If you've been following me on Twitter, you might have noticed by current nerd obsession with Vampire: the Masquerade. My tabletop group started on a chronicle almost a year ago now, and I've succumbed to its bite with gripping enthusiasm. This review is going to be from the point of view of a fellow writer and story-creator, rather than a gamer figuring out how to start a chronicle. C.T. Phipps provides a good review from a gamer's POV here and I agree with Kira's Pros list here.

For my GoodReads 2020 Reading Challenge, I've embarked on a project to read a clutch of VTM books in more or less chronological order, following the life of my favorite Non-Playable Character (NPC), Cuthbert Beckett. I thought I'd start with a rulebook, so I have a firmer grasp of how the canon world works. Because Vampire: the Masquerade, Fifth Edition Core Book is not a novel however, it took me forever and a half to read. I was also too busy writing Beckett fanfiction to read whoops lol

My experiences with White Wolf (both in reading this book, trawling their wikis, & consuming Let's Plays) have formed me into a vulture. Their goal to coalesce all vampire lore into one cohesive universe is very admirable. However, over and over, again and again, they fail to do so with complete respect and full nuance to the various global cultures they're borrowing from. I'm a vulture because I must pick off the intriguing meaty bits from some seriously racist, homophobic, and sexist bones. I read the Corebook in the interest of lore, and the micro-aggressions stacked with alarming speed. By the end I felt like writing a letter to beg them to hire at least one brown Muslim diversity reader. They really need one. From my understanding of this Corebook's history, it used to be worse, before Paradox Interactive bought White Wolf and enforced changes. They should've gone farther.

There's also the horror aspect. I may actually be the worst horror fan. I cannot be convinced that humans are basically selfish, evil creatures, which is the premise of Vampire: the Masquerade as a whole. A lot of the rules strike me as improbable grimdark nonsense, and the Game of Thrones-esque political intrigue holds very little appeal to me. I often fail to understand why anyone would want to do XYZ powerplay/atrocity, when alternatives like "drink some blood-laced hot cocoa, have a nap, and calm down" are on the table. Maybe I'm too hope-punk. Maybe as an artist, I err more on the side of "Do the Single Worst Thing Possible To The Characters," as opposed to "repeatedly have bad things happen until the characters despair." More on the personal end of personal horror.

Something about Vampire: the Masquerade keeps me coming back though. Maybe its the roots in Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics. I like that how all the lore is together. The art is fun, particular concepts are fascinating, and the characters are engaging. I like thinking about magic, morality, and adventure. I like when justice is served, after great struggle. A thoughtful Appendix reminds Storytellers to be mindful when depicting fascism, sexual assault/rape, racism, and other harmful -isms. It is literally in the rules that all fascists should be dead or have abandoned their fascism by the end of the game's story. There are repeated warnings for mature content and potential triggers, which I hardly ever see in American books. I adore Beckett and his fellow historian vampires.

If I put all the collected juicy good bits in the mind's earth, a beautiful story could grow. It might be rough going, but I'd still like to read more. Keep playing and baring my Brujah teeth.