Vampire Clans: Blood is Thicker than Water

A clan is your vampire character’s extended supernatural family, literally his or her bloodline. At the time your character is Embraced (the term Kindred use for their transformation from human to vampire), the Sire performs a type of blood transfusion, replacing your character’s blood with his or her own.

When this happens, your character is imbued with the traits of the Sire’s clan.

Limitations Within The Chronicle

Since each new Kindred is dependent on the Sire’s clan, you may be limited to the clan you can choose for any given chronicle or story. If the game is primarily Kindred, you’ll have a wider choice, but in a game such as Escaping Reality, the clan pickings are slim simply because there aren’t many Kindred in the story.

Sometimes, getting the right clan for your character is just a matter of discussing with Storytellers. Most can figure out a way to get you what you want. It’s as easy as throwing a hungry, irresponsible vampire from a nearby city into the game for a moment.

In most cases, though, the creation of Childer (a Sire’s offspring) is very serious business to vampires. If the local Prince finds out one was made without his permission, you can guarantee the Sire is toast and his Childer may be too. Of course, that makes for great plot and a wicked jump-start for your new vampire.

The Clans

Here are the five clans for Kindred:

Daeva: This clan is the most passionate of the bunch. They are the artists and musicians and stir the souls of their prey with hedonistic tendencies. Their nickname is Succubi, and with good reason. The Daeva are drawn to beauty, but this passion becomes hollow and meaningless as they age. Deep down inside, they feel nothing. In time, a Daeva comes to realize this passion is nothing but an illusion. All they know is this burning need and eventually this desire to feel leads them down a long dark path littered with depravity.

Gangrel: Humans may fear vampires, but even the Kindred have their fears and chief among them are the Gangrel. The Gangrel (or Savages as they are called among the Kindred) are closer to the wild, unforgiving Beast that lurks within every Kindred. They are the rebels and the hell raisers. They are the ones who refuse to stay down when the odds are stacked against them.

The Gangrel have a more introspective side, too. Out of all the clans, the Gangrel truly understand their condition and won’t waste time on theories when first hand experimentation will do. They will push their abilities to the limit in order to master them.

Mekhet: Clan Mekhet are the assassins of the Kindred world. They deal in stealth, wisdom and the dark mysteries of the ages. They are not the brutes the Gangrel are, a Mekhet prides himself on his finesse. Where a Savage might use his claws with reckless abandon and blood lust, a Shadow will dole out death with grace and precision.

Nosferatu: The “Haunts” are the outcasts of the Kindred. In their true form they are the most hidous creatures in the world of the supernatural, so much so that even other vampires shun them. To those outside the Nosferatu clan, the Haunts appear extremely organized and tightly knit, they will always present a united front. But on the inside of the clan, they can be as ruthless as any other as they jockey for rank and position.

The Nosferatu don’t blend well with society. Period. There is always something highly disturbing about them and the only places you’ll find them are in the sewers, back alleys and places where mortals and Kindred fear to tread.

Ventrue: Here we have the self proclaimed royalty of the Kindred. The one thing about a Ventrue is they don’t like to lose. The “Lords” are the ones who set themselves up in positions of power within a city or town. They run the show, and if they don’t, you can bet they will soon.

Childer are carefully chosen and must have some level of social status or power already. If you thought the mortal world had some serious glass ceilings, just try to break through that of the Ventrue.

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What’s Your Moon?

Most of us are familiar with astrology. It’s said that the various signs of the zodiac influence our personalities.

The Forsaken werewolves have their own kind of astrology related to the phases of the moon.
A werewolf’s auspice is the phase of moon that rules them. In Forsaken rules, it’s a little vague as to whether this is a moon the character is born under or one that happens to be in the sky on the night of the character’s First Change.

Escaping Reality’s house rule state a character’s auspice is the moon phase the character was born under. (Yes, your character needs a birthday. We feel that traits and duties associated with each moon phase shape that person’s life subconsciously until the day of the Change.
Then everything comes to life.

The Auspices

The best way to choose an auspice for your character is to figure out his or her personality and see which moon association fits best. In game play, other factors such as a waxing or waning phase affect your character in different ways.

If you want a real challenge, give your character an auspice that is the opposite of what he or she is like.

Here is a quick look at the five auspices as described in the core system rules:

Irakka (No Moon): The Irakka are the tricksters. These Forsaken were born when the moon was dark. They are often carefree, which many times comes off as irresponsible to their packmates. But like the Coyote in the Native American tradition, the No Moons often teach through humor or riddles.

Ithaeur (Crescent Moon): These folks are the mystics and shamen. They deal in the spirit and walk the line between worlds. They are the rite keepers.

Elodoth (Half Moon): Elodoth are the truth seekers and keepers of the Law. They can’t lie and often rival Irakka when it comes to creating and finding loopholes in agreements. The Elodoth are the negotiators and the peacekeepers.

Cahalith (Gibbous Moon): The Calahith are the artists, storytellers and musicians. They are the dancers and performers and the keepers of Forsaken and pack lore. They are also the prophets and visionaries.

Rahu (Full Moon): Rahu are the warriors and many times the alphas of their packs.

One interesting trend that James and I have noticed through playing is that the auspices we chose for our first characters were ones that matched our own personalities almost identically. I dug a little deeper into our astrology and looked up the moon phases on the dates of our birth.

Sure enough, both of us had the same auspices as our characters had.

If you want more information on each of the moon auspices and the Forsaken, pick up a copy of Tribes of the Moon, which delves into character traits and auspices deeply. There are also a few new gifts and merits for your character that you won’t find in the core Forsaken rule book.

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Fleshing Out Your Supernatural

We’ve mentioned a little about what type of supernatural character might be right for you. Now we’re going to dig a little deeper into the various levels of the Forsaken and Kindred.

Decisions, Decisions!

Choosing a faction of supernatural character is just the beginning. You’ll have additional choices to make, whether you choose a werewolf or a vampire. Some of these choices aren’t yours, and you may have little say in the matter based on character templates. In other areas, the choices are shaped by your character’s personal preferences, goals and personality.

Deal With It

Two areas where your character won’t have a choice are in those of auspices and clans.

An auspice is the moon phase under which your Forsaken character goes through his or her First Change. Each of the auspices has specific personality traits that shape the way your character functions in Forsaken society.

In our Escaping Reality House Rules, the auspice is determined by your character’s birthday and moon phase of the sky at that time. You don’t have to wait for that specific phase to be present in game for your character’s First Change to occur. The resonance of that auspice is already in the character’s blood. If your character does go through his or her First Change on a night when that auspice is in the sky, the forces are doubly intense.

Clan: Clans are a vampire’s bloodline handed down from Sire to Childer, generation after generation. When a character is Embraced, the Sire drains the human of all blood and the human must drink blood from the Sire for the transfusion to be complete. It is through this blood that the Childer receives all traits of the Sire’s clan.

Character’s Options

After a character has adapted to life as a shifter or vampire, the character is presented with options of tribes and covenants.

Sometimes a character catches the eye of a tribe or covenant elder and is asked to join. Other times, the character might hear about these options and seek out the elders or spirits of that group. Tribes and covenants might have preferred auspices and clans, but any can join - or try to join.

Choosing a tribe or covenant is also optional; you can join one or none at all.

Tribes: Werewolf tribes are not easy to join. The elders of the tribe might think your character is a good fit, but in the end, the tribe’s patron spirit decides whether the character gets the final stamp of approval.

Covenants: These are the secret societies of the Kindred. Unlike the Forsaken who rely on the approval of spirits, Covenants are run by elders, courts and councils. Advancement is highly political and often, it’s who your character knows that gets him or her ahead.

Breaking It Down

So, what’s next? Well, start with the most basic options. In our next posts, we’ll take a look at the Forsaken auspices and the Kindred clans for a brief overview of what each has to offer.

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Name One Thing You Can’t Stand

What do you hate?

No, really. Not everything in life makes you jump for joy, and there are parts of role-playing games that just make you want to cringe. It’s okay, let it out. I know, smell the roses and all, but those roses grow best in a heap of manure.

So let’s have a bitchfest.

“Oh, come now. How immature!” No, really, it’s not, actually. Voicing strong opinions about something that you really don’t like can be liberating and positive. Not only that, spitting out what you hate can stir up debate and conversation that may have you seeing the situation from a different perspective.

“No, honestly, I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings.” What makes you think people would be hurt? In an environment where permission is granted to speak freely, there’s no need for that. It’s not an attack fest. It’s a bitchfest. Vent your woes and angst and get it off your chest.
Alright, I’ll start. I’ll show you how it’s done. In a polite, generalized and non-offensive manner, I’ll tell you what I hate:

Sappy romance and dungeon crawls. Combat scenes, blood and gore. Action-only focus. Simpering princesses. Political mysteries and plotlines that I have to solve. Lizards.

(Just threw that last one in to see if you were paying attention.)

See? That wasn’t hard. I didn’t point at anyone or make any reader feel uncomfortable. It was a generalized, “I hate this,” directed at no one at all. And there are plenty of people who feel differently about those very things I hate.

Well, good! Bring it on, I say. If you’re the crawliest crawler of dungeons galore, tell me why it’s so great. Let me know what I’ve missed. Ask me what I don’t like about it (move, find treasure. Move, find treasure, move… boring). Show me what it really can be, what perspective you have and why you love it.

Or, tell me what you hate, and we’ll cackle over the fact that we’ve both vented out our worst enemies. Do you hate long descriptions? Or short dialogue? Do you hate invincible characters? Or not having trinkets to collect? Maybe you hate harpies or ogres or castle soldiers or high fantasy in general.

Everyone has their likes and dislikes. When you share as a group, you learn the boundaries of different players that you play with and learn ways you could change your views. You learn tolerance, at least. You learn something new, at best. You learn to agree and disagree, all carried out with style.

Now that’s what I call playing as a group.

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Can You RPG in 140 Characters or Less?

We come up with some outrageously brilliant ideas every now and then, but our buddy, Chatty DM takes the cake this time. In fact, I do believe I’m a tad jealous I didn’t think of the idea myself. There it is, staring me in the face every day, and the thought never crossed my mind.

Mad Genius

What is this marvelous new idea? Why, playing RPG on Twitter, of course.

Don’t roll your eyes. C’mon, this is gaming genius! Talk about a challenge. For those of you who have never stopped by Escaping Reality, you may not realize how much of a challenge this would be for us or our players – and it’s a good one.

For players used to writing over 1,000 words a day (yes, that’s per player) in our game, cutting down character responses to 140 characters twice a day is a huge challenge. You have to be precise, descriptive and clever all in just a few sentences.

Temptation

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested. However, if I did like the concept, I could see it turning into another full-blown addiction. I think I’m just going to lurk on the sidelines for now and see how the game progresses.

I’ve already added @ChattyDM to my Twitter list and if participating or watching a Twitter RPG game interests you, visit Chatty’s blog to check out the rules and get in on the game.

And to Chatty? Good luck, brother. You’re going to need it!

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Which Supernatural Character Is Right For You?

Part of the fun in participating in role-playing games like World of Darkness systems is playing a supernatural character. It’s all part of leaving our ordinary lives behind to explore the fantasy of amazing feats we could never do in real life.

How Can My Character Become Supernatural?

Before anyone can start playing a supernatural character, he or she has to have a firm grip on the character’s personality to begin with. Some games allow you to jump into a fully developed werewolf or vampire, but half the fun is your character’s development through a First Change or an Embrace. For example, at our game at Escaping Reality, the fun is in the journey and not the destination.

A Closer Look At Supernatural Characters

At Escaping Reality, we have a few options for supernatural characters. Players can choose between werewolves (the Forsaken), vampires (the Kindred), or normal human beings with extraordinary powers (Second Sight).

The Forsaken: The werewolves have always been my favorite. As a child, I loved animals, and the opportunity to play a human who could turn into a wolf was like a dream come true.

Playing a werewolf requires knowledge of how wolves behave. You have to understand pack mentality and the way canines deal and communicate with one another. You also have to incorporate this behavior into how a human would deal with his world.

It’s not easy, but it is fun. Your instinct and your human sensibilities are in constant conflict. On one hand, there is social acceptability in human terms and also the taboos and laws of the Forsaken society. Because of this, your character is constantly stuck between worlds.

• The Wolf Blooded: One option for players that want a little something special is the Wolf-Blooded merit. This merit doesn’t give you any special abilities, but it allows you to interact with the Forsaken more freely. The Wolf-Blooded are Forsaken kin. These people carry the bloodline and potential to shift but aren’t shifters themselves.

The Kindred

If you like intrigue and subterfuge, the Kindred might be for you. The vampire court is rife with politics and backstabbing as clans and covenants fight for control of the herds of humans in towns and cities.

Vampire characters aren’t as impulsive as the Forsaken. Kindred have all eternity to plot and scheme. They’re dead already; no reason to rush. That’s not to say all Kindred are like that and there are a few exceptions, particularly newly-Embraced vampires who haven’t learned to slow down yet.

Kindred also have a bestial side. The Beast is what drives them to feed, and not everyone deals with this well. Just look at Louis’ conflicting emotions in Interview with a Vampire. Louis still retained much of his humanity and had a difficult time coming to grips with the world presented to him by his Sire, LeStat.

Second Sight Supernatural Characters

Have you ever wanted to read minds or foretell the future? Maybe it would be cool to move objects with your mind or talk to spirits. Second Sight provides players with a way to be human with some supernatural abilities.

Psychic abilities require some forethought and discussion with Storytellers. A psychic character isn’t easy to play, especially regarding the ability to read minds or having prophetic visions. You need a solid background that explains how you may have received these gifts.

In most cases, if a person wants a character with Second Sight abilities, we suggest a line of development, starting with nothing and working new gifts and abilities into your character’s life development slowly.

Changing Breeds, Skin Changers and Changelings

World of Darkness also has some other supernatural characters. Many of these are best left to their own systems and some work better as antagonists to spice up the game. Here are a few other character types World of Darkness has to offer.

• The Changing Breeds: These shifters are the Forsaken’s cousins. They may be shifters, but they are nothing like the Forsaken. The Ferals (as they call themselves) have no mythology and no adherence to sets of rites or taboos. They are much closer to the animal mindset in that abstract concepts are difficult for them to grasp. Ferals have many forms, practically that of any animal you can imagine. They are also, very, very rare, and it is for this reason you won’t see more than one or two in a game.
• Skin Changers: These are mock shifters, like werewolf or feral wannabes. I hate to say it, but this type of character is like someone at a Furry convention. The Skin Changers have truly lost touch with reality. They will wear the skins of the animal they would most like to be and that animal’s spirit possesses them. In time, they completely forget they were ever human.
• Changelings: Even Faeries have their place in the World of Darkness. Stolen away from humanity, these characters were taken to the lands of Fae and made into slaves of the Others. The characters have not forgotten the world they were forced to leave behind and fight to return to it - and stay there.
• Mages: Once upon a time man rose against the gods and was punished for it. Only a few humans retained the memory of this event. These characters go through what is called an Awakening as memories begin to resurface and they get back in touch with their birthright.
• Prometheans: Of all the supernatural characters, the Prometheans are truly monsters. Created in true Frankenstein fashion, they were put together from corpses and had life forced back into them. They are shunned everywhere they go and constantly strive to become normal and human again.
• Demons: Demons were once Angels, and they fell from grace along with Lucifer. After a millennium of torment in the Abyss, they’ve found a crack in the walls of their prison - and they want out. A Demon inhabits a human body the moment the soul vacates it, either by natural causes or by force. Some Demons seek redemption, while others just want revenge.

No matter which supernatural character you choose, it all comes down to knowing your character inside and out first. Take your time and get to know the characters you’ve crafted. As the story goes on, you might find that your character is perfect for a Forsaken or a Kindred - or maybe nothing at all.

Playing a plain old human can be just as fun too!

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Write What You Know

‘Write what you know’ is a phrase often heard within creative writing circles and it’s a almost a cliché. There is good reason for the saying, though, and within gaming and role-playing, writing what you know provides one of the keys that let you add depth to your storylines and characters.

No Golden Shovel Awards

You can fluff some of the details and use creative freedom, yes. You don’t need to be an expert. But if you try to fake the details too much, it’s guaranteed that someone will call you out. People know bullshit. They know when you’re bullshitting them. Players can smell it from a mile away.

Writing with authority isn’t enough. You have to have a foundation to back it up, or at least write enough of the truth to help suspend gamer disbelief.

You Know A Lot More Than You Think

Writing what you know goes beyond research or experiencing the event or activity for yourself.

Writing what you know means exactly that – writing what you know. For example, I enjoy reading fantasy and creative fiction in the horror genre. Would I attempt to write a murder mystery or political thriller?

No, I wouldn’t. I have no mind for politics or the behind-the-scenes subterfuge, nor do I enjoy figuring out convoluted mystery plots. I know fantasy. I know horror. I know what works in these genres and what doesn’t.

The same goes for you. Look at what you read and what you enjoy. Start there. You can probably create your own work just from what you already know. You have all the information right there waiting for you.

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