RPG Tale #1: Sabbat City

in the early morning on Monday, the 9th of May 2005 by Anarchy

Many years ago, my crew and I were very into LARP’ing. (For those of you uneducated in our ways… that stands for Live-Action Role-Playing.)

We were very regular players of the popular RPG known as "Vampire: The Masquerade". So whenever a Masquerade LARP would come up, we’d all pack our bags and break out the artificial fangs and denture adhesive.

One game that we attented (a moderately sized game of about 100-120 people)… was held in a quiet, unsuspecting hotel up in Pennsylvania. (Ever wonder how a room full of goth’s can tell each other apart when they’re all dressed in black… well… got me… it just takes a little conditioning.)

Anyway… the game started off very slow. NO ONE from my coterie ever showed up. However, not wanting to waste an 18th century, 6th generation, Ravnos Elder… I took character sheet in hand and started dealing. (With a HUGE PILE of Social traits… and every level of Chimerstry available… I was not to be denied.) However, this soon got a little boring.

This boredom was soon vanquished when I was lured into one of the rooms by one of my contacts, and found myself surrounded by the city’s 5 Sabbat members… a small, but formatable band of kindred. (They started out as a pack of 3 members… and wanted me to be thier 6th.) Needless to say… I could have fought my way out. With my traits and powers, I could have probably buried them… but boredom won out over my desire to stay in character… so I let them turn me.

After being smacked on the head with a shovel and buried… and the traditioanl clawing my way out of the ground… I pulled the LEADER OF THE PACK <vroom vroom> aside, and gave him some insight into my character. With a gleam of surprise in his eyes… he started making plans. We were definitely going to take over this city.

I know… I know… "you should have stayed in character"… "you’re tipping the balance of power to greatly in favor of the antagonists"… "you suck"… yeah, yeah, yeah. To those of you feeling the need to comment at this point… let me say this. (1) This was a one-shot game with no chance for a sequel… so we didn’t care too much… and (2) it’s a game… lighten up.

Moving on… with the same rhythm as Rick Allen, our head-smacking shovel set out to turn or waste any undead in our path. After securing the Prince’s seat for one of our operatives… we had a meeting. There were about 30+ chain-smoking Sabbat in a single hotel room… when the sherriff knocked on the door to have an audience with the Prince. THANK GOD FOR "CLOAK THE GATHERING". The Sherriff and his minions entered… one of them laughed outright and commented that this was "the most crowded empty room he’d ever been in!"

To conclude… when the game ended, we all attended the Wrap-Up meeting at the end. Mike and Ian (from Nightowl Productions) reminded us that this was a one-shot… so we were going to "reveal all of our secrets" during the meeting. (FUN TIME!) They went around the room… asking individuals to stand up and reveal certain details… found out who the Prince was, asked the Sherriff about the city.

Finally, Mike asked for the original 3 members of the Sabbat pack to stand up. They did… then Mike asked for the first few people that were turned to the Sabbat to stand up… a few people stood up, myself included. Then, Ian asked for "everyone else who was turned to the Sabbat over the course of the weeked to stand up". The room shook… and about 100 more people stood up.

There were 6 people left sitting… and they knew that had the game continued that they would have been next. I’m not 100% sure who it was… but I think one of the Sherriff’s minions let loose with a very audible "Holy Sh|t".

The city was ours.