In fact I have never: bought a source book, a booster pack, or installed a copy of this franchise. I have neither rolled a die, nor shuffled a deck in support. I would say; not only am I playing it correctly, I am winning.
@@blacklodgegames I have since checked and I also pulled my brother out of a very unsettling LARP campaign at Queens U. in Kingston. I went home for his 18th b. day, and going to get him didnt bother me, I am a gamer, these are my people. Running into sadder, older, creepier dudes I gamed near in HS... and they were in their 20's... That put paid to it. I was honestly shocked to see them all in one place and not wearing orange jumpsuits while cleaning a statue or similar.
Paulie is a fairly typical Brujah neonate who nobody expects to last more than few nights but somehow keeps slipping through the cracks until he becomes an ancillae.
Not just mafia, but other forms of criminal operations are possible especially among Caitiffs and Thinbloods. I played a story where a Thinblood ran a whole operation over a chain of hospitals. He could be in the sun and had a life like appearance, so he could run an organization of mostly humans. He used humans to run the legit side of his criminal operation, kindred out to be his dealers to other kindred, and a handful of thinbloods as middle men between the two-sides. He was just useful enough to be given a measure of tolerance by the local Prince and continue his criminal operations unimpeded. It was a fascinating few sessions.
Clan Giovanni were the most legitimately terrifying group in CWoD. Sure, individual Tzimisce were pretty goddamn awful, but the clan of death acted with unity of purpose...
Giovanni? Only Sabbat. They are the Good Guys. Feed on those Camarilla scum, so you will be strong enough to deal with Antediluvians. That's the only way to prevent Gehenna from happening. Ergo Diablerie on the weak minded.
The Mafia parallel is truly perfect. You guys understand this game is more than gossiping in Elysium or hiding katanas under your trench in August. Great video guys, VtM was our main game for almost three years and it’s a blast.
@@SteveKavadas " Elysium," city corporate elites rub shoulders and elbows with the street hustlers. What is the Country Gangrel doing here ? My .. dog/PC .. was insulted by a female snob, in a very polite condescending manner. So break character and asked the group, do I roll to see if I got the rude insult, or do I take it as a compliment do to the sweet tone of her voice . ? Everyone at the table Rolled !, " You think she Likes You ! " ( What happens when you feed a stray cat treats and talk Nicely to it ? ) The cat or dog brings you a kill, dead bird, cats, rabbit, .. what is left from a half-eaten raccoon roadkill. After an hour of back-alley hunting rolls, my Gangrel brought her the ugly smelliest dead stray cat you ever did see. My PC " phanted " like he was a Good Boy. 2.) New girl to the game, not understanding the system rules, she picked a Toreador/singer that works at the animal shelter with multiple dots in Empathy and Animal Ken. Which was the young woman's real job, and she had kittens & puppies with her at the gaming shop. Other player at the gaming shop went and PC/ Mean Girl Snub act, and rolled Intimidate for social awkward to make the new girl cry. " Oh did that make you Feel .. hurt .. like your little stray mongers, you tend to?" " .. cough, cough, cough .. " half the players at the game were .. Gangrel. Venture prince, " Apologize, .. " Mean girl, " Why, this is Elysium. Even the boorish country Gangrel won't do Anything .. Here." Gangrel players roll Self-control .. then roll Intimidation taking attack formation body language stances. ( Stage One) Venture prince shaken, " Apologize, .. NOW ! " Gangrels roll, ready to start FEEDING intimidation sound. ( Stage Two) More than a few other vampires/ " cough, cough, " kindred failed their courage/self-control rolls, spent a blood point and pizz themselves on the spot. b.) The new girl/player asked, " What would have happened if the Gangrel failed their self-control at stage one ?" The player, role playing the mean girl snob, " Well sweetie, they .. the Gangrel .. all eight of them .. would have gone into a feeding Freezy on me. Right there on the spot. The Gangrel are called Beasts for a reason."
everyone, once in his life tried to play vampire as a personal horror / drama, until a guy told me that the curse of the vampire is that he will never find peace because to become powerfull you have to bend and break vampiric society rules.
I think there's this horrible misunderstanding of what "personal" horror is by the Critical Role lot who see RPGs as Tv series that they star in. Personal Horror isn't some dramatic thing that you advertise to others. It's personal. Meaning specific to you. It's watching your family slowly age, move on, and die whilst you live on in a world you understand less and less. It isn't "big RPG moments" You don't role play a moment of personal horror to applause from your group. Your character just internalizes it
@@DoctorEviloplyyou can have a personal horror moment publicly, but you(the character) must never want to have a personal horror moment publicly. I read somewhere a story about a group where the Malkavian's madness was gynephobia (fear of women) and another player, whose character was female, was playing the game as Vampions (acting all goody two shoes, disregarding the horror elements, trying to keep a black and white morality and such). At one moment the Malkavian character has a breakdown and the other player tries to hug him, to which the Malkavian beats her to a pulp while yelling "IT DOES NOT TOUCH ME, IT IS DIRTY". That's personal horror done right, the characters are monsters and will keep being monsters no matter how hard they try to be people, and they will stay that way for all of eternity. What's worse, they aren't even the biggest monster, they are just bigger than humans, most base characters in WoD can crush a base vampire easily, and older vampires can crush a base vampire physically and mentally with the effort of picking your nose. The horror is that you are a rabid wolf in a forest full of rabid wolves.
I used to joke about that. They're a bunch of Gothy, overly-tattooed people in fancy suits that are weirdly pale and addicted to intrigue and political maneuvering.
there are no people in John wicks world. where are the normal humans? Everyone is a member of this secret cartel of assassins. And they are all so polite. Vampires
If I remember correctly they even mentioned that mob movies like Goodfellas, The Godfather, Casino etc. are great inspirations for VtM in every book in the early pages.
Absolutely 100%. I've been saying this for decades. A Camarilla game should feel like a mafia story (Godfather, Boardwalk Empire). An anarch game should feel like street crime (The Wire, Sons of Anarchy) and a Sabbat game... well, they're terror cells. Or like playing GTA! BTW, you were fantastic as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire!
I accidentally made the association between the Camarilla and the Mafia while watching "Reservoir Dogs" one night, so I'm glad to see someone actually articulate that connection. (and on a related matter, can we all agree that the erasure of Clan Giovanni is one of the biggest crimes of modern VtM?)
The erasure of many of the cool clans and powers is a crime. Dementation taken out, be it for simplicity or to avoid offending people, sucks, so does taking Vicissitude, Chimerstry, and Obtenebration. I get some of these kinda overlap, but that was the point, how many different versions of "vampire powers" could we get.
@@enriquejoseantequerasanche6180Vampire developed a lot of crazy bad stuff over the time. The overlap is not practical to playability. People are just attached to superficial things. Dementation wasn't even the original Malkavian Discipline of this game.
Not to mention the blatant favoritism the Hecate receive. Every clan feels the beckoning even those with dead founders... except the Hecata. Every independent clan joined a faction... except the Hecata. No clan at the time of its release had bloodlines...except the Hecata.
Okay I think more people should watch Dawkin's explanation of why the Hecata exist as they are. Nobody played the Giovanni, and the main reason for that is because their concept was so restricting that many people just weren't interested in it, they were Vampire Necromancers who were also like the Italian Mob, and unless you wanted to play that specific thing, you didn't really Use the Giovanni. And don't come at me with the alternative Death/Necromancy Bloodlines, you damn well know that most people when making a character gravitate towards Clans and don't really consider the Bloodlines unless they have a specific concept. The Hecata was their attempt to fix this, by uniting the Death-themed Bloodlines with the Giovanni to form the Clan of Death they created a Clan with a Broader Appeal. In Canon they're just a group of Vampire Necromancers, which has a much wider appeal than Vampire Necromancers who are also Mobsters. The several Lineages for the Hecata was their attempt to compromise with the distinct Bloodlines/Clans that existed in prior editions. You want to play an old school Giovanni? Great play a Hecata with the Giovanni Lineage, Old school Cappadocian/Harbingers of skulls, grab the Harbingers of Ashur Lineage, etc, etc. None of these Lineages interest you but you still want to play a Necromancer, cool general Hecata, don't grab a lineage sheet. Clan Hecata simply has a much wider appeal and stands as a much more viable option for a much wider array of players/characters, than the Giovanni ever could. And the option to play a Giovanni is still on the table, the Giovanni didn't go anywhere, just because they formed an alliance clan with the other Death Bloodlines/Clans doesn't mean they disappeared, the book even specifies that many of the previously existing groups within the Hecata still maintain their distinct identity.
Generation X-er and Vampire 1st ed. player here. We already played it like a mob game back then. It was pretty obvious even in the 1st edition. Mob culture with a veneer of punk, goth, occultism and corporate. The Sabbat is even more like a mob, an even nastier one...
@@blacklodgegames tbh the sabbat makes not much sense, they have no real logic because the sabat lore was build by a lot of people, unlike the camarilla that the basics was built from the start. the church hierarchy should be a mockery then they are true believers? the clan alliance should be replaced by paths, but you still have clan play? they revolted against elders and antideluvians, but this is not reflected on Big NPCs. even the black hand had 2 or 3 versions
@@blacklodgegames Yeah, I'd completely agree on the cartels. I'm looking forward to your take on the sect. The Sabbat was a bunch of ideas from everywhere thrown together to make a wild and inconsistent mix if I'm honest. I liked it the most as an obscure idea of something dangerous and unknown when it was mentioned in the first core book before it was fleshed out.
By far, this essay is one of The Best(( if not THE BEST ))overview of VTM and especially The Camarilla!! The parallels are shown in crystal clarity and with the elegance of a faultless mathematical formula... WELL DONE!! That said, I'm looking forward to your subsequent explorations!!
This is why the Giovanni Chronicles is my favorite intro for new players and why all clan Hecata stories work in a group session. Well done and I will be sharing. Please keep up this content. I would love to see a video for each clan viewed through this thematic lens of what the clan and camarilla expect of them.
Giovanni Chronicles is great at least the last book is. Where it starts out with the players being brought in as a Ghouls back in the 1920s/30s, goes through the 50s, 70s and then the final nights of the 90s. It's like Goodfellas, if Henry, Jimmy and Tommy were Vampires.
i was a hardcore WoD player in the mid 90's, and had an exceptional crew of players and storyteller that followed this ethos to the letter, even back then. Sometimes it would get a tad silly, but generally speaking, if we had the right motivation, and the right understanding of our connection and purpose, it made for some magical stories that even 30 years later, I look back on with fondness. I really miss those games.
Name it like Mat Dickie does in his games. In Old School, Tony Soprano is called as Tommy Supremo or Tony Supremo. I remember his name because I like the character but also because he ran over my character with a car which led to the character ending up in a hospital.
This almost 1:1 with cyberpunk. People think playing corpo is living life easy, were nothing could be further from the truth. Your surrounded by jealous cut throats, eyeing your opulent wealth. While your blind to your own fortune instead fixated on the swaying sword of Damocles above your head.
Just finished a year-long VtM chronicle and this is making me realize I missed a lot of potential to use the structure of the Camarilla. It'd be great if you made a video about running an Anarch chronicle.
Yes, we played VtM Godfather style in late 90s and early 00s. If the game is treated seriously, then it slides into Mafia themes efortlessly and on it's own. I'm actually amazed people didn't do this on daily (nightly) basis, Mark Rein-Hagen constantly talked about influence of Godfather on Masquerade. It was basically equal to Anne Rice's.
I had never been interested in vampire, but with this exhibition I feel interested for the first time....and in seeing the Godfather trilogy, thank you, great video!
So… it’s not Mafia but I thought I found a good historical setting for the drama of Vampire, Berlin during the Cold War. With the iron curtain dividing the city, vampires care little for the territorial lines mortals drew, but night watchmen seeing vampires moving across the lines might set events in motion against them. Plus treating the conflict between Camarilla and Anarch as its own Cold War within the city
This is brilliant, man. I've been playing Vampire off and on since 1994 and this is the best take on the game I've ever seen. Makes it infinitely more playable. Bravo!
"you're clan will get you into trouble" reminds me of a section from the old Judges Guild module "Wilderlands of High Fantasy", on page 17: "In any mixed crowd, NPCs can get you in hot water - 50% of all encounters are caused by NPCs, and they usually choose to insult 1-6 levels of hit dice higher than their own. The victim of the insult will usually have 2-12 'friends'... check Reaction of the group" Everyone wants to have henchmen, goons, low-tier shitkickers beneath them who can do the dirty work for the PCs, but the sorts of guys willing to do this are generally going to be the sorts of guys you wouldn't trust as far as you can throw them. Thralls, children, etc. can and should absolutely get you in trouble and cause problems with people bigger and scarier than you. Very good stuff
Im about to start a chronicle based out of Nawlins. Mafia is very much a part of it. Ive got Camarilla existing in a tentative peace with an Anarch Oil Baron and rouge Hecata voodoo practioners in the Bayou who never got the "we are reformed now" memo. All the factions are aware of each other and the power players at work, and are signatories to a peace pact. They are in basically a cold war, never open hostilities but all struggling to subvert each other through neonate proxie. All for the sake of becoming top dog and with their own motivations. Everything else is for flavor and that World of Darkness charm ❤
W5's big problem is its a deconstruction of the game written by people who didnt like it. This is particularly awkward as revised already a reconstruction and the author liked it it making it redundant on released
5e is just a downgrade from past edition, werewolf just got the short end of the stick because it wasn't that great to begin with, vampire turned from the greatest game after dnd to a mediocre mafia rpg with fangs, werewolf meanwhile went from a very flawed game with a somewhat interesting premise into a reskin of vampire with furries.
im very happy with the vtm videos that are coming out . i have never heard these perspectives in my 15 years as a storyteller . please keep making vtm videos. you are actually making original content on the subject.
The first character I though about when I heard about the lore of Vampire the Mascarade and character creation the first though I had was about the cartel chainsaw beheading video.
I love this series on the fundamentals of Vampire. By far, it's the best take on the game to be found on UA-cam. Looking forward to the video on the Sabbat.
Brilliantly done, gentlemen. In general, the crime drama in its depth is underrated as inspiration for RPGs at micro scale. For vampire games and factions, though, it's a perfect correlation. Well done.
Awesome vid. LCN is just southern Italian feudalism being forced to operate inside the threat of modern law; and vampires love their feudalism. Of course the mafia is the missing link between Dark Ages imperial majesty and Masquerade. Why didn’t I think of that? Why didn’t any of you tell me this earlier? Heads will roll for this!
And just like that, it finally clicks. I haven't ever had a group who was into WoD, so I have only read the books. I never understood what vampires basic structure. Werewolves have a built in purpose of protecting humans from spirits and cleaning up pollution and corruption, werewolves have a job. Thank you for explaining the vampires' job.
👍👍, “foppish, political drama that goes nowhere” As soon as you said that, my immediate thought was that that’s the current game I’m running holy shit! This… More please!
For us, we always played like it was the mob. We add the cruelty of Game Of Thrones and the game is pretty set. People outside this game don't understand the nuances as much, but the complexity of the game is extremely rich and fun when it's done well. It makes a big difference. Good Video!
I wonder if this same mentality can be extended to the other games. Werewolf: the Apocalypse is basically Eco-Terrorism and you're part of a 'Green Mujahadeen', with your pack being an individual cell and your Tribes representing the different terrorist organizations (Fianna are the PIRA, Get of Fenris are Red Army Brigade, etc). The same could be for the Traditions in Mage: the Ascension in that you play what are fundamentally members of weird mystery cults and the Technocracy are governmental departments (CIA, FBI, NSA, the US Army etc).
While I may not agree with some your views and I will grant that you guys make some of the best content when it comes to running various games. You've helped me rethink my approach to Vampire and I feel more confident to try my hand at storytelling again with this new focus of thinking about the clans/sects as the mob. Brilliant.
Awesome to hear it, and we are 100% cool with people of different view points. There are no packaged deals: take the ideas you like from our content and discard what you don't. Thanks for watching, really appreciate it.
I used to Narrate a game for 4 years. I don't know if it's because my obsessive love for History, or because I came from amateur acting before Vampire, but this that you are saying was always very, very clear to me. I was also very lucky that the hard-core of my players understood the message and were very aware of this. My Chronicle was very successful in this regard. They were Prince loyalists, after a war with the Sabbat, the Primogen tried to curb the powers of the prince, but my themes were very constant: There are Laws in the Camarilla and the characters and NPCs were essentially humans turned into monsters. They role-played it amazingly, their internal conflicts with their duties to the Camarilla. A Narrator can only do so far. If the players want to turn it into Batman, something must be done. And when I had new players joining the fold, I always explained the premises of what my game encompassed. When they kept doing it, I had a talk with them, even because the old players complained. And if they insisted, I just didn't invite them anymore and turned their characters into NPCs, some minor, some major. It was an absolute success. We spent entire 8-hour sessions, sometimes, without rolling a single dice, in character, having dialogues, or performing tasks for their overmasters, or individual sessions in which the characters had their personal stories unfold. It was AMAZING. I write all this still impressed about how well it went. In the end, everyone had a great time. We had to stop because I moved to another country to pursue higher studies. It's possible, guys! But a Narrator can't do it alone. The players must want to do it well.
I can count on 1 hand the number of channels I have subbed to after one video in 20 years. But what you done here is perfect. You clearly understand this deeply and have found a way to communicate that understanding. Bravo.
What a fucking dope ass video. Great advice, expertly summarized and delivered so everyone can get something out of it. Ill share this with my german roleplaying buddies because i couls not say this better
You know what’s funny? I never laid it out this way… but you perfectly explained how I’ve run Vampire in every WoD game I’ve ever run. I took a lot of stylistic approach from Jim Butcher’s ideas as well. Which… welll… again. Basically the Mob. Which is why my Mages hunted them like freaking vermin.
This fits very well with how I usually describe the influence that vampires have on socierty to be akind to the mafia, with their focus mostly on local goverments and places.
This is a great base for improving and focusing Vampire game-running, thanks. I want to say, though, there's an interesting wrinkle. Vampires suffer supernatural, empirically-verifiable consequences for being too savage, too unremittingly shit-headed. That's wild in a way! There are human war criminals and serial killers who get away with far more than a Kindred could, and go home and have dinner with their families (for a media example, think of The Cleaner in Boondock Saints, but lots of real-life examples will do)... A vampire who acts like that will go permanently, terminally insane, and have to be put down by other Kindred... which in turn gives those Kindred a vivid, first-hand example of what awaits them if they have no brakes. It's as if mobsters were the only humans on Earth with undeniable proof of Hell, and yet they cannot stop being mobsters. They have to be mobsters who know exactly how their souls are marked by what they do. So I suspect that in vampire society, the threat of violence is everpresent, but the outbursts of it are rare. It's not hard to imagine that even fucking with another Kindred's touchstones, to the extent you could identify them, would be treated with... caution. For ye who fucks with the Beast may also be fucked with, and all of ye are suspended over a hungry and bottomless void.
I've been running V:tM since '93. And I've skirted around this concept without realizing it, but also never fully went in. I did as he described in the beginning. And it made Vampire one of my least favorite of the line. This whole video was like a light bulb moment. Sir, I am humbled. As someone that does more cinematic style of game, with a focus on personal sub-plots, you view will tighten up my vampire world for all my players. I thank you.
Another great video.. I used the same descriptions of the mob from Goodfellas and the Godfather when we first started playing to help my players understand the dynamics between clans, ancilla, elders, etc. great analogy.
@@blacklodgegames Sadly, those who most need to hear your advice are going screech, hiss, and run from this channel like - well, like vampires from sunlight. And probably the WoD people more than most. I've read KoDT comics which mocked male VTM players for wearing mascara in the '90s, long before tumblrinas even existed.
This works soo well when u look at ventrue what they can do while yes they have diplomacy they also have phsyical strengh and durability based diciplines their mob bosses all together
This is a great analogy and does indeed provide a perfect framework for any Vampire game and setting. And breaking it down, you can see how the various ages and ranks of vampires line up with the classic mafia titles and roles. Associates - Mortal servants and ghouls. The "boots on the ground" of any vampire group. Not officially "part of the family" but act as the catspaws and fronts that can be groomed for bigger things or disposed of without too much trouble if necessarily. Soldiers - Neonates and Fledglings. Younger, lower generation, or newly turned vampires who don't have much status but do much of the night to night dirty work. Capos - Ancillea. They have enough age, power, and respect to be trusted to run their own coteries and broods, but aren't power players yet. Might be specialists the higher ups call on to handle specific tasks or missions. Underboss/Consiglieri - Elders and primogens. They do most of the planning and organization. Dangerous and powerful on their own but typically avoid getting their hands dirty unless absolutely required. In larger cities, they probably run "crews" of specific clan types. Don - The Prince and their court. These are the top dogs, often the oldest and strongest of the local licks. Everybody else pays them fealty. One point I might expand on is if vampires, specifically the Camarilla, are like the mob, that raises the question of what "capital" it is they seek and vie for. In organized crime the usual end goal is money. From simple stickups and robberies to extortion and illicit trades (e.g. gambling, narcotics, prostitution, etc...) to even fraud and money laundering, the point of any crew or family is obtain money that is paid up the chain through the ranks to the boss. So what are a group of immortal blood suckers seeking in their games of power and privilege in the long lonely nights? What is their overall "goal" so to speak? 1. Money. I mean, this one is the most obvious. It makes the world go round, after all. And while basic necessities like food and shelter are relatively easy for a vampire to obtain, creature comforts and security are not and you can't just fill out a job application at the local fast food joint for part time job. Thus, vampires need some form of income that can't be traced or taxed. Therefor, like the mob, they set up fronts in the form of business and organizations run by vassals and fledgings that can generate passive funds. With vampires acting as silent partners or private investors who take an off the books cut of the profits for their own use. This can lead to proxy wars between mortal companies or criminal groups as their shadowy masters battle for market shares and territory. 2. Favors. This doesn't get much spotlight in the recent editions, but vampires place a great deal of stock in boons and personal debts. Trading them like currency in the halls of power and using them to create webs of contacts, allies, informants and associates. At first glance, this may seem silly since vampires are immortal supernatural beings who realistically can not be bound by any mortal law nor can be tempted by typical pleasures. But breaking your word or trust means you could quickly find yourself out in the cold should the Inquisition or Sabbat come knocking. And vampires have long, loooong memories. A slight or insult can give birth to a grudge that can last for centuries if not longer. Thus, sires load up their childer with debts of protection and support and are quick and harsh to punish those who welch on what they owe. Meanwhile, fledglings and ancillae squabble for the favor of elders and primogens in hopes of gaining potent boons they can then use for their own advancement. This makes most dangerous words you can ever hear a vampire say are "You owe me one." 3. Blood. This is, forgive the obvious pun, the lifeblood of the vampire existence. Vampires, by their natures, must feed to survive and in the modern age tapping a vein isn't as easy as just picking off a human who wandered too far into the night. So cultivating and maintaining feeding grounds becomes one of the paramount activities of vampires and finding unobtrusive ways to get your crimson fix is a nightly chore. Especially for those with cadres of ghouls to keep and rarified tastes. Thus, working in conjunction with the above two goals, vampires will find ways to maintain herds they can safely feed from without drawing undo attention. This is probably where the mafia comparison becomes the most apt. Aspiring ghouls and younger vampires act as shepherds and lures to mortals that can then be moved up the food chain to the elders and more powerful vampires. Screw up, fail to provide, or worse get caught and you're likely going to earn yourself a one way trip to a sunbath...or worse. Now, obviously, this isn't an exhaustive list and a vampire's own personal goals can and should factor in. But I think they provide a solid starting point and background for players and a way for them to get their heads around the night to night activities of vampires. The only question is how do they want go about it?
There's actually a third type of VTM can become - the trash/absurd one, where vampires lose their minds from suddenly gaining power and start doing most random stuff possible. But I honestly don't know if it applies to other communities outside of Russian one.
Very interesting. I've never DMed a VtM game, and only played in 4 (including one which was VtDA). They all definitely served up "foppish political drama" and "tormented vigilante" to greater or lesser degrees, with a side dish of "standard D&D party which happens to be dressed in black," and they were all unsatisfying - perhaps for that reason. Looking forward to the Sabbat video, especially because my characters were 2 Lasombras and a Tzimisce (plus a Malk who barely counts, because, y'know, Malk). I'd also like to hear something about what aspects might be different in a VtDA setting, since the one time I suggested a modern game to my players I was unanimously shot down.
It was hard to recover from them missing out on making Brujah into a biker gang rather than the Italian-suits and New York accents they went with. The cold open was fucking great though.
Great video! Goes straight to the must-watch list of videos for new (and seasoned) storytellers. Made me think about the scene in the series the strain where the vampire overlord bribes Sean Astins character with getting his terminal cancer patient wife into experimental treatment. Far more effective them threatening him into complying.
This video has fliped my perception of Vampire on it's head, and it has already improved my campaign, thank you ^^ I'l love to see more videos that tackle entire concept instead of one single detail.
Check out our upcoming Kickstarter: shorturl.at/kiNg6
Described by playtesters as a lynchian surrealist nightmare!
In fact I have never: bought a source book, a booster pack, or installed a copy of this franchise. I have neither rolled a die, nor shuffled a deck in support. I would say; not only am I playing it correctly, I am winning.
@@mikeemmons1079 flawless technique
Wow great review, 1 of the best made. I just bought the game after watching this. Thanx man
@@blacklodgegames I have since checked and I also pulled my brother out of a very unsettling LARP campaign at Queens U. in Kingston. I went home for his 18th b. day, and going to get him didnt bother me, I am a gamer, these are my people. Running into sadder, older, creepier dudes I gamed near in HS... and they were in their 20's... That put paid to it. I was honestly shocked to see them all in one place and not wearing orange jumpsuits while cleaning a statue or similar.
In all seriousness, this is the best advice I've ever seen for a vampire game.
Thanks!
Came to the comments section to say the same thing. Here after watching this channel’s video about Roleplaying instead of Performing. Amazing advice
@@Southpaw_Blue thanks for watching, we've got a lot more on the way. If you know any VtM fans that would find this interesting, feel free to share!
Yup
Where is this movie. Better yet a series should be made.
“It’s doesn’t have to be The Italian mafia” NOUp too late , I’m Tony Vamprano now . I own a bat management business 🧛 🚮
@@TheDrudgenator understandable
I'm in the bat management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're vamped up. It's a stereotype. And it's offensive.
IN THIS HOUSEHOLD VLAD THE IMAPALER IS A HERO, END OF STORY!
Even today, they put up their noses at us, like we're peasants *spits on the ground* i hate the northsferatu
Wesley Snipes, he was a dhampyr?
seeing that thumbnail i can't help but to imagine Paulie Walnuts maneuvering in the camarilla and im losing my mind with how hilarious that sounds
OH!
Paulie is a fairly typical Brujah neonate who nobody expects to last more than few nights but somehow keeps slipping through the cracks until he becomes an ancillae.
@@ConernicusRex Paulie? Your Sire got run over by a delivery truck, right?
@@Shamino1 His coach turned into a pumpkin
I clicked because the thumbnail was so fucking funny
So Vampire Underworld = Criminal Underworld. This clears up a lot of focus problems.
Yep, and it allows all the other themes to fall into place under it
Spy underworld would work too.
This works for Shadowrun too.
Especially because the mob actually exists in that world.
can't believe the Giovanni had it right this whole time
Not just mafia, but other forms of criminal operations are possible especially among Caitiffs and Thinbloods.
I played a story where a Thinblood ran a whole operation over a chain of hospitals. He could be in the sun and had a life like appearance, so he could run an organization of mostly humans. He used humans to run the legit side of his criminal operation, kindred out to be his dealers to other kindred, and a handful of thinbloods as middle men between the two-sides. He was just useful enough to be given a measure of tolerance by the local Prince and continue his criminal operations unimpeded. It was a fascinating few sessions.
Clan Giovanni were the most legitimately terrifying group in CWoD. Sure, individual Tzimisce were pretty goddamn awful, but the clan of death acted with unity of purpose...
@@AbsurdlyGeeky ... I loved them so much.
@@AbsurdlyGeekyWhat about the Tremere?
Giovanni? Only Sabbat. They are the Good Guys. Feed on those Camarilla scum, so you will be strong enough to deal with Antediluvians. That's the only way to prevent Gehenna from happening. Ergo Diablerie on the weak minded.
The Mafia parallel is truly perfect. You guys understand this game is more than gossiping in Elysium or hiding katanas under your trench in August. Great video guys, VtM was our main game for almost three years and it’s a blast.
while I agree with you, I am still hiding a sword in my coat. old habits die hard.
@@Majesticleper so did we, and for us, Elyssium was the place where you made threats without repercussions on the premises lol
@@SteveKavadas " Elysium," city corporate elites rub shoulders and elbows with the street hustlers.
What is the Country Gangrel doing here ?
My .. dog/PC .. was insulted by a female snob, in a very polite condescending manner.
So break character and asked the group, do I roll to see if I got the rude insult, or do I take it as a compliment do to the sweet tone of her voice . ?
Everyone at the table Rolled !, " You think she Likes You ! "
( What happens when you feed a stray cat treats and talk Nicely to it ? )
The cat or dog brings you a kill, dead bird, cats, rabbit, .. what is left from a half-eaten raccoon roadkill.
After an hour of back-alley hunting rolls, my Gangrel brought her the ugly smelliest dead stray cat you ever did see.
My PC " phanted " like he was a Good Boy.
2.) New girl to the game, not understanding the system rules, she picked a Toreador/singer that works at the animal shelter with multiple dots in Empathy and Animal Ken. Which was the young woman's real job, and she had kittens & puppies with her at the gaming shop.
Other player at the gaming shop went and PC/ Mean Girl Snub act, and rolled Intimidate for social awkward to make the new girl cry. " Oh did that make you Feel .. hurt .. like your little stray mongers, you tend to?"
" .. cough, cough, cough .. " half the players at the game were .. Gangrel.
Venture prince, " Apologize, .. "
Mean girl, " Why, this is Elysium. Even the boorish country Gangrel won't do Anything .. Here."
Gangrel players roll Self-control .. then roll Intimidation taking attack formation body language stances. ( Stage One)
Venture prince shaken, " Apologize, .. NOW ! "
Gangrels roll, ready to start FEEDING intimidation sound. ( Stage Two)
More than a few other vampires/ " cough, cough, " kindred failed their courage/self-control rolls, spent a blood point and pizz themselves on the spot.
b.) The new girl/player asked, " What would have happened if the Gangrel failed their self-control at stage one ?"
The player, role playing the mean girl snob, " Well sweetie, they .. the Gangrel .. all eight of them .. would have gone into a feeding Freezy on me. Right there on the spot. The Gangrel are called Beasts for a reason."
Camarilla: “I’m gonna make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
Anarchs: “CAN YOU DIG IT?!”
The godfather and the Warriors
@@elroma7712 What would the Sabbat be? I'm struggling for a comparison.
@@voidstrider801 Sabbat is City of God
And the Malks are on the side playing Saints Row...
"i did 200 years here"
-vampire phil leotardo
He wanted to drink blood from babies he compromised he ate rats from the sewers
I DRANK RAT BLOOD ON THE RADIATOR
Take it eeaaaasy
Your brothers diablerie, whatever happened there
Grilled cheese of the radiator and jacking off in a tissue for 200 years 😭
Now im just imagining a bunch of vampires going "OOOHHHH" when someone screws up
You didn't observe the tradition of hospitality to Vito, that's gotta be resolved
He never did have the makings of an antedeluvian....
Small fangs
@@kenon6968 OMG, YESSS. Vampire racisms and slurs.
@@Zoie3x8 these fockin bloodsuckers ruining the neighbourhood as they do. Stay away from them AJ!
"We're under a microscope and I gotta hear on the street you shot some kid at the blood bank over a cooler of type O?"
everyone, once in his life tried to play vampire as a personal horror / drama, until a guy told me that the curse of the vampire is that he will never find peace because to become powerfull you have to bend and break vampiric society rules.
Correct
I think there's this horrible misunderstanding of what "personal" horror is by the Critical Role lot who see RPGs as Tv series that they star in. Personal Horror isn't some dramatic thing that you advertise to others. It's personal. Meaning specific to you. It's watching your family slowly age, move on, and die whilst you live on in a world you understand less and less. It isn't "big RPG moments" You don't role play a moment of personal horror to applause from your group. Your character just internalizes it
Chris on the Sopranos ran into this problem. Despite becoming a "Made Man" he couldn't rise to the status he expected.
@@DoctorEviloplyyou can have a personal horror moment publicly, but you(the character) must never want to have a personal horror moment publicly.
I read somewhere a story about a group where the Malkavian's madness was gynephobia (fear of women) and another player, whose character was female, was playing the game as Vampions (acting all goody two shoes, disregarding the horror elements, trying to keep a black and white morality and such). At one moment the Malkavian character has a breakdown and the other player tries to hug him, to which the Malkavian beats her to a pulp while yelling "IT DOES NOT TOUCH ME, IT IS DIRTY".
That's personal horror done right, the characters are monsters and will keep being monsters no matter how hard they try to be people, and they will stay that way for all of eternity. What's worse, they aren't even the biggest monster, they are just bigger than humans, most base characters in WoD can crush a base vampire easily, and older vampires can crush a base vampire physically and mentally with the effort of picking your nose.
The horror is that you are a rabid wolf in a forest full of rabid wolves.
that sounds like real life.
And the John Wick franchise is the perfect setting for Vampire, just replace "Assassin" with "Vampires"
Came to the comments to say the same thing.
I used to joke about that. They're a bunch of Gothy, overly-tattooed people in fancy suits that are weirdly pale and addicted to intrigue and political maneuvering.
@@lydiajevera4250 great minds think alike
Indeed, the coronation party was pure 90s vtm sheik.
there are no people in John wicks world. where are the normal humans? Everyone is a member of this secret cartel of assassins.
And they are all so polite.
Vampires
If I remember correctly they even mentioned that mob movies like Goodfellas, The Godfather, Casino etc. are great inspirations for VtM in every book in the early pages.
I remember Papa Louie, good times.
Absolutely 100%. I've been saying this for decades. A Camarilla game should feel like a mafia story (Godfather, Boardwalk Empire). An anarch game should feel like street crime (The Wire, Sons of Anarchy) and a Sabbat game... well, they're terror cells. Or like playing GTA!
BTW, you were fantastic as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire!
Haha oh god i was actually looking at him and thinking of Steve Buscemi 😂
Hes like a more handsome Buscemi
Sabbat would probably be something like "American History X". Theyre more akin to groups like Neo Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan.
"terror cells" So what is Sabbat's ideology? Does it map onto a real world ideology?
@@Sewblon given that they're outcasts who seize power by eating the rich and powerful among them to increase their own power, Antifa.
I accidentally made the association between the Camarilla and the Mafia while watching "Reservoir Dogs" one night, so I'm glad to see someone actually articulate that connection.
(and on a related matter, can we all agree that the erasure of Clan Giovanni is one of the biggest crimes of modern VtM?)
The erasure of many of the cool clans and powers is a crime. Dementation taken out, be it for simplicity or to avoid offending people, sucks, so does taking Vicissitude, Chimerstry, and Obtenebration.
I get some of these kinda overlap, but that was the point, how many different versions of "vampire powers" could we get.
@@enriquejoseantequerasanche6180Vampire developed a lot of crazy bad stuff over the time. The overlap is not practical to playability. People are just attached to superficial things. Dementation wasn't even the original Malkavian Discipline of this game.
Not to mention the blatant favoritism the Hecate receive. Every clan feels the beckoning even those with dead founders... except the Hecata. Every independent clan joined a faction... except the Hecata. No clan at the time of its release had bloodlines...except the Hecata.
Okay I think more people should watch Dawkin's explanation of why the Hecata exist as they are.
Nobody played the Giovanni, and the main reason for that is because their concept was so restricting that many people just weren't interested in it, they were Vampire Necromancers who were also like the Italian Mob, and unless you wanted to play that specific thing, you didn't really Use the Giovanni. And don't come at me with the alternative Death/Necromancy Bloodlines, you damn well know that most people when making a character gravitate towards Clans and don't really consider the Bloodlines unless they have a specific concept.
The Hecata was their attempt to fix this, by uniting the Death-themed Bloodlines with the Giovanni to form the Clan of Death they created a Clan with a Broader Appeal. In Canon they're just a group of Vampire Necromancers, which has a much wider appeal than Vampire Necromancers who are also Mobsters.
The several Lineages for the Hecata was their attempt to compromise with the distinct Bloodlines/Clans that existed in prior editions. You want to play an old school Giovanni? Great play a Hecata with the Giovanni Lineage, Old school Cappadocian/Harbingers of skulls, grab the Harbingers of Ashur Lineage, etc, etc. None of these Lineages interest you but you still want to play a Necromancer, cool general Hecata, don't grab a lineage sheet.
Clan Hecata simply has a much wider appeal and stands as a much more viable option for a much wider array of players/characters, than the Giovanni ever could. And the option to play a Giovanni is still on the table, the Giovanni didn't go anywhere, just because they formed an alliance clan with the other Death Bloodlines/Clans doesn't mean they disappeared, the book even specifies that many of the previously existing groups within the Hecata still maintain their distinct identity.
Never go agianst the Vamily
the fockin camarilla ovah heeere
"What did he say about my brood mother? He's dead. DEAD!"
Me who hasnt even seen The Masquerade been played: "Yes, yes, of course!"
I feel that. I'm here taking mental notes for a game I'll probably never play.
Generation X-er and Vampire 1st ed. player here. We already played it like a mob game back then. It was pretty obvious even in the 1st edition. Mob culture with a veneer of punk, goth, occultism and corporate. The Sabbat is even more like a mob, an even nastier one...
I think the Sabbat is more like Isis or the cartels.
@@blacklodgegames
Well... when in Mexico. 😅
@@blacklodgegames tbh the sabbat makes not much sense, they have no real logic because the sabat lore was build by a lot of people, unlike the camarilla that the basics was built from the start.
the church hierarchy should be a mockery then they are true believers?
the clan alliance should be replaced by paths, but you still have clan play?
they revolted against elders and antideluvians, but this is not reflected on Big NPCs.
even the black hand had 2 or 3 versions
@@blacklodgegames Yeah, I'd completely agree on the cartels. I'm looking forward to your take on the sect. The Sabbat was a bunch of ideas from everywhere thrown together to make a wild and inconsistent mix if I'm honest. I liked it the most as an obscure idea of something dangerous and unknown when it was mentioned in the first core book before it was fleshed out.
Sabbat is more like Daesh or Al Quaeda.
I’m gonna guess the Sabbat is closer to a Cartel.
That or isis
@@blacklodgegamesour storyteller ran it like a cult. Fitting.
Yeah pretty much with a pinch of terrorism or feudal warlord.
Anarchs are hells angels
@@HeikoWiebe Well, there's not much difference between a Gehenna cult and a death cult. Basically just the name.
@@blacklodgegames
The first thing that says to me is that the vast majority of Sabbat have *very* short lives, if played right, whether PCs or NPCs.
By far, this essay is one of The Best(( if not THE BEST ))overview of VTM and especially The Camarilla!! The parallels are shown in crystal clarity and with the elegance of a faultless mathematical formula... WELL DONE!!
That said, I'm looking forward to your subsequent explorations!!
This is why the Giovanni Chronicles is my favorite intro for new players and why all clan Hecata stories work in a group session. Well done and I will be sharing. Please keep up this content. I would love to see a video for each clan viewed through this thematic lens of what the clan and camarilla expect of them.
Videos on the clans are in the works.
Giovanni Chronicles is great at least the last book is. Where it starts out with the players being brought in as a Ghouls back in the 1920s/30s, goes through the 50s, 70s and then the final nights of the 90s. It's like Goodfellas, if Henry, Jimmy and Tommy were Vampires.
"You want compromise? How is this, I spent 200 years in the coffin"
I wanted to drink human blood, I compromised, I ate rats off the radiator
i was a hardcore WoD player in the mid 90's, and had an exceptional crew of players and storyteller that followed this ethos to the letter, even back then. Sometimes it would get a tad silly, but generally speaking, if we had the right motivation, and the right understanding of our connection and purpose, it made for some magical stories that even 30 years later, I look back on with fondness. I really miss those games.
You want to see real monsters, look at the player base.
100% true
Yeah 'vamily' my a..s$
Oddly... yeah. Met three times as many registered offenders in this specific genre.
Could be worse, look at werewolf lol.
@@danielmiller3596😮 that's legit scary.
Our WOD: Vampire the Maskarade sessions always turned in to "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" every single time 😂
I can’t wait for my new Kindred “Tommy Spaghetti.”
Name it like Mat Dickie does in his games. In Old School, Tony Soprano is called as Tommy Supremo or Tony Supremo. I remember his name because I like the character but also because he ran over my character with a car which led to the character ending up in a hospital.
I bet Young Steve runs a mean VTM game. His tolerance for cringe is definitely much better than mine if he can read the entire V5 core set.
He's a top tier GM
I'm still amazed some people actually managed to read the damn thing.
I think I learned the system entirely through videos 😂
Young Steve is the VTM storyteller of my fever dreams. His games must be amazing, and I'd never dare to play in one.
@@alicaljungberg3742 He is phenomenal
This almost 1:1 with cyberpunk.
People think playing corpo is living life easy, were nothing could be further from the truth. Your surrounded by jealous cut throats, eyeing your opulent wealth. While your blind to your own fortune instead fixated on the swaying sword of Damocles above your head.
Great video by Yung Steve here, the 90's Kindred Vampire show had some of this Mafia feel, I think its an under appreciated gem
It was quite good
Kindred: The Embraced. It’s why I’ve only ever thought of V:tM as being a supernatural mob game.
Just finished a year-long VtM chronicle and this is making me realize I missed a lot of potential to use the structure of the Camarilla. It'd be great if you made a video about running an Anarch chronicle.
How did I not think about this? How had I not considered….the GABAGHOUL GANG!
You’ve awakened me to the possibilities, dude. Great work.
Yes, we played VtM Godfather style in late 90s and early 00s. If the game is treated seriously, then it slides into Mafia themes efortlessly and on it's own. I'm actually amazed people didn't do this on daily (nightly) basis, Mark Rein-Hagen constantly talked about influence of Godfather on Masquerade. It was basically equal to Anne Rice's.
I had never been interested in vampire, but with this exhibition I feel interested for the first time....and in seeing the Godfather trilogy, thank you, great video!
good to hear that animal tony blundetto is alive and well playing elf games in texas
So… it’s not Mafia but I thought I found a good historical setting for the drama of Vampire, Berlin during the Cold War. With the iron curtain dividing the city, vampires care little for the territorial lines mortals drew, but night watchmen seeing vampires moving across the lines might set events in motion against them. Plus treating the conflict between Camarilla and Anarch as its own Cold War within the city
Anything in eastern Europe is perfect for Vampire
This is brilliant, man. I've been playing Vampire off and on since 1994 and this is the best take on the game I've ever seen. Makes it infinitely more playable. Bravo!
"you're clan will get you into trouble" reminds me of a section from the old Judges Guild module "Wilderlands of High Fantasy", on page 17:
"In any mixed crowd, NPCs can get you in hot water - 50% of all encounters are caused by NPCs, and they usually choose to insult 1-6 levels of hit dice higher than their own. The victim of the insult will usually have 2-12 'friends'... check Reaction of the group"
Everyone wants to have henchmen, goons, low-tier shitkickers beneath them who can do the dirty work for the PCs, but the sorts of guys willing to do this are generally going to be the sorts of guys you wouldn't trust as far as you can throw them. Thralls, children, etc. can and should absolutely get you in trouble and cause problems with people bigger and scarier than you. Very good stuff
I've been thinking for a while that Miami Vice would make a fun backdrop for Vampire
Im about to start a chronicle based out of Nawlins. Mafia is very much a part of it. Ive got Camarilla existing in a tentative peace with an Anarch Oil Baron and rouge Hecata voodoo practioners in the Bayou who never got the "we are reformed now" memo. All the factions are aware of each other and the power players at work, and are signatories to a peace pact. They are in basically a cold war, never open hostilities but all struggling to subvert each other through neonate proxie. All for the sake of becoming top dog and with their own motivations. Everything else is for flavor and that World of Darkness charm ❤
Actually, Werewolf 5th is the most Godfather game ever. What other game has made so many people say: "Look how they massacred my boy!"
W5's big problem is its a deconstruction of the game written by people who didnt like it. This is particularly awkward as revised already a reconstruction and the author liked it it making it redundant on released
5e is just a downgrade from past edition, werewolf just got the short end of the stick because it wasn't that great to begin with, vampire turned from the greatest game after dnd to a mediocre mafia rpg with fangs, werewolf meanwhile went from a very flawed game with a somewhat interesting premise into a reskin of vampire with furries.
im very happy with the vtm videos that are coming out . i have never heard these perspectives in my 15 years as a storyteller . please keep making vtm videos. you are actually making original content on the subject.
Thanks! Share it with anyone you think would find it interesting.
The first character I though about when I heard about the lore of Vampire the Mascarade and character creation the first though I had was about the cartel chainsaw beheading video.
I love this series on the fundamentals of Vampire. By far, it's the best take on the game to be found on UA-cam. Looking forward to the video on the Sabbat.
I think we missed an opportunity with Fear City. Should have introduced vampires!
There is still time!
@@blacklodgegames oh god help us, lol
Guy seems like he only wanted to play Giovanni pre 5th Edition.
Excellent video, thank you for pushing forward tabletop gaming for the next generation.
Thanks!
Brilliantly done, gentlemen.
In general, the crime drama in its depth is underrated as inspiration for RPGs at micro scale.
For vampire games and factions, though, it's a perfect correlation.
Well done.
This is spot on, now where is my sabbat episode?
Thanks for the input! This will help!
As an Italian, I find this concept hilarious, and extremely accurate. I've been trying to say the same thing to my party 😂
Awesome vid.
LCN is just southern Italian feudalism being forced to operate inside the threat of modern law; and vampires love their feudalism. Of course the mafia is the missing link between Dark Ages imperial majesty and Masquerade.
Why didn’t I think of that?
Why didn’t any of you tell me this earlier?
Heads will roll for this!
This advice completely changed the way I think about running my game. Thank you for this.
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a vampire..."
You've nailed the tension, intrigue and strife I yearn for when I play my first game of V5. Thank you.
And just like that, it finally clicks. I haven't ever had a group who was into WoD, so I have only read the books. I never understood what vampires basic structure. Werewolves have a built in purpose of protecting humans from spirits and cleaning up pollution and corruption, werewolves have a job. Thank you for explaining the vampires' job.
Steve Buscemi explaining Vampire the masquerade lore is something I never thought I'd see.
Excellent video! You guys produce amazing stuff-it's a crime you don't have more viewers.
You can help rectify this injustice by sharing this video with other world of darkness fans!
Great video - you have peaked my interest.
If you haven't played VTM, where would you start?
The core rule book for vampire 5th edition is available now. We also have a review of that book on the channel.
Incredible video. I want to play vampire so bad now.
👍👍, “foppish, political drama that goes nowhere”
As soon as you said that, my immediate thought was that that’s the current game I’m running holy shit! This… More please!
For us, we always played like it was the mob. We add the cruelty of Game Of Thrones and the game is pretty set. People outside this game don't understand the nuances as much, but the complexity of the game is extremely rich and fun when it's done well. It makes a big difference. Good Video!
Great video! Really brought me back the will to play VtM
Awesome! Trying to reach the old wod fanbase, so glad you found it!
I wonder if this same mentality can be extended to the other games. Werewolf: the Apocalypse is basically Eco-Terrorism and you're part of a 'Green Mujahadeen', with your pack being an individual cell and your Tribes representing the different terrorist organizations (Fianna are the PIRA, Get of Fenris are Red Army Brigade, etc). The same could be for the Traditions in Mage: the Ascension in that you play what are fundamentally members of weird mystery cults and the Technocracy are governmental departments (CIA, FBI, NSA, the US Army etc).
While I may not agree with some your views and I will grant that you guys make some of the best content when it comes to running various games. You've helped me rethink my approach to Vampire and I feel more confident to try my hand at storytelling again with this new focus of thinking about the clans/sects as the mob. Brilliant.
Awesome to hear it, and we are 100% cool with people of different view points. There are no packaged deals: take the ideas you like from our content and discard what you don't.
Thanks for watching, really appreciate it.
I used to Narrate a game for 4 years. I don't know if it's because my obsessive love for History, or because I came from amateur acting before Vampire, but this that you are saying was always very, very clear to me. I was also very lucky that the hard-core of my players understood the message and were very aware of this. My Chronicle was very successful in this regard. They were Prince loyalists, after a war with the Sabbat, the Primogen tried to curb the powers of the prince, but my themes were very constant: There are Laws in the Camarilla and the characters and NPCs were essentially humans turned into monsters. They role-played it amazingly, their internal conflicts with their duties to the Camarilla. A Narrator can only do so far. If the players want to turn it into Batman, something must be done. And when I had new players joining the fold, I always explained the premises of what my game encompassed. When they kept doing it, I had a talk with them, even because the old players complained. And if they insisted, I just didn't invite them anymore and turned their characters into NPCs, some minor, some major. It was an absolute success. We spent entire 8-hour sessions, sometimes, without rolling a single dice, in character, having dialogues, or performing tasks for their overmasters, or individual sessions in which the characters had their personal stories unfold. It was AMAZING. I write all this still impressed about how well it went. In the end, everyone had a great time. We had to stop because I moved to another country to pursue higher studies. It's possible, guys! But a Narrator can't do it alone. The players must want to do it well.
I can count on 1 hand the number of channels I have subbed to after one video in 20 years. But what you done here is perfect. You clearly understand this deeply and have found a way to communicate that understanding. Bravo.
Thanks! We've got a few more videos on vtm already and more on the way
What a fucking dope ass video. Great advice, expertly summarized and delivered so everyone can get something out of it.
Ill share this with my german roleplaying buddies because i couls not say this better
Thanks man!
Ive always looked at VtM as an Omerta simulator. I mean, you can be a stoolie for the FBI.
Finally someone explained this game in a way that I could start running it. Thank you!
You know what’s funny? I never laid it out this way… but you perfectly explained how I’ve run Vampire in every WoD game I’ve ever run. I took a lot of stylistic approach from Jim Butcher’s ideas as well. Which… welll… again. Basically the Mob.
Which is why my Mages hunted them like freaking vermin.
This fits very well with how I usually describe the influence that vampires have on socierty to be akind to the mafia, with their focus mostly on local goverments and places.
This is a great base for improving and focusing Vampire game-running, thanks. I want to say, though, there's an interesting wrinkle.
Vampires suffer supernatural, empirically-verifiable consequences for being too savage, too unremittingly shit-headed. That's wild in a way! There are human war criminals and serial killers who get away with far more than a Kindred could, and go home and have dinner with their families (for a media example, think of The Cleaner in Boondock Saints, but lots of real-life examples will do)... A vampire who acts like that will go permanently, terminally insane, and have to be put down by other Kindred... which in turn gives those Kindred a vivid, first-hand example of what awaits them if they have no brakes.
It's as if mobsters were the only humans on Earth with undeniable proof of Hell, and yet they cannot stop being mobsters. They have to be mobsters who know exactly how their souls are marked by what they do.
So I suspect that in vampire society, the threat of violence is everpresent, but the outbursts of it are rare. It's not hard to imagine that even fucking with another Kindred's touchstones, to the extent you could identify them, would be treated with... caution. For ye who fucks with the Beast may also be fucked with, and all of ye are suspended over a hungry and bottomless void.
now im thinking of Alcatraz being a prison surrounded by running water and being this super secret vampire prison
I've been running V:tM since '93. And I've skirted around this concept without realizing it, but also never fully went in. I did as he described in the beginning. And it made Vampire one of my least favorite of the line. This whole video was like a light bulb moment. Sir, I am humbled. As someone that does more cinematic style of game, with a focus on personal sub-plots, you view will tighten up my vampire world for all my players. I thank you.
That's awesome.
I wanted some high class, well bred blood but I compromised and ate 12 rats off the radiator.
20 YEARS IN TORPOR!
After decades of playing this game, I wish I had this analogy in the 90s my guy. Thank you. You are truly doing Cain's work with this video.
Another great video.. I used the same descriptions of the mob from Goodfellas and the Godfather when we first started playing to help my players understand the dynamics between clans, ancilla, elders, etc. great analogy.
Yeah a lot of it is deliberate, but it doesn't have the focus by default
This is fuckin sick!!!! BRILLIANT
Share it! Trying to reach the WoD people
@@blacklodgegames Sadly, those who most need to hear your advice are going screech, hiss, and run from this channel like - well, like vampires from sunlight. And probably the WoD people more than most. I've read KoDT comics which mocked male VTM players for wearing mascara in the '90s, long before tumblrinas even existed.
Your videos on this game really cool, makes me want to try it now
Okay, THIS was an interesting perspective.
what a potent draught of vitae! I feel almost alive with this knowledge. I of course will be sharing this with my coterie.
Thank you so much!
@@blacklodgegames When is the Sabbat one coming? What about the Anarch one?!? oh god I can't wait!!!
@@Majesticleper soon for sabbat, anarchs will be much later
@@blacklodgegames stoked.
This works soo well when u look at ventrue what they can do while yes they have diplomacy they also have phsyical strengh and durability based diciplines their mob bosses all together
Thats why i call the Ventrue "The Ventrutti" 🤣
This is a great analogy and does indeed provide a perfect framework for any Vampire game and setting. And breaking it down, you can see how the various ages and ranks of vampires line up with the classic mafia titles and roles.
Associates - Mortal servants and ghouls. The "boots on the ground" of any vampire group. Not officially "part of the family" but act as the catspaws and fronts that can be groomed for bigger things or disposed of without too much trouble if necessarily.
Soldiers - Neonates and Fledglings. Younger, lower generation, or newly turned vampires who don't have much status but do much of the night to night dirty work.
Capos - Ancillea. They have enough age, power, and respect to be trusted to run their own coteries and broods, but aren't power players yet. Might be specialists the higher ups call on to handle specific tasks or missions.
Underboss/Consiglieri - Elders and primogens. They do most of the planning and organization. Dangerous and powerful on their own but typically avoid getting their hands dirty unless absolutely required. In larger cities, they probably run "crews" of specific clan types.
Don - The Prince and their court. These are the top dogs, often the oldest and strongest of the local licks. Everybody else pays them fealty.
One point I might expand on is if vampires, specifically the Camarilla, are like the mob, that raises the question of what "capital" it is they seek and vie for. In organized crime the usual end goal is money. From simple stickups and robberies to extortion and illicit trades (e.g. gambling, narcotics, prostitution, etc...) to even fraud and money laundering, the point of any crew or family is obtain money that is paid up the chain through the ranks to the boss. So what are a group of immortal blood suckers seeking in their games of power and privilege in the long lonely nights? What is their overall "goal" so to speak?
1. Money. I mean, this one is the most obvious. It makes the world go round, after all. And while basic necessities like food and shelter are relatively easy for a vampire to obtain, creature comforts and security are not and you can't just fill out a job application at the local fast food joint for part time job. Thus, vampires need some form of income that can't be traced or taxed. Therefor, like the mob, they set up fronts in the form of business and organizations run by vassals and fledgings that can generate passive funds. With vampires acting as silent partners or private investors who take an off the books cut of the profits for their own use. This can lead to proxy wars between mortal companies or criminal groups as their shadowy masters battle for market shares and territory.
2. Favors. This doesn't get much spotlight in the recent editions, but vampires place a great deal of stock in boons and personal debts. Trading them like currency in the halls of power and using them to create webs of contacts, allies, informants and associates. At first glance, this may seem silly since vampires are immortal supernatural beings who realistically can not be bound by any mortal law nor can be tempted by typical pleasures. But breaking your word or trust means you could quickly find yourself out in the cold should the Inquisition or Sabbat come knocking. And vampires have long, loooong memories. A slight or insult can give birth to a grudge that can last for centuries if not longer. Thus, sires load up their childer with debts of protection and support and are quick and harsh to punish those who welch on what they owe. Meanwhile, fledglings and ancillae squabble for the favor of elders and primogens in hopes of gaining potent boons they can then use for their own advancement. This makes most dangerous words you can ever hear a vampire say are "You owe me one."
3. Blood. This is, forgive the obvious pun, the lifeblood of the vampire existence. Vampires, by their natures, must feed to survive and in the modern age tapping a vein isn't as easy as just picking off a human who wandered too far into the night. So cultivating and maintaining feeding grounds becomes one of the paramount activities of vampires and finding unobtrusive ways to get your crimson fix is a nightly chore. Especially for those with cadres of ghouls to keep and rarified tastes. Thus, working in conjunction with the above two goals, vampires will find ways to maintain herds they can safely feed from without drawing undo attention. This is probably where the mafia comparison becomes the most apt. Aspiring ghouls and younger vampires act as shepherds and lures to mortals that can then be moved up the food chain to the elders and more powerful vampires. Screw up, fail to provide, or worse get caught and you're likely going to earn yourself a one way trip to a sunbath...or worse.
Now, obviously, this isn't an exhaustive list and a vampire's own personal goals can and should factor in. But I think they provide a solid starting point and background for players and a way for them to get their heads around the night to night activities of vampires. The only question is how do they want go about it?
So what you're saying here is...we got a little situation
There's actually a third type of VTM can become - the trash/absurd one, where vampires lose their minds from suddenly gaining power and start doing most random stuff possible. But I honestly don't know if it applies to other communities outside of Russian one.
1:23 : my Giovanni, staring blankly in shock...
Very interesting. I've never DMed a VtM game, and only played in 4 (including one which was VtDA). They all definitely served up "foppish political drama" and "tormented vigilante" to greater or lesser degrees, with a side dish of "standard D&D party which happens to be dressed in black," and they were all unsatisfying - perhaps for that reason.
Looking forward to the Sabbat video, especially because my characters were 2 Lasombras and a Tzimisce (plus a Malk who barely counts, because, y'know, Malk). I'd also like to hear something about what aspects might be different in a VtDA setting, since the one time I suggested a modern game to my players I was unanimously shot down.
Yeah Dark Ages is its own thing. Not sure when we are going to get to it, but we are definitely thinking about it
ah like how dnd eventually is always fit for the benny hill theme
Fantastic video. I'm so excited for every video you guys make.
More to come!
Never heard this comparison before. Seems pretty cool
The mob angle is exactly how Kindred: The Embraced played it as a television adaptation.
It was hard to recover from them missing out on making Brujah into a biker gang rather than the Italian-suits and New York accents they went with.
The cold open was fucking great though.
Great video! Goes straight to the must-watch list of videos for new (and seasoned) storytellers.
Made me think about the scene in the series the strain where the vampire overlord bribes Sean Astins character with getting his terminal cancer patient wife into experimental treatment. Far more effective them threatening him into complying.
This is the best description of the game I have ever heard.
"We cant have him in our elders mannor any more, that much i do know"
"Elsers mannor? Hes got to go"
This video has fliped my perception of Vampire on it's head, and it has already improved my campaign, thank you ^^ I'l love to see more videos that tackle entire concept instead of one single detail.
Absolutly the most distinct metaphore for vampire that I have seen. Great video.