Ansonsten hat der Webmaster von OPP, Ian Watson, weitere Informationen zur vierten Edition herausgegeben:
I know people want clarification when we do a big announcement like this, but "while the staff is all at Gen Con" is not the time to demand it -- and yes, we have had
manydemands. We're working like 12-15 hours a day for a week. Someone else already pointed out my Tweet where I said a full blog post explaining everything (probably from Rich or Eddy) will be posted once we get back from Gen Con.
That said I'll try to hit a few of the high notes:
- Why?: It's been 18 years since the last edition. We've always maintained that V20 was not a "new edition," but rather an "anniversary edition" (or "nostalgia edition"). VTM1, VTM2, and VTM Revised were each distinct steps forward. V20 looked back on those steps appreciatively, and allowed us to revisit them. VTM4 is a step forward. If you're happy with V20,great! No one's forcing you, or has ever forced you, to change editions. We've made a ton of amazing V20 products. V20 was a toolkit that let you play the Vampire you liked best, so if you still like V20 best, more power to you!
- It's too soon!People seem to have a magic number in their heads for a right amount of time between editions, but it always either seems to fall in "too soon" or "too long" with very few people ever feeling satisfied that it's coming out at just the right time. 2011 was the 20th anniversary of VTM. 2016 is the 25th anniversary. There was only one year between VTM1 (1991) and VTM2 (1992). There was six years between VTM2 and Revised (1998). Even counting from V20, five years is plenty of time between editions.
- Why now, before Wraith20 and Changeling20 are done?Vampire 2e was out before Mage (and Wraith, and Changeling)'s first editions were released. The CWoD's first two editions continued a tradition of releasing a 2e of each game two years after the first edition was released, regardless of where that fell in the development of other game lines. Overlapping editions has been a thing since the early days. This is nothing new. It's right for VTM4 to happen now, so that's what we're doing. That doesn't prevent other games from getting the X20 editions they deserve, and they will.
- This is a cash grab. If that's what we wanted to do, this is the worst industry in which to do it. However much money you think we'd be making on this, you're probably being extremely generous with your guesses.
- What about V20 supplements?We'll be finishing off the announced V20 supplements. Since V20 supplements by their very design are supposed to be metaplot-agnostic, I don't see why they'd suddenly be completely useless with VTM4 around the corner.
- Is this a rebrand of V20?No. V20's default assumption is that Gehenna is still a nebulous possibility (probability?) which may happen in the future. VTM4 follows directly from Revised: Gehenna (or something like it) happened 12 years ago. Where does that leave Kindred society now?
One of the things Eddy and Rich told me was that V20, although it was set in a nebulous "now," was still very much a
20th century game(you might even be more specific and say it was a '90s game). It was a present from the creators to the fans, designed to instill nostalgia of the first three editions.
VTM4 is being made as a Vampire for the 21st century. What does that mean? How will that look? That's what we'll be working out over the next year, with input from the fanbase. Eddy has a strong vision of what he wants, but as always, getting fan feedback is an important part of our process.
Whether you're excited about the prospect or you don't see the point, I hope you'll at least give us some benefit of the doubt and help give us your input via open development on the road to VTM4 over the next year. Maybe you'll see something you like.
I'm sure many of you will be tempted to respond to this with more questions or vociferous rebuttals or whatever, but as I said, a comprehensive blog post is coming very soon. Please have patience. I'm not going to involve myself further in this until then, because A) it's not my game and B) I'm still at Gen Con and I'm tired.
Deutsche Zusammenfassung:
Die vierte Edition von Vampire: Die Maskerade geht davon aus das Gehenna in irgendeiner Form, die noch konkret ausgearbeitet werden wird, stattgefunden hat und setzt das Setting um 2016 fort.
Desweiteren betrachtet man die V20 als Nostalgie-Edition und sieht in dieser Nostalgie Edition mit weit über einem Dutzend Ergänzungsbänden keine eigene Edition. Die Revision der zweiten Edition wird in einen eigenen Editionsstatus erhoben.
Meine persönliche Meinung:
Man hat einen Weg gewählt der fast so gruselig ist wie meine Befürchtung hinsichtlich dessen was mit meinem Lieblingsclan geschieht.
Abgesehen davon erscheint es mir sehr ähnlich zu dem was mit Requiem versucht wurde, nur das man diesmal vorher nicht den Maskerade Stempel abkratzt.
