Stuck with Vampire: The Masquerade

**Scarey Nerd** · 2012-01-31, 12:50 PM (ISO 8601)

Well osh gosh bagosh, exams are over and I can break out my dice once more

My usual Storyteller has told us that these last few weeks he's been writing a scenario set in late 2001, England, and he hoped that we'd be willing to play it, which of course we are. We're all going to be the same clan, and he's going to make our character sheets for us according to the backgrounds we write. Thing is, he hasn't said what clan we're going to be, so I have no real clue on how to start writing a background for a Vampire when I don't have much of an idea as to how I'll need to play him. It's strange, but writing a character as just a person is difficult...

Do any of you fine ladies and gentlemen have any advice on how I should go about writing a character in this way? 'Cos I'm really stuck at the moment...

**Caliphbubba** · 2012-01-31, 12:57 PM (ISO 8601)

Any clan has use for any type of mortal at some point or another...So my first question to you would be: what kind of character do you want to play??

A physical combat person?
A manipulative puppet master?
A perceptive sleuth?
An occult Savant?
What?

I'd pick what you want your character to be good at, and write the background accordingly from there.

**STsinderman** · 2012-01-31, 01:20 PM (ISO 8601)

Another major consideration at this point is just how old you want your character to be as this opens up quite a few more background options. Opening up different time periods will allow you to make a much more interesting character, especially when you consider how you may not necessarily adapt very well to the new age of technology. Conversely you may have had a hand in many of the great breakthroughs.

**The Glyphstone** · 2012-01-31, 01:31 PM (ISO 8601)

This is just begging to write yourself in as a 5th Gen Elder with elder-level knowledge of every discipline and ungodly combat skills.

**Roland St. Jude** · 2012-01-31, 01:35 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

This is just begging to write yourself in as a 5th Gen Elder with elder-level knowledge of every discipline and ungodly combat skills.

Which is in turn begging for the DM to make you all Malkavians with delusions to match whatever you think your competencies are.

**Caliphbubba** · 2012-01-31, 01:52 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

This is just begging to write yourself in as a 5th Gen Elder with elder-level knowledge of every discipline and ungodly combat skills.

Originally Posted by Roland St. Jude

Which is in turn begging for the DM to make you all Malkavians with delusions to match whatever you think your competencies are.

Actually you could do both! sorta. A neonate that has eaten the soul of a greatly weaknened Elder a la Mithras... perhaps not on such a grand scale however.

It would be pretty interesting to see a cabal of high generation Tremere that performed "Nectar of the Bitter Rose" on a 7th or 8th gen of another clan and see what fragments of the soul passed on to which participant of the ritual.... I might have to run that game

**Scarey Nerd** · 2012-01-31, 02:00 PM (ISO 8601)

I get the feeling my storyteller would give me a sarcastic look and then smash a guitar on the ground or similar in response to me asking to be an Elder from the Renaissance...

**The Glyphstone** · 2012-01-31, 02:07 PM (ISO 8601)

Maybe if you 'start' with a Methuselah, and 'bargain down' to a 5th or 6th Gen elder?

**Scarey Nerd** · 2012-01-31, 02:16 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

Maybe if you 'start' with a Methuselah, and 'bargain down' to a 5th or 6th Gen elder?

Or I could try and play the character that my friend thought I was when my clan was a secret in our first ever V:TM game... Caine XD

**Civil War Man** · 2012-01-31, 03:31 PM (ISO 8601)

"I am Caine" is a valid backstory regardless of which clan the party is going to be in. Since he has max dots in every Discipline, he could be considered a member of every clan from a certain point of view.

Just hope the party's clan doesn't turn out to be Malkavian. That'd spoil the big reveal in the first session.

**STsinderman** · 2012-01-31, 07:35 PM (ISO 8601)

I suppose the "I am Caine" back story could work via a few different methods.

Caine is taking a break from having to be the be all and end all by slumming it with some neonates and exploring the new world that you have awoken into. Agree with the DM ahead of time to be "holding back " to fit in.
With Caines amazing level of dementation t is possible that he could wish to take some of the monotony away by having this exploration of the new world and reconnect to his progeny. Though his true self lies dormant, once the shell of himself he left behind is nearing a true death he will awaken once more.

**Scarey Nerd** · 2012-02-01, 01:40 PM (ISO 8601)

OK, I've decided on playing a down-and-out entrepeneur. He tried to start a business with a friend, after a few months his friend bailed on him because he thought the business wasn't working, he desperately tried to keep profits afloat but no cigar, until in an attempt to claim insurance fraudulently he burned his office block down. He was discovered and did a couple of years in prison. When he got out, he tried to get some business deals going any way he could, but was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, had no real prospects, and nothing was going right.
Then a very nice gentleman came along and offered him a deal. If he could prove his skills and his worthiness, he'd never be on hard times again. Sort of like a job interview, with the job being life eternal. He accepted.

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