(concept and characters by Brian Perris, presented first in Clobberin' Times #8, 1989)
This is the slightly modified version to fit into my gaming world.

Purpose: heroic
Base of Operations: Newark, NJ

History: Though "officially" formed in the fall of 1986, several members trace the Crypt's beginning to a gentlemen's club around the turn of the century. Key members of that group had similar interests as the members of the Crypt.

At one of the local college parties, it was suggested by Anthony Villers that he and four others get together at a more private place to continue their discussions on topics such as witchcraft, religion and the bizarre. The others quickly agreed and thus was the beginning of the Crypt. The five began to hold regular meetings at their houses to discuss any topic from monsters to UFO's to psychic phenomena, as long as it had to do with the bizarre.

Soon the meetings began to lose their novelty as they resembled more party gatherings. When it came to Anthony's turn to host a meeting, he decided to put the zip back into it. The first change he initiated was the actual location of the meetings. He purchased a mausoleum that would be used as their regular gathering place. He also wrote up a constitutional contract with rules and regulations, to give the group a purpose for existence. Each member had to sign it with their own blood. Members were also starting to relate bizarre experiences that happend in their lives or to others they knew. If they had none to relate, they could bring in a guest speaker instead. Speakers and experiences would be judged by others. Although there is a lot of camraderie, competition between members is encouraged in order to come up with the best story or guest speaker. This often leads to the members spending quite a bit of their free time investigating the bizarre.

Membership

Per the charter, the organization typically has nine active members (nine being a very strong number in numerology). Members come and go over time. A few of the most active members are:

Anthony Villers, the son of Edmond Villers who owned the Nathan's hot dog chain in New York City. Anthony helped form the Crypt when he was still in college in 1986. In his twenties, he had a slight build (145lbs) on his six foot tall frame. He has long black hair which he usually wears slicked back in a ponytail. He has very dark piercing eyes and a light complexion. Having family wealth, he doesn't have to work so he sleeps all day - to add to his 'vampiric' mystique. He knows that this behavior often annoys Veronica Westman. His interests lie in the area of magic and the occult.

Veronica Westman, about five years older that Villers, is a buxom redhead that is married to a wealthy businessman twenty years her senior. She was born into a low income family, worked as a waitress to put herself through school and was discovered by her husband while working at a diner. By his generosity, she was able to finish school and help her family escape their poverty as well. She is 5'8" and a very shapely 120lbs. She works out quite a bit to keep her figure. Her husband allows her to do as she wants without keeping tabs on her. Though she remains faithful to her husband so far, she does have a wandering eye. She is one of the more active members when it comes to researching her topics and finding speakers. Her topic of interest mostly has to do with vampires. She was attacked on night when she was back in college. Her attacker bit her throat; she lost almost three pints of blood from the wound. She has not suffered any effects from the attack and has only a slight small scar on the side of her neck.

Howard Peterson is a typical yuppie lawyer who came into the group after the founders set it up. He was introduced to the group by Veronica after he told her a story about meeting a vampire when he was a kid. He actually made up the story just because he was attracted to Veronica and wanted to get close to her. He is 5'11" and 165lbs with brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He is very concerned with looks and appearance. He is always dressed very nicely and often will catch his own image any time he passes a mirror to admire himself. His interests in the Crypt fall in the same line of whatever Veronica is interested in.


the Crypt Package Deal

Skills
Knowledge Skill: the Crypt (13-) - 4 pts
Knowldege Skill: individual field of interest (13-) - 4 pts
Knowldege Skill: the occult (11-) - 2 pts
Perk: contact(s) with guest speaker - cost 3
Familiarity: others with an interest in the occult (locally) (8-) - 1 pt
Familiarity: location of area occult shops - 1 pt
Total Skills Cost - 15 pts

Disadvantages
Package Bonus - cost 3
Monitored by other Crypt members (8-) - cost 5
Rivalry: professional rival - cost 5
Total Disadvantages - 13 pts

Package Cost - 2 points