The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The Sabbat, in the original Players Guide to the Sabbat and Storytellers Handbook to the Sabbat, was presented as a society of violent, wild vampires, certainly, but also vampires who were dedicated to their own ideals, and could not be simply classified as "evil." In the new Guide to the Sabbat, unfortunately, they've been retconned into monsters in the darkest sense of the word.

The Guide to the Sabbat claims that the Sabbat regards mortals "with disinterest and boredom," much as the old books did. Unfortunately, that's no longer the mood that comes through. Instead, from the "young Sabbat" stereotype of humans, to the Brujah /antitribu/ quote, to the /ritae/, to the entire "ethics" chapter (Chapter Six: Chronicles of Blood), what comes through is a sense of overwhelming, constant hatred toward mortals, powerful enough to dominate most Sabbat members' unlives. The Sabbat is as violent as ever, but, while in the Players Guide to the Sabbat the violence seemed fairly incidental and resulting from lack of consideration for mortals rather than actual malevolence toward them, the Guide to the Sabbat has the Sabbat spending large portions of their unlives sexually assualting humans, apparently just to establish how eee-vill they are (as vampires don't enjoy sex).

The Paths of Enlightenment have been changed. They're more detailed, which is good, and have "rationales" for the items on the Hierarchy of Sins, which is good. However, many of the changes are negative. The more "positive" aspects of the Paths of Honorable Accord and Power and the Inner Voice have been largely removed. Of the eight Paths written, five forbid killing, whether or not it makes sense (killing outside an experiment is the Level 2 sin if you're on the Path of Death and the Soul? Rationale: you don't get a chance to gain insight from that particular death. Come on, there are 6 billion potential test subjects in the world--wasting one is /that/ bad? And what does not killing have to do with honor?). The Path of Harmony is simply gone, replaced with the Path of the Feral Heart, which is essentially the Road of the Beast from Dark Ages. Apparently, the Path of Harmony was too nice for the new Sabbat, and so, its followers got killed or driven off. Meanwhile, the Path of Cathari, which requires total self-absorption, is permitted to remain strong in a sect where loyalty is touted.

Finally, the Sabbat philosophy no longer makes any coherent sense. While in the old Sabbat books, they were presented as considering humans to be cattle, but vampires to be people, in the Guide to the Sabbat, they're repeatedly quoted and described as considering themselves, "cursed, Damned, vile monsters." They still regard humans as cattle, though. So who's actually a person--Lupines?

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

The Guide to the Sabbat
Author: Justin R. Achilli, with W. H. Bourne, Anne Sullivan Braidwood, Joanne FitzRoy and Jess Heinig Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Vampire: the Masquerade Cost: $25.00 Page count: 226 ISBN: Unknown Capsule Review by Kish Moore on 07/10/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Vampire Gothic	The Sabbat, in the original Players Guide to the Sabbat and Storytellers Handbook to the Sabbat, was presented as a society of violent, wild vampires, certainly, but also vampires who were dedicated to their own ideals, and could not be simply classified as "evil." In the new Guide to the Sabbat, unfortunately, they've been retconned into monsters in the darkest sense of the word. The Guide to the Sabbat claims that the Sabbat regards mortals "with disinterest and boredom," much as the old books did. Unfortunately, that's no longer the mood that comes through. Instead, from the "young Sabbat" stereotype of humans, to the Brujah /antitribu/ quote, to the /ritae/, to the entire "ethics" chapter (Chapter Six: Chronicles of Blood), what comes through is a sense of overwhelming, constant hatred toward mortals, powerful enough to dominate most Sabbat members' unlives. The Sabbat is as violent as ever, but, while in the Players Guide to the Sabbat the violence seemed fairly incidental and resulting from lack of consideration for mortals rather than actual malevolence toward them, the Guide to the Sabbat has the Sabbat spending large portions of their unlives sexually assualting humans, apparently just to establish how eee-vill they are (as vampires don't enjoy sex). The Paths of Enlightenment have been changed. They're more detailed, which is good, and have "rationales" for the items on the Hierarchy of Sins, which is good. However, many of the changes are negative. The more "positive" aspects of the Paths of Honorable Accord and Power and the Inner Voice have been largely removed. Of the eight Paths written, five forbid killing, whether or not it makes sense (killing outside an experiment is the Level 2 sin if you're on the Path of Death and the Soul? Rationale: you don't get a chance to gain insight from that particular death. Come on, there are 6 billion potential test subjects in the world--wasting one is /that/ bad? And what does not killing have to do with honor?). The Path of Harmony is simply gone, replaced with the Path of the Feral Heart, which is essentially the Road of the Beast from Dark Ages. Apparently, the Path of Harmony was too nice for the new Sabbat, and so, its followers got killed or driven off. Meanwhile, the Path of Cathari, which requires total self-absorption, is permitted to remain strong in a sect where loyalty is touted. Finally, the Sabbat philosophy no longer makes any coherent sense. While in the old Sabbat books, they were presented as considering humans to be cattle, but vampires to be people, in the Guide to the Sabbat, they're repeatedly quoted and described as considering themselves, "cursed, Damned, vile monsters." They still regard humans as cattle, though. So who's actually a person--Lupines? Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse)