Citadels and Subnautica creators team up for Vendetta, the next Vampire: The Masquerade board game
Catch me if you clan.
Overthrow Chicago’s vampire prince and rule the city in Vendetta, a new board game set in the world of tabletop RPG Vampire: The Masquerade.
The upcoming board game sees players take command of one of the powerful vampire clans featured in the tabletop roleplaying game - such as the intimidating Brujah, charismatic Toreador or influential Venture - and attempt to take control of the city for themselves.
Designed to support three to five players, Vendetta begins with players choosing their clan and collecting their unique deck of cards. These cards will allow players to do things like gain allies, gather influence and acquire new abilities to activate during their turn.
Every round players will be able to draw two cards and choose one to add to their hand, they’ll then be able to play their cards at any of the available locations - choosing to lay the card either face-up, or paying blood to place a card face-down - before spending additional blood to increase their power. Conflicts are resolved by comparing the power of each card played at the same location, plus however much blood each player has chosen to add, with the winner gaining rewards like allies, blood, skills and influence.
The abilities and effects of cards can aid players by winning conflicts or granting them certain benefits, as well as informing them about their potential of winning at that location - with players able to pull out of a location if they believe they will lose a conflict.
Individual clans can provide players with unique abilities to improve their chances of winning conflicts, such as the Brujah’s higher card power ratings, or to just place their opponents at a disadvantage - the Malkavian clan’s ability to steal enemy cards, for instance.
The winner of Vendetta is whoever holds the most influence at the end of three rounds, which enables them to topple the current prince of Chicago and take his place.
Vendetta is based on one of the best tabletop roleplaying games available - Vampire: The Masquerade 5E, which posits a world where creatures of the night stalk the streets of LA and plot to gain power over their rival clans. Vampire: The Masquerade was first released in 1991 as part of the World of Darkness series, which also includes other horror tabletop RPGs such as Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension.
Board game creator Bruno Faidutti - designer of card-drafting game Citadels and quick board game Diamant - and Charlie Cleveland, who directed the Subnautica video game, are co-designers on Vendetta. The upcoming board game is Cleveland’s debut tabletop release.
Vendetta is being published by Horrible Guild, the company previously known as Horrible Games behind party board game Dungeon Fighter, set collection game Potion Explosion and kingdom-management legacy board game The King’s Dilemma. (See what Sara thought of the game’s first few chapters in their King’s Dilemma preview.)
The Kickstarter campaign for Vampire: The Masquerade - Vendetta is live until March 25th, with a pledge of €30 (£26) getting a copy of the base game estimated to arrive sometime in December 2020.
There is currently a free download for a print-and-play version available on the Kickstarter page, as well as links to play the prototype in Tabletop Simulator and on Tabletopia.