How is Vampire typically played?

A thread that attracted the usual observations and jokes, but Propagandor offered a concise explanation of pretty much all of my Vampire games in the first reply:

The archetypal vampire game is probably about a group of vampires who are low on the local hierarchy. The local vampire community is a tangled web of politics. Something happens to disrupt the status quo and the PCs investigate. Sometimes they investigate because it interests them, sometimes because it affects the territory they've claimed for themselves and sometimes they investigate because they are compelled by older more powerful vampires.

Investigating, some politics, probably at least one supernatural fight scene.

I aim to bust out of it, at least in part, with No Man’s Land... though I have disrupted the status quo and they are investigating, but at least for their own territory rather than at the behest of elders...

Edit: This post by Pheidias expertly explains the how and why of status quos breaking down.