Real Lich Hours 68: A Bloodlines Primer
Added 2025-05-11 06:04:39 +0000 UTCDare you accept the dark gift? What will you do to hold onto your humanity? What secrets await you in Real Lich Hours Season 2? Come find out, if you dare.
Comments
Holy shit yes, now this is my jam. BG3 lost me as it just felt too 'high-fantasy' for my tastes but dirty, gothy, janky V:tMB? Right up my alley.
NCJ
2025-06-17 21:10:44 +0000 UTCHi first time commenter long time listener! You should remaster Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind in this format
Arthur Edwards
2025-05-27 23:47:59 +0000 UTCFinally getting to this and WOW this intro music is banging.
Casey Francis Alger
2025-05-20 14:21:05 +0000 UTCBloodlines for me in part falls in the Deus Ex Invisible War zone where the cramped levels hurt my enjoyment of the immersive sim RPG genre so much with what was lost in exploration and scale. I was obsessed with Deus Ex 1 and games that came after like this one and Invisible War to me always felt cramped and predictable in their level design in part due to this problem, something that became clear looking back and replaying Deus Ex 1 many times. I know games needed to move forward engine wise but there was a cost to the gameplay experience for a while in this genre in particular. All that being said, what makes this game far superior to IW is it nails the setting so thoroughly and is about as reactive as any game of its type there is, surpassing Deus Ex even (at least before the end of the game) with the nature of character creation differences and how they manifest. I still think Deus Ex has cooler ultimate moments that result from any of this play though, like Flatlander woman. And there is not as much expression in play in Bloodlines. I've always been curious why Half Life 2 had some large levels and this game certainly does not but I have to figure it comes down to budget, technical expertise, and the nature of making a game this reactive at the time in this kind of engine. Valve making the engine themselves obviously helps, and this game actually came out first somehow which is really weird to think about. I still feel those issues of scale and level design when I have replayed Bloodlines, and the combat sure is something you have to do even if its not fun at all, but I have played it 3 times now because its just nailing so many other aspects.
Drew
2025-05-18 22:13:53 +0000 UTCI played a bunch of the tabletop waaay back in the White Wolf days but missed the boat on this adaptation. So glad my two favourite podpersons are gonna give me a tour!
Voodoo Jones
2025-05-16 07:49:47 +0000 UTCAlso shoutouts to Gwen for the music, it’s perfect!
Christopher Grunert Pedersen
2025-05-13 09:31:28 +0000 UTCI have a fondness for this game and its predecessor “Redemption.” I played the hell out both of those games, so I’m looking forward to hearing this series. Thanks guys! Loved the BG3 series also.
Himbo Baggins
2025-05-12 13:53:48 +0000 UTCThat Masquerade Woff was one of the first eps i heard from yall! Super excited to hear an in depth breakdown
Alex Brewington
2025-05-12 13:18:29 +0000 UTClooking forward to the new season
Zach M
2025-05-12 06:19:00 +0000 UTCexcuse me, you don't make a crew of prometheans, you make a throng. hope someone got fired for that blunder!
anonymous
2025-05-12 02:44:45 +0000 UTCwanted to say now that ive finished the episode: new art is fucking awesome and new theme fucking slaps. Gwen's themes are awesome as hell i like rock the fuck out to the Best Quality Vacuum theme every episode goddamn
sleepysmiles
2025-05-12 02:41:21 +0000 UTCAlso: I still had some trouble with this mod—this worked for me though: run the installer as admin and launch the game from the desktop icon (not steam) running as admin as well.
Richard Cochnar
2025-05-12 01:48:56 +0000 UTCI've been hoping you guys would revisit this gem for years, never would have expected it to get this level of attention though! Thank you! Bat! *Flies away*
Joshua Kane
2025-05-11 22:54:44 +0000 UTCLove the art and music! if yall ever do the wh40k crpg for a season id love to be considered for album artist
Corey Brickley
2025-05-11 22:12:52 +0000 UTCI need Kaye to watch it! -GB
Duckfeed.tv
2025-05-11 22:02:34 +0000 UTCThe artwork and music are awesome. Love this game I’m glad it’s getting the love on the network it deserves
James Pulido
2025-05-11 21:31:15 +0000 UTCThrilled for this season! Bloodlines is a game I’ve always been curious about but might never play. Can’t wait to hear more about it from y’all! ALSO! Just throwing this out there at the perfectly wrong time: RLH S3 - Caves of Qud :) An incredibly deep and expansive RPG that is thoroughly rooted in tabletop design and inspo. 99.9% certain it actually first started development as a TTRPG. THINK ABOUT IT ❤️
Patric Fallon
2025-05-11 17:43:27 +0000 UTChttps://www.nexusmods.com/vampirebloodlines/mods/104 for those looking to play along
Richard Cochnar
2025-05-11 17:36:49 +0000 UTCLove the new art and tunes. Thanks for the primer episode!
Richard Cochnar
2025-05-11 14:18:16 +0000 UTCShame Gary didn't pick Ventrue, could have ended every episode with "Go Team Ventrue!" It's the clan I picked for the my play along for the season, and I'm gonna complain about the experience of that sewer dungeon as a Ventrue when you get there, that's for sure.
Kerr
2025-05-11 14:14:34 +0000 UTCSTOKED
Matt Wilson
2025-05-11 14:12:19 +0000 UTCThe game soundtrack is especially important to me so I'm glad to hear this good podcast soundtrack to go along with it!
Typhoon Jim
2025-05-11 13:42:42 +0000 UTCim sure im late to the party making this comment but i do so love that this is how y'all decided to revisit this game
sleepysmiles
2025-05-11 13:38:26 +0000 UTCAnd Gwen's music rocks! Very on theme. The new art is fantastic as well. Quite the vibe!
Abrahm Simons
2025-05-11 12:54:15 +0000 UTCI'm very excited for this season! I've never played Bloodlines and I'm not sure it's for me, but I love Vampire. Vampire: the Masquerade (revised) was my first TTRPG book and I read and reread it so many times in highschool. I've never played V:tM in tabletop... but I did LARP it for several years. I'm hoping to be able to drop some interesting bits from that weird experience! As a LARPer, I never got to roll the d10s in that clunky system (attack, damage, soak d10 pool rolls?) but in LARP you just throw rock-paper-scissors for resolution.
Abrahm Simons
2025-05-11 12:51:58 +0000 UTCRaphael Colotonio, director of Prey said on a podcast that immersive sims are generally very hard to make but also very hard to market and much like Bloodlines it only got its flowers post mortem, and that sucks! What sucks even more is Bloodlines 2 feels like it’s going the BioWare route in its presentation, and less customization, which is just not what I’m here for with this series.
Christopher Grunert Pedersen
2025-05-11 09:23:06 +0000 UTCHeck yea! I've never played, but I was in the same "reading in the back of Waldenbooks" crew in the 90s. If people do want more insight into the tabletop experience, I can't recommend enough the YouTube series "Not a Drop to Drink" on YouTube. It features an experienced storyteller (dm) and 3 our of 4 new players, so there's plenty of introductory explanation and player questions. Plus, the start goes off the rails quickly, in the best way! And remember...don't talk about bite club!
Timothy Post
2025-05-11 07:58:30 +0000 UTCHow many references to What We do in the Shadows until the end of this season will there be I wonder? Rdy for Vamps!
Christopher Grunert Pedersen
2025-05-11 07:31:13 +0000 UTCLet's go
Casey Francis Alger
2025-05-11 06:24:03 +0000 UTC
