I am jealous of WoD DMs

I led a game with a car chase via Google Street view. So much fun.

I still have notebooks full of my late brother's Vampire games. He was an accomplished DM in many circles. Printed copies of real estate listings in NYC that he used in game. Dozens of npcs, lore from multiple clans. If anyone has a use for thousands of dollars worth of whitewolf VtM original books...I have a literal laundry basket full since nobody I know will play.
- Ill play

The real problem with WoD games? The setting books and DM intros are always so good at crafting that beautiful eerieness of the monsters in the shadows, while the average group handles everything by clunking around like toddlers on stilts.
My group tried three times, then it was back to standard 'kick-in-the-door' style games. Roleplaying isn't the easiest thing, and it sucks. I just want a good werewolf or hunter game with some nice politicking and investigation. I'm not even asking for anything crazy, like an introspective mage or changeling meditation session! /cries_in_desperate_desire
- I had one really good game of Vampire. Lasted a couple years. We still talk about it sometimes, and its best scenes. Like how one PC saved an NPC by jumping out a 10th story window with her. Or the time they had a huge in character fight because the job they'd tried to do went sideways.
  But I've also had a couple really bad games. There was one where they just didn't read and retain anything from the books. One of the players on like session 4 was like "wait. How do I get more blood? Do I like... Bite people?". My friend what do you think was happening in the other scenes when people were hunting for blood? They also didn't retain anything about the different factions, so they didn't really understand anyone's motivation. It was bad. Still feel bad about it.
  
  I think the best WoD game I've seen was a 2 player game on a forum. Both of them put a lot of effort into their characters, and the DM just built a beautiful setting out of detroit. The way the spirit reflected the physical, and how the npc interactions built the story was just so cool to read.
- What do you guys normally play? Ive had PF1e groups that treat the whole thing like an engine builder, and I would not let them close to WoD. I have had groups full of filmmakers and writers and actors, that came up with factions and lore and maps for 5e and really wanted to run WoD.
  
  Our best was 4e. The absolutely locked down mechanics let our poor permanent DM plan things out really well, and I got in some lovely character stuff.
  Fate was also pretty good. The looseness let the DM sort of lead the sessions into quasi-not combats even if that approach was taken.

Played a game where the GM just pulled up Google Maps when needed it was neat
- I ran a game in near future New York and used Google maps and street view for guidance. Worked well. None of the other players lived here, so I think the visuals helped them.

1980s New York. Nearly everything I dm plays there. I have a map on paper for that.

wtf are these acronyms?
- 40K: Warhammer 40K Roleplay
  TTRPG: Tabletop roleplaying game
  DM: Dungeon master/game master
  D&D: Dungeons and Dragons
  VtM: Vampire the Masquerade
  RL: Real life
  
  and WoD is World of Darkness, the 'master' setting that the various vampire, werewolf, changeling, mage, promethian, hunter, etc. games are set within.
- The joke is that the 40k game is set in the far future which kinda blends scifi, horror, and fantasy elements. It's not very popular so to play it with high quality components, you need to craft them yourself.
  D&D is super popular, so it's easy to pull premade resources.
  Vampire the Masquerade is set in modern day, so you don't need anything crafted.
  40k = Warhammer 40,000
  TTRPG = Table Top Role Playing Game
  DM = Dungeon Master, which doesn't technically apply to a Warhammer 40,000 game, they're usually called Game Masters in anything that isn't D&D
  D&D = Dungeons and Dragons
  VtM = Vampire the Masquerade
  RL = Real Life

You're narrating 40k wrong, anything can be explained as "Orks were here and thought of this"

Be the efficient DM you want to be!
- Instructions unclear, I've prepped for the past two months and yet I'm in "make shit up" territory already 10 minutes into the session.
  
  Sounds like the instructions were clear!

we live in ohio and have just travelled from the Sin Sea to Columbanus
- Columbanus sounds like something that climbs up your butt.
  
  Searching for India

Some of the very best game sessions I've ever had were ones that didn't use any map whatsoever. It's nice to have visual aids, of course, but I don't think it's always an absolute must-have.
- I haven't played in decades, when we did we never had visual aides it was just describing. Okay some visual aides (usually used some dice) to show how the groups were situated but it was usually just the initial setup and we took it from there. Even that was rare though, I sort of wondered how often that happens these days, everyone seems to be talk about maps and such. I thought some of the great part of RPGs was using your imagination for it and the DM(or whichever term) would work with it. That said I can totally understand for more tactical games and this was in D&D 2nd Ed era when it was hard to come by those things unless you paid. The times we played say WoD I don't think we used that sort of thing once, so game system makes a difference too.
- That doesn't work for 40k, to my understanding. It's a miniatures combat game
  
  For reference I mean the 40k TTRPGs like Wrath and Glory and Dark Heresy, not the original wargame.
  The cool thing about them is that you already have miniatures you can use (the classes in WtG are mostly tied to existing unit types in the warhame), and you can tie wargame and TTRPG storylines, but making maps is difficult.