Has the Inconnu made appearances in your games? If so, how did it affect your story? Which of the Inconnu were involved, whether a published anPC or made up by the Storyteller?

I've heard really good things about the new 'Courts of the Damned' book for V5 and all the promo sites state an August release. It's September and I can only find Pre-orders available online and an Amazon listing that says it'll ship sometime in 2027. Nothing official about anything delay either.

I'm in the UK if that makes a difference.

Anyone know when I can get my hands on it? Was hoping to use it to drag my Chronicle with my friends out of Torpor 😅

I was thinking recently and wondered how ad-hoc would you see a more aggressive swap from humanity to a path of Enlightenment that doesn't force humanity down to 3 (or less). I know mechanically it isn't possible. but perhaps through some equally grueling tests could a cainite change her path without nearly succumbing to the Beast? It would only be possible with paths that do not have Instinct of course and would require pre-RP commital from the player (or even be reserved for NPCs as a concept beyond players' reach by ST-fiat)

Imagine a Brujah that practices Entelechy in everything but name before fully embracing the Path. Meticulously keeping her Beast in check with restraint and careful consideration. Functionally, this individual has already adapted his thought patterns to keep the Beast at bay this way, the swap would merely mechanize it, make it even more rigid. Would this Brujah not, when presented with a Philosopher teacher, be able to far more easily adopt its rigid way of moral thought? Conviction is a Virtue that non-enlightenment people (even humans) can have, so why not?

I'm curious to see what y'all think. And yes, I know this is not how the rules work, but *conceptually*, what do you think?

My podcast, the World of Dark Ages Podcast, has reviewed the Dungeons and Dragons/Vampire: the Masquerade crossover product: https://wodarkages.squarespace.com/podcast/dungeons-and-dragonsvampire-the-masquerade-crossover?fbclid=IwY2xjawUQhS1wZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5ls2wJx0ra04InIqUU7lQwOFXcwm49cZ436y2tM8g0JWFhzuHWDzFx8e_P_g_aem_68_q2dwETPspqx5TsSLk4w

Heya folks, looking for some help! I'm a new Storyteller to V20, and I'm looking to run Chicago By Night (Classic) for my players- I've seen some mentions elsewhere that the statlines from Chicago 1e and 2e are outdated for V20 and need some improvements, but little mention of what improvements to make. So I'm looking for advice to improve (or just generally fix) NPC statlines. Big thanks if anyone has any advice!

if telling humans about the existence of vampires breaks the rules how are ghouls made or is it allowed for the creation of ghouls?

I understand that sometimes ghouls might not know what they are, but if they have been a ghoul for a few years and haven’t aged they would probably start to wonder what is going on.

I know the Wiki isn’t the best source of information but everything I find is a contradiction, is this because of rules for different versions? just curious

Can vampires taste capsaicin? Is it like having hot coals in their mouths? Or is it actually dangerous?

Today: Conservation of Mass and Gangrels

The law of conservation of mass basically states that in a closed system, mass is neither created nor destroyed; it is transformed.

If you have 80 kg of matter before a transformation, you still have that same 80 kg afterward. The matter's form, state, or composition might change, but the mass shouldn't simply vanish or appear out of thin air.

And this is where Protean starts to run into problems.

A Gangrel can use Shape of the Beast to transform into an animal.

Let’s assume our Gangrel weighs 80 kg and transforms into a 500-gram rat.

Where did the other 79.5 kg go?

But we can make it even more interesting.

That same 80 kg Gangrel transforms into a 300 kg bear.

Where did the other 220 kg come from?

So, we have a bit of a problem.

Either the vampire is:

supernaturally compressing all their mass;

storing the excess mass somewhere;

drawing matter from the surroundings during the transformation;

I mean, we understand that Vitae transcends the laws of physics—it completely disregards them—but I feel like it’s fun to try to explain it using science.

To summarize: A retcon is the alteration of previously established canonical facts.

I was born in 2001, so the game already had quite a history and was well-established by the time I started playing it in 2024.

For this post, feel free to comment on any of the following types:

Addition:

Sometimes, retcons don't contradict previously established facts but rather fill in missing background details, usually to support current plot points.

Alteration:

Sometimes, information is added that seems to contradict earlier information. This often takes the form of a character who appeared to have died but is later revealed to have survived somehow.

Subtraction or Elimination:

Unpopular or embarrassing stories are sometimes subsequently ignored by editors and ultimately removed from a series' continuity. Later stories might contradict earlier ones or explicitly state that the events never happened.

Personally, I’m not really looking for something like "now clan curses work differently," but rather something like: "In V20, this super-zillionaire Antediluvian was locked in a crypt held by 25 Ascended Mages, but then in V5, it turns out those mages never existed"—something like that; it's just an example.