I love Mage and Changeling as ideas, far more so than Vampire (sorry, I just never got into it). However, the few people who want to play those (esp. LARP) rarely do so well; I know I couldn't do storytell either worth a damn.
Also, all the WoD games have serious flaws IMHO, some of which drive me nuts; and the relentlessly bleak worldview is a bit palling after a while, making you want a nice bracing game of Toon or Bunnies and Burrows as a break from all the doom and gloom.
Also, I actually don't think much of the tabletop versions of most of the WoD games; they all seem best played LARP (though LARP Mage gets rather sticky with any set of rules), because of the complex social interactions involved. Then again, it depends on the gamemasters, and the players, as much as on the game itself.
Vampire in particular lends itself to LARPing, as does (oddly enough) Wraith, as it is a lot easier to plot and backstab and conspire when there are two dozen players and three or four storytellers scattered around a courtyard or parking lot than when there are four or five players sitting around a table under the glare of the One True Gamemaster. The dynamics are completely different, and allow a kind of play that you just couldn't easily get otherwise. |
