Welcome to Vampire: The Masquerade Vampire: The Masquerade is a roleplaying game. It is a beautifully illustrated, hardcover book that details the passions and powers of mythic vampires. It gives you rules for creating your own vampire character, and describes the dark and compelling world in which your vampire exists. What happens next is up to you. This booklet is a simplified version of Vampire: The Masquerade. It gives you the highlights of the Vampire setting and rules, the information you need to play a game. Try it out. If you like it, the rulebook is available in most book, hobby and comic stores. When you're ready, we'll be there - waiting for you to invite us in. Storytelling

 ____The rules pamphlet you hold provides an introductory look at Vampire: The Masquerade, a storytelling game from White Wolf Publishing. With the rules in this kit, you and your friends are able to take the roles of night-stalking vampires and tell stories about the characters' triumphs, failures, dark deeds and glimmerings of goodness.

 ____In a lot of ways, storytelling resembles games such as How to Host a Murder. Players take the role of a character - in this case, a vampire - and engage in a form of improvisational theatre, saying what the vampire would say and describing what the vampire would do.

 ____In a storytelling game, players take their characters through adventures, called appropriately enough) stories. Stories are told through a combination of the wishes of the players and the directives of the Storyteller (see below).

  Players and Storytellers

 ____Most people who play Vampire are players. They create vampire characters - imaginary protagonists similar to those found in novels, films and comics. In each group, however, one person must take the role of the Storyteller. The Storyteller acts as a combination director, moderator, narrator and referee. The Storyteller creates the drama through which the players direct their characters. The Storyteller also creates and takes the roles of supporting cast - both allies with whom the characters interact, and antagonists against whom the characters fight. The Storyteller invents the salient details of the story setting - the bars, nightclubs, businesses and other institutions the characters frequent. The players decide how their characters react to the situations in the game, but it is the

 ___Storyteller - (with the help of the rules) who decides if the characters actually succeed in their endeavors and, if so, how well. Ultimately, the Storyteller is the final authority on the events that take place in the game.

 ____Example: Rob, Brian, Cynthia and Alison have gathered to play Vampire. Rob, Brian and Cynthia are players: Rob is playing Baron d'Havilland, a Ventrue aristocrat; Brian is playing Palpa, a Nosferatu sewer-dweller; and Cynthia is playing Maxine, a Brujah street punk. Alison is the Storyteller, and has decreed that the characters have been brought before the vampire prince of the city to face judgment. The players may now decide what to do: Rob, speaking as Baron d'Havilland, may try to smooth-talk his way out of the prince's ire; Cynthia, as Maxine, may angrily denounce the prince as a "fascist"; and Brian, as Palpa, may simply decide to use magical invisibility to flee the situation. Utimately, though, it is Alison, the Storyteller, who determines the prince's reaction to the charachters' words or acts; it is Alison, speaking as the prince, who roleplays the prince's reaction; and it is Alison who determines whether the characters' actions, if any, succeed or fail.

What Is a Vampire?

 ____Storytelling and roleplaying games may feature many kinds of protagonists. In TSR's Dungeons & Dragons, players assume the roles of heroes in a fantasy world. In Hero Games' Champions, players take on the roles of superheroes. In Vampire, appropriately enough, players assume the personas of vampires - the immortal bloodsuckers of the horror genre -and guide these characters through a world virtually identical to our own.

 ____The vampires who walk the Earth in modern nights are both similar to and different from what we might expect. It is perhaps best to begin our discussion of the undead as if they were a separate species of being - sentient, with superficial similarities to the humans they once were, but displaying a myriad of physiological and psychological differences.

___In many ways, vampires resemble the familiar monsters of myth and cinema. (There is enough truth in the old tales that perhaps they were created by deluded or confused mortals.) However - as many an intrepid vampire hunter has learned to sorrow - not all of the old wives' tales about vampires are true.

____-Vampires are living dead, and must sustain themselves with the blood of the living. True. A vampire is clinically dead- its heart does not beat, it does not breathe, its skin is cold, it does not age - and yet it thinks, and walks, and plans, and speaks and hunts and kills. For, to sustain its artificial immortality, the vampire must periodically consume blood, preferably human blood. Some penitent vampires eke out an existence from animal blood, and some ancient vampires must hunt and kill others of their kind to nourish themselves, but most vampires indeed sustain themselves from the blood of their former species.

____Anyone who dies from a vampire's bite rises to become a vampire. False. If this were true, the world would be overrun by vampires. Vampires feed on human blood, true, and sometimes kill their prey - but most humans who die from a vampire's attack simply perish. To return as undead, the victim must be drained of blood and subsequently be fed a bit of the attacking vampire's blood. This process, called the Embrace, causes the mystical transformation from human to undead.

____-Vampires are monsters - demonic spirits embodied in corpses. Falseand true. Vampires are not demons per se, but a combination of tragic factors draws them inexorably toward wicked deeds. In the beginning, the newly created vampire thinks and acts much as she did while living. She does not immediately turn into an evil, sadistic monster. However, the vampire soon discovers her overpowering hunger for blood, and realizes that her existence depends on feeding on her species. In many ways, the vampire's mindset changes - she adopts a set of attitudes less suited to a communal omnivore and more befitting a solitary predator.

____At first reluctant to feed, the vampire is finally forced to do so by circumstance or need - and feeding becomes easier and easier as the years pass. Realizing that she herself is untrustworthy, she ceases to trust others. Realizing that she is different, she walls herself away from the mortal world. Realizing that her existence depends on secrecy and control, she becomes a manipulative user of the first order. And things only degenerate as the years turn to decades and then centuries, and the vampire kills over and over, and sees the people she loved age and die. Human life, so short and cheap in comparison to hers, becomes of less and less value, until the mortal "herd" around her means no more to her than a swarm of annoying insects. Vampire elders are among the most jaded, unfeeling, paranoid - in short, monstrous -beings the world has ever known. Maybe they are not demons exactly - but at that point, who can tell the difference?

 ____-Vampires are burned by sunlight. True. Vampires must avoid the sun or die, though a few can bear sunlight's touch for a very short period of time. Vampires are nocturnal creatures, and most find it extremely difficult to remain awake during the day, even within sheltered areas.

 ___-Vampires are repulsed by garlic and running water. False. These are myths and nothing more.

 ____-Vampires are repulsed by crosses and other holy symbols. This is generally false. however, if the wielder of the symbol has great faith in the power itrepresents, a vampire may suffer ill effects from the brandishing of the symbol.

 ____ -Vampires die from a stake through the heart. False. However, a wooden stake - or arrow, crossbow bolt, etc. -through the heart will paralyze the monster until it is removed.

 ____-Vampires have the strength of 10 humans; they can command wolves and bats; they can hypnotize the living and heal even the most grievous wounds. True and false. The power of a vampire increases with age. Young, newly created vampires are often little more powerful than humans. But as a vampire grows in age and understanding, she learns to use her blood to evoke secret magical powers, which vampires call Disciplines. Powerful elders are often the rivals of a fictional Lestat or Dracula - and the true ancients, the Methuselahs and Antediluvians who have stalked the nights for thousands of years, often possess literally godlike powers.

The Hunt

___When all is said and done, the most fundamental difference between humans and vampires is in their methods of sustenance. Vampires may not subsist on mortal food; instead, they must sustain their eternal lives through the consumption of blood - fresh human blood. Vampires acquire their sustenance in many fashions. Some cultivate "herds" of willing mortals, who cherish the ecstasy of the vampire's kiss. Some creep into houses by night, feeding from sleeping humans. Some stalk the mortals' playgrounds -the nightclubs, bars and theatres - enticing mortals into illicit liaisons and disguising their predation as acts of passion. And yet others take their nourishment in the most ancient fashion -stalking, attacking and incapacitating (or even killing) mortals who wander too far down lonely nocturnal alleys and empty lots. The Nocturnal World of the Vampire

 ____Vampires also value power, for its own sake and the security it brings - and vampires find it ridiculously easy to acquire mundane goods, riches and influence. A mesmerizing glance and a few words provide a cunning vampire with access all the wealth, power and servants he could desire. Some powerful vampires are capable of implanting posthypnotic suggestions or commands in mortals' minds, then causing the mortals to forget the vampire's presence. In this way, vampires can easily acquire legions of unwitting slaves. More than a few "public servants" and corporate barons secretly answer to vampire masters.

____Though there are exceptions, vampires tend to remain close to the cities. The city provides countless opportunities for predation, liaisons and politicking - and the wilderness often proves dangerous for vampires. The wilds are the home of the Lupines, the werewolves, who are vampires' ancestral enemies and desire nothing more than to destroy vampires outright.

  The Embrace

 ____Vampires are created through a process called the Embrace. The Embrace is similar to normal vampiric feeding -the vampire drains her chosen prey of blood. However, upon complete exsanguination, the vampire returns a bit of her own immortal blood to the drained mortal. Only a tiny bit - a drop or two - is necessary to turn the mortal into an undead. This process can even be performed on a dead human, provided the body is still warm.

 ____Once the blood is returned, the mortal "awakens" and begins drinking of his own accord. But, though animate, the mortal is still dead; his heart does not beat, nor does he breathe. Over the next week or two, the mortal's body undergoes a series of subtle transformations; he learns to use the Blood in his body, and he is taught the special powers of his clan. He is now a vampire.

 ____Some vampire clans Embrace more casually than others, but the Embrace is almost never given lightly. After all, any new vampire is a potential competitor for food and power. A potential childe is often stalked for weeks or even years by a watchful sire, who greedily evaluates whether the mortal would indeed make a good addition to the clan and the line.

History

 ____Vampires - or Kindred, as they call themselves - exist for centuries and often seem unchanging to mortal eyes. Even Kindred society, however, has undergone evolution, upheaval and strife. Let us look at history as the Kindred view it, that we might better understand their actions tonight.

  Caine and the First Nights

 ___According to Kindred myth, the first of their kind was Caine, the first murderer. For his crime, Caine was cursed by God and thereby transformed into a vampire. Exiled from his people, Caine was forced to stalk the fringes of civilization, fearful of the sun and venous for blood.

 ____In his loneliness, Caine came upon a mighty witch named Lilith, who had been Adam's first wife. Lilith taught Caine how to use his blood for mighty magic (indeed, a few heretics claim that Lilith, not Caine, was the First Vampire). Lilith taught Caine many things, including how to use his blood to evoke mystic powers - and how to create others of his kind.

  The Second Generation and the First City

 ____At first Caine refused to beget, believing it wrong to curse the world with others of his kind. But eventually he grew lonely and brought three others into the vampiric fold. These three in turn begat 13 more, and these voracious monsters went among the early peoples of the world, carelessly feeding and using mortals as puppets in their sibling feuds. Caine, outraged by this behavior, forbade the creation of any more progeny. Gathering his childer and grandchilder to him, Caine built a great city - the First City in the world - and here vampires and mortals coexisted in peace.

  The Antediluvians and the Clans 

___It could not last. Caine's childer squabbled for their sire's affections, and once again the mortals were used as pawns in the feud. Finally the city was thrown down - some say a natural disaster was the cause; others, that a spurned childe's vengeful sorcery recipitated the cataclysm. Caine vanished into the wastes, never to be heard from again. The three vampires of the Second Generation likewise disappeared into the mists of legend. But Caine's 13 grandchilder, free from restraint, began breeding new vampires with abandon. The 13 vampires became known as Antediluvians, and their childer, created in their images, inherited the Antediluvians' magical gifts and curses. Thus were the clans formed.

  The Dark Ages 

___The clans spread across the world, sowing discord and misery. Though each successive generation of vampires proved weaker than the last, they made up for it with greater numbers. In the ziggurats of Babylon, in the palaces of Crete, in the tribunals of Rome, vampires ruled as shadowy tyrants, forever using mortals as food and unwitting soldiers. Vampire warred with vampire, clan with clan, and thus - from the rivalries of the First City - was born the great Jyhad, which is still fought today.

 ___The Kindred reached their worst excesses during the early Middle Ages. During this period, many vampires ruled openly, smothering peasant and lord alike beneath their nocturnal grip. The vampiric population reached unhealthy numbers, and it seemed that the Earth would belong to the Kindred forever. The Anarch Revolt

 ___Again, it could not last. The Children of Caine, in their hubris, began to flaunt their power flagrantly. Terrified peasants whispered of the monsters in their midst - and the Church began to listen. The reports of a few horrified priests spawned a frenzied Inquisition, and vengeful mortals rose up in a tide of fire and blood. Though individually much more powerful than mortals, even the mightiest vampires could not stand against the humans' sheer numbers; vampire after vampire was dragged from its lair and hurled into fire or sunlight.

 ___In the throes of the Inquisition, a current of revolt gripped the Children of Caine. Younger vampires, who were being deployed as sacrificial lambs by terrified elders, began to rise up against their sires and masters. In Eastern Europe, a group of vampires learned how to sever the mystic bonds through which sires controlled their childer. Soon all of Europe seethed beneath a nocturnal revolt, as rebellious childer threw off the yoke of their masters. Between the Inquisition and the revolt of the vampire "anarchs," it seemed as though the Kindred would not survive.

 __And so, in the 15th century, a council was called. Seven of the 13 clans united in an organization called the Camarilla. With its advantage of numbers, the Camarilla suppressed the anarchs and agreed to exist behind a great Masquerade.

  Next The Six Traditions

___Camarilla vampires swear to uphold the legendary Six Traditions of Caine, the laws which Caine supposedly passed to his progeny. Like any other laws, the Traditions are commonly ignored, bent or violated outright.

____Never more shall vampires rule openly, the lords of the Camarilla decreed. We shall hide among the mortals, and conceal our natures from our prey, and in a few decades the mortals will know vampires only as myths. Thus, the Masquerade was born, and the Inquis gradually forgot its original target. Those anarchs who would not join the Camarilla were driven into the wastes, from which they would later emerge as the dread Sabbat cult. With the discovery of the New World and the dawn of science, humanity gradually forgot about the Kindred, relegating them to the status of childhood legends.

___But, though hidden, vampires were still quite real. The wars of the Jyhad raged on, though the nights of open battle were replaced by sudden ambushes and maneuvering of human pawns. Weaving their webs throughout the ever-expanding cities, the Kindred eschewed their previous games for more methodical but no less deadly ones.

  The Modern Nights and Gehenna

 __And the wars continued down the centuries, and continue still. The Jyhad rages as it always has - though skyscrapers take the place of castles, machine-guns and missiles replace swords and torches, and stock portfolios substitute for vaults of gold, the game remains the same. Kindred battles Kindred, clan battles clan, Camarilla battles Sabbat, as they have for eons. Vampiric feuds begun during the nights of Charlemagne play themselves out on the streets of New York City; an insult whispered in the court of the Sun King may find itself answered by a corporate takeover in Sao Paolo. The ever-swelling cities provide countless opportunities for feeding, powermongering - and war.

 ____Increasingly, vampires speak of Gehenna - the long-prophesied night of apocalypse when the most ancient vampires, the mythical Antediluvians, will rise from their hidden lairs to devour all the younger vampires. This Gehenna, so the Kindred say, will presage the end of the world, as vampires and mortals alike are consumed in an inexorable tide of blood. Some vampires strive to prevent Gehenna, some fatalistically await it, and still others consider it a myth. Those who believe in Gehenna, however, say that the end time comes very soon - perhaps in a matter of years.

The Camarilla

____The Camarilla is a great sect of vampires that formed in the late medieval period. A vampire "United Nations" of sorts, it was formed to protect vampires from the purges of the Inquisition, to uphold the Traditions of Caine, and to enforce the great Masquerade. Many Camarilla vampires, remembering the nights of fire when vampires were uprooted and destroyed, uphold the Masquerade fanatically. Camarilla vampires reject the idea of vampires as monstrous predators, instead preferring to live clandestinely among mortals and feed cautiously.

____The Camarilla is the most populous sect, and (in theory) the most powerful. But it comprises seven clans of vampires, each with its own culture and agenda, and this renders it prone to discord. Ruled as it is by a fractious sort of parliamentarianism, the Camarilla is slow to act and often indecisive in the face of threats; when it brings its combined might to bear, however, the Camarilla is virtually unstoppable.

___Beginning characters are assumed to be Camarilla vampires, and to belong to one of the seven clans. The clans are:

____-Brujah: A clan of violent, antiauthoritarian vampires espousing freedom from societal restrictions.

____-Gangrel: A clan of solitary, nomadic shapeshifters who prefer the wilderness to the confines of the cities.

____-Malkavian: A bizarre clan of lunatics whose members are infamous for their insanity - and insight.

____-Nosferatu: A loathsome clan of deformed monsters who skulk in subterranean tunnels and sewers.

____-Toreador: A clan of elegant, passionate vampires who patronize artists, musicians, actors and the like.

____-Tremere: A secretive, treacherous clan of vampire warlocks who practice blood magic.

____-Ventrue: A clan of aristocrats and nobles who consider it their duty to lead the Camarilla.

The Sabbat

____The Camarilla's bitter rival is the dread sect called the Sabbat. Originally the remnants of the shattered anarch packs, the Sabbat has evolved - or devolved - into something much deadlier. The Sabbat would "liberate" all vampires from the chains of the Camarilla and their sires. The ultimate Social Darwinists, the Sabbat espouses the tenet of vampiric supremacy - the doctrine that, because vampires are highest on the food chain, they should not hide from mortals, but instead dominate them outright. This attitude toward humans often manifests itself in actions that appear horrific and cruel by mortal standards; accordingly, the Sabbat is often branded a sect of violent evildoers by outraged Camarilla vampires.

____Two clans lead the Sabbat. The Lasombra clan is the most prestigious clan and is dreaded for its members' control over the stuff of shadow. Its ally and occasional rival is the Tzimisce, a clan of twisted scholars and sorcerers infamous for cruelty. Tzimisce are said to have the power to warp and mold their own and others' flesh and bone.

The Anarchs

___Some younger vampires strive to remain free of both Camarilla and Sabbat control. These vampires style themselves "anarchs" in homage to the warriors who led the great revolt of the 15th century. For the most part these modern anarchs are ragtag bands of Brujah and Caitiff predators, though all clans are represented in their ranks. The Camarilla treats them as it would termites - individually insignificant, but potentially crippling if allowed to breed and fester.

The Neutrals

___Four clans choose to remain neutral in the great Jyhad, bartering their services to (and jockeying for power with) Camarilla and Sabbat indifferently. These are: the Assamites, a deadly clan of vampire assassins based in the Middle East; the Followers of Set, a dark cult of Vampires devoted to the worship of the snake-god Set; the Giovanni, an insular family of incestuous necromancers and financiers; and the Ravnos, a nomadic line of Gypsy charlatans and thieves.

The Inconnu

___Finally, certain ancient vampires withdraw from the sects' games altogether, seeking solitude amid the wastes. These old ones, called Inconnu, reject the power-games of the clans and sects, instead seeking self-mastery and enlightenment. Some whisper of a darker purpose behind the Inconnu's withdrawal from the Jyhad, but most vampires think of Inconnu as nothing more than deluded recluses.

The Jyhad

____Since the nights of antiquity, the Children of Caine have struggled for supremacy. Leaders, cultures, nations and armies have all been pawns in the secret war, and vampiric conspiracies have influenced much (though by no means all) of human history. Few things are as they seem in the vampires' nocturnal world; a political coup, economic crash or social trend may be merely the surface manifestation veiling a centuries-old struggle. Vampire elders command from the shadows, manipulating mortals and other vampires alike - and the elders are often manipulated in turn. Indeed, most combatants may not even realize for whom they fight, or why.

Status

____Vampires are very hierarchical creatures. The vampires of the Camarilla, in particular, have created an elaborate structure to ensure order among the undead.

____Vampiric territory (generally consisting of cities and outlying suburbs) is divided into fiefdoms. Each fiefdom is ruled by a prince, a mighty vampire elder. This figure may grant lesser vampires hunting territories within his (or her; "prince" is used unisexually) fiefdom; these territories are referred to as domains.

The Prince

____The ruling vampire of a Camarilla-held territory is called the prince. This powerful vampire is usually of Clan Ventrue or Toreador; however, Brujah, Nosferatu or even Malkavian princes are not unknown. The prince has absolute power to establish, grant or strip domains, and to declare certain areas off limits for hunting. The prince may declare certain areas as Elysium (neutral ground where violence is prohibited), and may call blood hunts on rebels and malcontents who violate the Six Traditions.

____Princes tend to control city-sized regions; thus, there is a Prince of Paris, a Prince of Chicago, a Prince of Atlanta, etc. Because a city's prince has often lived in the area for centuries, she has had ample time to build a power structure, and usually knows far more about the workings of "her" city than rebellious anarchs give her credit for. The Primogen

____The prince is often served by a council of advisors chosen from powerful elders of the various clans. These elders are collectively called primogen. Though, in theory, a prince's rule is absolute, a prince who fails to heed her primogen often finds herself deposed or killed in short order. The primogen are formidable forces in their own right, and ceaselessly intrigue against each other and the prince. The Elders

____Elders are vampires who have existed for 300 or more years. They have mastered many magical powers during this time; most elders are deadly and formidable creatures. Elders tend to be scheming, ruthless and paranoid beings; they will do anything to hold onto their power structures, oppress or manipulate the younger "upstart" vampires, and destroy their riv