Chicago by Night: Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition
From Ludonarrative Dissidents by Ross Payton
May 29, 2026 · 57 min · Season 3 · Episode 23
About this episode
The episode discusses the 2018 edition of the Chicago by Night sourcebook for Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition.
CHICAGO BY NIGHT is a 2018 city sourcebook for Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition , written by Matthew Dawkins and a host of others, and published by Renegade Game Studios, who have the rights to do all this stuff these days. The most recent iteration of a sourcebook that first appeared in 1991, this edition is by far the longest at 357 pages. It describes the vampire culture, clans, people, locations, backstory and subterfuges of the eponymous city. (‘Eponymous’, because I always have to check, means ‘lending its name to’ a thing, not ‘taking its name from’). We talked about the latest edition of Vampire the Masquerade earlier this season and concluded that it did what it needs to in a suitable style, if you like that sort of thing. How does that fit with huge chunks of crunchy campaign-world detail like this? Don’t click that dial! Chicago by Night at DriveThruRPG (there’s more information here than at the publishers’ website) Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition at DriveThruRPG The original Chicago by Night from 1991 at DriveThruRPG Chicago by Night second edition (1993) at DriveThruRPG Read the full show notes here. Discuss this episode on our Discord.
People in this episode
Host: Ross Payton
Topics covered
- Vampire the Masquerade
- Chicago by Night
- tabletop games
- role-playing games
- game design
Keywords
- Vampire the Masquerade
- Chicago by Night
- Matthew Dawkins
- Renegade Game Studios
- tabletop RPG
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Renegade Game Studios
Books & works: Chicago by Night, Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition
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