Create your Rock Star Vampire

Get the Band Together

You can use the archetypes below as foundations on which to build your character. They can be combined to create different types of bands. We recommend choosing your archetype before you go through character creation, unless you already have an old character ready to go, as this helps you craft characters who are musicians first, vampires second.

The Icon

When you walk on stage, you become who you were always meant to be. You’ve got that rare thing others have to buy in Blood — star quality. When you capture a crowd, you’ve really got them. They look at you and think you are the music. Like a psychedelic divine spirit, you can make them feel, cry, shriek, float, and fall.

You could be the lead vocalist or guitarist, the face of the band, maybe even its namesake. But no matter what else you do, you’re the one who talks on stage. The others might have opinions about that, but what are they gonna do? The crowd wants you.

Down the road, you might struggle with a lack of inspiration, become cocksure that your talent is innate and prioritize the parties over practice, or worry that your bandmates are turning on you. The one who starts at the front doesn’t always stay there. But right now, the stars are calling you. They can tell you’re one of them.

Clan: The Ventrue, Brujah, and Toreador especially adore the spotlight.

Predator Type: You’ll have little trouble as a Consensualist, Osiris, Scene Queen, or Siren.

Traits: Prioritize Social Attributes and Skills, especially Charisma, Leadership, and Performance. Putting some dots into Presence might also come in handy if you’re feeling low when it’s time to goon stage. No one has to know if your charm doesn’t always come naturally.

Ambitions: There’s one major Ambition for the Icon — stardom. You should define what that means in specific terms. When will you know that you’ve made it? You’ll need the rest of the band to get there, so you’re in this together. At least until the offers to go solo start coming in.

Touchstones: Your Touchstones remind you of something pure or hopeful that was once at the center of your being: another musician, an ex you’re still on good terms with, or your old music teacher who still comes out to hear you play.

Convictions:

• The concert space is sacred and nothing may disturb it.
• Bringing joy into the world is always justified.
• You’ve earned the right to a second chance.

Desires: What you want in the moment often centers around what you think stardom should entail or what you think the next step is to getting there. It might be playing in a specific venue, a collaboration with a poet you admire, or getting the number of a stunner you spotted on the street and have now decided you’re going to marry. You can be quite romantic.

The Visionary

Pretentious as fuck, you’re probably heavily involved with songwriting. You could be an entirely self-taught genius, but more than likely, you were taught music theory at Juilliard, the Royal Academy, or Peabody. You’ve mastered several instruments. You know that you’re the real leader of the band, and you can get bossy trying to keep its machinery running smoothly. You might be the manager, producer, the sound mixer, the second vocalist, the keyboardist,none of those, or all of them at once.

Your problem is that sometimes you get depressed, questioning your own originality. You also get deep into ideas that, to the outside world, can look like complete nonsense but have the potential to turn into gold. Sometimes, it’s impossible for your bandmates to tell which it is until you emerge from your trailer with the outlines of a new album.

You have a substance abuse problem of some sort besides blood. That kind of comes with the business you’re in, but you’ve self-medicated since long before you were Embraced.

Clan: Your obsessive focus and dominant personality suits Toreador, Malkavian, and Tzimisce.

Predator Type: Probably preferring to get hunting over with as quickly and easily as possible, you might be an Alleycat or a Roadside Killer. The trouble is forcing your victims to ingest your drug of choice beforehand.

Traits: Intelligence fits as your main Attribute, but Resolve and Manipulation are useful, too. Don’t forget to put dots into Skills representing your education, and make sure to take the Addiction Flaw.

Ambitions: You want to create true art. In specific terms, that could mean releasing an album free of concessions made to demanding record company executives. It could also go deeper. Maybe your art is driven by a need to prove yourself to a sire who never believed in you.

Touchstones: Someone you don’t want the rest of the band to know you care for: a roadie, a critic, your Narcotics Anonymous sponsor, or a member of another band.

Convictions:

• Breaking people helps them grow.
• Genius must always be preserved.
• Pain is temporary while great art is forever.

Desires: Great short-term goals for this character are to get the other bandmates to do as they’re supposed to. But once in a while, you may also just want to make it through a few nights without giving in to your addiction.

The Rebel

You bring a punk edge to whatever you do, embodying raw energy and defiance. Your music skills are unrefined, but your stage presence is out of this world. When you aren’t challenging the heavens themselves in a solo, you spend your time on stage scouting out afterparty victims and hookups with smoldering glances. An irredeemable serial heartbreaker, you probably married someone in Vegas and forgot about it.

In your mind, you’re already halfway to the stardom you envision in your future. It’s pure rock ’n’ roll, sex, drugs, and blood all the way, and every night’s another celebration. Running through all that is a longing to be truly immortal in the way that matters: to be remembered forever. If you don’t have a bigger cause yet, you easily get swept up in one. You take unnecessary risks for glory even when it’s got nothing to do with your music. The band wouldn’t be the same without you — you never give up hope, and you’re not going to give up on them either.

Clan: Brujah or Ravnos would fit you well.

Predator Type: An obvious Siren, but you could also be an Osiris or a Scene Queen.

Traits: Mix Physical and Social Traits. You need Stamina as well as Performance to play the way you do. And someone so passionate easily gets into fights, so Brawl, Intimidation, or Persuasion should get some dots as well.

Ambitions: This should be something simple yet delicious. Seeing your face on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine? If you gain a cause, you can exchange it for something more principled, as long as it still aligns with the overall direction of the chronicle.

Touchstones: Consider having a Touchstone who connects you to a cause. Perhaps one of the roadies or another band member’s mortal younger sibling is convinced you can help them make the world a better place. Another good Touchstone represents friendship, loyalty, or family compromised by your vampiric nature. A childhood friend trying to breakthrough as a drummer?

Convictions:

• Rebellion is good no matter the consequences.
• Never abandon or turn on a friend or ally.
• It’s okay to hurt those in power.

Desires: You want to change the world, no biggie, and to feel alive even if you have to delude yourself. In the short-term, that might mean helping a bandmate deal with a problem they’re too much of a coward to admit they have, teaching a rude talent scout a lesson, or convincing a groupie they’d rather hook up with you than the Icon.

The Rock

There’s a beat in your mind, a deep and steady bass pulse, which keeps you centered. When you feed or play, it roars up like a muscle car. When you’re at rest, it’s more like the ghost of a pulse, but it never fully goes away. Others describe you as the silent type, but you’re just focused on what’s in front of you. You’ll speak up when there’s something worth saying.

The rest of the band relies on you to keep them steady. You might be the drummer, literally keeping rhythm, or on bass, but you don’t mind getting your hands dirty with practical work either. When there’s a problem to be dealt with, whether it’s a clogged tour bus toilet or the corpse of the groupie who clogged it, you’re usually on it before the others stop arguing. That’s not to say you’ll take any shit. If the others piss you off sufficiently, you have no problem setting them right.

You always get your practice in, no matter what else is going down.

Clan: Banu Haqim, Gangrel, or Nosferatu would make good clans for you.

Predator Type: Enjoying the hunt, you’d make a good Alleycat, Roadside Killer, or Pursuer.

Traits: You’re all about keeping your cool. Composure is your main Attribute, followed by Resolve. Physical Traits also helps a lot when you just want to do your own thing. Fortitude is particularly useful.

Ambitions: You want to land a contract with a record label or get on a certain radio station.

Touchstones: Good Touchstones could reflect your need for stability and respect for hard work. Options could include a hard-working roadie, an honest music industry contact, or a bartender at a venue you often play.

Convictions:

• You must always finish what you start.
• The group comes before the individual.
• Protecting people justifies everything.

Desires: You’re here to create music, and most of your desires revolve around that. Examples could include recording a track, playing a flawless set, and finding and destroying a piece of evidence left behind by the lead singer after feeding.

The Phantom

Once upon a time, in a past that no longer feels real, you had happiness. You had love. You had the seeds of a future. And you fucked it all up. You did something unforgivable that destroyed what you’d built and hurt your loved ones beyond what can ever be forgiven. It was right for you to die. But then, of course, death didn’t take. Unabsolved, you’re forced to wander Earth as a monster.

Broody and depressed, you create music because it’s the only thing still worth doing. When you’re in the trance of it, you feel alive again. Sometimes,when you sing about what you lost, you can almost touch it. You’re probably a songwriter and vocalist with skills on the keyboard or piano. You spend a lot of time practicing, and you’re willing to suffer for the sake of your music. You don’t care much for fans or fame, but nothing feels as good as being on stage,giving a concert in the blinding lights, the melody creeping up your spine and igniting your nerves. Nothing gives you such a rush, except maybe blood, which is filled with guilt and shame. At least the music is pure and untouched by the Beast.

Clan: Your sense of right and wrong fits with Banu Haqim. The comfort you find in music might designate you a Toreador. You could be a Hecata or Malkavian, forever searching for signs from the other side.

Predator Type: You could be an Alleycat with a vigilante streak, a Bagger, Blood Leech, or Farmer.

Traits: A combination of Physical and Metal Traits fits you well as a fighter who was once a lover. Stealth, Performance, and Investigation or Occult are appropriate main Skills.

Ambitions: While you blame yourself most of all, revenge is an appropriate Ambition for this character, as long as it still works within the overall framework of the chronicle. The one who hurt you is probably also a major enemy of the band.

Touchstones: It’s good to have at least one Touchstone you see regularly even on tour. Perhaps they’re a groupie who makes you hopeful for your future with their genuine support. You can also have one you see less often but speak to on the phone when you can sneak away — a relative of your lost love or a childhood friend whose voice reminds you of your loss.

Convictions:

• Everything is allowed in order to protect innocence.
• Destroying that which is evil is always right.
• The music must be true no matter the cost.

Desires: Every night you want to replace the pain you’re in with a better feeling. Your desires revolve around playing perfect gigs, tripping, getting into clubs where you’ll feel something, or just resisting urges that you are ashamed of.

The Firebrand

You burn with a need to make things right, or at least better, in a broken world. Whether your cause is political, social, or even religious, your music cannot be separated from it. You write lyrics meant to wake people up to the truth, hand out zines between sets, and use your growing influence to rally people to your side. The rest of the band might be part of the same movement, but you’ve been fighting for your cause the longest. You might not play in the band — after all, while they’re performing is a great time to work the floor and pick out people to take backstage.

You’ve got connections all over, which can come in handy when the band needs a safe place to park the van or clues about new venues to target. Problems can arise if other band members don’t agree with your cause. It should be something they’re at least theoretically supportive of, even if they don’t do much to further it.

Despite your strongly held beliefs, you’re still a vampire, and your fundamental predatory nature may cause your most cherished cause to suffer eventually. Whether you believe you can fight your Hunger or not is up to you.

Clan: Banu Haqim and Brujah are suitable.

Predator Type: You’ll have an easy time finding vessels as a Scene Queen, but perhaps your beliefs make you a Bagger or a Blood Leech.

Traits: Charisma or Manipulation are important if you want to be a convincing agitator. You’ve probably also picked up some dots in Larceny, Performance, Persuasion or Subterfuge, and Streetwise.

Ambitions: You want to see your cause triumph, whatever that means in specific terms. Perhaps you want to grow the numbers of a grassroots movement to a certain size, bring down a corrupt system, or chase another band out of town for good. Your ambitions should align with the overall goals of the band — fame will also provide you with the platform you need to break through with your message. It could start a movement that changes everything.

Touchstones: You should have at least one person ready to go on tour with you who embodies the best of your ideals and reminds you why you joined your cause. Someone who will be directly negatively affected if you fail is also good. Sharing a Touchstone with another band member can help keep you close.

Convictions:

• Don’t let circumstances compromise your beliefs.
• Oppression must be resisted.
• Speak truth to power, no matter the risk.

Desires: Your short-term goals often advance your cause. For instance, stirring up a protest, calling out the hypocrisy of the band’s corporate sponsors, or exposing a corrupt local politician.

The Newbie

You’re exhilarated to be here. You were singled out for your talent and Embraced to fill in for a former band member. Everything is new to you. The horizon expands all the way to Hollywood Boulevard, and you’re certain you can make it if you stick with the band. After all, you’ve practically sold your souls to the devil for a shot at success.

Down the line, you might get frustrated by the shattering of some of the glittery illusions the band, or their manager, has impressed upon you. Right now, you’re just eager to prove yourself. You throw yourself into every rehearsal, gig, and favor. Sometimes that lands you in hot water, but it’s all part of the experience, right?

You still have a mortal family you are in touch with or a partner you haven’t figured out how to deal with yet. Your Humanity is still high, and your bleeding heart will get you into trouble sooner rather than later. You play an instrument or sing, but regardless of your role, you do a lot of heavy lifting. You’re happy to help.

Clan: A young vampire of any clan fits well.

Predator Type: Still new to hunting and feeding, you gravitate toward simple and instinctive methods. Alleycat, Cleaver, or Siren comes naturally.

Traits: As you’re always ready to jump into action, Wits is high for you. Performance is also an important Skill to reflect your talent. Pretty much any combination of Traits can work for this character, but your focus on action and learning is key.

Ambitions: You want to make it. What that means specifically is up to you. Perhaps it’s a mansion in Hollywood Hills or enough money to pay off your mortal mother’s medical debt and give her a new life.

Touchstones: You’re still so young. Your Touchstones can be found among your family members, but you should also have one that you see often, even when on tour. Perhaps a friend or partner travels with you sometimes.

Convictions:

• All for one, and one for all.
• Never snitch.
• Glory is worth any risk.

Desires: You want to be the best bandmate you can be. Your Desires are usually about proving yourself to a bandmate in some way.

The Roadie

When the band struts on stage, you’re busy at the mixing desk or taking a break, having a smoke outside before you have to start packing the gear back into the van. You drive the car, carry equipment and take care of technical problems. A small band might have only one roadie, or none at all. A major tour may employ dozens.

Working with the band might be just a job for you, or perhaps you’re a true believer, dedicated to making them a success. Or maybe you love the lifestyle, being on tour, meeting new people, so close to the rock ’n’ roll dream.

Whatever the reason you’re there, there’s always work to do. The band may have the luxury of taking in the adulation of the crowd but you must make sure that the show goes on.

Clan: Gangrel, Brujah or Nosferatu can work well.

Predator Type: All that allow for feeding on the road and at gigs, such as Blood Leech, Consensualist, and Roadside Killer.

Traits: Technology is probably the single most useful Skill for the Roadie, from fixing the van to taking care of sound equipment. Athletics is good for all that heavy lifting. Drive, Streetwise, Brawl and even Stealth and Intimidation may come in handy. Potence and Auspex are the two most practical Disciplines.

Ambitions: It’s good to have an Ambition which motivates the character to stick with the band. Seeking to ride their success for hunting opportunities and a bit of money works well.

Touchstones: Other roadies, old lovers and security professionals all make for potential Touchstones who may move from place to place.

Convictions:

• I must get what’s mine.
• The band must play no matter what.
• Professional obligations trump all other concerns.

Desires: Other characters dream but you make things happen. The Roadie implements, and an element of professional pride works well with the character. Their job is quite literally to make sure that the tour keeps running without a hitch. It’s good to have personal motivations as well, something that’s enabled by being a Roadie.

The Dealer

Strictly speaking, you’re not a member of the band at all. You might travel with the band to get them drugs (or victims, since you’re all vampires), but you might also be a general fixer type, the band’s manager, or responsible for booking gigs. You might oversee what’s happening on tour or just hang on, exploiting opportunities where you can.

You might see the band as your ticket to success, using their talent to get yourself close to fame and fortune. Or you might be a true believer, convinced of their talent and ability to such a degree that you’re working for free to make them into a success, whether that requires convincing a club owner to book them or a coked-up mortal to act as a vessel for the night.

You may have some role to play during performances, such as dancer, mixer, or playing a minor instrument.

Clan: Toreador, Brujah, Malkavian, Ministry, or even Nosferatu can make for a good fit.

Predator Type: Any that hunt at nightclubs, gigs, and alleys, such as Scene Queen, and Siren.

Traits: There’s one Skill above all that defines the Dealer and that is Streetwise. Persuasion is another good one, and all Social Attributes come in handy as well. Presence and Auspex are extremely useful.

Ambitions: The best Ambitions for the Dealer align with the band. Getting rich is selfish, but it glues the Dealer to the other characters, which is good.

Touchstones: Loyal fans, clients, and contacts all make for good Touchstones because they may travel along with the band.

Convictions:

• The show must go on.
• I must come out on top in every deal.
• Serving genius justifies every sacrifice.

Desires: The Dealer is a character who makes things happen. As such, you’re often tied to practical goals such as getting the band to the next town, arranging for fans to visit backstage, or escaping the venue before the owner realizes the bartender is lying unconscious because your guitarist couldn’t control themselves.

Choose A Band Type

When you’ve figured out who is in the band, decide what kind of band you are. Below you’ll find some ideas. If you haven’t already, you should also discuss what type of instruments your characters are playing or what other jobs they fill. Who drives the van? Is one of the characters a sound technician, roadie, or even the band’s dealer?

Garage Band

Doesn’t every band share the same dream? You want to be rock stars. Your sound is raw, and you’re still figuring out how to work together, but you’re fired up and full of ideas. Everywhere you go, you’re listening for tunes to put together, and you’ve got half-written songs and scraps of lyrics written on everything from napkins to walls. You believe you’ve got something fresh, something the world’s been thirsting for, though it doesn’t know it yet.

You have no fans… yet. Maybe you’re even missing a drummer or guitarist. You may be literally practicing in a garage, or you’re in an old bunker from the world wars, an abandoned building, or a school. But you’ve played once or twice at a local dive bar, and the host of a minor indie radio show is considering letting you feature. Success is out there. You just gotta hold on, fight for it, and keep your shared condition under wraps.

Roles: Are you a coterie who found the music after your Embrace, or were you all turned together the night of your first performance? And if so, whose fault was it, really? Who started the band? And who’s to thank for you having a space to practice?

Strengths: You’ve got guts and enough raw ignorance that it resembles courage. This can take you far in conflicts where not standing down is half the battle. You’re also used to hauling your own equipment everywhere you need to go — no one does anything for you unless they get something in return.

Challenges: You’re only just starting out, and you’re lacking pretty much everything it takes to make it in the music industry. It’s not just a sound. It’s money, connections, know-how, an online presence, a catalog of finished songs, a fan base… and the acceptance of your sire or sires. You’ll struggle to break through, and once you do, your Kindred connections may have a thing or two to say about it.

Fame: There are a thousand bands just like you. To make it, you’ll have to stand out from the crowd. How? Do you trust in your own skills to create hit songs that break all barriers on their own? Or will you do everything it takes, including using your vampiric gifts, to threaten and persuade your way to the top? At what point will you kill for it?

Subculture Gods

The engine of your van makes a strange noise, and you don’t have the money to pay for a hotel room for the day, but something in the music you make, your stage presence, strikes a chord with a very specific audience. Among a niche group such as a musical subculture, a fandom, or a hobby you’re basically household names. For anyone else, you’re nobodies.

This means that when you’re on stage and your most intense fans are in the front row, you can feel like immortal rock gods, delirious mortals screaming your name. But the illusion fades as you go backstage and are reminded of the fact that it’s really hard to make it big from such a marginal position.

Roles: The intense fan base of the Subculture Gods has constructed a mythology around each band member, factual or not. It can be interesting to consider how well these roles connect with the band’s actual functioning. For example, the fans may be convinced that a quiet, reticent keyboardist is a creative genius, while, in reality, they’re usually high on drugged-up blood.

Strengths: It’s useful to be able to project the illusion of being as big a star as the most dedicated fans imagine you are, while at the same time being able to drive the van yourself because you don’t have money to hire a roadie. Subculture Gods have to be able to do a bit of everything so they can navigate the many challenges of a tour without much external support.

Challenges: The fan base is small but dedicated, and they absolutely know each band member’s name. Everyone in the band interacts with the fans to some degree, unless they really work hard to avoid it. Rumors spread very quickly in the fan community. They’re loyal, but if something bad happens, it won’t stay secret. Occasionally, there are rifts among the fan base, requiring very careful negotiation.

Fame: For Subculture Gods, fame and success are difficult prospects. Breaking out of their niche and becoming more popular may require giving up the things that their original audience liked in the first place. Is it still possible to sell out in this day and age, or should their fans just be happy that they’re making more money and playing bigger venues?

The Sound of Protest

You’re a band with a clear political message. The goal is to spread it to as many people as you can. Whether you play punk rock, hip hop, reggae, or something else, you’re a part of a subculture that shares your ideals, and you play your hearts out trying to support the fight every time you go on stage or meet to practice. You might individually desire fame for its own sake as well, but the struggle that you’re part of is never far from your minds.

It’s difficult to hold onto mortal idealism when you’re a vampire, but there’s a story to be told with a politically uncompromising band who are Embraced, their presence now poison to their chosen community.

Roles: Each band member is involved with the cause in their own way. Who participates in rallies, and who plans them? Who is in contact with the local community, and who has a spy on the other side? Who is the most passionate, and whom do the rest of you sometimes have your doubts about?

Strengths: Your passion fires up your music so it burns brightly in the night, and it’s infectious. You might have a talent for inspiring people to action and changing an already restless crowd into a wild, even violent one. You’ve seen your fair share of fights,where you had to defend yourself, or you’re used to a more guerilla style of activism, which has taught you to operate under the radar of the authorities.

Challenges: When you play for an audience that agrees with your message, they want to love you. Less so when they’re on the fence or not listening for the lyrics. You might struggle to reach new audiences. You also risk facing opposition from groups that disagree with your message. Gigs could get shut down, venues might ban you, and oppositional groups might try to start fights at your concerts. Finding a balance between your music career and your activism can also turn out to be a challenge, and sometimes you’ll have to choose which to prioritize. Being the voice of truth is difficult when you’re a vampire. You have to consider whether your mere presence poisons the very community you speak for.

Fame: The more famous you become, the bigger the target that gets painted on your back. You want your message to reach the masses, for it to grow and become powerful, but that also puts you at risk. That is, if you stick to it. If fame makes you sell out, you’ll have another set of problems to deal with. Will success come at the cost of the very ideals you’re fighting for?

Commercial Group

What do the Beatles, Backstreet Boys, and Blackpink have in common? They’re the blueprint for what record labels hope to achieve when they take on a project like your group. You were either picked up by a label very early or brought together by it. Talent managers and producers check in with you regularly to tell you where to go and how to behave. Since your success is at least 50% reliant on the believability of your fine-tuned stage personas, you’re given little leeway to act out.

You might be the vanity project of a Toreador label manager, but it’s also entirely possible that none of your industry contacts are Kindred and you were a band before you were Embraced. The label has high hopes for you, but you’re not famous yet. Still, you might already be touring, as the label tries to soft launch you abroad before you’re introduced at home.

Roles: A manufactured ensemble like the one you’re in has clear boxes for every artist. Who’s supposed to be the cool one? Who’s the edgy one? Who has been designated as the heartbreaker? Who’s meant to be innocent? Who’s sporty? Or what other categories have your group members been designated? How do they influence what you wear and how you behave? And how well do they fit with who you really are?

Strengths: You’re constantly primed to perform perfectly as the people the label wants you to become. These industry personas, the need to hide your true natures, and what you do in the late-night hours have made lying and manipulation almost instinctive. Sometimes you’re not even aware that you are doing it. Invest in Traits and Advantages that help you keep the web of lies from tearing.

Challenges: Pretending to be someone you’re not is hard. Especially when what you really are is a tortured, blood-thirsty corpse. If the label’s in on it, at least you can count on them to provide you with alibis for why you can’t give interviews during the day. If they’re not, you need to get some leverage on your manager.

Fame: You’re destined for fame — every aspect of how you present to your potential fans is about making them fascinated with you. It’s going to be very hard work, but if you make it, you have the potential to go all the way to the top of the charts. On the other hand, if you fail to break through in both your home country and abroad, the music industry will have no use for you. The label might drop you or even split you up.

Touring Techno Club

Your artsy music collective tours from city to city, organizing parties. You provide transformative, dark electronic experiences with bespoke aesthetics. These parties are so exclusive that you have to know someone who knows someone to hear about. Your visuals change from time to time. One event, you’ll be projecting a groaning forest onto the cement walls, another it’s all PVC, UV, and PCP. You keep pushing limits, keeping it new and interesting.

You’re underground, a tad deeper than you’d prefer. First off, you’d like to be able to turn away more people than you let in. Further down the line, the dream is happenings at events like Burning Man and Boom. You want people queuing for Berghain because your club was full.

Roles: Two to three DJs, a synth player, a light fanatic, someone who does the aesthetics, and someone in charge of marketing can fit in this group. So can traveling go-go dancers, someone who plays electronic harp, a doorman, and whoever is in charge of dealing with bookings, the cops, local coteries, and the drug cartels who come knocking when there’s a new rave in town. You might also want to discuss who is de facto in charge or if you make all decisions together.

Specialties: No one can curate a mood like your crew. But someone in your group needs to have high Streetwise, because you’ll be dealing with a whole host of underworld people, supernatural or not. Contacts are another thing to prioritize — you can only throw illegal pirate raves in empty buildings so many times on pure luck and audacity.

Challenges: The club business is rife with problems. When it’s not the neighbors trying to get you shut down or some girl overdosing in the bathroom, it’s a guest DJ refusing to go on, guns on the dance floor, or someone revealing your location to all their normy friends on Bluesky.

Fame: You want to be famous, but not at the cost of being exclusive, which is a tricky balance. To maintain your underground allure, you need to make sure word doesn’t spread too fast, but you also don’t want to risk near-empty dance floors. Making friends with the already famous can help you out a lot.

Other band types

If you’ve got a specific band type in mind that hasn’t been mentioned, go ahead. Only imagination determines the limits of what kind of ensemble you can reach the stars with. A few more for inspiration:

COVER BAND

At least one of the band members has an uncanny resemblance to a known rock star. They may even be them, Embraced at their prime. They book gigs with relative ease but struggle to release anything original. Will they create an identity of their own or stick to what’s safe?

A CAPELLA CHOIR

This vocal group could be a barbershop quartet or a gospel group, for instance, with their roots deep in a local neighborhood or church community. They’re generally trusted where they go, so have easy access to vessels.

SOLO ARTIST

The whole show is built around a solo artist, but that doesn’t mean that they travel alone with a guitar case. Many solo artists have supporting musicians, a tour crew and all the other fixtures you’d find with a band on tour. Indeed, often the difference between a solo artist and a band is more a question of presentation that the reality of what you find in the tour bus.

INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE

They play classical instruments that they may mix with rock or electronic influences. They specialize in chamber music, medieval hymns, gothic symphonic rock, or metal played entirely on string instruments. At least one of them may play an instrument that is no longer in popular use, like a lute or harpsichord.

JAZZ BAND

Jazz is more about how you play than what you play. This band can vibe for hours, and they may have been doing so since Prohibition. No longer surprised by much, they know that you can, for a fact, transport machine guns in instrument cases.