La Maña | Los Angeles & Tijuana Sandbox | Organized Crime Drama
Turned and owned, you work nights for a vampire syndicate in L.A., where cartels, feds, and old powers fight dirty for control—and everyone’s watching
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EXPERIENCE
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$29.99
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Sunday - 1:00 AM UTC
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
2 / 6 Seats Filled
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Meet your party members
2/6
About the adventure
La Maña is a political-crime vampire campaign set in the intricate underworld of modern Los Angeles and Tijuana. Players assume the roles of newly embraced vampires, integrated into a Camarilla criminal syndicate with deep ties to various power structures. The city is a battleground where cartels, other crime groups, and government agencies engage in a continuous struggle for control. Your character must navigate this environment, balancing the demands of your syndicate with the need to assert your own influence. The campaign emphasizes the interplay between different factions, each with its own agenda and methods. Mexican organized crime, colloquially referred to as “La Maña,” exerts significant influence across all levels of society. This pervasive presence requires players to engage in strategic alliances, covert operations, and calculated risks. The game’s focus is on the subtle manipulations and overt confrontations that define the struggle for power in a city where every action has consequences. Inspired by the works of directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, David Lynch, David Chase, Takashi Miike, Seijun Suzuki, Sergio Leone, and John Hillcoat, La Maña offers a narrative steeped in moral ambiguity and complex character dynamics. The campaign challenges players to explore themes of loyalty, ambition, and identity within a framework that blends supernatural elements with gritty realism. In La Maña, every decision is a step into a deeper web of intrigue. The city’s surveillance is omnipresent, and the lines between friend and foe are constantly shifting. As a vampire navigating this perilous landscape, your survival hinges on your ability to adapt, manipulate, and outmaneuver those who seek to control you. This is not just a game of power—it’s a test of your capacity to wield it without losing yourself in the process. Supporting this is a living, breathing world crafted with original content—NPCs brought to life with custom art, evocative visuals for every domain, and atmospheric music scored to the mood of each scene. From haunting, darkwave-inspired tracks to frantic industrial pulses during tense chases, every sound is designed to pull you deeper into the illusion, with layered sound design and environment effects shaped by a storyteller trained in audio engineering.
Game style
Theater of the Mind
Sandbox / Open World
Roleplay Heavy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(14)
1 year on StartPlaying
46 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Sets the Mood, Knows the Rules
Average response time: 4 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
I’m a storyteller focused on grounded, character-driven narratives that explore power, loyalty, and survival in hostile, complex worlds. My campaigns draw heavy inspiration from organized crime dramas, psychological thrillers, and the harsh beauty of the Western states and Northern Mexico—regions I know intimately and build into my worlds with care and accuracy. I mainly run Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, a game system that thrives on moral ambiguity, factional tension, and the constant push-and-pull between survival and control. My games emphasize cultural depth, political nuance, and long-form arcs where every action has weight. I spend a great deal of time developing living, reactive settings—cities, factions, and families that grow, fracture, or fall based on your choices. As an audio professional, I create original music and sound effects tailored to each campaign. That includes in-world songs, atmospheric scores, and dynamic sound effects—all crafted to elevate the mood and immerse players more deeply in the story. When you play at my table, you’re stepping into a world with a heartbeat. Whether you’re surviving the brutal heat of the Mojave or maneuvering through the shadowy politics of undead Los Angeles, my games deliver a grounded, story-first experience where your choices drive the world forward. Sessions are immersive, character-focused, and built to reflect the weight of your actions. I aim to create narratives that feel lived-in, dangerous, and meaningful—perfect for players who want to lose themselves in a setting that challenges them at every turn.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Character creation will be handled during session 0. Players are free to either choose a pre-made character, or make a original character by the vanilla VtM 5E rules. Character sheet will be created within Alchemy for easy use within the VTT. The Player's Guide and Core Rulebook is enough for the players, I can provide information on anything from the other books.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Players will need to make a Alchemy VTT account, and a Discord Account. No purchases are necessary on either website. Once a player has joined the Alchemy room, they will be able to easily choose a premade character or make an original one. During session zero, or when a player first joins, I will make sure to go over the essential rules, however everything they need to know will be mostly within Vampire: The Masquerade 5E Core Rulebook and Player's Guide. Campaign rules and guidelines will be sent in a pdf file.
What D'Antonio brings to the table
As your Game Master, I deliver a cinematic, theatre-of-the-mind experience crafted for players who want more than just dice and dialogue. Every session is supported by custom artwork, photographed backgrounds, and immersive audio that goes far beyond ambient noise. Gunfire has weight (sound effects), voices echo in abandoned urban buildings, and night clubs crank with punk rock and modular techno, and original songs that reflect your the mentality of characters in the world—sometimes even telling your story. I voice every NPC with care and personality, making conversations feel grounded and alive. With my background in sound engineering, I shape each scene with a level of audio detail rarely seen in TTRPGs. This is storytelling with a pulse—built to pull you in and not let go.
Homebrew rules
Players may only choose from Clans and Bloodlines aligned to La Camarilla and Ashirra. There are new playable Mafia Bloodlines, ask GM for more information. Weapon Damage Values have been adjusted for improved realism.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How D'Antonio creates a safe table
During Session 0, the Game Master and Players come together to discuss the campaign’s rules, expectations, and tone. The GM explains the setting, system mechanics, themes and concepts, while players share their character ideas and establish boundaries. This session also covers the group’s play style, scheduling, and etiquette, setting the foundation for a smooth, respectful, and immersive campaign experience.
Content warnings
Safety tools used