On Monday, White Wolf released the second playtest for Vampire: The Masquerade’s 6th edition, dropping the Alpha 2.0 playtest alongside a dev diary to help explain the new changes. This new edition of the gothic TTRPG set in the World of Darkness has been pretty controversial so far, but given that 2.0 is subtitled: Changing Course, it looks like the creators are well aware of that and making changes in response to feedback.
The biggest point White Wolf has tried to address in this new version is giving Storytellers more to do. While the first version tried to reduce Storyteller load and give players more control and choices, the diaries suggest it leaned too hard in that direction.
The new version lets Storytellers roll for NPCs, and just generally gives them more to do. For instance, instead of players deciding on Devil’s Bargains, conditions they can suffer as a way out of a failed roll, these are now offered by the Storyteller, who takes on the role of the Beast and offers a Faustian bargain.
Furthermore, while Choose Your Pain gave PCs difficult and interesting choices to make, White Wolf has now decided that letting players pick their poison “took the teeth out of failing”. This is another choice that’s been knocked back to the Storyteller’s side of the court.
As well as expanding the Storytellers role, one of the other main changes is the stripping away of Drama and Quickening, two narrative-based metacurrencies that were a focus of the criticism around the first playtest.
Drama was intended to create a sense of shared story, but in practice it hampered more than helped, overcomplicating the practice of running games and restricting the Storyteller from imposing challenges as they saw fit.
Quickening, meanwhile, was a way for characters to push their powers to the limits, but in implementation this resource built up too quickly and made players feel too heroic for a horror game – obtaining power with no real cost.
Now Drama is gone for good (White Wolf says it could come back as a guidance tool for newbies) and players can spend Willpower to boost their chances on an important roll.
Our editor Mollie got on surprisingly well demoing the first Alpha playtest, praising its streamlined system, humanity scale, and the now scrapped Choose Your Pain mechanic. I think she’ll be pleased to hear they’ve ditched the metacurrencies though.
We’ve not had time yet to dive into the new playtest and explore its changes. If you have, we’d love to hear your thoughts – come join our Discord.
Source: Wargamer
