Vampire: The Masquerade (VTM) series owner Paradox Interactive announced a “multi-game World of Darkness partnership” with digital entertainment company Xplored on Tuesday, with the latter reportedly already at work on the partnership’s first game: Vampire: The Masquerade – Milan Uprising. Xplored is the creator of Teburu, a tabletop gaming platform that uses tech to enhance remote play of real, physical board games, by tracking and storing data and automating gameplay features.
Teburu uses a board with electronic sensors that can track when components are placed and moved during play. It uses radio-frequency identification and magnets attached to miniatures to store gameplay data, as well as smart dice that log statistics, modifiers, and other information to automate dice results. In addition to allowing remote gameplay, Xplored claims that this technology will help make the upcoming WoD games “more immersive and engaging”.
Although it’s not clear whether the new VTM game is a TTRPG or a board game, the press release says that Vampire: The Masquerade – Milan Uprising will include “hidden actions, interactive storytelling and secret goals inspired by Vampire’s stories of personal and political horror”.
“We are very excited to be partnering with Xplored,” says World of Darkness’ Brand Manager Sean Greaney. “Their innovative platform of narrative adventure storytelling fits the World of Darkness perfectly. We know that our World of Darkness community will be thrilled to explore this unique style of story gaming.”
Xplored’s founder and CEO Davide Garofalo says the team is “honoured that Paradox has trusted us with one of their most beloved franchises”. “They embraced our vision for the future of boardgaming, and loved our passion for the WoD, that we’ve been roleplaying for over 25 years, with the same friends and colleagues who now are working together on our first VTM game for Teburu.”
Since obtaining the licence to Vampire: the Masquerade in 2018, Paradox Interactive has been busy developing a wide range of content for World of Darkness – a brand that also includes dark fantasy TTRPGs Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, Changeling: The Lost, and more.
While the VTM video game Bloodlines 2 remains delayed, Paradox released two VTM tabletop games in 2020, a card game in 2021, and they’re still working on development for a 2020 Kickstarter project – Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS.
Hungry for delicious storytelling? Check out our list of the best tabletop roleplaying games. If you’re still looking for dark tabletop RPGs, you might also want to check out our Dark Souls RPG interview.
Source: Wargamer
