Out For Blood. (Vampire)

Member Name: thanatoszane

Product:	Vampire
Date:	06/12/00 (536 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dark, fun, you get to play a vampire!

Disadvantages: can get expensive if you buy extra books

Vampire is a role play game set in the World of Darkness, which is a universe made by White Wolf and the more adult oriented group Black Dog.

Vampire has a number of variants, including Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Dark Ages.

Vampire: The Masquerade is the modern day version, whilst Vampire: The Dark Ages is set in the past.

For each of these, there is the 'sit around a table and role die' role play version with a lot of rules, and there is the Minds Eye Theatre version. This has less rules, and is more action based, it is a LARP (Live Action Role Play.) In LARPS you get to dress up, and walk around, pretending that you really are the person you are playing.

Both Vampire games tie in well with the other White Wolf / Black Dog games - Werewolf, Hunter, Changeling, Wraith, and Mage (did I miss any <g>). In these, you play other supernatural creatures.

The Vampires you see in Vampire are a little like the stereotypes, but not quite. They can't go out during the day, are very strong, some of them can shape - shift, they drink blood and have fangs, BUT they can cross running water, don't get scared by garlic, and can enter a house without being invited. Also, you don't become a Vampire when one drinks your blood - they have to drain you and then give you some of their blood before you become one.

There are number of Vampire Clans, and depending on who your Sire is (who made you a Vampire) you will become a member of a different clan. This gives you different powers and weaknesses (as I said, SOME vampires can shape shift (These are Gangrel), others can craft flesh (these are the Tzimisce)).

Younger Vampires tend to be weaker than older ones, but this has nothing to do with age really, it is more to do with generation. The first Vampire was Caine. He was the most powerful. He sired 3 Vampires, who are slightly weaker than him. They sired more, and so on. Most Vam
pires today are 12th generation or later, and very weak. In Europe,however, Vampires tend to be older than this.

As you become futher removed from Caine, you get weaker, and the powers / unique identifiers of the Clans show less. Many Vampires today don't know what Clan they are from. This is a sign of the Final nights. And that is where many of the Vampire games are set.

Before I tell you the whole story of the Book of Nod, and give you an example game, I will get to the point.

Vampire is a good game, but, with there being so many tie ins, and two versions of Vampire set at different times, it is easy to find yourself collecting several games, and buying several tie ins. There are books for each game, scenarios, books that explain bits of the history (such as the Book of Nod, which plays a huge role in many stories, since the Vampires in the game are always hunting for fragments of it to collect the whole book) and fiction books, etc. This can lead to you spending a LOT of money.

The system is very flexible, and you can choose to use whatever rules you want. The thing for me is that the LARP doesn't have enough rules, and the regular game is a lot of work for the GM (games master.) Of course, if you're just a player, you won't mind that, will you!

You play 'Chronicles' which are split into Episodes and Chapters. A Chronicle can last a LONG time, which is good if you are an experienced player looking for something more demanding than your average quick tabletop game.

Another thing to look out for is that it is very adult oriented. A lot of violence, some swearing, and a lot of sex, and that's just the White Wolf one! The Black Dog series (such as Giovanni Chronicles) is even worse, and some of the artwork is - Er.....)

If you are an adult RPG-er and haven't tried this yet, give it a shot. It is the best dark fantasy game on the market, except, perhaps for some
of it's tie ins!

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