Is Anyone Still Playing Vampire 5th Edition?

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Justin Achilli had nothing to do with the creating of V5
This is seriously inaccurate.

After coasting on the success of his 90s ska band, Achilli sought to fuse his music career with the punk ethos of early Vampire and thus created V5 as the first ska-core RPG.

I'm writing the Kindred of the East supplement with J-pop ska-punk band Oreskaband.

 
But yes, I gleefully state that I am the world's biggest V5 fan and happily will promote it to the highest mountains and lowest valleys.

It had a rough start but it's since become amazing.

I also love the spin offs in comics and visual novels.
 
I say with all sincerity that CHICAGO BY NIGHT 5th Edition and CULTS OF THE BLOOD GODS are easily two of the best supplements ever made for the World of Darkness. Fantastic books, fantastic art, fantastic characters, and a nice return to the gritty Gothic Punk personal horror atmosphere of early editions. I say this as someone who wasn't a fan of the Camarilla and Anarch books.

CHICAGO BY NIGHT 5E Review: https://booknest.eu/reviews/charles/1609-chicagobynight

CULTS OF THE BLOOD GODS Review: https://booknest.eu/reviews/charles/2199-cultsofthebloodgods

I also love THE CHICAGO FOLIOS and LET THE STREETS RUN RED.

Great aids to STs with Milwaukee and Gary, Indiana updated too.
Don't say that! Now I want to buy Chicago of Night because the fools at OP decided that was the best place to provide Lasombra rules ffs!
 
I say with all sincerity that CHICAGO BY NIGHT 5th Edition and CULTS OF THE BLOOD GODS are easily two of the best supplements ever made for the World of Darkness. Fantastic books, fantastic art, fantastic characters, and a nice return to the gritty Gothic Punk personal horror atmosphere of early editions. I say this as someone who wasn't a fan of the Camarilla and Anarch books.

CHICAGO BY NIGHT 5E Review: https://booknest.eu/reviews/charles/1609-chicagobynight

CULTS OF THE BLOOD GODS Review: https://booknest.eu/reviews/charles/2199-cultsofthebloodgods

I also love THE CHICAGO FOLIOS and LET THE STREETS RUN RED.

Great aids to STs with Milwaukee and Gary, Indiana updated too.

Chicago By Night 1st Edition is the best.

V5 Chicago By Night is an insult to the original classic

At least in my opinion.
 
Chicago By Night 1st Edition is the best.

V5 Chicago By Night is an insult to the original classic

At least in my opinion.

May I ask what you didn't like about it? Frankly, I believe it's a far superior update than 2nd Edition which removed all the original book's character.
 
May I ask what you didn't like about it? Frankly, I believe it's a far superior update than 2nd Edition which removed all the original book's character.

I just detest the V5 setting changes in general, and naturally Chicago by Night V5 would uphold the V5 setting.
 
What would be your favourite V5 supplements CT_Phipps CT_Phipps ?

My opinions?

Rusted Veins: A pretty awesome homage to Baptism by Fire and a great Con play experience. Everyone should get a download of this.

V5 Core Book: It's okay and a solid introduction but could have included all 13 Clans by ditching some art, Predator types, and the overabundance of fiction. There were some issues that later stuff fixed like, "All the Elders went to the Middle East" being replaced with, "SOME Elders went to the Middle East." I also don't know why the Sabbat had to be sidelined until Achilli took over.

The Camarilla: I was actually one of the guys involved in the controversy by making a petition against the Chechnya thing. It's how I met Mark Rein Hagen and he's a great guy. I also learned the true story. Still, the version I read was poorly edited and meandering.

The Anarch: I mean, I love Anarchs and I love fiction but there's very little explanation of what the Anarchs are about or why you'd want to be one. I kind of regret they removed the Cleaver section, though.

The Fall of London: I played this chronicle from beginning to end with my campaign's PCs and it was a lot of fun. I mean, "find all of Voldemort's horocruxes" is a WEIRD basis for a V:TM game but it actually defined the Second Inquisition and showed them at work.

Chicago by Night: Finally things actually get good. I absolutely love this book and it turned me around on V5 from okay to being a huge cheerleader. I'm a 1st Edition Chicago by Night player, though. I played this when I was 16. Love Kevin Jackson as a Prince, the updated Anarchs, and the Lasombra update. "The Sacrifice" was a great game I also played. Beautiful art, writing, and great new NPCs.

The Chicago Folios: A really good idea here was to give a huge chunk of adventure hooks since the three "main" books didn't tell you how to play the damn game. Adventure hooks are always welcome. Not much more to say about that, though.

Let the Streets Run Red: I am an obsessive fan of Gary, Indiana and Milwaukee so this was going to always go over well with me. Power Prey was a great game that I enjoyed with my PCs, great job with Innocence and Blood and the Dying Fields too. It's like three separate mini-By Night books. Maybe four if you count Willerton and Indianapolis both.

I'm doing a WIR on the Onyx Path forums: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/...reets-run-red-currently-reading-rusted-jungle

V5 Companion: I feel like this is pretty obviously what Modiphius managed to get done of the Vampire Player's Guide before they were fired, probably for doing 15 supplements for Fallout and Star Trek but claiming they couldn't finish this in two years. Its 65 pages of good storytelling material and finally giving us the goddamn Tzimisce (oh and the Ravnos and Salubri). Its free and I think that's really an apology more than anything else.

Cults of the Blood Gods: God, I love this book. Not as much as Chicago but close. The Cult of Mithras, Church of Set, the Nephilim, and so many other cool bits. Its a very niche kind of product but the update to the Giovanni takes a very rich lore clan and makes it even richer. My only complaint is combining the Bloodlines is pretty nonsensical. The Nagaraja are Followers of Set offshoots, not Cappadocian.

Children of the Blood: I just finished this one and am biased because I got to contribute some pitches for NPCs that were accepted so don't believe me about any of it. Still I liked it even more than Children of the Revolution.
 
I just detest the V5 setting changes in general, and naturally Chicago by Night V5 would uphold the V5 setting.

Which is kind of a full circle answer to me asking, again, what you disliked. Though if it's, "I don't like anything remotely associated with V5 so they literally could not do anything with it I would like" then, that's fair, and I'll just drop it.

Not much point discussing it then.

Personally, I felt it addressed all my issues with V5 by rolling back the worst changes and making the best ones fit with older material.
 
The Anarch: I mean, I love Anarchs and I love fiction but there's very little explanation of what the Anarchs are about or why you'd want to be one. I kind of regret they removed the Cleaver section, though.
The fiction issue is what lost my interest in the line. I'm way less tolerant of that then I was in the 90s and really only want to read game world fiction if it's by Greg Stolze and a lot of the early stuff seemed to be more about that than gameable content.
 
The fiction issue is what lost my interest in the line. I'm way less tolerant of that then I was in the 90s and really only want to read game world fiction if it's by Greg Stolze and a lot of the early stuff seemed to be more about that than gameable content.

I mean, it's pretty obvious that the heavy game info Onyx Path supplements are what I prefer.

They feel very much like my conversations with Ed Greenwood after every new edition of FR where he's like, "Yep, here's a bunch of shit I have to fix."

Chicago by Night Fixes

* Nope, not all the Elders went to the Middle East.
* Nope, not every Elder feels the Beckoning.
* This is how the Anarchs work as a separate sect in the same city as the Camarilla.
* The Elders lie about banning cell phones. It's just no social media and that's so stupid that only Anarchs would do it.
* The Sabbat are still around enough to have the Lasombra defection matter. They're not all in the Middle East.
* Here's the Lasombra so you can USE the Sabbat if you want.
* The Second Inquisition is dangerous and has killed some vampires but is more interested than monitoring vampires than total extermination. It's also very divided.
 
Which is kind of a full circle answer to me asking, again, what you disliked. Though if it's, "I don't like anything remotely associated with V5 so they literally could not do anything with it I would like" then, that's fair, and I'll just drop it.

Not much point discussing it then.

Personally, I felt it addressed all my issues with V5 by rolling back the worst changes and making the best ones fit with older material.

If you want some specifics about what I hate about V5's setting changes, I'll provide a list

1. Sidelining the Sabbat
2. Making the Brujah and Gangrel leave the Camarilla and join the Anarchs (the Gangrel leaving in Revised was always one of those things I Rule Zero'd out of the setting)
3. Replacing the Giovanni with the Hecate
4. The whole "Banu Haquim" and "Ministry of Set" retooling of the Assamites and Followers of Set
5. Hunger Dice and similar reworked mechanics
6. The Second Inquisition (a potentially interesting concept that was botched horribly)
7. Rudi (among other NPC's in V5, but Rudi is hands down the worst of the lot)
8. Upholding the Week of Nightmares
9. Lasombra in the Camarilla
10. The hamfisted political ramblings in sidebars (but that's best discussed further elsewhere)

The Chicago by Night V5 alterations reek of being both half-assed and too little, too late
 
I think the overall question is not what changes does DocSammy dislike?

Rather the answer is that Sammy dislikes any changes from the original game.
 
Only thing I can say about politics is that I am impressed by the ability of the text to anger all parts of the spectrum, which is an audacious choice to be sure. If it wasn't the Chechnya debacle it was the existence of Rudi.
 
Only thing I can say about politics is that I am impressed by the ability of the text to anger all parts of the spectrum, which is an audacious choice to be sure. If it wasn't the Chechnya debacle it was the existence of Rudi.

1. According to the writer: The thing with Chechnya is apparently the mother of all bad editing jobs combined with a perfect storm of slow news day and posturing in Russia. Originally, it was written to draw attention to the RL horror in Chechnya for gay people and involved a real life friend of the writer in question relating his issues.

It was an in-character description of the place by two separate people:

A. A high humanity Brujah who condemned Chechnya.
B. A psychotic Banu Haqim who thought all the evil was awesome.

Then the editors removed the in-character elements and the sidebar that the writer wrote. It actually was a great example of the Streissand Effect in action because it was on the news in Europe, Russia, and Chechnya itself and a discussion of the issues. Because, here's the TRULY FUCKED UP THING, the Chechnyan government wasn't upset about portraying them as murdering and torturing gay people. They were upset at being portrayed as vampires.

I shit you not.

2. I don't get the hubaloo about Rudi. Anarchs are full of angry gay, minority, immigrant socially aware bomb-throwing anarchists. It's like people forgot 1st Edition was the first game ever to have gay people and punks.
 
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2. I don't get the hubaloo about Rudi. Anarchs are full of angry gay, minority, immigrant socially aware bomb-throwing anarchists. It's like people forgot 1st Edition was the first game ever to have gay people and punks.

A consistent portrayal that showed up at the wrong political moment, I think. Just a collection of some people's boogeymen in one character. That's all I can think of.
 
If you want some specifics about what I hate about V5's setting changes, I'll provide a list

1. Sidelining the Sabbat
2. Making the Brujah and Gangrel leave the Camarilla and join the Anarchs (the Gangrel leaving in Revised was always one of those things I Rule Zero'd out of the setting)
3. Replacing the Giovanni with the Hecate
4. The whole "Banu Haquim" and "Ministry of Set" retooling of the Assamites and Followers of Set
5. Hunger Dice and similar reworked mechanics
6. The Second Inquisition (a potentially interesting concept that was botched horribly)
7. Rudi (among other NPC's in V5, but Rudi is hands down the worst of the lot)
8. Upholding the Week of Nightmares
9. Lasombra in the Camarilla
10. The hamfisted political ramblings in sidebars (but that's best discussed further elsewhere)

The Chicago by Night V5 alterations reek of being both half-assed and too little, too late

1. Agreed.
2. The Anarchs never should have been part of the Camarilla in the first place. Both Gangrel and Brujah Loyalists have always existed, though. They just lost their place on the Inner Council and Justicar.
3. Cappys rule. Clan John drools.
4. Assamite means nothing in Arabic. Children of Haqim is more accurate. The Ministry is the non-Set worshiping cults that were there since Revised.
5. Eh, to each their own.
6. I look forward to the book.
7. What's wrong with Rudi? He seems a pretty typical Anarch.
8. It's never not been upheld.
9. I take it you never heard of Montano? Always been Antitribu. Now they just are a lot more of them.
10. Politics is part of V:TM. It always has been.
 
A consistent portrayal that showed up at the wrong political moment, I think. Just a collection of some people's boogeymen in one character. That's all I can think of.

I admit, I do feel like he was meant to be a bigger character than he turned out to be. There's no new Signature Characters for V5 and that's a shame.

Part of this may be the fact only OPP is putting out anything and they were doing V20 so it's like, "And we're putting our plans for our V5 in here."
 
careful-now.jpg
 
I promise to be on my best behavior and not break the Rules of Elysium.
 
Which is kind of a full circle answer to me asking, again, what you disliked. Though if it's, "I don't like anything remotely associated with V5 so they literally could not do anything with it I would like" then, that's fair, and I'll just drop it.

Not much point discussing it then.

Personally, I felt it addressed all my issues with V5 by rolling back the worst changes and making the best ones fit with older material.
I wouldn’t say it’s “fair” myself. I’d actually wonder how or why somebody would be reading a supplement of a game they hate, and possibly surmise that they haven’t actually read it - it is prejudicial. Either way, there still wouldn’t be much point discussing it!
 
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I think the overall question is not what changes does DocSammy dislike?

Rather the answer is that Sammy dislikes any changes from the original game.
I wouldn’t say that, either. If V5 was literally an exact carbon copy of V1, Sammy would be complaining about it.
 
This is seriously inaccurate.

After coasting on the success of his 90s ska band, Achilli sought to fuse his music career with the punk ethos of early Vampire and thus created V5 as the first ska-core RPG.

I'm writing the Kindred of the East supplement with J-pop ska-punk band Oreskaband.


Just saying that this band isn’t very ska and is about as punk as Avril Lavigne.

People discussing Rudi above reminds me of this:
 
An Anarch actually used that "As punk as Avril Lavinge" insult in one of my games.

Also used was, "You think you're the Sex Pistols but you're barely Green Day."

I required a Frenzy check for that.
 
I wouldn’t say that, either. If V5 was literally an exact carbon copy of V1, Sammy would be complaining about it.

I find it doubly funny because what I like about V5 is it harkens back to 1st.

Gritty dark and trash-filled streets.

Hunters.

Masquerade.

Anarchs vs. Cammie as the central conflict.

THE HUNGER.

Personal Horror

Eat the Rich.
 
I mean, it's pretty obvious that the heavy game info Onyx Path supplements are what I prefer.

They feel very much like my conversations with Ed Greenwood after every new edition of FR where he's like, "Yep, here's a bunch of shit I have to fix."

Chicago by Night Fixes

* Nope, not all the Elders went to the Middle East.
* Nope, not every Elder feels the Beckoning.
* This is how the Anarchs work as a separate sect in the same city as the Camarilla.
* The Elders lie about banning cell phones. It's just no social media and that's so stupid that only Anarchs would do it.
* The Sabbat are still around enough to have the Lasombra defection matter. They're not all in the Middle East.
* Here's the Lasombra so you can USE the Sabbat if you want.
* The Second Inquisition is dangerous and has killed some vampires but is more interested than monitoring vampires than total extermination. It's also very divided.
See to me those 'fixes' are all something any GM could change if they bothered them (to me most of them are non-issues).

I find it odd that so much of the WoD fandom seem to need some lore detail stated in print for them to feel it is 'fixed.' Now that is probably just a loud minority online but yeah, the entire mindset is so counter to what rpgs are that I just don't get it.
 
See to me those 'fixes' are all something any GM could change if they bothered them (to me most of them are non-issues).

I find it odd that so much of the WoD fandom seem to need some lore detail stated in print for them to feel it is 'fixed.' Now that is probably just a loud minority online but yeah, the entire mindset is so counter to what rpgs are that I just don't get it.

Eh, I see it as reasonable. You buy the books so you don't have to do it yourself.

Some of the changes being walked back were necessary. After all, the War of Ages is the heart of the Anarch vs. Camarilla conflict.
 
Just saying that this band isn’t very ska and is about as punk as Avril Lavigne.

People discussing Rudi above reminds me of this:


Ska and punk was never a combo I bought personally, ska is really Jamaican RnB with touches of jazz and film soundtracks. Rhythmically and musically very different from most punk.



I know bands like the Clash and others tried to bring elements of reggae, which grew out of ska, into their sound but I found their drummer too limited to pull it off.

To me the most successful fusion of reggae rhythmns and punk was done by Pere Ubu on a few select tracks and The Ruts.

 
Eh, I see it as reasonable. You buy the books so you don't have to do it yourself.

Some of the changes being walked back were necessary. After all, the War of Ages is the heart of the Anarch vs. Camarilla conflict.

I get that for rules but lore? I mean all it takes it reading it and thinking 'nah.'
 
Tim Seeley has a hilarious running gag in WINTER'S TEETH.

The protagonist is a Goth Rock and Punk girl from the 80s who was a Brujah Anarch until the 2000s. She's incredibly disappointed about how lame its all become and one scene in the comic book has her deal with the fact everyone she knows is old at the oldest and a soccer mom at the youngest.

Punk .jpg
 
I get that for rules but lore? I mean all it takes it reading it and thinking 'nah.'

Ironically, I read for the lore. The rules are always secondary for me. Besides, players get easily confused when you color outside the lines.
 
Ska and punk was never a combo I bought personally, ska is really Jamaican RnB with touches of jazz and film soundtracks. Rhythmically and musically very different from most punk.



I know bands like the Clash and others tried to bring elements of reggae, which grew out of ska, into their sound but I found their drummer too limited to pull it off.

To me the most successful fusion of reggae rhythmns and punk was done by Pere Ubu on a few select tracks and The Ruts.


The Ska/Combo was really a Ska revival with the attitude of Punk infused in it - best exemplified by the pioneers of that particular movement, The Specials. And, seeing as we’re in the mood for sharing YouTube clips and The Specials are one of favourite all time bands:



Also, I would note that Joy Division just had their entire collection of vinyl 12” singles released, because to me, Joy Division are THE soundtrack for Vampire: The Masquerade.

 
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An Anarch actually used that "As punk as Avril Lavinge" insult in one of my games.

Also used was, "You think you're the Sex Pistols but you're barely Green Day."

I required a Frenzy check for that.
Actually this also reminds me of this wannabe-punk too:

 
V5 Core Book: It's okay and a solid introduction but could have included all 13 Clans by ditching some art, Predator types, and the overabundance of fiction.

This was the killer for me. I usually ignore the metaplot and just want to toys to use in my own direction.

given all the shenanigans I assume a revised style book will come out eventually - if it does what the original did with all the clans then I am in.
 
This was the killer for me. I usually ignore the metaplot and just want to toys to use in my own direction.

given all the shenanigans I assume a revised style book will come out eventually - if it does what the original did with all the clans then I am in.

I doubt it since the whole marketing strategy was to put a new Clan in each book as a way to compel people to buy them. Why put Lasombra in Chicago by Night?

To get people who aren't interested in Chicago to buy the book.

Smart marketing.
 
I doubt it since the whole marketing strategy was to put a new Clan in each book as a way to compel people to buy them. Why put Lasombra in Chicago by Night?

To get people who aren't interested in Chicago to buy the book.

Smart marketing.

As much as it bugs me I think you are right that it is working. FFG did/does the same thing. I must admit for me personally it is a huge turnoff.
 
My view on the Clan thing is that the seven included in V5 are the same as in V1 and V2 and represent the Clans of ‘normal’ vampire society. The other Clans are more peripheral, and aren’t necessary to make a classic V:TM chronicle. That said, it is nice to have them all in one place. I think the Modiphius’ plan was to use the Player’s Guide to detail the rest - but they fell through.

If you got the Camarilla and Anarch books you do get the Banu Haqim and The Ministry respectively, which works well enough for me. Ditto the Cults of Blood Gods - which is a natural fit for Hecata (and to detail Giovanni, Cappadocian, etc). I’m not sure Chicago by Night was would have been the best place to drop in another Clan, but the Lasombra are necessary to the plot line in the Chronicle outlined in the book. I personally wonder whether the Lasombra will defect back to the Sabbat by the time the Sabbat book comes to fruition, and it wouldn’t be entirely unworkable to make Ravnos join too. So they could have an official release to get the remaining Clans, including Tzmisce too, all included. If we also get an interesting, and possibly PC-playable approach to The Second Inquisition book, we will have a pretty complete line. Then they can start building on Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th edition and see where that takes the line.....
 
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