Atlanta vampires role playing game

 

With Twilight stealing the hearts of countless readers and viewers across the country one would assume that a spike in vampire interest in the Atlanta area would have occurred as well. That is certainly what the members of the Atlanta Interactive Theatre (AIT) should be looking forward to. The Atlanta Arts Exchange provides a venue for this vampire Live Action Role Play (LARP) based on White Wolf’s World of Darkness 2nd Edition. The setting of White Wolf’s vampire world is the late 20th century. In the specific Atlanta chapter, our city faces more population, crime and vampires. In order to be a mighty hero, or dastardly villain, players must first create then embrace their characters before jumping into the fray.
LARP differs from normal role playing in the sense that instead of a player stating what he would like his character to do, he simply performs the action based on his character’s abilities. For AIT, the player with the best performance gets the best experience points, thus raising him to higher levels. The near present setting offers up a host of character options for players to choose from. Mob bosses, police officers, seedy business men and many more choices are available to suit each person’s preference. Characters are guided and ruled upon by storytellers who are veterans of the game. Storytellers help keep the plot on track and the night from dropping off into chaos. With the help of these elders, even complete newbies can join in on the fun with knowledgeable guides there to keep them on the right path.

Joining AIT is simple. Participants are required to create a character and show up for ‘new player orientation’ one hour before each gathering is to begin. The cost per gathering is $7 and costumes are seriously encouraged. For further information about Atlanta Interactive Theatre please visit their website at http://www.atlantavampire.com/. This page offers a list of future events and an overview of the game itself.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.