This weekend (that is, the weekend of 7/31-8/2/2026) at GenCon has seen the announcement of Vampire: The Masquerade V6. There has been some wailing and gnashing of teeth, as is often the case with the announcement of a new edition of a role-playing game. Of note with this edition of Vampire is a mechanical complaint that’s different from the usual – in the new edition the Storyteller doesn’t roll dice. This is not a new situation in tabletop RPGs these days – it’s a common mechanical trait of games that are Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark, along with other mechanical frameworks that have come after. However, I think where it’s notable here, and why I think games that were Forged in the Dark or Powered by the Apocalypse didn’t quite catch on when they were being so heavily promoted in the wake of the D&D 5E OGL catastrophe is that there is a tactile element that’s missing. Not Tactical – tactile. Allow me to explain.