Immortal Universe RPG: Renegade details Interview with the Vampire rules ahead of BackerKit launch

Renegade Game Studios will launch the BackerKit campaign for Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe RPG – Interview with the Vampire on Tuesday, 27 October 2026 at 10:00 AM PT. Licensed directly through AMC’s television network continuity, the tabletop system completed its first public playtest run at Gamehole Con in Madison, Wisconsin, following Geek Native’s earlier report on the Interview with the Vampire RPG coming to BackerKit this autumn.

Game designer Eloy Lasanta shared on-site visual confirmation from Gamehole Con alongside table feedback, with convention banners showcasing the official cover art for the upcoming Starter Set.

Test Resolution and the Escalation Mechanic

The core rules ditch static Difficulty Classes in favour of a dice pool system built around dynamic target numbers. Players manipulate pools through adjustments and rerolls, resolving every test into one of four distinct states:

• Natural Success: Meeting the exact required hits without spending adjustments or rerolls.
• Controlled Success: Reaching the target hit threshold after applying tactical rerolls or adjustments.
• Chaotic Success: Rolling surplus hits beyond the target number. The task succeeds, but the excessive force triggers an Escalation.
• Failure: Missing the target number of hits entirely, causing the action to fail and inflicting an Escalation scaled to the deficit.

Escalations introduce operational complications ranked by severity tier. A Tier 1 escalation, earned by finishing one hit above or below the target, triggers minor issues like broken gear or drawing unwanted eyes. A Tier 3 escalation severely impacts the immediate environment; for example, you gain entry to an exclusive salon under a false alias, only for the real individual to arrive moments later.

Flashbacks, rewrites, and multi-era play

Memory, trauma, and unreliable narration operate as explicit mechanical tools:

• The Flashback System: Play moves non-linearly across eras. A chronicle opening in 2020 can jump back to 1920 for an isolated vignette or a full session, allowing players to establish historical actions that actively recontextualise their present circumstances.
• The Rewrite Mechanic: Players spend Rewrite points to seize brief plot control during unfolding events. If an incriminating body must be disposed of before dawn, a Rewrite lets a character immediately establish that a nearby dockworker owes them an uncollected favour.

Wounds, Despair, and Torment Tracks

Character resilience is managed across three distinct condition tracks:

• Wounds: Physical trauma and structural bodily injury.
• Despair: Emotional degradation and acute grief.
• Torment: Psychological fraying and mental decay.

Characters manage non-physical trauma through Fascinations—defined personal callings, obsessions, and mortal anchors. Playing directly into these core emotional drivers clears accumulated Despair and stabilises psychological Torment.

Starter Set and New Orleans setting scope

The Interview with the Vampire Starter Set provides an introductory entry point set in late-1940s New Orleans. Players take on the roles of fledgling vampires abandoned by Lestat de Lioncourt, running through a tutorial booklet containing the introductory chronicle A Scent of Cloves and Lilac. The boxed set contains custom dice, regional maps, character folios, and period handouts.

The standalone Interview with the Vampire New Orleans hardcover expands the scope across a 110-year timeline from 1910 to 2020. The volume delivers character creation rules covering mortal investigators, freshly sired fledglings, and elder vampires navigating the television series’ established lore.

Quick Links

• BackerKit: Immortal Universe.