Late June, and it�s anniversary time again. This time last year, the undead of the city were plunged into crisis as the Armageddon Prophecy loomed, and Gynander of the Black Hand performed a ritual, along with the rest of the city�s Sabbat, to protect the baby Hope from harm until she came of age. This game represented our first anniversary of LARP Vampire.
This year, I had to come up with something new, something that would befit an anniversary game, and something that wouldn�t interfere with the current chronicle. So, throwing all caution to the wind, I decided to risk the wrath of the players and bring back last year�s arch-nemesis London, turn all the vampires into mortals, and alter the World of Darkness to what became referred to during the game as the World of Light. The plot itself was simple, but coming up with a plausible explanation for how these events could actually come to pass was trickier. The first version of this special plot was going to be Lord Arrakon himself manipulating the world and London becoming the heroic ally of the Player Characters. As you can see from the way the game played out, this was dramatically changed and in a way completely reversed; London (aka his Lupine self, Wyrmbane) became the villain and Lord Arrakon (aka Dr Arran Loko) became the ally of the Player Characters � even if he was manipulating them into his own scheme. However, this meant that I had to find a way for London to escape his death and return to Maiden Newton. Edd had unwittingly provided the answer earlier in the year, when the PCs were trapped in the Middle Ages and he had Dr Frank N Furtur, a Guardian of Time, return everything to its proper place. In this I found a plot hook; Furtur�s manipulation of time had been almost, but not quite, flawless, and one tiny ripple in the fourteenth century increased over the centuries to allow London some kind of loophole to escape his death. From that, the other details of the plot came quite easily, and are explained on the London and Lord Arrakon pages.
Rather than be angry or irritated that I had brought back one of the most controversial NPCs of the Society, the players actually enjoyed the game very much. Perfectly Normal became Points again, and Points, overjoyed at being human again at long last, went behind the backs of his Sabbat brethren and attempted to aid Wyrmbane against those who would kill him and return the world to normal. Meanwhile Dave was pleased with the opportunity to play Lucien as a human and suddenly experiencing the full range of emotions for the first time in centuries. Oh, and everybody took great joy in the Archbishop�s �accidental� death as a mortal human. Therefore I was very pleased with how this game went after all, and it made a fitting tribute both to the Masquerade Society�s second anniversary of LARP Vampire and to the Dies Irae chronicle of last year.
Finally, does the result of this game mean Lord Arrakon is free? Well, yes and no. Although his web page does state that he is active again and looking for an opportunity to fulfil the Armageddon Prophecy once more, it won�t be any time soon; perhaps in a millennium or two. Lord Arrakon is, however, free to consume other worlds, and the PCs now will have that on their consciences. Not that they really care, I�m sure, being Sabbat bastards and all (!). But rest assured, Lord Arrakon will never again resurface in our Vampire games (and yes I know I said that before), and the same goes for London, who is truly dead now and also won�t ever resurface.
So, with another year and another anniversary game under our belt, I look forward to next year, and our third anniversary, in which I will be bringing in a few more antediluvians, one or two Celestines, and an Archmage, in a manic plot about world-ending prophecies and talismans of doom. Or maybe not. |
