Vampire: The Masquerade is a tabletop role-playing game (tabletop RPG), created by Mark Rein-Hagen and released in 1991 by White Wolf Publishing, as the first of several Storyteller System games for its World of Darkness setting line. It is set in a fictionalized "gothic-punk" version of the modern world, where players assume the role of vampires, referred to as Kindred or Cainites, who struggle against their own bestial natures, vampire hunters, and each other.

Several associated products were produced based on Vampire: The Masquerade, including live-action role-playing games (Mind's Eye Theatre), dice, collectible card games (The Eternal Struggle), video games (Redemption, Bloodlines, Swansong, Bloodlines 2 and Bloodhunt), and numerous novels. In 1996, a short-lived television show loosely based on the game, Kindred: The Embraced, was produced by Aaron Spelling for the Fox Broadcasting Company.

Development

Vampire was inspired by role-playing games (RPGs) such as Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, and Nightlife, as well as the writings of Joseph Campbell and vampire films such as The Lost Boys. Rein-Hagen felt that hunting vampires would get boring as a game premise, so he came up with the idea of a game wherein the players played vampires instead of hunting them. Rein-Hagen said he purposefully did not read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles until "very late" in the development process but admitted she was probably an influence on the vampire films that inspired the game.

Vampire was conceived as a dark urban fantasy game, with a gothic feel similar to TSR's Ravenloft. It would also be the first of a series of linked games sharing the same game world. Shannon Appelcline suggests that its visual style was considered striking at the time – its simple cover featured a photo of a rose on green marble. The game also focused on plots, intrigue, and character as opposed to more straightforward dungeon scenarios. While the RPG industry in general had been trending towards a more narrative approach, Vampire is considered one of the first mainstream games to focus on these elements. In mid-2010, White Wolf switched exclusively to a print-on-demand model via online role playing game store DriveThruRPG, starting with a number of formerly out of print Vampire: The Masquerade books and gradually making more titles available as they were ready for print. After White Wolf ceased publishing books directly, the licences to its tabletop roleplaying games, including Vampire, were transferred to Onyx Path Publishing, founded by former White Wolf Art Director Rich Thomas.

Fifth edition

In August 2015, Onyx Path Publishing announced its intention to create a fourth edition of Vampire. Two months later, Paradox Interactive purchased White Wolf and all of its intellectual properties from CCP Games. It was announced that White Wolf would move ahead with a new edition of the game instead of Onyx Path, and White Wolf would remain a subsidiary of Paradox Interactive. With game designer Kenneth Hite as lead developer, Vampire: The Masquerade, Fifth Edition (also known as V5) was subsequently released in early 2018. It was distributed by Modiphius Entertainment, with production of supplements licensed to multiple publishers, including Modiphius and Onyx Path. After the release of the Anarch sourcebook in November 2018, Paradox Interactive announced it would no longer allow White Wolf to develop the series in-house due to references in the sourcebook to the anti-gay purges in Chechnya and other controversies surrounding White Wolf. In December 2018, Paradox announced that Modiphius Entertainment would continue the development of the series with final approval by Paradox Interactive.

In November 2020, Paradox Interactive announced that Renegade Game Studios would become the publishing partner for the entire World of Darkness brand and they would release all future Vampire: The Masquerade products. The company also announced it would bring IP development back in-house under the World of Darkness team, V5 was released on Roll20 in June 2021. The online toolset World of Darkness Nexus, which supports Vampire: The Masquerade and other games in the series, was launched in June 2022. Nexus includes bundles of both physical and digital game products, and contains a rules and lore compendium, character creation and management tools, matchmaking, and video chat functionality.

Gameplay

Concept

The game uses the vampiric condition as a backdrop to explore themes of morality, the human condition, salvation, and personal horror. The setting is a gloomy and exaggerated version of the real world in which vampires and other monsters exist, called the World of Darkness. Other tropes or weaknesses are described as mere legends or superstitions, such as a vampire's victim becoming a vampire simply from a bite. There is a system of merits and flaws that allow these other folkloric weaknesses and characteristics to come into play. A vampire's vitae can be fed to others to inspire false feelings of love and obsession, creating a dependency called the Blood Bond. In most cases, a victim must drink three times from the same vampire on three separate nights to become bonded to them. Once bonded, the victim feels a twisted sort of love for the vampire and they become the most important person in their life. The victim also becomes more susceptible to mind control by that vampire and are willing to do anything, even risk their own life, to aid them. Mortals, animals, and even other vampires may also be bound. The Sabbat practice a form of group blood bonding called the Vaulderie, which inspires loyalty among the sect. It will also instantly break conventional blood bonds if performed correctly by a trained vampire, typically a Pack Priest. Blood bonds can usually only be negated with time and effort, depending on how strong the bond is and whether the victim can avoid the vampire for long enough. These myths are collected in an in-game document of dubious reliability known as the Book of Nod. Those who study the mythical vampire origins are called Noddists. Noddists claim Caine will return at the end of time to judge his descendants: the Antediluvians and all vampires descended from them. This event is known as Gehenna, the end of all vampires. Others claim that Gehenna is simply the awakening of the Antediluvians who have returned to feed on the blood of their descendants.

Society

thumb|150px|left|A diagram of the [[genealogy of the Assamites]]

Vampires in the World of Darkness have a complex and diverse secret society with a range of ideologies, goals, and backgrounds. Sects largely divide along ideological disputes surrounding the distribution of power among vampires, the role of vampires in the human world, and the ancient myths that allegedly explain the origins and purpose of vampires.

Age

An important means of social distinction among vampires in this setting is through age. Younger vampires wanting respect and power must prove themselves to their elders. While ambition can provide a degree of upward mobility among immortals, oftentimes respect comes to those who can prove they can survive.

  • Gangrel: The Gangrel are animalistic shape-shifters who shun the cities for the wilderness beyond. They prefer to run with wild animals rather than play politics with others of their kind. When Gangrel frenzy, they resemble the Beast, taking on animal features. Gangrel are one of the founding clans of the Camarilla, although their leadership officially became independent at the end of the 1990s. Some Gangrel remain in the Camarilla while others are found in the Anarchs.
  • Lasombra: Historically associated with religion and rulership, the Lasombra see power over others and themselves as their noblesse oblige. As one of the two founding clans of the Sabbat, they gained notoriety for allegedly destroying their Antediluvian founder. They control shadows and study the Abyss, and they do not appear in mirrors.
  • Malkavian: The Malkavians are lunatics whose madness grants them strange insights. Their Discipline of Dementation allows them to spread their insanity like a plague, but they are respected for their oracular abilities. They appear connected to a hive-mind they call the Malkavian Madness Network, and are one of the founding clans of the Camarilla.
  • Nosferatu: At the Embrace, every Nosferatu turns into a hideous monster, forcing them to dwell in the shadows. Their place on the margins inspires the clan to present a unified front, and their stealth allows them to learn (and trade) secrets others would rather keep hidden. Prior to Fifth Edition, this included maintaining the vampire "internet", ShreckNet. They are one of the founding members of the Camarilla. Martin Wixted reviewed Vampire: The Masquerade in White Wolf #29 (October/November 1991), rating it 5 out of 5, and said: "Vampire: The Masquerade is a game which will leave you thirsting for campaign-style play. Its character development elements are particularly rich and satisfying over a period of extended adventuring. But with pregenerated characters and the possibility for mayhem that the power of a vampire persona offers, don't forget to try a simple night out."

In the November 1991 edition of Dragon (Issue 175), Allen Varney said the production values were unprofessional, including "amateurish" artwork and poor copy-editing. Varney also found the rules lacking in sufficient detail. However, he applauded the wide-ranging campaign advice, saying: "There are whole chapters on how to plot stories, maintain suspense, handle players, and so on." He concluded, "If you're up for a potent and even passionate role-playing experience, look for this game." Steve Crow reviewed Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd edition) in White Wolf #34 (January/February 1993), rating it 5 out of 5, and said: "The layout has been cleaned up, the text is crisp, clear and fully intact from the original, and the MOOD! Yow!"

In a 1996 reader poll by Arcane magazine, Vampire: The Masquerade was ranked 6th on a list of the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time. Editor Paul Pettengale said that, although it had a tendency to take itself a little too seriously, Vampire success was due to "the continuing appeal of the vampire itself, and to the structure and design of the game". He said that while the game was often hard to get right, "it can be an immensely interesting and thought-provoking game, and one of the most effective horror RPGs around" with the right group.

Scott Taylor for Black Gate in 2013 rated Vampire: The Masquerade as #10 in the top ten role-playing games of all time, saying, "I don't like vampires, be they shiny or horrific, this game has to be given its props as it propelled White Wolf into a full-fledged gaming company when gaming companies were in the process of dying in droves."

Awards

  • In 1992, Vampire: The Masquerade won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1991.
  • In 1993, the second edition of Vampire: The Masquerade won Casus Belli awards for the best role-playing game of 1992, and for the best French translation of a role-playing game of 1992
  • In 2007, the game was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame.
  • In 2019, the 5th edition of Vampire: The Masquerade won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game of the Year and won the Origins Fan Favorite Award. It is the "second RPG to win Best-Roleplaying Game twice".
  • In 2023, interactive novel Vampire: The Masquerade – Sins of the Sires by Natalia Theodoridou was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing.

Reviews

  • Shadis #9
  • Shadis #29
  • Dragão Brasil #1 (1994) (Portuguese)
  • Dosdediez (no. 7 – February/March 1995)
  • Realms of Fantasy

Tie-ins and adaptations

RPG adaptions and spinoffs

  • Steve Jackson Games published an adaptation of Vampire: The Masquerade using their popular GURPS generic table-top roleplaying system. They followed this book up with a supplement called GURPS: Vampire Companion. Both books were produced for use with the Third Edition of the GURPS rules and are no longer in print. The Steve Jackson company also produced GURPS conversions of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Mage: The Ascension.
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, Changeling: The Dreaming, Hunter: The Reckoning, Mummy: The Resurrection, Kindred of the East, and Demon: The Fallen are other RPG titles set in the Old World of Darkness, a setting which Vampire: The Masquerade first established.
  • Vampire: The Requiem is a spiritual successor to the game, introduced when the original game was ended in 2004. Although it is an entirely new game, it uses many elements of the old game, including many clan and discipline names and a modified version of the Storyteller rules system called Storytelling system. At the White Wolf Camarilla meeting in October 2009 it was decided to re-support the Storyteller games both in the official Camarilla fan club and outside to Table Top players.
  • Under the title Mind's Eye Theatre: The Masquerade White Wolf also provided a live action role-playing game in the same setting, using their Mind's Eye Theatre system.

Non-roleplaying tabletop games

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (first published 1994 as Jyhad), a traditional collectible card game based on Vampire, was produced by Wizards of the Coast and later by White Wolf. It is currently produced by Black Chantry, a company founded solely for this purpose, under license by Paradox Interactive, by republishing old cards and making minor balancing adjustments to the rules or card texts. The relaunch by Black Chantry changes the mode of distribution by scrapping booster packs in favor of non-randomized precompiled card sets. A fifth edition was released in 2020.

In 2020, Paradox licensed the setting to several game production companies, leading to multiple Kickstarter campaigns.

  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Rivals is a re-interpretation of The Eternal Struggle, changing and simplifying some of the rules. It is produced by Renegade Game Studios and is marketed as an 'expandable card game', rather than a traditional trading card game. The initial boxed release included decks for four players as well as one set of "city" cards, which are used by all players equally. This moves the game closer to a traditional board game where the city cards are required to play, as opposed to a traditional TCG, where any two players owning a deck can duel each other.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage is a legacy board game in which players control a clan vying over control for a span of 600 years.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters is a board game using miniatures which follows a story campaign, trying to emulate the experience of an RPG campaign without the need for a Storyteller (i.e. game master).
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Vendetta is a card-based strategy game about controlling territory in Chicago.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Blood Feud is a board game for up to 32 players which requires a Storyteller.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Prince's Gambit is a card-based game in which part of the players form a hostile faction whose membership is unknown, similar to the Werewolf or Mafia party games.
  • Blood Points accessory by Shield Games were small glass beads to help player keep track of their powers in Vampire and Jyhad.

Video games

  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, a video game based upon the Vampire milieu, developed by Nihilistic Software and published in 2000 by Activision.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Developed by Troika Games and published by Activision in 2004, it uses Valve<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Source engine. A sequel, Bloodlines 2, was released in 2025.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York is a video game by Draw Distance, released in 2019 for Windows PC, and 2020 for other platforms. A sequel, Shadows of New York, was released in 2020.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade, a line of interactive fiction titles developed by Choice of Games from 2020 to 2022.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt, a video game is a free-to-play battle royale game developed and published by Swedish developer Sharkmob. It was published on April 27, 2022.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a role-playing video game developed by Big Bad Wolf, released in 2022 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice, a virtual reality game was released on November 2, 2023.

Novels and comics

  • Moonstone Books published a series of comic book adaptations of Vampire: The Masquerade beginning in 2001 which are now hard to find, but some of them made it into DriveThruRPG's Print on Demand service.
  • There have been multiple novels published, the most extensive one being the so-called 'Clan Novels', which came in a current time and a medieval series.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade is an ongoing horror comic book published by Vault Comics since 2020.
  • World of Darkness: Crimson Thaw (2021) is a limited series comic published by Vault Comics. It contains game "material for the fifth edition of the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop [...] allowing gamers to actually play the events of the series in their own games".

Television, web series and other media

  • Kindred: The Embraced, a 1996 television series based on Vampire, was produced by Aaron Spelling.
  • A compilation album, called Music from the Succubus Club, was released by Dancing Ferret Discs to serve as a soundtrack for the Vampire RPG.
  • L.A. by Night (2018) is an actual play web series using the Fifth Edition of Vampire, led by Jason Carl as the storyteller, which premiered in September 2018. The cast includes regular members B. Dave Walters, Cynthia Marie, Alexander Ward, Erika Ishii, Xander Jeanneret, and Josephine McAdam. The first three seasons were distributed by Geek & Sundry, but the fourth season onwards was hosted on World of Darkness' channels.
  • ' (2019) is an actual play web series and podcast, distributed by Penny Arcade, using the Fifth Edition of Vampire, led by Jason Carl as the Storyteller, which premiered in November 2019. The second season premiered in 2023 and starred Krahulik, Bhullar, Holkins and Luis Carazo. It is also a prequel to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (2025).
  • Vein Pursuit (2020) is an actual play web series, distributed on the official World of Darkness' channels, using the Fifth Edition of Vampire. It premiered in January 2020. Karim Muammar acts as Storyteller and the show features various Paradox Interactive and Hardsuit Labs employees who play as a group of "incompetent Anarch envoys trying to drive from L.A. to Seattle to back up a courier". The events of the show precede the video game Bloodlines 2.
  • NY by Night (2022) is an actual play web series using the Fifth Edition of Vampire, led by Jason Carl as the storyteller, which premiered in July 2022. It acts as a sequel to L.A. by Night (2018). Before the premiere, World of Darkness announced the planned structure of the first three seasons. The first season focuses on four Anarchs, played by Alexander Ward, Mayanna Beren, Aabria Iyengar, Joey Rassool, who chafe under the Camarilla's rules. Season two focuses on Camarilla Kindred maintaining their power in the city. Season three was described as bringing these parallel storylines together as the two coteries collide. However, the filming of the third season has been delayed. In 2025, some members of the cast formed the Project Ghostlight group to create their own independent and non-official World of Darkness actual plays. In December 2025, Carl left Paradox.
  • Dimension 20: City Council of Darkness (2026) is an actual play web series using Vampire and produced in partnership by Dropout and White Wolf. It features Brennan Lee Mulligan as the storyteller with Brian Murphy, Ally Beardsley, Siobhan Thompson, Zac Oyama, Emily Axford, and Lou Wilson as players. It focuses on a group of outcast vampires who are forced to manage the local government in the small town of Purpee, Oregon.

Citations

General references

  • Justin Achilli, Clanbook: Cappadocian, White Wolf Game Studio, 1997,
  • Justin Achilli et al., Guide to the Sabbat, White Wolf Game Studio, 1999,
  • Justin Achilli, Clanbook: Giovanni by White Wolf Game Studio) (1997)
  • Justin Achilli et al., Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom, White Wolf Game Studio, 2003,
  • Achilli, Justin. Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Edition. White Wolf Game Studio, 1998. .
  • Steven C. Brown & Jeff Starling, The Players Guide to the Sabbat, White Wolf Game Studio, 1995,
  • Steven C. Brown & Ken Meyer, The Storytellers Handbook to the Sabbat, White Wolf Game Studio, 1995,
  • Andrew Greenberg, Vampire Players Guide, White Wolf Game Studio, 1993,
  • Robert Hatch et al., A World of Darkness (Second Edition), White Wolf Game Studio, 1996,
  • James A. Moore et al., Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy, White Wolf Game Studio, 2000,
  • Dean Shomshak & Ari Marmell, Blood Sacrifice: The Thaumaturgy Companion, (White Wolf Game Studio, 2002,
  • Sven Skoog & Lucien Soulban, Clanbook: Baali, White Wolf Game Studio, 1998,
  • Lucien Soulban & James Stewart et al., Clanbook: Tzimisce, White Wolf Game Studio, 2001,
  • White Wolf Publishing, Children of the Night, White Wolf Game Studio, 1999,
  • White Wolf Publishing et al., Vampire Storytellers Handbook, White Wolf Game Studio, 2000,
  • White Wolf Games Studio et al., Vampire Storytellers Companion White Wolf Game Studio, 1998,
  • www.white-wolf.com

Further reading

  • Official wiki