Worlds of Darkness - playing by someone else's rules (Part 2)

In Part 1 I looked at the different types of horror the various game lines in the Classic World of Darkness explored. Here I look at the first of the game, Vampire: The Masquerade, and try to imagine how the game might play out if you tried to implement the style of horror from one of the other game lines into it. 

Mixing it up, Vampire style

These are just some of the ways the game lines might be tweaked, but they give an example of how you might run Vampire, either as a one off, or in a smaller community which has a different understanding of the historical and social norms of most Kindred.

Vampire: The Masquerade (via Werewolf - or Vampire: The Apocalypse)

Player characters are embraced and thrust into a tribal society where the vampires are aware of a dark force that looms in the background, that threatens to take over the world with death, decay and disease, though it's identity is often in dispute (is it God? Is it Caine? Is it the collective power of the Antediluvians?). The tribes all descend from different bloodlines but, for the most part, work together, against this dark power that seems to have its claws in reality, victim perhaps to a patriarchal society, or just a rigid society like the Camerilla or the Technocracy. Whilst it might be that the Antediluvians are the darker powers, they are also likely the powers behind the disciplines of each tribe, so some see them as entities that they can commune with, and their disciplines are, more often than not, gifts from specific spirits allied to those bloodlines. Beyond those entities, however, there is an ancient goddess, Lilith perhaps, from whom ultimately all vampiric power flows (or so it is said). Vampire's ties to Lilith and the more ancient spirits allows them access to a mirror world that shows them the world for what it truly is, and the corruption of that supernatural shadow world. And in this world even greater horrors lurk, summoned by the most terrifying of undead gods.

Such a game likely has Anarch and Sabbat as relative 'good guys' against the tyranny of the Camerilla, with the clans with the most rigid hierarchies most likely pawns of the Dark Father(s) and responsible for the corruption of the world. They seek to rule the world by amassing power, by controlling others, and draining the planet (and humanity) of its resources, whilst others fight back against their city strongholds, and try to drag the monsters into the sunlight to die. It's a tough battle, but one only the 'good' vampires can do. 

Vampire: The Masquerade (via Mage - or Vampire: The Ascension)

Player characters are usually carefully chosen before their embrace, inducted into their Clans that align with their philosophies and which are best placed to help them learn how to use their new found abilities. Admittedly, some vampires are embraced by strangers, and left to fend for themselves, but there are usually many group willing to serve as patrons for such cast-offs or mistakes. The Clans are mostly organised into those groups who fight to keep the status quo (which, by default, is the Camerilla), and who seek to eliminate any monsters in their territory. They have a strong grip on most of the world's cities. But in the cracks the more mystical and bohemian of the Clans gather (by default gravitating towards the Anarchs), and if they don't make too many waves they are treated as rivals to the more staunch Clans, rather than outright enemies. There are also some more dangerous Clans out there - the demon-worshipping Baali (or Sabbat, or mixture of the two), who seek to bring the whole world down, and the mad Malkavians, whose madness makes them dangerous to everyone and yet ensures they're very difficult to pin down to eliminate or cure.

The ancient progenitors of the vampire race, the Antediluvians, Caine, maybe even Lilith, are spoken of as legends, though most vampires don't assume they have much to do with the modern world any more. If anything they've likely transcended the Earthly realm after studying their Disciplines and taking them to their logical conclusions. Modern vampires too are capable of unlocking the doors to reality in this manner, though if they over stretch with their powers the vampiric condition will punish them, via hunger or the Clan weaknesses. Typically though, the vampires' main worry in terms of horror is the form of dangerous individuals who seem them as obstacles or threats, and seek to remove them.

Vampire: The Masquerade (via Wraith - or Vampire: The Oblivion)

Player characters are embraced into a world where they are forced into the shadows hidden from the mundane world. The 'Embrace' is no such thing, having no power over mortals, nor being a way to bring a new vampire into existence, the method instead being that a human that dies due to a feeding will usually arise again as a vampire, some time later. The voice of the Beast constantly reminds the vampire of everything they were and can never be again, encouraging them to end it all in a frenzy, and the many souls who succumb to the Beast hunt other vampires (and occasionally mortals, if they want to target another vampire's living family in order to hurt them). The forces of the Camerilla try to present some sort of hierarchy that prevents vampires turning feral or suicidal, although they will just as readily drain disobedient vampires for their valuable vitae. There are no strong connections between sire and childe, usually because the childe hates their sire for killing them, and Clan structures are weaker as a result - vampires are more likely to group together according to shared interests or disciplines rather than direct connections, though such associations are often banned. Also banned, the Anarchs are like the renegade souls who bristle against the Camerilla's rules, and the Sabbat are like heretics which claim to know the truth about the Beast and seek to ride it out in order to take down the greater evils of the world (including the Camerilla). But the greater threat are those fully consumed by the Beast, like fast zombies, who seek to tear down those vampires who still remain in control of their own souls.

The two key horror themes here are removal from mortal society, and the constant threat of the ravenous Beast. Whilst perhaps not entirely removed from human society, their ability to affect them is more restricted, and the process of becoming a vampire largely removes any romantic notions or even sense of companionship about it (at least from the victim's side of things), and as such ghouls have less of a presence, and mortal institutions are more likely to be controlled by external organisations and companies that have weird business hours. Elders usually prop up the Camerilla (or the disparate and varied Anarch and Sabbat groups adopt visionary elders at their leaders), and those most ancient of figure, the Antediluvians, Caine and maybe Lilith, are mythical figures that are either creatures that have been completely claimed by the Beast and now dwell in some terrifying afterlife where everything is hunger, or are perhaps the source of the Beast (or Beasts) itself, the Beast(s) manifested, and will eventually come to eat all those who came after (perhaps to reclaim their own vitae).

Vampire: The Masquerade (via Changeling - or Vampire: The Dreaming)

Player characters are embraced into Clans which consist of individuals who typically exemplify a particular mythological or psychological archetype. Vampires typically embrace those who share those qualities, with the aim of preserving those old themes, though certainly some themes and ideals clash. In many ways they attempt to create pantheons of new gods to rule over the world, though it is typically unwise to let mortals know of the gods and monsters that lurk amongst them. Access to the power of a vampire also allows access to some sort of subconscious level of existence, where their powers better manifest and the world appears with a veneer of fantasy. The Camerilla stick to the idea of a classic pantheon, individual vampires forming a close knit family that oversee their domains, and serving as patrons to talented humans, and are the equivalent of the Seelie court, brighter spirits of a fruitful summer. The Sabbat claim the role of monsters, playing the part in order to challenge the gods and slake their thirst on the mortals who they consider beneath them, and are the equivalent of the Unseelie court, darker spirits of a cruel winter. The Anarchs are those who flit between the two, unwilling to adopt these older personas and more content to be alive and in the moment, as Spring and Autumn change between the extremes of summer and winter.

The Clans are descended from the ancient Antediluvians, who took on the roles of the oldest of gods, and beyond them is the oldest of all, a creator god, all powerful and vengeful, though some speak of a powerful female goddess too. All these gods are beings that no longer walk the mortal world but dwell in distance realms governed by the powers at their disposal. These ways are locked to the vampires on Earth, though certain elder vampires have sought a way to unlock the gates to those realms. The dangers to vampires are those of the more terrifying monsters in the world around them, plus those mortal agencies that seek to crush their fantasies and make them face up to their delusions, and the fact that they are little more than parasites, addicted to human blood.

Vampire: The Masquerade (via KotE - or Vampires of the West)

Player characters are people who’ve died at the hands of a vampire, been to hell, and then brought back. Clans form as a result of vampires seeking like-minded souls, who can better help them deal with their ordeal, and explore their particular set of powers. It may be that the nature of the vampire that killed a person has less to do with the Clan a person joins than the hell they visit, which might be decided by other factors (the person’s own beliefs about why they deserved to go to hell).

Clans are perhaps then descended from Antediluvians who rule individual hells, having long ago managed to transcend the mortal world through use of their powers. And it seems likely that any of those powers above them exist in their own hells, or are free to wander between them. The Sabbat are determined to find a way to bring retribution to those foulest of creatures that rule those hells, whilst the Camerilla chooses to concentrate on the here and now, maintaining a society of vampires from those who have escaped hell. The Anarch are those who choose not to take on the rulers of hell, nor to serve new rulers in the world they escaped too, instead revelling in the fact that they have escaped. Most vampires are aware of other supernatural creatures, though they know that most of them – werewolves, changelings and ghosts, dwell in realms that are separate from the hells they temporarily visited.

Vampire: The Masquerade (via Hunter - or Vampire: The Reckoning)

Player characters are embraced by unknown forces and exposed to the World of Darkness. There is no sire/childe connection - instead the vampires are quick to identify their disciplines and arrange themselves into relevant Clans. Vampires see themselves as a necessary evil against those creatures of the night, werewolves, those engaging in witchcraft, changelings posing as humans, ghosts, and other terrors. Fortunately their Disciplines allow them to fight these creatures, or at least plot against them.

There are story of older vampires, of course, but they seem to have disappeared with the passing of time. The voices that direct the vampires might be commands from their ancient progenitors, or might be the hunger of their Beasts, pointing out the true monsters to them. Some vampires are driven mad by those voices to such an extent they are to be considered monsters themselves (the Sabbat?), but the majority of the vampires connect either via the online community (vaguely organised, perhaps it's structure indebted to the Camerilla) and the street level groups (loosely equivalent to Anarchs). Vampires, naturally, cannot reveal themselves to mortals for fear of being dismissed as delusional, and any treatment likely to be detrimental to their health.  

Vampire: The Masquerade (via Mummy - or Vampire: The Resurrected)

Player characters are vampires created by an ancient spirit inhabiting a body already vacated by its soul. At some point vampires were more like the classic vampire, but most of the small number that existed had been cast into a particular hell after death with their progenitors, the Antediluvians and Caine, and now Caine has sacrificed part of himself in order to push their souls out into the world once more. The vampires now created, born into human bodies that no longer have souls, have some of their weaknesses but also all of their powers. They then take on rival vampires and the darker god like spirits they see behind them.

Camerilla vampires see the Sabbat vampires as corrupted vampire spirits, and belief they are controlled by demons, or perhaps the dark mother Lilith, and attempt to protect the world from their evil presence, allying with certain werewolves and mages to do so. The Sabbat, on the other hand, believe that the Antediluvians are the greater evil, and seek to destroy them wherever they enact their evil plans. Anarchs refuse to have anything to do with this war, instead revelling in their newly found near-life.

Vampire: The Masquerade (via Demon - or Vampire: The Fallen)

Similar to the Mummy counterpart, player characters in this version are ancient spirits that are cast into already human bodies. In this case those bodies are still inhabited by a soul, but it is easy to displace. The vampires, once, were punished by Caine with the familiar curses but, having failed to reign them in, God himself sought to claim them, flooding the world to drag the vampires into a watery Abyss from which they could never escape, until recent events crack open the Abyss and unleash all those within. Some of the most powerful and infamous Antediluvians escaped to the world by being summoned forth by cultists over the millennia, but most remained, locked in darkness. Upon escaping and inhabiting mortal bodies their old minds melded with human frailties, and many found themselves trying to make amends for past sins, even though they retained the curses inflicted on them by God, the requirement to drink blood like a parasite and to never walk in sunlight again.

The Camerilla tries to amass power for itself in this brave new world. Some of them may seek God’s forgiveness, but none suggest turning on him. The Sabbat are more obsessed with taking on those ancient Antediluvians who’ve already been summoned to the Earth and now manipulate things from behind the scenes. And the Anarchs, once more, refuse to be involved in any of this. Significantly, soon after the vampiric souls returned to earth, Caine may a very public appearance, skin blistering in the heat of the sun, as he fought some other unknown figure. Many Sabbat look to Caine to lead them against the Antediluvians.

In Part 3 it's the turn of the Werewolves.