Vampire the Masquerade - Creating Nosferatu: Conformists and Pariahs

Cursed with a monstrous appearance, alienated from the mortal world and despised by other Kindred, the Nosferatu are a cynical clan focused on surviving in the world that sees them as lesser.
This video traces how the concept of clan Nosferatu developed and changed across VtM editions, from 1st edition to V5.
It looks at what the Nosferatu are about: what are the main themes of clan Nosferatu and how they can be used as an inspiration and building blocks for Vampire the Masquerade characters.
I hope you'll enjoy this video and it will be useful to you in creating Nosferatu for your chronicles!
0:00:00 Introduction
0:02:16 Part One: The Evolution of Clan Nosferatu
0:02:22 1st Edition
0:06:40 2nd Edition
0:07:07 Clanbook: Nosferatu
0:13:25 Vampire: The Dark Ages
0:15:48 Revised Edition
0:16:54 Clanbook: Nosferatu Revised
0:23:26 Dark Ages: Vampire
0:25:37 20th Anniversary Edition
0:27:38 20th Anniversary Edition Lore of the Clans
0:31:15 20th Anniversary Edition Dark Ages
0:33:07 5th Edition
0:35:51 5th Edition Camarilla
0:38:06 5th Edition Anarch
0:39:01 Part Two: What Are The Nosferatu About?
0:42:34 Theme - Monstrous Appearance
0:46:34 Theme - Alienation
0:49:34 Theme - Marginalisation
0:54:08 Theme - Survival
0:58:14 Theme - Community
1:02:30 Theme - Ugly Truths
1:05:51 Theme - Cynical Outlook
1:08:41 Part Three: Creating Nosferatu Characters
1:09:07 Character Example - Dominik
1:12:25 Character Example - Georg
1:15:20 Character Example - Baśka
1:18:45 Character Example - Gravedigger
1:21:53 Character Example - Wilczyca
1:26:57 The End
1:27:47 Closing Screen
Follow Ksandra on Linktree, Twitter and Wordpress:
Linktree: linktr.ee/ksandra_rpg
Twitter: ksandra_br
Wordpress: ksandraandpartners.wordpress.com/
This video was made for non-profit entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. At time of recording, Vampire the Masquerade, clan symbols and portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved.

[@raidenovitt1991]

can’t wait for the lasombra video where it’s just the couch lmaooo

[@thelamias6663]

Haha, that or just a black screen to represent darkness!

[@stephenclements6158]

LOL

[@raidenovitt1991]

@@thelamias6663 also love these videos and your content!! pls make more 🥺😭

[@smuggrog9821]

Oh yes the Sewers Rats, always liked my vampires more outwardly monstrous so natural the Nosferatu are among my favorite clans. 100% agree with you how weak sauce the V5 Nos are. The whole point of the clan is that they cant pass for humans, being unmistakably supernatural and monstrous in their appearance, so toning them down to just being disfigured humans takes so much away from the clans identity, lore, history, and culture. Its even weirder when you look at how Nos are portrayed in V5 after the Core, Anarch, and Cam, which have seen to have mostly ditched the idea of Nos just being disfigured humans to actually making them look like monsters, cause most Nos you see depicted in later V5 material do not look like they could pass for human's at all.

[@thelamias6663]

V5 has been so inconsistent with how it writes about the Nosferatu appearance, that I'm not sure what they're aiming for at this point. It seems a bit like they want to "have their cake and eat it" - not commit to the monstrous appearance but still have it in some situations. If they're going back to monstrous look now, that's certainly the right step in my opinion, but lack of consistent vision for the Nosferatu in this edition bothers me. They're such a cool clan but they just don't work without the monstrous appearance.

[@blackcrescendo]

Hi @@thelamias6663 Thank you for the video ! First time listener here, will definitely be back ! I just want to throw my grain of salt in there, as I like the V5 variant of the nosferatu and personnaly think they work very well without the supernatural monstrous looks. I think (but cannot confirm,I did not participate in the design of the mecanics) that the idea is to make Nosferatu players able to focus on more aspects of the nosf 's condition than thier appaerance. I think it is still central and very present, but they aren't exclusively about appaerance after all, like you have mentionned, there are other themes to be explored narratively, and I think that by softening the look bane, they enable the players to explore more easily these themes. Keep in mind that in the 21st century, with the development and existence of video cellular phones and cameras everywhere, having a masquerade breaching monster walk about is maybe a bit too hardcore to be played at all...don't forget that their bane severity can greatly affect their capacity to hide and use obfuscate so it's very present ! I think that previous versions of nosf depended too much on the use of obfuscate to play them. with V5, i think you could be able to explore other combinations, making them more flexible than before ? I don't know, food for thought. what do you guys think ?

[@thelamias6663]

@@blackcrescendo First of all, thank you for watching the video, I really appreciate it and hope you enjoyed it! It's good to know that V5 Nosferatu work for some people, even if they don't work for me. I'm going to disagree but I definitely don't want you to take it as me telling you that you shouldn't enjoy what you enjoy. So here's where I'm coming from: there are absolutely other themes to clan Nosferatu but most of them don't make sense in the narrative without their monstrous appearance. I don't think appearance has to be the main Nosferatu theme focused on in the chronicle in any edition but things like marginalisation, cynicism, alienation from the mortal world all stem from their appearance, so exploring them without having that appearance firmly in place feels hollow. Nosferatu are marginalised and alienated because they look like inhuman monsters. They are cynical and experienced survivors because they have endured inescapable marginalisation. Nosferatu had a very strong, well-defined concept before, based on a very specific vampire archetype. Once the central element is pulled away from the concept, everything starts to unravel on the conceptual level. If V5 provided another strong concept to tie it all together or did a more thorough reconceptualisation of the Nosferatu, it could be a different story, but it doesn't do that. It tries to have it both ways: keep what Nosferatu were before but also allow players flexibility to not engage with it much and play "less-Nosferatu Nosferatu" (bane severity is an element of that). And that just doesn't work on a conceptual level. It makes the overall vision for the clan less well-defined and that for me makes it less appealing to engage with at all. Yes, lesser bane makes it easier to navigate cameras etc, but this doesn't make the Nosferatu more narratively interesting and for me that doesn't make up for a less well-defined overall vision for the clan.

[@humanshapedbottomfeeder2194]

I've always liked the idea that the Nosferatu clan curse gets watered down with each generation, so the ugly but passable for human Nosferatu of the modern nights are a testament to just how thin the blood has gotten, whereas elder Nosferatu are so horrifying that they cause something similar to the Delirium that Werewolves inspire. I also like to think this leads to Elder Nosferatu treating their juniors to a condescending 'you kids have it so easy nowadays, back in my time blah blah blah' speech every once in a while when they overhear them complaining about something.

[@maxwellr447]

A very nice presentation, thank you!

[@SamFlegalart]

Been playing VTM for almost 30 years, and I watch a lot of VTM KZbin. Your videos in this series have honestly been some of my favorites. I really hope you continue to make them. Thank you!

[@thelamias6663]

Thank you, this means so much to me! I'm working on the next video right now. They take longer than I'd like, as I need to balance this with day job etc. but I definitely intend to continue.

[@nasir6r996]

My favorite clan. You have yourself a subscriber

[@thelamias6663]

Thank you!

[@ΜαρίνοςΛούρος]

Your Clan Videos are somewhat long, but SO good! Keep up!

[@thelamias6663]

Thank you so much!

[@jamesisaacson6379]

​@@thelamias6663can't for you to do tzimisce also when will you do tzimisce there my favorite although I assume will have different opinions when come to whole flesh craft your self?

[@jamesisaacson6379]

​@@thelamias6663 can't wait for you to do tzimisce also when are you going do tzimisce there my favorite although I assume we will disagree when come to flesh craft your self part?

[@thelamias6663]

@@jamesisaacson6379 I definitely want to do a Tzimisce video, as I love that clan, but I want to do 7 original clans first. Tzimisce and Lasombra are first in the queue after that. Disagreeing is always a possibility, so if that happens, that's absolutely ok! (But I don't know your views on that, so hard to tell!)

[@tzusun6876]

I love this series! Thanks for doing a deep dive on the clans and digging into themes over stereotypes and stock roles.

[@thelamias6663]

Thank you, this makes me so happpy!

[@ReustersPlace]

I loved this. I’m really glad I found your channel

[@thelamias6663]

Thank you so much!

[@KimchiYeo]

That intro xD i choke on my drink xDD

[@joshuahebert7972]

Good insight on the clan.

[@thelamias6663]

Thank you!

[@icarosoares1840]

thanks for the great vid

[@GiuseppeRedscarf]

I'm not convinced this isn't an actual vampire.

[@onisinn1]

😊

[@droolz7883]

Great video honest monster f....😂