The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First off I would like to say that I REALLY wanted to like this book. I have always been a fan of the long lost Salubri clan (for some strange reason, maybe the resemblance to Pai from 3x3 Eyes). I was not building this up in my mind - I realized that it nothing would be exactly as I wanted. What I was not prepared for was how little I got in this book.

Next I should say that while I understand the historical need to keep everything in Judeo-Christian terms, I would have preferred some other information about the clan prior to the coming of the One God (akin to Cappadoicians and Baali and some other, modern day clanbooks).
Short and dirty: Skip this book, grab the character sheet off the web page, and stick to the info given in the Dark Ages Companion and Clanbook: Baali (a much better book by far). Oh, the book also has some very nice Christopher Shy artwork, full page instead of just the head/shoulders of Children of the Night.
The Long, Sordid Version

Well, first off the cover, what is this? It looks like some escaped AD&D ogre or maybe a Changeling Troll in drag. Note to artist - vampires are paler than humans, not blue like Smurfs.

Next the story. I liked it. It clearly showed the kind of danger the Salubri found themselves in, and showed how deep the betrayal had gone.
Chapter Two: A Winter's Tale.

The format. The outsider recording for posterity may have seemed nice at the concept stage but it makes the whole of the book terribly jumbled, and almost unsuable as a source of information. The (in character) writer makes his bias very clear from the outset, and often disregards or minimizes any information that fails to cast Saulot as Christ and his childer as Saints.

This chapter, unlike all other clanbooks, busies itself not with the clan's history but with the distinction between Warrior and Healer. Simply put: Warriors are Paladins, Healers are pacifist Clerics from D&D. There are also a third group, mainly a short-term political one called the Watchers (read: Inconnu) who are trying to decide what the clan should do now. There is little discussion as to how one decides to be Warrior or Healer. From the little historical texts one would assume that it would be dependant on the soul of the individual (ie. one is 'called' to be a Warrior or Healer) but the actual meat (what there is) seems to indicate that it is only a matter of whatever your Sire was.

Chapter Three: Miscellanea et Demonica

This is by far the most poorly formatted chapter I have seen in a clanbook to date. It begins with a pointless discussion of the importance of the third eye, in which the author (C.Summers not Symeon) just waffles back and forth. Next comes, logically (!) outside relations - wherein we learnt hat despite having seperate entries for the Warriors and the Healers, they virtually agree on everything. We also learn that the Salubri really ARE the carebears of the WoD - they like everyone but the 'black hat' groups: Setites and Baali, and more maddeningly, they seem to be liked by everyone (which begs the question - if everyone liked them why did everyone help the Tremere to wipe them out).

Next on this meandering path comes some short essays on how they dealt with mortals (like saints), the loneliness (actually a good essay, but one that looks like old fashioned Rein*Hagen Vampire angsting amidst this flotsam), ghouls, etc.

The chapter ends with a short blurb about the Lamb himself (which seems more conerned about eye/hair colour then anything approaching a psychological analysis) and two pages about the Baali... and it's almost exactly word for word a summation of the Dark Ages Companion. Baali bad, evil, must kill. Holy, Christ-like Lamb, Saulot, goes on bloody rampages, killing whole religions (Gnosticism) and people in his blind hatred for these EEEVVVIIILLL creatures. Oh, but he never frenzies, since that would be wrong.

Chapter Four: Powers of the Righteous

This is the chapter of the half-hearted and the twinkish. First the twinks - it seems Warriors either must buy a 7point merit (and get funky magic powers which would have been much better written up as multi-discipline powers), or they get a free 5point flaw (which renders them next to useless and they never grow a third eye - wow, that's a long term drawback).

The actual discipline powers themselves are not divided according to Warrior/Healer stuff. We also see alternative powers for levels 2-4 - bad move (since that opens up a whole kettle of fish). The powers start making the Salubri out to be Jedi knights (diplomatic powers?). And one high level (7 dots) power just really confuses me - all that for only 2 dice of aggrevated damage, when I can almost be a God with only 14 freebies/XPs (the Blooded power Blessing of the Name). We also get the level 10 - I-Can't-believe-I'm-not-Jesus resurrection power. I thought White Wolf dropped the level 10s (to its benefit it is better controlled/written than before).

The last bit are the merits and flaws. Some nice, some cosmetic, others rather over/underpowered (the Blooded ones, Scent of Other) and the wonderful (sic) merit Sight of Beyond is totally left for the ST to deiced what it does (if you are going to deal with the concept in the book, please deal with it, not just mention it and waffle).

Chapter Five: The Hosts of Heaven

I enjoyed many of the templates. I liked the lawyer one, and the battlefield healer. These are templates that give the shadow of a third dimension (or maybe by this point it's only a second dimension).

Appendices

I'll keep this part brief. I liked a few of the famous (and dead) Salubri. I felt thatthe warrior-woman quoted in the second chapter should have been included, and that we really don't need another fanged Robin Hood clone running around. The last part shows just how unreliable the book is. I won't spoil it for anyone but it shows just how revisionist this book's author is when it comes to making sure the memory of the Salubri is one of pure Goodness.

As you can see I was greatly disappointed since so much of the book was either lies told for the benefit of non-Salubri in some distant future (and not, like other clanbooks, lies told within/for the clan), or regurgitated information from other sources (notably Dark Ages Companion), nothing new. The author also refused to take a stand on certain notable issues (what IS the purpose of the third eye, what does it see/not see, did they ever deal with demons, was there ever any clan they didn't like, why did all their allies listen to a bunch of greedy upstarts, etc).

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Clanbook: Salubri
Author: Cynthia Summers Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Games Studio Line: Vampire: the Dark Ages Cost: $12 (US) Page count: 72 ISBN: 1-56504-212-3 Capsule Review by Matthew H. on 06/15/99. Genre tags: Vampire Gothic	First off I would like to say that I REALLY wanted to like this book. I have always been a fan of the long lost Salubri clan (for some strange reason, maybe the resemblance to Pai from 3x3 Eyes). I was not building this up in my mind - I realized that it nothing would be exactly as I wanted. What I was not prepared for was how little I got in this book. Next I should say that while I understand the historical need to keep everything in Judeo-Christian terms, I would have preferred some other information about the clan prior to the coming of the One God (akin to Cappadoicians and Baali and some other, modern day clanbooks). Short and dirty: Skip this book, grab the character sheet off the web page, and stick to the info given in the Dark Ages Companion and Clanbook: Baali (a much better book by far). Oh, the book also has some very nice Christopher Shy artwork, full page instead of just the head/shoulders of Children of the Night. The Long, Sordid Version Well, first off the cover, what is this? It looks like some escaped AD&D ogre or maybe a Changeling Troll in drag. Note to artist - vampires are paler than humans, not blue like Smurfs. Next the story. I liked it. It clearly showed the kind of danger the Salubri found themselves in, and showed how deep the betrayal had gone. Chapter Two: A Winter's Tale. The format. The outsider recording for posterity may have seemed nice at the concept stage but it makes the whole of the book terribly jumbled, and almost unsuable as a source of information. The (in character) writer makes his bias very clear from the outset, and often disregards or minimizes any information that fails to cast Saulot as Christ and his childer as Saints. This chapter, unlike all other clanbooks, busies itself not with the clan's history but with the distinction between Warrior and Healer. Simply put: Warriors are Paladins, Healers are pacifist Clerics from D&D. There are also a third group, mainly a short-term political one called the Watchers (read: Inconnu) who are trying to decide what the clan should do now. There is little discussion as to how one decides to be Warrior or Healer. From the little historical texts one would assume that it would be dependant on the soul of the individual (ie. one is 'called' to be a Warrior or Healer) but the actual meat (what there is) seems to indicate that it is only a matter of whatever your Sire was. Chapter Three: Miscellanea et Demonica This is by far the most poorly formatted chapter I have seen in a clanbook to date. It begins with a pointless discussion of the importance of the third eye, in which the author (C.Summers not Symeon) just waffles back and forth. Next comes, logically (!) outside relations - wherein we learnt hat despite having seperate entries for the Warriors and the Healers, they virtually agree on everything. We also learn that the Salubri really ARE the carebears of the WoD - they like everyone but the 'black hat' groups: Setites and Baali, and more maddeningly, they seem to be liked by everyone (which begs the question - if everyone liked them why did everyone help the Tremere to wipe them out). Next on this meandering path comes some short essays on how they dealt with mortals (like saints), the loneliness (actually a good essay, but one that looks like old fashioned ReinHagen Vampire angsting amidst this flotsam), ghouls, etc. The chapter ends with a short blurb about the Lamb himself (which seems more conerned about eye/hair colour then anything approaching a psychological analysis) and two pages about the Baali... and it's almost exactly word for word a summation of the Dark Ages Companion. Baali bad, evil, must kill. Holy, Christ-like Lamb, Saulot, goes on bloody rampages, killing whole religions (Gnosticism) and people in his blind hatred for these EEEVVVIIILLL creatures. Oh, but he never frenzies, since that would be wrong. Chapter Four: Powers of the Righteous* This is the chapter of the half-hearted and the twinkish. First the twinks - it seems Warriors either must buy a 7point merit (and get funky magic powers which would have been much better written up as multi-discipline powers), or they get a free 5point flaw (which renders them next to useless and they never grow a third eye - wow, that's a long term drawback). The actual discipline powers themselves are not divided according to Warrior/Healer stuff. We also see alternative powers for levels 2-4 - bad move (since that opens up a whole kettle of fish). The powers start making the Salubri out to be Jedi knights (diplomatic powers?). And one high level (7 dots) power just really confuses me - all that for only 2 dice of aggrevated damage, when I can almost be a God with only 14 freebies/XPs (the Blooded power Blessing of the Name). We also get the level 10 - I-Can't-believe-I'm-not-Jesus resurrection power. I thought White Wolf dropped the level 10s (to its benefit it is better controlled/written than before). The last bit are the merits and flaws. Some nice, some cosmetic, others rather over/underpowered (the Blooded ones, Scent of Other) and the wonderful (sic) merit Sight of Beyond is totally left for the ST to deiced what it does (if you are going to deal with the concept in the book, please deal with it, not just mention it and waffle). Chapter Five: The Hosts of Heaven I enjoyed many of the templates. I liked the lawyer one, and the battlefield healer. These are templates that give the shadow of a third dimension (or maybe by this point it's only a second dimension). Appendices I'll keep this part brief. I liked a few of the famous (and dead) Salubri. I felt thatthe warrior-woman quoted in the second chapter should have been included, and that we really don't need another fanged Robin Hood clone running around. The last part shows just how unreliable the book is. I won't spoil it for anyone but it shows just how revisionist this book's author is when it comes to making sure the memory of the Salubri is one of pure Goodness. As you can see I was greatly disappointed since so much of the book was either lies told for the benefit of non-Salubri in some distant future (and not, like other clanbooks, lies told within/for the clan), or regurgitated information from other sources (notably Dark Ages Companion), nothing new. The author also refused to take a stand on certain notable issues (what IS the purpose of the third eye, what does it see/not see, did they ever deal with demons, was there ever any clan they didn't like, why did all their allies listen to a bunch of greedy upstarts, etc). Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Clanbook: Salubri