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Vampire: The Masquerade, AKA VtM, is a table-top role-playing game that goes all in on storytelling. It is set in the World of Darkness universe, shared with other games such as Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension. Here, vampires secretly rule the world. Unlike many of the most popular role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, VtM was created relatively recently in the 1990s, which explains its different rules and setting, as well as its adult themes.
In keeping with traditional table-top RPGs, Vampire: The Masquerade uses a paper rulebook, the first edition of which was published in 1991 by White Wolf Publishing. Created by Mark Rein-Hagen, VtM is based on the Storyteller System, which uses ten-sided dice (d10) to determine the outcomes of characters’ actions. Characters themselves are built with points that represent specific attributes and skills.
Over the past 30 years, Vampire: The Masquerade has developed into something of a pop culture phenomenon, spawning spin-offs from card and video games to comics, TV shows and novels.
Where it all started: the story behind Vampire: The Masquerade
The beginning of the 1990s saw a new trend emerge in role-playing games: a move away from pure fantasy towards so-called dark sci-fi. Notable examples include Morpheus, a game set in a virtual-reality simulation, and Reich Star, which re-imagines the Third Reich in space.
It was against this backdrop that Mark Rein-Hagen created Vampire: The Masquerade, with a setting partly inspired by the urban decay that blighted the city of Gary, Indiana. While traditional table-top RPGs had gamers play valiant heroes fighting malevolent monsters, with VtM Rein-Hagen flipped this on its head: the game allowed players to step into the shoes of the baddies and centred the narrative on power struggles and intrigue among vampires themselves. It was a revolutionary idea that let players explore what it means to be creatures in whom predatory impulses and vestigial humanity are in constant conflict.
In the game, vampires must maintain the “Masquerade”, a law that forbids them from revealing their existence to humans. It’s a concept that makes gameplay more interesting by forcing players to act more strategically rather than simply relying on their supernatural powers.
There are 15 main vampire clans, each possessing specific abilities and affiliations with different sects. The clan a character belongs to influences their powers, as well as their interactions with the world around them.
An innovative approach is also taken when it comes to gameplay, which is focused less on combat and loot, and more on storytelling and character development. This, together with the game’s richly detailed world and the evocative accompanying illustrations by Tim Bradstreet, help explain the first edition’s success.
How to play Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game that is heavily based on storytelling. As with all table-top RPGs, you first need to get together a group of players, each of whom will play a specific role in the game.
- One person takes on the role of storyteller, known as the “Master” in the game: they devise the plot, describe the setting and control the non-player characters (NPCs), while also maintaining the game’s atmosphere and ensuring that every player contributes to the story.
- All the other participants are players (the ideal number is 4 or 5 per game) and each assumes the role of a character.
Next, each character’s clan and attributes are decided, along with their backstory, motivations and inner battle between their humanity and the Beast. Indeed, in Vampire: The Masquerade, each vampire must grapple with their inner Beast, a primal instinct that threatens to overwhelm them. To do so, they follow a moral code called the Paths of Enlightenment.
Game mechanics are based on the Storyteller System, which uses d10 dice rolls to decide the outcomes of interactions and conflicts between characters. It’s a system that encourages players to inhabit their characters and help tell their stories.
Unlike other role-playing games, there are no character classes: each person has their own backstory, personality and characteristics. And players don’t embark on epic adventures or battle a common enemy. Rather, Vampire: The Masquerade focuses on players’ theatricality and storytelling.
In addition to a master to tell the story and people to play the characters, the following are essential for a game of VtM:
- The Core Rulebook: now on its fifth edition, this book contains the rules, game mechanics and clan information. It’s used by players to create their characters and by the Master to tell the story.
- There are also so-called “faction books”, like Camarilla and Anarch, but these sourcebooks are optional supplements.
Newbies can download a free quickstart. This gives you a ready-made players and plot so you can dive straight into Vampire: The Masquerade, and start exploring its themes of power, morality and inner conflict.
Every edition of Vampire: The Masquerade
To date, five editions of the VtM core rulebook have been published by White Wolf Publishing since 1991. A series of official supplementary source books have also been released, not to mention a slew of unofficial fan-made scenarios. Here are the five official editions:
1. First Edition – 1991
The first edition of Vampire: The Masquerade was published in 1991 in paperback. It introduces the World of Darkness, the Storyteller System and the innovative idea of internal conflict between the evil urges that vampires must satisfy to survive and the desire to hold on to their humanity. It also explains the vampire clans, traditions and the concept of the Masquerade.
2. Second Edition – 1992
The second edition makes some changes to the original rules, adding new options for creating characters and generally improving the gameplay system. It also expands the World of Darkness by adding new clans and details about different factions.
3. Revised Edition – 1998
The year 1998 saw a major revision of the game mechanics to emphasise characters’ inner turmoil. The book included details of every clan and introduced new rules for managing interactions between characters.
4. 20th Anniversary Edition – 2011
To mark VtM’s 20th anniversary, a special edition was released that brought together all the content from previous editions. It also introduced new game mechanics and rules to make VtM more accessible to new players.
5. Fifth Edition – 2018
The fifth and latest edition tweaked the rules, improved the illustrations and introduced modern game mechanics. It returned to the original atmosphere of Vampire: The Masquerade, while introducing new game mechanics to aid storytelling and make the game more accessible to newbies and veterans alike.
What’s inside Vampire: The Masquerade rulebooks?
Published in 2018, the fifth edition of the Vampire: The Masquerade core rulebook is a premium-quality publication designed for frequent consultation. It has the following specifications:
- It’s a hardback
- It’s large format, measuring 22 x 28.7 cm
- It has 432 pages, all of which are printed in full colour on gloss paper and feature stunning illustrations
As for the page layout, aside from the initial story, there are:
- Pages with two columns
- Pages with three columns
Each column consists mainly of text, interrupted here and there by sidebars and tables about rules, items and characters.
The book begins with an introduction to the World of Darkness and sets the scene for the game.
Then comes an overview of the different clans before we get to the character creation pages.
It’s packed with illustrations in an eye-catching gothic style. Images are often full bleed and some even take up the whole page.
That wraps up our guide to Vampire: The Masquerade, the iconic table-top RPG whose storytelling focus and innovative rules captured the imaginations of generations of gamers.
We hope we’ve inspired readers to have a go at creating their own role-playing games. You never know, perhaps one of them will re-write the rules once again.
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