I am always looking for new Vampire: The Masquerade live plays or podcasts to listen to. One of the most watched or infamous live plays out there is LA By Night which streamed on Geek & Sundry. LA By Night’s popularity, led to the creation of NY By Night. Both LA By Night and NY By Night feature Jason Carl as the storyteller / DM. I could listen to all the things that Jason Carl does. The way he tells a Vampire story is enthralling. I finished listening to the first season of NY By Night and it was so good. I have already started watching season #2.

NY By Night’s first season features an Anarch coterie. For context, Anarchs are a group of vampires who don’t want to live by the rules. They want to be able to live, feed, and not be watched by the Camarilla, the governing group of vampires. The four players in this Anarch coterie are Issac Brooks (played by Alexander Ward), Serif (played by Mayanna Berin), Fuego Walker (played by Aabria Iyengar), and Rey (played by Joey Rassool). The coterie is forced to work together and in the first episode, they have to find someone who owes money to a very powerful enemy.

Alexander Ward appears in both Ny By Night and LA By Night as one of the main characters. His portrayal of Issac is unsettling in the sense that he’s polite, but the gestures he makes, it make it difficult to predict what he will do next. I loved Aabria’s portrayal of Fuego. She’s a classic Ventrue and there are times when Aabria is vibing to the music in a way that’s natural to her clan. Rey’s story is interesting as he has more of a bond with the Camarilla than the others do which comes out throughout the story. Serif is also an interesting character and I would have liked to learn more about her relationship with her mom and her sire. Each episode in this series would fly by and a lot of that has to do with the actors and of course, Jason Carl being the storyteller.

Another interesting thing about NY By Night specifically is how this campaign ties into the other Vampire: The Masquerade video games. There are appearances by characters in this campaign that specifically show up in Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York and Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York. I was not expecting that and it makes me want to replay these games after watching this series.

There are two seasons of NY By Night. The second season features a Camarilla coterie with an all-new cast. There was supposed to be a third season, but it never happened. Once I finish with NY By Night, I’m tempted to watch LA By Night. I probably should have started with LA By Night since that would have been in chronological order. If you’re looking for a live play series that focuses more on roleplay and less on combat, NY By Night is one I would recommend.