Just as it says in the title, today's all about my favourite game from the last year.
Which presents me with a bit of an issue because I am trying very hard not to buy games, if only because I lack a group and hate having things I'm not using cluttering up the house. Also, this means I'm not really buying anything that's really 'new', as in it has a new concept or world or whatever attached to it; mostly because I have reached the stage where games look the same to me (yeah I am sure your world is pretty but in some ways I see it as a marriage of Call of Cthulhu and Harn, and that is not enough to make me put my hand in my wallet, or whatever).
Which brings me to my choice; V20 Dark Ages.
This is the anniversary edition of the Vampire: the Dark Ages, which is probably one of my favourite games, ever. The Medieval setting, the use of the Kindred as movers and shakers behind the scenes and the fact that the Masquerade, which is both a necessary part of modern Vampire and a hoary old chestnut all at the same time, isn't really present. It created a different enough world that kept the good parts of the game but recast it into something different and exciting.
As you might expect the 20th Anniversary edition is lush and beautifully illustrated. It is also the version of the book that feels the most authentic in terms of visuals, with the colour illustrations for the clans lacking the black most of us associate with Goth and therefore with the World of Darkness' vampires, as the two still go hand in hand. The rules overhaul is nice to see too, and importantly, there is a feeling of coming home, even though Dark Ages is something I've only run a one shot of. Looking through it makes me want to run the game though, to do something weird and different (incestuous Tzimisce in a rotting castle, all back biting and politicking against each other while the Tremere, Ventrue and other Fiends cause problems for them) and really see what the game can do.
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