Vampire: The Masquerade Hardcover – August 12, 1998

So firstly about the shipping: my copy arrived 3 days early of the "Arrives by" date, so already we're off to a great start! and the "very good" condition is no joke, this tome looks nearly brand new, the cover is shiny and glossy, doesn't look like it's had much travel in an RPG go-bag at all. soon to change, to be sure, but it's a very nice thing.Now the main course; is this book any good? I'm assuming you as a buyer are looking to pick this up because you know what a TRPG is and have played several before hearing about White Wolf's flagship game and setting. vampire: the masquerade is a (10 sided dice based) fail/success system, meaning each dice rolled counts as a success and whether you do the thing or not is determined by successes minus failures. it's a good deal different than everyone's first TRPG dungeons and dragons. I haven't had the chance to read it cover to cover yet but I'll give you the highlights:>varied vampire clans and organizations: vampire boasts a wide range of options for your character to ally with/against groups, something many games don't always detail well in their core rulebook.>G O R G E O U S art and layout: none too photo-realistic this book's art is stylized and well made, but what really got me was the opening pages of atmospheric prose, each of which had a light silver illustration superimposed below the text. when reading it might cause slight difficulty in reading but nothing too heinous, but the real treat is when you tilt the book and a subtle watermark image explodes off the page in shining silver as it catches the light. it was a real treat. the rest of the book is in stark black, white and greyscale (at least the volume i bought was) but honestly it's better that way, as you have to actually use your mind's eye for reading the chunks of mood writing and in-game prose, which is important that you and your players learn to do for when you actually play.>an unexpected alteration: when i first flipped through i found that the character sheet printed in back had been snipped loose and then loose-leafed in the back cover. At first i thought it was a print out, and upon realizing it i was a little distraught, but honestly it makes sense to do that now that i think about it.overall you probably know whether or not you want this book and now you're really just teetering on whether or not to take the dive. so let me make it easy for you: vampire: the masquerade is a far cry from the higher profile Table top Role Playing Games in a very good way. D&D in it's various editions and transmutations will probably always be what people think of, along with nerds and weird dice. But if you've been to that Tolkein saturated fantasy world for years and you want something more modern and just as fantastic, get this book.

The book was definitely pre-owned; cracking of the spine on the exterior and some pages visibly beginning to fall apart, however this was very fixable in my case. Outside of that the book looks great for the age, and the product arrived 10 days prior to the expected shipping date so an extra thumbs up for that.

Welcome to the first of what will hopefully be many reviews. We're starting off with the book that put White Wolf on the map, Vampire.Before we get to the book itself, a bit of opinion then a bit of history. First, White Wolf has always reveled in my favorite "p" word, pretentiousness. They take themselves entirely too seriously and even their attempts at humor come off as arrogant and condescending. That's not to say that they haven't produced many quality products. They have, in fact, made some of the best roleplaying products out there and this one, in particular, has a special place in the history of the Roleplaying Game (more on that later).But, White Wolf is pretentious and it shines through in Vampire: The Masquerade. Later in White Wolf's publication history, they come to terms with their arrogance and use it to their advantage, but here, in the early stages, they are a bit too wrapped up in their vision to see just how arrogant they sound.In terms of history, Vampire: The Masquerade takes a special place reserved for the true innovations of the industry. It is one of the games that forever changed the roleplaying game industry. Vampire came along just as roleplaying, as a whole, was taking a leap away from its wargaming roots and exploring such things as more in depth story, setting, and character. The second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons had debuted two years previous, and Palladium was making a splash with its new Rifts RPG. Vampire took the new focus on story and ran with it, even labeling itself a "Storytelling Game."Vampire sold like hotcakes at the time of its debut and brought into being a new breed of gamer, the LARPer (Live Action Role Player). Fantasy LARP had existed prior to Vampire, but Vampire LARP was a different beast, appealing to the goth subculture that was just gaining momentum. This brought new players to the hobby, and a new type of player: one not interested in crunching numbers or leveling their character, but one deeply devoted to their character and the story being told with that character.On to the book itself.The book starts with an "in character" introduction to the world of vampires, in the form of a letter to "W.H." from "V.T." One can surmise that these initials stand for Wilhelmina (Mina) Harker and Vlad Tepes (aka Dracula).Chapter One serves as a more traditional introduction and here is where my "p" word comes into play. Right out of the gate, the game wants to be more than a game, a metaphor for human existence, and a mirror into the soul. To quote from page 19, "Unless you are willing to face the reflection of your own imperfections, then this game is not for you."The chapter goes on to introduce the basic concepts of the game, such as the role of the players and the storyteller (game master in other games). Also of note, and one of the interesting side quirks (a well done one, I might add), the illustrations take on a story of their own, with brief captions describing the awakening and journeys of an ancient vampire. These continue throughout the book. We also get our first dose of the myriad quotes sprinkled throughout the book from Shakespeare to various rock and punk bands.Chapter Two covers the rules of the game. The Storytelling system (which debuted with this book), is a simple dice pool system of d10s. Add an attribute (like an ability score in other games) with an ability (like a skill or proficiency in other games), each rated 1 to 5, take that number of 10 sided dice, roll them and try to achieve a target number on each die. Each time you hit the target number is a success. The rules really are quite elegant and achieve what they set out to: create a system where the rules take a back seat to the story.Chapter Three is the character creation chapter. Characters are point based, which wasn't terribly common at the time (only GURPS and a couple of other minor RPGs had experimented with it). In short, rather than rolling elements of your character randomly (such as ability scores), you purchased all of your various traits with points. This system allows you to craft precisely the type of character you want, though you may find yourself running out of points. The roleplaying industry historian in me finds it intriguing that the player in the character creation example is Lisa, presumably Lisa Stevens who is also listed among the writers of the book. Lisa Stevens has been present at many of the defining moments of the roleplaying industry - the publication of this book, the publication of Magic: The Gathering (the first collectible trading card game, which forced the RPG industry to stand up and take notice of a little company called Wizards of the Coast), and the creation of the Pathfinder RPG, inspired by the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons and the first RPG to tie the mighty D&D in sales (according to a recent IGN article).Chapter Four defines the various traits that make up a character. Despite veering away from the randomness of other RPGs, Vampire retains "classes" in a fashion with the various Vampire clans, each one modeling a certain archetype of vampires from literature, cinema, and popular culture. Nosferatu, for example, are the horrific monsters exemplified by the silent film of the same name. Toreador, meanwhile, are the sensual, romantic vampire made popular by Anne Rice, while the Brujah seem to emulate the 80s teen vampires of "The Lost Boys."Most traits are measured by a simple 1 to 5 rating, with 1 being fairly pitiful and 5 being the pinnacle of human achievement. A strength or failing of the game, depending on your perspective, is the measuring of a character's morality with numbers. A character's "Virtues," conscience, self-control, and courage, have a numerical value, as does the character's "Humanity." Losing humanity is one of the key elements of the game, as player characters struggle with maintaining a human outlook in the face of their predatory urges. Some of the writers' biases shine through in certain places as well, as Music is one of the core ability traits, alongside Brawl, Stealth, and Computers. Later editions would eventually replace Music with Expression and Performance, but it is interesting that the writers prioritized musical talent higher than other forms of artistic expression.Finally, we have Disciplines, the supernatural powers of vampires. Most of the basics are covered (domination, shapechanging, heightened senses, etc). Interestingly, we also have a form of blood magic, called Thaumaturgy, which, along with the clan that utilizes it, the Tremere, ties the game subtly to Ars Magica, which White Wolf published for a time (one of many publishers...Ars Magica is notable for having changed hands the most times, about once per edition, of which there are five at last count).Chapter Five covers character development. Specifically, we have experience points. Unlike other games where a character gains levels incrementally, experience points in this game can be spent to raise most traits or buy new traits. The chapter also covers the most important element of a vampire's existence, blood, which the vampire uses to fuel both its unliving existence and its various disciplines. Injury and healing are covered, followed by various mental states, such as frenzy (uncontrollable bloodlust or fear caused by things like sunlight...no sparkling here), derangements, and the loss of humanity.Chapter Six focuses on the structure of a story and the various "scenes" that make up a story, as well as systems for resolving various actions (including combat). A lot of games have entire chapters devoted to combat, but this one tucks it away in the "Drama" chapter almost as a side note.Chapter Seven goes into the default setting of Vampire, detailing the society and history of the "Kindred." Vampire, while borrowing from various sources of vampire lore, creates its own version of vampire myth, casting Caine as the first vampire and creating various societies of vampires, the most prominent being the Camarilla, whose primary purpose is to keep the existence of vampires a secret, the titular "Masquerade."Chapter Eight goes into creating a chronicle, what other games call a campaign, basically the ongoing story that ties the roleplaying sessions together. The example chronicle is set in Gary, Indiana, setting up the focus on Chicago that would dominate the early supplements for Vampire. Unfortunately, this is one of the negative points of the book as the example chronicle is shallow and uninspiring, with characters that are little more than obvious stereotypes with no depth.Chapter Nine is the storyteller's chapter, offering advice on running the game. This is also where the game goes into the possibilities of Live Action Roleplaying (White Wolf would later publish a complete variant version of Vampire to be played via LARP). Mood and theme are as important as conflict and drama here, furthering the notion of the game as a metaphor or, at worst, a group therapy session. The example story, Baptism by Fire, which utilizes the example chronicle/setting in the previous chapter, is equally dull. It is intended to be played via LARP, but there is no real drama or interesting things to do here, other than interact with the bad stereotypes from the previous chapter.The Epilogue is another in character essay, this one from the perspective of a vampire that has somehow managed to become mortal again. This is a bit disjointed and difficult to follow, with a somewhat predictable twist at the end.The book concludes with an afterword, where the "p" word is laid on thick, the primary author expounding on morality at length.I've played Vampire many times through the years, though I get the feeling from this thorough read through of the 1st edition that I've been playing it "wrong" or at least not how the authors intended. It is a fun game, but the attempts at creating a game that is also a metaphor, an exploration in morality, or a "mirror for the soul" ultimately falls flat. In the end, Vampire achieved greatness by helping to redefine the industry, but it didn't quite achieve what it set out to do. It became a victim of its own success, evolving into just another RPG, instead of the grand experiment it wanted to be.

It's a very nice book with good instructions and some decent artwork. There's not really much to say beyond that. If you want an RPG with vampire protagonists that doesn't come across as a bad Twilight clone, then this is a good book. Although, I would recommend checking out the anniversary addition, seeing as that one is reported to have better artwork and slightly more balanced rules.

It came in great condition for a used book, and it's really nice to have a hard copy in hardback of such an iconic RP book.Has all the core rules you'll need to get started, and an overview of the clans and society.

Great price excellent condition 10/10

Good Product

My first and still one of my favorite games. And the book was almost like new! A lot better than what I was expecting.