17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond the dots..., October 8, 2007
This review is from: The Blood (Vampire) (Hardcover)
This isn't like other Player's Guidebooks you've read. You'll find no juicy character options here; no optional Disciplines or spell lists or new Clans. (That's what the Bloodlines books are for.)
Instead, this book focuses on the Storytelling aspect of being a player in the Vampire game. The conceit of the book is that the drama of personal horror is in the players' hands; the Storyteller is there to take your lead and give you situations and characters against which to play out your story.
This book is laid out into three "essays", each written by a different author. The ground these essays cover is familiar, and it is intended to be. Essentially, each chapter covers a different set of rules from the Vampire: the Requiem core rulebook (character creation, vitae and other mechanics, and the psychology of a Vampire's unlife respectively). The intent is to give the mechanics of the games more emotional depth for a player to work with. If you are going to really play a vampire, how can you start to identify with one?
1) Kindred Characters (25 pages)
This section is probably the most practically useful. It covers each step of character creation, but where the core rulebook covers the "what" of the character's attributes, this chapter digs into the "Why". Why does this character have Social Attributes over Physical? Why does she have a higher Blood Potency than normal? Why did this group of vampires get thrown together?
This section gets past the "dots" on the character sheet. It gives a player a lot more to think about as far as character cohesion and story hooks to give the Storyteller that resonate with the player. Rich stories come from rich backgrounds, and the Kindred Characters chapter gives players plenty of tools to add depth to her character before the first Scene even begins.
2) Properties of the Blood (63 pages)
This section should be called "A Year in the Life of a Vampire". It is a deep analysis of the mechanics of the game that the players would use every night: each rule for vitae is described from a story perspective. What is each stage of the Vinculum (enslavement through a blood bond) like? How do different kinds of vampires choose to use it? What does it feel like to use blood to fuel Disciplines or to heal wounds? What about feeding?
This section also covers the non-mechanical aspects of other non-vitae systems like Torpor, Frenzy and Humanity.
More than any other chapter in this book "Properties of the Blood" vividly illustrates how the various rules detailed in the core rulebook can be dramatized in play.
Vampire Psychology: (28 pages)
I was a bit confused by the title of this chapter, since the previous chapter seemed to cover "vampire psychology" quite thoroughly. What this chapter actually covers is "Landmarks in the Requiem" and "Psychology of the Disciplines".
The Landmarks detail all of the significant experiences that all kindred who survive their Requiem share. This section proves very useful as it gives a Storyteller a list of all of the events to weave into each character's chronicle, and for the player it describes what impacts it could have on her psyche.
The Disciplines section covers the psychological impact of each Discipline, dot by dot, with an emphasis on the related Derangements that could develop with inappropriate use. Again, the intent of this section is to give the players more options to wring every drop of drama from each game mechanic.
This book is strictly for the "storyteller" and "method actor" gamer types (as opposed to "power gamers" or "action seekers", etc). There is plenty of mental cud to chew when thinking of character development. Since I land firmly in the "storyteller" camp of gamer (clearly the intended audience of the book) I loved it. One of my biggest challenges with any game is dramatizing the game's mechanics in a meaningful and entertaining way. Since the popularity of Vampire: the Requiem relies so heavily on this capability, this is an essential book for the product line.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A helpful kick-start for players, June 26, 2010
This review is from: The Blood (Vampire) (Hardcover)
As mentioned by another reviewer, this book is not about systems - it's about developing a vampire character and considering that development from a number of angles. How does aging effect your character? What are the effects of Discipline use on the character and those around her (and what Derangements are users of certain Disciplines predisposed to)? How does the loss of Humanity at various stages affect his outlook? These are the sorts of questions posed by, and answered in, The Blood.
The Properties of the Blood chapter basically goes through the special Vampire systems from the core book (ex. Predator's Taint, Frenzy, Diablerie, etc) one at a time and elaborates on them, adding a good element of flavor. For me, at least, these were often things I hadn't given much thought, but was happy to have kick-start for my own creativity.
The Vampire Psychology chapter is my favorite section of the book, giving suggestions for dealing with the effects of age and Discipline use on the vampire's mind. It goes dot-by-dot through the Disciplines presented in the core book, suggesting their impact on one's worldview.
Critiques? A friend and fellow storyteller doesn't think as highly of this book as I do, saying that there is little within that anyone couldn't have thought of themselves if they'd taken the time. He's probably correct, but as I said above, I appreciate the creative jump-start, and since reading it, I've incorporated it into the creation of many characters and feel it's had a positive impact on the depth of my vampire roleplaying. Another critique that comes to mind is a lack of systems; there's a table of modifiers here and an optional mechanic there, but not much in comparison to other books. That said, this book is really about Character from a narrative perspective, and performs well in that regard.
All told, this book easily among the three most important books of the line in my opinion (alongside the core and Damnation City). I highly recommend it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not essential, but a boon none the less., May 30, 2010
This review is from: The Blood (Vampire) (Hardcover)
The Blood sourcebook for vampire the requiem is an excellent illustration of how the writers at White-Wolf have shifted their focus when you compare Vampire the Requiem to Vampire the Masquerade. The original World of Darkness games seemed to be in that juvenile phase of "this is a game, so make the cool character loaded down with weapons and not a lot of story. Blast the bad guys, get the chick, and call it a day" to now actually being very very focused on actually Role-playing.
Blood doesn't really add anything new to the table, instead it helps you expand on the previous texts by not telling you what a power, weakness, or ability does, but how it feels. This book is primarily about what it is to be one of the Kindred, how they think, how they powers actually feel like to use, the psychology of being one of the undead.
You can play VTR without this book, but if you want to take your playing/running up a notch to the level of true theatrics, read this book and absorb the information.
This book kind of maps out the method behind method-gaming-acting. Its wonderful for serious gamers.
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