Cindy Lott and Jack McCarthy are living in a world of darkness – and loving it.

As regular participants in a local live-action role-playing game, Athens by Night, the pair dresses up as vampires about once a month to re-enact tales of supernatural struggles.

Contrary to what recent popular novels would have one believe, these vampires are not “cute” and “sparkly,” said Lott. The Athens By Night players deal with sticky in-game politics between vampiric clans and face incursions from other villains such as werewolves and mages. Similar in concept to traditional role-playing games (i.e. Dungeons & Dragons), Athens By Night takes it one step further by acting out the scenarios created by a “storyteller.”

The Red & Black sat down with these vampires-by-hobby to talk about their nocturnal world.

R&B: How did Athens By Night get started?

JM: Athens by Night started about 11 to 12 years ago when White Wolf was still a formative company based out of Creswell dormitory. It was originally created by a guy named Mark Rein-Hagen who was a University student. A couple of gamer geeks got together and said, ‘we want to play a game about vampires and research a lot of myths and cultural history.’ They eventually published the game and became a large studio.

CL: White Wolf is the publishing company that created the game “Vampire: The Masquerade” that Athens By Night is based off of. That company specializes in tabletop role-playing games.

JM: We’ve adapted it to a live action role-playing game. Instead of using dice and numerical values, we use rock-paper-scissors and comparative relations.

R&B: Tell me about the world the game takes place in.

CL: White Wolf’s larger world that they have created is called “The World of Darkness,” which can be trying for some people. It’s not for everybody. It can be terrifying.

R&B: Can you give an example of a scenario?

CL: There are two factions in this vampire world, the Camarilla and the Sabbat. Our game is based on the Camarilla; they are supposed to be the good guys.

JM: All players are Camarilla simply because it makes it easier. We’re using a lot of polarizing language but the whole point to the World of Darkness are the [moral] shades of grey. We Camarilla present ourselves as the good guys.

CL: One scenario that I may run would be that a group of Sabbat come and try to attack the group of players. The player will then have to defend themselves with any means necessary, be it their vampiric powers, weapons or just by running and hiding.

R&B: What drew you to Athens By Night in the first place?

JM: I started when I was real young with Dungeons & Dragons and things like that because it was just here. [laughs] As I grew up, I came to discover and enjoy “Vampire: The Masquerade” because it was more in-depth with characters and personal struggle. It’s the dark stranger concept, looked at from the perspective of the dark stranger.

CL: I was introduced to it by a friend of mine. I had read Anne Rice, but [Athens by Night] was a completely different world. It wasn’t romanticized, it wasn’t all fancy and nice. It was really gritty and kind of scary. And being a fan of horror movies, it really caught my attention. When you have a good storyteller, as long as you have a stomach for that kind of thing, it can be really exciting.