I'm thinking of starting a Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary game, can you give me some tips for playing?

Well I don't have any specific reads to recommend but it seems like you've got plenty of questionable historical events and local folklore that could be tied back to supernaturals
Look up guides of the occult, ghost tours, unresolved political events and stuff like that for the region/city you plan to use and draw inspiration from there

>Malkavian Homeland war veteran
This could be good

Oh, yes, this is very good, there's a lot of tales, folklore stories, the occult, historical events and politics.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_mythology

And I bet the Serbian Sabbath is pretty balls to the walls hardcore
Add some religious war elements, remnants of the USSR and balkan folklore and you're all set to go
You might find some interesting ideas in nWoD books too and don't forget you're right next to Carpathia, Romania, etc ... literally the home of Dracula

In your place, I'd go for a very old and traditionalist camarilla with ties to the nobility of old and a Sabbath inspired by more recent events
The sheer amount of history, diversity and conflict in this region is staggering

>The sheer amount of history, diversity and conflict in this region is staggering
Tell me about it. People here are very proud, so they are both ambitious and looking for trouble where there is none. And there used to be even more diversity before World War II.

Well you can exploit that, and especially with vampires because these creatures are very hard to change and often hold on to past traditions and grudges for centuries (even worse than nations)
One thing that could be interesting would be for local vampires to tend to regroup with people from their orginal ethnies/cultural background, rather than based on their clan, because of the tribalism that seems to be still very pronounced there

Try and take a look at secret societies and sects that existed or still exist in the area too

And of course you've got Greece and Macedonia just next door, with its lot of myths and bogeymen and the terrifying turkish were-roaches

Thats really interesting.

If i were you i would shit on offiziell Lore and do my own thing.

In myWOD the balkans aren't as overpopulated with fucking old Vampires as the rest of europe. A lot of them were killed or fled in the yugoslav wars. So there is kind of a power vacuum were strong anarchs/Sabbath fight against whats left of the camarillia order.

Sprinkle in some age old tzimmie horrors, Post soviet charme and you have an interesting mix.

>power vacuum were strong anarchs/Sabbath fight against whats left of the camarillia order
actually more interesting than what I was saying here listen to the man

I wouldn't completely disregard your ideas tbqh.

Old aristocrats desperately clinging to power. Anachronistic rituals, a prince that has ruled his City for 700 years. Half of his court has died or fled in the 90s and now he essentially rules some fledlegings and one or two concurrents eying his throne.

On the other hand packs of Sabbath who essentially never stopped living like in the 90s.

antagonistic factions within the camarilla could work really well too, and serve as another point to destabilise it
on one hand, old tzimisce (or other) boyars and princes clinging to tradition, and on the other, new arrivals trying to reform the government and modernise their methods and fiefs

Giving anarchs and Sabbath even more room to spread. Nice i like it.

People here already look like the Nosferatu.

absolutely savage

This is incredible and I am writing this down and probably stealing it for my next vampire game.

Here's something I discovered a short while ago: My great-grandfather ran an extermination camp which is still standing, and as kids we were playing there everyday, because they built a school right next to it.

can you tell us more about that ?
who was being extermined in those ? when you say "still standing" do you mean "still in activity" ?
would love to read more, sounds like good writing fuel

Mine was Hiram. Hiram was an 8th gen angryMalk. Not Chaotic Stupid, but tended to rant and responded to violence with violence. Was a fan of planning - both IC and OOC, as I planned on a major event for 6 months IRL before the game fell apart. Still chaps my ass to this day.

I don't really know much (I googled, it's mostly about body count and that stuff), but I know it was an Ustaša camp and they exterminated Jewish, Serbian and Muslim people. Of course it's not in activity, but there is barbed wire all around it, and still some land mines, as well. I remember it from when I was a kid, it looks like Nazi concentration camps, with many buildings and underground chambers. As I said, there's a grade school right next to it, so they planted a lot of evergreen trees on the lot and around it, so children wouldn't go there.
Oh, and pic related is a "device" they used to kill prisoners with, it's called "Srbosjek" which translates to Serb-slayer.

Yes, and because of World War II and these camps there's now around 500 Jewish people in Croatia, at the beginning of the 20th century there were around 20,000.

thanks very much for sharing this info
all of it is pretty chilling, fits right into the World of Darkness (although it's horrifying that it really happened)

back on topic, this is exactly the kind of facilities that vampires would run and use : available prisoners that your human thralls don't give two shits about because they see them as their nemesis or as subhumans, yes please !
and abandoned buildings with a sinister past are always a nice touch
a few hauntings wouldn't hurt too, as vampires invariably freak out when confronted with other undead (especially ghosts)

I'm more into Requiem than Masquerade, but I'll definitely use this in my games

were these camps created as part of the final solution, or were they "local initiatives" ?

>were these camps created as part of the final solution, or were they "local initiatives" ?
Both, some were, as you say "local initiatives", others were real death camps, and some were even worse than Nazi concentration camps, guards used hammers, grenades, scythes and dogs to kill prisoners.
There were twenty-six concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia, but these two are the most notorious:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadovno_concentration_camp
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenovac_concentration_camp

>A monument commemorating those killed in the camp was constructed in 1975 and stood for fifteen years before being removed in 1990. A replica of the original monument was constructed and dedicated in 2010, but disappeared within twenty-four hours of its inauguration.
I take it people there feel like the camps weren't a bad thing altogether ?

Also great plot hook : under the guise of remembrance, an occult organization builds a monument to ward off evil [insert supernatural menace], that comes from the camps. Neo-nazis or simple vandals remove it, unwittingly unleashing hell on the region.

Man this is both fascinating and horrible

>I take it people there feel like the camps weren't a bad thing altogether ?
Well, it was removed in 1990., because of the war, and later in 2010. because of some neo-nazis or bitter war veterans.

If you need a political figure, then check these three out:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Pavelić
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Broz_Tito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draža_Mihailović

Go with the original 7 camarilla clans, and the original 10 disciplines. No bloodlines, and if you have other clans give them three of the basic disciplines.

Really, the best way to play is VtM, second edition, and NO supplements at all.

Then watch some episodes of Forever Knight and read Interview With a Vampire and you're all set. The main issue where vampire games go wrong is overdoing it.

Also, three of the hottest girls I've ever met were from various parts of Yugoslavia. Just saying.

>the best way to play is VtM, second edition, and NO supplements at all.
Why is that? I usually see people saying that either third or fourth editions are the best
>The main issue where vampire games go wrong is overdoing it.
The Bloodlines cRPG was really good, it's one of the reasons I want to play the real RPG.
>Also, three of the hottest girls I've ever met were from various parts of Yugoslavia. Just saying.
Most of the girls from here are very hot, but also a little bit too slutty.

And if you need a Malkavian character, then Satan Panonski is perfect, I don't know if there's much about him written in English, but the guy was crazy.
youtube.com/watch?v=BvKt42ySnYc

On a separate note, how much is the leather bound (not the fancy limited convention one, just the black one) going for these days?

What happen if you're, like, a 9th gen vamp and you get cain to bite you? Anything?

My favorite Vampire character was a Malkavian Doc Brown expy. His madness was Delusions, the largest of which was "There are no such things as Vampires and other supernaturals." I came up with all sorts of pseudo-scientific explanations for the disciplines and the like. For example my invisibility belt is what makes me drop out of sight, the idea that I have some sort of magical power of Obfuscation is preposterous.

The campaign ended with us defeating a pack of werewolves by sealing them in a mine. The Doc got trapped in the rubble and didn't make it out. In the epilogue the GM describes Doc finally digging his way out and seeing the rubble everywhere and screaming, "You maniacs, you blew it all up, damn you all to hell!" The GM never said if he got out a week or so later or 10,000 years later.

Tip #1:
It's dangerous to go alone. Take this.

56 Clan vampires, 18 Bloodline vampires, 17 ghouls, 20 other supernaturals, 29 mortals, and 23 animals. A total of 163 NPCs fit for your V20 games.

Also this is kind of fun.