The Sum of All Fears

Nightmare’s not about fear. Fear is rational, fear is understandable. Nightmare is about terror. Blind, stinking, rabbit-fleeing-from the wolves terror. Oh, sure, it starts out innocent enough. The guy a little too creepy to talk to, the little old lady you somehow feel compelled to give a wide berth. But then the little glitches start … Read more

Knowing your own

Predators recognize each other. By sight, by smell, by touch. And with that recognition comes a whole host of complications. Rivalry, fear, lust. In Vampire: The Requiem, this knowing and its consequences are modeled by the predatory aura. In Blood and Smoke, this aura replaces the predator’s taint from the core book. It fills a similar … Read more

With Merit

I’m annoyingly sick this week (101 degree fever for several days running), so we don’t have a full dev blog. However, writer David Hill has been posting Merits from Blood and Smoke on the forums, and I wanted to share a few of the social ones. The Merits in the original Vampire book were some of … Read more

The Choir Invisible

Update: Clarifications and fixes were made on 1/19. — Busy week for Vampire again. I’ve been working with the writers on the last of the Disciplines, and getting together reprinted material for the anthology. We posted a second draft of Protean earlier today. And there are lots of contracts and practical matters to square away! Plus, … Read more

Diehard GameFAN names Blood Sorcery sourcebook of the year!

Diehard GameFAN has named Blood Sorcery (link) their 2012 sourcebook of the year (link). We’re in good company, alongside Shadows of Esteren and Cthulhu By Gaslight, among others. I can honestly say without hesitation that Blood Sorcery is the best Vampire: The Requiem book I’ve read in a very long time (perhaps even since the inception of the line) and it really gives … Read more

This Too Solid Flesh

Update 1/17/2013: We’ve uploaded a second version of Protean, based on feedback here and on our forums. Full animal form moves down to the third dot. The fourth dot power, Unnatural Change power gives vampires traits that go beyond the merely bestial, and into the truly abominable. Click here to check it out. — The final … Read more

Majestic

Time for another round of playtesting for Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle, this summer’s big Vampire book. Tonight, we’re rounding out the Daeva Discipline spread by introducing Majesty. Majesty follows the pattern of many other Disciplines in that each power expands on others. You’ll notice Conditions and Beats, two concepts being introduced in The God Machine … Read more

Seeing in the dark

Been eight years since Vampire came out. I’ve been running it all that time, and so have a lot of you. And there have been seven (almost eight) World of Darkness games since. They’ve taught us a lot about life, love, and friendship. As well as shivving dudes in alleys because we want their blood just … Read more