How would you hack a VtM lookalike without going anywhere near the storyteller system?

[5atbu]

Mythras After the Vampire Wars

After the Vampire Wars by John Snead

After the Vampire Wars by John Snead at Aeon Games

www.aeongamespublishing.co.uk

 

[MGibster]

I might consider using Fate. The rules are relatively simple and Aspects can be used to really emulate the mood of a Vampire game.

 

[Fenris-77]

Urban Shadows was my first thought as well. It almost feels like a PbtA take on VtM. The second edition is in the works, though a bit behind schedule.

US would be cool. If you wanted some flexibility making up Vampire powers maybe something like Mutants and Masterminds.

 

[Umbran]

• I'm not interested in some rando GM's pet project Storyteller remake/hack/"personal re-envisioning" of the system.

The number of professional reworkings is going to be small, of course. Few are going to try to compete with the original.

You might try Magpie Games Undying - based in PbtA.

 

[aramis erak]

Use the Angel RPG. an do it out of the box.

 

[Umbran]

I might consider using Fate. The rules are relatively simple and Aspects can be used to really emulate the mood of a Vampire game.

I know the OP says no Fate, but I have been thinking about how you might emulate some of the WW-isms...

Assume you're approaching this like Spirit of the Century or Dresden Files - much of what make a vampire what they are is mechanically included using Stunts. Say they need a Fate Point to activate, and vampires have no Refresh - they only regain Fate Points by drinking blood or by taking compels....

Or, you add in a Blood Stress track. This has the benefit of making vampires tougher, as they have an extra stress track to soak stress up. But, some of the Stunts may cause the character to take stress. When you are Taken Out and have no Blood Stress left, the GM will typically narrate this as Torpor. Frenzy can be a Consequence when you run out of Blood Stress, and you only regain that Stress via drinking blood....

 

[MGibster]

I know the OP says no Fate, but I have been thinking about how you might emulate some of the WW-isms...

I missed that and I kind of feel like a jerk for suggesting it now. It's been a while, are Stunts the same as Aspects? What I like is the player can tap it to do something useful while the GM can tap it to add some complication to the character's life.

 

[Jer]

• I'm very much okay (better than okay) with PbtA/FitD, but I don't want it to just be some reskinned playbooks stacked on top of the AW engine. It needs to be a bit more . . . integrated into a cohesive whole.

I'll second the folks who are pointing at Urban Shadows. I haven't actually run it because my usual group is more interested in high powered action rather than intrigue, but from reading it it seems like a good example of something inspired by the World of Darkness and put into a PbtA framework.

• I already own Night's Black Agents, but am not GUMSHOE is a good fit, nor how one might switch the focus from the investigators/agents to the vampires, or if it's even worth the attempt.

I would agree that Nights Black Agents isn't the right fit. It's very much geared towards the investigation side of things - while it can handle social and intrigue the game is built around an investigation model. Plus the magical vampire powers would need to be fit into player side of things rather than GM characters and that would also take work. I think GUMSHOE could work with this kind of thing as a system but there isn't one that works right out of the box with it IMO (and I'd probably look more towards Sword of the Serpentine for how I'd make those modifications than NBA, since SoS downplays investigation in the system compared to other GUMSHOE games).

 

[Ulfgeir]

I missed that and I kind of feel like a jerk for suggesting it now. It's been a while, are Stunts the same as Aspects? What I like is the player can tap it to do something useful while the GM can tap it to add some complication to the character's life.

Nope. Aspects describe Who they are. These are tappable by players/the GM.

Stunts are things that let them do things they would not normally be allowed to do by the rules. So they would be the equivalents of the powers/merits in Vampire. They often, but not always have a fate-point costs to use. Can for example be that they allow you to use a different skill than normally used for something.

 

[timbannock]

I've mentioned a few times on this board that I've never had an affinity for the White Wolf / Storyteller systems.

Even though I was a teenager in the '90s, for whatever reason the general zeitgeist of Vampire: the Masquerade passed me by.

I've tried looking through some of the more recent Vampire/Mage/Werewolf core books, and they give me the same general impression that turned me off to White Wolf back in the day --- overly pretentious and self-important, with a mediocre/sub-par core system, that's only compelling because the vampire political maneuverings are somewhat interesting.

So I've thought recently --- What if you could lift the vampire political underpinnings out and away from their White Wolf chains and put them into another system, what would that look like?

Consider the following caveats/provisos ---

• I'm mostly interested in capturing the background/intrigue and dramatic stakes of the setting than I am in the combat system.
• I already have Savage Worlds and Genesys and like them both, but I'm looking for something else.
• I'm not interested in some rando GM's pet project Storyteller remake/hack/"personal re-envisioning" of the system.
• I am not interested in some far out-there, long-tail indie system that a grand total of eight people have ever heard of.
• I have zero interest in Fate or GURPS.
• I might be persuaded to consider HERO or BRP, but you'd better sell me on it.
• I'm very much okay (better than okay) with PbtA/FitD, but I don't want it to just be some reskinned playbooks stacked on top of the AW engine. It needs to be a bit more . . . integrated into a cohesive whole.
• From glimpses and hints from people discussing it from afar, it seems like Cortex+/Prime might be a decent match, but I have absolutely zero experience with the system. I'm already interested in it based on Tales of Xadia and Firefly. If there is a good Cortex hack, I'm all ears.
• I already own Night's Black Agents, but am not GUMSHOE is a good fit, nor how one might switch the focus from the investigators/agents to the vampires, or if it's even worth the attempt.

There's a Cortex Plus hack that's perfectly compatible with Cortex Prime. I'd do some things differently, but it's a great start.

Camarillaville, part 1

The pathways map you generate as part of character creation in the Smallville RPG looks remarkably like the old politics maps in Vampire: the Masquerade city books. Coincidence… or opportunit…

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