To be completely honest, I’m not sure that it’s a game that I’m interested in playing again any time soon. Even experienced game masters should think long and hard about before bringing it to the table. This is not a game for the faint of heart. What I encountered during our one-on-one game was an intimate exploration of evil, a role-playing experience that was extremely intense. To find out, I invited White Wolf’s Jason Carl, producer on Vampire’s 5th edition, or V5 as it’s called, to run me through character creation and a short gameplay session. But to what extent has the game system itself matured? And how have its designers worked to reframe the lore to align with modern tastes?

This newest version, which will go on sale in early August, carries on the game’s dark traditions. Fans would say that detractors are simply missing the point. Since the first few editions were published in the early 1990s, the game has been criticized for its dark and erotic themes. Vampire: The Masquerade is a tabletop role-playing game that has long been steeped in controversy.

Vampire the masquerade skills