The World of Darkness
The World of Darkness is a modern gothic-punk setting where vampires hide among humanity. Vampires tend to cluster in large cities for safety from bigger bads, ease of feeding, and—perhaps most importantly—community with others like them.
Vampires try to keep their existence secret from mortals, but they need mortals for food and companionship. By 1981, there were hundreds of movies and books about vampires, though most of them get it wrong. Every character in this game, including mortals, know that vampires exist. Many have a vampire friend or lover, or they hope to find one tonight!
The World of Darkness and this game contain mature themes. We encourage you to look over the content warnings.
If you’re new to the World of Darkness, don’t worry about memorizing the whole setting. The details that are important to this game are listed in our setting guide, and you’re welcome to focus on the details that matter to your character.
The Camarilla
All Camarilla Are Bastards: Most Fangs vampires are culturally Camarilla, but they don't really practice. The more respectable among you have probably met the Matriarch, but only a very small number of characters are deeply invested in Camarilla politics.
For less connected vampires and thin-bloods, the Camarilla represents a looming threat of violence. The Camarilla claims to govern all vampires, but they can murder you for violating any of their archaic rules.
A couple characters are Anarch aligned, but more are disillusioned Camarilla vampires. Sabbat affiliations are very rare in this game.
What's in the game: Toreador, Brujah, and thin-bloods. A couple Malkavians. There’s a mix of other clans, but there aren't a lot of full-blooded vampires in the game.
So many prophecies! Gehenna may or may not be nigh, and the thin-bloods are probably to blame.
What's not in the game: Werewolves, mages, fae, and other supernatural creatures exist in the World of Darkness, but they aren't actively present in the game. Nobody is a playing a hunter, though some unbound ghouls veer uncomfortably close.
Setting notes for Vampire aficionados: The Matriarch, Jaqueline Edens, is in power. (We're plucking some characters out of Requiem. Because fuck Lodin. He's no Prince of mine.) She's notoriously lax about the traditions, hence all the thin-bloods and other riff raff. Nobody truly important in vampire politics comes to Fangs Gallery, but one regular is the childe of the Regent of the Masquerade, Norris Kleinspiegel.
The Masquerade
Nobody wants to get murdered by a bunch of unruly peasants, but that’s what happens when mortals find out about vampires. The Camarilla enforces the Masquerade, a campaign meant to convince humans that vampires do not exist. Masquerade breaches—anything that can make mortals aware of vampires—can bring vampire hunters and other dangers.
In the Camarilla, Masquerade breaches are punished, often brutally. Exactly what constitutes a Masquerade breach is up to the Prince of whatever city you’re in. If the Prince doesn’t shut down Masquerade breaches, older scarier vampires will step in.
Chicago’s Regent of the Masquerade is a squirrely little Ventrue named Norris Kleinspeigel. Norris is responsible for investigating and punishing breaches of the Masquerade. Norris has eyes everywhere. He knows every secret worth knowing, every breach that got quietly cleaned up, every fledgling who shouldn’t exist but somehow does. Norris wouldn’t deign to set foot in Fangs Gallery, but his childe is a regular.
The vampires of Fangs Gallery have been brazen about flouting the Masquerade, but always with plausible deniability. Their art often features vampires, but dozens of would-be directors are working on vampire movies at any given time. One of the founders of the collective claims to be a vampire, but they’re certain nobody would ever believe it—David Bowie claims to be an alien, after all! So far, they haven’t experienced any consequences for their near-breaches.
Thin-Bloods
Each generation of vampires is weaker than the last. Thin-blooded vampires struggle to use the vampiric disciplines that come easily to other vampires. They suffer damage much more easily, and they don’t heal as quickly as a full-blooded vampire. Thin-bloods also have some advantages over their more powerful brethren—they can pass as mortal more easily, and they are less affected by sunlight.
Thin-bloods are generally dismissed or even persecuted in Vampire society. It’s difficult for them to gain standing in Camarilla cities. They can be offered boons, but it’s unlikely that anyone would step in if a full-blooded vampire reneged on a boon.
Prophecies say that thin-bloods are a sign of the Vampire end times, so they’re not exactly well liked. In the Book of Nod and other half-whispered apocrypha, their arrival marks the Final Nights when the Antediluvians rise and devour their children. In some cities, thin-blooded vampires are destroyed by paranoid elders hoping to stave off the vampire apocalypse. The Princes of those cities might even appoint a Scourge who is empowered to hunt down and destroy thin-bloods and unrecognized vampires. Thank Caine that the Matriarch doesn’t seem to care about thin-bloods at all!
In Chicago, thin-bloods are mostly left to fend for themselves. Without protection from more powerful vampires, most don’t live long enough to enjoy their immortality. The city is divided up into domains, and feeding in the wrong place can be a death sentence, but it’s not like the Camarilla gives out a handy map. Thin-bloods can’t rely on the vampiric powers that more powerful vampires wield, so they’re easy prey for wannabe Van Helsings. They can try to leave the city, but it’s rumored that even more dangerous creatures live outside the city limits.
If a thin-blood disappears, nobody important gives it much thought. Thin-bloods are destroyed or move on all the time, and they aren’t really part of vampire society anyway. There has been rumors that someone is hunting thin-bloods in the area near Fangs Gallery, but nobody in a position of authority seems interested in hearing about it.
More Info
Whoa, can I have way more info about vampires in this setting?: You betcha! You’ll find more info about the clans, blood bond, thin-blooded vampires, and more in our setting guide.