>>4363885Because playing with the metaplot is the funnest shit ever.
I played a Dark Ages ruleset game of V20 for 2 damn years set in the renaissance and the times it involved the metaplot were scant but were some of the funnest, most engaging moments of the game.
I got to be blood bound to a Tremere player as a Salubri in session 1, and then had to grapple with the semantics of where I would go and how I would deal with the coterie given our choice to join either the Sabbat or the Camarilla, and then because it was set in Italy, we had to deal with the Giovanni presence as well, who were of course hunting some renegade Cappadocians hiding out, but surprise, Baali infection, prepare for demons and shit. And all the other incredibly fun interactions between clans and sects and their domains and abilities and yada yada yada that I could relate to and get excited for when I forsaw mentions of. Getting blood bound by a player is bad, for example, but the minute I knew I was going to get blood bound by a Tremere as a Salubri and the entire table realized how badly I'd fucked up, that's the kinda shit the metaplot enables, real engagement because of foreknowledge of the tropes involved.
Also, bastardized Christian lore is badass.
