Well everyone, I’m back for another column and another month, and I’ve found out that WordPerfect has the most annoying habit of wanting to convert html code into something unintelligible. I am so glad that these computers at work are going to be getting Word soon. Yes, that’s right, I am writing this at work this time. Ha! I get paid $10 an hour to sit here at a computer doing nothing. Tough life, I know.
Anyway, loyal readers (because I know the first column really hooked you), this month, as I promised last month, is all about tha’ stereotypes. While I must admit that my personal preference for vampire clan lies with the Lasombra, I have to say that I find it sad that so few people see any potential in the "basic clans" at all. My friend Ratspaw, however, never really liked any of the Independent or Sabbat clans, he says that he has all the potential he needs in the Camarilla alone. I think he is right, although I do like the other clans.
So what do I propose be done about that? What am I going to do in this column? I’m going to provide several character concepts for each of the (formerly) seven Camarilla clans. Yes, I am including the Gangrel in this count. I intend to have one stereotypical-but-interesting concept and one "Why the hell is he in that clan?" concept, or at least that is what I had intended before I wrote this. I hope that each reader finds at least one interesting concept amid the fourteen or so that I am going to describe.
And one more thing, why is it so bad to play the stereotype? I mean, that stereotype had to come from somewhere, didn’t it? In any group, there are those who fit the stereotype perfectly. Granted, in Vampire: the Masquerade many of the stereotypes are as much because of how players play out their characters as how the clans operate in the World of Darkness itself. Sometimes the first image in your mind is one that has grown from poor players, not the traits of clan members. So I ask, what is so wrong with playing the "stereotypical Tremere" once in a while? Does every character have to be some amazing example of stunning creativity and ingenuity? How long can you keep that act up? Sometimes it is nice to simply play the "common man." Some of the best role-playing experiences I have had (as far as getting into character goes) have been with "stereotypes" (like a Setite cop or an Ofanim cabbie in In Nomine). Sometimes I think gamers are terrified to play something so "bland." Sometimes we forget that it is not always the idea that makes a character great, it is the role-playing you do in that character.
One last thing as well. When people think of the clans, often they don’t think past the stereotypes, and they get lost in them. While I know that the clans are more like clubs than families in many ways (in that only those with certain traits are chosen to join usually), they are still relatively huge clans, and nearly any concept can be found within them. Each and every one of the clans is large enough to have a warrior tradition, a sect of magicians, secret police, and information gatherers. Sometime I have to do a column on mages within the clans, but that is for another time I suppose. But keep that in mind the next time you say "I don’t want to play a Ventrue, they are all money and politics."
Anyway, on with the stereotypes and examples.
I’ve never been much on the Brujah myself, they are good enough, I suppose, but I never really got much excitement from the "Rebel! Rebel! You’re all individuals!" feeling they gave off. The only Brujah that really got my heart pumping were those that did what they wanted to do, leather jacket or no. That’s the real "heart of the clan" to me.
So what great wisdom do I have for Brujah players? Learn to yell and get angry at anything. "You don’t like my tie?!? Argh!" They are less a clan of rebels than they are a clan of angry-ass bastards, to me. Anger is at the heart of all Brujah, anger at something. In some ways, I think that the Brujah chose to rebel against "the Man" and hate the establishment so that they can channel all that anger into something other than breaking the fists against the pyramids way back when.
Conservative Rebel
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
Growing up in a conservative school, you were a restless agitator like a lot of your new brethren, but unlike them, you weren’t agitating against nuclear power or foreign wars. You were fighting against political correctness and gun control. You were picked by your Sire amongst a series of candidates in law school for your perspicacity and clarity of thought. He believed that you could be swayed to his way of thinking through reason, but instead he begins to turn toward yours…
You don’t see why you should have to be a rebel just because you’re Rabble. What’s the point in free thought if you have to think it? You happen to support the ideals of the Traditions and think that they’re a good idea, and the hell with any of your clansmen who think they can force you to change your mind. They can try and talk you around, that’s fine, but you’ve got a houseful of books to arm your opposition.
Role-playing Tips:Be open, friendly, and willing to talk. Yours is a voice of freedom through reason, right? Voices have to talk to have any effect. Support your Prince, uphold the Traditions, and keep a close eye on your "brothers". After all, you can never tell what these cantankerous, temperamental Brujah might try to drag you into this time and screw up your city in some new way. If someone tries to force you back into your stereotype, get angry, get verbal and get loud. You gotta be who you are.
Systems: There are really very few recommended traits for the Conservative Rebel. Basically, take lots of Social Attributes (mainly Charisma and Manipulation) and Abilities like Expression, Politics, Leadership, etc. Some good Backgrounds include Resources, Influence and Status (and lots of it). You are the "Ventrue’s Brujah," build yourself as such. Presence is a must.
Muckraker
Words were meant to be free, but I have to charge $0.25 for the paper, man.
Before you were taken into the night side of the city, you ran an underground, independent newspaper, dedicated to the unpleasant truths that city officials and members of the upper tax bracket didn’t let into the large media concerns. A Brujah in your city happened to be a subscriber, and when he won permission to Sire a Childe he came straight to your doorstep and brought you into the fold. Since the, you run an underground, independent newspaper dedicated to the unpleasant truths that city officials and members of the upper tax bracket don’t let into the large media concerns.
You were already a nosy bastard, willing to stick your nose far into where it didn’t belong and risk getting your neck axed for your trouble if it meant exposing some of the city’s dirt to light. Now that you’re on the other side of dead, you find yourself in a unique position to understand why some of the shit you reported went down and to find out even more about the seamy side to fill your columns. Maybe you can’t tell the whole story, but you can tell enough to maybe make things better, or at least worse for your enemies…
Role-playing Tips:Keep your eyes open and listen to things you’re not supposed to. Ask questions. Take notes. Watch over your shoulder a lot, because you might be surprised how many people are looking at it from behind and frowning at you. Stay alive.
Systems: Contacts. Lots and lots of Contacts. Streetwise, Intimidation, Manipulation, Subterfuge, Expression, Enigmas; you have to know a lot to pull off what you do, it is not easy work. For Disciplines, Presence works wonders at swaying sources of information, and you have found that the Nosferatu have it right with Obfuscate, you learn more of it whenever you can. Speaking of Nosferatu, in many ways, you resemble the Sewer Rats more than the Rabble, even if you don’t break mirrors whenever you look in them.
The Gangrel, more than any other clan, embodies the essential predator nature of the vampire. They are closer to the Beast than anyone else, and they gain both power and problems from that. Like the Malkavians, there is something that should be kept in the forefront of the mind when playing a Gangrel, and that is the animalistic nature they all possess as heritage of their vitae. Very often a Gangrel will view things in the simplest terms possible, in a chain of predator-prey relationships, or a pack view with an alpha in charge, or as a herd shepherded by something more powerful than they. Sometimes this can give the lick great insight, sometimes it makes them act extremely naively, a fatal weakness in Kindred society. Not all Gangrel are loners, but all are eventually forced to become something akin to animals.
The Scourge’s Fang
Fuck being a loner, I’m sick of walking.
That security officer job never really worked for you, so when some stranger asked you if you wanted to work as "some muscle" for more money than you had ever seen in your life, you jumped at the chance. After that, you were a goon, the leg-cruncher and knee-capper of some local crime boss. You were never an exceptionally cruel man, but you did what you had to do. It was your job after all, that’s the way that world works.
And your world worked fine until you tried to break the wrong knees. Knees that just kept healing, no matter what you did to them. Didn’t mean you stopped trying, though, you never were one to give up. Which is why when you woke up with blood on your lips and a hunger in your belly, you signed up as the right-hand goon of the New Boss, one who insists that you call him the Scourge. You don’t love your job, you never have loved a job actually, but you do what you need to survive.
Role-playing Tips: You do what you have to do to survive. If that means breaking a few knees (or even necks), then that is what it takes. You don’t try to be "evil" despite what your victims say, but that is the way the world works. You don’t feel guilt for it. Really… The scariest thing is that more and more, you are right about that.
Systems: Protean 2, at least. Potence and Celerity are nice as well. Strength, Stamina, Brawl, Intimidation; those are the traits you live off of. You are not a thinker or a plotter, you never had to be, your muscle was always enough to get you by.
Aggressive Ecologist
Decelerating the Wheels of Progress is easier than you think
You excelled at your studies of ecology, because you understood the concept of interrelationships that a lot of your classmates failed to grasp, about how thoroughly affecting one thing could cascade into effects on a hundred things in a complicated system. They understood it intellectually, but you understood it viscerally and it made all the difference. That’s why you were picked by your Sire, a professor emeritus at your school, because of your understanding and how he could use it.
You use the famous ability of the Kindred to take undue Influence over an area and use it to protect what remains of the environment in your area. Using your skills as an ecologist, you can tell what companies are causing the most ruin and using your skills as a Kindred you force them to stop, and be damned the cost to the company involved. This doesn’t make you popular with the Ventrue, but they’re not your best buddies, either.
Role-playing Tips: Care. You care so much it infuses your very blood. Revel in the precious revenge that you do to these vicious pirate companies what they do to the environment, spoiling them to accomplish your goal the way they spoiled everything around them to accomplish theirs. Be needlessly sanctimonious about things like recycling and occasionally spout off about how important the naked mole rat is to the local ecology.
Systems: Social and Mental Attributes are important, as are Knowledges and such other Abilities like Subterfuge and Intimidation. Investigation and Science (Ecology) are a must. Animalism is likely to be your primary Discipline. Backgrounds should reflect usefulness in the Cause, Influence and Resources should be used as leverage for that, not for personal power.
Few things annoy me more than fish Malks. We all know them, they’re the LARPers who wander around babbling "Trala-trala, I am crazy. Ook-ook. Oh look, a faerie! Come to me my faerie friend!" They are also the kind of Malks that the Scourge uses to pick his teeth. To me, there are two things that should be kept in the forefront of the mind at all times when playing a Malkavian: A) I am insane. I am not sane. I am insane and B) I am a Predator. I have a Beast within me that cries out for blood. I drink blood to survive. For anyone wanting insight into how the mind of a Malkavian works, visit the Book of Not ftp site supported and heavily contributed to by the often caustically sarcastic but always brilliant Jason Corley. Really, the Book of Not is packed with both shite and intensely interesting stuff, but nearly all of it is more amusing than is legal. He also agrees with me, saying (in his! tips on role-playing a Malkavian) to always keep your derangement foremost in your mind. Filter everything (both in an out) through that filter. When you can do that, you can play a Malkavian better than you would probably like.
So just what are some good Malkavian concepts? Here’s two I think are pretty good.
Speaker of Blood
You are already dead.
You had a nice job on the police force, and everything was fine until that one bastard. You swore that he had a gun in his hand. You could see it clearly. Unfortunately, none was found when your partner searched the body. That was it for you. Until she came.
The day you died and came back, Death chose you. She kissed your neck, pulled your life out, and then gave it back. No longer are you some man going through your life like any other. Death gave you a gift when she brought you back from death. You are her eyes, her witness, her mouth and above all, her companion. You know when someone is going to die. You can see it in their eyes, hear it in their pulse, feel it on their skin – and you must tell them. That is what Death chose you for. You are the Declaration, the Announcement of the End. You give those who are doomed to die the time they need to prepare. No one ever does, though.
For the past 13 years, you have lived as Death’s witness, and spoken her judgements, and you have not been wrong once. This of course sets other people who know of your nature ill at ease. Most avoid you altogether, always finding something else to do. Some think that you have great insights, and actually follow you around, hoping for wisdom. More and more think that you are the one who kills those who need to die. That you are some kind of crazed assassin. Those are the ones who are most frightened by you, because they are always looking for the hand that directs you. They never realize that it is Death herself.
Role-playing Tips: Be ready, because any moment Death may call upon you to be the witness to the last moments of someone’s life. That is your duty, and it is a sacred
and solemn one. Let no one interfere with it, you will not fail. Watch everyone carefully, considering if they are the Next One. To others, of course, it seems like you are sizing them up as a meal. They just don’t understand. They can’t – they don’t see what you do.
Systems: Your Derangement is that you believe that you are Death’s witness. You can tell when people die and you must tell them, that is your duty and purpose. Beyond that, you must do your utmost to actually witness the deed itself. As far as traits go, take lots of Auspex and load up on prophetic merits and flaws, from Oracle to Bard’s Tongue. Make sure that you talk with your Storyteller closely about it. Some useful backgrounds might include Retainers or Status, based on the renown you have a a boogey-man of doom. The Status may result from people thinking you are an assassin for some secret society.
Additional Hooks: There was one time you were wrong, with that woman who you declared about to die. She did die, after a fashion. She was Embraced, but it seemed to fail and she lay like a corpse for hours. She rose again, however, plagued by visions of blood and fire. Now, you have to know what happened to her. She is the only one who has escaped Death, and she is ridden by visions just like you…
Media Junkie
"Impeach him? What a great idea!"
"Impeach him? What a ridiculous idea."
"Impeach who? Hey, did you see Unsolved Mysteries last night?"
"You have to listen to what they say, because they’re saying it for a reason, aren’t they? They wouldn’t put it on paper or over the airwaves if it simply weren’t true, after all. TV shows have their experts and their consultants and newspapers have their researchers and editors, and if it’s good enough for them, well, then it should be good enough for you and me put together, thank you very much. Listen and learn, watch and see, and you too can believe, brother, for only $4.95 for the first minute and $3.95 for each additional minute. Teeth really can be whiter, family crises can be solved in thirty minutes with plenty of time for some chipper advertising and doctors can laugh their way through the Korean War if only you’re willing to open your senses to what they’re trying to tell you and believe, yes, believe, brothers, with only a small donation you too can help a poor unfortunate starving Ethiogandakorean for the price of a pizza a year… Here, read this. It’ll help! p you u get started on the road to enlightenment. What is it? It’s the Weekly World News, can’t you read?"
When you were a child, your parents took great care to save you from the horrors of self-determination, teaching by example the advantages of gormless conformity. So you grew up the same way, cutting your hair just so, only wearing what the other kids wore first, and always, always taking TV as the Gospel, especially when it came to the Gospel, which seemed like too much trouble to just read for yourself. The Embrace opened your perceptions to all the information trying to get to you, to save you from yourself and from the ugly thoughts trying to break free and make your mind see the world that’s really around it…
You know the adage "You can’t believe everything you read"? You think it’s a load of crap. You can believe everything you read, and you damn well will, unless you see something on Jerry Springer that sounds better. Contradictions don’t faze you – if TV says something and then later contradicts itself, what it said was true until it said the latter and then it was false, that’s all. What’s the big deal? So the world changed in 45 minutes. That’s progress for you, like they said on the History Channel.
Roleplaying Tips: You go off on binges where you read something that particularly strikes your fancy or you see a TV special that catches your eye (Alien Autopsy! Wow! Why didn’t they tell us about all this before?!?) and try and spread the word that TV has brought you. Well, until it brings you something else. You strongly doubt anything you haven’t seen in the media or that contradicts what the media said, even if you personally witness evidence that disproves it. TV can’t be wrong or they wouldn’t have said it, after all.
Systems: Depending on the direction that the Media Junkie goes in, either high Auspex and Perception would be in order or low of both. Dementation would also be in order. Lots of Abilities (most of them seemingly useless) at lower levels would be much more likely than a few high ones. The Media Junky samples, he does not commit.
Sometimes there is just something about playing the pragmatic monster that gets my mind racing. The Nosferatu are monsters. They can’t deny that. They don’t have the luxury that the Toreador do nor the escape into madness that the Malkavians rely upon. Instead they are faced with reality daily, and they simply go on with their unlives. No other clan, even the Gangrel, are so down-to-earth and realistic. They are what they are and they know it. It is that acceptance that I think endears the clan to me so. I have had precious few opportunities to play a Nosferatu, but I would certainly like more. Despite their sick visages, they are the most well adjusted and humane of vampires, and that juxtaposition makes for some interesting role-playing if handled properly. In addition, the Nosferatu are often the secret source of information and materials. If you want it, they have it, and are usually willing to sell it.
Forager
You want it? I got it. You want it? Baby, I got it.
"Here, how about this? Almost new VCR. Hm? Oh, there’s a pawn shop on 34th Street with old-fashioned locks. I have another one over here. This one’s a pride o’ mine. It’s actually made from parts of three VCRs I found in a dumpster on Merchant Avenue. Works like a charm. Even in stereo."
You fully understood the concept of getting A to B. In high school, you were the guy who knew where all the school equipment was stored and how to get to it, whether you were supposed to or not, and that didn’t stop as you got older. You and your friends helped yourself to some of the equipment at the factory where you worked, y’know, not on a permanent basis, but for maybe a couple of weeks while you were sporting up your car. The bitter old son of a bitch you worked for, though, didn’t buy your story when he found out and had you arrested for theft. You argued your way through the judicial system and found yourself in prison. You filled a niche there, too, being the guy that everyone came to to get cigarettes and little bits of the outside world. One day you were taken from your cell and led to a visiting room, from which you never emerged…
You know how to get anything for anyone. It’s a free service for your sewer-mates; after all, if Nosferatu don’t help each other, no one else is going to, that’s for damn sure. But even the smooth-faced fancy-pants who live above come to you for your services from time to time; living in the night has become easier with 24-hour stores and the Internet and such, but there are some things that still need to be arranged for, if you know what I mean. For them, it costs. You offer volume discounts, though.
Roleplaying Tips: You’re a broker, but you don’t go for broke. You stay alive but not sticking your neck out, and if these monkeys want you to expose your precious hide it’s going to come out of their pocketbooks big time. Don’t ever flinch at what the customer wants to buy; it puts you in a bad position for bargaining. Don’t ever reveal customer purchases, because it’s bad business all around. Well, except to your pals in the sewer, of course, and they said it’s a secret between you and them…
Systems: Like any other "standard" Nosferatu, you need lots of Contacts and Allies wouldn’t hurt either. Since you deal with inanimate objects instead of people much of the time, however, Manipulation is less important and Mental Attributes and Skills like Technology and Repair become more important.
Resident Alien
People are strange, when you’re a stranger, faces look ugly, when you’re alone…
You still don’t know why the Sabbat picked you during one of their recruiting drives, but they did. You were walking home from a night on the town, when these four yahoos come out of nowhere and take you down together. Easily, too. You tried to put up a fight, but you might as well have taken a nap for all the good it did. One of them sinks his teeth into you, you feel your lifeblood sapping away, and then the next thing you know you’re in the ground… You lived with the Sabbat for some years before you started to drift around. You found a clot of Sewer Rats in another town, but it turned out they were Cammie. That didn’t bother you too much; sect is sect, sure, but Nosferatu is forever. You decided to see how the other half lives.
You’re keeping an open mind about this whole Camarilla thing, but whereas for your friends it’s a way of life, for you it’s a big question (or a series of little ones). Who, what, where, when, how, and most frequently, why? You’re curious about why your new buds have to do some of the things they do and follow all these silly rules that your old pack would scoff at, but when in Rome, right? So you float through Camarilla society, playing the roles that serve your purpose. Sometimes you are a loyal Cammie stooge. Sometimes you are almost a Sabbat ambassador. Sometimes you are simple the voice from the shadows. All the time, however, you are Nosferatu.
Roleplaying Tips: Walking up to your Prince and announcing I AM SABBAT is probably a bad notion. Being a Nosferatu transcends sect in many ways, and you can trust your Clansmen to watch out for you, but in the end you have to resort to the great protection of your kind: stealth. Keep your eyes open, mimic the people around you, and learn what the enemy does on their off time. Who knows? Maybe they won’t always be the enemy. Or they will and you’ll know where to hit them…
Systems: Obfuscate, and then some more Obfuscate to be safe. You have Manipulation, Subterfuge, Acting, and Stealth up the yin-yang, and you use them all regularly. Allies and Contacts (but mainly the former) keep you alive when the going gets tough, but your Nossie family is always happy to help.
(I had to sneak another Nosferatu in, I was suddenly inspired – forgive me, my readers)
Deep Throat
Listen carefully, here is what you want to know…
In school, you were the tattle-tale that no one knew about, the secret snitch. You were the eyes and ears of the Administration, often managing to get away with the worst stuff by pinning it on another kid. Life was sweet, until your scapegoats found out. You were never that careless again. When you grew up, you worked as an undercover cop, and a corrupt one at that. You had your finger on the pulse of the city, and you pulled strings and got what you wanted. When the crack-down on police corruption started, you were safe and sound, not only because you had started it, but because you had always been careful to be unidentifiable, always in the background. No one knew a thing – or so you though.
You were Embraced right when you were about to be elected, still rising off of the investigation of the police department that you had started. Now, living in the sewers and never able to grasp the reins of power directly, either in the mortal world or in the Kindred one, you have fallen back on your old skills. They say that the Ventrue and Toreador are the masters of manipulation, but they have nothing on you. Speaking from the shadows, whispering over the phone, dropping notes off at certain locations; with a few bits of well-placed information or suggestions, you steer the bull of political power better than a thousand blood bonds and a truckload of Dominate.
Role-playing Tips: Know just a little bit about everyone, just a little bit. It might come in handy later on. Always seem like you know more than you are telling and only say enough to get the results you want. Why squander your power? You lost everything once, it will not happen again.
Systems: Social Attributes and Abilities like Subterfuge, Leadership, Intimidation, Streetwise and Acting are a must. Obfuscate is the primary in-clan Discipline, and Presence and Dominate are both intensely useful out of clan powers. Backgrounds gravitate towards Contacts, Status and Influence, but almost all of it is through indirect control and manipulation. Sometimes it is difficult, yes, and not very exact, but it certainly is safe.
For some reason everyone seems to hate those "art fag" Toreador. "Pansies and fops! All of them!" is what I hear a lot, mostly from Brujah or Gangrel fans. A Toreador can be a great character though, look at the two pillars of the clan: Art and Politics. They claim only the former, but the latter is their bread and butter just as much. As such, Toreadors are the perfect characters for playing the "connected vamp" (or just plain "vamp"). The Toreador Embrace for Art, Politics, and Love most of the time, but what about the other parts of the clan? Sure, most Toreadors are "lovers, not fighters," but they are, like any other clan, still vampires are heart. Despite whatever personal delusions they have to holding on to their humanity, they are the same monster that the obviously inhuman Gangrel or the alien Tzimisce are. Combine that predatory nature with a love of art and an almost inherently political nature, and you get a very complicated monster indeed, rivaling any Tzimisce ! for sheer brutality hidden behind a facade of refinement.
Storyteller
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a young girl, and her name was
Lilith…
You had the voice and you had the knack, even as a young boy. You loved to read stories out loud, even as a boy, and your parents would sit enraptured by the side of your bed and listen to their boy read them to sleep. As you got older, your knack for telling stories began to serve other purposes. It made your antics seem more grandiose to the boys, more romantic to the girls and more innocuous to the Principal. You were picked up by a roaming Artiste in a coffee shop performance while you were in college studying literature and drama, and the two of you struck it off immediately. You became a Toreador society darling and eventually a full member. Now you live in what seems like some story out of an odd horror novel, and you love it. You have found a whole new world, with tales and stories the likes of which you have never seen before. Caine, Abel, Lilith, Enoch, the Antediluvians; all of it captivates you with an almost magnetic power. You cannot get enough, and you have become something of an amateur Noddist in your own fashion.
Role-playing Tips: Timing is important for a story. Work them in where they fit but don’t force them on people or you become a boor. Don’t be afraid to embellish or even outright diverge from reality when telling a story, because what’s important in a story a lot of the time is rhythm and flow, not technical accuracy. Fall back on the classics. Everyone loves the old stories. That’s why they’re old. Just don’t be afraid to personalize them a little.
Systems: Charisma and Expression are your heart and soul. Wits is important as well, as you need to be able to improvise. It might also help you to have a smattering of various Knowledges, especially History, because a little bit of knowledge can make a story sound so much more real Some things to you might want to carry: A bottle of rum, a copy of Aesop’s Fables and some semi-authentic fragments of the Book of Nod.
The Renaissance Woman
In framing an artist, art hath thus decreed,
To make some good, and others exceed…
– William Shakespeare, Pericles
You mastered the piano at 11. The violin at 13. The cello at 16. The paintbrush at 19. The pen at 21. The chisel at 25. It all came to you like breathing, and you kept mastering it all. You’re parents were so proud of their little prodigy. So proud that they paraded you around like some brightly colored peacock, and you hated them for it. They never loved you, they loved your ability – and they weren’t the only ones. A young Toreador was enamored of your amazing talents, and he brought you into undeath to be his lover, giving you eternity to master every art form. He never understood you, though. He never knew how you kept moving on to new media because you never cared for the art. You did it because you could, and you always grew bored of it. He just wanted to parade you around, just like your parents did. You hated him too. Or maybe he did understand more than he let on, because one night he grew bored of you, and then you were on your own. Now, in a world that you don’t understand but know well enough to pretend and gain status, just like when you were a kid, you finally feel driven and inspired… you just cannot figure out how to express the Art burning in your heart.
Role-playing Tips: Everyone is only interested in you for your talents, they don’t care about who you are at all. But you’ll show them, once you can figure out how you want to say the words ringing in your undead soul. Until then, you will have to remain quiet and play the little peacock for everyone. It is an easy role for you now, you are used to it.
Systems: Lots of Expression, or better yet, loads of points in Secondary Skills, all pertaining to art. Appearance and Charisma may or may not be high, but Manipulation certainly is, as is Acting – you have to know how to smile when everyone fawns on you, after all. And that is all anyone seems to want, isn’t it?
The Tremere are another one of my favorite clans (I think this would be a good time to mention that I like all of the clans), mainly because I love ooky-spooky blood magic. Sometimes though, I think that the Tremere are short-changed. They are often seen as either the carbon-copy magus (like the Cog below, but less personal) or the renegade "I learn kewl magik! Wee!" Anarch. I think that the double-agent Tremere is overlooked, as are the non-magical Tremere (although they got a look-see in the Vampire: the Dark Ages supplement Libellus Sanguinus 2: Keepers of the Word). From politics to assassination to spying to magic, the Tremere are like any other clan, and they need their warriors just like they need their wizards. But then again, magic is just too much fun to pass up sometimes.
Benedict Arnold
I, John Walker, swear to defend the Constitution of the United States of America…
You were a military analyst when they took you, used to processing information classified by the United States of America. They figured that you would immediately understand the nature of secrecy required by the Art. What they didn’t know, though, was that for years you’d been selling bits and pieces of that information to a broker you’d met "accidentally" at a party, and you were used to the gains to be got from betraying the trust of your allies. You’re a backstabbing weasel. You’ll sell anything you know if the price is high enough, and you’ll sell it as many times as you can manage since, unlike most other products, you can never run out of something you know. You don’t just sell information – you sell lessons in the Art, breaking the most sacred tradition of the Tremere and running the risk of execution for premium prices.
Roleplaying Tips: Play your activities extremely close to the vest. Make it clear to your customers that if anything happens to you, it’ll likely happen to them, too, so they’d be well served in keeping you hale and hearty. Space out your leaks or time them so it won’t be immediately obvious it was you. If you can, shift the blame onto one of your potential persecutors in the Clan.
Systems: Manipulation, Teaching, Acting, Subterfuge, Wits; all of these are musts if you intend to survive past your first night. Lying is something that comes like second nature to you, you are almost more a Setite than a Tremere. While both Auspex and Dominate are useful (hell, everything is useful), you concentrate in Thaumaturgy, as that is what most people want to learn, and what you can charge the most for… Your Backgrounds should reflect your success, Resources, Status, Favors; the whole nine yards.
The Cog
Climb the steps of the pyramid, my friend, it is there for a reason.
Even in life you followed the system. At the university you followed the curriculum exactly. When you graduated and became a teacher, you followed the rules to the letter, even if you didn’t like them. They were there for a reason after all, weren’t they? If there was something you didn’t like, you tried to change it from the inside. It is just better and easier that way. You were Embraced after you retired, after you had lived a nice, full life, so you don’t really regret leaving it behind. In fact, you welcome eternity, you have forever to learn now. While you don’t like the rules of the clan, and you are sometimes questioning the orders you get, you follow them none the less, the rigid order is comforting, and better than the alternative.
Role-playing Tips: The way in which you do something is as important as what you do. Blatant disregard for the rules is for the foolish and insane, not for anyone who wants to accomplish anything. Sure, not ever rule is right or good, but at least from the inside you can try to affect some change on them.
System: Mental Attributes are primary, specifically Intelligence. Similarly, Knowledges are your passion, much more than Talents or Skills. Auspex and the ever interesting Thaumaturgy are where your interests lie, Dominate is of little use to you know. Backgrounds are likely to be Status and Contacts, gleaned through you perfect Tremere attitude.
Often the most overlooked clan, the Ventrue have their own flare sometimes if you look at them right. They have their warriors and the secret police, they are just not in the forefront. And just what is so wrong with being a master manipulator anyway? Often times people underestimate the power of a well-trained ghoul. There is that whole sunlight issue that humans are so much better at. In many ways, the Ventrue epitomize "vampire" in the Camarilla sense. The "good Ventrue" is subtle, intelligent, plotting, and manipulative. A huge challenge to play, but it can be very rewarding none the less – as long as you ignore the Clanbook, that is, it was the worst of the Cammie clans.
Internal Affairs
"Repent, Harlequin!" said the Ticktockman.
-Harlan Ellison
"The truest danger to an organization always lies on the inside, friend, not on the outside, and the looser and freer that organization is, the truer the statement becomes. There’s always someone on the inside whose boss spoke to him the wrong way or read some propaganda and became a believer or needs the money or whatever, and if you think the enemy doesn’t have vultures circling around the outside looking for these weak spots every minute of every night, you’re fooling yourself, friend. We need to be as vigilant as the enemy is cunning if we intend to keep the organization going long enough to see if Y2K is real or hype, and we’re the ones to do it. You with me, or you with them? That’s what I thought, or I wouldn’t have asked and you wouldn’t have seen tomorrow."
You were in ROTC while earning your degree in Criminal Justice, so after graduation you went straight into the Army. During your military career you worked in counterintelligence, and you learned how vulnerable the seeming strong can actually be if it only looks without. You did stellar work during your career, and the Ventrue were pointed to you by one their agents who had escaped your notice, but then he did have some special advantages…
While most of the Camarilla’s defenders look out over the metaphorical walls at the enemies that lay ready to siege them, you look within for the turncoats who would proverbially unbar the gates and drug the guards’ wine. Traitors can be anywhere, and no one is above suspicion, even after an investigation comes up clean. That just means it’s time to start the investigation over.
Roleplaying Tips: Don’t trust anybody. As a matter of fact, the more someone
tries to solicit your trust, the more your suspicions turn toward them as either suborned spies or dangerously naive fools. Ask embarrassing questions about anyone and everyone, most especially the powerful, and feel no need to justify yourself for it. You’re just doing what needs to be done, and you need to know the dirty laundry before you can keep it out of enemy hands.
Systems: Social Attributes and Abilities like Investigation, Interrogation, Forensics, and the like should be assumed. Dominate and Presence both have their uses, although perhaps Dominate would be more effective. Status is a must, otherwise you would not have the authority to survive your manners.
The Puppeteer
Why do it myself when I have so many others willing to do it for me?
During life you were a follower, a pawn. You were the stooge for the schoolyard bully, the crony for the rising executive, the yes-man for the CEO. A young Ventrue thought that you would make the perfect pawn as well. You would have, if the Embrace hadn’t changed you so drastically. No longer content to be manipulated, you wanted to be the manipulator. You turned years of being on the bottom into a weapon, and with it you decapitated your foolish sire. No one wept when he fell to the "Sabbat attack." Then you set to being that manipulator, that puppeteer. You built your network of spies and agents. You flexed your strings, always sure to be subtle. So what if people call you the "stereotypical Ventrue?" Let’s see what they say when your ghouls destroy their haven during the day.
Role-playing Tips: You don’t do it yourself, you call for it to be done. Other people do the work for you. You are for planning and thinking, not for executing anymore. That is for the "little people," and now you have so many little people. Systems: Like any good Ventrue, lots of Social Abilities and Attributes, as well as Allies, Contacts, and Retainers. They are your arms and legs, your fists and teeth for defeating those who stand in your way. You do not attack your enemies as they leave Elysium, you have their haven burnt during the day.
Yup, this month’s column (and a fucking long one at that) has come to an end already. To keep it short and sweet after that monster, I’ll just say what is on the slate for next month: I don’t know. No, really, I don’t. I am thinking maybe about The War with the Fuzzies: How I would "fix" Werewolf: the Apocalypse, although I am also toying with maybe A Less Subjective Mage Game or A More Subjective Mage Game, the latter specifically because I don’t like that kind of game. Or maybe I might do the same kind of look as I did this month on Werewolf, but this takes a great deal more work than I had expected.
Anyway (I say that a lot, readers, so you might as well get used to it), suffice to say I don’t know what to expect for the next month, I guess it depends on what people tell me they want. I’ve gotten one response from this so far, just a general "Good job!" and I want MORE! More damnit! Remember, I write this for you people, so if you want me to write about a specific thing, just let me know.
Until that next, fateful, suspenseful month, enjoy your games and spend more time on the internet. It is the best way to procrastinate. Trust me, I know.
Oh, and before I go, I would like to publicly and profusely thank my good friend Ratspaw for helping me make this month’s column a success. At least half of the ideas here are either his or inspired by his. He’s a great and cool guy. Wave to him if you happen to see him around alt.games.whiltewolf.
-Kintaro Oe
-kabael