The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Children of the Night

for Vampire: The Masquerade

White Wolf

by Dierd're Brooks, Richard E. Dansky, Greg Fountain, Robert Hatch, Jess Henig, Stephe Herman, Mark Moore, Clayton Oliver, Sven Skoog, Lucien Soulban, Cynthia Summers, Stuart Wieck, and Fred Yelk

$14.95

102 pages, perfect bound

Grade: B-

Reviewed by Lisa Padol

When I heard that I was getting Children of the Night to review, I asked Sandy Antunes how one playtests a book of NPCs. He suggested a thought experiment: How would I use the various characters in a campaign? Such an experimemt is the best way of quickly determining whether the book did its job of presenting GMs with interesting characters to use in their campaigns. Children of the Night has a second job as well, to describe the movers and shakers among the vampires of the World of Darkness. It does job the first job quite well, and the second job adequately; however, a couple of flaws keep the book from being as useful as it might have been.

As the authors say in the introduction, there is a problem with any NPC guide: Once an NPC is statted, it is vulnerable to PCs. Nevertheless, they recognize that such guides are needed. As an added bonus, they do not simply provide powerful NPCs; they provide guidelines for creating powerful characters, whether as PCs or as NPCs. I found these guidelines extremely useful.

The layout of the book is clean. The art does not always match the descriptions of the NPCs, although it is usually close. I do not understand why so many of the characters are drawn with tattoos, however.

The Sabbat characters are described first, then the Camarilla, last the Independents and Inconnu. The Sabbat vampires who most caught my attention, were Velya and Elaine, a Tzimisce pair who are literally attached, and Kyle Strathcona, who plans to betray the Sabbat in order to force it to pull together. Mercy, who is far from merciful, would be a more interesting character if her description were fleshed out. This is a vampire who only gradually lost her humanity and her faith. I want to know the story behind this.

Taken as a group, the main problem with the Sabbat is the one I have always had: It is hard to see what makes the sect viable. Many serve the Sabbat only to fulfill their own agenda. Out of twenty Sabbat vampires, five of the most powerful are secretly degenerating. Of the remainder, only seven truly support the Sabbat and one of those is demonstrating his loyalty by betraying the sect. A case could certainly be made that the freedom that is the keynote of the Sabbat inevitably leads to disorganization and factionalism, but I still wonder how the sect could possibly have survived so long.

The Camarilla vampires work better, on the whole. While the Brujah Justicar Jaroslav Pascek has a personality better suited to the more religious Sabbat vampires, the six Justicars work, as individuals and as a group. The Archons work as well, and I could easily see using Children of the Night to run an intrigue-centered campaign or one that mixes high-level conspiracies with errands for the Justicars or their Archons. In particular, the Toreador Justicar Madame Guil, her aide/spy, and her secret lover would be a delight to play. Unfortunately, the lover is not described in the book.

If I run a Chicago campaign, I will certainly use Harold Goodston, an unfortunate werewolf who was turned into a vampire and is currently being manipulated by the Tremere Nicolai. Nicolai is a character PCs and players can easily come to love hating, and Goodston is a great tool to draw PCs into the Tremere's schemes. I am familiar with Nicolai because I own the first edition of Chicago by Night, one of the best WoD products out there. However, the rich background I am aware of would be lost on the unfortunate who merely owns the main rulebook, the guides to the Sabbat and Camarilla, World of Darkness, and half a dozen clanbooks. At the very least, there should be some mention of which book Nicolai comes from, although I understand the authors' decision not to reprint the character's description in Children of the Night.

One Camarilla vampire I simply must use is El Diablo Verde, proof that someone at WW was having far too much fun. Keep it up, guys!

The Independents are, obviously, a very mixed bunch. They include Dracula, the Gangrel ex-Justicar Xavier, several Assamites and Giovanni, and a trio of Inconnu. One of these, Mahatma, might kill his protege (who is not described) if he loses patience with the younger vampire's slow progress. Yet, he is given a Humanity of 9, which is not compatible with such a casual toward murder. I do not think the authors thought this through.

This is true of a few other characters, and, as I indicated above, perhaps of the Sabbat as a whole. Another problem is the sense that one is starting a story a hundred pages into the novel. I was especially confused when reading the descriptions of the Ventrue Justicar and with the Assamite Independents. I realize that the World of Darkness has gotten too complex to summarize the history of major NPCs easily. Children of the Night is not, and cannot be, a stand-alone product, but some indication should have been given about which other V:TM books were used as sources for the various NPCs. Also, while I concede, reluctantly, that perhaps every single leader of the Sabbat and every important vampire of the Camarilla and Inconnu could not possibly have been described, lists of the most important vampires could have been included, along with the name of the books they appear in, if any. An index would also have helped.

My primary complaint is that I want more. More NPCs. More explanation of the background and of how the situations described remain as stable as they are. This is both a compliment to and a criticism of Children of the Night. The NPCs described are useful, but there will be a fair amount of material that will baffle any GM who does not own every Uampire product published to date for both the modern and Dark Ages setting.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Children of the Night
Author: Dierd're Brooks, Richard E. Dansky, Greg Fountain, Robert Hatch, Jess Henig, Stephe Herman, Mark Moore, Clayton Oliver, Sven Skoog, Lucien Soulban, Cynthia Summers, Stuart Wieck, and Fred Yelk Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Vampire: The Masquerade Cost: $14.95 Page count: 102 pages, perfect bound ISBN: 1-56504-244-1 Playtest Review by Lisa Padol on 09/07/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Vampire Gothic	Children of the Night for Vampire: The Masquerade White Wolf by Dierd're Brooks, Richard E. Dansky, Greg Fountain, Robert Hatch, Jess Henig, Stephe Herman, Mark Moore, Clayton Oliver, Sven Skoog, Lucien Soulban, Cynthia Summers, Stuart Wieck, and Fred Yelk $14.95 102 pages, perfect bound Grade: B- Reviewed by Lisa Padol When I heard that I was getting Children of the Night to review, I asked Sandy Antunes how one playtests a book of NPCs. He suggested a thought experiment: How would I use the various characters in a campaign? Such an experimemt is the best way of quickly determining whether the book did its job of presenting GMs with interesting characters to use in their campaigns. Children of the Night has a second job as well, to describe the movers and shakers among the vampires of the World of Darkness. It does job the first job quite well, and the second job adequately; however, a couple of flaws keep the book from being as useful as it might have been. As the authors say in the introduction, there is a problem with any NPC guide: Once an NPC is statted, it is vulnerable to PCs. Nevertheless, they recognize that such guides are needed. As an added bonus, they do not simply provide powerful NPCs; they provide guidelines for creating powerful characters, whether as PCs or as NPCs. I found these guidelines extremely useful. The layout of the book is clean. The art does not always match the descriptions of the NPCs, although it is usually close. I do not understand why so many of the characters are drawn with tattoos, however. The Sabbat characters are described first, then the Camarilla, last the Independents and Inconnu. The Sabbat vampires who most caught my attention, were Velya and Elaine, a Tzimisce pair who are literally attached, and Kyle Strathcona, who plans to betray the Sabbat in order to force it to pull together. Mercy, who is far from merciful, would be a more interesting character if her description were fleshed out. This is a vampire who only gradually lost her humanity and her faith. I want to know the story behind this. Taken as a group, the main problem with the Sabbat is the one I have always had: It is hard to see what makes the sect viable. Many serve the Sabbat only to fulfill their own agenda. Out of twenty Sabbat vampires, five of the most powerful are secretly degenerating. Of the remainder, only seven truly support the Sabbat and one of those is demonstrating his loyalty by betraying the sect. A case could certainly be made that the freedom that is the keynote of the Sabbat inevitably leads to disorganization and factionalism, but I still wonder how the sect could possibly have survived so long. The Camarilla vampires work better, on the whole. While the Brujah Justicar Jaroslav Pascek has a personality better suited to the more religious Sabbat vampires, the six Justicars work, as individuals and as a group. The Archons work as well, and I could easily see using Children of the Night to run an intrigue-centered campaign or one that mixes high-level conspiracies with errands for the Justicars or their Archons. In particular, the Toreador Justicar Madame Guil, her aide/spy, and her secret lover would be a delight to play. Unfortunately, the lover is not described in the book. If I run a Chicago campaign, I will certainly use Harold Goodston, an unfortunate werewolf who was turned into a vampire and is currently being manipulated by the Tremere Nicolai. Nicolai is a character PCs and players can easily come to love hating, and Goodston is a great tool to draw PCs into the Tremere's schemes. I am familiar with Nicolai because I own the first edition of Chicago by Night, one of the best WoD products out there. However, the rich background I am aware of would be lost on the unfortunate who merely owns the main rulebook, the guides to the Sabbat and Camarilla, World of Darkness, and half a dozen clanbooks. At the very least, there should be some mention of which book Nicolai comes from, although I understand the authors' decision not to reprint the character's description in Children of the Night. One Camarilla vampire I simply must use is El Diablo Verde, proof that someone at WW was having far too much fun. Keep it up, guys! The Independents are, obviously, a very mixed bunch. They include Dracula, the Gangrel ex-Justicar Xavier, several Assamites and Giovanni, and a trio of Inconnu. One of these, Mahatma, might kill his protege (who is not described) if he loses patience with the younger vampire's slow progress. Yet, he is given a Humanity of 9, which is not compatible with such a casual toward murder. I do not think the authors thought this through. This is true of a few other characters, and, as I indicated above, perhaps of the Sabbat as a whole. Another problem is the sense that one is starting a story a hundred pages into the novel. I was especially confused when reading the descriptions of the Ventrue Justicar and with the Assamite Independents. I realize that the World of Darkness has gotten too complex to summarize the history of major NPCs easily. Children of the Night is not, and cannot be, a stand-alone product, but some indication should have been given about which other V:TM books were used as sources for the various NPCs. Also, while I concede, reluctantly, that perhaps every single leader of the Sabbat and every important vampire of the Camarilla and Inconnu could not possibly have been described, lists of the most important vampires could have been included, along with the name of the books they appear in, if any. An index would also have helped. My primary complaint is that I want more. More NPCs. More explanation of the background and of how the situations described remain as stable as they are. This is both a compliment to and a criticism of Children of the Night. The NPCs described are useful, but there will be a fair amount of material that will baffle any GM who does not own every Uampire product published to date for both the modern and Dark Ages setting. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)