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''Vampire: The Masquerade'' is a role-playing game (RPG) created by Mark Rein-Hagen and released in 1991 by White Wolf Publishing as the first of several Storyteller System games for its World of Darkness setting line.〔Konzack, Lars (2015). Mark Rein•Hagen’s Foundational Influence on 21st Century Vampiric Media. https://www.academia.edu/17844167/Mark_Rein_Hagen_s_Foundational_Influence_on_21st_Century_Vampiric_Media〕 It's set in a fictionalized "gothic-punk" version of the modern world, where players assume the roles of vampires, who are referred to as "Kindred", and deal with their night-to-night struggles against their own bestial natures, vampire hunters and each other. Several associated products were produced based on ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', including live-action role-playing game's (''Mind's Eye Theatre''), dice, collectible card games (''Vampire: The Eternal Struggle''), video games (''Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption'' and ''Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines''), and numerous novels. In 1996, a short-lived television show loosely based on the game, ''Kindred: The Embraced'', was produced by Aaron Spelling for the Fox Broadcasting Company. ==Development== ''Vampire'' was inspired by RPGs such as ''Call of Cthulhu'' and ''RuneQuest'', as well as the writings of Joseph Campbell and Mafia and vampire movies such as ''The Lost Boys''.〔 Rein-Hagen felt that hunting vampires, as a game premise, would get boring so he came up with the idea of a game where the players played vampires instead of hunting them.〔〔 Rein-Hagen specifically stated that he purposefully didn't read Anne Rice's ''Vampire Chronicles'' until "very late" in the development process but admitted she was probably an influence on the vampire films that inspired the game.〔 He wanted to go beyond what Anne Rice had done with creating individuals vampires and create a whole secret vampire society and culture.〔〔 Some of ''Vampire''s central themes of the power of belief developed out of Rein-Hagen's religious upbringing. Though inspired by a comic book given to him by White Wolf business partner Stewart Wieck the cursed character of the Biblical Caine ended up drawing upon Rein-Hagen's religious upbringing. In an "Ask Me Anything" interview on Reddit Rein-Hagen referred to the idea of Caine as the progenitor of all vampires as a "big turning point".〔 He commented further: "I was trying to shy away from religion. After that... I went all in. The game and the world became about religion and belief. My father was a Lutheran minister, and I think that played a huge role in not only ''Vampire'' but the whole ''WoD'' series. I was always fascinated by what made people believe so strongly when I didn't seem to believe at all. Talking about that theme, the power of belief, fueled the second half of ''Vampire'' game design." ''Vampire'' was notably new in many respects. It was conceived as a dark, moody urban fantasy game with a unique gothic feel that harkened back of TSR's ''Ravenloft''. It would also be the first of a series of linked games sharing the same game world.〔 Its simple cover photo of a rose on green marble set the tone for the game and differentiated it from other games on the market. Its content was also novel, as the game focused on plots, intrigue and story as opposed to more straightforward dungeon scenarios. While the RPG industry in general had been trending towards a more narrative approach, ''Vampire'' was one of the first games of its kind to center one these things.〔 Horror games had traditionally been a tough sell in the RPG industry, but ''Vampire'' included elements that made it a dark superhero game rather than purely a horror game. An extensive list of broad supernatural powers, called disciplines, which included superior strength, speed and toughness, as well as other powers such as mystic senses, mind control and blood magic, gave the player characters a more super-human rather than horror feel. The 13 clans added late in the development process provided a much needed character class-like system based on vampiric archetypes which proved very popular with players.〔 For its mechanical elements Rein-Hagen turned to co-designer of ''Shadowrun'' (1989) Tom Dowd. ''Vampire''s system of "comparative" dice pools drew on the mechanics innovated by ''Shadowrun'' changing only the type of die rolled; ten sided rather than six sided. Skill values that determined the number of dice rolled had been used in games like ''Tunnels & Trolls'' or ''Champions'', but rather than add the result of the dice in total, ''Vampire'' compared the result of the dice with a fixed value to determine the degree of success or failure. Skill levels were relatively low, ranging usually from one to five, and were represented with dots rather than numbers, which was the standard of its contemporaries. Players could easily figure their dice pool and roll against the assigned difficulty rating. This system was a boon for narrative style of play that emphasized story over mechanics, as it was easy for new players to quickly grasp.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vampire: The Masquerade」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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