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The Lasombra have never struck me as a necessary clan. They are encouraged to behave like one of the less interesting stereotypes for Clan Ventrue, that of the arrogant powermongers too sure of themselves, while their most distinctive power seems to owe little to traditional vampire legends, even though their special weakness, a lack of a reflection, is a vampire cliché avoided by the rest of the game. I publicly predicted that they were the clan to be destroyed in White Wolf’s widely advertised plot development of 1999. I was wrong as it turns out, but they still strike me as being too much like the Ventrue to hold much appeal. Having read Bruce Baugh’s new Clanbook, my views on their Discipline and weakness are unchanged, but he has made their history of interest.

The history and organisation sections consolidate material from the previous edition, the Sabbat books, the Clan Novels where one of the stars is the rogue Lasombra Lucita (as seen on the cover of the Clanbook) and the Dark Ages sections.

The main addition to the clan’s culture is their means of choosing new members. A candidate’s ability to cope with stress and persevere is tested by destroying what he holds dear. This method fits the callous nature of the leaders of the Sabbat, but is also used by members in the Camarilla, the less inhumane political bloc of the Vampire setting.

The history of the clan begins in Catal Huyuk, suggesting it as a candidate for being the First City of Vampire legend because it is the first city of archaeological record, but concentrates naturally on the clan’s role in the formation of the Sabbat, proposing the sect titled itself in irony and hinting at mysteries left unclear in previous Sabbat histories.

It organisation draws on Dark Ages material, a reminder that the lineage have not changed as much as they might like to think. This applies particularly to the Lasombra Antitribu, those loyal to the memory of the clan’s founder, who side with the Camarilla to strike at their enemies, and resemble the Dark Ages model of stealthy manipulators more than their Sabbat counterparts. They are detailed here sufficiently to feature Antitribu PCs or NPCs and make them distinct from Ventrue with Obtenebration.

Obtenebration, the clan’s unique Discipline, enables them to control darkness. It’s an example of the non-standard powers that all the non-Camarilla clans detailed after the publication of the original Vampire rulebook have. The Camarilla clans all have variations on traditional vampire powers, with the possible exception of Obfuscate, the Nosferatu (and Malkavian, but mainly Nosferatu) ability to vanish and change their appearances, necessary for a hideously ugly clan to function. Ask someone what powers vampires have and they’ll probably mention superhuman strength, mind control or turning into animals. They certainly won’t mention the ability to control darkness. It’s an invented power for Vampire, rather than a traditional power for vampires. Like the Tzimisce power Vicissitude, introduced at the same time (Players Guide to the Sabbat, by Steve C. Brown), Obtenebration in particular suffers from being a collection of abilities rather than a single, cohesive power.

Baugh as a result devotes five pages to Obfuscate, making it more mystical and sinister, and also explaining its normal effects in more detail than previous coverage. He also takes the opportunity to explore the occult side of the Abyss of darkness, which serves to further diversify and distance the clan from their thin original form, although in doing so he adds a resemblance to the Tremere, another classic clan better developed than the Lasombra. He also adds shadow monsters capable of possessing characters, which seems to be an unnecessary complication to the already crowded underworlds of the World of Darkness.

In style, the book largely follows the Revised Clanbook pattern. Baugh’s writing holds my interest, with the in-character history lessons actually demonstrating character, disagreeing with each other in some areas and throwing in anecdotes and tangents. It made for fast and entertaining reading.

One feature Baugh’s book shares with none of the previous Clanbooks I have read is a repetition of characters. The star of the initial fictional vignette is a character template, his sire is a Lasombra of note, and the history and practices sections are partially narrated by them, and partially by another noted Lasombra. This gives the impression that these characters are fixtures in Baugh’s game, as they are of around player-character level rather than being especially powerful or important. It also gives the reader a good view of them as characters, at the expense of a larger number of “snapshots” of more characters, as seen in other books of the series.

In terms of construction, The number of typographical errors seems unusually high, extending to the description of the Revolutionary character cutting off in mid-sentence. Leif Jones’s artwork extends further into caricature in this book, the Harpy radiating disdain with his smoking jacket and pipe while the Broker For The Damned stares out of the page like a deer in the headlights. This exaggeration also shows in Drew Tucker’s painted chapter frontispieces, grotesques of heavy blacks and greys. Christopher Shy’s character portraits, while here unsurprisingly dark and in some cases indistinct, continue their high quality.

In all, the Lasombra are now more sinister and mystical than previous incarnations as arrogant power-grubbers. This makes them less like “the Ventrue, only less so”, although it does bring them closer to the Tremere. They still stand out from other clans only by their history and power, but both of these have been developed in the new Clanbook. Baugh has successfully enriched what there is to go on, and while they are still my least favourite clan, this is a very good book about them, and I may use their revised background if not their discipline in the future. Craig Oxbrow

Clanbook Lasombra Revised
Item type: RPG Product Name: Clanbook Lasombra Revised Author: Bruce Baugh Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Vampire the Masquerade SKU: WW2362 Cost: $14.95 US Page count: 104 ISBN: 1-58846-201-3 Genres: Ratings: Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Review type: Capsule Review Genre tags:	The Lasombra have never struck me as a necessary clan. They are encouraged to behave like one of the less interesting stereotypes for Clan Ventrue, that of the arrogant powermongers too sure of themselves, while their most distinctive power seems to owe little to traditional vampire legends, even though their special weakness, a lack of a reflection, is a vampire cliché avoided by the rest of the game. I publicly predicted that they were the clan to be destroyed in White Wolf’s widely advertised plot development of 1999. I was wrong as it turns out, but they still strike me as being too much like the Ventrue to hold much appeal. Having read Bruce Baugh’s new Clanbook, my views on their Discipline and weakness are unchanged, but he has made their history of interest. The history and organisation sections consolidate material from the previous edition, the Sabbat books, the Clan Novels where one of the stars is the rogue Lasombra Lucita (as seen on the cover of the Clanbook) and the Dark Ages sections. The main addition to the clan’s culture is their means of choosing new members. A candidate’s ability to cope with stress and persevere is tested by destroying what he holds dear. This method fits the callous nature of the leaders of the Sabbat, but is also used by members in the Camarilla, the less inhumane political bloc of the Vampire setting. The history of the clan begins in Catal Huyuk, suggesting it as a candidate for being the First City of Vampire legend because it is the first city of archaeological record, but concentrates naturally on the clan’s role in the formation of the Sabbat, proposing the sect titled itself in irony and hinting at mysteries left unclear in previous Sabbat histories. It organisation draws on Dark Ages material, a reminder that the lineage have not changed as much as they might like to think. This applies particularly to the Lasombra Antitribu, those loyal to the memory of the clan’s founder, who side with the Camarilla to strike at their enemies, and resemble the Dark Ages model of stealthy manipulators more than their Sabbat counterparts. They are detailed here sufficiently to feature Antitribu PCs or NPCs and make them distinct from Ventrue with Obtenebration. Obtenebration, the clan’s unique Discipline, enables them to control darkness. It’s an example of the non-standard powers that all the non-Camarilla clans detailed after the publication of the original Vampire rulebook have. The Camarilla clans all have variations on traditional vampire powers, with the possible exception of Obfuscate, the Nosferatu (and Malkavian, but mainly Nosferatu) ability to vanish and change their appearances, necessary for a hideously ugly clan to function. Ask someone what powers vampires have and they’ll probably mention superhuman strength, mind control or turning into animals. They certainly won’t mention the ability to control darkness. It’s an invented power for Vampire, rather than a traditional power for vampires. Like the Tzimisce power Vicissitude, introduced at the same time (Players Guide to the Sabbat, by Steve C. Brown), Obtenebration in particular suffers from being a collection of abilities rather than a single, cohesive power. Baugh as a result devotes five pages to Obfuscate, making it more mystical and sinister, and also explaining its normal effects in more detail than previous coverage. He also takes the opportunity to explore the occult side of the Abyss of darkness, which serves to further diversify and distance the clan from their thin original form, although in doing so he adds a resemblance to the Tremere, another classic clan better developed than the Lasombra. He also adds shadow monsters capable of possessing characters, which seems to be an unnecessary complication to the already crowded underworlds of the World of Darkness. In style, the book largely follows the Revised Clanbook pattern. Baugh’s writing holds my interest, with the in-character history lessons actually demonstrating character, disagreeing with each other in some areas and throwing in anecdotes and tangents. It made for fast and entertaining reading. One feature Baugh’s book shares with none of the previous Clanbooks I have read is a repetition of characters. The star of the initial fictional vignette is a character template, his sire is a Lasombra of note, and the history and practices sections are partially narrated by them, and partially by another noted Lasombra. This gives the impression that these characters are fixtures in Baugh’s game, as they are of around player-character level rather than being especially powerful or important. It also gives the reader a good view of them as characters, at the expense of a larger number of “snapshots” of more characters, as seen in other books of the series. In terms of construction, The number of typographical errors seems unusually high, extending to the description of the Revolutionary character cutting off in mid-sentence. Leif Jones’s artwork extends further into caricature in this book, the Harpy radiating disdain with his smoking jacket and pipe while the Broker For The Damned stares out of the page like a deer in the headlights. This exaggeration also shows in Drew Tucker’s painted chapter frontispieces, grotesques of heavy blacks and greys. Christopher Shy’s character portraits, while here unsurprisingly dark and in some cases indistinct, continue their high quality. In all, the Lasombra are now more sinister and mystical than previous incarnations as arrogant power-grubbers. This makes them less like “the Ventrue, only less so”, although it does bring them closer to the Tremere. They still stand out from other clans only by their history and power, but both of these have been developed in the new Clanbook. Baugh has successfully enriched what there is to go on, and while they are still my least favourite clan, this is a very good book about them, and I may use their revised background if not their discipline in the future. Craig Oxbrow

Clanbook Lasombra Revised