VampNewbieGuide

Vampire Masquerade LARP Newbie Guide

So, you�re a newbie, huh? I�ve compiled this list of helpful hints and whatnot to help you out in the world of Vampire: Masquerade LARP�ing... Aren�t I nice? My suggestion to you is have a highlighter handy, or pencil and paper to take notes. There�s a lot of stuff in
So, welcome to the world of Vampires. A LARP is a Live Action Role Playing game. That means you act like your character would act, and do what they do. A perfect example of this is: One player was sitting on the couch and she�s like �my character gets up and tries to run through the wall.� We immediately had to correct her because you don�t say what your character does, you do� So she ran over to the wall and lightly tried to run through it. It was quite amusing. This game isn�t for the faint of heart. Some people can be quite sick... and their characters can be messed up too. But always keep one thing in mind: It�s just a game. It�s not real life. It�s not some satanic cult, worshiping vampires or the devil or whatever.

By: Kaydence Dean, Iren, and Alize

There are some basic rules and code of conduct when LARP�ing
� Be respectful of the house you�re playing at. Don�t go breaking anything, and no raiding the fridge. If they want to feed you, they�ll do it.
� No roughhousing. That includes wrestling, etc. People can get hurt and stuff can be broken that way.
� No weapons unless you ask the house you play at and ok it with the storyteller. Randomly bringing a sword is kinda scary.
� Act how your character would act, but if the character is doing weird stuff like decapitating people and eating their toes, just tell the people that are in the same place as you that you�re doing it, don�t actually do it.
� What you say is what your character says. Don�t go randomly spouting off stuff that doesn�t pertain to game.
� There is an out-of-character room. There you can go if you need to talk about normal stuff or whatever and not be �in-game�. DON�T hang out there all the time. You�ll miss all the action!
� If a door is closed, that means something private is going on in there. If you�re sneaking around and spying, go ahead and enter. If you�re looking for someone, knock. In general, remember closed door equals knock!
� Remember that it�s all pretend.
� Don�t randomly leave a room to go hang out in the out-of-character room. You�ll just randomly disappear from game time� or walk out of important meetings.
� DO. NOT. USE. OUT. OF. CHARACTER. KNOWLEDGE. PERIOD!

So, by now, I bet you�re wondering about what kind of vampire you want to be. You have 13 clans and a variety of offshoots. These are mainly stereotypes, but the thirteen clans are:
1. Brujah � rebels with a cause. Tend to be punks and gang members. Really short-tempered
2. Asamite: Super assassins with some awesome powers. Middle Eastern, generally.
3. Followers of Set: Shortened to Setite. They believe that Set founded the vampires. They like snakes and have arcane knowledge.
4. Gangrel: generally nomadic fighters who love the wild. Did I say they were good at fighting?
5. Giovanni: Like a mafia. These guys deal with blood, money, and the souls of the dead.
6. Lasombra: These guys are masters of shadow. They�re one of the 2 core Sabbat members (Sabbat will be explained soon)
7. Malkavians: Vampires of this clan are all crazy in some form or another. But craziness can lead to insight
8. Nosferatu: These guys are UGLY, but they know EVERYTHING. They are awesome spies and live in the sewers.
9. Ravnos: These guys are like gypsies. Skilled at illusion, but blamed for everything.
10. Toreador: The Toreador love art and pretty things. They are passionate and very social.
11. Tremere: They use the only technical �magic� vampires can have. They aren�t very trusted, but they are feared.
12. Tzimisce: the other core member of the Sabbat. These freaky guys mold flesh and bone to suit their purposes.
13. Ventrue: The Ventrue are essentially the aristocracy. Very noble and honorable.
� Caitiff - These vampires have no clan. They are lower than dirt, and usually treated that way. Either their Blood is too weak or their sire left them without teaching them. Be prepared to be treated as scum�

Now there are two basic sects of vampires: The Camarilla and the Sabbat. The Camarilla are devoted to keeping relative order in vampire society. There are 7 member clans: Brujah, Toreador, Ventrue, Tremere, Malkavian, Gangrel, and Nosferatu. Their �alliance� so to speak is tentative at best. The other sect is the Sabbat aka the Black Hand. This clan is totally about total vampire freedom. To do what you want, when you want. The Sabbat is made up to 2 basic clans: Lasombra and Tzimisce. Also, they have all the rebels of the other clans. The rebels are called antitribu. (aka anti-clan) They reject all the mainstream ideals of their clans. For example a Ventrue antitribu may hate the Camarilla and want to bring about its downfall. Also, you can have antitribu of Sabbat clans as well. There are also four �independent� clans: the Followers of Set, Giovanni, Asamite, and Ravnos. They try to remain neutral between the two sects. Either that, or they just don�t care. For more info on the clans, see the Vampire: Masquerade Handbook.