Vampire: The Masquerade's D&D crossover is a condescending cave-in to people who are afraid of trying something new

Vampire: The Masquerade's D&D Crossover Feels Like a Missed Opportunity

Vampire: The Masquerade is getting a Dungeons & Dragons rulebook titled Bound by Blood. This tome will include a Kindred class with six subclasses, a 4th-level adventure, additional systems to make vampires function in D&D, and a collection of new feats. While I’ll start with a note of appreciation—this supplementary book could be a nice addition for D&D players who want to fully embrace the vampire experience—it's time to address the elephant in the room.

A Disappointing Move for the TTRPG Industry

Are you goddamn serious? What are we doing here?

My irritation isn’t with White Wolf for this move—it’s with the broader TTRPG industry. Being a smaller publisher, it's understandable that White Wolf might feel the need to align with the bigger names like Hasbro to survive. After all, it’s a profitable move, and they’re trying to cross-pollinate with the dominant players in the space. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good one.

I think D&D is a fine game. I’ve played a lot of 5e and am currently in a D&D 2024 ruleset campaign with my cousins. I’m playing a Stars druid and having a great time. I’m also an avid watcher of Critical Role. But D&D isn’t the only game in town. The main advantage of D&D is that it's just crunchy enough to satisfy numbers dorks like me and just rules-lite enough to please less optimization-hungry players.

You're not gonna burn up like a vampire exposed to the sun by learning some new rules once in a while.

Why Vampire: The Masquerade Already Exists

If you want the best version of what it's offering, Pathfinder 2e exists. If you want satisfying turn-based combat, there's LANCER. If you want to tell a story, there are PBtA systems like Masks. If you want to do horror, there's Mothership. And if you want to do vampires—guess what! There's already Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition! It's right there!

D&D is the "let's just have pizza" of systems—comfortable, familiar, and widely accepted. But there are so many different, wonderful, and interesting rulesets out there. I don't think we should be propping up Hasbro's efforts to get its grubby little fingers into everything. Not just because of how the company operates, but for the sake of the hobby itself.

If you want to buy this thing to tack on some character options for, say, a Curse of Strahd campaign—or even just your own homebrew D&D thing with vampires—go ahead. You’ll probably get a lot of use out of it. But if you want to play a game with a bunch of vampires, I implore you to play some Vampire: The Masquerade. You're not gonna burn up like a vampire exposed to the sun by learning some new rules once in a while.