If you played Vampire: The Masquerade forget everything you know about vampires! Why? All the traditions and organisations, just about everything you are familiar with has either gone altogether or has been changed enough that you'll have to relearn about them anyway. In many ways, this is an improvement - often it seemed that things were being tacked on, added in as they were thought of, while this version gives a coherent basis on which subsequent books can be produced expanding different parts of the whole.

There is an immense amount of atmosphere in this book. It's beautifully presented, with an appropriate preponderance of deep blood red as the only colour on the pages.

Overall, the system has matured and is more coherent than its forerunners. However, the entirety of vampire history and tradition built up in over a decade of published material for Vampire: The Masquerade has been swept away. It's not just the rules which have changed: so has the whole World of Darkness, so what you thought you knew is of use no longer. Every time I read the book, I'm all ready and eager to go write a Chronicle! It's full of ideas and hints and inspiration.

The thing I love the most about role-playing is a good story. With Vampire: The Requiem (VtR), you have the basics for an awesome story in a most familiar setting (modern-day horror). I love maps and monsters in role-play, but sometimes you want less combat and more story. You want characters that remind you of people you know. This game brings you into the World of Darkness in a classic gothic setting that is at the same time both horrific and beautiful. My friends and I play this game over the internet and love it. For those of you who love political intrigue, gothic horror, and vampires in general, get this book!!

First thing first: to be able to play VtR you will need a copy of the World of Darkness rulebook which contains all the base mechanics of the Storyteller system.

Once you've got both books, you can appreciate the quality of the work that has been done: cleaned-up rules (faster in play, simpler in principles), background getting rid of a bogged-down metaplot, inspiring twists on well-known tropes of The Masquerade... The Requiem is a new game, a better game, a great game.

It's a classic of tabletop role-playing like Call of Cthulhu, D&D are. You ought to try this game at least once. If you like the concept of modern vampires in a world of darkness, like movies like Interview with a Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula and so on, you'll be greatly pleased.

Have fun!