Okay, so here you are, looking at this site and wondering what in the heck Vampire: The Masquerade is. Actually, I hope not. If so, you're probably confused. Well, Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game put out by White-Wolf Gaming. It runs on the basic premise that there are Vampires amongst the mortals of this world. The story goes that these vampires are the children of Caine. (Yes, Caine, as in Caine and his brother Abel) The story goes that Caine disobeyed his orders and turned unfortunate mortals into Vampires. Later, as their numbers grew, clans developed, each with their own unique history. Up until the Inquisition (during which there were massive Vampire hunts), Vampires were true lords of darkness, literally bathing in the blood of the populace. To preserve their numbers, many of the clans united in order to form a group known as the Camarilla. The Camarilla were (and still are) dedicated to keeping the existence of Vampires a secret from mortals in a project known as The Masquerade. The goal of all Vampires loyal to the Camarilla is to appear as human as possible. However, not all vampires are loyal to the Camarilla. Another group, known as the Sabbat, or as the Black Hand are equally loyal to enjoying all pleasures of the undead life. (Such as they are.) There is strong rivalry between these groups. Indeed, there is even rivalry between the clans within the Camarilla.
Game-Playing Basics
Here are some of the basics which are helpful to know about. I'll start by defining some terms used commonly in connection with the game. (For those of you already familliar with this stuff, just skip this portion. It's not for you! :):
Chronicle: The chronicle is the story created by the leader (in the beginning) and developed by the players.
Storyteller: This is the leader, the person who coordinates the game and ensures that the chronicle runs properly.
Player: Pretty obviously, these are the people who play the game.
Prince: The Camarilla appointed leader of the Vampiric community in each city. Supposedly this is a unisex term.
Justicar: These are kind of like travelling judges. Endowed with more powers than the average vampire, these enforcersof the Camarilla punish those found to be in sever breach of it's protocol.
Primogen: This is the council of elders who assist the Prince in ruling a city. Also, many characters are vampires of the Primogen.
Anarch: A vampire who does not follow the rules laid out by the Camarilla or any other organization.
I hope these terms are enough to give you a basic understanding. For further reference about Vampire, go to your local bookstore (or online bookstore) and take a look at Vampire: The Masquerade. I believe the current edition is Third. If you're a cheapskate or if you're just plain broke, check out White-Wolf's official site. There should be a link to it somewhere around here.