Fangs Gallery: A Nordic Vampire the Masquerade One-Shot Larp

You are the Main Character of Your Story. Every character—whether vampire, ghoul, or mortal—has relationships that matter to them and goals they are pursuing. There are no throwaway characters, and being cast as a low-powered character doesn't mean you'll have less to do in game.

Power Level: Roughly one third of characters are mortal, one third are ghouls or thin-bloods, and one third are full-blooded vampires. The oldest vampire in play is about 120, and most are much younger.

Themes & Tone: Fangs Gallery is a game about outsiders building their own place in society, and those who (literally and metaphorically) feed off their success and burgeoning community. It was inspired by Andy Warhol's Factory, a gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.

The player characters are a collective of dramatic artists, and their relationships are messy. Powers and vampire politics take a backseat.

This game is, like, super gay. Like Warhol's Factory, Fangs Gallery is a haven for queer and trans artists and performers. Most characters can be played as any gender, and queer relationships are built into the setting. Players should be comfortable being in a space where queer relationships and identities are centered.

Workshops & Calibration: The ticketed time includes a brief workshop. You'll also have time to meet your fellow players, discuss character dynamics, and discuss what you want from your game.

Play to Lift: Larp is a collaborative, and we're all here to tell a story together. Play to lift means actively creating moments that highlight and support your fellow players. Whether it’s drawing someone into your character’s drama, setting up a compelling conflict, or giving them the perfect opportunity to shine, lifting each other up makes for a richer game.

Immersion: Nordic larps value immersion, or staying in character, during the game. You can still drop out of character to discuss your game and plans with other players, but the mechanics are as unobtrusive as possible.

For use the out-of-character space to check your phone or have out-of-character conversations.

“Really, really”: The words “really, really” tell the target that a Discipline power is being used so they know to react appropriately. The purpose of the mechanic is to make powers as unobtrusive as possible. While this won’t work for all vampire powers, it will allow some of the more common powers to be used without breaking character.

Sex, blood, and intimate moments: This game uses chocolate to represent intimate moments, including sex and feeding. You can be as public or private as you want with your deviant chocolate eating.

The Door is Always Open: You're always free to leave the game for any reason, no explanation needed. If possible, we appreciate a quick heads-up.

Out of Character Space: There will be a space designated as out of character. Feel free to utilize this space if you need to step away from game to check your phone, have a snack, or take a break.

Content Warnings: Fangs Gallery is a vampire game, and vampires really suck. Their relationships are inherantly unbalanced and parasitic.

This game has a massive content warning for coercive relationships, many of which are supernaturally reinforced by Disciplines or the blood bond. You can opt out of some of this, such as being subject to the blood bond, but you should be aware that real shitty power imbalances permeate this game. 

Other potential triggers: drug use and abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide, death of a loved one, loss of autonomy, religious trauma, mental illness, aging, abandonment, cults

Let us know on your survey if there's content you would like to avoid directly interacting with. Feel free to get specific. For example, if you're comfortable with vampiric mind control but not roleplaying more mundane toxic power dynamics, let us know.

Doors open: 4pm
When you arrive, please check in with a GM downstairs. You'll get a name badge, player packet, and a physical copy of your characer sheet.

Feel free to arrive early to get into costume, read over your character sheet, or ask questions.

Please arrive no later than 5:45.

Workshop: 6pm-7:15pm
This game will include a one hour workshop before we begin the game.

We'll cover safety mechanics as well as general game mechanics. We'll also have a few organized exercises to get into character and meet the other players.

Break: 7:15pm-7:30pm
A brief break before the game begins to put the finishing touches on your costume, take pictures, or eat a snack before the game starts.

Game: 7:30-11:00ish
Fangs Gallery runs approximately 3.5 hours. Game start and end will be announced so everyone is on the same page.

After Game: The play space will remain open for about an hour after the game to allow players to talk and get to know each other out of character.

Accessibility & Playspace: Fangs Gallery will utilize both floors at Goblin Market. Stairs are required to reach the bottom level, and we unfortunately do not have an elevator.

There is one ADA accessible bathroom upstairs and a second bathroom downstairs off the out of character space.

Parking & Transit: Goblin Market is located at 2868 N Lincoln Ave in the Lakeview Neighborhood of Chicago.

There is metered parking to our East on Lincoln and free parking to our west on Lakewood.

We are a 0.4 mile walk from the Diversey Brown line stop and 0.8 miles from the Belmont Red/Brown/Purple line.

It’s Ronald Reagan’s first year as president, and trickledown economics should kick in any day now. Jane Byrne is Mayor, Hill Street Blues is on TV, and the Wrigley family just sold the Cubs. Everyone you know says they were at Disco Demolition Night. Everyone you know is a liar.

Movies made it possible to see into other lives, and television brought those lives your homes. Now camcorders and VCRs are becoming affordable, so anyone with enough cash for a camcorder can shoot a video. It's now easier than ever to document your life and community. Avant garde and underground films with queer actors and characters circulated even outside big cities, and they could be safely viewed in homes. 

Now we just hope nobody uses those cameras to film a vampire. That would be a Masquerade breach, and the Camarilla hates those.

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 Prince, and 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. The Sabbat only appear in backstory allusions and as boogeymen.

What's in the game: Toreador, Brujah, and thin-bloods. A couple Malkavians. 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, 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 huge nerds: 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 Sheriff Norris Kleinspiegel.

Fangs Gallery was written and produced by Ryvre von Doom and Daniel of Goblin Market.

Send any questions about logistics or character assignments to dzi@goblinmkt.com. The best way to ask Ryvre lore/game questions is the Goblin Market Discord.

Daniel gets the questions that require executive function to answer. Ryvre gets the questions that need the entire game and WoD lore crammed into one brain.