Just Gotta Have Fangs

This week I'm indulging myself by taking a look at my favorite game, White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade. The World of Darkness is a labyrinth of twisted intrigue and cunning as plans are made that may take centuries to succeed. But when one is immortal, patience is easier to come by . . . .

(For those of you who aren't familiar with White Wolf, their games fall into the "gothic horror" category. Wraiths, werewolves, changelings, vampires — and those that hunt them — are some of the inhabitants of the WoD. And their world reflects our own in a grim, somber way.)

One of the reasons I like Vampire is that the game's emphasis on political maneuverings lends itself to many different types of roleplay. People play V:TM on table tops, online, and as theater, using Mind's Eye Theater Rules for Live Action.

There are innumerable MU*es based on Vampire. Some have been around for years, like Miami By Night and Sanguinis Nobilis. These follow the traditional Storyteller system in that dots indicate the levels of various traits the characters possess, and conflicts can be settled by dice rolls. Some, like Measure for Measure, are both new and innovative.

M4M is statless — every trait a character has is described, and to use them, the player must pose out the scene rather than roll a die. This system requires much more thought during character creation, and demands more of its roleplayers. But the work and skill involved scare away the twinks, too and that's a big part of why I enjoy it more than the traditional structures.

It also incorporates features — characters that were generated by staff as permanent denizens of the MUX, but who may be played by different people as RPers come and go. Using features provides a bit of stability in the ever-changing list of who's actively playing, so that, for example, the local Camarilla won't find itself without a Prince from one week to the next.

Enjoy playing WoD by e-mail? Check out the newsgroups, a popular venue now for roleplaying. Along with rec.games.frp.storyteller, which includes all the WoD species, there is alt.games.vampire.the.masquerade and alt.vampire.tremere. All offer ongoing IC stories. Read the FAQs, then post an IC letter of introduction to the group to get started. For OOC musings about White Wolf and roleplay in general, alt.games.whitewolf is an interesting group to browse.

As a postscript to last week's article, add The RPG Personals to the list of resources. If you're looking for any sort of gaming group to join, from e-mail to tabletop, this site is worth a stop.

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