Inside the Masquerade 2

     Hello and welcome to the second installment of inside the masquerade.  I'm Loraline Clay, and you may remember this debris strewn room I'm standing in from the end of chapter two- Pulling the Worm from the Big Apple.  It was here that the heroes learned that Kaytoss was not in fact blood bound, and after a fruitless clash with Vernon was reunited with their beloved vehicle and rushed up to the moon light streets above.  We've grown accustomed to this kind of claustrophobic scene in chapter two as the group delves down into the tunnels beneath the city in search of their dangerous quarry.  Questions have arisen about the motives behind many of the dangerous new characters that have emerged- like the Skull, Salvadore and Wallie White Ballister.  Not to mention the clues that have been uncovered along the way of Vernon's grand scheme, and about the troubling news that comes trickling in of the crumbling strongholds of the Camirilla across the globe.

     Thankfully to help answer some of these questions and to shed some light on the creative process of it all I sat down with game designer MTanz back within the safety of New York's Blood Tower.

Image from: PLI

     "Hi Matt, I'm glad to have the chance to talk with you again."

     "Glad to be back Loraline.  Although I think I preferred this place when Valdred was in charge."

     "Yes well, you at least have to admit our current Prince is a stand up gent"

     "So I've heard...  He's not going to be here is he? If so I may have somewhere else I need to be"

     "No, no.  I think Prince Hyde said that he had a meeting somewhere near the 6 Brooklyn Bridge stop, whatever that means.  But lets get to the questions-  I think you had us all on the edge of our seats with that final session.  Did it turn out as you had hoped- the ending or chapter two in general?"

     "Yes I think so.  All of the characters that I wanted to introduce and have the players get to know, had their moments in the spotlight and I got to continue painting the larger picture- that of the fall of the traditional Camirilla."

     "There was talk of there being something left out at the end of the last session, will the next chapter pick back up right where we left off?"

     "Originally I had considered it, but I think when the time comes back around it will be better to start off more in a neutral position.  What was left out at the end of the second chapter was some business with Leon Hyde and the messenger that the group had talked with at the beginning of that session.  It was by no means a crucial component, and leaving it out I don't think really will detract from anything.  Perhaps I'll include it in the deleted scenes with the DVD release [laughter]."

     "Can you talk for a moment about the creation of character names and the thought process behind some of the more interesting ones?"

     "Sure, anyone who's played one of my games quickly realizes that there are lots of characters to interact with and many have non-traditional sounding names.  Having a random player concoct one on the spot has always been a strategy I use for spur of the moment interactions.  But having been a player, and in fact a person who often does not remember names very well I try and give key characters distinct original names that I think will stick out in people's minds.  Duclave- Omar's infamous sire, Axa- the Primogen of the Gangrel in Sydney, and Kaytoss are all good examples of this.  I think that in our day to day lives we interact with a host of people who are saturated with common monikers, and that a secret world inhabited by ancient vampires should not be the same way.  In addition to this I try and make names fit the character that they are attached to.  Evil names with villains, and weak names with cowards or turncoats.  Percy the Aidis to the Prince of Boston, Gabriele Black the Prince of Cincinnati, and Valdred or Dredlin for the former Prince of New York.  Occasionally I will throw in a historical sounding name like Gilgamesh or Lazerous, but that is more for flavor and to express the age of the individual than anything else.

     "I have here several questions sent in by fans of your work, would you mind taking a stab at answering some of these?"

     "Not at all, go ahead"

     "Who are your top three played characters?"

     "Well the first name that comes to mind is of course the famous, or maybe I should say infamous Omar Sune.  Omar has practically become a household name since his character's creation, and in fact I think has become more widely known and referenced since his retirement.  Second I think would have to be Jack Eddows.  Jack was one of the first characters that really became part of my plot, and was the primary reason that the Villain Vernon came into being-"

     "Good to know that we can all blame Jack for all of the turmoil in the world today."

     "Yes well I doubt Jack had any idea what was to come.  In any event he would definitely be my number two.  And lastly I would have to say Muscles Belvedere just for enjoyment's sake.  Muscles was a great positive force in my games, and although not really plot pushing or enhancing like Omar and Jack, he was extremely quotable and made the experiences more fun and spontaneous.  "

    "In that same vein, our next questioner asks- if you were to play a character yourself what would it be?"

   "I think honestly I would have the most fun playing a social clan like Ravnos or Ventrue.  The idea of being able to get away with anything by plying tricks and bribes I think would be a blast to see.  Although brawler or melee type characters can be a lot of fun, and you see a lot of them in today's games, I think the more clever interactions are the ones that stand out in people's minds.  Additionally I'm a big believer in playing towards your strengths, you know just because there are a lot of little circles filled in on the paper doesn't mean that you will know what to do with the materials at hand.  If you don't personally know a lot about science, those five dots on the sheet are probably just going to sit there."

     "So that would mean which for you?"

     "Well, I think I'd probably get good use out of subterfuge, security and perhaps out of some lesser used ones like academics.  I don't know if that paints me in too great a light, but there you go."

     "So lets turn our focus to the future, and get your thoughts on what's to come in chapter three."

     "Well as you might expect there will most definitely be more happenings with the camirilla across the planet, and what I hope to start doing is painting in the gap between these global events and Vernon's local events so that his motives and ambitions can start to be seen.  Up until this point he has been a terrifying but elusive figure, and with chapter three he will become much more center stage.  I hopefully have expressed the ideological clash between security and freedom with the ongoing fighting between the Sabat's Auturo and the Camarilla's Salvadore.  After their last fight in Times Square, I had planned to take them back out of the spotlight and have Aurturo once again begin interactions with the players.  But since Salvadore survived that last session I have much less control with what their fates will be.  Like chapter two I'm going to have an ideological theme for the last chapter, and that is going to be that of the sacrifices of blind focus.  The idea that horrible things can happen when someone stops at nothing to achieve their ends, be that love, revenge, or power.  By this time the players have come to know their characters really well, and can play their parts flawlessly.  What I hope to do in the next chapter is offer the opportunities for characters to grow a little bit.  Each character has thier own arc throughout the game, and in the final chapter I would like to see some of these personalities evolve as the world around them buckles with the stresses of what's going on."

     "That might be a hard thing to do, can you give me an example?"

     "Take Roec for instance, his character has practically been set in stone [pun intended].  Perhaps  there will be a moment for him to accept some of the frailties of the other clans.  Or maybe we'll get to see why Darren has such a proclivity for violence, and understand him better as a character.  Tony Trist has been under Leon's thumb for the whole time, what will he be like when that is gone?  Remember each of these characters came to New York with a reason to hunt down Vernon or protect Valdred, they should take their successes or failures to heart and wonder where they want to be when the game ends.  Vernon has been such a long lasting character, I'm excited to finally get him over and done with- that is if the players can actually finish him off.  I don't anticipate too many system changes before we begin again, so players should feel somewhat familiar with how things are going to work.  From what I've observed I think the players are powerful enough to start tackling some of the truly powerful characters, and so I expect them to be a great deal more aggressive in the sessions to come.  I'm looking forward to it."

     "I think that might be all that we have time for, but before you go could you answer some more of these fan questions rapid fire?"

     "It's been great, thanks for taking the time to talk to me.  Fire when ready!"

     "Top three non player characters?"

     "Mr. Nerot, Gabriel Black, Christopher Ratoe"

     "Top three favorite battles?"

     "Gilgamesh's boss fight, the ambush in Rome, Overlook Hotel character battle"

     "Three favorite funny moments?"

     "Parachute mishap, any one of Muscles zany adventures, and Jack Eddowes timely demise...at least I thought it was funny"

     As always I would like to thank the Thursday crew, without whom I would not have such an awesome creative outlet.  Thanks guys!