Vampire The Masquerade First Edition Pdf
Vampire: The Masquerade (1st Edition)Publisher: White WolfISBN: 0-9627790-6-7Stock Number: WW2000Design: Mark Rein.HagenWritten by: Mark Rein.Hagen, Graeme Davis, Tom Dowd, Lisa Stevens, Stewart WieckOriginally Published: 1991Where to find it: at Drivethrurpg.com, at Amazon.comWelcome to the first of what will hopefully be many reviews. We’re starting off with the book that put White Wolf on the map, Vampire.Before we get to the book itself, a bit of opinion then a bit of history. First, White Wolf has always reveled in my favorite “p” word, pretentiousness. They take themselves entirely too seriously and even their attempts at humor come off as arrogant and condescending.
That’s not to say that they haven’t produced many quality products. They have, in fact, made some of the best roleplaying products out there and this one, in particular, has a special place in the history of the Roleplaying Game (more on that later).But, White Wolf is pretentious and it shines through in Vampire: The Masquerade. Later in White Wolf’s publication history, they come to terms with their arrogance and use it to their advantage, but here, in the early stages, they are a bit too wrapped up in their vision to see just how arrogant they sound.In terms of history, Vampire: The Masquerade takes a special place reserved for the true innovations of the industry. It is one of the games that forever changed the roleplaying game industry. Vampire came along just as roleplaying, as a whole, was taking a leap away from its wargaming roots and exploring such things as more in depth story, setting, and character. The second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons had debuted two years previous, and Palladium was making a splash with its new Rifts RPG. Vampire took the new focus on story and ran with it, even labeling itself a “Storytelling Game.”Vampire sold like hotcakes at the time of its debut and brought into being a new breed of gamer, the LARPer (Live Action Role Player).
Borderlands without cel shading. This will punch up the intensity when you add your highlights.
Vampire The Masquerade 5th Edition Character Sheet
Fantasy LARP had existed prior to Vampire, but Vampire LARP was a different beast, appealing to the goth subculture that was just gaining momentum. This brought new players to the hobby, and a new type of player: one not interested in crunching numbers or leveling their character, but one deeply devoted to their character and the story being told with that character.On to the book itself.The book starts with an “in character” introduction to the world of vampires, in the form of a letter to “W.H.” from “V.T.” One can surmise that these initials stand for Wilhelmina (Mina) Harker and Vlad Tepes (aka Dracula).Chapter One serves as a more traditional introduction and here is where my “p” word comes into play. Right out of the gate, the game wants to be more than a game, a metaphor for human existence, and a mirror into the soul. To quote from page 19, “Unless you are willing to face the reflection of your own imperfections, then this game is not for you.”The chapter goes on to introduce the basic concepts of the game, such as the role of the players and the storyteller (game master in other games).
Also of note, and one of the interesting side quirks (a well done one, I might add), the illustrations take on a story of their own, with brief captions describing the awakening and journeys of an ancient vampire. These continue throughout the book. We also get our first dose of the myriad quotes sprinkled throughout the book from Shakespeare to various rock and punk bands.Chapter Two covers the rules of the game. The Storytelling system (which debuted with this book), is a simple dice pool system of d10s. Add an attribute (like an ability score in other games) with an ability (like a skill or proficiency in other games), each rated 1 to 5, take that number of 10 sided dice, roll them and try to achieve a target number on each die.
Each time you hit the target number is a success. The rules really are quite elegant and achieve what they set out to: create a system where the rules take a back seat to the story.Chapter Three is the character creation chapter. Characters are point based, which wasn’t terribly common at the time (only GURPS and a couple of other minor RPGs had experimented with it). In short, rather than rolling elements of your character randomly (such as ability scores), you purchased all of your various traits with points. This system allows you to craft precisely the type of character you want, though you may find yourself running out of points. The roleplaying industry historian in me finds it intriguing that the player in the character creation example is Lisa, presumably Lisa Stevens who is also listed among the writers of the book.
Lisa Stevens has been present at many of the defining moments of the roleplaying industry – the publication of this book, the publication of Magic: The Gathering (the first collectible trading card game, which forced the RPG industry to stand up and take notice of a little company called Wizards of the Coast), and the creation of the Pathfinder RPG, inspired by the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons and the first RPG to tie the mighty D&D in sales (according to a recent IGN article).Chapter Four defines the various traits that make up a character. Despite veering away from the randomness of other RPGs, Vampire retains “classes” in a fashion with the various Vampire clans, each one modeling a certain archetype of vampires from literature, cinema, and popular culture. Nosferatu, for example, are the horrific monsters exemplified by the silent film of the same name. Toreador, meanwhile, are the sensual, romantic vampire made popular by Anne Rice, while the Brujah seem to emulate the 80s teen vampires of “The Lost Boys.”Most traits are measured by a simple 1 to 5 rating, with 1 being fairly pitiful and 5 being the pinnacle of human achievement.
A strength or failing of the game, depending on your perspective, is the measuring of a character’s morality with numbers. A character’s “Virtues,” conscience, self-control, and courage, have a numerical value, as does the character’s “Humanity.” Losing humanity is one of the key elements of the game, as player characters struggle with maintaining a human outlook in the face of their predatory urges. Some of the writers’ biases shine through in certain places as well, as Music is one of the core ability traits, alongside Brawl, Stealth, and Computers.
Later editions would eventually replace Music with Expression and Performance, but it is interesting that the writers prioritized musical talent higher than other forms of artistic expression.Finally, we have Disciplines, the supernatural powers of vampires. Most of the basics are covered (domination, shapechanging, heightened senses, etc). Interestingly, we also have a form of blood magic, called Thaumaturgy, which, along with the clan that utilizes it, the Tremere, ties the game subtly to Ars Magica, which White Wolf published for a time (one of many publishersArs Magica is notable for having changed hands the most times, about once per edition, of which there are five at last count).Chapter Five covers character development. Specifically, we have experience points. Unlike other games where a character gains levels incrementally, experience points in this game can be spent to raise most traits or buy new traits. The chapter also covers the most important element of a vampire’s existence, blood, which the vampire uses to fuel both its unliving existence and its various disciplines.
Vampire The Masquerade Revised Pdf
Injury and healing are covered, followed by various mental states, such as frenzy (uncontrollable bloodlust or fear caused by things like sunlightno sparkling here), derangements, and the loss of humanity.Chapter Six focuses on the structure of a story and the various “scenes” that make up a story, as well as systems for resolving various actions (including combat).