The Interview with the Vampire RPG is built for messy wins

Anne Rice's Immortal Universe Roleplaying Game, the tabletop RPG set in the world of AMC's Interview with the Vampire, went live on BackerKit on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at 10:00 AM Pacific. Renegade Game Studios says it reached its funding goal in under an hour. When I checked the campaign page on Wednesday morning, it showed $186,393 raised against a $25,000 goal from 815 backers, with the campaign set to end on November 19 at 9:00 PM UTC.

I am a show person first. I came to this through Louis and Lestat yelling at each other in a beautiful apartment, not through the novels. So the question I care about is simple: does this game play like the show feels? From the rules Renegade has shown, the answer is closer to yes than I expected.

Two boxes, one setting

The campaign is built around two core products. The Interview with the Vampire Starter Set runs an introductory chronicle called A Scent of Cloves and Lilac, set in 1949 New Orleans. You play fledglings abandoned by Lestat, and per the campaign page it starts with an intruder in your home and turns into a murder investigation. It comes with a Learn-to-Play booklet, dice, maps and props. The Interview with the Vampire: New Orleans hardcover opens things up to your own characters, human, fledgling or experienced vampire, anywhere between 1910 and 2020, in the span the TV series covers.

That second date range is the clever bit. The show is told across decades, and the game leans into that instead of fighting it.

In this game, a success can still ruin your night. That is the most Interview with the Vampire rule I have ever read.

The rules that sound like the show

It is a 5d10 dice pool system rolled against shifting target numbers. Geek Native's breakdown lays out four outcomes: a Natural Success, a Controlled Success after rerolls or adjustments, a Chaotic Success where you overshoot the target and trigger an Escalation, and a Failure that also triggers one. Escalations are tiered, from broken gear up to the real person you are impersonating walking into the salon.

Then there are the two mechanics that sold me. Flashback lets a chronicle that opens in 2020 cut back to 1920 for a scene or a whole session. Rewrite lets a player spend a point to take brief control of the plot, like suddenly remembering the dockworker who owes you a favor when there is a body to move before dawn. Damage runs on three tracks, Wounds, Despair and Torment, and you heal by leaning into your character's Fascinations rather than resting. Backseat Gamer notes the designer is Eloy Lasanta, the writer behind Third Eye Games.

A storyteller who lies about the past is the entire premise of the series. A Flashback system plus a Rewrite currency is a mechanical way to make the table do that. I like it a lot more than another clan politics simulator.

The pledge ladder, priced out

The campaign lists its tiers with prices. Most of the contents are shown as images on the page, so I am only putting in the table what the page says in text. Shipping, VAT and taxes are charged later in the pledge manager, and delivery is expected in fall 2027.

What the numbers tell you

• Vampire at $130 is the first tier with the bonus content. Eternal Archives 2028 is six digital drops over twelve months starting in November 2027, and Renegade says it will sell for $30 on its own after the campaign. If you were going to buy it anyway, that is real money off the step up.
• Pay Over Time starts at $150. The page says pledges of $150 or more can be split into four monthly payments of 25% with no interest. Vampire alone does not reach it. Ancient, at $180, is the cheapest tier that qualifies by itself.
• There are no stretch goals. Renegade says everything was planned up front. So waiting to see what unlocks gains you nothing.
• The Collector's hardcover is a campaign-only item. The page says the slipcased Collector's edition of the New Orleans book will only be made for this campaign. If you want that one, now is the window.
• Online play is an add-on below All-In. The FAQ says one VTT module covering both books is included in All-In Dark Gift, for Roll20, Foundry or Alchemy, and everyone else can add one in the add-on section.

Who should back what

If you just want to try it with friends who love the show, start with a $55 physical tier and read the page images to see which of the two fits your table. If you know you will run a long chronicle, Vampire is the tier I would pick, because the Eternal Archives promise new locations, antagonists and story seeds for Narrators plus new fascinations and items for players, and you would pay $30 for that later anyway. Collectors are the only people who need to think about the top three.

There is also a bit of industry context worth knowing. Backseat Gamer reports that Renegade's White Wolf partnership for Vampire: The Masquerade wraps up at the end of 2026, so this is the studio's next vampire game, licensed from AMC instead. Licensed tabletop is having a busy year across the hobby, from the D&D Star Wars book that picked the rebel cell to this one, and the difference between them often comes down to how much the rules care about the source. If you want a comparison, our look at which Arkham Horror Remastered pledge makes sense walks through a ladder from a very different kind of game.

My take: this is the rare licensed RPG that is built around how the source is told, not just who is in it. Back the Starter Set if you are curious. Back Vampire if you are already picturing your coven.

How we made this: researched and drafted with AI assistance. Sources are linked in the piece.