Alright, this is an idea I've been toying around in my head for years and years now, something I've been wanting to do since 2012 and I had made a few minor attempts before but never really got off the ground before. That idea is a conversion of the classic 1991 RPG Vampire: The Masquerade to the rules of that blast from the past that should have stayed, Big Eyes Small Mouth. If this conversion works, I may also convert Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, and The Hunters Hunted to BESM as well.

However, I'm going to lay some ground rules for my conversions. This is a remake/reboot of Vampire: The Masquerade that brings it back to the core without completely making a whole new game like Requiem (Requiem 1e is essentially Masquerade 1e distilled, but more toolkit and with a few Revised Edition mishaps such as the emotional deadness garbage).

It's sort of like hitting the reset button and taking VTM back to its very first edition, with all the mechanical and thematic differences that entails. We will NOT be using the metaplot whatsoever, and so in essence, Revised Edition never happened in BESM Vampire. Imagine if Justin Achilli had never been hired by White Wolf, and instead they hired a young Mark C. MacKinnon in his place.

Anyway without getting further derailed, time to list the ground rules.

1. As stated before, this is a reboot of the Classic World of Darkness that still keeps it in the Classic World of Darkness. It's essentially stripping away Revised Edition (as well as rejecting the upcoming Fifth Edition that Martin Ericsson and his ilk are working on) and going back to First Edition in all of its mysterious and shadowy Gothic-Punk glory.

2. The metaplot never happened. Ever. That means no Week of Nightmares, no Independent Gangrel, no Red Star, no Avatar Storm, no Sixth Great Maelstrom, no changing of Clan weaknesses, no Great Leap Outward, no Gehenna, no Revised Edition bullshit. Period.

3. Certain gamelines are removed from this iteration of the World of Darkness completely. The gamelines in question are Kindred of the East and Demon: The Fallen. So in other words, Kuei-Jin and Fallen do NOT exist. That way, you can actually have VTM games set in Tokyo with actual vampires instead of Kuei-Jin.

4. The rulebooks we will be using for the initial conversions are the First Edition Vampire: The Masquerade Corebook and the First Edition Big Eyes Small Mouth Corebook. This is for multiple reasons. I chose VTM 1e for that old-school Gothic feel and lack of metaplot (and the fact I own a physical copy of it as well, instead of just a PDF), and I chose BESM 1e because I own it on hard copy as well, and because it has both the simplest version of the rules and is the ruleset most compatible with the Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book. I may convert material from the 1e Players Guide, 1e Storytellers Guide, and The Players Guide to the Sabbat from 2e, but first I will be focusing on the materials found in 1e's Core Rulebook first and foremost.

5. As for the other denizens of the World of Darkness, there ARE Werewolves, Mages, Ghosts, and Faeries, as they were all alluded to in the VTM 1e corebook to various degrees. However, we will be using the descriptions and iterations of these creatures from that book and nothing else, at least initially. If this conversion works out, I may convert Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension., though I am unsure about converting Wraith and Changeling. Now, in addition to Mortals, Lupines, and Magi, it is possible that the Vampire PC's may also have to deal with Sailor Scouts and Youma as well. There is a reason why I'm including the Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game in the list of conversion materials after all. However, since this is a toolkit approach, the use of Sailor Moon materials in your BESM Vampire games is optional.

6. The main theme of this is NOT personal horror. So, the Humanity meter is NOT getting converted, at least not for now. That being said, I'm not going to have it just be Trenchcoats & Katanas or just political intrigue either, but instead have this version of Masquerade be a toolkit that can support a variety of themes and sandbox-style play as well.

7. However, we are still keeping the original Gothic-Punk aesthetic from the early days of VTM, just with a few minor anime touches.

Well, now I am off to look over the core materials for this conversion and begin writing notes and making rough drafts. I will be sharing these notes and rough drafts in this thread as I write them down. For now, let me know what you think of this project and how you would convert Masquerade to BESM or any other system.

I fully support this. I ran Palladium's Nightbane using BESM and it was a blast.

Show us a sample Tremere and a Bone Gnawer (or anything you've made so far).  

Quote from: Doc Sammy;9225206. The main theme of this is NOT personal horror. So, the Humanity meter is NOT getting converted, at least not for now. That being said, I'm not going to have it just be Trenchcoats & Katanas or just political intrigue either, but instead have this version of Masquerade be a toolkit that can support a variety of themes and sandbox-style play as well.

Then, what is the main theme?

Explain your vision of V:tM.

Quote from: Spinachcat;922637I fully support this. I ran Palladium's Nightbane using BESM and it was a blast.

Show us a sample Tremere and a Bone Gnawer (or anything you've made so far).  



Then, what is the main theme?

Explain your vision of V:tM.

I'm not sure what the main theme is, I'm imagining a toolkit approach to VTM that can support whatever theme the ST wishes to pursue.