Midnight Siege is billed as “a sourcebook of sect conflict for Vampire: The Masquerade”, an in-depth supplement to the Guides to the Camarilla and Sabbat, covering how the main power groups of the Vampire setting operate in time of war. Since the Camarilla and Sabbat, the largest blocs, are locked in an ongoing conflict called the Jyhad (even though only one side perceives it as a holy war) they are given the bulk of the coverage.
It takes a single element of the setting – political struggle – and covers it thoroughly. It is mostly a resource for Storytellers, a “toolkit” for creating war stories, with plot hooks, developments in the canonical setting, theme suggestions, common tactics of all sides, characters to insert into chronicles, and so on.
The book opens with an in-character piece, here Requiem for the Monster, a letter supposedly from signature character Lucita announcing her joining the Sabbat. This has caused the expected controversy among followers of the Vampire metaplot who take it as face value. I have learned never to trust in-character documents, and would refer readers to the section on Lucita in Clanbook: Lasombra Revised, ( http://www.rpg.net/news reviews/reviews/rev_3766.html ) in which she is the subject of frequent imitation, and to the fact that it appears in a book about the underhanded tactics of the Camarilla and Sabbat at war.
Following this is an introduction, Troubled Times, which brings in Signore Ludo Giovanni, the ‘narrator’ of the in-remaining character sections, a largely neutral commentator on the vampire nations’ warfare as a strategist for the independent Giovanni clan. His cynical, caustic advice is worth bearing in mind, and his anecdotes are often amusing. Of course, the introduction points out that he is now missing, presumed dead, a further reminder of the use of the unreliable narrator in Vampire books .
Chapter One: The Ivory Tower details the activities of the Camarilla, the more subtle and conservative of the main sects, in defence and attack. As well as sound advice on making city management realistic (“influence, not control” is Justin Achilli’s maxim for vampires’ effect on human politics) it includes a variety of plot threads and metaplot storylines. A group of young Camarilla Kindred who use the Sabbat’s tactics against it are introduced, making a good choice for combative games with Camarilla characters, as well as the products of a Frankensteinian experiment to create vampires who appear to act in daylight, presumably designed as a plot to be exposed.
Chapter Two: The Sword of Caine concerns the Sabbat, the militant sect, vampire supremacists who seek to destroy the ancient undead who can only survive by feeding on their descendants. Their methods are more straightforward, in general, and their story ideas reflect this. The main metaplot development here is another potential group of player characters, escapees of a brutal Sabbat “recruitment drive” and initiation.
Chapter Three: Strange Bedfellows covers the other vampires and supernatural beings that get caught up in the grand Jyhad. Anarchs (libertarian young vampires) and Caitiff (vampires without a clan) are covered, as are the four independent Clans. Unfortunately, the section on Assamites is already out of date in current canon, making no mention of the Schism plotline covered in Clanbook: Assamite Revised ( http://www.rpg.net/news reviews/reviews/rev_3726.html ). It also gives cursory coverage to the other assorted supernatural beings in the World of Darkness.
Chapter Four: Storytelling the Tides of Conflict, is a brief nine-page article packed with good advice. Of all the chapters herein, it makes me want to put the others’ ideas into practice. The suggestions on plotlines, antagonists, showpiece events and involvement of characters bears reading beyond Vampire.
The Appendix, The War Chest, is the most direct “toolkit”, containing NPC templates and loose ‘timelines’ for conflicts, as well as continuing the advice. Here the cynicism demonstrated in character spills over into the objective sections, I feel:
“We’re just writers and designers; you don’t have to listen to us. Just because we want Vampire to be a game of subtlety, politics, paranoia and horror doesn’t mean you can’t play the game in the context you enjoy best. If katana-wielding, flamethrowing, Discipline ninjitsu in the streets that results in entire SWAT teams being torn to shreds is your taste, have at it. The systems don’t work really well for it, but the genre can, and hey, you like what you like.”
Stylistically, the writing is solid, full of ideas, and often grimly amusing. The cover by Phil Hale, depicting a bare-chested fight in darkness, doesn’t really make the best use of the space. Mike Danza’s heavily crosshatched urban scenes and Michael Gaydos’s high-contrast blacks and whites are fine, and Christopher Shy’s chapter frontispieces and character portraits continue to improve. That said, due to printing, they are extremely dark. Compare the image printed on Page 6, intended as Lucita at her typewriter, to the substantially clearer version here: http://www.white-wolf.com/Games/Pages/Art Gallery/ChristopherShy/printo9.jpg
In all, Midnight Siege is a valuable addition to the Vampire: The Masquerade line. Its game-specific ideas are many and generally admirable, and the writers’ advice on warfare in games is excellent.
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