That's our new puppy, Asteria, Dog of the Stars. Call her Terri.
Now then.
The Game: Undying
The Publisher: Magpie Games
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played this game, but I'm pretty familiar with PbtA games and games about vampires
Books Required: Just the one.
Undying is a love letter to Vampire: The Masquerade, expressed in the Powered by the Apocalypse system (which, if we're being honest, is the home Vampire always wanted). The game focuses on moments of conflict followed by longer periods of intrigue, and sounds very much like it embraces the notion of being vampires - feeding on humans, coping with immortality, playing deadly games with other vampires because that's how eternity works.
I have the same questions about this game that I do any latter-day RPG that wants to have you play vampires, though: Didn't we do this already? I mean, sure, the PbtA system is probably a much better fit for this kind of play than the Storyteller system ever was (particularly in its original "you get worse as you get more dice" incarnation), but like, it's been 30 years. Vampires aren't really portrayed the same as they were in the 90s. How would this work at the table? Would people still get into it the way they did with Vampire?
Well, I don't know and I probably never will, because while I have players who might like to play vampires, they're more likely to be interested in playing Masquerade or Requiem. But never say never.
Anyway, let's make a character! First thing is to pick a playbook. Everyone is a vampire, of course, so the playbook determines how you express being that kind of monster. I think Puppet Master sounds fun.
So, having chosen a playbook, next step is to record Heritage and Look. Hmm. Normally there'd be lists for this kind of thing, but I'm apparently winging it here, which is fine. I'll say my character is West African and grew up in poverty. He was taken from his family in circumstances he still doesn't quite understand, and was turned into a vampire in his 20s. He's thin, has eyes that are a little too large for his face, short hair that's still a little patchy (bad nutrition most of his life), and yellowed nails.
I can choose to be a Plebian or Pariah in social standing. What's the difference? Seems to be that as a Pariah, I basically have no place in vampire society and no right to hunting grounds. You know, I think that's fine. I'll start at the bottom.
Now I choose my Humanity level. I can be Humane, Callous, or Monstrous. I see this guy as hardened by his life and pretty opportunistic, but not a total loss yet, so I'll be Callous.
Debt I can skip because it requires a group (and it might not apply to me as a Pariah anyway?).
Maker...normally, we'd have a relationship map with some existing NPCs and I'd choose one to be my maker, but it's just me, so I'll just name my maker. I'll say his name is Nicholas, and he picked my character because recognize a "lean and hungry" kind of thing going on. He even went so far as to rename him "Cassius" to round out the Shakespeare reference (and because Nicholas couldn't pronounce my character's real name).
And, well, I think that's it. I don't get a hunting ground (and it'd be a GM thing anyway) and I don't have to pick moves, I don't think...oh, hang on. I have an enterprise that gives me money and influence, and I get two assets and two liabilities. Let's say Cassius runs a phone/email scam enterprise (yes, there's a kind of "Nigerian prince" cliche here, but Cassius tries to keep it more sophisticated than that). The assets are secretive and responsive (his people know the value of staying low and they're generally ready to go), the liabilities are competition and litigation (other folks are running similar scams and poisoning the well, and of course you get sued a lot).
And I think that's it! I picture Cassius as somewhere between Barkhad Abdi in Captain Philips and Ed Harris in Glengarry Glen Ross; he's in over his head, but he's got something that could be workable if he can get enough of a break.
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