The character creation process will be a joint effort between the player and the organizers. Although there still is some character sheet and points with rules in this larp, we have chosen to scale it down. That means that we have taken away a lot of the usual things that belong on a Vampire the Masquerade character sheet. We want the majority of the larp to be ruled by consent driven roleplay and negotiations between players, not stats.
The points and the character sheet should be seen as a way to form the character, and a measurement of what your character can do and own. It is also usable in the tabletop/freeform section of the campaign. We have, however, no need to know if your character can drive or not, or how much Camarilla Lore it has. What we do want to know, and you to know, is what kind of abilities it has, and how their meager resources are spent. We want to know what your character does for a living, both in the kindred world and in the human world.
Playing a ghoul? Do all the steps except for disciplines.
You create your character when you sign up. When your concept is approved, you pay for the larp to secure your spot.
We do not require any significant level of knowledge about Vampire the Masquerade to play this larp, other than what is provided by us. If you still feel like you want or need to know more about World of Darkness, you can find their wiki here!
Things you need to decide upon to fill out our character form:
1.Name:
We want to know the name of your character.
2. Concept:
We want to know what it does for a living, or present as to others in a short one or two-word description. Like: Brute with a motorcycle, computer nerd, or other describing words.
3. Clan:
What clan does your character belong to? The character can only belong to one of the clans stated below (and we as organizers might ask you to shift clan if there is a great discrepancy or balance in which clans are wished for).
See Fiction for descriptions of clans that exist in Grums. For more general descriptions go here – but the clans in Grums look a bit different, more pathetic, than generally in Vampire.
Briefly, the clans are as follows:
- Malkavian – madness and patterns
- Toreador – the beauty of art and life
- Nosferatu – information and monstrosity
- Tremere – blood magic and secrecy
- Ventrue – money and status
- Gangrel – beastiality and the outdoors
- Brujah – rage and fight
- Caitiff (clanless)
There is also:
- Ghouls – servants of the kindreds
- Humans – food
If you want to play a ghoul or a human, contact us!
4. Generation:
Agrippa doesn’t allow kindred lower than 11th generation, and even these kindred of gen 11 have reason to be nervous – and are not very many. It is totally allowed to play weak bloods of gen 14 or 15, and very much encouraged. Prepare to be lowest in status and bullied and pushed around by the others – fun! We might ask you to shift your generation for playability reasons.
5. Years in Grums:
Are you newly arrived or are you one of the few who have some experience in this hell hole?
6. Description:
We want a short and summarizing description of your character, including why they are in Grums. This should not be longer than 500-1000 characters. Shorter is sweeter, and functional information is key.
7. Focus:
You must choose a focus area for your character. Your focus area is where your character is at its best. Your focus area dictates which single discipline your character can have two stat points in. How you interpret your focus area is up to you, read the following as examples of how you can think:
- Physical: Your character is a physical person, maybe they work out, fight a lot, or are just is comfortable doing things with the body. A person with physical as a focus might use force before manipulation, or feel uncertain among more socially suave people. They might take to fists before negotiating.
- Physical disciplines: Potence, Celerity, Fortitude, Protean.
- Mental: Your character might be fairly smart or manipulative. They live to plan or scheme or talk about philosophy. They might be shy or awkward socially, or just doesn’t like to fight at all. They might like to think things through before doing things, or really enjoy outsmarting others and making them fall into smart traps.
- Mental diciplines: Dementation, Auspex, Thaumaturgy,
Dominate (could be either mental or social).
- Social: Your character might like to socialize with others, and is good at small talk, social maneuvering and social manipulation. Your character might be a sweet talker, or very good with words. Or someone that has a lot of social capital, have an easy time making friends, are known for their fun parties, or other social activities. Your character might want to talk before fight, and might rely on their improvisational skills rather than intricate schemes.
- Social disciplines: Presence, Obfuscate, Dominate (could be either mental or social).
8. Disciplines:
Disciplines are the “magical” abilities that all kindreds have. All players get maximum three points to divide between disciplines. If you play a weak blood of gen 14 or 15 you only have two points to put into disciplines. Since the Grums kindred are so uncool, you can have maximum two disciplines, and you can only have one discipline with more than one point. This means most of you will have two diciplines with one point in one, and two in the other. Some of the disciplines are really hard to use on the larp floor, like celerity or animalism, we suggest you make use of them in the tabletop roleplaying scenarios between the larps instead if you want to use them.
Disciplines are connected to clans. Please choose your two disciplines within the clan disciplines as follows:
- Brujah: Celerity, Potence, Presence.
- Gangrel: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean.
- Malkavian: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate.
- Nosferatu: Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence.
- Toreador: Auspex, Celerity , Presence.
- Tremere: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy.
- Ventrue: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence.
The diciplines have two levels, corresponding to the one or two points you might have in any one of them. How to mechanistically use them, is covered under Rules and Mechanics. (We have taken creative freedom with some of them. Roll with it.) Briefly, their general function will be as follows:
Dominate (Soc/Men)
- Command: Give a simple one-word order that a target must obey.
- Mesmerize: By holding a target with your gaze you can implant false thoughts or hypnotic suggestions in a target’s mind.
Dementation (Men)
- Passion: Amplify or dull the strongest emotion present in the victim.
- The Haunting: Inflict maddening visions upon a victim.
Auspex (Men)
- Aura perception: See what a person is feeling.
- An Ear for Lies: Know when someone lies to you + see what they feel more accurate.
Presence (Soc)
- Awe: Awe is simple but solid. Once the vampire employs this power, those who are near him or her either want to be closer to him or her or shudder in fear. It is an immediate and intense attraction, but temporal and not so overpowering that those afflicted lose their sense of self-preservation.
- Entrancement: The Kindred makes someone obsessively want to please them.
Obfuscate (Soc)
- Cloak of Shadows: Remain hidden so long as you do not move
- Unseen Presence: Become invisible to others so long as you do not attract attention.
Potence (Phys)
- Super strength
- More super strength
Celerity (Phys)
- Move really fast
- Move even faster
Fortitude (Phys)
- Resist damage
- Resist heavy damage
Protean (Phys)
- Eyes of the Beast: See in the dark. Usage of the power turns the eyes into a glowing red.
- Feral Claws: Turn one’s hands into dangerous claws.
9. Backgrounds:
What does your character own? This part feeds into your characters standing in Grums, and is meant as a character building tool. More info on backgrounds in Vampire can be found here. The Backgrounds to choose from are:
- Allies – Close companions who could be called on for most anything.
- Contacts – Those willing to help for a favor in return.
- Fame – How well-known the character is in society; its counterpart
- Notoriety – generally carries negative connotation.
- Influence – A character’s ability to affect mortal society.
- Resources – How much a character has to live on.
- Status – Where a character ranks in a particular social structure. In Grums, this means your standing with the Prince.
- Haven – does your character have a secure place to live?
How to make your background: All characters will be given one point in resources as default (this basically means you have a house). Otherwise, you have three points to freely put in the different categories. You can have max two points in any background. A ghoul (something very valuable and hard to keep) costs two points. In addition to choosing backgrounds with stats, you should describe briefly in the free text what your background actually means: what kind of contacts you have, how your character is notorious, or why the prince likes your character, etc.
10. Weakness and Strength:
Try to find one of each. You have no points or stats to allocate to strengths and weaknesses, this is just improvised character flavor. A weakness could be things like: easy to fool, or always hungry, steals everything for no reason. A strength could be things like: good with money, very loyal to friends, or other positive traits.
Grums ByNight 