10 delicious vampire TTRPGs for Halloween

Anyone with a penchant for dark, brooding monsters will be spoiled for choice over the next six months, with the final season of What We Do in the Shadows airing in October, the remake of Salem’s Lot already making the rounds in theatres, Robert Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu slated for December 2024 and the third season of Interview With the Vampire winging its way to us in early 2025.

TTRPG creators haven’t been slacking on the vampire stakes, though: if you are hungrily awaiting the return of Lestat and Count Orlok, consider checking out these ten vampire TTRPGs. Whether you’re playing alone or with your coven, you’ll find something to sink your teeth into!

10) Low Stakes (NerdBurger Games)

Shows like What We Do in the Shadows and Being Human brought a fresh take on the vampire genre by playing up the comedy of vampire existence. In Low Stakes, you too can play a group of mismatched monstrous roommates who constantly struggle to engage with daily life. The challenges in Low Stakes are, as the title suggests, incredibly mundane. Your characters must master such dangerous situations as getting a new roommate, tracking down a lost pet, or having a very ordinary day.

9) Oops All Draculas! (Jessica Marcrum)

In Oops All Draculas!, every character is a Dracula: an archetype based on one of the many depictions of Dracula across the decades. In this world, Draculas are stronger together, but alone, they are a danger to themselves and others, so they team up to solve problems. Unfortunately, their pack mentality often backfires spectacularly. Oops All Draculas! makes an excellent one-shot for a Halloween gaming session!

8) Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition (Renegade Game Studios)

The vampire daddy of them all, Vampire: The Masquerade (known as V:tM), keeps returning from the grave and is now in its fifth edition. Originally released in 1991, V:tM tapped into the vampire craze of the 90s and attracted role-players who craved the moral ambiguity of a monstrous protagonist in a world of supernatural politics. It also gave rise to the video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, a cult classic of the urban fantasy video game genre. Renegade Game Studio’s 5th edition of Vampire: The Masquerade introduces new mechanics for a modern audience, while nostalgia fans can check out V20, White Wolf/Onyx Path’s comprehensive version of the original game’s system and setting.

7) SAD VAMPIRE BOYFRIEND (Grant Howitt)

SAD VAMPIRE BOYFRIEND does exactly what it says on the tin: you choose whether your character is a vampire or a mortal, teaming up with others to fight some threat to your existence or that of your love. Your moves are powered by pure angst, and there are even mechanics that can help you regain angst through brooding. A loving homage as much as it is an ironic take, SAD VAMPIRE BOYFRIEND is rules-light and fits onto one page.

6) Thousand Year Old Vampire (Tim Hutchings)

One of the solo journalling TTRPGs that popularised the form, Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings, is about the endless slog of immortality. Play through centuries of life as the vampire protagonist loves, loses, and learns that eternity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. A story about grief and the slow loss of self in the face of an ever-changing world, Thousand Year Old Vampire is a unique take on vampire fiction.

5) Undying (Magpie Games)

In Undying, vampires are predators through and through. This diceless system guides players through the daily unlife of a vampire trying to survive in a city of predators, feeding on unsuspecting humans and warring over status and territory. Whether player characters succeed or fail against NPCs depends on whether they are higher or lower in status and how much blood they are willing to bet to achieve their goals. With downtimes devoted to the complex web of backstabbing, Undying models the idea of territory, control, and callous inhumanity that so much vampire fiction strives to explore.

4) Paint the Town Red (SoulMuppet Publishing)

Described as a ‘sad vampire RPG,’ Paint the Town Red from Soulmuppet Publishing focuses on the best part of any vampire fiction: the parties. With an unashamed commitment to the melodrama of vampire romance, Paint the Town Red’s sessions are wild rampages through your hedonistic, blood-soaked unlife. Players are encouraged to make their characters vulnerable, driven by passions that go too far, and revel in the consequences. You can get a free quickstart of the rules here, and check out the Backerkit campaign for the full release here.

3) Elegy (Moro de Oliveira)

For those who love Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Requiem but struggle to find a coven to play with, Elegy is the game for you. Other solo games on this list depict a very specific facet of vampiric existence, but Elegy is the closest to the typical vampire TTRPG, with its webs of politics, conspiring factions, and mystical powers. Based on the Ironsworn system by Shawn Tomkin, Elegy presents a rich urban fantasy world and a variety of vampiric archetypes to live your best Interview With the Vampire unlife.

2) Hunger and Thirst (HyveMynd)

While many other vampire TTRPGs have lengthy tomes, Hunger and Thirst from HyveMynd are two business card-sized RPGs that tell incredible stories within a few paragraphs. Both are solo journalling games about a relationship between a human and a vampire, with Hunger from the vampire’s perspective and Thirst from the human’s. Hunger and Thirst embrace the tension between desire and danger while also exploring consent in a mature and healthy way, all while keeping the rules streamlined and simple.

1) Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition (Onyx Path Publishing)

Vampire: The Requiem was originally envisaged as a reboot of Vampire: The Masquerade, but very much became its own thing. Vampire: The Requiem introduces a range of political and religious ideologies that offer a multifaceted take on what a modern vampire society could look like. Driven by the personal Gothic melodrama of characters trying to retain their connection to humanity as their inner monster (and a predatory society) drives them to do increasingly inhumane things, Vampire: The Requiem remains one of the most nuanced explorations of vampires in TTRPGs.