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A few years ago I would have fallen over myself trying to say how great Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant is. It's got meetings with Antediluvians, geomantic webs, kooky Kuei-jin, all-consuming pointless vendettas and to top it all off, nuclear missiles. How could you go wrong with that? It even has my kind of ending where the characters have to choose between two evils, either one resulting in untold death and sorrow. Now, either I've matured, devolved, or simply changed, because I want something more, something meatier, and something more substantial. Sadly, that is something that Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant just doesn't give me when it hands over the keys to the Antediluvian's apartments.

On a production level, the book is quite nice with the usual White Wolf binding, printing job, and the usual amount of art compared to the text. The writing itself is okay, although there are more (and major) editing and typographical errors than I'm used to seeing in a White Wolf product. Although I'm familiar with all of the three authors' work, this book didn't seem to be their best effort. The art on the whole is similarly uneven. Jeff Holt supplies some of his worst pieces yet, while Mike Danza is on par (except for a bizarre fixation with crocodiles). Vince Locke displays his usual greatness and there's a great cover by Larry MacDougall. Overall, the artwork and writing and general quality of the book just blurs out into Averageville, which is always unfortunate.

The book was divided in a way that confused me. After the short introduction, there is a chapter that, I assume, is supposed to bring people up to speed. There is a short summary of the entire epic plot of all four of the books (which must lose something in compression, I'm sure) as well as an update on what I would assume to be older characters in the other books. What confuses me is why this section is not in the Dramatis Personae section(which says that it holds information on characters dealing with Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant). This chapter also has what seems to be character updates for what I can only assume are old characters, since they don't appear in this book. I'm also curious as to why the Brujah are the only clan that didn't deserve a mention.

After that orienting chapter are the three chapters containing the three Acts in the book as well as a chapter of dramatic characters, a chapter on how to Storytell the chronicle, and an Appendix with a timeline and a list of the signs of Gehenna revealed. Aside from some very bizarre notes (like allowing characters to recycle the points they have spent on "archaic skills" on new ones and having some characters who don't appear to have any direct bearing to this particular book), the last two chapters and the Appendix are fairly solid. Many of the ideas on other stories to run between the major plot elements were interesting, although I think that there should have been more of an effort to put forth ideas on how to add twists and turns and surprises to the existing plotline. The main problem I had with the book (unsurprisingly) was in the three chapters of important plot - where the meat of the book was.

After reading all three Acts, I was just left with the feeling that the book was like a still pool that looks a lot deeper than it is and should have lots of interesting fish. But it doesn't. There was little that was outright bad (other than the repeatedly used plot contrivance of "You get a letter summoning you to the plot and the other PCs"). It's just that everything seemed simple and squandered (in a way I'll explain in a minute) instead of grand, epic and exciting. Let me try to explain myself without giving away too many spoilers for those who are going to play through the chronicles - not that there is much to give away.

In the first Act, the characters travel to Vienna focused on a single McGuffin - a magical book about Kupala. Now there are a lot of other people who want it as well, and not all of them are that peaceful. This story could have had been a great opportunity for a nice, suspense-filled game where the characters are jumping at shadows and imagining enemies around every turn while everyone expects hordes of Sabbat to pour from the graveyards. Instead it's just a straight-up "Grab the item and run" plot with a few bumps that are more interesting than the main plot.

Looking at Act Two, I see an opportunity to go into a nice exposition about the nature of Clans, the ties of vitae, a peek into one of the layers of the Jyhad, and the metaphysics behind Diablerie without seeming forced or contrived. Instead we get a passive slide-show story where the players get to do little other than watch the Tremere antitribu get slaughtered.

The main problem with Act Three was it didn't seem like there was really enough to do, as in I couldn't stretch it out if I tried, unlike the other Acts. It also suffered from "Left-field Syndrome" in that (as far as someone who has only read this one installment knows) while some elements of the story are being resolved and drawn together, other surprises come completely out of the blue. What the Nosferatu Antediluvian has to do with Transylvanian geomancy, I do not know. This Act also had the misfortune of holding a bit of Saulot's diary he wrote to preserve his great motivation for generations to come (damn, that subtle Saulot). It reveals why Saulot is such an evil bastard, and I simply do not buy it at all. It boils down to a millennia long temper tantrum that is of an even greater scale than Set's apparent burden. I could have bought something along the lines of Saulot following the Devil-Tiger Dharma with a little bit more motivation or the Antediluvian taking a moral stance akin to the darkness in Apocalypse Now, but this just makes me lose all respect for canon Saulot. I want to slap the whiny brat around and scream "What the hell were you expecting from a man who murdered his own brother and cursed his God?" Finally, the Act ends with the choice between two evils that I mentioned early. As I said, I'm a big fan of plotlines where the players are forced to commit atrocities because they really do seem like the only good choice (at least in Vampire: the Masquerade), but this one doesn't have the same weight that I would like, and the obvious answer of "You're a lying bastard, Kupala!" isn't even addressed. Another opportunity lost, I think.

That's really the crux of my problem with the book. It reminds me too much of the first few revised clanbooks (Clanbook: Nosferatu and Clanbook: Brujah, to be precise) in that they are average books at best by themselves. But in the missed opportunities and squandered chances they represent, they are made much, much worse. There is very little flair and excitement in Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant. There aren't any great secrets revealed. All the Ancients come across as retards and there isn't any sort of "Choose Your Own Big Secret" section (where the book provides a bunch of equally plausible Truths and the Storyteller chooses at his whim), which would have helped a lot. Viewing the book by itself, it's an average work made bad by the gap between what it is and what I thought it could be. As the culmination of the entire chronicles, it doesn't feel like it would be that satisfying, but I have to say that I haven't read the other three books and I've only played through the first Act of the first book.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant
Author: Brian Campbell, Jackie Cassada and Nicky Rea Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: Vampire: the Masquerade Cost: $15.95 Page count: 119 ISBN: 1-56504-293-X SKU: WW 2814 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 06/13/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern day Historical Horror Conspiracy Vampire Gothic	A few years ago I would have fallen over myself trying to say how great Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant is. It's got meetings with Antediluvians, geomantic webs, kooky Kuei-jin, all-consuming pointless vendettas and to top it all off, nuclear missiles. How could you go wrong with that? It even has my kind of ending where the characters have to choose between two evils, either one resulting in untold death and sorrow. Now, either I've matured, devolved, or simply changed, because I want something more, something meatier, and something more substantial. Sadly, that is something that Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant just doesn't give me when it hands over the keys to the Antediluvian's apartments. On a production level, the book is quite nice with the usual White Wolf binding, printing job, and the usual amount of art compared to the text. The writing itself is okay, although there are more (and major) editing and typographical errors than I'm used to seeing in a White Wolf product. Although I'm familiar with all of the three authors' work, this book didn't seem to be their best effort. The art on the whole is similarly uneven. Jeff Holt supplies some of his worst pieces yet, while Mike Danza is on par (except for a bizarre fixation with crocodiles). Vince Locke displays his usual greatness and there's a great cover by Larry MacDougall. Overall, the artwork and writing and general quality of the book just blurs out into Averageville, which is always unfortunate. The book was divided in a way that confused me. After the short introduction, there is a chapter that, I assume, is supposed to bring people up to speed. There is a short summary of the entire epic plot of all four of the books (which must lose something in compression, I'm sure) as well as an update on what I would assume to be older characters in the other books. What confuses me is why this section is not in the Dramatis Personae section(which says that it holds information on characters dealing with Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant). This chapter also has what seems to be character updates for what I can only assume are old characters, since they don't appear in this book. I'm also curious as to why the Brujah are the only clan that didn't deserve a mention. After that orienting chapter are the three chapters containing the three Acts in the book as well as a chapter of dramatic characters, a chapter on how to Storytell the chronicle, and an Appendix with a timeline and a list of the signs of Gehenna revealed. Aside from some very bizarre notes (like allowing characters to recycle the points they have spent on "archaic skills" on new ones and having some characters who don't appear to have any direct bearing to this particular book), the last two chapters and the Appendix are fairly solid. Many of the ideas on other stories to run between the major plot elements were interesting, although I think that there should have been more of an effort to put forth ideas on how to add twists and turns and surprises to the existing plotline. The main problem I had with the book (unsurprisingly) was in the three chapters of important plot - where the meat of the book was. After reading all three Acts, I was just left with the feeling that the book was like a still pool that looks a lot deeper than it is and should have lots of interesting fish. But it doesn't. There was little that was outright bad (other than the repeatedly used plot contrivance of "You get a letter summoning you to the plot and the other PCs"). It's just that everything seemed simple and squandered (in a way I'll explain in a minute) instead of grand, epic and exciting. Let me try to explain myself without giving away too many spoilers for those who are going to play through the chronicles - not that there is much to give away. In the first Act, the characters travel to Vienna focused on a single McGuffin - a magical book about Kupala. Now there are a lot of other people who want it as well, and not all of them are that peaceful. This story could have had been a great opportunity for a nice, suspense-filled game where the characters are jumping at shadows and imagining enemies around every turn while everyone expects hordes of Sabbat to pour from the graveyards. Instead it's just a straight-up "Grab the item and run" plot with a few bumps that are more interesting than the main plot. Looking at Act Two, I see an opportunity to go into a nice exposition about the nature of Clans, the ties of vitae, a peek into one of the layers of the Jyhad, and the metaphysics behind Diablerie without seeming forced or contrived. Instead we get a passive slide-show story where the players get to do little other than watch the Tremere antitribu get slaughtered. The main problem with Act Three was it didn't seem like there was really enough to do, as in I couldn't stretch it out if I tried, unlike the other Acts. It also suffered from "Left-field Syndrome" in that (as far as someone who has only read this one installment knows) while some elements of the story are being resolved and drawn together, other surprises come completely out of the blue. What the Nosferatu Antediluvian has to do with Transylvanian geomancy, I do not know. This Act also had the misfortune of holding a bit of Saulot's diary he wrote to preserve his great motivation for generations to come (damn, that subtle Saulot). It reveals why Saulot is such an evil bastard, and I simply do not buy it at all. It boils down to a millennia long temper tantrum that is of an even greater scale than Set's apparent burden. I could have bought something along the lines of Saulot following the Devil-Tiger Dharma with a little bit more motivation or the Antediluvian taking a moral stance akin to the darkness in Apocalypse Now, but this just makes me lose all respect for canon Saulot. I want to slap the whiny brat around and scream "What the hell were you expecting from a man who murdered his own brother and cursed his God?" Finally, the Act ends with the choice between two evils that I mentioned early. As I said, I'm a big fan of plotlines where the players are forced to commit atrocities because they really do seem like the only good choice (at least in Vampire: the Masquerade), but this one doesn't have the same weight that I would like, and the obvious answer of "You're a lying bastard, Kupala!" isn't even addressed. Another opportunity lost, I think. That's really the crux of my problem with the book. It reminds me too much of the first few revised clanbooks (Clanbook: Nosferatu and Clanbook: Brujah, to be precise) in that they are average books at best by themselves. But in the missed opportunities and squandered chances they represent, they are made much, much worse. There is very little flair and excitement in Transylvania Chronicles IV: The Dragon Ascendant. There aren't any great secrets revealed. All the Ancients come across as retards and there isn't any sort of "Choose Your Own Big Secret" section (where the book provides a bunch of equally plausible Truths and the Storyteller chooses at his whim), which would have helped a lot. Viewing the book by itself, it's an average work made bad by the gap between what it is and what I thought it could be. As the culmination of the entire chronicles, it doesn't feel like it would be that satisfying, but I have to say that I haven't read the other three books and I've only played through the first Act of the first book. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)