The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I picked a good time to get back into Vampire: the Masquerade. I've been playing the game -- and its sisters in White Wolf's line of Storyteller games -- since it first hit the shelves, but for the longest time I stopped buying new books. I just didn't really see the need. The clanbooks were disappointing, few of the setting books interested me (if only because I like doing the research myself), and there were so many interesting things coming for Mage that took up my money.

Well, right now the reverse is true. I have dozens of Mage books and am holding off on buying more until Mage Revised comes out in a few months. So I've been picking up Vampire books, and boy, am I glad. The new Vampire Storyteller's Handbook, the best of the post-Revised books, is a perfect example of what White Wolf is doing right.

Overview

Like its predecessor, the revised Storytellers Handbook is intended to provide additional guidance to the Storyteller -- and unlike its AD&D analogue, the DungeonMaster's Guide, the SH isn't needed to play the game. Now, ordinarily, I'm not too impressed by supplements that are mainly "discussion" oriented. They seem to exist primarily because their authors like to hear themselves talk, and are extremely slanted towards a specific style of or approach to play, making them all but unusable for the experienced gamer, and potentially off-putting to the newcomer. This one's an exception. The "fluff" chapters are well written, and contain a lot of advice that I wish more gamers would take to heart -- and there's enough meat on these bones to make it worth the price of purchase even if you don't go near the fluff.

Chapter One...

... is nothing but a FAQ for Vampire Revised -- the same one available at White Wolf's web site, I believe, although there may be a few differences. Justin's rants about velvet-frock-coated Eurotrash vamps (which, again, more people should take to heart) don't seem to be included. Even for those of us who do have web access, it's nice to have the FAQ in a handy reference, and of course it's an obvious item to include.

Chapter Two...

... is one of the meatier sections. After a brief discussion of the clans in general, we get the VRev versions of the Baali (and Daimoinon), the Nagaraja (and their Vitreous Path of Necromancy), and the True Brujah (and their Temporis). There are three new Backgrounds (Arcane, Age, and Military Force), a discussion of bloodlines both general (the creation of such) and specific (what bloodlines are there? what has happened to the bloodlines we know of?), a few words on the creation of NPCs (I refuse to call them "Storyteller characters"), and a great section on Elder Chronicles. I haven't yet been brave enough to try one, but they actually seem possible now.

Chapter Three...

... is the one most reminiscent of the old Storyteller's Handbook. You've got your basic advice here on maintaining play balance, choosing a theme, concept, mood, and setting for your Chronicle, and what White Wolf means by "Gothic Punk" (which is noticeably different from how Mark Rein-dot-Hagen described it - but so much the better). There's also the obligatory section on "advanced techniques," like blue-booking, flashbacks, and so forth. This is the least useful chapter for anyone who's been gaming for awhile (at least, anyone who's been gaming well for awhile), but it's very well done for what it is. It does get tiresome sometimes reading through things like this, and the usual "what's a roleplaying game?" stuff at the beginning of most games, but hey -- new gamers are born every day. Do we really want them to all start with Dungeons and Dragons?

Chapter Four...

... takes a page from Phage Press's Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game, offering up alternate systems of character creation. The point-based systems (convert everything into freebie points, and then redistribute them as you like) may be obvious, but it's nice to have it pointed out, and the trait pools system is an interesting variation. Also Amber-esque is the "Extra credit" variation, in which players get extra freebie points for contributing to the chronicle through journals, artwork, and so forth. The really nice part here is the section on dealing with problem players. I've been focusing on play-by-email games over the last few years, which results in something I wasn't used to: gaming with people I don't know. The biggest factor in the success or failure of a campaign, it's always seemed to me, is the chemistry among players. When the GM doesn't know said players, it's difficult to figure out ahead of time how that chemistry's going to shape up. So this section was particularly useful to me -- not that I see everyone as a "problem player," of course, but when something does go wrong, there's a nice big list to flip through here of the different "types" of players who might cause problems. The advice given is sound, and most importantly, it articulates problems in a way that allows the Storyteller to go to the player and explain things without resorting to empty statements like "the way you're playing Smurfy the Malkavian just isn't meshing with the other players."

Chapter Five...

... is the best of the bunch, a look at alternate settings for Vampire chronicles. Sure, the first Storyteller's Handbook covered this, but only in a few paragraphs. This takes 18 meaty, chunky, chock-full-of-nifty goodness. There are a lot of nice notes here on setting a Chronicle in time periods including the Prehistoric, the days of Enoch, the Ancient World, the Dark Ages (not to be confused with the Medieval period, which is the setting of Vampire: The Dark Ages), the Renaissance, Victorian England, and various twentieth century eras. Word is there may be a Victorian supplement for Vampire: the Masquerade forthcoming; if so, I hope they consider the Enlightenment period as well. Who wouldn't want to play a Vampire campaign set in the midst of the French Revolution?

In addition to the historical settings, several other alternate settings are suggested, based on changes to the canon -- games in which there's no Camarilla, or no clans, games in which Vampires follow different rules (victims of feeding become Vampires themselves; suicides rise as Vampires; etc.), or in which the first vampire was not Caine, but Gilgamesh, Cybele, etc. Personally, I'd like to see someone go a step further than The Cainite Heresy, and put forth Jesus of Nazareth as the first vampire. At the very least, it'd be good to see a book dedicated to these sorts of alternate settings.

Chapter Six...

... may as well be called "The Other" instead of "A World of Darkness." You've got further VRev details on Mages, Werewolves, Wraiths, Hunters, and Changelings, to start off. Too many people dismiss this stuff, pointing out that the information about Mages in Vampire doesn't begin to cover the depth of possibility covered in Mage: the Ascension. Well, yeah. That's the point. The way I see it, there's no such thing as a full crossover game. I've never run one, never played in one, never seen a page dedicated to one. Does your Mage have a Humanity trait? He's not playing in a Mage chronicle, then. Every chronicle uses a single system as its core, and adds portions of the others to this core. The extent varies -- not in binary terms, but like a rheostat. When you first click the Mage rheostat on, you get the version presented in the Vampire books. Turn it up a notch, and whoops, now Mages are divided into different Traditions and Conventions. Another notch, and you've got an Ascension War going on in the background. Turn it up too high and you'll find you've blown a fuse -- the Vampire lights have gone out, and you're playing Mage now.

It's much easier not to worry about splats and fine points when all you want is to have a ghouled Mage blood bonded to your Tremere Primogen, or a group of Glass Walkers patrolling Central Park. That's what this chapter is for, and it does a good job. The only odd point is the inclusion of some Revised Kindred of the East material. I say odd because it doesn't take this "this is what the Kuei-Jin are in a straight-out Vampire game" tack. It's actual, honest to God, Kindred of the East material. You'd think there'd be a better place to put it ... not that I mind, but still.

Chapter Seven...

... examines the history of the Black Hand, the oldest "Vampire social club" in the world. An extremely well-written chapter, chock-full of interesting tidbits and perfect campaign fodder for folks who like to emphasize the "Vampires are controlling the world" aspect of the game. The history of the Black Hand is presented, along with notes on the various clans and bloodlines from whom its members are generally drawn, its ghoul families, its relationship with the Sabbat, and the state of things in the Final Nights. The most interesting part comes in the last few pages: a description of Gehenna Cults associated with the Black Hand, many of which will be finding their way into my chronicles.

What's Missing?

Well, as good as it is, it could've been better. There isn't much I'd want to leave out, so "better" here would probably mean "bigger." Hate to sound like a twink, but some more mechanics-related information would be good. A chapter on designing new bloodlines and disciplines, for example, would've been perfect -- the kind of thing I'd expect to find, actually. By "designing," note that I don't mean "rolling on a chart." I mean a discussion of preserving play balance -- making sure one point in Your New Discipline is roughly as powerful as a point of Potence or Thaumaturgy, for instance, or that your new bloodline, if introduced into a chronicle, won't immediately overpower its betters. I'm sure this material is covered elsewhere; I know there's a bit on discipline design in Time of Thin Blood. But this is the Storyteller's Handbook, after all, and the idea should be that if some fifteen year old kid picks up VRev and this book, he's well-prepared to do just about anything he wants to do in the game.

The book, as it stands, comes very close to that; closer than I would have expected. In part, it's because the core book of the Revised Edition of Vampire covers so much more than previous editions did; there's less gratuitous slack for the SH to pick up. Still ... perhaps the section on the Black Hand, good as it is, could have gone into the Guide to the Sabbat, leaving room for the design guidelines.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

What do you think?

Visit the above forum to let us know!

Vampire Storyteller's Handbook (Revised)
Author: Bruce Baugh, Anne Sullivan Braidwood, Deird're Brooks, Geoffrey Grabowski, Clayton Oliver, and Sven Skoog. Additional Material by Justin Achilli and Regina McKinney. Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Vampire Cost: $25.95 Page count: 204 ISBN: 1-56504-264-6 SKU: WW2304 Capsule Review by Bill Kte'pi on 02/11/00. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Vampire Gothic	I picked a good time to get back into Vampire: the Masquerade. I've been playing the game -- and its sisters in White Wolf's line of Storyteller games -- since it first hit the shelves, but for the longest time I stopped buying new books. I just didn't really see the need. The clanbooks were disappointing, few of the setting books interested me (if only because I like doing the research myself), and there were so many interesting things coming for Mage that took up my money. Well, right now the reverse is true. I have dozens of Mage books and am holding off on buying more until Mage Revised comes out in a few months. So I've been picking up Vampire books, and boy, am I glad. The new Vampire Storyteller's Handbook, the best of the post-Revised books, is a perfect example of what White Wolf is doing right. Overview Like its predecessor, the revised Storytellers Handbook is intended to provide additional guidance to the Storyteller -- and unlike its AD&D analogue, the DungeonMaster's Guide, the SH isn't needed to play the game. Now, ordinarily, I'm not too impressed by supplements that are mainly "discussion" oriented. They seem to exist primarily because their authors like to hear themselves talk, and are extremely slanted towards a specific style of or approach to play, making them all but unusable for the experienced gamer, and potentially off-putting to the newcomer. This one's an exception. The "fluff" chapters are well written, and contain a lot of advice that I wish more gamers would take to heart -- and there's enough meat on these bones to make it worth the price of purchase even if you don't go near the fluff. Chapter One... ... is nothing but a FAQ for Vampire Revised -- the same one available at White Wolf's web site, I believe, although there may be a few differences. Justin's rants about velvet-frock-coated Eurotrash vamps (which, again, more people should take to heart) don't seem to be included. Even for those of us who do have web access, it's nice to have the FAQ in a handy reference, and of course it's an obvious item to include. Chapter Two... ... is one of the meatier sections. After a brief discussion of the clans in general, we get the VRev versions of the Baali (and Daimoinon), the Nagaraja (and their Vitreous Path of Necromancy), and the True Brujah (and their Temporis). There are three new Backgrounds (Arcane, Age, and Military Force), a discussion of bloodlines both general (the creation of such) and specific (what bloodlines are there? what has happened to the bloodlines we know of?), a few words on the creation of NPCs (I refuse to call them "Storyteller characters"), and a great section on Elder Chronicles. I haven't yet been brave enough to try one, but they actually seem possible now. Chapter Three... ... is the one most reminiscent of the old Storyteller's Handbook. You've got your basic advice here on maintaining play balance, choosing a theme, concept, mood, and setting for your Chronicle, and what White Wolf means by "Gothic Punk" (which is noticeably different from how Mark Rein-dot-Hagen described it - but so much the better). There's also the obligatory section on "advanced techniques," like blue-booking, flashbacks, and so forth. This is the least useful chapter for anyone who's been gaming for awhile (at least, anyone who's been gaming well for awhile), but it's very well done for what it is. It does get tiresome sometimes reading through things like this, and the usual "what's a roleplaying game?" stuff at the beginning of most games, but hey -- new gamers are born every day. Do we really want them to all start with Dungeons and Dragons? Chapter Four... ... takes a page from Phage Press's Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game, offering up alternate systems of character creation. The point-based systems (convert everything into freebie points, and then redistribute them as you like) may be obvious, but it's nice to have it pointed out, and the trait pools system is an interesting variation. Also Amber-esque is the "Extra credit" variation, in which players get extra freebie points for contributing to the chronicle through journals, artwork, and so forth. The really nice part here is the section on dealing with problem players. I've been focusing on play-by-email games over the last few years, which results in something I wasn't used to: gaming with people I don't know. The biggest factor in the success or failure of a campaign, it's always seemed to me, is the chemistry among players. When the GM doesn't know said players, it's difficult to figure out ahead of time how that chemistry's going to shape up. So this section was particularly useful to me -- not that I see everyone as a "problem player," of course, but when something does go wrong, there's a nice big list to flip through here of the different "types" of players who might cause problems. The advice given is sound, and most importantly, it articulates problems in a way that allows the Storyteller to go to the player and explain things without resorting to empty statements like "the way you're playing Smurfy the Malkavian just isn't meshing with the other players." Chapter Five... ... is the best of the bunch, a look at alternate settings for Vampire chronicles. Sure, the first Storyteller's Handbook covered this, but only in a few paragraphs. This takes 18 meaty, chunky, chock-full-of-nifty goodness. There are a lot of nice notes here on setting a Chronicle in time periods including the Prehistoric, the days of Enoch, the Ancient World, the Dark Ages (not to be confused with the Medieval period, which is the setting of Vampire: The Dark Ages), the Renaissance, Victorian England, and various twentieth century eras. Word is there may be a Victorian supplement for Vampire: the Masquerade forthcoming; if so, I hope they consider the Enlightenment period as well. Who wouldn't want to play a Vampire campaign set in the midst of the French Revolution? In addition to the historical settings, several other alternate settings are suggested, based on changes to the canon -- games in which there's no Camarilla, or no clans, games in which Vampires follow different rules (victims of feeding become Vampires themselves; suicides rise as Vampires; etc.), or in which the first vampire was not Caine, but Gilgamesh, Cybele, etc. Personally, I'd like to see someone go a step further than The Cainite Heresy, and put forth Jesus of Nazareth as the first vampire. At the very least, it'd be good to see a book dedicated to these sorts of alternate settings. Chapter Six... ... may as well be called "The Other" instead of "A World of Darkness." You've got further VRev details on Mages, Werewolves, Wraiths, Hunters, and Changelings, to start off. Too many people dismiss this stuff, pointing out that the information about Mages in Vampire doesn't begin to cover the depth of possibility covered in Mage: the Ascension. Well, yeah. That's the point. The way I see it, there's no such thing as a full crossover game. I've never run one, never played in one, never seen a page dedicated to one. Does your Mage have a Humanity trait? He's not playing in a Mage chronicle, then. Every chronicle uses a single system as its core, and adds portions of the others to this core. The extent varies -- not in binary terms, but like a rheostat. When you first click the Mage rheostat on, you get the version presented in the Vampire books. Turn it up a notch, and whoops, now Mages are divided into different Traditions and Conventions. Another notch, and you've got an Ascension War going on in the background. Turn it up too high and you'll find you've blown a fuse -- the Vampire lights have gone out, and you're playing Mage now. It's much easier not to worry about splats and fine points when all you want is to have a ghouled Mage blood bonded to your Tremere Primogen, or a group of Glass Walkers patrolling Central Park. That's what this chapter is for, and it does a good job. The only odd point is the inclusion of some Revised Kindred of the East material. I say odd because it doesn't take this "this is what the Kuei-Jin are in a straight-out Vampire game" tack. It's actual, honest to God, Kindred of the East material. You'd think there'd be a better place to put it ... not that I mind, but still. Chapter Seven... ... examines the history of the Black Hand, the oldest "Vampire social club" in the world. An extremely well-written chapter, chock-full of interesting tidbits and perfect campaign fodder for folks who like to emphasize the "Vampires are controlling the world" aspect of the game. The history of the Black Hand is presented, along with notes on the various clans and bloodlines from whom its members are generally drawn, its ghoul families, its relationship with the Sabbat, and the state of things in the Final Nights. The most interesting part comes in the last few pages: a description of Gehenna Cults associated with the Black Hand, many of which will be finding their way into my chronicles. What's Missing? Well, as good as it is, it could've been better. There isn't much I'd want to leave out, so "better" here would probably mean "bigger." Hate to sound like a twink, but some more mechanics-related information would be good. A chapter on designing new bloodlines and disciplines, for example, would've been perfect -- the kind of thing I'd expect to find, actually. By "designing," note that I don't mean "rolling on a chart." I mean a discussion of preserving play balance -- making sure one point in Your New Discipline is roughly as powerful as a point of Potence or Thaumaturgy, for instance, or that your new bloodline, if introduced into a chronicle, won't immediately overpower its betters. I'm sure this material is covered elsewhere; I know there's a bit on discipline design in Time of Thin Blood. But this is the Storyteller's Handbook, after all, and the idea should be that if some fifteen year old kid picks up VRev and this book, he's well-prepared to do just about anything he wants to do in the game. The book, as it stands, comes very close to that; closer than I would have expected. In part, it's because the core book of the Revised Edition of Vampire covers so much more than previous editions did; there's less gratuitous slack for the SH to pick up. Still ... perhaps the section on the Black Hand, good as it is, could have gone into the Guide to the Sabbat, leaving room for the design guidelines. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) What do you think? Visit the above forum to let us know!

Vampire Storyteller's Handbook (Revised)