Less chrome, more black eyeshadow

David Edelstein (a.k.a Amad�n) tells us what he really thinks about the World of Darkness.

I make a lot of fun of Vampire: The Masquerade, and the whole World of Angsty Prentiousness. But I had a prerelease copy of VtM when it first came out, 12 years or so ago, and it was very cool and full of flavor and atmosphere and just the right amount of angst. Then came a bazillion supplements and new lines and Werewolves and Mages and Changelings and Wraiths and Cyborg Ninja Angsty Mutant Demon Turtle Goth-Punk Dweeb-Marauders, and now the WoD looks kind of like Rifts, with less chrome and more black eyeshadow.

I've never actually played Vampire: The Masquerade. The nearest I got was a modern-day horror game in which the PCs were normal mortals, and the vampire was the monster. And the one WoD game I've played was one session of Changeling:The Dreaming (Mr Bindle and the Magic Train), which is an awful lot less angst-ridden than the rest of the WoD. So I don't know how accurate David's description of the game is.

Of course, if you want to play in either of those possible games David is threatening to run, membership of Dreamlyrics now costs much less than it used to be!