The Inside Scoop on Gaming

It's somehow fitting that the short fiction piece which introduces Guide to the Camarilla is set in Las Vegas, that town of wealth, glitz and very little substance, for two reasons:

The Camarilla, while charactized in-game as full of wealth and glitz, often is equally devoid of substance as it is rich in trappings.
Supplements from White Wolf have, over the history of the games associated with the Storyteller System, been no less of a gamble than shoving a quarter in a slot machine and hoping to hit the jackpot. Whereas Halls of the Arcanum painted a fascinating portrait of arcane-minded mortals and Vampire Player's Guide, 2nd Ed., provided a wealth of informative essays and articles about improving roleplay, gutter-balls like Project Twilight or The Storyteller's Handbook made me wary every time I approached the White Wolf/Black Dog shelf at my local gaming store.

Fortunately for us all, Guide to the Camarilla is like shoving one's last quarter into a slot machine, and being awarded with a bucket full of Spanish gold: valuable and beautiful to boot.

The big problem with playing a Camarillan vampire has always been the fact that it was the "default" setting for a Vampire: the Masquerade character. One is more than likely Camarillan, the books tend to focus on the Camarilla -- everything should be easy, right? It takes no imagination to play a member of the Camarilla, right? Mumbling about political intrigues behind polite smiles and pretty praise of elders ought to cover it, right?

Wrong.

By leaving the Camarilla the "default," White Wolf inadvertantly left players of Camarillan vampires -- who were the majority of players -- out in the cold. Storytellers have been left to take what they could from 2nd Edition books' descriptions of the Camarilla's ways of working and attitudes towards itself and others, and scrape together whole worlds of their own. Common discussions among Storytellers of Camarilla Chronicles involved the phrase "well, in my game...," whenever the topic came around to just how the Camarilla operates in certain situations -- such as times of war. While this tendency lends itself to sharing of ideas and encourages/forces creativity on the part of ST's, the simple fact is that it was long past time for White Wolf to buckle down and write a book devoted to the Camarilla. Now they have.

Here's where Guide to the Camarilla comes in, fortunately; written by Richard Dansky -- by far the best writer White Wolf has in its stable and one of the many reasons Vampire: the Dark Ages is the only "other-era" variation on any of the main five Storyteller games (Mage, Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling and Wraith) to have not only made it, but blossomed into its own, separate game, too good to consider as a slightly altered, pale-shadow version of its "parent" game -- Dansky brings his down-to-earth, practical and at the same time tremendously creative gift for story to the Camarilla to produce a look at a crumbling sect full of proud and paranoid Kindred which, from some perspectives, epitomizes the personal horror aspect of the overall game.

The book is divided into sections as per the White Wolf standard: historical overview & general description, member clans and their general attitudes on one another & sect, character creation (with an inserted section following the trend set in Dark Ages supplements for "metadisciplines," mega-powers derived from combining knowledge of two or more Disciplines to produce some truly fantastic and often incredulously powerful effects -- these are no different; give them to your NPC's sparingly, and don't even think about handing them out to your PC's, as herein lies the power to destroy a good Chronicle in about three seconds flat), a section on the down-and-dirty mechanics of night-to-night functioning of the Camarilla, a section for Storytellers to pick up tips and tricks on making games better, and then a section on antagonists, allies and those who are neither or even both.

The Introduction, so literally named, dives head-long into the meat and mead of the Camarilla, with topic headings such as "Power" and "Intrigue." This is also where the book first shows its hand, in terms of a practical, intelligible discussion of the topic at hand, with the inset text comparing the Camarilla to a corporation of undead who will never die: no power, no room for advancement beyond entry level unless an "opportunity" is created by those in the lower ranks. It's a good, solid and best of all quick overview of what to expect. By that same token, serving as it does as a sort of clearinghouse for what to expect from the book, it skims too quickly past some things.

A major complaint I've always had of the Storyteller supplements which included a lexicon of common and archaic phrases among the class of characters involved is that, while interesting, it's too compact and abrupt for my short attention span. I simply will get annoyed if every time I read a 25-cent word in italicized type by page 150, I've also had to flip back to page 15 to look it up. Perhaps this is my curse as a member of the MTV Generation -- or perhaps someone bright and with a White Wolf paystub in their wallet should realize that definitions of in-game terminology should accompany the appearance of that word as well as being gathered together in a mini-dictionary.

"The Sect Defined" is a beefy section which does for the Camarilla the same which Guide to the Sabbat did for the Camarilla's archnemesis: an explanation of the "why?" questions often asked regarding policies such as the Masquerade, answers to the "how?" questions regarding long-ignored topics such as enforcement of the Traditions and plans for dealing with breaches of the precious Masquerade, "what?" questions like that oft-asked pondering: what the heck, technically, -is- a Domain, anyway? Finally, it really answers the much-needed "who?" questions regarding the heirarchy of power in a sect which is, in all reality, far more loosely organized in some ways than its freedom-preaching enemy, the Sabbat. All the way from the very top to the very bottom, roles of various officers and elders are explained, at long last. Now we know the difference between a Seneschal, a Sheriff and a Scourge, concepts often bantied about in games, but handled differently every time.

"The Clans," as one might expect, deals with the clans. Here's one of the aspects of the book I've rarely enjoyed in any of White Wolf's books. While an understanding of the general stereotypes and habits of members of other clans is, of course, necessary, as are discussions of how individuals within those clans gain prestige amongst their own blood, the simple fact is that so often such background feels contrived. Despite the fact that this book, under Dansky's formidable wing, manages to do a tolerable job, I still feel this is the section best left ignored. One- or two-paragraph descriptions of how members of Clan Brujah gain prestige by "challenging authority" whereas Nosferatu receive "acclaim" for "utility and merit" suggest images of annual Nosferatu Awards Banquets and Brujah Cool-Guy Awards, handed out like tacky placques given out at junior high assembles for perfect attendance. Do individual clans have their own ways of measuring up their members?

Certainly; but to condense such attitudes into such space as is provided fails to do the subtlety of such manipulations justice, and almost insults the intelligence of someone interested in playing a game full of dark intrigues sequestered safely behind multi-layered schemes of red herrings and political maneuvering. The up-side to this section is that it deals with members of "outsider" clans and bloodlines, such as the Setites and Daughters of Cacophany. Such figures are rarities at best, and the brevity with which they are treated is fitting, given the staunch conservatism with which the Camarilla regards clans and lines too untrustworthy, unknowable or insignificant to include in the real halls of power, its upper echelons. Topping it off joyfully are three new character templates: the Caitiff, the Gargoyle and the Lasombra antitribu, all three topics which have deserved far greater discussion than they received in the past, and which expand these fleeting shadows of idea into fully useful concepts that can add spice to any story.

"Character Creation" is usually the part of any book which I skim quickly -- as opposed to ignoring the clan summaries sections altogether -- but GttC deserves a close look indeed. New Abilities, Backgrounds, Merits and Flaws are presented such as to make them fascinating and useful. The new paradigm of a couple of paragraphs of fiction illustrating the use of an Ability is put to good use here (and such examples are something for which the game has been screaming for years). The Backgrounds make sense, as well.

The real treat, however, comes in the Merits & Flaws. Falling into the usual groupings of Mental, Physical, Supernatural and Social, these include some fabulous ideas for livening up a character -- and they're all attuned to the very special environment found within a Camarilla chronicle. Whether a character is a sufferer of "Open Wound" (far nastier than its near-relative Permanent Wound) or "Glowing Eyes," or suffers from the reputation as a snitch covered by "Narc," they are invariably good, solid additions to any character. There's even a long-needed discussion of min-maxing, and the tendency of players to load up on Flaws which will have zero relevance to roleplay but provide plenty of points for butt-kicking or Disciplines, and how a good Storyteller will slap those players around before they let them into the game.

Storytellers should watch out, though -- matters previously covered by in-game events and Backgrounds such as Status are covered in Merits such as "Primogen," a 7pt Merit which makes the PC the recognized elder of her clan in the city. Would a character with the sort of dearth of stats that results from spending so many freebies on a single Merit really be the most powerful Kindred of her clan in a city? I think not.

"Advanced Disciplines," subtitled "Powers Beyond Understanding," lives up to its name. I shudder to think what game is going to involve someone who knows Obtenebration 7, although Storytellers in search of powers to juice up powerful NPC's can have a field day in this section. Unfortunately, some of these "powers beyond understanding" aren't really that far beyond, well, the commonplace. If one is giving Presence 8 to an NPC because they want them to be that commanding of a personality, one can invent something more interesting than a Presence power which makes it slightly harder for a PC to resist the Presence powers used on them by that NPC. Whereas 2nd Ed. Vampire Player's Guide reflected the exponential growth in power associated with increased levels of Disciplines, such that the Methuselahs and Antediluvians would be god-like, these powers merely make them into show-offs and bullies; I'd like to think they're both, more than one or the other.

The information which makes this section worth reading is the fact that there is a lengthy examination of alternate paths of Thaumaturgy, including the Path of Technomancy, something my tabletop Storyteller was inventing on the fly three years ago because, by Caine, the Tremere had to know how to get funky with computers. Now they do. The same goes for the Green Path, a good way of converting the Life/Mind, Life/Prime, Life/Matter and Life/Spirit effects common to the Tremere's Mage ancestors into Thaumaturgy which reflects something we might expect to see, say, a Verbena Mage accomplish. Metadisciplines, a.k.a. Absurdly Powerful Stuff, are also covered in this section. Again, they're interesting for NPC's; don't let your PC's even think about it.

And now we come to what makes it all worthwhile, what made me glow so early on despite my commentary above: that section known as "The Rhythm of Immortality: Tactics and Systems." Here is where the book is at its absolute best, as it tackles questions like, how do you make effective use of Prestation in a Chronicle? How does Presentment of Childer work, actually? What goes on when a Childe is trained by her Sire? What goes wrong in those relationships? How does the Camarilla handle war with the Sabbat, if the Masquerade is so precious? The very cream of the crop, however, is how the Camarilla deals with accusations against its own members, trials based on such accusations, and punishments levied to those who have been caught with their fingers in whatever cookie jars are around. Here is the down and dirty operation of the Camarilla, the bread and circuses of a sect growing lazy with its own comfort and overheavy under its own weight.

Best of all, the answers make sense! They don't just answer these matters sensibly, they answer them in the sensible ways the best Storytellers I've known have answered them in their own games. At the same time, this section doesn't restrict the behavior of NPC elders and leaders in any game -- instead, this section accomplishes that which makes the Storyteller games so admirable when they're at their best: it provides frameworks and ideas which are diverse, not restricting, and it promotes freedom to tailor the actions in one's game to the needs of that game, not tiresome meta-storyline points (which is one of my biggest beefs with the concept presented of the Gangrel leaving the Camarilla altogether) which sound as though their writers feel their work is more important than the right of the Storyteller and players to create their own, interesting and three-dimensional world. Buy the book if only to read this.

The following two sections I'll treat together. They are "The City by Night: Building Your Setting" and "Tales of Imagination and Mystery: Storytelling." Herein, to be perfectly honest, lie some of the best Storytelling tips I've seen. Organized into easy-to-follow check-lists of such vital questions which, unless decided early on, will bog the game down with their vagueness later, as "where are the powerful people," "who's the Prince," and "who hates whom," these two sections work together to give some good, solid advice to experienced as well as novice Storytellers. If one follows them carefully, one can walk away with a very neatly designed and easy-to-make-large backdrop for the Chronicle. It also discusses, of course, the vitals of writing the plot which drives a Chronicle, including the various types of conflict, what might have brought them on and how they might be resolved or mutated as play goes on.

By far the second best -- and second reason to go buy this book -- these sections together create a strong starting point for any Storyteller. One could do far, far worse than looking here for guidance, both at the beginning of the Chronicle and as it goes on.

The book ends in a vaguely disappointing way, with "Allies, Enemies and Others," which covers the basics of course but, unfortunately, also tries to give some coverage to the Anarchs and their varying movements, in the process doing them as great a disservice as clan synopses tend to give the individual lines. Of course, ironically, the Anarchs are difficult to sum up, and no single book could do a good job, arguably, of covering them. The fact is, however, that Anarchist's Cookbook does a better job than this, since the coverage offered in GttC is (a) cursory at best and (b) marred by its context as part of a guide to a formalized sect. I heartily recommend against making tremendous use of this section to run Anarch PCs, or to buy this book for the purpose of running an Anarch Chronicle -- unless the Camarilla is to serve as an antagonist.

Otherwise, it's useful enough for creating Anarch antagonists for what would be, in turn, a Camarilla Chronicle, or providing some information for the backgrounds and attitudes of those Anarch contacts no good Camarillan Kindred would admit to having, but almost certainly does cultivate on the sly. Also included are ghouls and their treatment at the hands of their masters -- and there the book ends. It's too abrupt, in my opinion, and would have best been served by a follow-up piece of fiction shedding some light on the ramifications of the fiction-piece in the beginning. Alas, it's not to be.

And now, a nitpicky topic: the artwork. Some of it is fantastic. A lot of it, however, is awful. There's such a thing as an artistic style which leaves imagery undefined and open to interpretation -- there's another matter entirely, however, when the artwork is simply bad. Whereas the artwork of 2nd Ed. was fairly uniform and generally good (I can't help that I'm a fan of the sort of '80s hair and clothing fashions so often depicted, as well as the "airbrushed photo" realism or near-realism of much of it), the artwork in Guide to the Camarilla (and all the 3rd Ed. supplements, from what I can tell) is a hit-and-miss affair. Some of it blows 2nd Ed. artwork out of the water. Some of it (less, however) is atrociously bad.

I'm no artist, but apparently White Wolf is desperate; perhaps I'll get a new career. A very nice touch, however, that has been carried over from 2nd Ed. V:tM, is the realistic aspect of the artwork included which prevents every character from being what so often is depicted in games: stunningly gorgeous vampires all around. The Kindred depicted within these books look like, believe it or not, real people. It's something that is quite effective, due to its visual nature, at immediately shocking us back to reality -- a very subtle way of saying that all Kindred once were normal Kine, just like you and me. That, in turn, is an even more deliciously subtle way of reminding us of the horror of the game: if they were once just like you and me, don't they hate themselves for what they are now? And is it possible that you or I could, through simply becoming evil in our actions and attitudes, with no supernatural element necessary, become just as much a monster as they, the characters, are? Oh yes -- and it's the sort of idea that only reveals itself after nagging at your brain for a while, the best kind of all.

Overall, this is a superb supplement. Perhaps it's Dansky's hand in the mix, but Guide to the Camarilla far outshines the main 3rd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade, and is the sole supplement which makes the entire effort to revise the line seem worthwhile to me, someone who's been playing 2nd Ed. for years and thought it was just fine without a few minor Discipline alterations and a lot of sudden, force-fed meta-storyline such as that found in the so-called "VRev," or 3rd Ed. of the main game sourcebook. By the same token, it only assures me that Vampire: the Dark Ages with Dansky at the wheel, will get better, and better.

To really sum up, whether you play Camarilla, Sabbat or Anarch Chronicles, go buy Guide to the Camarilla. It's the best $26 I've spent on print this year -- at least until I finish The Cainite Heresy.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Guide to the Camarilla
Author: Richard E. Dansky, Geoffrey C. Grabowski, Kenneth Hite, Clayton Oliver and Cynthia Summers Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: Vampire: the Masquerade Cost: US$25.95 Page count: 232 Playtest Review by Michael Williams on 04/03/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Espionage Conspiracy Vampire Gothic	It's somehow fitting that the short fiction piece which introduces Guide to the Camarilla is set in Las Vegas, that town of wealth, glitz and very little substance, for two reasons: The Camarilla, while charactized in-game as full of wealth and glitz, often is equally devoid of substance as it is rich in trappings. Supplements from White Wolf have, over the history of the games associated with the Storyteller System, been no less of a gamble than shoving a quarter in a slot machine and hoping to hit the jackpot. Whereas Halls of the Arcanum painted a fascinating portrait of arcane-minded mortals and Vampire Player's Guide, 2nd Ed., provided a wealth of informative essays and articles about improving roleplay, gutter-balls like Project Twilight or The Storyteller's Handbook made me wary every time I approached the White Wolf/Black Dog shelf at my local gaming store. Fortunately for us all, Guide to the Camarilla is like shoving one's last quarter into a slot machine, and being awarded with a bucket full of Spanish gold: valuable and beautiful to boot. The big problem with playing a Camarillan vampire has always been the fact that it was the "default" setting for a Vampire: the Masquerade character. One is more than likely Camarillan, the books tend to focus on the Camarilla -- everything should be easy, right? It takes no imagination to play a member of the Camarilla, right? Mumbling about political intrigues behind polite smiles and pretty praise of elders ought to cover it, right? Wrong. By leaving the Camarilla the "default," White Wolf inadvertantly left players of Camarillan vampires -- who were the majority of players -- out in the cold. Storytellers have been left to take what they could from 2nd Edition books' descriptions of the Camarilla's ways of working and attitudes towards itself and others, and scrape together whole worlds of their own. Common discussions among Storytellers of Camarilla Chronicles involved the phrase "well, in my game...," whenever the topic came around to just how the Camarilla operates in certain situations -- such as times of war. While this tendency lends itself to sharing of ideas and encourages/forces creativity on the part of ST's, the simple fact is that it was long past time for White Wolf to buckle down and write a book devoted to the Camarilla. Now they have. Here's where Guide to the Camarilla comes in, fortunately; written by Richard Dansky -- by far the best writer White Wolf has in its stable and one of the many reasons Vampire: the Dark Ages is the only "other-era" variation on any of the main five Storyteller games (Mage, Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling and Wraith) to have not only made it, but blossomed into its own, separate game, too good to consider as a slightly altered, pale-shadow version of its "parent" game -- Dansky brings his down-to-earth, practical and at the same time tremendously creative gift for story to the Camarilla to produce a look at a crumbling sect full of proud and paranoid Kindred which, from some perspectives, epitomizes the personal horror aspect of the overall game. The book is divided into sections as per the White Wolf standard: historical overview & general description, member clans and their general attitudes on one another & sect, character creation (with an inserted section following the trend set in Dark Ages supplements for "metadisciplines," mega-powers derived from combining knowledge of two or more Disciplines to produce some truly fantastic and often incredulously powerful effects -- these are no different; give them to your NPC's sparingly, and don't even think about handing them out to your PC's, as herein lies the power to destroy a good Chronicle in about three seconds flat), a section on the down-and-dirty mechanics of night-to-night functioning of the Camarilla, a section for Storytellers to pick up tips and tricks on making games better, and then a section on antagonists, allies and those who are neither or even both. The Introduction, so literally named, dives head-long into the meat and mead of the Camarilla, with topic headings such as "Power" and "Intrigue." This is also where the book first shows its hand, in terms of a practical, intelligible discussion of the topic at hand, with the inset text comparing the Camarilla to a corporation of undead who will never die: no power, no room for advancement beyond entry level unless an "opportunity" is created by those in the lower ranks. It's a good, solid and best of all quick overview of what to expect. By that same token, serving as it does as a sort of clearinghouse for what to expect from the book, it skims too quickly past some things. A major complaint I've always had of the Storyteller supplements which included a lexicon of common and archaic phrases among the class of characters involved is that, while interesting, it's too compact and abrupt for my short attention span. I simply will get annoyed if every time I read a 25-cent word in italicized type by page 150, I've also had to flip back to page 15 to look it up. Perhaps this is my curse as a member of the MTV Generation -- or perhaps someone bright and with a White Wolf paystub in their wallet should realize that definitions of in-game terminology should accompany the appearance of that word as well as being gathered together in a mini-dictionary. "The Sect Defined" is a beefy section which does for the Camarilla the same which Guide to the Sabbat did for the Camarilla's archnemesis: an explanation of the "why?" questions often asked regarding policies such as the Masquerade, answers to the "how?" questions regarding long-ignored topics such as enforcement of the Traditions and plans for dealing with breaches of the precious Masquerade, "what?" questions like that oft-asked pondering: what the heck, technically, -is- a Domain, anyway? Finally, it really answers the much-needed "who?" questions regarding the heirarchy of power in a sect which is, in all reality, far more loosely organized in some ways than its freedom-preaching enemy, the Sabbat. All the way from the very top to the very bottom, roles of various officers and elders are explained, at long last. Now we know the difference between a Seneschal, a Sheriff and a Scourge, concepts often bantied about in games, but handled differently every time. "The Clans," as one might expect, deals with the clans. Here's one of the aspects of the book I've rarely enjoyed in any of White Wolf's books. While an understanding of the general stereotypes and habits of members of other clans is, of course, necessary, as are discussions of how individuals within those clans gain prestige amongst their own blood, the simple fact is that so often such background feels contrived. Despite the fact that this book, under Dansky's formidable wing, manages to do a tolerable job, I still feel this is the section best left ignored. One- or two-paragraph descriptions of how members of Clan Brujah gain prestige by "challenging authority" whereas Nosferatu receive "acclaim" for "utility and merit" suggest images of annual Nosferatu Awards Banquets and Brujah Cool-Guy Awards, handed out like tacky placques given out at junior high assembles for perfect attendance. Do individual clans have their own ways of measuring up their members? Certainly; but to condense such attitudes into such space as is provided fails to do the subtlety of such manipulations justice, and almost insults the intelligence of someone interested in playing a game full of dark intrigues sequestered safely behind multi-layered schemes of red herrings and political maneuvering. The up-side to this section is that it deals with members of "outsider" clans and bloodlines, such as the Setites and Daughters of Cacophany. Such figures are rarities at best, and the brevity with which they are treated is fitting, given the staunch conservatism with which the Camarilla regards clans and lines too untrustworthy, unknowable or insignificant to include in the real halls of power, its upper echelons. Topping it off joyfully are three new character templates: the Caitiff, the Gargoyle and the Lasombra antitribu, all three topics which have deserved far greater discussion than they received in the past, and which expand these fleeting shadows of idea into fully useful concepts that can add spice to any story. "Character Creation" is usually the part of any book which I skim quickly -- as opposed to ignoring the clan summaries sections altogether -- but GttC deserves a close look indeed. New Abilities, Backgrounds, Merits and Flaws are presented such as to make them fascinating and useful. The new paradigm of a couple of paragraphs of fiction illustrating the use of an Ability is put to good use here (and such examples are something for which the game has been screaming for years). The Backgrounds make sense, as well. The real treat, however, comes in the Merits & Flaws. Falling into the usual groupings of Mental, Physical, Supernatural and Social, these include some fabulous ideas for livening up a character -- and they're all attuned to the very special environment found within a Camarilla chronicle. Whether a character is a sufferer of "Open Wound" (far nastier than its near-relative Permanent Wound) or "Glowing Eyes," or suffers from the reputation as a snitch covered by "Narc," they are invariably good, solid additions to any character. There's even a long-needed discussion of min-maxing, and the tendency of players to load up on Flaws which will have zero relevance to roleplay but provide plenty of points for butt-kicking or Disciplines, and how a good Storyteller will slap those players around before they let them into the game. Storytellers should watch out, though -- matters previously covered by in-game events and Backgrounds such as Status are covered in Merits such as "Primogen," a 7pt Merit which makes the PC the recognized elder of her clan in the city. Would a character with the sort of dearth of stats that results from spending so many freebies on a single Merit really be the most powerful Kindred of her clan in a city? I think not. "Advanced Disciplines," subtitled "Powers Beyond Understanding," lives up to its name. I shudder to think what game is going to involve someone who knows Obtenebration 7, although Storytellers in search of powers to juice up powerful NPC's can have a field day in this section. Unfortunately, some of these "powers beyond understanding" aren't really that far beyond, well, the commonplace. If one is giving Presence 8 to an NPC because they want them to be that commanding of a personality, one can invent something more interesting than a Presence power which makes it slightly harder for a PC to resist the Presence powers used on them by that NPC. Whereas 2nd Ed. Vampire Player's Guide reflected the exponential growth in power associated with increased levels of Disciplines, such that the Methuselahs and Antediluvians would be god-like, these powers merely make them into show-offs and bullies; I'd like to think they're both, more than one or the other. The information which makes this section worth reading is the fact that there is a lengthy examination of alternate paths of Thaumaturgy, including the Path of Technomancy, something my tabletop Storyteller was inventing on the fly three years ago because, by Caine, the Tremere had to know how to get funky with computers. Now they do. The same goes for the Green Path, a good way of converting the Life/Mind, Life/Prime, Life/Matter and Life/Spirit effects common to the Tremere's Mage ancestors into Thaumaturgy which reflects something we might expect to see, say, a Verbena Mage accomplish. Metadisciplines, a.k.a. Absurdly Powerful Stuff, are also covered in this section. Again, they're interesting for NPC's; don't let your PC's even think about it. And now we come to what makes it all worthwhile, what made me glow so early on despite my commentary above: that section known as "The Rhythm of Immortality: Tactics and Systems." Here is where the book is at its absolute best, as it tackles questions like, how do you make effective use of Prestation in a Chronicle? How does Presentment of Childer work, actually? What goes on when a Childe is trained by her Sire? What goes wrong in those relationships? How does the Camarilla handle war with the Sabbat, if the Masquerade is so precious? The very cream of the crop, however, is how the Camarilla deals with accusations against its own members, trials based on such accusations, and punishments levied to those who have been caught with their fingers in whatever cookie jars are around. Here is the down and dirty operation of the Camarilla, the bread and circuses of a sect growing lazy with its own comfort and overheavy under its own weight. Best of all, the answers make sense! They don't just answer these matters sensibly, they answer them in the sensible ways the best Storytellers I've known have answered them in their own games. At the same time, this section doesn't restrict the behavior of NPC elders and leaders in any game -- instead, this section accomplishes that which makes the Storyteller games so admirable when they're at their best: it provides frameworks and ideas which are diverse, not restricting, and it promotes freedom to tailor the actions in one's game to the needs of that game, not tiresome meta-storyline points (which is one of my biggest beefs with the concept presented of the Gangrel leaving the Camarilla altogether) which sound as though their writers feel their work is more important than the right of the Storyteller and players to create their own, interesting and three-dimensional world. Buy the book if only to read this. The following two sections I'll treat together. They are "The City by Night: Building Your Setting" and "Tales of Imagination and Mystery: Storytelling." Herein, to be perfectly honest, lie some of the best Storytelling tips I've seen. Organized into easy-to-follow check-lists of such vital questions which, unless decided early on, will bog the game down with their vagueness later, as "where are the powerful people," "who's the Prince," and "who hates whom," these two sections work together to give some good, solid advice to experienced as well as novice Storytellers. If one follows them carefully, one can walk away with a very neatly designed and easy-to-make-large backdrop for the Chronicle. It also discusses, of course, the vitals of writing the plot which drives a Chronicle, including the various types of conflict, what might have brought them on and how they might be resolved or mutated as play goes on. By far the second best -- and second reason to go buy this book -- these sections together create a strong starting point for any Storyteller. One could do far, far worse than looking here for guidance, both at the beginning of the Chronicle and as it goes on. The book ends in a vaguely disappointing way, with "Allies, Enemies and Others," which covers the basics of course but, unfortunately, also tries to give some coverage to the Anarchs and their varying movements, in the process doing them as great a disservice as clan synopses tend to give the individual lines. Of course, ironically, the Anarchs are difficult to sum up, and no single book could do a good job, arguably, of covering them. The fact is, however, that Anarchist's Cookbook does a better job than this, since the coverage offered in GttC is (a) cursory at best and (b) marred by its context as part of a guide to a formalized sect. I heartily recommend against making tremendous use of this section to run Anarch PCs, or to buy this book for the purpose of running an Anarch Chronicle -- unless the Camarilla is to serve as an antagonist. Otherwise, it's useful enough for creating Anarch antagonists for what would be, in turn, a Camarilla Chronicle, or providing some information for the backgrounds and attitudes of those Anarch contacts no good Camarillan Kindred would admit to having, but almost certainly does cultivate on the sly. Also included are ghouls and their treatment at the hands of their masters -- and there the book ends. It's too abrupt, in my opinion, and would have best been served by a follow-up piece of fiction shedding some light on the ramifications of the fiction-piece in the beginning. Alas, it's not to be. And now, a nitpicky topic: the artwork. Some of it is fantastic. A lot of it, however, is awful. There's such a thing as an artistic style which leaves imagery undefined and open to interpretation -- there's another matter entirely, however, when the artwork is simply bad. Whereas the artwork of 2nd Ed. was fairly uniform and generally good (I can't help that I'm a fan of the sort of '80s hair and clothing fashions so often depicted, as well as the "airbrushed photo" realism or near-realism of much of it), the artwork in Guide to the Camarilla (and all the 3rd Ed. supplements, from what I can tell) is a hit-and-miss affair. Some of it blows 2nd Ed. artwork out of the water. Some of it (less, however) is atrociously bad. I'm no artist, but apparently White Wolf is desperate; perhaps I'll get a new career. A very nice touch, however, that has been carried over from 2nd Ed. V:tM, is the realistic aspect of the artwork included which prevents every character from being what so often is depicted in games: stunningly gorgeous vampires all around. The Kindred depicted within these books look like, believe it or not, real people. It's something that is quite effective, due to its visual nature, at immediately shocking us back to reality -- a very subtle way of saying that all Kindred once were normal Kine, just like you and me. That, in turn, is an even more deliciously subtle way of reminding us of the horror of the game: if they were once just like you and me, don't they hate themselves for what they are now? And is it possible that you or I could, through simply becoming evil in our actions and attitudes, with no supernatural element necessary, become just as much a monster as they, the characters, are? Oh yes -- and it's the sort of idea that only reveals itself after nagging at your brain for a while, the best kind of all. Overall, this is a superb supplement. Perhaps it's Dansky's hand in the mix, but Guide to the Camarilla far outshines the main 3rd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade, and is the sole supplement which makes the entire effort to revise the line seem worthwhile to me, someone who's been playing 2nd Ed. for years and thought it was just fine without a few minor Discipline alterations and a lot of sudden, force-fed meta-storyline such as that found in the so-called "VRev," or 3rd Ed. of the main game sourcebook. By the same token, it only assures me that Vampire: the Dark Ages with Dansky at the wheel, will get better, and better. To really sum up, whether you play Camarilla, Sabbat or Anarch Chronicles, go buy Guide to the Camarilla. It's the best $26 I've spent on print this year -- at least until I finish The Cainite Heresy. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)