Does the game have romance mechanics?

[FredmundDana]

[The Infinity Sock]

Not sure but my bet is no

[GrandMajora]

Unless you're a worthless Toreador, "romance" will be the absolute furthest thing from your companion's minds. Vampires are by their very fundamental nature solitary predators, guided only by their own selfish ambitions.

The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!

[FredmundDana]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Unless you're a worthless Toreador, "romance" will be the absolute furthest thing from your companion's minds. Vampires are by their very fundamental nature solitary predators, guided only by their own selfish ambitions.

The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!

Isn't love the darkest thing that a miserable soul can fall into? Ok, enough of edgelord jokes. I'm a newbie in this franchise and the doubt seemed valid xD

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by FredmundDana:

Isn't love the darkest thing that a miserable soul can fall into? Ok, enough of edgelord jokes. I'm a newbie in this franchise and the doubt seemed valid xD

Ah, alright then. Well simply put, WoD does NOT follow the obnoxious soap opera style, brooding, bad boy vampires that pop culture media has turned these creatures into. They are monsters... you are playing a monster... expect to do monstrous things, if you wish to survive in their society. ;-)

[LovelyCorpse]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by FredmundDana:

Isn't love the darkest thing that a miserable soul can fall into? Ok, enough of edgelord jokes. I'm a newbie in this franchise and the doubt seemed valid xD

Ah, alright then. Well simply put, WoD does NOT follow the obnoxious soap opera style, brooding, bad boy vampires that pop culture media has turned these creatures into. They are monsters... you are playing a monster... expect to do monstrous things, if you wish to survive in their society. ;-)

Ahh.. but i recall my malkavian girl in the good ol bloodlines had more then one sexual experience.. then again malkavians are crazy.. wich is why they are the only clan i will ever play :)

[DragonByDegrees]

Originally posted by FredmundDana:

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Unless you're a worthless Toreador, "romance" will be the absolute furthest thing from your companion's minds. Vampires are by their very fundamental nature solitary predators, guided only by their own selfish ambitions.

The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!

Isn't love the darkest thing that a miserable soul can fall into? Ok, enough of edgelord jokes. I'm a newbie in this franchise and the doubt seemed valid xD

Hi, person who currently plays Vampire: the Masquerade here.

These "solitary predators by nature" are almost always NOT solitary, as they belong to coteries, to factions (Camarilla, Anarch, Sabbat are the main three that come to mind), to subfactions within those factions, to sects, etc.

Romantic attraction is most definitely a thing in VtM, though vampire parts don't usually work the same as human ones.

If you watch LA by Night, a tabletop chronicle being run by Geek and Sundry that is official, story wise, you'll see vampire characters in relationships.

If you crack the rulebooks for the current version, you'll see mechanics for sex, mechanics for seduction, information about Thin-Blood characters and whether they can bear children (which would be a moot point if they weren't getting it on), and other books detailing things like Blood Weddings.

If you play vampire there's a good chance you'll run into "brooding bad boy vampires" who struggle with what it means to be human when you're NOT human, as well as monstrous fiends so far from human that they don't remember it, and everything in between. This is true looking at lore, at official play, at common personal play at the tabletop level, online, LARPing, etc.

Also, if you want a vampire visual novel with beautiful art, romance, themes that are VERY dark, violence, and some real downer endings mixed in with the usual ones, check out Red Embrace: Hollywood. It captures the feel of the Vampire: the Masquerade world, and if you like Malkavians, you can play as one if you pick the Golgotha clan.

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by DragonByDegrees:

These "solitary predators by nature" are almost always NOT solitary, as they belong to coteries, to factions (Camarilla, Anarch, Sabbat are the main three that come to mind), to subfactions within those factions, to sects, etc.

Vampires band together as an alliance of convenience. But each individual member within that alliance is ultimately focused on their own personal advancement and goals. You need only take a closer look at how each sect conducts political affairs to see evidence of that.

Coteries are rather common among the young and inexperienced vampires, who might need some support to get the job done. But as they grow in power, resources and experience, they don't need to rely on it as often. You may have noticed the older vampires tend to sit in their cozy fortresses, while sending out waves of disposable pawns to do their dirty work for them?


As for romantic attraction existing; of course it does. But in the vast majority of cases, these romances tend to end up in tragedy. As if the fact that 50% of all human marriages end in divorce isn't bad enough, you have to compile that with the fact that Vampires are both immortal (which is a hell of a long time to spend with any singular partner), and they have to fend off the primal urges of the Beast.

Just because you're having sex, or seducing somebody does not mean there is any romantic activity going on. Some people just feel like having a good time, and sex is one of the best ways to do that. Other people learn to use sex as a tool for manipulation, twisting the emotions of their partner to get them to comply with their desires.

Also, you might want to take a closer look at those mechanics. Because the way it was explained to me, only vampires of incredibly high Humanity (as in somewhere around 8 or higher) actually gain any sort of pleasure from sex. The vast majority of vampires simply fake the experience.

[DragonByDegrees]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by DragonByDegrees:

These "solitary predators by nature" are almost always NOT solitary, as they belong to coteries, to factions (Camarilla, Anarch, Sabbat are the main three that come to mind), to subfactions within those factions, to sects, etc.

Vampires band together as an alliance of convenience. But each individual member within that alliance is ultimately focused on their own personal advancement and goals. You need only take a closer look at how each sect conducts political affairs to see evidence of that.

Coteries are rather common among the young and inexperienced vampires, who might need some support to get the job done. But as they grow in power, resources and experience, they don't need to rely on it as often. You may have noticed the older vampires tend to sit in their cozy fortresses, while sending out waves of disposable pawns to do their dirty work for them?


As for romantic attraction existing; of course it does. But in the vast majority of cases, these romances tend to end up in tragedy. As if the fact that 50% of all human marriages end in divorce isn't bad enough, you have to compile that with the fact that Vampires are both immortal (which is a hell of a long time to spend with any singular partner), and they have to fend off the primal urges of the Beast.

Just because you're having sex, or seducing somebody does not mean there is any romantic activity going on. Some people just feel like having a good time, and sex is one of the best ways to do that. Other people learn to use sex as a tool for manipulation, twisting the emotions of their partner to get them to comply with their desires.

Also, you might want to take a closer look at those mechanics. Because the way it was explained to me, only vampires of incredibly high Humanity (as in somewhere around 8 or higher) actually gain any sort of pleasure from sex. The vast majority of vampires simply fake the experience.

Ok, elder. I don't have a lot of time or the inclination to get into a continued wall of text exchange with you, so I'm just going to leave it at:

>As for romantic attraction existing; of course it does

This is the relevant bit, and your own words. Any gatekeeping like "The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!" is unwelcome and unfounded, because it can be both.

To those who don't want romance-peanut butter mixed in with their grimdark-chocolate, just avoid those dialogue options (if they exist) and try to choke back your bile when others don't make your same choices.

Happy hunting!

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by DragonByDegrees:

This is the relevant bit, and your own words. Any gatekeeping like "The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!" is unwelcome and unfounded, because it can be both.

Yes, it's relevant, but you cherry picked the one part of my reply that you felt supported your stance on it. Instead of all the perfectly valid reasons I gave for why the romance is inevitably doomed to failure, regardless if it exists or not.

[DragonByDegrees]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by DragonByDegrees:

This is the relevant bit, and your own words. Any gatekeeping like "The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!" is unwelcome and unfounded, because it can be both.

Yes, it's relevant, but you cherry picked the one part of my reply that you felt supported your stance on it. Instead of all the perfectly valid reasons I gave for why the romance is inevitably doomed to failure, regardless if it exists or not.

K.

[Macro Tofu]

This is why I like kuei-jin better, they still enjoy mundane pleasures

[Metsakurat]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Unless you're a worthless Toreador, "romance" will be the absolute furthest thing from your companion's minds. Vampires are by their very fundamental nature solitary predators, guided only by their own selfish ambitions.

The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!

Vampires love to bang. Sex and vampires go pretty much hand in hand as blood sucking and vampires.

[DragonByDegrees]

Originally posted by Metsakurat:

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Unless you're a worthless Toreador, "romance" will be the absolute furthest thing from your companion's minds. Vampires are by their very fundamental nature solitary predators, guided only by their own selfish ambitions.

The World of Darkness is a game about gothic horror, not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dating sim!

Vampires love to bang. Sex and vampires go pretty much hand in hand as blood sucking and vampires.

Yup, and on top of that (covering the "but sex isn't romance" crap when the context of "Is there romance in this game" usually means "So I can ♥♥♥♥ some of the NPCs, right?"), many undead find that eternity can be a lonely thing without someone or someone*s* to spend it with.

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by Metsakurat:

Vampires love to bang. Sex and vampires go pretty much hand in hand as blood sucking and vampires.

Not in the World of Darkness setting. Your body is clinically dead, and along with it goes your sex drive. Vampires have the physical capacity to engage in sex, but they have no biological urge to do so. And unless you have extremely high levels of humanity, you don't gain any pleasure from it. You're just awkwardly thrusting your genitals together to simulate the act of mating.

And when it comes to humanity loss, the books make it pretty clear that the very nature of it what it takes to even survive as a vampire makes the loss of one's humanity an inevitability. Over time, vampires reach a stabilization point around the 4 or 5 mark. While only those with a Humanity of about 8 or higher gain any pleasure from sex.

[DragonByDegrees]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by Metsakurat:

Vampires love to bang. Sex and vampires go pretty much hand in hand as blood sucking and vampires.

Not in the World of Darkness setting. Your body is clinically dead, and along with it goes your sex drive. Vampires have the physical capacity to engage in sex, but they have no biological urge to do so. And unless you have extremely high levels of humanity, you don't gain any pleasure from it. You're just awkwardly thrusting your genitals together to simulate the act of mating.

And when it comes to humanity loss, the books make it pretty clear that the very nature of it what it takes to even survive as a vampire makes the loss of one's humanity an inevitability. Over time, vampires reach a stabilization point around the 4 or 5 mark. While only those with a Humanity of about 8 or higher gain any pleasure from sex.

K.

And we're likely going to be fresh turns in this game, but keep on keeping on.