Testing the limits of friendships can be an intricate endeavor, especially when you immerse friends as themselves into the White Wolf World of Darkness setting, blending our world’s history with the hidden realms of vampire clans, werewolf tribes, and wielders of arcane forces. While the idea aimed to bring people together and ultimately preserved friendships, it proved to be a challenging trial. Asking friends to embody themselves on a character sheet, weaving their real-world experiences, growth, traumas, beliefs, and ideas into an alternative reality, added layers to the storytelling.

The concept involved characters starting with intimate connections and emotions derived from years of personal growth, experiences, and shared moments. Transitioning real-world abilities to a fictional realm without inflating self-perceptions proved to be a delicate task. Picture arguing with someone younger, convincing them that their melee skill of 4 points equates to being one of the best swordsmen in the world—indeed, an honor.

As the game unfolded, measures were taken to remove real-world connections, leaving only friendships of a year or two to spark debates about hypothetical scenarios where friends gained special powers to combat vampires. Witnessing an adult shed tears over their character being tasered for defying a local authority added emotional depth to the experience.

Becoming attached to one’s character is a common occurrence in role-playing games, but when players are asked to portray themselves, distinguishing fantasy from reality becomes exponentially challenging. Reflecting on the experiment and the lessons learned, the willingness to undertake such a social experiment again is expressed, with the determination to push the limits as far as participants would allow.