The Inside Scoop on Gaming

And now, a gentle, happy book, filled with an overabundant passion for life, love, and dignity. A book that brings thoughts of chirping birds, flowers, and warm spring days. A book that may cause many to recall warm, fuzzy childhood memories filled with gleeful laughter and pretty clouds and butterflies. A book that...

[WHACK! THUMP! CRACK! THUMP! THUMP! WHUMP!]

OWWWW!! STOP! MERCY! I BEG OF YOU!!! *SOB* NO MORE!! OH, THE HUMANITY!!! OOOOFF!! *WHIMPER*

[STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! CRUNCH!! WHACK! WHAP! CRACK! CRASH!]

NOOOOOO!! NOT OUT THE WINDOW! I'LL STOP! *GASP* I'LL STOP! I'LL TELL THEM THE TRUTH! PLEASE, JUST GO AWAAAAYY!!

[sound of footsteps fading in the distance]

Okay, Guide to the Sabbat is about vampires, ones who have renounced most, if not all, of their old human morality. They don't think like humans do anymore, and they'd like to lock us up in pens and breed us as a food source. Luckily, they're too preoccupied to do that, because they're fighting the other big vampire sect, The Camarilla, for control of the vampire community, such as it is. See, the Sabbat know that all vampires came from a bunch of really, really old vampires, who are going to wake up from their respective dirt naps with a big old appetite. Problem is, the Really Old Dudes can only consume vampire blood, because human blood, to them, tastes like Diet Tab does to us. (EWWWWW!)The Sabbat think that the Camarilla are human-posing wimps who are setting themselves up to be slaughtered by the Way Old Dudes. The Camarilla think the Sabbat are rabid psychopaths looking for an excuse to cannibalize anyone who isn't as degenerate as they are.

Who's right? Who knows?

The point of Guide to the Sabbat is to give those players who always wanted to be a badass creature of the night (like the 'suckers in Near Dark), and didn't want to lose his/her character to the Beast, the way you did in the original Vampire: the Masquerade rules. Tired of hearing arguments from roleplaying Nazis that the Sabbat Guides were pandering to twinks, munchkins, and powergamers (just like they printed the Sabbat Guides to silence the vampire goobs who questioned the need for centuries-old animated corpses to feel like human beings, as well as those who were turned off by the angst of it all), they decided to revise the whole shooting match, to f--- with the formula one more time, and this time see if they got it closer to right.

As far as the Sabbat book is concerned, they did pretty good.

The art is okay on average, some good, some should never have made it to the printer. Pages 114 and 115, for example, have pictures that are more ridiculous than mood-evoking, probably by the same noodler who did most of the "artwork" for Clanbook:Tzimisce. Page 96, on the other hand, allows the viewer to clearly see what is taking place--and makes him/her prefer not to. It's one of the creepiest pictures I've seen since Kult 2nd Edition.

The information on the Sabbat, and how to play it, makes every effort to add depth to the sect, without quite going into the depths of "adult" dialogue found in, say, The Orphan's Survival Guide. Yes, there's enough language and pictures of breasts in here to keep it away from pre-adults (of all ages), but there's also enough background and game info to really make a go of role-playing a member of the Sabbat without it always involving mindless violence.

The Paths, always a big bone of contention with the roleplay-Nazis, have been better fleshed out, although the Path system itself still needs to be tweaked. (But that's beyond the scope of this particular book.) Also, it's been emphasized that mindless killers tend to be teated as little more than cannon fodder; those who last long enough to follow a Path, on the other hand, are expected to act with a great deal more forethought. Politics plays a bigger role, infernalism is downplayed (but still prevalent), and there's plenty of interesting upheaval going on to make the Sabbat hopping. (New clans, some of which (ironically), have been around for ages!)

All in all, it's a good introduction to the Sabbat with enough new wrinkles thrown in to make it worth your while. Not great, not revolutionary, but nicely done and not quite as dry as Guide to the Camarilla.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Guide to the Sabbat
Author: Justin Achilli, and others Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Cost: $25.95 Page count: 224 ISBN: 1-56504-263-8 Capsule Review by Carl L. Congdon on 03/08/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Vampire Gothic	And now, a gentle, happy book, filled with an overabundant passion for life, love, and dignity. A book that brings thoughts of chirping birds, flowers, and warm spring days. A book that may cause many to recall warm, fuzzy childhood memories filled with gleeful laughter and pretty clouds and butterflies. A book that... [WHACK! THUMP! CRACK! THUMP! THUMP! WHUMP!] OWWWW!! STOP! MERCY! I BEG OF YOU!!! SOB NO MORE!! OH, THE HUMANITY!!! OOOOFF!! WHIMPER [STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! CRUNCH!! WHACK! WHAP! CRACK! CRASH!] NOOOOOO!! NOT OUT THE WINDOW! I'LL STOP! GASP I'LL STOP! I'LL TELL THEM THE TRUTH! PLEASE, JUST GO AWAAAAYY!! [sound of footsteps fading in the distance] Okay, Guide to the Sabbat is about vampires, ones who have renounced most, if not all, of their old human morality. They don't think like humans do anymore, and they'd like to lock us up in pens and breed us as a food source. Luckily, they're too preoccupied to do that, because they're fighting the other big vampire sect, The Camarilla, for control of the vampire community, such as it is. See, the Sabbat know that all vampires came from a bunch of really, really old vampires, who are going to wake up from their respective dirt naps with a big old appetite. Problem is, the Really Old Dudes can only consume vampire blood, because human blood, to them, tastes like Diet Tab does to us. (EWWWWW!)The Sabbat think that the Camarilla are human-posing wimps who are setting themselves up to be slaughtered by the Way Old Dudes. The Camarilla think the Sabbat are rabid psychopaths looking for an excuse to cannibalize anyone who isn't as degenerate as they are. Who's right? Who knows? The point of Guide to the Sabbat is to give those players who always wanted to be a badass creature of the night (like the 'suckers in Near Dark), and didn't want to lose his/her character to the Beast, the way you did in the original Vampire: the Masquerade rules. Tired of hearing arguments from roleplaying Nazis that the Sabbat Guides were pandering to twinks, munchkins, and powergamers (just like they printed the Sabbat Guides to silence the vampire goobs who questioned the need for centuries-old animated corpses to feel like human beings, as well as those who were turned off by the angst of it all), they decided to revise the whole shooting match, to f--- with the formula one more time, and this time see if they got it closer to right. As far as the Sabbat book is concerned, they did pretty good. The art is okay on average, some good, some should never have made it to the printer. Pages 114 and 115, for example, have pictures that are more ridiculous than mood-evoking, probably by the same noodler who did most of the "artwork" for Clanbook:Tzimisce. Page 96, on the other hand, allows the viewer to clearly see what is taking place--and makes him/her prefer not to. It's one of the creepiest pictures I've seen since Kult 2nd Edition. The information on the Sabbat, and how to play it, makes every effort to add depth to the sect, without quite going into the depths of "adult" dialogue found in, say, The Orphan's Survival Guide. Yes, there's enough language and pictures of breasts in here to keep it away from pre-adults (of all ages), but there's also enough background and game info to really make a go of role-playing a member of the Sabbat without it always involving mindless violence. The Paths, always a big bone of contention with the roleplay-Nazis, have been better fleshed out, although the Path system itself still needs to be tweaked. (But that's beyond the scope of this particular book.) Also, it's been emphasized that mindless killers tend to be teated as little more than cannon fodder; those who last long enough to follow a Path, on the other hand, are expected to act with a great deal more forethought. Politics plays a bigger role, infernalism is downplayed (but still prevalent), and there's plenty of interesting upheaval going on to make the Sabbat hopping. (New clans, some of which (ironically), have been around for ages!) All in all, it's a good introduction to the Sabbat with enough new wrinkles thrown in to make it worth your while. Not great, not revolutionary, but nicely done and not quite as dry as Guide to the Camarilla. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)