RolePlay onLine RPoL Logo

, welcome to Game Proposals, Input, and Advice

12:01, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Vampire without the masquerade...

Posted by Piestar
Piestar
member, 874 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Sun 2 May 2021
at 08:00
  • msg #1

Vampire without the masquerade...

Hey, just looking for suggestions and recommendation for the best vampire system that isn't the Masquerade.

I've only played a few games in that system, but there is little sense of being a vampire in it, it is all about the politics and the battles between the houses and other groups. Is there a decent system where you just get to be a Vampire?
Alyse
member, 735 posts
Pretty, witty, and gay
[married since 2011!]
Sun 2 May 2021
at 08:33
  • msg #2

Vampire without the masquerade...

What do you mean by 'just get to be a vampire'... you want to play a blood-sucking fiend that feeds on people like they are cattle? Maybe look for a Sabbat game, if you like the VTM mechanics well enough. Otherwise, you have a number of options: Angel, Ghastly Affair, The Dawnline, Thousand Year Old Vampire, Undying, Victorian Gothic...
Ramidel
member, 1385 posts
Err on the side
of awesome.
Sun 2 May 2021
at 08:38
  • msg #3

Vampire without the masquerade...

CJ Carella's Witchcraft has Vampyre rules in the Mystery Codex. You need to take a disadvantage to suck blood, though.
This message was last edited by the user at 08:39, Sun 02 May 2021.
Piestar
member, 875 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Sun 2 May 2021
at 08:41
  • msg #4

Vampire without the masquerade...

In reply to Alyse



I was hoping for a little bit more than just a list of names. Have you played all of those? Which one left you feeling the most like a vampire? Not looking for the opportunity to be more evil, but to spend less time doing the bidding of others, feeling more like a cursed being and less like a super-powered member of a huge army. More like a Hammer film and less like Underworld. And not at all like Twilight, please.
nauthiz
subscriber, 716 posts
Sun 2 May 2021
at 10:44
  • msg #5

Vampire without the masquerade...

Are you looking for strictly a rule set or a setting as well?

Mainly asking as the various flavors of Masquerade and its derivatives/affiliations can be used to play up the "personal horror" aspect mechanically if the decision is made to go that route.  The aspects you're looking to get away from are all mostly setting derived.
Piestar
member, 876 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Sun 2 May 2021
at 10:54
  • msg #6

Vampire without the masquerade...

In reply to nauthiz (msg # 5):

For one thing, I would like the more traditional set of vampire powers and weaknesses. So I think that would be system. But I would like it to come with a good setting as well. Urban, but the time period is open, Victorian could be fun, so could the 1920's, or even modern day.
Alyse
member, 738 posts
Pretty, witty, and gay
[married since 2011!]
Sun 2 May 2021
at 11:03
  • msg #7

Vampire without the masquerade...

In reply to Piestar (msg # 4):

If you want to feel the most like a vampire, try Thousand Year Old Vampire. By way of caveat, this is a journaling game meant to be played solo. Very atmospheric, just not roleplaying per se. Undying would be my next choice, but you would hate it. Think of it as the bastard love-child of VTM and Apocalypse World. All the social aspects of VTM but with sharper edges and harder choices. Very dark, very intense. Monsterhearts is PBTA like Undying. It has a vampire playbook but is not specifically about vampires. An excellent game regardless, one I recommend. I have played neither Angel nor The Dawnline, but watched the Angel and Vampire Hunter D series which inspired them. Both are about vampires who combat otherworldly forces in defense of humankind, even as they struggle with their cursed existences. Ghastly Affair and Victorian Gothic are both games of period horror not built around playing vampires. Easily done in either, mind you, and most closely inspired by the Nineteenth Century stories by Polidori, Le Fanu, and Stoker.
Piestar
member, 877 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Sun 2 May 2021
at 11:06
  • msg #8

Vampire without the masquerade...

In reply to Alyse (msg # 7):

Wow, thank you, lots of good info there.

To be clear, I don't hate V:TM, it's just not the experience I am looking for at the moment.

Thousand Year Old Vampire sounds intriguing, I will certainly have to look it up. If you have the time, could you give me a bit more info on what a journalism game is though?

I will check out Ghastly and Victorian as well, just to see what they offer.
Piestar
member, 878 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Sun 2 May 2021
at 11:33
  • msg #9

Vampire without the masquerade...

Checked out a YouTube video on TYoV, and it sounds really cool. Considering buying it. I can't help but wonder if it couldn't be folded into sort of roleplaying game, where the players don't interact, but you can read each others stories. Then again, it sounds like it could go to some very dark places.
Alyse
member, 739 posts
Pretty, witty, and gay
[married since 2011!]
Sun 2 May 2021
at 11:57
  • msg #10

Vampire without the masquerade...

In reply to Piestar (msg # 9):

You could make TYOV interactive by borrowing the letter-writing conceit of the game De Profundis (another one I recommend). Storylines would be entirely separate for the most part, as each player would be writing about their own character's trials and tribulations, but players could opt to merge them at some point. Still a journaling game, just one with an audience. ^_^
Alyse
member, 740 posts
Pretty, witty, and gay
[married since 2011!]
Sun 2 May 2021
at 12:07
  • msg #11

Vampire without the masquerade...

Quill is another game with a letter-writing conceit, although not entirely freeform like De Profundis. It has several supplements which expand the core premise into other settings and genres. Curiously lacking a vampire setting...
Knight_Vassal
member, 578 posts
Sun 2 May 2021
at 17:08
  • msg #12

Vampire without the masquerade...

In reply to Piestar (msg # 8):

Sounds like the only real issue you are having with V:tM is the Blood powers. Which to be completely fair are based on the stories of vampires from myth. But removing them is easy. It's a rule set it can be changed. Besides the point. I mean properly set D&D works wonders. Tell a GM and help them set the tone of the game leave the details to them.
This message was last edited by the user at 17:16, Sun 02 May 2021.
penne
member, 17 posts
Sun 2 May 2021
at 20:01
  • msg #13

Vampire without the masquerade...

Magpie Games has a free, diceless (PBTA) game called Undying that's about "vampires and their nightly schemes, filled with politics, passion, and predators."  Politics are part of it, but not all of it.

Other PBTA games like Urban Shadows and Monsterhearts also have vampires as player choices (among other supernatural types)--they're not strict vampire games.
This message was last edited by the user at 20:03, Sun 02 May 2021.
jait
member, 448 posts
Sun 2 May 2021
at 22:20
  • msg #14

Vampire without the masquerade...

Dresden Files Accelerated has privisions for playing two different types of vampires:
WHite Court which are emotional vamps, feeding on a specific kind (lust, despair, fear), or Red Court, which is much closer to the traditional vamp setup.   If you're playing by the setting (based on The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher), then there is some internal politics, but it's not necessary nor core to the game.  That'd be entirely up to you and the GM to work out.  Of course, in that setting, the vamps are typically the bad guys.

If you're playing out of Butcher's setting, then there's all sorts of leeway to play, and the system is very customizable for character-creation, meaning that you could make it as traditional or outside of traditional bounds as you might wish.
Dirigible
member, 239 posts
Sun 2 May 2021
at 22:33
  • msg #15

Re: Vampire without the masquerade...

Piestar:
For one thing, I would like the more traditional set of vampire powers and weaknesses.


I'm curious about this, as I'm working on a homebrew vampire RPG system and setting myself. VtM has every ability ever associated with vampires in myth or fiction, and then some. Is it that each individual character only has easy access to a small subset of them you don't like? And similarly, that each clan only has one signature weakness?
steelsmiter
member, 2139 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Sun 2 May 2021
at 22:49
  • msg #16

Vampire without the masquerade...

Later BESM games?
Sign In