C:TD discourse is so funny. Just apparently like the best game ever made hindered by the fact that no one outside the nerds that other nerds call nerds can be convinced to play as what is essentially a moody fairy navigating fairy politics
And then you have things like Beast: The Primordial, which by all accounts has been actually played less than like 100 times in history just because it immediately came out that it was basically one of the main author’s domination kink made into a game.
You don't even need to be a moody pastel goth to play! Sure the bigger picture is a depressing death of dreams, but the bigger bigger picture is simply "this too shall pass," which that isn't depressing at all. Not to mention the smaller picture is about trying to keep dreams and hope alive, usually done by the most colorful cast of character in WoD.
I found that few people have the imagination to play both sides of their characters. They always try to be human mode or fairy mode, but that’s not how it works and it’s really hard to always think of your characters as being and doing both simultaneously. It’s a great game for the imaginative, but probably hell for a lot of other players. It does lend itself to LARP really well though. We did a huge live action game for a few summers with like 40 people and 3 GMs, it was tons of fun.
It's such an odd game. There are some genuinely interesting dichotomies at play, a lot of potential for good drama, and themes I like, but it is not easy to wrap your head around, and moreover the book feels like it was laid out by an actual faerie. Which is kinda atmospheric, I guess, but you could, you know, impose some organization in the character building sections so players can find stuff.
My wife (girlfriend at the time) ran a short campaign for some of our friends a little over 10 years ago. It was fun, but damn. Building a character was such a headache.