Why is everyone so familiar with this IP.
Sorry, but I was only a kid in the 90s, care to fill me in as to why this isn't another emo vampire copycat?
HA.
The funny thing is, it's actually copycat-ish-- possibly the first of the emo vampire copycats. It's heavily influenced by Anne Rice's first couple vampire novels, before her writing abilities turned back into a pumpkin. Basically, some of the White Wolf folks seem to have read
Interview With the Vampire and
Lestat and thought, "Wow, these would make a kick-ass RPG setting!" Louie and Lestat would both be members of Clan Toreador; they even lifted the ecstatic nature of Anne Rice vampire bites.
The game's broader than that, mind you, covering most conceptions of what a "vampire" is that you can find in fiction (short of sparkly) and then adding a few more. The sort of horrible, twisted, bald creature you'll see in silent film turns up as Clan Nosferatu; the manipulative business/political sorts who figure in the "Blade" films (and presumably comic books) seem to have either inspired or been inspired by Clan Ventrue; the nightmare "gang" of "The Lost Boys" turns up as Clan Brujah. Toss in the animalistic Gangrel, the vampire-sorcerer Tremere, the illusionist Ravnos, the infectiously crazed Malkavians, the corruption-worshipping Followers of Set, the necromancer-mafiosi Giovanni, the shadow-manipulating Lasombra, and the Dracula-inspired Tzimisce (sp?), among others, and you've got yourself a concept-party.
Naturally, there's a good deal of variety within each of the clans.
The Camarilla, the "not-quite-so-evil" guys most people start out playing, at least in tabletop Masquerade, are a bit angsty. They're trying to hold onto basically human ethics to avoid losing control and becoming true monsters (a vampire who becomes too morally degraded turns into, basically, a rabid animal). So, if you want to play an angsty Toreador, you certainly can, but even if you're in the Camarilla virtually every other clan will roll its eyes at you. (The stereotypical Tory is indeed angsty; they need not be, of course.)
Most of the other clans, to the degree that they angst, bury it deep. Ventrue are too busy with worldly matters to have time to be emo; the Nosferatu, Brujah, and Gangrel look down their noses at such self-indulgence; the Tremere will see it as weakness to be exploited; the Malkavians are more likely to be clinically depressed than "emo" (being nuts is their calling card). All of them have some angst of their own to deal with, but about a thousand reasons for not showing it.
The Sabbat, on the other hand, happily accept their monstrous nature and go for various "alternative" ethical sets, which range from seeing themselves as simply part of nature to seeing themselves as something like the guys in "Highlander," engaged in a fratricidal struggle for power in which diablerie (the drinking of another, stronger vampire's blood and soul) is a sacred act. Not very angsty. Downright cheery, actually-- the Sabbat are noted for doing stuff like playing "cowboys and Indians" with real bullets, in public, in Camarilla cities. They're a real fun-loving bunch.
So-- copycat-ish? Definitely, from all over the vampire genre.
Emo? A bit, sometimes. Seriously angsty characters are likely to annoy their peers.
Brilliant? Absolutely.
Author
Topic: WoD Finally revealed (Read 7270 times)