Okay, I should admit that I really like what is happening with Vampire Revised. Instead of grandiose (and often goofy) metaplots there is a renewed focus on the unlife of Vampires- how they make their way through the nights. Midnight Siege is a worthy addition to the Vampire Revised library, with the focus being on how Vampires make war on one another.
So let’s just get into it shall we?
The art is pretty good. The cover is simple, showing a Vampire in the act of beating another down. IT is to the point, giving a good idea of the interior, and otherwise largely forgettable. Christopher Shy’s artwork are used to separate the chapters, and unlike a lot of gamers out there, he just does not “do it” for me. His artwork is too sterile and lacks motion- and in a book about war, I expected to see a bit more of the large, page dominating art. The rest of the interior is dominated by Mike Danza and Michael Gayzdos. These two artists do a much batter job of portraying the movement of war (I dunno how to say that any better, hopefully you get the idea) and it is a bonus that a couple of the pictures actually correspond to the ideas that page is trying to convey in its writings.
Overall, the art is good. It is in no way stands out, but it certainly passes admirably by not offending any aesthetics. The art does not detract from the writing, but does not really help it in any way either.
The Introduction opens with the standard introduction that anyone who has ever read a White Wolf book will be familiar with. There is a general background of the book and its goals (to tell you about the waging of the Jyhad) which is told in the first person. The intro is actually quite good in dispelling some of the preconceived notions about elder Machiavellian control of human war. It was straight and to the point, and though a little bit pretentious, a nice primer to the rest of the book. Vampiric war seems to be huge amounts of time where nothing happens interspersed by sudden highly violent episodes. This seems both plausible and excellent material for a campaign. Midnight Siege, from this chapter on does its darndest to make the seige of a city playable, both from the Camarilla and Sabbat fronts.
An aside here, throughout the book are little boxes with the insights of Ludo Giovanni, adding an outside perspective to whatever is being discussed. These discussions are usually little parables or accounts of a particular seige or some such- still I liked them as each one seems to be geared towards giving the storyteller a bit of background on the world while also presenting a few story ideas. Nice touch.
Chapter 1 focuses on the Camarilla way of making war. I particularly enjoyed this chapter as it does yeoman’s work in making the Camarilla both worthy to fight and a good opponent to the Sabbat. ON the surface of it, the Sabbat have always had all the major advantages in a seige. They are prone to violence, they embrace like rabbits, and they are not afraid to break the Masquerade, and to top it all off, the Gangrel (the muscle of the Camarilla) is no longer around to troubleshoot. So how does the Camarilla keep control of any city that is under seige? This chapter answers that, and in such a way that I did not have to make any logical leaps- I really appreciated that.
See, the Camarilla is exceptionally good at mustring its forces. It is well-disciplined, well informed, and well funded- all three of which the Sabbat lack. When the Camarilla is defending their own city, they are on their home turf, and that is just enough to tip the balance in their favor. On the offensive the Camarilla is also quite effective, using Kine and financial resources that the Sabbat just plain ignore. Also, the Camarilla is not as tied to immediacy like the Sabbat are, allowing minor setbacks to be reevaluated and readministered. A final point in their favor is the Tremere and their mastery of Thaumaturgy. The Sabbat lack effective countermeasures for blood magic and this is a major benefit for the Camarilla if given some preparation. Additionally, the Camarilla uses the short attention span and lack of patience on th part of the Sabbat against them, creating a slow, but daunting war machine. This chapter goes into some detail on how this war machine works, especially the role of influence and finances in the Camarilla way of war. Useful stuff is found here.
Chapter 2 is all about the Sabbat. A lot of this is rehashed from other books, and presented in a nice neat format for players and Storyteller to pick over. The Sabbat are ruthless and fast, as well as disorganized. In this chapter we learn that the Sabbat elders think of war in very different terms than do the roving gangs and packs, and consequently, must focus on framing the war effort in such a way as to make it desirable for the masses of Sabbat to risk their lives. Where the Camarilla higher ups can order their lackeys around, not so for the Sabbat- a nice juxtaposition. Topics like dealing with mortals, morale, attacks of Camariila bases of power, how to neutralize the Tremere chantry and a whole host of tactics are all presented, and dealt with pretty thoroughly. I will say that there is a discrepancy with the way Chapter 1 and 2 are laid out, with things like bulleted “Story Ideas” presented at the end of each section in the Sabbat Chapter but not in the Camarilla one. I like symmetry, and this really irked me… it may not bother another reader so much though. Another strike against this Chapter are the “Corpse Balloons” where a Fleshcrafter melds a Vampire or Ghoul onto a weather balloon to act as surveillance during a siege. I don’t like goofy things in my games and this was just a bit over the top for me. Despite the unevenness and goofiness at times, this is still not a bad chapter.
Chapter 3 is all about the Independents. The Assamites, Giovanni, Settites, Caitiff, Anarchs, and Ravnos all get a decent amount of info here. The Cathyans, faeries, mages, and shapeshifters get a few paragraphs, but in all honesty, their sections could have been left out. There is nothing terribly exciting about this chapter- though one does get the impression that the independents usually fall on the side of the Camarilla. Mostly it seems, they work with the Ivory Tower simply for the fact that Camarilla Vampires are predictable- the status quo is usually much preferred to the future with the Sabbat in charge.
Chapter 4 deals with Storytelling issues. This is a good chapter, right after Chapter 1 in general usefulness. Here the Storyteller is given ideas on how to direct the players, make them feel they are part of some momentous, while avoiding killing them outright. A siege certainly can be an interesting time, with lots going on, and the hints in this Chapter are good ones. I especially like the focus on the role of antagonists- helping to define the enemies of the characters in such a way as to make them interesting as well as fit appropriately into a war/siege campaign.
The final chapter is an Appendix- with all sorts of goodies for the Storyteller. There is both a section with template characters (yawn) and a nice chronology of events for both the Camarilla and Sabbat. The chronology is especially useful for a Storyteller, helping keep things in perspective while the war is going on as well as creating a general rubric from which to personalize the siege for the character’s city. The timeline is a neat addition and helps wrap up the book.
Midnight Seige is a good book. In fact, if you are looking for something to spice up your Vampire campaign, this just may be the ticket… and the Chapter on the Camarilla is especially useful However, Midnight Siege is certainly not a perfect book either (especially the Sabbat chapter), but a little work on the part of the Storyteller can easily fix any holes or problems.
In other words, get Midnight Siege if you like what is happening with Vampire Revised, it is a nice sourcebook, with a particular focus on the gritty aspect of Vampiric war.
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