Over the course of Threads that Bind, we’ve discussed many ways of exploring dark worlds. We’ve discussed fiction, art, movies and more. The thread that binds the most successful of these together is that they evoke strong emotions in the reader or viewer. Horror and dark fiction pull their audience into extreme circumstances and then invite them to consider what they would do. A little over a year ago, Andrea Merchak wrote a fine post discussing horror games. I completely agree with her that games can be a wonderful way to delve into a world. How often have you watched a horror movie and willed someone not to go into the basement? Or not go into the spooky woods? A horror game might put you in that situation, give you options, and then have you make your own decision.

In college, I played several tabletop role-playing games and loved them for their immersive experience and emphasis on storytelling and allowing me the player to make key decisions. Since then, I’ve had a family and a work schedule that doesn’t sync well with other people’s schedules so it’s been hard to continue playing such games. However, I recently discovered a game that does a nice job of combining the tabletop role-playing experience with a traditional board game. The game is Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters. It comes in a rather large box and the price tag can be a bit large, but the box is packed with great things. What’s more, it’s been out long enough that you can find some deals through some online gaming shops and on eBay.

Many board games just allow you to play the same thing over and over again. Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters presents the player with over 40 different scenarios which are, fittingly enough, chapters in a larger narrative. Each chapter has its own booklet that guides you through the adventure and many of the adventures have their own game board. You’re presented with an in-depth prologue that introduces the scene and the characters you’ll encounter. As you reach points where you might investigate an item on the board or talk to someone, you’re presented with choices. Sometimes your choice drives the next events and sometimes it’s a roll of the dice. I suspect much of this format is familiar to fans of video games. However, what sets this apart is the tactile experience of moving pieces around the board and the social experience of playing your turns in real time with up to three additional players sitting in the same room.

For me, it’s the narrative aspect of this game that allows the player to experience the world of darkness. The prologue, dialogue, and investigative scenes are cleverly written and I did find myself feeling emotions as we played. In one adventure, my character arrived at his office and discovered a break-in and sought clues as to who was responsible. Each choice had frightening ramifications. In another adventure, my wife’s character had to fight a bigger, badder opponent. The writing set us up with the hope she might win, but it soon became clear the odds were stacked against her and her only choice was to do as much damage as possible while she could. In short, the game gave us the experience of making those choices you encounter in fiction and movies and then let us make our decisions to see how they play out.

Another feature I liked in this game is that there were several introductory chapters. The allow the player to get to know the characters and also help them learn the game’s rules. I thought this was nicely done. Because Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters takes us through such a long narrative, I suspect my wife and I will be playing for a while and I like the anticipation of finding out what’s next, much like turning to the new chapter of a book. For me, it’s also a nice game because several aspects of the Vampire: The Masquerade world feel like they could exist in my Scarlet Order Vampires world. Given that this game has tabletop role-playing elements, I could imagine creating character sheets based on my characters and then running them through the scenarios to see what kinds of choices they might make. It would be a fun exercise and who knows, it might lead me off onto a tangent and inspire a story or two!