VtM: Bloodlines 2 - The Thinbloods

Clan Introduction - Thinbloods - Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

Despite being permitted in the city, very few thinbloods survive any length of time. With little understanding of what they are or the rules of Kindred society, they face a struggle to simply exist in a city carved up by established political factions. How will you fit on the grander stage of Kindred society?

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Imagine trying to compete with Half-Life 2 on the same day it was released. That's what happened to the original Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines. A contract with Valve prevented Bloodlines from being released before Half-Life 2, but Activison didn't want push the release date for Bloodlines back. So, not only did Bloodlines have to compete with one of the greatest PC games of all time, but Bloodlines was marred with bugs. Commercially, it didn't do well, though it did end up on our list of the best RPGs of all time.

Still, Vampire: The Masquerade fans were drawn to the cast of characters, the story, and fell in love with many of the missions. Given the circumstances around its release, Bloodlines was still widely loved and accepted, and obtained cult status. If that wasn't evident back then, it's evident now.

Paradox Interactive announced Bloodlines 2 at GDC on March 21, a sequel that, by the time it releases, will have been 16 years in the making (which is a mere blink in vampire years). And until Bloodlines 2 is released, we'll be collecting every bit of news here for you to devour. Or sip casually. Whatever your feeding style.

Here's everything we know about Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines 2 so far.

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Paradox Interactive had the first of their weekly Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 streams today, where they revealed more about the Thinblood powers. While getting a more detailed look at the abilities was exciting, many Vampire: The Masquerade lore-hounds like myself were still wondering the same thing: How can you join another clan later in the game if you start out as a Thinblood? Aren’t all vampires locked into specific disciplines and abilities based on whoever sires them?

Turns out it’s more complicated than that.

I had to break out my lorebooks to get a clearer picture of how this all works, but the Thinbloods we were introduced to in the first Bloodlines videogame are actually just one possible type of Thinblood. By looking at how clans are historically formed, how vampires can develop disciplines and powers separate from their bloodline, and the current state of the modern world in the V5 rulebook, what seems like a deviation from canon starts to make sense.

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Florian Schwarzer, Senior Product Manager at Paradox Interactive was kind enough to spend some time answering our art and design philosophy questions for us in a exclusive WoD News interview. We will be having another down the road, if you have a specific topic or question you'd like us to ask please post it in the comments below. We thank Florian for his time. With that said the interview;

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