This is the second edition of Vampire: The Masquerade (1992). First off, check out how fundamentally different the cover art is from everything else that was on the market at the time. VtM enjoyed huge success in the 90s, thanks in part to its appeal with an audience outside traditional TTRPG players. I think the cover does a lot to signal what VtM is about.

Which is: Vampires. A complex, world-spanning society of vampires existing in the shadows of our world. Players take the role of young vampires – that is, less than a century old – and attempt to find a place in a world dominated by antediluvian forces while dealing with their own appetites.  There is a lot of angst, maybe a little bad poetry and the game generally takes thematic cues from the post-punk and goth bands on the late 70s and 80s. Surprising fact: White Wolf trademarked the term “Gothic-Punk.”    

It is a narrative focused game – the Storyteller system is light and easy to grasp. Games seem to take one of two paths – ones that focus on the day to day unlife of the players, or ones that dive headfirst into the vast web of politic machinations of the thirteen clans, their derivative bloodlines and the countless secret societies and factions. If you like lore, VtM has got you covered with its massive metaplot.

Honestly, Vampire never had much appeal to me as a game to play. It seems naturally inclined to soap opera style stories of high melodrama, which isn’t for me (just hearing about the local VtM LARP group’s corny antics in the 90s was enough to put me off for life). But reading Vampire’s lore is something else entirely. I am not one to get lost in lore, but VtM, with its endless splatbooks, struck upon a formula for lore that I don’t think has been matched since. Its crazy and intricate and stretches back to the dawn of humanity. It hews close to our expectations while also radically reimagining vampires. Although we’re talking about history that spans millennia, still manages to strike the tone of a catty gossip session.