Rise, Kindred! Vampire: The Masquerade Arrives on Bundle of Holding

[Fanghawk]

Rise, Kindred! Vampire: The Masquerade Arrives on Bundle of Holding

Vampire: The Masquerade, the hugely successful tabletop RPG that launched White Wolf's World of Darkness, has arrived on Bundle of Holding.

Most tabletop roleplaying games let players be heroes, but <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/vampire%20the%20masquerade?os=vampire+the+masquerade>Vampire: The Masquerade was one of the first to let you become a monster. Published by White Wolf and kicking off the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/white%20wolf?os=white+wolf>World of Darkness RPG line, Vampire introduced a cutthroat modern world where vampire clans struggled against each other - and their own violent instincts. The game was a phenomenal success, and even though White Wolf <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_112/1374-World-of-New-Darkness>eventually scrapped the classic system and mythology many fans still fondly remember the original setting. Now tabletop players of stripes sink their teeth into the RPG classic with Bundle of Holding's Vampire: The Masquerade Second Edition collection.

As with past sets, Bundle of Holding offers tiers for players and gamemasters alike. Paying the minimum of $8.95 unlocks the Player's collection, covering Vampire: The Masquerade, the Vampire Player's Guide, and the renegade faction book Players Guide to the Sabbat.

Paying above the average, on the other hand, unlocks a massive collection of GM resources. First up are two handbooks with storytelling advice, clans, and bloodlines: The Storytellers Handbook and Storytellers Handbook to the Sabbat. Next is A World of Darkness, providing NPCs and outlining the history of vampire societies across the world. Chicago by Night is Vampire's most popular setting book, detailing an alternate version of the Windy City. Finally, The Kindred Most Wanted and Who's Who Among Vampires provides a wealth of antagonists and NPCs... including the legendary Dracula himself.

What's more, the collection itself isn't finished yet. Bundle of Holding will be releasing additional volumes during the set's two-week runtime. And that's just Vampire; World of Darkness quickly expanded to cover werewolves, mages, demons, and more. In other words, if this Bundle of Holding is a success, more classic WoD lines are likely to follow. And given the love fans have for Masquerade, the chances of that happening are fairly high.

Confession time: My introduction to Vampire wasn't through the RPG, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_244/7258-The-Last-Masquerade>but the Bloodlines video game. But I enjoyed the setting so much that World of Darkness ended up first-ever tabletop game purchase. To be able to snatch up a collection like this (at a hefty discount no less) is a real treat for the world and mythology alone, and well worth checking out.

Source: <a href=http://bundleofholding.com/index/current>Bundle of Holding

Permalink

 

[dragongit]

Thats a really, really odd coincidence. My local RPG group just started a VtM game yesterday.guess I should pick these up.

 

[SquidVicious]

Do yourself a favour and get the revised edition, or the 20th anniversary if you feel like shelling out the cash.

 

[Callate]

I got more than a little tired of White Wolf's assumption that giving players a set of rules to work with meant they had carte blanche to reshape the over-arcing world, its ongoing history, and the relationships of factions as it saw fit. I'm kind of the opinion that that's the GM/Storyteller's job, not Rein*Hagen's.

That aside, the original systems had some interesting ideas, and it's nice that more people can get a hold of them.

 

[Fasckira]

Its cool, but 2nd ed? Would have been nicer to see the revised at least, they're still asking $20 for the pdf version of that last time I checked DriveThru.

I got more than a little tired of White Wolf's assumption that giving players a set of rules to work with meant they had carte blanche to reshape the over-arcing world, its ongoing history, and the relationships of factions as it saw fit.

Pretty much why so many people I know prefer nWoD. I liked the lore and what not but I lost touch with what was happening and never had time to read up on all that I missed, seemed to be so much going on.

 

[The Great JT]

Agh, I'm going to abstain from this one. I've already got the 20th Anniversary hardcover (and it's fantastic, go get it) but I will say this, "you should absolutely buy it. VtM is awesome."

Also I got into VtM through Bloodlines as well.

 

[EHKOS]

I am very glad I already have those hardcovers, the excitement otherwise might have killed me. Another one for Bloodlines though.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I got more than a little tired of White Wolf's assumption that giving players a set of rules to work with meant they had carte blanche to reshape the over-arcing world, its ongoing history, and the relationships of factions as it saw fit. I'm kind of the opinion that that's the GM/Storyteller's job, not Rein*Hagen's.

That aside, the original systems had some interesting ideas, and it's nice that more people can get a hold of them.

Given that they were going for a new feel, and WW/Onyx Publishing games are all about atmosphere, I don't see this as a bad thing. I've spent more time gaming Requiem than Masquerade. Masquerade's world was great, but the mystery wasn't there that Requiem actually instills with each step of character creation.

It's not like Masquerade disappeared or is dead (unless you're taking Gehenna as canon past event ... but if you're running oWoD why would you?) it's just that Requiem, Requiem 2.0 and Masquerade are three different games, with different marketed audiences. I for one loved both Wolf games(oWoD and nWoD), but I can definitively say CtL is better than Dreaming. I can also say the same thing about Mage and Hunter.

So far, having read over the God-Machine anthology and new rule sets, I'm honestly looking forward to Wolf and Mage nWoD 2.0, also. Not to mention a new Changeling in the works ...

Say what you like, it seems every reiteration of the universe Onyx do, it seems to tick all the boxes and adds new things to love and explore. I, for one, welcome 2.0 just as I did nWoD.