Chimerical Realm

The Vampire 30 Day Challenge is a motivational tool to encourage people to, over the course of 30 Days, blog or post something they find interesting about the classic White Wolf game Vampire: The Masquerade . These posts can range from a few sentences to rambling, multi-page mini-essays. It doesn't really matter how much one writes, so long as you find the topic fun, and it encourages you write and post fairly regularly. It is, in many ways, similar to NaNoWriMo , in that it is an excuse to think and write about cool things. The Challenge itself is a derivative of the " D&D 30 Day Challenge ." The topics listed in that Challenge are of course highly focused on Dungeons & Dragons subjects, specifically the Third Edition of that game. As such, I have gone through and rewritten the "rules" or list of topics. As I progressed through the Challenge, certain topics seemed like an ill-fit, either for Vampire as a whole (for example, an entire week on ...

It’s hard for me to narrow down my “favorite” Storyteller when it comes to Vampire. I had a few when I was younger who were, I feel, quite bad. But then again, most of us weren't terribly gifted at running games back then. In general though, I feel I've been blessed with having most of my Storytellers being pretty good. Sure, they all had their quirks and specialties, things they were particularly strong at--one was very adept at coming up with sweeping epic narratives, while another was gifted at bringing NPC’s to life. Naturally, though, they all had some weaknesses to go with their strengths, but that’s true of any of us. What the best had in common, I think, was a shared interest in the player characters. A good Storyteller, I feel, understands that the main focus of the game should always be on the PC’s, and is as vested in them as the players. It took me awhile to really get this. It’s easy sometimes as a Storyteller to get wrapped up in your own head, thinking about ...

Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand That’s right, I’m finally saying something controversial. Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand (DSotBH) has probably the worst reputation of any supplement that White Wolf has ever published. Even Anthony Jennings relatively forgiving review describes it as “not the worst RPG book that I've ever read, but it’s close.” There were some vague attempts to fit this unholy monster into the general World of Darkness soon after it came out, but the publisher quickly gave up on that. When it came time for Revised to be released, the True Hand was wiped out pretty much “off camera” and it’s remnants left to wither. How can you not love this face? For those who don’t know, DSotBH created an entirely new sect for the World of Darkness. While consisting mainly of Kindred, it also included a few Werewolves, Mages, and Wraiths. The idea was that this was the first, true sect of Kindred, existing long before the Camarilla or the Sabbat. Despite it’s m...

One of the most appealing aspect of the vampire myth is the concept of being able to live forever. The idea of being forever young and powerful, of being immune to the vagaries of life and fate, and being able to escape death itself is incredibly alluring. In Vampire, you get to play out this concept, both playing one of these immortals, but also living in a world shaped by the ageless. Yet, like many iconic concepts and tropes of Vampire, I only see this sweep of history come up sporadically in games I’ve played. I mean, sure, the metaplot and “canonical myths” come up --Caine, Enoch, Flood, Anarch Revolt, Diablerie of Lasombra and Tzimisce, etc.--but rarely do the personal histories of characters or the local city as a whole have much of a place in a game. This is very odd to me, for surely if events that happened decades or even centuries ago still affect us, then these events must resonate even more powerfully with those who lived through them. If the Prince took power a c...

As time has gone by, I've become less and less enamored with the idea that any given setting should be overly “realistic.” Most of the by Night series do a decent job of giving an overview of the actual city, even if it is a shallow one. The general consensus tends to be that a writer has to be a native of any given city, or have equivalent in-depth knowledge of a place, to write about it--all in the name of realism. As a Storyteller who has only lived in a few places in my life, this idea obviously inherently limits me to only setting games in the city nearest me. Historical map of Genoa, where I'm setting my next game.  But, ignoring that, I’m not sure realism has much place in a game. I mean, obviously, if you have a particular concept or theme for your city, then picking a real world city that syncs up with that is a virtue. For example, if you want to play up the “Sect Cold War” between the Camarilla and Sabbat, then a city like El Paso/Ciudad Juarez is a wonderf...

As a huge fan of the Gangrel , I believe I am legally obligated to say that Protean is my favorite Discipline. And to a certain extent, it is. It is certainly one of the most useful, what with shape changing, seeing in the dark, and of course the safest Haven you’re ever going to find...well, it’s hard to pick a Discipline that will do more to keep your undead neck alive. And that’s not even including the most vicious weapons in the game, the claws you get at level two. Aww, you brought an automatic shotgun with dragons breath rounds, that’s cute. Snikt! Snikt! RUN! Run my little pile of XP! The truth is, I’m not a huge partisan of any given Discipline. I’m rather “meh” on some of the “other clan” disciplines--Vicissitude, Quietus, and Serpentis never really wowed me, but other than that I kind of like all of them. I remember when I was first getting into Vampire, my friends and I would discuss which “Clan” we would be, only for the Disciplines. If you didn't have to be ...

Coterie is the generic term for any given group of Kindred. Generally, they are united for a purpose, though this purpose can range from “elite strike sent to destabilize a rival city” to “a bunch of people who like to hang out together.” In effect, it’s really just a convention, a shorthand method of describing any given group of vampires who are gathered together and are of different clans. Brood, by comparison, refers specifically to the childer of any given vampire--though how large that group can be, and if it includes the subsequent childer of the brood members, varies quite a bit. You want them to have your back, not at your throat. The basic books do a pretty good job of describing what a coterie is, and all the various reasons and why a group of Kindred could come together. Being in a band, assembled as an enforcement arm for the Prince, being the local Kindred in a specific area, enjoying each others company, teamed up to take down a common foe--really, it could be an...

I love Backgrounds. Of all the “mechanical” parts of Vampire and the Storyteller system, Backgrounds are the “fiddly bit” I enjoy the most. When I first discovered Vampire, these were the parts that most enthralled me, even more so than the cool powers or anything else. The idea that characters weren't just “blank slates” with only their weapons and gear was a revelatory concept, particularly since these connections to the wider world were something every character had, not something you have to spend extra for, ala GURPS. See, the reason why I love them so much is because they are probably the best method to draw players into a Story. Having some NPC show up with an offer for a job is something that can happen in any game, and is generally not terribly interesting. But the Background system allows for numerous openings to Stories as players seek either to expand their possessions, or to protect what they already have. Succubus Club--great background, or greatest background...