Saturday, August 4, 2012

Hopped up on Vamp-Juice


My setting work has taken a steep drop off the past few weeks.  I usually wake up pretty early, getting in an hour or so of writing before work, but I've been sleeping in later and later.  It's the stupid HBO True Blood show - after 4-5 years, I finally started watching it and have been binging on that supernatural soap opera, replete with it's lurid southern gothic themes and trashy sex scenes.

I don't talk about it much on the blog, this mostly being a chronicle of my reunion with old school D&D the past decade, but in the 90's I was predominantly a World of Darkness referee, running a bunch of campaigns.  I had pretty much moved on from the whole 'angst-ridden, unwitting supernatural monster thing', and hadn't shown much interest in the HBO series, but Wifey recently watched the whole thing and she's been a relentless pusher.

The series watches like someone novelized their Vampire: the Masquerade (V:tM) campaign - it’s a mash up of the World of Darkness, urban fantasy soap opera, and dime-store romance.  And yet, it's got an intoxicating blend of vampire politics, werewolves, witches, fairies, shapechangers, ghosts, and random mythological things that immediately conjures those years of running V:tM.  The lure of nostalgia is strong.

Of course, my gaming groups back then were mixed gender, we were younger club-goers hitting the goth-industrial scene on a weekly basis, we had the bloom of youth, and vampires were new and cool.  I picture my current group of middle-aged, suburban dads sitting around the table (with fake vampire teeth, no less) pretending to be angst-ridden vampires wrestling to keep their humanity, and it's cringe-worthy.  Some things are perhaps best left to the past.

Still, with Gen Con looming, I can't help but wonder if I should wander by the White Wolf area and see how things are going these days.  I remember reading earlier in the year that they'd put together a 20th year anniversary edition of V:tM that returned the game to its roots.  Maybe I could just take a peek, for the nostalgia.  Surely I wouldn't buy... too many copies of it.  In the meantime, I'll catch you later - I still have some episodes to watch.

2 comments:

  1. Vampire was my main game other than D&D in the 90s too, though I never really participated in a successful chronicle.

    The style of True Blood is great (and the leavening of humor helps keep it from total self parody), but unfortunately the plots get stupider and stupider as the seasons progress (at least in my opinion). I'm surprised that Alan Ball (of Six Feet Under fame) decided to take this on.

    The opening credits and theme song bit is one of my favorites (up there with the various version of the Tom Waits song Down in the Hole at the beginning of The Wire).

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  2. "Of course, my gaming groups back then were mixed gender, we were younger club-goers hitting the goth-industrial scene on a weekly basis, we had the bloom of youth, and vampires were new and cool. I picture my current group of middle-aged, suburban dads sitting around the table (with fake vampire teeth, no less) pretending to be angst-ridden vampires wrestling to keep their humanity, and it's cringe-worthy."

    Don't worry, I cringe at the thought of your original group, too. :P

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