Tim Bradstreet Photo Shoot | |
Photography: | Meredith Gerber, Scott Harben, and Jamais Vu |
Clothing: | Peter at Shrine Clothing |
Models: | Rose Bailey, Shawn Carnes, Shane DeFreest, Martin Ericsson, Greg Fountain, Reynir Harðarson, Heidi Kirchgesner, Angela de Lune, Bianca Carter-Mallory, Stacey Mell, Angela Richter, Mike Tinney, Sasha Travis, and Dhaunae De Vir. |
Ken Meyer, Jr. Photo Shoot | |
Photography: | Meredith Gerber and Zarli Win |
Models: | Kristi Davis, Chase Ferguson, Lorenzo Melchor, Dhaunae De Vir, Shannon Withrow, and Matthew Ziegenfuss. |
Publisher: | White Wolf Publishing, Inc. |
Imprint: | White Wolf Game Studio |
Published: | October 21, 2011 |
Pages: | 529 |
Year: | 2011 |
PDF: | DriveThruRPG |
Price: | Print: $99.99/$64.99/$44.99 Digital: $29.99 |
Vampire: The Masquerade – 20th Anniversary Edition is a rulebook for Vampire: The Masquerade. It is the current edition (4th Ed.) of Vampire [1].
Summary
- From the White Wolf Catalog:
- Vampire: The Masquerade exploded into hobby games in 1991 and inspired a generation of fans of which the game industry had never seen before or since. The cultural significance Vampire left on not just the gaming world but on modern vampire-related pop culture can be seen and felt at virtually every turn and in every medium today.
- Vampire: The Masquerade - 20th Anniversary Edition brings the entire Classic World of Darkness experience full circle and will serve as the perfect anniversary milestone to celebrate two decades of gaming after dark. This is the original Masquerade in all its glory, and our way of saying thank you and welcome home.
- All thirteen original Clans, Clan variants and bloodlines, with their signature Disciplines
- Classic rules updated from Vampire's Revised Edition
- Character creation and advancement from Neonate to Methuselah
- All the Disciplines from level one through nine
- Updated setting to the modern nights
- New full color original art by Tim Bradstreet and other classic Masquerade artists
Chapters
Introduction
This book is divided into several chapters, each of which is designed to explore and explain a specific area of the game. Remember, though, that in a storytelling game, the most important “chapter” is your imagination. Never let anything in this book be a substitute for your own creativity.
Chapter One: A World of Darkness
Describes the Kindred and the world in which they hunt.
Chapter Two: Sects and Clans
Describes the 13 great “Clans” of Kindred and the organizations to which they hold allegiance.
Chapter Three: Character and Traits
Gives step-by-step instructions for creating vampire characters as well as a description of the Traits that make them up.
Chapter Four: Disciplines
Delineates the wide variety of mystical powers of the undead.
Chapter Five: Rules
Provides the basic means of resolving the characters’ various actions.
Chapter Six: Systems and Drama
Describes a plethora of ways to simulate everything from gentle seduction to brutal combat.
Chapter Seven: Morality
Describes Humanity and the various Paths of Enlightenment that more alien and inhuman vampires adhere to.
Chapter Eight: Storytelling
Tells Storytellers how to build entertaining stories in which to involve the characters.
Chapter Nine: The Others
Gives notes on the Kindred’s (few) friends and (many) enemies.
Chapter Ten: Bloodlines
Details a wide range of minor bloodlines, Clan variations, and some of the strains of vampire thought lost to the mists of time.
Appendix
Provides addenda and miscellaneous rules.
Background Information
- Everyone who had preordered either version of Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition received a free PDF copy of the book, starting September 23, 2011. Several typos within the book and on the character sheet were fixed for the PDF. The PDF became available for general release on September 29, 2011.
- This is the first Classic World of Darkness book and Vampire: The Masquerade book to be released since the cancellation of those lines in 2004 (not including 2011's April Fools joke). It assumes Gehenna hasn't happened (yet), and places the metaplot in the hands of the players. The presentation is setting-agnostic, allowing individual Storytellers to choose which metaplot events (Assamite schism, Gangrel leaving the Camarilla, etc.) have occurred and which haven't.
- The spine of the book bears the Roman numerals XX for 20, which is also a subtle reference to the notorious Page XX of previous editions.
- Tony DiTerlizzi was left out of the credits initially for a piece of his in the Antagonist section. This piece is from the same section of VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Edition , for which he was likewise uncredited; Tony's piece was misattributed to Vince Locke. This may make the longest time (13 years) between a piece's first appearance and its eventual proper credit, which appears in the V20 PDF.
Memorable Quotes
“ | No one holds command over me. No man. No god. No Prince. What is a claim of age for ones who are immortal? What is a claim of power for ones who deny death? Call your damnable hunt. We shall see who I drag screaming to hell with me. | ” |
— Günter Dörn, Das Ungeheuer Darin |
“ | The Children of Seth will always hate us again and again, for we are their predators. We are their Masters and they know this, deep in their soul. | ” |
— The Book of Nod |
“ | All the Kindred hid from one another and from the humans that surrounded them. In hiding we remain today, for the Jyhad continues still. | ” |
— The Book of Nod |
“ | When first I tasted the fruit of the Trees, felt the seeds of Life and Knowledge burn within me, I swore that day that I would not turn back... | ” |
— From the Oath of Lilith |
“ | When my energies first surged through me, I discovered how to move like lightning, how to borrow the strength of the earth, how to be as stone. These were like breathing once was to me. | ” |
— The Book of Nod |
“ | For surely it is better to rule in the darkness than to humble myself falsely in the light. | ” |
— The Erciyes Fragments |
“ | Mortals thought they were fighting their own wars, but it is for us that they spilt their blood. | ” |
— The Book of Nod |
“ | Rape me into ashes if you will. I can take it. | ” |
— Rachel Dolium, Revelations of the Dark Mother |
“ | I gave a cry of anguish at this terrible curse and tore at my flesh. I wept blood. I caught the tears in a cup and drank them. | ” |
— The Book of Nod |
“ | There will come a time, in the last days, when the Moon-Beasts will grow uneasy... and so they will find us and they will kill us. | ” |
— The Book of Nod |
“ | I learned from them to take the blackness from the blood, the wounds from the flesh, the evil from the world. And though I may die, you, my childer will live on. | ” |
— The Book of Nod |
“ | Friends, friends... I thought we were committed to science, not mythology. | ” |
— Albertus Magnus, Encyclopaedia Vampirica |
Characters
V20: Grand Masquerade Edition
Published: | September 16, 2011 |
This book was only available to those who had pre-ordered and were attending The Grand Masquerade in 2011. "Antediluvian" pass holders got it a day early, pre-signed by many of the people responsible for creating the book.
References
Previous release: VTM: Paths of Storytelling: Vampire |
Game Books Vampire: The Masquerade books |
Next release: VTM: Dust to Dust |