Vampire: The Masquerade
tabletop role-playing game (rpg family)
Vampire: The Masquerade is a tabletop role-playing game, created by Mark Rein•Hagen and released in 1991 by White Wolf Publishing, as the first of several Storyteller System games for its World of Darkness setting. It is set in a fictionalized "gothic-punk" version of the modern world, where players assume the role of vampires, referred to as Kindred or Cainites, who struggle against their own bestial natures, vampire hunters, and each other.
Upon its release, Vampire: The Masquerade was a commercial and critical success, becoming one of the most influential tabletop RPGs of all time. It distinguished itself from many contemporary RPGs through its emphasis on narrative, drama, character development, and "personal horror," encouraging players to explore the moral and psychological consequences of immortality. Its modern Gothic-Punk setting, emphasis on political intrigue and social interaction, and the Storyteller System shifted attention away from tactical combat and heroic adventure found in many RPGs of the era, towards collaborative storytelling. The game's success led to the creation of the World of Darkness franchise, which expanded the setting with other similar games centered on supernatural creatures, such as Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension. White Wolf also released a number of spinoff games, such as the Asia-themed Kindred of the East and the historical Vampire: The Dark Ages.
In 2004, the game's publishing was discontinued in favor of the reboot Vampire: The Requiem, set in White Wolf's Chronicles of Darkness setting. Publication of Vampire: The Masquerade resumed in 2011 with the 20th Anniversary Edition, followed by a fifth edition in 2018.
Several associated products were produced based on Vampire: The Masquerade, including live-action role-playing games (Mind's Eye Theatre), dice, collectible card games (The Eternal Struggle), video games (Redemption, Bloodlines, Swansong, Bloodlines 2 and Bloodhunt), and numerous novels.
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This entry incorporates text from “Vampire: The Masquerade” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.