Interview with Vampire: Resurrection of the Masquerade Creator M. Tansek

Inside the Masquerade - Episode 1 

Camirilla Public Relations Boardroom - New York

     "Hello and welcome to this edition of Inside the Masquerade, my name is Loraline Clay, the  Camirilla Public Relations Chair here in New York and for the next few minutes I'm going to be interviewing Matthew R Tansek acclaimed creator of Vampire: Resurection of the Masquerade, inside our very own Blood Tower.  Welcome Mr. Tansek its a pleasure to have you here"
     "Happy to be here, please call me Matt"
     "Alright Matt, first thing I have to ask- are you a bit nervous being among us creatures that let's face it, are a bit higher up on the food chain?"
     "[laughs] No not really, I've found that mortals are usually the ones that are unexpectedly violent.  Vampires on the other hand you can usually see coming a long way off"
     "I think that's a compliment.  Is that why you're often teased about putting granades in a grandmother's purse, or having a seemingly regular person be armed to the teeth when interacting with the main characters?"
     "I suppose so.  You know a bit of everything is random chance, but I'll admit a bit is also my personal philosophy."
     "Alright then, lets talk about this past chapter titled Searching for an Ugly Needle in a Haystack.  Did it live up to your expectations?"
     "In short, Yes.  As you know the last Campaign that I did was a condensed version of my origional A Study in Scarlet and I had to worry about bringing in all of the memorable elements of the origional as well as all of the carry overs from the previous campaign which was the one in Sydney.  It was a lot to keep track of, and afterwards there was this great outcry to return to a more free roaming sandbox type approach.  The more plot you try and work with the more linear the course, so I really tried to make important events only occur only when they needed to.  The only real drum that I beat on was that Vernon must be found, and that it's the driving force behind why you're in New York City"
     "Ok, so lets talk about those characters that were brought to the city to hunt down Vernon, were you happy with the way they seemed to mesh?"
     "For the most part.  I admit I had my doubts when Darren first started his shoot first routine, or when Eugene plastered the bouncer to the door with Jet of Blood.  But as things progressed I think everyone fell into place, and there were enough voices of reason to help temper some of the more insane suggestions"
     "When you say voices of reason, your talking about Lucky, right?"
     "Lucky sure, but also Giuseppe and at times Eugene.  No one ran off to kill Justicars on their own, and so nobody prematurely met their end"
     "I was going to ask you about that, you've often threatened to kill off your main characters; and yet there were no deaths this time around"
     "The Campaign is still young [laughs] But seriously there was only one point where a character should have died and didn't, and that was Lucky when the group fought the sticky abomination inside Wexfield's tomb.  But with dark fate I knew I couldn't get him until the end, so I just had to sit and let people think I had gone soft.  That being said most of my main characters aren't novices, they know the ropes - what to do, what not to do"
     "Does it change things, working with more experienced individuals?"
     "Yes and no.  On the one hand you notice I used far fewer mortals and law enforcement, just because those sorts of clashes have become rather easy to get out of if you know what you're doing.  I didn't want another Johnny Fordo running around collecting handcuffs every time the police were involved.  Instead I tried to work in more complex situations such as the Primogen Peter being taken hostage, use an unknown element like the infected mortals or even making the Sabat bar be owned and operated by a member of the Camirilla elite.  
     "There are some here in this building who say that you give the Camirilla a bad name, what would you say to them?"
     "[sighs] Look the Camirilla is an old and powerful institution that suffers from all of the dementia and chronic problems that go along with that.  But one thing you have to keep in mind is that overall I wanted to show how even the Camirilla has to get their shit together and make some changes in order to survive in this changing world- can a resurrection of the masquerade really take place?  Also I would just like to point out that in past campaign editions the Camirilla really was all bark and no bite, but with the addition of reputation being a measured quality that seems to have done a 180"  
     "Enough about the Camirilla, lets do a 180 ourselves talk about the Sabat.  Is Arturo going to be the next Vernon?"
     "[Grins] Good question, he does have the makings of a villain with staying power doesn't he? In the upcoming chapters the main characters will have more than a couple of run ins with him, so we will just have to wait and see if he makes it through to the end.  If he does, I can see bringing him along for another plot"
     "Can you give us any hints about what's coming up for us in the next chapter? Are the rumors about Tony Trist's shower scene true?"
     "[rolls eyes] I think Tony himself started that one.  What I can tell you is that the big reveal of Valdred being second generation at the end of chapter one is going to have a massive impact on how the story progresses.  Any vampire that has had interactions with Cain himself is going to be sought after, and your going to have a great number of vampires from overseas making pilgrimages to Valdred.  This as you can imagine is going to clash with the Followers of Omar's ideology so we're going to be playing up that conflict quite a bit.  We're also going to see some of the other main character's backstories come into play, like Roec's history with Armand who's looking for a new set of minions or Giuseppe's tumultuous relationship with Maria Zabione"
     "So Maria isn't Vernon's next victim? It didn't look good the last time we saw her in the Prince's library"
     "Oops, I think I may have spoiled something there.  Ms. Zabione is doing just fine, and will be playing a larger roll in the upcoming chapter.  Both her and Giuseppe are seeking to become Justicars like Cervantes and at the moment they both still have a shot"
     "I greatly appreciate you taking the time to talk to me tonight, any last comments?"
     "I would just like to say that Vampire isn't just about the characters I create, or the story I try and tell- that's only really just half.  The other half comes from the main characters themselves that help to tell the story, and along the way tell their own story.  Without that organic randomness that is conjured up out of thin air  you wouldn't even have characters like Vernon, or any of the other spectacular memories that this has brought us.  So I would say that my last comment is just a giant thank you to everyone who helped and who continues to help me make this thing a success"
     "I can't speak for the Camirilla, but I think we all here echo that sentiment.  Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us"
     "It's been a great pleasure Loraline, thanks for having me"