Blog update after summer break

It Was A Lightning

My summer break in internet use started in early summer. The last lightning strike of one of the first thunder storms burned my modem and part of my computer's motherboard. I had some difficulties to get a new modem (and computer parts, but that's another story) but fortunately one kind soul and fellow gamer friend helped me out.

But when I got internet running after a small break I decided that I will reduce my computer time this summer. And that's what I did. Maybe I should have announced it. There were times when I was thinking is my blog dead now? But no, it isn't. From this day I start blogging again - or continue it.

So, welcome back. I am happy to see old faces commenting and sharing my posts and I also welcome all the new faces!

Projects Burned

Well, it wasn't only parts of my motherboard what got burned. But also my USB hard-drive. With all my documents and projects (and personal photos and videos). So my projects? Yeah. Nothing left! There's something on Google Drive (should use cloud services to storage important stuff) but nothing major.

So basically everything I've done is lost. I have to start again!

Gosh.

Well, anyways. I had too many projects open anyways so now I will start just one and focus on it. There are few options to choose from what I already had to be re-written or I might start a new one. I'll just have to decide what I want to do first.

Mutant Future Forever

Still playing Mutant Future. It is awesome. One of the best games I've played. Well, there's no setting and the rules are simple but it's really super inspiring and easy to use. I love it. If you don't know what Mutant Future is, go to Goblinoid Games and download free no-art PDF of the full game. Then you can buy it from Drivethru. Go now!

Musing Vampires Not So Masqueraded

I liked Vampire: the Masquerade a lot. And I've played a lot of it. But now the whole game seems so boring. After Mutant Future madness storytelling horror sounds super lame. But I've been thinking about making Vampire more... mythical or dark fairytalish. More vampires. Darker cities. More gothic and punk. More blood, chains, leather and laces. Like 1800 steampunk meets 2020 cyberpunk with Kult (the rpg).

Or maybe I'd use Requiem for that? New game (for me) new tales.

I just need to buy WoD core book, because I don't own it. I have free pdf they shared ages ago printed, but it sucks to use. If I just could get one WoD core for extremely cheap... Well well gotta search for it.

Oh And Google+ And What's Going On

For me Google+ rpg people and communities have been extremely entertaining and informative (thank you G+ rpg people, I love you guys). But haven't been using it for a while. So I don't know what's going on. What's new, what's trending, what you guys have been writing. So now I got tons of things to do to update my social circle wisdom.

Jim Raggi Slow Down!

Dear James, stop publishing so many awesome items. I cannot afford it all. At the moment, anything of it. At the moment one product with limited print of 666 is stressing me out. Because I fucking want it. I want it badly. And I cannot buy it!

Searching your store is both mind tingling and frustrating.

Keep selling those items and -umh well- publishing new ones. I'll buy it all when I got extra cash.

And I like your products in print. PDF are cool, but dead-wood looks so cool on my shelf.

Yours, Thaumiel

Naming characters

For me naming characters is easy when I have time to put thought behind it. But sometimes when I have to come up with names quickly for npcs it can be harder. Sometimes using name generators is not possible or it feels just lame option after you have clicked dozen times and you haven't got any name that you want to use.

Problem with name generators:
It takes time to find a suitable name.

Then I start to look around. Author of the book scrambled or altered is a good option. Or taking a product name to use or alter slightly. One Vampire: the Masquerade sheriff's surname was Crusti. Crusti is a brand of chips, but it sounded like dramatic old European vampire name, and still does. One motorbike driving gang leader Brujah was Heller inspired by Hell's Angels. Heller is actual surname I found out later so it was good and suited him.

There are dozens of names for npcs I have created from different real person names and product names this way.

But name can be also from items or other things. For example Straw McCloud can be a Fading Suns Charioteer pilot (I have a straw next to me and it's been more cloudy than clear summer).

Few examples I do right now using my surroundings.

- Toby Diskos (Tobacco and Diskos sports club pennant)

- Ash Tray (that's lame and obvious but could work)

- Rod Ernest Orwell (Rodeo energy drink)

- Toby Yellow (Yellow table)

- Orlando Trax (X-Tra Orange Cakes)

- Evira Glass (Evira company sticker and glass bottle)

It is easier to create more fantasy type names than realistic names this way. These names could work with scifi or fantasy setting better than modern world. Fantasy names are easier to generate. Just scrabble a lot.

In comments you generate names using these methods!

New oldish games of my choice [OSR]

I never actually played retro games (70's and early 80's) and got interested in OSR and retro clones thanks to RPG Bloggers feed. Then I started to find out what I have missed back then when I didn't like  older Dungeons & Dragons and I realized that I had missed the whole point.

Now my choices for retro are:
- Lamentations Of The Flame Princess for weird and horror fantasy
- Mutant Future for science fantasy and post-apocalypse
- Labyrinth Lord as all around retro-clone for fantasy adventuring

For some reason I didn't like any d20 systems but when I played D&D 3.x I did like the basic simplicity of it. Roll d20 adding bonuses trying to get as high result as the difficulty is that time. I didn't like all the rules because I thought many of them were really unecessary for fun gaming and just did slow play down.

Then how LotFP was advertised and how it looked caught me and I got it. It was a big positive surprise to find out it basically used D&D 3.x system stripped down from all the things what made playing slow. Then I started to dig deeper and liked the idea of Gamma World and found that Mutant Future is now available update of it. I had a change to read almost all the rules of Gamma World first and second edition and found out that Mutant Future is really close to these originals. At first I thought that THAC0 style combat resolution was awkward but realized that it is actually like any other roleplaying system. You just need a table or two to play it. Other rules are really simple. That's why I also downloaded Labyrinth Lord to use in fantasy instead of using D&D 3.x which I only used like 1/5 of the rules.

Also LotFP, MF and LL are really easy for players to adapt. My player isn't really technical so these three games I mentioned are great. You roll your character, fill in the remaining information, buy equipment and are ready to play! No point buys. No character tweaking or optimization, no special rules to know. And it is easy for GM to track player character's capabilities also.

One awesome feature is also how easy rules are to adapt. Character is doing something there are no rules or abilities marked in character sheet? Just roll d20 under ability and apply modifier from -4 to +4 based on the situation. That's easy! You don't need rules to cover everything when you can roll under ability. Or GM can just roll d6 and rule what change something is to happen based on character and situation.

I love how simple retro gaming actually is. For some reason I always thought it is really complicated and roleplaying was more rules than playing and acting it out. Like Raggi has said, it is not important what characters can do but what they do. In OSR it is you the player who decides what his character does instead of checking out your character sheet can your character do it.

Also my player likes retro systems in gameplay. And it's easy for me to say what die she must roll and what number she needs to score. In LotFP I ask her to roll d6 and tell the result if her character finds a trap or in Mutant Future I tell her to roll d20 and add 2 to the result and try to get less than her DEX to climb that roof.

With retro games there is more time for actual story when rules don't take time to figure out for every single die roll.

At first I didn't like the idea of lack of skills for example. But who needs 30 to 100 different skills? You have speech but you cannot barter because you don't have that skill. That's bullshit. In OSR characters always have a change.

Now I feel that I could run every game with ascending or descending AC. It's too much work to convert games though, but the idea is so much better in retro gaming. For example Vampire: the Masquerade claims to be a storytelling game but the rules are clumsy. Vampire: the Requiem (and new World of Darkness) made rules a little more straightforward but still it is a little clumsy to be called storytelling.

What do you think? Can OSR/retro games be more storytelling after all with rules?

[LotFP] Example monster: Vampire

I just want to say this. I love Vampire: the Masquerade and last 10 years it is the game I've played the most. So example monster of vampire in Referee's book I advanced with caution. D&D vampires are kinda lame in my opinion, but LotFP vampire was kick ass! Well written, great gaming mechanics and powers and fluff writing was just awesome. I like what mr. James did there.

And basically there's an option to make player character vampire also... That could be one adventure seed. Character is turned into a vampire and he wants a cure! Some old tales tell that killing the master vampire will break the curse but what if after slaying him doesn't turn player character into human again? Time for plan B... but what is it? Plan B is a campaign to find a cure for vampirism while struggling with dark desire of blood.

I [insert f-bomb) love it!

Also started a topic on this at LotFP forums here: http://www.lotfp.com/RPG/discussion/topic/296/example-monster-vampire/

Saints Row 2 and Vampire: the Masquerade

I've been playing Saints Row 2 for Xbox 360 for some time now. It is an awesome game with more GTA styled crazy fun than GTA IV has. Basically I'd say Saints Row 2 is more GTA than newest GTA is. Anyways, point of the game is gang wars and growing your turf and being The gang of the city getting rid of other gangs. In addition there is many smaller tasks and quests to do.

Anyways, when I play a videogame, watch a movie or read a book I usually think about them how they would suit for a roleplaying game, what inspiration they can give and so on. As a roleplayer I think like a roleplayer. Playing Saints Row 2 I started to think about Vampire: the Masquerade.

For V:tM there would be this city. City is in a struggle of who will be the leading clan. Each clan has their own area (or areas) and influence and power. And they want more. This would not be your average Masquerade campaign's Camarilla city struggling against Sabbat, or Anarch city trying to remain independent from general politics. This would be more like a mini setting.

Each clan would have their leader or leaders. Those are most powerful vampires in the city. Elders and Primogen. There would be also lieutnants which would be important and the rest are "troops." Those who do the dirty work, attack, protect and maintain more or less.

For example clan Lasombra would have Primogen of Lasombra clan as a leader. But his right arm I would see as Tzimische warlord. Lasombra would be all about politics and Tzimische about combat and protection. Troops would be few neonates or even ancillae but most of them are just shovelheads. Not that powerful compared to others but they are many.

Brujah would be your average biker gang who rule by power and Ventrue would own small personal army but are more into politics than raw power.

All clans, their turfs and members and description of troops would be roughly written and then player(s) could choose in what clan (gang) they would like their character to belong. My first example with Lasombra showed that not everyone in a clan (gang) must be of same clan. So clan Toreador's protection executive could well be Ventrue, for example (why would a Ventrue not be with his own clan?). Also not every clan necessarily has their influence in the city, but they could be "support" clans for bigger cause. Would clan Tremere have their individual influence or are they support clan for a bigger clan? Clan Ravnos necessarily doesn't have interest in political struggle but an individual might work for a clan.

I do own Prince of the City board game based on Vampire: the Requiem but haven't played it. I have to check it out how it handles the political aspect as a light strategic game. I think that the political and influence map of Vampire: the Saints Row should be a bit more strategic than just Storytelling method. So influence and actions actually have some other impact than just make-believe.

Cradle of Rabies' year 2012

I am a little late with new year. Well, obviously my year turned the same time as everybody else's but in this blog. I am not a fortune teller, but here are few ideas what year 2012 of this blog and my roleplaying could be.

Vampire: the Masquerade Chronicle

Chronicle is at its final. Last weekend it was 99th gaming session and I try to wrap it next Friday with session number 100. Quite a lot has happened involving prince cameo in different identity bugging city and most of all main Character Amanda. Nosferatu Amanda and city's clan Brujah are allies and Amanda is not so sure about how she feels about clan Nosferatu. She is from unique bloodline family D'arc who are different. Also werewolven were included heavily.

When this chronicle is over I will write an overview of it.

Opening Mutants & Masterminds

I have owned this game for some time but haven't played it. Still reading it but reviewed half of the book. So other half needs review and after reading it and after the Vampire chronicle it will be played. Style will be something like movies Spirit and Sin City maybe with some Gotham City influence. Planning not to run a mega long campaign but shorter to get my hands on other new for me games. If I can end Vampire chronicle this Friday Saturday will be M&M.

Call Of Cthulhu Is Fun

Call of Cthulhu I have had so much fun playing. With this player only two games though but both were success. I have idea for my next 20s CoC game what I want to run this year. It will also be shorther game thus easier to run and get time for.

Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Grindhouse Edition

Haven't completed reading it yet but this seems to be the OSR fantasy game for me. I most definately want to run it! And somehow I feel that it will be the game I want to write my own material to. Looking forward to use this for both gaming and writing.

Reviews And Interviews To Blog And Roolipelit.net Forum

Reviews are fun to write but take time. I want to do more reviews and if I find interesting people from roleplaying scene (well, there are plenty of interesting people but different thing is to find time to interview them) I will do them. Already did two reviews for Sami and Ville what was fun.

Movies Give Me Inspiration And I Blog About It

I watch a lot of movies before closing my eyes in bed and almost every movie gives me some kind of inspiration. I will quick review movies from the point of view of roleplayer. Problem is I watch a lot of movies so I might wrap several movies into one blog post at a time. That saves space and also I can focus more on roleplayer's view than ranting about the movie itself.

Computer Games Move

I am a gamer. Not only roleplaying gamer but also computer and video games gamer. That's why I put up another blog I can focus on video games so I don't have to think how I can melt them here.

New Games?

If I find games in good price, I'll get them. I love collecting games and gaming material even if I wouldn't ever use them. They are neat in my shelf and the anticipation to wait the product and then shuffle it through is awesome feeling. So, trying to collect at least few pieces this year. Maybe I even find something worth to try out or even new favourites, who knows. There are few games on my must have list, but let's see if I get them in a decent price.

LotFP excitement and yet again OSR

Because I just bought Lamentations of the Flame Princess Grindhouse edition (not delivered yet, check out my last post HERE for more details) I started to try to find out more what it all is about. And what would be better place to do investigation than the authors own blog?

You can find the blog here: http://lotfp.blogspot.com and should check it out. There are interesting posts what keep me entertained.

By reading the blog I have already had some good hints about (oldshool) gaming. Also other tips on gaming and even arranging games. There are also material for games to use or introductions on what kind of material you can buy in very affordable price from LotFP store.

Lamentations and Raggi are both liked and criticized. For some reason Raggi's stuff is what I find easy and entertaining to read and from games what make old games modern without loosing the essence LotFP is the most interesting for me. But as LotFP and all this OD&D and OSR and amazing adventures gaming is unfamiliar for me I kinda need more support for it. Forums aren't good to learn in my opinion but blogs give this one individuals views to observe. Of course this one individual might be wrong but it is for reader to decide if the blog is good or not.
I have read other OSR blogs also and found them great (you might find one or two from my blog roll, but I have read different posts about OSR bloggers from RPG Bloggers). But somehow as I am now waiting for my LotFP order to deliver I find LotFP blog more influental for that reason. Not to dismiss other blogs of course, but to start by focusing on one.

Different Games For Different Needs

I am so excited now and I think that my future of gaming will be in different kind of categories balancing itself with enough variation to keep gaming new and interesting. I think I am a drama player. It's my cup of tea most definately but sometimes it gets a bit boring. When you want more action. You can put action in drama focused games of course. One session is not about Vampires drinking (blood)tea but vampires getting attacked by [add thread here]. It works naturally (same rules, but Werewolf is all about kicking litterers' arse) but still it is not the same. Naturally you can also make combat oriented campaign for drama game (warring city in Vampire, Sabbat shovelhead gang, Werewolf pack against toxic stuff) but it is not same as picking up a game and showing it to your player(s) and tell: "now we play this one."

But sure you can use one game to run all these different types and genres of adventures? Sure. But I like variety. I like playing different games and sometimes make the adventure inspired by the game and its setting. But sometimes breaking the genre can be entertaining. Mix genres to get something new. It gets boring if every time you take your D&D players know what to expect. To keep things surprising and interesting you should do a little experiments every now and then. Maybe not too often if you don't want to go gonzo with it.

You might also want to try this little trick. Take adventure/module/campaign but prepare it for different game it was originally written. You might need to re-write some parts or make big adjustments to make it work, but you might make an unique adventure what is totally different than usually adventures and campaigns in that game. Vampire campaign in D&D Forgotten Realms or dungeon crawl for Vampire?

Cover Art Is Important

In my opinion game title and game front cover - or box if boxed set - has a lot of influence. You take AD&D 2nd edition Player's (warrior riding a horse) and DM's books (wizard battling a dragon) and I bet players have a way different idea what game will be about if you took 2300AD box (dude and chick posing with 80's hair-do and weapons in scifi desert). Same with more stylished games. Vampire: the Masquerade's  green marble with red rose tells different story than D&D 3.0 old magical tome type cover.

And what I said above I come to this. Lamentations of the Flame Princess cover is so neat! Just look at it. (That picture is from Deluxe version and the difference to Grindhouse cover I think is that Grindhouse has mild topless nudity).

You show that to players and say:
"Let's play this." Yeah. It's badass in totally different way that Dungeons & Dragons is.

Unfortunately I don't have much to say about the content yet. But when I get the box (and I got time) I will most definately do the "unwrapping it" post.

And about LotFP art, Something Awful has a WTF moment for it: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/dungeons-and-dragons/lamentations-flame-princess.php (partially not work-safe, as there is lot's of gore and partial nudity from LotFP rpg viewed).

Any ways, I want my RPG cover art to show what the game is about. When I am choosing a game I will run next I look at the books what looks like I could use if I don't have clear vision what I want to do next. If I have a clear vision what I want to run I of course pick up the setting or rules to suit my needs best. As we talk mostly about Flame Princess here, that cover is different from Dungeons & Dragons 3 (we already talk here). It gives different vibes. By cover D&D 3.0 (well, also 3.X) is about making characters better and using characters to do quests. It's all about characters, what they can do. But LotFP looks like badass action. Not action in game mechanical way, but badass "this is cool" way.

I can run D&D how I like (when I started playing 3.0 I didn't focus and I didn't DM it I did Storytell it) from tactical minis combat to conversation filled drama. But still, the cover has a huge impact on what kind of game I want to use the game in.

Well, of course there are the rules and settings. What matter also. But... And if I want to run drama I pick up the book with possibly lighter rules. But in the other hand rules don't matter me that much. I can play several sessions without rolling a single die. Or I house-rule. Make over complicated rules easier or strip rules. Or make too light rules a bit more comprehensive.

Why LotFP Suddenly?


So, why I post about LotFP so much? Because I am OVER EXCITED about it. To be frank even V20 Masquerade didn't make me this excited. I don't know much about LotFP and best information is the actual product.

Would I have bought LotFP if it wasn't so good deal past weekend? Yes. Some day but not now. Even though I have considered getting a copy of LotFP this was an impulse purchase. Saw email with cupon code and other great deals. Immediately made an order. Forgot to ask my gf about it and hoping she doesn't be mad about it (gotta go buy some horse stuff for her today to make hobbies even).

I do have free Grindhouse PDF's somewhere in my harddrive though. But I don't like to read PDF's that much and because LotFP is a boxed set it is not the same thing.

So, this ranting is useless and repeating as long as I don't have the actual product in my hand. So, next post about LotFP will be unwrapping.

Halloween gaming!

Well, it is not Halloween yet, but this Saturday is close enough. So this post is about Halloween stuff. Let's start with a song, shall we.



Vampire


So, soon about to start gaming Vampire. Instead of normal session continuing the main story, I'll pull a Halloween session. One or more little stories and plots depending on how it goes. Nothing written down or planned.

Maybe urban legends is a good start. I thought that as player character is a Nosferatu there might be albino alligator in sewers. Enchanted with Tzimisce blood and crafts. Deal with it, as RSPCA cannot.

Also ghost stories are cool. Hitchhiker who disappears from the back seat. I'll use that one also.

Halloween is a night of spooks and it also shows in World of Darkness. More spirits around. Masked killer would be bonus.

Window Decoration


This is window decoration set I bought from store today. Actually art is really cool and well done. Two piece set with a mummy and pumpkin-man.

They are lurking me while I type and Gamemaster.

Bram Stoker's Requiem


Found this cool text from Vampire: the Requiem sourcebook Ordo Dracul.

"Even so, it's a bit of coincidence, and the Ordo Dracul has been searching for evidence of supernatural tampering in Stoker's life ever since his novel first saw print. While true evidence eludes them (and talking to Stoker directly became impossible once the novel saw print, as members of the other vampiric covenants maintained constant surveillance of the author until his death 1912), one very interesting fact points to Stoker having sources beyond those available to normal mortals. He was a member of the Golden Dawn, an occult organization that dabbled in theosophy and Tarot - much like Ordo Dracul itself."


- Ordo Dracul, page 26

Also Ordo Dracul has really, really awesome cover art. It's well done and classical in vampire's appearance.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2011 FOR RPG COMRADES, BLOG VISITORS AND EVERYONE WHO LIKES SPOOKY STUFF!

Review: Vampire: the Masquerade Revised

This is actually a review I wrote back in 2008 for Finnish roleplaying games forum. I use it as a base for this new review, but modify some parts of it according to today and how I feel Vampire: the Masquerade now.

Short History Of Me And Vampire: the Masquerade

I bought V:tM in late 90's, because I already had Vampire: Dark Ages what I myself enjoyed but my gaming group wasn't that interested in. Main reason was that my group was mainly into fantasy and V:DA was too close being fantasy but it wasn't fantasy enough.
So when I heard about Vampire: the Masquerade and saw it in my local gaming store I decided to buy it. It was set in modern world what made a huge difference. The current version was Revised.

I ran few games and chronicles with it but still my group was more into fantasy so I couldn't play it as much as I wanted. I did know a gaming group who played mostly V:tM but didn't like those guys. You know, later goth Sabbat freaks!

When I met my current girlfriend she got into Vampire gaming and I have played chronicles over 8 years regularly with her. It is our most played and most favorite game. I managed to Storytell and invent chronicles and plots even though I only had the core book. It took many years when I bought my first sourcebook to spice up my gaming.

Vampire: the Masquerade is my ultimate favorite of roleplaying games, and this is the review of it.

Vampire: the Masquerade

A Storytelling game of personal horror.

Vampire: the Masquerade is a game what divides opinions from awe to hate. When the new "edition" of it, Vampire: the Requiem, was launched Vampire: the Masquerade was not forgotten. 20th year edition is a proof of that.

Some of the Vampire players did go with Requiem and never looked back. Some tried the new but decided soon enough that old classical Masquerade was better. New to White Wolf's Vampire are most likely to pick up Requiem, as it is the one in print. But there is still curiosity towards the original 90's gothic punk horror game.

Hardcover

In addition that the book is really stylish with its marble like green cover and simple but catchy logo it is also quite durable. I can say that I have read the book numerous times and its been in darkest corners of earth and used a lot, but still it is in good shape. Only small problem is, that the binding is a bit loosen. Otherwise, it is in really good shape. I could say that the book is really durable.

Prologue: A Gathering of Beasts

Like every White Wolf product, also Masquerade starts with fictive story. Before each chapter there is one page fiction, but in the beginning the story is almost like a short story. Also in the back there are basically two short stories. The last is one page but entertaining and in rules there is also a story about a Vampire in different ages from history to today. It introduces World of Darkness in vampire's point of view.

These stories give nice additional information about Vampire. They are entertaining to read and generally well ridden and usually give individual's view on things what makes them good material to get into the thoughts of vampires. Some of these stories might be suggested for player to read to get a feel. Stories focus on a certain clan you can give for a player to read who is going to play that clan.

Only little problem is that some of these stories have a really messy font. It makes reading a bit slower and you might focus more on the font than actual text.

Introduction

The first actual chapter, the introduction covers quickly and roughly playing of Vampire: the Masquerade, basics to storytelling and the difference of Storyteller (Game Master) and a player. After that the chapter covers some real world myths about vampires to World of Darkness facts about vampires. Also basic vampire activities like feeding (drinking blood), embracing (making a vampire) and other basics.

Also the book is covered from which chapter you find which thing. How-to-use-this-book guide and also different sources for inspiration are covered from books to movies.

Also LARPing Vampire is quickly covered, but there are no real rules how to LARP (Mind's Eye Theater is for that).

For Vampire elder this chapter is a bit unnecessary but for a fledling it is good information to get an overview what Vampire: the Masquerade is about.

In my opinion maybe the most important part in this chapter is telling the differences of pop-culture and mythical vampires against World of Darkness' view about vampires.

Chapter One: A World of Darkness

This chapter focuses on the setting of World of Darkness and in vampire society, hierarchy and customs. Text is well written and focuses on what is important. There is not too much struggling to get a nice overview of each thing covered. Naturally in core book everything cannot be covered, but this is a good base to get started.

There are no rules or any other mechanics in this chapter. Just fluff and setting text. Vampire hierarchy, what prince is, population, rules of the Vampire society and other basic things are covered but mostly in Camarilla view.

But as these things are explained densely some topics leave questions. It might annoy a Storyteller who wants to know anything but in the other hand it leaves space to fill the holes yourself. It depends what you like and in numerous sourcebooks these details are mostly covered with detail. For a core book this is good basic information although in some parts as a starting Storyteller there were topics I would wanted to know more about.

There is also Lexicon what White Wolf uses. Encyclopedia of words vampires use. Nice detail White Wolf uses to give additional depth for both characters and NPCs to use in dialect.

Chapter two: Clans and Sects

Basically clans are the character classes of Vampire: the Masquerade what you choose when creating a character. Each clan has their own weaknesses, set of disciplines they learn easier, motivations, backgrounds and view of other clans. Clan descriptions are stereotypical but easy to pick up for beginner players. Advanced players can think out of the box and create characters what aren't what clan description says.

For example it is easy for new to Vampire player to pick up between Brujah the gang member, Ventrue the businessman or Toreador the artist. Advanced player might create a Brujah artist, Ventrue gang member or Toreador businessman.

In my opinion it should be more clearly stated that these are only stereotypes, not character concepts. I don't know how many have played or plays clans as told without experimenting with individual characters in the clan. I know I did.

There are three sects. Camarilla what gets most of the attention, Sabbat what leaves too many questions open because of it's different views and is almost unplayable in a more deep way and the Independents, who are clans not following Camarilla or Sabbat. Also Camarilla clan member might be part of the Sabbat and vice versa.

There are total of 13 clans and caitiff. Caitiff is basically your custom vampire. Clanless. There are both disadvantages and advantages for being a caitiff. Mostly disadvantages are in the story, not in rules. Most of the clans are in Camarilla, only two in Sabbat and few in Independent. Although Sabbat does have antitribu members who are individuals from clans belonging in different sect, but whole antitribu concept isn't explained that much.

There is no enough information about clans and sects. I can understand it, but deeper political game is hard to achieve with the information provided. This is when sourcebooks about sects and clans kick in. If you don't want to invent everything yourself, you are going to need these books.

   The variety of these 13 clans is good. Every player can find their own (stereotypically) from figters (Brujah),    businessmen (Ventrue), aesthetic artists (Toreador), sneaky assasins (Assamite), wizards and magisters (Tremere), monsters (Tzimisce), classical sewer dwellers (Nosferatu), cultists (Followers of Set) and so on. Also some bloodlines are introduced for slight variation what usually is about starting disciplines but there is no meta data about these.

Chapter Three: Character and Traits

In default character creation starts figuring out what kind of character you want to play. Background as a human, how he was embraced and who did it. What motivates her and so on. To make this easier there is a list of questions player can answer about her character. When the background is done the technical character chreation begins.

After choosing a clan what determines weakness and starting disciplines character creation is really straightforward, simple and fast. Attributes and abilities (skills) are divided each in three categories from which player chooses what is first, second and third to get different amount of points to divide between those. Attributes are physical (strength, dexterity, stamina), social (manipulation, charisma, appearance) and mental (intelligence, wits and perception). There are total of 30 skills. There are also backgrounds what give different advantages for characters like higher generation, famous sire, fame or wealth. Unfortunately list of backgrounds is in my opinion too short in core book.

Disciplines (the supernatural powers of vampires) get three points to share to and they are determined by clan of character. Some changes for initial disciplines can be made though. Last touch is to spend few points into conscience (or conviction for most of Sabbat vampires), courage, humanity (possible path for Sabbat) and so on.

None of these are marked with a number, but coloring balls. Fours spent points to driving skill means four colored balls. Each ball represents one die to your dice pool what is covered in rules mechanically. Character sheet is simple but stylish.

Further in this chapter skills are introduced what they mean and examples of how they work and what different values represent how good character is in that skill. Every skill has few sentences of fiction.

For normal character range of attributes is 1-5 (exception Nosferatus who cannot get any dots to appearance). Each attribute starts with initial value of 1 (except Nosferatus with ugly face). Skills are in range of 0 not learned to 5. With higher generation higher values might be possible.

In skills there is a small problem though. Some skills are not covered at all, and some are a bit too focused on a certain thing. This serves genre and how Vampire is meant to run but I have had several situations where there is no skill to use in a certain task. Fortunately there are new skills introduced in sourcebooks and players can invent their own skills if they will.

In the end of this chapter there are mechanics directly for playing a character and experience section. Experience points are mostly achieved from good roleplaying, characters personal advancement and advancing in adventure or chronicle. There are no experience values for looting or killing, but experience is more abstract. With experience points player can advance his characters attributes, skills and powers. The price depends on the category and how many dots there already are. Skills are cheapest to advance and disciplines outside of clan are most expensive.

Last you have freebie points to share where ever you want. Also you might get freebie points from flaws or spend them in merits described in appendix.

Chapter Four: Disciplines

Disciplines are vampire's supernatural powers what distinct them from mortals (well, in addition to needing blood, being basically immortal, unable to walk in sunlight and other vampiric characteristics). Disciplines are part of vampire blood so some of them need bloodpoints to trigger. Blood points can be gained more from feeding. And if you get low on bloodpoints, you get hungry and might fall in frenzy - vampiric uncontrollable rage. Bloodpoints might be concidered as some kind of magic points if you will. In addition some disciplines need willpower to be spent. Willpower is mental strength what you use to trigger certain disciplines, get automatic success or to resist some disciplines used on you. You get willpower back playing according to your character or possibly one after each session if Storyteller says so.

There is wide variety of different kind of disciplines each with five subcategories. Each dot in one discipline opens new powers character can use from that discipline class. Many traditional vampire powers are included like mind control, turning into a wolf, inhuman strength, supernatural haste and so on. Also some clans posses magic like disciplines like boiling another's blood.

Some of these disciplines are shared by different clans, but some disciplines are clan specific. One small problem with descriptions is that you need to read a bit to find what exactly the discipline does and how it works mechanically. In my opinion this should be more clear.

Chapter Five: Rules

Basic mechanics of the game are fitted in only seven pages. These seven pages mostly include how you roll dice. More advanced rules like combat are followed after this chapter. Only function of this chapter is to introduce the dicepool mechanics. The basics are fast to learn though.

Rules are really simple. When character tries to do something Storyteller tells what attribute and ability (or other character trait) is used and dots in these tell how many dice are rolled. Only dice game needs is D10, but you need plenty of them. At least 10 (per player if you want) to make playing comfortable.

The basic difficulty is 6 and each die result of a 6 or more is a success. More successes you get the better the outcome is. Faster you fix the computer or more damage you possibly deal. Results 1 decrease successes. If there are no successes at all but one or more 1 you botch. Something goes horribly wrong. If you have a specialty in skill (four or more dots, get specialty for beneficing in a certain situation) you can roll results 10 again (note: I have houseruled this. You roll 10 always again, specialty gives bonus die).

If task is more difficult, the target number needed from rolls is higher. For example 8 or more. In easier difficulties target number is lower. A rule of thumb is that if difficulty is equal to character's dicepool no roll is needed. Exception combat of course. 

Even though system is fast and dicepool is fast to determine as is successes, there is a flaw. Basically better you are and more dice you roll the higher change is that you get those unwanted ones.

Chapter Six: Systems And Drama

Chapter goes deeper in rules with combat. Base is same with basic mechanics. You roll Attribute + ability against a difficulty to hit. Extra successes after the first one give bonus dice to damage dicepool. Damage is determined by these bonus dice and weapon damage dice or in melee weapon damage and strength. You roll as many dice as you have damage and results over 6 are one point of damage. After damage is resolved opponent might have a possibility to soak damage with his stamina, armor and Fortitude if he possesses that discipline. The remaining is how much damage is dealt.

In my opinion Requiem basically does this better. In Masquerade to get a resolution of shooting with a shotgun you first roll to hit, then you roll damage with possible more dice and then opponent rolls to soak the damage. Three rolls with lots of dice in each. Player might have dicepool of 8 to shoot with shotgun and when he gets 7 successes, he can add 6 to damage. Shotgun does 8 damage so now player rolls 14 dice from which you count over 6's to actual damage. And then soak roll is rolled to determine how many successes decrease the damage. For a Storytelling game a bit too clumsy in my opinion.

Remaining of this chapter is for damage rules. Different types of weapons deal different types of damage. Bashing for blunt, lethal for bullets or sharp objects and aggravated for vampires from example fire. Also vampires soak damage differently than humans. Vampires and human characters do share exactly the same health bar, but still shooting the vampire most likely does less damage than shooting a human. Little extra to remember.

Also rules for mental health and conditions are covered and enviromental lethality as fire, electrocution and falling.

Also some technical stuff about embracing a vampire or making a ghoul, but these are more fluff than mechanics. Vampiric uncotrollable rage and fear of fire are also covered here.

Chapter ends with game example what tells in detail how different actions work.

Chapter Seven: A History of the Kindred

Longish few page story vampire telling of history from middle ages through world war to this day. Interesting and well enough written but basically unnecessary information. It can give some ideas for character history and it might give depth for World of Darkness but you can survive without it. Short story in between.

 

Chapter Eight: Storytelling

For Storyteller possibly the most important chapter. How you run Vampire: the Masquerade? What kind of adventures and chronicles you could run? What about the plot? How to make a good adventure? This chapter answers these questions giving adventure seeds to use. Most of the adventure seeds are good enough to build whole campaign around. Nothing is pre-written though. These are mainly for inspiration. No actual ready to run adventure.

Chapter Nine: Antagonists

This is the "monster" section of game. It lists different organizations and even other supernatural beings with stats and descriptions to use in game. For me this is a little waste of time and space, but if you quickly need stats for a biker gang member of agent, you got it. Also wrights, mages, werewolves, changelings and others are introduced but the information is so narrow you can hardly use them except as a punching bag. Of course as all these other supernatural beings have their own rich in detail game line it would be hard to include information here.

So, if you want to fight a werewolf, here are stats. If you want a plot with mages, you better go and buy Mage: the Ascension to use.

Appendix

For advanced players appendix provides moral paths instead of humanity for characters who don't fallow humanity any more, but instead a different moral code of vampires. There are several different paths with their own different moral codes. These might be hard to play for beginners but can give more depth for advanced players.

Also merits and flaws to buy in character creation. Merits are advantages you spend points to, flaws are disadvantages you get points from.

Conclusion

So, what Vampire: the Masquerade is? A neat book, good enough system with a bit too clumsy combat resolution... there are flaws and it is not perfect. I think that it is the setting that makes the book great. Requiem might be a bit better in some parts of the mechanics, but the setting is what you like or don't like. Vampire: the Masquerade is blamed to be too complex in setting with too much information to even tangle itself with it. I find that there is plenty of sources to choose from. But as this is core book review and not Masquerade setting review, I'll leave it to that.

Even though Masquerade has been died for some time the 20th special edition tells it is still liked. It still has fans. I am one of those people who love Vampire: the Masquerade. 

It might be that fledlings might be hard to "get" this game as Requiem is more modern in system and obviously easier to obtain. But if you forget the rules and availability you have two different settings. World of Masquerade and World of Requiem. That is what you choose between. I choose Masquerade.

4 points for how it looks. It is neat book with decent art. Some of the pictures are horrible though, but that is what roleplaying games usually get.

3½ points for rules. I like the basic concept of rules but combat is a bit too complicated. Although the game is easy to custom and house rule, so 4 points would be good also. Also you some meta data leaves you cold and you basically need sourcebooks. But as I review the game as it is, 3,5.

5 points for fun. I have played Vampire: the Masquerade a lot. I have enjoyed it so much. I have had great drama, lots of laughs, and dreadful tragedy in games. Players are the ones who make the game but I think that Vampire has been the inspiration.

4½ points total. Might be unfair to give this high score, but it's how I feel. For a game, 3½ is the score. For what Vampire is for me, 4½.

Things I like in pop-culture relating to rpg's

Started my work day and while working I started to think about different things I like in pop-culture what are related into roleplaying games or my roleplaying hobby. Now I am sitting down taking my coffee break and thought: Why only entertain myself, why don't blog about it. So, here are things I like in popular culture what are related into roleplaying games or my roleplaying hobby.

Vampires


Yeah, I had to take this one first, because Vampire: the Masquerade is my favourite and most played roleplaying game ever. Vampires in it can be almost anything: monstrous, animalistic, sophisticated, artistic, warriors, gang members, business men, devil worshippers, traveling gypsies, arrogant, repulsive, repenting, embracing the darkness...
If you are new to Vampire you can easily pick up a clan with its stereotype to determine your character (businessman Ventrue, biker Brujah, artist Toreador) and if more experienced can do characters thinking out of the box with unlimited possibilities. You can play political game or territorial war game. That makes both Vampire game and Vampire characters awesome.

I also like monstrous vampires (30 Days of Night, Against the Dark). They can also be easily used in Vampire games but also make good villains in other games. I do also like Count Dracula styled vampires.

But I don't like all these now so popular vampires. Good example is Twilight. Hate them. I also don't think all those gothic vampire pictures what I found really lame. You know, every Youtube Evanescence fan video has those gothic vampire chick pictures.

Giant Robots


Every boy loves giant robots what fight. I had Battletech strategy board game and liked it. I am not sure did me and my friends ever understood the rules as they were a bit complicated, but it was fun. Also Mechwarrior PC games are cool with those big destroying war machines.

Japanese robots are also cool. They are usually more sophisticated and fast than their American warmachine brothers. For example old PS2 game Zone of the Enders is really cool. You fly and duel in the air in fast based combats.

Also Transformers are cool. I did have those cool toys and comics. Also at least first of the new movies is really great. Others are cool but not that good.

I like heavy and clumsy machines of destruction, sophisticated and fast mechas and robots changing from vehicles to battling bots.

I don't remember playing any roleplaying game with giant robots nor owning one. I have to correct that. Heavy Gear is really interesting one.

Solo Tough Guys


Guys who do all neat stuff basically solo are awesome. Steven Seagal movies are awesome and I own bunch of them. Basically Steven plays same character with minor changes all over again but that makes his movies safe. You know what to expect and you get it. Also for example Machete is awesome. I remember having both Grindhouse movies (Death Proof and Planet Terror) and in one of them was this Machete trailer. I didn't expect to actually see Machete the Movie in real but I thought the "fake" trailer was really neat. When I found out that there actually will be Machete movie I was thrilled. Well, the movie could have been a bit better, but it is Machete!

That kind of things I do like and also use in roleplaying games.

Zombies


Zombies are probably the best monsters ever. They are really versatile and can be used in every possible setting and campaign. Post-apocalypse, Caribean seas, space, fantasy dungeons, your backyard. Also because there are different kinds of zombies from slow idling corpses (original Resident Evil video game zombies) to fast running zombies (newer zombie movies). You cannot forget also different zombies with special qualities to huge monstrous size (Left 4 Dead video game).

All Flesh Must Be Eaten is the roleplaying game you have to mention when you talk about zombies and roleplaying games. Infinite Deadworlds and several possibilities to custom make zombies from cows to nearly intelligent hunters.

Even though mutants are different from zombies I find some similarities with the most advanced zombies. For example Hills Have Eyes clan could be easily done with AFMBE to give a different approach to a similar game campaign.

Cars


I love cars. From powerful muscle cars to exotic tuning cars. My enthusiasm to cars started with Need For Speed Underground and continued to a point where I started to build my own car. I had to buy second car so I could build the first one. I also have used tuning cars and culture as one of the main themes in Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle.

Movies here would be for example Fast and the Furious series. Also tuning culture with street cars from garages, shows and magazines are to be checked out.

Unique Monsters


Monsters just being statistics you can beat to gain experience (looking at you D&D) is nothing wrong. It's one genre. But I am more fascinated in unique monsters what are truly monsters because you cannot find them around every corner. That makes them more terrifying because after you killed it and learned it's weakness you cannot use same tactics again because every monster you encounter is different one.

Even though in Call of Cthulhu there are several monsters what are not unique (deep ones and Mi-Go for example) they have a certain feel, as you don't just run through every campaign killing same monsters all over again. Of course the fact characters are near helpless against them makes a big difference. And there are many "monster of the campaign" entities you can build your whole campaign around.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess also is great example here. I have read the free version and like everyone knows there are no monsters listed as every monster player characters encounter should be an individual. That's cool. Similar thing is with Praedor. There are basic stats for different sizes of monsters but every single one of them are individuals.

I love monsters in movies also. In horror movie if there is a monster, it's way cooler than the guy from school who stabs others. World of Darkness sourcebook Slayers should be mentioned here.

Why is it so hard to end a campaign?

Still running V:tM and other plans are naturally delayed because of that. It's just so hard for me to end an open ended campaign what is a bit of sandboxed also. I have succesfully ran like one campaign with clear ending and it was Call of Cthulhu set in modern age. There was clear goal and a story. Of course actual playing did change it and affect it but still I knew exactly when to end it.

Different it is with Vampire: the Masquerade. I enjoy playing it so much I cannot end it when it could story wise end. I just continue, open new hooks and so on. I planned, that it would be around 20-30 sessions total to end this story. But currently we are at around 70th session. Way too much.
Really, the problem is I don't want to quit. But actually, why I should quit if I like the game and the campaign? Because I do want to play also other interesting games and also when I over continue the campaign just because I like playing the game they loose the focus and start to feel a bit bland. And the problem is that last time we played Vampire: the Masquerade a lot I got serious roleplaying game burnout. I basically used all my ideas in that time. I ended the campaign successfully, but it was way too long. After that I felt empty and couldn't start a new game or a new campaign for V:tM.

Break from gaming helped and switching to other game. Other game, what is also horrible for ending it. Fading Suns. Fading Suns games also always stretch to horrible long because I like playing it so much. Last one, over 160 sessions. Before it, well over 100 sessions. And after that and before it Vampire: the Masquerade.

When I get this Vampire: the Masquerade campaign to end I totally will play other games. I write down an adventure frames I want to play and maybe write down some scenarios that adventure will contain. I will leave of course space enough so actual situations in game can affect it but still I will narrow sandbox to more focused scale. I try to keep those other games in 10 to 20 sessions long so I don't get stuck and bored to them...

...And I can try out other games. Or again get stuck to Vampire: the Masquerade and Fading Suns.

One problem is, that I do have already games I have never played and I want to play. And now I am having these all new four titles which three are ones I do want to try out. The fourth is more for collecting purpose. I have tried to keep a pace of Vampire -> something else -> Vampire -> something else for a couple of reasons:

1. I don't get overdose from Vampire: the Masquerade
2. I can try also other games I own and am interested in
3. I get variety from just running personal-gothic-punk-horror
4. Other games are also fun, it doesn't need to be personal-gothic-punk-horror all the way

And can I say that I am a roleplaying enthusiast if I play like only a couple of games? Also I think that it is also relaxing and fun to play other games and genres it also developes gamemastering skills. I remember when I ran Vampire for a couple of years almost non stop and after it tried another game, I did bring that personal-gothic-punk-horror feel into that other game even though the genre and possibilities were totally different.

I don't want to get stuck into a box or manouvers as a gamemaster. Good example was Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. It totally is something I don't play. Or it was. I did buy three core books and Forgotten Realms Campaign setting just to add into my collection but never planned to play it. Then I decided to try out something totally strange from Vampire and I did enjoy it. It was lighter to run and adventure and location or situation based. Encounters you could say with more talking with NPC's though.

So, next will still be Mutants & Masterminds. Maybe after it I won't go directly back to Vampire: the Masquerade, but will also GM other games I have. Maybe I will wait for some special day to start Vampire, so it feels special. Christmas Holidays are too long away though, otherwise would be great Christmas to get back to Vampire!

After vampire super-heroes

Our Vampire: the Masquerade campaign is reaching it's end. I have asked my player, what she would like to play next. We have agreed, that we play Vampire, then something else, then Vampire again. Vampire: the Masquerade is our favorite game no question. But even though it is awesome, Storyteller needs his breaks or he can find himself out of new ideas or repeating himself. So, that's why we play Vampire, other, Vampire. We get to play Vampire a lot, but still get to play other games so Vampire doesn't wear out.

Another reason for this is, that I have several games I haven't played or even read. I want to try several of them out. Not sure, are they the games I will return to play again and again, but interesting enough for me to want to try out.

Why Mutants & Masterminds?


Few weeks back, when I started to see the finish line of V:tM campaign, I asked my player, what would be a cool game to try out next. Preferably one of those we haven't played previously. She quickly picked Mutants & Masterminds from the shelf and told that this game would be next. I was quite surprised, because I know she is not that interested in super-heroes. But that would be totally different, and also she would like to try it out. So we decided, that after Vampire chronicle it will be Mutants & Masterminds

Character Creation


If you start to build your character with rulebook, there are so many options what you can do that I suppose if you just pick all those cool stuff, your character would be a mess. That's why I asked my player to first describe her character, her character's powers, background and uniform. It is easier that you first think of what kind of character you want to play, and then apply character creation rules and powers to your concept. That way you keep your focus on your character you will play, not on all the neat powers there are available.

Not sure has she already started to think about her character, but I will post her concept and character creation process when the time comes.

Super Adventure


I think, I will get inspiration to the adventure from character concept. So at the moment, I don't have any idea what kind of super adventure I will or want to run. I want clear start, stuff in between and clear end. Maybe one bad guy with The plan and minions. Maybe that bad guy is not revealed at the beginning but clues lead character after him. Epic final battle would be great. I also want it to be long enough for character to gain a level or two, but short enough so it doesn't derail too much.
This is something, I really, really need to write down. Usually I don't write whole adventures, just few ideas here and there. I like to GM and build the story as the story goes on. This will be different. I want to know what happens and when to keep whole adventure really intense.

Reading Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition


Currently I am reading the book. Fortunately I have played True20 (Blue Rose) and D&D3 so basics of D20 system are familiar so I don't have to go through all the learning process of a new game. There are tons of character feats and powers, what I can basically skip if I have an idea how they work. I need them in character creation, but can read them with my player while doing that. Then I need to know the powers for the bad guy which is basically the same as character creation learning process of skills, feats and powers.

What I wait the most from this book is all GM tricks and stuff. I have read super-hero comics a lot, but it's over ten years ago. I have seen new super-hero movies, but they aren't in my opinion cartoonish enough.

What Kind of Setting I Want To Run?


I don't know, if the core book contains any setting information yet. I hope there's something in GM section what will help me to build super-hero setting even though super-hero comics aren't my hobby so I lack of sources. I guess that there's this city included. Even though I usually don't use ready-made material in games but make my own, I guess Mutants & Masterminds will be an exception. So, thumbs up that there are enough GM help to start a campaign. Ready made adventures I won't use, even if there was some available in the core book.

How Will It Go?


No idea. It could be a blast as it is something different that we have ever played together. Actually, I haven't played a single super-hero RPG ever. So this will be totally new thing for me. I hope, it will be fun, there will be dangerous situations and cool action. Lots of action. I want there to be certain amount of humor, and I want it to be more light than grim. Of course, the bad guy should be bad, but I don't want my super-hero game be all Gotham City. I want it to be a high adventure with great special effects, some jokes, dangerous and mad powerful villain... Maybe I will even make weaker side-kick for character to be her friend. Or let my player decide how his side-kick is. So she has someone to interact even behind her mask.

Side Note


Uh, I am not sure do I have second edition or do I have second print of the first edition... Hmm...

Reading Ghouls: Fatal Addiction and enjoying it

Ghouls: Fatal Addiction is sourcebook for Vampire: the Masquerade. I haven't read it yet, but doing well and enjoying it. It is really well written. In the beginning there are cool chapters what mix game information and fiction. You could easily sum up what I have read in smaller space, but still what is great about White Wolf World of Darkness books is that they really do give that feel that you aren't only reading rules and game background, but also short stories.

Core rules of Vampire: the Masquerade do give basic information about ghouls but this book gives more insight for them. Also it introduces ghouls as playable characters with different families what are similiar to kindred clans.

One noteworthy thing is the art. Two artist, really awesome artwork with that old World of Darkness/Vampire feel. Not that realistic artwork but really, really pleasant.

This is a book I enjoy reading. Well written, great source material, cool artwork. If you are Vampire: the Masquerade player, I recommend this book for you. This makes ghouls so much more than just vampire's personal and loyal (even dangerously loyal) retainers.

So, buy it, enjoy it. For personal horror ghouls are great playable characters.

Inventory time & New books

I did inventory of my rpg's both books and printed PDF's. I didn't count PDF's in my harddrive, as I should clear them out to see what there is. Even I cannot know what bits lurk beneath the surface of this plastic cover.

Anyways, currenlty I have 73 books on my bookshelf. It's not that much, but I am quite pleased. Well, there allways could be more, but I am getting there.
I am also quite pleased on the collection I have. There are games I play regularly (well, in cycles but still) like Vampire: the Masquerade and Fading Suns. There are few books I have tried once or more often, but most of the books are those I haven't never played or even read!
One thing I am happy with are my horror RPG's. World of Darkness, Kult, UA, AFMBE, CoC and so on. I am a real horror fanatic (in books, novels, music, movies, games, you name it) so those are the ones I am proud of.
Then there are games I will propably never play. Well, you never know. I thought I'd never play D&D but meh, here I am! But Earthdawn I suspect a lot, even though I've heard lots of good about it. And CPv3 I will propably not even read!

Supplements I don't appreciate that much. Well, For Vampire: the Masquerade yes, as that is mah fabulously favourite game liek evah! And well, old World of Darkness in general, Bring Them Books To Me!
Usually though I just need core book(s) to get rough idea of the game and the rest I color myself. There are few supplements though In other game lines also.
Adventures and campaigns I prefer self tailored, so Earthdawn campaigns which I own two pieces are worthless. Well, another of them provides new character "class", but as I don't play the game...
Kult sourcebooks though are gold. Really, really good read. Even if you aren't roleplayer, they are good read for your horror dose. Yes, they are written as a game, but I am not the only one saying that Kult additional material is gold. Wish I had more.
GURPS, is there anything else (interesting) than sourcebooks? Oh GURPS has also basic rules? Who cares. Seriously, I don't like GURPS (and this is not right time, place or mood to explain why) but some of the GURPS sourcematerial is pure gold! And it is easy to use with any game. Usually GURPS stuff is written that way. There is more information than rules crunch. Me like.

New Books And Bye Bye Old Books

I had a hard decision to make. Hunter: the Vigil, H:tR ST Screen, Witch Finders and Mage: the Awakening were games I barely read. I like World of Darkness, but don't like the new one. I don't know why.
And as I got Hunter: the Reckoning already, I thought I'd sell my Vigil away. Also I started to make a deal about Mage: the Ascension, so bye bye Awakening.
Luckily I got my Hunter stuff and Mage sold. Some extra money to buy new games! What did I get then:

I lost my new Hunter, but had already old Hunter. So isn't it logical that I lost new Mage and got old Mage? Yes! I am so darn happy that I finally got my Mage: the Ascension. It's second edition. I've been told it's the best.
Storyteller's screens I don't need at all, and Witch Finders was not interesting (nWoD-boo-hoo) so what did I get instead? Ghouls: Fatal Addiction (for old WoD) and Children of the Night. Ghouls seems to be really good book and adds a new dimension to game. You can actually play rich ghoul character now, so it's not all about Vamps anymore. How cool is that? And the art! Yeah, I love it. It's twisted and genuine Vampire style. Pervert but beautiful. WTF but WOW.
Children of the Night is a hard one. I don't like ready made material (cities, adventures, also NPC's) so I won't propably use this book in my games. But it is interesting to see what kind of vampires the developers of the game intended them to be. As they state in the very beginning of this book (yes, I popped it open right away) that there is no wrong way to play Vampire. So, I wanna see their way how they indended to do NPC's. And in the beginning there is really good guideline making your own NPC's and their power levels. Art is cool also. Too photoshopped over real photos, but still, it's cool.

And last but not least (well, after World of Darkness stuff, yes, least) Mutants & Masterminds. Looks like a comic. Looks like a simple system. I only have hard good about this. So, really curious for this. And it's only 196 or so pages long, so not mission impossible to read.

What will (my girfriend allow me) I get next?

Horrible nightmare! My V:tM was destroyed

We were starting to play Vampire: the Masquerade and created a character but decided to watch some movie before we start playing. I left my V:tM book on the floor leaning against a table. After a movie when we started playing I went to fetch my Vampire rulebook and...

[b]Cats had destroyed it while we watched that movie![/b]

My V:tM was ruined, bitten through and scratched to bits.

Oh the horror.

GTA: Vice City to rpg

I know, that GTA: Vice City is older game. But it is great fun. Point here is, that when I did read GTA: Vice City's manual, I couldn't but to think about making this 80's Miami Vice style game into Vampire: the Masquerade.

I wanted long time to run V:tM in oldschool. 90's would be great, as V:tM is product of that time. But running Vampire setting in 80's? How awesome is that?

Basically Vice City is about reputation and controlling town. Doesn't that suit into Vampire very well? Also the manual is written like travel procure, so it is easy to convert into V:tM setting city.

Now I am not going to write about it, but I will. This is just a taste, what I am feeling now. So, GTA: Vice City converrted to Vampire: the Masquerate? Rad kicks!

At last, new game what is kicking

There was a period gaming did not run smoothly. I had ideas and was eager to play, but for some reason after last long Vampire: the Masquerade campaing lost my muse of storytelling. I don't say that I didn't want to play, but somehow it just didn't work well. Tons of ideas, but as I said, lost my muse.

After V:tM campaing we tried to start part 2 of it. From where last campaing ended but for some reason that character was done. She had so many experiences in her previous game, that it was hard to get something new to start with. So, it was a sad decision, but she retired.

After it we had a small break from gaming. I had tons of ideas I wanted to run but for some reason none of those happened. Or they did start and died soon after. One what took longer was Werewolf: the Forsaken, but there was problems. Main problem was that I wasn't fully familiar with system and setting, so game was not running smoothly at all. And I am oWoD guy so Forsaken, even if it is damn cool, didn't feel right. I mean, that I enjoy oWoD and like playing it, so starting nWoD was like breaking the canon somehow. Luckily I got my hands on Werewolf: the Apocalypse, but at that time inspiration with gaming died because of frustration in Forsaken. I wish I first had Apocalypse to try, maybe that Werewolf game would still run.

Side note: There is nothing wrong with nWoD and I have around 10 books for it, but somehow even if I like collecting nWoD I like playing old.

After unsuccesful Werewolf: the Forsaken I started to dream running All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and got an idea of BBQ From Hell (mentioned it here). Unfortunately my girlfriend just didn't get really excited about zombies. So, it didn't happen. Maybe after a break and games what did not work she wanted something good to start, not just test game I suppose. I am still hoping, that when we get to game to be awesome again, she is more open to new experiences. We also rolled her a character in Praedor (which we had few years campaing in past) but she didn't get excited about her drunken old adventurer. No wonder. Quite randomly generated character.

Nothing seemed to bring back the muse, so needed to go back to basics. Quess what that is. Vampire: the Masquerade. Again. This time her character is Nosferatu chick. She had wanted to play Nosferatu since Bloodlines PC game, and now we started it. Game runs smoothly, gaming is fun, adventure is cool, everything is fine.

So, after a break and unsuccesful tries to start new campaing we are back to the basics. I am really happy, and game is running again, but yet I still dream about running other game. There is a solution though. I made a website just for fun (click) where is also a forum. That forum will some day stand for our farp. We are playing active this new Vampire/Nosferatu campaing, but farp I can use to test run other game(s) with my girlfriend. It does not need as much involving, and doesn't need whole night worth of gaming as my gf would rather spend that gaming time with vampire. So, trying to get a farp with her for some other game also. Let's see how that will come.

Ninjas, vampires, vampire ninjas... failure

At some point I was thinking after sawing the movie Chanbara Beauty, that I would mix assamites, katanas and ninja-action together. But quess what, not everything is ment to be mixed with Vampire: the Masquerade. At first the idea sounded fun, but when playing it few times I suddenly realized that even if katana is cool, ninja is cool and vampire is cool, together they are ridiculous.

I don't say, that ninja katana game wouldn't be fun, but there is some limits for it. There is lots of games and systems you can play that type of action packed slicing and sneaking, but I think Vampire is for different kind of gaming after all.

Looking at my game shelf and thinking what games would have been better for that kind of action than choosing V:tM.

For Chanbara Beauty like zombie katana action, All Flesh Must Be Eaten would have done it well, I suppose. I only have read the Introductory pack but the rules are quite lite what means quick play. I am not sure what kind of martial arts or hand-to-hand manouvers basic rules have to offer.

Code/X could work, it is also simple system, but it is more like military operations spec ops game than ninja-action.

Cyberpunk v.3 not sure at all, it is too intimidating and damn ugly to even open anymore. I tried to read it but couldn't. Though if I had CP2020 I would check it out if it could handle the ninja stuff.

Kult has martial arts skills and manouvers, but for me the system is a bit too clumsy. Great setting, but rules could be better. And for that ninja stuff all supernatural and occult stuff presented in book are not necessary at all. So only rules would be used, and that would be failure for me.

New World of Darkness core rules. They are simple and easy to apply, but somehow too simple for me. Or I don't just get them right. There is Armory Reloaded what introduces more combat rules, but I don't own it. As how nWoD rules are presented in core book, they are easy and fast, but a bit too simple for my purpose.

Old World of Darkness/Vampire: the Masquerade rules are great, and work in the purpose, but as I said in the beginning, mixing vampires into ninjas and katanas is a bit too much for me.

Unknown Armies could work, what I have read it I like the rules. They are also quite simple. Not sure though, how does it handle the martial arts and melee fighting and acrobatics and other special and neat manouvers. And there is also that supernatural background what would not be useful in my action game.

Problem is, there is some setting I own could handle the ninja-stuff, but any of them doesn't sound cool or useful, let's say "agile" enough to handle it properly. And many of those games are horror, what is not needed for that scene. I am not sure what game would do it for me, maybe Feng Shui? Haven't actually played nor read it ever, but it might be that hong kong action game what could handle it well what I tried and failed with V:tM.

If I find a cheap copy of Feng Shui somewhere, I might try it out.

Oh, and I have downloaded pdf of Violence roleplaying game. Not sure though, is it for more brutal action. Like not sneaking behind your enemy and slitting his throat open, but hitting your opponent with a log and spitting on him. Could check that out soon enough though.