The tabletop role-playing game, Vampire: The Masquerade launched its fifth edition at Gen Con this year alongside plans to expand storylines even further with the Chicago By Night campaign.
Gen Con, the largest tabletop gaming convention in America, took place Aug. 2-5 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In Vampire, players assume the roles of vampires and transverse the night managing their need of blood, balance vampire clan politics and control their personal demons.
The new core book was available at the convention which includes photography, sketches, art and concept art to set up a campaign.
Jason Carl, producer at White Wolf Entertainment, said that when the original Vampire core book released in 1991, it had a distinct look that separated it from other games on the market.
“The cover looked like a rock album cover,” he said.
When approaching the fifth edition, White Wolf Entertainment has attempted to stay relevant.
“It’s not a new game and yet its a brand new game,” Carl said.
According to Carl, Vampire will explore mystery, desire and identifying evil in culture, society and the players.
“It’s a game about playing a monster it’s not a game about being a monster as a player,” he said.
Onyx Path Publishing announced at Gen Con that it will be publishing Vampire’s first supplement campaign Chicago By Night.
Matthew Dawkins developer for Chicago By Night and contributor to Vampire fifth edition, said that he wants capture the spirit of Chicago, which starts with a diverse writing team.
“I feel strongly that you can’t write about different cultures and backgrounds without people who lived it,” he said.
Dawkins said the team includes black, women and transgender writers that he feels will represent an accurate and layered vision for Chicago in Vampire. In order to nail Chicago’s vibe down, he said that he couldn’t have a writing table that includes eight white men. He spoke about Chicago’s culture of blues and jazz music that he wants to reflect in Chicago By Night.
“You need African American writers if you are going to write about Chicago,” he said.
Included in Chicago By Night is Clan Lasombra profile with Obtenebration rules, which are playable for the first time in the fifth edition; loresheets to help players incorporate Vampire’s metaplot into character backgrounds; urban legends, maps, characters, coteries, story hooks, and a complete scenario for Storytellers; updated and new metaplot explaining the hierarchy of Kindred in Chicago and ways to incorporate characters.
The manuscript for Chicago By Night is currently being written and developed using the new fifth edition rules. A Kickstarter is planned for a prestige edition of Chicago By Night and is expected to launch late 2018. Standard digital and print editions will be released following fulfillment of the Kickstarter.
