Vampire: The Masquerade

[Buttercup]

I don't even want to get into the details of how exactly this happened, but I'm playing a vampire RPG. Does anyone here have any experience with Vampire: The Masquerade?

I need help in convincing my GM that a Tremere Prince makes total sense...

[Kingpun]

i got kicked out of a v:tm campaign for laughing at the feeding scenes

[Red Omen]

I'd much rather play D&D instead. I looked into V:tM briefly when a guy on the forums wanted to run it, and it just seemed like a whole lot of "vampires are sexy (except Nosferatu)" + "no one understands what it's liiiike." I heard a story from someone who spent their entire first (and last) session tied to a bed as the other vampires lectured them about what it means to be a vampire. But, you know, "role-playing."

Only clan worth playing is Tremere because it's the most like a wizard in D&D. But then, why not just play a wizard in D&D? You can become a vampire if you want, but you don't have to play goddamn White Wolf to do it.

I'm talking about 3.5, by the way. Fourth can suck a fat one.

[Buttercup]

Wow, our campaign is nothing like that. There's actual combat, narrowly escaping sticky situations, plotting and conniving. I guess we just have a good GM.

No one gets tied to anything, and we spend zero time talking about what it's "really" like to be vampires. We're like characters that just happen to be vampires. I think that's the /masquerade/ part of it....which seems fairly vital.

And we don't have feeding scenes.

The thing I don't like about d&d is the complexity of the combat system. V:tM has combat that is engaging but doesn't require spreadsheets to calculate it. And the fact that there's so many ways to completely avoid combat is fun too. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I like it because there's more role playing than combat.

ugh....i cringed the entire time i typed that and now i need to go cleanse myself

oh god, i'm one of you now!!!!

[Red Omen]

You can play D&D without touching a single die, too. And combat doesn't have to be complicated; it isn't, either, once you get the hang of it. Don't move out of threatened squares, roll a d20 to see if you hit and whatever die your weapon uses for damage. If you've got your modifiers added up properly and your sheet laid out clearly, combat's a breeze.

Although it sounds like you're in an alright V:tM campaign, so I won't snob out on you.

[Buttercup]

I'm sure you're right Red, I've only played D&D for a few weeks at most, hardly enough time to get the hang of it. But the character sheet alone as soooo complicated, and I didn't really have anyone there that was able to explain modifiers and whatnot to me in any way that made sense so I ended up just getting frustrated with combat (of which there was a TON) and not enjoying myself because I didn't understand why I was rolling what I was rolling and how it added up to what it did.

[Red Omen]

Oh, so you just weren't taught how to play, really.

I've been at it for six years and I'm starting to get the hang of it!

[Alceste]

If it helps any, I've also been put off from trying real D&D due to the perceived complications and slow pace of the game. I'm vaguely aware of the systems, you know from playing stuff like Baldur's Gate, and I'm most definitely a numbers person! I do loves me stats and charts and stuff. But! Not having a computer calculate the stuff for you is kind of intimidating in the potential time consumption.

[Buttercup]

[Kingpun]

[Buttercup]

Oh.

Okay.