The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Body Count (live action role playing event) at Intercon XII. Reviewed by Terilee Edwards-Hewitt

One could tell by the flyer that Body Count was not a run-of-the-mill Vampire game. It seems odd that a gamemaster would feel the need to remind players that a vampire game would be a "game of dark character roleplaying." After all, aren't vampires inherently dark? How else would you describe characters who need to drink the blood of the living, sometimes killing innocent people? The premise of the game was intriguing. The Gangster Brujah Prince had ruled the island of Ile St. Vincent for a hundred years. In the past, food, in the form of tourists to the resort island and patients and staff of the sanatorium and medical facility, had been plentiful. But the resort had long since closed and the medical facility was closing. Those undead who could be accepted by the outside vampire community had also left. The ones left were the equivalent of the denizens of the island of the misfit toys. The prince had called a meeting of all those left in order to decide how the few! remaining resources would be used and discuss "culling."

Also making this game unusual for a World of Darkness vampire game was that characters were pre-generated by the gamemasters, and not existing characters brought in by the players. Background material, including a history of the world from a mortal and a vampire point of view and a description those who lived on the island, was distributed prior to the convention, as was background information about the vampires and clans in the White Wolf system. The character sheet I received in advance was thorough. I received an updated character sheet with some additional information at the convention. The only problem was that my character did not contain the name of all my "childer," nor did it have any information about the newest members of my "family" other than that they existed and were in the game. Luckily, the gamemaster was available to answer questions prior to the start of the game.

I had the interesting character of a rather twisted Toreador, who was turned in the 17th century, and whose "art" was creating and destroying her childer. She was, however, good friends with the Prince. I was pleased to have a number of excellent role players who portrayed my childer. In order to help express the state of our decadence, I and my childer tended to drape ourselves other each other with great frequency. An example of this is on the cover of the May 1997 issue of Metagame. However, I do want to let others know that the players did quickly confer with each other to decide that we were comfortable with some physical contact each other (placing arms around each other's shoulders, playing with someone's hair). I can not stress this enough -- it is always important to check with the other players before doing this sort of behavior! Be tolerant of other people's personal space. (I will also point out that I knew one of the players portraying my childer fairly we! ll, and I had met the other two previously at live action role playing events).

How was the game? I don't want to give away more of the plots, in case those reading this have a chance to play this interesting game. I will say however, it was an unusual experience. Because the setting of the game was an Elysium (a place where everybody is either a vampire or "in the know" about the existence of vampires) there was, in fact, a rather high number of dead- undead corpses at the end of the game. Body Count is primarily a roleplaying event. The point of the game is to be those characters in that particular situation. It is not a nice situation. The characters are not nice people. This is a vampire game in one of its darkest forms. I enjoyed the game a lot. If you like angst and games that are primarily character interaction, you will probably enjoy this game. No previous knowledge of the White Wolf universe or Mind's Eye Theatre system is required to play the game. While there are no immediate plans to run Body Count again at this time, it may be ! re-run at a future point. Because player interaction and reaction were an important aspect of the game, each running could be very different.

Body Count was written and produced by Gordon and Stephanie Olmstead-Dean. It was run at Intercon XII, on Friday March 21, 1997 from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Body Count
Author: Gordon & Stephanie Olmstead-Dean Category: live action role playing game Company/Publisher: Intercon XII Reviewed by Terilee Edwards-Hewitt on 06/22/97. Genre tags: none	Body Count (live action role playing event) at Intercon XII. Reviewed by Terilee Edwards-Hewitt One could tell by the flyer that Body Count was not a run-of-the-mill Vampire game. It seems odd that a gamemaster would feel the need to remind players that a vampire game would be a "game of dark character roleplaying." After all, aren't vampires inherently dark? How else would you describe characters who need to drink the blood of the living, sometimes killing innocent people? The premise of the game was intriguing. The Gangster Brujah Prince had ruled the island of Ile St. Vincent for a hundred years. In the past, food, in the form of tourists to the resort island and patients and staff of the sanatorium and medical facility, had been plentiful. But the resort had long since closed and the medical facility was closing. Those undead who could be accepted by the outside vampire community had also left. The ones left were the equivalent of the denizens of the island of the misfit toys. The prince had called a meeting of all those left in order to decide how the few! remaining resources would be used and discuss "culling." Also making this game unusual for a World of Darkness vampire game was that characters were pre-generated by the gamemasters, and not existing characters brought in by the players. Background material, including a history of the world from a mortal and a vampire point of view and a description those who lived on the island, was distributed prior to the convention, as was background information about the vampires and clans in the White Wolf system. The character sheet I received in advance was thorough. I received an updated character sheet with some additional information at the convention. The only problem was that my character did not contain the name of all my "childer," nor did it have any information about the newest members of my "family" other than that they existed and were in the game. Luckily, the gamemaster was available to answer questions prior to the start of the game. I had the interesting character of a rather twisted Toreador, who was turned in the 17th century, and whose "art" was creating and destroying her childer. She was, however, good friends with the Prince. I was pleased to have a number of excellent role players who portrayed my childer. In order to help express the state of our decadence, I and my childer tended to drape ourselves other each other with great frequency. An example of this is on the cover of the May 1997 issue of Metagame. However, I do want to let others know that the players did quickly confer with each other to decide that we were comfortable with some physical contact each other (placing arms around each other's shoulders, playing with someone's hair). I can not stress this enough -- it is always important to check with the other players before doing this sort of behavior! Be tolerant of other people's personal space. (I will also point out that I knew one of the players portraying my childer fairly we! ll, and I had met the other two previously at live action role playing events). How was the game? I don't want to give away more of the plots, in case those reading this have a chance to play this interesting game. I will say however, it was an unusual experience. Because the setting of the game was an Elysium (a place where everybody is either a vampire or "in the know" about the existence of vampires) there was, in fact, a rather high number of dead- undead corpses at the end of the game. Body Count is primarily a roleplaying event. The point of the game is to be those characters in that particular situation. It is not a nice situation. The characters are not nice people. This is a vampire game in one of its darkest forms. I enjoyed the game a lot. If you like angst and games that are primarily character interaction, you will probably enjoy this game. No previous knowledge of the White Wolf universe or Mind's Eye Theatre system is required to play the game. While there are no immediate plans to run Body Count again at this time, it may be ! re-run at a future point. Because player interaction and reaction were an important aspect of the game, each running could be very different. Body Count was written and produced by Gordon and Stephanie Olmstead-Dean. It was run at Intercon XII, on Friday March 21, 1997 from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)