>>5871120By default, D&D is oriented towards being an adventurer out to save the world by stabbing bad things until they die, like they're in Lord of the Rings, and delving into dungeons full of traps, monsters, and treasure, breaking the traps, killing the monsters, stealing the treasure, selling it back in town, and then repeating. The system is built around doing that, and that's what it does best. You get better at doing those things as you level up, and you do those things in order to get levels - you gain XP by completing challenges/killing monsters, and succeed by having HP leftover.
WoD is more like improv acting as either the protagonist or an antagonist of a modern day horror story. It's about getting into fights with your supposed allies over petty reasons like them poaching some of your stuff, about fighting your instinct to be a terrible person, failing, and being a terrible person, and about poking around in the darkness then running away screaming because the night is dark and full of terrors, and sure, you're one of them, but there's even more terrifying things out there that are going to eat your face so you go back to picking on the hapless mortals to make yourself feel better. The XP system revolves around doing that, and your powers and stuff revolve around that - you get XP by transgressing morality, by fucking up dramatically, by accomplishing personal goals, and by poking around at things you shouldn't be, and lose by running out of life, or by becoming a monster with no semblance of humanity.
