If you have never heard of Vampire: The Masquerade before or want a quick way to refamiliarise yourself with the basics, here's a quick introduction.
Don't worry, you won't need to catch up on 30+ years of reading. Everything you actually need to know for participating in our LARP is presented in our Setting information on this website.
First published in 1991 and currently in its fifth edition, Vampire: The Masquerade is a game about the Kindred - which is how the undead refer to themselves.
Vampires have a human soul but an atavistic, ever-hungry Beast inside of them. Their heightened emotions and extreme needs make them predatory and competitive. Balancing the pangs of hunger against the dictates of their conscience often leaves them deeply conflicted and tending to extremes.
Desperately in need of company for solace and survival, while also deeply self-centred and ruthless, the Kindred tend to create complex social networks, such as clans (their heritage), sects (their beliefs), and coteries (their ersatz-families), that are in almost constant rivalry with each other, often creating conflicts of interest and loyalty.
Vampires move unseen among the masses of humanity, even as they feed on them and recruit some as their half-mortal servants (called ghouls) or undead progeny. They invest a lot of effort into appearing human and leading double lives, so as not to awaken suspicion.
Because, even as they fight shadow wars with each other, what they all fear most is a resurgence of human awareness of their kind. Kindred hubris once almost led to the extinction of all vampires. Barely having survived that last catastrophe, vampires are acutely aware that even with all their supernatural gifts and hidden influence they would be helpless against the advantages of modern technology.
Part morality play, part deconstructive power fantasy, the game is set against the backdrop of the World of Darkness, an urban Gothic version of our present reality, in which supernatural plots have caused or been a result of events ripped from religious sources, myths and legends, history books or current headlines.
The setting has a deep and convoluted lore with strong undertones of cycles of creation, conflict, and destruction, that serve as analogies to many real-life issues. It has a strong end-times feeling, using the concept of Gehenna, a vampire apocalypse, to create a general atmosphere of foreboding and doom, even as it centres personal choices in the struggle for survival and the search for meaning.
This is an adult-only game of personal horror, featuring scenes of social, mental, and physical violence, abusive relationships, mental illness, addiction, suicide, bigotry, oppression, and chattel slavery.
All characters are predators and everyone can become prey. You may experience acts of victimisation playing the part of the perpetrator and the sufferer. Both can be equally intense and potentially disturbing.
Death, loss, helplessness, and grief are all major themes of Vampire: The Masquerade as a game and will constantly be in play in this LARP. The scenarios you will encounter may lead to heightened emotions and cause bleed, transfering character feelings to the player.
Participating in our safety briefings and trust building workshops and using the safety techniques learned therein is mandatory for participation.
We will always have qualified staff on-site to ensure your physical and mental well-being in the moment and concerning any aftercare needed.