iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I know the BadWrongFun crowd loves to dunk on players whose preferred Vampire: The Masquerade playstyle is slice-of-unlife, but the Anarch V5 book has a great take on this, written in-character by one of the founders of the Anarch Free States. Personally, this playstyle ain't for me, but it's valid.

An excerpt from the Anarch V5 book (p. 38) that reads:

"The Simple Life

Many assume that I look down on Anarchs who don't fight the fight, but that would be furthest from the truth. In many ways, they are already living in the world we're trying to build. They are doing their thing, free from Camarilla interference. So many of the Anarch gangs you find all over the world are based on this simple lifestyle. You want to hang out with your friends. You help them and they help you. You hunt, perhaps operate a bar or a nightclub. You party, have fun, enjoy the perks of undeath. Nothing wrong with this! When problems arise, it's not these licks who make them."

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I stopped making full sheets for NPCs before V20, because it just felt like a waste of time. VtR had great optional rules for NPC sheets, and I used those for most of my time with V5, too (pic related). Alas, when you're trying to stat enough NPCs to populate a city, even that can be too much. 2/

Example of a typical V5 NPC sheet for my games; nowadays, this is the expanded version reserved for key NPCs

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I think people arrived at that uninformed conclusion due to some similarities with Daggerheart, which sold itself as a D&D killer but actually incorporates a lot of FiTD ideas. V6's alpha is damningly close to a FiTD hack, but since all they know is DH and D&D, that's their point of comparison.

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

One of the perks of never finishing a project is that I have a veritable hoard of ready-to-use layout options for future game ideas. For instance, BREACH's layout ended up being a poor fit for the game's intended vibe, but if I ever work on something more tech-y, it'll definitely come in handy.

BREACH test layout page with character creation rules

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

I was initially reluctant to read Coffin Moon because the basic premise reminded me too much of The Suicide Motor Club (which I love), but I'm SO glad I pulled the trigger. John Varley is a glorious bastard who deserves a place in the vampire hall of fame. A feast for vampire and horror fans!

The cover of Coffin Moon, a book by Keith Rosson

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I think they mostly moved away from extensive photo usage, at least in the books I own. There are some incredible hand-drawn pieces on the Anarch book, and Sabbat: The Black Hand features some really cool digital art. Definitely an improvement over the corebook, tbh.

A page from the Anarch supplement for V5, depicting a hand drawn Nosferatu portrait

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Correction: Ogre will never understand Sacred and Terrible Air* A for effort, though, one of the best Disco Elysium memes I've seen.

Disco Elysium meme using the intellectual ogre template, stolen directly from the other hellsite

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I'm tentatively excited for Vampire: The Masquerade Eternal Whispers. It seems to be set in a classically Sabbat city (Montreal), and that's a big plus. The Disco Elysium-esque presentation is another huge plus. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment, but the game certainly has potential!

A screenshot from the newly announced Vampire: The Masquerade Eternal Whispers cRPG

A screenshot from the newly announced Vampire: The Masquerade Eternal Whispers cRPG, featuring a conversation with a Sabbat characters from the classic Montreal by Night citybook, Toy

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

And here's a loresheet for experienced ghoul characters. V5 really nerfed the poor bastards, so this will hopefully make it more fun to play as ghouls. On a sidenote, I really like writing these! The open-and-closed format is pressure-free. Wish more games had similar formats for fan content.

Loresheet for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition entitled "Career Ghouls"

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Since I'll be playtesting my Sabbat V5 rules anyway, I decided to write some antitribu loresheets, and *of course* I had to start with the Lasombra and Tzimisce. Capturing clan culture was an important part of these, but I also tried to make Oblivion and Protean a bit cooler to honour the OGs!

A page containing the Lasombra antitribu loresheet, written by VV

A page containing the Tzimisce antitribu loresheet, written by VV

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Anthony Head played one of my most treasured father figures in fiction, and I'm devastated by his passing. Rest in peace, legend. I'll forever be grateful for Giles.

Screenshots from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer depicting the iconic "lie to me" conversation

Buffy screenshots depicting a conversation about guilt, support and respect

Buffy screenshot of Giles talking about forgiveness and compassion

Several screenshots from Buffy with classic Giles moments

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

So here's a loresheet inspired by MK Ultra, Clan Malkavian and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. I also wrote a few antitribu loresheets for further supporting Sabbat play in V5, but I figured the game needs more support for mortal chronicles, too. Expect more mortal loresheets soon!

The MK-V Trials, a loresheet for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

The Jimmy Cult from 28 Years Later is the second best live action depiction of a Sabbat pack, down to their naming conventions and induction rites. The first is still the Near Dark coven, because ya just can't beat the classics.

A section on Sabbat names from Sabbat: The Black Hand

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Leave it to V5 to hide the hardest Sabbat quote beneath god awful, borderline unreadable typography. The alt text should save y'all some eye strain.,

Within us are the unfulfilled desires of our sires and grandsires. We are their tools and they shaped us for their purpose. We choose to shape ourselves into something that fulfills our own ends. In pursuit of transformation we do not stop at the flesh, for when we mingle our blood, we free our souls.

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

My Mount Rushmore of art is composed of Joshua Gabriel Timbrook, Guy Davis, Mike Mignola and Ben Stenbeck (shout-out to Hodag, too; his art is truly inspired). What's yours?

Art of four vampires by Joshua Gabriel Timbrook

Art of Hellboy and a werewolf by Mike Mignola

Art of Lord Baltimore, a giant man-bat and three monks by Ben Stenbeck

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Listen, all I'm saying is that as a Storyteller, no one can stop you from adding an Asylum franchise to your chronicle's city. There's even an excellent loresheet for it! Running a Camarilla chronicle? It's a hostile expansion. Anarch? The Voerman can be allies or foes. Do it. Provoke society.

The Joker interview meme, with the interviewer asking "so you're saying the Voerman Sisters are the best Malkavian characters ever made?" and the Joker responding "yes, and I'm tired of pretending they're not"

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I did not choose the Tzimisce life, it chose me.

Meme with the words "are you a boy or a gir? Well first of all, I'm Tzimisce" in front of a red background and the Tzimisce clan symbol

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Holy shit, this film was a banger. It's a bloody visual feast, and the soundtrack kicks so much ass! Can't recommend this enough to my fellow vampire fans. Bliss feels like a lost piece of the 80s while somehow being one of the freshest films in the genre. So good.

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I know this has been done to death already, but I decided to write some rules for playing Sabbat characters with Vampire: The Masquerade's 5th edition rules. This is *not* a throwback to the Revised/V20 Sabbat, though; I find V5's Sabbat much more coherent, so that's what I went with.

House rules for playing as Sabbat using the V5 ruleset, pt 1

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I made a few new Predator Types for V5, but I think the first three ended up way too dark even for Vampire: The Masquerade. The first one in particular made *me* uncomfortable, tbh. Reader discretion is advised due to the sensitive topics depicted here.

A page containing four new Predator Types for V5

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Wrote a spicy loresheet for playing Abominations (aka Garou-Kindred hybrids) in V5. It's not meant to be balanced or anything, but I hope it's not THAT broken. Now, will this ever see the light of day on my table? Probably not, as my players are too risk-averse, but I had to write it down anyway.

A screencap of a loresheet for playing Abominations in Vampire: The Masquetade's 5th Edition

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

So, there's a bloodcurdling, horrifying piece about feeding vitae to your children in the original printing of the Anarch V5 book. It's disturbing, messed up and perfect for a horror game. So guess what? It was censored on later printings and replaced with a fan service-y bit. Censorship SUCKS.

The first part of a two-pager piece titled "Is It OK To Feed Vitae To a Baby?", styled in the form of forum posts. Taken from the V5 Anarch supplement.

The second part of a two-pager piece titled "Is It OK To Feed Vitae To a Baby?", styled in the form of forum posts. Taken from the V5 Anarch supplement.

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I've been a little under the weather these last few days, and one of the things that always cheers me up is diving into my saved memes folder. This was my favourite find today. It's a shame the Banu Haqim, the Ministry, the Hecata, the Lasombra and the Ravnos are missing, but I love it anyway.

An image depicting several Vampire: The Masquerade clans with SpongeBob screenshots

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

As I was organising my WoD books, I stopped to flip through the Book of the Wyrm 2e, and this snippet caught me by surprise. It's half content warning and half proto-safety guideline, with some 90s edge bleeding through. Here's W5's first foray on the same subject, for comparison.

A photo of a section from the Book of the Wyrm 2e, discussing the book's contents and how they should be approached responsibly

A screenshot of a section from the Werewolf: The Apocalypse's 5th Edition corebook, discussing the game's themes and content and how they should be approached responsibly

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Adventure Time always gets me in the mood for some Mutant: Year Zero. Simon & Marcy in particular serves so much MYZ, it could literally be used as an introduction to the game's themes and vibes for newcomers.

A screen cap from Adventure Time's Simon and Marcy episode, depicting a panomaric shot of a ruined city

A screen cap from Adventure Time's Simon and Marcy episode, depicting Simon fighting a rad zombie to protect Marcy

A screen cap from Adventure Time's Simon and Marcy episode, depicting Ice King leading Marcy through a ruined city

A screen cap from Adventure Time's Simon and Marcy episode, depicting a broken bridge and Bubblegum-vines crawling throught it

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

When I started reorganizing my shelves, I could've *sworn* there was no way I could fit all of the TTRPG books I still regularly use in a single shelf, but here we are. The rest are still sorted by collections (though they're mostly cWoD books), but hot damn. This is gonna be so much easier to use!

Photo of a bookshelf with TTRPG books like the 5th editions of Werewolf and Vampire, Tales from the Loop, DCC, Mörk Borg, Apocalypse World and FATE

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna handle Kriegwalkers' Frame Class spreads without illustrations, but in the meantime, here's a look at the Pilot Profiles and Krieger creation rules. I hope I'm not missing any major archetype here, lmao.

Page 1 of the Krieger creation section of Kriegwalkers

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

So, I know I've been MIA for a while (needed lots of bed rest after surgery), but here's a look at the intro for Kriegwalkers and a quick layout test!

A test page with the intro for Kriegwalkers

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Just found out about IGPX, and I'm shocked that an anime with such a cool concept managed to slip under my radar for so long. It apparently had a few runs on American Toonami (AND a PS2 game), but it was never aired here in Brazil. The mech races are SO fun!

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

An attempt was made. I might need to reduce the blur on the mech's silhouette (based on a model by Michael Schiffer I found at Unsplash), but this turned out way better than expected. PS2 covers were the biggest inspiration here.

A tentative cover for KRIEGWALKERS, depicting a mech silhouette in front of an orange sky, surrounded by two mech hangars

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

How nice of Wizards of the Coast to finally "allow" us to call it 5.5e.

A meme with two astronauts looking at a planet, with one of them saying "it's called 5.5e now" and the other pointing a gun at them and saying "always has been".

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

And that's a wrap on the intro spreads! I'm half tempted to make a quick overview of what play looks like, but it might either be too much, or just too early. Anyway, I'd love to know what y'all think of the GM vows and the game's themes and motifs. Next up: character creation!

A page with the GM principles for Drakönis

A page describing what classic fantasy means for Drakönis

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

NGL, I'm a bit apprehensive about how this reads. It makes sense to me, but I'm worried it just sounds like a vapid (or even worse, pretentious) word salad for everyone else. Cairn probably did this better, but hey, I tried, lmao

Part 1 of the Introductory spread for the TTRPG Drakönis

Part 2 of the Introductory spread for the TTRPG Drakönis

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Absolutely. V5's abstraction-heavy combat ain't perfect, but it's still the best take on combat we've had on a WoD game. Hell, the optional rules for ending combat early/summarizing it are friggin' great in my book, and I'm more than a little tempted to adapt them to my favourite OSR games.

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Abstracted range > tracking distance. Case in point: this is still the coolest take on range I've ever made. It's far from original, but it's really clean, and works pretty well with the game's firefight maneuvers.

A screenshot from an unreleased TTRPG called Project Daybreak, depicting the rules for zone-based combat

A screenshot from an unreleased TTRPG called Project Daybreak, depicting two of the game's combat maneuvers (point blank and sharpshooting)

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Pretty happy with how this is shaping up. Now, the hard part: redesigning every table to fit this new look.

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

3/ To illustrate my point: Flame Crest Shield, halves all fire damage, constantly emits heats. Truthkeeper's Dagger: d6 damage, glows when a lie is told. 2 in 6 chance of breaking when the owner lies. Retaliator's Shield, d4 damage to melee attackers; if broken, deals d4 damage to the user.

A wooden shield with flames painted on it

A marred wooden shield with barbed wire wrapped on it

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

My partner got bitten by the cartography bug too, and she's just finished her first map! I've always admired her as an artist, so this was a huge treat. I'm a proud, proud V.V., y'all.

A fantasy-style map drawn by V.V.'s partner

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Trying my hand at drawing icons for cities and points of interest, because I can't rely on dots, squares and stars forever, lmao. Towers are fun!!

A bunch of scribbled icons of towers, forts and cities

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Without downloading any new pics, describe your gender (Always knew this pic would come in handy, lmao)

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Back to practicing with B&W. Things I like drawing: mountains! Things I hate drawing: trees. Trees are NOT fun. Simple city icons are kinda cool, though. Will definitely keep practicing those.

A white sheet of paper with various TTRPG cartography icons scribbled on it

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Yeah, the metadialog that comes from checking traps is explicitly treated as part of the rules. The attached pic is a move from AW 2e, and it's a great example of how PbtA codifies the things we usually treat as table talk while simultaneously imbuing them with mechanical heft.

Page 144 from Apocalypse World 2e, describing the Read A Sitch move.

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

The first three episodes of Fallout's sophomore season were definitely the weakest, but episode 6 getting a 7.9 rating is a load of bollocks.

A seriesgraph.com screenshot of the aggregate ratings of every Fallout episode

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Decided to finish this cartography exercise in spite of the maaaany mistakes I made along the way, and even though I'm not happy with the end result at all, I learned a lot from it!

A regional map made as a cartography exercise, depicting mountains, a desert, a forested area, a jungle area and the sea, all coloured with markers

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

First time messing around with markers. Don't know if I'll try this again anytime soon, lmao

Cartography practice drawing with a mountain range, a forest, lots of blank space, rivers and the sea

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V.V. 🏳️‍🌈 @machineheart.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Some cartography practice from today. I absolutely suck at traditional art, but my partner gave me a bunch of art supplies, so I'm been giving this a shot. My hand hurts, but I'm having fun!

Some sketches of different mountain and forest styles for TTRPG maps

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