Category: Tabletop Games
Location: Macungie, PA
Goal Date: January 6, 2020
Currently Funded: $105,282.00 pledged of $30,000.00 goal
Campaign Type: All or Nothing 

Prepare your Elysium, for the Cults of the Blood Gods are on their way! Vampire: The Masquerade (V:tM) has been a staple for many tabletop roleplayers since it was first released to the public in 1991. V:tM invited players to go along with the Storyteller into the seedy underbelly of fictitious monsters. The things that went bump in the night are real, and players are at the helm as they fight political wars, revel in their monstrous nature, and push for supremacy against other preternatural beings, all while somehow managing to remain hidden from the mortal world.

V:tM has amassed a fiercely loyal and almost cult-like following. It is the success of the game that spurred the creation of Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition, released in 2018 and published by Modiphius, and multiple, wildly successful Kickstarter campaigns for expansion material. Now, Onyx Path Publishing is heading Cults of the Blood Gods, a supplement sourcebook to the core rules.

This book promises to expand on many of the churches and blood cults contained in the World of Darkness. For lovers of the original V:tM, Cults of the Blood Gods will provide insight when it comes to some factions that players were left largely to interpret on their own such as the Church of Set and the Bahari. 

This is not the first rodeo for Onyx Path Publishing. Their last Kickstarter for Mummy: the Cursed 2nd Ed. blew through its goals and gained impressive funding for stretch goals. Cults of the Blood Gods is on track to do the same, having already exceeded it’s $30,000.00 goal. OPP is using the remaining time of this campaign to focus on developing stretch goals in interior art. 

From the Campaign: 

“Cults of the Blood Gods is a new style of sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition that introduces the pernicious horror of twisted beliefs. Designed for players and Storytellers, this supplement will include:

  • An in-character breakdown of the rise of esoteric beliefs among the ranks of the undead and how faith drives many of the major aspects of vampire culture.
  • A host of religions — from historic theocracies and globe-spanning conspiracies to fringe cults and mortal beliefs arising in the modern nights — introduced for incorporation into your character backgrounds or as supporting casts and antagonist groups in your chronicles.
  • The history, structure, and ambitions of the Hecata, the vampire group known as the Clan of Death, as well as a chapter dedicated to playing a vampire among the Necromancers, and the ceremonies for their death-defying Discipline: Oblivion.
  • Guidance on how to use ecclesiastical horror and construct cults in Vampire, making them a vivid backdrop for your own stories, including new coterie styles focused on cult play.
  • Faith-based story hooks and a full chronicle centered on the activities of the Hecata, involving walking corpses, ghosts, ready-made characters, and the secrets of the most twisted family in the World of Darkness.
  • New Loresheets, Backgrounds, and Predator Types for inclusion in your chronicles, encouraging player characters to engage fully with the material presented in this book.

Recommendation: 

The $55.00 tier is a great value if you are excited about Vampire: the Masquerade and Cults of the Blood Gods. As a “Family Head,” you’ll receive a PDF and hardcover copy of the book. As Onyx Path Publishing is known to push out PDF manuscripts and updates early, this tier may let you get in on the fun earlier than the April 2021 release date.

The Creative Team: 

Richard Thomas has worked on Vampire and other titles since nearly their creation. In 1986, he became the Art Director for White Wolf Magazine and rose to Creative Director. Now at the head of the Onyx Path table, Thomas works with collaborators such as James Bell and Matthew Dawkins to continuously deliver new content.

Be sure to read the detailed rewards for each tier on the Cults of the Blood Gods Kickstarter page

 

Heather Fischer
fischfoodhq@gmail.com
Heather Fischer is a Chicago based writer, reader, and firm proponent of the Oxford comma. When not playing tabletop roleplay games, she may be found on Bleecker Street.

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