Vampire is a game of personal, gothic horror. That's "gothic," not "goth."
Some vampires are goths, sure, but we're more concerned with the
intricacies of becoming a monster and the literary meaning of gothic than
we are with lyrics from Apoptygma Berzerk songs.
(Somewhere, right now, youıll find a goth screaming, "That's not goth,
that's industrial! Idiot!" To that goth, I say: Shut up. Somewhere, right
now, a European is laughing at you for confusing industrial with darkwave
electro. Get over it.)
Vampire is about normal people who have been Embraced into a World of
Darkness and turned into predatory monsters. It is a game of horror, of
both the internal and external varieties. Each vampire is only half man --
the other half is a ravenous, bloodthirsty Beast. Vampires' worlds fall
apart: Mortals they love die, things they held dear now linger out of
reach, they prey upon what they once were. They have been utterly cursed.
To ease the pain -- or to escape what they have become -- they pretend to
be mortal. They place elaborate social rules and grand Jyhads before
themselves, hoping to divert their attention from their own bestial
natures. They cling desperately to the vestiges of their humanity. Their
unlives are tragic, doomed attempts to stave off the unnatural forces that
lurk within them all.
(Vampire, to some people, is about blowing shit up, hurling bolts of flame
and vicariously getting back at a world that shuns them for their geekdom.
I don't publish books for those people. It's fine for them to play in that
idiom -- as long as they're having fun, the game works. They're going to
play Vampire like that anyway, but I'm not going to encourage them.)
So, with all that in mind, you want to write for Vampire, eh? Well, before
I hire you, we'll have to see if you can take it. Part and parcel with
Vampire writing comes criticism, and it comes in greater volume than with
any of our other games. To see if you're up to the task, complete the
following mock letter using the choices presented and gauge your
reactions.
"Hello,
(1) Jackass;
(2) Idiot;
(3) Bonehead;
(4) Moron;
I am
(1) a generic Internet chump hiding behind an anonymous handle
(2) a lonely, frustrated student with nothing better to do
(3) an illiterate dullard with vociferously spoken opinions
(4) a rabid fan who thinks White Wolf owes him something
and I just want you to know that your last book really
(1) sucked.
(2) blew.
(3) stank.
(4) should have been fed through a chipper-shredder.
Why was it so bad? Well,
(1) you didn't do exactly what I would have done with it, which proves you
are stupid.
(2) you left out several details in the interests of creating mystery, but
I wanted to know the exact Traits or reason behind [Event X], which
proves you are stupid.
(3) I'm incapable of understanding in-character bias in printed material,
which results in my confusion and also proves you are stupid.
(4) just because, stupid.
In fact, White Wolf has put out consistently crappy books since
(1) you started writing for them.
(2) Justin Achilli took over Vampire.
(3) they stopped using Sisters of Mercy quotes to open every subsection of
text.
(4) they came into existence, yet I still buy every book, if only to give
me new reasons to complain and find a surrogate victim for my own
feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing.
I hope
(1) wild jackals tear out your liver for writing this thing.
(2) you are assimilated by the Borg, decapitated by Highlanders, hamstrung
by my Celtic ancestors and defiled by cape-wearing LARPers.
(3) real goths taunt you when you go to the nightclub, you Manson-loving
wannabe.
(4) you get fired and they hire me, even though I have no idea how to
write a cogent sentence, let alone prepare a book for publication.
Sincerely,
(1) DarkRavynDeth143@aol.com
(2) Kevin Collegebritches, State University
(3) Nethraxis Zomb, Crimson Master of the Eternal Night
(4) Eugene Fenster, by way of my parents' basement
P.S.:
(1) Which book explains Baba Yaga's death?
(2) Enclosed is my character. Please make it official.
(3) I didn't type my letter legibly or even bother to send a SASE, but I'm
going to get all uppity if I don't receive a response from you.
(4) Rot in hell, you bastard."
If you're prepared to deal with crap like this, you've got the fortitude
to work for us. (On a lighter note, you should know that the people you're
actually working for are the silent majority -- the ones who accept the
game for the entertainment pastime it is and "get it" on a larger scale.
They just don't write as often, because they tend to be better acclimated
to the world. Not everyone in this hobby is a wailing, sociopathic
lunatic. Just the loud ones.)
Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about how to write for Vampire.
Most importantly, a writer must have a grasp of English. Grammar,
punctuation, solid mechanics and a good voice are paramount. One of many
people's common misperceptions involves the belief that writing is easy --
not everyone can draw well, it's hard to lay out a book to given graphic
design specs, but any monkey can sit in front of a keyboard and type
pretty words. Not true. In fact, writing is the hardest thing many people
will be expected to perform in their entire lives, and doing it well is
even more difficult. A writer must be a good communicator before I hire
her, as our production schedule doesn't offer enough time to piece
together a flaw-heavy manuscript. You may have the best ideas in the
world, but they're worthless to me if I can't make heads or tails of them.
If you're a good idea guy, team up with a competent writer and submit a
joint proposal. Just don't send me "I like alot of vampires and the
diablerie in the sabbot of Mexico. But mithris was wetching and a Lupine.
Attack!" and expect to have it published.
Vampire's core theme is a tripartite concept: It is a Storytelling game of
personal horror. Storytelling involves taking a concept and doing
something with it. We all know the Ventrue are wealthy powerbrokers
nonpareil, but what do they do to garner that reputation? How do the
Nosferatu manage to maintain their vast information networks? How does a
twisted Tzimisce acquire that reputation among others of her kind? Tell a
story worth the words. Show us "memorable antagonists, prizes worth
fighting for, fascinating settings, believable goals, plot twists,
betrayals, redemptions, heroism, tragedy, triumph, horror and general
weirdness." If you expect me to pay you, and you expect others to buy your
book, you'd best make sure it's worth our dollar-two-ninety-eight.
The personal aspect rests upon the role of the characters. We don't need
books in which clans/sects/coteries are faceless, monolithic entities that
exist only to serve the greater agenda. Sure, the Toreador involve
themselves in the worlds of art and mortals, but what motivates them
individually? Clans are not fraternities that gather for Spring Rush or to
take over the Brujah primogen's crime syndicate. Sects are not giant
companies or armed forces that unite to war with the infidels or "control"
(damn, I hate that word) cities (even though they may say otherwise, as is
the case with some particularly fervent Sabbat or Assamites). Rather,
clans are more like families and sects are more like social societies, and
when was the last time the Achillis or the goths banded together to drive
the Methuselahs from the city? Focus on the individual -- the intent is to
show the unique nature of being a vampire, not to join an eternal, undying
corporation as a pathetic servant. Nothing inherent to clan or sect
membership ties a vampire to a "party line," and it's more likely for a
conniving Ventrue to plot against other Ventrue than it is for him to
shake his fist at a cadre of black-biker-jacket-wearing Brujah gangstaz.
Princes don't just "hang out" on velvet thrones, and not all Sabbat are
molotov-tossing psychotics.
Concerning horror, your submission had better seep with it. Without
horror, this may as well be a superhero game, and that's not what we're
after. Consider: All characters are dead, yet exist in a fragile state
beyond death by stealing away the life's blood of the people they formerly
were while fighting to hold back the excruciating urges of the Beast. All
vampires are addicts, dedicated, above all else, to acquiring that
precious fluid upon which their existence hangs so precariously. To what
depths will these characters sink in the pursuit of their schemes and
wants? Let's see those depths.
With those central ideas in mind, here's what I'm looking for.
* New Twists: Surprise your reader. If we know what's going to
happen in the plot, it's boring. I'm not advocating random chaos or
arbitrarily motivated antagonists, but sometimes the logical conclusion
isn't what shakes out of an event. Weirdness and mystery are good.
* Interesting Characters: This is such a hot button for me, I don't
even want to open it up. Just make your characters have whole
personalities. The idea of a "generic Malkavian" is pretty weak; everyone
is an individual. Also remember that your characters' concepts are not
their clan or sect. See? You're getting me started. Cool characters,
please.
* Monsters: I don't want florid tirades about eternal damnation,
but I do want to see that we're not dealing with fanged superheroes.
Simple, but very important.
* Open-endedness: Yeah, that's not a word. So what? Anyway, if
you're dealing with plot, allow players' coteries to have an impact on
their environment. This is very hard with Vampire; characters run such a
broad spectrum of motivations that it's impossible to create a truly
universal situation. It's not like the old days of hack 'n' slash games,
where you could stick a monster in a room and every character would make a
beeline for it and kick its ass, whether they were priests, elves or
whatever. Still, try to accommodate as many tastes as possible, and plan
for as many eventualities as you can. If the objective of a story is to
recover a torpid Kindred's body, give my vagrant Gangrel truck driver a
reason to participate.
* Focus: At the same time, however, your idea needs a unity of
vision. Why the hell is the Ventrue gang boss hanging out with the
Malkavian political hopeful on the balcony of the Brujah runway model's
loft? You can't stop players from creating characters who have no business
being together (check out a convention game that lets you bring your own
character to the table for big laffs sometime), but you can at least bring
a sense of order to the material you're putting into print.
* The Young Ones: I like games that aren't infested with
low-generation god characters. A 13th-generation vampire is every bit as
cool as the fifth-generation Prince of Paris, and a damn sight more likely
to be believably played. Vampires already have an edge over the mortals
among whom they hide -- we don't need any more vertigo-inducing lists of
mega-Traits. Skew your writing to reflect the higher generations, unless
you're writing for sympathy with an older vampire.
* Keep it Current: The Vampire setting is ultramodern, and a
600-year-old jackass capering about in a velvet frock coat is gonna get
waxed by the Inquisition, if not other Kindred. Vampires enact their
Masquerade by following mortal trends, not by guzzling bloodwynnnne from
crystal goblets with their vampyre wyves and speaking fantasy
roleplaying-influenced faux Olde Englishe. Hey, you! Yeah, you; the Lord
Byron doppelganger! I'm setting you on fire because you look like a
vampire! Seriously, show us how hip and cutting-edge vampires are. Or, by
contrast, show us a static elder who still does wear his powdered wigs --
and show us the difficulties he faces by being unable to cope with change.
Now here's what I don't want.
* Stuff We've Already Done: I'm not interested in Your City by
Night, in which the main conflict is a struggle for princedom.
* Stuff We Haven't Done for a Reason: No Clanbook: Samedi or
Secrets of the Inconnu, please. It's hard enough to keep the
mystery without turning over every rock in Vampire's backyard. Maybe these
books will come out at some point, but if they do, it's because Vampire
needs them and not because the eight millionth "I think Samedi are cool"
submission was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm a bitter,
resentful jerk, and I'm more likely to not print a book out of spite than
to be won over by fawning over a pet idea (see below).
* Crossover: I'm the guy at the office who hates this the most.
Mixing the various World of Darkness supernaturals almost invariably comes
at the expense of the games' horror and leans it toward a disparate mix of
random superpowers. That, and the systems of the different games don't
work well together. Werewolves don't even have tribes in Vampire; they're
almost always unknowable "Lupines." Other supernaturals follow suit. Send
crossover to someone else and keep Vampire out of it if you know what's
good for you.
* Your Personal Crusade: So you like the Daughters of Cacophony.
Great. The strength of your fetish/passion won't sell books. Cool ideas
will.
* The Same Old Tropes, Redux: Blah blah blah prince blah blah blah
Ventrue blah blah blah control blah blah blah manipulated blah blah blah
in his bid for power. Yawn.
* GoobCon XIV: I don't know what committee approves these sorts of
things, but every now and then, the gaming community appropriates some
weird trend and it becomes chic to participate in it. People claim to be
Celts or pagans or Gypsies or Wiccans or Native Americans, or they wear
blowzy poet shirts and trenchcoats. What the hell is this all about? Well,
most vampires aren't gamers. Leave your Scottish Gangrel and your Ren
Faire-visiting Nagaraja Abomination at home, please. Let these cultures
have their dignity and let the dorky fads hurry to their merciful deaths.
Important Note: The Vampire schedule is full until mid-2001. I will
not be adding new projects until that time. I do, however, need people to
work on books in the interim, so please send in your proposal. Even if I
don't use your idea immediately, I may use you for one of the other
projects on the board.
A list of inspirations for Vampire:
Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire and -- Vampires are sexy in a modern context, and the historical
flashbacks are very evocative. I wasn't a huge fan of Queen of the
Damned, which I found too epic for my tastes, or The Tale of the
Body Thief, which gave vampires some weird powers (but showed how much
Lestat lost by becoming a vampire.)
Sheridan LeFanu's "Carmilla" -- Here's how you exist for centuries:
by hiding and reinventing yourself. This story is also very sensual and
spooky.
Frederick Cowles' "The Vampire of Kaldenstein" -- What a bunch of
monstrous degenerates these guys were!
John Polidori's "The Vampyre" -- Despite the aftermath of lace and
capes, this story pretty much established the core ideals of the modern
vampire.
Bram Stoker's Dracula -- Duh.
Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting -- Unpleasant, seedy characters; swap
out the heroin for blood and poof! Instant vampires! The movie also
provided a good film translation, which is uncommon.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby -- An excellent book
stylistically (Fitzgerald describes his characters through their actions,
showing rather than telling), and the social commentary is certainly
applicable to Kindred society.
Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities -- A nest of high-society
vipers and what they do when things go awry. Very Camarilla.
Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hell's
Angels -- Welcome to what could easily be the Sabbat. The Fear and
Loathing movie is actually better than you heard it was.
John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -- Very
Southern, but also very gothic in the sense Vampire illustrates: rife with
corruption and rotten from within.
Blade -- Um, see, there are these 13 cla-- er, houses, right? And
they have mortal minions called ghou-- uh, familiars. Oh well. The
vampires in Blade were certainly very sexy and
ultra-modern-hip-cool, and Steven Dorff's performance was excellent. Plus,
New Order was on the soundtrack and played during the phenomenal opening
scene, so you can't go wrong.
The Crow -- Despite spawning a legion of fiendishly made-up LARP
kids (and Sting), this was a scummy, noisy, vibrant, violent, druggy, and
even somewhat gothic hell of a good time, with kickass sets to boot.
Michael Wincott gave a sterling performance as Top Dollar, and I think the
movie was better than the comic.
The Replacement Killers -- Mainly the opening scene. You can bet
that when vampires walk into a nightclub and some grade-A whup-ass starts
to happen, there's going to be some Crystal Method playing really loudly.
And most of the movie's characters are World of Darkness-style scumbags.
The Godfather, The Godfather II and Goodfellas -- Treachery!
Greed! Death! Sex! Lather! Rinse! Repeat! If you don't like these movies,
there's something wrong with you. Every element of these movies can be
adapted to suit Vampire, most of them with very little shoehorning.
The Hunger -- A bit dated, but excellent nonetheless. Two creepy
vampires ply their trade in New York as Bauhaus leers at the camera. I
think David Bowie really is a vampire.
John Carpenter's Vampires -- Again, the strongest part of the movie
is the opening scene, and it gets kinda action-campy from there. That
opening scene is quality, though, and it gives an unsettling feeling for
the "nests" of vampires. The head vampire, Varek, is really sinister in an
over-the-top "bad dude" way.
Some General Writing Guidelines
Spellcheck, Damn You!: Your word processor does this. You have no
excuse to submit a proposal with spelling errors. Even if youıre a
brain-dead, flesh-eating, feces-flinging howler monkey, all you have to do
is click a little button and 60 percent of your moronism will disappear.
Action!: Many writers have a tendency to slip into the future
perfect tense and passive voice. The Storyteller games are as much about
proactivity as reactivity, and writing should reflect this. Consider:
* The hapless serf was slaughtered by the frenzied vampire.
* The frenzied vampire slaughtered the hapless serf.
Note the inherent sense of action in the second sentence -- itıs actually
happening (even in past tense) as we speak, by simply making the subject
active instead of passive.
* The characters will discover the slumbering Methuselah.
* The characters discover the slumbering Methuselah.
Note that "will" in the first sentence implies that the characters may get
around to it eventually, whereas it definitely happens in the second
sentence. Keep this dynamic of dynamics in mind, please!
Verb Tense: Present. Things happen now! Use the present tense to
indicate that the things youıre talking about are going on as we speak.
Only use past tense if you are discussing something that did indeed happen
in the past. For example:
* The playersı characters stumble upon the lair of Assamite ghouls.
* A group of rogue Assamites established a fanatical ghoul cult in 1973.
Words I Hate: Donıt use any of these words unless theyıre the best
choice for the job: Utilize, Moist, Zesty, Tangy, Facilitate, Basically
(and its ugly sister, Essentially) and Incredible. Also avoid "junk" words
-- the ones you use to make yourself seem smarter. I donıt care how smart
you are, I just want to read something without being patronized. Some of
those above words are junk words, for example.
Bad Phrasing: Avoid it. Things donıt "begin to" happen unless
theyıre interrupted. ("It was then the Tremere began to take action
against the Tzimisce" implies that they never finished. "The Tremere began
to take action against the Tzimisce, but faced opposition from Ventrue
Eastern Lords that ended their campaign" works just fine.) Be wary of
subjective prepositions, too; within, upon and the like are treacherous
and rarely appropriate.
There Is and There Are: Not only are these often used incorrectly,
they're passive as all hell. "There is" means, "In that locations
exists" which generally isn't what you're trying to say when you use this
construction.
Here; I'll show you.
* "There is my car," is fine, if passive-voiced.
* "There is a school of thought that suggest vampires are the children
of Lilith, not Caine," is a damn mess. Where is this school? "There
is" suggests it has actually, physically been constructed somewhere.
And it's still passive, even if you're talking about a literal school,
which you're not. See what I mean? Just say no to there is.
-- [Justin R. Achilli] [Vampire: The Masquerade Developer]
[jachilli@white-wolf.com]
"That boy has an earring in his eye." -- A kid at Kroger