V20 - Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition

[ericbsmith]

OK, so I'm a little behind the ball. I haven't followed World of Darkness/White Wolf for a long time. I was disenchanted with nWoD, and by that point I wasn't playing many RPGs anyway. But I cut my teeth on classic Vampire: The Masquerade. While GURPS was the woman I took home and married, V:TM was the one I had a torrid love affair with in my youth.

So here I am a couple months ago scoping eBay, having decided to pick up a few of the old V:TM supplements. I bought a couple book lots and started reading through all the old Clan Books, and was utterly enjoying them. Then I stumble across the (apparently old) news that to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the original V:TM White Wolf is releasing a new revision of the classic V:TM main book. This new revision, colloquially called V20, is over 500 pages long and includes all the information from the main Clans, Bloodlines, Disciplines, and rules necessary to play the game; it basically crams the old main book, players guide, and tons of tidbits from other books between it's covers. It is truly a new Revision of the rules, having gone through an open playtest on their website, with lots of input from fans as they developed the V20 main book. The rules are, however, quite similar to 2nd Edition Revised, with few major changes from there. Somehow I managed to miss all this news over the last year...

So, instantly I'm sold. Just as I'm starting to get back into the WoD the PDF of the new book became available at DriveThruRPG for only $30. Further, after poking around I found that the initial limited edition pre-order release is available through White Wolf's website - at $125 including shipping it's a bit steep, but for the nostalgia alone I couldn't resist buying both. The Limited Edition hardback is only available in limited quantities and will only be available through the 14th, so if you think you might want one you'd better make up your mind with due Celerity. While a PoD may be available through DriveThruRPG starting sometime in November, it just won't be the same.

Having gone through the PDF I'm quite happy with the revision. The artwork, as always, is gorgeous. The rules updates seem logical; the addition of all the sects, clans, bloodlines, and disciplines in one book is very nice indeed. I can't wait to get my hands on the printed book.

[whswhs]

That's not of direct interest to me, as I never found Vampire an appealing game in any incarnation. But I hope it sells well to all the people whose tastes differ, as that might encourage them to bring out a daikaiju-sized reissue of Mage: The Ascension.

Bill Stoddard

[Lord Carnifex]

Geez... 20 years?

I managed to miss the anniversary release, too. While I have fond memories of V:tM, I think I'll be giving this a pass. I've already got all of it! Well, not the new rules revisions, but I've managed to cobble together a mechanical system that chugs along. It's kind of the RPG equivalent of a helicopter: not so much a complete system as a number of parts flying in formation.

However, I think this is a monument to the effect that Vampire:the Masquerade had on the American gothic subculture and vampire lore. Before Stephanie Meyer and even Joss Whedon, there was Mark Rein-Hagen. His contributions to pop counter culture are often overlooked but hard to overstate.

And here I was thinking if I could make a game out of some melding of V:tM's Sabat with Repo! The Genetic Opera. A worldwide plague of organ failure? Custom organs transplanted overcoming human frailty? This has Tzimsche manipulator prints all over it...

[Ed the Coastie]

I never really got into WoD; I enjoyed playing it, but I couldn't really identify with it like I could GURPS or pre-3e D&D or even Twilight 2000. On the other tentacle, I do like using elements from it in my GURPS games.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

OK, so I'm a little behind the ball. I haven't followed World of Darkness/White Wolf for a long time. I was disenchanted with nWoD, and by that point I wasn't playing many RPGs anyway. But I cut my teeth on classic Vampire: The Masquerade. While GURPS was the woman I took home and married, V:TM was the one I had a torrid love affair with in my youth.

Can I just Me Too this entire paragraph? That really sums it up.

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

Then I stumble across the (apparently old) news that to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the original V:TM White Wolf is releasing a new revision of the classic V:TM main book.

Well, it's new news to me. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

Geez... 20 years?

I know, right? My first thought was, "That can't be when I was crazy about oWoD, because 20 years ago I was only... 13. Oh, yeah."

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

I managed to miss the anniversary release, too. While I have fond memories of V:tM, I think I'll be giving this a pass. I've already got all of it! Well, not the new rules revisions, but I've managed to cobble together a mechanical system that chugs along. It's kind of the RPG equivalent of a helicopter: not so much a complete system as a number of parts flying in formation.

Yeah, anybody who doesn't have a stack of house rules to make the oWoD mechanics function hasn't actually run oWoD.

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

However, I think this is a monument to the effect that Vampire:the Masquerade had on the American gothic subculture and vampire lore. Before Stephanie Meyer and even Joss Whedon, there was Mark Rein-Hagen. His contributions to pop counter culture are often overlooked but hard to overstate.

MR*H did not invent much from his own imagination IMHO, and I wouldn't be too quick to hand him more credit than Anne Rice and the various films of the 80s for the pop cultural environment that was able to spawn Buffy and Twilight, but he was a master of two things: assembling diverse elements of existing folklore into a very cool and appealing package (up there with Neil Gaiman in that regard, IMHO), and in tapping the Gen-X / Teen Angst "I'm the coolest but other people suck" zeitgeist without being completely off-putting (to some, at least) about it.

[aesir23]

I remember loving Vampire when I bought it as a high school freshman. I read it over and over again.

I was a burgeoning goth but already a dedicated GURPS player. The atmosphere of the book and the world they created definitely touched on something I was looking for, but the gameplay fell flat.

I'd be sorely tempted by this book if i wasn't a poor grad student who can barely afford a weekly trip to the budget theatre. (Two Dollar Tuesdays!)

[zorg]

Thanks for the pointer, added to my "Want to Buy" list.

[combatmedic]

I played it, back in the Nineties.

I liked the emphasis on roleplaying evident in the early books, and I enjoyed the political aspects of the game. I was never a fan of the 'Vampires are tragically hip' element of the game, though.

[RevBob]

I'm torn on this one. On the one hand, my first GMing experience was as a VtM Storyteller, and I bought the first printing of the original edition when it hit store shelves. Aside from nostalgia, I still have quite a bit of affection for the game, at least as it was before the Third "the metaplot advances and screws up your game" Edition came out.

On the other hand, I have no idea where most of my books are now, the odds of me assembling or joining a new game are between slim and none, and the book's over a hundred bucks. Yes, it's 500+ pages, and I understand full well that that's a reasonable price point for a book of that size...but it's still over a C-note. Ouch.

Nostalgia goes a long way, and this is certainly a product I'd want in physical form rather than electronic...but that's a lot of cash.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by RevBob

Nostalgia goes a long way, and this is certainly a product I'd want in physical form rather than electronic...but that's a lot of cash.

If you want it mostly for the nostalgia, the PDF is still very nice, and a steal at $30. There's also going to be a POD version available through DriveThruRPG come mid-November; it may or may not be cheaper than the pre-order version which is currently available. From what I read the POD may be B&W and/or split into two separate volumes and/or soft cover, all to reduce cost. However, I never found any solid facts on what the POD will be. The only thing I know for sure is that if you want a full color single volume hardback the only way to guarantee it is to get your hands on the pre-order.