This book is an absolute must buy for any VTM fan if you don't own it already! Everything is here! All 13 clans, all the bloodlines, all the disciplines, as well as anything else you would need (or want!) to start your new Vampire the Masquerade Chronicles in the World of Darkness! It clears up a ton of issues and potential for silliness in previous editions of the game and the experience is a lot better for it! It plays like everything you could possibly want and love from VTM and, in my opinion, is by far the best edition of the game.

Newcomers, if you really dig the lore of the setting and want the maximum amount of options for stories to tell and characters to create, start here! V5 definitely has some fantastic aspects to it in a lot of ways (including a number of new mechanics and changes to gameplay) and from a certain perspective is the better choice for people new to VTM , but it has a huge amount of content still to be released which severely limits my ability to give it my recommendation. Meanwhile, V20 has everything you could want for years-worth of exciting chronicles all wrapped up in a single buy!

Furthermore, this edition has several sourcebooks that further expand upon the already very substantial offering presented in this book! In particular, I recommend V20: Lore of the Clans, V20: Lore of the Bloodlines, and V20: Rites of the Blood as some of the best buys among their number! They give tremendous amounts of additional background information, mechanics, and new powers that, while completely unnecessary to get maximum enjoyment out of this game, definitely make the experience even better!

The PDF is excellent and has a bunch of hyperlinks to quickly find things in the document.

However, I cannot speak for the experiences of others, but my Premium Hardback arrived with significant binding damage. (One of the cover hinges detached from the book and as a result the cover is only held on by the hinge on the front side) This damage isn't un-repairable by any stretch of the imagination, but I was severely dissapointed after paying a premium price that I received a product that was this badly damaged and this, to be honest, discourages me from buying physical books with large page counts like this from DriveThruRPG in the future. However, it must be said that DriveThruRPG has some of the best customer support in the business and, if you experience issues like this, do not hesitate to contact them, they will make it right however they can, generally by sending you a new copy of the book if it proves unusable or giving you store credit equivalent to the price of your order plus shipping!

Ratings:

PDF : 5/5 - I cannot recommend this highly enough!

Premium Hardback : 3/5 - Be wary when you buy this option, I really hope my experience was just a fluke and that this is not the quality we can generally expect from DriveThruRPG! For ~ $86 (PLUS SHIPPING) this level of quality is unacceptable. It bears mentioning that their customer service is excellent and will go to great lengths to help the customer if an issue like this arises!

Absolutley loved it! Everything you need in one book to include my beloved Salubri!!!!

This book is a great synthesis of, well, 20 years of Vampire: the Masquerade. It is clearly aimed at people who already know the game, but is still accessible to regular players. However, it delves almost right in the game: this is not meant to be someone's first roleplaying game book (especially for a DM/ST). That being said, everything that made this game great is present in this book: the personal and existential horror, symbolized by both the slow loss of humanity of the player characters, and the wealth of antagonists, including the Ancient Ones... I mean, the Antediluvians, who lurk in the shadows, or maybe underneath the sea, or a big city or...

This game contains everything you need to play Vampire: The Masquerade in a very slightly modified version of Revised edition. A light touch was taken in updating certain rules and disciplines. This is, in my opinion, the definitive way to play VtM. The only reason it's only getting 4 stars and not 5 is that I don't trust the binding to survive the rigors continued opening and closing for an extended period of time. That being said, I haven't had any problems yet.

By the sweet blood of Caine, Vampire isn't even one of our favorite games but this book is amazing. A love letter to what started it all, and beyond, this book is great for new and old players alike. The mechanics got a good polishing and tune-up, the world gets a solid update given that at the tail end of the Old World of Darkness you were just getting into the bane that is smartphones, not to mention catching the timeline in general up to its release.

It still has Tremere in it, which isn't bad enough to affect my star rating.

The following review was originally published in Mephisto 62 and translated from German (find orignal German review below).

20 years ago, Vampire: The Masquerade was one of the most popular role-playing games. The concept of letting players slip into the role of monsters - in this case vampires - was still new at the time. The World of Darkness quickly grew to include werewolves, magicians, fairies, ghosts, demons and other creatures. A special aspect of the role-playing game has always been the great metaplot, which stretched from the origins of the vampires to the modern game world. This metaplot eventually led to an apocalyptic scenario in which the game world was destroyed - and at the same time the role-playing system was discontinued. In short: After the 3rd edition of Vampire, it was finally over (if you see Vampire: The Requiem as a system in its own right).

20 years after the first edition Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition (V20) was published. This book was just the beginning, because new editions are now available for the other systems of the World of Darkness. With over 500 pages, it is also the most weighty vampire book ever published. The structure follows the old, familiar pattern: First the game world, the World of Darkness, and above all the vampires who live in it, are described. The story of their origins, which refers to the biblical Caine, is explained as well as their society with clans and sects. Most of the book is about the rules of character creation. This part of the book explains the game stats and the game dice system, but above all it introduces the vampire clans and their special abilities, the disciplines. Another chapter is devoted to humanity and the paths vampires take to keep their dark side - the beast inside - under control.

The third part of the book revolves around storytelling and explains some techniques. Here the other inhabitants of the game world are also touched upon and the different bloodlines that have split off from the 13 great clans are presented. Also the ghouls, the servants of the vampires, are given some pages.

At first glance, the new edition of Vampire offers little that is new, but rather recreates the familiar rules and backgrounds in a new form. Veterans of the game will immediately feel at home, and the new edition succeeds in bringing together a lot of information that was previously distributed across various source books in one place. In particular the overview of the vampire clans and their bloodlines, as well as their disciplines was so far never unified in one book in this form. Even some vampire clans from the Dark Ages are presented here.

The focus of the book, however, is above all on the rules and the information on game-relevant topics. Although the basic history of the vampires and the background of their sects are presented, as far as the events in the metaplot are concerned, they are only touched upon. Former players of vampires will recognize the connections immediately, but for newcomers some of the allusions are certainly not understandable. Nevertheless, the book also explains how the Assamites, for example, change with the loss of the Blood Curse, while the background to this event is not explained.

The new edition of Vampire is first and foremost a comprehensive re-compilation, but it only offers new material in detail. In fact, the rulebook is a successful compendium that combines the game statistics for all clans and bloodlines with the basic rules in one book. In this respect it is the most compact compendium (and in fact the metaplot was never included in the earlier basic rules). The layout of the book remains true to the old standard, with many well-known illustrations. In between there are also new pictures. Especially noteworthy are the modified photo illustrations by Timothy Bradstreet, whose works have already influenced the first edition of Vampire.

It took many years until a new edition of Vampire was published after the downfall of the World of Darkness. For veterans of the game system, the anniversary edition offers a good overview of the system and the vampire clans. The information is rewritten and compactly arranged, but offers very little new information (which is also not the idea). The book is especially well suited for a quick introduction to Vampire and brings back many memories of old gaming sessions. For Vampire novices, the thick volume is a role-playing system whose playable characters have never before been presented so comprehensively in a single book.

Rule fragments that used to be spread over clan books are now combined in one place. Thus the book also offers an excellent introduction for newcomers, but despite its many pages, players will not want to do without source books whose additional backgrounds have always formed a large part of the fascination of the gaming system. For newcomers, the book is the perfect opportunity to finally get into the world of vampires, and Vampire veterans also get a beautiful book that leads them back into the game system.

(Deutsche Version)

Vor 20 Jahren gehörte Vampire: The Masquerade zu den beliebtesten Rollenspielen. Der Ansatz, Spieler in die Rolle von Monstern – in diesem Fall von Vampiren – schlüpfen zu lassen, war damals noch neu. Schnell wuchs die World of Darkness um Werwölfe, Magier, Feenwesen, Geister, Dämonen und andere Kreaturen an. Eine Besonderheit des Rollenspiels war immer der große Metaplot, der von den Ursprüngen der Vampire bis in die moderne Spielwelt reichte. Dieser Metaplot lief schließlich in ein apokalyptisches Szenario hinaus, bei dem die Spielwelt unterging – und gleichzeitig das Rollenspielsystem eingestellt wurde. Kurz gesagt: Nach der 3. Auflage von Vampire war schließlich Schluss (wenn man Vampire: The Requiem als eigenes System sieht).

20 Jahre nach dem Erscheinen der Erstauflage erschien Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition (V20). Dieses Buch war erst der Auftakt, denn inzwischen sind auch für die anderen Systeme der World of Darkness Neuauflagen auf Englisch erschienen, und eine deutsche Übersetzung des neuen Vampire Grundregelwerks ist ebenfalls auf dem Markt. Mit über 500 Seiten ist das Regelwerk auch das gewichtigste Buch für Vampire, das bisher erschienen ist. Der Aufbau folgt dem alten, gewohnten Muster: Zunächst werden die Spielwelt, die World of Darkness, und vor allen Dingen die Vampire, die in ihr leben, beschrieben. Dabei wird sowohl ihre Entstehungsgeschichte, die sich auf den biblischen Kain beruft, erläutert, als auch ihre Gesellschaft mit Clans und Sekten vorgestellt. Den größten Teil des Buches machen die Regeln zur Charaktererschaffung aus. Dieser Teil des Buches erklärt die Spielwerte und das Würfelsystem, vor allem stellt er aber auch die Vampirclans und ihre besonderen Fähigkeiten, die Disziplinen, vor. Ein weiteres Kapitel widmet sich der Menschlichkeit und den Pfaden, mit denen die Vampire ihre dunkle Seite – die Bestie in ihrem Inneren – unter Kontrolle zu halten versuchen.

Der dritte Teil des Buchs dreht sich um Spielleitung oder Erzählen und erklärt einige Techniken. Hier werden auch die anderen Bewohner der Spielwelt angerissen und die verschiedenen Blutlinien, die sich von den 13 großen Clans abgespalten haben, präsentiert. Auch die Ghule, die Diener der Vampire, bekommen einige Seiten.

Die Neuauflage von Vampire bietet auf den ersten Blick wenig Neues, sondern gibt die bekannten Regeln und Hintergründe in neuer Form wieder. Veteranen des Spiels werden sich sofort heimisch fühlen, und der Neuauflage gelingt es, viele Informationen, die zuvor über diverse Quellenbände verteilt waren, an einem Ort zusammenzuführen. Insbesondere der Überblick über die Vampirclans und ihre Blutlinien, sowie ihre Disziplinen war bisher in dieser Form noch nie in einem Buch vereint. Sogar einige Clans der Vampire aus der Alten Welt werden hier vorgestellt.

Der Fokus des Buchs liegt aber vor allen Dingen auf den Regeln bzw. den Informationen zu spielrelevanten Themen. Zwar werden auch die grundsätzliche Geschichte der Vampire und die Hintergründe ihrer Sekten vorgestellt, was die Ereignisse im Metaplot angeht, werden diese aber nur angerissen. Frühere Spieler von Vampire werden die Zusammenhänge sofort erkennen, doch für Neulinge sind einige der Anspielungen sicher nicht verständlich. Trotzdem erläutert das Buch auch, wie sich zum Beispiel die Assamiten mit dem Verlust des Blutfluchs verändern, während die Hintergründe dieses Ereignisses nicht erläutert werden.

Die Neuauflage von Vampire ist in erster Linie eine umfassende Neuzusammenstellung, die aber neues Material nur im Detail bietet – was hier aber auch sicherlich nicht das Ziel war. Tatsächlich ist das Regelwerk ein gelungenes Kompendium, das die Spieldaten für die ganzen Clans und Blutlinien zusammen mit den Grundregeln in einem Buch verpackt. In dieser Hinsicht ist es das kompakteste Gesamtwerk (und tatsächlich war auch in den früheren Grundregelwerken der Metaplot nie enthalten). Das Layout des Buchs bleibt dem alten Standard treu, bei den Innenillustrationen findet man viele altbekannte Motive. Dazwischen sind aber auch neue Bilder enthalten. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die verfremdeten Foto-Illustrationen von Timothy Bradstreet, dessen Werke schon die erste Ausgabe von Vampire geprägt haben.

Viele Jahre hat es gedauert, bis nach dem Untergang der World of Darkness eine Neuauflage von Vampire erschienen ist. Für Veteranen des Spielsystems bietet die Jubiläumsausgabe eine gute Übersicht über das System und die Vampirclans. Die Informationen sind neu geschrieben und kompakt zusammengestellt, bieten aber wenig wirklich Neues (was auch nicht die Idee ist). Insbesondere um sich mal wieder schnell in Vampire einzuarbeiten, ist das Buch sehr gut geeignet und weckt viele Erinnerungen an alte Spielrunden. Für Vampire-Neulinge liegt mit dem dicken Band ein Rollenspielsystem vor, dessen spielbare Charaktere bisher noch nie so umfassend in einem Buch vorgestellt wurden.

Regelfragmente, die sich früher über Clanbücher verteilt haben, sind jetzt an einem Ort zusammengefasst. Damit bietet das Buch auch für Neulinge einen hervorragenden Einstieg, allerdings werden Spieler trotz seiner Dicke nicht auf Quellenbücher verzichten wollen, deren zusätzliche Hintergründe immer einen großen Teil der Faszination des Spielsystems ausgemacht haben. Für Neulinge ist das Buch die perfekte Gelegenheit endlich in die Welt der Vampire einzusteigen, und auch Vampire-Veteranen bekommen ein schönes Buch, dass sie zurück in der Spielsystem führt.

(Björn Lippold)

At heart, I'll always be a 2nd Edition man. It was the edition I cut my teeth on, and I enjoyed the slow unraveling of the Lore. That being said, the game has been out of print for a long time and this version was wonderful. The few updates to Lore were subtle and decent. The few rules updates worked very well. Where it really shined through was being a comprehensive collection of the Classic Vampire: the Masquerade game that I've loved.

This isn't just a wonderful new edition, it's a full-on love letter to the fans of the game.

Your collection requires this book.

A valuable book with tons of info. Its size is daunting but the depth of the knowledge is also huge. It could use a few more apendicies and possibly some edge of page quick navigation aids but it's not difficult to find the information you need after you are familiar with the book. I recommend the physical just because of the sheer size unless you are viewing on a full computer or very fast tablet.

A fantastic compedium for Vampire. This is a bit of a late review as I got the book a few months ago, but it is brilliant. I got the standard print hard cover, and for a cheaper option, the book still serves its purpose perfectly. In the future I may consider buying premium color print books simply to support the folks here at DriveThruRpg.

This is a fantastic book for anyone wishing to start playing Vampire the Masquerade, or a long term player looking to see what is updated. I have the PDF and hardback, and despite constant use is still in good condition. I did a full review of this book on my site https://itsmorethanjustgaming.com/2017/08/16/vampire-the-masquerade-20th-anniversary-edition if you want to know more. Otherwise, thoroughly recommended.

Grabbing attention from the outset opening with a collection of fan (and fans-now-made-it-in-the-hobby) comments about what earlier versions of Vampire: The Masquerade means to them, this is a beast of a book, enticing and potentially destructive, capturing all the excitement and otherness of the original in a mature, elegant and yet still raw and visceral form. Once through this excitement, the 'meat' of the book comes in three sections: the Riddle, the Becoming and the Permutations.

First up, The Riddle. This looks at what the game actually is with an Introduction that charts the development of Vampire: The Masquerade from its beginnings in 1991, discussing the wierd yet effective mixture of urban alienation and tight-knit community of belonging that made this game such a landmark and success; and touching at some length on the pervasive nature of the LARP version too. Then there are some notes on vampires as they are seen in this game, which of the common 'facts' about vampires are true and which are not... These basics covered, Chapter 1: A World of Darkness looks in more detail at vampires (the kindred as they like to call themselves) and the world in which they have their unlife, and Chapter 2: Sects and Clans covers vampire society, the organisations that claim their loyalty. It all makes for fascinating reading, and established the environment in which the game is played with YOU as the vampires.

Next, The Becoming. This is the game mechanics bit, covering character creation and the options available in Chapter 3: Character and Traits, and Chapter 4: Disciplines. Then Chapter 5: Rules tells you what you can do with the character that you have created, and how to go about it, with Chapter 6: Systems and Drama providing extra detail on doing, well, everything to best effect. Then Chapter 7: Morality slams the brakes on, with what happens to the vampire's core essence, his soul if you like, as he goes about his unlife. Herein lies the angst, the alienation and the struggle to stay sane, perhaps even 'human' when you so clearly are no longer what you were pre-embrace.

Finally, The Permutations. Here we find a chapter on Storytelling, the art of running a game. It's full of thoughtful and thought-provoking comments, ideas to help you spawn your own ideas. Developing themes and situations, capturing the essence of the World of Darkness and presenting it to your players. Building a structure to create a coherent chroncicle (plot arc), even how to bring it to a resounding conclusion. There's a wealth of good ideas, it's a chapter you will return to again and again, dip into for a specific nugget or mine to get your own ideas spawning. Build on that with Chapter 9: The Others, which provides detail and resources concerning vampires' few friends and legions of enemies. Many of these will spawn yet more ideas as you read about them. Finally, there's a chapter on Bloodlines. These weave their way through vampire society, more personal than the giant clans. Some may be extinct... or are they? Vampires take these seriously, and including them in the tapestry of your game will enrich it tremendously.

Some see this edition as a nostalgic look back, a retrospective of a great game line. Or as a celebration of the best of a wonderful game. There are indications that it's aimed at rekindling the love with those who have played Vampire: The Masquerade over the preceeding twenty years. Yet it's a whole lot more. It's an encapsulation of what has gone before, accessible to new players as well as to the old, a grand continuation of the game into the next century.

This is the table top Vampire game to play, hands down. This version of Vampire the Masquerade beats Vampire the Requiem 2nd Edition! Here is why.

I have played Vampire the Requiem extensively. The new second edition of Vampire the Requiem has alienated me. The art was trashy and cheap, the rules for experience and progression are stupid, rebalancing of disciplines resulted in more confusion and unbalance, and the game feels goofier and more unpolished than ever. Even though there are some positive changes to the new VtR2e, the game plays more awkward than ever. So I thought to myself, it’s time to learn about my options. And that is why VtM20th got my consideration.

My reservations have always been that the system is too old with too much baggage and outdated mechanics that won’t play as clean and smooth as first edition nWoD games did. My reservations were justified to some degree. The game still feels a little dusty. Some of the mechanics are a bit clunky feeling and could diffidently be cleaner. But the book is beautiful, the setting is ruthlessly wonderful, and the game is even better than I remember it being. I have been running a game for about 8 full nights now and I am really enjoying it. The community that supports this game is still very alive. The setting has been very well cleaned up. The rules make more sense than ever. Some of the things that initially bothered me either didnt bother me as much as I thought they would when we played or I have found a solution in the rules that I did not notice at first. The disciplines seem more balanced than I remember. Combat is a bit too cumbersome but the more I get used to it the more this is not an issue for me.

It’s not perfect and I do miss some of my favorite aspects of VtR (first edition.) But this game has not faded away at all. Its community is thriving and the game has been refined yet preserved.

In the end, games like this are about role play. This game’s role play experience is great. This feels like the quintessential vampire game that has colored our culture for the last 20+ years. That’s what VtR2e is missing. While playing this game, I keep getting this feeling that, this is it; this is what our generation's Vampire mythology is. It’s been thought out and vetted for eternity.

I think VtR has some issues it will need to work through for the next ten year cycle. While it works that out, I’ll be happily playing VtM.

As for the book, it’s big. I mean, in real life, this damn thing is HUGE. My first “premium” book had binding problems. DTRPG sent me out a new one right away. They are great to work with and I’m pleased that they handle problems quickly and kindly. But I don’t think the quality of the binding is very good for a $100 book. Other than the binding being stressed by the page count, the book is absolutely beautiful. I’m not sure that the premium version is worth the extra money though.

I was a little concerned about the binding on such a large book, but it is high quality and stands up to regular use.

I love having all of the pertinent information in one volume now, as opposed to having to search through dozens of supplements to find that one path I saw like 4 years ago.

Masquerade is very much tied to that early 90's gen-X "fuck the man" aesthetic, an in your face punk rock version of hard driven Vampires. Anne Rice on a fifth of Jack

First: english is not my mothertongue but I think the following will be possible to decipher :)

Second: The content of the books (I ordered both in colour two years ago I think) is great, the other ratings tell more about that.

but, and this is my point of view and a useless one when you don't care about the binding of a book,

Third: The Binding, for me an essential component for a Roleplaying Game Rulebook, is what seems to me as a double-fan adhesive bound. I am not proficient in this trade but I am able to compare all of my other p&p Books (nearly 20 Hardcover books of over 7 different Games from the US, UK and Germany, sometimes with over 500 pages thick) bindings with the bindings of the book I am reviewing. And none of them has this kind of binding. Instead they are done with the oversewing technique. And from my point of view there is a consequence in that. After using both Vampire books nearly 2 times a month over 2 years (as a Storyteller) the paper which held the pages in the cover ripped (both books). A clear cut between the first page attached to the cover and the rest of the pages. The tear is located there because I open the books usually with the front cover first, like from right to left. Not any of my other books 5 to 10 years older and more frequently in use (once a week for over 5 years (also for storytelling)) plagued me with this problem. Well not any other books except the last VtM Core-Rulebook Edition before this one (but I am not sure if this version also had the same binding as the v20, I don't posses it any more, passed it along when receiving the v20 ones) This is essential because these books are considered to be used frequently preferably over a long time. They have to withstand the continuing opening and closing of the players. "I use my new feat XY, I have to..." open - close "I would like to create this character from..." open - close "Isn't this supposed to be..." open - close and so on. When the pages are going to fall out of the cover it is a annoying hindrance to use the books. And this is happening and I can see no other Reason than this. I doubt that my girlfriend is gnawing at the pages at night Oo

I wrote this Review because I care and because I love the Vampire Setting and hope that this will be considered in the future.

Books with this flaw tends to be useless to me and therefore wasted money. Delagur

PS: I also wrote an E-Mail to the support about this topic but I felt to tell this again and this time to the ones considering to buy the books.