Good evening, fellow Kindred,

Let’s talk today about something really important. We all, as players and especially DMs, use it on every session. It doesn’t matter what system you play in - it may be D&D, Warhammer, Cyberpunk, World of Darkness, or anything else. What am I talking about, you may ask? Worldbuilding.

Worldbuilding is very difficult. It’s just not a matter of simply deciding on the place of action and then throwing some characters into it. Some may say it’s an art, and only a few are true virtuosi in this regard. It’s an ability that is developed through the years and every next campaign or chronicle. In general, the worldbuilding for video games isn’t so different from building a setting for a tabletop game, movie, or series, even. So, how did we tackle this particular stage of design and development?

First of all, we decided on the place of action. We thought through whether it would be better to create our city from scratch or use something that exists in reality. A lot of World of Darkness games take action in existing places, but the system allows for unique creations that exist only on the table you play on. Both solutions have their pros and cons. Creating something from scratch gives more creative freedom. You also don’t have to worry if there is any established lore in the canon - it may be unimportant for private tabletop sessions, but for video games, it’s quite an important point to be considered. The downside is that it may come off as artificial and may not “catch” with the audience. Using something that already exists limits the amount of work - you don’t need to think about the history of a given place, it’s already in there. You just need to do your research. You also don’t need to create the local culture, slang, and anything else. Also, at least in my opinion, playing in a place that exists in reality is easier to connect with. You can even go to Google Maps and look around the locale your Storyteller tells you the action is in, which stimulates the imagination. The downside is that you have to work within the bounds that are already established - not only historically, but also in the case of the canon. Also, doing research may be exhausting, especially for really old cities. I like the States more than Europe because of it. I live in Europe and I know how hard, even for historians, it may be to know in detail 1000 years of complicated history. Or even more. The USA is far simpler with cities that often have around one century. It’s also easier to find any relevant information, even online, through libraries, archives, or scientific institutions.

What research did we do for Las Vegas, then? Extensive one. We went from detailed demographics that we could find on US Census pages, sites that contain a lot of photos from Vegas’ past (like Vintage Las Vegas), and we went through available archives of local newspapers (Las Vegas Sun and Review-Journal). We caught everything we stumbled upon that could be useful. From random pages of research, tourist guides, books, and even the law of Nevada. We also used movies like The Casino and series like Vega$ to catch the city vibes.

Having established where the action will take place, we thought about the period. Knowing where is nice, but knowing when is even better. World of Darkness is flexible for timelines. You can make a modern setting, or something historical if you like. Playing with my players, I discovered that most people playing Vampire: The Masquerade like a modern setting. I made some historical chronicles, and they didn’t catch on as well as modern ones. At the same time, in my opinion, something that is modern is kind of boring - you live it daily. While it’s easier to connect with, it doesn’t give you anything new to the table. It’s a day (or rather night) like any other. Also, some timelines are blank spaces in the canon - spaces that you can fill. This is a reason why we decided to set our story in the 80s, which aren’t described so well. It was also a really interesting time for the city and culture itself. A lot of people come back to it with nostalgia, even if they didn’t live back in those days.

Both of the above - place and time - are the most general descriptions that are the foundations on which you build from the ground up. It’s best to work starting on wide topics and then, when they are established, dive in and work the details out. What was it in our case? Political landscape. Mamy may argue, but VtM is a political game. A play of influence and internal struggle. Even if a given city is taken by the Anarchs, there is a structure, there is a struggle - because it’s in the very nature of the vampires. To always be on top and survive to the next night.

It was important to establish what factions and which Sects will be present - not only in Las Vegas, but in its neighbourhood. I will not delve into detail - two of our previous dev diaries already delved into this topic. You can find them here and here if you are interested. While the Player’s Handbook encourages creating a relationship map for the characters, we also needed such to explain internal political dynamics of the political landscape. Some connections and influences may not be obvious, and such a map allows for visualizing them. What’s even more difficult is that World of Darkness is a world of other supernatural beings than just vampires. You have werewolves, mages, hunters… they may avoid the Kindred, but they leave their mark on the city too - a mark we have to remember about.

So now we have a place, time, and political landscape. What’s next? People, of course! Who needs a city where no one lives after all? Established factions allow us to categorize characters into, let’s say, boxes they fit into and keep track of them. The very basic mistake of many world creators is that they start from the characters and make out the rest, creating new characters as needed. While it isn’t so bad, especially for systems where you have a lot of different races to cover, like D&D, it’s a slippery topic for vampires. The vampiric population needs to be kept in check. Otherwise, it will be problematic. Not only lore-wise but also narrative-wise. The more characters, the more variables you need to keep in mind when running the Chronicle.

Why is that some may ask. Because if you want to have living and breathing people in your Chronicle, they have to be people. Not sheets of paper. Every character, in real life, would have their own opinions, goals, dreams… without them, they are just artificial crowd put in place just to be there. Keeping the world colorful and compelling is a difficult task because it’s a lot of intersecting parts that influence each other, and the Storyteller needs to track them all. At some point, it may just be too much, which leads to shallowing the setting. And consequently, to wasted potential and a lack of interest from the players.

I hope this sheds some light on our development process and explains some problems we are facing with a project as big as Blood & Vice. We are still working hard to develop the best experience you’ll have with the VtM video game.

Stay tuned for more updates on our project, and see you next month!