The choice of clan in VtM: Bloodlines is actually fairly important. In fact, it’s the entire reason I recommend playing through the game at least twice, once as a Toreador or Tremere, once as a Malkavian, and a third time Nosferatu (if the idea of playing a creature so hideous that you risk violating the Masquerade (and common sense) just by walking openly down the street is appealing to you). Or you don’t mind the idea of knowing that a mere glance at you would frighten small children.
Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.
Ventrue is also a decent choice, incidentally, if you don’t mind the complication of having to narrow your food sources. Chances are good it won’t disadvantage you much.
Today, though, we’re going to talk about the Malkavian, probably the most iconic of the clans in the sense that the girl on the box art is one of them. No that’s not a spoiler you find that out before you even meet her, geez.
See, the thing that’s great about Bloodlines from a replayability standpoint is that multiple versions of most of the dialog were recorded. And used. Which means other vampires actually react to your clan when it’s appropriate, and treat you differently.
This is most noticeable after playing Toreador and switching to any of the other clans I’ve named. And most of all when playing Malkavian.
The thing about Malkavians is, they’re insane. And I mean really insane, sometimes debilitatingly, almost always clinically, everything from multiple personalities to hallucinations to hearing voices… it varies widely and you encounter several of these along the way…
Which isn’t as impressive as the fact that as a Malkavian, a) all of your dialog prompts, as they’re written word for word what your character utters, come off as the rantings of the insane, which they are, and b) the other vampires actually react to this. Which is delicious.
Oh, and also? If you listen closely, sometimes when you talk to people, you actually hear whispers over their dialog, and those whispers sometimes contain spoilers. Apparently your brand of madness is the oddly prescient kind.
It’s unclear whether some Malkavians are insane prior to their transformation or if their blood makes them mad, but bloodlines seems to indicate the latter in your case. Even Heather, your ghoul—
—No, not… okay, Bloodlines uses the World of Darkness definition of ghoul, which is a mortal who drinks vampire blood and gains a limited level of vampiric power, like healing from greater injuries and so on, while also becoming increasingly devoted to the vampire.
YES. Yes. Heather. Yes.
Sorry, was that a spoiler? I’ll keep those to a minimum, honest. I never know. The choice of what to do about Heather is of one of this game’s pivotal moments so I won’t ruin that by going into it too much. Anyway.
Heather (depending on events IIRC) is perhaps the most interesting example of this. Because while for, say, a Torreador or Tremere, her dialog becomes merely devoted, for a Malkavian it actually starts to become unhinged. That’s right; your insanity is contagious. And it is just… fascinating. Is that wrong of me? I can’t even remember the last time I felt like a choice I made in character creation had that kind of impact on a story level.
And yeah, sure, it’s still the same story arc. You hit all the same high points each time. You still reach the same pivotal choices. But the clan choice and your allegiances along the way make it feel like a very different journey. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about RPGs, it’s this; that feeling can make all the difference in the world.
