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anim-ttrpgs · 2 days

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Wait does Eureka have its own established lore for how different supernatural creatures work?

Yes, it does!

(I’m going to preface this post by saying that just about everything I’m talking about here, and more, is available FOR FREE for you to read in the free pre-release version of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook that you can download from our website. Go to Chapter 8 to start reading about the supernatural lore. The rulebook itself will do a lot better job of explaining all this than I will, because it has the exact details of how each one works, and I’m just hitting the highlights and going over what those details mean.)

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a game about very human and believable investigators digging into dangerous (often supernatural) mysteries way over their heads, and sometimes those very human and believable investigators will be supernatural creatures themselves.

These supernatural creatures are every bit as human and “normal” as their mundane investigators counterparts, they have jobs, friends, families, hobbies, etc. They live among mundane society, not outside of it.

Most modern fantasy settings have some kind of separation between normal society and magical society, like you see in Harry Potter where there is normal society, and then a separate, secret magical society hidden away from it, or Vampire: The Masquerade, where vampires all have an agreement to keep themselves a secret from normal society despite acting within it.

In Eureka’s world, there is no “masquerade,” but that doesn’t mean that magic and monsters are well-known and well-documented phenomenons. Supernatural creatures such as vampires, wolfmen, etc. are exceptionally rare. Don’t take this as an exact number, but you can probably assume there’s about one of these per every 3.3 million normal people.

This rarity, as well as the fact that each individual has little to gain and everything to lose by revealing themselves (try “coming out” as a person who regularly assaults people and drains their blood), has led to them going largely undocumented in the modern day. Sure, this is the digital age, there are videos, but viral videos are not exactly scientific evidence. For every real vampire caught on camera, there are a thousand hoaxes and horror short films.

There is no secret vampire government controlling things from the shadows—most vampires don’t even know any other vampires, let alone enough to form a secret society with any effect on national politics.

As for how they work, well, that’s one of my favorite parts to talk about.

There are five playable monster types in Eureka (The Vampire, The Wolfman, The Fairy, The Witch, and The Thing From Beyond) plus two extras that are Kickstarter stretch goals (The Dullahan and The Gorgon), but in the interest of time, I’m only going to really go into detail with one of them.

Most playable monster types in Eureka are very, very old-school, with an emphasis on actual historical folklore over just making up all our own lore. That doesn’t mean Eureka doesn’t have a unique approach to the supernatural, though. Little of it is “new,” but it is certainly unique, because to my knowledge no other RPG has ever taken the old stuff this far before. A PC being a monster in Eureka isn’t just a few +1s here and there and maybe a little extra damage from silver weapons, it means playing by an entirely different set of rules from fellow investigators.

The vampires and vampire lore you see in movies are not folkloric vampires, they are mostly a 20th and 21st century pop-culture creation. Eureka’s vampire abilities, weaknesses, and other traits are based on pre-1900 vampire legends, with older traits usually taking precedent over newer ones. Thus, a lot of assumptions you might have about vampires going in could end up being very wrong. For instance, in movies, vampires instantly die when exposed to sunlight, but the first ever instance of a vampire in a story being killed by sunlight was in the 1922 film Nosferatu. In Eureka, sunlight is still awful for vampires, it strips them of their vampiric powers, but it doesn’t do any real damage to them. Sunlight is an issue vampires have to deal with, but it is far from instant death. That doesn’t mean being a vampire is inherently easy though, because in addition to having all the powers that folkloric vampires have (which is a TON), they also have all the weaknesses, and it is the emphasis on weaknesses that really makes the moment-to-moment playing of a monster PC in Eureka the most interesting. A few of my favorites for vampires are the refusal to enter homes without a direct invitation, and the compulsion to count large numbers of small objects. I think most vampire media these days considers these to be “silly” weaknesses and don’t want to acknowledge them in the lore of their “serious” scary horror vampires, but honestly I think that the “sillier” vampire stuff can still be used to great effect in horror. Imagine knowing that the only reason a vicious killer at your door hasn’t stormed in to rip your throat out is because they’re being polite.

A vampiric investigator will need to work around these weaknesses, and more, in their daily life, all while being sure not to reveal their true nature to their more mortal friends. It’s something that really changes how a character behaves and goes about problem-solving.

For instance, the rest of the party may be able to break into a house no-problem, but the vampire cannot. They need a invitation. That’s a problem. That’s a puzzle. It makes me excited just thinking about it.

This was originally going to be a much longer post where I went into more of the themes of monsters in Eureka, but I have decided that that would be most cohesive as its own post, an upcoming essay titled "How Eureka Handles Disability." So stay tuned for that.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is kickstarting from right now until May 10th! Back it while you still can!

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If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

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thewoods-have-eyes · 9 months

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More of vtm madness, my elder daeva im preparing for a session

#myart #my artwrok #vampire the masquerade #vampires #vtm #vampire the requiem

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vexwerewolf · 1 year

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Tabletop Roleplaying Systems as DHMIS Stills

Promethean: The Created

Shadowrun

Vampire: The Requiem

Hunter: The Vigil

Shadow of the Demon Lord

Monster of the Week

GURPS

Dungeons & Dragons 5E/D&D One

Starfinder

Call of Cthulhu

Eclipse Phase

Delta Green

Mage: The Awakening

Don't Rest Your Head

Cyberpunk RED

Lancer

FATE Core

Literally Any Warhammer 40K TTRPG

Transformers RPG

Pathfinder

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probablybadrpgideas · 11 months

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Turning to dust is too low octane.

From now on when vampires enter sunlight they fucking explode in a blast of [Blood Potency] megatons

#rpg #roleplaying game #vampire the requiem #horror #setting idea

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cyberturbine · 2 months

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vampire!E.C. x mage!Goodsir

#the terror #cornelius hickey #amc the terror #the terror amc #adam nagaitis #harry goodsir #hickey x goodsir #hickey/goodsir #paul ready #cofd #chronicles of darkness #vampire the requiem #mage the awakening

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haveyouplayedthisttrpg · 9 days

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Have you played VAMPIRE The Requiem ?

By White Wolf

Vampires trying to retain their humanity while still being blood suckers living in feudal All-Night Society.

NOT the Masquerade version.

#ttrpg #tabletop rpg #poll #poll time #usa #2000s #vampire the requiem

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awakenedsalamander · 4 months

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Here’s some Chronicles of Darkness thoughts for you.

So, Vampire: The Requiem (particularly in its first edition) gets a lot of flak for being kind of a watered down Vampire: The Masquerade. Whereas the other Chronicles of Darkness games really do reimagine their concepts— I mean, compare both Changeling games some time— Requiem struggles more to differentiate itself from its older sibling.

However, its second edition makes a really cool change, in my opinion.

So one of the defending aspects of Masquerade is, well, the Masquerade. Not just the notion that the supernatural hides from the mortal and mundane— that’s standard urban fantasy/horror. No, in Masquerade, that hiding is given focus as a delicate, brutal conspiracy. Part of the identity of that game is how perilous the position of the Kindred is, and how they are just beneath mortal scrutiny they are. It’s why it’s the name of the game.

Requiem… plays it a little differently, at least in 2E. They still have the Masquerade, they even still call it that, but it works in a really interesting way. See, one of the themes of Requiem is just how inhuman vampires are— and that’s a theme in Masquerade, too, but in VTM the focus is on monstrousness by way of immortality.

To lose your Humanity stat in Masquerade, you normally have to behave with deliberately cruelty, or at least reckless negligence, toward the wellbeing of others. Your Hunger makes you a monster, because it drives you to evil. It’s good stuff, I’ve written about it before!

But in Requiem, one of the ways you can lose Humanity is through— and this is a quote— “Surviving something that would hospitalize a human.” The reason being, well, humans can’t do that, not normally. But a vampire? Well, it can be hit by a truck, beaten and stabbed, hell, even shot in the head, and can walk it all off, with a bit of luck. Requiem takes the stance that, cool as that might be, it isn’t *human* in any sense. A lot of the ways you can lose Humanity in Requiem really do revolve around being inhuman in the most literal sense, in addition to being inhumane.

So what does that have to do with the Masquerade?

Well, here’s the thing about monsters: People are scared of them.

We love them too, sure. They’re enthralling, they’re fascinating, they’re impressive. That’s how the vampire lures you in. But when it wants you to go away? That’s what fear is for.

The Masquerade in Requiem is not a network of elders conspiring to silence mortal media institutions. It doesn’t need to be. All it has to be is the hesitance to knock on the apartment door of that sketchy neighbor during daylight hours, the impulse to rush home rather than linger when walking by that alley, the refusal to speak about what could be seen out of the bus window last night, if you looked closely enough.

To quote the book:

This is not about vampires needing to quake and hide, but about the fear humans have of what is hidden from them — just past the truth of Santa Claus and all the horrible adult revelations — the fear that if they shake even the most mundane structure, crawling things will fall out.

(V:TR 2E, p. 60, emphasis mine.)

And well, as much as I love the labyrinthine plots and schemes of VTM, something about VTR’s notion of what hiding from mortals really is sticks with me.

I’ve never really felt like some shadowy vampire puppet master is pulling strings to keep me from finding out about him, you know?But that there might be something horrible down there in the dark, that sends me racing up the stairs, even though I should know better… That I’ve felt.

#cofd #chronicles of darkness #vampire the masquerade #vampire the requiem #vtr

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the-lady-auri · 8 months

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Sketch of my new Vampire the Requiem character. Aemelia, a Lasombra agent of Ordo Dracul. (Yes this is just me porting my witcherverse elder vampire into the system)

Used @raposabranca sketch brush from their pack for most of this. I love it!

#ttrpg oc #art #oc #auri's art #commissions open #lasombra #vampire #vampire the masquerade #vampire the requiem #ordo dracul #sketch

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grauline · 8 months

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batch of portraits for @creativebiter, who commissioned me to draw her entire vampire the requiem coterie ! thank you so much for trusting me with your gorgeous crew 🦇🖤

#vampire the requiem #vtr #v

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crownedinmarigolds · 2 months

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The effervescent Mihai who belongs to the captivating @thewoods-have-eyes!! I LOVE their Nosferatu art, had reached out, and now I adore them and the ground they walk on. Thank you so much for the artwork! I need to draw this mad scientist EVEN MORE! I actually need to as this has been sitting in my drafts for forever and I need to do something much better for you than these sketches!

Bonus art of Ralph absolutely wrecking the plan: (BTW I goofed, these two are actually the same height)

#mihai #thewoods-have-eyes #art trade #not my oc #my art #ralph #nosferatu #vampire the masquerade #vampire the requiem #vtr #vtm #vtm oc #vtr oc #world of darkness #chronicles of darkness

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anim-ttrpgs · 15 days

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Show Questions from the Storyteller Conclave Episode on Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

During the show we were on, which you can listen to here, here, here, or here, we didn't have time to get to all of the audience questions on-air, so @ashweather and I went and answered them in the discord server.

Here they are.

Remember, the kickstarter is still funding until May 10th! We need your help to hit those stretch goals! Tell your friends!

youtube

If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

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thewoods-have-eyes · 6 months

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Thumbnailing my tzimisce npc design for my upcoming campaign before bed uvu

#vtm #vampire the masquerade #vampire the requiem #vampires #myart #my artwrok #original character #tzimisce #wod #world of darkness

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48glowsquids · 8 months

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Little VtR madness incoming. Bear with me, the brainrot is big and I'm already in 4 campaigns or so.

Introducing Moira (Mira/Μοίρα), my unhinged Nosferatu character. She's a very stupid and gothic cardiac surgeon (or was).

#my art #illustration #sketchbook #sketch #watercolors #original art #original character #vtr #vampire the requiem #vtm #vampire the masquerade #wod #world of darkness #nosferatu

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probablybadrpgideas · 1 year

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Vampire bloodline who's bloodline specific weakness is that they're fucking garbage. Cringe fail bloodsucker trash people.

#RPG #Roleplaying game #vampire the requiem #character idea #Horror #I would say they fucking suck #but that is to be fair ambigious in context

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cyberturbine · 9 months

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mage!goodsir x vampire!hickey

#the terror #amc the terror #cornelius hickey #the terror amc #harry goodsir #adam nagaitis #paul ready #cofd #chronicles of darkness #mage the awakening #vampire the requiem #hickey/goodsir #hickey x goodsir

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vamptoll · 4 months

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Reading feudal political histories so that my vampire the requiem social organizations are a delightfully ironic mirror of dynamics that no player will be able to pick up on

#I suppose this is why you only play with graduate students #vampire the requiem #vampire the masquerade #vtm #vtr #wod #i cant lie I do those readings for fun #and trying to tie that into my prince setup is just fun

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