Well, I've finished the new Vampire. Interesting read. Here are my thoughts (I'm not going to bother with a chapter-by-chapter breakdown. It's Vampire, but new and shiny).
Firstly, I like the game. A lot. The mechanics (those that are here, rather than the new WoD rulebook) are well handled, consistent, and balanced. The rules also serve the needs of the mood of the game, which is nice. Things like having the Nosferatu clan weakness described in terms of specific effect rather than "Nosferatu are hideously ugly", is nice. When specific rules are needed, they're given (unlike the previous Toreador weakness, which stated that they could be fascinated by beauty, but didn't define what that meant, what actions they could take, and just how it affected them). My biggest griefs with the previous systems (Generation was the be-all and end-all of char-gen for most characters, and could really screw the Dominate-user) have both been fixed.
I really like the division of the clans (only 5: Gangrel, Nosferatu and Ventrue which we know, plus the Daeva, generic sensualist vampires, and Mekhet, the keepers of secrets). I like the use of covenants as "Vampire nations", and the fact that the wacky Tzimisce notions of transcendence are now features of a covenant, where they better belong. I like the notion of the city as a "gilded prison", and like the fact that there's not really any Kindred society above city-level (so, no Camarilla or Sabbat). I really like the fact that the silliness associated with the Sabbat is gone - the game is much more Camarilla in style than the old version. And I like the perceived re-emphasis on playing the game the group wants to play, rather than defining the world and filling it with Metaplot.
There are things I don't like, however. I dislike bloodlines, for the same reasons I did previously (although they're a bit better here, since they seem to be more confined to appropriate niches, and not just excuses for really cool disciplines). I really dislike the use of Brujah (sorry, Bruja), Malkavians (sorry, Malkovians) and Toreador as bloodlines. One of the things I liked about the notion of starting again was that the game could, well, start again.
The other problem I have with the game, which is specific to experienced groups, is that it will probably be quite hard to get a game going. Most of the concepts are most easily explained by saying, "well, it's quite like the old XX", where XX is a clan, sect, or whatever. However, if you do that, you'll just end up playing the same game in the same way, which rather defeats the purpose of a new version. Plus, if an experienced player is creating a Gangrel, you know what you'll be getting, despite the fact that a game with only 5 clans requires each to be a lot wider in scope than one with 13.
On balance, this is probably the best version of Vampire to date. It's certainly better than Revised, but probably on a par with the 2nd Edition in terms of setting. The mechanics are a lot better, however, which gives it the edge. I just don't know how easy it would be to get a good play experience out of it with the current group. And that's the real test, isn't it?
Anyway, next on my list is Green Ronin's "Trojan War", which should make for a fairly effective change of topic.
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