Stupid LARP Tricks for Playing: Brujah

WARNING Many of these techniques require practice. But as Live- Action is one of the last refuges of amateur actors who never had the guts to try to keep going professionally, I don't think it'll be a problem for you. For the rest of you...well...just trust me. These things will work a lot better if you practice them in advance.

1. Shaking with rage.

There is an art to shaking with rage. If you do it right, people will get a very strong impression. If you do it wrong, it looks like an epileptic fit, and you set off the Malkavians. The trick to getting very angry is to do an internal rant. Rant viciously at a person or a situation in your mind, but do _not_ say anything. It's hard, after a while, and after a longer while, you'll be one pissed-off dude.

A simple and related trick is to, wherever your hand happens to be, clench your fist hard. Harder. Hold it as long as you can. A really disturbing trick is to palm a blood pill before you do this and let it drip out. (Be aware of where you are standing! You don't want to have to help clean a carpet afterwards.)

2. Shouting.

Anyone can scream. Anyone can yell. Anyone can shriek, but the Malkavians do it best, so don't bother. But there is nothing more frightening to people who know what it means than a Brujah in the midst of a shouting fit.

Shouting effectively means choosing when to shout and which words to emphasize. Suffice to say that shouting all the time will not endear you to anyone, and eventually people will stop listening to you. However, there are some times when it is unavoidable. You have the right to be loud---so be loud, already! If someone deserves it, yell your head off at them. Don't hold back for fear of offending them or embarassing them. So what? What are they going to do?

3. The rant.

The Brujah are the acknowledged masters of the rant. The Malkavians do it just as much, and probably just as well, but the Brujah have the advantage (?) of having the option of making sense. Nobody else even comes close.

Rants are things which are crafted. It's hard to start writing rants. (But once you start, it's hard to stop.) Ranting involves keeping your thoughts on a single subject, and skewering that subject from as many angles as possible, with as many different points as possible regarding that subject.

You can rant to humiliate: list the bad traits and idiotic actions of a person. You can rant to persuade: make fun of an action or an idea. Point out all its subtle and not-so-subtle flaws in a very loud voice. You can rant to inform: describe an event or an idea in a way that will stick in your audience's minds. You can rant just for fun: Go wild.

4. Individuality. _Don't_ let people label you. Don't even let people label you as a Brujah. If people ask you what clan you're from, say "What difference does it make?" or "Who cares? I didn't ask you." or something more polite, if you want. Let them figure it out for themselves.

The flip side of this is not labeling other people. You need to decide whether your character is as generous with other's individuality as they are with themselves. Do you react to people as individuals, or are you stuck with the "Tremere patsy""Ventrue idiot""Malkavian loon" sterotypes?