There’s a whole World of Darkness out there full of vampires, hunteres, werewolves and more. Over on Humble Bundle, fans can take a giant leap into the World of Darkness bundle that offers a chance to get deep into the world of Vampire: The Masquerade and more. While Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 is still a while away, there’s an opportunity to explore that world right now.
For $18, this humble bundle offers 19 digital titles for the World of Darkness flagsjip game. It also has the corebook to a second game, Hunter: The Reckoning and a few adventures for both. A collection of free materials rounds out this offer.
Vampire: The Masquerade Core Books
Vampire: The Masquerade mad a huge splash in RPGs in 1991. It brought forth a new style of gaming that focused on political intrigue and horror. It spawned multiple game lines in the World of Darkness setting with each one taking the basic concept of playing supernatural creatures in a modern day world in uniue directions.
The current edition, released in 2018, took an approach to the lore that had built up over the previous decades similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They kept the basics, made some changes to help new people get into the game and left a lot of legacy lore for long time fans to add in on their own or to inspire futher new books.
The vampires in the game are spread out through multiple blood lines known as clans. Each clan reflects a type of vampire from lore with powers and weaknesses based on that role. The vampires generally align within three sects, each one covered by a book in this offer.
Camarilla vampires consider themselves the nobility of the night. They are the ones who enforce the rules that protect vampires, including the titular Masquerade that keeps them out of the public eye. They engage in the games of petty intrigue and power plays to occupy their immortal existence.
The Anarchs believe that system is far too corrupt and stale. They want to tear it down and relace it with something more modern and adaptable to the sensibilities of new vampires. They struggle with agreeing on what changes need to be made and how to hold onto power once they have it.
The third faction, The Sabbat, went through a large transformation at the end of the millenium. They’ve refocused their purpose on a religious devortion to the biblical figure Caine whom they believe is the father of all vampires. They are an antagonist faction that rolls into town to prey on vampires who they don’t believe are worthy of the blood.
Vampire The Masquerade Sourcebooks
The most famous expansion books for Vampire: The Masquerade are the city by night books that detail the political setting of cities around the world. Chicago By Night, their first major setting, was recently updated. The book does a great job checking in on old characters and introducing new ones looking to change the city’s future.
The Fall of London offers a glimpse into the seismic shift in power that happened around the turn of the millennium. Humans, empowered by the surveillance state of 9/11, formed government hunter groups and started to fight back. The first major victory of these groups happened in London which plays out in this book.
For tables looking to explore religion and faith when it comes to vampires, there are two books in this collection that deal with these themes. Forbidden Religions looks at the intersection of vampires, humans and faith. Cults of the Blood Gods look at how vampires picture themselves as agents of the divine or the infernal while reintroducing the Hecata, a clan made up of several vampires fascinated by death.
Hunter The Reckoning Core Book
Last year, Hunter: The Reckoning came out to show fans how the other half lives. These are mortals who brushed up against the monsters of the world and survived. They can’t back to their normal lives now and feel the need to take up the hunt.
Hunters are made up of creeds which detail how they hunt and drives which reveal why they hunt. These elements combine to interact with the game’s Desperation dice that give Hunters an edge at the risk of complicating their jobs. The Hunter might expose themselves or the people they care about to the monsters they hunt or they may fall into Despair knowing just how much of the world is full of creatures.
World of Darkness Adventures
This deal also provides Storytellers with several ready to run adventures to kick off a chronicle. Trails of Ash and Bone and Let The Streets Run Red offer eight stories scattered across the world of vampires though they may be easily adapted to any city. His Last Trick and A Taste of The Moon include pre-generated characters making these perfect choices for tables that want to try a session of Vampire or Hunter before signing up for a longer campaign.
The Month of Darkness Humble Bundle runs through Saturday, November 4th, 2023.
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