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Masquerade?
"Vampire:the
Masquerade" was originally devised in the early 90s as a game
to be played from a rulebook by 5-6 people, around a table with
dice, pencil and paper. It is based in White
Wolf's "World of Darkness", a parallel world where the creatures
of horror and fantasy exist but conceal themselves from the
eyes of humanity. Think of Millennium and the X-files against
a background of American style street gangs, gangsters to make
the Mafia cower in their concrete boots, and high Machiavellian
politick.
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Soon it's
devotees realised that this was an excellent setting for live-action
gaming and so was born the Masquerade. Now the live-action game
is played by clubs across the world and has had to develop it's
own rules to cover the necessary mechanics.
The game
centers around the idea that the players are all vampires who
live their lives(?) according to the rules of The Masquerade:
they must never ever under any circumstances allow normal human
society to know of their true nature. So we are people pretending
to be vampires pretending to be people...
 
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What we
DON'T do
To set a
few points straight:-
Vampire
the Masquerade is a GAME, not a lifestyle and should be played
for entertainment, not as an expression of any personal ideology.
Certainly
in UKM we do not condone, or in any way encourage the drinking
of blood or literal enactment of any of the practices ascribed
to the mythical creatures known as Vampires.
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What we
do
The game
is essentially about survival through politics, guile and brute
force in a hostile world. Through interaction in a social setting,
stories are developed interactively by the players from a set
of starting conditions set by the referees or "Storytellers".
These stories might develop through a series of sessions into
a longer "Chronicle". Some Chronicles have been running
for years with a web of political interactions rivaling that
of Florence of the Medicis.
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Each player
character usually belongs to one of 7 "clans". Each clan has
it's own characteristics and interests and of course individuals
have their own agendas which may or may not run alongside those
of the clan. In game terms the different clans cater to the
different types of players, some are just there for a good scrap
(all fighting is abstracted so no physical contact actually
takes place!), some for the society and some for the power play.
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It sounds
chaotic and it often is and it takes a couple of sessions of
gaming to get the hang of things and find your feet in the politics
but once you do get properly involved it can be a LOT of fun.
The group
I play with get together about once a month at a venue in Portsmouth,
England and play out the interactive side of the game: meeting
people, settling differences, making deals. Between games is
where the real dark play goes on when the clans meet to discuss
strategies and hatch plots...
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If you are
interested in finding out more there are a number of web-sites
(a HUGE number). But I would say to get to the heart of the
game you need to look at the table-top rules book - Vampire:
the Masquerade. It's stocked in most decent games stores.
Alternatively, go
to White Wolf Games page & look at their
Vampire the Masquerade "quick start" kit.
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