My father was a Lutheran minister, and I think that played a huge role in not only Vampire but the whole WoD series. The game and the world became about religion and belief. He commented further: 'I was trying to shy away from religion. In an 'Ask Me Anything' interview on Reddit Rein-Hagen referred to the idea of Cain as the progenitor of all vampires as a 'big turning point'. Inspired by a comic book given to him by White Wolf business partner Stewart Wieck, Rein-Hagen developed the idea that the cursed character of the Biblical Cain was the original vampire. Some of Vampire 's central themes of the power of belief developed out of Rein-Hagen's religious upbringing. He wanted to go beyond what Anne Rice had done by creating individual vampires, with a whole secret vampire society and culture. Rein-Hagen specifically stated that he purposefully did not read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles until 'very late' in the development process but admitted she was probably an influence on the vampire films that inspired the game. Rein-Hagen felt that hunting vampires, as a game premise, would get boring so he came up with the idea of a game where the players played vampires instead of hunting them. Vampire was inspired by RPGs such as Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest and Nightlife, as well as the writings of Joseph Campbell and vampire films such as The Lost Boys. In 1996, a short-lived television show loosely based on the game, Kindred: The Embraced, was produced by Aaron Spelling for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Several associated products were produced based on Vampire: The Masquerade, including live-action role-playing games ( Mind's Eye Theatre), dice, collectible card games ( Vampire: The Eternal Struggle), video games ( Vampire: The Masquerade вЂ“ Redemption, Vampire: The Masquerade вЂ“ Bloodlines, Vampire: The Masquerade вЂ“ Swansong and Vampire: The Masquerade вЂ“ Bloodlines 2), and numerous novels. It is set in a fictionalized 'gothic-punk' version of the modern world, where players assume the roles of vampires, who are referred to as 'Kindred', and deal with their night-to-night struggles against their own bestial natures, vampire hunters and each other. Vampire: The Masquerade is a tabletop role-playing game (tabletop RPG) created by Mark Rein-Hagen and released in 1991 by White Wolf Publishing as the first of several Storyteller System games for its World of Darkness setting line.

Cubus 25