White Wolf’s new Creative Director, Jess Lanzillo, wants the new edition of Vampire to embrace players, new and old. Pun intended, probably.
“Let’s make Vampire fucking awesome,” says Jess Lanzillo, the new Creative Director at the reawakened White Wolf.
In a hotel conference room, near downtown Indianapolis, exactly the kind of place where a Ventrue might issue edicts that reshape the shadowy politics of the city, White Wolf’s Creative Director (Lanzillo) and Lead Game Designer, Diogo Nogueira, lay out their vision for the new edition of the still-developing Vampire: the Masquerade 6th Edition.
And it’s not just rules changes that lie in store. As our world changes, so too does the World of Darkness. With it come new themes as the anxieties and fears of a world where literal bloodsucking monsters have to try hard to be as evil as some of the humans you see in headlines, frequently. But with new themes, new rules, and a new plan in place, the World of Darkness is poised for a new era.
Vamps Are Having A Moment – Heading Into 6th Edition With White Wolf Once More
One of the more recent changes in WoD-land was the return of White Wolf to handle publishing and in-house development for the World of Darkness. Last year, Paradox and White Wolf announced a return. Now we’re seeing the first fruits of this restructuring, V6.
But why now? And to what end? Also, what does this mean for people who know, love, and are still actively playing Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition (V5)? Or even the older ones? Well, for starters, Lanzillo reassured me that “there are no dead editions.”
If you play Vampire even a little bit, I guarantee you know someone (or are someone) who still plays V20.
In fact, Lanzillo points out that both the Werewolf and Hunter lines don’t “feel complete” yet. She clarifies that there’s still books to come out. After all V6 is in the early stages of development. Later, during a playtest, White Wolf’s Editor/Rules Manager Meagan Maricle explained that, “Even if everything were to be absolutely perfect, and the community wanted no changes we’d still be looking at somewhere in 2027.” And that’s the best case scenario.
Back in the conference room, Lanzillo explains that “Vamps are having a moment; we tend to see vampires rise in popularity as social anxieties rise as well.” She gestures at the outside world, for emphasis. “With shows like the new Interview with a Vampire, and movies like Sinners, vampires are back in the consciousness. But the world is different.”
One of the things that really resonated for me, was Lanzillo pointing out that the world is plenty dark, even without vampires. Societal unease, escalating wars, genocides, wealth inequality that erodes stability; all of this means a breakdown of the structures and social orders that once forced vampires into hiding. Alluding to the Chechnya incident that originally saw Paradox step in to take direct control of Vampire back in 2018, Lanzillo makes it clear that in the new Vampire, humans are as much (or sometimes more) monstrous than the vamps themselves.
And this is important, because as humans do wicked things in the name of number going up, society is sort of collectively “letting the monsters back in.” So the Masquerade is still on. But, as Lanzillo describes it, the World of Darkness is heading for “the new Dark Ages.”
Maybe Just A Little Dark Age
Besides being MGMT’s hands-down best song, “a little Dark Age” is also a great way to describe the World of Darkness as it stands to feel in V6. As they talk about the state of the World of Darkness, both Lanzillo and Nogueira seem to come alive with excitement, this despite a flight from Sweden and a major panel earlier that day. Their passion for Vampire cuts through the jet lag.
Nogueira explains that one of the goals he has in mind for the new edition is to try to highlight new themes. One of the things that the team is eager to dig into are new paradigms.
“We want to explore themes like loss, greed, arrogance. But we also want to let [the players] tailor Vampire to whatever fits with the table,” says Nogueira. He and Lanzillo outline some of the dualities at play for Vampires: love & loss, greed & sacrifice, Humanity & the Beast.
The White Wolf team in general wants to revisit the concept of vampires in light of the way society has shifted, even in the last eight years. Lanzillo asks, “what are today’s anxieties and themes? How can we keep it fresh?”
One way, seems to be cutting down on the homework. As Nogueira explains, “we want to have more shared agency and blur the lines between storyteller and players.” Which I think is visible in some of the new mechanics in V6, like Quickening and the Devil’s Bargain. While some of these concepts are inspired by other fiction-first games, the drive towards greater/shared storytelling agency is there in these first few steps.
Today Vampire, Tomorrow The World (Of Darkness)
Both Lanzillo and Nogueira speak with the enthusiasm of a long-time Vampire player. When talking about how the World of Darkness is having a moment alongside the resurgence of vampires in popular culture, we get to talking about Dimension 20. When I mention that the City Council of Darkness is surprisingly similar to how my friends and I played Vampire in High School, Nogueira laughs in recognition, saying that “yeah, that’s how a lot of people played.”
And that they want the new system to accommodate all kinds of Vampire chronicles. Not just the melodramatic ones; though they do want that as well. Lanzillo herself is a seasoned Vampire LARPer. Though when asked about White Wolf supporting LARP, we’re told that we probably won’t see a return to the Camarilla of old; that is, we probably won’t see big organized play like that, but Lanzillo was hopeful that there’d be more support for LARP play in general going forward.
A common theme through the interview is the love that both Lanzillo and Nogueira have for the game. Nogueira tells us, rather earnestly, that the first book he ever read all the way through in English was a Vampire sourcebook. And that he got special permission to read Vampire books at military school. Lanzillo speaks fondly about the World of Darkness and her time playing in campaigns even at WotC.
As we talk about the World of Darkness writ large, Lanzillo points out that Vampire is just the beginning. White Wolf hopes that this system will be modular enough to accommodate other IPs. And we’re not talking Universes Beyond type shenanigans. When we press a little, Lanzillo says that next in consideration are Mage and Changeling. The World of Darkness is entering a new (dark) age. One which Lanzillo wants to make “fucking awesome.” And wants you, the players, to join in. For the new edition to “embrace everyone.”
You can help shape it right now by joining the V6 playtest at the link below.
Listen, in all honesty, my brain stopped working when they hinted at the possibility of New Mage, and now that’s all I can think about, personally
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Source: Bell of Lost Souls
