My gaming group has just started a game of
Vampire: The Masquerade
. Although I was disinterested for many years in the setting (too cool, I guess), I've since realized that I love games set in the late 90's, especially games where we can start by playing Nerfherder's Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme.
We've decided to forgo any LARPing type elements and play it typical tabletop style, but the game itself presents an interesting challenge for us.
A Lot of Talking
We generally play two different types of games - we play Call of Cthulhu/Trail of Cthulhu with lots of rolling, adventure, and fighting, or B/X games with lots of rolling, adventure, and fighting. Although I did get to do some dominating, in general, playing
Vampire: The Masquerade is a role playing driven affair. Which is good, because it challenges us to become better at role playing games.
Music helps - we had a mix tape that we played as we headed into Chicago - each character picked a song. (Bach, Sleater Kinney, Beck, and George Michael if you're interested).
As we journeyed through various clubs and parties in Chicago, we played a ton of the Smiths, the Cure, Bauhaus. I think some riot grrl would make a nice addition.
It's a good thing that I'm not running this game - my time would obsessively be spent mining
Anno Dracula books for historical characters to jam into the game as vampires.
The current
Bundle of Holding is
Vampire: The Masquerade. Seems like a cheap way to get into the game if you've never tried it.
Let me know in the comments if you're a Vampire fan or if you have any general tips for Role playing heavy games.
