Having found a fourth for our Vampire rendevous, we gathered on Wednesday night for a little beer drinking and character creation. Which is to say, the dorks have risen and are playing Vampire: The Requiem. What the hell is that, you ask? According to the site:
“It is a Modern Gothic Storytelling game, a roleplaying game that allows you to build chronicles that explore morality through the metaphor of vampirism. In Vampire, you play the monster, and what you do as that monster both makes for an interesting story and might even teach you a little about your own values and those of your fellows.”
Modern Gothic. Which means that the events take place in the here and now, post 9/11 in the midst of terrorism, globalization, and outsourcing. Vampires however, with their impressive centenarian-on-steriods status, seem to have resisted the waves of modernization and organize themselves around a feudal society infrastructure. The densest concentration of vampires can be found in major cities (natch), each of which is ultimately ruled by a Prince. According to our Storyteller, Princes keep to their territory and don’t try to gain more power and influence by ruling additional cities.
Are vampires always so lame? As a child of conspiracy theories and post-postisms, it seems a somewhat unimaginative and uninspired a role for greedy, power-hungry vampires to play. If I can play a vampire that runs a multi-million dollar software company, does it seem so odd to think that at some point I would leverage my resources for greater aspirations? I mean, it makes sense that the Elders currently in power, most likely born in the 1700’s, might have an antiquated mindset and not see the opportunities free markets and global corporatism might bring to the table. But what about the up and coming generation? Holy Jesus, imagine if Cheney was a vampire (I think consensus is that he is a ghoul)!
Similarly, is it a huge stretch of the imagination to think that vampires of the same clan or coterie might not set up torpor schedule not unsimilar to tiered backups, so that when the ruling Prince goes into torpor the power is handed to someone “trustworthy” until they come out of torpor and can begin again? A somewhat farfetched concenpt since vampires have a bit of a memory issue when coming out of torpor along the lines of Momento, but it could happen!
Disclaimer: I’m a total newbie to the World of Darkness, so please no flames.
o.
m.
g.
There was a group of kids in high school that played this game, and all the other white wolf ones, when it was ‘the masquerade’. One of them, after I soundly thrashed him for some slight or another, swore to me he would summon a demon when he was a sophisticated enough mage, and then he’d show me.
don’t start with the demon summoning.
next thing we know you’ll be playing dungeons and dragons and ouiji boards.
jesus christ loves you, pnts, he really does.
;-)