Thread by @ThoughtPunks

Bit more about The Yearning, the vampire #TTRPG template coming for Scope Core.

The initial template will come with the full details for the 4 most populous Lineages.

And I'll jump into one of the most obvious questions [and common ones received so far]:
How do they compare?

https://twitter.com/ThoughtPunks/status/1647821877279064066

So let's start with the big 7.
Drop the Warlocks first. 1) No wizard vampires here. 2) Depending on POV, blood magic available to all or all vampiric magic is blood magic here.

It was an easy choice that wasn't even a choice. They just never got an analogue as it built.

The closest 1-to-1 is The Shattered for the Seers/Kooks. One major contrast is they're not about insanity and there's no gamified mental illness. They just actually see layers of reality and threads of fate. Also illustrates the overall vamp vibe aimed for with weaknesses.

We'll come back, but moving on:
Next closest comparison is the Wild. Best fits the Beast clan but also subsumes the subterranean one and parts of the rebellious one.
Alpha wolf & Darwinian things are misconceptions.
Embrace the feral, the strong. Not human ego, brute might.

Some bits about them: The Wild's obsession is "embrace the feral and protect the earth". Their allergy is fresh cut ["living"] wood. Their trick is being able to speak with & mildly intimidate animals, but the loyal and easily spooked will raise a ruckus unless silenced.

Then the higher status groups are divided into two main Lineages: The Elite and the Passionate.
The Elite must seek position & worldly power. They are burned by gold & suffer the sun's full wrath. But they can call in extra world moves and trick people they're someone important.

The Passionate must always have a cause and pursue it. Flowers injure them but they also suffer the least under the sun's rays [sleeping the least and "only" being weakened]. They can heighten or number emotions once a scene and climb on their soapbox once a session w/o sanction.

As you can there are some pretty clear parallels you can draw but they're also vastly different in many ways. If you wanted to play a character "like a Malkavian", I'd likely suggest the Shattered. If you asked "like a Brujah", I'd ask what kind but probably Passionate or Wild.

The Yearning is *very* concept-driven. Even the literal character concept has mechanics. You get a +1 bonus on it, it's treated as an expertise [grants some auto-successes], and it has a couple of in-character narrative levers [educated guesses and rethinking actions].

And that carries through to the full build. Your core Traits are not traditional metrics. As a major example, there is no "strength". There's only "force". The concept of what you are doing matters. If you're trying to hold a car up to get out crash victims, that could be "grit".

Which carries all the way up to the game template elements like the character splats. Unified by clear concepts. Perhaps interesting "twists" from expectations, such as the Wild not being pack alpha types or the Shattered not being ill. But each has a strong, distinct concept.

The entries and lore will be on the broad overview/light & suggestive side for the most part. There's some baseline structure for a sense of the robust but there's no huge metaplot or especially deep lore to be had out of the box here.

No big reveal for why the Shattered need make their home among spirits or sacrifices and rest unto the grave. Maybe if there's some fleshing out it will briefly note they were oracles & spirit workers. Reflections of ancient days, old cults, whatever. No marquee legend.

Also any founder legend is just one of many. Because the Lineages are composed of clusters of lines. Line founders were cursed by a wide variety of beings & magics. Vampirism just has a "natural" outline + clusters into type groups. And truly ancient founders are long gone.

Fun salon chat but few really care about who the first vampire was, where to find the dead ancients, or anything like that. Also no unified mythology & only a few enthusiasts really care to try. As likely to find someone talking Chinese Buddhist hells as Christian Nephilim lore.

But there's still plenty of room for lore! That even makes more room for it. Tell me the legend of a Passionate line cursed by a bodhisattva for their intemperance. I wanna hear about the line of Elite who were cursed for their greed by the last elder tree in a grove. YES!

So looping all the way back around, yes, you can draw some obvious parallels. Not going to pretend otherwise. But the differences are many. For maybe one key or lens, fall back on that "modernized retro" vibe. Could say we're taking things at face value from a modern POV.