We’re settling into our new house in New York and things are getting set back up. If you look in the Discord server events, you’ll see the next five streams we have scheduled. January is going to see the wrap up of our several years Invisible Sun campaign and I’m excited to share that with you. Then, in March at the same time slot (3PM Eastern), we are going to be starting up a brand new Live Play: Miami by Night – a Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition Chronicle. You can find all of that over on our Twitch Channel.
I’ve been asked several times now why I chose V:tR over V:tM 5E. I’ve tried to explain it, but this guy does it so much better than I do. I highly encourage you to read this blog post. He nails it.
https://thetabletopalmanac.wordpress.com/2019/07/10/rpg-reviews-vampire-the-requiem-2nd-edition/
The whole review is good, but the part that really resonated with me is as follows:
“The Second Edition, now published by Onyx Path Publishing, sharpened those fangs and claws to vicious points. It built on the framework of the First Edition to create a game that beckons me to run it. If nothing else, and there’s a lot ‘else’, I feel it concretely addressed a concern I’ve had since I started playing Vampire back in the early 90s.
“The biggest hurdle for me to overcome when suggesting the game to new players has been the idea of the overly angsty, tortured vampire. It’s not the default archetype in Masquerade (or Requiem), but it’s a common stereotype. Requiem helped me read the game in a way that drove a stake through the heart of that stereotype.
“You are playing a vampire – a human changed into an undead predator. By the fact of you existing as a player character in this game you have opted not to end your tortured existence by walking into the sunlight. So what did you compromise to allow yourself to still exist and what will be the next part of your humanity you choose to surrender out of the base desire to keep going? What’s your excuse?
“It took years – maybe I was just dense – for me to understand that was the personal horror the game was about. How do you justify your existence in this state? What drives you forward, knowing that the rest of your nights will be in this state? Focusing on being in a tortured existence leads to angst and whining; focusing on why you keep going leads to an awesome character.”
I know things have slowed down a lot on the review front. That isn’t for lack of material. It’s simply lack of time. I work full-time. Joann is going to be starting a job. I’m trying to make sure I post here every month, and we’re going back to streaming regularly. Plus we’ve started playing in-person (I know, weird, right?) along with our existing online games. We’ve got a lot going on. We’re still going to try to review things periodically, but it won’t be regularly like we did when we first started.
I hope this finds you all well. Happy holidays and, from our Citadel to yours, Happy Gaming!
Josh & Joann Walles
– Angel’s Citadel
Storytelling and Gaming 
Hey, thanks for the kind words!
That one was particularly personal to me — though Werewolf was the first WoD game I owned, Masquerade was the entirety of my teenage life. Requiem was fun and refreshing, then 2E made it all finally make sense.
I’ve since expanded things a little too. I don’t object to the angst, to me, vampires are classically and commonly pathetic. They should inspire pathos, but they should also evoke a “bro, I know why you call yourself Baron Midnight Ravenshadow, it’s because Clive McKenzie is the pathetic excuse for a human being who decided he’d rather kill lots of people than die. All this, Covenants, mystery, politics, is pageantry and a distraction from the fact that you all suck.”
I don’t mean it in a denigrating way either. I feel it enhances the horror because you look at your fellow Kindred and know that each one of them is a danger to you, because they’re willing to go the limit.
Glad you liked it! Hope some others resonate too!
SKaye (The Tabletop Almanac)
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