Camarilla Game ~ Masquerade 101. Camarilla Game ~ Masquerade 101.The preservation of the Masquerade is one of the central concepts of the Camarilla Game, without it Kindred society would be blown apart for all to see. However, in the heat of the moment it can easily be forgotten about in a rush to deal with the situation, creating headaches for all those Characters that try to preserve it at all costs and landing you with a potentially massive bill in Boons (including Life Boons if you've been very naughty) or even worse, dead!
And you don't want that to happen.
So how do you go about maintaining The Masquerade? Well, just bear in mind the following when out on the streets.
In General.
- Do not draw attention to your activities. The more attention is drawn to you, the more people will notice if you do something out of the ordinary.
- Do not rely on your supernatural abilities to cover up any breaches to The Masquerade.
- If there is no reason for you to be carrying a weapon - do not carry one! Nothing gets peoples attention faster than the sound of a gun shot and silencers do not work as effectively as Hollywood has told us.
- No, really, don't carry any weapons, have them in your car or anything if there is even a remote possibility that you will have a run in with the authorities.
- Remember that the human body is a fragile thing, and even though you may not be, remember that you are trying to appear to be human. As a rule of thumb, if someone is shot they go down; they do not bounce back at their aggressors.
The Public.
- Remember that the public are interested in unusual events and whilst you may think only those immediately involved are your witnesses, there may be others watching outside you immediate vicinity. Do not think that you have dealt with the situation by taking out the immediate witnesses, others will probably have seen.
- If you are acting suspiciously or being blatantly criminal and are seen, someone will call the police. The severity of your action will determine how long it takes them to respond, especially if you are putting lives at risk.
- If you threaten someone, they will take all the steps they can to protect themselves - including drawing the attention of others.
The Media.
- The media are paid to snoop into what you are doing. If they believe that there is a potential story, they will pursue it. The more suspiciously you act, the more interested they will be.
- If you do anything criminal, they will call the police. They will then stay to take photos until the police arrive.
- Death sells; the media will go out of its way to get footage of the police in action, especially if Armed Response are involved. If the footage is especially exciting it may even be broadcast live, are you sure that you can Dominate that many people into forgetting what you've done?
The Police.
- The first thing to realise is that the police are trained to look for suspicious activity. If you-re hanging around locations you shouldn't be or are being aggressive to others, they will come over to see what's happening. Therefore, don't draw attention to yourself and avoid contact with the police.
- If you do attract the attention of the police, be polite and answer their questions. If you get aggressive they will call for back-up and you will be arrested. If you draw a weapon an Armed Response Unit will be called and you will be at the centre of a major incident. The media will also turn up at this point.
- Don't try to affect how the police will react to you unless you can affect all attending officers at the same time. If one of their colleagues starts to act suspiciously (say for example, not arresting you despite the carrying a knife dripping with blood), the others will notice. Don't further confuse the situation.
- Do not try to pass yourself of as a plains clothes police officer as an explanation for your actions. They will check your story.
- If you are arrested, go quietly! Remember it is often easier to be rescued from a police cell than a fire‘fight. Everyone gets their one call, use it wisely!
Armed Response.
- The police are charged to protect people and property. Note that people comes first. If you act in a manner that puts others (or the police officer) in danger, they will use force to pacify the situation - including lethal force. Despite what Hollywood has taught us Armed Response Officers are taught to put down a target, not to shoot weapons out of their hands or knee-cap them. They will continue to fire until you hit the ground.
- Remember, people before property. If you drive towards an Armed Officer at speed they will either incapacitate the vehicle if they have the right equipment, or shoot the driver. They will then ask you to exit the vehicle with your hands up. Even unmarked police cars conform to standards, and officers will be trained to identify them. They are for the most part conservative in appearance and will certainly not be flashy sports cars, low slung modified Japanese imports or American classics.
- Armed Officers will restrain everybody excluding children at the scene until the situation is bought under their control. Remember, criminals do not have handy name tags identifying them as such and the police will be naturally cautious in these situations. No matter how loudly you protest about your rights they will not deviate from this and the courts will stand by their actions.
- If you return fire, more officers will be called. More officers means more trouble and reduces the chance that you will survive.
Help, I've been shot.
- Hit the ground.
- Stay there.
- Remember, only so much can be explained by PCP.
- Wait to be rescued by others, incidents that Armed Response have been called to will hit the media very quickly.
Hopefully by following these handy hints you'll be able to avoid any unnecessary explanations to the Prince about why you broke The Masquerade and in doing so, save yourself a lot of trouble.
