Foundry Arbitrary Pool Dice Roller

I roll a lot of arbitrary sets of dice and use Foundry, so I want a system that lets me roll a number of Hunger and non-Hunger dice that I choose. This macro just feeds into the Foundry World of Darkness 5e system I already have installed. To use it, just create a Macro and paste this as the code. This was mostly written by Gemini and tweaked a bit by me.

/**

 * V5 Prompted Roll Macro (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

 *

 * This script displays a dialog box prompting the user for the number of

 * regular 'Vampire Dice' (dv) and 'Hunger Dice' (dg).

 * It then constructs the V5-specific roll formula (e.g., 4dv + 2dg) and

 * executes it by directly passing the command string to Foundry's chat processor,

 * ensuring the V5 system module correctly processes the roll result.

 */

(async () => {

    // --- 1. Define the HTML for the Dialog Form (Keeping accessibility improvements) ---

    const dialogContent = `

        <style>

            .v5-dialog-form .form-group {

                display: flex;

                flex-direction: column;

                margin-bottom: 10px;

            }

            .v5-dialog-form label {

                font-weight: bold;

                margin-bottom: 5px;

            }

            .v5-dialog-form input[type="number"] {

                padding: 5px;

                border: 1px solid #7a0000; /* V5 Theme Color */

                background: rgba(0,0,0,0.05);

                border-radius: 4px;

                text-align: center;

                /* Add a visual focus indicator for accessibility */

                transition: box-shadow 0.2s ease-in-out;

            }

            .v5-dialog-form input[type="number"]:focus {

                /* High-contrast focus ring for keyboard navigation */

                box-shadow: 0 0 0 2px #7a0000, 0 0 0 4px #ccc;

                outline: none;

            }

        </style>

        <form class="v5-dialog-form">

            <p>Enter the number of dice for your V5 roll:</p>

            <div class="form-group">

                <label for="vampire-dice">Vampire Dice (Normal Dice):</label>

                <input type="number" id="vampire-dice" name="vampire-dice" value="4" min="0" data-dtype="Number"

                       title="The number of standard dice (dv) for the roll." aria-label="Vampire Dice">

            </div>

            <div class="form-group">

                <label for="hunger-dice">Hunger Dice (Blood Dice):</label>

                <input type="number" id="hunger-dice" name="hunger-dice" value="2" min="0" data-dtype="Number"

                       title="The number of Hunger Dice (dg) for the roll." aria-label="Hunger Dice">

            </div>

        </form>

    `;

    // --- 2. Create and Render the Dialog ---

    new Dialog({

        title: "V5 Custom Roll Prompt",

        content: dialogContent,

        buttons: {

            roll: {

                icon: '<i class="fas fa-dice-d10"></i>',

                label: "Execute Roll",

                callback: (html) => {

                    // Extract values from the rendered dialog HTML

                    const vampireDice = parseInt(html.find('#vampire-dice').val()) || 0;

                    const hungerDice = parseInt(html.find('#hunger-dice').val()) || 0;

                    // Validation check

                    if ((vampireDice + hungerDice) <= 0) {

                        return ui.notifications.warn("Roll canceled: You must enter at least one die.");

                    }

                    // --- 3. Construct the Roll Formula ---

                    // The system uses 'dv' for Vampire Dice and 'dg' for Hunger Dice.

                    const formula = `${vampireDice}dv + ${hungerDice}dg`;

                    

                    // --- 4. Directly Execute the Roll Command via Chat UI Processor (The most reliable fix) ---

                    // This method is functionally equivalent to typing "/roll 4dv + 2dg" into the chat input

                    // and hitting enter, ensuring all necessary Foundry and V5 system hooks are triggered.

                    const commandString = `/roll ${formula} # V5 Custom Roll: ${vampireDice}V + ${hungerDice}H`;

                    

                    // ui.chat.processMessage is a dedicated method for executing chat commands.

                    ui.chat.processMessage(commandString);

                }

            },

            cancel: {

                icon: '<i class="fas fa-times"></i>',

                label: "Cancel"

            }

        },

        default: "roll"

    }).render(true);

})();

I want to run a Chronicle - Where Do I Start?

For ages, I've said "Play The Monsters as your first story for Vampire the Masquerade V5." But that's out of date. There's many better options now. I've solicited opinions on Reddit and dug into Reddit posts over the past few years to help you determine the best place for you to start - for you.

I started this article intending to go through all the various paths that you could possibly try. I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'm going to give you an opinionated path to start V5.  I'm assuming sessions will be around 3 hours long - adjust based on the length of your sessions.

Start with New Blood (but don't play all of it)

New Blood

Get it: DriveThruRPG - $7.50 USD

Length: 4-8 hours (1-3 sessions)

Pros: Fantastic introduction to Vampire; starts with a bang; trickles out mechanics as they are needed

Cons: Drags towards the end; very thin pre-made characters

Description (from Renegade Game Studios)

Designed with new Storytellers and players in mind, it features a new story that teaches you to play this new edition of the roleplaying game, a rules reference guide, printable enemy and victim cards, 7 player characters, and a relationship map.

Reddit User Quote: 

"New Blood is super basic without a doubt, but you can run it straight as it is as a new ST for new players and have a good time with it. At least good enough to instill a thirst for more." - Fussel2

My Thoughts

New Blood is the intended path into V5 from Paradox/WhiteWolf. It trickles out the mechanics, themes, and systems of the game. If you've never run Vampire before, if you aren't comfortable with learning from the rules (or this blog), if you (or your players) are new to TTRPGs, if your players don't want to learn from the books - if any of these are the case, I strongly recommend a New Blood one-shot. If you're the sort that really learns well from a core book, that consumes rules like a pro, that has played Vampire before - potentially take a pass, though I think this module has potentially to be really fun for anyone.

New Blood starts with a vivid scene - the player characters trapped in a meat locker with animal carcasses and a dead body. It introduces Hunger quickly, the first time the characters feel the Beast, the Hunger Dice mechanics, and how to roll. It slowly introduces the key mechanics players and storytellers will need to play the game.

My recommended path is to run New Blood up to page 22 (basically until the characters sleep) and then call it. It is a reasonable stopping point that covers most of the compelling content - I think most of what is left really requires players to buy into the pre-made characters and they are pretty shallow - I didn't find the remainder of the story that compelling. I think that you will get the majority of the value out of the first 22 pages - you'll demonstrate what being a new, young vampire is like and the terrible situations that they land in abruptly. And I don't think anyone will want to continue on to create a Chronicle out of these characters - so much of the fun in TTRPGs is creating your characters and telling their stories. 

Then Start Your Chronicle with Something Premade

Once you've played New Blood (or skipped it if you must), look at a Chronicle. To me, you have two really solid options - "Let the Streets Run Red" (starting with Power Prey) or "The Crimson Gutter" (starting with Bring on the Night and continuing on with the rest of Chapter 2 "First Steps"). Both are really solid options for a new Storyteller that wants a pre-made Story.

In either case, you'll want to run a Session Zero - a session before your main session to help define the City; the Coterie; the Player Characters and their relationships; along with Safety Tools.

"Let the Streets Run Red" - "Power Prey"

Get it: In the Source Book "Let The Streets Run Red"

Length: 10-12 hours (3-4 sessions)

Pros: Interesting, original story; introduction to Kindred politics and relationships; good starting story for a new Chronicle, whether custom or pre-written; has follow on stories in Let the Streets Run Red or can feed into Chicago by Night or a custom Chronicle

Cons: Requires the V5 Core Book and Let the Streets Run Red; intended to be set in Chicago, would require changes to set it elsewhere; does not gradually introduce mechanics; minimal guidance for character creation

Description (from Renegade Game Studios)

Power Prey is a Vampire: The Masquerade story influenced by the inversion of hierarchy within vampire society. Characters in Power Prey will see the bottom and top of the societal ladder and ask themselves what they are willing to give up of their Touchstones and Humanity to maintain status and fight their enemies.

Reddit User Quote

"Power Prey introduces players to being a vampire on a nightly basis, and then The Sacrifice thrusts them into Kindred politics, so they're a good opening duo." - alratan (The Sacrifice is the first story in Chicago by Night)

My Thoughts

The story in Power Prey is an interesting one, with different options for solving the key problem presented. It is focussed on the daily "life" of Kindred, with their Touchstones quite centred. It speaks to the relationships between the Kindred and with their mortal former lives, and shows how Kindred need to act to protect themselves and those they care about. You can use it to start your own custom chronicle; to feed into one of the mini-Chronicles in Let the Streets Run Red; or into Chicago by Night. It is intended to take place in Chicago, but it would be movable to any similar-sized and scoped city, either Camarilla or organized Anarch city with some work. Chicago is the flagship city for V5, with three books focussing on it - Chicago by Night, Let the Streets Run Red, and the Chicago Folios. This Story does not require the other two books to function, though they may be helpful.

Power Prey works with Camarilla, Independant, or Anarch characters, and gives some good solid advice on building characters that work with the story. There are elements of Touchstone choices that are mandatory within the Chronicle, and that may make this story not work for all groups. Bad things will likely happen to at least one Touchstone. The Storyteller should look at the character creation advice and talk with the group - this would not be a good option for a group that don't want to explore how the new vampires' former mortal lives are now intersecting with their new vampire lives and the need for secrecy. 

I think the group will come out of this Story with a very strong understanding of who their characters are and what they want. I would expect they would be pumped to transition into the next Story - whether that's something custom or something published, like another Story from Let the Streets Run Red or starting The Sacrifice, the first Story from Chicago by Night.

"The Crimson Gutter" - "First Steps"

Get it: In the Source Book "The Crimson Gutter"

Length: 28-35 hours (9-11 sessions)

Pros: City independent - fairly clearly intended to be North American, but could probably be run most places; a lot of detail on character creation and potential sires, allies, rivals; a long, defined Chronicle that continues on; some story beats that will really set up character choices; very adaptable to the Coterie the players build 

Cons: Requires more Storyteller work than either New Blood or Power Prey as the city and the player character's place in it are less defined; the Storyteller will need to bring the inhabitants of the city to life as they are a little cliched and limited, with small stat blocks and short backgrounds

Description (from Renegade Game Studios)

You’ve leafed through Vampire: The Masquerade. Perhaps you’ve experimented with making a few characters or run a session or two as the Storyteller. The next step is to run a chronicle. That’s where this book comes in. The Crimson Gutter is an introductory chronicle designed to get your characters on the streets. The events of the chronicle showcase a young coterie coming to their own in a divided city. At the start, they’re clueless nobodies barely able to survive night to night. By the end, they have made their reputation in at least one of the factions fighting over the city’s feeding grounds.

Reddit User Quote

"Get The Crimson Gutter. It's a book specifically for new players. It has advice for both the ST and the players, and a chronicle that introduces you to VtM." - Sakai88

My Thoughts

There's a lot here to really like. The Crimson Gutter expects that Vampire is a new experience for both the Storyteller and the Chronicle, so it lays out a lot of expectations and themes that the group can and should explore through the story - feeding, Humanity, Hunger, Kindred politics, the morality and the purpose of Kindred life, and other elements central to Vampire. 

There is also a lot you need to do here to make this a coherent story. There's a lot here and not all of it has the same level of detail or depth that you might want. I think (and Redditors seem to agree) that characters can seem one-note or shallow. Making the City come alive and fit into your chosen location will take more work from the Storyteller than using a pre-made location like Let The Streets Run Red. On the other hand, you can weave this story and these characters into additional stories you want to tell - I think you could be well rewarded by starting with this Chronicle, but you will have to work for it.

Vampire politics are very central to The Crimson Gutter and I really like how it brings in the Church of Caine as an additional element or option. Dealing with the why and the morals of Kindred nature is central to this story and I think that is admirable. 

This story is intended to work for characters that are new or relatively new to being Vampires. There is advice for how to change things if that is not the case, but my strong recommendation is to go with Fledgling characters for new players or new Storytellers.

I think the Crimson Gutter is very solid next step for Storytellers, after New Blood, and think it is a great introduction to building a Chronicle. I would imagine most Storytellers would continue on with the Crimson Gutter's further chapters, potentially mixing in more and more homebrew.

And Then Continue On

You should be set up now to continue on into a fantastic Chronicle, whether that's completing the book you started, jumping into Chicago by Night, creating your own Chronicle from scratch, or grabbing a Story from the other book. 

You should have a decent idea of the mechanics, the flavour, the intention behind a Vampire game. You should have players who are amped up to play their characters. And you should have momentum - just keep it going. Good luck!

Playing Vampire the Masquerade V5 In Other Eras (1800-2020s)

The default experience of Vampire the Masquerade V5 is present day - that is, the 2020s. The tidal wave of Lore has moved forward - clans have shifted and changed, things have happened since previous versions set in earlier decades. The books lay out the Clans and the Sects as they exist now, which is fantastic if you want to play that default experience, but what if you want to play in an earlier time period?

You could solve this problem in a few ways. There are third party add-ons that have some of this information. One of these is In Darker Ages - https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/394339/in-darker-ages - this seems to cover the needed material. Another option would be to get the old books, look at the timelines and try to cobble something together. 

This is intended to be another option. I opened up the old Wiki, grabbed my Second Edition (WW2002) and Revised (WW2300) books, and a few other sources. I'm going to slide back down the timeline and try to mention some changes that would need to happen to run in a game before a specific time. It will absolutely not be complete, conclusive, or definitive. I will suggest alternate banes for Clans, note changes to Sects, hit the high points of major Lore changes, which will hopefully provide enough information for a Grunge 90s, a Punk 80s, a Hippy 60s, a Flapper 20s, or a Victorian 1800s Chronicle from a mechanical point of view.

I'm going from present day back to the 1800s - if you want to go earlier than that, there's some fantastic third party work in the Storyteller's Vault. Like most of the work on which it is based, this timeline is heavily biased towards North American and Western European Kindred happenings.

Alternate Banes presented here are my work, based on the previous editions and my understanding of the intended flavour combined with modern sensibilities and intended to be mechanically compatible with V5. They are not in any way official.

Read this timeline from the top down to the year/decade you want to set your game, adjusting the rules/sects/banes as you pass each milestone. 

2026

Current day in the Vampire the Masquerade V5 Canon. Everything is as it is in the V5 Source Books.

2020-2021

In 2020-2021, the Death Clans (Giovanni, Cappadocians, Samedi, Harbingers of Skulls, Nagaraja, and Lamiae) experience the Family Reunion and become the Hecata as a single Clan. Prior to this point, the different Death Clans had different Banes. There's a lot of details on the Family Reunion in the V5 book Cult of the Blood Gods. The non-Giovanni Death Clans may be difficult to play prior to this year, due to difficult Banes. In addition, the Giovanni are at war with most of the other Death Clans, especially the Cappadocians (whom they have driven near extinction) and most of the other Death Clans are rare throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Additionally, the Giovanni are bound by the Promise of 1528, a treaty with the Camarilla that the Giovanni will not interfere in Camarilla politics, while the Camarilla will not enter Venice or hunt Giovanni.

Giovanni

In the Family Reunion, all the Death Clans received the Giovanni curse of Excruciating Bite. Giovanni should just continue to use the Hecata V5 Clan Bane.

Cappadocians

Corpse-Like - The Cappadocians develop a Corpse-like appearance, with ashen pallor. They take their Bane Severity penalty to all social rolls with mortals.

Samedi

Decaying - The Samedi is a rotting zombie, with its flesh soft, sloughing off, and disgusting. All Samedi have the Repulsive Flaw (-2), can never improve their appearance, and in bright light can be a Masquerade violation.

Harbingers of Skulls

Desiccated - The Harbinger is a withered mummy like figure. All Harbingers have the Repulsive Flaw (-2), can never improve their appearance, and in bright light can be a Masquerade violation.

Nagaraja

Flesh-Eater - All Nagaraja have the Organovore Flaw (-2). They must consume human - or Kindred - flesh with their blood in order to feed.

Lamiae

Plague-Bearer - Lamiae are deeply connected with the Dark Mother and bear a toxic curse. All Mortals fed on by Lamiae fall ill with the plague and are likely to die without modern medical intervention. The mortal suffers a penalty equal to the Bane Severity of the Lamiae on all physical pools until healed. Kindred who feed on Lamiae also become a plague bearer until their Hunger increases to 5.

2019

Two very significant events happen in 2019. First, the Vermillion Wedding, where Victoria Ashe (a Camarilla Toreador) married Tegyrius (a Banu Haqim). This Blood Marriage - and their Blood Bonds to each other - sealed the deal that brought the Banu Haqim fully into the Camarilla. Before 2019, the Banu Haqim were Independent, mistrusted by the Camarilla, and had a reputation as mercenary and dangerous to many non-Banu Haqim.

Also in 2019, the Lasombra Clan are in the Sabbat. Their leaders, the Amici Noctis, decide that the Sabbat will not survive the generational war with the Elders, Methuselahs and even older vampires that the Sabbat has engaged in. The Sabbat are fully wrapped up in the Gehenna Wars, this ancient war that suddenly has fresh intensity and the Lasombra want out. They make a bargain with the Camarilla in Chicago, sacrificing one Sabbat Elder of the Lasombra for each one allowed to join the Camarilla. Before this date, the Lasombra were one of the principal clans of the Sabbat and enemies of the Camarilla. 

2014

In 2014, The Beckoning, the call that Elder vampires feel to go fight in the ancient conflicts of vampires, starts to be truly noticeable. This is the year some significant Princes disappear - Quintin of Boston, Calebros of New York to name two. The Beckoning seems to have started some years before, but before 2014, you can assume that most major cities will have major players, including Princes, that are Elders or even Methuselahs. After 2014, those powerhouses have largely left or faded away, leaving more space for young upstarts.

2013

Both the Followers of Set (the Ministry) and the Banu Haqim begin conversations with the Camarilla about joining. The Ministry are mid-negotiation in a Paris hotel when the hotel is firebombed, which causes the negotiations to collapse in ill-feelings and accusations. The Ministry officially rebrands - from The Followers of Set to the Ministry and the Clan starts to lean towards the Anarch movement and their cities. Prior to this date, the Ministry should be known as the Followers of Set and should be fully Independent.

2012

At a major Camarilla Convention called the Conclave of Prague, Brujah Theo Bell assassinates the Ventrue Hardestadt. Both of these Kindred were towering figures in their clans, so this is a monumental earthquake. Theo Bell declares the Brujah are no longer part of the Camarilla, and many of his clan follow him to the Anarchs. The Camarilla declares that all Kindred not aligned with them are enemies, ending the normal practice of tolerating Independents and Anarchs within their city. 

Prior to this date, the Brujah should be major members of the Camarilla and most Camarilla Courts will tolerate openly Anarch or Independent members, provided they follow the Traditions. The Anarch Free States exist prior to 2012, but the Camarilla considers itself in control of and in authority over all Kindred. Prior to 2012, the Convention of Thorns (1493) defines the Anarchs, the Banu Haqim, and the Camarilla as being in truce, with the Anarchs joined with the Camarilla and expected to work peacefully for their goals. As evidenced by events between that time and 2012, conflicts were still common before 2012, but Anarchs were not the enemy nor were they a real separate Sect.

2008

In 2008, a major Second Inquisition operation destroys the Tremere Prime Chantry in Vienna. All of the Council of Seven, the leaders of the Tremere, are believed to be killed in this event and the Pyramid, the network of Blood Bonds holding the Clan loyal to its leaders, is destroyed. Before this point, Tremere are part of this Pyramid of Blood Bonds, tying Childe to Sire all the way up to the Council of Seven. Until the Vienna Chantry's destruction, the Tremere are amongst the most disciplined and unified of clans, so prior to 2008, the Tremere have a different Bane and are much more cohesive.

Tremere

Hierarchical - All Tremere are forced to drink of the blood of the elders as they are accepted into the Clan. Tremere take one fewer drink to be bonded to a Tremere of lower Generation and take a two dice penalty to any attempt to resist Dominate from a lower Generation Tremere.

Also in 2008, the Sabbat suffered the Night of Ashes - the Second Inquisition burns the Sabbat out of Montreal. In V5, the Sabbat are an antagonist Sect, scattered, focussed on the Gehenna Wars. But prior to 2008, the Sabbat acted as a Sect much like the Anarchs and the Camarilla in V5 - holding territory, having internal politics, having a certain level of stability.

2007

The V5 Lasombra Bane involves touch screens, voice recognition, and technology. This year (which happens to be when the Apple iPhone came out) is a potentially a good point to switch Lasombra banes to something more impactful in earlier years. Consider this an alternate Bane.

Lasombra

Shadowy - Lasombra are creatures of Shadow and deny light. Their image does not reflect in mirrors and they take a Bane Severity penalty to all dice pools in bright light, including sunlight.

2005

By 2005, the echoes of the Week of Nightmares cause the Sabbat to begin migrate to join the Gehenna Wars, starting the weakening of their cities and holdings. Prior to 2005, the Sabbat is governed by the Code of Milan. They have a Regent (based in Mexico City), Cardinals overseeing territories, Prisci as advisors, and Archbishops/Bishops ruling cities instead of Princes.

2004

The major event of 2004 is the Fall of SchreckNet. SchreckNet was an encrypted network that the Nosferatu ran and maintained to provide secure communications for the Camarilla and other Kindred. They stored many secrets and boons on SchreckNet, so when the Second Inquisition broke its encryption and raided its servers, a great deal of information about Vampires, the Sects, and individuals were taken. The Second Inquisition leveraged this to attack Kindred both directly and indirectly, leading to a great deal of damage and panic. This event led to the Camarilla banning the use of technology to store or transmit Kindred secrets, and also caused the Nosferatu to lose resources, prestige, and secrets. Prior to this time, influential Kindred had access to SchreckNet and the Nosferatu - while repugnant - were hugely important and held secrets over powerful Kindred in their cities.

1999

1999 was an incredibly turbulent year for Kindred. The most significant event was the Week of Nightmares, where Zapathasura, the Antediluvian - the Ancient Founder - of the Ravnos Clan awoke from his slumber and engages in battle with his ancient enemies. In the course of this week long battle, many powerful Ravnos Kindred were drawn in and consumed by their founder. The battle ends with Zapathasura destroyed by nuclear weapons and orbital space lasers. During and after the battle, all members of clan Ravnos go insane and go into a killing frenzy. When the week ends, there are few left. Prior to the Week of Nightmares, the Ravnos were more common and had a different Bane, since their current Bane is related to the death of their founder.

Ravnos

Hubris - The Ravnos are obsessed with pushing their luck, bargaining with Fate, and rolling the dice. If given two options - a safe path and a risky but flamboyant path - the Ravnos must take the risky path or suffer a penalty on their dice rolls equal to their Bane Severity until the end of the scene or until they choose the path of derring-do. 

Arguably, the Week of Nightmares also started the increase in the number of Thin Bloods. Prior to 1999, Thin Bloods should be very rare, misunderstood, and mistrusted.

In 1999, the Gangrel Xavier encountered and was nearly slain by an ancient beast - potentially an Antediluvian or Methuselah of great power. He confronted the Camarilla and demanded that they acknowledge the danger of the ancients - and they ignored him. He declared the Camarilla to have been built on lies and took the Clan Gangrel out of the Camarilla, making it Independent. Prior to 1999, the Camarilla absolutely deny the existence of the Antediluvians and ancient Kindred and deny the risk they pose. Prior to 1999, the Gangrel were members of the Camarilla and were among their warriors, with the Brujah. 

In 1999, the Harbingers of Skulls returned to the world from the Shadowlands. Prior to 1999, there were no Harbingers of Skulls around.

In 1999, as a result of the Week of Nightmares, the Sabbat Elders declared the Gehenna Wars.

1998

For the Banu Haqim, 1998 is an incredibly important year, because an ancient Banu Haqim awakes - Ur-Shulgi. He pushes the clan back towards the worship of Haqim, the clan founder. The clan splits - with some following Ur-Shulgi, others turning more towards the Camarilla. Prior to 1998, the Clan was more insular, focussed inward and had a Bane imposed on them by the Tremere. Ur-Shulgi broke that curse upon his awakening.

Banu Haqim

Blood-Cursed - The Banu Haqim are cursed by the Tremere to be unable to consume Vitae. A Banu Haqim that consumes Vampire Blood takes one unhalved Superficial Damage per Bane Severity per Hunger Slaked.

1944

In 1944, the Second Anarch Revolt kicked off, with the Brujah Jeremy MacNeil leading the uprising in Southern California. This Revolt led to the Anarch Free States - before 1944, there were no Anarch cities or territories. The Barons of the Free States defined how an Anarch City could function. 

1829

The birth of modern policing. Scotland Yard comes into existence in London, the first modern police force. This marks a turn for Kindred - prior to this time, governments lack the ability to properly investigate matters and the Church was the major threat. Before 1829, policing is extremely rudimentary and local.

1803

In 1803, the Sabbat signed the Purchase Pact - an agreement that ended the civil war between them, and prevented intra-sect violence and focussed the Sabbat's attention on defeating the Camarilla and the Antediluvians. Prior to this time, Sabbat Packs were often at war and in conflict with each other.

1800

In 1800, the base state is that the Camarilla is the centre of the Kindred world, with the Sabbat as their antagonists and rivals. The 1800s for the Camarilla are the peak of its global power, riding along with the British and their industrial revolution. 

Player Driven Games vs Game Master Driven Games

Player Driven vs Game Master Driven. Sandbox vs Mission-based. Freeform vs Railroaded. People separate types of campaigns or types of adventures in different language, but I think the first language set is probably most useful. We are determining who is driving the particular story beats that are central to a given setting - is this an adventure that a party is going down (a la traditional D&D)? Or is this a open world where players choose what is interesting to them to explore.

I intend to argue that most campaigns have a default state - one or the other - but most are best served by combining both. I think Vampire the Masquerade V5 tends towards Player Driven play, but I believe that Chronicles can be well served by mixing in Game Master driven play as well. 

Let's describe what each style really means.

In Player-Driven play, the Story Teller often takes a reactionary role. The Players understand their characters' motivations, missions, and intentions, and use those to drive the plot forward, making decisions about how those players affect the world. They move to interact with the world, with Storyteller Player Characters, and with plot points and stories from their backgrounds or from previous experiences. They make the decisions about what is important to them, from information agreed with the Story Teller previously. The Story Teller presents obstacles and complications and responds for the Story Teller characters. Preparation for sessions driven by players involves considering motivations for SPCs, complications from anticipated actions, story beats that might emerge from characters moving and plotting "off-screen", and considering events that come from other sources.

In Game Master-Driven play, the Story Teller takes the driver's seat. They lay out plot hooks, paths, and adventures. They offer adventures or dungeons or defined paths forward for players to follow. Story tends to be more linear, with defined story beats and an expected series of events that will occur. While players still have agency, there is an expectation they will bite on the plot hooks and grab the adventure offered. Preparation for Game Master-Driven play includes more traditional adventures, maps, scenes, specific new SPCs or adversaries, and new information. 

While I consider Vampire the Masquerade V5 to be well-served by Player-Driven play, I have realized I often start a Chronicle with Game Master-Driven play. I have found that it is an excellent way to introduce players (and their characters) to the world of the Chronicle. A mission can give reasons to interact with SPCs, with specific locations, with particular adversaries or allies. For example, in my current Chronicle, Session 1 started with each character's Sire charging their Childe with making a good impression at Elysium, as each character was introduced to the Court. This gave players a reason to go to Elysium, to interact with members of the Court, to introduce themselves to the Prince, and to acquit themselves well. From that interaction, a second mission was provided - this time from the Prince, to investigate a series of murders that seemed caused by vampires. This gave reason to interact with SPCs, to gather information, and to make themselves known at Court. Beyond the first session, it gave a reason to interact with the world, to explore new areas of the city that would become important later, and to meet new characters. This mission based gameplay gradually transitioned to player-driven play, as the characters worked to solve the mystery and as their backgrounds and back-stories began to surface.

You can also transition from one to the other repeatedly - start mission-based, for instance, to give the players a reason to interact with elements of the city and to build relationships (positive and negative) with characters in the Chronicle. Once the players have done some things, they've probably messed some things up and have some problems to solve; they've probably met some folks, and have reasons to go after some or help others; and they are able to see how their back stories will interact with the city and how they will drive more actions. Once in that mode, you are in 'sandbox' or relationship based play and very player driven.

Vampire has a 'boon economy' - which is a great reason to interject a new mission into a primarily sandbox Chronicle, to bring in new elements of the story when the ST wants to throw some wrenches in. Additionally, SPCs are plotting in the background, and events are ticking. When the players are getting too comfortable, a powerful SPC can call in a favour - or offer one - and push them in a particular direction where they will encounter something interesting to drive back to mission-focussed play. Or the City can change in ways that are not anticipated by the characters that necessitate response. Or important SPCs can plot against the players or against their allies or against their enemies. These elements present a mission for the players to accept and to drive to completion, positively or negatively. When that mission ends, the Chronicle can transition back to relationship, player-focussed play for a time, now with those new elements from that completed mission in play and changing the circumstances around the players.

Back and forth - Game Master-Driven to Player-Driven and back to Game Master-Driven. When players are comfortable or when they are uncertain of their next course of action, the Game Master can step in and provide a more focussed session of game play. When the players have a plan, the Game Master can step back and respond to those actions. To me, in Vampire the Masquerade V5, the Chronicle succeeds best when the Players drive most sessions, but the Story Teller should keep Game Master-Driven options in their toolbox to add complexity, uncertainty, interest, characters, locations, and lore to the story. 

Hopefully, this perspective will help you make decisions about how to run your games and sessions for Vampire the Masquerade V5.

Introduction to Vampire the Masquerade V5 for Dungeons and Dragons Players and Dungeon Masters

Dungeons and Dragons is the most popular table top roleplaying game in the world and that's been true as long as there has been TTRPGs. It is where most of us started. And most of us still love to play D&D. But there's a lot of other games out there - FATE, GURPS, Powered by the Apocalypse based games - and, of course, the World of Darkness.

Assuming you're a D&D 5e (2014 or 2024) interested in trying other systems, let's explore whether or not the World of Darkness - and specifically Vampire The Masquerade V5 - is the right game for you. And I'll give you some tips about making that transition, too. I've played in the World of Darkness off and on since the 1990s - and started my Dungeons and Dragons journey in the 1980s - so I'm reasonably well set up to be your guide here.

This isn't a 'how to play' - I have other articles for that - I'm trying to share some basic information and help you understand how playing Vampire feels compared with Dungeons and Dragons, so you can decide if it is a game you want to play.

The Elevator Pitch for Vampire the Masquerade V5

Vampire the Masquerade V5 is a game of personal horror set in the modern day of a version of our real world called the World of Darkness. Personal horror means that - while there are other horror elements - the key focus is on the conflict between survival and on keeping a grip on what makes you human and what makes you you. Players play vampires in V5 that are not fully in control of themselves - they have a Beast within them that tempts and draws them down into bestial ways, pulling them away from who they were when they were alive.

These conflicted characters are then placed into a complicated social setting. Vampires are predators, but they are also parasites on human society, and they have made rules, traditions, religions, and societies that allow them to keep themselves secure and powerful. In addition, vampires, especially new vampires, still have many entanglements with the mortal world. This means that relationships and social interactions are at the core of the game. Vampires are powerful creatures, although the player characters often are at the lower end of the power spectrum. They will use those powers in social and physical conflict, exploration, and social interactions over the course of the Chronicle. 

Vampire the Masquerade is a horror game. It often focuses on those personal horror tropes, but can contain elements of body horror, gore, gothic horror, existential horror, cosmic horror, political and social horror, and other disturbing elements. While I strongly recommend that any group plays with safety tools that limit the content of the game to keep the players safe, it would be difficult to play the game without horror tropes at all and the game likely isn't the right game for you if you aren't excited about playing a horror game.

Vampire the Masquerade V5 is just one version of one game in a long series of games in the World of Darkness. 

What Is the World of Darkness?

The World of Darkness games, regardless of version, feature games in the modern day in a version of our world that is full of monsters, conspiracies, and horrors. Games generally allow players to take the role of one of those monsters (Vampires, Fae folks, Werewolves, and others) and focus on the conspiracies and intersections with the mortal and human world or the conflicts between the various monsters.

The World of Darkness is an old TTRPG franchise - with all the confusion about lore and versions and characters that naturally follows from decades of continuous play. And the World of Darkness complicates things even further, because in each version, there are multiple 'splats' or lines - ways to play Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Changelings, Hunters - each of which has its own name and full gameline, just to make things extra spicy. Let's review:

• "Old" World of Darkness - the first book of the first version of the World of Darkness came out in 1991 and has gone through multiple versions. The most recent "old" version is the 20th anniversary edition, which is commonly known as V20. This version was published roughly between 2011 and 2015. This is a solid, complete version of the World of Darkness, covering most of the splats, including Changeling, Vampire, Hunter, Mage, and Werewolf. It covers play of all power levels. From a mechanics point of view, you could call it a 'resource-management' based game, in that powers use up a pool of points which the player fills up and spends. It is reasonably "crunchy", with mechanics supporting a lot of different styles of play. It has a very large collection of lore about the world and many supporting books.
• Chronicles of Darkness - published in various versions from 2004 until 2022, Chronicles of Darkness was a reboot of the World of Darkness, with different splats (including playable monsters that you could not play in any other version of the World of Darkness). It had different lore than the original World of Darkness. It is very much its own game, but provided inspiration for the new World of Darkness versions in various ways, including some mechanics.
• World of Darkness x5 - The "fifth" version of the World of Darkness is the most current (first published in 2018) and active (with books being published on a regular basis as of 2025), with three splats currently published - Vampire, Hunter, and Werewolf, with Mage and Changeling being currently teased. Splats in the this version are typically referred to as the initial and 5 - that is V5, H5, W5. Play in this version is aimed at "street-level" - newer, younger vampires, hunters, or werewolves, though later books in this edition support playing more powerful werewolves or vampires that are centuries old. Mechanics promote a 'risk-management' style of play - or 'push-your-luck', where using powers can increase the risk of allowing your Beast to temporarily take over, reinforcing the personal horror theme of Vampire V5. Lore largely continues from previous versions of the World of Darkness, with some changes and some considerable extension, bringing the world up to modern day. 

All versions of the World of Darkness use a dice pool system, where a pool of 10 sided dice are assembled based on character traits and rolled, with high dice indicating successes and low dice indicating failures. The only dice needed for World of Darkness are these D10, but ideally you'll have 10-12 of them. This is different than D&D's D20 + modifier vs DC system, but no more complicated.

Just like Dungeons and Dragons 2014 vs 2024 (or D&D 4th edition if you remember those times), there are strong opinions about versions. I have played lots of versions of lots of games and have never had much interest in arguing about versions or lore. We're going to be talking about the current version of the World of Darkness games here and focussing in on Vampire the Masquerade V5, because that's the focus of this site and my personal current favourite version of the game.

Getting Started Playing Vampire

Just like in D&D, you need a few resources to start. The equivalent of the Starter Set in Dungeons and Dragons is one of a series of 'starter' adventures that White Wolf/Paradox have released for free or cheap. I have an article on what your first Story should be - but TLDR - start with New Blood, the official Starter Kit for Vampire the Masquerade V5.

The default experience for a Chronicle (what the World of Darkness calls a campaign) in Vampire the Masquerade is a modern day city, with relatively new, young vampires that still have many connections to their mortal life. The complications of being a Vampire, with new demands, limitations, powers and expectations are often the principle theme, with a plot designed to bring the player characters together and move them in an initial direction. There are many other ways to play Vampire, but my recommendation is to start simple, with that expected way to play.

The Vibe Playing Vampire vs D&D

As a general note - there's no one way to play any role playing game. Folks use D&D to play social focussed games, to play horror games, to play science fiction games. But that's not the experience most people have with it - D&D at its core is intended for 'high fantasy' - Tolkienesque dwarves and elves with dungeons and grand quests and lots of combat. So that's the experience I'm using to compare here.

The "default" D&D experience is a party of player characters going on an adventure - a defined path forward, driven by a plot, with side quests and character driven relationships as a secondary component. In Vampire, this is flipped - the relationships and personal missions of the characters are the engine that drive the chronicle. In Dungeons and Dragons, "splitting the party" is something that is frowned upon - in Vampire, it is something that happens all the time (to the extent that I've got an article on it on this site). In D&D, the expectation is that there will be multiple physical combats a session, with players primarily gaining experience and equipment by killing monsters and taking their treasure. In a typical game of Vampire, social interactions are often more important, and characters can go multiple sessions between physical combats, with combats often being high stakes and risky and with characters gaining experience on a regular cadence. The game feels different to play, with the Storyteller (DM equivalent) reacting to player driven events and decisions and adding complications as the world plots around them.

The difference is one of tendencies and emphasis, more than pure mechanics. Vampire tends to try to make games that centre relationships - personal, political, social, positive, negative - in a (often) modern world that echoes our own. Chronicles often have themes or overall plots, but spend a lot of time on the individual concerns of the characters or the combined interests of the Coterie (party). There tends not to be 'adventures' per se - very little dungeons or exploration in the same way. They tend to stay in the same city or location and the city often seems like a character itself. There tends to be a lot of Storyteller Player Characters (SPCs - the equivalent of NPCs in D&D), with a complex web of relationships between them and the PCs that drive a lot of the story. Especially as the game gets going, many sessions are driven by player motivations and plans, with the Storyteller throwing in twists and complications more than actual planned adventure. Combat tends to be significant, but rare. Many (even most) sessions may not have any actually physical combat at all - replaced by social conflicts or skill checks or even just conversation. There is often a real element of horror and an examination of society and the nature of humanity, with many shades of gray. The tone can be paranoid, with danger lurking - combat in Vampire tends to be dangerous and it can be easy for PCs to get in over their heads.

In D&D, there tends to be more focussed adventures (go here and do find this thing, go there and slay that creature, climb the mad wizard's tower and learn this lore). While there are certainly NPCs, the web of relationships isn't nearly as central or generally well developed. Player character arcs tend to be side quests to a main quest. Combat is a common event, potentially multiple combats per session. The tone tends to be high fantasy, with epic quests and heroes and villains.

Examples of Vampire Sessions

To illustrate what a Vampire session can look like, I thought it would help if I shared some information here from the first few sessions in my current chronicle, along with one from months later. The characters are four young vampires, relatively new to their state as monsters, very much still entangled with their mortal existence and struggling to understand their new roles. I take fairly detailed logs from each session, covering the beats of each. Each session is a three hour play session and the chronicle takes place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the modern day. I'm not going to go through all the details, just talk about what the players spent their time doing. We have just completed session 46 - we aim for weekly play and have mostly succeeded in that over the last year.

In Session 1, the characters were introduced to vampire society and I gave them a mission to focus on. We started the session with the three split up - each meeting with their own Sire (the vampire that created them) and starting to flesh out that relationship. They individually made their way to the meeting spot, and they started to meet some of the Storyteller Player Characters (what Vampire calls NPCs) that made up the society of vampires in Halifax - characters that eventually come to be antagonists, lovers, allies, friends, or rivals as time goes on. And they were given a mission and started using social skills and social powers to begin finding the solution for that mission.

In Session 2, we had a new player join the chronicle late. It meant this session was a lot of bringing the characters together and bringing the new character (and player) up to speed. But they learned something about each other and progressed on their mission, meeting a key thin-blood SPC (who went on to be a significant ally early in the chronicle despite seeming like an enemy at that time). They also engaged in their first physical confrontation - beating up a ghoul (an enhanced mortal servant of a vampire) as part of an interrogation. 

In Session 3, the taps of their backgrounds opened, with one character being haunted with visions, another getting messages from someone in their past, a third getting threatened by their Sire. The group separates and starts handling some of their own stuff as their first night as independent vampires comes to an end. The group does get back together to go have a final discussion with an SPC and come up with a plan to find someone to blame their problems on. 

In those 3 sessions, there were plenty of tense situations, some difficult decisions, a whole lot of talking, a fair amount of dice rolling - but very little combat. There was a fair bit of characters going off to handle their own thing, and only some time with all four members of the group together. While you could play D&D that way - and while you could play Vampire as a dungeon crawl, I think this is pretty typical of Vampire - and pretty atypical for D&D. Let's look at a session much later on, in the beginning of what is likely the middle arc of what is likely a two year Chronicle, session 31.

In Session 31, it started with a character having a private audience with the Prince, who is probing him for loyalty. A bit of seduction, a bit of Presence, and the Prince demands the character find a particular Anarch for her. A scene between a character and the fledgling childe of a Primogen, who is now blood bonded to the character, trying to figure out that situation. The Coterie meets with the Sheriff, making it clear they will not be returning the Primogen's fledgling back to the Primogen - the Sheriff says this may cause a great deal of problems that will need to be handled at the coming Elysium. A character meets his Anarch lover and has a tiff with them about loyalty, but is introduced to the leader of the Anarchs and their inner circle anyways. The Coterie talk about their situation and one decides to take the Fledgling to talk to the ghoul of the Primogen - they find that things are even more dangerous than they feared. Another conversation with the Prince about the Anarchs, full of threats and implications. Another tense conversation between the character and his lover. And the character who had bonded the Fledgling takes her and flees to a bolthole, but the session ends with the Primogen confronting them there.

As you can see, by this time, virtually everything that is happening is a result of player choices and less is a direct result of me creating a plot point. Things are more complex, with members of the Coterie all moving in different directions, with different priorities - there were a lot of short scenes with intense conversations. My preparation for this session was almost entirely thinking about motivations and potential reactions of the SPCs.

Next Steps

I recommend taking a look at an Actual Play - I recommend Private Nightmares or LA By Night as great flavourful Actual Plays.

I have a lot of mechanical information and advice on this site, as well. I'd start here for all players and here for Storytellers in particular.

Creating Stat Sheets for your SPCs - When, Why, How

I am on record as to saying that Storyteller's should not stat all their SPCs, including very important SPCs. I talk in my article about Populating a City about how many stat blocks a Storyteller would have to come up with. I think that's a lot of busy work that will largely never come up, a lot of wasted time that could be better used creating interesting relationships, plots, personalities, twists, and problems for your players. But I still like rolling dice! So let's talk about what I do instead.

This is a frustrating article to write. I am certain I had better resources than this, but I think that the system I use is a weird amalgam of the official books, Reddit advice threads, previous systems, and homebrew, and I haven't actually formalized it until this point. In particular, I'm going to shout out this thread on Reddit by u/CharsOwnRX-78-2 which catalyzed a lot of how I do this.

I first want to say that this method - and any method I use - will violate rules in character creation. I don't care. Character creation rules are for PLAYERS - the purpose, in my opinion, of a mechanical character creation method is to balance player characters within the Coterie. That is not your priority when creating antagonists. So I don't mind pulling pools out of a very simplified system.

To be clear - I'm not saying don't stat ANY SPCs. When you start rolling a lot for a given SPC (or when you know they will be actively opposing the PCs in a session), when they start being a key antagonist or very active ally, that's a great time to stat them. You rarely know who the players will focus on as their real rival or foe, or who will be their favourite. Do the work when you have to do the work and not before. My recommendation is, even then, to stat to the level of the simplified stat blocks, such as on page 370 (Antagonists) of the Vampire the Masquerade V5 Core Book, not to write up a full player character sheet.

But, by default, I use a quick statting system, that characterizes the SPC, and lets us build up something of a stat sheet for them without doing any work. We evolve the SPC as our needs for them change. Let's look in depth at the steps we'll take and I'll break this down into a nice, easy chart at the end of the article. There feels like lots of steps here, but using this I can choose a dice pool in real time, with no break in the game at all.

1. Classify this SPC

Ok, so we're rolling for this SPC that we didn't anticipate rolling a lot for and we need a dice pool. Who is this person? Let's rank their threat level, essentially by giving them a base dice pool for their normal activities. How good are they at most things in their day-to-day, whatever that looks like. Rank them from 1-5, with some examples for each:

1. Not a threat - average mortal, just some random person
2. A bit more - a newish ghoul; a trained, capable mortal
3. Average threat - a neonate Kindred; other baseline supernaturals; Hunters; and trained SI agents
4. High threat - ancillae; newer werewolves
5. Extreme threat - elders; experienced werewolves

How much of a danger do you want this person to be? What makes sense in the world and in the story?

Take their threat level and multiply by 2 - that's their base dice pool.

2. Choose tracker values

By default, Willpower and Health are both 5. We'll then tweak based on the character and threat level:

1. Consider reducing trackers by 1 total point
2. Likely should remain 5/5
3. Consider increasing trackers by 1 total point
4. Consider increasing trackers by 2 total points
5. Consider increasing trackers by 4 total points

3. Choose exceptional pools

Take their threat level and choose that many pools they are good at - and that half that many things they are bad at. Add 2 dice for a pool they they are good at, subtract 2 dice (minimum of 1) for a pool they are bad at. 

4. Special Powers

Some SPCs have special powers - Disciplines, Gifts, Spells, Rites, etc. If you're on the fly, grab a power that makes sense. Make the call - do they have Heightened Senses? Potence? Dominate? Just grab and go. I've got suggested ranges for number of total dots in the chart below, but when we're doing this off the cuff, we're only 'spending' the discipline dots that we need to right now. If their exact discipline spread is important, that means this isn't the tool for this situation and we need to at least get a simplified stat block built.

5. Vibe Check

Does this feel right? Feel free to add or subtract 1 dice to any pool. Or 1 point to any tracker. This also helps keep everything from being an even number - your players don't need to know you didn't stat this SPC, that they are doing something you haven't fully planned for.

6. Make a note

Write it down. I use Kumu for my Characters and Relationships, only going to a full sheet in Foundry when I fully stat. So I put down these decisions in my session log- threat level; trackers; exceptional pools (good and bad); powers; and specific pool decisions after the vibe checks. Then after the session I transfer over those notes into my Kumu character description. This helps me be consistent between sessions and to transfer those decisions over if I fully stat the SPC. 

7. Roll Those Dice

Rolling Dice is Fun! Let's roll that pool. On Foundry, I use the Special Dice Roller plugin, that let's me do V5 style dice rolls easily, including Hunger Dice.

Summary Chart

Threat Level	Base Dice Pool	Tracker Tweak	Exceptional Pools	Maximum Dots
1	2	-1 to 0	1 good, 1 bad	0
2	4	0	2 good, 1 bad	4
3	6	0 to 1	3 good, 1 bad	7
4	8	0 to 2	4 good, 2 bad	12
5	10	0 to 4	5 good, 2 bad	20

All Trackers start at 5 Willpower, 5 Health.

You can always increase or decrease any pool or tracker by 1 based on Vibes.

Don't forget to write down your decisions.

Kindred SPCs should have Hunger appropriate to the situation.

Using Kumu for World of Darkness Relationship Maps

Relationships and Characters are the critical data for a World of Darkness Chronicle. They are the engine that makes the story run. But they are hard to keep track of at scale - Chronicles rapidly grow to dozens of SPCs when you've got a whole city to run.

I am a big proponent of Storyteller tools - I have a whole article on what I use. I started my most recent Chronicle with World Anvil, but I found keeping Storyteller Player Characters (SPCs) in World Anvil very difficult. The thing that matters most is the relationships between characters and that was hard to do in World Anvil.

So, I poked around and discovered that the standard tool people use is Kumu - https://kumu.io/ - it is free. The only thing on the paid tiers you might want is private projects, but if you don't want your players seeing your chart, just sign up with an account that isn't obviously you and name the project something you know but they don't - use a codeword or something. Then they can't accidentally run across it. I use private projects, but I don't feel they are necessary for most people.

Kumu is pretty awesome, but not exactly intuitive. It took me quite awhile to get things like I wanted them, so I'm sharing here. Let's set up a fake city's relationship chart - I'm making things up off the cuff here, so focus on the tool, not the level of creativity.

My settings are aimed at a Vampire Chronicle, but include some non-Vampire SPCs - if your Chronicle is a different splat or system, you can change or supplement this settings file to support your specific story.

Setting up your Kumu Account and a Kumu Chart

Go to Kumu.io and click Join for Free

• Register a new account - choose a Username that your players won't know. Use something like a code name generator if you want - https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/code-names.php - this is a lot cheaper than a private account. I'm using 'FormalHercules' for this
• Create a new project - again, give it a non-obvious name - I'm using CuddlyLurker
• Choose "Public (FREE)" and create in your workspace
• Give your map a name - I just used the same one as the project - CuddlyLurker
• Choose Stakeholder as your template
• Go through the basic help popups to get to know Kumu

Installing My Map Settings

I have custom settings specifically for Vampire / World of Darkness chronicles. Click the Settings button:

Click Switch to Advanced Editor

Press the Copy button at the end of  the code below and paste it into the Advanced Editor, removing the boilerplate code that exists already. Make sure that Automatically apply changes is clicked and click Save on the You've made changes to this view.

@controls {
  top {
    filter {
      target: element;
      by: "tags";
      as: dropdown;
      placeholder: "Filter by Tags";
      multiple: true;
      default: show-all;
    }

    showcase {
      target: element;
      by: "tags";
      as: dropdown;
      placeholder: "Showcase by Tags";
      multiple: true;
      default: select-none;
      mode: normal;
    }
  }
}

@settings {
  template: custom;
  layout-gravity: 0.0003;
  layout-particle-charge: 350;
  connection-length: 150;
  connection-strength: 0.5;
  layout: force;
}

element {
  label: "{{label}}";
  size: 40;
  border-width: 4;
  shape: circle;
}

connection {
  direction: undirected;
  strength: 0.5;
}

.minor {
  size: 20;
}

.kindred {
  border-color: red;
}

.pc {
  border-color: #ff9999;
}

.mortal {
  border-color: green;
}

.warlock {
  border-color: purple;
  shape: square;
}

.werewolf {
  border-color: blue;
  shape: square;
}

.ghoul {
  border-color: #90ee90;
}

.dead {
  bullseye-color: #8B0000;
}

.ghost {
  bullseye-color: purple;
}

.camarilla {
  shape: octagon;
}

.anarch {
  shape: pentagon;
}

.sabbat {
  shape: hexagon;
}

.independent {
  shape: diamond;
}

.hunter {
  shape: square;
}

connection["label"*="Ghoul"] {
  color: #90ee90;
  strength: 0.8;
}

connection["label"*="Investig"] {
  strength: 0.2;
}

connection["label"="Coterie"] {
  color: #ff9999;
  strength: 1;
}

connection["label"*="Sire"] {
  color: #540304;
}

connection["label"*="Touchstone"] {
  color: #cc0eb9;
  strength: 1;
}

connection["label"*="Court Oath"] {
  color: #888c07;
}

If you see any red Syntax Errors, make sure that you have properly copy and pasted everything from the code - it should start with controls { and end with }. 

If everything worked correctly, you can close the Settings (by clicking the Settings button a second time) and you should see two new dropdowns at the top of the main map - "Filter by Tags" and "Showcase by Tags". Neither will do anything (until we have some data) but their presence shows that we're ready to enter some characters!

Entering Characters into our Map
Let's add some characters. Let's consider a small Chronicle (this tool supports quite large Chronicles - my current story with this tool has nearly 100 PCs and SPCs included, but this is just a sample):

PCs (all Kindred):

Mary, Anarch, Brujah
Priya, Anarch, Tremere
Bob, Anarch,Toreador
Fred, Anarch, Malkavian
And some SPCs (Kindred with 2 Werewolves, plus some Ghouls and a few Touchstones), with some relationships:
Rocco, Camarilla Brujah, Emissary, Mary's Sire
Silas, Anarch Malkavian, Neonate, Fred's Sire
Jeremiah, Anarch Ventrue, Sweeper
Lil, Anarch Toreador, Baron, Bob's Sire
Elijah, Anarch Ministry, Cult Priest
Gutter, Anarch Nosferatu, Neonate
Bart, Anarch Banu Haqim, Neonate
Samael, Sabbat Tzimisce, Infiltrator, Targeting to assassinate Jeremiah
Saskia, Shadow Lords, Pack member, Killed by Elijah
Alistair, Bone Gnawers, Pack member
Zeke, Mary's Touchstone and Ghoul
Lisa, Bob's Touchstone
Arnold, Bob's Ghoul
We'll start with the PC Coterie, picking, arbitrarily, Mary (the order you enter characters does not matter, Kumu will arrange them based on the relationships and the tags you give them).

Click the green Plus at the bottom of the screen, then Add element. (Maps have two major components - Elements, which are the Characters, and Connections, which are the Relationships between those characters).


Type "Mary" and press Enter

Mary will open up on the left hand side of the screen. We can type a description by clicking 'Add Description' and typing it in. We can also upload a picture for her by clicking the Camera. And add Tags by choosing Add Tag. These are the three primary capabilities that we want for our Characters. 


We will give her a picture (here I've taken it from a free use image from pexels.com). We will add a description (I normally include physical descriptions, backgrounds, etc - for PCs I include all sorts of things, including their provided background.) I do not include a character sheet - I store that in Foundry, for those characters that are fully statted out. For SPCs, I will include catch phrases, things that might help bring them alive, but I don't include all their plots - I run a separate plot document for that. 

We also include Tags, which are basically the important elements of her. Her clan, her supernatural status, her Sect, whatever. Some Tags have special properties in our Kumu settings that we added, which make them show up differently. By default, characters have a black outline and their shape is a circle. The special tags are:
Minor - Indicates this is a minor character, makes the character smaller in the map
Kindred - Indicates a Kindred, makes their outline red
PC - Indicates this is a PC, makes their outline a salmon colour
Mortal - Indicates this is a Mortal, makes their outline green
Warlock - Indicates a Mage or a Sorcerer, makes their outline purple and the shape a square
Werewolf - Indicates a Werewolf or Garou, makes their outline blue and the shape a square
Ghoul - Indicates a Ghoul, makes their outline light green
Dead - Indicates the character is dead, puts a dark red 'bullseye' on the middle of their shape
Ghost - Indicates the character is dead, but is a ghost or Wraith, puts a purple 'bullseye' on the middle of their shape
Camarilla - Indicates the character is aligned with the Camarilla, makes their shape an octagon
Anarch - Indicates the character is aligned with the Anarchs, makes their shape a pentagon
Sabbat - Indicates the character is aligned with the Sabbat, makes their shape a hexagon
Independent - Indicates the character is unaligned, makes their shape a diamond
Hunter - Indicates the character is a Hunter, makes their shape a square
You can customize these tags, adding more or changing them, by editing the code in the Settings. Instructions for doings so is beyond the scope of this instructions, but the Kumu docs have information on available shapes and syntax. The key thing to remember is that the last instruction in the file takes precedence, so if multiple things are changing shape or colour, the last one prevails - that is the reason for the somewhat odd ordering of the Tags in the above list. Let's consider Mary:


She has 'Kindred', which marks her as a Vampire and makes her border colour red. This is overridden by her 'PC' tag, which turns it Salmon, instead, marking the PCs in the Chronicle as different than the other vampires. She has Anarch, which changes her shape to a Pentagon, and Brujah, which has no effect on her visually, but makes it available for filtering and makes it visible on the character information. 

You will notice when adding tags that the first time you have to type the entire tag in and that for future characters, any tags that have been assigned to previous characters are available to chose. Case does not matter with tags, but they do need to be exact. You can add any other arbitrary tags to indicate alliances, coteries, or anything else that might matter, but only the tags above currently influence appearance.

Let's add some more characters. The easiest way to add a character with a relationship to an existing character is to click on the existing character, in this case Mary, and press C. Alternatively, you can hit the Green Plus at the bottom of the screen and choose Add connection. You'll be prompted to choose the two characters you want to connect. In this case, Mary and the next PC Priya. 

 

Once we have Priya open, we'll go ahead and all her information. We then need to define the relationship for the two. We click on the line that goes between the two characters.


When we click on that line, we are presented with an edit window on the left for the relationship with those two characters. Relationships can have tags, same as Characters, but I don't use the tags. Instead, I modify the relationship based on the name. This just seems to work better for me. 


You can see that the Coterie name on the Relationship set the colour of the relationship to the same salmon colour that the PCs have. The name is searched for letters that match specific patterns. Words that have meaning are:
Ghoul - makes the connection colour light green and makes it stronger than default, which tends to keep ghouls closer to their regent
Coterie - makes the connection colour salmon and keeps the Coterie mates close together
Sire - makes the connection colour dark red
Touchstone - makes the connection colour purple and makes it even stronger, which tends to keep touchstones close to the characters they are touchstones for
I will go ahead and add the rest of the characters to the relationship map, so we can highlight various aspects of the relationship map that gets built.

The Relationship Map will jump around while connections are being built. There are random elements to the way Kumu structures and lays out the map, so refreshing the web page can update how things are laid out. The Zoom Fit button on the top right can also be helpful. After entering all the characters and their relationships (I recommend at least two relationships per character), I get the following:


Let's looked at a zoomed in section and what we can see:


We can see two members of the Coterie - whose Relationship is coloured salmon because of the Coterie name. We can see they are PCs because of their salmon coloured border. We can see that Alistair and Saskia are Werewolves, because of their blue square borders. That Zeke is a Ghoul, and that his relationship with Mary is one that is a Touchstone shown in purple (which is more important than the Ghoul relationship) that is also indicated. We see that Priya, Mary, Jememiah, Elijah are all Anarch Kindred, with Samael Sabbat and Rocco Camarilla. We see the dark red Sire relationships - Lil being Bob's sire and Rocco being Mary's. We see Saskia is dead - her face obscured by a bullseye. And we see all the other relationships between the characters that we might want to add. 
The Relationship Map In Action
Ok, so we've got all this fabulous information and all these Characters and Relationships. How do I use it?

We can filter or showcase - where are my Ghouls? Here I've used the 'Showcase' functionality at the top of the screen to focus on anyone with a Ghoul tag.

We can search for names:



We can focus on specific characters, by long clicking on that character. Here is a search for Lil, followed by a long click on her:
Long clicking on any person in the zoomed in map adds their relationships as well. Pressing Escape returns us to the main map. 

There is a table view of Characters that can be very useful to ensure tags are correct. Click the Table button in the bottom right.


This Table view shows all of the Elements (Characters) in the Map, with their Tags


Press Back to Map to return.
Efficiency
If you have an existing Chronicle or you have a large number of characters that already exist, you can import the basic information through Excel sheets or comma delimited files or other import capabilities. This is beyond the scope of this Article, Kumu has excellent documentation on using those capabilities.
Conclusion
Hopefully this article will help you use Kumu in your game. I depend on it to check myself, for it to be my memory, paired with my Plot document and my Session logs. Kumu makes a big difference in my game. I'm going to conclude with a overview view of my Chronicle's relationship map - at time of writing and of this image, there are 94 characters and 183 relationships shown in this map.