CCP and White Wolf Turn to Kickstarter For Vampire: The Masquerade

Unfortunately, we’re not talking about another CRPG… yet. But at least CCP/White Wolf’s new Kickstarter project for a Vampire 20th Anniversary Companion Deluxe Edition sourcebook suggests that the company is open to the crowd-funding idea, and that could lead to some spectacular things in the future for those of us mostly interested in electronic versions of Vampire: The Masquerade.  Obsidian Entertainment, perhaps this would be a good time to make some phone calls:

Twenty-one years ago, Vampire: the Masquerade hit the tabletop RPG market like a black-clad bolt from Hell itself and changed the way games were played forever. It wasn’t just about playing a game; VtM changed people’s lives and defined a lifestyle. Last year, White Wolf created a deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition to celebrate all that Vampire: the Masquerade has meant to its creators and its fans and the response was astounding. It was clear to us that the players want more classic VtM, so we began work on the V20 Companion.

Developed and written by legendary VtM designer Justin Achilli, in constant communication with players using the same Open Development process we used with V20, this volume of new material examines additional topics such as Titles within vampiric society, the effect of technology on modern Kindred, terrifying locations around the world, and the clanless Caitiff. We’d already planned that the V20 Companion would be sold in PDF and Print on Demand formats, but then we began to hear that folks wanted the book in a deluxe format to match V20: embossed black leather cover, silver gilt-edged pages, a red silk bookmark, and of course, beautiful full-color interior pages. After talking it over, Justin and I realized that Kickstarter was the perfect way to make that deluxe dream a reality.

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Contribute any amount you want, bearing in mind the levels of contribution and their commensurate rewards over there on the right. If we hit our $50K goal, you’ll get the reward that goes with your level of contribution. PDFs and Print on Demand versions will be made available first in the form of a coupon from our online sales partner, DriveThruRPG. The Deluxe V20 Companion will take several months from the closing date to print and ship. Part of the reason we chose to use Kickstarter is the chance to use a different front-end and then different shippers than we have used in the past, so we’ll have a firmer idea of when the Deluxe version will be in your hands closer to print time. We will contact contributors in the upper tiers with details on their rewards.