Alpha 2.0: Changing Course

Hello, Kindred! Diogo speaking (actually writing) here, lead game designer at White Wolf. It has been some wild nights since the release of Alpha 1.0. We took Alpha 1.0 in a new direction, deliberately experimenting with rules and approaches that appealed to us, knowing that a lot could change after testing them out. We want to see how far we could push some assumptions, what new things we could get away with, and a lot of you told us it wasn’t working yet. You were right about a lot of it, and that’s exactly what a playtest is for. Your feedback shaped the Alpha 2.0 you’re about to see, and hopefully play. More than 1,000 of you filled out the Alpha 1.0 feedback forms, and many of you went out of your way to encourage the team. Thank you! In DD#3 we told you what we heard. This time, it’s what we did about it, and what Alpha 2.0 is testing. You can catch up on our previous Dev Diaries here.

Health and Vitae

In Alpha 1.0, we combined Health and Vitae to show how much blood matters to a vampire; it’s literally what keeps them going. As the vampire suffered damage, their body would mend itself and that’s how you would lose Vitae. As we said in DD#3, this got more feedback than anything else. Losing Vitae to both damage and powers made using your Disciplines feel like hurting yourself, so a lot of you simply stopped using them. With Health and Vitae split, you can spend blood on your powers without feeling like you’re bleeding out. You also asked for Hunger Dice, so they’re new to this playtest, working a little differently than before. You gain them by spending Vitae, so there’s no separate Rouse Check. Spend too much blood and you’ll see the trouble coming without the game pausing for a string of rolls.

Storytellers, Dice and Core Rules

Vampire has always been a game in which everyone rolls dice and has fun doing so. Few things are more satisfying than assembling a dice pool of 16 dice because you are powerful enough to do so. And let’s face it, rolling dice is fun. The core rules now are more in line with previous editions of the game. Difficulty no longer strips dice from your pool, which means bigger pools and more granular results. And yes, Storytellers roll for NPCs again. Dice are back, baby!  If you’d rather keep things player facing, the Taking Half rule lets you set a Difficulty without rolling, and you can mix the two. In our internal games, we used Taking Half for tests that are usually passively resisted, like sneaking past a guard, and rolled for tests that are actively resisted by the target, like using a Dominate power to command another vampire. Use whatever suits your table.

And yes, Tussle is now Wrestle. We heard you. 

Bye Drama and Quickening! Welcome Complications and Beast’s Bargain.

Drama and Quickening were an attempt to give players more control of the narrative, give Storytellers a tool to justify complications, and make the Storyteller a player, too. But in giving players more agency and trying to lighten the Storyteller’s load, we overcorrected. Horror needs players to lose control sometimes and feel smaller than the things they face. As we said last time, we like our failure with fangs. So players no longer choose their pain. The Storyteller decides the complications, though players can still suggest the horrors that fit their character best. Devil’s Bargain also put too much of the bargaining in the players’ hands, and many of you told us the Storyteller should be the one making the offer. So the Beast’s Bargain now comes from the Storyteller, as the whisper of the Beast itself. The price of success is letting your Beast off the leash. Quickening made the game feel too heroic, and that’s not what Vampire is about. Characters can still push past their limits, but now it costs Willpower. Drama isn’t in Alpha 2.0. We still think it might help newer Storytellers someday, but it’s not part of the core game.

Humanity (and Paths of Enlightenment)

Alpha 1.0’s Humanity Scale framed the vampire’s struggle as two-sided, with doom waiting in either direction, and it was too easy to game. But Vampire has always been about the slow, inevitable slide into monstrosity. Vampires are cursed, and while they can fight to preserve what made them human, the Beast wins in the end. So Humanity is now a single, streamlined track using the classic 10-box tracker, with guidance on when a character loses or gains it. And Paths of Enlightenment are new, letting you explore the horror of being cursed in different ways. Last Dev Diary we said Natures were being reworked into something older players would find familiar. Here it is!

Social Conflict

Vampire has always been a game that emphasises roleplay above rollplay. It’s no coincidence that this game has so many LARPs. Alpha 1.0’s Social Conflict rules were meant to let players who are less comfortable with roleplay still play the social butterfly. But the structure made them cumbersome and too punishing. The new rules are a short series of tests used only for tense moments, leaving room for deep roleplay while still letting quieter players play quick witted and silver tongued characters.

Tools for Storytellers

Last time we told you Storytellers want to do stuff. Alpha 2.0 gives them more to do and tools to help them. Alpha 2.0 introduces the Masquerade Tracker, which measures how much danger the Masquerade is in during your game. It gives Storytellers guidance on what that threat means for the characters,  NPCs, and factions, while also being a tool to put pressure on the players, a constant reminder of the dangers of revealing their true nature to mortals. The Masquerade now has teeth at the table, not just in the setting. 

We also completely reworked NPCs. You told us you want more detailed NPCs, with their own strengths and weaknesses, that feel distinct from one another. The game has a long history of unique characters, and the rules that represent that should reflect that uniqueness. NPCs also have a new weapon at their disposal: True Faith. Mortals are not so defenseless now.

Disciplines and Character Options

Since we revised the core system, many changes were made to Disciplines, too; what they cost, how they work, how they affect targets, and so on. Most powers now cost only Vitae, and costs are lower and closer to past editions. In Alpha 1.0, every power drew on the same pool that kept you alive, so characters rarely got to show off what they could do. Also, with the addition of the Tzimisce clan, Alpha 2.0 ships with two new Disciplines: Vicissitude and Tellurgy. Vicissitude, the iconic discipline of the Tzimisce, is all about transformation and metamorphosis of the body. In DD#3, we promised you’d see where the rest of Protean went. In Alpha 2.0, you can see the other half of it in Vicissitude, alongside the part that moved into Animalism. Many Protean powers gave you bestial features, which tied them to the Beast, so those moved into Animalism. That made Animalism more versatile and gave Gangrel room for other abilities with Celerity (they're always running around, right?). Vicissitude, as stated, has the other half, the powers that change the body in ways not aligned with the Beast, in line with what the clan of metamorphosis is known to have. You know, Dracula shit (can I say shit here?).

Alpha 2.0 also has more character options such as new Lifepaths, Clan Traits, Merits, and Sires, so you can experiment with different types of characters to make yours feel unique. One thing to note is that some Clan Traits and Merits now grant passive abilities that used to be Discipline powers. That’s intentional. Traits and Merits now carry the always-on abilities, and Disciplines are what you actively call on. 

Diablerie

Yeah, Diablerie was weird in Alpha 1.0. I blame Malkavians and their pranks. Anyway, it’s fixed now! You have to drain your victim dry and keep draining until you swallow their soul. With a bite, of course.

Not In My Domain!

The scenario is still the same, updated for the revised rules and with extra Storyteller guidance.

What Do We Want to Find Out?

Here’s some of what we want to learn from Alpha 2.0:

• How does it feel to have Health and Vitae separated?

• Does being Hungry feel different from being Wounded?

• How does it feel to hear the Beast whisper in your ears with the Beast’s Bargain?

• How does it feel to have your Humanity slip through your fingers as you drink the blood of mortals to survive

• How do Vitae and Hunger feel with Hunger Dice?

• How does it feel to have a tracker to measure the threat the Masquerade is under? Does it add to the horror and tension of the game? Does it help the Storyteller gauge how NPCs and factions react to the threat?

• How unique do your characters feel with the new character options?

• Does Social Conflict support your roleplay, or get in its way?

• Do NPCs feel distinct from each other?

• Do your Disciplines feel worth the Vitae?

What Now?

Go get Alpha 2.0! Read it! Play with it! Play more! Talk to your friends about it! Give us feedback so we can keep improving!

Get Alpha 2.0 on Demiplane, Roll20 or DriveThruRPG!

• Demiplane: https://pdxint.at/4ePZ2Tc

  • Player's and Storyteller's Packets: https://pdxint.at/3WylSbL

• Roll20: https://pdxint.at/4j2zx2z

  • Not in My Domain: https://pdxint.at/4zbnIgp

• DrivethruRPG: https://pdxint.at/48CrEMc

  • Not in my Domain PDF: https://pdxint.at/4zfXNnL

  • Player's Packet PDF: https://pdxint.at/4ze2tur

  • Storytellers Packet PDF: https://pdxint.at/4sPYse5

  • Bundle of everything: https://pdxint.at/4j4YVFL

What’s in it:

• Player Packet: Contains all the rules to create characters for eight out of the fourteen clans (Brujah, Gangrel, Lasombra, Ministry, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tzimisce, and Ventrue), as well as the rules to play the game, including 12 Disciplines, new Clan Traits and Merits to help you make your characters unique, additional Lifepaths that help define your character’s past, and streamlined Humanity system that nods to previous editions, plus the new Paths of Enlightenment!

• Storyteller Packet: Contains guidance to help Storytellers adjudicate situations in the game, including how to use complications, Beast’s Bargain, frenzies and other situations that require their judgment. The packet also brings the new Masquerade Tracker, a tool to help Storytellers adjudicate how one of the most important aspects of the world affects the game, and a completely revised NPC section. The packet also includes guidance on how the Storyteller uses the rules of the game, from setting Difficulty to customizing the game for your table.

• Scenario: The scenario “Not in My Domain” has been updated to the revised rules, and also contains some additional guidance to help Storytellers.

• If you’re new to Vampire: The Masquerade, start with the introduction and Chapter 1 of the Players Packet!

Tell us about your experience with Alpha 2.0: Survey will be open from Nov 9 to Dec 2.

Thanks for reading! We hope this shows how much your feedback shaped Alpha 2.0. Go play, tell us what you think, and we’ll be back soon with more.