Dawntower is a test game of sorts, an attempt to develop the ideas I have from earlier campaigns I’ve run and from working on Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition. During that work, I realized that Vampire’s take on vampires is very specific. While there’s plenty to play with in Vampire, I started to file away ideas for doing a vampire game that would do something different.

Some of the classic Vampire elements are still there. The game is all about a corrupt society of immortals playing degenerate games with each other. However, the core of the game is not personal horror, but the horror of belonging to a society. Communal horror. The horror of having to adjust to terrible circumstances because there’s no other place to go to.

Characters

The characters are a bunch of young, recently made vampires who live an ordinary life in the town of Bristol in the U.K. They enjoy the benefits of vampire life while still imagining themselves to be reasonably moral individuals.

However, they also know that somewhere out there, a better life exists. A life of vampiric privilege and power in the midst of moral corruption and degeneracy. The characters might say to each other that they despise such things and are happy with what they have, but in reality every one of them is yearning to sell out.

The Starting Point

One of the characters has a brother who was part of the gang for many years but recently decided to go to London and see the great von Croÿ Dawntower for himself.

That was a month ago. His phone is offline and no word has been heard. Maybe it’s time to go and see what happened to him. And then come back to your comfortable lives as ordinary vampires, of course.

The World

The world is our world but everyone knows vampires and such creatures exist. Immensely powerful vampire corporations, families and foundations have their headquarters in immense Dawntowers, skyscrapers in many of the world’s major cities.

The Dawntower is a symbol of privilege: The ordinary vampire has to remain in the shadows, easily hurt by the sun. Those with the money for it can get drugs that will keep some of the worst side effects of vampiredom at bay.

The true power move of a Dawntower vampire is to schedule a meeting at dawn in the garden built on top, with a view to the east.

Being a Vampire

The general public knows that vampires exist. There are vampire politicians, celebrities, criminals, and so on. Being a vampire is a sickness, at least in theory, but it has several unique effects: Immortality and a lack of aging, need for blood for sustenance and culinary reasons, a susceptibility to the sun which makes it unpleasant go to outside during the day, and increased strength, speed and durability especially for the young.

As vampires grow older, they also grow weaker, the power of youth fading in favor of abilities geared for treachery and cowardice.

While vampires in general are known, most ordinary vampires choose to keep their condition secret from their neighbors. The reality of immortality makes many people do strange things and that can be a hassle if they project their ambitions onto you.

Some ordinary vampires have jobs, others get by on some kind of a hustle.

The Trajectory

Technically you can play in this game by holding onto your moral integrity and coming home after doing the thing you went to do.

That would be boring.

This game is designed for characters who fall into all the temptations on offer. They might resist and lie to themselves about their motivations but in the end, they’ll be in the gutter.

This might be a tragedy from the perspective of the character but as players we can have fun with it. After all, the consequences of terrible actions hit the character, not us. This is a game where you can do stupid stuff, take risks, give in and fall apart.