VtM: Bloodlines 2 - What is a Brujah

Remove all ads!

Developer diary #9 for VtM: Bloodlines 2:

​

What is a Brujah?

Developer Diary #9

For those who are new to the Vampire the Masquerade universe, the Brujah are a Vampire Clan. They are all descendants of the same bloodline that gives them similar strengths and weaknesses. They have access to supernatural Strength, Speed and Charisma. Their curse is that they are easily riled to anger and often use this reputation to their advantage with intimidation and threats. All these traits make them deadly opponents on and off the battlefield.

When we looked to adapt these rebels and philosophers into a video game, we were inspired by real world culture and vampiric fantasies to help you get immersed in their playstyle.

Here are some perspectives on building different Brujah from across the studio and an introduction from Karim from World of Darkness on how Brujah was developed for Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition.

Designing modern Brujah for Tabletop
"With the fifth edition of Vampire: The Masquerade, we wanted each clan to primarily embody a vampire archetype out of fiction and popular culture, rather than looking to their powers and fictional history alone for identity. Fortunately, for the Brujah this was easy.

The Brujah clan represent one of the oldest and most recognizable vampire archetypes: that of the eternal rebel. Brujah vampires identify fiercely with a personal cause, and cannot resist picking fights for the sake of this conviction. Explosive strength - of body as well as personality - thus becomes a defining asset of the clan. In previous editions of Vampire: The Masquerade the Brujah were often overshadowed by other clans in martial acumen, at least in practice, so we now made sure that their unique combination of Celerity and Potence would allow them to dominate most physical altercations.

However, in a game of personal horror, each archetype should be defined by their flaws just as much (if not more) than their powers. The tragedy of the Brujah is that beneath their surface idealism lies a deeper need - an addiction - for conflict. Mortals Embraced into the clan come from all walks of life and champion any number of causes, savory and less savory, united only in their belligerence. While many Brujah would claim to fight for the downtrodden, the perception of "downtrodden" is as varied as there are Brujah. And if a Brujah vampire would ever see their cause triumphant, they often find themselves championing the other side, the cold fire in their dead hearts goading them back into the fray - forever caught in a self-perpetuating cycle of destruction."

- Karim Muammar, Brand Editor for World of Darkness

[...]