Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption is a computer role-playing game for the PC and Mac platforms, the first computer game to be set in the World of Darkness. It was developed by Nihilistic Software and published by Activision in 2000.

Plot
Based on Vampire: The Masquerade, the game follows the story of Christof, a French knight of the First Crusade. Felled by an arrow in battle, Christof is left behind by his swordbrethren in a convent in Prague, where he is nursed back to health by the nun Anezka. Learning that the city is plagued by hideous schlacta after dark, he heads to their lair in the nearby silver mines and slays them all, along with their mistress, Ahzra the Unliving.

Though celebrated as the hero of Prague, Christof soon learns that Ahzra was a Tzimisce vampire, and not without allies; revenants attack the convent. Fearing he has brought this evil upon them, and also jealous of his burgeoning love for Anezka, the archbishop sends Christof away to defend the town after dark. His heroics have not gone unnoticed by Prague's Kindred; Ecaterina the Wise, a Promethean Brujah, Embraces him before the other clans have a chance. Christof laments his lost soul, but pledges himself to the Promethean cause, hoping to find redemption and his love, Anezka.

Setting
The game begins in the Dark Ages setting, with the action taking place in Prague and Vienna. And the conclusion of the first half of the game, Christof is plunged into a long torpor, and awakens in the modern nights. His adventures continue in London and New York.

Most of the game's material is drawn faithfully from the pen and paper game, perhaps in too much detail; long dialogue sequences from NPCs explain the various clans and aspects of vampirism, even those which do not have much bearing on the game. Many of the game's Kindred are set up as good guys, though even the Prometheans are portrayed as having little regard for mortals, though the player is able to lose Humanity

While all the clans are at least name-checked in the game, not all are available to play. Clans which feature prominently (and which may be played by multiplayer characters or NPCs) are the Brujah, Ventrue, Malkavians, Tremere Cappadocians, Gangrel, Giovanni, Followers of Set and Tzimisce. Other supernatural entities featured in the game include ghouls (both the regular kind, and the schlacta, revenants and war ghouls of the Tzimisce), zombies and animated skeletons (mostly created by the Cappodocians through the use of Mortis), werewolves and a Golem.

Gameplay
Though ostensibly an RPG, Redemption plays very much like a 3D Diablo, with a heavy emphasis on physical combat and few real puzzles. The plot is very linear, with the sporadic dialogue choices making little difference to the plot in most instances. The player cannot create her own characters for the single player chronicle, but must use Christof and the allies he meets in his adventures, though they may be customized through the expenditure of experience. A multiplayer mode allowed for LAN or Internet games (through the WON network, though support for Redemption seems to have been discontinued), and these were run by a Storyteller who was able to possess NPCs and run them as characters, providing their dialogue, and altering the game as necessary to suit the chronicle.

Patches and mods
Originally the game could only be saved in the character's haven; this was rectified in the version 1.1 patch so that the game could be saved at any time. An unofficial version 1.2 patch was released by fans to fix some further bugs and allow the use of user-created maps.

Several mod projects were started for Redemption, but the most famous and extensive is WodMod, which tried to implement not only a more faithful Storyteller ruleset, but also implement the other World of Darkness games as well. Several player-created chronicles also existed, but most are no longer available online.

System
The game uses a heavily modified version of the Storyteller system. Abilities, Merits and Virtues, aside from Humanity, are eliminated. All nine Attributes are present, though Perception, Wits, Charisma and Appearance (which may be boosted by wearing jewellery) have no function in the game beyond being prerequisites for certain Discipline powers. Humanity is gained or lost depending on the characters actions, and has largely the same effects as it does in the pen and paper game.

The wounds system is replaced by a simple numerical Health rating; Blood and Frenzy are rated the same way. All these traits used much larger scales, with Attributes, for example, ranging from 20 as a starting character up to 100. This is to allow the more frequent character advancement expected from computer RPG gamers. Experience rewards and costs are also much higher, presumably for similar reasons.

Disciplines are much more complex than in the pen and paper game. Each power for each Discipline may be rated from zero to five dots; higher level powers become available for purchase only after the first dot is bought in the preceeding power. Higher levels in an individual power make it more likely to succeed, and often decrease the blood cost associated with the power. Most powers have the same names and functions as their pen and paper counterparts, though the player gains access to new Disciplines automatically during the course of the game. Thaumaturgy is very powerful and easy for many characters to learn; the paths available include the Lure of Flames and the Path of Blood.

Intuitively, powers inherent to the state of vampirism are represented as a "Common" Discipline. These powers include skill in feeding, healing, boosting physical Attributes, awakening from torpor and, strangely, "Walk the Abyss". Though neither the Lasombra or Obtenebration feature in the game, this power functions exactly like Diablo's "town portal" spell, transporting the characters back to their Haven. In another move to make the game more familiar to PC RPG gamers, scrolls of especially useful Discipline powers like Walk the Abyss, Spirit's Touch (which identifies magic items) and Blood Healing are sold by vendors.

Blood may be gained by feeding on mortals or other vampires, including other members of the party, or by finding or buying vessels of blood, which include decanters of vitae, blood packs or rats. Killing a mortal while feeding lowers the player's Humanity; drinking a vampire to death does not, and diablerie is not implemented in the game.