This site documents a solo playthrough of Vampire: The Masquerade (1st Edition) set in the Chicago by Night sourcebook, using the Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition as a solo engine.

The guides here cover the method — how to merge a political vampire sandbox with Mythic’s scene and Fate Question structure — and the actual play reports that result.

If you’re interested in solo tabletop RPGs, Vampire: The Masquerade, or the World of Darkness, you’re in the right place.

“Nothing is as it seems.” — Theme of Chicago by Night

Who Am I?

This is an anonymous blog to keep it separate from my public identity.

I am a tier-1 autistic / ADHD individual in his mid 40s. I have suffered with chronic depression and complex post-traumatic stress disorder for most of my life, due to a combination of biochemical factors, early life sexual abuse, persistent narcissistic familial abuse, lifelong social isolation, online scapegoating, and the forever-rippling effects of familial suicide. (Don’t worry, this is not a call for help. I am happily married now, in therapy, and medicated. I am an adult.)

Throughout all of this, tabletop role-playing games have been there for me, especially (but not limited to) White Wolf’s World of Darkness games. I love this retarded hobby. When I’m sad, they allow me to go to another universe in my mind, no matter where I am—I simply begin imagining these other worlds in all their complexity and joy. My autistic social skills are so poor that actually playing these games with other people has often been difficult for me, and so I absolutely treasure the times I am able to, in person or online.

I am putting this up (again, anonymously) because I suspect that a sizable proportion of adults who play these games likely have similar stories.

I work with AI constantly, and have recently discovered the Mythic Game Master Emulator system. I am fascinated with combining these technologies, along with image, video and even music LLMs, and who knows what else, to create alternate fictional worlds. Even in an era with AAA video games that can effectively transport you to “worlds that never were,” there is something about the interactive/shared/social fiction of tabletop role-playing games that can never be matched. In fact, I believe that TTRPGs are likely one of the most important and powerful tools human beings have ever created, something few if any—including the people who invented these games!—is yet to realize. This is a subject I will likely also be musing about in this blog.

What is This Game?

This will be a solo run of the classic Vampire: The Masquerade (1st Edition!) Chicago by Night chronicle, beginning in Gary. In the 35 years (!) this game has existed, the original setting and game design has yet to be topped—everything that came after veered away from the original game and added cruft for the sake of selling books. Don’t get me wrong, I love all that cruft, but when it comes to Vampire, nothing quite gets it right like the original setting, as created by Mark Rein•Hagen, Stewart Wieck and, for Chicago specifically, the eminent Andrew Greenberg (who, along with his brother Daniel, wrote the best material for the game IMO).

The chronicle may take many detours, but will hold to the published supplements as-is, in this order:

  • Forged in Steel: Baptism in Fire (Gary, Indiana ‘starter town’ - from VTM 1st Edition)
  • Forged in Steel: Blood at Dawn (Gary-based one-shot from the original VTM storyteller screen)
  • Ashes to Ashes (Excellent transitional adventure that bridges the PCs from Gary to Chicago)
  • Chicago by Night, 1st Edition (The main sandbox for the setting. Full of great random adventure/encounter tables.)
  • Succubus Club (collection of Chicago-based adventure)
  • Blood Bond (a follow-up adventure to Ashes to Ashes, focused on Lodin’s erstwhile childe Edward Neally)
  • Under a Blood Red Moon (the epic battle for Chicago between the Camarilla, Sabbat, and Lupines—you know, the one the Underworld series ripped off)

If the early sessions go well, I will likely add a couple of side games with different characters for the Sabbat and Lupine factions—these would also lead up to Under a Blood Red Moon, with all of my characters starring in that epic war.

The Sabbat game would consist of the published adventures in:

  • Storyteller’s Guide to the Sabbat
  • Montreal by Night

The Lupine/Garou/Werewolf game would consist of:

  • Rite of Passage
  • Rage Across New York
  • Valkenburg Foundation

With all factions converging for the great War for Chicago in 1993, which should be the climax of the game.