21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely well crafted and full of info useful for any chronicle, November 29, 2005
This review is from: The Invictus, A Sourcebook for Vampire - A Requiem (White Wolf Game Studio) (Hardcover)
The Invictus is the fourth covenant sourcebook for the RPG Vampire: The Requiem (the others before it, in order of release, have been The Lancea Sanctum, The Ordo Dracul, and The VII), and probably the most useful. The information in here, and there is quite a lot of it, goes beyond just the context of the Invictus and provides essential information for crafting a society of Kindread.
Ch.1: History
The Invictus history presented in the book should serve to entertain any who have come to appreciate the fiction and mythos that the White Wolf games present with their product. The ancient Roman Covenant, the Camarilla, is discussed and the Invictus is in many ways the heir to the Roman sect (one view presented is that the Invictus is the Camarilla following the split of secular and religious powers, namely the division of the Invictus and the Lancea Sanctum into separate factions). In the dark ages that followed the fall of Rome and the Camarilla, the Invictus flourished and many heroes arose from this dark time (the legends of a few of these heroes are presented in the book). Later, the Invictus experiment with central government and its failings is described, mainly in the story of the Invictus Emperor. The history ends with a description of the Covenant's migration out of Europe and their position in modern nights.
Ch.2: Unlife in the Invictus
This chapter possesses a wealth of information that will revolutionize characters that make use of it and provide comprehensive structure to the governments and societies of the Kindread city-states. Protocol, titles of address and office, deals, dealings with mortals, politics, and doing business are all described at length, but the major innovation presented here is the concept of Cyclical Dynasties. Anyone who has seen the movie Underworld will be familiar with the concept (the succession/cycle of rule by the three elder vampires). The Cyclical Dynasties are also called Houses, and several sample Houses are presented. A House usually has 2 to 4 members, and they are formed for the purpose of protecting the power and assets of Elders, and the sleeping Elders themselves, during torpor, with either half or two-thirds (depending on the size) of the members of the House active while the other(s) slumbers.
Ch.3: Invictus and the Danse Macabre
In this chapter the concepts of Guilds and Orders are described. A Guild is sort of like a small school with in the Covenant. A master/mister tutors a small number of pupils in the pursuit of perfecting a specific talent or skill. Orders are basically Guilds but with a military element whose members are called Knights. Chapter 3 also provides information related to joining the sect, either before the Embrace, or after it, either by default through one's sire or joining up later on.
Ch.4: Factions and Bloodlines
This supplement, like all the others dealing with major Covenants so far, presents six new bloodlines that are primarily found in the Invictus. The bloodlines presented here are for the most part run of the mill and uninteresting, but each meshes well with the Covenant. The sects, which are like larger versions of the Guilds, are much more relevant to the Invictus than the sects presented in previous Covenant books are to their respective Covenants, as they provide information on organizations that do what the Covenant does (entering into business ventures, manipulating politics, etc...), rather than being defined by differing political or philosophical views. Also, Ghoul Families are discussed, and two sample Ghoul Families are presented.
Ch.5: Blood Oaths and Disciplines
The portion on Disciplines deals mainly with the unique powers of the Invictus bloodlines, and although the bloodlines are a little dull their powers are extremely cool and useful for any vampire lord.
The Blood Oaths are also a great concept, as they present a system to ensure trust between Kindread that isn't just the enslavement of one party involved by the other. This highlights one aspect of Requiem that I enjoy over the way things were in the Masquerade: although scheming and backstabbing is an element in the story, it is not a given- vampires are actually able to resist turning on one another simply because they can.
All in all, anyone who is a fan of Vampire: The Requiem, Invictus players in particular (and fans of the Masquerade's Clan Ventrue and Camarilla sect), will find this book both entertaining and useful. The books dealing with the Lancea Sanctum and the Ordo Dracul (initially I found both Covenants much more interesting than the Invictus) are pretty much only useful for developing characters and the unique powers of their respective Covenants (but they also have cooler blood-lines and histories), but the Invictus book provides information for building a Kindread society, a powerbase, and the means to survive throughout the ages. This book second only to the core volume in importance and necessity for a Vampire: The Requiem chronicle.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the covenant books, February 23, 2006
This review is from: The Invictus, A Sourcebook for Vampire - A Requiem (White Wolf Game Studio) (Hardcover)
I haven't been much of a fan of the Invictus since I started reading about and playing Requiem. So when I went to my local gaming store and started reading through this book, I was expecting to not be surprised at what was inside.
However, this book ended up being one of the most pleasant surprises I've ever run across in gaming. Of course, the book mostly focuses on power structure, since that's the nature of the Invictus covenant. Yet there are also enormous details about the Invictus' relations in the World of Darkness, the history of the covenant, why and how one joins, what happens as time goes on, and bloodlines and factions- including the very interesting cyclical dynasties. There are also portions of the book that deal with the treatment of Ghouls, a few Ghoul Families created by the Invictus, and Blood Oaths.
This book is fantastic! I can't recommend it enough. Even if you're not going to have any characters in the Invictus, it can be used for NPC creation, or for storyteller information. Get this book, it's worth it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
