1991 - Vampire The Masquerade

No one holds command over me. No man. No god. No characters will seek this, but for a majority it will be their
Elder. No Prince. What is a claim of age for ones who are overwhelming motivation, their all-consuming drive, especially
immortal? What is a claim of power for ones who defy death? as the steady loss of Humanity takes its toll.
Call your damnable hunt. We shall see who I drag screaming to
Hell with me. Other Vampires will seek Golconda, the plateau of
control that some of the Kindred manage to reach, where their
- Giinter Dam, Das Ungeheuer darin basic drives and instincts do not control them so strongly. This
is even more difficult to attain than the escape from the curse of
To understand Vampire, you must be able to savor its undeath, but it is sought after at least as much.
mood. Its atmosphere is stark, exotic and brooding, but with an
underlying sonorous sensuality. Vampire is a neo-gothic vision The characters spend much of their time combating
ofromance laid atop today's hyper-kinetic MTV world. Dracula evil, but instead of fighting diabolists or evil scientists or
meets Prince. monsters as in other games, they are combating that which is
inside of themselves, that makes them evil. Thus, this is a much
This romance is served by the pathos of it all. In more intense game than you might be used to; the issues and
Vampire, characters are almost certainly doomed from the stories involved are not for the weak-of-heart.
moment they first become Vampires. Though they are powerful
beyond imagination, they are also cursed. No matter what they Contents
do, they remain monsters. The stories in Vampire are unique
because they all have this element of tragedy. The traditional This Chapter describes how to create and run a
tragedy of the theater, the tragedy of Shakespeare, consists of a Chronicle. Not only is there a description of how a Chronicle
hero coming to a great and horrible demise, as they were fated works, but advice on how to keep the level of player interest high
to from the very beginning. Because of who and what the hero throughout its course. Chronicles are not always easy to create,
is, and because of the person the hero was, the tragedy is simply because of the scope ofthe story which they describe. A
inevitable from the very first act- and the audience knows it. Chronicle is most often created through a series of playing
The characters in Vampire are almost certainly doomed from sessions and a number of different stories
the first moment they receive the Kiss of the Embrace -and the
players should know it. The Chronicle is more than the sum of a number of
playing sessions and stories, it is in fact a story itself. The
However, these characters, who are the paragons of Chronicle is the saga told by the progress of the characters'lives.
tragic evil, may also become heroes of uncommon valor and It shares many of the same things that a series of movies does,
virtue. These Vampires are evil, not because of who they are but only it can last an even longer period of time.
because of what they are. As drinkers of blood, they have the
taint of evil within. They are tragic because they care about their A Chronicle has a beginning and an ending. It has
evil but can ultimately do nothing about it. The characters in obstacles for the characters to overcome and it has a constant
Vampire are expected to be heroes-they must care about what motif. The Chronicle more than likely has some of the same
they have become and about what they may soon be. villains appearing again and again to antagonize the characters.
It is not simply a string of stories slapped together - not unless
Justice is only served if the good overcomes the evil­ you are willing to setLle for something mediocre. A Chronicle
the monsters must lose. Thus, for the Vampire character to find must be created with as much patience, creativity and grace as
some way to "win," they must somehow become heroic. They a model plane or an oil painting.
must defeat the monster within by exerting self-restraint, nur­
turing the impulses of human virtue, and displaying genuine A typical Chronicle will last for many years (player
courage. Sometimes the tragedy ofFinal Death is the Vampire's years) because it is based upon the lives of Vampires, who are
only hope of heroic escape. immortal. Thus, it is possible for a single Chronicle to cover
several hundred years in time. However, because Gehenna is
The possibility exists that they may find a way to fast approaching, it is likely that your Chronicle will take place
escape the curse and become mortal once again. Not all over years or decades, not centuries. Several stories may occur
within weeks of one another, but sometimes stories will be

Chapter Eight: Chronicle 201

separated by years of down time, which you may describe to the Fourth, a plan of the progression of the Chronicle should be
players but not roleplay through. Stories are the exciting but constructed, to detail where you want to take it. Lastly, you
infrequent events that punctuate long years of quieter pursuits. need to determine the motif of the Chronicle, which describes
the reoccurring images, subjects, moods and special rules you
You need to begin designing the Chronicle long before will include in it. Making these decisions wisely will insure that
the players create their characters. Hopefully, you will have your Chronicle runs smoothly.
already spent several hours of work, at the minimum, in deter­
mining the substance and texture of the Chronicle you want to Elements of a Chronicle
run. Everything else depends on what you come up with • Setting
initially. The sharper your ideas, the better everything else will • Characters
be later on. It can be time-consuming to create a Vampire • Antagonists
Chronicle, but later on it will save you time when you create the • Plan
stories. • Motif

You have a number of decisions to make as you create Name
the Chronicle. First, you need to decide the Setting of the
Chronicle - what city is it set in and what is that city like? (We Sometime before the Chronicle begins, you will need
recommend Chicago, or another city nearby, since this will be to name it The name can be fairly important, for it sets the tone
the location of much of our supplemental material.) Secondly, from which everything else follows. The name should be
you need to determine what connects the characters and what suggestive of the theme and potential of the Chronicle without
their motivations will be. Third, the primary antagonists of the giving anything away. Every character is described by the
players need to be delineated. What are their motivations? Chronicle in which she belongs, so the players are likely to be
pestering you for a name. It is best to have it made up from the
start, so it actually sounds good. Often a name can be very
simple, named after the city in which it is set, or the Prince who
controls it. Our example of a Chronicle, Forged in Steel, is given
in this chapter, and you are welcome to use it.

Setting

She brings him to her, controlling him as she would All the vampires walkin' through the valley
a mortal. Move west down Ventura Blvd.
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows
And the good girls are home with broken hearts.

- Tom Petty, Free Fallin'

In Vampire, it is not necessary to create the world, for
it is so much like our own, but the counterpart to it is creating the
city. Thecity is the locus of the Vampire game. Belowaresome
ideas on how to create and what to include in your city, but
establishing the essential qualities of it are your responsibility.

You need to make the setting realistic and consistent so
that the players will believe in it. With each story you run, define
the city a bit better but don't give away everything at once. As
the Chronicle progresses, add details of geography, custom,
plot, and so on. Build it bit by bit and at whatever pace you
choose.

The setting is where the plot of the story takes place­
the more interesting and exotic it seems the more the plot will

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Book Three: The Riddle