History TabletopGame / VampireTheRequiem

* PowerPerversionPotential: ... Have you been paying attention to a word on this page?
** For added {{Squick}}, how's about those Sangiovanni, what with the built-in OCD that makes them freak out when they're not around corpses? Yes, some of them do like corpses that [[ILoveTheDead way]], why do you ask?
* ProfessorGuineaPig: The Coils of the Dragon are induced by a vampire experimenting on themselves until they form a Chrysalis, which causes their bodies to "evolve."
** Vlad Tepes and his Brides, as the originators of the Coils, especially count, since they're the ones who developed the Coils in the first place, not knowing if they would work.
** The Blut Alchemie of the Geheim also counts.

** Obscure one: one of the stories in "Strix Chronicles" collection is centered on the vampire girl Mathilda McGillicuddy. This is a name of a background character in TheSecretWorld, used by author who worked on both.

* CannibalismSuperpower: The Macellarius, a Ventrue Bloodline, possess the unique power of Gustus. This allows them to, among other things, consume, digest and gain [[LifeEnergy Vitae]] from human flesh, store extra Vitae as body fat and to spew highly acidic bile. Sounds more repulsive than convenient, right? Except that at its highest rank, Gustus allows you to absorb the powers and copy the abilities of others by consuming their flesh, and it works on mortals and fiends alike. [[{{Munchkin}} Munchkins]] [[GameBreaker ahoy!]]

* CannibalismSuperpower: The Macellarius, a Ventrue Bloodline, possess the unique power of Gustus. This allows them to, among other things, consume, digest and gain [[LifeForce Vitae]] from human flesh, store extra Vitae as body fat and to spew highly acidic bile. Sounds more repulsive than convenient, right? Except that at its highest rank, Gustus allows you to absorb the powers and copy the abilities of others by consuming their flesh, and it works on mortals and fiends alike. [[{{Munchkin}} Munchkins]] [[GameBreaker ahoy!]]

* ButNotTooForeign: A plot point introduced in ''Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners.'' The character Emily Eupraxus Washington was inducted into the ancient Roman Eupraxus bloodline, who are treated as the figureheads of the [[AristocratsAreEvil Invictus]] Covenant. Emily's half-Japanese, and is portrayed as an ineffectual ruler and [[{{Moe}} moe blob]]. The plot is that the elder Invictus are largely racist feudal Europeans, but they dare not act against their crown jewel. The younger Invictus, on the other hand, love Emily because her combined lineage and bloodline show that the Invictus is capable of [[SocietyMarchesOn adapting to the modern world.]] [[WildMassGuessing Allegedly,]] the Japanese ancestry also pleases a [[OccidentalOtaku large part of the fan base.]]

** The Circle of the Crone are barely even an AncientTradition, much less a conspiracy, given how splintered they are as an organization. Nonetheless, they've managed to pass down the secrets of [[BloodMagic Cruac]] for millenia, so there's at least something to them.

* BloodMagic: Both the Acolytes and the Sanctified are users of this, though Theban Sorcery depends on other reagents, and Cruac is pure Blood Magic.

* HermeticMagic: Cruac and Theban Sorcery
** Only for Cruac's "default" mode. Cruac actually has rules for shaping it to fit any culture's view of magic.

** Blood Sorceries (Cruac, Theban Sorcery), unlike Disciplines, cannot be lowered in the XP/dot price based on any clan or covenant builds. Aside from free Rituals, you also have to spend a lot more XP/dot to reap any benefits from high-end Blood Sorcery Rituals, and those often come with a steep price that makes them more trouble than their worth. Most early Rituals are usually fairly gimmicky, while late Rituals tend to require reagents that make them hard to cast outright, or have deleterious effects alongside being powerful.
** Coils of the Dragon vary by which Mystery you're pursuing; most have good lategame bonuses, but should only be pursued if you're also boosting corresponding skills, attributes, and other goods that make them a major investment not too far off from Cruac or Theban Sorcery.

* AGodAmI: Every member of the Asnam bloodline. To wit, the Asnam are a [[TheBeautifulElite Daeva]] bloodline whose special abilities allow them to make a ghouled human appear prettier than he really is, transfer blood or willpower to or from one of her ghouls over large distances, sleep in the body of a ghoul and prepare a child in such a way that, when the Asnam suffers FinalDeath their soul is transferred into the body of the child. They are also true egomaniacs, which allows the [[GameMaster Storyteller]] to grossly underplay the difficulty of a task up to two times per scene.

* FinalDeath: Since vampires are the walking dead to begin with, and pretty hard to kill, this is their term for any vampire that is truly destroyed (which generally requires fire or sunlight).

* {{Cuckold}}:
** Cuckolding is usually just implied with [[FridgeHorror the art and a few throwaway lines]], but there are some large, [[TearJerker heart-breaking]] plots that emphasize it.
** ''Ancient Bloodlines'' speaks of a vampiric Babylonian priestess' [[LesbianVampire lesbian lover]] being taken from her forcibly by the [[TheEmperor emperor of the En]]. Turns out the lover eventually fell for her abductor in typical NTR fashion. Unlike other cuckold stories, the priestess got her revenge on them by creating the [[ThePowerOfHate Iltani]] and [[EldritchAbomination edimmu]].
** The trope is taken '''''UpToEleven''''' with [[MeaningfulName the Honeymoon Hijackers]] Charles and Charlene Greengrass. They were kidnapped and turned into vampires on their respective wedding nights by cruel sires, with their spouses killed. Charles and Charlene meet one another ten years after their abductions, instantly recognize the predicament of the other, and fall in love. They [[YourSoulIsMine diablerize]] their sires, escape vampire society, get into a scary codependent relationship, [[LoveMakesYouEvil then perform cuckolding scenarios and serial killings on any recently married couple they can find.]][[note]]Diablerie causes vampires to sometimes pickup traits of the soul they ate. It's implied that's why the couple do what they do, despite their actions mirroring their own tragic histories.[[/note]]
-->Mess with their heads. Get it so the victims love their keepers, will do anything for them (even better if they can work one of the couple against the other--[[LampshadeHanging so sweet, that betrayal]]).
--->'''Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners, pg. 74'''
** Coming full circle, Charlene cheats on Charles. [[DestructiveRomance He doesn't know, but she wants him to.]]

* '''The Invictus:''' [[DeadlyDecadentCourt The crème de la crème of Kindred society]]. Sheer force of meritocracy (Invictus screw-ups do not last long) generally makes them competent administrators, but since the faction has no code of ethics and their attitude towards political maneuvering is [[Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli Machiavellian]], Invictus-ruled territories are classic examples of ''At least [[NoDelaysForTheWicked the trains run on time]]."

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Pick an Elysium, ''any'' Elysium.

* FiveRaces: The five vampire clans. Complicated by the facts that there was a sixth clan, the Julii in ancient Rome, who were replaced by the Ventrue, and that the Mekhet have an alternative clan weakness in the form of the Hollow, introduced in their clanbook. ''Blood and Smoke'' adds a couple of other fallen clans, and a new one: the Jiang Shi of North Carolina, who appear to be developing into something much more like the standard clans.

* CrossOver: It doesn't involve metaplot since it doesn't exist in this iteration of the [=WoD=], but it's still worth pointing out:

* PowerBornOfMadness: The [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Malkavians of the oWoD]] became a ''Ventrue'' bloodline called the ''Malkovians'' in the new [=WoD=]. The basic concept is mostly the same, though they don't have Dementation anymore, but a form of Domination that, if it backfires, causes the vampire to be consumed by madness again for a time.

* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: The TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness in general is fond of the notion that when something big happens, even people who don't believe in the supernatural ''feel'' it. From the Chicago sourcebook, when discussing the prospect of an elder moving to a new city:

A tabletop roleplaying game in the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness line and SpiritualSuccessor of TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade. Players take the roles of vampires, people [[CursedWithAwesome Cursed]] with eternal (un)life, supernatural power, and -- oh, yeah -- [[BlessedWithSuck bloodlust and a fatal sunlight allergy.]]

* WoundsToKeep: Vampires can prevent their HealingFactor from erasing a physical change to their body, but it costs a Willpower point at minimum, whether they're trying to keep a scar from a noteworthy battle or a simple haircut.

** TheSmartGuy: Clan Mekhet (They trade in information

* FantasyAxisOfEvil: The Vampires as a whole belong to the Fallen among the other "races" of the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness, but this trope can also apply to the five Clans. You should note, however, that they may might not fall squarely under each category...
** Savage: The Gangrel may be considered both Savages (indeed, their nickname) and Eldritches, because of the greater influence The Beast have on them.
** Eldritch: The Nosferatu due to their appearance, but a little Crafty by nature.
** Humanoid: The Daeva or, even, the Ventrue, but it suits better the Mekhet since they lack true uniqueness.
** Fallen: All over the Daeva with a hint of Humanoid because they blend easily among mortals.
** Crafty: The Ventrue and their machinations/lust for power, but they do show a dash of Fallen.

* AffablyEvil - The Spina, a Daeva bloodline whose unique curse makes them ''obsessed'' with politeness. Their unique Discipline, Courtoisie, encourages this -- you can ignore attack penalties by [[CallingYourAttacks announcing your intent,]] use your Social Traits for combat dice pools by [[CasualDangerDialogue having a conversation in mid-battle,]] and at the pinnacle, [[YouFightLikeACow tell another vampire off so hard they ]]''[[WordsCanBreakMyBones bleed.]]''

* AgeWithoutYouth - The Oberloch bloodline.
* AGodAmI - Every member of the Asnam bloodline. To wit, the Asnam are a [[TheBeautifulElite Daeva]] bloodline whose special abilities allow them to make a ghouled human appear prettier than he really is, transfer blood or willpower to or from one of her ghouls over large distances, sleep in the body of a ghoul and prepare a child in such a way that, when the Asnam suffers FinalDeath their soul is transferred into the body of the child. They are also true egomaniacs, which allows the [[GameMaster Storyteller]] to grossly underplay the difficulty of a task up to two times per scene.

* AnimalEyeSpy - Animalism 4's ability.
* {{Animorphism}} - Clan Gangrel.
* ApocalypseMaiden - This is either the Crone, or a potential daughter of hers. No one's entirely sure.

* AscendedDemon - Golconda. Maybe.

* BadassBookworm - Besides the inherent badassery that comes from knowing certain Coils (such as learning not to frenzy and how to minimize damage from fire and sunlight), the Ordo has an entire group of these known as the Sworn of the Axe. They were founded by Mara, the most violent of the Brides of Dracula, and they will gladly kill you if you threaten the Ordo.
* TheBaroness - The female Ventrue.
* BastardBoyfriend - This is what a ghoul's regnant is by default.
* TheBeautifulElite - Deconstructed by the Daeva.
* BeingGoodSucks - Not all the time; it's more that EvilFeelsGood. However, the opposite of the Gangrel Red Surrender--which may or may not even be real, but which is rumored to exist--results in getting penalties where the Surrender gives benefits and vice versa, for a single night once per week... and one other ironic twist:

* BittersweetEnding - Ending a story like this is par for the course.
* BlessedWithSuck - It is ''not'' fun to be a vampire. Those who disagree tend to become ash in the wind one way or another. To the point that, in 2e, many of a vampire's ''own inherent powers'' can cause them to lose points of Humanity -- use some of that SuperStrength or SuperSpeed? That's a Humanity 9 "sin". Survive an attack thanks to your combination of SuperToughness and HealingFactor? That's a Humanity ''7'' sin. Even your immortality causes you to slip towards monstrosity; only vampires with a Humanity of ''1'' are immune to the need to make checks for surviving centuries.

* ButNotTooForeign - A plot point introduced in ''Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners.'' The character Emily Eupraxus Washington was inducted into the ancient Roman Eupraxus bloodline, who are treated as the figureheads of the [[AristocratsAreEvil Invictus]] Covenant. Emily's half-Japanese, and is portrayed as an ineffectual ruler and [[{{Moe}} moe blob]]. The plot is that the elder Invictus are largely racist feudal Europeans, but they dare not act against their crown jewel. The younger Invictus, on the other hand, love Emily because her combined lineage and bloodline show that the Invictus is capable of [[SocietyMarchesOn adapting to the modern world.]] [[WildMassGuessing Allegedly,]] the Japanese ancestry also pleases a [[OccidentalOtaku large part of the fan base.]]

* CameBackWrong - The Nosferatu. Some are TheGrotesque, but most simply have something about them -- eyes that are an unnatural color, an odor, the way they move, or even an aura about them -- that is ''just not right''.

* CanisLatinicus - "Lancea Sanctum." Changed to the actually correct "Lancea et Sanctum" in 2e.
* CannibalClan - The Oberloch bloodline seem to be based on the CannibalClan types you see in horror movies like the ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre'', but are actually derived from the [[DeepSouth redneck]] thing. A truer cannibal clan would be the Noctuku, who feed on other vampires exclusively, or the Macellarius, who do that occasionally, but really emphasize the family unit.

* TheCasanova - The male Daeva.

* ChineseVampire - This would be the Jiang Shi variant of vampire. They even make use of the genderswap power legends speak of, but is often forgotten in modern portrayals.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder - Zig-zagged, depending on splatbook. For example; in ''World of Darkness: Chicago,'' it's played straight with Richard Tabor.
* CityOfAdventure - New Orleans is cited to possess the best aesthetic for any Vampire campaign that doesn't have the capacity to purely homebrew a Vampire city. Los Angeles is also a noted city for a Vampire campaign, given its connections to Kindred history.
* ClassicalMovieVampire - One of the three elder vampires claiming to be Dracula is a fellow nicknamed "Hollywood Drac." He's described as looking like a cross between Creator/BelaLugosi and Creator/ChristopherLee, and is pictured wearing the traditional white-tie evening clothes, black cape, and pendant.

* {{Cosplay}} - People who play in the LARP version of the game, Mind's Eye Theater, often dress-up as their characters or major [=NPCs=]. The actual rulebook for the LARP even uses pictures of some players cosplaying as New Orleans mainstays [[RetiredBadass Pearl Chastain]] and [[HollywoodVoodoo Baron Cimetiere]], who himself is cosplaying Baron Samedi.
* CrapsackWorld - ''Especially'' for humans. [[TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil Some humans take issue with this state of affairs]] and have developed potent tools towards that end-such as a device that essentially makes a vampire's unique metabolism self-destruct in rather graphic fashion.
* CripplingOverspecialization - The Moroi bloodline are a group of uber-predators kept as assassins by the Ordo Dracul. They boast strength and toughness beyond even undead norm, they have both Obfuscate (vampiric stealth) and Animalism (animal control), and they're an option for both Gangrel ''and'' Nosferatu, meaning that they have relatively easy access to Protean (shapeshifting) and Nightmare (inflicting fear), though they're no longer in-clan. They also have murderous urges even more powerful than other vampires that take up most of their concentration, and while they're not precisely deformed, they have yellowish skin and their air of menace allows even oblivious humans to understand there's ''something'' wrong with them. So yeah, good if you want to fight, sneak, or assassinate, bad if you want to, say, carry on a normal conversation, or do more than basic math.

* CrossOver - It doesn't involve metaplot since it doesn't exist in this iteration of the [=WoD=], but it's still worth pointing out:

* DeadlyDecadentCourt - Pick an Elysium, ''any'' Elysium.
* DeafComposer - Any vampire cooks, by virtue of having normal food taste utterly rancid. For that matter, virtually any vampire artist of any sort lacks any emotional insight or expression, regardless of how many dots the player puts into Expression and Manipulation, because vampires are, not to put too fine a point on it, dead inside.
* DemocracyIsBad - The Invictus don't believe in democracy, as it's easy to subvert with their psychic Disciplines. The Invictus Emperor story is actually a SpaceWhaleAesop about this.
* DemonicPossession - Dominate 5: any human so possessed this way tends to go insane or even catatonic.

* DysfunctionJunction - Enforced by the Predator's Taint rule. Basically, vampires are meant to be solitary hunters, and thus the [[EnemyWithin Beast]] tries to go into either a rage or a fear frenzy upon running across another vampire for the first time (the type of frenzy depending on whether the triggering vampire is of lower or higher Blood Potency, respectively). A roll is made to avoid this, but if it fails, [[HilarityEnsues well...]] It can be also be bypassed entirely if ''both'' possess the second level of Obfuscate.
* EmptyShell - What excessive uses of Dominate can do to a person.

* EnemyWithin - All vampires suffer from The Beast, an animalistic, id-like force with a hint of supernatural malice, that attempts to compel them into immediately satisfying their instinctive urges, such as craving for blood, fear of sunlight or anger at the slightest provocation, no matter the circumstances. Its motives can be summarised as "Hunt. Kill. Feed. Sleep. Repeat."

* EvilFeelsGood - Humanity is lost by not showing remorse for misdeeds. And the Red Surrender, a Gangrel-only mindset that gives the beast a little more free rein, feels ''really'' good.
* EvilMinions - The Staff merit grants a variaty of non combatant characters (maids, gardeners, etc.) However they may not be evil per se.
* EvilTastesGood - Feeding causes a vampire to have something somewhere between an adrenaline rush/orgasm.
* EvilTwin - The Hollow Mekhet are haunted by their Ka (the reflection/shadow from Egyptian mythology). It doesn't want to kill them (because that would kill it too); it wants to make them suffer...

* EvilVersusEvil - In a game where you are a VillainByDefault in a society based on TheSocialDarwinist trope and the game's system tries to make it really hard to play TheAtoner, you get this.

* FanDisservice - The cover of ''The Wicked Dead'' has a LesbianVampire blood orgy. [[NightmareFuel It's not sexy. In the slightest.]]
* FanService - [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since [[WordOfGod it's explained]] that the art for the books is often commissioned before the written material is finished, so the pictures will sometimes not match the text! The end result is that we get illustrations of sexy vampire girls (and guys!) for no appreciable reason.

* FantasticRacism - The clanbooks bring up the idea that the Daeva and Ventrue are the top of vampire society, while the Mekhet are looked down upon. The Gangrel are equated with dogs, and Nosferatu? Worms.

* FantasyAxisOfEvil - The Vampires as a whole belong to the Fallen among the other "races" of the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness, but this trope can also apply to the five Clans. You should note, however, that they may might not fall squarely under each category...

* FantasyCounterpartCulture - [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] to emphasize that Kindred were once mortal, and that they love their old lives a lot, thank you very much.

* FateWorseThanDeath - Ultimately every vampire will surrender to their beast and become either a mindless beast or a careful predator. For some that is a FateWorseThanDeath but for some (just read the Belial's Brood description above) it's a ''blessing''.

* FiveRaces - The five vampire clans. Complicated by the facts that there was a sixth clan, the Julii in ancient Rome, who were replaced by the Ventrue, and that the Mekhet have an alternative clan weakness in the form of the Hollow, introduced in their clanbook. ''Blood and Smoke'' adds a couple of other fallen clans, and a new one - the Jiang Shi of North Carolina, who appear to be developing into something much more like the standard clans.

* ForeignFanservice - ''Requiem for Rome'' portrays the Daeva as sexy Middle Easterners.
* ForScience - The stated motive behind many of the more horrible things the Ordo Dracul do. For example, "Following the Dragon's Tail," which involves murdering a frequently randomly selected innocent, just to observe the effect of the murder on the victim's friends and family, as a lesson in the unpredictability of the consequences of one's actions. An expanded version, called "Counting the Dragon's Scales," involves a number of vampires and coordinated mass slaughter, and is intended to allow the study of what happens when an entire city collectively craps itself in terror.

* ForTheEvulz - One of the most deranged things introduced in the game is a ghoul family called the Crassus. Unlike most ghoul families, these guys are pretty awesome. They're a 6,000 member family with tons of cash, connections, fame, and Kindred disciplines. They're called the Caesars, and sometimes the royalty of America. They have their hand in everything from insurance to Mob wars. But there's a catch: see, this family was created when a Ventrue dude named Lysander agreed to paying a Roman gambler's debt, but in return everyone in his family is now a toy for Invictus members. Only a few individuals in the family know this. And by "toy," we mean the Invictus can beat and rape the hell out of them whenever they want to vent out some of their frustration (or the lulz), only to return the poor Crassus member to their normal life as if nothing has happened. [[RefugeInAudacity The Crassus are noted for being incredibly resistant to the thought of anything supernatural, even their own powers, so they always always rationalize this regular degradation as some "evil uncle paying a visit."]] The fluff actually encourages this behavior: the Crassus are consistently portrayed as [[RichBitch vain and snot-nosed rich kids]] that [[BreakTheHaughty "need to be taken down a peg or three"!]] But wait, it gets better! All Crassus ghouls can have their choice of either the Ventrue or Daeva weakness. Clearly, being part of a rich family sucks in this world.

* HermeticMagic - Cruac and Theban Sorcery

* NietzscheWannabe: Forsworn who bother explaining themselves tend to come off like this, what with the obsession with "the lies of society" and such. As far as vampires go, [[StrawmanHasAPoint they're probably right]].

* CannibalClan - The Oberloch bloodline seem to be based on the CannibalClan types you see in horror movies like the ''Franchise/TheTexasChainsawMassacre'', but are actually derived from the [[DeepSouth redneck]] thing. A truer cannibal clan would be the Noctuku, who feed on other vampires exclusively, or the Macellarius, who do that occasionally, but really emphasize the family unit.