Undying, my hack of Vampire the Masquerade and Apocalypse World. It’s a project two years in the making, and counting.
What is this Game?
This game is an exploration of vampirism through the Apocalypse World medium (modified extensively). It’s about the struggle of vampire vs. self – a vampire’s two halves: the human and the beast – and vampire vs. vampire society – the fickle workings of status.
This is not a translation of d10 to d6. Undying is a re-thinking how a vampire game is structured to achieve its goals in play.
Who is this Game for?
This is an alpha play test, so if you are looking for a finished, polished game, this may not be for you, yet. I need people to play test this game and provide critical feedback, which I’ll use to improve the game. If that’s cool with you, you will probably also need a firm understanding of how Apocalypse World works – particularly the storytelling part. Also, you should be familiar with Vampire – but, that’s probably why you’re reading this. If you really want to know what this game is about, pull that hardback off your bookshelf, dust it off, and read the introduction – that’s what this game is all about.
Where can you find a Copy?
*Updated 6/24/13 — See Undying 3.1
Enigma Machinations 
In the 90s, one of the players wrote this poem for the Vampire chronicle I ran for 15 years.
This is what we wanted the game to be about.
blood addicted
white bones
razor teeth
glisten invitingly
in the moonlight
in the lamplight
in the reflections
of my victim’s eyes
calling me
pulling me
as I bury my mouth
my mind
my soul
in the warm red rush
I hear the siren’s song
of the singing talons
I hear it
I see it
I smell it
in my sleep
in my dreams
I must answer their call
blood addicted
black hearts
razor tongues
glisten balefully
in the limelight
in the spotlight
in the reflections
of my judges’ eyes
calling me
pulling me
as I bury my pride
my mind
my soul
in the cold bleak terror
I hear the harpy’s song
of the singing talons
I hear it
I see it
I smell it
in my station
in my reputation
I must answer their call
this is all
I have now
Very cool. TJ, I’m interested to see how much of this poem you think Undying covers.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
As you were.
VERY interested … reading the pdf now …
Sounds interesting, though the link to the PDF doesn’t work anymore.
Teylen, thanks for letting me know about the broken link. This post happens to be an older version that I’ve taken down off the site. I’ve updated the broken link to point to the latest version. Please check it out! Hope you enjoy.
The Undying is an interesting game but I do have some criticisms with its mechanics. The fact you have to spend blood to do anything meaningful in the game while at the same time you get so little blood from feeding (not to mention you have to SPEND blood to do feeding without serious complications) is a turn off for me. You should include some kind of Die Mechanic of some kind, for PC’s to have a chance to do things outside of spending blood to succeed. You could offer something of a “Hard Choice” mechanic, where they either can spend blood to succeed automatically (Based on the costs listed) or they can “Take a Chance” and roll a 1d6. On a 5+ they pull off what they’re doing without spending blood on a 4 or less they fail. Heck, 5 blood points a person! In Vampire humans have at least 10 blood points and in the Undying you spend blood for a HELL of a lot of more things, blood goes FAR more quickly than I’m comfortable with in this game. Another mechanic that could work is if the PC’s can justify through Role-playing how they’re pulling off their actions in a Mundane way they can avoid spending blood toward the action. This of course has to be compelling enough for the GM to allow it to happen however.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my game and for providing candid feedback.
Blood is the hard choice mechanic: You can make your move or keep your head down, stay out of trouble or take your chances, save your soul or leave bodies in your wake; but, you can’t get everything all the time. The game demands that you choose, sacrificing one thing for another.
@Darkfire: Have you played any of the other Apocalypse World-powered games?
Personally I love how blood is used in the latest draft of the Undying rules that I’ve seen. It sets it apart from Monsterhearts’s moves, and reminds me of the excellent game Heroes Banner which is also all about forcing the player down a path of hard choices.
Thannks great blog
Thanks!