Finnish Vampire Trailblazer: Mika Loponen

Mika Loponen is one of the writers of Enlightenment in Blood. He was one of the organizers of the seminal Finnish Vampire game Helsinki Chronicle in the Nineties and has been a pillar of the Finnish larp community since. He also wrote for End of the Line.

In this short interview, Mika talks about his relationship with Vampire: the Masquerade and the World of Darkness.

How did you start playing Vampire?

I first learned about World of Darkness larps in the form of Mind's Eye Theatre in summer 1995. We quickly read through the rules and organized our first game in early 1996. It was a shabby, hastily created campaign with all the flaws first-time larpers can stuff into a game, but we were full of enthusiasm.

Later that year, I joined the narrative team of the Helsinki Chronicle, the largest (and in the end longest, ticking close to ten years by its end in 2004) Vampire campaign in Finland, cementing my relationship with the World of Darkness.

What do you find interesting in working with the World of Darkness?

What I find most enthralling about the World of Darkness is how it is a sandbox of human tragedy. Yes, you play monsters, but their monstrosity is very human in nature, and it can stretch in its form from Shakespearean epics to light comedy.

In Finland, we have had huge mansion vampire games, but we have also had several karaoke games, in which the same vampires who despaired at the mansions sing their innermost feelings on the stage - to the tune of Finnish schlager songs.

What was interesting for you about working on Enlightenment in Blood?

I was mainly interested in participating in the creation of a living, coherent society of anarchs - and especially the religious ones. A vampire church that is not of the old mold of pure evil, but a practical organization with a beating heart.

I was also intrigued by the character creation system: a branching tree of choices that could, in theory at least, provide an immense amount of different viable characters.