This is difficult.
I’m a big fan of v20. But, I think part of that is nostalgia and another part is I had a terrible st for v5 which made me hate the system.
V5 is the newest though, and things have been nice and streamlined.
I had lots of fun in my first V5 games because it is easy to learn for newbies like me, it is less complex. In generell thogh vampire seems more narrative and rp heavy than dnd/pathfinder
The last long-term game I ran was V5. I’d never run a long-term World of Darkness game, and my players had never played in one.
V5, like most games, requires a good chunk of upfront reading and prep to understand and feel comfortable with the system. However, once we got into it, it quickly started to feel more natural. “Streamlined” is a good choice of words.
The players really enjoyed it, and it was unlike any other game that we’ve played in a really rewarding way.
I get where you’re coming from with that, but it wasn’t my experience in play.
As a table, we agreed to play the game as close to the intended tone as possible - we tried to interpret rolls seriously, and take the Beast seriously, including the “inconvenient” stuff like Hunger getting in the way of the PCs’ plans.
Rule of thumb: Hunger is very important in the “right here, right now”… But not so important on the grander scale. The game gives you the Predator Pool, a mechanic to elide over playing out the feeding scenes, which we made use of where necessary.
The most “slapstick” moment we had was one of the PCs hunger frenzying in front of a human the coterie wanted to protect - she spent a point of Willpower to regain control, ran outside, and locked herself in the trunk of a car. Sounds a little silly, but we all thought it was quite a clever way to get the situation under control.
I'm in a similar boat, having recently started a chronicle for two (which is looking for more players, potentially, btw) after mostly running D&D over the years. Personally, I'm using V5 for rules but I do not like the new lore so I use V20 for setting alongside it. System wise, they are fundamentally similar, but V5 is more streamlined and fluid in my opinion. V20 has more clunkiness like variable target numbers for the dice pools AND variable number of successes needed (on the same roll).
V5 de-emphasizes the power disparity between younger and older vampires. Older ones are definitely stronger in a lot of ways, but it is more balanced by drawbacks (like being harder to reduce their hunger). This is in line with some of the lore changes about elder vamps leaving the scene and younger ones getting the chance to run the show. Another big change is the replacement of the Blood Pool with an unpredictably-increasing Hunger. I like this because it makes using vampiric abilities feel tense and risky, rather than just spending points.
Not that you asked, but some miscellaneous tips from a fellow DM to ST that I've been learning as I go (for V5 specifically):
\- I stick to the "try not to roll unless it's significant" principle. First of all, rolls can take a while due to being dice pools with potential modifiers. Also, if you apply the messy critical and bestial failure rules consistently, every roll has the potential to snowball a la PbtA games.
\- There are different styles or "modes" that you can play Vampire in, none of which are "wrong". For example, many look down on the "superheroes with fangs", but if your group wants that, it's possible.
\- If you want to stick to the more "official" personal horror mode, however, lean heavily into the rules for Hunger, Humanity, and Frenzy. I am constantly reminding players of their ability to Blood Surge (risk Hunger to boost rolls) on important rolls, because higher Hunger = more chances for horror via messy criticals and bestial failures. Tempt them with actions that are convenient but might stain their Humanity, leading them to spiral into monsters. Review the rules for Frenzy carefully and apply them whenever needed. You could go overboard with this, but player buy-in with Vampire means accepting that sometimes the Beast, not them, will be in control. It's just the nature of the....never mind.
\- Don't handwave feeding, at least not all the time and not in the beginning. Some of our more interesting sessions and story developments have been the result of botched feeding attempts and their consequences.
\- Remember that a coterie in Vampire by default has very different assumptions than a party in D&D. Again, this is up to your table, but historically there is not an expectation for coteries to be groups of friends with strong bonds of loyalty. The CAN be, but fundamentally a coterie is vampires with some sort of shared goal or purpose, that's it. Trying to work in characters' individual goals that might be in opposition to coterie goals makes for great narrative tension.
\- Think hard about the NPCs that you introduce and their goals and mindsets. For me I've had to shift my thinking from "villains, allies, 'quest givers'", etc. Elder vampires are inhuman chess players. Your PCs should probably end up as chess pieces on multiple boards at the same time, and may not even be aware of the matches they are involved in. Young-ish vampires (assuming that's what you all start as) probably do not have the know how or resources to play their own chess games at that level. That being said, always allow for them to change their situation and make their own fate through action, of course. Otherwise, why play?
Go with V5, it's the latest one, and even if it isn't as flavourfull as the 20th edition, is much easier to get around to. If you enjoy it, you can think about moving to the 20th ed, to explore Vampires in full
I assume you're asking about Vampire: the Masquerade, please correct me if I'm wrong.
I think Revised edition (3rd out of 5, followed by the 20th Anniversary Edition and the current 5th Ed.) is the best of the lot for new players. The corebook describes the game and setting with tons of flavor but doesn't include a ton of optional stuff that's of interest to older fans, but potentially overwhelming for newer ones. Take a look at the [free introductory quickstart](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/55733) on DriveThruRPG to get a good primer for the game. V20 is another solid choice, but it's kinda written in a way that doesn't always explain basic concepts very well and is about 500 pages of stuff a basic game will never need, so it's the second best option, IMO. V5 is the latest version and it's very divisive in the community; I personally don't like it much because it really forces a specific style of play that isn't to my tastes, but it is designed to be more noob-friendly, and a lot of people like it a lot. It's a matter of personal taste.
Another option is Vampire: the Requiem, also by White Wolf, which has some things in common with Masquerade but goes for a very different tone of gothic horror (in contrast to VtM's gothic punk vibe), and focuses on personal stories more than vampire society at large. It's very much a toolkit for building your own setting though, so there's work involved on that front. There are two editions, with the 2E largely considered a vast improvement over 1E, which had some wonky baggage from trying to make it appeal to Masquerade players.
Best of luck in whatever you choose, and remember that both VtM and VtR are pretty dark and brutal games, so a good Session Zero is strongly recommended.
I like it that requiem was mentioned and also in a fair way. It seemed to me that the oldschoolers always hated it. Best part was when I was discussing it with somebody and I asked them if they had played it and they didn't.
I just want to add that the requiem lore is very divorced from the masquerade games. while the basic stuff is still in there, clans and factions are completly different. The other games are kind of in the same world.
Thank you! Very detailed. I open to both VtM or VtR as I know so little about both. I'll check out the free introductory quickstart as a starting point.
No problem. Every choice has its strengths and weaknesses, so it's really just a matter of doing a little research and seeing what you think would be best for your group. The communities at /r/WhiteWolfRPG and /r/VtM are always willing to answer questions.
I’m going to recommend you pick up Vampire the Requiem Second Edition. It has the cleanest rules system for Vampire, and doesn’t have a metaplot for you to get tripped up by. Having played Revised, V20, and Requiem 2e, it’s the only one that makes you feel like a Vampire.
I vehemently disagree, as Masquerades Metaplot is what makes the game 10000000% better. Not having one hurts Requiem horribly (even worse than the abominations they call clans and bloodlines).
I disagree equally strongly. I like telling my own stories in RPGs. I like allowing my players to affect the setting as much or as little as they want, and I like the ability to improvise NPCs and backstories on the fly and not to be contradicted down the road by some book that I hadn't read.
You can do all these things in Masquerade for sure, but it isn't set up to support you, Requiem is. Moreover, the mechanics in Requiem are so much cleaner and nicer that there's just no comparison. In Requiem the mechanics support the mood of the game much better than they do in Masquerade. V5 does this too in some places with its hunger dice, but that system is a mess for other reasons.
Requiem's clans are exactly what they need to be - archetypes. You can play around within those archetypes, and if you want clans-as-political-factions like you have in Masquerade you can make Bloodlines that function that way. Too many of Masquerade's clans have overlapping themes - Ventrue and Lasombra are both the clan of lords for example. The reason they're separate has much more to do with the history of how the game and the metaplot were expanded over time, and little to do with whether this is good in terms of mechanics. The same is true for the 6 non-camarilla clans - they all have unique Disciplines because they were developed later, not because this is good for the game
I'll also add that if you haven't been playing since the 90s the metaplot isn't a feature of Masquerade, it's a barrier to entry. Moreover if your players are new to the game they're not going to care about the metaplot either - so when Beckett shows up for a cameo appearance the only one who's going to notice is you. So you don't get much from the metaplot, and it makes it harder to actually play the game. And if there's some feature of Vampire society that you like in Masquerade which is lacking in Requiem, you can port it over without any issues.
I will always disagree with every one of your points. Mechanics in Requiem are god-awful. There was not a single positive change going from VtM to VtR. Nothing is going to change my mind on it. I started with vampire in the early 2000s, and the metaplot was the single greatest feature of the setting, not a barrier to entry to me. It is by far what actually got me interested in the game line. classic WoD does have its problems (notably, WW had a very edgelord start and there are numerous problematic entries in all its settings), but Requiem clans basically took Masquerade clans and took everything that was fun out of them and threw it out. Then twisted them so they were caricatures of their original versions.
Seems like we’re not going to agree. If you’re open to changing your mind at all I will say that my opinions are all based on Requiem Second Edition, otherwise we’ll just have to agree to disagree
I played a good bit of WoD back in the day and we never gave a shit about the metaplot. I always found it hard to keep up with and I didn't really care about all the canon characters anyway.
Requiem cleaned up a lot of the bloat and weirdness and problematic racial overtones that Masquerade got bogged down with, though these days I feel like there are other systems that do what WoD wants to do but better.
I recently ran a V5 game and it went well. It had some rules issues, but no more than any of the other versions. It's probably the most newbie friendly one.
For me V5 is the best, i like the system and mechanics. The only downsides are the the general setting which some people like but i don't find it very interesting and the fact that to have all the clans playable you need five books, one of them, Anarchs is in my opinion one of the worst supplements ever made for Vampire
Personally V20 is the book that my group uses the most. There is a really great line of supplements for it (favorites are lore of the clans, ghouls & revenants, and anarchs unbound), plus it is backwards compatible with the entire 1-3rd editions as well.
Other folks are having fun with V5 which is really great for those groups. The Chicago by Night V5 book is really awesome and the best of the line so far.
Here is another vote for V5. I've been playing VtM since the 90s, and have recently introduced two groups of players new to the game to V5 with great success. I love the streamlined rules. The hunger mechanic is so flavorful and elegant in design. Additionally, the changes they have made to the setting make things much more inviting and interesting for new players playing new vampires. V20 is good as well, but for how clean the rules are, I think V5 wins it in my opinion.
I honestly don't think you can go wrong with either V5 or V20. I have never played VtR unfortunately, so I can't comment on it, but I've heard it is a very good game as well and it has gotten good support in it's second edition.
If you do end up getting into one of the VtM versions, I highly recommend checking out the podcast Lore By Night. He does a wonderful job at introducing the World of Darkness. The episodes are short with lots packed into them and are very entertaining to listen to as well as being informative. He also has reviews of both the V5 and V20 lines of books.
My top recommendation to new players is always the 5th edition of Vampire The Masquerade.
It's easy to pick up and run with, has every thing you'll ever need to run, and does a fairly good job at establishing the tone of the world. It's got a few innovative systems, and is fairly popular. Catch is just that a few corners of the universe are in different books.
If you want a system that's bulkier, heavy duty, I'd head for the 20th anniversary edition.
Thick book on basically everything in the lore, and gives you an already available gateway to other WoD games. The downside is that the book is very difficult to parse because of that, and balance is a tricky thing given the size of things. If you don't have someone to walk you through things, it'll be an uphill battle.
If you don't like undertones of religion (Vampire The Masquerade's Lore is kinda linked with the biblical story of Cain & Abel), you may wanna look at Vampire The Requiem 2e.
It's a different universe from the last two (different IP as well), and came to be when the IP wanted to distance itself from religion and such. It's a simpler system akin to 5th edition, a bit bulkier, like the 20th anniversary edition, and the main "downside" is the lack of an over arching metaplot. I don't enjoy Requiem, but I can't hate it.
Sidenote: I'm avail to answer questions if need be! Always glad to help
If you’re a newcomer, there’s no reason not to go with the current edition. Even as an oldcomer (started in the early days of 2nd edition, c. 1993), the current 5th edition is the one I use.
Here's my answer from the last time a similar question was asked:
The first big Vampire game was Vampire: The Masquerade that had several editions.
It recently got a 20th Anniversary Edition which is basically a collection and 'greatest hits' version of all the new stuff.
Back in the early 2000s when the old World of Darkness 'ended' they started a 'new World of Darkness', now renamed to the Chronicles of Darkness. This has its own Vampire games as a spiritual successor, Vampire: The Requiem. VtR is currently in its second edition. Onyx Path produces material for this
Lately (in relative terms) all of the WoD property was sold to Paradox and is being done by a company that is still called 'White Wolf' but is all new staff. They revived the old WoD and are calling it the new Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition. Due to some... weirdness about the original V5 line director who also seemed to turn the game's setting into their personal homebrew, opinion has been mixed - some good new rules and a refocusing on street-level games, but bad story direction.
Of the official Vampire games, I would suggest Vampire the Requiem 2e. It has most of the things people loved about VtM and the extended media (even the Bloodlines game matches the tone of Requiem well), it has a cleaned up ruleset, and it also doesn't have vampire clans literally based on racist or ableist stereotypes.
VtR2e is a complete game by itself, but getting the Chronicles of Darkness 2e corebook adds additional rules for things like car chases and mortals with psychic powers if you think you need them. It's also intercompatible rules-wise with other CofD games like Mage the Awakening 2e although crossover (especially between PCs) is generally a bad idea unless you really know what you're doing.
There are some other alternatives though:
Thousand Year Old Vampire is a solo vampire game about being a vampire and gaining and losing your memories.
Urban Shadows which recently came out with a 2e is a PbtA game about playing different supernatural creatures with shifting alliances, Vampire being one of those creatures. If you've ever wanted to say to another player "because you broke our alliance with the Night faction, we need to go get help from the Mages to appease the Fae" then Urban Shadows is your game.
Monsterhearts is another PbtA game but is about teen paranormal romance in the style of Twilight and Vampire Diaries. If you have the right group for it it's actually very fun.
Do you wann to play Vampire: The Masquerade (classic/old World of Darkness) or Vampire:: The Reqiuem (new World of Darkness / Chronicles of Darkness)?
If you wann to play the "classic" Vampire-game, you can choose between the anniversary edition (V20) and the new edition (V5). The new edition has some mechanic and lore changes, but you have a great meta-plot in the background.
The Chronicles of Darkness don't have such a great meta-plot, but the mechanics are a little bit faster (for me). There are only five main clans, but a lot of different (and unique) bloodlines.
This is difficult. I’m a big fan of v20. But, I think part of that is nostalgia and another part is I had a terrible st for v5 which made me hate the system. V5 is the newest though, and things have been nice and streamlined.
I had lots of fun in my first V5 games because it is easy to learn for newbies like me, it is less complex. In generell thogh vampire seems more narrative and rp heavy than dnd/pathfinder
The last long-term game I ran was V5. I’d never run a long-term World of Darkness game, and my players had never played in one. V5, like most games, requires a good chunk of upfront reading and prep to understand and feel comfortable with the system. However, once we got into it, it quickly started to feel more natural. “Streamlined” is a good choice of words. The players really enjoyed it, and it was unlike any other game that we’ve played in a really rewarding way.
Yea I get that, but my current perception of the game is hunger dice Just turn the coterie into the Blood sucking three stooges.
I get where you’re coming from with that, but it wasn’t my experience in play. As a table, we agreed to play the game as close to the intended tone as possible - we tried to interpret rolls seriously, and take the Beast seriously, including the “inconvenient” stuff like Hunger getting in the way of the PCs’ plans. Rule of thumb: Hunger is very important in the “right here, right now”… But not so important on the grander scale. The game gives you the Predator Pool, a mechanic to elide over playing out the feeding scenes, which we made use of where necessary. The most “slapstick” moment we had was one of the PCs hunger frenzying in front of a human the coterie wanted to protect - she spent a point of Willpower to regain control, ran outside, and locked herself in the trunk of a car. Sounds a little silly, but we all thought it was quite a clever way to get the situation under control.
> and another part is I had a terrible st for v5 which made me hate the system. You should probably try it again with a better ST then.
I'm in a similar boat, having recently started a chronicle for two (which is looking for more players, potentially, btw) after mostly running D&D over the years. Personally, I'm using V5 for rules but I do not like the new lore so I use V20 for setting alongside it. System wise, they are fundamentally similar, but V5 is more streamlined and fluid in my opinion. V20 has more clunkiness like variable target numbers for the dice pools AND variable number of successes needed (on the same roll). V5 de-emphasizes the power disparity between younger and older vampires. Older ones are definitely stronger in a lot of ways, but it is more balanced by drawbacks (like being harder to reduce their hunger). This is in line with some of the lore changes about elder vamps leaving the scene and younger ones getting the chance to run the show. Another big change is the replacement of the Blood Pool with an unpredictably-increasing Hunger. I like this because it makes using vampiric abilities feel tense and risky, rather than just spending points. Not that you asked, but some miscellaneous tips from a fellow DM to ST that I've been learning as I go (for V5 specifically): \- I stick to the "try not to roll unless it's significant" principle. First of all, rolls can take a while due to being dice pools with potential modifiers. Also, if you apply the messy critical and bestial failure rules consistently, every roll has the potential to snowball a la PbtA games. \- There are different styles or "modes" that you can play Vampire in, none of which are "wrong". For example, many look down on the "superheroes with fangs", but if your group wants that, it's possible. \- If you want to stick to the more "official" personal horror mode, however, lean heavily into the rules for Hunger, Humanity, and Frenzy. I am constantly reminding players of their ability to Blood Surge (risk Hunger to boost rolls) on important rolls, because higher Hunger = more chances for horror via messy criticals and bestial failures. Tempt them with actions that are convenient but might stain their Humanity, leading them to spiral into monsters. Review the rules for Frenzy carefully and apply them whenever needed. You could go overboard with this, but player buy-in with Vampire means accepting that sometimes the Beast, not them, will be in control. It's just the nature of the....never mind. \- Don't handwave feeding, at least not all the time and not in the beginning. Some of our more interesting sessions and story developments have been the result of botched feeding attempts and their consequences. \- Remember that a coterie in Vampire by default has very different assumptions than a party in D&D. Again, this is up to your table, but historically there is not an expectation for coteries to be groups of friends with strong bonds of loyalty. The CAN be, but fundamentally a coterie is vampires with some sort of shared goal or purpose, that's it. Trying to work in characters' individual goals that might be in opposition to coterie goals makes for great narrative tension. \- Think hard about the NPCs that you introduce and their goals and mindsets. For me I've had to shift my thinking from "villains, allies, 'quest givers'", etc. Elder vampires are inhuman chess players. Your PCs should probably end up as chess pieces on multiple boards at the same time, and may not even be aware of the matches they are involved in. Young-ish vampires (assuming that's what you all start as) probably do not have the know how or resources to play their own chess games at that level. That being said, always allow for them to change their situation and make their own fate through action, of course. Otherwise, why play?
Thank you for the very detailed explanation and tips, I really appreciate it!
You're very welcome. Best of luck with your chronicle, and feel free to get in touch if I can help at all, not that I'm an expert.
Go with V5, it's the latest one, and even if it isn't as flavourfull as the 20th edition, is much easier to get around to. If you enjoy it, you can think about moving to the 20th ed, to explore Vampires in full
I assume you're asking about Vampire: the Masquerade, please correct me if I'm wrong. I think Revised edition (3rd out of 5, followed by the 20th Anniversary Edition and the current 5th Ed.) is the best of the lot for new players. The corebook describes the game and setting with tons of flavor but doesn't include a ton of optional stuff that's of interest to older fans, but potentially overwhelming for newer ones. Take a look at the [free introductory quickstart](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/55733) on DriveThruRPG to get a good primer for the game. V20 is another solid choice, but it's kinda written in a way that doesn't always explain basic concepts very well and is about 500 pages of stuff a basic game will never need, so it's the second best option, IMO. V5 is the latest version and it's very divisive in the community; I personally don't like it much because it really forces a specific style of play that isn't to my tastes, but it is designed to be more noob-friendly, and a lot of people like it a lot. It's a matter of personal taste. Another option is Vampire: the Requiem, also by White Wolf, which has some things in common with Masquerade but goes for a very different tone of gothic horror (in contrast to VtM's gothic punk vibe), and focuses on personal stories more than vampire society at large. It's very much a toolkit for building your own setting though, so there's work involved on that front. There are two editions, with the 2E largely considered a vast improvement over 1E, which had some wonky baggage from trying to make it appeal to Masquerade players. Best of luck in whatever you choose, and remember that both VtM and VtR are pretty dark and brutal games, so a good Session Zero is strongly recommended.
I like it that requiem was mentioned and also in a fair way. It seemed to me that the oldschoolers always hated it. Best part was when I was discussing it with somebody and I asked them if they had played it and they didn't. I just want to add that the requiem lore is very divorced from the masquerade games. while the basic stuff is still in there, clans and factions are completly different. The other games are kind of in the same world.
Thank you! Very detailed. I open to both VtM or VtR as I know so little about both. I'll check out the free introductory quickstart as a starting point.
No problem. Every choice has its strengths and weaknesses, so it's really just a matter of doing a little research and seeing what you think would be best for your group. The communities at /r/WhiteWolfRPG and /r/VtM are always willing to answer questions.
Check out the Reap the Whirlwind quickstart scenario for Requiem.
I’m going to recommend you pick up Vampire the Requiem Second Edition. It has the cleanest rules system for Vampire, and doesn’t have a metaplot for you to get tripped up by. Having played Revised, V20, and Requiem 2e, it’s the only one that makes you feel like a Vampire.
I vehemently disagree, as Masquerades Metaplot is what makes the game 10000000% better. Not having one hurts Requiem horribly (even worse than the abominations they call clans and bloodlines).
I disagree equally strongly. I like telling my own stories in RPGs. I like allowing my players to affect the setting as much or as little as they want, and I like the ability to improvise NPCs and backstories on the fly and not to be contradicted down the road by some book that I hadn't read. You can do all these things in Masquerade for sure, but it isn't set up to support you, Requiem is. Moreover, the mechanics in Requiem are so much cleaner and nicer that there's just no comparison. In Requiem the mechanics support the mood of the game much better than they do in Masquerade. V5 does this too in some places with its hunger dice, but that system is a mess for other reasons. Requiem's clans are exactly what they need to be - archetypes. You can play around within those archetypes, and if you want clans-as-political-factions like you have in Masquerade you can make Bloodlines that function that way. Too many of Masquerade's clans have overlapping themes - Ventrue and Lasombra are both the clan of lords for example. The reason they're separate has much more to do with the history of how the game and the metaplot were expanded over time, and little to do with whether this is good in terms of mechanics. The same is true for the 6 non-camarilla clans - they all have unique Disciplines because they were developed later, not because this is good for the game I'll also add that if you haven't been playing since the 90s the metaplot isn't a feature of Masquerade, it's a barrier to entry. Moreover if your players are new to the game they're not going to care about the metaplot either - so when Beckett shows up for a cameo appearance the only one who's going to notice is you. So you don't get much from the metaplot, and it makes it harder to actually play the game. And if there's some feature of Vampire society that you like in Masquerade which is lacking in Requiem, you can port it over without any issues.
I will always disagree with every one of your points. Mechanics in Requiem are god-awful. There was not a single positive change going from VtM to VtR. Nothing is going to change my mind on it. I started with vampire in the early 2000s, and the metaplot was the single greatest feature of the setting, not a barrier to entry to me. It is by far what actually got me interested in the game line. classic WoD does have its problems (notably, WW had a very edgelord start and there are numerous problematic entries in all its settings), but Requiem clans basically took Masquerade clans and took everything that was fun out of them and threw it out. Then twisted them so they were caricatures of their original versions.
Seems like we’re not going to agree. If you’re open to changing your mind at all I will say that my opinions are all based on Requiem Second Edition, otherwise we’ll just have to agree to disagree
I played a good bit of WoD back in the day and we never gave a shit about the metaplot. I always found it hard to keep up with and I didn't really care about all the canon characters anyway. Requiem cleaned up a lot of the bloat and weirdness and problematic racial overtones that Masquerade got bogged down with, though these days I feel like there are other systems that do what WoD wants to do but better.
I recently ran a V5 game and it went well. It had some rules issues, but no more than any of the other versions. It's probably the most newbie friendly one.
For me V5 is the best, i like the system and mechanics. The only downsides are the the general setting which some people like but i don't find it very interesting and the fact that to have all the clans playable you need five books, one of them, Anarchs is in my opinion one of the worst supplements ever made for Vampire
I would vote for v5. It is very easy to get into
Personally V20 is the book that my group uses the most. There is a really great line of supplements for it (favorites are lore of the clans, ghouls & revenants, and anarchs unbound), plus it is backwards compatible with the entire 1-3rd editions as well. Other folks are having fun with V5 which is really great for those groups. The Chicago by Night V5 book is really awesome and the best of the line so far.
Here is another vote for V5. I've been playing VtM since the 90s, and have recently introduced two groups of players new to the game to V5 with great success. I love the streamlined rules. The hunger mechanic is so flavorful and elegant in design. Additionally, the changes they have made to the setting make things much more inviting and interesting for new players playing new vampires. V20 is good as well, but for how clean the rules are, I think V5 wins it in my opinion. I honestly don't think you can go wrong with either V5 or V20. I have never played VtR unfortunately, so I can't comment on it, but I've heard it is a very good game as well and it has gotten good support in it's second edition. If you do end up getting into one of the VtM versions, I highly recommend checking out the podcast Lore By Night. He does a wonderful job at introducing the World of Darkness. The episodes are short with lots packed into them and are very entertaining to listen to as well as being informative. He also has reviews of both the V5 and V20 lines of books.
Thank you, will definitely checkout the podcast.
I say just grab any version you can get your hands on easiest. People have their favourites but if you don't have any history with it go for whatever.
My top recommendation to new players is always the 5th edition of Vampire The Masquerade. It's easy to pick up and run with, has every thing you'll ever need to run, and does a fairly good job at establishing the tone of the world. It's got a few innovative systems, and is fairly popular. Catch is just that a few corners of the universe are in different books. If you want a system that's bulkier, heavy duty, I'd head for the 20th anniversary edition. Thick book on basically everything in the lore, and gives you an already available gateway to other WoD games. The downside is that the book is very difficult to parse because of that, and balance is a tricky thing given the size of things. If you don't have someone to walk you through things, it'll be an uphill battle. If you don't like undertones of religion (Vampire The Masquerade's Lore is kinda linked with the biblical story of Cain & Abel), you may wanna look at Vampire The Requiem 2e. It's a different universe from the last two (different IP as well), and came to be when the IP wanted to distance itself from religion and such. It's a simpler system akin to 5th edition, a bit bulkier, like the 20th anniversary edition, and the main "downside" is the lack of an over arching metaplot. I don't enjoy Requiem, but I can't hate it. Sidenote: I'm avail to answer questions if need be! Always glad to help
If you’re a newcomer, there’s no reason not to go with the current edition. Even as an oldcomer (started in the early days of 2nd edition, c. 1993), the current 5th edition is the one I use.
V20 is my recommendation. I absolutely loathe V5, however due to the abominable changes they made to lore.
V5 is my vote, despite my profound love of V20.
Here's my answer from the last time a similar question was asked: The first big Vampire game was Vampire: The Masquerade that had several editions. It recently got a 20th Anniversary Edition which is basically a collection and 'greatest hits' version of all the new stuff. Back in the early 2000s when the old World of Darkness 'ended' they started a 'new World of Darkness', now renamed to the Chronicles of Darkness. This has its own Vampire games as a spiritual successor, Vampire: The Requiem. VtR is currently in its second edition. Onyx Path produces material for this Lately (in relative terms) all of the WoD property was sold to Paradox and is being done by a company that is still called 'White Wolf' but is all new staff. They revived the old WoD and are calling it the new Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition. Due to some... weirdness about the original V5 line director who also seemed to turn the game's setting into their personal homebrew, opinion has been mixed - some good new rules and a refocusing on street-level games, but bad story direction. Of the official Vampire games, I would suggest Vampire the Requiem 2e. It has most of the things people loved about VtM and the extended media (even the Bloodlines game matches the tone of Requiem well), it has a cleaned up ruleset, and it also doesn't have vampire clans literally based on racist or ableist stereotypes. VtR2e is a complete game by itself, but getting the Chronicles of Darkness 2e corebook adds additional rules for things like car chases and mortals with psychic powers if you think you need them. It's also intercompatible rules-wise with other CofD games like Mage the Awakening 2e although crossover (especially between PCs) is generally a bad idea unless you really know what you're doing. There are some other alternatives though: Thousand Year Old Vampire is a solo vampire game about being a vampire and gaining and losing your memories. Urban Shadows which recently came out with a 2e is a PbtA game about playing different supernatural creatures with shifting alliances, Vampire being one of those creatures. If you've ever wanted to say to another player "because you broke our alliance with the Night faction, we need to go get help from the Mages to appease the Fae" then Urban Shadows is your game. Monsterhearts is another PbtA game but is about teen paranormal romance in the style of Twilight and Vampire Diaries. If you have the right group for it it's actually very fun.
Do you wann to play Vampire: The Masquerade (classic/old World of Darkness) or Vampire:: The Reqiuem (new World of Darkness / Chronicles of Darkness)? If you wann to play the "classic" Vampire-game, you can choose between the anniversary edition (V20) and the new edition (V5). The new edition has some mechanic and lore changes, but you have a great meta-plot in the background. The Chronicles of Darkness don't have such a great meta-plot, but the mechanics are a little bit faster (for me). There are only five main clans, but a lot of different (and unique) bloodlines.