Chimerical Realm

I'm starting a new Vampire Chronicle soon, in which the characters will be Sabbat. For a change, I want there to be an emphasis on the Pack as the central figure on the Chronicle, rather than the individual characters. Think of it something like Sons of Anarchy , where the Club was the center point of the relationships between all the characters, and it's fate and fortunes dominated their concern and attention. As such, I've put together a rough "Pack Creation" rules set to allow my players to design and define the Pack as they see fit. These rules are inspired by the Covenant Creation rules from Ars Magica . I'm sharing this with two hopes. The first is that it will inspire other Storytellers and their troupes. The second is for feedback and ways to improve them. First, there are four main types of Packs in the Sabbat. 1) Vespers (Evening/Twilight): mostly comprised of neonate Cainites, these Packs are the bulk of the Sabbat.  They are young, bold, bras...

I was finally able to run a game with the 5th Edition play-test rules , using the provided scenario The Last Night .  I've posted previously my thoughts on the new rules based on a read through, but seeing them in action is a different thing all together.  This post will be divided into two sections--the first on the rules, and the second on the scenario. Rules In general, I like the new rules. Of course, the ones provided are very limited. There are significant aspects from the game missing, including some very basic ones. This is not a set or rules I'd hand to a new Gamemaster who wants to run their own game for the very first time. But, the audience is clearly for those who are already playing Vampire , so that's fine. But, more or less, my initial impressions wore born out in the play  The only real complaint is how many things one needs to keep track of with the new system. Willpower, Composure, Hunger, and Rouses all fluctuate throughout the game, and eac...

Since the release of the V5 play-test rules , and particularly the included scenario, The Last Night , there has been a lot of outrage at the characters provided. Specifically, the character of Amelina. You're free to download the scenario yourself, so I won't go into too many specifics, beyond the most obvious. She is a monster. All four of the provided characters are monstrous assholes to one extent or another, but Amelina stands out as singularly vile. If an NPC, she would be the "big bad" of the adventure. As a PC, she is, to put it delicately, "problematic." Personally, I embrace the idea that she is a monster, and one the other characters should overcome in their adventure. Yes, she's vile and despicable, but she is so vile that one couldn't even pretend that she anything but an obstacle to be overcome. This, however, might be overly generous to the authors of the provided scenario. I really have no way of knowing what they intended, or what...

In this post, I want to look at The Last Night , the sample adventure which comes with the V5 Pre-Alpha rules set . There's actually quite a bit going on with this slim 56 page book, and as such, I want to  approach it in a couple of different ways. First, what is the adventure itself and how does it work on its own terms? Secondly, what does this tell us about the world and setting they have lined up for V5? Finally, what can we glean as far as the mood and themes of the game going forward. Needless to say, this post is full of spoilers. If you intend to play this adventure, please do not read any further. The Adventure Itself Since the adventure is freely available , I'm not going to spend a lot of time recapping the events here. What I will say is that the basic framework is pretty well setup. The players are a pre-existing coterie with a strong reason to be together and to engage in the adventure. The first significant scene (Siege of Golden Gate) is tense and exciting...

This is a supplementary post to my overview of the Pre-Alpha Rules for the 5th Edition of Vampire: The Masquerade. One element of the game that's been talked about by various sources ia a rule generally referred to as "You are what you eat."  It seems like different mortal provide different minor bonuses to the vampire that feeds on them. Someone outgoing and gregarious might give you a use of Presence without needing to Rouse the Hunger, while a young and innocent mortal might give you a free use of "Blush of Life." Now, I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, which is one of the reasons I'm about to run a play test for these rules. The problem is--this rule isn't described in the rule packet. I had heard about it, and it's a recurring mechanic in the adventure that comes with the rules. In fact, I was going through that adventure, The Last Night , when I realized I wasn't quite sure how this mechanic is supposed to work. He...

On June 15th, White Wolf released the "pre-alpha" rules set for the upcoming 5th Edition (download the rules and read the official blog post  here ). I've been quite interested to see which direction they intend to take the game, but aside from a few dribbles here and there, information has been hard to come by. I download the rules immediately, but have tried to stay out of the wider discussion until I've had a chance to get my own thoughts in order. Here then are those thoughts, with particular attention being paid to the changes from previous editions, what my initial thoughts are on them, and my reservations (if any) for how to implement this new rules. Of course, this is a Pre-Alpha  rules set, which means a lot can change between now and Beta, and even more before the actual release. They are trying a few different things, which is exciting, but there no reason to get too excited or melancholic about these rules. It's possible that any or even all of these m...