About Grums
Grums is a shit town. The smell of sulfur from the big dominating factory on the east side of the town lay as a sticky blanket over everything. One never gets used to it. The inhabitants are tired and grey. The population of humans is not growing, but it’s not diminishing either. Sometimes it feels like Grums is stuck in time. Or in a pocket of a no-one-cares-field. Maybe someone wants it like that? Who knows.
The Prince of the city is an elder who calls themselves Agrippa. No-one is sure if they have actually seen Agrippa, so it’s hard to tell of it’s a man or a woman. Agrippa often poses as one of their ghouls, Bob or Jaxx. But what is known about the prince is this: they are unpredictable. Cruel. Arbitrary. Prone to sadistic games with their subjects. A bored Agrippa is a lethal Agrippa. But you must understand, most of the kindred coming here didn’t have a choice. They were sent here in exile, or weren’t welcome anywhere else. And if anyone tries to leave? Well, they disappear. Or wake up one day to realize that they suddenly are back in Grums, and can’t really tell how that happened.
The clans of Grums are tight. They are the outcasts of their peers, and they have no-one but each other. Life in Grums can be ok, even decent, if you know how to play your cards and stay off Agrippa’s radar. You carve out a place that is yours, and stick to it. It’s not Stockholm or Paris, but it is some kind of life. That is, until The Games are announced, of course. Then all bets are off.
The Games are something almost everyone dreads. They happen with irregular time intervals. Agrippa uses them to cull the herd when they think the kindred population of Grums is to big. When food is even scarcer than normal. Or when they are bored. There is no choice but to play. The rules are unknown until The Games have already started. The goal is simple: don’t die.
In Grums by Night you will play one of these unlucky souls that are trapped in the city. You will be torn from the arms of the one you love, forced to betray your best friend or clan to your worst enemy, and expected to go against your core beliefs. All for the drama and entertainment of The Games.
In Grums, you play to win – but expect to lose.
The Grums ”Camarilla”
Grums is a domain that follows the laws of the Camarilla. Promise! And everything is in place here. There is a Seneschal, a Sheriff, even Harpies. The clans have their leaders, and there is even sometimes a call for Primogen council. But everything has a dank and twisted feel to it. Not even the ones that seem to hold power in Grums are feeling safe. If you rise to power too quickly, like it too much or just are good at your job – you might fall to the ground faster than you can spell l.o.s.e.r.
Agrippa expects their subjects to be of service to the town. If a kindred isn’t valuable to either Agrippa or Grums, they won’t survive for long. And good riddance, it just means it’s not yourself this time. And of course, murdering a fellow kindred is forbidden by the traditions, but you know… If a tree falls in the woods and no one are there to hear it fall – does it make any sound? It was probably the werewolves anyway.
And yes – the werewolves are a real problem. They roam the woods outside town limits. They took Grums Rasta as their own. Being cast out of Grums will probably mean that the unlucky kindred can look forward to being hunted down by bloodthirsty and wild gangs of lycans. They don’t dare to enter the town, but they are getting more and more cocky. Good times.
Hunting in Grums
The clans have their places of safety, and a silent agreement not going near them if you don’t have too, and not hunt there if you don’t have permission to do so. The places shift sometimes, and during The Games they belong to whatever team that have the area they are located in. If you hunt in Grums, be sure not to get in the way of someone of better standing with the Prince.
The Clans
The clans of Grums are tight – they need to be to stay alive. All clans have a sort of Primogen, or at least a ”leader”. But it doesn’t really mean much, other than being more visible to Agrippa. Which is not a good thing.
Most, but not all of a clan’s members live in their designated areas.
Brujah
Bitch, listen. You’re pale, you’re ugly, you let your hair down and think you’re the shit. I’ll cut you.
Brujah clan is unruly and trouble makers, no news here. But they also have the largest group of local kindreds, only in competition with Gangrel in numbers. Locals – people that actually has chosen to be here. Some of them actually seem to like it here. They fight a lot internally, and their leader changes often. Some of them seem to be stuck in an illusion of great grandeur, like the overgrown loser that still hangs out with the teenagers of their hometown and shared life wisdom from The Game, because it makes them feel cool. And the rest of them are so freshly made that they are mostly a danger to themselves.
Area: South
Place: The junkyard/car junkyard /Bilskroten
Example concept: Local thug, newly embraced punk, wannabe-alpha
Nosferatu
There’s a weak link in every chain. And it’s just a matter of time before this one snaps.
– Xoxo ❤
No-one wants to be too long in the stinking area of Grövöns Pappersbruk, so naturally it has been claimed by the Nosferatu that is used to these kind of environments. And it’s really not bad for hunting, a lot of workers roam the place, and also guest workers from all over the world are coming and going. The place even has their own harbour. If it wasn’t for the horrible, never diminishing stench, this would be the most sought after hunting ground in Grums. Clan Nosferatu are also a kind of favourite of the prince, next to Malkavians, and Agrippa uses them for bringing news (often bad) to the other clans. Nosferatu seems to be the only ones that actually still are having contact with other ones of their clan outside of Grums, which also makes them invaluable for information from the outside (kindred) world.
Area: East
Place: The Grövön paper factory / Grövöns pappersbruk
Example concept: Janitor, kindred mail deliverer, night shift security at the factory, repair-person.
Tremere
First rule of magic club is to not speak about magic club.
The usually so proud and secretive Tremere clan has a dwindling life in Grums. The prince has forbidden blood magic, so there is that. Is a Tremere without magic even a Tremere anymore? Clan Tremere are not favourites of the prince, so they are mercilessly bullied. Without their magic, a tremere is just a sad nerd – the lowest on the pecking order. Still, some of them hang in there. And if some blood magic is actually happening, it is in acute secrecy and very very small scale. Sshh… let’s never mention it to anyone.
Area: City center/West
Place: Granbergs Antique Shop / Granbergs Antikhandel
Example: Nerd in a suit, depressed eccentric noble, astrology medium.
Toreador
Personality, I mean that’s what counts, right? Like Heroin, I mean heroin’s got a great fucking personality.
There is not much beauty and art in Grums, but there is a folkhögskola with an art program. There are young people coming here, both for the long and short courses. A lot of parties. Not that any of the Toreador are invited, but sometimes they manage to sneak in if the kids are drunk enough, or to sell drugs. The problem with Runeberg is that it is a bit out of town, and going there is riskier than before because of the werewolves. Clan Toreador do “their best” to bring their flavour to Grums, but the general lack of talent and taste makes the whole ordeal seem a bit… useless. Some try to make up by pretending, soldiering on with desperate smiles. Others seem to have given up, and pass time with any stimulant they can find.
Area: West
Place: The folkhögskola Runeberg
Example concept: Night school art teacher, landscape/aquarelle artist, failed garage band, campus drug dealer.
Malkavian
It’s not my fault you’re like, in love with me, or something!
The favoured clan of the Prince has also the best hunting ground. The hospital is a busy place that have intake from both Åmål and Molkom and other small towns that is near Grums. In comparison with other hunting grounds or clan specific places, the hospital is flowing with blood and opportunities. Being Malkavian is smooth sailing, more than for any other clan. They are the queen bees and they know it. But being the favorites of the Prince can be a double edged sword, and rubbing it in the faces of the other clans certainly creates resentment. However, being the “mean girls” of Grums also means that many of the others really really want to date a Malkavian, due to getting to share the spotlight. Drama is high.
Area: North
Place: The Hospital
Example concept: D-list celebrity, night nurse, janitor/handyman of the hospital, blood bank manager.
Gangrel
My life’s been a circle of violence and degradation long as I can remember.
Gangrel is with clan Brujah the clan that has the most local kindreds in their group. They fare a constant war against the werewolves trying to take back the outskirts of Grums from them. No-one thanks them for it, but at least it is something to pass time. Being a Gangrel in Grums is really dangerous, and many of them are sporting heavy scarring on the inside from being a bit too close to death for comfort, too many times. The group is tightly knitted and very loyal to each other. That is generally a good thing. But now The Games are coming up, and then it becomes more of a liability.
Area: North East
Place: Friluftscentret / Outdoor center (threatened by werewolves)
Example concept: Flannel clad hunter type, local color with moonshine business, smuggler
Ventrue
And worse I may be yet: the worst is not. So long as we can say “This is the worst”.
Oh proud Ventrue, how you have fallen. These Ventrues don’t even try anymore. They know they are failures of their own, pariahs of their peers and would probably be better off falling on their swords if they weren’t so pathetic. The Ventrues in Grums have been driven… not mad, exactly. Not mad like Malkavians or something. But it’s something with people that have hit rock bottom and have nowhere else to go; they kind of start singing their own song after a while, and the Ventrues of Grums are currently singing the song of really really crappy self management and self-help methods. It seems to make them feel a bit better. On the outside, at least.
Area: City Center/West
Place: Hotel Stat
Example concept: Management consultant, night portier, failed author of self-help books.
Caitiff
I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your servant, and You will reward me.
The Caitiff are the lowest of the low. They serve the other clans for blood and hunting grounds.
Place: No special place. Perhaps you are lucky and allowed to live with one of the clans.
Example concept: Vagabonds, hookers, Norwegians
Ghouls
I’m supposed to deliver you to the Master now. There’s this whole deal where I get to be immortal. You cool with that?
Ghouls are humans owned by a kindred. They are rare and sought after, since the food in Grums can be scarce, and there can not be too many ghouls in such a little town. They are precious and anemic and also… fair game for others if their owner can’t protect them. Many are quite traumatized and might have had several owners before their current domitor. All ghouls have come upon their kindred in different ways. Most are born and raised in Grums. Most have tragic stories that have lead them to their current life. They all desperately seek the approval of their domitor.
Place: where their owner wants them.
Example concept: parents of a child turned vampire, night nurse, police officer.
Werewolves
Grums Rasta, North, has been taken by werewolves. This is one of the best hunting grounds due to many people passing by on their way to and from Norway. Too bad no-one dares go there anymore, except maybe for some of the toughest Gangrels. No players will portray werewolves,. but everyone will be shit scared of them.
Grums ByNight 