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Time of Thin Blood is a sourcebook on two related subjects in the new Vampire: The Masquerade metaplot. The first of these subjects is the Thin Blooded Kindred of the 14th and 15th generation. The second of these is the Final Nights, which the Thin Blood are supposed to herald.

The book is somewhat uneven in it's treatment of the two subjects. Whilst both are unquestionably woven in together, the majority of the book is focused on the subject of the Thin Bloods themselves.

In some ways, this is good. For a storyteller looking to run a Thin Bloods chronicle, this book is comprehensive and compelling. They've done their homework here, key issues such as the scourge, the various sects attitudes toward the Thin Bloods, and even some well thought out revisiting of old groups like the Unbound. There are character creation rules for 14th Generations, 15th Generations and Dhampirs (Who aren't just in Asia anymore, toto. 15th Generation Kindred can have them too, now.) Best of all, the Thin Bloods are not the Caitiff rehashed. As a general rule, the mood of Thin Blood isn't about street trash and bare survival. It's about people with families and former lives, with a healthy dose of doomsaying mysticism swirled in. It's about wide eyed, almost innocent eyes being burned out by the blackness ahead of them. It's a whole new angle on Vampire and it's very well done.

The only Guy who hasn't done his research is Davis. The front cover picture is nothing but ugly, poorly conceived and grossly inappropriate with the mood of the book. White Wolf always seems to have a 'scapegoat' artist whose stuff attracts copious criticism, it used to be SCAR, now it's Guy Davis. The SHY stuff, conversely, is consistently stunning and odd. He's proving without a doubt to be one of the hottest artists out there. Locke and Danza also show a veteran hand, and Locke unquestionably knows what the book is meant to show, it reflects the mood very well.

The best stuff in the book is when it works factually and from the 'Gods Eye Perspective'. When they go for ''colour' pieces such as the notes from Beckett and Lucita, (And, off topic for a second, why the heck is Beckett NOT the signature character for Clan Topic Gangrel? Geeze he's underused...) much of the mood is lost. It's not that they're not as well written, that's far from the case. It's simply that in those 'handwriting' fonts, it's so hard to read that the whole flow crashes down. If they use those again, I demand they use a larger font size.

In addition to all the great Thin Bloods stuff, there is a storytelling chapter that seems to focus more on a Chronicle set in the Times of Thin Blood. The chapter describes the various choices of mood, some critical factual points for the storyteller to decide, and (best of all) help with plot structures in a conspiracy setting. It's one of the best storytelling chapters out there, not quite up there with Vampire Revised's, and definitely not up there with Justin Achilles stunning Sabbat chapter, but hey, they had more pages to work with.

In short, Times of Thin Blood is a good book for those wanting to set a campaign in the Final Nights. It is a great book for those wanting to tell a story about the Thin Blooded. (I also recommend, by the way that this book be labelled "Big Book of Storyteller Secrets" immediately. This ones for Storytellers, not for the players.) It is darn useless to someone who hates the whole Revised setting and Metaplot. But for those who like it? Well worth a look, and for storytellers, definitely worth a buy.

Appendix: The Week of "STAY FAR FAR AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THE CLAN-THAT-FALLS SPOILER!!"

Ahem. Now that those so suitably warned have left, let us discuss. There's an appendix in the back of this thing that details "The Week of Nightmare." To summarise, the week of Nightmare was the first confirmed Antediluvians destruction, (And for that matter, confirmed sighting. The Tzimisce guy is still iffy.) and that Antediluvian, I can confirm, is Ravnos.

What did it take to kill the guy? Three absurdly powerful Keui-Jin and a technocracy nuke (Actually, a neutron bomb) didn't do it. That's showing how tough these guys are. Eventually the sun bit him, the rest just softened him up. As he dies, he curses his childer and takes them all with him.

The appendix is a good take on a really difficult step for White Wolf. The Ravnos aren't the most popular clan, but tell that to someone playing one and who has just been told, "You're dead. Your great x 10 grand-dad got nuked and so you die too. Sorry.". The way it's handled leaves an out for those players still playing one, Ravnos has gone from a clan to a Bloodline. In addition, it lets the player go ballistic as a final hoorah, even if he does die.

Again, it's well handled.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Time of Thin Blood
Author: Dean Shomshak and Sarah Roark Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Games Studio Line: Vampire: The Masquerade Cost: $15.95US1 Page count: 127 ISBN: 1-56504-245-X Capsule Review by Sean Riley on 06/18/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Vampire Gothic	Time of Thin Blood is a sourcebook on two related subjects in the new Vampire: The Masquerade metaplot. The first of these subjects is the Thin Blooded Kindred of the 14th and 15th generation. The second of these is the Final Nights, which the Thin Blood are supposed to herald. The book is somewhat uneven in it's treatment of the two subjects. Whilst both are unquestionably woven in together, the majority of the book is focused on the subject of the Thin Bloods themselves. In some ways, this is good. For a storyteller looking to run a Thin Bloods chronicle, this book is comprehensive and compelling. They've done their homework here, key issues such as the scourge, the various sects attitudes toward the Thin Bloods, and even some well thought out revisiting of old groups like the Unbound. There are character creation rules for 14th Generations, 15th Generations and Dhampirs (Who aren't just in Asia anymore, toto. 15th Generation Kindred can have them too, now.) Best of all, the Thin Bloods are not the Caitiff rehashed. As a general rule, the mood of Thin Blood isn't about street trash and bare survival. It's about people with families and former lives, with a healthy dose of doomsaying mysticism swirled in. It's about wide eyed, almost innocent eyes being burned out by the blackness ahead of them. It's a whole new angle on Vampire and it's very well done. The only Guy who hasn't done his research is Davis. The front cover picture is nothing but ugly, poorly conceived and grossly inappropriate with the mood of the book. White Wolf always seems to have a 'scapegoat' artist whose stuff attracts copious criticism, it used to be SCAR, now it's Guy Davis. The SHY stuff, conversely, is consistently stunning and odd. He's proving without a doubt to be one of the hottest artists out there. Locke and Danza also show a veteran hand, and Locke unquestionably knows what the book is meant to show, it reflects the mood very well. The best stuff in the book is when it works factually and from the 'Gods Eye Perspective'. When they go for ''colour' pieces such as the notes from Beckett and Lucita, (And, off topic for a second, why the heck is Beckett NOT the signature character for Clan Topic Gangrel? Geeze he's underused...) much of the mood is lost. It's not that they're not as well written, that's far from the case. It's simply that in those 'handwriting' fonts, it's so hard to read that the whole flow crashes down. If they use those again, I demand they use a larger font size. In addition to all the great Thin Bloods stuff, there is a storytelling chapter that seems to focus more on a Chronicle set in the Times of Thin Blood. The chapter describes the various choices of mood, some critical factual points for the storyteller to decide, and (best of all) help with plot structures in a conspiracy setting. It's one of the best storytelling chapters out there, not quite up there with Vampire Revised's, and definitely not up there with Justin Achilles stunning Sabbat chapter, but hey, they had more pages to work with. In short, Times of Thin Blood is a good book for those wanting to set a campaign in the Final Nights. It is a great book for those wanting to tell a story about the Thin Blooded. (I also recommend, by the way that this book be labelled "Big Book of Storyteller Secrets" immediately. This ones for Storytellers, not for the players.) It is darn useless to someone who hates the whole Revised setting and Metaplot. But for those who like it? Well worth a look, and for storytellers, definitely worth a buy. Appendix: The Week of "STAY FAR FAR AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THE CLAN-THAT-FALLS SPOILER!!" Ahem. Now that those so suitably warned have left, let us discuss. There's an appendix in the back of this thing that details "The Week of Nightmare." To summarise, the week of Nightmare was the first confirmed Antediluvians destruction, (And for that matter, confirmed sighting. The Tzimisce guy is still iffy.) and that Antediluvian, I can confirm, is Ravnos. What did it take to kill the guy? Three absurdly powerful Keui-Jin and a technocracy nuke (Actually, a neutron bomb) didn't do it. That's showing how tough these guys are. Eventually the sun bit him, the rest just softened him up. As he dies, he curses his childer and takes them all with him. The appendix is a good take on a really difficult step for White Wolf. The Ravnos aren't the most popular clan, but tell that to someone playing one and who has just been told, "You're dead. Your great x 10 grand-dad got nuked and so you die too. Sorry.". The way it's handled leaves an out for those players still playing one, Ravnos has gone from a clan to a Bloodline. In addition, it lets the player go ballistic as a final hoorah, even if he does die. Again, it's well handled. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)