Note: Recently we ran a couple of articles under the "Game Master's Workshop" banner. This was a no-no, since Jolly Blackburn took that designation with him when he went solo a year ago. Sorry, Jolly.

A few of our Wednesday night roleplaying regulars hadn't been able to make it for a couple of weeks, so when the remainder of us got an invitation to come play in a live-action game one Wednesday, we decided to give it a try. The parameters we got were that it was an ongoing Vampire campaign, and that we would be NPCs and extras.

Now, I hadn't played Vampire, but since it's on the short list of really important role-playing games out there, I was familiar enough with it to be willing to wing it. I whipped up a couple character possibilities in advance, so the GM would be able to give me something to do.

The first snag was the compatriots who had invited us. They were delayed getting to the rendezvous, and since they were the ones who knew where the game was being held, we ended up being about ninety minutes late. This meant, of course, that the game was already well under way when we arrived, so we didn't get any background to speak of and had to pick things up in the middle.

The second snag was the middle in question. Our contact hadn't informed us that this was a special event, and although the game was Vampire, it was - One Night Only! - crossing over with Wraith. That's right; we were going to be dead for an evening. Like my two Wednesday night friends, I'd looked through Wraith when it had first come out a couple years earlier, gone "Huh. Roleplaying dead folks. Whatever," and not thought about the game since. Since I was an hour from home and had nothing else scheduled that evening, I was game to play a dead guy, but I had to wing it on my hazy recollections of the setting.

As might be expected, the evening was less than a total success. I trailed around with the other members of my dead-guy faction for a couple of hours, and then we adjourned. Now, I've been roleplaying for a long time, and I know these things happen sometimes, so I'm not permanently soured on LARP. Nevertheless, it was not an auspicious introduction.

Doing It Right