Customer Reviews

Vampire: The Requiem

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The new Vampire game is infinitely superior to its previous incarnations: It kept what worked, and discarded what did not. Requiem is more vicious and more horrific -- gone is the comparative safety of Masquerade; in Requiem, vampires are cold-blooded, megalomaniacal serial killers hiding themselves behind a veneer of civility (well, for the most part) and the game never lets you forget it.

There are only five clans, each representing one of the archetypes of mythological vampires: Passionate Daeva, savage Gangrel, mysterious Mekhet, horrific Nosferatu and domineering Ventrue. Instead of limiting the options of character creation, the reduced number of clans increases them. These clans are much broader in scope than in previous games to allow for more variation. Bloodlines are a nice touch, but emphasizing them detracts from the fact that any vampire concept should fit into one of the five clans. To give you an example of the broader scope, take the Nosferatu. Instead of being limited to physical deformity as in Masquerade, Requiem's Nosferatu merely have a clan weakness that limits their social effectiveness -- and the player is free to come up with any reason as to why that is (anything from physical ugliness to rank odours to a 'general sense of dread'). Nosferatu can be earth-shatteringly attractive... if they have a foul odour or unpleasant presence to offset it.

If you enjoy political games, Requiem shines:

* No global politics -- everything is local, with vampires largely limited to their cities (imprisoned in their 'gilded cages' is a theme the game plays up).
* Five major factions (called "covenants" -- the Carthian Movement, the Circle of the Crone, the Invictus, the Lancea Sanctum and the Ordo Dracul) instead of two (Camarilla & Sabbat), all five of which maneuver roughly equally through the Danse Macabre. City Princes can come from any covenant (it's no longer just a Camarilla thing).
* Tenurial and unconventional domains; Princes can hand out Regent titles to vampires in their cities, granting them domain over areas or spheres of mortal influence (a Regent of the French Quarter, or a Regent of Finance). With more titles comes more jockeying for position, not to mention conflict. As the book points out, what happens when a crime occurs? Is it the responsibility of the Regent overseeing the location of the crime (Regent of the French Quarter, for example) or the Regent of Law Enforcement? The book doesn't answer that question, and indicates that there doesn't exist a hard and fast solution in-game -- thus, tons of conflict.
* More fluid political power: Princes are common, but not the rule. Some cities are ruled by groups of Kindred, or even attempts at mortal democracy. Princes no longer have the authority of an umbrella organization (the Camarilla) to support their power; either they deserve to be Prince, or they're merely pretenders to the throne.

The game certainly isn't as 'original' as White Wolf led us to believe (of course, they couldn't have made as many changes as they did if they wanted to keep calling it Masquerade), but you're doing yourself a disservice if you let that affect your opinion of a great game. Consider this "Vampire: the Masquerade, 4th Edition" if you must, but give it a try.

I applaud White Wolf for doing what they have done in releasing Vampire: The Requiem. I was a great fan of the VtM system, with a few minor annoyances, and was initially concerned that "revamping" (so to speak) the system for a new game was just a money grab for the good people of White Wolf (but then again, what isn't, in the end?), and that too much focus would be on making things DIFFERENT rather than on making them BETTER.

After having read the book and preparing my first chronicle with it, I can say that I am thoroughly impressed with the changes made. The "minor annoyances" I mentioned earlier have largely all been dealt with nicely, and the new system seems more user-friendly and gives the potential for better games.

Annoyances that have been fixed:
1) They're Ancient and Powerful, You're Not, So Deal With It: VtM was always a tad frustrating in that the Antidiluvians and Methuselahs (probably misspelled) were so ancient and so powerful that they were as Gods to ants above other vampires of higher generations, and there was nothing the weaker ones could do. Granted, life isn't fair so why should the game be, but I personally like the Requiem system whereupon the oldest and most powerful vampires are losing their minds and memories, leaving them as tortured and twisted as young vampires struggling to survive against more powerful social forces. The added difficulty of life at the top really makes the fact that vampirism is supposed to be a "curse" a lot more prevalent among all Kindred - in VtM, though vampires were aparently "cursed", they had it pretty good once they were among the truly mighty.

2) The Power of the Kine: As an extension of the last point, VtM also bugged me in that though there was occasional mention of how the Masquerade existed because humans would wipe out vampires if they knew about them, the Kindred's control of human society at every level made this seem unlikely. Because the mightiest vampires, as mentioned earlier, had God-like powers, and vampires controlled all of the human infrastructure in full, breaching the Masquerade was made pretty much impossible, and the Kine seemed pretty harmless no matter what. In Requiem, vampires influence society a lot, but don't seem so utterly in control of it. Also, given that the mightiest vampires aren't nearly as God-like as in VtM (pleeeeeeease don't bring out Master level disciplines), they seem much more insecure as a whole, making, in my opinion, for more enjoyable, edge-of-your-seat gaming.

3) You Are What You Are: If I had put more thought into ordering these point, this one should have come first, becuase it was the thing that most annoyed me about VtM. In that system, your clan pretty much dictated your character. With 13 base clans, plus antitribu, bloodlines, and other variations, there was probably a good fit out there for whatever character you wanted to create, but the problem was that your clan was your whole identity, at least in the eyes of others, as well as being your only support network. If you were in good with your clan, then you had to have a character within certain parameters. If not, you were on your own. Clans cast too much prejudice in VtM, wbereas in Requiem, with far fewer clans (five), who knows how many bloodlines, and covenants that you may choose or not choose at will, vampires balance their inherited identity with their chosen one, serve more than one master, and can be a lot more unique without being shunned and hated. The clan/covenant system makes gaming much more dynamic, and there is more moral responsibility on the shoulders of the player than ever before, which is great. Another aspect of "You Are What You Are" in VtM was generation, which was inherited and defined your place on the food chain permanently. The only was to change this was through diablerie, and even then you would be killed immediately if you were found out. Essentially, then, the only way to increase your place on the food chain in VtM was through evil, heinous actions, which really sucked if you wanted to play a character that cared about humanity. In Requiem, blood potency goes up the longer you survive and the more active you are. There is the possibility for real advancement without having to dip into evil to get there, and a driving notion that your character may someday be a powerful elder, as opposed to the VtM belief that one day you'll be a powerful vampire that will always be limited by generation. And finally, the last "You Are What You Are" of VtM was the Camarilla/Sabbat system, whereupon you were one of the other, or an independant shunned by both. "But I want to play a Camarilla Lasombra". Nope. This massive encompassing was of the Kindred was too easy for storytellers and limited what you could do with any given clan or character. In the old WOD, my favourite vampire game was Dark Ages, whereupon every conflict was internal, and there was no grand war between two huge organizations. In modern day, this pre-existant war was ever-frustrating. In Requiem, it is finished. If you argue that the fact that petty squables are all you can do now, laud it if you will - I celebrate the fact.

4) Is There Any Real Mystery?: Though the writers of VtM liked to toss in suggestions that maybe Caine never existed or maybe the Antideluvians aren't real, they clearly were. This mythology was loved by many, not by me, because though it was nice as a piece of mythology alone, this was a game, and the most important thing in a game is the players having fun. Knowing that there were omnipotent and utterly evil people above you who control your every action and who you'll never, EVER, be able to compete with isn't really very much fun. A lot of people have complained that Requiem lacks any Metaplot, but in truth, it's moreso that the Metaplot isn't given. The origins of vampire really is a mystery in Requiem, and one that storytellers should be encouraged to look at for themselves, rather than regurgitating what they read. Earlier in these posts, someone mentioned that the more sourcebooks you buy, the fewer original ideas you have. I agree heartily. In Requiem, it's not that the mythology doesn't exist at all, it's just that there isn't one dominant mythology that can more or less be accepted as fact. I think this can make for much more mystery and fun than the VtM system.

5) The Phony Prince: My last major annoyance that was fixed in Requiem was that in VtM, Archons and other constantly loomed above the Prince, leaving him or her with very little real power. The title of "Prince" was more ceremonial than functional, and Princes could be overturned easily, with so many others above that were eager to step in. Not in Requiem. Now the Prince has real power, and nobody is telling him or her what to do (or are they...). This makes for a lot more struggling with internal politics in individual cities, and more of a struggle to become Prince. In VtM, several times characters I've played with have turned down opportunities to become Prince because it carried great danger but little real authority. This was a problem, and now, blissfully, it isn't.

In closing, many have complained that The Requiem ruins a good thing, calling out that "If it ain't broke, why fix it?". And as the title of this review mentioned, the VtM system gave a lot more for readers, with its emersive and deep mythology that was so interesting. However, I believe Requiem will be more fun for players, and that, in my opinion, is the most important thing. If you disagree, then by all means, keep playing Masquerade. Granted, no new books for it will be coming out, but there were already way too many to begin with. If you don't have the books and mourn that you can't buy them...well, look hard, and ye shall find. But give this game a chance...I really think it keep much of what made VtM great, but makes it freer, more open, and most importantly, more in the hands of the players and storytellers.

I'd like to start this review by saying what many people seem to not understand:

This is not Vampire the Masquerade, 3rd Edition. This is an entirely new game, albeit with similar terms and mechanics.

That is an important distinction, because if you're looking for a newer version of Masquerade, you'll be surprised at this game.

There are no longer any Generations, Antedeluvians, Methuselahs, Metaplot, or Caine/Lillith creation myth.

Additionally, there is no longer any Camarilla/Sabbat fighting, or any Camarilla or Sabbat, for that matter.

What these generally outward aspects are replaced with are the following:

Five clans with a theoretical infinite series of bloodlines. These bloodlines are far more powerful than those in Masquerade, mainly because all Kindred (yes, the term has stayed the same) start with the same basic Blood Potency (sort of the new Generations- after about 350 years of careful feeding and no "naps," you're pretty much forced into torpor) and can change their blood after reaching BP 4... or can activate a sire's bloodline at BP 2.

The clans are now more Archetypes than Stereotypes- no longer do you have to create a hideous info-mongering sewer-dwelling Nosferatu, or a leather-jacket anarchist Brujah (who incidentally are no longer a clan, but now a bloodline.) Now you're pretty much freed up to create a character that you feel will fulfill a more fluid role in Kindred society and in the chronicle.

Additionally, there are now Five Covenants- One is the Ordo Dracul, an occult association dealing with Kindred transcendance (forget that whole "third eye of enlightenment" from Masquerade.) They believe their covenant was founded by the Dracula, Vlad Tepes, who was supposedly cursed by God for blasphemy and chose to follow his own path of transcendence of the Kindred condition.

The second is the Lancea Sanctum, a covenant that holds Kindred purpose to be God's Holy Predators, to accept their place as damned and removed from God's grace, and to remind humans to turn towards God and ask for protection and forgiveness. They trace their origins back to the centurion who pierced Jesus' side with the Lance of Destiny. He was supposedly a truly awful human who nevertheless gained a purpose in undeath, preaching his word to other KIndred.

The third is the Invictus, the inheritors of the Roman Camarilla (a defunct covenant that worked like the Roman Senate and collapsed with the Roman Empire,) who now consider themselves the nobility, the First Estate, among the Kindred. They offer protection at a price- centuries of service to an elder, but with the promise (generally delivered) of greater status, hunting rights, and influence with mortals and other supernatural creatures.

The fourth are the Carthians. Though they haven't recieved a thorough treatment from White Wolf, they are generally explained as a covenant seeking to equalize the power relations within Kindred society. Their ideals were borrowed from the Enlightenment philosophers, and it seems as though they either came into being during the Enlightenment, or during the approximate time of the Boxer Rebellion.

The fifth are the Circle of the Crone. These are the blood-soaked worshippers of the "feminine" aspects of Vampirism- creation, blood in general, and of course, the Crone- itself an aspect of the triumverate Maid/Mother/Crone goddess of life. These vampires gather in covens, offer their blood or sometimes blood of other victims to the Crone, and sometimes even create Kindred in their observances. They also tend to focus on the idea that suffering can create greater understanding. Additionally, they also believe they have a holy mission of sorts- they are on the earth to be the apex predators of humanity.

There are also no more Paths. These have been replaced by a more universal in-game system which, in the World of Darkness rulebook (that you need to play this game, as well as Werewolf the Forsaken and Mage the Awakening) is Morality, and which in Requiem, is Humanity. It's how much you act like a human. If you dip below a certain level, it's hard for humans to not be terrified of you.

Additionally, when you lose Humanity, you have to check for a Derangement.... These levy penalties, as well as often forcing you to do things that your character would not normally do.

There are other changes as well, but this covers a fair number of them.

This game is fantastic, as long as you don't come in wanting a reiteration of Masquerade. I personally liked Masquerade a lot, and can see the merits in that system, but I enjoy Requiem more. It's much less about external struggles and powers, and much more about personal horror and coming to terms with being something that shouldn't exist.

Buy this book, and the WoD core book. You won't be disappointed.

Despite what the overall rating of the game looks like at the time I am writing this, Vampire the Requiem is a very strong game. The system is solid in terms of mechanics and they do not flip flop between games, nor do they introduce myriad skills that are covered by another skill in one game, but not in the others.
Specific strong points of Requiem:
1. Blood Potency. Nothing drives a gamer nuts like having a character who cannot ever really improve his power level, in Vampire the Masquerade it was very difficult to improve your vampiric power statistic (Generation) you had to either belong to the Sabbat, where the reprehensible tactic diablerie was legal, or be granted the allowance of diablerie by the Prince if you were a Camarilla vampire. In Vampire the Requiem if you want your character to have great control over the powers of her blood, you can simply save up your xp to buy another level of Blood Potency. If your character is the reprehensible sort you can still Diablerize, but it automatically penalizes you if you destroy someone's soul.

2. Humanity. Humanity was in VtM as well, but it also had Paths of Enlightenment that allowed you to perform horrendous wicked acts without being punished. Paths developed a very bad reputation amongst most VtM Storytellers, earning the nickname of, "The Path of What I Was Going to Do Anyway."
Example:
Player: I blow up the orphanage with a sack of C4!
ST: Uhhh... roll humanity...
Player: Nope! I don't have to I'm on the Path of Un-utterable Carnage, I hope to transcend vampirism by blowing up nuns and orphans. It's in The Guide to the Sambrionali. Actually I'd have to roll for a loss of Path if I didn't blow up the bus!

Vampire is a Personal Horror game - you are confronting the horrible nature of the curse that has been laid upon you. Killing anything you want to is Splatter-Punk, not Personal Horror.

3. Bloodlines. Bloodlines as presented in Vampire the Requiem are an interesting reworking of the Bloodlines and lost clans of Vampire the Masquerade. In Masquerade you had about a thousand bloodlines and different varieties of vampire, each with their own discipline and not necessarily any real play balance, or even a clan weakness. Now you have the ability to design your own Bloodlines for your game, and they are things that can be entered only by certain varieties of vampire. They are somewhat like Prestige Classes in D&D, in that you have to have a certain parentage and Blood Potency to enter them. Characters can choose to enter the Bloodline of their sire by taking certain steps, or they can enter a different Bloodline within their clan at a slightly higher Blood Potency, or they can start their very own Bloodline at a higher Blood Potency. It allows for infinite possibility within the range of what type of Vampire you are, but keeps some ground rules about it.

4. No set Good/Bad Guys group(s). In Masquerade you had the Camarilla and the Sabbat. Neither was supposed to be really "Good", nor were they "Bad", but you really only had two choices as to which side you were on (unless you were of an independant clan, and then you had your own clan's side.) In Requiem they have several different Covenants, groups of Vampire organizations. From the Lancae Sanctum, a dark reflection of the Catholic Church, to the Ordo Dracul, a group of vampires allegedly begun by Dracula himself who attempt to overcome vampirism and become something else entirely. Neither is the good or bad group. Despite how the Lancae Sanctum sound like they should be horrifically evil, the Ordo Dracul are potentially just as likely as antagonists.

All in all this game is very much worth your money. It is not perfect, but it is a very strong game. Don't forget that you have to have the base World of Darkness book to play it, as this book merely contains the rules for mortals who have become vampires.

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.

I can't believe how much they fixed this version of Vampire. If you read my review of VtM, I panned the book for having a horrible system and setting, (...). This one got rid of all that. Players not withstanding

While there are now only 5 clans, the definition of "clan" changed. A Clan is what race the character is "born" into, much like your or my ethnicity. Ultimately, not our choice, just fate. Then, you pick from 5 Covenants, which are basically your religion as a vampire, which also give you power. Some people need to do the math: You went from 13 Clans to 25 possible character templates, and they both have roughly the same say over the character's existence. Oops, you can also choose not to be in a covenant, so I guess that second number is 30.

Did you hate how they did Celerity? Me too! They fixed it so a character can't have 47 attacks a turn. They also distinguished between Blood and Vitae, clarified the effects of diablerie, stuck Backgrounds and Merits together (who didn't see that one coming?), and fixed "Generation" so you didn't have to count backwards to get more powerful. Character creation is a bit more strict, forcing points to be spent in certain areas, and only allowing 3 discipline points for neonates. No more. Skills are defined into set categories which will be the same for all three WW games: Vamp, Mage, and Werewolf. Essentially, you use the WoD book to make a mortal, then assign a template. I just hope Were and Mage are written as well as this one was.

This was a great buy, from a previous hater of the series, and I didn't even mention the innovation of Virtues and Vices. You'll just have to buy the books and see.

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.

I have been playing World of Darkness RPG's for over 9 years now, and I am very pleased with the latest system. The aspects that stand out in my mind as improvements from the old World Of Darkness, and Vampire: The Masquerade games are:

* Greater balance of power accross different character types.
* Improved settings that are more transperant and dynamic allowing Storytellers to personalise their games in any fashion they desire.
* Crossover friendly. ie compatible with the other games in the new World Of Darkness series.
* Smoother system mechanics. For old gamers it takes adjusting, but once you have experience the dice rolling is much quicker.

The only drawback (which hasn't changed from the old game) is the amount of information not included in the core books, that is in supliments. This makes the series very overpriced.

I have been a World of Darkness gamer for the past 5 years or so, and while the new system alters many aspects of the world (including some aspects that people found endearing), the majority of changes are for the best, and make the game more clear, concise, and fun. Ultimately, Vampire: The Requiem is more accessible and equally as engaging as its celebrated predecessor.

Alright so after reading the other reviews of this book I have to weigh in. Now I've been running VtM (Vampire the Masquerade) since 1997 and I enjoyed both the setting and the game to a certain degree. I didn't have a large library of source material so I wasn't as familiar with the nuances as some of the other reviewers. When they ended the series (World of Darkness)and started a brand new WoD (World of Darkness) I wanted nothing to do with the whole mess. I walked away from White Wolf completely and did more productive things with my life. Now that I've gotten some extra time I wanted to go back and revisit my "old friends" in world of darkness and this time I decided to "bury the hatchet" and dig into the nWoD (new World of Darkness) just to see what all the fuss was about.

Now I don't mean this to be a review of nWoD, but in order to review VtR you have to take in the context of the game which IS the nWoD. In contrast to the oWoD (original or "old" World of Darkness) nWoD starts out with the human condition and builds from there. Humanity is the central theme in the nWoD and the stories are built from the inside out and from the bottom up. It's not a game about Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, Fairies, Ghosts, Hunters, Demons, or Immortals, but a story about humanity itself. Vampires are just one of the many inhabitants of the world outside the reality of most individuals on the planet. This really helps to drive home the Storyteller system itself and to take the edge off the old "blood sucking superhero/villain" mess that oWoD had made for itself.

Now rather than rehash all of the points that everyone else already made (just read the other reviews it doesn't take long) lets get into why I gave this book a bad review. The biggest problem that "I" wanted White Wolf to fix with regards to WoD is CROSSOVER. With oWoD the setting itself began with the individual game and if you had a crossover story it was told from within the specific context of that games background. In VtM vampires were the central characters and the world seemed to revolve around them. It was the same in Werewolf and Mage, and there wasn't a lot of crossover in the metaplot, but in nWoD they had a beautiful chance to change it all. For example I have a story set in Chicago (slight bias as I'm from the Chi) is it believable that I have Vampires running around from dusk till dawn night after night feeding, killing (each other and innocents), playing politics, and spreading influence and not run into any werewolves or even wolf blooded/kinfolk, mages, ghosts, immortals, etc?? This is Chicago!! Someone other than a 300 year old vampire wants to run this mutha, and there's scarcely any mention of any crossover at all. This book would lead you to believe that Vampires hardly even know that werewolves exist which is difficult to believe since they are virtually immune to lunacy and have lived for hundreds of years. Plenty of time for their hunting and manipulation of mankind to have caused some upset in the spirit world and attracted the attention of local werewolves. Not to mention that according to the WtF (Werewolf the Forsaken) core book the very streets that the price calls his own are most likely the territory of one "pack" of werewolves or another. This more than anything else makes me sick to my stomach. The prince of the city is more interested in his primogen, elysium, harpies, and the covenants than he is not angering the nearby Uratha (new term for werewolves) or breaking the masquerade to a group of powerful mages so they don't decide to turn his flocks vitae into cheap tass (if that is even possible in nWoD I haven't read that source book yet).

But given that the vampires are terribly weak and frail and have little by way of offensive might via disciplines to fend off other beings, it might just be all for the best that they not come across a pack of Uratha any time soon (remember the Uratha are not solitary creatures and according to WtF they're nearly indestructable unless you have ample amounts of pure silver).

Why would you create a WoD core book and then have separate spinoff core books to tie into your newly created world, and then isolate THIS spinoff from that world? Honestly if they had gotten that one issue fixed I could forgive the lack of a defined meta plot, weak disciplines, weak elders, lame clans, VII (not even worth explaining), terribly unbalanced characters when confronted with werewolves, and a flawed covenant system. When you add it all together I'm still trying to figure out what they DID accomplish in these 300+ pages (other than driving me to seek out the oWoD material).

Proponents for the new system will argue that the ST (storyteller) should feel free to include any elements that he/she would like to see in the setting as he/she feels like it. I then ask why I spent $30+ for someone to tell me to write my own darn book. I'm not saying that I'm a lazy ST, but there is a reason that I continue to buy material. Consider it outsourcing.

In VtR's attempt to not be VtM it ends up not being much of anything at all. You run around as a near mortal parasite utterly confused about what you are, what that means to what you were, how you became this way, and what you're supposed to do now. You serve no purpose and have no overarching goals, clan or otherwise (unless you want political power or to find salvation). The disconnect between Vampire and the rest of the WoD is greater in this game than in it's predecessor (which I didn't think was even possible), and with little else to back it up that disconnect is too great to ignore. I haven't read Mage yet but lets hope that the rest of the nWoD line makes up for this piece of garbage.