Vampire: The Requiem

[Morrus]

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[TrippyHippy]

4 out of 5 rating for Vampire: The Requiem

Vampire: The Requiem was essentially a reboot of the successful Vampire: The Masquerade. Rather than simply release yet another ‘Revised edition’, an entirely new World of Darkness was created with new lines for Vampires, Werewolves, Mages and the rest. This afforded the developers to avoid edition warring (as was apparent from their ‘Revised’ editions previously), while also giving the developers carte blanche to clean up the system and setting as they like while deliberately removing real world cultural references (including the ‘gothic punk’ motif). The result is a game that is undeniably playable and very professionally produced, but losing something of the nuance and, indeed, passion of it’s forerunner. I never found myself reading the book for any great length of time, whereas I would happily read Masquerade in a single sitting. It must also be noted that the game requires the use of the World of Darkness core rules - it’s not standalone.

 

[Raunalyn]

3 out of 5 rating for Vampire: The Requiem

I've been a huge fan of White Wolf and their systems since the beginning. Vampire: The Masquerade was, I think, the first of its kind; you play a monster trying to stay as human as you can. This tale of personal horror was over-arched by the threat of an apocalyptic battle between the godlike founders of the vampire bloodlines. While the metaplot was very much convoluted, it was also compelling and added an undercurrent of dread to the Vampire game. Sadly, it had to inevitably come to an end. Vampire: The Requiem throws all of that out the door. No metaplot, very dry and bland story. Some people may take this as a good thing; Storytellers can take the system and develop their own stories. I, however, could find very little in the new game that compelled or inspired me. The main reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 2 was the very robust and simplified Storyteller system; the new rules are simple and remarkably easy to pick up, while allowing the story to remain the focus of the game.