I have never listened to The Last Podcast on the Left despite its popularity. The sheer amount of episodes to catch up on is intimidating, to say the least. With that said, it may come as a surprise that I started watching a show produced by Last Podcast Network (LPN), their podcast network. LPN launched their Vampire: The Masquerade live play titled LPN RPG: Bloodbath. Without having any knowledge of The Last Podcast on the Left, I wasn’t expecting to love this series as much as I did. I’ve finished the first season and am now impatiently waiting for the second season.

LPN RPG: Bloodbath takes place in New York City in 2012. It follows our three vampires, Mel (played by Henry Zebrowski), Janine (played by Jackie Zebrowski), and Wes (played by Ross Bryant) as they navigate vampire society. Both Henry and Jackie are new to Vampire: The Masquerade as a system, while Ross has played TTRPGs in the past. The vampires uncover a political conspiracy that leads to a final and bloody confrontation in the tenth and final episode of the season.

Every episode in this series was entertaining to watch. I found myself trying to find any free time I could to watch twenty minutes of the episodes at a time. I think that while all three of the vampires were great, I think Mel stole the show. I don’t know Henry, or I haven’t watched Henry in anything, but it seemed like he genuinely was having a fun time. He seemed to like drawing on animalism to command his rats to do things. There was one pet rat that Mel sent into a warehouse, which the storyteller, Jared Logan, revealed was killed in the final battle. Am I crying over a dead rat? I guess so. Mel was so sweet, and he talked about giving him a proper burial. With that said, Janine and Wes both had their own story moments where they shone. Wes, in particular, showed how evil vampires can be in this game, which was entertaining to watch. There were various cameos from what I could only assume were the other cast members on the LPN network, but because I don’t watch any of their other shows, I wouldn’t be able to confirm.

Speaking of, Jared Logan was a fabulous storyteller for this series. I have not seen him in any other live play yet, but now I’m actively seeking out anything else he has done. He brought a certain levity to the series, but also kept the darker nature of the game.

As I was watching the show, I would read the comments as one does. I saw a common theme of several comments saying they have never heard of Vampire: The Masquerade, but wanted to play, or those who loved the series despite not thinking that TTRPGs were for them. I like reading those comments because I love this game, so it’s been great to see different content creators take on Vampire: The Masquerade, because that helps bring new players to the game.

I have no idea when the next season of LPNRPG Bloodbath will premiere, but I hope it’s soon.