Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire is a very interesting game. When I was in 4th Grade me and my friends used to make up games in our heads but something was lacking a cohesive setting. By the time I was in 7th Grade we decided to buy an RPG book, just to get the gist of things. We ended up buing Vampire, and I must say it is great! I've bought 40 other books by White-Wolf in the last few years.This game is a modern game in the Modern World, not a D & D type of Fantasy. Vampires are real in this game, they live in all the major cities, they pull the strings of politics. They hide from Humanity though, because they fear discovery. Yet they have to interact with humans, because as Vampires they eternally need blood to survive and even more to power their dark powers. Vampires are arranged into clans, 13 to be exact all created by Ancient founders. These clans are divided into three groups. The first is the Camarilla, most obsessed with secrecy and having 7 of the Vampire clans. The next is the Sabbat, a group of Vampires who believe they should rule humanity and arch-Rivals of the Camarilla. They only consist of two clans but their are other clan members who have decided to join. Finally their are 4 Independent clans who try to avoid keeping any alligence to anyone.The Rules of this game are simple as well. All a person needs is a copy of the sheets, a pencil and maybe ten 10-sided dice. The rule system is rather simple and the game doesn't revolve around pointless hours of combat but story purposes. This adds more enjoyment to the game, if your interested in weaving a story.The Vampire game is a good introduction to White-Wolf RPG's and it is not only an interesting play, it is an interesting read as well. I have bought many books just to read them, and even if you don't have a group, their is a huge online community.

Well, first a small word to first time role-players in Vampire the Masquerade. If you have never tried the game, you don't know what you are missing in your life. Now here are the things I found to be sooo much better and distinctively different in the third edition than the second. Note how much the rules are so much better as well when you read them. a) Assimite Disciplines fixed to be useful b) Presence has a kick to it when used against some much lower generation. c) Fortitude is so much better explained now (some used to claim it as automatic soaking all the time). d) Combat has some good changes. e) Obfuscate limits are actually explained! f) Serpentis III is different and so much better. g) Celerity uses one blood per round to activate, was worded before as if it used one blood for each celerity point. There are so much more I can go on with but I figured if you went this far down I probably got your interest enough to go get it.

Vampire: The Masquerade is an excellent product for the gamer who would rather have a character who has personality and, more often than not, a debilitating character flaw than a character who is a sword-swinging warrior or a blaster-wielding intergalactic hero. This game has a solid system that is simple to learn and a breeze to use, and the only dice that are used are ten-siders, eliminating problems with finding the four-siders or the twelve-sider under the couch. For the Vampire veterans out there, White Wolf has fixed and updated several things, including the insanely over-powered merit Iron Will, the damage rules (how does a dead guy take lethal damage from a bullet? Well, they fixed that little discrepancy for the Revised Edition), and the practically useless Giovanni Discipline of Necromancy has been fixed so it has more practical applications in chronicles without crossover to Wraith: The Oblivion. As a general rule, the Revised Edition of Vampire: The Masquerade is a wonderful product and an awesome improvement from the previous editions (they were great too, but the current version is better), with better art updated background information, and, perhaps the most convenient feature, every Discipline, clan, and sect in the same place; the scattering of this vital information over three $20+ books was a major shortcoming of the previous editions of Vampire. My only grievance is that the high-level Disciplines are not in this book. But beyond that, the Revised Edition of Vampire: The Masquerade is, in my opinion, a nearly flawless product.