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Any good alternatives to Vampire the Masquerade?

Started by mudbanks, January 14, 2023, 10:06:48 AM

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mudbanks

January 14, 2023, 10:06:48 AM
Looking for a good alternative to VTM. In particular, I want something that isn't very rules-heavy, and it must be vampire-themed (so no generic systems). Any recommendations? :)

ForgottenF

#1
January 14, 2023, 10:15:56 AM
Only thing I can think of is Actual Fucking Monsters. Never read the rules, but from the blurb, it looks like it was intended as a response to the perceived softening of VTM and similar games over the years.

https://post-mort.com/collections/roleplaying-games/products/actual-fucking-monsters
Playing: Mongoose Traveller 2e
Running: Dolmenwood
Planning: Warlock!, Kogarashi

Rob Necronomicon

#2
January 14, 2023, 11:44:59 AM
I'd be interested in this as well.

Liminal is pretty damn good though but it does include a lot of other supernatural creatures. But you can play Vamps.

BoxCrayonTales

#5
January 14, 2023, 02:06:44 PM
I've considered making my own urban fantasy game, but I don't know what people actually want out of the genre. My preference is to write mechanics for things that people want, not shove square pegs in round holes like "designers" typically do.

Itachi

#6
January 14, 2023, 03:52:02 PM
Have a look at Undying. Neat little game that did what VTM never managed to do for us. You really feel like you're in this web of supernatural society that you must leverage to your interests, sometimes joining forces to other PCs to contain bigger threats, other times scheming against them to push your own agenda and climb the status ladder. All the while managing your "feeding grounds" (with actual stats like abundance and prey awareness) and it's neighbours (you can actually lose grounds to competing vampires). All in a rules-light package.

Here, the character sheets from the Magpie site: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0569/7716/2422/files/Undying_Sheets.pdf?v=1627575511

Rob Necronomicon

#7
January 15, 2023, 07:02:42 AM
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on January 14, 2023, 02:06:44 PM
I've considered making my own urban fantasy game, but I don't know what people actually want out of the genre. My preference is to write mechanics for things that people want, not shove square pegs in round holes like "designers" typically do.

Ironically I've been dabbling with a new Vamp game for a year or two, loosely based on 80s horror and the types of Vampires you'd have in those movies. So less of the angst and more of the monster. Basically, players would embrace their vampiric nature. Although their origin is Lovecraftian in nature (not that many of them know that of course). I wanted a pretty bleak vibe overall and one that would complement the zeitgeist of the US at that time.

But I kept having problems with mechanics (I've no head for maths or probabilities).

Urban Fantasy is a tough nut to crack. But I think Liminal is pretty sweet.


mudbanks

#8
January 17, 2023, 12:49:50 AM
Many thanks for the recommendations, everyone! :)

Rhymer88

#9
January 17, 2023, 03:33:17 AM
Vampire - Alone in the Darkness

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/329920/Vampire--Alone-in-the-Darkness

101 games also has rules for witches, werewolves, and Cthulhu, but they haven't been translated into English yet afaik.

BoxCrayonTales

#10
January 17, 2023, 09:36:26 AM
Quote from: mudbanks on January 17, 2023, 12:49:50 AM
Many thanks for the recommendations, everyone! :)
Glad to help!

Also, forgot to link this:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/364162/Sigil--Shadow

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/156434/humanish

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on January 15, 2023, 07:02:42 AM
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on January 14, 2023, 02:06:44 PM
I've considered making my own urban fantasy game, but I don't know what people actually want out of the genre. My preference is to write mechanics for things that people want, not shove square pegs in round holes like "designers" typically do.

Ironically I've been dabbling with a new Vamp game for a year or two, loosely based on 80s horror and the types of Vampires you'd have in those movies. So less of the angst and more of the monster. Basically, players would embrace their vampiric nature. Although their origin is Lovecraftian in nature (not that many of them know that of course). I wanted a pretty bleak vibe overall and one that would complement the zeitgeist of the US at that time.

But I kept having problems with mechanics (I've no head for maths or probabilities).

Urban Fantasy is a tough nut to crack. But I think Liminal is pretty sweet.
I've looked at Liminal and a number of others. What I think some of them suffer from is a lack of focus.

For example, in Liminal vampires are evil aside from dhampirs (the PC vampire option)... but werewolves aren't. Instead of a setting where all monsters besides the PCs are evil a la Nightbane or one where monsters are more gray/independent, we get different takes for different monsters. Which is a choice.

I'd prefer something where you'd have some universal rules that can run multiple kinds of campaign settings, with further options to mix and match. So far, Feed, Night's Black Agents and Night Shift are the few games I've found that explicitly offers multiple settings right out of the box.

Rob Necronomicon

#11
January 17, 2023, 12:35:24 PM
Yeah, I think with Liminal it's more of a pure Urban Fantasy as opposed to Vampire-centric. So it's probably not what OP is after as you say.

BoxCrayonTales

#12
January 17, 2023, 02:39:02 PM
Speaking of, OP hasn't really specified what he's looking for in a vampire game. What precisely are you looking for? Undying covers politics and territory disputes, Urban Shadows covers politics and factionalism, Feed covers the internal struggle between human and vampiric natures, Everlasting has a dozen vampire bloodlines writeups, Nightcrawlers is a monster mash, etc

Batjon

#13
January 17, 2023, 04:28:29 PM
Shiver has awesome and rules-lite, yet robust mechanics for all genres of horror.  Add on their Gothic supplement and you have all the vampire stuff you need to do whatever you want.

That is exactly what I'm going to do with it.  I am going to be do something similar to VtM but without the setting stuff in the modern day.  Vampires struggling against their nature while trying to climb the social ladder in vampire society and navigating vampire politics.

Batjon

#14
January 17, 2023, 07:47:34 PM
If anyone would be interested in trying the really intriguing Vampire Alone in the Darkness game in a GM'less small group, I will literally hook you up with the PDF.  I accidentally got multiples from DriveThruRPG. 

I've wanted to do a modern-day vampire RPG somewhat similar to VtM for a long time now.  THis allows different modes of play from solo to group without a GM to classic GM + group.

Any interested folks?
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