ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230155
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
The world of "Vampire: The Masquerade" is a complicated place, mixing blood, intrigue, mythology and nefarious plots and turf wars into a final product that's almost Shakespearean.
According to the local version of the game, which takes place in modern-day Roanoke, everything began about 180 years ago, when three vampires moved into Big Lick. (An appropriate place for vampires, if you think about it.)
The vampires forged an uneasy truce with the werewolves who live on Mill Mountain (werewolves hate vampires) and pledged that they would be the only three vampires in Roanoke.
"As you can see, that didn't quite happen," said Mike Boaz, the game's local storyteller.
Now there are seven clans of vampires in Roanoke, encompassing everything from bohemian art-lovers to yuppies to scuzzy punk types. Their leader is a vampire prince who tries to keep them all in check.
There are also police, FBI agents, vampire hunters, and the insidiously evil Pentex Corp. (Motto: "Pentex: Your Only Future"), which bio-engineers mutant vampire killers - basically walking time bombs with acid for blood.
Jeremy Mason, a 19-year-old host and server at the Olive Garden, plays Ament, Roanoke's vampire prince. He's become concerned with newer players who he thinks don't understand the intricacies of the masquerade.
"This game is not a hack-and-slash game. It's a strategy game, it's a political game," he said. "My character, being the prince, is involved in treaties and disputes. There's a type of civilized hierarchy here."
Sometimes, using their preternatural powers, the vampires spy on each other to get a leg up on the competition. For instance, one player may cross her arms to symbolize that she is invisible, but another player may cup his ear to indicate that he is tracking her footsteps with enhanced hearing.
At a recent dinner at a Chinese restaurant - vampires eat to keep up the pretense of being human - the conniving and plotting was as thick as the sweet-and-sour sauce.
"Everybody's conspiring against me for all kinds of reasons," Mason said, a Marlboro cigarette pursed between his lipsticked lips. "I only know of certain ones in-character, and I know of more out-of-character. But being fair to the game, what I know out-of-character, I won't reveal in-character."
And the prince himself is involved in a few plots, too, apparently. The justicar, or judge of the vampires, recently traveled to Roanoke in the game to check out the prince and straighten out some problems.
Among other things, the justicar heard that the prince was using his minions to sell street drugs laced with his own blood. That way, whoever injected the drugs would be blood-bound to the prince and forced to do his bidding.
To get the heat off himself, and ingratiate himself to the justicar, the prince revealed that he had uncovered a plot against the justicar's life by pretending to be part of it.
Later, in a mass meeting of the vampire assembly, the prince confronted the plotters, only to be told that they had thought the prince was plotting against the justicar and they had sent a letter to the justicar warning him of it.
So, as it turned out, no one was plotting against the justicar, after all. They were just trying to stab each other in the back.
"This is what makes it fun - trying to figure out everybody's moves," said John Rose, 22, a bookstore clerk from Blacksburg who played the justicar.
"It's like the ultimate game of chess," Rose said. "It's chess with a poker face."
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB