The Wild Bunch: An NPC group for your Chronicle

Clans: varied, depending on Chronicle

Generations: high (13th to Thin Blood)

Most Suitable For: Vampire, Mage, Werewolf

It has been said before, among the pages of fiction, that children make the best predators; their very appearance softens even the most jaded and vile of hearts, even if only for a moment. While embracing children is frowned upon in Kindred society, there have been many vampires who chose to go against the societal norms, turning their own children, kids they looked after as human babysitters, students from their mortal days, or others. This rarely turns out well for the youth, because children are impulsive, incomplete, immature beings; their minds and bodies are not yet fully developed, so they don't stand much chance against the Beast that lies within. But every once in a while, one of them survives. And children, like adults, seek companionship.

The Wild Bunch (a name they didn't choose for themselves) is a coterie (or pack) made of child vampires who have somehow managed to tame the Beast, if only temporarily. They form a tight-knit bond with each other, becoming a family in a truer sense of the word than most other coteries or packs. While they will rarely if ever hurt each other, everyone else is seen as an outsider to the Wild Bunch; an enemy, a rival, or prey. The children begin to operate with what appears to be a singular mind, hunting together to take down larger prey, eventually turning their hungry eyes to their fellow kindred. While they aren't deliberately trying to diablerize other vampires, the children of the Wild Bunch become addicted to the rush of the kill, and seek out ever stronger victims, leading them to the domains of kindred (as well as any solitary Garou that they can find). They have no care for clan, they have no fear of crossing into others' territories, and they are adept at moving unseen through an urban or rural landscape.

From a Storytelling perspective, the Wild Bunch makes for great physical antagonists in an unconventional manner, giving the player characters cause to feel fear any time they are isolated. While its tempting to simply throw the Wild Bunch at a coterie/cabal/pack of player characters and watch them struggle with the idea of killing child-monsters, there is much more subtle play that can be done. This group takes most of the politics out of a game, but their actions lead to all kinds of negative effects on a setting; tightening of the Masquerade, argument among the vampires (or even magi) about the morality of slaughtering a bunch of children (even if they ARE now monsters), attracting "hunter" groups/Second Inquisition, increased tension among the supernatural inhabitants of an area, and even mortal institutions of government (police, neighborhood watch, etc) taking notice and attempting to figure out what is happening. The Wild Bunch gives a plethora of options for cunning Storytellers to use in any of their games.