There is however, a general feedback that the various 20th Anniversary editions (which are pretty much the de facto 4th editions of each respective game, regardless of what the blurb says) is that the books are alienating to new audiences simply because the books are too big. Any attempt to make more accessible core books is not a bad thing in my view. White Wolf also cited the tagline "One World of Darkness' as a line goal - which implies making the game more international in scope whilst also removing the confusion of the Old/New WoD lines (which they have already done by way of having 'New World of Darkness' become 'Chronicles of Darkness' instead). The main money spinner of the IP is deemed to lie in online gaming and things like TV and movies, so there would be a drive towards integrating these things with a new edition of the game too.
The anniversary books certainly seem unfriendly to newcomers, and as someone the was only interested in the game during its very early stages, I have absolutely interest in Vampire with all the toppings included.
From my own perspective, I would like to see more stripped down core rule books again anyway. I'm a bit of a closet Old School Gamer, but my favourite editions of Vampire are still the earlier ones. The reason is nuanced: the original seven Clans actually reflected real world society - Brujah were left wing socialists and anarchists, Venture were right wing conservatives and the other Clans were all recognisable stereotypes of social strata that we see in real world politics. Because of this there was a degree of satirical content in the game ('You are the monsters!' - presenting how we look at different stratifications of society in a stereotyped and fearful way) that ascended a little above mere genre simulation. Recent editions added more Clans, which were poorly judged in some cases, and the game's more thoughtful aspects became more diluted into being a more generic game about playing vampires, with a heavy backstory and metaphor, than an observation on our own culture.
I get what you are saying. The early supplements were about playing vampires in the real world. Characters in Chicago by Night were largely defined by the real world ideologies of the characters and the background of their human lives. As the line wore on, everything became defined by the insular terms of vampire society. "I'm playing an Antitribu Tzimisce Primogen." The real world began to fade out of the game and it became all about the Sabbat and Camarilla fighting each other.
Adding the Sabbat really did drain the focus of the game as well. It was more interesting when players were introduced into Camarilla society, with its delicate balance between the establishment and anarchs. It was a society on the brink of a revolution, and the players would have to pick a side and hope their side one once it broke out. It was a bleak setting, but it felt like the players were in a position to play a pivotal role. With the Sabbat added, suddenly you were playing in a game where the revolution happened 500 years ago, and was still happening. It was ongoing slog that made it easy to have your combat monster get into fights, but nothing felt consequential.
It also shifted the game from a local focus to a global one. When I ran Vampire for the first time 1991, I set the game in the place I was living. Early Vampire gave he sense that every city was a world unto itself. Having a single city, and one the players all knew, as the focus made the game seem more real, and it made the players matter a lot more. Once the game shifted to a world war between the Camarilla and the Sabbat, city politics became small potatoes.
You have a good point about the constant addition of new clans diluting the game. The original clans were all clear archetypes. The later ones were often flavorful, but didn't have a clear place in the game.
As I said earlier, I don't know if I am really interested in getting into vampire again anyway. I ran a very successful game of it in 1991-92 and it was all diminishing returns for me. It's possible though that having Hite back can renew my interest. Hite is fascinated by real world history and applying it to his games. He has a general lack of interest in games taking place in completely imaginary worlds. Personally, I like both, but the appeal of oWoD for me lay in having the fantastical going on in the real world. A WoD with Hite in charge seems unlikely to drift completely out of the real world and into its own imaginary conflicts. He seems like the right guy to deliver the WoD that I wanted 25 years ago. It's just a question of whether it is something I still want. [/QUOTE]
Funny you mention this, because it was in one of those podcasts where he definitively stated that #Vampires are rapists, which means by his own admission he's working on a game where you play supernatural rapists!
Really curious how he's going to square that away.
Why does he need to square it away? The fact that vampires preying humans was horrific was a central conceit of the game at the start. You need to feed on humans to sate your bloodlust so you don't get hungry, lose control and do even more horrific things. It was all spelled out pretty clearly.
Oh look, mechanized roleplaying, where the designers force a playstyle, rather than let it flow (or not) naturally. Like the Humanity track worked SO WELL!
I agree the Humanity track/Frenzy mechanic never worked well, but I think it was just poorly calibrated, not a bad idea.
The idea behind it is just good, old-fashioned resource management. You build up your blood pool, and can choose to expend it to do cool things. If you expend it too far, you risk bad stuff happening. Players generally get into frenzy territory because they put themselves there. On the whole, it's not really much different than using a magic system where magical mishaps occur if the players get greedy. There is certainly more player control than in Call of Cthulhu where Sanity checks come at you out of nowhere.
I don't think the numbers and probabilities ever worked well to deliver the game they wanted, but I think it was a cool idea. It's just playing Stormbringer, with every player having their own Stormbringer. If you want its cool powers, you better keep that thing fed.