress, is often called
a trigger. Again it is important to note that material that may
trigger one player might be completely fine with another.
For that reason, classifying what content to watch out for is
difficult, but still vital to a safe play environment.
The simplest way to solve this problem would be to simply
poll your players before game begins. The poll should
ideally provide a structure for players to tell the Storyteller
team which topics they feel are over the line for them. It’s
important to remember when asking these questions that not
only are these difficult questions to ask, about sensitive subject
material, but you are also addressing players of various degrees
of social skill and comfort with communication. Find ways
to present the questions without judgment or pressure when
possible. Confidential emails or online forms, read only by
the Storyteller team, can allow players to feel secure expressing
themselves in ways they might not when speaking face-to-face.
Creating a rating system for discomfort (zero being fine and
five being extreme discomfort) can allow players to put an
understood metric to their comfort with a subject. Whatever
system is set up by the Storytelling team should be included in
the Setting Style Document created for the game.
It usually helps to avoid asking why a player feels discomfort
about a particular subject. The act of speaking up about one’s
feelings can be hard enough for some players; there is no need
to make the process more difficult. Instead, instituting a no-
questions-asked policy regarding particular issues lets players
speak up without pressure to explain themselves.
Once the players have been polled, Storytellers can then look
at the material and mark off the absolute no-go zones. Some
basic areas to look out for when polling players include, but
are not limited to:
Graphic descriptions or depictions of violence:
Violence is to be expected in a Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire
The Masquerade game because, again, it centers on monsters
in a dark world. Yet there are levels to depictions of violence
and how they are represented. While some people are perfectly
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alright with the kind of violence one would see in an action
film, the idea of participating in a scene where someone is
ritually tortured in a gruesome blood ritual might make a
player have to leave a room. Pay attention to scenes including
certain kinds of violence (such as torture, mutilation, or
cannibalism) or violence enacted against certain groups
(children, animals, or the elderly).
Sexual content:
This topic is a serious issue in a live-action game, and it can
present two separate types of problems. First, how are sexual
situations presented in game, i.e. how comfortable are players
with sex as played out in game? Second, consider the hard
lines players have regarding how sex is treated in the game as a
plot point. Carefully consider these subjects before including
them: issues of sexual violence, slavery, and anything that
might remotely approach what would be considered illegal
sexual activity in the real world.
Hatred against a particular group (such as sexism,
racism, homophobia, transphobia, or religious
discrimination):
These issues, while rife with potentially strong storylines, can
also provoke responses from those who have experienced
such discrimination in their everyday lives. These topics
should be approached with the utmost respect for the real-
world implications of such hatred and for the potential issues
that might come about when players interact with them as
part of plot.
When polling players, it is imperative to stress that you are
offering them a comfortable way to express their concerns
without the need to explain why they feel the way they
do. Electronic surveys can reduce confrontation for some
player groups, while others might benefit from a one-on-one
discussion with a staff member who can address their concerns
face-to-face. Consider allowing the players to rate their comfort
in certain areas on a sliding scale. For example, if given a scale
of one to 10, a player could mark off a one when asked about
torture being included in the game, meaning they have no
problem with it whatsoever. Yet later in the poll they might put
down a nine when asked about violence against children. That
requires no explanation, but instead gives hard lines that the
Storytellers can see when planning their future plots.
Don’t forget, during this process it is important to talk to the
members of the Storytelling staff about their own personal
boundaries. Managing difficult content isn’t just for players,
after all. No one wants to put a Storyteller in a situation to
engage with something that makes them uncomfortable while
they’re trying to create a good experience for the players as well.
Talk among the staff and set boundaries before game ever begins
with clear lines that should not be crossed.
63

Danger: Boundaries Ahead (Or,
Finding the Line in Your Game)
Once you’ve heard from the players about what content they
might find problematic, it helps to sit down and consider the
lowest common threshold that you can use. The players have
provided a road map to the outer boundaries they’re willing to
approach when it comes to things that go bump in the night,
and Storytellers then decide what to do with that information.
In some areas where players have indicated only mild
discomfort, a Storyteller may choose to include the material
anyway, because it is something they feel is integral to the
story they’re telling. However, they’re going into the planning
stages of a game forearmed and forewarned about any issues
players might have out-of-character with that material before
the issues might come up.
This information also allows for Storytellers to telegraph to
their players before a game begins exactly the kind of content
that might come up in play. A common practice among many
gaming and online communities is the inclusion of trigger
warnings posted for players to see. These warnings will tell
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players just what kind of potentially difficult content they
might encounter and allow a player to choose whether or
not they want to play in that game. This disclosure allows
Storytellers to do due diligence by warning players what to
expect and letting the player opt out of the game, while still
including many shades of R-rated content.
Examples of trigger warnings include: mutilation,
claustrophobia, representation of mental illness, violence
against children, arachnophobia, or extreme darkness.
It is also helpful for a Storytelling staff to consider why a piece
of R-rated content is important to their plot in the first place.
A Storyteller’s job is not only to present the story they want
to tell, but also to present a fun and engaging experience for
the players. That does not always mean including the grittiest,
darkest content just for the sake of being gritty and dark. Ask
yourself: could this plot point be told a different way, or does the
scene need to go really dark to make a point? If, upon inspection,
the only reason that the R-rated content is being included is to
be shocking, then maybe it’s not necessary after all.
It is equally as important to consider whether that material
is being presented in a respectful way. If a play group has
 indicated that they are alright with difficult content, they are
essentially telling the Storytellers that the players trust the
Storytellers to present that material responsibly. A Storyteller
team should take that trust seriously when planning their
game material. If a game is going to include, for example,
issues of child abuse, doing a little research about the issue
and making sure that it is not treated frivolously during game
goes a long way to handling such a sensitive topic with care.
Game On:
Managing Content During Play
After all that planning has been done and the players’ feelings
have been considered, the game must go on. Yet anyone who
has been a Storyteller for a LARP knows that even the best-
laid plans can go completely awry upon engagement with the
players. No matter how hard you try to manage content before
game, players may improvise something on the fly that steps
into unacceptable territory for one or more players. There are
recommended ways to prepare for such potential situations,
and there are techniques to use during the game session to
address problems as they happen.
Before game begins:
1. 
Present players with the trigger warnings that were
prepared for the game. Make sure that all those who are
present are aware of the content they may come across.
Again, forewarned is forearmed.
2. Announce any content that has been vetoed outright
from inclusion in the game. For example, if the staff has
decided that issues of homophobia are not to be included
in the game, make that expressly clear, so that players
know not to include it in their role-play. Be as explicit
as you feel is necessary to make sure those lines are well
understood. Confirm that any decisions made about
content are added to the Setting Style Document, so it
remains explicitly clear.
3. Indicate to players that if they become uncomfortable
with the content any time during play, they are capable of
stepping out of a scene and disengaging with the material.
Make certain that players are aware that there ought to
be no stigma for disengaging with something that makes
them uncomfortable, and that there are simple techniques
to resolve scenes without being viscerally engaged with
something that pushes their buttons.
4. Explain the use of the Fade to Black technique. (See
Vampire: The Masquerade, Chapter Eight: Storytelling:
Fade to Black, page 345.) Fade to Black allows players to
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disengage from the immediate content that is bothering
them and permits them to negotiate what happens
next in a way that is less uncomfortable. Often this will
involve conversation with the other players involved, or
else a Storyteller might step in to mediate the situation
(Chapter Eight: Storytelling: Mediation, page 351). It is
also important to impress upon players that Fade to Black
ought not to be used to try to avoid the consequences of
one’s in-game actions, but should be used when a serious
need arises. Again, it’s important to remind players that
once a fellow player chooses to Fade to Black, they should
not have to explain why they feel uncomfortable. Their
choice needs to be respected and diligently addressed.
During game:
1. Monitor any NPC elements that are in play to make sure
that they aren’t going overboard and including content
that is over the comfort line.
2. Keep an eye out for players who may be crossing the
content lines set at the beginning of game. Some players
may get carried away in their roleplay and stray into
territory that has been set as off-limits. If a Storyteller
spots that kind of problem during play, a quick step-
in before it gets too out of control might save a lot of
mediation later on.
3. If something does occur, be prepared to step in and
mediate as necessary. Sometimes players will be able to
deal with any uncomfortable interactions on their own,
but being ready and open to providing support will go a
long way to settle a difficult situation.
4. Note any situations in which players seemed uneasy with
gritty, dark, or difficult scenes. Players may not always
know their own boundaries until they are presented with
them, and sometimes you may stray into uncomfortable
territory without ever knowing it. Mediate if needed on
the spot, but certainly note that situation for discussion
after game.
The Wrap-Up:
After Game Equals After Care
Once game has wrapped for the evening, it is important to
provide players with a structure for feedback on the events of
the evening. This feedback might simply be critiques on how
the game went, but they can often include personal incidents
that a player might want to address with a fellow player or with
the Storytellers themselves. It is important to have structures
in place for players to do that with one another and with the
staff in a way that will make them feel heard.
65
 One way to accomplish this follow-up is to set up a round table
discussion after the game, in which players can speak about
their experience in-character. This is more than simply a place
to regale fellow players with stories of a character’s amazing
adventures. The round table allows players to express how a
game made them feel, whether there were any parts that were
objectionable, and perhaps discuss parts that were completely
over the line. There are pros and cons about the round table
experience. On the one hand, having a discussion out in the
open can allow a player to find support from other players
who agree with them and their conclusions about the session.
Some players may feel intimidated by speaking in front of
everyone about their feelings, especially if they are concerned
about tensions their objections may cause with other players.
As a Storyteller, it is important to encourage open dialogue
among players, but you can’t guarantee that it will happen.
You can take this follow-up a step further by encouraging
players to speak to one another about any difficult situations
that occurred between them in play and offer to act as
mediator should it be necessary. If a player feels as though
she is not being heard or a situation has not been resolved to
her satisfaction, encourage players to feel comfortable coming
and speaking with you about the problem. It is imperative to
resolve in-game issues that develop around difficult content
in order to keep games a safe, fun environment for players.
Making sure those spaces stay safe is ultimately part of a
Storyteller’s job.
For that reason, it might become necessary to step in and speak
to a player regarding her behavior. Be firm but understanding
about the issue. Listen to both sides of the situation, but make
sure to reiterate the boundaries that were established about
game content again. While honest mistakes can happen, if you
make clear just where the player stepped over the line, you can
make sure that the problem won’t happen again.
in mind that you may be discussing difficult subject matter
with that player, so be as understanding as possible. Listen
and avoid judgment, and note the feedback for future games.
Forewarned Is Forearmed
Remember, none of these preparations are completely
foolproof. You may run into a situation that is still triggering
or difficult during your game. Yet with a little work before
and during play, you can do your best to provide a safe out-
of-character experience for your gritty World of Darkness
players.
Shoshana Kessock is a writer, game designer and scholar
specializing in tabletop and live action roleplaying experiences.
A graduate student at the NYU Game Center, she is the
founder of the Living Games Conference, the first academic
conference in the US dedicated to live action role-play games
in all their forms. She is also co-founder of Phoenix Outlaw
Productions, an independent role-play game design company,
with several titles in production for publication. She is the
author of Dresden Lives, the Dresden Files LARP book for Evil
Hat Productions, as well as such freeform LARPs as SERVICE,
The Last Ten Minutes, and Dangers Untold and has staffed and
organized LARP events for nearly eight years in the New
York/New Jersey area. When she isn’t running and writing
games, she travels the world speaking about innovation and
design in the LARP community and topics like social action
and activism in gaming spaces. Her first ever LARP was
Changeling: the Dreaming.

Additionally, take the concept of bleed into account once

again when speaking to your players. Feelings brought up in
game may have bled over into the way players are interacting
with one another out of game. It may be necessary to help
untangle those instances and remind players that actions
occurring between characters are not necessarily indicative
of negative intentions out of character. Separating those in-
character and out-of-character feelings can deescalate heated
disagreements and allow players to unpack their reactions to
game events more clearly, so a resolution can be reached.

Finally, make yourself available to speak privately with players

about any issues they had during play. This approach might
be as simple as an email, but could involve a more in-depth
personal conversation as you and the player feel is necessary.
Again, a Storyteller’s job is to make sure her players are having
fun, and part of that is addressing their concerns. Try to keep

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 Using Nordic LARP Techniques in
MET: Vampire The Masquerade
By Martin Ericsson
Let me tell you about one of my favorite LARPs. In the
summer of 2011, I played a closet-gay New York psychologist
in a Nordic LARP called “Just a Little Lovin’.” At three July
4th parties (1982, ‘83 and ‘84), my character struggled with
the slow death of his ex-wife, as well as his own self-doubts and
chronic infidelity to his boyfriend in the ever-present shadow
of the HIV epidemic. It was a respectful and well researched
game, where breaking down in tears was expected and even
treasured. It was a great example of a Nordic LARP. When
reflecting on my experience, I found myself thinking about
Vampire: The Masquerade. The setting, the power of blood,
the subcultural edginess, the metaphysical symbology and the
violent internal struggles of the characters remind me why I
fell in love with the Vampire setting back in the early ’90s.
Could the methods used to make “Just a Little Lovin” such a
powerful experience be used in a VTM LARP game?
This essay is a product of this train of thought, presenting
methods from mainstream and progressive Nordic LARP
for use in Mind’s Eye Theatre. These methods can change
your game, or even rewrite it entirely, to make it accessible to
participants more interested in the challenges of improvised
acting and play down the competitive aspects of the hobby.
Immersion
Imagine that a magic circle surrounds your game. Stepping
in, your players take a solemn vow to truly be their characters.
To talk, walk, drink, sleep, kiss, and think as their characters,
without breaking that bubble of immersion. The players
choose to believe that the other players, in turn, are their
characters. As long as everyone acts within the safety rules, all
of their actions occur within the magic circle of the game. The
responsibility for any actions belongs to the characters, and
the characters are treated accordingly.
For a long time, this was the default aesthetic of Nordic
games. Even though this style is being challenged by several
contemporary organizers, it’s impossible to talk about Nordic
LARP without pointing out its obsession with keeping the
unreal as real as possible.
In an immersive game, almost everything is exactly what it
appears to be. Believable, tactile, seamless, and visually
impressive acting and staging is a far higher priority than
simulation-like rules. Your players make a tangible effort
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to look like their characters. If a character is a master Sikh
assassin, you could expect the player to hit the gym, grow a
beard, dye his hair, learn a few Farsi expressions, and put
on some spray tan. Game masters may even deliberately cast
players in suitable roles, asking those who look “right” or
have certain skills to perform a specific role at the game. The
venue, too, has to be correct: prepped for realism and staged
for visual impact. In a Nordic LARP, if you want the game to
be set on a cruise ship at sea, you rent a freaking cruise ship
and sail into the night. Everything must be as real as possible.
In this kind of LARP, players truly become their characters.
There is no “try,” and there are no out-of-character moments.
If the characters would kiss, the players kiss. If the characters
run, the player must run. If the character wishes to decode a
Latin text, the player must hit the books (or the internet), and
if a character wishes to persuade another, the player must be
ready to lay on the charm. Characters achieve exactly what their
players can get away with, acting in dramatic improvisation
with their fellows. These wholly immersive games often use
very simple rules systems. The rules typically govern only
violent conflict or player safety.
There are very few “symbolic” props in an immersive game.
Items must be crafted to appear as representational as
possible, depicting strange magic items, scientific gadgets, and
other things as realistically as possible. You will occasionally
see visual effects suitable for theatrical performances, or find
NPCs or players in monster-makeup. Nordic LARPs do use
blunted weapons, soft-airguns, blank-firing guns or weapons
made of latex, attempting to portray as much realism as
possible while ensuring that nobody gets hurt.
Blows, armed and unarmed, are commonly done in stage-
fighting style, using half-speed contact (or rougher, if the
combatants have agreed beforehand to play “hard”). The most
common system for fighting is for the losing player to decide,
based on how the scene physically occurs, how hurt she is and
what kind of injury she has received. The loser of the fight
ends up in the power of the winner, and must surrender items,
social status, freedom, or some other important stake in the
game. The fight prevents her from succeeding, and the other
character’s goal is achieved.
Immersion and Vampire: The Masquerade
At first glance, it appears that Nordic LARP’s utterly immersive
 aesthetics are incompatible with VTM games. The plethora
of disciplines, rituals, and even the basic physical facts of the
Cainite condition are pretty much impossible for a garden-
variety human being to fully emulate. How could the players
immersively portray a character who doesn’t breathe or blink?
How can they portray jumping over buildings, or moving
faster than the eye can see? Those things can’t be physically
simulated by the players and would break the immersion of a
Nordic LARP.
Option One: Change shit that doesn’t fit.
A Storyteller can adjust the setting of the VTM game to make it
more appropriate to fully immersive live-action play. Tweak the
fundamentals, until you have a vampire myth that allows full
immersion—or at least provides a cool way to emulate whatever
powers vampires use in the game. Drop the rest of the material,
and don’t use it. Some readers will ask, “But isn’t that heresy?
Is it really Vampire without Tzimisce flesh-crafters and Gangrel
who shapeshift into wolves?” The best answer is for the
Storyteller to know her audience. Is it really important to the
overall story of the game that vampires don’t breathe? Would
the Camarilla collapse if you remove Protean, deciding that
the powers are too much work to illustrate through immersive
special effects? Will the thematic power in the War of Ages
be diminished if elders replace their physical disciplines with
mental ones that can be acted out in-game? In the end, these
changes are up to the Storyteller, but a powerful and realistic
story can certainly be told with a few changes to the world.
Option Two: Choose a setting that works well
within the immersive aesthetics.
A Storyteller can choose to run a game with a theme that
doesn’t require the more “magical” powers of VTM. Focus
on thin-bloods, ghouls, revenants, hunters, mortal retainers,
or the families of neonate vampires. Even in a strictly canon
World of Darkness setting, these close-to-normal characters
can be portrayed without resorting to any simulation rules
systems at all. The few powers they have can be managed
with Nordic “meta techniques” (see below), through
cooperative agreement between individual players, or through
environment announcements such as, “Mortals will always get
their ass kicked by Sabbat Revenants.” In this manner, the
VTM setting can be a backdrop for the exploration of social
issues and personal stories, in the Nordic manner.
“Winning” and Nordic LARP
You might think that Nordic, immersive games are starting
to sound elitist. Certainly, there is some advantage given to
physically fit or exceptionally smart players in an all-immersion
game. However, the games don’t play out that way, because
they are not competitive. There is no “winning,” so there is
no “advantage.”
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I should say a few words about Nordic attitudes toward player
competition. It’s considered extremely bad form to deny
a fellow player agency by, for instance, wrestling the other
player to the ground, handcuffing them, and letting them rot
in jail for the rest of the game. Alright, some Finnish players
might love it (kidding!), but most players will feel cheated.
Everyone puts a lot of effort into their pre-game preparations
and roleplay, so everyone should be allowed to play actively
throughout the game.
The same attitude prevents most killing of characters in the
game. It doesn’t really matter whether you could steamroll
another player by invoking your awesome sheet-stats or
whether you could physically overpower them. Both would
remove that player from the game—and that is not the point
of a Nordic LARP. The point is to experience something
incredible, to actively engage, feel emotion, and portray a
living world. Removing a character from the game removes a
story from the game, and that makes everyone in the LARP—
yourself included!—lose. Growth and victory often have more
to do with the kinds of emotions and scenes a player wants
to experience than it has to do with her character’s actual
goals. Many Nordic players will tell you that they’ve had more
fun when their character loses her goal (but has an awesome
emotional scene) than when they gain something their
character was striving to achieve.
Playing to lose is more fun than playing to win. In Nordic
LARP, the players who artfully fail and create openings for
others to have emotional scenes are much more celebrated
than players who continually have character victories. In the
Nordic LARP circles, even talking about “winning” a LARP
is a suspect proposition—why would you want to win all the
time?
And to reiterate my previous point—if “winning” is not
important, why have rules?
Safewords
Even the most fundamentalist immersion-game needs rules to
make players feel comfortable and stay safe. One of the most
basic rules in Nordic LARP is the concept of a “safeword.” A
safeword (typically “cut,” as in a movie production) is typically
established for the game, and all players know that safeword
before roleplay begins. Thereafter, if any player uses the game’s
safeword, all roleplay stops immediately and the players sort
out whatever prompted the game-break. This is one of the only
times you will see Nordic LARP players breaking immersion
or stepping out of character.
Having the power to stop emotional scenes at any time gives
players the confidence and security to go crazy with their roleplay,
while still being safe and ensuring that everyone is comfortable
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 with the scene. “cut” is respected as a safeword, so it’s only used
to indicate that things have gone too far and need to stop. Casual
use of the term for any other purpose is avoided like the plague,
and the word causes instant time-freeze.
Other commonly used safewords are “break” and “go.” “Break”
means that a player hasn’t yet reached her emotional limit,
but is forewarning the other players in the scene that there
may be difficulty. When other players hear this word, they will
roleplay with a little less intensity and may offer the player an
in-character way out of the potentially uncomfortable scene.
“Break” doesn’t necessarily stop the game in the same way as
a call of “cut.”
The use of the word “go” means the exact opposite of the
other two safewords. In this instance, the player is telling the
other individuals in the scene to step up their game. The other
players can feel free to be more physical, abusive, or erotic.
You’d be surprised how often players are annoyed by their
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fellows using kid gloves rather than roleplaying for maximum
emotional impact.
Meta Techniques
It’s important to remember that while the immersionist
attitude is a strong foundation for LARP, it is never the end-
all be-all of a game. In recent years, the trend is to run games
with a high level of physical fidelity (be it over-the-top surreal
or deeply minimalist), using only a few, very necessary, rules
that fly in the face of full purist immersion. This juxtaposition
of physical believability with a small amount of magical
abstraction often creates an interesting, heightened sense of
poetry and meaning for the game. “Dramatic” rules, as they
are called, can be very good for the emotional impact of the
game—if handled with care.
So, what’s the difference between the dramatic rules of
a Nordic LARP and the rules of the MET system? Some
 Storytellers argue that Nordic LARP creates rules designed
to simulate impossible things, rather than rules designed to
influence the narrative of the story. Dramatic rules explain
things or add emotional impact. They do not alter the story
or give concrete advantage to one player over another. These
narrative or dramatic rules are often called “meta techniques,”
making them sound highbrow or difficult to institute. Don’t
worry. Meta techniques can be used in any game, and they
work very well to up the emotional impact for your players.
In general, Nordic players approach meta techniques very
seriously. These rules are not the out-of-character flippant
comparison of mechanical traits or the distant-feeling
description of a character performing some impossible
physical action. Even if events portrayed with the dramatic
assistance of meta techniques fall outside the here-and-now
of the immersive game, these events are always treated with
a measure of reverence and respect by the assembled players.
Players often imagine that they are on a theatre stage, actively
experiencing the situations being described by the meta
techniques. Storyteller descriptions of these instances or
player activation of these meta techniques give everyone a
shared imaginative moment, and the players roleplay out this
moment as it is being described. Players will be inspired to
silence, visualizing the scenario, slowing their movements, and
consciously remaining aware of the emotions being brought
up by the storytelling occurring in that moment.
Instead of dwelling on theory, here’s a few classic Nordic meta
techniques that might be adapted for use in Vampire: The
Masquerade.
Option One: Bringing the Beast to Life
During a game focused on the characters’ internal struggle
against the Beast, Storytellers dressed in stark black-and-
white animal masks would move among the crowd. Players
would be told to ignore the presence of these individuals until
they speak, whispering temptations and dark impulses in
players’ ears. These meta-characters would be representations,
portrayals of a vampire’s destructive tendencies.
Option Two: The Black Box
In order to illustrate a group of elders who are entrenched in
the past, a Storyteller might set up a theatrical “black box” in
one of the rooms of the game’s venue. This room is a totally
empty, all-black room, where players don nondescript black
robes and remove modern visual references.
At the beginning of the game, players are given two roses:
one black and one red. When one player gives a red rose to
another, it triggers a flashback scene from another era that
will be played out between their characters. The giver of the
rose acts sets the conditions of the scene. “I want to play how
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we fell out of love in Paris during the revolution.” The two
players then proceed to the Black Box and play out an event
that occurred centuries or even millennia ago, creating those
memories for their characters. When they have completed the
scene, it becomes an actual memory that may be referenced in
the game’s “now.”
If a player gives another the black rose, they go to the Black Box
and play out a different scene. The receiver of the rose tells the
giver about a mortal she’s lost in the sea of time: someone she
misses very deeply. The receiver sets the scene as a particular
event that occurred between the two. “You are Henry, a naive
socialist poet in Victorian London. We were friends. You
didn’t know I was a vampire. This is the memory in which my
character finally falls to hunger and drains you to your death.”
The receiver portrays her usual character, while the rose-giver
takes on the role of the mortal. The scene concludes when
the dramatic goal is achieved (when the receiver declares the
scene finished). After the scene, the giver continues play as if
the receiver’s character described the scene just played. She
can use it as a source of leverage (or of empathy) toward her
fellow vampire.
Option Three: Mortals
A Storyteller could use a similar technique to focus the game
on vampiric interactions with mortals. The trigger for the
meta scene could be an offer of a drink of blood. If the other
player accepts, they retire to the Black Box and play out a
brief scene. In this scene, the giver steps into the shoes of the
receiver’s character, and the receiver plays the last mortal on
whom her character abusively fed. The receiver describes the
generalities of the scene, and the giver must play the scene
with as much emotional impact as possible. As the scene ends,
the receiver’s vampire character remembers her actions and
may act accordingly.
Option Four: Neutral Space
Another way that a Storyteller can work with time is to set the
whole game in a neutral space. Provide a few strong props to
make simulated time periods and locations feel unique. Divide
the game into Acts, with breaks between them. Each Act
advances time a century. During breaks, the players discuss,
taking turns to say what they would like to see happen in the
next Act. Players don’t have to limit themselves to wishes
involving their own characters, but can offer suggestions that
impact other characters in the game. A player might offer,
“I’d love to see a scenario where the Prince went mad, and
no one dared to challenge him.” These opinions are only
suggestions; no one has to act on these player directions. Still,
the cooperative act of sharing suggestions for the next Act will
have a strong effect on the game’s overall story.
As the game jumps forward from era to era, players don new
costume pieces or makeup effects to show the passage of time
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 for their characters. Props, lighting, and decor change to set
the scene, and once again, the Storyteller gathers everyone in a
circle. Closing their eyes, every player listens to her introducing
the new era – the new Act – and then begins the roleplay of
another chapter of the game.
Each Act within such a game could provide different rule
systems, or different meta techniques, that impact or heighten
the theme of that Act. A game about the seven deadly sins
could provide a free retest to any player acting out the sin
associated with each Act. A tragic game about a doomed court
could have limitations on physical roleplaying: disallowing
any physical conflict in the first act, allowing only covert
violence in the second, and ruling that any confrontation in
the last act must ends with one or both parties facing Final
Death. Within the Neutral Space LARP, any technique that
the Storyteller can imagine to heighten the game’s emotional
impact is possible.
Theatre, movies, and even board games can inspire
narrative shenanigans to add to the resonance of a LARP.
Documentation of Nordic LARPs, especially those in the
“Knutepunkt” tradition, is a given source. Do a search and
see what pops up.
Pervasive
One of the awesome things about the MET: Vampire:
The Masquerade system is that the game can be played in
public without alerting the general populace that they are
surrounded by an ongoing LARP. Playing at goth clubs
without telling anyone (except the owners of the club) was a
common way to enjoy the game in the ’90s. In recent nights,
Nordic LARPs have explored this kind of “pervasive” live-
action gaming as well.
Playing a game centered around ghouls or thin-blooded
vampires can be very immersive, even if played in public. Such
creatures are not so different from the mortals around them,
and require few rules and almost no supernatural abilities.
A pervasive game could even involve unknowing bystanders,
as Kindred must keep the Masquerade. The vampires in the
game might be trying to maneuver normal mortals (non-
players) into situations where they could “feed.” In order to
ensure safety (and not freak out an unknowing populace),
the Storyteller could rule that if a vampire player is alone and
undisturbed with a “mortal” (non-player) for a few minutes,
they are considered to have fed. That vampire gains 3 Blood
points. If the vampire is able to get into a more intimate
situation with a stranger, or remain alone with that non-player
for a longer period, she might gain 5 Blood points instead of 3.
Is it unethical to lie to strangers? To pretend to be someone
else, if you’ll never see that person again? In my personal
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experience, if such strangers never know they’re talking to a
character, they aren’t any worse for wear (though they may
think you’re nuts). That’s where the Masquerade comes in,
right? However, if someone does find out that you were fooling
them, they may take offense. If any of this sounds scary or
fishy to you, then don’t add these scenarios to your game.
Create feeding scenes where other players provide the mortal
“fodder,” and leave non-players out of it.
A Storyteller can take advantage of the surrounding city as
a pervasive play-space without involving non-players in the
game. Choose three or four physical locations within driving
(or walking) distance of each other, and allow players to move
freely between them without breaking roleplay. This trick can
help the game feel urban and real, with varied but immersive
locations.
Workshops
Nordic LARPs are intimate affairs that rely on a great deal of
player trust—both in the Storyteller and in each other. Larger
games incorporate theatrical exercises to help individuals
grow comfortable with each other and develop working
relationships as players in the overall game. Improvisational
theatre exercises can provide a great start for breaking the
ice in a new troupe of LARPers. Beyond warming up the
troupe’s narrative and dramatic muscles, such workshops can
be educational, teaching rules and guidelines for simulation
systems like Vampire: The Masquerade. Here are a few
techniques and systems to use when workshopping with a
LARP troupe.
Power Lines
Ask your players to stand in a line, organizing them from the
character with the highest social status to lowest. Let them
memorize the order of that line, so they are aware of the social
structure. After a few minutes, have the players scatter around
the room in random patterns, continuing to move about. Have
them greet other players as they pass, signaling whether that
player’s character is superior or inferior in status to their own.
This exercise can be used to help players remember relative
ranks in a military unit, Sabbat packs, or any other in-game
hierarchy.
Frozen Moments
This is a great way to create shared memories. Ask the players
to congregate in groups of two to five. Their task is to silently
position themselves in a dramatic pose, illustrating a defining
moment in their characters’ shared unlives. If character A
attacked character B, while character B was holding character
C hostage, the three players would pose in such a manner and
hold that scene, committing it to memory. Ambient music is a
great way to set the mood for such tableau. Characters might
show the scene of an Embrace, a bold use of prestation, the
 finalization or breaking of a blood bond, a fight scene in a Keep it relevant. Ask hard questions, and encourage your
great war, and so on. players to do the same.

This technique can also be a way to begin a game with high
energy. Take the players into the game space and pose them as
they will be at the start of the game, frozen in some dramatic
moment like “the death of the previous Prince,” or “the Sabbat
break into the safe house.” Add some dramatic lighting or
music, and you have an evocative start to your game.
Pre-created Scenes
Each player chooses one of their character’s disciplines. Divide
players randomly into groups of five, and explain that these
are the only Kindred targets for those powers—the five players
may not use these disciplines on any other characters. These
groups can take a moment to discuss how they will roleplay
the use of those powers against one another, based on the
characters’ interactions and discipline levels. “I have 4 dots of
Potence, so if I grab you, let me lead. Jump when you feel me
push at you, and it will make me look super strong. Is that ok?”
“Sure, Let’s try it out!” Or “I chose Presence. If I stare into
your eyes and start whispering to you, your character might
call me by his ex-wife’s name. Would that be fun for you?”
Creating small scenes like these ahead of time avoids the
necessity for players to throw tests, or to go out-of-character
when a discipline is used. Players create reasons to confront
one another in character, helping such confrontations be
cooperative and fun for both players. The collaborative
nature of the LARP can be used to make the game better for
everyone, encouraging them to work together to create more
such prearranged and cooperative scenes.
There is no right or wrong way to do a Nordic LARP. Storytellers
should be encouraged to engage in constant experimentation.
Learning about staging, techniques, costumes, rules, music,
and many other possible building blocks has helped Nordic
LARP evolve into a powerful form of participatory art. Our
stories utilize the avant-garde, the edges where realism and
imagination blur, bringing in cool, tasteful, interesting, topical,
and effective stories for our players. The constant evolution of
LARP, Nordic and otherwise, makes me think we’ve seen only
the beginning of this developing art form. Thinking about
how our art will evolve, whether you agree or disagree with my
ideas, simply takes my breath away. Keep it unreal.
See you on the other side.
Martin Ericsson is an Emmy-awarded writer, LARP organizer,
game designer, entrepreneur, player, researcher and storyteller
from Sweden. Some of his finest nights were spent in Atlanta
working as a Senior Content Developer for CCP’s sorely
missed multiplayer adaption of World Of Darkness. The last
time he cried for real at at a larp was playing in the “Blood
and Betrayal” game at 2013’s LA By Night convention. He is
currently dreaming about running an x-rated Vampire LARP
in a castle in Eastern Europe.

Summary
The first choice you should make as a Storyteller is to decide
on the story and theme of the game. This is nothing new to
experienced Storytellers, and it is usually the starting point
for any good LARP. Vampire: The Masquerade has inspired
players and Storytellers to think about theme and mood from
its beginning, setting it apart from other game franchises.
From a certain perspective, Nordic LARP is the logical end-
point of Vampire: The Masquerade’s insistence on emotional,
political, cultural, and social relevance. The current game
reflects the maturity of Vampire’s first edition’s teenage angst,
now grown to self-reflective maturity.

Inspire your players to treat the issues within the game

seriously. Craft relevant tales, and make them important to
your players. A story about ostracism can speak to experiences
of bullying. A game about Tremere refusing to cure a blood
curse proliferating among Anarchs can be an analogy for
pharmaceutical companies preventing medication from
reaching the third world.

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 The World is a Stage: How to Stage Your World
by Danielle Lauzon
For a Storyteller, nothing is more satisfying than creating a story
and plot that wows players and has them asking for more. A
Storyteller often spends a great deal of time planning for a single
session of a Vampire: The Masquerade LARP, hoping to create
that effect for her players. From detailing NPCs to designing
scenes and plot arcs, she has a lot of preparation to do.
With all this planning involved, many Storytellers forget to
take into account the physical location of the game, though
this single element could be the one thing that impresses
players the most. By considering the decorations, props,
lighting, music, and location of the play space, a Storyteller can
bring the mood and atmosphere of a scene to life. Picking the
right elements for a scene or in-game location immerses players
into the setting, allowing their imaginations to concentrate on
character interactions.
Players who are invested in scenes drive gameplay and story
forward on their own, allowing the Storyteller time to run plot
and the mechanical aspects of the game with minimal direction
for the story and social aspects of the game. Keeping players
immersed in the game not only allows for continuous scenes
and role play, but also creates an investment by the players
in the scenes. Simple planning decisions such as identifying
specific rooms in the play space to represent specific in-game
locations can easily keep players fully engaged with the game
for the maximum amount of time.
When planning how to set up scenes and where to place them
within the available space, the Storyteller must consider the
following:
• What is the social atmosphere of the game? Are the
players planning a court, social event, or several smaller
meetings?
• Which clans are in play, and which of these clans need
special arrangements? Do the Nosferatu meet each
gathering in their sewer domain, or do the Toreador visit
art galleries to have secret meetings?
• Are any of the plot scenes dependent on specific locations?
Will the antagonists show up at Elysium to declare a verdict,
or can they be met anywhere in the city?
• How long will specific scenes take? Are the Tremere going
to be in their Chantry all night or just an hour, and how
much time is the long-awaited fight with the Sabbat likely
to take?
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Determining the social atmosphere of a game requires the
Storyteller to work closely with her players to ensure she knows
what they are planning, and if she needs to designate space for
iconic meeting places. A Vampire: The Masquerade LARP can
easily be a purely social and political game, with players spending
most, if not all, of a game session plotting and planning. Part of
running a LARP is creating player agency when it comes to the
social game, allowing players the ability to direct social dynamics
of the game without Storyteller intervention. For instance, if the
Prince is planning a court gathering for the next session, the
Storyteller should be sure to designate a space specifically for
the court’s location. The same goes with planned parties such
as Toreador salons, Brujah raves, and so on. While these social
spaces should not be considered sacrosanct when it comes to
plots or evolving scenes, the players should have a reasonable
expectation that these areas will foster social interactions.
Not every game session will require you to represent all in-game
locations. If the Prince has decreed that his main Elysium is
unsafe and no one should go there, having a space specifically
designated for the in-game building is unnecessary. That isn’t
to say no one will want to go there, as characters often decide
to go against authority, just that no special space needs to be
designated for those scenes.
Some clans have in-game locations separate from the normal
social setting, such as the Tremere Chantry, the Nosferatu
warrens, or a Malkavian-run hospital. Having a room
designated for characters to hold meetings allows them to
make a schedule to use the space. For that matter, providing
for any iconic location or meeting space is worthwhile. It may
simply be a dive bar run by the Brujah Primogen or a posh
night club owned by a Ventrue conglomerate.
If a clan knows it is going to meet, but only for a short time,
there may be no need to designate an entire space for them. But,
if the players are planning a long social scene or lots of activity
revolving around their meeting space, it might be worthwhile
to plan a designated area for them. This information also
helps determine how large of a space to provide, and how long
it will be needed. For clan meetings that may take an hour or
less, a single room can be designated and alternated between
the clans throughout the night. Scenes that last for more than
an hour might need their own reserved space separate from
the rest.
In addition to all of the social and meeting locations, the
Storyteller must ensure her own scenes have a specific
uninterrupted area. Depending on the size of the game and
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 the number of Storyteller assistants who can run parallel
scenes, one area can be designated the plot area, with no
social or meeting scenes happening in that location. Some
Storyteller scenes may occur in other designated areas, such
as someone party crashing the salon or a detonating a bomb
at the Elysium. The Storyteller should make sure that space is
reserved for scenes that are dependent on a specific location.
For example, if the local Sabbat Bishop is going to show up at
Elysium to make threats on the Prince’s life, then the Storyteller
should ensure that the Elysium is represented in game and
players have reasons to be there. If the players need to perform
a ritual at a specific location to banish a demon back to hell
and destroy its associated artifacts, then the Storyteller should
make sure she has the proper space designated for that scene.
Planning for how long a scene is likely to take can be tricky.
For social scenes, this is a little easier, as meetings can be
structured to cover a number of points in a short amount
of time. Plot scenes’ length can vary, depending on what is
happening. Meetings between players and NPCs may be easier
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to predict than scenes involving combat. If scenes are likely
to take up large portions of the game, or have widely variable
lengths, such as combat, then the Storyteller should take that
into consideration when deciding where to put those scenes in
the play space, as well as how long to reserve the area. A good
rule of thumb is that if the scene is likely to last for at least half
the game session, or if the scene is likely to have combat, then
the Storyteller should designate a space for the entire length
of the game. If the space is vacant later, it can always be used
for meetings.
Designated areas should continue to represent the same in-
game location throughout the game session (as much as
possible) to prevent player confusion. Some play spaces can be
mutable by nature, such as the plot and Storyteller scene space,
which changes based on the scene.
Decorating Spaces
Defining play areas as specific in-game locations gives cues
to players, allowing them to remain in character for as long
 as possible during the game session, and it helps keep them
immersed in the game. Maintaining player immersion is a huge
factor in determining the level of investment a player has in
any one scene and her enjoyment of the game. The atmosphere
of the play space can do a lot to give players a feel for the kinds
of scenes their characters will experience. Providing simple
props and decorations can enhance the descriptive elements
of a scene. Decorating the play space gives visual cues to the
players about where the scene is occurring, preventing them
from interrupting roleplay to ask for clarification. Decorations
can be small props, large set decorations, special lighting,
or music playing in the background. Using any or all of
these decorative elements depends on the kind of scene the
Storyteller is preparing to create.
Props provide small accent decorations in a room, drawing
the players to a set piece or allowing them to interact with
a physical representation of a mundane object. Props are by
far the easiest decorations to use, as they are small set pieces
or hand-held items that can be placed in a designated space
without large changes to the room. A stack of distressed
books on a table, accompanied by unlit candles, can indicate
an elder’s study or an arcane library. Several empty alcohol
bottles stacked in a row against a wall transform a space into
a bar or nightclub. A single print or picture on an easel in a
bright room can turn a space into an art gallery.
Large set decorations immerse the players in the atmosphere
of the scene, creating a unique location within a simple room.
Large set decorations can turn a room into the lush venue of
an opulent ball or show players the full design of a ritual circle.
Decorations do not have to be expensive to be elaborate. Single-
tone table cloths draped over chairs and tables transform a
meeting room into a plush salon. Centerpieces placed on
tables invite the idea of lavish settings. Backdrops painted with
cityscapes in a completely dark room with fluorescent lights at
the top of poles create a street scene. Half-used candles and
melted wax on stacks of old-looking paper on a table in a small
room create a mysterious study.
Beyond props and decorations, lighting and music can vastly
change the mood of a space. Lighting can be as simple as
turning out the room’s natural lights or only allowing dim
light to shine via a lamp, or it can include colored floor lights
and large overhead lights. Music can be played into any room
with small portable music players and speakers, or it can be the
main focus of a room, with large concert speakers controlled
from a computer. Dim lights and low background music can
make a space feel cozy, and the addition of flickering candles
can turn the space creepy or mysterious. Bright lights can
make a room feel cheery or sterile and harsh. Loud rhythmic
music and flashing colored lights can change a ballroom in a
hotel into a crowded dance club.
Storyteller Secrets
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Types of Play Spaces
It’s essential to familiarize yourself with the available play
space before a game session. The beauty of a LARP is that
it can be held anywhere people can gather. Play spaces often
have similarities that allow a Storyteller to plan even if she
has never seen the space before. In general, a play space is
located in three types of venues: a residence, a rented space,
or a large open space. Residences often have multiple small
rooms, with one or two larger gathering areas centralized
within the home. Rented space can consist of one or two large
rooms with any number of smaller rooms adjoining, including
none. Large open spaces are usually outdoor spaces, such as
parks and urban city sites. Each type of space has benefits
and drawbacks, but with careful planning, the Storyteller can
design her game for any play space.
A large number of Vampire: The Masquerade LARP
troupes play within residential play spaces. The space is
often free, volunteered by a player or the Storyteller, and can
accommodate many different meeting and gathering spaces,
as well as plot and Storyteller scene locations. The size of the
residence can limit the size of the game, as apartments cannot
hold nearly as many players as a house, and even houses differ
greatly in capacity. Also, decorating houses to increase game
immersion can be a challenge.
A common way to set up play spaces in a residence is to
designate most rooms within the residence as a single location,
such as a night club with many side rooms, an Elysium laid
out exactly the same as the home, or the public haven of a well-
known court officer. In this case, the rooms are considered
part of the same location, each seamlessly connected to the
next, the same way they are laid out in the play space. The
Storyteller should designate a specific room, preferably a larger
one, such as a den, garage, patio, sun room, or large bedroom
as a space specifically designated for Storyteller scenes. A single,
smaller room can be designated as all other city locations for
meetings, such as personal havens or the Nosferatu warrens.
Each time either of the rooms change scene or location, small
decorations or set pieces should be swapped out to give visual
indications that the room has changed. Even a small sign on
the door indicating the room’s current in-game location is
acceptable, if the room’s designated location changes often.
Residential spaces can also be subdivided into many different
city locations, each one represented by a different room of
the home. Setting the play space up in this manner allows
all requested locations, such as a popular bar, the Elysium,
or the Tremere Chantry to have representation at all times.
In-game travel time between locations can cause pacing issues,
though unless characters are traveling to Storyteller scenes, a
few minutes of out of game to represent travel time should be
sufficient.
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 Rented spaces, such as hotel conference rooms, businesses,
and even warehouses have different challenges. By nature,
the space will cost money. This monetary burden can be
shared among players to mitigate costs, or it may fall upon
the Storytelling staff. Either way, rented spaces are usually
much larger than residential spaces, but have fewer rooms for
subdividing. Making sure rented space has enough smaller
rooms poses the largest challenge for Storytellers. In general,
the largest play space available should be designated as the
main social gathering area: the Elysium or the masquerade
ball hosted by the Harpy, for example. Any smaller adjoining
rooms should take on the role of off-site meeting places. If
the space is simply one large room, then the room can be
subdivided using cloth hangings and creative placement of
tables and chairs. One space completely separated from the
main gathering space should be reserved for Storyteller scenes
and plots, even if this has to be outside the building or down
the hall from the main room.
Generally, the rented space’s standard décor is minimal,
allowing abundant use of props and decorations to transform
the space as needed. Table cloths and centerpieces can turn
normal tables into the edges of a ballroom or a cozy restaurant
scene. Again, lighting and music can set the theme and mood
for the location just as well, if not better, than the decorations
themselves. Be aware that rented spaces often have rules
preventing hanging things on walls, so any cloth hangings or
backdrops should have their own stands. Some rental sites
have stands available, but purchasing them or making them
can be an inexpensive alternative to additional rental fees.
the ground can designate rooms and divisions, giving visual
cues for how large a space is. Again, free-standing backdrop
hangers can make room divisions even more real.
No matter the size or shape of the location, whether a house,
a hotel lobby, or a park, the Storyteller can use these tools
to ensure the setting of her game is as elaborate and detailed
as her stories and plots. Most of the planning work for
space designation is completed the first time the Storyteller
uses a space, and afterwards she can use the same plan and
decorations again, leaving more time to plan for story and plot
development.
Danielle Lauzon is a burgeoning freelance writer living in
Houston, TX with her two dogs, two cats, and husband. She
has written for White Wolf/Onyx Path games lines including
Demon: The Descent, Mage: The Awakening, and The
God Machine Chronicle. This is her first time writing for By
Night Studios, but she is thrilled to be included in such a
great project. Vampire: The Masquerade was the first LARP
she ever played in, and is still her favorite. She has a Master’s
Degree in Animal Nutrition and works as a lab technician
by day. At all other times she is an avid gamer, LARPer, and
writer. Danielle also enjoys all things sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

Large open spaces, such as green spaces and urban parks have
similar challenges to rented spaces, though their use is often
free. Weather permitting, outdoor venues can be a delightful
setting for a garden party or a Gangrel ranch. Depending
on the size and shape of the location, distance from the
main central location can serve to separate on-site meeting
rooms and off-site locations. This kind of space requires the
Storyteller to be somewhat familiar with the location before
designating these spaces. The most convenient or largest open
space should be the central location, allowing players to easily
find their way to the main gathering area without much out-of-
game wandering. All other spaces should be designated using
the central location as a starting point. For example, a pavilion
in a park may be the central social area. The benches down the
hill are the Brujah bar, and the lake’s edge on the other side
represents the Anarchs’ hangout, while the stand of trees just
past the pavilion to the north is the Tremere Chantry.

Decorating large open spaces is a unique challenge. Since most

Vampire: The Masquerade LARPs are generally held at night,
lighting may be an issue. If the site has power outlets, strings
of monochrome Christmas lights can add eerie resonance
or bright cheer to a place. Large cloths draped over areas of

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 Storyteller Secrets 79

Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)

 Breathing Life Into a Clan
By Alex Rushing
Adaptation: transmuting source material into useful
information for a game is one of the greatest challenges
facing a Storyteller. This challenge increases when that
game belongs to a larger, shared universe with other games.
Unclear expectations frustrate players, while haphazard
implementation fosters distrust between games. How do you
balance the players’ desires with the needs of the game and
expectations of organized play?
Focus on the barest bones of the character experience in
Vampire: The Masquerade—the clan a player chooses. Every
other decision about a character stems from this selection:
political affiliation, interactions with other players, core
assumptions, and personal goals. While a concept does not
need to be tied to a specific clan, an investigative character
played as a Brujah is very different than one played as
a Gangrel. While every clan has a different personality,
experienced Storytellers find that certain basic essentials will
always improve the overall experience.
Consider These Three Questions
How do you allow players creative freedom while permitting
the clans to remain cohesive and recognizable?
Players choose to play a clan based on several factors; the two
factors with the most impact are the number of active players
playing that clan and the material written about it. There are
few things worse than watching a player’s excitement nosedive
into disillusionment when the gameplay does not match their
expectations.
How do you use the printed material to supplement the
needs of your game?
The best Storytellers have a vision for their games and utilize
pieces of the setting to bring that vision to life. It is no simple
task to weed through the source material and find the seeds
that will improve a game. Some players want to focus on the
minutiae of the setting, while others flesh out their roleplay in
broad strokes. There will always be players who do not care
about the plot presented to them, while others dive in eagerly.
How do you acknowledge the needs of various regions—
and their conflicting cultures—while still holding them
accountable to the larger organization?
Storytellers cannot overlook the needs of the shared universe.
Interconnected games come alive when the stories synchronize
across real-world boundaries. All organizations must grapple
with the tension between universal experiences and the effect
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that regionalism has upon these experiences. A Nordic player
has a very different view of game than an English player, and
the United States has entirely different play-styles in adjacent
states. The answers to these questions are surprisingly simple:
• First, you must create a set of standards that holds true
throughout the organization.
• Then, you use those standards to create positions of
leadership within a clan, which in turn enforces those
standards.
• Finally, you reward the characters who work within the
system.
These three approaches reap results almost immediately once
tailored to fit your organization.
Creating Clan Standards
Establishing standards is arguably the hardest—and most
important—part of the process. Every clan utilizes different
assumptions and understandings. Brujah players focus much
more on individual leadership and the illusion of freedom,
while Malkavian players rarely need more than a shared space
in with to roleplay their derangements. A Ventrue player,
however, expects a good deal more organization and structure
from her clan.
A thorough reading of the source material is important. The
clanbooks are an obvious beginning, as are the general setting
books. Storytellers will almost never be as well-versed in the
minutiae of the books as the players who live and breathe them. As
you work through the material, be sure to identify the differences
between the sourcebooks and the needs of your organization.
Many Storytellers are scared to let go of the reins and trust their
players. This is why having standards in place before sorting
out the leadership of a clan is so important. Clear guidelines,
both in-game and out-of-game, create a set of expectations
that everyone can measure themselves against. When done
correctly, you have an awesome mixture of player-character
initiative and Storyteller-character oversight, and you will find
the clan inhabiting its own own space—living and breathing
and letting the stories flow.
Integrating Standards with Roleplay
How do you get the players to buy into the concept, though?
How do you guide that frustrated player into the right groove
 for your game? In the olden days, you would hear advice
about punishing the player, hammering away at her until she
either figures out how to mesh with the clan’s structure or she
quits. That is rubbish. Reward the behavior you wish others
to emulate; don’t punish the behavior that runs counter to
your setting.
“Appropriate behavior” is tricky to determine. Player-
characters are frequently created as the exception to the rule,
and the greatest struggle with an organization’s concept of a
clan is channeling that desire for exceptionalism into roles
appropriate to the setting. If your organization values small
personal stories over epic sweeping adventures of Gehenna,
then a concept based around the big story is going to have
less fun. If your game prefers a four-color approach, the angst-
ridden loner bewailing her Humanitas will stick out like a sore
thumb. Again, reward the players who play to the game’s tone,
and make it clear why the reward is happening.
This is not to say that everyone should get what they want;
drama is about tension, and there is no tension in a Monty
Hall cascade of “kewl toyz.” Rather, it is a matter of the proud
nail getting the hammer. A player-character who inhabits
space outside of the expected setting is already going to have
trouble establishing herself, and she often will succeed in spite
Storyteller Secrets
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of the setting. For example, a Ventrue player who insists on
playing an Anarch is already setting herself up for a wild ride,
and punishing her is not going to make the experience any
more fun. Instead, reward the Ventrue player who respects her
elders and serves the clan.
Rewarding Desired Behavior
The options for rewards are limitless. Access to disciplines is
always an easy option. It is more exciting, though, to reward
player-characters who tend to color inside the lines by making
their gaming lives easier. Resolving personal plot goes further
in making players feel rewarded than dots on a sheet. Opening
doors or providing them opportunities allows them to continue
to succeed, and it showcases to the game how remaining within
certain guidelines is beneficial to gameplay.
In a shared universe, this reinforcement is even more
important. Players travel because they want a group experience
that is larger and richer than just one game, but they also
expect a certain amount of uniformity. A Gangrel who runs
in a pack of werewolves may work on an individual basis, but if
that is not the norm for the organization as a whole, it breeds a
certain amount of eye-rolling when she travels to a large event
and starts bringing in information from an entirely different
system and forcing other players to acknowledge her story.
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 If you prefer your Gangrel to focus on vampiric society rather
than mingling with werewolves, then reward the players who
make that choice. Perhaps they hear of newly-arrived characters
before other player-characters, making it easier to introduce
plot or new players into the game. These player-characters then
act as gatekeepers and take on leadership within the game as
they direct other player-characters towards plot, or introduce
new players to their Primogen or the Prince’s court. You have
now rewarded the player who “colors within the lines” with
tangible benefits, and your game prospers.
Sample Ideas
Let’s deconstruct three of the 13 greater clans found within
Vampire: The Masquerade and use the three steps mentioned
above to see what details can be fleshed out from the setting
material. We’ll look at the Brujah, with their focus on
community; the Tremere, who rely on an occult hierarchy; and
the Ventrue, the followers of tradition.
Brujah
At first blush, the Brujah clan is easy for a Storyteller to
moderate. Individualists to the core, they defy attempts to
control them and lash out at perceived injustice or persecution.
They hold clan meetings—appropriately called Rants—in which
they hash out problems and policies in an aggressively personal
fashion. They also hold sacred a concept named the Call to
Arms, through which a Brujah can expect aid from her clan
in times of need. These two staples of the clan can send an
unprepared Storyteller into a panic if not managed properly.
In organized play, a Rant is an opportunity for Brujah players
near and far to force their agendas on one another. If your
game has Brujah-specific plot, seeding it into the Rant is the
most effective way of putting the plot directly into the hands of
the players, but do not be surprised when a roomful of Brujah
rip the plot to shreds and fashion whole-cloth something
entirely different. The players will want a consensus, a feeling
of community, after the arguing and shouting and posturing
is done, when they can point at the Rant and say, “this was
decided.”
To achieve this sense of community, identify the key elements
of the plot and provide those elements in-character to as
many of the Brujah players as possible before the Rant. If
there are Storyteller-characters present, avoid heavy-handed
declarations, allow the players to lead the charge in any debate,
and speak out in support of the characters who pick up the
threads of the plot. This restraint allows the players to leave
the scene with a sense of empowerment and involvement.
The Call to Arms is another example of harnessing the
Brujah sense of community to create exciting gameplay. There
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are fundamental questions, however, that must be answered
before bringing the Call to Arms into play. How does the
word spread to other Brujah? What happens to a Brujah
character who ignores it? In a troupe game, it is easy enough
to say that the Brujah throughout the chronicle hear of the
Call, but when you have an organization that stretches across
a country, how feasible is it to expect a Brujah from California
to respond to a Call to Arms in Florida?
Take care when answering these questions, or Storytellers will
find their players dissatisfied and frustrated. Understanding
the inherent complications of the source material helps prevent
headaches in the future as you create a baseline of expectations,
and it enables the players to understand the limitations of
their shared universe. A Brujah who summons her clanmates
under a weak pretext should be held accountable, while one
who can rally the troops and organize them deserves future
consideration for leadership within the clan.
Tremere
As their clan is based on rank and hierarchy, internal structure
is very important to a Tremere player. The most important
Tremere character in your chronicle is likely the Regent, the
leader of the local Chantry and overseer for the other Tremere
in the game. The Regent acts as middle management for the
Pyramid at large, and she bears a great deal of responsibility
for providing for the enjoyment of other Tremere player-
characters.
It is tempting to create a Storyteller-character, dub her Regent,
and then occasionally weigh in on plots or clan matters. A
more interesting approach is to have the Regent’s superior be
the Storyteller-character, and to place a player-character in the
position of Regent. The superior holds the player-character
accountable for the success of the Chantry, and thus the
Regent has incentive to encourage appropriate behavior from
the other Tremere beneath her. You have created standards
and found a player to uphold those standards; then her actions
allow you to reward her if she succeeds. If done properly, the
player of the local Regent will handle the Apprentices in a similar
fashion, and suddenly you have a vibrant clan structure with
players taking on responsibilities to prove themselves worthy
of promotion.
Earlier, I mentioned the need for understanding the minutiae
of a clan. The Tremere clan, founded as it was by a shadowy
cabal of wizards, has an almost inexhaustible amount of detail
that can come into play. An example of this is Blood Certamen,
a ritualized wizard’s duel mentioned in the clanbook. If your
organization has a number of spell-slinging Tremere who
challenge one another to ritual combat at the drop of the hat,
rather than reserving it for matters of gravest importance,
Storytellers must identify such behavior as different from
 the canon. Otherwise, a new player who has done her due
diligence and read the source material will often be baffled
by these sorts of changes and find her enjoyment of the
clan lessened by what—to her mind—is a vastly different play
experience than she expected. It is imperative that you explain
to your players why such details differ from the printed
material, preferably with both in-character narrative and out-
of-character explanation.
Ventrue
Once you have set standards for how a clan operates within
your chronicle, it is time to populate the clan with the
leadership needed to keep it running smoothly. No clan has
more leaders within it than Clan Ventrue. Player-characters
are always a more powerful motivator than any Storyteller-
character can ever be, and they are far more ruthless. Players
create Ventrue characters to lead, to accrue recognition, and
to foster a sense of excellence amongst themselves. Let them!
No other clan offers as much opportunity to polish an in-
character resume as the Ventrue, and it is incumbent upon
the Storyteller to provide the resources that allow the players
to maneuver against one another.
boring character, but for those who play the stereotypes and
the norms, how much more fun can they have when they are
rewarded for making choices that are in line with the setting?
No character exists in a vacuum. The choices that the players
make affect their local game. The choices that the local
game makes affects the organization. Understanding how to
manage these choices, how to educate the players, and how
to encourage them to make choices appropriate to the game
are the hallmarks of an excellent Storyteller. Showing an
understanding of the material and being able to explain the
choices made establishes trust with your players. Giving them
the freedom to play in the sandbox is important, and as they
are rewarded and develop their coteries, plots, and intrigues,
you will see them telling stories they did not even know were
possible.
Players who trust their Storytellers are more willing to take risks
and engage each other. They will keep coming back to your
game and will travel to other games in the larger organization
more willingly. This in turn keeps organized play healthy and
unified, which then feeds back into the local games and makes
them richer, and more entertaining.

The Ventrue are organized in a fashion unlike any other clan.

Local board meetings, regional Directorate meetings, knightly
orders: if done well, the modern Ventrue has a myriad of
ways to allow players to interact inside the clan. Clan Ventrue
relies on its elders more than any other clan, so utilize that
built-in respect to provide guidance and mentorship with
your Storyteller-characters. A wise Storyteller creates these
opportunities and then gets out of the way of the players as
they try to live up to the challenges they set for themselves.
Alex Rushing is a quintessential Southerner stuck firmly in
Yankee territory. His love of gaming began in the ancient
days of 1982, when he discovered a certain Keep on some
borderlands. As a founding member of Dixie by Night and an
active member of both the Mind’s Eye Society and One World
by Night, he has been involved in LARP since 1994.

Identify how your players want to get involved; many Ventrue

players love the Influence game, as it is a sign of mastery over
the chronicle. Perhaps assign one promising player the duty
of working with the rest of the Ventrue to coordinate any
weaknesses in the clan’s control over the mortals of the city,
and give her the spotlight during discussions. It gives a player
an opportunity to shine and subconsciously showcases the
clan’s strengths to the players.

Conclusion
Ultimately, the choices Storytellers make when they prepare
for a game will encourage players to play certain kinds of
characters. Each game in a shared universe adds to the overall
feel of the organization. Do not prevent your players from
expressing themselves or force them down paths they may not
want to take. Having a set of expectations informs the players
and allows them the comfort of being able to deviate while
still understanding the results of their choices. No one should
feel pressure to stay inside a nice, comfortable box and play a

Storyteller Secrets 83

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 Storyteller Secrets is a collection of original essays,
guidance, design notes, advice, suggestions, and,
yes, secrets that will help Storytellers get the most
out their Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The
Masquerade games.

This book includes 13 essays from experienced

storytellers and game contributors from a wide
variety of roleplaying organizations.

84 Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade

Mohamad Kalim (Order #27325250)