Frightening to behold. (Vampire)

Member Name: theblackstar

Product:	Vampire
Date:	25/10/04 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Accessible to all., Allows for role playing rather than dice throwing.

Disadvantages: You need a some seasoned players to make it worthwhile., Some can become obssessed with dice throwing.

I just read a review on Vampire, and thought that I'd add my voice to the mix. Now until I came across a group of people all huddled round some strange shaped dice, shouting stuff about taering each other limb from limb, I'd not really come across role playing. About 10 years ago now I moved into a shared house with load of mates. Little did I know at the time that they had a secret society that they all belonged to. Soon I too was initiated, and was soon a vampire myself.

At first I'd just watch them play, and was truly amazed at the skill involved. Not a load of sad loosers, as many people would think your average role player must be. But a highly skilled bunch of actors with dice and character sheets. I was quickly drawn into the underground world of Vampire the Masquerade. What fun! A fully realised fantastical underworld of creatures of the night. We'd often play well into the early hours!

Soon I was so hooked, I started to design games. Hours spent creating story-lines, props, maps and grisly twists in the tale. Now just to be a bit tossy about this... Playing such games do not reduce people to sad socially inept geeks. Social skills and the ability to play out story lines and discover who you may or may not react in certain situations, is waht comes from role playing. To such an extent that when years later I became a youth worker, I used role playing such as Vampire to develop the social skills of young people. It helped to explore sometimes difficult emotional situations with safety, as this is a world removed from our own, but the situations and ways in which we can or cannot deal with them is real. They have consequences, just like in real life.

Role playing is something I would recommend. And Vampire is somewhere I would start. Easy to get into and start playing, but deep enough to hold your interest for the rest of your undead life!!!

Summary: