Book Description
Welcome to the Danse Macabre
Since time immemorial, the Kindred -- vampires -- have stalked their prey, unseen by the mortal masses. Their world is a xenophobic nightmare, populated by tyrannical despots, wildeyed heretics, bloodthirsty rogues and scheming manipulators, all unified by the mysterious curse of vampirism. And you would join them? You would live forever? To play the lusts of mortals like a violinist plays the strings? Then beware, the price is steep to enter the neofeudal hell that the Damned have wrought.
Welcome to Undeath
Join the revival of the Storytelling tradition.
Vampire: The Requiem invites you to tell your own stories set within the world of the Kindred. This book includes rules for using vampires in World of Darkness® chronicles, covering everything from the five clans to covenants to Disciplines, bloodlines, storytelling advice and a complete spread of game systems governing the undead. Hardcover. Requires the
World of Darkness rulebook for play.
Customer Reviews:
Ruin before Revolution.......2007-07-20
White Wolf ended the Original World of Darkness with grand fanfare. They promised after its discontinuation a new line, a new setting, and a new vision where fans of the original lines could tell a whole array of horror stories that had not been well supported by the original setting.
Requiem was to be the first offering in fulfillment of that promise. It fails to deliver.
In all fairness, I must offer three distinct ratings to the three distinct subsections of this game.
Mechanics 4/5
Presentation 4/5
Setting content 1/5
The mechanics are solid, and while some of the names seem a touch hokey (especially in comparison to their counterparts in Masquerade), the actual mechanics function well, and serve their purpose admirably.
The presentation is beautiful, downright breathtaking in many places. The game tries hard to look good, and it shines for it (I find it somewhat amusing to note that the developer, Justin Achilli, actually stated in his live journal that a coworker had put a drop of blood into the ink vat used on the first print run.... very fitting for a game about vampires)
The setting though... The setting is nothing new. It reuses three of the clans from Masquerade with almost no tweaking of their respective themes, and the two original clans have all the vibe of simply being composites of discarded clans. The advent of covenants, admittedly new, in many ways redraws the faction lines that they tried to eliminate by removing the Camarilla. The whole thing comes away feeling like a simplified iteration of Masquerade, with an alternate history founded on the same roots.
The choice to eliminate Metaplot from the New WoD lines hits Requiem hard. Masquerade was arguably the most metaplot dependent of the original world of darkness, and while many felt that this constrained the game by writing material that the individual storytellers could have worked up themselves... it did create a sense of a dynamic, inhabited world. Requiem lacks this. Anyone intending to run this game will have a lot of work cut out for them, because material on individual cities is sparse, and examples to inspire are similarly hard to find.
Overall, this feels like Masquerade with training wheels put on for the newcomers. It's not what the old guard was promised, it's insulting to the newcomers who should have been offered a game of at least equal complexity and quality to it's predecessor, and it just plain doesn't measure up to the high standards that White Wolf has set for itself.
The BEST roleplaying game Ive played.......2007-07-04
Im new to this game and I think this game is the best one out there. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons this game offers more potential for roleplaying and is more mature in nature. You do need to buy the World of Darkness along with this book in order to play, but that is still cheaper than buying a Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide and Monster Manual in order to play D&D.
Plus this game allows alot more flexibility if you want to play with Werewolves, Mages and other supernatural creatures. It gives you the freedom to create almost any character concept from lord of the night to shapeshifting vampires.
This game is absolutely amazing and I plan on buying the other supplements for it.
BEST DEVELOPED GAME IMO.......2006-09-25
To begin with, this is a review by a new player for new players. I like horror role-playing and picked this book up on a whim. I really love the system and the setting and have bought a lot of the White Wolf games since. But I've never played or read Masquerade, so I can't possibly talk about whether the changes have been better or worse. But I can relate to someone who is interested in trying this game for the first time and I'll try to make this review useful to you.
To start at the very beginning, REQUIEM uses the Storytelling System, so you'll want to buy the WORLD OF DARKNESS corebook. This corebook runs through the basics of the system: each dramatic action has a number of 10 sided dice that you roll called your dicepool. Usually this number is the sum of an ability score and a skill, plus or minus situational modifiers. You get one success for each die that rolls 8 or above and you get to reroll 10's. Most actions succeed with a single "success", although many require a certain number of successes over time, or you compete against a target for the msot successes. This corebook explains how to make mortal characters, and other sourcebooks (like REQUIEM) have you start with a mortal character based on these rules and add "supernatural" elements to have a vampire, mage, or whatever. Some people are unhappy that more than one book is needed. I love it for 3 reasons: the corebook is awesome on its own and it allows you to play mortal horror games all by itself (which a great many people have discovered the joy of; I would now only run CALL OF CTHULHU using World of Darkness characters); if you buy more than one gameline, having character generation and the rulesystem repeated in every book seems a waste of time and money; and finally, REQUIEM is already a pretty big book and something would have to go in order to add the extra rules. It would be a shame to wedge in the extra rules since REQUIEM is so well developed its like a work of art.
Speaking of art, I thought I'd note the high production quality of the book. Some people are embarassed that they like a book based on its cover. Not me - as a bibliophile, I like a book that looks nice on the shelf and holds up well in addition to being useful between the covers. REQUIEM is a gorgeous holographic red hardcover with tight binding that has held up well. The pages have a glossy finish to them that makes this tome really stand out in a crowd. I like how each of the game lines has a distinctive cover that draws your eye to which series a book belongs to. The interior art is all black-and-white; some is a little cartoonish, but for the most part it is good and gritty.
So, what's so great about REQUIEM besides a pretty face? Well, the content is well laid out, is clear and orderly, and supports the theme of the game. Maybe the first quarter of the book is nothing but flavor text. This is important; a game designed around "storytelling" should itself tell a good story. Even if it isn't terribly narrative, the reader should feel immersed in the setting before breaking in with rules and numbers. REQUIEM does an excellent job of discussing what vampires are, what are the different biological and sociological groups, how they relate to each other and what they do. No rules-jargon is used at this point; everything is conversational (not that I mean that the wordcount is puffed up, but that you don't need special knowledge to understand everything that is going on). The section is concise, informative, interesting, and colorful, and it leads into character generation very smoothly. I never felt the need to flip forward or backward in order to understand something and I was very excited about the setting by the end of these chapters.
The middle half of the book is devoted to character creation. You start by creating a "mortal" - you assign points as if you were a mortal, and then you add on the bonuses based on your vampiric clan and choose vampire powers. You get discount access to some abilities due to your clan but the others are harder to learn. Each ability is well explained and they all seem fairly well balanced. If you buy status in your covenant you can buy "magic" or get a discount on other merits. The covenant Ordo Dracul gets the most poweful abilities in that they can overcome vampiric curses by changing their physisology but the XP cost is extremely high. Again, everything in this chapter is well-ordered and easy to understand. I was able to make interesting characters right away (no need to buy additional supplements to do interesting things) . The Humanity system is explained, which introduces a tangible mechanic for acting in violence or cruelty; as you act like less of a decent person, humans see through your facade to the predator within. The character can't "pass" as human any more, with caps on dice pools when interacting with people. Feeding and loosing control of the monster within are also discussed. Rules for Blood Potency are given, which is a measure of the relative power of the vampire (the "super stat").
The final section has is on using REQUIEM to play a game. This chapter is more high-level than I hoped for, in that it discusses how to make sample campaigns, how to break up the action into digestible scenes, how to make a coherent plot, etc. It would also have been useful to have some turn-by-turn play examples. This section also details "bloodlines", which is a way to introduce your own tailored kind of vampire with special powers and disadvantages. This is a very useful chapter if you are not experienced with the Storytelling System.
There is also an Appendix which describes the signature city of New Orleans. It seems a little dated since Katrina, but it spells out (to the extent of usefulness) the movers and shakers, what there is in the city, and the vampire history of the city. It is very helpful to have a setting right out of the box, with no additional purchases demanded of you. There is some political intrigue to start a new story, or just to allow your characters to explore the town.
Overall, this is a superb product. The production quality is outstanding, the layout and design shows maturity in the field, and the setting is exciting. Character generation is easy. There is sufficient explanation of every class and ability to make it immediately useful. And there is a setting to start play in right away, which also ties into the free demo for download from White Wolf's website.
Vampire: The Requiem - Not Your Typical "Masquerade".......2006-09-25
If you're expecting the same ole same ole in Vampire: The Requiem, best to look elsewhere, because Vampire: The Requiem isn't Vampire: The Masquerade, Fourth Edition. It certainly qualifies as being different from Vampire: The Masquerade, with some improvements to the basic rules to make playing and Storytelling easier, despite the fact you need the World Of Darkness rulebook in order to play the game.
While the number of basic vampire clans have been paired down to five, the bloodlines of those clans have expanded considerably (many of the original clans of Vampire: The Masquerade have been relegated to bloodline status), and this allows players to create richly textured, more complex characters, continuing the basic mortal characters they created with the World Of Darkness rulebook.
Also, five vampiric Covenants will allow your vampire character to become a more interesting character because he/she has to live within (or attempt to escape from) the boundaries and strictures of a particular Covenant, because a Covenant is similar, in many ways, to choosing a particular "religion". Characters can leave a particular Covenant, if they wish, but escaping from a vampiric Covenant can be much more difficult than you might think.
Each Covenant -- Ordo Dracul, Circle Of The Crone, Lancea Sanctum, Invictus and Carthians -- has its own book, but the V:tR core rule book gives you an overview of each Covenant, and this should help you decide whether or not you should get one or more of the Covenant books (why, oh, why did White Wolf decide to publish all of their supplement books in hardcover form? Hardcovers ARE pricey, so if you decide to play in the World Of Darkness, better have plenty of cash and a strong bookshelf.).
Some reviewers have complained (and with some justification) that much of the history, the rich backstory and suspense which made Vampire; The Masquerade an RPG classic is missing from Vampire: The Requiem. While some are pleased with those changes, especially the removal of the oft-confusing "metaplot", the rich backstory which V:tM had made it interesting and fun to play was one of the highlights of the game, and that's the problem I have with Vampire: The Requiem. Where's the history and the rich backstory about ancient vampires playing games of power? I miss that particular element, but perhaps this has been done in order to make room for other books which offer several versions of the V:tR backstory, like MYTHOLOGIES, which is now available.
If the good folks at White Wolf had included a much richer backstory, I'd gladly give this book five stars, but since that's the one element which it lacks, I give it four and a half stars.
It's not bad, overall, but it could have used a little more ... bite.
A good game that gets better with time (and supplements)........2006-09-15
Vampire: The Requiem presents an interesting, dark, narrowly focused take on vampires with an emphasis on personal horror. While the vampires in this setting have mystical power, their dark abilities are subtle and preserve the low powered horror atmosphere of the setting. Those interested in exploring the theme of a person who has become something horrible, the devolution of self, and how our decisions in life remain with us forever will enjoy this game.
However, while the game does an excellent job of realizing the type of stories it wants to tell it will not fulfill everyone's desire for vampire storytelling. The powers are low key, game mechanics reinforce vampires as isolated from humanity, and the sort of vampire being depicted is narrowly focused. What's more, a large amount of the content is vague and left up to an individual group (or later products) to flesh out. While this can be a strong advantage to some products, Vampire: The Requiem does it too often. The Clans, Covenants, and a lot of the setting material feel unrealized. Additionally, some mechanics, such as Frenzy, seem like they could cause difficulties as written. Greater attention to detail could have made for a sharper product.
This product requires the World of Darkness core book.
Customer Reviews:
Very interesting book.......2007-04-11
This is a great atmosphere book for wod. A lot of us have come up with our own Belials Brood backgrounds left to our own devices, so I thought this book would come in a tromp all over them. But it seems to be it was more of a book that opened up more possibilities for my game then told me exactly what these people are from beginning to end.
I recommend it!
Customer Reviews:
A Fantastic Idea Book.......2007-05-25
One of the best things about Mythologies is the fact that it's purely a background book. It provides a number of origin stories for vampires in the Vampire: The Requiem setting. None of the origins are exclusive of one another, ambitious storytellers can easily make all of the origin myths part of their chronicle. Each of the origin stories includes sample organizations surrounding that story.
Mythologies also includes modern myths or urban legends about vampires such as dream drinking, breath stealing, and drugs that make the damned feel human, if only for a brief time. Stats and rules are kept to a minimum, players and storytellers looking for new vampiric disciplines or rituals would be better served by many of the other books in the Requiem line.
The third and final chapter of Mythologies focuses on threats to Vampires both mundane and supernatural. Whispered legends of ghouls bent on destroying vampires, frenzy-inducing plagues allow storytellers to inject an even healthier dose of paranoia into their chronicle.
Mythologies is exactly as my title describes it - a fantastic idea mine for storytellers or enterprising players who wish to start their own rumours into their chronicle. This book is simply to help storytellers and players alike expand the scope of their chronicles by taking advantage of the mysteries of the vampiric condition and the open origin story in the Requiem setting.
Excellent!.......2007-04-03
I just got this in the mail from amazon and Im impressed. This book has guidelines on how to tailor the origin myths of vampires in your setting. YOu can be as detailed or as vague as you want. There are rules for bloodgods, roman cults, and vampires as curses. The best part is the chapter on breath stealing, a great mechanic and very thematic of old vampire legends from the East. Basically its rules and guidelines for vampires who reach certain blood potency to steal the breath (or life force) of their victims. I certainly like it!
This is a great supplement for settings where exploring the origins of vampires is a key elelment of the game. It certainly adds depth and mood to any game but the best part is that it lets YOU the storyteller decide where vampires come from.
A very fine book about Kindred origins.......2006-09-18
The core book of Vampire the Requiem kept the origin of the Kindred totally open, not even giving one story of their beginnings. This book fills in the past of the Kindred with various optional stories- that the Kindred are the descendants of traitorous blood gods, that they come from people who were too afraid to die, that they were meant to be the faithful servants of gods of light and fire but betrayed them and earned their curse..... All in all, very fascinating reading.
My only real problem with this book was the Antagonists section. Because I skipped the above section and went straight to the Antagonists section, I initially considered this supplement a waste of money. Honestly, the only thing I liked in that section was the Frenzy Plague, and I had a downright hatred of Smiling Jack or whatever his name is. It's this section that brings the whole book down for me, and that which caused the Four Star rating.
So, in short- Most of the sections, 5 out of 5.
The Antagonists section, 2 out of 5.
Customer Reviews:
A decent book.......2007-03-08
It was inspiring to read and gave me a better view of the Ordo Dracul. It had just enough history and enough about the current workings of the covernant. It really made me want to tell a story with the Ordo Dracul as a main covernant.
An wonderful exploration of an extremely interesting Covenant........2006-09-14
Ordo Dracul provides a detailed presentation of the Covenant of the same name. The Ordo Dracul is similar to a cross between hermetic mages, philosophers, researchers, and Masons all rolled together into one large organization focused on understanding and mastering the vampiric condition. An overview of the history of the Covenant, its beliefs, traditions, factions, government, and other similar information is provided. New Bloodlines, Disciplines, Devotions, and Coils are logically connected to new and existing groups within the Covenant.
The best thing this product has going for it is that the Ordo is interesting. The internal government is unique and fun, the actual ways Covenant members go about studying vampirism are clever (and at times unusual, embracing weird and ancient science), and the factions lurking on the periphery are such that many players will find something of interest. On the downside, the focus on the extremely inhuman deeds that Dragons regularly perform may turn some players off to the product and otherwise shift a campaign's focus away from Humanity and on to vampiric society and science. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, but the Covenant does tend towards murder (in order to engage in social science) and extreme self mutilation (in order to create a new mental state).
Awesome.......2006-04-26
I just recieved this book in the mail today and it is everything the other reviews have said. Just excellenct. The history, the bloodlines, the new coils, all of it.
Great book for the Scientists of the Group.......2006-03-18
The Ordo Dracul book was a great read all around. Gave you a look into those that search for the "Great Works" and life beyond vampirism.
With the new Coils and secretive subsect "Sworns" and new bloodlines, it is a great book. Definately a good read for those just interested in the covenent or wanting to play a Dragon character.
One of the best Covenant books so far.......2006-02-24
The Ordo Dracul, I have to be honest, is my least favorite covenant. Its position as a hermetically sealed organization causes me to cringe, and the thought of spending centuries in Slave status, serving undead monsters who look down on you, is terrifying.
However, that's also some of the appeal of this book. It deliniates the structure of the Ordo Dracul, its purposes, some bloodlines and factions within the covenant, and shows just what makes the Dragons tick.
The terror that a reader of this book SHOULD feel is ever-present as you search through the pages, touching on the various practices of the Dragons, and looking into the eerie bloodlines that the Order has created over the centuries.
This is a great book, well-planned and thorough. I highly recommend it, especially for those who have an interest in the Order itself.
Average customer rating:
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Vampire: The Requiem Dice Set
Manufacturer: World of Darkness
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ASIN: 1588465977 |
Book Description
The Undead Take Their Chances
The cursed undead pass every night gambling their existence against tyrannical elders, Machiavellian plots and the looming Beast. What better way to decide their fate than with cool new dice?
A New Look White Wolf® launches the World of Darkness® and Vampire: The Requiem with this attractive new dice set. Each set comes with 10 dice that capture the look of the game -- all the 10sided dice you need for the new Storytelling System(tm). The target numbers on each die are different colors to make successful rolls stand out.
Customer Reviews:
Very nice.......2005-12-21
I have this set of dice and I'm very pleased with them. The dice themselves feel good in your hand, with a pleasing weight and texture that I've noticed myself and also had friends I was gaming with who used them comment on.
That said, the bag that comes with the dice is nice to have, but not of particularly impressive quality if you're a stickler for that kind of thing.
Play with these dice in the New World of Darkness setting is very easy, as the numbers that ordinarily mean a success (8, 9, and 0) are highlighted to make it easy to see how you did at a glance.
If you want to use them as regular d10s, or for the old World of Darkness, it IS slightly more difficult to read the numbers 1-7 because they're in black on black-and-red dice (8, 9, and 0 are in silver). It's really not difficult enough to matter, but worth mentioning. I doubt I'd have even thought of it as difficult, except for the contrast with the ease of reading the silver "success" numbers.
Customer Reviews:
The first New World of Darkness book that catches the feeling of the WOD.......2005-10-11
Do you want paranoid players...or maybe a bloodthirsty killer running around your game, or how about a twisted family affair is dating back thousands of years? If so this is the book for you. You get three different versions of VII in this book to mix match or ignore as you see fit.
The first grouping of VII is of biblical proportions. "Vampires" decended from the fallen city of Gommorha. They are very similar to the Assamites in the Old WOD. They we kill everyone they cannot convert to the "faith". Oh and did I mention the demon involved?
The second group a weird Russian "family" that's been hunting vampires for centuries. Complete with several "seperate" clans, more like bloodlines but hey, each with their own idea of how best to rid the world of vampires.
Lastly you have a paranoid's wet dream with the X-files inspired VII. Are you a sleeper or one of the awoken? If your answer is yes to either don't let anyone else know.
Book Description
Includes tips on characters and storylines for storytellers
Develop your character, understand the World of Darkness, and play today!
Vampire lore has intrigued ordinary mortals for centuries. Sink your teeth into this book and find out how to slip into their mysterious, mystical world! Create the vampire of your dreams (or nightmares), choose attributes, skills, and advantages, understand the characteristics of each clan, enter the World of Darkness — and throw away the garlic.
Discover how to
- Calculate your character's advantages and Blood Potency
- Set the mood for the game
- Select a clan and a covenant for your character
- Explore sources of inspiration
- Master the art of storytelling
Customer Reviews:
Great Reference Tool for the ST.......2007-09-26
The "Dummies" line of books is meant to be a resource tool and this one in particular is quite successful in that endeavor. While it contains pretty much the exact information as the WOD and VtR books do (which is why it loses a star), it presents them in a clear and precise manner.
This is a great tool for STs to use when trying to explain the world to others who MAY be interested, but not sure enough to go out and buy the actual books. I use it to help me concisely explain the mechanics and general points of the world to potential players so they don't get overwhelmed by a lot of imagery and unneeded flowery writing.
I admit, the actual WW books are more interesting to read, and if you want to play, you really should spend the time. But when you have 4 people ready to play and one who is completely ignorant of WOD games, you don't always have time to wait around for the one person to learn his stuff. That is where this book comes in. (Another use I just thought of is the inevitable in game rules look-up. This book cuts down time wasted looking rules in game in most situations.)
While I would not list this book as "must have," I would recognise it's possible uses.
If you're too damn stupid..........2007-07-19
If you are too damn stupid to make it through a White Wolf publication--WHEW!
These guys USED to be great. Then they "reinvented" themselves and the game. Some went along for the ride, many didn't. Sales and acclaim lagging, these fools are punting with a "For Dummies" book to try for the mainstream. Because the GAMERS went back to D&D. Hey, Soccer Moms, wanna' play vampire? Here's the book to get you started.
Quite Informative.......2007-03-16
Let's be honest, dear readers: RPGS aren't the easiest to play. Especially RPGS coming out of the White Wolf catelogue, where they care more about style of the rulebooks they crank out than whether or not you understand what's being said.
With that in mind, how-to-books like the Dummies books are quite useful. They explain, step-by-step, the rules in a way even a dummy like myself can understand.
With this book, I was able to decifer the Requiem rule books without too much trouble on my part, which enabled me to start my own text-based Requiem game.
Thanks!
Book Description
Foul Ancestry
"In the dark corners we dwell, still-born Kindred for whom your clans have no meaning. Our blood is your blood, yet different. It has been willed, strained and afflicted until it has taken a different course in our veins. We are your worst nightmare, childer who defy your designs to forge our own veiled destinies. Placate us, serve us and we might give you a taste of our secrets."
Horrors of the Modern Night
Bloodlines: The Hidden is the first in a new
Vampire series that focuses on the refinements and abuses of undead blood. Drawn from the shadows are 12 bloodlines from all five clans, lineages that diverge from the clans and that have dedicated the ages to keeping their existence secret, or to lurking on the edges of discovery, devising their own inscrutable machinations. And now you can play them. Hardcover.
Customer Reviews:
BUT WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?.......2007-07-26
I think it's reasonable for there to be some confusion among players and storytellers about what is the purpose of BLOODLINES: THE HIDDEN. Some will see it as a player's aid, with additional character types and powers. Some will see it as a storyteller's aid, with additional bad guys to choose from. The problem I have with BLOODLINES is that it breaks the setting. A vampire belonging to a Bloodline should be an unusual thing. It should be even more rare for a vampire to join a bloodline, since even a large city has at most twenty or so vampires and they cannot (or with great difficulty) travel between cities. So how are all these bloodlines going to appear in your story? If the players want to join a bloodline, they know ahead of time that it will be unlikely within the story, so they probably will choose one at character generation. Then, you have the problem of how all these rare breeds of vampire happened to show up at the same time.
All of this can be handled with some setting tweaks; I personally go with every vampire having a bloodline, so they are not rare, but it doesn't get expressed unless the player wants to join. Still, a player might not want to buy this book if the storyteller doesn't want bloodlines for all.
In the end, I view BLOODLINES as more of a collection of story hooks rather than character options.Each bloodline has a unique story, another creepy look into life after death. I enjoyed reading the vampire bios, but I would not have felt I received enough value if I paid the sticker price. The bloodlines here are as follows:
-Alucinor (Mekhet) have the power over dreams
-Anvari (Daeva) the power to induce a drugged state in others
-Architects of the Monolith (Ventrue) power over cities; insane
-Bohagande (Gangrel) power to steal good luck and bestow bad
-Gethsemani (Nosferatu) power to induce stigmata, yielding powerful blood
-Khabit (Mekhet) power over shadows
-Morotrophians (Nosferatu) power over the institutions they lock themselves
into
-Nahualli (Ventrue) power over the beast
-Nelapsi (Daeva) nice devotions, but require 1 vitae PER BP to rise each day!
-Oberlochs (Gangrel) they age as normal humans but don't die
-Quedeshah (Mekhet) women only vampires who use their bodies to heal
-Rakshasa (Nosferatu) Indian vampires, with some interesting discussion on the organization of vampires in India.
The Better of the Bloodlines.......2006-10-12
Well Whitewolf disappointed me in Bloodlines:The Legendary, which didn't present anything too legendary (see my other review of that title for the real legendary bloodlines). However this book is the better of the two. A few of the Bloodlines are a little rediculous like the Alucinor(dream Vampires)and the Qedeshah(female vampires who almost seem like healers) he rest of the book is golden. Among my top ten favorite Bloodlines this book offers four of them.
The Bohagande: Gangrel who have the ability to basically ruin the luck of those who run a foul of them. They have a native american spin put on them. I like them because honestly the Gangrel and the Nosferatu seem to get the short end of the stick on bloodlines and well, just reading about these Gangrel intrigued me and gave me ALOT of ideas for my chronicles.
Morotrophians: The best way to think of these Nosferatu is like a whole group of qwack surgeons, Doctors, nurses aides, Orderlies, and prison guards. They like the whole idea of being in control of the power structure of whatever area these Haunts haunt (haha, pun intended, unfortunetly. Once again these guys gave me some great ideas, and there disciplines also are very unique. While useless out in the open, but behind closed doors these disciplines can be very dangerous. While perhaps not the best character for a player, the Morotrphians to make wonderful allies or antagonists.
Oberlochs: Not much to say for them. However I will let the reader use there imagination and say some words, just combine them, and here are the words: Hill Billy, Deliverence, Vampire, Gangrel, Mid-west.
The funny thing about Oberlochs is that they seem to know more about Were-wolves then they do about vampires......
Rakshasa: Where as the Burakumin are japanese Nosferatu, these haunts are Indian. I like these guys because they put a more global touch on vampire. They are basically deal brokers, and warriors. Who really don't belong to any covenent due to there strange and foregin ways.
All in all Bloodlines:The Hidden is an excellent book, plenty of ideas for allies, antagonists, and players! the only thing that stops the book from getting a 5 is the lack of balance of making bloodlines equal (as in the total number) in the book
A Cavalcade of The Grotesque.......2006-01-30
I have been consistently impressed with the new "World of Darkness" setting, especially with its customizability. A series of "Bloodlines" books seemed like the perfect solution to the otherwise unimpressive and thin selection of Clans in "Vampire: The Requiem." Unfortunately, "Bloodlines: The Hidden" can be divided into two general groups: the first is a series of repulsive, nauseating Bloodlines (The Anvari, The Gethsemani, The Morotrophians, and The Nahualli), each more unpleasant and disgusting than the last; the second is a series of unimaginative and unoriginal lineages (The Alucinor, The Nelapsi, The Qedeshah and the Bohagande).
There are a few Bloodlines worthy of note:
-The "Rakshasa" are a breed of ill-tempered Nosferatu warriors from India; characterized as demons in the subcontinent, they value hard work and discipline in all areas of...er...un-life.
-The "Oberlochs" are a line of insular Gangrels tied to a particular mortal family, who challenge Werewolves for dominion over the wilderness; unfortunately, they age physically like normal human beings.
-The "Architects of the Monolith" are a genuinely fascinating and original Ventrue Bloodline, a Victorian-style secret society whose mystical, architectural rites give them power over cities.
Other tribes, such as the Bohagande and the Khaibit, are interesting and seem like they might be fun to play; however they are too derivative of concepts from "Vampire: The Masquerade" (The Ravnos, and the Assamites & Lasombra respectively), without retaining what made the original models so intriguing.
Overall, the book is a mixed bag. Were all the Bloodlines as compelling as the three I have described above, the book could easily have earned 5 Stars. What few gems it contains however cannot justify it's price, and I would recommend this as a "must-have" only to die-hard players and readers. Let us hope that subsequent entries in the "Bloodlines" series will be more original and less grotesque.
HA!.......2006-01-10
I will say this much, when the new World of Darkness hit the shelves, I was quite the skeptic. I didn't like the system rules, the layout, the look, the feel, nor the fact that 13 clans of vampires were reduced to a measly FIVE! But then I explored more. When I saw Bloodlines: The Hidden, along with a few other source books, namely the VII book, Ordo Dracul, and Lancea Sanctum, I was hooked. Bloodlines: The Legendary expands out and gives you the possibility to run games using the "bloodlines" as they are meant to be, off shoots from specific clans, or it gives you the freedom to run them as actual clans. In particular, the Bohagande are one of my favorite bloodlines. They are bred from Gangrel blood and the story behind them is just amazing. Each story is in depth and most of the bloodlines have all new disciplines to mess people up with. The Khabit have Obetenebration, which I am very happy to see back in the mix from the old World of Darkness that followed Caine, Lilith, and The Crone. This is a great addition to the collection of new WoD, regardless of what most people would say. White Wolf may come out with a new source book every month or so, but they know how to market and they know how to get you. That's not bad business, it's excellent marketing. If you need or want anything for your game, get this book. Personally, I can't wait until Bloodlines: The Legendary comes out. If it's even half as good as this one it will be worth it.
An excellent supplement...........2005-04-30
I've got to admit, I was blown away by the Bloodlines book. While White Wolf spoke about streamlining its titles and trying to stay away from too many Vampire clans (or bloodlines), they released this. I was hopeful though and was not disappointed.
The book covers 12 different bloodlines from the 5 original clans from the Vampire: The Requiem corebook (needed if you buy this book). Each bloodline gains a second weakness from the original clan when joining the bloodline and some, but not all, have new disciplines. Each bloodline is interesting and not overly powerful. They all have their own histories and unique quirks about them that make them all that more appealing. Such as the Qedeshah which believe it is their duty to sire more vampires which puts them at odds with the local princes. However, their discipline allows for sanctuaries, protection, and such, that also makes them sought after by princes.
All in all I'm very happy with the book and look forward to the next release, Bloodlines: The Legendary, which I will hope rivals, if not surpasses this quality book.
Customer Reviews:
TRULY FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY.......2006-11-04
I have often thought that the VAMPIRE lines can lapse into treating the stars (the vampires) as humans with super abilities and a few tough super vulnerabilities. Ghouls, that is the human blood slaves of vampires (think Renfield serving his master), serve as excellent foils for the inhumanity of vampires. The mistreated ghoul, the mentally abused ghoul, the tortured and mutilated ghoul bring into sharp relief the fact that vampires are no longer part of humanity. Just as people have few qualms about the suffering of lower life, so too vampires use people as servants, blood donors, and as one-sided relationships to staisfy whatever lingering human needs a vampire still experiences.
Make no mistake, there's some really debased content in this book. It describes how vampires interact with and treat their blood-servants, which includes torture, mutilation, emotional sexual and physical abuse, and any other kind of messed up abuse you can imagine. I think the authors successfully portray the ghouls as victims so that the readers identify with the ghoul's suffering rather than the vampire's power trip.
The core-book explains the mechanics of a vampire making a ghoul, but GHOULS also describes how to make ghoul characters. The idea of playing a ghouls game is an interesting one. There's also plenty of information on how the different covenants and clans view and treat ghouls, how to make bloodlines of ghouls, and how to play games using ghoul characters. There is also information on creating ghouls of animals or plants (!)
So, I found this to be a very interesting supplement. Beyond the role-playing aspect of creating ghouls in-game, there is also playing a game where some or all are ghouls. I had never given it much thought before, but playing ghoul characters seemed like an interesting twist on the game (and this part is very well documented). All the parts on mistreatment of ghouls seems very useful to me in portraying the vile depths to which vampires regularly sink. Vampires seem much more monstrous to me now than before I read GHOULS.
Great supplement for playing the Servants of the Immortals.......2006-01-26
Ghouls is a supplement for playing the daylight servitors, bodyguards, street informers, thugs and muscle of immortal vampires. Usually a vampire needs servants that can operate during the day, providing eyes and ears to the goings on of the mortal daylight world. However, being that vampire blood is highly addictive and carries with it mystical properties, playing these characters poses great role playing challenges to any troupe or chronicle. Overall, I'm glad to say that Ghouls is an excellent sourcebook on including ghouls in a chronicle that addresses most of the aspects of ghouls that Storytellers might be concerned with, and a few they might not have thought of before.
The introduction of the book, as you might expect, gives an overview of what Ghouls contains. I found it odd that two paragraphs are devoted to explaining the World of Darkness, as though Ghouls might be someone's first WoD book. Also, in a section entitled "Ghoul Myth and Fact," which is said to be a "summary of the basic facts of ghouls existence," the author appears to be working from notes from the original WoD, as according to this section drinking three times from a vampire automatically makes someone a thrall, making no mention of how it is still possible (with good dice rolls) for someone to resist the Vinculum. Being in the primer on what it is to be a ghoul this mistake stands out quite a bit.
The first chapter of the book discusses how it is a person becomes a ghoul, how disciplines work for ghouls, the way the various clans and covenants look at ghouls, and gives a look at animal ghouls, plant ghouls, and ghoul families. Consisting of 50 pages, this chapter is very, very good-except for the first 11 pages, which were so bad I had to put the book down every page or two, and seriously considered asking someone else to review the book, fearing the rest of the book would be like this.
These 11 pages, covering what it is like to become a ghoul, how disciplines work for them, and how the clans see ghouls, do have a few nice bits. Mention is made of how ghouls feel real emotions, unlike the hollow echos that vampires have-a nice idea from the rulebook that I haven't seen addressed in any other supplement. And the threat of disease being transferred to a ghoul from a master is handled well, and little bits (such as how the temperature of a vampire's blood is cooler than a human's) can easily add to a chronicle's atmosphere.
The second chapter concerns the creation of a ghoul character. New merits and derangements are included here, as well as rules on exactly how Disciplines use by ghouls differs from that of their vampire masters. One thing different from the Vampire rulebook is that here ghouls start with two points in Disciplines, to reflect characters created with the rules here are to be more experienced beings.
Some space is devoted to explain the ghoul life, combining role-playing advice with the rules system that ghouls work from, and it's entertaining and helpful read. Even such things as the limits to enhanced vitality that come from ghouldom are covered, with explanation of how disease affects a ghoul; those thinking ghouldom is a cure to their physical ailments will be in for a shock.
The subject of ghoul bloodlines is then covered. A portion of the section is devoted to the game system for both conception and maintaining a ghoul pregnancy. On the one hand, I like this being here so that once a Storyteller decides to allow players to try and create a bloodline there is an impartial rules system for these things to occur. On the other hand I crack up every time as I read over the charts and imagine telling a player "Well, you did synchronize your attempts at conception with her ovulation cycle, but she has the Protean discipline, so you end up getting no bonus dice on this conception roll."
Further detail is given on the five ghoul families mentioned earlier, and each family has its own unique weakness and strength, such as reduced experience costs for certain merits or a mandatory derangement. I had a few minor quibbles with these descriptions, such as the Alley Men existing in large numbers as to be found worldwide, given the problems in ghoul procreation, and the Crassus are mentioned to have some choice in who their undead masters are, which goes against their earlier portrayal as slaves without rights to those Kindred who get to own them.
The chapter rounds out with a little more on animal ghouls and lacrima, with rules given on how each clan's plant ghouls produce a different type of lacrima. It's interesting, but still doesn't do enough for me to be impressed by the plant ghouls.
The third chapter of the book is devoted to storytelling ghouls. Covering such topics as the nifty things ghouls can do during the day for their masters and how to properly roleplay the Vinculum, as well as ways Storytellers can work ghouls into their campaign in ways other than having their players' vampires using them, this section is another excellent read, even if the idea does come up at one point that all ghouls voluntarily choose their state.
The fourth chapter of the book has some ghouls a Storyteller can drop into their campaign. The problem of how to assign dots in the Retainer Merit based on how powerful a ghoul is brought up, but sadly is answered with the reader being told that no game mechanic exists to quantify it. You can tell me all the dice pool modifiers that can apply to trying to get a ghoul pregnant, you can't set up a rules system for this?
The last chapter covers creating ghoul families, formulating a background to them, their unique flaws, how they might be structured, etc. This section wasn't as interesting to me as the previous chapters in the book, and I found myself flying through it as I read.
I would like to comment on the art of the book. Other than the cover I felt the artwork of the book was of a consistently high standard, keeping in tune with the subject material and being consistently well-done throughout.
All in all, I think Ghouls is an excellent addition to the World of Darkness. It gives a lot of useful advice, both rules-wise and setting-wise, and after reading it I feel very comfortable allowing my players to have ghouls in my chronicle.
A great resource for storytellers.......2006-01-16
This is a very interesting, informative and entertaining read on ghouls. Especially good are the sections on ghoul families (expanded upon in the covenant books) and how to create/maintain a ghoul character.
Recommended, even if it's a pretty specific subject matter.
Dawn of the Damned.......2005-10-31
This book is a great supliment for Vampire: The Requiem. It includes creation rules for starting ghoul characters in a World of Darkness chronicle.
This book is a must for V:tR fans. There are many interesting supliments to ghoul characters, including ghoul family lines (much like vampire bloodlines), and even ghouled flora and fauna.
New Ghouls .......2005-09-21
Well it might not have gone as much into depth as the prior editions did on ghouls, but in all it did give the information inside on what metality and changes where made to them. Still in all i fell that if it wasn't for the fact i recieved 33% off the price i would not have gone out and bought this book.
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