Useful info

[Varg|Hund]

Well, here's a bunch of links for you poor deprived people who have no idea what Bloodlines is :O

Official Sites
www.vampirebloodlines.com
http://activision.com/en_US/game_specific/187db828-31bb-4a15-83cc-f7158b1b0874.html

E3 2004 Preview
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vtmb/preview_6095269.html

Pre-E3 2004 Preview
http://pc.ign.com/articles/511/511021p1.html

E3 2003 Bloodlines Article
http://pc.ign.com/articles/401/401913p1.html

Bloodline Previews
http://pc.ign.com/articles/493/493776p1.html
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vtmb/preview_6026606.html
http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/vampirethemasqueradebloodlines_p.phtml
http://www.gamebanshee.com/previews/vampirebloodlines1.php
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines/499327p1.html?fromint=1

Game Style Interview
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/512/512140p1.html

Character System Interview
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/510/510375p1.html

Combat System Interview
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/536/536868p1.html

Dev Video Interview
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/140000/141108.shtml

General Bloodlines Interview (2003)
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/401/401056p1.html

670 MB 5 part video
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/140000/143894.shtml

Bloodline Videos
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/140000/143894.shtml
http://www.gamershell.com/download_2391.shtml
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/137431.shtml
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/137433.shtml
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/137434.shtml

Screenshots
http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/566/566186/imgs_1.html?ui=gamefinder
http://media.pc.ign.com/media/566/566186/imgs_1.html?ui=gamefinder
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vtmb/screenindex.html

 

[ComradeBadger]

Stuck.

Anyone who wants info in the main post, post it in here, and I'll add it to Varg's post.

This is an info thread, no discussion please unless you have info links

 

[hiln]

backround info on the WOD setting that will help people who have no idea what the Vampire - Masquerade setting is all about. Badger, just leave this post down here since it's long.

"the World of Darkness specific stuff…

Consider this Noddist Theory 101 (Noddists being those who research the history of vampires in the WoD).

Vampires in the WoD (World of Darkness) all possess a single point of origin. That point of origin is Caine. Of course, that would be the biblical Caine. The worlds first murder. Tale of the deed among vampires (or Kindred as they often like to call themselves) varies. The generally accept form is as follows….

Caine was a farmer, while his brother Abel was raised cattle. God asked the two brothers to bestow upon Him a sacrifice. Caine sacrificed of his crops, while his brother sacrificed of his herd. God, if tales are to be believed, preferred the sacrifice made by Abel. In jealously Caine slew his brother away from the watchful eye of God (this is where that classic biblical “brother’s keeper” line comes into play). Upon seeing what Caine had done, God cast him out of Eden to walk in the “Land of Nod”. Tales suggest that at this moment Caine was cursed with vampirism (the mark of Caine).

There are of course other theories. One is that Caine was simply cast out and “marked” though not as a vampire. Then during his travels he encountered Lilith, the first wife of Adam (who was earlier cast out of Eden due to… bedroom issues, mainly positional). Some suggest that she was the first vampire and passed the curse to Caine.

Another suggestion is that Caine was cast out of Eden to walk in Nod, but neither cursed nor marked. God sent his Angels unto Caine, each asking Caine to cry God’s forgiveness. Caine refused each, and one by one they marked him, bestowing their curses upon his form. The noted difference of this variation is that Caine was not marked for murder, but the sin of pride (the same sin which caused the fall of Satan).

Yet another idea persists. The idea that Caine was never cursed at all. There exists an idea among certain Kindred that Caine slew Abel not in jealousy, but out of love. He offered his brother as a sacrifice to God. This sacrifice was so well received that God blessed Caine with immortality (through vampirism).

Of course, any of those alternate ideas are often considered heresy among the Kindred and expressing them can get you killed.

Regardless of which theory one pursues, the general consensus is that while walking the Land of Nod Caine encountered Lilith. Whether a vampire or not, she is believed to have had a great deal of magical knowledge. It is she who taught Caine to use the gifts of his blood. This is when Caine learned to use Disciplines (vampiric power), the Blood Bond (the ability to enslave another by having them ingest his blood) and how to Embrace (that which creates another vampire). It is suggested that Caine may have killed her, but as with all things among the Kindred, no one really knows for sure.

--

Later, Caine found himself lonely. Using the knowledge of the Embrace granted to him by Lilith, Caine took three Childer (the name applied to the vampires one creates, the singular form is Childe). The first was Zillah, the beautiful who would be Caine’s wife. Irad the strong., Caine’s warrior and scholar. Lastly there was Enoch, his favorite Childe.

Together, Caine and his three Childer formed the First City (which Caine named after Enoch… told you he was the favorite). They gathered together the Children of Seth (the third child of Adam and Eve from whom springs all human life… so the Children of Seth would be us mere mortals) and made slaves of them. With their vampric powers Caine and his get set themselves up as Gods in this city.

Before long, Caine’s childer became lonely as Caine himself did. These three Embraced thirteen. This is the true beginning of the Jyhad. The war between vampires. These Childer began to fight amongst themselves. For power, the affection of Caine and his Childer, and simply out of sheer boredom.

Then came the Flood.

It is believe that during this time the Childer of Caine, Enoch, Irad and Zillah, were all destroyed. They were generally believed to have been killed by their own Childer. Caine was not pleased.

With the Great Flood came the destruction of Enoch, the First City (not to mention all of the Children of Seth who dwelled within… Noah bailed our collective asses out about here). Believing his Grandchilder’s sins were responsible for the Flood (who knows, maybe they were) Caine left the brood to again walk the Land of Nod. It is believed that before leaving Caine cursed these thirteen remaining vampires (giving birth to a weakness within each one, which would be passed to their Childer).

These thirteen would then sire their own gets, creating the thirteen great Clans., The Kingship Clan (Ventrue), the Moon Clan (Malkavian), the Clan of the Beast (Gangrel), the Clan of the Hidden (Nosferatu), the Wanderer Clan (Ravnos), the Clan of the Rose (Toreador), the Night Clan (Lasombra), the Clan of Shapers (Tzmisces), the Snake Clan (Followers of Set), the Clan of Death (Cappadocians), the Healer’s Clan (Salubri), the Clan of the Hunt (Assamites), and the Learned Clan (Brujah).

It is at this time that this 3rd generation of vampire (the Childer of Caine’s Childer), now referred to as the Antediluvians (roughly translated means “pre-Flood”), decided to reclaim what they had lost. This marked the construction of the Second City.

The fate of the Second City was written in stone long before It’s construction was even complete. These founder’s of the Clans lacked much of the wisdom and patience which allowed Caine to keep The First City together as long as he did. The backstabbing nature of these thirteen and their get led to their destruction and the loss of the city. Betrayal destroyed the city from within.

--

The thirteen, believing they had leaned from the past ruled their progeny with an iron fist and forbade them, among other things, to Embrace. Their duplicitous nature coupled with the loneliness which eventually falls upon all vampires led to a power struggle. The Childer rose up, and drove their Antediluvian sires from the Second City (tales tell of some being destroyed and others being consumed body and soul… the founder of the Brujah by his Childe Troile is probably chief among these stories). These once mighty vampires were driven into hiding.

Over the years the Clans have undergone some changes. The Brujah have fallen from grace and become more “mindless brute” than “warrior poet”. The Cappadocian were destroyed from within by their Childer, the Giovanni (who would rise to become the new Clan of Death). Perhaps most notably, a group of mortal mages wrested immortality from the corpses of the Tzimisce and claimed Clan-hood by destroying the Salubri.

The political landscape has changed as well. While once the vampires built cities, they now cower among the mortals. Their great vanity never allowed the vampires to acknowledge that the greatest threat which faced them was in fact their own prey. They ruled openly for a great while, flaunting their power, but their numbers were few. The mortals had to be numerous to be a worthy stock upon which to feed. Eventually they began to suspect the danger, but too late. They had begun hiding their natures in hopes of averting what would come, but their efforts were in vain. And their prey rose up and slew their once masters by the thousands. The Inquisition destroyed many of the undead, and drove the rest underground. This marked the beginning of what would become the greatest organization (as well as the longest lasting) in Kindred history. The Camarilla was born. A Sect devised to govern vampires, and their behavior. Strict rules were put into place, to hide their existence from the mortals, and to protect themselves from each other. Laws were created against kin slaying and to govern territorial rights (in order to avoid open war between themselves). The most important feature was The Masquerade. The veil of secrecy that would protect them from their prey.

And so the Kindred wait. The official policy of the Camarilla is denial, but in truth they know what comes. Gehenna, the end of all things, when their (royally pissed off) sires, the Antedivulians, shall rise from their slumber deep within the Earth and slake their unholy thirst upon their betraying Childer before bringing about the destruction of all that exists.

There is another Sect however. The threat of Gehenna, and the Camarilla’s unwillingness to deal with the issue gave birth to the Sabbat. The Sabbat, also known as the Sword of Caine, are dedicated to the destruction of the Antediluvians and the aversion of Gehenna. Of course, in the mean time they make monsters of themselves, engaging in wanton kin slaying and endanger the Masquerade on a regular basis. The Sabbat is generally more of a blood soaked group of religious zealots who preach often but accomplish little. Generally as ineffectual as the Camerilla, upon who they wage war more often then against their hated progenitors.

And that brings us into these modern nights

(Keep in mind, this is a brief overview of Kindred myth and history, it is by no means complete… or even accurate since even Kindred history tends more towards myth than fact) "

 

[Homer]

Does anyone know a decent fan site? I'm looking for somewhere that I can figure out how to play with the body of one clan, but the dialogue of another(malcavian dialogue gets old fast).

 

[Dragoro]

Great Fan Site:


http://bloodlines.dilapidation.com/