10 Vampire The Masquerade Books To Read While Waiting For Bloodlines 2

10 Vampire: The Masquerade – Corebook, 5th Edition

Before diving deeper into novels within the World of Darkness, reading Vampire: The Masquerade – Corebook, 5th Edition should give players much-needed context in the current standing of the Kindred in modern nights. Players of Bloodlines 1 would immediately notice a shift away from its source material’s (V20) blend of mythological doomsday cynicism and towards V5’s focus on personal horror.

The consolidation and streamlining of Kindred Clans also coincided with meta subplots, such as the Second Inquisition’s more aggressive hunt for supernaturals, the Beckoning that compelled Elders to travel to the Middle East, and their absence motivating younger Kindred to further destabilize existing political powers.

9 Walk Among Us: Compiled Edition

First released as an audiobook, Walk Among Us: Compiled Edition is the book format of a 2021 short story anthology that introduces the world of Kindred in personal stories of curiosity, hubris, and moral dilemmas. Genevieve Gornichec’s “A Sheep Among Wolves” has a college student stumble upon the World of Darkness through loneliness and the company of a strange man. Meanwhile, Cassandra Khaw’s “Fine Print” has a vampire hopeful whose hubris will put him to the test. Lastly, “The Land of Milk and Honey” explores the moral ramifications of a Camarilla “blood farm” where Vitae is “harvested” and not forcibly taken from humans.

These stories having three different authors offer three different takes on the World of Darkness, hopefully introducing players to varying themes of stories their Kindred can encounter in Vampire gameplay. The anthology’s more personal take on a vampire’s story can make them decent starting points for Kindred lore outside sourcebooks.

8 Lore Of The Clans

Although Lore of the Clans is primarily a book within the V20 continuity, its contents serve as a major primer on the different Clans of Vampire: The Masquerade. As a supplement, the Lore of the Clans is the most comprehensive source of specific information about the TTRPG’s Clans, especially since much of V5’s Clan guides are still scattered across its rulebooks.

While the official Clanbooks offer more pages’ worth of in-Clan lore, having to acquire all 13 of them can be quite the exhaustive read for a newcomer to the TTRPG. Moreover, Bloodlines 2 could contain Clan-specific Easter Eggs in dialogue and visuals that fans may not be able to spot unless they know what they’re looking for.

7 Clan Novel Saga

With a TTRPG like Vampire: The Masquerade possessing quite the large world, one might wonder how Kindred society actually “functions” within the context of a given incident. Such is the case of the Clan Novel Saga, a 13-book series depicting an all-out secret war between the Camarilla and the Sabbat for control of the East Coast while a mysterious artifact with vast ramifications to all Kindred slip past their noses.

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Given how the Clan Novel Saga lets players see notable Kindred such as Victoria Ash, Jan Pieterzoon, and Ramona in action, the series becomes a fitting next “stage” after reading about them in Lore of the Clans. A besieged East Coast beginning with Atlanta is akin to Seattle’s situation in Bloodlines 2 or Prague with Bloodhunt, with the series potentially helping players make more nuanced decisions as their Elder protagonist decides the fate of the city in the Vampire game.

6 Trilogy Of The Blood Curse

Whereas Walk Among Us explores Kindred society from the perspective of metaphorical “cogs in the machine,” Trilogy of the Blood Curse explores the way vampires do things on a larger scale. The trilogy centers around Owain Evans, a morally-embattled Ventrue Sabbat Elder spying on the Camarilla, as he investigates a mysterious Blood Curse that seemingly brings Kindred to madness before destroying them.

Gherbod Fleming’s Trilogy of the Blood Curse serves as a decent “intermediate” reading for players waiting for Bloodlines 2. The books’ plunge at the heart of Sabbat and Camarilla politics alongside the events of the Clan Novel Saga has the Vampire gameplay equivalent of the midgame, wherein players know enough of the metaplot to actively indulge in more complex affairs.

5 The Book Of Nod

Existing as both a TTRPG supplement and an in-game item, The Book of Nod enhances Vampire gameplay with a detailed mythological account of Caine’s journey, commandments for believers, as well as omens describing the end of times. The material itself has commentary from various Kindred scholars, including the iconic Cuthbert Beckett and his mentor, Aristotle de Laurent.

While The Book of Nod is not an “accurate” count of Caine’s journey, its mythological take on Vampire lore can provide players with supplemental knowledge on Clan origins and Disciplines, and their ties to Kindred politics. Symbolisms provided in The Book of Nod could be present in Bloodlines 2, making for neat Easter Eggs or even plot points that only the sharpest of eyes could detect.

4 Gehenna

Although more of a sourcebook than a novel, Gehenna is unique among TTRPG media in that it puts an “end” to the Vampire side of the then-metaplot of the World of Darkness. At its core, Gehenna presents doomsday scenarios players could enact in their own games, showcasing what might happen during the prophesied vampiric apocalypse.

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As expected of a sourcebook, Gehenna offers a multitude of scenarios as to how Caine’s childer would meet their end ranging from a mysterious red comet to an all-out war between man and vampire. While its depiction of the Time of Judgment has been declared non-canon, players may want a glimpse of the “manifestations” of the fears of Elders in Vampire gameplay, especially with Bloodlines 2 hinting at a breaking of the Kindred status quo.

3 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary

Courtesy of a Kickstarter campaign in 2016, Beckett’s Jyhad Diary explored a storyline beyond the now non-canon Time of Judgment. The book is named after the Kindred concept of the Jyhad, a secret war fought by the mysteriously-powerful Methuselah against their even-more-powerful ancestors, the Antediluvians, as reflected by the Camarilla and Sabbat. It’s posited that all events in Vampire: The Masquerade are a part of this eternal “game,” with Beckett’s adventures likely tied to this phenomenon as well.

Essentially an adventure book for VTM 20th Anniversary Edition (V20), Beckett’s Jyhad Diary shares the worldwide exploits of the notable Kindred historian. Courtesy of this book, players now have a means of seeing things from a Kindred’s perspective, potentially shedding light to thought processes of NPCs in Bloodlines 2 gameplay.

2 Time Of Thin Blood

While Beckett’s Jyhad Diary officially “cancels out” the events of Time of Judgment, its prelude in Time of Thin Blood gives a glimpse of events prior to the escalation of vampire affairs in V5. Due to their nature as recent-generation vampires, Thin Bloods in both V20 and V5 gameplay exhibit more filtered Vitae, being able to walk safely on daylight at the expense of weaker abilities.

Much of the book’s events take place during the Week of Nightmares, a horrific ordeal involving the near-eradication of the entire Ravnos Clan at the hands of its reawakened Antediluvian. Both the Week of the Nightmares and the eponymous Time of Thinblood are “signs” of Gehenna, the vampiric endtimes. While the first iteration of Gehenna has been retconned in V5, the Week of Nightmares remain canonical in the new edition, making Time of Thin Blood a worthwhile read for a better context.

1 Fall Of London

Set under the backdrop of Operation Antigen in 2012, Fall of London tasks players in finding five artifacts that may awaken Mithras, a powerful Methuselah and former Prince of London. However, this take on Vampire gameplay has players race against time, as their mission happens during the Second Inquisition’s eventual success in exterminating all of London’s Kindred.

A similar Kindred-versus-Kine situation happens in VTM: Bloodhunt, a battle royale set in 2021 just after the Convention of Prague. With Seattle of Bloodlines 2 also besieged by the Inquisition, Fall of London can be a player’s guide of what not to do when dealing with these new threats in their Vampire gameplay.

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