Camarilla Game ~ Ten Pointers On Avoiding A Bad Character Background. Camarilla Game ~ Ten Pointers On Avoiding A Bad Character Background.Okay, you thought you had a fantastic idea for your characters background and the ST has just said that they aren't acceptable due to them being ’Out of balance“ with the rest of the troupe, being open to the introduction of meta-gaming or are just plain bad! Is there anyway that you could have avoided this? The answer is yes! Just follow our easy guide to avoiding the ten things that are most likely to put a stop the ST approving your perfect character background.
I was a Teenage Werewolf...
Or Mage. Or Changeling. Or Loch Ness Monster. All will most likely garner the same answer; no. Despite recent media trends, multi species love-fests are an absolute no-no and all participants and offspring will be hunted to extinction by all parties involved. Having a (minor) run in with another supernatural is fine, being raised by them is not as this will become a meta-game issue.
Well, he was a Lasombra Ghoul before he was embraced by the Tremere...
So why can't I have Obtenebration and Thaumaturgy during Character Creation? An extension of the ’Teenage Werewolf“ syndrome, a background that has characters shuffled from Clan to Clan just as a means of picking up Disciplines isn't going to impress anyone. Similarly, requests for weird and wonderful (and more importantly made-up) bloodlines just to get an unusual Discipline mix are easy to spot and will be treated the same. Stick to the seven main clans for characters, there are plenty of opportunities within them. Leave the weirder ones for the ST to introduce on special occasions.
There I was, having tea with Mussolini...
It can be fun to name drop, but try to keep real people out of the game as it can cause all sorts of legal headaches for us as a society. From an in-game perspective it can also raise other issues; Kindred are by their very nature secret and solitary creatures, why would anyone choose to Embrace someone who had so many famous friends and is so well known?
Bund, James Bund...
Similarly, don't base your Character on an established fictional persona - more often than not the comparison will not be kind and it will become a stone around the neck of your Character. Once again, it raises all kinds of legal issues for us as a society and is better avoided.
But without my sword I'm nothing...
Don't write a character based solely around a single item (which nine times out of ten will be a Katana)); weapon fetishism is not the focus of the game and you're going to be at a lost the first time someone bigger and uglier takes it off you. Similarly, avoid concepts that focus on you having a single power, such characters will have a very short shelf life and you'll be bored and looking to create a new Character in months.
The Equipment List.
A classic of bad character backgrounds, The Equipment List is just that - a list of the equipment a character carries, with little or no explanation as to how it was got, nor of the Character! Dungeon crawls are rare in the Vampire universe and it is now possible to leave home without your ten-foot of rope and iron rations...
The Enigma.
Everything about him is a mystery, not because he's all mysterious, but because there is no background. Whilst it can be fun to have mysteries in your past, if there isn't anything for other Players to find out about you or interact with they will quickly loose interest in you leading you to feel ostracised from the game. Make sure there is something about you that will spark interest in others.
And he rode into town on a horse with no name...
An extension of The Enigma, but one taken to its maximum illogical conclusion, No Name is a character that is designed not to interact with other players but to try to do everything themselves. Remember that Vampire is a game of social interaction - creating a character that is designed not to interact is counter intuitive.
Where Eagles Dare...
Military backgrounds are fine for some characters, but when it comes to being involved in Special Forces the answer is most likely to be no. Special Forces are special for a reason; their skill set is far beyond the reach of a starting character and they possess far too much of a threat for the average Kindred to even begin to think of embracing one. Military backgrounds are fine, just avoid the Special Forces.
And the number one background that is most likely to result in a gnashing of teeth...
You and Chuck Van Damme both...
For some reason the words character background and ninja go together like coffee and cream for some people. Sure, in some games having a past as a black-clad assassin may work, but for the most part they are simply to far off the focus of the game to be feasible. Remember, these games are focussed upon a distinctly western milieu, one in which the ninja has little impact and will be distinctly out of place. Ninja also suffer from the same problem as Special Forces backgrounds, albeit multiplied five fold; the skill set of your average ninja (such that they exist) is far beyond that of even well established characters.
