Review: Dark Ages Vampire
Dark Ages: Vampire is the revision of the highly acclaimed White Wolf roleplaying game Vampire: the Dark Ages, released in 1997. Dark Ages: Vampire (DAV) updates the setting, moving it from 1197 to 1230; brings the rules in line with the majority of Revised Storyteller games; and expands on a number of Dark Ages specific system and setting issues. It is also the first book in the Dark Ages series, with DA: Inquisitor and DA: Mage coming soon.
The copy I am reviewing is the Limited Edition. It comes in a slipcase with a small short-story and original DAV art collection, which I won’t be reviewing.
The Beef
DAV is set in 1230 AD, at a time when Europe is starting to undergo a number of changes. A game about vampires living in medieval Europe, the game could be simply summed up as the historical setting for Vampire: the Masquerade. The vampires are the same breed, the powers, rules and basics of setting are the same. It is the World of Darkness with castles, swords, battles, armour, crusades and all the accompanying medieval tropes, with a gothic horror spin. Here vampires are the Lords of the Night, they rule with iron fists over domains that stretch across kingdoms, controlling armies and vampiric vassals and lead them in bloody midnight wars against their enemies in the War of Ages.
Caveat: As most people know, the period known as the Dark Ages were between 400-1000AD (give or take). DAV is set in the Middle Ages- 1230 is hardly the Dark Ages. It is called Dark Ages because of the gothic appeal, the coolness factor and because in the first edition of the game, the Middle Ages were known by contemporary vampires as the Long Night- the time where vampires rule unchallenged. A time of superstition, lost knowledge and recovering civilisation, bad for us, is an unparalleled boon for vampires. The new edition however has chosen a new appellation for the game. The Long Night has given way for the War of Princes, a time when elder vampires compete with force of arms against each other.
Purpose
As a longterm owner and storyteller of Vampire: the Dark Ages (V:DA), this review is designed to demonstrate some of the changes between editions. As with most reviews, it is full of my own opinions, of both the old and new edition of the game.
I have long considered V:DA to be one of the best White Wolf roleplaying games out there. The production values and care for the core book and later sourcebooks were second to none. The past few releases for V:DA were a bit of a disappointment, but the standard has generally been very high. V:DA was a work of art, a joy to look on and read and very atmospheric.
Overview: Visual
Visually, DAV is a mixed bag. Obviously a lot of care has gone into the graphic design of the book. I am a big believer of art as a medium to enhance the content of the book. Good art can turn a mediocre book into a great one; it can demonstrate the mood of the book, and help readers get certain ideas, illustrate concepts and so on. I really despair at bad artwork in RPG books.
To compare briefly: The paper of V:DA was made from heavy, matt, porous paper. It made you feel like you were reading an old tome or something. The new DAV is made from shiny paper, similar to V:tM. Although it is obviously good quality, I was disappointed that WW decided to make the change- I just didn’t get the same feel from DAV as I did V:DA. A minor thing, but significant for me.
The inside covers have maps of Europe, the first a rather unhelpful map showing kingdoms and other similar nations, with cities included. There is no key or legend, although there are patters that seem to be trying to say something. Some Muslim lands have horizontal stripes, others have vertical ones, the Russian principalities have circles and Scotland also has horizontal stripes. There are no natural features, no roads or trade routes, and there seems to be no reason why some towns and cities were chosen and others weren’t. Additionally, it is a bit outdated, not being very accurate. Nevertheless, the map is a nice looking one, drawn by the legendary RPG cartographer Hotz.
The following artwork is also a mixed bag.
In V:DA, most or all of the art was terribly atmospheric and most of it was of the highest quality. I can’t think of many pictures that were awful, although it is subjective. The point is that the all of the art spoke of the Dark Ages and suited the game, even the infamous fish picture on page 206.
The immediate impression that I got from most of the DAV art was that it was rushed, sketchy and a lot of it was counterproductive to the aims and feel of the book.
Don’t get me wrong. There was a lot of good art in the book. The heraldic symbols were a nice touch and the chapter full-page pics were good. But a lot of them just didn’t do it for me.
The most striking example of this are the clan portraits. Drawn by Yanner, they felt overly comic-bookish. While not bad pictures, I do not feel that they were of sufficient quality to stand in as the archetypal images of the thirteen clans. Additionally, I didn’t get any sense of the setting- they were generic fantasy pictures. I really felt like I was looking at a picture from one of the new DnD comic books, or an X-Men comic- it is that sort of style. Not bad, but not really appropriate for ideal clan pictures.
Later on, the Road pictures are similarly odd. By Rik Martin, they also felt unsuitably generic. Although I liked the work Rik did in Bitter Crusade, I feel that the portraits here accomplished nothing. I also feel that the image of the Road of Humanity has a nun, and the Road of Heaven has a rather brooding looking fellow who on close inspection could be a monk. The only outstanding pictures here is the Road of Sin; the Road of Kings is also more thematic than the other two.
A minor thing for most people I’m sure, but I feel compelled to mention the fonts and the border. The main font used is suitably gothic. It is used for all of the main body of text and is fine. I do have a problem with the other font, used for boxed texts. I feel that it is completely unsuited to the feel that the rest of the book has- it is a common fantasy font.
The border as well struck me as an odd decision. It is a solid black metallic design, nowhere near as graceful as the old Vampire: the Dark Ages border. Additionally, we are told the chapter but not the title of the chapter. Looking at a page, I could tell I’m in chapter seven, but not what chapter seven was about. Unless I know the chapters or the layout of the book intimately, it’s all guesswork.
As a final word, I’ll say that I felt that there was surprisingly little artwork in the book. Given the large amount of content, this is a good thing, but I feel that the art chosen should have been of a higher standard and more appropriate to the middle ages, the War of Princes or the general themes and goals of the book.
Overview: Content
The Start
To begin with we have an introduction by Anatole, the canon Malkavian character, which describes the vampiric religion and condition. Unlike the V:DA short-story, this one is needlessly vague and self-indulgent. We don’t really learn anything except from the pages taken from the Book of Nod- the vampiric Bible, which gives us the vampiric creation story. I felt that this fiction failed to set the tone of the book, or give us anything useful, which was a pity, because it looked really nice.
An introduction followed, stock standard WW fair, giving us a very brief run down on vampires, the Middle Ages feel, a chapter breakdown and a sparse and not that useful bibliography. I certainly felt that a lot was missing- there was not fiction bibliography for a start, and some of the history books recommended were a bit eclectic or outdated. One of the best resources for people who aren’t serious medievalists, the Pimlico Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, was not mentioned, and it seems to me that the authors weren’t reading these books either with some of the errors or missing info in later chapters.
Chapter One
Chapter One is the setting chapter. It gives information on the vmapiric condition, powers and weaknesses; the important concepts; the clans; the setting; and the mythology. Most of this information is solid, but is merely a re-wording or reinterpretation of the old Vampire books, V:tM and V:DA. However, the writing is evocative and concise. It gives a good idea of how vampires think and work, and while occasionally falls into the trap of saying ‘most vampires thing this’, it is a good chapter for new players who are just getting into Vampire.
One minor thing that really brought the tone down was a typo, where instead of saying ‘Adam and Eve’, it read ‘Adam and Even’. Poor editing there. I hope it gets fixed in the next print run.
There are a few new innovations, which meet with varying degrees of success, and there seems to me to be one or two major oversights.
Firstly, we have the new concept of High and Low Clans. High Clans are the ones with a lot of temporal power. They could be considered the aristocracy of the vampiric world, or the most respected- the Ventrue, Lasombra, Cappadocians, Toreador, Tzimisce and Brujah. The Low Clans are the ‘foreign’ clans, or ones with little temporal power- the rest of the thirteen clans.
This idea works in so far as a general concept. However, it seems needlessly artificial to me. Certainly there are some clans that are more respected than others, but the entire concept, as well as the next one (see below), seems like an attempt to shoehorn the entire Society of the Damned into an ill conceived feudal structure. The idea seems to forget that clans aren’t fraternities. They are dissolute, chaotic and unorganised groupings linked only by blood and loose lineage.
The next innovation is the new Hierarchy of the Damned. Familiar to most Vampire players, with neonates, ancillae and Princes, the new innovation is the rank of Lord- a grand Methuselah king who rules over his own clutch of elder Princes and other vassals. While a good idea as a more abstract and less official ‘office’, having the Lord as a known and accepted part of vampiric society is something that seems contrary to the recent V:tM trend. It emphasises the idea of ancient Methuselahs who control everything.
The Lords are now an inextricable part of the setting, and the map on the back inner cover shows the largest and most powerful domains of these Lords. It is they who control the conflict of the War of Princes, and their will alone matters in a cosmic scale. In effect, they are super-Methuselahs. Over and above the Lords themselves are vampiric monarchs, who control a number of Lords, as well as large swathes of territory . The courts are given a bit of detail, the first time that they have been presented explicit domains or political bodies that exist beyond the idea of vampiric factionalism.
The final new addition is the entire book’s emphasis on the importance of Roads. Almost an afterthought in V:DA, the Roads are the medieval equivalent of Paths in V:tM. They are philosophies and ethical codes to control the Beast. In DAV, they are elevated to the status of vampiric religions. And along with the religion have come priests, congregations and even churches. This is an idea that has not been present in any of the old material, except perhaps Ashen Cults. Devout followers of various Roads are a caste or class apart, like the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. Exempt from ‘secular’ vampiric rule, they are akin to organised religions, and act as advisors, mystics and so on. Following a recent Dark Ages trend, they are called Ashen Priests- the current developer has promised that he is soon to release a sourcebook on the vampiric Ashen Psionicist-Assassin-Hobbits. I look forward to it.
I can’t remember seeing anywhere the book stating that all of this information is Europe-specific. However, most of the information here is entirely Europe-specific. It is also amazingly general, from its generic vampiric court structure and the hierarchy. Most of it is solid though, and would be useful for someone unfamiliar with other V:tM books. The only differences from V:DA is the emphasis on the new hierarchical systems, High and Low Clans, and the new super-Prince/Methuselah Monarchical Lord guys. Something I’ve just realised is that the Black Hand, present in V:DA, has been excised from DAV, an odd decision in my opinion.
Chapter Two
The thirteen clans are detailed here, the High Clans first and then the Low Clans. Of interest is perhaps the Cappadocians. There was a lot of discussion about whether they would keep Mortis in favour of Mortuus or Necromancy or whatever. They keep Mortis, but it is path based like Necromancy and Thaumaturgy. Additionally, their weakness states that the older the Cap gets, the most cadaverous and skeletal they look.
There is nothing out of the ordinary here- it is the same as any White Wolf splat. Oddly though, they have cut down the Stereotype textbox- it is only a few options, rather than the cute clan by clan/ tribe by tribe etc method of previous editions.
One major thing missing here is a more lengthy exposition on the clans. In V:DA, after the splats, you got a two page summary of the organisation, history and current concerns of the thirteen clans. This is entirely absent from DAV, and I keenly felt its loss.
Chapter Three
I said before that Road are more important during the War of Princes. In the last one hundred years, the Roads have been formalised into near religious entities. Roads now have a system effect, and only the four most ‘common’ Roads are presented here- no Clan specific ones. They layout is just like the clans- they get background, sobriquet and organisation entries.
The most interesting aspect of the new Road system is the Aura. Each Road has an Aura effect, and your progress on your Road determines its effect. A follower of the Road of the Beast exudes an aura of menace, which gives you a bonus to intimidating or frightening someone, or a penalty if you Road rating is low.
This is a neat idea, but is slightly ill-conceived, as followers of the Road of Heaven, who have an aura of Holiness, have a negative aura of holiness if they are low on the path. Compare this to a follower of the Road of Sin, and even the most evil and debased Road of Sin follower will have a holier aura than a slightly tarnished follower of the Road of Heaven, despite the fact that the Road of Heaven is still more saintly than the Road of Sin.
Roads are now close to religions, and this chapter does its best to make them seem like this- from initiation to Apostates and even Excommunication. Additionally, there are prayers, rituals and penance. All of this info is pretty brief, and quite general, and opens the way for the upcoming Road books, the alternative to the Clanbooks I suppose. Each Road has three diverging or choices for paths, which gives people more options to define their beliefs.
Of other note, the Road of Chivalry has been converted into the Road of Kings, with the Road of Chivalry being converted to the Path of Chivalry within the Road of Kings. Road of Sin seems to be a thinly disguised version of the Road of the Devil, with the idea that vampires are evil damned creatures so there is no point in pretending otherwise. It certainly strikes me as an odd way to hold back the Beast.
Finally, we get a Hierarchy of Sins, which is useful, as the rationale is given too- a major oversight in V:DA.
Chapter Four
The Rules of the Game, Chapter Four is not dissimilar to any other White Wolf Storytelling system chapter.
Chapter Five
Character creation, again, there is little new here for a veteran White Wolf-er. There seems to be a dearth of Archetype Natures and Demeanors, but if you have any other White Wolf book, you can port them over easily.
What others have pointed out is the difference in Attributes from other White Wolf games- the Attribute specialty for high traits has disappeared. For what reason I cannot guess, but if you liked that aspect, then it isn’t hard to add back in.
Abilities are next, and again, the specialty rules have changed. Specialties are chosen with freebie points (called Bonus Points this time round), or bought with XP. Instead of letting you roll again if you get a 10, this time you just get to roll an extra die. You can have up to three specialties per Ability, but only one adds at a time. Taking the Melee Specialty (sword) three times only gives you one extra dice, and is a waste of XP. From my reading, you have to buy the specialties, you don’t get them for free. A trait of 6 has no special rules beyond a better description and an extra die to roll.
Chapter Five also gives us a system for coteries to pool their resources- specifically the new Domain background. Domain is the area controlled by the character- and in the new Dark Ages, it is a major aspect of the game. This system allows characters to control larger areas than they would normally be able too, from a small castle, busy tavern or even, if they have 100s of dots to spend, a city like Rome. This system is very much like the one in Ashen Cults.
The chapter ends with a Maturation system, for downtime and long-term play, taken from the Transylvania and Giovanni Chronicles.
Chapter Six
Here we get the powers- the Disciplines.
There is an optional rule, which they should make official, whereby to learn a rare or clan specific discipline, you need instruction and must drink a point of a clan member’s blood. If you don’t, then the XP costs blow out to x10 or x20 the normal amounts.
The explanation of Blood-magic is still unnecessarily vague, and if I were a new player or ST, I would be very confused. An example would have been nice, as it doesn’t really explain if I pay path costs to raise my primary path, or whether I pay discipline costs and so on. A bit of hard reading reveals the answers, but it would have been better to spell it out.
As far as Disciplines go, there isn’t much new here. The system has been upgraded to Vampire Revised standards, but oddly has kept some old V:DA systems.
Celerity, for those interested, costs one blood point per extra action taken per turn. Obtenebration still uses the V:DA level 4 power instead of the V:tM level 4 power.
The newest thing on the block is Mortis. Mortis has been completely revised as a blood magic discipline, complete with paths and rituals. The old Mortis is entirely absent, with its disparate powers spread between three paths. Parts of Necromancy paths and the Samedi discipline of Thanatosis can be seen here and there. How this meshes with the Harbingers of Skulls and the Giovanni in V:tM remains to be seen.
Presence has also been altered slightly, but for the better. People with high presence give off an uncanny charisma- something that I’ve always done, but has never been official.
Thaumaturgy has also seen little change, a bad thing in respect to explaining how the whole path/ritual/discipline thing works, but good in most others. We have a whole bunch of paths (6) and rituals (lots). The most interesting change is the rule for level 1 Rego Vitae. Now, it is official that Tremere who use the first level of their most common path are bloodbound to their target. This strikes me as really stupid for a whole bunch of reasons, the most obvious of which is that no other level one power makes the user bloodbound to someone. Why would the Tremere use such a path? Why not change it so that they need to touch, not taste, the blood? Why learn the path or power at all? Additionally, the level three power does not rule out Tremere of low generation using Blood of Potency to lower their generation to 3rd or lower- and a success now needs to be allocated to keep the effect going for an hour, whereas before it didn’t. Finally we get a path from the Libellus Sanguinas II book, that allows fast movement of armies- hardly surprising given the War of Ages theme that is pushed like something that needs a lot of pushing.
Chapter Seven
Dealing with ‘Dramatic systems’ it is this chapter that has all of the rolling stuff, from lifting things, to buying things, to intimidation and even finding political allies. We even get a hunting table.
Combat is also in this chapter, and although I’ve only given it a brief look, it seems a mix between the old system and the Revised one- it uses lethal and bashing. The Weapons List, is a bit odd though, and seems lifted straight from a fantasy manual. Morningstars are supposedly spiked balls on chains, we are introduced to the cavalry saber and maces do the same damage as a club. At least the Longsword is absent. While most of this can be remedied, it does reek of slackness on WW’s part.
A misplaced addition is the mention of bubonic plague, which although present in 6th century Europe, is definitely not common in 13th century Europe. Certainly there were plagues, but not bubonic (or its associates) plague. We also get the modern cut-n-paste Salmonella poisoning rules.
Unlike V:DA, DAV has rules on Diablerie, a major mark in its favour. Golconda is also mentioned, but unlike V:tM, there are no hard and fast rules.
Chapter Eight
The obligatory Storytelling chapter, Chapter Eight gives hints and advice for storytellers on the setting and how to run games.
What is pushed a lot is the idea of the Dark Medieval, a concept introduced in the introduction and Chapter One, as well as the War of Princes, the active and bloody overt war between one vampiric monarch and another. The War of Princes is not a ‘cold war’ by any standards, but one where there is a glut of bloodletting, with armies marching across Europe at the beck and call of vampiric warlords and their super-Methuselah masters.
Most of the information here is solid, but I felt that it was a bit sparse. The chapter itself was not very long. And linking in with a problem I had with Chapter One, there is almost no information on Medieval Europe. Nothing about daily life, clothes, habits, customs, tactics, beliefs, society, culture, religion, organisation, diversity or superstitions. The only setting info we really get is the vampires.
This is in complete contrast to the short but sweet primer that V:DA gave us on medieval society in its chapter one. We aren’t told about the Three Estates, or how the Church or vassalage or cities work, thrive, exist or interact. It’s just assumed. I found this very poor form.
Chapter Nine
All about the various critters of the ‘Dark Medieval’, this chapter is also a mixed bag. The old V:DA had no information on ghouls. I’m happy to say that DAV does. In addition to ghouls we also get Revenants. No Wights though. Oh well.
Rules for True Faith are here, with perhaps a glimpse of what is to come with Dark Ages: Inquisitor. It has been altered from the V:DA version to ‘profound belief in a higher power and obedience to its will.’ I much prefer this to the V:DA version of ‘strong conviction in anything’ (not a direct quote).
This chapter is much shorter than the one in V:DA, and is less comprehensive. For a start, although each WW critter is given a look in, they aren’t given stats. V:DA had alternative rules for Mages, Wraiths and Lupines, among others, which was really useful. Although we get rules for them in DAV, I feel they are less useful than the V:DA one. A playtest would confirm or deny this.
A useful addition though is the ‘What Cainites Know’ textbox. This gives a list of dot-points of common and uncommon knowledge about the various critters, from demons to the Fae. I found this a nice and useful addition.
Appendix
The Appendix has merits and flaws, most of which are taken from the old book, V:tM and the various Guides to the Camarilla and Sabbat. We also get a bestiary, both mundane beasties and also the Tzimisce and demonic creatures, such as Vozhd, demonic familiars and corpse servants of the Cappadocians.
Conclusions
Dark Ages: Vampire is a solid book that has a lot of minor and a few major issues. It adequately does the job of revising a classic RPG, bringing forward the rules, and giving its own unique spin on the subject. It does a nice job in emphasising the Roads, updating the combat, disciplines and giving missing information in the old book. It certainly looks nice enough, with a few issues on some choices of artwork and a lot of care has obviously gone into it.
However, it fails as a complete setting simply because it doesn’t give any information the mortal society. In order to play this game, you would either need to know all about the Middle Ages, or you would need to make it all up. After reading the book, I don’t feel I was told about the Fourth Crusade, the Albigensian Crusade, the Reconquista or the recent signing of the Magna Carter, as well as the various Middle Eastern events, all of which are apparently vital to the cause of the War of Princes. I don’t know how medieval feudalism works, why knights follow barons, what a duke does, or the role of women in city life is. I don’t know about trade, the rise of cities, the new weapons technology being brought in from Syria, or the fallout of the Sack of Constantinople sparking the beginnings of the Renaissance. Heck, I don’t even know how medieval society is ‘divided’ into three classes.
Even the vampiric setting information is sparse. The clans get only page and a half of detail, and beyond that, we are told only generic information about the ‘Courts’ of various vampiric monarchs, and the court system that is the most common. I don’t feel that it explained why, after hundreds of years, the various super-Methuselahs decided that they would start to fight on a mass-scale with mortal and undead armies over large swathes of territory.
Unlike V:DA, there are no story seeds or plots in the Storytelling chapter. There is general information, but one of the biggest concerns that most starting STs have is a nucleus of an idea. V:DA is replete with them, but not so with DAV.
DAV is at one and the same time a more complete book than V:DA, but also less complete. It is more solid system wise, and has most everything an ST needs to get started. It falls down on the background setting and the various above points.
Nevertheless, it a good book, and an acceptable heir to V:DA. I wish certain things had been done better or differently. Despite its many faults, I found myself liking the writing and exposition and the various themes that ran through the book, despite the rather unlikely War of Princes malarkey that Boulle is pushing on us.
Style: 3
Substance: 3
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