Vampire: Bloodlines Weekly Update #14

Activision’s Shane DeFreest has sent us another weekly update for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines via email. Included in this update is the unfortunate news that the game will not be shown at the San Diego Comic Con as previously announced, but will instead be shown at Gen Con Indy at the White Wolf booth in August. On with the questions:

1) Will vampires be able to climb outside structures, enabling them access to the rooftops of the city? How about climbing walls or walking on ceilings?

A: You will not be able to climb sheer walls and the outside of buildings the only time you will be able to access rooftops is if there are ladders or specific instances we’ve set up to allow it. And there is no walking on ceilings or walls.

I think some people have gotten the idea about climbing walls or walking on ceilings from a screenshot we released showing what appeared to be a Nosferatu walking on the ceiling of a room (or was it a wall?). This shot was taken from a Malkavian Mansion in the game that was built to mirror the insanity of its owner; hence some of the rooms are built upside down, among other weird architectural decisions…

2) Troika has said that there will not be coteries in Bloodlines but my question is what else besides dialogue can we expect from NPC’s? Will there ever be times where they help us out in combat-like situations?

A: There will be a few instances of NPC’s helping you out in combat situations, but they will be rare. We really wanted to focus on the solitary, lonely existence of a fledgling vampire in the World of Darkness.